Year V

Chapter Six

Lucius Malfoy's Bad Day

If there was anything Lucius Malfoy prided himself on, it was his ability to remain calm and level-headed under pressure or, at the very least, maintain the facade when he was truly angry or frightened. He only felt true anger and fear twice before...the latter when he had to confront the master upon his return and the former when Harry Potter cost him his servant and ruined his attempt to resurrect Voldemort a couple years earlier by destroying the Riddle Diary. Today, he felt his facade start to slip once more.

The day had started out normal enough. He had brought his son to Diagon Alley to do some shopping and to pick up some items from Borgin and Burkes. He had left Draco and was on his way down Knockturn Alley the shouting started. People were pointing up in the sky and he even heard some muffled laughter. Then he saw the Dark Mark and he knew something was wrong. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw the green symbol suddenly change colors and become glowing orange color before it exploded and rained fire. Though it appeared to center on Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley and a few other side-streets were hit with a few fireballs that destroyed a couple shops and set a few buildings ablaze.

Draco...

For a moment, Lucius Malfoy felt fear...fear for his son's safety. He may have been disappointed with his son most of the time, but Draco was still his son. But Lucius' pride and contempt pushed the fear aside.

He is a Malfoy after all,

he told himself. If he hasn't learned to take care of himself by now, then he's not worthy of the Malfoy name and deserves whatever happens to him.

But even Lucius was not prepared for the sight that greeted him at Diagon Alley. Diagon Alley was literally ablaze. Several shops were still burning even as Wizards and Witches were working to get the fires under control. But the hardest hit was Quality Quidditch Supplies, the roof had been blown off and he saw a glowing orange sphere hovering above the building, shooting blasts of flame into the building. Then he saw something shoot out of the building and destroy the orange sphere. A flash out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and he turned his head to see that Flourish and Blotts was virtually untouched except for an eerie orange glow. He apparated to the top of building and kept to the shadows as he watched Arthur Weasley nearly get killed by a young wizard in a black trench coat. He cast an invisibility spell on himself and continued to watch as the young man continued to punish Arthur Weasley.

"No," the stranger said as he kicked Arthur, "please...don't bother getting up. Between being stunned twice and having a Seeing Stone blown up in my face, I've had a crappy day and feel the need to take it out on someone. Unfortunately, I don't have much time."

Lucius couldn't help but chuckle silently. He didn't know who, or what, this young man was, but he had to admire boy's brutality. From the way the young man talked, Lucius could tell that he was not from around here.

American, perhaps? That would explain the accent.

The "American" snapped his fingers and a wand flew up off the ground and into his outstretched hand. Lucius watched in disbelief as the wand almost immediately changed shape...turning into a sword. He had met American Wizards before, but he had never seen them act or use items such as this. No, he mentally corrected himself, that was not true...he knew of one witch that did. His mind momentarily flashed back to a small islet in Italy, but he forced that memory away and focused on the confrontation happening in front of him.

"Tell you what," the stranger said as he raised his sword over his head, "I'll just take your head and we'll call it a day, okay?"

At that moment, Lucius saw someone else apparate onto the roof, wand out and ready, and recognized the newcomer as Jason Morgan, an Auror and a Death Eater spy. Though Lucius was disappointed with the timing, he had to admit that the young Auror handled himself well against the American who used some sort of port-key to escape. Lucius waited until Arthur Weasley had left before revealing himself to Jason.

While Lucius did not care much for the defiance in the younger wizard's voice, he did appreciate Morgan's bluntness. The young Auror was right, the Ministry would probably be bringing in any former Death Eaters for questioning and Lucius had no doubt that Arthur Weasley would be jumping for the opportunity to question him. Although, from what he heard while invisible, Arthur might be too busy with far more pressing concerns. He left Morgan to continue his investigation and returned to Knockturn Alley. For a moment, he had considered checking on Draco, but decided that could wait.

After all, he mentally repeated to himself, if Draco didn't survive this then he wasn't worthy of the Malfoy name. A few minutes later, he found himself standing outside Borgin and Burkes. He glanced around for a moment, making sure he wasn't being watched. When he was confident that there were no Ministry officials were lurking around, he opened the door and stepped inside.

* * * * *

In a dimly lit mausoleum in Highgate Cemetary, a cloaked figure stood in front of what appeared to be an altar, polishing several knives that were lined up neatly across the altar's smooth surface. Several feet away, an attractive young woman with olive skin and long black hair was sitting at a small table, carefully measuring liquids in beakers before pouring their contents into a small cauldron.

