Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I own none of the rights to any of the characters, save the ones I have created, or to the Harry Potter empire. If I did, my name would be different and you would have paid to read this.

A/N: I am having lots of fun working on this story, as it is my first Harry Potter fanfic (hence the constant editing of spelling and names, sorry guys). I am always open to ideas or any comments or questions you want to offer up. I promise I will comment or answer you back, whether it be by e-mail or at the end of the next chapter. Please, READ and RESPOND! Enjoy!

The Returning of What was Left and Lost

Draco laughed in relief as he recognized the face under the hood.

"Good God, Weasley. You gave me quite a fright. I could have …" He stopped, seeing the grim look on Ron's face.

"What? What's happened?" Ron looked at him for a moment as if he were trying to find the words. Draco spun around as a faint trail of light fell across the yard from Dominic's window. Instinctively, he started for the back door.

"It's okay! Ginny has him; he's safe. You have to come back with us. Now, Draco." Draco stared at him.

"Dammit, Weasley! You are not going to just rip us out of our house with out so much as an explanation." Draco squinted at him in the growing dark. Ron looked at him for a moment before his own frustration took over.

"I wouldn't be here if it weren't important. This is not the time to discuss this. And even if it were, I'm not sure that there are any words that can explain it!" The men glared at each other for a moment before they noticed Ginny's presence beside them.

"The portkey is just a few steps into these trees. Let's hurry. The Eagles said they would keep watch on your house," Ginny said, leading the way with the sleeping Dominic in her arms.

Draco followed in a daze. As he touched the old can that was the portkey, a million scenarios ran through his mind. What was so desperate that they would risk bringing him back to England? His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a frightened Briseis, scratching his hand in fear as a familiar street materialized in front of him.

As they walked toward Number Eleven, it jumped aside and the grimy door and walls of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place appeared. Ginny rushed off to put Dominic back in bed and an impatient Briseis squirmed her way free into the hallway as they entered the House of Black. Harry emerged from Draco's left, the expression on his face unreadable. Draco stared at him expectantly as the Order of the Phoenix gathered around them.

12 Grimmauld Place, 9 years earlier

Draco stood outside the study listening to the impassioned voices carrying through the door.

"How could you bring him here, Hermione? How?" Harry demanded.

"Really! You might as well have just sent the Dark Lord an owl with 'Twelve Grimmauld Place' written in a note! What were you thinking?" Ron added.

There was a pause before Hermione answered them. Draco smirked; he had been subjected to that silence—the calm before the storm.

"I brought him here because I believe he can help us. Obviously Dumbledore thinks so too or he wouldn't have given me permission to bring him here. You don't have to trust Draco, but you do have to trust me. I've never given you any reason to doubt my judgment, please don't start now."

Draco smiled at the valiance of her speech. He could almost hear them crumbling in front of her.

"Mr. Malfoy. Please follow me. The senior members of the Order would like a word."

Snape led him down the hall into a room that looked as if it had once been a bedroom. Now it looked rather like a conference room. Six tables were arranged in an outline of the square room; the wall to the right of the door held several magic message boards and moving maps. A dozen faces stared at him as he was led to a chair in the center of the room.

Dumbledore gave him a reassuring look as he sat down—which was more than Draco got from any of the others leering at him. He kept his eyes on Dumbledore as the Headmaster stood up to address the room.

"All right, everyone. Let us begin. Mr. Malfoy, I will begin by addressing you with several questions about your intentions toward the Order and then the other members are to follow suit." He adjusted his half-moon spectacles and glanced at the parchment he held in his hand, before looking back up at Draco. "What has led to your desire to join the Order and its efforts against the Dark Lord and his Death-Eaters?"

Draco sat in overwhelmed silence for a moment, carefully formulating his words. He had expected this question, but he still was unsure how to answer it. So that is exactly what he told them. The timeline of the previous year and a half followed liquidly. He told them about his father and his summer in the depths of Voldemort's hell. He told them, in vague detail, about his relationship with Hermione and his dissociation from both the proverbial good and evil.

