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Once upon a time there lived a princess in a tower, who had long, flowing blonde hair. An evil witch had kidnapped her as a baby and had cut her off from the outside word, trapping her for forever, and using the princess’ magic hair to fuel her immortality.
Well that would make for a great story, there’s only one problem.
That isn’t the story we’re telling.
For starters, the protagonist in question was more of a prince than a princess, and his hair wasn’t long and flowing. It was blonde, but it was cut short. Rather fashionably if you asked him.
But there was an evil witch! And she had kidnapped him as a baby! She was just...his aunt...
He was also trapped for all of his life! But not in a tower...and his hair wasn’t magic...he was instead?
Look, this isn’t going to be the same story that you’re familiar with. But where’s the fun in that? So lets start where all good stories start.
With exposition.
The mess had all began when the great Lord Voldemort had been defeated by the baby boy Harry Potter. His defeat had sent a ripple of shock, mostly relief, throughout the wizarding community. You know the story.
The Malfoy Family, one of the most prestigious, wealthiest, pureblood (and evil) families in all of wizarding Britain had made a very important decision upon the announcement. The heads of the house, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, decided they would renounce any affiliation with Voldemort, ‘The Dark Lord’, Death Eaters, and all dark magic for good. They had a newborn son to think about after all.
This was their first mistake.
Many death eaters who survived the war felt betrayed by this act. That the Malfoy family were disloyal and cowardly. And none thought this more so than Bellatrix Black, Narcissa Malfoy’s estranged sister.
She could probably be labelled as the most loyal to Voldemort, insanely so, and this insanity drove her to do one last goal in order to spite her sister and spouse. She wanted to avenge those who turned their backs on the all powerful Dark Lord as soon as the going got tough. So what he was dead? There were ways around that!
Before she was imprisoned in Azkaban to atone for her crimes, she made a daring escape from her holding cell. She stole back her wand, Apparated to Malfoy Manor, stole the Malfoy child in the dead of night and fled.
No one could find her. Aurors searched for many months, but to avail. They could not track the last death eater, or the stolen boy. They were soon forced to give up.
Little to their knowledge, Bellatrix had taken the Malfoy child to the hidden and ward protected Grimmauld Place, a home of the Blacks. No one else could enter, and no one could exit. Impenetrable. Protected.
And this is where Draco Malfoy lived for nearly 18 years of his life.
This is also where the fun part of our story begins.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Draco Malfoy was developing an odd feeling in his chest.
Well, developing makes it sound like a new occurrence. Truthfully this feeling had been growing over the course of many years.
Restlessness.
Grimmauld Place was growing old. Well, it always was old, it was just getting boring. Draco had run out of things to do inside, and nothing could console him. He had read every book in the library (even the ones he knew he wasn’t supposed to), had practiced every spell to near perfection, had charted very star in the sky, and had brewed every possible potion.
It was nearly his 18th birthday, and according to the muggle novels he’d found under a mattress in one of the bedrooms, that was a very important birthday. You’d want a large celebration, a party, which you’d invite all of your...friends to...and you’d become an adult! You could drink! You could drive! Draco hardly knew what driving was, but it sounded incredibly dangerous and cool! And you graduated Hogwarts or Beauxbatons or Durmstrang and went to work for the Ministry of Magic! Of course, Draco would never do that, it went against the teachings of the Dark Lord, but the premise was there!
It was about freedom!
Draco opened a roll of parchment and wrote in the nicest calligraphy he could manage: Draco’s List For His Eighteenth Birthday. Once he underlined it, he began to add goals.
Draco’s List For His Eighteenth Birthday
1) Have a large celebration
2) Finally eat a cake
3) Meet a muggle (maybe torture them)
4) Get a pet cat
5) Visit the ministry (maybe cause a ruckus)
6) Get an apparition licence
8) Drink alcohol
9) Find out what driving is
10) Meet somebody
A lot of the things on the list were simply wishes. Practically all of them really. The only one that seemed the least bit feasible was to eat a cake, but Aunt Bella hated desserts of all kind, so it’d take a lot of begging.
Maybe he could try and order a cat? As far as he knew, Aunt Bella was okay with animals. He only needed to send the Grimmauld owl Booky off to order a cat, and set a third area to pick it up. But he wasn’t really allowed out, and Aunt Bella was probably too busy to help...
He’d figure something out.
He was determined to do at least one thing on that list by his eighteenth birthday.
He read over the list and folded the parchment over. He lay it on top of the many books and magazines that hid under the mattress in the smallest bedroom. He folded the sheets to exact so that Kreacher wouldn’t bother looking or feeling the need to clean the room, and returned to the library. That elf was such a snoop sometimes. He especially loved to snitch.
It was almost 7pm and Aunt Bella still hadn’t returned from her rounds yet. Apparently she was collaborating with some other death eaters to take down some nay sayers. Her plan had really reached it’s penultimate stage, and they were incredibly close to allowing the Dark Lord to be reborn. They were putting together a Regeneration Potion and desperately needed Harry Potter’s blood. They had not yet captured him, and were growing very desperate.
Draco felt like asking why the Dark Lord would not simply take the blood of another enemy, as he seemed to have many crawling around -ready to be squashed- but apparently he needed the blood of his greatest enemy. And Draco would never (outwardly) question his great lord.
He had heard things from Aunt Bella’s mutterings about a great resistance, and how that made every plan they seemed to gather pointless. He already didn’t like this Harry Potter character.
After another hour of trying to discover a more permanent transfiguration spell so that he could turn a pillow into a pet cat, Aunt Bella Apparated into the room. Draco looked up and smiled.
“Welcome home Auntie, will you be wanting any dinner?” She put up a hand to silence him as she rubbed her temple.
“No talking for a minute please, Auntie’s had a rough day at work.” A tired look went over her. “And of course I will be needing to shop for more food soon, around disgusting ministry lovers, oh shite.” She hissed.
She sat in a chair will her head in her hands for a minute, as Draco silently continued to read. She then jumped off the chair delightedly and clapped her hands.
“Well that’s another day’s problem, I could definitely do with some dinner. KREACHER!” She shrieked and the elf popped up next to them.
