A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you're having a good day! Sorry for the delay in updating, I've just been getting a lot of really gross and negative guest reviews for som3 reason and it was really starting to hurt, so I took a few days to breath. Anyway, I'm back and here we go! I really hope you like the chapter!
(Draco POV)
Dear Draco,
I hope this letter finds you well at Hogwarts. How are your midterms? I should expect your grades are excellent of course, as anything less would be disastrous.
In any case, enough about grades, It has been far too long since we last saw you, and I eagerly anticipate your return home for the Christmas holidays. Your father and I have been eagerly preparing for you, and we long to have you back by our side.
However, my dear Draco, I must admit that my heart is heavy with concern in these trying times. I try to have hope and peace in my heart, but alas, I feel as if there is a shadow of fear over the world. The air is thick with uncertainty, and it weighs heavily on our souls. We are living in a time where loyalty and caution must be our guiding principles.
Your father has been vigilant in his duties, and he expects nothing less from you. I trust that you are heeding his advice and following the path he has set forth for you. Remember, Draco, the choices you make now will have consequences that reach far beyond Hogwarts. You are our pride and hope, and we expect great things from you.
As the holiday season approaches, I implore you to remain vigilant and focused. The Dark Lord's influence is far-reaching, meaning that his ranks are ever growing. We must be careful in our actions and words. I know you may encounter challenges and temptations at school, but I have faith in your ability to navigate these treacherous waters. Remember the teachings of our family, the importance of blood purity, and the legacy that has been entrusted to you.
When you return home, we shall discuss matters in greater detail. Your father and I have plans that will require your utmost dedication and loyalty. It is during these times that the Malfoy name must shine brightly and demonstrate unwavering allegiance.
Draco, my son, I miss you dearly. The thought of your safe return warms my heart, even as the world around us grows colder. Keep your head held high and remember the strength that flows through your veins. Together, we shall weather this storm and emerge victorious.
With all my love,
Narcissa Malfoy
Setting down the letter I'd reread several times over the last week, I sighed as I sat in the library, Jakoba sitting just in front of me, studying. "Where is Urie?" I wanted to talk to her about her father and ask for the millionth time if she knew whether or not he was a Dark Lord Supporter. If he were, I could have her watch over Zander during the holiday to ensure he acted just like me. I was sure though that her answer would be the same as before. That she knew nothing of her father and didn't care to know.
"She needs some girl time and since Axelle is antisocial, I'm forcing them to hang out." He looked up and I sighed again, this time with more of a frustrated yell mixed in.
"Jakoba, I'm nervous about Professor Zander's idea." I leaned in as I spoke now, my voice very very quiet. "I haven't interacted with him all that much."
"You could always teach him what it's like to act like you? Get a pensive and make him watch your memories. Make him study." I stared at the Gryffendor as he spoke, my jaw now slack with surprise. How had I not thought of that?
"Jakoba! You're bloody brilliant!" I jumped to my feet as the taller boy grinned, running a finger through his curly black hair.
"I know, I'm the incarnate of absolute perfection." He blew me a kiss and winked a sapphire blue eye at me, causing me to roll my eyes.
"Now you just sound dense." He laughed.
"Can I come, too? I'm bored."
"Missing Axelle?"
"She's my best friend."
After a moment of thought, I nodded, "Sure, come on, we have to go see Professor Zander." I began packing up my things as Jakoba stood and began to do the same.
"Will he be here? It's Friday Night."
"It's only seven, he might still be grading papers." I sure hoped I was right, because we were commencing the plan this next week and I needed him to do this properly. If anything to at least cure my anxiety.
When I was done packing up, I didn't wait for Jakoba and sprinted from the room, my taller friend quickly coming right after me. Hurrying up to Professor Darken's office, I let out a sigh of relief when I saw him packing up to go home. "Sir!?" I panted, bending down and placing my hands on my knees as I did so. I'd run as fast as I could to get here.
"Draco? Jakoba?" Whst are you two doing here?" He'd glanced behind me to see my friend and furrowed his brows as he did so.
"Sir, I need—" I took a moment longer to catch my breath, "Sir, I need to teach you how to act like me. My parents and everyone knows me a certain way and if you're not perfect, my mother and father will know immediately that something is off. They know me too well." I looked up, into his eyes, pleading with him to see where I was coming from and after a minute, he nodded and set down his briefcase.
"Okay, Draco? What do you propose?"
"Do you have a pensive?"
