'Is he ever going to wake up?' George whispered despairingly, staring at Draco Malfoy, who had now been unconscious for almost an hour, 'how hard did you stun him, Fred?'

'Must've got a little carried away', Fred remarked, not sounding even the slightest bit concerned, 'may as well wake him up I s'pose. Enervate!'

Draco's eyes snapped open, and he found himself staring up into the grim faces of Fred and George Weasley. At first, he couldn't remember what had happened, and thought he was seeing double, but then his brain kicked into action, and he realised he had been captured. He began to moan.

'Oh shut up', Fred said disgustedly, poking Malfoy with his wand in a threatening manner, 'imagine, a Malfoy, whimpering! Your even more pathetic than your father is, Draco.'

Malfoy clenched his fists, but George spotted this at once. 'Temper temper!' He chided sweetly, 'ickle Malfoy's getting a teeny weeny bit stressed, Fred.'

Malfoy growled, and tried to scramble to his feet, reaching inside his robes for his wand. Fred forced him back down to the ground with ease, using only one hand, and shook his head sadly. 'Did you really think we'd leave you with your wand?' He asked, raising an eyebrow, 'come on now, Malfoy, I know you don't think much of the intelligence of Gryffindors, but seriously.'

'Let me go', Malfoy moaned, 'please, let me go! Father will pay you to return me- hundreds of galleons!'

George leaned over so that his face was only inches from Malfoy's. 'I think Lucius would send you up the river without a paddle rather than pay us', he whispered, 'I think you set a higher price on your life than your father does!'

Malfoy's face twisted into a sneer. 'At least my father would be able to pay for my release', he spat venomously, 'unlike yours! Letting his family live in a glorified pigsty, buying second hand books and robes, leaving his frumpy wife to look after the millions of little Weasleys-'

Malfoy had hit a nerve. Fred's hand darted out, and he pinned Malfoy to the ground by the throat. 'I don't think you fully appreciate the situation you're in right now', he snarled furiously, 'how dare you talk about our family like that! I'll-'

'Fred', George said quietly, 'we're not here to trade insults with that piece of slime. We're here to save Tonks.

Fred acknowledged this with a grunt, and let go of Malfoy's throat. Draco gasped and started to whimper again.

'Malfoy, are you going to help us, or do we have to force you to drink Veritaserum?' George asked testily.

Malfoy stopped whinging abruptly. Fred and George let him sit up. He looked daggers at them both, then stared down at his knees sulkily. 'What d'you want me to do?'

Fred and George were surprised that he agreed so readily. He caught the looks on their faces and said, 'yes, I'll help, all right? I'm fed up of being ignored in my own home, being treated like a house elf. Whenever Dad's friends come over, he gets into a filthy mood. And so does Mum. And I don't want you to give me Veritaserum, because God knows what questions you'd ask me that I'll be forced to answer.'

'Where's Tonks?' George asked eagerly.

'I dunno', Malfoy said coldly, 'Dad doesn't tell me stuff like that. But I can find out easily enough.'

'How many Death Eaters are in the house?' Fred asked sharply.

Malfoy shrugged. 'About twenty', he said carelessly, 'people come ago, but there are never more than twenty.'

'And what are they doing there?' George questioned.

'Having a meeting?' Malfoy replied in a cheeky tone, 'discussing quidditch? Praising the Dark Lord? How should I know? They don't invite me in.'

Fred resisted the urge to hit him across the face. 'Okay', he said quietly, looking at George for approval, 'you're going to go into the house, and you're going to find out where Tonks is. We're going to be there with you, only we're not going to look like us. I'll have my wand against your back at all time, and if you so much as look as though you're going to tell someone who we really are, I'll kill you, all right?'

Malfoy gulped, and nodded.

'Good', said George briskly, 'right then Fred, pop open the Polyjuice.'

Five minutes later, Fred, George and Draco were walking through the back door of the Malfoy Mansion.

'These shoes are killing me', Fred gasped, as he tottered along in Pansy Parkinson's stilettoes.

'Stop complaining', George muttered out of the corner of his mouth, 'I've got to look like that ugly git Montague!'

'How did you manage to get something of Pansy's to put in that potion?' Malfoy asked, looked intrigued but disgusted at the same time.

'It's our job to do things like that', Fred hissed back, poking Malfoy in the small of his back with the wand rather harder than was necessary.

The twins had been sent on a series of unimportant, low-level missions to prove that they would be of use to the Order, before their initiation. They had been asked to obtain samples for Polyjuice Potions-they had a list of twenty people to target. Pansy Parkinson's Death Eater father had been one, and George had decided to get some of Pansy's hair, in case it ever came in handy for a good prank on Malfoy. Word had spread that Montague was planning to join Voldemort's ranks, and so Fred had plucked a hair from his head also. The samples had been discarded after the twins presented them to the Order-they weren't especially important and were easy enough to obtain. Fred and George, however, couldn't bear to see the fruits of their labour be discarded, so they had salvaged the samples from the dustbin. Little had they known how useful they would be!'

'Remember', George breathed into Malfoy's ear, 'Pansy's here 'cos she's your girlfriend. I'm here 'cos I want to discuss quidditch tactics with you, since you'll be captain next year.'