"He's late," the woman snapped irritably as she began to stir the mixture in her cauldron.

The cloaked figure shrugged as he picked up a knife with an extremely curved blade and began to polish it. When he spoke, his voice was barely more than a whisper, but there was a hint of amusement in his voice. "Patience, Marie. He'll be here, in the meantime, just sit back and relax."

Marie frowned. "Easy for you to say, Lucas. You're not the one with severe allergy problems." She sneezed and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe her nose. "Oh sure...come to jolly ol' England, see the sights, kill a lot of people...yeah, right. All we've been doing is sitting on our asses in this crypt for nearly twelve hours. This country sucks!"

Lucas shook his head. "Wow, we've only been here for twelve hours and you're starting to complain already?" He laughed. "A new record."

Marie was about to say something when the doors to the mausoleum swung open and Nicholas St. John-Dupuis stepped inside, arms outstretched. "Bless me father," he shouted in an over exaggerated tone, "for I have sinned."

Marie shook her head in disgust, she didn't care much for Nicholas' cheap theatrics.

"It has been three hours since my last confession," Nicholas continued as he approached the cloaked figure. "I have stolen, murdered, raped, murdered, desecrated, murdered, fornicated, murdered, mutilated, and um...oh yeah, murdered."

The cloaked figure at the altar waved his hand slightly and a knife suddenly flew off the altar and hurled itself at Nicholas who caught it by the hilt before it could impale him in the chest. "Whoa! Nice shot, Lucas."

The cloaked figure lowered his hood to reveal a young man with spiky orange and blue hair and wearing a nose ring. "About time you showed up, where's the pizza?"

"Sorry, bud," said Nicholas as he reached into his coat and pulled out a large paper bag. "Couldn't find a decent pizza joint, but I did pick up some Chinese." Nicholas placed the bag on the altar and grabbed a take-out carton and some chop-sticks out of the bag. He then opened up the carton and helped himself to a mouthful of chicken and rice.

Lucas helped himself to a carton out of the bag and tossed the last carton to Marie. "How'd it go, Nick?"

Nicholas closed his eyes and savored the taste of his meal for a moment before he spoke. "Oh...yeah...this is good. As for Diagon Alley, let's go buy a copy of the Daily Prophet and find out. They should be hitting the streets in a couple hours."

"DeBoer was concerned that you moved the timetable up on him," said Marie.

"Who cares?" Nicholas said with a shrug. "He wanted me to do something really terrible, and I thought firebombing Diagon Alley during the height of the back-to-school shopping season was a cool idea."

Lucas looked at his friend in disbelief. "You firebombed Diagon Alley?"

"Yep...rained down the wrath of the heavens." Nicholas gave Lucas an evil grin. "Wiped out Quality Quidditch Supplies."

"Yeah!"

Marie shook her head in disgust as Nicholas and Lucas gave eachother a high-five. "And you didn't get caught?"

"Well, actually, I did have some trouble with a Ministry official," said Nicholas. Then he suddenly snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah, Lucas, that reminds me..."

Nicholas took off his coat and pulled what appeared to be a metal bracer with intricate carvings off his arm and handed it to Lucas. "Your 'spell-guard' needs some work."

"It didn't work?"

"Oh, it worked alright. Kept me from being stunned and knocked out, but it still hurt like hell when I got hit."

"Damn, sorry about that, Nick."

"No you're not."

"You're right."

Nicholas shook his head and patted Lucas on the shoulder then walked over to Marie's table. "Marie, I'm going to need some more of that serum."

Marie's eyes narrowed and cruel smile formed on her lips. "Oh really? I was under the impression that things went smoothly for you."

Nicholas' eyes started to glow slightly in annoyance. "Just make give me a couple more vials, okay?"

Marie only smiled at him. "Careful," she said. "Wouldn't want the power to start eating you out from the inside, do we?" She reached into a leather pouch that was sitting on the table, pulled out two vials of glowing bluish-green liquid and handed them to him. "There you go...that's six injections. Should be enough to last you the next three months...unless you push your self again."

"You are one cold-hearted bitch, you know that?"

Marie raised an eyebrow. "Coming from a man who just killed a lot of people, I find that to be something of a compliment. On another note, how come we're stuck here in a mausoleum and you get to kick back at hotel."

Nicholas grinned at her. "Because I'm the team leader and I get all the perks that come with it."

"And all the pornos he can watch," said Lucas from the other side of the room.

"Shut up, Lucas," snapped Nicholas. "Marie, we already went over this. We need beachhead, a place to set up a fold-gate portal and it's better here than at a five star hotel in the heart of London."

Marie nodded. "Perhaps, but this place sucks. It's dusty, moldy, and my allergies are killing me."

"Hey, it could be worse," said Lucas. "You could be back home at the township."

"Oh nooooo...uh-uh." Marie shook her head. "No way am I going to hang out there during the annual county fair."

"Aw, c'mon Marie," said Nicholas. "You could serve as DeBoer's aide and hang out with him while all the muggle-folk praise him for his contributions to the community."

Lucas suddenly struck a dramatic pose and started to talk in an amusing parody of DeBoer. "I just want to say that I humbly accept your praise and I want to let you know that it is your people who are responsible of making this a great all-American town. It is people like you who do all the hard work. And as long as I'm still on the town council, I will make sure that you people get what you deserve."

Nicholas clapped his hands and laughed as Lucas bowed. "Bravo!"

"I still can't believe the muggles are actually that stupid," said Marie.

"Hey, you have to admit, Lynden Township was a brilliant idea. A magical community hiding in the heart of an extremely overly religious town...the irony alone makes it all the more amusing." Lucas paused for a moment as he picked up another dagger and looked it over. "Besides, if DeBoer gets his way, we won't have to be sucking up to the Colonial Council back in Salem."

"And if the Colonial Council, or even the Guilds, find out what DeBoer is doing, we'll all be executed," Marie fired back.

"Not gonna' happen," said Nicholas as he snapped his fingers and two torches on a nearby wall lit up. "With the incident at Diagon Alley, the Colonial Council will be too tied up with deliberating whether they should help England or stay out of it. The Guilds will be too busy fighting off suspicion because of what happened fourteen years ago when they purged one of their clans."

"Did you leave any loose ends in Diagon Alley?" asked Lucas.

"Just one," aid Nicholas who went back to eating his chicken and rice. "But he's being dealt with as we speak. The shader sitting in his shop will take him out and there will be no other evidence we'll have to worry about. Now...who's up for a ride in one of those cool double-decker bus thingies?"

* * * * *

Lucius was surprised that Mr. Borgin wasn't there to greet him. Normally, the greasy little gremlin would be there the moment Lucius stepped in the shop. After a couple more minutes had passed, Lucius was starting to worry. It was not like Borgin to keep him waiting or leave the shop unattended without locking the front door. He stepped away from the front counter and started to walk through the shop.

"Borgin?"

Lucius paused as he thought he heard something. It sounded like somebody whispering, but he wasn't sure. He headed in the direction he thought he heard the noise and found himself stepping into a darkened area of the shop. For some reason, the light from the lamps were not reaching the area. He cautiously took a couple more steps forward before stumbling as his feet his something. He managed to keep himself from falling, but he couldn't see what he had hit. "Enough of this," he growled as he pointed his wand in the air. "Lumos!"

The tip of his wand suddenly lit up and he caught himself gasping in shock. He had found Mr. Borgin, the upper half of his torso had been ripped open, as if something had started to eat him. He heard a soft hissing noise and felt something drip onto his hand. He pulled his hand forward and saw that it was blood. He glanced up to see something in the shadows of the ceiling, glaring at him with glowing red eyes.

"Avada Kedavra!" Lucius shouted as the creature lunged at him. There was a flash of green light and the creature went flying across the shop before crashing through a display case of shrunken heads. Lucius winced in pain and looked down to see claw marks where the creature had swiped at his chest. Then he looked back at the creature and froze as he saw it pull itself out of the wrecked display case. The Death Curse didn't work!

The creature's red eyes glowed brightly and took another step towards Lucius who, after a split-second of hesitation, raised his wand again.

"Incendio!"

A jet of flame shot of Lucius' wand and the creature cringed and backed away from the flickering light. Bright light, Lucius' mind screamed at him, it can't stand light...that's why it lurks in the shadows!

Lucius' gaze went back from the creature to the store-front window and the sunlight outside. Lucius fired off a banishing charm from his wand, knocking the creature to the side and ran towards the front of the store. He was halfway to the window when he heard the creature coming after him, knocking aside various tables and display cases. A second later, he felt it's cold breath on his neck as it tackled him from behind and they both crashed through the window. Lucius hit the ground face first could taste blood in his mouth. The fall momentarily dazed him, but a sharp cry and angry hissing of the creature brought him back to his senses. He rolled to his side and could see the creature writhing in agony as the light of the afternoon sun shone down on it.

