Fic: "Walls", for hikaru
Title: Walls
Author: riibu
Recipient: hikaru
Rating: 15
Character: Lucius Malfoy
Warnings: Violence, torture
Summary: Lucius Malfoy isn't the first prisoner in this cell, nor will he be the last. To the wall, he's just another unfortunate Azkaban resident.
Author's notes: I hope you enjoy your gift fic. You preferred a slightly darker take on the wizarding world, and somehow I found myself writing about Lucius in a dark place. Many thanks to my wonderful betas kennahijja and x_lethe_x.
Walls
The same walls every day. The same routine. He wakes from a dream already forgotten, opens his eyes and stares at the dirty stone wall that marks the boundary between him and the rest of the world. The wall is proud and strong; it was here before him and it will probably last long after he has gone. Lucius Malfoy isn't the first prisoner in this cell, nor will he be the last. To the wall, he's just another unfortunate Azkaban resident. Still, he stares at the wall every morning, wishing he could burn a hole there. But he would need a wand - wands are everything - and ever since his wand was snapped in two he's been as helpless as a bloody Squib.
It's an infuriating thought.
He can't let his thoughts linger there - he has seen how this kind of thinking makes people crazy over time, even without the presence of Dementors. He appreciates the little peace of mind he has, so he thinks of his son instead.
Lucius is pleased with Draco. His son will become a good wizard. He has demanded a lot from him - sometimes too much - but he knows he has done the right thing. During times like these, it's important to be strong. Draco will achieve his N.E.W.T.s, and later there will probably be a nice Ministry job waiting for him. Malfoy Manor will be his as well. Yes, Draco will have a good life. Lucius only wishes he and Draco had had more time to speak with each other before this. Before Azkaban.
The first night in Azkaban was the worst one. He didn't know how he would react when the guards locked the door. Would he scream? Would he bang his knuckles on the oak door? Would he lose his mind? To his great surprise he did none of this. He felt saner than ever. He didn't think of revenge, nor of his stained reputation. He just sat on the bed and stared at the wall, knowing that he would cope somehow.
At first he waited for the Dark Lord to come and rescue him. Nothing happened. He still refuses to believe the Dark Lord isn't able to invade Azkaban if he really wanted to, and if the prisoners were important enough to him. Perhaps it's meant to be a lesson in humility for them. Lucius doesn't need that kind of lesson. Day by day, he misses the Dark Lord less.
Prison doesn't mean complete isolation. It's strange how quickly news reaches the inside of the walls.
"There's something big going on," mentions Theophilus Nott one day during their exercise hour, "and your son is involved."
He doesn't say more - that's probably all he knows - but his words make Lucius restless. Draco is too young to be involved. He wishes he had explained some things to his son when he still had a chance. He sits in his cell and writes official requests to meet his closest family, but they are always rejected. He knows the warden loathes him. A new name is added on his revenge list.
The walls become even colder during long winter nights. Lucius dreams of revenge, but when he sits and stares at the stone wall he keeps forgetting what he is waiting for. He considers suicide, but he needs to know that Draco is safe first. Still no news about Voldemort's big plan.
He knows the Dark Lord isn't pleased with him. After all these years he got himself imprisoned. As if it had been his fault! He can't help thinking that Voldemort made a grave mistake when he sent his best men to retrieve the Prophecy based on such a weak plan, and is sure the Dark Lord knows this, too. The Dark Lord could never admit it was a bad decision on his part, though. Lucius knows now he's been made a scapegoat. He can see it in the way others eye him when he is led past their cells. He's not sure if he could kneel down in front of the Dark Lord again without revealing his anger. Thankfully, it doesn't seem he'll be meeting his Lord soon.
On some nights he misses Narcissa and wonders if she misses him as much.
It seems that the Ministry has also heard rumours about Voldemort's big plan. Narcissa and Draco are still not allowed to meet Lucius, but someone else starts visiting him: Rufus Scrimgeour, the new Minister for Magic.
