Sour Grapes

Chapter 27 - The Secrets

"But when did you set this all up? Surely not once you'd been imprisoned."

Lucius titled his head and inspected Draco as if his son were a curious bit of fuzz plucked off his robes.

"Come now, Draco, you do recall the week-long delay before the aurors came to seize our family? Oh, but of course," he said, clearly putting on a show of sarcasm, "you were off with your dear Mother in France by then, doing whatever you both could to distance yourself from my wretched fate."

Draco scoffed. "Yea... well... a lot of good it did us."

"Yes I made sure of that," Lucius said, without skipping a beat.

Draco's stared, his mouth agape, hardly able to process what his Father had just said.

"That's right, Draco. You were going to find out eventually so it might as well be now."

"Y- you... ordered me to be arrested? And Mother?"

"Well I couldn't very well have either of you out there roaming free, believing that you could simply walk away from your family name."

Draco stood and reached for his wand before realizing it had been taken by the guards when he'd arrived.

"Now now, son," Lucius said, taking out his own wand and giving it a flick. Draco was forced magically back into his seat with a painful smack. "Let's not let tempers flare and have this turn ugly."

Draco was panting hard through gritted teeth, his mind a seething blur of thoughts and feelings. His Father had had him imprisoned for two years, and was still holding his Mother there. It was so much to take in and all he wanted to do was lash out, but he had no wand and now could not stand from the couch. He knew the spell his father had used, he could sense the dark magic radiating around him.

"Does Mother know?" was all he could manage.

"No," Lucius said in the same light manner he'd been affecting all along, "and we shall keep it that way. Your betrayal was far more forgivable than hers, having been so young and under the influence of your Mother. I don't believe her punishment has quite reached its conclusion as of yet."

Draco was now fighting off angry tears. He would not fall to pieces in front of his Father, and yet the torture he was experiencing in that moment was the psychological equivalent of the cruciatus. Unable to take in a full breath, and powerless to do anything but ask further questions, he thought of another.

"Why? Why do this? Was it just to imprison us?"

Draco was startled as his Father let out a booming laugh.

"Oh my dear son, do you really think I would arrange all of this merely to hold you both here? No, I needed a plan to get back to holding a position of power and I was clear that my media image would only allow me to do so in the shadows. It's not ideal, perhaps, given that I can't risk being seen. I am mostly confined to being here, but until I'm ready to stage my release I will continue to build my new empire from within."

Draco was shaking his head subtly during this little speech.

"Do we really mean that little to you?"

Lucius raised his eyebrows and his tone shifted to one of mild agitation. "Don't tell me you're going to get sentimental, son. You and your Mother were prepared to leave me for dead and yet you sit there and question me about my loyalties?" he shouted, "You deserved to be punished!"

"We deserved freedom! We were both pawns in your wretched plans!"

"I didn't hear you complaining when you were selected by the Dark Lord himself for the most important task possible!"