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Meddling with Darkness	By : zoy_grey Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 32786 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 11
Disclaimer: I do not own nor make profit off of JK Rowling's world of Harry Potter, the characters or the timeline. Though I do own the plot that I came up with in this story.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
A/N: Hello again after the two weeks break ;) Thank you for lovely reviews and here is the next chapter ;) Depending on how fast I'll write the next part, another update should be either around Wednesday or next Saturday ;)

Chapter 11

Hermione said goodbye to her parents and reluctantly followed Arthur and Bill Weasley. For the first time she felt bad for going to meet with her school friends. She knew her parents, especially mother, weren’t happy to let her go already; nonetheless, they did. Mr and Mrs Granger knew how much their daughter loved her friends and the wizarding world, but they were upset they didn’t get to spend enough time with their own child.

Casting one last glance at her parents, the witch sighed heavily and walked with the Weasleys into a side alley; away from the Muggles.

“Is everyone already there?” she asked, when the men prepared for side apparition with the girl. “Did Sirius bring Harry over? Professor Dumbledore said sending letters to Harry would be too dangerous, but he brought him now to the hideout, right?”

“Well…how should I put it?” Bill felt uncomfortable about the question; with every day he liked the idea of Harry being away from them less and less.

“No, Hermione,” Arthur Weasley rushed with the answer. “We’ll explain the situation when we get to the headquarters.”

Without further ado the three of them apparated. Seconds later they were already at Grimmauld Place. When the building there started moving and slowly revealing another building between them, Hermione couldn’t contain her fascination with the amazing spells that were able to do such things; hide an entire building.

“Let’s go inside. We shouldn’t be staying outside too long,” informed her Mr Weasley and led inside 12 Grimmauld Place.

The witch has never been in such an old and wealthy house before, especially magical one; she wanted to look around and find out every magical secret the building was hiding, but as soon as she walked past a portrait in the hallway, the older witch from the painting started shouting.

“Dear Merlin! This is unthinkable torture! A Mudblood in my house!”

Mr Weasley quickly covered the painting with a curtain and smiled apologetically at the girl, “Please don’t take it personally. She’s been insulting everyone…every day…every minute.”

“Do not pull that curtain over my portrait, you blood traitor! I have to keep an eye on what, you filth, are doing to my house!”

“See?” Bill smiled weakly, which actually cheered Hermione up. “I think mum and the rest should be in the kitchen…straight ahead and downstairs,” the curse breaker instructed her. “Or if you want to unpack first, then upstairs and second door on the left. Mum located you in the room with Ginny.”

Suddenly an awful noise could be heard in the entire house; someone slammed one of the many doors. Shortly after that someone started shouting and arguing.

Hermione looked at the two wizards confused and headed upstairs, where the source of the commotion seemed to be.

On the first floor they saw Mrs Weasley, the twins, Ron and Ginny; all of them were holding feather dusters or some other cloths for cleaning. The group wanted to enter the room behind the dusty double door, but something seemed to be blocking access to it. Hermione stepped closer, catching everyone’s attention.

“Hermione!” Ginny squealed with joy. She’d finally have at least someone to talk with; her brothers were already getting on her nerves.

“What’s the problem?” she asked hugging the redhead girl when she hung herself on her neck.

“Now even Mudbloods enter the ancient and most noble house of the Blacks,” a house elf guarding the room muttered to himself. “Oh, if only my poor Mistress saw this.”

Hermione was taken aback by the elf’s words. So far she only met nice house elves; ones that appreciated her efforts to treat them nicely.

“Hey! Don’t call her that!” Ron yelled immediately in the girl’s defence.

“What is this place? I was insulted already twice in less than five minutes,” asked the young witch, sounding a bit down.

“Yes, apologize to Hermione,” Molly reprimanded the creature the way she usually did with her children.

“Blood traitors giving orders to poor, old Kreacher,” kept muttering the elf, completely ignoring the wizards. “If only Master and Mistress saw this.”

“You only keep insulting us!” noted Fred.

“Yes! Leave mum and Hermione alone!” added George.

Just when Kreacher was about to say something equally insulting as before, somewhere on the upper floor, door opened and they heard someone marching down. Moments later, Sirius joined them; annoyance clear in his eyes.

