At this point Draco felt he needed to interject. He felt bad for his mother knowing that she felt that Remus may be trying to steal her family away. When he wasn't. He knew if he didn't step in now that his mother would see Remus as a threat and send him out the door.
"Mother...please take a moment and listen to him. He's only trying to help us. He really wants to, mother. As much as you don't want to admit it, how many other people would genuinely show interest in our well being?
This is a chance for us to put our family back together and atone for what happened. I want to prove to everyone that we aren't the evil people like they say we are. That we had been forced into serving Him when none of us wanted to. This is a chance to clear our name and bring the respect back to the Malfoy family.
Father won't have to leave home to get help. There may be a person willing to help him that isn't upset by what he had done in the past. If you give this opportunity up now... you may not get it when you really need it. And Father is miserable as it is. He's never going to ask for the help. What little pride he has left is keeping it from him asking."
Draco said speaking in a soft but firm voice. He couldn't afford to loose this opportunity now and he didn't want his mother's pride to cost it.
With Draco speaking Narcissa couldn't help but listen to what her son had to say. He was everything to her and all she wanted was him to be happy as well.
It was clear that Remus had gotten through to Draco and she knew that once her son was determined he wasn't going to back down from it. That determination is what ensnared him into the Dark Lord's grip. But this time...it could be steered in a better path.
Her own hands trembled as she tried to openly think about these opportunities instead of letting her own fear rule over them. Breakfast at this point was forgotten.
"What do you have in mind, Remus," she asked softly almost in defeat.
Thank Merlin he's gotten more sense, Remus thought as he listened to Draco sound quite logical about the whole situation. He personally wondered if it was fear that was pushing Draco into this. Fear for his father, for his family, for his own future. Or maybe Draco had pure and simple... grown up. Not everyone, even the Pure-Bloods, all grew up the same. Just look at Sirius, after all.
Draco had clearly gotten through to his mother, for which Remus was grateful. He folded his hands over one another as he laid out his somewhat hastily constructed plan. "Draco needs to see if he can find his path in life. He's told me about his... path as it's been so far. Potter's spoken up for him, but I know others will be more difficult. I know someone who will be as impartial as anyone can be who knows what happened, and he can confirm Draco's word. With that in place... I know some people who he can work with, try to find himself and his place in the world. Maybe it'll be back here, but I figure he deserves that chance."
"And what do you get out of this, Remus?" Narcissa challenged. As much as she wanted to believe what her son was saying and what Remus was saying...she had to becareful. They couldn't afford to place their trust into someone that would guide them into a possibly empty promise...when they had done that once and lost everything.
"I'm well aware that Lucius had given you a hard time and of your own history in general. Are you trying to take credit for helping a once respected family? And let the media know all about it and the shame that we have suffered?
You may have gotten through to my son, but how can we trust that your intentions are true...and that he's not simply being used?"
It was more the sort of thing he expected from the Malfoys, honestly. Remus' lips gave a quick quirk, not entirely surprised. What more could he do in this case to make her believe him than tell her the truth? "...because I know what it's like to be hated. I know what it's like to be alone and without potential for a job because of who I am. I had the good luck to have someone who reached out and helped me when I was at one of my lowest points, and thanks to him... it's the only reason I am where I am today. If it helps, you can consider it in honor of Dumbledore."
Draco winced at the mention of the headmaster's name and bolted out of the room and outside. It was all he could do to keep his on emotions in check. He tried to steady his own breathing and steady his trembling body. There was a mixture of emotions that ran through him when it came to Professor Dumbledore. Fear, regret, anger, failure, remorse, loss. hopelessness. He didn't realize how emotion the name could stir in him.
The headmaster had helped Remus but didn't help them. Instead he had let Draco go down the route he had picked and it wasn't until it was time to go through with the task...did Dumbledore even suggest trying to help.
Draco knew that Remus didn't mean to to upset him... but it was probably the wrong card to pull out.
Narcissa glared back at Remus. "That name is just as bad as mentioning the Dark Lord in this house!" she hissed and went to go after son.
Well, bloody hell. Remus really should have thought that through. He rubbed a hand slowly around his face and sighed into his palm. Fantastic, his attempt to help had just backfired horribly. Despite himself, there was that sinking feeling he wouldn't have been able to do this even if he hadn't mentioned that name. He did everything in his attempt to remain pleasant considering his condition, but there would always be that part of him that was angry, depressed, and insular. He'd thought there was a chance to help someone in turn, since his own life had turned around by this point to something he loved despite his curse.. and this was what he turned this attempt into.
Sigh.
Remus didn't stay. Considering that he had actually had a job to do, it was something he decided right now needed to be done. Give time for everyone to cool off while he risked his already terrible health. Thanks to his running around after the dementors, he had become all too good of a friend to his own Patronus.
