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A Nagini and Severus Tale	By : MJurjevic Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > General Views: 3508 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the Harry Potter Fandom, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Summary: Abraxas, Lucius and Nagini visit the family's vault, full of unpleasant surprises; Severus and Regulus meet up with Hagrid at the Leaky Cauldron for butterbeer and dirty secrets.

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Chapter Three: Greed Beyond Avarice – Part Two
As Abraxas, Lucius, and Nagini walked away from Gringotts Wizarding Bank towards Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, what had happened over an hour ago in the Malfoy family vault of Gringotts kept going over and over in Nagini's mind. It had only been less than twenty-four hours that she had been placed in custodial care to her uncle, Abraxas Malfoy, by the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Law Enforcement; she felt lost and unwanted in a whirlwind of events that were still incomprehensible to her.
Abraxas had had an anxious, irritable energy about him from the very moment Nagini came downstairs in the morning at Malfoy Mansion. His ill-temperedness continued on through to the security clearance at the long counter in the vast marble hall of Gringotts.
The goblin clerk, Griphook, had asked first for Nagini's wand for identity purposes. Abraxas winced at the goblins disconcerting request. "Why is that necessary? I have a registered letter from the Ministry, explaining her unusual circumstances."
"We've already been informed by Mr Bartemius Crouch, from the Ministry, of Miss Nagini Malfoy's peculiar status," stated the goblin slyly.
Savoring Abraxas' embarrassment, Griphook offered a half-cocked leer to Abraxas and continued, "As a means to monitoring Miss Malfoy's whereabouts and activities, Mr Crouch has sent us a memorandum, a warning, and an addendum for regulating Miss Malfoy's activities here at our establishment. A special security procedure to gain entrance necessitates extra cautionary regulations in her exceptional case."
Disgruntled, but obliging, Abraxas reached inside his cloak and pulled out an ebony, marble textured wand with three small emerald stones embedded on the top part of the handle.
Admiringly, Griphook took it, and peering at Nagini, asked, "Do you solemnly swear that you are Nagini Malfoy, daughter of Lucretia Malfoy and blood kin to Abraxas Malfoy?"
"I do," said Nagini.
"Take the wand," instructed Griphook.
Nagini reached out, and as she fully clasped her wand in her hands, a slight glow and power emanated forth from it.
Satisfied, Griphook asked, "And your key?"
Impatiently, Abraxas informed him, "She has no key, if you would read," he was thrusting a sealed parchment at Griphook, "this will explain and overrule any —"
Cutting Abraxas off, Nagini informed Griphook, "I have the key." Pulling out a delicate, silver chained necklace with an oval pendant, she opened it up and took out a miniature golden key.
"Thank you," said Griphook, taking the key and examining it. Then, he turned to Abraxas and asked, "Mr Malfoy, your wand?"
"What?" Abraxas growled indignantly.
"The Ministry insists..." Griphook emphasised.
Abraxas unsnapped and pulled out from the sheathed upper section of his silver, serpent-headed walking stick, his wand, and handed it over to Griphook. Abraxas was now infuriated beyond all measures, but managed to keep control, glaring at the goblin.
"Mr Lucius?" asked Griphook smugly.
Lucius begrudgingly deferred and pulled out his wand, handing it over to Griphook.
After verifying each one, Griphook returned the wands to the Malfoys, Abraxas pocketing both his own and Nagini's wand. And then, Griphook made a courteous, peculiar bow-like gesture to Nagini, and said, "Welcome to Gringotts, Miss Nagini Malfoy. My condolences about your mother; she was a most gracious and cooperative client of ours. We do hope to service your needs as well as we did hers."
It was poignantly odd. The goblin was speaking as if her mother had just recently died, when it had been over eight years ago. Moreover, it was not known for goblins to feel compelled to show any niceties towards wizards, other than perfunctory ones.
"Thank you. Thank you, I'm sure you shall. I hope I shan't be a very demanding customer, Mr Griphook," she replied awkwardly.
"May we proceed? We've rather urgent business to attend to elsewhere, Griphook," Abraxas stated gruffly.
"Of course, Mr. Malfoy. This way, this way. Follow me." Griphook led them to one of the numerous doors outlining the large marble hall. They descended down the narrow stone passage to a sconced area and waited near the tracks for a cart. One appeared immediately, and they climbed in; the cart whisked them away, deep down into the lowest depths of Gringotts.
On arriving in front of the vault, and after Griphook had opened it, they stepped inside into a vast cavernous room filled to the brim on one side with galleons and jewels, cryptic artifacts, and objects from all corners of the world. Abraxas immediately grabbed Nagini by the arm and decisively steered her to the far right corner of the room. There, set aside, was a small, octangular chest in the midst of piles of galleons and jewels.
