I'm back! My exams are all done and I've finally finished school for good so I'm out into the big scary world now, so I should have a lot more time to dedicate to writing.

maximumpotter97: Thank you so much for you good luck message, my exams went alright paper wise, but the organisation was dreadful and I ended up with the wrong paper for one of them, so I hope that I've done okay. Fingers crossed.

JayBat: Of course the Malfoys have an apartment in the seventh Arrondissement. I agree, there is nothing better than starting your morning by going to a boulangerie in France.

Erimenthe: Draco has a lot to learn but his intentions aren't due to his over-indulged childhood, he does genuinely want the best for Caelum. As for whether Draco regrets the trip... you'll have to read and see.

Thank you to everyone who reviews, I honestly love reading your comments and a lot of the time I do take into account what you've written so please carry on reviewing

~PureBloodSnake xx

Parisian Pastries

Paris was beautiful and a lot more magical than Caelum realised. He could understand a lot more of the language than when he had last been to this country over Christmas break, thanks to Draco's lessons and was loving having an iota of freedom. Draco insisted that they did things like tourists this time around and so their first morning started by visiting the closest boulangerie for breakfast croissants and pains aux chocolats. Munching on their pastries, the two boys walked down the street to the Eiffel Tower.

"Bienvenue à la Tour Eiffel." Draco shuffled past Caelum and spoke to the lady at the ticket desk.

"Deux billets pour la sommet s'il vous plaît."

"€29 s'il tu plaît." Draco handed over the money with only a slight struggle with currency. "Merci." The lady handed over two tickets and pointed in the direction they needed to go. Caelum was amazed, Draco's french was eloquently spoken and made him wish that he too had spoken the language since birth. But for now he was going to enjoy the Eiffel Tower.

Draco was amazed at how easily his plan seemed to have worked, the bond between him and Caelum had opened up as soon as Caelum had forgotten about hiding his feelings from his twin. From that now open bond, Draco could feel wonder and amazement and a little bit of jealousy working to remove the deep self-loathing that had preoccupied Caelum's thoughts for the last few weeks. He could hear Caelum repeating the french that Draco spoke under his breath. Draco would correct when his pronunciation was incorrect but other than that he left Caelum to learn on his own, coddling his learning process was the worst thing Draco could do at this point in time. Although Draco did not share his thoughts out loud, he used the mental link between them to share how impressed he was with Caelum, this was he was reminding Caelum of the bond that they both forgot the meaning of sometimes. Caelum was grateful for Draco's small but frequent reassurances that he was there if his freedom was too overwhelming, and at times it really felt like it was. Going from not being alone for longer than the time it took to go to the toilet to walking around the centre of Paris with only Draco, being allowed to wander off (within a certain distance in case either of them got lost) was a huge and jarring change. Caelum knew his mental state was repairing itself slowly over the duration of this excursion, not being allowed to dwell on his problems or being forced to ignore them, allowed him to sort out the things in his mind logically. Sirius, no matter how little he knew about his godfather would want him to spend his time having fun and exploring the world instead of grieving for him. Doing the exact thing he wanted Caelum to do, put everything into perspective. The treatment he received at the hands of the Dursleys was another thing for him to think about, but even though he knew at some point he would have to talk about the rest of his treatment, but he needed to focus on the good that had come from being a Malfoy. Caelum knew that Draco understood that he didn't want the reminder, or the focus on the past, but that was because Draco could read his mind, but he didn't know how to articulate that to his mother or Snape, but that was a problem for when they were home. He was going to enjoy Paris whilst they were here.

Draco didn't know how but Caelum had convinced him into going to the magizoology convention that was being held in Paris, with guest speaker Newt Scamander. After the disaster that was his third year with Hagrid and Buckbeak, Draco wasn't too keen on anything to do with Magical Creatures but Caelum was insistent and Draco didn't know how to say no. So on their third day in Paris, Caelum and Draco found themselves in the magic quarter of Paris, both with wide eyes and amazement etched across their faces as they took in the wondrous sights that were so different from wizarding London. There was a wizarding pâtisserie, that sold pumpkin flavoured éclairs and chocolate escargots. Caelum tried a chocolate escargot not realising it was a snail covered in chocolate, Draco choked on his laughter as Caelum tried to swallow the treat, disgust plain to see on his face. In return Caelum challenged Draco to eat a macaron that was too sour for most to eat. Draco took the challenge like a Gryffindor and placed the macaron in his mouth, immediately his face scrunched up at the sharpness. They continued walking towards the convention, they passed a robe store and Draco marvelled at the French fashion, Caelum rolled his eyes impatiently as Draco spoke in a fast tone about the pastel colours used for men and something about the trim on the robes. Caelum could not care less, they did not interest him one bit. Caelum wanted to check out the quidditch shop and the music shop before heading to the convention.

The convention was busy, but not overly so. Caelum pulled Draco by the sleeve of his robe, to the auditorium where Newt Scamander was due to start his talk any minute. By some sheer luck there were two seats on the front row. Draco stumbled to keep up with the rate at which Caelum was pulling him towards those seats.

? ﾟﾐﾉ? ﾟﾐﾉ?

Narcissa had decided to spend the time her boys were away researching to keep her mind off of what could happen. She wasn't too happy with Draco's decision, but could understand the reasoning For the last fifteen years, Caelum had to raise himself and although he relished in being looked after and cared for, sometimes it was a little overbearing and for the last few weeks they had been more than overbearing. By doing so they were hindering his recovery. Narcissa felt stupid for not realising that her motherly instincts to wrap both her boys in cushioning charms was not going to be effective in furthering the two young men she was already so proud of. So whilst her twins were off enjoying themselves in Paris, Narcissa was hitting the Malfoy library trying to find more about the prophecy. She had delved into her own and her husband's private journals and could find no evidence of the two of them defying the Dark Lord three times before the twins were born. There was no way that the prophecy that Dumbledore told Caelum was anyone other than the fictional Harry Potter. But if that was the case, there must be some reason Dumbledore was insistant on using Caelum as his pawn.

The war was a scary thought for Narcissa, without Lucius around it was more than likely The Dark Lord was bound to call on Draco and Caelum to receive the mark and proclaim them as his spies within Hogwarts. Through Severus, Narcissa knew that The Dark Lord was planning on using someone on the inside of Hogwarts to kill Dumbledore, she just hoped her boys were not caught up in that, it was likely that they would be chosen to punish Lucius. It was close to the time for her monthly visit to Azkaban to see Lucius and this time she had a lot of questions and things to talk about.

? ﾟﾐﾉ? ﾟﾐﾉ?

"And um thank you for um coming here today and I um hope you enjoy the exhibits." Newt Scamander smiled at the applauding audience, refusing to look at any of them.

He's not very articulate is he? Draco's voice echoed around Caelum's mind and he struggled not to roll his eyes at Draco's snobbishness.

He doesn't need to be articulate to be brilliant at his work. His speech was wonderful, he's articulate when he forgets there is an audience. He could hear Draco snort out loud at his response, he knew Draco didn't understand the reserved nature of the renowned magizoologist. Instead of waiting for his brother's reply, Caelum walked off towards the exhibits at a brief pace. Draco followed at a slightly more sedate pace, but never losing eyesight of his twin. Caelum stopped at the first exhibit he saw, this had few people crowding around it due to the small size of the creature in the habitat. This small habitat included a couple of trees that seemingly had no creatures living on them at first glance. At a closer look the tree had several stick-like creatures hidden amongst the branches.

"Bowtruckles." Caelum whispered when Draco raised an eyebrow quizzically to his brother's awestruck staring. "They're creatures that protect the trees that are most often used for wands. They're often known as tree guardians. Wand makers either have a deal with the bowtruckles or bribe them with woodlice to get the wood they need." Draco was surprised, he knew Caelum was interested in seeing the creatures, but had no clue his knowledge ran this deep, he had expected this exhibition to be a little like a trip to the zoo.

"Correct." A familiar, soft voice spoke from behind them, both turned sharply, hands on their wands. Newt Scamander stood before them clad in a well worn blue robe. "However, you'll find that bowtruckles are particular partial to spiders as well, especially the large garden spiders." Newt's smile was contagious and despite the star-struck feeling that was making Caelum's heart beat a little faster, he smiled too.

