Chapter One

October 1981

Godric's Hollow

"Is that everything, James?" Lily asked quietly, making sure that Sirius and Remus couldn't hear them. They'd drafted a long letter to the Malfoys, explaining everything they knew about the Light and its leader, Albus Dumbledore. They included a great many documents as proof of what they were saying, and begged the purebloods to do all they could to protect their son in the coming years.

"Yes," the man hissed, casting furtive glances toward the closed nursery door. They both knew that Sirius and Remus, their two best friends, were firmly in the headmaster's pocket, so they were trying to be as quiet as possible, to avoid being found out. Once the owl had taken wing, with the letter and package attached, they left the nursery after checking to ensure that Harry was sleeping peacefully. Putting on brave faces, they descended the stairs and put on the show of their lives.

"Lucius?" Narcissa murmured softly, trying not to startle her husband. He was sitting in his darkened office, staring at the painting of his recently deceased father with a mixture of love and loathing. He started slightly at the interruption, turning his eyes to his wife, who had been his rock throughout his ordeal as one of the Dark Lord's followers.

"What is it, love?" he asked quietly, casting a muffliato at his father's portrait out of habit. He'd been doing that a lot lately; trying to keep his old man, and by extension, the Dark Lord, from learning his views and his regrets.

"We've received a letter from Lily and James," she told him, holding tightly to the bundle of parchment in her hand. Her knuckles were white from gripping the missive, her hand shaking ever so slightly. He stood immediately and ushered her out of the room, neglecting to remove the spell on Abraxas' portrait as he left. They strode to their 'safe room'; a warded and barricaded room within the Manor, where they retreated when they needed to discuss things, or to try and regroup after a particularly stressful meeting of the Dark order. Draco was being seen to by the house elves; they knew to come to Narcissa or he if they had need. Once there, with the door firmly locked behind them, she handed him the letter. He perused it, his eyebrows permanently in his hairline in shock.

Narcissa,

Please forgive me for presuming to encroach upon your life. I am, however, rather desperate at this point. Included with this letter are documents outlining everything Albus Dumbledore intends to do to our son. The prophecy that Severus will be tricked into overhearing is fake. It is a ploy to bring the Dark Lord out into the open, thereby allowing Albus to defeat him. In order to do that, the headmaster has placed monitoring charms within the fidelius he'd placed on our cottage. As soon as the Dark Lord breaches those wards, the alarm will sound, and the 'cavalry' will arrive. However, he will wait until the spells he'd placed on James, Harry and myself tell him that we are dead.

I will not allow that to happen. James and I have taken steps to ensure that our child will survive the confrontation relatively intact. In order to do that, however, James and I must die. Here is where you come in, if you are willing. Once he sees that Harry has survived the attack, Albus Dumbledore will place our orphaned son with my despicable sister and her abusive husband. He will use this opportunity to create the perfect puppet martyr from Harry. The attack will be on the thirty-first of October. Samhain. It is the perfect night for the protective rituals we will invoke, and the perfect night for our sacrifices. I need Lucius to be there, under the best invisibility charms he can muster, to observe and record everything that happens. I need him to follow Hagrid when he takes Harry away. I also need him to ensure that our boy is protected from the violence that my sister and her family will want to visit upon him for being magical.

As well, I need the both of you to, regularly, take him away from them for a while every year. Harry must be raised as much within the wizarding world as possible, and there is no place more protected than Malfoy Manor. Don't worry about Voldemort; his attempt to kill our baby will destroy him for a while. Albus will place 'blood wards' around my sister's house, based on the 'love sacrifice' I must make to ensure that our son survives. Those 'blood wards' will not exist; for them to activate, my sister must love our child, and our baby must see her and her family as his. That will never happen. Instead, he will come to see you and your family as his, and the magic that will protect him will also protect you and yours. The true blood wards will be added to the already impressive wards surrounding the Manor. Consider it the least we can do for you for protecting and caring for our child.

You're probably wondering how I know all of this. I have some Seer blood in my family, and I have Seen glimpses of things to come. Trust me when I say that your husband will not have to serve that monster for much longer. I know that this is a lot to ask of you, but I hope with all my heart that you will accept this heavy burden. Our boy will have no one; Remus and Sirius are firmly in Dumbledore's pocket, and will see no problem with sacrificing Harry for Albus' 'Greater Good'. Treat him kindly, and raise him with love. Merlin knows, he will receive little of it with my sister. If you wish, you may adopt him as your own. If you decide to do that, contact Faygorn at Gringotts; she will provide you with everything you will need to make the adoption both legal and permanent. In that case, the monies and properties Harry will inherit will fall under your purview. Just, please, do what you can for our baby.

