Thanks for the comments/subscribe/favorites, I'm always glad when I receive messages from you all.

In this chapter we're back to the book plot, so there will be a few lines and passages taken straight from the book, but I adapted the entire scene to be from Draco's point of view.

I hope you all like this chapter!

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Draco was feeling lazy on the next day, without the Dark Lord or the Hogwarts' caos, he was finally able to rest a bit and sleep-in, he missed having a slow morning. Going down to breakfast, Draco saw Bella giving Tila some orders in one of the guest rooms, it was not the room the Dark Lord preferred, so at least he knew he wasn't back yet.

"Someone is coming over?" he asked on the door.

"Hopefully tonight, tomorrow morning if we have to do it more than once" she said thoughtfully, not really paying attention to Draco.

The boy frowned and moved away, but things didn't look much better on the dining table, his parents looked annoyed and Rodolphus stood up as soon as Draco came in.

"Look, Cissy, your rapist son is here, why don't you give some of your morals to him instead" said the man mockingly before he left the room and Draco found himself confused again.

"What was that about?"

"Just don't get involved" said his father

"We are not letting him do that" said his mother furious "this is our house!"

She cast her husband a last look before she left the room. Draco finally sat down and looked at his father expecting at least some kind of explanation, the man took a deep breath and lazily laid a bit on his chair, something he only did when he was alone with family.

"Your mother still gets surprised with Rodolphus attitudes, but from what I heard from Regulus this is nothing new…"

"What does he want to do?"

"Doesn't matter, he is not doing it… would have been easier if you hadn't made Alecto you enemy out of everyone" and the man looked at him with the most serious expression his tired face could make "But Rabastan will talk to Rodolphus today and I already talked to Juliet, she will solve the problem if we can get Marcus out of the wanted list, which I'm sure Bella can arrange by the end of the day"

"Why is Marcus on the wanted list?" asked Draco surprised, he hadn't heard from the boy since he graduated, but his family was very neutral.

"He took an illegal group portkey to flee the country" said his father as if that was the most dumb idea he had ever heard of "someone snitched on them, they escaped, but the entire group is being investigated and he was not with the best kind of company from what I heard"

Draco nodded, he was still confused, but whatever was going on, seemed like his parents had it handled. The tension, however, stayed on everyone till lunch, which was a silent and awkward affair as it hadn't been in some time. Rabastan left with Rodolphus after, but Pettigrew came out of whatever hiding spot he had been in, he had been keeping himself away from Bella for some reason, which was good because he wouldn't show his disgusting face during meals, but it didn't stop him from keeping an eye on everyone, so Draco didn't dare go and see Lovegood.

So all that was left for Draco to do was sit down with one of his books and pretend to study, something he gave up as his headache came back to bother him. He was so used to them he sometimes forgot how it was to live without them, but today was a specially bad one so he just tried to rest.

It was later that day when everything went very wrong. The banging on their wards was the first indication that something bad was coming and Draco had only a few moments to collect himself and wish for the best, but he knew he hadn't been heard when Greyback showed up bringing no other than Harry and his friends.

Draco didn't need to be in front of him to know it was him, whatever they did to his face to hide him did nothing to his beautiful eyes and his terrible hair, it was his boyfriend alright. In fact, very little had changed about the boy, he had a bit of a stubble, his skin was a strange yellowish tone instead of the golden tone he knew and he had lost the earcuff, a nasty burn mark on it's place telling Draco that at some point the boy had needed the protections Draco had put on it.

"Well, Draco?" asked his father avidly, the sad irony of him not knowing that giving Harry away would actually kill them both was hanging in the air "Is it? Is it Harry Potter?"

"I can't...I can't be sure" said Draco nervously, he had no idea how he was going to lie his way out of this and panicking wasn't doing him any more good.

"But look at him carefully, look! Come closer!" insisted his father excited "Draco, if we are the ones who hand Potter over to the Dark Lord, everything will be forgiv-"

"Now, we won't be forgetting who actually caught him, I hope Mr. Malfoy?" said Greyback menacingly and Draco swallowed dry where he stood.

