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Chapter Text

Chapter 1

The ceiling of the hospital is all I see. I feel like I know the tiles above me better than the back of my own hand. My mother shifts in her sleep in the chair beside me. She is always here sitting by my bed, holding my hand, praying for a miracle to come. Honestly, I don’t know when the last time was, she slept in an actual bed. The dark circles under her eyes tell me that it's been a while.

I have tried to convince her to go home, get some sleep, eat a meal that didn’t come from a hospital canteen, but she won't hear of it. She refuses to leave me, says that she doesn’t want me to be alone. I know that she worried that if she leaves, I'll take a turn for the worst, and she won't be able to be there for me. She's justified in her worry though, my health has been steadily decreasing for the past five years and the doctors have run out of treatments to try. They have told me I will probably die within three weeks and that was 17 days ago.

If I'm being truthful with myself, I’m not sure if I’m all that sad to be dying. I'm not sad I’m angry, because it's not as if I'm leaving behind a life, not as if I’ve even achieved all that much. I was always so focused on staying alive, making it to my next birthday that life sort of moved on without me. I convinced myself that if I beat this disease, I would be able to make up for all the years lost. I held onto the hope that there was a life waiting for me after this hospital bed. A life filled with excitement and fun where I got to do everything I wanted to without being held back by my own body. Instead, I’m here, in this bed with no more treatments, no more options, no choice but to wait for the inevitable. I hate it. I hate that I have worked so hard, I have done all the treatments and never complained because I believed that it would mean that later I would get to be happy. Why don’t I get to be happy.

I suddenly realise I’ve started crying. I grip the blankets, lacking the energy to even scream out my rage. I don’t want to cry, I want to fight and survive, I am so tired of being weak. Of not being able to live as I want. The machine beside me starts beeping. Causing a nurse to run in to check on me and my mother to startle awake from her sleep.

She grips my hand.

“Darling are you okay, you’re crying, everything is going to be all right, I promise. You just need to calm down.”

I snapped

“Calm down! Seriously you want me to calm down. No, I will not calm down I am so fucking tired of all this. Of the hospitals, the treatments, the endless promises that everything will be okay, when it never, ever is. I am fifteen and have spent the last five years of my life in a hospital bed, too tired to do anything. I am so tired of being sick and weak, always the item of pity in everyone's mind. And now I’m going to die, I am never going to live and I’m never going to know what life feels like and I’m just so, so angry.”

Then I finally do start crying, letting out all the tears I’ve been holding back for weeks, months, years even. Trying to stay strong, for them, for my family, to make sure that I don’t put them in more pain than I already do. But I can't hold up the walls anymore and it all just comes flooding out. My mother stood there a moment, shocked, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

“I know sweetheart, or well I – I suppose I don’t know. I’m sorry that this is happening to you, I would do anything to make it go away, to make it that you didn’t have to feel this pain. But I can’t and I’m sorry, I will never stop being sorry.”

She is kneeling next to my bed and holding my hand in her shaking ones, tears streaming down her cheeks.”

“If I met God, I would scream at him for hurting you in this way, for making you suffer like this, I am so sorry that I can't help, that I can't make you better.”

She bowed her head crying onto our connected hands, holding me as if she was scared that if she let go, I would crumble to dust.

“It's okay mum, I promise, you have nothing to appoligise for, none of this is your fault. I’m sorry for shouting at you, you didn’t deserve that. I love you, and I am so grateful for everything you’ve done for me, the sleep you’ve lost and countless nights that you have slept in an uncomfortable chair just so I don’t have to be alone.” I’m smiling at her now as she looks up at me.

“You have always been the strongest person I have known; you have remained strong throughout all of this, and I am so proud to call you my daughter, I love you, dear.”

With that she pulls me into a hug, squeezing me gently. She reluctantly releases me and once again lowers herself into the chair. She's just about to speak again when my dad and my brother walk in.

“Hey sweetie, how are you. We just came from Jakes swim meet, and he won first place, the little Olympian” he says grinning as he ruffles Jaces, still wet hair. Jace rolls his eyes and heads over to the chair on the other side of my bed. I notice he is carrying a big cardboard box with him, which he promptly plops right on top of my legs.

“Here ya go.”

“What's all this” I ask, relieved to be spared the ordeal of having to talk to mom about the outburst I just had.

“We brought a bunch of your stuff from home, thought you might want to take a look at some of it, we even brought some photo albums.” My dad answered Jace, as he made his way over to the same side of the bed as Jace.

He picked a photo album out of the box, and started leafing through the pictures, pointing out the funny ones as he went.

“Oh, do you remember this one, it's from Jace's eighth Birthday and you were too impatient to wait for him to blow out the candle and the cake to be cut =, that you just grabbed a handful of cake and shoved it in your mouth.”

I laugh, as he shows me the picture of me reaching towards the cake, moments before Jace was about to blow out the candle, a determined glint in my eyes. I laugh even harder as he flips to the next page with a picture of me with cake all over my face and a triumphant grin on my face and Jace looking at me with pure betrayal in his eyes. The cake sitting on the table between us, a hand shaped hold in the side of it.

“I sure as hell remember anyway”, Jace grumbled beside me “You didn’t even let me blow out the candle before you clawed it apart.” I laugh again at his indignance as dad continues to flip through the photos, commenting little stories on all of them.

I left him and Jace to it as I turned my attention back to the box on my lap, digging through to see what else they put in. Another photo album, a couple of teddys, some books. I leafed through the books to see what they had brought. I rested on the final one, my copy of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.

I lifted it out and began to flick through its well-worn and battered pages.

“Oh, is that one of your Harry Potter books?”, my mom chimes in looking at the cover, I nod as I begin to read one of the pages at random.

“You used to be obsessed with those books. I remember when you would stay up all night just to read them and then be so tired the next day that you’d fall asleep at the kitchen table.”

“And yet you would still make me go to school” I say mock sighing and shaking my head. We both laughed at that.

Moms right though I did used to love these books. They were always the perfect escape from reality when everything became too much. I would dive into a world, where every problem can be solved with magic and diseases such as mine aren’t even a concern. I idly flip to the first page and start reading- ‘Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.’

We all sit like that for a while, me reading a book from my childhood, my dad and my brother looking at old photos with me and my mom occasionally chiming in with a comment about a particular memory. We were all dwelling in the past as a distraction from what the future held. I’m glad for the distraction from my thoughts and the dark corners of my mind.

It's almost as if we are a normal family and we always have been, but the absence of me in photos after ten years old and the skirting around certain stories highlight the elephant in the room that no one wants to acknowledge, because it’ll mean facing reality and that is just too much for anyone right now.

That night after my dad and brother had left and my mom had drifted off to sleep, I stayed up all night reading my Harry Potter book, feeling as if I was 10 years old again. Experiencing the excitement of every chapter as if it’s the first time. Suddenly I am no longer in the hospital but in Hogwarts castle following along with Harry and his adventures, and as I eventually nod off to sleep, I really feel at peace for the time in a long time.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

I don’t wake up immediately but rather, I’m aware of the action around me and people talking in frantic voices. There is a loud beeping coming from somewhere and someone is holding my hand. When I eventually open my eyes, I am surrounded by nurses and doctors, my mother at my side, tears in her eyes as she grips my hand tightly.

“She's awake”, one of the nurses announces.

“Oh, honey, you’re awake” my mum gasps with relief, “you took a bad turn in the night, but they are doing everything that they can. I’ve called your dad and him and Jace are going to be here very soon.”

Despite just waking up, I find I have no energy whatsoever. I simply nod weakly to my mom and lie back looking at the ceiling once more. Keeping my eyes open is difficult, it feels like they’re made of lead. I force myself to stay awake, determined to see my dad and my brother before I fall asleep again.

I don’t know how long it was, it could have been hours or just a few minutes, but my dad comes bursting through the door and rushes over to my side standing next to me and holding onto my other hand. Jace follows him, just as quickly a moment later and rushes to the same side as my mom.

“Hey Charlie”, I can just about manage a smile in response.

My parents are holding my hands as if that alone is enough to keep me here, with them. I smile again and manage to croak out

“I love you guys” is all I have the strength to say, I just hope they understand everything else those four words mean. They mean that I am grateful for everything they have given me, the patience and the understanding. I am so thankful for them for giving me the courage and the strength to fight when I didn’t think it was worth it anymore. While I might be dying, every memory and treasured moment that I have with them has made this life, however brief, as enjoyable and fun as possible. I can't say all that though, I can only trust that they know that it's true.

As I begin to close my eyes, I can see the pain in my parents and brothers' eyes. I feel sad that I am the one that caused it, it's not fair that me dying hurts them this much. If I could take all their pain with me as I went I would.

As I close my eyes for what I know is the last time, my hands gripped firmly by my parents. I turn my head to the side and catch a glimpse of the book on my dresser. The Harry Potter book I fell asleep reading last night. I’m glad that that is what I spent the last few hours of my life doing. I can still feel the peace that had settled around me earlier as I fell asleep. The book always had a special place in my heart.

So, I let my eyes fall closed and just as I feel myself begin to be pulled under, I hear “we love you too, honey.” My dad's voice breaking in every syllable. And with that everything goes black. I can no longer hear the beeping of the machines or the muttering of the nurses, I can’t feel my parents’ hand gripping mine. As a matter of fact, I can’t feel anything at all. All I feel is cold, right down to my core, cold like I’ve never felt before.

I turned around, looking all about me, but everything was black, no light, no shapes, just me and the dark. I was beginning to panic when there suddenly appeared a bright light. I instinctively began to move towards it, anywhere to get away from the crushing darkness surrounding me. The closer I got to the light, the more the darkness pulled at me, making it feel as though I was attempting to move through water. I kept pushing and pushing, straining against the dark as it tried to keep a hold of me. Until finally I burst through, into the light with a scream.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

The world was so bright it burned when I tried to open my eyes. I realise that I was in such a desperate rush to escape the darkness that I never even considered what might await me on the other side. I just did what everyone is always told not to do. I went into the light. I can still feel the cold grip of the darkness that had surrounded me. No matter what awaits me here, anything is better than that all-consuming silence from before.

I feel myself being lifted by someone far bigger than me and being wrapped up in something soft. As I open my eyes again the assault from the light is less, but everything is still blurry and as I feel myself being moved, I try to look around and can make out the shape of two people, one lying down, and the other standing.

As I’m moving closer, they become clearer, I can begin to make out the features on their faces and I realise that they are a man and a woman. I am then handed to the person lying down, the woman. The man is sitting on the bed beside her looking down at me. His long silver hair ruffled with sleep, draped over one shoulder. The woman is also blond however her hair is far less platinum than the mans, but still unmistakably blond.

“Welcome to the world darling”, the woman holding me coos. I tried speaking, to ask what the hell is going on, and to demand that this stranger put me down, but all that came out was a series of wails.

“He’s beautiful isn’t he”, the woman smiled up at the man, tears in her eyes.

“Yes, he is, our little Draco. He is going to make the Malfoy name so proud.”

What?! Malfoy, they said Malfoy. Draco Malfoy, this must be some really weird dream that I am having as a result of reading the book last night. I’m going to wake up any minute now, in the hospital and this is all going to go away.

I squeeze my eyes shut tightly, and count to ten, when I open them, everything is still the same. The two people above me are still very much here and real. My parents, I realise, these people are meant to be my parents. But that’s not right, I was just with my parents, they held my hand as I died. I don’t want new parents, and definitely not death eaters at that.

I begin to struggle and wail, desperate to put some distance between myself and these strangers. I don’t want this, this isn’t my life, why am I here.

“Shhhhh, darling it's okay I’ve got you.” She cradles me trying to calm the wails, but it won't work because she is not my mother, this is not my family. I struggle more against the blanket that I have been swaddled in.

“Narcissa dear,” Lucius interjects “how about you get some sleep and Dobby can look after Draco for a while.”

“Yes, alright Lucius”, the exhaustion clear on Narcissas pale features as she hands me to Lucius who lowers me into the waiting arms of a house elf.

“See that he comes to no harm, elf”, Lucius directs before he swiftly dismisses Dobby.

“Dobby will protect master Draco, sir”, the elf says in an eager high-pitched voice.

Lucius doesn’t deign to respond, simply waving the elf away.

I am carried in the arms of the tiny elf through Malfoy manor, weaving through endless corridors and up numerous flights of stairs, until we finally halt at a large door with green and gold detailing. Dobby proceeds to push open the door, revealing a nursery. To simply call it a nursery doesn’t do it justice, the room looks like its fit for royalty, it's beautiful. The room is furnished in all green and gold (not quite the Slytherin vibe I was expecting). In the center of the room is a huge window, looking out onto the vast estate. The window is framed by heavy velvet curtains the color of jade. Directly in front of the window was a crib. The crib had a gold gauze canopy and an intricate crystal mobile.

Against the right side of the room is an enormous bed, with a wooden canopy and drapes the same colour as the curtains, hanging from it. As I look closer, I can see what looks like snakes carved into the pillars of the canopy. Definitely Slytherin then. What really caught my attention though was the vast bookshelf spanning the entire wall on the right side of the room. I really want to go take a closer look at the books, but Dobby is already hoovering me into the cradle.

“Master Draco must sleep now”

How am I supposed to sleep after everything that has happened. I died. In hospital. And somehow, I then ended up here, in the body of Draco Malfoy. A fictional character. Sleep is the least of my worries right now. Of course, I can’t say any of that and all that comes out when I try is a frustrated wail.

Okay lets think through this logically. If this is real and I really am Draco Malfoy from the books and it isn’t just an extraordinary coincidence names wise, I need to prove it. I need to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am really in the Harry Potter universe. The easiest way to do that is to find Harry Potter. Which is impossible since I’m a baby and a Malfoy baby at that.

Wait! I realise, the war is still on. Voldemort is still at the height of his power. He hasn’t killed Lily or James yet. Meaning Harry is still very happily living in Godric’s Hollow. The Potters don’t die until October, Halloween to be precise, of next year. Voldemort is too close to the Malfoys for me to be able to do much while he’s still alive and not get caught. And then there’s also the horcrux’s. My head is starting to hurt from all of this. Maybe I will try going to sleep, there is still the chance that this is all a dream. With that I let myself drift off to sleep, not in a hospital bed for the first time in a long time.

As my mind drifts off to sleep one final question floats to the surface, why me and why Draco of all people. I don’t have time to truly ponder the answer before I give in to exhaustion, both physical and mental.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

I wake to the feeling of someone watching me. Mum must have woken up before me, I blink my eyes open prepared for the sight of my sleep deprived mother sitting in the chair next to my bed, smiling over at me. Instead, I am faced with the sickly pale snake-nosed face of Voldemort leaning over my crib.

Oh right, I’m in hell.

“Lucius, why didn’t you tell me you had a son?” Voldemort drawls in a voice that makes my blood run cold.

“He was born just yesterday, my Lord. We haven’t had the chance to tell anybody.”

“Hm” Voldemort hummed, tracing his wand down my cheek causing a tingling which wasn’t painful however it certainly wasn’t pleasant.

“He looks just like you Lucius” I can do no more than glare at the monster above me as he held his wand against my temple. I refused to cry in front of him, so I held in my wail even as the tingling sensation built to a stabbing pain.

Both Lucius and Narcissa are standing just behind old snake nose, however neither moves for the fear of what the madman would do. I can see a single tear slide slowly from Narcissa’s eye, carving a track down her porcelain skin. Before Lucius has a chance to respond to that last unsettling statement from Voldemort, the man smiles creepily down at me before turning and heading for the door.

“Lucius, we have an important matter to discuss”, Voldemort declares briskly not looking at the couple as he headed towards the door. Lucius throws Narcissa a relived glance before following the man out and shutting the door behind him with a click.

The moment the door was shut Narcissa immediately rushed over to my crib and scooped me up, hugging me to her. I could feel her chest rising and falling unsteadily as she attempted to settle her nerves.

I’m too confused to bother protesting against the hug. What the hell was that? That smile before he left sent chills down my spine. I didn’t even think Voldemort could smile. What was he smiling about. So many questions were buzzing around my head. One thing was for sure though, Voldemort needs to die, and I need to make sure he can never come back.

I know that Voldemort dies in a year anyway, I can just let the plot continue as usual and not interfere and then set my plan into motion. I feel a twinge of guilt, Voldemort dying would mean the Potters would die. If I try and stop that though it could change the timeline all together and make things a lot more difficult.

While all of this is running through my head, Narcissa starts talking.

“I am so sorry you had to be born into all of this, dear Draco. This war has no winners, regardless of what side you fight on.”

I suddenly feel bad. While I might not feel that Narcissa is my mother, I am still her son. She must have been terrified. And she was right. Both sides lost people they care about. Both sides saw their lives and themselves change irreversibly.

I reach up and touch her cheek, it’s all I can manage considering my mobility isn’t great due to me literally being born yesterday. She smiles though.

“I will always protect you Draco, you must know that. No matter what happens, no matter who wins or loses. You will always be my son and I will do anything to protect you.”

If this really is my life now, then I guess this means that Narcissa and Lucius are my parents. It could have been worse I suppose, I can tell they really love Draco and will do anything to keep him safe, no matter the cost. I don’t want them to be dragged into this war either. I know from the book that Lucius was under immense pressure from Voldemort and suffered both mentally and physically as a result. I don’t want these people to have to go through that.

I have no real idea of why I’m here and I’m not sure how to even find out. I’m pretty sure there isn’t a doctor for inter-dimensional reincarnations (though that would be a cool job). Regardless of why I’m here though, the fact of the matter is I am here, so that means this is the second chance at a life I’ve always dreamed of. I refuse to let that be taken from me.

I guess that means I just need to let things play out and start finding horcrux’s. At least one of them should be in this house. However, I’m not going to start looking until after Voldemort is dead, because with his followers all around it really wouldn’t be the best idea to look for the very thing that could bring their leader down.

I also need to take care of Peter Pettigrew, which I might not be able to do until the first year of Hogwarts. Plenty of time to learn everything I possibly can. Good thing I’m in one of the darkest wizarding families in Britain. The library should have plenty of reading material to help me out.

That’s my plan, educate myself as much as possible and try to find as many of the horcrux’s as possible before my first year of Hogwarts.

I want to try and prevent as many deaths as possible and make sure the war never happens. But to do that I need to let the Potters die and I hate it. They don’t deserve what happened to them and Harry certainly doesn’t.

