Welcome to the Second Chapter!

It's been a while but I had to take care of a few personal things and get them out of the way before I was able to focus on writing again.

Thanks for all the follows, favs and reviews on the first chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything! BUT the poem for the chapters and the plot, I guess.

A big THANK YOU to my betas: Lady Evora & SKDMHG!

I hope you enjoy this one!

Kia

Chapter 2: Patch

there is a Patch

Draco watched the pile of mice with a bored expression.

There were four white and two grey but Draco's eyes fell on a small black one, which fought her way through and the others scattered away at once. The black one squeaked jubilant and the corner of Draco's mouth twitched. The black mouse then scrambled up the leg of an old, dusty chair, then up the backrest before she reached the bottom ledge of the window where Draco was standing in front of.

Draco watched the mouse hurry along the weathered windowsill until she reached the biscuit crumble, which Draco had placed there. Greedy, the mouse took the piece of biscuit in her front paws before she started to nibble at it, her whiskers moving excitedly as she nuzzled her tiny nose.

Draco smiled down at the mouse before he looked up slowly. The window before him was old and broken. Standing high on what once was a castle tower, in the remains of the tower room, Draco looked outside into the dark night. One side of the room was gone completely, the walls crumbled down while the other half was still standing, with a single window lonely in the old stone wall.

Draco reached out to put his hands on the windowsill on either side of the small mouse, trapping it inside. The sharp stones cut into his palms and his glance wandered towards the rotten furniture, which had been placed inside the open tower room a few years ago. Because rain and wind were able to reach the two chairs and the small table, the wood was wet and rotten and would probably break if someone ever attempted to use them ever again.

The top of the tower and therefore the roof of the former chamber was completely gone. The dark sky was starless and the moon was a crescent, which appeared and disappeared behind thin layers of clouds every now and then.

He was standing in the highest room of the castle keep. From here he had a panoramic view of the rest of the castle. The moat circling the hill had dried out a long time again was was only indicated with a slightly grass-overgrown ditch. The Outer Wall was still partially existing, with four smaller towers at each corner of the wall. Two towers were gone but the ones in the South and East were still standing. The Inner Wall was gone except for some piles of debris. The Court Yard was overgrown with grass, bushes and plants. Some leftover stones indicated where the Great Hall of the castles had once been. The Castle Keep, which stood slightly to the south-east was hollow on the inside but the tower room still had a floor.

Concealed by the darkness of the Tower Keep, a trap door led deep inside the hill to a dungeon that hid secrets of the past.

Draco continued to look down at the mouse, which was trapped inside his hands, the only escape would be out of the window and down, down the Castle Keep.

"Noctua, I'm hungry," Draco whispered quietly, the sound barely leaving his lips. He gazed down at the animal as the black mouse was looking up, her head held high while she listened for some sounds. Shaking her whiskers, she dropped the crumble of biscuit, then quickly scurried in the direction she had come from but Draco's hand blocked her way. She squeaked and turned around, only to find the that other way was blocked as well.

She ran back to her biscuit, taking it in her front paws while sitting down on her back legs, nose in the air. Draco frowned.

He was about to reach out, when a pulsation went through the air. Similar to when a stone was thrown in water, Draco watched how a movement went through the wards protecting the castle grounds. The magic of the ward rippled as someone tried to breach it.

"Again?" Draco drawled, looking down at the mouse, who had stopped eating and was perking up as well. Draco sighed and leant forwards, putting his arms on the wide windowsill. "They've been trying to get through for a week now."

The mouse squeaked and Draco lifted his head again as a new wave rippled through the magic. His frown deepened. "You are right, this is different."

"It's time to go." Draco decided, pushing himself from the windowsill. He reached out to snag the black mouse by her tail, then held her up in front of his face. The mouse ranted at him in an angry squeak, the biscuit crumble held between her paws as she dangled upside down before him. Draco shook her gently.

"Drop the bloody biscuit, Noctua!" He growled but the mouse tried to snap for his face, which Draco answered by shaking her more violently. Eventually, the crumble fell out of her paws and onto the dirty floor and Draco was sure that once they were gone, the other mice would come out of their hiding spots again to eat it.

The mouse squeaked offended but Draco ignored her.

"Race you down," he then announced with a gleam in his eyes. As the third ripple hit the wards, he threw the mouse out of the window of the Castle Keep.

As magic ran through him, Draco felt how his body started to vibrate. Letting the magic out, his body combusted into thousands of particles within the blink of an eye. With a rush of air and what looked like a cloud of ash, Draco followed the mouse out of the tower window.

He had missed how the black mouse had transformed mid-air, wings appearing as it turned into a black crow instead. The bird soared through the night, cawing angrily at the grey particles, which rushed through her feathers before the two of them plunged towards the ground. Entering the base of the Castle Keep through the opening, which once upon time had held a door, the two raced into the black hole in the ground and through the long hallways of the dungeons before they reached the room in the very back.