"Of course not, of course not!" said his father impatiently. He approached Harry himself and looked at him very closely, enough that Draco was sure he was going to just recognise him himself.

"What did you do to him?" his father asked Greyback. "How did he get into this state?"

"That wasn't us"

"Looks more like a Stinging Jinx to me," said his father and Draco too thought it might be it "There's something there" he whispered "it could be the scar, stretched tight... Draco, come here, look properly! What do you think?"

Draco didn't want to look, he was almost giving himself away, his breathing was heavy and his throat felt tight as if someone was trying to choke him.

"I don't know," he said, and he walked away toward the fireplace where his mother stood watching, she looked at him thoughtful, but didn't say anything and for a moment Draco was afraid his mother knew he was lying, not that she would say so out loud, but questions would be asked.

"We had better be certain, Lucius," Said his mother in a tense voice "Completely sure that it is Potter, before we summon the Dark Lord... They say this is his" she was looking closely at a wand Draco knew it wasn't Harry's "but it does not resemble Ollivander's description... If we are mistaken, if we call the Dark Lord here for nothing... Remember what he did to Rowle and Dolohov?"

Draco felt a shiver run down his body, he remembered quite well the punishment the men had received.

"What about the Mudblood, then?" growled Greyback. Harry was nearly thrown off his feet as the Snatchers forced the prisoners to swivel around again, so that the light fell on Granger instead.

"Wait," said his mother sharply "Yes… yes, she was in Madam Malkin's with Potter! I saw her picture in the Prophet! Look, Draco, isn't it the Granger girl?"

"I... maybe... yeah" he said without even looking at the girl, but instead he looked at his mother trying to make her understand and she just looked even more mad at him. She was not happy with his attitude and he could not blame her for not knowing the real issue here.

"But then, that's the Weasley boy!" shouted his father striding around the bound prisoners to face Weasley. "It's them, Potter's friends... Draco, look at him, isn't it Arthur Weasley's son, what's his name?"

"Yeah" said Draco again, his back to the prisoners "It could be"

His father finally looked at him and then he frowned and exchanged a look with his mother, but before anything else could be said, Bella entered the room.

"What is this? What's happened, Cissy?"

Bella's eyes went to the prisoners and a delighted smile showed on her face as she walked slowly around them. She stopped on Harry's right, staring at Granger through her heavily lidded eyes.

"But surely," she said quietly "this is the Mudblood girl? This is Granger?"

"Yes, yes, it's Granger!" cried his father "And beside her, we think, Potter! Potter and his friends, caught at last!"

Draco closed his eyes and he was ready to start praying, because now he was most certainly dead. He looked around frantically trying to think of something.

"Potter?" shrieked Bella "Are you sure? Well then, the Dark Lord must be informed at once!"

Draco was close to tears and he just couldn't be bothered with the discussion of who would take the honor, because it would not matter, he was just going to die if he didn't do something. There were a considerable amount of people in the room, but if he got Bella first, his parents would protect him from Greyback and the snatchers even if they disagreed with his actions.

Draco's mother touched him and startled him out of his thoughts, she was about to say something when Bella screamed once more.

"STOP! Do not touch it, we shall all perish if the Dark Lord comes now!"

Draco turned so fast he almost fell, he looked at Bella's worried face and immediately became unsure if he should rejoice or be afraid, because anything that made Bella fear the Dark Lord was definitely not good. She was suddenly the mad and skilful woman Draco knew she was, attacking the other men and cornering Greyback, so Draco took his own wand out, if she defeated the werewolf, she would relax and he might be able to catch her.

"Draco, move this scum outside," said Bellatrix, indicating the unconscious men "If you haven't got the guts to finish them, then leave them in the courtyard for me."

"Don't you dare speak to Draco like.. " said his mother furiously, but Bellatrix screamed.

