He will not allow that bastard to touch him any longer than necessary. He let Pettigrew lead him into the main hall of the Manor, hoping that it was true that his aunt was merely trying to get him to identify someone and that he was not once again on his way to another round of cruciatus.

His body was marked, and barely responded to his commands. His father had had no problem letting him be submitted to all sorts of tortures, and his mother had not had the courage to disagree with him. She tried to make amends the next morning, bringing him something to eat and trying to convince Draco to let her treat his wounds.

'I can't do any more, sweetheart. You have to hold on, the lives of three of us depend on it.'

He could forgive his mother if she didn't say those things so coldly, as if they were no big deal. But the reality was that Draco wasn't a priority even for his own parents, and he ended up accepting it as best he could. He should have known I'd leave this world alone.

- Draco, dear nephew! - his aunt exclaimed as she made her way towards him. He let her hold of him and walked with her without looking up. - Come closer and please tell me that this freak here is our dear Harry Potter.

Draco looked up quickly, trying not to disturb the perfected mask of indifference he carried. But internally he was on the verge of a panic attack. Granger and Weasley, dirtier and thinner than he could ever have imagined, were glaring angrily back at him from the corner of the room, being held down by two men. A few feet ahead, halfway between him and the boys, a strange and equally filthy man was staring at the floor, down to his knees.

His aunt abruptly released him and moved to grab the man by the hair, making him look up. Deep green eyes stared directly at him, and he had no doubt at all. Was his aunt really so stupid as to think that Granger and Weasley would be accompanying someone other than Potter, or was this just a trap to test his loyalty to the cause?

- Take a good look, son - Lucius said as he forced him to his knees in front of Potter. With the little strength he had, he put up no resistance and his knees practically cracked as there was almost no flesh to protect the bone. He bit his tongue and stifled a groan. - We can't fail, if we call the Lord and we're wrong we'll be punished. Come on Draco, look at him!

Potter remained stoic to his father's yells, and shot him a sharp glare, waiting for him to turn him in.

But there was nothing in Draco that could drive him to seek the benefit of his family right now. In sixth year he had moved heaven and earth to protect them from Voldemort's anger, but those months had caused him to abandon all sense of loyalty to his parents; to put himself first out of pure survival.

The instinct of self-preservation now begged him to listen to his aunt, to identify Potter and save himself from further punishment. But the moment he was once again close to the one person for whom he had managed to keep his sanity, his priority was no longer himself.

He would go on with the show even if that meant he would die as a traitor. He considered it a fair price: the blood he bleeded will pay for the blood he owed. He didn't kill or torture anyone, but he had helped to.

- I'm convinced it's not him. It looks a bit like him, but I think they've taken someone else, and cast a piercing spell on him precisely to trap us. - Draco spoke so calmly that his father loosened his grip on his shoulder. He had to be more convincing. He cupped Potter's shocked face with both hands, lifting him up to his aunt's. - Look, he doesn't even have the scar. I've been laughing at Potter for years because of his scar, a simple spell wouldn't remove a mark like that.

Draco held his breath, pressing his ring finger firmly against the scar that, with the deformity, had moved away from his forehead to practically get lost between the dark curls. He wished Potter understood in that way that he knew who he was.

Bellatrix seemed convinced, and released Potter's hair as he stifled a moan of pain. Lucius let go of his son for good and cursed under his breath.

Draco was soon on his feet and he took Harry with him. He pretended to grab him so he couldn't escape, pointing his wand at him, whereas he really wanted to get him away from his crazy aunt. He stood behind him, pressing his chest against the boy's back, and holding one arm with his free hand. He felt Potter tremble against his chest, utterly weakened.

What had happened to the boy he met at school? How could the wheels of destiny turn so abruptly so that they have ended up like this? For six years they were a special pair, with their rivalries, their fights, and that hopeless and insane attraction that he had begun to feel for the greeneyed in third grade. Life seemed to be complicated enough. But now Potter was practically collapsing against Draco, who also hardly had the strength to hold himself up. Feeling so devastated, finding himself so incapable of saving him, really consumed him. It was too much to bear, he couldn't take it. Harry was his life, but life is always far from fair.

