The hallways of the manor were surprisingly empty, as Harry had been expecting an entourage of people and guards there, but found it strangely void of any life. No maids, no butlers, no chefs, no guards, no visitors- nothing. It was slightly unnerving. He kept his guard up, not wanting to be caught unaware by his captor.

Harry snuck stealthily on experienced feet, used to sneaking around his master's homes at ungodly hours in complete silence. He cursed as a floor board let out a large groan and silently stepped back to make sure he had no alerted any guards. Harry hid behind a large statue of Salazar Slytherin, checking the hallways carefully both ways. He slid out quietly from behind the statue, assured he was alone.

His curiosity was eating away at him, wondering how empty the castle really was. Who was his kidnapper? Why wasn't he dead? Harry's mind was pressed with these issues, but ignored them in favor of concentrating on his escape. Where was he?

The castle was incredibly eerie, the torches only lit when the person traveling the halls were quite close to them, so he spent most of his endeavors in the dark. Thankfully, it made sunshine quite a bit more obvious so the exit was not hard to find.

His escape route came in the form of two large wooden doors, quite rotten and deteriorated. It was strange, considering how well kempt and impeccably decorated the castle was. It was covered in various shades of silver and green no less, and though Harry did despise these colors, they fit so very well within the castle. It looked beautiful, as much as Harry hated to admit.

He pushed with his shoulder against the door, leaning in all his weight until the rust covered lock had given in. It clanked to the floor loudly, though Harry did not mind the sound. Harry gaped at the garden, the flowers running wild and the colorful vines tearing apart the foundations of the castle. Why did they let this area go to waste? Harry didn't understand, but it didn't matter anyway.

He continued until he met the castle wall, quickly hopping over. It was not an easy feat, but somehow his magic had boosted him. Harry felt a small prickle of wards, the familiar feeling of the protective dark magic allowing him to slip through. The wards had recognized Harry as apart of the castle, thankfully and did not attempt to kill him or otherwise stop him. He allowed himself to catch his breath long enough to notice the enchanted coin Hermoine had insisted giving him (incase they ever needed to contacted each other if there was an emergency, she had claimed) showing him several hasty messages.

The words were hastily scribbled down and difficult to read, but were definitely Hermoine's. He broke out into a dash the moment he read the words.

'Harry,

Ron has been sent to the gallows! No time to explain, his execution is at 12:00 sharp!

Please hurry!'

There was no explanation or reason, but that was not Harry's top priority. Saving Ron was.

Harry only had 20 minutes, if he was lucky. He hopped from roof top to roof top as quickly as his body would allow, pushing himself further and further with each step he took. Harry's feet were helped with his magic, jumping higher and further with each move he made. How much longer would it last, though? He had wandered quite far and even at the pace he was at, there would probably be only 10 minutes before the execution.

He still had to do something! He was Harry fucking Potter, for Merlin's sake! Harry could feel exhaustion slipping into his body, feeling betrayed as his pace slowed down. No. There was no way he could fail. He would get there on time and he would have a plan. It was impossible, there was no way he could fail Ron like this.

Hermoine was smart, but had relatively low magic with superb control. She couldn't save him. Ron had magic, lots of raw magic, but no training. None of his magic would help him if he was dead. But Harry could do something. Dumbledore himself had taught him a few tricks while he was working as a temporary slave. He would save Ron.

Though in most situations, when a slave or lower (someone of low rank was hanged), all the slaves that were not owned above the age of 5 were forced to watch, to make an example of those being hung to everyone watching. Basically, the message was:

'If any of you god damn filth step out of line, and we'll hang you. In front of your children, your friends and your god damn family.'

None of the slaves knew magic, so they would be helpless to stop the execution. It was incredibly cruel, but acceptable by upper society. If it was acceptable by upper society, no one questioned it. Anyone who did was hung. But it was a chance Harry was willing to take.

'Finally.' Harry though, knowing he could not sigh in relief yet. Harry had reached the small town square for the slave quarters with 23 minutes time, seeing the gallows setting themselves up with the help of magic. Most of the time, they would set up only a few minutes before the execution, but obviously someone was looking forward to it. It was being set up early.

"Bastards." He muttered under his breath.

Harry could see Hermoine and his breath caught in his throat when he saw the expression she had on her face. 'She really does love him…' And that was all the more reason to save Ron. He checked the time- 20 minutes. He ran up to Hermoine, hugging her tightly.

