Draco was getting frustrated.
Christmas should have been the perfect opportunity for him to speak to his mother, alone, but his father barely ever left her alone and when he did, Bellatrix was with her. His aunt Bellatrix was showing a lot of interest in him lately. She was so proud of his initiative to try and date the 'mudblood' Granger that she spent every free minute with him, trying to train him in dark spells and in the art of lying. She had checked that he was good in Occlumency and often tested him, by surprise, always proud and happy when she found that she couldn't get in his head.
The Dark Lord had dropped by the Malfoy's as well and congratulated Draco, telling him that he was making up for his father's failures to stay out of jail this summer.
Draco should feel proud and empowered but he was tired of it.
Surely it wouldn't be this hard to speak alone with his mother, was it? Even when he suggested they went Christmas shopping, his father had sent one of his death eater friends to come along, supposedly for security. The point was that he hadn't been able to speak with his mother.
"Draco, I was wondering, how come that Granger girl isn't writing to you for Christmas? If you're dating, shouldn't she show more interest than that? I've noticed that you weren't getting any owls..." His father asked him during their Christmas family dinner.
"I told her that it wasn't a good idea, you're not supposed to know that I'm with her, I'm supposed to be breaking the rules, aren't I? I told her that I'd try to break it out softly to my mother during Christmas, that my mother would be more accepting and would help me break the news to my father later on." he replied.
"And she listened?" His aunt Bellatrix asked.
"She knows that this isn't the kind of family where people like her, muggle born, would be welcome, no matter how smart and talented they are." Draco nodded, knowing his part very well.
"Well, if she's truly that smart and talented, surely the Dark Lord will overlook her blood status, as long as you can get her to betray her friends. If she's useful, she'll be rewarded too. Especially if you grow to care about her. Even if you don't, the Dark Lord has been known to overlook the blood status of someone was was particularly gifted or useful before, though some of them were too stupid to take the chance and ended up dying." Bellatrix assured Draco.
"I'm sure she will eventually, especially now that Rose Potter is here. Rose is smarter than Hermione, more talented and more popular because she spends a lot of time helping others, so I just have to push Hermione to realize it. Plant a few seeds of doubts on both sides and before next Christmas, they'll have pushed Hermione out of their lives and she'll be ready to betray them. She'll still be in Gryffindor tower and I bet she knows plenty of useful things about them all." Draco replied with a fake smile.
"Smart and good work Draco. The Dark Lord is speaking of giving you the mark as a reward for your hard work next summer." Bellatrix assured Draco and he had to pretend that this news pleased him when it didn't.
.
For the first time, Draco wasn't happy about being home for Christmas, he would have been happy to be anywhere else, especially when, during the afternoon of the 26th, he found his house full of his parent's death eaters friends and the Dark Lord himself, for a meeting where they'd plan the next attacks and discuss their progress at infiltrating the Ministry of Magic, which was apparently harder than they initially thought it would be.
Snape was there too and Draco did his best to ignore him. He didn't know if he could trust him anymore. Severus Snape had always shown that he cared about Draco, but now, they were apparently on different sides, and though it disappointed the young boy, he had to accept it.
There was someone new today though, a woman in pink who had been broken out of Azkaban at the same time as his father and that had decided to join their side for good. She had taken a while to recover from Azkaban's treatment, which was longer when in hiding, but she was now back to her old self, judgmental and ready to act. Her name was Dolores Umbridge and, being an ex ministry of magic employee, her knowledge was valuable. She was able to suggest who they should put under the Imperius or try to get on their sides, who was most likely to replace the people who were presently at the heads of departements in case they came to die or go missing... She had quickly become a rather important member and though she agreed on the pur bloods being superior to everyone else, she hated that they worked with werewolves and other "hybrids". It amused Draco to make sure she'd be seated right next to Fenrir Greyback during the meeting. She definitely didn't look happy about it but it brought Draco a little bit of amusement during this dark time. He was sure Rose would find it funny too.
"Why is this child sitting in the meeting? I know this is his parents' home but isn't he a bit young? Isn't it risky to let him listen to everything?" Rockwood asked when he spotted Draco sitting between his father and his aunt Bellatrix, with his uncle Rodolphus right in front of him.
