Disclaimer: I am just a mere visitor in the sublime world constructed by the brilliant mind that is J.K Rowling. Anything that rings a bell is hers

A/N: It sure has been a while, been busy with studies and stuff. I hope it's worth the wait... here goes :D

Chapter 33

Draco's POV

The soft notes of the Moriarti brothers wafted through the tepid air that had our...guests...littered comfortably throughout our Drawing Room in various degrees of sociability. I watched from my spot near the window which usually laid backdrop to my favourite armchair, which was probably stacked up neatly as per mother's instruction in the South Wing, along with the rest of the furniture this room usually housed.

The whispers of the frosty night whistled through the tiniest of gaps in the window, ghosting across my black dress robed back but I dared not move, relishing from my position of hiding in plain sight. I watched with a concealed smile as Theodore twirled Aria across the room, her giggling voice warmer than even the flames in the large fire place, probably the only genuine expression of life amidst the drivel of falsehood that graced the Manor tonight. As if to reiterate my thoughts I watched as mother touched cheeks with Lady Davis, the dowdy brunette whose flickering ice blue eyes took in the room with well hidden envy, as if she hadn't been guest to the same scene for most of her life. My eyes narrowed as Therron Davis placed his pudgy hands much too low on mother's back, pulling her to the dance floor much like Avery before him...

The heady scent assaulted my nostrils before her voice broke my temporary peace and my jaw tightened in preparation of the nuisance that I was about to endure, I should have known she would find me... eventually.

"Why Drake, hamstring troubling you again?"

I turned to Pansy, annoying as the girl was, she was a fairer site than watching mother and Davis Sr dancing and she beamed when our eyes met. She, much like every other girl present at the Ball, looked impeccable. Perfectly done make up coupled with flawlessly chosen dress cut, colour, fitting and painstakingly faultless hair styled in array of sleek do's that only left me wanting the untamed soft tresses of dark strands and the barefaced soft skinned beauty that I was privileged to not hours ago...

Her blue eyes darkened as I didn't respond and I felt her lightly caress my leg, "If you like I can give you a massage...I'm sure you remember how very...capable... I am with my hands..."

"Well that's just remarkable Pansy darling." My skin crawled as I felt dainty fingers slither across my palm, "Aunt Cissy was just saying that old Lady Brocklehurst is crippled over in pain upstairs and they need someone to rub her down till the healer gets here. Amanda, show Pansy where your grandmother is, Draco owes me a dance."

The dainty little sticks of flesh became iron clad but I complied without any further threat on Alya's part, turning away from the two girls without much effort, one livid and the other her complete contrast.

I knew I had to dance with Alya at some point tonight, just like I had to dance with mother at the beginning of the Ball and would probably have to dance with Aunt Bella if the woman cared for dancing at all and requested it of me. It wasn't proper to decline family of the customary swirl across the floor, even if family was a viper in a red Zangara gown made of thin satin that highlighted every silk spun curve the woman had grown in her sixteen years of existence.

I looked down at her electric blue eyes in laid in the porcelain white face and it was almost laughable, the irony that the soft scented angel before me was in fact an incestuous psychotic death eater that lay claim to Mistress of the Imperius Curse.

"Submission is a good colour on you, Draco." Her red lips tilted at the ends as I led her to the middle of the floor, if I must dance let it at least be where I could keep a good eye on mother. With father in prison, these devious bastards were slithering out of every nook and cranny. I watched as her frail ivory clad body was twirled around by the likes of Lord Baddock, turning her so her light grey eyes fell on my own momentarily. My heart twanged at the empty look on her face and guilt stroked my insides...I was selfish staying away for longer... It pained me to even visit this fifty one room glamour padded prison...yet she had to exist here day in and day out... watched by red cloaks as death eaters roved in and out as they pleased, with only her mad sister and her corrupt children for company.

Alya sighed against my neck which sent a shiver down my spine, was nothing warm about this girl. "Feeling guilty for abandoning poor Aunt Cissy just so you can play around with the blood traitor tramp for a little while longer?"

Yet again I didn't respond, knowing it was a baseless accusation. I knew she had no idea of anything occurring between Ky and I, if she did she wouldn't have been playing so nicely.

