The Platinum Family's Predicament

The sunlight in Diagon Alley was as bright as ever, but Lucius Malfoy could not feel the slightest warmth.

He gripped Draco's arm tightly, his knuckles pressing so hard they nearly sank into his son's flesh. He hurried through the crowded streets, the silver serpent-headed cane striking the ground in a chaotic, urgent rhythm that had completely lost its usual measured grace.

Only after turning into a relatively secluded narrow alley piled with crates of discarded magical items did he stop.

"Father!" Draco finally tore free from his grip, rubbing his aching arm. His gray-blue eyes held a mix of lingering fear, remaining arrogance, deep confusion, and grievance. "Why did you—That person, he—"

"Shut up!" Lucius snarled, his voice hoarse like sandpaper scraping. With his back to Draco, his shoulders rose and fell violently several times beyond his control.

He raised a hand and viciously wiped his forehead and temples with the back of his expensive dragonhide glove. Cold sweat had already soaked through, leaving his pale blond hair damp, clinging, and disheveled.

"Did you think the person standing there was merely some ignorant half-blood bastard? Hmm? Or some foreign upstart?"

"Draco, use that brain of yours, stuffed full of sweets and vanity, and take a good look at reality!"

He stepped forward, his shadow falling over his son.

"After the Dark Lord fell, the Ministry of Magic's fines drained three of our vaults dry! That old bumblebee Dumbledore and his Mudblood supporters want to kick us off the Hogwarts Board of Governors, out of every position of influence, every single moment! And those so-called 'pure-blood allies'... Heh..."

He gave a brief, piercing sneer. "Nott, Crabbe, Goyle... They are merely waiting for their chance, waiting for us to fall completely! Waiting to tear the last piece of flesh from us so they can lick the dust off the Ministry of Magic's boots!"

From outside the alley came the cheers of children who had bought new brooms, sharply piercing the suffocating silence.

Lucius closed his eyes. When he opened them again, only cold reality remained within. "We have no one to rely on anymore, Draco. The Dark Lord is a thing of the past. The Ministry of Magic sees us as caged birds it can use to bolster its political achievements whenever it wishes, and Dumbledore would love nothing more than for us to disappear. As for the other families? They can barely protect themselves, or they are happy to watch us fall into the dirt. Maintain the Malfoys' dignity?"

He pointed at his luxurious robes, already slightly damp with sweat. "We rely on the dwindling gold in Gringotts, on the miserable existence I have bought by flattering those disgusting Muggle officials! We rely on never letting anyone see the weakness beneath the surface!"

The color slowly drained from Draco's face. The brutally naked reality in his father's words struck harder than all the lessons about "family honor" he had heard over the past eleven years combined.

"Father, what did he mean? Was he... threatening you? Using me? How dare he!"

"Quiet!" Lucius snapped, his gaze sweeping warily toward the alley entrance. "Do you think you are still that young master who can do whatever he pleases, with everyone forced to yield to him? Look at your father! Look at the Malfoy Family's current position! We are no longer the players, Draco. At least not for now! We are pieces on the board! And Uchiha... at least he is willing to place the pieces on the board instead of sweeping them straight into the rubbish heap!"

"And you," Lucius said, his finger nearly touching Draco's nose, "almost sealed off the last bit of room we have left to maneuver! Do you think the name 'Malfoy' can still frighten anyone now? Frighten those Mudbloods? Or frighten..."

His voice suddenly dropped, carrying an uncontrollable tremor. "Frighten Uchiha?"

He abruptly seized Draco's shoulders, using enough force to make the boy groan in pain. "You ask why I fear him? Why I bowed and scraped before a child?"

Lucius's eyes were bloodshot with agitation and fear. "Because I have seen what happens to people who 'do not take him seriously'!"

He leaned close to Draco's ear, his breath hot and hurried. "Knockturn Alley once had more than just Borgin and Burke. Three months ago, there was also a dark wizard called Viper. Backed by the Japanese wizarding school, he had been meddling in underground dealings throughout the wizarding world. But he crossed Flamel, the person now known as Uchiha."