Harry especially doesn’t deserve the hell he had to endure at the hands of the Dursley’s. This was all so much easier when it was all a book, where none of the characters were real and everything could just end happily. Now these are actual people's lives, their loved ones, their future. I have the potential to help an awful lot of people, but also to wind up hurting even more than before.

There is also the fact that I myself am a baby and that is going to make doing anything difficult, let alone take down the greatest dark lord of this age. So, overall, it’s a very ambitious plan, but what the hell, I’ve already died once might as well have the second time be fighting the monster that made my favourite characters life so miserable.

I smile my first real smile since getting to this world. I’m going to send that snake-nosed bastard to hell, even if I have to drag him there myself.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

Around three weeks had passed since my birth (still feels weird to think about it), and Dobby has started to let me move around the room. Granted I still can’t move very much, but I managed to struggle my way over to the bookshelf and grab the first book I could reach on the very bottom shelf.

The book was about magical cores and how they work, it included a couple of exercises to begin gaining awareness of your core as well as ways that magic can be used more effectively by drawing straight from your power source as opposed to using a wand or staff (people use staffs here, it's not just a Lord of the Rings thing apparently).

The first book was a good starting point; however, it also made me realise how little I really know about magical theory. According to the book, magic is a lot more fluid and changeable than the books had led me to believe. It was clear that the author believed that wands only succeed in limiting a wizard's ability and then making it twice as difficult to learn wandless magic later in life as their core is unused to it. It seems that once you begin to gain awareness of your magical core, spells come easier sometimes not even needing words to work with just intention being powerful enough.

It doesn’t even seem to be that complicated really, the only reason that wizards find it so difficult is that the mentality that their wand is the source of their magic as opposed to themselves being the source is so ingrained by adulthood that they simply can’t fathom the idea and so can’t achieve their full potential.

I, however, know nothing about magic and have no preconceptions holding me back so I don’t think the initial exercises should be too hard. I’m planning on waiting a few more weeks before I start so that I’m better able to move around.

Dobby has come in and seen me reading a couple of times and is perplexed by the behavior, he concluded that I must just like looking at the sketches and drawings on the pages.

At one point he attempted to take the book away and replace it with a teddy bear, however I cried so much that eventually he admitted defeat and returned the book.

“Dobby doesn’t understand why Master Draco wants the book so much, but if it makes Master happy.” Dobby had sighed out in defeat.

Other than that, the days have been quiet, and I have spent most of them trying to understand the book on magical cores and how to do the exercises it demonstrates. Lucius and Narcissa haven’t come to see me at all since that first day with Voldemort. Dobby mentioned that they, have been kept busy with their duties, even though Narrcissa, just had a baby. Voldemort doesn’t seem to believe that that should hold her back in any way.

On the third week Narcissa came into the nursery, looking more tired than she had before, the bags under her eyes more pronounced and her already pale skin the color of chalk.

“Dobby, dress Draco, we have a guest, he must look his best.”

There was a faint smile on her lips when she said that which made me think that it wasn’t Voldemort, she’d be even paler if it was.

I wonder who it could be. I thought on the question as Dobby dressed me in a soft emerald green woolen footie. I continued to be stumped as Dobby carried me down the hall and into a gorgeously furnished living room, where someone I could only presume to be Severus Snape was seated. There was no other person it could possibly be, the greasy black hair, the sickly pale skin, the permanent disproving scowl as if you had just personally offended him. It was definitelly him.

I was floated by Dobby into a small rocker in between the two couches. On one side was Snape and on the other was Lucius and Narcissa.

“Hello Severus, how have you been” Narcissa began, silently accepting a cup of tea offered to her by Dobby.

“I’ve been well Narcissa, I can see that you have had a very eventful few weeks.” motioning with his head towards me. “What have you decided to name him?”

“Draco, Draco Malfoy.” Narcissa smiles.

“A good choice” Severus says nodding, sipping his own tea.

“Severus I’m just going to get straight to the point of why I asked you here”, Snape arched an inquiring eyebrow.

“We want you to be Draco’s godfather, he is going to need allies in this life, and I know no one who would be more capable of protecting him, especially in times when we cannot.”

Narcissa was about to say more when Sape raised his hand cutting off the rest of her sentence.

“You have no need to convince me further, I would be honored to be the boys godfather and promise to protect him in every way I can.

“We want you to swear it”, Lucius spoke up suddenly.

Snape did look surprised at that.

“An unbreakable vow?”

Lucius nodded slowly.

“Okay, Cissa give me your hand”, Snape said, standing and reaching out to take Narcissa’s hand.

Both Narcissa and Lucius stood then, not hesitating for a moment, Narcissa grasped Severus’s forearm firmly in hers, him doing the same. Lucius drew his wand as Narcissa began to talk.

“Severus Snape, will you be the godfather to our son Draco. Will you protect and guide him through life and all the challenges it may pose for him. Will you care for our child if there ever comes a day when we are not able to fulfil that duty.” A tear slid from Narcissa’s eye at that last line.

“I will.” Snape says simply.

Twin tongues of flames shot from Lucius’s wand and twined around the pairs joined arms, creating a red-hot chain linking them together, both flinched slightly as the weight of the vow settled on them. Forging a permanent bond.

“Thank you, Severus, I knew you would have kept your promise it was just a precaution.”

“Of course, Narcissa, this is your son after all, it’s a good thing that you care so deeply about him.

As the three adults sat back down and began to talk of other matters, I allowed my mind to tune it out. I was touched by the fact that Severus would make that promise for me. I had known that he was Draco’s godfather, and that he had made an unbreakable vow at the start of the half-blood prince, promising to protect Draco that year. I had had no idea about this promise though. It makes me realise how much he must have worried about Draco as Voldemort began to gain power for the second time. I don’t want Snape to have to suffer through another war and I definitely don’t want him to die at the hands of Voldemort. Yet another reason to ensure that that monster can never come back.

I begin to doze off lulled to sleep by the voices of the adults on either side of me, I allow myself to fall asleep, in the knowledge that I now have at least one more ally in this world, because if this plan is going to work, I am going to need all the friends that I can get.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

It was another few weeks on, and Dobby started to take me out to the garden in the afternoons to play. I chose to continue reading my book under a gigantic oak tree in the center of the garden. The branches stretch as tall as the manor itself and the trunk is wider than I am tall (not really saying a lot, but still).

Some days Narcissa comes out and sits beside me, reading a book of her own. She found my fascination with the book amusing, agreeing with Dobby that I was likely fascinated by the pictures.

Lucius has never come out to the tree, likely kept busy with his missions.

I have also begun my magical core awareness exercises, which involve a lot of meditation and quiet. I think I’m seeing some progress, however. I felt a flicker last time, the book said that that is you beginning to learn where your magical core is in your own body as its different for everyone. The location of your magic is supposed to say a lot about your personality, I can feel mine resting just behind my heart, though I’m not too sure what it means yet.

On this particular day though, Narcissa and I were in one of the living rooms, having had to seek shelter from the rain outside. Beautiful British forecast being itself as usual. Dobby was in the kitchen preparing dinner for later.

The room was calm and quiet, both of us focused on our books, that was until Lucius apparated into the room, bleeding heavily.

Narcissa and I both dropped our books, forgotten, onto the floor.

Lucius was still in his death eater robes the mask of the ground beside him, covered in blood.

“Dobby, come here”, Narcissa demanded. Dobby appeared with a pop, face paling when he saw Lucius sprawled on the ground barely moving. “Bring bandages and my emergency potions kit, quickly.” That caused Dobby to snap out of his trace and he disappeared only to reappear moments later with bandages and a small black box.

“What happened Lucius” Narcissa asked as she began to apply a green slimy potion to the visible wounds. It smelt putrid but it seemed to help Lucius as he gained enough strength to say.

“The Dark Lord is not happy about the Potters going into hiding. It turns out they have cast a Fidelius Charm over wherever they’re staying, he was not too pleased to find out the news.”

Narcissa took off the remains of his robes and began to continue applying the green slime to the wounds on his chest. “I really don’t understand his obsession with the Potters lately, sure they are a pain in the side, but no more than the rest of the Order, why has he taken such an interest in them now of all times.”

Lucius winced as Narcissa began to wrap bandages around his arms and torso.

“I have no idea dear; I was simply given the task of finding them, the Dark Lord did not see fit to share with me his reasonings.”

Narcissa sighed, as she sat back, the lines on her face running deeper than ever. This stress can’t be good for her so soon after childbirth. It can take people months to heal from that and yet she is expected to be back to normal after a few weeks.

“He told me to await orders, I have no idea how long that wait will last, knowing him, it won't be dreadfully long.”

Narcissa aided Lucius into a sitting position on the couch. Lucius sighed and sank into the seat. I managed to drag myself close enough to rest my hand on his arm, and babble in what I hope is a comforting way.

Lucius smiles down at me, still clearly in pain. “I’m sorry you had to see me like this Draco, it makes me feel as though I am incapable of protecting you.”

“Don’t say that you know it's not true.” Narcissa chides. “If the Potters have cast a Fidelius charm, then there wasn’t even a possibility of you finding their location. It was a fools mission and you know it.”

Lucius just rests his head against the back of the couch and sighs, “Maybe, that still didn’t make his reaction to the news any better.”

They sit in silence for a moment, Narcissa tells Dobby to go make tea and to bring Lucius a cover to keep him warm.

After Narcissa had helped Lucius into a dark purple robe, Dobby started pouring tea for the two adults.

“I don’t like the way this is going Lucius”, Narcissa whispered finally, as if she feared someone might hear them.

Lucius nodded gravely and continued to sip his tea, not saying a word. The silence continued for a while, no one daring to break it.

That is until Lucius dropped his teacup to the ground, gripping his forearm in pain. He rolled up his sleeve revealing the dark mark etched onto his arm. The tattoo looked alive, practically jumping out at me as I looked at it.

Then the man himself, Voldemort apparated into the center of the room. That’s odd, I thought the dark mark coming alive was the signal to go to Voldemort, not the other way around.

“Lucius” the disdain clear in the other man's voice as he looked down at where Lucius sat on the couch gripping his arm.

Lucius rushed to stand and gave a deep bow, “My lord, I was not expecting your arrival so soon.” The monster tortured him and then gave him barely an hour before appearing to give more orders.

“I told you to await orders, did I not”, the pale man's voice was barely more than a whisper and yet its chilly clarity filled the entire room.

“Yes, sir you did, I apologise for the poor welcome” Lucius said as he straightened up, clearly still in pain but attempting to conceal it.

Voldemort sniffed but continued, “I have another assignment for you, one which I sincerely hope will be more successful than your last.”

Voldemort began to stroll around the room as he continued, “I want you to find the location of all of the Potters closest allies. Especially the werewolf and that Black family traitor. Once you have found them, I want you to use any means necessary to discover who their secret keeper is and to find the location of the Potters.”

Voldemort's strolling had brought him to rest just behind the couch that Lucius had just vacated, and I was still sitting on.

“And let me assure you, that should you fail, you will not be the only one who suffers.” One of the man's cold corpse like hands rested on my head, punctuating the threat he had just issued. “Do you understand, Lucius?”

“Perfectly, my lord”, the blond bit out through gritted teeth.

At that Voldemort removed his hand from my head and when I turned to look at him, he was giving me the same bone chilling smile from before, with an emotion I couldn’t quite place burning in his eyes. Then he leant down and whispered, “Goodbye little Draco.”

With a final warning look to Lucius, he apparated from the room.

Lucius was trembling not with fear, but with fury. His hands balled into fists and his jaw was so clenched I feared he’d burst a blood vessel. He stormed from the room before he broke anything and Narcissa instructed Dobby to bring me back to my room, before following him out.

This is not good, I had not realised that Voldemort had threatened Draco when he was just a child, I have no idea how far that threat will go. If this really is the timeline continuing as usual with no alterations, then Voldemort is even more messed up than I thought. Threatening the two-month-old child of one of your closest followers? Narcissa was right, there really is no one safe in this war.

Should I try to hurry things along, speed things up. Reveal the Potters location, tell someone from the order about the horcrux's. The Fidelius charm probably affects me too though, so I don’t know if I can tell anyone even if I wanted to. I also have no way of contacting the Order without giving myself away.

That smile though, the same one he gave me last time, just as bone chilling too. His behavior is really starting to terrify me, I cannot wait until this guy is dead and can't ever come back. For that reason, it would probably be better if I kept to the original plan. There isn’t much I can do at this age anyway; I can’t even speak without drooling yet. God, being a baby is the worst.

I’m still worried though, I can hear Lucius shouting upstairs and Narcissa trying to calm him down. They were the ones that sided with that monster and they’re not even safe. This really is going to be a long year.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

The very next morning I am woken up by a frazzled looking Dobby, carrying me through the hallways, wrapped in several layers of blankets, while also levitating several heavy looking trunks behind us.

Up ahead I could hear Narcissa and Lucius talking in hushed tones, there was a similar pile of luggage to the one floating behind us surrounding them.

“Are you very sure about this Lucius, if you are caught he will certainly kill you.” Narcissa whispered a tad frantically, dark circles under her eyes showing a distinct lack of sleep.

“Yes, I am certain darling, you two will be safe in America, the Dark Lords forces have yet to establish a foothold there. Our residence there is also unplotable so not even he who will not be named can find you. As for me, I will simply give the excuse that Sirius Black has been spotted in eastern Europe and will pretend to chase false leads for as long as I can until I can come up with a more long-term solution. The important thing is that you and Draco will be safe.”

“But what if the Dark Lord wonders why we have relocated, that will surely arouse his suspicions” Narcissa replied worriedly.

“It's okay, if he inquires, I will simply say that our house was being watched by Order members and I did not feel that you were safe there for the time being. He is so obsessed with the Potters currently that I highly doubt that he will even notice your absence.”

Narcissa still looked worried but less frantic in her worry now. “All right, but stay safe, I don’t want you getting hurt, your son needs his father.”

Lucius smiled softly “I promise” he lent down and kissed Narcissa gently before pulling away to face Dobby.

“Dobby, I want you to apparate all the luggage to the town house in Washington and then bring Narcissa and Draco and stay with them and look after them.”

“Yes Sir.” Dobby squeaks in his usual high-pitched voice.

Dobby gently hands me to Narcissa and then him and all the luggage disappears. Narcissa nervously rocks me in her arms, I can still see the worry and stress lining every inch of her face. Lucius comes closer and rubs his thumb over my cheek.

“I feel like every time I see you I’m apoligising for something entirely out of my control” he says with a sigh. “But one day when all of this is over, and it will be, I promise you that you will never have to fight such as this one, for a leader as cruel as mine. As a matter of fact, you will never have to fight in a war at all.” A tear falls from his eyes and lands on my face, he brushes it away gently before leaning down to kiss my forehead.

I let out a small helpless wail. I don’t know what else to do. It finally feels like I am beginning to be a part of a new family and now I could lose one of its members forever. Maybe the timeline isn’t the same as the books, maybe something goes wrong and Lucius dies, he is my father I don’t want him to die. Lucius just smiles sadly down at me as if understanding everything I want to say even when I can’t say it.

Dobby is standing behind Narcissa silently waiting for the order to apparate us away.

Narcissa doesn’t say any more, just kisses Lucius again, tears in her own eyes and gives Dobby a silent cue to apparate them away.

The last thing I see before the world turns inside out is Lucius Malfoy standing forlornly in the middle of the entrance hall tears silently sliding down his face.

I close my eyes for the apparation part, but that doesn’t lessen the feeling of nausea that passes over me. Narcissa casts a spell over me that stops me from feeling like I need to puke, but that doesn’t get rid of the feeling of disconcertedness that comes from suddenly being jerked through space to another location.

I look around to see where we have gone and was surprised to see that we were standing on a quite cobbled street, lined with luxurious and expensive looking townhouses. The most expensive looking however was the one directly in front of us. The front of the house was white with black shutters and a black door, a tiled path leading from a small black iron wrought gate up to the door.

Dobby opened the gate for Narcissa, and we proceeded up the path, passing by a few small hedge ornamentations. The house itself was far smaller than the manor, but that was still a long way off calling it small. It appeared to have three stories along with an attic at the very top of the house. If I had to guess it must be the Malfoy equivalent of Grimauld Palace. Hopefully with less screaming portraits though.

When we reach the door there is no letter box or door knocker, just a single doorknob set in the center of the door, Narcissa holds the tip of her wand against the knob and it glows faintly, illuminating an intricate letter M carved into it.

The door swung open, and we stepped inside.

The inside of the house was just as grand as the outside suggested it would be. The black and white theme continued throughout the foyer. The entrance hall was wide and tiled with white marble. There was an ornate black side table underneath an intricate silver mirror on the right-hand side of the hall. Further down the hall on the left was a sleek black wood staircase leading to the upper floors.

I don’t believe I will have to worry about any screaming portraits as, looking around, there is no sign of any decorating the walls. A little bit odd, but perhaps it has something to do with it being unplottable. Not to mention the house was completely spotless not a speck of dust despite it clearly not being the Malfoys main place of residence. I suppose Dobby must clean this house too.

Narcissa proceeded into a small drawing room and sat down heavily on the couch, still clutching me to her chest, tears running, unnoticed down her face.

Her expression was still one of heartbreak and pain. For all she knew that might have been the last time she ever saw her husband again. While Lucius may have promised not to die, we all know that that decision is not his to make. Hopefully, if the timeline proceeds as it should, Lucius will be fine. I really haven’t much idea of what happened during the first Voldemort war, only the night of the Potters death and the telling of the prophecy.

Oh my god, how could I have forgotten to consider the prophecy. That could be problematic. I know that prophecies don’t mean concrete truth and that they can sometimes change or even become completely irrelevant. But that doesn’t mean that other people in this world won’t believe in it. People like Dumbledore have based their entire plan on this fact. Their entire plan which put Harry in mortal danger multiple times as well as ultimately leading him to give his life away. I have no intention of letting it come true but that doesn’t mean Dumbledore won’t try to stop me, believing he is saving the wizarding world. As I said, problematic. I suppose I will have to make my moves quietly to avoid causing too much of a stir, that way I can stop Voldemort coming back and no one will be any the wiser. I can also ensure that Harry never has to go through any of that either.

