Work Text:
June 1994
Draco was annoyed, because of the Triwizard Tournament all of the exams were pushed back until the departure of the other schools. Which means, for his 15th birthday he spent it at the school away from his family. It was an interesting experience having the other ‘nearby' wizarding schools visit. He’s met Krum in passing several times thanks to Lyra and his father, and this year he was able to have decent conversations with him, although they tended to circle back to his sister or Quidditch. Polaris knew a majority of the Beauxbaton girls through her dance classes and all of them treated him like some child, which was agonizing and ego-bruising. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher seemed to have a grudge against every Slytherin student but especially Draco and Polaris. Draco shivered thinking about the ferret incident. But he was sacked and was replaced by Grubby-Plank for the remaining weeks of school. Doing his finals, he couldn’t help but feel distracted, the entire school felt somber after Potter returned with Digory’s dead body and shouting that You-Know-Who was back. It was varying levels of disbelief and flat-out denial from the majority of the Slytherins. Draco cornered Polaris that night to ask her what she thought, but she was 3 the last time the Dark Lord was alive and didn’t remember much about it. They discussed sending a letter to Cassiopeia to ask her about it but realized she would probably join us on our family’s holiday. The final day of Hogwarts finally arrived, and it was chaotic as always made worse because it was a beautiful day outside. The younger students didn’t want to pack and instead they wanted to spend as much time outside with their new friends as possible. Draco heard Polaris shouting at the first years several times over the course of the morning to get them to finish. The chaos didn’t help his sour mood, at one point he dragged a student back to their room and stood outside the door until they finished. After that, the rest of the first years fell in line. Polaris rolled her eyes, but Draco didn’t care Slytherin already lost the house cup that year, Mad-Eye taking large amounts of points away at any minor inconvenience. The only good thing was that Gryffindor didn’t win it either and instead it went to Hufflepuff for the bravery and loyalty that Digory showed before he- Draco shook his head clearing the thought from his mind as left for the train with his friends and Pansy.
The train ride was long, and Draco was sitting with Goyle, Crabb, and Parkinson. Pansy was leaning into him and kept grabbing hold of his hand. The boys were never one to start a conversation and Draco felt like he had nothing to say the entire time. He could feel a headache growing with the rhythm of the train and didn’t want to add any unnecessary noise. He was freed when they were about half an hour away when Polaris found him telling him to get out of his school robes. It was a tradition of sorts that started with Polaris’s first year, Cassiopeia was in charge of returning everyone to the Manor, so she decided to take them to a muggle restaurant first. This was the first year that it was going to be just Polaris and him, and even though they spent the entire year away from the rest of their family he oddly looked forward to going to the muggle restaurant. Once he was changed, he hesitated to return to his seat and instead followed Polaris back to hers. Her friends rolled their eyes when they saw him.
“Babysitting duty already Malfoy?” he thinks that was Stretton, but he wasn’t sure all he knew was that she wasn’t a pureblood.
“How dare you speak like that to me.” Polaris shoved him into the seat next to the window and sat down, right next to him shaking her head. The other two girls in the compartment laughed at what he said while Stretton fumed.
“Sorry about that he doesn’t play nicely with others.” Polaris apologized on his behalf while also making fun of him. She reached into her bag that was tucked under her seat and pulled out a chocolate frog handing it to Draco.
“It’s a good thing you’re Daddy is friends with people in high places or else you’d have been hexed your first week at school.” Stretton snapped back. Draco rose to the challenge and was about to retort back before Polaris glared at him shutting him up. He took the desert from his sister pulling it open and eating the frog before it could even try to escape. The Bulgarian Quidditch team was on the card with the description talking about their victory in the Quidditch World Cup.
“It’s more like he’s lucky he’s mothers’ favourite or else one of his sisters would have hexed him bald the moment he could talk.” Polaris joked and Draco folded in on himself crossing his arms and sinking into the seat. The older girls laughed at his discomfort and his sister nudged him with her elbow trying to lighten his spirits, Draco rolled his eyes at her and stared out the window.
When the train arrived at the station the Malfoy’s picked up their bags they stashed overhead and waited for their trunks to be unloaded. They were people watching seeing their classmates run towards their family there waiting to pick them up. A lot of their fellow Slytherins were being met by both parents which was an odd sight, and in an unusual display of public affection, they would pull their children into a hug before apparating away. Draco made eye contact with Polaris silently trying to convey his confusion to which she just shrugged. Parkinson found him waiting and ran up to him pulling him into a kiss before telling him to write to her this summer. She left quickly after that seeing her parents in the crowd. Draco could feel his face turn a deep shade of red as she left and from the corner of his eyes, he could see Polaris break out into a huge smile, but before she could say anything he heard a familiar voice.
“Draco was that your girlfriend? Are you dating the Parkinson girl?” Both he and Polaris turned to see Amalthea and Nashira walking towards them, both sisters were wearing muggle clothes showing their intentions of joining them at the restaurant.
“It won’t be for long, remember her mother hates me after I treated Pansy like a dog,” Nashira responded.
“I remember that, mother said you played fetch with her and Draco” Draco straightened at the comment trying to remember the story that his sisters were sharing.
“She was only upset because Draco kept winning.” Nashira finished. The twins laughed, Polaris smirked, and Draco scoffed looking away.
“What are the two of you doing here anyway?” Draco muttered while Amalthea pulled him into a welcoming hug while Nashira did the same to Polaris. The twins switched before Nashira answered. She looked around the station before she said anything scanning the crowd.
“We wanted to hear about the tournament and what better excuse to get out of the house.” Draco read her face trying to find the lie in her sister’s words. It was difficult, out of all his sisters Nashira and Lyra were the two best liars in the family being able to even trick their mother on multiple occasions.
“You two are so lucky! I would have killed for something interesting to happen at school.” The group started walking as Amalthea mopped about graduating the year before.
“Oh yeah really interesting to have Saint Potter be the center of attention for another school year.” Draco retorted kicking loose pebbles that were on the pavement. He didn’t turn to look but her could feel them rolling their eyes at him.
“I begged for the profit to send me to report on it but apparently I am too young and inexperienced to cover such an important event.” Amalthea continued ignoring Draco’s complaints with practice ease.
“But the Profit can afford to send Rita Skeeter?” Nashira asked voice empty of any emotions as she spoke the rehearsed words to her sister’s rant.
“That’s exactly what I said! But because she was already covering the event for Witch Weekly, The Daily Profit decided to just pay her more to write about the entire thing and not just Krum and Potter.”
“How was Viktor by the way?” Nashira pivoted the conversation away from Amalthea’s complaints
“Spent most of his time surrounded by swooning teenagers” Draco answered.
“Please don’t act like you wouldn’t have been in the same position as them if we didn’t know him already” Polaris scolded their youngest sibling. “There were plenty of boys that were just as star-struck as the girls were” Draco huffed at her and turned up his nose before lengthening his steps trying to put distance between himself and his sisters. The girls giggled at their brother’s childish behaviour before quickly catching up. Draco may have been acting as a ‘spoiled brat’ as his sisters would often claim, but he was happy being with most of his sisters again; their familiarity easing away the stress from the year.
They found their way to the familiar restaurant, one that was far enough away from the train station that many of their classmates wouldn’t bother stopping there. There were only a few other people in the building spread out between the tables. Nashira and Amalthea took the lead stepping towards a more private section of the restaurant. There was an empty table in the back, and both twins were on one side of the table, Nashira closer to the wall and Amalthea on the exposed side. The younger two sitting across from them, Draco across from Amalthea and Polaris in front of Nashira. The twins made eye contact having a silent argument before either of them decided to speak. It was a familiar sight to the entire Malfoy family. They broke eye contact both of them looking around the restaurant to make sure they haven’t drawn too much attention to themselves.
“Tell us everything you remember about the last task.” Nashira started, her eyes focused directly on Draco.
“Potter won, he apparated back to the entrance with the cup and Cedric’s corpse” he almost faltered at that remembering the lifeless body of someone that was his sister’s age. “He, Potter, was crying and yelling that “He’s back” that Voldemort was back.” Amalthea slammed her fist on the table as he said the Dark Lord’s name aloud, their cutlery bounced on the table and whatever Polaris was doing with hers clattered back on the table. Draco was startled at the noise and was about to snap at her before catching her eyes. He didn’t say anything but the tension in his body rose.
“Dumbledor also “confirmed” it at Digory’s funeral” Polaris added, not looking away from rebalancing her silverware on top of the saltshaker. Before they could continue with their conversation the waitress showed up handing out menus and introducing herself to the family. Her hair was in tiny braids and tied up in a bun, she also had a lot of gold jewelry that stood out on her dark skin.
“We already know what we want” Draco interrupted her trying to put on his most authoritative look. His sister’s turned to look at him before the waitress could recover. He just wanted to figure out what the twins were getting at.
“That’s perfect, what can I get you then?” She asked looking at Draco directly. He clamored words escaping him before Amalthea took over and ordered for the entire group. Draco couldn’t believe the audacity of the muggle woman for embarrassing him like that in front of his sisters. The woman took the menus from them just as quickly as she handed them out and left for the kitchen.
“I told you we should have got him manners for Christmas” Nashira joked causing Amalthea to cackle.
“Get on with what you were talking about.” Draco snapped at her, the entire year’s worth of frustration adding up, all he wanted to do was go home and fall asleep on his own bed and the longer their interrogation lasted the longer it would be before he could do so.
“Apparently,” Amalthea started “Your Defense Against the Arts teacher was a Death Eater.”
“Mad-Eye was a Death Eater?” Polaris sounded shocked but to Draco, it all made sense with the cruelty that the Slytherin students were met with. He knew there were rumors about his father being a Death Eater as well as a large portion of his extended family being confirmed Death Eaters. Could that have been the reason Dumbledor allowed for his barbaric lessons to be taught? Draco thought. No, the man fought against the Dark Lord, but he wouldn’t let his students be tortured all year for no reason.
“That’s just it, it wasn’t Moody. It was actually Barty Crouch Jr.” Amalthea revealed. Draco felt a shiver run up his back. “He used a Polyjuice potion to disguise himself as old Mad-Eye, so he could get close to everyone’s favourite boy wonder.” Draco read about what Barty did to Longbottom’s parents, he was originally looking into his Aunt Bellatrix. There were family pictures at the Manor of his mother and his aunts when they were younger and he wanted to know what happened to her, both of his parents just said that she was a Death Eater and in Azkaban and added no further detail. His previous year at Hogwarts when his cousin Sirius broke out, he took it upon himself to learn about his other imprisoned family. He felt his stomach drop at the memory of being in that man’s mercy when he turned him into a ferret.
“Why did he want to get close to Potter?” As Polaris asked that the waitress came back with their drinks and sandwiches on a tray. She set everyone’s food down before leaving them alone once more. Draco looked at his sandwich and chips appetite fully gone.
“Draco eat, it doesn’t get any better and a weak constitution is a luxury you can no longer afford” Nashira informed wiping the corner of her mouth with her napkin. Draco reluctantly picked up a chip and took a mechanical bite, not really tasting the food. He proceeded to take bites frequently enough that his sister wouldn’t call it to attention again.
“Right, so he wanted to get close to Potter because he had this plot to bring his Dark Lord back,” Amalthea answered her youngest sister.
“So Dumbledore wasn’t lying, he’s back to finish what he started?” Polaris asked. Draco could hear how nervous she sounded, as the youngest two members of the family neither of them really remember what life was during the war, they’ve only known the peace that followed.
“Basically” Amalthea answered, the twins weren’t much older, but they were five when He who must not be named disappeared the first time, they probably remember something from back then.
“And why couldn’t you just wait until we got home to tell us this?” Draco asked nervously concerned about what the answer was going to be.
“Because when he came back, he summoned all of his followers to him. His attempt on Harry’s life failed we all know that, but afterward, You-Know-Who needed a place to lead his men. And since the Lestrange’s are still in prison that means the Manor was the next best thing.” Amalthea answered, almost too quickly and angrily.
“Father isn’t a Death Eater” The words tumbled out of Draco’s mouth before he could stop himself, all his sisters gave him a pained look.
“Draco, he has the mark,” Polaris said, her voice sounding sad.
“How do you know that?”
“I saw it one of the times he was doing my hair before a show. His sleeve moved just enough that I could see a small part of the mark. I didn’t want to believe it but it’s there.” Polaris explained.
“It was never proven that he joined them willingly, and because of his connections in the ministry and the fact that he was a father to seven at the time, the ministry decided to simply put him under house arrest and observation to see if he was still meeting with known Death Eaters or You-Know-Who sympathizers.” Nashira made eye contact with him, her clinical words echoing in his brain.
“But he still showed up when he was summoned” Amalthea countered.
“So what? Our home is now home base for the Death Eaters? And He’s living with us now?” Draco felt like he was fully out of his body that what was happening was no longer happening to him but to someone else.
“Him and some man named Wormtail,” Amalthea added her distaste for the man obvious with her tone.
“We all done here?” The waitress was back looking at Draco and his mostly full plate. He nodded mutely and let her take away his abandoned meal. She left quickly promising to be back with the bill shortly. Draco excused himself from his sisters needing to find somewhere private to calm down.
He walked over to the other side of the restaurant looking for an obvious area for the loo but finding nothing. There was a blond girl sitting at the counter and apparently, today was a day of outrageous things so he might as well ask the muggle girl. He tapped her shoulder and felt even more insane as his twin sister’s face looked back at him. Draco looked over his shoulder at his three sisters still sitting at the table, he turned back to the girl and saw an exact image of the twins. It was as if someone had used magic to create a third one of them. Her eyebrows raised in the exact same way as Nashira’s did when you interrupted her research. Draco recovered still put off at the uncanny familiarity of the girl and asked where the lavatory was. She pointed to a sign at the wall and gave the same face that Amalthea would use when you contradicted her gossip like she was calling you stupid only with her gaze. The shock of the muggle wore off and the panic from earlier began to flow back in as he made his way into the room, turning the taps on and splashing water on his face trying to bring himself back into his body. His shaky breaths were the only sound, he no longer had the sound of the now full restaurant to focus on. He felt like he was becoming hysterical. Draco ran his hands through his hair one last time taking another calming breath before he decided that an inappropriate amount of time had passed, and he left the loo. The girl was still at the counter, but he made a point of not looking at her again. He met his sisters at the door hearing a tail end of Nashira talking to Polaris about Occlumency.
“You too Draco, it’s important now more than ever that we protect our minds” Nashira finished waiting for her brother to nod before looking away from him. The waitress called out a goodbye to them, with that Draco practically dragged his sisters out of the building. They crossed the street not looking or caring about the muggle cars.
“Since today is just one impossible thing on top of the other want to hear my discovery?” Draco asked his sisters. Any other day he wouldn’t have said anything, keeping that information with him to the grave but everything was wrong with today so might as well try more new things.
“What that you are a mamma’s boy? Because everyone knows that” Polaris teased. He hit her shoulder with the back of his hand with no real force.
“No, that woman over there looks identical to Amalthea and Nashira.” Draco pointed across the road to the woman that was now leaning against the restaurant's wall. Draco looked at the twins' faces to gauge his sisters’ response to their doppelganger, and he was shocked by their faces. Amalthea looked happier than he’s ever seen her and Nashira looked as if she was seeing a ghost. Amalthea looked as if she was about to run across the street before Nashira grabbed her hand to stop her. Draco looked over to Polaris and she was just as confused as her. It took a few seconds before Draco remembered his sister Bellatrix; he was so young when she died but seeing a stranger with their face must have brought back memories. Before Draco could apologize for reminding them of their sister, he felt the familiar tug of being apparated and went along with the pull, letting his older sisters take him home.
The skies were filled with grey clouds hinting at a storm that was on the way. A complete contrast to this morning’s weather. He could hear the rumbling of thunder in the distance. Cassie was waiting for them outside the gates, wand in one hand and the other resting on her stomach. Amalthea rushed over to their oldest sister and put her hands on her belly talking to their future niece or nephew. She was due sometime in October and the baby was going to be the first grandchild in both the Malfoy family and the Nott family.
“Did you tell them?” Was the first thing out of her mouth, no greeting, straight to the point.
“We caught them up to speed, can you take it from here? I have to meet with a publisher in 5 minutes and Amalthea needs to speak with a, what was it again?” Nashira asked her twin
“A retired Quitch star who now owns his own Broom company” Amalthea answered as she straightened.
“We’ll see you for supper?” Cassie asked.
“I have a date with Kian tonight, but I’ll be back tomorrow morning,” Amalthea replied kissing her sister's cheeks and running her hand through Draco’s hair messing it up. She apparated away without another word.
“My publisher wants to take me out to meet with Lockhart’s representatives,” Nashira said not making eye contact giving everyone a quick hug before apparating away. Draco’s hands went up to fix his hair smoothing it back down.
“Right so you two, lots have changed in a short amount of time.” Cassie started. She began walking up the path to their front door. “The Dark Lord has chosen your house to live in for the foreseeable future. This is an honour, and you will tell him and any Death Eater that asks so.” Draco realized as his oldest sister talked that it was more and more likely that he will speak with the Dark Lord. And with each step, it became more real. “You are going to avoid common rooms unless invited. Stay in your bedrooms, the library, or our mother’s office. The less you know the safer it is for you. Don’t draw attention to yourself, don’t speak unless spoken to.” Cassiopeia continued listing the valuable rules that they would need to follow, for the rest of their life in the Manor. Draco began to feel that panic from before, and the closer he got to the house the more the hair on the back of his neck stood the dark magic so thick in the air you could almost touch it. Draco took a few steadying breaths as they reached the front steps. He felt Cassiopeia’s hand on his shoulder give him a comforting squeeze. She pulled both him and Polaris into a hug before opening the door. The entry hall was empty, but Draco could hear muffled voices from their main dining room. He could feel his breaths becoming shallower. Footsteps drew his attention and the doors opened to reveal their mother leaving the dining room. Draco exhaled at the sight of her mother as she closed the distance and pulled him into a fierce hug. She let him go and then hugged Polaris, the hug was equally as protective.
