─── OUTSIDE IN THE GARDENS, Saros patiently waited for Draco to return with the two broomsticks and the Quidditch equipment so that he could start "properly" teaching Saros how to play. Of course, Saros didn't expect much to happen, considering he couldn't remember a time where he had actually mounted a broom, let alone fly one. It seemed silly, after living with muggles that used the brooms to sweep, to actually sit on one and fly around with it. But Saros knew better not to question the validity behind it since he had witnessed plenty since being reintroduced to the magical world.

However, when Draco returned with the broomsticks, Saros could definitely see the difference between what Jo swept her floors with to what they were expecting to ride. The broomsticks held a sleeker design to them, along with a divet part for the rider to sit. Draco carried each broomstick over with a sense of pride in his step before holding one out to Saros. But not taking it right away, Saros showed that he was a bit apprehensive about the flying lesson. Not bothered in the slightest by his brother's reaction, Draco placed both broomsticks down onto the ground before them and gently guided Saros to stand next to one.

"So in your first year, there are three basics that you learn in Flying class," Draco began as he tucked his hands behind and stood in front of his brother. "Summoning, Mounting, and Liftoff and Landing."

"That's four things," Saros pointed out, only to receive a look from Draco that told him to keep questions or comments until the end of the lesson. "Sorry."

"Anyways, as I was saying," he continued in a rather bossy, yet informative tone, "before you're able to do anything, you have to learn how to summon your broomstick off the ground first. To do this, you stand to the left of your broomstick, raise your right hand over it and with feeling call out "up!" Now, you give it a go."

Draco had made it sound so simple and made it look so easy as the broomstick that had once been on the ground was suddenly in his hand, hovering in mid-air. Looking on in astonishment, Saros swallowed nervously, not sure if he was going to get it so easily. However, since it was only the two of them, there would be no need to feel embarrassed if he didn't get it the first time around. Peering down at the broomstick, Saros lifted his right hand over it as instructed. He wasn't sure so much about the "with feeling" part, but he knew he wanted to summon the broom.

"Up!" he commanded in the strongest voice he could muster and within seconds, the wood of the handle smacked the inside of his palm. Saros yelped out at the sudden shot of pain, but it was quickly ignored as he saw the broomstick hovering at his side. Immediately, Draco cheered him on with applause. Without knowing, Saros had never managed to really summon a broom without assistance from Madam Hooch during his time in school and when he practise at home, the task never came to him with such ease.

Yet, with a toothy grin on his expression, it appeared as though Saros no longer held any reservations or hesitation concerning his leg. It didn't seem to be causing him the same mental barrier as before as whenever he attempted something new, he would spend a few moments looking at his prosthetic.

It was rather conflicting for Draco to witness as so much of Saros' life had revolved around the incident involving the lethifold, it had shaped the person he became for the most part. But while Saros had no recollection of any decent or fond memories with his family, he didn't remember any of the bad either. He couldn't remember the long hours that he and Draco spent together during the nights, staying up late and being silly around the manor, but at the same time, he didn't remember the fights that he and Draco had shared in the most recent months before he had gone missing.

Saros appeared happy, happier than he had been while at Hogwarts when he just seemed overall miserable whenever Draco came upon him. He would sit alone at the Slytherin table or be isolated within the Common Room. But it wasn't going to be like that anymore, Draco didn't have to ignore him to make Saros come home.

But still, for Draco, what he and his family were doing still felt wrong and he knew very well why Narcissa didn't want Saros to return to Hogwarts. Sure enough, during his disownment, Saros had managed to make other friends, not to mention get himself a girlfriend. Friends and relationship that his family didn't approve of, but it wasn't like the other side approved of the Malfoy family either. They would probably fill Saros' head with all terrible memories and they would try to take him away again.

Draco had already seen one encounter with Andromeda and Sirius showing up to St Mungo's to try and take Saros away from them. He didn't want his older brother to know of the disownment even though they had known how much it had hurt Saros at the time. It wasn't like they had taken joy in ostracising Saros, it was just their way of having him come home. Now, he was home and he appeared happy and Draco didn't want to lose that again. He couldn't afford to lose Saros again, none of the Malfoys could.

"Alright," Saros' voice interrupted Draco's thoughts, " what's next? You said mounting, right? Do you think I'm ready?"

Averting his gaze over to where Saros was standing and waiting patiently, Draco nodded his head with a small smile. He walked over and told Saros to place one leg over and sit himself down. He adjusted his brother's hand to properly hold the broom in place.