'Was I stupid to love him? Am I reckless in trying to help? ' Doubts consumed him inside, but a voice in his head answered 'no' both times.

- Anyway, you are clearly Potter's friends. And something tells me that you and I are going to have an interesting talk. Take the Weasley boy to the dungeons, then we'll take care of him. But first, the Mudblood - Bellatrix practically yelled, getting dangerously close to Granger.

Before anyone could do anything, a non-verbal spell sent Granger to the ground, several feet away from Ron. She screamed, and tried to get to her feet when another spell hit her back to the ground. Harry began to move in her arms, screaming. Weasley had to be dragged by the two men into the dungeons, but they continued to hear him screaming.

Draco searched for the origin of the spell in horror until he fixed his gaze on his father. He was the only one holding up a wand. He raised an eyebrow at his sister-in-law.

- Thanks Lucius, saved me some time - the brunette practically hissed, leaning over Granger like an animal ready to hunt. - I think your friends are going to love the view.

Then she began to torture the girl, throwing cruciatus while Granger howled in pain and tore apart her throat screaming. Those screams went deep into Draco's soul, breaking his heart again.

How obvious had been to everybody else except him that he was living a lie? The ideals of the purity of blood and superiority in which his parents had raised him and for which they fighted alongside Voldemort had long trembled inside him, but those cries ended up destroying them, reduced to ashes. He had witnessed all kinds of horrors in that last year, but seeing his family actively collaborating in torturing a person like Hermione Granger brought him to the edge of insanity.

'You were never on my side,- he bitterly thought, looking straight to his parents - and, instead, never hesitated to take Voldemort's side'.

Feeling totally desolated, Draco grabbed Harry around the waist as a sob escaped him while he looked away. The desire to end all that had haunted him for months was stronger than ever. At this point he didn't care if he went to heaven or hell, anywhere would be better than this life.

For a few moments in which Bellatrix stopped torturing Granger, he felt his hand being held for another against Harry's waist. As he looked up and realized Harry's fingers were intertwined with his, a familiar heat filled his chest long enough. He let it burn while he regained his courage and tried to come up with a plan.

Harry would never see him cry. No matter what he wanted, Draco could find a way to end with it later on, but now he had to save Harry and his friends. There was not time to die.

He should only think about helping the Trio, Luna and the other two in the dungeons. That the survival of his parents and his own was no longer a concern made him quickly improvise a plan. Everything was so much easier that way. He had learned the lesson, and the faces of his past no longer haunted him.

He took advantage of a new wave of cries from Granger to lean over Harry's ear.

- I'm going to get you out of here. I promise you - he whispered, lightly kissing the back of Harry's neck. He heard how he muttered a sob and tightened his grip on his hand, pleasing Draco.

- Father, have you heard that?! - he yelled, pulling away Harry and looking at his father with faked concern. Lucius seemed not to want to take his eyes off the torture that continued under his feet -I think another group of hostages just arrived! He continued shouting, trying to make himself heard.

- Narcissa, watch this one. Draco, receive them and bring them in.

Draco quickly let Harry go, who was looking at him desperately, and began to walk towards the exit. Once out of everyone's sight, he ran into the kitchen.

- Dobby, I need you.

With a plop, his best friend during childhood appeared before him with a smile and a lot of strange clothes on.

- My beloved master Draco! Whatever I can do for you, you know I'm willing to...

Before the elf began the chatter, Draco interrupted him.

- Dobby, I need you to do exactly what I'm going to ask you. Appear yourself in the dungeons, take everyone there and bring them wherever Weasley tells you. Take Weasley too, even if he insists to stay. Hex him if necessary. When they are safe, return and apparate yourself on the top of the main hall's lamp. - Draco took the elf's face with his hands - Do you remember the day when I crashed it with accidental magic, and you fixed it? Now I need you to drop it when I give you a sign.

- No problem sir, you know that I love serving you. Is Master Weasley here?

- Yes, and Granger and Harry Potter.

- Master Harry Potter!?