Now I’m thinking about it another problem might be the ministry. They were completely incompetent throughout the books always duck their heads in the sand in critical moments. That topic will require more research, but I will definitely need to do something about it, because heaven forbid my plan fails and we have a pissed off dark lord on our hands a proactive ministry will certainly be helpful.

That last issue is one that I will think on more another day. As I look up, I can see that Narcissa has stopped crying and is asking Dobby to make breakfast for them. She looks down at me after and smiles, new tears coming to her eyes, which she is quick to brush away, in an attempt to keep a strong face in a horrible situation.

“I think I will show you Masons Street, tomorrow, how about that Draco. We can go and look at the toys in Merlin’s Wonders and I’ll even take you into Gleadow books, since you seem to be fascinated by them.”

I smile at that; it feels nice to have her understand me even when I can’t speak. She smiles back down at me. Suddenly she starts tickling my belly and I can’t help the giggles that I let out. I am laughing harder than I have since I got here, and I feel more like a child than I have in years. This is my second life and while I want to destroy Voldemort, that doesn’t mean that I can’t simply be happy once in a while.

So, I just laugh and giggle while my mother tickles me, laughing herself, some of the anxiety easing from her face. We only stop when Dobby tells us that breakfast is ready, heading into the kitchen to eat. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

I was already awake when Dobby came in to get me dressed for the day ahead, todays was a warm gray woolen footie with a matching little bobble hat, which I immediately took off because it was hideous and itched my ears.

Dobby was put out by my insistence not to wear the hat.

“I made the hat myself Master Draco, will you not even try it, just for today, so you don’t get cold.”

Dobby's pleading eyes were like a puppy dog and wore away at my resolve until I begrudgingly allowed him to pull the hat onto my head again, not throwing it off this time. Who taught house elves to be such masters at guilt tripping.

When Dobby brought me into the kitchen Narcissa was already seated and drinking a cup of tea with her breakfast.

Dobby placed me into a highchair next to my mother and gave me a bottle of milk. Since last month I flat out refused to have anyone help me eat because I finally had enough strength to hold the bottle myself. Dobby accepting his win with the hat didn’t even try to help me, instead smiling as I gripped the sides of the bottle with two hands and lifted it up to drink.

“Well Draco, you look ready to brave the December chill” Narcissa said, looking up from her breakfast to grin at the bobble hat firmly in place on my head. I give her a disparaging look, which only causes her to grin more.

“When you’re finished, that, we’re going to head off to Masons Street, I think we’ll start off with the toy shop, then I need to run a few errands. We can end with Gleadow’s. Does that sound okay.”

I nod eagerly, rushing to finish the milk so that we can get going. I am most excited for the bookshop, however seeing wizard toys will certainly be an interesting experience.

When we’ve both finished up our breakfast, Dobby wraps me in a blanket, and we make our way towards the door. They had tried to put me in a pram before, but I flat out refused it, screaming bloody murder whenever Dobby tried. One of the few things I've cried about in my life here. I have my reasons for not wanting to be in the pram, and it's mostly because I am not able to see anything around me which I find disconcerting and annoying. I also find it humiliating, yes, I might look like an infant physically therefore making being pushed around in a pram perfectly normal. Mentally, however, I am still fifteen and have no desire to be treated as any more of a baby than is strictly necessary.

Wrapped snugly in a woolen blanket, Dobby hands me to Narcissa.

“Dobby, can you have dinner ready for us when we get home, it should be around four o’clock.” Narcissa added before heading towards the door.

“Yes Lady Malfoy, I will be making something warm to heat you up. You and Master Malfoy enjoy your day.”

“Thank you, Dobby.”

Narcissa steps over the threshold into the chill December morning and shuts the door with a click, the doorknob glowing once again.

As we set off down the street, the area begins to get busier. Today unlike yesterday, when the street was deserted, we passed people walking their dogs, going on a morning jog, or simply chatting to their neighbor. It seems like a nice neighborhood. It gets busier the further into the city we walk. We get onto a bustling main street filled with people and noise.

Narcissa quickly crossed the street to face a bright shop front with the words “Franklin Funeral Arrangements” above the door in gold lettering.

A bell tinkled above our heads as we passed through the door. The shop was filled with coffins and headstones, the coffins open to display their velvety linings. As we make our way further into the shop the headstones start to create a maze of sorts, which Narcissa weaves through with ease. We pass by the ninth angel statue, and I am convinced that we are lost in this endless gravestone maze, despite Mothers calm and confident demeanor.

We eventually came to a stop in front of a solid black basalt headstone, taller than Narcissa. There was a small golden engraving of an angel, holding what looked like a wand in her left hand. The angel was staring down at the ground in contemplation. Narcissa looked around to make sure that we were alone before pulling her wand from her sleeve and tapping it on the surface of the tombstone right on the engraving.

A few seconds later the angle looked up, the engraving suddenly alive. She looked the two of us up and down, then smiled and disappeared. Without hesitation, Narcissa stepped into the gravestone and passed right through it. When we were on the other side the angel appeared again, waving goodbye with a smile, before settling into its pose of contemplation once again.

The street we have stepped into is packed with people, some laden with shopping bags, some talking while eating strangely coloured street food, others browsing the shop windows that they pass. Narcissa smiles down at me now.

“Welcome to Masons Street Draco.”

So that’s what the shop was for, everything makes a lot more sense now. Makes sense though, that the entrance to Masons Street is through a piece of stone.

As we begin to make our way through the crowd weaving between the busy shoppers and the casual strollers. Until we come to a brightly colour building that strongly reminds me of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. Above the entrance are the words ‘Merlin's, Toy Emporium’, with small fireworks constantly exploding above it in a rainbow of colours.

As we headed into the shop the breath was knocked out of me. It's incredible, like the toy shops of all kids' dreams, made all the better with magic. Little toy trains were chugging along in midair, purple puffs of steam flowing behind them. Miniature brooms zoomed around the shop floor as well. Upon closer inspection it revealed miniature people riding atop the brooms like insanely realistic dolls.

A man suddenly appeared at Narcissa’s elbow.

“Hello Ma’am, how can I help you today?”

The man was wearing a beaming smile along with a top hat and a long purple tailcoat. The tails curled up at the end in spirals.

“I’m looking for toys for my son, he’s about six months old.”

“Sure thing, follow me this way.”

As we walked through the shop children and their parents were looking at toys and playing with them. Somewhere ahead of us a child was having a tantrum about the number of toys they were being allowed to buy. Guys somethings stay the same Muggle or Wizard, and bratty children is definitely one of them.

We reached the baby's section and Narcissa set me down in the center of a play mat while the salesperson went off to find some toys I might like. Looking around all the baby's toys seem very similar to muggle toys, teddy bears, dolls, teething toys. There was even one of those pillars with a stack of rainbow-colored rings that you must organise in order of size, the only difference being that the rings seem to be able to float.

The salesperson came back, an armful of toys in tow. His mildly terrifying smile firmly still in place.

“When babies are as young as he is, they don’t play with toys as much, however I still think that he will like our selection of soft toys and rattles.”

The man continues as he lays a selection of teddies and rattles in front of me.

“It's best to show them the toys and see if they have any interest in it.”

Narcissa who is keeling down beside me on the carpet, selects a rabbit soft toy and presents it to me.

“What do you think of this one Draco?” she asks as she props the toy directly in front of me.

“That's actually one of our most popular products. It has a calming charm woven through it, helping to ease babies when they can’t sleep or when they get stressed.”

When I reach out to touch the rabbit, I can see what he means by calming charm. The moment my fingers graze the toy, I can feel a sense of calm, not like its suppressing my emotions by rather that it’s soothing them. I like this one, I decided. If I’m going to be carrying out the plan I have made, a stress relieving bunny might not be so bad.

Narcissa next handed me a rattle, the top of it was made of a series of bells. When I shook it, it let out a beautiful tinkling sound, reminding me of the sound of windchimes on my porch at home, that would rattle in the breeze. That was in my old house in my old life. I’m hit by a pang of nostalgia at the thought.

“That's another popular one of ours, the sound is one that the child associates with joy, often the sound of a laugh or a parent voice.” the salesman noted to my mother.

“Windchimes? I wonder where he heard that one?” Narcissa puzzled, gazing down at me with a look of slight confusion.

Before she could enquire further there was the sound of an explosion from the other side of the shop, accompanied by a burst of colourful fireworks and children screaming and ducking out of the way.

“Not again” the man grumbled, his customer service smile slipping for the first time since we met him.

“One second, I just need to take care of this, continue to browse as you like I’ll be with you again in just a moment.”

The tiny man rushed off to deal with the situation with the fireworks, clearly one he was well used to but no less annoyed by. Me and Narcissa stayed where we were. I was still a little shaken by the rattle, which was such a stark reminder of my old life.

Narcissa stood and made her way over to a shelf filled with children's stories. As she was browsing through them, I moved my attention to another toy. It wasn’t in the selection that the man had brought, instead it sat off to the side probably discarded by a previous child. The toy in question was a rag doll, with bright red yarn hair and a long pink ballgown, it reminded me of one of the toys I used to have when I was little before.

I shuffled my way over to the doll and managed to get close enough to grab it into my hands, it really was incredibly similar to my old doll. The dress was even the same. Soft baby pink with sparkles and gauze.

I was beginning to examine the doll further and play around with its floppy arms when it was snapped out of my hands by the man in the tailcoat who had clearly returned from dealing with the fireworks. I gave a wail of confusion, which caused Narcissa to turn her attention away from the bookshelf.

“What did you do to my child?” she questions, clearly furious.

“He was playing with a toy from our girl's collection, clearly one of the clerks forgot to tidy it away. I was just going to put it back on the shelf” the man stammered; he was clearly scared but was trying to hide it.

“My son was playing with that toy, why on earth would you take it out of his hands? This is after all a toy shop, what is the point but not to play with toys?” she persists.

“Your son is a boy; I didn’t think he would be interested in such toys.” beads of sweat began to gather on the man's brow as he continued. “I can show you more from our baby boy collection if you would like.”

Narcissa gave the man a scathing look and snatched the rag doll from his hands and then bent over to pick up the rattle and the rabbit off the ground, before finally scooping me up too.

“No, we’re fine I believe we’ve seen enough for today.” She then turned on her heel and swiftly made her way to the counter.

The man followed us all the way, profusely apologising and attempting to convince Narcissa to browse more. She ignored him, made her purchase and left, without saying another word to the man.

“I’m sorry Draco, that was not what I was hoping for at all, rest assured we will never be shopping in there again.” Narcissa sighs as we begin to make our way down the street once again.

I made a little cry of agreement which made her chuckle.

I guess the man was right about one thing though, I am a boy. I hadn’t really thought much about that since I’d gotten here. Too busy adjusting to the fact that I was living the life of a fictional character. I am a boy though. Not that I’m upset about that fact, as a matter-of-fact gender never really meant much to me in my last life. I was proud of being a woman, but it was never my main identity. I haven’t really figured out my full identity yet. Plenty of time to do that yet. After all, I am only six months old.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

Continuing to the rest of the street we went into several shops where Narcissa picked up a few more things; potion supplies, parchment and even some new Winter clothes for me. She put all our purchases into a discreate looking handbag, that was evidently an awful lot larger than it appeared. Magic is so cool.

Narcissa had calmed down since the toy shop, but it was still obvious that she was annoyed by what happened. I’m quite proud of how she handled the situation, I had not expected her to be quite as progressive. That belief was unfair though. I suppose I’m falling for the they’re death eaters so that must be the most despicable people on the planet. Everything I’ve seen of my parents in the last six months, shows two people who clearly love me and are not as evil as anyone gives them credit for.

“I only need to make one more stop and then we can go to Gleadow’s”. That’s fine with me, I don’t mind walking through the busy shopping street. The noise and bustle of people is a welcome reprieve from the silence of the manor. Despite Dobby’s best efforts I was still alone most of the time and it was lonely. It’s the first large group of people I’ve been around in this world.

As we strolled along, I strained my neck to look at all the different shoppers. Some were in muggle clothes of varying degrees of insanity. Some were in full on wizard robes, pointy hats and all. There was even one man walking around in what looked like a medieval monk's robe, with intricate tattoos covering the entirety of his bald head. No one seemed at all bothered by the variety of clothing among their fellow shoppers, the monk receiving not even a second glance.

As Narcissa came to a stop again this time in front of a shadowed shop front, hidden out of sight from the main part of the street. The name above the entrance; ‘Foster’s Enchantments and Charms’. The name was far more inviting than the shop front suggested. The window held an interesting display of books, pendants, mirrors and crockery.

As we entered a bell chimed above the door. The interior of the shop was far more inviting than its exterior had been, there were colourful displays or carpets, paintings, jewelry and kitchen ware adorning the walls and in display cases around the shop floor.

A man, suddenly appeared from behind a curtain, smiling with his arms open in greeting. He wore a bright purple robe that hung from his slim frame. His flame red hair pinned up a bun.

“Narcissa dear, what a pleasant surprise, I did not expect you to be in this part of the world.”

The man spoke with a heavy French accent, his words drawn out.

“And you have a new arrival with you, I see. What is this darling's name.”

At this the man came over and started cooing down at me. Narcissa was smiling at this point.

“Damond, this is Draco. And as for why I’m in this part of the world, well let's just say it’s on account of unforeseen circumstances.”

Damond’s face turned worried.

“Are you hurt, is everything okay?” The worry clear in the strange man's voice.

“Currently, yes everything is fine, however I wish to discuss a matter with you that requires complete discretion.”

The man nodded silently and made several apparently random wand movements while muttering under his breath.

“These are the strongest warding spells known to wizard kind, be assured that anything you say in this shop will not be passed on.”

Narcissa's posture seemed to relax slightly “Thank you Damond, I can never truly know when it's safe to speak freely anymore.”

“No problem, mon cherie. Sit, and tell me what it is that you need of me.”

He gestured us towards a set of three chairs all set around a small tea table. As Narcissa sat me down on one of the chairs handing me the rabbit she had bought me from Merlin’s, a tray with a pot of tea, cups and pastries landed on the table with a thud.

The man grinned ruefully, “No serious discussion is allowed to take place in my company without some form of dessert being involved.”

Narcissa smiled, as if this was a statement, she had heard many times before.

Suddenly, she became serious once again, “I’m going to be straightforward with this Damond, I need you to make an anti-tracking charm, one that will interfere with any spells that might be tracking where I apparate to or where I am.”

The man's face turned serious, “You know that that is a difficult piece of magic Narcissa, if went wrong even slightly it could end up damaging your core and even your connection to your family magics.”

“I am fully aware of that fact, but that is a risk I am willing to take.” she said evenly, glancing down at me.

“I can do it; however, I would advise you include your son in the charm.”

Narcissa was about to explode on him when he interrupted her.

“Wait, wait, I know how it sounds. But trust me if it is tied to two people there is less of a chance of it going wrong, especially if those two people share the same blood. It would also mean that I could charm an item instead of you as a person, the item wouldn’t even need to be worn to effective, you need only reimbue it with your magic every ten years or so and it would remain effective.”

Narcissa calmed down on hearing that and sat in silence for a moment. I myself am entirely on board with the idea, especially if it means that I won't be able to be tracked when I apparate. That would be enormously useful for my future plans.

After a while of silence Narcissa finally said, “very well, we’ll both do the charm”.

“Excellent” Damond clapped his hands looking excited again.

“Also, if it makes you feel any better, I have not made an error with this spell in fifteen years.”

Narcissa gave the man a dubious look, which only made him grin wider. He hurried across the shop to one of the many glass display cases and picked a single pendant out, it hung on a silver chain and appeared to be a fox encircling a clear spherical gem.

“The Cadmean vixen, she represents illusions and secrets. Supposedly made by the Gods to be unstoppable and uncatchable by even the huntress Artemis herself. In this case however the symbolism of our dear vixen will lend strength to the spell.”

“And you’re sure you won't make a mistake doing this.” Narcissa asked a slight edge of worry.

“The very nature of a mistake is that it is accidental, so to say I won't make a mistake is redundant. However, you have my word that there is no other wizard in the world, better skilled when it comes to this particular branch of blood magic.” Damond assured Narcissa, as he brought the pendant over to the table where we were still seated.

“I am going to need a drop of blood from both of you.”

Narcissa nodded quietly and held out her palm to him. With his wand he placed the tip on the pad of her index finger and muttered quickly under his breath. A drop of blood began to rise out of Narcissa's finger and hover in the air, a perfect circle.

Next, he took my hand and gently placed the tip of his wand on the pad of my index finger, there was a slight pricking feeling and then a similar drop of blood rose out of my hand hovering to the same height as Narcissa’s. The two drops began to circle each other midair.

“Now here is where the real fun begins”

The drops began to circle each other faster and faster, Damond muttering what sounded like French underneath his breath. His muttering got faster and louder as the drops went faster and faster. He began to float the necklace off of the table and had it hover just behind the circling blood. Sweat began to show on his brow as the spell seemed to reach a peak.

Suddenly he jabbed his wand through the blood into the pendant, the gem instantly changing to a deep red. The necklace remained floating in the air until an exhausted, Damond grabbed it, before falling back into his chair.

Chuckling the man mopped his brow and said “mon dieu, that is without a doubt the most exhausting spell I know”, he was grinning through his exhaustion.

“So, it worked then” Narcissa asked hopefully.

“Flawlessly”

Narcissa let out a relieved sigh, “Thank you Damond, I am indebted to you.”

“Nonsense, cherie, we are friends and I protect my friends.”

The two hugged happily. When they separated Narcissa picked up the pendant and held it up to the light causing the jewel to glitter mischievously.

“How do we reimbue it with our magics?”

Damond smiled again, “Very simply, you need only wear it around your neck, and it will retune itself to your magics automatically. The best part, however, is any anti-apparition wards are meaningless, you will glide through it without a problem.”

“This is amazing” Narcissa said with awe.

Suddenly, from across the room a large grandfather clock chimed.

“Oh, is that the time? I told Draco I would bring him to Gleadow’s, before we left.” Narcissa slipped the necklace over her head, tucked it into the collar of her dress and picked me up.

“A bookshop already, goodness they grow up fast!” Damond exclaimed

Narcissa laughed “I can’t explain his interest, all I know is that he is fascinated by them.”

“Well enjoy the bookshop” he chuckled, “be sure to call in again when you’re in the area.”

“I certainly will” Narcissa smiled as she waved at him through the doorway.

