Lucius was hiding out in a cave in France as near to where he could figure the Malfoy villa was as he could get. The cave was tiny, deep, and dark and barely afforded him enough space to curl up for the night; it was only high enough for him to sit up or crouch down. It was undignified for the Lord Malfoy to crawl into a cave to hide, but he did it for his family. All of wizarding society was closed to him right now and he didn't dare risk associating with muggles, for fear of the Dark Lord or the Order tracking him down or worse; his family would be watching him, observing him, and making sure he was alone and if he wasn't, they might just hold off on contacting him.

A proper Malfoy is nothing if not prepared. As such, emergency preparedness was one of the skills passed on to Lucius from his father Abraxas, who had learned it from his father Septimus, who learned it from his father before him. It was a simple, if thorough, plan that involved stocking up enough rations, severing all contacts indefinitely, and going into hiding. If one member was separated from the rest, he or she was to first make sure they were alone and not being followed and then get as near to where he or she could figure the family was hiding and wait. The family would wait, watch, and observe for weeks or months until they could be absolutely certain that they would not be ambushed when retrieving the isolated family member.

It was long grueling hours of boredom for which Lucius could do little more than sit and contemplate just what had happened in his absence to turn the tide, send his family into hiding, and turn their backs on the Dark Lord. He never questioned turning his back on his Lord, since it meant the safety of his family. From the moment he read his son's letter with its short, but informative message, he knew that for whatever reason, it was now in the best interest of the family to switch sides.

There were any number of reasons why it would be in the Malfoy family's best interest to switch sides. The Malfoy motto was Purity Will Always Conquer, but that was just what they told people, when in fact the family's motto really was Always Land on the Winning Side. It was ingrained in every Malfoy since birth that in any scuffle, skirmish, battle, or war, when it was all said and done, no matter what side the Malfoys were on when it started, they would switch to the winning side by the end. The most likely solution to why the Malfoys were switching sides was that Draco or Narcissa had come across irrefutable proof that the Dark Lord would lose.

It was simple enough really: the Malfoy family would support the side with proper pureblood ideals up until the point in which it became obvious that the pureblood side would lose. Then the Malfoy family would collectively jump ship and land with their heads up and their feet on the ground, firmly insisting they had been on the other side all along. That must be what was happening now and Lucius was just the last to find out, because he had been locked up in Azkaban when the important decisions were made.

Lucius would have given anything to have been free when it all went down and to have been there when his family decided it was time to bail. He wondered if perhaps young Draco had acted too rashly and the Dark Lord might yet have a chance at winning, but then he was also proud of Draco for taking care of Narcissa and Druella in his absence, especially when there was a war on. He had been well aware of first Narcissa's and then her mother's disappearances and he had originally thought that when he was released he would have to track down his wife and mother-in-law himself and then collect a frightened Draco from the care of his friends. He had been pleasantly surprised to find out that Draco had collected the family and the reason they couldn't be found was that they had found it necessary for the entire family to go into hiding.

Again Lucius' thoughts drifted back to what could have possibly driven his wife and son into hiding. He wasn't going to question the decision, but he was dying to know the reasons behind it. Was the Dark Lord's vision of a pure wizarding society truly hopeless? Had Narcissa learned some critical bit of information about the flaws in the Dark Lord's plans while staying with Him? Had Draco learned some critical piece of information about the capabilities and plans of the other side whilst at Hogwarts? Perhaps the Potter brat was even more powerful than anyone knew or the infernal late Dumbledore had something up his sleeve for the Dark Lord.

But then Dumbledore was dead and Lucius couldn't think of anything the old man could still do from beyond the grave. If Draco had gone into hiding without killing Dumbledore, now that would be another story and would certainly explain the Malfoy family's current modus opperandi. If Draco had failed his task, then there was real concern that the Dark Lord might kill Draco for the failure and then it would make perfect sense that Draco had gathered the family up and taken them into hiding. But Draco had not failed and Dumbledore was dead; Severus had even given testimony in front of the Dark Lord that Draco was critical in setting up the trap that Dumbledore had walked into, even if the boy hadn't been able to pull off the killing curse himself; Severus swore that if it weren't for Draco's serious injuries physically preventing it, Draco would've succeeded by himself.

