Chapter Nine: The Family

...

The first thing he remembered was the cold. He didn't understand where or who he was, but he felt the damp stone underneath him and heard voices.

One of them sounded younger, and female. Their voice carried to his ears, but his head felt to heavy, and couldn't lift his eyes to see them.

"Quick, move the scar! He's waking up!" He wondered what scar they were talking about, and if they knew him, could tell him where he was. He tried to say something, but he felt a tingling in his scalp. It didn't hurt, exactly, but it certainly felt strange.

Finally he managed to get out a garbled, "He...help...m...m...me."

He heard a gasp and then a sudden crack. He somehow knew it was the cracking sound of apparition, but he didn't know how he knew what apparition was. He opened his eyes for the first time and looked around. He in some sort of alleyway. It was a foggy day, so everything was cold and damp. He slowly lifted up his head, and tried to stand. It was difficult, but he managed after a few tries.

He gripped the bricks on the wall next to him tightly, and started shakily walking out of the alleyway. He had to find help. He weakly called out for help again, but no one was around to hear him.

When he got out of the alleyway he saw a large building looming in front of him. It was red-brick and rather broken down. A creaky sign hung off of one pole saying, Purge and Dowse, Ltd. He made his way there, and tried knocking on the door. The building may be abandoned, but there could have been someone, anyone there who could have helped him.

No one answered, so he sank down to the ground and curled his knees up to his chest, silently waiting for...something. He sat there for an indeterminate amount of time, but then a man in lime green robes stepped out a window, of all things, and saw him.

"Oh, my," the man said. He had a large mustache and dark brown hair that seemed to be thinning on top. " Who...who are you?"

He looked up at the man and responded truthfully, "I don't know," was all he got out before passing out, happy to have a break from the confusion of the situation.

…

He woke up to white lights. He sat up and looked around. It seemed to be a normal hospital room, although how he knew that, yet had no idea who he himself was, remained a mystery. He suddenly heard a few shrill beeps, and a woman wearing another set of lime green robes came up to him.

She had a no nonsense look about her. Her auburn hair was pulled up in a tight bun, and her although she didn't look much older than 30, her face was rather stern.

"Hello Mr. Malfoy, I see you have awakened, your family is being informed right now, and will see you soon."

He was startled, "Malfoy? That's...that's my name? I have a family?" Suddenly he was filled with joy, he might not have a clue of who he was, but his family would know! He had probably been in some silly accident. He brushed away the doubt caused by the thoughts of a cold alleyway and distorted voices. He had a family, he had people who knew him. For some reason that filled him with joy, but why did the idea of a family feel as foreign to him as it did. He had always had a family...right?

The healer's face softened, and there it was again he knew she was a healer. He knew she was a witch. He deduced he must be in St. Mungos, and although he had only heard about it once or twice from...from someone, he knew it was a magical hospital. The whole situation was infuriating to him. He knew what magic was, and he was sure if he had a wand there were all sorts of spells he could perform, but he couldn't remember a single detail about his personal life. Who he was, where he was from. He couldn't stand it!

He was jolted out of his reverie by the healer saying, "I'm sorry, we were afraid of a situation such as this...do you know Who you are sir?"

He sighed, "No...although by the sound of things I'm...Malfoy? Is that really my name?"

She nodded, "Your name is Antonius Malfoy, we found you this morning outside the hospital. We had no idea who you were and you were an unconscious minor so we performed a parentage spell on you. You can imagine our shock when we discovered you were a Malfoy,"

He...Antonius took this all in as fast as he could. His family hadn't known he was here. They had been shocked by who he was. Exactly what was going on here? He asked another question, this time in a slightly wavering voice, "...I'm in...St. Mungos...right?"

He was unsure of what he was saying, but if all these disconnected memories in his head about magic were true, then he was a...wizard.

