Growing up in a cold house of carefully crafted masks, a place where galleons were given instead of smiles and etiquette was taught before words. Lucius had everything yet nothing at all, he had grown up spoiled, and his wishes were completed before they were even spoken, yet. Yet there remained an ache for affection, an emptiness that cannot be chased away.
He worshipped his father once, had made an altar in his name in the depth of his cupboard, and had wanted to be just like him. But all that admiration died a premature death the moment he stepped foot into Hogwarts and realized that fathers are supposed to love you, to smile at you and ruffle your hair, they are supposed to praise you and Abraxas Malfoy for all he was a good politician, an admired man was not a good father. He was never a father at all, just a distant guardian who gave you everything you desired except---except love.
He had found quiet happiness in Narcissa. Cissa, who was lovely and nice, Cissa, who looked at him with the warmth he had never had the privilege of knowing, Cissa his sun and moon and stars and flowers. Cissa who he loved. Cissa who he married.
Cissa, who betrayed him.
Narcissa, who was more a spy than a wife. Lucius' ambition was great but it was all for family, he could understand his future self quite well, after all for him the only remaining heir of the Black fortune was Draco, their son. Was he too let the title go? Was he to let Cissa's family end with her? No of course not.
For all they whispered of his greed they forgot to mention that all Lucius Malfoy had ever done was for his family.
Lucius stood on the precipice of betrayal, his world crumbling around him as the one he loved and trusted above all else revealed her true colors. Narcissa, his wife, has dealt a devastating blow by exposing his plans to her family, thrusting him into the crosshairs of their wrath.
The weight of her betrayal presses heavily upon his shoulders, threatening to crush him under its burden. How could she have betrayed him so callously, casting aside their shared ambitions and familial loyalty? The shock reverberates through his veins, a venomous poison seeping into every crevice of his being.
His mind spins with a whirlwind of emotions---anger, betrayal, and hurt. He feels the sting of wounded pride, the ache of a shattered trust. The world he had carefully constructed, built upon the foundation of a united front with Narcissa, was reduced to rubble in an instant.
The tendrils of doubt crept into his consciousness. How could he have been so blind? Were there signs he had overlooked, warnings unheeded? Questions danced in his mind, tormenting him with their relentless pursuit of truth.
He should have seen it coming, should have seen the darkening of her eyes behind the perfectly crafted facade, should have known that her loyalty would always remain to her family first, not to him---never to him.
(---but are you not family too? A voice asked in the confines of his mind)
Lucius wanted to laugh and disappear. He wanted to cry and lament. How he wishes he could turn back time and make everything alright. Maybe his father was correct after all, love was a weakness. And by God, he was still weak for Narcissa.
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The screen changes to a cloaked figure stealthily following a brunette man, who quickens his pace as if sensing someone behind him. The camera focuses on the man's back as he takes detours and finally disappears into a closed alley.
The cloaked figure hesitates at the mouth of the alley, wand at the ready, prepared to cast spells at the first sign of danger.
Suddenly, a commotion erupts among the trash bins lining the street. The hooded figure cautiously approaches, wand pointed at the source of the noise.
A meow breaks the silence, causing the figure to shake their head and contemplate leaving. But before they can retreat, the very brunette man they were following suddenly ambushed them. The lights flash, revealing the scarred face of Remus Lupin, his lips curled in a snarl.
"My, my Moony. You got hotter." Sirius whistles with James nodding along.
Peter side eyes the blush that dusts Moony's cheeks, his gaze knowing.
Remus tries to reply nonchalantly, "Obviously."
Alice nudges Frank and whispers, "They are so cute."
"So are you." Frank smiles at her adoringly, making her turn red.
Startled, the figure struggles for a moment before Remus loosens his grip.
PERSEUS: Well, hello there. Getting handsy already, Lupin?
"Kinky." Someone whispers in the crowd eliciting laughter.
Remus stares on flustered.
Remus stares at the speaker, momentarily taken aback by the unexpectedly familiar voice.
The hood falls off, revealing a smirking Perseus Black with his hands raised in surrender.
A shocked whisper fills the eerie silence of the empty street.
REMUS LUPIN: Sirius?
"Come on Moony! That clearly isn't me! I am more handsome and have better hair." Sirius Black whines
Remus raises his hand in surrender.
PERSEUS BLACK: Not quite.
REMUS LUPIN (his surprise shifting to anger): Imposter, how dare you pretend to be the traitor?
"You are pretending to not know the truth, right---RIGHT?!" Regulus asks his brother's best friend.
Remus just hums.
