Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

A Pirate's Tail	By : SamHill Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Slash - Male/Male Views: 3181 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Not in any lifetime does Harry Potter (and his universe) belong to me. They are the sole property of J.K. Rowling, et al. I make no money and I mean not copyright infringement.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
A/N: See Chapter One for all disclaimers and warnings

Chapter Fourteen:

Harry woke slowly to a throbbing in his head and an ache in his wrists that was only too familiar. He was lying on a cold, stone floor and the room he was in was black pitch. He moved to sit up and was greeted by the sound of metal links clinking together. ‘They’ve got me chained then. Good, that means they’re scared.’ It pained him to know that the youngest Malfoy lord was behind his present situation, but he could hardly fault him. One stood by family at all costs and Draco was no different from him in that.

The door opened then, and a flood of light caused Harry to turn around, blinking rapidly. “You’re awake then. Good. His Highness will see you now.” Lucius Malfoy waved at someone standing behind him and Baron Crabbe Sr. stepped into the room. He was none too gentle as he pulled Harry to his feet and dragged him along behind them.

Lord Lucius Malfoy, Duke of Essex, strode down the hallway with purpose in his steps. Just beyond the heavy double doors, Prince Regent Voldemort sat awaiting the appearance of his prized prisoner. The moment they crossed the threshold into the throne room, Harry Potter’s fate would be out of his hands. Already it was too late to do anything, and Lucius wanted to strangle his only son for having taken matters into his own hands. ‘You idiot, you’ve doomed us all.’ Malfoy mask firmly in place, he used his cane to wrap twice then pushed the door open and preceded Crabbe Sr. into the room.

Voldemort was seated on the dais with Peter Pettigrew beside him, whispering hurriedly. Pettigrew looked agitated as he spoke, hands gesticulating wildly. When he saw Crabbe’s captive his eyes widened perceptibly and he backed away from the steps where Harry was presented. If he thought Harry would be too preoccupied with being manhandled, he was wrong. The moment Voldemort dismissed him, his name hissed out between sharp-looking teeth, Harry’s head came up.

“Pettigrew. I’d say what a pleasure it is to see you, but the mere sight of your face is enough to make my bowels seize.” Burning emerald eyes slid over Voldemort’s scaly features and revulsion crept into his gaze. “Of course, beside your would-be Prince Regent, you’re practically fine-spun silk. Voldemort, I didn’t think it possible but you’ve grown uglier since last we met.”

“Lucius, teach our friend some manners,” the Prince Regent hissed.

Swinging his cane upwards, the head – shaped like a snake and bedecked with gemstone eyes of emerald – caught Harry in the chin and sent his head snapping back. When he returned to his original position, a trickle of blood had escaped the corner of his mouth. He spat more of it at Voldemort’s feet, spraying the hem of his elaborate robes. “I expect no less of welcome from you, Voldemort, but really, are you so incapable of greeting your own guests.”

This time Voldemort stood and it was the flat of his blade that struck the young man, rapping hard on the knot Blaise had put there. The sickness, though, that hardened his skin and turned it scaly had also leeched his strength and so the blow merely lent a ringing to Harry’s ears rather than rendering him unconscious. Harry smirked through the pain; it would only get worse from here on out.

“Lucius, commend your son for me. Tell him that there is a house in Devonshire that I think he will find quite satisfactory.”

“Thank you, your Highness. You have been most magnanimous to your humble servants.” He went down on one knee, bowing his head low even as he cursed himself for the disgraceful act. “As I mentioned before, I will be speaking with Draco of a possible alliance between our family and the Greengrass family. Their eldest daughter is just a few months younger than he and would make a pleasing wife for him.”

“Good, good. Well, I’m certain that you are most anxious to get back to your new wife, Lucius, so you may go.”

Lucius bowed once more, stood and turned to exit. Very briefly, his eyes met those of the Potter lad and he saw in their depths a fire that not even Voldemort could smother. It gave him hope that he could still save his family, such as they were now. Without a backward glance, he strode from the room and headed for the courtyard. His horse would be ready and waiting and at home, Draco would be resting in his rooms.

He didn’t let his mind wander to Harry once the entire ride to the estate. Instead, he focused on the future and the child Pansy would bring into the world in only four month’s time. Should the babe truly be a boy, Voldemort would see it as great a threat as Draco. A girl would be much easier. She could be married off to someone of a family whose status did not place her in line to the throne. He hoped dearly that Voldemort would not have been crowned King by then, but the coronation was only a few weeks away. The death of King Grindelwald four days prior – an event that only Lucius and Pettigrew knew of currently – had brought the crown within reach.

It was a two hour ride to his home in Essex, but he hardly noticed the passage of time so caught was he in thought. It startled him greatly to see his son and wife standing at the front of the large house, Draco’s arm wrapped tightly about her shoulders. Worry gnawed at his gut and he had to restrain himself from running to them like a desperate man.