As the bell tinkled behind us, my only thought was of the bookshop, finally the thing I had been most looking forward to. I can’t wait.

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

Damond's shop behind us, we finally headed to Gleadow’s. I know precisely what I want to get, books on magical cores and foundational magic. I’m not sure how I’m going to communicate that desire yet, but I’ll figure something out. As we emerge out of the alley into the bustle of the main street we are once again swept along by the swarm of people. We’ve been walking for about five minutes when Narcissa turns into a shop. The windows filled with books of various kinds; their covers alive with action. As we stepped into the shop the smell of old and new paper hit me. Pure heaven, I’ve always loved bookshops, I’ve felt they always had a sort of magic to them. Now I suppose that statement has become quite true.

As we walked through the books passing shelves upon shelves of tomes of various sizes and colours. I scanned the space above the bookshelf where the genre was written. ‘Potions’, ‘Biography’, ‘Transfiguration’, none of these are what I want. I look around at all the other shelves, all sorts of books on history, charms, defense against the dark arts. Then I see it, past the railing circling all the second floor, almost out of sight, there is a shelf labeled, ‘Magic: Fundamentals, Cores and Others’, perfect.

I cry up at Narcissa and point my tiny hand towards the shelf upstairs.

“Oh, do you want to go upstairs?”

I nod in agreement.

“Alright, but I don’t think many of the books up there have pictures.” she sighs in amused confusion.

As we ascend the stairs, I can feel someone watching us. I looked all around but no one was there. Then just as Narcissa reaches the final step a woman appears in front of her, staring.

“Goodness Aria, you scared me.”

“Hello again Narcissa”, the woman had a very dreamy voice that made you wonder if she was entirely all there.

“What on earth do you mean by again, I haven’t seen you in years.” Narcissa inquired as she made the final step up to the second floor.

“I saw what happened in my dreams, I am so sorry that you had to tear your family apart like that.”

Tears prick the corners of Narcissa's eyes, too soon.

“Yes, well it had to be done.”

Narcissa continued to the shelf, Aria trailing behind.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be blunt.” the witch apologised in a dreamy voice.

“It's okay Aria.” Narcissa said in a final tone, not inviting any further discussion.

When we finally reached the bookshelf, I grinned. It was exactly what I was looking for. Books on magical cores, how to strengthen them, wandless magic, family magics and fundamental magical knowledge.

I pointed to the covers of the books that I like and Narcissa began pulling them from the shelf for me. I had picked out about six when Narcissa said that that was enough. I sighed, but she was right I can always get more.

“Very interesting topics you’ve picked out Draco.” she chuckled as she began to make her way back down the stairs again.

“Your child picks out his own books?”

It was Aria again, glancing curiously down at me as she questioned my undoubtedly unusual behavior.

“Yes, he does, I’m no less confused by it than you are, but I’ve decided just to go with it because it doesn’t seem to do him any harm.”

“That interesting”

Narcissa hummed in agreement as she made another stop in the fiction section and picked out three more books.

“If you're going to be doing such heavy reading you might as well have some fictional books as well.”

The final title she pulled out was incredible familiar, ‘The tales of Beedle the Bard and Other Stories’. Well at least I’ll have my own copy now.

As we got to the counter Narcissa placed the pile of books down with a thud, Aria reappearing behind the counter with a pop.

“Would you like a bag for all of these?”

“Yes please”

Oh, so she works here that makes more sense. She wrapped up all the books and put them into a bag with a single letter ‘G’ embossed on it, staring at me all the while, I felt as if she was looking into my soul. The books in the bag, Narcissa pays and begins to make her way out of the store, thanking Aria.

“Wait Narcissa, you’re in the area for a while, right?” Aria asked hurriedly, finally seeming to snap out of her dream-like state.

“For the foreseeable future, yes” Narcissa replies coldly.

“I just ask that you allow me to read Draco's aura, not today if you don’t want, but someday soon.”

“Why would you want to do that?” Mother demands.

“I sensed something was different about him, from the moment you walked in. I believe he might also possess your penchant for premonition.” she replies desperately, attempting to explain her reasoning.

“Are you serious?” Narcissa asks incredulously

“Completely. At least take this book” she scrambles around behind the counter trying to find something, “It talks about children with premonitions and how to foster them”. She hands Narcissa a dusty brown tome with ‘Children and the Future’ printed on the front in swirly gold lettering.

“Completely free of course, and then whenever you can, just call in and I can do a further scan of his aura.”

“Thank you, Aria,” Narcissa replies genuinely, slightly shocked. “I will call in one of the days.”

Narcissa sighs. “It hadn’t even crossed my mind that he might too, have the premonition, it's only ever been passed down through the female Blacks.”

“Sometimes family magics change for a new generation, it has happened before.” Aria consoled.

“I know, it's just a shock.” Narcissa sighs

“I have to go now, Dobby is making dinner, but I will write to you, and thank you for the book.”

Aria smiles now, “Don’t be ridiculous, fellow Slytherins have to stick together, especially now.”

Narcissa smiles sadly back and waves behind her as she rushes out of the store, me in one arm, book bag in the other.

We hurried back through the street, past the angle and back through the maze of headstones. My head is reeling all the while. I am a psychic. That doesn’t make sense at all, maybe the weird shop lady saw a different aura around me because I’m from a different universe. And what was that about it only being passed down through FEMALE Blacks, why on Earth would it have been given to me. That was undoubtedly the most unusual encounter I have had since getting here, and that is a very high bar.

As we hurried out of the cold into the comfortable warmth of the foyer, I felt a hundred different emotions and thoughts bouncing around my head. This is definitely an interesting revelation, but I have no idea what it will lead to. I hadn’t realised that Draco was clairvoyant in the original books. I’m not even sure if he was or if this is just a result of me being here. Either way it's something I was not expecting.

“Dinner is ready” Dobby squeaks from somewhere below me snapping me out of my reverie.

We headed into dinner and as I was sat into the chair and a bottle placed in front of me. I am trying to figure out what this news will mean for my life. I could potentially be able to see the actual future, not just the events that I know happen from reading the book. This could be huge for me, it can help me with my life beyond what's written in the books, and if I change the plot to the point that my knowledge of the books is irrelevant. A positive if ever there was one.

Chapter Text

Chapter 11

The rest of the month flew by, I spent my time reading, napping and in either Deamonds shop or Gleadow’s. Deamond had become like my second godfather. He let me play with all the trinkets in his shop (none of the dangerous one obviously). Him and Narcissa would talk for hours, and I would sit in the corner playing with the living carpets or reading.

All the books I got were an enormous help and I can now fully feel my core as well as use a few basic spells. I made a book float across the room to me and Narcissa and Dobby almost had a heart attack, thinking there was a poltergeist in the house. I’m even reading up on family magics, which did a lot to explain the reasoning behind my inherited gift of clairvoyance. Many different abilities can be passed down through blood, animagus and metamorphism among them.

Family magic does an awful lot more than that though. It’s a level of power that a wizard gets when he awakens like a whole new reservoir of magic that you gain access to when you come of age. The age differs but it's usually seventeen or eighteen.

Speaking on clairvoyance, Mother brought me back to Aria’s shop and she did a full aura scan and confirmed that I gained the same ability to see the future as Narcissa has. She said the magical signatures of the gift match. Aria also offered to help teach me how to control and even use the ability as when left untaught it can be quite dangerous and can even lead to insanity. Perhaps explaining Narcissa’s initial worry when she realised I might have inherited the gift.

The month has been so busy that I didn’t even notice the time of year, not until I woke up and in the sitting room Dobby was attempting to maneuver a giant evergreen into the corner of the drawing room.

I looked at Narcissa in confusion, she smiled and explained

“It’s a Yule tide tree Draco, we put one up and decorate it every year to celebrate Yule.”

That’s interesting. I’ve heard of Yule before; it's supposed to be a Pagan festival that celebrated the Winter Solstice. I didn’t realise that wizards celebrated it, they only ever talk about Christmas in the books. It could only be a pure-blood thing. Either way it’ll be fun to celebrate my first holiday.

“It’s just a shame your father can’t be here today, it’s your first holiday and we won’t be able to spend it together.”

Dobby popped into the room standing just inside the doorway.

“Would lady Malfoy like to be decorating the tree now.”

“That would be wonderful Dobby, we’ll be right in”

“Dobby will make some hot chocolate.”

Narcissa picked me up out of my highchair and carried me into the drawing room where the tree stood proud in the corner of the room. There were open boxes surrounding it filled with various decorations both for the tree and the house.

Narcissa picked out a box of brilliantly glowing baubles, seeming to be made from pure light and began placing them in various spots around the tree.

I made my way over to a box filled with velvet ribbons that smelt like freshly fallen snow and evergreens. I began to float the bows to random spots around the tree placing them in among the branches. We fell into a nice rhythm Narcissa placing baubles and me placing bows. Dobby appeared with the promised hot chocolate and warm milk and cinnamon for me.

“Dobby, will you get out the wish scroll”

“Yes Lady Malfoy” Dobby replies before rustling through one of the boxes searching for something. What's a wish scroll and why does mother want it when decorating the tree?

“The wish scroll is a list of wishes that has been in the black family for decades. Every year you write one wish and then you wrap the list around the Yuletide tree. Your wish alongside all the ones from decades before.”

Dobby then handed Narcissa a thin roll of paper, no wider than her thumb. I could see that there was writing already on it in multiple styles of handwriting. She got to the end of the roll where there was about ten centimeters of space to write. Narcissa then transfigured one of the bows into a quill and wrote a single sentence on the scroll, the writing glowing gold and then fading. She began using her wand to wind the scroll around the tree slowly to make sure that it didn’t crinkle or rip.

When she was done that, she quickly floated a couple ever burning candles onto the boughs of the trees. Finally, she reached into another box and lifted out a carefully wrapped item. It was a solid black chest about twenty centimeters long. The hinges and clasp were made from gold and a letter ‘B’ was lovingly carved into the lid.

“This is the most important of all the decorations Draco, it has been in our family far longer than even the scroll. It was crafted by Licorus Vadik Black, the first known Black.”

She opened the chest to reveal a tree topper like none I’d ever seen before in my lives.

It was a pentacle made from solid iron and set inside an iron ring. There were vines and ivy made from metal curving around the arms of the five-pointed star. But most impressively, was the small white flame burning in the very center of the star.

“The pentacle represents white magic, as well as the spirit of Earth and wisdom. Despite what the Black name means now, we were not always dark wizards. Our earliest ancestors were some of the first known white lords. It is only the later generation that twisted the name into something dark and evil.”

Narcissa seemed both angry and disgusted when discussing the blackening of our family name.

“This heirloom has been passed down the generations as a way to remind us of where our roots lie. It’s just a shame Lucius can’t be here too to help put it on the tree, it's always been a tradition of ours.” Narcissa sighed, looking down at the star fondly.

Suddenly the door to the drawing room creaked open

“Hello Cissa” called a tired gruff voice.

Narcissa wheeled around

“Lucius!”

She ran to him and hugged him tightly, barely giving the man time to breath

“I had no idea you would be coming today, or at all”, tears already pricking her eyes.

“Neither did I, it was Severus who insisted I did and dragged me out of the depths of Siberia where I had been hiding out.” Snape appeared behind him in the doorway.

“Happy Yule, Narcissa.”

“Severus!” she gasps and drags him into a hug too, much to the mans surprise.

Lucius looks tired, dark bags gathered under his eyes and his hair has lost its usual shine.

“Dada” I say reaching up my arms towards him.

Everyone in the room turns to me

“Did he just say his first word?” Lucius asks excitedly, running over to the chair where I was sitting.

“Can you say it again, can you say dada?” he asks eagerly. Everyone waits with bated breath as they wait for me to say it again.

“Dada” I say simply and grab a hold of his cloak in my tiny fist.

Everyone is celebrating and Lucius picks me up and starts parading me around the room.

“He said Dada” he laughs

He brings me over to Narcissa and Snape again.

“Mama, sewerwus” my attempt at Severus coming out very garbled.

They are all speechless simply staring down at me in Lucius’s arms. Narcissa is fully crying now, clearly unprepared for this. Snape too looks quite emotional at the fact that I said his name.

The next few hours consisted of them asking me to say their names again and talking amongst Narcissa, Snape and Lucius. They didn’t talk of the war though, clearly not eager to ruin the good atmosphere with talk of Voldemort. Eventually we put the star on the top of the tree, Lucius lifting me up so I could float it onto the top. He had been equally amazed if not more so by my controlled magical abilities.

As evening drew near Dobby brought in food and drinks for the adults, a honeyed and cinnamon filled soup for me.

Suddenly Lucius declared it time for gifts, pulling two parcels out of his cloak, handing them to both Severus and Narcissa. Narcissa and Snape did the same, exchanging gifts. Snape even had one for me. It was a beginner's book on the art of Potions, he’s clearly heard about my love of books then. I gurgled happily in response, unable to produce much more. The three simple words from before seeming to be all I can manage.

Then Narcissa went behind the curtain and pulled out a final package. Long and straight, it was covered in brown wrapping paper.

“This one is from both me and your father. You might not be quite able to ride it yet though.” Narcissa chuckled as she placed the package in front of me on the couch.

As I ripped off the brown paper, I revealed a sleek wooden handle and fine stick bristles revealed themselves. A broomstick. Oh my God an actual broom stick. My hands are literally shaking as I trail them along the length of the handle relishing the polished finish. The hardcore Potterhead in me has died and passed away from sheer joy, of all the things in this world this is probably the one I most looked forward to. I had no idea I would get to live this dream quite so soon.

“Do you want to give it a go Draco?” Narcissa asked smiling clearly seeing the excitement in my eyes. I nod eagerly.

Narcissa picked me up and allowed the broom to hoover in mid-air before setting me down on it. I almost fell off immediately but managed to cling to the broom, wrapping both arms and legs around the handle. I tilted it gently upwards, and it began to float slowly upwards, I then tried tilting it gently down and it floated slightly downwards. Becoming more confident I began to fly it around the room, going in a circle above the heads of the three adults. Narcissa stood with her wand ready in case I fell.

And that was how we spent the rest of Yule, the three adults chatting about adult things while I lived my dream of flying, right above their heads. Definitely the best Yule I’ve ever had; I’d argue and say it was better than any Christmas I’ve ever had either. It’s nice to have a feeling of family in the house again, I smile to myself as I think about that. I have got a family here, I will always love my old family, but that's not my life anymore, this is and I’m glad that I have a family that loves nad cares for me in it.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12

Yule would be the happiest I saw mother for a while. The year flew by, Narcissa growing paler and more anxious as time passed. I turned one in the blink of an eye, my birthday a quite affair. I received gifts from my mother, Damond, Aria and even Snape by post. The gift from mother was a collection of fictional wizard storybooks, the pages filled with illustrations that come to life as you read. Damond gifted me a globe, not a globe like any other I’d ever seen. The whole thing was about a meter in diameter and spun as the real earth would (not at the same speed though, obviously), the weather too reflected the actual weather in any given location on the planet at the time. The best part, however, is undoubtedly its ability to project images of any place in the world if you touch it. Many of my days were spent with that globe admiring the beauty of the world, places I had never seen, some I’d never even heard of.

Finally, the gift from Aria was a rattle, not like the one I got in Merlin’s though. This rattle had a glass marble about the size of an eyeball on top. The marble was filled with white fog, Aria claimed that when I begin to have visions or am having emotive premonitions as she calls them, which are basically when I feel an emotion that has no apparent explanation for the current moment and instead is me feeling an emotion from the future, a reaction to an event that hasn’t happened yet. The rattle is supposed to be a way for me to channel it, or at the very least notify Mother to when it's happening. She also got me a large stack of books on various topics from various genres.

Snapes gift was another book on potions, a more advanced one this time, he had put a letter in the pages, explaining that once everything was over, he would teach me everything in the books he gave me and more. So far Severus is the only one who knows that I can actually read. Narcissa suspects but still isn’t sure and both Damond and Aria just presume that I am interested in the pictures.

Lucius did not visit us again, however, and neither did Snape. I can feel Narcissa’s growing concern because of the lack of communication or updates on the war.

June passed in the blink of an eye, July, August and September too. Before I knew it, it was October. The month where Voldemort ‘dies’ and Harry’s parents actually die.

I know that I said that I would let it happen, because it was the only way to make sure he could never come back, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less to realise I could say something, somehow change the events of that night, but I won’t.

The days blurred into a mix of anxiety and worry for me, finally coming face to face with the reality of my decision. I kept waking up in the night, my dreams filled with flashes of green and a womans screams. The rattle from Aria, a red beacon in the cot next to me. Dobby begins to become anxious as my nightmares become worse and more obvious. Mother attempted easing them with a potion supplied by Aria, but it had no effect. The visions got longer and clearer the nearer Halloween came, instead of just seeing a flash I would see James's fall in the hall, Lilly protecting the cot, the sudden flash of green and then, nothing. I would always wake up.

This morning when Dobby came in to wake me up and bring me to breakfast, it was the clearest they’ve ever been. I saw the event of the night, right up to the final flash. Voldemort walking up the driveway, entering the house, killing James, Lilly guarding the cot. It all felt so real as if I was in the room, seeing it happen right in front of my eyes.

“Morning, Master Darco. I knows you haven’t been sleeping well the last few nights, but Lady Malfoy is going to bring you to Mister Damond's shop for an All Hallows surprise.” Dobby chattered happily as he carried me to the kitchen and sat me down in my usual chair.

All Hallows, as in Halloween. That’s tonight! I had been so distracted by my nightmares that I hadn’t been paying attention to the date. Baby time is weird, doesn’t work the same as grown up people time.

More importantly, that means the Potter’s are going to die tonight. The nightmares I’ve been having for months are finally coming true.

We sat at the kitchen table as we had every other morning, me having moved onto mashed baby food (not as bad as it looks) and Narcissa slowly eating her eggs. She had been eating less and less in the past months, the stress over Lucius and the war consuming her. As we sat there, I was the only one who knew that today was different, that today would change everything. I hated it.

Breakfast having been cleared away Narcissa flooed us to Damond's shop.

The shop was filled with people, an unusual sight. Wizards and witches mingled around the place chatting and laughing, some holding glasses and others, plates of assorted cakes. It was clearly a party, there were even children running around, dodging between the adult's legs, in a game of tag.

