The Truth About Lucius

All canon characters belong to JKR.

Thank you to June for all of her suggestions and help.

Chapter 13 – The Truth About Lucius

Dinner was still an hour away, so Ginny decided to sit in the library and do some reading. As she picked up the book she had left on the coffee table the night before, she smiled. Lucius was in his room using his laptop to talk with Draco; he'd told her that he wanted to share the good news with his son. When she had laughed at him, saying that they hadn't done anything to merit sharing, Lucius scoffed and said: "Nonsense. I'm in love, and that is enough for me to shout it from those mountains outside my window."

She sat silently on the small couch near the window and tucked her legs underneath her. She was so happy that she felt it was too good to be true, and that any moment she would wake up from this dream.

Ginny had no idea how close she was to having her world crumble.

Upstairs, Harry opened the package Hedwig returned with. He smiled when he saw the transcript of Lucius' confessions of Death Eater raids he had participated in. As Harry opened the document, he sat down. He was so engrossed in what he was reading, that he didn't notice that his every move was being watched by two pairs of curious little eyes.

"What's he got there?" asked Odin as he looked through the small eye holes of the portrait.

"Quiet, he'll hear you," said Sage as she elbowed her brother against his ribs.

Odin rolled his eyes.

"Not before he hears you, Sage. Lower your voice and stop poking me."

The two children looked on as Harry read through the papers.

Harry smiled as he read the accounts of Lucius participating in raids on Muggle homes. There were even some passages in which he described a Death Eater revel.

"If this doesn't convince Ginny that Lucius is no good for her, nothing will," Harry said out loud.

Odin and Sage looked at one another from behind the walls.

"What do you suppose he meant by that, Odin?" asked Sage.

Odin shook his head.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling it's not good."

Harry took his wand from the night table. He hurried out of his room, holding the closed transcript. He made sure there was no one in the hallway, and he cautiously walked downstairs.

The children had no way of knowing what Harry was about to do. They resumed their exploration of the newfound passages.

Harry reached the bottom of the stairs without being seen. He found Ginny in the library, but hid behind the same tapestry where Lucius had hidden behind several days prior. With a wave of his wand, the transcript disappeared from Harry 's hands, and then reappeared on the coffee table in front of Ginny. He waited several moments, hoping Ginny would look up from her book and see it.

After an excruciatingly long ten minutes, Ginny set down her book and noticed the odd transcript. She cocked her head to one side and furrowed her brow. She hadn't remembered seeing anything else on the table when she sat down.

Harry smiled as she picked it up and opened it.

To her shock, Ginny realized that she was holding the transcript of Lucius' confession to the Wizengamot. She remembered well the day her father, Arthur Weasley, came home and told the family that Lucius had given his account of all of his dealings as a Death Eater. Her father said that the records were sealed, and only someone with permission from the Minister of Magic, and a strong stomach, could ever open those files.

"How did this get here?" she whispered. She looked at the cover, 'Set it back down, Ginny,' she said to herself. She knew Lucius wasn't that man anymore. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 'If I don't look, I'll always wonder.' Ginny set the transcript on her lap and began reading.

Seeing this, Harry quietly slipped from behind the tapestry and made his way back to his room, his mission accomplished.

An hour later Lucius walked downstairs to look for Ginny. He hoped she would still be in the library. As he walked into the room, he saw her standing in front of the window. The sun had just set, and the sky still had the glow of the sun in the horizon. He walked quietly so as not to disturb her, then quickly wrapped his arms around her small waist. Ginny jumped and pushed herself away from him.

"I'm sorry, love. I shouldn't have sneaked up on you like that," said a smiling Lucius. His smile faded as he realized she'd been crying. "Ginny, what's wrong?" He took one step towards her, and she instantly back away.

"I...I'm fine. I just..." She let out a ragged breath and began to cry, "I can't...I can't talk to you right now, Lucius."

"Ginny, tell me what's happened." Lucius reached out to take her hand, but Ginny recoiled.

"Please, Lucius. I can't talk to you right now. I...can't even look at you. I'm sorry...I just..." She turned and ran through the French doors and into the gardens.

"Ginny!" Lucius cried out after her. He stood for a moment, staring at her disappearing form. 'What just happened?' he wondered. When he last saw her she was happy, he was happy, everything was fine. And now, she couldn't even stand being touched by him, let alone be in the same room with him. He turned and walked to the couch, then looked down. There on the coffee table he saw something he never thought he'd ever see again. He saw the transcript of his confession to the Wizengamot. This information was supposed to be locked in a vault in the Ministry of Magic, yet there it was. He grabbed the transcript and walked out of the library. He had a feeling he knew how Ginny got hold of this.

Lucius walked to the dining room, where the rest of the houseguests were already sitting. As he walked in, everyone looked and followed him as he stopped in front of Harry and threw the document on top of his plate. Soup fell all over the table and on Harry's lap.

Harry quickly stood and began to wipe the hot soup from his lap.

"What's the matter with you?" yelled Harry.

"You fucking bastard," said Lucius through gritted teeth.

Hermione stood and walked to where the children sat.

"Go to the living room, kids."

"But Mum, we haven't even started eating," protested Odin.

Severus walked towards his children and pulled their chairs back.

"Go on, I'll have Foofoo take you something."

By the time the children exited, Lucius and Harry were circling each other.

"Harry, Lucius, what's happening?" asked Albus.

Lucius looked Albus' way. "I'll tell you what's happening. This fucking brat showed Ginny the supposedly sealed transcript of my confession." He looked back at Harry. "What were you thinking?"

"I didn't show Ginny anything. I don't know how she got hold of that," said Harry.

"Oh, please, give me some credit. You think I don't know you're jealous of Ginny and me? How convenient for this to show up here, now."

Minerva approached the two men.

"Harry, what have you done?" asked the older witch.

Harry looked around the room. Everyone was looking at him with accusing eyes.

"I haven't done anything. I don't know how that got here. But what does it matter? Ginny deserves to know the truth about you," said Harry.

"I would have told her everything she wanted to know, in time, and in private. You had no right to do what you did – to throw the information at her without warning, without any concern for her feelings. I've paid for what I did. I'm still paying. You had no right! I'm not that man anymore!" yelled Lucius.

"A leopard doesn't change his spots. You just don't stop being a Death Eater," said Harry, moving closer to Lucius.

"Harry, how can you say that?" said Hermione, as she approached Harry. "How prejudiced you are, not willing to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. You're unwilling to accept that a person can become so much more than what they were in the past, if only given the chance to change. You're a sad pathetic man, Harry."

Severus looked at Hermione and shook his head. He knew for certain the moment Lucius threw the document on Harry's plate that what he'd seen earlier were Ministry documents. He only wished he'd known at the time what those documents were.

"Listen to me, Harry, and listen good," Lucius demanded. "If you've ruined my future with Ginny, then what you read in that transcript will pale in comparison to what I do to you. If she is lost to me, you'll find out first-hand just what kind of a Death Eater I really was."

Harry visibly trembled as Lucius turned and made his way out of the dining room. Severus followed him, hoping he could calm his friend down. Hermione stood next to Harry. Albus and Minerva looked at the young man, with disappointment.

Harry turned towards Hermione, who turned away from him. Not giving him a chance to answer for what he had done, Hermione walked out to search for her friend. Harry looked at Albus and Minerva.

"I have never been so disappointed in anyone as I am with you today, Harry." Albus took Minerva by the arm, and they also left. No one seemed to want to be in the same room with Harry. As he saw himself alone, Harry began to feel that even he didn't want to be alone with himself. He started to wonder if he'd gone too far.

As Severus sat in the library trying to console Lucius, Hermione walked out into the garden. She whispered a tracing spell and followed a wispy form until she finally found Ginny. The redhead was sitting in the small alcove where she'd almost kissed Lucius the day she broke her hand.

"Ginny?" Hermione approached her as she sobbed quietly. "Ginny, please talk to me."

"Hermione," Ginny said as she threw her arms around Hermione and began to cry. "He...Lucius did the most horrible things." Hermione rubbed her back as she spoke. Ginny pulled herself away and wiped her eyes. "Hermione, I've lost him. I don't know if I can ever see him the same way again."

Hermione caressed Ginny's cheek and leaned her forehead against hers. She smiled, and then looked at her friend.

"Oh, Ginny. You have no idea how much I know about your pain."

It then occurred to Ginny that Hermione was the only person who could know what she felt at that moment. Severus had been a spy for so long, that it was hard to remember sometimes he too had once been a Death Eater.

"You know, I turned Severus down the first time he asked me to marry him."

"What?" Ginny's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.

"I told him that I couldn't marry a man who couldn't share his secrets with me. He told me that if I knew all the things he'd done, I would never want to look at him again." Hermione took Ginny's hands in hers, and they sat back against the wall of the alcove.

"I said, 'Severus, you aren't the same man who did those things. That man no longer exists. I love you no matter what you did in the past; it's the man you are today that matters to me.' Like you and Lucius, I knew some of what Severus had done, but I wanted to know more – and to have him know my secrets, too."

Ginny looked at Hermione as she spoke, hoping that her friend's words would give her the courage to overcome her slowly breaking heart.

"After about a week he finally told me. I...oh, Ginny, I was horrified. I couldn't even look at him. I didn't know if I could accept the things he'd told me he did. Then my own words came back to haunt me. I had told him that his past didn't matter to me." Hermione looked at Ginny, "He really wasn't the same person any longer. He's regretted so much of what he did, Ginny. His work for the Order is what kept him from ending his life so many times. His only comfort was knowing he was atoning for his sins by trying to overcome Voldemort."

Hermione sat on the edge of the stone bench and looked back at Ginny.

"None of us is perfect, Ginny. Neither Lucius or Severus can take back what they have done. But they've learned from their mistakes. They can try to make up for things; they can try to redeem themselves. That's what we are for them. We are their redemption. Everyone who seeks out redemption deserves it. Don't take his away from him; give Lucius a chance, Ginny."

Ginny thought for a while. She knew a lot about pre-Hermione Severus and that he had a bad past, but he was now a wonderful husband and father. Ginny had seen him with Hermione and his kids; he had changed so much over the years. He was still a hard man to deal with sometimes, but he was more even tempered. He was more patient and more open with his emotions. He even put up with Crookshanks. If Severus could change, why couldn't Lucius.... Ginny stood and began to walk towards the castle. She stopped briefly, and Hermione stood at her side.

"This is going to be hard, Hermione."

"I know, but it will be worth it, I promise."

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I'll have a bit more Severus and Hermione in the next chapter too, as well as a bit of the kids.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter