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Golden Hearts	By : BetaBloodLust Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Slash - Male/Male Views: 3689 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: See Full Disclaimer Below--Any chapters containing explicit material will begin with warnings for the wary

Chapter List
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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I own the characters within the Harry Potter series. J. K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter series and all original characters introduced within the series. I make no money from this story. All noncanonical characters are fictional fabrications. They belong to me. Any resemblances to real persons or groups of people are coincidence and should be summarily disregarded, and the doppelganger perpetrators should be shot for impersonating my creations. Have a nice day.

Golden Hearts: Chapter 4: An Unexpected Pitfall

Lucius took both boys outside the house, and telling to grip his arms, he turned into the crushing darkness Arumus only experienced when his uncle allowed him to travel by side-along Apparition. They appeared in the untidy courtyard behind the Leaky Cauldron.

Lucius tapped the third brick up and second across the wall three times with his wand. The brick wiggled and an archway grew from it, large enough for a man more than twice the size of Uncle Lucius to walk through comfortably. Arumus and Draco entered Diagon Alley behind Lucius, who shortly turned to address them.

"Now, Draco, why don't you go with Arumus to Gringotts? I have business I must see to."

Draco made a face, but Arumus spoke up first. "Sir, I would prefer to go alone. I am capable of finding my way around without assistance." Arumus looked directly into his uncle's eyes, willing him to relent, and Lucius' eyes widened for a moment as he stepped nearer to Arumus.

"How easily you can turn a request into very nearly an order," Lucius spoke so softly that Arumus could barely catch the words. "Are you quite sure you feel comfortable alone? Or do you simply not wish Draco to accompany you?" The question was quiet, and though Draco was watching his father, he hadn't seemed to hear the words. He seemed to be waiting happily to hear Lucius refuse his cousin such freedoms.

"I am most comfortable alone, sir," Arumus said, quite firmly and coolly. "I do appreciate the sentiment, though, regardless, sir."

"So polite and yet so demanding..." His uncle murmured, nearly too quietly or Arumus to hear. "How is it that you can offer a command with the same breath as acclaim and respect?" Uncle Lucius gazed at him, his gray eyes searching Arumus' as the often did for something undefined.

An expression like worry flickered slightly over his features before he smoothed his face to the familiar, proud formality Lucius so often adopted. "So be it." He turned his back to Arumus. "Draco and I will meet you back here at half past one. Be sure to be on time, Arumus, or you will regret requesting this freedom..."

Arumus understood. Uncle Lucius was worried about sending him alone into the slightly unpredictable world surrounding Diagon Alley. Arumus knew that his uncle would never allow Draco to wander the streets alone, but Lucius often seemed to grant him unusual freedoms, usually as a kind of test with unavoidable consequences should he fail.

"Father, you can't allow him to go alone!" Draco was astonished, but his outrage seemed to outshine common sense. He glared first at Arumus, and then to his father.

"Draco, do not complain." Lucius led his son away from Arumus, speaking softly, though loud enough for his voice to carry back to his nephew. "Arumus wishes to do his shopping alone, and as I am not his father, I cannot force our company upon him. However, you will be pleased to know that this will be a challenge for him to see whether he squanders gold, and I will punish him if he does. Furthermore, if he is even late by 30 seconds, I will not be happy..."

Arumus smiled to himself. So this was a test, was it? Well, he wasn't about to waste time standing in the entrance. If he did somehow fail Uncle Lucius' test, he knew there would be a punishment, likely a rather nasty one if he caused his uncle to worry any more than he did currently. With his uncle, freedom always meant more responsibility, and that included taking responsibility for one's shortcomings.

Arumus was quite used to the coolness Lucius showed him around others, even Draco. He understood it as a kind of mask, a disguise worn to mislead others. Furthermore, Arumus thought that if anyone ever suspected that Lucius regarded him as more than a nephew, almost like a son, the realization might reflect badly on Lucius. He wasn't sure of this, but he knew his uncle was a respected and even feared wizard, and he must feel the need to preserve his reputation for ruthlessness.

Arumus understood the desire to seem cruel and ruthless. It was a matter of principal. He knew he fell short of cruel, most of the time. Courage failed him unless he managed to call up a substantial amount of anger.

He hurried off in the direction of Gringotts, the Wizarding Bank, a towering white building that seemed to dwarf the others surrounding it. A young, bushy-haired witch stood on the steps, peering into the passing crowd. She suddenly shouted at someone in the crowd, waving one of her arms, but Arumus paid her little heed. A goblin, gray-faced and shorter than Arumus, stood beside the shining bronze doors wearing a uniform in scarlet and gold. The goblin bowed him into the entrance where Arumus faced a second set of silver doors, flanked by a second pair of goblins. He paused a moment to look at the words engraved into the doors in old-fashioned lettering:

"Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed

For those who take but do not earn,

Will pay most dearly in their turn,

So if you seek, beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware,

Of finding more than treasure there."

The pair of goblins bowed as he passed through the second set of doors and entered a vaulted marble hall. Goblins sat behind high stools, writing furiously in leather bound ledgers, examining rubies, diamonds, gold, and other precious materials and weighing the items on fine brass scales. Arumus walked straight to the nearest goblin and spoke commandingly.

"Greetings. I have come to remove gold from my vault," Arumus said formally.

"Ah, yes, Master Lestrange. You have the key?"

"Yes." He reached into his pocket and removed the beautifully crafted silver key, handing to the goblin.

The goblin examined the key carefully, and then said, "All seems to be in order. Griphook!" He summoned a second goblin. "Please accompany Master Lestrange to the family vault. You will need the clankers."

As the goblin gave Griphook further instructions, Arumus noticed the bushy-haired girl enter with a large group of people, most of them possessing flaming red hair, except one who wore glasses and had black, unruly hair. Arumus watched the girl lead the group toward a couple who had to be muggles, as they were changing muggle money and seemed to be goggling at everything. As they passed him, Arumus heard the man, surely the father of those with red hair, speak in a slightly injured tone.

"So you don't think I'm a match for Lucius Malfoy?" The man asked the witch beside him.

Arumus blinked in surprise and took a closer look at the wizard. His robes were slightly threadbare, lightly smudged with soot, and his thinning red hair and long nose gave him a kindly look. Truly, Arumus doubted the tatty fool was a match for his uncle, but his thoughts were interrupted by Griphook.

"If you will follow me, young master?" Griphook asked.

Arumus nodded and followed. After a wild cart ride and following the goblin through an area containing a blind, badly tempered dragon, Arumus took the amount of galleons his uncle had instructed him to remove and stuffed them into a money bag. The goblin took him back to the surface, and he left Gringotts to begin shopping.

Arumus headed to the Apothecary to buy his potions kit. He entered the shop, inhaling the heady scent of dried herbs and the slightly disgusting effects produced by the strange, bottled creatures bubbling in preserving potions. Two older Hogwarts students were having an argument with the shop owner about the price of dragon blood, so Arumus took a few moments to peer into the bubbling jars at the creatures, most of them dead and floating grotesquely. A round-faced boy was standing before a very large bottled toad looking slightly ill. Arumus walked to stand beside him, and the boy, perhaps a year older than Arumus, glanced at him.

"Hogwarts?" He asked, turning himself bodily away from the toad.

"Yes," Arumus replied. "It's my first year."

"Oh." The boy smiled. "I'm starting second year. My name's Neville Longbottom."

"Ah." Arumus felt a sinking feeling. Neville must be related to the Aurors his parents had tortured all those years ago. Neville was gazing expectantly at Arumus, probably hoping for his name. Arumus decided there was no help for it. He said, "I'm Arumus... Arumus Lestrange."

Neville blanched, glancing away from Arumus and back to the toad. "Oh." He seemed lost for words.

Arumus didn't know what to say, but his mouth seemed to take on a life of its own. "I don't know my parents. I grew up with Draco Malfoy because my aunt and uncle took me in."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Neville actually sounded sorry, but whether he meant that he was sorry Arumus didn't know his parents or sorry that he had grown up with Draco, Arumus was not entirely sure.

"Draco's an aggravating little git, but he's not so bad if you know how to deal with him..." Arumus said.

Neville laughed in relief at the change of subject. "I don't think I would've survived growing up with Draco."

"Yeah, not sure I actually did, entirely," Arumus replied.

Neville glanced again at Arumus. "So, you won't be in Slytherin, then, will you?"

"Ah. Well, I am sure I will be in Slytherin. You can't fool blood. Plus, I might not have a place to live otherwise. Family might disown me, see?" Arumus laughed. "And I've heard that Professor Snape is brilliant, so I don't think it would be so bad. Not like Hufflepuff..." Arumus' voice trailed off as he caught the disbelieving look Neville shot him.

"Snape? Brilliant?" Neville asked. "Ahhh, I'm sure he is, but he's a little scary, you know."

"He can't be that scary."

"Maybe we have different ideas of scary," Neville said uncertainly.

A formidable, graying witch wearing a hat topped with a vulture and carrying a red handbag approached them from the depths of the shop. "Neville, I've purchased your potions ingredients. Are you ready to leave?"

"Uh, yeah, Gran." His eyes flicked uncertainly toward Arumus once more.

"And who do we have here?" She turned her sharp eyes to regard Arumus.

"Ma'am, I am Arumus Lestrange. I am pleased to meet you, Mrs. Longbottom. I'm beginning my first year, and Neville was telling me about the Potions Master." Arumus tried to hide the nervousness he felt at addressing her with a bow of his head respectfully.

Mrs. Longbottom regarded Arumus for a moment, her eyes seeming to take account of everything about him. "You're remarkably well-mannered for a Lestrange, boy. You grew up with the Malfoys, then?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Not a much better lot. You'll do well to put your family name back to rights, boy."

Arumus felt his cheeks warm, and he replied coolly, meeting her gaze with his studied, formal expression. "Yes, ma'am, I certainly will. Once again, it was a pleasure to meet you. And you, Neville." Arumus turned and strode to the counter where the Apothecary was adjusting a display. He forced his anger down in a practiced manner, informing the Apothecary that he needed the potions kit for the first year at Hogwarts. After Arumus collected his supplies and paid, pocketing the receipt, the Longbottoms had gone.
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Golden Hearts