Draco gave a small gasp and visibly froze as Lucius Malfoy stepped up behind him and rested his hands on the back of Draco's chair. "Good afternoon, gentlemen," he said with a smirk. "What a coincidence. Mind if I join you?"

Before any had time to even register what was happening, Lucius had grabbed a chair from an empty table and placed in deliberately between Draco and I.

Slughorn seemed to be the only one who was unperturbed with the unannounced arrival of Mr Malfoy; "Lucius!" he thundered happily. "We were just talking about you!"

"I am well aware of the fact," came the clipped response. "And it would seem that I got here just in time," he glared down at Draco, who cringed beneath his father's eyes and bowed his head uneasily. "I was going to leave you where you were for a few more days, but I can see that being away from home is disagreeing with you. So-"

"No!" The sound of my voice surprised even me. Lucius' head turned sharply at my protest and I faltered somewhat. "I mean, is that really necessary?" I went on, determined not to give in without an argument. "It hasn't even been five days yet and Draco is happy where he is. He needs stability-"

"Which," Lucius cut in sharply, "is why he should come home. Immediately. Anyway, the sooner we get all get back to normal the better and I'm sure you'll be very busy preparing for September, won't you, Severus?" I couldn't quite tell if there was a mocking undertone of that last comment or not or if that damnable sneer was a permanent feature of his face.

Slughorn- not liking the fact that he was not being included in this conversation- tried to change the topic whilst Lucius and I glared Unfogivables at one another and Draco- subdued and shivering- sat back in his chair, ice-cream melted and forgotten.

"I have a bone to pick with you, Mr Malfoy," Slughorn stated loudly. "What's this about you not sending your boy to Hogwarts?"

"I simply feel," Lucius muttered, not looking away from me. "That Draco would do better elsewhere. However, I do not feel the need to explain this to you."

Slughorn humphed sulkily, muttering some carefully chosen insults under his breath.

"But this is getting us nowhere," said Lucius lazily, sitting up and looking business like. Then, glancing down, he barked, "Draco, pay attention."

Flinching at his father's sharp voice, Draco sat bolt upright instantly.

It was horrible to see Draco- who had been so happy just an hour ago- reverting back to the submissive, nervous little thing he had been before. I suppose I hadn't really appreciated how much Draco had changed since he had been staying with us, how much life he now and how happy he seemed to be.

But, as goes the saying, you never appreciate anything until it's gone.

"You may have tomorrow," Lucius told him. "And the next day, I will send a car to pick you up and you will come home. The day after, life will continue as normal. Nothing is going to change, Draco," He shot me a filthy look. "I want to make that perfectly clear. Neither your mother nor I are going to treat you any differently than before. Do you understand me?"

Draco nodded silently, bottom lip caught firmly between his teeth.

The tension- mingled with the repressive heat- was completely suffocating. I, having experienced such hostile conditions many times before, could just about tolerate it. Slughorn, on the other hand was not and it was very obvious, from his expression, that this was not going to be as nice a day out as he had hoped.

"Can I get you guys anything?" A waitress appeared from nowhere; smiling broadly, pad in hand.

"Yes, can I have coffee?" Slughorn asked, relieved to be involved in something.

"One…coffee…" she scribbled on her pad. "Anything else? No? Lovely."

"Father?" Draco whispered after she had left. "Please, who's going to teach me now?"

'Oh god…' I thought, wanting dearly to bash my head on the table top. 'Not another maniac! Please let it be someone half decent…'

"Due to…less than fortunate experiences," Lucius said carefully. "Your mother and I have agreed that it is both a waste of time and money to invest in a new tutor."

Draco didn't know whether to be relieved at this, or more anxious.

"Therefore," continued Lucius, hands resting together with an air of complete complacency. "I will now take full responsibility for your education until you attend school."

I felt like I had just knocked my head very hard; everything seemed hazy and all I could hear was a ringing in my ears and I could see, by the look on Draco face, that he was feeling even worse.

