At the Malfoy manor-

Draco POV

We arrived at the manor in a usual eruption of emerald flames, walking out of the fireplace like we had done a thousand times before. Except this time was very different. Immediately I rounded on my son, furious at what could have possibly overcome him.

"You snapped your wand? Are you insane? The order said you were forbbiden from using a wand, not that you should destroy it!"

"I did what I knew I had to do." His surety was too overpowering to be healthy. He knew not half of what he thought he did. There was a sadness and resignation to his features that made me doubt whether it was healthy to have this discussion at all.

"Why on earth is Albus so upset with you in the first place? He is your best friend and an ally who has gone to unparalleled extremes to prove his loyalty to our family. Harry Potter's son! His heir! Had shown us favor! Have you any idea what you may have cost us? And barring his political usefulness he is the only thing on the planet I've found to make you smile since your sister died."

"I'm tired father. I don't want to discuss it." He turned, attempting to leave. I hated having to push him given how anguished he appeared but he needed to understand what was at stake. I grabbed his shoulder, forcing him back towards me.

"We will discuss it now and for as long as is necessary. That boy is the healthiest thing on the planet for you and you honestly don't appreciate the lengths that his father and I have gone to to allow you to remain friends."

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me. He had gone from sad to incensed.

SPOV

"What are you talking about? I'm not entirely sure who you think you are. The all powerful Supreme Founder Malfoy? You think you control everything." At that he slapped me, hard across the face. It was more shocking than sobering, which I doubt had been his intent.

"Think you've done a good job of hiding it? Do you think Harry Potters supporters were pleased when they found out about you? Do you think the Purebloods were happy with me when they found out about Albus? Do you even know how many allies we've alienated to keep you together? We thought the sacrifice was worth it to forge a lasting friendship between you and Albus. He will no doubt inherit control over the ministry and you will assume my place on the council. The two of you are our society's very future. A friendship between you could change or ruin everything."

"I didn't ask for you to sacrifice anything for me, and as far as I can tell you didn't give up anything important, so why won't you drop it?" He slapped me again at that, a great deal harder than before.

"People have died for you, you imbecile! You think the Purist and Reformation parties happened to just decide to increase the frequency of their attacks around the time news of your renewed friendship reached the wizengamot? Why do you think we kept you from school this entire time? You honestly believe Harry Potter invented a terrorist threat to keep a malfoy away from his son? Because of some stupid premonition? Real attacks have occurred because of you."

I was horrified at the realization. How father had assumed I knew about the premonition was another issue entirely. The thought was too shocking to fully comprehend. "I... Didn't... Think..."

"You! You my genius son didn't think? You who thinks of everything! Have you been so blinded by your affection for this boy that you actually missed the implications of your firendship? Don't you understand? We could lose everything over this. Everything I have worked for my entire life to repair! To cleanse the stain of my fathers betrayal and my own! Your mother left us when your carelessness killed your sister! Now you plan to steal the rest from me too! Oh yes, the healer told us about your memories… he told us that Victor and Emily tried to stop you, but you knew better didn't you! Your precious aurora wanted a picture by the cliff and what better way to impress her than by ordering around your guards! Your heretical prophecies, your frightening premonitions, always too much for anyone to handle! You took my wife! and my daughter! What more will you take from me!? You are my only son, all that is left to me in the world. I can't bear to see you go back to the way you were before you met him, not on top of everything else. I can't take watching my only son spiral back into madness as the result of his own idiocy. Most of all I will not see you reduced to a penniless beggar stripped of all title and prestige because you did not have the foresight to anticipate what was happening around you! You will fix this. Understood?"

I couldn't believe what he had said to me. I didn't realize I had started to cry until the images of Ella falling finished flashing through my mind. I wanted to scream. Malfoys don't ever cry.

"It… wasn't my fault… it wasn't… I… d-didn't mean…" He looked upset by that. As though he hadn't meant to accuse me of what he had. He corrected himself slightly by bringing the conversation back to Albus... but what he'd said... he couldn't take back. Just like i couldn't take back what i had said to Al.

"Regardless... Of the rest of it... Whatever you did to Albus was definitely your fault. You attacked him in public? At the Prime Ministers own ball? Are you insane? Even if it was merely a mistake, why didn't you mention it to me?"

"I… was only trying to make him listen… I wanted to apologize."

"For what? What happened? What did you do!?"

"He was going to sacrifice himself for me alright! The night we were injured. We would have both died. He was trying to buy me time to escape by giving up his own life. I couldn't take it! The thought of being responsible for his death too! Of leaving him behind. He was going to make me live with that forever. Just like y-you w-will nev… nev… never let me believe… that Ella w-wasn't my fault. It was a… p-p-picture! They wanted a ph-photo. How could I sniff… have known... what would happen! I didn't kill her! I didn't!" I couldn't stop my tears. I fell to my knees then in utter defeat. I barely realized his arms were around me. I couldn't remember the last time he'd held me. Or the last time i cried before him. I felt weak... and useless. Albus was the one who cried all the time... not me... not me...

"Im sorry... Scorpius. I know it wasn't your fault."

"Then wh-wh-why w-would you say that to me? Why? I didn't kill her!"

We stayed there until i managed to calm myself. I waited for my hiccuping sobs to relent. For my wet sniffling to abate. It took longer than i expected. Albus had changed me... i know its his fault i'm so weak. 'Get up and stop crying!' A small voice inside of me yelled angrily. 'and get off me this instance! I'm not a child!'

"See, you've made me unseemly. I've become that soft hearted imbecile who leaks like a faucet all the time."

He withdrew from me then, standing up and walking towards a counter where wine sat in a beautiful crystal decanter. He poured two glasses and came back to sit with me on the floor, an act which surprised me even more than him handing the second glass to me. He watched me contemplatively for a moment waiting. This all seemed too casual for the head of the malfoy family. If grandma Cissy arrived early and found us both sitting on the floor, she might have a heart attack.

Finally I saw fit to tell him the rest of it. He took a larger sip of his wine than would normally have been polite while I merely looked shyly down at my own glass before continuing.

"I shouldn't have called him that. He hates that word so much. I didn't mean it. I swear."

"What did you say that could ruin a friendship and make him draw a wand on you in a room full of muggles?"

"I used that word... I called him a freak."

"And that's why he's so upset? Albus has a remarkable mind... how could one word unbalance him so much? I don't understand?"

"No you don't… to him… it's the most foul word on the planet. For him it's akin to calling Hermione a….mud… a... mudblood." I finished with difficulty. "They've treated him worse than anyone has ever treated me. You cannot conceive of how horribly hated he feels. He… He… loves me… like I loved Ella… like a brother. For someone he considers family to do something like what I did… Its a betrayal more horrible than you can imagine. Already many of his loved ones fear and mistrust him. For me to cause him to doubt the trust we share... I just don't know what to do. I cannot see how to apologize for this. My options are very limited if he will refuse to see or listen to me."

I went on for the next few minutes, elaborating on the measure of my despair until there was nothing left to say. We watched each other for a moment in silence, merely letting the fire crackle on in the background.

Father finally picked himself from up off the floor, fixing his clothing quietly before deciding to speak. I don't remember father ever giving me advice like this.

"Children are so strange... Still, from my perspective, you have wronged him Scorpius. Your only reprieve comes in the form of a life threatening illness. The fact that he will most likely die without contact with you again seems to present a promising if macabre series of opportunities for you. Whatever magic surrounds the two of you, you both will be forced together at some point again. I will arrange for you to be the opening duelists at the carnival of the moon. You will both obviously be attending. When you have the opportunity to make contact with him, take it under the pretext of healing each other... and force him to listen."

"… Yes father."

"I trust you will be ready for our guests tonight? This is a big evening and ideally it should have been held at the traditional Maxus Estates in Italy. We find ourselves in the unusual position of welcoming your cousin into the wizarding world. I would hate for my careless words to ruin tonight for Markus and the Maxus family."

"Of course not father. I will be fine." I offered standing on my own.

"And you forgive me then? For what i said about... Ella."

"Of course Father. I shall go prepare myself for the evening."

The words still resonated inside my head like angry accusations of weakness. 'you didn't think? You my genius son who thinks of everything! Are you so blinded by affection for this boy that you missed the implications of your friendship? People have died because of you!'

I went up the marbled staircase to my room to dress for the dinner... It was going to be a long night. At least Markus would be here. He's a wizard now. What a fucking strange thought. A squib acquiring magic. Maybe... if squibs could do it... So could muggles. What a wonderful world that would be. If we could all use magic together.


So I basically uploaded this chapter for the anonymous reviewer who read up to this point in two sittings. This summer is going to be a strange and busy one since I'm working heavily for both my mother and father's companies. For anyone who is worried that I might drop this story I'll remind them that, one I have over a hundred more pre written pages that just need editing before I can post them as chapters and that, Two the reason it's taken me so long to post new content is because I had an irretrievable data loss incident that forced me to rewrite a lot of my other stories that I'd been working.

Anyway I should have a few more chapters posted by the end of May. Hope everyone is well.