Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Harry Potter. Please don't sue me.

To everyone who reviewed between this chapter and the last THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Just to get a few notices out of the way I have to say I LOVED HBP! It was amazing, save for all the stupid romance it was great. I was at a lose as to how to continue my story but I've decided to just continue the way I was doing things. I repeat what follows is the original plot to my story and has had only minor alterations due to 'HBP'. Over 190 reviews say I'm doing something right so I might as well stick with a good thing.

Be prepared, a major plot point is revealed in this chappie. I figured since I made you guys wait so long I should give you something good to make up for it. It actually works better revealing it here then it does where it originally was anyway. I hope everybody likes it.

Keep the reviews coming and don't feel bad about telling me if you think something is wrong. I appreciate good strong critics of my work. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. I hope to hear from you guys again in the future

I have a special review to highlight. This review came from Mozes. Mozes, I have friends in Iraq, I wish everyone who has returned from there and who is still there the best of luck. I do agree with you we all have to make our own decisions about right and wrong. Our children are the future and I'm glad that your daughter picked out my story to send to you. I hope you can get in contact with all the troops who read this story with you and let them know that I published a new chapter and I will do my best to make the updates more frequent.

Thanks to all who have reviewed so far and I hope you continue to do so.

Lucius reappeared at the edge to the wards that surrounded his home and protected his family. While he might be able to manipulate the wards while inside their barriers he had taken special care to secure them so no one could access them from the outside. It was a precaution that he had refused to neglect.

His family came first above everything else and while he might seem like a harsh and cruel patriarch he actually cared a great deal about his family. Their safety was something that always nagged at the back of his mind. However, he had learned to trust their safety to the wards around his home and the intelligence of his family to protect themselves while outside those wards.

Lucius sighed and stared across the well kept grounds on his family's estate. The grounds were especially beautiful as the summer came to an end and there was little doubt in Lucius' mind that Narcissa was somewhere within the vast confines of the foliage. He had been pleasantly surprised when he had first met Narcissa. On the surface she seemed to be a completely prim and proper young witch. She was a brilliant young Ravenclaw and had been the top of her class at Hogwarts.

The real Narcissa was extremely different from the proper façade she showed to the outside world. The intelligent young witch had a passion for herbology which was matched only by her talent in the dark arts. She was an excellent duelist and had given him a run for his money in quite a few duels.

Narcissa also shared his love of family. Draco had always been an intelligent and manipulative young man and Narcissa took every chance to spoil her son. She loved the boy quite dearly and it had hurt her a great deal when Ana had died and Malachi had been lost to them. He remembered how Narcissa had tried for weeks to reach Severus and draw him out of his emotionless shell. If they had known what they did now, if they had only known what Dumbledore had done, they would have been able to help him.

What ifs were all in the past though, there was nothing short of a time-turner that could change the past. The idea did hold merit but it was far to risky to try. Changing a few hours or minutes of time was one thing but changing fifteen years of history was quite another. There was no way that Lucius was willing to take such a risk and he knew that even though Severus would love the chance to fix things he wouldn't dare try it either.

Lucius had more important things to consider then wishful thinking of the past. He had to find Severus and inform him of the meeting that Voldemort had called for the next evening. There was little doubt in his mind that Severus would come out of that meeting unscathed, and there was a good chance that he would not leave it as one of the living. The outcome was scrictly in the Dark Lord's hands and there would be nothing he or Severus could do once Voldemort made his decision.

Lucius nervously raked a hand through his hair and sighed. He could feel the situation spiraling out of his control and he hated not being in control of a situation. This was his Lord however and Voldemort was unpredictable at best. A slight breeze caused Lucius' cloak to swirl around him and he sighed again.The summer would be drawing to a close soon and the coming fall would bring many changes to the wizarding world. He was positive that Dumbledore and his cronies had already found out about Harry's disappearance and had already begun their search to find the missing boy.