"You'll have to sit in the centre here," Draco told him, " or you're going to slide right off the back or if you lean too much forward, you'll topple over. So it's all about remaining centre when you're in the air. Your hands will regulate the weight of whether you want to pull back or gain speed by leaning forward a bit and of course, your body will guide the direction you want to go in."

"You seem to know everything about this, don't you?" Saros chuckled. "Learn all of this from school?"

"No. You."

For a moment, Saros was speechless and rather confused by Draco's confession that somehow he had managed to teach everything to his little brother. "But, didn't you say that I had a lot of trouble with flying? How did I teach you-"

"You couldn't fly but you know...um...knew all the techniques and the proper positions," Draco said, "you showed me a lot before I even started at school. Plus, you knew everything there was about Quidditch. When it came to me joining the team, you were always right there, telling me what to try and what not to do. Not that I ever really listened though and I always came to regret it after a match. I think if it wasn't for you being upset about your leg, you would have made an amazing Quidditch player."

With a small frown, Saros peered down at his leg, blinking several times as he remained puzzled. Yes, he realised that it wasn't the most ideal situation to lose a limb, but he couldn't understand why it had plagued him so much that it stopped him from living out the best things in life that he seemed to enjoy. The old Saros sounded insecure and seemed to hold himself back from doing so much all because he was worried. And yet, what was the worst that could happen to him at that point? He had already lost his leg and his family had informed him that magic couldn't heal it because it had been a form of dark magic.

Suddenly, a thought came to mind as Saros had been pondering over the loss of his leg. If damage caused by dark magic couldn't be healed, was that how he had managed to lose his memories in the first place? Had something so incredibly dark fallen upon him that no one had wanted to discuss it because it was that bad? Had it been his own fault that something terrible had occurred? What if Saros had been dabbling in dark magic and that was the entire reason no one really wanted to speak about it, in case, he found himself wanting to venture back to it?

After a bout of silence, Saros looked over at Draco, seeing the concern wash over his brother's face. It was the same concern that was written on everyone's face that he seemed to encounter. Everyone always looked so nervous whenever there was a possible chance that he had remembered something. As if something bad was going to happen and he was going to be the cause of it.

"Draco," he began after a couple of seconds, " before all of this...before I lose my memory, was I...was I a bad person? Did I mess around with dark magic or something?"

"No," Draco answered in a small voice, " you didn't mess around with dark magic and you weren't a bad person. You just made bad decisions and you hung around the wrong sort for a while."

"I did?"

"Yes, they were trying to make you change your thoughts and beliefs," Draco said, " they wanted you to leave all of us behind and join them. It's why you ended up getting hurt, Saros. You were just making the wrong choices. But none of that matters now and you don't need to focus on that. You're home, you're with us, and we're not going to let them hurt you or anyone for that matter. Now enough of this, let's see if you can let the lift-off and landing before Father comes home."

No longer wanting to dwell on the topic of Saros' family betrayal, Draco changed the topic and prompted his brother to give the broomstick a go. With the instruction of kicking hard off the ground, Saros was to make it only a couple of feet into the air while maintaining his balance. Using his metal foot to deliver a strong kick, Saros found himself more than a couple of feet as he hovered over his little brother's head. He kept his body centred as instructed, looking straight ahead and focusing on one of the albino peacocks in the distance.

Draco told him to lean forward in order to come back down and within seconds, Saros seemed to have mastered the task. The difference Saros seemed to exhibit with trying to fly again, it was a complete opposite experience than all the other times. He remembered when Saros had come home from starting his first year at Hogwarts during the Christmas holidays. He was practically in tears as he explained that he had made a complete fool of himself in Flying class to the point where the other students laughed at him.

It had gotten so bad that he was pulled from the Flying class and he was terribly embarrassed as he had to be given a passing grade practically out of pity. At the time, Lucius had offered to get Saros some private flying lessons, but Saros wanted nothing to do with flying for the time being. He still held a love for Quidditch but when it came to his own capabilities, he decided he no longer wanted to immerse himself into it.

But that currently wasn't the Saros that Draco was witnessing now. His brother had full confidence in his capabilities, especially since he was doing so well. He didn't hold any fear in his gaze and as he kicked off and landed a couple of more times, he seemed to be becoming comfortable. To challenge him a little further, Draco grabbed the other broomstick and took to the air. He figured he might as well take advantage of Saros' confidence by showing him other basic flying moves.

