What's This World Coming To?

    “What in the hell am I going to tell Mum?” Draco kept asking himself.

    Professor Dumbledore has taken Draco to the Hospital Wing once they’d arrived at Hogwarts; Draco has no idea where his father’s body was, or what was going to happen to it.

    Madam Pomfrey had given Draco a sleeping draught, but he hadn’t touched it. He couldn’t sleep now, even if he wanted to.

    The images from the night before kept rolling though his mind like some sort of horror film. All that he seemed to remember was running through the door, then fighting and killing his father. The image that haunted him the most though, was the one of himself crying by his father’s dead body. Draco had never particularly loved his father. Well, he supposed he had when he was younger, before his father had taken to beating the shit out of him night after night.

* * *

    “Please, Narcissa...”

    “Professor Dumbledore! Where is my son? I demand to see my son!” Narcissa Malfoy raged.

    “Narcissa, if you will kindly calm down, I can get you to him. However, he will be asleep because Madam Pomfrey has given him a sleeping draught,” Dumbledore said quietly, trying to calm Narcissa.

    “I don’t care! Just take me to Draco, Albus!”

    A few minutes later, Draco heard footsteps in the corridor leading to the Hospital Wing. He pretended to be asleep, forgetting about the goblet full of sleeping draught sitting on his bedside table.

    The door burst open, and when Narcissa saw Draco, she ran over to him.

    “Oh, my baby! I’m so sorry! I’m so, so sorry!” Narcissa whispered, taking Draco’s hand in hers.

    “Mum,” Draco said, “Mum, calm down. I’m fine. Mum?”

    Narcissa had started crying. Draco put his hand by her face to wipe away his mother’s tears, but she wouldn’t let him.

    “Draco, you must listen to me. We have to leave. Now.”

    “Leave? Why? Where?”

    “We must leave everything... our family, our friends, our house, all our possessions...”

    “Why?” Draco demanded.

    “I cannot tell you. Not now. Please Draco, come with me now before Professor Dumbledore of Madam Pomfrey comes in.”

    “Where are we going?” Draco asked, the thought having just occurred to him.

    “To Sirius Black’s house.”

* * *

    Professor Dumbledore had informed Professor McGonagall of what had happened the previous night, and the two of them were currently checking on Harry, Ron, Seamus, Hermione, Lavender, and Ginny to see that they were alright.

    “They seem to be fine, Professor,” Professor McGonagall said.

    “I think they will be, Minerva. Ginny might be affected, but only for a little while. Lucius Malfoy had always had some strange effect on her. I assure you no harm’s been done.

    She nodded her head, as if in agreement with Dumbledore.

    “Now, Minerva, if you’ll excuse me, I must go speak with Sirius,

* * *

    Narcissa had somehow managed to get her and her son to the Leaky Cauldron, after forcing Draco to drink the sleeping draught.

    She had sent an owl to Sirius, telling him that everything should go ahead as planned, even though there had already been some glitches; namely the death of Lucius, but that could only make the plan work better.

* * *

    Back at Hogwarts, the six friends were starting to wake up. One by one they trudged down to the common room and found a spot to sit. No one else was in the common room, since it was time for breakfast.

    Once everyone was settled, they began to discuss what had happened last night.

    “I wonder what happened to Draco?” Harry said.

    “He’s probably with Dumbledore, or in the Hospital Wing,” said Hermione wisely.

    “Does anyone know what happened to Lucius?” Ginny asked quietly.

    “No,” Harry said.

* * *

    “Ah! A letter! Probably from Harry!” said Sirius jovially when he saw the owl.

    He opened the letter, and his mouth dropped open.

Dear Sirius,

Draco and I are fine. We’re at the Leaky Cauldron now.

We should be at you home soon after you read this.

I must tell you something. Lucius is dead. I can’t explain now.

I promise to tell you everything later.

Even though his death changes things a bit, we cannot let it change our plans.

Just make sure that everything is prepared.

I can’t wait to see you.

     All my love,

     Narcissa

Sirius read the letter three more times.

    “Lucius... dead?” he kept saying to himself.

    He went to go get some of Ogden’s Old Firewhiskey from the cupboard above the sink, but before he could do so, there was a knock at his door.

    “Hello Sirius.”

* **

    “Thanks for coming so quickly, Remus.    

    “Anytime, Professor.”

    “Remus, you do know about Sirius, don’t you?”

    “Yes, sir. I do.”

    “Well, I need you to deliver a letter to him... personally.”

    “Alright.”

    “If he asks you to stay with him, as I’m sure he will, you can do so.”

    Dumbledore opened his top drawer and took out a thick envelope.

    “Here you go. Don’t be surprised if Sirius has a few visitors,” Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes.

    “Yes, sir. I’ll see you soon, I expect,” Lupin replied.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

“Come in,” Dumbledore called out.

    Severus Snape walked into the room, noticing Remus Lupin.

