Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)

Assignment #5; Travel & Tourism: Around the World in Twelve Days; Task #10

Word Count: 1958

Warnings: Pre-slash

"It's certainly... quaint," Blaise muttered, walking carefully as not to touch anything.

"Blaise, shove off," Draco snapped from the kitchen, unpacking the cutlery from the brown, generic packing boxes.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way, Draco. It's just that, from what you're used to, are you sure you can assimilate to the standards, or lack thereof, of this... place?" Blaise inquired, making his way over to the kitchen.

"I'll have to make do. It's not like I have anything left in Wiltshire." Draco emptied the box of cutlery in the drawer, not bothering to sort out the jumbled mess.

"Hey." Blaise grabbed Draco's shoulders and made him turn to face him. "You have me and your mum, and hell, even Goyle and Pansy are there. Also Theo, if you can drag him out of the bloody library."

Draco sighed before turning around and opening another plain, brown box with plates in it this time. "I know that, Blaise. But, I need some distance. To clear my head and to be able to fucking breathe without feeling as if there is this crushing weight on me. What I need is a fresh start, somewhere I can begin anew. And this is exactly the place to do it."

"In some backwash town in San Francisco filled with chavs, or whats it called here, a redneck? There is nothing for you to gain here, Draco. Come back home, will you?" Blaise requested, pushing around the unorganized cutlery in the opened drawer.

"Blaise, the people, the war, the memories, everything! It's too much. I can't- I won't be able to keep going, surviving if I'm stuck there!" Draco blurted out in a word vomit. His fingers were tapping on the porcelain plates erratically, making a sharp, distinct noise every time his blunt nails would tap the glass.

"Just- I need to do this. For myself." Draco dropped his hands from where they were tapping on the plates, clenching them tightly in a fist at his side.

Blaise looked at Draco's clenched fists, before taking them into his own hands and uncurling them from their tight hold. "Okay. If this is what you need to do, then I won't bring it up again." Blaise lifted one of his hands to caress Draco's cheek and smiled warmly at him, if not a little sad.

"Do whatever you need to do to make you feel okay again. To be happy again." Draco leaned into Blaise's caressing hand, comforted by the touch. Draco nodded once, all the while staying in that pseudo-embrace.

Draco walked around aimlessly after dinner. Blaise had left a few hours before the sun had set, giving his well wishes to Draco as he exited. Blaise had encouraged him to see San Francisco's sights, like the Golden Gate Bridge, or Alcatraz Island, a place like Azkaban, but much, much nicer.

Draco wasn't ready to face the whole of San Francisco yet, and was content to just wander around this little town he had settled in. There were a few more boxes he had to unpack, but those could wait till later.

Draco had moved into a small, one story home, just big enough for one or two people to live in comfortably. The town he had moved to, Yountville, was relatively small and only had a population 2,933 people. 2,934 people now, since Draco moved there. Yountville was located in the county of Napa, which was north of the San Pablo Bay.

As Draco walked down the street, he spotted different houses that were all relatively the same size as his, with some being smaller and some larger. He could spot toys littered across the front of a few yards and even barking and little yips of dogs coming from the backyards of a few houses. It was all very homely and so unlike his previous home. Draco faltered in his step and shook his head slightly.

'No. I won't think about that. Not now.' He thought to himself, resuming his stroll.

Draco walked a little while before coming on to the main streets that held most of the shops in the town. He spotted a small shopping center and a bar a few doors down from there. There was also a barbershop, a library, a small lot where they kept and sold cars, and a little flower shop at the end of the block. If he turned the corner, there would be more shops waiting down there, but he stopped in front of the library and headed in. The sound of a bell tinkled as he opened the heavy-set doors of the library.

There air smelled of old books and the only sound heard was the quiet flip of a page. The library looked small from the outside, but inside it extended backwards a bit, making it more roomy. Most of the store was taken up by large, looming shelves filled with books, with small couches and tables hidden in between all the bookshelves. The front of the store had a counter that was unoccupied at the moment.

Draco decided to not wait for the person, if there was a person, to come back to the counter and headed deeper into the library. He ran his fingers along the binds of several books as he walked passed, looking to see if any titles piqued his interest.

His fingers stopped at the sine of one book. It was violet colored and was thinner than the rest of the books. Draco eased it out from the tightly packed shelf and found a little couch in the corner that he could curl up on to read. He could hear faintly hear the sound of the bell on the door tinkling, but didn't bother to investigate.

