I do not own any of the characters other than Persephone Demetrius. All rights belong to JK Rowling. Just a little heads up, I have changed some of the events to the series, and you may find some characters alive that previously were thought to be dead. There will be uncomfortable situations in later chapters, hence the rating of M. Please review, I would love to hear everyone's thoughts.

Prologue

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

That should have been the headline after the bloody wars. Good fought against evil in the battle that would decide the fate of the wizarding world. For all time.

The front page of the newly owned Daily Prophet had shown the Dark Lord, standing in triumph over the body of Harry Potter. The wizarding world had felt it that day, the hopelessness of the fight now that The Boy Who Lived had been murdered.

After the war, the deaths didn't stop. Voldemort had stepped into the shoes of the Minister of Magic, the prior one having disappeared suddenly and without explanation. Questions had gone without answers in almost every household. Fear ran rampant like the plague and no one escaped its company.

No person's fear was greater, then that Lucius Malfoy. His manor, which once were filled with the voices of his wife and child were eerily silent. His footsteps echoed through the empty passage ways and hidden corridors.

His strode past a house elf, throwing his duster at the creature without a moment's pause. Lucius stopped before his liquor cabinet and uncorked a bottle of fire-whiskey, pouring a generous amount into the tumbler. His still-gloved hands shook and he threw back the glass, wincing as it burned its way down his throat. The great Lucius Malfoy…what would his ancestors think of him now? A powerful wizard, with such impeccable bloodlines, quaking in his boots, drinking cheap fire-whiskey as if he were a man dying of thirst.

Lucius grasped Narcissa's hand in his own as they watched the Dark Lord addressing the rest of the school. The giant Hagrid held the boy's body in his arms, tears streaming down his face. Lucius looked to his son, who stood on the opposing side of the castle. Their eyes met, and Lucius had the distinct feeling that Draco had no desire to join them on the side of the Dark Lord. His eyes were distant, and he looked at his parents in desperation.

"From this day forth, you put your faith in me. Harry Potter is dead! And now is the time to declare yourself. Come forward and join us…or die"

Lucius called to his son then, reaching out his hand, Narcissa calling out to him as well as she stood beside him.

"Draco, come." Lucius said, taking a step forward in a last attempt at begging for his son to return to him. If the Dark Lord saw that Draco would come willingly back to their fold, perhaps it was not too late for them… Slowly, one step after another, Draco made his way into the courtyard and towards the Dark Lord.

"Ah, well done Draco. Well done." The Dark Lord smiled as he embraced Draco in a close hug and let him go to his parents who stood behind him. The Longbottom boy had started talking, and Lucius placed a hand on his son's shoulder, pulling him close and leaning forward to whisper in his ear.

"We are leaving. We are going to slowly push through the others, and we are never returning to Britain." Lucius grasped his son and wife and slowly began backing through the crowd. Lucius was barely aware that silence had fallen, and the Dark Lord had stopped talking. When the silence came to his attention, he looked back to the Dark Lord who had turned back around to his followers.

"And where do you think you are going Lucius? Surely, you aren't leaving at the moment of our triumph?" The crowd parted, and the family of three were left out in the open as the Dark Lord started towards them, raising his wand.

"My lord, I…" Lucius began, raising his hand, knowing that this might well be the last straw. His final moments.

"I have forgiven you time and time again, Lucius. I am afraid that this time, I just can't let you off the hook"

"Please, my lord, we were just…"

"Enough Lucius! Avada Kedavra!" Time seemed to slow, and Lucius watched as his wife and son fell to the cobblestone ground, the light leaving their eyes in an instant. Lucius fell to his knees, crawling to his wife first, and shaking her, unable to process what had just occurred.

"Narcissa…" He whispered, placing a trembling hand on her cheek and turning her face to his. Her eyes were cold and empty. A cry escaped his lips that he tried desperately to swallow in front of all of his once close comrades. He leaned down and placed his lips on her forehead, willing her not to be dead. In a terror he turned to Draco, who lay beside his mother, his eyes staring through Lucius and his hand outreached, perhaps in one last effort to seek comfort from his father. Lucius dragged his son's body into his lap and smoothed back the boy's hair, his entire body now shaking.

"Draco. Get up. Speak to me. Please…say anything…" He whispered. The world around him was silent, even as the Dark Lord began the final assault on the rest of Hogwarts. The cries of the warring wizards drowned out the sounds of his anguish, and he fought against the strong arms that grasped his shoulders and pulled him up and away from the fighting. Lucius reached out to his family one last time as Severus Snape pulled him back and away from the fighting.

