There was no one around to see her cry, at least no one who seemed to think she mattered anymore. With her husband now a wanted man and her son's future up in the air, all she wanted to do was grab them and hide. She had heard that her sister -as crazed as she was- was lost to her, while her only other family had lost more. She both pitied and feared the loss Andromeda had been left with.

"What are we going to do?" she cried softly to the seemingly empty room.

Her home, once a proud beacon of high society, was in ruins. Priceless artifacts had been shattered in the aftermath of his temper. When she looked around her all that was left was a masterpiece of destruction and chaos.

"What we always do. Survive." Lucius sneered as he too looked towards the rubble that was their lives.

"And how do you plan to do that husband, your Lord has fallen. There is no surviving the fallout this time." She rose from where she had crouched, a picture of her son clasped in her hand. "And what of our son? You forced him into this war and now he too will pay the price for your choices."

She watched as her once proud husband flinched, grasping his forearm reflexively. They had left before the battle recommenced taking their only child with them. While she held her head high, his fall from grace seemed to be magnified as the fellow Death Eaters parted like the red sea to let them pass. How the mighty have fallen she thought as she gazed once more around the once splendid room.

"What is your plan then?" Lucius asked his gaze boring into her as a lost child would their mother.

"To face whatever comes with dignity. I may be a Malfoy, but Black blood runs through my veins." He scoffed as she turned towards the main corridor, taking her words as nothing more than bravado. "I will say this, I am no coward."

"You may not have been branded, but you still supported him." He hissed loudly.

She turned once more to the man she had married, the one who her father had chosen as the best match. There standing before her was the shell of what he was. Broken and tarnished, shamed as his true colors shone through. It was at that moment she realized that she truly did not know the man she married.

"No, I supported my husband. I supported my son. I never supported him. Voldemort was your choice." she yelled, the sounds bouncing off the walls.

Watching as he flinched once more, a small lick of victory ran up her spine.

"Do not say his name." her husband hissed as he reached for his cane.

"He is dead. There is no coming back this time. Your brand all but exploded in your arm." she stood tall as he shrank from her.

"Mother," her head swung towards the stairs where her son stood.

"It's nothing. Go back to your room." she smiled, though it did not reach her eyes as she took in his parlor. For everything that she had faced with housing Voldemort, her son had faced far worse. Now she would make up for it.

"Do not turn your back to me!" Lucius bellowed as Draco slowly walked back up the stairs.

"You have no power over him or me." She watched as he pulled back on the head of his cane, much like he had always done.

Except there was no wand.

The popping of wizards apparating and the blast of the bombarda hitting the front door had her smile in relief. She stood there as her husband was petrified and shackles placed on his wrists and ankles bound his magic. She calmly handed her wand to the auror who came to stand before her, offering her wrists as she too was shackled.

"Mother," her son's voice broke as he copied her after he was escorted downstairs.

"You are a Malfoy and a Black. For the first seventeen years your father has told you what to do and how to act. Now it is your choice. I encourage you to act with honor and dignity." She turned towards her son to watch as he handed over his wand and offered his wrists to the auror before him.

It was time to reap what had been sowed.