Disclaimer: The same as always…

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Lucius Malfoy sat by his mahogany desk in his study, twirling his wand lazily in between his fingers. He was waiting patiently for a reply from that girl Parkinson to bring him a full report on his son. He was beginning to have suspicions about Draco; it was not like him to not reply to a letter. Lucius had got considerably suspicious after Pansy had first written to him telling him about Draco's strange behaviour and mysterious new allies. He'd managed to pass it off as excitement and wanting to be a part of the action, as he was soon to become a deatheater but doubt had been gnawing restlessly at the back of his mind for some time now, since the holidays to be exact.

Getting up Lucius strode over to his window and surveyed the large grounds of Malfoy Manor with boredom. He could see no signs of an owl arriving much to his great annoyance. Turning away from the window his eyes trailed idly around his room. There were two large bookcases with a wide selection of books covering dark arts, a black double leather sofa in front of a fireplace as well as a leather chair in front of his desk. The floor was covered in dark tiles, which contrasted perfectly with the cream walls and there were candles scattered around, which give the room an eerie glow in the night. Also leading off from his study were two rooms, one contained a bedroom and the other a bathroom.

Lucius never left his study for anything, unless he was going out or he needed to see his son. If he wanted an elf he just stuck his head out of the door and beckoned one, he'd be damned if he had to go and fetch one. As for his wife, well he never bothered with her. Their relationship had basically been over for a long time. He'd known that she'd never fully supported him and disagreed with how he wanted to bring up their son. Not to mention the amount of times he'd seen her resort to alcohol to resolve her problems as well as attempted suicide, she disgusted him. Being Lucius Malfoy he never once stopped to think that he could be partly to blame for any of these things.

After pacing the room for another five minutes, Lucius sighed impatiently and strode back over to the window. There in the distance, coming close was a brown owl. A smirk lit up his face and he opened the window then sat back down by his desk and waited. It wasn't long before the owl flew into the room and dropped the letter on his desk, and then landed waiting for a treat. He raised an eyebrow cruelly amused that the owl wanted something from him. Still smirking evilly he picked up the owl, threw it out of the window and slammed it shut and then sat down chuckling to himself, wondering if the owl had managed to save its self before hitting the ground.

Lucius picked up the letter and glared. Where was the envelope? Didn't the girl have any care about presentation? Muttering to himself Lucius unfolded the piece of parchment and began to read. His narrowed eyes scanned the page mercilessly and his face darkened with anger the further he read. Interesting. Very interesting. It seemed his son had gone over to the other side. If he had anything to do with it, this would be changed as soon as possible. His son was not going to bring disgrace to their name.

In a rage, unable to believe what he had read, Lucius Malfoy picked up his long black coat and slipped it on, tucking the letter safely in his inside pocket. His son and Harry Potter, he'd be damned. He was not going to have this; he would not be a laughing stock to the other deatheater's or anybody else for that matter.

Leaving his study, Lucius slammed the door behind him and locked it, putting the key in his pocket. Something had to be done about this incident as quickly as possible. It had to be hushed up or at least interpreted into something else until Lucius himself had a chance to resolve the matter. It seemed he would have to take a trip to see the master.

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Narcissa cringed as the front door slammed behind her husband and stopped scanning the photo album before her. She was quite glad he had gone, she never saw him anymore anyway, they didn't even share a room!

She was currently sitting in her own bedroom by a large window overlooking their vast garden flicking through an old photo album; their only photo album, containing mostly pictures of her and Lucius when they were younger. It made her think of times in the past when things were different. Times when Lucius wasn't an mean and cruel man with a twisted mind and totally indebted to the dark lord, a time when she herself was happy and they were both deeply in love with one another.

There were also pictures of her son Draco in the album, Narcissa smiled at a picture of him as a baby as her mind drifted to he memory. How happy her and Lucius had been when she had found out she was pregnant, she thought. It had been during the time that she was pregnant with Draco that Lucius had began to get so absorbed in the dark arts and his own ambitions of power that he failed to notice her anymore. Narcissa had hardly ever seen him and coped with the pregnancy on her own, as her parents didn't want to associate with her anymore as they hadn't approved of Lucius from the beginning. Now she only wished she had only listened to their objections.

