Chapter 11
When Lucius entered Malfoy manor, he discreetly observed Potter’s reaction. He was expecting the boy to be wide eyes, and surprised, he was pleasantly surprised to see Potter acting normally. To be honest Lucius was surprised that his son’s description of Potter was mostly accurate, Draco has always overexaggerated things. So, he assumed that this was the same case, apparently not. The only thing his son seemed to have missed was the extremely potent aura of dark magic that surrounded the boy like a blanket, and the bright green eyes that pierced your soul when you make direct eye contact. He didn’t blame Draco though; he was just particularly good at feeling auras and magic in general. Lucius had only known the boy for ten minutes when he already felt extremely relieved that he went against Severus warning and accepted the request for Potter to stay the summer. Lucius knew Severus had been right, the boy was extremely dark, but the boy didn’t seem to be a bad influence on Draco.
When they entered the dining room they were greeted by his beautiful wife, Narcissa, she was sitting at the table drinking tea and reading her favorite book. She seemed startled by the sudden intrusion, but Lucius couldn’t help but give a small smile at her.
The sudden realization must have dawned on her as she gave a small polite smile and said, “Oh! My apologies I should have known you would be here any moment. Wonderful to see you both, now come sit down it is about lunch time.” Draco and Harry nodded politely as they rushed to their seats; Lucius was prepared to tell Potter where to sit but much to his surprise he sat down in the correct spot. He realized the boy must have read on pureblood etiquette, inwardly smiling he too sat down in his respective seat.
His wife seemed to have been mildly surprised as well, though her face remained in a small smile. “Now Potter, why don’t you tell us about yourself? After all you are the guest, and we hardly know anything about you!” Narcissa asked curiously. Lucius wonders if she can feel the same aura coming from him as well, though he doubted it would have been to the same extreme as him.
The boy proceeded to stay silent for a minute, clearly thinking on what he should tell her. Finally, the boy spoke up and said, “Well to be honest I am not too interesting. I enjoy reading, magic, and occasionally muggle drawing.”
Narcissa smiled and said, “All wonderful things, what got you into muggle art? Surely wizarding art has more… Abilities.” Lucius looked over at his own son who seemed thoroughly uncomfortable, and to be honest he was starting too as well. As lovely as his wife was, she tended to interview Draco’s friends to see if they were “worthy” it isolated his son.
Suddenly he was snapped back into reality when he heard Potter say, “You are correct the wizarding world has more options for art, but I personally like the calmness of doing it without magic. As for your first question I merely went to the store and bought it out of curiosity.” Lucius thought his reply on how he got into art oddly vague, but he did not comment. Before Narcissa could reply to his house elf, Dobby, had factually popped in to serve them lunch. The elf stood there waiting to be dismissed. Draco ignored the elf, but Potter seemed to have eyed it almost immediately. Lucius groaned inside praying to Merlin that this boy was not a house elf activist like most muggleborns/muggle raised.
“You may leave now. Go tell Winky to get the gift ready, it must be done after lunch or else…” Lucius warned with a threatening tone. The elf squeaked in fear then popped to go tell his fellow the orders. Potter was seemed to have been lost in thought, his son slightly nudged him motioning him to eat. Which Potter promptly did. They soon fell into conversation, Harry would mainly give polite, short answers while, Draco gave long complete answers.
Harry finally said, “If I may ask what is that thing that came in and brought us food? Is it a servant?” Lucius was about to tell Potter, but Draco spoke up first and exclaimed,
“That are house elf. They serve us Wizards and Witches because they are below us. They are nothing but dirt beneath out feet, don’t feel bad for being mean to them.”
“Harry house elves do serve us, but they aren’t necessarily dirt beneath our feet. They are lesser creatures than us, but don’t serve us because of it. No, they serve us because they need our magic to function properly. We make bonds with our elves which basically connect our magic to a small extent, it gives them the ability to use their own magic. Do you understand?” Lucius stated already knowing Potter understood fully, Draco only huffed and sank into his seat. Which was immediately corrected by Narcissa, she hated bad posture. Lucius chuckled a little bit. Although he does find it odd that Potter doesn't know what a house elf is. Surely the boy has been raised by a wizard.
After lunch the boys were told to go to the living room, which Draco thankfully said he would lead Potter. Lucius finally had time to discuss things with his wife. By the time they got there, they would be done talking. Lucius inwardly grinned at how big their manor was.