Night had fallen, when Draco decide to sneak out of the house. Things had cooled off since this morning and he felt guilty for what happened with Remus. He knew that Remus was trying to help and Draco had ruined it with his own breakdown.
He summoned his own Patronus and sent it to go find Remus. He noted it was easier now to use the charm then it was before. Remus had to be somewhere near by since that's where the dementors were. He did say he wanted to help him capture them.
When he saw the flash of silvery light, he thought it would be his large wolf bounding back through the leaves, so it was with surprise that he saw it was a smaller fox instead. "Draco?" He called out quietly, looking through the darkness. "Be careful. They're nearby." Didn't have say what; that much was obvious.
There was something in his hands that looked like a camera, but where there should have been a flash, there was a large crystal instead. "Keep your voice low."
He could feel them near by and shuddered at their presence. To think what seemed years ago he was making fun of Harry for fainting. After the horrors of what his father went through with them, he had regretted later on having done such a thing. Now he was trying to help capture them.
He gave a curious glance at what Remus had in his hands, but didn't ask what it was. He figured Remus would explain in time.
"Okay," Draco replied softly and crouched near by, using his robes to shroud him in the darkness. "Tell me what I need to do and I'll help."
The silvery wolf came over towards the fox, three times it's size but it studied the smaller canine with white eyes as Remus whispered, "have you ever used a Muggle or magical camera? Somehow, they managed to magic this to be able to not capture their photograph, but the very spirit of them. The problem is able to get them perfectly in frame as well as in focus - it's the only way to get this to work. It isn't perfect, but it's the first method we've ever had that successfully captures them instead of just driving them off."
The silvery fox curiously sniffed and looked up at the larger canine.
"I've used the magical version of one." He gave a nod understanding the challenge to it. Especially once the dementors got excited trying to capture them would be tough.
The wolf looked like a wolf but acted with the intelligence of a human, his tail swaying back and forth as he watched the fox, but his head lifted to the wind, watchful of the dark ones.
"I'm not about to make you the bait," Remus said pointedly, giving him a look before he offered the camera over. "That's the game I'm used to playing already. Just do. not. flinch. I need you to take the attempt at least, but I have to hold it as long as possible which means my Patronus won't attack. Understood?"
The silvery fox left the wolf to join his master's side as if it picked up on his unease.
His face paled slightly, but Draco gave a nod in understanding and took the camera. He couldn't be afraid now. He couldn't afford to fail this task. If he couldn't handle this...then he wouldn't much of use for anyone else. He wanted to prove to Remus, that his help wasn't wasted on him.
"Be ready." A small smile, though with no mirth contained within, but attempting to give some confidence to the young man. Remus stepped away and his Patronus bounded away as well, leaving him very much open and exposed. Draco might have caught the way that Remus' hand was shaking faintly at his side despite his apparent bravery, waiting for the darkness to come.
And given his vulnerability, the dementors did come. Five of them brushed through the darkness of the last of the dawn, barely seen. They wouldn't have long - dawn was just about upon them. They would have to try again tomorrow night if they didn't succeed here. Remus was even sticking to the thick wood to make it darker.
One swept right past Remus and he shuddered, his fingers tightening violently on his wand.
Draco noted the hand shaking but said nothing. Watching the silvery wolf bound away did little to quell his own nerves. He kept telling himself not to run and to say where he was and focused more on happier thoughts to keep his Patronus from fading.
His first attempt at trying to capture one didn't go to well. Softly swearing to himself he tried again and again. This time he made sure his hands were steady. He managed to get a hold of one...and after another few tries a second. But it still left three and he wasn't liking how excited they were at this point.
It was probably a good thing to be afraid because after the second one vanished, Remus hit the ground. One knee pressed into the cool forest floor, as did a hand, and there was a flash as his Patronus disappeared completely. He couldn't hold it up. There hadn't been this many all together before. Damn!
Yet while two of them went in after Remus, another came straight for Draco.
Draco sent his patronus after the one coming toward him. He was more worried about the ones going after Remus. Draco shouted Remus's name in an attempt to distract the dementors. Hopefully it would give him strength enough to get away.
The fox then went charging after the ones that sought Remus. He wasn't going to let them get him. His own heart pounded and fear gripped his heart, but his determination to save the older man kept him where he was.
A dementor flared up in Draco's face, the black hood empty and dark and utter blackness. There was a low hissing sound, angry and excited. But Remus wouldn't allow Draco to be hurt and coughed violent before he summoned up his one beautiful happy memory that no darkness could touch - the feeling of Teddy asleep in his arms when he was born, his hair dark and soon to be ginger.
"Expecto Patronum!" He gasped out, and though it was weak at first, his wolf returned, running after at his intended target, the one about to touch Draco.
