AN: I could give you my excuses, but I don't think you even care at this point, so have the new chapter instead.

Short recap: It's spring of Harry's second year, the diary has been discovered, examined by Alduin and his friends and destroyed, and Alduin now knows Riddle had seven Horcruxes. He knows about he one in Harry, and suspects Bellatrix might have been keeping another one.

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Alduin had been waiting for this moment ever since he woke up from the coma, or even before.

He had been dreading it equally long.

Risking his safety in the fight against Riddle was one thing, but this, this was a dangerous game of a different kind, and he was going against a murderer for wholly personal reasons.

And yet, he had to do it.

He told himself, as he had many times before, that if he didn't dare to do it then Lucius won, not just this but every other battle, forever, because Alduin would remain paralysed by fear.

He checked once more that everything was in place and Flooed to Malfoy Manor.

"Lucius," he said, after the butler elf showed him to the drawing room. "May I speak to you privately?"

"By all means. Let us go to my study."

"I've been meaning to do this for a while," Alduin said on the way, "but there was never enough time, so forgive me for taking so long."

"I'm sure it's no matter." He opened the door and they entered, sitting down, Lucius behind his desk. "Well?" He asked.

Alduin settled in comfortably in the chair in front of it. "I believe," he said, "that there is a matter that is not quite settled between us. I refer, of course, to your involvement in my parents' and grandparents' death."

Lucius sat completely still for a moment, his cold eyes boring into Alduin's. "You know, then," he said after a moment.

"Of course. I have always known. I have simply not found an opportunity to mention it...until now."

"What changed?"

"Oh, many things."

"Will you demand satisfaction, then?"

Alduin smirked. "I'm not stupid. I'm not half bad at duelling, but I'm well aware you're leagues better. Besides, I would not ask for satisfaction for my parents. You were both soldiers in a war. My grandparents and great-grandparents, on the other hand...well, that is a more complicated matter, is it not? But killing you, even if I managed it, would not bring them back. Their lives – the lives of my grandparents at the very least, since they are the ones you are directly responsible for – will simply forever be a debt you owe me and my family. You can add it to the tally. Draco, I believe, is doing much better socially than he used to."

"You did not do that as a favour to me," Lucius pointed out, doing his best to remain cool and aloof.

Alduin gave an elegant shrug. "No, but it benefited your family greatly nonetheless. But back to the matter at hand. Apart from the loss of life, there is one other damage to my family your actions led to. After the attack on me, there was no one left to represent us on the Wizengamot and in the post-war Ministry. While my family ties remain unbroken and I have close contact with many members of the first august body, giving me plenty of influence there, the second is rather worse. It is difficult to make up for nine years of lost social opportunities and political parties, especially as busy as I am. But then I got this brilliant idea, you see. You have so many contacts at the new Ministry! And given that it's your fault the Traverses had no chance to make these...would it not be nice if you compensated me by providing all the necessary introductions, and invitations?"

Lucius raised his eyebrows. "And you assume I am honourable enough to acknowledge my debt to you and do this?"

"Not quite. You see, last summer, I came across information that made he doubt your honour once and for all..." He frowned. "Endangering a school full of children, Lucius? Really?"

Lucius' face became even more stony. "What have you heard?"

"I have not heard anything. I got my hands on a very interesting diary, you see...I'm sure the general public would be very interested. So many people have children at Hogwarts...they would be so worried..."

Lucius was starting to lose his composure a little. "You cannot trace it back to me."

"Ah, and that is where you are wrong. Naturally, I will not tell you how exactly, but you are."

There was a long silence. "I assume," Lucius said then, slowly, "that, given that by your own admission I'm leagues better at duelling than you are, provisions have been made in case I chose to demonstrate said superiority here and now?"

"Oh, yes. Many and multifold. I'm not certain about your proficiency with memory charms, but I provided for that eventuality as well, and of course Imperius is so very easy to detect when you know what to look for...and many people do."

"What do you want?" Lucius asked directly.

"I told you. For you to...share your influence at the ministry."

"And will you use it to tear my family down?"

"Will I have to?" Alduin returned. "I would much rather cooperate, but of course, if it begins to seem you are working against me or turning the contacts you give me against me...well." Alduin frowned. "A full-out confrontation between us at this point would be very ugly, Lucius. For both of us. I do not believe it is quite worth it, but I will do it if forced."

Lucius sneered just a little. "So noble. Forgive me if I am somewhat doubtful of your willingness to cooperate when you came in here speaking of vendetta."

Alduin shook his head. "I didn't. I'm not sentimental. My emotional response to the death of my family, while very real, is a private matter and my problem. I need to deal with their deaths, since their cannot be changed. Their practical repercussions, on the other hand...well, they can. I wish to get as much out of you as I can, Lucius, and I can get much more if you are alive, and even more if you are alive and cooperating. Narcissa is Alexandra's cousin, and Draco is Harry's friend. Whatever my objections to you, I have no interest in destroying your family. My assistance to Draco should make that much clear. I want us to cooperate on an equal level, as we could have done – or my grandfather and you could have done – had you not harmed my family. That is the recompense I demand."

There was a long silence as Lucius considered. "Does that mean we would always need to politically agree?" He asked then, carefully.

"Certainly not. But political disagreements should not, I believe, lead to Dark objects being slipped into my children's things. There are ways to play this game and stay civilized, and that is what I require for this partnership."

"For only this partnership?"

