32 Helping a Friend

As soon as Draco returned to the Malfoy Manor, he felt lost as to what to do. He paced nervously in front of the fireplace, thinking about the situation. After all, Lord Nott was a dangerous man to cross – as one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight Lords and purebloods, as well as Voldemort's loyal follower, Finlay Nott was proven to be cunning and resourceful.

On top of that, he had enough connections, which ensured that he hadn't been thrown to Azkaban after the Dark Lord's demise. It wasn't surprising – the man was quite old for having a son, who was almost nine-years-old; his wife gave birth to Theo when the man was almost sixty-years-old. He, unlike Lucius, had already deeply established himself in the Ministry at the time, so the Nott Lord didn't need to rely on his family or support two sides at the same time during the war to avoid being suspected.

As Draco was pondering about how to approach the problem, he also wondered why Arcturus wanted an eight-year-old child to deal with this situation in the first place. The man hinted about Theo's situation so heavily and then even told Draco outright that the boy's suspicions were, most likely, correct. Was this some kind of test from the Black Lord?

Draco shook his head and concentrated – now wasn't the time to think about the underlying factors, which didn't matter at the moment anyway.

"Chirp chirp!"

The boy's head suddenly snapped up – he was startled as he hadn't heard the little phoenix's entry and its sudden voice almost scared him to death.

"You sure know, how to make yourself known," Draco smiled softly at the flaming bird, which landed on his shoulder and was in the process of nuzzling his face with its cheek.

"Chiiirp!"

The little phoenix finally learned how to fly back in summer, when they were still in France. Abraxas was happy to tort- ahem, 'train' not only his grandson but also his grandson's future familiar. In older man's words: 'It is a disgrace for a Malfoy scion to have a familiar, which acts pitiful instead of imposing!"

Despite the initial first impression, when Abraxas completely didn't notice the very obvious phoenix and later even called it a 'disgrace', the man and the bird got along very well. Draco's grandfather was also quite proud of his grandson for being so outstanding, however, he wasn't happy about the way that the boy dealt with the situation in Egypt. Even if Draco thought about how to deal with all of the risks and situations when he went into the poacher's hide-out, the boy shouldn't have gone there by himself when he barely knew any magic.

Even though Draco got momentarily distracted by the lovable bird and the memories of Egypt, it wasn't for long. Suddenly, his eyes sparkled as a plan started forming in his head.

"I will need your help, my little friend, however first there's something else I need to do," the boy said to the phoenix. The bird thrilled in understanding and flew up from the boy's shoulder. It settled down on the fireplace's mantel and curiously observed what Draco would be doing.

The blond boy didn't waste his time – as soon as he had the idea, he quickly took out his communication mirror and called for Deborah Aston, the Dragon Enterprises' senior manager.

"Deborah, I need you to quickly send me a recording mirror. I hope that not all of them were sold-out?"

"A moment, sir. I will check the inventory lists," The young witch had a quick mind and could see that her boss was in a hurry. She took out another communication mirror and connected to the sales staff on the ground floor. After a quick discussion, she severed the connection and turned back to Draco.

"Sir, we have a few pairs of recording mirrors left."

"Alright, you have my mirror identification number. Connect the recording mirror to mine as soon as possible – I will send my house elf to pick it up in a minute."

Deborah nodded and disconnected the call.

In around ten minutes Draco held in his hands two mirrors – one was his own personal mirror, while the other one was the recording one. Recording mirrors worked basically the same as video cameras – from which Draco got his inspiration and advised his researchers to design some.

Recording mirrors could be connected to personal ones, which were used for communication, or they could be used by themselves. The difference was that when it was connected with a personal mirror, the recorded image could be seen in it too. While when used by itself, one could view the recording only after it has finished filming.

"Missy, become invisible and go to the Nott manor. I want you to use this mirror to record Lord Nott's use of Dark magic and anything else illegal that you witness him doing," Draco placed the recording mirror into the elf's hands and carefully instructed her. "Make sure that you and the mirror are invisible and undetectable. And, no matter what you see, you cannot interfere! Even if you want to help, unless it's a question of life and death, you cannot reveal yourself!"

"Missy understands, young master. Missy will make sure to do what young master wants," she promised. With a loud cracking sound, she disappeared to do her mission.

Draco hoped that nothing would happen. After a moment of thought, he glanced at his own communication mirror and called, "Theodore Nott!"

He waited for ten seconds but there was no answer so he tried again. After a few times, the boy ceased his attempts to connect and released a worried sigh.

"I hope he is alright," he said to the phoenix, which had been watching Draco's actions all this time. The bird was very smart, not at all like muggle animals. Although it was young, it already suffered so much from human hands – it would do whatever Draco asked to help his friend.

Draco carefully stroked the bird's head as he waited. Although he knew that Finlay Nott wasn't necessarily torturing his son right at this moment, he couldn't bring himself to move away from the fireplace. After all, Theo wasn't answering the calls, so who knew what was happening over there? Maybe Draco would need to rush out at moment's notice or call for aurors and healers.

Although he would prefer to not get the Ministry involved and make the case official, he would do it if necessary. However, Lord Nott had vast connections there and it would be hard for Draco to make the man admit to anything without evidence, so it would be better to have the recording. It wasn't the best solution, but it could be used as a threat.

As luck would have it, Draco's mirror flashed a golden light and a recording started playing. The boy's eyes got wide and he resisted the urge to puke right there and then – Finlay Nott was directing his wand at Theo and holding a red-lighted spell active. His son was, at first, kneeling on his knees and enduring the curse but a few seconds later he slumped forwards – completely unconscious.

Despite that, the boy's body was shuddering and trembling violently and the man didn't let up the spell until a full minute has passed.

"Hmph, you should be grateful for this training," Finlay Nott disdainfully looked at the boy's body, which still had an occasional tremor, and turned away. After calling a house elf to return Theo to his quarters, the man went off to read a book.

That was when the recording ended.

Draco was trembling in anger and worry. However, he forcefully tried to calm himself down and soon his face was free of emotions once again. Only the boy's gray eyes held a hint of burning fury.

How dare that man? How dare he?!

It was one thing to suspect – but seeing the reality was a completely different matter.

The little phoenix chirped angrily beside the blond boy. When Draco watched the recording, it perched on his shoulder once again and quietly observed the happenings inside the mirror together with the blonde. The bird recognized the spell, which was being used on the small figure, and remembered, how painful it was when it had been used on it before.

"Missy!"

The elf, who, at the moment, was observing Finlay Nott, felt her young master's call. She quickly left the Nott manor and appeared at Draco's side once again.

Draco couldn't wait for Missy to gather more evidence – Theo was unconscious from the torture and, although a wizard's body was sturdier than a muggle's, it would be dangerous to leave him untreated. If the boy's mind was also affected, that would be even more disastrous!

After retrieving the recording mirror from Missy, Draco once again contacted Deborah and asked her to send him a few more. He wanted to make copies and hide them somewhere safe.

As soon as that was done, Draco called his mother, to let her know that he would be visiting Theo, and quickly left the manor. Making sure that people knew, where he was, would guarantee his safety somewhat. Unless Lord Nott went insane from all of his uncontrollable emotions, which were induced by over usage of Dark magic, Draco felt that he wouldn't be outright attacked.

As soon as Draco arrived unannounced to the Nott manor, he was greeted by a house elf.

"Young master Malfoy, Rabby greets you and apologizes. Young master is not seeing his friends today," although the elf was polite, within the first sentence it implied that Draco's presence was unwelcome and urged for the boy to leave.

"It's a good thing that I am here to see Lord Nott today then," Draco commented casually. He completely ignored the elf and, after exiting the room with the fireplace, he went up the stairs to Finlay Nott's study. It wasn't the boy's first time here, so he knew where everything was.

Draco unceremoniously entered the study, without bothering to knock or announce his presence – the blond already knew that Theo's father was aware of his presence in the manor as the house elf would have reported it.

Without pausing to check his surroundings, Draco went straight to a sofa, which stood opposite to the couch where Lord Nott was sitting with a book in his hands, and sat straight in the middle of it. Due to his small height and childish appearance, the arrogant and imperious actions appeared a bit humorous but neither of the two wizards present in the room felt like laughing.

"And to what do I owe this… pleasure, I am sure… of your unexpected company?" asked Finlay Nott slowly, barely taking his eyes off the book to grace Draco with a glance. A lesser man would have immediately felt embarrassed to have rushed in like that, but Draco felt anything but that. Without ceremony he threw the recording mirror onto the table, which separated the sofa, where Draco perched himself, looking completely relaxed, and the couch, where Lord Nott was sitting.

"And what is this? An advertisement to buy your product?" Theo's father snorted disdainfully. He didn't move to pick the mirror up.

Draco didn't say anything – moments later the mirror lit up with golden colour, indicating the start of the recording, and its contents spoke louder than anything the boy could have said. When the recording finished, neither of the two wizards moved, however, their gazes were clashing silently in a battle of wills.

Finlay Nott felt that he met an equal opponent, but that thought was just ridiculous! A boy, not even nine-years-old, came here to do what? Threaten him? How dare he!

"And what does it mean?" He finally opened his mouth to ask calmly. Despite the turbulent emotions, the man was quite an experienced politician – he wouldn't be intimidated or lose his calm before a child.

"Right now it only means that I have evidence of your wrongdoings. If they don't cease, I am afraid that it will mean a lot more," Draco smiled helplessly and shrugged, as though the matter was out of his hands. Despite his angelic appearance, the boy looked anything but like a holy being.

