A/N: Harry Potter and his world belong to J.K. Rowling, Warner Brothers and anyone that has received licensing rights. I am grateful she gives us the privilege of playing in her world.

Chapter 41

July 4, 1996

Blyihl House, Devonshire, England

Sirius was looking at the teens as they sat at tables on the back patio. He stood in the doorway. This was a safe place, but he didn't feel comfortable not keeping an eye on them.

They were watching the Goblins as the blocks of the foundation of the new wing were being lifted either by magic or wooden cranes, depending on the criticality of the block. All blocks that carried a ward were very delicately managed by the House elves with them.

He wasn't as concerned about the new wing though. His wolf and Mrs. Granger were proving to be excellent project heads and the goblins seemed to trust them. Something not usual, but again, this House was something not usual.

Andi stepped up to him.

"You worried about them too," she asked.

"There was another attack last night. The wolves killed three muggles and we are sure they took two more," Sirius told her. "I know two of them were hurt as they ran."

His cousin frowned. "Anyone we know," she asked.

"I don't know the two families, but it was close to a muggleborn third year. I'm not sure they just got the wrong house or if it was a coincidence."

"Do they know yet," she asked, nodding towards the teens.

"No," he told her.

It was a large group. All the Weasleys, Potters, their pack and friends. Fourteen of them. Sirius was happy to see them together. They were talking and joking around, but he saw the stress. Luna was still quiet, only really talking to four or five people. Harry, as much as he hated his relatives, had pinched eyes and a long expression whenever he thought no one was paying attention to him.

Ginny looked pale, only having just survived the bolt to her chest. If it had been another inch or two and had gotten her heart there would have been one less teen here. Her brothers hadn't left her side since she had gotten out of bed a few days ago.

Cedric Diggory was scheduled to join them in a week with his fiancée. His house had been burned to the ground with Feindfyre, so the boy didn't have anywhere really to go and they wouldn't abandon him. The Packs suspected he was targeted because his parents had decided to join Bones.

Susan Bones and Hanna Abbot had arrived yesterday. Amelia Bones wanted her niece safe and the Abbots let Hanna come along.

His eyes drifted back to Harry. Sirius was glad the bastards dead, but even he wouldn't have tortured them like they were. The last blood relatives the boy had in three generations were now gone.

"Do you have duty today," she asked.

"Le Brun told me to take a few days off." He wasn't about to tell her it was because he manhandled a werewolf they found a little too roughly. He knew the woman and that she was part of Fenrir's pack. It wasn't an excuse though.

Andi seemed to get the meaning behind his words. "You need to talk," she asked.

"I need a drink," he told her. It was one way to drown out his demons.

"Why not get one then," she asked.

He stood there for a long few moment. "I have failed Harry enough. I won't fail him again," he told Andi. "Dawn also won't let me into her bed if I come back drunk"

She looked at the black hair boy. He was in one of his brooding stages. Hermione seemed to catch it and she moved a little closer to him. "I think we all failed him. I feel we have failed many of them. No one that young should have to deal with what many of them have."

"It's just like last time. How many of our classmates were orphaned in the last few years of school," he asked her.

She shook her head. "No. This is not like last time. There is a purpose in what the wolves are doing. You-Know-Who is just trying to get revenge and power."

He snorted. "I think you right. We have a meeting with Croaker and the Minister later today. You going to be around?"

She sighed. "I'm already late for my shift. I needed to talk to Nymphadora though."

Sirius nodded. He sniffed. Remus and Alexandra were still here. He didn't like so few others around. Harry and all them shouldn't have to be soldiers yet.

"Remus talked to me the other night. I think I finally have him convinced to ask for Dora's hand in marriage," he told her.

She let a smile creep on her face. "About time. My daughter has always been a free spirit. Remus and those kids have been good for her."

"I think they have been good for all of us," he told her. "The Wizengamot is having a session tomorrow. Greengrass has called for a vote on authorizing a change to the DMLE."

