The Death Eater's Daughter

Chapter Eleven - Oxymoron

By the time Luci had landed five steps down from where she'd been on the staircase, she could tell that her wrist was broken, because she could feel the bones relocating, trying to heal. She groaned in pain and a voice shrieked, "Intruder!" and then giggled.

Luci, dazed, got to her feet, found her wand a few steps down, wrapped both arms around the banister, and looked around in bewilderment.

"Who's there?" she insisted.

"Tis I!" laughed a voice from somewhere over her head, "Protector of the castle! No intruders allowed!"

"I'm not an intruder!" Luci screamed back. "I have a Pass!"

The voice hooted curiously, and then said, "So you do! Why didn't you say so? Come on up!"

She clenched her jaw and began a slow descent up the stairs again. But within a few paces, a face appeared before hers and bellowed, "BOO!"

Luci screamed and instinctively ducked down and away. She could hear a pleased roar of laughter from somewhere nearby, but when she thrust out her wand to look, nothing was there.

She was near tears now. "Who are you?" she choked. "I promise I don't mean any harm. I'm here with permission. I just want to do what I've come to do and get out of here! Please?"

There was no response. She sat on that step for a long while, trying not to cry. Eventually, an idea came to her. She extinguished the light from her wand and began to slowly and quietly crawl up the staircase in the dark.

She made it to the very top before the childlike voice remarked, "I can see in the dark, you know."

Luci squeaked, took a sharp breath, and asked, "Then what are you?"

"I've already said - protector of the castle!"

"And I've said that you don't have to protect anything from me!" seethed Luci.

"Hmph," pouted the voice.

She sighed in exasperation. "If you're going to be such a pain in the ass, you can at least show me where the Headmistress keeps her office."

A howl, and then, "Potty mouth! Potty mouth!"

"Oh, please," fumed Luci. "Fine, I'll find it on my own."

She lit up her wand again and looked around, turning a full circle. And there it was, to her right, quite a ways down the hall - the stone gargoyle that she recalled from her previous visit to the office. She hurried down to it before she could be further deterred and stretched the Professor's Pass out before it.

Then she remembered, much to her dismay, that Severus had used a password, which she did not have. "Shit, shit, shit," she swore aloud.

"That's not the password!" giggled that stupid voice again.

"Then what is?" raged Luci, to no one in particular, having come to the end of her rope. She sat down in front of the gargoyle and put her head into her hands. She wished that she had the key that she'd just given to Harry. Then her stomach writhed at the thought of him and she huffed indignantly.

After a few minutes, she heard that irritating voice whisper, "Pumpkin juice."

"What?" she demanded. But behind her, she heard the promising resonance of stone against stone.

She leapt to her feet and held out her wand, only to reveal the spiral staircase that lead up to the office. She burst into a grin, cried, "Thank you!" to the voice that had been the bane of her existence, and literally bounded onto the first step. The rotation began immediately, carrying her upwards, and she exhaled with relief when she heard the gargoyle jump back into place behind her. Soon, she came to the door, whereupon, she didn't even bother tapping the knocker, as she didn't expect anyone to be occupying the room, and instead, just walked right in.

"Quite a ruckus you were making out there," came Professor Dumbledore's voice.

"It wasn't me!" whined Luci. "I don't know what it was, but my god, I barely made it in here with my life in tact!"

The portrait chuckled softly, and in that moment, Luci registered that it was only a portrait, and not the Headmaster she'd known. Something profoundly sad triggered inside of her. Yet, here he was, perfectly able to talk to her, and appearing to be in very good health. She marveled, "Wow, it's like you're still here, sir."

"In a manner of speaking," he acknowledged, with a wave of his good hand.

"Sorry about the noise," she said sheepishly.

His image shrugged. "Fortunate that Argus was not within earshot."

"Who?" asked Luci, taking a seat in front of the large dominating desk, and then, "Oh, is this okay?"

"Yes, yes, please," invited Dumbledore. "Argus Filch is the castle's caretaker."

"Oh, well, someone should inform him that this place has some pretty infuriating inhabitants."

Dumbledore smiled. "Peeves is an acquired taste, I'm afraid."

"Peeves?" repeated Luci. "Is he a ghost or something?"

"Precisely."

She sighed. "Might be time for an exorcism, sir."

"Don't know what we'd do without him," countered Dumbledore with a tilt of his head. "Now, what brings you here?"

Luci wavered, though she didn't know why, and then answered, "I just wanted to let you know that I gave Harry the key earlier today."

"A bit late, isn't it?"

