Running Away

Feels like I've been running for days, even if it's only hours since I ran out of Snape's house at Spinner's End. I can't believe how Snape could set us up like that. I trusted him until he so kindly let us hide in his home... I can't put my finger on it but I had a feeling all along, since he opened his door for us that he was up to something… But mum and dad trusted him with their lives, and yet he sold us all to the devil himself.

-----------------

"Severus, I must tell you how much we appreciate that you're doing this for us", Narcissa said.

"Yes, my old friend", Lucius filled in. "We won't be hear for long though, just until we find some other place to hide"

"It's good to be here, especially for Draco, my precious son, he needs to be protected from the dark lord", Narcissa sobbed and buried her pale face in her bony hands.

Lucius glared at his wife, if she could just stop crying, she'd been crying non-stop ever since Snape had to finish what was Draco's mission, to kill Albus Dumbledore. That very night that Dumbledore was murdered Lucius had escaped from Azkaban and come home to a torn apart wife. She'd been sobbing hysterically and rambled on and on about that Snape was hiding Draco from Voldemort. Lucius found out about the mission Voldemort had given his son and he understood immediately that Draco had received that mission only because his mistake at the Ministry a year earlier.

"Lucius, Narcissa, you know I will always stand by you, you're my closest friends", Snape told them as they were sitting in the living room drinking wine. "You can stay here as long as you like"

Narcissa took a big gulp of wine, like it was medication she had to drink to be able to talk again, "My poor little Draco, he blames himself for all of this"

"Narcissa would you please stop talking about Draco as if he were a little baby… he's not your little child anymore. In three days he's turning seventeen and he'll be a grown man", Lucius said calmly.

"He's still our son no matter how old he is and I want him to be safe", Narcissa sobbed and took another great gulp of her wine. As soon as her glass was empty Snape poured up some more for her.

"I hear you're talking about me", Draco snarled from a dark corner of the room.

Narcissa dropped her glass on the floor, "Draco, you scared me", she exclaimed and bent down to pick up the pieces of the broken glass.

"Don't worry Narcissa, I'll fix that", Snape mumbled and drew his wand. "Reparo", he said and all the pieces of the glass seemed levitate in the air for a brief moment before the pieces found their right places and the glass looked like it never had been broken.

"Draco, son, don't just stand there in the shadows, come here, and apologize to your mother for scaring her", Lucius said with a firm voice. Draco stepped out from the dark corner and walked over to where the grown-ups were sitting. "Apologize", Lucius said again.

"What if I'm not sorry?" Draco snapped.

"Don't use that tone when you're talking to me son"

"Lucius", Narcissa pleaded, she did not want them to fight again. Like they'd done so many times lately. She knew that they were both scared of what the future held for them but no one of them wanted to show any sign of weakness to one another.

"Don't interfere 'Cissy, this is between me and Draco"

Draco glared at Snape who watched their little family quarrel, was there a sign of amusement in his stare?

"Look at me Draco", Lucius commanded. "I said LOOK AT ME!"

Draco did not hesitate a second to stare in to his fathers cold, grey eyes. They were much similar to his own eyes, actually he looked a lot like his father with only a few of his mothers features. He didn't only look like his father, sometimes he thought as him as well. One day when this madness would be over he promised himself to show gratitude to his father for raising him to the man he'd become and for always standing by his side.

-----------------

My heart is breaking. My entire body is aching. There's not a sound, everything is so silent.
I reach out for a helping hand, but there's no one there. No one can save me from myself. It's like I'm tearing myself apart. For every day that passes by I feel like I'm losing a piece of my heart, a piece of my life and I keep running. Running away from the painful memories that haunt me.

I'm surrounded by nothing but the hard walls I wasted so much time on building up. They were supposed to keep all the pain and sorrow away from me, but mostly I built them because I didn't want people to look at me and think 'he's weak'…

Oh how I hate that word.

Weak.

I refuse to be weak, I refuse to feel weak or act weak. Weakness doesn't exist in me.

There must be an end to this road soon. I've been running for days now and I don't know how much longer my legs can carry me. Bare branches hit my face making small cuts in my cheeks and I taste the blood that's running down into my mouth, but that won't stop me from running. No. Nothing can stop me from running.

-----------------

Draco barely listened to his father yell at him, he had heard it all so many times before. In the corner of his eye he saw Snape smirk and immediately turned to face him.

"What are you smirking for? Do you think this is funny?" A rush of anger went through his body and the dark mark on his left arm hurt terribly.

Snape's smirk disappeared and he looked almost emotionless as he glared at Draco.

"Don't look at me!" Draco snapped angrily and slammed his fist in the table.

"Draco, stop that immediately", Lucius exclaimed and then turned to look at Snape. "Excuse him Severus, he acts like that when he is afraid!" Then he turned to look at his son again, who was boiling with anger, it looked like he was going to explode any second now. "Don't you dare talk to Severus like that, talking to your father in that way is one thing that I can live with, but don't ever use that tone against Severus again"

"Your father is right Dragon, show Severus some gratitude, he's taking a big risk by letting us stay here a couple of nights!" Narcissa said. She'd stopped crying now, and she put one of her cold, bony hands on Draco's hand that was on his lap.

"Don't call me Dragon", Draco said quietly and removed his hand.

"I'll leave you alone for a while", Snape said and got up from the couch and left the room. The silence wasn't prolonged, just seconds after Snape had left the Malfoy family alone in the living room Lucius exclaimed, "Why Draco? What is your problem?"

