All or Nothing
Draco had taken the morning off and was sitting at breakfast with his wife Astoria and his parents Lucius and Narcissa. Since time immemorial, the men of the family were used to talk about politics and business on this occasion. The women thus always kept up to date so that they could take over if necessary, for example, if their husbands were arrested – which had happened occasionally – but rarely took part in these conversations. Today there could only be one topic:
"Scorpius sent me an owl yesterday," Draco said. "He asked me to help little Potter by helping his father."
"Good," Lucius replied. "Have you done anything yet?"
"I didn't even wait for the owl. When I heard yesterday that Potter had been arrested, I sent Honorius to his wife. He will defend him. The bill is on us."
"All right," Lucius said.
Indeed, the fact that Draco had promised a fee that exceeded the Minister's annual salary was nothing that would have interested anyone at this table.
"Thus we have done our duty," Lucius added, "and without any risk. If Potter wins, he is in our debt. If the mudblood wins, the fact we got someone a lawyer isn't something that can be used against us."
"If the mudblood wins, there won't be much left of the wizarding world," Draco replied gloomily.
He hadn't used the term "mudblood" for years – among the Malfoys only Lucius had used it at all. He was the one from whom Scorpius had picked it up. But since Hermione had banned the expression and put a taboo spell on it, Draco had taken up the habit again when referring to the Minister – out of spite, but also out of a certain annoyance at himself and his own opportunism with which he had conformed to her policy.
"You know, father, I have really tried to come to terms with her, but it just doesn't work anymore, I can no longer support her, and I don't see why I should!"
"That's understandable," his father conceded, "but anger must not tempt you to lose sight of the interests of our house. It may well be that the wizarding world is coming to an end – but that end will not be the end of the Malfoys! Well, you would have to change and establish relationships with the Muggle upper classes. Then you don't go dragon hunting but fox hunting, don't go to hippogriff races but horse races, don't buy Quidditch clubs but football clubs – all admittedly not particularly appetising, but not the end of the world, and Scorpius would certainly have fewer problems with it than you or I have."
"And marries a Muggle princess?" asked Draco, not amused. "That's what it amounts to, after all, when two upper classes are merged into one. In two or three generations, our descendants will be squibs at best."
"At best, yes," confirmed Lucius. "If the Mudblood wins, in two or three generations there will be hardly any real wizards left at all, and the few that are left will be a persecuted minority. Otherwise, there are only Muggles, even in our family. Only, some Muggles would be up and others down, and our descendants would still be up."
"Father, you cannot be in earnest!"
"I'm not saying it's desirable," the father soothed the son. "I'm just pointing out to you that we have options that we have to weigh. Is it worth taking the risk that inevitably comes with getting in the way of the Minister for Magic? Because one thing you need to be aware of, my son: Granger is playing with high stakes. If she does not succeed in bringing Potter to the scaffold, her career is over. And knowing that, she will consider and treat as an enemy anyone exposing himself for Potter."
"Since when do you shy away from risks, father?"
"That's what life experience taught me. I played my cards too high a few times."
In fact, Lucius had twice compromised himself with Voldemort's Death Eaters to such an extent that the family had to use all their influence and vast sums of bribes to save him from a life sentence in Azkaban. Nevertheless, he had blotted his copybook so that he had to hand the position of the head of the Malfoy family to his son Draco. However, as Lucius continued to control much of the family's vast fortune, Draco had no choice but continuing to consult him on important decisions, and over time they had grown into a well-oiled team.
"If we get Potter the best lawyer in the country but don't save him from the executioner, people will say we are no longer strong enough to protect our friends," Draco objected.
"This is also an important aspect," his father admitted. "But at least everyone knows that weactually did help him. The only question now is how far the help should go. You can leave it at funding Honorius and otherwise keep quiet. Or you do more, which is riskier. In this case, you have to go the whole hog! Annoying Granger without bringing her down would be the wrong thing to do. If you're going to annoy her, bring everything we have to bear, not just Honorius! Do all or do nothing, but nothing in between. You are the Head of the house, it's up to you to decide!"
He gave his son time to think while the house elves discreetly whisked the breakfast dishes from the table.
"In this manor there are the portraits of twenty-eight generations of Malfoys, all of them first-class wizards," Draco mused. "Should I tell Scorpius they were all stupid for defending the wizarding world instead of selling it for a chair at the table of the Muggle nobility? Should I tell him you're the last one, turn off the light?"
"Make a decision: All – or nothing?" Lucius insisted.
"All!" decided Draco.
When the family rose from the breakfast table, their ancestors offered Draco a standing ovation from their portraits.