The next morning, at six o' clock sharp, Draco flooed over to Black Manor. The early hour didn't bother him much since he was well accustomed to waking up early. His mother hadn't been too pleased when she had found out about him sneaking off like that. But, she'd relented and allowed him to learn the family magic.

Like many others, he was left awestruck at the beauty of the opulent mansion. Unlike Malfoy Manor, this place was well lit and gave off a positive vibe. It felt happy. So this is where Potter lives. Draco felt a stab of jealousy at the realisation that his nemesis lived in such luxury. And people thought he was the spoilt one. Prince Potter.

He banished the thought almost immediately it appeared. He had to be civil towards Potter if he wanted these lessons to progress. He would have to swallow his pride and do it. Also, Black was teaching him something that no one else could. The least he could do was show him some respect.

"Good morning, Draco." He snapped out of his thoughts when he saw the man approaching him. "Good morning." He replied. "So there's a training room downstairs where we'll practice. If you have any questions, I'll answer those as well." Sirius continued.

They went down the stairs that led to the basement. Draco was excited as well as nervous. He was full of questions but at the same time, he was hesitant to voice them. According to him, trust was something that was extremely fragile. Even the slightest error was enough to permanently shatter a person's trust. He didn't trust anyone in this world other than his mother. He'd stopped trusting his father years ago. The only thing he had ever wanted from that man was his approval, something he never received.

Sirius was exceptionally good at reading expressions. He picked up on the boy's thought process within minutes. "Draco, if you want to ask me something, you need to go ahead with it. This won't work if your head is full of doubts. If it's any consolation, I'll answer honestly."

Draco was silent for a minute before he spoke again. "Why now?" On Sirius' questioning look, he elaborated. "Why did the magic within me stir now? Why not before?"

"Well, it differs according to every individual. In our family, some members started showing signs of magic at the age of three or even two while others weren't able to tap into the magic even after they have come of age. In your case, there is only one possible explanation. For some reason, you weren't able to summon that magic inside your body. One of the major reasons is that you weren't aware of the existence of such magic." Said Sirius.

Draco listened carefully and frowned. "You have a question." It was a statement. Draco was slightly taken aback by this. The man was obviously remarkable at reading people. "Other children had accidental bursts of magic when they were younger. I never had such incidents. Yesterday was the first time it happened." Draco admitted.

"Well, I admit that's strange. Between ages five to nine, children show occasional but minor bursts of magic. I'm surprised you never experienced it. Usually, accidental magic is a result of strong negative emotions like fear or anger. I'm guessing that you've always been very withdrawn when it come to emotions. Its either that or they were deliberately suppressed."

Sirius had a strong suspicion that Lucius might have had something to do with it. The man must've been worried that his son would get out of control so he must have tried to dull the magical capabilities of the boy. Whatever spell was cast, had been broken when Draco had been freed from his father's tyranny.

He noted Draco's surprised expression and inwardly sighed. The boy clearly had a lot to learn and he just wasn't referring to the magic. "So we'll be covering quite a bit in every session. Familial magic is stronger than other kinds of magic. You need to be strong enough to control it. It won't be easy and you will have to work hard. If you're up to it, only then shall we continue."

"Yes, sir."

"One more thing, this magic is powerful but deadly if misused. I need to be sure that you will not take advantage of this. You will not use your power to bully you classmates or for anything that isn't right. Are we clear? I have the power to teach you but if you make wrong use of this magic, I also have the power to take it away. Are we clear? "

"Yes, sir." Draco had no intention of breaking his word. Firstly because, he was starting to learn that Black was a fair man. He kept his promises and expected the same from others. Crossing him meant only trouble. Secondly, he wanted to start afresh without his father controlling his life. He wanted to prove that he wasn't like that man. A few days after his father had been arrested, a sinking realisation had washed over him: nobody liked him. He needed to free himself from his father's shadow.

"Great. Let us begin."

The first lesson was relatively easy. It was basically physical training. It was more of a warm up session. A few laps, push ups and a couple other exercises. He actually enjoyed himself. He's promised himself that he wouldn't whine or complain because he wasn't sure if the man would tolerate his usual tantrums.

By the end of the two hours, he was thoroughly exhausted but satisfied. "You did a great job today, Draco. Continue like this and you'll be well on your way to mastering this magic." Draco froze like he hadn't heard the man correctly. A compliment? Of all the things that he would have to endure, he hadn't expected the sessions to be so easy.

In fact, before he had arrived here, he'd expected the man to use every single opportunity to belittle him and taunt him. "I'm not joking, Draco. You did well today." He felt something odd inside him when he heard the words. The man was proud of him: His own father had never said one word of encouragement to him and here; the so-called blood traitor had shown him more kindness than his own father. Also, whenever he wasn't able to get something right, the man just asked him to try again whereas his father had been quick to point out what a failure he was.

