A/N: Okay. I just wanna start with some big ol' glomps to my reviewers... omg... you guys rock... and seem to be eating up the new cliffy! Who'd of thought? ;) Alrighty, well, I'll give a shout to those select few who did send some raving reviews my way:
queerlove: (love the name, by the way... :P) Thank you so much! That's the first review I've gotten saying how awesome my writing is! :O yay! *warm and fuzzies!* I was beginning to think... no, i don't know what i was beginning to think. But anyway. Yes. I am a rather insane grammar fanatic. Everything has to be perfect goddamnit! There is nothing worse than poor grammar... except poor spelling. And i do try. :) I mean, if i couldn't write, i'd die. simple as that.
Muffin-DanishFreak: Also thank you so much to you too! :D :D :D Wow, I'm so glad I got you hooked! ^^ that makes me so happy, you have no idea. And cliffies? Awesome, right? ;) I love a good plot twist to get everyone squirming. :P
uh. also. quick note. Rereading through this, i found a continuity issue which i certainly hope nobody caught cuz i haven't heard anything about it... in Chapter 1, Harry goes to what he describes as Malfoy's apartment when in the following chapters, he and Draco are at the Manor. Now, my theory is that Draco rented out the apartment for the night to make himself seem less intimidating. That and he's rich and he can do these sorts of things... anyway... continuity fanatic as well. everything. must. be. perfect. ;)
Anyway, guys. I know you've all been waiting for this new plot development to conclude itself, so I'll just leave you to it and sit in the corner here and grin maniacally at you all.
"What- what the hell do you want, Malfoy?" Harry spat, feeling the irony of the Malfoy name on his tongue. How he had learned to love the very man Lucius Malfoy had brought into the world was beyond him. Draco may have known the risks far better than Harry did and the fact that he had been so blind scared him.
"You've been stealing what is mine," Lucius Malfoy drawled, toying absently with his wand in his free hand, pointed in Ginny's direction. "Has no one told you not to touch other people's things?"
"I…" he swallowed. "I don't know what you're talking about, Malfoy," he replied, trying to remain as calm as possible while his wife was being threatened and the kids… oh god! The kids! Merlin only knew what sort of things Lucius Malfoy had already done to his kids!
"I think you know very well what I am talking about, Potter. Traipsing about in public posing as Astoria Greengrass… Don't tell me you didn't expect me to find out about your dirty little secret. What did you think you would do? Further coerce Draco into joining your side? I know it was you! You who tempted Draco against the Dark Lord!"
Harry blinked. Me? Of all the unlikely… But it wasn't unlikely. Not when Draco had confessed his unrequited love he had suffered for the past near twenty years. There were so many things he had yet to discover about Draco Malfoy. "What do you expect to achieve here, Malfoy? Voldemort is dead! The glory days are over! Time to go crawling back to Azkaban where you belong!"
"Oh, but don't you see, Potter? A Death Eater gives his every word- his every last breath to the Dark Lord. I will not rest until He rises again under my hand!"
Harry had to truly fight back the urge to laugh. Lucius Malfoy? Attempting to resurrect the Dark Lord? "And what does all this have to do with me?"
"What does all this have to do with you?" Lucius scoffed with an arrogant shake of his head. "I've had enough of your childish games, Potter. Now you will do what I say, or the blood traitor dies." He emphasized his point by thrusting his wand sharply against Ginny's neck. A look of terror crossed her ever paling, freckled visage.
"You wouldn't dare," Harry growled, taking a lunging step forward.
"On the contrary. I think I'd quite enjoy your witnessing your wife go the very same way as your children." Lucius sneered, taking in the staggered expression on Harry's face. He raised a perfectly aristocratic brow, watching in amusement as the life altogether drained from his eyes at this admonition.
"You bastard," Harry seethed, his fist tightening on his wand as he threw it out toward Lucius' direction. He could feel himself shaking from head to toe at the very thought. His children. His three beautiful children… lost to a madman obsessed with revenge. James. Albus. Lily. "You murderer!"
It was at that very moment that Harry could no longer keep his fury at bay. Throwing all auror training to the wind, he threw himself at Malfoy, his fist making to collide with the psychopath's face. Lucius caught his wrist midway, twisting, twisting it until he had Harry writhing on the floor. Harry screamed in spite of himself. He tried to bite it back to no avail.
Taking advantage of his opponent's newly obtained shock and physical pain, Lucius pressed his wand to Harry's crown and uttered a spell. Harry's vision darkened into nothing until he lost consciousness completely, having never discovered which spell he had been attacked by.
