FHB: Chapter 2

As he gave his mother a peck on the cheek and his father an awkward handshake, Lucius couldn’t have felt more relieved that he was going to board the train soon. The days before his departure was filled with frequent breath catching and heart pumping moments as Lucius tried to avoid his father at all cost. He knew that if his father caught him alone, he would have to tell him his decision… and it was one decision that his father would have hated enough not to speak to him again.

Lucius never wanted to be a disappointment to either of his parents, but he knew that some of the choices he had to make would inevitably disappoint one of them. This thought had created uneasiness in his chest and when the Hogwart’s Express blew its last call, Lucius quickly said his goodbyes and hurried off.

Once he had entered the narrow walkway of the train, Lucius headed straight to the prefects cabin. He did not have to walk far while pulling his luggage as a group of Slytherins immediately came to his side when they saw him. One took his luggage from him and another pulled on a smug looking face as he shouted for students to make way.

Lucius merely smirked at all the attention he was getting. It was no stranger to him and he found the familiarity rather comforting. Everything seemed to be falling into place and the uneasiness in his chest soon disappeared.

Upon reaching the prefects cabin, the Slytherins said courteous goodbyes and gave offers of assistance. Lucius merely waved them off and left them standing outside the sliding door as he entered.

You would think that only younger Slytherins would take on house elf duty around Lucius, but that was not true. The Malfoys were so well known in the ministry that most pure-blood families, who were dying for some status, would make their children suck up to Lucius.

From the first day he boarded that train… till his last, Lucius would never have to lift a finger. That day was no exception as older Slytherin prefects came to greet and congratulate him. Being that Lucius never really said much, as he found himself thinking more that he should, he just gave the warm welcome a smile.

“We have saved a place for you, Lucius,” a tall blond girl said.

“No one would bother you there,” another female prefect added.

Lucius nodded as they led him to the back of the cabin, where it was quieter and far away from the other houses’ prefects’ eyes. They seem to envy his status, and yet Lucius found it funny how some of them would actually try to talk to him when he was alone. Sure, they stayed away when he was surrounded with his house mates, but they were never far when he was alone.

When Lucius finally settled down, the other Slytherin prefects weren’t sure if they should join him.

“Not tired standing, are you?” Lucius merely asked.

A few of them gave nervous chuckles before they took a seat across from him. None sat next to him and when the train started moving, those who were still contemplating decided to sit somewhere else.

It was an awkward few minutes for the other prefects as the train started to exit the station. But Lucius was pretty fine with the silence as he began his own internal conversation. Those usually revolved around how he could get favours from professors and his studying schedule for the year, after all, he had O.W.Ls that year.

Just as he was finally mentally laying down his plans for the year, he heard someone walk up to his section of the cabin.

“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” a tanned skinned girl asked politely.

Her brown eyes went from one Slytherin prefect to another before it finally stopped at Lucius.

“It’s taken,” a Slytherin prefect immediately answered.

“But no one is sitting here, or are they invisible?” the girl joked.

There was no laughter as everyone in that section merely looked at her, some with narrowed glares.

After a few minutes of silence, which the girl did not seem to mind, Lucius asked, “What’s your name?”

“I’m Tanya, Tanya Lovegood,” Tanya answered with a smile.

“Haven’t seen you around before,” a Slytherin prefect pointed out.

“I’m new. Just transferred.” The cheery tone in her voice never died down.

“She’s related to that psycho second year… Lovegood,” one of the Slytherin prefects said to the other.

“Who?” that prefect responded with a question.

“That boy people call Xeno. Not right in the head I tell you, talks to himself all the time,” the prefect replied, not at all concerned of offending Tanya.

“He’s my second cousin. I’ve only met him once. He’s a nice boy,” Tanya said to Lucius.

Just then, an odd thought crossed his mind. Lucius noticed that all the other seats were already occupied, and this girl desperately needed a seat even though she had a weird way of showing it.

Lucius wondered if he should just let her join them, or would it be more fun to just let her stand there.

To Be Continued…

(Leave a comment below or vote on whether Lucius should make the offer!)

