Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
-->Robert Frost
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Above an old cemetery, situated on top of a hill, stood the large house. Many of the windows were boarded up or broken and there were tiles missing from its roof, giving the impression that it had long been abandoned. It was large enough to be called a mansion, but the villagers knew it as "The Riddle House". It was avoided nowadays, due to a rather odd murder that had taken place there barely three years ago, and another set before that. However, not all avoided this house...
Down in the cellar, a large throne had been erected. On top of it sat what appeared to be a man. It didn’t really look like one though; it had a pale, chalk-white face, red eyes and a flat, snakelike nose with slits for nostrils. Its name was Lord Voldemort. On the right side of the throne stood a short man with watery blue eyes and stubby fingers. One of his hands looked as though it was encased in a silver glove, and he whimpered as he caressed this hand. On the other side of the throne stood a woman, her blonde hair falling across her tear-streaked face as she sobbed. Around the throne stood a circle of masked people, all dressed in identical black robes.
Lord Voldemort spoke in a low, echoing voice that bounced off the stone walls. "Bring them in." He spoke tonelessly in a voice that promised no mercy.
Three men shuffled into the room, manacled at the hands and feet. Several Dementors flanked each. The men were deposited in the middle of the circle and the Dementors glided out of the room.
The woman stopped sobbing in her corner and raised her head as the dementor were brought into the room. She shuffled over to bow beffore the throne on which Lord Voldemort sat. When she spoke, her voice was trembling, unshed tears glimmered in her eyes, threatening to overwhelm her at any moment.
"Please, milord, don't punish Draco. The task has been completed, even though it was completed by another, why should Draco be punished? He is only a boy, he is still of use to you...Please...Not my son!" the woman, Narcissa, stopped to glance at one of the men who had been brought in. He had long blond hair, which was unkempt and matted, he wore torn clothes. He did not look at her, but stared ahead at the throne.
Narcissa turned to the second man. He had a long, hooked nose and greasy black hair that fell over his face, making his expression hard to read.
"Please, Severus, tell the Dark Lord that Draco should be spared. You have always been his favorite professor, you promised Severus, you promised that you would defend him!"
She finished her accusations and glared at the prisoner whom she had been speaking to. The prisoner called Severus raised his head and glanced at Lord Voldemort. Voldemort twirled a wand between his fingers and pointed it at Narcissa, who marched unwillingly into the center of the circle. Voldemort waved his wand again, and this time, directed his wand at the prisoners, two of whom were forced to move out of the center of the circle. The last prisoner was a pale youth. He stood impassivly, face devoid of emotion, behind Narcissa.
Voldemort turned again to the woman.
"Ah, Narcissa. You wish Draco to be shown mercy." He paused for a moment and then resumed speaking to her, "But you of all people should know that the Dark Lord is not merciful, Narcissa. CRUCIO!“ Narcissa began to writhe and scream on the floor, her shrieks echoing off of the damp stone walls. As she continued to writhe and shriek, Voldemort adressed the people who stood in the circel, watching."This is the fate that awaits the next person who is foolhardy enough to suggest that I have mercy." The woman continued to shriek and Lord Voldemort looked at the prisoners. The youth stood impassively, face still devoid of emotion, as did the greasy haired man. The blond man stood silently, nut bead of sweat were starting to gather on his forehead and along his upper lip. Lord Voldemort smiled and waved his wand once more. Narcissa ceased to shriek, although her body continued to twitch. She was now shuddreing and gasping at the foot of the throne. She lay gasping on the floor, yet her eyes were still trained on Lord Voldemort, silently begging for mercy. Voldemort looked at her, and then with a cruel smile, began to torture the pale youth, who's screams, like his mother's before him, echoed off the walls. The woman started to sobb silently and rock back in forth on the floor. The blonde prisoner began to twitch slightly and only stopped when Lord Voldemort, with a cruel smile on his face still, ended the curse. Before he could make a move, the woman was up standing in front of the boy.
"Not Draco!" she screamed, "Not my son!"
Lord Voldemort looked at her, his face full of cruel satisfaction.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The woman rolled over, her body motionless. She was dead.
The blonde man began to tremble, his eyes darting around, as if seeking a way out of the room.
His eyes were drawn back to Lord Voldemort, as he addressed the prisoner next to him, the greasy haired hooked nosed, Severus Snape.
"Severus, why have you completed the mission that I set for Draco?" Snape turned toward Voldemort. His sallow complexion darkened by lack of light, his hooked nose clearly defined against his pale face.
"My Lord," he said, carefully choosing his words, "I thought it obvious that Draco would fail in this task and, knowing of its importance, I decided to fulfil it myself."
