Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. All credit must be given to J.K.

The Cradle Will Fall

Chapter 15

October 6th, 1997

I was at the hotel for a month before my mother owled me to come home. Every single morning I would go down to the dining hall to eat breakfast, and every single time Martin sat opposite to me and preached about freedom. Every day I was able to listen to him longer before leaving. It was a very confusing time. I'd sit in my suite watching the water, contemplating what had been said that day. 'My father ha expected too much of me. He's the reason everyone thinks I'm a pain in the ass.'

Then my mind set would shift and what Martin had said to me sounded completely ludicrous. 'Father has only been good to me. He only wants the best for me.' This thinking appeared less, though, as the weeks grew on. Sometimes I couldn't sleep—I wasn't able to stop thinking.

Was there freedom to even obtain? I was always free to do what I felt. What did Martin mean by fly away? He said I was trapped. But by whom? And for what reason?

After many talks with Martin I was able to figure out all the answers to my questions on my own. I hoped they were correct...

My father controlled me, controlled who I was as a person. He wanted me to behave like him: proud, above commoners, a pureblood. I was trapped by me; I had trapped myself. By obeying my father so unquestioningly I had prevented myself from having a mind of my own. I had prevented the growth of me as a person. With my father's watchful eye now gone I wouldn't feel obliged to behave like him. My life might be better.

My last day at the hotel I went down to the dining hall, anticipating on telling Martin of my decision to wash my hands clean of my old life. I wanted to thank Martin for convincing me to stop behaving like my father. Later on in the year I found that I would still have instances where I would be very narrow minded. I couldn't control those times, though. It was as if my father was holding on tight to the Lucius in me. He wouldn't allow me to let it slip away so easily.

Martin wasn't there. I waited half an hour for him but he never showed up. I never became upset with him, though. Somehow I understood that he couldn't come. And so I left. I left the hotel a newer person. I was still the same Malfoy. I was less judgmental, though. I was less Lucius Malfoy. I understood things, people, everything more. I was an adult.

"Draco." Draco dropped his quill and hurriedly shoved the letter into one of his many desk drawers.

"Yes father?" He looked up at his father who was standing in his doorway.

"Let's fence." He said this in a detached voice before quickly turning to leave. Draco nodded silently, though he knew his father could not see him.

Draco panted as he set his hands on his knees. There had been a firm knock on the heavy wooden door and his father was now carefully answering it. This gave Draco a second to rest.

The Malfoy's fencing room was very large and held very little light, not ideal for fencing at all. But Draco was used to it, having spent much time in the room, and was able to see Nott, his father's friend, enter the room. Lucius turned and looked at Draco hesitantly before speaking.

"Draco, help your mother pack everything." Draco blinked, nodded, and then left the room. Once Draco had completely shut the wooden door, Lucius' attention was turned to his friend, who was smirking at the moment.

"Lucius, you crafty devil. Narcissa said I'd find a surprise in the fencing room. And she was right. How'd you do it?" Lucius lifted an eyebrow.

"It's a long story." He said this as he set his fencing equipment on a nearby table. Nott was one of his oldest and closest friends. They had done everything together. They had taken trips to foreign countries, studied for their N.E.W.T.S., and even joined the Death Eaters. Lucius knew Nott wouldn't allow him to brush off the question.

"Oh, come on Lucius. I'm really interested. I thought you were a dead man."

"I should have been. But," Nott leaned in so as to not miss a word, "Narcissa loves me too much." Lucius watched as his friend slowly lifted his brows in interest.

Draco bit on his lower lip as he made his way to his mother's chamber. His mother. She was the cause of all this. The reason his father was home. The reason he had betrayed Hermione. The reason Potter had called him a traitor. Draco thought back to the day before, when he had awoken to find himself at home, in his own bed.

October 5th, 1997

"What the hell? Where—why am I here?" Draco rubbed his eyes after taking in the scene. No. He wasn't imagining it. He was really home. A movement in the corner of his eye startled Draco into reaching for his wand.

"Wha—Where's my wand." Draco's eyes widened.

"Here." He looked over at who had spoken.

