AN: I surprised myself with how fast I got this one done! I hope you all like it!
Draco wished he could say that seeing Lucius Malfoy in his living room was the last thing he expected, but the truth was, he'd known all along that it would happen eventually. He was never going to simply let them go. He had a reputation to protect and his wife leaving him and taking their son with her wouldn't look good for him.
Still, Draco had hoped.
"Your mother has something she wishes to tell you," Lucius said in his usual slow and calculated tone from where he sat in a high backed arm chair in the corner of the room. As far as Draco knew, he had never stepped foot into the apartment, yet here he was sitting as casually as ever, as if he owned the place.
"What's he doing here?" he asked Narcissa, intentionally not looking in Lucius's direction.
"Draco," Narcissa said from her place perched on the edge of the couch, "we need to talk.
"About what?"
Narcissa took a steadying breath and turned slightly away. She held a handkerchief in her hand and raised it up to dab beneath her eyes.
"Just tell me." Draco could feel his heart racing and he willed it to slow down. The new bracelet would surely sense his panic and alert Snape, and as much as he would like his Godfather to be here right now, he needed to know what was going on.
"Your father and I have decided to get back together, and I-"
"No!" Draco spat. "Why?"
"He's my husband," she said simply. "And I love him."
"And what about me?" Draco's hands curled into fists at his sides but he forced himself to stay calm. This couldn't be happening. "I'm your son. Doesn't that mean anything?"
"Draco, sweetheart, this-"
Draco shook his head. "No. Mum, don't do this. If he's done something- if he's forcing you to do this, then we can-"
"It's not like that."
"Then tell me what it's like because I don't understand. I thought you said this would be different."
"I'm sorry," she said, and Draco thought she meant it. "This is what I want."
"And what about what I want?" He closed the distance between them and sat down beside her, taking her hands in his and looking her in the eyes. "Don't I get a say in this? If this is because we haven't got as much money anymore, I don't care about that. You don't have to worry. I can-"
Lucius spoke up, his voice cold and demanding. "Draco, do not beg. It makes you look pathetic and weak."
Draco closed his mouth. He sat up straight, squaring his shoulders, and looking away from them both. He stared at a blank space on the wall behind his father.
"This will be better for everyone," Narcissa said quietly.
"Better for who, Mother? For me or you?" Draco's own voice was cold now, the way he'd learned to make it long ago when standing up to his father wasn't an option. When breaking wasn't an option.
It wasn't an option now either.
"Draco, you are a child," she said. "You couldn't possibly understand what it is I'm going through. You are away at school most of the year. Eventually, you will graduate and you will go off on your own. And I want that for you. I truly do. But I don't want to be alone. I couldn't take it."
Draco swallowed hard around the lump in his throat. He would not give them the satisfaction of seeing him cry.
"You're wrong," he said, turning ice grey eyes to meet her own blue ones. "I'm not a child, and I understand a lot more than you think. I feel sorry for you."
Narcissa gasped when Draco abruptly let go of her hands and stood up stiffly. "I'll take you back to Severus," she said. "You can stay with him and it will be better for you."
Draco glanced at Lucius whose face showed no emotion at all. "Legally," he said. "You'll take me back with binding papers that say he is my permanent guardian and then neither of you will ever speak to me again. And if he wants to adopt me, you won't do anything about it."
The room was silent for a long moment, until finally Lucius answered, "Done."
Draco spent the next few minutes in his room. He packed quickly, only taking the things that he needed, shoving them haphazardly down in his trunk.
He didn't want to think right now. He couldn't. Not if he wanted to get through this with any sort of pride left.
And yet, all he could do was think.
He tossed another shirt into his trunk, remembering how less than two weeks ago he had packed it so neatly, ready to set out on the next phase of his life with his mother. He'd been so stupid. So naive to believe that things could really be different. That he would have come first for once.
Draco went into the bathroom to grab his toiletries, and when he came back, he bumped into the nightstand by his bed, knocking over a small framed portrait of him and his parents. He'd held on to it even after he had run away with Harry and Ron. Some form of Hufflepuff sentimentality he supposed. He looked down at it now, the glass had a thin crack that ran through the middle of the frame. Right between the Draco in the picture and his parents.
