Unbidden

Lucius Malfoy is a man who is very comfortable in his life. He is please with his family, his position in this world and their common future prospects. He has everything a man could want. A heir who he is proud of. A lovely boy who respects the family name and a delicious streak of cruelty that has given Lucius many moments of enjoyment. He has a wife who he can tolerate and more important tolerates him. They do not see much of each other, but she is a beautiful jewel on his arm whenever he needs one. She also doesn't ask anything off him provided there are enough funds available for her purchases and her social activities.

He has always been working to promote the family and is currently working on the behalf of the Dark Lord to cleanse the corruption in the magical world. Lucius father was the one who saw the potential in the young man and the family have been dedicated followers ever since. The Dark Lord had some distasteful qualities, but he was a means to an end. Plain and simple. There was of course some resistance, as would be expected, from Dumbledore and his rag tag band of children and misfits.

Lucius thought the old man was foolish, probably senile. They made some noise, but they weren't taken seriously by anyone. Lucius had also made sure that no one paid them any heed through his influence with the Daily Prophet. In truth, Lucius would have preferred to do what was necessary without the Dark Lord, who returned recently and punctuated the event by killing a boy. Which was crass behaviour according to Lucius, but who was he to oppose the prevailing wind. He was a means to an end, that all.

Lucius foresaw that Lord Voldemort would eventually be disposed of when he couldn't control his base nature. The man couldn't plan his way out of a paper bag if is life depended on it, but for now, the discomfort he caused was helping them clean out some of the more undesireable elements at the ministry.

There were some unpleasantries to deal with, but on the whole, everything was going swimmingly. He had the best wine, the best gastronomic delights and the best whores. He never actually lay with them, but they would take care of his needs as he sat by his desk. He liked watching as they tended to him with their mouths. Clean, like he preferred it. His first time was with a whore. His father had gotten her for him on his sixteenth birthday. It hadn't liked it that much. It was messy and undignified really. Having them take him in their mouth was better. No mess and he liked the sense of power he felt over them. Of course he had to lay with his wife a few times to secure his heir, but it had been a strained affair on both of their parts. Both were well pleased when she finally fell with child and the fact that it was a male, secured the fact that they never really had to touch each other again.

His son was now the same age as he had been with his first whore, maybe a little older. He hadn't gotten him a whore. It was a little distasteful. His son did not seem to need the assistance anyway. The girls were different nowadays. When he was at school, a pureblooded girl would never let anyone near her, but the young ladies now seemed less concerned about their chastity. Lucius didn't quite approve. During his time, that had been what the mudbloods were for. They had their place in society and it was for things that wholesome girls were not.

A few of his contemporaries had carried out physical relationships with mudblood girls, not that he had ever gone for that. Again distasteful. They weren't badly treated. There weren't that many of them and somehow whatever they provided was valuable enough to ensure relatively good treatment provided they kept their expectations in check. At the time Lucius had found nothing more disappointing than someone running off and marrying one of them. But someone had gone and convinced the mudbloods that they were equals in this society.

Well, there was that nasty business last year at the Ministry that got him imprisoned for a while. Azkaban had been bad, but being bested by Harry Potter and his team of nitwits was embarrassing. Not to mention, the Dark Lord, deciding to enter into the fray, thereby blowing the advantage they had with him being hidden. Now it was all the harder to keep him under some kind of control.

Withstanding that little detour, things were progressing nicely. They were increasing their control of the Ministry. They had more or less complete control over the media outside. Dumbledore and his children were all nicely tucked away in Hogwarts. While he was away in Azkaban, the Dark Lord had cooked up some hare brained scheme that Draco would assassinate Dumbledore. Good thing he got out of there and managed to distract the Dark Lord from his idiotic plans.

The Dark Load was still hell bent on killing Dumbledore, which Lucius thought was unnecessary and provoking. Dumbledore's credibility was already at an all time low. The conditions were perfect for stitching up control of the Ministry, but Voldemort's capacity for distraction was great. Lucius did not however underestimate the power of Dumbledore as a wizard, perhaps the best outcome for all would be if Dumbledore killed Voldemort. Actually that would be perfect. Maybe it was time to start organising such an outcome.