“What, on Merlin’s beard, is going on here?” Black nearly shouted, glaring at all of them.

The Weasleys already got used to their host, but for Hermione, this was the first time she saw the wizard since she helped Harry save him a year ago. What she heard about how handsome Sirius Black was as a youth didn’t quite do him justice – the man looked annoyed at the moment, but that left aside, he was good-looking and a bit haughty.

“Kreacher!” Black yelled at the house elf, after Ron explained what has just happened. “Go keep my mother’s portrait company!”

“Yes, Master Sirius,” the elf said with a strained voice and vanished.

“Welcome in my family’s house, Hermione,” the wizard greeted her with a, somewhat strained, but still sincere, smile. “Molly, could you please take everyone to the kitchen, while I check what’s in this room, that made Kreacher so protective of it?”

Mrs Weasley was about to say something, but she just huffed and rushed everyone downstairs. The woman could take much, but Sirius’ behaviour was starting to get on her nerves. Black thought he was the only one worried about Harry, but it was Molly who felt almost like a mother towards the boy.

“If he doesn’t stop, I’m honestly going to tell him what I think about his attitude, Arthur,” Black could hear Molly’s ranting from the ground floor. He only snorted walking into the drawing room, Kreacher was so courageously protecting.

“She thinks she’s more of a mother figure than I am,” he fought back a laugh looking at the family tree tapestry on the wall. He found himself on the tree in no time; right next to him was a familiar face and under it, the name Severus Black; under their images was a white, faceless spot with the name Orion Black. “Who does she think I am to him? If anything…I’m more qualified to be called his mother…father figure.”

He laughed to himself at how strange it sounded that he, the breaker of female hearts in his Hogwarts times, was indeed somewhat of a ‘mother’ to his son. Sirius was about to transfigure a different tapestry to cover the Black family tree, but at that moment, something caught his attention. He moved closer to the wall and stared at the image of his brother. There, next to him was an image of a black haired man; the man was older than both Regulus and Sirius; the date stated 1926, but what made Sirius freeze, was the name – Tom Marvolo Black.

“This can’t be true,” the wizard whispered to himself. “He couldn’t have married the Dark Lord.”

“Good morning mother,” greeted Draco walking into the dining room.

“Good morning Draco,” Narcissa was eating breakfast again.

“Where are father and grandfather?”

“They have twice as much work now that the Dark Lord has returned,” the witch explained as if that was the most normal subject to discuss with a teenager during breakfast. However, for the Malfoys that was indeed a normal topic; after all, their family was very much involved with the Dark side. Even though Draco was only fifteen, he understood his own actions and decisions from now on would have great consequences. “Where is your cousin?”

“He went to check on Hedwig,” the teen explained; moments later, Orion walked into the room looking down.

“Bad news?” Narcissa asked gently, knowing how emotional the boy was lately; she couldn’t blame him though, after all his entire life has changed.

“I don’t know why am I even waiting for their reply,” answered Orion sitting next to Draco and waiting for Mitzi to show up with his breakfast. “I just thought that maybe they would send me at least a short message since it’s almost end of July. Looks like they haven’t even noticed I’m not with the Dursleys.”

Indeed, it was almost end of July; summer was passing too quickly for Orion’s liking. Some days he woke up and had to remind himself he was in Malfoy Manor, his parents or rather fathers were Sirius Black and Severus Snape, Draco was his cousin and Lord Voldemort never wished to kill him; on the contrary, the dark wizard tried to save him. Orion wasn’t convinced yet what to think about his family supporting the Dark Lord, but so far it seemed the dark wizard really wasn’t interested in harming him. For the last four years he was being told he had to go to the Dursleys in case Voldemort and Death Eaters planned to attack him; however, so far the Dark Lord has returned and gathered his followers, but not only they haven’t hurt him, but they even protected him.

Every day he was spending time with Draco, but only inside the manor. He was grateful to the Malfoys for letting him stay with them, but he wanted to go out somewhere. Also, after nearly a month of trying to contact his friends he lost all hope to hear from them. He sometimes felt like going out somewhere with Draco, somewhere Ron and Hermione could see them; all of that simply because he knew they would be mad if they saw him with the blond.

“Speaking of the end of July,” Draco’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. “What do you want to do for your birthday?”

