Dinner turned out to be the most interesting and most atrocious thing Lucius had experienced as of late. When they got into the room they would be eating in Lucius found that a good many of Hogwarts's students had gathered there. According to one very helpful fourth year, there had been a gathering at Dean Thomas's home that day. At least twenty Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs-not all of them Muggleborn-had been there. Lucius found it interesting that the third member of Potter's famous little trio was not present. His parents must have the children hidden away somewhere being the active Order members he knew them to be.

There was no table in the 'dining room'. As it turned out Willow Point was owned and operated by a single person. Maddie. She was an eighty-six year old Sleeper with grey hair that stood straight up, a hunched back, and a walking stick that she used to hit people's ankles if they were annoying her or simply not getting out of her way. It was easy to miss her for she stood just over four feet. She was hard of hearing, half blind, and possessed a grand total of five teeth. Her wrinkled skin distorted the tattoo on her arm but Lucius would know it anywhere. She had once been a prisoner in Grindelwald's Muggleborn camps. He had paid enough attention to his History lessons to know exactly what that series of numbers and letters meant.

The tattoo also told him that she had been abroad. Grindelwald had never built a camp on British soil. She had either been held in Germany or Austria.

"Hey," Potter said, popping up beside him suddenly and startling Lucius out of his thoughts. He was holding a steaming bowl of beans in one hand and a slice of bread in another. "How's your room?"

"Fine," Fenrir answered when it become utterly clear that Lucius wasn't going to voice his opinion about their accommodations. He had been handed a plate of food a while ago and allowed to pick his own seat in the many chairs scattered about the room but he had only eaten a few bites. Maddie had clearly been able to cook in the past but he was starting to suspect that the pot of beans that was always present wasn't for sudden boarders who came hungry. It was simply the only meal that was edible. Lucius had personally never tasted cardboard but he suspected it tasted like this lasagna.

Potter had managed to find new clothes as well. He was in ill-fitting jeans, a plain blue shirt, and a hooded zipup that was an alarming shade of neon green. He couldn't see Granger. Maybe she had decided to escape the meal?

"How long will we be here again?" Lucius asked suddenly and Potter took a seat on the floor in front of them in order to eat his own meal.

"Just till tomorrow I suspect," he replied. "Hermione wanted to tear through the library."

"Why?" Fenrir asked.

"To try and figure out my dreams," Potter replied.

"Like in Divination?" Lucius asked. He had a hard time seeing Hermione Granger sitting in a smoke filled room, surrounded by crystals and worthless doodads, pouring over dream interpretation books.

Potter actually snorted in amusement.

"Not even close," he replied. "Hermione hates that stuff; says it's where the charlatans get their power. No, she's trying to find something about connecting minds inadvertently during Magical upheavals."

"Magical upheavals?" Fenrir asked. Potter nodded.

"Hermione thinks me and the big bad V had our minds linked and now whenever he's super cranky I see him in my head. When I sleep."

Lucius was put on edge by everything Potter had just divulged. He had known that Potter was feeling something through his scar and that that something was painful. He hadn't known that the boy was seeing through the Dark Lord's eyes in his sleep. Despite the general horror of such an implication, it was incredibly dangerous for everyone around Potter. If the Dark Lord discovered that connection he could easily reach through and possibly control Potter's thoughts, actions, and Magic. The Dark Lord had been dabbling in the mind arts for years and despite popular misconception there was such a thing as brain washing and mind control and it was infinitely more damaging than the Imperious Curse.

He suddenly didn't feel like eating anymore.

However, the enlightening yet horrifying conversation was quickly interrupted by the fourth year Lucius had talked to earlier.

"Hey Harry," he said sitting down next to Potter without so much as an invitation.

"Hello Colin," he replied. "Good holiday?"

"The trip to Italy was great," the kid replied. "I took loads of great pictures. I'll bring them to Hogwarts!"

Potter's eye twitched in annoyance but he smiled brightly anyway.

"Great," he said and Lucius was surprised at how sincere he sounded. Potter was a decent liar.

"It's too bad the Hunters came around though," Colin said. He looked genuinely disappointed but not at all scared or surprised about what had happened. Either he was used to it or he didn't fully understand the danger he'd been in. Lucius wondered how often Hunters found real Wizards and Witches. Surely it wasn't too often or they would have heard about it in the Wizarding World. Even Purebloods such as himself would have been interested enough to read about it in the Daily Prophet. A scandal like that-for it would be considered a scandal-would have made the front page. Why didn't the Muggleborns ever talk about it?

