Disclaimer: I wish I owned Harry Potter.

Disclaim her: Evil plasti glass pirates on their plasti glass island made of cookies.

Note: Obviously you're a little slow on the uptake if you can't know that a lot of out-of- character mayhem is going on.

Out of character with: Lucius, Draco, and Harry.

"speech" 'thoughts' /Draco's thoughts/

I really appreciate the reviews.

But why won't people read 'Losing Touch'? The first two chapters are the only ones like that right now. I won't write anymore like that for a while. You people are mean.

Chapter 5: Affection starved

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When Draco finally woke up some five hours later, his father was nowhere to be seen. At first, he thought he had been hallucinating, but he wasn't in his room. This was someone else's. It was…his father's. Draco didn't know whether to be glad or to start panicking. The thought of sleeping right beside his father gave way to new worries that he didn't like having. What had his father done while he had slept?

As he glanced toward the door, he saw that it had been unlocked and was partially open. Cursing himself for his weaknesses yet again, he got up from the bed and ventured off in the direction of the opposite wing of the manor to where his quarters were located.

On one of the walls that displayed pictures of his ancestors, there was a wizard's clock that never ran out of power, regardless of how many years happened to pass. It was three in the morning.

As he continued to go on, muttering half curses at his inability to walk properly, his mind still spun around what had happened with his father. Lucius should have done something more than whipped him. It wasn't like him to leave punishment at something as trivial as what he had done in his office. There was other…occurrences, which left him unable to function properly for weeks at an end. It wasn't right. Nothing was right anymore.

When he finally did reach his room, the immediate thing he did was turn on the hot water for a shower. He felt filthy from a manner of things that made him want to retch. Again his mind wandered to all the things that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

His father had always frightened him and now that fear had increased even more after Narcissa had passed away. Lucius seemed much more sadistic now than he had ever had before. The really odd lapses in demeanor he had caused even more confusion in the blond. There were some points that made him think that Lucius had cracked under the stress, but the next day, or a few minutes later, he was back to his normal cold self, shutting out Draco and the world.

The water burned his pale skin and made it turn a flushed pink after Draco happened to examine himself about twenty minutes later when he removed himself from the shower. Oddly enough, feeling the burn gave him reason to believe himself to be a little more real and a little less transparent.

He had just finished redressing and was preparing to go back to bed in his own bedroom when he thought he heard a noise outside of the bathroom. Draco walked out into the room, his feet padding softly on the carpet and found there wasn't anything or anyone there. He was just about to leave the room and head to the kitchens to go and get something to eat when he heard that deathly calm voice that always made him feel like he meant absolutely nothing.

"Are you quite finished now, Draco?"

Draco turned around and saw his father looking at him from his bed where only moments before it had been empty. Lucius tilted his head to the side and looked at him unusually as Draco give him the impression of being frightened.

"…Sorry father, I did not know that you were there. I thought you had been asleep."

"Did you now?" Lucius laughed quietly to himself and Draco had a feeling that his father was in another one of the out of the ordinary moods that he had been having lately. "Come here Draco."

"Yes father." Any resistance that Draco might have withheld earlier was quashed as if it had by no means been there to begin with. He was again the meek, obedient child that his father ceaselessly wanted.

He came up to the older blond and the older Malfoy patted the place next to him as an indication that the younger was to sit there. The younger of the two sat down and there were a few moments of silence until Lucius spoke.

"Explain to me what happened earlier, Draco." The older Malfoy didn't even glance in his direction as Draco started in surprise.

"What happened earlier?"

"Yes, and don't you dare lie to me."

Draco trembled as he tried to find the right words that wouldn't get him in trouble and found that there wasn't any explanation towards his behavior.

"I-I…I didn't like the way you treat me like nothing so much and it hurt me. I didn't mean to bother you or anything. I'm sorry. I swear I'm sorry. You always tell me that I don't do as well as I could have and that I'm a disgrace to the family name. I didn't mean to say anything father, I don't know why I said anything in the first place. I know that I disappoint you so much and I try so hard to be the best just for you, only for you I've told you all this before I think and I know you don't care about all these excuses that I'm telling you and that you wish I hadn't been born and-"

"…Stop it." Lucius' face was shadowed over so Draco was unable to see the features but from the tone of voice that his father had, he guessed that he was angry with him again.

"I'm sorry," Draco began hurriedly. "I shouldn't have said those things just now, just how I shouldn't have said the other things that I did before. I swear to you, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Forgive me, father!" Draco slid off the bed and went down onto his knees and looked up at Lucius who had gained what appeared to be a startled expression on his face at how his son incessantly threw his pride out the window for him.

"On your feet Draco." Draco glanced up at his father who didn't make one move towards him. This had better not be another sick game of his father's. It hurt too much now days for him to try these things on him.

Draco rose to his feet and Lucius finally got up from the place he had been sitting on on his son's bed. He took a step forwards and Draco automatically took a step backwards.

"I'm not going to hurt you Draco." Lucius said as he started to make his way to Draco who backed away again. There was no way he was going to trust his father after what he had told him hours earlier. How could he know what Lucius had done while he had been asleep? The only reason he had consented at that time was because there hadn't been any kind of escape from his father. This time there was a door that he could leave through. And once he left, he wouldn't ever be coming back.

"…D-don't…"

"Stop moving away, I said I wasn't going to hurt you."

"B-but-" Draco was shaking all over.

"Just stay here."

"I don't-" He moved backwards up again and this time wall connected with his posterior. Lucius was now directly in front of him, his gray eyes not filled with contempt but with something that seemed like sadness.

"What are you going to do with me?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." Lucius took hold of his arm and pulled him into an embrace that startled him more than anything before. The older Malfoy slid his arms around the younger's waist and rested his chin on top of Draco's head while the younger Malfoy still trembled in fear of what to come.

"I told you that I wasn't going to harm you, why don't you believe me?"

Draco didn't say one word. His mind was still frozen. His father hadn't ever hugged him in his entire life. What kind of new manipulative tactic was this?

"Draco?" Lucius murmured quietly after the boy continued to stand stock-still in his arms.

"…Yes?" It took so much effort to make out the words without bursting into tears.

"Why do you love me?"

"…Because…because you're…my father." Draco said somewhat confusedly at the fact of why his father was asking this now. Was he going to try to use this against him later somehow?

"After all of the things I've done to you over the years you love me?"

"Yes." Draco closed his eyes halfway and inadvertently relaxed as his father carded a hand through his hair. Why was it that now every time that his father stroked his hair it felt so…pleasing?

"And that is because…?"

"I…don't know. Even though you hurt me…I know you did it so you could try to make me the best I could be. But I'm constantly disappointing you time and time again with not being the perfect son you've always wanted."

"You haven't disappointed me, my son."

"What are you-?" Draco had broken off in mid-sentence as Lucius had bent down and pressed their lips together. Draco's eyes widened when his father met his lips. This was wrong…wasn't it?

Even though in a corner of his mind Draco knew that what they were doing was terribly immoral and that father and son should never behave this way, he found himself responding to Lucius when his father's tongue touched his slightly parted lips. Draco moaned against his fathers' mouth as Lucius deepened the kiss. The two broke for air after a few moments.

Draco leaned against his father and wrapped his smaller limbs around the older Malfoy's waist. Lucius enfolded Draco in his arms once again and slit his eyes with a miserable smile on his face.

"I love you father." Draco mumbled, looking down as he was kissed on the forehead gently. His body felt like it was going to burn from the cold fire.

Lucius chuckled placidly and carded his slender fingers through his son's hair once more. "I know you do."

"But why did you…?" He gave a fleeting look up to his father who was staring down at him and hastily looked downward in his embarrassment. "What you did was wrong."

"How is it wrong?"

"We're…family?" Draco had a hard time breaking out any words as his insecurities began to rise up from where they had been submerged.

"That's really not telling me anything Draco."

"It's wrong for us to do these things, illegal even. I know I should have pulled away when you first kissed me but I wanted so much to believe that you loved me and that you actually cared that I didn't stop you. I hate it when you do these things and how you make me feel afterwards!" Draco eyes brimmed with tears that threatened to spill.

Lucius remained silent as his son yanked away from the protection that his arms provided and edged away from him. Draco was shaking for a second time as he tried to compose himself. This was the main reason that his father didn't give a damn about him in the first place! He was always too emotional, not composed like a Malfoy should be.

Draco raised his eyes from the ground that he had been glaring at through his tears, trying to look anywhere but at his father, but was inexplicably drawn to him as moth to flame. Draco met his father's impassive gaze with his own tear filled one.

"What do you want me to do!" Draco screamed.

"I didn't say you had to do anything. You were the one who said all those things, not me. And you still haven't given me an adequate reason of why what we did was wrong."

"This is insane!" Tears spilled from Draco's eyes, dampening his cheeks as they slid down.

"Nothing is wrong until the mind concludes it to be so." There was a moment where something seemed to pass over Lucius' face but then it was gone and he was the same cold individual as before. "You told me that you try your hardest to please me."

"I-I do-"Draco eyes widened as he brought his hands to cover his mouth and sank painfully to his knees. The tears continued to pour down his cheeks as he began to sob, the crying racking an already fragile body. "W-why do you keep doing this to me; twisting my words when you know what I'm trying to tell you?"

"I haven't done one thing. It is you who has caused all this misery to befall on yourself. I have had absolutely no type of role in this."

"…Father…" Draco looked up at Lucius who arched an eyebrow at his son. The next words that Draco spoke wavered. "There isn't any reason why what we did was wrong."

"You realize that now."

"Don't ever leave father." The younger Malfoy eyes pleaded with the older to not reject him.

"I'll always be here Draco." Lucius smirked and opened his arms to his son. Draco rushed into them and the feeling of safety returned. Nothing would ever hurt him again. His father would protect him. His father wouldn't let anyone hurt him.

"Can I go back to sleep?"

"Yes, I was just about to do the same thing as well right now." Draco made to move to his four-poster but Lucius took his arm and led him away from there and in the direction of his own room. "From now on Draco, I want you to sleep in my wing of the Manor."

"How come?" Draco slid his hand into his father's and they continued their way on towards Lucius' quarters. Lucius gave no reaction to what Draco had done.

"I don't like you being all alone in this house without anyone nearby." Lucius opened the door to his rooms and Draco went inside while his father followed him.

"Father," Draco turned slightly so he could see Lucius. "There's…something I need…to tell you. It's important."

"Oh? And what is that?"

"Something…happened at school when I was still attending."

"And what would that be?"

"I think I've been poisoned."

"Honestly Draco, where do you come up with these things?" Lucius smiled darkly but inwardly he was actually somewhat worried. He knew how the Light had been corrupting the Dark in different ways and altering them in this way was the worst because when the person found out, it was usually too late…Just like…what had happened to…Severus…

"I mean it father, I haven't been feeling well."

"And that gives you the idea that you've been poisoned. Don't be ridiculous. You most likely just have a summer cold from staying in those wet clothes that you were wearing yesterday." Lucius gave a strained half smile.

"I'm not joking."

Lucius gave his son the feeling that he appeared uninterested. "Alright, if it makes you feel better, we'll go see that medi-wizard tomorrow or later today, considering it is tomorrow since it's about four thirty right now.

"I'm scared." Draco made eye contact with his father.

"You're worrying about nothing. There isn't anything wrong with you." Lucius said very faintly as he suddenly remembered what had happened to Severus and how the whole scenario had played out in the end. He met his son's eyes and saw that he really was terrified.

"Don't worry, everything will be alright. You'll see." Lucius said as Draco moved to embrace his father and the older Malfoy gripped the boy against him tightly almost as if he feared losing him.

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A.O.T.I.F.: Yeah…To those of you people who wanted him to get…punished, too bad. That isn't what's going on right now. This was very confusing but this chapter actually does connect the last two. Do you really think that Lucius is worried about his son? Yes or no? Oh, and that thing with Snape, (dramatic pause) it will be explained more thoroughly in Losing Touch when I get another couple chapters up.

Reviews are welcome.

I will try to update soon, but they want me to do all these projects so I'm a little preoccupied right now.

Blank: Please review. We don't need another scene from A.O.T.I.F.