SO sorry about the lateness of this update! School and my play had me going up the wall! Sorry its so short, too, but I promise this is not the end! We've got a few more secrets to uncurl...

Amy

The day had come that Draco had dreaded since the news of a family death; the day of the funeral. If it wasn't enough that his only father in which he could truly stand was dead, the fact that his mother had arrived at Hogwarts drunken on brandy and wine was enough to make the mood cold and dreary. With Hermione slowly getting worse day by day, and Potter lying as still as a pin all day long, Draco couldn't really be his normal peppy self. He wished he could just die and get it over with... no, he wished he hadn't raped her.

He sneered when his mother came and picked him up, and his nose twitched when he arrived at the graveyard grounds. Exiting his carriage, he approached the grave with a swiftness his father had given him in his genes, leaving his mother to fend for herself. Draco didn't bother to say hello or give a passing glance to any of the many Death Eaters surrounding him in black, nor did he shed a tear as he sat down in the front of the lawn chairs, ready for the ceremony.

It started out slaggy, and the eulogy his mother gave was rather boring. But when it came down to the viewing of the coffin to say final farewells... he thought about it for a moment; thought about saying good-bye to his father and seeing the dead corpse. When it came down to it, however, Draco felt cowardly as he sat with his hands in his lap. Unable to speak. Unable to move.

Someone patted him on the back, and he jumped to see a face he did not expect. "What do you want?" He sneered at Peter Petigrew.

"He told me to give you this." Said Wormtail quietly, placing a piece of folded parchment in Draco's hand, "He told me to se-send his best regards." And with that Wormtail was gone, his hood drawn over his head as he walked up to the coffin only a moment. Draco eyed him softly with a piercing stare before opening the note in his hands. He glanced around to make sure no one was watching before reading silently to himself. When he was done he stood up, a mixed emotional look on his face, and strode over to Narcissa Malfoy. She was comforting a friend.

"Mum, can I talk to you a moment?" He asked, refusing to look over at the coffin next to him.

"Oh, dear," Narcissa hiccuped, "Mummy's busy, puppet."

"Mum, this is kind of important." Draco said more sternly. Narcissa's face turned serious as she excused herself from the crowd surrounding them. When they were out of earshot, Draco said, "The Dark Lord... he..."

"Yes, I (hiccup) am quite aware of him." She said, almost as if she weren't drunk at all. "Now that Lucius is dead, he feels we should be... (hiccup) more gracious for his 'hospitality' towards our family all these years. I told him it was a bunch of rubbish. What I say is this; if he wants to stake out a Death Eater retreat in our mansion, he's got another thing coming to him."

"But.. Mum... he said-"

"I don't care what he said!" Narcissa said at once. "He's no friend of mine anymore!"

"Cissy," Draco whispered, "You're calling attention to us." He sighed. "At least Father didn't GIVE him the mansion..."

"O-Oh... about that." Narcissa wrung her hands, glancing around. "Your father... your father was a very VERY honorable man... and a big follower of him, mind you... well, there's no easy way to say this, Draco, but... he didn't leave us the mansion."

Draco's face was hard to read.

"What?"

"And... and he didn't leave us the money, either."

"WHAT?"

"Somehow he made a deal with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named... and... well, puppet... how do you feel about living with a few more friends for Christmas?"

"MUM!"

"Now who's calling attention (hiccup) to themselves?" Narcissa raised an eyebrow. "Now, the Dark Lord IS being generous. He IS letting us stay with him in his mansion..."

"OUR mansion! Mother, how could this happen?"

"I suppose Lucius felt he owed it to the Dark Lord... after deserting him years ago and all." Narcissa shrugged, before bursting out into tears. "Oh, Draco! No home! No life! What will we do?" She fell into his arms, sobbing. "Why did I have to marry su-such an idiotic husband?"

"No money whatsoever?"

"None!"

"Not even a little bit?"

"Draco!"

"Alright! Okay!"

Draco went back to Hogwarts feeling like, to say the best possible way, shit. Pure and utter shit. Not only did he not have a home to go back to without seeing Death Eaters, but he had not a cent of money to his name anymore. Surely this wasn't happening to him. Hermione was deathly sick, Draco himself was a rapist, and now this?

The first thing he did when he got to Hogwarts was go to his room. He sat on his bed, contemplating a way to push himself out the window when a knock came on the door. "Go away."

"Malfoy! Come on! Its urgent!" A screaming Colin's voice said through the door.

"I SAID GO AWAY!"

"But Malfoy! We know what's wrong with Harry and Hermione!"

"... come in."

Colin whipped through the door as fast as lighting. "Malfoy-"

"-Go on. Tell me. Its my fault, right?"

"Wha-What?"

"Because I messed with the fabric of time and space going back in time to find out who raped Hermione I damaged not only her memory but caused her and Potter to get deathly ill."

"What kind of fantasy land are you living in?" Colin asked, sitting across from Draco on another bed. "Did you have a bad dream? Harry and Hermione are sick because of a bug."

"Look, I don't think a flu would make them-"

"Not that kind of bug. THIS kind." Colin pulled out a small vile from his robes. Inside the vile was a spider-looking thing with pinchers. It was no bigger than a small toe nail, and it was as flat as an iron. "Its a gillitamp. Comes from gilliweeds that are imported. Deadly poisonous. It sticks under the skin like a parasite, and sucks the life out of you. Must have come from the last shipment Snape received." Colin placed the vile back into his robes. "Gees, you don't look so good."

"You never have," Draco growled, setting his head on his pillow. "So..."

"She's fine. In fact, she's been asking for you."

"Still?"

"Why wouldn't she?"

"Its just - wait. I'm not going to spill my life secrets out to a pathetic Gryffindor." Draco picked the pillow up and threw it at Colin. "And I assume Golden Boy's good too?"

"Better than ever!"

"Damn."

"Can I have one of these?" Colin asked, picking up a chocolate frog from the desk next to Draco. "My mum never lets me have these. Says they're too expensive."

"Get your grimy paws off."

"Why? You can always afford more."

Draco flinched.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"You say Hermione's okay?" Draco changed the subject.

"Right as rain."

"Then I'll be visiting her." He stood up without a second look at Colin. "And if you touch another one of my candies I WILL strangle you." He grabbed the frog out of Colin's hand and threw it at him, before leaving the Slytherin dorms. Up a flight of stairs and two hallways and secret passageways later, he made it to the infirmary. He stopped by a mirror once to make sure his hair looked all right, flexed a few muscles, before opening the doors to the Hospital. He placed a sneer on his face as he entered, but that wasn't enough for the next thing that happened.

"Draco!" He was gripped in a deadly tight hug by a feminine body with brown curls on her head and brown eyes gleaming up at him. "Oh, its so good to see you!"

"I know, I must be dashing from your point of view... from everyone's point of view actually," Said Draco, and he couldn't hide the slight smirk that trailed onto his lips. His eyes met with Potter's. Guilt shrouded his mind, though he would not show THAT. "What are you staring at Potter? Hoping I'll be in Hell soon too?" He knew Potter probably didn't understand, but he didn't care either. "Come on, Granger. Lets go somewhere where there's a little less POTTER stinking up the room." He too Hermione's hand with a smirk and led her out the door.

There were two things going through his mind at the moment; one: she was okay. Two: He was going to have to tell her. Then a third thing popped in his mind. Lie through his teeth.

Again, don't forget to REVIEW! It makes an author feel good knowing she did a good job!

Amy

AKA

RootbeerFloat