A/N: And just as I promised another new chapter in quick succession! I'm still debating whether I should change the spelling to 'Mya' considering that's how I've always pronounced it yet spelt it wrong... I shall try it and see if people get too confused... Also, long chapter! Woo!

Draco had been home from little over a week after Hogwarts had broken up for the summer holidays. He'd confined himself to the solitude of his bedroom and must have gone over what Potter had told him more than 100 times in his head. When he'd found out Mya'd got herself involved in Merlin only knows what at the ministry he'd paced the Slytherin common room for hours until word had come back about people returning. He'd rushed up from the dungeons like a madman, eyes scanning the corridor but came up short. She hadn't been there. But Potter was. Once again without properly thinking things through he'd stormed up to the boy who lived and demanded to know where she was.

'I don't know, Bellatrix took her. Why do you even care?' That sentence kept swirling around in the blondes head, each time like a physical blow. Of course he cared! And if Mya didn't know that... If she was alone or harmed or tortured. No. This was driving him insane. He couldn't just sit in his room and keep thinking the same horrendous things over and over.

Pulling on a clean pair of jeans and a dark t-shirt, not bothering with shoes or socks he shuffled numbly into the hallway and began to wonder through Malfoy manor not quite sure what to do. Sighing inwardly, Draco made his way to the dinning room to try and find his mother, she always knew how to calm him down when he started to fret about My.

ZNZNZN

Mya sat in the green chair still, a book of her own offering little escape. Her 'mother', the term being used lightly, was across the room, watching her intently.

"What?" She finally caved in and asked, her patience wearing thin. Obviously Bellatrix didn't answer and merely smirked continued to watch her. Scowling the teenager slammed the book shut, pushing it off her lap so it landed with a 'thump' on the floor.

"What?" She tried once again, barely able to control the distaste in her voice.

"Where did you get that?" Mya blinked completely thrown off guard.

"Get what?"

"The bracelet" Bellatrix's eyes travelled to the brunettes wrist, slowly sliding over the tiny charms of the bracelet. Mya started. What was she meant to say?

"It was a present" She muttered, folding her hands up in her lap to try and now conceal it.

"From who?"

"Why are you so interested in what jewellery I wear?" The Slytherin retorted, trying to keep her voice calmer than she felt. For some reason she knew it would be very bad if Bellatrix found out it had been a present from Draco.

"The Dark Lord has plans for you, any distractions will be taken cared of." The hidden meaning behind that terrified her. Not so much that she was involved in death eater plans, but what would happen if Draco ever got considered as a 'distraction.' Had she been considered a distraction? Was that what had happened last year? Why he'd changed within hours to wanting to hurt her? The realisation of that finally dawned on her and she was shaking her head without thinking. Bellatrix, oblivious gave a laugh, assuming her daughter had been referring to being involved in the Dark Lords plans.

"You should be elevated! You will be serving the Dark Lord and doing what you were intended to do" Mya ignored her still lost in her own thoughts.

The door opening caused both to look up. It was rather ironic then, to see the distraction in question stood right there, his mouth half open as if he were about to say something but in too much shock to fully get it out. He took a stumbling step forward, eyes firmly fixed on Mia. He'd feared the worst; that she'd been tortured or killed, never to be seen again. But she was right there.

"My" it came out in a half chocked whisper along with another stumble forward. And then she was standing up, not giving the other women in the room a single glance as she rushed forward. They were in each other's arms before Draco could process that she was really there. His hands were running all over her hastily, unconsciously checking that she hadn't been injured or was missing anything vital like an arm or leg. No, she was fine, perfect. As perfect as ever and here now in his arms. Her arms were around his shoulders, head tucked into the crook of the blondes neck for less than a second before she looked up. Draco took that as all the confirmation he needed, lifting the little brunette up and kissing her. It was rushed yet careful at the same time, it wasn't slow and relaxed like the first time either but needing if not a little desperate.

"I take it back" Mya whispered, her forehead leaning against his, green eyes staring intently into grey. It took him about to register what on earth the statement meant. He'd told her to take it back, what she'd said about him being like his father. He was half surprised she'd remembered. Draco smiled, for the first time in a long, long time actually smiled down at Mya and gave her another small kiss.