"RIGHT?!" Regulus looked like he was about to jump on Remus and shake him till he answered and the only thing that was stopping him was Barty's hand on his waist.
"...Right." Remus was already used to sudden bouts of hysteria from Blacks.
PERSEUS: Wrong again, Moony. This natural charm you're experiencing is all my own.
REMUS LUPIN (takes a deep breath, guesses): ...Percy?
PERSEUS BLACK (surprised): Oh, so you do know me.
REMUS LUPIN (chuckling): Sirius wasn't as skilled at hiding things as he believed. After a few drinks, all his secrets spilled out.
"That is so not true!"
"Sorry mate---" James starts making Sirius smile thinking he will take the Black's side, which soon falls as he continues, "but it is indeed true."
"Betrayal!" Sirius cries out looking devastated.
"Brother, admit it you have a loose tongue." Regulus quips in.
"Not you too!"
PERSEUS BLACK (resigned): So, you know the truth.
"He always knows." An eerie whisper echoes in the hall as if stating the eternal truth.
REMUS LUPIN (smirking): That is the understatement of the decade.
PERSEUS BLACK: Why are you so calm? Rumors have it that my brother betrayed the Potters. Weren't you best friends with our cousin, James?
The Marauders smirk.
REMUS LUPIN (laughing): The fact that James is alive is proof enough that Sirius could never betray Prongs.
"Can you be any more cryptic? Get to the point." An enthusiastic Ravenclaw third-year, Helena Dorr leans in and whines.
PERSEUS BLACK (surprised): What do you mean?
REMUS LUPIN (smiling knowingly): Blood oaths have a way of ensuring the betrayer doesn't live to tell the tale.
"Sirius son, tell me you did not swear a blood oath with your school friends." Orion turns toward his son with exasperation.
"...I did not?" Sirius looks a little pale.
"Are you asking me or telling me?" Orion stresses.
"Telling you." The soon-to-be-dead Black replies unsurely.
Orion deflates, "You will give me white hairs."
Cygnus smirks and nudges Alphard pointing at Orion's head, "Is that a white strand, brother?"
Alphard already in on the play dons on a horrified look, "It is."
Walburga snorts, already used to their antics but Orion jumps up with a disturbed look, "WHAT?"
Sirius sighed in relief before accidentally meeting eyes with his grandmother, who did not quite look like the sweet lady he thought she was. He shudders.
"James..." Dorea smiles with her teeth, making James scramble backward and look for help from his father. Only to pale further at seeing his serene face.
Remus leaves Perseus shell-shocked in the alley and walks away, shaking his head and laughing.
Perseus quickly recovers and hurries to catch up with him.
The screen fades to black and then reveals the gate of a dingy apartment with the nameplate "Mr. Mar Aud Ersden" written in cursive.
Perseus gazes at it, stunned.
The audience also looks at it in disbelief.
Sirius preens.
REMUS LUPIN (noticing and laughing): Ah, that was Sirius to you. That dog never had a subtle bone in his body. Some things never change.
PERSEUS BLACK: Clearly, subtlety isn't a Black family trait.
"True that." Rabastan whispers.
Regulus side-eyes him, "Look who is talking."
Barty snorts, and Rodolphus leaps up at the chance to take revenge, "Ah yes, aren't you the one who said that Professor McGonagall desperately needs a grooming session, or even Mrs. Norris will run at the sight of her to her face?"
Rabastan very carefully does not look away from the screen as laughter and disbelief ring out in the hall.
Remus remains silent as he takes out his wand and makes a complex pattern on the door, causing it to light up.
Perseus watches with fascination.
REMUS LUPIN (whispering): I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.
"Giving away all our secrets, eh Moony?" Peter nudges his mate.
"If only I could control what all is being shown." Remus laments.
After a moment of silence, the door creaks open, revealing a cozy room adorned with peculiar animal plushies. A large pinboard is attached to the main wall, filled with maps, newspaper clippings, sticky notes, and photographs. One particular article circled repeatedly with a red marker, stands out—a front-page cover of the Daily Prophet, with the headline "SIRIUS BLACK: TRAITOR AND RIGHT-HAND MAN OF THE DARK LORD."
"That's so cool, mates! We need to make another as soon as possible." Sirius whisper-exclaims.
James nods in enthusiastic agreement and whispers back, "With different locations and passwords, of course."
Remus and Peter share a look, "Of course."
Perseus is drawn to the article, his hand reaching out instinctively. However, he inadvertently steps on something soft along the way.