Lucius had never seen such a creature before, it looked like a living shadow of some sort, with clawed like hands and spiked arms. He saw it's glowing eyes fix on him again and he rolled just in time to avoid being impaled by the shadow arm that swung in his direction. He rolled back up to his knees and pointed his want at the creature again, but it wasn't necessary. The creature hissed in agony one last time before it suddenly vanished in a puff black smoke.

Lucius sat there for a few more moments, his wand still pointed at the spot where the creature had been standing, as if expecting it to suddenly reappear and attack him again. He could feel the pounding of his heart starting to slow and dropped his wand when he was certain the creature was truly gone.

Well,

he thought, at least the worst is over.

"Lucius Malfoy."

Lucius turned and saw two men standing there wearing the emerald green robes of the Ministry of Magic. "Yes?"

"Ministry of Magic, sir. We've been ordered to bring you in for questioning concerning what happened at Diagon Alley this afternoon."

Damn...

* * * * *

In the state of Washington, there is a town that sits right on the border between the United States and Canada. The town is called Lynden and if you asked any person who passed through the town, it was everything one would expect for the stereotypical All-American farming town. Originally founded by Dutch immigrants in the late 1800s, Lynden still retained much of it's Dutch history and traditions. Over the next century, Lynden gained a reputation of being a "traditional" all-American town that many would only read about in novels or see in the movies...that is, if the novels were written by Stephen King. Like most "All-American" farming towns, Lynden had its charm, hometown feeling, antique shops, general store, farmers market, county fairgrounds, and the reputation of having the largest number of churches and cemeteries for a small town.

Lynden Township was a residential community that began construction on the outskirts of Lynden in 1983. To the people of Lynden, it was rich residential community where wealthy businessmen from the nearby city of Bellingham lived. And while the small community grew over the next decade, the people of Lynden had nothing to complain about. The residents of Lynden Township frequented Lynden on a daily basis, bringing in a lot of money to the small town. By 1990, Lynden Township was practically considered part of Lynden. No one suspected that this well kept and highly upscale neighborhood harbored a dark secret or that the head of this community was planning dark things for the world.

"Fore!"

But not today.

Today, Benjamin DeBoer was taking the day off from his duties as city councilman and demonic overlord and enjoying a round of golf with an old friend from California. Nothing seemed out of the usual to the other patrons of the Raspberry Ridge Country Club, just two men in their late 40s playing a morning game.

"Nice shot," said his golf partner as the shot landed on the green and stopped a few feet short of the hole.

DeBoer performed a mock bow and smiled. "Thank you, I think I'll be ten under par on this course."

His partner shook his head as he lined up his shot and raised his club. "I'm afraid your age is making you senile, my friend." He swung and sent the ball sailing over the green, but the ball veered to the left and rolled into a sand trap. "Damn."

DeBoer laughed. "Nice try, Richie, but I've got a little bit more experience at this game than you.:

Richard Wilkins the Third snickered as he put the club back in his bag and hoisted the golf-bag onto his shoulder. "Well, can't win them all. I have to admit, Benny, this is quite the set-up here. I mean, hiding a magical community in the middle of an All-American town is pure genius. And you, elected as a city councilman...nice play. Granted, you're not the mayor of the town, but it allows you to run things behind the scene."

"Yeah, well, not all of us were fortunate enough to find a Hellmouth to build a town upon." DeBoer pulled a towel out of his bag and wiped his club. "So how many years has it been?"

"Ninety-six," said Wilkins. "Just a few more years to go and everything's going to change. I'm telling you, Benny, Ascension is the way to go."

"I don't know, Richie. I mean, so many things can go wrong, and then you have to eat all those spiders." DeBoer shuddered. "Eyuch!"

Wilkins shook his head. "You old-timers...getting weak in the stomach for your age. I'm curious though, how were you able to keep the Colonial Council from interfering?"

DeBoer shrugged as he grabbed his own golf bag and they walked down the course. "As far as the Colonial Council is concerned, I'm a hero who can do no wrong. I helped uncover a Guild conspiracy with Voldemort by discovering that one their clans had pledged their support. After negotiating between the rest of the Guilds and the Colonial Council, I helped form a coalition that annihilated the wayward clan. Sure, it may have been fourteen years ago, but it still carries a lot of prestige."

"Not to mention the fact that you not challenging old McCade for the post of Minister and are willing to head an enclave so far away makes them forget you."

