Draco grew faster then any baby Bellatrix had ever seen! It seemed like no time at all before he made sweet little noises in an attempt to talk. Then he began to say actual words such as mama and dada, and his vocabulary kept improving from there. He began to crawl, then pull himself up and stand for a few seconds and he was soon walking after that. Narcissa began to ween him -which he didn't take kindly to- and he began eating solid foods.

When he was two years old, he started staying at Bella's house more often. He seemed to admire Bella and he loved her very much, but this was not the reason he stayed with her so often. It was because Lucius and Narcissa had become some of the Dark Lord's most trusted. He (Voldemort) relied heavily on their support and willingness to do his biddings. True, Bella and Rodolphus were too, but they had already proved themselves to be worthy and Voldemort was now testing the Malfoys.

Voldemort was incredibly pleased with their work and was frequently asking them to do greater things that required more time. The Malfoys could be gone from two days up to two weeks! So Narcissa was terribly dependent on Bella. Bella was the only one that Cissy completely trusted with her son.

On this evening, Cissy had shown up at the Lestrange's manor –completely spur of the moment – begging Bella to take Draco. Bella, of course, did not need much convincing. Cissy put little Draco in Bella's arms and gave him a huge kiss, promising she wouldn't be gone long. She had then disapparated.

Poor little Draco looked very bewildered. He was used to the sudden appearance and disappearance of people, but everything with his mum had happened so quickly that he didn't quite know what to make of it.

"Mama…?" he said, staring blankly at the spot where his mother had just been. He began to cry.

"Hey big guy, you're alright! Shhh, it's ok, mummy's going to be back, don't worry," Bella crooned. She ran her fingers through his thin blonde hair and gently wiped his eyes. "Please don't cry sweet pea. You're fine. You get to stay with Auntie Bella now, and we're going to have lots of fun, I promise! Don't worry about mummy, she'll be just fine. Yeah, 'course she will. Alright now, no tears. No tears, come on, all smiles!"

Draco whimpered a little.

"Oh Draco, you're going to make me cry!" Bella laughed. Then in a more excited voice (so as to get Draco away from his troubles) she said, "Do you want a cookie? Huh? Does my big boy want a cookie?"

" 'Es," Draco sniffed.

"Ok, come on, let's go get a cookie," Bella smiled. She took his diaper bag that Cissy had left and went into the manor – specifically the kitchen.

"Can you find your cookies Draco? Where are they?" Bella asked.

They always kept his cookies in a big red jar on the left hand corner of their counter. He always liked to show Bella where they were. He pointed to them.

"Yeah, there they are! What a smart boy you are!" Bella gushed as she took the jar of Draco's magical creature cookies.

She took two out and put them in his little hands.

"Can you get one for Auntie Bella?" she asked him.

Draco gave her a half smile, got a cookie out of the jar and held it out to her.

"You're not going to feed me, eh?" She beamed.

So Draco put it in her mouth, but before he could take his hand away, Bella gently nibbled his tiny fingers. He giggled.

"Mmmm, you're tasty!" She said, tickling his tummy.

Draco squealed and laughed harder. Bella took two more cookies out of the jar and put them in her mouth after she'd finished the first one. While Draco was finishing his second cookie, Rodolphus came into the room.

"Hey, what's going on in here? I heard some apparate like 10 minutes ago," he said.

"Hey Dol," Bella said, her mouth full of the cookies. She swallowed them and continued. "That was Cissy. Look, we got our baby back!"

She turned so Dol could see Draco better.

"Hi mate!" Dol said enthusiastically. "Hey, what's up? Come here."

He took Draco out of Bella's arms. He cuddled Draco and talked to him, then after about 15 minutes he gave Draco back to Bella.

"Ok, well I just came out to see what all the commotion was. I better get back to my work now."

"What are you doing?" Bella asked.

"The Dark Lord asked me to try and sort out the new death eaters. It's getting increasingly confusing," he explained.

"Auntie Bewa," Draco whispered. He had not quite gotten down his pronunciation yet. "I gotta potty."

"Looks like I've got a job to do too," Bella laughed "I guess we'll see you later Uncle Dol." She waved Draco's little hand.

"I'll be in my office if you need me," he informed, and he to another room in the house,

"Alright Drakie, let's go potty," she said, and they headed off for the bathroom.

When they made it, Draco looked as if he were about to burst. There was a "big boy potty" set up for him. Bella put him down in front of it.

