Author's Notes: I'd like to thank AshleyLoraineWolf, Persephoniii, Disco Inferno1, Indeffinate, xo.A.m.o.r.e.t.t.e.xo, Hannah Loves Lupin and hpjedi1 for your review for chapter sixteen. I'm thrilled you're all enjoying the story, and I always appreciate your support and comments.

Additional thanks to all the people who have been adding me to their alerts list, and viewing my new website recently, your support means the world to me!!

Finally, thanks to the wonderful IMissPadfoot, who beta'ed this chapter for me.

Chapter Seventeen: I'd rather live with blood-traitors and mudbloods

Once the familiar sensation of being pressed from every direction and iron bands tightening around her chest - that Apparating caused - had subsided, Morrigan found herself standing in a narrow lane, outside a high, manicured yew hedge, still clinging to Draco's arm. By the look on his face, they'd successfully transported to his parents' house.

Morrigan looked through the wrought-iron gates in wonder, at the perfectly straight driveway, which was running straight up to the handsome manor house. An expansive landscape, including the garden had a fountain and albino peacocks roaming the lawns.

"Wow," she murmured, more than impressed by the house Draco had grown up in.

"Thats nothing. Wait until we get inside," smirked Draco, then he caught himself and remembered why they were there, and added, "Actually, on second thoughts, maybe you should wait out here."

"No way, Draco," insisted Morrigan. "You came to have it out with your father, and I came to support you. So that's what we're going to do. Together."

Draco didn't protest again, and instead waved his wand, so that the wrought-iron gates sprang open. Looking hesitantly over his shoulder, he led them up the magnificent driveway, right to the front door, and then cautiously pushed them open.

Together, Morrigan and Draco stepped into a large, marbled entrance hall, where lavish rugs lined the floor and gleaming crystal chandeliers adorned the ceiling.

The hadn't gotten further than a few steps when the oak door to the closet room flew open and someone hurried out of them.

Draco backed off a little, and Morrigan looked around reluctantly, as a a tall, thin woman with long blonde hair and a pale complexion strode towards them. While she was not an unattractive woman, she had a look of disgust on her face which detracted from her otherwise handsome features.

Morrigan could only assume this was Draco's mother, and while it was apparent that he'd inherited his fair appearance from both of his parents, Draco much more closely resembled his father.

As the woman neared them, and spotted Draco, her features softened, and a soft smile penetrated the original coldness of her face.

"Oh, Draco," she exclaimed, rushing towards her son and throwing her arms around him. "We've been so worried about you, and we're thrilled you've come back to us. Just wait until your father gets home, he'll be so pleased to see you."

Draco shrugged out of his mother's embrace, and backed away from her.

"Father isn't here?" he questioned, almost angrily. "Then where is he? When will he be back?"

"Calm down, dear. He just popped to the Ministry to speak to someone, I'm sure he'll be back shortly," his mother insisted. "Now, come on into the sitting room, and tell me where you've been for all of these months."

Draco nodded, knowing it was best to agree, and hold his tongue until his father returned. With a hesitant nod to Morrigan, he followed his mother into the room she'd just came from.

The three of them took seats around the fire place, and after Draco's mother summoned a house elf to bring them some drinks, it was then that her eyes fell on Morrigan.

"And you must be the witch who has brought my boy to his senses and convinced him to come home," she said with a questioning smile. "I'm Narcissa Malfoy, and you would be?"

"Morrigan O'Brien, Ma'am," Morrigan returned, before adding. "But I had no influence on Draco returning, he made that decision on his own."

"Well, whatever the case, Morrigan, it really is wonderful to have you both here," insisted Narcissa. "So, tell me Draco, how have you been keeping? Where are you staying? Have you got enough money?"

"Mother, I'm fine," assured Draco blankly. "I've stopping with Morrigan, and everything is fine. Now, would you please summon Father or something, so that I can speak to him and then we can be on our way."

Narcissa looked hesitantly around the room, fearing that the quicker her husband returned, the sooner her son would be leaving.

However, the matter was taken out of her hands, as suddenly the fire glowed emerald, and Lucius stepped from the flames.