"I do."
"We can use it to look at my life, you can watch from the beginning— I'll show you all the important stuff and a few unimportant. I just need you to see- I need you to know things in case they ask and then we can practice." My anxiety must've shown strong on my face, because Professor Darken held up his hands with a laugh.
"Okay, whatever helps, Draco." I let out a breath of relief before standing straight. Now looking at Jakoba, the Muggle Studies teacher raised an eyebrow, why are you here.
"I'm his friend and I'm bored."
"Hi bored, aren't you in my class?"
Jakoba laughed with a nod, "Yes, sir."
Professor Darken, now looking at me, confirmed that Jakoba knew of the plan and with that, he first sent a message to Rose, letting her know why he wouldn't be home tonight, then turning, he made his way to a cabinet, unlocked it and from it, he took out an old, and slightly battered pensive.
Over the next, what felt like hours, we watched my life pass by. We watched every significant moment, every blow up, every fight, and as we did so, I narrated everything I could remember, from my thoughts to my feelings. It was surreal to watch it in many ways, with my new perspective on my life and blood purity, so many things now seemed so insignificant. It was really throwing me for a loop and made me feel like… well, it made me feel like I was a dying boy, watching his life reply as he sank into nothingness.
When we were finished and I looked at the clock, I was very shocked to see it was very late into the night— well, I suppose that technically, it was early morning and realizing that, I looked from Professor Darken, to Jakoba, who looked far more tired than I felt. Anxiety really was a grea5 stimulant.
"Okay." I looked at Professor Darken as he looked between Jakoba and I. "Jakoba, you'll want to go start packing to go home. Draco, if your things are packed, you can leave with me now. I was going to come get you later tonight, but after we take a nap, I want to use everything I learned to practice with you." I nodded and looking at Jakoba, who yawned, we turned and hurried from the room.
I returned with my things about an hour later and making sure I was ready, Professor Darken shrunk my things, handed them to me to put into my pocket, then lead me to the fireplace in his office, where he tossed some floo powder and told me to step Inside with him.
Doing so, he seemed to say an address in a foreign language, but catching it, the room before us slid away and we were spinning, spinning, spinning.
When the world stopped spinning, before us was a beautiful living room, dark, with the lights off and looking around, I stepped out with Professor Darken, who immediately turned on the lights. "It's only three in the morning, so everyone's as—" he was cut off when the stairs creaked and we turned to see a beautiful woman coming down, her long, wavy, strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a loose bun.
Upon seeing Professor Darken, she rushed to him, wrapping her arms around him neck. "You're safe." She said, then "I mean, I knew you were, but I just can't help but worry and—" he cut her off with a kiss and I looked away, giving them the decency to let them enjoy their private moment.
When they finally separated, Professor Zander introduced the woman to me. "Draco, this is my wife, Rose." I nodded, but he wasn't finished. "While you're here, you will treat her with the utmost respect. You will be kind, understanding, grateful— If I hear you've treated her with any disrespect, I will make you regret it, understand?" I nodded, not wanting to trifle with Professor Darken. I knew h3 was a man of his word when it came to his wife.
Rose gave me the sweetest smile. "It's nice to meet you, Draco. If you'll follow me, I can show you to the room you'll be staying in." I nodded and following her up the stairs, Zander told me to meet him back downstairs no later then nine, so agreeing, I knew I had about four hours to rest I'd work with Professor Darken for another couple hours.
My parents would get him from the train tonight, so he'd just have to apparate to it when it arrived on the platform and no one would suspect a thing.
Arriving to the room I'd be staying in, it was really small in my opinion— about a third the size of my regular room and though I thought that was kind of lame, I thanked Rose anyway as I resized my things, then threw myself onto the bed and immediately closed my eyes and fell asleep.
Full of whispering voices and dark shadows, my dreams were very unpleasant. They made me twist in the blanket and when I woke up, with no real memory of what exactly I'd dreamt, I realized that i was covered in sweat and I'd only slept about three hours.
Sitting up on the bed, I examined my surroundings again before getting up to unpack my things to go and take a shower. The bathroom wasn't too far off and finding the room, quickly, I closed and locked the door, then showered for about forty minutes, just enjoying the hot water, it's steam filling the room. By the time I was finished, I was more awake then I thought I'd be, but I didn't complain as I dressed, gathered everything, then left to go back to my room and dropped everything off.