She frowned. "No. I mean, I just met him a few days ago, and I thought his birthday was the perfect excuse, because otherwise, how would I explain it?"

"I see," nodded the portrait simply.

Luci blinked. "I'm sorry; was it not soon enough for you?"

He sighed softly. "Time is of the essence, and every minute counts. I need him to come see me promptly so that I may start him on his very long and difficult journey."

"Poor kid," she muttered, shaking her head, truly pitying him.

"Oh, he is no child," corrected Dumbledore. "Harry is entirely capable and I have every faith in him. He merely needs a bit of guidance. I will provide what I can, and perhaps you might do the same?"

All of the sudden, Luci felt like she was a pawn in this game, being used for Harry's benefit. Resentfully, she shrugged one shoulder and, disregarding his request, responded, "Well, he'll be here soon, I'm sure. I should probably get back."

"How are other things?" the portrait inquired, as she had risen from the chair and turned towards the door.

"Fine."

"Have I offended you, Luci?"

She didn't know what to say. She ended up muttering, "Of course not," before closing the door behind her.

She'd gotten no thanks whatsoever for what she'd done thus far. It hadn't been easy, giving Dumbledore's gifts to a boy she didn't know and trying to look innocent. Did he think she was here to do his bidding? Oh, god, she supposed that she was. That was how she'd ended up here in the first place. Why didn't she ever consider herself first? She'd be so much happier. And saner. And at home, with her friends...

Luci was halfway down the marble staircase, following the light of her wand, when that voice came again, "Find what you wanted, intruder?"

When he'd finished his haughty chortling, she replied, "Leave me alone, Peeves."

She heard the ghost take in a theatrical breath of air, as if stunned that she might know his name. After a few moments, he redirected, "You should be grateful! Never would have succeeded without Peeves."

"Yeah, well, a lot of people aren't grateful when they should be," she shot back sourly.

Luci was almost in the entryway by now. She hurried down the last few steps, just as he was teasing, "Always in such a bad mood, intruder."

She turned, just before the oak front doors, and spoke to the air above her. "It was nice meeting you, Peeves. Maybe we'll get along better next time."

Then she threw one of the planks open with all of her strength, tugged it closed behind her, and started marching away from the castle.

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The next day had been scheduled for Apparition testing. A ministry official was coming by Headquarters to give the exam to Draco, as well as to Harry and Ron, who Luci assumed had also been too young the previous year. She wondered, upon hearing of this, how many people knew about this supposedly secret location.

As Luci was coming down the stairs later that same morning, feeling eager about the break these assessments would give her, she heard her brother hiss, "Can't stand up for yourself, I see."

"Now if you thought that was true, Malfoy, you'd have the guts to face me alone, but you never have, have you?" came Harry's voice, causing a wave of discomfort to pool in Luci's stomach at the memory of his touch, which she shoved aside. "Are you lonely without your mates? I'm sure Crabbe and Goyle are lonely without you."

She turned the corner just as Draco went for his wand, and she scolded, "Don't even think about it."

He turned to her, and she went on, "I leave you alone for one second and you pick a fight with Harry?"

"How do you know he didn't start it?" glared her brother.

And Luci knew that either one of them was capable of starting something. So she gave each of them an appraising look and asked Draco, "Did he?"

"I'm tired of you babysitting me!" was his frustrated answer.

She sighed. "Yeah, well, whose fault is it that you need a babysitter?"

Draco displayed a defiant stare. "I hate being here."

"I know you do," she said softly, feeling his pain, almost wishing that she could take it away. "But shall we discuss the alternative?"

He responded with a weak gesture of defeat, and she knew how powerless he felt, how trapped.

But she merely said to all of the boys, "Behave," and then added to her brother, "And go pass your test."

She continued on her way without making eye contact with Harry once. She was proud of herself.

Now was the time to call Kristen. Draco was distracted for a good while, and she could get out of the house, just hop down the street to the payphone...

"Hello?" came her best friend's voice.

"Oh, thank god I got you."

"Luci? What's wrong? Wow, it's really nice to hear your voice."

"Yours too. I can't even tell you how nice."

"I got your letters. I'm going to write back soon, I promise."

"It's okay," absolved Luci. "I'll just call when I can."

"It's just that I'm busy, you know? I'm with Maggie every night and-"

Luci sighed dramatically into the phone.

"Sorry," Kristen said. "I know you don't like her, but when you find the right person, you'll understand."

She sighed again, this time away from the receiver so that Kristen couldn't hear her, and answered, "You know there isn't a 'right person' for me."