Draco was a hero in Lucius' eyes and he was certain from his first meeting after being released from Azkaban that the Dark Lord was proud of Draco and Draco's actions too. Severus had told him that Draco was injured earlier in the school year and was not in sufficient shape to do battle or run from Aurors and had thus gone into hiding. Lucius had been concerned about his son's injuries immediately, but until the letter from Draco explaining that he was still in bad shape, he had hoped that the injuries were minor. After all, a simple broken leg could prevent Draco from running from Aurors and fighting, especially if Draco couldn't receive proper medical treatment, because he was wanted for questioning regarding Dumbledore's death.

But then Lucius' world had fallen apart when he took Severus aside during his second Death Eater meeting and asked for details on his son's injuries. That was when he learned that the sectumsempra curse the horrible Potter brat had hit Draco with months ago was still posing a sever threat to Draco's life. He had felt as if his heart was being wrenched from his chest and stomped on by angry giants when he learned of the critical condition Draco was in the last time Severus had seen him. Back then Lucius thought Narcissa and Druella may have taken Draco into hiding just to have a safe place to treat Draco's wounds.

That may be part of it, but with Narcissa's latest letter sent just last week, Lucius had learned that that wasn't all of it. The one line which stated that Draco had fallen in love with a member of the opposition had shocked Lucius to his core. He had never imagined that this had something to do with a love match. Of course if it really was too late and his son truly could not be persuaded from this course, then he would support his son, but he couldn't imagine his little Draco throwing away their pureblooded ideals over a crush; there simply had to be more to it than that.

For the last week now Lucius had been going through every possibility regarding who Draco's love match could be. It couldn't be anyone on the Dark Lord's side of the war or otherwise the relationship would have no bearing on the war. So it had to be someone from one of the many families who didn't support the Dark Lord. There was absolutely no way it was a mudblood, because he had raised Draco better than that. He thought he had raised Draco better than to choose a halfblood or a blood traitor, but there was always the possibility that he was wrong. He didn't think he was; he thought Draco's young man was most likely a pureblood from a family who opposed the Dark Lord.

Lucius was ninety-nine percent sure Draco's love interest was a young man. He and Narcissa always knew it was a possibility that their Draco was queer and Draco had confirmed their suspicions last year. He was fine with his son's sexuality; in fact there were many queer Peverell couples in his family tree. Peverell wizards could bear young just as easily as witches could, so there was no issue with his Draco being queer. He loved his son and if his son loved wizards, well then that was fine by him. But which wizard could it be?

A major hurdle is Lucius' determination of who Draco's young man could be was that he didn't know which of the young men at Hogwarts were queer, so they were all suspect. There were twenty boys in Draco's year and twenty in the year above and the year below Draco. Lucius thought it was most likely that it was someone close to Draco in age, although it was possible that it was someone a few years younger. But it couldn't be someone more than two years older, or they wouldn't still be at Hogwarts and Draco wouldn't have met the boy at school.

There were several possibilities Lucius came up with. None of which he liked, but many of them he disliked more than the others. The worst possible choice was Neville Longbottom. The boy was a pureblood and not from a family of blood traitors. The Longbottom pedigree was good enough that he would willingly accept the match, if it weren't for the fact that the Longbottom boy was such a useless squib. The boy had barely enough magic in him to get him into Hogwarts and his only hope for a future career was in gardening.

The Malfoys weren't gardeners; it was beneath them. Sure the Malfoy women might take up gardening as a hobby to pass the time between caring for the children and supervising the house elves, but it wasn't their career and they all had more magic in them than the wee bit it took to garden. Besides, the house elves always did all the real work of weeding, watering, and harvesting; all Malfoy women ever did was direct where things were to be planted.

Lucius seriously hoped Draco had not picked Longbottom, but then he didn't think his Draco much cared for the Longbottom boy and couldn't picture the two of them together. He sighed and gave up on figuring out the riddle and let his mind wander off to more fertile areas of thought, such as what he was going to eat for lunch.

Lucius had had plenty of rations when he started out, but he had been in hiding for over a month now and was running low. He opened his rucksack, which had a sizeable wizard space charm on it; in fact the inside of his rucksack was larger than the inside of this cave. He pulled out a bowl of pasta with a stasis charm on it that the house elves had made for him before he set off on this journey. He couldn't eat it, because it was the last bowl of pasta he had and if he ate it, he wouldn't be able to have pasta again for who knows how long. But he could multiply the bowl of pasta until he had two, which he did. Food that was stretched like this was less nutritious that regular food and if he kept stretching it, he'd eventually die of starvation while feeling full, but for now it was better to eat stretched food and not be hungry than to do without.

