Part 2

Like every night since Voldemort punished the Malfoy family for Lucius' failures by cursing the only heir, shrieks and howls and slaughter filled Draco's dreams. Through unfamiliar forests he bounded over fallen trees, raced over the dying grass, splashed through brooks and turned sharply on one paw as his prey darted this way and that, running from his teeth.

Pine needles, upturned dirt, broken branches and his prey's fears mingled with a hundred other scents in the night air. Crickets fell silent as he passed, the entire forest became as quiet as a grave. His paws hitting the ground echoed his prey's wild heartbeat. He dashed forward and pounced, heard a scream cut short. With a mouthful of blood, he turned the body over to get at the throat and looked into his own grey eyes.

Like every night since the start of his curse, Draco bolted upright on the floor. As his heart slowed and he breathed deep, he looked around, trying to remember where he was. In blurry snippets, he remembered fighting Fenrir, limping after someone he didn't recognize, and then drinking warm milk before going to sleep. A blanket covered him and a pillow lay on the thick rug beneath him. Perhaps they had made it to Grimmauld place after all. He stood up and scanned the room. Though dark, the moon gave him enough light to see his mother and Snape asleep in two beds. Reassured by their presence, he crept by and opened the closet in the corner, picking out a spare robe and pulling it around his shoulders. It smelled dusty and fit too big, the sleeves ending several inches over his hands, but at least he wasn't naked. Almost swallowed up in the robe, he walked over to the window and sat down on the sill, staring at the muggle houses and electric lights.

He stayed there until the sky turned blue with the dawn. As light trickled into the room, Snape woke up and stepped out of bed almost fully dressed. Glancing at Draco once, he took his wand from beneath his pillow and cast a couple of charms to properly fit and clean the robes.

"Is anyone else awake?" Snape asked.

Draco shook his head. "I haven't heard anyone. Who am I listening for?"

"Members of the Order of the Phoenix. Several of them are here, but we should especially be careful of Remus Lupin."

"Lupin?" Draco looked up at that. "The werewolf? I assume he saw me. How'd he take it?"

"Better than I would have liked," Snape said, but he smiled faintly as he said it. "I'm afraid he saw you drinking milk last night. He probably imagines that you're some kind of watered down wolf cub."

The thought irritated him but at least if they thought he was a tame wolf, then they wouldn't insist on locking him up.

"Let him," Draco said. "There may come a time when we need them to underestimate me."

"It's already benefited us. Lupin administered veritaserum on us, but as you were a wolf at the time, you escaped his notice. If you keep up a pretense, they will assume you are still a spoiled little coward."

"'Still'?" Draco only smiled and let it pass. "Fine. I'll play the childish Malfoy. Won't be too hard, really."

"Draco," Severus said softly. "You are of age. Without your father present, you are the head of the Malfoy family. We need you at your best. We can't do this without you."

"You mean, 'don't screw this up.' Don't worry, I won't. I want father back more than anyone."

An hour after dawn, Lupin brought up their breakfast and informed them of their expected duties. He mentioned the Order's need for more potions, poisons, and healing draughts and explained that while ingredients were hard to come by, he would procure whatever they needed. While he spoke, he could not help stealing glances at Draco, looking for signs of fatigue, depression or plain moodiness. Instead he looked well rested if somewhat nervous, almost hiding behind his mother.

"--the greenhouse," Narcissa said.

Remus looked back at her with a furrowed brow. "I beg your pardon?"

"I said," she repeated, smiling a little too nicely, "why not use the plants in the greenhouse? I'm sure they're still--"

"What greenhouse?" Lupin asked.

"Why, the one behind the house, of course."

"But there is no greenhouse here."

"Oh, Remus dear. This is the house of the most noble and ancient family of Black. Surely you didn't think that the main building is all there was?" She set her plate aside and stood, giving Draco's sleeve a little tug so that he followed close at her side. "Shall we show you?"

