Hey guys, I know its been a few days since I updated, so I thought id give you a long one. As allways, enjoy and review!

Draco was not okay. There was something really wrong with him, and it wasn't just the extreme malnutrition. There was something else. He seemed to live in a state of constant terror, assuaged only occasionally, but Harry couldn't seem to figure out what the trigger for this miracles was. If he could, he would do it all the time.

Harry paced nervously in the kitchen. He and Draco had just arrived back in his London flat, Draco was fast asleep in one of the bedrooms.

Harry just had no idea of what to do. He was so responsible, but so lost. Draco was so vulnerable and everything Harry did produced such a major reaction in him. Even the smallest word could send him into hysterics. He wanted to make everything okay, but how? He didn't even know where to begin.

"Hermione." He said suddenly, she would know what to do. Without a doubt. He immediately flued over to her, thinking, not for the first time, how lucky he was to have her.

It took some time to explain everything, for him to really express how bad Draco was. To her credit, Hermione was entirely non-judgemental, and when Harry had finished, she very softly suggested that they should both go back and see Draco.

But when they got to Harry's place, Draco was not asleep and was certainly not in bed. A small, selfish part of Harry was praying that he had run away, but the rational side very much doubted that. He shared a look with Hermione and they headed out of the room cautiously.

"Draco?" he called, and then a bit louder; "Draco!"

Draco was there, he could hear his master, but he didn't know how to get to him. This place was so huge, and Draco just couldn't remember how to get back. Indecision pinned Draco to the spot, he didn't dare move in the wrong direction.

His heart was pounding, his blood was rushing though his ears, he couldn't think, he just had to get to his master. But what to do? There were two doors in front of him and one on the wall opposite, so many choices, so many opportunities to make the wrong one.

Thoughts were crashing around inside him, he wasn't even certain that he was allowed to be in this room and- "Draco, there you are." His master said, having just immerged from one of the doors.

And suddenly everything was okay, well almost okay. He was pretty sure that he would get punished, but that mattered little to Draco.

He just wanted to be good.

"I'm Sorry master." Draco told his feet, expecting a beating. "that's okay…. listen, this is Hermione…do you remember her?"

Draco didn't look at her face, he wasn't allowed to with his master and he assumed he wasn't allowed to with her either. She had nice, strappy sandals on though.

"I remember the name master, I think…" Draco closed his eyes to concentrate. "something…something about…mud, master?" Harry blushed furiously and looked apologetically at Hermione. She just shrugged, the poor guy clearly didn't know what he was saying. And it probably was his overriding memory of her…

"Hello Draco." Hermione said, taking a step or two closer. Draco wasn't sure what to say, so he didn't say anything. This woman, Hermione, was the first person that he had met since he came to his master, and he couldn't really remember much before that. None of that mattered; it was only his master that really mattered. And his master hadn't told him how to address her, hadn't even given him permission to do so.

So he didn't.

"Draco," she starting again softly "I'm going to ask you some questions, okay?" There was another slight pause and then; "Maybe we should sit down somewhere. Harry-" "right." Harry said, "erm. Let's go through here yeah?" He lead them in to back into the sitting room. Draco's eyes widened, he hadn't been in to this room yet. It was a huge room, two of the walls were completely glass, looking down on London beneath. It let the sun in beautifully , which reflected off of the glass coffee table and book shelf.

They sat down on a crescent shaped, lemon yellow couch. It was lovely and plush with silver cushions. The room was exceptionally beautiful, but all Draco could think about was how hard it would be to clean.

"So Draco," Hermione said again. "I need to ask you some questions." She cleared her throat and said; "so, why don't you want to go to the hospital?"

After a long and unhappy pause Hermione finally said; "Harry, perhaps you could give Draco permission to talk to me." Harry rubbed Draco's arm softly and said; "Right, yes, um, you can answer her questions."

"I don't want master to hate me." Draco said immediately.

"hate you? Why would he hate you?"

"Because master said that only bad people went there. Master said that when he had no more use for me that's where I would go so he didn't have to look at me anymore. He said they would do terrible things to me and that I would never be allowed to see him again, but that he would take care of me and protect me from them. Until I wasn't worth it anymore." Draco said, clearly unhappy with the subject. In fact he looked like he might cry.

Harry winced and felt slightly sick, but thankfully Hermione seemed to be able to stay calm.

"okay, perhaps your master can talk to you about that a bit later. Now, how did you…come to your master?"

"Master saved me." Draco said, suddenly wonderfully happy again. "Master came to my home one night and took me from my family, saying that he would keep me and them out of Azkaban in return. And I'm so grateful." Harry and Hermione shared a look over Draco's head.

"and…your parents, did they want you to go? Did they…trust him?" She asked delicately.

"not at first. But then he told them how terrible it would be in jail, and that he could make it worse. Then they all agreed that I was so much better off with Master."

Okay, scrap feeling slightly sick, Harry now felt highly nauseous.

