Chương 66: 66. A Curse or Natural Selection?

Dumbledore's office,

"What happened, professor?" Magnus inquired.

"Did you do it?" Dumbledore straightforwardly asked.

Magnus shook his head, "Lucius' father? No, I didn't even know what happened. I was practising quidditch. Besides, those vaults were made by Merlin. Do you really think anybody can enter them? Not even the goblins of Gringotts could enter. They went to the vault with their own consent."

"And what about sealing the bank? That you have seized the vaults?" Dumbledore asked further.

"That is true. They tried to take away my vaults, which exist on my private property. So, I took away their vaults and in my case, I have every right." Magnus replied.

"No no... Magnus. You do not understand. By doing this, you are making so many enemies. Now the purebloods will see you as an enemy. Even more so after Abraxas' death." Dumbledore argued.

Magnus smirked, "As if I fear them. Professor, I have only sealed the accounts of those Pureblood families who are known racists, blood supremacists or support Voldemort in any way. Just imagine, professor, by doing this, I can destroy the funding of Voldemort and his death eater army."

"No, they have enough money to keep it going. Or they will find other ways to work. But, you will be their target now." Dumbledore warned.

"I was already their target. Don't take me as a fool. The moment the ministry tried to take my vaults, I knew the ministry was compromised. No wonder you look so cynical, you can't trust anybody. Also, don't worry. I will fix the Gringotts matter soon. I am sure the Minister will be contacting me as well." Magnus assured him.

"But before that, we need to go to Gringotts. People and goblins are afraid of going to your vaults now. They want you to come and get Abraxas' body out." Dumbledore revealed.

Magnus sighed with his eyes closed. "I never wanted people to die, professor. Even I didn't know there would be such strong safety measures."

Dumbledore's face became less frowned as he calmed down. He came forward and patted Magnus' shoulder. "I understand, Magnus. It was not your fault. But they might blame you."

Magnus shook his head, "No, if the head goblin did as I asked, then I might be able to turn this around. Let's go now. Argh... that apparition again. I hate it."

He grabbed onto Dumbledor's arm and the two appeared in Leaky Cauldron again. The whole building was full now, with noises coming from outside the door. It seems people were waiting for him to appear.

Then, Dumbledore opened the door. And soon loud noises of talking started to come. Most of them were talking about Magnus and what happened to Abraxas.

"Stay close. Most are friendly but there could be a few bad seeds in the tree." Dumbledore advised him.

When they went out of Leaky Cauldron to the streets, Magnus and Dumbledore were surrounded by lots of journalists.

Magnus was bombarded with questions.

"Mr Pendragon, what do you think about the events in the Gringotts?"

"Is it true you own Gringotts?"

"Have you taken money from all Wizarding families?"

"Did the ministry try to take your heritage away?"

"Did you kill Lord Abraxas Malfoy?"

These were the questions he was being asked. Magnus put on the most innocent face he could and spoke, "I don't know what's going on... I came to help. Yes, I did get a letter from Aunty Minister that they will take my vaults away."

Dumbledore shook his head at the sharp mind of Magnus. He was too smooth at changing faces and turning into an innocent 11-year-old boy.

"Ask questions later. We have work at the moment." Dumbledore quickly controlled the crowd and took Magnus to the bank.

It was surrounded by Goblins and Aurors for safety purposes. As soon as Magnus entered, the head goblin came to greet him.

"The search party is waiting for you, your majesty. We dare not go down there as magma is still ravaging that place." He informed him.

"Let's go then and get the body out. I don't know what happened there but I'll try to help as much as possible." Magnus said and headed to the changing room to get into a hazard suit.

Dumbledore also wanted to come with him but Magnus stopped him, "Don't come with us, professor. Whatever curses Merlin put there, they don't work on me or the goblins."

Dumbledore didn't take this matter lightly as anything done by Merlin was to be seen as high magic that could even injure him.

"Take care, then. I don't want to be in front of your father's gun again." Dumbledore said jokingly.

Magnus chuckled, "Haha, I wish I could broadcast that memory."

~He must never learn about the Pensieve.~ Dumbledore made a mental note.

Magnus then followed a team of goblins to reach to the vaults. The goblins were wearing some kind of enchanter armour as if they were going on a war.

Soon, the gondola lift came close to the vault and everyone could see what had happened there. Steam was rising from the rocks around them, making it clear that the magma had risen to a great height.