“Mother, I’ll be going home now. It was nice seeing you again.” Cassiopeia’s voice was low and in hush tones. “I’ll come by for your party Polaris” Draco felt stunned at those words, that they were still going to celebrate birthdays while their house is being shared with the Dark Lord. Cassie grabbed Draco’s hand and squeezed it before leaving through the front door and walking towards the gate once more.
“Both of you up to your rooms I’ll send for you when it’s time for supper.” She didn’t move from her spot but watched both of her youngest children walk up the stairs.
Draco went to his room and saw his trunks at the foot of his bed. With nothing better to do, he methodically put away everything piece by piece. A pin fell from one of the jackets he was putting away, it fell face down, and as Draco picked it up turning it over Potter’s face melt off the pin into a green pile of goo before the pin morphed back into Cedric’s face. Draco chucked it across the room. He dropped to the ground and covered his mouth holding back a scream in frustration. He pressed the palm of his hands into his eyes trying to relieve some of the tension building in his head. Draco felt like his entire life was spinning out of control and there was nothing he could do about it. All he could do was sit by and wait until he’s old enough to graduate, but then maybe it would be to late and He would get a hold of him. He heard a faint knock on the door and jumped his feet kicking out and hitting the bedside table reflexively sending a sharp pain tingling up his leg. Polaris opened the door not even waiting for him to respond. She strode into the room and sat down on the floor next to Draco playing with her hair that was down from its normal braid.
“I’m going to marry someone from France. That’s my out, what’s yours?” She asked staring at the door as if speaking those words would summon the Death Eaters into his room.
“I don’t have one. I’m not a Quidditch star like Lyra, I’m not an author like Nashira and I don’t dance like you. I’m stuck here like Cassiopeia and Amalthea.” He felt like even saying those words aloud was speaking it into existence. Polaris nodded and Draco could see that she was thinking, and the nods were almost to herself rather than what he just said.
“I graduate this year; I’ll move to France and work for my dance company, and I’ll ask mother if you can come with me. That is our plan. You are going to be a model student and stay under the radar, and I am going to be the perfect daughter” Draco truly looked at his sister unsure of how to feel with what she just said.
“What about school? I can’t drop out at 16”
“I have friends that work at Beauxbatons we could transfer you over I’m sure of it.” She sounded so sure of her every word and Draco couldn’t believe a single word of it. She could sense his hesitation and then said.
"We could write to Lyra and have you transferred to Drumstrang if you'd prefer. Norway is a lot further from his grasp"
“Father wouldn’t agree with that, what would that look like the heir of the Malfoy family fleeing the country?”
“That isn’t your concern, it’s mine. Trust me Draco I will not let us suffer for our family’s mistakes” Her words were determined as another set of knocks knocked on the door. Both siblings stiffened and Draco could see Polaris reaching for her wand that was tucked into her jacket’s inner pocket.
“Draco it’s time for supper, we’ll be in the main dining hall tonight.” His mothers’ words were muffled from the other side of the door. They both relaxed and stood up shaking out their clothes from their time on the floor. Polaris reached down and squeezed Draco’s hand before leading him out of his room. If Narcissa was shocked that both of her children exited the same room she didn’t show it instead she lead the way to the main dining hall. Their footsteps echoed through the halls. Polaris let go of his hand as they neared the bottom of the steps. The double doors to the dining hall were open and sitting at the head of the table was a bald man and to his right was a man with rat-like features. Their father was sat at his left side, this was their first time seeing their father since he sent them away to Hogwarts in the fall. He didn’t move to greet them, nor did he acknowledge them besides with his eyes. Narcissa took her seat by her husband and Polaris took the lead. She walked up to her father and kissed his cheek in greeting, Draco followed closely behind her. Polaris made a point of taking the free chair on their mother’s left leaving him with the seat farthest away from Him. Draco pulled out his chair and felt her foot nudge against his feet. He looked down to see the largest snake he’s ever seen slithering underneath the table. Polaris gripped his hand holding it against the arm of his chair like a vice keeping him seated. Draco swallowed the scream that almost left his throat.
“Thank you for this honour, my lord.” Polaris was the first one to speak breaking the tense silence in the room, taking any attention away from Draco’s scare with the snake.
“What great manners your children have Lucius you must be proud.” The words out of his mouth sounded closer to a hiss and ran chills throughout Draco’s entire body. Draco forced a smile looking at the Dark Lord for the first time taking in all his strange features, from lack of a nose to sharp teeth. Draco followed his sister’s advice and played his part.