A scream of terror emerges from the floor, causing him to jump back. His eyes follow the source of the voice, and he comes face to face with a startled but relatively healthy-looking Peter Pettigrew, who is rumored to be dead. Perseus's own footprint marks Peter's face.
"Ouch." Peter winces as if feeling phantom pain.
PETER PETTIGREW (leaping up): Sirius?
REMUS LUPIN: Not quite. This is Perseus Black, Sirius' brother----the twin.
Peter stumbles over his shoes and pulls Remus closer, distancing themselves from Perseus. He eyes the Black brother with suspicion. They have a whispered conversation.
PETER (whispering): Why is he here?
REMUS (whispering back): I don't know.
"You don't know?" Marlene asks Remus sarcastically.
"Against popular belief, I do not in fact know everything." Remus answered her drolly.
PETER: You let him into our house?
REMUS: He looked like Padfoot! He even smiled like him!
"I know, you love me Moony!" Sirius smiled obliviously at blushing Remus, while James and Peter shared an exasperated and resigned look.
"I am sorry to say, Lupin." Edgar Bones started ignoring Sirius' petulant 'Then don't say it.' And continued, "That is not a valid reason to invite a stranger in your super-duper secret hideout."
Peter looked enlightened, "See! Someone agrees with me!"
Remus spluttered.
PETER: What?
REMUS: He's Padfoot's brother, Percy. Sirius told me about him.
"Sirius..." Regulus glared at his seemingly innocent brother. Can't he keep a single secret?
Sirius looked confused, "But I didn't tell anyone!"
The marauders avoided his eyes.
PETER: Yes, Sirius told you while he was intoxicated, wallowing in self-pity and complimenting his own hairstyle simultaneously.
"That is slander!" Sirius burst out though somewhere deep inside his heart he knew it was the bitter truth.
Walburga tutted unimpressed, "There is no use in lying to yourself."
"But mother---"
"It is most probably true."
REMUS (blushing): We don't talk about that.
PETER: No, we don't.
Alphard looked very curious suddenly while Regulus winced in sympathy already seeing through Remus' crush and knowing Sirius was too in love with Donna to notice it.
They exchange a knowing look before turning their attention to a bemused Perseus. The whispering stops.
PETER saunters forward making a show of inspecting Perseus, up and down.
PERSEUS (raises an eyebrow): Done checking me out?
Mary wiggles her eyebrows suggestively, making Peter blush for very different reasons.
PETER ignores this.
PETER (tsks): Sirius was taller.
"You do not say THAT!" A rather short 4th-year Ravenclaw, Harry Kane burst out offended making Peter raise his hand in surrender.
PERSEUS (unphased, smirking): Taller than you, yes.
"OOOH BURN!" Harry shouted in delight looking a little too interested making the audience laugh.
REMUS snorts. PETER looks surprised and then approving before his expression turns mocking again.
PETER (smiles mockingly): Hmm. He had better hair too.
"Ouch, that had to hurt." Sirius winced but still looked at Peter in thanks.
The offended look on Perseus' face gave Peter all the answers he needed.
"Hair is sacred, after all." Regulus approved of the offense on his little brother's face, He would have hexed the offender bald had anyone dared insult his beloved hair.
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The screen changes to a close-up of a map and a drop of blood that floats on top of it, unmoving and unabsorbing, the camera slowly moves away and shows the people standing around it, MARCELLA, CAELUM, CASSIOPEIA, ANDROMEDA, and TED.
"Is that wiccan magic?" A Gryffindor, Fedrick Howard asked curiously.
"BANNED wiccan magic, yes." A Ravenclaw, Jasmine Davis answered her voice scandalized and excited.
"Meh, who cares?" Fedrick snorted.
"The ministry." The quick reply came with a haughty sniff.
"Oh shit." The Gryffindor muttered.
EVERYONE: Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem.
"WRITE THAT DOWN!" Alexis Godfrey shouted at his mate urgently in excitement.
"Write it yourself." His mate paid him no mind, used to his outbursts.
Alexis paid him no mind and wrote it down quickly in his pocket notepad.
They are all wearing ritual robes and their hands are joined together. Lighted candles are kept in a circle around the everchanging magical map. They chant in unison, the flame of the candles getting brighter and brighter as the volume of their voices rises. The drop of the blood starts moving chaotically with no sense of direction going faster and faster as the wind picks up and spells reach its end. The candles blow out suddenly, making the room fall into darkness.
The air stills and all that can be heard is the heavy pants.
CASSIOPIEA: Lumos Maxima
The room is once again visible, there are visible drops of sweat on the ritual doers' foreheads and their expression cannot hide how tired they are.
TED TONKS (leans in towards the map): There it is. It worked.