His first visit goes very well under the circumstances. Lucius finds himself standing very straight, clenching an imaginary cane, even smiling slightly as if they were having a relaxed conversation in one of the Ministry corridors like in the old days. The Minister asks how he's been treated so far, if he misses anything and if he has happened to hear anything about Voldemort's next move. Lucius answers shortly and politely that he hasn't, but that he misses seeing his wife and son. It goes quite well. He had never become as close friends with Scrimgeour as with Fudge, but they'd always managed to be civilized around each other.
It all changes the following week. When Scrimgeour arrives, he is accompanied not by common Azkaban guards, but by two Aurors in their official robes.
"Why don't you stop playing your games, Malfoy?" says the Minister, his voice polite as ever, but there's something cold in his eyes. "I know what you are. The situation has changed; this is not the Ministry you're in."
"Really? I had started wondering; it's a bit damp here."
"Malfoy, you're not in a position to be joking."
"I'm not joking, Scrimgeour. This place desperately needs central heating charms."
"It's Minister Scrimgeour," snaps one of the Aurors.
The next time they take him to another room. There's no explanation. He manages to stay calm although anger burns inside him. He is treated like a worthless Squib, or worse, a Mudblood! Only when he sees the manacled chair in the otherwise empty room he starts to understand what the Minister really wants from him. Information.
The thought makes him feel slightly sick. He's not sure if he has the kind of information the Ministry needs, but he's anxious to keep the little secrets he has. His priority is to protect Draco. No, he reminds himself, he can't think of Draco now - there may even be a Legilimens among them.
"What foolishness is this?" he sneers.
He's roughly pushed into the chair, and the manacles snap around his wrists and ankles. They feel cold against his skin. He wishes he had his woollen Gladrags robe.
"There's nothing I can tell you that I haven't told you before." He refuses to take his eyes off Scrimgeour's ugly face.
"I think I'll be the judge of that."
The first questions are typical, and Lucius has answered them a thousand times already. Are you a Death Eater? What is your rank in the organisation? Where are their headquarters? What are they planning now? He gives the regular answers. Yes, he was deceived by the Dark Lord, never knew he was working for him until that unlucky day in the Ministry. No, he was never entrusted with any of their secrets.
Suddenly a sharp pain flares in his face. An Auror is pointing at him with a wand. Some kind of hex? His cheek burns and something warm runs down to his neck. Blood? He wishes he could wipe it off before it stains his clothes.
"You're a lying bastard," says Scrimgeour. "I'm not interested in your lies; I've heard them all before. I know you are a Death Eater, Malfoy. I know you have been working for your Master inside the Ministry, and I have enough proof to link you with one particularly nasty murder of a Muggle, not to speak of various other threats."
"That's ridiculous!"
"You've missed your chance of making a proper confession," continues Scrimgeour as if he hadn't heard Lucius's words. "Sadly, it seems that I need other means to make you fully co-operative." He nods to the Auror on his left who takes a glass vial from his pocket. Until this day, Lucius's Ministry connections have saved him from the humiliating treatment with Veritaserum, but his lucky days seem to be over. He doesn't like it at all, though, and lets the Minister know this. Nevertheless, three drops of liquid are forced down his throat.
Veritaserum makes him lose control of his thoughts. It's nothing like he's experienced before. The Imperius curse causes in a victim an overwhelming need to please the caster by doing anything he asks, rewarding the victim with a pleasant feeling afterwards. With Veritaserum, there's no reward, just raw mental power ripping the information out of his objecting mind.
Lucius tells them everything. Scrimgeour will be happy for he gets his proper confession now. Lucius finds himself telling them about things he has wished he'd forgotten already, and other things he didn't even know he still remembers. Scrimgeour asks clever questions, not letting him hide behind vague words. He has clearly done this before.
Then he asks about Draco. Lucius fights against it, but Nott's warning escapes from his mouth anyway: "Something big's going to happen, and my son is involved."