He left the original bowl under the stasis charm and used his wand to heat up the second bowl. This wasn't the Malfoy wand he had inherited from his father with the snake head and the cane; no, Draco had that wand ever since it was taken away from him when he was sent to Azkaban. He had to have a wand, so the first thing he'd done after being released, was to go to the Manor and find his old wand, the one he'd used before his father's death. He found the wand right where he'd left it, hidden under the floorboards in the bedroom he had shared with Narcissa. The rest of the house was eerily empty with almost all of the furniture and Malfoy possessions gone; even the portraits were missing from the walls. He had assumed Draco had removed the valuables from the house and stowed everything away in the attic, where their dark artifacts were hidden. He didn't bother looking for the furniture though, because everything he needed was under the floorboard in that bedroom: his rucksack filled with emergency supplies had been there for years waiting for an occasion such as this. All he had to do was order the house elves to add food and find some books.

Lucius ate lunch, vanished the bowl, and then looked around his rucksack for something to do to pass the time. But then he'd been looking in his rucksack for something to do to pass the time every day for a month plus. He'd read all of the novels he had packed and half of the textbooks. Like the furniture gone from the Manor, most of the books were missing from the library. The elves did find one box of books shoved into the duct work somewhere; they all appeared to be over a hundred years old, but he still transferred the lot of them into his rucksack. The rest of the books had likely been shrunk and hidden in the attic and he hadn't bothered going up there, for fear that he was being watched and that Death Eaters would come in behind him and figure out something was up. There were concealment charms and locking spells on their attic hiding place, but once someone knew to look up there, it was much more likely that they'd discover and dismantle it. They'd probably steal all the family valuables by the time he returned, so instead of going to the attic, he'd gone to a muggle bookstore and purchased a couple dozen novels, which besides being abhorrently muggle, were long since read.

Lucius thought about re-reading one of the muggle books, but they weren't that great in the first place and had all these confusing muggle terms, like phone and TV, in them. Finally he decided to peruse through a charming and very old book full of wonderfully dark curses. He could always use a new spell or two and he wouldn't even use them on Longbottom, if in fact Longbottom was the boy Draco was besotted with.

Lucius was an hour or so into the book on dark curses when he heard his intruder alert charms go off. He quickly threw down the book and pulled his crystal ball from his rucksack; this crystal ball was a very important tool in his emergency preparedness arsenal. He tapped it with his wand, making it reveal the view from the entrance to the cave, courtesy of his intruder monitoring charm. First he noted the long billowing black robes and knew instantly that it was a wizard. It was only moments later that the face of Severus Snape came into focus.

"Ah shite," Lucius said, packing his things back into his rucksack and preparing to apparate away, because he couldn't let the Death Eaters find him.

Just as Lucius was about to leave, he heard Severus' voice from outside the cave, "Draco and Narcissa have sent me."

Lucius paused for a moment to consider the possibility that Severus was yet again playing the role of spy. Severus was obviously acting as a spy, but just whose side was he really on? Was he on the Dark Lord's side and trying to lure Lucius out or was he telling the truth and knew where his family was? That was likely, because Draco was close to Severus at school and Draco might even trust Severus. And if the Malfoy family had switched sides and Severus really was Dumbledore's wizard all along, then Severus would be the perfect person to help ferry his family over to the other side of this war. But that couldn't be the case, because Severus had just killed Dumbledore.

"Prove it," Lucius spat, preparing to apparate at the drop of a sickle.

"In the letter you received last week from Narcissa, she wrote to you about Draco's love affair with someone from the opposition," Severus said.

That was true and what's more was that Lucius couldn't think of any reason why Severus would know that unless he was either in league with his family or had captured his family. Either way, he wanted to know more, so he stayed. "Go on," he said.

"You are not going to like who it is, but before I can take you to them, I need to test where your loyalties lie."

"My loyalties lie firstly with my family and secondly with the Dark Lord."

"The two are in direct conflict at the moment."

"Family always comes first with me."

"Yes, but your family is not in a state where they would be able to defend themselves against you, should you change your mind. Druella is old, Narcissa is no fighter, and Draco is ill."

"How is he Severus? Is Draco dying?" Lucius asked desperately. The words tasted like bile on his tongue and he hoped he would never have to utter such horrible words again. His only son possibly dying was the worst thing he could imagine. Turning against the Dark Lord was nothing compared with losing his son.

"I believe he shall live, but he is very weak."

"Please take me to him, Severus, I'll do anything you ask of me."

"Would you permit me to side-along apparate you into the Fidelius protected villa, so that you would not be able to get back in to do harm if you chose to leave?"

"Yes."

"And would you let me examine your mind with legilimency?"

