59 Chapter 26: Quidditch
"Alright, people!" Roger Davies declaimed. "Today is the day we go up against Slytherin again. While they'll play according to the rules most of the time, expect at least a few dirty tricks if they think it won't be picked up by the referee or the commentators."
He paused and looked around. "Harry, we're counting on you to stop them scoring. Cho, we need you on top form today."
"I know." Cho agreed. "I've been practicing even more since Weasley beat me to the Snitch last year."
"Beaters, counter-beating is your priority, I need our chasers protected. Cho, your main aim is to block Higgs. Catch the Snitch if you can, but stop him from catching it unless we've scored at least one-sixty more than they have."
"I won't let him pull a Weasley on us." Cho promised, then she winced slightly and looked at Ginny, who was wearing a sarcastically amused expression. "Sorry. Make that pull a Percy on us."
"Much better." Roger snarked and Cho blushed with embarrassment. "Anna, Ginny, I hope you two are ready to do the plays we've been practicing."
Both girls nodded and Roger smiled, raising his broomstick. "Then let's go!"
With a roar of agreement, the team followed their captain towards the pitch.
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"Sirius, how nice of you to join us." Albus greeted the younger man jovially.
"I couldn't pass up the chance to see my godson playing, now could I? Remus sends his regards, but he's dealing with something that came up, so he's apparently going to catch the game at the Hog's Head, not sure how." Sirius shrugged, looking over the banister at the Quidditch pitch. "Wow, you've really upgraded it, it looks just like a professional pitch, but what's with those pillars around the stands?"
"Those are the runic arrays that copy the action of the players and sends it to the special Quidditch Tables." Lucius Malfoy stated as he limped up, resting heavily on his cane. "Dumbledore, Lord Black."
"You admit I'm the rightful Lord Black?" Sirius asked with a wide grin. "What took you so long?"
Lucius glowered at him as he limped across to the seating area adjoining the Teachers Box.
"What happened to him?" Black asked quietly.
"I don't know." Albus admitted just as quietly. "But Narcissa isn't here today. I have no idea what could be so important as to make her miss watching her son play…"
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Narcissa fought to keep from trembling as she walked up the stairs of Gringotts, the key to her Sister's vault in her hand.
"Relax, Narcissa." Voldemort murmured into her ear, causing her to flinch slightly. "Bellatrix listed you as being allowed limited access to her vault and what we are doing is retrieving just a single item that she was holding for me. All perfectly legal, nothing to be concerned about."
Narcissa nodded jerkily, mentally cursing her husband for ever joining the Dark Lord's forces, even though his victory had seemed all but inevitable at the time. Looking round, she walked across to one of the vacant desks, Voldemort at her shoulder, and waited for the Goblin to deign to notice her.
"Yes?" The Goblin growled as he put down his quill.
"Narcissa Malfoy here to access Bellatrix Black's vault." Narcissa said, holding out the silver key. The Goblin took it, examined it and nodded.
"Very good. You are limited to removing no more than three items per moon, or fifty Galleons."
"I understand." Narcissa stated.
"Good. Slashfist! Take these two to vault 597, only the female is allowed to actually enter!"
The Goblin who had approached them from behind saluted, then motioned for the pair to follow him to the carts.
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Lucius settled into one of the padded chairs and rubbed his right leg, hiding a wince of pain as he did so.
"So, Lucy, how's life treating you?" Sirius inquired as he dropped into the seat next to Lucius, offering him a bag filled with something that Lucius didn't recognize. "And do you want some popcorn?"
Lucius sneered at the proffered foodstuff and Sirius shrugged, pulling the paper bag back.
"Suit yourself. So, any idea why Narcissa isn't here? I was so looking forwards to speaking to my cousin again."
"She had some family business to take care of." Lucius ground out as, below them, both teams emerged from the tunnel onto the pitch. "I suspect that she will be joining us soon."
Black simply raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Really? Would that be Malfoy business or Black business? As Lord Black, I really should know if it's the latter."
Lucius studiously ignored him and Sirius laughed before settling back to watch the match.
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Narcissa stepped into the vault and looked round. the Lestrange Vault was filled with piles of coins and items that, even to her senses, radiated dark magic. Looking round cautiously, making sure that she didn't touch anything, she finally spotted the goblet that had been described to her in extreme detail, standing on a shelf at the back of the vault. Pulling out the bag that Voldemort had insisted she used, Narcissa edged towards the goblet, finally getting close enough that she could put the bag over the goblet and use it to scoop it up without actually touching it. Breathing a sigh of relief, she made her way back to the entrance of the vault where her Husband's master was waiting patiently.
"Very good." Voldemort nodded after peering into the bag. "Now, I do believe that you have a game to get to. Do not worry, your husband is saving a seat for you. Oh, and take this amulet. So long as you wear it, you will have nothing to fear from the curse on the Defence Teacher's position."
"…thank you, Lord Voldemort."
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"Whoo! Go Harry!" Sirius cheered, leaping up in excitement as his godson saved yet another shot. "That's the way to do it!"
Lucius frowned at Sirius, then looked round.
"Out of interest, where's your minder?"
Sirius paused, then gave him a confused look. "What?"
"Your minder." Lucius repeated. "Lupin. I expected to see him here, doing his best to keep you from making more of a fool of yourself than you normally do."
"He's probably at the Hog's Head by now." Sirius shrugged. "He's arranging for some of my unwanted furniture to be sold by a Mr Fletcher, he's apparently got some very useful contacts. Remus enjoys doing things like that, so I've hired him as my Majordomo."
