The Death Eater's Daughter

Dearest fans,

I realize that you've been waiting a long time for the continuation of Luci's story. I apologize profusely for the delay. I have been filming Harvey Putter and the Ridiculous Premise, and haven't spent much time at home. However, I have now returned to writing, and I hope that you will continue to enjoy reading. Thank you so much for all of your messages, asking me to post new chapters. I always intended to finish this story, but it is you who have inspired me to get my little butt to work on it. Please keep reading and reviewing.

Love,

Sunny

Chapter Five - Mudbloods

Perhaps she hadn't been paying attention, with everything that had been on her mind, or due to her previous similar lodgings, but, at some point, Luci became aware of the fact that Grimmauld Place was very dark, gloomy... It smelled musty. Something about this place depressed her heavily. Of course, she could also blame the situation.

It had been a bizarre conversation.

Luci was up half the night thinking about it, and the next morning, it was still on her mind. He had surprised her, and it had given him the upper hand. She was furious with herself for letting him throw her off balance.

And the flirting thing! She shuddered in disgust.

Things would have to be turned around. A cold and professional relationship was the best path, and that is what Luci intended, from now on.

Downstairs in the kitchen, she found Remus and Tonks, both of whom were eating dry toast, and latter of which now had bright pink hair atop her head.

"Morning," said Tonks cheerfully. "How was your first night?"

"Your hair..." Luci muttered in response.

"Metamorphmagus," she answered, pointing to herself. "I like to change it up. Keeps a little brightness in this awful place."

Luci nodded, "It certainly does," and then turned her eyes to the plain bread.

Remus commented, "Sorry about that. The house elf seems to have disappeared. We have to fend for ourselves."

"I could cook..." she offered, but Tonks shook her pink head.

"How was your first night?" she repeated.

Luci smiled. "Not terrible."

"Was it the bed?"

"Oh, no, the bed was fine. I mean, it was a bed. It's just, unfamiliar surroundings and whatnot."

"Well, it'll be home before long," said Remus blithely. "Only took us, what, a few months? And you'll have far longer than that."

"Ah, lovely," she replied, grinning and seating herself.

Tonks glanced at her hesitantly, and Luci prompted, "What?"

"Well..." Tonks began, "strange situation, yeah?"

"Dora," said Remus disapprovingly.

"Never mind," Tonks hastened. "I just meant, if you... need to talk... or anything."

"Oh," Luci stammered, surprised and pleased. "Yes, thank you. I... thought, actually, that I was kind of all-around... disliked."

Remus sighed deeply. "Molly is worried. But none of us dislike you. Most of us understand the difficulties of overcoming a bloodline, and besides all of that, each and every one of us would have trusted Albus Dumbledore with our life."

Luci was studying his face. She liked this man very much, and this woman even more. They were both warm and accepting, and she hadn't met many people like that in her life.

Presently, Draco and his mother strolled into the room, and Luci found herself disappointed at the interruption.

Remus stood immediately and excused himself before Tonks could prevent him.

"Breakfast?" she asked.

Narcissa scoffed, and Draco dropped moodily onto the bench.

"I'll cook," offered Luci again, and this time, Tonks merely shrugged.

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After eating what Luci had thrown together, she and Draco were back in his room. The Charms book was open on the desk, and Luci was skimming through it.

"Where did you leave off in your sixth year?"

Draco grunted from his seat beside her.

"You don't remember?" she asked.

"I was a little preoccupied," he snapped.

She glanced sideways at him, and he was staring into his lap.

"Well, did you get to Conjuring Charms?"

"Huh?"

"Yikes," Luci sighed, overwhelmed by the task ahead of her. "We have a lot to catch up on before everyone gets here then."

"Who's everyone?"

"I think Remus said... the Weasleys?" she answered absently, as she searched through the book's index.

"The Weasleys are coming?" spat Draco in distaste.

Surprised at his tone, Luci looked up. "You're not fond of them?"

"Hell no," he growled. "They're... poor."

"Is 'poor' a reason not to like someone?" she frowned.

"It is where I come from."

"Charming," grumbled Luci, feeling put off by his arrogance, once again.

He shrugged. "It also means Potter's coming."

"Harry?"

"That's the one."

She turned back to the book. "And what are your reasons for not liking him? Surely, he's not poor too?"

"I wish," scoffed Draco. "He's just an all around prick. Full of himself. This huge sense of entitlement. God, it's nauseating."

