A.N. New fic! I won't be updating this one frequently until Hero's finished, but if I get an idea from time to time I will still update! This was an idea that came up along with Hero. It has a similar concept, but it's not as heavy as Hero, a little lighter. (Though you may not really see that with this first chapter :p)
I'm running with the idea that most Slytherins are nobles, that's just judging from the Malfoy family alone, and is probably not canon to the series, but is an idea that I've seen floating around and I spun that into the main backbone of this first chapter. If you don't like this idea, then don't read! You're more than welcome to go read my other fic that I'm focusing on for the time being, Hero, that fic is mainly from Harry's POV.
But, if you're okay, and is curious to see more, then keep on reading!~
"blah" is speech, blah is thoughts.
Twenty years after the war, the year 2017.
One day in October, the head of the Malfoy family, Draco Malfoy was in his study looking over documents.
The English Magical Word after the war, was it peaceful? Perhaps.
Comfortable? Not completely.
Prosperous? That only appeared in everyone's dreams.
On paper, that war was won by the side of justice, but in reality…
No matter the Dark Lord's side, or the white wizards' side, more than half of the elite died on the battlefield. And after the war, more nobility were thrown into Azkaban, or left to avoid consequences.
This is victory, the justice's victory. But people didn't dwell in this simple, victory induced happiness for long.
The Magical World's economy, collapsed in a matter of days.
Prices increased exponentially in Diagon Alley, especially for food. What's worse, even if you have pockets filled with galleons, you won't be able to buy any. If you don't line up the night before, but show up the next morning, then you can't even get a tablespoon of flour.
The reason is simple, Gryffindors like to go on adventures, Ravenclaws like to study and research, Hufflepuffs like to work honestly, only Slytherins like to run businesses—of course, on that point, some prefer to say that they use cunning methods to earn galleons from the wizards' blood and sweat.
The profession of a farmer doesn't exist in the wizarding world, then where does their food come from? 99% of wizards don't know, that includes the politicians—it's like when you're eating an egg, you don't need to consider where the chicken that laid this egg is. When you eat bread, you don't think about where the wheat is planted—only the nobles that run the food business know.
But, the nobles that run these businesses, where are they now?
They either died on the battlefield, or is waiting for or is already in Azkaban, or fled the country with their family. To Germany, France, or America, it's said that they don't exclude dark wizards there.
The muggle-born wizards live alright, at least they know to buy food in the muggle world. But the pure-blood but not nobility wizards, they can't think of that. Or rather, they did but are afraid of food that is nor from the wizarding world, or even worse, they despise muggle food despite being hungry.
But, luckily, it's like overnight, the food shops are restocked. After a round of chaotic scramble for food, people find the stock to be plentiful. Only then did they finally ease their minds.
Should we call the wizards optimistic? Even after this fiasco, only a few paid attention to why there was a food shortage, why the prices sky-rocketed, and why did food suddenly reappeared on the dinner tables—unfortunately, the prices didn't decrease.
The person, then, behind all of this, is Draco Malfoy, the young seventeen-year-old Head of the Malfoy Family.
The problems that the Malfoy Family faced then, were much more serious than the problems they faced when the Dark Lord disappeared for the first time. Then, his father had controlled the family for a long time, has built his connections and authority. While Draco Malfoy, just a few years ago, was still a young boy who always said, "My father blah blah blah"!
But at that time, Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Malfoy had already been thrown into Azkaban for the crimes as Death Eaters—even if they did not fight in the last battle, and Draco stood by the Savior's side, but it is undeniable that the Malfoys were Death Eaters.
Draco faced the vicious Ministry officers, they stood atop the grounds of justice, glaring at him with the message of "Why did you, a little Death Eater, not get thrown into Azkaban".
So, in actuality, the food shortage in the Magical World saved Draco, and saved the Malfoy families. He used food—of course, bought with galleons—and a generous donation to the Ministry, to finally have the officers get off his back.
But, that did not last.
After that, officers come to 'visit' the Malfoy Manor time and time again. Some of them out of the hatred from the war, some of them from warm-blooded justice, others purely out of their personal greed. But, nonetheless, in the last few years, those 'visitors' that come out of greed are ever increasing—even if they claim to be because of hatred or justice, but that cannot change the fact that they left with galleons, more and more galleons.
Like the Malfoy Family, the Magical World isn't looking so great either.
The masters of the economy left, leaving a lot of the empty market behind, foreign investors had prepared to come and take it in—the heart of the economy being controlled by foreigners is not a good thing. But, a little over a decade later, that might not be such a bad thing after all.
