Hey! Thanks again for the comments and subscribe/favorites, I've been busy, it was why I couldn't answer you all individually, but I loved each one of them.

Sorry there was no wednesday update again, as I said, I had a lot going on and this chapter was the 8.2 that also needed a rewrite, which means there is now a 8.3 chapter, but I'm happier with this version than I was with my first draft. It also means I might keep the once a week update for a while, but there will be one at least every sunday.

I hope you enjoy it!

Draco was existing, there were days he didn't want to leave his bed, eating felt like a chore and the days were blending in one another and he felt numb. Death and torture were routine, the Dark Lord's constant switch from adoration to threatening Draco's life were no longer alarming. There were no dementors around, but it seemed like all the joy in the world was gone, he wanted to be fearful, but he was just tiredly resigned, he wanted to be angry, but he wasn't exactly sure what he was angry about, so Draco felt like a puppet only moving as his master commanded.

The Dark Lord would come and go as he pleased and with him a lot of his closest allies, it was clear for everyone that Malfoy Manor was no longer commanded by the family, but no one had publicly acknowledged that, if not in respect to Narcisa, then in fear of retaliation from the Lestranges or Snape, the last one had become quite present which raised many whispers around. If Draco wasn't so offended, he would have laughed that anyone could think his mother would ever want another man than Lucius Malfoy.

But then, they didn't see her outside of meetings, her vague look, full of despair and worry for her husband as she walked the manor. She tried not to show it to Draco either, but sometimes it was inevitable and he would see her around looking through a window.

He was surprised however to see her talking with his grandfather's portrait.

"What is wrong?" asked Draco

"Just exchanging a few ideas with your grandfather" she said dismissively and turned to the portrait "Thanks, Abraxas"

"I will stay around the manor if you need me" said the man and she nodded, walking away and Draco promptly followed.

"Talk to me, mother"

"I don't want to worry you"

"I'm already worried" he said, trying not to sound annoyed at his mother, he wanted to help her, not to fight her.

"I just… your father never spent this much time in Azkaban and it doesn't look like the Dark Lord will release him anytime soon, I worry… in what condition he will be in when he return to us"

Draco wasn't exactly surprised, the thought had crossed his mind many times, but he had still hoped this would end soon, but each day that passed, showed them it wasn't going to and his mother's worries were very valid.

"I will try to research something" he said, he had vaguely thought about it when he was making sigils, wondering what kind of properties could be added to a healing area.

"I understand your new interest for healing is staying, but you are not one yet" said his mother

"I can try, Pomfrey might know something" he insisted

"I don't think she would willingly help us, she does it because she works for the school"

"She also has a vow to help those that need it. So I will try" he insisted and his mother looked at him with much sorrow, but attempted a smile

"You are such a good boy, Draco" she said and a few tears came to her face, which she immediately tried to pretend it wasn't happening and turned to open the door to her room.

Over the years Draco had seen his mother cry only a few times, but recently he knew she had been crying constantly and he didn't want to leave her alone again, so he followed her inside and hugged her, letting her cry over him. When had he grown so tall that she felt small in his arms? She slowly got herself together and let go of him, but took his hand and they both sat together on her bed.

"I'm sorry" she said "I don't want you to see me like this"

"I don't want you to be alone when you're feeling like this" was his replay "I worry how things will be when I'm back at school"

"A lot better because I won't be worrying about you as well, you will be safer at school"

Draco wanted to snort, but he didn't want to have that conversation with his mother, he was not leaving her alone with him keeping such a secret.

"I wish I didn't have to" was what he said instead.

"No you don't, Hogwarts are some of the best years you can have and sixth year is a good interval between big exams, so you can have a bit of fun"

Draco doubted that he could have any fun moments this year, but he didn't want to take this hope away from his mother.

"Did you have fun in your sixth year?"

"Yes" and she smiled "you wouldn't want to hear about most of it though"

"Why not?"

"It was when your father and I got officially engaged"

Draco frowned for a moment, but then he looked at his mother again, she couldn't be implying what he thought she was implying.

"You're right, I don't want to hear about it, I mean… breaking tradition, mother, how scandalous" he said joking and his mother actually gave a small laugh.

"Regulus said the exact same thing… before he asked all about it" she said shaking her head.

