Captivating Emerald
Chapter 6: Freedom

"So does anyone want to fill me in on what in Merlin's name in Lily doing here, why is Sirius free, and why is Harry living with Malfoys and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

Remus Lupin now sat in the main meeting room of Malfoy manor. Sitting around him were two people he never expected to see again: Lily Evans, and Sirius Black. He was still somewhat shocked at actually seeing them and half concerned that he'd finally lost it and is now locked up in the loony bin and seeing stuff. How knows maybe his Wolf side finally got rid of his rational mind and he is now drifting in the realm of dreams. The only thing that kept that thought from being true was the raven haired child now sitting in his lap smiling sweetly up at him with wide green eyes. The slightly angry blond beside them, tightly holding Harry's hand was also somewhat sobering.

Lily sighed from across the coffee table, placing the cup of tea she'd been sipping at down on it. She looked, for the most part, very well for someone who was supposed to be six feet under. Her 'Harry' green eyes were dull but had a shine to it that showed, rather clearly, that despite the four years she's been in hiding she was endlessly happy at the moment. She had her baby back and he was safe, any mother would be happy given the circumstance. "Remus, the story is long and it's been a rather long day, so I'm going to tell you the basic, but first you must make a blood oath to keep all that is said here a secret. Ok?"

Jet-black locks bounced excitedly as Sirius nodded to Lily's words. He, unlike the red-headed woman, looked as he was supposed to. He had bags under his eyes, a grim look to his smile, and his hair had yet to get rid of the entire, endless amount of grease that had gathered there over the four years in Azkaban. But just like Lily, he looked endlessly happy. Remus couldn't ask for more for his best friends, now if only poor James could see the happiness his son was creating.

Hesitantly, the werewolf nodded his tired head; sighing as Lily finally decided to hand over his wand. He had made up his mind when Harry had given him that pure, innocent child-smile that he would do anything to keep that expiration on the boy's smaller-than-his-age face.

Not saying one word he slid Harry off his lap, placing him on the seat beside Draco who instantly grinned brightly when Harry let his head fall into the blonde's small shoulder; it was close to his bed time now anyways so a simple nap on his Dragon's shoulder was not going to bother anyone. He had gotten a lot of new family in just a few days, and this new uncle Moony was nice enough to be placed in Harry's favorite list. Bellow Draco and Severus and Sirius of course; Lily doesn't count because she was his mother, his mother would always be his most favorite.

"D-Dragon…" Harry sighed into Draco's shoulder, snuggling into the older boy's side. Quickly, thin pale arms were wrapped around him, drawing him into Draco's lap now. His face was buried into his Dragon's neck and he was cuddling contently into the other's chest. Draco's grin was almost at the level of glow in the dark.

The werewolf shifted uncomfortably as he watched the boy he considered one of his pack practically purring into a hold of a Malfoy. It was weird to him, but strangely not wrong to his wolf instincts. It was as if the wolf in his was recognizing future mates. He felt the joy in Draco to have Harry close and the calm content in Harry to be in the blonde's arms. To his wolf it was the future planning itself out, but to his rational thought it was a Malfoy-Death Eater child, and a Potter-Destroyer of the Dark Lord.

"I, Remus Lupin, here by place myself willingly into an oath as a wizard to keep the secrets spoken here tonight from the praying ears of outsiders."

"We, Lily Evans and Sirius Black, here by accept this oath in binding blood, to protect the secrets spoken here tonight from the praying ears of outsiders."

When the Wizard's Oath was done, the poor tired werewolf was assaulted by two pairs of arms and muttering after muttering that was muffled slightly by fabric. He only caught parts of conversations but not enough to make left or right of anything.

"Calm yourselves before you speak you two." Snickered Remus as he pet both his friends' heads. It was apparent that these two had kept a lot bottled up and now that the smart one of the Marauders was back, there were going to take all they could get and did not plan on giving anything back.

Slowly but surely the two pulled away from Remus, having the decency to look sheepish as they sat back down, Lily beginning to speak first.

"It was Dumbledore." She started quietly. The werewolf gasped shaking his head in disbelief. No way could it be Dumbledore, the old man can't possibly have faked so much. There was prophecy, there were wittiness, Voldemort was a murderer. Remus couldn't believe this, but then again just the fact that he was in the same room as Lily gave him no choice but to take it as the truth. After all, why would she lie about something of this importance? She had once been a supporter for Dumbledore and she could throw off am Imperius with not much effort so the Dark Lord taking over her was not possible.