"Yes, you are," the healer said, and then she looked a little apologetic. "I'm sorry," she said, "I forgot to tell you, my name is Healer Swaim, I'm going to be taking care of you until your family can take you home-"

Just as she was finishing her sentence she was cut off by the sound of a door opening. In the doorway stood two people. Both were tall and both had long blonde hair. The man tightened his grip on the cane he was holding when he saw Antonius, and the woman brought her hands up to her mouth.

Before anyone could do anything, she rushed towards Antonius and hugged him tightly, sobbing. The man quickly shut the door, and came up to the woman, before whispering in her ear, "Don't make a scene 'Cissa, we only know how much the press would love to watch us fall to pieces."

Antonius was still in a state of shock. He had no idea what was going on, but with those words, the woman let go of him slightly and looked into his eyes.

"He has your eyes Lucius," she said, tears still in the corner of her own.

"Yes he does," the man, Lucius, Antonius supposed, said. " He looks almost exactly like Draco."

Finally Antonius found his voice and said, " I'm sorry, but who...who are you? I woke up here, and I don't have any memory of who I am." He paused, "Are you my parents?" He asked, questioning why he didn't guess that sooner.

The woman, his mother, nodded, "We are." She said. "We finally have you back."

"Back," He echoed, "How long have been...gone, and how come I don't remember anything?"

This time it was the man, his father who spoke, and although he sounded rather aloof and cold, Antonius felt as though he cared. "Until today, we had believed that you had died as a child. We are just as surprised as you at your reappearance. And with concern to your memories, we have no idea where you've been. Speaking of, what do you remember?"

Antonius sighed, finally he would get to explain the confused jumble in his head, "I remember some things..I know that I'm a wizard, and I'm in St. Mungos, but I have no idea about where I've been these past years. I don't understand."

Lucius nodded, "It sounds like the invictus memoira potion. Unfortunately, without a sample of the original potion it can't be cured, but I could put your godfather, Severus on it."

"Who?" Antonius asked, Confused.

"Severus," Lucius repeated, "He's yours and Draco's godfather. We appointed him when you were a baby, but since you have been missing he has been only Draco's."

This entire conversation was just confusing Antonius more, he was being given all these names and people with little to no context of who they were. He wasn't psychic, he wouldn't be able to just figure who these people were and how they were connected to his life.

"Who's Draco?" He asked. It was another name he didn't know and another blank face to add to his growing collection.

His mother looked at Lucius with an accusatory glare, " I'm sorry for Lucius giving you all this information with little to no context. We just have so much to tell you, and it's been so long." She look imploring at the healer, "Do you think it's alright if we leave? Take him home?"

The healer nodded, "Beside very mild hypothermia there was nothing wrong with him when he came in, save his memories. I believe it would be fine if you took him home."

Narcissa nodded and stood up, "Here," she said, pulling out a change of clothes from her bag, "these are Draco's so we assumed they would fit you. Go change, the last thing we want in you looking like a mud blood. And try to do something with your hair. Brush it out with one of the available combs."

Antonius nodded and stood up, for a second the world spun, before it righted itself and walked off the an adjoining bathroom. He quickly changed into the clothes given to him, and he got a good look at himself in a mirror for the first time.

No wonder his mother and father didn't doubt that he was their son. He looked remarkably like them. He wasn't a carbon copy by any means, but he certainly had the blonde hair and grey eyes of his father. He also had the face shape of his mother. Antonius has to agree with his mother on the fact that his hair was rather untamed. He ran a comb through it quickly and tried to seem presentable, but he really felt a little silly.

He knew logically wizards wore robes, but he didn't feel like he himself wore them all that often. If only he had his memories, then he could know for sure. Then there was that name. Draco. It sounded so familiar. Whoever he was, he must be important . He ask his mother about it again in a minute.

He stepped out of the bathroom, and his father glanced over him. "At least you don't look like a drowned rat anymore," he said, and while it could have been said as a joke, Antonius got the feeling that he didn't mean it that way. He felt rather small and weak then. He didn't quite understand families yet, but he hoped his would work out just fine.