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FHB: Chapter 1

Family, honour and blood, those were the three words in his upbringing. There was an absence of compassion, acceptance and even trust when it came to his bloodline. Maybe it was a good thing, but he wouldn’t truly know would he?

Being the only child, he felt the pressure to make his parents proud.  He had no one to compete with but no one to confide in either. Nothing else but “Yes father” and “Yes mother” escaped his lips daily, and he saw no problem with that.

Proudly, his parents would often call him an ideal child; this would send his relatives glowering in jealousy as they would whisper their wishes of having him as their own. That always made him smirk, and it kept him on his best behaviour .

When he started school, he knew he would not just be some ordinary boy. He would be well known, respected and hopefully, feared. Desire for power was somehow genetic, and he was no different than his father and those before him.

The first four years in school was perfect. He had everything he needed without having to lift a finger. It probably had something to do with the way he carried himself; arrogant, yes, but brilliant too. He thought he could keep this up, and when he got his yearly Hogwarts return letter, he was certain he could.

That prefect badge that he pinned onto his robes  gave him confidence in finishing the next 3 years of school on top of his game. But he was wrong. Little did he know that on his fifth year, he would be forced to face decisions that would question his upbringing and his belief.

In that same year, the Dark Lord and his quest for purity was slowly making its way into the muggle world. There were forces on both sides, constantly battling for their own rights. One did not need to doubt where the Malfoys’ alliance laid. And though it was not questionable,  there was no proof that Abraxas, a respected man in the ministry, would side with the person most people feared. Lucius however, knew very well where his father… and mother stood.

His father was more loyal than a dog, and his mother hated it. His mother supported the cause but refused to let Lucius participate. Lucius was torn between his parents as his father justified that blood and honour was the most important value. His mother would then recite those three words and emphasize that family came first. At the end of the day, who could he side?

Yes, Lucius admired and deeply feared the Dark Lord. He wanted to be part of the cause too. But was he too young? The day before his parents accompanied him to the Hogwarts Express, his father entered his room just as he locked up his trunk.

In his father’s hand was an old envelope. Gesturing to take a sit, Lucius did not have to ask as his father went straight to the reason of his bedroom visit.

“I want to tell you something very important,” his father said, as he pulled out the contents of the envelope.

It was a stack of faded pictures of when his father was still schooling. His father handed the stack to Lucius and said, “These were taken back in the days when I first joined the Dark Lord. I have always been loyal to him. Do you know what loyalty is, son?”

Lucius nodded his head, but his father still gave him his own definition, “Loyalty is obedience without question.”

Pointing at the picture on top of the stack in Lucius’ hand, his father added, “That was taken at a Christmas ball. The Dark Lord went with… a friend. A friend whose loyalty was distorted.”

Looking down at the picture, Lucius saw a girl next to the Dark Lord, with Professor Slughorn standing across them.

“I have not seen her before,” Lucius said, as he had a pretty good memory of the visitors that came to their mansion when the Dark Lord held random meetings.

“She’s dead. Died too young as a matter of fact.”

“How?”

“Like I said, she had a distorted concept of loyalty. One that had no sense of obedience, and it cost her life.”

Lucius nodded. That was all he could do as he had no words to respond to his father.

“I want you to think about this. Think about loyalty and think about where your stand. You must know that your mother is more fearful than naive and her lack of courage is not a path you would want to follow.” Pausing, his father took the pictures from his hand. “I would suggest you make up your mind before the school term starts. Why? Because you are old enough to decide.”

When his father left his room, Lucius was more confuse than before. But he resolved in his heart to decide on his stand… before the school term starts.

To Be Continued…

(Leave a comment below or vote on whose side Lucius should take. It will determine how he lives the next few years in Hogwarts!)

Chapter 26:

It took a long time before Joanna could make up her mind. She then decided that going back to school was a much better option than staying at home. Hence, she wrote a reply to Professor Dippet, and a week later, she found herself boarding the Hogwarts Express.