"I hope it does not rise while we are here. My daughter was just born." one of the goblins said.

"Don't worry. I'm sure the earlier event was due to intruders. Just lower me down to the island in the magma sea." He ordered. He actually felt good being with the Goblins, he was slightly taller than them and they treated him as an adult.

Hearing him, they brought down the gondola lift but stopped it a few feet from the ground as it was too hot. From there, Magnus jumped down.

"Where was his body before you left?" He inquired from the two goblins who were with Abraxas and his party.

"He was for some reason stuck on the door. He could not take his hand away from it and soon got engulfed in flames." The goblin answered.

Knowing this, Magnus made a guess where the body could be. He went close to the vault and put his palm on it. The goblins winced seeing that, though nothing happened.

Magnus disappeared in a small fire and appeared inside the vault, in the long corridor. The place seemed undamaged and spotless. But, once he moved a bit further, he found lots of ash. He had no idea if this was the remains of Abraxas or not, though he did feel a bit saddened. He had not even met this man so he had no idea how bad he was. If he had known, maybe he wouldn't feel as bad.

Losing a family was something Magnus himself could never imagine feeling, and making someone else feel this was also not leaving a good taste.

He picked all the ash and put it in a golden container with a lid. He had come to the vault so he decided to do some work too. He went to Merlin's vault and took 10 wands, 5 books on ancient runes language and 1 book for high-level charms. There was also a document framed on the wall, which had the signature of 10 more people and it was a declaration of the creation of Wizengamot. Then he went to Arthur's vault and took 20 enchanted swords. They were nothing like Hope and Despair though. But, he had a plan to use them.

After that, he went out. He went back to the gondola lift and showed the goblins the ashes, "I only found this."

The goblins nodded, not feeling anything about the death of the narcissistic wizard. They steered the gondola back to the surface.

Magnus kept his face plain and walked to Dumbledore. He handed him the small golden container, "This is it. I found his ashes, but make sure it belongs to him."

Dumbledore sighed. He was hoping for the guy to come out alive but...

He turned around and walked to Lucius Malfoy, who was being calmed by Arcturus Black and Nott. Lucius had no mother or siblings so he was alone in this.

Dumbledore calmly handed the ash container, "We found your father's remains there. The place was covered in magma."

Lucius was silent, his eyes were red in anger. He held the remains of his father and looked at them. His breathing started getting heavy, his chest rose and fell with each second.

~Son, we are pure in the blood, no lowly wizard or muggle can go against us.~

Remembering these words taught to him from his childhood, he looked at Dumbledore's face. Then, he noticed Magnus in the background. His face started shaking in anger.

~I, Magnus Grant Emrys Pendragons, curse Lucius Malfoy, that he will lose everything that he holds dear. Family, Wealth and Life. God is the witness...~ He remembered that Magnus had cursed him.

"YOU KILLED MY FATHER!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, possibly even damaging his throat.

"MURDERER... A MUDBLOOD... KILLED MY FATHER?! I WILL KILL YOU..." He screamed continuously. His eyes were red and he was obviously not himself at the moment.

Arcturus and Nott tried to calm him down but he wouldn't listen. Then, in a surprising twist, in anger, he threw the ash container at Magnus with full force.

The ashes came out of it and fell everywhere. The container stopped near Magnus's feet and from it fell a small pendant. Containing a picture of Lucius, his father and his mother. It was most likely a heavily enchanted item which was why it survived the fire.

Magnus picked it up. But he did not go forward to give it as Lucius was out of his mind. He called a goblin and handed it to them to give it to Lucius later.

"I WILL KILL YOUUUUU..." Lucius all of a sudden ran towards Magnus at full speed. He didn't even have his wand out right now. He just wanted to strangle Magnus with his hands.

Magnus shook his head. He had no idea if the death of Abraxas was due to his curse or because of the law of natural selection? What did they think would happen if they tried to force their way into Merlin's vault? Did they forget what happens in the Egyptian tomb?

[A/N: This is a change from canon, or we can call this butterfly effect. Abraxas Malfoy was supposed to die in 1996. Now, without a father to guide, things are going to be a bit different for Lucius, for the better or worse, it is to be seen.]

[Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn]

______________________________

You can read 20 advance chapters or my Naruto fic on -patreon.com/misterimmortal.

Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely* *Franklin Walley*

Thank you for your support!