FIC: Pathway to Perdition (5/5)

[kennahijja]

Title: Pathway to Perdition: Epilogue (5/5)
Author Hijja (kennahijja@yahoo.com)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: gen with a bit of slash
Summary: It's the summer after Dumbledore's death at Hogwarts. When mysterious rumours about Horcruxes reach the Minister of Magic out of Azkaban, Percy Wesley is sent to investigate. And suddenly, he finds himself in the company of two enemies he'd rather not have faced ever again...
Note: A Christmas fic for the most lovely cedarlibrarian. Thanks to lazy_neutrino for the beta!
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4


Ten days after their successful escape from the crypt of Thirladean Hall, Lucius Malfoy paces the small corner room of the Fidelius-protected Order safehouse he has requisitioned as his 'study'. Although August has finally lived up to its promise, a small fire crackles in the grate before him. His cloak is slung over the back of a delicate chair. Its two topmost buttons have been cut off again, and are spinning on the small writing desk. He has smuggled them out of Azkaban, then reattached them to his new cloak in the dingy robe shop off Diagon Alley under the oblivious noses of Potter and Weasley. A poke activates the Self-Transfiguration spell cast on them, and returns them to their original parchment shape.

Lucius eyes the wrinkled letters coldly, then picks up the topmost parchment once again.

My dear Lucius,

A mutual friend informs me that Lord Voldemort's threat to your son has made you reconsider your allegiances, and inclined to join us in our efforts to remove the shadow of Lord Voldemort from the wizarding world. Let me assure you that we will do all in our power to watch over Draco at Hogwarts and beyond. The same protection will be extended to your lady wife should she decide to accept it, as soon as we can safely approach her without compromising the safety of young Draco.

Although your support will not influence my decision on this matter, I think you will agree that taking the battle to Lord Voldemort as quickly as possible will be the most prudent course of action, not least for your own protection and that of your family. To that end, I would lay at your feet a particular task that I myself am incapable of undertaking. Our mutual friend will divulge matters to you in detail if you should be agreeable.

I remain yours sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore

The old man had not been joking. Indeed, when Severus Snape had turned up in his cell in Azkaban, scowling and bearing his Master's letter like a tattered messenger owl, the message itself had left Lucius torn between incredulity and amusement. To hear a proposition like this, from the Order of the Phoenix's paragon of virtue...

His eyes fall on the second parchment of his short correspondence with Hogwarts' Headmaster, and again he snorts in disgust.

I can only most sincerely beg your forgiveness for burdening you with a task as ignominious as this. Indeed, Tom Riddle's trap leaves me not only helpless to act, but unable to offer you advice or assistance in any form. I would give everything in my power to bear this myself, but it cannot be.

Yes, even renowned Albus Dumbledore could not die twice, nor lay this particular burden on Snape as well. No, Dumbledore had known perfectly well that Lucius would never touch the small handful of people he loves – Narcissa, Draco, and perhaps even Severus, albeit with the detached affection one would show a misled younger brother. The Headmaster had known that an innocent would have to pay the price for the Horcrux, and Lucius cannot help but feel that the old coot made the convenient choice to die in order to avoid facing the outcome.

Lucius had not so much lied to Potter and Weasley as concealed a few crucial points. Of course the Bloody Baron had shared his knowledge with Hogwarts' Headmaster – after all, Lucius had received his information from Albus Dumbledore's quill itself. And his mother's invented descent from the Bloody Baron was impossible to disprove without the lifetime efforts of a scholar of wizarding genealogy. It had all worked according to plan in the end. Now, however, Albus Dumbledore's final request leaves him torn.

I am well aware that I have no right to ask an additional boon, and know I cannot compel you. Nevertheless, I would ask you to conceal my involvement in this horrible affair from Harry until he has faced Lord Voldemort for the final time. He is very young and has suffered greatly. Even knowing and loving him as well as I ever could a son or a grandson, the knowledge might destroy his resolve or his ability to love and trust which he will need to rely on to defeat Lord Voldemort. If you can find it in yourself to bear my guilt and live as the target of his wrath until he can be safely told, you will have my eternal gratitude.

Levitating out of the crypt, safely shrouded in magic and with Potter's petrified form in his arms, Lucius had known it would not be easy. Although, Potter had not attacked him on the spot when Lucius had released him from the spell, he had not looked at him or spoken once, as if a large part of him had died with Percy Weasley at the foot of Salazar's tomb.

