In good and bad times

-PART ONE: BAD TIMES-

"What?"

"You heard me." Her eyes telling him she wasn't going to repeat herself.

"You...you can't be serious, mother!"

"Draco Lucius Malfoy, did I ever lie to you?" Narcissa Malfoy didn't even bat an eye as her son collapsed to the ground, crying out his denial at the world's betrayal on him.

"No. NO! NEVER! HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME? YOUR ONLY SON!"

"Believe me when I say I only do this for my one and only son, Draco. For you. I have your best interest at heart. It's the best solution and you will thank me later for it, I'm sure." She sounded as if she was still trying to convince herself that her choice for her son was the right one. However, it was a great effort not to cry with him at that moment.

"I'm not! I'm not going to marry Harry Potter!"

Seeing the tears rolling down Draco's cheeks, who didn't cry in front of her since he was six, Narcissa got weak too and knelt in front of her son, a sigh escaping her bitten lips, a sign she was as stressed. She lifted his face and looked into the two pools of grey, so much like her husbands and so lifeless at such a young age. It hurt to see him suffer, she couldn't stand it anymore and she once more was convinced she chose the right path for her son, so he could live, and maybe one day, a joyous life.

"Draco, I'm going to die."

The boy looked shocked at his mother and shook his face from left to right, lifting a hand to feel his mother's face, as if she would be gone any second now, worry making his body tremble. "No...no...what's wrong with you?"

Narcissa felt guilty seeing that frown on his face and embraced him. "Nothing. But I'm going to die. One day I'm gone and you will be alone, Draco."

"No!" Draco screamed, his voice breaking and new tears flooding his eyes. "You can't leave me! You're all I have...mother..." the last word coming out as a whisper. He was getting weaker by every passing second, too many shocking things consuming the boy's last energy. So he hang onto his mother like on dear life, his only haven.

The mother hushed her child and hugged him tightly back. "Shh...I'm not going to leave you so easily, my son. You're all I have since Lucius was taken to...Azkaban, we only have each other for support, so we have to stay strong. We're Malfoys, my son, never forget that." Her son shook his head against her chest in agreement. "My brave son, this war is not over yet. The remaining Death Eaters are still revolting and leading rebellions against the Light Side. Since their power gain after the fall of the Dark Lord they are exploiting it too much and treating us less than humans. They do whatever they want with us, some are too blind to see that they're behaving worse than some Death Eaters and slaughtering us like Werewolves.

"Draco, you and I, we are targets on both sides now. We are safe nowhere and I can't stand hiding anymore. I'm going to die one of these days and then I can't guard you anymore."

"No!" her son whimpered the same word for the past five minutes but the mother hushed him again.

"You are the leader of the Dark Side right now, my son." Draco looked up at her and she nodded at his astounded face. "After the Dark Lord's Fall the title was alienated to his right hand, Lucius but since he's..." she paused for a second, hurt recognizable in her voice about the loss of her husband to that rotten prison, "since your father can't work up to that title anymore, it has been conferred on to you, the next male in line."

Draco remembered all the times his mother called him her little prince. He had loved it as a nick name and he had loved being pampered by her when he was a little child. But had he known the words had a meaning to it...he wouldn't be as blown away as he was then, he had no idea.

"I...I'm not even a good Death Eater...how can I-" he was embarrassed to admit it but he had no pride left in front of his mother.

"No, you aren't." Narcissa smiled sympathetically at her son. "And I dare say it's what I like about you, my son. It makes you a better human than a lot of people on the Light Side."

"Mother..." Narcissa didn't fail to impress Draco once more that evening. Had he only had this insight in his mother's thoughts earlier, that she wasn't mad at him for failing in being a Death Eater...

"You not being a good Death Eater is what gives us hope, Draco. You can be rescued, a lot of people can be rescued. A truce is all that's left for a chance. We can escape the clutches of death if we make this truce with the Light Side, Draco. Above all, we can negotiate terms, don't you see?"

"But why do I have to marry Harry Potter? Why can't someone else from the Dark Side marry him?" Draco raised his voice after a long time.

"For once, a lot of pure-blood families have taken precautions already since they know a truce is the only thing that can rescue them. As you may have heard, all your unmarried friends and others were paired up and forced into marriages or of their free will to escape that sacrifice. The Parkinson child was married to that Nott child, Zabini to Daphne Greengrass, your friend Goyle to her younger sister Astoria and the list goes on."

Finally Draco understood what was going on, nobody, none of his friends told him why they all married but now he understood and fury spread in his body like ice-cold water. Egoistic Slytherins, never trust one of them.

"Twice, you're both the leaders of either side, so a lot of people will listen to you and follow your choice. They'll be pacified and the rebellions will be stopped, the war can finally come to an end. The last reason I'm not quite sure about but something seems to be wrong with their Golden Boy Who Lived, otherwise McGonagall would have never approached me and made the offer."

Draco looked up again, surprised that his former professor approached his mother and made the offer of a truce first but more surprised about something else. "What's wrong with Potter?" He wasn't concerned but curious.

"She didn't say much, they're obviously trying to hide it, so this is some speculation from my side. She was hinting there's something wrong with his magical core ever since he's been using your wand."

"What? But I don't feel-" he wanted to protest because he felt nothing peculiar about the wand that Potter had returned to him on the night of the battle at Hogwarts. Only maybe, it felt warmer in his hands ever since. And the warmth was increasing.

"No, I don't think you would. It's solely him, he somehow linked his magical core to that of your wand and he's gotten really sick, I guess he's losing his magic to your wand, his power is getting weaker and it won't return."

"What?" He almost pitied Potter, not even for his dearest enemy would he wish to turn into a muggle.

"Actually it's Harry's own fault. Only relatives or married couples are allowed to use wands of each other over larger spaces of time without attaching one's magical core to it. This is, however, not commonly known. The only ways to detach one's magical core from the object is to kill the owner or marry him. You are Harry's last chance."

"But...why don't we let him be? Maybe being muggle is not so-" he couldn't even end that sentence. "Why- doesn't that mean he will kill me?"

"Draco, didn't I explain to you right now how important your sacrifice is? Do you think it was an easy choice to make? Even for me? I will never see your children. And no, he didn't decide to kill you. He sent McGonagall to make that offer, it was his decision to marry you."

"What?" Draco couldn't believe what his mother was telling him. It couldn't be true, it was a dream, a nightmare. "Why would he want that?" he asked but somewhere in the corner of his mind he had to think typical Gryffindor, chooses life over death. He's playing the brave hero even when he's the one suffering. No, the Golden Boy wasn't a killer and Draco knew it.

"He knows how the truce will be beneficial for both sides," it almost sounded reprimanding, Draco thought. Only he was the immature child who didn't sacrifice for the greater good.

Draco cried again as realization hit him, he had to marry Harry Potter and there was no way out. He sobbed into his mother's shoulder.

"Don't cry, my son. I didn't make this choice so I could live, and don't think for one second I did this for Harry Potter, because wizards who lose their magic won't just turn into muggles, they might die. I only did this for you and I promise you, as time goes by, you will smile again. All you have to do is to agree as well. Do you agree, Draco?"

Draco doubted his mother did this for his well-being, but he agreed and wiped at his eyes. "Alright, mother."

Narcissa was proud of her son, he took it as the Malfoy he was, loyal to nothing but family.

A/N: Hi, this is my first Drarry story, please support it and give it your love. I'm in search for a beta, if you're interested, please out yourself!