The young boy had grown up having always lived in a world of luxury and wanting for nothing. His parents were greatly revered within the kingdom and had wealth and power beyond imagination. But his father always wanted more and so, he struck a deal with a man who promised him that he would create a world where the family would be looked upon as royalty if the boy's father would help him achieve his vision for the future.
Although the boy's father needed it not, he let his greed and sense of superiority win out and struck a deal to help the man. The boy's parents catered to the man's every demand and allowed the man to take his anger out on them when things didn't go his way. Then one night the boy and his parents were sitting by the fire waiting for the man to come and deliver the news that they had finally achieved what they set out to. The boy was excited to finally live in the world his parents had told him would make him so admired by all the other children of the village.
When the knock finally came to the door and his father opened it, much to the surprise of the boy a wolf was standing in the man's clothing with an evil grin across his face. The boy screamed and his mother scooped him up, taking him to the next room and making him promise no matter what happened, he must not let the wolf see his fear. You see, the boys parents had discovered a while ago that the man was really a wolf but were too scared to anger him lest he punish them by killing the boy. His mother told him she had left him information hidden for him to find, detailing all of the secrets she had kept, the preparations she had made and risk she had taken to ensure the boy had a future where he lived and could escape the wolf. The boy agreed he would be brave until the wolf was finished with his parents and would pretend to be his loyal servant as his parents had once been - until he could finally use his mother's plan to escape. The wolf broke down the door to the room carrying the unrecognisable, battered and barely breathing form of the boy's father and let out a taunting laugh. The boy was terrified and full of rage and a whole torrent of other emotions as the wolf proceeded to rip out his mother's throat before following with doing the same to his father. The boy, although wanting to protect his parents or at least try to help them, stood still and watched as the wolf devoured them, adamant in that moment he would not just escape the wolf, but he would ensure that he got his revenge for what he had just witnessed. And so the boy declared his loyalty to the wolf, becoming the most revered of his followers as he got older, his right hand man. All the while waiting until he was in a good enough position to finally take him down.
Draco awoke from the dream drenched in sweat and tangled in his bed sheets. He had been hunted by similar dreams since his parents had been killed but this one had been the most recurring. He supposed it was probably his brain's way of dealing with the trauma, rendering him back to his young self, playing a part in one of the fairytales his mother would read him as a child. Although this wasn't some fairytale with a happy ever after, and the dream had him heaving in deep breathes as he fought back the tears threatening to fall as he remembered the real life events that were so very like those of his nightmare.
He quickly called upon his occlumency to get his emotions back in check lest he descend into an emotional hell of his own making. Every waking moment was spent behind his walls, as was necessary when you were your master's favorite dog. One second of weakness in his interior mental protection was all it would take for the Dark Lord to gain a hold in his mind and if that were to happen, well, Draco and the only remaining people in the world he cared about would surely suffer a very long, drawn out and excruciating death. While he may not care for his own life in the long run, he had a mission he needed to complete so that he may find some semblance of peace in death and he would be damned if he let anything happen to Theo, Blaise or Pansy. They had already endured enough pain and misery, and while their lives still were not sunshine and rainbows, at least they were better than they had been. Completing the mission he had set upon himself would help ensure that one day they might be able to live some sort of life. In the meantime they were constantly in danger of being discovered and every day felt like they were all balancing on the edge of a cliff awaiting the direction of the wind to decide their fate. Would it blow them forwards and over the edge to their certain demise or backwards towards the safe stable ground?
Rolling over to grab his wand and cast a tempus to check the time. Four am. He had managed a whole three and a half hours tonight before the nightmares had pulled him from his slumber. He could never drop back to sleep after his nightmares, and attempting to do so was futile. The only thing that would achieve would be letting his mind start to wonder, risking the cracks forming in the walls in it. Instead he rose from the bed, tugging on a pair of pyjama bottoms and made his way out his bedroom door
He had long ago abandoned the manor to the hands of the noseless wonder and his other death eaters. The place was tainted by the blood that had stained its floors and the hunted screams trapped within its walls. Every good memory he had of growing up there had been pushed aside by the horrors he had witnessed. It was most certainly difficult to look upon a place in a room and fondly recall when he had played there with Theo as a young child or had birthday dinners with his parents, when the more recent memory of the men, women or children had been tortured and killed in the same spot.
