Chapter Text
"Pitiful. On your feet Malfoy!" barked a deep, condescending voice.
Cygnus gritted his teeth in frustration as he looked up from where he was kneeling. In front of him stood a tall, lumpy short-haired man, he had a doughy face with small beady dark eyes that sparkled with malice, as well as a lopsided grin. The man's clothes were predominantly black, and instead of wearing a long sweeping robe as most wizards did he wore a short one. In his hand, he had a long crooked wand that was pointed at Cygnus head.
"He gave you an order boy!" a female voice shrieked, causing Cygnus ears to ring.
The woman to whom the voice belonged to looked a lot like the man. She had neatly tied back hair, and her figure was stocky like the man's however unlike him she was short, making her look dumpy. She also shared the man's lopsided grin, which made her look insane. She didn't have her wand out, but she was pointing at Cygnus accusingly with her stubby finger.
These two were Amycus and Alecto Carrow, twins and one of Cygnus training partners, and when he was younger, his teachers. Seeing as he had very little to learn from them, they were just his training partners now, a role they loved seeing as they got to torment him instead of teaching him.
Cygnus huffed, and stood on his feet, and pointing his wand at Amycus, who sneered maliciously.
"Locomotor Mortis!" Amycus hissed, flicking his wand expertly and quickly.
Standing his ground, Cygnus waited for the curse to reach him, before bringing his wand up and deflecting the spell, non-verbally.
This was what they were practicing, Cygnus non-verbal spells. He himself was more or less confident with non-verbal spells, being able to perform them throughout the day, however, when it came to duelling it was another matter entirely.
The speed in which he had to think and move gave him very little time to use regular verbal spells, much less non-verbally and Amycus didn't make it at all easy. He was duelling with all his speed and might, hoping to best Cygnus this time around, and Cygnus who was struggling to dodge and send spells his way was having a hard time staying on his own two feet. Regardless though, he wasn't going to lose.
"Retrogenu" barked Amycus, sending the next -considerably more dangerous curse- less than a second after his initial one.
Once more Cygnus brought his wand up and shielded his knee from the spell. The curse hitting the shield caused a large bang to ring around the training hall, causing his ears to ring.
Using that to his advantage Amycus threw another spell at him, a spell Cygnus had to identify through the wand movement.
Instead of shielding or repel the spell, he dodged the jet of black tendrils that flew past him, the wind it made caused his hair to flow back.
With incredible speed, and before Amycus's spell even went past him, he pointed his wand at him and flicked it, a jet of blood red sparks flying from his wand.
Amycus whose vision was obstructed by his own spell didn't see the spell Cygnus sent his way until it was too late.
"Argh!" Amycus cried in pain and held on to his wand hand that was bleeding profoundly from a large gash.
The tall man looked at him murderously, his eyes cold and his teeth bared in anger, any other person would have been taken aback by the sheer anger of the man, but he wasn't.
"You fucking-"
Before Amycus could complete the sentence, Cygnus flicked his wand, a jet of gold sparks flying to the wide-eyed Amycus.
Cygnus could taste victory, but just as his spell was about to hit the man, a shield materialized in front of him, a shield not created by him.
Jerking his head to the side, he glared daggers at Alecto who grinned wickedly in respond, her wand raised in the direction of the shield.
For a brief second, he wanted to curse the dumpy woman, but when Amycus voice rang in anger, his hairs raised on end and he looked at him.
"Crucio!" Shouted Amycus, and Cygnus eyes widened.
He looked at the angry red curse coming his way. There weren't many things that could block the Cruciatus Curse, defensive magic itself was infective against it, and he had no time to dodge, leaving him with only one option.
With wide, wild eyes he swung his wand in a complicated and elaborate arch. From the ground a large piece of stone flew up into the air, blocking the curse successfully as it merely evaporated upon impact.
Cygnus smirked in triumph at his own brilliance, he had no idea that would work. He hadn't merely levitated the rock from the ground, he tore the stone from the floor and levitated it to shield him, all with one spell.
His small victory was short-lived, however, as he heard Amycus shout something he couldn't hear, since his ears were still ringing, and since he couldn't see his wand movement he didn't know what spell he'd used.
With no options, all he could do was stand his ground, and grit his teeth as the new spell hit the stone he was holding.
When the spell hit it, Cygnus soon realized his mistake and attempted to rectify it but it was too late. As if it were paper, the rock exploded the force of the explosion sent him flying, slamming him against the wall, his wand almost slipping out of his grip.