"Yeah," Potter said. "They caught up with us on the motorway. The car's completely totaled and they almost shot Hermione."

"We lost them in Dean's neighborhood," Colin said. "Most of us left on foot; the Purebloods left in a car though. They started panicking. Wanted to call the Aurors."

"They've been told to shut up?" Potter asked. Colin nodded.

"Why not just call the Aurors?" Lucius asked. Potter looked at him as if he was being particularly thick. He didn't get the look often-from anyone-so it was rather shocking to get it now.

"Because the Aurors will start fiddling with memories and when that becomes clear to other Hunters," Potter said but instead of finishing the thought he just shook his head.

"What?" Fenrir asked. "What would happen?"

"War," Colin replied.

"War?" Lucius asked, incredulous. "Between who?"

"The Muggles and the Wizards," Colin told him with a tone that quite plainly said that Lucius should have known that all along.

Lucius didn't know what to say to that. Was such a thing even possible? Was that why the Muggleborns eventually retreated to one world or the other? Because it was simply too risky to continuously hop the veil? There was another question buried in his confusion but it wasn't him that eventually asked it.

"What sort of damage could the Muggles possibly do?" Fenrir asked. Potter and Colin exchanged glances.

"You should do some research," Colin began.

"About nuclear weapons and spy drones," Potter continued.

"Not to mention biochemical warfare," finished Colin and the two left at the same time. Almost as if they'd given such advice before.

00000

Lucius was wandering the halls late that night trying to work out his nervous energy when he heard whispering. His natural Slytherin instincts kicked in and he sidled up to the corner and listened. He recognized those voices. Potter and Granger and someone else.

"Where will you go?" Potter was asking.

"Somewhere safe," the vaguely familiar voice replied. It was young, likely one of the classmates. "Dumbledore is going to visit the Finnegan's tomorrow and ask them to foster me for at least the rest of this summer. We'll see after that."

"I'm so sorry Dean," Granger replied. "I can't help but think this is partly our fault. If we hadn't been on our way to you-"

"It's not your fault Hermione," Dean interrupted and Lucius could suddenly put name to face. This was the boy that had greeted them when they'd first arrived. The boy they'd been going to see. "The Hunters that came to my house came separately from the ones who found you. If anything it was my location that gave yours away, not the other way around."

"Still," she persisted. "I truly am sorry."

"Thank you."

"When will you see your family again?" Potter asked.

"Hopefully soon," he said. "I should be able to write to them if everyone's careful. But you know how the Hunters are. I'll likely never see them again."

Lucius was shocked. This boy couldn't be more than fifteen and he was talking about leaving behind everything as if it wasn't a hard thing to do. His voice was steady, he gave no indication that he was feeling anything. But Lucius also couldn't see his face.

"Stay strong Dean," Potter said and Lucius heard the sound of a hand clapping a shoulder. "We'll figure this out. One House."

"One People," the other two replied immediately. Lucius didn't hear anymore. He couldn't find the strength to listen to it anymore. These teenagers were Draco's age. What would Draco be feeling if he suddenly had to leave the Wizarding World, likely never to return? He couldn't imagine. He couldn't imagine what he would have been like if he'd been going through all of this at fifteen either. He wasn't strong, not like that. Lucius suspected he wouldn't be able to follow Potter's advice in staying strong.

00000

Potter was wearing his garishly colored Hawaiian shirt again. It was half unbuttoned and under the lime green jacket and Lucius couldn't help but cringe. The well bred Pureblood in him wanted nothing more than to burn the offending garments and force the ragged hairball into something befitting his status as 'the hero of the Wizarding World'.

He settled for a twitching eyebrow.

Lucius didn't dare broach the subject of what he'd overheard the night before with Fenrir. The werewolf wouldn't have many sympathies for Lucius's confusion on the matter. In fact, the Alpha would more than likely extend an offer to bite the poor boy and induct him into the pack. And Fenrir rarely took 'no' for an answer. The Death Eater eyed the boy he knew to be Dean cautiously that morning as the four them stood in the foyer and accepted goodbyes.

They were leaving earlier than expected. Granger was apparently done with her search of the library.