Lucius was almost certain that he would be recieving some very irrate Aurors as they searched his family grounds yet again. He had to make sure that they found nothing to connect him with Harry's disappearance. The boy would have to leave the manor until the pressure died down because Lucius would not risk being carted off to Azkaban if the ministry somehow found the boy hiding within his walls. Dumbledore would leave no possible stone unturned if it meant finding his precious pawn and political idol. The boy was far too important to simply abandon. The old man had dedicated too much time and effort into molding the child into the image of perfect savior and the process of creating another savior would be far too difficult.

The elder Malfoy allowed his gaze to sweep the grounds once again before he stepped inside the apparation barrier.He immediatly felt the tingle of the wards as they flowed around him and recognized him as their master. He would have to configure them to allow Malachi within them without triggering the estate's security magics. As he drew closer to the manor he saw Narcissa exiting her much loved rose garden.The secluded spot wasone of her favorites on the grounds and had been planted by Lucius' mother when he was still a child. Since then the roses had grown to impressive heights.It was rather beautiful and Lucius stopped to wait until his wife caught up with him.

"Lucius." Her voice was quiet and held an edge of barely contained worry. "How was your meeting dear?" Lucius reached out and took her hand before pulling her closer to him and kissing her lightly on the lips.

"No hello darling?" He squeezed her hand gently."It went better then I expected, but, come we should not talk of such things here." Narcissa nodded and seemed to relax slightly as she allowed Lucius to lead her inside their home. Once the doors had firmly closed behind them she spoke again.

"What happened?" Lucius sighed and raked his hand through his hair.

"His lordship did not take the information well. He was quite irrate that I missed such details and he insists that I find out exactly where Malachi's loyalties lie. He also ordered me to bring Severus before him tomorrow night. I expect that he will not go easy on him when they meet." Lucius could see the worry in her eyes. "We can only hope that things go the best for both of them." Narcissa nodded and pulled her hand free of her husband's grip.

"It sounds like there is nothing we can do then." She reached up and tucked a loose strand of hair behind Lucius' ear. It was a nervous guesture, one that she usually reserved for days that Lucius was going to the ministry or when Draco was preparing to leave for Hogwarts. At one point they would have both been annoyed with it but over the years they had to come to see it as one of the subtle signs that she truly cared. After all a Malfoy had to look his best whenin public. To look anything less was a sign of weakness and the Malfoys rarely did anything that would lead to a decrease in their social status.

Lucius gently gripped her hand in his once again and squeezed it.

"Do you know where Severus is? We have things to discuss." Narcissa sighed as she allowed her hand to slip out of her husband's grasp and fall to her side.She knew that Lucius cared but whenever he had business to attend to he didn'tlet anything stand in his way. It was irritating at times but she had learned to live with it and acceptthatLucius cared even though he didn't always show it.

"I believe he is showing off his lab." Lucius chuckled softly.

"Why did I even ask?" Narcissa nodded in agreement, glad that the momentary tension was gone for now.

"I'll let you go find him and I'll be in the garden if you needme for anything." Lucius nodded and watched her as she began walking back the way they had come. As she was about to disappear he called out to her.

"Narcissa please pick which one of our vacation homes you would like to stay at for a few weeks." She stopped and turned to look at him in confusion.

"What's wrong?" The tone of her voice told him that she would not be played with and that she wanted no lies or excuses from him.

"I'm sending you, Draco, and Malachi to one of our homes that our Lord is secret keeper for. I have no doubt that the ministry will be ordering searches of all homes belonging to suspected supporters of our Lord. They will want to find Malachi as soon as possible and I will not risk him being found here." Narcissa nodded.

"Our retreat in Germany, then. It is as you say protected by our lord and it is rather large. It will give the boys some space." Lucius nodded and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Draco is just going to have to learn to live with it. Things have changed and they are going to change a lot more in the near future. It's going to be difficult for all of us especially Severus and Malachi. I don't want Draco making things anymore difficult than they already are." Narcissa could hear the frustration laced in his voice and chose not to argue with him.

