A flutter of the stomach. A lopsided grin. A faint smell of stomach acid on her breath. The stickiness of her red wine from dinner plastered onto his neck as she kissed the bruises that had started to swell.

"I hadn't realized you cared so much for your nephew's wellbeing."

Draco had wanted to shove her. Wanted to hurl and cry and grab his aunt by the hair and lash her eyeballs out with his thumbs.

Across the room, Pettigrew had his wand at his mother's throat, daring her to move while his father sat motionless beside her.

"You owe me, Cissa!"

The words were flung across the dining room like shrapnel. Bellatrix drew a long yellow fingernail through Draco's hair.

"I saved him. You owe me!"

That moment. That had been when Draco had his first seizure.

When he awoke later he was in his parents bed huddled close between them. He was still wearing the robes he had vomited in earlier. Even if they had been scourgified they still stunk.

He couldn't remember the last time his father had held him. Deep down he had believed it would never occur again, yet when Draco stirred from his slumber, Lucius wrapped his arms around his son and settled a long kiss on his forehead. The small gesture had his father in tears by the time Narcissa woke up.

"Thank Merlin!" She sobbed and joined them in the embrace. It was a touching moment albeit a painful one.

They thought I was dying. He realized in horror. They believed I wouldn't make it through the night.

The embrace and the silence that it shared ended soon. His mother caressed his back while she spoke; a soft but solid tone in her voice that hadn't been there before.

"I should tell you," her breath was warm against his ear, "I'm pregnant."

"WHAT!?" His father broke the tender moment and sat up to look down at her as she continued to cradle Draco in her arms. Draco was still too exhausted from dinner-if you could call that monstrosity in the dining room dinner- to even turn over to look his mother in the face.

"I'm due in April." He could tell she was smiling even if he couldn't see her. "Isn't it wonderful?!"

"NO!" Lucius reached over to solidify his mother's shoulders in his hands. "No, Narcissa no!"

"What do you mean, no?" Her tone had that iciness she used on rare occasions when his father had gone too far. Draco braced himself for the worst.

"We can barely keep one child alive in this mess! Do you really think we can handle another?! And an infant at that?"

She sat up to face him, one hand still on Draco's back though it seemed he wasn't a part of the conversation. He found he was good with that.

"So, you would have me get rid of it?!" She bellowed at her husband.

"I would have you do what is right!"

The silence that followed that statement made him want to leave the room.

"You don't mean that." She almost growled and Draco blanched as his father cowered beside him.

"Darling, it's just….it isn't safe! Not for the baby, not for you…"

"You didn't say that last time."

"Last time!" Lucius regained some of his courage. "Last time was seventeen years ago! And I seem to remember it wasn't a bundle of roses last time either!"

Draco recalled the stories of his birth. How his mother had labored for over seventy hours and had almost died of blood loss. The midwife had blamed the stress of the first war. His mother had blamed herself. They had been lucky that Draco was a healthy baby. They were lucky she had lived. If they wanted to stay lucky, the midwife had warned, they would not let his mother get pregnant again.

His father had not taken it well. He doted on his wife during the day and had cried himself hoarse at night. He had made offerings to fertility emblems and had brewed every potion available. He watched the Weasleys in distaste for years and their ever growing brood of gingers.

Draco knew they hadn't listened to the midwife. His parents had been young and desperate but after a third miscarriage, they had given up on the chance of having more children. Draco was a miracle, even if he would be their only miracle.

"The risk is too much." His father sighed. "I couldn't bare to lose you. Not for a baby that isn't even alive yet!"

Narcissa laid back in the bed. After a few minutes his father must have realized that the discussion was over and laid down as well. Draco knew better than to bring up anything else, although he itched to know what had happened to the Lovegood girl. Something told him it was better if he didn't know. They were nearly asleep when his mother whispered again.

"It's a girl." She almost sang.

The memory of that night flitted over his mind's eye like moth wings in moonlight. Had he known the outcome then could he have stopped his mother from doing what she did?

Possibly. But dwelling in the past would kill him. Remembering it all would kill him.

The cool smoothness of the tile wall against his back helped settle his mood a tad. He couldn't recall getting in the shower but the hot water was pleasant. If he fell asleep on the floor it wasn't like anyone would notice or care. He allowed his head to droop and let the water rush over his skin as he dozed.

Malfoy!

A faint voice echoed through his subconscious.

Malfoy, wake up!

Who was yelling at him at this hour? Couldn't they tell he was sleeping?

"Draco!"