She nodded. "I had a feeling that would be coming. It is months earlier than I thought though."

"Thank Bones for that. She has done something to light a fire under him. I plan to support it," he told her.

"We need to protect the Minister. The man is our best bet to keep the Ministry out of You-Know-Who's hands," she told him.

Sirius watched as the Weasley twins showed off some fireworks. He watched a dancing leprechaun and a hippogryph take to flight, both in sparkly, colorful forms. He chuckled. "Those two are absolutely brilliant."

She laughed to see the smiles on most of the teens as they laughed. "In more ways than they know. If they put as much time into schoolwork as they did their antics, they could be top of their class."

He was still smiling as a few more went off. "Some people aren't made for schoolwork. Personally, I prefer this."

She shook her head. "You would. I still don't understand how you and James made such good marks when you used to mess off as much as them."

"Remus and Lily," he told her.

"Remus I can understand, but Lily? James didn't start seeing her until sixth year," she said.

Sirius gave a sad smile. "One thing most people never understood about James was that he liked Lily from the first day he saw her. About two months into our first year, she gave him a dressing down for doing so poorly on a transfiguration exam that he should have aced. After that, James started to pay attention in class and always made sure he got his work done. He never wanted to let her down in the things that really mattered."

They stood in a comfortable silence. "I always thought him a spoiled little pureblood prat until about fifth year," she said.

He chuckled. "And you weren't," he asked her. She was four years older than him, but still had grown up in the same circle and houses.

"We all were," she responded. "I started to see the light about the time you and James came to Hogwarts, but it wasn't until I met Ted I truly understood."

"I was always envious of you and James. I wanted that type of love, but knew I wasn't right for anyone," he told her. "I still have too much of my family in me."

"What about Dawn then," she asked.

A true smile came across his face. "She's the only one to get me over my problem. Dawn is also a great person. Though, I admit I didn't understand this whole Heat thing until now."

She chuckled. "I don't know if any of us not a wolf did. I would be careful. I expect the Potters to go through their cycle soon."

He gave a mischievous grin. "I can tell you I would have been far more experienced if I had a girl like that at his age."

She hit him. "That is disgusting coming from a man your age."

His grin didn't fall off his face. "You have to admit she's good looking. And are you telling me that if you didn't know how pleasurable it was at fifteen, that you wouldn't have been different at their age?"

He had never seen his cousin blush, and she actually had a little color in her cheeks. "How long I waited or didn't is none of your business, cousin."

His eyebrows rose. "You mean those rumors weren't just about Bellatrix," he asked.

She gave him a nasty eye. "You ever, and I mean even a hint of it, say anything around Ted I swear I will cut your balls off myself."

The rumors of what many Slytherin were put through to make it as an accepted member in their house forth year were quite something. The boys were treated almost as roughly as the girls. The girls didn't have to give themselves to anyone, but they had been interesting rumors. He was pretty sure those old traditions had been stopped when Snape took over.

Sirius still hated the man, but he tried to keep some things in line. After seeing how many in Slytherin had been raised, it wasn't the same house it was a generation ago. Andi, James and him had been raised Purebloods, but the Society they grew up in was more accepting, couth and elegant. Now, it just seemed brutish, bigoted to everyone and still controlled by the ideals Voldemort had espoused on his rise to power.

"And what of Narcissa," he asked.

"Lucius is two years older and she was already betrothed to him by the time she entered her fourth year. She didn't have to do what we did," she said, not looking pleased.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Andi. I knew Slytherins were messed up, but I didn't truly believe it."

She shook her head. "Don't be. We all had a choice. I was young, stupid and desperate to be accepted without making a betrothal. I have only ever slept with my husband." She rubbed her arms. "Narcissa never went through it. She had been brainwashed to marry as soon as she could. We all were brainwashed. I don't think either of my sisters knew their future husbands were Death Eaters. Bella never hurt an ant before she married Lestrange."