    “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the big bad wolf? Come for dinner, have you?” Snape said with a sneer.

    “Severus,” Dumbledore said in a warning tone.

    “Yes, Professor,” Snape said, turning away Lupin.

    “Severus, is his body...?”

    “Yes, Professor. It is fully prepared.”

    Lupin looked from Snape to Dumbledore and back again.

    “Body? Prepared? Dumbledore, may I ask what you are talking about?”    

    “I believe you just did. However, I cannot tell you. Not now.”

    Snape looked at Lupin with a superior smirk.

    “Well, Remus, you may go.”

    “Yes, Professor. Goodbye.”

    Dumbledore watched Remus walk away until the door had closed behind him.

    “Shall we go to the dungeons, Severus?” Dumbledore asked.

    “Lead the way, Professor.”    

    Dumbledore then got up and opened the door.

* * *

    “Hello Narcissa. Is he asleep?” Sirius asked, indicating Draco.

    “Yes. He should wake up soon.”

    “Let’s get him onto the couch so he can sleep some more.”

    Then Sirius took Draco from Narcissa’s arms and gently laid him on the couch. Narcissa picked up a blanket from a nearby chair and loving laid it on Draco.

    “You look like you could use some sleep. The bed’s upstairs, if you want to sleep.”

    “I gather you haven’t moved it since the last time I was here, then?” Narcissa said softly, a smile playing on her lips.

    “Nope. Still in the same place,” Sirius said warmly.

    They walked up to the bedroom and Sirius watched over Narcissa as she slept.

    Draco woke up hours later, as did his mother. Unfortunately, Sirius and Narcissa left the bedroom at the same time, and Draco formed his own ideas about what had happened while he was sleeping.

    “Oh, this is just great, Mum. Go ahead and shack up with a convicted criminal, no an escaped convicted criminal, right after I kill Dad. I may have killed him, but at least I had some respect for him! God! This is f***ed up!”

    “Draco! Draco! Calm down! It’s not like that!” Narcissa started to say.

    “Not like that my skinny arse!”

    “Draco!” Sirius bellowed. “Listen to your mother! Nothing happened. Just calm down, alright? Now, let’s go down and get some dinner.”

    The three of them went downstairs, and Draco and Narcissa watched as Sirius made dinner.

    “So, Draco, how’s school going?” Sirius asked, making about brave but desperate attempt to start a conversation.

    “Why the hell do you care?”

    “Draco! Really! That is no way to speak to someone who’s...”

    “Shacked up with my mum? I think I’m acting perfectly fine, thank you very much!”

    And with that, Draco stormed out of the room.

* * *

    “Professor, what’re we going to do, now that...” Snape started to say.

    “Now that Lucius’ body ready? The only thing we can do... wait.”

    “Wait? But I thought everything was ready, Professor.”

    “I’m sure it is, Severus, but to be safe, I would like to wait just a little while longer.

* A Little While Later*

    “Ready Severus?”

    “Yes Professor. Here’s the potion.”

    “Thank you Severus.”

    Dumbledore opened Lucius Malfoy’s mouth and poured into it a thick, blue, gel-like liquid. Then, he pointed his want at Lucius’ chest and whispered, “Veritas Petrificus.”

    Suddenly, the body of Lucius Malfoy sat up. It was though he’d come back from the dead. But that was impossible. It was only a shadow of his former self that would exist for only an hour, telling Dumbledore what he needed to know.

* * *

    “Sirius, I’m sorry about Draco,” Narcissa said quietly.

    “It’s ok. He’s going through a hard time right now. You both are,” Sirius answered, putting his hands on Narcissa’s shoulders.

    “Sirius, I...” Narcissa managed to say before turning her face up to Sirius’ and kissing him.

    They kissed for passionately for a few minutes, stopping when they heard Draco’s footsteps clomping down the stairs.

* * *

    Back in Snape’s dungeon, Dumbledore was slowly extracting answers from Lucius Malfoy’s dead body. He only had time for more question before their hour was up.

    “Lucius, tell what Lord Voldemort wanted with your son.”

* * *

    “HA! Caught in the act! You two think you could go around snogging behind my back, but it doesn’t work that way. We Malfoys do quite a few things very well, but one of the things we do best is spying. You should know that, Mother. Imagine... going from being the wife of the richest wizard in the world to snogging the...”    

    “Draco! That is enough!” Sirius bellowed. “I can accept the fact that you don’t like me, or the idea of your mother and I, but I cannot and will not accept your disrespect for your mother!”

    “Sirius, please. He has a right to...” Narcissa tried to say.

    “Narcissa, as long as he is living in my house, he lives by my rules, one of which is to always show respect. Got that, pretty boy?” Sirius raged.

    “Yes sir, Captain Black, sir,” Draco said mockingly.

    “That’s it!” Sirius shouted, reaching for his wand. “Petrificus Totalus!”