"We're going to take the floo," his mother said, "And due to your reappearance there are reporters from the daily prophet outside. Keep your head up, and don't say anything. Your accent gives you away as an obvious mud blood, we will need to remedy that quickly."

There was that word again mud blood. What did it mean, certainly it was an insult, but for what? He liked his head and squared back his shoulders as he walked out. Suddenly there was flashing everywhere as wizards crowded around to take pictures, but he said nothing to their question and simply followed his parents to the fireplace.

He got the strangest feeling that he hated floo travel, but he put on a brave face after he followed his parents in grabbing a handful of floo powder and saying quietly, so the reporters wouldn't overhear, "Malfoy Manor."

With those words he was whisked away in a swirl of green fire. He landed clumsily on a nice rug, covered in ash.

He heard a snort from beside him. Antonius looked up and saw a boy who looked almost exactly like him. He had the same face, and while he was paler Antonius knew this had to be his brother.

The boy then spoke in a rather haughty voice, "First time I see you and you are tumbling out of a fireplace with no grace. Rather reminds of a headless chicken, or a gryffindor." He then laughed as if he had just made the funniest joke. "Although the rather are the same thing."

He laughed again, then held out his hand, "I'm Draco and I assume you're Antonius."

Antonius nodded and said, "Your Draco, then I'm guessing you're my...brother...we look frighteningly similar. Are we twins?"

Draco nodded and said, "Father and Mother told me all about you. I didn't even know I had a brother before Mungos fire called, but it is rather fascinating to have a twin. At the very least I can prove that we are a better pairs of twins than anything the Weasley family could show."

"I'm sorry," Antonius said, "but I don't understand, who are the Weasley-"

He was cut off by Draco, "Oh yes, you don't know anything, do you? Well, there are us Malfoy's at highest point in the food chain. We are the best you see, and there's the Weasleys, another wizarding family, you do know about wizardry, who are at the bottom."

Antonius tried to take in this massive information influx he was getting. Apparently his family was quite rich and famous, according to the number of reporters outside the hospital. And his brother, and dear god he had a brother, seemed like a prat, but he was sure he could try to get along with him. Maybe Draco just needed someone to help him get over his obvious superiority complex.

"Why are they at the bottom?" Antonius asked. He wondered if the Weasley family were full of criminals, or some other such stuff. It would make sense, after all, his family was high class and they couldn't be seen associating with any criminals.

Draco sighed and looked at Antonius with something akin to disappointment, "I don't know where you've been these past years, but you have to understand the basic hierarchy of wizarding society-"

"Actually I have a potion induced amnesia," Antonius interrupted.

His brother's face lit up, "Well then," he said, "I'll have to teach you the whole thing from scratch! This is really rather exciting Toni, do you mind if I called you that, Antonius is quite a mouthful."

Antonius, Toni, Blinked, "I don't mind," he said. Draco opened his mouth about the say more when they both heard a cough from in front of them.

Their father stood in the doorway and looked down at both of them, "Draco," he said, "Would you mind taking Antonius up to his room to get aquainted with his new home? Me and your mother have to discuss something important with our guest."

Draco nodded and dragged Antonius up the stairs, talking the whole way, "It really is quite exciting, having a brother. I've always been an only child, and if our family were poor I would be quite angry about the inheritance situation, but I'm still the oldest child and our family has more money than we know what to do with, so I'm fine."

"Really though," he continued, "I have no one to properly talk with at school, sure there's people like Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle, but they're really just lackeys. And to get the chance to explain everything about Hogwarts to someone new and someone who wants to listen, is rather fantastic to me."

Antonius just nodded, not understanding anything his brother was saying at such a rapid pace. They then arrived at a room which Draco opened to reveal a large room decorated in silver and green. With a dresser and desk off to the side of the bed, and...another bed?

