Because you loved me.

Because you loved me.
By Ran Mouri.


Chapter 01


“Draco…” The blonde man whispered softly, reaching out with his pale hand as if to assure himself that the boy was real, he had dreamed so much of seeing the boy again, imagined the scenario, the way his son would look at him with an insecure frown before reaching to touch his hair, so much like his own.

Then the Ministry had to declare Draconis Augustus Malfoy dead.

But Lucius couldn’t stop daydreaming…

Sometimes he would stop in the middle of the street when a blonde child would pass by, and he would imagine how his baby would have looked at that age…

… and then he would sigh and continue his way.

Because Draco was never coming back.

Because it was torture to know your only son and heir was dead.

Dead because the disgusting woman you dare to call wife was too neglectful, too cold and uncaring of her own child.

“Draco… Oh, Merlin…” He didn’t know quite to say, he had pictured himself reuniting with his child quite a lot of times, he would have said a tender speech, filled with all the love he had been to proud to give his son before, and Draco would cry and embrace him and beg him to protect him and never let him go.

The real thing, however… was very different.

His son, for he was sure the little blonde boy, was his son, was staring at him with wide, confused eyes full of uncertainty and distrust. It was a look he was quite used to, but he had never thought his own child would ever look at him like that. It was insane, it was impossible….

His eyes narrowed.

It was all that werewolf’s fault!

“You, monster, what have you done to my son…” He hissed dangerously, his wand hand itching to deliver the curse the beast in front of him deserved. Of course he knew that man, Lupin, he was one of the pests around the Potters a few years ago, during the time the Dark Lord had died.

A disgusting little Gryffindor.

And, as any Gryffindor, he was standing protectively over Draconis, HIS Draconis, as if he, his own father, was a danger to the child.

“He is my son now, Malfoy…” Remus answered, taking hold of all his courage. He never thought he would meet Draco’s father face to face, much less when he was in his weakest, but he was sure he would give his all to prevent the man from taking his boy. Everything in him screamed at him to protect Draco. Even the wolf inside of him, after so many years, regarded him as his only pack and howled inside of his head that, as such, he had to be kept away from dark wizards.

It didn’t matter that Lucius Malfoy was the boy’s real father.

It didn’t matter if he had all the right to take him away and put Remus in jail.

Draco was happier with him, he knew it!

Unconsciously he tightened his embrace on the boy.

The little boy in his arms regarded the taller man with open curiosity, something in the back of his mind told him he knew this man, those silver eyes stared back at him every morning on the mirror, and his long pale hair was the same colour as his own, and yet, even if all his logic screamed at him that this man was his family, he couldn’t recall any warmth towards him. All his life, every time he thought of love and family his dad, Remus, would appear in his mind-eye.

Slowly, he tried to recall his mother’s face, but he couldn’t, her image was shadowed and hazy.

And the child realized with a start that he had forgotten his parents, and that, as surprising at that thought was, it didn’t bother him as much as it should. He had a father already, and he loved him.

With a sigh he snuggled into the warm embrace his dad provided and closed his eyes. The man was dangerous, he knew, but as long as Remus held him like that he would be safe.

However, his security was short-lived as Draco was pushed away by Remus to land on a soft cushion that must have fallen down last night. The blonde boy looked up too late to hear the man who looked so much like him scream and all became a blur.

“YOU DISGUSTING BASTARD!

“Lucius, no!!” Yelled the black haired man.

“CRUCIO!!!!”

But he was too late, Lupin was in seconds, twisting on the floor of his little cottage. His screams dry and hissy from the soreness of his already abused throat, but they were easily muffled by Draco’s own cries and Lucius maniacal laughter.

Snape stood in shock.

Never had he seen his long-time friend in such rage. Never had he seen him enjoy so much the curse he had loathed during his death eater days. Now his eyes glinted with an obsessive light that told Severus that he was quite able to keep going with the torture long enough until the werewolf surrendered his son, or went insane, whatever happened first.