He let out a sigh. "She became the worst of them."

"I know."

"If I ever meet her outside of Azkaban, she won't survive," he told her.

She sighed this time. "She is my sister. If anyone is putting her out of her misery, it is me."

None of the teens were leaving the table. They had classes in another hour and he wasn't about to break up their fun. He had a feeling it would become scarce over the next few years. He just hoped they could truly win this time.

Andi sighed. "There are no Slytherin at those tables. Growing up, the Houses weren't as divided."

"It was for our group."

"By that time, many of my dorm mates were in bed with You-Know-Who and the other recruits were coming out in droves. The first two years I was at Hogwarts all the tables intermingled and we could get into any House Common Room," she told him. "Then it changed."

Sirius sighed. "And then it changed," he agreed.

-oOo-

July 8, 1996

Greengrass Manor, England

Draco was standing by the window in the small sitting room. Tracey and Pansy were off with Daphne and her sister today. They were off for their final fitting before Daphne and Blaise's wedding in a few days.

He was focused on the woman walking across the cobble drive to the main doors. He hadn't seen his mother in months. Now, she was calling on him. He had only to last to the end of the month, and then he could claim his Scion rights, without his damned father or mother approving. With his father on the run, Draco could not be formally disowned and the Wizengamot can't disenfranchise him without his father standing trial. It was the same way his cousin had kept his Lordship during those years in Azkaban.

She walked every bit the proper lady, flanked by four guards. Four more were at the gates to the main yard. The Greengrasses had taken out their trolls today. The brutes looked ready to attack, but knew better than to do so without permission.

The group walked into the house without looking around.

Turning, he looked around the room. Tea had been set on a small table between two chairs. It was the only courtesy he wanted to extend. He was just thankful Lord Greengrass had allowed him and his wives a suite on the third floor. The man said he wasn't owed anything, but Draco was a Malfoy, and Malfoy's didn't take handouts.

Draco would find a way to pay back his debt.

He would find a way to pay back his debt to the Potters too.

After ensuring things were good, he turned back to the window.

He was the one in control this time, not his parents. They would never punish him or his wives again.

It was almost ten minutes before a knock came at the door. "Come in," he called out.

The door swung open, an elf started to announce her and she walked in, shut the door and there was silence. After a moment, he heard her approach him. He turned and her hand slapped him across his face. He stumbled back into the wall and put a hand to his face.

"You ungrateful little mongrel," she said angrily.

He stood, his face passive and his anger stuffed down as far as he could put it. "Good afternoon, mother," he said levelly.

Her face was full of anger. She didn't say anything. Instead taking a step back.

"I am glad you could come today. I have a few things that need to be cleared up," he told her.

"Your father is not dead. I received the notice of Line Discontinuance. You filed that to take his rightful titles away," she just about spat at him.

Draco stood tall. "I received the same notice. It was not me."

"You are named as the recipient," she snarled. "If it was not you, then who?"

"Aunt Andromeda," he said. "She has offered to be my representative and Uncle Theodore thought it prudent to do so, with father on the run. He is implicated as a Death Eater and in other crimes."

She went to back hand him again and he stepped back. "You lay a hand on me again and those trolls will have a good dinner," he said in a cold, angry voice.

Her hand stopped. "You married the mutt. You should be disowned for that alone."

"Tracey is my wife. Father ensured the betrothal was penned before she was bitten. I willingly chose to carry out the betrothal, even if I didn't know about it originally. Lord Davis has been in support of this," he told her.

"Of course he is. How else would he have gotten her to marry a Pureblood like you? Though, I will never call you that again. Do you turn into one of those things at the next moon," she asked bitterly.

He sighed. Not long ago he thought the same way. "That would require her biting me when she is turned. There are precautions here from keeping the wolves from harming anyone."

Her nose scrunched. "Have you procreated with her?"

"She is my wife," he told her. He knew his duty and the contract.

