A/N: More plot building... thank you guys who are enjoying this so far :3

ZZZZZZ

Lucius almost glared at the woman, but he decided to hold back due to present company. He watched as Alex cleared her throat and pushed a few pieces of parchment towards the blonde.

"If you could sign these, agreeing to your treatment…"

Lucius leaned forward and signed his name on the necessary documents.

Once he was done, she spoke up, "Alright, I'll be the overseer of this project, monitoring Mary and Alexander's progress. After your visit with Mary, we'll have you visit Alexander."

Mary grunted. "Follow me, Mr. Malfoy."

Lucius kept an eye on her as he moved to follow her; her walk was brisk as they went into her office a couple doors down. She decided on a second thought to lock her door as he entered, prompting a look from him. "…What prompts that?"

"I don't trust you."

"I figured that~"

Mary snorted. "Was it that obvious? You should be in—"

"Azkaban. I know. Shut your mouth." Lucius hissed, already sick of hearing that line.

Mary made a sudden move and pointed her wand into the blonde's throat before he could unsheathe his own. "know your place, Malfoy."

Pure, unadulterated hate filtered through his vision. He attempted to swallow. "Oh, you're going to be fun."

She ignored his statement. "How did you get off?"

"Money, of course."

She pressed her wand deeper, causing him to choke a bit. He shifted, but that didn't help at all. "That can't be all." She demanded.

He hesitated, the look of pride breaking momentarily, but he didn't yield to her request.

"I'll hex you."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Your words against mine, Malfoy." She threatened.

A sigh. Bloody hell. Finally— "My family. I—they were more important to me than the Dark Lord. Happy?"

"Interesting." She simply stated, now lowering her wand.

"Why is a Ministry member such as yourself acting like this?"

After a pause, Mary straightened up, now going to sit behind her desk. "Because you are a free Death Eater."

Lucius tilted his head. "There's a deeper reason."

"None of your concern."

"You got out my reasoning, did you not?"

"That's because you're in a lower position of power than me." The tension was thick, but she relented once more. "There are… reasons I am here today at least."

"Pray tell?" The power needs at least to be semi-equal.

"Because, I think no matter what, some people deserve a second chance. I mean, look at em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"you./em You got off for a reason."

"For a reason?"

"Yes. The Universe obviously chose it to happen."

"The Universe." He repeated, a little bit confused.

She nodded. "It works in mysterious ways, Like Divination, or magick."

"Like… a flow of something." Lucius attempted to understand.

"Yes." She said immediately, brightness lighting up her eyes, before she cleared her throat. "Anyways, but yes…I am one of those to put the War behind me, and I…" She hesitated, "…hope I can help you, despite my…animosity earlier."

Lucius noticed she didn't apologize. "You didn't—"

"Apologize? I realize." Mary snipped, before digging out her papers from within her desk. Hers was a stark contrast to Alex's; it was very clean, not a single piece of parchment out of place.

"At least you're not completely unkind." Lucius said almost sarcastically.

"Don't push it." She remarked, brushing a stray strand of hair back into place.

Lucius rolled his eyes, signing the papers before him. Ah, he remembered something. "What exactly are you to me during this? What does it entail?"

Mary looked at him, her expression unreadable. "That's classified until it begins, Mr. Malfoy. I can ensure it'll help you though."

"Once again, very helpful."

"You're quite welcome." Mary smiled.

"How long are you going to antagonize me?" Lucius's eyebrow twitched.

"Who knows?" She shrugged non-chalantly.

Lucius gave her a look, and as he did, she took the papers away from him, glancing at them before placing them away. "Alright, Mr. Malfoy—" Back to formality now, I see. "—let's go."

Yet again. Soon enough, the former Death Eater found himself in another office—this one, much more inviting than the previous office at least. Trinkets and little ornaments detailed the walls, even a small statue of a Quidditch player flew around in one corner of the desk in middle of the room. Alexander spun around his chair behind the desk, eyes staring into Lucius's own. "Hello!" He said a bit warmly, letting Lucius finally feel relief.

That woman was horrible.

He gave a little nod towards the other, and the black haired man extended a hand. "Alexander… at your service."

The blonde shook his hand eagerly enough, before sitting down. "How… are you coping?" Alexander's expression was neutral, as he slid out the proper documents, eyes still trained on the other.