Malfoy nodded curtly, as he led them along dark, winding passageways, towards the middle of the house.

'Draco? Is that you?'

The trio froze; somebody in a room to their left had called Malfoy's name. Tentativedly, Malfoy pushed the door open, and poked his head around it. 'Y- yes, Father?'

'Draco, fetch me some tea. Then go and tell my...guests that I'll be with them as soon as I finish here.'

'Certainly, Father', Draco replied in a resentful tone, only too aware of Fred's wand at his back.

'Good lad. Run along now! Wait a moment! Who's that with you? Stand aside from the door, Draco.'

Draco sighed, and sidled out of the way. Fred and George felt like rabbits caught in the headlights of the Knight Bus.

Lucius Malfoy was wearing long, black robes, and standing in front of his fireplace, holding a glass of wine in one hand, his wand in the other. He looked surprised to see Pansy and Montague.

'Miss Parkinson! Mr. Montague! What a pleasure to see you!'

His mouth said the words, but all the time he was glaring at Draco. Clearly, he did not like his son having visitors while Death Eaters were in the house.

'I thought it was all right, Father, since Crabbe and Goyle were here earlier', Draco drawled, 'we'll stay in my chambers, out of the way, don't worry.'

'Very well...Miss Parkinson, Mr. Montague, would you mind awfully if I spoke to Draco alone for a moment?'

Fred shot George a panicked look. What if Draco revealed everything to his father? But something told George that that would not happen. 'Not at all, Mr. Malfoy', he replied gruffly, 'we'll wait outside.'

Draco stepped into the room, and shut the door behind him. Immediately, Fred and George pressed their ears to the door listening with all their might.

'Did you see, George?' Fred breathed into his brother's ear, 'there was someone's head in that fireplace. Lucius was trying to hide them.'

George nodded. He too, had noted the care with which Lucius stood blocking as much of the fireplace as possible. They listened intently to the conversation on the other side of the door.

'How dare you!' Lucius was hissing furiously, 'I told you the Parkinson girl's father might be a traitor, and you bring her here when you know I have visitors?'

'She just turned up, Father', Draco replied in a resentful tone.

'And Montague? I suppose his was a spur-of-the-moment visit as well, was it?'

Draco didn't answer. Lucius muttered something foul under his breath, and they could hear him pacing the room. 'This attitude of yours will not do, Draco', he said severely, 'you are a let-down-an embarrassment! I always thought my son would be a valuable asset, and a wonderful heir. But you are spoilt, selfish, arrogant and thoughtless.'

'Just like you, eh Father?' Draco blurted out suddenly.

There was the sound of someone being slapped across the face, followed by a stunned silence, and Lucius Malfoy breathing heavily. 'Get out of my sight!' He spat, 'forget the tea! Just get out! Go crying to your mother, you useless child. You are no better than a Mudblood.'

Even Fred and George flinched at the disgust in Lucius' voice. Silently, Malfoy stumbled to the door-the twins got out of the way just in time.

Draco closed the door behind him, not allowing Lucius to catch another glimpse of his 'guests'. Without saying a word, he fell into line between Fred and George, and they continued along the long corridor. 'I didn't get to ask him about your friend', Draco said after a while, with effort. Fred, feeling slightly guilty, did not attempt to spear Malfoy with his wand this time. He exchanged a surprised glance with George-neither of them had ever thought that perhaps Draco and his father did not get along well. Lucius was horrible. Draco was horrible. Therefore, they must be the same. But was Draco only the way he was to hide the way things really were?

'Where're we going?' George asked gently.

'I'll find my mother', Draco whispered, 'she might tell me...'

There was another silence, and then suddenly; 'I suppose you heard everything Father said', he continued in a bitter voice.

'Yeah', the twins replied in unison. Draco stopped dead, and looked from one to the other.

'You may as well hear the truth then, I suppose', he said, staring at the them defiantly, 'my father hates me. He doesn't think I'm worthy enough. He laughs at me all the time, because Potter beats me at quidditch, and Granger always does so much better than me at school. He always says that any son of his should be able to beat a half-blood and a mudblood. And then he treats me like a servant, and ridicules me in front of his friend. I've tried to be like him, but...I don't really want to be.'

Fred and George felt extremely uncomfortable. Fred began to pray silently that their prisoner wasn't planning on turning on the waterworks. Draco continued, as though, now that he had started, he couldn't stop;

'My father thinks he's so wonderful, escaping Azkaban by denying that he was a Death Eater. But really, he's just a coward. He likes to play the big man, and do all this illegal stuff right under the Ministry's nose-but he'll never pay the price for it. He's always kissing up to that loser Fudge, and using his contacts to wriggle out of trouble. I'd be so much prouder of him if he just admitted what he was doing and lived with the consequences.'

Draco looked up at the twins, expecting them to say something. When they didn't, he sighed. 'I'm not on your side', he concluded, 'but I'd do anything to spite my father. Come on.'

'Thanks, Malfoy', Fred said gruffly, 'and can you hurry please? I want to get out of this skirt as quickly as possible.'