Streetlife
Summary: When Draco Malfoy wakes up in an alleyway on the streets of an unknown city, transformed into a canine, life begins to get pretty rough. Not knowing how he got there or why, Draco is forced to resort to living the life of a stray dog, with no way of getting changed back. Luckily, he's got a canine new friend who's willing to help him along the way... Only, sometimes, he just gets them into trouble.
Chapter 1
The sudden loud, deafening noise of a car speeding past jolted Draco out of a state of unconsciousness. He leapt upright at the startling, unfamiliar noise and almost as soon as he was up, he found himself sprawled out on his back.
"What the hell?!" he exclaimed, rolling over onto his side and tilting his head to stare up at the tall buildings that rose around him. Where was he...? It looked like a city of sorts- an unfamiliar one, at that.
And he was uncomfortably wet. At that instant, he also realized that it was raining- the droplets of water fell from the sky, soaking into his skin and weighting him down. Along with that, he felt incredibly... strange. Unfamiliar- as if the body he was in wasn't his own. He gave a growl of annoyance, slowly pulling his upper half upright, annoyance and confusion etched on his face.
"This isn't fucking funny!" he shouted to no one in particular, a growling edge to his tone. "Whoever the hell put me out here-! If this is some prank, I swear..."
It was then that he began to further orient himself, realizing with confusion just what exactly felt so strange. His face felt longer, his legs oddly shaped, and his ears seemed to be further up on his head than they should be. Along with that, he felt a strange elongation of his spine that went past his legs, as well as what felt like hair all over his body.
With a jolt, he suddenly thought with dread that he must have been transfigured- it was the only possible explanation. A strong sense of apprehension consumed him and, almost wishing he could just not look at himself and avoid the reality, Draco forced himself to lean over a puddle, staring at his reflection.
What he saw completely horrified him. He was no longer human, that much was certain. No- it wasn't a human face that stared back him, the familiar blonde hair and pointed face and gray eyes he was so used to. Instead, his reflection was replaced by that of a blonde-furred canine, with an expression of horror on its elongated face. It had almost a wolfish, muttlike look- with one ear that stood erect, while the other flopped over at the tip. His eyes remained a stormy gray, as they had always been- but that seemed to be the only physical feature, besides hair color, that had carried over into this new form.
The wizard-turned-dog gave a groan of aggravation, shakily standing to his paws and lightly shaking his pelt, ears flattening against his head, a low whine emitting from his throat. Shock, horror, and confusion soon melted into anger, and he felt himself becoming increasingly angry at the one who had dared to do this to him.
"Whoever did this is going to get their throat ripped out," he barked angrily, baring his fangs at the puddle. In a fit of annoyance, he rose his paw and slammed it into the murky water, rippling and distorting the image of himself. "Transfiguring me and then throwing me out into this... place, in the goddamn rain."
As he tried hard to think and remember what all had happened before he ended up here, his thoughts drifted back to the war, when he had left the battlefield with his parents. He had soon heard that Potter had defeated Voldemort, and couldn't help but be grateful for the turn of events. He had never liked the cruel, heartless wizard anyway- at least, not after he disgraced his family, and gave him a near impossible mission of murder.
But try as he might, he couldn't recall much after that. It was all a blur to him- he knew it had to have been quite a while, but he couldn't figure out just how long. And he certainly didn't remember what had happened to turn him into a dog.
Draco gave a shake of his head, flicking his ears and blinking the raindrops out of his eyes. Grumbling under his breath, the blonde canine turned and stalked off with a scowl, with one current goal in mind: Find shelter and get out of the damned rain.
As he approached the road, he was once again startled by a car speeding past, and was pissed to find that he had been splashed with a fresh coating of water- dirty street water, at that.
"This day couldn't possibly get any worse," he muttered, deciding to walk along the sidewalk instead of crossing the street. Apparently, he had never heard of jinxing the situation- it began to rain even harder, this time followed by loud thunder.
"...It just got worse."
Now completely and utterly done with everything, Draco continued on his way with a snarl on his face, ears flattened to prevent water from entering the canals. As he walked, he finally came to another alleyway- this one littered with many muggle objects such as couches, chairs, blankets, towels, and many other trinkets thrown together, almost forming a sort of fort, with a small entrance in the middle of the pile of junk.
The soaking dog began to approach the muggle junk den, shaking his pelt of rain every few moments, until he came to the entrance. As he stuck his nose in, he was surprised to come face to face with another dog- what looked to be a black wolfdog. The two stared at eachother for a moment, until the black one pulled back, backing further into the den and curling up in one of the corners. Draco stayed put, blinking warily as he watched the other.
"Well, are you gonna come in or not?" the wolfdog finally barked after a long moment. Draco shook his head, clearing himself of his blank mind, before slowly entering and lying down on the other side, resting his head on his paws.
"Thanks... I guess," he muttered, allowing his ears to raise now that he was out of the rain. "I take it this place is yours?"
"That it is," the other dog replied, lifting his head to face Draco. "I've lived here for a while. I'm wondering though- where are you from? I haven't seen you around these parts. Are you a housepet?"
"No way!" Draco scoffed, turning his nose up. "Never would I be someone's pet!"
"So you're a stray," the other dog stated, tail lightly thumping against the ground.
"Well... no, not exactly," Draco replied, almost sheepishly. The wolfdog cocked his head to the side curiously.
"What are you, then?" he asked, looking slightly confused. "If you aren't a stray or a housepet- what else is there?"
"Erm... I'm a wizard who was transfigured into a dog," Draco responded, before suddenly realizing how stupid he probably sounded. He was right in his assumption that he sounded stupid, as the wolfdog suddenly burst into howling laughter. Draco merely stared back at him with a deadpan expression.
As the black canine finally eased his laughter, he turned to look back at Draco, an amused glint in his eyes. "Alright, alright- now, in all seriousness, what are you?"
"...Uh.. feral?" Draco tried, lightly tilting his head as he spoke.
"Buddy, that's the exact same thing as being a stray," the other stated, resting his head on his paws and rolling his eyes. "But, eh. Whatever word floats your boat."
Draco scowled in response and laid his head down, crossing one paw over the other. The wolfdog did the same, and they fell into a long, companionable silence- until the wolfdog spoke up again.
"So, what's your name? If you're gonna be spending the storm in my den, might as well know who you are," he commented, shifting his eyes to look over at Draco once more.
"Draco," Draco responded simply, followed by a yawn. "And what about you?"
"Kaito," the wolfdog replied, rolling halfway onto his back. "Soooo... where do you come from?"
"...Scotland," Draco answered, rolling his eyes at the other dog's talkative nature. "Now can I go to sleep? I'm soaking wet and exhausted."
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Kaito snorted, turning his back and curling up against the soft den wall. "Night."
Draco didn't bother with a response, and merely closed his eyes, allowing himself to fall into sleep.