Broken.
Everything was broken now.
He finished packing, leaving the portrait lying on the floor.
Draco took out his wand and muttered a shrinking spell at his trunk before storing it away in his pocket, then he walked to the door of his bedroom. But just before he walked out, he stopped and turned back around. He took one last look at what could have been a good life for him, then he took off his silver ring with the Malfoy crest and left it on the top of his dresser.
Harry lay on the couch with one leg hanging off the side. Rook, ever present, lay beside him on the floor, snoring softly while he took his afternoon nap.
Harry felt like he could use a nap himself. He was so tired all the time. He'd been so sure that talking with Remus and Snape yesterday, getting out off of his feelings and worries, would mean that he would finally get a full nights rest. He'd been wrong, of course.
He'd woken up sometime around three in the morning, panic setting heavily on his chest while he fought the urge to vomit up his dinner. Why weren't these nightmares going away? He was beginning to worry.
So far over the last week or so, he had managed to keep Snape from finding out about the worst of them, but he didn't know how much longer he could keep that up. And it wasn't as if Snape would care. He would understand. He would tell Harry that it was fine, and that it was nothing to be embarrassed about, but Harry was embarrassed!
He hated feeling like a little kid who needed his parent to come and check inside his closet for monsters. It was beginning to be enough that Harry could understand the appeal of Dreamless Sleep. Even for just a couple of nights would be better than nothing. What if all he needed was a few good nights of sleep for his body to reset? Then maybe the nightmares would go away for good. Surely a few nights, three at most, would be enough to get him back on track.
Harry glanced toward the doorway out of the parlor. Snape was in the kitchen making lunch, but maybe if he was quick, he could sneak down the hallway to the potions lab without Snape noticing.
Of course, Snape would definitely notice if several vials of potion suddenly went missing. The man was meticulous about keeping a precise inventory of everything he had. There was no way that he could get it undetected.
Before Harry could work out any more of his plan, someone knocked on the front door.
Rook popped his head up to look at the same time that Harry sat up on the couch.
"I've got it," called Snape as he came out of the kitchen.
Harry heard the door open, then soft murmuring voices from the foyer. It sounded like a woman, but Evelyn wasn't supposed to come until that evening. He stood, crossing the room in a few strides, but just as he got to the doorway, he paused.
Narcissa Malfoy was standing close to the still open front door with Draco beside her, looking down at the ground.
Harry stepped back, not wanting to interrupt or be seen. He had a sinking feeling that this wasn't a social visit.
Narcissa pulled a small stack of papers from her purse and held them out to Snape, who took them with a sigh.
Snape pulled out his wand and pointed it at the bottom of the last page. A pale blue light hovered over it before disappearing, leaving what looked to Harry like Snape's signature.
Narcissa nodded. She held out her hand as if to touch Draco, but he shifted away and her hand fell. She was out the door in the next second, letting it close sharply behind her.
Leaving Draco behind.
Harry bit his lip and looked down at the ground. He didn't need to hear what had been said to understand what had just happened.
When he looked up again, Snape was holding his arm out to Draco, and the blonde boy fell into his embrace immediately.
To say that Snape was angry didn't even begin to cover it. As he held Draco in his arms, the boy crying and broken, Snape felt nothing but white hot rage burning through his body. How could they do this? After everything, how could they do this to him?
From the corner of his eyes, Snape saw Harry quietly enter the foyer, but he was making his way to the stairs, no doubt intending to give them some privacy. He caught Harry's eye and gave a quick nod before turning his attention back to Draco.
"Shh," he soothed, "It's alright. I've got you."
Snape gently led the boy into the parlor and sat down with him on the couch.
Draco sniffed. "She didn't want me, Uncle Sev," he sobbed into Snape's shirt.
Snape carded his hand through Draco's hair, brushing the longer strands away from his face. "I'm so sorry, Draco." He sighed. "I wish there was something I could say that would fix this, that would take this pain away."
Draco tightened his hold around Snape's middle, grabbing handfuls of his shirt as he shook his head. "I'm being weak," he whispered. "I shouldn't care so much. It's pathetic."
