Lucius barely heard the rest of what Mrs. Dolohov's was saying; he stared at her aghast, her words incomprehensible as though she were speaking Russian.

There were not many people Lucius Malfoy considered friends, Evan Rosier was one of the rare few. At Hogwarts Rosier was a prefect when Lucius was still a puny little first year, who defended him when he was caught sneaking food into the common room at midnight by Arthur Weasley - if Rosier didn't find him Weasley most certainly would have given him detention for weeks. What is more, Rosier was the Slytherin's Quidditch Captain who chose Lucius as Keeper at the start of second year. Together -Lucius liked to think- as a pair, Keeper and Chaser, they made sure Slytherin Team never lost a match - no Quaffle made its way past Lucius and a Quaffle in Rosier's hands always found its way into one of the goal hoops. When Lucius was seventeen, it was Rosier who approached him about becoming a Death Eater, and it was Rosier who led him on his first mission. when Lucius married Narcissa, Rosier became a frequent and welcomed visitor at Malfoy Manor. Not that many of this mattered anymore; now that Rosier will surely be exposed and subject to posthumous condemnation by the wizarding community Lucius must appear to have severed all ties with him and reduce their friendship to that of 'mere acquaintance whilst at Hogwarts.'

'Right. Right well we shall have to carry on without Rosier then, won't we?' Lucius heard Nott say.

'And exactly what are we doing here Nott?'

'Rosier was supposed to bring Nadezdha and Dimitri here from the safe house - which he succeeded in - and we were to search the house for any objects which might...incriminate Dolohov, or anyone else. Say, for example if he had a photo of you and Lestrange laughing whilst cursing a muggle.'

'Why in merlin's name would there be a pho-'

'I don't know Malfoy, it's called an example.'

'Well it is just unlikely I would do something so foolish,' Lucius muttered, nevertheless, he began to open and empty drawers onto the floor.

It was approaching dawn when Nott was finally satisfied that collected as many incriminating objects as possible, which now laid in a pile in the middle of the parlour, ranging from poisons to scraps of paper with dates and times of previous attacks written on them.

'Father, he isn't coming back is he? Mother says that everything will be alright and, and that we shall see him soon but - but we shan't, shall we?'

'Listen - your father he's safe and –'

Dimitri's dark round eyes regarded Lucius sceptically.

'You're lying. I heard mother talking about it - father is in prison is he not? And he won't see me every again!'

Lucius, quite honestly, had no clue what to do; he had no younger siblings to take care of and Draco was still young, not yet reached the age where he was troubled by problems unsolvable by a wave of a wand or a few galleons.

'Ah – well – yes, your father has been arrested and he will most likely go to Azkaban - but that's why we're here, to try to help him so he can get out as soon as possible - in a few years he'll be out.'

'Really? Will that be soon? I hope that I can see him again before I start at Durmstrang.'

'I – yes I am sure that your father will be there to wave you off to Durmstrang.'

Merlin help you Lucius! What are you doing promising the kid these things? You know fully well that death eaters do not get out. They rot in Azkaban.

Lucius awkwardly patted the boys head and headed back to rejoin Nott and Mrs. Dolohov, the boy's sad eyes somehow still appearing in front of his eyes. This could have been Draco, he thought, and it still could be,

'Malfoy! Get back over here!' Nott barked.

Lucius made his way back towards the study to see Nott holding a piece of paper, crumpling the part in his hand, his face contorted in a manner which emphasised his already deep wrinkles.

'What in Merlin's name is the matter?'

'The bastard...the fucking bastard...' growled Nott over and over as if chanting a curse.

Lucius, alarmed by the sudden change from Nott's usual impassive and nonchalant disposition, snatched the piece of paper out of his hand.

My dear Antonin,

You cannot begin to imagine how hard, how difficult it is for me right now - I've been hiding since the Dark Lord's fall - the Aurors are after me I know I'm sure – my home, it was ransacked just yesterday. Sometimes, especially now, I think that it was a terrible terrible mistake getting involved in this whole business - I regret allowing you to convince me all those years ago but I don't blame you, I don't blame you at all Antonin you have been one of my closest dearest friend for as long as I can remember which is why I must tell you this; I have absolutely no desire to rot in Azkaban for the rest of my sorry life - I am afraid that I will disappoint you most gravely with what I plan to do – but I promise, Antonin, I will try to keep you out of it. You see, this is my chance to start afresh - live a new life now that the Dark Lord is gone. I know how much this cause and the Dark Lord meant to you, but he's gone now, don't you see! It's over and the Ministry will catch us.