And that was how Lucius Malfoy decided to start assisting the Order of the Phoenix. He would have to inform Severus, who would initiate it all. Severus was the only person he could vaguely consider as a friend. Although he has aways known that Severus was Dumbledore's man. He has also always known that Severus was completely and utterly devoted to that mudblood girl in him class, until to an unwitting degree participated in her death. Severus had never forgiven himself for that. While his attachment to a mudblood was disgraceful, and even though her loss was of no consequence to the wizarding world, Lucius could grudgingly accept that Severus had loved this girl and had been mourning her loss for many years now. He himself had very little comprehension for love, but he understood that it was a debilitating affliction for others.

Hermione had settled into the role of Head Girl and it kept her fairly busy. The Head Boy was a Ravenclaw, who she got on with fairly well. She was busier than any year so far with all of her Head duties, NEWT studies, as well as the muggle studies her parents wanted her to do in preparation for University Entrance exams. She wasn't sure about what she wanted to do, but listened to her parents' plea for her not to limit her options.

As a consequence, Professor McGonagall had allowed her to use the time turner again. She spent twice the time in the library at night, even pulling out a computer when there wasn't anyone in sight. Dumbledore had specifically allowed a spot in the library for the use of electronic equipment to accommodate her, for which she was very grateful.

Harry still has a bit of an obsession with Draco Malfoy, but on the whole, Draco Malfoy didn't have the pale sickly look he did last year. Maybe his father being in prison had affected him strongly, she'd guessed. Lucius had managed to weedle himself out of prison without much obstacle, which infuriated her after what he'd done. Granted it was the LeStrange woman who had killed Sirius, but still he had organised it all.

It didn't matter, Hermione dismissed the thoughts from her head. Thinking of him and all the injustice in this world just ended up depressing her. Maybe that was why she wasn't so quick to dismiss a possible future in the muggle world. The older she got the more she could see the flaws that ran through this culture beneath the wonders of magic. What was it that muggle author had said, 'Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely'. Maybe magic was a force for corruption. It was power after all and there were tonnes of people in this world who felt they were entitled.

Closer to home, Harry and Ginny were getting close, as was Ron and his 'puke' girlfriend Lavender. Watching Ron and Lavender's sloppy kissing was disgusting. It really was enough to put anyone off the opposite sex. Hermione certainly didn't have time and she was sure to shut down any boy who even looked at her.

Dumbledore's army was still going strong. The tension in the world was palpable. Everyone knew Voldemort was back. And although there were the odd call for Dumbledore to step down, most parents felt much better having him there guarding their children. As people started disappearing, maybe the school was the safest place to be.

Hermione was running late for one of the Dumbledore's army sessions. She had just finished a test she'd studies the whole morning for, so she was already fifteen minutes late. Harry's teaching abilities was coming on in leaps and bounds, there may actually be a future for him here at Hogwarts.

Hermione threw her bag down and joined the line. They were doing some of the lesser known defensive spells and they were supposed to do it one at a time, then take a step to the left. The line was getting a bit confused and when she'd thrown her hex, then stepped to the left, she was being hit before she had time to react. Which was completely embarrassing, but what was worse was that she didn't even feel the hex. She should be feeling the hex, maybe she was getting sick.

Instead she heard a bit of buzzing, which was strange. The buzzing grew louder and it took Hermione a few seconds to realise it was the timeturner under her shirt. Her hands panicked to rip it off her but it stuck to the inside of her sweater, so it took a few yanks, but finally she got it out and around her neck, and threw it aside. When she looked up there wasn't anyone in the room.

Oh no. She knew she'd been transport somewhere, otherwise Harry and everyone else would be standing there looking at her like she'd turned bright green. She rushed after the time turner which looked a bit melted. It was not a healthy look for a time turner and the inner wheel spun around freely and she turned it over. That was not good.