For a moment, when he had faced the members of the Order in Grimmauld Place, Lucius had wondered if Potter would break his side of the Vow – to speak up for him – and die out of pure spite. But he had uttered the required words, albeit with a face so stony that one of them – the Auror, Shacklebolt – had surreptitiously cast a Verification Charm on the boy. There is no doubt that Potter is itching for a chance to avenge Weasley. Well, Lucius muses, if it gives him an additional incentive to kill the Dark Lord...

It would be a fitting revenge for Lucius' humiliation at Potter's hands to reveal to the boy how his trusted mentor had set the entire plan in motion. Especially since Lucius will carry the scar from Severus' Sectumsempra for the rest of his life. But then Lucius has seen the boy teetering at breaking point as he watched Percy die...

"I kept your secret, old man," Lucius sneers down at the parchment, at the loopy eccentric handwriting that fits its owner so well. "The boy's opinion of you remains pristine, for all the good it will do him."

The old fool had filled Potter's head with fluff about love and choices, and then sent him off to a war where there would be none of either.

Lucius crumples the letters into a ball and hurls them into the grate. The fire kindles up at once, the parchment shining for a second in a translucent, golden glow that turns to crisp brown, shrivels in from the edges, and erupts as the flames eat through it.

"He should have chosen to love me instead, dear Albus – perhaps he would have suffered a little less."

~ finis ~
Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to J K Rowling. I'm just experimenting with them a bit. No harm intended, no money made.

Comments

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*is once more without words* Gah. Beautiful. And perfect. And gah! And could so see it happening if Rowling was was not dependant on neatt and cheerful and 2D characters.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Thankee! So glad this worked for you too (I did wibble about breaking the tone...). Though after HBP I'm totally convinced that Dumbledore is an utter bastard schemer (poor Snape!)...

[s8219.livejournal.com]

It's 2am and I'm sure I'm in no condition to leave feedback, but I have this fear that if I don't do it now it'll get buried behind random links and it won't be until Feb. that I remember. ::is SO a spaz::

At first, the Bloody Baron descendant bugged me. It always feels like someone has to be a descendant in fics, but I read through it because I know of your awesome powers and when you said at the end that it was a lie, I beamed and was all, "She's so great."

Percy's death was excellent, if only because I sympathized with him. And his last words to Potter? Bwah! ::loves me some Harry!pain::

You continue to churn out the bestest fics and remain one of my favorite authors ::snuggles::

::falls dead into bed::

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Poor Breese, AKd by sleep :).
Thanks muchly for the lovely feedback. I wibbled a lot over even including the Epilogue, but I *wanted* the resolution in there because *I* knew the story hadn't been entirely real, and it *showed* in the fic too much to leave it as it was. I'm not a friend of forced coincidences either. Percy... he doesn't strike me as a forgiving nature, especially not for Harry doing what he does best (i.e. getting people killed by accident).
*hugs*

[s8219.livejournal.com]

It feels to me that he is forgiving if it involves someone higher up who he either should repect or is told to respect.

Fudge was a complete idiot, yet he didn't think on his own to realize, "This guy has no idea what he's doing aside for campaigning for next year." instead he was told by... well, I guess the voters and some peers that he should respect the Minister and he didn't give thought to it.

He also seems to have a skeery about of mis-placed pride ::snuggles him::

But I'm thinking that if it had be Ron instead of Harry ... well, at the very least he wouldn't have said that.

It hurt to read it as much as it made me gleeful. Poor Harry. ::snuggles his fucked up self::

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Percy still mystifies me... he's such an utter arse in canon that I'm just itching to rationalise him. It'd be too *easy* otherwise. And Percy can't be totally dumb, being Head Boy and all, so it just makes me wonder why he's so totally brainless when it comes to authority.

Ron... Ron would have gone down happily (or at least loyally) I think...

[njelruch.livejournal.com]

it just makes me wonder why he's so totally brainless when it comes to authority.

Percy has such an overly Type A personality that growing up in such a disorganized family must have been a bit of a nightmare for him. The rigid structure of bureaucracy must have seemed like utopia. Adults like Arthur and Dumbledore are sort of the anti-bureaucrats, and it probably seemed to Percy (who was only 18 in OotP, after all) like Arthur was deliberately trying to ruin his life. Poor, dumb Perce.

