Author's notes: Thank you to Gin, for reviewing again! Love ya honey bunch! Additional thanks toturnmeawayagain for your review too, I appreciate the support.
As always, thank you to my awesome beta, IMissPadfoot (user ID:1133633), you're a star!
Chapter Six: Sticking Around.
"Well, as I told you, today was the reading of my Grandmother's will," Morrigan started to explain. "Even as soon as I entered into the offices of the Wizengamot, I could feel Sean; my brother's, hostility towards me. We've never exactly, been...erm...close. The executor of Grams' will informed us of her wishes, and then began reading her last requests out to us. Everything was fine, she left all her money to my parents as expected, her wand, books and a few items of jewellery to Sean, and her engagement and wedding rings to my younger sister, Felicia. Then, Marcus Triville got to the last item on the list; my grandmother's house. Well, of course, I was surprised as any of them when he read out that she'd left it to me."
Draco stared at Morrigan for a minute, and then exclaimed, "What? She left you her house? Just for you, not to be shared with your parents or anything?"
Morrigan nodded, and took another sip of her drink. "Well, I assume so, yes. She didn't state in the will that I should share it with the others. She just left me a letter with the deeds of the house, under the agreement that I read and comply with anything it says in it, before I'm free to do as I wish with her house."
"And what did the letter say?" asked Draco, his eyes a mixture of wonder and concern.
"I don't know," confessed Morrigan with a sigh. "I actually haven't had a chance to read it yet. You see, when Marcus Triville announced that Grams had left me the house, that's when Sean exploded. He started saying I caused Grams' death, that I'm trouble and that I don't deserve the house. It was when Marcus Triville said that the will was magically and legally binding, that Sean stormed out. My parents and Felicia quickly followed him, so I thanked Triville for his time, and Apperated straight here."
Morrigan took a deep breath, her green eyes cold and impenetrable.
"But he's your brother? Surely he'd want to comply with your grandmother's wishes?" questioned Draco in disbelief.
"You don't know Sean; he hates me," informed Morrigan, although her voice held no tone of bitterness towards her brother.
"Still, you're family," insisted Draco, almost sadly. "I haven't got any brothers or sisters, but my mum always seemed close to her sisters or Bellatrix at least."
At the mention of his mother and aunt, Draco faltered a little, and his features contorted into a mixture of sadness and anger.
"Actually you're right," he countered, seeming to have changed his mind. "Apparently, blood means nothing any more."
For a few minutes, both of them remained silent, Draco slipping off into his own thoughts. Then suddenly Morrigan remembered that they'd never finished their conversation from a few nights' previously, and recalled her run in with his father at the Ministry of Magic.
"You know," she said, tentatively, pushing her chair a little closer to his. "I saw your father at the Ministry today. He really is worried about you."
"Ha," laughed Draco bitterly. "He might have seemed worried to you, but I know him better. I bet all he's thinking about is how badly a missing son will reflect on his public image."
"How about your mother?" pressed Morrigan, as gently as she could.
"I...well... let's not talk about them," he replied, making it obvious that the subject was closed. "Are you going to read your grandmother's letter?"
Morrigan chose not to push the issue of Draco's family, and instead took another deep drink of fire whiskey before replying.
"I don't know. I'm not even sure if I want the house," she sighed sadly. "Look at all the trouble it's already caused."
"Morrigan, I don't know why you and your brother don't get along, nor do I want to. What I do know though, is that you have to look after yourself, because no one else ever will, and I'm talking from experience," Draco insisted.
"So, you think I should read the letter, do as Grams wished, and take her house? Even if my family never speak to me again?" questioned Morrigan, knowing none of that would ever happen in a million years if she had her way.
"Well, why not? From what you've said about Sean, he's going to continue being a git, if you take the house or not. So why not do something for yourself? You could sell the house and use the money for whatever you wanted, or you could keep it and stay in England a little longer?" he suggested a small twinkle of hope in his grey eyes.
"What? And spend the rest of my time drinking fire whiskey with you, while you silently brood about your family?" asked Morrigan, with a dry laugh and a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, I could just see it now, it would be awful! All we'd do is complain about our families, and get blind drunk."
"Ok, so I suppose you've got a point," agreed Draco. "But I still think you should at least read the letter from your grandmother."
"And I still think you should write to your parents and let them know you're ok," countered Morrigan.
"But, I told you it wasn't as easy as that," he insisted.
"Well, you never actually got the chance to tell me what the problem is, so how can I judge?" she pointed out. "Go on, I told you my sad and sorry story, tell me yours?"
"Ok," conceded Draco. "But, we're going to need some more fire whiskey first."
Morrigan laughed, and ordered them both another drink, as well as a bowl of broth each.
They both ate and drank in silence, and then after Draco had brought them both another glass of fire whiskey – having finished their first with their meal – he took a deep breath and began.
"I assume you know about the recent war against the Dark Lord?" he asked, and when Morrigan nodded, he continued. "Well, let's put it this way, my family were heavily involved. I decided to join them after things went wrong for my father. Don't ask me why, but I thought siding with the Dark Lord was a good idea. I mean, I agreed with his ideas that pure-bloods should have all the power. It was okay at first, because I was still in school, and it was a way to prove I was better than that Potter jerk. While he was running around with Weasley and that mudblood, I thought I was doing something useful. However, then things got more dangerous, and the Dark Lord was threatening my family. I had no choice but to do as he asked of me, or he'd kill my parents. I didn't want to do it, I mean; I'm a lot of things, but not a killer."
There he stopped momentarily, and his grey eyes met Morrigan's green ones. He looked at her searchingly, hoping to see some understanding and not just revulsion in her face.
"He actually asked you to murder someone?" she asked in disbelief. "And if you didn't, he'd kill your parents? Why didn't you tell someone, or ask for help out of the situation?"
"I wanted to, but I was too scared. You don't just walk away from service to the Dark Lord. I just carried on doing as he asked, worrying more and more about how things would end. Then the night came, and I had the person I was meant to kill in my grasp. I couldn't do it; I just couldn't take another's life. I faltered, and was about to give myself up, when the other Death Eaters appeared and one of them did it for me," he sighed, his expression now very pained.
"What?" exclaimed Morrigan. "You actually witnessed as they killed someone?"
"I had no choice, they were all around me and I couldn't escape without being killed myself. I fled with them back to the Dark Lord, and although he wasn't pleased that I'd backed out, after enough punishment, he forgave me," confessed Draco, and it almost looked as though he was about to start crying.
"My God," whispered Morrigan in utter shock. She'd been though some awful stuff in her life, but never anything quite as bad as that. And, despite Draco's confession of almost murdering someone, she didn't feel any revulsion towards him, only pity, and sadness that he'd got himself into such a situation. And another feeling, that she wasn't quite sure she knew what it was, and that scared her a little.
Both of them fell silent, again lost in thought, until Morrigan suddenly spoke.
"I think I'm starting to understand now why you ran away," she said softly, and placed her hand gently on his. "Maybe I should stick around a while longer after all, you know, just so you don't have to drink alone."
Draco lifted his head, and his dirty white blonde hair fell into his grey eyes.
"I'd like that," he replied with a small smile.