“Yes, we can arrange something,” Narcissa smiled at him brightly. “I’m sure Lucius will allow a small party. I have to be honest with you,” she said to Orion, in a hushed voice. “I’d give anything to see Dumbledore’s face when he sees how close you’ve become with our family.”

Both teens smiled how Mrs Malfoy could act like a child sometimes; even the simplest things, like annoying Albus Dumbledore or visiting fancy boutiques in Paris, were able to bring her joy.

After breakfast, Draco took his cousin to the library to show him some books on history of magic and pureblood families. He was trying to help Orion get as much information about wizarding families’ traditions as possible; he promised the dark haired teen to show him how to behave like a proper heir of an influential pureblood family. So far, Orion proved to be a capable student – he already improved his knowledge of basic history and knew most of the pureblood families in the country. The only thing the teen was hesitant about was how to treat his fathers; as far as Sirius was involved, Orion didn’t have much problem to accept calling him father or dad and treating him with respect; the problems started when Draco wanted him to see Severus as the other father; or rather the actual father figure.

“I can’t do it!” the black haired boy slumped on the sofa with an annoyed huff. “I just can’t make myself to call him that way!”

“That’s fine, Orion,” assured him Draco. He put the books on the bookshelves and dragged his cousin out of the library. “You’re making progress anyway. Sirius will be proud of you.”

“Uncle Sirius,” the other teen corrected him, snickering at Draco’s surprised face. “What? Don’t look at me like that. You told me that I should show respect to the family members. I’m calling your mother, aunt Narcissa.”

The blond looked genuinely shocked, but moments later he laughed out loud, “I’ve created a savoir vivre monster.”

Just when the teens were about to go outside to practice Quidditch, there was a sudden loud pop and Fizzy appeared in front of them; the elf must have been in the middle of cooking or washing dishes, because he was holding a pile of dirty plates and bowls.

“What are you doing here? Weren’t you working in the kitchen just now?” asked surprised Draco, but froze; the moment the words left his lips, the house elf lost balance and most of the leftover food spilled on the blond’s pants and shirt. “What do you think you’re doing!”

“Draco,” Orion sent him a look of warning. “Don’t yell at him. If you don’t want such things to repeat, you’d better wash dishes after yourself.”

“Oh no!” squeaked the house elf. “Master can’t do that!”

The blond pinched the bridge of his nose to calm himself down. “It’s alright Fizzy. Now tell me why you’re here.”

“Mistress said she left a surprise for Master Draco and his cousin in young Master’s bedroom.”

“Very well then,” the teens exchanged looks, wondering what could that surprise from Narcissa be. “Just clean this mess.”

The house elf bowed and started cleaning what was left on the floor.

When the boys entered Draco’s bedroom, they’ve immediately spotted a big, black, velvet box. The blond remembered that particular item and he had suspicions what could be inside; Orion, however, didn’t know what to expect. He walked over to the big double bed and lied down on the green silky bedsheets.

“What are you doing?” asked the black haired teen disoriented, when Draco went over to the walk in closet and came out with some new fancy clothes.

“What do you mean? I need to change, right?” answered the blond and unceremoniously started undressing.

“Do you have to do it here?” asked Orion feeling awkward. He never really noticed how much Draco has changed since they’ve met – the blond was tall, taller than him; his hair has grown longer, but the teen still kept it slicked back; Orion could see his cousin’s features became sharper and even though he looked very much like Lucius Malfoy, he could still see some of Narcissa’s features. However the part that the dark haired teen never even thought about was Draco’s body. He always thought of him as a bit skinny, but now when the blond was standing there almost naked, he couldn’t help but notice that the teen was more slender than skinny; he could even see muscles starting to shape nicely.

“It’s not like I’m completely naked. Besides, when I’m in Hogwarts I always dress up in my dorm and no one is complaining,” said Draco with a smirk.

“You’re just showing off,” replied Orion and turned his attention to the black box on the bed.

The blond laughed while getting dressed and said with a smug face, “What can I say? I’m handsome and I’m a Malfoy,” he expected at least a snort from his cousin after his comment, but there was silence. He stepped closer to the other teen and asked worried, “What’s wrong?”

“This box,” mumbled Orion staring at a pile of photographs and letters. “Those are family photographs.”