"Open it!" commanded Abraxas.
"My wand?" asked Nagini. "I'll need it."
Abraxas, his eyes narrowing in suspicion, slowly pulled out Nagini's wand from his inside cape pocket. As she made to take it from him, he pulled her into him with a strong jerk.
"Don't even think about using it for any other purpose other than to open the chest," warned Abraxas.
Although the thought was more than crossing Nagini's mind, her fingers itched to detrimentally hex Abraxas, she pointed it at the chest, "Alohamora!"
A coruscated flash ricocheted off the little chest, seemingly unchanged.
Nagini stepped forward and knelt down, clumsily trying to push the bulky texture of the lid upward, but it was still sealed.
Impatiently grabbing Nagini's wand out of her hand, Abraxas said, "Can't you see it's heavily warded against wand spells... " As Abraxas slipped her wand inside his cloak, he silently deliberated with himself, his eyes darting from Nagini to the chest. With a grim countenance, he pondered what to do next. A new thought then came to Abraxas, and he said, "We must try Blood Magic. Give me your arm!" Eagerly, not waiting for her to offer it, Abraxas grabbed Nagini's left arm, pulling her sleeve back, and with a quick flick of his wand, he muttered a Diffindo spell. A large gash appeared along her wrist, "Now! Now you stupid girl, the incantations!"
As Nagini whispered fiercely, repeating variants of spells, Abraxas was squeezing around the cut area, helping her blood drop profusely on the top of the metallic locked area. As each drop made contact with the metal, a slight hissing issued forth from the contact, a mist appeared, and then it vaporised completely. The lid remained sealed shut.
Exasperated, Abraxas pushed Nagini down, his heightened irritability distorting his facial features. His cane came down, hitting her across her upper back. She hit the chest front with a braced thud and painful grunt.
Then, in the heat of the moment, a flash of realisation occurred to her. She sat back on her bended knees, and holding onto the chest for support, her eyes burning with smoldering energy, Nagini whispered in a hiss that eerily echoed around the vault, "Alohamora." But this time, it was in snake language, Parseltongue. The sealed lid broke open.
Abraxas and Lucius had frozen, startled by her Parselmouth ability.
But then, Abraxas, quickly recovering himself, jaunted over to the chest, and shoving Nagini aside, he opened the lid and plunged into it. Knocking various objects around, he suddenly let out an excitable hiss, "Yes! Here it is. At long last!" He slowly took out a small, plain rectangular case.
With bated breath, Abraxas whispered an incantation. The closed seal on the case popped open. He slowly raised the top covering. Inside was a black object with highlights of crimson gold, catching the sconced lighting. Abraxas lifted it, reverently, out of the case. Octagonal in shape and half the size of one's palm, he held it up to the light, delicately turning it around, closely examining it.
Triumphant, Abraxas said to Lucius, “This, my son, is what buys Ministerial officials; this is what buys their favors for you. It is what empires have been built on!"
"A periapt of sorts?" whispered Lucius. "The Midas amulet?"
"Yes," said Abraxas beaming. "The Midas amulet! Very ancient. Very rare. Our family's wealth has been built on it. It can transform any non-magical creature or object into Galleon gold. To be used discreetly, of course. And cautiously," he warned. "No wasting it on filthy Muggles, as if anyone would want to buy or sell their putrid carcasses, even if they were made of gold."
"Here!" Abraxas had reached back into the chest and taken out another object. He threw a small heavy book at Nagini. "Don't ever say I never gave you anything of hers!"
Nagini took the little book in her hands. It was tethered around the edges, and its cover had a faded emblem, which had long ago been engraved into the dragonskin surface. With trepidation, she put it inside her inner cloak pocket and looked back up to watch the Masters Malfoy gloating over the Midas amulet. Nagini rose, disgusted, and stared at Abraxas' gluttonous exuberance.
Abraxas, seeing the disdainful and challenging look of Nagini's, snarled, "Your mother stole this from the family's vault years ago, carrying it off with her to the continent. No doubt using it to pay for her philandering and escapades. Leaving the family behind to scrimp and scrape by as we could. To fend for itself by any means."
"Seems like you've fended for yourself pretty well," quipped Nagini.
Abraxas turned fully around and took a step towards her. Relishing what he was disclosing to her, he sneered, "She was a selfish, greedy, indulgent little tart, who got what she deserved in the end." Satisfied with the pained look on Nagini's face, he smiled exultingly and said, "But now, all is right with the world. All shall be well again." He let out a long sigh of relief.
"Greed beyond avarice," Nagini commented simply.
Abraxas and Lucius both turned to her.
"What did you say, girl?" asked Abraxas.
