As expected, when Harry was eventually faced with food, he wolfed it down. His table manners still needed a lot of work, but without his father here to reprimand him, Draco didn't mind, and neither did his mother. Draco had finished eating already, whilst his mother just poked at her eggs, a misty look in her crystal grey eyes.

He felt a sick feeling growing in his stomach. He knew she put on a brave face, tried to appear happy and optimistic for Harry and Draco's sakes, but that's all it was, a mask. Underneath it she was hurting too, probably more than anyone else in the house, after her constant fighting with her husband.

Harry had stopped eating to watch Narcissa, a confused look on his face at her quietness. Draco could see he was thinking, trying to put the pieces together about why she was so distant, and eventually he seemed to realise it was because of the yelling from behind the dining room door last night. Harry looked at Draco, desperate for an answer, as the atmosphere was making the black haired boy tense, but Draco just gave him a hopeless look. He never knew how to help his mother when she became like this, which usually happened after a fight. Draco never usually ventured from his room after his parents had been fighting, too scared that he'd become involved.

"Cissa?" Harry's voice was quiet and apprehensive. Clearly he wasn't used to speaking at his own will; he was twisting his hands together nervously. Narcissa looked up from her plate at the sound of her name, and a smile formed on her lips as she looked fondly at Harry. Draco couldn't help but smile too; it had been awhile since he'd seen this sort of warmth in his mother's eyes.

"I'm alright, Harry," she said comfortingly, putting one of her hands over Harry's smaller, paler one to stop his fidgeting. He didn't flinch, and even seemed to relax slightly. "How about we go outside today? I'm sure some fresh air would be nice, and I bet that Harry would love to see the garden," she suggested, smiling brightly. Draco looked to Harry, who gave a small nod, a smile creeping onto his own lips.

"C'mon then, we'll have to put some sunscreen on you to make sure you don't get sunburnt," Draco stood up, helping Harry to his feet. Wiltshire, where the Malfoy Manor was, was a naturally rainy place, and the sun didn't shine a lot, but with Harry's pasty white skin he wouldn't be surprised if he burnt.

Draco made sure that Harry's arms and legs were covered with a coat, and carefully began putting sunscreen onto his face. Harry gasped and flinched at the coldness, which made Draco snort in laughter, but he let Draco cover his face. Finally they were ready to go outside.

The Malfoy Manor had a garden to be marvelled over. It was huge, spanning over multiple acres of land, featuring numerous water fountains, hundreds of different kinds of flowers and magical plants, and even an enchanted maze, which changed to a different path every time someone entered it. Behind the house in a heavily wooded area were two large greenhouses, which housed both legal and illegal magical plants which Lucius mostly used for potion making, and selling anonymously in Knockturn Alley.

They stepped out the doors onto the beige gravel path, and Harry gazed around wondrously, as if he'd never seen anything like it. Tightening his grip on Harry's waist, Draco supposed that he hadn't.

Narcissa was sitting on a white stone bench, a rose in her hand which had been pulled from one of the bushes behind her. She was pulling the thorns slowly off it, trying not to prick her fingers whilst doing so. She looked up when the two boys walked into the garden, smiling at them. Draco grinned back.

The garden was one of the only things his mother took pride in anymore. She watered the flowers every day with spells she'd modified herself, and spent most of her time here, reading and spending time away from the stress that her husband brought on.

Harry seemed overwhelmed by it all, clutching Draco's jacket tightly, eyes wide. Narcissa seemed proud at Harry's utter amazement by the huge garden, and walked over to the two with the rose in her hand. She held it out to him, and Harry took one hand gingerly off Draco's chest to take the flower, holding it with eyes full of curiosity, clearly having never seen anything like it. He lifted it with one of his shaking hands, staring at the crimson rose as if it was something from another planet.

"How about we pick a bunch of flowers to put in some water?" Narcissa asked. "Harry can pick them out."

Draco looked to the other boy for an answer, who seemed to be completely transfixed by the rose, staring hard at it. "Sounds good, mum," Draco replied with a smile.