Hands slapped his cheeks and there was a sudden coldness from the water being shut off. He opened his eyes and squinted at the face above his, wincing from the bright bathroom light.

Hermione Granger looked like she had been crying her eyes out for decades. He blinked at her for a second and tried to place how the Gryffindor had gotten in his bathroom when his memories flooded back to him.

This was her bathroom.

"Fuck!" He sat up too quickly, colliding his skull into hers with a loud crack. They both howled from the hit and retracted from each other to sooth their pounding heads. She recovered first, pulling her body over him again to shade his face from the light.

"Are you alright!? I tried to get home as soon as I could but I was scared I got here too late! They had the Ministry on lockdown and it was almost impossible to get out of there!"

He rubbed his forehead where she had collided with him. "What the hell, Granger?!"

"There was a Dark Mark cast and Nott was… YOUR ARM!""

"Huh?"

She snatched his right arm from the bottom of the tub and held the Mark that had been tattooed there to her face.

"It's fine." She released a heavy held breath. "Thank Merlin, it's fine. You're okay!" She brushed her fingertips over the faded tattoo and he cringed from her touch. He suddenly realized how close she was sitting to him and how stark naked he was.

"What's wrong with you!? Get out!"

She ignored his rage. "Did you pass out in the shower?"

"I...I don't remember." He glared at her. "If you aren't going to leave could you atleast hand me a towel?"

She stood to remove a fluffy pink bath towel from the cabinet beneath the sink and draped it over him. "You had another seizure, didn't you?"

Why couldn't she just leave? Instead of being a normal person and giving him some privacy, Granger moved even closer to him.

"Do you have any sense of personal space?"

"Malfoy, did you have a seizure?"

He honestly couldn't recall. She watched him try to remember the last few hours and furrowed a worried brow.

"They're getting worse." She mumbled and tried to reach for his arm again but he pulled away. "It must have something to do with the Dark Mark. Did you have any reaction at all?"

Her tone scared him. "Reaction to what? What are you talking about?"

She sunk a bit on her knees and rubbed her temples. "Nott almost died today. He was being summoned by his Dark Mark and went into shock because he refused the summoning."

Draco gaped at her. "WHAT!?"

"It was terrible. His arm was dripping this black liquid and your father had to stun him so his heart rate would slow down." She paused to take a breath. "Then we found out that a Dark Mark was cast over King's Cross."

She went into detail about the past hour or so at the Ministry. It sounded like it had been a nasty ordeal for everyone involved.

"Wait, is Theo going to be alright?" He interrupted he on her rant about the git who ran the Auror department.

"I.." she looked at him sheepishly, "I think so. To be honest I left in rush. I'm pretty sure Harry was going to take him to St. Mungo's."

Great. So Theo's life was in the hands of Potter.

"You have to go check on him!" He reached over the tub to grab her shoulders. "Potter's an idiot! He'll probably take him to the wrong healers!"

She chose that second to finally blush at Draco's nudity. He quickly removed his hands.

"Um…" Clearly trying to look anywhere except at him, Granger started twiddling her hair through her fingers. "I mean, Harry probably won't take him there by himself. Your father will probably take Nott in if they didn't arrest him."

"Arrest him! Merlin, what did he do now?!"

"Well," The hair twirling thing was getting annoying. He half wanted to grab her hands to stop it but then she would blush even more. "He sort of attacked Robards."

"The head Auror?" Draco swore under his breath. "What do you mean 'sort of'?"

"Um, he kind of shoved him into a wall and kicked him in the crotch a few times."

Obviously there was no 'kind of' needed. His father had for certain attacked an Auror during a Ministry lockdown.

Idiot.

"I'm thinking they'll give him the benefit of the doubt." Granger continued. "He was pretty hysterical about Nott and from what I can tell he had a good reason to be upset. Robards did almost let the man die on the floor. Although," she almost yanked the clump of hair out that she had in her fingers, "that was sort of our fault too. We could have stunned Theodore long before it had gotten to that point."

Draco seethed at her. "Which is why you are going to go to the hospital and find him!"

Her expression sharpened into hatefulness. "Or you could go yourself! You're the one with the Dark Mark experience and he's your friend."

If only he could go. He would give anything to make sure Theo was alright. And now there was someone summoning Death Eaters; summoning Theo in particular.

"You know I can't do that."

"Fine. Stay under your rock." She rose off the floor and brushed herself off. "I was really worried about you, you know. Thought you had died in the shower." She gave him a sad look. "Get dressed, Malfoy. I have to get back to work so try to keep from having any more epileptic attacks while I'm gone."