Family Reunion
Long hair, very much like Draco remembered from the past, though now it was completely white. His face looked exactly the same as before, as if the years had not passed since the last time Draco saw him. Or at least half of it.
Because the other half had wrinkled, red, pulsing skin that looked genuinely disgusting.
His eyes now had a bright red color that, with just a glance, could make someone feel crushed under the pressure.
Unlike when Aunt Wanda was angry, this felt almost harmless in comparison. Even so, it did not stop an internal discomfort from appearing under the gaze of those eyes filled with contempt toward everything, as if they belonged to some higher being that only viewed everyone else as ants.
His clothes, a luxurious robe like the ones he liked wearing in the past, were now stained with blood, which slowly dripped down onto the ground. It was impossible to tell whether the blood belonged to someone else or to Lucius himself.
Yes.
Because it was Lucius Malfoy standing there.
Right beside him stood Armand Dorian Duvalier, Luciel's father, this time with his real face, no longer hidden behind Professor Dominic.
"Aren't you going to give your father a hug, Draco?" Lucius said while opening both arms as if he truly expected his son to welcome him.
But Draco simply gave him a dry look without even taking a step forward.
While staring at the now strange face in front of him, he could still notice the similarities to the past.
"Who are you?" Draco asked directly.
"Certainly many years have passed, but not enough to forget the person who gave you everything you now possess," Lucius said while his smile faltered slightly, almost lowering his arms, though not completely, still waiting for the reunion with his son.
"No," Draco said slowly while slightly narrowing his eyes at the almost unfamiliar face of his father. "Allow me to rephrase."
"What are you?" he asked in a cold tone, without a single trace of happiness at seeing alive the father he supposedly lost so many years ago. If anything, he even showed a trace of irritation.
Lucius's deformed face twitched for an instant. Though he did not show anger or rage, only a faint amusement in both his smile and gaze.
Lucius narrowed his eyes while looking at Draco.
As if he were trying to find something from the child he remembered.
That child he once tried to raise so he would follow in all his footsteps.
But he did not seem to exist anymore.
"I see Narcissa did a truly horrible job raising you," Lucius finally said with a crooked smile. "All my work went down the drain. Which honestly does not surprise me much. She was always weak, ruining the advancement of our family, refusing to join the Dark Lord's ranks," Lucius said, his tone filled with contempt toward his own wife.
Or rather, ex wife.
"You think so? But that's exactly why she stayed alive to raise me. She didn't let herself be influenced by stupid blood supremacy ideas. In fact, I think our family is even doing much better than in your time," Draco added calmly while looking directly into his father's eyes.
Lucius let out a small dry laugh.
"Excellent? It certainly doesn't look that way," he said, pausing for a moment while his gaze became colder. "I found out how my son, my pride, spent his years associating with blood traitors, half bloods, mudbloods, and abominations," Lucius said with complete disgust while his eyes finally settled on Harry. "You truly disappoint me, Draco. There is much to fix now that I've returned," he added.
Draco frowned at his father's words, about to respond.
But Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry, I got a little lost," Harry said, interrupting.
Luciel held his sword in his hand as if ready to attack his father at any second, while the man only stood there with his arms crossed and a calm, almost amused look.
Draco and Lucius.
All four of them looked toward him at the same time.
"This has nothing to do with me, right?" Harry suddenly asked.
Causing all four of them, despite standing on different sides, to raise an eyebrow in unison.
"I mean… unless my father is hiding somewhere among you, then this whole situation has nothing to do with me," Harry said unable to stop an awkward smile from appearing.
Draco immediately rolled his eyes, knowing perfectly well why.
Luciel slowly closed his eyes in exhaustion.
Harry truly had an incredible talent for ruining tense moments.
Lucius ignored the comment.
His red eyes kept staring directly at Harry and glowed intensely before dimming again.
Harry, who felt that he might finally be free from being labeled cursed by the world and blamed for every problem surrounding their lives, ended up losing his smile when he felt an uncomfortable pressure trying to enter his mind.
But the moment that sensation appeared…
Harry's eyes faintly glowed red.
Even brighter than Lucius's.
Expelling any attempt at intrusion.
"That's not very polite toward someone you just met, Mister Malfoy," Harry said in a colder tone while his red eyes stared directly into Lucius's.
But Harry's seemed stronger, while a pressure appeared to spread around him.
Though that pressure vanished instantly, merely as a warning.
Lucius narrowed his eyes even further.
"Interesting…" Lucius said while staring at Harry without a trace of fear or concern. "So you too… hahaha," Lucius laughed as if he had just discovered something.
Harry stared back at him without understanding what exactly Lucius thought he had discovered.
But Draco was losing patience, so he asked again in a more serious tone.
"You're not answering me. What are you? And in any case… what do you want now? I'm pretty sure all this manipulation of the Goblet of Fire was because of you, just to lure me here," Draco said while connecting everything that happened this year together, because like always, he and the girls assumed it was somehow Harry's fault. So he could not help feeling a bit of annoyance that in the end it had actually been because of him.
"Before answering that, I'm surprised by you, Draco. You should be happier and more excited after seeing your father again after ten years. And the fact that you're standing beside the son of the person who took your father away from you so long ago as well," Lucius added while looking at Draco with the same dry tone Draco was using, before briefly passing his gaze over Harry.
Draco let out a small dry laugh just like the one Lucius had made earlier, perhaps mockingly.
"My last memory of you was that day you got angry because I spoke to a Muggle born child. Do you remember it? You were so furious over something that simple. Later I overheard what you told your men. You wanted to cleanse the magical world, and you went to that poor boy's house," Draco added with a gaze full of contempt toward his father.
This time Lucius actually paused slightly.
"Yes. I heard how you ordered that Muggle family killed just because I played with their son."
"And the funniest part… you didn't even manage to do anything. Aunt Wanda caught you red handed. Both my mother and I saw that memory. And the only thing we felt while watching you run for your life was relief. My mother is much happier without your existence. You were simply trash that crossed her path," Draco added completely calmly.
Harry did not know the full story. There had even been a time he feared Draco would distance himself after they saw Wanda's memories.
But even then Draco acted as if nothing had happened.
Now he understood why.
Because Lucius did not deserve it.
Lucius's deformed face seemed to tense for an instant while filling with rage just from remembering that day.
"Watch how you speak in front of your father," Lucius growled in a colder tone. "You call that thing aunt? Hahaha. You don't even know what her true form looks like. That thing," Lucius said full of rage toward Wanda.
This time even Harry gave Lucius a strange look.
"Ah, Draco… Draco… I truly expected much more from you. The strength you showed in that stupid competition made me rethink many things. Like not killing you and your mother for betraying me. A future where our family could rule the entire magical world. But before that, it seems my ill mannered son will require some reeducation," he added while staring fixedly at Draco.
"Sorry. But you don't get to decide that by yourself, Lucius," a female voice sounded behind them while a red portal opened behind Harry, Draco, and Luciel.
The three quickly turned toward the portal and saw Narcissa entering, with her usual cold expression, Selene, who had an unusually serious expression, and Sirius, who quickly scanned the cemetery with his eyes.
Harry briefly glanced through the portal and thought he saw a massive blaze and people running… or maybe he imagined it?
But it closed before he could see clearly.
"Wow… and here I was saying there couldn't possibly be more undead people," Sirius said while directly observing Lucius with a somewhat forced but amused smile. "That look really suits you."