It was late afternoon in Wiltshire, and the gardens Severus walked through to get to the Malfoy Mansion door were at their very best. The air was perfumed by the roses and other flowers that were blooming. Of course his analytical mind kept trying to catalog all their uses in potions-making, but he enjoyed the scent as well.

The grounds always were spectacular, even the ‘woods' leading from the dirt road seemed planned, and the Malfoy greenhouses rivaled ones run by professionals. It made him wonder, at times if Narcissa had once had ambitions other than to be a social lioness.

A house elf opened the door before he could even knock, and lead him to Lucius' study. Draco greeted Severus happily from a nearby sofa. Draco spent a lot of time in his father's study, the better to avoid his mother's uncertain temper, and general unhappiness.

Lucius greeted him with a calculating look in his eye, he undoubtedly had noted Severus' determined air, and wondered what he had planned. Having a long-time friend like Lucius had a few disadvantages - like the fact that they could read you like no one else could.

They fixed tea and scones, and there was a bit of small talk. Severus was not sure how much arguing would be necessary to recruit Lucius. He was glad, now that he had lost his temper with Albus a year and a half ago. Albus had refused to let Severus talk to his Slytherins about the dark lord, and sway them away from him. ‘It would blow Severus' cover'. Albus seemed all too willing to sacrifice the entire Slytherin house to keeping him in place to resume his role as a spy.

In a fit of rage Severus had spent the weekend at the Malfoys, gleefully informing Lucius that the Dark Lord had once been Tom Riddle, half-blooded Hogwarts student. Severus had pensieved all the memories of Albus Dumbledore showing him information about Tom's childhood for him to view. Lucius had watched them and roared loud objections and accusations of ‘making it all up'. Lucius had spent most of the following year trying to debunk it all - instead of which he had verified it and found even more evidence.

After Lucius had sulked at the bottom of a firewhiskey bottle for a few days, he had finally invited Severus back over for a weekend. Lucius had slandered Voldemort's name in every way possible with Severus agreeing with all the insults and adding a few of his own, and both of them liberally using the word hypocrite in reference to the dark lord.

Lucius had finally accepted that the two strongest wizards in Britain were half-bloods - both Voldemort and Albus. Voldemort's father was a muggle, and Albus' mother was a muggleborn. Now Harry Potter was joining the list, his mother was a muggleborn, and he had somehow destroyed Voldemort.

Lucius was unfortunately married to a rather fanatical pureblood, and he did tire many times of listening to her rants, especially when she reminded him that the Malfoys may be rich - but their haughty bloodlines were only a few centuries from muggleborn blood.

Lucius had smugly let Narcissa know that the Dark Lord that her family had slavishly served, and that her family had talked Abraxas and Lucius into following (to enhance their standing with the purebloods), was only a half-blood himself. Narcissa had screamed herself hoarse - frightening Draco, and making Lucius laugh.

Narcissa had left for several weeks to Draco and Lucius' relief, apparently to verify what Lucius had said. Lucius had left out who had told him about Tom Riddle, letting Narcissa believe Lucius had just been investigating on his own.

Lucius was, as far as Severus could tell, just in the right frame of mind to recruit to Harry's cause - whether Albus liked it or not. Severus asked Draco to give he and his father a few moments alone - come back in an hour. Draco nodded agreeably and left.

"Lucius, I have a project you may be interested in - and I definitely need your help." Severus baited the hook carefully. "Since you know the truth about the Dark Lord, I'm sure you might be interested in looking elsewhere for alliances."

"Albus ‘Gryffindors reign supreme' Dumbledore is not my idea of an ally - he has had as tight a grip on you as the Dark Lord did." Lucius sneered.

"Well the lack of crucio's and no orders to torture and kill, make it a bit easier to accept." Severus glared a bit, and Lucius dropped his gaze, Lucius had only rarely gotten cursed by Voldemort, who was well aware of where much of his money came from. "No, there is a third alliance available." Lucius looked doubtful, but curious. "Harry Potter is likely to come under my guardianship very soon. I will need your help to make sure that the Headmaster does not interfere with that." Severus explained the letter he received - to the outrage of Lucius, and the home he was buying on the Dragon reserve to house the fleeing trio in. "You could become a person Harry looks up to, and Draco could become a friend to him."

Lucius eyes glittered as he savored the idea of being one of those at Harry Potter's side as he triumphed - Likely a very trusted adviser to the Boy Who Lived. He had no illusions that his son might be tough enough to become a killing machine like the Death Eaters needed to be. Harry Potter might be Draco's escape from that.

"Tell me what you need." Lucius smiled at Severus' lifted eyebrow. "I might survive the Dark Lords return, but Draco is not a death eater and Harry Potter could be his way out of this madness."