They spent the entire afternoon in the gardens, until Lucius came in to call them inside to eat something after he returned to the Manor. However, before he could call to them, Lucius took to standing in the doorway of the home and watching as Saros and Draco flew around together. It was a sight he hadn't expected to see since Saros' terrible experience in his first year. However, the two were having a good time in the air with Saros practising all sorts of dives, loops, and rolling as if he had been a natural from the beginning.

It was incredible to watch because Lucius didn't think he would see the day where Saros appeared to look so confident in himself. After the attack, he seemed to take on a rather reserve approach to mostly everything and things that he seemed to want to take part in, he would back away from. But the way Lucius was looking at it now, it was like Saros had been doing it his whole life.

A sense of pride washed over him and he was happy to see his sons happy because it was really all he truly wanted in life. He wanted his family to have the best of everything but unfortunately, everything always came with a price. Since the Dark Lord had come to learn of Saros' survival, he had been rather furious, enough that he had attacked Lucius as soon as the man presented himself at the requested meeting. However, he practised some form of "mercy" but it meant that Lucius was going to have to dedicate himself to the Dark Lord's cause more than ever. He had to spend all of his free time away from his family and fullfill every request that was asked of him.

Not to mention, Saros' memory loss was the saving grace in keeping his son alive. Because the boy had no recollection of being a blood-traitor, Lucius had been able to convince the Dark Lord that Saros was in good standings among purebloods. He had been given a harsh lesson but Lucius had also lied, claiming that Healers had informed the family that there was no chance that Saros would gain his memory back. Instead, Saros was a blank state and Lucius promised that he would do whatever he needed to in order to get Saros to stand with them rather than the opposing side.

Since he was of age as well, the Dark Lord was willing to dig in his nails a little deeper when it came to control the Malfoy family. He wanted Saros to take the pledge and become a Death Eater. At the announcement, Lucius had readily refused, not wanting that life for his son because so much came with the title. However, one couldn't simply say no to the Dark Lord, so Lucius came up with a compromise that brought him more time. When Saros finished his schooling at Hogwarts, he would be able to join the ranks, if needed.

By then, Lucius hoped that the Dark Lord had recruited enough numbers that he wouldn't bother with his recruitment of the eldest Malfoy son. As much as Narcissa wanted to refuse Saros going back to school, it was probably their safest bet, but they still ran into the issue that there were people at the school that knew of Saros' previous history. They knew of his disownment, people like the Weasley family and that girl, Angelina Johnson. More than likely, they would try to convince Saros to fall back into his old ways, but that would get him killed.

So what were they supposed to do?

Lucius hoped that by the end of the summer, he could convince Saros to avoid people like Angelina Johnson and the Weasleys because they were harmful influences. If he could do that, it wouldn't matter what Saros was told by them, he wouldn't believe they were right. He would trust the word of his family and all would be right. And Lucius could only pray that his son's memory would not recover with memories that would cause conflict. It seemed like a cruel thing to wish for, but Lucius only wanted his son to be safe. 

"Looking like a natural up there!" Lucius called out, bringing the attention of his sons over to them. "Why don't you two come inside and get something to eat before your mother starts to worry."

Draco and Saros came to land and dismounted without a problem. As they ventured over, Saros seemed to get an idea about asking his father about returning to Hogwarts while Draco headed inside.

"I wanted to talk to you about heading back to school, Mother thinks it's a bad idea," he began as he walked alongside Lucius, " what do you think?"

"We'll discuss that later, Saros," Lucius said to him, " for now, you should eat something. Your mother has been worrying about your weight for quite some time."

Not putting up an argument, Saros agreed and started walking along. He glanced around the walls and rooms as they passed, as he had still yet to explore the entire manor just yet. But as they passed one room, Saros stopped and trailed back, dragging the attention of his father and brother.

"What room is this?" he asked, pushing the rest of the door open. There was a house-elf inside, busy cleaning the large windows as Saros approached the wall where there hung a massive tapestry.

"It is a family tapestry," Lucius said, " commonly found in the households of all Black family members. This one is your mother's, it shows all the lines of family members. Marriages and children. They're very honourable pieces, every time a person is born or married in, they are added."

He seemed to hold pride in his voice, but Lucius seemed to neglect one very important detail that he didn't realise until Saros spoke again.

"So, why is my faced burned off where my name is?"