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They apparated in front of Malfoy Manor with a deafening crack. Lucius' magic seemed to reflect his mood.

The tight grip Draco's father had on his shoulder and the violent landing made Draco feel sick.

Lucius pushed Draco in front of him, towards the manor.

"Father-"

"Don't," he hissed. "I don't want to hear a word."

Draco gulped and trotted towards the manor. He had never been scared of his father before, but he was now.

The manor was dark and quiet. It was in the middle of the night and Narcissa was probably asleep.

"Go to your room," Lucius hissed, barely controlling his anger. He stormed towards his study and slammed the door shut.

Draco hurried into his room, closed the door and threw himself onto his bed. He buried his head in his pillow.

He was a grown man, he shouldn't be crying. But he did. Within one day the summer had turned from one of the best to one of the worst.

His father would probably kill him. Or worse, disown him.

He fell into a restless sleep. Violent nightmares woke him several times. Dumbledore's death, Astoria's death, the Quidditch World Cup and his father,…

He woke, the next morning, covered in sweat. He felt exhausted and did not dare leave his room.

An hour after he would usually eat his breakfast, his mother tentatively knocked on his door. "Draco, darling, may I come in?"

Draco, still in his bed and feeling miserable, muttered, "No."

There was a short silence. "Please, let me in. What happened?" his mother asked pleadingly. "You return in the middle of the night, without a word, and now your father is not leaving his study and you are buried in here... You can talk to me. Please, talk to me."

Draco felt sick again. "Go away."

Silence.

"No," Narcissa said. After a while, she added, "I'm coming in."

Draco didn't say anything. He hid under his blanket, but could hear his mother approaching and feel her put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"What happened?" she asked softly.

"You'll hate me if I tell you," Draco muttered.

"There is nothing in the world you could do to make me hate you," she said.

Draco flinched. How he wished he could believe her. "Father hates me."

"I doubt that. He might be angry, but we are your parents, we will always love you."

Draco didn't say anything for a while. "Have you read the Prophet today?" he finally asked.

His mother didn't answer right away, so Draco assumed she knew the gist of what had happened. Hesitantly, he began to explain how Theodore Nott had defied his father and how they had tortured him and how Draco had tried to protect him.

Narcissa listened, never interrupting Draco as he spoke. She gently rubbed his back, while he talked.

"Thank you for telling me," she finally said once he was done.

"Are you mad at me?" Draco asked, finally lifting the blanket.

"No, darling. Everything will be alright." She looked worried though. "Why don't you go down and eat breakfast? You must be starving. I will talk to your father." She kissed Draco on the forehead and left the room.

Draco wasn't sure whether she really didn't mind, but having told her, he felt better. He made his way downstairs.

His parents soon joined him at the table. Apparently, his mother had succeeded in coaxing Lucius out of his study as well. Lucius didn't say a word and didn't look in Draco's direction.

They ate their food in a tense silence and Lucius left again, as soon as he was done eating.

That's how the rest of the week went. Draco would stay in his room and Lucius would lock himself into his study. They would eat meals together but not exchange as much as a glance in the other's direction. Narcissa would try to get the both of them to talk, unsuccessfully. Sometimes, Draco could hear them fighting over something.

After that first breakfast, Draco wrote letters explaining what had happened to Neville and the Greengrass sisters. He hoped the sisters would understand. They had both been against pureblood ideals after the war, but Draco wasn't so sure where they stood now.

He wrote another letter to Sirius, telling him that he was okay and that he shouldn't worry about him. He really hoped Theo was okay.

The atmosphere at the manor was so tense that Draco couldn't wait to leave and go back to Hogwarts.

Narcissa brought Draco to King's Cross as his father still wasn't willing to speak to him.

"He will come around," his mother said to him, but Draco wasn't so sure about that. "Have a good year. I love you, darling, no matter what," said Narcissa and hugged Draco.

"Love you, too," he mumbled.

He didn't see anyone he knew at the station, so he went onto the train right away. He soon realized that the events of the summer must have split his group of friends in two. He saw Crabbe, Goyle and Zabini in one compartment and found Theodore and the golden trio in another. After a few minutes of internal debate, Draco decided to poke his head into the Gryffindor compartment.

"Have they resorted you?" Draco asked, looking at Theo.

Theo looked up nervously. Draco got the feeling that he was scared that Draco wouldn't associate with him anymore. Or that he was mocking him. But when their eyes met, Theo relaxed and smiled as well.

"Looks like it," he shrugged his shoulders.

"Serves you right," teased Draco. "Jumping head first into danger like a Gryffindor."

