───NARCISSA MALFOY couldn't believe what she was reading shortly after the owl arrived from the Ministry claiming that her eldest son was alive. For an entire month, she had basically closed herself off to the world, draped in the darkness of mourning. Her eyes felt the permanent burn, even when they were closed, due to how many tears she had said since she had been given the horrible news. The amount of devastation that had struck her had been the equivalent of a sword that pierced her heart and left her bleeding out painfully until she practically felt dead inside.

For Lucius to return, carrying only the prosthetic that had belonged to Saros, she couldn't even begin to wrap her mind around the events that her husband tried to explain to her. But Lucius was no better, his words laced with sobs, the guilt repeatedly beating him like a dead horse even though he put no fight to prove himself innocent. He knew he was the one responsible for Saros' death and he had claimed it over and over. However, it was not Lucius that had cast the Killing Curse as he revealed to his wife, but the Dark Lord, who thought it would serve as a punishment to the family.

They were in the clutches of the Dark Lord's demands as he wanted no one to stray from the path he had designed. Anyone who didn't stand with him stood against him, and he was making it clear that they were as good as dead. And while Narcissa knew better than to put it past the Dark Lord not to kill a child, it never crossed her mind that it would be her own on the other end of the wizard's wand. She wanted to hate Lucius for not protecting their eldest son, but at the same time, she knew she had done nothing to protect him as well.

She had not been at the graveyard to protect Saros with her own life and that left her just as guilty. The two had been unable to look at each other because as soon as they made eye contact, they were only able to see features that reminded them of Saros. Whether it was Lucius' noting that Saros and Narcissa shared the same eye colour, or how Narcissa could only see her son's face whenever she looked at Lucius, they couldn't be in the same room with one another without wishing death on themselves.

And then there was Draco.

Draco, who hadn't said a word since the time of the Triwizard Tournament when they announced that Saros was dead. He was the one who had been fighting his parents, telling them to do whatever they could in his letters to bring Saros home. But he had been the one to point out that what their parents had been doing was only hurting Saros. He was the one at school with his brother, he was the one who witnessed his brother cry on multiple occasions. And even after everything they had done to him, Saros still chose to look out for Draco.

Saros had chosen Draco as the most important thing to him, what he would miss the most if it were gone. That haunted Draco the most whenever he closed his eyes, his brother reaching out his hand for Draco to take, but by the time that Draco lifted his hand, it was too late, Saros was already gone. The fact that their rooms weren't far apart from each other in the manor made it difficult for Draco to even move about without wanting to break down.

Passing Saros' room every day was the worst because no activity came from it, it was empty and silent. Draco could only remember the days where he would race into his older brother's room to harass him in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings. But he couldn't even bring himself to look in the direction of the room without feeling all the regret in the world.

Yet when Saros' trunk was delivered to the manor from Hogwarts, the entire family had gathered around it to go through Saros' belongings. It showed that he had kept pictures of all of them, even after what they had put him through. They all expected for him to rip up every single remaining photo of them together out of spite, but he hadn't done so. Even when they had all exhibited cruel and cold exteriors to him, Saros couldn't bring himself to actually hate his family.

So when the owl arrived, Narcissa believed it was too good to be true. Part of her believed that it was a cruel prank, set by someone who had nothing better to do than to taunt a grieving family. But when Lucius arrived home promptly with the confirmation that Aurors had discovered Saros, everything seemed to come to a sudden standstill. He was alive and that was all that was important.

The question of where he had been during all the passing time could wait until later, however, the family was hesitant about whether they would be wanted at St Mungo's. After all they had done to Saros, would he even want to see them? Draco didn't seem to care whether or not Saros wanted to see him, he demanded that they go to St Mungo's so that he could see Saros alive for himself.

He needed to see his older brother and no one was going to stop him, even if he had to walk there by himself.

However, there was a saving grace for the Malfoy family as they would soon learn when they arrived at St Mungo's that late evening. As soon as they arrived, a young Healer had explained to them that Saros was suffering from severe memory loss, enough that he didn't recognise anyone or remember anything that had occurred. He had been living among muggles that had found him and attempted to help him. The woman informed them that there was no telling when he would remember anything or if he would remember anything.