The now homeless Gryffindor stood with several other students, wishing Potter luck on their upcoming travels. There wasn't a hint of a tear but in his eyes Lucius saw a soul sucking sadness he'd seen many times when he informed a woman of their newly held widowed status. He was grieving. Deeply. But he was staying true to his House. He wouldn't cry until he was alone at night. If only Purebloods could be that formidable in the face of devastating loss they might have won the war. Despite popular belief, it wasn't Potter's survival of the Dark Lord that defeated the Dark army. They were already pretty much defeated which was why the Dark Lord had started to put an obsessive amount of attention on the prophecy. And because he'd met a nearly fatal defeat that night he was more obsessed with it than ever.

Lucius was still holding the opinion that it was all a bunch of complete bullshit and the only reason the Dark Lord lost his body that night was because he underestimated the power of a Muggleborn. Much like Purebloods often did.

"Ready?" Granger asked, sounding far too chipper for Lucius's tired mind. He hadn't slept at all. His thoughts had been firmly stuck on the children he was currently surrounded by and the child he'd left at home. The one he was sacrificing his closely guarded legacy for.

"Yes," Fenrir said and Lucius nodded just as Potter joined them with a large rucksack slung over one shoulder. Reyna and Maddie had managed to scrap up some clothes, money, and food for them. It wasn't much but Lucius knew it was all they could spare and he was struck by their kindness. He didn't deserve it-not from them and he was starting to regret ever agreeing to come to this place. He was starting to regret ever allowing Fenrir to talk to him into this defection. More than anything, he wanted the world to right itself again and quit hitting him with blows of reality. He didn't much care for this reality where these Muggleborns might be worth knowing and the Muggles were a legitimate threat to the safety of their world.

The four of them left Willow Point and began walking along the unused road. Lucius didn't know where they were going but he was glad to be putting Willow Point and its Sleepers, whispering walls, and meals of beans and bread behind.

00000

They were arguing again.

He didn't know about what and he was too tired to participate. Even to tell them to shut up.

"It was an honest concern Harry!" Granger was saying when Lucius tuned back into their conversation. Apparently they were arguing over a broomstick Potter had received in his third year. A gift from his godfather. He had no idea how the subject had even come up. "For all anybody knew, Sirius was a coldhearted murderer."

"So you tattled on me?"

"I had to!" she defended. "You would have jumped on that thing without a single test!"

"The test flight was the test!

"The test flight could have killed you!"

"There were no bad spells," Potter defended. "The test flight would have proven it."

"That's the stupidest logic I've ever heard."

"Logic of any kind isn't stupid Hermione. Logic is logic."

"You should have been a Slytherin."

"The Sorting Hat tried," Potter said. That perked Lucius's previously unattainable interest. Potter a Slytherin? He knew the boy to be sneaky but politic, sly, cunning? No.

"Then why weren't you sorted to Slytherin?" Fenrir asked curiously breaking into their conversation.

"Have you seen the view from Gryffindor Tower?"

Lucius couldn't tell if he was joking or not but knowing what he did about Potter the boy could have easily been swayed by the location of the respective dormitories before their quality.

"No," Fenrir answered honestly. "I have never been inside Hogwarts."

"How'd you get your wand?" Potter asked.

"The Knack off Knockturn Alley," Granger answered immediately and everyone turned to look at her. Potter looked as if he wanted her to elaborate. But Lucius and Fenrir were both looking at her for a very different reason. As a Gryffindor, a Muggleborn, and a friend to Albus Dumbledore there was absolutely no reason for her to know where to get an illegal wand. Not at this age at least. Not even Draco knew where to get an unregistered or smuggled wand. How did she?

"What?" she asked knowing by their faces that she had probably said something she shouldn't have.

"How do you know where to buy an illegal wand?" Lucius asked. Every other word out of these kids was a surprise. It was rather exhausting.

"I have eyes," she responded very defensively.

"And I have four eyes," Potter told her, "but I don't know where to buy an illegal wand."

"You could have eight eyes not know where to find the broadside of a barn," Granger threw back.

The two of them descended into an argument about each other's faults. Lucius noted that it was nothing too personal and it was nothing that one couldn't catch after the most passing acquaintances such as his own. He had known for years that Granger was a know-it-all and that Potter perpetually stuck his nose in other people's business. He didn't need their bickering to figure that out.

Nonetheless, he listened as they walked and by noon he was approaching exhaustion-mentally and physically.

