A/N – Welcome to my new story. As usual it's already finished and has 10 chapters and an epilogue in total. While Draco and Hermione don't feature in this chapter, it sets the story up and they make an appearance in the next chapter.

As usual the island in the North Sea which housed the wizarding prison, Azkaban, had a biting chill to it. While the Dementors were no longer allowed inside the prison walls they still hovered around the prison, giving the place a foreboding atmosphere. Even though they were outside the Dementors still affected the weaker prisoners. There was however a few strong minded individuals in Azkaban, who weren't as affected by the Dementors that resided outside of the stone building.

Lucius Malfoy was one of those prisoners that the Dementors rarely affected. He was also the reason why Aurors, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, were at the prison. A mere eight years after Voldemort's downfall the blond wizard was being released, much to the pair's dismay. Harry and Ron had fought against the decision to release Lucius, but he had a good lawyer on his side and the Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shackelbolt insisted that Lucius had paid his debt to society. Over the course of the last eight years he'd given the Ministry lots of information about Death Eaters they'd failed to capture, but still Harry and Ron thought he was getting off lightly.

When Harry and Ron entered the office at the prison they found Lucius's wife, Narcissa was already present, as was Lucius's lawyer. Lucius's lawyer informed the Aurors that the head guard had gone to retrieve Lucius.

"Joy." Ron muttered quietly. "We get to release another Death Eater onto the streets."

Narcissa glared at the redheaded wizard, but before she had a chance to say anything the door to the office opened and the head guard entered followed by her husband. Forgetting all about the disapproving Aurors, Narcissa rushed forward and embraced Lucius. While Lucius looked slightly worse for wear after his eight years in Azkaban, Narcissa was confident that once he was back home and had settled in he would be back to his old self in no time.

"I can't believe you're coming home." Narcissa told her husband. Over the last few weeks she'd been convinced that something bad would happen and Lucius would be kept in Azkaban for longer.

"Neither can I." Lucius replied. "It might sink in once I'm settled back at home."

"As touching as this reunion is, let's go on with the official business of signing the release papers." Harry said. While he didn't agree with Lucius been released, he also didn't want to hang around Azkaban for too long.

"And of course we need to go over the conditions of your release." Ron added.

"I know the conditions." Lucius said. "You've put a spell on my wand so you can track which spells I'm using for a year. I also have to reside at the Manor for the next year and have to report to the Ministry any time the Aurors feel the need to check up on me."

At one time Lucius would have complained about the restrictions on his movements and magic, but now all he wanted was to be free. He'd been stuck in Azkaban for eight years, and all he wanted was to be reunited with his family. Despite Narcissa visiting every week, it wasn't the same as being with her day in and day out. And as for Draco, he only saw his son occasionally as Draco now lived in France.

Harry and Ron reluctantly went over all the paperwork with Lucius and his lawyer before handing the former Death Eater back his wand. Once everything was official they activated a portkey for the Malfoy's, which would transport them to the Ministry. From there they could make their own way home.

"I really hope we don't have to see him again." Ron complained as they watched the Malfoy's and their lawyer disappear back to the Ministry.

"Hopefully the other Aurors can deal with his check-ups." Harry said. "Surely Kingsley can't make us deal with him."

"Let's hope not." Ron sighed. "I guess we better get the paperwork back to the Ministry."

Leaving Azkaban behind, Harry and Ron headed back to work where the filed all of Lucius's paperwork. Now the wizard was a free man they hoped they would never have to deal with him again. In their opinion Lucius and his entire family was bad news, and they wanted nothing to do with the Malfoy's.

A week after being released from Azkaban, Lucius was still adjusting to being back at home. Narcissa was also adjusting to being back at the Manor since she'd spent the majority of the last eight years living in France alongside Draco. It was only when they'd received a definite release date for Lucius that she'd returned home and set about making the Manor habitable once again.

In the week since his release, Lucius had spoken to Draco via the floo network but he hadn't actually seen him in person. Lucius had decided he wanted to settle in properly before he saw his son, and met his daughter-in-law. Lucius was fully aware of who his son had married, and while it had come to a shock to him when he found out, he'd promised Draco that he wouldn't cause trouble. Luckily he'd had time to come to terms with who Draco's wife was before he actually had to meet her face to face.

"I'm off to the shops." Narcissa announced, poking her head into Lucius's study. Her husband didn't actually have any work to do since Draco now ran the family business, but the study was still his own private space and it was where Lucius felt comfortable.

"Have fun." Lucius smiled at his wife.

"Do you want to join me?" She asked. Since being released Lucius hadn't left the Manor, and Narcissa didn't want her husband to become a hermit.

"Not today." Lucius replied.

"You can't hide away forever." Narcissa advised. "Sooner or later you're going to have to face the world."

"Do I?" Lucius raised a questioning eyebrow at his wife. "We both know we're only here because I have to reside at the Manor for the next year. You had a life in France, Draco has a life in France. Are you honestly suggesting we're going to be staying here long term?"

"You never know, Draco might decide to return home." Narcissa replied.

"I may not have seen Draco that often, but even I know he has no intention of returning to England. Draco and his wife are settled in France, and the impression I got was that they were perfectly content." Lucius said.

"They are, but you never know when things might change." Narcissa told her husband. "For example, children might change their plans."

"Children?" Lucius's eyes widened at the thought of grandchildren. While he would like grandchildren one day he would much rather get to know his daughter-in-law first.

"I'm talking in the future, Lucius." Narcissa chuckled at her husband's shocked expression. "I'm just saying that when they have children they might want them to go to Hogwarts."

"Or they might want to keep them as far away as possible." Lucius argued. "Let's be honest Narcissa, I've done a lot of damage to the family name. Because of me Draco was dragged into things, and despite everything he endured in the war there's still people who think of him as a bad person. Any Malfoy attending Hogwarts will find it difficult, so maybe it's better if our grandchildren attended a different school."

"That's not our decision to make." Narcissa replied. "I just think we need to think about all of our options. At the minute it appears we'll be heading to France once you're conditions are lessened, but things might change. You can't hide away for the next year."

"I know." Lucius admitted with a sigh. "But I'm not ready to face people yet. You go and do your shopping in peace."

"Okay, but we will be leaving this house sometime soon." Narcissa warned her husband. "We are not going to hide away. You've served your time, and helped capture plenty of wizards who are darker and more dangerous than yourself. You are not going to sit around sulking, you are going to get back out in the world and ignore all your critics. Malfoy's don't care what people say about them, we're strong enough not to let gossip bother us."

Lucius smiled at Narcissa's determination as he watched his wife leave his study. No doubt before long she'd have him out of the house and back in the public eye. He just didn't realise he was going to be leaving the Manor quite so soon after his wife's departure on her shopping trip.

"Harry, Ron, I have an assignment for you two." Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, called as she entered the Auror department. The Head Auror was busy with another case, so she'd just picked on the first two Aurors she'd seen upon entering the room looking for Aurors. "There's been an attack in Diagon Alley, the victim has been taken to St Mungo's and her husband informed of the situation."

"Was there dark magic involved?" Harry questioned.

"That's what we pay you to find out." Amelia retorted. "Head down to Diagon Alley and question the witnesses before you head to the hospital. There's a couple of M.L.E officers at the scene, they can fill you in on what happened."

"Who's the victim, and are they badly hurt?" Ron asked.

"The victim is Narcissa Malfoy, and from what I know she was unconscious when they took her into St Mungo's." Amelia replied, before she left the department with orders for the pair to get a move on and head to the crime scene.

"This is a complete waste of time." Ron grumbled as he and Harry left the office. "She'll have been attacked because of that husband of hers. I've seen loads of articles in the paper moaning about his release, and several of them mentioned how lenient she and Malfoy got off after the war."

"I agree, this is retaliation for Lucius's release." Harry said, nodding along with his best friend's opinions. "Unfortunately, we still have to investigate."

"I know, it's just bugs me that we have to waste our time on people like the Malfoy's." Ron sighed. "They deserve everything they get in my opinion."

"I couldn't agree more." Harry said.

Despite their own personal views on the Malfoy's, Harry and Ron still had to head to Diagon Alley to begin the investigation. Unsurprisingly, witnesses were scare. The few people that would admit to seeing something, all said the same thing. They'd seen a figure in a dark robe barge into Narcissa and roughly shove her, when she fell she banged her head on the cobbled street. A pool of blood on the cobbles corroborated the story. However no-one who'd seen the hooded figure had seen their face, or at least they weren't telling Harry and Ron if they had.

"I would say our theory was right." Harry said to Ron, as they examined the crime scene. "It sounds like someone who was unhappy with things barged into Narcissa, knocking her to the ground. We're never going to find out who did it unless Narcissa herself got a look at them."

"Let's hope she didn't." Ron muttered quietly so no-one but Harry could hear him. "I don't fancy arresting someone for standing up to the Malfoy's."

Harry nodded in agreement as the pair finished up in Diagon Alley. Leaving the M.L.E officers to get official statements from the witnesses, Harry and Ron headed to St Mungo's to get a statement from Narcissa. When they arrived at the hospital they were directed to a private room, where they found an anxious looking Lucius sitting at his wife's bedside.

"Do you know what happened, yet?" Lucius demanded.

"It would appear your wife was shoved in Diagon Alley." Harry replied. "The few witnesses we could find all say she banged her head when she fell over."

"And can these witnesses describe Narcissa's attacker?" Lucius asked.

"I'm afraid not." Harry said. "We need a description from Narcissa before we can go any further."

"I'm afraid that will not be possible." A healer said as she entered the room, having heard the beginning of the conversation when she'd opened the door a few seconds earlier.

"Why not?" Ron demanded.

"Mrs Malfoy has suffered a severe blow to the head and she's still unconscious. We have no idea when she will wake up." The healer answered.

"Or if she'll even wake up." Lucius muttered sadly, turning his attention back to his wife who was lying in the hospital bed with a bandage wrapped around her head.

"We have to think positive." The healer told Lucius, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Lucius nodded once before turning his cold, grey eyes back to Harry and Ron. "It looks like you'll have to continue on without Narcissa's statement for the immediate future."

"Without her statement there's not a lot to continue on with." Ron snorted. "We know why she was attacked, we just don't know who did it."

"How can you possibly know why she was attacked without knowing who attacked her?" Lucius asked with a confused frown.

"We can't know for sure, but our best guess is she was attacked in retaliation for your release." Harry answered. "People aren't happy you're out, and it appears as though your wife has paid the price."

Lucius turned back to Narcissa, guilt flooding through his body. He had enough guilt regarding what he'd put his family through during the war, without adding Narcissa's attack to his conscience. He hated to think how Draco would react when he arrived and discovered his mother's attack was all Lucius's fault. It could very well destroy the remainder of their fragile relationship.