A/N: I'm addicted to writing this story. Just so you are all aware. Here's chapter seven!


"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Oh, shut up," Draco snapped at the little marble knight in front of him. Wizard's chess had never been a favorite game of his; he much preferred games that didn't belittle him when he made a mistake. Of course, if he had taken the time to play more often in his youth, then his pieces might not have found so much fault in his strategies.

Lucius was smirking; he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the running commentary by Draco's pieces. "It's right, you know," Lucius commented.

Draco looked across the board at his father. Under different circumstances, Draco might have felt embarrassed to be so perplexed in front of him. Lucius always set the bar high and expected his son to excel in pretty much everything - which, of course, often left him disappointed. Draco had learned at a rather young age that facing his father's disappointment was an unpleasant experience, and had therefore made it something of a lifelong endeavor to avoid encountering it. When it came to chess, though, Lucius had never been disappointed in his son's lack of skill. Draco knew his father derived quite a bit of pleasure from thoroughly defeating him at the game; in fact, his father's insufferable attitude following such victories was a major contributor to Draco's dislike of the game.

Today, though, Draco was focused on enjoying himself and not on winning, and he reminded himself of that fact firmly as he regarded his father's smug expression. "You're just trying to get in my head," Draco responded with grin, returning his gaze to the board.

"It's possible," Lucius conceded, with just the right amount of craftiness in his voice to make Draco glance up at him again. Lucius was still smiling. "Then again, I could be trying to prolong your eventual defeat."

Draco shook his head and looked at his pieces. "Bishop to A3," he ordered, deciding to ignore the advice.

The bishop obeyed, marching across the board. "Knight to D6," Lucius said without hesitating, and the piece galloped across the board and knocked out Draco's rook. "Check," he announced.

Draco's cheeks flushed, and his knight commented, "I saw that one coming."

"Well why didn't you say so?" Draco demanded in frustration, hating the little figure.

"I recall being ordered to 'shut up'," the knight retorted pompously.

Before Draco could come up with an answer, the conversation was interrupted by a resounding chime that seemed to come from the front hall. The sound made the young man freeze, as he recalled from when his grandfather lived here that the bell announced the presence of someone coming through the front gate. With a sense of foreboding, he lifted his eyes to look at his father, who stared back at him for a long moment with every trace of amusement gone from his expression. Without a word, Lucius rose from his chair and strode toward the door. Draco leapt to his feet and followed.

In the hallway, his mother bolted out of the study and came face to face with Lucius. She looked apprehensive, but shut the door behind her and led the short distance down the hall toward the front door. Draco floated along behind his parents, hardly aware of what was happening. Who could be coming to the door? Could it be the Minister? Or a friend come to give them news? ...Or could it be someone still faithful to the cause, coming to show them what happens to traitors...?

Whoever it was knocked, and Pimmle immediately appeared in front of the doorway just as they all reached the entrance hall. The elf reached up opened the door.

A small crowd of people stood in the doorway. A taller, dark-haired man who Draco vaguely recognized stood to the front. The man nodded to them. "Mr. Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy."

Narcissa was in full aristocratic mode, holding herself quite tall and speaking formally. "Good afternoon, Mr. Robards," she said, "What can we do for you?" Before he had a chance to speak she added, "Do come in, all of you. No need to linger in doorways."

So his parents did know who these people were. Draco wracked his mind for where he'd seen the man before, but came up with nothing. He did notice, though, that this 'Robards' was holding a roll of parchment at his side, and that Lucius' expression had become mask-like.

Rather awkwardly, the five people came into the entrance hall. Robards came in first, followed by a man Draco recognized as Amos Diggory, then another man and a woman he did not recognize at all, and then... revealing himself from behind them all, came Harry Bloody Potter himself. The Golden Boy did not look at him, but was watching the elder two Malfoys with an unhappy expression. The room suddenly felt too warm, and Draco felt his pulse double its speed in a matter of seconds.

Robards began to speak again before Narcissa could say anything else, addressing Lucius. "Mr. Malfoy, I'm afraid it has fallen to me to bring you some... unpleasant news." The tall man seemed uncomfortable, but continued. "The Department of Magical Law Enforcement has been reviewing your case for the past few days, and it has become apparent to us that, regardless of any actions taken by you and your family during the recent conflict, the fact remains that you are currently classified as an escapee, evading a life sentence in Azkaban." Draco swallowed, feeling his insides twisting painfully as he watched in horror. His father was looking very pale, but had not changed his expression. "The Ministry has turned a blind eye to your former offenses to this point, but now we find it necessary that you be detained until the date of your hearing." Mr. Robards took a step forward, unrolled the parchment he held, and presented it to Lucius. Draco watched his father take the parchment and gaze down at it stoically. "I have orders to take you into custody," Robards explained.

Draco suddenly noticed that all of their guests, with the exception of Potter, had drawn their wands and held them loosely at their sides. He looked at his parents - his father had not taken his eyes from the notice he held; his mother was staring stonily at Robards. Finally Lucius lifted his face, holding the paper out to Robards, who took it back without taking his eyes off Lucius.

"Presently we have but one wand in this household," Lucius said icily, holding Robards' gaze. "I trust you will allow me to leave it with my wife."

