~Year: 2011

The next day, after many anxious hours laying on the concrete ground, awaiting your fate, the door to the cellar opened. You perked up slightly, your mouth dry with hunger and your arm gave a painful throb. You slapped your hand over the open wound and Draco sat up as well, his eyes slightly unfocused and his hair sticking up.

Heavy footsteps came quickly down the stairs, and then Lucius was visible in the room, his face serious.

"Dad," Draco said, clinging to the bars. Lucius looked away from him, and unless it was your imagination, his blue eyes sparkled with tears. Lucius quietly took a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked Draco's cell. Draco stood and walked out of his cell quietly ad Lucius turned to unlock your cell. His hands shake lightly as they remove the key, and Lucius avoids eye contact. When he opens the door to your cell, he turns away without a word and begins to make his way up the stairs. "Dad?" Draco asks quietly.

"Why did you come back?" Lucius answers angrily, not bothering to turn around.

"Wha-" Draco begins to ask.

"Why?" Lucius interrupts harshly, turning away. His eyes are bloodshot and his jaw is set, just as Draco's does when he wants to be defiant.

"We had to do something. There's people being killed everywhere. We needed to come back, make sure that everyone was safe."

"No you didn't!" Lucius explodes. "You should have stayed where you were supposed to. It was stupid to come back. So incredibly stupid, for the reasons you just mentioned. You could have been murdered, I don't doubt the Dark Lord will kill you now…"

"We're too valuable," Draco suddenly retorted, firing up. You quietly placed a hand on his arm, but he flew into a rage, shaking his arm free and pointing a finger at his father. "Where the hell are your morals? It's sick. I thought this was something to believe in, but now that's I've seen who's behind it and what they're capable of," Draco trails off and shakes his head. "I thought you would change your views by now."

"The only safety I'm concerned with is my family's," Lucius says crisply. "Not that matters to the two of you." He sweeps his eyes over you and you shrink back, intimidated. You've never seen him this angry. "How could you risk it?" He asks, his eyes boring into yours, and you freeze. Draco glares at his father and wraps an arm around your shoulders. Lucius looks at Draco's arm, which is clamped tightly around your shoulders, a sign of his loyalty, and scoffs.

"The Dark Lord is waiting," he says quietly, and someone on the floor above calls out his name.

"In case you forgot, we're your family too," Draco calls out after him, pointing a finger at his back. Lucius pauses on the stop stair, and after a few seconds, opens the door to the cellar and leaves. Draco is shaking with anger, so you gently slip your hand into his and begin to tug him up the stairs, letting him fume silently. As soon as you step out of the cellar, death eaters flank you. Avery and Rookwood stand on either side of you and Draco. Bellatrix stands outside of the parlor, her hands laced together. At the sight of you, a slight smirk crosses her mouth.

"How's your arm feeling?" She asks in a horrible, mocking tone. Draco makes a sudden movement towards her, as if he was about to hit her. Unless it was your imagination, a flicker of panic crossed her hollowed face, but as Avery grabbed Draco and yanked him back, her smirk re-appeared. She slid open the door and Rookwood pushed you through it. Avery shoved Draco forward, a hand clasping the back of his neck, so that Draco's head was bowed, like he was put in a yoke like a common animal.

The Dark Lord was sitting in a high-backed green chair. His red eyes were shut, and Naigini was wound around his shoulders, like a disgusting stole. When you and Draco stepped forward, your heads bowed obediently, his eyes snapped open. You felt a drop of sweat roll down your back, from your hairline down your spine. Voldemort touched the tips of his fingers together, flexing his hands the slightest bit.

"You would think," he began in a slow, velvety voice. "That the two of you would be dead now. I would dispose of you, after all the trouble you have cost me. However, I need more people with your strength and talent. Let's try this again, hmm? You've failed me once, don't do it again. I am not a patient or forgiving man."

"M-My Lord?" Draco asked in a disbelieving tone.

"You will be sent back to Hogwarts," Voldemort said, without acknowledging him. "I need more eyes and ears there." Behind you, you could hear Bellatrix making slight puttering noises, voicing her disapproval. "You will be under the eyes of Snape and the Carrows. I expect you to follow their orders." Voldemort's eyes focused on your face and you looked down at the ground to keep from recoiling. "All of them."

"My Lord," another voice said. And this time, you recognized Lucius's voice. "I thank you, my gracious Lord."

"Enough," Voldemort said, cutting across his dialogue by holding up a long-fingered hand. "They will go back today. Their belongings are in their rooms, yes?"

Both you and Draco nodded mutely, still surprised by this turn of events. You were so shocked you could hardly form a coherent thought.

"Pack them," Voldemort murmured. "Send them off on the Knight Bus. Avery," he said suddenly, looking to his right. "You will escort them. You too, Bella."

You heard Bellatrix make a small noise in her voice, maybe a snarl or growl. But then there was a chime of: "Yes, My Lord."