"Well spoken, Severus", said Voldemort silkily. "Of course, you will be honored greatly for completing this mission for me. However, you shall also be punished for completing this task. This was Draco's to complete and it should have been completed by him alone. Crucio!"
A flash of light illuminated the cellar for a few seconds as Snape's body contorted in pain.
"Enough!” cried Voldemort, his eyes gleaming wickedly. "Now, Severus shall be honored for fulfilling this most difficult task." Snape moved to stand at the left side of the throne, stepping over Narcissa's body. The blonde prisoner's eyes showed a hint of pain at this action.
"Draco", said Voldemort, adressing the pale youth, "You should have fulfilled this task. No excuses will suffice for you, I do not need explanation. You are a coward and their is no space among the ranks of my faithful Death Eaters for a coward. I have nothing more to say to you; Avada Kedavra!"
A blinding flash of green light illuminated the cellar again as the body of Draco Malfoy hurtled through the air and came to rest at the base of the stone steps leading up from the cellar. Finally, Voldemort turned to the last man, the blonde prisoner.
“Lucius,” said Voldemort, his face expressionless. “I have just taken form you your wife and son. Do you still wish to live?” The question surprised everyone in the cellar. The circle of people in black murmured amongst themselves for a minute or so. Then, there was quiet.
“My Lord,” replied Lucius, after a short pause. ”I live to serve you; my actions and my life are at your command.” Despite his words, his eyes showed differently what the losses he had just sustained meant to him.
“Good,” replied Voldemort menacingly. “And now that your allegiance is absolute, you shall complete another task; in place of your son.”
“If you wish, my Lord, I shall do,” said Lucius softly, his face now impassive.
“Good,” said Voldemort. “Your task will be to locate Harry Potter and deliver him to me.” Without another word to his followers, he swept up the stairs and Disapparated. After a moment, the Death Eaters began to Disapparate. Only Lucius remained behind, with the bodies of his loved ones strewn on the floor beside him.
He picked up the body of his son and tenderly laid it next to the body of his wife. “Narcissa, Draco, " he said bitterly "I am so sorry. I should have been a better father and husband ... And now, you are gone. I hope you can forgive me.” He sat down and held his head in his hands, staring at the bodies of his family.
“Draco, I never said how proud you made me. I should have told you. You were a great son and, though you may have been a coward, you never shirked from your duty. You had a good heart ... And you were murdered because of it.” He paused and took a deep breath to steady himself.
“Narcissa, you truly were a great wife. You were a good mother to Draco and you cared so deeply about him. You did everything that you could to shelter him from danger, you tried to defend him, save him from pain and death, and you are gone because of it. Your beauty will never be matched ... I'll miss you ...” He cried for a moment longer, and then picked up the bodies and Disapperated.
He reappeared in the garden of the house. A flick of his wand later, and two graves had dug themselves. Then, he laid Narcissa and Draco in them and took a final look at their bodies. The sunlight bathed them in orange light and it almost looked as though they were sleeping and alive.
Lucius looked at them, his wife and son, all that he had had worth living for. As he looked at them, he realized that he could not truly live without them.
He raised his wand and the mound of dirt to fell into the graves, neatly filling them. Finally, he conjured two tombstones and stepped back to view his work. He stood for a moment longer, gazing at the graves, and a dreadful realization came over him. He realized that he would not be able to complete the task that the Dark Lord had given him. As he looked at the graves, side by side, with the sun rising behind them, he lost his will to live. Waving his wand once, he dug a grave and conjured a tombstone for himself. Taking a short dagger our of his robes, he pointed it at his heart and stabbed himself, once.
Lucius Malfoy never felt pain. The the knife entered his body, he was transported into another place,full of a sweet smelling mist. A place where Narcissa stood on the freshly cut grass, in a simple white gown, her hair hanging loose beside her face. She looked at him and smiled, taking his hand. He smiled back at her, and they walked forward, disappearing into the mist. For one moment, their retreating backs were bathed in a brilliant glow that shone from above, the sun had just come up, illuminating the sky with its brilliance. A new day had begun.
Love Leads to Grief by Ginny Potter101
Chapter Notes: Originally, this story was posted as Harry Potter and the Horcruxes. This was only suppose to be a one-shot. The second part of the first chapter and the second chapter(both deleted) were written by a friend of mine. The story that is now posted is written by me, and only me. To people who liked the second part of the story, I'm very sorry. More fics (by me) will be up soon. I hope you like this fic. PLEASE review, every review WILL get a response. Thanks for reading and keep watching for more!
:) Lana