Dante watched as the Death Eaters amassed over the grounds, spreading out in a widening search pattern to encompass the vast property that belonged to the Malfoy family.

Sighing deeply, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the cold breeze of the winder morning to ripple over his form, picking up the tails of his red suede leather trench coat where he sat.

He let his head fall forward, the winds picking up his jaw-length snow white locks, making them sway before him in a pure white veil that had no hope of hiding him and this horrible mess he was now stuck in.

Dante sat back against the tallest chimney of the mansion and sighed deeply. "I'm not gonna bite you, kid."

Nothing moved for a long moment.

Then there were hesitant, timid steps and the sound of rustling clothes.

Dante let his head fall back against the brickwork and opened his eyes. He glanced sidelong at the newcomer.

"Congrats." He said. "You won hide and seek."

Beside him, Draco clasped his hands around his pulled up knees and glanced at the elder man. "Are you really hiding?"

"Aren't adults allowed to hide? Or do kids have dibs on it?"

"But you're…"

Dante sighed deeply and went back to watching the Death Eaters frantically searching for him. "This is your house, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Why are you hiding in your own house?"

Silence.

Dante looked at the teenage boy for long moment. The kid was tall and skinny, bleached white hair slicked back to frame a seemingly malevolent face that looked so much like a mask it was only visible to someone else also wearing a mask.

"You shouldn't annoy Voldemort like this." Draco said quietly. "He takes it out on Mum and Dad."

"Tell him you found me up here. He'll be pleased with your family."

Draco looked at him sharply. "You mean, take credit for finding you?"

"Tell them I was trying to escape. You talked me out of it. Then I gave up trying to escape."

"Are you trying to escape?"

"No."

"…why not?"

Dante smiled. "Do you know who I am, kid?"

Draco appeared to hesitate, then nodded. "Dante, the Dark Source."

"I gave my lead promise to Voldemort." Dante told him. "If I leave, I die. I can't escape."

"Then what are you doing up here?" Draco asked.

Dante looked away into the cold grey sky, hoping against hope to see a remnant of blue up there, but there was nothing.

"I wanted to feel free." He whispered.

Draco hid the sudden lump in his throat and the thud of his heart. "Me too."

Dante closed his eyes. Deep inside him, the stab of pain rang too piercingly though his very soul.

"Get out of here, kid." He told him, not looking at the teenager. "This place will burn you inside out."

"I-I can't."

"No, I can't. You can." Dante turned to the teenager and found distraught brown eyes gazing into his own. "You have a choice, Draco, albeit a bitch of one, but you have a choice. Choose."

The teenager shook his head as he stared incredulously at the elder man. "What are you? Really? You don't seem – you don't come across as - I thought…"

"You don't know what you thought," Dante finished for him. "No one gives you a straight answer because you're just a kid caught up in something huge and stupid and dangerous. I am a Dark Source; I create all dark magics for the Dark Arts to use in their curses and hexes and anything else requiring tainted power. I am the source of all Voldemort's power."

"You seem okay to me."

Dante smiled. "I'm not evil, kid. I'm just not good either."

"Then what are you?"

"I'm…complicated."

Quiet, save for the increased shouting below, fell.

"Tell them you found me, Draco." Dante said again. "Tell them where I am. Tell them you reminded me of my vow and I can't escape without killing myself. I'm thick like that and almost destroyed myself."

"Why are you doing this?"

Dante cast sorrow filled steel blue eyes onto the boy and watched as the teenager gasped in dark surprise.

"I have nothing else. Might as well help a kid protect his parents." The elder man picked up Rebellion and handed her to the teenager. "Take her with you. They'll believe you."

Draco hesitated, then stood up – and kneeled down again. "Go." he said urgently. "Just take your sword and go. Word is the Order and Harry are at the Weasley house. The Master's horde can't get within ten miles of the place. Go there now."

"I thought you didn't like Harry."

Draco laughed mirthlessly. "He's a trumped up nobody who hasn't got a clue about what it's like to be a prisoner. He's lost his family, he's been alone, he's been neglected – isn't it so terrible? He has no idea what anguish is. No idea what it's like to be controlled and manipulated and used and thrown away. Try suffering in your own home. Try hating what you've become because there is nothing else. Try regretting everything you've ever done because you have a choice that's between endless pain or becoming an outcast. Try seeing a way out of this Hell house and he'll understand."

Beside him, Dante's tortured soul eased. He smiled a true smile for the first time since waking up in this prison.

"It's a bitch of a choice, kid, but you can choose." Dante looked into surprised yet angry and sad brown eyes. "It's your life; take control of it. It might take years to get out of this house, but you can choose to get out and start working on a plan." He gestured to Rebellion. "First decision – tell your master you found me trying to escape."

Draco shook his head. "No, I can't. You're not anyway and…" he couldn't explain the feeling he got from the other man. "I-I can't…"

"You can get out, kid. It will take you a long time, but you can get out if you choose to." Dante looked away and titled his face up to the cold grey sky, feeling the icy winds grace over his skin. "I will die here. I've made my choice. I have to die here."

Draco opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't think of anything. The words sounded so resolute, so certain, so sure, it scared him to the core. The Dark Source had made his choice and it was going to happen in every single way that he could see.

It was then the teenager noticed what the young man was doing. Dante was fingering his wedding ring; feeling the smooth contours of the simple, plain silver band as if using it to comfort himself as well as reassuring himself it was still there.

Dante closed his eyes, hiding the tears that stung the distraught steel blue and enjoyed winter air for as long as he could. It was a long moment for he heard Draco leave. He listened to the hesitant, stunting steps as they gradually faded away. Then it was only another moment later when he was surrounded by six furious Death Eaters, armed and out of breath.