A Family Affair

Draco Malfoy was a bit surprised when Professor Snape told him to stay after class. As far as Draco knew, he had done nothing deserving of either punishment or reward - at least not in the last twenty-four hours or so. He decided that the impromptu meeting must have something to do with his father, or the Death Eaters, or both, and he rather looked forward to staying after class.

"Come with me, Mr. Malfoy," Professor Snape commanded as soon as all the other students were safely away from the Potions classroom. Without another word, Snape led Malfoy to the Headmaster's office.

Standing outside the entrance to Dumbledore's office, Draco began to feel a bit nervous. He crossed his arms across his chest, and pasted on his most arrogant sneer; the best defense is a good offense, after all.

"You can drop the façade, Mr. Malfoy," Snape suggested.

Draco swallowed nervously, and felt the sneer slide away. "Why are we going to see Dumbledore?"

"Headmaster Dumbledore," Snape corrected. "He has something to show you."

Turning to the stone gargoyle guarding the entrance to the Headmaster's office, Snape said, "Pixy sticks" with a rather disgusted look upon his face. The gargoyle sprang to life and jumped aside, and Snape led the blonde boy though the gap in the walls onto the moving spiral staircase leading up to the office. Outside the door, he paused, and rapped gently before opening the door and stepping inside.

"Come in, come in," the Headmaster called cheerfully.

Snape strode into the office, and took a seat across the desk from Dumbledore. Draco entered the room more slowly, pausing beside the Headmaster's desk.

"Do sit down, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore invited.

Draco sat down with a strange feeling of dread quickly spreading through him. Something was amiss, he just knew it. He hadn't done anything to require his being here, and although the Headmaster seemed jovial enough, his eyes weren't twinkling.

"Have I done something wrong?" the boy blurted out, unable to contain himself.

"No, child," the old wizard said gently, his eyes softening sympathetically.

Sympathy. Pity. Oh dear gods, what was going on? "Has something happened to my mother?" Draco asked, the fear inside him threatening to overtake him completely.

"Perhaps if you were to let the Headmaster speak, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Draco, I received something by owl post yesterday morning which gave me cause for great concern. I believe you should see it before Severus and I say anything more." With that, Albus gently handed Narcissa's pensieve to Draco.

Draco's gaze travelled slowly over the markings on the outside of the basin, noting the familiar characters. "This... looks like...." His eyes flew to Severus's.

"Look inside," Snape instructed.

Looking in, Draco saw only a silvery swirl at first. He leaned his face close to the surface and saw his own home. He looked up at the Headmaster. "How do I...?"

"Simply touch the surface."

Draco did as instructed, and was shocked at what he found inside. Coming back from the memories locked in the pensieve, Draco flew into a rage. He leapt to his feet yelling, "What is this? Some kind of sick joke? A set up? How did you do this?"

"Draco," Severus Snape's voice was deadly calm.

The boy stopped screaming and turned to face Snape, anger and hurt apparenly in his pale face and tears welling in his eyes. "What's going on?" the boy cried.

"Your mother sent me that pensieve yesterday morning, Draco." Albus reached into the drawer, pulled out the letter and the envelope with the strange seal on the back, and handed them to Draco. The boy read the brief letter, and then examined the envelope.

"Mother never uses that signet," he said quietly after a moment. "It's the Gaillard family crest. Why would she...." He took in a shaky breath. "This is real, isn't it? Voldemort means to use me like Grindelwald planned to use Albrect."

"I'm afraid so, Draco," said Albus, glad, at least, that he didn't have to explain the Rite or the history thereof.

Snape was struck by the way that Draco looked now. With no trace of arrogance or superiority about him, with tears streaming down his thin face, Draco Malfoy looked very much like the frightened child he was, and nothing at all like the cocky young tough he so tried to be.

Draco sunk back into the chair he had abandoned earlier, curling up in it as if he was a child of six rather than a young man of sixteen, his face pressed against his knees, body shaking with suppressed sobs. Snape moved to sit on the arm of Draco's chair, and placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.

After Draco had a few moments to calm himself, he straightened again, sitting up in the chair with the proper posture his mother had taught him. He lifted his pointed chin and stiffened his spine. 'Looking confident is just as important as being confident, Draco,' his mother had taught him. 'You must appear to be strong, even when you aren't.'

"So," the boy said, with a calm and confidence he didn't feel, "What do we do?"

Albus Dumbledore smiled. He was quite proud of the boy. Perhaps Draco wasn't as weak as Voldemort assumed him to be. "I have a friend named Nathan Jaffe. He's willing to offer you sanctuary."

