Disclaimer: This story was inspired by the Colombian soap opera "Pura Sangre" by Tania Cardenas, Mauricio Navas, Guillermo Restrepo and Conchita Ruiz. Also Harry Potter and any of its characters do not belong to me but to the wonderful J.K.R.

Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews everyone! Please keep them coming! So sorry for taking so long, real life and all…

Enjoy!

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"Bianca!" He yelled, now frantic with worry when he noticed she was not moving.

He ran to her lifeless body uncaring of the sharp order snapped at him. He stopped and hovered over her, unsure of how to proceed, before falling to his knees and gingerly reaching his shaking hands to her body and slowly turning her until she was lying on her back.

A sob escaped his lips at his first real look at her. Blood trickled from her open lips; her left arm was twisted at an impossible angle and dirt sullied her face and dress. Draco trailed his fingers up to trace her features, willing them to awaken once again… to brighten with the ever-present happiness that always seemed to flow around her.

He didn't realize he was crying until the salty drops splashed against her cheeks. He cradled her head in his arms and let the misery drown him, despair making him almost incoherent. He rocked back and forth as he cried and buried his face in the crook of her neck, tightening his arms in a crushing embrace.

And as he let the sorrow overtake him the world seemed to go into overdrive. Hard hands grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked, startling him enough that his grip slackened and Bianca fell back on the ground as another pull had him standing up and staring into the angry eyes of his father.

Draco was still in too much shock to grasp what his father being there, wand in hand, meant. He watched with blurry eyes as his father's hand rose high and came down again, the force of the blow making his head snap violently to the side. The strike had the desired effect for he felt as if he'd been jolted back into his body, a small hand rising to his stinging cheek as he turned to look upon his enraged father once again.

They stood staring at one another for a moment, Lucius breathing hard through gritted teeth and struggling to control the urge to strangle his only son.

"Father…" Draco whispered, for this was another first. His father had never struck him before, at least not like this. He might've earned an errant smack on his rump once in a while when he was misbehaving, but it had never been like this.

He'd also never seen his father this angry before. Angry enough that Draco swore he could feel the snap of his father's aura against his skin and see fire dancing in his eyes.

"Quiet! You disobedient little brat!" Lucius finally exploded, his ire not satisfied by the resounding slap he'd just delivered. He bent forward and grabbed Draco by the arms, shaking him as he sputtered angrily "Of all the things you could've done this is the most…disgusting… reprehensible….defiant…. I-I…" He trailed off, his grip tightening painfully until his son cried out in protest.

Lucius' mind had literally shut down. He couldn't think straight, he was so outraged. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that he would ever find his son kissing a Muggle. The mere thought made him want to scrub his body inside and out and purify everything in his wake.

He'd always known he'd been soft on the boy. Letting Narcissa coddle him and indulge his every whim was to blame for all of this. Every time he'd tried to educate the boy she would always intervene.

But no more. This would end now. He had irrefutable proof that her way had not worked and now it was time to do things his way.

His son, his only son, was sullied. He was dirty. And he would take up the burden of straightening him up. Lucius would make sure that something like this would never happen again.

"F-Father… B-Bianca…" Draco tried to speak again, he had to try and reason with his father, and still not realizing what was really happening since his thought processes couldn't seem to get past the thought of his friend lying on the ground presumably dead.

"You dare to speak its name to me!?" Lucius roared and pushed Draco forcefully away from him.

Draco stumbled but managed to stay upright as his father turned away from him, running his hands roughly through his long hair. Draco could only stand and stare fearfully up at his father, afraid to speak another word.

His eyes shifted helplessly to Bianca's body and then back to his father as the man took deep breaths in a seeming attempt to calm down. And it was as he watched his father, wand still in his hand, that Draco finally realized what had most likely happened.

Draco shook his head slowly, denial in the forefront of his mind. He knew his father hated Muggles. He knew that his parents would be beyond angry if they ever found out about Bianca. Yet, never would he have thought that his father would harm a defenseless girl just because of her unfortunate birth.

And just as his father finally seemed to come back to his senses, Draco felt a trickle of true fear slither down his spine at the realization that he didn't truly know this man in front of him or the things he was capable of.

He was trembling again but this time it was out of dread. His whole body was shaking with tremors, his head spinning in overload. In just a handful of minutes he'd gone through a spectrum of emotions that had left him reeling and weak-limbed.

Lucius turned back to his son and sneered. The boy finally had the look in his eyes that bespoke of knowledge and a healthy dose of anxiety.

It seemed like his boy finally understood and that thought pleased him.

"Come, boy… and make sure not to leave anything behind." He ordered tersely, not expecting any more objections from his son.

Draco moved as if in a daze. He stole one more look at Bianca, his eyes softening with pain, before walking back to the bush where he'd hidden his broom and his robes and moving to follow the elder Malfoy as he picked his way through the uneven path. He struggled to keep up with his father's long strides, afraid of what falling behind might mean for him.

