The Traveler looked around at his arrival point and shuddered. He knew this place. And, sitting in front of him, showing some irritation, was someone that Harry had no desire to have anything to do with.
But, seeing that this was his arrival point and knowing that it had to be coming sometime, Harry changed his look sufficiently so that he would not be recognized. He also set up a bit of privacy – he had no desire to run into anyone else here.
Draco Malfoy sat at the pond which existed on the Malfoy property. Well, he called it a pond. Due to the fact that it was fairly regulated using magic, most Muggles would call it a pool, but Draco really didn't care about that.
Draco was becoming more and more dissatisfied with the way his life was looking. His father, whom he had long admired, had started bringing him into the Malfoy concerns – even after thoroughly punishing him for allowing his grades to be bested by a mudblood – and Draco was faced with an uncomfortable truth: Lucius Malfoy cared nothing for anyone other than himself. Draco's success or failure was, in his father's mind, a reflection of his own glory. He truly cared nothing for his son as a person but only as a reflection of his own image.
Draco had also had to admit to himself that his parents had no true love for one another. He knew, at this moment, given a choice, he would back his mother completely because, while she played the part of a socialite and pureblood wife, his mother he knew loved him. She was also much more intelligent than his father – though his father tended to ignore this fact.
But, Draco was locked into his current path and he didn't know how to get out of it.
And so, he sat at his pond, skipping stones like a Muggle, feeling disconcerted. He would have been horrified to know that one of his greatest rivals, Ron Weasel, was doing the same thing at the pond near his own hovel – and the weasel was actually enjoying himself as he taught his friend Harry how to do the same.
Draco's moment of discontent, however, was interrupted by a voice. Behind him he heard, "Why so glum, Draco of House Malfoy?"
Draco whirled and saw a figure straight out of legend. Wizards kept records far better than Muggles and Draco recognized the nature of his visitor. And so he was inordinately polite – for a Malfoy.
"I was not aware of you arrival," Draco said, standing tall as a Malfoy should. "And what does a God need of me?" He did not apologize – he did not bow – he was not subservient. This was not the Malfoy way.
The figure smiled. "Actually, I was wondering the same. I am Marek Ilumian, God of Free Will. And, from appearances, you could use some help in that area."
For just a moment, Draco toyed with lying and saying that everything was fine – but it would have been patently obvious. So, instead, Draco just nodded and replied, "I need to free myself from my father's control and how to do that while still maintaining the Malfoy name and position is … problematic."
The God before him asked, "Would you like some help?"
Draco was suspicious. "And what would I have to pay to receive this help?"
The God laughed. "Actually, you would have to learn a few truths and let go of your Gryffindor-like habit of creating unnecessary trouble for yourself and be a true Slytherin. But I don't know if you are capable – many who bear your name in different dimensions and worlds seem incapable of true cunning, preferring instead to act like a childish bully to those around them. They refuse to use the tools they have. I don't know if you are one who can truly succeed or not."
Whatever else could be said about Malfoys, they had pride. And faced with such a statement Draco Malfoy, in that moment, decided that he would show this God – no matter how much power he may have – that a Malfoy did not back down from a challenge.
"What do you suggest?" he asked.
The God nodded. "Let's go into your home and discuss a few things. We will talk, I will show you some memories of what could have been, and you will make plans – if such a young and inexperienced one such as yourself is capable of course."
It was as if he was being goaded! He became just that much more resolute. "Please come in."
Soon, Draco called in two more people, and the lessons truly began.
Lucius Malfoy strutted into Gringotts Bank on Thursday, 27 August 1992, and walked up to a teller. In his superior manner he said, "I was informed that my presence was required at a meeting." Lucius dropped the parchment he had received on the desk. "I have arrived."
The teller would dearly have loved to gut this pompous fool, but he was one who had many Galleons deposited at Gringotts. So, while the teller was not overly polite, he didn't immediately all for the guards. "Wait here." The teller dropped down and moved through a door.
Soon Lucius was being led to a conference room.
He was surprised to find his son, his wife, and Severus Snape waiting for him and so stopped short.
"Please, Father," Draco said, "come have a seat."
Curious, Lucius did as asked. Draco, with Narcissa and Severus, reviewed the information that they had, and the current status of the Malfoy name and its relation to any number of things.
Finally, Draco said, "I have decided I no longer wish to be a Gryffindor hiding as a Slytherin. I will be a Slytherin. I will make Potter indebted to me. I will make Weasley indebted to me. I will own the Ministry. I will save the Malfoy fortune from the depredations of a Dark Lord who is the son of a Muggle and a squib. I will save my Godfather from the control of that Muggle-loving fool. I will ensure the cult of Dumbledore is defeated in the end. In other words, everything that should be shall be. There is one obstacle. And do you know what that is?"
Lucius had an inkling, but said nothing. "That obstacle is you. You are baggage. You have almost no ties in Magical Britain besides your marriage and your schemes. And so I am giving you a choice: Exile or Azkaban. If you stay, all of this information goes to the DMLE in exchange for them not stripping the Malfoy wealth from Mother and myself. It will, of course, make my goals take years rather than the months I currently plan on. But it can be done. However, if you accept divorce, plus a quiet settlement so that you can go live in peace and comfort elsewhere in exchange for letting go of your power, you can ensure your name's influence passes on to people who can full utilize it."
Draco growled. "I'm tired of trying to follow your ideals and still coming out second best to a mudblood and a halfblood. I will not allow it anymore. But it's up to you."
In the end, Lucius chose exile. He was given over a certain percentage of the Malfoy wealth plus one property in an exotic location that was part the estate. The DMLE would be told that he was dead and that records found certain things. In exchange for immunity, Narcissa would allow the DMLE almost full access to what the records contained.
Lucius could never go back to Britain.
It took a while but eventually the information could be found in newspapers from London. There had been nothing about a Dark object recovered from Ginny Weasley. There had been an, at first, only a small blurb about a lack of trial for a Death Eater. And although they were considered scum, the Ministry wasn't going to allow the Law to be circumvented anymore. (No one reported his old bribe to hide Black's records and prevent him from seeing trial.) The story when he was found to be innocent was much larger.
It was also another headline when Gilderoy Lockhart was forced from Hogwarts. Narcissa Malfoy, acting as a Board of Governor, explained why along with the proof. The Board announced that the position would be filled after a cursebreaker was hired to check to ensure no curse was on the position as it wasn't a post that anyone held long.
And while the Goblins, acting under strict instructions, didn't allow him any withdrawal which would allow him to start building up funds to make his way back to Britain he was allowed to purchase just about any luxury. He was also passed information that didn't make the paper – to ensure he didn't get any ideas.
Lucius Malfoy, of Saint Christopher Island, sat on the veranda overlooking his magically-private beach. While the Muggle areas were more of a tourist destination with a very few rich Muggles with regular residences, on the Magical side there was a flourishing community mostly comprised of branches of wealthy families of Europe and Great Britain.
Lucius Malfoy sat next to Melina Carter-Verbeen, a daughter of two wealthy Pureblood families who was in her early thirties. She was not in line to inherit and her family had let her have her own fun. She had become involved with Lucius Malfoy just two years earlier.
It had taken a while, but when she learned of why he was living in St. Kitts, she was actually quite amused. She knew Pure-blood politics were brutal but had no desire to get involved with the in-fighting herself. So a lover who was already forcibly out of the game was actually someone she considered acceptable, especially considering he was still very powerful on a personal level.
So it was with some curiosity that she saw her lover actually amused by the Daily Prophet that he was reading. Normally, news from his former homeland put him out of sorts, knowing that he could do nothing from where he was.
"What do you find so titillating, Lover?" Melina asked.
Lucius passed the paper over. Melina looked at the headline and asked, "Isn't that your former wife marrying," she read the caption carefully once more, "a man formerly considered a First Generation wizard? Why is that amusing?"
"Read the details," Lucius said with a smile.
Melina did so. "A whole lot of powerful names present from what I know of British politics."
"Yes. Don't you see what this means?"
"Not really," she shrugged.
"This means that my son Draco has been successful. If you read in-between the lines properly, he is well on his way to ensuring the Malfoy name has prominence in Britain for years to come."
Melina read the article again and said, "Well, since I'm not from there, I don't understand all the details. But I'll take your word for it. But doesn't it annoy you? Isn't this the formerly 'twelve-year-old ingrate who forced me to live in luxuriant-limbo'?"
Lucius laughed. "Yes. I had been carrying a grudge when we first discussed this. But I've decided it was best this way. My son has accomplished almost everything I was trying to achieve without wasting the Malfoy fortune doing it. The mention of the Lady Granger-Dagworth and Lord Harry Potter working with him to institute Magical culture classes in Hogwarts means that: 1) My son has ensured that Dumbledore is gone – he would never have allowed those classes. 2) The formerly-considered Muggleborn are beholden to him – he championed the mandatory legacy testing which has caused all of those with Muggle backgrounds to reconsider their roots and begin to embrace Wizarding culture instead. 3) Some of those present wouldn't have been caught dead attending an event where a Malfoy arranged it and it was to honor Slytherin couple. Which means that they are either grateful to my son – or beholden. Which in the end makes little difference."
Lucius grinned. "He's won."
"But it still doesn't explain your satisfaction. You were quite annoyed with him."
Lucius laughed. "Yes. Because I thought he was overreaching in what he told me he would do when I was forced to come here. I thought he would fail and that the Malfoy name would be mud. My former indiscretions, it seems, were the thing holding the Malfoy name down. I'm a Slytherin, dear. I appreciate true cunning and ambition. I had thought him not ready. There is now no reason for me to be upset about the past. The Malfoy name stands strong."
Melina called for a house elf and the two toasted Draco Malfoy's success. "Now that I no longer have to worry about what's happening in Britain, you wouldn't need any plotting in regards your own family? I find that I'm becoming bored."
Melina smirked. "There are one or two cousins whom I would like to see suffer some embarrassment …."