"There's a catch," Draco said, eyes narrowing. "I can see it in your eyes."

"Draco, don't be so insolent, boy! Albus is trying to help you."

"Now, Severus. Don't berate the boy for being wary. You're right, of course, Mr. Malfoy."

"Don't call me that!" Draco roared, white-hot rage burning in his silvery eyes. Albus's eyes widened in shock, and Snape nearly fell off the arm of the chair. "I'm just Draco, now." The boy started to shake again. "I can't believe he was going to..." he paused, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his robe. "I'm not useless," Draco said very softly, more to himself than to anyone else. "I'm not weak, or a coward. I'm not. Am I?"

Snape gave the boy's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "You are not," he said softly.

Draco turned slightly and buried his face in the Potion Master's robes, overcome with another torrent of anguished sobs. Startled, Snape jumped slightly, then awkwardly stroked the boy' silky silver-blonde hair in a feeble attempt to offer the boy some sort of comfort.

When the boy had quieted again, and again forced himself to look calm and determined, Dumbledore continued. "As I was saying, you are right, Draco. There is a 'catch' as you say."

"As it can't be a great deal worse than being murdered, I imagine it doesn't matter much."

Beside him, Snape snorted.

"Jaffe has offered to set you up with a new identity and place you with a family in the United States," Dumbledore began.

Doesn't sound too bad so far, Draco thought.

"A Muggle family," Snape added.

"Muggles?" Draco asked, obviously shocked.

"Yes, Muggles. The last thing Lucius would expect is for you to be sequestered with Muggles."

Draco let out a strangled half-laugh. "No, the last thing he would expect is for me to..." Draco stopped, seeing what Snape and the Headmaster had not yet said. "I can't," he said weakly. "I can't pretend to be one of them!"

"Now, Draco," Albus replied, "surely you can see the sense in this."

"No, Headmaster, you don't understand. I can't pretend to be a Muggle. Fa.. Lucius hates Muggles, that's no secret. So, you see, growing up as his son...I haven't a clue about what Muggles get up to, you see. I actually, truly can not masquerade as a Muggle because I haven't a clue what it means to be a Muggle."

"I can see your point," the Headmaster conceded.

"This is not unexpected," Severus said. "Knowing Lucius as I do, I knew he would forbid you any real knowledge of the Muggle world - even going so far as to make certain you did not enroll in Muggle Studies here at Hogwarts."

"The plan is for you to 'disappear' during this weekend's visit to Hogsmeade. That gives us three days to prepare you," Dumbledore began

"That's not enough time!" Draco insisted.

"No, indeed, it is not," Albus agreed. "After your disappearance, you will be staying with some friends of mine for a short time. They can help you with learning the Muggle world; Nathan will be able to continue your training when you arrive in the United States."

"I'm almost afraid to ask," Draco said, "but... which friends?"

"Sirius Black and Remus Lupin," Snape said, snarling.

Draco's pale eyes went wide. "A murderer? And a werewolf? Are you mad?"

Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling. "I assure you that Sirius Black is no more a murderer than Professor Sprout. As for Remus, he's completely harmless."

"Thanks to the wolfsbane potion," Snape added.

The blonde boy shook his head bemusedly. "Why do I not feel reassured? Still, I suppose under the circumstances, I shouldn't let such small things as lycanthropy and a prison record worry me."

Snape laughed - a rather eerie sound to Draco's way of thinking.

"All right, tell me what to do," Draco said.

"Come back to my office after supper tomorrow night for your first Muggle Studies lesson," Dumbledore said.

"Try not to draw undue attention to yourself. Try to act as much like Draco Malfoy as you possibly can. We don't want your housemates reporting back to their parents, and Voldemort."

Draco nodded.

"I'll walk you back to your common room," Snape offered.

"Good night, Headmaster," Draco said, rising from his seat.

"Good night, my boy."

Once outside the Headmaster's office, Draco gestured for Snape to wait a moment.

"Professor, why are you doing this? I mean... I know you're a Death Eater. This goes against your loyalties to Voldemort."

"Draco, I may be a Death Eater, but I am also your Head of House, and a friend - of both your mother and you. I could not possibly let Lucius go through with this, regardless of my loyalties. Unlike some people, I do still have a small bit of conscience left."

Draco gave the older man a very small smile before they continued on their way to the dungeons, where Draco lay awake for a long time and Snape sat for hours in quiet contemplation with a bottle of brandy for company