Lucius didn't glance back once, knowing that Draco wouldn't dare to defy him again… at least not tonight. 'Or ever again', he thought angrily.

He'd nearly forgotten about his son tonight after being successfully distracted by his wife. He'd almost never found out what his treacherous son had been up to.

Luckily, his wife was often drowsy after their lovemaking and sweeping her into his arms and taking her up to their rooms without protest had been easy. He'd almost succumbed to her siren's call and slipped beneath the covers behind her but he'd wanted to check on the boy before going to bed himself.

Imagine his surprise at not only not finding Draco in his bed, like he was supposed to be, but not being able to find him anywhere in the mansion. Fortunately, it didn't take a genius to put two and two together and deduce where he was most likely to find him.

He'd quickly chucked his night robe and pulled on trousers and a shirt and hurried off to see if he could finally solve the mystery behind his son's constant disappearances and been just in time to see the Muggle lean in and press her lips to his son's. He'd had his wand drawn and a 'stupefy' flying through the air even before he'd had a mind to do so.

To say he was in no mood to deal with a hysterical boy would be an understatement.

They made it back to the mansion in record time with Lucius reaching the door first and standing back to let Draco stumble through before slamming it close behind them.

He reached forward and grabbed the back of Draco's shirt before he could escape, and pulled him back to stand in front of him. He shook the boy once to make sure he was listening before uttering his last order of the night. "You are to go to your room and not come out until I say you may. Is that understood?"

Draco could only nod and hope his father didn't see how hard he was trying not to cry. He knew that any tears he might shed at the moment would not just be greeted by the usual indifference since his cheek still felt warm from when Lucius had stricken him before.

He felt Lucius' grip loosen and didn't waste any time in scrambling away to his bedroom. He was halfway up the staircase when he heard the door to his father's study slam close; Draco flinched at the sound but didn't stop walking until he reached the safety of his room.

He leant back against the bedroom door for a moment, struggling to catch his breath, letting his broom and robe fall forgotten to the floor.

"Bianca…" He whispered, finally able to let the memory of her broken body float to the forefront of his mind. A sob rose suddenly in his throat followed quickly by another and another until tears blurred his sight and the sounds of his sorrow filled the quiet room.

He pushed his body away from the door and made his way to his bed, crawling gingerly to the middle of it and lying down on his side, his arms wrapping protectively around his waist as he continued to cry brokenly into his pillow.

"Oh, Bianca…" He cried once more unable to think of anything else, his body shaking.

He kept seeing her face in his mind's eye. Bianca as she smiled happily up at him; Bianca's warm brown eyes sparkling with mischief as she dove into the lake; Bianca staring seriously into his eyes as she strove to answer another one of his inane questions.

Bianca's prone body and still face, blood trickling ominously from her lips.

Draco cried until he couldn't cry any more, exhaustion finally claiming him and making him fall into a fitful sleep, his overwrought mind plagued by nightmares until he startled awake again in the early morning hours.

He stared vacantly at the canopy of his bed, an errant tear trickling down the side of his face and into his hair.

He felt an emptiness he'd never felt before, devoid of feeling, his young mind too immature to completely grasp all of the nuances of what had happened.

But as he traced the patterns weaved into the fabric of the covering, his brain coming to terms with what he had witnessed and what he knew his family to be, he was old enough to comprehend that his actions were to blame for everything.

Bianca's death was his fault.

Draco had known that meeting with Bianca was against the rules. His parents and the rest of his family hated Muggles. He knew the rules better than anyone else and yet he hadn't been able to help himself.

He thought he would go crazy from thinking about all of the things he could've done differently and everything always led back to his original thought: He was the only one to blame.

If only he'd walked away that first day… If only he'd treated her as he was supposed to and never let her get so close to him… If only he hadn't become her friend… If only he hadn't let her kiss him…

Even his father's reaction was his fault. He should've never befriended her, especially knowing how his father felt. It was actually his father's lessons that had kept him from sharing everything with Bianca and he'd foolishly thought that sheltering her would keep her safe.

Oh, how stupid he'd been!

And now she'd had to pay and pay dearly.

Bianca would never laugh again, play again… She would never grow up and be happy.

It was his fault!

He was wicked.

He'd been bad and this was his punishment for his curiosity… for thinking that being friends with a Muggle would ever be okay… for breaking all of the rules that every Pureblood son and daughter should always follow.

For ever thinking he needed a friend.

He never wanted to feel like this again. He never wanted to be responsible of another's fate ever again.

Just the thought that he could ever feel this wretched again made his stomach turn. He knew he would miss Bianca and that he would remember her forever but he was too young to understand the true depth of his feelings and in truth he was too scared to study them too closely.

It was a different Draco Malfoy that got up that morning and made his way to the open window.

And as Draco stared up at the lightening sky, the sound of a promise resonated deeply to the bottom of his soul:

Never again.

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Yikes! Please tell me what you think, I'm not completely pleased with this chapter and it was really difficult to write for some reason so I would really appreciate some feedback.