It was a quiet evening, snow on the ground and trees lightly blowing in the wind. Just all around peaceful and devoid of any disturbance. Looking in closer on the scene and you can see a large manor hidden behind trees charmed to hide the home from muggle eyes. How peculiar to live in a muggle town but hide a house from them. Surely there must be questions one would think.

Ah but if only those who were able to sense the manor could see who lived in such a magnificent place. A man of fair skin and a beautiful complexion. His eyes a deep gray that held little warmth and pale blonde hair that flowed neatly over his ears and to the nape of his neck. This man was breathtaking. Anyone could see this and yet there was something about him that could instantly put someone off at the mere mention of his name.

This man was a Malfoy. A family name of which one was never willing to be associated with. That surname held so much weight in the wizarding world that when introduced to those who didn't know who he was by sight, which was a rare instance, the individuals would quickly apologize for the inconvenience and walk right off. Even far wizards from Asia and North America knew the Malfoys and the rest of the Death Eater families.

There was a small problem with this assumption, however, that all Malfoys were cold-hearted and evil. Hell, this man's best friend was a mudblood. This, however, did not mean that he wasn't willing to still be a bit of a sadist when it came down to the nit and grit of every day life. His work even required him to be willing to give a bit of pain if not more.

It was an easy occupation and something this particular Malfoy found amusing. He used his own ability as a occlumens and a leglimens to force information of out criminals on a daily basis. Though not exactly orthodox or legal, the Ministry allowed the aurors to hire such men as this to find where they could gather proof to convict said criminals or if they were truly innocent. It gave a sense of control to the Ministry to know that there were people like this who could insure the safety of the wizarding world. It also helped to know that he was one of the best underneath two Slytherins and one sharp Ravenclaw.

Rolling over, this same man bared an arm that held the Dark Mark. He stretched and leisurely crawled his way out of the very large and comfortable bed. No sooner had he taken a step towards his bathroom for a shower he sorely needed, did a face blaze from a green fire he was sure had not been and never would be allowed through to him this early in the morning.

"Finally you're awake! Do you have any idea how long we've had this man in his cell waiting for you? Any longer and we may as well give him away to Azkaban and the dementors! You have no idea..."

The man allowed the bushy haired woman in the fire to continue lecturing him until he began to feel tiresome on his feet for standing in one place for so long. "Granger, could you please just shut it? I'll be in by noon. Criminals are criminals, they can wait an hour or so 'til I get in." He went to turn but his ears perked when she muttered something behind him. Curious enough, he turned back towards her and said with a grimace, "What was that?"

"I said, I see you've rid your home of all house elves."

Said man grunted lightly and ran a thin hand through his slightly tangled hair as he shut down the floo call. It was difficult to live in such a large manor without house elves but it wasn't as if they were going to be with him for the rest of his existence. His mother had offered him a couple for the first few months but from then on he was to get on his own and make himself into something that could be presentable and up the status of the Malfoy family name to somewhat of an acceptable level in society. But his father not seeing any of this found it time to release all ties with his son except for the inheritance guaranteed by bloodspells.

Though Astoria wasn't really a woman who took that lightly. She believed she should have at least half of everything after the wizarding divorce they'd gone through and now half of everything he gained was given to her or, if it was an object, duplicated for her under her wishes.

Ah, Astoria. What an interesting woman she was. She happened to be the one woman who Draco could not understand for the life of him. Though she was rarely around anymore other then by floo call, she still managed to pester him through letters by owl and through stories that many of the other former Death Eaters now had about her. His son was what had even allowed her to keep in contact with him. Without Scorpius, Astoria would be high and dry without any share of the wealth whatsoever.

Walking into his shower which had been charmed to start minutes before he'd even walked into the bathroom, Draco sighed loudly and allowed the water to fall down on him in waves before surrendering completely to his thoughts.

"Draco! There you are!"

Raising an eyebrow at the disheveled woman he shrugged it off as overworking as usual on her part and allowed her to go over all the details about the man in the closed off room. Although what he could not ignore was the quivering in her voice and the tears gathering at the edges of her eyes. He'd ask her about it later, not wanting to get into anything emotional while still having this criminal to work with. Not that she would tell him for anytime soon. Afterward, as far as he knew, he was free for the rest of the day anyways.

The haughty blond sneered at her while she spoke about how this man was so similar to some of the kids in school so it might be tempting to be a bit overzealous for Draco. That almost always meant it was a classmate from Hogwarts. Most likely Slytherin by the trend of things. Though one could never know and he felt a soft smile replace his snotty expression at the thought that it could be a proud Gryffindor or a quiet Hufflepuff. Absentmindedly he looked out the enchanted window, ignoring the passing wizards and witches who blocked his view every so often, and thought about the possibilities of just who could be in there.

Maybe it was his own mother. He'd not seen her in years but then again they'd still been talking via owl so it couldn't be her let alone the fact she was never in school while he was. Oh maybe it was the famous Harry Potter. Wouldn't that be a large tear in the ministry to find their head auror was an Azkaban worthy criminal. He doubted it though because he'd heard very little about the man and if something had happened the Daily Prophet would have been blowing the news into outrageous proportions.