"Dumbledore killed James and he attempted to kill me. Voldemort was only there because he wanted James and my cooperation. The stupid prophecy is nothing but bull that the old cod fish is trying to pull on us. He put my son with Petunia, Remus. You remember her don't you? She was the one that throw a knife at you from casting a simple cooling charm in my parents' house the summer of our last year at Hogwarts? What do you think she was doing to Harry Remus? The old man put him in that place on purpose and we all know it!" the women fumed and ranted trying to explain herself in the eyes of one of her closest friends. She only stopped when the small Draco began to shush her as a way to stop her from waking a sleeping Harry. Sirius only seemed amused by all this.

Remus was in shock. He had not known Harry had been placed with muggles, especially not Lily's sister. The woman and her oaf of a husband are strictly against all things they dub 'freakish' which in this case was everything that didn't portray a perfect British family. If he had known he would have fought harder to keep Harry to himself.

"It's true, Harry came here covered in all types of bruises and he was afraid to eat and he was skinny and short. But none of that is his fault! Harry is cute and really really nice and it is almost ob-ovious that the people who were meant to take care of him didn't do a very good job. He was so scared at first!" A little voice brought Remus' attention to the little blonde Malfoy still holding a dormant 'Savior' close. The little boy had spoken words he had heard before and gotten some wrong, but the fact that the child of six could speak fluently escaped the werewolf as he paid attention to the meaning of the words.

"Harry was abused?" he asked eyes wide and horrified. The child had lost his parents and then put in an abusive house hold? Can a human take so much pain? Much less a child who was supposed to be a hero?

"Yes he was abused you insolent stray!"

Severus answered from the door to the room, standing there with his arms crossed over his chest and an annoyed look on his face. Not that that particular expression is anything new, if anything it is the most used facial feature Snape had.

He continued talking as he walked into the room walking to the seat beside his godson. "I went to his house to see him. Dumbledore would not tell me where so I had my ways of resolving that minor problem. All I really wanted to do was make sure he was alright, it was never my actual intention to 'kidnap' him as so kindly put it the first time she saw me-"

"How do we know that's not a lie? How do I know that you can be trusted Snape?" As calm as his tone was, Remus was clearly snipping back, cutting Severus off to do so.

For a moment Severus looked to Lily, silently asking for permission to tell the stupid wolf his reason for checking on her son. That did not escape Lupin's keen eyes and he watched the interaction carefully. When a slight nod was given he continued.

"I had made a promise to Lily. She had named me the second godfather to Harry, if anything should happen to the Potters and Black, I was to be appointed Harry's guardian. This arraignment of course, was made behind James Potter's back, so the legal contract was not made…legal. Lily here has signed up an original document that is now in Gringotts. I am officially the guardian of Harry James Potter. Not even Dumbledore can take the child away, for if he tried he would be going against the laws."

Remus nodded, understanding better of what was happening. He noticed though that they were all avoiding the subject of 'why is Lily here…alive?' he wasn't going to push though. For one, Sirius and Lily would tell him when they thought it was right. Second, this was way too much information to take in now. He was in the Order of the Phoenix, he had an oath to protect the Wizard world, but he also had a pact with his friends. The werewolf in him will not let him betray or push his pack.

A knock sounded, braking Remus once again from his thoughts. In a matter of seconds Lucius Malfoy was standing before him looking from Lily to Severus to Sirius to his son and Harry, and finally to Remus. "Mister Lupin, you are welcome to stay here for the remainder of the month. I am aware that a full moon had taken place not very long ago. The Dark Lord and most of the Death Eaters are staying in the western wing; you may join Lily and Severus in the east wing. The south wing is where my family is placed and since Harry does not sleep without my son, he is staying in Draco's room."

This shocked the werewolf…again. Lucius Malfoy was offering a place to stay; never would this have happened while they had attended Hogwarts. Never had he even thought the day would come when he ever world. But looking at his best friends' smiling faces he could do nothing more than to nod his head in acceptance and let himself be led to the east wing. Maybe he'd be thinking clearly in the morning and can make sense of all the information he had just absorbed.

Slowly consciousness returned to the raven's small body. Where was he? He fell asleep right? On his Dragon's shoulder no less. Maybe his Dragon was the warmth lying right beside him; after all it was covered in the familiar sent of his best friend.

"D-Dragon?" muttered the young raven as he snuggled farther into the warmth. He was rewarded greatly when a pair of pajama clad arms tightened their already strong hold on his waists. So he was back with his Dragon after all. Good because even if he enjoyed both the company and entertainment Fred and George and Bill Weasley , he had missed his familiar and kind Dragon greatly. Even the Pan the Pixie had not taken his mind of his family.