"Whatever will Narcissa say?" Severus asked a bit grimly.

Narcissa had been a Black- and for them blood was everything. If Abraxas hadn't essentially bought her for his son she had been slated to marry either Regulus or Sirius - her cousins. She still firmly believed in the pureblood idiocy, even if the Dark Lord had proved to have feet of clay. She had returned after Lucius' revelation a bit subdued. She had gone to her parents, and they had yelled and refused to believe even the obvious proof. She had confronted her Aunt Walburga and had been treated to a spectacular tantrum, and then the old cat had had a stroke and died. She had finally retreated to a state of willful ignorance to what Lucius had revealed.

"She won't stand in the way of Draco and I being on the winning side, if she does she'll be spending the next few decades in our French chateau, visiting her European friends." Lucius answered with chill resolve.

Severus nodded slowly; he had suspected that Draco would be the key to Lucius. Lucius had sharp survival instincts and had emerged from the first downfall of Voldemort with hardly a slap in the wrist, and was again in the good graces of most of the Ministry. Even the Minister Fudge relied on him a great deal. Severus and Lucius knew, though, that Draco was not ruthless and would not be able to survive five minutes in the presence of the Dark Lord.

"I need to gather evidence that what Petunia said was true, and ensure that the guardianship she gives me is upheld." Severus said. "Likely I will need a tutor for them for this coming year - I thought that perhaps Draco could share their lessons." Lucius smiled at Severus conspiratorially, it was a good plan to aid in Harry and Draco developing a friendship.

The two men stood, and shook hands.

"Get Harry on that reserve, and I'll ensure he stays there." Lucius said firmly.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Severus arrived at home in time to receive a firecall from Rigel, and arrange a bank draft from Gringotts from Severus to Rigel. Rigel had said that the Director of the reserve was happy to help the fleeing family, and would take Rigel's vouching for the buyer of the house.

The papers for the house were in his hand by sundown, and Severus smugly ate a delicious meal with his best wine. He was profuse with his praise, and Tinker had been ecstatic. Severus told Tinker that he had bought a second house for friends to live in, and that he might need help cleaning and furnishing it. Tinker nodded eagerly ‘he was happy to be helping master's friends'.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Monday dawned clear and bright, and Vernon had cheerfully eaten breakfast, while droning on about 'how nice it will be to have Marge visiting for the weekend'. He goaded Harry relentlessly with ‘Harry needing to get reacquainted with Ripper'. Harry had not responded to anything Vernon said, to Vernon's disgust.

Dudley had given his dad a level stare and mentioned that maybe he would make Ripper disappear to a nearby stray dog shelter. Vernon blustered a bit and finally was off to work.

The three finished clearing the table and wandered into the living room, the boys were too restless to settle on the books, they were all hoping to hear from Severus.

"Why don't you go on to the pool, I'll stay here in case Severus comes. You need some distraction." Petunia urged them. They caved in quickly and raced out the door, leaving Petunia alone to brood and hope for the appearance of Lily's old friend.

Severus approached the house with caution just before noon, he was sure that Albus had told him all the spells that were on the house, and so he could circumvent them. Years as a spy kept him cautious all the same. He wore his usual robes and simply cast a disillusionment on himself as he walked up to the door, and got rid of the spell - it did no good to knock on the door if the answering party couldn't see you.

Petunia opened the door, and to Severus' appalled stare actually teared up at the sight of him. "I'm so glad to see you, Severus. Please come in."

She showed him into the living room and seated him on the sofa. "You got the letter quickly, then. I sent it on Saturday."

"Yes, I must say it was an extreme surprise." Severus allowed a bit of censure to enter his voice. "How did things get so out of hand?"

"Vernon has been getting gradually worse for years. When Albus came a couple years ago, I thought he would stop it. Perhaps he thought he had. It started getting worse, again. His sister will be here Friday evening - she's as bad as him, we have to be gone before then." Petunia put this in final tones.

"Well, I had hoped for more time, but I've a house bought where you can go. I'll try to get it furnished as quickly as possible, but it's totally bare at present. If you can hang on until Wednesday I'll try to get at least the bare necessities into it." Severus managed a slight grin at her astonished relief.

"Where, Severus?" Petunia asked, breathlessly.

"On a Dragon Reserve in Wales, you're going to live with dragons." Severus grinned at her look of appalled horror.

"Well...the boys will be pleased." Petunia finally said, faintly.

Severus stood. "I should not stay too long, I'll be here Wednesday afternoon - say 3 o'clock." Petunia nodded and Severus left, after casting another disillusionment.

Petunia leaned against the door and sighed. Dragons - they would be living with dragons. Well, they couldn't be worse than Marge.