"Last year-" He began, but was cut off,

"I know" She did? How did she know he hadn't wanted to treat her like he had? Unless he'd done it that badly that it was obvious... That was when he noticed the thin silver chain on her wrist, the little charms dangling by his cheek.

"How did you find that?" Mya just grinned.

"Distraction!" Bellatrix called out in glee, jumping up and clapping her hands. Draco tightened his arms around Mya's waist and glared at the older women. He'd missed the earlier part of the conversation involving distractions, but it was obvious her excitement wasn't a good thing. She'd pulled her wand out and now had it pointed the blonde, a smirk wide on her face.

"No! No distraction" Mya back peddled attempting to get out of Draco's strong hold and block him from view. Not that he was going to let her.

"Back off" Draco growled, resembling the same boy who had shouted at her in the rain. At least this time it wasn't directed at her. But this wasn't going to end well. Mya had started slowly walking backwards towards the doorway, Draco's hand clasped firmly in hers as she tried to unnoticeably drag him from the room.

"Distractions need to be dealt with" Bellatrix instructed, her wand still pointed at the blonde. Mya struggled to get around Draco but it was no use, he wasn't about to let her move. Bellatrix's smirk only widened.

"Crucio!" She shouted with glee and that was all that Mya remembered.

Everything went dark for her, much like the other times and the next thing she knew Draco's voice was calling out to her. It was pulling her back into control, like a beacon of light in the darkness. She was getting flashes of Draco's face, worry etched onto his light features. Bellatrix was no longer stood in front of them, but the flashes didn't last long enough for her to locate the older women.

Draco was stood in front of 'Mya' his hands on both her shoulders. It wasn't that he particularly liked Bellatrix; in fact he'd like it very much if Mya had just killed the women, but she was important to the Dark Lord. And that meant it Mya did kill her, whether she was in her right mind or not she'd be in a terrible situation.

"Mya, come on this isn't you, you don't want to do this" He was looking her directly in the eyes, dark colourless eyes that held no similarity to the usually green ones. This was dangerous. He was perfectly aware of just how dangerous it was, and to be protecting Bellatrix! Oh the irony wasn't lost on him.

"I'm the one stood in front of you, look at me" He was trying to use a gentle voice, but Bellatrix was getting back to her feet, a feral snarl parting her lips. Black eyed Mya had cocked her head to the side, eyes bright in a child-like innocents. Of course there was nothing child-like about her, certainly not in this state. Her hand reached up to touch his cheek and it took all of Draco's will power not to flinch. It wasn't a loving gesture, not like it had been mere minutes ago.

"You don't want to hurt me" He whispered slowly, keeping his eyes locked with hers. This had worked last time. Well, sort of. This form had been about to hurt him, possibly kill him and then she'd been back to normal, shaken up but back to normal. The brunettes' eyes had begun to flicker from black to green once more, and Draco kept his hands tightly on her shoulders willing her to fight.

"My?" Her eyes had settled on dark green and Draco vaguely noticed the green streak had also returned.

Mya dropped her hand from Draco's face, slowly glancing over his shoulder to her where her 'mother' was stood. The older women looked furious, yet there was still a smirk on her face. Mya wasn't sure what had happened, but she could take a guess.

"I didn't-"she began, but was cut off by the door to the library opening and Narcissa rushing in followed by Lucius. He took one look around the room, eyes gliding over Bellatrix to rest on his son; whose hands were still on the brunette's shoulders.

"What were you told?! WHAT did I say about staying away from her!" he shouted, his voice making Draco cower. Lucius snarled walking over to his son and forcing his head up to look at him,

"You're to have nothing to do with her! The Dark Lord has great things in mind for you, and they do NOT involve this girl"

Draco shook his head, he couldn't not see Mia. Last year had been torture having to pretend he hated her, and the year before, having to pretend he didn't want to go with her to the Yule ball was too hard. He couldn't do that to her again. He wouldn't. Lucius snarled again seeing him shake his head. What had happened to his son to corrupt him so much? He never used to defy him.

"Hold her" Lucius instructed, and before Mya could process what was going on Bellatrix's hands were pinning her arms behind her back.

"Hey! What's going on? Get off of me!" She demanded, struggling to break free. It was no use, the old women had an iron grip. All she could do was watch whatever was about to go on between father and son.

Lucius lifted his arm up, wand in hand and bought it down in an arc aimed at his sons back. There was no physical connection, but a slash appeared in Draco's dark t-shirt, shortly followed by two more. Draco turned his head away from Mya clenching his fits and trying to keep the pain away from his face. Only his father didn't stop at three like he usually did. He continued until the pain felt like his back was on fire, until he had caused his sons knees to buckle and breath to come in quick, short gasps. He'd gotten used to the pain over the years, but it had never gone on this long, new cuts on top of even newer ones. Mya was screaming but Draco knew better than to look at her. He knew better than to look at anyone or make a single sound. His finger nails were biting into his palms in an attempt to distract himself from the next set of slashes though it didn't do much in comparison.

Mya watched in disbelief, unable to comprehend what was actually happening. She'd tried to imagine what Draco had gone through before, but thankfully the images never came. But now there was no need to imagine it. The startling fact that he made no movement at first, not even flinched from the initial few blows was horrific. And then Lucius wouldn't stop. He'd gone past 10, past 20 lashes and Draco's knees had given out as he'd fallen forward to the floor, barely being able to support himself on his hands. His face turned away from her direction, tears burning his eyes. Mya was screaming at Lucius to stop, her own voice so frantic she barely recognised it,
"You'll kill him! Stop it! Stop it!" None of it was getting through to Lucius. She could hear Bellatrix's hysterical laugh behind her whilst the women kept her arms pinned back. It was sickening not being able to do anything. It was clear to say Mya had never been so furious in her life. Furious and terrified. She wasn't sure which one of the feelings had caused the tears but they were rolling down her cheeks as she screamed. Still Draco made no sound. Blood was trickling from under his short down to the floor in small droplets.

And then something that had never before happened occurred. Narcissa stepped in and took hold of her husband's arm in mid air, her own hand trembling.

"That's enough" Bellatrix seemed to also be in shock by what was commencing as her hold on Mya had gone slack enough for her to pull away. She rushed over to where Draco was on his hands and knees, dropping down next to him and covering his hand with her own, uncomfortably aware of Lucius towering over them.

"Leave" It was Narcissa's voice, calmer than any of them felt. Her hand was still holding her husbands are in mid air and she made no inclination to let go. Mya glanced up at Narcissa, cautiously avoiding Lucius' gaze. He hadn't made any counter action, nor opposed his wife's command at the two teenagers. Perhaps he was just in too much shock that she'd actually intervened. Taking that as all the conformation she needed, Mya hooked her hands under Draco's arms and carefully hauled him up to his feet. His face contorted in pain as he stood up straight and had to put most of his weight onto Mya to get out of the room. The door was slammed shut behind them.

"I'm fine." Draco muttered through clenched teeth, pushing himself off of Mya and slowly walking towards the stairs. He wasn't fine, it was obvious. She could see how hard it was for him to move forward, let alone up the stairs and it was painful just to watch. But he'd insisted he hadn't wanted her help with this, so instead the brunette walked a step behind, ready to help if need be.

Draco stumbled up the two flights slowly, his hands shaking as he held onto the handrail. If he could just make it to his room and come up with an excuse for Mya not to come in. But she would come in. She knew him too well not to see through the facade. Pushing the door open Draco made his way through his room to the bathroom, pausing in the doorway to mumbled something to Mya,

"Just-Give me a second" And with that he closed the door. Mya waited, shuffling around the room for several minutes, but with nothing more to do she paused at the bathroom door.

"Draco?" She called quietly whilst knocking on the door. He didn't answer.

"Draco?" Trying again and this time turning the handle, Mya edged the door open. Once it had opened fully she shuffled in, spotting the blonde sat on the edge of the bath tub. His fingers were gripping the sides of the bath, knuckles turned white from the force and breathing quick and laboured. The back of his shirt had been torn to thin scraps, most sticking to his skin from the blood. She must have made an involuntary noise as he slowly raised his head to look at her. He looked... broken.