"I'll make sure to remember that sir." Newt's smile faltered a little before the smile returned even larger than before.

"Newt please. Do you two go to Hogwarts?" At their nods he continued. "I never remember the care of magical creatures lessons to be that detailed." At his comment Caelum blushed, a pink tinge, barely noticeable, appeared on his cheeks.

"They're not. I've spent a lot of time in our family library reading all the books on magical creatures. It's fascinating and I'm always looking for something more to read." Draco tried not to show his amusement at the way Caelum's voice tapered off at the end of the sentence, by the way Caelum shot him a glance with narrowed eyes he wasn't successful.

"What's your name?"

"Caelum Malfoy and this is my brother Draco."

Much to Caelum's delight and Draco's reluctant intrigue, Newt Scamander spent the rest of the day with the twins, discussing each individual creature and all their little quirks. By the end of the day, Caelum knew each beast at the exhibition like there were his friends. Draco wondered when he would ever use this knowledge, but it was clear to him that Caelum was finding the joy in life again and that was the point of this whole trip.

"If you wouldn't mind Caelum, I would love to continue our conversation and maybe I could answer any questions your studies bring up. It's nice to be able to talk to someone who has the same passion for these creatures as I do. I've seen too many wizards and witches treat them as lower beings." Newt had a hopeful look on his face that Draco thought made him look a little like a child trying to make friends despite his ninety years.

"Yes, that would be amazing. Thank you." Caelum was ashamed at his lack of elegance when replying but his excitement allowed him to forget his mother's and father's etiquette advice. The answering smile that Newt gave Draco hope for what would happen after the two of them returned to Hogwarts.

"Thank you." He murmured to Newt after Caelum had started to walk away. By the small twinkle in Newt's eyes, he knew exactly what Draco was talking about. Hurrying to catch up with Caelum, Draco realised that he didn't need to worry too much anymore, Caelum would be fine, he just needed to allow him to fly free for a little bit. Now he had to convince their mother and Severus to do the same.

? ﾟﾐﾉ? ﾟﾐﾉ?

Stepping onto the shores of Azkaban, Narcissa felt the waves of dread settle on her shoulders. But she had to deal with the horror if she wanted to see her husband.

Lucius looked disheveled, for lack of a better word. His long blond hair was no longer pulled back into a sleek ponytail, but was falling over his face in disarray. His face was smudged with dirt and his eyes held a glassy, yet distraught glint to them.

"Narcissa." He rasped as soon as he spotted her, her name sounding like a prayer falling from his lips.

"Lucius." She greeted in the same tone, waiting for the guard to leave before collapsing on her knees in front of the cell door so she was level with her husband.

"How are our boys?" Narcissa smiled despite herself, even though he was in Azkaban, his first thoughts were his boys.

"Caelum has been having some troubles, he's struggling with Sirius' death and blames himself for you being here. On top of that I did something stupid, I tried to force him to relive his past. I thought that maybe getting it off his chest would help. He spiralled after that and Severus and I made it worse. Draco expressed concern over Caelum's mental stability and we took the concern to a whole new level by not allowing to be alone, we even told Draco to sleep in the same room. Both those boys must hate us for that. I realised it was a mistake when Draco ran away with Caelum. I've been told when they plan to be back and nothing else. I keep making mistakes Lucius, I don't know how to deal with this." Tears silently dripped down Narcissa cheeks and through the bars of his cell, Lucius raised a dirty thumb and wiped them away.

"You've done the best you could. Both of you are going to be making mistakes, Caelum is struggling with how it feels to have a family, even after a year and you are struggling to parent a boy who is mostly self-sufficient. With time you'll both learn." He sighed at the thought of not being included in that process, but he shook the thought away and focused on the positive, least the dementors got at them. "What of the prophecy?"

"I've spent the last couple days searching through our journals to find amy clues that we may have defied the Dark Lord, but there is none. The prophecy simply does not apply to Caelum and yet, Dumbledore still claims that he will be the one to win this war." Narcissa was eager to find out Lucius' thoughts on this lack of findings.

"What if there is another prophecy that Dumbledore knows of?"