Unbound

chapter four.

Draco never knew two days to go by so fast until he was awaiting Friday at 8 pm. Sharp.

Sure, he had meetings to attend and conversations to be had - even a couple of people to torture for information, but his mind never wandered too far from Friday at 8 pm.

He found himself laughing at the circumstances he fell into - forced to be a Death Eater and turned an Order of the Phoenix spy to avenge his mother. He wondered if anyone would believe him.

True, he had waited a year, and it did look odd - coming out of nowhere to give top tier information to what's left of the Order, he was the first to admit it. But really, he was just being smart and he had given it a lot of thought - it was the only way. Had he gone to Order right after her death not even all the occlumency in the world would have been able to save him. Voldemort would have instantly known who the spy was and like it or not, Draco would have seen his mother far sooner than expected.

Despite not acknowledging Narcissa's death beyond the opening of a high position that fell into Draco's lap when Bellatrix died, the Dark Lord showed no sympathy towards Draco or Lucius. After everything Lucius had been through with Narcissa, that was his breaking point. He went mad when the Dark Lord - Lucius's idol and master - refused to say a word about his poor wife's tragic murder.

If it had not been for his family name or Draco's new position, Lucius would have been killed months prior. He constantly teetered on a line between insanity and pure destruction. Everyone despite him knew if he were to ruin any big plans for the Dark Lord, that would be his undoing.

Draco couldn't care less about what happened to Lucius after what happened to Narcissa and refused to let his mind allow his father to take up any more space and sanity than he should. Lucius was never around in one place for too long, moving between different missions and targets, killing people who weren't of significant importance to the war. Draco never saw him for too long, and maybe that was a good thing.

He had more important matters to attend to.

He had finally found time to slip away from meetings and assignments from the Dark Lord so he could visit the jeweler shops in a muggle village close by.

He had picked up two simple black bands, guessing on the size of Granger's finger and silently reminding himself he could resize it, he was a bloody wizard for Merlin's sake.

He let the shopkeeper ask him question after question about who he was buying such a simple band for and yes, maybe I'll bring her in one day, and no, I'm the lucky one.

He walked out of the shop, letting the smile slide off his lips and the cool breeze hit his face as his hand gripped the small bag just slightly tighter. He looked both ways before he stepped off the curb and onto the gravel road.

It was a short walk to the Savoy and one he didn't mind terribly. He liked taking a stroll down the street when he could after especially intense missions or battles. It made him feel human - not pureblood or muggle, just human.

Sometimes, that's all he needed.

He dropped the small white bag that read Sun Jewelers across it onto the carpeted floor of his suite - large enough for him to live in without being detected but so small in comparison to his living areas in the Manor. Although ever since his mother died, he couldn't care less where he stayed, as long as it wasn't anywhere near the cage - her cage.

He breathed out a sigh, unbuttoning his white shirt slightly, letting the warmth of his room hit his chest and ignite a sense of home within it, spreading out to every inch of his body.