"Do you remember what to do?" she asked.

Draco nodded, pulling his pants off. Everything ran smoothly until they were done. Draco was washing his hands, and Bella was taking care of the potty. As she finished, and got ready to put Draco's pants back on him, she heard him say 'uh-oh'. She turned to see a little puddle in front of Draco. Draco looked at it, then at her, and then burst into tears.

"Oh sweetie, don't cry," Bella said, scooping him up in her arms. "It's ok, really Draco. This is all Auntie Bella's fault, don't you worry about it." She cast a non verbal spell, and the puddle disappeared. "See? It's gone! Everything's ok honey. Shh, it's alright."

Draco drew in several long shaky breaths.

"Yeah, that's it," Bella coaxed, stroking the side of his face. "How about we get some pants on now, so that doesn't happen again?"

She was just about to put them on him, when she realized that they were a tad bit wet. She accio'd his diaper bag into the room and got out some fresh potty training pants. Holding onto Bella's forearm, Draco stepped into them. Draco was now calm again.

"Ok, now that we've gotten that taken care of, do you want to play a game?"

" 'Es!" Draco beamed. "Auntie Bewa? Hold me, pwease?"

"Sure," she replied, picking him up.

She rubbed his back, but as she did, her sleeve fell down and her forearm was exposed.

"Dark mark," Draco said, pointing at her arm.

"Yes it is!" Bella said, shocked. He didn't know he knew about such things! You're so smart!" She cuddled him.

They spent the rest of the day playing games and talking about what little Draco knew of the Voldemort. Bella knew it was best not to portray him as someone to fear yet. As far as Draco was concerned, Voldemort was just a man whom his parents worked for and who obviously thought very highly of them. While most young wizards were being eased into the horror Voldemort inflicted in their world, the death eaters were responsible for bringing up young supporters of the Dark Lord.

Dol finally finished his work and was able to eat dinner with Bella and Draco. The Lestranges played with Draco until he as entirely tuckered out… which didn't take terribly long.

Bella went potty with him, bathed him and put him in his tiny pajamas. Draco kept yawing and rubbing his sleepy blue eyes. He normally slept in a little bed that was one door down form Bella and Dol's room. Bella put him in the bed and read to him. She rubbed his back until his eyes shut and his breathing slowed. She got up quietly to leave and was just at the door when Draco said, "Auntie Bewa…where mama?"

"She busy pumpkin juice," Bella replied. You have to stay with Uncle Dol and I for a night or two."

Draco sat up. "But… but.." Bella could see his eyes welling up with tears. "I hafta say nite-nite. And I want a kissie. And she hasta sing…" with that, he started to cry.

"Oh Draco, it's ok," Bella cooed, going back to his bedside. "I promise mama's going t be back really soon. We're going to have so much fun, it'll go by really fast! It'll be alright Draco."

"Good night everybody," Dol said, coming into the room. "Oh…what's this? Do I see tears? What's wrong Draco?"

"I want my mama," Draco sobbed.

"Aw, hey buddy, it's ok," Dol said, he too going to Draco's bedside. "We'll take good care of you until she gets back. And you know what? I bet your mummy misses you just as much as you miss her. She's probably really sad that she had to go bye-bye. And that's going to make her come back really fast.

"Really?" Draco sniffed.

"Really," Dol said.

"Otay," Draco said, unsure.

"Hey I know what we can do!" Bella exclaimed. "How about we send mummy an owl postie? Then you can tell her how much you miss her!"

Draco nodded, and Bella wiped his eyes. She gave him a big hug. "Alright. Do you want to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow?"

Again Draco nodded, smiling.

"There, see? We're going to have lots of fun!"

Then Draco asked, "Can I sleep wif you?"

"Er…yeah sure," Bella answered, looking at Dol.

Dol nodded. Draco put his arms around Bella's neck. "I wuv auntie."

"Well I love you too Draco," she said, kissing the top of his head. "But we've gotta go beddy-by now. Auntie Bella's sleepy, and I know you re too."

She took Draco's pillow so she could put it between her and Dol's. As she laid it down on their bed, and Draco too, she thought of how lucky she was to have such a sweet nephew. He was so young and innocent, so full of life. How soon the Dark Lord would rob him of that, only time would tell. But Bella knew she had to make every second of is young life count…even after he was sent to Hogwarts. And that she did.

THE END