DeBoer gave him a benign smile. "Well, ignorance is bliss. And so long as I retain the image of being a non-ambitious, but supportive member of the Colonial council, they'll never know. Besides, with Voldemort returning, they've been in an uproar."

"Yeah, I heard about that," said Wilkins as they reached the sandtrap where his ball had landed. "But won't that pass?"

"Not likely," DeBoer smirked. "A representative from the British Ministry of Magic has asked me to push forward a proposal for an alliance between the Colonial Community and the British. In fact, I'll be meeting with him tonight at Murdock's Steak House and give him the good news."

"But even with your endorsement, I doubt old Jonathan McCade would support it. Voldemort hasn't done anything since his alleged resurrection."

DeBoer checked his watch. "Well, I'm willing to bet that when we get back to the office, we'll discover my British friend there with the latest copy of the Daily Prophet and some scary news."

Wilkins gave him a curious look before smug grin formed on his lips. "You've got something planned, don't you?"

"What?" DeBoer gave Wilkins a feigned look of innocence. "I would never meddle in the affairs of the International Community."

"Oh, of course not," chuckled Wilkins. "You're a respected member of the Colonial Community and would never dream of-"

"Mr. DeBoer!" someone shouted. Both men looked up to see a man wearing what appeared to be pinstriped business suit running towards them with what appeared to be a rolled up scroll in his hand.

"Well, speak of the devil," muttered DeBoer. "Here comes my British friend now."

The young man was in his twenties and had short, but well kept red hair. He reminded DeBoer of someone who had spent too much time filing reports behind his desk instead of getting out and enjoying life. "Richie, this is Percy Weasley, he heads the Department of International Magical Cooperation for the Ministry back in England."

Wilkins shook the man's hand. "Nice to meet you Mr. Weasley."

Percy Weasley nodded. "I apologize for intruding on your game," he said as he handed DeBoer the scroll. "I just received this."

Wilkins managed to keep from smiling as he watched DeBoer pretend to read the paper and a sudden look of shock form on his face. "This is terrible," he said. "This just happened?"

Percy Weasley nodded. "About three hours ago."

DeBoer shook his head and gave Wilkins a sad smile. "I'm sorry, Richie, but I'm afraid I'll have to cancel our game."

It took all of Wilkins effort to maintain a somber face and not break out in a fit of laughter at DeBoer's convincing display of false sympathy. "I understand, Benny. Besides, I have to be back in Sunnydale tomorrow afternoon anyway...budget meeting."

"It was good seeing you again, Richie," said DeBoer as he shook hands with Wilkins. "Let me know how things go down there."

Wilkins nodded and watched as DeBoer and Weasley headed up towards the clubhouse. When he was certain they were out of earshot, he started laughing and pulled out his cell-phone. He had to admit that DeBoer had style and was certain that DeBoer was behind whatever happened a few hours earlier.

"Hello, Alan? I'm calling to let you know that I'm coming home early. I'll be taking off from Sea-Tac tonight and should be in around eleven. What? Really...hmmm. Well, the last thing I need is that blood sucking leech trying to take over my town." He paused for a moment as he listened to what his assistant was telling him.

"Hmm...okay, here's a solution. Tell him that we'll turn a blind eye to his activities so long as he keeps it in the southeastern side of town. If he violates the agreement, we'll just let word leak out about him and certain parties might take an interest...what? Oh, sure, you can use the limo, but make sure it's clean when you're done. I'll talk to you later...bye."

Wilkins closed his cell-phone. "Damn Vampires," he muttered as he headed back up to the clubhouse. "More trouble than they're worth."

* * * * *

It was about eight in the evening when Lucius Malfoy apparated into his study at Malfoy Manor. He pulled his wand out of his cloak and gave it a tired wave.

"Lumos," he mumbled and a couple small lamps flickered to life. It had been a terrible day for Lucius Malfoy. After he avoided getting brutally murdered in Knockturn Alley, Lucius was brought to the Ministry for questioning where he had vehemently denied being involved in the attack on Diagon Alley or responsible for the murder of Mr. Borgin. And he wasn't the only former Death Eater that was brought in. Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle, and others were there. He didn't dare talk to them while they were at the Ministry, but the looks he saw on their faces all asked the same question: What's going on?

