Summary:Fleeing from the death eaters, Draco is caught by the order and forced to help Harry find the horcruxes, will they find something else instead? Post HBP, slash

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and anything related to it does not belong to me (yet)

Chapter 1: Pitying an enemy

Running, running, he cannot stop he will not stop. Just keep running. His heart pounding hard against his chest, he can feel it, it hurts, and he deserves it. The rain just keeps falling, mingling with his tears, soaking his clothes and his usually pristine hair. He can taste the blood on his lips, his body is bleeding, he doesn’t care, he just has to keep running.

He trips over and lands in the mud, he doesn’t know whether he has the energy to get up, he knows he has to, or they will find him. He lifts his head up and looks at the manor before him. Home. He laughs bitterly, this was never his home. Lifting himself up, he stumbles forward, determined to make those final steps when maybe he will be safe. For now.

Malfoy Manor, grand and royal, some outsiders may even say breathtaking. But to those who knew the truth, they saw something entirely different. The ivy that weaved in and out of the brickwork, leeched off the life within, feeding off pain. The once kept garden ran wild, surviving off the blood that rained over them. Howling winds blocked the blood curdling screams that echoed from the soul’s mouths, trapped by the iron gates. History ran through it’s veins as it now stands alone and neglected, shrouded in lies and betrayal.

He pushed his way through an open window, and tumbled into the room. Memories flashed through the scattered pieces of his mind. His body was burning with pain, as he collapsed to the floor. His breathing had become hard and ragged, as he looked at how empty the room was, so unlike how he had remembered it. All that was left was the smell of darkness and a broken mirror. He stared at his reflection, cut into uneven pieces, just like his life.

Crawling into the corner, he wrapped his arms around his body, clutching his legs to his chest. His body shaking with a mixture of emotions: anger, hurt, fear, loneliness…He just wished he could be back at Hogwarts, pretending as though he was normal, as though the war wasn’t real, but now he knew all too well how real it actually was. Closing his eyes, he hoped to get to sleep but instead was visited by memories, the memory of why he was there.

It was over six months since that fatal night at Hogwarts, it haunted Draco’s every dream, the way Dumbledore had pleaded but Snape had still killed him. Draco wished he could have been stronger, that he hadn’t took the dark mark, that he hadn’t been afraid. He never wanted to become a death eater, he was no murderer, no torturer, Dumbledore had seen right through his façade. He wanted an escape he needed one.

Severus had let him stay at his house with him for a few months, hiding him from Voldermort until it was safe for him to return to service, even though he wished he’d rather he didn’t have to return. Voldermort had been furious when he found out that Draco had not done the job, but Dumbledore was dead and that was what mattered.

“Draco!” Severus’ voice boomed throughout the house.

“I’m in here,” Draco called back from the sitting room.

Severus came in and looked at Draco, “Voldermort wants you back at work.”

“What do you mean?”

“He said that he doesn’t care that you weren’t the one that killed Dumbledore, he said he shouldn’t have expected so much from you at such a young age, and if you returned he will accept you back in and probably train you himself personally. He doesn’t do that often.”

Draco paled, “Are you sure it’s not just a way for him to find me and kill me.”

Snape shook his head, “I don’t think so, I think he realises that he made a mistake giving you that mission. You obviously weren’t ready.”

“I don’t think I ever will be.”

“With the Dark Lord himself teaching you, of course you will. You’ll go to him tomorrow, we’ll go over later what to say to him.”

Draco stood up and looked his godfather in his eyes, “I’m not going.”

Snape glared at him, seething, “What did you just say?”

“I said, I’m not going.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to be a death eater, I don’t want to kill and torture people, I just want to be normal.”

Snape slapped him across the face with his back hand, splitting his lip, “You don’t have a choice.”

“I disagree.”

His godfather sneered at the blonde, “When will you finally realise Draco, you’re no longer in the Hogwarts playground?”

The potions master whipped out his wand, and within seconds Draco was writhing on the floor, crying out in pain. Hours later, Severus finally seized the fire of hexes on his godson and let the Malfoy heir regain his breath.

“Now will you do as I tell you?”