"You talked to him about father?" he asked curious

"All the time, he wasn't the first to know everything only because he wasn't at Hogwarts most of the time I was there, so Andy was the one who usually suffered through it"

Draco wasn't exactly surprised, he knew his mother and her sister had been close at some point, but it was still strange to hear it, she was never part of their lives, but it felt like a relative that lived far aways, not a sister that had been cast off.

"Will you ever tell me the thing father never wants to talk about? About how you got together"

His mother looked at him and she looked sad for a second, nostalgic, but then she smiled nodding her head.

"You can't never tell him" she said mischievous and Draco had never seen that particular expression on his mother face apart from some of her school pictures "I always liked your father, but he was quite popular in school those days and I was a year behind, so I never had any reason to go talk to him. But then one day, Bella was… being herself and Andy was furious with her, so she decided to curse her, it was just to annoy her, not to hurt her, she wanted to make all her hair fall since she was so vain. Some Hufflepuffs were playing around with a quaffle and they accidentally send the ball at Andy, the spell hit your father instead… he was equally, if not more vain than Bella and there were lot of people around… so he was quite distressed"

Draco looked at his mother in disbelief, but ended up just laughing with her, he could never imagine his parents in such a situation.

"Did she get in trouble?"

"It wasn't harmful, so no, we were terribly embarrassed though. But we did insist I should accompany him to the infirmary and I absolutely needed to make amends, so I just had to wait with him in the infirmary until the potion took effect and his hair was restored" and this time Draco snorted.

"I'm surprised father didn't notice"

"He did realise later, but by then he didn't mind. Regulus used to joke Andy had done it on propose, and I must admit, if I wasn't right next to her when the ball hit I would have thought so too"

"Did Sirius say anything?" Draco asked and his mother's smile diminished.

"He thought it was funny too, he didn't like what he called "girl talk", so he didn't talk much about it, but he didn't have a problem with your father back then, he wasn't always… rebellious"

"When did he change?" Draco asked carefully, but now very invested on the topic

"When he was around ten… and then two years later he met Potter and he became impossible"

"Did you know Potter?" Draco asked curiously, he vaguely remembered the younger Potter talking about his parents and how he disapproved of something his father had done.

"I saw him around school… he was very childish" said his mother dismissively.

"His son is not much better" said Draco annoyed

"Oh trust me, his son is an angel in comparison… the things I heard from Regulus…"

"They talked?"

"Very little" said his mother a bit uncomfortable and then very bitter "Sirius cut him off very early on… then he ran away and ruined everything…"

Draco wanted to confront his mother about what the man had said, about being with her when he was born, but he had no way to explain to her how and why he would have met Sirius to learn about it.

"Why did he run away?"

"He wanted to prove he was different, but he just proved he was exactly what they wanted him to be, a selfish boy who loved no one, not even the people he claimed to"

"And Potter was still trying to save him at the ministry…" said Draco trying to conceal the bitterness he felt.

"Unfortunately, Sirius was probably the only gate he had to his parents" said his mother and Draco frowned.

"But he lives with family doesn't he?"

"His muggle aunt, who I heard wasn't close to her sister since she went to Hogwarts, things probably didn't change much since Potter knows nothing of his parents' relationship with Severus. Most of the Potter's closest friends are dead and Lupin had been hiding in shame since their murder, Sirius must have been the first person that told the boy something substantial about his parents, even if it was a very biased version of them"

Draco had never thought about this side of Potter's life, despite knowing the boy for years and briefly sharing a few nice conversations, he actually knew very little about him, but he had seen the boy confused over his parents' past, so he knew it was something the boy had many questions about.

"Snape mentions them a lot in class, but he always says James Potter was terrible"

"For Severus he certainly was, but for Sirius he was everything, shame he didn't put the boy on the same standards, left him to his own luck just like everyone else… I pity that child"

And that he supposed could be applied for Sirius himself, Draco's mother and most of their family hated Sirius, but apparently for Potter, he was everything, even if he didn't deserve it.

"He didn't need to discard… us" said Draco swallowing the bitterness again.

"No… but I'm sure he thought only his pains mattered" said his mother and she didn't know how right she was.