Draco glanced inside the box and saw a stack of moving images of a little baby Orion; on some of them he recognized himself as well. All in all, those were some really cute photos and Draco reminded himself to thank his mother for showing those to them.

The two of them spent entire afternoon going through the things in the box; there were lots of memories – precious and good memories. They even found old letters from Walburga, Sirius and Druella Black; all of them were writing Narcissa how adorable little Orion was and that she should visit them with Draco. The blond was glad his cousin could read those letters; this way the younger teen would see how many people in their family love him and how happy they were when he was born; even if some of those people were not alive anymore.

After hours of watching the photos Orion felt so tired, he fell asleep in Draco’s bed. The blond didn’t mind that at all; he was glad his cousin was holding up so well after browsing through the contents of the box. The dark haired teen even seemed to have accepted the photos in which he was held by Severus – what surprised even Draco was the fact that for the very first time he saw the fearsome potions master smile.

Watching Orion while he slept, Draco allowed himself to gently brush away a strand of hair from the teen’s forehead. At that moment he remembered the idea that came up to his mind this morning. He would just have to confirm with his father if his plan was even possible.

The blond carefully got off the bed, not to wake the other boy, and headed downstairs, to his father’s office. He hasn’t seen anyone on his way there, which meant that his family was discussing the current situation regarding lord Voldemort and Dumbledore.

“Father,” he started when he entered the room. Just as he expected, both of his parents and grandfather were in the office.

“Is everything alright?” asked Narcissa. “I hope my little surprise didn’t turn out unpleasant.”

“Not at all. In fact, I think Orion is slowly getting used to the fact that Seve…that uncle Severus is his father,” all the adults fought back a laugh hearing the teen correcting himself; they knew the other boy was trying to get Draco used to the new polite phrases. “But I’m here to ask something. Orion’s birthday is coming in about a week. I was thinking that maybe I could take him somewhere; for a trip outside of the manor. He did mention he was never allowed to go anywhere abroad, so I thought it might be a good idea.”

“Draco,” Abraxas interrupted. “We wanted you both to get used to the new situation and spend some time together, have fun. However you have to realise the times now are dangerous and we have to be cautious about our every move…”

“Grandfather…father,” Draco asked. “Does the Dark Lord have any particular orders regarding Orion or me? If not, then I assure you, the last thing I want is to put our family at risk. I’m aware of the dangers, but I also want Orion to feel happy and safe with us, especially right now. If we manage to show him he’s better with us then it won’t take long for him to stand up to Dumbledore and see the world the way a Black heir should.”

All three adults exchanged looks, but shortly after pleased grins or smug looks showed up on their faces. It seemed Draco has matured up this last year and a certain black haired boy had a bigger influence on him than the blond knew.

“Did you have any place in particular in mind?” asked Lucius when everyone agreed the teens could travel.

“Paris.”

“Excellent,” agreed Lucius and looked at his wife. “You will go with them, my dear. You deserve some rest after all the work you’ve done so far for the family and the Dark Lord.”

Yet another meeting of the Order was scheduled for that night. The Weasley kids and Hermione were determined to find out at least something about the topics the adults discussed. They’ve been living at Grimmauld Place for about a week, but no one wanted to tell them anything about the current situation. So far, they only knew they couldn’t contact Harry and that most likely lord Voldemort is back.

The five teens hid on the second floor by the stairs and planned to use the twins invention – extendable ears. They had everything prepared and were just waiting for professor Dumbledore to arrive; the man was always the last one to come, but this time he was late. Finally after almost half an hour of waiting, the old wizard entered the house accompanied by an unknown older lady.

“What’s with her?” asked Ron. “She seems so nervous as if someone attacked her.”

“Be quiet Ronniekins,” said Fred in a hushed voice. “We can’t hear them when you’re talking.”

“Maybe we should get closer to the room?” suggested Hermione.

They quietly moved to the first floor and used the extendable ears again.

“Forgive me being late,” they’ve heard Dumbledore say. “I’m sure some of you know Mrs Arabella Figg. She’s been living close to Harry’s house for the last fourteen years and keeping him safe. As you all expressed concern about the boy’s well-being I invited Arabella today to put your minds at ease.”