"Yes. I won't even use occlumency against you."

"Very well," Severus said before diving into Lucius' thoughts. Lucius seemed to be telling the truth, but that left open the question of how Lucius would react when he found out about Draco's involvement with Harry. He broke the connection before speaking again. "I would like to tell you who Draco is involved with and witness your reaction."

"Yes, alright, anything. Oh Merlin I hope it's not that Longbottom kid."

"Worse. It's Harry Potter. Legilimens."

Lucius was in disbelief and was sure he must've heard wrong, because Severus couldn't have just said what he thought Severus said. Draco could not be involved in a relationship with Potter! It was ridiculous! Draco was even less likely to be with Potter than Longbottom. But Severus had said it was Potter and Severus was in his mind right now listening to his every thought, judging him. This would determine whether or not he would be taken to see Draco, his precious son. Draco was still injured and he wanted nothing more than to go to Draco and comfort Draco and it didn't even matter how in love Draco fancied himself with whichever halfblood, even if that halfblood was Harry Potter, he just couldn't be mad at his son right now.

Of course if it was Harry Potter, it would explain why Lucius' family had been forced into hiding. If the Dark Lord found out about the love affair, Draco would be a target. Lucius couldn't let the Dark Lord have Draco, even if it meant siding with the infernal Potter. The bespectacled little git wasn't going to take his son away from him. If his son really had chosen Potter, then he would stand by his son.

Maybe there was some way Lucius could spin this so that the Malfoys came out on top. Maybe the Dark Lord would go down, but at the end of the war, they'd have Harry Potter in their family. He certainly didn't want Potter in the family, because he hated the brat, but he was not so prejudiced to ignore the boon that they would receive by having Potter join the family in the event of Potter's future defeat of the Dark Lord. There would have to be a wedding of course, but Potter could stay home tending to the wee little ones and be too busy to cause trouble. Then he and Draco could use Potter's name to control the Ministry and get their pureblood agenda pushed through. The Malfoys would be in power once again.

Severus broke the connection and said, "I'm glad you see it that way. I'll take you to your son now."

Severus apparated them to the villa where Narcissa was waiting. Lucius hugged his wife and placed emphatic kisses all over her face, because he was just so happy to be reunited with her. "I've missed you so much, my dear flower," he said and kissed her again.

During the display of affection, Severus excused himself to check on Draco.

"I've missed you too. I wanted to come get you already, but we had to be sure it was safe before we could let you in. You do, ah, know about Draco, yes?" Narcissa asked. At least this conversation was made easier by the fact that her mother was taking a nap.

"Yes, Severus just told me he is involved with the Potter brat," Lucius said and for once in his life, he tried not to sneer at Potter's name.

"The Malfoy brat now; Harry has agreed to take our last name, so when the war ends, the name Harry Malfoy will be splashed across the newspapers."

"But that would mean a wedding before the end of the war. Is Potter here? Could we arrange a wedding?"

"I already did. They're already married and Harry is in hiding elsewhere, but I have word that he's safe."

"You already did? Don't you think that's rushing it Cissy? Even if they're in love and it would be great to have Potter in our pocket, we ought to give Draco a chance to change his mind. There's still the chance that when he recovers, he'll change his mind and want to go back to the Dark Lord."

"Lucius, it's too late for that. I had to rush the wedding, because Draco's pregnant; that's what's wrong with him, not the sectumsempra we've led everyone to believe."

"Pregnant? No, not our Draco! He wouldn't…"

"He said it was a bit of an accident. The boys got carried away and Harry went too far before Draco realized what was happening and now we are going to be grandparents."

"Draco should've stopped it as soon as he realized what was happening."

"They're teenage boys; they said it finished as soon as it started and Draco was already pushing Harry away, trying to get him to stop. It was an accident, but they seem to be genuinely in love and are committed to making it work and raising their impending family together."

"Where is Draco? Why isn't he down here?" Lucius asked, wondering why he had yet to see his son, if his son was only pregnant and not dying. Pregnant by Potter wasn't exactly good news, but it was better than dying.

"He's been very tired lately, because of the pregnancy. He sleeps most of the day away."

"That's not normal for a Peverell pregnancy."

"Extreme fatigue is normal when the other father is away. Draco hasn't seen Harry since Dumbledore's death. He's supporting the entire pregnancy on his magic alone and what's more, it's twins. There are two babies draining his magic."

"Twins? This just keeps getting worse. Why isn't Harry here helping Draco?" Lucius almost said Potter, but he caught himself just in the nick of time.