Draco's own patronus had disappeared forcing him to unable to fight with the dementor in front of him. The camera had had clutched in his hands fell to the forest floor. He felt cold and weak unable to move where he was. Any happy memory he had left was replaced with his own fear and despair.
The wolf had charged at the dementor causing it to release Draco and sending it off. Draco then collapsed where he was.
"Damnit!" Remus hissed low and scrambled over to Draco as his wolf snarled in silence, turning hard and snapping up at the dementor to keep it away before its light grew. Remus though wrapped an arm around Draco and pulled him close, protective and focusing on his happy memory as the dementors finally turned away, leaving them alone in the silent forest as dawn broke.
A while later Draco woke up, feeling disorientated. His body trembled slightly, as he still felt cold and clammy. It took him a while to remember why he was here outside in the forest with Remus.
"I'm sorry," he replied in a weak voice. "I tried to stop them from getting you."
"You did well," Remus said honestly, looking up at the pink sky. Narcissa was going to end him for this. He reached into a pocket of his jacket and tugged out a chocolate bar of all things, snapping off a large chunk and breaking it in half, offering Draco a piece.
"Eat. It helps." A flash of a smile that was weak, but he stood up and offered his hand down to the young man. "Not many men can stand up to a dementor at all." Before he popped his piece of chocolate into his mouth.
He couldn't help but give him a strange look at the idea. Reluctantly he did as told, eating the piece of chocolate. Strange enough he did find the chocolate helping.
He gave a weak smile at the compliment. "We got two of them at least." The smile quickly turned into a frown when he realized how much time had gone by since he left the house.
"And now I'm going to be in trouble...I thought I was going to be back sooner.
My mother will probably be furious when we get back. I kind of just left the house not telling them where I was going. I didn't want them to tell me I couldn't..."
He was a dead man. The look on his face changed to dread and he realized two things at once - either he was going to get one very angry mother hen who could hex him into next week, or though an unfair thought perhaps, he could get a very angry once-Death Eater who did or previously despised Mudbloods and halfbreeds.
Either way, he was in trouble. "Please tell my wife that I did not die in vain," he muttered in his somewhat pessimistic joking way, dusting himself off. "We shall have to face your mother's wrath."
"This is why my father dealt with most things....if my mother had her way most of the time...it would have been a lot worse," Draco replied with an amused expression. Warily he got up and picked the camera up and handed it to Remus. He only hoped the camera didn't get damaged when he had dropped it. "Maybe if you show her that two of them got caught...it might calm her down a bit."
As soon as they reached the house they were met by a very angry mother. Narcissa stood at the door way with her arms crossed and wand in hand. She was still in her night clothes with a robe draped over her.
"I should have known that you went out there to go looking for him!" She immediately rounded on her son while glaring back at Remus.
At the commotion going on, Lucius stepped over and whispered a few words to her in an attempt to calm her down. What ever he said seemed to do the work as she led Draco inside leaving Lucius with Remus.
Lucius appeared to be in a better state then he was in the other day. Unlike his wife, he was dressed for the day. He gave a nod in Remus's direction and ushered for him to follow him.
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"Mother...please take a moment and listen to him. He's only trying to help us. He really wants to, mother. As much as you don't want to admit it, how many other people would genuinely show interest in our well being?
This is a chance for us to put our family back together and atone for what happened. I want to prove to everyone that we aren't the evil people like they say we are. That we had been forced into serving Him when none of us wanted to. This is a chance to clear our name and bring the respect back to the Malfoy family.
Father won't have to leave home to get help. There may be a person willing to help him that isn't upset by what he had done in the past. If you give this opportunity up now... you may not get it when you really need it. And Father is miserable as it is. He's never going to ask for the help. What little pride he has left is keeping it from him asking."
Draco said speaking in a soft but firm voice. He couldn't afford to loose this opportunity now and he didn't want his mother's pride to cost it.
With Draco speaking Narcissa couldn't help but listen to what her son had to say. He was everything to her and all she wanted was him to be happy as well.
It was clear that Remus had gotten through to Draco and she knew that once her son was determined he wasn't going to back down from it. That determination is what ensnared him into the Dark Lord's grip. But this time...it could be steered in a better path.
Her own hands trembled as she tried to openly think about these opportunities instead of letting her own fear rule over them. Breakfast at this point was forgotten.
"What do you have in mind, Remus," she asked softly almost in defeat.
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Draco had clearly gotten through to his mother, for which Remus was grateful. He folded his hands over one another as he laid out his somewhat hastily constructed plan. "Draco needs to see if he can find his path in life. He's told me about his... path as it's been so far. Potter's spoken up for him, but I know others will be more difficult. I know someone who will be as impartial as anyone can be who knows what happened, and he can confirm Draco's word. With that in place... I know some people who he can work with, try to find himself and his place in the world. Maybe it'll be back here, but I figure he deserves that chance."
