Prisoner of A Father

Crabbe and Goyle, after making him promise he’s fine, leave him to sit by the giant stones and think over how epicly he failed. He’d sworn to BuckBeak that he wouldn’t die.

Draco had given the Malfoy word that no innocent blood would be spilled.

And yet…

Failure found him. Just like in first and second year when he tried to protect Harry. Or when he tried to hide his growing issues from his friends. Would he always fail when it was important? Days would come where failure would not be an option, and he had thought this was one of them…..Draco had been wrong. 

It would always be an option, but next time he would have to make sure it wasn’t the one he chose. 

He’s not sure how long he’s out there before he hears footsteps and a hand is placed on his shoulder. 

“So...he’s…”

For some weird reason, Draco’s throat can’t dignify Harry with an answer. Personally he thinks the sob Hermione muffles against Weasley’s chest is more than enough. 

There’s shuffling beside him and then Harry is sitting down, arm awkwardly around his shoulders in a side hug and for more reasons Draco can’t fathom, he leans into the touch and maybe it isn’t awkward at all. Maybe it’s very grounding and pleasant and just what he needs at the moment. 

Not that it lasts for long.

Weasley gasps behind him, and then he says probably the strangest thing a person can say when four friends are mourning the loss of something pure.

“Scabbers?”

Call him mentally fucked, but Draco’s had a very long week and he can’t stop the near manic laughter that spills out of his mouth. “Who the fuck is Scabbers?”

Scabbers, apparently, is a Weasley’s pet rat, who has decided now would be a great time to try and escape from the red-headed horrors he’s been subjected to for however long rats live. Draco thinks nothing of it, it’s a rat for Merlin’s sakes.

Weasley has other ideas.

He tears after the creature, shouting his name while Harry scrambles to his feet to follow Hermione who’s running after her mangled little lion and since all his friends are doing it, Draco thinks what the hell and sprints after them. 

Nearly a mile later and he’s realizing he probably shouldn’t turn his brain off the second finals end. Proof of his theory lies in the fact that he doesn’t even realize where he’s at until after Weasley has thrown himself on the ground to catch his vermin. Draco really doesn’t even notice until Hermione starts to back up and says “Um, Ron-”

And then, as if this afternoon hadn’t already been weird as hell, the boys all slowly look up to see two very alarming things.

One, they chased a rat to the Whomping Willow.

Two, there’s a giant black dog growling right at Weasley.

In all fairness, Draco doesn’t see dogs as threats because his father used to have two and he’s about to start talking Weasley through getting away from an angry mut when said animal bites down on the boy’s ankle and starts dragging him even closer towards the tree.

Studying for exams didn’t teach him what the fuck he was supposed to do when his friend gets dragged down into a notoriously dangerous artifact of nature, much less how to stop a tree from trying to kill him and his other two friends. 

Everything’s a bit of a blur from there, Draco really can’t remember most of it and he starts to think that maybe he’s reached his threshold for shit he can go through before his mind snaps again. All he knows is one second he’s throwing a protection charm at Harry while clinging to a vicious branch that seems hell-bent on tossing him off the face of the Earth, and the next second he’s going down the same rabbit hole he watched Weasley be dragged off to. Harry lands on him seconds before he can yelp. Hermione tumbles in moments after they’ve stood up and once he’s repaired Harry’s glasses, he swears he going to charm them to never break again, they all look at each other and silently agree that today can’t possibly get any stranger, so why not follow the path that’s supposedly been under the Murder Tree this whole time. 

The fates must really have a grudge against him. 

Draco, on pure instinct, has his wand out and aimed. Not that being armed lessens the shock value of seeing Sirius Black, in the flesh, with his wand pointed at an injured Weasley. He knows it’s a dumb move, but it doesn’t stop him from threatening. 

“Back. Away. Slowly.” 

Apparently all those torture sessions with his father had taught him the crucial tactic of remaining in control during a crisis. On the plus side, he does have most of the Informed Potter Protection Squad with him. Weasley’s pretty useless, but Hermione keeps Harry behind him, so at least they have that going for them. Draco walks them in a tight formation, arm outstretched to help keep dear old Scar Face away from the possible killer. He doesn’t stop moving until their little group is in front of the sniffling idiot with a hurt ankle. 

“Lower your wand.” He commands. 

Black laughs in his face, so he quickly disarms him and takes the stupid thing. And then there’s a pretty tense moment where Draco’s a hundred percent sure he’s going to die, right before Lupin bursts into the room with LuLu hot on his heels. 