For the next hour they traversed around the huge garden, Harry growing more and more amazed with every new flower that was shown to him, Narcissa picking almost one of each flower in the garden, soon holding a large bunch. The sun was warm and bright, and Harry's skin almost seemed to glow in it, a smile on his face the whole time.

Eventually they sat down by the fountain in the centre of the garden on one of the benches, Harry sitting between the two Malfoys. He seemed content in this new environment, having grown comfortable surrounded by the bright array of flowers, holding a bluebell between his fingers and studying it.

"I'm going to get some water," Draco piped up. The weather was quite warm and Harry had been moving a lot; Draco didn't want him to be dehydrated and become sick or upset because of it. Narcissa nodded, and Draco stood up.

Harry, as per usual, wasn't too happy when he saw Draco leaving, and grabbed his sleeve, blatantly refusing to let him go.

"I'll be back in a minute," Draco said with an amused smile, using his free hand to ruffle Harry's hair, who instead of flinching away like he usually did, smiled timidly and let Draco go whilst still looking unsure.

Draco left, leaving Harry and Narcissa on their own.

"Which is your favourite?" Narcissa asked with a smile, showing Harry the large bunch of flowers they'd picked. He studied them for a few moments before picking out the red rose that Narcissa had presented him with originally. He held it, touching the petals gently with the tip of his forefinger as if he was scared of damaging the flower.

"Do you remember your parents?" Narcissa asked quietly. Harry paused, but didn't look at her. "Maybe we can find them."

There was silence between the two of them for a few seconds where only the sound of running water from the fountain could be heard. Finally Harry looked up, and his eyes landed on the blonde woman next to him. They lacked any sort of emotion, and his expression was completely blank. "Gone," he said in a quiet, monotone voice.

"Where did they go?" She asked, slightly apprehensive. Harry just stared at her, opening his mouth for a second as if he was going to answer, but then shutting it again as if he couldn't find the words. He looked away, towards the house, where after a few moments Draco appeared with a tray balancing three glasses of water.

******

The evening came quickly, and Harry was asleep before six o'clock, curled up in an armchair in front of the fire. Draco had draped a blanket around him, and was sitting on the floor in front of the armchair, to make sure that if Harry woke up he could comfort him.

After the fight last night during dinner, Lucius hadn't requested a family dinner to be held, which Draco was more than thankful for. Draco was tired himself, and staring into the fire was making his eyes burn slightly. It had been a long day, and Draco felt exhausted.

His mother walked in, noticing Harry asleep and making sure to be as quiet as possible. She had two mugs in her hand, and gave one to Draco, setting another down on the table beside where Harry was sitting. Draco took the mug of tea thankfully, sipping the hot liquid.

"Thanks," he murmured, Narcissa nodding and sitting down on an ottoman, looking more tired than Draco and Harry put together. "You alright?"

She just sighed, putting her head in her hands and letting her blonde hair fall freely. "I don't know what we're going to do."

"What do you mean?" Draco asked quietly in reply, warming his hands on the ceramic mug.

"His plans for him," Narcissa whispered slowly, watching Harry as he slept, blissfully unaware of the conversation unfolding in front of him. "They aren't good. And if he doesn't obey, which he won't," she frowned hopelessly then, biting her lip. "They're going to kill him."

Draco's heart skipped a beat and his stomach sank, and despite the warm fire and hot mug of tea he suddenly felt very cold, looking back towards the sleeping boy just to reassure himself that he was still there. He'd grown so used to his presence, his clingy nature, his soft smiles and emotional eyes that it was painful to imagine what life would be without him.

He'd go back to how it used to be, he imagined. Miserable. Lonely. Terribly, terribly lonely. Loneliness was like a disease that ate away at you until finally there was nothing else left. He desperately didn't want to go back to that life, he'd rather die. He'd cling on to Harry at this point even if it killed him.

"They aren't," Draco's voice was cold, and his mother looked up at him, seeing his stony expression. "They aren't going to hurt him."

She gave a weak attempt at a smile which faded into a grimace. "I don't know if we can stop them."

"We might not be able to, but he might," Draco spoke, eyes landing back on Harry. "He's stronger than them. They want to turn him into a weapon for them, but he won't fight for them. He'll fight for us, because he knows what's right."