───WITH HIS MEMORIES RETURNED, FOR THE MOST PART, Saros found himself overwhelmed by the warm responses of everyone glad to have him back or rather glad to have his mind back. However, Saros didn't share in the same sentiments because it was like all the trouble that he had been ignorant to under the false mindset returned all at once. Suddenly, he was aware of what his parents had done to him, he was aware of all the troubles he had faced from the previous term whether it was the Triwizard Tournament or the events in the graveyard as he faced Voldemort. It had been somewhat pleasing to find himself in a pretend world where he was still on good terms with his family.

He could recall over the summer that he and Draco had acted like brothers once more, with Draco taking the initiative to help him with Quidditch. There were stolen moments between him and his parents, where they acted like they didn't consider him a blood-traitor and it was like old times where the Malfoy family felt whole. But all of that was gone in a flash, drowned in the old memories of how they had treated him before, how they had deemed him a blood-traitor rather than trying to see his side of it all.

Not to mention, there was knowing that there was a strong possibility that Lucius had done something far worse to his memories of Angelina, it was the only logical explanation that Saros could come up with. Why was it that he could remember everyone and everything else, but he couldn't remember the girl he had fallen in love with over the course of a year's time? And while he was furious beyond anything with his father, he still couldn't bring himself to come to terms with the idea of shipping Lucius off to Azkaban.

There had to be a silver lining to it all, there had to be some reason as to why he had to suffer through all the hardships once more. Perhaps it wasn't meant for him to give up on his family entirely, perhaps they were given a second chance to redeem themselves. They had obviously failed on their behalfs, but did it mean that Saros had to fail them? Deep down in his heart, he truly believed that he could save his family from a lifelong sentence of regret.

And if it was a lost cause for his parents, Saros couldn't let them take Draco down with them.

So while his friends celebrated around him and while Saros waited on a letter from Andromeda and Sirius, he decided to take his chances with trying to get through to Draco once again. After all, he was Head Boy that year, it was his duty to look out for the best of the rest of his classmates and peers. How good he was actually going to be able to see it through, well, that was an entirely different story. But he had to try something or he would come to regret it if Draco went down the wrong path...

No, Saros thought to himself, thinking of what Sirius had told them during one of their first encounters. He seemed to mock the idea that Saros still believed that he could save his little brother, all because Sirius had failed Regulus.

It didn't mean history had to repeat itself in that matter.

"What are you thinking about?" Angelina interrupted his thoughts.

He hated to see the concerned look on her face, that's all he had been seeing as of late. Whether it was the worry that he would never remember her fully, or what his next decision was going to be, Angelina always seemed ready to start chewing on her thumbnails to ease her nerves. To avoid the familiar look, Saros kept his gaze focused on the cold ground beneath his boots.

The two were sitting outside in the courtyard after class, Angelina thought it would be a good idea to spend time together in hopes that a memory would be triggered. He couldn't fight an idea like that and readily agreed. But so far, the two had been sitting in awkward silence as Saros tried to come up with some sort of argument that would help him win over Draco's allegiance.

"Quidditch," he muttered out his lie, the last thing he wanted to do was give Angelina anything else to fret over. " Tryouts are coming up."

Angelina appeared to know right away that he was lying to her, the last thing she assumed to be on his mind was a sport. However, it was clear that Saros didn't wish to discuss what was truly going on in that head of his, and Angelina knew better not to keep pushing him for information.

"Are you thinking about trying out for Slytherin?" she asked him, sitting up straighter on the stone wall and flashing Saros a small smile. "You know, when you end up making it, that means we'll have to be rivals on the pitch."

Saros couldn't help the grin that formed, especially since Angelina had taken to saying "when" rather than "if" he made the Slytherin team.

"Oh, I can already feel the tension, darling," he responded cheekily. "But don't worry, I'll take it easy on you out on the pitch."

Angelina could feel her cheeks growing warm as he called her darling, remembering how it felt when he had first called her that. It was like slipping back into old times and even if he didn't remember, she was going to pretend like he did. However, she quickly caught on to the latter part he mentioned and quickly narrowed her eyes in his direction.

"Excuse me, this is coming from the boy that likes for me to carry him around Hogsmeade on my back and needs me to carry his groceries, " she said, " I think I can manage you out on the pitch, just fine."

"I like the sound of that actually," he said, " being managed. Tell me more."

He was slipping back into his old playful ways of flirtation without even realising it and Angelina wanted to hold onto those moments more than anything.

Suddenly, during their playful flirting, they were interrupted by an awkward cough that led both of them to look over and spot Harry standing before them. He was red in the face and there was no telling how long he had been standing there, or how much he had actually heard. Quickly, Angelina and Saros straightened themselves up, fixing their robes and attempting to hide their smiles, only to face Harry and give him their full attention.

"Sorry to interrupt," Harry said quietly as he avoided making eye contact with either of them, " I just wanted to let you know that I spoke with Sirius last night. He's telling all of us to keep a low profile for now. He and Andromeda are glad to hear that you're alright, but with the way things are going, they probably won't be able to talk much. There is talk about meeting up during a Hogsmeade trip."

"But I have my memories back," Saros whispered to him, " well, most of them at least. Wouldn't they want to hear what I have to say?"

"They do," Harry replied, " but according to Sirius, the Ministry is not on the same side as Dumbledore right now. They think the Ministry is afraid of Dumbledore rising to power, that's why they want to limit our teaching in Defence Against the Dark Arts. They don't believe him or me about what happened in the graveyard."

Saros' blood ran cold because it seemed everyone was waiting on his confirmation of whether Voldemort was truly back, but by admitting as to what he saw in the graveyard, it was going to open up an entire can of flobberworms. He could feel Harry and Angelina looking at him, waiting for him to rise to the occasion and tell them that he was going to come clean about everything, which meant testifying against his own father.