For a brief second Cygnus could see stars from the force in which his head had slammed against the wall, and he was barely able to make out the sound of Alecto's obnoxious laughter, much less the muffled sound of Amycus next spell.
'Get up!' He hissed to himself. He wasn't going to lose to the likes of Amycus Carrow!
With his last strong will, he looked up, his eyes widening as he looked at the spell coming straight at his face. Acting out of pure instinct and adrenaline, he leaned his head out of the way, the spell hitting the wall and cracking it slightly.
Cygnus narrowed his eyes in anger, he pointed his wand at Amycus, who was no longer bleeding but was having difficulty holding on to his wand.
He made to flick his wand at the man, but before he used magic he saw at the corner of his eye Alecto raise her wand to protect her brother once more.
Cygnus narrowed his eyes, in concentration, before he finished the wand movement he directed his wand at Alecto at the last minute, sending the spell straight at her. Not expecting that, Alecto's wand went flying away from her, as she looked at him in shock.
The woman shrieked in indignation.
With no time to waste, Cygnus brought his wand up and pointed it at Amycus, who had already thrown another spell at him. Before Amycus spell could hit, however, Cygnus flicked his wand and sent his own spell straight at the man, using the spell coming his way to hide his.
The whole duel stood on a rope, as both their spells went flying towards their trajectory.
Amycus stood on his spot wide-eyed, not seeing the spell coming his way, while Cygnus struggled to move out of the way of the spell coming his way, his back hurt and his head felt fuzzy.
In the last possible second, and as his legs seemed to function once more, Cygnus rolled out of the way, the spell hitting the wall instead. Amycus, on the other hand, yelled in indignation, much like his sister had. His wand had flown out of his hand, and laid on the other side of the room, and Cygnus smirked in triumph.
"You cheating, p-" Amycus growled angrily, striding to where he laid, his face red in anger, and his hand twitching from pain.
"Give it up Amycus, Cyg's won, again." A rough, yet almost musical voice said from the other side of the room.
Everyone in the hall turned to look at the man standing by the door, his arms crossed in front of him, looking bored.
The man had medium size black hair that reached his neck and gray eyes. He was tall, but not too tall, and he was skinny but not too skinny either. He wore a set of lavished dark robes that were obviously quite expensive. Upon his right hand, he bore a large family ring, as most pure-bloods did. The man had a young look to him, and he was quite handsome too.
Amycus glared at the man who didn't seem at all fazed by him.
"He cheated Regulus!" He growled, spit flying out of his mouth.
Regulus didn't say anything, he merely raised a brow, and continued to look at the twin with boredom.
"And how did he cheat?" Asked Regulus, as if he was talking to a child.
Amycus didn't see. To notice as he pointed at Cygnus who had risen to his feet, and was slapping the dust off of him, not at all paying any attention to the angry man.
"He attacked Alecto! She wasn't even part of the duel!" He barked angrily, sounding a lot like a child who'd just been beaten at his own game.
"Right, Alecto the ever innocent sister who was cheating by protecting you every time you were too incapable to bring up a simple shield." Regulus shot back, sounding exasperated at the whole argument.
Amycus reddened in embarrassment, and he opened his mouth to say something in his defence, but before he could Regulus waved him away.
"Just get out, the both of you," He sighed exasperatedly.
Cygnus watched amused as the twins gritted their teeth and glared at Regulus, their hands clenching into fists but they didn't say anything as they both collected their wands and practically stomped out of the hall like angry children, throwing the door behind them. Even Draco didn't behave in such a manner.
Regulus gave out an annoyed, sighed and looked at Cygnus.
"Those two are a disgrace to dark wizards, and witches all over the world." He huffed, walking to where Cygnus stood and looking him over from head to toe, checking for any injuries.
"I don't know why father even lets them hang around, much less come here anymore." Cygnus huffed, fixing his dishevelled hair.
"There aren't as many of us as there used to be, we can't be picky with our allies anymore," Regulus said sounding disappointed and looking at the door the twins had left from.
"That being said, sometimes I question why we keep them."
Cygnus smiled in agreement and looked up at Regulus who was looking down at him.
At first glance both of them looked very similar, with the jet black hair, and their suits, not to mention that their appearances were alike, and yet very different. Regulus had more sharp features, while he had a few rugged edges thanks to him being a Potter. Also, Cygnus is only twelve so he still has a lot of baby fat to grow out of. Despite this Cygnus was sometimes mistaken for Regulus son, and that wasn't such a bad guess.