As the train started to move, Joanna decided that she would just mind her own business and keep her head down for the rest of the year. By the time she had her mind set, the train was already in the country side, and the fresh scenery of greens reminded Joanna of the days where her life wasn’t full of curses and bad omens. Yet, she knew she could never run from them, as her days seemed to be marked with darkness. Wishing she never existed, Joanna resorted to closing her eyes and falling asleep.

Moments later, a knock came from the door, and just as she opened her eyes, she saw a blond headed boy in a prefects uniform.

“Malfoy?” Joanna asked in surprise.

“Hey. Yea, it’s me. I volunteered to make sure you got to Hogwarts safe,” Abraxas Malfoy replied.

“Wow, how kind of you,” Joanna said sarcastically.

“It was a good excuse to skip classes,” he immediately said.

“I bet. And since when were you a prefect?” Joanna straightened up and watched as he entered the compartment and took a seat across her.

“Tom put in a good word for me.”

“He probably needed you out of bed late at night, that’s why.”

“Yea, he does.”

“Such loyalty,” Joanna trailed off.

It was utter silence from then on as they both stared out the window, watching the blue sky turn orange and then to black. It would have been a very awkward moment, but somehow, Joanna knew what Abraxas was going through. She could see how torn he was, between staying loyal and doing what was right, and she knew he wanted to get out as much as she did. If Abraxas didn’t have such a prideful soul, Joanna could have seen them as good friends.

Joanna was about to break the silence with a question when Abraxas beat her to it.

“Why do you like Tom?”

“What?” Joanna replied, not at all expecting it.

“I know you’re not the first. There are many other girls. But Tom isn’t exactly nice. Yea, sure, he’s a sweet talker and he’s intelligent, but he’s sometimes rather mean.”

“Like you aren’t mean,” Joanna replied.

That immediately silenced Abraxas.

“I’m sorry. I don’t like Tom,” Joanna added.

“I read the letter you wrote him,” Abraxes said, so softly that he hoped his confession was not heard.

“What?!” Joanna stood up and pulled out her wand.

“I’m sorry! I was just curious, and I didn’t mean to.” Abraxes slid on his seat towards the exit.

“So, you know everything? Even what he’s doing?” Joanna asked as she eyed him carefully.

“I won’t tell anyone, I swear!”

For a brief moment, Joanna was hoping Abraxas might have told someone. But then she panicked, and she instinctively wanted to protect Tom.

“You swear on your mother’s life?” Joanna asked.

“Wow, you’re really going to protect him?” Abraxas slowly stood up.

Joanna narrowed her eyes at his sudden boldness.

“Maybe you don’t like him, maybe it’s something more.”

“What are you talking about?” Joanna straightened her wand at Abraxas, and Abraxas responded by casually folding his arms.

“Or maybe you’re just living up to your Hufflepuff trait of being loyal?”

“What are you talking about?!” Joanna asked again, confused at where he was going.

“Look, I know what Tom is doing, I’m helping him as well. I think he has a pretty good plan. AND, I’m not here for you.”

Abraxas pushed her wand away, and sat back down.

“I’m here because Tom suggested to Professor Dippet to give you an escort, but when he sent me, Tom asked me to run an errand for him.”

“What errand?”

“Ah, that is for me to know only.”

“Then why are you telling me this?”

“Because you’re not the only one who knows things.”

“So, you’re just bragging that Tom is using you?”

“When the reign of blood purity happens, my family would be on top. That is his promise to me.”

“I don’t care.” Joanna rolled her eyes and added, “Did he tell you to pull that trick on me as well?”

“No. I was just testing you. Tom said if I could tell where your loyalty stands, then I should tell you that he would be waiting for you at the tower tonight.”

“He wants to see me?”

“He thinks you’ve changed-“

“And can be useful to him, right?”

“I don’t know. He just wants to see you.”

Just then, the train stopped at the station and the horn was blown.

“The tower. Remember,” Abraxas said with a smirk, before he got up, and exited the compartment.

Joanna was left standing, with her wand in hand, wondering to herself if she should actually meet Tom. What was he up to? And why is he bothering to see her now? Joanna knew she only had a brief moment to decide.

To Be Continued…

(Vote or leave a comment below on whether Joanna should meet up with Tom, or ignore him!)