“Narcissa” Damond rushed over to us grinning, wearing an incredibly extravagant teal cloak and dramatic blue eyeliner.

“I’m so glad you could make it. Welcome to my Hallows Eve bash. I told anyone with kids to bring them along, so hopefully Draco will have lots of company.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Ugh children, I might be a child physically but that doesn’t mean I find actual children any more tolerable, they are always crying, and their noses somehow never stop running. This is really going to be a bundle of laughs.

Narcissa thanked Damond and made her way over to the corner of the room where a portion of the floor was turned into a play area for the other babies. I looked at Narcissa with betrayal as she sat me down.

“Try to make some friends Draco.”

I did role my eyes at that, how do you make friends with a baby, they don’t have the mental capacity to understand language yet, let alone the nuances of relationships and friendships. But I didn’t say any of that, instead I just huffed.

“Be nice”, Narcissa warned before making her way over to Damond who was entertaining a group of people with one of his over-exaggerated stories.

I looked around the mat at the other children. One of them was staring at the wall and hadn’t moved for the last several minutes. One of them hadn’t figured out how to crawl yet, so was just rolling around on the ground, struggling and one of them was very focused on picking his nose.

I hate it here. I don’t even have a book, so I can’t ignore everyone and read. I decided to make my way over to the wall kid, because he was the only one who was capable of sitting up and wouldn’t cover me in snot (hopefully).

What is so interesting about this wall anyway, there aren’t even any shelves or glass cases to look at, it’s just an unextraordinary wall, with unremarkable wallpaper. Mother did tell me to be nice, but she is currently busy talking to intelligent life after she abandoned me in this hellscape so, I decided to poke the kid to see if that will take his attention away from the wall. It does, He starts crying.

An older girl rushes over, curly brown hair bouncing and scoops up the wailing infant.

“Shhhh, Alex, it’s okay. Shh, shh, shh.” She sooths as she rubs his back calming him down.

I had not realised the kid would immediately start crying. Great, now I just look like a bully, I guess I am a little bit. But it wasn’t as if he was doing anything interesting anyway. The older girl glances down at me and smiles.

“Hello, little guy, I don’t recognise you” she smiles as she crouches down on the ground still holding the wall child in her arms, having calmed him down considerably.

“My names Emma and this is Alexander, my brother. I wonder what your name is?” she puzzles, clearly not expecting an answer, or even for me to understand what she’s saying.

“My name is Draco.” I state simply.

Emma's eyes go wide as saucers and her mouth hangs open

“You can talk?” she asks incredulously

“Obviously” I reply.

“But you’re only like one, how can you talk with like full sentences and everything?”

Emma looked like her whole world view was collapsing. While this was happening, Mother decided it was the perfect time to come check on me.

“Are you alright dear?” Narcissa asks concerned, Emma's face still slack with shock.

“Your baby can talk” she muttered

“Yes, I know, he’s been able to for a while” Narcissa replied, amused.

“No, like properly talk, full sentences and everything” the older girl was earnest now, desperate for Narcissa to understand.

“Draco?” Narcissa turns to me smiling but also slightly concerned.

“Goo goo ga ga” I babble back at her, not able to stop the shit eating grin breaking out on my face. This is way more fun than reading.

“I don’t think that qualifies as a sentence dear.” Narcissa smiles kindly.

“No, he just spoke I swear!”

I continue to babble nonsense, enjoying this far more than I should.

Narcissa smiles again and gets up to return to the other adults

“Well, if he does speak again dear, bring me over” she pats Emma on the shoulder and walks away.

Emma sputters after her, the ten-year-old then turns to me angrily.

“Stop messing with me, I know you talked and I’m going to prove it!” she declares.

“I have no idea what you are talking about” I grin evilly up at her.

“Aha, see I knew it, you can talk!”

“No, I can’t” I rebuttal.

“Yes, you can, you just did.”

“Goo goo ga ga.” I innocently reply.

The next several hours consisted of Emma attempting to trick me into talking in front of people, roping the other kids at the party in too. By the time the night was coming to an end, Narcissa had an inkling of what I was doing but could see I was having fun so didn’t interfere.

“You are an evil baby” Emma sighs in defeat, all her attempts at making me reveal myself having failed. Me and the rest of the children were sitting in the play area again, exhausted.

“I know” I grin up at her again.

“Evil baby”, she mutters again under her breath, all the other children nodded in agreement.

“Looking around at the party, I could see most of the adults were reclining in various armchairs that had been brought out as the night progressed. I could see Narcissa sitting opposite Damond, laughing and looking happier than she had in months. I’m glad she came here tonight, I think any longer in the townhouse worrying about everything would have killed her.

Suddenly Narcissa's smile fell, and her face turned as pale as a ghost. She whispered something frantically to Damond and immediately rushed over to me.

“Come on Draco, we need to leave, now.”

What happened, why are we leaving so soon? I just managed to wave goodbye to Emma and the other children and see their resigned farewell wave in response before Narcissa apparated us away in the blink of an eye.

We arrive in the entrance hall, everything is dark, the candles not yet lit. It appears empty, but as my eyes adjust, I can make out a figure crouched on the ground in the middle of the hall.

Narcissa waves her wand, lighting the candles illuminating the silver hair in the flickering light. Lucius.

“He’s gone” he mutters to himself

“Lucius, what happened, what are you doing here, are you hurt?” Narcissa rushes over to his side.

When Lucius lifts his head from the ground, it is not blood that stains his face, but tears. Tears of joy.

“He’s gone, Cissa. The dark lord is dead, he was killed this night at the Potter house.”

“What” Narcissa chokes out.

“I can’t feel my mark, it’s gone quiet, I can no longer sense his presence.” Lucius smiles baring his forearm, showing the tattoo, still and unmoving, practically muggle.

“Are you sure?” Narcissa is crying now too, hope shining in her eyes, but also fear. Fear that this is too good to be true.

“Yes, he was killed by the Potter boy, his curse rebounded on to him”

Narcissa embraced him at that, crying properly now, great heaving sobs of relief, Lucius doing the same. I was pressed between the two of them, unsure what to feel.

When they pulled apart, Lucius took me in his arms and stared down at me with pure love and relief in his eyes.

“You are never going to have to know the face of that mad-man Draco, you are never going to need to fight his war, ever.”

Then the two of them held me together. Telling me of the world that will be mine, the world I won't have to know because that monster is dead.

If only that were the truth, but that world has only briefly been put on hold. It is my mission though to ensure that he never gets the chance to come back, that this relief my parents feel is permanent and that their words will be true.

We stayed like that for a while, all of us on the ground in the hall, my parents holding me close. Dobby brought tea and blankets after a while, time seemed to slow as if the whole of my universe was just this moment, these people and nothing else.

I can begin my plan now, there is no fear of being discovered by Voldemort, nothing is standing in my way. It’s time to make sure he stays dead!

Chapter Text

Chapter 13

It is a chilly November morning, the neighborhood of Privet drive lay quiet, its inhabitants enjoying their sleep, wrapped in dreams. A cold bottle of milk lay on the doorstep of number four along with a bundle of blankets. The silence of the morning, broken only by the scream of one Petunia Dursley. The bottle of milk shattered in all directions. All the while the small child in the bundle slept soundly, completely oblivious of the chaos he was causing. The lightning bolt scar stark against his pale, cold face.

The next few hours were filled with both confusion and anger for the elder two Dursleys as they tried to comprehend what had happened, to understand what they did to receive this punishment.

Little Harry was sat at the kitchen table watching the chaos around him, his cousin poking him curiously attempting to understand this new presence in his home.

Just as Petunia sank down in a chair at the kitchen table in defeat, clearly finding no way to escape this new burden. An owl flew down through the chimney.

A letter was deposited on a screaming Petunias lap. She screamed and threw it across the room, the paper burning her hands as she did so. Suddenly the letter burst into flames and a deep malevolent voice filled the room.

“Petunia and Vernon Dursley, I am sending you this as a warning. Your new ward Harry Potter is of great importance to me. I expect you to treat him with kindness and respect, befitting that of a fellow human being. I do not demand love or anything of the sort because I know you are incapable of such a feat. However, if I find you have hurt him either physically or psychologically, I will not hesitate to wipe every member of your pathetic bloodline off the face of the Earth. And trust me, I will find out.”

The voice filled the entire room, shaking Petunia to her very core, filling her bones with lead and making her sink to her knees.

“Let the burns on your hand serve as a reminder of this message, should you ever attempt to raise a hand to young Harry, you will feel the burn of my message.”

The burns stood stark against her pale skin, an angry red glowing with warning an malevolence.

“Finally, should you ever tell Harry about this message I will make you wish for the sweet release of death from the amount of pain I will inflict on you. Goodbye and have a nice life.” The voice added the last line with heavy sarcasm and cruelty.

Vernon, who had rushed into the kitchen upon hearing Petunias scream, had gone from a purple rage to frighteningly pale.

“How dare you threaten us in our home!” He raged clearly terrified but attempting to conceal it. He swatted at the column of smoke where the voice came from and was rewarded with identical burns to his wife. The man fell to his knees in pain, cradling his hands to him.

The column of smoke cleared and left the same letter from before lying on the ground which promptly turned to ash where it lay

The owl who had delivered the letter sat on the table watching all of this unfurl. Happy that her owner's message was delivered, she hopped over to the window and hooted to be let out, tapping on the glass impatiently. A dazed Petunia managed to struggle to her feet and push open the window, sending the cold November breeze into the kitchen.

The owl hopped out of the window and flew away from the Dursleys and from Privet drive. And somewhere in a Manor on the other side of the country sat a child, giggling at a plan perfectly executed, having witnessed everything through the eyes of his familiar. It was perhaps a tiny bit cruel but necessary in order to ensure they would never hurt Harry as they had.

Chapter Text

Chapter 14

Despite what I thought everything was pretty much the same, even after the Potters death and Voldemort’s demise. I continued to research further into magic, in particular wandless magic and blood magic. All the books in the family library were enormously helpful on this, many of them detailing magical practices that were centuries old, most having been banned by the ministry for being ‘too dark’.

Snape even began teaching me potions as he promised, I was still too young to make them myself, but he would let me sit in the room with him while he brewed and would tell me all about the potions and their origins and uses. Detailing for me everything he was doing while making them. I absorbed it all like a sponge, fascinated by the delicate art.

The only interesting thing we did however was I had to be brought to the ministry in order to be registered as a British Wizard.

The Ministry was just as described, open and spacious, the statue of the wizards standing proudly center stage, all the magical creatures staring up at the magicians in awe. Entirely unrealistic if you ask me, I can’t imagine a centaur looking at a human with trust, much less admiration and such an expression would certainly never be found on the face of a goblin.

I had to be weighed and scanned, a copy of my magical signature taken, and the trace placed on me. This might have been a reason for concern had I not figured out that the pendant from Damond stopped me from being not only tracked when I apparated but also from the trace being effective. Unbeknownst to the ministry the tracker simply slid right off my magic, refusing to hold.

We also had to visit St Mungo's, apparently wizard babies must get vaccines too, against Dragon flu, Scrofungulus and other dangerous diseases. I was not happy to be in a hospital again, the place filled me with anxiety. The lights, sounds and smells almost identical to all the ones from my past. I was shaking and silent the entire time, thankfully the whole ordeal didn’t take long. I was even given a stuffed toy for being “such a brave little boy”, though I didn’t feel brave at all. I’m annoyed that what happened in my last life still holds so much sway over me. I can’t even talk about it with anyone either, on account of the fact that they would either think I was insane, or a demon possessing the body of Draco. Even in the wizarding world the concept of reincarnation lives in the realm of fantasy.

My wandless magic had come on in leaps and bounds, most OWL level spells coming to me easily, including transfiguration of most objects. Narcissa had even asked if I wanted a wand in order to advance my training further. I said no because I want to limit my magic as little as possible in these early years and the introduction of a wand now would be a hinderance more than a help. She was very surprised by my answer but is learning to get used to her child saying things that are beyond his years. She did hire several tutors for me though, one for French, Runes and Charms, one for Arithmetic, Herbology and History of Magic, and finally one for Astronomy. Snape obviously teaching me potions and Narcissa and Lucius teaching me about our heritage, pureblood culture and etiquette. With Lucius there was heavy prejudice against half-bloods, muggle borns and muggles. Mostly I ignored it, knowing that disagreeing outright would be foolish and too soon. There wasn’t as much prejudice with Narcissa, she was more focused on what makes the purebloods different, as opposed to Lucius’s rants about pure blood supremacy. Narcissa talked about family magics and the origins of the different pureblood families. Narcissa was also responsible for my psychic education, for which we visited Aria every couple of weeks to check my progress and for advice.

No offence to my parents, I love them, I really do. But I can see why Draco was such a dickhead in the books, if Narcissa and Lucius were filling his head with all this pureblood nonsense making him feel like his blood is liquid gold and the general population should be grateful that they get to bask in his brilliance. I’m amazed his head could even fit inside Hogwarts with how full of hot air it must have been.

That’s yet another thing I plan on fixing, my parents’ mind set about blood purity, I don’t know how I’m going to do it yet, but it really is ridiculous. Magic is magic, regardless of who your family is, sometimes family magics are known to abandon the purest of bloodlines for no reason at all, simply because. So, all this blood purity jumbo is not true at all. If you have magic, you are a witch or a wizard and your own affinity and hard work are the only things that will really make you powerful, not marrying your cousin.

On another note, my week is split separately between all my tutors, Monday’s and Tuesdays for French, Runes and Charms with Professor Golden, a bubbly French woman who loves her subjects and is more than happy to share everything she knows of them. She adores it when I ask questions and gives me a chocolate frog if I ask a particularly good one. Very good motivation to pay attention. Which I would do anyway, but the chocolate helps.

Wednesdays and Thursdays are for Arithmetic, Herbology and History of Magic (which is actually a lot more interesting than the books ever made it seem). That is with Professor Alves who is a young English man, this is his first job after finishing his studies and initially he seemed confused as to why he was tutoring a two-year-old in advanced Arithmetic. He quickly caught on, however, that I was a little bit smarter than the average two-year-old. He always lends me the best books on the history of magic, I just finished his one on the true story of Merlin and it was brilliant.

Friday nights are for Astronomy, which despite what I thought incorporates a lot more of muggle modern-day physics than I expected. My tutor Professor Bell, studied in some of the most prestigious planetariums in the world, both muggle and magic. He is the best in his field. Astronomy is by far my favourite. I always loved the stars, I even used to dream of being an astronaut. Professor Bell is also the oldest of my tutors and has a very grandfatherly air about him. He makes me feel like a child in the best possible way, full of wonder and awe at the vastness of the universe around me, but never making me feel small or insignificant in comparison.

Narcissa and Lucius tend to teach me pureblood culture and etiquette on Saturday. Some weeks though Lucius is away at the Ministry. He must work hard to reestablish trust in the Malfoys among those in the Ministry and convince them that he was under the influence of the imperious during Voldemort's reign. On those days I only have Narcissa's lessons and some weeks a visit to Aria in her shop in Washington. Severus usually teaches me on Saturdays as well, letting me sit beside him and talk and ask questions as he brews potions for the hospital. Even letting me help with a couple of the steps as I got older.

It sounds like I’m doing a lot, and I am. But I'm thankful for it. All the tutors mean I have someone to guide my learning so I’m not scrambling through knowledge randomly hoping I stumble across the right information. I still do my own reading obviously; I’m still learning all I can to make sure I know enough to fight when the time comes. But the tutors are a helping hand along the way.

I’ve also kept up the flying, whenever I get the chance, I grab my broomstick and run outside. I recently got a magic quaffel that will fly at you, I’ve been using it to practice goalkeeping, which is probably my favourite position. I can't wait to try out for the team when I get to Hogwarts.

The next few years fly and suddenly along comes my fifth birthday. I wake up like I do on any other day, it’s a Sunday so that means no lessons, I can play quidditch and read all day. I smile, I can think of no better way to spend the day.

I get dressed by myself and head downstairs to breakfast. As I set foot inside the door of the dining room, a colorful streamer goes off in my face sending glitter and multi-coloured paper everywhere.

“Happy Birthday young Master Draco. Dobby made you’s favourites; waffles.”

The elf was grinning up at me proudly pointing to the table where my plate was filled with a ludicrous number of waffles.

“Thank you, Dobby,” I say grinning. I had made sure the elf had not been abused this time round, as he had been in the book, and it really made all the difference. Dobby was happier and more cheerful, he also doted on me like his own child, which could sometimes get a bit much. Especially when he insisted, I wear ten layers of coats to step outside if it's even the slightest bit chilly.

I sat down at the table and began piling waffles onto my plate and covering them in cream and strawberries. It seems my love of waffles is one that transcends lifetimes.

“Happy Birthday Draco darling” mother walks into the room and scoops me up in a hug from the chair.

“Thank you, mother” I say smiling up at her, before digging into my waffles.

“Have you decided what you want to wear today, there's still a couple hours till the guests start arriving.” Mother chats amicably as she settles into her own chair and starts pouring herself a cup of tea.

“Guests?” I ask in confusion around a mouthful of waffle.

“Yes, for the party of course.” Narcissa continues easily, as if expecting me to understand.

I swallowed what I was eating. “What party?"

“Your birthday party, obviously”

“I was never told anything about a party.”

Narcissa looked surprised at that. “Really? I could have sworn I told you, but I must have forgotten, I’m sorry dear. But it's just a couple of family friends. Damond and Aria will be coming as well as a couple of me and Lucius’s friends and their children. It’ll be fun I promise, you might even make new friends” she smiled at that last bit.

Great, just what I want to be doing on my birthday, playing host to a bunch of snot-nosed pureblood brats. There goes my day of quidditch and reading I thought woefully. Hopefully some of them will be alright, the fact that most of their parents are former death eaters isn’t terrifying in the least. I think nervously.

Chapter Text

Chapter 15

The guests began to arrive at one on the dot. They arrived by floo through the fireplace in the entrance hall of the manor. Damond swooped in first and wrapped me up in a big hug, quickly followed by Aria. Both twirling me around, making me break out laughing.

“Happy birthday, mon cher” exclaimed Damon

“Birthday greetings, Draco” whispered Aria in her usual mysterious breathy voice.

“Thanks guys”, I smiled.