Due to the blood adoption ritual they performed on him when he was an infant, Cygnus was half Potter and half Black which in a way made Regulus as much his father as James is, not that Regulus saw him as his son and Cygnus didn't see him as his father either. The young Black made it very clear when Cygnus was very young that he wasn't his father, and that he wanted no hand in his upbringing. When he was a kid that had hurt a little, but eventually he accepted Regulus decision and he became one of Cygnus favourite teachers. He was smart, maybe not as smart as Snape, but still, and he was skillful in magic, not to mention that coolheaded personality, unlike his brother. Regulus was so unlike his older brother Sirius in fact that sometimes he wondered if they really were related.
"Your mother is going to give me an earful when she sees the state you're in" Regulus mused, dusting a little bit of dust off of Cygnus shoulders that he hadn't gotten.
"Come on, you better get a shower before she gets home," Regulus said, walking to the exit of the room.
Just as Regulus reached for the door to open it, the door opened on it's on, or rather someone else had opened it before they could.
"Regulus, we're having the meeting soon, yo-"
The person stopped as his eyes flew up and landed on Regulus, the person's eyes widened for a second in shock, not having expected him to be there.
"I haven't forgotten Yaxley," said Regulus, and Yaxley took a step back and huffed as his eyes landed on Cygnus.
Yaxley is a tall man, with a hard and blunt appearance, unlike most purebloods. His hair is light blond much like Draco's and their father's, and much like them, he kept it long and braided. Overall Yaxley had the appearance of a man that was always up to something, always planning something. Out of all those who trained him, and all those who were part of his father inner circle Yaxley by far had to be the worse, and the feeling was mutual.
"Cygnus," Yaxley said his name with near annoyance, and Cygnus simply bowed his head a little in greetings.
" ."
For a brief moment, Yaxley looked at him, his eyes narrowed, but then he switched his attention to Regulus and straightened his suit.
"We'll be waiting for you," said Yaxley, looking down at Cygnus for one last time before he turned and left the room, and Regulus sighed.
"What meeting?" asked Cygnus, cutting straight to the point.
Regulus raised a brow and looked down at Cygnus, in almost amusement.
In all of his years living with the Malfoys, he had only known of a handful of meetings taking place at the manor. Of course, he and Draco didn't know anything about the meetings, or what they spoke of, they were still much too young to know, or so the others said. Cygnus wasn't a fool either, he knew they spoke about the Dark Lord, and about his hopeful return, before the events of his first year at Hogwarts he wouldn't really think much about it, and he would have agreed with helping the Dark Lord return, but now he dreaded his return. If the Dark Lord returned his friends would be in danger, and he simply couldn't let that happen, even if he did agree with some of their goals. Regardless, Cygnus couldn't help but notice that his father's inner circle were gathering a lot more often than ever before, having had gathered three times during the summer already, not to mention that their father was incredibly busy with who knows what. Because of this Cygnus hadn't been able to ask him a few pressing questions, questions about his supposed kidnapping.
"Don't worry about it," was all Regulus said as he gave him a reassuring smile, and passed through the doors, going after Yaxley and leaving Cygnus behind.
"Can we go see what dad's doing?" asked Draco, pushing the food around on his plate, not at all interested in it.
The three of them, Draco, their mother and Cygnus sat in the large dining table eating their dinner. After both of them had their tutoring sessions, and after taking their weekly dance lessons with their mother both of them had waited in the dining room bored. Usually, after they had finished their classes they were allowed to spend their free time as they wished, and usually, they both spent it playing quidditch, or by inviting their friends over. However, since they weren't allowed to so much look at a broom after last year's events, and their friends couldn't come to visit then that left them with nothing to do, hence why Draco was behaving more obnoxious than usual.
"Absolutely not, now eat your dinner Draco." their mother ordered, taking a bite of her fish.
Draco huffed, and rested his chin on his hand, as he looked at his food with a bored expression as if it were the food's fault that he had nothing to do. Cygnus, on the other hand, ate his food without a fuss, his eyes turning to look at the empty chair at the head of the table.
Their father always attended dinner, and when he didn't it was always because he had pressing matters to attend to at the ministry. Today though is a weekend and their father didn't have work, but he did have the ever important meeting, a meeting neither he nor Draco were allowed to attend or even be around the place the meeting was taking place. Both he and Draco, of course, wanted to know what was going on, but when they got caught in one of Snape's trap when they were young they decided to never do that again. So now Draco had to resort to begging to know what the meeting was about, which never worked, or whine about it which only proved to anger their parents.