There was a long and unsettling silence after that, “Why isn’t anyone saying anything?” asked Ginny.

“Albus…” the older woman finally uttered some words, but she still sounded very nervous. “I tried to tell you this when you came to me today…”

“Arabella, is something wrong with Mr Potter?” they’ve heard concerned voice of professor McGonagall.

“I don’t know how this happened, but today when I went to the Dursleys to ask for Harry’s help with my cats,” continued Mrs Figg. “His aunt told me he’s not there.”

“What do you mean Potter isn’t there?” an angry voice of Moody sounded in the room. “They are lying. There are wards on the house. If any Death Eater tried to approach the house the Order would be alarmed immediately.”

“I honestly don’t know how this could have happened,” explained Arabella. “The Order wouldn’t be alarmed only if Harry left the house willingly and with his family’s permission. However I doubt the Durlseys would allow him to do something that would make him happy…especially if the Order didn’t tell them to do so.”

“Enough of this!” Sirius nearly growled at everyone in the room. “Albus, where is my godson?”

“We have to find him immediately,” agreed Shacklebolt.

“And bring him to the headquarters where he’ll be safe,” insisted Remus.

Two days have passed since the Order of the Phoenix went into panic mode. Severus couldn’t help but smile to himself whenever he reminded himself of how half of the members of the Order silently blamed Dumbledore for the Golden Boy’s disappearance.

The potions master gladly reported that to the Dark Lord on their latest meeting with other Death Eaters.

“Dumbledore enlisted everyone to search for their Saviour,” announced Severus at the end of the meeting.

“Good luck with that,” snorted Lucius. “They won’t find him even if they checked entire island. Draco took him to Paris.”

“Perfect,” concluded Voldemort. “Now we only have to make the Light side doubt Dumbledore. Keep your eyes and ears open and report everything that might be useful for our cause.”

When everyone left the chamber, the Dark Lord stopped Severus. “I need a word with you Severus…private matter no one must hear about.”

“Yes my Lord.”

“I believe you still have formula for that remarkable potion you’ve invented after graduating Hogwarts,” hissed the older wizard. The man was clearly referring to the pregnancy potion he gave to Sirius after they got married.

“Yes, I have it safely hidden. No one, apart from my family knows of the potion’s existence,” admitted Severus.

“Excellent. I want you to brew that potion and give it to me,” Voldemort ordered and glared at the man in a way that made it clear he was not going to explain himself to the potions master.

“Of course, but I need time,” answered Severus. He doubted the Dark Lord wanted to drink the potion himself, but that left him with the question – who was going to use it then? “This potion needs time. Around two months to be exact.”

“That’s fine. Brew it in secret and bring it to me.”

When the potions master left the Dark Lord’s castle he couldn’t stop thinking about the task he was given. It didn’t make any sense; if Voldemort wasn’t going to drink it then who was he planning to give it to? And why? What man did the dark wizard want to get pregnant?

Later that day there was another meeting with the Order arranged at Grimmauld Place. To Severus’ surprise he was the first one to arrive – Mrs Weasley and the teens were all in the attic, cleaning the house and the rest of the Weasleys were still out looking for the supposedly kidnapped Gryffindor.

“You’re already here?” he heard Sirius’ voice behind him.

“Upset to see me here?” asked Severus.

“Not at all,” Black grinned at his husband; with every day he realised he still loved the man; regardless of all the bad things that happened between them. “On the contrary, actually.”

The potions master shook his head in disbelief hearing Sirius’ response. Lately Severus noticed he couldn’t force himself to hate the other wizard; now that he knew what has happened with their son years ago, he felt more mad at himself than at Sirius. Seeing him acting playful was actually giving him tiny bit of hope, that maybe their family could get together in the future.

“I need to ask you something about your brother,” asked Severus and saw his husband tense at the mention of the younger Black. He stepped closer to Sirius and whispered. “He’s alive, isn’t he?”

Black only nodded and asked “How did you find out? Did the Dark Lord tell you this?”

“No, but I think Regulus might have been hiding by his side all this time.”

“I’ll show you something,” Sirius dragged Severus upstairs to the drawing room and quickly removed the charm off the fake tapestry; revealing the real one. “I’ve noticed this only a few days ago.”