“If you’d please come to the dining room I am serving soup.” Kreacher bowed. Aunt Bella nodded.
“We are no longer in need of your presence. Begone.” The house elf Apparated away obediently.
Aunt Bella then walked over to Draco and held his face while cooing.
“Have you been studying hard my little Death Eater in training.” She cooed and he beamed.
“Of course. I have just been going over transfiguration.”
“Oh that’s so nice.” She poked his nose dismissively. “Now lets have dinner while its hot or I might have to torture a house elf.” She grinned sweetly and pulled on a curly lock of hair. Draco followed her.
After they both ate their ‘barely acceptable but not worth killing Kreacher over’ soup, Aunt Bella went right into birthday talk.
“Now I know that in less than a week you will become eighteen. My little Draco will become a man!” She rested her face in her hands and looked at him with what he dubbed her ‘crazy eyes’. “And just in time. I estimate that we will be capturing the Potter boy within the week, and the Dark Lord may rise again!” She nearly swooned. “And what that will mean for you is that you will have the great pleasure of becoming an official death eater! Long overdue if you ask me, but I am so looking forward to you joining the ranks!” Draco smiled widely.
“Does this mean that when I turn eighteen I’ll be allowed to leave Grimmauld?” He asked excitedly. Aunt Bella’s smile dropped a bit.
“Oh Draco, as smart as you are, you can be so stupid.” She poked his nose again condescendingly. “Of course I wish you could darling, but everything is incredibly delicate at the moment. And you won’t even be needing to leave anyway, as I have more brilliant news!” She rose her arms victoriously. “Once the Dark Lord is reborn, we will be using Grimmauld as the official base of operations. Just imagine it Draco, the Dark Lord himself and all of his followers, in our own home!” She smiled dreamily. “The stars are aligning.”
Draco coughed as he felt she was gong off topic. “So when I turn eighteen, I...don’t get to leave?”
She waved him off. “Of course you will, just not as soon. And I said,you’ll hardly want to. The real world is full of disgusting muggles and awful half breeds and blood traitors. You’ll have the purest of pureblood right here in our house!”
“But I just thought I could have a bit of freedom-“
“Is that ungratefulness I’m hearing?” Aunt Bella smiled threateningly. Draco shook his head rapidly. “I thought not. My little Draco, I have given you the privilege of not needing to deal with the hardships of life. I keep you here to protect you. I stole you away out of the beauty in my heart, knowing you’d be far happier with me than if you were raised with your disgusting traitor parents.” She spat the last word with venom.
Draco couldn’t help but feel it was the hardships that made life...life, but he didn’t speak up on that. He only nodded.
“And I thank you Auntie. I am sorry if I came across as ungrateful I am just...becoming stir crazy in leu of the Dark Lord’s return. I only wish it could happen sooner. I am so looking forward to serving him.” And he was! It was what he had been training for since he was very young. It was his purpose.
Aunt Bella cooed at him delightedly and reached over the table to hug him. “You have made Auntie very proud of you. And I’m sure the Dark Lord will be immensely happy to have such a competent mind within the ranks. You will grow to do great things oh yes you will.” She held his head and shook it around slightly with glee. He tried to make sure she didn’t crick his neck. “But even if you become our Lord’s right hand man, don’t forget about Auntie.” She held his head a bit firmer, threateningly, and he stared up at her imploringly.
“How could I ever forget how much you have done for me? You’re practically a mother to me.”
Aunt Bella’s face pinched slightly. “Yes yes, a mother figure of course, but do never call me as such.” At his questioningly gaze she smiled tightly. “Makes me feel old. Stick with Auntie if you please.” She let him out of her embrace and sat to the side of her chair, rapping her fingers on the table. “What was it you were saying earlier, about practising transfiguration? What spell are you having trouble with?”
Draco pursed his lips. “I wasn’t really struggling with a spell per say, I was um, attempting to create a spell?” He tested the waters. Aunt Bella grinned wide so he elaborated. “I was testing how I could discover a more permanent version on Conversus Animalis.” Aunt Bella clapped her hands.
“Oh you are so inventive. To which torture method would that be used?” Draco faltered.
“I suppose I could use it as ammunition, but I was originally editing the spell for a pet.” Aunt Bella’s face froze.
“A...pet?” Her smile was grotesque and Draco clutched the wand in his pocket.
“I wanted to attempt to transfigure a cushion into a...cat of some sort. To keep me company.” She still wasn’t talking so Draco kept going. “A pet would definitely help my restlessness, and if I were to solely provide for one it would teach me about responsibility, and I wouldn’t bother you as much -I know how much you hate it when I talk too much- and it would really be a challenge for my transfiguration skills.” He rambled.
“Why would you need a pet? Is Auntie not enough for you? Are you wanting to be spoilt? If you wanted to be selfish and have everything then I would have left you to be mistreated by your traitor parents.” She continued to spit the word. Draco shook his head rapidly and he gripped his wand tighter.
“No no, I just thought it would be nice to have some company while you’re away plotting, you know I’ll always appreciate you more Auntie-“
“Is Kreacher not enough?” Aunt Bella shrieked. “Is he not enough of a filthy animal to be around that you want to fill our home with another?” Draco continued to shake his head.
“No no no, it is not that, I just thought it’d be nice to have a pet, like a normal child-“ that was the wrong thing to say, that was the wrong thing to say-
“A normal child?” Aunt Bella stopped. “A normal child!” She yelled. “Is there no end to your disrespect and privilege, after I tried so hard to train the Malfoy out of you, and you’re still like your disgusting mother! Poor little Cissy didn’t have everything, so she goes begging for more!” She roared her sister’s name and Draco flinched. “You’ve been getting those ideas again. From those fictional books in the library. You want to be a normal child,” she scoffed, “when you are scarcely a child. You will be a man soon, a brilliant one, all thanks to me.” She neared him. “I have given you everything, done everything right, and still you yearn for more? Ambition will do you nothing when you are serving under the Dark Lord, Draco.”
“I-I’m sorry Auntie, I didn’t mean it-“
“And yet you still said it. A normal child!” She scoffed again. “Notions as such should be punished.” Draco’s eyes widened.