Your Dearest Friend, Igor

'That's how they knew where the Longbottoms were. And all this time we suspected it was Snape,' Nott said. 'Who knows what else that bastard told them,' Nott continued, 'anything to save his own skin.'

'This traitor, he betrayed dear Anton, he is the reason my Dimitri has no father! You know, I cooked for this man! I made him my grandmother's borscht and this, this is how he decides to repay us? Croesus, if you catch this man,' Mrs. Dolohov's mouth strained to say the word; to her, Karkaroff was clearly no longer deserving of this title, 'if you catch him, send Anton and my regards.'

This is how everything will end then, after all the careful steps Lucius took to ensure no evidence, however minimal, would link him to the Dark Lord, as always, someone else, someone foolish and careless ruined everything.

'Do you think the Aurors know already? Is it time to start making escape plans?' Lucius thought suddenly of his dear mother and father, blissfully ignorant in their château in Avignon and then of his wife and child; would he ever see them again? His poor precious son would be forced to grow up fatherless, and Lucius would miss his metamorphosis from boy to man - he wondered if Azkaban would allow regular visits, unlikely, although given his position within wizarding society and his close relationship with prominent Ministry members, he was confident an agreement could be reached.

'Malfoy. Malfoy, if the Aurors had any suspicion of your involvement with the Dark Lord you would already be in chains by now - so can you please for the sake of Merlin concentrate on our current task at hand? As I was just saying, we burn what we can, and the rest we take away. Incendio. '

A pile of paper, mainly letters promptly burst into flames, but Lucius knew, as he gazed at the dancing orange flames and the pieces of paper curling and blackening, that no matter how many things they burnt, Dolohov's sentence will not be reduced, partly because the Aurors have enough evidence already, and partly because they do not particularly care about evidence – under Crouch, they operated under the general guide of 'guilty until proven innocent'.

'Gentlemen, I thank you deeply for your help today. I am certain that Anton would be most grateful and glad that he has some loyal friend still,' Mrs Dolohov declared, standing up from the dark blue velvet armchair where she had been sitting watching the flames grow, and as she approached, Lucius saw that she was holding a bottle of what looked like Oblonsky's Vodka.

'I think a toast is in order tonight,' she continued, conjuring up three glasses, 'to the brave sacrifices made by so many for such a noble cause,' it was indeed vodka, the smell hitting Lucius strongly as she poured generously in each glass, 'to Antonin, who never surrendered what he truly believed in, and to Evan Rosier, who died helping my son and I. Let us never forget their noble sacrifices for the greater good.'

After their toast, Mrs. Dolohov said her farewells before leading her son away to their private rooms, where they will wait for the Aurors and act that they were absolutely shocked and had no idea that such a loving father and husband would be involved in such crimes.

'Well we better get going. The Aurors will be arriving soon. Lucius, you take that bag-' Nott indicated towards a large sack filled with oddly shaped objects - 'and I'll take this one.'

Lucius gazed at the sack of which he was now responsible for - filled with daggers decorated with jewels as well as hexes, mysterious boxes and bottles engraved in Cyrillic on which he was willing to bet the entire Malfoy estate were not Madame Petrova's Cleaning Products. Why he had to take them into his personal possession Lucius could not rationalise; apart from the practical benefits of having mortally harmful objects, even if the ministry could not find any link to the Dark Lord, the shear amount would surely, at best, raise a few eyebrows in the Ministry. But alas, now was not the right time to argue with Nott - in fact, it rarely was, come to think of it.

Croesus Nott was one of the first Death Eaters - in fact, in his days, the name 'Death Eater' was not even a name which was heard outside of The Dark Lord's circles. Nott soon changed that. Croesus Nott was a dangerous and rare mix of discretion and ruthlessness, creating horrific scenes garnering and planting seeds of widespread fear of the death eaters around the UK. For the past few years, since around the time Lucius formally took the mark, Nott has taken on a more consultatory role among the farms lords subjects. This is partly as a reward for his many years of unfailing loyalty and success and the fact that Nott, regarding extreme acts of violence, prefers a spectator role - he would rather leave the field work to those like the Lestranges, who are more inclined towards violence. No, Croesus Nott was friendly, but like Lucius, he enjoyed power, wielded either through violence or influence and Merlin did he wield it well.