I hope Ron drops a house on Lucius.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that not being appreciated/ridiculed by his family (apart from Molly) sparked a lot of resentment too.

I hope Ron drops a house on Lucius.
A suggestion which makes this ardent Ron/Lucius shipper very happy ;).

[http://users.livejournal.com/rantipole_/]

The old fool had filled Potter's head with fluff about love and choices, and then sent him off to a war where there would be none of either.
So. True.

And Dang. This Fic. Dang.
man, can you Plot *takes notes*
And that whole scene in the cave was just spooky and magical and heart-wrenching. Dang
*is inspired*

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Plot is a good thing unless you have far too much plot to squeeze into a medium-sized fic :). I'm so very glad you enjoyed the story. Thanks for all the lovely, encouraging feedback!

[riibu.livejournal.com]

Ah, scheming Dumbledore! Clever ending, and a brilliant fic overall. What a plot! I'm impressed.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much - I couldn't let go of the Dumbledore ending. So glad you liked the plot (it jumped me and sorted itself out in the course of five minutes or so... *pets muse*).

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

This is beautiful, and I hate it. ;)

Because you killed Kenny Percy! You're supposed to warn for character death for good reason: the fandom reads fanfic in order to continue to characters beyond canon. Character death is a breach of that.

Yes, it serves the story's element of surprise to not warn for character death, but since Percy is the POV character no one will guess he's going to die. The POV character never dies because it's hard to write to write death convincingly.

This said, the story's brilliant, just brilliant. The magic is beautiful, well-visualized and compelling, your plot riveting from beginning to end. Characterization is superb. Can I (just ignore my "warn for death please" chiding) archive it at Percyness: The Percy Weasley Archive. Please?

Icarus

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

This is beautiful, and I hate it. ;)
Thanks so very much! Thanks much for the opportunity to archive! I'll certainly do that, after I've polished it a little bit more, if that's ok.

And apologies for the character death, but I won't warn for that no matter what. Because if I'd have to give away the crucial plot twist beforehand, I'd rather not write the fic at all. Just like I don't bother reading fics that use it - it spoils the whole plot. I mean... imagine going to see 'Gladiator' after a character death warning in the opening credits? *shudders*

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Actually, my boyfriend and I had a discussion about this yesterday and he's very much on your side. But I think that the motive for reading HP fanfic does make character death an inordinate shock as opposed to a film that is not based on continuing canon characters from elsewhere.

If the choice is no warning, no fic, that's the writer's call. But having no warnings mislabels the fic because we have these conventions. It is a bit like having NC-17 hiding under the guise of a G-rating. It misleads the reader.

Also, Gladiator and other such movies almost always have the death spoiled in the reviews, so the viewer is not surprised by it. The character's death is rarely the entire plot. That would be rather thin, relying on shock value when your story has so much more.

Thanks so very much! Thanks much for the opportunity to archive! I'll certainly do that, after I've polished it a little bit more, if that's ok.

Okay, I eagerly await it.

Icarus

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

I fear there's no way of satisfactorily solving the deathfic dilemma - those who want a warning don't want to spoil their fic reading experience with a character death, the others don't want their fic reading experience spoiled by the warning... Since I'm highly partial myself, I don't do warnings, but will make sure in the future to warn for the vague 'disturbing content'. Which, incidentally, I did when posting this fic to archives, assuming that the LJ f-list knows by now what they're getting into :).

But having no warnings mislabels the fic because we have these conventions. It is a bit like having NC-17 hiding under the guise of a G-rating. It misleads the reader.

I honestly don't see it this way. A G-rating explicitly says that there is no adult content. But the presence of a piece of writing does by no means imply there will be character death - certainly not in original fiction or literature, and not in fanfic either. Or so I would argue because I don't see fanfiction as continuing canon characters without doing them damage - not in a story above G or PG rating.

[riibu.livejournal.com]

I think it's a bit extreme to warn about character deaths in fics. A suitable rating is enough IMHO. Possibly a general warning about dark content can be added.

One of the reasons this fic was so powerful was because of that unexpected plot twist. It would have been a major spoiler if there was a warning!

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Can I (just ignore my "warn for death please" chiding) archive it at Percyness: The Percy Weasley Archive.
Have posted it to the archive (with a roundabout warning in the notes) - sorry it took so long, editing took ages :(.