𝑆𝐴𝑉𝐼𝑁𝐺 𝐷𝑅𝐴𝐶𝑂 𝑀𝐴𝐿𝐹𝑂𝑌

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑 - 𝐜𝐚𝐠𝐞

In my Mother's stillness, I could feel her grief. She raised her eyes to mine and took a long breath in.

"There is nothing we can do for your Father at this moment. He was caught red-handed. This trial is for us."

It was as we had expected it. After the scandal of what happened at the Department of Mysteries a few weeks ago broke to the newspapers, there was no way the Ministry would let us negotiate the release of my Father. Their next goal was to investigate us. If we were found guilty of conspiring with him, we would be put in Azkaban as well.

"Don't you worry, Draco. We are not going to Azkaban. Your father and I have made sure of that. But for more security, the Dark Lord will come here tomorrow evening to conceal our Marks. If the Ministry were to see them, they would send us straight to Azkaban."

The amount of resentment I held for this man was already inconceivable. I felt hopeless that without his help, we could be arrested and condemned for life. I hated how my life depended on him now.

"But what about Father?"

Mother would never admit something she didn't want to. She only walked up to me and ran her hand back and forth securely on my back, the way she always did when I was a child.

"Once your task is completed, the Dark Lord will have more power than ever before. He will find a way of getting him out."

I felt the burden on my shoulders heavier than ever. If need be, Voldemort could take my Father out of Azkaban at any given moment and simply put him in hiding. Last year he had found a way to bring back Aunt Bellatrix and nine other Death Eaters. He could do it for Bella but not his most loyal servant?

Then again, Bella was his mistress and his personal punching bag, and Voldemort couldn't go a day without degrading and humiliating someone. But no, I didn't think it was a matter of importance for Voldemort.

No; all Voldemort wanted was to torture us as a family, as a whole. He wanted more pressure on my task. He wanted Lucius Malfoy never to meet his son again.

"It all comes down to you. Do it, and all will go back to normal," Mother lied with a bitter smile.

There were lies in her eyes. It was a task doomed to fail and with that same purpose. To Mother, to Voldemort, to me, I was a man walking to his death.

When she left, I took the liquor from my Father's drawer, locked my door twice and drank until it was impossible to think straight. I cried and slept otherwise easily.

⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼

After the trial, my mother took a long fall to hysteria. She never shed a tear, only clutched her pillow and screamed in it. I could hear her across the empty halls.

The Ministry set us on house arrest for two months – from the 24th of June until the 24th of August – and assigned Aurors to watch us like hawks at all times.

Mother sold an estate in Wales and managed to buy us some privacy. Who knew Aurors were so easy to bribe? Now they would at least stay at a safe distance outside the Manor and wouldn't bother us throughout the day.

We closed every curtain in the Manor, our own effort to shut the intruders' eyes away. Then again, every curtain in the Manor was either green or grey and effectively blocking out every stream of sun.

The Manor became a dungeon, a prison of our own device, and I was progressively feeling the silk jail closing around me.

"Look at them..." I shook my head while peeking through heavy, closed drapes. "They haven't moved an inch since morning."