Cygnus on the other hand, he was more sly and smarter, while he couldn't know entirely what transpired in those meetings he had a way to get some information. So when he noticed that all his father's inner circle friends were coming to the manor, he prepared his usual tactic.
The doors to the dining room opened, and their mother, Draco and he turned their heads to look group of people making their way to them.
Macnair, Yaxley, the Carrow twins, Snape, Rowle, Regulus and their father made their way to the dining table.
"I'm starving." cried Alecto, who glared at Cygnus as she took her seat across from him, her brother Amycus did the same but with a lot more anger.
Once everyone sat, a plate of food appeared in front of them. Both the twins quickly started to wolf the food up, while the rest looked at them with an almost disgusted look in their eyes.
Everyone remained in relative silence as they ate, even Draco didn't say anything as he simply ate his food. Cygnus too didn't dare break the silence, but he did notice that Yaxley was glaring at him, but he wasn't all that bothered by it. He'd known Corban hated him from a young age, he didn't exactly know why but he suspected it had to do with him being Harry Potter. Once again, he didn't really care, he could very well hate him all he liked.
"Where's Cornelian? He usually doesn't miss a meeting." his mother asked, breaking the silence and taking a sip of her wine.
A few people around the table tensed, and their expression soured, and his mother, Draco and he wondered why that was.
"He's been detained by the ministry, courtesy of the new muggle protection act made by that flea-bitten, Muggle-loving fool Arthur Weasley!" his father spat sourly.
Cygnus did feel a little bit of anger surface but he didn't dare say anything, nor show any emotion, as he simply put his cutlery down neatly and looked at Lucius.
"His home was raided by the Longbottoms, and they found a few dark objects they did not agree with." he continued, taking a strong angry bite of his food.
It was hard for Cygnus to keep his reaction neutral, as his eyes widened in disbelief. He disagreed with everyone's blood purity obsession but finding out that Cornelian -a snobbish, foolish man, but overall a harmless man- was detained simply because he had some dark artifacts in his possession is baffling. He wasn't doing anything with those dark arts objects, and as far as he knew he wasn't hurting anyone with it, so why did the ministry practically deem him a criminal for having them?
Just like everyone around the table, his hand turned into fists and his brows furrowed. He wasn't quick to fall into anger, but the ministry's lack of knowledge in the dark arts, and their prejudice belief towards it always made his blood boil. He hoped that whatever they took from Cornelian will explode in their faces.
Rowle, a tall, and heavily muscled blond man growled angrily.
"Bloody Longbottoms, and Weasleys. Rotten to the core the lot of them, they'll get what's coming to them sooner or later," he hissed, hitting the table with his fist to what must have been gently to him but was anything but as a few of the cups shook on the spot, but thankfully didn't topple over.
His father looked at the brute disapprovingly, but he didn't say anything.
"Not just them, but all their fucking friends' too." growled, Macnair another tall and muscled man with a large mustache upon his lips.
"Language Walden, there're children present." Snape scolded as if the mustached man was another of his students at Hogwarts.
Macnair huffed indignantly, but after one good glare from Narcissa, he sighed.
"Sorry." he apologized, not at all sounding sincere.
Lucius waved his hand dismissively and looked at all of them.
"Nothing will happen to Cornelian, Corban and I will make sure of that, but I advise all of you to get rid of any dark object you may have in your possession. We don't want to attract any unwanted attention at the moment."
Everyone seating around the table gave his father a sour, indignant look, none of them wanted to hide their allegiance to the dark, however, no one disagreed either. Cygnus knew that no one could afford to have the ministry's attention, not when they had supposedly been forced to serve the Dark Lord.
"That includes the both of you." his father said, looking pointedly at him and Draco, catching Draco mid-bite.
"Due to recent events, it would be prudent that you both refrain from flaunting your allegiance to anything do with the dark, even among your friends" he ordered, his eyes lingering on Cygnus the longest.
Out of both of them, Cygnus is the only one that truly knows the dark art, and has dwelled in it ever since he was a child. He knew spells that would make an auros stomach churn, and though he didn't and never used an unforgivable he knew without a doubt that he could perform them. His knowledge in the dark -despite his age- made him dangerous, but he knew better than to ever use it in public so why was his father warning him? Unless he knew of what transpired in Slytherin house between him and Flint? That must be it.
Both he and Draco nodded and didn't say anything, and with that, they all went back to their food.
