Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
And I say it’s all right.

Draco sighed and pushed himself out of his bed. Here it was, not even four in the morning, and he hadn't been able to sleep a wink thanks to the damned storm that was just now starting to blow itself out. Running a hand through his silvery-blonde hair, he pulled his wand out and pointed it at the fireplace. Sighing as the heat slowly burned the cold dampness away, he pulled on a pair of pants, only to sit and stare at the fire for a few moments. Shaking his head, he got up and silently stalked to his door. Pulling it open a crack, he strained his ears to hear if there was anyone moving about in the house.

Lucius liked to stay up awhile after a Death Eater gathering, making plans to further the Dark Lord's agenda. But Draco couldn't hear the distinctive sound of his footsteps downstairs, which meant one of two things: either he wasn't back yet, or that he was back and had already completed that particular ritual. Opening his door further, he was just about to step into the hallway when he heard something. He froze in place for a moment before curiosity got the better of him. Peeking out of his door, he gasped when he saw the scene that lay before him: his father, lying on the floor, eyes open and glazed, his wand in his hand, and just the barest trace of a bruise starting to form on his jaw, while his mother, quite a few more bruises on her face, more livid in color, had wrapped her arms around her knees and was slowly rocking back and forth. Draco knew that something was quite wrong, as Narcissa had her wand clenched tightly in her hand.

"Mother?" he hesitantly inquired.

Little darling it’s been a long cold lonely winter,
Little darling it feels like years since it’s been here.
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
And I say it’s all right.

Narcissa's eyes flew up to meet his, and Draco instantly knew what had happened. His mother had killed his father with the worst of the Unforgivable Curses. Slowly sinking to the floor, he tried to sort out this new knowledge, but it seemed as if his brain had suddenly stopped working. But mixed in with the shock was the strangest feeling of relief, as if a great burden - or an unwanted plan for the future - had been lifted off of him. Even still, he had to know what had caused this.

"Why?"

"He promised," Narcissa said in a very small voice. "He promised me that he wouldn't do that again, for your sake." Her voice caught on the beginning of a sob. There were several things that Draco couldn't stand, and seeing his mother cry was one of them. Carefully skirting his father's outstretched hand, he went to his mother's side and looped his long arms around her shoulders.

"Don't cry, please," he begged her. He heard her faint hiss of pain, even buried under her sobs, as he had evidently touched a tender spot. "Did he do that?"

She didn't answer, only sobbed harder. "Mother," he said forcefully. When she focused back in on him, he repeated himself. "Did he do that?"

Dropping her eyes, Narcissa could only nod. The heat of the moment behind her, she could now see the consequences of her actions. Draco would most likely become a ward of the Ministry of Magic, since she would, at best, be shipped off to Azkaban, or at the worst, suffer the Dementor's Kiss. An involuntary shiver wracked her body at the thought of the Kiss, and tears sprang anew to her eyes at the effect it would have on her beloved son.

Draco's face creased with worry as he literally watched his mother slip deeper into shock. He knew that she needed help immediately, but also knew that any help would also bring questions about his father lying dead in the hallway, a victim of the Adava curse. He had no idea if the Ministry would see this as self-defense, or if they would refuse to even give her a trial and just ship her directly off to Azkaban. He didn't want that to happen, but he didn't want to see his mother die of shock, either. He thought of contacting Dumbledore, but then discarded that idea. Dumbledore may have been highly respected in the wizarding world, but that didn't mean that he could smooth this over with little fuss. Snape was just too much of an unknown quantity. He may have been head of Draco's school House, but Draco knew nothing of Snape beyond school. McGonagall would be placed in the same category as Dumbledore...

Draco's eyes narrowed as his train of thought sped off in an unexpected direction. Thinking of McGonagall automatically brought up the thought of Gryffindor's colors, gold and scarlet, then from there, his mind thought of a certain red-haired Gryffindor girl, and her entire family of red-headed siblings, including her father, who worked at the Ministry of Magic, and whom his father held a deep sense of loathing towards, since Arthur Weasley could not be bought with any amount of money. "I'm going to get help," he quietly told his mother, who was simply rocking herself back and forth.

Running back to his room, he pointed his wand at the fire. "Arthur Weasley," he said in a clear voice.

Outside the village of Ottery St. Catchpole, Arthur Weasley was not pleased at being summoned in the middle of the night. Grumpily getting out of bed, he trudged over to the fire and blinked his eyes, getting them to focus on the face in the fire.

"Draco Malfoy! You are *not* supposed to be using magic outside of school, let alone summoning people in the middle of the night!" he hissed, quietly, so as not to wake Molly.

"I know you don't like me, Mr. Weasley, but something - *bad* has happened."

Arthur looked again at the face in the fire, seeing now the furrowed brow, and the glances the younger Malfoy kept throwing over his shoulder, as if he were worried about someone. Feeling his fatigue burn away, he leaned forward. "And how am I supposed to know that this isn't a trap set by your father?"

Draco laughed hollowly. "That would be interesting, considering that he's lying dead in the hallway." Seeing the shocked look on Arthur's face, he continued. "If you know any Aurors, bring them as well."

Arthur knew that Lucius would have never allowed an Auror into his home unless he wished to kill them, and even then, he would only want one in particular, not just any random person, and certainly not more than one. Putting aside his doubts, for now, he nodded. "Very well, we'll be there in ten minutes."

