Another Version of the Truth

A/N: I am sure everyone has seen the warnings. They still apply.

In case you live under a rock, Harry Potter and associated characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Chapter title is from Year Zero, Nine Inch Nails.

~*~

Lucius Malfoy sat in his study, reviewing his business correspondence from the last two months, but his thoughts were elsewhere. While every member of his family carried the Dark Mark, his son was deemed by the Ministry to have taken it only under duress. For this, Lucius was thankful. It meant that the Malfoy name and social standing had not been completely destroyed by the Dark Lord's downfall. Unfortunately, it also meant that Draco controlled all of the family holdings.

His son had allowed him to control some aspects of the family businesses, once he was sure that Lucius would not revert back to his former Death Eater persona. How naïve the boy could be. Lucius had been slowly diverting funds from some of the businesses into a little known account he had set up to use for his pleasure and for what he was calling his retirement fund. He was going to use that money to fund his new life, away from the accusing eyes of the British wizarding population.

Lucius had never had a Death Eater persona. He was and always would be a pure-blooded supremacist. The person he had become since the war ended, this respectable and honest wizard, was the façade. He counted down the days until he could return to his former self.

The things he did to maintain this new identity helped him with the Ministry and one of his toys. The Ministry was beginning to see him as truly reformed, though a few still had their doubts. But the Malfoys had the support of Harry Potter. Potter had stood up for his family after the final battle.

Draco had been cleared within the first week. Potter had testified about the events surrounding Dumbledore's offer and Draco's reluctance to take a life. The Wizengamot had heard how he had been forced to take Lucius' place and all about the task that was given to him. Everyone seemed to agree that the boy had been set this task in order to set him up for failure and to punish him for his father's mistakes.

Narcissa's trial had taken a little less than a month before she too was cleared. While she had rarely performed any duties for the Dark Lord, she had been accused of harboring him at the Manor for almost a year. Her part in saving Potter had actually earned her an Order of Merlin, third class in the end. It seemed that many wizards felt without her deception the battle would have been lost.

Lucius' trial had lasted more than three months, but the Ministry hadn't let him off completely. Every misdeed he had done in the last twenty or so years had been scrutinized. He had been accused of everything from bribery to murder and even a few things he hadn't done. The evidence against him, for most of the crimes, was sketchy at best. With Potter's testimony, he had managed to get off relatively easy.

He had spent ten years under Ministry control, his magic had been bound, and he'd had to perform community service for the betterment of the wizarding community. During this time, he had to rely heavily on his personal elf for the care and protection of his toys. He could not be seen taking care of those things himself. Especially if he wished to retain control of the Muggle-born Project.

The Muggle-born Project was a brilliant idea he'd had to separate the Mudbloods from their parents once they began school. Plus, it had the added benefit of allowing him to perform his community service, making him look better in the eyes of the Ministry. Even after his commitment to the Ministry was complete, he continued to lead the Project in order to control the young Muggle-born children.

The Project placed Muggle-borns with pure-blooded families during the summer holidays, thus allowing them to learn more of the customs and traditions of the wizarding culture they now belonged to.

The press ate it up. A Malfoy and reformed Death Eater trying to instill the values of the wizarding world in the Muggle-borns was just the thing to get his name and picture on the front page of the Daily Prophet.

'Lucius Malfoy Takes a Stand for Muggle-borns and Half-bloods'.

The article, once it had been doctored a bit, found its way into the hands of his toy. His plan was to make her see him as a savior. He left the headline alone but changed the article in order to further terrify and control his toy.

Being the head of the Project gave him the right to place the students with families of his choosing. He only had to answer to Percy Weasley, who was easily persuaded to see only what Lucius wanted him to see. He was careful to place many of the students with unknown supporters of the Dark Lord, ensuring that they would be forever turned from the Muggles who had raised them. He used his influence over these families to force them to do his bidding in regards to what the children learned. If he could not eradicate the Mudbloods, he would see to it that they felt the same way about Muggles as he did.

~*~

He had returned home late last night from the mainland where he had gone to make arrangements for himself and his favorite toy. His family had assumed he had other business to take care of and did not question his lengthy trip. He had been eager to set his plan into motion, but his stay had lasted a little longer than expected.

His anger began to swell as he remembered the events of this morning. Today was supposed to be the first day of his new life, without his wife. Even the glass of Firewhiskey he had had before breakfast was not able to calm him down.

He had been trying for months to kill his wife, making sure his elf dosed her tea with a variety of untraceable, slow-acting poisons. The poisons were designed such that his wife should have died a week ago, had she continued to take them. Something had happened. Not only had she not died, she seemed to have recovered from her illness enough to go to Tenerife with her sister, unbeknownst to him.

He had placed several calls while away to check on her health, as any concerned husband would. When it became apparent she was recovering, he had decided to take matters into his own hands, literally. He had been set to do just that upon his return.

He had tried in vain to locate his wife before the rest of the occupants of the manor awoke this morning. She had not been in any of her rooms, the garden or solarium. After several hours of endless searching, he had called her elf.

"Master call Calla," the little elf had squeaked when she'd popped into view.

"Where is my wife, elf," he'd snarled.

"Mistress has not been well. Mistress has gone with her sister on holiday."

Lucius had waved his hand to signify he was through with her, and she'd disappeared.

On holiday with that blood traitor of a sister, Andromeda. He would now have to wait for her to return before he could continue with his plans. He really should have killed her before he'd left. That poison he'd found had obviously not worked as it was supposed to if all it had done was make her ill.

He needed to clear his head and calm down. Another glass of Firewhiskey and his anger began to abate. After another hour of perusing business correspondences, he began to think about his two precious toys. A devious smile spread across his face. One he would destroy, and the other he would keep, until she was of no more use to him.

He was beginning to relax and allowed himself a few minutes to reminisce on how he had come across the toys that had brought him so much pleasure over the years.

~*~

How lucky that he found the Mudblood dazed and confused on the grounds of Hogwarts. He grabbed her up and Apparated to the nearest deserted place he could think of, the Shrieking Shack. He knew that the Dark Lord had already left it to go into the forest.

The elf grabbed hold of both the Mudblood and the traitor and disappeared. As much as Lucius wanted to play, he knew he would be missed if he did not return to the Dark Lord's side soon.

~*~

Returning to his papers, Lucius attempted to conclude his business correspondence for the day. He had to schedule a time to check on all the children in the Project this week for his Ministry-appointed bean counter, otherwise known as his Project Liaison. It was the standard 'Are the children happy, healthy and safe' visit. Of course, Lucius preferred to do these visits personally. He was able to intimidate and control the youngsters when they were in his presence, force them to see and understand his views.

He tried to concentrate on his schedule, but his thoughts kept returning to his elf. Mot was an incredible find. He closed his eyes and thought back to that day so long ago when he had found the elf in his manor.

He had come across the elf shortly after losing his other personal elf. Lucius had been disposing of a few artifacts that were stored beneath his drawing room when he came across a small door he had never seen before. Crouching down, he had spelled the door open and been surprised to see a small corridor behind it. After enlarging the passage so he could walk along it, he came across a series of elf quarters that he had not known about.

Lucius smiled for the first time since coming into Mot's quarters. He and Mot were going to get along well, very well indeed.

A/N: My thanks to Sempra for reading through this, time and time again, until I got it all right. Calla derived from Greek, "beauty". Spurius means "of illegitimate birth" in Ancient Roman. Flavius means "golden" or "yellow-haired" in Ancient Roman. Aquila is for the constellation and means eagle.