“Please don’t Auntie.” He begged quietly, wand tightening in his grasp so much it dug into the skin slightly. “Please don’t curse me-“ he was cut off by an harsh slap to the face. Aunt Bella was standing over him with a new crazy in her eyes.
“You don’t tell me what I will and won’t do.” She hissed at him and he nodded sombrely. At his somber look, she tapped him on the head. “Don’t look like that Draco,” she stretched the ‘o’,” I’m not the bad guy.” She pinched the same cheek she slapped. His cheek felt like it would soon bruise. “I shall be pitiful. I’ve always had a soft spot for begging.” She smiled and Draco tensed. “Gravibus Artus.” She cast and immediately Draco’s every limb felt twice as heavy. Even keeping his head up seemed like a struggle.
Aunt Bella noticed this and her grin sharpened. As Draco started to collapse to the floor slightly, the imaginary weight of his body being too much, he still tried to look at her. She took his chin in one hand and tipped it upwards.
“Don’t cross Auntie again Draco, you got off easily.” Draco bit his tongue to avoid crying. She loves me, she loves me, she loves me really. “Goodnight my little Death Eater in training.” She pat his head and got up, leaving him in a haphazard pile on the floor. “Auntie knows best!” She cawed joyfully as she exited the room, with a skip in her step, and Draco nearly threw up.
Draco sighed deeply as he tried to upright himself, but every movement with every limb was a struggle. He eventually managed to sit himself on a chair, but his energy had been taken out of him.
“Sir had acted stupidly, very stupid Master Malfoy has been.” A gravelly voice muttered beside him. Draco tilted his head from where it rested against the back of the chair towards the house elf.
“I’m not a Malfoy.” Draco corrected him groggily.
“Well you’re not a Lestrange.” Kreacher hummer. “Perhaps a Black. Your mother was.”
“I don’t care about my mother.”
“Of course. Still, was of respectable breeding, very pure, very good.” Kreacher wiped the table. The house elf then looked up at the house. “I sense the wards. They are weakening. Mistress Lestrange must not be caring as much.”
“Well in a week we will be welcoming the Dark Lord into our home. I don’t suppose he’d be able to enter if it was so limited.” Draco said.
“They have not yet reached that stage, but at this rate, anyone with blood from the Noble and most Ancient House of Black could enter.” The house elf then smiled sadistically. “With being cursed by Mistress Lestrange of course. Even Mistress Malfoy could enter, although she took that name.”
“Well there aren’t a lot of Black family members left anyway.” Draco pointed out, albeit a bit fearfully. “So it doesn’t matter for now.” Kreacher grinned.
“I would so love if a person could steal you away from this home. You do not appreciate it properly. I know you wish to leave.” He hissed and Draco rolled his eyes.
“You only dislike me because I’m not a house elf.” Draco said, and felt relief when his fingertips began to feel their normal weight.
“I dislike you because are full of disrespect. Just like Mistress Lestrange says.” The house elf seemed gleeful. “Your ‘stir craze’ will soon cause you to be punished, I know so. You will have wished that you could be kidnapped.” A strange wheezy laugh came out of Kreacher. Draco rolled his eyes again.
After Kreacher let him be, he waited another twenty minutes on the chair to allow the spell to wear off enough. He walked up to his room and immediately crossed towards the dresser. He shakily opened one of the drawers that held his most important books and pulled out the one on healing spells.
He opened the book and flicked through absentmindedly as he checked his reflection. The curse had worn off, but had caused a light paralysis in his left leg. As well as that, he needed to treat a bruise on his cheek and a split lip. He needed to get rid of them. Aunt Bella never wanted reminders of his transgressions. As soon as the punishment was dealt, he was perfect again. It was a good system.
He cast Episkey on his split lip and Reparifors on his left leg. Both seemed to heal quite nicely, but that left the bruise. It wasn’t often she left bruises, it was usually simple cuts. She didn’t often slap him either, so it must have been a particularly awful thing he’d said.
He still wished that he could have a pet, but he’d make do with paying more attention to Booky the owl.
There wasn’t really a spell that could heal a bruise, that was a potion’s job, but Draco couldn’t bring himself to brew this late at night. A type of concealment charm would have to do.
“Operimentum.” He cast and the bruise seemed to fade. It still hurt, but at least it wasn’t visible anymore.
He checked himself over in the mirror once again and nodded in satisfaction. That would do.
He just has to watch his mouth.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
The next day he woke up early. He walked quietly into the kitchen, knowing each and every creaking floorboard to avoid. He didn’t want to risk bothering Aunt Bella if she was in one of her moods. He crept into the kitchen and collected his egg on toast from Kreacher, before bringing it back up to his room.
He did his morning routine before getting back his birthday list. He smoothed it out and revisited 4) get a cat.
Draco sighed and cast the temporary spell on the test pillow anyway. The ugly pink pillow slowly morphed into an ugly pink cat with a squashed face. Draco smiled and pet it slightly as the cat blinked at him drowsily.
“I will call you Cushion. Because you’re very soft. And because in 5 minutes, that’s what you’ll turn into again.” He lay the cat on his lap and played with its pretty little paws. “I wish you could stick around for longer. I’ll try another time. I’m so close.” He bit his lip. “I’ll do it when I’m free. I promise.” He kissed Cushion’s head and continued to pet it until it transformed back.
He frowned and opened up another book on transfiguration. He had a theory brewing that a more permanent form of transfiguration would take more internal magic. It would drain him, but wandless magic relies more on a wizard’s emotions and internal function. If he tried very hard he could probably transfigure the cushion into Cushion wandlessly.
Regardless, he opened a scroll of parchment and began to dot down some ideas to how he could use transfiguration spells for torture. That would please Aunt Bella.
After another hour of monotony Aunt Bella burst into his room. He looked up and smiled.
“Good morning Aunt Bella, how are you today?” He asked politely. She grinned and pat his head.
“I am doing wonderful my little student. We’ve gotten a lead on Potter, and we plan to trap him! He has been so fickle lately, trying to get at the Dark Lord’s horc-“ she glanced up at him. “The Dark Lord’s weaknesses. It has been difficult but we’ve finally got him! Isn’t it exciting!” She smiled madly and he tried to meet her grin.