Silence struck the family for a moment as they realised what that meant for them for the time being. It was a second chance with Saros, a second chance to keep him with them and not lose him in the way they did before. Rather than pushing him away, they would hold onto him tightly and never let him go.

All they needed was confirmation that he was alive.

Leading the way to where the Healer had pointed to Saros' room, Narcissa was suddenly struck by the commotion taking place down the corridor. She could see a man, holding back a younger woman, who was thrashing in his arms like she had gone mad. Meanwhile, her gaze was fixated on Narcissa, Draco, and Lucius as they approached the room. The closer they got to the door, the crazier she seemed to become.

"NO!" Narcissa heard her yell. " They shouldn't be allowed to see him! They disowned him! They disowned him! Saros wouldn't want to see them! They hurt him, they're the reason he got hurt in the first place! Don't let them in to see him! Dad, please-"

Quickly pressing a hand to her mouth, Narcissa raced to the door quickly to escape the accusations that were only true. She suddenly knew who the girl was, how could she not? Draco had written home about the Gryffindor girl that seemed to hold importance in Saros' life. Angelina Johnson was her name, the one that Rita Skeeter had written in her articles, one of the only true statements to come from the vile gossip's mouth.  Saros had chosen her over his family and while it had hurt, Narcissa knew there was still truth to Angelina's words.

They did hurt Saros.

But none of that mattered at the moment as Narcissa's hand touched the coldness of the doorknob and turned it. She had to see Saros for herself before she went completely mad, she needed to see her eldest son. As she turned the handle and opened the door, she saw the young man on the bed turn his head in her direction. Immediately, there was such a strong sense of relief that took hold of Narcissa as she recognised her son. Perhaps he was thinner, the bags under his eyes were dark, but there was no mistake, it was him.

"Saros."

"Mother?"

Instantly, Narcissa lost all inability to control herself as she lost her composure in just a split second. She crossed the room in speed only comparable to lightning as she pulled her son up into a hug. He nearly lost his footing, only balancing on one leg but she held him tight enough that he didn't have to worry about falling. Tears fell but for the first time in weeks, it wasn't due to sadness but happiness. Saros made no effort to hug her in return, but that didn't matter to her right away, the fact that she was able to actually hold him had been enough.

"You're alright, you're alright," she muttered over and over until Saros made the movement to try and take a step back from her.

"You are my mother, right?" he questioned, confusion lacing his features. She froze for a second, completely forgetting what the Healer had said as soon as Saros had called her mother. But he wasn't just calling her it out of affection, he didn't know who she was to him. His memory was worse than she had expected it to be.

Allowing him to sit back on the bed, Narcissa nodded her head. "Yes, I'm your mother, Saros. And-"

He looked away from her, past where she was sitting, over to the door where Draco and Lucius still stood in their own state of shock.

"I've seen you all," Saros said quietly, "I've seen you all in my dreams. I don't remember much, but I remember you all as people in my life. I remember you as family. You were here with me...here in St Mungo's when I lost my leg, right? I remembered that. Mother...Father..."

His eyes focused on Draco, who had already been tearing up as they approached the door. He looked directly at Saros, waiting for his brother to ask his name or ask some other question. They were all quiet allowing him time to think as the Healer had informed them to allow memories to come back to Saros on his own. The memory was easy to manipulate and they could do more harm than good trying to force him to remember things.

"Draco," he said out the clear blue, " you're Draco, right? My little brother. You were in my dreams a lot."

Draco filed into the room and hurried over to Saros, nearly knocking him back onto the bed as he wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug. Similar to their mother, he didn't seem keen on letting go of Saros right away as he continued to hold onto him. All he could think of was when Harry Potter had returned to the clearing, sobbing and claiming that Saros was dead. He remembered racing onto the pitch and demanding Harry tell him where Saros was. If his older brother was dead, where was the body? But Harry could only shake his head in response, telling everyone he didn't know.

And to make matters worse, as Saros was facing death, he had only left a message behind for Angelina, telling her that he was sorry. There was nothing for Draco, not a word and Draco realised that he had probably pushed his brother too far before the Final Task that Saros took it upon himself to just give up. But similar to what his parents were thinking and feeling, Draco saw that he had been given a second chance with Saros. Saros was the only one that ever seemed to look after Draco and make sure that he was happy and that others around him brought him happiness, he needed to do the same for him as his brother was in desperate need of support.