"I suppose you need someone to give understandable commands to your House-elf." Lucius sneered. "Then again, Dobby wasn't a very good elf to have around. I was glad to get rid of him. I've got two new elves now, ones that know their places."
"Oh yes, can't forget your place now, can we?" Sirius snarked back as he returned to his seat. "What was it again? Kneeling under the effects of the Imperius? For a full decade? I hope that you've been working on your Occlumancy since then…"
Lucius growled and turned his attention to the game, doing his utmost to ignore Sirius who chuckled before taking a handful of popcorn, then Black jumped to his feet with a scream of joy as Cho Chang rose into view, one hand thrust up into the air and the Snitch held firmly in her fingers.
"Yes!" He shouted in glee. "Two hundred and forty to zero! Good one, Ravenclaw! Nice work!"
"It's over already?" Narcissa asked from the back of the box.
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Lucius emerged from the Floo, stumbling as he briefly put his weight on his bad leg, only to be caught. Looking up, he saw that it was Griffith Nott supporting him.
"Nott." He said in greeting as he regained his balance. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"Our Master summoned me and set a task for me, should he be struck down." Nott said proudly. "He has tasked me with holding a ritual chalice. Should he fall, I am to find one who will become his new Host and force them to drink a potion from the chalice, thus returning our Master to life."
"Nott…" Voldemort said warningly and Griffith Nott swallowed nervously. "For now, I shall let it pass as Lucius is one of my most trusted, but if you cannot hold your tongue, I will have no choice but to have you swear an Unbreakable Vow…"
"Sorry, My Lord!" Nott almost whimpered.
"You may go, Nott, and remember to hold your tongue about this."
Nott bowed, then almost ran for the Floo. As he vanished, Voldemort held up a ring with a large stone inset into it.
"Narcissa confirmed that my Locket has been destroyed at Hogwarts. Regulas Black is, however, beyond even my reach at this time, so I cannot exact vengeance on him. However, I have a task for you, Lucius, and this time, I shall explain it. As you know, the Diary was meant to let me regain a body, but it failed. Fortunately, that idiot Gilderoy stumbled across another of my anchors but in doing so, he showed me a weakness I had not considered. My anchors must indeed be kept safe, but should I be struck down, one of them must be used in order to allow me to return once again. As such, I give this ring into your keeping. Should I shed this mortal coil once more, find a magical and make them wear this ring. Doing so will summon my soul to take possession of the one you have chosen, such as I did to Lockhart, then I reshape my new body into a vessel worthy to hold me."
"I understand, My Lord." Lucius bowed deeply as Voldemort placed the ring into a small box and held it out to him. "I shall guard it with my very life."
"I expected no less of you, my loyal servant." Voldemort purred, placing the ring box into his hand. "But be careful of where you store it. I doubt you would appreciate losing your heir and I have no wish to lose your skills as the price of my return."
"Of course, my Lord. Thank you." Lucius murmured, trying to think of how he could use it if needed without falling foul of the Unbreakable Vow that Narcissa had made him swear.
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"Remus?" Sirius called as he emerged from the Floo.
"Here." Remus replied, appearing in the door.
"I see you got rid of that old furniture I always hated. Did you get that thing installed?"
"I did." Remus confirmed. "We're now indirectly linked to The Pottery with a Switching Room."
Sirius looked round almost eagerly, then paused. "Indirectly?"
"The Room links to the flat that Harry purchased in Diagon, a flat which has its own Switching Room linking to The Pottery." Remus explained, moving to one side of the room and opening the door of what appeared to be a simple cupboard. "With the wards he's placed in that flat and the security systems covering the Floo room in The Pottery, it maintains his security while giving us easy access."
"And it lets us go shopping faster." Sirius nodded. "Nice one, Moony."
"I spoke to Jor-El." Remus added. "He's placing extra shields around the Pottery and its grounds so that when I suffer from my furry little problem, I can run around there without risking hurting anyone."
"We can run around." Sirius corrected him, the usual laughter totally absent from his voice as he placed a reassuring hand on Remus' shoulder. "Prongs may not be around to run with us any more, but Krypto has said that he will."
"Krypto?" Remus asked. "Who's Krypto?"
"You may know him as Pup or Prongslet." Sirius grinned and Remus' jaw dropped.
"Harry's an Animagus? How? He's only a second-year!"
"He's awesome, that's how." Sirius preened. "Must take after his dogfather."
Remus glowered at him.
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"Severus." Narcissa called as she entered his office and the Potions Master looked up from the essay he was marking.
"You seem… perturbed."
"It's… him." Narcissa growled, flinging herself into the chair in front of Severus' desk. "I can't discuss it, but he made me miss my son's Quidditch game, damn him!"
Severus nodded, his right hand lightly stroking his left forearm.
"He hasn't contacted me yet and I do not know why."
Narcissa shook her head. "He's like he was before he started down that path, cold and calculating, endlessly patient… he scares me, Severus. He has a plan and I don't know what it is. And even worse, he is learning! I found him reading a very useful list that one of my Muggleborn acquaintances gave me a few years back, something based on a Muggle thing called Fengri, and I swear he was making notes!"
Severus leaned back, steepling his fingers as he thought about what Narcissa was saying.
"What is he up to?" Severus half-whispered. "Why isn't he making any moves yet?"
"Oh, he is." Narcissa complained. "Just very quiet ones."
