Helios’s Awakening Interlude I

<<

Index

>>

Helios’s Awakening

Interlude I (November 1994)—
You never call me when you’re sober, you only want it ‘cause it’s over.
—“Call Me When You’re Sober,” Evanescence

Andromeda walked into Malfoy Manor and went directly to Lucius’s study, not bothering to find her youngest sister first.  Knocking on the door twice lightly, she waited for him to call for her to ‘come in,’ and then opened up the door and walked through.

Her dark hair fell around her shoulders, a riot of curls, but her face was gaunt and worried.

Lucius was sitting behind his desk, but he was looking out the window.  His reflection showed a man contented with life, his deep silver eyes looking off into the distance.

“Lucius,” she greeted.

He turned and looked at her, a small smile on his face.  “Dromeda.  How have you been?  We haven’t seen you since—Candlemas, I believe.”

“And I am sorry for that,” she admitted, coming forward. 

She glanced at the drawings behind his desk of Draco that were moving softly.  Draco playing with a fairy, Draco running through a meadow, Draco on a broom, catching a snitch.  Lucius was a truly talented sketch artist.

“It’s my son, Lucius.”

“Helios?” he asked, slightly worried.  “Has he been compromised?”

“Yes,” Andromeda agreed, not mincing words.  “I have reason to believe the Dark Lord has targeted him again.”  She sighed, running a hand through her long black curls.  “Whatever I do, the Dark Lord always seems to find him.  He found him when he was in hiding thirteen years ago and now he wants him—again—and not as the prophecy child.”

“How?”

“You’ve heard how Harry Potter breached the Goblet of Fire?”

“Yes,” Lucius agreed, clearly displeased.  “That boy has always been a rule breaker.”

“That boy is my son.”

Lucius looked surprised and then looked thoughtful.  “You think the Dark Lord—”

“—convinced him, yes, probably through some intermediary.  Gave him the means, quite probably.  The Dark Lord wants him in the tournament.  I don’t know why—”

“To outright kill him, probably,” Lucius told her, thinking quickly.  She could see the wheels turn behind his silver eyes.  “Competitors do die, especially underage ones.  The Dark Lord could quite easily make it look like an accident.”  He tapped his fingers against his desk.  “Well, there’s nothing for it.  Helios, and you’re saying Mr. Potter is Helios Black—”

“Yes,” Andromeda whispered desperately.

“Helios doesn’t have parental consent.  He can’t sign a magically binding contract without your consent as his mother, therefore the contract is null and void.”  He turned to fully face her.  “I’ll put it to the other governors and then we’ll lean on Bagman and Crouch.  This will all be sorted within the week.”

Andromeda’s shoulders suddenly relaxed.  “Thank you, Lucius.”

“It’s nothing.  Helios is family.—But whyever didn’t you move him once the Dark Lord targeted him as Harry Potter?  The Dark Lord must be obsessed with him as Harry Potter supposedly defeated him that Halloween night all those years ago.”

“He was already embedded.  To find him a new placement—”

“But the Dark Lord cannot bear to be beaten—”

“But surely that was better than having Helios Black, the prophecy child, directly where he could find him.  Although it seemed the prophecy seemed to follow him wherever he went.  Changing locations again would only have created new problems.  Who would have said it wouldn’t have been worse the third time around?”

Lucius looked somewhat defeated.

“But the Potters?”

“Sirius said they’d be safe.”

Staring at her, Lucius told her, “Well, there’s your problem.  You trusted Sirius Black.  You should have come to me for help.  We could have put him under glamours and told everyone that Draco had a twin.  Their ages are close enough.”  He turned thoughtful again.

Andromeda looked at him incredulously.

“I know.  I know.  Neither of us want to hurt Narcissa.”

“It would have been best if Bellatrix hadn’t been in Azkaban.  He would have looked like her son,” Andromeda decided, voicing a silent thought she had often had.  “Or if Regulus hadn’t been in hiding.  Then he would have been the legitimate instead of the illegitimate son of a Death Eater.”

“The Dark Lord destroyed many a family,” Lucius agreed, a knowledge passing through his silver eyes.  “I should tell Draco he has a cousin.”

“It will seem too suspicious if he suddenly is friendly toward the Boy Who Lived.”

“True, but everyone will be reacting differently now that he’s put his name in the Goblet of Fire.  If Draco’s attitude changes with everyone else’s, it won’t seem too out of the ordinary.”

“No, perhaps not.  Wait until Yule at the least.  Let everything settle with the Goblet.  We still don’t know what will happen.”

“Can you prove he’s your son?” Lucius asked carefully.

“The Black brand will be somewhere on his body.  Somewhere it says that he’s ‘Helios Perseus Black.’”

“I’ll have an independent healer come in and do an examination of him to provide photographic evidence.  We’ll keep this all in house and private.  Dumbledore won’t even know.”

Andromeda let out a breath.  “That is a relief.  I don’t want to even know what he would do to my son—”

“You need not worry,” Lucius assured her, reaching out and placing his hand over hers.  “No harm will come to Helios.  He will be removed from the Triwizard Tournament and this will be fixed as much as it can be.  Do you know when Regulus will find the last horcrux?”

“Ravenclaw’s diadem,” Andromeda answered.  “He knows it’s somewhere at Hogwarts, but not where exactly.  We’re close, we’re so close.  It hopefully won’t be longer than a few months and then the Dark Lord will be mortal again.  Then we can bring Helios home.”

“It will be soon, Dromeda,” Lucius promised.  “Then the Dark Lord won’t be indestructible and we all will be set free.”

Andromeda hesitated.  “What is it?”

“Did Regulus mention that our Dark Marks have reactivated?  Ever so slightly?”

“Yes.  That’s how I know it was the Dark Lord that is behind this plot to have Helios in the Tournament.  He must have a spy on the judges panel or at Hogwarts.  A student, even.  Someone that Helios would listen to.”

Lucius shrugged.  “It could be anyone.  Best to dispose of the Dark Lord instead of going after the spy.  If we get rid of the spy, then another spy will follow.  If we destroy the Dark Lord, it does not matter how many are loyal to him.  There will be no one for them to be loyal to.”

“Yes,” she agreed, taking her hand back.  “You’re right, Lucius.  You know how much I depend on your advice.”

He hesitated, as if to ask a question, but seemed to decide against it.  “Leave this with me.  Helios will be out of the tournament within a few days’ time.  You have nothing to fear.”

“Nothing to fear but the Dark Lord,” Andromeda agreed.  “Nothing to fear but him.”