Draco paced the floor of his room from one wall to the other and back again. He mumbled and muttered to himself. Finally, he stopped and looked at the door. A moment later he opened it and crossed the hall to knock on Harry's door.

The other man answered a few seconds later, hair messier than usual, still in his sleepwear as he often was for breakfast.

"I'm going to Azkaban."

"Right now?" Harry asked, bleary-eyed.

"You didn't sleep well last night."

"Thanks for stating the obvious."

"Nevermind then, you go back to bed. I'll go take care of breakfast and the gang."

"Nah, I just need a quick shower. I can ask Molly to come over. Unless you want me to come with you."

The blond head shook. "No, but thank you for offering."

"You're not going alone, are you? At least get Theo to go with you."

"I can go by myself."

"Obviously you can, but take Theo anyway," Harry insisted. "You'll feel better if someone is there with you, and you know he's willing to go since you went with him to see his father."

"Fine."

"You know I'll ask him about it next time he's here right."

Draco grimaced. "Since when are you my mother? Fine, I'll go call him now, though I don't know why you think I need someone with me."

"I think it would be good to have emotional support, that's all. Like I said, I can go with you but I think it would be better if it was Theo."

"Oh, but it might be fun to see what Lucius would say if you were with me."

"Do you really want to antagonize him?"

The blond shrugged. "I can do it without trying, always have been able to. It's a gift."

"Draco."

"I know, I know. I know he loves me, he just has an odd way of showing it. I also know he and my mother spoiled me all to hell and back. I was an entitled brat, but I did have a way of annoying him at the slightest thing. He was good about not showing it in public for the most part, and really all he ever did was yell at me. It's not like I was beaten or starved or anything. I really can't complain about anything he did, until he let that madman into our house. Well, that and teaching me that that madman was a hero and we should all worship him. Still, I shouldn't hate him for anything other than that."

"Yeah," Harry said, eyes wide. "I think you need to see him at least one more time, get all that off your chest."

"I'll be back later."

"Take as long as you need. Also, If you need to, you should be able to apparate right into your room, or send a message and I'll make sure the kids are out of the way."

"Thanks, Harry."

Draco and Theo sat across from one another in the boat as it floated across the lake to the prison. Neither said a word. They were being watched rather intently by the guard escorting them. When the boat bumped to shore, they disembarked and then followed the guard inside.

"Wands," said the witch just inside.

Each slid theirs out and handed them over, taking the claims ticket. Theo slid his into his pocket while Draco clenched his in his fist wondering if he'd get the wand back or if he'd even be allowed to leave. Would they find a way to keep him here?

"Relax," Theo said in a low voice when they'd been shown into a visitation room.

"I can't."

"They can't make you stay, and even if they tried Harry knows where you are and he'll get you back," Theo pointed out loud enough to be heard by anyone listening outside the door. "He'll just put in a call to the Minister. Shackelbolt is determined to see that Azkaban and our whole justice system are run fairly. He wouldn't stand for imprisonment without reason."

"Thanks for that, but they'd have to be able to prove it was without reason. And somehow I don't think they'd just take your word for it."

Theo didn't have time to respond as the door scraped open.

Lucius walked in as stately as he could with his bedraggled hair, gray dingy prison robes that had seen better days, and a plain wooden stick as a cane that looked like it would snap if he put any real weight on it. His shoulders were hunched, but he held his head high. He sat at the table across from Draco.

"Draco," he nodded slightly.

"Father," Draco choked out.

"What brings you here?"

"I thought it was time to visit."

"I'd say it was past time. I've been here for over three years now."

Draco gritted his teeth. "And I've been on house arrest until recently, as Mother still is."

"And you couldn't visit when you were released?"

"I had community service hours to complete. I was trying to make sure everything I did was unquestionable, so I didn't end up in here myself."

Lucius frowned and muttered, "A Malfoy having to serve others."

"I assume you don't want to hear what I did then?"

"Why would I?"

"I thought as much."

"Theodore," Lucius acknowledged the other man. "How are you?"

"Well, Father is alive and will soon be here with you," Theo said candidly, "so I'm processing that."

"Thoros is alive?"

"For now."

"Is he ill?"

"He's old."

"So are we all."

Draco clenched his fists in his lap. "Are you even going to ask about Mother?"

"She's at home," Lucius replied with a dismissive hand wave. "I assume she's doing well."

"She's fine in that she's in her own home. Of course, that also means she's stuck living in a house where she and the rest of us were terrorized and tortured for over a year and she's not allowed to change anything. She's also alone except for the house elves."

"You left your Mother alone?"

"You left us both alone when you made the choices that left you here. Am I supposed to take your place keeping her company for the rest of her life? Am I not allowed to have a life of my own, to try and move on beyond all the horrible choices we made? She encouraged me to move out by the way. She supported the choice. I still visit her, but I could no longer live in that house. I don't know how much longer she'll live there if given the chance."

"Someone must keep it up, it is your family home, the seat of our family power."

"What power do you think we still have?"

"We're Malfoys," Lucius said as if the answer was obvious. "We have money. With money and name we have power."

"You threw that power away when you invited Him to live with us," Draco sneered. "Then you flipped on those that were on the same side. Mother and I are not stuck in an unwanted zone, neither good or bad, neither light or dark, somewhere in the middle where everyone hates us."

"I didn't invite the Dark Lord to live with us."

Draco scoffed, "You didn't invite him. That's the part you're stuck on? Fine he invited himself but you allowed it. You chose to follow him in the first place. You taught me to follow him. I believed he was going to save our society from Muggleborns and Blood traitors, except we didn't need saving. Muggleborns aren't bad. They just come to the wizarding world uninformed. They're not the awful blight you and the others made them out to be. They're not bad people at all. In fact we could all learn from them. Did you know, perchance, that your hero, your almighty Dark Lord, wasn't a Pureblood himself?"

"Blasphemy," Lucius spat.

"Truth," put in Theo.

"Do you know his lineage?" Draco asked.

Lucius shook his head. "He was a descendant of Slytherin himself."

"On his mother's side, yes. His mother was a member of the Gaunt family. His father was a Muggle, a rich one, an aristocrat in their society but a Muggle that was given a love potion by Merope Gaunt because she'd fallen in love with him."

"Lies."

"Denial doesn't make it untrue," Draco replied. "The research has been done and his line has been traced. The house he lived in when he first came back was his father's family home. Did he ever tell you he was a Pureblood?"

Lucius thought for several minutes before he said. "No."

"And naturally because of what he said and how he said it, no one questioned him," Theo added. "I'd guarantee my father didn't know either. You all were fooled. You believed what he said. You believed he wanted Purebloods to rule society, what he really wanted was all the power for himself."

"We saw that every time he turned on someone of Pureblood within his own ranks. He led by fear and intimidation. That's not a true leader," Draco commented. "As much as you hated Dumbledore, he was more of a leader. Harry is the true leader though. People followed him because he led. He put himself out there and at risk. He never asked his friends or anyone to do what he wouldn't do. He's still doing that."

"I never thought I'd hear you sing Potter's praises."

"You were happy enough when he killed Voldemort and saved us from death."

"I was never happy that the Dark Lord died. I was simply happy that you were safe."

Draco resisted rolling his eyes, sighing, or even shaking his head, but just barely. Theo didn't; he did all three.

"I don't know why you bother lying," Draco said. "We both know you were ready for him to be dead and gone. You may still believe what he stood for, still want the world to be Purebloods only, or at least Purebloods at the top in control. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. You never learn. If you had you wouldn't even be here. I wouldn't be left unable to even show my face in public."

"Don't blame me if you're too afraid. When did you become such a coward?" Lucius snarled.

"Coward?" Draco yelled, leaning forward in his seat.

"Draco," Thea said quickly. His friend glanced at him and received a knowing look and tilf of the head.

The young Malfoy took a deep breath and settled back again, crossing his arms over his chest. "You know, I can't actually argue that. I was a coward. I have been for years. If I hadn't been, I would have taken Dumbledore up on his offer to help us escape. I would have found my way out and found another way to save Mother, then neither of us would have had to live through everything we did in that last year or the three since then. Perhaps we would still have some power. Of course, if I had done that, I wouldn't be where I am now and honestly I wouldn't trade that for the world."

"You see, Lucius, I'm helping to raise ten children which I'm sure you approve of as nine of them are Purebloods. The other child, well the other child's parentage would I'm quite sure disappoint you. You see he's not quite pure. One of his parents was pure, the other was a halfblood. I'm well aware that to you he isn't good enough. We've only discussed it again and again and again until I could recite the requirements in my sleep, like it even matters."

"That's where the problem comes in. Here's where you won't approve anymore of what I'm doing because I'm teaching the children exactly that. It doesn't matter who the hell they are, who their parents were, or their grandparents. All that matters is their power, their abilities, their behavior, and them finding their own place in society. It doesn't matter how much money they have or don't have or if they descended from people others think are less than favorable. Anyone who thinks or feels that way, well they're the ones who are truly unfavorable. So, I suppose it's a good thing you're in here, and I'm out there. This way I can prevent any of these children from making the same mistakes you and I did. By the way, don't count on ever seeing me again, not unless you can pull your head from your arse, accept that you're wrong, and apologize sincerely.

"Apologize?" Lucius harrumphed.

"You got me into this mess. I could have wound up spending the rest of my life here like you and never having a chance to have my own life. I could have wound up dead because I did what you taught me and you were wrong. You risked all of our lives, mine, Mother's, and yours though I don't care so much about yours right now." The blond stood and turned to his friend. "We should probably go. Harry's probably going quite out of his mind with the kids by now. Molly tends to spoil them more than anything, that grandparent thing."

"Potter?" Lucius spluttered. "You're raising children with Potter?"

"Oh," Draco said, feigning innocence and turning to look over his shoulder at his father. "Did I forget to mention that? Have a good life Lucius."

The young Malfoy knocked on the door signaling that it was time to leave. His father sat muttering behind him, but he ignored him and didn't respond to anything that was said. The door swung open, Draco and Theo stepped into the hallway.

"Well, I suppose you did get it all off your chest," Harry commented from his spot leaning against the wall opposite the room.

"What are you doing here and who's with the children?" Draco asked

"Relax. Molly's there. It turns out Ginny didn't have practice today so she's there too. I wasn't going to come, then I started to worry."

"About what?"

"Number one that you might get frustrated and do something stupid. Number two that you wouldn't actually say everything you needed to say. Finally, I was a bit worried they wouldn't let you out of here."

"Told you so," said Theo.

"Well, I said what I needed to say. I'm leaving, so let's go."

When they reached the front Theo and Draco turned in their tickets and got their wands back under the watchful eye of Harry, who merely raised an eyebrow when the witch at the desk hesitated with Draco's.

"Good to see you again, Maleah," he said as he passed by the witch following the other two out the door.

A guard stood on the dock.

"Marsh," Harry greeted the man. "I can take this across and send it back if you'd rather not make the crossing again."

The other man looked at the two who had already boarded the boat and nodded. "Thanks, Potter."

As they sailed away from the island Draco let out a growl. "This is exactly what I was trying to tell him. Once upon a time I would never have been looked at that way. I know, I know I deserve it after everything but it makes me squirm and wonder if I'll ever truly be free, even though I'm not locked up."

"It will pass in time," Harry assured him.

"It would pass faster if you'd spend more time being seen doing absolutely normal things," Theo observed. "If you're out shopping for clothes or toys for the kids no one can question it. The more you're seen the less they'll pay attention."

"He's right, you know."

Draco groaned again. "I'm beginning to wish I'd never let the two of you spend time together."

"It could be worse," Theo commented.

"How?"

"Blaise."

"Ginny."

The two men grinned at each other while Draoc shook his head. "Ok, fine it could be worse. Let's not and say we didn't."

The boat bumped into the dock at the shore.

"Thank you, both of you," Draco said once they'd disembarked.

"Anytime, you know that," Theo replied.

Harry shrugged. "What he said."

Draco smiled and they all twisted on the spot and disapparated.

A/N this is the last oneshot I have in this story-verse for now. Starting on December 1st I'll be posting an advent story for the 'verse though, it will be Drarry so if you're not interested you know now.