Theo pulled Draco into a hug. "Thanks for saving me, mate."

"No worries," Draco said. "Mind if I sit with you?"

Nott looked at the other occupants of the compartment, but they all just shrugged their shoulders. "Sure," he finally said, and Draco sat down next to him.

"Wrong decision, mate," sneered a voice from behind Draco. Draco spun around and saw Crabbe and Goyle standing in the compartment door. They must have seen him pass their compartment earlier.

"You should be careful who you spend your time with," Goyle spat. He then turned to Theo, "traitor," he mumbled. "Better watch your back."

"Don't remember asking you to join us," Potter said coolly, but he had reached for his wand.

"I so hope it will be you, Potter," drawled Goyle, "'d like to see you get crushed by a dragon or something." They laughed and left the compartment.

"Oh, this is going to be a fun year," sighed Draco sarcastically. He had really hoped they wouldn't turn on him, but then again, they had done the same thing during their last year at Hogwarts, when Draco's high standing had been damaged by his father's imprisonment and his failure in killing Dumbledore.

"Don't let them get to you, Theodore," said Hermione reassuringly.

Theo looked rather pale.

"Hope I will be what?" Potter asked after a while with a puzzled look on his face. "Goyle said he hopes it'll be me..."

"Seriously? You lot are the least informed people I've ever met. I mean, don't you have a father and brother in the ministry?" replied Draco, looking at Ron.

"The stuff Percy has been rambling about?" Ron asked.

"The Triwizard Tournament," finished Draco.

"Triwizard what?"

Draco rolled his eyes. He was just lacking the patience for people raised by muggles.

"It's a competition between the biggest schools of wizardry in Europe," supplied Theodore. "Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion is selected to represent each school, and the three compete in three different magical tasks. They used to do it every five years."

"Used to?" asked Hermione.

"Too many people died," said Draco.

Hermione grew pale.

"Cool," said Potter and Weasley in unison.

That's when Neville and Daphne opened the door. "Do you have room for two more?" Neville asked.

The compartments could comfortably fit six people, but they all squeezed together, and Daphne and Neville joined them.

They, of course, had tons of questions about the Quidditch World Cup.

Theo, Draco and the golden trio spent half of the train ride summarizing what had happened.

"Oh my," whispered Daphne, once they had finished their story. "Thank god you're alright, Theo. This could have ended really, really badly. How are you? How's living with Sirius?"

"I'm fine," he said, but no one looked convinced. "No, really. I mean, yeah, it sucks, and I wish things were different," he trailed off, lost in thought. "But living with Black is fun. And, you know, he gets me. He's been there. Same situation, pretty much. Didn't share his family's opinions, got kicked out,… He knows the struggle. He knows how it feels to be unwanted by those who..." Theo did not finish the sentence. He stared out of the window for a few seconds, before he said, "he understands me. We can talk about things."

"That's good," mumbled Neville.

Theo nodded. "What did your father think about everything, Draco?"

Draco shrugged. "Wouldn't know. He hasn't said a word to me since the World Cup."

Everyone stayed quiet for a while.

"I'm sorry. This is all my fault," Theo said. "I forced you into this situation."

"No, it's okay. Really. It would have happened sooner or later anyhow. I… had just hoped it would be later."

"I'm sure he'll come around," Hermione tried to console him.

"I highly doubt that," Draco muttered, his voice wavering. Any coming around would probably only last as long as Draco managed to not get involved in anti-Death Eater business. Judging by how the previous year had gone and what had happened during the summer holidays, he doubted he would be able to stay clear of such things. Sticking to his resolution to not draw any attention to his person, which he had made upon his arrival in the past, had spectacularly failed. Draco just hoped he would get a few more peaceful moments with his family before they would undoubtedly abandon him.

"I'm sorry," Harry suddenly said.

"Whatever for?"

"Telling you to choose a side as if it were easy. I never thought about what this would mean for you. Or you, Theo. It is easy for us, with our families not being on the other side…"

Hermione nodded in agreement. "Me too. As a muggleborn, choosing a side has never been an issue. And my family... I do realize that you and Theo have more to lose than us even by simply stating an opinion."

They didn't say anything for a while but soon began talking again. About other things. Trying to forget what had happened during the summer.

TBC

Who's ready for year 4? I definitely am. There will be a lot going on.

Only a few more days till Christmas. My winter break starts tomorrow and I will use it to revise the earlier chapters and write a few new ones. My new years resolution is to update every other day so we'll see how that goes.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always, let me know what you think :)