The boy was growing hysterical and the fading wounds from Lupin’s previous transformation were opening and bleeding, giving Lucius much more pleasure, so, in an act that he would later on attribute to temporal madness, he raised his wand.

“I’m sorry, my friend. Stupefy!”

And all of a sudden, everything was over. Remus’ body stilled, Draco ran to his side, and Malfoy’s body hit the floor.

Severus stared at his hand with wide, unbelieving eyes.

“I… oh, Merlin…” He whispered in shock.

“Daddy! Daddy, answer me.” Draco pleaded, softly shaking Remus, his eyes full of spilling tears. “Daddy, don’t die! Please, don’t die!”

The brunette man raised a weakened hand and caressed Draco’s pale head, a little gesture to signal he would be ok. The boy’s wails quietened to soft sobs as he laid his head on the man’s chest and comforted himself with the knowledge that his daddy would be ok, his heart’s erratic beating was proof enough.

Snape was beside himself with the scene, for once, Draco did not remember Lucius, and much less would remember him. Also, his long-time friend was enraged, which was too dangerous, if left alone with the werewolf he would probably kill him and this time it would be a one-way trip to Azkaban. Which would leave HIM with his hands full.

The Malfoy name would be in ruins, Lupin would be dead, so Draco would be broken, and with his real father in prison, his legal guardian would be Snape himself, his godfather.

Or worse, since he would be labelled and accomplice, he would go to Azkaban too, and Draco would land at one of the Ministry’s orphanages, or worse, back in Narcissa’s care. And since the woman didn’t quite take well the way her husband had reacted to their son’s disappearance and their subsequent divorce, it was not a good idea to present her with the sole cause of her ruin.

With a sigh, Severus Snape made a decision that would change his life and many more, forever.

“Boy, go and pack all you can.” He ordered, his black eyes piercing Draco’s kneeling form. “In ten minutes, give this potion to your father, he will feel better afterwards. I’ll be back in an hour to take you both to a safe location, a man in Germany owes me a favour and I think Igor Karkaroff has a spot for one more scholarship in that school of his. You two better be ready.” And he lifted the blonde man’s unconscious body with a simple spell.

“Snape…” Remus hissed weakly. “Why?”

The man stood still for a moment.

“I’m not too sure myself, Lupin.” He said honestly. “I hate you more that you can imagine. But this is not about you or I, this is about the child.” With those words he disappeared from the house, he had to make Lucius believe they had enjoyed one terrific party last night if he wanted his cover up to work.

Some say that if a mockingbird decides not to sing its song for one day, maybe the lion in Africa will stop its usual prowling, and even the emperor of China could fall dead. The cycle which moves things in an determined order changed one day, could something as simple as a missing boy and a broken family evolve in a power that the Dark Lord knew not of?

An interesting question indeed.

Just a few years later, eleven year old Harry Potter entered the walls of Hogwarts. He was a little nervous, of course, been his first time in a wizarding school, but the red haired boy who had helped him on his way to Hogwarts was making things easier. He never had a friend before and Ron’s open acceptance of him made him feel at ease for once in his life, so he wasn’t paying much attention when the sorting hat was placed on his head.

Maybe if he had seen someone he quite disliked been sorted into Slytherin, he would have been more alert at the hat’s suggestion, he would have been cautious of the Slytherin reputation. Yet he had not, there was no spoiled boy sorted before him, there was no enmity or distrust.

So, by the time the hat yelled SLYTHERIN, without any interruption from his part, he didn’t feel bothered at all.

That is, until he saw the face of his new friend red with anger and hurt. The boy mouthed something that Harry assumed was rude, and then he was led to his table, where his new classmates stared at him openly, not bothering to hide their surprise.

“Potter, I’m Marcus Flint, your prefect.” Said a tall boy with a shrug. Harry blinked.

“Um. Ok.” What was he supposed to say anyway? Someone to his right snorted and three other girls giggled, whispering among themselves.

Suddenly a girl that was sorted a little earlier than he was slammed her cup into the table, her bored eyes glaring around.

“Please, people. Act your age.” She said as she checked her nails. “We are Slytherins, we take care of our own and whether you like it or not, Potter is one of our own now.” She turned slowly to him and offered her pale hand. “Pansy Parkinson, the pretty boy to your right is Nott and to his right are Crabbe and Goyle.” Her thumb went behind her. “That’s Bullstrode and her pet Greengrass.” Harry sure was confused now, specially when the pet-girl, Greengrass, didn’t protest to be called such.

Iddly he saw as his red haired friend was sorted into Gryffindor and then a pretty boy with long eyelashes and slender limbs approached them and sat just by his side, a firm smile on his face.

“Potter, hmm? I’m Blaise.” He introduced himself. Pansy rolled her eyes.

“Lay down the charm, Zabinni, he’s new.” She sighed and suddenly stood. “Listen up, everyone. I accept Potter into our lair, he’s new, but he can learn, so he’s under my protection.” Her eyes regarded the rest of her house.

Blaise imitated her gesture.

“If Parkinson trusts the little runt so do I, so I take him under too, heard that, Carr, Goughy?” Two boys with wands lightly raised nodded and lowered said wands. Harry felt like he had entered a mafia or something.

“Crabbe, Goyle?” Zabinni asked then. Both boys nodded slowly and smiled shyly at Harry. They seemed friendly enough, though a little quiet. “Bullstrode?” Blaise continued.

The girl looked at Harry as if he was a small, dirty animal that would need cleaning up.

“He’s got potential…” She shrugged. “Ok then, I’m in.”

“Excuse me…” Harry suddenly asked. “I’m not going to end up dead in an alley or something right?” The Slytherins stared at him for a few moments before laughing. Some older boys and girls seemed like they wanted to strangle him for his utter idiocy, but none raised a hand.

“No, Potter.” Zabinni said with a flirting smile. “You see, we are just putting you under our protection.” He explained. “Parkinson, Bullstrode, Nott, all of us come from very powerful, very old pure blooded families, we over rank even the rest of the students.”

Parkinson rolled her eyes.

“We just think that if the hat put you with us you must have the potential, so the others won’t mess up with you. Half-blood or not, you are still a Potter, and your family is old enough to deserve the privileges that come with your name.”

“Though, whatever you do, do not presume you do not have superiors in school.” Nott warned, sipping his juice. “Professor Snape out-ranks us all as long as we stay inside Hogwarts.”

“This is complicated.” Harry sighed, at least he seemed to have been accepted by his year mates… or something like that.

Blaise smiled.

“You’ll get it in time. We’ll groom you up.”

Pansy’s face softened.

“It would be a lot easier if my Malfoy was here.” She said wistfully.

Daphne and Millicent rolled their eyes.

“Pansy, dearest, let it go already, there will be no Malfoy.” Greengrass snapped. “He was just a baby when you two met. Be happy now you can choose your own husband.”

Pansy narrowed her eyes.

“You wouldn’t say that if you had met him. Malfoy had the most amazing attractiveness I have ever felt. I would have married him even if he was, let’s say, a muggle.”

The whole table fell silent.

“Shame then I didn’t get to bed your fiancé. Parkinson.”

And as sudden as the silence had fallen, Blaise’s crude comment dissolved the tension.

Everyone snorted. Leave it to Blaise to think with his cock even though he was barely entering his sexual awakening.

Later on, Harry would learn that Pansy still carried the memory of her childhood fiancé with her, a boy she had met at the tender age of two, and had loved instantly. Even after his kidnapping and death some years later.

But as for now, Harry Potter turned so he could see his red haired friend back at the Gryffindor table. He smiled lightly, but Ron didn’t answer the gesture as he had expected. The redhead’s hand raised in what was obviously not a friendly wave, and Harry’s smile disappeared.

Zabinni and Parkinson looked at eachother.