"Mother?" There she was, sitting in a chair by his bedside, his wand twirling around in her hand. A thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Wait. You're okay?" His mother was talking. She was not in the state she had been when he had visited her last. She nodded and grinned.

"I've always been okay, Draco." He shook his head slowly in confusion. More thoughts began to arise.

"Where's Daniel? How did I get here?"

"Don't worry, Draco. The child is safe in another room." Narcissa licked her lips before continuing. "Macnair brought you home." Draco rubbed his temples as he recalled what had happened. After leaving Hermione in the Great Hall, he had run to his common room for floo powder. As the wall to his common room slid shut, he was shocked to see someone standing in the middle of his common room. Before he could sputter 'Macnair?' the man had pulled out his wand and shot a nonverbal spell at him. The next thing he knew, he was in his large, oversized bed at home.

"Why—" His mother gave him a stern but concerned look and held up her hand, suggesting he stop talking. Handing him his wand, she made her way over and onto her son's bed and enveloped him in a hug. She didn't let go.

"Draco, love, you're in a great deal of trouble." Draco frowned in bewilderment as his mother began to stroke his hair.

"You're father is very angry with you." Draco pulled away at this. He tried responding to what she had said, but Narcissa prevented this when she placed a finger on his mouth. 'Father's out?' Draco's heart began to pump. 'He should be dead.'

"No matter. He's fixing everything, like he usually does. The two Gryffindors are in the dungeon." She appeared to smile at this, if only slightly.

"What? What two Gryffindors?" He couldn't keep silent any longer.

"Don't you know? You're father brought a mudblood and Potter to our manor." Draco choked and began to pale. "Potter was an accident, but I suppose everything will turn out fine. They'll both be killed at midnight." Draco squeezed his hand around his wand as he checked his wrist watch. Three hours.

"Killed? How's that fine! You can't just kill them, people will find out." Draco could feel himself losing his composure, but he was sure his mother didn't noticed. She twirled a lock of her long hair around her finger complacently.

"Of course he can kill them. He has his reasons and that's enough for me. I trust him, Draco, and you should too." He wanted so hard to shake her, but he was afraid—afraid of his father and what he was going to do to him. He could feel the tips of his finger begin to numb. "As for him escaping, it's a long story." Narcissa leaned into Draco and kissed his forehead affectionately.

"Draco, you will definitely be punished for what you did last December. But your father loves you. Obey his wishes and I'm sure he'll minimize the punishment. It'll be best for everyone." Draco's hands were shaking and his teeth were chattering as she finished speaking. 'Father's back. I'm dead for sure.' Draco nodded.

October 6th

"Mother? You need my help?" Draco walked into his mother's chamber and spotted her struggling with a boggart in one of her traveling bags.

"Well? Come on. I'm interested." Nott waited expectantly as Lucius glared coldly at him.

"Oh, yes. And satisfying your curiosity is what I strive for, you know." The sarcasm seeped from his voice, but Nott appeared unaffected by it.

"Alright then. It's a little hard to understand. I'll have to go back a year or so." Lucius sighed and pulled a lock of hair from his face.

December 27th, 1996

Lucius was shoved into the large hall and fell to the ground, his hands bound tightly behind his back. There were dozens of Aurors running around everywhere, a few scribbling frantically on rolls of parchment, a few gripping Lucius' arms tightly so no escape could transpire, and the rest were loudly celebrating the capture with rude remarks and heckling. The noise level was so intense the shriek from further down the hall was barely audible. Lucius heard it though, and looking up, spotted Narcissa quickly sprinting towards him.

As she neared him, two Aurors took hold of her arms to prevent her from advancing any further.

"I don't think so, madam." An older looking Auror glared at Narcissa, suspicious of her involvement with Lucius' escape from Azkaban.

"Wait." Everyone in the room was silenced by Draco's voice, who was exiting the room where Lucius had arrived. "She has no involvement in this." Though he was the youngest person in the room, his firmness was convincing.

"I don't trust you. Don't think you're off the hook quite yet." The Auror narrowed his eyes further and reluctantly released Narcissa's arm. He made sure to strip her of her wand, first, though.

Draco squeezed his fists as he watched his mother fall to the ground. The Auror had given her a little shove, but the crowd had thinned, so there weren't many people left to notice.