"Fine. Oh, and Mr. Weasley?"

"Yes?"

"You'd better bring a Mediwizard as well."

Little darling the smiles returning to their faces,
Little darling it seems like it’s years since it’s been here,
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
And I say it’s all right.

Draco watched the scene unfold before him, as if he were an outside observer. Arthur had indeed brought some Aurors with him, a group that jokingly called themselves the 'old crowd'. He already knew two people of the group: Remus Lupin, his third-year Defense against Dark Arts professor, and Molly Weasley, who was busy tending to his mother. Draco had never felt so bewildered in his life, which was probably an aftereffect of shock. Normally, he would be sneering and trying his damndest to get them out, but he had actually *invited* them in, and wasn't feeling guilty at all.

The two Aurors that Draco had never met before, Arabella Figg and Mundungus Fletcher, had split up, Figg taking the large, black dog they called Snuffles downstairs, while Fletcher had walked around the actual 'scene of the crime,' gathering any and all evidence, including prying Lucius' wand from his cold, dead fingers.

Draco could hear Figg's angry footsteps coming closer towards them, and turned his head to see the Auror with a very angry look on her face. Snuffles didn't look any nicer circling Lucius' body, growling low in his throat. Draco could have sworn that the dog was actually a human, but discounted it as another wild, shock-related thought.

"Arthur, have you seen the stairs?"

"No, why?"

"There's a crater in them. I've been an Auror for longer than you've been alive, and I *know* that is the impact of the Adava curse. Judging from the angle, I'd guess to say that Lucius shot it from the bottom of the stairs."

Draco watched as Fletcher set Lucius' wand on the floor, pointed his own wand at it, and muttered "Priori Incateum." Several images, echoes of the people his father had killed immediately sprang up from the wand, drawing a host of angry murmurs. Letting his wand drop, Fletcher turned to face the others. "That settles it then. I recognized some of those people as ones that were killed tonight in a Death Eater attack. Coupled with what Arabella had deduced, I believe the report is going to classify this as justifiable in the need of self-defense."

"And it is very unlikely to ever happen again," Molly said. "Mobiliocorpus," she ordered while pointing her wand at an unconscious Narcissa. "Draco, where can I move her?"

Draco blinked. "I suppose my bedroom," he answered slowly. "The second door on the left from you."

"Thank you." Once Narcissa had been moved, Molly immediately rejoined the group.

"Molly, how are you so sure that she won't ever use the Adava curse again?" Arabella asked.

"She wouldn't want to leave her children as orphans -"

"I'm an only child," Draco injected.

Molly smiled politely at him. "In another seven months, you won't be."

Draco's brain finally had enough shocks for the night, and just simply shut itself off. He could vaguely hear Molly directing him into his room and felt the soft welcome of his bed as he crawled into it. He was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes.
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes.
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes.
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes.

Little darling I feel that ice is slowly melting,
Little darling it seems like years since it’s been clear,
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
And I say it's all right.

It was once again dark when Draco woke up, and for an odd minute, he thought that he had dreamed it all. But that unpleasant illusion was shattered when he saw Snuffles curled up by the fireplace, and heard his mother's soft breathing beside him. Leaning back against his pillow, he stared up at his ceiling as he wondered how exactly his life was going to change. He knew more than a little of his icy demeanor was forever gone, a sacrifice he would gladly make. He was going into his sixth year, and he wanted to enjoy himself for the last two years of school. Looking out his window, he saw the darkness giving way to the grayish pre-dawn, and for the first time in his life, he wanted to go out and see the sunrise.

His thoughts were interrupted by a soft sob close by. Turning his head slightly, he saw that his mother was awake - and aware of everything that had happened. "Mum, please don't cry," he whispered. Remembering his earlier thought about the sunrise, he threw back the covers and stood up.

His action seemed to have startled Arabella awake. "What are you doing?" she asked neutrally.

"I want to go outside to see the sun come up," he answered truthfully.

She yawned. "Okay, but take Snuffles with you."

Draco, half afraid that they wouldn't let them out of the house, would have agreed to take *Potter* with him at the moment. A black dog that acted like a human was not a problem. "Come on, Mum," he said as he pulled her out of bed.

Taking a couple of his heavy cloaks and handing one to his mother, he took her hand, not at all surprised that Snuffles was waiting by the door, and looking a bit annoyed by having his sleep disturbed. Avoiding the crater in the stairs, they made their way out to the front porch. Narcissa looked around her, remembering the fight she and Lucius had, and couldn't stop the sobs. She cried for a good five minutes, until her sobs just became watery hiccups. She noticed that Draco had wrapped his arms around her, and that she had been crying into his cloak. Even Snuffles was looking at her with a sad look on his canine features, looking so human, she wondered for a fleeting second if he was really an Animagi, and then told herself that she was silly as he licked her face.

Draco softly nudged her. "Look Mum, here comes the sun."

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
It’s all right, it’s all right.

As she watched the sunrise, she thought of the new life growing within her, and the life she had given birth to all those years ago. The sun was indeed rising on the winter that had been her life, making way for the spring, and she knew with certainty that everything was going to be fine.

"It's going to be all right," she whispered to herself.

-End-