Different worlds

As the two got closer to the 1st floor, they could hear Y/N talking, though they couldn't hear any other voices. "What do you mean it's been ages since you've seen us? You saw us on Halloween, and two weeks ago for Dad's birthday!"

Draco furrowed his brows, there's no way she was talking to her parents. He knew little to none about her family, but he was certain that her parents wouldn't tolerate their child living in the muggle world.

"I know, I know, but the kids wanted a smaller holiday this year. This is the first year celebrating it without their father." There was a brief pause, likely someone responding. "No, that does not make it all the more reason to drive two hours!"

Mattheo scooted closer to the door to the living room, it was cracked open just enough that he could look through. Y/N was talking on what he could only assume was a phone, though it looked nothing like what some of his friends taking muggle studies had ever described.

"Mum, if I go to your house for the Holidays the kids have to deal with their aunts and uncles, not to mention their cousins." Y/N tapped her nails on the table located underneath the phone. "Oh my- can you please get Dad on the phone?! I know he's listening!"

Draco stooped beside Mattheo and listened in, "ˢᵒᵘⁿᵈˢ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ˢʰᵉˢ ⁱⁿ ᵃ ᶠᵒᵘˡ ᵐᵒᵒᵈ•"

"ʷʰᵃᵗ ᵍᵃᵛᵉ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᵃʷᵃʸ?" Mattheo rolled his eyes and kept his focus through the door.

"How is me looking out for the well being of my kids, your grandkids, inconsiderate?!" "No, I'm not putting them on the phone!" "Nicky is napping, and Tori is at a sleepover." Y/N holds the phone away from her ear and mouths something to herself before taking a deep breath. "Ellie isn't a mediator, she was the first to agree to staying home!"

"ⁱ ᵃˢˢᵘᵐᵉ ᵗʰᵒˢᵉ ᵃʳᵉ ʰᵉʳ ᵏⁱᵈˢ?"

"ᵗʰᵉ ʰᵉˡˡ ᵃᵐ ⁱ ˢᵘᵖᵖᵒˢᵉᵈ ᵗᵒ ᵏⁿᵒʷ?!"

"Thanks dad, I'll be sure to let them know." "Alright, love you too. Bye-bye." She set the phone back on the wall, hearing it click and sighed, "Are you two done eavesdropping?"

Mattheo slowly pushed the door open, "didn't think it wise to interrupt."

Draco stared at the box Y/N was standing next to, "Those definitely weren't your parents. Who were they?"

Y/N gestured to the sofa and walked towards the bookshelf that stood beside the tv. "They're my in-laws, my husband's mum was trying to convince me to...reconsider not visiting them for the Holidays."

"I'm assuming she didn't take you saying no all too kindly?" Mattheo watched as Y/N walked closer to the bookcase filled with...Merlin knows what. This was the only time he wished he took muggle studies, cause all he's staring at are what look like a collection of plastic books.

Y/N scanned through the series of movies, trying to find something she would be interested in, "not in the slightest. Though, couldn't go even if I wanted to."

Draco looked away from the phone and slowly walked around the room. "I assume your family isn't here? Surely we would've seen them by now."

"I had them go elsewhere in case Death Eaters chose to track me down." She use her free hand to gesture to the two, "case in point."

Mattheo stood there and blinked a few times, surprised by the direct accusation (albeit a correct one). "What-"

"You're both 16, I know Tom would want his son ti join as soon as he could." She looked up and eyed Draco up and down, "as for Draco, it made perfect sense for him to join given his family's past. That...and Lucius ran into me shortly after Draco joined, he seemed overly proud to know he gave his only son a death wish."

Mattheo looked at Draco for a second, "How did Lucious find you anyways?" He turned his focus back to Y/N. "Highly doubt he'd enter the muggle world on a whim."

"Actually, I found him." Y/N looked between the three movies she picked out, trying to figure out which one she wanted to watch. "Someone informed Tom that there might've been a pureblood wandering around London and Lucius was sent to investigate. I was out with a few friends and felt a revealing charm cast nearby, so I followed it."

Draco scoffed and glared at her, "You're telling me yoy walked right up to my father and what, threatened him into staying quiet?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Y/N nodded and smirked, extremely proud of herself for doing so. "But it wasn't him I threatened per se; I warned him to get Tom off my back or his family would reap the consequences of his insubordination."

"You did what?" Mattheo tilted his head, eyes slightly widened from surprise. It was clearly an empty threat, as his father obviously hadn't stopped lookig into this and yet both Draco and Narcissa are in somewhat perfect condition.

"He didn't believe me, but also didn't wish to take his chances and agreed to lie." She set the three movie cases down and sighed giving the two her full attention. "Severus was even more annoying to convince, not like he has any loved ones I could've threatened." In reality, it was easy to get Snape to keep quiet; she threatened to give word to Tom that he wasn't loyal to the Death Eaters, that he hadn't been loyal to them for a very long time.

"Right, my question. Why is the Dark Lord so invested in hunting you down?" Draco kept a close eye on her. For the first time in the day he's been near her, he saw cracks in her facade and was desperate to have them break further.

"Either kill me or convince me to join him." Y/N shrugged and stepped towards on of her chairs, rotating it so she coukd sit down and still look at the two of them. "He knows that I would never give in to his hypocratical ideals willingly, so he'd most likely give me the option of 'join or die,' and if he knows me as well as he should, he knows damn well I'd rather die a second time."

"Why bother giving you the option if he knows you'll choose death?" Mattheo sat down on the sofa, leaning on the arm closest to her. "Given how long you've known him, you must know at least one secret that could destroy him."

"I know far more than just one secret...which should reasonably make him want to kill me even more, but I know he'll still give me a choice." Y/N leaned back in the chair, looking up at Draco as he continued to watch and analyze her every movement. "In his own fucked up way, he cares about my opinions and I know how much he despises that fact."

"So you two were...what exactly? It's clear my father cared at least a little given the memory at your old home."

Y/N shrugged, "We were complicated, there's really no other way to describe it. We supported eachother and respected the other's beliefs and opinions...even if we didn't approve of them." She rolled up her sleeves to above her elbows and held her arms out, revealing the scars that she obtained from years as an an auror and practicing her own twisted magic, "he would help heal any injuries I got from work while I listen to him ramble on about his meetings...it was strangely domestic for someone incapable of feeling empathy or remorse."

"Wait- you must be lying." Draco narrowed his eyes, "the Dark Lord stayed at Malfoy Mannor during his rise to power, and I doubt he'd risk being seen with the enemy...especially someone every Death Eater would know."

Y/N tilted her head to Draco and smiled, holding back a laugh. "Tom used Malfoy Manor as a base of operations, but he didn't live there. He lived with me, in that quaint little home since he left that annoying orphanage." She pulled her sleeves back down, "As I said, it was a strangely domestic situation between us. Last day of 6th year, that idiot chose to tell all of Hogwarts we were together and we just acted as such up until we agreed to go separate ways decades later...it was only then that he actually decided to move into Malfoy Manor."

Y/N waved her hand and brought the movies back into her grasp, standing up to place one of the VHS tapes into her vcr. "Look, I'm sure you're more than eager to learn all about my past and my connections with a bunch of monsters, but I'm not that excited to talk about it." She turned to look back at them, "I left the wizardung world to escape the prejudice and cruelty, and I'm sure as hell not willing to reopen old wounds all because you two are just the slightest bit curious. If you really wanna know that badly, ask Tom yourselves; tell him it was upon my request if you have to."

The two tried to speak, but their voices seemed to be drowned out by the TV as Y/N hit play on the remote. Draco looked away from the TV, he wasn't too thrilled to associate with more muggle technology. Mattheo looked to Y/N for a second, though she kept up her calm and unbothered demeanor and expression, there was the smallest hint of pain in her eyes that still remained after talking about this.

***

As end credits began to roll, Draco snapped out of his trance, purposefully zoning out the entire movie. He took the time to think of everything that's occurred throughout this entire year; from the sudden arrival of the Dark Lord at Malfoy Manor to over an hour ago with the conversation with Y/N and Mattheo. "Is it finally over?"

Y/N looks at Draco from the corner of her eyes before taking out the VHS tape, "For now...I assure you this is the last muggle device I'll make you suffer through until dinner." She set the tape in its case and stood up, placing it back in the bookcase, "Not like you were paying attention to it."

Mattheo carefully thought of his next words, trying to figure out a way to ease Y/N into talking again. "Why don't you ask us some more questions? I know we've tried to get you to talk a lot, it really only seems fair."