"Don't tell me your spies are so dismal that you're resorting to fishing tactics Alya. Then again, Davis does take after his father in the intellect department. Father says he repeated forth year three times, I wonder what he would say when he finds out who you've been associating with in his absence. And what exactly that association involved."

I knew it must have been her that gave that idiot the idea of poisoning Ky at the beginning of the year. Just like I knew it must have been Blishwick that instructed Lucan Banner to ensure the poison his friend was using would be stale, the bastard didn't want any harm done to Ky unlike his sister. I glanced to the side and as if for prove my theory, there stood Travis Davis, his lips in a snarl of jealousy as he watched Alya float across the floor with me.

"Uncle Lucius would be proud that I am at least attempting to rid this world of one Dumbledore, considering you're failing so dismally. Tell me again about the cursed necklace, that story never seems to get old."

"Only if you promise to tell me again how Dumbledore's muggle daughter in law gave you that retched scar on your stomach. Do you fuck Davis clothed, I wouldn't want to see that mangy ugly thing even if I was a mangy ugly fourth year with a prick the size of a house elf's pinky." She struck a nerve with the admittance that she was in fact the one that told Davis to poison Ky and I knew the scar she now sported upon her abdomen was a sore topic for her, Theo told me that it must have been a cursed blade because his sources say she searched months for a way to get rid of it to no avail.

She laughed hollowly as I dipped het backwards fighting the urge to just let her fall, her raven tresses tickling my cheek as I swung her upright again, "At least I know when I fuck Davis his only thinking of me, not some four eyed half blood that's most notable achievement occurred at the age of one. How does it feel loving a woman that would never love you back?"

I scoffed, "Not as bad as getting beat by a muggle woman Alya. I wonder how you sleep at night."

She smirked, "Quite comfortably actually, with Travis at my front and Jack at my back of course." Her blue eyes glinted up at me as she ran a small hand across my back, "Draco darling, if you think I am the least bit embarrassed at using my feminine whiles to get what I want, you are sorely and disappointingly mistaken. You would find that my family...our family... are not above fucking anyone or anything to get what we want. Ahh, I do believe little Aria is having such fun, then again, my brother is an amazing dance partner."

I let go of her, tuning out the twirling and swirling couples until my eyes found the shock of black hair. I nearly toppled Lady Bullstrode to the floor as I pushed my way to the lopsided couple, the black head towering over the mop of sandy brown. Her hazel eyes lit up when she saw me, "Draco! I was waiting and waiting! You promised me three dances and I've only received two!"

I looked passed her pouting face to the tall man at her side, his face held in a smile that never touched his eyes, "Ari darling, you wound me. Was I not good enough company."

She giggled and I grit my teeth as his black eyes looked down at her, "Of course not Bastian, it's just that-"

I didn't let her finish, pulling her by her hand to me, I couldn't stand his fingers on her...the same fingers that dared... I swallowed, the last thing mother needs is me making a scene. I was about to summon Kovsky when Ari was again pulled from my hand, it wasn't Bastian though. I sighed inwardly at the sandy hair, "Liam. Please escort Ari upstairs."

His brown eyes glowered at me and I relished in a prolonged blink, the boy was still fucking angry. "Yes Master Malfoy." He said with a cutting edge and I had to fight the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose in annoyance, this seriously was becoming the worst fucking night.

It seemed he still hadn't forgiven me for not allowing Kyra to attend the Ball. It was mother's wish though, there would be enough Ladies here today, and nobody knew that I had purchased her, it would rally up unnecessary questions which I honestly didn't have the patience to answer. How was I to know the girl had been planning the Ball in excitement for the past few weeks, I didn't even know I was the one that purchased her gown for the evening as a Christmas present. I sighed as he walked away, knowing he would probably retire for the night, upset at Kyra's disappointment, I had to practically force him to attend the Ball...he just didn't get it...

I watched as the pair of sandy heads made its way to the centralised stair case which housed many occupants framed at the banisters, smirking salaciously and flirting unashamedly with each other.

"They do grow up so fast, don't they?"