The other man scanned the family tree; he spotted himself with Sirius and Orion, but then his eyes landed on Regulus and Tom Black. Now that he had a proof that the two wizards were in a legitimate relationship he had no doubts why did the Dark Lord request that particular potion.

“This has to stay secret. No one can find out, until the time comes,” said Severus and rushed the other man to charm the tapestry again.

Orion was ecstatic, to say the least. Not only was he out of the manor for the first time in weeks, but he was in France. For the very first time in his life, he was abroad and he loved it.

The Malfoys has made it his birthday surprise and even though it was a few days before the actual day of his birth, this was by far the best gift he could ask for. He, Draco and Narcissa were supposed to spend two days in Paris enjoying themselves and not thinking about Voldemort or Order of the Phoenix.

So far it seemed Draco and his mother were going out of their way to make Orion enjoy the trip. On the first day, they went sightseeing the city – both the wizarding and Muggle Paris. In the dark haired teen’s opinion, the city was different than London; the main wizarding avenue was completely different than what he had expected – it was broad, crowded and impressive; it seemed flashy but in a good way. They’ve visited different shops and stocked up on some rare potion ingredients; then there was a boutique with vast variety of beautifying potions, which Mrs Malfoy really wanted to visit. There was no end to all the attractions – candy shops, bookstores, fancy restaurants and cafes, antique and robes boutiques, not to mention the amazing Malfoy estate located not far from Paris.

“Ready to get overwhelmed?” asked Draco with a smirk when they stopped in front of an enormous robes boutique.

“Draco, don’t scare him,” reprimanded Narcissa, but in fact she was amused how at ease her son seemed when he was around Orion; she has never seen Draco be so open and happy with anyone. “You know they don’t bite.”

Before the dark haired teen was even able to say anything, he was gently pushed inside the building. There was a big commotion; people running around with amazing and colourful robes. Orion wanted to ask if they could come back later, when it was less crowded but just then a tall wizard with short auburn hair, amazing blue eyes and tanned skin walked out of the back of the boutique and called out to them.

“Madame Malfoy!” he called out beaming with joy. “How wonderful to see you again.”

The man was acting too flamboyant for Orion’s liking, but he still seemed nice and sincere.

“It’s always a pleasure to visit you Julien,” said Narcissa and held out her hand and the man courteously kissed it. “We’re here with a guest. Hopefully he can be your new customer.”

“Julien? That Julien?” the black haired teen whispered to Draco.

“The one and only,” snickered the blond.

“Of course Madame Malfoy. Margo and I are always happy to dress the Malfoy family and their friends,” Julien said and smiled to Orion; right after that, his eyes landed on Draco and his smile from warm and heartily became somewhat lecherous. “Even my favourite customer showed up. This must be my lucky day.”

Julien asked the three of them to follow him to the back of the shop. He explained they were preparing outfits for some artists at the moment, which explained the crowds inside the building.

“Oh! Our best customers!” a tall witch with long, wavy blond hair and blue eyes like Julien, hurried to them as soon as they entered the private workspace of the two robes designers. “Madame Malfoy, I see you’ve brought us a celebrity,” the younger witch smiled brightly and playfully winked to Orion. “Please, take a seat. Julien and I will take care of these two handsome young men here.”

Narcissa couldn’t help, but laugh when she saw the dark haired teen’s terrified face. She sat there on the sofa and waited for the designers to work their own magic with the boys’ clothing.

Orion simply allowed Margo to lead him to a fitting room. He kept eye contact with Draco, who was being ogled by Julien. The black haired teen decided he didn’t like the way the older wizard was treating his cousin; he had no right to look at the blond like that, to make such comments and definitely not to touch him. He saw Draco sending him an apologetic look, which made it clear the teen didn’t appreciate Julien’s attention either.

Finally after half an hour, which felt like half a day, Margo brought Orion a whole pile of different robes – casual and formal; similar to Muggle clothes and more fancy like the ones Sirius usually wore; black mixed with white and very colourful ones.

“I’m supposed to try out all of those?” asked Orion not too happy about the idea.

“Definitely. You really should get rid of most of those Muggle outfits you have right now,” teased him Draco, who was already done with his fitting and sat on a settee outside of the other teen’s fitting room.

