Chapter 12

When hanging with Harry's friends, the DADA club, tutoring, brewing with Snape, the walks with Hagrid, and the Quidditch with Ron and Ginny all became some part of a chaotic routine, it was the little moments with Harry that Draco appreciated the most.

Sometimes it was just as simple as waking up next to him, Harry smiling animatedly while talking, or the walks back to the castle after visiting Grimmauld's Place.

They also had moments like when Draco was talking to Luna at breakfast, holding a toast, and by the time she turned back to eat it, Harry was munching on it, even though there were plenty available right in front of him.

Or when they finally got to Hogsmeade together, and Harry still had a childlike wonder for anything magical that Draco had long forgotten, but with him, even the most boring bespelled objects could become treasure again.

Draco bought a self-levitating wheelchair for Snape and a charmed case for Harry's glasses that adjusted the glasses' prescription to its owner's sight every couple of months. The first time Harry used it, Draco almost had a heart attack that something was wrong, but Harry was simply shocked by the difference, and for the whole day he kept telling everyone how he could see them better.

"Who knew," he kept saying, and after a while, Draco thought he was making fun of Draco's present, but then he also pulled Draco close in an alcove saying. "And you…you look even more attractive now - if there's such a thing."

"Stop it," Draco said. "I am attractive indeed, but if you think it was a stupid present, then just tell me, and I'll take it back."

"No, I'm telling you how much I like it," Harry said.

"I got it the first hundred times," Draco reminded him. "It barely cost more than a chocolate frog, but you're…"

"Making a big deal out of it?" Harry guessed. "I'm not trying to ridicule you. I never knew I could buy something like this, and I rarely get presents, that's all. If I look too happy it's because I AM."

It took some time until Draco's mind registered even the possibility of what Harry said.

"You're Harry Potter, you must get loads of presents."

"Chocolate dosed with a love potion, sometimes," Harry shrugged. "And since first year, Christmas is something to look forward to, as my birthday, but there's still some novelty in every thoughtful gift I get, even if they aren't expensive."

"You didn't get any presents until you were 11?" Draco echoed.

"We're late for class."

"Harry," she stopped him, making him look at her. "Not even for your birthdays or something?"

"My relatives didn't appreciate my existence, so why would they celebrate a day commemorating it?" Harry just asked. "But that's okay. Just believe me: I'm not making fun of you."

"I should have bought the whole store for you," Draco kissed him.

"Yeah, no, that's easy," Harry said. "You took your time to get me something I didn't even know I need, that's different."

Draco could only huff.

"I mean, you must have noticed your vision wasn't as great as it used to be if it's making that much of a difference."

"It was a gradual process, so no?" Harry said.

"I'll buy you a present each week," Draco decided.

"Don't," Harry said. "I have money. Maybe not as much as you, but I can buy anything I need."

"But where's the fun in that," Draco said. "I should surprise you with something every day. Even if not going on a spending spree, perhaps."

"I'm serious," Harry warned.

"So am I," Draco agreed.

"Don't you even try…"

"Or else?" Draco asked, and couldn't help but smile.

It was funny to tease Harry as per their usual 7-year-old dynamic, but only exchanging kisses instead of curses, and horrifying him with the promise of some inexpensive presents.

So maybe Draco put some other household spells on a few of Harry's things too, and some worked out as expected, some were meant to entertain.

For instance, Draco might have charmed Harry's school robes to fly dramatically behind him (for a week, until the spell lasted). Or, put a minor accompanying spell on Harry's wand that every time Harry used Lumos the light coming from it was tinted with green.

But she also added some self-cleaning functions to Harry's forever muddy shoes, recast a few spells on his broom that made it slightly swifter, and put a general warming charm on some of Harry's favorite Muggle shirts, when it started to get colder and he constantly forgot to put on a cloak.

"This is it!" Harry told her in the morning. "Did you or did you not put a charm on my quill to squeak whenever I tried to write?"

"Whyever would you think it was me?" Draco absentmindedly wondered.

"We're going to have to settle this as any mature couple would, or I'm going to prank you back with WWW products and you don't want that," Harry offered, and for some reason, Draco believed him.

"I don't think Quidditch counts as a mature conflict resolution technique."

"I have a better idea: Gobstones," Harry announced. "Hermione just happened to purchase a few sets for DADA practice, and she might have extracted the liquid from them, but I saved a set for us."

"So you want to defeat me by a child's game."

"I never said we're going to play the game properly with it, just that you're going to lose, Draco."

"Famous last words," Draco noted.

As it turned out, Harry was just as bad of a cheater as any Slytherin - if he chose to be - so by the end of their first private tournament, both of them smelled so bad it was funny.

"You smell so badly someone reported it. From Hogsmeade," Draco stated. "Because, you know. The stink reached even there."

"Say what you will, you're worse off," Harry wasn't intimidated. "And that was my plan."

"Hm, I suppose you aren't wrong. At this rate, if I went to take a shower, the bathtub would get a heart attack on my sight," Draco couldn't even feel most of it already, but even what she was left with was plenty. "But then the joke's on you because if there's no cleaning spell that could rid of this smell. So you're the one who can't kiss your girlfriend for a week."

"Yeah, no," Harry announced, stepping closer. "Because I don't care either way."

And, he did kiss Draco, as gross as they were, and she wished they'd have more time to just have more moments like that: Harry used a dozen or so cleaning spells, and they ended up in Draco's bed.

That's where Harry also admitted.

"This morning, I wanted to use my toothpaste - as one would," he said. "And you spelled it to move on its own, so… it got everywhere except my toothbrush."

"Sorry, that wasn't even supposed to occur," Draco said. "But maybe it's time I retire my pranking skills."

"I'd appreciate that," Harry said.

"But I can't be held responsible for the spells that I had already used," Draco said. "I doubt I could recall them all, and most of them will fade eventually…"

"Ceasefire?" Harry asked.

"Ceasefire," Draco promised. "For now, at least."

"Ominous," Harry noted.

"Be forever grateful for my mercy," Draco agreed with a smile.

It was no surprise they slept in after such a full day, but when Draco opened her eyes, someone was in her dorm, standing at the door, simmering with resentment mixed with a pinch of disgust.

"Father? What are you doing here?" at first she thought she was having a nightmare.

It was one thing she couldn't see Lucius' face because he was standing in the shadows, and another how she knew nothing good could come of him founding Draco not just in one bed with Harry Potter, but also with their limbs entangled, and probably still not vanilla-scented after the Gobstones.

"We're leaving. You'll never return, so don't leave anything behind," Lucius said. "I'd say get dressed and meet me outside the castle in 5 minutes, but you reek so you better not follow me until you cleaned yourself properly first."

"I don't remember any discussion regarding why I should leave the school," Draco said.

"I don't owe an explanation to you," Lucius hissed. "But your mother has suddenly fallen ill, and now I start to understand why."

"Don't put this on me," Draco said.

"She knew, did she not?" her father asked. "No wonder she felt faint. We've raised you better than this. But it ends here. Don't dawdle, or I will leave without you."

When he left, and Draco turned to gather some necessities for the quickest shower, Harry was also awake, blinking up at her worried.

"How much you've heard?"

"All of it," he admitted. "Don't go."

"I can't just abandon my mother if she's unwell," Draco told him.

"But if you leave now, your father looked like he meant it, and he'd never let you come back to Hogwarts as long as you live," Harry looked genuinely concerned.

"Well, then I guess you either have to trust me," Draco packed while speaking. "Or let's hope I'll be an attractive ghost."

"It's not funny," Harry said.

"I agree," Draco told him. "But I see no other choice."

Harry just sighed.

"And, I'm very motivated to return," Draco told him. "That should count for something."

"It does," Harry agreed, kissing her gently. "But I've also seen Lucius Malfoy shaking from furious anger, and the way he talked to you now was worse."

"I don't need an instruction guide, he's my father, remember?" Draco said. "But, I can also take care of myself, and I'm also his only legacy, so I'll be fine. Just please tell everyone I'll be gone for a while. Snape—"

"I'll handle Snape, don't worry," Harry reassured her. "Just focus on your mother, until she gets better."

"I'll write," Draco didn't have time to say more, and she truly thought it was just a matter of an owl.

Unfortunately, Harry was right. Lucius Malfoy was rarely so angry with Draco - ever - in her entire life. So upon arrival, an elf took Draco's wand and trunk and accompanied her by Lucius' order everywhere.

Draco was only allowed to tend to her sick mother, and she got a guestroom to sleep in, and that was it.

"You can't keep me locked up like this for long," she told Lucius one night.

"Try me."

"At least you could send me an owl to my friends saying I'm going to live," Draco said. "Before you hold me hostage in my own home."

"I'm not," Lucius said. "But as I've explained to the Headmistress, your mother needs care, and you'll also be busy with another matter soon."

"With what?" Draco asked. "The elf won't even let me get a book to read. I'm anything but busy."

"You'll soon be wed to Blaise Zabini," Lucius said.

"You must be joking. He hates me. And his mother—"

"His mother also happens to spend money as if she had a philosopher's stone. So they're willing to overlook some of your obvious flaws, in exchange for our family fortune," Lucius coldly said. "The contract would be finalized in days."

"If Mother wasn't sick, she'd never let you do this," Draco warned him. "If you do it, she'll never forgive you."

"That's where you're wrong," Lucius said. "She was the one who started to look into potential prospects for you after she saw you last."

"She said she would never let me marry for politics," Draco didn't want to argue, but without Narcissa, or a plan, she could do exactly nothing to stop her father.

"And this isn't a political marriage. You know Zabini well. And our family has nothing to gain by this union."

"Then put a stop to it," Draco said.

"But if I was being honest," Lucius looked at her. "I'd rather let you marry a toad than get pregnant from the likes of Potter, so the contract is as good as already done."