Furthering the belief that this entire day has been one really weird nightmare, Lupin doesn’t even look at them. He goes right to Black and pulls him into a very tight hug, running a hand through the other’s hair and kissing his forehead for the hell of it. They obviously forget their audience. 

“You moron. I’ll kill Dumbledore for doing this to you,” They hear Lupin whisper and ya know, Draco’s not all that opposed to the idea. 

“Don’t worry, love,” Black’s breathless laugh turns some weird type of chord in him, “I don’t think our friends will disagree with you.” 

“Excuse me!” Granger calls out. Oh yeah. They don’t know. “What the hell is going on?! I trusted you! And here you are with a murderer!” ”

Draco locks eyes with his professor. Neither of them move for a very long time, but he does lower his wand. He vaguely hears Hermione whispering healing charms, a shaking hand he assumes is Harry’s tangles in the back of his robes but he watches LuLu. 

His loyal Kneazle. Rubbing against Black’s legs. 

“I guess you aren’t the ever ravenous murderer then, are you cousin?” 

“Cousin?!”

Sirius laughs over them. “I knew you looked a little too familiar. I’d love to do introductions, but I rather need to kill your friend’s rat.”

“Kill Scabbers?! Why the fuck would you kill Scabbers?!”

“Language Mister Weasley!” Lupin chides, nodding his head as Draco carefully pulls Harry out of the way. Old reliable Scar Head is gawking between him and his relative like they’ve grown extra heads, or mutated into something curious. 

For the first time since he’s met her Hermione looks confused. She has Weasley’s head in her lap- something about that is significant he’s sure- and her wand still clutched in her right hand, eyebrows furrowed as she watches LuLu. 

“Will someone please explain what the hell is going on?” 

Draco exchanges a small nod with the two adults and gently shrugs off Harry’s hand. He walks over to the redhead as calmly as he can. 

“Do you trust me?” 

Weasley’s eyes are wide. They shift from him to a spot behind him, probably Harry, and after a few moments he swallows rather dramatically and nods. 

“Give me Scabbers. I promise not to hurt your rat, but you’re going to have to trust me.” 

The boy acts as though he’s handing over his first born son, but he does hold the squirming rat out and Draco takes it. A ’Petrificus Totalus ’later and it stops moving so he places it on the floor and takes a wide step back. 

“I do believe you two know the story better, I only know what Dumbledore tells me, which isn’t much.”

Black snorts, “Never is, that cryptic old ass.”

Lupin hits him on the chest for that one, taking a deep breath. “Sirius didn’t betray your parents, Harry-“

“James was my best mate! And Lily like my sister I tell you-“

“If he didn’t kill my parents then-“

“Really! Scabbers is just a rat-!” 

“This still isn’t making any-“

“Well the asshole who did it-“

They keep talking over each other and Draco’s head is starting to flare up so he rolls his eyes and yells “Oh for Merlin’s sake! Omis Revelio! ” 

Running mouths stop making actual noise, but they all remain wide and unbelieving as Scabbers starts to grow bigger and bigger, human flesh ripping open dingy fur, the one thing that doesn’t change is his stillness, though Draco has to admit he preferred the man’s rat form.

Sirius dissolves into laughter. Lupin blinks. 

“Well, everyone, meet Peter Pettigrew,” his cousin manages to choke out, “He’s gonna be my first kill-“

His wand is out and pointing, Hermione screams, Lupin tries to hold him back and then, because the scene isn’t enough as is, Snape bursts into the room. “Expelliarmus!”  

Well, if he didn’t think Sirius was a homicidal maniac before, he certainly looks the part now, struggling against Lupin’s hold with more murderous intent than a Basilisk. 

“You- Sniffles?! Give me my wand! Let me go! I deserve to kill him! HE KILLED THE POTTERS!” 

“And let you commit a murder in front of four children? I think not.” Draco could hear the anger in his voice, he was in for it.

‘It’ probably very bad and painful if Snape's expression is anything to go off of.

“What in Merlin’s Beard do you think you’re doing here? Have you any self preservation?! And you-” he turns those fearful eyes on Lupin, “I’ve just made my peace with you and now you’re endangering children and running around with a convict-”

“I can explain-”

“Remus! Don’t let that whiny bastard-”

“ Watch your mouth when you’re speaking of my godfather” Draco snaps. The room looks to him and since he has their attention he might as well use it to make sense of the damned mess. “You still haven’t explained what the hell is going on, nor why Peter Pettigrew is in the room when he is supposed to be dead!”