"One day. To be precise, only one night, Draco! The powerful wizards stationed in London by the Japanese wizarding school, the great wizard Yagyu Sogen and his family—their residence, laboratories, every branch of their bloodline, even the magical gnomes they kept in their garden... all vanished."

Lucius spoke almost in a whisper, yet every word carried icy shards. "They did not move away. They vanished. All that remained at the scene was scorched earth, burned by strange flames until even its life force had been drained away. And... supposedly, several Department of Magical Accidents officers who went to investigate returned completely insane for an entire month. They could only keep screaming about 'red eyes' and 'black flames.'"

A chill shot from Draco's feet to the top of his head, leaving all four limbs icy cold.

"No one dared investigate further. The Ministry of Magic sealed the files and classified it as an 'unknown dark magic disaster.'" Lucius released him and stepped back, as though merely recalling it took all his strength.

"But everyone in Knockturn Alley knows who did it. Uchiha... They are not some so-called wizarding family whose bloodline has reverted to its ancestors, Draco. At least, not entirely. They possess powers we cannot understand and... rules of killing that they do not care about in the slightest. They do not follow that pure-blood and half-blood nonsense, they do not obey the Ministry of Magic's laws, and they do not even hold much respect for Dumbledore. They recognize only power and results."

He stared into his son's gray-blue eyes, still full of defiance and confusion. A deeper chill, mixed with fury, churned in his chest.

"Power and results," Lucius repeated, lowering his voice further, with an almost desperate sharpness.

"Draco, you do not understand what that means at all! The Dark Lord wanted rule, a throne for pure-bloods. At least... at least those were desires we could understand, bargain with, and maneuver around! But Uchiha..."

He let go, his unfathomable gaze turning toward the blurry, bustling Diagon Alley beyond the alley mouth.

The noise outside was blocked by the high walls, becoming indistinct. Above them was only a sliver of gray sky, while the air carried the stale scent of old parchment and expired potions.

He paused, as if searching for the right words. In the end, he merely shook his head, terror almost overflowing from his eyes.

"They are like... natural disasters. No reason, no warning, only destruction. The Ministry of Magic's Aurors are like children holding toy wooden sticks before them! Do you think I was bowing and scraping before him just now? No. I was trying to keep the Malfoy Family's battered ship, already on the verge of sinking, from being smashed apart by the aftershock of a tsunami!"

Draco's lips moved. He wanted to argue, to say his father was exaggerating, to say that Uchiha was only a boy about his own age...

But the unforgettable terror in his father's eyes, the cold sweat continuously sliding down his temples, and the trembling that had replaced his usual composure all silently proved that none of it was empty talk.

Lucius stepped forward and planted both hands heavily on Draco's shoulders, with enough force to make the boy stagger. "Listen. From this moment on, put away that 'I am a Malfoy' attitude! Especially at Hogwarts, especially in front of that Uchiha! Do not provoke him. Do not try to flaunt your family honor in front of him. And do not... jump out so foolishly again as you did today!"

Draco's face flushed red, humiliation nearly drowning him. "But—!"

"No buts!" Lucius cut him off, his gaze sharp as a blade. "Do you want the Malfoy Family to disappear completely? Do you want Malfoy Manor to become the next Yagyu Family scorched wasteland? Do you want your mother to also..."

He did not finish, but the unspoken meaning in his words made Draco feel as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.

"I..." Every argument Draco had was forced back down, leaving only powerless pallor.

Lucius looked at the dejected expression that had instantly appeared on his face, and a trace of reluctance flashed through his heart.

Indulgence and protection were useless before a true crisis. He had to make his son understand the cruelty of this world, especially the new and even more unpredictable cruelty that Uchiha had brought.

"Remember this feeling, Draco." Lucius's voice softened, but it became even heavier. "Remember the fear, humiliation, and helplessness you felt today. This is what happens when you lose power and lose those you can rely on. The Malfoy Family's future cannot be sustained by Galleons and lies alone. We need new power, new... support."

He released Draco and looked toward the blurry, bustling Diagon Alley beyond the alley mouth, his gaze deep and unreadable.