My hands shook as it fisted at my side and for one second all I could see was red, all I could see was my fist in his face, all I could see was this fucked up arsehole getting what he deserved.

"Bastian!" My eyes flickered to my left and my stomach clenched at the look of unsuppressed glee on her face, that cannot precede any good news. "Our guest has arrived!"

He smirked down at his sister, "I guess your two henchmen are not as dumb as I thought they are. You'll have to excuse us cousin, Alya and I have other matters to attend to."

Without another word he turned on his heel and walked away, I made to follow but was stopped by a hand on my arm and a familiar voice at my ear, "It's your mother, she's taken ill."

All thoughts of following Alya and Bastian were tossed away as I left the room alongside Blaise, I was shocked he came considering Daphne and her family was here, plus his mother was in Italy, he had every polite excuse to not pitch up, "Who's with her?"

My question was unanswered as just as we turned the corner on the third floor, I heard the shrieking shouts that was my mother's delicate voice and we ran the distance to her rooms.

I barged in just as the shouts disappeared to find my mother atop her bed, struggling at what I can only assume were invisible restraints as her lips flailed open again and again yet emitting no sound.

"Just let me give her the damn calming draught!" Aunt Bella was fighting off her husband who was holding her away from mother.

"She's already had three flasks today! Severus says if she has anymore she'll lose her mind! Do you want to turn her into a fucking vegetable like you did to the Longbottoms!"

I pushed past the struggling couple and fell to my knees at her side, her light grey eyes were practically invisible as it rolled to the back of her head, her back arched and the small veins on her thin exposed arms popping as she thrashed violently against the unseen ties, "WHAT'S GOING ON! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HER!"

I finally found my voice and aunt Bella and Rodolphus turned to me, finally ceasing their bickering, aunt Bella's black eyes were throbbing with anger, her long neck flushed red as she contained her rage, "What did I do! I kept her alive didn't I! Lucius this and Lucius that! Driving herself mad over a MAN! Despicable! If our mother was alive...Crying that death eaters were plaguing her house. She should be proud that this manor has been the venue of such instilment of discipline. OF FEAR! OF WORK FOR OUR LORD!"

Bellatrix hit the wall as her husband's hand sat like a collar around her neck,

"You know what your sister felt for Lady Brocklehurst yet you and Rabastan heed no reason!" barked Rodolphus, "The instruction was to wait for tomorrow, and the Dark Lord said to spare the children and Victor! What use is he to the cause dead! You were not supposed to massacre the Brocklehurst family tonight under your sister's roof you mad bitch!"

My hands patted mother's hair which was wet from the tears that were leaking down her face, I couldn't process what Rodolphus was saying, I needed to help mother. I needed to calm her down, I massaged her arms...she was hurting herself trying to break free. "Shhhh."

My head snapped around as mother's en suite banged open and a tiny figure fell through, screaming the whole way down.

"Get back here you little-" Rabastan stepped through the door, his wand raised as his black eyes glowered in annoyance at the slight snivelling figure at his feet."

"STOP!" Blaise and my own voice echoed through the room, for the second time separating Rodolphus and aunt Bella from they're squabble.

"You boys stay out of this, this is the Dark Lord's orders, the Brocklehursts-"

"SHE'S NOT A FUCKING BROCKLEHURST!" Pansy clawed her way to me and I grabbed her, pulling her crying body to me on the floor, what the fuck, what the fuck was going on.

"Drake...Drake..." She cried into my shoulder. I held her, what the fuck.

Rabastan lowered his wand with a stupid look on his face, "Then what was she doing with all the Brocklehursts."

I rocked the trembling girl back and forward as Rabastan walked out of the en suite, leaving the door wide open... laying at the floor was Mandy...Mandy who never spoke a word to me even though my mother and her mother were best friends. Mandy who sat two seats away from me not two hours ago at dinner, like she did every night on the twenty fifth of December for the past sixteen years of my life. Mandy who gave me a Valentine's Day card every year ever since we were ten. Mandy who sat in front of me in Arithmancy ever since third year. Mandy who was my mother's goddaughter...Mandy who was told to take Pansy upstairs on mothers request relayed by Alya...Alya...she knew...she sent Pansy.