Finding my way now from the bedroom I was staying in, I was just about to go down the stairs, when I heard something that made my heart skip a beat. A young girls voice was coming out from a room as she sang and looking over, I saw one of the bedroom doors open and one of the most beautiful girls I'd ever seen was dancing around, her long, strawberry blonde hair swaying as she sang. She was absolutely stunning. I couldn't help but just watch her.
Then I heard my name and shaking my head, I looked back to the bottom of the stairs and waved as I saw Professor Darken. Hurrying down then, I asked if he'd been able to get any rest. At his confirmation, I nodded and asked if first, before we begin, we could get a bite to eat.
"You're in luck, Rose makes a mean omelet."
"I love omelets."
"As you should." I looked over to see a woman with long black hair come in and looking between us, Zander introduced her as his sister, Xayla. "I'm technically his mothers cousin." Xayla said, then to me, she clarified. "I'm married to Sirius."
"Ooooohhhh." I followed Professor Darken and his sister into the kitchen, where Rose and Sirius were cooking and talking intensely about which Quidditch team was better. How Rose knew anything about Quidditch, I didn't know, but I appreciated that she liked the sport.
"So—" I closed my mouth and looked away from Xayla as shrill screaming suddenly came from down the hall, causing me to cover my ears.
"MUM! JADE CALLED ME UGLY!"
"NO! I SAID I WAS UGLY!"
"WE LOOK THE SAME, YOU—"
"GIRLS!" Xayla screamed, then swore softly as the sound of an infants crying could be heard coming from Upstairs. "Seriously? You woke your brother."
"Well, she called me ugly!" One of the girls, don't ask me which, wiped her eyes and I looked at Sirius, who walking over to them, knelt before them.
"Phire, why do you think you're ugly."
"Because- look.…" she held up a magazine to show her father, a moving picture on the front of a woman as the text above said: 'This Month's hottest and Nottest' "Look, Daddy! My nose is so hot and my feet are just ugly as heck!"
Sirius snatched the magazine from her and sighing, he stood and tossed it into the trash. "Sapphire, your beauty is not derived from what a stupid magazine says."
"But it's how all the important people look! If I don't look like them, I'll never become anything, or get married and I'll be homeless and live in a box!"
"All the features on those girls are all fake." I said suddenly and everyone turned to me, the identical girls, staring.
"What do you mean?" One asked.
"They use magic to make themselves look a certain a way. It's not real, so don't worry. If you're really bothered by it as an adult, you can be fake like them, but I personally think being real is waaay better." The girls just stared at me, but after a moment, they looked at each other and nodded.
"Are we pretty?"
Not as pretty as the girl I saw earlier, but not saying that, I gave a smile and shrugged, "You have strong genetics and that's always good, but my mother says it's all really in how you dress and present yourself. Find your style and wear it confidently. Then, you'll really be beautiful."
"Wha—"
Rose cut one of the girls off before she could ask another question, "Will you girls go get Sam, Toby and Amber?"
"I can do it." Xayla sighed as she slid from the room, "I have to get Ven."
In just a few minutes, several more kids— including the pretty girl from earlier were all running into the room as Zander helped Rose set the table. When everyone was seated, Rose stood and introduced me to everyone, then when I learned everyone's names, we finally began to eat.
On my plate was an omelet, two large hash browns a small pile of berries with whipped cream on them and finally, a small salad. I ate eagerly, having not done so since supper last night and as I ate, juice and coffee were handed out. "Rose, this is delicious, thank you."
"My Mum's the best cook." I looked at the pretty girl— Amber was her name and gave a little smile.
"Do you ever help her?"
She nodded, as Rose said, "Amber is the best at helping me cook, I just got an earlier head start today than usual."
I nodded and continued eating as I listened to everyone talk. Amber and her mother got into a conversation about cuisine, while the twins and a boy named Sam spoke of a comic they were all really into and Sirius, Professor Darken and Xayla discussed the plan— this was the conversation I really paid attention to, because it had to go perfectly. My family could not realize I was apart of this or I and maybe them were as good as dead.
When I was finished eating, I sat back in my chair and looked to Zander, who nodded and stood, also being finished. "Ready?" At my nod, he grinned. "We've got this, Draco."
"How long do we have?"
"I'd say we have about six hours. That should be plenty since we already went through the pensive."
I stood and followed Professor Darken from the room, thanking Rose again as I went. "Do you remember everything?"
"I just so happen to, yes."
"I'm going to quiz you."