The blonde startled a bit, though his defenses didn't waver. "…Excuse me?"

He cleared his throat. "I apologize, I simply like to make conversation. I… hope I can truly help people, especially now that the War's over."

"Ah. Perfectly fine, despite some troubles." He said at least semi-confidently. Yeah, right. He just hoped his tone was guarded enough.

"Good… good. Everyone should have an opportunity to start afresh."

"Oh." He simply said, confused. "An opportunity?"

"Yes. Everyone." He smiled.

"You're more pleasant than the woman, at least in your approach."

Alexander chuckled. "Its all the matter of perspective."

"And what perspective is that?"

Slight hesitation, but he still maintained eye contact. "Even Death Eaters deserve to have a sense of peace."

Well, then. Lucius tilted his head. ""Were you an avoidant of the Ministry's Law?"

This moment, it was time for the blue eyed man to have a confused look."How do you mean?"

"Did you side with the Dark Lord?" Poison. It sounded so poisonous to be saying that title.

Alexander shook his head vehemently. "No, no. Just that I could feel empathy towards you lot, despite your violent ways."

Well that was surprising to say the least. "Thank… you, I suppose." Idiot doesn't know what followers went through.

The therapist nodded with a smile. "Just.. don't tell my colleagues… With the way the world's going…"

"To Hell?"

"No, not necessarily. It's just good to be mindful of wizardkind. We should protect ourselves, if necessary." A pause. "Remember the Salem Witch Trials back in America?"

One of the things his father had drilled into him. "My family taught very much so about that, yes."

Alexander played with a piece of stray paper. "I don't know.. why so many had to die…"

"Because Muggles liked to dance on our ashes." A rapid response.

"Right. Well, sometimes they indeed do."

Lucius slid the papers back over since he was done with them, and Alexander took them without issue. "Alright, I'll see you around in a couple of days! You'll want to go back to Alex's office, then."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy, please sit down."

Lucius sighed, tired of the long day already, before slipping into the seat provided. Alex sat calmly at her desk, reviewing a folder—a folder specifically labeled 'Lucius Malfoy', which made him cock an eyebrow. "Somehow I'm not surprised there's a folder on me."

Alex grinned. "The Ministry doesn't bother getting rid of old records for a very long time. You should know that."

Lucius scoffed. Along with other precious information."

"Well, to your credit I suppose, you didn't associate with the Death Eater name after the First War."

"Who would?"

"Other followers." She clipped, finally shutting the folder, "they were more than glad to go to—"

"Bloody hell, stop." Lucius interrupted, feeling shaky. He attempted to stop at least his hands.

"…Right. I don't think there's impulsivity in your file…" Confusion.

"THE. FUCKING. WORD." A flash, and the wizard was on his feet, staring fiercely at her, which she blinked at, unaffected.

"Seems like something to explore." She commented, but continued before he could cut her off, "We'll be sending you home now. Tomorrow we'll be detailing about your month stay at St. Mungo's, who we have partnered with for this project."

Lucius simply gave her a glare.

"…How adorable."

"Y-You're fortunate the Anti-Magick Charm is up." He chimed darkly, holding back a breakdown from occurring.

Alex chuckled, then grew serious. "I know, with a Death Eater in my presence… The month stay would be simply an introductory period of sorts, so we can get to know you better, and also to see what goals we need in place for you for the future. Then we'll switch to Out-Patient."

"Sounds wonderful." A sarcastic smile.

"Doesn't it?" Alex replied back, just as equally sarcastic. ""I'll see you out, Mr. Malfoy. I'll be coming back about noon tomorrow."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Lucius nearly stumbled when he got back to the Manor. He held his chest, heart beating fast—

Azkaban… AZKABAN, AZKABAN!

The word pounded within his skull, and the world was starting to look fuzzy.

N-No… not another…

He forced himself to stand up straight, as he made his way to the gate, now stopping. His grip tightened around one of the rods.

Oooohhhh… Malfoooy…

No, go away! He told his mind fiercely, shaking his head. A shift, he was behind bars—

BAM!

There was a sharp noise outside, piercing through the otherwise quiet atmosphere, and it made Narcissa startle who was in the gardens. She poked her head up and looked over towards the disturbance.

Was…

Was that their… GATE?

It laid in scattered big pieces…

ZZZZZZZZZ

A/N: Hopefully you guys like my other two ocs~