"You can't—"

"You should be grateful if I happen to push for a clause so Zabini won't inherit your whole fortune if you mysteriously disappear. I hear his mother might have a couple of tricks up her sleeve in that area," Lucius noted. "But say one more word now, and I might just change my mind."

Draco expected Lucius would be petty enough to sign in it in her name, just because he caught her with Harry of all people, but she was rather worried for her mom. She'd never seen her this weak. Lucius had their healer called over, but none of the spells, magic, or potions he tried worked.

"What's wrong with her?" Draco asked Lucius one night, when Draco just returned to her mother's quarters with the elf, and she found her father in Narcissa's room. "Why didn't you call me sooner?"

"You. You broke her heart," Lucius stated.

"I didn't," she hated how she was close to believing him, even if she'd never let him know that.

"She wouldn't tell me, of course, still protecting you," her father said. "But the last time she saw you, something has changed. So I owe it to her to proceed with your marriage contract, with or without her."

"As much as she might have disapproved of my choices, she isn't bedridden because of that," Draco warned. "And ancient laws get you only so far. If I can find a way out of the Manor, and renounce your name, I'm free of you - forever."

"You'd have nothing to your name. And that name wouldn't be our family name, either."

"I think I'd manage," Draco calmly stated.

"You are in no position to make threats," Lucius said. "After all, even if you had your wand, you're frail."

He might have meant it as an insult, but it only made Draco remember when Harry gave her wand back in the Ministry after her trial.

After losing her wand once, she had a special summoning charm on it, that might have not been advisable to use every single day (it risked the integrity of the wand), but when pushed so far, she felt like the situation justified the risk.

It was probably just extreme helplessness that helped her make the elf sleep before the servant could reach her father.

Then all the DADA practice kicked in that helped her to get the upper hand for just a brief moment, incapacitating Lucius at least until she could get into the magic of the wards, that were set to keep her in the Manor.

"You've just ruined your life," Lucius told her, at that point not even trying to stop her from leaving. "And mark my words: you'll never see your mother again."

So when Draco finally could Apparate to the safest place she could think of - Grimmauld's place - and almost fell to her face because she was hurt, when Andromeda appeared, Draco confided in her.

"My mother. She's sick. Unconscious. And I left her with him—my father. I have to go back."

It's not like she came out of the duel with Lucius unscathed, so she either fainted or fell into a deep sleep, but at dawn when she woke, Snape, Andromeda, and a very worried Harry were already in the kitchen, talking.

"Are you okay?" Harry almost ran to her, not even taking her word for it, as if he was about to check her by holding her close.

"I will be," Draco said, not wishing to consider what she gained by defying Lucius, nor what she'd lost. "But my mom's sick, and I just left her there, and my father threatened I'll never see her again."

"Do you think he'd done something to her?" Harry asked. "Is he the reason she's sick?"

"No. At least I don't think so," Draco shook her head. "But the healer couldn't make her better. And I don't think he's in his right mind, and that's my fault. I only left to get help and return…"

"He's probably changed the wards as soon as you left," Snape said. "So you can't go back."

"I know," Draco hung her head.

"But maybe my 'demise' has its merits after all, and how only the Headmistress and the current company know I survived," Snape jokingly noted. "I was keyed into the wards by the direction of the Dark Lord, so if Lucius didn't think to exclude me, maybe I could just—"

"It's a big if," Andromeda commented.

"And you aren't going anywhere in your current state," Harry added.

"Oh, are you telling me what I'm allowed to do or not?" Snape glared at him.

"But we can organize a rescue for Narcissa," Harry said, ignoring him.

"She isn't a hostage there," Andromeda noted. "She married that wizard."

"Yet, the only heir she gave to Lucius had just renounced the family name," Snape said. "And Narcissa isn't capable to talk him down, as she usually probably could."

"That's where we come in," Harry announced.

It was more than foolish to even consider going near the Manor again - if they could get through the wards, in the first place - but Harry just offered as if it was just another Tuesday for him. And for once, Draco wanted to be more of a Gryff than him.

"I don't know what my father will do," she said. "But given the current state of my mother, even if he doesn't do anything, she could die without help. So…"

"Let's do it right, and ask for help," Harry said. "My friends…"

"No," Snape interjected. "I can Side-Apparate 2 people maximum, and more people would only announce our presence before we could say as much as a greeting anyway."

"There's no 'we'," Harry enunciated.

"You'd prefer if I went on my own, then?" Snape questioned. "Think of the wards as a lock, Potter. They are too sophisticated to break with brute force, no matter how powerful you think you are. So if anyone's going, it has to include me. I'm the key."

"I'll also go," Andromeda unexpectedly said.

"No, I should," Draco corrected.

"No, you barely made it out yesterday," Harry said. "You can still hardly stand, and I don't want Lucius to catch you there, not after what happened."

"Someone needs to watch Teddy until I return," Andromeda directed.

Draco would have never-ever thought she'd be on babysitter duty when the stakes were so high, but she was still healing, and the older witch put her hand on Draco's.

"I'll protect my sister - your family. So you'll stay here and watch over mine. And if we get Narcissa, we can figure out the rest later."