"I'd expect nothing less, young one."
Professor Darken took me first to a home office, where from a drawer, he pulled out a vial that I assumed was the long-acting polyjuice potion. When he set it on the desk, I immediately reached up and pulled a hair from my head, holding it out to him. He took it and placing it into the vial, he corked it and then shook it ever so gently until it turned a light blue color.
"Thus is going to be weird." With that, he downed the vial and immediately, he began to shrink and change, his hair and eyes lightening until, just in front of me stood… well, me.
He held up his wand and pointing at his clothes, which were now far too big, he shrunk them to fit and as he did so, I couldn't help but just… stare.
"Yeah, this is so weird." I said and Zander laughed, in his own voice. Now that was even weirder. "You should change your voice." I added.
Nodding, he pointed his wand at me, "Nomimos." Then, clearing his throat, "How's this?" There we go! He definitely sounded like me now!
"From now on, you need to respond to my name, so I'm going to call you by my nam, whenever I speak to you, okay, Draco?" Professor Darken nodded. "That not how I nod—" and immediately, the lessons began.
I taught him as much as I could. The most popular words I used, m6 inflections, how I moved my hands. It was really important that he got everything down, perfectly. It would definitely help that he'd seen my memories and knew Occlumency, but the details would matter to my parents. Mother and Father would notice if I didn't throw a fit over a new broom, if I didn't try to manipulate father into letting me go down Knockturn Alley. It all mattered and I really hope Professor Darken understood that.
We worked for hours, using all the time we could, even working as we ate Lunch and I showed him how I ate, how I held my utensil and cut my food and everything. I was glad to hear he'd watched me at breakfast, so with lunch being the second time, he caught on quick enough that my anxiety was quelled slightly. Then, I had him reading all of mine and my parents correspondence over the last few months, I had him look over my grades and he even knew by the end of our time how I put on my shoes.
Then, before I knew it and before I had wanted it, it was time for him to go. This was the nerve-wracking part, the part of everything I'd dreaded the most, but I knew it had to happen and so as we all gathered by the door and I rambled off some last minutes things at my Professor, his family crowded around him.
I stepped back to let them all have their time and when it was all done, I watched him go and took a deep breath, hoping against hope that everything would go according to plan.
I looked at Sirius and he gave me a reassuring smile. He knew Professor Darken better than I did and if he believed in him, so did I. "He'll write to you guys every week, right?" Sirius nodded.
"He's going to address his letters to Urie, your friend. She'll be staying here in a couple days after she goes and sees her father, so we can get the letters."
"Didn't she stay with you last Christmas, too?"
"She did and she was an absolute delight to have around."
"She's a really fun person to have as a friend." I admitted and no one disagreed,
With Professor Darken now gone, I looked at this nice big family I was staying with and I decided that I would really try and get to know them. I wasn't used to this and I was way out of my comfort zone, but that was what life was about, yeah? Doing new things you didn't think you would? I would try to do that. For the sake of not being the spoilt pureblood supremacist I was raised to be, I would get to know everyone here and hopefully, I'd find friendship in them.
For the rest of the afternoon and into the night, I stayed true to what I wanted to do and I did my best to get to know everyone. I played board games with everyone, talked and listened during dinner, I experienced Television for the first time— it was actually really cool! Then, Rose sat all the kids down and read a story while we had Cocoa and dessert. It was a wonderful evening, full of laughter, jokes and lots of screaming from everyone and for once, I think I really felt like a kid, like the world didn't matter and I could just experience being young while it lasted.
Despite my joyous night, I was however still extremely worried about Professor Darken and so, by the time I was climbing into bed, it was all I could think about. I dreamed of it as I slept, of my parents and how they might be fooled or might not, my dreams were honestly a mess of chaos and fear. I woke several times and one of those times was very early in the morning and I'd just calmed myself and was going calmly back to sleep.
That is, however, until I heard an owl swoop in through the fireplace downstairs, then silence, then in a shaking voice, my aunt Xayla called for Sirius.
Curious, I snuck from the room I was staying in and went by the stairs to listen as the adults talked about— Jakoba? What was wrong with him? Then I heard it and my heart sank. Jakoba's family had been murdered by his brother, Dan— Jakoba had escaped with Axelle or something but they needed help.
This was not a good omen.
In fact, I'd say that this was a very very bad omen.
A/N: I'd really appreciate any kind feedback! I love this story so much, and I want to know others do as well.