Draco stood up and gaining his balance, unnoticeably slipped his wand out of his robes, “Sev, you think you would have learned by now, I hate people telling me what to do.” He had his wand raised in front of him and before the older man had time to react, he shouted, “Expelliarmus!”

Snape flew backwards and banged his head on the ceiling falling unconscious. Draco stared at the still body of his professor, not believing what he had done, when Snape began to make signs of waking up. Panicking, Draco ran.

--&--

Harry rubbed his eyes wearily, staring down at the masses of paper in front of him. He had been working all day, trying to de-code maps and records that they had raided from the death eaters. The order had grown in size since Dumbledore’s death, and they had, had many successful missions, many 7th years students had joined, rather then go back to Hogwarts that had re-opened with McGonagall has Headmistress.

The war was brewing outside, and more felt it each day, it was like waiting for heaven to meet hell and the divide be gone and all good and evil be released onto the earth. He hated not knowing. He was glad to have his friends around him, when he was hanging around with Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus in their room, or Hermione chastising him for not paying enough attention it almost felt like he was back at Hogwarts again.

The past six months had been eventful, using Harry’s knowledge of the horcruxes they had managed to find most of them, but there was still two left to find. The last one they found had been the sword of Salazar Slytherin, hidden in a deeply magical chamber under the Pacific Ocean, luckily only three of their men died, usually there was more.

Besides from missions, he also had the pressure of his training. He was trying to learn occlumency and legilmens, mostly self-taught, it was difficult and brought back memories he had tried to forget but he knew it was necessary and it always felt good once he managed to teach himself something. He was also learning extremely advanced charms, hexes, transfiguration and potions; luckily, they were easier than the occlumency and the legilmens.

Most nights he was falling to sleep before he even reached his bed, but his dreams were often plagued with nightmares, some of them even premonitions. He just wished that for once he could have a peaceful nights sleep but nothing worked, not even a dreamless sleep potion.

Harry’s eyes were drooping, and his head was about to fall onto the desk in front of him, when there was a knock at his door.

“Come in,” he called weakly.

Neville stepped in, he had grown up a lot over the summer and a lot of his baby fat was gone and he had grown a few inches in height, “Erm…the alarm at Malfoy Manor has gone off, someone’s on the premises. Remus wanted to know whether you want to go check it out before the ministry gets there.”

Harry took a deep breath and run a hand through his hair, “Yeah, it might be some death eaters trying to retrieve something. Get a small group together, I don’t want to disturb everyone if it’s a false alarm.”

Neville nodded in understanding and was about to leave when he stood still and turned to face Harry, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Why?”

“You just seem a little tired, why don’t you sit this one out?”

Harry shook his head, “No, I have to go. Dumbledore died for the light, I’m not going to just stay at home because I feel a little tired. He wouldn’t have.”

“Yeah, but he wouldn’t want you to go knowing that it wasn’t good for you,” Neville replied.

Harry glared at him, “What would you know? You weren’t there, you didn’t see the man that had become like a grandfather to you, die right in front of your eyes, killed by a man you had come to trust and not have the power to stop it.”

Neville nodded his head in agreement, “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

He opened the door to leave but Harry’s voice stopped him, “Neville I shouldn’t have snapped at you, I’m sorry. I just can’t seem to let that night go.”

“I know what it’s like, to have everyone you love and care about me took away from you, and to want nothing but revenge, but if you don’t look after yourself, you are going to be no use to anybody.”

Harry did not reply but just stared at the door as Neville closed it shut. He knew Neville was right, but it was just so hard, he just wanted it all over. But he would have to put it at the back of his mind for now, so grabbing his wand, he headed out of the office, not realising what he was about to face at Malfoy Manor.

--&--

The small group of aurors were stationed around the borders of Malfoy Manor, slowly approaching from each side. The moonlight grazed across the roof, skimming the top of the trees in the forgotten forest that grew behind the manor. Fortunately, the aurors were cloaked in the Manor’s shadow, hidden from sight.

They began to silently filter in, wands raised, ready for any surprise attack. Carefully climbing over the scattered furniture, they started to explore the dusty rooms. Corridors once filled with lavish interiors and expensive ornaments were now bare, with only fading memories to fill them.

