Chapter 2: Hiding in Plain Sight

Draco sat on a custom velour chaise with his feet up on a matching coffee table. The paisley red and green hues reminded him of Christmas, which reminded him of home, which made him physically sick. There was an actual psychopath in his home. He was torturing and murdering people in his living room, the room he played as a child, all because of the Witches and Wizards parentage. Draco's mother had taken him on a 'vacation' once the Dark Lord had started filleting people on their dinner table, during dinner.

Draco had choked on the meat he had been eating and threw up all over the table. His mother had discreetly cleaned his mess and excused them from the table. That night his parents had the first row he had ever witnessed them having. The next morning the two were portkey bound for Bucharest to visit an old friend of his mother's, leaving his livid father behind.

So far, it had been a pleasant trip so far. They were in a Muggle populated area so he was forced to wear bloody Muggle clothes. There were no Witches or Wizards who stared or gawked at him. He was generally ignored and not treated like he was about to murder someone's children, so that was nice….

The first couple of days were spent just relaxing with his mother, however, she soon grew bored and began to shop. Her favorite hobby if Draco was being honest. The Dark Lord's relocation to their home had caused her to cancel many of her favorite social gatherings and clubs and she was not happy about her hard-earned social life crumbling before her eyes. Draco watched his mother take her frustrations out on their Gringotts account while he retreated into books and studies that Severus had given him at the end of the school year along with the good advice to keep his nose down and blend in with the walls. Advice his actual father had not even bothered giving him.

The Pureblood heir swung his long legs over the chaise and picked up the book he had discarded earlier. He was scared. Hell, he was bloody terrified. He had voiced these concerns to Severus and his godfather had winced and warned him that things were only going to get infinitely worse. Draco tried his hardest to concentrate on the coloring of spells and their meanings but his mind was only serving to distract him. He stood up and began to pace the small study he had been given to do school work. He had yet to meet his mother's friend and he had growing suspicion that whoever he or she was, it was someone the Dark Lord would not approve of.

Draco had found several Muggle things about the house and several books belonging to the Prince family line before his mother had hidden anything that could aid in his discovery of the real owner's identity. There were two doors on the second floor of the villa that was locked that no charm or Bombarda Maxima would open. He knew there was a basement but he could find no door or access point to gain entrance.

The overall style and character of the house were not personalized. Draco found it to be reminiscent of the neighborhood and country they were in. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was that there were no paintings or photographs anywhere in the home. There was plenty of ceiling to floor windows but not a single muggle or wizarding photograph or painting. All of the statues were abstracts and the decor was mainly potted plants. The balcony on the second floor housed an impressive selection of international varieties of aconite. After his mother insisted they would be staying through August, Draco began to research the Wolfsbane potion and work on brewing it. He was planning on putting it in stasis when he was done and giving it to Severus at the start of the term. Some extra credit should finally put him above Granger's test scores.

Having a father on the board of your school meant that your scores always had to perfect. Lucius Malfoy knew the school's educational standing and would not stand for the embarrassment of a below outstandingly graded son. The majority of his summers were spent with tutors studying for the next term and cultivating relationships with the proper families. Having connections meant everything to the Malfoys, after all. It was exhausting.

His friends were all the same. Crabbe and Goyle usually spent the time allotted to them with free tutoring from Draco. Most people assumed Crabbe and Goyle followed him because of politics when in reality it was fierce loyalty. Draco had been helping his two roommates pass classes since first year when they had expressed their fear of failing out of Hogwarts on the train ride to Hogsmeade.

These days Blaise and Theo had their noses stuck up foreign witches skirts and could speak of little else. Prior to that, they were obsessed with Wizengamot trials and politics. Two things Draco abhorred. He had been close to Pansy until the end of their third year. She had fancied herself in love with Draco and he had been studiously avoiding her since.

Millicent was always good for a conversation about Quidditch or a study partner. She had dreamed of playing Quidditch since she was a little girl, but her parents wouldn't allow her. They were convinced she would never marry if men saw her as one of the boys and Pansy agreed with them. She also liked to point out that her physique was closest to Crabbe than Pansy or Astoria's. Millie usually stormed out of the dorm and ran laps around the Quidditch pitch with either Crabbe or Goyle to keep her miserable company.

Starting their second year, Draco would play a round of intense Quidditch with her every year for her birthday and as her Christmas gift as well. The first year he had asked Severus for permission slips for himself and Millie to go to the Quidditch pitch after dark had raised his godfather's eyebrows into his hairline. After a lengthy explanation as to why a second-year boy needed alone time with a second-year girl and uncomfortably long chat from his godfather about birds and bees, he had been given the permission each year without a fuss.

Sophia Roper was a terribly shy girl that barely left the dorm she shared with the other girls. Pansy had mentioned multiple times that she was homesick and cried every night. Daphne Greengrass was family and obsessed with the art of healing.. She wanted to be known for her reputation as a Healer. Blaise liked to point out that there was slim to none chance that her parents would ever allow her to be anything other than a housewife. Pity, she hadn't been sorted in Ravenclaw. Her parents would have written her off and let her pursue her dream.