- Yes Dobby, I am trying to save all of them, specially Harry. Will you do what I told you, please? - Draco begged. He saw the wild determination in the creature's eyes.

-Dobby will always help Master Draco save Harry Potter, as he tried in second year. I will not fail.

And with a plop, the little being disappeared.

Draco returned to the hall with his heart pounding. Just as he suspected, the torture continued and his father seemed not to care about whatever Draco had been doing. He kept looking like the sick man he was the way Hermione screamed. Harry, however, looked at him with a desperation that bordered maddness.

- Draco honey, take their wands and bring them to me. I want to see what the last spell of this wench was - his aunt hissed. Pleased that she had spared him the part of the plan where he needed stole the wands, Draco received them quickly from Pettigrew, and counted how many threats were in the room.

The two men had been scared off by his aunt, but Bellatrix, his mother, father, and Pettigrew were armed. There was no way he could get out of there alive, but at least he would give Harry, Hermione and Dobby some time.

At that precise moment, he caught a movement in the heights. Dobby was looking at him seriously, waiting. He had to be quick.

- Bella! Is he!

Dammit.

He whirled around, halfway between his aunt and his mother, to see Harry's perfectly normal face again. He always loved seeing his face, but now he could have punched it himself.

- Well, well, well. Draco, you and I will talk later. You won't mind me checking with veritaserum the extension of your innocence I suposse - his aunt teased him. Bellatrix lift Hermione up and grabbed her by her hair, pointing her neck with her wand. - Lucius, you know what to must do.

His father gave him a poisoned look, and lifted the sleeve of his jacket to reveal the mark. At that instant, he looked at Dobby and nodded. The sound of the screws was not expected to everyone but Draco. As he had anticipated, Bellatrix was out of the way as soon as it began to fall, and he ran as fast as he could, grabbing Hermione and moving her out of reach of the lamp, which crashed to the ground spitting thousands of crystals.

Dobby appeared next to him, and without giving anyone time to react, dropped Hermione next to him and he automatically disappeared. Draco pointed his wand towards his mother and hexed her, throwing Granger's wand towards Harry. The boy caught it easily and pointed it to Lucius, while Draco raised his wand in his right hand towards Bellatrix, and Granger's in his left, towards Pettigrew.

- How dare you, you bloody traitor! - his aunt shouted, who was preparing to cast a spell on him.

- You attacked your mother! Draco, I'll be happy to kill you with my bare hands! - His father roared.

- Maybe another day. But right now there just no time to die - Draco sentenced, looking at Harry as he nodded. He understood the signal.

- Desmaius! - Harry yelled against Lucius.

- Desmaius! - Draco also yelled, counting on Harry to attack whoever came out unharmed.

What he didn't expect was that both wands would respond to him. He didn't even know if that was possible. But they both spat out the spell with incredible speed, giving no time to his enemies to protect themselves, and both his aunt and the rat landed on the ground.

Breathing heavily, he slowly lowered the wands. All of this had happened in seconds, but it had seemed like forever.

The next thing he felt were arms around his neck, and Harry's body against his. He closed his eyes and reciprocated, both of them stifling their sobs.

- Draco I can't believe what you've done, you're amazing, you're ... - Harry trailed off as he broke the hug and caressed Draco's face. His tear-filled green eyes talked louder than his mouth, and Draco understood. - We owe you our lives. I owe you everything.

- You do not owe me anything. But if you want to repay me in any way, you will escape and keep yourself alive. I don't know how long it will take for them to wake up, and this house is infested with vermin, please Harry you have to ...

Harry's lips prevented him from continuing. It wasn't a particularly long kiss, but it was intense and had the opposite effect of the Dementor's Kiss on Draco: it bring him back to life.

- I'm not going anywhere without you. And I'm not hearing any kind of excuse.

Dobby appeared beside him and claimed their hands without trying to break their embrace. He seemed to be living the happiest moment of his life.

- Are you ready?

Draco squeezed Dobby's hand, gripped Harry tightly and let the tears roll down his cheeks. He lost himself in Harry's eyes and brought his lips together again when he felt the familiar pull of Apparitions.

It would take many years for it to be his time to die.