For nearly three hours, he was grilled by a several Aurors, including Jason Morgan who seemed to relish playing the role of an overzealous Ministry employee making threats to Lucius. He even pulled out his wand and threatened Lucius with a couple nasty curses to make him talk. Half the time, Lucius wasn't sure if he was going to lose his temper or laugh at Morgan's performance. But after all was said and done, the Ministry, and Lucius himself knew nothing. But despite the humiliation of being interrogated, Lucius was intrigued that Arthur Weasley was mostly silent during the interrogation. In fact, it seemed that Arthur actually believed his innocence.

And yet...there was something in Arthur Weasley's eyes, something that made Lucius worry, but he couldn't figure out why. As much as he detested Weasley, Lucius had to admit that Arthur could be a dangerous foe when he wanted to be. And when Arthur had dismissed him, something Arthur had said made Lucius very wary.

"Perhaps he is innocent of today's crimes," said Arthur, "but there's always past sins." Lucius wanted to ask Arthur Weasley what he meant, but he had apparated before Lucius had the chance.

The large leather chair that sat behind Lucius' desk swiveled and Lucius saw his son sitting there. "Hello, Father."

"Draco..." It took Lucius a few moments to find the words. "You're safe."

Draco got up out of his father's chair. "Yes," he said as he gave his father a strange look, was that a gleam of defiance he saw in his son's eyes? "I find your concern touching."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Draco shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. I just find it interesting that my father decides to leave me only an hour before a Death Eater attack nearly levels Diagon Alley."

"We had nothing to do with this!" hissed Lucius as he lunged forward to grab Draco by his shirt. "And don't you ever make accusations like that again!"

To Lucius surprise, Draco didn't flinch. While there was a flicker of panic on his face, Draco calmly reached up and shoved his father's hand aside. "Forgive me for not quaking in fear, Father, but having a near death experience has made me immune to your usual displays of...fatherly affection."

"Look at my robes, Draco. I was nearly killed myself...there was a creature at Borgin and Burkes." He spread his arms out so Draco could see the shredded material and dried bloodstains. "It killed Borgin and nearly killed me."

"Ah," said Draco. "So where were you?"

"I was at the Ministry, boy! They were questioning me about the attack on Diagon Alley."

"And were you?"

"Were I what?"

"Behind the attack?"

"No!" Lucius snarled. He raised his hand to strike his son, but the smug smile on the boy's face made him stop. A few seconds later, he managed to regain his composure. "It's late, Draco, we've both endured a terrible ordeal. We'll talk tomorrow morning."

Draco nodded at his father, but the trace of defiance was still there. "Of course, father, I'm sure we'll have plenty to talk about." Then he turned and left the room.

For a moment, Lucius felt a mixture of anger and pride towards his son. It appeared there was some steel to his son's spine after all, but Lucius didn't like the boy using it against him. He would be punished, Lucius decided, but that would be decided later.

"Ah, the joys of fatherhood."

Lucius turned and saw Jason Morgan standing there. "Morgan! What are you doing here?"

"My job," said Morgan as he looked around the study. "Nice place, Lord Malfoy. If I ever make enough money, I think I'll put in a study of my own. A man could always use a place like this...where he can reside in solitude and contemplate the chaos that is his life."

"Is there a reason you're here, Jason?" said Lucius. "I don't take kindly to people who show up uninvited in my home."

"Actually, Lord Malfoy, there is one thing. Did you know that Arthur Weasley was in Diagon Alley to pick up a student from the Colonies?"

"What do I care about Arthur and some pathetic American?" spat Lucius as he opened up a liquor cabinet and poured himself a glass of wine.

Morgan pulled a scroll out of his cloak and handed it to Lucius. "Maybe you should carefully think about an answer to that question, Lucius."

"What's that?" asked Lucius as he took the scroll and sipped his wine.

"Oh, nothing, just an old report filed by Arthur Weasley back in 1985...something about a charge of attempted murder."

Lucius choked on his wine. "I was cleared of those charges."

"Maybe so, but I find it interesting reading, especially with what I learned today. Does the name McCade ring a bell?"

A memory flashed through his mind and Lucius winced as he remembered the flames searing his skin. "That was a long time ago, Jason," he managed to say, surprised at how calm he sounded. "I don't see what that has to do with the present."

"Oh it has everything to do with the present." Morgan gave Lucius a cold smile. "You see, the American student is named Jesse McCade."

The wineglass slipped out of Lucius' fingers and shattered on the hardwood floor. For a moment, Lucius felt his heart stop. And then it all fell into place. Now he knew what Arthur Weasley had meant about "past sins". And for the second time that day, Lucius Malfoy knew fear.