“It’s fantastic.”
“Yes yes, of course of course, but Draco there is an issue.” She grimaced fakely. “This will be one of those events that goes on for a couple for days. I will have to leave you here for a bit.”
“Do you think I could come with you for this one?” Draco bartered. Aunt Bella cooed.
“Oh, that’s my stupid little Draco, being so eager to help his Lord.” She held his face and tapped his cheek repeatedly, as if trying to hit the problems out of him. “I already said things were difficult last night, you forgetful little boy. Or do you need a reminder?” Her smile turned dangerous and Draco averted eye contact. She started to laugh and he tried to force a laugh out too, only it caught in his throat.
“No need for a reminder, I only wanted to see if you needed help.” He bowed his head and her coos heightened in pitch.
“Oh you are so sweet and lovely my little Death Eater in training, but there will be no need. Will you be okay all by yourself with Kreacher?” Draco immediately grew tired to think of spending any time alone with Kreacher. He nodded nonetheless.
“Of course I will Auntie. I wish you luck with catching Harry Potter.” Aunt Bella squealed in excitement.
“Finally! It all would have been worth it.” She clutched her hands. “The past eighteen years would have been worth it.” She leaned down to Draco and smiled. “I will see you in a couple of days. Stay safe,” she tugged on his ear roughly, “and don’t do anything stupid.”
“Of course.” He agreed and bid her goodbye.
When she left, the house was painfully quiet. Even quieter than it usually was. Draco sighed and returned to his studies, transferring his attention back to transfiguration, and practising his wandless magic and his magical core with some meditation.
He did so for another few hours, but couldn’t quite focus on his work as the birthday list stared at him.
At around twelve o’clock he organised himself lunch, purposely avoiding telling Kreacher. He did not feel like talking about anything with that dingy elf. He thought the elf was in the cellars anyway, three floors below. He was a nostalgic old elf, and a cruel one at that. It was his idea of a little joke to take a whole day to clean the cellars, a joke against Draco. ‘It was only right’ that he would, since ‘Master Malfoy would be spending plenty time down there after Mistress Lestrange was done with him’.
A couple hours later he had ended up the staircase that stared at the door. It was locked, but only from the inside. He could get outside so easily.
His mind bled with the warnings Aunt Bella had given him about the outside world, about the disgusting nature of muggles, about how you cant trust anyone apart from his Auntie, and that Grimmauld was the only safe place from his awful traitorous parents.
He continued to stare at the door. Then at the list. Then back to door. He had a small talk with a portrait that rested on the wall above the stairs he sat on, but then his gaze went back to that door.
He’d never left Grimmauld Place before. He really wanted to. But he couldn’t. He could never go against Auntie’s wishes.
Oh how he wished he could.
A couple of hours more on the stairs he started to drift off, head leaning on the wall. He was about to lose consciousness when he heard a click.
A click.
Coming from the door.
He jumped into actions and shoved his lift down his shirt, pulled out his wand, and put his body in a ready duelling stance.
He heard another click, some muttering, and then footsteps. Footsteps away from the door.
Draco cocked an eyebrow, half thinking that it was over, and half being on the fence.
Then the door came crashing through the frame.
Draco leapt away from the destruction, and hid behind a drawer from whatever the home invader was. He snuck a gaze past the drawer and saw a figure in the doorframe. The person was now in the house.
Thinking fast, he cast a spell on the door, causing it to violently fling back into place, nearly hitting the intruder. Using that as a distraction, Draco jumped out from behind the drawer and ran at the intruder, pinning them to the wall with a wand at their throat.
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Draco grit, struggling slightly to keep the person there. The intruder met his eyes and Draco couldn’t help but feel like he recognised them from somewhere. The person was taller than Draco and had grey eyes, with long black hair tied in a loose ponytail. They were wearing a leather jacket and large black boots that kept on trying to step on Draco’s feet.
Draco cast a body bind hex on the person to subdue their escape attempts. They had wild eyes, and a complexion much alike Aunt Bella. That did not soften Draco’s suspicion.
“Who are you?” He repeated “and what are you doing here?”
“And why should I tell you, small fry?” A rough voice came from the intruder. They tried to fidget in their binds, but the spell only tightened.
“It’s a simple question. I wasn’t aware I was within the presence of someone so dim they are unable to listen to something so simple.” Draco rebutted.
“You tell me your name, and I tell you mine.” The intruder said.
Draco scoffed. “I hardly think you’re in the position to be negotiating, especially when you’re a grimy trespasser.”
“It’s that or you’ll have to torture it out of me. Final offer.” This intruder seemed to have great confidence for someone in their situation. Draco grimaced to himself slightly. He would hate to have to torture somebody, especially the first person he’s met since...forever. He sighed.
“My name is Draco. Now you tell me yours.” He ordered. The intruder’s eyes widened.
“Draco? That lost Malfoy kid?”
Draco seethed. “I am not a Malfoy!” His wand pointed at the intruder. “Now tell me your name!”
“Sirius Black,” it was Draco’s eyes’ turn to widen, “soon to be owner of Twelve Grimmauld Place, one of the remaining heirs to the Noble and most Ancient House of Black.” He recited. That’s how he got through these bloody wards! For once Kreacher wasn’t pulling his leg.
“You’re the owner of those books!” Draco blurted, before realising that was a silly thing to say.
“Excuse me?”
“In the smallest bedroom, under the mattress, there are some muggle books. Inside them it says Sirius Black.” Draco mumbled and the intru-SIRIUS guffawed.
“Core! My old books have been reused. I’d forgotten all about them. They got me in a lot of trouble, they did. Mum hated them. Now enough talking about me.” Sirius stood up and the binds disappeared from around him. Draco froze. He’d gotten distracted!
Sirius sent a body bind hex towards Draco and for the second time in twenty four hours, Draco collapsed to the floor helplessly.
“Let’s talk about you.”
/////////////////////////////////
SWITCH TO SIRIUS POV
////////////////////////////////
This kid was the bloody worst.