"My problem is you, I wouldn't have been here, none of us would, if it wasn't for you big mistake at the Minist-"

"Have you forgotten that we do not speak about that?" Asked Lucius and tried his best to remain calm. "When all this is over I'm going to send you away somewhere where you can work on you attitude! When Severus comes back I want you to apologize to him and tell him how much you appreciate that we can stay here a couple of days", Lucius continued quietly for only Draco and Narcissa to hear.

"That is if he will still be alive when Severus comes back", said a voice from a dark corner.

Tension spread in the room. The Malfoy family knew perfectly well who was talking, it was Lord Voldemort. He stepped out from the dark and both Lucius and Narcissa flew up from their seats and bowed to the Dark Lord. Draco didn't leave his seat.

"Draco, get up here", his father said quietly. No use in struggle against his father right now and in front of Voldemort Draco thought and rose from his seat.

"Aren't you going to bow down for me Draco?" Voldemort said with an evil grin plastered on his lips.

Draco didn't move a muscle.

"You shall bow down to your Lord, I'm not satisfied until I see you on the floor kissing my feet"

"Just bow Dragon, please", his mother pleaded quietly.

Draco still didn't move, even though he saw the wand in the Dark Lords hand.

Voldemort pointed the wand at Draco, "Crucio"

Draco fell to the floor, screaming out of pain. Narcissa started crying and got down to her knees pulling Voldemorts robe, begging him to stop torturing her child and he stopped. Narcissa crawled over to Draco and placed his head in her knee. "My poor Dragon, it's going to be fine everything is going to be fine"

Lucius stepped up to Voldemort, "Don't hurt them, it's me you want"

"That's right Lucius, I trusted you and you let me down, now I want to see you hurt"

"You can hurt me how much you want Tom, but I'm asking you to spare my family"

"To you I am not Tom, I'm Lord Voldemort and you shall not obey any of my orders"

"Yes, my lord, I shall not obey any of your orders"

"Good, I demand you to kill her", Voldemort said and looked at Narcissa. For a brief moment it looked like Lucius was going to refuse that order, but then he pulled out his wand from his long black robe and pointed it at Narcissa.

"Lucius, no, please…" Narcissa sobbed and grabbed one of Draco's hands.

"Do it and she'll die immediately, or else I just have to torture her to death"

"Daddy, don't do it", Draco whispered and for the first time in his life he noticed a tear running down his fathers cheek.

"Avada Kedavra!" Lucius exclaimed. Green flashes came out from the top of his wand and hit his wife in the chest. She shrieked in pain before she fell backwards to the cold floor. Dead. Lucius closed his eyes slowly, realising what he'd just done. He opened his eyes again and glanced at Draco who now was sitting on his knees beside his dead mother.

"Save yourself Dragon", said Lucius and met his son's blank eyes. "I'm sorry it had to end this way, but I want you to know that I'm proud of who you've become"

"Awe, how touching, to bad it is little Dragons turn to die now", Voldemort said and pointed his wand at Draco. "I'd like to finish you myself Draco because you weren't brave enough to complete the mission I gave you, say good bye to your son Lucius"

"Good bye", Lucius said and pointed his wand and Voldemort, "Expelliarmus!" He yelled and Voldemorts lost his grip of the wand and it fell to the floor. "Run Draco", Lucius said.

Draco got up to his feet, he wanted to help his father, but Lucius shouted, "Run for your life! Don't disappoint me Dragon!"

So Draco ran, he left the living room and ran out in the hallway. Behind him he heard Snape say; "He's running my lord, do you want me to stop him?"

"No, I want to kill him myself Severus, but thanks for keeping the Malfoys here for me, I've been looking for them"

"Y-y-you told him that we were here?" Lucius asked with a shaky voice. He shocked by the fact that one of his all time best friends had betrayed him like this. "Answer me Severus!"

Draco who'd reached the front door stopped, he wanted to hear Snape's answer.

"No, I didn't", Severus replied with a calm voice. "My lord knew that you'd try to hide from him and he told me to offer you a place to stay…"

"Unlike others Severus is trustworthy and doesn't disappoint his lord", Voldemort said. Draco clenched his fists, he wanted to go back into the living room and punch Snape right in the face, but when he heard Voldemort shout; "Crucio!" and his fathers' painful screams, he knew it was time to start running again.

His fathers' voice echoed in his mind as he left Spinner's End, "Run for your life! Don't disappoint me Dragon!"

-----------------

I have no strength left in my legs; they don't want to keep on running anymore. It's getting colder and my hands are numb. Darkness falls and I can't see any lights. I have no idea where I am. I don't think I want to know. All I want is to scream, and I do. I scream out in the dark, causing some black beautiful birds to leave their nests among the trees. I scream again, higher, and tears are starting to fall from my eyes. I want to get rid of the heartache. By screaming once more I unleash some of the anger and frustration I have inside. I scream until I can't breathe, until I start coughing up blood.

"Why?" I whispered.

I collapse on the ground, pretending that my head is in my mothers lap again, that she's stroking her hands over my hair. That she's hugging me and she's telling me that she loves me. She tells me that my favourite cookies are in the oven, but I can't smell them. I can't feel my mother's touch. I can't feel her love. I cry until I fall asleep. Hopefully I'll never wake up again.