MARCELLA (turns towards Caelum, smiles, her expression of profound relief): IT WORKED!
CAELUM: Did you doubt me, Corvina?
"Why does it feel like Caelum is a jilted wife?" A voice from the crowd asked curious and a little mocking.
Alphard snorted. Knowing very well how Marcella loved playing the husband.
MARCELLA: Yes...?
CAELUM (disbelief): You doubted me?
"That is approaching a very dangerous territory." Sirius, an expert in getting slapped by angry lovers warned.
MARCELLA: Levi, darling... I truly did not want to but you know how your ideas usually end up!
CAELUM: That was one time!
"That sounds ominous." Barty Crouch Jr. smiled.
MARCELLA: You made a graveyard come alive! There were zombies who wanted to eat us and a female one even proposed to you with a flower straight from her gravestone. Apparently, you were very---
"I want to retch but at the same time How romantic---How poetic." A romance enthusiast, Kylie said dreamily, "A rose from my grave for the boy who made me feel alive."
Her friend side-eyes her, "How weird."
CAELUM (quickly): Silencio.
MARCELLA opens her mouth and closes it as no sound comes out. She hears snorts and turns wide-eyed furious at the Blacks who are not even trying to contain their amusement.
ANDROMEDA: If the two of you are done flirting--
CAELUM/ MARCELLA (move away from each other in disgust): WHAT---NO!
"This feels like an enemy-to-lover trope." Kylie burst out in excitement.
ANDROMEDA (continues as if they were background noise): We have business to complete.
They bow their heads in acquiescence.
CASSIOPEIA: The location is not exactly accurate but we were not expecting it to be.
TED (hums): There are wards concealing Adhara's location. Powerful wards, blood wards.
Cygnus looks reluctantly approving which earns him an amused look from Alphard.
CASSIOPEIA (approving): You have done your homework.
ANDROMEDA smiles.
MARCELLA (no longer under the spell): Blood wards in the most mundane neighborhood in the country? How interesting.
"Very interesting and suspiciously so." Andromeda leaned in.
CAELUM (nods): Madame Lily was a first-generation witch, yes?
"I like that term." Fedrick gave an approving nod.
"It's French." Jasmine butted in.
"No one asked, Davis." Howard commented snidely.
Jasmine ignored him.
ANDROMEDA (nods): Indeed.
CAELUM (thoughtful): Does she have any muggle relatives left?
Lily looks devastated and angry. He left her daughter, her heart with Petunia? She wouldn't hurt her, would she? Surely not?(---but what if?)
CASSIOPEIA (disbelieving): Dumbledore wouldn't dare.
Arcturus started knowing his sister very well, "He better hope he didn't, Last time Cassiopeia had THAT expression---"
"---she lit a whole mansion on fire." Pollux finished.
Dorea hissed in agreement.
"But that is illegal!" Melissa Ke, a Gryffindor couldn't help but overhear.
"So is watching state secrets and future being outed, darling. You aren't complaining about that." Cassiopeia replied with a dark dark smile on her face.
The girl suddenly found herself very interested in the screen.
MARCELLA: Oh, but he would. He would.
ANDROMEDA (in realization): He left a magical child with a muggle? It was common knowledge that Lily's sister was a---
TED (horrified): Magic-hating muggle.
CASSIOPEIA's dark face is shown before she apparated out of the room.
"That does not bode well for anyone." Alphard looks perturbed, a look that is mirrored on every Black who knows her ways.
Cassiopeia sits still, calm and composed.
ANDROMEDA and TED share a look.
MARCELLA licks a knife she conjured out of thin air and smiles ignoring CAELUM who looks at her in disgust and something else.
"That's disgusting but hot. So hot---" Marlene gushed.
"I want her to lic--" A voice in the back started before he was silenced by a well-aimed Silencio.
Mary McDonald twirled her wand in her hand, "There are kids here."
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Good news! I have the whole courtroom scene written (1000+ words already!) with only the reactions left, guess you will see a new update soon. *whisper* this week possibly *whisper*
P.S. The nameless Gryffindor and Ravenclaw most of you were shipping now have names!
MEET Fredrick Howard(muggle-born) and Jasmine Davis(pureblood) the parents of the future Tracy Davis!
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How can we forget the question of the day?
To be integrated in the 'Les Serres Noires' which is The Black Talons but in french (too cliché?) you need a cool code name,
What is yours?
( Maybe if I like it you will show up in the next meeting of the crows.)
For reference Alkaid is Blackheart, Perseus is Asura, Caelum is Levi and Marcella is Corvina.
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