"Be quiet! The situation is graver than you can possibly imagine, Cissy! We have a very serious problem!"

The way Bella was reacting was driving Draco mad and he dared for a second look at Harry to see if he was as confused about this as he was, but unfortunately he wasn't, so clearly something about the dam sword was actually important and the boy knew it and so did his aunt.

"If it is indeed Potter, he must not be harmed," Bella muttered, more to herself than to the others. "The Dark Lord wishes to dispose of Potter himself... But if he finds out... I must... I must know..." she turned back to Draco's mother "The prisoners must be placed in the cellar, while I think what to do!"

It was the second time that day Bella was taking over something in the house and Draco could see his mother's fury explode inside her.

"This is my house, Bella, you don't give orders in my..."

"Do it! You have no idea of the danger we're in!" shrieked Bellatrix. She looked frightening, mad, a thin stream of fire issued from her wand and burned a hole in the carpet.

His mother too felt frightened and hesitated for a moment, but she swallowed her pride then addressed the werewolf.

"Take these prisoners down to the cellar, Greyback."

"Wait," said Bellatrix sharply. "All except... except for the Mudblood."

Greyback gave a grunt of pleasure.

"No!" shouted Weasley "You can have me, keep me!"

Bellatrix hit him across the face, the blow echoed around the room.

"If she dies under questioning, I'll take you next," she said "Blood traitor is next to Mudblood in my book. Take them downstairs, Greyback, and make sure they are secure, but do nothing more to them... yet."

She threw Greyback's wand back to him, then took a short silver knife from under her robes. She cut Granger free from the other prisoners, then dragged her by the hair into the middle of the room, while Greyback forced the rest of them to shuffle across to another door, into a dark passageway, his wand held out in front of him, projecting an invisible and irresistible force.

Draco felt his mother grab one of his arms and squeezed hard, making him stop staring at the scene in front of him and giving an indication that she knew he wanted to do something he shouldn't and that she was not going to let him, not this time. So trembling and feeling a cold sweat run through his body, he stood there as Granger was tortured in front of him, in his house and Weasley's own screams for her echoed around the room.

"Draco" his father suddenly called "fetch the goblin, he can tell us whether the sword is real or not!"

Draco was a bit numb, he had no idea what his father was talking about, he had been trying to ignore whatever was going on between his aunt and Granger, but he did as he was told, his mother's calculating stare following him all the way out.

The moment he opened the door Harry and Weasley were on him, the second trying to get past him, so he had to shove him back and point his wand at them so he could close the door and avoid them being heard.

"Stay back or you will just get us all killed" said Draco with strength he didn't know he still had.

"But Hermione… how can you just stand there!" Screamed Weasley and Harry had to try and shush him

"I've seen worse, running to her won't help her, blowing my cover will only get all of us killed, we need to be smart, what is the deal with the sword?"

"It's ok, just take him" said Harry pointing to the goblin and Draco assumed they already had made some kind of agreement.

Harry's face was slowly getting back to normal, and they just looked at each other for a moment, there was so much they needed to talk about, so much they wanted to say, but so little time.

"Can't Lestrange help?" asked Lovegood, Dean Thomas at her side was looking at them all as if they were mad.

"He is not here, he left with his brother, I don't know when he will be back" said Draco and then he moved to grab the goblin to move him out with him.

"This is bad then, he was here this morning" said Luna and Draco frowned looking at her "his brother, forced me to drink whatever it is he's been trying to put on the food and said something about 'getting his brother more agreeable', whatever that means I don't think he meant his brother any good, so they probably won't be back anytime soon…"

Draco felt a shiver run down his spine as the words from the day before run through his mind as well as his father's early comment about Alecto. He had finally understood what had been going on in the morning, but also what he and his parents had completely missed until now: Rodolphus' plan apparently didn't consist in him having a bastard child, but forcing his own brother to have one. Draco looked at Lovegood one more time before he turned to Harry and Weasley.