As the rest of the guests arrived, we moved into the ballroom, which was decorated with bunting, games, small dining tables and a long table with food, drink and a gorgeous cake with green and silver detailing, with Happy Birthday Draco piped across it in Dobby's eager scrawl. Yet another Slytherin nod. I almost roll my eyes.

The ‘friends’ that Narcissa invited were all wealthy pureblood Lords and Ladies and their children. Among them I could see Lord Crabbe and Lord Goyle, both with their sons in tow, neither boy looked entirely thrilled to be there to be honest. There was also Lady Bullstrode and her daughter Millicent, holding her mother's hand. Next to her was Ignatius Greengrass III and his wife, Evaline Greengrass along with their two daughters Daphne and Astoria. Lord Avery was also present and was talking to Severus, his son standing at his side, staring around the room.

This I’m beginning to realise is much less a party and much more of a meeting of pureblood society. With many of the guests being members of the sacred twenty-eight. A group of the oldest, most powerful pure-blood families in Britain. Narcissa had been telling me all about the sacred twenty-eight and its members, clearly trying to prepare me for this exact occasion. ‘I forgot to tell you’ my ass, she didn’t tell me because she knew I’d find a way to worm out of it if I knew beforehand. Many of the families are also those who hold pure blood supremacist beliefs. So basically the Nazis of the wizarding world, my mother brought a bunch of Nazis and their kids to my birthday. Mother of the year!

“Narcissa, lovely to see you again.” A woman approached me and Narcissa, family in tow. “This must be little Draco; I don’t think we’ve met yet dearie.” Lady Greengrass, her daughters at her side and her husband just behind her, leveling me with a calculating gaze.

“Evaline, you’re looking fabulous as always. And yes, this is Draco, say hi Draco.”

Narcissa nudged me in the back, so I plastered on my most charming smile and bowed politely.

“Well met Lady Greengrass, thank you for coming to my party.”

“What a polite young man you are, I don’t believe you’ve met my daughters either. This is Daphne my eldest” Lady Greengrass indicated to another girl my age who looked at me with the same calculating look as her father. “And this is my youngest Astoria.” Astoria looked much less haughty than her sister and was looking around the room in curiosity eventually her eyes landed on me. She gave me a little wave.

“Hi”

I smile at both of them, “Well met heirs Greengrass.”

“Daphne, how about you and Draco go and play” her mother gives her a pointed look, which I can’t even guess the meeting of.

“Okay mother” she says with an obviously fake smile. Daphne moves off to one of the sides of the room where games had been set up and I follow her, her younger sister trialing behind us.

The two sets of parents began to talk the moment we moved on, I could only catch snatches of conversation, but was almost sure I heard the word ‘couple’. I choose to ignore it and make my way over to Daphne who is standing at a horseshoe type game. Attempting to make the metal hoops land on the peg, several feet away. She did not look thrilled.

“May, I join” I ask politely.

“It's your party, you can do whatever you want.” she replies petulantly.

“I suppose, but it's still polite to ask” I shrug as I pick up five metal rings of my own.

“Is everything alright, may I ask, you just seem upset.”

“Stop talking like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re a grown up, your parents can’t hear you, you don’t have to pretend.” she finished with a huff, chucking one of her rings at the peg and missing by a good foot and a half.

“I’m afraid this is just how I talk and not at all an act but we’re getting off topic. I asked you if you were okay.” I fling a ring toward the peg, it lands perfectly, sending up little fireworks.

“I’m fine” she grits out and hurls another ring at the peg, it goes even wider than the previous one.

“I really don’t think you are. I can’t very well have one of my guests unhappy at my party now, that would make me a pretty terrible host.”

Daphne sighs and finally turns to me.

“It’s just that my stupid parents said I have to marry you when we’re older because we’re both part of the sacred twenty-eight and it would be a pure union or something.” The little girl bursts out throwing down her metal rings in anger. The clattering sound ringing in my ears

My face goes slack from sheer shock.

“What?”

“Yeah, your mom didn’t tell you the same?” she asks this time, with genuine confusion in her voice.

“She did not.” I reply plainly

“It’s not that I don’t think you’re nice, you seem fine, I just don’t want to marry anyone.” Daphne rushed on, hoping to clarify, in case I was insulted. I wasn’t.

“I’m not entirely enthusiastic about the idea either if I’m being honest.”

We both stood in silence for a moment, neither of us saying anything else. That is until Grabbe and Golye junior joined us. Clearly having been egged on by their respective fathers to go make powerful friends.

I attempted to be civil for the next few hours, keeping Crabbe and Goyle amused with cupcakes and games to keep them from bullying any of the other kids. Millicent and the young Avery heir, Charles joined us as the party went on. I even entertained them with some wandless magic. Creating a couple fireworks and transforming a glass into a bunch of flowers, which I then gave to little Astoria, who hadn’t left my side once, always asking me to show her another trick. She bounced up and down in excitement when I turned her hair pink, laughing and running to show Daphne. I did eventually change it back, much to her disappointment. Milicent didn’t say an awful lot, she sorts of just joins the group in whatever activity we were doing, she did smile though when I turned a toothpick into a butterfly, and it fluttered up to her face and landed on her nose. Completely contrary to her was Charles, who was constantly rabbiting on about his father and things he had said. Many of the things which he parroted were incredibly racist, speciesist or just plain insensitive.

Overall, it was fine, Daphne seemed to become more relaxed after finding out I disliked the marriage idea as much as her. She even started smiling and having fun as the day went on. I could see my parents on the other side of the room practically bursting with pride, as I showed off my wandless magic. Much to the amazement of most of the adults in the room. I fully plan on giving them both a piece of my mind later about this marriage thing. There is no way in hell I am getting married, and definitely not an arranged marriage.

Eventually it came time to cut the cake, which was just as delicious as everything Dobby makes. The other kids were on a sugar rush and had been let out into the garden to run around, so as not to bother the adults.

My social battery was well and truly drained so I decided it was time to hide. I grabbed one of the books that I keep in the ballroom (I keep a book in every room in the house for occasions just like this). I retreated to one of the chairs in the shadows of the patio. Summoning a ball of light to my hand, I settled down to read what was quickly becoming my new favourite fictional book.

I had been reading for a few minutes when a figure made its way onto the patio and flopped into one of the chairs. It was Millicent, she let out a sigh of relief.

I coughed pointedly to alert her to my presence. It startled her.

“Sorry, I hadn’t realised anyone else was here” she smiled sheepishly “Is it okay if I stay here, I just need a break from people, I can leave if you want me to.”

“No, it’s fine. I needed a break too, that’s why I came here”

“Thank you” she sighs and sinks back into the chair.

We pass the moments in silence, Millicant looking out at the darkening sky, the sun dipping behind the tree line to give way to the rise of the moon. We stayed like that for a while until Severus found us and told us that the guests would be leaving in a few moments. Severus knows all my hiding places from parties. If anyone is likely to find me, even in the most obscure nook or cranny of the Manor, it’s him.

“Okay, we're coming.” I answered, marking my place in my book, before heaving myself back to my feet. Millicent got to her feet too and we made our way back to the main part of the house. We met the other kids along the way, and I ushered them all back inside. The parents were saying goodbyes to Narcissa and Lucius. The guests left via floo, in the same way they arrived. I say goodbye to the other kids. Some of them, like Charles, Crabbe and Goyle were awful. But Millicent, Daphne and Astoria were alright. Astoria even ran to give me a hug before her and her family left.

With everyone gone the house was quiet.

“Did you enjoy the party Draco?” mother asked with a cheerful smile.

I try to be civil, but I can’t hold my tongue back anymore. “You are a scheming weasel!” I shout at her, “Are you seriously already arranging my marriage? Not only that though but you coincidentally forget to tell me about that minor detail and instead invite my bride to be and try to set us up. I am five years old, merlin damn it! This party wasn’t for me at all was it? It was so you could further your societal connections.” I am furious, I thought they cared.

The smile slid from my mother's face “Draco...”

“No, I don’t want to hear your excuses, I’m going to bed.” I raised my hand to silence her next words. “Thanks for the birthday party, Mother.” My last words dripped with venom as I turned on my heel and went straight to my room, slamming the door behind me.

As I buried myself in the blankets, I thought to myself. I’m actually not that opposed to marriage, not really. I just don’t want it to be arranged, out of my control and I just don’t want it to be her.

I fell asleep eventually. I heard Narcissa at the door debating coming in, before quietly knocking and walking in.

“Draco”

I turned away from her refusing to look her in the eye.

“Draco, I’m sorry, I hadn’t realised it would upset you this much. The only reason I didn’t tell you was because I didn’t want you to be worrying about it. Marriage is still a long way off. I wanted you and Daphne to become friends first above everything.”

“Of course, this upsets me, how wouldn’t it. You are planning every part of my life for me, down to my friends and even my wife!” I turned to her, I was still in my outfit from the party, the small suit now crumpled with creases.

“You will still live your own life Draco; you will still have your own choices. Me and your father just want what's best for you.” Narcissa tried to reach out to hold my face, but I moved away.

“Why can't you let me decide what's best for me myself. It's my life, they are my decisions, good or bad I should have the right to choose them myself.”

“Draco, this is just how things are done.” Narcissa sighed in defeat.

“Seriously, is that the best you can come up with ‘this is just how things are done’. That is ridiculous. Why are you letting tradition dictate everything. Traditions are meant to be a way to honor the past, not to hurt and hinder the present and future. These traditions are idiotic and serve no real purpose. You know perfectly well that marrying your second cousin doesn’t really strengthen your family magic. In fact, it significantly weakens its genes instead. I don’t know if I want to get married one day, I haven’t decided yet. But when I do I want it to be my decision, not yours.”

I finish my last line shouting. Narcissa looks stunned, her mouth hanging agape, no word escaping.

“Draco...” she begins but I interrupt her again.

“Mother if you cannot discard tradition for me, your only child, then your priorities are severely out of order.”

“Draco I only want you to be happy, if this really is going to make you this miserable, I can tell the Greengrass's that we have had second thoughts. But you must understand the boost a marriage like this can do to social standing. You might not understand yet, but this could be a huge opportunity you are throwing away.” Narcissa is holding me by my shoulders and staring directly into my eyes, trying to make me understand.

“It is not an opportunity I was ever interested in; therefore, it was never an option at all.” I reply coolly.

“Okay, Draco, I will let you make this decision, as it's your life. But know this, the consequences are yours. I will help if I can, but the only person you can blame if you end up regretting this, is yourself” Narcissa finishes gravely.

“I know mother and thank you for listening and understanding.” I hugged Narcissa tightly, unbelievably thankful that she actually listened to me and let me choose. She hugs back fiercely; I can feel the worry in her embrace. Worry that I have made the wrong decision. I am very confident I have not. I would never have married Daphne, even if I had I would have been miserable, and children would certainly have been out of the question.

“Okay Draco, you should go to sleep now.” Narcissa picks me up and lays me back down on the bed, covering me with the quilt and tucking me in.

“I love you dear, I really do, I promise.”

“Thank you, mother, I love you too.” I smiled up at her.

Narcissa leaves and shuts the door behind her with a click. I turn over in the bed and close my eyes. Today has given me a lot to think about, mainly my opinion of marriage. Somehow it had completely slipped my mind that it was a thing. I’m still not sure if I quite understand my feelings around it yet.

Chapter Text

Chapter 16

I woke up the next morning, my crumpled suit had been miraculously replaced by pajamas. I accredit that to Dobby.

As I made my way down the stairs Narcissa was already sitting at the table, reading a letter, a copy of this morning's Daily Prophet, sitting beside her.

“Good morning, Draco, how did you sleep?” She seemed uncertain after our argument last night. I have decided to put it behind me now that everything has been resolved, so I cheerfully reply with;

“Like a log.”

I settled into my chair and poured myself a cup of tea and grabbed a few slices of toast and sausages and eggs. Unfortunately, wizards don’t seem fond of coffee so tea is all I have been living off, I would literally fight someone for an americano right now.

“What's the letter?” I ask casually, gesturing to the letter still in her hands.

“It’s from the Greengrass's. I wrote last night to inform them of our decision to cancel the betrothal. They were unhappy initially, but we both agreed that continued good relations between our two houses would be mutually beneficial for both parties. Meaning you will probably be seeing Daphne and her sister again.

“That's fine” I shrug, “And thank you again for respecting my decision Mother.”

“Your welcome Draco and honestly this is the best possible outcome that could have arisen from this situation, neither of you will have your image tarnished in any way, thankfully.”

Mother folded up the letter and placed it to the side picking up the Prophet to leaf through. I continued eating, glancing at the headline, another one about Harry, they had been running such articles every couple of weeks. They grabbed most people's attention since most don’t actually know what happened on that night. All the information in the article though is either pure conspiracy or straight up false. Truly Skeeter at her best.

“We're going to Washington today, Draco. I’m meeting with a couple of friends of mine, there is a couple hours before I must meet them so we can do a bit of shopping beforehand if you want.” Narcissa is smiling at me. I realise this might be a little bit bribery for last night and I am perfectly okay with that.

“That sounds great, I’ll go up and get changed after breakfast.”

With that we finished the meal in comfortable silence, Narcissa going back to her paper and me thinking about what I might look at in the shops. There was something I have been thinking about for a little while now, that I might get today if I can.

After breakfast I headed up to get dressed, opting for a pair of beige Bermuda shorts and a maroon shirt with a tiny dragon embroidered on the chest pocket. Narcissa had taken me shopping for summer clothes recently and I loved everything I bought, but this shirt is a definite favourite.

When I made my way downstairs Narcissa was waiting for me. She took hold of my hand and together we apparated to the town house. Apparating still makes me feel a little queasy despite this being far from my first time doing it.

We quickly left the house and went into the city. We made our way to the funeral directors, crossing the busy main street and entering the quiet shop. The bell tinkling when we entered. Making our way once more through the maze of headstones and through the headstone with the angel carving.

When we emerged onto the street, it was relatively quiet, the odd family wandering among the other shoppers, taking advantage of the warm weather of the day. I meanwhile began to look around for the shop I had had my eye on for a while.

I eventually found it and began to drag Narcissa towards it.

“Where are we going Draco?” she enquired while laughing at my eagerness.

“I’ll tell you in a second” I said as I continued forward.

Eventually we arrived outside an ocean blue shop, the smell of the sea and salt radiated from the building, seashells decorating the window along with a variety of instruments. A haunting song came from inside.

‘Corithea’s music emporium’.

I had asked Aria about the shop before, and she said that the woman who owned it was half siren. Though Aria often appears to have her head in the clouds, when it comes to knowing things, even the most seemingly random pieces of information she is never wrong.

“A music shop?” Narcissa asked curiously, “Not what I expected but lead the way Draco.”

As I push open the door into the shop the smell of the sea is even stronger, not in a bad fish shop way but more like the smell that clings to your hair after a swim in the sea, salty and fresh.

There is a woman fixing a harp behind the counter, she is singing to herself while she works. The song is strangely haunting and melancholy. She looks up as we enter and sets her tools aside.

“Hello, Madam and Sir, my name is Corithea. What can I help you with today?” the woman is graceful in her movements, like a ballerina. Her voice musical, even when speaking.

“Hello, my name is Narcissa, and this is my son Draco.” Narcissa gestures down to me at the last part. “And I honestly don’t know why we're here today, that would be down to my son” Narcissa chuckles at that.

“I would like a violin” I say definitively looking up at Corithea.

“Well, you’ve certainly come to the right place for that, we have a wide selection available. I can show you some if you would like.”

“Yes please” I reply.

Corithea leads us over to one of the walls of the shops, where a multitude of different violins were hanging. There were a variety of different hues; red, brown, gold, even some green, blue and purple ones. One in particular caught my eye, a brownish gold, the wax making it shine in the afternoon light. It looked so like my old one, it was startling.

“Can I try that one.” a slight tremor of excitement in my voice. I haven’t played in years. Even before this life I was often too weak or tired to play. So, my beloved instrument lay dormant in its case far longer than it deserved.

“Here give it a try, see how it feels in your hands.”

As I tucked the instrument under my chin and picked up the bow, it felt so painfully familiar I almost started crying. Without thinking I began to play my favourite air- Na Conneries. A slow sad song that sang of pain and heartbreak. The notes fell out of me as if they were waiting to be played, as if years of music and notes had built up and finally been given an outlet. The shop filled with the sound of that slow mournful air from my past.

I was crying when I finally finished the tune.

“Oh, my goodness Draco, that was beautiful, where did you learn to play like that?” Narcissa asked breathlessly, a tear running down her own cheek.

“I heard it in a dream.” Which was sort of true, my past life had more of a dreamlike quality than ever before. Every day that passes it feels more and more like a distant memory.

“Well, I think that instrument choose you dear, to pick another would be a crime.” Corithea chimes in.

“Yes, Corithea I think you’re right. I’ll buy this one.”

As we all make our way back to the counter, I select a case to go along with my violin on the way. I also picked up a book of traditional Greek tunes, most of the music options in the store being either Greek or American. Corithea chatted to me about some of the tunes in the book when she saw the score I selected. Telling me the story behind a couple of them. She also told me that the violin grows alongside the user, so this one will do me for the rest of my life. The case was also charmed with anti-damage and anti-theft wards, even having an anti-alohomora lock.

With the violin in hand, mother and I left the shop waving goodbye to Corithea, promising to return to play her one of the Greek tunes when I learnt it and if I needed any repairs to my instrument.

We looked in the window of Agatha's Quidditch Supplies. I had been eying the new Silver Arrow broom for months and today Narcissa finally caved and bought it for me. Storing my new broom safely in her expanding handbag. We also made another stop in Gleadow’s.

“Hi Aria” I say cheerfully to the witch behind the counter. Aria was buried behind a mountain of books and simply waved a hand over it in greeting.

“Hello Draco dearie.”

I made my way upstairs to the shelf on the far end, knowing exactly what I wanted to get. A wizard in Spain had just published a book on his research into the Animagus transformation, apparently simplifying it into one simple potion that takes only one week to brew. Severus believed the research to be legitimate and was even willing to help me brew the potion, some day.

As I made my way back downstairs, I showed mother the book that I was getting.

“Oh, yes, I heard Severus talking about that. It’s about new research into the Animagus form, isn’t it?”

“Yep, this strategy relies more on the meditation preparation beforehand than on the actual magical part.” I ramble “Of course the magical part is still important, but he managed to take the potion preparation time from a year to just a week.”