She led them downstairs, ignoring the door to the kitchen and the sounds of several Order members speaking inside. Inside the living room, however, she found Harry sitting alone on a couch, as if waiting for them. Harry met Draco's gaze and blinked at the confidence there until Draco looked away quickly.

"Good morning," Narcissa said, inclining her head slightly and not paying attention when he nodded back. Instead, she stepped up to the window that looked out over the backyard. Running her hand along the windowsill, she found a second latch that was little more than a piece of metal stuck over what felt like a stripped screw, looking more like a broken hinge than a latch. She flipped it and the wall shimmered, revealed the window to really be a hidden door. It opened not into the backyard but into a glass greenhouse covered in long overgrown vines.

"Merlin," Lupin whispered. "This was here the whole time?"

"It takes a dark wizard to find out a dark wizard's secrets," she said. "I suppose you never let Severus examine the house."

From Lupin's look, they hadn't. Severus smiled and walked inside the greenhouse, already mentally cataloging the supplies that he could see. Narcissa sent Draco in after him, but she paused when Lupin called her back.

"We found infestations of dark creatures in the rest of the house when we came here," he said. "We should clear the greenhouse before you use it. It looks even worse than the whole house did before."

"Clear it?" she asked. "Remus, it's always looked like that. It's the garden of dark wizards, remember? Or did you want to look through to make sure there was nothing we could use against you?"

"I told you not to expect us to trust you," he said.

"I didn't expect you to get in our way of creating poison for your war effort," she said, her smile never faltering. Her smile never turned sugary or devious. She simply looked like a good wife hosting a particularly troublesome party guest. "If you like, you can watch us and look over the place, but we really do have work to get to. The potions you want are quite time consuming. Even with all of us working, we won't finish the first batches before nightfall."

Loathe to trust her and loathe to delay her work, Lupin looked about to walk into the kitchen to draft someone to watch over them when Harry stood up.

"I can watch them," he said.

Lupin shook his head. "I'm afraid that's out of the question. I simply can't trust them with you."

"Why not?" Harry asked. "They already took veritaserum. If they wanted to hurt me, they'd have said so."

"Harry--"

"It's not like I'm doing anything here," Harry said. "Except fetching tea. Or would it be all right if I played house elf all day?"

"I think tea is a wonderful idea," Narcissa said. "Darjeeling if you have it, please. And perhaps breakfast for yourself? I don't think you've eaten yet and I shouldn't like to put you out."

"Right," Harry said, and went into the kitchen before Lupin could say anything.

The werewolf turned and glared at Narcissa. "Don't think you can talk your way through everything. You are only here because we need you. If you become more trouble than you're worth, you'll be in Azkaban before you know it."

"You shouldn't blame us because the boy stifles under a short leash. In any event, when he comes out safe and sound tonight, you'll see your fears are groundless. We don't serve the dark lord or intend to hurt the boy. Or don't you trust your own veritaserum?"

While they waited, the sounds from the kitchen died away to an awkward silence. No doubt Harry had told them who the tea was for. When he came back, he pointedly did not look at Lupin but rather followed behind Narcissa. No one was surprised when Lupin also followed them in.

The Black greenhouse was as might be expected after letting the plants and creatures within have free reign for years. Vines grew up and around the tables, shelves and ceramic pots, even curling through the broken glass until the entire greenhouse looked like a jungle cave. Black flowers bloomed along the vines, matching the deep blue flowers that had completely taken over the middle table. Scattered across the tables against the wall were several racks holding glass vials, a few of them toppled over and spilled as the plants grew around them, but most of the racks were still upright holding whatever the last person inside had left.

"Draco," Severus said, "we'll need those midnight orchids ground into a pulp. Get to it."

With a small nod, Draco turned and picked up a knife lying on a cutting board, its edge a little rusty and covered with a line of mold. "Um, Severus? Could you clean this off?"

A quick scourgify and sharpening charm made the knife serviceable again and Draco began working, neatly slicing off the blossoms within reach. After a few minutes he couldn't reach any more. He wasn't that short, but he had to lean across the wide tables to reach the walls. He pushed a hand down on the table and winced as it creaked. It didn't sound like it could take his weight.