They become interested at once. They try to force details out of him, but that's all he knows. The Aurors become restless. They hit him with a curse of some kind, causing burning pain. He thinks his arms are on fire, but when he looks the skin appears as white as ever. They repeat the curse. He screams. Then there's another kind of curse, like a cloth pressed against his mouth and nose. He thinks he's suffocating although he knows there's nothing. No cloth. They only stop when he starts to throw up. They leave him sitting there, still tied up, until the next day.
When they return, Lucius can't look at Scrimgeour any more. His mouth is very dry as he mutters the only thing left untold: "Nott knows more."
They drag him back to his cell. He can't walk. Later, he hears noise as they are taking Nott away.
Theophilus Nott doesn't come back. Lucius stares at the wall and tries to breathe steadily, but somehow it still feels as if someone is forcing a cloth against his mouth. He doesn't know what Nott will tell Scrimgeour. Everything he knows, probably. How much is everything? Will they take Draco next?
He tries to write another letter to the officials, but his hand is shaking so violently that he can't hold the quill.
Nott never returns to that part of the prison. Others cast loathing glances at Lucius as if it were his fault. Lucius tries to forget Scrimgeour, but finds him smirking on the cover of the Daily Prophet. He'd picked up the newspaper one of the guards left on a bench, anxious to know if something has happened outside. Nothing. He can't trust the paper, though. He knows there is news that never appear in it.
Spring arrives. It's important to keep count of days, Lucius knows. Rodolphus has a contact outside - his wife, probably. It's unsure how they communicate - Rodolphus stays annoyingly silent about that. The important thing is that now they have hope.
He will free us soon, they whisper to each other when the guards are not close by. The Dark Lord will come.
Lucius learns that Dumbledore has forbidden Scrimgeour to interrogate Hogwarts students. Draco is safe for now. For the first time he finds himself appreciating the old headmaster.
Spring brings hope indeed.
Finally the Azkaban guards must have heard rumours about an upcoming Death Eater attack. Exercise hours are cancelled. Lucius gets out of his cell only once, and that's when Scrimgeour visits him once more.
He didn't know he could feel such pure fear. The Aurors are there as well, forcing him down the corridor and into the same room as before.
This time, he is not sure how long it lasts. A day? Two? In the end, he is ready to confess anything.
"Rodolphus Lestrange... He knows something. He is in contact with the Dark Lord."
One of the Aurors kicks him hard, the more civilized forms of torture abandoned a long time ago. "I don't believe you. First Nott, and now Lestrange? I can tell you Nott knew nothing, even though his brain exploded with all the Veritaserum he got. Perhaps you'd like some more of that stuff, so that we can get some real names for a change?"
However, they don't give him any more truth serum. Perhaps they are not all that content with the quality of information got with Veritaserum. He is left lying on the floor for a long time. A charm removes all the marks of violence from his body before he is returned to his cell, but the suffocating feeling stays for days.
He stops eating. It's not a conscious decision, he's just not hungry. It becomes more difficult to think clearly. He dreams of using a wand, but wide awake he can't remember the spells any more. He wonders if he has already become a Squib.
When the big news comes, they don't hear it from Rodolphus's source but straight from the guards.
"Hogwarts has been attacked!"
"Dumbledore is dead!"
Gradually the whole story unfolds. The guards are shocked, and eager to discuss the current events. It was Severus Snape who killed Dumbledore. Why now, after all these years? thinks Lucius, but he's secretly happy it wasn't Draco. Then he learns that Draco is missing.
He wishes he knew where his son was. With the Dark Lord? Or hiding from him?
The tension runs high in Azkaban. Any day now, everyone knows, the Dark Lord will come and get his servants back. Lucius is waiting for him to arrive as well, but for reasons he knows are best left unsaid.
He doesn't believe in the Dark Lord's dream any more. He just needs to make sure his son is safe. But if someone has hurt Draco, they will pay, Dark Lord or not. That much he knows.
Author: riibu
Recipient: hikaru
Rating: 15
Character: Lucius Malfoy
Warnings: Violence, torture
Summary: Lucius Malfoy isn't the first prisoner in this cell, nor will he be the last. To the wall, he's just another unfortunate Azkaban resident.
Author's notes: I hope you enjoy your gift fic. You preferred a slightly darker take on the wizarding world, and somehow I found myself writing about Lucius in a dark place. Many thanks to my wonderful betas kennahijja and x_lethe_x.
Walls
The same walls every day. The same routine. He wakes from a dream already forgotten, opens his eyes and stares at the dirty stone wall that marks the boundary between him and the rest of the world. The wall is proud and strong; it was here before him and it will probably last long after he has gone. Lucius Malfoy isn't the first prisoner in this cell, nor will he be the last. To the wall, he's just another unfortunate Azkaban resident. Still, he stares at the wall every morning, wishing he could burn a hole there. But he would need a wand - wands are everything - and ever since his wand was snapped in two he's been as helpless as a bloody Squib.
It's an infuriating thought.
He can't let his thoughts linger there - he has seen how this kind of thinking makes people crazy over time, even without the presence of Dementors. He appreciates the little peace of mind he has, so he thinks of his son instead.
Lucius is pleased with Draco. His son will become a good wizard. He has demanded a lot from him - sometimes too much - but he knows he has done the right thing. During times like these, it's important to be strong. Draco will achieve his N.E.W.T.s, and later there will probably be a nice Ministry job waiting for him. Malfoy Manor will be his as well. Yes, Draco will have a good life. Lucius only wishes he and Draco had had more time to speak with each other before this. Before Azkaban.
The first night in Azkaban was the worst one. He didn't know how he would react when the guards locked the door. Would he scream? Would he bang his knuckles on the oak door? Would he lose his mind? To his great surprise he did none of this. He felt saner than ever. He didn't think of revenge, nor of his stained reputation. He just sat on the bed and stared at the wall, knowing that he would cope somehow.
At first he waited for the Dark Lord to come and rescue him. Nothing happened. He still refuses to believe the Dark Lord isn't able to invade Azkaban if he really wanted to, and if the prisoners were important enough to him. Perhaps it's meant to be a lesson in humility for them. Lucius doesn't need that kind of lesson. Day by day, he misses the Dark Lord less.
Prison doesn't mean complete isolation. It's strange how quickly news reaches the inside of the walls.
"There's something big going on," mentions Theophilus Nott one day during their exercise hour, "and your son is involved."
He doesn't say more - that's probably all he knows - but his words make Lucius restless. Draco is too young to be involved. He wishes he had explained some things to his son when he still had a chance. He sits in his cell and writes official requests to meet his closest family, but they are always rejected. He knows the warden loathes him. A new name is added on his revenge list.
The walls become even colder during long winter nights. Lucius dreams of revenge, but when he sits and stares at the stone wall he keeps forgetting what he is waiting for. He considers suicide, but he needs to know that Draco is safe first. Still no news about Voldemort's big plan.
He knows the Dark Lord isn't pleased with him. After all these years he got himself imprisoned. As if it had been his fault! He can't help thinking that Voldemort made a grave mistake when he sent his best men to retrieve the Prophecy based on such a weak plan, and is sure the Dark Lord knows this, too. The Dark Lord could never admit it was a bad decision on his part, though. Lucius knows now he's been made a scapegoat. He can see it in the way others eye him when he is led past their cells. He's not sure if he could kneel down in front of the Dark Lord again without revealing his anger. Thankfully, it doesn't seem he'll be meeting his Lord soon.
On some nights he misses Narcissa and wonders if she misses him as much.
It seems that the Ministry has also heard rumours about Voldemort's big plan. Narcissa and Draco are still not allowed to meet Lucius, but someone else starts visiting him: Rufus Scrimgeour, the new Minister for Magic.