Draco concentrated his magic again and part for part, his body was put together again before his feet landed firmly on the ground, the rest of the particles settling on his arms, rebuilding his forearms, his wrists, his palms. With the last particles settling at the tips of his fingers, Draco wriggled them before he strutted deeper into the room.

The iron gate, which once was used to seal the dungeon cell, hung by its hinges, having been blown out by Draco a few years prior. Draco rushed through his cell, gathering the little things he had.

"It's been five years since they visited me last," Draco rambled on, looking over to the black crow, that had settled on the backrest of the chair, which stood by a small table in one corner of the cell. She cawed in agreement.

"And then, the Death Eater was led in through the blood wards by Aunt Bellatrix, you remember? He was talking nonsense about that the Dark Lord would need me. Morons, all of them. Like I would actually help them," Draco laughed hollowly. "When he took away the magically enhanced shackles on my wrists and I was finally able to use part of my magic, you should have seen his face right before the outburst killed him. I told him to leave the shackles on but he wouldn't listen."

The crow cawed and Draco grimaced. "Right, why did I tell you that? You've been eating the poor fellow ever since then."

Draco's mind wandered towards the half-skeleton, which was lying far away from his cell in another one. The dampness of the dungeon was preserving some parts of his body for Noctua to feast on. He shuddered at the thought.

"But now they are trying to break through the wards with force. Something tells me, they are not Death Eaters. So maybe the others finally found out about this place? When nobody showed up for the last five years, I guessed that the Dark Lord must have failed."

The blond man gathered the few, old books he was given and threw them on his mattress, which was laying in one corner of his dungeon cell.

The crow cawed again and Draco looked up.

"I know, it's been over twelve years since we got locked up here, Noctua. But I believe that today we will be finally freed." Draco grinned as he turned himself around to look at the cell one last time, making sure he had everything gathered on the old mattress.

"And when the wards are lifted, then I will finally have full control over my magic again. The wards are dampening it, I can feel it. Even after the shackles were gone, I still haven't been able to fully use it." Draco explained to the bird before he absently rubbed the scars around his wrist. His glance wandered to the wall where two iron chains dangled, the shackles at the ends having been ripped off.

When he was first brought to this place at the age of eleven, they had shackled him to the wall for months because they weren't sure what he was capable of. That's when he still had someone who stayed at the castle as well, keeping an eye on him. The shackles had been enhanced with dark magic and they prohibited him from using his powers. But as time passed, Draco had grown stronger and at some point he was able to tear the shackles from the chains in the wall. The shackles were still on his wrist and they still kept him from doing magic but he was able to roam around free. Over the years, Draco had been neglected then and besides the monthly visits where he was brought food, he was mostly ignored. Until the day some young Death Eater showed up and took off the remains of the shackles, which had cost him his life. But nobody seemed to miss him. The years passed and Draco was sure then that the war had been lost and that everyone who knew about him was dead already.

Draco looked around the dungeon cell, which had been his home for over a decade. The stones on the floor and walls were huge and sharp, sticking out, making the ground and walls uneven. The mattress he had slept on didn't do any good and every night, Draco felt like he slept directly on the stone floor. His clothes were torn, his skin covered in dirt and his hair nearly black from all the grime. Remembering the iron shackles that had galled his wrists for seven years, leaving permanent scars. There were other marks as well, rope burns but Draco averted his eyes because he couldn't look at those.

The dungeons were dark and damp; Draco could smell the saltpetre in the air, which was all over the stone walls. In the shadowed corners of his cell as well in the other cells down here. Draco heard the sound of small animals but other than the mice, nothing bigger had come out yet.

The young man looked down at his pathetic pile of belongings. There were around thirty books, all of them read so many times that Draco could nearly quote them word for word. The spines were broken and the pages had water marks and had started to mould due to the dampness of the cell.

His eyes then fell on a small leather-bound journal and he sighed, picking it up. It was the only book that was still whole as Draco had taken special care of it and wrapped it in a spare cloth to protect the leather and hand-written notes. Inside the journal was a silver ring, smithed by Goblins, his family crest was engraved on the top of the signet ring, which identified Draco as the heir of the Malfoy family.

Draco grasped the journal, ignoring all the other books before he put it in the back of his pants, pressing it against his lower back to keep it safe.

"Come, Noctua. We have to get ready for the wards to break. I have a feeling that it's happening soon. I can feel that the wards start to leak. One little crack and we can finally escape," Draco turned towards the crow, who regarded him with deep dark eyes. They weren't black but glowing ember and Draco stretched out his hand. The crow flew over to settle on his hand and Draco watched how the crow started to shrink, shiny black feathers turned into shiny black fur, the crow's tail started to narrow and stretch and soon the black mouse from before was sitting in Draco's hand, her large, gold eyes looking up in anticipation.