Hermione took a deep breath. "all right. Thank you Draco, just a few more questions. What were your rules and duties when you lived in your other house with master?"

"oh there were a lot of them, firstly-"

"actually" Hermione said. "here, why don't you write them down, while your master and I have a chat in the next room. Just write down as much as you can about your rules and duties." She placed parchment quill and ink in front of him and followed Harry back into the library.

"fucking hell." Was the first thing he said. "well, at least we know a bit about him now." She said, trying to be positive. "the hospital thing explains a lot." Harry looked questioningly at her and she said, almost apologetically; "you probably wanted to scare him out of running away. I bet you said something similar about the government too."

Harry sank into a chair, tears pricking at the back of his eyes. Hermione sat down across from him.

"Harry…" she said gently. "have you thought about what you're going to do with him?" he just laughed bitterly and shook his head.

"there's an excellent, private mental health facility close by-"

"are you saying I should put him away?" he demanded. "harry, you can't seriously tell me you think he's sane. He has terrible Stockholm syndrome at the very least, probably PTSD and god know what else-"
"yeah and I have them to him. Its completely my fault and now you're saying I should just throw him in some loony bin?" Harry asked, as if she were the crazy one.

"no-" Hermione tried again.

"Hermione I can't believe your saying this too me." Harry couldn't help but feel somehow betrayed at what she was saying. "oh just listen to me will you, he needs serious physiatrist help. And you're not in any position to give that to him."

"Hermione I am not abandoning him. Can you imagine what his reaction would be if I said I was going to put him in a mental hospital? No, just no." how could she even think he would do that?

And with that Harry stormed out, going to sit by Draco again. "I finished master." He said softly, he handed Harry the two pieces of parchment.

Duties;

Cook all meals for master

Clean

be ready and willing for to be serviced at any time

obey any other orders

rules

no swearing

no questions

no crying, ever

no eating master's food

no eating at all unless master allows it

no going outside, even if there's a fire.

No sitting down unless ordered too.

No looking master in the face

No touching anything unless it's to clean it, or to hand it to master

always address master correctly

always have masters breakfast ready before master gets up.

Always thank master after punishments or feeding.

Don't speak unless spoken too.

Harry just couldn't believe what he was reading. He sighed and Draco's slight smile fell from his lips, had he missed something? But then Harry pulled him in to a hug, only slightly awkward for their sitting down.

"did I really tell you to stay if there was a fire?" Harry asked sadly.

"yes master." Draco said, happy to be in his arms. "well, sort of.." and he launched into the story of how that rule had come to be.

It was a few days since Draco had come to be Harry's slave, and he was cooking Harry's dinner. Harry himself was upstairs. Draco stirred the pot nervously, he wasn't god at cooking, he had never had to do it until he came here. He shivered and touched the bruise on his cheek. Master hadn't liked any of his meals so far, and he had been told to improve, or else. Deciding that the pasta was done, he got a tea towel to pick the pot up with. But there must have been a slight hole in the fabric, because draco felt the hot metal on his skin and he jumped, dropping the towel accidently.

It caught on the stove and shot up in flames, catching the floor and the wood of the counters. Fire was everywhere, roaring around him, the sudden heat was terrifying and the hissing of the flames screamed at him. So he ran, ran out the nearest door and into the garden.

Harry heard the door slam and raced down stairs, he saw the fire and effortlessly contained it, extinguishing the flames everywhere but on the stove. He wanted to use that later.

Draco meanwhile, stood in the garden, praying that firemen would arrive, or that he had the courage to run away, but the house was so isolated, he knew he didn't stand a chance. Tears filled his eyes, he didn't know what to do-

And then master came out of the house, marching towards him. He grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him inside, taking him back to the kitchen. To Draco's amazement, the fire was now utterly contained on the stove, not igniting anything else, there wasn't even damage.

"I'm sorry mast-" But Harry struck him, hard across the face. Draco flinched, but made no sound, he was used to this by now, and the worst was yet to come, he knew that.

Harry threw him into the wall and drew his wand, the cruico curse falling easily from his lips. But he wasn't stopping there, he pulled Draco up and threw him on the table.

He got a steak knife from the draw and bought it over to Draco before saying; "now, I need to teach you a lesson. Don't go outside, ever. You see I thought I had already taught you this one, but I guess it didn't get into your worthless little head. So I'll teach you again. Isn't that nice of me?"

"Yes master." Draco sobbed.

Harry put the knife to Draco's arm and thinly carved off the top few layers of his skin, leaving it pink and raw, and bleeding. Draco was far too gone to stop his sobs, but he did his best to keep from shaking, that would only anger master more.

When he had lost most of his skin on his right arm Harry picked him up, almost gently and set him on his feet next to the stove. "put your arm in the flames." He ordered.

Draco shot him one terrified look, wishing that he dared to run away, to disobey-

"do it Draco. Or I'll be cross with you. And you dont want that, do you?"

"no master." And Draco slowly reached out his arm, and put the whole thing in the flames. He couldn't stop the screams that ripped through his throat….