Mr. Malfoy's second chance

The beginning

The raindrops beated the window of the spacious workroom as Kingsley Shacklebolt read a letter in front of his desk. His forehead was frowned on, his face was gloomy, and at one point in the letter an incredulous expression glided through him. No, it can't be, it's just impossible...

He stared at the parchment for minutes, rereading it several times, and then folded it together and sunk the paper into his drawer. For a long time, he stared into the fire that was burning in the fireplace, then shook his head and took out the letter again. That's not what the magic world would expect of its leader, and that's not what he would expect from himself. He was chosen as minister of magic for a reason, and it was not for nothing that the wizarding society thought that after the great battle, he and only he could be fit to be minister. It is thanks to his expertise, loyalty, insight and justice that not only has everything returned to the way it was, but he has reformed the wizarding world at several points, providing his voters with a more liveable environment. The great battle... Kingsley looked darkly at the parchment lying in front of him. Was it all a mistake? Is it really possible that what they thought was a glorious victory was actually a fatal mistake, and that they caused a problem that could have consequences now, years later?

Is it possible that Harry Potter and everyone, wizard and Muggle, are in more danger now than ever? You need to talk to the boy... He doesn't make the mistake his predecessors made, he respects Harry. Potter has a right to know what he's learnt, even if Kingsley himself would have preferred to see it as a false alarm. Potter is a good adviser and has proven several times that he deserves honesty.

In fact, it's not just him, it's the others. He summoned his patron with a wand and uttered words he had not said for many years:

"Every member of the Order of the Phoenix. We shall talk urgently. Meet me at the headquarters" he reverbered in his deep voice.

The lynx snnep out the window to forward the ominous message.

*

Lucius Malfoy leaned back tired in his workroom. It was late, and even though he finished working hours ago, he didn't want to go up to his bedroom.

Narcissa died a year after the war; even though the man felt more respect for her than love, the loss of the woman left a painful void in his soul, as did the other events of recent years. After Potter killed the Dark Lord, the kid rehabilitated the Malfoy family for unexplainable reasons.

Neither Draco nor Narcissa nor he, Lucius went to prison because Potter proved before the Wizengamot that the Malfoy family wanted to leave the dark side before Voldemort's fall. But, in vain, the calm did not last long: less than a year later Narcissa died as a result of a serious illness, and Draco saw the time to leave the father's house. He married Astoria Greengrass, with whom they moved to France to escape from all the painful memories.

Thus Lucius was left on his own, and although he was allowed to keep his personal assets, his mansion and other real estates, he was lonely. Many of the old friends deserted him, others behaved distantly with him. He was invited to the luxurious balls, and many chatted with him politely when they met, but nothing was the same.

Loneliness made him realize a number of things, things he really only started dealing with in the last year of the war. His hubris and gold-blood obsession made him a cruel, evil man that he no longer wanted to be. Of course, as dragons don't become goiers nor will he become self-proclaimed elf protector, and volunteer squib-assisting work is not included in his near or distant plans either. All he knew was that he had made mistakes, that he had committed sins that he could never make up for. If he would have treated Narcissa better, if he would not have committed to the Dark Lord, if he could have seen beyond what his muggle-hating father presented to him...