"Careful about what you say, that's my nephew!" Bellatrix growled to defend her nephew, which surprised Draco.
Bellatrix had never been a very loving person, and the fact that she was defending him like this, meant that she truly bought his new act, that she believed in everything. If she wasn't a deranged psychopath, he'd be touched by this.
"This child, as you call him, took an initiative, a very smart one at that, at the risk of being attacked by his own house members, to get close to Potter and his circle of friends. He's done more for our cause this past months than you have Rockwood. He belongs in this meeting." Voldemort himself declared, surprising Draco even more.
There was no more doubt, his plan was working, now if only he could find a moment to speak to his mother one on one... He did notice that she frowned every time someone mentioned marking him. He couldn't wait to tell Hermione that his plan, their plan, was working well.
"Will he be marked then?" Peter Pettigrew asked in a small squeaky voice.
He, too, had been broken out of Azkaban.
"This summer, yes." Voldemort nodded and Draco managed to pretend that it made him happy.
.
"Mother?" Draco asked on the way back to the train station, on the very last day of vacation.
"Yes, Draco?" She asked him.
This was it, they were finally alone and he suddenly felt nervous.
"I... Are you happy?" He started to ask her and she turned her head his way, surprised.
"As long as you're happy and safe, of course I'm happy, son." She smiled.
"Alright." He nodded with a faint smile, not sure how to bring up the subject he so desperately wanted to talk to her about.
"You do know, Draco, that you can talk to me about anything, right? Absolutely anything." Narcissa said, insisting on the last word.
She looked at her son with concern.
"What if... What if I was truly dating Hermione Granger, truly in love with her, would you be okay with this?" he tried.
Her answer to this would allow him to know if he could tell her the whole truth or not.
"If she made you happy, of course. I'd accept a troll if he made you happy Draco. Is this what's been bothering you the whole time? You're in love with her?" She asked him.
"No... I... She's a friend, an excuse... I... What if I wanted out? What if I don't want to be like father and get the mark? What if I believed a person should be judged on what he or she knows and not on his blood status?" Draco asked his mother.
"You're serious." She stated and he nodded.
"But what about this whole plan you've established with Bellatrix? Did she force you to it behind my back?" Narcissa asked, worried.
"No, I... It's a lie... An excuse to be able to spend time with people I actually like without being bullied by my own house. Please mother, I don't want this anymore. I need to escape this life." He pleaded with her.
"Escape this life... And me? Is that it Draco, you're asking for my permission to run away from me? Telling me you're not coming back home?" She asked him, horrified.
"No, I'd never leave you behind mother! I'm asking you if you'd mind coming with me. Next summer... There are ways... people who can help us, hide us. You have a cousin working with Dumbledore, and a sister who's still alive and much saner than Bellatrix... I..." Draco pleaded in a small voice, making sure nobody could hear them.
"You've thought a lot about this... How do you know Sirius and Andromeda would even be willing to help us out?" His mother asked him quietly.
"I've talked to him about it. He promised me that he'd have a safe place ready for us, or even just me if I ended up deciding to come without you. He hinted that Dumbledore would help too."
"I have grown tired of this... Your father believes in this, but me... I loved him, that's the only reason I went along with it. I'm not a big fan of muggles, but as long as they don't bother me, I see no reason to bother them. I hate that Bellatrix now runs around MY house, acting like she owns it. I hate hearing her talking about the people she tortured during raids... I... I need you to think about this well Draco, make sure that this is truly what you want, because this isn't a game where you can switch sides any time you want. If we do this, we'll be enemies of the Dark Lord and they'll come after us. But if you decide to leave next summer, I'll be ready to go with you." His mother promised him.
"And you won't tell them? That I've been lying?" Draco asked.
"Of course not! If I did, they'd kill you!" She exclaimed.
"I love you mother."
"I love you too Draco, now go and be careful and be safe."
At first this wasn't planned, but I added it, feeling like we needed a look at Draco's frustrating Christmas home. What did you think of it?
I just loved sitting Umbridge next to Greyback, my own little moment of joy lol
Review please? I've been getting a lot less reviews lately, is it a loss of interest? (in which case I might stop it sooner than planned)
Lorelei Candice Black