Romulus weighed his options silently but quickly. Quick as he was though, Harry felt like an eternity had been wasted. Romulus turned to Harry and stared him in the eye with an intensity that bordered on violence. "I'm going to distract them while you escape," Romulus announced. "I want you to go."
"I think we either both stay or leave together," Harry protested, glancing down at the attackers. For some reason, they had paused on the front walk, hesitant to enter the manor. Harry and Romulus's lack of reaction beyond the light flares had left them nervous that some trap was about to be sprung upon them.
Romulus ignored Harry's comment. He held up his hand, and without letting go of his wand, removed the Malfoy family ring. He gave it to Harry. "I've tried to disinherit Lucius, but there are complications. Fortunately, there is a loophole. You can take this ring and use it to access the Malfoy vault. There's no time to waste. As soon as you leave here, go to Gringotts and demand to see the night supervisor. Have the Malfoy gold removed from the vault and placed in another vault under you control. Every knut of it."
Harry stared at Romulus, not sure what to say.
"I'm sorry, Harry," Romulus said quietly. "We old men seemed to have failed. Our time is long past. It's up to you and whomever you can befriend. You've already got Bellatrix Black. She isn't a witch to sneeze at."
"I still think we can both make it," Harry said, finally overcoming his shock as he limply held the Malfoy ring. He and his friends had escaped worse situations in the future. On the other hand, the odds did not look good.
"My decision, Harry," Romulus declared. "Every decision hereafter will be yours, though. Do what you must to bring this bastard down."
They both glanced out the window and saw that some of the Death Eaters were summoning enough courage to approach closer to the house and use various charms to test for ambushes near the manor's main entrance. Harry supposed that this being their first true raid, the Death Eaters had yet to master the deadly efficiency and speed they would later employ in killing countless others.
"If you leave out the back, I think you'll escape notice if you're very careful," Romulus instructed Harry. Run as fast as you can until you've passed their anti-apparition wards. They'll be quite far out, I think. Both to keep us in and the aurors out. Then remember, straight to Gringotts. You must evacuate the gold immediately."
Harry nodded slowly, trying to absorb the reality of everything happening. He began to move away from Romulus and to the room's exit.
"Wait," said Romulus. "Get Cygnus's wand and ring. The ring is valuable, and Bellatrix will appreciate having her father's wand. You might also return here when the dark lords minions aren't overrunning the place. There's a safe in the floor. The ring will guide you to it and open it."
Realizing that time was running out, Harry moved quickly and retrieved the ring and wand from Cygnus's corpse, pocketing them. He then strode to the door. As he stepped out, a thought occurred to him, and he turned back into the room and to Romulus who was still watching the Death Eaters through the window.
"If I take your money, what about your wife?"
Romulus shook his head, and as he spoke, waved goodbye to Harry, a faint smile on his face. "She has her own bank account. She might even enjoy staying in Paris permanently."
"And your son? What if the war ends and he's still alive?"
Romulus turned away from Harry and resumed his tactical study of the invading forces through the dark window. "I have no son."
.....
Lord Voldemort let a hiss of frustration escape from between his thin lips as he surveyed his Death Eaters cautiously inch toward Malfoy Manor. Cowards. He raised his wand, swung it forward and took aim at the double doors that guarded the entrance to the manor proper. A flaming impact hex burst forward, raced over the heads of his followers and collided with the doors, completely knocking down and destroying them.
"Our goal has been nearly achieved!" he shouted. "Forward!"
Feeling motivated, the Death Eaters rushed forward, even young Lucius Malfoy who was eager to please and caught in the excitement of the moment. Voldemort smiled in grim satisfaction. The young Malfoy heir would be invaluable. His pureblood influence and gold would be invaluable in the coming months and years. His influence might even go so far as to garner the election of a Minister less hostile toward Voldemort. The difficulty of Lucius having assaulted the Black girl would have to smoothed over. It wouldn't be hard, though. A little gold in the right pockets. Her father and uncle were dead and could hardly object.
The Death Eaters approached the smoldering entrance of Malfoy Manor quickly. However, their advance was abruptly impeded when one of the windows overlooking the front walk of the manor exploded, emitting two dozen flares which zoomed toward the attackers, letting out high-pitched whines. Reflexively, they all covered either their eyes or ears and ducked, hitting the ground.
Voldemort snarled, angry both at the cowardice of his own followers and the resistance being offered by Romulus Malfoy and Harry Ashworth. It was probably Malfoy manning the upper floor or front of the house. Ashworth would have launched fiendfyre by now. The thought of Ashworth caused Voldemort to twitch slightly. Being close to Ashworth always… tickled his mental defenses. Thinking about him also caused feelings Voldemort did not like-mostly because he did not understand them.
The whining flares continued to burst from the window. Having had enough, Voldemort lashed out, and the stonework around the window exploded inward. For good measure, Voldemort repeated the move on each window, hoping to catch the defenders indirectly with ricocheting stone, if not directly.
Silence reigned until Voldemort barked at his followers to move forward. However, before they could recover themselves another barrage of spells emitted from one of the former windows of Malfoy Manor. Voldemort shot several spells toward the hole in the wall, but Malfoy had stopped shooting spells before they made contact. In the lull, Voldemort's followers started scrambling toward the entrance. The only safety was in the manor, below the second floor where the defenders couldn't see them.
As they scrambled toward the entrance, Malfoy began to hurl killing curses downward. Voldemort began shooting back, not wanting to lose followers so early in his campaign. Oddly though, Malfoy's spells kept missing his Death Eaters. Voldemort frowned, wondering how it was possible that a veteran dueler like Romulus Malfoy could miss so often. Suddenly, the dark lord realized what was going on. He was aiming for one specific, moving target. His own son, Lucius.
Voldemort waved his wand and summoned Lucius Malfoy through the air to safety. "Stay here," Voldemort hissed, planting Lucius behind a hedge. "Don't come out. I'll handle this."
The dark lord then swept up the path. "Fall back," he commanded. He shot a barrage of spells toward the manor, providing a distraction while his Death Eaters retreated. When they were reasonably far from Romulus Malfoy's position, Voldemort gave instructions. "Kick up a racket. Keep him distracted. Make lots of noise and light, but don't try to directly engage him." The red gleam in his eyes punctuated his words and instilled in them a motivation to follow his orders. Voldemort then disillusioned himself and slithered away.
....
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