Thank you everyone who has supported this story so far. Just a warning, updates might be slow and rather short, as I'm very busy lately, but I will try and find the time to update weekly if I can.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I am not JK Rowling therefore I am not the owner of Harry Potter
Chapter 1: Seeking Asylum
A few hours later Draco found himself jostled from a peaceful slumber by none other than his mother. He blinked into consciousness and frowned at his mother who had a frantic look in her usually calm blue eyes.
"Mum, what are you doing?" he mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"Draco, I've packed everything for you, Andromeda will be here in ten minutes to get you. Hurry up and get dressed!" Narcissa hissed to him. Draco sat up straight, looking at his mother with confusion, the unspoken question in his eyes: what?
Narcissa sighed. "I haven't got much time. Andromeda will take you, and make it look like you've been captured by the Order. This way you won't have to get the Dark Mark… and you won't have to face Voldemort."
"What?" Draco slowly got out of bed, eyeing his mother suspiciously.
"The Dark Lord has decided to make this place his residency until further notice." Narcissa said in a small voice, not looking her son in the eyes.
Draco's eyes widened with fear, "What?! Mother, you'll have to come with me!" he said, desperately grabbing his mother's hand.
"I can't, they'll know of our disloyalty. It's safer this way, trust me Draco." She freed her hands from his grip, "Now get dressed."
Draco hesitated, but nodded. He knew fighting with his mother was useless – and he could think of no better option right now. He quickly got dressed into his muggle clothing, knowing that his aunt lived in a muggle area due to her husband. He grabbed the bags his mother had packed for him and followed her to the drawing room. Not two minutes after they entered the room, the Floo flashed green and an aunt Draco had only met once before was in front of him.
"Cissy!" Andromeda hugged her sister.
"Andy!" Narcissa hugged her sister back, "Thank you so much for doing this."
"It's absolutely no problem." Andromeda pulled away from the hug, "Anything to help." She flashed Draco a smile; the boy threw a weak one back. This was happening too fast for him, and he didn't want to leave his mother alone.
Once she was free, Narcissa rushed forward to embrace her son. "I'm going to miss you so much."
"I'll miss you too, mother." Draco said, trying to keep the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes at bay. He knew from the sobs he heard coming from his mother she wasn't so successful. "I promise to write to you whenever I can."
"You better keep that promise." Narcissa said, stepping away from him, drying her eyes with her handkerchief.
"You know I always keep my promises, mother." Draco said, his voice thick.
"I love you." Narcissa said steadily.
"I love you too, mother." Draco said, and with that he stepped into the fireplace with his aunt, his bags heavy in his hand as his aunt said an address he didn't really hear.
The next thing he was aware of was silence. He stepped out of the fireplace with his aunt and looked around the room. It was obviously a muggle house, judging from the load of appliances Draco didn't recognise and the pictures that didn't move. It was tidy, and relatively small, but Draco appreciated how homely it was.
"Right, Draco. You'll only be staying here for a few nights, and then you'll be moved to Grimmauld Place." Andromeda informed him. Draco nodded. He had a feeling he'd be visiting the Order's headquarters; after all, by the morning he would be on the front page of every wizarding newspaper. He was an heir to a pretty hefty fortune and 'missing' - that was a big deal. And he knew his aunt wouldn't let him simply disappear, neither would Voldemort.
"You know, Bella was always slightly… well, manic – but this is bordering on insanity. That woman always did worship ideology to the extreme." Andromeda sighed.
"Thank you for this Andromeda, you didn't have to do this." Draco said gratefully.
"It's the least I could do." Andromeda said. "Come on, I'll show you where you'll be staying."
Draco stayed with the Tonks family for two nights. He had never really spoken to a muggle-born before (unless you called ridiculing and humiliating them 'speaking'), but his uncle seemed like an alright person. Draco regretted that his façade that he had to pull off made him avoid speaking to muggle-borns before; he might've made some good friends. Draco was fascinated by muggle technology, specifically the television. He spent most of his time, sat perched on the sofa, watching it with fascination. Andromeda and Ted had mutually agreed not to introduce him to the internet.
Andromeda was sad when she received an owl from Nymphadora saying she would pick up Draco later that third day to take him to Grimmauld. She had only started to get to know her nephew, and had to admit that Narcissa and Lucius did a good job raising him. Despite being slightly spoilt, he was a good natured boy and kept to his word, writing constantly to his mother, and helped around the house, eager to learn how to do things the muggle way. He was also thankful and gracious and incredibly intelligent – they could see how he could be Ravenclaw's heir.
Andromeda told Draco that he would be departing soon and he immediately went to pack his things. Draco knew he had to go - he knew his duty. Besides, his staying here only endangered his aunt and uncle. Grimmauld Place was better protected, and constantly full of aurors and other Order members.
He had only just finished packing when he heard someone enter the house and then a girl's voice shouting, "Mum! Dad! I'm here."
His cousin, Nymphadora Tonks. Draco took a deep breath before picking up his bags, pocketing his wand and descended the stairs.
"There ya are, Malfoy! Ready to go?" Tonks asked her cousin brightly. Her hair reflected her tone of voice, a bubble-gum pink. Draco remembered his aunt telling him she was a metamorphagus, and he had to admit, he was impressed. He had never met a metamorphagus before, but he found them fascinating.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Draco shrugged.
