I'm Coming For You, Draco Malfoy!

House-Elves and Dance Lessons (not necessarily together)

'Teach me to dance,' Harry said one evening shortly after the shopping trip, catching me completely off-guard.

'What?'

'I don't know how. The most I've been taught was during a mortifying lesson on how to waltz just before the Triwizard Tournament. I only just scrapped through that experience because Parvati knew what she was doing.'

'Harry, believe me when I say you didn't scrap through that at all. It was positively shameful.'

He raised an eyebrow (the pierced one), questioningly but also with a suggestion of think about it...

'Sorry,' I muttered. 'It's easy to forget that those in the older families are automatically taught to dance as part of the wizarding traditions. It's a dreadfully privileged assumption that everyone should know and that's before we even consider those who have come from deprived backgrounds.'

'Are you saying my background was deprived?' there was a teasing sparkle in his eyes that I'd missed since Christmas.

'I'm learning that growing up in the Home Counties doesn't automatically mean privilege or wealth.'

'It wasn't a bad or poverty-stricken area...'

'Okay, but we both know that what goes on behind closed doors isn't always what we imagine.'

'No...'

We both fell silent for a while, invariably thinking about our own childhoods.

'We both experienced abuse of one sort or another, didn't we?' he said quietly.

'I hadn't thought of mine like that.'

'Muggles call it child grooming. Building a relationship built on trust and emotional connection so they can manipulate, exploit or abuse the person. Mostly it refers to sexual exploitation but can happen for various reasons, from trafficking, slavery, or extremism. You were a victim of extremism. Maybe your father was too. Let's face it, grooming can happen to anyone, no matter their age, race, or gender. It's what Voldemort did with his followers. He promised them the earth, sold the story, drew them in, gave them what they thought they wanted ... then bam! You're in too deep and unable to escape: raise your wand and give me your soul, and while you're at it, give me the souls of your children too. I bet your father didn't even see it coming. Perhaps he did after the first war... he didn't look for Voldemort, you know. There was a right fuss about it in the graveyard when Voldemort resurrected and summoned them all. He properly laid into your father about it all. When I think back, I can see the control he had over his followers. At the time, I had other things to think about but now I see that manipulation.'

'Probably says a lot about my father,' I sneered bitterly. 'These so-called villainous dark wizards are always all show and no substance. Still, the only thing he's committed to these days is being completely mad.'

'Dray...' said Harry sadly.

'I know... It's just sometimes I really hate him, it feels like he's going to torment us forever. I mean, I worry for mother because he's so unpredictable sometimes and then other times he's utterly thoughtful and loving and the father I always wanted. I still love him... I'm worried for him... it's confusing and hurts.'

'It's understandable, our parents are fallible at the best of times so to see him like this, after the trauma you've already been through, is doubly hard.'

'I hate myself for saying it, even thinking it, but sometimes I really wish he was dead. It would have been easier if Voldemort had killed him for something or another. Then I could hate Voldemort even more for killing my father and hate my father for raising me as he did but also have some sympathy for him. Instead, I'm wishing his life away for mother's sake and because I don't like seeing him like this. He's not my father without that proud sneer across his face and his nose in the air, like he's forever smelling shit under it or something.'