Orion just sighed resigned and closed the door behind him. The blond sat there with a smug look on his face; this was one of his best ideas to take his cousin to Paris. The teen seemed to enjoy himself and now he would even get clothes that fitted a wizard better than what he used to wear.

“Draco! Come here, quick,” suddenly the black haired boy called him.

He walked into the fitting room just to see Orion only in his new black pants and dark silky shirt completely unbuttoned, “What’s wrong? Why did you call me?”

“Do you see this too or is it only me?” the teen stood in front of the full-length mirror and stared at his reflection in disbelief.

Draco looked at the mirror and became speechless. He didn’t see the reflection of Harry Potter; the teen looking at them from the mirror seemed slightly taller, but not as tall as Draco; his skin was flawless and looked almost like porcelain; long, straight, black hair reached below his shoulders and framed the face that had many Black family traits and looked very much like Sirius with the exception of the infinitely black eyes inherited from Severus.

“Say something,” begged him Orion. “What is this mirror?”

The blond got a hold of himself after seeing the most handsome young man in his life and examined the object before them.

“Any ideas what it is? I suppose it can see through that glamour that was placed on me,” deducted Orion.

“Well, I be damned,” said the blond to himself. “I don’t think Margo and Julien are aware of how invaluable this mirror is. There are only few of those objects left. They are called the Forget-Me-Not mirrors and they show their owners their true image even if powerful magic is concealing their identity.”

That day their trip to France ended and they all returned to Malfoy Manor. Narcissa got the chance to relax, Orion gained new clothes, but Draco thought he was the luckiest of the three of them; he saw his cousin’s true self and he will dream about that sight every night now.

Over a week has passed since the Order found out about Harry’s disappearance from his Muggle relatives’ house and they still couldn’t find him. It seemed as if the teen has evaporated. Professor Dumbledore tried talking with the Dursleys, but they only told him one of Harry’s friends invited him to spend summer at his place and they agreed. The wizard tried everything; he even begged them to tell him anything about that mysterious friend, but they either didn’t know or they didn’t want to tell him. The only good news for them was the fact that Harry couldn’t have gone with a Death Eater, but they still weren’t able to locate him.

The bad mood and concern was taking its toll on everyone, especially the ones staying at Grimmauld Place. If Sirius was in a foul mood before, now he was absolutely unbearable; snapping at everyone and fighting with other members of the Order stopping him from leaving the house.

“Was that Sirius again?” asked Hermione when she heard shouting at the corridor one night; every night the wizard tried to sneak out of the place to go find Harry, but Remus stopped him.

“Yes,” confirmed Ginny closing the door to their room. She lied down on her bed and took out the latest Witch Weekly from the bedside table. “I can’t really blame him for acting like this, though. I also wish that Harry was here with us. Who knows what has happened to him?”

Hermione silently watched the younger witch, who suddenly hid her face in the magazine. She knew Ron’s sister had a huge crush on her black haired friend since she was only eleven, “You’re doing well…not acting too obvious and nervous around him. Sooner or later he’s going to notice your feelings.”

“Hopefully sooner than later,” giggled Ginny from behind her magazine.

“Hopefully after Ron gets over his protective instincts of you or Harry might die by the hands of his best friend,” laughed Hermione and returned to reading one of her arithmancy books, already preparing for this year’s OWLs.

“Oh dear Morgana!” shouted Ginny and jumped off of her bed.

“What’s going on?”

“I’ve found him! Hermione, I’ve found him!” she shouted again and ran outside of their room with the Witch Weekly in her hand. “Everyone! I’ve found Harry! I know where he is!”

She didn’t have to wait long for their reaction; in mere seconds all of her siblings, parents, as well as Hermione, Sirius and Remus came running to her asking for information.

“Where?” asked impatiently Ron.

The girl showed them the paper she was reading and pointed to the article about some famous French robes designers from Paris. At first they didn’t know what to look for, but when they’ve focused on the background of the moving photograph they clearly saw Harry and he wasn’t alone.

“Malfoy!?” Hermione and Ron said in unison.

A few days after their trip to Paris, Lucius brought the news from Severus that the Order has found out about Orion’s whereabouts. From what the man told them from the potions master report, the Weasleys and some other Order members were absolutely shocked and outraged how could it happen that the Saviour of the Light was living at a Death Eaters’ house.