Narcissa smiles as I continue my rant about the book. When we get to the pile of books that is currently Aria, she pops her head over to talk to us.

“I’ll just pop that on your tab dear, it’s the Javier Garcia one, right?”

“Yep” I reply. Aria waves her wand and a quill on the desk jots something down in a notebook.

“Sorry about all of this” she gestures to the mountain of books. “I just got new stock in and I’m trying to sort through it.”

“Do you need any help?” I inquire politely, it's always fun helping with stock, I get to look at all the new books and make a note of some of the ones I like and might buy later.

“Not this time Draco, I think I’m okay. I do have a system despite what it looks like.”

I chuckled “Okay then, see you, Aria.”

Me and mother make our way to the door again, both of us waving goodbye to Aria. Narcissa did a quick tempus charm to check the time.

“I need to go meet my friends soon, is it okay if I just drop you off at Damond's and then rush off.”

“Yeah, that’s okay.”

As we make our way to Damond's shop I continue to talk to Narcissa about some of the book I’ve been reading. Getting into a rant about one of the Lockhart books I’d found, saying I found his claims completely outlandish and ridiculous. Narcissa was smiling the whole time throughout my rant, which reluctantly ended once outside Damond's shop

“Okay I’m going to go now, just tell Damond I had to rush. Love you darling, Bye.” Narcissa quickly kisses the top of my head and then apparates away from the street.

I push open the door of Damond's shop.

“Hey Damond, I’m here. Mother had to rush off to meet with her friends so couldn’t say hi.”

“How rude of her” Damond exclaims, appearing from behind a tapestry on the wall.

“Yes, well she sends her love.” I smile

“Well, I suppose that will have to do.” He sighs dramatically pretending to be heartbroken. Then he notices the violin in my hand.

“When did you start playing violin, mon bébé?”

“Today, I bought in Corithea’s”

“Oh yes, I know her shop, lovely woman, beautiful singer.”

Obviously, I had to take out the violin and show it off. He asked me to play a tune, so I played a jig that I used to know. It comes back a little slower than the air, but overall, I’m impressed with how it sounded considering the years of not playing at all. So was Damond, who gave me a round of applause after I finished playing.

“That was wonderful Draco, I can see you being quite brilliant when you grow up. Maybe it might even be your job one day.”

“Heh, maybe” I chuckle.

“Tea?” he offered, lifting a pot that had just appeared on the table.

“Yes, please.” I say quickly.

Damond poured two cups of tea as I put my violin back in its case and sat down at the little table in the corner of his shop.

As I’m sitting there a thought comes to me. It’s one that has been bothering me for a while, but I wasn’t really sure what to do with it. The events of yesterday suddenly made me face it again. I bite the inside of cheek unsure how to phrase the question that has been on my mind. I grip my mug letting the heat seeping into my hands ground me.

“Damond” I turn to the Frenchman in the armchair opposite, blowing on his own cup of tea to cool it down.

“Oui” he answers casually

I steel my nerve and ask, “Are two men allowed to get married?”

The man almost drops his cup “Uhhhh, well yes, they are Draco. It is seen as quite normal in most of magical Europe, certain members of the British high-class excluded. But yes, it is quite a normal occurrence. Why do you ask mon cher?”

I shift uncomfortably in my seat, “Because I don’t think I want to marry a woman, I don’t even think I like girls at all really.” My face flushes and I look down into the depths of my teacup, wishing I could just drown in it, but I continue. “Mother and father had arranged for me to marry Daphne Greengrass and I found out about it yesterday at my party. Aside from the fact that it was an arranged marriage, it was the fact that it was a girl that I would have to marry, just felt so wrong. I don’t know what other way to explain it. She was a perfectly nice person, if a bit whiney”, I mutter that last part, “but other than that she was fine, she was just a she.” I stop talking at that unsure what else to say. I haven't looked up from my teacup since I started talking, but I chance a glance up at Damond and he is smiling kindly over at me. "I argued with mother last night about it, and she agreed to call it off. I haven’t told her this part of it though.”

“That is perfectly okay Draco, and nothing you need to be embarrassed about.” Damond is clearly unsure where to start but continues. “Everyone feels love in a different way and with different people. For me I like people regardless of their gender, however I never wish to be married. For you it will be different again.”

It was a relief to hear that, I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to be accepted because I had no idea what the wizarding world thought of different sexualities at all. It wasn’t exactly a prominent feature of the books.

We continued talking about that for the next several hours. Damond explaining all the different sexualities to me, most of which I already knew. He also explained what marriage was. It seems to be so much more than a tying of finances and sharing of names. It’s a bonding of magic, forging a link so permanent not even death can separate it. It’s why it's often known for ghosts of husbands or wives to stay by their partners side, even in death.

I was glad I told Damond, he made me feel so much more comfortable and safer about it.

“You can ask me if you ever have any questions about anything, okay Draco. I’ll always be here for you.”

“Thanks, Damond, you’re the best.”

“Oh non, stop you’ll make me blush.” he feigns embarrassment. We both laughed at that.

Later Narcissa picks me up and thanks Damond for looking after me. We apparated back to the Manor and I went up to bed.

“Night mother, I love you.”

“Good night, Draco dear, I love you too.”

I made my way up to my room, dropping my violin and new broom in the corner for tomorrow. I hadn’t said anything to Narcissa about what I had said to Damond, and I don’t know when I will. I don’t think it’ll be anytime soon. Not because I don’t trust her, but because I don’t really feel like she needs to know yet. After all, I’m not going to be acting on my feelings anytime soon, I have just finally admitted to myself what they mean.

Chapter Text

Chapter 17

The world is dark and cold, I feel weightless. There is nothing to see or hear, I am both blinded and deafened. I look down at my hands only to find they are not there. As a matter of fact, I don’t have a body at all. That should panic me, I should be scared right now. The darkness feels so familiar though, as if it is a part of me. The familiar feeling is ripped away with a jerk as I feel my mind being pulled toward something. The world a sudden kaleidoscope of colour.

“I am disappointed in you Draco, I thought you were better than this” a familiar sinister hiss echo's around me.

“You could have been so much more”

Suddenly I am standing face to face with Voldemort, in all is snake faced glory. Instinctively yank away, trying to put distance between myself and the psychopathic madman.

The aftermath of a battle surrounds us, everything beyond where I am faint and unclear.

“I am exactly what I want to be, Tom.” A voice filled with venom bites back. I whip around to be faced with...myself?

I am standing, dirty, wand in hand and the sleeves ripped off of my suit jacket, revealing full sleeves of tattoos in intricate runes and patterns. Much older that I am now, maybe eighteen, nineteen years old. My hair is long and hanging around my shoulders.

“You are the one who could have been so much more, if it wasn’t for your insane crusade for blood purity, you could have become minister. Enact real change, to better the lives of magical children like you once were. You could have made magical Britain a better place. But instead, you choose to kill and persecute the innocent and blameless. You could have been brilliant, but instead you choose violent lunacy.”

I am shouting at this point, the runes on my arms moving, as if of their own accord. Voldemort looks shocked and then furious.

“How dare you speak to me like that, I am the greatest wizard alive!”

“Oh, get over yourself, you’ve never been the greatest wizard alive. I was more powerful than you by the age of seven.” I am laughing at him at this point. My face twisted into a mocking grin.

“Just admit it Tom, you are nothing but a madman who has lost his hold on reality.”

Voldemort looks truly murderous as he raises his wand.

“Avada Kedavra” he screams.

I roll out of the way, just managing to dodge the spell.

“Is that the only spell you know?” I laugh as I brush myself off before he fires another my way. This continues Voldy firing death spells, me ducking away, never firing one back, simply goading him on.

“My Lord” a voice shouts from the blur beyond my sight.

“We have the boy cornered” it shouts victoriously. The haze clears and I can see who is speaking, my heart plummets.

Harry Potter is backed against a wall, gripping his side, bleeding heavily from a gash in his forehead, blood steadily seeping through the side of his t-shirt where he is obviously badly injured. Still, he stands holding his wand, teeth bared, ready to fight. Not that has made a difference. With ten death eaters pointing their wand directly at his heart.

I turn to see my own face gone ghostly pale. I am shaking my head.

“Hey Draco” Harry grins over at me, blood still spilling down his face.

“You idiot” I hear myself mutter.

“Ah, Harry Potter, so good of you to finally join us.” Voldemort's grin is manic as he makes his way over to the crowd of death eaters surrounding the boy who lived.

“Stay away from him” I yell and run forward, stopping when Voldemort points his wand at Harrys head.

“You really are a very difficult man to kill Harry, I was beginning to think that you would actually take your boyfriends advice and stay away. I should have known you were too noble for that.” Voldemort gloats as he enjoys the dawning expression of hopelessness on Harrys face.

“Stop, just stop” I have raised my wand too by this point, leveling it at Riddle, only for ten more Death Eater wands to be leveled at me.

“Let me think about that one” Voldemort taps his chin in mock contemplation.

“No”

Everything slows down as the flash of green leaves Voldemort's wand, ten more being fired my way as I lunge forward towards Harry. The world turns green and then everything goes dark.

I bolted upwards in my bed, the room filled with a bright red glow. The world is spinning and as I hold my head in my hands it begins to grow heavy again. I reach out toward the locker to write down what I saw, but sleep draws me down again, the familiar darkness creeping back and I surrender to it.

I blink my eyes open to Dobby shuffling around my room, laying out clothes for me and opening my curtains. I feel lightheaded and heavy at the same time. The feeling of forgetting something important is strong. But I have French, Runes and Charms today with Professor Golden, so I shake it off and get ready for the day.

“Morning Dobby” I greet cheerfully.

“Good morning, Master Draco” he chirps back happily.

Yeah, whatever it was, it was probably nothing.

Chapter Text

Chapter 18

My progress with all my lessons has been going excellently. All my professors are astounded at my intelligence, needless to say. I am after all a fifteen-year-old in a child's body so simply being able to read is enough to impress them right now. Like a sponge, I have been soaking up all the knowledge they are teaching me. It’s amazing to think I am actually learning magic, sometimes it barely feels real. Professor Golden is always so endeared by my awe at her when she performs a charm or spell for me. I can’t help but be amazed every time I see her flick her wand and something floats through the air to her hand.

Even the history of magic is interesting. Turns out it's a lot more than just troll wars as Professor Binns in the books made it seem. Professor Alves is a brilliant teacher. He loves everything about history and can tell you all the major historical events from any year that you ask him. He has even taught me some of the non-magical history as he says it gives context for the magical events that happened around that time, like the rise of Grindelwald after World War one and before the second world war.

I have never been able to be at school consistently in my last life because of everything. I love having the chance to learn without the distraction and fear of my disease lurking in the back of my mind. It makes it so much more enjoyable.

Not only that but I have had the chance to fully explore the Manor and all its hiding spots. I’ve particularly been looking for a place where Lucius might have hidden the Diary Horcrux. I searched for weeks, combing through every room in the house checking every corner, except for Lucius’ study. He was always inside whenever I tried to look in there. Today, however, Lucius is away on business, and I have no classes so I am using this opportunity to see what I can find.

I make my way down the hall avoiding any house elves, especially Dobby who might be likely to ask what I’m doing and make my way down the short hallway that leads to the door to the study. A quick whispered “Alohomora” and I slip through the door and close it with a click behind me. I only recently mastered that particular spell wandless, accidentally melting one of the doorknobs on my bedroom door, while practicing.

I scan the walls of the room, which are covered in bookshelves, definitely not going to make this easy anyway. It's probably not on a shelf though, I imagine it's somewhere more secure and inaccessible.

I really wish I had Harry’s horcrux tingle thing that he uses to find them in the books. That would make this needle in a haystack search a little easier.

“Accio horcrux!” nothing happened. Not surprising, but worth a shot.

I continue to look around, scanning all the bookshelves for a small leather-bound book. Nothing jumps out at me, so I move my search to the desk. Careful not to disturb anything, I check the drawers, all of which are neat and organised and completely horcrux free.

I start to check for secret doors or levers. You would be surprised how many I have already found in other rooms. I start to check all the ornaments and books on the shelves, pulling them to see if they open any doors, but no such luck.

I wonder if Father even got the horcrux in this timeline. Voldemort always seemed less than pleased with him, who's to say he even trusted him with the horcrux this time around. A slight feeling of panic begins to set in. If that is true and things have already started changing this quickly then I might lose my only advantage. The idea of being in this world with no knowledge of the future is terrifying. Before I begin to spiral, I take another look around the room in an attempt to distract myself.

A family portrait hangs on the wall opposite the desk, I make my way over to it. It’s Mother, Father and me. I remember when this was painted, we had to stand for hours, we weren’t allowed to move otherwise the spell wouldn’t work. Definitely the most boring way to spend three hours of your life.

I begin feeling along the edge of the portrait for a latch or a lock, maybe there is something behind the picture. The portrait is flush with the wall with no sign of any hinge for it to swing outwards. I’m about to try and take it off the wall entirely when something catches my eye.

It’s me. Or well portrait me anyway. I take a closer look at the portrait itself. Mother is sitting in a high wingback chair, back straight, legs and arms crossed delicately. Father is standing in the center with one hand on mother's chair and one hand on my shoulder. I, however, am the only person in the painting who is moving, I seem to be pointing at a small table to my side of the portrait. On it is a vase of black dahlia's and not much else. Confused at first, I look back at my portrait self. I receive an exasperated look in return, he points at the table once again. I look closer. I’m ready to give up when I see a small notebook tucked behind the vase, barely noticeable, if not for the tiny gold lettering, ‘Tom Marvollo Riddle’. Oh my God, did Lucius somehow put the diary into the painting, but how am I supposed to get it out, is there a spell I need to know or a rune I need to cast. My portrait beckons me forward again. It wants me to put my hand in the painting and take out the diary.

I go to reach my hand into the painting but stop myself. What if the magic of the horcrux has somehow rubbed off on the painting. Reaching my hand into a painting that has been cursed by Voldemort’s soul sounds like an insanely Gryffindor level dumb thing to do.

I don’t have any other options though; I must get the diary and destroy it. I slowly reach my hand into the painting. It feels like I’m being plunged into a vat of oil, my own hand takes on a portrait like quality, my skin looking like paint. I reach the diary and begin to pull back out of the portrait when a hand grips my wrist. My blood freezes in my veins. I look up and see my own eyes boring into me.

For a second we are both silent, my heart in my throat.

The portrait then lets out in a croaky voice, that sounds as if it has never been used.

“Destroy it”

I managed to find my voice and whisper back, “I will”.

The portrait looks satisfied with my answer, so releases my wrist and goes back to his original position. I quickly pull my hand out of the painting and hold the diary to my chest my heart still hammering. With trembling hands I stow the diary away in the small bag I brought and retrieve the decoy diary. I quickly reach into the portrait again and place the decoy where the diary was, the painting Draco doesn’t move again and I quickly remove my hand, not give him a chance in case he changes his mind.

I turn to leave, all too eager to be out of here and away from that portrait. As I am turning to go, I hear a faint croak from the painting.

“Thank you”, this time it's Narcissa who talks. My already frayed nerves don’t have enough in them to be able to talk, so I just attempt a smile and nod my head. Quickly rushing out the door. Careful to lock it again on my way out.

I collapse against a wall almost immediately, right now I want nothing more than to flop into bed and sleep for a week, that was terrifying. I didn’t know that it was even possible to do that with portraits. I know Ariana’s portrait in the Hogs Head turns into a passageway. But this seemed like the portrait itself was a world of its own. My hand even looked painted when it was in there. I shake my head, I can’t get distracted by this now I still have one more thing I need to do. So, I struggle to my feet and make my way to my room.

I lock the door and call Dobby.

“Yes Master Draco, what can Dobby be doing for yous?”

“Dobby, do you remember that place we went recently, the one on the beach?”

“Yes, Dobby does” Dobby replies in a confused voice

“I need you to take me there”

“Okay, I will go get, Mistress Malfoy, so we can be going.” Dobby goes to snap his fingers to apparate away.

“No!” I grab his hand, stopping him. “I need you to take me alone.”

“Dobby doesn’t be thinking that is a good idea Master Draco”, the elf frantically shakes his head from side to side.

“Please, Dobby, I need you to do this for me.” I’m begging by this point, but I don’t care, Narcissa can’t come with us, or the entire plan will be ruined.

“Please, Dobby” I implore. Dobby caves at that.

“Okays but if anything goes wrong, Dobby is bringing yous straight home at telling Mistress.” The elf warns sternly pointing his finger at me.

“Got it”, I grin back. The elf gives an ever-suffering sigh, before snapping us away.

We are now on a windy cliff in Kingsgate Bay, Kent. This town is home to one of the Malfoy families' houses, I say house, though it is more like a castle than a house. I stayed here over the summer with Mother and Father. The reason we’re here now though is far from a beach holiday.

There are only two ways to destroy a horcrux, Basilisk venom and Fiendfyre. Since I don’t have basilisk venom and it would be slightly suspicious to ask, Fiendfyre is my only option. The reason I’m on a cliff in the middle of Kent with no one around for miles, is so that if I lose control of the spell, it can only go into the sea. There is nothing around here to burn, making it the perfect spot.

I pull the diary out of my bag and place it on the ground in front of me. Dobby gasps when he sees it.

“Master, where did yous, yous get that” he stutters out, terrified.

“I’ll explain later, okay Dobby, I must do something first. So, I suggest you step far back.” Reluctantly Dobby did just that.

I took a deep breath and stepped back as well. Fiendfyre is a mental spell as much as a spoken one. If you are nervous or afraid while speaking it, it will be harder to control. I clear my mind, push my doubts away and raise my hand.

“Mortem Flammae”. A storm of fire erupts from my hand, charging towards the diary. At first nothing happens beside the stream of fire steadily pouring from my hand. Then a piercing scream rips through the air, sounding like it's coming from everywhere all at once. A black plume of smoke bursts from the diary, fighting the fire animals and attempting to drag itself away. I push all my energy into the spell, willing the fire to destroy the diary and the soul fragment inside.

The smoke begins to dwindle, losing energy as the fire continues to tear into it again and again. With one final blood curdling wail the smoke disappeared. The fiendfyre spell kept going, charging over the cliffs and into the sea, turning the water to vapour. I began to clear my mind once again, slowly pulling the spell back inside me. The final fire lion jumped from the cliff, and it was over. I fell to my knees; the spell having drained all my energy. I look up in time to see the seaside breeze take the ashes of Riddles diary away on the wind.

