A/N: Hey all! I've finally got the new chapter of Raising Harry up here! I had major writer's block with this chapter, since it was Lucius Malfoy and the basic set up of the school. But it's written, and it's the longest chapter so far - over 3,000 words! I realized, after updating a different story, that I usually write really long chapters for every story other than this one. I figured I'd go up to around 2,000 words. Then Lucius decided to just...write himself? I'm not sure what happened with him.

Thanks to everyone who commented on who should attend the school! Your input was very valuable. For everyone who wanted to see some Muggleborn children - check out the chapter! Special thanks to Jedilogray who gave the idea of guest teachers - you'll see what I mean!

Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed! I know I wasn't great about responding to reviews right away for the last chapter, but I will try my best to do better this time!

Enjoy!


Sirius hesitantly knocked on the door to Lucius Malfoy's study. At the call to enter, he pushed open the door and took a tentative step into the room. "I'm not going to hex you, Black," came Lucius's irritable voice from within the study. "Narcissa would never forgive me."

"So it has nothing to do with not wanting to hurt me?" Sirius took a seat in front of the desk and set the folder Remus had brought home the night before in front of him. "Anyway. We're here to discuss a school?"

"Yes, my wife mentioned it." Lucius drew his own folder with the same contents out of a desk drawer. "I studied the proposals that the werewolf - "

"Don't call him that."

Lucius smoothly raised a single blonde eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"The 'werewolf', as you call him, is my sole surviving friend and loyal to a fault. He's just as human as you and I, if not more." Sirius gave the blond an angry glare. "He has a name. Use it."

"Of course." Inclining his head slightly, Lucius began to flip through the papers on his desk. "You are correct."

Sirius had to make a conscious effort to keep his mouth closed. Once he'd recovered from the shock, he sputtered out, "Y-you agree with me?"

The other man looked up from the list he was reading. "Certainly. Remus Lupin has done no harm to me, nor to anyone else. I was wrong to not treat him with the respect I would anyone else. May we get on with things?"

"Er, yeah. Sure." He shook his head once to clear it, much like a waterlogged dog, and looked down at the papers before him. "So, first order of business: location."

"I believe we should first determine who our target audience is," Lucius suggested. "Once we know who we are catering to, it will be easier to determine what facilities we require."

"All right." Sirius selected a different page and set it on top of his pile. "I figured we'd go until the year before Hogwarts, right? No one would send their children to us after that."

"True. However, I believe that is something to keep in mind for the future. I know that there are several Pureblood families that would prefer to keep their children closer to home," Lucius replied. "Narcissa and I amongst them."

The dog animagus raised an eyebrow. "Why? If you don't mind my asking. I know my parents insisted I go, and so did James Potter's." For once, he was interested in the Pureblood politics Lucius was talking about. He'd always believed that Purebloods wanted their children in Hogwarts. The idea of the Hogwarts Houses always seemed to be important to the families. His mother had had a fit and nearly disowned him when he'd been put in Gryffindor.

Lucius raised an eyebrow right back at him. "What parent in their right mind would want to send their eleven-year-old child to a boarding school where there is no discipline? I hesitate to bring up the past, as Narcissa has informed me that it was not entirely your fault, but you and James Potter were allowed to bully Severus for six years with little to no punishment. It was only the interference of Lily Evans that stopped your pranks. I would never wish to send Draco into such an environment, where he will be bullied because he is Slytherin."

"Already know he's going to be a snake, do you?" Sirius quipped, without his usual sneer that came out when talking about the Slytherins. "I apologized to Severus. There must have been some negative emotion I felt towards him, because Remus told me that the potion acts on emotions. But I would never have done that. I...I hated how my mother treated me. I would never have bullied another student like that."

"Good. Because Severus is like a brother to me, and I will not have you making him miserable," Lucius answered. His silver gaze promised that he would do all he could to prevent Sirius from bullying the other man again. "But back to the matter at hand: I doubt that the parents of Muggleborns or half-bloods are thrilled with the need to send children so far from home at so young an age, especially to a school that caters to magic. For the Pureblood parents, I know that many would prefer to have the ability to teach their children Pureblood culture as well as any family magics."

"You don't really believe in the whole 'family magic' idea, do you?" Sirius wrinkled his nose slightly before he realized what he was doing and stopped. His mother had told him about family magic when he was younger, before he'd begun to rebel against the family and all it stood for. Once he'd been sorted into Gryffindor, she refused to teach him anything at all. His father had been unable to do anything to change his mother's mind, and agreed with her, to some extent. Much of the Black magic was considered Dark, and since Gryffindor was primarily made up of Light witches and wizards, Orion Black had chosen not to risk the family magic being made public or worse, illegal. Privately, Sirius doubted that family magic was anything more than a myth and possibly extra training. As a teenager, he hadn't cared that he wasn't taught the magic that, in his opinion, didn't exist.

