Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco apparated to the gates outside Malfoy Manor and Lucius knew what he had to do. Harry Potter had risen from the dead which meant Lord Voldemort was doomed. Surviving the killing curse twice was no accident and Draco had to be on the winning side. He turned on his son. "You betrayed our lord."
"I betrayed him? You just pulled me from his side!"
"I saved you by pulling you from the middle of a fight which you haven't had the training to survive. Now I am returning to help him."
Draco glared at his father. "Father, this is insane. Why on earth do you think he can win? Potter just returned from the dead! He's resurrected."
Lucius stepped closer. "Are you renouncing our Lord in the hour of his victory?"
"His victory?" Draco's voice broke. "I'm renouncing him in the hour of his defeat and I should have done it earlier. He's nearly destroyed us Father. How do you not see that?" Draco implored his father. "Don't sacrifice everything now. It's too late."
Lucius felt a flicker of an encouragement charm skim across his occlumency shields and was proud of his son. Today, after all he'd been through, he still had the presence of mind to use wandless magic to persuade his opponent instead of resulting to brute force. The Malfoy family would be safe with him if only the Ministry and Potter (the certain victors) could be persuaded to turn aside from vengeance; to turn them aside they must be given a new target. The mob would bay for Malfoy blood so he would give them a chase. He slipped his wand out of his sleeve and aimed it. Draco's look of betrayal hurt more than he thought it would but his son's nearly invisible wandless tripping hex made him proud. He stepped forward while casting a cruciatus letting his trip send the curse wide. Draco replied with a skin flaying curse which he parried. The duel continued for a few more seconds. Draco knew some curses but lacked the subtlety of an experienced dueler. Finally, Lucius disarmed his son, literally, and apparated away leaving Narcissa to reattach her son's flopping arms. It would be a simple job for her and Draco would suffer no lasting harm. Now Draco could safely tell the Ministry he had fought until he was unable to continue. Narcissa too, would gladly condemn her husband as far as her marital vows allowed.
He apparated, not far away like his family would expect, but to the back of the house. In the park outside the gardens there was a tree. An old tree. And in that tree there was a nymph. An old, old, nymph. The tree stood on the edge of a clearing, the eldest of all the ancient oaks in the park. Its trunk was several feet across and lower limbs were as large as the bole on a younger tree. Acorn shells and dried leaves crunched under foot as he approached. He couldn't see it in the dark but he knew that spring, green leaves were sprouting overhead. At the foot of the tree, he held out his left hand and drew his wand in his right. He used the spell rarely and had to thing to get it just right. Eventually he flicked his wand and said nubes sanguis. A red mist rose from his left arm and settled on the tree. The tree giggled. The bark moved, wrinkled, and out stepped a short, brown skinned young woman. Her hair was made of leaves and her skin looked as rough as oak bark but he knew they both felt as smooth as silk. "Greetings nymph of the wood."
"Greetings Lord of the Manor and Lord of my Tree." The tree was only a few centuries old having been replanted by a distant ancestor but the nymph had served his family since they arrived under William the Conqueror. She had served the Saxon lord who lived here before his family and had likely served the Romans and Druids before them. She refused to speak of the old times except in the vaguest of terms and then in the oldest of languages. The Malfoys had kept a book of everything they had learned from her and it wasn't much. She fed on blood, sex with her could help rituals, and she guarded the secret manor entrance from all but her lord. He needed the last now.
"I seek entrance into my manor by the secret path." She approached him and lay herself against him standing on tip toes so her mouth almost reached his.
"Isn't there anything else you want?" "Not tonight." She pouted but stood aside and the oak tree opened revealing a stone spiral stair case into the earth. Lucius nodded his thanks and said "I will be away for a time. My son is steward in my stead."
The nymph clapped her hands and giggled. "I like your son. He's so young and they're better that way. I was afraid I wouldn't get him for many years until you were dead." Lucius smiled. Draco knew about the nymph but to rule the manor he would have to negotiate with her.
Lucius hurried down the stairs, through the tunnel, and into the manor. In his bedroom he spoke to the portrait of his grandfather, Brutus. "Voldemort has lost. I am fleeing so the Ministry will chase me instead of Draco but they will search the house. Warn the other portraits and flee." Brutus gave him a long look but said nothing and walked out of his frame.
Lucius had long considered his options if he won or lost the war and knew what he had to do but he hadn't planned on avoiding Narcissa and Draco. His personal study was connected to his bedroom. One cabinet held packing boxes. A few flicks of his wand and his personal collection of dark artifacts and books were packed. He made a portkey to his safe house and sent them off. The potions lab next door could not be moved en-masse but he stopped in to gather a handful of bottles: polyjuice, pepper-up, assorted poisons, and a single precious bottle of veritaserum amongst others. A handful of the more expensive and difficult to replace ingredients found their way into the crates as well.
Downstairs he heard Narcissa and Draco in the library. He avoided that area of the house and instead emptied the dark artifacts under the Dining Room. There were a few dark arts books in the ground floor (public) library but he could leave those. The Ministry would search until the found something. The family archives had been moved long ago after Voldemort's first fall and never moved back. The Ministry would love to get its' hands on those and he didn't need daily access so they had been secreted away. He took one last look around the house he might never see again. He had worked for years to elevate the family name and knew Draco would eventually become a good leader in his own right. He had hoped to train his son for several more years and gradually introduce him to a position of power. Now the boy would be thrown in the deep end.
After exiting through the tunnel, three apparition jumps brought him untraceably to Hogsmeade and he dropped a disillusionment charm over himself. The half-moon in a clear cloudless sky cast distorted shadows and he waited for his eyes to adjust. He listened to the noises in the distance as he tried to make sense of what was going on. There was no crackle of spellfire and no booms of explosions. The battle, and likely the war, had ended but had he made the correct choice? Approaching Hogsmeade cautiously, he saw the street lights turned on and the streets bustled with people. Crowds stood together talking but none of them wore the black cloaks of Death Eaters. Lucius turned to follow the road to Hogwarts but something caught his eye. Still under his disillusionment charm he crept forward and saw a dozen cloaked, masked figures hiding. He cast a compulsion charm on one giving his old comrades a hint of the correct way to escape for old times' sake and continued to the castle confident that his choice for Draco had been correct. People moved on the field in front of the castle gates. He edged closer and stumbled. At his feet lay a black cloaked figure with a bloody chest. He took the dead man's wand and money bag then moved on. He didn't know what the future held. Always keeping an eye out, he looted the bodies as he approached the edge of the woods. He got close enough to cast "Imperious" on a boy who had come too close and walked into the woods. When they were alone, he asked "What happened tonight?" and he got the whole story. Potter had returned from the dead, Longbottom had defeated a basilisk (preposterous), and Voldemort's wand had been cursed by Potter before the whole thing started. He obliviated the boy, released him, and headed back to the castle. Two more questionings brought him equally fantastic stories but the main themes remained the same: Potter returned, Neville killed something, and Voldemort died. Only one of those he questioned had actually seen the duel between Potter and Voldemort and he had insisted the only spell Potter cast was 'expelliarmus'.
Giving up on getting the truth but satisfied that Potter had won, he renewed his dissillusionment charm and slipped inside the now quiet castle. He hugged the walls and managed to peek inside the Great Hall where the dead lay and saw the grieving crowds. Eventually he spotted a member of the Order of the Phoenix alone. One of the Weasleys, the oldest most likely, was going somewhere so he followed. The boy checked inside several rooms where people lay sleeping before finding what he was looking for. Malfoy saw a golden-haired beauty asleep on a sleeping bag and watched the Weasley kneel beside her to kiss her. She stirred. "You're back, Bill."
"Yes."
"We won."
"Yes." Bill conjured a sleeping bag and lay down beside his wife.
Malfoy let the exhausted children drift to sleep while he struggled to remain awake. It wasn't long before both breathed deeply. He locked the door, summoned their wands, cast a sleeping curse on the girl, then a silencing charm around her, then a silencing charm around the room. He floated the boy away, released the disillusionment charm on himself, conjured a death eater mask over himself, cast a voice changing charm on himself, cast an Imperious, and dripped the precious veritaserum into the boy's mouth before binding and awakening the boy. A series of questions found that he was Bill Weasley, married to Fleur Weasley previously Delacour, was a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and knew the Fidelius charm. The veritaserum brought forth all the details he needed about the hiding charm. It was complex, obscure, and required a great deal of power to cast. Unfortunately, it required that he trust someone and that his secret keeper could not hide under another Fidelius. A secret keeper under a Fidelius would create a feedback loop which would drop both charms suddenly and unexpectedly. He took notes as Bill talked and asked questions while probing with Legilamancy until he was sure that Bill was hiding nothing and that he could cast the spell himself. He tested the simpler aspects of the spell right there to be sure he knew what was happening. He also found out the roster of the Order of the Phoenix and what they knew about the Death Eaters. The Order had nothing on Draco except that he had supposedly allowed the Death Eaters into Hogwarts last year. An hour and a second dose of Veritaserum later he obliviated the boy and sent him into a deep sleep.
Malfoy rose to leave having stolen what he came for but, glancing at the Veela, realized he wanted something else. He examined the boy's face carefully then conjured a mirror and made his own imitate it, scars and all. Malfoy lay beside the Veela, released his sleeping charm on her, and kissed her neck. She giggled, woke, and turned to his embrace. Some time later he lay satiated beside the beautiful girl. He turned to her and smiled. "This is a night of victory."
She sighed and snuggled against his chest. "Victoire, I like that." He sent her to sleep again, altered Bill's memories further, so he would remember sleeping with his wife, and floated him back beside his wife. "Victory indeed."
Lucius left her side and put William in his place then transfigured himself into a random face and hair. Using even that little bit of magic left him tired and short of breathe. He had been fighting and casting spells for hours with no chance for break and at the moment he wanted to sink to the floor and sleep. From his satchel he took a pepperup potion, drank it, and headed further into the castle. All defenses would be as low today as they ever would be so he must take advantage. Few people were abroad at this hour and all hurried past intent on their own business. The passing years had dulled his memory of the passageways but after a few wrong turns he found himself in front of the library doors. At some point they had been blasted open. The corpses of two death eaters lay outside and half dozen students inside. He looted their wands and gold then made his way past the makeshift barricade. He could smell the remnants of a fire and the water used to extinguish it. Thankfully the burned section was by the door and not in his goal, the restricted section. He conjured boxes and began filling them under noise and light cancellation charms. He could not take the entire section as he wished. Shrinking and space expansion charms only worked so well, especially on conjured containers. He sorted his way through the books letting packing charms stack them neatly in the boxes. When the rose fingered dawn began to trickle light through the windows, he gathered up his boxes and exited the library resisting the urge to either burn the rest to hide his theft or leave a dark mark to leave fear. Now was the time for stealth.
After a full night of spell casting, he had no reserves left and couldn't disillusion or transfigure himself. Instead, he used a light illusion charm to change his hair and face. It wouldn't survive against serious detection spells but he only had to escape the castle. The snap of his boots echoed through the silent halls as he headed towards the main gates. Noone moved amongst the rubble and spell damage. It was the edge of dawn and the victors had not posted guards or sentries so the Order was either composed entirely of amateurs or the professionals were all dead. If he had wanted to win this battle, he could have led a squad of his old friends inside and wrecked what havoc he wished. The Old Guard was scattered though and his personal squad from Voldemort's first rise all dead by his own hands to prevent their confession. Voldemort's war was over and he had no intention of going to go down in a blaze of glory.
At the steps of Hogwarts, he paused and looked over lawn; the dew glistening in the red light of the dawn. The lawn sank down to the lake and past that, just a dark line on the edge, lay the Forbidden Forest. This was very likely the last time he would ever see Hogwarts. He turned to look up at the castle where he had learned so much and which had taught both his allies and enemies when a voice spoke at his elbow. "It's a sight isn't it?"
Malfoy turned to see Potter beside him where he had not been a moment ago. He instinctively wanted to test that his illusion held but restrained himself so as not to appear suspicious and replied "It sure is. Hogwarts is a castle so you might say that battle becomes her. Protecting her students is her job and she succeeded."
Potter looked at him and smiled grimly "Not enough."
"It's never enough." He forced himself not to run for freedom and said "What happened today Mr. Potter? I've heard a lot of stories."
"Voldemort thought he was something he wasn't and that mistake ruined him." Lucius waited but nothing else was forthcoming.
"Well, I've got to get home to the family. I'm sure they're worried about me." He left and walked to the gate but turned back. "Thank you, Mr. Potter."
The boy kept his eyes on the ruined castle but nodded that he'd heard. Malfoy turned and walked away from Hogwarts.