"Thank you, sir." He replied, allowing himself to accept the praise. "Sirius." The man offered. "So we can continue with our next lesson same time tomorrow. We will begin with the simplest of spells. Alright?"

"Alright."

"Good. Now, there may be days when Regulus will train you instead. He'll also continue from where I've left off. Any questions?" When Draco shook his head, Sirius nodded. "Alright then. Class dismissed." He said with a grin.

They headed upstairs and Draco was just about to floo back home when Sirius stopped him. "Just a minute, Draco. I'll be right back."

Harry sat up and pushed the covers aside. He yawned widely and stretched himself. It was his stomach that had woken him up earlier than usual. He brushed his teeth and went downstairs, passing Regulus' room on the way. The younger Black obviously wasn't a morning person.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw who was in the living room. He'd completely forgotten about Malfoy coming over every morning. Definitely not the person he wanted to see right after waking up. The other boy saw him and Harry immediately prepared himself for a snide remark or some insult. But none came. Nothing at all, not even one harsh word.

Be civil. He remembered the warning in dad's voice and wisely decided to pay heed to it. "Here you go, Draco. Just go through the first five pages and let me know if you have any questions. We'll need it for our next class, okay?"

"Yes, sir– Sirius." Draco amended. Harry was stunned. Since when has Draco Malfoy been respectful towards people? "Tomorrow, same time." Said Sirius after which Draco flooed home without another glance at Harry.

"Who was that?" Harry asked, the moment the floo was quiet again. "Good morning to you too, pup. Don't worry, that really was Draco. Like I said, he's agreed to behave himself and I expect the same from you too. Okay?"

"Yes, Dad." Harry replied, rolling his eyes. There was no way Malfoy would've changed like that. Harry knew that his father had told the pureblood brat to keep his attitude in check of he wanted these classes to continue. That was the only reason Malfoy hadn't launched a volley of insults at him. Harry knew Malfoy better than that. He wouldn't try and become a better person if his life depended on it.

"I'm not kidding. He didn't say a word." Harry told his two best friends as the three of them sat in his room, playing snap. "Well, its probably another of his tricks, mate. People like Malfoy don't change." Ron stated. "I know that, Ron. My dad thinks that he's trying to 'turn over a new leaf' but he's wrong."

"You know, the two of you mustn't judge him so harshly. Maybe he really is trying to change. After all, his father's gone." Hermione chided the two of them. The boys stared at the girl disbelievingly. "He's a Malfoy, Hermione." Harry protested.

"I think that he just wants the attention. When you think about it, it's kind of obvious. Wherever Malfoy goes, what's the one thing he always wants? Attention! It's all for the attention of course. Granted that he wants to learn but that doesn't mean he's changed. It's ridiculous to even think that." Ron explained.

Harry frowned at Ron's words. He wanted to say that his best friend was wrong but he couldn't bring himself to say the words. He did have a point. He hadn't thought about it previously but now it seemed to make more sense. An odd feeling crept into him and he couldn't quite shake it off. "Oh stop it both of you. What Malfoy does is none of our concern. Why are we wasting our time talking about him?" Hermione reasoned.

They didn't talk about him any further but Harry still felt rather strange. It was bad enough that he wasn't able to perform this family magic since he wasn't a Black by blood. But, the fact that his nemesis was spending a whole lot of time with his father only worsened his current position.

As the days went by, Draco's lessons continued as scheduled. Although he was a fast learner, there was a mountain of stuff left. Draco excelled at his lessons at Hogwarts and Sirius wasn't surprised one bit. When you came from a line of intelligent Blacks, excellence isn't encouraged, it's expected.

He also discovered that without Lucius' continuous presence in Draco's life, the boy was actually pretty good. He still had a good deal of pride and found it rather difficult to stop discriminating on the basis of blood superiority. But, he was making progress: slow and steady.

He had his hands full that summer: Auror missions, Draco's training and above all: spending time with his pup. Sirius did his best to ensure that Harry wasn't neglected because of his activities. They did all sorts of things together: movies, quidditch, occasional rides on Sirius' precious motorcycle and all other father-son stuff. He made certain that his boy had a wonderful summer.

Harry and Draco had moved from enemies to mutual tolerance towards each other. Although there was always an uncomfortable silence in the air whenever they were in the same room, things were a bit better. The two boys didn't hurl insults at one another, nor did they exchange hateful glances. It was just a curt nod when one happened to see the other.

For some reason, Harry found it impossible to be nice to Malfoy. He just couldn't do it. He had hated Malfoy and he still hated him. Although, he had to admit that the snob was changing, albeit slightly. But that still didn't change the fact that he hated Malfoy in his home.

He hated that Malfoy spent so much time with his dad. An uneasy feeling crept into his chest every time he thought about it. It's called jealousy. A voice would whisper in his head. And he absolutely loathed that feeling. All these months, he'd been the sole recipient of his father's time and attention. Sirius was that person he'd longed for every time he'd been hungry, cold, hurt and locked in his cupboard.

He tried to control his jealousy as best as he could but it was hard. "Sickle for your thoughts?" A little tap on his head jostled him. He looked up from his magazine to see Regulus staring at him with a half amused and half concerned expression. "You alright mate?"

"Yeah, I was just reading." He lied, pointing towards the magazine before him. The man rolled his eyes and pulled up a chair next to him. "You've been on that same page for the last fifteen minutes and you are a terrible liar. So, care to try that again?" Regulus asked with a small smile and Harry mentally cursed himself. He'd forgotten that like his father, Regulus was also just as observant. It was impossible to get away with lying to either of them.

"It's actually quite stupid." He admitted, twisting the hem of his shirt. "Mmhm. If it's any consolation, I think a lot of stupid things as well. I used to tell them to Sirius when I was younger. He always helped me out, after having a good laugh of course." Regulus replied and a smile tugged at Harry's lips. That was so like his dad.

"You don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to." Harry wondered what to do. "I don't... I don't like it when Dad spends so much time training Malfoy." He blurted out. He waited for the man to chastise him for being childish but no such thing happened. "Continue."

Feeling slightly encouraged, he elaborated. "It's just that, the whole year, I was the only one he spent time with. Now, I know dad's only helping Malfoy but I feel sort of-"

"—Jealous." Regulus finished for him and he nodded, half ashamed of himself. Regulus didn't get upset at all. Instead, he gave Harry a rueful smile and ruffled his hair. "I'll let you in on a little secret, mate. No one knows about this, no one other than Sirius." Feeling curious, Harry inclined his head eagerly. "Throughout my years at Hogwarts, I was mighty jealous of James Potter. In fact, I hated him."

Instead of getting angry, Harry was surprised. The way Regulus treated Harry was a clear contradiction to his statement. He wanted to know more. "Why did you hate him?"

"Well, before Sirius went to Hogwarts, it was just the two of us. He was my brother and my only friend. But then, on his train to Hogwarts, he meets these other boys and they became his best friends. Especially James. They were like brothers and I hated that."

"So what did you do?" Harry asked, feeling more and more curious. He now knew that Regulus understood what was going on inside his head. "I kept it bottled up for a while but then I talked to Sirius. He made me realise that my worries were completely silly. Sure, James was his best friend and a brother in ways that mattered but I was his brother too. So, similarly, it doesn't matter if he trains Draco for an hour or days together. You're Sirius' kid, not Draco."

"Yeah, I know. But I still can't help—"

"If that's the case, what you need to do is talk to Sirius. It'll just bother you if you hide it." The man said. Harry wanted to but wasn't too sure about what his father would have to say. He knew that he wouldn't be angry but Harry felt bad all the same.

"Yeah. I think I'll do that."

He wasn't going to do it.

It all began with an idea. Harry knew that it was a stupid idea the moment it appeared in his head. But, it had already taken root. Ever since his father and Regulus had started to teach Malfoy about the familial magic, he'd been curious to find out what exactly it did and how it worked. Sirius had made it clear that he wasn't to come down at that time since there was a chance that he'd hurt himself.

But a little peep wouldn't hurt, right?

He knew that his dad wouldn't be there since it was Regulus' turn that day. That made it easier since Regulus wasn't an Animagus. He took the invisibility cloak, draped it over himself and crouched down on the stairs. He'd gotten it back at the end of the school term.

The two of them were working on some sort of knot. "Now don't look at me like that. It's not as easy as you think. Your job is to undo the knot within precisely seven minutes. Not a second more. It you can accomplish that, we'll move ahead. Are you ready?"

"Yes, sir." Said Malfoy, giving Regulus a mock salute. "Great. You start off with it and I'll be back once you're done. Let's see how well you perform on your own. The room is covered with protection charms so no major harm will be done." Said the man. Harry quietly moved out of the way as Regulus went up the stairs.

Harry watched as Malfoy focused on the rope that had been intricately knotted. He expected the other boy to pull out his wand but instead; Malfoy simply thrust his hands forward and closed his eyes. He began to chant something under his breath and Harry watched, awestruck as the rope rose upwards.

No way! No bloody way! Malfoy could do wandless magic.

Regulus had been right. It wasn't easy. The beads of sweat that had collected on Malfoy's forehead indicated that he was trying hard but the knot hadn't budged. Then suddenly, the entire room echoed with the force of the spell and some of it hit Harry. With a yelp, he tumbled down the stairs and landed on the ground with a thud.

"Potter?"

With a shock he realised that his invisibility cloak had slipped off. Great. "What the hell are you doing here?" Anger flared up in him at that. "What I'm doing is none of your business, Malfoy. You don't need to know everything. This is my house and so I can do as I please." He snapped, not sure where this haughtiness was coming from. He'd never spoken to anyone like that before.

The blonde seemed unbothered by Harry's words. Instead, he smirked at Harry and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "You came here to spy on me, didn't you? You can't to the magic so you're here to see what it's like. Am I right?"

Harry turned red at that because Malfoy was right. "So how long do you plan to keep up this game?" He demanded, glaring at him. "What game?" Harry scoffed at that silly question. "Malfoy, I'm not stupid. We both know how real your promise to change is. The only reason you're not insulting me at every corner because these little lessons of yours will stop the moment you do so. Am I right?"

Both of them forgot about being civil. "Aww. Is little Potter jealous that he can't do this magic? Don't worry, Potter. That doesn't make you a complete waste of space. You're just a big waste, not a complete one."

"Shut up, Malfoy. I can't believe my dad bought your story about how you were trying to become a better person. You only behave yourself because you know that he won't tolerate any nonsense from you. I know you well enough to be sure that you will never change." Malfoy's cool smirk melted off at that.

"You don't know a thing about me, Potter." He snapped. "Your father is doing me a huge favour and so I respect him for that. So, do us both some good and get out. You're wasting my time."

"Wasting your time? This is my house, Malfoy! You've got no bloody right to order me around. You're just doing it for the attention. Since your father isn't here, there's no one to spoil you rotten. Just because your dad is rotting in Azkaban, doesn't mean that you get to come in here and steal mine!"

"Harry James, what is wrong with you?" Harry winced at his father's voice. He turned around to see both Sirius and Regulus enter the room. He had expected Regulus to come back alone. He turned back to his nemesis who looked mildly smug. That only fuelled his anger. "Me? He was the one who started this whole thing in the first place."

"I didn't do anything, Potter. You came here with that cloak of yours." Malfoy retorted, glaring at Harry. He could practically feel his father's disapproving stare and sagged his shoulders. He looked at the man who gave him a look that indicated they'd be discussing this shortly.

"I was just working on that knot when Potter came strutting in. He's always getting in my way, even at Hogwarts. Guess prince Potter always wants to be the centre of attention." Malfoy taunted. Harry finally lost his temper. He shoved the other boy in the chest, causing him to stagger backward.

Malfoy was also about to retaliate when a hand grabbed his arm. "Both of you will stop this rubbish right now. You have five seconds to rein yourselves in. Otherwise, Harry, you will be grounded for the remainder of the week. You Draco, will go home and the training will be terminated."

As much as he wanted Malfoy out, he didn't want to be grounded either. He was smart enough to recognise the tone in his dad's voice. He saw Regulus look at him from the corner of his eye and the man shook his head slightly. Unlike Sirius, he actually knew what had caused Harry to act the way he had. You didn't tell him, did you? Harry understood the mouthed words and dropped his gaze. No, he hadn't.

"Right. Harry, come upstairs for a minute, please. Draco, I'll down in a bit. Just wait here."

"No, that's fine, I'll talk to Draco." Regulus suggested. Sirius appeared relieved, probably about the fact that he had to deal with only one of them. "Alright." He gestured at Harry to go upstairs and followed the boy out after a look at Draco. The blonde's expression was actually sad. The previous smugness had been wiped off his face.

Once the two of them had left, Regulus turned to Draco. He didn't know what had made him want to speak to the boy. Sirius was much better at handling such things. Perhaps it was the fact that Draco sort of reminded him of himself, when he'd been younger.

He was just starting to know Draco and yet he had already realised that the two of them were quite similar. He found himself wanting to help him out.

And so he would. Draco Malfoy would start afresh.

My dear, wonderful readers, I'm so sorry it took me this long to update. So, some of you'll must've picked up on the hints in thus story. Even in the cannon version, I think of Draco and Regulus as kindred spirits. Both of them were raised by an unfit father and forced to learn crap without knowing its true significance.

Don't worry; Harry isn't the only one who's in trouble. Draco's not off the hook.

Regulus might sort of become a mentor in Draco's life. Obviously, in the next chapter, Harry and Draco will sort out their differences. As for Regulus' role in Harry's life, he'll soon be promoted to the title 'Uncle Reg.' Harry is starting to learn what a proper uncle is like.

A big, big thank you to all those brilliant readers who wait for my updates. All of your supportive comments really mean a lot. I do hope my chapters are worth the wait. I'll try and update soon.

Lastly, thank you for reading this author's note and the other ones I've posted occasionally. Love you guys!