"You do not?" The blond shook his head and pulled open a drawer. From within, he drew out a light gray book embossed with the Malfoy crest, resplendent with its twin dragons on either side of the letter 'M'. "This is the Malfoy book of family magic. The Malfoys have always been known for their alchemy, much like the Princes have been known for their gifted Potions Masters."

Sirius's gaze sharpened. "Severus."

"Indeed." Lucius looked at the book for a minute more before replacing it in the drawer. "The Blacks are the fighters. You mentioned earlier that Mr. Lupin said that the spell acted on emotions you must have already felt. Your career as an Auror may have stemmed from your inner family magic."

"Huh. That makes...quite a bit of sense."

"I would not say something if it did not make sense. However, we are moving from what we came here to discuss." Taking up a quill, he tapped the sharp end against the parchment. "What is the minimum age we are going to take into this school?"

"Er...I have no idea." Sirius spread his hands. "How young should we go? Muggle schools start around three or four years of age."

Lucius made a note on his parchment. "Four is more likely to be supported by Pureblood families. It allows them to begin teaching their children the values they hold most important, and the children will be old enough to know how to behave in public. It is also soon enough in the children's lives that they will be open to new knowledge."

"That sounds right. We can go with that." Sirius hastily scribbled on his own parchment. He knew Remus would want to know everything about the meeting when he got back. "So, from ages four to around ten, eleven?"

"Yes."

Sirius absentmindedly rubbed his cheek with the feathery end of the quill. "I think we should set the cutoff the same as Hogwarts: students have to be four by September 1st, when we start the school year."

"I agree, but why do you wish to do so?" Lucius asked curiously.

"Simple. As of now, we're planning to have the school filter directly into Hogwarts, Durmstrang, or any other magical boarding school. They all have the same cutoff. Part of the point, to my mind, is for the students to meet new people. If they make friends, shouldn't we try to keep them together?" He dipped the quill into the blue ink at his elbow and added that point to his parchment. "At least, that makes sense to me. Otherwise we'll wind up splitting them up later on. It – why are you looking at me like that?"

The expression of surprise on Lucius's face was what had made Sirius pause. The Pureblood's ice mask rarely dropped even a fraction of an inch, but now it was completely shattered. "You...are much more astute than I thought. I had not thought of that aspect of the education. The children could be making lifelong friends and allies at this school."

"I was thinking more along the lines of friends than allies, but anyway." Sirius gave himself a mental shake before continuing, "Now that we have an age range, let's discuss location. This is what Remus and Narcissa had in mind."

Lucius accepted the photograph from the Gryffindor. "The Malfoy Ranch house? Why would they choose that one?"

"Remus said that it's easy to navigate and there's a lot of land for the children to play on. There's room for several small Quidditch pitches, the perfect size for children, as well as a playground for the children who are too young for Quidditch or don't want to play," Sirius explained.

"I agree on all points. I see why it would be easy to navigate. With everything on one floor, there is less of a chance for younger children to get lost by accident," Lucius said absently, now looking at the corresponding parchment with more data on the property. "However, I'd like to make some modifications to the property before we open it as a school."

"Meaning? And since when is it 'we'?"

Lucius lifted his silver gaze from the parchment and met Sirius's eyes. "I'd like to put in a covered walkway, so that the children can go from room to room without getting soaked if it is raining, since I presume that we will need to take out the doors leading from room to room. As for why 'we', well, I am your financial backer. I expect some input in the school."

"Oh." He took a minute to think it over before deciding that there was some truth to the blond's words. "Fine. But there is to be nothing overly Dark in the school. I won't turn it into a Pureblood-only snobbery school. Half-bloods will be allowed in the school, as well as Muggleborns."

"Do you not listen to what others tell you? The Wizarding community needs Dark magic just as much as it does Light and Gray magics," Lucius answered. Sirius could hear a slight undercurrent of anger to his words. "We need everything to survive. Yes, I will fight for Dark magic in the curriculum."

Sirius raised both hands, realizing that there had been a mistake. "I apologize. I'm used to using Dark and evil interchangeably. What I meant was that we will not be teaching magic that you may have done under Voldemort's reign of terror. The children will learn all of the old rituals, such as the magic connection by a wedding or the true version of the Fidelius Charm."

Lucius jumped up from his seat, slamming both palms on the desk. Sirius had never seen him this angry. "Of course we will not teach the children such magic! What the Dark Lord did was sick. I never want Draco to know any of the spells I have done other than as a list of forbidden spells. That will not be taught in the school under any circumstances. I would never allow it, much less suggest it."

"Of course not. I'm sorry I brought it up," Sirius said in an attempt to get the other man to calm down. "What else do you want a say in?"

His attempt worked, and Lucius deflated, sitting back down in his chair. "The teachers. Narcissa told me that she gave Mr. Lupin a list of people she feels would be a good fit. However, I know that you will not be able to convince all of them to sign up to teach, and you will need to find other teachers. I would like some input as to who you hire to teach each subject."