Passing the horses reins over to his stable boy, Lucius smoothed down the front of his forest green waistcoat. In seven long strides he was upon them and he held out his hand to his wife, ignoring his son for the moment.

“You are well?” The concern in his words was genuine and Pansy smiled at it.

“There was a bit of a fuss when I slipped on the stairs, but it happened just as Draco was coming up and he saved me from a nasty fall.”

Lucius turned to regard his son. “Draco, my most heartfelt thanks.”

Draco’s gaze remained cool and aloof. “Just doing my duty father.”

“Thank you. Darling,” he directed to Pansy, “I need to speak with Draco in the library. Would you have the maid bring up tea?”

“Certainly, husband.” She disappeared down the hall while Lucius showed his son into the library. No sooner had the door closed than he turned on the young man.

“You fool. How could you be so stupid? Do you even understand what it is you have done?” His fury was a force to be reckoned with and Draco felt his body shrink into the cushions of the couch against his will. “After all that I have done for you, you would turn around and do this? Have you any clue what the consequences will be? Everything I have been planning was just unraveled by your idiocy!”

“But father, I brought you Potter! Our family is now the highest in the Prince’s favor because of me!”

“Until when, Draco? Until the Prince remembers that you are next in line for the throne. He has been killing off or exiling everyone around him for years. I had thought you safe with Potter.”

“You told Potter to kill me,” Draco snapped, his own anger finally driving him to his feet. “You knew he hated all those loyal to the Prince and yet you. Left. Me. With. Him. What was I supposed to do? Take my death like a good little boy?”

“You little idiot, do you really have so little sense in your head? If Potter meant to kill you, Draco, you would have been dead long before he reached land. He would have killed you the night he took you off Peter Pettigrew’s hands.” At the look of confusion in the silver eyes, Lucius sneered. “Oh, did you miss whose boat it was that overtook your dear friend Blaise’s schooner? Voldemort arranged to have his boat attacked knowing you were on it. He meant to eliminate you as a threat to throne. I could never inherit it, but you could Draco, and the Prince will stop at nothing to make sure he is the only one seated.

“By the time I realized Mr. Zabini was in on the plan it was too late. I had been making plans to have you smuggled out of the country. I adjusted them quickly, marrying Miss Parkinson despite her condition. It was agreed that the babe would be given the Malfoy name, though I pray desperately that it will not be born a boy. Prince Voldemort will have it killed before I can declare that it is not mine.”

“But- The letter you sent Potter-”

“A clever ruse, so I suppose I am not too surprised you did not see through it. Cutting my ties with you removed me from our Highness’ suspicions while leaving you in a safer place. You forget, dear boy, I was not there the night Potter’s parents were murdered. I was home, comforting my wife after she gave birth to your stillborn brother.” He sighed and sat down heavily, all decorum lost for the time being.

“It was not your birth that weakened her, Draco, it was the second baby and the fact that she lost the child. Her body could hardly bear the pain it wrought. I couldn’t stand to be in that house after that, which is why I left so frequently. The rise of the Prince Voldemort began just before your own birth when he still had very limited power. Those who were most loyal to his father were killed, and among them were Harry Potter’s parents.”

“And we’re loyal to Prince Voldemort, so he should, by rights, hate us.”

“A Malfoy is loyal to the Malfoy name first and foremost, never forget that. And if he didn’t before, then he most certainly does now. You have no idea what Voldemort will do to him. Perhaps that is for the best. I have had enough of this talk.” Lucius looked as exhausted as he felt and Draco wished he could ease the older man’s burdens. “Prince Voldemort has granted you your own estate in Devonshire. I know that which he speaks of and it is a beautiful house.” Haunted grey eyes met confused mercury ones. “It was the house of the Potters, a fitting reward for the man who signed his death warrant.”

Draco drew himself up to his full height of 174 centimeters, his eyes blazing. “What!”

“Yes, and you will remove yourself to the estate tomorrow morning at dawn.” Lucius stood as well, his voice suddenly colder and harder than it had been. “I will announce your engagement to Miss Greengrass on Tuesday. You will be married in three month’s time. She is of lower class, Draco, which will take you out of Voldemort’s reach. Accept your place. With Potter captured there is no other hope to end the Prince Regent’s tyranny.” His tone brooked no argument and he left the room before his son could reply. Upstairs in his room, he set about writing up his last will and testament. ‘I do not doubt that the Prince’s good will shall be short lived. Once the babe is born, if it is a boy, he will come for me. I must get Pansy safely into France before then, now that I have condemned us all.’

He wrote well into the night, penning out secure and well-coded letters to distant Malfoy relatives still living France. With a family to protect – whether they be Malfoys by birth or by name only – he drove himself as he had not in years. As the sun began to creep over the horizon, the thin tendrils of golden light weaving their way through his pane-glass window, he uncurled his long body and stretched. If all else failed, his children and his wife would have safe passage into another country. He only hoped that he would still be alive to accompany them.

~ * ~

Tbc
- 13
- 14
- 15
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A Pirate's Tail