'With respect, Nott, I -'

'Malfoy, you are too proud to show anyone respect - you're about to say something you think I won't want to hear, aren't you?'

'I personally do not think that taking bags of incriminating dark objects with us is, ah, the best course of action.'

Nott tilted his head and raised an eyebrow slightly, which Lucius took as a sign for him to elaborate.

'You know the Ministry have recently taken to conducting random and rigorous house searches – how do you think it will look when they stumble across two potato sacks of weapons and poisons? Besides, think of Theodore, would you feel safe knowing that he might come across something and injure himself by accident?'

Appeal to the emotions of the person you are trying to persuade, and children, in Lucius's experience, tugged strongly on emotional strings.

'Well, I don't know about you, but I don't intend to leave it lying around in Theodore's nursery,' Nott countered, the corner of his mouth twitching upward.

'Dolohov was brave, we all agree but –' Lucius sighed internally; honestly even this was going above and beyond what Dolohov deserved, the danger Lucius was putting himself into was immeasurable, and he certainly did not tell Dolohov to go and make meat confetti with the Prewett brothers, and yet, now he was the one cleaning up the mess. 'Nott, think of the risk we are putting ourselves into, do you know the kinds of charms being developed in the ministry right now? They have a spell, which can detect dark magic activity to the nearest yard!'

Nott stood still and regarded Lucius expressionlessly for a few moments, and Lucius began worrying that he had spoken out of turn, so when Nott suddenly reached his hand down, Lucius genuinely believed he was about to be hexed. Luckily, Nott was merely rummaging through one of the bags, until he found what he was looking for – a polished wooden box with the most curiously shaped silver carving on the lid.

'This was inspired by a Venus Fly Trap. You do know what they are, don't you Malfoy?'

Lucius nodded in the affirmative; who did not know about the infamous insect eating plant? They are curious things, almost an inversion of the natural order of things.

'Well then you know the principle behind this idea then. The curious victim's unknowingly reaches to grab this little flower to open the box, but before he can, it snaps shut on his hand, And then,' Nott paused for what Lucius assumed was dramatic effect, 'a remarkable potion is released onto his trapped hand, which burns and dissolves it.'

Lucius stared at the object in Nott's hand in stunned silence. He mentally raked his mind, trying to find something appropriate to say but all he could manage was opening and closing his mouth whilst furrowing his brows.

'Antonin's hobby was always botany – he designed this after his trip to America. The potion as well. You haven't seen him when he was busy in his office, so intent on working on a new idea of his that he would forget to eat for the whole day. Antonin was my friend and I don't intend to let his life's works become confiscated and locked away in a vault in the Ministry to collect dust, Malfoy.'

Lucius was surprised that Dolohov meant so much to Nott, rather, Lucius was surprised that Nott had the capacity to care for someone as much as this. Did Lucius care about anyone as much as this? Certainly, his family, but were there anyone else for whom he was willing to risk his own wellbeing, the way Nott was willing to for Dolohov? Suddenly, he felt a rush of shame, for planning to distance himself from the Rosiers after Evan's tragic death earlier that night; no, now was a time where Adeline needed support the most, and Lucius made a mental note to regularly call on the Rosiers from now – even if it does mean a few raised eyebrows and whispered implied accusations.

'Fine. I'll take some of this back with me.'

After saying their final farewells to Mrs. Dolohov, Nott and Lucius picked up the bags headed back towards the fireplace from where they arrived.

'Ravenscourt Hall.' Nott disappeared in a blaze of green fire.

'Malfoy Manor.'

Lucius was surprised to find that Narcissa was awake; her figure forming a shadow from the rising sun. Lucius quietly approached him wife and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

'Uncle Orion is not well, it's his heart - he suffered quite a large shock last night, because of the Sirius situation.' Narcissa practically hissed the last two words.

There was a long pause, in the hope that Narcissa would elaborate, Lucius stayed silent. but she did not. Lucius decided not to press the matter further - Cissa loved her uncle very much, she was someone capable of the strongest and deepest love but not as capable at expressing it.

'How was your night, Lucius?' Narcissa asked.

'Evan, he's dead, he was supposed to meet us at Dolohov's place but...the Aurors got to him first.' Lucius said, feeling immensely guilty for forcing Narcissa to comfort him during her hour of distress.

Narcissa placed her hand on top of Lucius's on her shoulder, drawing little circles on the back of his hand with her thumb. There they remained, watching the sun rise over the Malfoy grounds, both too exhausted to say another word.