His door led out into the massive open floor dining room and living room. There was a small kitchen separated only by a breakfast bar with a set of stairs to the left of it which he was sure to be quiet when passing. Theo, Pansy and Blaise all had their own bedrooms upstairs, all having their own reasons for fleeing their ancestral homes and he did not wish to wake any of them given that they too tended to struggle with sleep.
He made his way over to the breakfast bar using his wand to summon a glass from the cupboard and a bottle of Ogdons from the well stocked liquor cart they kept to the side of one of the three large green velvet sofas they had set out around the forever burning fire. The floo of course was locked unless in use by them, not that anyone could have dropped by unannounced anyway. They had wanted to keep their living location anonymous and Draco had been able to pass the reason off to the Dark Lord as being a means of self preservation should any of the other death eaters want to attempt to take him out in his sleep in order to rise to his rank. He supposed being his most trusted dog did come with some benefits, access to information being one of the others.
He raised the now full glass to his mouth, downing half of it. He relished the burn of it as it slid down his throat and closed his eyes, allowing the immediate calming effect to fill him up. When he opened his eyes he looked towards his right at his favourite feature of this apartment. The entire wall was made up of floor to ceiling glass that faced out into the dark night. It was secluded enough that during the day you could gaze out into the surrounding land, but at night you could see the distant lights of a nearby muggle town. These lights were not polluting enough to outshine the stars and Draco often slipped out to the balcony, which was just through a far section of the glass wall that slide open, with a glass of firewhisky when sleep eluded him and sought out the constellation of his name sake, often sitting until the sun began to rise. The great thing about being stinking rich was that he had been able to purchase this place which was situated above an empty warehouse-like area meaning they didn't have to worry about any neighbours. Apparently the previous owners had used the space below to keep their collection of expensive cars, they had been squibs who had made their money through a worldwide chain of restaurants and had used that wealth to high tail out of the UK when they learned that the Dark Lord had won the war, knowing it wouldn't be long before he started targeting squibs and muggleborns.
He made his way out to the balcony and over to the ledge gazing up at the stars and taking another generous pull from his glass, sighing at the heat spreading through his body.
"Nightmare's keeping you up as well?"
Draco jumped, having not been expecting the voice due to being under the impression everyone else was asleep, spilling the remainder of his glass all over himself.
"Fuck sake Theo, you nearly gave me a heart attack, and even worse that was 500 galleon firewiskey you have just made me spill," he scoffed trying to wipe the wet liquid off his bare chest.
Theo for his part simply shrugged, a massive grin of amusement spreading across his face as he held out his packet of cigarettes, offering Draco one while using his wand to light himself another. Draco took the offered cigarette, leaning his head over for Theo to light his as well and then took a seat opposite him summoning another glass and the bottle of Ogdons and refilling his own glass while pouring another and sliding it across the table.
Theo used the glass to salute Draco before bringing to his lips and making an exaggerated moan of pleasure at the taste of the liquid, which caused Draco to roll his eyes while trying and failing to suppress an amused snort at his best friend's dramatics.
