Once they were home, and Draco was tucked into bed. Lucius and Narcissa got ready for bed. Narcissa said, "I was proud of you tonight, it takes a strong man to submit himself to another."
"I..I just decided to trust your instincts darling. By turning over the diary I feared that I was signing our death warrants. But I thought about what you had said, and I thought about how my father had basically bowed his head and made a fidelity oath to the Dark Lord, contrary to his words that a Malfoy bows to no one. The Dark Lord in general treated his followers poorly there was no oath to honor and protect in return. Also while I enjoyed the political and financial maneuvering I did for the Dark Lord I did not enjoy the dark revels. Your cousin will not demand such things from me, that he made an oath in return surprised me."
"We need to have words with Draco in the morning, explain the changes in attitude that we expect from him. He almost mentioned the Imperious curse. Such things were necessary for him to know before we turned but now it would make things awkward. So what did you learn in your after dinner discussion?"
"His Grace doesn't like politics but makes a point of understanding them so he can use them to his own benefit, it was eye opening. I had made the assumption that his being a Gryffindor precluded such things. His wife, on the other hand, on first impression is a Hufflepuff, but she were she a witch, she would do Slytherin house proud. Not because she's ambitious but from sheer cunning. She pointed out numerous aspects of the situation that even I missed. Her father is just plain scary. He has I think the same level of power of Dumbledore, with a similar mindset for good, but there is an undercurrent of ruthlessness that reminds me of the Darklord. He has been asked to remake Wizarding Britain and I believe he has the capacity to do it. Things are never going to be the same, I'm glad you lead me to choose to adapt, rather than be mowed down.
"I noticed you disappeared off with Mrs. Stevens, what did the two of you discuss?"
"She introduced Draco and I to what my cousin has been up to. Apparently he has been inventing or maybe adapting would be a better term. There are apparently numerous muggle devices that make life much more convenient and pleasant, Sirius has been spending his time adapting them magically. I almost feel like we should introduce him and Arthur Weasley at the next Ministry function. But there's that little matter of the Malfoy-Weasley feud."
"Yes, and the matter that the Wealseys all but worship at the throne of Dumbledore."
"Well, Sirius seems intent on proving Dumbledore has feet of clay."
"And he's doing such a marvelous job of it too. Goodnight darling."
"Goodnight."
....
Sirius had been surprised when Lucius had given him an oath of fidelity, such oaths had nearly passed out of use. Reflection had pointed out to him why Lucius had done it, it had been a calculated move to get him to offer a greater protection He would have to sit down with Lucius and get a full accounting of the state of the house of Malfoy, not to mention have his security do a full analysis of the Malfoy security. It wouldn't do to be lax on his end of the oath. He would need to get to know the slightly older man and what his goals were.
He knew that Lucius had been Head boy in his year, with political aspirations. He had served an internship at the ministry. On his father's death he had ceased to do a day to day job at the ministry,but he still served on various committees and sat the family seat in the Wizengamot. Lucius' interest in politics could be useful because he could help iron out policy in the new government that would appease the old blood purist families to a point while still moving Magical Great Britain from the nineteenth century into the twenty first. He was going to have to gather his allies and get them all into harness together or the reconstruction would take a long time and he didn't want that to be the case. But he also wanted to focus on taking Albus' power down to nothing because that was the only way Harry would be safe.
....
In Baltimore at Stuart-Cavanaugh, Harry felt a pang of homesickness. He found it ridiculous because he hadn't lived at home for a few years now. But before this, Sirius and Beth had always been only a phone call away and he had gone home for weekends most of the time. This time he wouldn't see them until August. He was going on the school trip between spring and summer terms, then going to Chicago for almost three weeks of training with Charlie. Then it was back here for his final trimester. At least he got to go stay with Uncle Nic once a month, and he had his friends. He wondered how Sirius' trial was going.
...
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