The man nodded curtly, "Of course." Draco suddenly recognized him; he was the wizard who'd become head of the Auror Department when his father had been arrested the first time. A swell of hatred flushed Draco's face at the memory.

Lucius took the wand from his inside pocket and turned to Narcissa. He handed it to her, keeping his eyes fixed on the wand for a long moment before looking up at her. Narcissa's facial expression was neutral, but her eyes were burning with the same desperation Draco had seen in them that morning in the Forbidden Forest. For a moment he wondered if they weren't going to fling themselves at each other as they had that morning, but of course they did no such thing. Lucius said nothing, he did not even touch her. He briefly turned his eyes to Draco, who felt his breath catch in his throat, before slowly turning back to the Aurors.

"If the Ministry insists, then of course I shall accompany you," Lucius said deferentially, with a slight bow of his head. "Lead the way."

Draco was seized with the incredible urge to do something, anything, to stop them from taking his father, but could think of nothing to do that would help. His hand twitched toward the pocket where his wand should be, and remembered with another flash of anger that his wand was likely in the room at this very moment, in Potter's possession.

Robards looked relieved, and turned to look back at the others. "Proudfoot?"

The man Draco did not recognize stepped forward. "This way, Mr. Malfoy." Lucius stepped forward, and Proudfoot and the woman flanked him, ushering him toward the door. Mr. Diggory led the way out, followed by the two Aurors and Lucius. Robards regarded the two remaining Malfoys and said, "We'll be seeing you soon. Mrs. Malfoy. Draco." The man nodded to the two of them, finally acknowledging the younger man's presence, before turning to go out.

Potter followed a step, then hesitated. He waited until the others were fully out the door, and then looked at Narcissa again. His mere presence made Draco's blood boil. Why the fuck was Potter here, anyway?

"Mrs. Malfoy," Harry said, his voice apologetic, "...I want you to know that I'm doing everything I can." He paused and took a breath. "I'm sorry about this."

Narcissa was regarding him with a strange, drawn expression. "I appreciate that, Mr. Potter," she replied, her voice quiet and strained.

The exchange left Draco feeling slightly bewildered. Potter nodded to Narcissa, finally looked at Draco and nodded quickly, before hurrying out of the house. For some reason, as they stood in silence, all Draco could think of was how he'd smashed Potter's face in last time his father had been arrested. The memory was not as satisfying as it once had been. Who could he beat to a bloody pulp this time? No one. And damn it if he was going to have to be grateful to Harry Effing Potter... ...as if he wasn't already indebted to the jerk...

Draco could not stand still another minute. He stalked into the parlor, feeling ready to hit the ceiling. As he passed the table where he and his father had been playing, his incorrigible knight called out, "Sir, we're waiting for your or-"

"SHUT UP!" Draco exploded at the chess piece. "You can bloody wait there until my father comes home!" As he spoke the words, his chest tightened with emotion. If his father came home.

He paced to the other side of the room and turned back to see his mother standing in the doorway. Her stony expression only made him angrier. "How could he let this happen?" Draco barked at her, not caring that he'd never spoken to her like that in his life. "How could he just walk into prison, why didn't he even try to do anything?" He stormed back and forth across the room. "Why doesn't ANYONE try to do something? You just stood there!" he turned his rage to her. He couldn't stand how calm she was; he needed to break something, throw something, smash something to pieces. "How could you just stand there?" His hand had landed on the back of the armchair, and he shoved it backwards with a loud thunk.

"DRACO L..." Narcissa had begun a harsh rebuke, but cut off abruptly. Draco recognized that she'd been about to use his full name, something she never did, but had been unable to make herself say his middle name. 'Lucius.' He watched her swallow the lump in her throat, and immediately regretted screaming at her. Her eyes were red with unshed tears when she dictated in low, gravelly voice, "Stop it. Now."

His emotions were entirely out of his control, and it was beginning to frighten him. His rage had cooled but he was now swept away by an overwhelming sense of desolation. He took several deep breaths, but could not calm himself, and let himself sink toward the ground. Narcissa was suddenly next to him, and crouched down. "Stand up," she said sharply, taking hold of his arms tightly and pulling him to his feet. Draco was startled by her severity. His mother had his arms in a relentless grip, forcing him to look at her. She spoke in a quiet, forceful voice. "You will pick up the chair. You will do whatever it takes to pull yourself together. You are a gentleman, Draco. You are a Slytherin. You are a Malfoy. You are my son," she growled, bruising his arms with her grip. "You are your father's son," she continued, her voice softening. "And you will get through this."

His mother's gaze was unwavering. Draco noticed he was trembling slightly, and for a moment he rebelled against her words - he wanted to be comforted, he didn't want to be strong! But he looked at Narcissa, and realized that he had no choice but to man up. His poor mum was suffering incredibly, but she was not going to give in to it, and neither could he. For his father's sake, and for his mother's sake, he had to be brave.


A/N: A wedding-week update! Now, the next one seriously might not be here for a little while - too much bachelorette partying/rehearsal dinnering/bridesmaiding for writing fanfic. But never fear, for the next chapter will be here before you know it - and until then... leave me lovely reviews! :D