Lily

Lucius watched from the furthest corner of the nursery, his disillusionment charm impeccable, as the Dark Lord flung the killing curse at the baby in the crib. Lily Potter lay dead on the floor at the feet of Voldemort; Lucius briefly mourned the passing of a remarkable witch as he watched the life light leave her eyes. The curse bounced off of the baby's head, the life-for-life sacrifice protections working to save him. The curse rebounded back into the stunned Dark Lord, turning him into dust as the house rocked from the terrific explosion of power.

Lucius saw the wraith of Voldemort leave the destroyed remains of the house, and he was set to go after it when he remembered what Lily had instructed. Turning back to the room, he listened as the crack of apparition sounded in the house. A quick scurrying up the stairs and down the hall revealed Albus Dumbledore as he reached the open doorway. Smirking smugly, he walked into the decimated room, ignoring the burnt clothing that was all that remained of He Who Must Not Be Named, before advancing to the screaming child. Lifting Harry from the crib and using a corner of his sleeve to wipe away the fall of blood in the baby's eyes, he crooned softly to the child, a sly grin on his face.

"It is done," the old man murmured, startling Lucius with the malevolence present in Dumbledore's voice. "You will now be raised to be the perfect, malleable weapon for me, and when the time is right, you will sacrifice your life for the Greater Good of the wizarding world. I will leave you with your only living blood relatives, in the muggle world. They hate and fear magic, and anything magic-related, so their treatment of you will ensure that I have the perfect puppet martyr for my cause. When you return to the wizarding world, you will be revered as a hero, and reviled as a troublemaker. You will remain submissive, and easily led, eager to please anyone who asks anything of you. You will be my pet."

"It's done," Lucius told his wife tiredly. He had banished his father's painting to the dungeons of the manor as soon as they had discussed their plans, placing it in the darkest, dankest cell he could find, and putting it under charms to ensure that the old bastard was permanently trapped within that one canvas. The freedom this afforded the Malfoys was liberating, and Narcissa grinned for days afterward. Finally, she thought giddily, our home is ours now.

"He's gone," she gasped happily, staring at her husband with all the love she felt reflected in her grey eyes. He blushed under the heated gaze, his own mouth drawn up in a wry grin.

"For the moment, yes," the blond replied softly. "I attached a tracking spell to Hagrid when he retrieved Harry from Godric's Hollow and was able to track him to the hovel in the muggle world that would be the child's home for the foreseeable future."

"Surely we won't leave him there, will we?"

"Of course not, my love," Lucius replied to her scandalous query. "As soon as things die down a little, you and I will retrieve him, under the guise of being employees of the Wizarding Child Welfare Office."

"Excellent," she purred with a happy smile. "I have his suite of rooms made up already."

"Why don't you put him in with Draco," Lucius suggested softly. "This way he'll be with someone his own age, and it will relieve the trouble of attending to two separate rooms for all of the duties you will need to acquire."

"That's a wonderful idea, darling," she gushed happily. "If they grow together, they'll become the best of friends."

Two weeks after the child was unceremoniously dumped on their doorstep, there was a knock on the door. Scowling deeply, Petunia wrenched the door open, glaring out at the blond couple standing on her stoop. "What do you want?" she snapped harshly, making the eyebrows of both people skate into their hairlines.

"Is this the way you treat all visitors?" Lucius drawled scathingly. "Your manners are abhorrent. It is fortunate we've come as soon as we could. We are here from the Wizarding Child Welfare Office, and have been informed that a wizarding child was left in your care."

"You're here for the freak?" the scrawny, horse-faced woman asked gleefully. "Why didn't you say so? VERNON! FETCH THE FREAK RIGHT NOW!" There was mad scurrying, and the fattest man either Malfoy had ever seen trundled down the short hallway and unlocked a small door built into the wall beneath the front stairs. Reaching in, their grey eyes widened as they watched him heave a basket from the cubby that was revealed, and slid it down the hallway, where it bumped into the woman's legs.

She turned with a moue of disgust and booted the basket toward the Malfoys with her foot, nearly causing it to spill its contents to the cement as it tipped against the threshold. Narcissa leaned forward and quickly snatched the basket up by the handles, staring into it with wide eyes. Emerald eyes peered up at the woman, and a grin creased the chubby cheeks with matching dimples, charming the Malfoy matriarch instantly.

"Aren't you just so precious?" she cooed at him softly, earning delighted gurgles as the baby's arms waved frantically in the air, begging for a cuddling. Lucius, meanwhile, was casting a plethora of spells silently and wandlessly, his fury at its pinnacle as he created unending suffering for the occupants of the house. Turning, he wrapped his arm around his wife's waist, flinching slightly as the door slammed closed behind him, and looked into the basket, his own face relaxing into a soft smile for the child.

"Come, love," he murmured, a finger stroking against the baby's chubby cheek. "It's time to get this little one home."