"You will never get that filth off you now."

"I rather enjoy Tracey, mother. She is not as, lets say aggressive as Pansy, but she is not shy."

He had meant to raise her ire and she didn't disappoint. "I trained you better than to sound so low."

"Think as you will. Are you challenging the Line Discontinuance," he asked.

"Of course I am. You think I will let you steal your father's rightful title and accounts."

He nodded. "You will still have the account and money that he was given as a dowery for you."

"Don't talk as though you know what is going on. You are only fourteen still and I can take you home and then to the Lord Malfoy," she said.

Draco shook his head. "I think you will not like the consequences of trying that. I have been claimed as a member of the Greengrass Pack. Some of the laws protecting the wolves and my second wife protect Pansy and I as well. Uncle Theodore has also explained everything to me. Are you pregnant?"

"I don't see that being your business," she told him.

"It is very much my business and I understand more than you think. Pansy is carrying your grandchild. Whether I am made Scion or not, the contract you and father made makes that child the heir to the Malfoys, unless you were pregnant before her," he said.

Her eyes widened.

Nothing was said between them for a moment.

Draco motioned towards the table. This was going better than he thought so far. "Would you care to sit? I could be willing to offer a compromise between us. I will not compromise anything with father."

She looked at the table and chairs. "There will be no compromise, Draco. You may try to claim being Scion. The Wizengamot will most likely give it to you. You, and even myself, may find this a short lived thing. Lord Parkinson has returned to the side of the Dark Lord. Your father, myself, you, your wife..."

"Wives," he corrected her.

She went on as though not noticing. "...we all have been given a bounty on us because your father did not return. Lord Davis, as have the Greengrasses, have been labeled blood traitors for their support of the new Creature Laws. You will have nowhere to go in our society except to the blood traitors."

He didn't look concerned. "I don't think them Blood Traitors, mother. After this year, I think families like the Potters, Greengrasses and Davis have the right of it. Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted are good people."

She pursed her lips. "The Blacks and Malfoys don't bow to those types of people and their subversive ideas. Blood is Blood and it should not be compromised."

Draco snorted. "Yet father bowed to You-Know-Who and you bow to father. The Blacks are now merged with the Potters, we have both been disowned from that House and I bow to no one, mother."

Her face flushed. She didn't say anything for a long time.

"Will I be able to see my grandchild?"

"As long as you never lay a hand on me, my wives or child and you do nothing to compromise my blood line. I agree Blood is Blood. This is MY family and I will not see then treated the way I was." He held her eyes. He wasn't quite as tall as his mother yet, but he was close. Her grey eyes were just as hard as his.

"You would have a child with the mutt too," she asked.

"Tracey. Her name is Tracey Malfoy, mother. She is not a mutt. When she becomes pregnant, the child will be ours. Blood is Blood."

Her lips almost disappeared with how hard she was pursing them together. "I would like to see whatever grandchildren you have with Pansy."

"It's all or nothing," he told her.

"The mutt may carry our name, but I will never acknowledge her puppies."

"Then I will stay with the Greengrasses until they tell me to leave and then I will find somewhere else to go that you will not get to me and my family," he told her. "Father may not realize it, but I paid attention. I can be just as allusive as him if need be."

"You would really throw away your Blood," she asked.

"I may have come from you and father, and may be Blood, but the future-Lady Malfoy and myself agree the Lady-Consort Malfoy is our blood. At seventeen they can claim their titles and I plan to grant it once I am named the heir-apparent. At that point, it will be your decision if you wish to become Madame Malfoy, or just Mrs. Malfoy."

Her eyes looked ready to kill him. He wasn't surprised. He had informed her he was rejecting everything it meant to his parents to be a Malfoy and he was forging a new legacy for his name. He also told her that her birth-house was now going to be considered lower than low, as the Potters were, in their circle. To him, he was looking at finally being on the right side.