—

The conversation with his mother left a lot for Draco to think about, he had a lot of research to do so he could find a way to help heal his father from Azkaban. He also wondered about his family in general, they had a distant relationship with Andromeda, but it wasn't a bad one, Bella and her husband were a lot more trouble and his mother clearly disliked them more than she let anyone know, but the way his mother talked about Sirius was always full of resentiment, so something more must have happened when he left.

Draco wondered if Potter knew, he had no idea how close the boy had been to his Godfather, but his mother's words had got him thinking about it. No one in his family mourned Sirius, but Potter must have, he had been determined to save the man after all, if only he had listened to Draco, he would not have fallen for the stupid trap.

And then Dumbledore thought he could make decisions on my life as well.

He never had something more than himself to blame for his illness, so whenever an episode happened it just felt terrible but inevitable, because he didn't know how to get better. Knowing there was a bond, meant there was a way to control it, but it wasn't him the one in charge, someone else was. He wasn't exactly mad the boy had wanted to fight the Dark Lord, it was ridiculous, but the man himself was just as ridiculous in his obsession with Potter, so it was inevitable that at some point Potter wouldn't have a choice in this, but that day, Draco wouldn't have chosen Sirius and Potter did it knowing he was choosing in Draco's place as well.

He could admit however that part of his anger was because he had gotten a bit too invested in his relationship with Potter, part of him had always been interested in the other boy and after his friendship with Fred and George had worked out, he kind of thought things with Potter would fall into place just as easily, which was very silly of him, but feelings are not always logical and didn't help he had been physically exhausted and hurt for such a long time.

Draco had to conceal his thought whenever they drifted back to his feelings for Potter, even if the Dark Lord was not around, so he had learned to keep his face impassive, in fact, most of the time he wasn't even listening to his surrounds, so he was surprised at dinner when he noticed conversation moved to none other than the boy occupying his thoughts.

The papers, who had hated on him so much last year, now talked about him with pure adoration, calling him "The Chosen One", it was so ridiculous Draco would have laughed if he wasn't so miserable all the time. It seemed however to irritate quite a few Death Eaters who didn't believe Potter could ever be compared to the Dark Lord. And yet, there was always a matter of pride in going after him and killing him.

"Since the boy is supposed to kill Dumbledore, he could as well finish the brat" said Amycus Carrow, he and his sister had stayed for dinner after a meeting, they had been away for a while doing something for their Lord

"The Dark Lord wants to deal with Potter personally" said Snape impassive

"With Dumbledore out of the way he will fall quickly" said Bella

"If Dumbledore gets taken out of the way, you mean" said Carrow "I'm not completely sure Draco here can do it"

"I'm sure he will" said Bella with a smile "but no matter what, Dumbledore will die" and then she looked at Snape, she looked quite pleased with herself. Draco had noticed Bella was way more nice to Snape than she had been at the beginning and he wondered what that was about.

"What is so important about Potter anyway" said Draco rolling his eyes but with no real heat.

"People think he is stronger than our Lord, we will prove them wrong" said Carrow

"But he is weak, wouldn't it be the same to just leave him alone and focus on more important things?" said Draco

Each person looked at Draco with a different expression, Snape looked like he wanted to curse Draco, but then so did his mother.

"I don't think you have been paying attention, Draco, don't you know why your father was arrested?" said Alecto with a smirk and Draco frowned.

"The Dark Lord wanted something from the department of mysteries" he said, not understanding what she was saying.

"And this is the boy we're counting on?" said Amycus with disdain "he was looking for a prophecy! People think Potter can defeat the Dark Lord because some lunatic made a fucking prophecy!"

Draco didn't know what to say, he had heard things here and there about a prophecy, but he thought it was about the destruction caused at the Ministry and not because there was a specific one. Suddenly his brain was thinking again, breaking through the apathy, because that explained all of the "Chosen One" mania over the papers and explained to Draco why the Dark Lord wanted Potter at the department of mysteries.

"Or even why he attacked the Potters to begin with"

Draco felt like a bloody idiot, he had been so worried about his possible death, so sure he was going to be directly murdered instead, he didn't even stop to find out why Potter was so important, why the trap from last year was made in the ministry.

"DON'T YOU GET IT? VOLDEMORT IS NOT GONNA STOP UNTIL I'M DEAD!"

That was what Potter had said, he probably already knew by then there was a prophecy.

