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"They're searching the manor now, Mr. Malfoy-"

"Mr. Malfoy is my father."

"Apologies, young master. Apparently there were quite a few secret passages leading to rooms no one else was aware of save himself and the Dark Lord."

"That doesn't surprise me."

Draco Malfoy looked disgusted at the prospect of finding out what else his father had done in order to get himself into the top ten most dangerous and sought after wizards list, again, but he didn't intend on sticking around to find out. He eyed his old servant wearily.

"Whatever they find, tell them they have to deal with it. I wish my father's secrets could have kept themselves."

"But sir! They will ransack the estate. Everything; the heirlooms, all the valuables-"

"I don't care. I'm tired, Harkle. I just want to put this behind me. I have my studies and I...I just want to get on with my life; leave this all in the past."

"Sir, forgive Harkle...but there are things in these chambers...some of them Harkle believes the Ministry will not be able to properly evaluate or know what to do with. Ancient, things sir, older than Harkle. Some things, master forgive Harkle for saying, that should not even exist."

"Then have them destroyed."

The finality of his tone made the house elf cringe. He opened his mouth but a severe look from his master made the elf close it again.

Draco recognized the look on the elf's face and remembered how often it would appear whenever his father had given the final word. Draco wanted to be nothing like his father, so after a slight pause, relented.

"What is it, Harkle?"

The elf looked up at his master and asked simply,

"Even the living...things, sir? Master wants Harkle to destroy them?"

Now it was Draco's turn to cringe. He felt the whisper of curiosity tingling around the edges of his mind but quickly blew it away with his former resolve. He was absolutely convinced he did not want to know what was down there. He had his suspicions and did not need them confirmed.

"No. Let the Ministry deal with those...things."

"As master has said, so shall Harkle do."

And with a pop! the elf vanished leaving Draco alone in the front gardens of the manor. He looked up at it marveling at how it used to seem to him a splendid palace where he not only resided but would someday rule. He had been fed the seeds of greed and power by his father at a very early age and had had no idea there were other things in life that one should seek and strive for. In his family's small bubble of a world the only things they concerned themselves with was conquest, privilege, and status. Draco's father had given them everything they could possibly think of wanting except the two things they needed most: his love and the reassurance that should they lose all the power, privilege, and battles of their lives, they would still have that love no matter what.

Draco's eyes narrowed with cold hatred for the place. He snorted in derision and spat on the ground before stalking off into the night like a wounded animal who had only just barely escaped certain death.

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When he arrived at his flat, Draco sighed in relief. There were no aurors with last minute questions waiting for him like last time. He never knew what to tell them and nothing he said ever seemed good enough for them. He was tired of being held in their suspicious gaze and couldn't help but feel the slightest bit of outrage that they actually thought his father shared all his Death-eating plans with him. Did they think that was how they bonded as father and son? He'd only been a teenager the last time he saw Lucius and now he was rising to the top learning to be a world class Healer of the highest order, trying to make amends for all the lives he'd help to ruin by his father's side. He helped to save lives now and he was already well on his way to becoming one of the best the Wizarding world had ever seen. What else did he have to do to show he was contrite and trying to make penance for his misguided youth?

It was frustrating to say the least.

After checking the flat and making sure nothing seemed off to his now slightly paranoid self, he settled on the couch in his front room and stared up at the ceiling. He couldn't help himself, usually he was very good about not letting his mind wander to the depressing memories of the past, but he couldn't get over something Harkle had said.

"Even the living things?"

The old elf's words dredged up an old dream from his childhood. He closed his eyes trying to hold onto the elusive memory but could only make tatters of it come alive. He looked deep through the hazy mists of ill recall grasping blindly for complete recollection. Try as hard as he might but he could remember only: Seeing the descending walls of the Malfoy Manor cellar, lit by candlelight. Seeing the smoke stretching up to the gratings above after the candle went out suddenly. Feeling terror grip him as a low murmur further down the corridor crept into his ears. Running back up the stairs. Shivering in his bed. Watching his bedroom door creak open slowly. Seeing two cold grey eyes shimmer in the darkness.

"Don't ever...don't you ever..."

Even now, those eyes filled him with dread.

These days he could hardly look at himself in the mirror because there they were, staring back at him;
the only things his father had given him that he couldn't walk away from.

Draco tried to replay the dream but it was already slipping through the sieve of his brain. It seemed each time he tried to remember it, he remembered less than before. He couldn't keep hold of it long enough to elaborate on what happened so he dismissed it as he always had, as a simple childhood dream that would die with all the others, over time.

At least, he hoped anyway. If there was any mercy left for him in the world, it would surely let him forget.

With a flick of his wand, he put out the lights, settled into the couch, and was sinking into the loving arms of sleep within seconds.

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