A/N: I'm working to update on all of my stories. I've decided to update on certain ones first because I'm still trying to establish them. I'm hoping for good reviews but I haven't updated in so long that I fear I've lost some of my readers. I guess we'll see. This is a newer story though. I'm hoping it takes off!!

-Jess

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters used in this story. Only the house elves and plot are mine. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

More Than A Woman

The first night Draco spent back at the Malfoy Manor was an eerie one. He laid in bed with his arms tucked behind his head watching the shadows of the trees outside of his window dance across the ceiling in the light breeze. The breeze that blew through his open balcony doors and made the room creak around him. When he'd first entered his room for the evening he'd shut his door and locked it behind him. And when he'd lain down he'd strongly debated whether or not he was going to go see one of his friends using the Floo Network. He didn't want to be in this house by himself because quite honestly he felt he never really was alone in it even though he was the only person apart from the house elves that resided there. He always felt that there were things floating about in the corridors. As far back as he could remember he could always hear something pacing above him. There were times in his childhood that he could hear whimpering somewhere in the house… And the occasional scream.

When he was a boy, no older than six, he remembered calling for his mother in the night and his door had opened and he was so relieved that she'd come. He remembered watching her figure move through the room until she came to stand to the right of him where she seemed to sway…

Draco shut his eyes remembering that horrible evening. The evening that made it so he'd refused to sleep by himself for a month. Slowly he drifted off to sleep…

Dream:

"Mummy!" he called her for the sixth time at the top of his lungs. He was sitting up in bed, his small face pale in the darkness. His voice quivered as he bellowed for Narcissa Malfoy, unaware that his father was in the room down the hall telling her to let him cry. He needed to get used to sleeping on his own.

"Mummy!" Draco bellowed again. "Please! I can't sleep!"

Only silence met his pleas. He curled into a ball, letting his tears fall down his round flawless cheeks. It was then that he heard the door open and it slowly revealed the hallway beyond it with a loud creak.

"Mummy?" Draco asked sitting up again. He slowly felt his heart beat regulate itself as he waited for his mother to push the curtains aside and crawl under the canopy with him. He could see a dark figure slowly moving into the room, yet there was no sound. No footsteps. No creaking of the wood beneath his mother's weight. And the figure came to a stop on Draco's right and stood there swaying back and forth as though there was a light wind blowing about his room. And quite suddenly a shriek erupted from the figure and the curtains were half ripped, half blown off of the railings that held them up and Draco was engulfed in them.

It was then that he began to scream at the top of his lungs. He screamed and screamed until the lights came on in his room. This time it was his mother that was there and she was calling his name in frank bewilderment and ripping his canopy curtains off of him. When he was freed she pulled her son into her arms and hugged him, cupping his head in her hand, his face buried in her chest.

"Lucius!" she'd cried. "Lucius!"

And all went dark. And all went cold and suddenly his mother was gone and Draco was no longer six. He was now sixteen again and he was lying on his back with his curtains around him. The figure moved into the room, soundless as it always was and Draco felt that old familiar lump form in his throat.

"Mum?" he asked uncertainly.

"Guess again," came his father's harsh voice. The wind came and in the wind Draco's father was launched through the curtain, his cold hand wrapping around his son's throat. "I'll teach you to snitch boy!" Lucius snarled. And Draco felt the tip of his father's wand dig into his left eyelid and he began to scream as a flash of green light erupted...

End.

Draco let out a startled cry as he sat up in bed, one hand clutched on his throat, the other holding his eye. He looked around his room frantically, searching every corner for the man who made him. When he realized he was in the clear he also realized that it had to be close to dawn. He could tell by the lighting of the room and he stood slowly, stretching, seeing as the chill of the morning air had set into his bones. He turned towards his bedroom door to find it stood ajar and that made his blood run cold. He knew that before he'd gone to sleep he'd closed and locked it.

"What the hell?" he muttered. He cautiously walked over to it and peered into the hallway. He could try and say that he'd grown balls over the years but when it came to his home he still found he was scared shitless of some things. He'd been traumatized at an early age and had never quite gotten over it. Instead he spent most of his time at Hogwarts and when he was there he was never alone. He slept in the same room as his dorm mates and didn't think about the ghost figure that haunted his dreams. All of those fears came flooding back to him when he entered the doors of Malfoy Manor.

Draco quickly shut his door again and turned to walk onto the balcony. He could see that his mother's massive garden had died and that in itself was sad. In the dim morning light he could see that all of the good magic that had existed around the Malfoy grounds had seemed to vanish along with his mother. Now the grounds were only empty and dead… This was the kind of home that children passed by on their bikes and told tales to each other about how the massive structure was plagued by spirits. And then they'd dare each other to go and touch the gate. And as they got older they would venture further until they would actually get bold enough to enter the house itself.

Draco's gray eyes narrowed as he thought of that. He felt almost as though if he stayed here, he would rot away just as the manor would…

He stood and entered his room again, entering his bathroom and when he saw his reflection he was even more startled. There were bruises around his neck where his father's fingers had dug into his pale flesh… In his dream his father had hovered above him as he'd tried to kill him… And now there were bruises. He ran his hand over the discolored skin and swallowed hard. What would he make of this?