Finlay Nott didn't waste his time with words and directly raised his wand to Obliviate the child. Why waste words, when he could just make the boy forget everything?

However, his hand froze in the risen position and he couldn't move at all. What was happening?

"Ah, ah, ah," sang Draco gently, as though reprimanding a naughty child. "I am afraid that you won't be able to cast magic on me today. You see, I am not alone here."

Lord Nott's eyes got a bit wider and Draco clearly saw a flash of panic in them.

The boy wasn't stupid enough to go and negotiate with powerful enemies alone. Even back in Egypt, he took Johan together, so why would this time be any different? Missy, his wonderful and cute little elf, was accompanying Draco in an invisible and silent form.

Draco casually gestured with his hand and Lord Nott was unfrozen. The man carefully checked his surroundings, but, hearing the boy's chuckle, he ceased his attempts to find another presence in the room and lowered his wand.

"Let's continue our chat," Draco reminded. Although he looked completely relaxed, he was actually very worried about Theo. It had already been half an hour since the boy fell unconscious – Draco didn't know whether his condition was serious or not and he wanted to quickly find his friend instead of wasting his time here. But, establishing dominance was important when it came to negotiations so he couldn't be rushed or reveal any of his weaknesses to the opponent.

"What do you want?" Finlay asked through gritted teeth. It seemed that the man was finally losing some of his patience. Draco was sure that the fact that Lord Nott didn't bother to control his Dark magic and its influence on emotions also didn't help the man's situation.

"Finally, we came to the correct question!" Draco smiled widely. Lord Nott felt like strangling the infuriating child but he controlled himself, knowing that they weren't alone in the room. He would have to triple check the manor's wards later.

"What I want is simple," continued the child. "You don't lay a hand, or in this case a wand, on Theo and I will be absolutely happy to keep this little recording, and some of its copies, to myself."

Lord Nott's hopes of destroying the mirror to get rid of the evidence were dashed.

After a few seconds of consideration, he agreed to the proposal. Anyway, it wasn't like he absolutely had to torture his son – he could just find muggles to have some fun with.

"Even though I agree, I want a magical oath that you won't disclose the recordings, or any of their copies, to anyone else," the man didn't forget to add.

"Of course," Draco easily agreed. With the man's addiction to torture, he was sure that it wouldn't be hard to get some new recordings of Lord Nott's illegal dealings. Those wouldn't be included in the oath after all. "Now, I would like for Theo to visit Malfoy manor for the coming week."

Finlay Nott glared at the impetuous child but still agreed. It wasn't like he had much choice in this situation. Besides, Lord Nott wasn't stupid enough to do permanent damage to his own child – he still needed an heir, and impregnating another woman to raise another child would be too bothersome if this one was damaged.

After completing their oaths (Draco had to use one of Nott family's old wands as he didn't have his own), the blond boy went to get Theo.

When Draco entered his friend's room, the dark-haired boy was sleeping on his bed. His breathing was a bit quick and shallow – Draco touched the boy's forehead and it was burning.

He didn't waste time and called for another of the Malfoy family's house elves to take his sick friend back. Draco didn't want to reveal that the mysterious person, who accompanied him, was a house elf, in case Lord Nott was spying on him.

After Theo disappeared from the bed, Draco went back to the fireplace and floo'ed back home.

---

With the help of healing potions and phoenix tears, Theo quickly woke up and got better. It only took the boy few days to be completely healed but Draco didn't let him to leave the bed.

"You should have told me, Theo," said Draco to his friend. He was sitting in one of the manor's guest rooms, on the edge of the bed where Theo was resting.

The dark-haired boy smiled, "I didn't want to worry you or make you blame yourself. Actually, even before our adventure in Egypt, my father liked to use spells on me. When I was a child and cried, he sometimes cursed me because I wouldn't shut up. Despite the silencing wards and big manor, he would deliberately come into the nursery and cause me to cry – he just wanted an excuse to torture me a bit. Later, I got quieter because I learned that it was dangerous to make noise so he gradually forgot about me. But it wasn't like he stopped entirely…" Theo shrugged sadly.

Draco sat there in silence. Personally, he never experienced abuse, so how could he know what to say in this situation? It was already good enough that he ensured that Theo would no longer have to suffer from his father's unforgiving hand in his own house.

"You have friends, who will always worry about you," the blond boy finally said.

Theo revealed a wider smile. "Yes, I know. I will also be a good friend to you all. Thank you, Draco."

Draco felt a bit embarrassed now, so he coughed lightly to ease the atmosphere. At that moment the phoenix, which had been in the room the entire time but was completely ignored, thrilled a happy song and both boys relaxed as they listened to the melody.

"I still can't believe that you haven't told me about the phoenix before," mumbled Theo when the song ended.

"Chiirp chirp!" The fiery bird agreed. How could anyone hide its majestic presence from others?