"H-H-Harry," She hiccupped, burrowing her face into his chest and pointing to where Ron was. "T-t-they would-d-dn't even let-t-t me see him-m, before he-he-he died!" She sobbed. Most of the time, they would exchange some last words and occasionally hug and have some time alone, if the persecutor was in a good enough mood, but he was not allowed.

Harry could feel his blood come to a boiling point, his cape flaring as a wave of magic was released from his body. The slaves that had been gathering around the gallows gasped in shock and began to whisper.

"He has magic!"

"Magic, has he!"

"A slave with magic?!"

Harry ignored the loud whispers and pointing. He continued to calm Hermoine by running soothing circles around her back. "What happened?"

"H-he back talked to a Slytherin and they're planning on making an example of him!" She gasped, gripping his cape until her knuckles turned white. "Merlin…" She whispered into his cape.

"Its okay, Hermoine. I won't let him die." Harry soothed. "Remember when we broke Sirius out of the gallows? We'll do it again, see?"

"B-but we had been helped then, Harry! People were helping us then…" Hermoine whispered hopelessly, looking up to him with a forlorn face. "You won't be able to do it! If you try to stop it, you'll get hung too! I can't watch two of my friends hang in on day, Harry. Please, just try to act reasonably." She begged, knowing he would do something rash and get caught. There were too many guards, too many witnesses and there was no way they would be able to stop the hanging without help.

"Okay Hermoine, okay." He gripped her harshly, finally seeing Ron. His freckles stood out against his pale face and he was shackled, being lead slowly towards the gallows. His family continued to argue with the guards to see him, red in the face from yelling.

"Harry, you're h-h-hurting me." Hermoine whimpered, her body being crushed by his immense magic-boosted strength.

"I'm sorry." There was no emotion behind his words, nothing at all. Harry didn't know how to respond. Most of him wanted to disregard Hermoine's words and try, so he went with his instinct. He released her quickly, lunging towards the gallows.

He ran past the first set of guards, dueling his way through the second with the basic magic he did know. A flick of the wrist, a silent spell, and he had gotten through them fairly quickly. Unbeknownst to him, the guards weren't the only thing overseeing the execution.

-Or are we just marionettes?-

-An unfortunate doll in someone else's cabaret…-

It was Draco. He stood tall and proud beside his parents, unflinching as they watched the nooses finish tying themselves tightly around the scaffold. Harry almost sighed in relief.

Draco was grinning at him and waved. He flashed his fangs for good measure and motioned for Harry to come. Harry bolted to Draco.

"So happy to see me already?" Draco purred, not surprised at Harry's escape. He began laughing inwardly at the shade of red Harry's face became then the comment he made sunk in. He was blushing, but his expression didn't change.

"You've got to stop this!" Harry pleaded, hating how pathetic he sounded. At the moment, he was willing to do about anything to get Ron away from the gallows. "You're an upper classman, you can do something!" He demanded, quickly becoming more anxious as Ron's noose was prepared. "Please, stop this." Harry finally snapped, grabbing Draco by the scruff of his shirt.

"Fine." He said suavely, looking past Harry at the boy about to be hung. Draco couldn't look at Harry, unable to stand the thought of Harry being so upset over another man. It made his blood boil. He settled for glaring at Ron.

"R-really?" Harry was stunned at how easily his kidnapper had given in to his request and released the taller man's coat from his grip.

"On one condition." Draco said evenly, looking back at Harry.

"What is it?" Harry nervously asked, afraid of the answer. He didn't put is past Draco for him to do something horrible.

"I'll do this for you, but only as a wedding present." Draco nodded, almost patting himself on the back.

"W-what? You're nuts!" Harry stuttered, looking back and forth between Draco and the gallows. Draco held up his watch to Harry's face.

"Not much time now." Draco taunted, smiling cruelly at Harry's dilemma and flashing his fangs. He let out a low chuckle as he felt Harry give into his proposition, feeling it through the connection he had made when he bit Harry last night. He could almost feel his father's pride as he stood beside him, knowing his son would secure him an heir and a rightful mate. It was also a very underhanded way to do it, which made him that much prouder.

"Fine." Harry nodded, sticking his hand out for a handshake.

