So Predictable

I could be cold, I could be ruthless.

-Just like You

-By: Three Days Grace

"DRACO!" she screeched, running down the long hall towards her son's room. Draco heard her coming long before she'd screamed his name. She always came. She was so afraid, it was pathetic. He loved his mother, probably more than he loved anyone else, but she disgusted him. She had no power, no will, and no strength. The moment his father had been thrown in Azkaban she had fallen apart. She had locked herself in the prison of her mind, and she refused to attempt an escape.

"DRACO, HE'S COMING AFTER ME!" she cried, beating on his door. Draco rose slowly from his desk and went to the door, hesitating before turning the doorknob. Did he really want to listen to her cry? He would have before. He'd sit there for hours, listening to her sob, saying that "he" was trying to take her. She never said who "he" was, and Draco never asked. He didn't want to know.

"Mother, take a deep breath and calm down," Draco said as she burst into his room, collapsing on the floor. She pulled her knees close to her, and wrapped her arms around them, rocking back and forth. Draco almost yelled at her. His father had already lost the Malfoy name any respect in the world of the Death Eaters, and Narcissa was only adding to the shame he felt. Maybe his heart was made of ice, maybe he'd lost his soul, and maybe he should have cared more. But 17 year old Draco Malfoy was tired of living like this. He was tired of not getting his way. At home he couldn't control his crazy mother, and at school he couldn't control a certain red-headed Weasley. She had shacked up with Seamus Finnegan only days after his miraculous display of affection for her on the steps, and Draco had gone back to Pansy. Maybe that was when his heart had hardened. The moment that damn girl gave up on him. That was when he gave up on himself.

"Don't you hear him son? He's here. He's always here," Narcissa muttered, her eyes searching the room desperately. Draco stared down at her, pity in his gaze. That was one thing he was still capable of. He could pity her, and he could pity himself.

"There's no one here but me, mother," he said coolly, causing her to panic. Narcissa stood quickly and threw herself at her son, grasping the front of his robes.

"He's here. He wants me to come with him. I won't do it. I don't want to go," she rasped, clinging desperately to Draco. He took her frail arms softly in his hands and pushed her away. She was so fragile, so delicate, he knew she would shatter at the first harsh hand that had at her.

"We won't let anyone take you anywhere. Let me take you back to your room so you can get some rest." His words were laced with a scornful tone, but Narcissa Malfoy didn't pick up on it. She nodded, her eyes suddenly glazing over. She stared at Draco's face for a moment, and reached a pale hand up to touch it.

"So much like you father. So much...father..." she trailed off, crumpling to a heap on the floor. Draco sighed and lifted her up, carrying her back down the hall to her room. He laid her in her huge four poster bed and pulled the sheets up over her, suddenly aware of a prickling on the back of his neck. Someone was watching him. He turned slowly, his heart beating painfully against his chest. There was no one there. Draco balled his hands into fists, fingernails digging sharply into his skin. Maybe his mother wasn't the only crazy one.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A cold voice floated through the empty room, and Ginny looked up, her face bruised and bleeding. The man's fair hair and grey eyes were immediately familiar, and she felt her stomach sink. He was gone. He was in Azkaban. She was dreaming; this had to all be a dream. But the pain that seared through her body was too real for it to be a dream.

"What are you doing here?" she rasped, her voice sounding harsh and unfamiliar. Lucius shrugged and lowered himself to the floor, kneeling in front of her.

"I escaped little Weasley. Black isn't the only one anymore." Ginny looked down at the hard cement floor she'd been sleeping on for the past two weeks. They'd been the longest weeks of her life. It seemed ages ago she'd been at home. They'd taken her while she was sleeping, and she had no idea what they'd done to her family.

He reached up a hand to brush away a lock of hair that had fallen in her eyes. His touch was like ice.

"Don't touch me!" she exclaimed. She looked up at him, suddenly afraid of his reaction. The moment her eyes locked with his she felt that cold hand slap her across the face. She felt a sob rise in her throat, and she tried to push it down, but one lonely tear escaped and slid down her bloodless cheek and onto the floor. Ginny glanced down at the spot her tear had struck. The tiny dot was shade darker than the rest of the hard floor.

"Go to hell," he hissed, standing up slowly. She finally looked back up, silent tears cascading down her cheeks. She gave him a bitter smile.

"I'll save you a seat."

Draco stood in the wet grass, watching his mother study the wilting roses, and feeling his stomach wrench as she smiled. Lucius' return made her so happy. Draco's heart had actually softened a bit when he saw the look on her face when father had taken her in his arms. But she was so clueless. She didn't see that he was just going to leave again. The moment he achieved his goal he was going to run away and leave them behind.

She looked like an angel walking in the rain, soaked to the skin, a beautiful smile on her pale face. A horrible, tragic, angel.

"Mother, come inside please. It's freezing," he pleaded, shivering slightly, as he too was drenched. She glanced at her son, the one who looked so much like her beloved husband, and shrugged.

"Nothing can hurt me. He has come back to us, and that is all I will ever need." It was such a change from the woman he had seen a few days ago, shaking and crying on his bedroom floor. He couldn't stand this much longer. She just didn't understand Lucius, and she never had. But maybe that was why she loved him. She didn't see the malice or the evil in him. All she saw was the good, no matter how sparse it was.

"I'm going inside," he said, kissing her on the cheek. She wrapped her arms around him, and whispered in his ear,

"Everything is as it should be."

Draco couldn't help but feel that it was the exact opposite.