I look over at Dobby. His eyes look like they are about to fall out of his head, they had gone so wide.

“Master Draco, how could you even think of doings such a dangerous spell, its could have killed you’s. If Dobby had known that was what you’s was doing, I’s would never have brought you here.” I tiredly grin up at Dobby in response “I know, that’s why I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry Dobby, but it was something I had to do.”

Dobby tutted at me in mock anger, but I can see the worry still shining in his eyes. “Dobby before we go home, I need you to promise me that you will never tell anyone what happened here today. Not even my parents. I need you to swear that this stays between us.”

“Dobby doesn’t be think that is a good idea, Master Draco.”

“Dobby, this is serious, I need you to swear you will never communicate what happened here today to another soul, living or dead.”

Dobby hesitated for another moment, clearly waring with himself about what he should do. I’m holding my breath, scared of what he will say. It's fully possible that he could tell Lucius or Narcissa everything and I won't have any plausible explanation to justify my actions.

After long deliberation Dobby finally looks at me and promises “Dobby swears he will never communicates what happened here’s today to another souls, living or dead.” A single band of gold appeared around his throat and an identical one appeared around my pinky, sealing the promise with magic.

Relief washed over me and finally the exhaustion from casting such a powerful spell hit, and I promptly passed out right there on the cliff.

Chapter Text

Chapter 19

The years flew by. My powers grew stronger, my wandless magic only becoming more powerful with time, and I even managed to make some friends. Daphne, Astoria and Millicent are all my friends now. We write to each other regularly and the three of them always spend the summer with me in Kent. Daphne’s letters normally talk about her parents and her sister and if she’s fought with them recently or complaining about her tutors. They always make me laugh; Daphne is one person whose bad side I never want to be on. She can tear you to shreds using her words alone. Astoria's letters are normally adorable, filled with her still childlike scrawl and plenty of drawings to illustrate her points. She tells me all about the dolls that she has gotten and the games she plays with them. In one of them she even gave me a full and very detailed summary of a tea party she had had.

Millicent is much more reserved in her letters, just like her personality, but we tend to talk more about our futures. I obviously haven’t told her my goal to destroy the horcrux’s, but I have talked to her about what I want to do with my life once that’s no longer a problem. I have told her my dreams to work in the ministry and eventually become the Minister for Magic. I want to make wizarding Britain a better place to live in for all its citizens. I haven't even told my parents about these particular ambitions. In turn she told me about her ambitions to be a master astronomer. She adores the stars and we have spent many summer nights staring up at the constellations, giving them our own names, long after Astoria and Daphne have fallen asleep, our ideas floating up to the sky to settle in the darkness found between them.

Millicent is probably my best friend with Daphne being a very close second. Not that I’d ever tell her that. Daphne would probably permanently destroy my ego for such a statement.

We are all going to be starting Hogwarts soon, our letters are due to arrive any day now. Daphne is excited, Astoria is not and has been ranting in her recent letters that we are all abandoning her and that she will ‘‘definitely die of boredom before Christmas’’. Millicent is excited but also quite nervous, she has never been especially social or adept at making friends in the past, so she is scared that she won't be able to when we get to Hogwarts. I have assured her that she will have no trouble making friends, she is kind and smart and an amazing friend. There is also an expectation from her parents, from all our families actually, that we are sorted into Slytherin. I understand in the book that this wouldn’t have been a concern considering we were all sorted into Slytherin anyway. As the time for school draws closer though, even I am becoming nervous for my house selection. I’m not sure the Pottermore quiz is an accurate representation of my actual house, but it told me I was a Ravenclaw not a Slytherin. And I really can’t predict how my parents will react if I don’t end up in Slytherin. Narcissa won't really care, but Lucius, Lucius might care. I’m not sure.

My thoughts were interrupted by the watch on my wrist buzzing through my arm, my silent alarm. The watch was a present from Severus for my last birthday. It can keep time, regardless of where you are in the world and can change itself to match time zones as well as has an alarm that sends a mild pulse through your arm to wake you up. It’s set in a gold frame with a brown leather strap, that self-cleans and automatically adjusts to the wearer’s wrist so you need never remove it. It’s a beautiful watch and an interesting piece of magic. Truly, it’s the nicest watch I’ve ever owned.

I drag myself out of bed and towards my bathroom still not fully awake, practically crawling into my shower and turning on the water. I let the water wash over me for a few minutes, allowing it to slowly wake me up. I scrub my hand over my face and start my shower routine. I really shouldn’t have gone to sleep so late last night but Millicent had just lent me one of her adventure books and by the time I finally put it down to sleep it was 2 am. I am blaming her for my sleep deprivation. I scrub the hair potion that Narcissa bought me into my hair, it strangely smells of pine trees and rain and leaves my hair unbelievably soft (have I mentioned, I love magic). I’ve let my hair grow out long to the middle of my back. I like having the weight of it on my head, it feels strangely comforting. I finish up my shower and dry off and get dressed. Today's choice was dark navy chinos and a dark green shirt, whose sleeves I rolled up. I must say, one of the big upsides to being in a wealthy pure blood has to be the impeccably tailored clothes. I smile at myself in the mirror. I’ve decided to leave my hair down today, letting it fall straight.

I pull on my shoes and make my way down to breakfast. Dobby has laid out the food already and Narcissa and Lucius are already seated and eating. “Morning Mother, morning Father.” “Morning Draco” My mother smiles over at me. “Good morning, Draco.” Lucius replies from behind the Daily Prophet. I slide into my seat opposite Mother, with father in between us at the top of the table.

“Your Hogwarts letter should be arriving today.” My father set the Prophet to the side and looked over at me as I began to dig into my breakfast of sausages, eggs and tea. “How are you sure?” I ask between mouthfuls. “I have a friend in the ministry who confirmed it”, his tone austere and serious, as always. I nod my head with understanding.

As if summoned by the topic of our conversation, Dobby came into the room holding a tray of letters in one hand and precariously balancing a floating pile of parcels with the other.

Dobby hands the pile of letters to Lucius who sorts through them, putting two aside and handing the remaining four to me. The first letter is heavy and is made of yellowing parchment with loopy emerald writing saying.

Draco Malfoy,

Malfoy Manor,

Wiltshire,

England.

The letter was thick and had weight to it. I placed the three other letters to the side for the moment and focused solely on the one in my hands. I cannot believe I am holding my Hogwarts letter in my hands. I have lived in this world for eleven years now and I’ve become pretty used to magic and wizards. But this, holding my Hogwarts letter in my hands, it’s literally every Potterhead's dream. I tear open the envelope carefully and pull out the letter. I can practically hear McGonagall’s stern tone as start to read...

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards.)

Dear Mr. Malfoy,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

...

A second letter fell from the envelope containing the details of the uniform as well as the schoolbooks and equipment.

“Well, we might as well send your response back now.” Narcissa held up her wand summoning a piece of paper and the words of the reply began to fill the page. When she was finished, she sealed it in an envelope and handed it to Dobby.

“Please owl this to Hogwarts right away Dobby”

“Yes, Lady Malfoy” the house elf chirped.

“These parcels are for Master Draco as well, they cames with the other three owls.” The elf gestured to the parcels sitting to the side of my chair that he had floated in earlier. The elf then clicked his fingers, disappearing off to owl the letter.

I raised my eyebrows at the parcels, unsure what they could contain. I turn to the three other letters first. The loopy illegible writing of Professor Bell on the envelope was instantly recognisable. I open the letter and begin to read...

Dear Draco

I know that you will be starting Hogwarts come September and I want to wish you the very best of luck. I will always be here if ever you need advice on school or homework (which I highly doubt you will), or even if you simply want to complain about ‘‘imbeciles’’ in your class, as you so often like to put it.

...

I can hear the old man's chuckle as I am reading. Bell is like a grandfather to me, and I may have ranted to him about the stupidity of some of the other pureblood kids at various social events, mainly Charles Avery, who seems incapable of formulating his own opinions that aren’t replicas of his father’s. I continue to read.

…

I do hope you enjoy Hogwarts. My years there were some of the best of my life and I truly believe you will find a second home there. You will get a chance to make new friends and learn in a different way than we’ve been teaching you.

I have sent a telescope along with this letter, I am aware that you already have one. But this is a big moment in your life, and I feel as if I should mark it with an important gift. I commissioned the Astronomer Stephen Bardot to build it. I hope you never forget to enjoy the simple beauty of the stars, even when things get chaotic.

Enjoy Hogwarts Draco.

Regards,

Professor Cygnus Bell.

…

My eyes are wide as saucers as I swivel to face the parcels beside me. One of them is a long flat rectangle, covered in sand brown paper. I take it into my hands and carefully place it on top of the table.

“Is that from Professor Bell?” Narcissa inquires, peering over the table to see the parcel.

“I think so, yes. In his letter he said he got me a telescope.”

“Thats very nice of him.” Narcissa smiles while drinking her tea.

I quickly ripped the paper off the package and revealed an elegant mahogany wood case with gold hinges and a golden clasp. Bronze letters spelling the words ‘D. Malfoy’ were hammered into the wood. The case alone made me want to cry. I will be hugging Professor Bell next time I see him. I open the clasp and reveal a beautiful bronze telescope and a bronze and wood tripod. I lift the telescope out of the case to look at it. It is beautiful, nothing like any of the telescopes I’ve seen before. It comes in three collapsible parts and has a bronze lens cap over the top. I turn the telescope in my hands, admiring it from all angles. My eye catches on a small broze plate at the top of the telescope. Words have been carved into it in an elegant cursive font. They read...

‘Never forget the stars, little dragon’

Little Dragon. Draco is the constellation that I was born under. Draco means Dragon. Bell has a strong belief that the constellations of your birth have a strong correlation with your character. Not entirely zodiac signs but close enough. Bell himself was born under Cygnus, the swan, which predicts an elegant, determined and hard-working character. The gift is beautiful and so well thought out. I really don’t think I know how to thank the Professor enough.

I carefully placed the telescope back in the case and put it to one side. I picked up the next letter recognising Professor Avery’s neat handwriting on the envelope...

...

Dear Draco,

Congratulations on your Hogwarts letter. I wish you the very best with your time there. You will love the library, it is one of the largest in wizarding Britain and has some of the oldest historical documents, a couple even dating back as far as the school founder's days.

Don’t spend all of your time in the library though, do try to make some new friends. Try not to overwork yourself either. Good luck and I’ll see you during the summer.

Feel free to write to me if you find anything particularly interesting in the library or if you want some recommendations.

Regards,

Professor Calyx Alves.

P.S. I have sent you a plant called Menias Acri. The leaves make an excellent tea to help with focus and concentration. Should help with any of the all-nighters I am sure you plan to pull.

...

Professor Alves seems to know a plant for every single problem in existence, so I’m not surprised at the nature of his present. I smile to myself as I lean down and pick up a medium sized square box. Inside was a plant carefully cushioned against the sides of the box. The plant had long ivy like tendrils with purple heart shaped leaves. Professor Alves had also included a step-by-step guide to making the tea from the leaves. A very useful present for sure and one that will definitely be coming with me to Hogwarts.

The final letter is from Professor Golden, her elegant, loopy cursive distinctive on the envelope.

…

Dear Draco,

I am writing to wish you luck at Hogwarts and to insist that you not forget to practice your French. I have sent you another one of the fantasy series that you like, to keep you practicing your reading.

Feel free to write to me during the year (I do expect it in French however) especially if you are having any trouble with your charm's classes. Which I doubt you will, Professor Flitwick is a brilliant teacher, and I think you will enjoy his class.

You will have to come visit me during the summer in France so that I can introduce you to some of my Beauxbatons students. They can practice their English and you your French.

Lots of love and wishing you the best,

Gwenith Golden.

…

Professor Golden is probably more like a doting aunt to me than a teacher. However, she is devoted when it comes to me practicing my French. She and Narcissa even took me to Paris for a week one summer so that I could practice speaking the language. She also insists that I call her Gwen and that Professor Golden is her teacher name. During the academic year she is a professor at Beauxbatons Academy and teaches me during the summer. It sounds like a lot of work to pile on your plate, but she insists that teaching me can hardly be considered work considering my capability. Just as promised the final parcel contains the next in the series of French adventure books, she has gotten me reading.

“Will Dobby bring these to your room Master Draco?”

“Yes please, thank you Dobby.”

I’m finishing up my breakfast and just as I get up to leave, three familiar faces walk into the room.

“Severus, Aria, Damond” I run over to them.

Aria bends down and gives me a warm hug, lifting my feet up off the ground.

“Hey, let me down, I’m too old for you to be picking me up.” I whine in protest, smiling even while I say it.

“Yes, yes, you’re so mature now. Practically an adult.” Damond laughs ruffling my hair. I bat his hand away.

“I assume you’re all here to congratulate me on my Hogwarts letter.”

“You act as if I’m not here every week making sure you don’t blow yourself up with whatever new potion you are working on.” Severus’ sarcastic drawl replied.

“Hah, hah, you’re hilarious” I roll my eyes.

“But yes Draco, that is in fact why we are all here.” Aria interrupted before Severus could speak again.

“It is a big moment for you. Hogwarts is a very distinguished school. Not as good as Beauxbatons, but a very close second.” Damond grinned at Aria and Sev’s indignant expressions. Damond attended Beauxbatons obviously, and loves using any opportunity to bring it up. If only to offend any British Wizards in the room.

“Anyway, time for presents,” he rushed on, cutting off Aria’s reply.

Aria gave him a glare before she produced a square box from the bag she was carrying. It was about the size of my palm. I glanced quizzically up at her, but she just gestured for me to open it. Inside was a clear glass orb about the size of my fist perched on a gold holder.

“It’s kind of like the rattle you had when you were a baby. I don’t know if you remember it, but it would glow red when you would get a vision. This is mainly like a crystal ball, but it is spelled so that it will allow you to focus your magic into it and attempt to draw out a vision. The more you use it, the more used to your power it will get and the clearer and more specific your visions will be.”

I stare into the crystal of the ball and can feel my magic drawn to it like a magnet, but not in an uncomfortable way, it was more of a familiar tug.

“I won’t be able to see you as often while you're at school, so our lessons won’t be as regular. This will allow you to keep practicing if you want.”

Aria sounded uncertain in that last line. I look up at her, my eyes wide.

“It’s brilliant Aria, thank you so much. I love it.” This time I am the one who gives her a hug squeezing her as tight as I can without dropping the box that’s still in my hands.

“I’m very glad Draco.”

“My turn now.” Damond announces excitedly thrusting a package at me. I tore off the brown paper revealing a satchel. My breath caught in my throat; it was gorgeous. It was made of dark brown leather and my initials D.M. were embossed on the front. I look up at Damond, unsure what to say. So, I simply settle on. “It’s gorgeous Damond”

“I knew you would think so. Narcissa helped with designing it and I charmed it myself.”

“You made it yourself?” my mouth falls open in surprise.

“Oui,” Damond is chuckling at my expression.

“I didn’t like the charms on any of the other bags that I saw, so I decided to make you one myself.”

“Thank you”

“And I may or may not have added several anti-theft and anti-snooping charms. And if someone were to say try to go through your bag without your express permission, they may or may not find themselves to be the colour of a ripe tomato”, Damond muttered those last few sentences under his breath.

“Are you telling me if someone tried to go snooping in my bag, they would be caught literally red handed?” I attempt to hold back a snort of laughter.

“No of course not, that would be very irresponsible and something I would never do.” Damond protested while nodding his head and smiling.

“What was that Damond?” Narcissa had stood from her seat and was now listening into our conversation.

“Nothing mother, it’s just a really nice bag.”

“Mm-hm”, she just nodded, holding back a smile herself. “I’m sure that’s definitely all it is.” She smiled down at me entirely unconvinced but let it slide as she turned to Severus who had stepped forward.

“Draco, I may be your godfather” Serverus began

“Something I’m still salty about by the way” Damond muttered pretending to glare at Narcissa. Aria snickered.

Sev shot Damond a withering glare before continuing on “but that does not mean I will be giving you any special treatment; I still expect your best work in my classes. I will not hesitate to give you a T if you turn in any work that is short of the exemplary standards, I expect of you.” Sev leveled me with a threatening glare. I pretend to look humbled while looking down at the ground.

“I cannot get you out of trouble directly, so when you do decide to cause problems, for the love of Merlin. Don’t get caught.” I grin “thanks uncle Sev” I say wrapping my arms around him in a hug, before he could escape.

“Don’t uncle Sev me.” Snape pretends to protest, but after a few seconds he hugs me back.

“In all seriousness though Draco.” his tone loses its usual snarky quality, and he places his hands on my shoulders “If ever you need someone to talk to or help with anything, my door is open.” Severus smiles at me before rising to stand again.

“And obviously I had to get you a little something for starting school.” Severus pulled a black leather-bound notebook from inside his cloak and handed it to me. The letters D.M were stamped on the back. “It automatically adds more pages as you need them, so useful for all the notes you will be taking.” Sev smiled genuinely down at me.

“Thank you Sev, its perfect.” I hug him again.

“Draco do you want to grab your things, we're going to go to Washington for the day. Millicent and the Greengrass girls will also be there.” Narcissa smiled over at me as Severus attempted to escape my hug.

“Okay, mum.” I finally release the grumpy potions master and dart up to my room to grab my violin case and a few books I have to give back to Millicent.

I spent the rest of the day in Washington at both Damond and Arias shops talking with Milly and Daph about what we were looking forward to the most and trying to convince Astoria we weren’t leaving her forever. I even called into Corithea’s shop to tell her about Hogwarts. She threatened me with a trumpet and made me promise not to use any Reducio spells on my violin in case it damaged it. She also gave me some new sheet music and asked me to come visit during the summer.

At the end of the day, I collapsed into my bed, thoroughly drained, but happy. After all these years it’s finally time for me to go to Hogwarts. As my mind drifts off to sleep, I can’t help the final thought that rises to the surface.

I wonder what Harry will be like, I hope we don’t end up being enemies. He could probably use a friend. Even though I did everything I could to make his life as untraumatising as possible, I still doubt the Dursley’s were kind to him. With Dumbledore watching the house I couldn’t even check up on him without putting myself in danger. I hope that he was okay.