Their relationship had vastly deteriorated after Voldemort had risen to power for the first time, as she was sickened at what Lucius had become. She had thought everything would return to normal when Draco was born, had hoped that Lucius would return and they could forget all that had happened. However, that wasn't to be the case.

It had seemed that way for awhile their relationship had improved and Lucius became a proud father and was ecstatic that it was a boy, but Narcissa had seen from the smile on her husbands face, one night, of what ambitions he already had for her son and had seen no way to get away from it. She had been relieved when she had heard about Voldemort's downfall at the Potter's, and like most other wizards at the time was thanking Merlin for Harry Potter. Narcissa had hoped that this event would bring her husband back and put a stop to his ambitions for her son. However, it hadn't worked. Lucius was already too far gone by this time and no longer cared for his wife and child. He began to spend a lot of time at the ministry and when he wasn't at work he locked himself in his study doing god knows what. Even though Voldemort had disappeared, her husband didn't seem ready to cast aside his belief.

Narcissa had become severely upset because of stranger her own husband had become. She no longer understood him and any love that had remained was now gone, Lucius had only looked at her with eyes filled with nothing but emptiness. She had become depressed and frequently wanted to kill herself, but couldn't do it for her son's sake. Instead she had with drawn into herself, spending most of her time living in the past and wishing for the happy home life she had always desired, one that had fallen apart around her.

It had broken her heart, as Draco had gotten older. He had become more and more like Lucius by the day. It had got to the point where she couldn't bear to look at him, to see what Lucius was turning her son into when she could do nothing to stop him. Her son resembled Lucius dramatically as well, the same pale blonde hair and cold grey eyes. Draco had soon resembled Lucius in more then his looks; he began to act like him and to have the same opinions and superior attitude. She had once again wanted to take her life around this time and the only thing that had stopped her was the fact that she didn't have the guts and strength to do it, no matter how much she was hurting inside.

The beating had started when Draco had reached round about ten. He had cried when Lucius had shouted at him for doing wrong, and Narcissa knew that the one thing Lucius hated most was weakness and he wouldn't tolerate it in his own son. That night after her husband had finished with the boy she had taken Draco upstairs and tucked him in and sat by him until he had gone to sleep. Lucius had gone and locked himself in his study again so she had no worries about seeing him until tomorrow. That night Narcissa had sat there by her son, smoothing his hair while he slept, silent tears rolling down her face onto the blankets. She couldn't believe the man she had once known had raised a hand to his own son. She had prayed that night as well, prayed that Draco wouldn't become like Lucius, and that he wouldn't follow in Lucius' footsteps.

Narcissa's prayers hadn't been answered until this summer and up to this time she had had to distance herself from her son, not wanting to see the man he was turning into, the very same man she lived in fear of. She knew he though that she didn't love him, but she did and she always would no matter what. This summer had changed him though and she had noticed it even if Lucius hadn't, but Lucius was beginning to notice now, after Draco had backed out of a chance to practice dark arts on muggles and how he had stopped responding to his father's letters. Her suspicions had been confirmed when she'd found Draco's diary in a locked draw next to his bed. She didn't often snoop through her son's stuff she was just looking for something to confirm what she believed was true, and her suspicions were confirmed and she had been shocked to learn that Draco hated his father with a passion really.

She knew, however, that Lucius wasn't going to tolerate this behaviour for very long and wasn't sure what to do about it. Narcissa had come to the decision though that he was not going to convert Draco back now, Her son was finally thinking for himself and that was how he was going to say. She was not going to allow Lucius to indoctrinate him like he had all these years, and tell him he was wrong because she knew for once that Draco had done the right thing and she was proud of him.

For the first time in the last four years Narcissa Malfoy had found a reason to keep on living for and that was to protect her son.

Little did she know that in an old house a couple of miles away, other plans were currently taking place…

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A/N – Ack! Sorry this chapter is shorter than normal. I have a coursework overload so I struggled to get this chapter up by today, but I persevered. I was just wondering does anyone thing this story is getting boring? Because if anyone does please tell me and I'll try and improve it but what I'm thinking of doing is splitting the stories up like this one is mainly based on Harry and Draco's friendship and maybe the next one will be based on whatever Voldemort decides to do…just a though.

Anyway thanks once again for the reviews, they're great! I hope you're all still enjoying my story. I'll try and get the next chapter up by next Sunday depending on the amount of work I have.

Please read and review, and Enjoy!