Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 52 "Blackmail"

Severus banged his fist against the stone wall. "They can't take him."

"Why not? They have every right." Lily said, her voice getting stuck in her throat. Damius had taken Draco for a walk across the grounds so Lily could tell Severus what had happened. Lily had gone straight down to his dungeon classroom; luckily class had just let out. As expected, he was taking it just about as well as Lily had.

"There has to be some way. They'll raise him to be a pureblood pyschopath..he'll grow up just like Lucius." Severus spat. "Unbelievable."

Fingering his wand, his eyes began glittering. "I'll talk to them. I won't let anyone screw up our family anymore."

Lily grabbed at his arm frantically. "Severus, don't do anything stupid!"

Severus shook her off. "Stay here. I'll take care of it...Draco will stay with us."

"Sev-" Lily started, but Severus was already out the door. She tried to open it but it was locked. Whisking out her wand, she poked it at the knob and said, "Alohomora," and tried to open it again.

It wouldn't budge. Severus must have used some advanced locking charm, or one that he had invented.

"Severus!" she screamed through the door. "Please...don't do this!"

The screams did not affect the man who strode purposefully through the halls. He had another class that was starting in about half an hour but he had forgotten all about it. There was only one thing on his mind: Draco.

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Severus closed his eyes and breathed deeply trying to regain his composure as he stood on the Malfoy's expansive doorstep. There was nothing he would enjoy more then cursing the daylights out of them, but he knew that would only lead to more trouble. He decided to talk it out, use his persuasive words instead of angry magic. He had a plan, and hopefully it would work out.

The loud pounding that his fist made on the solid door echoed inside the house. Severus guessed maybe the door was be twitched to make knocks louder so guests could be heard easier. The house was certainly big enough that you might not be able to hear someone at the door if you were in a far room.

A house elf opened the door to an unknown man with glittering black eyes, and stepped back a bit. The man had a strong sense of anger and justice about him; it was over whelming to the small creature. "May I helps you, sir?"

Severus pushed the door open wider. The house elf's feet slid on the floor as it tried valiantly to prevent the door from opening further. "I need to see the Malfoys."

"Sir-" the elf squeaked as Severus forced the door open and entered the pristine mansion. It wasn't too hard to find the Malfoys..he had simply gone to the Owl Post Office and flipped through the address books until he came upon the name Malfoy. Lucius' mansion address was listed, of course, and above his name was Abraxas Malfoy's residence.

"What is going on?" A man's voice drawled.

Severus looked up to see an older blonde man who looked exactly like Lucius. He glanced at Severus and sneered.

It was as Abraxas already knew he was, which Severus was not surprised by. His name and face had probably spread quickly through Voldemort's follower's ranks. He didn't doubt that Lucius had thrown in a bad word about him over dinner with his uptight pureblood parents one time or another as well.

"What do you want?" Abraxas' cool voice bounced off the marble in the entrance way, making Severus feel like he was surrounded by the bastard.

"I've come about Draco." Severus said evenly, trying to control his temper. He tried to remind himself that losing his control would do nothing to help the situation.

"Have you brought him along? Ready to give him up?" Abraxas peered around Severus as if expecting to see the boy standing on the doorstep behind him.

"No." Severus hissed. "Look, Draco is happy where he is. Can't you just leave him be? He went through so much already."

"I don't really care if he's happy or not. I just don't want him being raised by a filthy Mudblood. The little snot is nothing but a bother. Narcissa did not raise him in the Pureblood ways and Lucius knew that. I honestly thought he should drop him by an orphanage..I knew he would never amount to anything. But of course that was not an option. I wish Lucius had killed the scum, but he was saved by you. Now I have to worry about my reputation. What will people think if they see Draco with filth?"

"Draco is a person, not a possession. He deserves to be loved like he should."

Abraxas snorted derisively. "Please. He is only to be used to continue the Malfoy name. That is all he's good for now. Perhaps we might be able to still teach him how to act like a proper Malfoy...with persuasion."

Severus gritted his teeth in anger, but forced himself to keep calm. Little did Malfoy know but he was digging himself into a deep hole by saying the things he was. Severus had used a tricky little charm to record into his wand every thing that Abraxas was saying. If Abraxas wanted to take it to court, Severus would, and he would fight as hard as he could.

"There is nothing I can do to change your mind?" Severus said quietly.

Abraxas sneered. "Are you trying to bribe me? I really doubt you have enough gold to appease me. You're no better then the Mudblood you married."

"Bribe no..blackmail yes. You do know who I am, don't you? I not only got your son thrown away but also got rid of Voldemort. The people trust me..the Ministry will listen to me." Severus poured it on as thick as he could, and tried not to smile at the expression on Abraxas' face. "If I say that you and your wife were involved in Lucius' campaign, where do you think you'll end up?"

Abraxas gave no reply so Severus answered for him.

"You'll be thrown into Azkaban." Severus patted the pocket where his wand was. "And if that doesn't work for some reason, I just recorded everything you said about Draco. If you bring this to court, I will play it for the judge and I'm sure the ruling will be quick after that. You really have no chance, being of such close relation to the man who started a campaign to take over. All the people he killed..you don't think some of their family works at the Ministry? I would think that you would want to lay low at this time and not draw attention to yourselves."

Abraxas' eye twitched and Severus continued, really getting into it now. " Think of what bringing this to court would do. It would be in the papers, reporters might be knocking on your door...I'm sure people would send tons of hate mail. When you go out you would have to watch your backs-never know when someone might try and get even for everything your son did. I also doubt that people would respond well to a young child being taken from the savior of the Wizarding world to be raised by the parents of a mad man bent on destroying all muggles and muggleborns."

Abraxas narrowed his eyes at Severus and spoke. "You are aware that you are threatening me? I can have you arrested."

"Again...do you want to draw attention to yourself? Does Draco mean that much to you that you would put yourself and your wife in danger of being thrown into Azkaban for him? I can make your lives difficult, and I will, if need be."

It looked like Abraxas' mind was working a mile a minute, weighing his decision carefully. Finally he looked the younger wizard in the eye, and Severus thought he saw a bit of uneasiness there. That was a good sign; Severus had scared him.

"If you want the scum, then keep him. As I said he only has one use anyway. But I want your assurance that you will speak for us if anyone ever questions about Lucius. Otherwise if you don't...I will fight for Draco, and I will win."

Every muscle in Severus' body relaxed. He was unsure of what Abraxas' decision would be. Despite his threatening words he thought the Malfoys might still go on to pursue what was in their minds, rightfully theirs.

"You have my word. But from now on, leave Draco be. He's happy now and that's how he should stay." Severus said coldly. "I don't want to come over here again."

Abraxas sneered. "Believe me, I won't even think of the brat again. He's better off with his own kind anyway...muggle-loving fools."

Severus began to bristle, but did not argue. He had gotten what he wanted; hopefully Abraxas kept his end of the deal and left them alone. If he started to stir up trouble, then Severus would do everything in his power to keep his family safe. That including lying about Abraxas' involvement in Lucius' campaign if need be. He did not like to lie; it made him feel dirty, but he was very good at it. He had lied enough to Voldemort, and if the Dark Lord could be fooled by Severus, then he could lie to anyone.