It had been just over two hours and the kid wasn’t budging in his old vow of silence. Sirius had been trying to interrogate Draco about anything, but his mouth was a steal trap. The only things he would say were about having to torture the information out of him, but Sirius wasn’t in that kind of mood today.
So in terms of information, Sirius was still missing a who, what, why and a where. At least he had a when.
He sighed and decided to try his set of questions one last time.
“Who kidnapped you?”
“I wasn’t kidnapped!” Sirius used to be sure it was his cousin Trixie, that’s what all the rumours say. But this bloody kid was making him question the oldest stories.
“What are their plans? What have you been doing this whole time?”
“As if I’d ever tell a Blood Traitor.” That answer was followed by being spat at. Goodie.
“Why are you in Grimmauld place? And if you’re the Malfoy kid, why can I get through the wards? I would think that you’d be considered ‘precious goods’.”
“I’m not a bleeding Malfoy! And I’m not very sure why you’re here. If you don’t want to be, then I implore you to leave.” The past part was drawled out slowly, as if talking to a toddler. This fucking kid.
“Where is your kidnapper currently?”
“Standing right in front of me.” That was a new one. Sirius rolled his eyes.
“To be a kidnapper I’d have to take you to a secondary location-“ he stopped. He grinned. “Which is not a bad idea.”
“What.” Draco said flatly, and he fidgeted again. He was currently being tied to a chair with magic rope, but clearly knew his spells as he hadn’t struggled much. With struggle these ropes only tightened. The kid’s wand was in Sirius’ pocket, so there was no way out for him.
“Well, since you’ve been unco-operative, I suppose I’ll have to take you with me.” Draco’s eyes widened. Finally a reaction!
“Or you could just leave and I'll never think of you again. I’m trying to do it right now.” The kid closed his eyes.
“That would be okay if I trusted you, but due to you doing nothing that would ever make me believe that you wouldn’t go off tattling to your kidnapper-“
“-not my kidnapper-”
“-I have no choice but to take you with me. I can be your new kidnapper, won’t that be fun!” Sirius smiled maliciously. The kid looked like he wanted to die.
“Finally meet another person and he’s a fucking sociopath.” Draco muttered and Sirius raised an eyebrow.
“Another person? How many people do you know?” He asked with great confusion. The way the kid phrased it sounded like he’d never been outside.
“I was perfectly fine with my previous company, who you are so determined to refer to as my ‘kidnapper’.” he tried to use air quotes with his arms being trapped behind him.
“Have you even been outside before?” At Sirius’ question the kid flushed and holy shit. It was a joke!
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business-“
“Oh yeah, I’m kidnapping you. I don’t care what you think, any place would be better for you than here. Gives me the creeps personally.” Sirius shivered. Draco rolled his eyes.
“Well of course you feel uncomfortable, the house is probably trying to reject you. I don’t expect it enjoys harbouring blood traitors anymore than I do.”
“Good thing we’re leaving.” Sirius decided the take a small risk. “Before Trixie comes back from wherever she is.” He paid close attention to the kid’s face. It only flickered slightly, but it was enough. Cousin Trixie was the kidnapper. At the very least that question was cleared up. “I will let you take one item with you before I put a sack over your head and knock you unconscious.”
The kid looked at him with horror. Sirius shrugged. “Just one item, but it can’t be a weapon. I’m not a monster.” The kid continued to stare at him.
Sirius went behind Draco to unbind his ropes but found he didn’t need to. They’d been burnt through. With the kid’s hands.
Sirius rose his head to greet a fist flying into his nose. Thankful for his reflexes, he managed to trap the kid in a headlock and pointed a wand at his back. He then cast some more rope onto the kid’s upper arms. Hopefully high enough so that he wouldn’t be able to burn through them again. Fucking wandless magic!? What kind of batshit training had this kid been through? He didn’t even look a day over twenty, how the fuck did he know wandless magic?!
The kid tried to get a few kicks in before he grew tired. Sirius clutched his bleeding nose and sighed. Was he still going to be kind?
He was even considering knocking the kid unconscious with a bat instead of a charm. He sighed again.
“One item. What do you want and where is it?” Draco looked surprised and then put a thinking face on. His stupid little scheming face scrunched up as he considered what he would bring.
“It’s in my room.” He said quietly and lead the way there, seeming to be done with the kicking. He went up a couple of sets of stairs and entered the bedroom right beside the library. Regulus’ old room. Taking a look inside Sirius saw that the library had practically merged with the room, being covered wall to wall in stacks of books and paper. A studious kid, Sirius supposed.
The kid then kneeled down on the bed and reached pathetically for a pillow. His arms were still tied awkwardly, but then he managed to grab the pillow and hold it. He closed his eyes in focus and his brows furrowed. Sirius raised an eyebrow.
“Conversus Animalis Mónimos.” Draco muttered and the pillow began to glow brightly. Sirius got out his wand in preparation for any freaky fucking thing this wandless magic kid was gonna transfigure.
The kid was holding onto the pillow tightly, and Sirius saw it gently begin to transfigure into...a cat? Draco smiled at it and stroked it’s head the best he could with his awkward arms. He picked up the ugly pink cat and stood back up, staring Sirius down.
“A bit of warning next time please!” Sirius told him, but saw the kid try and hide a smirk. What a smug little bitch.
He looked tired though. Whatever wandless magic he must have done would have drained him. Sirius didn’t really see the point in transfiguring the pillow into a cat, it would turn back soon enough, but he shrugged it off.
He thought the kid would be too tired to resist now, so that he could actually be on his way out of this bloody nightmare house.
Draco looked like he was thinking for a second, before spinning round and kicking Sirius in the nose. Sirius growled at the stupidity and determination from this stupid fucking twenty year old who didn’t know when to fucking back down.
The kid tried another spinning kick before Sirius caught the foot mid air, tugged the kid’s leg towards him and cast a sleeping charm, watching as the once confident boy tottered around slightly before falling unconscious.
Sirius sighed and held his nose again, hissing as he realised it was probably broken and had begun to bleed again. Stupid fucking kid.
He wiped the blood away with a stray tissue he found on a desk and tossed it onto the bed with spite. He better not have knocked his perfect nose out of place. It was his best feature.
He then reached down and picked up the surprisingly light boy and tossed his over one shoulder, securing a sack over his head just in case. The ugly pink cat jumped down from where it was held but followed Sirius obediently.
Sirius opened the (fixed?) door and walked over to his bike. He dropped an unconscious Draco Malfoy awkwardly into the sidecar and cast a protection charm over the sack. The ugly pink cat hopped into the sidecar and snuggled into the kid’s limp arms for security. Sirius covered it with the spare helmet.
He drove the motorcycle for a couple hundred metres before taking off. It had gotten very dark by this point, so it wasn’t as dangerous as beforehand. He still risked a couple glances towards the sidecar to check the kid hadn’t jumped or anything else crazy like that.
He guessed they couldn’t have their base of operations at Grimmauld after all. Bloody hell, and after he’d talked the place up for all it was worth. At least he’d had the sense to check beforehand. His one brain cell seemed to come in handy sometimes.
Jesus Christ this was a messy situation. He goes to Grimmauld, expecting a perfect place for his Godson to plan to take down the last of the Death Eaters with his friends, and finds his psychotic little shit-head of a second cousin by the name of Draco Malfoy. Not only that, but the same Draco Malfoy who was apparently kidnapped fucking forever ago by his other psychotic cousin Trixie.
The kid had been missing for god knows how long, and raised by the one and only psychopath of Bellatrix Lestrange. He admits to wondering where she was when all of the Death Eaters were put into Azkaban, including her husband, but he never expected her to take to child care.
He huffed into the night sky. The kid was barely a kid, and looked about twenty years old. Twenty years old and still stuck in that evil house. Sirius couldn’t imagine. He got the fuck out of there before the word go, as soon as James’ parents let him.
But Draco, he hadn’t even had Hogwarts. Just him and Trixie. Sirius dreaded to think of the kid’s state after all that time. He could barely stand a short conversation with his cousin, let alone years and years. But he could relate to being locked up for a long time. He just hoped the kid wasn’t as wracked as he was.
What was he doing, taking Draco? What good would it do?
He looked to the cat in the sidecar. It was as pink as the pillow had been, and the fur looked a bit matted. It had a squashed face and lazy eyes, and the triangles that were supposed to be it’s ears were too big for it’s head.
It really was an ugly cat.
“I’ll be asking you questions later.” He told it, though he doubt it heard. The wind took away his voice as he flew through the night.
The cat stuck it’s tongue out and blepped lazily in response.
After flying for about an hour and a half he had reached Devon. After slight manoeuvring to make sure he was on track, he could spot a familiar quaint house in the middle of a field. The Burrow.
He landed on a grassy patch outside, the growl of the engine alerting the household of his arrival.
Harry came running out of the house towards him with excitement.
“Padfoot! How was the house? Do you think it’s good for an operations base?” Harry bombarded him before reaching over the bike to hug him. Sirius returned the hug gladly.
“As it turns out, no.” Harry’s face fell. “I’ll explain in a bit. But first I gotta get this guy into the house and secured.” Harry’s gaze flittered to the side car and he jumped back slightly.
“Who are they?”
“An evil little shit I’m related to.” Sirius kept it vague. “Do you mind holding the cat?” He picked up the ugly thing and passed it to Harry, who took it confusedly. Sirius then picked up the limp body and walked towards the house.
“I hope you know I have many questions.” Harry told him flatly as he held a cat.
“And I hope you know I do too.” He lumped the body downwards onto a chair and secured it tightly, before systematically tying his arms separately behind the chair, making sure the kid’s hands were free but unable to burn through the ropes. He left the sack on Draco’s head and snorted slightly. That’s what he gets.
“Ah, shit!” Harry exclaimed quietly as the cat scratched him to get out of his hold. “Worse than Crookshanks.” He muttered.
The cat jumped down onto the floor and padded towards Draco, leaping onto the kid’s lap and laying to rest. Sirius massaged his brow painfully.
“I’m sorry Harry, but I’m going to have to wait until tomorrow to answer your questions. I am tired and frankly done with this little shit,” he gestured to said little shit in the chair,” for at least tonight.” Harry nodded sadly. “Now I’m going to sleep down here tonight. To make sure he doesn’t get away.”
"Just a small explanation-"
"I. Am. Tired." He dragged the last word. Harry nodded again.
“Night Sirius.” He gritted and Sirius offered a fist for fist bump. Harry took it.
“Night Prongs Jr.” Sirius replied before making himself comfortable on the sofa.
Fucking stupid relatives always making shit more difficult. Why couldn’t he have been born into a happy and well rounded family? Like literally any other family.
Especially one that wasn’t related to stupid twats like Draco Malfoy.
/////////////////////////////////
SWITCH TO DRACO POV
////////////////////////////////
He woke up with a sack on his head. This was not normal.
He had been kidnapped.
Unfortunately since his brain was having such a bad time grasping at the concept, the only thing he could focus on was the fact that it was kind of weird how his head didn’t hurt if he was really knocked unconscious. It usually left a bit of head trauma at least.
It didn’t matter anyway. His limbs were tied to a chair and his head was in a sack. He also had a cat on his lap, which eased his panic slightly. His spell had worked! Long enough to last at least a couple of hours!
That would explained why he was feeling so drained. But he didn’t have time to be tired. He had to be above his game if he was going to escape this crazy Dark Lord Rebel. He smirked to himself slightly when he thought of how he both punched and kicked that stupid second cousin of his in the face.
Light was going through the sack so he could determine that it was at least daytime. He had to plan to get out of there.
His magic was pretty drained, but he had to try. He thought about what he could work with.
His hands weren’t especially close to the ropes, so he’d have to use something that could get rid of them from a slight distance.
Getting sick of only seeing things through a sack, he awkwardly twisted himself to tear the sack off using his feet. Cushion the cat jumped on his lap as he contorted himself. After a minute off struggling it was torn off and he was greeted to his surroundings.
A dingy and colourful little room. Three sofas were in front of him, and a window straight ahead. Through the window was... grass. And trees. A lot of bright colours that he only thought existed in storybooks.
Pulling himself away from his awe, Draco focused on what that actually meant. He wasn’t in London anymore.