It was difficult to think of anyone it could be because most of the Death Eaters had been thrown in Azkaban years ago though there were still quite a few running around. Those weren't because they'd missed them but because the youngest Malfoy felt it necessary to keep some of his friends out on the outside. Not that he saw much of them since most had fled to North America.

"Draco, I'm sorry but...I don't know how to tell you this..."

"Spit it out!"

"Its...its your wife."

Nothing could have prepared him for that, not even knowing she'd done anything at all. She had been a sweet girl. A young Slytherin in school, two years under him. Her family had hid out during the war, majority of them cowards who couldn't do much more then manipulate their way into the high class pureblood society though Draco was never sure how they'd managed it with such little money they had. But sometimes blood was just enough to make a family feel superior to half-bloods and muggles. And sometimes just those feelings could make a person act in a way that in itself was manipulative of individuals.

A dark smirk crossed his face and he nodded amused. "Then let the games begin, Granger."

Raising her own eyebrow at him, she seemed to snap out of her mood momentarily to smile at him. This was something he knew could distract her, and although he would be lectured later it was better then seeing those tears on her pretty face. To most he'd be more of a cold and distant statue, much like his father, but his friend and close ones knew he just showed his warmth in a slightly different way. He wasn't the best at emotions but he knew how to manipulate them himself. How could he not?

He was a true born Slytherin.

"So, Astoria. I've heard some interesting things about you, but of course I always hear the most intriguing aspects of wizards and witches when they come to our office. From what I hear, you're a death eater. Right under my nose no less." He sneered at her and continued on, watching the pretty woman carefully. "I also hear that a few of your own female friends and you have been trying to bring back the Dark Lord."

Draco's eyes gleamed over in amusement when he felt her magic spike in nervous patterns. This would be a fun one. "I don't think you realize how much we actually have on you, darling. You see, we have had aurors following you and your fellow death eaters for the past couple of months. And now we know almost everything."

A small smirk found its way on the blonds mouth as he noticed she was shaking in her seat. At first he thought she was frightened and possibly had given up from the glint of tears he'd caught sight of underneath her long bangs. Only when she raised her head to look towards him did he realize she was laughing. Her mouth was wide open, teeth yellowed, and her breath seemingly stuck in her throat.

The once elegant woman was now a reminder of what the dark arts could do to someone as weak as her. She was now someone who reminded Draco too much of his Aunt Bellatrix at the height of her insanity. Her eyes shocked him when she finally opened them to look at him. Though he doubted his former wife could look at anything. Her pretty green eyes were glazed over in a dull cloud of blindness now.

He sneered at Astoria, her laughter finally escaping her throat and bouncing off the walls back towards him. It was high and shrill, reminding him of a high pitched shriek.

"Oh dearest Draco, darling! Have you missed all the signs? Even your own son has fooled you?"

Every step he took, she followed with her unseeing eyes.

"You didn't realize any of it?" Her shrieks of laughter sounded again and through them he barely caught the sentence she spoke next. "Scorpius knows everything. Ask him because I'm no longer in your control, my dearest lover."

Before he or either auror at the doors could react, Astoria had vanished with a pop and no more then a couple seconds later, chaos ensued. The ministry could be under attack soon enough and the mere mention of the Dark Lord was enough to worry the millions around the world. Who knew where he was hiding now and what he was suckling off of. If he still existed of course, which Draco doubted. But that didn't mean that they weren't trying to make a new lord to worship.

Hermione rushed into the room, more aurors following her and all Draco could do was growl out in frustration. He'd thought he'd had it all under control and now all of the answers were in the mind of a five month old baby. His own child no less. This meant he couldn't just not worry about how this was going to affect the child but also him in case he screwed up. Being in his field, he was the youngest Malfoy to master the art of occlumency and also the best in his field. There was no one in the ministry who could be more precise until you hit St. Mungo's mind healers.

"Where is your son?"

"With Zabini. Astoria sent me an owl around a week ago saying that he'd be there today when I went to pick him up."

The young woman bit her lip and nodded slowly. Zabini would have to talk to Draco directly. Other wise his son would not be given up to him. They'd all agreed that owling Scorpius wasn't the smartest thing to do even if it sounded like a good idea. Draco scoffed softly to himself. That idea had been Blaise's and now there was even more of a reason to find it somewhat stupid. That would take forever to owl a child rather then just apparate to pick him up.

Chuckling softly, he ignored the empty space and sighed happily. "Maybe from now on I won't have to deal with that nasty woman. She's a bloody nuisance a good majority of the time." Turning, he left the room and began towards the apparition areas. He could feel his partner following and so nodded towards the upcoming hallway. "We'll go through here, its faster. I want to get to the Zabini household as quick as possible. My son has memories and I need as much time as I can gather to retract them without causing any damage."

A/N: Wow can you believe this is my first story? On this account of course. I decided to move to a non-cluttered account. Brand spankin' NEW. How exciting. Okay so as you can see its not the longest chapter but its about as long as most chapters will be at first I'm sure. Still working out the kinks.

Don't forget to review my dears. The next chapter will be out in four to six days.