He had gone completely rigid, as though he had been hit by a full body-bind curse. Lips pressed together so hard they were going blue, Draco struggled to retain enough control to process exactly what he had just heard. He looked to me- desperately seeking assurance and comfort. But I, almost as horrified by Lucius' suggestion as Draco was, was unable to give it.

Lucius was completely oblivious to how much effect this little bit of information had caused and continued smoothly, "Draco, I need to make this quite plain; I am a very busy man, I have other obligations which I need to attend to and, as such, I will not tolerate any poor behaviour on your part. You will do what I tell you, when I tell you and it will be done in the time I give you to do it. Failure to co-operate will result in punishment. It is as simple as that."

I watched powerlessly as a shudder coursed through Draco's body and he gave a small, helpless nod.

Lucius sighed, and sat back- fingers drumming on the arms of the chair. "I know this isn't the ideal situation, but as Severus turned down our offer…"

Of all the malicious, terrible things he could've said, it was that which was the worst. That which had the potential to cause the most harm.

Draco, his eyes filled with disbelief, stared at me; not understanding, not believing that I would betray him in such a way. "W-what? Sir…?"

"I would've come back," I tried desperately. "If I hadn't got the place at Hogwarts, I would've come back."

"Apart from ths was before you got the job…"

"Won't you just shut up?" I yelled, rounding furiously on the insufferable Malfoy. But the damage had already been done.

"They asked you," Draco whispered, his hands knotting restlessly together in his lap. "They asked…and you said no? No more lies, you said…no more saying things that aren't true…"

I tried to meet his eyes…but I couldn't. "I'm sorry Draco…"

Blinking hard to conceal his tears, Draco pushed his chair quickly back with a mumbled, "Excuse me…bathroom…" before darting into the shop.

"What the hell did you have to do that for?" I hissed, leaning right across the table. "That was completely unnecessary!"

"On the contrary," Lucius smirked. "I found it quite necessary."

"You never wanted me to come back, you said yourself in the letter-"

"Which Draco obviously hasn't read even though I said that he should."

"-that I'm to 'stick to my role'. What would you have done if had accepted what Narcissa had offered?"

"I knew you wouldn't," came the arrogant reply. "Not after what happened before. But, I must say, it was necessary for me to have a backup plan just on the off chance that you did have any doubts."

I frowned; trying to think of a way that Lucius could have twisted things to suit himself without making it obvious…

Then I noticed a very guilty looking Slughorn and the proverbial light bulb flashed on.

"You bribed him," I thought out loud, hating them both, hating the fact that I fallen straight into Lucius' trap. "You told him to recommend me specifically to Dumbledore so it would seem that I'm getting the best deal!"

"As I said, it was necessary," said Lucius dismissively. "I want you as far away from Draco as possible. I am sick of you sticking your nose in where it isn't wanted and causing havoc amidst our family! You have influenced him far too much, Severus, and it's time for it to stop! Draco is a Malfoy and it's about time he started behaving like one and with you there, it will be impossible for that to happen."

"How can you say that?" I shouted, unable to believe what I was hearing. "If it wasn't for me, you would never have known what William Southard was doing! And you are far too wrapped up in yourself to have ever noticed yourself! I love Draco and if you-"

"But," Lucius interrupted. "Not enough to come back?"

I gave a short, humourless laugh and shook my head. "You would never have me come back. You have made that perfectly clear."

"True true. Anyway, I think we have had enough drama for one day and I have achieved what I set out to so," he smiled at me. "I think I shall just take my son and we shall be on our way."

"I'm not going!"

Now it was Lucius' turn to falter. Neither of us had noticed Draco there and as for how much he had heard…but the look on Draco's face was enough to say everything.

Metal scraped across the stone paving and Lucius rose slowly and looked down on his son. "I beg your pardon?"

"I'm not going home," Draco repeated, chin raised, hands clenched into fists by his side. "I don't want to!" I had never seen him this angry or with this much nerve to even think about talking to his father like this. He was growing up, I realised. And maybe he had heard what I had said earlier about him needing to stand up for himself…

'Please be careful, Draco,' I thought to him as I watched the two Malfoys glare at each other- one with complete hatred set deep into the silvery blue and the other with anger mingled with surprise,

"Did I ask you what you wanted?" Lucius hissed. "Did I give you a choice in the matter? No! I didn't! So don't you dare speak out of turn!"

But Draco was not to be silenced. "I'm not going home with you! You can't make me! You're a liar and I hate you! I hate you! LET GO OF ME!"

Lucius had grabbed hold of Draco's collar, eyes blazing. "Control yourself, you stupid boy! I haven't brought you up to behave like a muggle so stop acting like one!"

"I don't care!" Draco shrieked, oblivious to the attention he was receiving from nosy passers by. "I'd rather be a muggle than live with you! You don't care about me! You'll do anything to stop me being happy! I hate you and I wish you weren't my father-"

A roar of anger accompanied by a vicious slap cut Draco's sentence short. "Don't you dare," Lucius shouted, all self-restraint gone as he struck Draco again and again about the head. "Don't you dare ever speak to me like this again, you ungrateful little brat! After everything I have done for you, after everything you have been given…you have absolutely no idea at all how bloody lucky you are! Come back here!"

Draco had twisted free somehow and he now stood a little way off- he was shaking visibly and his lip was bleeding, but he was in no way cowed. On the contrary in fact, he seemed stronger and calmer but no less infuriated.

"I'll never forgive you," he said to Lucius, "for what you did. You don't listen and you don't care…you never have and you can't stand me having someone who does." Draco turned is eyes to me now. Me who hadn't moved an inch. Me who had completely frozen with astonishment and hadn't even tried to help. And Draco smiled a proper toothy, bloodstained smile.

Lucius stood there- completely still, completely silent- as though assessing what was the best line of action to take next. Then, almost painfully slowly, he stepped over to his son, one deliberate step at a time, leant down right next to the little boy's ear and whispered, "You'd do well to watch yourself, Draco. One day, that's all you have left and then you are coming back home where you belong. Do not forget who you are."

He raised his hand suddenly and I saw Draco flinch. Lucius smirked and lowered it again. "But I don't think you'll be able to forget very easily."

Then, straightening himself up, he glanced over in my direction, gave a curt nod and stalked away.

As soon as Lucius had gone, Draco's legs gave way beneath him and he fell to the ground, trembling violently, clearly frightened by his audacity. I leapt up, my legs waking up, and dashed to his side, hugging him fiercely.

"Sir…"

"It's okay Dragon, I've got you. You're okay…"

"Why did I do that?" Draco murmured tearfully. "I shouldn't have…I shouldn't have said those things…I don't know why I did and now…and now I have to go back and he's gonna be so angry…what am I going to do?" The last part was let out as a wail and he burst into tears.

"Come on," I said, taking my weeping godson by the hand. "We'd better get home and we can sort everything out there. Come on, Draco."

And we walked away, ignoring the stares and leaving a very confused Slughorn alone with the bill.

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A/N: Ta daaa! I said it wouldn't be too long :D Hope you liked this and I'm sorry for making Lucius into a total git but, let's face it, at the moment he is. Lucius is one of those people who, when out of control ofhis life, does everything in his power to get it back, even if it isn't necessarily the best way to deal with things. But he's not all bad; he really does love Draco but only when Draco is acting perfectly and not doing anything the least bit unpredictable..and anyway, Lucius just isn't that great at doing all the things that parents are supposed to.

Excuse my ramblings, it's quarter past mid-night and I am rather tired and when i get tired, i tend to ramblie...a lot. Hee hee! Ramblie lolage pie!!

Luv and cupcakes to everyone who is going to review and who has reviewed :D

Lily xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx