You and Draco glanced at each other briefly before hurrying to the door, straightening your clothes. He had a few hairs out of place and looked slightly disheveled after his deep dive into the second hand memory Harry had shown you.
You gave Finn a quick pat before reminding him to be on his best behaviour and closed your door behind you.
"Your hair it's a bit-" you indicated to him where some pieces had fallen out at the front. The two of you were making you way down the hall to the top of the grand staircase.
"Where?" He swiped at it recklessly with his hand.
"Oh no stop! You're only making it worse!" You exclaimed.
"Well fix it!" He panicked. He crouched slightly so you could reach the top of his head more easy and you gently smoothed the strands of hair from his face as the two of you made your way to the top step of the staircase.
"Hurry up!" He said in a slightly raised tone.
"I'm trying to help you stop being so-" before you could finish a loud mans voice interrupted you.
"Introducing the young Duke and Duchess of Malfoy estate!" Boomed Lucius' proud voice. You scrambled to straighten yourself, suddenly aware of the small gathering of death eaters at the base of the staircase.
Draco straightened himself beside you and offered his arm as a formality. As you took it the both of you made your way to the crowd below.
Some people murmured in quiet approval while some rolled their eyes at Lucius, only he could find some way to make the return of the dark Lord about himself and his fabulous family. Narcissa nodded to you and beamed proudly. So far so good.
After a quick look around the room you concluded Voldemort was not yet present. As you breathed a sigh of relief Lucius and Narcissa met the pair of you at the bottom of the stairs.
You kept your guard up. Some of these death eaters were incredible legilimens. But never the less you were brought around the room like some sort of show dog, introducing yourself over and over again. With the same reactions each time.
"Oh my, a Gaunt! How proud you must be to bear such a noble name." Said Crabbes tall brooding beast of a father.
"What an honor it is to meet you Ms Gaunt. You're in the same year as my boy at Hogwarts. He speaks of you often." Goyle's father boasted.
You did everything in your power to keep your eyes from rolling from your head. Your name was not something you were proud of and these people were fools to put their trust in a power hungry entity such as the dark lord. As long as they gave him the power and control he wanted, he would enable their elitism and blood supremacy. He had no conscience, he didn't feel guilt or remorse. He sought only one thing and would stop at nothing for it.
You had done plenty of research throughout the years with Hermione. It had been so painfully obvious you wondered if the rest of them knew or even cared. He was hardly even a man anymore.He promised them exactly what they wanted, power of their own. You knew what he was. What he had done.
The dark Lord himself was the very reason your mother had to permanently reside in St Mungos. He was the reason you had come to the manor and he was the reason you had been training so hard. He merely thought of you and Draco as his spies and his soldiers in training. After all, the ministry would never suspect mere students of such treachery.
Even with all this knowledge of him, the closest you'd ever come to meeting was in Harry's memory of the graveyard - Which you currently couldn't even reflect upon as it was still floating around your glass dish upstairs where you had left it. You silently prayed the house elves left it alone.
You continued to make small talk around the room with Draco and Narcissa. They mostly asked you about your thoughts on Hogwarts and the ministry and "Merlin, aren't these new muggle protection laws absurd?" They discussed amongst themselves. After a short time the subject of Albus Dumbledore came up.
"I reckon he'll play straight into the Dark Lord's hand" suggested Walden McNair.
While you disagreed with the majority of the Death Eaters views, there were two things you had in common. The first being that you absolutely loathed the old withering fool Albus Dumbledore. He was no better than the dark Lord, exploiting people, manipulating and lying to them to succeed in the war. The second thing was your fear of the Dark Lord himself.
You heard footsteps approaching and recognized the pace immediately.
"Severus, better late than never." Lucius boomed loudly. Hearing his name stung. There wasn't a single part of you that wanted anything to do with him. He had never been a father to you, had it been up to him he likely would have kept it a secret from you until the day he died.
It had been Sirius Black who had revealed the truth to you in third year when he had escaped Azkaban and had been lurking around Hogwarts in his animagus form. He had caught you walking alone one weekend to Hogsmede. He told you your fathers identity and why your mother was cursed to forget her time in the wizarding world. You hadn't fully believed him until Harry told you about his encounter with him at the shrieking shack later that year, where Black revealed Peter Pettigrew as the true traitor to the potters. All shortly prior to your mother being sent off to St Mungos and your arrival at Malfoy Manor.
Lucius tapped the base of his cane twice, loudly, to indicate it was time to be seated. He sat on the left hand side of the head of the table, followed by Draco, Narcissa and yourself. Severus seated himself directly across from you, nodding awkwardly in your direction. You didn't try to hide your eye rolling this time.
You dropped your attitude quickly though when the aura of the room swiftly changed. Dark magic hung heavy in the air and chills went up your spine.You could tell you weren't the only one who noticed. You could see Draco clenching his fists under the table, the vein in his forehead looking like it was about to burst. You'd never seen him so terrified.
But you were not scared, the darkness enveloped you and you recognized it like an old friend. You had felt it before, in times of anger and fear it had always been present. Dumbledore told you it was because the Gaunts came from a long line of wizards and witches who were quite fond of the dark arts. Remnants of it were sure to reside within you.
Everyone at the table fell silent and the sound of bare feet padding on the cold marble floors grew louder and louder.
"All stand," said Lucius "for our Dark Lord. He is risen again!"
Everyone stood and bowed their heads, you joined them but your curiosity outweighed your fear. When you peaked your head up you saw a massive Snake slithering up the chair at the head of the table and onto the glass surface around which you all stood. It seemed to be looking at you with eyes that appeared oddly human, curiously tilting its head and slithering closer.
Following closely behind it was Voldemort himself. Exactly how he had appeared in Harry's memory, white and ghostly with his capes billowing behind him as if an invisible wind were blowing them. It didn't take long for him to meet your eyes and he slowly lowered himself into the empty chair at the head of the table.
"Granddaughter, we meet at last." His voice was cold and raspy, the strain of his breath weighing heavy on his words. You quickly glanced back down, averting your gaze back to the table where your reflection gazed back at you. The stress from the last two days had left you a shell of your former being. Dark circles formed under your red puffy eyes, your face pale and tear stained. The only thing in place was the hair Narcissa had styled for you earlier.
Summoning your remaining strength you straightened yourself to stand tall and did your best to conceal any signs of weakness. You inhaled deeply and the dark magic that still lingered invigorated you, you were not scared.
The Dark Lords blood courses through your veins, you were his heir and his successor. You felt a surge of confidence overcome you and you came to a sudden realization. You had more magic in your baby toe than most of these letchers. They were mere foot soldiers, you could be so much more. You were here for a reason, your destiny was to one day take his place as Dark Lord.
The moment the thought crossed you you felt your body stiffen. It was as if your muscles had all contracted and locked up in this position. You heard a strange laugh coming from the head of the table. Your body released and you sank back into your chair. "Sit, all of you." Voldemort motioned with his wand.
"Well you certainly do not fail to impress me child, although your occlumency could certainly use some improvement. Lucius tell me what kinds of training you have provided this child with?"
As Lucius went through the vast list of tutors, your attention drifted to the snake draped around the Dark Lords chair. It looked strangely focused on you with its unusually human eyes. Voldemort stroked its long tail draping his arm rest and it began to unravel itself.
You heard faint whispers, almost as if someone was in your ear. How lovely you are my child, you are the spitting image of your mother. Said a woman's voice. You flinched instinctively, you had no idea where this voice was coming from. Was Voldemort in your head? Why couldn't anyone else hear it?
You looked over at Draco who was looking at you strangely, he didn't need legilimency to read the bewildered and confused look on your face. He raised his eyebrows at you, a subtle reminder to keep your shit together for just a little longer.
Coming towards you was the massive snake, slithering across the table slowly and smoothly. Tell me child, is my daughter well? You froze. Daughter?
When Sirius had stopped you that weekend on your way to Hogsmeade, he had said something about a blood curse. A maledictus. It had been so much information to receive at the time that that particular detail had slid so far to the back of your mind.
Your grandmother paid in eternal servitude to the dark Lord in order to save her from suffering the fate of the curse. The Dark Lord agreed to break the curse, on the condition that she pledge her loyalty to him and that she provide him with an heir. So she did.
When your mother grew up, she was pushed further and further away from the death eaters. But not before she had become one of the greatest dark witches of all time. The Dark Lord tried to force her back by arranging her marriage to Severus, his right hand man.
They pushed her so far that in a desperate attempt to escape, she gave information to the Order of the Phoenix that would help defeat Voldemort. She was the one who told Lily and James Potter how to save Harry and defeat the killing curse. When they caught her they tortured her and stripped her of her magic, beginning her long and slow descent into madness. Voldemort placed the curse back on your grandmother as she refused to help him retaliate against their own child. The only thing that had saved your mother's life was the life she carried within her, yours.
Your eyes widened in horror as you realized the snake in front of you ... was your very own grandmother. Every fibre of your being fought to keep your hands from trembling.
"Ah yes" Voldemort said with a smug grin on his face as he recognized your fear. He stood from his place at the table and made his way around to your chair. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Dracos fists curl around the arms of his chair so tightly it looked like the wood might splinter beneath them.
Your fingers began to shake as he summoned the snake ever closer. Before your anxiety had the chance to overcome you, you reminded yourself of your occlumency lessons.
You showed him what he wanted to see. You reflected on the only thing you had in common, a hate of Albus Dumbledore. The rage you felt towards him for standing by and allowing his students to fight his war for him. He wasn't equally bad as the Dark Lord, he was worse. Raising an army of literal child soldiers. At Least the death eaters were old enough to consent to such things. Except for yourself and Draco perhaps...
Severus across the table looked like he was about to shit himself.
"Now, now my child... we will plan our revenge." He patted your shoulder awkwardly. You no longer felt fear, you felt empowerment and... almost excitement. The dark magic no longer felt strange or foreign to you. It settled in your bones and you let it. It felt like for the first time since you had arrived at the manor, like this could be home.
He glanced around to the rest of the table. "Leave us."