"Not tall enough?" Harry smirked, coming next to him.

Draco brushed a few strands of hair from his eyes before he looked up at Harry. The Boy Who Lived had certainly grown an inch or two, even if his hair was still an unkempt bird's nest and his glasses were as unbecoming as before. Draco acted like a helpless and frightened boy, certainly not like the head of the family Malfoy. He didn't try to act spoiled, though, afraid of reminding Harry of what he'd done to him over their school years.

"They're too high for me," he said softly, opening his hand and holding the knife in his palm, offering it to him. "Could you get a few for me please?"

"I--sure," Harry said, blinking once. Draco had said please? And looked so deferential that he hardly looked like the same Slytherin who'd fought him in the bathroom. His smirk disappeared as he turned and started cutting off blossoms. His own cuts were not as precise as Draco's. The stems were thicker and stronger than he first thought and needed a firm hand to take each flower off.

Holding each blossom in his left arm, he finally turned when he couldn't hold anymore and spilled them into Draco's waiting hands. Their dark coloring against Draco's pale skin and eyes made the Slytherin look like a ghost.

"Thank you," Draco said, putting the flowers on the table. "You can set the knife aside. I don't need it now."

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, looking over his shoulder.

"I need to pluck off their petals and grind them up. We just throw away the stems." He paused. Harry wasn't moving. "If...if you'd like to help, you could help me take the petals off."

"Really?"

From his spot in the corner near the door, Lupin cleared his throat. "Malfoy, I don't think that would be wise. Harry is not a potions expert."

"He can handle ingredients well enough," Draco said. "I worked with him in potions class for years."

"The boy will not turn dark or be poisoned from handling flowers," Severus said. "And it's true, he's vaguely competent if he's only handling ingredients. Even he can pull a few petals off a flower."

In her own corner directly opposite from Lupin, Narcissa kept her back to him to hide her smile. Best to keep her mouth shut for now, after she'd won getting Harry inside here. And she didn't have to speak this time anyway. Her companion and her son were doing fine enough without her. So was Remus, although he didn't seem to realize how his behavior was pushing Harry towards them.

"You don't have to worry about crushing them," Draco told Harry as he pulled a large white bowl towards himself. He had to wipe the dust from it, but after a moment it was clean and usable again. "Just try not to tear the petals. We'll need every last bit."

Harry nodded once and began working, dropping the petals in by the handful. It was easy work and far more interesting to watch the dark wizards than to sit in the living room staring at the wallpaper. "Malfoy? Why didn't you use your wand to clean the bowl?"

Draco paused, then slowly continued pulling apart flowers. "I don't have my wand. Fenrir bit it in half."

"Fenrir?" Harry whispered. "When he--?"

"When he bit me," Draco said in a low voice. "The dark lord sent me to him. During the attack, I lost my wand."

"You-Know-Who gave you to Fenrir?" Lupin asked. "Why didn't you come to us for help?"

"Either I went to Fenrir or he would have killed my family. There was no choice."

"What happened when he attacked you?"

Draco slammed the orchid in his hands on the table, twisting it between his fingers. "What do you care?" he said, not looking at him. "Want to compare notes? Show off scars?"

Lupin sat back in his chair and held a hand up in way of apology. "Sorry. I shouldn't have...I suppose I've simply had more time to adjust to it." In a way, he felt a little better. Snape's new potion could not be such a panacea if Draco reacted so harshly to his question. Usually werewolves were moody or depressed, but Draco looked like a jittery cat.

Focusing solely on his work, Draco ground up a handful of petals at a time, nodding when Harry could dump another bunch into the bowl. When they needed more flowers, Harry immediately cut more from the vines and offered them up.

"I think this will be enough," Draco said when he had thin layer at the bottom. He looked around the table for a moment, pushing aside plants and broken pots until he found what he wanted, a curved metal plate on four small legs. His hand automatically went to his side, and he closed his eyes. So many months afterward and he was still reaching for a wand. He glanced at Lupin and looked away quickly when he realized Lupin was staring at him.

