Rated R

Pairings: HP/DM HP/TR

Severus Snape looked up at the classroom door at the timid third-year Ravenclaw clearing her throat to get his attention. "Yes, Miss Hunter?" he asked.

"Sir, Headmaster would like to see Draco Malfoy in his office now, he said to tell him the password is 'almond kisses'.

Snape nodded and turned his direction to Draco, who was already gathering his belongings into his arms. Draco stood up, and smirked at the Gryffindors one last time before gliding gracefully to the door.

"Almond kisses." Draco spoke and the two stone gargoyles parted. He rode the stone steps to Dumbledore's office pondering on what he was needed for. "Ah, have a seat, my boy." Dumbledore said as he waved his hand over the chair in front of him.

Draco sat quietly, passing on the lemondrops Dumbledore had to offer. "Well, I'm afraid I have some rather sad news to inform you, Mr. Malfoy. Your grandmother has passed away."

Draco's eyes lit up. That was the signal. It was time to go home and finally get his shot at helping rid the world of the Dursleys, forever. He faked a horror-filled gasp and let his eyes tear up, just as he was taught.

"Your father is downstairs in the main entrance, waiting for you. I have asked all the professors to gather your homework, so you may take it with you. I am very sorry for your loss, Draco." He said with a sad twinkle in his eye.

Draco held back a growl, he hated that twinkle. "Go gather your belongings, and meet your father. He'll have your homework by now, I'm sure. I'll see you next week, my boy."

Draco nodded mutely and walked out. He laughed to himself. Oh course his grandmother had died. She had been dead for over eight months, but it was never revealed to anyone outside of the family, or Voldemort. The announcement would be the perfect alibi, as even death eaters loved their mothers, don't they?

*

Lucius and Draco walked towards Hogsmeade side by side. "They cleared Sirius Black today." Lucius said.

Draco scoffed. "Oh goody."

Lucius laughed. "That should make 'kitten' happy."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Who is 'kitten'?"

Lucius laughed again, lightly holding his stomach as if it hurt. "Oh Merlin, 'kitten' is Harry. Voldemort calls him 'kitten'."

Now both of Draco's eyebrows shot up. "Are you serious?" he asked.

Lucius just nodded, silently. They stopped at looked at each other before both burst into fits of laughter. Ah, it was good to have Draco home again.

After flooing home from Hogsmeade, Lucius sat down to lunch with his lovely family. Draco told his parents all about the school breaking down after learning Harry Potter was missing and how they were just finally pulling themselves back together.

Lucius told Draco all about his new obsession with Harry, and not to ruin it for him. Draco was impressed. "Oh, I almost forgot, son. Voldemort has asked me if you would do him a favor over this week." Lucius said.

"What's he want me to do?" asked Draco.

"He wants you to spend the week with 'kitten', while we gather the Dursleys."

Draco's jaw dropped. "What? I thought I could get to help torture them! You promised!" He shouted to his father.

Lucius beamed. 'That's my boy.' he thought to himself. "Of course you can help. They'll be brought to the mansion, in which you'll already be there. Voldemort wants very much to be a part of the abduction now

and he needs someone to watch Harry for him while we're away. This is going to take some time, and the boy simply can't be left alone. Plus, he wants you be nice to him, and try to convince him to take dreamless

sleep potions when he sleeps. Rubbish, I say. The boy is simply much funnier after a few good nightmares!"

Draco smiled. "Sure, I'll do it. If Voldemort trusts me alone with his 'kitten'."

They all laughed.

* * *

Narcissa rushed around the manor shooing away house elves and yelling obscenities to her husband and son. "You two had better be ready in an hour! Voldemort will be so cross if we're late!"

Lucius chuckled, while getting dressed in his finest robes. He knew Narcissa was overly excited about meeting Harry, she never threw such a fuss when they were to dine with Voldemort before. She changed her clothing at least 14 times already and primped her hair up after each dressing.

Draco seemed to be in wonderful spirits himself. How odd that one boy could change the personalities of so many people, just with his presence. Not that Lucius himself couldn't do that, but the personality usually just wet themselves and cried a lot.

Lucius and Narcissa each held one of Draco's hands and they apparated themselves outside Riddle House. No floo powder was going to mess up their clothing tonight.

As they entered, Tom sauntered up to them and offered his arm to Narcissa. She swooned at Tom's new appearance and practically leapt onto his arm.

Draco stood in shock. The Dark Lord was human again. He actually looked... good. He stood about two inches taller than Draco himself, which was no small matter, he himself had surpassed his father by an inch this past summer. His body was sadly covered by thick, heavy robes, but Draco shrugged that off. More to the imagination.

Tom scanned the grown boy over quickly, before leading Narcissa to the ballroom. Draco has always been a handsome child, but he was so mature and masculine now. He was broad and pale, and stood tall. He imagined Draco on his hands and knees, crawling up his bed, stalking his kitten, while he lay quietly under satin sheets. It would be beautiful. Such a masculine man and his effeminate kitten, tangled up together in long limbs, panting and sweating, while he watched. Tom licked his lips, then quickly willed the thoughts away. 'Later, we have time for that later.'

Before entering the ballroom, Tom stopped his guests and cautioned them. "I haven't decided yet as to let Harry know about his relatives. It would be best if we didn't discuss them openly while he's present." All three nodded quickly. "He's extremely shy. I do hope you make him feel comfortable this evening. The name 'Malfoy' seems to upset him for some reason." Tom's eyebrow arched up, and he smirked.

Lucius and Draco coughed in unison to cover their giggles.

As they entered the lavish ballroom, Draco scanned the room and saw Harry sitting on a large chair. His hands fidgeted with the button on his cuff as his feet nervously swung back and forth over the edge of the chair. His head was resting in his chest, and he looked so small, but at least it seemed he had put on a bit of weight.

Harry looked up slowly when he heard the them enter. He looked over each of them quietly. Lucius smiled at Harry, causing the boy to flinch. "Hello Harry." he said.

Narcissa studied the boy intently. Her eyes drifted over his short, messy black hair to the scar peeking out from under his long bangs on his forehead. She studied his eyes, and found the colour of them fascinating. His slightly upturned nose softened the sharp cheekbones and the pouty red lips quivered softly. She thought he looked like a baby-doll. Something she could dress up, and cuddle when she felt lonely.

Tom turned to Harry and waved to him to sit by them.

Harry reluctantly got up and walked over to the other four and sat between the dark Lord and Narcissa. "Harry, I know that you've already met Mr. Malfoy and young Draco, but I'd like you to meet Narcissa, Draco's mother and Mr. Malfoy's wife." Harry looked up at the beautiful woman. He had seen her before, at the quidditch world cup. She seemed to have lost the appearance of disgust he associated her face with last time.

She smiled softly to him. "Hello, Harry. It's wonderful to finally meet you."

Harry smiled. She seemed sincere. "It's very nice to meet you, as well, Mrs. Malfoy." he replied.

"Please, call me Narcissa, Harry. It would mean a lot to me." she said, again sincerely.

Harry blushed. "Alright, Narcissa."

Lucius rolled his eyes. He knew it, she fell for him... women.

The evening began pleasant enough. Lucius only caused Harry to flinch three times so far, and Draco avoided sneering at him when Tom was looking. Narcissa cooed and touched his arm many times, commenting on his pretty eyes and how she knew ways to make his hair lay flat. Tom chuckled as Harry's eyes lit up, listening to Narcissa gush all over the boy.

Harry listened with interest as the four others talked about the world outside Riddle Mansion, and how they seemed to rather have normal lives. He'd imagined this evening would be filled with talking about death, and destruction, screaming mudbloods sprawled out on the floors, chains rattling, etcetera. This was never what he pictured. Lucius sipping champagne, Draco asking him about brooms with few rude remarks, Tom laughing loudly at bad jokes, Narcissa rubbing his back for comfort while she tugged at strands of his flyaway hair to make them lay straight.

*

After dinner, they returned to the ballroom for brandy, Narcissa insisting Harry sit next to her, again. Harry leapt into the chair next to her and grinned shyly. "You are so small, Harry, and so pale. Like a little china-doll. I should just take you home with me, and set you on my mantle."

Draco cringed. "Mum, honestly, you make it sound like he's a baby. You never fawned over me like that." Narcissa looked over to Draco and grabbed him up in her arms, pulling him into her small lap. He blushed and held his weight off her legs, for fear of crushing her, but he returned the embrace.

"Aww, is my baby jealous?" She cooed, rocking Draco in her arms.

Tom looked over at the image of the small woman cuddling her son in her arms, and shook his head at Lucius. He simply shrugged back, and mouthed the word 'My family.' to him.

"Ah, that reminds me. Have you spoken to Draco about watching Harry for me?" Tom asked quietly.

Lucius nodded. "He'd be more than happy to, my Lord. I'm quite sure Narcissa wouldn't mind helping as well. I can tell she's taken a liking to him."

Tom looked back at the three, and smiled. "Yes, she's good with him. He seems to really enjoy her company. Anyways, have Draco return tomorrow morning, I'll speak with him then."

"Of course, my Lord." Lucius replied, sipping his brandy.

Tom looked back over at Harry, who was opening laughing by now at something Draco said, and Narcissa was blushing scarlet, swatting her son's arm and pushing him off her lap.

Hating to break up the party, but knowing how late it had become, he stood up, garnering everyone's attention. "I have a long week ahead of me, and I'd like to spend some time with Harry before I depart, so I will bid you all a good evening."

Harry frowned. "Depart? Are you going somewhere?" His eyes grew narrow, his hands clutched the sides of his chair.

"Harry, We're not going to talk about this now, I will tell you later."

Harry looked down. "Ok." he muttered softly.

Tom walked over to Draco and placed his arm on his shoulder. "Anyways, Harry, Draco has agreed to look after you while I'm away. It won't be more than a week, I promise."

Harry quickly flashed Tom a "Are you bloody mad???' look but extinguished it quickly, before Draco noticed. He was currently beaming at Tom, as a typical kiss-ass should be.

The Slytherin looked back at the Gryffindor and smirked. "We'll have lots of fun, Harry. This sure will be a great week."

Harry could feel the sarcasm dripping from the statement. "Yeah, sure Draco, I'm counting the minutes." he said, trying to keep his stomach from flipping.

Tom walked over and pulled Harry to his feet. "Say goodbye to our guests, Harry."

Harry turned to Draco, eyes narrowed "Bye, Draco."

Draco's eyes held a glint of light, something Harry couldn't quite place. "Goodbye, Harry." he said through a sneer.

Harry snapped his fingers mentally. 'Aha! I know that glint. It's pure evil... lovely.'

Lucius stood up quickly and faked a lunge at Harry, causing his to step back quickly, throwing his hands up in defense.

Narcissa tutted her husband and patted Harry's head. "Good evening, Harry. It was so nice to meet you, dear,"

Harry smiled up at her. "I'm glad to have met you too, Narcissa, good night,"