His first visit goes very well under the circumstances. Lucius finds himself standing very straight, clenching an imaginary cane, even smiling slightly as if they were having a relaxed conversation in one of the Ministry corridors like in the old days. The Minister asks how he's been treated so far, if he misses anything and if he has happened to hear anything about Voldemort's next move. Lucius answers shortly and politely that he hasn't, but that he misses seeing his wife and son. It goes quite well. He had never become as close friends with Scrimgeour as with Fudge, but they'd always managed to be civilized around each other.
It all changes the following week. When Scrimgeour arrives, he is accompanied not by common Azkaban guards, but by two Aurors in their official robes.
"Why don't you stop playing your games, Malfoy?" says the Minister, his voice polite as ever, but there's something cold in his eyes. "I know what you are. The situation has changed; this is not the Ministry you're in."
"Really? I had started wondering; it's a bit damp here."
"Malfoy, you're not in a position to be joking."
"I'm not joking, Scrimgeour. This place desperately needs central heating charms."
"It's Minister Scrimgeour," snaps one of the Aurors.
The next time they take him to another room. There's no explanation. He manages to stay calm although anger burns inside him. He is treated like a worthless Squib, or worse, a Mudblood! Only when he sees the manacled chair in the otherwise empty room he starts to understand what the Minister really wants from him. Information.
The thought makes him feel slightly sick. He's not sure if he has the kind of information the Ministry needs, but he's anxious to keep the little secrets he has. His priority is to protect Draco. No, he reminds himself, he can't think of Draco now - there may even be a Legilimens among them.
"What foolishness is this?" he sneers.
He's roughly pushed into the chair, and the manacles snap around his wrists and ankles. They feel cold against his skin. He wishes he had his woollen Gladrags robe.
"There's nothing I can tell you that I haven't told you before." He refuses to take his eyes off Scrimgeour's ugly face.
"I think I'll be the judge of that."
The first questions are typical, and Lucius has answered them a thousand times already. Are you a Death Eater? What is your rank in the organisation? Where are their headquarters? What are they planning now? He gives the regular answers. Yes, he was deceived by the Dark Lord, never knew he was working for him until that unlucky day in the Ministry. No, he was never entrusted with any of their secrets.
Suddenly a sharp pain flares in his face. An Auror is pointing at him with a wand. Some kind of hex? His cheek burns and something warm runs down to his neck. Blood? He wishes he could wipe it off before it stains his clothes.
"You're a lying bastard," says Scrimgeour. "I'm not interested in your lies; I've heard them all before. I know you are a Death Eater, Malfoy. I know you have been working for your Master inside the Ministry, and I have enough proof to link you with one particularly nasty murder of a Muggle, not to speak of various other threats."
"That's ridiculous!"
"You've missed your chance of making a proper confession," continues Scrimgeour as if he hadn't heard Lucius's words. "Sadly, it seems that I need other means to make you fully co-operative." He nods to the Auror on his left who takes a glass vial from his pocket. Until this day, Lucius's Ministry connections have saved him from the humiliating treatment with Veritaserum, but his lucky days seem to be over. He doesn't like it at all, though, and lets the Minister know this. Nevertheless, three drops of liquid are forced down his throat.
Veritaserum makes him lose control of his thoughts. It's nothing like he's experienced before. The Imperius curse causes in a victim an overwhelming need to please the caster by doing anything he asks, rewarding the victim with a pleasant feeling afterwards. With Veritaserum, there's no reward, just raw mental power ripping the information out of his objecting mind.
Lucius tells them everything. Scrimgeour will be happy for he gets his proper confession now. Lucius finds himself telling them about things he has wished he'd forgotten already, and other things he didn't even know he still remembers. Scrimgeour asks clever questions, not letting him hide behind vague words. He has clearly done this before.
Then he asks about Draco. Lucius fights against it, but Nott's warning escapes from his mouth anyway: "Something big's going to happen, and my son is involved."