Then, Draco walked down the dark corridors of the dungeons, which led towards the exit. He knew the dungeons by heart and as he was able to see impeccably at night, the lacking of light wasn't even bothering him. When they reached the steps that led into the Castle Keep again, Draco looked down to the mouse in his hand. He nodded towards her and then let her climb up his arm. Her smooth tail slipped out of his fingers as she ran up his arm and onto his shoulder. Draco felt how the mouse nudged past his collar and then stayed in the crook of his neck, her smooth fur rubbed against his skin as her tail fell down his back, tickling his shoulder blades.

"Hold on, Noctua. I have no idea who is trying to get past the wards."

Draco slowly climbed the wide stone steps.

He already knew that the intruders were coming for him. Because he was special, Draco snorted.

Special, that's what his mother used to call him.

But besides everything, being held captive for years, caused Draco to be physically weak. He had no real food and his body was constantly hurt and bruised. He knew, that he had only one proper chance to flee to get to a safe place, where he would need to gather some energy first.

Additionally, time became a notion he couldn't grasp anymore. Draco had no idea what the date was or how many days had passed since his Eleventh birthday, the last moment he remembered to have spent with his parents in happiness.

He had no idea what went on outside; except that Voldemort had returned and had started a war. The former guard didn't talk to him and the last Death Eater had been dead before Draco could really ask him any questions. He had been told that Voldemort needed him then, so Draco naturally assumed that war had begun again.

War.

It was a concept, Draco had known as a child, his parents had told him about the First War early on. His father had shown him the Dark Mark on his arm, more in regret than in pride. He knew that they struggled with what they should do in the future if the Dark Lord would ever return.

At this point, Draco had no idea if they were even alive or not. If they had started to believe Voldemort's prayings or not.

As the thoughts came rushing through his mind, Draco finally realised that he had no place to go. What if this was a trap and Voldemort was still alive? What if they came now to kill him? What if someone else came to kill him? What if they wanted to test his powers by letting him free?

Draco stepped out of the Castle Keep and into the former court yard of the castle. He looked up at the moon and sighed before he continued to walk. He walked by the well, which had been magically repaired, so Draco was able to access some water.

He passed the Inner Wall before he climbed up one of the towers to the Outer Wall. Hiding in the shadow of the tower, Draco observed his surroundings.

A sound made Draco look up suddenly and he narrowed his eyes when the wards around him wavered once more. There was rippling going through the wards and Draco felt the tingling of magic in the air.

"Get ready," he quietly whispered towards Noctua and felt instantly how the small mouse had buried her sharp teeth in the skin above his collarbone, drawing a drop of his blood.

The wards wavered again, and then they disappeared.

Draco didn't lose any time when he unleashed the dark force, he kept deep inside himself. The magic took over his body and he could feel himself dissolve once more. Like a swarm of black bees, his Obscurus took over and raised into the night sky, trying to escape.

Until he brushed against another ward.

This one was new and casted over the old one. It wasn't as strong as the old one but as he had ran against it, he could feel that something had changed. He could feel the pressing of the signet ring, as it was harder to turn into this state if he had something on him that was made of goblin silver. But other that that, everything else felt different as well.

The rush of energy Draco experienced from the releasing of the former wards was draining him. He had learnt to control his powers partially but having suddenly full access was too much and Draco felt how his the control was slowly starting to slip out of his grasp. He would need to leave this state soon, otherwise, he had no idea what would happen.

His attention was then caught by three dark figures, who hurried up the hill in the darkness of the night. Once they reached the Outer Wall, they split. Two were heading towards the Tower Keep and probably for the dungeons while the third person stayed outside, their wand raised.

A thin string of magic connected the new wards with the wand and Draco instantly knew that this person had managed to break through the ward as well as cast the new ward to keep him from escaping.

As if they had known that something was inside, which would try to flee.

His decision was made quickly and while the other two wizards searched the endless labyrinth of the dungeons, Draco would be faster if he would just take out the third wizard. Killing him would break the ward and he could flee.

But something was wrong.

Jolting down towards the ground, Draco couldn't help but impact on it with a loud bang. The crater he blew into the side of the hill was large and he knew that he had definitely attracted some attention.

He groaned as he scrambled up again. His body hurt because he wasn't used to this new sensation. He could feel the force pulse inside of him, ready to break out any second. Before it was just a tingling and beside being able to change his state, Draco hadn't been able to do much more.

But now, he realised, he had no idea how to control it.

Draco slipped on the mud with his bare feet, pulling himself upright. He felt that Noctua was still sitting on his shoulder, her claws deep in his skin to keep her from falling down as Draco staggered through the night.