"Sure. I..." Sirius tried to find the words for what he wanted to say. "I hope you don't mind if I put it like this, but I would like your input simply to ensure that none of our teachers are former Death Eaters. I know, you were forced into it, and I'm sure there are others who were as well. But I want you to tell Severus and Remus when that's the case, or when the person we're looking into was a strong supporter of Voldemort."

"I do not mind. That is precisely where I would like to help." Lucius made a note on his parchment before continuing, "Now. Subjects."

Sirius pulled out a piece of parchment. "This is what Narcissa and Remus came up with during their meeting yesterday."

"I see." Locating his own copy of the list, Lucius scanned it carefully. "This will not work."

"What do you mean?"

Lucius began making marks beside each subject as he said the name. "Healing, Astronomy, Divination, Alchemy, Ancient Runes, and a number of others on here are either not feasible in a school for children or will not have enough students interested to warrant its own class. I understand that this is nowhere near a final decision, but I must admit that I do not know what my wife or your friend was thinking."

"I think they were using the Hogwarts curriculum as a guide. We're not doing an Astronomy class; that won't work at all. I don't think there is a single parent who would be willing to bring their child to school after dark once a week for a few years," Sirius agreed. "And yes, I can't see having too much of an interest in Healing or Alchemy. These kids are pretty young. But I do think it would be a good idea to expose them to these concepts while they're young. Hogwarts has very little guidance for what to do after school. At least, for the Gryffindors. We just met with Professor McGonagall in fifth year."

"Professor Slughorn spoke to several students at length, but most were given a cursory meeting." Lucius thought for a moment before continuing, "We can set aside one class a week for the oldest year for these classes. Depending on the subject, we can either give a single lecture that gives a brief introduction to the topic, or a series of lectures. For example, I do not think we will be able to give many lectures on Healing. The students are too young to perform the spells on humans. An introduction to the area will suffice. On the other hand, Alchemy could be a subject more students are interested in, and we can give them a few weeks of lectures as well as a few weeks of practical work."

Sirius felt a grin spread across his face. "I like that. I like that a lot. I wish we had had that when we were in Hogwarts. It would have given more students a look at the different fields they could make a career in. For the Purebloods, and maybe some of the half-bloods, it wouldn't have made as much of a difference, but the Muggleborns don't know enough about the Wizarding World."

"We will first need to determine how to find Muggleborn students." Dipping his quill into the inkpot on his desk, Lucius wrote a note to that effect on his parchment. "As it stands, when a Muggleborn child does his or her first piece of accidental magic, the registry of magical children that is held by the International Confederation of Wizards is updated with the name, birthdate, and location of the child. Each of the schools has its own smaller version of this that is updated based on specific criteria. For example, the Hogwarts book adds a name when the child is located in Western Europe, or if either of the child's parents attended Hogwarts in the past."

"That makes sense. Do you know of any way we can get access to the book?" Sirius asked. "Or maybe we can create our own book to update from the ICW's."

Lucius nodded. "I can find out. There should not be a problem with that. I know several wizards who are part of the ICW, and I am sure they will think this idea just as wise as I do. However, we may have a problem with Muggleborn students."

"Why?"

"They may not be up to par with our Wizarding students." Holding up a hand to forestall any premature protests, Lucius continued, "We will know about the Pureblood and half-blood students from a very young age. Their parents will know about the school and can enroll them easily. However, the Muggleborn students will only be offered admission to the school once they have shown signs of magic."

Sirius nodded, not seeing where he was going with this. "Yes..."

Lucius made an impatient noise. "Really, Black, can you not see the problem? All the Wizarding students will begin their schooling at age four. Muggleborn students will begin their schooling either at age four, or whenever their magic shows itself."

"Ah." Now he saw what the problem was. "If a child's magic doesn't show until they're six or seven..."

"They will be several years behind the other students academically," Lucius finished. "We need a plan for what to do in such a case."

"I think that'll depend on how old the students are." Sirius tapped his chin with his quill. "For younger students, we can arrange for tutors either during class time or after school. For older students, we can look into peer to peer mentoring; another student, one who has been part of the school for a long period of time, can help the new student get used to the school. Maybe a half-blood, who will at least have some idea of the Muggleborn's background."

"That is a good point." The other man quickly added it to his growing list of notes. "I believe that this is a good enough list for me to get started with. I will have one of my men put together plans for my modifications to the existing building and send it over to you."

"I'll check with Severus on what we discussed, see if he has any other suggestions." Sirius got to his feet as Lucius did the same across the desk. "This was...better than I thought it would be."

"Yes." The blond reached over and shook his hand. "This was a more productive meeting than I had expected."

"I guess we'll meet again when there is more to discuss?"

Lucius paused for a moment. "I believe we should make this a regular occurrence. Shall we meet every Monday, time to be determined?"

"That sounds good." Gathering his belongings, Sirius headed towards the door. "See you next Monday, then."

"Good afternoon," Lucius replied, going back to his desk. He had quite a bit of work to do now.