Chapter Text
Lucius Malfoy had been having a perfectly normal day when he noticed the diary lying in his son’s playroom. He had only seen it once when his father was showing him the most heavily warded secrets in the manor shortly before his death, but he recognised it easily. Every page oozed black magic that made even him slightly uncomfortable. It would be a difficult thing to forget. Lucius didn’t know what it was exactly, his father had never explained beyond it belonging to their Lord, he could recognise enough black magic to know that it should not have been anywhere near his sole heir. If it had got out of the wards on its own, and Lucius suppressed a shudder at the possibility, it would do so again. He would need to move it. He was still looking at the diary with a kind of fascinated horror when Draco walked back into the room, and Lucius’ heart was suddenly in his throat. His movements were not little Draco’s usual lazy amble. Each of his small steps was too purposeful, too precise. Lucius swallowed and placed a hand on his son’s shoulder.
Draco whirled around, his usually sweet face twisted in anger as he glared up at Lucius. Too late the expression was smoothed away, but by then it did not matter. Lucius had seen his eyes. They were red. Not the eerie crimson of the dark lord mind you, but a dull terracotta that glinted with rage. Even if it had been the vivid red he remembered as his Lord's, he would have responded the same way. Nothing and no one could touch his son with this kind of dark magic. Lucius carefully summoned the diary. He didn’t know if what he was going to try would work, but it was the only thing he could think of. “Whatever you are,” he said loudly, heart racing and voice cold, “I know that you used this book to reach my son. If you do not leave him, I’ll summon a fiendfyre.” for a moment Draco’s eyes flared a sharper red, but then it drained away completely. When the proper blue dominated his son’s irises once more Lucius lowered his wand, dropped the diary and swept his son into an embrace. Draco was safe.
He didn’t tell Narcissa. She would destroy whatever it was, Dark Lord’s possession or not, and he couldn’t risk that in case their Lord was returned to them in the future. Instead he cast a heavy notice me not charm over himself and disapperated from the Manor. He reappeared in the middle of a bustling street full of muggles and shuddered, careful not to touch any of them. Striding purposefully through the crowd, he made his way towards one of their many bookshops. Where better, after all, to hide a book of black magic than among muggle texts in central London? No one would ever think to look there. He chose his bookshelf and began to put put wards around the book. His father had told him to keep it safe, had made him take an oath that he would, and this was the only way he could see to do it while keeping his family safe as well. The diary radiated rage, but as he completed his second ward it began to feel muted and soon Lucius had nothing left to do save find himself a pain relief potion for the splitting headache he now had. He disapperated softly and the world spun on, unaware.