Friend seemed like such a mediocre word, one that didn't at all fit with how important this wizard in front of him was to him. He was more like a brother, having grown up with one another since birth and being side by side through everything they had both endured, the good and the bad. Draco could admit to himself that Theo had experienced a lifetime of bad at the hands of his father. Nott Sr. was a cruel man and being his son had not saved Theo from being on the receiving end of it. In fact, one of the first memories Draco could recall of the man had been a day when he was meeting with Lucius at the manor and Nott Sr had backhanded his 4 year old son across the mouth so hard Theo had fallen down the stairs and been rendered unconscious. Draco had been beside himself and had held Theo's limp body in his arms while calling for an elf to fetch his mother. When Theo had awoken he had been so unfazed by what had happened that Narcissa had correctly suspected acts of violence like this were a regular occurance and had begged Lucius to step in. Of course, Draco's father had insisted that butting their noses into other peoples business was out of the question and so his mother had instead insisted Theo stayed at the manor whenever Nott Sr would allow it or not. This may not have stopped Theo from being on the end of his fathers abuse, but it did lessen the amount of time he was around him and many years later, Theo had confessed to Draco that were it not for the fact Narcissa practically raised him from that day forward, he was certain he would have died before he ever even came of age to attend Hogwarts.
Of course Theo had been forced to take the Mark not long after Draco's parents had been killed, and the moment Draco had climbed high enough up the ranks to ask their masters permission to live away from Malfoy manor he had insisted Theo join him. Daily beatings had become normal again by then, and he was more than happy to move out of Nott manor and into the apartment.
Blaise had joined them soon after, no longer wishing to be in any proximity to his own mother after she had offered up her son to take the mark to please husband number eight, Antonin Dolohov, whom she had wed following the Dark Lords victory to ensure her own prestige in the new world. Dolohov had been sceptical at first when his mother had approached him about a marriage, mostly due to the mysterious deaths of her previous husbands so she had offered up her son to take the mark as a sign of sincerity.
Pansy had been the last to move in and had only done so three months prior. She too had been offered up in service by her parents to save their own skin, but in a very different and much worse way than the others. To reward his older, most loyal death eaters (read: most twisted and evil), Voldemort insisted that any young pureblood women over the age of 17 who was without a marriage contract at the time be offered up as a breed mule. Draco, Theo and Blaise had all offered her parents to draw up a contact following this revelation, but the cowards had been too afraid to displease the Dark Lord and had instead sent their only daughter off to be raped and bred by men the same age or older than her father. Pansy in her desperation, had managed to cast a dark spell that damaged her internally making it impossible for her to fall pregnant, and after she had been passed from Avery to Nott Sr. and enduring months of rape and tourture at the hands of them both, she had been finally deemed useless and Bellatrix had come up with the idea that if she wasnt going to be useful in producing offspring she should be killed. Draco had managed to argue that he had seen Pansys potential in school, and that she could be useful to the cause if given the mark instead. While her becoming a death eater may not have been ideal, it was the only thing he could think of to save her, and thankfully she had agreed with his reasoning and had willingly allowed herself to be given the brand.
Having the three of them with him was both a curse and a blessing. With them near, he could better ensure their safety but they all knew him better than anyone else in the world and weren't fooled for one minute by his unwavering loyalty to the Dark Lord's cause. Theo had figured out his real plan to get high enough in the ranks to be able to devise a plan to avenge his parents and ensure the Dark Lords downfall practically the minute they had watched Narcissa and Lucius be murdered. Blaise and Pansy had both confirmed their own suspicions of his plan upon their respective move-ins.
They had all insisted that they be a part of it, here in lay the curse. If they were discovered they would all suffer painful drawn out deaths for their betrayal. He had begged them to allow him to do this alone, to stay as far away from it as possible to ensure their safety, but no amount of pleading or begging had swayed them. They insisted they all had as much reason for doing this as he did and being that they all were party to different information, it would allow for the most effective leaks to the contact within the order to ensure not only a broader scope of weakening of the Dark Lord's army, but also make it impossible for anyone to suspect a mole was passing on information that lead to attacks due to the randomness of them. Still he had put up a fight, only relenting when they had pointed out that it was unlikely for anybody to be suspicious of information leaks even being possible from anybody branded with the dark mark due to their masters brilliant piece of magic he had added to the Morsmordre, it implemented the Imperious in order for him to be able to trust he would never be fooled or betrayed by another death eater the way Severus had.
The alcohol had begun to flood Draco's system causing him to become drowsy and weaken the walls in his mind, allowing the memory he was most trying to keep locked away to come through and he began to fall into a slumber with his head in his arms on the table between himself and Theo.
Following the defeat of Potter and fleeing of the remaining members of the order and their soldiers, the Dark Lord turned to Narcissa, immediately casting an incarcerous, binding her and dragging her forward to kneel at his feet. Draco had whimpered and made to go to his mother but found his father wrapping his arms around him to stop him. His mother looked towards him nodding her head to tell him not to intervene. He felt his father leaning down to whisper in his ear.
"Your mother and I have known for a long time that should the Dark Lord win this war that we would all be killed for our failures in his service. We only wish that you live and that will require you to not react and to pledge your loyalty to his cause long enough for you to bide your time to escape. Please son, live for us, make all the wrong we had done in his name be worth it by surviving and getting out. You need to build your walls up and do what needs to be done to ensure your life, for me and for your mother."
Draco let a silent sob escape before doing what he was told, thinking to himself that if he had to watch the life be drained from both his parents, the very people he had taken the mark as a means to protect, escaping would not be what he was aiming for. Vengeance, however, would most certainly be. That was the last thing that crossed his mind before the numbness of his occlumency washed over him and his father released his hold upon him. He felt nothing as he watched the scene before him play out.
The Dark Lord turned to his father with a sadistic smirk spreading across his serpentine features. And he beckoned him. "Lucius, please do join us."
His father had obeyed, squeezing his shoulder as he passed him and made his way to the centre of the circle that had formed around where the Dark Lord had his mother bound.
"I have been a forgiving Lord have I not Lucius?" The Dark Lord said in an amused tone, gesturing at himself. To his credit Draco's father had not faltered like he had so many times before when being baited by the snake-like man, and made no attempt to avert his eyes in shame or gestate an answer to the question. This wiped the amused look of the evil bastard's face, clearly having been expecting his father to drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness.
The Dark Lord swooped towards Draco's father who was standing beside his wife who was still on her knees bound, the dark magic cracking around him with his rising temper.
"You dare to ignore me! You dare not provide an answer to your Lord, the greatest dark wizard who ever lived! I have tolerated your failings and those of your family for long enough because I believed the Malfoy line was a noble bloodline worth salvaging!" He was pacing now in his frustration as Lucius still stood chin up refusing to show any signs of intimidation.
The Dark Lord stopped suddenly in his tracks, turning around to face the older Malfoys again with that same sadistic grin spreading across his face. Draco knew that meant he had come up with a nefarious idea in order to punish them and although the boy inside was screaming at him to move, to run to his parents, he simply fortified the walls in his mind further, forcing himself to feel or show no emotion.
"I have the perfect way for you to prove your loyalty to me dear Lucius. Kill your wife and I shall let you live. Kill your wife and all will be forgiven and you can stand once again by my side to see this new world we have always dreamed of. You and your son will be of the highest prestige once again. All I ask is that you execute Narcissa for her deception with the Potter boy."
Lucius squared his shoulders, looking the dark lord right in the eye as he spoke, "No. My wife and I have conceded to your demands enough. Malfoys do not lower themselves to take orders from a half blood whose self- proclaimed greatest achievement is the defeat of a 17 year old boy that, in itself, took you 16 years to achieve. We never should have, and we refuse to do so any longer."
The fury that descended upon the dark lord caused all the surrounding death eaters to take a step back, lest they find themselves in his path.
"You will die then like the blood traitor you are, here in the dirt like the filth you have always been. You could have been great Lucius, had you not let the parasite that is love ruin your chance…. AVAVDA KEDAVRA" The green light from Voldemort's wand struck Lucius square in the chest and he crumpled to the ground right in front of his wife, and still Draco did not react. There would be time for that later, but right now he needed to keep it together so he could keep his promise to his father.
A sob left his mothers lips as she looked down at the corpse of her husband. A single sob is all she allows herself before she recomposes and turns her eyes up to look into those of the man before her as he begins speaking to her.
"I am disgusted at your treachery. The Malfoy men have always had a weakness when it comes to their wives, Abraxas was the same. However I expected more from someone who came from the house of Black. It's a good thing Bellatrix lives to ensure the Black legacy is not completely sullied by your deceit and your weakness for love. I am sure she will take great pleasure in breaking down dear Draco and remaking him into the soldier neither of his parents could be." He smirked down at Narcissa, believing using Draco would be the shot that would break her down and make her beg at his feet for his forgiveness.
Narcissa however, like her husband, did not waver in the face of his threats and instead began to laugh. "Your inability to understand love will be your downfall in the end Tom. Everything I did, I did for the love of my family. You're so blind to the power that love has you didn't even notice that your right hand man was a spy for Dumbledore the entire time." The Dark Lord began stuttering with rage at her words but she continued to speak. "That night when you killed the Potters, you took away the only woman Severus had ever loved. You gave him the need to exact revenge in the memory of Lily Potter which was the exact tool he needed to be able to play the part of the loyal servant while secretly working with Dumbledore and the Order. You created the perfect weapon for them to yield in the form of one Severus Snape." She continued to chuckle as she threw him a look of imitated pity which was enough to finally cause him to crack.
"Bellatrix! Take care of this and bring Draco to the manor to begin his training. I expect you to ensure he will not be the failure his parents have turned out to be." With this final command, he spun on the spot and disapperated away.
Bellatrix stepped forward, clearly enjoying the fact she had been trusted with this task. "Goodbye Cissy. May you not be as much of a disappointment in the next life as you were in this one. Don't worry, I'll take good care of ikle Dracy." With her piece said, she raised her wand and cast the spell to end the life of her sister.
Narcissa's body fell with a thud next to that of her husband and still Draco remained blank.
After learning about Snape's true allegiance, Voldemort had moved up his plans to imbibe the Dark Mark with a version of the imperious curse to ensure that such a betrayal never occurred again.
A week after the death of his parents and mere days before the magic was to be cast, with his body broken from the start of his dear aunts training, Draco had found the documents his parents had left him in a drawer in his fathers study that could only be opened by a Malfoy. It contained information in Severus's handwriting detailing the Dark Lord's plans to use this magic following the war. As the one to help him create the magic, Severus had also known how to break it, a method which he had detailed in the same notes. Draco cast the magic that would ensure the imperius magic would not take hold within his own brand. The Dark Lord would never be able to tell and this made Draco smile. He would finally be a step ahead of the monster and one step closer to his ultimate goal of achieving the end to his master's reign. He had been able to ensure Theo, Blaise and eventually Pansy would also be free from suffering the lack of control that would have occurred when they received their marks.
A loud ringing sound shook Draco from his nightmare. Could it even be classed as a nightmare if it had all happened in the real world and was not just a flash of images his mind had conjured up to haunt him in his slumber. He wiped the tears from his face, looking up to see that Theo was also rising from a sleep across from him.
Draco reached into his pocket pulling out the mobile phone Severus had deemed to leave with his parents with the documents as a means for Draco to stay in contact. Living in a home outside of the magical world also afforded him the ability to use it, since there weren't the levels of magic in the muggle world that would interfere with its working the way that would have happened in the magical world. Without having to check who was calling, since Severus was the only person who had the number, Draco hit the little button with the green telephone shape on it and lifted it to his ear.
"Two hours, usual place. It is of the utmost importance. Bring the others." The line cut after Severus had finished speaking, giving no options to refuse.
Draco sighed, raising from his chair and looking down to Theo who was still not quite fully in the land of awakening.