"I don't believe in divination" said Draco simply, pretending it was no big deal, and eventually the tense atmosphere dissipated, even if Draco was still furiously thinking about it, he needed to know more, he needed to know what he was dealing with.

"Any idea when we're getting people out of Azkaban?" asked Amycus

"Not for a while, the Dark Lord is still angry" said Rodolphus

"And is he still mad at you, Bella?"

"Not anymore" said the woman uncomfortable

"What is the deal with Black anyway? I thought He didn't want him dead because of information, but this time around the guy was running away, he couldn't still have any informations that was relevant"

"Our Lord was close to my aunt, I think he expected Sirius to join us… but he was left with Regulus, who was far too soft… with his head on the clouds all the time" said Bella dismissively, from what Draco had noticed, her opinions of her younger cousin were very similar to her views on her brother-in-law

"It's been over twenty years since Black became a blood traitor, he wasn't going to join us now" said Carrow

"But the Dark Lord wanted to punish him personally" said Rabastan sharply.

"We're better without him" said Snape, but then he looked at Rabastan with calculating eyes "But it is indeed curious the Dark Lord's interest in the Black family"

"We are the purest of bloods" said Bella looking at Snape with irritation "a half-blood like you doesn't deserve the same attention"

Snape ignored Bella completely, still looking at Rabastan, but the man kept his mask of indifference as if the other man hadn't said anything of significance. Draco wouldn't have noticed anything was amis if he hadn't overheard their conversation and taken notice of their dynamic since them. Snape wanted to know what Rabastan knew, but he wouldn't push the man because he also knew the other man had dirt on him. Rabastan however, kept himself away from Snape, he was never alone in his presence and he never looked him in the eye, almost looked like he was scared of the other man, something Rodolphus had even made fun of, but in reality, the man was avoiding legilimency.

Apparently, Rabastan was excellent in lying without opening his mouth.

"Now the last one of the idiots is the werewolf isn't it?" Said Carrow looking at Snape and ignoring any of the tension, either because he didn't notice or because he agreed with Bella.

"Yes" said Snape sharply.

"The Order only has the leftovers, they will not last" said Alecto

Draco was as curious about Sirius as the rest of them, but all they knew was that it wasn't much more than hurt pride because the man had switched sides, or at least, that was all he Dark Lord wanted them to know. Draco hadn't thought much about the meaning of the man's death before, he was not sorry nor did he miss him, in fact, he had only vaguely thought about the part he was still connected to Harry Potter until his mother mentioned it, but it seems like the man had known something more.

Maybe whatever the Dark Lord wanted with Sirius had something to do with the man's reaction to the bond, maybe whatever he knew, made him suspect something. Unfortunately it didn't seem he had told Dumbledore about it either, so if there really was something, Sirius had taken to the grave with him.

Draco hadn't been stressed out in some time, so on the next day, he went outside to fly around until the sun was too much. He knew he needed to avoid his mother, so he entered the manor through the back door, passing by the kitchen and he found Rabastan sitting on the small table there.

"Why are you here?" he asked

The man stood up and turned around so fast the chair fell, he looked very startled, hiding whatever he was drinking behind him until he had a good look at the new person and noticed it was just Draco.

"Are you drinking in secret? I'm pretty sure they will notice if you're drunk" he joked and got closer to the man, but the thing on the table was no drink he had ever seen "What is a coke?"

"Something I got yesterday, best thing I ever drank" the man summoned a cup from the cupboard and put some of the drink for Draco.

"It doesn't smell alcoholic"

"It isn't"

Draco drank a sip of the black drink and it was… very strange and sweet. He loved sweets, but that thing was just… weird.

"It's like a very sweet non-alcoholic sparkling… thing… you like this?" said Draco a bit disgusted

"I love it"

"Where did you even find it?"

"It's easy to find when you know where to look, just… don't mention it"

"Why?"

"Just don't" he said nervous and Draco eyed the bottle

"What did you just give me?"

"Sugar with caffeine I swear. I just don't want my brother to be a pain"

Draco gave a second look to the drink in his hand and then put down the cup, whatever really was in that drink, he didn't want it. The man was fast in drinking the rest of it before vanishing the bottle.

"So… you were flying? Thought your mother said something about you not being allowed?" said the man with a smirk

"I don't mention your drink, you don't mention my flying?" asked Draco, looking amused at the man.