"I know dear. It's not going to be anmeasy transition for anyone. If you would like I will leave this evening and have the house elves prepare the manor for our arrival."

"That would be fine. I must find Severus." Before Narcissa could reply Lucius had turnedmwith a flourish of dark robes and taken off down the hall.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Once Lucius was gone Voldemort allowed his carefully controlled fury to escape.His anger literally flowed off of him in waves and any of his servants that were close enough to feel his anger were being wise by keeping their distance. He could not believe that Snape of all people had been the betrayer within his inner circle for so long. It was almost impossible to comprehend that one of his most trusted advisors had been betraying him. It made sense though, itmade all the pieces fall into place. Severus had been extremely withdrawn since Ana's death. He or Lucius should have noticed that something more then the death of his family was bothering the man.

The question was how much had Severus given away? Lucius had seemed quite sure that Severus had only given away minor details. The fact that Severus had been willing to submit to veritaserum told him that Lucius was correct in his assumptions.Severus had not willingly submitted himself to a dose of the serum since Ana's death. To do so now was a clear sign, in Voldemort's mind, that Severus was willing to try and make amends for his betrayal.

That did not mean that he would take it easy on the man. Betrayal was a grave thing for anyone of his death eaters to attempt. He had made that quite clear over the years. Anytime he got wind of a betrayal that person had been punished, a couple had even died as examples. Those had been the ones who had actually betrayed him however.

He did not kill needlessly, it did him no good if he killed competent followers without a good reason. The fact that this betrayer was Snape made the matter that much more severe.His parents had been important cogs in his initial rise to power and with good reason. Voldemort had known when he first started his rise to power that certain things in the wizarding world were not to be ignored.The most important of those things was blood. Lineage in the wizarding world was by far the most important thing.

You could be an incredibly powerful muggle-born but if you did not have the blood to back up that power than you didn't get far. That had changed a lot over the years but it was still an important factor in wizarding politics. Founders blood was especially important and Voldemort had more then enough of that to make himself a threat. He was the heir of Slytherin in the eyes ofthe ministry and the supposed last link to the ancient family. That couldn't be farther from the truth. The Slytherin tree had many many branches. Most of them had sadly ended in squibs but there was one branch that was still very much alive and well.

Voldemort knew that Dumbledore had been trying to gather everything about his family line that he could usein order to bring him to his knees and the idiot truly believed that Tom Riddle was the last of the Slytherin line. The fool couldn't be further from the truth. Voldemort had found an old family journal that detailed another line of the Slytherin tree that still existed. He had traced the vague outline within the journal and found information that had been of great use to him.

The truth of the matter was that a couple generations back one of the daughters of the Slytherin line had been married off to a wealthy German wizard. When the woman delived a daughter as her first child the lord she was married to divorced her and took another wife who was able to give him a male heir. He was later able to have his eldest daughter married in a political alliance with High Wizard Kratson of Britian. The young witch gave birth to twin girls. Those children had been named Julia and Andriea. When they came of age and had been properly trained as witches they had married. Andriea had married Merlinous Malfoy while her sister married Silas Snape.

Andriea gave birth to Lucius first and Julia followed her two years later with Severus. The two families did not find out until the boys were well through their term at Hogwarts that their families were directly related by blood to the Slytherin line. By this time Voldemort was already well on his way to establishing himself as the powerhouse he would become in later years. He had approached the two families and informed himof their mutual lineage. He had then proposed that they join him. They had of course accepted but on the condition that their relation to the Slytherin line be kept a secret, even from their sons.

He had agreed to the alliance but had no intention of keeping the fact that both families were of Slytherin blood from Severus and Lucius. His first meeting with the boys had pleasantly surprised him. He had expected them both to be as arrogant as their fathers. This had not been the case.

Lucius had been every bit the pureblood he expected. He was wealthy and he knew it. He also carried himself with the dignity and respect that a Malfoy deserved. He was a brilliant and charismatic talker who had an impressive number of curses at his disposal which he was not afraid to use if a situation did not go his way.