“He is dead,” Snape scoffs, and then he sees the body squirming on the floor and takes a large step back, “What the-”

“Explanation. Now.” The voice that comes from beside him is strained but Potter always gets the job down. Today is no different. Draco’s learned that Harry’s pretty easy going, but he doesn’t fuck around with his parents. Who could blame him? Especially the adults in the room.

Lupin clears his throat. “Well...I assume you all have my...condition...figured out.”

“Condition?” Weasley inquires, still staring at Pettigrew like he’s a stain on the floor. Not far from the truth.

“He’s a werewolf,” Draco sighs, then adds “Idiot” so Harry can’t accuse him of being nice later.

“A were-”

Hermione looks like she’s going to strangle someone if she doesn’t get answers soon. “Yes, Ron! Catch up will you? Haven’t you noticed that he goes missing every full moon week? Or that his boggart is a full moon? I would’ve thought Professor Snape’s werewolf lesson would’ve clued you in if nothing else!”

Weasley shrinks away from her but Snape looks mildly impressed. Lupin runs a hand through his hair. “Right...well, it’s vital information to the story. My….issue...almost kept me from coming to Hogwarts. I was bitten as a boy and everyone knows how dangerous wolves can be. When you transform...you don’t have control, you wouldn’t be able to tell your best friend from your meal, so I was denied school for the longest time until Dumbledore became headmaster. He built this place for me, a little home to hide out my transformations in.”

Sirius snorts beside him, “Thought he was being clever about it too, like James and I wouldn’t notice his mood swings, or him disappearing in the middle of the night. One time he tried to tell us his mother was sick the week after Christmas break like we hadn’t just seen her!”

“We were being clever,” Lupin replies, but the tension in his forehead has relaxed a bit, “Until you nosey lot decided to follow me. They waited until Madam Pomfrey left before they came in, and once they knew well….they decided to be good friends. It was your father’s idea, Harry.”

“A stupid idea,” Sirius smirks, but somehow Draco feels like Harry only cares about his father.

Lupin spares a glance at an angry Snape, wincing a bit before saying, “They decided to become animagi, so I wouldn’t have to spend the moons by myself.”

He stops there, as if he knew Snape would blow up. “I knew it! I knew you no good, wretched, self glorifying-”

Sirius is across the room before Draco can blink. Fist in Snape’s robes, hand rearing back to strike. Not a thought crosses his mind before he’s freezing the man in place and throwing him back.

“I thought I told you to watch yourself around my god father.  As far as I’m concerned, you’re still guilty and adding another murder to the list can’t be good for your time in Azkaban…”

There’s probably some fucked up reason that making a grown man shiver in terror gives him joy, but he can focus on it later when he doesn’t have to sneer at Snape, “Can you please act like an adult instead of a first year with his panties in a twist?”

Lupin clears his throat so the room will give him it’s attention. He doesn’t take his eyes off of Draco’s wand still pointing at Sirius. “We didn’t do anything too dangerous, it’s just that being with them made it easier for me to keep my peace of mind. James and Sirius somehow dragged Peter into the mix and none of us really cared about the precautions we should’ve taken. They couldn’t register with the ministry without telling Dumbledore that all four of us were breaking rules that ground for expulsion, so we never told anyone...I honestly thought what everyone else thought” his eyes shift to Sirius, “Sorry, Paddy.”

Sirius smiles gently and Draco almost drops his wand. No one with a smile like that could be a cold blooded murderer. “ ‘s okay.”

“You see,” Lupin continues before Hermione can go completely purple in the face, “I was completely convinced this man in front of you was a killer and betrayed our friends, until one night Dumbledore took me aside and told me that some truths are harder to find than others-”

“-Cryptic old ass-” Sirius mutters.

Draco snorts.

“Then,” Lupin shoots them both a glare, “Tonight. I was in my office, looking over the Marauder's Map-”

“You know how to use the map?!”

Draco had been wondering how long it would be until Hermione asked something, he’s honestly surprised she didn’t raise her hand first.

“We built the bloody thing! Took ages too-”

Lupin rolls his eyes at his friend’s remark. “That is besides the point, don’t give me that look Severus, you know damn well how useful it is. The map is the only reason I knew where Harry and his friends were, that Ron had been taken by Sirius, and that Pettigrew was still fucking alive! If it weren’t for that map no one knows what would’ve happened, but they certainly wouldn’t have been safe!”

“Safe from Black or from Pettigrew?” Snape asks.

No one gives him an answer and that’s precisely the reason Draco still has his wand at the ready. He uses it to gesture at Black, “You haven’t told us your story yet. How does one escape Azkaban?”