"Perfect" said Rabastan with a nervous smile and then they looked at each other and laughed a bit, he had completely forgotten the feeling.

His laughter died down and he sobered up a bit, enough to realise he could use this opportunity for something else as well, so he stopped Rabastan before he could leave.

"So… what is this prophecy thing?" Draco asked and the man looked at him amused.

"I thought you didn't believe in divination?"

"I don't, but the Dark Lord clearly does, doesn't he?"

"Indeed… which is why he has only told people of its existence, but not its content. Carrow obviously doesn't know it" said the man with a smirk

"Do you?" asked Draco

"The only people that know are the three people that were with the Dark Lord when he learned about it, Pettigrew, who learned from the Potters, and the man who overheard it. I was here with your parents, your mother had just given birth to you"

Draco was surprised with the information, but he kept looking at the man, it was easier to see what he wasn't saying when you knew what to look for and he clearly knew exactly who the three people were.

"But you know anyway, don't you?" the man looked far too smug not to know.

Rabastan was silent for a bit and Draco thought the man wouldn't tell him, but then he took a deep breath and said it anyway.

"The prophecy was about a child born at the end of July that would be able to defeat the Dark Lord, a child born of those who had defied the Dark Lord three times"

"And that is it?" asked Draco confused

"That we know, yes, there was more, but only this part reached the Dark Lord, at the time he thought it was enough, but recently he was trying to get the rest of it, which he was unsuccessful"

"I see…" Said Draco, but his mind was distant, wondering if Potter knew the full extend of the prophecy "Potter is not the only child born in July though"

"No he is not. At the time the Dark Lord suspected Longbottom as well" and Draco looked at him surprised, that explained a lot why they were target as well "but for various reasons, he thought the Potters were more likely"

"It doesn't sound like you do" said Draco noticing the clinical way the man was talking about the subject.

"I did divination at school, my father thought it was a waste of time, but everyone said it was easy and I was struggling with the subjects I already had. The thing is… I did learn things on that class and you see… prophecies are atemporal"

"What does that mean?"

"It means that they are not necessarily talking about the present, they can be about things that will happen in a distant future as well as talk about something that happened in the past but its consequences are yet to be seen.

"You don't think the prophecy was about Potter" said Draco and Rabastan looked very uncomfortable

"No, I don't. I think the prophecy is self-fulfilling, it is about Potter now, but only because the Dark Lord made it so"

"But then that doesn't mean he can defeat the Dark Lord as the prophecy suggests"

"That I suspect is what the Dark Lord wants to believe in"

"You think Potter can win?" asked Draco looking carefully at the man and there was a small silence between them before he answered.

"I think… that is a dangerous line of thought you have there, Draco" said Rabastan with an uncomfortable smile "And I think you are better off away from it, your mother has suffered enough"

He left quickly, not really answering Draco's question, perhaps he was as afraid of the answer as he was afraid Draco was going to do something stupid like defy the Dark Lord.

Like fight for more than just survival, but to live as well.

The past few weeks had been nothing but survival and if his fears were correct, it might be all for nothing if Potter was killed and Draco with him, and the boy was not going to back down much like the Dark Lord wouldn't, because prophecy or not, the two of them wanted to kill one another on principal.

"Either this bond or this war is gonna get me killed"

It was the first time he put things on simple terms and he had no idea what to do, serving the Dark Lord might kill him, Potter's death might kill him, leaving the Dark Lord would definitely kill him and his family, so his only way out apparently was if by some miracle, Potter did win and killed the Dark Lord for good, which wasn't very likely.

But although Harry Potter might not be not especial, he was aided by a lot of smart people, so the chances were not zero. Which meant Draco was about to enter a very dangerous game and he had no idea how he was going to do it. Draco knew he could not count with Potter, the other boy probably saw him as a burden and, since he felt nothing from Draco's side of the bond, he was not likely to care for him. He didn't know what exactly was going on with Snape or Rabastan, so he couldn't really trust them, which meant he wouldn't be getting any real help from this side either. He could not put his mother or his friends in danger, if he got caught, they could claim ignorance. So pretty much, Draco was going to walk the grey area, with no guide and no help and hope it goes well. He just wished he wasn't alone in this.