Severus had surprised him much more. Severus was the exact opposite of Lucius in almost every area.The boy was in no way popular or charismatic and he was constantly tormented by others in his year. However the younger boy had proved himself academically time and time again. By the age of fifteen he had proven himself to be a better potions master than his father and he had a head for strategy that had astounded Voldemort. Voldemort had even been impressed with the boy's mastery of the dark arts. The boy had even hid his emotions well. The ability to hide his emotions had not stopped Voldemort from reading the boy's emotions like an open book. He had seen it fit to personally take Severus under his wing and teach him.

It was now painfully obvious that he had taught him too well. The revelation of Severus' betrayal stung deeply and the wound was made worse by the fact that he had trained Severus to hide such things.

The news that Harry Potter was the man's son was something that infuriated him even more. How dare Dumbledore mess with his family. He was sure that the man had no idea of Malachi's true heritage. In truth it was his fault that he had lost Severus to Dumbledore. It had been his decision to place Severus as a spy within Hogwarts. He should have realized that eventually Dumbledore would wisen up to the traitor in his midst and use Severus to his advantage. The man had only wanted Severus and he had used an innocent child to get what he wanted. Voldemort had seen too many instances where young children were used in sick games. He had seen too many children suffer needlessly and if even half of what Lucius described was true then he should have no trouble bringing Malachi to his side. All he would have to do was promise the boy the right to kill Dumbledore when the time came.

That death was an honor he had been reserving for himself but he knew that it would help to win the boy's loyalty better than any other promise he could make, if he even allowed the boy to live that was. Harry Potter had been a thorn in his side for years now and he was not sure that he was ready to allow his hatred of the boy die so easily. Killing the boy would be the perfect way to get back at Severus for betraying him but then he would completely loose Severus for good. The man was too goodof a potions master. He would have to listen to both Severus and his son before he made his final decision about their fate.

If he could win the boy's absolute loyalty then he would gain a powerful tool and deal an incredible blow to Dumbledore's meddling band of freedom fighters. He could widely publicize the 'killing' of the the boy who lived and he would deal an incredible blow to the whole wizarding world. The idea had definite merit but again he would make no decisions until he had spoken to both Snapes.

He knew that even if he killed Severus he had already lost his best spy within Dumbledore's Order. Despite his now obvious disloyalty Severus still brought him valid and valuable information.The amount of information wasn't anything like what the man had brought him before Ana's death but it had still been enough to help him plan strategies. He would have to be especially careful with Ginevra. If Dumbledore realized that a connection remained between them then he would be putting the young womanin grave danger. He had already lost Ana to him and he would not allow the same to happen to the young woman who he had come to care agreat deal about.

His original intent when he began assimilating with the youngest Weasley was to simply let her die as he took over her body and sapped her of her energy. He had quickly realized that wasting such a talented young pureblood would be pointless so he had allowed the girl access to his own thoughts. He had showed her what he had gone through as a child andhe had showed her what other muggle borns went through as well. Over time he had completely won her allegiance and she continued to give him any information that Dumbledore or one of the other adults dropped.

The girl was unable to give him the orders coordinates but she gave him considerable information since his return. He would have to check on her once he had calmed down somewhat. If he was not mistaken he had sensed some distress radiating off her earlier in the day. He assumed that it was related to the news of Potter's disappearance but it was worth checking out. If for nothing more then making sure that Dumbledore had done nothing to her.

Reviews, there are tons since I haven't updated in SOOOOOOOOO long, I apologize. Life is hectic. I'm back though and I should be back for good. I've got some new inspiration so we will see how it goes.

1mill123: I don't think I really described the relationship between Ginny and Voldemort the way I wanted to in the last chapter. Yes Harry did tear their souls apart but I didn't articulate that Tom was going to keep Ginny from dying. That was a bad on my part. I'll go into it deeper later on to make it all clear. Sorry about the confusion. You are right Voldemort and Dumbledore are cold and Harry will have trouble with that.