"It's not safe for us to have Harry here. He is a target wherever he is and as such, he doesn't even know where we are. Draco left him a note and we took off."

"So Draco is married to Harry Potter and pregnant by Potter and Potter doesn't even know where Draco is? Brilliant."

"Not Harry Potter, Harry Malfoy. But otherwise, precisely."

"It'll take some maneuvering, but with a Malfoy like Harry, I'm sure to be able to land a spot on the wizengamot. It won't be as lofty a position as I'd have with the Dark Lord, but Draco will be able to move up even higher, given that he is married to the savior, and will certainly be able to get our puppet candidate into office. Then Draco will be adviser to the Minister for Magic and pull all of the strings, just like my grandfather Septimus. Maybe I can have Severus put me in contact with some of the people on Harry's side. I hear they're looking for a new leader."

"Severus is on the outs with the Order right now."

"Are we at risk then? Will he turn us over to the Dark Lord?"

"No, Severus is loyal to us. I believe he is also still loyal to the Order, even though they are no longer speaking to him and he killed Dumbledore."

"Why did he kill Dumbledore, if he was loyal to Dumbledore?"

"For one thing I made Severus take an unbreakable vow to help Draco and complete his task for him and for another, Dumbledore ordered Severus to."

"Dumbledore ordered his own death? The man must've been more senile than I thought."

"He was dying anyway and this way, with Severus killing him, he ensured that his spy would be fully accepted among the Death Eaters."

Then the topic shifted to all of the things Lucius had missed while in Azkaban. Lucius and Narcissa talked on until Severus' voice rang out from the stairwell, "Draco is awake and wishing to see his father."

Lucius was suddenly nervous and anxious all at once. "Will you go with me?" he asked Narcissa.

"Of course dear," Narcissa replied and the two of them walked upstairs.

Severus was inside Draco's bedroom, standing unobtrusively against the wall. "The exam went well," he said as Lucius and Narcissa entered.

"Father?" Draco asked. He was exhausted, as usual, but he was so excited to have his father back that for the first time in a month that he felt like getting out of bed. As it was, he slowly sat up and dangled his feet over the edge. Sitting up was harder now, because his waistline had grown, but he managed.

"Draco, my son, I have missed you so much," Lucius said going over to the bed and gently hugging Draco, as if his son might break. Draco looked horrible; pale and thin, but bulged out at the waist, with dark circles under the eyes. "How have you been?"

"Hanging in there, I supposed," Draco replied. "I'm so glad you're here. Did mother tell you everything?"

"Yes and don't you worry, I'm going to find some way to make this work. Us Malfoys will land on our feet; we always do. You are my number one priority and within ten years, you'll be the advisor to the Minister and have Potter, er Harry, at home busy with the children."

"Thank you," Draco said, closing his eyes for a moment, due to the exhaustion, but opening them back up again, because he was so elated to see his father again. "You're not mad at me?"

"Draco, at this moment, I am exceedingly happy to be reunited with you and your mother. This is a setback, I admit, but it'll be easier to rule with public opinion on our side. This may just be better in the long run. But don't worry about that now, tell me about my grandchildren. Your mother tells me there are two of them."

"Yes, two boys. Professor Snape says they are both okay, but there's not much else to tell." Draco yawned and then one of the babies kicked him in the ribs. "Ow! One of them just elbowed me!"

"May I feel?" Lucius asked, tentatively holding his arm out towards Draco's belly, waiting for permission before touching. Draco agreed and then he was pushing his hand up against Draco's distended belly, feeling the movements of his grandsons. It was absolutely amazing and suddenly it clicked for him that there were two new Malfoys on the way. Two boys would create some problems when it came to inheritance, but they would make it work and the Malfoy line would live on, which was the best possible news he could receive after his months of worry over his son's health. He had thought for a while there that Draco might die and with him, the Malfoy line would die too.

Draco yawned again and the babies were no longer moving, so Lucius said, "You're tired again, my dragon. You can go back to sleep and we can talk later."

"No, stay. Tell me about everything that's happened; from Azkaban to Professor Snape picking you up."

"Alright, but if I'm going to stay here awhile, suppose I join you on that giant bed of yours?"

Draco agreed and Lucius climbed onto the other side and did what he had been longing to do for a year now: take his son into his arms and hold him. He rested his pointy chin on Draco's head and began to tell Draco about everything that had happened to him since their last parting.

Author's Note: What did you think of Lucius? Next chapter will be Harry and we'll get to see how he's doing without Draco.

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