Tracey Davis was always there to help anyone with their homework, be it a classmate in a different house or a first year. She had never been heckled for helping other students from other houses because she had helped most of the Slytherin house at some point. Draco knew that Severus had tried to discourage her on several occasions but she had not heeded her warnings. Severus was worried she would draw the wrong kind of attention and given what Draco had seen the Dark Lord do to blood traitors he worried for Tracey and her need to help others.

Reminding himself of the Dark Lord when they had left the UK to avoid him soured his mood to the point that reading no longer helped. After a short swim in the pool he became restless. It was only eleven. He had finished his homework already and was halfway through his potions work for the upcoming year. After checking on his Wolfsbane potion he decided he wanted to head out. He wanted to see things, to go places! After leaving a note for his mother on the study desk, he trudged on his Muggle clothes, feeling much like he was playing dress up and headed outside to discover Romania.

Draco walked slowly through the Romanian version of Diagon Alley unimpressed with their selection. He wanted a few things to help his potion brewing and no one had it and when he asked for it they made derogatory comments about rich children and their purchasing habits. Draco walked up and down the vendors very aware that he was sneering at the owners of said vendors. He was almost at the end of the unimpressive line when he saw a small white gold bracelet with Quidditch charms on it. He picked it up experimentally and cast several charms to ensure its authenticity. He purchased it without thinking and kept walking. Millie would love this. It was feminine and-

Jewelry.

He couldn't buy a girl jewelry unless he had express permission from his father and unless he was courting her for marriage. He fingered the bracelet in his robes mournfully. Maybe he could get someone else to gift it to her? Maybe he could post it to her anonymously? His ideas were shot down one by one as he realized that the charms were personalized and she would have known it was from Draco. She also needed to be able to explain such a nice bracelet to her parents. While Millie wasn't poor, she definitely could not afford the bracelet he had just so carelessly purchased.

Draco hurried back to the front of the alley if he hurried he would make it back home before his mother did. He was so immersed in his thoughts about Millie's bracelet, he didn't see a hand fly out of a dark corner between two stalls until it had already yanked him into dark, narrow side street. The bright afternoon light was gone immediately and Draco was face to face with an old crone with only three yellow crooked teeth.

"Malfoy." he rasped. Draco startled backward fumbling for his wand.

"I don't-" Draco's wand dropped to the floor with a clatter, utterly useless next to his feet.

"DON'T LIE TO ME BOY! YOUR FATHER BETRAYED US ALL! HE SOLD US ALL TO THE OATH BREAKERS AND BLOOD TRAITORS!" Draco flattened himself against the wall as the Wizard spewed spit and venom in his face. He whipped out his wand and began to wave it in front of his face. Draco could feel the blood drain from his face. This man was unhinged. This man was unhinged and waving a wand at him. His wand was on the floor. His wand was on the bloody floor. Shite. Shite. Shite.

"THE DEATH TO THE LOT OF YOU I SAY!" Draco wondered why no one outside this dark alcove had heard the man yelling. The man's waving got more frantic as he shouted obscenities that made little to no sense.

"Long for the bottoms. Crucio. The cup or the Snake. The death of the snake. The locket. Where is the locket? WHERE IS THE LOCKET?"

"I don't know what locket you're talking about!"

"What's in your pocket? Show me your pocket!" Draco showed him the bracelet and after he grunted angrily Draco shoved the bracelet back into the safety of his trousers.

"The Locket. The locket. WHERE IS THE LOCKET?" He advanced on Draco without warning until his wand tip was under his throat. His rotting breath making Draco want to wretch.

"I don't know", he whispered. The man's eyes focused for a moment and Draco could have sworn there was recognition in his familiar grey eyes. Deciding to go for the chance of the man having some semblance of sanity Draco spoke again with as much confidence as he could muster.

"Listen, you seem to be having a rough day. I've got a pocketful of galleons that will help you get on your feet. Sons shouldn't suffer the sins of their fathers, right?" Especially when your father enslaved himself and his family to a crazy person's cult.

Whatever he said was the wrong thing to say because the man's eyes turned wild and dark instantly. "So like your father, are you? Going to shit on the world and watch it burn? Going to send my brother to Azkaban while you sit at home on your mountains of GALLEONS?"

Draco dropped and made to scrambled for his wand. He bet Potter and his friends never got into this trouble. Their parents hadn't thrown anyone into Azkaban.

"AV-" the crazed man began to scream just as Draco's fingers closed around his wand. Now what? What the bloody hell was he supposed to do against a crazed adult wizard? He hadn't even taken his O.W.L.'s yet! As he panicked he thought of what every student in his year would do. Granger could probably bloody apparate already. He thought bitterly. It was the last thought he had before his feet were yanked out from under him and he screamed in terror and then everything went black.