"I need you to cast a spell for me," he murmured to Harry. "Seadwefyr."

"What's it do?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"It just lights a fire on the plate here," Draco said, tapping the metal dish in front of him. "But it has to be a specific fire. Please?"

"What was it again?"

"Seadwefyr," Draco said and hoped that Lupin wouldn't hear.

Unfortunately Harry had never outgrown his habit of calling out his spells, so his incantation echoed through the greenhouse and probably in the living room, too. In an instant, Lupin was at their side, one hand wrapped tight around Draco's arm, jerking him forward.

"You may be a dark wizard," Lupin said lowly, almost sounding like a growl. "But Harry is not."

"It's just one spell," Draco winced. He leaned back, trying to squirm out of Lupin's grasp. He couldn't, but in doing so he made himself look even smaller. Without a wand, he seemed helpless. "It can't hurt him!"

Narcissa whirled, already reaching for her wand, but Snape's hand on her shoulder stopped her. She looked at him in surprise and, when he slightly shook his head once, waited beside him.

"Remus, what's wrong with you?" Harry demanded, standing between him and Draco. "Ever since they got here you've been treating them like dirt."

"You know what they're capable of, Harry. Snape killed Dumbledore, for Merlin's sake! You more than anyone else should understand why you mustn't trust them."

"Of course I don't like them, but you put them under veritaserum." Harry tilted his head. "Why bother if you weren't going to trust them anyway?"

"Just because they didn't lie doesn't mean they told us the truth," Lupin said. "And you must not cast dark spells. You don't know the risks."

Harry paused and stared at him for a moment. "If one dark spell was enough to put me at risk, I wouldn't be asking you to let go of him now."

Draco didn't look anywhere except the floor, but he heard that and considered it. Harry and Lupin were having a different conversation now and he wasn't sure what it might be. Whatever it was, though, he wanted to know.

At last Lupin released his arm. Draco drew back and rubbed the spot where Lupin had held him, certain that it would bruise. It wasn't hard to act like a frightened child with the older wizard still towering over him and he shied away, bumping into Severus. He looked up in surprise. His godfather never came close enough to touch him in front of others.

"If you are quite done intimidating a wandless wizard much smaller than you," Severus said, sneering at Lupin, "I suggest you let us get back to work."

"Which would be done much faster without you supervising us," Narcissa said, all pretense of being nice stripped away. "So quit breathing down our necks."

"If you think I'd leave you to your own devices--" Lupin started.

"I'll stay," Harry said.

For a moment no one said anything. Lupin stared at him, wanting to argue but loathe to do so again in front of the Slytherins.

"Harry," Lupin said, clearly choosing his words carefully. "Are you sure? Veritaserum aside, they have not earned our trust."

"Believe me," Harry said, "no one hates Snape more than me. But I'm sick of sitting around. At least here I can sit around and do something."

Wordlessly Lupin glanced up at Snape, who glared back.

"The boy could not learn basic potions or spells in six years," Severus said. "I doubt he will learn our evil dark magic in a few hours."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Lupin ignored him. "I'll be back at lunch time. Harry, don't let any of them out without an escort, understand?"

"Yes, Remus." Now that he'd gotten his way, Harry saw no reason to antagonize the older werewolf.

"I'll lock the door. You know the password." Remus gave one last warning glare to Severus and Narcissa before walking out and closing the door behind himself.

"Finally," Narcissa muttered. With a huff, she turned back to her work, cutting into stems with a severity that betrayed her ill humor. Severus noticed and kept his mouth shut. He didn't want to attract her attention while she was upset, but he also wanted to hear anything that passed between Draco and Harry.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked, coming back to Draco's side. "I don't know what got into him."

Draco turned towards Harry, then slowly raised his face until their eyes met. "He's just worried about you. Your kind doesn't know much about dark wizards except hearsay, and--well, sometimes we aren't very nice, either."