Snape's eyes narrowed. Though the words had come from Draco's own mouth, he knew they were planted there by Lucius. He tightened his old on the boy. "Now you listen to me, young man," he said as sternly as he dared, "you are not weak or pathetic, and if I ever hear you say such a thing again, you can expect to be writing quite a long essay on harmfulness of self-deprecation. Is that clear?"
Draco sniffed again, trying to staunch the flow of tears. He nodded.
Snape sighed as he looked down at the papers still clutched in his right hand. The Malfoy's had renounced him. Cast him aside as if he weren't a living, breathing, human being. As if he weren't the only heir to the Malfoy bloodline.
"I'm sorry," Snape said again. "I told you that he wouldn't do this, and I was wrong. I was so sure that eventually he would see reason, or at the very least, he would care more about his reputation then he would about making you miserable. I'm sorry, Draco. I had too much faith in him."
Draco shook his head. "It's alright. I don't care anymore."
Snape and Draco sat on the couch for a long while after that. They talked quietly about nothing, their voices only serving to be a break in the pressing silence around them. Something to distract Draco from the life altering morning he had just been put through.
Eventually, the day seemed to catch up with the teenager, and though it was only just after noon, his eyes began to drift closed, sleep over taking him within moments.
Snape pressed a kiss to his forehead before carefully disentangling himself from the boy's arms. He laid him down gently on the couch and covered him with the blanket that hung over the back.
Snape took another moment to watch over him, the same way that he'd done countless other times over the years. He remembered the night he was born, when he had been named his godfather. He'd held the tiny newborn with so much pride. He was the first, and only baby, that Severus Snape had ever held. He knew then that he loved him so fiercely that he would move mountains to protect him. And there was no doubt that Draco was exactly where he should be now. Safe and loved as always.
Snape tiredly climbed the stairs and knocked softly on Harry's door.
"Come in," Harry said.
He opened the door to find Harry sitting sideways on the overstuffed chair with a book open in his lap. "Is he okay?" he asked immediately.
Snape let out a long breath and took a seat in the opposite chair. "He will be."
Harry closed the book and sat up. "We can't let him go back there," he said firmly.
"We won't," he assured him. "You're alright with it then? With Draco living with us permanently?"
"You don't have to ask me." Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm the one who helped him run away in the first place, remember?"
"Don't remind me," Snape said, a hint of a smile on his face.
"Are you going to adopt him?"
Snape nearly shrugged. "I don't know. It's complicated. I have binding, magical papers that say I am Draco's permanent guardian. If he wants to be adopted, then I could do that easily enough. We wouldn't even necessarily have to go through all the interviews that we did for you, because the Malfoy's specifically signed their rights over to me. But Draco may not want that. He can choose to simply remain my legal ward and godson."
"But do you want to adopt him?" Harry asked.
Snape worried about answering that. Did he? Of course! But would Harry be alright with it? Would he feel pressured into saying yes? Would it devastate Draco if Harry said no?
"What do you think?" He asked, finally. "And before you answer, I want you to think hard about it. There is no right or wrong answer here, Harry, but adopting Draco and making him legally my son also makes him legally your brother. He would be entitled to half of everything when I die. Half the manor will be his."
"As long as he stays on his half," Harry said with a smirk. When Snape only looked at him with his brows pinched together in confusion, Harry went on, "You're talking about stuff that doesn't matter to me, Dad. And even if it did, so what? He'd probably get that stuff anyway. If Draco wants to be adopted, I think you should do it. And if this permanent guardian thing is as legal and binding as you say, what difference would adoption really make anyway?"
Snape smiled. "You truly are a remarkable young man, Harry."
Harry scoffed. "Remember that the next time you're about to ground me."
Snape watched as Harry stood and crossed the room, putting his book back on the shelf. He turned around and crossed his arms. "Actually, I do have one request."
Snape nodded. "I'm all ears."
"You know how you always remind Uncle Remus that you're the oldest?"
"Yes," Snape said, raising a brow.
"If Draco tries that with me he'll regret it."
Snape smirked. He stood up and ushered Harry towards the door so that they could get some lunch. "I'll pass along the message, but it wouldn't be wise to forget how I feel about violence, young man. Besides, you might find that older brothers are a good thing to have around."
"Sure, Dad. Whatever you say."