Sirius gives him a dark look, but sighs all the same. “Well, everyone knows that Dementors feed on happiness. Normal prisoners are guilty maniacs, sure, but they all enter with happy memories of loved ones or family. I had my family ripped from me by my own stupid actions and the guilt was worse than any soul-sucker. They knew I was miserable, and since I didn’t have that much happiness they didn’t bother much with me. If they did it only took a few minutes before they got bored, and sometimes I would transform into a dog just to avoid them. Funny thing is, they can’t really read the emotions of a dog and thinking about James and Lily in that headspace was enough to remind me why I was there in the first place. Mind you, that almost drove me mad in itself, and then Fudge came for a visit when he threw that idiot Lockheart in jail. He had a newspaper with him and well…..”

The man looks over at Harry and softens. “I couldn’t take my eyes off you at first. You look so much like James….I nearly cried until I saw the kid next to you. I’ve seen Peter’s rat form so many times I knew it was him even in black and white. At first I thought I was dreaming, but he was missing a toe and I just knew that little bastard was up to no good, probably waiting for Voldemort-” Draco flinches at the name- “to rise again so he could hand you over and finish what he started all those years ago. I couldn’t let that happen so one night, when they came with food, I transformed and was skinny enough to sneak through the bars. Then I swam away from that bloody island and came here to try and keep that fucker from getting too close. I almost convinced this Crookshanks fellow to help me, but he was worried about upsetting his owner.”

With the look on Hermione’s face, there was no way she knew. LuLu looks up at Draco like she would’ve helped without question. He quickly picks her up so she won’t get close to their prisoner.

“Okay...so we have two sides of the story that match up…” Draco mumbles, “Now it’s time for his.”

“Draco I don’t think that’s a good idea-”

“Can’t I at least stun him-”

“That’s stupid-”

Draco rolls his eyes, keeping LuLu on his hip and releasing Pettigrew with his free hand. 

“R-Remus! S-S-Sirius!” Merlin, even the man’s voice sounds like a rat. “My friends!”

Black all but kicks him across the room, “Get off me!”

Pettigrew apparently doesn’t care about his well being, because he turns to Snape and Draco, “S-Severus! How delightful to see you well! And you….you must be Malfoy’s s-s-son!”

Draco points his wand right into the idiot’s eye. He doesn’t like the way LuLu hisses and tries to claw the man’s face. If he lowered her just one inch she could have her will and with the way Pettigrew keeps looking at Harry, he might ‘accidentally’ lose his grip. 

“Do not think you have safety in us,” Snape spits before Draco can maim someone. 

Instead he makes a face that sends a shiver of fear down Pettigrew’s spine. “If you try and touch me again I’ll make sure it’s your hands that go this time, not just a finger. You’re only moving to tell us the truth. Should you be stupid enough to lie or continue this pathetic sniffling I’ll shut you up and let the Dementors deal with you.”

Harry looks at him with wide eyes, there’s fear in them, but also a weird amount of respect.

Pettigrew doesn’t move, just sits in the filth with tears streaming down his face. He makes the mistake of looking at Harry with his full attention and Draco almost smirks when Sirius’s fist collides with rat-teeth.

“Don’t. You. Dare”

Lupin’s right after him, “Wasn’t killing your friends enough?!”

“I didn’t mean for them to die!” Pettigrew wails, “But the Dark Lord-”

“You’d rather follow Voldemort than stay loyal to your friends?! Your family?!”

“He would’ve killed me! My life is worth more than-”

“Your life is worth nothing.” Potter spits and Draco almost drops LuLu then and there. The boy has his wand out and pointed down the bridge of Pettigrew’s nose. He’s never seen so much hatred in those green eyes.

“Harry-” Lupin starts, but Harry isn’t hearing it.

“You’re gonna kill him anyways, right? He took my parents away from me. Why shouldn’t I do it?” 

The voice isn’t supposed to sound like that. Draco doesn’t like it when Harry sounds like him, he should never have that much darkness in him. Harry isn’t someone who could kill. Harry smiles when he eats chocolate frogs even though he’s awful at catching them. Harry likes sugar in his tea. Harry likes sleeping by fires and stealing people’s blankets during study sessions. Harry is the type of person to forgive and forgive until it bites him in the ass. 

Harry isn’t the type of person to have the beginnings of an Unforgivable on his tongue. 

Draco reaches out for his wrist before he can think better of it. His action shocks them both, but Draco doesn’t let go. He can’t. Instead he forces Harry’s hand down and steps into his space. Glares haven’t fazed him since he was ten years old, and even though he had never seen so much hatred, he’s not going to sit by and let some spineless wimp take the light from his friend’s eyes.

