22nd June 1993. Greengrass Manor. Two hours before the meeting…
Ares appeared in the Greengrass Manor lavatory with as much grace as he could muster.
He was then rather painfully ejected from the house as he was not recognised by the wards before the meeting later that day.
No doubt the Greengrass family would be left confused for the indefinite future about the sudden flaring of their magical defences.
Appearing outside the ward line with considerably less grace than before, he immediately aged himself up around twenty years and apparated to Malfoy Manor.
He needed to act quickly if he was going to secure the contract with Daphne, and to do so, he had to make it look like it was in the Greengrass family and, more importantly, Daphne's best interests.
That was where Lucius came in; he was obviously dark, had connections to Voldemort's faction and was too dangerous for the Greengrass family to risk crossing. But, more importantly, he had fathered a tactical weapon… Draco Malfoy.
"Lucius!" Roared Ares as he marched into said man's bedroom, where he was looking a little preoccupied with yet another lady.
Ares banished her from the room with a wave of his hand.
"Yes, Master!" the man replied quickly, obviously annoyed but too afraid to say anything.
"Stop acting like a man-whore who just discovered sex and fix my problem. I need you to write a letter immediately to Stefan Greengrass with a blatant threat disguised with a thin veil asking for Daphne's hand in marriage for Draco. Now! Hurry, man!" Ares ordered the ferret-like man.
This time Lucius didn't try to make any excuses. He summoned a house elf who brought him some parchment and a quill and got down to writing.
The letter was incredibly unsubtle, and it hurt Lucius to write it, but he had his orders. Once he finished, he handed it to his Lord, who looked it over,
"You certainly took the unsubtle advice to heart; if they still refuse to marry Daphne off after this, I will lay down in awe of their stubbornness. Now, Lucius, have some of your lackeys standing by to cause damage to Greengrass interests if this doesn't work. Eventually, their self-preservation will have to kick in."
Ares concluded.
Happy with the letter, he left strict instructions on how and when the letter was to be sent.
Looking at the time, he still had an hour and fifteen minutes before he could make it through the Greengrass wards.
Luckily, he had things to do, and satisfied with this plan, he went to make sure plan C would be implemented if plan B, or D for Draco, didn't work.
He arrived in London in a dark alley after stopping by his home to get some Muggle clothes.
Dressed in a three-piece charcoal grey suit, he made his way to the telephone booth leading to the Ministry of Magic.
Picking up the phone, he didn't even wait to hear what it said and merely said, "Here to see the Minister and his undersecretary."
Picking up the badge, he put it on and arrived in the ministry, immediately setting off at a fast pace towards the lift.
Upon entering, he told the on-duty Auror to take him to the Minister; the Auror looked at him incredibly sceptically until Ares flashed his signet ring at the obtuse woman and the expensive-looking jewel reassured her.
Upon arriving on the seventh lower floor, he ignored the Auror and flashed his ring again at the Aurors in front of the two men, but to his surprise, they stopped him.
"Who are you?" the first man asked, Dawlish, according to his name tag.
"Lord Ares Peverell. Get out of my way, now." Ares said, incredibly impatient.
The Auror responded by reaching for his wand.
The Dark Lord was just contemplating mass murder as a quick stress-releasing exercise before he met with the in-laws when Dolores Umbridge appeared.
"Oh! Lord Ares, to what do we owe this pleasure? Dears, let him through. He is here to see the Minister. Look at his badge." She said in a sickly-sweet tone.
Ares nodded at her and made his way into Fudge's office, knocking on the door he walked in.
"My dear Minister! This is urgent; you don't know me, but I am terrific friends with Lord Malfoy, and I see it as my duty to report this.
The Greengrass family are planning to cost hundreds of British wizarding citizens their jobs! If this happened on your watch, it would be terrible for your polls!" Ares declared in his most urgent-sounding voice, which wasn't very hard.
Cornelius had been Minister for a while now but never had he heard of a plot on this scale, which worried him. But, unfortunately, the young Lord was correct. If this happened during his term, he would never have a chance at being the Minister again.
"Thank goodness Lucius sent you. But, unfortunately, we must deal with this immediately; how do you propose we fix this?" Cornelius asked, thanking the Lord for his allies and friends in high places.
"Send a letter with a court date to Lord Greengrass, scare him a little, I am meeting him this afternoon, and I'll try to sort this out. In fact, if you support me, I can provide hundreds of jobs for British citizens," Ares added the last part on quickly thinking of his business starting in Germany; it would need people in Britain and shop owners and transporters etc.
Cornelius nodded, realising that today could break or make his career.
He ordered the letter to be sent immediately.
Ares thanked the man and took his leave as he needed to get to the meeting, his previous selves had just arrived at Greengrass manor, and one of them would be headed to the bathroom in ten to twenty minutes.
Arriving back in the alley he had come in, he changed his clothes and aged himself again.
Ready, he apparated himself back to Greengrass Manor. Walking quickly, he hid behind a corner and watched his past self walk into the bathroom.
After waiting five minutes, he walked in, flushed the loo, washed his hands and returned to the kitchen.
He couldn't help but let a gleam make its way into his eye as he walked back into the room.