--

The Daily Prophet came that afternoon as Draco sat in the parlor silently with his hands in his lap. His owl tapped on the window in front of him and he slowly got to his feet to let him in. He took the paper that Lucifer dropped on the windowsill and sat back down on the black leather couch, bringing his feet up. He had been watching the papers very carefully these days. Almost as though he expected his father to escape Azkaban… Nobody knew that it was him that had turned in Lucius Malfoy and Draco intended to keep it that way. There really wasn't any need to let the whole world know. He'd have Death Eaters at his front door so quickly that it wouldn't even be funny.

He tossed the paper aside quickly when he didn't find anything that could be an immediate threat to him and wandered into his library to do some research. He intended to put up a ward around the Manor to warn him if his father stepped foot on the grounds. It was that evening that everything fell apart.

--

It seemed like setting the ward had taken most of the evening and when Draco finally laid down to go to sleep he fell unconscious almost instantly. With the last hours of the night he'd spent sitting at his desk taking notes. His mother had always told him to trust his first instinct and when he'd stepped off of the train it had been to keep a low profile. And his definition of keeping it on the down low was to become a whole different person…

"Should we be waking him yet?" Kiwi whispered to his mother who quietly and quickly bustled about Draco's room getting his things together.

"Shhh!" she hissed as she packed his bag full. She paused at his desk and saw his notes and immediately recognized it as a potion's recipe. She folded it neatly and put it in amongst his clothing before they heard the alarm go off. Draco sat up in bed his eyes wide, his wand drawn.

"Young Master Malfoy!" Kiwi cried. He threw Draco's broom at him and Draco caught it in his free hand without blinking an eye. "You's has to get out of here now!"

"What the hell?" Draco cried groggily as he was being pulled out of bed, a sack being thrown over his shoulder. Kiwi's mother gave him a large pouch that was heavy with coins.

"We should have been waking you sooner!" she said pushing him towards the balcony doors. "We's is just getting news that your father is escaping from Azkaban. So I's is coming to pack your things and get you out of the house! Go now sir! Go now before he is catching you!"

"Ooooh Draco!" came his father's deranged battle cry from the entrance hall. But by then Draco was flying away into the night and the house elves had vanished. Lucius entered his son's room shortly after and found it deserted and neatly put together. Draco's owl had been released into the night and it seemed the boy hadn't been here at all. The only thing that gave him away was the lamp that was still on by his bedside. He slowly approached the open balcony doors, his lips quivering. He then turned and Apparated away from his home. It wasn't long after that that the house elves immerged, Kiwi quivering next to his mother.

"Do you think he'll be coming back for us?" he asked, his voice small.

"No," she muttered, holding her son close to her. "I's is thinking poor Master Malfoy is going to have to worry a lot more about that…"

--

It was nearly three hours later when Draco touched down. He'd chosen to stop under a thicket of trees and by the light of the lantern he'd pulled out of his bag; he searched the contents of his luggage. Kiwi's mother had packed everything he needed and he silently thanked her whilst pulling out his sleeping bag. He thought about pitching the tent but thought it may be too noticeable. He preferred to blend in.

As he bed down for the night he thought about how much his life had changed over the past months. He would've never had to of resorted to sleeping outside like a vagabond but things changed. And Draco never would've known that he was flexible enough to handle it if he'd never of turned in his father. In a lot of ways it was a huge boost to his ego… Perhaps he didn't need to live in luxury with every thing he could possibly want at his disposal. He definitely preferred it but this was unquestionably interesting still.

Without the ability to use magic to set up wards around him, he was extremely afraid to fall asleep and this in turn led him to pack up camp and set off again. He was headed for Diagon Alley. He needed to do some shopping anyway and he was incredibly afraid to go back to the Manor to get what he needed. He had a feeling that that would be an extremely huge mistake on his part. He kicked himself for not gathering his ingredients earlier but it couldn't be helped.

"Expect the unexpected," he whispered as he secured his bag onto his back again. "Always expect the unexpected. What's the matter with you? You knew it was only a matter of time."

He shook his head and threw his hood on before he mounted his broom. He paused. He didn't exactly have a game plan and he figured he needed one.

"Of course you need one you idiot," he muttered. He didn't think Diagon Alley was the safest place he could go but his options were entire limited at this point and he didn't think that he could keep wandering around out in the wilderness for much longer. That in itself could have dire consequences. He didn't know how to fend for himself out in the wild and he didn't care to learn. He was fairly certain he would die first. He sat down against a tree and began thinking of all the options he had.

After about a half an hour he decided he would make a quick trip to Diagon Alley. He needed to hit the nearest ingredients shop that could be located. He gave himself roughly two hours to get everything he needed and then return back to the forest outside of Diagon Alley. He read enough about it to know it was nothing like the Forbidden Forest located on Hogwarts grounds. He could brew his potion there, take it and then venture out to find a suitable place to stay until he had to return to school. He almost considered contacting Dumbledore to see if he could help in anyway. He quickly dismissed that through for him just beginning to feel desperate.

"I can do this," he whispered. He kicked off of the ground and was on his way towards Diagon Alley. He pulled a small enchanted compass out of his pocket and spoke into it. "Diagon Alley," he muttered and then he set the small round object onto the shaft of his broom and his broom automatically shifted its direction.

He hoped he wasn't making a huge mistake. But in his position he had to take risks. He figured that his father couldn't afford to be seen in such a busy place. If he set foot in Diagon Alley he would be caught immediately. It wasn't in Lucius Malfoy's best interest. At least that's what Draco hoped as he approached his destination.