"They have one daughter you idiot." Rodolphus snapped the door shut, "This is Patrick's daughter you..." A vase cracked as Rodolphus gripped his hair in frustration at his brother's stupidity. He must be angry because he already spoke more than I have known him to do his whole life.

Pansy was still clutching my neck and I held her to me, rising to my feet holding her steady with difficulty. Mother stopped screaming silence but the tears fell down her cheeks without any indication of slowing down, pansy's cries the voice over to my mother's pain.

"Draco." I turned slowly towards Rodolophus... my mind was hazy...what the fuck was going on? "You need to get Alya. She's the only one that can calm your mother down before she goes into complete shock. She'll be down in the dungeons. Rabsastan and I will clean up the mess in there, you have to stay downstairs, it will not do well for the others to know that the Dark Lords wishes were not adhered. Don't worry, they won't ask for your mother, they would make their own assumptions based on her absence and let them. Hand over Patrick's girl, he won't be pleased to find out that she was involved in all of this, I'll have Alya-"

"No, no...it's OK. I'll take Pansy." I didn't know what the fuck I was going to do with her but I doubt anybody could detach her from me at present...the things she must have seen in there...

I turned to mother, bending awkwardly with Pansy at my side and kissing her forehead and hurried out of the room, my body ached to see her like this and my throat burned...I couldn't be weak in front of these people...

"Draco-"

"Take Pansy to my quarters." I pulled her off me with difficulty and I gasped, I hadn't noticed that the bodice of her dress was in tatters and there were marks all over her face...oh Salazar... Blaise grappled with Pansy, pulling her into his arms against her will and I tore down the stairs.

I was in the dungeons in moments, thanking the Founders that the guests were entertaining themselves to the extent that the drama upstairs went unnoticed. I took the steps two at a time, running down the corridor, suddenly as if passing an invisible barrier I was hit with the painful feminine shrieks that were becoming too common for me. Before I could reach the door someone bustled out in a rush.

"Draco?"

I didn't have time to wonder why her face was so flushed, or why her blue eyes shone with excitement; I grabbed her by the hand and pulled her, "You need to go to mother. She's-"

"Had another panic attack?" How common was this? How often was she sickened with these things? I stepped towards the stairs but she didn't comply, the screams from the dungeons background music to my current feelings of frustration.

"ALYA!" I snapped, pulling her after me. I heard what aunt Bella and Rodolphus and Rabastan did to the Longbottoms, if mother's attacks were going to leave her like that...fuck, "ALYA!" She didn't budge.

"Say please."

My scream of frustration was drowned out by the tortuous screams on the other side of the wall and she laughed at my reaction, "I'm kidding, don't be so uppity."

By Salazar I will kill her. I moved again but she stood her ground...how! She was tiny!

"Kiss me."

She was not fucking serious. "Alya..." The image of mother in pain upstairs burned in my retinas. Was she really...really doing this... "Alya please just-"

Her lips were on mine in a moment and I fell against the wall hitting my head excruciatingly but she didn't stop, shoving her tongue ruthlessly in my mouth and her hands grated at my skin as she clawed at my back. I pushed her off me just as she began snaking her leg around my waist and she laughed manically, even overshadowing the screams from next door as she licked her lips up at me, "Bet Thornton doesn't know how to do that with her tongue."

I stood stock still against the wall, breathing heavily at what just happened...at what was happening...all around me. I flinched as she placed a sharp finger at my chin, deftly placing her lips at the end of the cold line that leaked down my cheek and pulled back, "Breathe Draco. I made blondie in there think her whole body is covered by flesh eating bugs, I think I can make mummy believe everything is OK before she goes over the edge."

The click clack of her heels disappeared as she crossed the barrier for the silencing charm and I sunk to the floor, my fingers in my hands letting the tears fall effortlessly...

Alya's done this enough times for this to be routine...mother lost it so often...she...she saw so much... the Brocklehursts... Pansy... my hands shook as I processed the fact that Andy Brocklehurst would never attend Hogwarts... Andy who pitched up every year at the beginning of term to see his sister off...his sister who I never gave the time of day because she wasn't pretty...because she wasn't Slytherin... no matter how often mother begged me to be friends with her... until she had given up completely and let it be that her son was that fickle...that shallow...

I pulled out the recitator from my pocket and clutched it in my hands...Ky... I closed my eyes, blocking the woman's screams, Pansy's screams, mother's silent pleas... Ky...

I straightened off the floor and wiped my face aggressively with the back of my hand, placing both my hand and recitator it was curled around in my pocket and straightened my face... the cool steel a reminder of her warm grey orbs and I stepped towards the stairs.

I joined the party without receiving a raised eyebrow; everybody was too drunk or too hazed by lust to notice my absence. I watched almost with a heady detachment as a tall redhead pulled Yaxley up the staircase, his hands already latched at her bare back greedily.

"Draco?" My head turned as if on a stick to find Daphne looking up at me with concern, "What's wrong?"

I didn't bother lying to her, we had spent much too much time with each other over the years, albeit indirectly, for me to waste my time pretending all was well. I didn't have to fool Daphne for I knew she would never question matters further than necessary. With worried green eyes she pulled me to her, placing my hand on her waist, "My father thinks it's the height of vulgarity that you haven't danced with any of his girls, rather us dance and appease him lest he begin asking questions."

I moved mechanically, the faces floating around us, I watched hypnotically as one of the Carrow girls were twirled around and around by Higgs, a toothy grin on his face as he did so.

"The party sure has emptied out." Her airy voice floated up to me easily, Daphne was probably the tallest girl here today, "Of course that's no insult to your mother. You know how these things go, put enough drink into these old megalomaniacs and they're sure to stir up trouble elsewhere." She shivered slightly, I must really be frightening her if she was making so much small talk, Daphne was not chatty.

"Makes me think of that time at the World Cup. Well considering the state of affairs presently, floating muggles is really a harmless offense. Actually I hope all that Theo's father does is float those poor muggle in seven Church Street. That man is mental. I don't know how Theo could be his son, speaking of which-"

She stopped as I stopped dancing, not that I was doing a very good job to start off with; I barely spun her around an inch from where we started. "What?"

She frowned at me, "Well his creepy isn't he. Remember the time he made Theo-"

"Where did you say they were going?" My heart was frozen...no...no...not this...not this after everything...no...

"Seven Church Street." She finished with a deep frown, "It's weird how they picked an address, they don't usually do so, I mean it's usually a-"

I turned away from Daphne and I fell through the Drawing Room doors clutching my chest as my mind went blank. No...

"Draco." Theo clapped my back, "I checked up on your mother, she's doing much better, of course she doesn't know that she just lost her best friend but then again...at least she's not...you know...Blaise said it was quite bad...Draco?"

"Draco!" Daphne's voice cut through, "What's wrong?"

"What's going on?" Theo questioned, I opened my mouth but no sound was coming out...this wasn't happening...oh fuck...

"I don't know. I overheard Davis saying that his dad and your dad and some other guys were going muggle hunting. I thought it was strange that they gave a specific address, I mean what could have the muggles of seven Church Street possibly have do...THEO!"

I snapped my head up, Daphne's screech clearing my mind in a second has his dark head was at the front door in moments. I pushed Daphne off me and bounded forward, he was going to do something stupid...fuck...he was going to do something stupid.

"THEO!" The wind raged against my cloakless body and I ran down the walkway in silence, our footsteps silenced by the thick pads of snow and I slithered through the space in the closing gate. I just about reached him as he twirled around, "THEO NO!"

It was too late though, hell fire blazed through my left hand and I screamed into the night as the large Manor disappeared... a heart beat later I was thrown to the floor, clutching my splinched and bleeding hand to my chest...

I bit my lip, the cold air aggravating the raw skin of my hand which lay forgotten as I slowly straightened up, only to stagger backwards at the scene before me...

Flame caressed the grey walls almost seductively; it danced out of the perfectly square windows and flickered atop the white roof of Seven Church Street... Gryffindor red spilled from every surface of the modest house that I called home just last night and as if the Gryffindor red was contagious, I ran toward the fire, Theo a little ahead of me, my fingers unclasping the recitator...Ky...

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Kalina