Harry wiped ash or dust from his lips and coughed onto the back of his hand as he sat up; his eyes adjusted to the darkness, but he knew he'd never been in this room before. He would have recognised the unusual smell – it was one he couldn't explain, stale, sour and dry.

"Lumos."

Still on his knees on the floor, Harry raised his wand above his head. It was a circular room, lined with tall, dark bookcases and cabinets, with a stone table in the centre. Lanterns hung low from hooks in the ceiling, and Harry lit these with bluebell as he stood up, washing the room in a warm, eerie blue.

As the room lit up, Harry realised it wasn't a stone table centrepiece, but a pool of silver. A pensieve. He stepped towards it and hovered his hand above the memories. He didn't recognise the runes or markings. It was much larger than the Hogwarts pensieve.

There were no doors in the room – only the fireplace Harry had mistakenly fallen through. There were no pictures to ask. Harry laughed aloud; how did he keep getting himself into these situations? Without too much thought, he made to dip his wand into the mist.

"No!" the room screamed, startling him. He pulled back; as his wand left the pensieve, the room fell silent again. Harry collected himself, his heart beating wildly, before trying again.

"Please, you don't have to! Please!"

Harry recognised the begging, wailing voice as Narcissa's.

"Quiet, Narcissa," said Lucius Malfoy, "you'll only make things worse."

"It's okay, Mother." Draco's voice was gentle. Harry could hear footsteps.

"They're coming," said Lucius sharply. "Narcissa, sit down."

There was a scrape of a chair and a deep breath. "Lucius," Narcissa whispered, her voice hoarse, "please don't do this."

"Sit."

Harry heard the door open, nearly pulling him back again. He looked around wildly, but there was no one there. He returned his attention back to the pensieve. His breath caught at the voice he heard next.

"Lucius, you're ready," Voldemort breathed. "Good."

Footsteps followed as people filed into the room, and there was another scrape of a chair.

"Don't sit down, Rowle, we won't be here long."

Harry could tell which movements were Voldemort's. Each step made him shudder; it almost felt as though he were there in the room with Harry, invisible.

"Bella," Narcissa pleaded, "please –"

"Narcissa, be quiet," Lucius snapped.

"Draco," Voldemort hissed. "Come here. Good. Now, Draco. I thought you wanted to be a Death Eater. Have you changed your mind?"

"No," said Draco quietly. He took a deep, shaky breath. "I do."

"Then tell me, what happened in Portland?"

There was silence.

"The bugger ran off, that's what!"

"Quiet, Rowle, I'm talking to Draco. Draco?" Voldemort sighed. "I'm losing my patience."

"I don't know," said Draco loudly, his voice breaking. "I couldn't do it!"

"Please, my Lord-"

"Cissy, shut up," Bellatrix warned.

"You couldn't? You could, and you didn't. I need my Death Eaters to be loyal, Draco. I hope you understand. You are young; I fear Narcissa has been too lenient with you. Lucius is also to blame."

"Yes, my Lord," said Lucius.

"Yes, my Lord," Draco repeated quietly.

Narcissa started crying.

"Narcissa, if you had raised Draco properly this wouldn't be happening. Lucius, please." Harry heard Voldemort step back. "Discipline your son."

For a moment, there was dead silence, and Harry thought the memory had ended. And then,

"Crucio!"

Narcissa cried out, but she was drowned out by Draco, his strangled, guttural scream echoing through the room – this room or that, Harry couldn't tell. It went on, and on, until Harry heard Draco crumble, whimpering, to the ground, and Voldemort say, "again."

Harry wouldn't hear any more. He pulled back, sweating, shaking, and shrunk to the floor next to the pensieve. The room rang out in silence. Harry counted to ten, to steady himself, then took to the fireplace and returned to familiarity with a clearly spoken "Malfoy Manor."

"Potter? Where have you been?"

Malfoy stood with his arms crossed in the library when Harry, after pacing several lengths of the foyer, finally entered. Malfoy looked agitated, a little wild eyed, his fingers tapping at his arm. "Potter, you're pale."

"Sorry," Harry croaked. "I got lost."

"You got lost," Malfoy deadpanned.

Harry nodded and walked past him, avoiding his eyes. "Did you find anything?"

Malfoy pointed at a pile of books. "Nothing new," he said with a shrug. "I've already read most of these – when the house elves told me, I thought I could find… anyway, I can fill you in."

They sat down together, Malfoy passing Harry books over the table and directing him to chapters on the Curse. It was all superstition, with a few old recorded cases.

"It's hereditary," said Harry, furrowing his brow as he tapped a marked paragraph. "Surely…"

"There would be more cases?" Malfoy laughed. "It skips generations. It's random. It hasn't been seen in our family in two hundred years."

"How old is it?"

"The first case I know of was around 200 BC, but I'm sure it's much older than that. No one knows where it came from, but it always repeats itself in the same families. My father laughed it off as superstition."

"It could have been you. Wouldn't it have been better to-"

"Let the line die out?"

"I didn't mean it like that, but yeah -"

"Lots of people have rare diseases in their family history. Just because a great uncle had dragonpox doesn't mean you shouldn't be allowed to start a family."

"This is a bit different to dragonpox; you don't inherit dragonpox."

"I'd rather be at risk of going mad than never have been born at all," Malfoy snapped.

"Right, of course, sorry." Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"It's not entirely hereditary, actually," said Malfoy after a moment, but he was still looking unhappily into his lap. "The Curse is from my father's side. From the Malfoy side."

"What - how is that possible?"

Malfoy looked up with narrowed eyes, shaking his head. "Marriage, Potter, is a powerful thing. You're not just signing a piece of paper; you're sharing your magic, your lineage, your future. You're binding yourself. Why do you think divorce is so uncommon?"

"That's… wow," said Harry, "I didn't know."

"How has no one told you? You could have accidentally married someone without checking their family history."

"I don't think family history matters as much to me as it does to you," said Harry, with a little more ice than intended.

Malfoy snorted. "You're a hypocrite. You just said it'd be better to let my line die out because of a Curse. If you'd married a Malfoy, you would have been livid if any of your future offspring inherited our curse."

Harry didn't want to admit Malfoy was right. Instead, he said, "You'll be marrying pureblood then?"

Malfoy shrugged. "I want to know what kind of magic I'm marrying into. Most purebloods do. But I'll tell them about the curse, if that's what you're worried about. If everything goes to plan, all of England will know soon anyway."

"Do you think they'll believe it? That we've been studying the Curse for the last few weeks?"

"I don't know. Do you think we'll find a cure?"

"I don't know," said Harry honestly. "But I do want to try."

Malfoy slouched forward, elbows on knees, and looked away thoughtfully. His hands were clasped, and he continued to tap his fingers on his knuckles. "Why are you helping us?" he said at last.

"I don't think it's fair for Death Eaters to go without a trial. And I don't think your mother deserves to die."

"Cut the crap."

Harry sighed. "And it helps me too. If we're in the South somewhere, for a good reason, then I can stay out of the prophet, and out of everyone's expectations. I can do what I want, without –"

" – looking lazy and selfish?"

"Pretty much. But the rest is true too."

"Let's stick to the selfish and lazy story," said Malfoy at last. "I'm tired of being in debt to you." He stood up and carefully picked up the books, spelling pages findable as he closed them. "I'm going to go and get ready, I'll see you tonight."

Harry was already packed and ready, so as Malfoy left he summoned parchment and ink. It was time to draft a new letter to his friends.

Author's Note: I forgot I was supposed to be writing this! Thanks for any reminders and reviews c: