"Maybe we should have everyone listen." Harry said, trying to figure out what to do.

"You said between you and me." Draco protested.

"I know I know, but maybe it would increase trust if everyone knew," Harry said softly. Draco huffed and went downstairs.

"Daddy!" Teddy said happily as he got up of the couch. He waddled over and reached up. "Up!"

Draco crouched down and picked him up, then put him on his hip. "Did you get some breakfast yet?"

"Yes! Udle Won got waffles!" Teddy squealed.

"Oo, your favorite," Draco smiled. He looked over at Ron and mouthed a thank you. He smiled back and nodded.

"What time is it?" Draco asked.

"About 11:00," Molly told him sweetly.

"Oh shit- I mean shoot-" Draco corrected quickly. "-okay Ted, time to spend time with grandma."

"Okay!" Teddy said as he climbed on Molly's lap.

"I've gotta get my insulin." Draco said, then quickly ran to the bathroom to get what he needed.

After he was done, he ran back out to the living room. "I'm back," he said.

"Hiiiii daddy," Teddy said.

"Hiiiii Teddy," Draco said as he sat down. Hermione giggled.

"Draco," Harry said quietly, placing his hand on Draco's shoulder. Draco sighed and sat down.

"Daddy sad?" Teddy asked worriedly as he climbed on Draco's lap.

"No no, I'm okay," Draco told him, kissing his head softly.

"Draco's going to talk. He's ready," Harry told everyone.

"He is?" Arthur asked. Harry nodded. Draco looked at them and then back at Teddy.

"What do I do with Teddy?" Draco asked.

"Um," Ron got up and took Teddy to his room. He set him down and called a house elf (that Harry gave the weasleys) to watch him. He ran back downstairs to everyone. "I got Opal to watch him,"

Draco sighed and curled into the couch. Harry sat next to him and looked at him.

"So, tell us what happened with...him,"

"I just... I was forced into it, potter." Draco sighed, leaning bak against the couch.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, sitting back to face him.

"Well, when You-Know-Who was risen, he gave me a choice on whether or not I wanted to be a death eater."

"An you accepted?" Ginny spat, making Draco wince.

"Would you let me finish?" Draco mumbled.

"Yes, fine, okay." Harry said, looking around at everyone and silently pleading for them to be quiet.

Draco closed his eyes before responding. "The choice was, either become a death eater and do as he said,... or have my mother and father killed in front of me with Cruico, then myself killed afterward."

"I thought your father wasn't...exactly... The nicest," Harry said, not knowing how to word it.

"What are you saying?" Draco asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I thought he like...hurt you,"

Draco gasped and sat up abruptly, slapping Harry across the face. "How dare you! My father died for me! He jumped in front of me when one of your friends tried killing me!"

"Which one?" Harry asked, rubbing his cheek. Damn Draco was strong.

"I don't know! I'm pretty sure it was that Purple girl! The one with two colors for her name! What was it? Purple blue?"

"Lavender Brown. She isn't my friend. And I'm sorry that I offended you." Harry said softly. "He died saving you, and I'm glad he did."

Draco huffed and crossed his arms. "My mother did too,"

"She did?" Hermione asked, looking over at him. Draco nodded.

"Yes. I was...getting tortured one day for not killing Dumbledore. She came in and told the death eater to stop, and when he said he wouldn't, my mother went into a duel with him. She pushed me out of the way and made sure I wouldn't get hurt, then the death eater killed her for letting me get away,"

"You got tortured." Harry said, trying to let everything sink in. Draco nodded weakly. "How often?"

Draco sighed. "Do I have to talk about it?"

"No, I guess not." Harry replied.

Draco was quiet for a few seconds before he sighed quietly. "About three times a day," Draco mumbled, hugging his knees to his chest. "I was starved very often, beaten, an tortured because I refused killing Dumbledore. What really made me get up to the astronomy tower that night was him threatening to kill my father too. I couldn't loose him like I lost my mother,"

Ginny placed a hand on his shoulder, and rubbed it softly. "I'm sorry, Draco. He sounds like he was a good man."

"He was." Draco grinned.

"So, what happened with the war? What made you suddenly change?" Hermione asked, thinking about when Draco protested killing Harry and how he threw him his wand.

"Well I thought I was going to get either thrown into azkaban and get killed, get killed by death eaters, or I thought no one cared what I did at the moment, so I said fuck it and helped you guys. I couldn't let him win. I didn't want everyone having to live my life."

Harry nodded. "What about the scars?" He asked quietly. Draco shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"I wanted it gone. But I can't get it to leave. It won't disappear, whatever I try to do. I've cut at it, burned it, even tried scrubbing my skin until it bled. But it never disappeared. This is just who I am forever," Draco said, placing his chin in his knees.

"No you aren't." Ron said. "You've changed. A lot. You've proved to everyone what you can do and how nice you can be."

"Thanks, Weasley," Draco said.

"So why are you so nice to Teddy? Why didn't you just drop him off with Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I wanted a kid." Draco said, sitting up a little. "I wanted something to remind me of the future. Something that I could take care of and make sure it had a perfect life."

Draco shifted in the couch. "You know, he reminds me of a younger me. Not having to worry about anything, being able to do what he wanted, not having to worry about anything. You never know what's going to happen at such a young age. You think everyone is nice and no one would ever hurt anybody. But then in the blink of an eye, that could all change for the worst. You could...end up like me. Afraid, starved to the point of death, and having to learn self defense incase a death eater tries fighting you. I spoil him and always hug and kiss him because I want him to know how much I love him. I don't want him to have my childhood, where I grew up thinking I had to be better than everyone and then in my teens when I was tortured and forced into everything. I don't want him hurt," Draco looked over to Harry. "Not that you'd hurt him or anything."

"I know what you mean," Harry told him gently. Draco nodded and looked at the floor.

"What's it like string tortured?" Ginny asked.

"Ginny!" Molly gasped.

Draco closed his eyes and curled into a ball. "It's horrible." He whispered. "Imagine getting set on fire and being infected with the worst poison you can imagine in the middle of the desert. You can't do anything. There's no water to extinguish the fire, no one around to stop and help you, there's nothing you can do. You have to sit there and wait for the pain to either stop or for you to die."

Draco started tearing up. "And now imagine being put threw it for hours straight. When your screams get louder, more people only come over to cast the curse on you. Combining the curses increases the pain-" Draco started trembling slightly.

"Your screams are loud enough to echo through your the entire Manor, but it's covered in laughter from everyone. No one cares that your bones are breaking and your insides are being cooked, or that your skin is slowly turning into only cuts and bruises and burns, and-"

Draco cut himself off with his crying. Ginny threw her arms around his neck and hugged his head while Harry wrapped his arms around his torso and pressed his head in his neck. Hermione and Ron ran over and hugged him from behind.

Draco started sobbing even more. He buried his head in Ginny's shoulder and cried. Molly and Arthur looked at each other, and smiled sadly. They hadn't seen anything so emotional since the twins died.

"Thank you," Draco whispered, hugging Harry's torso and pressing himself into everyone's embraces.
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