~.~.~.~.~
Draco was anxious to hear news from Harry. Last he had heard, he had gone down to the mudbloo- ah… Granger's humble abode to put together a more sensible plot in informing the Weasley bitch- that is, Harry's wife of their new arrangement. He had to admit, he was positively jubilant about their plans. Their plans. The plans he and Harry shared. Their future. His heart pounded at the very thought.
But where was he? What was taking him so long? Would the Weaslette really hold him up that long? In need of explanation? Or had she Bat Bogey Hexed him to death and he was lying in a ditch somewhere? Was she-Weasel capable of that?
Draco decided he didn't want to know. He decided to pace instead. Back and forth across his luxurious crimson and gold embroidered carpet. Where the fuck was he?
He began to second guess himself. What if he changed his mind? What if he wanted to take his wife back? What if he realized what a horrible mistake being with Draco would be? What if what if what if?
All of a sudden, the flames quietly crackling in the fireplace shuddered to life. Draco jumped, half expecting Harry to step through onto the hearth.
"Draco," Astoria addressed him from the flames, her voice frantic and hair a mass of hysterical fly away wisps. Only her head was visible through the grate as she craned her neck to see if anyone else was there. "Oh, Draco. You must come quickly. It's Scorpius. Oh… god…"
Draco hardly needed to be told twice. His heart pounding a hundred fold faster than normal, caught up in his throat, he nodded, allowing Astoria to pull herself back into her own sitting room. He followed her through the floo network.
He had never seen Astoria so flustered and panic stricken in his life. He began to assume the worst for his son.
"I… Draco… the cellar…" she attempted to explain in broken, incoherent sentences as she clamped a hand down on his wrist and led him toward the trap door in the far corner of the kitchen. "I-I don't… I don't know what happened!" she sobbed, fat streaks of tears dribbling across each cheek. She crouched down in her skirts to pull up the heavy latch, throwing open the door.
They clambered down the steps, two stairs at a time. Draco absently noted to cast lumos to brighten their otherwise dim path. "Scorpius!" He called out, practically choking on his words. Whatever was going on, must be deadly serious. He didn't want to know what could possibly happen to his son. "Scorpius!"
"Father!" came an answering voice, echoing down the lengthy corridor. Draco broke into a run in the direction of his son's painstakingly familiar voice, riddled with fear. "Father! Go back! It's a trap! It's a…"
Draco came to a full, sudden stop, heaving for breath. He gripped his side, allowing his eyes to focus on the scene before him. What he saw made his insides shrivel. Scorpius, arms pulled taut behind his back and eyes wide, stared at him unblinkingly, shaking. Flanked around him was his stepfather and his cousin, Theodore Nott. In the corner were two bodies, thrown in an unmoving heap. He didn't want to think about their unfortunate demise…
Particularly when there, in the dead center of it all, was his father, in all his Death Eaten glory.
"Hello, Draco," Lucius greeted him as warmly as could be expected from the deranged man before him. "We brought you and audience."
"W-what?" Draco fumbled, casting a frantic glance around the room. Astoria stood, in a stone cold trance beside him, her eyes cold and wraith-like. She advanced on him, alongside at least a dozen Death Eaters, advancing, advancing until he was trapped within their inner circle.
"I'm sure your darling Harry Potter will want to see the show," Ambrosius Nott mocked openly with a shrill, spine-chilling laugh. He swept down upon the heap of bodies in the corner, pointing his wand toward one of what Draco assumed to be corpses. With an unspoken counter-curse, Harry Potter was pulled out of a strong body bind. It took an extended moment for him to regain his focus. When he did, his emerald green eyes flashed behind shattered glasses, wide and fearful.
"No!" he shrieked with what little voice he appeared to have left. "No! Draco! No!" He thrashed against Ambrosius' restraining grip, screaming incoherent words.
The band of Death Eaters advanced still. Draco revolved on the spot, searching desperately for an opening. But as the cult grew closer, the harder it was to find a gap to escape through.
"You failed me, Draco," Lucius Malfoy hissed, his voice sounding far away in Draco's pounding ears. He could both hear and feel the blood rushing fast about his brain, circuiting through the rest of his body. Keeping him alive. Keeping him sane. "You failed the Dark Lord. And for that…" he thrust his wand out in front of him, aiming dead straight for his son.
"Crucio!"
A dozen jets of light streamed from a dozen raised wands, catapulting toward him. From outside the circle, Draco heard Harry's screams before the excruciating pain ripped through him and he lost himself.