"Take a sobering potion and wake the others. We have a meeting in the cave with Severus in two Hours," he said before turning on his heel and heading to take a sobering potion of his own, and a long shower to try and chase away the last remnants from his memory of his parents' deaths.
Five minutes before the clock had struck the two hours, Draco, Theo, Blaise and Pansy apparated to the cave they always met Snape at deep in the Scottish Highland. It was close enough to the Order camp that he resided in that it was easy for him to get there on foot, but far enough out of the way that they did not risk being found by any wandering Order members.
Severus was already waiting on them and looked up at the crack of their apparition. Draco walked further into the cave, trailed by the other three and cast a lumos with his wand so they could better see. He kept it dull so as not to attract the attention of anyone who may be in the area.
"I'll keep this brief. I don't know what happened with the last bit of intel, but as I am sure you are more than aware by now, upon entering the area where you advised them to enter, the two Order members who have been acting as vigilantes, were met with a trap. Although they did succeed in turning it around and successfully completed their mission anyway, this is not the kind of risk I wish for them to be taking." Draco opened his mouth to tell him that they had no idea about the trap until afterwards, but Severus raised his hand to silence him before continuing.
"They may not care that they entered a trap and could have been killed, and you four may also not give a single thought to the danger they put themselves into every time they go out there but I do. They are becoming more and more reckless and I refuse to stand back and watch history repeat itself. Therefore I have come to the decision that it is well past time for you to meet them and perhaps work together, both in their self imposed murder missions and the other more secret thing they have been working on, the thing that has the potential to finally end this war." Severus raised an eyebrow towards the Slytherins to let them know that they now had his permission to speak. They may not be his students anymore, but the man's aura demanded respect that the Slytherins did not think twice about affording him.
Pansy was the first to speak. "So let me get this straight. You have just admitted that they are reckless, but you are asking us to work with them? You want us to put ourselves in even more danger by throwing in and playing executioner with a couple of, what I am assuming are Gryffindors due to the sheer stupidity of the whole thing?"
Blaise nodded along and Draco stood with his face twisted in confusion at the whole thing. This had not been what he had been expecting to hear from his Godfather at all.
Theo stepped forward, eager to give his own input. "I get that you're a certified order member and all Sevvy, but I don't understand why you seem to care so much about this pair. Outside of Slytherin it's not like you particularly liked any of the other students and even saying that, not everyone could be favored like your pain in the arse godson here or have the charm and looks to command adoration the way I do. What makes these two so special?"
Snape pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a sigh. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that, Theodore?" Theo simply smirked and shrugged, looking for all parts undeterred by his old house heads admonishment.
Snape nodded his head in exasperation and continued. "One of them reminds me very much of someone I loved. I could not save her back then from death, but I can however ensure that history doesn't repeat itself. All that I am asking is that you meet with them and consider a partnership. The outcome of this war is getting bleaker by the minute and it is time to try something different."
Draco finally spoke, "Are you going to tell us who they are before we make a decision? Have they even agreed to this meeting you are proposing?"
Severus knew he had his godson right where he wanted him. He always was a curious boy.
"I think it's best that you see for yourself. Trust me, you wouldn't believe me if I told you unless you see it with your own eyes. Let me worry about getting them to agree to the meeting and you just worry about turning up at a time and place that I inform you of when it has been decided."
Draco looked at the others. They all just shrugged, letting him know that the decision was his to make. "Alright we will agree to this meeting, but anything after that we make no promises regarding until we find out exactly what we are working with."
Severus smiled, nodding in a gesture of thanks that he would never deem to vocalize, and made his way past the Slytherins and out through the mouth of the cave calling behind him as the four of them watched the older man leave. "I'll be in touch and please for the love of Merlin ensure you are all on your best behavior when the time comes"
Blaise broke the silence that had overtaken the cave. "I really hope you know what you're getting us into mate." With that they all turned on the spot disapparating back home, heads full of more questions than they arrived with.