His stupid cousin was asleep on one of the sofas, probably asleep from keeping guard. What a moron.
He looked down at how he was sat and sighed. His calves were tied to the chair legs, and his lower arms were tied away from each other to the back of the chair. But the chair seemed old and rickety. Breakable.
He couldn’t risk fire as the chair was made of wood, and he didn’t know whether the ropes were charmed for that stuff now. He couldn’t risk it.
He looked around the room for his wand, and saw it poking out of Sirius’ pocket. He thought for a moment.
It would be far too loud to move the chair closer to the sofa where Sirius was resting, it would surely wake him up. Draco’s hands weren’t at a good angle to Accio the wand towards him either, and he doubted he could muster the strength to do more wandless magic anyway. What did he have at his disposal...
Draco’s eyes met Cushion’s.
Huh.
He made a clicking sound with his mouth and Cushion responded by jumping onto his lap. He craned his neck towards them.
“Get my wand from the bad man.” He whispered to the cat, feeling a bit foolish to think they’d listen. Cushion blinked up at him slowly and jumped back off his lap and lazily padded their way over to Sirius. They sat down next to Sirius’ pocket and meowed at the wand. Draco nodded rapidly and they picked it up with their teeth, neatly taking it out of Sirius’ pocket. Draco grinned. What a clever cat!
He made the clicking sound with his mouth again and Cushion obediently walked back over to him, wand in mouth. They jumped back up on his lap and Draco, grimacing slightly, craned his neck to take one part of his wand between his teeth. Cushion let go and Draco finally had his wand back! He nearly whooped in excitement.
The ugly pink cat curled up in his lap happily and he grinned widely, the wand poking the side of his mouth sorely.
Then he heard footsteps.
There was a staircase to the left of him, and he presumed someone was walking down it. He turned his body around as much as he could and spat the wand into one hand to hide it quickly.
A boy had walked down the stairs. He looked about Draco’s age, and was wearing very baggy and ugly clothing, and donned a pair of unfashionable circular glasses on his face. He was looking at Draco with a lot of surprise and Draco scowled at him.
The boy’s eyes glanced at the sack that lay at Draco’s feet, and then at Cushion, and then at the sleeping idiot.
With a look of confusion and slight shock still on his face, the boy awkwardly walked over to Sirius to wake him. As he does so, Draco tilts himself, and then casts a cutting spell to the ropes around his legs, trying to be subtle. The boy doesn’t notice.
“I’M UP! I’m up!” The idiot rises from the sofa after being shaken. “What’s going on?”
“The uh, the person is awake...” the boy tells him. Sirius looks at him sleepily and then turns to Draco. His eyebrows raise.
“How did you get the sack off your head?” Draco stays silent and sneers. Sirius chuckles. “Whatever.” He walks over to Draco and pets Cushion a bit. Cushion purrs. Draco scowls. Traitor.
“Sirius, can you tell me who they are now?” The boy asks, giving Draco a wide berth warily. Smart.
“Oh, him? This here is Draco Malfoy, the most annoying and stubborn git I’ve ever met.” Sirius ruffles Draco’s hair like a prat and bends down slightly to let Draco see in full the smirk on his face, wearing the blood round his nose like a medal Draco gave him. Draco knew then that Sirius deserved what Draco was going to do to him next.
With all the force he could muster, Draco rose his freed legs upwards and kicked Sirius square in the face. Using the force from that, he got shoved onto his back harshly and the wood of the chair crackles. He swung his shoulder into a wall with wild abandon to get rid of the rest on the chair and binds, and the wood crackles and breaks into pieces, letting the rope free Draco. He thinks he sprained his shoulder in the process, but he ignores the pain. He pulled out his wand but before he can cast a spell he’s punched in the face by a very angry Sirius. Fuck.
Everything hurts.
He’s taken aback, but finds his footing quickly, sending a Stickfast Hex towards Sirius, sticking his stupid boots to the ground before running to the other side of the room. Sirius sends a spell Draco’s way, but he dodges it. He sends another and this time it does hit Draco, causing tiny spikes to erupt all over Draco’s arms. A targeted Sea Urchin Jinx. It stings harshly, so Draco casts a Tongue Tying Spell towards Sirius. It hits, and Sirius can no longer cast. One down.
The unfashionable boy tries to combat Draco next, attempting to hit him with a couple disarming charms. Draco dodges them all, rolling and jumping behind furniture.
“Orbis!” Draco yells, successfully casting a fantastic Ground Consuming jinx.
Draco then cast a shield around himself, and using the blood from Sirius’ punch, he casts a quick dark blood spell to enforce the shield. He spits more blood on the floor and swipes it in a circle around him, creating a powerful bubble shield, and trapped Cushion in there with him too.
He was completely drained and held Cushion tightly as he regained his breath. He felt like being sick.
He sat down inside his clear yellow shield, crossing his legs and watching as the boy reverses the tongue tie curse, doing so, but turning the tongue blue in the process. Draco smirked. His own personal branch of tongue tied. The victim could speak when reversed, but couldn’t cast anything. That took another reversal spell. And even after that, the victim’s tongue stayed blue until Draco personally reversed it. He found it funny, and hadn’t had a proper chance to try it yet (on someone other than Kreacher).
“What the fresh fuck is wrong with you?!” Sirius roared, causing Draco to clutch Cushion a bit tighter. The cat mewed. “How to hell did you get your wand back?!” He abandoned his shoes which were still stuck to the floor and walked over to the bubble, pounding on it a bit. The magic wavered, but stayed strong under pressure.
Sirius attempted to cast a couple of shield shattering charms, but his tongue was tied for that. Draco mimed casting the counter jinx, and Sirius got the other boy to do it stubbornly. It didn't help his cause, as any jinxes and hexes he did cast didn't effect the shield.
Draco desperately wanted to get Sirius, but he couldn’t cast outside of the bubble charm. He'd better let his magic rest anyway, it was already being strained slightly by the shield.
“Sirius, are you okay?” The boy asked the man, sending a deathly glare towards Draco. Draco smiled and waved patronisingly.
Sirius clutched his face. “That’s the third time the kid’s hit me in the nose. If it didn’t break the first few times, its definitely broken now.” He hissed in pain and Draco grinned. Sirius deserved it. That’s what kidnappers got. “Could you, Harry?”
“Episkey.” The boy, Harry, cast on the man’s face. Sirius hissed again. Never a fun spell to have cast on you. “Uh, Sirius? Your tongue looks kind of...blue?” Sirius blinked once before sighing loudly again.
“Better not be fucking permanent.” He muttered.
Draco focused on the Harry closely, as his hair was swept to the side by his arm.
And there on his forehead lay a lightning bolt scar.
“Harry Potter!” Draco yelled, jumping to his feet and resting his hands flat on the shield. Potter also jumped at the exclamation, looking at Draco oddly. Sirius sighed loudly.
“Back down you little death eater menace. He’s not for you to take back to Trixie” Draco narrowed his eyes.
“And why not? It’s obvious I’m more powerful than you.” He pointed out, being a slight lie as at that moment he was definitely magically drained. Unfortunately Sirius saw through this too.
“Because you’re on our side now.” Sirius told him and Draco scoffed loudly. “And you may be stupidly stubborn, but guess what? So am I. You’re not returning to Trixie anytime soon.” Draco’s magic flared slightly in anger.
He collected some phlegm in his throat, used his wand to tear a slight incision in the shield, and spat through the hole at both Potter and Sirius, closing it up immediately after. Sirius’ eye twitched and Draco smirked widely.
“Sirius, I feel like now is definitely the time to explain everything.” Potter said, begging the other man. Draco sat back down, keeping an eye firmly on Potter.
Sirius sighed again and sat down on a sofa, while Potter sat down on another, trapping Draco on the floor between them.
“This here is Draco Malfoy. He’s something of my second cousin, his mother is my first cousin. Part of the Black family.”
“I’m not Draco Malfoy!” Draco interrupted spitefully. Sirius rolled his eyes.
“Who are you then, Draco Lestrange? Draco Black?” Draco pondered his earlier conversation with Kreacher. He definitely didn’t want to be a Malfoy, they were traitors. And as Kreacher said, he wasn’t really fit to be a Lestrange. And he certainly didn’t want to sound like he was related to the absolute Boggart that was Sirius Black.
So he shrugged.
Fuck his shoulder hurt.
“Just Draco.”
Sirius snorted. “Alright then. Just Draco here was living in Grimmauld Place, a house which he has never left.” Potter’s eyes widened and Draco crossed his arms. When you said it out loud of course it sounded a bit odd.
“You’ve never left your house?” Potter asked, and it took Draco a second to realise the question was aimed at him. He flushed and looked down, stroking Cushion a bit.
“Stop looking at me with pity, I don’t need it. It’s perfectly normal.”
“Normal?!”
Draco pursed his lips. “I’m only seventeen, it’s not like I spent a lifetime there.”
“Only seventeen!?” Sirius cried. Draco rose an eyebrow.
“Nearly eighteen.” Draco adds casually, although he was very excited. “In less than a week I’ll be eighteen. I would’ve been allowed outside then, and would’ve gotten the-“ the Dark Mark. But he didn’t think that would be a wise thing to tell them. He didn’t know how much they knew. So he pursed his lips.
“I thought you were at least twenty or something,” Draco smiled slightly, “or that you just looked young for your age,” his smile dropped. “How did you perform such strong wandless magic? What kind of training does she have you under?” He neared the shield slightly and Draco leaned away a bit.
He figured that was safe to tell them. If he didn’t answer any questions they might become a bit mad, and the shield wouldn’t hold forever.
“Field training. She casts spells at me and I deflect, and then we move on to darker magic and occasional blood magic. We go through hypothetical scenarios that I’d need to escape. Wandless magic was something I picked up when she banned me from wand usage because my brain was getting lazy. Just the basics.” At least he assumed that was basic defence training. He didn’t really know what typical training was.
At the expression on their faces, Aunt Bella’s schooling might be woefully behind a Hogwarts education. He flushed again slightly and looked down.
“Could you teach me wandless magic?” Potter asked him, moving close to the bubble and Draco felt scrutinised. He hated feeling scrutinised.
“Harry!” Sirius cried.
“What? You said he was on our side now!”
“You don’t think that’s gonna take a bit of time? That maybe asking a testy death eater in training for lessons on wandless magic might be a bit hurried?” Sirius glanced at Draco, who was trying to back away from the two. “Look at him, an evil little villain petting his cat.” Draco levelled his gaze and rose an eyebrow.
“If he’s so evil then why are we trying to get him on our side?” Potter rebutted. Then Sirius’ face went blank. He looked lost in his head and it made Draco uncomfortable. It reminded him of the expressions Aunt Bella got whenever she was about to snap. He glanced at Potter worriedly. Why wasn’t he scared?
“No one deserves to live in Grimmauld Place for that long, especially stuck and being raised by a batshit Bellatrix.” He said gravely. Draco fumed.
“You don’t deserve to speak of Aunt Bella that way! Blood traitor.” He hissed. “And if you’re quite done with talking about me as if I’m not right here, maybe you can go through this lovely introduction again with the weird perverts on the stairs.” He pointed behind the two idiots to a large gathering of gingers, all watching them with interest and confusion.
Potter and Sirius turned around and cringed in unison. Draco stroked Cushion some more, entertained.
“Oi! Who are you calling a pervert?!” One ginger girl yelled at him.
“You were lurking. Lurking is a pervert’s sport.” He told her a-matter-of-factly. Her face opened up into a surprising grin.
“Hmm. Funny.” She pointed at him. “I like you. You’re fun.” She jumped over the banister, past the gaggle of gingers, onto the floor and walked towards him. “What’s your name?”
He blinked and debated saying. “You first.”
“Fine then. I’m Ginny Weasley.” She told him, ignoring cries from Sirius to be careful telling Draco anything. “Now it’s your turn.”
“I’m Draco.” He told her.
“That’s a weird name. Draco what?”
“Just Draco.” He told her.
“What brings you here then, Just Draco?” She asked, using the same stupid joke Sirius had. Draco sighed, as he built up the dramatics needed for it all.
“Funny story actually. You see I was kidnapped...”