Safe and Sound, Chapter Seven

Written By: thisisnotapalindrome

Edited By: Snivellus and Padfoot

*WARNING: This chapter has mentions of abortion and verbal abuse. We are aware that these topics could offend some people. Please read with discretion.*

Draco Malfoy is having problems. His head is constantly being crowded with thoughts of what was to come. If his father knew what he was thinking about, if he even had the slightest clue- of his opinions… Draco shuddered at the thought of what he might do to him. He quickly regained his composure after remembering he was in public. He scanned his compartment, it was him, Blaise Zabini, his cronies Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, Millicent Bulstrode, and Pansy Parkinson, who was sitting uncomfortably close to him. Her front was practically attached to him and it took all his willpower not to gag and shove her away.

Pansy was talking about something, but it wasn't like Draco was listening. Why should he? After all, he's had bigger things to worry about; much bigger things. He got up from his seat, groaning at Pansy's immediate reaction, "Where are you going, Draco?".

"I need some air." Draco responded, hoping it wasn't bluntly obvious that he was lying. He couldn't stand sitting still with them, not now. Not with what his father was planning. Draco wandered down the aisle of the train, looking for an empty compartment where he could think.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" The Trolley Witch asked Harry's compartment.

"A packet of droobles and a liquorice wand." Ron noticed the amount of money in his hand. "On second thought, just the droobles". Frowning, "just the droobles." He muttered.

Harry walked up to the Trolley Witch. "It's alright, I'll get it." But, before he could act upon it, Cho Chang spoke up towards the Trolley Witch. "Two pumpkin pasties, please." Cho was a year older than Harry. She had long, raven-colored hair and big, beautiful brown eyes that Harry had definitely not thought about looking into the would be like, or the feeling of her pink lips on his, or what it would be like to just wake up in the morning and have her know that he actually liked her, and that she actually liked him back. No, Harry hadn't thought about that at all.

"Anything sweet for you, dear?" The Trolley Witch snapped Harry out of his thoughts. After politely saying no, he turned back to Ron and Hermione in the train compartment. Hedwig was perched on a book next to Harry and next to Hermione sat her rather strange cat, Crookshanks, while Ron's rat, Scabbers, was locked up in Azkaban. It was a good thing too, because last year, the three discovered that Ron's rat, who in fact wasn't a rat at all, but was Peter Pettigrew, the man who had sold Harry's parents out to Voldemort.

Hermione looked up from her copy of The Daily Prophet. She noticed the lovestruck look on Harry's face. "Close your mouth, Harry. You'll catch flies." She snickered. When Harry didn't respond she shook his arm and said, "Wake up, Dolly Daydream! Thinking about Cho again, are we?"

"What? Psssht, no."

"Right." She put extra emphasis on the 'i' syllable.

Ginny and Ron laughed from where they were sitting, but Hermione could tell that Ron didn't get the joke and Ginny's laugh was forced. That's another thing Hermione was good at- reading people. Harry gave a bitter laugh as he was a sarcastic little shit, but she already knew that. She'd been friends with him for the longest time. Everything that Harry had been through, She and Ron stood with him. And they always would.

Draco Malfoy wandered along the corridors of the Hogwarts Express, Crabbe and Goyle trudging behind him. He didn't want them to come, but they insisted. Draco didn't really have an explanation as to why, maybe it was the fact that his father was a control freak and their purpose wasn't to become friends, but to make his son appear intimidating. He's known since he was young that his father was a dangerous man. Perhaps that was the reason Draco was so protective over Hyperion, because he knew what his parents tried to do to him.

A seven year old Draco Malfoy runs through the halls of Malfoy Manor with a toy plane in tow. The only thing the young boy could hear was the sounds of his imitation engine noises and the pilots 'shouting' commands at each other. His parents may be strange, but that doesn't mean Draco didn't have a normal childhood.

As he was about to turn into the Common Room he heard his mother's voice.

"Lucius, please calm down." Her voice was calm, soft, and worried. Draco froze, slowly lowering his plane. He stood by the doorframe and poked his head out ever so slightly.

"I can't! How can I! They refused! How could they refuse? They think that they can just deny us of our-" Lucius shouted, his voice restrained.

"I was farther along than I had thought, Lucius. We don't have a choice." Narcissa explained. She placed a hand over her stomach protectively. Draco wasn't old enough to understand this, but the slightly protruding bump on her stomach held such a delicate life. "Is it a boy or a girl?" Lucius demanded impatiently.

Narcissa smiled down at the small bump. "It's a boy." She said, simply. "We're having a boy."

In the next few months, Narcissa and Draco began to prepare for the baby. Well, more Narcissa than Draco, but he still helped when he could. He gathered old toys he never played with and clothing he didn't wear. He'd even picked out the name for his brother; Hyperion. Hyperion Amadeus Malfoy, to be exact. Draco had found the names in some old books in the small library withdraw in Malfoy Manor. Narcissa liked the way they sounded, so it stuck. And Lucius, well, Lucius couldn't care less of this child.

It seemed that the further along Narcissa got, the angrier Lucius became. Something wasn't right about this child, and even after months of trying to figure it out and coming up nothing, he found new reasons to resent the youngest of the Malfoy clan. Silly things like the fact that he was being born. Most pureblood families only had one child. He didn't want his colleagues to think they were turning into that of the Weasley clan. Narcissa told him that it was another person to carry out the bloodline, but that was just a sham to get him to liking the idea of another child. If he was being completely honest, he wouldn't have had Draco if it wasn't for the continuation of the bloodline. But this child, this bastard child was not supposed to happen.