“What do you think of Potter, Narcissa?” Lucius asked to a rather confused wife.
Narcissa hesitated to answer for a minute before she stated, “Well in all honesty it's hard to make opinion of the boy, he basically didn’t say anything of substance during lunch. So far, he’s been nothing but polite and respectful, but something about him is just off…”
Lucius nodded and replied, “Ah I’m glad you’ve noticed it as well. Potter does seem to have a knack at talking but not saying anything at the same time. I want to keep an eye on him, but so far, I support this friendship with Draco. In future years he will become very powerful, not just magically but politically as well. Especially since he is already the heir of two noble houses, we just need to wait till he can claim lordship.” At his words Narcissa paled slightly but nodded anyway. Just by looking at her to was clear that she was nervous about her son being with someone so dangerous. Sighing Lucius got up from his chair and walked over to his wife and pulled her into a gentle kiss.
“Come now, we wouldn’t want to keep them waiting for too long.” Lucius said to his wife, she simply nodded. They both apparated to the living room.
When Lucius entered, they saw Draco and Potter talking to each other, doing a slight cough to grab their attention Lucius said, “We won’t take any more of your time, but I am sure you’ll enjoy this.” They both nodded. Suddenly two house-elves popped in carrying packages longer than themselves. One elf handing Harry a package, and the other doing the same for Draco. They both stood there awkwardly holding the package, waiting for permission to open it.
Lucius smiled and said, “Well what are you waiting for?” At these words Draco began ripping the package open, Harry opened it gently as if it would break. Lucius noticed his eyes becoming wider and wider, it was clear that the boy must have rarely gotten any kind of present. When they both finished opening it the packages revealed the newest broomstick mode, nimbus 2000. His son immediately hugged him and then Narcissa while saying “Thank you!” over and over. Harry just stood there staring at the broom wide eyes.
All Potter said was, “Thank you…” but Lucius knew the boy wasn’t being ungrateful, his voice quavered with emotion. Draco seemed to have stopped when he heard Harry’s voice, clearly shocked on how emotional it sounded.
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The rest of Yule break passed by quickly between training, flying, and teaching the children politics, and beginner spells of the Dark Arts. All in all, Christmas break was good. Lucius was pleasantly surprised by the boy’s magic and flying ability Potter was naturally good at flying and seemed to have an affinity towards the Dark arts. It slightly annoyed him that Potter refused to accept the pure-blood belief, and he begrudgingly accepted that Potter had a few good points on why its corrupt. He did not push his beliefs on them, which Lucius was grateful for. The only thing they agreed with was the fact that they are superior to muggles, but Potter believed muggleborns are as good as purebloods. Besides that, the only thing that kept nagging him was how he knew nothing about Potter, the boy was too good at manipulating and changing the subject when personal topics came up. Also, that one incident with the boy….
~Flashback~
It started on another pleasant day, for the first time in a while it was bright. Potter had claimed that he wanted to take a walk in the forest by himself as he was feeling adventurous, Lucius of course said yes as he knew Draco could get annoying. After a few hours and it started to become dark, and Lucius started to become worried. So, he and Narcissa set into the forest to search for Potter, he also put Draco under strict order to stay inside. It didn’t take long to find him, but what they found him doing was sickening.
Potter was using wandless magic to break the bones of some animal; Lucius had no idea what kind it was due to how mutilated it was, but the screams and wails of the creature was it was horrific. Dead, mutilated animals were scattered across Potter as well, size ranging from a squirrel to a deer. All seemed to have died in different ways, from being decapitated from an obvious “diffindo” charm to being burned alive.
Potter turned around his dark smile fading into impassiveness, as he asks, “Apologies, was I out for too long?”
Lucius subconsciously grabs Narcissa hand, looking over at her she seems to be just as horrified. Potter noticed this and quickly explained, “You mustn’t worry, I was just practicing my wandless magic. I didn’t know what else to practice on.” Lucius reluctantly nodded.
~End~
Though Potter still ‘walked’ in the forest alone, the only difference was that Lucius didn’t come to get him when it was time for a meal. He wasn’t stupid enough to believe that whatever happened that day was just a onetime incident; he knew what Potter was doing. Draco however did not, he remembered that moment when he had to listen to Draco complain that potter wasn’t paying enough attention to him.
Lucius still shuddered thinking about it. But after the incident, Potter acted like a normal child. Sometimes the mask would slip, and he would see the cold dark interior. But he couldn’t say anything about it, because Draco seems to adore Potter. Lucius may support the borderline servant/master friendship but that does not mean that he isn’t worried for his son. The more Lucius watched Draco the more he could see the incessant respect and honor Draco gives Potter. It seems to be the same with Longbottom, and Nott when they visited for a week, they all respected him so much. It irked him to see them follow Potter around and agree to everything he says, it reminded him too much of the Dark Lord. The only saving grace was that Draco’s soon-to-be-wife, Pansy Parkinson, didn’t fawn over Potter and even encourages Draco to spend some time without Potter.
Lucius was also shocked on Yule someone gave Potter an invisibility cloak, what shocked him more however was the fact the cloak was older than five years. Potter told them that the letter said it was his fathers, most invisibility cloaks last for about three years average, at the five years mark its basically useless. Potter had also given Draco and all his friends a necklace that teleports Draco to Potters location if Draco was in a near-death situation. To say Draco liked it was an understatement, his son had hugged Potter. Which was rare for Draco, he and Narcissa were the only people he hugged before Potter.
All in all, Lucius grew a hesitant respect for Potter. Today was the day that Potter and Draco will be returning to Hogwarts, they all got packed and ate breakfast. A few hours later they headed to Kings cross station, now they were bidding each other goodbye.
“It was a wonderful Christmas break, thank you for inviting me to the manor Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.” Potter stated.
“It was wonderful to have you here dear, you and Draco have fun.” Narcissa stated, Lucius noted that Narcissa seemed to have taken on an odd motherly role for the boy. It was clear that she has a genuine like for the boy, even if he had some unfavorable hobbies.
“Yes Mother, I’m sure we will have an excellent time. Goodbye Mother, Father, I will see you this summer!” Draco said giving him and Narcissa a quick hug before leaving to the train. Lucius shook his head slightly displeased with the public display of emotions, but he did not comment on it because he loved his son, and he just accepted the fact that he is different.
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Harry sat down in a compartment with Draco. Theo, Neville, Pansy Parkinson, and Zabini were sitting with him, the rest of Draco’s friends were in the compartment besides them. He and Theo were reading a book, while the others quietly talked. The train ride was fairly pleasant until halfway through when Daphne Greengrass told them that Ronald Weasley tried to do a coloring spell on his rat, and it turned his hair blue. Draco took this as an opportunity to tease him.
Effectively dragging Harry to the Weasley’s compartment Draco mocked, “I can see the blood traitor can’t even do a basic spell.” Harry could care less about the teasing, he just stood there awkwardly waiting for Draco to be done.
Ron glared at them, he snapped, “Shove off Malfoy, at least I’m not going to become pathetic death eater like you!”
Draco laughed, and retorted, “And a so called ‘pathetic death eater’ also put you in St. Mungo’s for a month!” causing Weasley’s face to turn red. Harry smirked at the scene, he wouldn’t admit it, but Draco does have a knack for good comebacks. However, his smirk turned into a frown when the Weasley launched himself at Draco. Harry immediately took out his wand and calmy said,” Wingardium Leviosa” at these words the youngest Weasley started to fly, effectively letting go of Draco in the process. Instead of gently putting him down Harry decided it would be a good idea to show him danger. He pointed his wand to the side of the train and forced more magic energy than necessary in the spell and then slammed Weasley into the wall. Weasley hit it with a sickening crunch, he passed out due to the force. Smirking he ignored the shocked stares he was getting and walked to Draco to help him up. Smirking he looked at Draco, who was sporting a black eye.
When they entered the compartment almost instantly Draco was getting fawned over, and sympathy for being hit by Weasley. Harry didn’t understand why they felt bad for Draco, they didn’t experience it, nor does it affect them. He knew that Draco was his friend, but he couldn’t feel an ounce of sympathy, after. After all Draco was technically the one to verbally assault Weasley, but he supposed the Gryffindor deserved it. Weasley was disgusting, brash and rude in most scenarios, a perfect example is when he and Granger went for Professor Quirrell and almost got themselves killed. He just didn’t care.