Draco had left the library with the violet colored book and a new library card, his name printed neatly on the backside of it. The librarian had found him curled up on the couch reading while restocking previously returned books in their rightful places.

The librarian had introduced himself as Allard, and welcomed Draco to the town. Draco was getting ready to leave, since it was late at night and the library was closing. He went to put the violet colored book away, but Allard stopped him and brought him to the counter in the front to make a library card for Draco, so Draco could take out the book and return it when he was finished reading it.

Draco had thanked Allard before taking his leave. Most of the shops were closing down as the library had, but the flower shop was still open. Curious, Draco opened the door to the shop and stepped in. The air had a sweet, pungent aroma, making Draco feel light and a bit dizzy.

The shops walls were lined with flowers, and there were a few potted plants hanging from the ceiling by a wire. The tables were also filled with flowers, but they were wrapped into bouquets and held in water instead of being embedded in soil. There was a few bags of fertilizer leaned against the legs of one of the tables and there were watering cans and spray bottles all across the shop.

There was a boy, around his age, pouring fertilizer into one of the potted plants. He had thick gardening gloves on and was wearing an apron folded about half-way down that tied around his waist twice.

The boy had looked up from what he was doing when Draco walked in and was still staring. Draco shifted uncomfortably, watching as more fertilizer than necessary was pouring into the potted plant. The boy snapped out of his trance and quickly pulled the fertilizer bag away from the plant.

"Oh, um... Sorry about that. It's not everyday you see someone new," the boy said, setting the fertilizer bag down, his face turning a bit pink.

"I'm, uh, Rhodey. Rhodey Tillsten," the boy said, introducing himself.

"Draco. Draco Malfoy," Draco responded, unsure of what to do next.

"Draco? That means dragon or serpent in Latin, doesn't it?" Rhodey asked, his face lighted up.

"It actually does. Not many people know that." Draco was taken aback that the boy- no, that Rhodey knew that. Rhodey laughed, and that was the best thing that Draco had heard in a long time.

"No, I don't suppose many people would know that. I took Latin in high school, and draco was one of my favorite words, so it stuck." Rhodey grinned at him, as if he was sharing a secret, and Draco could feel himself smiling too.

"You know it's been a while since anyone new has come to this town. Are you moving here, or just passing through?" Rhodey asked, grabbing a wet rag from the sink in the corner of the room. He started to wipe down the tables, clearing them of loose soil and dirt.

"Uh, moving here. Who was the last person to move to this town?" Draco leaned against the nearing wall, careful not to jostle any flowers that might be hanging there.

"The last person to move here was me, actually. I've been here maybe half a year. I snagged this empty lot and opened up my own flower shop, as you can see," Rhodey answered, wiping down the last table in the room.

"Any reason you moved here? Not many people would just up and move to a town of all places. Especially not one as small as this one." Rhodey took the dirty rag to the sink and started rinsing it out.

"I guess... I guess that I needed a fresh start. Somewhere to start over. How about you? Why'd you move here?" Draco asked, picking at the collar of his sleeves, not acknowledging the eyes that were watching him.

"Well..." Draco looked up, watching Rhodey wring out the now clean rag. "For the same reasons as you, I suppose. A fresh start." They stood there in silence for a minute, Rhodey wringing out the rag, and Draco watching him. Then Draco glanced outside and realized the time.

"Well, it's getting pretty late. I should probably go now. Goodbye," Draco said, turning around to head toward the door.

"Wait!" Rhodey exclaimed. Draco turned around to see Rhodey approaching him with a single flower in his hand.

"Here." Rhodey handed Draco the flower, and Draco took it gingerly, marveling at its beauty.

"It's called the Astrantia maxima, otherwise known as the largest masterwort flower," Rhodey explained.

"It's beautiful. But why..." Draco started out.

"Think of it as a welcome to town gift. It's also an incentive for you to go out with me on a date for coffee tomorrow. There's this quaint little coffee shop around the corner that makes decent coffee. I would love to take you out on a date and go there. Only if you want to, of course," Rhodey said, a hopeful expression on his face.

Draco was stunned. Rhodey wanted to take him out on a date? Draco of all people?

"Thank you for this beautiful gift. I would love to go out with you." Draco could feel the blush creeping onto his face, but kept eye contact with Rhodey to show he was serious. Rhodey broke out into a huge grin and Draco, for the first time in a very long time, felt at peace with himself.