Aurors moved upstairs, having thoroughly checked the bottom floor, climbing the winding staircase. Harry stood still, staring at the wrecked death-eaters home, memories flashed through his mind of when they had raided the place… Muggles hanging, screaming from the torturous pain, begging for death… all engraved in his head. He could almost feel the ghosts passing through him.

“Harry!” A voice cut through the echoing silence, pulling him from his thoughts. A tall red-head came running down the stairs, it was Ron.

“What is it? Have you found something?” asked Harry, following Ron up the stairs.

“You’ve got to see this.”

Confused Harry walked into a room at the far-end of the landing, it was empty besides from a broken mirror leaning against the wall and a figure hunched in the corner. Harry cautiously approached the mysterious person, his fingers lightly touching his wand. He crouched down besides the man (who he could now tell was) and placed his hand on his arm.

The man was startled and his head shot up, his grey eyes meeting Harry’s emerald ones.

“Malfoy?” whispered Harry, shocked.

The blonde Slytherin began to shake and backed towards the wall, pushing Harry away. His face was dirty, and had tears sliding down his cheeks. “Please don’t hurt me, I promise I won’t run away again. I’m sorry, I’ll be good, I promise. I won’t run away again, please,” he whimpered over and over again, it appeared as though he didn’t even know who he was talking to.

“Who’s going to hurt you?” asked Harry softly, trying to soothe the man in front of him.

“You’re trying to trick me, I know it.”

The ex-Gryffindor stared at the blonde, not been able to believe that this was the proud, arrogant Draco Malfoy that he had fought with at school, that had joined the death eaters, that had sent attempts on Albus Dumbledore’s life, that had stood and watched Albus Dumbledore die, that had fled with Snape and the other death eaters. Months he had hated the thought of him, despised his existence but now all he could do was pity him.

“No one’s trying to trick you Malfoy.”

His head turned to Harry, looking at the familiar face when it dawned on him, “Potter?”

Harry shook his head, “Yeah, it’s me. Nice to see you’ve come back to reality.”

Draco smirked slightly when tears sprung to his eyes, “Oh merlin, I’m so sorry. I never wanted things to end up like this, I never wanted him dead.”

Harry turned his head away from him, his voice turning slightly cold, “Yeah, well, that doesn’t change anything.”

“Are you going to send me to Azkaban?”

Harry shook his head, “No, I want you to stay with the Order, this way I get to say what happens to you and how you get questioned, not the Ministry.”

“Will they allow that?”

“They won’t know, nobody will know where you are.”

“Does that include the death eaters?”

Harry nodded, “Yeah, so unfortunately for you they can’t come rescue you like they broke your father out of Azkaban”

“I don’t think they would anyway, maybe to try kill me not save me.”

“I don’t understand.”

Draco looked at him with disbelief, “I ran away, I hexed Snape and ran away. You mean you didn’t know?”

“Surprisingly, we don’t socialize with death eaters that much,” replied Harry, sarcastically.

“I thought you had spies within their ranks.”

“Like I would tell you, you’re still a death eater and as far as I know, this could be a set-up.”

Draco shrugged, “I should have suspected that.”

“I’m going to get the rest of the aurors to take you to the Headquarters and then I’ll question you properly, I wouldn’t go anywhere if I was you.”

Harry stood up and headed for the door when Draco called his name, he turned to face him, his eyebrows raised, waiting for him to say something.

“Potter, I know you don’t like me, you probably even hate me, and I’m not exactly you’re biggest fan but I want, no, need you to know, I didn’t kill him, it wasn’t me, I couldn’t do it.”

“I know you didn’t, I know Snape killed him.”

“How do you know?”

“I was there.”

Draco fiddled with the hem of his ripped shirt, “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

Harry laughed lightly, “It’s ironic, you haven’t said sorry to me in the past six years that I’ve known you, and now, you can’t stop saying it.”

“This isn’t just some school boy feud where the only thing hurt is my pride; I stood and watched a man get killed. I might be many things, but even I am not that heartless. I am not my father.”

“Prove it.”

Muggleborn Fairy xx