After the war, a huge round of Death Eater hunting began. With the building of a new, brighter world, magical law enforcement improved on the crime rate like never before. The witches and wizards of England felt very safe indeed, with the news of several arrested Death Eaters popping up in the newspapers every day. Except, a tiny bit of fear was felt when the same seven Death Eaters were nowhere to be found.

Those lucky seven, as people began to call them, were Lucius Malfoy, Serafina Lestrange, Lethia Lestrange, Theodore Nott, Perdita Black, Henry Gaunt, and Nestor Crouch. Lucius was the first to return to the public after a mere month of hiding from Aurors. Narcissa and Draco weren't punished harshly, since she was not a Death Eater and he was a child. Potter's testimony of Narcissa saving his life and therefore securing the downfall of Voldemort practically cleared her, and Potter also insisted that Draco and Lucius be cleared as well. Draco was easier to clear, since he was a teenager when inducted and was forced to choose between his family and becoming a Death Eater. Lucius had a tougher case against him. He had already been to Azkaban and was a known supporter in both wizard wars. Luckily for him, it was difficult for a jury to not agree with every breath that came from Harry Potter. He returned to his family with no questions asked.

The others were nowhere near as fortunate. They hid in the homes of families that would still accept them, and when their relatives' generosity wore out, they scoured Muggle London for vacant bars and cars to sleep in. Though the Aurors never stopped searching, other cases came up. The wanted signs and ads faded into the background, and only the Aurors who worked their specific case remembered the failure. For all that the Aurors knew, most of them could have died.


Harry stopped the car one block away from Malfoy Manor. He sent a patronus to one of his Aurors, reporting the Dark Mark overtop of the Manor without confirmation of people inside or of the death. He also reported that he would be going inside to investigate. He cut off his wand line and got out his invisibility cloak. Ginny got out and went for the cloak as well.

"Where are you going?" he asked her.

"Where do you think?"

"You're not –"

"I'm not sixteen anymore, you can't just tell me to hide in the Room of Requirement."

"The kids –"

"They are in a public place with their wands on hold."

"You know what I mean,"

"I do, but we aren't going to be talking about that right now. We need to put on that cloak of yours and sneak into that house."

Harry stopped arguing; she was, after all, no longer a teenager who could be governed by her mother. She knew all of the spells he did, and could probably cast them better than he could. He covered them in the invisibility cloak and walked towards Malfoy Manor.


"Ooh, I smell blood-traitors!" the woman said with lush excitement. Scorpius was starting to wake up from the darkness. He began to see that the blackness was some sort of spell, and also saw the people around him.

"Fina, he's waking up!" a man said.

"He can't do anything," another female, Fina, said. "He's tied down."

"That doesn't matter!" insisted the man. "The spell is supposed to make him a Death Eater you —"

"You what, Nott?" she said, more like accused, to the man.

"Oi, lovebirds! Stop your bickering!" Scorpius recognised this voice as his grandfather's.

"Grandpa...?" he murmured in a daze. No one seemed to hear him.

"Don't you see who's outside? They've probably got Aurors all over the place!" Lucius said.

"Your Dark Mark sure didn't help," Fina said.

"We need to leave, now," Nott said.

"Why don't we stay and play?" the woman from the darkness asked. No sentences were made, so Scorpius assumed that the company gave her looks that said no.

"What about Scorpius?" Lucius asked.

"We can't take him," said Fina. "We'll just be weighing ourselves down. It's time to Apparate—"

After a few pops, there was complete silence. After another few seconds, the door burst open. There were so many voices talking over each other all at the same time that Scorpius couldn't keep up. The only thing he was truly aware of was Mr. Potter lifting the spell that kept him in the air. Slowly, he came down to the ground. He couldn't quite stand without wobbling and shaking, so he set on the ground.

"Scorpius," said Mrs. Potter. He felt a hand on his forehead, then on his cheek. "Scorpius, can you hear me?"

"Uh-huh," he mumbled.

"That's good," she said. Her voice was very soothing, like his mother's when he was acting odd or feeling down. "Do you think you'll be able to stand?"

He shrugged, and he felt himself lifted by Mr. Potter. His legs weren't as shaky, but he was very nauseated. He puked, and he suddenly had a drumming headache. Everything was starting to lose its focus...


Officer Liam Hayes was an arrogant young man. He just entered into his Auror duties a month ago, and having received a few good reviews from his supervisor, thought that he was already one of the best. On coincidence, he was one of the Aurors who was sent to Malfoy Manor following Potter's report of the Dark Mark. His fellow Aurors on the job were older than him, at least five years and at most twenty years.

He assumed that Potter was already starting to go bonkers. He couldn't blame the bloke, after fighting in the second wizard war and then serving as an Auror for twenty-some years. All of the Death Eaters had been caught decades ago—except for those lucky seven. Nevertheless, it was extremely unlikely that they set a Dark Mark in broad daylight. If it wasn't Death Eaters, it was probably some insolent teenagers trying to be funny.

Only when the Aurors arrived at Malfoy Manor did the truth slap them in the face. Seeing the centuries-old mansion, home to the riches, torn apart with the force of a violent storm scared them. Even at Voldemort's height as a ruler, the Malfoys were never targets. What malevolent witch or wizard would do this to the Malfoys, of all people?

They met with Potter and his wife in front of the mansion. They tried to make her retreat, but she refused, and they didn't have the time to argue. Half went to where the Death Eaters could be heard and the other half went to where Mr. Malfoy's screams could be heard.

Hayes and two others went to Mr. Malfoy. The man was in anguish, crying over his wife's body. His cries tore through Hayes like werewolf's claws; he'd never seen a dead body before, nor seen any impact of death in his life. The two Aurors pulled Malfoy off his wife, and yelled at Hayes to check on the woman. He broke from his reverie and checked Mrs. Malfoy's pulse.

She was dead. And as Potter ran into the room, he found out that the lucky seven were still lucky little bastards.


A/N: Yes, I had to kill Astoria. I'm wondering if that was a poor choice, such as do you think I should've killed someone else in the Manor instead? I'd really like to hear some thoughts about it. I'm kind of worried that Astoria's death has no impact, since she isn't very developed...Anyway, please review :)