That's right. He thought of them all as his family and they all thought of him as family too. It was a nice change from before when he's family had expected him to do so much all in one day.

Harry's small hands tightened their hold on the silk fabric of Draco's pajama top as he thought back to his time at the Burrow. It was cozy sure, and the people (some people) were really nice, but poor little Harry was home sick. It wasn't his place at the Burrow. Too many people beckoning and battling for attention and care, too much havoc being created and the most horrifying of all: No Draco.

To little Harry, it was odd to become so attached to a person and only knowing them for a short time. With Draco however, he felt as if he were in the company of another part of his soul. He felt at ease and calm and loved. Something he didn't even get in his dreams when he lived with the Dursleys.

He hoped he never returned there. This was his home now. Malfoy Manor with Uncle Luc and Aunt 'Cissa and Sev and Tom and Bella and Sirius and his mom. Wow he had a lot of family now didn't he?

The thought brought tears to Harry's eyes.

He was wanted, he was truly wanted just because he is him and not because he can do house work. They didn't need him for housework they needed him because he was Harry. It made him cry.

He didn't have to worry about upsetting them or not getting food. He didn't have to be cautious of beatings and bullies. He can talk without being shushed and he can walk around without keeping his head down. He can look Lucius in the eye when he spoke to him, he could smile and touch Narcissa without worrying that he'd give her 'Freak Germs' , he could hug Draco without needing to run for his little life afterwards.

Harry was free to learn to read and write with Draco, he could do all he wanted and all he needed to do was keep a few rules in mind. Rules like: don't stray too far, and don't touch anything that you don't know what it is, instead of rules like: stay away from family friends, and have the chores done before lunch.

Harry was FREE.

He didn't notice he was sobbing until a small, scarred, but worried voice made him turn to Mercury colored eyes.

"Harry? Raven what's wrong? Hey are you alright, why're you crying?"

Draco was terrified. He had woken up to sobs sounding softly from beside him, he almost was persuaded to ignore them and go back to sleep but he remembered that Harry had been next to him. The raven haired boy was shaking, arms wrapped tightly around himself and he was whimpering silently as if afraid that someone would hear. Well Draco had and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to do anything about it.

"Harry, please look at me Raven. Please?"

That did make the younger boy turn. He turned to Draco with a smile, crystal tears still running paths down his face. He was grinning as he cried. Now Draco was really worried. "What's bothering you Harry?" questioned the blond as he wrapped his arms around his bed buddy. He held the boy to his chest waiting for an answer. The one he got made him smile too.

"I'm free." Harry whispered. And then louder, and louder until he was yelling it to the large room that belonged to Draco. "I'm free Dragon, I'm free! They can't touch me, I don't want to leave, I'm free!"

"What is going on here!" a yell from the door made both toddlers turn their eyes to it. In the doorway were Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Severus Snap, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Lily Evans. None of them fazed Harry in the slightest.

"They can't harm me!" He yelled loudly for all to hear. "I have a family that loves me and they can't touch me!" once again he was crying. It all seemed to just hit him then. He wasn't going to go back. "No more chores, no more hurting, not more insulting, no more Dudley, no more Uncle Vernon, no more Aunt Petunia! I have a family! I have a family!"

At this point all the adults got the gist of what was wrong with the boy. It made them all slightly sad to see the boy with tears flowing down his eyes and smiling the widest they had ever seen on him. They all began to speak at once, walking into the room and going to embrace the poor little boy who just now noticed he was not alone anymore.

"Oh Harry my little boy-"

"Poor mini Prongs-"

"You are most certainly free-"

"Don't cry Angel-"

"Of course you're free Harry-"

"Oh Harry-"

They were all caught up in a strange sort of group hug that warmed the heart. Two little boys caught in the middle. One scowling at the interruption of his morning with his Raven, and one crying at the show of affection that would never have been his before this day. That never would have been his if he had remained where he was, with the child abusers who called themselves the Dursleys. Now was when his life really began.

Ok so this is the MY first chapter of LyricalPhoenix18's story Captivating Emerald. I'm not sure how it turned out, i wanted to ask you guys, so comment and inspire me to continue. after all i don't want writing this wonderful story to become a chore rather than an activity for pure enjoyment. SO COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! OR I WILL MAKE DUMBLEDORE TAKE HARRY AGAIN AND NEVER RETURN TO SEE DRACO AND HIS FAMILY. AND YOU DON'T WANT TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR HARRY'S TEARS DO YOU, DO YOU?