"Oh, Luci, it's just because you're so goddamn anal. Maybe you should try swinging the other way? Any hot girls there?"

She almost laughed. "Actually, yes, but she just got married."

"Ah, well, there's always Josh."

"Ick," Luci spat.

"Why not Josh? Because you don't want to rip his clothes off?"

"I've never wanted to rip anyone's clothes off!"

Kristen was silent for a moment before suggesting, "Not even Mark?"

"Well, maybe Mark..." admitted Luci.

"Jesus H. Christ! You've got to move on, Luci! Other fish in the sea, yada, yada."

"But they are ugly and old and stupid fish."

"Generally, yes. But that's only the male ones."

"Mmm."

"So no hot guys there either?"

Luci's pause prompted Kristen to exclaim, "Oh, there is, isn't there?"

"'Are aren't there,'" corrected Luci.

"Who? Who?" hooted Kristen in the manner of Pigwidgeon, the owl that Luci often heard flapping around Ron's room.

She pursed her lips hesitantly, and then, "No one."

That was the truth. Sort of. Sensibly, Luci couldn't admit otherwise.

Kristen was babbling, "You're going to tell me eventually, so you may as well tell me now."

"There is nothing to tell."

A scoff. "I demand a list of all hot guys immediately."

"There isn't a list," Luci whimpered.

"I see. So who he is?"

She sighed in defeat. "It's nothing like that."

"Ooh," cooed Kristen. "You said in your letter that you'd met some old fogies from the Ministry and some family of red headed people and... Harry Potter!" She paused. "Wait. Is Harry Potter hot? That doesn't sound right..."

"Harry Potter is kinda hot..." Luci trailed off weakly. What was she saying? She didn't wanna talk about this. She didn't wanna think this!

"Noooo..." Kristen was exaggerating.

"Mmm hmm," groaned Luci, feeling the heat on her face, even though Kristen couldn't see her. "I mean, platonically, of course."

"Platonically hot? That's an oxymoron."

"Yes, well... So how's the whole gang there?"

"You're changing the subject."

"Damn right."

Kristen growled. "We're all fine here. Same as always. You're the one off living an interesting life."

"This is not interesting, believe me."

"Dangerous criminals, mysterious relatives, creepy mansions, sexy celebrities. It all sounds pretty interesting to me."

"That's because you seem to think I'm in a movie. None of those things are even remotely glamorous."

"Not even sexy celebrities?" Kristen sing-songed.

"He is not a sexy celebrity!"

"I was talking about Professor Albus Dumbledore. Who were you talking about?"

Luci snarled softly and Kristen laughed.

"It's okay to find someone attractive, Luce. It's normal, in fact. I know you try not to be normal but-"

"I do not try!" seethed Luci. "And it may be normal but it's not okay."

"Why not?"

"Because... I don't know hardly anything about him, he hates my entire family, and there are so many other reasons, and still, I... I feel off balance..." Luci stopped. She shouldn't have said any of this aloud. It didn't make any sense.

Kristen had kept going. "Wow, Luci, I haven't heard this tone in your voice since-"

"God, I need to get off this thing," she cut her off, pressing the backs of her cold hands to her hot cheeks.

"Okay, go make out with Harry Potter."

"Kristen, it's not like that. He's, what, seventeen?"

"Ew, you perv."

"I said he was attractive, that's all. You asked if anyone was attractive. He is. No one else is. Maybe a couple of Weasleys but I nev-"

"What's a Weasley?"

Luci laughed. "I have to go."

"That's not all you said."

"What?"

"You said - all you said was that he was attractive, but that's not all you said."

"Kristen..."

"Well, I'm just saying... maybe... enjoy being off balance for once. You deserve it."

"I don't, and you know it, and I have to go."

Her best friend sighed spectacularly and gave in. "Okay, call me again soon, okay?"

"I'll try. Love you."

"Love you too."

"Bye."

"Bye."

When Luci returned to the house, the portrait was screaming, and so, it seemed, was everyone else.

Apparently, Harry was very good at Apparition. So good at it, in fact, that he was no longer anywhere to be found.

"Yes, but is Draco any good?" asked Luci in response to Hermione's explanation.

The brunette girl gave her an exasperated glance, said, "How should I know?" and stomped away.

It eventually turned out that Harry had merely missed his mark and ended up in a field somewhere before safely Apparating back to Grimmauld Place. But the entire uproar proved to Luci how very important this boy was to everyone around her, and she now truly understood why Draco found all of it so nauseating.