Chapter Three - Shattered Dreams

"Draco..." Lucius whispered, pushing Arthur away from him and trying to get up, though he had little luck in doing so. Pitying his desparate atempts, Arthur helped him to his feet. Lucius stumbled across the room toward Draco, but Draco stepped back and gared at him.

"You stay away from me..." Draco whispered and ran out of the room, Ron following quickly behind him. Lucius fell to his knees in tears. The one thing keeping him alive didn't want to know him.

Draco sat on the edge of his bed, he had been staying with the Weasley's for the last three years, since he left Hogwarts. In his seventh and final year he had confessed to Ron that the only reason he had been such a jerk for the last seven years was because of his father, and after a few weeks of thinking on what Draco had said, Ron accepted him as a friend and agreed to let his stay at the Burrow until he could get himself together and get his own place.

Ron sat down on his own bed opposite Draco and for a moment there was silence. Ron shifted uncomfortably and opened his mouth to say something, but Draco spoke first. "I can't believe he's here. I finally thought that I had escaped my fathers shadow, but it seems I'm fated to live in it for the rest of my life."

"He can't have known you were here. He was as shocked to see you as you were to see him." Ron paused for a moment. "Maybe you should go and talk to him. He's in a really terrible state, he probably wants to talk to you."

"I don't care!" Draco said angrily, standing up and pacing the room. "He's a death eater! He ran off to join the Dark Lord and I will not forgive him for that! He has no right to be here." Draco stopped and looked over at Ron, a sudden fear in his eyes. "He may have been sent here to kill your father. You should watch him... If he ever hurt your father..." he trailed off.

Ron shook his head. "If he was going to do it then he would have done it by now. Death eacters are not well known for their patience. I think it very unlikely that dad would have let him in the house if he was any sort of threat to us... and he was bleeding... maybe he abandoned Voldemort and he's trying to redeem himself."

"He can never redeem himself for the things that i've seen him do." Draco spat. "He doesn't deserve anything. Least of all redemption. He should be sent to Azkaban and left there."

Ron stared at Draco. "You don't mean that. No matter how much you hate him you would never wish that on him!" he said, angry at Draco's behaviour. Ron stood up, deciding it was time he took charge of the situation. "Now I want you to go down stairs and I want you to talk to him, even if it's just to ask him what he's doing here, and you are going to do it now!"

"Fine!" Draco shouted back and walked out of the room. Ron followed him back down to the living room, where they found Ginny comforting a rather distraught Lucius, who was still kneeling on the floor. Draco paused in the doorway, considering making a run for it, but Ron was already a step ahead of him. Ron pushed Draco into the room so that he was standing over Lucius.

Ginny backed off and left the living room, and Ron closed the door behind himself, leaving the two of them alone. "What are you doing here?" Draco asked, his tone much softer than it had been. But it couldn't be helped. His father stared up at him with a tear stained face and a cut across his forehead. Lucius had never looked so pathetic.

"I... he... and..." Lucius spluttered, but he couldn't make a sentance of it. All of Draco's defences dropped at the sight of his father trying to explain himself and he dropped to his knees, throwing his arms around Lucius. Lucius held Draco back and the only words he could manage were: "I'm sorry Draco, I'm so sorry."

Draco pulled back and stared into his fathers face, running a hand gently over the cut on his forehead. "What did they do to you?" He said softly, hoping that he could calm Lucius enough to get a half decent sentance out of him, but his plan was interupted.

"Hi, someone called for a Medi-Wizard... What seems to be the..." The Midi- Wizard trailed off as his eyes fell on Lucius and his lip curled. "I am going to kill you!"

"Sirius, no!" Draco shouted, running over and holding Sirius back while Lucius scrambled away on his hands and knees to the corner of the room. Lucius covered his face with his hands and pushed himself as far as he could into the corner, wishing that the wall would just swallow him.

Arthur rushed in with the other Weasley's and he caught hold of Sirius' arm. "Sirius, what are you doing here?!" he said. Sirius pulled his arm free and stood glaring at Lucius, though he made no movement toward him.

"You called for someone from St. Mungo's and I was the only one on night duty that could get here. If I knew I was coming here for him I would have stayed in bed!" Sirius raged. "He's now worth saving!"

"Sirius, don't say..." Molly started, but she was cut off.

"He's right... I'm not worth saving... not now... not after what he did to me... I'm nothing... I deserve nothing..." Lucius said, slowly using the wall to clamber to his feet. "I want you to take me to Azkaban... I want to die... I want to..." but he was cut short as he fell, unconcius, to the floor.

"Dad!" Draco cried out, running over and kneeing by his fathers side.

Molly looked up at Sirius, the anger clear on her face and her eyes blazing. "Sirius, you are going to get your ass over there this instant and you are going to help him." She said dangerously, but Sirius took little notice of her as his eyes remained fixed on Lucius.

"And why should I? You heard him... he doesn't want to live." Sirius replied.

Draco stood up and marched over to Sirius, standing only a few inches shorter. Draco grabbed his collar and made Sirius look at him. "That is my father, and he is hurt and he said that Voldemort has done something to him and I wanna know what that is. So you are going to help him and we are going to find out what's happened to him before you, of all people, pass judgement."

"Fine." Sirius snapped and walked over to Lucius, turning and looking over his shoulder. "Well I can't left him by myself now can I?! A little help from you lot would be apreciated to say the least!" Fred and George jumped to attention and helped Sirius to move Lucius back to the sofa. "Now I want everyone out while I check him over." Sirius said as he straightened up.

The Weasley's and Draco looked at one another and glanced nervously at Sirius. Sirius stared at them and put a hand irritably on his hip. "I'm not going to kill him while your backs are turned, now everyone out!"