Graves looked into the darkness with the apprehension of someone approaching the end of something important to them. He didn’t want this to be over, but he wasn’t aware of what “this” was. The hole he had entered led to another cave, similar to the one before, like a great long hallway lit only by torches in brackets.
He walked along for no more than five minutes, but with each inhaled breath it seemed so much longer. Time was such an escapable thing that without a watch one could hardly rely on their own sense to tell what hour of the day it was or how many hours had passed in the all encompassing, dark silence.
There was a light up ahead, traveling towards him as if someone were carrying a lantern before them. Graves concealed himself in the invisibility cloak before the approaching figure drew evenly with him. He squashed himself against the wall until he could tell who the torch bearer was.
As he saw the pointed but pretty features it became clear who he was looking at. He had seen this face many time in the firelight in the woods. While many had chosen to remain masked as the Dark Lord returned to power, Lucius Malfoy stood out among his companions. His naked bravery had won him favor with Lord Voldemort and while others still shuddered to even think of such things, Malfoy had played his cards correctly.
Until his son had joined, shortly after his graduation from Hogwarts. He had only been a member for a few months, but the boy was sulky and at times whiny. He was not the shining example of strength and composure his father had proved to be. Draco was not an asset to the death eaters and if Lucius cared to remain so he had to do something about this little problem his child was creating.
So it was that Draco had ended up incapacitated on the floor of the barren cavern. He had spoken out to his father about how the war was carrying on one time too many. When the war was ended and most of the death eaters broken and running scattered through the Forbidden Forest to face werewolves, giant spiders and all the other terrors of the woods, Draco remained hidden in the cavern in the woods, the refuge of the top leaders.
He had said something along the lines of “I told you so” and the elder Malfoy was quick to silence the boy before any of the others heard. They were not entirely defeated. In fact the wounds and blood spilled on the battle field that last day were merely an affront to the Dark Lord’s true power. He would return with or without the aid of his followers.
All of this information Lucius Malfoy was privy to and now he had only to clean up his baggage left on the floor. Killing Draco would be easy. He had no real attachment to the boy and if he wasn’t going to play the rules he wasn’t going to play at all. Disposing of the body wouldn’t provide a real problem either, for this sort of thing was commonplace to a death eater. The only real problem he could possibly face was the explanation to his wife, Narcissa. She might argue that Lucius hadn’t really given his son a chance and that perhaps it was her fault for fussing over him too much as a baby.
He sighed as he passed Graves, thinking of what best to say to the sour faced woman he had married right out of school. Graves felt only the thick malice lingering on the air like a perfume that Malfoy wore daily. He followed the man, slowly and quietly and discovered his plans only when the man stopped over his son, his wand pointed down in a deadly arch. He spoke the first word as if it were a silken snake, sliding off his tongue to swallow Draco whole. “Avada…”
Graves pulled his wand and before he could stop himself stunned Lucius. He knew he wouldn’t have long, so he dragged Draco into a corner of the room, stunned him again so he wouldn’t wake and give himself away and covered him with the invisibility cloak.
Graves ran back down the corridor, and while he wanted to follow the left path that lead to Gwen he knew that he still hadn’t discovered where the right path lead to. He took a deep breath and began to run, making up all the time he had wasted protecting Draco. He found that the other end lead to another chamber, like a sitting room and another hall and so on, like a modern day conference center in a creepy hotel. He decided that this was not anything he needed to worry about and headed back to the room where the Malfoys lay stunned.