He wasn't sure how long they stood there before she turned and walked out the door. A few minutes later, he saw her march back across the cobblestones to the main gatehouse. She looked back up at him before they walked a good 100 yards away and then apparated.

The door opened to his private quarters. Blaise walked in and joined him next to the window. The other four guards in his private quarters were still there.

Blaise spoke first. "Father said much the same when he found out I had been bitten. He was happy to be sod of me to pen the contract to the Greengrasses."

"Tracey is my second wife. She is a wolf like you. I will not see her or any of you hurt by my parents or anyone else. Potter is right. You have accepted Pansy and I as Pack and I would stay with my Pack," Draco said.

Blaise snorted. "Tell me the truth. If you had not had to marry Tracey, would you not have tried to kill us?"

He looked out the window for a few. "Before my name came out of the Goblet of Fire, I would have thought it an honor to cleanse your Bloodline of you. I wanted Potter dead." He took in a deep breath. "I admit Tracey pushed me over, but I was already doubting the Old ways." The images of a small, lifeless blonde girl was held firmly in his head.

"I have seen the Dark Lord, and I will never follow the Old ways again."

Blaise nodded. "I never doubted the Old ways. Not even once after we were turned. That was until my father and mother couldn't stand me. If Lord Greengrass hadn't offered to take me on as his heir-apparent, I was going to be tossed out of the family. Daphne is convinced it was Potter that convinced her family to accept her. I am not sure I agree with her opinion, but Potter has made changes. I still can't stand how lenient Potter is with his Pack."

The trolls were being led back to their basement with a fat cow. A reward for doing so well.

"The Potters. Harry is the Alpha, but I think Hermione is going to be the real power once she can claim her Lady's title. Harry will keep them together, but the power on the Wizengamot with her at the lead will not be able to be stopped, even by the Dark Lord," he said.

"You are going to throw your lot in with them?"

"Potter saved me from the Dark Lord. He protected Tracey, Daphne and you. His influence protected us when we went back. His influence has led my father to run. I owe him more than they will ever know. The least I can do is provide the support of the Malfoy's to make your lot easier and to bring down the old ways. Aunt Andi and I had a few long talks when I was at the Potters and since. Do you know that there is about thirty percent less wizards in the last hundred years," he asked Blaise.

Blaise pursed his lips. "You believe her?"

"I looked it up. Almost a thousand houses, about one-hundred and twenty pureblood houses included, have gone extinct since the rise of Grindewald, and then the Dark Lord. Enrollment at Hogwarts is half of what it was a hundred years ago and some think our population will be halved or more in the next decade or two. What would happen if all those that oppose the Dark Lord were to be eliminated? How many of us would be left?"

Blaise looked at him alarmed. "Draco, what are you saying?"

"The Dark Lord needs to be defeated and no one can ever be allowed to take his place. I think the coalition Potter has attracted is the best bet. Everyone needs to be included and we can't hold prejudices. My Aunt told me it is those divides that allowed the Dark Lord and Grindewald to come to power. Men like Dumbledore just kept the divides going so that he could keep everything stagnant and stay in power in his own way. I don't want to be like them anymore. I don't want to be responsible to see another person broken and dead," he told Blaise.

They stood there. They were both young, but Draco felt like he had lived a lifetime the last year. The last few weeks here and his time at the Potters had allowed him to process it. Minister Greengrass would need their support.

After a bit, Draco asked, "How is your sister and nephew?"

"As well as can be. Her in-laws have taken her in. Father wants her to remarry, but she wants her son to be Scion of my nephews birth house," he said.

"She doesn't hate you?"

Blaise understood what he was asking. "I was almost killed that night too. She tried to protect us. Melanie doesn't blame me. She is supposed to come over tomorrow."

Draco nodded. "I'm glad you still have some family."

Blaise snorted. "My brother hasn't talked to me in two years and now my parents have disowned me. Yeah, I have family."

All Draco could do is look out the window. He wasn't in any better situation.