"Here we go," Draco said, "We might have enough rooms in this house for everyone to have two or three to themselves, but father and mother thought it best if we shared in order to get to know each other better. I don't really mind, because they gave us each our own bathroom." He pointed to a door on either side. "This room in also big enough to fit both of us easily. You'll certainly have to get used to sharing a room. You have to share dorms at Hogwarts."

Antonius looked at his brother asked, "What Hogwarts?"

Draco gasped, "I forgot, you wouldn't know about Hogwarts yet! I'm know we have a copy of Hogwarts: A History in the library, I left it there a while ago after I read it for the thousandth time." He turned around to leave and said, "You stay here, I'll go and fetch it. I'll be back in a minute."

With that he rushed out the door and left Antoninus standing there . The one hand, Antonius wanted to wait for his brother, but on the other hand he wanted to see who this guest was.

His curiosity won out and he snuck down to the room where he came out of the fireplace and gasped. Standing in the center of the room was a truly hideous man. He was tall and deathly pale, his skin almost translucent. He had red serpentine eyes, and a snake-like face. His dark robes made him all the more intimidating.

He covered his mouth with his hands, and bit back any sound he wanted to make.

The man looked at his father and said in a high breathy voice, "Luciuss, my most faithful, while it is certainly good you have found your son, I must inquire as the how he came back about. I was led to believe that he had perished."

His mother and father both got down on their knees and his father spoke with his head bowed, "Yes my lord, we had believed the same, until we were told our son had been found by a healer just outside the hospital."

The snake-man glared at his father and said, "How did this come to be Lucius? You told me the child had died in birth."

Lucius stuttered out, "I..I...do not know for sure my lord-"

Suddenly the man raised his wand and yelled, "CRUCIO!" His father began shaking on the floor, and after a few horrible moments of this the man stopped and continued, "You are a cowering fool, perhaps your wife can enlighten me."

Narcissa stood there shaking before she finally said, "I do not know my Lord, but I believe it may have something to do with Bellatrix. I thought there was always something amiss with her after the birth of the children, but I thought she was simply nervous. Now I suspect something more sinister."

Suddenly the man smiled, and what a horrible sight it was, "Ah, yes," he said, "Now the pieces are falling into place. Not soon after the birth of your children Bellatrix came to be bringing a child I had requested for one of my rituals," he sighed in mock sympathy, "I hadn't known at the time it was the child of one of my most faithful. Bellatrix had made it out to be a muggle babe. Had I known...the child was thought lost in the raid on my base, before I had a chance to even prepare the ritual."

Lucius nodded his head to the man before saying, "Thank you my lord, for sharing this news with us."

The man inclined his head and made his way to the fireplace, "I musst thank you for your hospitality Lucius," he said, "but I'm afraid I must take my leave now. The ministry, and Dumbledore will be over here soon to asses your son, and enroll him in Hogwarts. As of now, enjoy the time you have with your family. Your boys are of no use to me as young as they are, perhaps soon though...we will ssee Luciuss." With that the man called out a nearly indistinguishable name and disappeared through the floo.

Before his parents could even stand Antonius was running to his room, silently as he could. He made it back without incident. For a moment he just lay on his bed, heart racing and mind unable to comprehend what he just saw. Who was that man? Why was he here? As a child he was going to be a sacrifice? His parents were alright with this? He resolved not to say a word about this until he knew more.

He sat up on the bed, and had just got his breathing under control when his brother walked into the room holding a battered and well-loved copy of Hogwarts: A History.

"Sorry it took me so long," he said, "One of the house elves had put it in the library and it took me forever to find it."

He sat down on the bed next to Antonius and opened it up. On the first page there was a picture of four animals. A snake, an eagle, a badger, and a lion.

"To start," Draco said, "There are four houses…"

...

Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long..that seems to start out every note, but I'm really busy….like all the time. So we got an explanation for some things this chapter. Hope you liked it , and Draco's OOCness will be explained. And I'm just going to say it. I think he would act differently around family. Everyone does, for better or worse. Please tell me how you are linking this story, reviews just make my day.