But he remained completely silent, long enough that Harry could take a hint, and excused himself with telling them that he had somewhere to be. Still, it left Saros with Angelina and he could sense that she was still waiting on him to say something.

"It's not as easy as you're making it out to be in your head," he said quietly, " it's not. I know that's what all of you want. You want me to go to Dumbledore and tell him that I'm ready to confess everything that happened that night in front of the Ministry, but I can't."

"Why not, Saros?" Angelina questioned him. "We all support you. It's alright, we'll-"

"It's not a matter of support," he interjected before she could continue, " I can't send my father to Azkaban."

Angelina didn't understand why Saros struggled with such an idea, especially after what Lucius had put him through time and time again. She liked to believe that if her own father had done such horrible things to her and other people, that she would be willing to drop him on his arse and do what she had to do in order for justice to be served. However, what Angelina failed to realise many times, was that it was a lot easier to talk the talk rather than walk the walk. She could assume that she would do so many things, but there was no telling what she would actually do until she was faced with the situation herself.

Sure, Saros knew that the right thing would be to sell his father out as a Death Eater, along with the other names of those he had witnessed in the graveyard. It seemed like a no-brainer, but it didn't come to be so simple every time he went to open his mouth.

"Saros, how can you still wish to defend him?" Angelina asked in a puzzled tone. " After what he's done to you. He put you in danger, he lied to you, they all did. I don't understand why you wish to protect them."

"It's not him that I'm trying to protect!"

Falling quiet, Angelina followed Saros' gaze to where he was looking in the distance. There, they could both see Draco walking along with Pansy Parkinson in his company. They were talking about something that was inaudible due to the distance, but Pansy seemed to be talking in a frantic manner, while Draco continued to shake his head back and forth.

"I don't expect you to understand, Angelina," Saros continued in a softer voice, " you're an only child and there's nothing wrong with that. But he's my little brother and from the time we were younger, I made a promise to myself to protect him. And I know, deep down, Draco made the promise to himself to look after me. My family may have lied to me over the summer, they may have done horrible things, but from what I recall, it was without ill-intent on their behalf."

"They meddled with your memories, Saros, how is that not something with ill-intent-"

"As I said, I don't expect you to understand, especially the dynamics of my family. You come from a nice healthy household, my parents were raised like this, their parents were raised the same and it goes back generations upon generations. It's easier for some of us to break the cycle or breakaway, but so many of them are trapped in it."

Pressing her lips together, Angelina was making it clear that she didn't like what Saros was implying. "Saros, you can't save them all."

He swallowed before nodding his head. " I know that," he told her, " I know I can't. But I have to at least try and save my little brother. If I send my father off to Azkaban, Draco will never forgive me. He'll never think to trust me again and then I'll lose him."

"But what if you've already lost him?"

Angelina's final words on the topic remained with Saros throughout the day, enough that he found it difficult to focus on any of his homework. He ended up writing down half of his Charms Essay on his Transfiguration Essay, leaving it to make little sense. His stomach was growling loudly, so loud that it was echoing in the Slytherin Common Room. Several times, a group of students would look over in his direction, but he ignored their stares. It was hard to focus on anything when Angelina posed the question of "when was he allowed to give up?"

When would his brother reach the point of no return and Saros would finally have to call his efforts off?

Hopefully, never.

He was hoping to intervene and save Draco before it was too late, but there always had to be the "what-ifs." Since his return to Hogwarts and talking to all of his old friends, Saros noticed that Draco went to distance himself again. More than likely knowing that the family's plan had gone to shit rather quickly. Draco was never one for confrontation and was doing his best to avoid any discussion, at least, without their parents whispering in his ear of what he should do.

When Pansy entered the Slytherin Common Room later on that evening, Saros noticed that she was alone, a scowl on her expression as she looked in his direction before storming off to her own room. He wanted to stop her and ask her where Draco was throughout the castle if she had any clue, but more than likely, she would tell him to sod off.

Saros wished that Andromeda and Sirius wouldn't wait until a Hogsmeade Trip to talk with him fully. After all, he was in desperate need of some guidance for the time being. They had both lived through the idea of trying to convince their siblings of breaking away from the toxic family traditions, maybe they could offer him something he had yet to try with Draco.

He waited and waited for Draco to arrive, but knowing his luck, it was probably Draco's night of prefect duties that Saros had completely neglected. He was turning out to be a terrible Head Boy, but he really wasn't sure what he was meant to do with the position. But rather than waiting up any longer, Saros collected his things and decided to head to his room for the remainder of the night.

Collapsing onto his bed after dropping his things to the floor, Saros grabbed one of his pillows and pressed it over his face. He thought about screaming into it, but the pillow probably wouldn't have been enough to muffle his screams of frustration. But it blocked out the light and with the limited air, Saros started to feel himself start to doze off. His mind eventually settled, discarding all the drama in his head for the time being. Maybe all he needed was a good night's rest and he would be able to think clearly in the morning.

And yet, during his slumber, Saros' light sleeping allowed him to pick up on the noise taking place in his bedroom. He stirred in his bed, pulling the pillow off of his face, only to see that the lantern in his room had dimmed drastically to a tiny flickering light, leaving the room mostly dark. However, after knowing someone had been in his room before, Saros quickly pushed himself to sit up.

He could hear the shuffling around and in the shadows, he could see the figure moving around, approaching the side of his bed. But to make things even eerier, Saros heard the sounds of light crying. The hairs on the back of his neck stood straight, but Saros did not let fear get the best of him at that moment as he reached out to grab the person that approached his nightstand.

Within seconds, his fingers wrapped around a cold wrist.

A/N: A big thank you to cendriia for the wonderful edit!