There was a small knock, it might have once been imperceptible, but in such a silent and empty house it rang out like an alarm to Lucius. Though he was startled, he was bent on keeping his image of complete control. His lie. Slowly he wiped a hand across his brow to collect the sweat before turning towards the source of the noise.

The stranger stepped from the hall with careful measured steps and stopped. Lucius relaxed markedly when he saw that it was only his childhood friend, Severus Snape, still wearing his black Deatheater robes.

"When will it be enough Severus? I am fed up with this…humiliation" Lucius spat this last word with detestation. He poured himself another generous portion and threw it back, pursing his lips after he had drained the glass.

"It will be enough when He says it is enough. We always knew what we were getting into Lucius. Ever since we decided to join. There was a point we could have turned back, but it is far too late now." Severus stepped closer, taking a glass from the cabinet and taking the bottle.

"Just when I think He has had his final laugh, his final joke, there is another more degrading, debasing task that he asks of me. I kill, maim, grovel, and beg…My family is dead Severus. And He keeps on taking….taking…" Lucius paused, his cold blue-gray eyes vacant as he thought back to his son. His only son…Draco had made him so proud. Had he even ever told him that? Lucius wasn't so sure, and he clenched his jaw. He was trying to keep himself under control. He tried to stay the rage that was building up in his chest, threatening to burst forth.

"When did it all become so pointless?" Lucius thundered as he threw his glass into the empty fireplace, sending glass flying everywhere. He turned angrily to look at Snape, who raised an eyebrow at his friend's outburst.

"Lucius, get a hold of yourself. " Severus said quietly, but sternly. Lucius rounded on the man, his fist raised. A look from Severus' dark eyes made him reconsider for a moment, and lower his attack. But his eyes remained fixed on the Deatheater. Severus lowered his glass and set it carefully on the table to his side.

"We…all do what we must to survive Lucius. I want to survive this storm. I once thought that you did as well." Snape's words was like a knife in Lucius' back.

Who is he to talk about loss while he stands in my empty house? Lucius thought, clenching his jaw.

"What have you lost in all of this…You, who played both sides until someone came out on top." Lucius spat, turning his back and striding towards the main stairway leading to the East Wing of the manor.

"I suppose you forgot about Lily Evans. But you never counted Mudbloods to be much of anything, did you, Lucius. A shame, really. That you will soon have to marry one yourself."

Lucius stopped mid step, not entirely registering the words that had just been uttered under his roof.

"What did you say?" Lucius hissed, turned his head back towards Severus.

"I came here to warn you. The Dark Lord will be announcing it tomorrow, and presenting you with the muggle born woman. I apologize, Lucius. That was…tactless on my p…"
"Severus, kindly exit my manor immediately." Lucius' voice snapped, cutting the man off mid-sentence. Neither of them moved.

"Get the fuck out"

Snape lowered his eyes in what Lucius took to be a accepting, although wounded expression. He turned on his heel and Lucius stayed completely still, other than clutching the pocket of his jacket, where his wand should have been. He waited until he heard the crack of Severus disappariting. In a rage he grabbed the closest thing he could find, an ornate, antique Murano glass vase that adorned the main entranceway to the Malfoy manor, and hurled it across the hall. It shattered into countless pieces, but Lucius felt no reprieve. Then went the small mahogany table on which the vase had once sat proudly.

Lucius continued until the liquor cabinet had been emptied of the entirety of its contents, and several priceless heirlooms lay strewn across the hall. At that time he slumped into the skewed armchair in front of the fireplace where the destruction had first began. The news was finally starting to sink in. This was to be his existence from now own. Less than a servant, a plaything to the Dark Lord. Humiliation after humiliation would be bestowed on him.

But this…Lucius would rather take his own life than destroy the purity of his family. How could he have deserved this? Perhaps Severus was right. There had been a time when they all could have turned back. But it was far too late. Lucius regretted his words spoken hastily and out of anger to his childhood friend. He regretted their entire interaction. But with anger and pain still circulating through his body, he could do nothing but ponder the man's warning. He didn't have much time, as there would undoubtedly be another meeting the following day in his very manor. Lucius would have to prepare himself for one final humiliation. The degradation of his family and bloodline.

Lucius stood from the chair and leaned against the mantle on the fireplace. If it was the last thing he did, he would wipe Voldemort off the face of the earth. And this Mudblood…he would have to figure out how to deal with that later.