They become interested at once. They try to force details out of him, but that's all he knows. The Aurors become restless. They hit him with a curse of some kind, causing burning pain. He thinks his arms are on fire, but when he looks the skin appears as white as ever. They repeat the curse. He screams. Then there's another kind of curse, like a cloth pressed against his mouth and nose. He thinks he's suffocating although he knows there's nothing. No cloth. They only stop when he starts to throw up. They leave him sitting there, still tied up, until the next day.
When they return, Lucius can't look at Scrimgeour any more. His mouth is very dry as he mutters the only thing left untold: "Nott knows more."
They drag him back to his cell. He can't walk. Later, he hears noise as they are taking Nott away.
Theophilus Nott doesn't come back. Lucius stares at the wall and tries to breathe steadily, but somehow it still feels as if someone is forcing a cloth against his mouth. He doesn't know what Nott will tell Scrimgeour. Everything he knows, probably. How much is everything? Will they take Draco next?
He tries to write another letter to the officials, but his hand is shaking so violently that he can't hold the quill.
Nott never returns to that part of the prison. Others cast loathing glances at Lucius as if it were his fault. Lucius tries to forget Scrimgeour, but finds him smirking on the cover of the Daily Prophet. He'd picked up the newspaper one of the guards left on a bench, anxious to know if something has happened outside. Nothing. He can't trust the paper, though. He knows there is news that never appear in it.
Spring arrives. It's important to keep count of days, Lucius knows. Rodolphus has a contact outside - his wife, probably. It's unsure how they communicate - Rodolphus stays annoyingly silent about that. The important thing is that now they have hope.
He will free us soon, they whisper to each other when the guards are not close by. The Dark Lord will come.
Lucius learns that Dumbledore has forbidden Scrimgeour to interrogate Hogwarts students. Draco is safe for now. For the first time he finds himself appreciating the old headmaster.
Spring brings hope indeed.
Finally the Azkaban guards must have heard rumours about an upcoming Death Eater attack. Exercise hours are cancelled. Lucius gets out of his cell only once, and that's when Scrimgeour visits him once more.
He didn't know he could feel such pure fear. The Aurors are there as well, forcing him down the corridor and into the same room as before.
This time, he is not sure how long it lasts. A day? Two? In the end, he is ready to confess anything.
"Rodolphus Lestrange... He knows something. He is in contact with the Dark Lord."
One of the Aurors kicks him hard, the more civilized forms of torture abandoned a long time ago. "I don't believe you. First Nott, and now Lestrange? I can tell you Nott knew nothing, even though his brain exploded with all the Veritaserum he got. Perhaps you'd like some more of that stuff, so that we can get some real names for a change?"
However, they don't give him any more truth serum. Perhaps they are not all that content with the quality of information got with Veritaserum. He is left lying on the floor for a long time. A charm removes all the marks of violence from his body before he is returned to his cell, but the suffocating feeling stays for days.
He stops eating. It's not a conscious decision, he's just not hungry. It becomes more difficult to think clearly. He dreams of using a wand, but wide awake he can't remember the spells any more. He wonders if he has already become a Squib.
When the big news comes, they don't hear it from Rodolphus's source but straight from the guards.
"Hogwarts has been attacked!"
"Dumbledore is dead!"
Gradually the whole story unfolds. The guards are shocked, and eager to discuss the current events. It was Severus Snape who killed Dumbledore. Why now, after all these years? thinks Lucius, but he's secretly happy it wasn't Draco. Then he learns that Draco is missing.
He wishes he knew where his son was. With the Dark Lord? Or hiding from him?
The tension runs high in Azkaban. Any day now, everyone knows, the Dark Lord will come and get his servants back. Lucius is waiting for him to arrive as well, but for reasons he knows are best left unsaid.
He doesn't believe in the Dark Lord's dream any more. He just needs to make sure his son is safe. But if someone has hurt Draco, they will pay, Dark Lord or not. That much he knows.