Orion remained unfazed by the news; the fact was that even though they knew where he was, they still didn’t do anything to contact him and it upset him. Seeing his bad mood Lucius offered to take him and Draco to Diagon Alley to browse for school supplies and books. The dark haired teen was aware that the wizard wanted to irritate Dumbledore even more and that’s why he wanted to show off in London in his presence, but Orion didn’t mind; by now, he got to know the man well enough to be sure he didn’t have any intention to hurt his feelings, but he simply loved to boast and get on people’s nerves; a trait Draco definitely took after his father.

Just as he promised, Lucius flooed with his son and Orion to the Leaky Cauldron. It was only beginning of August, but there were already crowds of students rushing through Diagon Alley to buy what they needed for school. After achieving his goal and causing quite a commotion in the Leaky Cauldron by showing up with the Boy-Who-Lived, Mr Malfoy led the teens to Flourish and Blotts, gave them a pouch full of galleons and left them to go through the bookshop.

“I should probably start calling you Harry again,” said Draco when they left the shop carrying piles of books.

“I suppose that’s necessary,” agreed the teen a bit disappointed; he got used to his real name, especially after seeing his true self in the Forget-Me-Not mirror. “Actually I feel like I could stay at your place for the next month too…if only your parents agree, that is.”

“Why wouldn’t they agree?” snorted the blond and looked at him in disbelief; the teen went back to his arrogant, haughty behaviour like every time they were in public, but the dark haired boy knew Draco was happy with his words. “Although we can ask my father when he comes back.”

“Yes, we should. By the way, when was he supposed to meet with us?” asked the teen and immediately looked around the street having a bad feeling; all of a sudden something felt off, but no one seemed to notice it.

“Are you alright?” asked Draco seeing his cousin’s behaviour, but he brushed it off as being unimportant. “Either way, father should be here any minute, if not we can go look for him. I have a pretty good idea where he might be.”

“Me too,” the shorter teen smirked knowingly. There was only one place Lucius Malfoy could have went to – Knockturn Alley.

“Since we’re waiting, I wanted you to know, I’m sorry for not giving you any birthday present. The thing I ordered didn’t arrive on time…”

“Honestly Draco, it’s fine. You made my summer break amazing, that’s more than enough,” smiled the other teen, but his good mood faded away quickly when the bad feeling came back; he wasn’t sure what it was, but as soon as he thought about it, the day went from wonderful to downright catastrophic.

Before anyone could react the street became dark and gloomy as if all the happiness was taken away from the world.

“Dementors,” came out of Draco’s lips and he grabbed his cousin by the hand and rushed to Gringott’s; no dementor would attack them there.

Unfortunately someone in the crowd noticed three dementors flying their way and panic broke. People were pushing so hard that the two boys got separated – the blond was trying to reach his cousin’s hand again, but the other boy was being pushed towards the Leaky Cauldron.

“Harry watch out!” the blond shouted to him in warning when one of the grim guardians of Azkaban got dangerously close to him. Draco was already pointing his wand at the creature when four wizards and one witch appeared next to the dark haired boy and hit the dementor with a Patronus charm.

The blond assumed the group that has just helped the other teen was a part of Dumbledore’s Order, but he was glad to see them. He felt relieved and forgot there were still some other dementors around. Moments later some people bumped into him while they were running to the inn and he lost balance and orientation of what was going on. He saw the group that saved his cousin was pulling the boy away towards the inn, but the teen was desperately trying to pull away from them.

“Draco!” Orion’s terrified voice was the last thing he registered before he fell to the ground and passed out.

Seeing two dementors attacking the blond while no one bothered to help him made the black haired teen furious. He yanked his arms from the wizards’ grip, pulled out his wand and cast a powerful Patronus charm getting rid of the Azkaban guardians. He wanted to rush to the teen, but Lupin and some other wizard grabbed him again and forced to go with them. He tried to free himself once more to at least check if his cousin was alive, but he failed.

“We’re apparating Harry,” informed him Remus.

Just before they disappeared the boy saw Lucius Malfoy running to his son’s still body and he felt his heart being ripped out of his chest by the thought of Draco being severely hurt.
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Meddling with Darkness