"Are we going to walk to Papa Odie's?" Fenrir asked. Lucius had been wondering the same thing but didn't have the energy necessary to attempt to pry an answer out of Potter.

"No," Granger replied. "We're walking to the train station. We should be there by five and the train will leave about nine and we'll be there in the morning."

"An overnight train?" Fenrir asked and for some unsightly reason he sounded excited.

"Yes," Granger told sounding just as excited. "Maddie knows the owner of the train company and he keeps a compartment reserved just for Muggleborns going to see Papa Odie. We get to ride for free."

"Where are we going?" Lucius asked. "You never did tell us."

"You didn't need to know," Potter replied cryptically and Lucius had to reign in his sudden urge to punch the brat in the face. That would have been very unlike a gentleman and as the Malfoy patriarch he was expected to be a gentleman even in captivity, even amongst the lower ilk. Although, the more time Lucius spent outside of his own circles the more he began to feel as if there was more to the Wizarding culture that parlor talks and evening balls hadn't allowed him to see.

"Why would Muggleborns see Papa Odie?" he asked changing tactics and hoping to gain a little more insight into who they were about to see.

"Papa Odie's a god."

It was said so blatantly and so confidently that Lucius was shocked into thinking it was true. He didn't dismiss it immediately as Potter playing a joke due to the fact that the boy gave none of his usual smirks, winks, or giggles.

"What?" Fenrir finally said voicing both of their thoughts. "Are you insane?"

As a Pureblood, Lucius was inclined to believe in the supernatural that existed in the other realms. He had grown up with stories and rituals concerning the Gods. In fact, his mother had been a devout worshiper of Sulis. Many Dark families were. Lucius himself had no patience or time for such things as religion. He was far too busy with duties in the mortal world to worry about something such as that. He didn't much care for what would happen to him after death. It was his legacy he was truly concerned about.

"Only sometimes," Potter said cutting into the Pureblood's thoughts.

"Papa Odie isn't a god," Granger said. "He's a wizard. Kind of."

"Kind of?" Fenrir pressed. "What do you mean kind of?"

"Papa Odie isn't a wizard like us," Granger told them. "He practices the Old Magics. You know, those rituals and ancient spells that people haven't seen since hundreds of years before Hogwarts was even a thought. He's that kind of wizard."

"How would he even know such things?" Lucius asked, mind whirling. If he practiced Magic as old as Granger said he would have to be a member of an ancient family. A family older than even the Slytherin line the Dark Lord hailed from. He called on his knowledge of the Pureblood families. Which ones were old enough and unbroken enough to still have such knowledge? He couldn't think of anyone.

"Well I think he created most of it," Potter said.

"Excuse me?" Lucius asked, once more confused.

"You didn't think the Dark Lord was the only one to hold the curse of immortality did you?" Granger asked, a knowing smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye that Lucius had come to recognize as her way of letting them know that she knew something they didn't and was happy about it.

"He's immortal?" Fenrir asked, his eyes bugging comically. Lucius couldn't tell if it was because he hadn't known that the Dark Lord really was immortal (most thought it a rumor) or because he was surprised that Papa Odie was immortal.

"Yeah," Potter replied. "He won't let you forget it either."

Granger rolled her eyes.

"How do the two of you know him?"

"Oh!" Granger said, excited to tell them everything she knew. Lucius-for once-was interested to hear it. "Every Muggleborn takes the journey to Papa Odie before they reach adulthood. It's a very special rite of passage for those of us with wands. He does a ritual that blesses the wand and protects it from evil spirits and creatures. It's supposed to give us the strength to withstand a lifetime of Magic and war."

"All Muggleborns take the journey?" Fenrir confirmed and the girl nodded.

"Yes," she said. "Every year a seventh year Muggleborn personally pulls aside each Muggleborn first year to teach them about their people. The battles, the struggles, and the traditions. It takes about a month to get started and after that each person decides their own level of involvement. Some like to become fully centered in the community and others prefer to have nothing to do with it."

"So not every Muggleborn takes the journey?" Lucius asked.

"Oh, no, I guess not."

"Most do though," Potter replied. "And a fair amount of halfbloods as well. At least those primarily raised by a Muggleborn parent."

"You've taken the journey?" Fenrir asked. Potter nodded.

