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The Downfall of Greed	By : tcarlson Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Lucius/Hermione Views: 40804 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor do I make money off this fanfiction.

Chapter List
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I showered, shaved, and dressed for the first time in a long time. My silk robes felt like heaven after subjecting myself to boxers and scratchy sheets for who knows how long. I looked presentable, and although I’d never tell Severus, I did feel better. Or maybe I only felt better because I felt like we were finally getting somewhere with the sudden arrival of Mr. Potter.

The two of us settled at the small table by the kitchen. Severus and Draco sat on the couch, pretending not to listen. “Mr. Malfoy,” Potter started, “I would have come sooner but the Order was pretty adamant about not letting me come to the safe house. It took awhile to convince them that I only wanted information from you. That I wasn’t planning on killing you for what you did to Hermione… though that thought is never far from my mind.” I was silent, staring at him intently. He cleared his throat nervously. “I can’t tell you what I did for Dumbledore. Just know that it’s done and that I’m ready to defeat Voldemort.”

“Why come to me?”

“I could use information… any information… you have to help me finish this once and for all.”

“What makes you think I’d help you?”

“Be nice, Father,” Draco scolded without looking up from his book.

“You were in the Inner Circle. You know more than any other Death Eater,” Potter continued without skipping a beat.

“Ex-Death Eater,” I mumbled. “Why not ask Severus? He was also in the Inner Circle.”

“Professor Snape and I have already talked.” He sat in silence for a moment, tracing patterns on the tabletop with his index finger. When he looked up again, his eyes held tears. “Does she really love you?”

“So she says,” I answered, my throat tight.

“And do you love her?”

The room suddenly got hot and oppressive. The stillness echoed in my ears as three faces turned to me, waiting for my answer. It was time to stop lying to myself. “So very much,” I whispered as I buried my face in my hands. Tears. I was crying. When was the last time I actually cried?

I felt a warm pressure about my shoulders as Draco and Severus rushed over to console me. Potter reached across the table to put a comforting hand on my arm. I let myself surrender to several heaving sobs before attempting to control my emotions. In a few minutes, I felt that I had pulled myself together enough to look across the table at Potter again. “I believe you,” he said simply, his eyes shining. “Besides the whole blood status issue and the fact that you supported Voldemort, I can see the attraction. She suits you. You suit her. When we get out of this mess your former master has created, I will support the two of you. I will make sure the Order doesn’t keep you apart.”

“Were they planning on doing that?” Draco asked angrily.

“There was talk of it, yes. Remus mostly. I’m sure I can talk sense into them, if it turns out that’s what Hermione wants.”
“It is,” Draco all but growled.

“I didn’t say it wasn’t. I just want to let you know that I am leaving the choice up to Hermione.”

“As it should be,” I said.

“Exactly.” Potter seemed surprised that I agreed with him. “Now, can you tell me anything? Anything at all? I want to end this, but I also want Hermione back and safe as soon as possible.”

“There is one thing that I thought of,” I said slowly. “There is only a slight chance that anything will come of it though since Voldemort likely covered his ass wherever I was concerned.” Three pairs of eyes fixated on me. “Since I bought Voldemort his manor, I have all the paperwork in my vault at Gringotts.”

Draco’s eyes lit up. “That means…”

“What?” Potter asked.

“In the paperwork, not only were there the papers that pertained to the law aspect of buying the manor, but he also asked me to keep the blueprints and the ward profile. Even if he’s changed them, the updates would also change on the papers. So assuming that he hasn’t bribed, threatened, or killed anyone to get into my vault to steal the papers, you’d be able to locate his unplottable manor and easily break through the wards.”
“Excellent.” Potter’s face was flushed with excitement.

I retrieved my Gringotts key from the small bag that the Order had allowed me to grab before taking me to Grimmauld Place. I placed it in front of Potter as I retook my seat. “This will allow you to open the door to my vault. Unfortunately, I have placed several security measures before and after the door to make sure that not just anyone with the correct key can waltz into my vault. The good news is that it would have been impossible without the key. With the key, your chances are better, but only slightly.”

“Could you talk me through the security measures? Maybe it will up my chances a bit.”

“It’s not a matter of walking you through a series of steps. It’s a matter of magical signature and genetics.” Potter stared at me blankly “Only specific magical signatures can get through one level of security and only specific DNA combinations can get through another level. It only allows Draco, Narcissa, or I through.”

“If your wife can get through…”

“Exactly. Voldemort could have used her to get the papers already, if he could have persuaded the goblins to let her use the bank’s copy of the key.”