“Let me go.” 

“No.”

“Draco, he murdered my parents-”

“And if you kill him then you’re no better.”

Everyone holds their breath to watch their little exchange, so Draco decides to make his intentions very clear. “You’re not a murderer, Harry. You’re smart and you know death would be an easy way out for this coward. A lifetime in Azkaban and a mouth to declare your godfather’s innocence is much more valuable than a dead body.”

He refuses to look away from the searching green eyes. Fury fades out of them leaving them tired, Harry actually slouches into his touch, he must be exhausted. Neither of them pay attention to Pettigrew begging behind them. 

“Yeah…”Harry sighs, “Yeah, okay...but only because I don’t think my dad would want his friends to kill each other.”

Pettigrew wails with delight, “T-t-thank you! You kind, kind boy-”

Harry mimics the icy look Draco had given not even ten minutes ago. “Don’t forget to thank me when you face the Dementors.”

He’s too impressed by his friend to care about the color draining from the prisoner’s face. 

The group around them starts to gather their things, wands are collected and Sirius is forced to swear something about not hurting anyone to Severus who also curses Lupin up and down and threatens to have him removed from the grounds. Hermione steps in to point out that Weasley is still hurt and it’s almost lost over Pettigrew’s screams for mercy. 

“Are you okay?” Draco asks quietly. Harry nods back.

“It’s been a very long day. This morning feels like it was years ago.”

“Yeah I’ve heard emotions are draining like that.”

Harry shoots him a look, but his smile is starting to return. “Act all you like, I know you have a big heart under all those scary gazes.”

“I’ll have you know the Malfoys are born without hearts.”

“Ah yes, I suppose it’s kinda like the blonde hair and stupid grins?”

He does not grin. He absolutely does not. “Exactly.”

Harry snorts at him, “For a person with no heart, you’re rather warm.”

Oh fuck. His hand is still on Harry’s arm. 

Oh fuck, he just conspired with Harry in front of one of Voldemort’s followers.

Oh fuck he was just standing there with a stupid look on his face while other people watched.

Weasley was never gonna let him live this down. 

Draco quickly removes his hand and turns to face the group right as Lupin stumbles away from them.

“Professor?”

Snape’s eyes widen, Sirius lunges forward but it’s too late. 

Lupin tries to get away, stumbling into walls and odd bits of furniture. “Leave,” He begs, “ Now. ”

Most of them couldn’t move even if they wanted to, all paralyzed with fear because fur is starting to spout on Lupin’s back, but Draco’s pretty sure he isn’t doing this willingly. No one screams in pain when they’re willing. Harry tries to step around him and move towards the changing beast, but Draco can’t let him. He fights the boy back, somehow ending up the closest to the werewolf he can’t see standing behind him.

Someone screams, Draco has time to look from Harry’s terrified face to Snape’s look of pure horror and then something slashes at his back and he’s falling forward into Harry’s outstretched arms. 

“You idiot!”

Draco smiles at him, there’s snarling behind them but Sirius isn’t in his line of sight so hopefully he’s the reason they all haven’t turned into mince meat. “You need to get out of here.” He manages.

Snape curses from his left, Hermione gasps, “He’s going to kill Sirius if we don’t stop him!”

Harry’s head snaps up at that and Draco grips him as hard as he can manage. “Don’t!” Merlin his voice sounds awful. Why is the room starting to spin? His back feels like a bitch…

“Harry!” the boy looks back at him and he can’t decide which possibility he likes less. Harry is either going to whisk him away to the hospital wing in front of the entire school or run after his godfather and get himself killed. 

“You’re gonna have my head for this later,” Harry whispers, thrusting him onto someone else, “He needs help!”

“No!” Draco snatches his arm, “You can’t die!”

Harry smiles at him so gently it makes him loosen his grip, “I won’t. I’ll see you later, promise.”

“No!” he struggles against his captor, “No! Let me go! He has to live!” 

Snape’s hand comes into view, Hermione must be holding him down then. Pettigrew is no where to be seen. “Draco. Calm yourself or you’ll upset your wounds. Sirius will not let him get hurt, and I have three injured students and a real criminal on the loose. Lupin took his potions tonight, he will not kill even if his wolf wants him to. Potter is safe, but you will die if we don’t treat you soon.”

Draco lets the implications sink in, and then he feels a little more light headed than normal.

His last thought before everything goes black is a vivid image of Pansy and Blaise cussing him out. Who knew he could predict the future?