"I see," she said flippantly, as she turned to the section about Conjuring Charms.

"I mean, everyone thinks he's sooo great," Draco carried on, "just because he didn't die when he was supposed to, and if you ask me, that's just luck, and luck doesn't make you worthy of all of that attention and praise, and I think-"

"Stop," Luci cut him off, returning her gaze to his face.

He blinked at her, and she confronted him. "So you're jealous?"

"No!" he barked.

She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm just... well, it's not fair, is it?"

Luci considered this. She'd also never had any attention. "No, I suppose not. I guess I wouldn't like him either."

Then she laughed, despite herself. And he laughed too, and she'd never heard him do so before, and it brought forth a wave of affection towards him.

Of course, he ruined it by adding, "Well, we're the only ones."

"The only ones what?"

"Who don't worship Potter."

"Oh, I can't imagine that's true," doubted Luci, handing Draco a quill.

"It is, believe me," he complained. "It's like he can't do anything wrong."

"Are you sure this isn't all in your head, Draco?"

Her brother glared at her briefly, but then simply answered, "You'll see. But he's done plenty wrong. It's just that people seem to forget. Once, he set a snake on a bunch of Hogwarts students."

"A snake?"

"Yeah. Told it to attack them or something. But no one thinks anything of it now. It's like it never happened."

"Told it to attack them?" Luci asked, ignoring the rest.

He raised one shoulder. "The stupid prat talks to them, apparently."

She stopped herself from a sharp intake of breath. "Harry can speak Parseltongue?"

Draco merely nodded.

"Creepy," she said in hushed tones. And it was.

But his expression led Luci to believe that he didn't find it creepy at all. On the contrary, the envy was blazing in his eyes.

"Well, Draco, I don't think that not being accountable for one's actions makes you a better person anyway. So someday, he'll probably stumble and fall and lose everything. Then maybe others will see what you see." She paused and smiled. "If it's there."

He scoffed. "Oh, it's bloody there, alright."

"So you two have never gotten along?" asked Luci, though she knew the answer. She was really just digging for details. On one hand, she'd always heard such wonderful things about Harry. On the other, she entirely understood Draco's dislike for him. And... Parseltongue? That was never a good sign.

"I gave him a chance to align himself with me," Draco was saying. "He chose his path."

She frowned in confusion. "You're telling me that he rejected your offer of friendship?"

"Basically," her brother answered. "He started surrounding himself with Weasleys and Mudbloods."

"Oh, right. And you can't hang out with anyone who's anywhere near Weasleys or Mudbloods," she said sarcastically, realizing that Draco probably never tried to like Harry at all.

"Don't condescend me," he snarled.

"I'm not," she answered slowly, seeing her misstep. She was supposed to be a Death Eater. Accordingly, she should disdain them just as much as he did. "I'm just saying that we're going to have to tolerate Weasleys around here for awhile."

"And Mudbloods."

Luci was the only Mudblood in the house. She swallowed a moment of apprehension before inquiring, "Who?"

"Granger," said Draco, as if the word tasted terrible on his tongue.

"Hermione? She's a Mudblood?" Luci shuttered at even saying the word.

"Muggle born. Disgusting, isn't it?"

Luci was only as bad as Half-Blood, but it still stung, offended her, infuriated her, really. But she pushed it all down and replied calmly, "What is it that disgusts you? Do Muggles disgust you?"

"No..." he hesitated. "I just don't think that those without pure blood should be contaminating our schools and our government and our entire society."

"But they can do magic too. Doesn't that outcast them from the Muggle world? Where are they supposed to go?"

"They can start their own world," he said, as if this was obvious.

"Then there would only be, like, ten of us in this world, because there are so few pure bloods nowadays," responded Luci, matter-of-factly.

"All the more reason to start weeding them out and producing more of us."

"I suppose," she said, fighting against the anger, trying to keep up her façade. It was harder than she would have believed - pretending to be something else. She wanted to stop talking about this, so she added with all the humor she could muster, "But we'd have arms growing out of the tops of our heads before long."

"What?" he grimaced.

Luci laughed. "Nature just has a different course, I think."

When he gave her an exasperated look, she covered by adding, "Look, I don't think they're as good as we are or anything, but they're around, so we just have to live with it."

"Until he gets all of his power back, anyway."

She knew that he was referring to Lord Voldemort, and in response, she could only murmur, "Yes, until then."