Draco stepped back and returned to his spot on the cold stone wall. Narcissa, however, was quick to run and kneel in front of Lucius, grabbing hold of his dark robes and twisting it around her pale hands. The two Aurors guarding Lucius appeared uncomfortable and tried to pull Lucius back, but the sobbing woman refused to let him go.

Lucius' stone face appeared to soften as Narcissa released her hands from his robes and threw her arms around him. "I missed you. They never let anyone see you in there." Her arms tightened around him as she set her head on his shoulder. Lucius wanted so badly to hug her back and tell her he would fix everything that had happened, but alas, his hands were bound and there were too many lingering Aurors for him to talk. My son—my only son did this. He shook the thought from his mind. It was a good thing Draco was standing somewhere behind Lucius, for if he had been in view, Lucius would surely be in a fit of rage once more.

"What will happen to you?" Narcissa whispered into his ear. He didn't know.

"I guess it depends on how many are testifying." He had lost much popularity when he was arrested last summer.

"But it doesn't matter," Lucius leaned in to Narcissa's ear and whispered so silently, she almost didn't hear it, "because you'll find a way." She pulled away quickly and looked at her husband, spotting a trace of a smile. But it was gone quickly; he appeared stone faced once again.

"I love you." She set her hand on his shoulder before leaning in and pressing her lips against his.

"Oi!" The Aurors guarding Lucius were slow to react, unsure of what to do. Finally, one of the Aurors pulled out his wand and pointed at Narcissa, who was quickly thrown from Lucius and came to a stop a great distance away.

"Let's get out of here, boys." After a few outraged cries from women, the remaining Aurors dispersed, all of their eyes trained on Lucius as they led him out. You could not apparate in or out of Malfoy Manor.

"Good riddance." Draco muttered to himself as the hall door slammed shut. He pushed himself off the wall once more and walked slowly over to his mother, who was staring out the window at the falling snow. She remained sitting on the cold stone floor.

"Mother?" His tone softened. She looked up at him without speaking. She could see the fear in his eyes. She could see that he was guilty.

"Why Draco? Haven't we always been a good family? Didn't you enjoy your life?" Her eyes narrowed when Draco rolled his.

"Good family? You call Death Eater activity good? You're insane." He grabbed his mother's wrist and tried pulling her off the floor. But she resisted.

"Maybe I am! But blood's thicker than water. This is your family Draco. Families should stick together through thick and thin." She slumped further into the ground. "You've always known that. What's changed, son?" She looked into her son's eyes sincerely. Draco opened his mouth, but no sound was emitted. She frowned and her eyes slowly unfocused.

It was said that Narcissa went insane that day—the day Lucius Malfoy was arrested. If she hadn't gone insane then, people were convinced that she had become insane on September 3rd, 1997. That day Lucius went before the Wizengamot and Chief Warlock, Albus Dumbledore. But his testimony was not good enough, and there were more witnesses who testified against him than for him. So, after being in Azkaban since December, Lucius was sentenced to be executed on September 26th for dark arts affiliation, association with the Dark Lord, and escaping Azkaban. If the dementor's were still under the ministries control, he would have definitely received the kiss. But they weren't. Some were unsure as to which was worse: having an end put to your life or soul.

Either would have driven Narcissa insane. And insane she became. Or so it was believed.

After Lucius' arrest, Narcissa had been taken to the ministry to be interrogated thoroughly, against Draco's request. He, however, was still an underage wizard, and his word held no authority with the ministry.

The ministry found it difficult to interrogate Narcissa, though. She never opened her mouth to speak, never nodded or shook her head, never even acknowledged anyone was in the room other than herself. She stared ahead blankly, about as responsive as a vegetable. Eventually, after many days, the ministry was forced to release her, seeing as how they could not get any information out of her.

Draco was relieved when they had allowed her to return home, but the fact that she appeared to have receded into the depths of her mind worried him. She was as unresponsive to him as she was to the ministry. She ate, slept, and performed other normal activities, but she did not speak, acknowledge, or focus her eyes on anything.

Aurors came to the manor, to the displeasure of Draco, every day after she had arrived home to see if she had emerged from her state, and every day they came, they left disappointed. After a few weeks, they stopped coming all together. It was hopeless.

A few healers from St. Mungo's had stopped in to see Narcissa. Draco had thought they could tell him what was wrong with her, even cure her. But Draco was disappointed when they told him she appeared to be perfectly healthy, and could not explain her state.

Reluctantly, Draco was forced to leave his mother at the Parkinson's home. He had missed so much school tending to his mother. He felt that if she was unresponsive now, she'd be unresponsive later. And so, Draco left his mother and returned to school.

What Draco didn't know was that Narcissa's mind had been working vigorously to produce a plan. The perfect plan.

Draco returned from school in mid-June and retrieved his mother from the Parkinson's. He knew from weekly owls that she was still the same. He was frustrated, but did not stop caring for his mother all summer long. Alas, he was forced to deposit her at the Parkinson's once more when September 1st came rolling around.

But a few days after he had arrived at Hogwarts, he was sent an owl that informed him of his father's sentencing. He was quick to make a visit to the Parkinson's. He wanted to be with his mother.

Draco didn't believe that his mother could have known of his father's sentencing, so he was shocked to find her still in her blank state, but now in bed and not eating. Draco frowned suspiciously at the sight, but nonetheless tried to help her.

"I'll make a request to the ministry, for you, mother. See if you can visit father before—" He stopped and sighed. Looking over to his mother in her bed, he thought he saw her blink, perhaps in response to him. But then he shook it off as his imagination. Draco was back to school soon after his visit.

Though his request took what seemed like forever to be responded to, it did finally arrive. His mother would be allowed a visit on the 25th of September, the day before Lucius' execution, with an Auror escort. He owled the papers to the Parkinson's and hoped his mother didn't become too distraught when she made her visit. Of course she wouldn't, though. She would hardly react, like always.

September 25th

The windows at the ministry showed that it was dark outside, darker than it normally was. Lucius was to be executed the next day. There was his wife, Narcissa, one arm being held by an Auror as she was led to the security room Lucius was being held in. Whispers engulfed them as the ministry workers spoke of how Narcissa had not taken well of her husband being arrested.

The Auror guided Narcissa left and soon the whispers faded as they neared a large steel door. The Auror took out his wand and said a nonverbal incantation. Then he pressed his hand against the door and it soon swung open.

He led Narcissa into a very large room as the steel door slammed shut. This room, though, appeared to be a waiting room. Ahead, there were two large Aurors standing in front of a much simpler looking door.

At the sight of them, the two Aurors turned to the door and made many taps on it in what appeared to be a random order. Then, together they counted, and on three they both placed their hands on the door and waited. Finally, there was a click and the white door swung open. The two Aurors pointed their wands at the door as a safety precaution before allowing Narcissa and the Auror to go through.

Narcissa and the Auror walked into a large, white, dome-shaped room. Everything in the room was white. Across the room was a small, white bed, and on it sat Lucius, a small smile on his lips. The door to the room slowly closed, and as soon as the door 'clicked,' Narcissa dropped the Aurors arm and ran across the room. Lucius stood as she threw her arms around him, tears rolling slowly down her face.

"Lucius." She said it softly. He could sense her pain and was sorry. Sorry he had gotten caught and put her through such a mess. As he hugged his wife, he spotted the Auror approaching. Narcissa must have heard him too, for she had released him and turned. And then she spoke.

"Do you have it?" Lucius frowned. What are they…?

"Of course." The young Auror glanced behind him nervously. He pulled out six vials of a dark goopy substance. Narcissa turned to Lucius once more and yanked a hair from his head. Lucius' eyes narrowed.

Narcissa dropped the hair into one of the vials, then grabbed another one.

"Here." She handed him the vial she had just grabbed. "Drink it." Without hesitating, Lucius uncorked the vial and downed it quickly, cringing as the familiar taste of muck went down his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt his skin crawl with ice. And then the sensation stopped. He opened his eyes and spotted Narcissa with a mirror, which she produced seemingly out of nowhere. She handed it to him.

Looking into it, he reached up and touched his young, boyish face, short brown hair, and soft brown eyes. He was the young Auror. Looking up, he was surprised to find the Auror's face too was changing. A second later, Lucius was staring into the face of his sister-in-law.

"Bella." Lucius said it mostly to himself, but Bellatrix nodded anyway. She took the vial with Lucius' hair, uncorked it and drank. Now he was staring at himself.

"Quick, now." Narcissa said in a hushed voice. "Trade clothes." Lucius suppressed the red tinge that was beginning to form on his face.

"Hurry." They both turned around and stripped off their clothes facing the walls. Narcissa grabbed Lucius' white prison clothes and passed them to Bellatrix and grabbed her black robes and handed them to Lucius. Now Bellatrix looked exactly like the imprisoned Lucius.

"The young Auror is actually a muggle man we kidnapped a while ago. He's in a basement. Bella has been drinking polyjuice potion for months now, training as an Auror. All to save you."

Bellatrix grinned. "My work won't come without payment."

"Well," Narcissa continued, "we're going to leave and Bella is going to pretend she's you. They'll only check her once more tonight, and that will be after we leave." Narcissa stopped and Bellatrix continued.

"I have four more vials of the young Auror. Before the ministry opens the door to check on me in the morning, I'll down one of the vials. They'll see the young Auror and no Lucius. I'm sure you can imagine the ministry's reaction." She let out an icy laugh that bounced off the dome ceiling.

"We'll have half a day's head start to retreat to our home in the south. There'll be such chaos; they won't ever think to interrogate the young Auror until it's too late. Bella will be long gone and they'll never find the young Auror. Ever." Bellatrix nodded in agreement.

"Now let's go."

Narcissa's plan worked out exactly like she said it would. They escaped without trouble. And the second they had left the confines of the ministry, they had fled to their secret home. There, the ministry would never find them. They didn't even know the home existed.

"Wow." Nott rubbed the back of his head as Lucius explained their escape.

"Wow, indeed. If Draco hadn't betrayed me, I would have been back at our home in the first place." Lucius' face soured at the memory. Nott's expression softened, though.

"Ah, Lucius. Don't punish the kid too much." Lucius' looked at him incredulously.

"Wait. Just listen." Nott could see the impatience building in Lucius even in the dimness of the fencing room.

"After Theodore finished his fifth year, I allowed him to go with his mother to the English Channel. She was visiting an old friend, and he tagged along. Well, when they came home, you'll never believe the story Theodore told me." Nott took a breath before continuing. "Apparently, every morning, when Theodore went down to breakfast, he spotted Draco." At this Lucius' eyes narrowed a fraction.

"And do you know what Draco was doing?" The question was rhetorical. "He was talking to himself!" Nott nearly laughed at Lucius' humiliated face, but felt it best to restrain himself.

"Obviously, Draco's been under a lot of stress. And stress makes a person behave in unusual ways." Nott shrugged. Malfoy appeared a little pink in the cheeks as he wondered how many more people had seen his son talking to himself. Disgraceful.

"I find it hard to believe that stress was what caused him to betray me. But it's not my biggest priority right now. Once Narcissa has finished retrieving her things, we're leaving the manor at once." Nott tilted his head slightly at this.

"Narcissa and I had been at our home in France. We stayed there until our house elves informed us our manor was clear. They're keeping lookout right now, incase Aurors decide they want to double check the manor. We came back just long enough to—" Nott leaned in again but Lucius shut his mouth and grimaced.

"Maybe another time." Lucius walked briskly from the dim room.

A/N: Wow. There it is. I can't tell you enough how much it pained me to right this chapter. It was definitely a breath of fresh air when I was able to move on to the next chapter. I knew the information above needed to be mentioned somewhere and unfortunately I really couldn't move on without it. It needed to be done! It just took me fifty years to figure out how. Geeze…I had to give the date in many places because I knew it would get even more confusing otherwise. Actually, I had to create a time line just to finish this chapter because I kept confusing myself. It seems to have helped a lot. So there's something to make fic writing easier. A time line. Okay. Next chapter: We get to see Harry and Hermione again.

Still have questions about this chapter or previous ones? Just ask and I'll answer in my profile thingy.

Lana