Vash2004: I have plans for Ginny, she'll find everything out. Don't worry just be patient.

Dawnay: I'm glad you still read my story even though you don't completely understand it. Thanks for reading.

hermoine21: Woo, slow down there a bit. Not everybody can go dark and not everyone is going to. Ron is definitly not going dark. I don't like Ron and I want him on the light side. I think he's too blind to see things any other way then he has been trained. Remus is on Harry's side, the twins might go dark I haven't decided yet. As for Hermione I haven't decided yet on her.

HecateDeMort: Excellent point about the potions classes. Let's officially change that and make that clear Harry might have a better talent with potions when the Slytherins aren't thwarting his efforts. We will just make that Slytherins in general and not any specific one. Thanks for the help.

FRED: I haven't decided yet if he's going to get the Potter's stuff. As of now, probably not. The story unfolds too fast for that. I'll see if I can find a way to do so but I'm not sure.

hpfananita: Yeah, I almost have too many plot lines right now but I'll work on getting them developed more in the coming weeks.

Raven: Yes I know my books. Read the story and my review notes. I've addressed this before.

Shinigami: Remus is looking out for his cub. He'll side with Harry. Neville will probably end up involved at one point, especially when Dumbledore needs a new pawn. We will have to see where things go.

Kaaera: I hate loosing fics! I'm glad you found me again and I hope you find me this time too.

Bukama Stealth: The wards were triggered by Harry living with his 'relatives' in the house. They thought he was their nephew and there presence was enough to anchor the wards. Plus there was never a direct ward on the house to see how strong those wards actually were. Voldemort doesn't want to see wizards harmed by muggles. He senses the fear and knows that wizards, no matter how powerful, are outnumbered. It's a survival instinct to defend when you are outnumbered. Ginny is who she is and who she is will develop as teh story devolops. I haven't decided on pairings.

Cows are my Friends: I love evil Dumbledore stories too. I agree that my Voldemort kills when he sees a need.

Coldfiredragon gives Unseen Watcher a hug. Thanks for reading. Yes, Dumbledore's plans are crashing down. The link between them is a good way for Voldemort to see where his loyalties are. Good call I might just use that.

Silver-Entrantress-Elf: See there was more. Sev's judgement will be next chappie. I promise on that one. It has been too long without some real action.

to be left outside alone: i'm going to stay away from the M-Preg. Sorry to disappoint. That child would be powerful though and if you have read any of my other fics you know I'm big on torture. Oh well we will have to see.

Mione5: Yes I know timeline issues, oh well, it works in my head. I'm not running on book cannon. Thanks for pointing it out though.

Hakkia - Gojyo - Goku - Sanzo: I haven't chosen pairings yet. Remus sides with Harry.

Queen Asinoe: I chose my name because my FAV book series is "The Coldfire Trilogy" by C.S. Friedman. Amazing series, way toooo short!

kzapjaze: Harry won't be going back to Hogwarts. He might have a talent for potions, at least a better grasp then he does now at least

Jaid Ziaen: I haven't made choices on pairings yet. She is very dark. Like I said I'm not giving things away yet. I agree with you I HATE, HATE, HATE, Ron and Dumbledore. The newest book was brilliant. I was so insanely happy with the ending. It was brilliant. Anyway enough of me ranting. A new chapter will be up soon. I have Dumbly's death planned though. It will be bad. Thanks for the good wishes in college.

To everyone who reviewed my author's note that was the originial chapter TEN, thanks for encouraging me to continue. I was really at a loss for a while about how I was going to continue this story. I finally decided to continue with my original plot and not make too many changes. I appreciated it.

To everyone else who encouraged me to write and who reviewed, thanks to you as well. There are way too many of you to thank individually but if you ever review and have questions or major issues I'll be sure to address them personally. Thanks to all and I'm sorry for my absence.