We lapsed into silence. “Well, how the hell am I supposed to get in with those restrictions?” Potter wondered softly.

“I don’t know,” I answered.

“Father, why don’t I just go with him? I can walk in and walk out no problem,” Draco interceded.

“No!” both Severus and I snapped simultaneously.

“It’s a death wish,” Severus informed him. “You are in hiding for a reason. The Dark Lord is monitoring the three of our whereabouts closely. The second any of us step outside of this safe house, we’re dead.”

“Polyjuice?” offered Potter.

“Is that your answer to everything, Potter?” Severus mocked. “It just makes you look like the person, not give you the same genetic make-up or magical signature. You’d need to combine…” He trailed off, deep in thought. “But maybe…” He dashed to the bookcase and pulled out several tomes, flipping to various pages.

“Um, Severus?” Draco called. “Are you going to share your flash of genius?”

“Shhh! I need to concentrate!”

We sat quietly and watched him furiously page through a dozen books, marking pages that must have been helpful and throwing the useless ones back on the shelf. “No, that could make it permanent… But if I changed…? Bad idea, it’s volatile at best…” he muttered out loud.

We were silently drinking our third pot of tea, bored out of our minds, when he dropped two books opened to marked pages on the table in front of us.

“Now I’m not saying this will work,” he started, “and if it does it’ll revolutionize potions as we know it, but I think I may have come up with something.”

“Oh, and I just thought you were doing some fun recreational reading over there,” Draco said sarcastically.

“Do you want to hear this or not?”

“Ok, ok. Sorry.”

Severus took a huge breath and launched into his theory. “Well, there was a potion that became quite popular in the 60’s that temporarily changed the magical core of an infant to match a collected sample. It was used so cheating housewives could sneak a bastard past a paternity test potion by briefly changing the infant’s magical core to match the husband’s. It’s obviously illegal today, not only because so many men were being swindled but also because it had adverse effects on the child. I could work the kinks out of this potion and combine it with Polyjuice.”

“So we got the magical signature possibly worked out. What about the genetics?” I asked.

“It’s been theorized that this potion changes your magical core by changing the genetics that code for it. It’s quite possible that this change would be enough for your security measures. There are some problems though…”

“Which are?” Potter looked a little alarmed.

“The potion has never been given to anyone older than an infant. I have no idea how your body would take it. Plus, some of the ingredients are rare, expensive, or illegal.”

“And the fact that you don’t even know if you can do it,” Potter finished glumly.

Severus pushed the two books across the table to Potter. “You get me everything on the marked pages and I’ll try my damndest.”

Potter’s eyes widened as he looked through the pages. “There has got to be at least 500 things here!”

“And you’ll make sure that you get every last ingredient. I need them all in case I need to switch out ingredients to suit the new concoction.”

“What about actually getting into Gringotts?” Draco asked. “It’s not like Harry can go in looking like Father or even himself. Voldemort would definitely be notified if either were seen just walking about in public.”

“Yes, but if Narcissa were to go into the vault, it wouldn’t be a cause of alarm for anybody,” I noted.

Potter balked. “I’m so not changing into a woman!”

We ignored him. “Do you have any of Narcissa’s DNA to put into the potion?” Severus inquired.

Again, I got up from the table and went to the small bag in my room. I pulled out one of Narcissa’s old dress robes that I had meant for Hermione to wear. I brought it back into the living area. “There’s got to be something on here. Skin cells, a stray hair, something!”

“Uh, why do you have one of Mother’s dresses?”

“Hermione would have needed clothes.”

“Oh. Well, it will be a lovely color on Potter, though. Don’t you think?” Draco grinned impishly in Potter’s direction.

“Shove off, Malfoy.” Potter looked at the robes and crinkled his nose. “Ok… How long will this potion take? We can’t hope that Voldemort will continue to overlook the papers, if he hasn’t already got them.”

“I believe with the switches made, the modified Polyjuice would only take a couple of days,” Severus mused. “Add on a couple of days for experimenting and maybe a trial run to make sure it doesn’t kill you… I’d say a week. So it really depends on how fast you can get your hands on those ingredients.”

“I’d better get started then,” Harry said as he grabbed the two books and got up to leave. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got it under control.”

After he left, the three of us looked at each other. Draco smiled nervously. “So what do you think his actual chances are of succeeding?”

Severus and I rolled our eyes.

“Zero.”

“Nil.”

“Well, aren’t you two optimistic,” Draco muttered.
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The Downfall of Greed