"Good. We'll be apparating – so if you could hold on to my arm…"
Draco hated side-apparating, but he supposed it was the easiest option, so he grabbed onto his cousin's arm and quickly bid his aunt and uncle goodbye before he was taken away to another destination. All the moving he did recently was annoyingly necessary, and he knew it would get worse as the war neared. Draco blanched at that thought – he wasn't particularly fond of confrontation, he tried to avoid it as well as he could. He preferred to use words rather than his fists, always had. He didn't mind petty name-calling – some would say he lived for it in school, but he rarely ever enjoyed using violence (unless it was to prove himself better someone, of course).
Draco stumbled as he and his cousin arrived at Grimmauld Place – a momentary lapse of grace. As he recovered, Tonks uttered the password before the street widened, and number twelve appeared.
"Just a warning… the Weasley children aren't aware, nor Hermione and Harry… so don't expect a warm welcome when they come." Tonks murmured as they walked towards the front door.
Draco grimaced, "Great."
"Yeah, well… you being undercover hasn't been helpful… you know they'll take time to trust you, especially Ron." Tonks told him. She felt sorry for her cousin – she knew he had to deal with a lot with a great weight on his shoulders and that his undercover persona loosened his credibility. She really wanted to help him – but there was only so much she could do.
"Yeah, I know… it's understandable really. I'd be the same if I were in their position." Draco sighed. Tonks smiled, this Draco was obviously a different Draco to who Harry and his friends knew. This was Draco, her cousin – not Draco the Slytherin.
They entered the house and didn't even have time to breathe before Molly Weasley was instantly on their case in her usual fussing manner.
"Oh thank goodness you got here alright!" she said in a hushed voice and engulfed Draco in a hug. Frozen, Draco stood still as the woman unexpectedly greeted him, "The others will be here in a few days, Draco. We've decided to move everyone here for the time being because of all the protective charms."
"O-Ok." Draco choked out as the woman let go of him.
"Come! There's much to discuss! Off to the dining room!" she ushered them inside to the dining room and Draco instantly found himself in front of a bunch of aurors and wizards known to be associated with Dumbledore, and instantly wanted the ground to swallow him as they watched and scrutinised him. But Draco mentally heaved a large sigh of relief when he spotted his godfather amongst them – he didn't feel as alone.
"What's Malfoy doing here?" a man not much older than Draco inquired. Draco knew instantly he was one of the Weasley brothers just by looking at him.
"That's why we're all here today. The founders' heirs are in danger." Professor McGonagall spoke up. Draco hadn't originally noticed her.
The room immediately erupted into murmurs. It appeared not all of the Order members were clued in on the latest news. Tonks led her cousin to the table and they both took the two empty seats left, Draco finding himself sat between who he guessed to be Bill Weasley – the one who spoke earlier, and his old professor, Remus Lupin.
"It seems that Voldemort wants to enlist Draco after our idiotic aunt suggested it to him." Tonks muttered, "And we all know the Dark Mark would endanger the other founders as well as us, so we've arranged for it to look like Draco's been captured by the Order – of course by now the news is all over the Daily Prophet."
"And now the Dark Lord will stop at nothing to find him. He called a meeting just earlier today demanding for Draco to be found. It appears he has a very… important mission for him." Snape said, "He thinks of it as an opportunity to punish Lucius."
"Like Azkaban isn't enough." Draco muttered, looking down at the table, playing with his hands. Everyone at the table was silent after that, not sure what to say. Lucius was just acting undercover for them, just like Snape was – he defected once he found out the Dark Lord could be a danger to his son… but of course, not everyone could know that. They couldn't tell everything to the Ministry as they were in danger of being infiltrated by Voldemort, and so Lucius Malfoy was stuck in Azkaban.
"What should we do… should we keep all of the heirs here until further notice?" Lupin asked, changing the subject, wanting to distract the boy on his right.
"I suppose it would be one of the safest options. Even if Bellatrix thinks of this as her rightful property, she wouldn't be able to find it nor get in. Sirius would've wanted this house to be put into good use, and what better use than to protect people who are incredibly important?" Arthur Weasley spoke. Everyone seemed to nod in agreement. Draco sunk in his chair. The mentions of his mother's cousin's death making him feel ill. As if his family wasn't insane enough they had to go and murder each other.
"What about school? They need to be educated!" Molly Weasley asked, looking over at McGonagall.
"That's matter we'll have to discuss with Albus when he's back from his… trip." McGonagall said weakly, exchanging looks with Snape. Although many missed the exchange, Draco didn't, and he looked inquisitively at his godfather who kept his face stoic as usual.
"Should the children be in the know…? We all know the war will be reaching its peak soon, and Harry should at least be informed of the heirs..?" Kingsley Shacklebolt spoke out.
"I agree, they should be informed." Mad-Eye Moody said in his gruff voice.
"What do you think, Draco?" Molly asked.
"They should know." Draco sat up, "Although, I doubt they'll be happy about me."
"Yeah, well, they'll have to deal." Tonks said, "If we don't work together we'll never win this damned war so they'll have to at least be civil."
"So… how do we break it to them?" Lupin asked, and he was met with only silence.