Y/N shifts her gaze from the bookcase to Mattheo, "Appreciate the thought, Theo, but there's really nothing to ask." She moves back to the chair she was previously sitting in and leaned against it, "I know all you've learned at Hogwarts and have no interest in talking about the Death Eaters or the poor soul one of you has to kill."

Draco felt his entire body tense up hearing that, "What makes you think we have to kill?"

"That's usually the task given to new members, there's no better way to prove your loyalty to a person than taking the life of another." Y/N pushed herself off the chair and knelt down in front of Draco, giving him a gentle smile. "I've seen the aftermath of those missions. I've also seen that same look in your eyes..." she pauses for a second and furrows her brows at she looks at the lost expression the blonde has on his face, "hesitation, doubt...regret."

"There's nothing to regret." Draco met her gaze, his expression shifting to one of irritation and defiance. "It is an honor to be chosen by him, and I know I won't let him down."

"I'd sure hope so...cause your life depends on it." Y/N stood up and looked at Mattheo, who wasn't too sure what to say. "I don't doubt your beliefs, but I definitely doubt your commitment to kill."

Mattheo stopped Draco from standing by grabbing onto his arm. He could tell this was just some way to get under Draco's skin, to prove how unprepared he was to face the Headmaster; however, he couldn't bare witness to a follower having doubt because he'd have no choice but to report it, friend or not.

"What makes you think I'm incapable of following orders? I'm more than capable of taking care of him!" Draco glared at her, her eyes both feeling empathetic and taunting at the same time and it was only angering him more. "What gives you the right to decide my ability to kill?!"

Y/N sighed and cursed to herself, taking hold of the two and apparating them out of the living room. She let them go, the warmth of her painted walls replaces with stone, the only light source came from the torches that were places against the walls.

Draco to a second to catch himself and looked around, the room feeling strangely familiar to the dungeons at Hogwarts. "The hell is this?!"

"I promised no more muggle nonsense, didn't I?" She nodded her head behind the two guys and walked past them to a wooden door which, when opened, lead to a larger room with scorch marks all over the stone.

Mattheo looked around to see two other doors on the adjacent walls. He opened one of them to see a potions station with a huge array of potion ingredients he didn't even recognize, though it wasn't as if he paid much attention to the items in the potions classroom anyways. "Where- where are we?"

Y/N ignored Mattheo and kept walking further towards into the room she was in. "I'm only willing to keep you two here for a few hours...I can only deal with so little light for so long." With a wave of her hand, both Draco and Mattheo felt their wands appearing in their grasps. "I have a room filled with potions stuff and one simply with parchments and enchanted book I can't trust near my family."

"Why..." Draco looked at his wand as if checking to make sure it was both real and undamaged. "Why bring us here?"

Y/N shrugged and held her hand behind her back, staring blankly at the wall. "It's a place away from prying eyes...but also the perfect moment for me to prove a point." She turned to look at the blonde, her expression cold and serious, "I'll give both of you half an hour each to lay a spell of me that could prove fatal."

Draco widened his eyes and felt his grip on his wand tighten, "why on Earth would I do that?"

Mattheo quickly entered the room Y/N and Draco were in, "how will this work?"

"You each have half an hour to cause me actual harm. I will be completely on the offensive for this."

"I repeat, why would I do something like this? What makes you think I'd engage in a duel where my enemy won't bother to fight back?"

Y/N raised as eyebrow, "isn't that your task as a Death Eater: attack the enemy when they're most vulnerable so they put up as little fight as possible?" She gave a bow and brought one of her hands to her chest, "consider this training. Besides, as least I'm aware you're trying to harm me."

Mattheo hummed and looked to Draco for a second, it wasn't a bad idea. "What happens if we fail to hurt you?"

"When you both fail, you two are to help me something important and return home shortly after."

"And if we succeed?"

She grinned and looked at the through a hooded gaze, she was certain she wouldn't lose, but might as well entertain the idea. "I'll return to Malfoy Manor with you, no questions asked."

Both Draco and Mattheo looked at her wide eyed and mouths slightly agape. Mattheo nodded his head and gave a determined smile, "Deal." He then turned to look at Draco.

The blonde saw the look in his friend's eyes and sighed, "fine. Who goes first?"