The power within him became too much and with nothing there to dampen it, Draco started to struggle with it, sweat breaking out of his skin. It was cool on his skin because of the fresh night air and the wind blew stronger than ever before. Another thing, the wards had kept out.

"Stop!"

The voice was clear but wavering and Draco looked up to blink, his mind was a constant blur and he even believed that the state of his body started to blur in and out. There was a dark figure standing a few feet away from him, their wand pointed and Draco knew that it was the caster of the ward. And probably the one, who broke through the former one.

His glance wandered towards the Tower Keep, knowing that his impact with the ground would have alarmed the other two wizards, who went to the dungeons. If they hadn't heard it, then they definitely would have felt how the earth vibrated strongly.

"I said stop! Don't move!" The voice came closer and Draco could distinguish it as female. The girl came closer to where he was standing, his head was pounding and everything hurt. He was stumbling over the grass, gasping, gulping, panting for air. It became too much and Draco wasn't exactly sure what was happening. Pain shot through him over and over again.

"You! Stop!" The intruder was now standing in front of him, her arm was raised and her wand was pointing at him without a waver. She looked determined and Draco saw that she must be around his age.

He let go of his senses, it was helping him a little to stay focused but on the downside, he was swapped with information.

"You're a mudblood," he bit out in pain.

The word startled her and she stumbled back, horror was written all over her face. This time, her hand started to tremble.

Her reaction showed Draco that she definitely wasn't one of Voldemort's follower. She was silently staring at him, Draco could feel her gaze but he was trying too hard to fight the force, which was trying to break free from within him to return her look.

"Yes," she then answered, squaring her shoulders. "And?"

"I can smell it," Draco told her with a grim face as he looked up again, clutching his sides as he started to loose his balance.

"How can you smell it? That's impossible," she asked perplex, her hands tightening around her wand. His eyes followed her movement, glancing down at it.

"I just do," he shrugged. "I can smell a lot of things," he added.

"Who are you? What are do doing here?" She then asked, her eyes took in his appearance and she came to to the conclusion at the same time, Draco answered her question.

"I live here."

"You live…," she stared at him in disbelief.

"How?" she breathed then but she frowned and stepped closer. "It's not about an object, is it? It's not a spell book or a weapon. It's you. They came here to find you."

Draco just looked her confused. He had no idea what she was talking about.

"Who are they?" he asked finally. "Death Eaters?"

The girl - no woman - shook her head. "No, they are from the Ministry. All Death Eaters are in Azkaban."

There was pang in Draco's chest at her words. "All?" He rasped out, more to himself than to her.

"How long have you been here?" She stepped closer, ignoring his question. "Who held you captive? Is someone else here?"

Draco shook his head, biting his lower lips bloody. She stepped closer but he stumbled back.

"Don't!" He barked. "I can't control it! I don't know what will happen."

"What will happen when? Is there another ward? A trap?" She asked panicking, her head whipping around to the Castle Keep.

"I… d-don't think so," Draco stuttered, now grinding his teeth together.

"We have to go! The Unspeakables should be alarmed any minute that the wards are gone. We don't have time. Let me help you," she ushered hectically, stepping closer but Draco stumbled back further.

He shook his head wildly. "No no, stay away!"

She made another step in his direction while wearing a concerned expression.

"Stay away!" He barked in panic. He staggered further back and towards some debris from the Inner Wall.

The witch wanted to follow him but a shout in the distance made her pause. She turned around and Draco used the moment to disappear in a nook of the remains of the wall. Pressing himself against the cold and sharp stones, he tried to stay in the darkness.

He heard the voices of the two other wizards and some bits and pieces of that they needed to leave as soon as possible. Draco heard two popping sounds and he started to breathe in and out in concentration.

The new ward was lifted around the castle and Draco knew that this was his chance to escape. If the witch was right then there were more out there, who tried to catch him and they would probably be here any minute, now that nothing was warding his former prison anymore.

He was about to talk to Noctua, who was still clinging to his shoulder when the woman's face appeared in front of him. Draco was too startled to say anything and when her hand shot out to grasp his arm tightly, he just stared at her.

"The Unspeakables are coming! Let me help you!" She pleaded with a tight voice. She was stubborn, Draco could see it on her face and because he had no idea what he should do, he just nodded.

She nodded back, biting her lower lip in concentration as she looked back over her shoulders, her massive amount of dark curls whipped through the air and fell on her face as she turned back. Blowing some tendrils out his her eyes, she tightened her grip on his arm.

"Now."

Draco felt Noctua's bite on his shoulder and the woman's cool hand on his wrist and then he was pulled away suddenly, everything was spinning as the witch was Apparating them away from the place, Draco hadn't left in over twelve years.