Vienna

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: Again, thank you to everyone. You guys make my day, especially since I've been sick. Don't expect my updates to be so frequent, I've just had a lot of free time. To any British readers, I am American, so bear with me if I say something wrong. Feel free to correct me too.

Also, lots of thanks to my new beta Anna, she's awesome!

Draco Malfoy

I fumbled around with the lock to my apartment.

It was late at night, and I was just coming home from my official first day back at the ministry. Nothing really seemed to change around here, even after six years. I had been in London for about a month, yet my apartment remained void of any illusion that a person might live here. No pictures lined the bare white walls, and the only thing in my tiny living room was an old leather couch and a bookshelf. My mattress rested on the floor, a mirror hung over an old dresser. It's not like I didn't have the money to get a nice apartment, decorate and make it more comfortable, I just didn't see any reason to. I felt no connection to it, almost as if I didn't belong. I couldn't have gone back to the manor. That place held too many memories, some I wasn't quite ready to face yet.

I threw my robes onto the back of the couch, not bothering to pick it up as it fell to the floor, and shuffled into the kitchen. In my refrigerator were some leftovers from the local deli and a firewhisky. Grabbing the firewhisky and last night's take out, I sat down at the small table in the corner.

When I first left for work this morning, I had been hoping that I would be able to see her. Even catch a glimpse, after all this time, would have been enough to settle my nerves. I told myself, if she was happy, I would leave her alone. I knew it was all my fault, I was the one who had to go screw everything up. But I was young, stupid, and I had fallen hard for her. It was too unexpected, for as long as we had known each other we had been mortal enemies. Before that summer, the only words exchanged between us were snide sarcastic comments, meant to be demeaning. We were taught to hate each other, from the moment we entered Hogwarts our loyalties to our houses took precedence, blood status used as an excuse to justify the hatred of those whose blood was not pure, engrained into our heads by our self righteous parents.

My wish had come true today, or at least in part. She was walking down the hall, hurriedly, looking anxious or upset about something. She didn't even notice when she walked into me, instead she just kept on walking. Instead of calming me, the sight of her just made me want her more. I wanted to reach out to her, make her mine once more but she ran away before I could even utter a syllable.

A light pecking at the window pulled me out of my thoughts. A large eagle owl was perched on the window sill, a letter tied to its leg. I recognized it as belonging to my mother. What in the bloody hell was she doing writing to me at this time of night.

The owl flew in and landed on my coffee table, holding it's leg out as I gently untied the letter and handed it a treat. I opened the letter to read my mother's elegant hand writing.

Draco, darling,

I'm sorry to be writing at such an hour, but I need to know if you are coming tomorrow, for I did not receive your answer. Everyone will be there, and we are so looking forward to seeing you. Please send your reply back with Hermes.

It's good to have you back, Honey, I missed you terribly. It's so quiet and empty here without you.

All my love,

Mother

Crap, her welcome back party. I had completely forgotten about it. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, taking the last swig of my fire whisky. I found a piece of parchment and a quill, quickly scribbling out a yes to send off with the owl. I just couldn't say no to my mother, after everything she had been through.

From the moment I was born, my father had planned out my entire life. He raised me to be the perfect Death Eater, in the process shutting down a side of me that held any compassion. It was a terrifying and unsettling way to grow up, constantly having to look over my shoulder, making sure I was pleasing my father, 'talking the talk', or so to say. My father loved me, and he only wanted what he thought was best for me. My mother, though, never hid her love in the confines of our home. Her cold exterior worked as protection for her, and for me. In her situation, weakness was not allowed, but there was no way out of it, for she did love my father no matter what side he chose. Love was a form of weakness.

That night on top of the astronomy tower, was finally my time to prove my loyalty to the Dark Lord, and to my father. But looking into the eyes of the man I had been taught to despise since my start of school made me hesitate and listen to him. He offered me a chance to escape, to get out of the godforsaken mess that my father had woven my family into.

Could he really have done that, give me a normal life? A life in which I was free of the Dark Lord, where I didn't have to worry about putting up any kind of guard, where I could have been free to be myself, not one of his servants.

Those offers, they were so enticing, like an elixir to a dying man, or the soft melody of a childhood lullaby a mother sings to her child. It was what I had always wanted, like he could see right through me. I should have been able to kill him, he was the weak one, not me. I was torn, ripped apart at the middle by my two conflicting sides. It had physically hurt, almost as if a pair of rusty pliers had been thrust in to my chest. I didn't want to be a monster, a murder, it wasn't who I was, it was who I was trained to be. What I was manipulated into thinking. It was the only way to prove that I wasn't weak.

But I had lowered my wand.

He smiled at me, and told me to run. Fetch my mother and father and get into contact with someone from the order, they would help me; cloak us from the Death Eaters.

So I ran home, but not before seeing Snape, the only one who I trusted at Hogwarts, murder the man who had just offered to help me. I ran until I was out of the protective enchantments that surrounded Hogwarts.

I had known that I couldn't just waltz into my manor, news of failing had probably reached other Death Eaters, and as I had predicted, it was surrounded.

I was able to slip in using a secret passageway through the dungeon and found my mother and father sitting in the library. My father had looked furious so I hid in the shadows of a bookcase.

"What was he thinking? What was he thinking! He's just gone and put the entire family at risk. He had one task, kill the old bat, and he failed! Now my neck is on the line, and he's nowhere to be found!"

"Lucius, please-" My mother slowly got up off the couch, one hand outstretched as she placed it on my father's back, in an effort to comfort him. "There must be something, anything…"

Her touch seemed to startle him, and he spun around to face her. Seeing how distraught she looked, his face softened, as did the tone of his voice. "I'm sorry Narcissa, I don't think I'll be able to get him out of this one, the Dark Lord does not forgive this easily. He's dug his own grave now."

Her whole body shook beneath the weight of her sobs. It appeared too much for my father, and he left the room, robes billowing behind him.

I took a small step out of the shadows, keeping half my face covered by the darkness. Quietly, I called out to her, "Mother".

"Draco, Draco is that you?" Her cries were frantic yet quiet, and I inched out a little more so she could see me. She ran over to me and hugged me to her chest, as if I'd disappear right there.

"Mother, we have to go, we have to get out of here. He offered us protection, said to go to the Order, we can start over, Mother. Come on, we have to find Father, we have to go!"

"Draco, please, slow down, what are you talking about?"

"Dumbledore, he said that we could go to the Order and they would protect us. We wouldn't have to fight anymore. We would be safe. We have to find Father and tell him."

My mother's eyes, so much like my own but filled with compassion, love and most importantly relief that I was safe, searched my face. "Are you sure you want to do this?"I nodded my head in response. "Okay then. You stay here, darling, it's safer for you. I'll go find your father and explain."She kissed the top of my head and left the room.

I sat and waited for her, this was it, there was no turning back now. I knew my mother would support me in anything I wanted to do, but my father, I wasn't so sure. His loyalty to the Dark Lord was everything he knew, and he spent most of his life building up that trust. He used it to rationalize his actions, ease his dissonance, and make his means justify his ends. He hated everything the Order stood for. Could he really leave this life?

The door opened, and I stood up. My mother came in, tear tracks stained her face as a lone tear slid down her cheek. She shook her head no, and I sunk back down. She knelt down in front of me and took my hands in her's. "Draco, you have to know that he loves you, but this is where he wants to be, this is his life." I couldn't listen to her, I shook my head violently and backed away. Did he really love me, if he really loved me wouldn't he have come with us? "It's now or never, we have to go."

I had let her take me from my home, and we had gone to the Order. They hadn't taken lightly to us showing up, after the events at Hogwarts. They disarmed us and we were questioned under Veritaserum. I told them everything Dumbledore had told me, everything he promised for my family and me if we chose to leave. I told them that I had lowered my wand and ran, and that I had seen Snape kill Dumbledore. We were escorted by Tonks, under my mother's request, to the beach house in a muggle town, where we were to remain until the war ended. Though we could leave the house to go into the town, we rarely did, being surrounded by muggles gave us a dirty feeling.

When 'The Boy Who Just Refuses to Die' finally killed the Dark Lord, the Order was able to keep my mother and I out of Azkaban, the same couldn't be said for my father. We were told he tried to lay low before the downfall, but it wasn't enough to save him. He died shortly after his conviction. It nearly killed us. I learned later that he had only stayed to protect me, to make sure that the Dark Lord couldn't find me.

I couldn't go home after that, face my friends and family, so instead I left the country, hiding out in France. I acted like a coward who couldn't face their feelings, latent memories clouded my thoughts and obscured my decisions.

I took off faster than a bat out of hell.

AN: So I'm not to sure who's POV will be next, I've started on a few things, but when I make up my mind, you'll get a sneak peak if you review.