"Good," Voldemort said. You and Draco turned to go, but he let out a small cough, and you turned to look back at him. "Miss Validus," he said. "Do remember this. Contact with Potter is extremely valuable. I am told that you were once…an acquaintance of his?" Draco fidgets a bit.

"You could say that," you reply stiffly.

"If Potter gives you any contact, you will contact me," Voldemort says, nodding to your left arm. "Your wand will do." His red eyes burn dangerously. "Potter is the key. All will be forgiven if you give me Potter."

You swallow and nod.

"Go," Voldemort commands, and you and Draco scurry from the room like two mice. You dash up the familiar set of stairs and the two of you run into his room, closing the door and locking it behind you.

"We're okay," you marvel, throwing your arms around him. Draco lets out a small, relieved laugh, and closes his arms around your waist, lifting you off the ground. Neither of you notice the slight figure which sits on the bed until they speak.

"Draco. Celia." The two of you hastily break apart and turn to see Narcissa, teary-eyed, sitting at the end of the bed.

"Mum," Draco says. He steps over to her and leans down to hug her, encompassing her frail shoulders in his embrace. Over his shoulder, Narcissa nods to you and hesitantly step over to her. When Draco releases her, you lean down to hug her. She's skinnier than usual, but she smells the same, her hair is as glossy as ever, and she hugs you just as she always has.

"Thank God you're alive," Narcissa says, reaching out to touch your cheek as you pull away. Draco smiles gratefully at his mother, who's reaction is opposite of Lucius's cold greeting.

"We're going back to Hogwarts," Draco tells Narcissa, smiling widely.

"Thank God," Narcissa says shakily, pressing her palms to her cheeks. "I was so worried. I just found out this morning…" her eyes fill with tears. "That the two of you were here." The tears spill down her cheeks. "I could hear screaming last night, but I thought it was just in my nightmares." She sniffles and looks directly at you. "You were screaming, weren't you?"

You glance at Draco, who nods just a fraction and then you nod and pull up your right sleeve. The words carved in your skin are swollen and crusted over now, the dried blood smearing into your pores. Narcissa lets out a small hiss and closes her eyes.

"It's so wrong," she says in a deadpan tone. "Everything is wrong now." She sniffles and stands up, smoothing the comforter with her shaking hands. She doesn't look at you or Draco when she says: "Everything used to be so sure." Narcissa sighs and attempts to smile bravely. From her pocket, she draws out her wand. She waves it once, and Draco's trunk slides out from the corner, the top flips open, and his drawers slide open so that his clothes can fly out, fold themselves neatly, and stack themselves into the trunk. She waves her wand again, and faintly, you can hear your own trunk doing the same down the hall.

There's a shout from down the stairs.

"Malfoy, Validus!" Avery barks. "The bus is here. Get going!"

Narcissa looks as if she might weep again.

"I only saw you for a few moments," she says, and she holds out her arms. Both you and Draco walk into them at the same time, and she holds you both tightly, nearly knocking your heads together. "Take care of each other, okay?"

You nod wordlessly, and Draco says:

"Yes, Mum." Narcissa kisses each of you on the cheek, and then releases you. She wipes her tears and quietly leaves the room, leaving you and Draco alone.

Thirty minutes later, the Knight Bus has arrived outside of Hogwarts, thanks to Bellatrix "persuading" the driver (by showing him her dark mark).

"I'm to walk you up to the castle," Bellatrix says harshly, kicking your trunk off the bus. Avery grabs your arm and pulls you down the stairs, and the other passengers whisper and stare as you stumble onto the gravel pathway that leads to the front gates of the school.

"It's quite alright, Bella," a slow drawl says, and immediately, Avery releases your arm. Snape is standing at the front gates, his arms crossed. "I can take it from here."

"But Snape," Bellatrix protests angrily as Draco lugs his trunk off the bus under Avery's hawk-like watch. "The Dark Lord-"

"The Dark Lord trusts me," Snape says in his slow, emotionless voice. He raises one thin eyebrow. "Perhaps more than you, Bella?"

Bellatrix glowers, and her hair stands on end, like a rabid dog.

"I would never-" she begins.

"I am a trusted advisor," Snape says tartly. "And the headmaster of this school. And I will not allow you to step foot on these grounds."

Bellatrix hisses under her breath, but you quickly move towards Snape, preferring his company to hers. Draco follows without a second look at his aunt.

"That's what I thought," Snape says smugly, pushing open the gates to allow you and Draco to enter. He closes them behind the three of you and taps them with his wand. A blue light rushes through the iron, and through the bars, Bellatrix makes a face at Snape, her once-pretty features contorted into a mask of hate. Snape beckons Avery over to the gate and begins to whisper to him, and you notice that you can't see Draco. You turn to see him a few yards away, already on the path to the castle. You walk to his side and silently stand with him. It's twilight now, and the castle is bathed in a rosy glow that glimmers on the dusting of snow on the ground.

"It's good to be back," Draco says.

"It's almost like we never left," you agree.

You lean your head on his shoulder, and it seems as if the world is at peace, that the last few months haven't even happened, and your life is far more normal and uncomplicated then it has ever been.