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"I'm well aware that Lucius had given you a hard time and of your own history in general. Are you trying to take credit for helping a once respected family? And let the media know all about it and the shame that we have suffered?
You may have gotten through to my son, but how can we trust that your intentions are true...and that he's not simply being used?"
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The headmaster had helped Remus but didn't help them. Instead he had let Draco go down the route he had picked and it wasn't until it was time to go through with the task...did Dumbledore even suggest trying to help.
Draco knew that Remus didn't mean to to upset him... but it was probably the wrong card to pull out.
Narcissa glared back at Remus. "That name is just as bad as mentioning the Dark Lord in this house!" she hissed and went to go after son.
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Sigh.
Remus didn't stay. Considering that he had actually had a job to do, it was something he decided right now needed to be done. Give time for everyone to cool off while he risked his already terrible health. Thanks to his running around after the dementors, he had become all too good of a friend to his own Patronus.
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He summoned his own Patronus and sent it to go find Remus. He noted it was easier now to use the charm then it was before. Remus had to be somewhere near by since that's where the dementors were. He did say he wanted to help him capture them.
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There was something in his hands that looked like a camera, but where there should have been a flash, there was a large crystal instead. "Keep your voice low."
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He gave a curious glance at what Remus had in his hands, but didn't ask what it was. He figured Remus would explain in time.
"Okay," Draco replied softly and crouched near by, using his robes to shroud him in the darkness. "Tell me what I need to do and I'll help."
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"I've used the magical version of one." He gave a nod understanding the challenge to it. Especially once the dementors got excited trying to capture them would be tough.
"Should I try to distract them while you use it?"
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"I'm not about to make you the bait," Remus said pointedly, giving him a look before he offered the camera over. "That's the game I'm used to playing already. Just do. not. flinch. I need you to take the attempt at least, but I have to hold it as long as possible which means my Patronus won't attack. Understood?"
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His face paled slightly, but Draco gave a nod in understanding and took the camera. He couldn't be afraid now. He couldn't afford to fail this task. If he couldn't handle this...then he wouldn't much of use for anyone else. He wanted to prove to Remus, that his help wasn't wasted on him.
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And given his vulnerability, the dementors did come. Five of them brushed through the darkness of the last of the dawn, barely seen. They wouldn't have long - dawn was just about upon them. They would have to try again tomorrow night if they didn't succeed here. Remus was even sticking to the thick wood to make it darker.
One swept right past Remus and he shuddered, his fingers tightening violently on his wand.
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His first attempt at trying to capture one didn't go to well. Softly swearing to himself he tried again and again. This time he made sure his hands were steady. He managed to get a hold of one...and after another few tries a second. But it still left three and he wasn't liking how excited they were at this point.
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Yet while two of them went in after Remus, another came straight for Draco.
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The fox then went charging after the ones that sought Remus. He wasn't going to let them get him. His own heart pounded and fear gripped his heart, but his determination to save the older man kept him where he was.
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"Expecto Patronum!" He gasped out, and though it was weak at first, his wolf returned, running after at his intended target, the one about to touch Draco.
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The wolf had charged at the dementor causing it to release Draco and sending it off. Draco then collapsed where he was.
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"I'm sorry," he replied in a weak voice. "I tried to stop them from getting you."
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"Eat. It helps." A flash of a smile that was weak, but he stood up and offered his hand down to the young man. "Not many men can stand up to a dementor at all." Before he popped his piece of chocolate into his mouth.
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He gave a weak smile at the compliment. "We got two of them at least." The smile quickly turned into a frown when he realized how much time had gone by since he left the house.
"And now I'm going to be in trouble...I thought I was going to be back sooner.
My mother will probably be furious when we get back. I kind of just left the house not telling them where I was going. I didn't want them to tell me I couldn't..."
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Either way, he was in trouble. "Please tell my wife that I did not die in vain," he muttered in his somewhat pessimistic joking way, dusting himself off. "We shall have to face your mother's wrath."
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As soon as they reached the house they were met by a very angry mother. Narcissa stood at the door way with her arms crossed and wand in hand. She was still in her night clothes with a robe draped over her.
"I should have known that you went out there to go looking for him!" She immediately rounded on her son while glaring back at Remus.
At the commotion going on, Lucius stepped over and whispered a few words to her in an attempt to calm her down. What ever he said seemed to do the work as she led Draco inside leaving Lucius with Remus.
Lucius appeared to be in a better state then he was in the other day. Unlike his wife, he was dressed for the day. He gave a nod in Remus's direction and ushered for him to follow him.
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