Mustering her courage, Nagini repeated, "Greed beyond avarice!"
"Meaning?" asked Lucius, his jaw clenching.
"Meaning... our illustrious family has obviously been controlled, all these ages, by greed beyond avarice." Nagini stared directly at Abraxas. "You said my mother was selfish and greedy... How could she not be? She was just logically following the family's natural inclinations. Just like you." Wanting to smite his ego a bit more, she persisted, "She was the same as you. You are just the same as her. No better, no worse."
Abraxas walked slowly over to Nagini, stopping in front of her. They stared at each other in silence.
Then, Abraxas broke the silence. “Logically?" he pondered, his eyes flickered over her face. “Logic has nothing to do with it, my dear girl." He smiled malevolently at her.
In a flash, his backhand slap came hard and directly down on the right side of Nagini's face, knocking her off balance; she stumbled back towards the chest and fell down beside it on top of a heap of galleons.
Abraxas' ring had caught her cheekbone and dug into her skin, making a cut downward on her face.
Nagini's cheek, the incised skin, bled profusely.
Determinedly, Abraxas strode over to Nagini. Dragging her half upwards, he backhanded her hard again in the same spot. Throwing her down, he began to pace like a panther in the claustrophobic space. Then, suddenly turning around, in a flash, Abraxas whipped out his wand from his cane staff and roared out, "Crucio!"
Nagini had never had this curse used upon her before; she had never experienced the retching agony of it. Writhing and screaming in blinding electrical pain, Nagini felt as if her brain and internal organs were going to explode from her body, as the razor sharp juts of energy were encasing her.
"Father!" Lucius whispered fiercely, "The goblins!"
"They know their place,'' snarled Abraxas.
Watching Nagini's twitching slowly subside, Abraxas crossed over to her, bent down, and dragged Nagini halfway up to a kneeling position. Ferociously, Abraxas whispered, "You're going to... redeem yourself! Rather, atone for your mother... " Seeing something uncanny in Nagini's eyes, he winced and released her, watching her collapse back down again.
Glaring at Nagini, Abraxas cursed, "Damn you both!"
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"We have to hurry," urged Regulus, as he and Severus made their way through Diagon Alley's winding backstreets from Gringotts. "Hagrid's to meet us at the Leaky Cauldron at noon."
"Hagrid?" asked Severus, surprised.
"Yes." Regulus' face was flushed with excitement. "Hagrid's promised me that he could get hold of some rare torquoise-coral peacock eggs. Cissy adores albino peacocks and partridges. I thought I'd surprise her with a pair of peacocks. They'll hatch around the time of the wedding this summer."
"Are Hagrid's sources reliable?" Severus asked sceptically, doubtful of the gamekeeper's abilities to procure anything of rare value.
"Well, he's assured me that some of his contacts would be able to attain them, and I'm willing to pay a pretty price. I'd asked Slughorn himself, but he was a bit standoffish about the whole thing, so I went to plan B – Hagrid. He's surprisingly resourceful, Severus. Try him some time; he can find anything."
"Obviously," Severus commented gibingly.
Upon arriving, they entered the Leaky Cauldron and quickly spotted Hagrid in a corner; he was seated with four empty mugs of butterbeer in front of him and working on a fifth one. Scattered about the table and in surrounding chairs were various parcels and roughly shaped boxes, some with straw and mixed leaves sticking out of the random cracks and crooks of the bulging packages.
"Eh, Regulus! Over 'ere!" called Hagrid.
Greeting him, Regulus said, "Good day, Hagrid. You know Severus, here."
"Yup, I do. 'ow are yeh boys today, both fine?"
"Great, but in a bit of a rush. Would have been here earlier, but we had to stop by Gringotts first. We ran into the Malfoys on the way. Do you know that Abraxas' has a niece? She'll be attending Hogwarts next week."
"What? She's out already?" boomed Hagrid, shocked.
"Out? Out of where, Hagrid?" asked Severus.
"Why, the Ministry's gaol fer detainin' under-aged wizards accused of serious crimes. Ol' Barty Crouch is overseein' the whole thing, he bein' on the special Council fer Magical Law, an' all. Peculiar case. Yeh met 'er, yer did?"
"Why, yes, she was with Abraxas and Lucius, actually," informed Regulus.
Gregariously taking a swig of butterbeer, Hagrid announced, "Well, the whole lot of 'em are bad — bad blood, always 'ave been, an' always will, I reckon."
"But what exactly is she accused of?" asked Severus, in a clipped tone.
"Accused of? Guilty, is more like it. Murder. Accidentally on purpose, more like, mind yeh. But, that's not fer me ter say or ter judge. Ol' Abraxas has a wily lawyer, he does. Ol' Lester Qualmsick, top o' his trade. He's known ter be quite pernicious, he is, ol' Qualmsick."
