Chapter-3

Woken up

"You can't even manage house elves properly." Father snaps coldly at mother and throws the bowl of beans on the floor. Mother's hands tremble on the edge of the table but she stays quiet.

"Good for nothing." Father mutters. He doesn't need to shout to express his fury. He only has to glare coldly at the person he is angry at. Mother stays quiet. It's not her fault. Draco likes beans and he has asked the elves to prepare them. It's not her fault. Another bowl goes down. This time it has porridge.

"I told you that I hate porridge." He hisses and holds mother's wrists. Mother doesn't speak. She stares at the table quietly and I stare at her. He squeezes her wrist tightly. Her teeth are gritted but she doesn't speak a single word.

Draco wants to tell father that he had asked the elves to prepare those dishes but he doesn't. He is a coward. There is a lump in his throat. Father is hurting mother and he is not doing anything. When he asks her as to why she tolerates this, she only says that she loves father, that despite his faults, she loves father and that Draco doesn't need to worry.

After a second, father's fury decreases and he lets mother's hand off and then leaves the table. His hand-prints are carved on her wrist. Still she smiles brightly at Draco and calls, "Dobby." Dobby appears and she whispers, "Please bring some porridge and beans for Draco. Also please have the other elves clean this mess. It fell down by mistake."

Dobby nods but Draco can see that the weird elf knows the truth.

Dobby comes back with Draco's dishes and suddenly Draco is unable to eat them. He stares at the dishes and then at mother. She smiles and asks him to eat. With great difficulty Draco eats, not because he wants to but because mother wants him to, because father's cruel fingers are still carved on her wrist.

Mother doesn't eat but she sits with Draco. He hates father when this happens but he doesn't say anything. He is a coward.

"NARCISSA." Father yells and mother gets up to leave. Draco can only watch as she retreats in her room. A few minutes later, he runs towards his room and throws up in his bathroom.

Draco's eyes shoot open and he sits up, his eyes wide with tears. He has never had these nightmares before. Two days have passed since that confrontation and Draco has not been able to sleep in peace. He never took any steps. He never said a single word. His mother loves him. She got beaten up and abused for him, not just once but many times. He is a coward. He doesn't deserve to have a mother like her.

All of a sudden, he can't bear it because father still glares at mother. He still vents out at her, not in front of him of course, but behind closed doors. No matter, how many concealers mother applies, he always knows and he keeps quiet. Potter is right.

Draco pulls his hair in fury. He can't take this anymore. He can't. He can't stand this. He won't stand it, not because he wants Potter to be impressed by him, but because he can't live with the realization that he is not capable of protecting his own mother.

Tears stream down his eyes as he relives all the moments when he witnessed father abusing her. He loves his father because father has always been nice to him. He is a good father but Draco thinks that his father is a monster. Anyone who hits another person to vent his fury out is a monster.

With determined steps, he walks towards his parents's room. It doesn't matter that it is six in the morning. It doesn't matter that they might be sleeping. Nothing matters except the fact that he has to let father know that Draco won't tolerate this monstrosity in this house anymore and he will take mother away, if he needs to.

"Master Draco." Dobby squeaks and Draco looks at him, "Master Draco, you are being angry. Please don't- Master Lucius will hit Mistress."

Draco shakes his head, his fury growing to unbearable levels and mutters, "He won't. Not now, not ever."

He doesn't wait for Dobby's reply and bangs on the door, muttering, "Open the damn door."

He hears feet shuffling and then mother opens the door and looks at him in alarm, "Draco, why are you crying. Harry will come around. I will-"

Draco shakes his head and cuts her off, "That's not why I am here, mother."

"What's the matter? Is everything okay?" She asks and places her hand Draco's cheeks. The tears that he had managed to stop spill again and he stares at her. How can she love him so much. Wasn't he supposed to protect her or is it only the other way round.

"Draco, what has happened?" Father's voice reaches him and Draco's eyes become cold. Mother, being his mother understands everything right away and shakes her head, "No... it's okay. I am fine Draco."

"I can't live like this mother. Potter was right. I can't tolerate this. I am your bloody son. I am your twenty year old bloody independent son. I can protect you, as I should have done long ago." Draco whispers and walks inside.

She backs off and persists, "Draco. It's fine."

Draco ignores her this time and stands in front of father. He is sitting on his bed, his back against the headboard and his eyes are still sleepy. He is looking at Draco with concerned eyes.

Draco crosses his hands and starts, "I had asked the elves to prepare beans and porridge that day. I had spilled water on your file by mistake. I had done all those things you punished her for."

Father stares at Draco and mutters, "It's ok-"

"It's not okay. It never was and I always knew that."

"Son-"

"Don't call me son. You are not my father and I am not your son and I despise you even though I love you. I despise you so much that you can't even imagine. You hurt mother. You hurt my mother and I want to hurt you. You- you-" Draco doesn't have any decent words. The only words he wants to say are abusive.

"Draco, please calm down-" Mother starts softly, her hands on his shoulders and he turns around to look at her with soft eyes, "This ends today, mother. I have been quiet. I have behaved like a total coward. But I won't stand for this anymore."

He embraces mother and turns to look at father. Mother is sobbing on his shoulders.

"Listen to me very carefully. I would ask her to go and live with her elder sister, Andromeda but she doesn't want to. Miraculously, she loves you, no matter that you are a monster, no matter that you have beaten her countless times in the past but-" Draco stops and takes a deep breath. Father is staring at him with shocked eyes. Even mother is still now, "I will ask Potter to take her away if you shout at her or lift even a finger at her. Believe me that Potter will. He is an unstoppable force of nature."

"Draco, your father apologized today morning." Mother whispers out of the blue and Draco stares at father. Draco doesn't believe father and father knows this. His eyes are pained as they meet Draco's disgusted ones.

"Never trust the likes of him mother. He is a -" Draco stops because he wans about to curse father. He takes a deep breath, his eyes boring into father's.

Mother pulls back and cups Draco's cheeks. Her eyes are soft as she looks into his eyes, "I love him Draco."

Draco looks at his father, his eyes hard. Father averts his eyes. He seems ashamed but you never know with the likes of father, do you?

"He doesn't and I won't let him hurt you again. I refuse. Potter is right. I don't deserve you and I am ashamed of myself. I want to hurt father. You don't know how much I want to hurt him. I have been having nightmares for the past two days. I saw your bruised forearms mother. I saw his finger-prints on your wrists and cheeks. I hate him. I despise him and I want to hurt him so bloody much." Draco is furious. He hasn't been so furious in the past few years. He has been ignoring everything but now he can't. Potter has turned his life upside down.

Draco pulls back and breathes before addressing his father for the last time, "This is your first and last warning. I will get you thrown away from this manor and I will have your name removed from the Malfoy family all-together. I will have you thrown behind bars, no matter what mother says, if you hurt her again."

Having said this, he cups his mother's cheeks and looks into her eyes.

"I am sorry for staying quiet. I am sorry mother. I am so so very sorry." He murmurs and kisses her forehead. She stares at him, trying to talk to him.

Tears stream down his cheeks and he chuckles bitterly because mother is mother and she will never hold it against Draco but Draco can never forgive himself. He avoids father's eyes and wipes his tears before walking out of his parents's room and going straight towards the jogging grounds.

He can't change the past but he can bloody well ensure that his mother has a safe and a satisfying future. If she wants to become a fashion designer, then she will. To the hell with what father wants.

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