"I was approached by Hermione," he said. "In second year, just after the Chamber of Secrets was opened. A lot of Muggleborns relied primarily on each other for support and they pretty much closed ranks. She wanted me to know why."

"I'm being groomed," she spoke up somewhat randomly.

"For what?" Lucius asked.

"Leadership," she replied. "The Muggleborns are very loosely organized. Between the Sleepers and the trained it's very difficult to get people focused on achieving one goal with a universal method."

"Universal method?" Fenrir asked and Potter snorted.

"Hermione's little group believes in non-violence," he said. He had yet to truly look at them. Instead, he was leading the three of them on their walk along the road. They had finally reached a road that was both usable and used, though not busy.

"There's no need to kill Purebloods to get our full rights Harry," she responded coolly. "That's wrong."

"I didn't say it was right," he said but Lucius could tell he was sitting somewhere in between choosing whether violent methods were right or wrong. He knew that inner struggle well.

"Back to Papa Odie," Fenrir interrupted sensing a debate they probably didn't want to have on the side of a Muggle roadway. "What's his story?"

"Papa Odie was born a Muggle," Potter told them and by the sudden life in his tone Lucius could tell that this subject was much less stressful for him. "He was born a long time ago, nearly five hundred years before Hogwarts was built."

Lucius's mind staggered. If that was true-which he truly did doubt it was-that meant Papa Odie was probably close to two thousand years old. To think he used to believe that twenty-five was ancient.

"They say he went mad after a terrible battle in ancient Scotland," Granger continued. "I think that part is pretty much true but Dumbledore insists he's just eccentric."

"Dumbledore knows him well?" Lucius inquired remembering the old man's brief mention of the mysterious figure at Willow Point.

"I would say so," Potter said. "Professor Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald were both Papa Odie's students at one point. But that was a long time ago, back when Papa Odie ran Willow Point."

"If Odie was born a Muggle," Fenrir went on, insisting they focus, "how is he doing Magic now? How is he immortal?"

"After the battle I told you about," Granger replied, "Papa Odie ran into the woods and became lost. There he met a woods god and was granted some of the power of the Earth. Or so the legend goes. He won't talk about it anymore."

"Papa Odie was the first Muggleborn of Britain," Potter said and once again Lucius felt his mind boggle. He'd heard legends of Magic and their beginnings in Britannia but never a story such as this. "All the wizards before him had brought Magic with them from Mesopotamia. They were the country's original Purebloods."

"Meso-what?" Fenrir asked stumbling over the new word. Lucius didn't know what it meant either.

"The first civilization," Granger said quietly, her mind elsewhere.

"Anyway, he created a lot of the old spells, rituals and potions unique to our country. He also has the ability to tell the future. He prophesized his own death and instead of running from it or trying to prevent it he ran headlong to it. They say Death was so impressed he refused to take him. Considered him a man worthy of the gift of eternal life. Not that Papa Odie was ever grateful for it though. He keeps saying how excited he is to die."

"He's sounds interesting," Fenrir said politely. Lucius didn't have a response.

"What's his real name?" he asked after several minutes of silent walking.

"What?" Granger asked.

"Papa Odie," Lucius clarified. "What is his true name?" There was no way that a man older than Hogwarts itself had been born with the name of Papa Odie. That was preposterous and there was something about the story Potter had just told him that tickled at a memory in Lucius's head. He'd heard part of this story before. Or overheard it. In Hogwarts.

He recalled it now.

He'd been thirteen and sneaking back to the dormitory after a snack in the kitchen when he'd walked by an abandoned classroom and overheard several other students speaking in whispers about an old legend. They must have been Muggleborns.

"He's so old," Granger said. "History and legend calls him a lot of different things."

"Like what?" Fenrir asked.

"Lailoken and Myrddin Wyllt are a two of the more well known names from ancient literature," Granger said.

"But the Purebloods know him very well by a different name," Potter interjected and even though Lucius could only see the back of the boy's head he could easily tell that Potter was about to enjoy revealing something that they probably should have known all along. Every Muggleborn in the country seemed to, not to mention a good sprinkling of half-bloods and even Dumbledore himself.

"What name?" Lucius asked, unembarrassed by the evident hesitation in his voice. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Potter finally stopped and turned to face them fully. Everyone else stopped too and Lucius didn't even need to look at Fenrir to know that the werewolf was anxious to find out what Potter was about to say.

"Merlin, of course."