Not long after, the foreign investors withdrew their investments. It's not because of the Ministry protecting the country's economy. After all, then Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt was a nice person, but, as a former auror, he is more used to battle, not managing a country.
What made the foreign investors leave, was the bad investing environment of England then.
The Ministry officers with either warm-blooded teens that don't know any better, or greedy corrupt politicians. Even if there were some that that was fine, but there were simply too few of them compared to the rest.
What's worse is the horrible purchasing power of the English Magical World's common wizards, but the main reason for that is again, the horrendous economy. Heaps of nobility businesses either closed or went bankrupt. It can be said that aside from Ministry officials, most people had difficulty finding jobs.
The foreign investors simply can't have all the shops running normally in a short period of time, neither can they provide jobs for all the unemployed.
The end result being the profit is less than a fifth of the political contribution, or even less than that, plus the energy and manpower that is necessary to make sure everything runs smoothly, it's simply bad business.
Most foreign investors withdrew, only a few stayed to see what might happen next. But, then the muggle world had their financial crisis! And the foreign wizards have a stronger connection with their country's muggles compared to England, or in other words, they were affected faster by the financial crisis.
So, the last of the foreign investors withdrew. The result, the already horrible English Magical economy, became even worse.
Then now, who's left to support it?
The Malfoy Family is one, the largest one at that. Eight years ago, the Zabini Family is as well, but Madam Zabini has married a German nobleman, and is no longer Madam Zabini. Three years ago, there was the Parkinson Family, but with Pansy marrying to France, they left as well. There's Draco's wife's family, the Greengrass Family, but yesterday his father-in-law had come to discuss the transfer of assets.
The Magical World's economy and people's livelihood gets worse and worse, Kingsley Shacklebolt was forced to resign two years after being in office. But, up until his resignation, he is still yet to figure out why, when things should be heading for the better, are going for the worse? The reason is simple—he keeps too close of an eye on those Slytherins that "escapes the law for the time being", nearly choking them while they are already on their last breath.
This doesn't mean there should be no punishment when wrongs have been done, but, punishment doesn't equal persecution.
The guy taking over after Kingsley didn't last longer than he did, but what he did do better than Kingsley was that when he left office, he had already saved enough galleons where he would be able to happily live out his life in any country.
The ones after him, are similar characters. Shouting good promises to get in, leaving with pockets filled to the brim.
They want money, so of course, their eyes are set on the remaining Slytherins. The ones that are targeted either tolerate them and give the money, or leave with their entire family.
As the more and more nobles left, the situation of the Magical World grew worse and worse. But, don't know when and don't know from where, there were rumors that "The nobles took all of our money, and left the country with it".
Slytherin nobility never said they were innocent, but, since when, did they become the bearer of every crime and sin?
Draco had considered long ago about leaving, as early as ten years ago…when his father died in Azkaban…
Rubbing his temples, Draco decides to take a break, turning his gaze to the small frame on his table. It's a photo he took before he went to Hogwarts at year eleven, with his parents.
Even if his father had already passed for ten years, but every time he sees this picture, Draco still fears tears threatening to fall.
But, when he prepared to move, it wasn't the magical world of another country, but the muggle world! Since, there's has already been incidents of English nobles engaging in conflicts with the local nobility, since they can't just sit on their money when they move, while whatever they invest in, they are biting at a cake that's already divided.
The Malfoy Family, though having gone through numerous turmoil, even being sucked on by the leeches of the Ministry for twenty years—or, if he counts from when his father was still here, it's been thirty years—they still have lots to spare.
Once they transfer to another country…or even, not actually transfer, even if word gets out that they are coming, everyone will tense at the "big bad wolf".
In comparison, the muggle world is much easier, that is, to make money. But, leaving is only temporary, even if that temporary is a couple years, or even decades, but one day, they will return!
He has already transferred a portion of his assets over the years, some investment even very lucrative. Now, he is just waiting…waiting for Scorpio, his little scorpion, to graduate from Hogwarts, as a Slytherin…
Something was knocking at the window, an owl, a very normal owl.
Draco opened the window to let it in. Taking the letter from it, he saw the Hogwarts seal on it. The parchment, even the ink, is so familiar to him.
But the words formed by this ink, left him stunned, as to reread it three times, finally making sure that he read them right.
He stumbled back in shock, the letter falling from his hands, folding on the ground, only showing the first two lines—
Mr. Malfoy,
I'm sorry to inform you that yesterday morning, we found Mr. Scorpio Malfoy's body by the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Clearly, he stumbled in, and was harmed by a creature, we…
His son, his twelve-year-old son, left him…forever…
A.N. So? What do you guys think? Is this a good start? Be sure to leave me comments!