He saw his wife, and smiled wearily at her, before his eyes fell on Morrigan and his face contorted with malice.

"You," he accused. "What are you doing in my home?"

"She's with me," Draco announced, stepping out of the shadows he'd been hiding in.

Suddenly, Lucius' face contorted, the looked of malice he'd been directing at Morrigan dropped away, to be replaced by a placid mask of tranquility.

"Draco, son," he said, walking towards Draco with his arms outstretched. "We're so pleased you've come home to us."

It was obvious to Morrigan, however, that the apparent calmness of Lucius was just an act, and she wondered how long it would be before his true colours emerged.

Draco also knew his father's pleasantness was all put on, and not feeling in the mood for game playing, he turned on Lucius with burning eyes.

"I have not come home to you," he informed sardonically. "I've come to tell you to stop following me, stop having me watched, and most of all stop threatening my friends."

"Draco, dear," Narcissa interjected. "Your father only did those things because he was worried about you, and I'm quite sure he never threatened your friends."

"Worried? About me?" Draco retorted with a bitter laugh. "Concerned about his public image more like. And he has threatened my friends, if you don't believe me, ask Morrigan herself, because I'm sure father won't tell you the truth about what he got up to at the Ministry today."
Narcissa looked questioningly between her son and her husband, her eyes were glazed and she looked almost in tears.

"Now, calm down, Draco. I'm sure Morrigan has just misunderstood what happened at the Ministry today. I was merely inquiring into your whereabouts and well-being," insisted Lucius.

"My well-being?" laughed Draco, the volume of his voice rising dangerously. "Was it for my well being when I was forced to take the Dark Mark and serve the Dark Lord? Was it in my best interest that you both stood by and did nothing, while I was ordered to kill someone? Was it for me that you invited the Dark Lord into our home and forced me to watch him murder one of my teachers?"

By this stage, Draco had now advanced on his father so that he was pressing the other man against the fire-place. His eyes glowed with hatred, and his robes billowed behind him, as Draco spat out every single thing his parents had done to hurt him.

Morrigan flinched in her seat, and tried to back away a little. She'd seen Draco this angry only once before, but she knew from personal experience that he was only moments away from doing something terrifying.

Additionally, Lucius looked equally as frightening. His long, blonde hair was streaming behind him, and his usually cold, grey eyes were burning with such malice that Morrigan was forced to look away from him.

She chanced a glance at Narcissa, who now had tears pouring down her cheeks, as she looked between her husband and her son in utter dismay, seemingly at a total loss what to do.

"Draco, don't be such a foolish child," spat Lucius. "Do you seriously think that Dark Lord wouldn't have killed us all if you hadn't carried out our orders. I was in Azkaban, so there was nothing to do to stop him, and even if I could have, he would have never listened. I merely did what it took to keep you alive."

"Don't pretend you care about me now. Don't you dare say you did all of that for my benefit," raged Draco angrily. "You were just doing what it took to protect yourself, and your reputation with the Dark Lord. If you really loved me, you'd have never gone back to him when he rose again, and you certainly wouldn't have so readily given me over to him as a servant. Do you know, there are some parents who died to protect their children from him."

"If you're referring to Harry Potter, then you're even more stupid than I thought. His parents were nothing, just a blood-traitor and a mudblood, they deserved to die like they did, and if we'd have been lucky Potter would have died with them. Don't you think that by me serving the Dark Lord, and trying to rid our world of scum like the Potters, that I was doing the best for you? I risked and gave up everything so that you might live in a world where blood-status counts for something," argued Lucius hotly.

"Well, I think I'd rather live with blood-traitors and mudbloods, than in a world where the Dark Lord was it's ruler," Draco spat, before turning to Morrigan. "I think I've said everything I wanted to, come on, lets go."

Morrigan rose hesitantly from her seat, and followed Draco out of the room and down the hallway.

As Draco reached the front door, he turned back to his father and said, "If I so much see you again, or hear that you've laid one finger on Morrigan, it will be the last thing you ever do."

Then, with a swish of his robes, Draco grabbed Morrigan's hand and they Apparated away.