Narcissa stayed close to Henry's side as they stepped into the room at the foundations of the Manor. This wasn't a place Henry had been before, and Draco had only joined her or Lucius here on some important astronomical days, like the solstices. The power humming in the walls and floor could be disorienting at first.
Sure enough, Henry jumped and turned a ghost-pale face up to her. Narcissa smoothed her hand down his cheek and turned him so that he was looking directly at the far wall of the room. It was easier to focus on the one white spot in all that dazzling black marble, at least until you got used to it.
"Look at that spot," Narcissa said, her voice lulling. Her son breathed softly against her. Still alive. Every day he is alive is a victory. "What does it remind you of?"
"Um," Henry said, his voice wavering. "Snow?"
Narcissa laughed softly. "Yes, it does me, too. It's meant to be a visual representation of the winter solstice, but I do think that Abraxas was taken advantage of."
Henry relaxed. Narcissa made a mental note of it. She wasn't entirely sure if that had happened because Henry liked having something in common with her or liked understanding what he was looking at, but she would endeavor to remind him of both more often in the future.
Henry seemed to be avoiding looking at the circle in the center of the room, but he finally swallowed and turned around. Narcissa turned with him, her arm around his shoulders. The circle was overwhelming, yes, but those of Malfoy blood had an easier time absorbing the impact than did those who married into the family.
The circle seemed to gleam, half in and half out of reality. It was made of black stones piled up in what seemed to be random places and at random heights—at first. But when one concentrated, one began to make out the patterns.
Narcissa knew she hadn't grasped them all, but one was that piles directly across the circle from each other when one looked at them straight on always consisted of differing prime numbers of stones.
"Will the circle allow me to work with it?" Andromeda asked quietly as she walked in, carrying a silk-lined box in which Lucius had put the diary. Narcissa wished he had never agreed to keep it for the Dark Lord, had never touched it, but it would be useful today. "I'm not a Malfoy, and the presence is…"
"It will allow you to participate," Lucius said, his voice high and eerie in the Malfoys' most sacred space. "But I will need to guide the ritual."
Andromeda glared at him. Narcissa sighed. Her sister had always wished to be in charge of everything. She narrowed her eyes at the back of Andromeda's neck and added a touch of magic to her glare.
Andromeda turned around and stared at her. Narcissa met her eyes without moving. This was a technique she had discovered to get Andromeda's attention when they were children and Andromeda was about to start a two-hour argument with their parents over something like not being allowed to pick what they were having for dinner for the sixth night in a row.
Narcissa had never wanted to listen to that. Andromeda had never wanted to listen to anyone else—most of the time.
But now, Narcissa managed to convey with her eyes that Lucius was not going to budge, no matter how many hours the arguments took up. Andromeda glanced off to the side and nodded grudgingly.
Lucius, who was good at ignoring that sort of byplay, had already entered the circle and placed the crescent of pure silver he'd bought in Knockturn Alley directly in the center. Immediately, lines of light flared around it. Henry winced away from their brightness, and Narcissa joined him in doing the same.
The lines formed the imprint of a large, rayed star, but Narcissa had never seen them before. She hoped they would contain the Dark thing that Andromeda now carried gingerly over to the side of the circle.
Lucius took it from her before she could step inside and bent to place it on the crescent of silver.
Almost immediately, the metal began to smoke. Narcissa shivered, feeling sick with the smell and the sensation of something stirring in darkness. Henry was staring fixedly at the crescent, and only Narcissa's resolve that they would hide nothing from him and he should have the ability to see the Horcruxes found prevented her from bundling him up and removing him from the room immediately.
The crescent then began to bubble. Whatever was in the book, the pure silver rejected its taint—but the book could also overcome any protection the silver provided, which was beyond concerning. Narcissa locked her legs in place and locked her arm around Henry.
Lucius aimed his wand at the box containing the book and then cast a series of complex spells, only about half of which Narcissa knew. She couldn't tell if they had any effect, except that one of them made a dome of silver light appear above the box. Lucius knelt down next to that, between two of the rays surrounding the crescent, and began to carve runes into the dome.
An anguished scream rang through the room. Henry jerked. Narcissa turned and shielded him, bowing her head to escape the sound as best as she could while the screams continued. She didn't dare cast a spell to block her ears in case Lucius called out for her.
But he didn't. Now and then, in between the screams that rang out at intervals, Narcissa thought she could hear the scrape of his chisel carving the runes.
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