Adamantine - D.M.

Chapter 14 - Remembrance & Retribution

Black smoke spun a memory into view as my feet hit the floor. 

I was standing in the Malfoy's drawing room, but it looked different. The same table was there, in the middle of the table; filled with the same faces. Lucius Malfoy had shorter hair, and his face was less lined. Bellatrix too had a vibrancy, a youthfulness that Azkaban had not yet stolen from her. Down the table, I observed the Death Eaters as they had been 15 years prior. A few I didn't recognize, and a few I-- My heart nearly stopped beating as I focused on my parents, unmistakeable even though I'd never known them; in a serious conversation with none other than Severus Snape. 

I had almost forgotten Draco was there, and I jumped a little as I turned around. "I- I can't believe it. They were really here". Draco nodded solemnly. The leaden feeling in the pit of my stomach seemed to drop further as Voldemort strode into view. Unlike the others; he did not portray an air of youthfulness. His face was the same mask-like, stretched white canvas. His eyes glowed the same red, and his voice has the same slippery, untrustworthy nature. "My friends, tonight is the night". The group cheered and pounded the table. I recognized the rat-like face of the man with the silver hand sitting adjacent to Voldemort, looking terrified and sheepish. Voldemort grinned maliciously, waiting for the uproar to subside. "Wormtail here has shared with us the location of the Potters". More cheers from the group arose. My mother looked to my father and gave an almost imperceptible nod of the head. "The plan is in place, Crouch?" Voldemort addressed a sandy-haired boy. He nodded, "the Ministry and Dumbledore know nothing, my lord. You will be able to take care of them easily". 

The scene vanished. 

Smoke dissolved around me, and I found myself on a dark street. A full moon hung overhead, illuminating the two figures, who apparated into the scene with a *pop*. My young mother and father looked around warily and slunk into the shadows. Draco and I followed. "You know we're absolutely mad for doing this" Aurora addressed Cadmus. "What else can we do? You heard that prophecy. The child? You said it yourself; we're in too deep". The pair entered a red phone booth, which stuck out oddly on the abandoned side street. Draco and I dove in as the door shut. It was surprisingly roomy on the inside, and after Cadmus pressed a few buttons on the dial, we descended into darkness. 

The flash of green light hit my father before I'd even realized we had entered the Ministry. Shouts mingled with my mother's strangled scream as chaos broke out. Witches and Wizards began popping into view; an alarm screeching overhead. A figure I recognized instantly stepped through the crowd. Mad-Eye Moody, looking younger but almost entirely as scarred and battered had his wand pointed at my mother, on the ground clutching my father's lifeless body. Perhaps it was the numbness of the night's events or the burning dark mark on my arm- but I didn't feel like I was witnessing my father's death. At least, not the father I'd thought I'd known. How could Granddad have hidden this from me? Had he known what they had done?

"He's going to the Potters" Aurora screamed as she was ripped away from my father's body, magically shackled. "He's going to kill them! He's going to kill them!" She shrieked as the scene dissolved once more. 

The next memory materialized around me. 

Draco and I found ourselves in a cold and dispiriting concrete room. A woman sat on the ragged bed in the corner, staring through heavy bars into a raging storm outside. Dark figures swooped through the darkness, and I realized instantly. We were in Azkaban. The woman who sat on the bed was unrecognizable. Her face was gaunt, her eyes soulless. 

"He did it anyway, you know" Lucius Malfoy said coldly, standing over the woman. "Cadmus dead. And for what? We've modified your father's memory and your eldest sons. They won't remember anything of your allegiance to the Dark Lord". That seemed to comfort the withered woman. "Your daughter though-" Lucius stopped, possibly thinking of his own son."If you want any chance of sparing her, I need the memory. If he comes back, he must know the truth. How could you leave your own child in danger, to spare another?" The woman nodded solemnly, knowing that this was what he'd come for. Lucius tapped his wand to her temple, pulling out the silky web of memory that was the night my father died. He placed it tenderly into a vial, a sympathetic look on his face that didn't suit him at all. 

The memory whipped away in a tornado of gray haze.

We were back in the Malfoy's drawing room. The scene was as I had experienced. Draco, 16 years old stood pale and rigid in the firelight, right hand clasped with Voldemort's. I turned to the Draco beside me. "What is this?". He pretended not to hear me. Lucius stood between them, tracing an incantation with his wand. 

"Do you, Draco- vow to bring the Dark Lord the revenge he seeks? Vow to bring him the only daughter of Aurora and Cadmus Victor, traitors to our sacred kinship?"

"I do"