Making a show of being nervous, he brushed a stray wisp of hair from his eyes and looked down again. "Potter, I...I want to..." He sighed and started again. "I'm sorry. If I'd known then everything I know now, I would've been so different. I wouldn't have..."

"Treat me like shite?" Harry asked, an edge creeping into his voice. "Get the newspapers to say mean things about me and my friends? Help that bitch Umbridge nearly ruin Hogwarts?"

Draco winced as if struck. "I didn't know," he whispered. "I believed what I was told. I didn't know they were afraid of him, that they told me everything just to keep me safe from him."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, then looked up as Narcissa looked over her shoulder at him.

"The dark lord used our children to watch us," she said softly. "Children slip so much easier than adults. If Draco had known how afraid we were, that we served out of fear, the dark lord might have seen our disloyalty."

"So instead you killed people," Harry accused. "You killed Dumbledore to save yourselves."

"We had no choice," she said, her voice breaking slightly. "I don't know why you aren't afraid of him, but he terrorized us for so long. When he came back it was like a nightmare I couldn't wake up from."

"Right," Harry said. "And why should I believe you?"

"Because Remus distrusts us so much," Snape said, "that we are still under the effects of the massive dose of veritaserum he gave us."

"And you're compelled to answer, aren't you?" Harry asked. "Why did you kill Dumbledore?"

"Because he ordered me to," Snape said readily as if he'd expected that question. "He didn't believe he would survive to the end of the year, and he told me that his life was worth keeping my duplicity against the dark lord a secret."

"How convenient."

"We were surrounded by several Death Eaters and Dumbledore was already dying," Severus snapped. "Even though I don't know what he was dying of. I couldn't have done anything else."

Harry tilted his head. Snape couldn't have known he'd seen everything. If this was a lie, it was a damn good one.

"I know you'll never think of us as friends," Draco said, careful not to look up but to rather project a feeling of repentance. "But perhaps we don't have to be enemies?"

Harry gave him a wary look, glanced at Narcissa and Severus who were back to working on their own potions, and then stared back at Draco. Six years of hell and then Dumbledore's assassination to top it all off did not convince him of Malfoy's good intentions. But then Draco had no wand and was trapped in this house amongst members of the Order who hated him. He couldn't even get away from Remus when the older werewolf started to hurt him. In fact, neither Snape nor Narcissa had gone to his aid. Perhaps they really were afraid. And Draco was such a docile, tame wolf that Harry thought for sure it had to reveal at least a little of Draco's true character.

"No," Harry murmured. "We don't have to be enemies."

Draco looked up with a surprised smile, but he couldn't help a flinch as Harry took purposeful steps toward him. Every time Harry had come toward him like that, something painful had happened. As Draco leaned back, raising one arm as if to defend himself, Harry stopped just out of arm's reach.

"It's all right," Harry said. "I won't hurt you."

I'll believe that when I see it, Draco thought, but he kept that thought to himself. He lowered his hand and let his smile return naturally, knowing that if he tried to force it, it would look fake. With Harry still watching him, Draco found that he wasn't quite sure what to do next, so he cleared his throat and motioned at the flowers overhead.

"I'll need more of those," he said. "If you don't mind, that is."

"Not at all." And while Harry sounded confused by the dark wizards' collective behavior, he didn't snap at them for the rest of the day. He did trade several barbs with Severus, but none of them expected any less.

When noon rolled around, Harry left them to retrieve their lunches, finally giving Draco a chance to turn his back to the door and grin. He couldn't give into the urge to laugh, not with Harry and the Order so close, but he saw his mother and Severus smiling softly in kind.

"Masterfully done," Severus whispered.

"I take it back," Narcissa said to Snape. "This plan might actually work."

Still smiling, Draco went back to mixing his poison. The plan had to work if he had any hope of seeing his father again. For that, he'd risk anything, even the ire of the Order of the Phoenix and the rage of Harry Potter. His hand motions lulled him into a reverie as he considered their subterfuge. Everyone knew that snakes could be charming, but lions always arrogantly assumed themselves to be above such seduction, even when they knowingly invited in vipers.

TBC...