When Cygnus made his way to his room after their parents dismissed him and Draco since they were going to have adult conversations they couldn't possibly be interested in, Draco couldn't have been happier as he practically ran to his room. He had been bored out of his mind listening to his father talk about politics, and financing, while he was a little bit more interested but still glad that he had been dismissed. He had other things to deal with anyways.
When Cygnus opened the door, he was glad that there was someone there already.
A little creature stood before him, with bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of a ball. This was dobby, one of his family many house elf.
When Cygnus eyes landed on dobby, the little elf bowed so low that the end of his long, thin nose touched the floor.
"How many times do I have to tell you about the bowing Dobby?" Cygnus asked exasperated, as he made his way to his wardrobe and slipped out of his suit to change into a simple shirt and trousers. He disliked being inside his room wearing a full suit, he liked to think his room as a place where he could sit and relax.
"Not to do it Malfoy sir." the house elf said sheepishly, looking at his large feet.
"That's right," Cygnus said softly, he didn't want to make Dobby think he was angry at him. Unlike the rest of his family, he didn't see house elves as mere objects, and Dobby was one of his family's favourite elf. He wasn't a pureblood fanatic as other elves were, and he even did whatever Cygnus told him, even more so after he learned his true identity.
Now completely changed, he walked to towards Dobby and sat on the large lavished armchair by the fireplace, looking at the elf straight in the eyes.
"What did you overhear Dobby?" asked Cygnus.
Dobby squirmed on the spot, as he always did when he asked him to do something that went against his father's orders. Dobby maybe the family house-elf, and he was bound by magic to do as any of them said, but when it came down to it the head of the family always had the strongest word. However, that seldom stopped Dobby, as he'd usually tell him anyways unless it was one of those rare times that he just couldn't say anything no matter how hard he tried.
"Ah, sir terrible, terrible things has Dobby heard," Dobby whined, his ears bending fearfully.
Cygnus eyes narrowed, and he looked at the house elf in confusion and intrigue. Never has Dobby said anything like that whenever he eavesdropped for him. Whatever his father and company were planning, it must be something terrible.
"What terrible things?" he asked leaning on his knees.
"Master Lucius Malfoy sir, he has planned terrible things, things that will transpire, things that could put Cygnus Malfoy in danger, sir."
As if the rug had been pulled from under him, Cygnus looked at Dobby with disbelief, and shock. His father was planning something that could potentially put him in danger? How, why? Why would his father put him in danger? He needed to know more.
Cygnus shook his head, shaking the shock.
"What things?" he asked.
Dobby shook his head and looked as if in pain. Whatever he had overheard, he could not tell Cygnus, and that worried him.
"There is a plot, sir. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts this year," whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over.
"Cygnus Malfoy sir must not put himself in peril. He is too important, sir! He should not go back to Hogwarts this year!"
Silence fell over the room, as Cygnus looked at Dobby in shock. Him not going to Hogwarts? Horribly things happening at the school? He didn't know what to even think, or where to even begin?
"W-what? What things, what is going to happen Dobby?" he asked a little more forcefully, and Dobby's eyes widened.
Out of nowhere, Dobby knelt on the floor and started banging his head against the floor.
"Dobby stop it," Cygnus ordered, kneeling on the floor with him and holding him by the shoulders to stop him.
Dobby stopped, but when he looked up at him he shook his head, and covered his ears painfully, unable to say anything more.
Giving out a huff, Cygnus stroked his temple.
"Can you at least tell me if this plan was specifically made to put me in danger?" he asked, not looking at Dobby. He didn't really want to know Dobby's response.
Dobby's green eyes met his, filled with unshed tears and he shook his head and Cygnus let out a deep breath. It still didn't change the fact that he had no idea what was going to happen, or what these things were, but at the very least he knew that they weren't after him.
Dobby sniffed and wiped his tears with the dirty pillowcase he was wearing.
"Ah, sir," he sniffed.
"this is why Cygnus sir can't go to Hogwarts, he must stay at the Malfoy Manor where he is safe," Dobby said, and Cygnus was shocked instantly as if he'd ever stay behind and not go to Hogwarts.
"I can't do that Dobby, I got to go back. Term starts on September first." He told the house elf, who seemed he wouldn't take no for an answer.
"No, no, no," squeaked Dobby, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped.
"Cygnus Malfoy must stay where he is safe. If Sir goes back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger."
"Why?" Asked Cygnus once again, but once again Dobby shook his head insistently.
Seeing as he wasn't going to get anywhere with Dobby, Cygnus sighed and shook his head once more. He should have known that his second year at Hogwarts isn't going to be as peaceful, and uneventful as he had hoped.