"You shouldn't be here." Mya shook her head, going over to sit beside him on the edge of the bath tub. Did he mean here in the bathroom or here in general?

"I'm so sorry" She whispered.

"Don't. It's not your fault." That offered little consolation.

"How can you say that? You can't honestly believe that" Draco had turned his face away when she'd sat down, but now he looked straight into her eyes.

"I never hated you last year" he sighed, letting go of the bath with his right hand and running it down his face. He'd gone off topic, well, kind of, but she was just glad he was speaking. "You have to know that. I never hated you, I never could hate you. It's the complete opposite!" He started to sound frantic, rushing on, "I wanted to speak to you, be with you. I needed to. I really did… but he said if I did you'd get hurt and I couldn't risk that. I would never risk that. You have no idea how hard it was to see you at the Yule ball. When you came down the stairs, I-I can't even say what I wanted to do." A small smirk flashed across his features, disappearing as he went on, "And instead I messed up. I watched you the whole night you know? Dancing with that blood traitor..." Mya blinked back tears, her hand covering his. She hadn't known that. Hell she'd spent the whole night trying to avoid him thinking he'd been having too much fun with Pansy. He hadn't hated her... Not really. He'd been trying to protect her and her pride had been hurt too much to realise it. Part of her wanted to apologise, over and over but he'd just brush it off like before.

"How can I help?" She tried instead, taking a different tactic and referring to his back. Some of it was visible through the t-shirt, and it wasn't a pretty sight. It would be even worse without it on.

"Run away with me? Or elope... I'd accept eloping too" Mya gave a very small laugh resting her forehead against his momentarily. This wasn't the time for joking around. But at least he was grinning a little...

"Fine, we'll elope. Where would you like to elope to?"

"I fancy Peru" Mya made a face,

"Why Peru?"

"What ever happens in Peru?" She had to give him that.

"Fine we'll elope to Peru. First though..." This time it was Mya's turn to trail off as she once again looked at the back of his t-shirt. "I'm not sure to get it off-"And Draco, being the stubborn fool he was lifted the shirt up and pulled it over his head, along with whatever blood and skin had been stuck to the back of it. Mya had to cover her mouth. Without the shirt on it looked so much worse. Over half the skin on his back had been taken off along with most of the old scars reopening. He must've been in excruciating pain. How could he just sit there?

"I could've cut it off or something" She muttered in annoyance. Draco shrugged then winced at the movement. Sighing Mya clambered into the bath tub to sit directly behind him, taking the shower head off the hook it was and turning it to the lightest setting before turning the water on. Her jeans were soaked fairly fast but that was that last thing on her mind right now.

"This is probably going to hurt" Draco nodded but didn't say anything. He was used to pain by now, never to the extent of what had just occurred, but the pain of getting the wounds taken care of would be nowhere near as bad. That was enough encouragement for Mya, who lifted the shower head up to lightly Draco's shoulder where most of his skin was still intact. The water trickled down his back mingling with the blood. His hands had tightened on the edge of the bath again and his breathing was becoming short.

"Want me to stop?" he shook his head.

"Just get it over and done with" Mya nodded slightly moving the shower head along his shoulders, though still reluctant to point it directly at the worst of his back.

"Just. Do. It." Draco growled through his teeth. So, reluctantly she moved onto the middle of his back, carefully attempting to wash away the blood. Draco cried out once involuntarily tensing all the muscles in his back, but apart from that he stayed silent until it was over. Most of the blood had come off, leaving the cuts open but not openly bleeding any longer. It looked slightly better than it previously had, but it still wasn't a pretty sight, and still hurt like hell.

"Ok, that's most of it off" The younger Slytherin said standing up and placing the shower head back on the hook. Her jeans squelched as she climbed out of the bath, causing a little puddle of water to form at her feet. Rather worryingly there were several roles of bandage cloth in the bathroom cabinet, that Mya then proceeded to as carefully and gently as possible wrap around his whole back, crossing over his left shoulder and tying it neatly at the bottom.

"Thanks." Draco stood up rolling his neck from side to side and padding back out into the bedroom with Mya following. The room was well lit initially until the blonde strode over to the curtains and roughly pulled them closed. Clearly he wasn't interested in letting light in. After closing the curtains he sat down on the bed, hunching forward slightly and letting out a long breath.

"He has a task for me… That's what father said…" Draco sighed not wanting to know what this task the dark lord had in mind was. It would involve getting the dark mark though. His father had been telling him for the past year what a privilege that would be. Mya looked down at the floor and nodded once, acknowledging what he'd said. She decided to not mention the same had been said for her yet. That wouldn't help either of them. Instead she walked forward aiming to sit next to him on the bed before realising her jeans were still dripping. Shrugging to herself she removed them, leaving them on a pile on the floor and hoping it wouldn't water damage the carpet then joined him on the bed. Being careful not to touch his back or shoulders, Mya leant her forehead against the side of Draco's, placing a small kiss on his cheek.

"You won't be alone, you know I'll help, right?" Draco didn't respond at first, finally turning his head to look at Mya, a faint smile ghosting his face.

"I've missed you so much" He whispered trailing his right hand up and down her arm. His knuckles were scarred from where he'd hit the wall last year.

"You shouldn't have done that" Draco followed her gaze to his hand sighing inwardly and biting back a retort about Mya shouldn't have kissed Fred. And settled for a simple,

"I know" Instead. Believe it or not he hadn't gone into the situation with the idea to punch a wall. He hadn't even gone into the situation with the idea to make a move on Mya. He hadn't even gone into the situation on purpose! "I didn't intend to believe me." She nodded knowing it was true. "I saw you after with him" Mya frowned trying to recall back to what had happened. They'd been arguing, Draco had scared her and then...

"Fred?" Draco nodded. She'd kissed Fred after, half desperate to forget what had just gone on seconds before. But she hadn't known Draco had still been able to see. Part of her wanted to apologise, though she wasn't sure what for. He'd been doing god knows what with Pansy, so why should she be sorry for doing very little with Fred over the past year? As if Draco had been thinking the same thing he said,

"Nothing happened with Pansy. She jumped me a few times, but you know" Mya's frown deepened.

"Why didn't you say it then?" She asked. This time it was Draco's turn to frown,

"Say what?" Mya gave him a look and he sighed. Right. Those damned 3 words. "I've never said it."

"Not even to your mother? She stopped him earlier" Draco nodded,

"I know, she's never done that before, but he's never gone past three at one time before" Mya noticed he'd steered the subject away from the original topic.

"You really never have said you loved anyone?" She wasn't about to let this drop. But Draco equally didn't want to talk about it.

"No. Never. So I can't just start. You know I care about you, you better know that My, now can we please just drop it?" Mya wasn't sure how to respond. It really wasn't the answer she thought would be right or she had looked for. It was more comforting than what had been her worst theory, that he hadn't said it because it wasn't true, but in a way it was worse. Even after everything she'd seen and known, Draco was more damaged than even she'd realised.

He lay down on his stomach, pulling the duvet up to his waist but no further. Mya moved down under the duvet leaning on her right side to face the teenager, placing a light kiss to his lips.

"You shouldn't stay in here" Like hell she wouldn't. There was no way she would leave. What if his father hadn't had enough and decided to come back? At least if she was here she could try and stop it.

"You know I'm not leaving, and you really need to stop telling me what I should and shouldn't do." Draco's eyes had already shut, but he moved his hand to Mya's waist, slowly stroking small circles with his thumb.

"You should do as you're told" He mumbled finally, keeping his eyes closed. Mya merely shook her head, moving closer to his side, though making sure there was no contact with his back.

"Shh."

A/N: Also, i've almost reached 100 favourites on this story! Which is amazing in itself, so thank you all for favouriting. AND the story is just 3 reviews away from 150, so for the special person who leaves the 150th review I'll let them ask ANY question they want and answer them in mail (so you need to be logged on) just leave your question with the review, and be imaginative! Don't go for the obvious question ;)