"The Lester Qualmsick, of the Wizengamot Qualmsicks?" Severus asked, astounded.
"That's the one. I've been runnin' parchments an' errands fer Dumbledore, to an' fro' the Ministry an' Hogwarts the past two weeks until I'm giddy about it, I am. That's 'ow I know."
Severus frowned. He was wondering whether it was the butterbeer speaking, or concrete facts that Hagrid was spewing out. Concerned, Severus said, "Murder is indeed a serious charge, Hagrid. The Ministry's proof?"
"Proof? The dead body of a Durmstrang student, hexed by 'er, he was... that's the proof; but," pausing to lick his lips, Hagrid continued, "ol' Qualmsick found a loophole in it all. It seems," he lowered his voice, "it wasn' an Unforgivable she used, but an Incendio hex o' sorts... never yeh mind, it's what led ter his death anyway."
Severus and Regulus stared at each other in disbelief for a second.
Regulus urged Hagrid on, "You can't leave us on a limb here, Hagrid; fill us in a bit more."
"Mind yer, it's ter go no further than between the three of us."
"Of course it won't," quipped Severus,
"Well, mind yeh, the Ministry's Department fer Unlawful Usage of Magic by Under-Aged Wizards had insisted as part o' the probationary agreement that Dumbledore would be the legally responsible guardian fer 'er, once she arrives at Hogwarts, that is - in fact, it was Dumbledore 'imself who insisted on it as part of the release conditions, mind yeh, before allowin' Miss Nagini Malfoy to come to Hogwarts."
The two Slytherins sat there dumbfounded, but, nevertheless, enthralled by what Hagrid was telling them, and continued to listen on.

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In actual fact, after an excruciatingly long trial and following a gritty meeting of the Wizarding Council for Under-Aged Wizards, Nagini had finally been released from the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Law Enforcement on probationary terms that she would be allowed to go, at large, but conditionally, under the strict supervision of her uncle Abraxas, or in his stead, her cousin, Lucius, as he was now of age, and the next of kin, blood relative.
The Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, had proposed himself to be appointed with custodial care of Nagini, once she would be within the grounds of Hogwarts. Even though the young witch would turn of age in February, her probationary period would last past the legal age of seventeen years until the age of nineteen due to the harshness of the accusations. For had it not been for her yet not being of age, Nagini would have been clamped and sent immediately to Azkaban.
Which is what Bartemius Crouch, chief prosecutor of the Council of Wizarding Law Council, precisely wanted to do. Crouch had insisted on holding Nagini in custody until she turned seventeen, which would be less than a month away. Crouch demanded that she would then be sent directly to Azkaban, to rot and suffer the Dementors, so outraged and disgusted was he with the case.
However, Abraxas had paid for one of the shrewdest advocates Galleons could buy (in more ways than one). His 'wily' family lawyer, Lester Qualmsick, knowing Crouch's mentality well and having been born into a long line of Wizengamot judges and counselors himself, dealt speedily and cleverly against all of Crouch's propositions.
Nagini had been accused of murder. Technically, Qualmsick argued as her defence counsel, she was not guilty. Using Priori Incantatem on Nagini's wand in front of the Council, he proved her wand's last hex. It had indeed been an Incendio hex that she had used against the Durmstrang student. But once set on fire, he had, naturally in the torturous pain, panicked, running and thrashing about, and had fallen backwards off an open-sided stone staircase, plummeting to his death. And this, not the hex, 'technically', Qualmsick pointed out, caused the young wizard's death.
With this point being laboriously debated, and after several days of animated riffling through ancient and appendaged laws, the verdict of the Wizengamot's panel was decided as 'not guilty' for first-degree murder, though other charges of aggravated assault and of a second-degree nature were ruled as guilty.
Bartemius Crouch, shaking with fury at the outcome and with visible difficulty, proclaimed the final verdict, "Nagini Malfoy, we have found you guilty of second-degree wizardslaughter; due process forces the Wizengamot to hereby decree that you shall for the continuance remainder of your under-aged time and thereafter, until the age of nineteen, be sentenced to home arrest under the scrutiny and probationary supervision of your uncle, Abraxas Malfoy, or in his stead, his son, Lucius Malfoy. Furthermore, your whereabouts, actions, transactions and schooling activities shall be monitored by both the Wizarding Law Enforcement officers, as well as under the auspices of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
And with further adjudged proclamations regarding appellate requests, the importance of good behaviour, and the conditions for reviewing her case in the future by the Wizengamot, the trial was adjourned.
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A Nagini and Severus Tale