"Don't come to the conclusion that I'm doing this for love. I have an innate loyalty to my father, to being a Malfoy. Maybe a small part of me always will. But my previous willingness to participate in my father's dealings came from life-long breeding. I was raised on one side, that does not mean that I chose that side. In fact, I have never chosen a side period; I've never had the option. I am choosing now, however. That's why I'm here."

Draco realized that he was now standing, his chair several feet behind him. As he searched their faces for a reaction, he slunk backward to his chair. To his relief, much of the malice he had seen upon entering the room was gone from their faces.

A short time later, after several more speeches and explanations, he left the room alone. He was met by a worried looking Hermione, gazing up at him expectantly.

Having no words, he only grinned.

Present

An ironic sense of déjà vu struck Draco as the members of the Order closed in around him. He continued staring at Harry as silence crept through the crowd.

"What's going on?" Draco demanded. Harry looked at him with the same pained expression Ron had given him. He motioned for Draco to follow him, and with Ron close behind, they left the others in their wake, entering the door-lined hallway.

"We followed a pack of Death Eaters into Paris last week. They were using the Catacombs as a secondary headquarters." He opened the door to a small office lined with books and potions. "Some of our aurors and some of the French are still down there sifting through all of the passages. One of our junior aurors followed two stragglers out of the city trying to escape with half a dozen captives. One of the stragglers she managed to kill, the other she captured and then brought the captives to a safe house." Harry paused, handing him a file.

"Crabbe and Goyle? They were transporting captives? No wonder they were caught," Draco marveled, flipping through their files. Each had a fresh, red stamp: Crabbe's read 'captured' over his scowling picture, Goyle's flashed 'dead' in bold, capital letters.

"Who were the captives?" Draco glanced from Harry to Ron, who were now making every effort to avoid his eyes. He saw Ron take a deep breath.

"When it was safe, we transported the six of them to St. Mungo's to be identified and treated. Three of them were too far gone from the torture to give us any information. One of them was a member of the French Ministry of Magic. Neville was also among them; he went missing about three weeks ago. And the last of them we've moved to a guarded room upstairs."

Draco noted uneasily that both of them seemed to be avoiding the true answer to his question.

"Well, Potter, who is it?" He demanded, growing more impatient with each of the worried looks that passed between Ron and Harry. Wordlessly, they brought him upstairs to the entrance of the guarded room and he began mentally tallying all of those he remembered were in the Order. The Pavarti twins joined just before he and Hermione left for America, but he recalled seeing them in the mob downstairs. There was that Creevy kid—he was so clumsy, it was feasible he could have been captured. That didn't make sense, though. Why would they risk bringing him back for Creevy?

Harry and Ron stopped before the chipped wooden door and nodded to the guards. Harry motioned for Draco to enter, the anxiety on his face increasing the speed of Draco's heartbeat. With great care, he turned the door knob, debating whether he should continue in or just take Dominic and leave.

Pushing the door open the last few inches, Draco looked around for the sixth captive. A small bundle of ragged cloaks and tussled hair sat huddled in the corner of the dimly lit room. As the light from the door fell across it, a head rose and squinted in fear at the men. With his eyes fully adjustedl his grip tightened on the doorknob. He stood, dumbfounded, staring into a face he never thought he would see again.

Sorry it took me so long to get this last chapter up. I had a bit of writer's block toward the end. My wonderful friend Sarah (Tiniwiel) read it over and finished the last few paragraphs for me. Thank you, Sarah!

Thank you to those of you that reviewed: Faint Hate, Lynn, tigercatcher, Tiniwiel, pau, nycgrl. I appreciate all of your kind words and support. I know you all are frustrated by the cliffies, but I love them so they will continue. You won't be disappointed for coming back for more, I promise. Please Read and Respond again, all!