Alduin hesitated, but he knew he could not push his luck too much. His power over Lucius was not infinite. He wished he could require good behaviour and no more murder attempts, but while Lucius would accept Alduin's demands concerning the well-being and prosperity of his own family as reasonable recompense for what he did, as soon as he started to ask Lucius to change his behaviour in general, he would be summarily refused and then forced to fulfil his threats, which would be extremely unfortunate. "Do what you want otherwise," he said with a heavy heart but stony face, "as long as it does not endanger me and mine. If you could avoid torturing children while doing so, it would be much appreciated, too," he couldn't quite resist adding.

Lucius raised his eyebrows. "What do you think of me?"

"After the diary incident? Many thing, quite honestly, and none of them quite flattering. Did you know the monster in the Chamber was a basilisk?"

Lucius flinched a little.

"I take it as a no, then. So easy to have accidents with a basilisk, is it not? The wrong student turns the corner and looks into its eyes...oh well. What a happy coincidence that nothing happened. So, what say you?"

There was a moment of silence. "I know it is before noon," Lucius said then, "but I believe that this is a deal we have to drink to."

Alduin gave him a cold smile. "While I am not opposed to the idea, you cannot actually believe that a drink will be enough for me here."

Lucius stared. "You cannot be serious."

"I am, perfectly so."

"You dare – in my own house -"

"I believe I have already made it clear that I have no faith in your honour."

"I will not do it."

"Suit yourself." Alduin rose to leave.

"Why would you even think I would?" Lucius asked.

"Well...there is that thing I can prove about you. I think you might be underestimating how displeased other Ancient families would be. Waging a war is one thing, but attacking children – their children – well...that will lose you the little support you have. They only give it because they fear you, and if they learn they have to fear you even as they support you...they might just realize it would be better for everyone if you were out of the picture."

"And do you not agree? Why not take that road directly?"

That was such a Gryffindor question that it, more than anything else, showed Alduin Lucius felt backed into a corner. He half expected him to add 'are you too much of a coward?' So he took his time with the answer, as if he was considering it. "Well," he said then, "Alexandra is Narcissa's cousin and Harry is Draco's friend, like I said, so that's part of it. Another is that, as I've already said too, you're more useful to me alive and with all your contacts intact. But I am not entirely opposed to that road, so if you say you are not amenable..."

"Not even vague threats are enough to put myself at your mercy! I won't give my life over to your hands!"

Alduin chucked at him, keenly aware that everything stood on knife's edge now. "Ah, but you already did, with your little misstep. And the Vow wouldn't be so bad, really. Look, I've prepared the terms in advance. We can negotiate, of course, but I won't budge on the major points."

He handed Lucius a piece of parchment which set out detailed conditions of an Unbreakeable Vow. He had spent hours with Alexandra poring over it. Every loophole was meant to be accounted for, without it becoming impossible to uphold. He could not forbid Lucius from thinking resentful thoughts, but he had to prevent him from acting on them in any way, while also not blocking him in the political arena entirely.

It had been a difficult task, and Lucius spent a long while examining the text before he said, rather reluctantly: "This is...more generous than I expected."

"I told you I was being practical about this. So, shall we call your wife to be our witness?"

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Alduin Flooed home, practically ran to his bedroom and shut himself in, leaning his back on the door and shaking uncontrollably.

It was over.

It was over, and he had survived.

Many things could still go wrong in future, of course, but still, this part, this most crucial and precarious part, was over.

He was ready to cry with relief.

He had considered so many times to give this up, to simply resign himself to never getting anything back from Lucius. Nothing can bring them back anyway, he'd told himself, so why even bother? What does any of it matter, if they're gone and my sanity and peace of mind with them? That would not return either, not ever, not in the way it had been before.

But then, of course, from another point of view, when the perspective changed, it was the only thing that mattered. Because the attack hadn't been personal, it hadn't happened because Rowan and Wynn and Edric and Samuela had been bad people, or even people who had crossed Lucius in any particular way. It had been an attack against the Traverses, as a whole, against the House, and so getting the House back on its feet and more, making it the most influential House of them all, was the only thing that mattered. The only possible way to get revenge of sorts, to make the attack moot and pointless. You might have killed them, Lucius, you might have hurt me, but you haven't succeeded in your actual goal, and more, you will now have to help me in achieving its precise opposite.

There was poetic justice in that, and when he concentrated on that aspect, he was almost gleeful about it.

But then there were all those times when he had concentrated on the danger, on the incredible risk he was taking. First, he told himself he could not do it, because there was no one to continue his house. Then he told himself he could not do it because he had a young son.

In the end, it had been Alexandra who pushed him to take action, reminding him that he had the perfect opportunity now and that the longer he waited the less relevant would his threat be.

And now it was over, and he was shaking with relief and delayed fear and all the other emotions he had pushed under his Occlumency shields to be able to get through this. It was over.

He stayed like that, leaning on the door, for at least an hour before he heard Alexandra knock from the other side.

"Alduin?" She called. "Are you all right? Did everything go according to plan?"

He took a deep breath and opened the door. "Yes," he said. "He bought it, and he swore it, with Narcissa witnessing it."

Alexandra sighed. "The next visit is going to be uncomfortable."

Alduin frowned. "Do you truly believe they would allude to it?"

"Oh, not the visit we make together – there might be some veiled allusions, yes, but nothing uncouth. Next time I go to call on Narcissa personally, though...she will have a few things to say, I am sure."

"You do not blame me, do you?"

She looked at him like he was silly. "I helped you plan this, Alduin. No, it was brilliant. But Narcissa is hardly thrilled, and she will, I think, try to chew me out for not warning her." She shrugged. "I have been her little cousin for so long, it might be a little difficult for her to realize that I, like her, am now a lady of a house, and that its interests have to take priority."

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AN: If you think I was too lazy to think of this exact wording for the Vow...you're right. I don't have the kind of time Alduin spent over it. Tens of hours, I imagine it being.