"Whatever's the plan, you have to take Lovegood with you"

The boys wanted to ask but he had been there too long, so he shook his head and moved with the goblin out of the room, locking the door only because he must.

His headache started to get worse and Draco really hoped he wasn't about to pass out in the middle of this pandemonium. Suddenly there was a loud noise in the cellar and Draco frowned, it was impossible to aparate from there, so what could Harry possibly be doing?

"What was that?" shouted Lucius from over their heads. "Did you hear that? What was that noise in the cellar? Draco no, call Wormtail! Make him go and check!"

The man was already in the room and Draco only had to look at him for him to move, but the man gave him a hateful look before doing so, the only kind of reaction he was allowed.

An uncomfortable pressure came around Draco's neck and despite the already suffocating sensation, he closed his shirt in a way that would hide his neck and not let anyone see any kind of rash that might be forming there. When a voice that Draco was sure was not Pettigrew came up, he knew Harry and Weasley were definitely doing something and he was both relieved and anxious all at once.

"And now," said Bella in a voice that burst with triumph, "we call the Dark Lord!"

Those words were like a knife was put on his gut and Draco without thinking drew his wand out ready to cast a stunning on Bella, but his mother immediately grabbed his arm.

"Don't you dare" she whispered in his ear, but he could not answer as pain was all over him and he just turned away from them all, biting his lips so he would not scream.

His mother was confused, but gave him a hug to let him hide his face on her chest, which Draco really appreciated as he thought he was going to pass out. But his vision cleared and the pain had started to diminish when Weasley burst into the room and a fight started only stopping when the chandelier fell and suddenly Harry jumped him and took the wands he was holding, his own included, and soon left, apparently with the help of Dobby.

Draco had just a few seconds to feel relieved before the Dark Lord was there, furious they had just lost Harry Potter. The man spared no one and was merciless in torturing each of them, including Draco.

"What a disappointment, but then you're only half Black and not even from the good branch" Said the Dark Lord the moment he was face to face with Draco and the boy knew that whatever illusion the Dark Lord was holding, the mysterious thing that had protected Draco until now, was gone.

The cruciatus ran over him once again until he was close to losing consciousness and for the first time he hoped the bond would not reach Harry.

It was with the sight of destruction, blood and lots of pain that Rodolphus and Rabastan arrived, immediately bowing to their Lord and explaining their absence. Draco wasn't sure if it was his fussy brain, but it sounded like the brother's were talking a bit differently, like they had stopped for a few drinks after they left the bank. The Dark Lord didn't seem to notice, his fury was still quite visible as was his unstable state, but eventually the man left and the ones that remained had to pick up the pieces.

Greyback was furious at them, also because he lost his comrades, but he was still recuperating from the dark curse and the Lestrange brothers were in a better state drunk than the werewolf was, so with a lot of resentment and empty threats, he left the Manor.

Rodolphus helped Bella move from where she was laying on the ground, he cast a cleaning spell where she had pissed herself and, noticing she could not walk, he took her in his arms. It was the first time Draco ever saw them interact like a couple and the man act a bit gentle with his wife, it was a bizarre scene really. Rabastan did the same and took Draco's father in his arms, he had been awoken by the Dark Lord for torture, but he passed out again quite quickly, his physical injuries from being thrown across the room during the fight were probably more serious than it was noticeable.

Draco spent some time just laying on the cold floor as his thoughts formed again, everything had been so quick, but he had felt all kinds of different emotions that had left him exhausted, the torture just adding a new layer. He turned to the side to spit the blood he had on his mouth from biting his tongue and tried to at least sit down, his mother was already sitting up, but she was resting against the wall with her eyes closed, there was blood running down her nose, which worried Draco enough for him to crawl to her.

Draco just touched her and he could feel her magic was all over the place, a clear sign of magical shock.

"Mother, look at me!" said Draco feeling his heart beat fast "mother!"

She was not responding and tears were falling from his eyes before he could even react to it, he had very little magic left and he couldn't run to get anything, so all his magical training was absolutely useless because he was just there, laying on the floor of his own house watching his mother die.