They would have to explain to their new protégée about the house rivalry, and the fact that his Weasley friend would not be very open to Potter’s friendship anymore, since he got sorted into the “evil” house. They saw his green eyes fill with confusion and betted among themselves how long it would take them to turn the shy, muggle raised Boy-Who-Lived into a confident wizard who took shit from no one.

On the other hand Draco Lupin found out he was in for a rude wake-up call the moment he set foot in Durmstrang.

He instantly knew why his father and uncle Severus had chosen the academy. He just had spent a week and he had already seen two veelas making out on the hallway, a vampire child who seemed quite older than he looked, a horey (who would have thought they still existed!) and a girl with her doppelganger. It was obvious that no one would bother that his father was a werewolf.

So far the only problems he had had were with the other human first years. He was smaller than the rest, due to his years of ill meals and poor nutrition, he would not complain though, his dad had done all he could to provide for him, but it still bothered him that he was the shortest of his year.

That is until he met the headmaster’s son, Edvard.

Ed was as short as he was, with blonde hair and a very easy smile, though he spent most of his time with his head buried in a book, so Draco saw little of him. Still, he was his first friend outside of his family and he showed him the very secret that had kept a boy as short as he was from being bullied and even harassed.

He had introduced him to Viktor Krum.

Viktor was three years ahead of them and he had it all. Looks, height, talent. He was the Quidditch captain and various professional teams were scouting for him. He had influence over the rest of the students and many upper years went to him for advice.

He was practically perfect.

Save for one simple weakness.

He practically melted at the sight of small, helpless kids.

Specially if they were cute.

At first Draco had thought he was some kind of pervert and that his so-called friend had sold him in exchange for protection. But then Viktor had gotten him back his bed, and some notes for the classes he was behind. Sometimes he would pass by him and pat his head like he was a puppy and when he was cold he would lend him his cloak and hat.

And best of all, the comments about his height disappeared completely.

He had gone and asked Edvard about it. And his friend had just shrugged, still reading his thick book of the week.

“You are in a school full of pure blooded wizards and half-magical creatures.” He had said without blinking. “If you don’t out wit them you’ll get eaten. There is no way you can stay low profile in here and survive.”

At first Draco had felt offended. The only way he would be safe in school was to act as Viktor Krum’s lovely pet? There was no way he would stoop that low just to have a peaceful stay?

He was no parasite.

Months later he would find Viktor crunched over his bed, tired, aching and over stressed, and, touched, Draco just laid in bed by his side and let him embrace him and run his big hand over his blonde hair while whispering how he missed his little brother Erik who had passed away a few years before, how tired he felt with the pressure everyone seemed to lay onto his shoulders, the expectations. How he wished sometimes he could disappear and just be himself.

And Draco understood then that, even if Krum was famous, respected, and adored all over the world and the next Quidditch promise, he was so terribly alone.

Slowly he wrapped his arms around Viktor’s massive back and laid his head on his chest.

And then, there was just silent comfort between them.

Draco’s Slytherin side would point out that it was the perfect opportunity to rise up and maybe even rule Durmstrang one day, he could already imagine all the scenarios he could set up to secure his position as Krum’s protégée.

And yet, his Gryffindor side, the one his dad had tenderly nurtured since the day they’d met, told the blonde that it didn’t actually matter if Viktor was his key to power or not. Despite his size and fame, he was just as wounded as daddy Remus or uncle Snape. And if the older boy was determined to protect him in school, he could do just the same.

He smiled.

Whatever happened during their stay at Durmstrang, he would follow Viktor and be there whenever he was needed.

He hoped nothing wrong would mark their schooling years.

To Be Continued.

Notes: I know it was a strange, disconnected chapter, I don’t like it very much, but I wanted to brief over how Harry’s and Draco’s school lives are different now that Remus took Draco in. Next chapter there will be a time skip to book 4, of course. And some skimming of Harry’s previous years at Hogwarts.

Hope you enjoyed the fic, and please review with your suggestions.