"You don't propose with a handshake. I thought even slaves knew better." With a cruel drawl and a haughty laugh, his arm swooped around Harry and brought him up his level with a flick of his arm. Their lips met quickly, Draco's seeming to crush Harry's own. Draco let his canines sink into Harry's bottom lip, hearing him gasp and using the opportunity to slip his tongue into Harry's mouth. He enjoyed the sensation for a minute and paused for a breath. He checked his watch, taking his time until the moment was right. 'Just in time…'

"STOP THE EXECUTION!" Draco ordered loudly, the entire crowd parting for him as he signaled the executioner to stop. A good part of the crowd let out a sigh of relief, Ron's family along with Hermoine rushing up to comfort him. Harry was kept in his place with a steel grip around his hand.

"I would like to take this moment to announce my new fiancée." The crowd gasped, all awaiting a beautiful young woman to appear but were stunned as a young, dirty looking male slave was brought forward. Draco was glowing with pride.

"HARRY POTTER!"

At this, the crowd began to chatter loudly, as the Weasleys quickly made their way to where Harry was standing. They pushed their way through the crowd impatiently and chattered loudly.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed loudly, glaring at the Malfoys. It was no secret of the animosity shared between those families.

"Yeah!" Fred and George said in unison, nervous that they had gotten him that drunk last night. Had they gotten him drunk enough to shag Malfoy? Probably.

"What's going on?" Ginny looked heartbroken and confused, imploring Harry for answers. She wrung her hands and stared intently at the ground, refusing to look either Harry or Draco in the eye.

"I have no ill intentions." Draco simply stated, emotionlessly regarding the Weasley family while his mother and father simply glared. Thankfully, his parents refrained from commenting. The differences between the two families were hard enough to get around as it was and no proverbial fuel to the flame was needed.

"I'm fine." Harry lied, forcing his arm to wrap around Draco's waist. He didn't want them worrying over him, so he would put up a façade for them. Harry was convinced he would be out of the engagement in no time and things would return to normal. Draco seemed more than enthusiastic to help him put up the façade, wrapping his arm around Harry's waist and holding him possessively. In retaliation, Harry elbowed him in the ribs.

Harry quietly mouthed 'fuck you' at Draco, frowning at him and stomping on his foot. Draco held him more comfortably, relaxing his arms and holding him closer. Harry didn't respond.

Draco then flashed him a winning grin and replied 'My pleasure.' Harry gagged. The quick exchange of words went unnoticed by the Weasely family.

"R-really?" Ginny looked ready to burst into tears, and Harry felt sorry for hurting her, but he did what he had to do. He wouldn't regret it, even if it was the last thing he ever did. Saving Ron was worth it.

"Yeah…" Harry agreed unsurely, filling the silence with an awkward laugh. He shrugged at them, unsure of what to do or say. The Weasley family exchanged looks and Mr. Weasley stepped forward.

"Do you think we could – ah, um, - talk to Harry in private for a moment?" He asked nervously, fidgeting with his tie and jacket. Mr. Weasley had obviously been pulled from his job judging by his attire, though it was worn and old.

"Anything you say to my fiancée you should be able to say to me." Malfoy frowned thoughtfully, clutching Harry to his side tighter. The thought of separating upset him, which bothered him further. Since when did he need anyone, even his fiancée?

Harry grimaced in the tight embrace, attempting to pry Draco's ice cold fingers from his waist. Fighting a loosing battle and realizing that he simply couldn't force Draco away, he gave in and decided to negotiate. Not something he was known for (which had gotten him in this predicament in the first place), but he would try. Draco's hands were wandering their way to his thighs and he was desperate for a reason to get away.

"Can I talk to them for a moment? This engagement is all so sudden…" Harry mentally patted himself on the back for the good acting, watching as his mate looked startled by his sudden proposal.

"Fine. I expect you back to the mansion at 7:00 o'clock sharp, with all belongings and former living arrangements sorted out." Draco agreed, grabbing Harry by the collar and pulling him close. His arms wrapped around Harry's waist to resemble a hug.

"Do not attempt to escape. You cannot escape me. Once you bare my mark, there is no way to get away." Malfoy silently threatened, pressing a clawed finger against the mark on Harry's neck, proving his previous statement. Harry could feel the magic, his knees becoming weak and his eyes glazing over.

"Damn you…" Harry managed to whisper, stumbling away from his hold the moment he was released.

"I love you too. I expect to see you then." With that, Draco briskly turned to leave, his parents long gone. His cape flared dramatically, much like a familiar potions master. Harry cursed his fate and prepared to leave to the last known place that Sirius Black had lived.

Made a few improvements. Next Chapter will be up ASAP. If I'm lucky, this weekend.