When they finally excited the train and had a Yule/Christmas feast Harry managed to sneak to the library after curfew using his invisibility cloak to get a book in the restricted section. Harry found himself getting interested in Dark curses, and Transfiguration. Mr. Malfoy taught them that transfiguration can be dark, it usually requires one to make a ‘living’ creature, the transfigurations are not alive, but they act like it. Many dark wizards have transfigured an animal and programmed it to be completely loyal to you. Or transfigure yourself or different people, its dark because it not only alters how you look but it is basically torture to transfigure someone else. Harry wanted to make monsters that can defeat his enemies when if he gains any, a mix of Transfiguration, Dark arts, and defense against the dark arts will make him the most powerful.
When he entered however, he saw the Weasley twins. Fred, and George preparing some prank at the table where the majority of Ravenclaws sit at. Smirking he walked over to them, not because he wanted to get them in trouble. No, he wanted to befriend them. Not only would it piss of Ronald, but he would have access to admittedly genius creations that the twins made. He just hopes that they don’t hate him because of the youngest Weasley.
“Hello, what are you doing?” Harry asked them, they both stared at him with wide eyes before giving him a mischievous grin.
“What is little Potter-“
“boy doing awake after curfew.” They said, finishing each other’s sentence. Harry did not know which one is Fred and which one is George, it was quite confusing.
Harry smiled back and continued, “I was looking for a book on curses and Transfiguration before I went to bed. I was just curious on what you were doing, don’t tell anyone this but I think your pranks are really funny. I particularly liked the one where you made Professor Snapes hair bright pink.”
The twins laughed and exclaimed, “Well that’s a-“
“Surprise, everyone at Gryffindor thought you-“
“Were some stuck up ponce!” They said again, taking turns while speaking.
Harry gave a weak chuckle and said, “Yes well us Slytherins do have a reputation do maintain, so what were you doing? I promise I won’t tell anyone.”
The twins smiled and said, “Sorry Potter-“
“You’ll have to wait till tomorrow!”
“But because you were so nice to us-“
“We’ll spare you! See-“
“you-“
“later!” They said waving Harry off. Harry smirked at them and left the library forgetting the books, not like he could have gotten them anyway. The twins might be pranksters, but they were as light as can be. Or at least that’s what Harry thinks, little does he know… He soon fell asleep to another dreamless slumber.
When Harry awoke that morning, he got dressed and immediately went to the library, not even bothering to eat. He was just too curious on what the twins did. The Weasley twins put up a charm on the table so whenever someone sat down the table would grow mini wings and fly off. Harry and his friends watched Professor McGonagall chase it for five minutes, the table was so dang fast. Potter had also mentioned the idea of including the Weasley Twins in their group as well, Neville was thrilled to have more Gryffindors in the group, the others seemed to have agreed. This led on a whole new conversation on inter house unity, no one was particularly thrilled, but they agreed it would benefit greatly. They would start the plan next year as they are halfway through the year and people will most likely like 2nd years more than 1rst years.
The rest of the day went well without incident, including defense against the dark arts. Harry did not like this teacher as much as Professor Quirrell, but she was still competent enough. Her name was Professor Avery, she is a muggleborns which and is incredibly good at defense spells. Harry smirked at Draco’s shocked face when he learned she was muggleborns, he assumed she was a part of a pureblood family in Europe, Switzerland. (Mrs. Avery talked about where she grew up frequently.) The only down part is that she favored the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws and was slightly biased against Slytherin. It wasn’t overly obvious though; she was clearly going it subconsciously.
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As time went on the Weasley twins started to slowly detach themselves from Ronald Weasley and began to hang around them more. The school says all passed in a blur as nothing important was happening and before Harry could even recognize it, they were all packing for the summer. He was forced to tell them to not write or invite him over, this led them to ask questions, Harry was undeniably nervous, he knew he could just intimidate the other kids to leave him alone but his ‘caretakers’ would obviously watch him more closely. Draco, Neville, and Theo tried to pry answers, even the twins attempted to ask. He shrugged them off and packed his clothes, they would be leaving in a few hours anyway and he did not see the point.
The train ride was quite but comfortable, everyone seemed to be ready and go home. Aside from Harry who was reading to keep his mind off things. Soon however the train stopped, and it was time to take a bus to the orphanage. Saying a quick goodbye Harry got off.