Months later after Hyperion was born, Lucius learned the truth. Draco, of course, didn't notice. He was too busy revelling in the birth of his new baby brother; playing with him, feeding him, or caring for him to consider any changes in his father's behavior. In most ways, Draco was and still is the father figure that they both missed out on. The day he boarded the train for Hogwarts gave Draco conflicting feelings. Of course he was ecstatic to finally be attending the prestigious school that his entire family had gone to and would be going to, but he was worried about leaving Hyperion alone. Hyperion was only four. He was still young and he needed guidance. With Draco gone at school for most of the year, who would watch over Hyperion? Certainly his mother who didn't ignore his being to appease her husband who wasn't angry at Narcissa for her lies. Certainly his Aunt Bella who was not enraged that she couldn't bare her own children and treated her nephews as outlets for her anger. So, Hyperion would be fine right?

Wrong.

Hyperion would never know the love and nurturing that children needed to grow. No matter how much pain he endured, Hyperion never showed his true feelings towards Draco going to school because as a boy he was supposed to be strong. His father scolded him if he cried or showed any emotion at all.

"Crying is for girls."

"Boys don't cry."

"Do you want people to think you're weak? Huh? Get it through your thick skull! BOYS DON'T CRY!"

And so one day, one day soon, Hyperion would listen to his father, bottling up his emotions inside. Men are strong and crying is a sign of weakness.

Draco Malfoy continued walking down the corridors of the Hogwarts express. He gazed into many compartments of the train, his eyes only landing on one in particular. Within the cabin sat four kids, relaxing and having a joyous time, the tallest was hunched over in laughter, his red hair sprawled over the lap of a girl who was nose deep in this year's spellbook. Adjacent to her sat another boy, with a mop of black hair, and who was sitting curiously close to a flattering girl with flaming red hair. Groaning inwardly, Draco recognized the bunch.

Truth was, Draco never really despised Harry and his posse, but he'd never let them know that.

Draco waltzed over to the compartment. He leaned against the open door and put the same pretentious smirk on his face that the group had come to know whenever they were forced to endure his mockery.

"Don't remember asking you to join us, Malfoy." Harry remarked, cynically.

Draco blinked but responded instantly, "Weasley... what is that?" The boy pointed towards Pigwidgeon's cage. A sleeve of Ron's dress robe had fallen down and was dangling in front, wrapping around the lock.

"It's the sleeve of a cloak that was founded in the depths of unicorn fire on Mount Satan Spawn. What do you think it is, dumbass?" Harry responded.

Draco rolled his eyes. It's not that he cared about Harry's little jab. If anything he thought it was mildly humorous, but he swore to himself that he'd never make friends with Harry Potter. Not after the Boy Who Lived embarrassed him in front of the entire student body. And for that reason, and perhaps a million others that Draco did or did not know of, he convinced himself that he loathed Harry Potter.

"You think you're so funny, Potter." Draco turned to Crabbe and Goyle. "Look at it!" He exclaimed. The dress robes were firmly in his hands, "Weasley, you weren't thinking of wearing these were you?" He let out a chuckle. "I mean- maybe they were very fashionable in eighteen ninety..." Draco trailed off.

Ron's face was red, though Draco couldn't quite tell if it was from embarrassment or anger. "Eat dung, Malfoy!" The redhead snatched the garment out of Draco's hands. The eldest Malfoy let out a laugh. "Thinking about entering, Weasley?"

"Entering what?" Ginny asked, suddenly curious at what this git had to say.

"The Triwizard Tournament," Hermione explained. "It's the first one in, what? A century? Honestly, I think it was completely stupid of them to start it again. You'd think with all the deaths that've happe-"

"Of course you'd think that, Granger. Fancy you read that in one of your books whilst you were home alone all summer?" Draco barked.

Hermione's face scrunched up in slight discomfort and embarrassment. Clearly, Draco had struck a nerve. Draco couldn't say he was thrilled, but he didn't feel guilty, either. He felt good and horrible about it at the same time, and he had no idea why. Draco thought it best let those thought delve where they may, because he knew sooner or later he was going to need them.

"Anyways, the Triwizard Tournament is just a fancy competition. Hogwarts competes in it with Durmstrang and Beauxbatons," Hermione continued, "it's crazy dangerous."

"Kind've like being around a girl when she's on her perio-" Hermione and Ginny slapped Harry's arms so fast, he didn't even have a chance to finish. He expected Draco to say something snarky, but turned his head to find the boy gone. With a shrug of his shoulders, he turned back to his friends; thinking nothing of the incident.

The train ride was shorter than Harry would've liked. They pulled up to Hogwarts with a halt, and himself, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron walked off and on the the sidewalk. Harry found it odd that he still hadn't seen Draco. It wasn't like him to duck out of a perfect opportunity to humiliate Harry in the slightest. Harry shook his head. The day he found himself actually giving a damn about Draco Malfoy, is the day life as he knew it would end.

Hello, lovely people. I am so sorry for the terribly long wait. School's started up again and I didn't have as much access to computers over the summer. You probably won't believe it, but Snivellus and I started this chapter in June. Anyways, I would expect updates to come sooner than we've been going so far.

As always,

thisisnotapalindrome