He saw a shadow running and turned to see Rabastan sitting down and grabbing his mother to pour a potion down her throat. It took a few minutes, but her breathing got more steady and her face a little less pale until she finally opened her eyes.

"Come on, I will carry you to your room, I think Lucius will need a healer" said Rabastan as he slowly moved to pick up the woman.

"How did you know?" asked Draco, his throat was hurting really bad.

"Let me get her settled" said the man and Draco took a deep breath as he tried to stand up, his entire body hurt and his legs weren't very firm, but with help, he was able to walk.

Eventually Rabastan was able to help the two Malfoys back to the master bedroom where Draco's sigils were still keeping the place as their secret healing area. With his mother's wand, Draco focus his remaining magic and cast a few diagnosis charms on his father, who had a concussion and a bit of blood loss, he was going to take a while to heal, but a few spells and potions were all Draco could do at the moment.

"How did things get so out of hand?" asked Rabastan to Draco and his mother.

"Bella had an attack over a sword, then Potter did his usual thing and escaped" said Draco

"Helped by Regulus' old elf no less" said Draco's mother and Rabastan chuckled.

"I told you" he said, but didn't elaborate.

"Draco, what were you thinking?" asked his mother looking at him, more tired than angry, her voice was thin with the force she was making to talk "don't you realise how much you are risking yourself?"

Draco didn't say anything, only looked down, not able to look at his mother.

"How would giving him away and letting him die help anything?" he said quietly and suddenly he heard his mother sobbing.

"This is exactly what killed Regulus!" she said frustrated, she would have screamed if she still had any strength left.

"But he is not Regulus" said Rabastan gently "he is your son, Narcisa! You who once stood in front of the Dark Lord and confronted him, who stayed in between him and Regulus, what else did you expect him to do?"

Draco's eyes were wide opened and he looked between Rabastan and his mother with disbelief, he had never heard anything about any of that and he could hardly believe it was his mother the man was talking about.

"I was foolish" she said quietly.

"No! It was because you loved Regulus! And anyway didn't we all do stupid things for love?"

Draco's mother cried more before she was too exhausted to and she layed back on her pillows.

"We have completely fallen out of grace, we can't… afford… to step out of line"

"I won't" said Draco

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Draco" said Rabastan smiling.

"I will try to" he insisted.

"Well for now we should just rest" said his mother holding his hand "stay here with us, the sigils..."

"I will just get a potion for father and I"

"Are you still keeping control of how much you're taking? You didn't look good before" said his mother frowning.

"Yeah, don't worry"

"Why do you take so many potions?" asked Rabastan confused, none of the Lestranges had ever asked him directly about it and he just assumed his parents had said something.

"I'm constantly sick, been like that since I was little" said Draco

Rabastan frowned and turned to Draco's mother.

"He was pretty healthy as a baby, didn't Parsinton run some tests?" Draco looked confused at the man and then at his mother, he was not aware that anything bad had been expected at his birth, but then Sirius had said it had been a difficult one.

"Yes" said Narcisa very tense "This started later on and has been getting worse over the years, it is more manageable now, but he had a few close calls"

"But magic scars shouldn't cary..." said Rabastan thoughtful

"And yet it had been confirmed that his magical core is causing it, so clearly something did affect him"

"What are you two talking about?" asked Draco

"Your mother had a difficult pregnancy"

"I know, I've heard about it, but we don't have any family illnesses"

Rabastan didn't say anything, but looked at Narcisa.

"But I have a magical scar" said the woman very quiet and reluctant in telling it "so your father and I always wondered if this was a result of it, but even after it was confirmed it was something with your core, Parsinton insisted it was not the same, so it didn't need to be related. Obviously we never got the chance to run proper tests"

"Why did you never tell me that?" Asked Draco, that explained quite a bit, including why his mother would go into shock because of the cruciatus and considering he was a healer and their house had been taken over by a mad man, he would have expected her to say something, never mind the years of struggle he had while trying to find out what was wrong with him.

"Because there are things that happened that I don't want to talk about… even with you" said his mother showing all her years and letting silent tears fall on her face again.

Draco was quiet, he didn't really know what to say to that, by now, he knew how much his family had suffered in the first war, but he could not imagine what would be so horrible that even now his mother would refuse to talk about it.

Frustrated, but not having anything to say, Draco moved out of the room and Rabastan followed.

"Don't be mad at her, your mother is the strongest woman I know, but there is just so much she can take and she worries about you more than anything" the man said after they were outside.

"I know, I'm not mad… she and father will be once they are better"

"What exactly did you do?"

"I lied… I couldn't give them away" he said quietly.

"I see…" said Rabastan looking really thoughtful "You obviously don't get the same issues with magic as your mother, but are you alright? Or as alright as you can be after torture?" He tried to put a bit of humor behind the words, but he obviously couldn't.

"Yes, luckily I only react to other kinds of magic" said Draco shocking his head, he was hoping Harry would have a few days of rest after today so he too could rest.

"So you do react to magic… what does happen to you?" the man asked looking at him with a frown.

"We don't know" he lied and thought about something, he shouldn't have said anything "we think I react to some kind of magic, but we don't know what, you know like on christmas"

What he thought would get him off the hock actually seemed to surprise Rabastan and for a moment the man looked dumbfounded.

"I never thought…" whispered the man "but it makes sense..." he said with a sight and running his hands over his face

Draco was really worried now, was this about the bond or something else and was this a good thing or not, he trusted Rabastan quite a bit, but after completely falling from grace, he wasn't sure he wanted anyone in the house to know his secret.

"Come here with me" said Rabastan quietly and Draco followed him all the way to the guest room that Rabastan had taken for himself.

The man went in without looking back and went straight for a drawer where he took a little empty potion vial and with a touch of his wand transfigured it to a little round vial, almost like a little marble ball. From out of his shirt Rabastan took out a necklace, little hoops covered in runes were around a red jewel, with careful manipulation, Rabastan took the jewel out and with a tap of his wand made it grow until Draco realised it was a round vial like the one he had just made.

A vial containing a red liquid.

"Is that blood?" asked Draco horrified

"Yes" said the man.

He put half of it on the new container and sealed them both again and got a coin from his pocket to make a copy of the necklace to put the new vial in, it no longer looked like a jewel now that was only half full, but it wasn't obvious it was blood. He hesitated for a moment on which one he was putting back on, but eventually he offered the fake one to Draco who grabbed it, but kept staring at the man expecting an explanation.

"This is Lily Potter's blood"

Draco froze on the spot looking at the man with pure disbelief.

"How… why…?" he tried to articulate, but that was the last thing he could have imagined and he had no idea how to even react to it after the day he just had.

"I got this at the night she died and I kept it… for a rainy day" said Rabastan nervously and perhaps even a bit embarrassed "I… I don't think you are sick Draco, but… Things are fucked up and I don't know how it actually works, so this is what I can do for you right now, you keep this… It… might come in handy or… save your life... who knows"

Draco was really confused, but also suspicious, Rabastan knew something and he really wanted to know what, but he didn't want to risk himself and Harry by telling the man too much. Rabastan had deeper secrets than his bad relationship and whatever motivated him to steal that blood out of Lily's dead body might not be something Draco was prepared to deal with at the moment.

"You know you do own me an explanation, if not now, at some point" said Draco.

"Yes and you're not the only one, but right now we're all hostages here and there are just so many secrets we can share until this is over, whether the end is good or bad"

And Draco understood those words very well, it was exactly what he had been feeling, but wasn't that man just full of surprises.

"And people call you stupid…" said Draco shaking his head "Potter should have made you his secret keeper"

And the man released a little laugh.

"I will let you know, you're not the first to say that"

There was a soft fondness on the man's eyes and Draco couldn't help but to smile too.