Last but not least, Lucius entered the room, still visibly shaking as part of him believed he had entered a dream sequence of some sort. He wanted to believe that Saros was right in front of him, but part of him believed that he was going to wake up at any given minute and Saros would be gone. Draco moved to the side, sitting on the other side of the bed, leaving Saros in the middle of him and his mother. Lucius came to stand before Saros before kneeling down before him.

In what appeared to be flashes of the scene, Lucius could only remember their last encounter in the graveyard where Saros had looked absolutely terrified after the Dark Lord gave Lucius the demand to kill him. Saros had actually believed that his own father would go through with it too because Lucius remembered how he lifted up his wand to defend himself.

Then he remembered just how angry Saros had been with him before he had left to Hogwarts, how he refused to look at him, let alone speak to Lucius. Despite what many probably believed, it killed Lucius internally not to talk to Saros during the passing time. But he could only go on what he believed would work in order to get Saros to come back to them. It seemed cruel and horrible, but it had worked in the past with other family members as Lucius had witnessed growing up. Those that strayed from the path often came back and he thought it would work for his own son.

Instead, it led to him nearly losing Saros.

The amount of grief that his family had gone through due to his own actions, Lucius hated himself for it. But his fears were only growing in his chest and mind because he knew that Saros and his family were still somewhat in danger. The Dark Lord had wanted Saros dead as a form of punishment for Lucius' wavering loyalty. Now that word was out that Saros was actually alive, Lucius didn't know how long it would be before consequences followed. How enraged the Dark Lord would be when he learned that Saros was still alive, another escaping the Killing Curse?

When the time came, Lucius was going to have to think fast about how he was going to protect his family or he risked the idea of losing them again.

But the Saros sitting before him was the not the same Saros that had left for Hogwarts the previous year in a bitter state, nor was he the one that stared at his father in fear. Instead, as he looked at Saros, his son seemed to be expecting a similar reaction to the ones Narcissa and Draco had displayed. Finally, Lucius brought himself to bring Saros into a hug that could rival that of his son and wife.

And unexpectantly, Saros seemed to finally come to terms with showing his own form of affection as he hugged his father in return.

"Am I going to be able to go home with all of you?" Saros asked in a low tone as he held onto his father. "Can I go see where I live?"

For a moment, no one in the family spoke, but all of them exchanged looks with one another. None of them could forget that Saros had been disowned before the whole situation had happened, but they wanted nothing more than to bring him home. That had been the whole point of ostracising him in the first place, to basically force Saros to come home to them. But it seemed they didn't have to do that anymore, Saros actually wanted to come home at that time.

But was it safe for him to do so?

"We'll hear what the Healers have to say first, son," Lucius spoke first, " if they give you the clear to leave, then, of course, we'll take you home. We would want nothing more than that. Home is where you belong...with us."

"Maybe I'll start to remember things there," Saros said, " if I'm around things that are familiar, maybe that will help. I'm missing out on so much, I just want to remember everything. I'm so tired of being stuck in the dark."

With his family sitting around him in the room, Saros felt comfortable for the first time since being taken away from Jo and William. Maybe he didn't remember his family, but they were there and that had to count for something. They weren't there to hurt him and he felt like he could actually trust them. He wanted to go home, somewhere where he wouldn't be taken in the middle of the night.

"We'll get you home as soon as we can," his mother told him, " everything is going to be alright, Saros."

He nodded his head, liking the sound of reassurance in her voice. He continued to look back and forth between the three faces in the room, hoping that memories would start coming to him. But remembering his little brother's name seemed to be all that he would be granted that evening.

There was a knock on the door a little while later as Lucius was discussing that Saros had a different prosthetic back home that he would probably find more comfortable than what he had been given before. The family looked over in the direction of the doorway and Saros greeted Mr Johnson, his Healer with a small smile. However, as the Healer came to deliver a Sleeping Draught that would ensure Saros getting some much needed rest that night, Saros couldn't ignore the frown on the man's face as he looked at the others in the room.

Wouldn't his Healer be thankful that his family was there with him?

Saros felt like he was missing out on something and all he could think of was his memories couldn't come back soon enough.