Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters below (except Layla, shes all mine). Sadly, the magnificent Draco Malfoy is not mine to claim.
This is my second fic. :) CONTAINS SPOILERS. LOTS OF THEM.
I havent decided on the name yet. I either want to name it 'It's Real For Us' or 'Draco and the Muggle'. Please tell me which one you like more in a review, along with how you like the story! Thanks guys!
A green eyed nineteen year old girl walked into the train station alone, hugging her jumper tight around herself although it wasn't cold, she was just afraid and lonely. It was nearly three in the morning and she had just dismissed herself from a party that was getting too out of hand. Now, however; she was alone at a train station with literally nobody in sight, and she wished she had stayed and possibly got busted by the police. Layla held her arms tight over her chest and shiver went down her spine. She closed her eyes and thought of being home in her apartment, in her warm, safe bed. Suddenly lights flickered down the tunnel and she sighed a breath of relief as she heard the unmistakable noise of a train coming.
'Bless the BritRail' she whispered as she stepped forward to the edge, waiting to board the train that would take her home. As the train slowed she noticed that another person was in the same cart as her, and she wasn't sure if this made her feel uncomfortable or safe- since the man didn't look too friendly nor too shady. The man was dressed from head to toe in black, which contrasted with his bleach blond hair and porcelain-like skin. He sat in the back of the cart with his head bowed- staring at the ground. She could see his knuckles whitening and his jaw clenching as if he was upset about something.
Layla observed the bloke, occasionally making faces as if she knew him, for several minutes until a thought invaded her mind. This young man looked alarmingly like an older Draco Malfoy. She shook her head, she knew he was a fictional character in a brilliant book series, but this man was exactly as she pictured Draco to be in his early twenties- tall, angular, handsome, and scowling. Slightly tipsy (only slightly) from the couple of drinks she had at the party, Layla decided it was a good idea to ask the bloke for a picture so she could have proof for her friends that she met the spitting image of Draco Malfoy on the BritRail at three in the morning.
"Excuse me, sir?" she said shyly. The man snapped his head at her and sneered in disgust- exactly as Layla would have imagined Draco to do it. "I- I was wondering if I could get a picture of you… it seems strange but you look exactly like a character in Harry Potter, ya know, the book series?" her heart was racing.
"Piss of muggle- wait- did you say something about Harry Potter?" his scowl turned into a calculating sneer of confusion as he approached her. Layla tensed up and leaned back in her seat.
"Yes-yes it's a book series. I-"
"How do you know Potter?" he sneered. Getting closer with every word. And the closer he got the more she reveled in his Draco-like features (he even said 'Potter' with that certain snap), and the more she got the feeling that this bloke was completely mental.
"I-I'm sorry! Nevermind-"
"No! Tell me!"
"It-Its a book series about a boy, a wizard boy, who-"
"A WIZARD? Bloody hell, how do you know all this? WHO TOLD YOU? Was it Potter?"
"No-No it's a book series! Its in the book!"
"A book? Are you trying to tell me there's a bloody book on Harry? And it reveals the secrets of our world?" his voice was quieter now, but the mad man was still shaking with anger.
"I-I- Please don't hurt me!" she squealed, hiding her face in her hands.
"I wouldn't waist any magic on a bloody muggle for fucks sake, just buck up and give me some damn answers!" Layla saw the impatience in his grey eyes, and she swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Harry Potter is a character in a book series, it's very popular. Millions of people have-"
"Popular? You mean other people have read about us?" He grabbed her shoulders when he said this, and Layla was beginning to question his sanity even further at the way he kept using 'us' and 'we' as if he actually believed he was a wizard. She started to cry in terror, but managed to stifle some tears.
"Yes- it's one of the most popular series in the world." But she could barely hear herself talk over the sobs and pounding of her heart.
"I don't understand. You're crying too much, you are going to come with me and then explain everything once you calm down." He said very calmly.
Layla shrieked at his words 'you are coming with me' he was going to kidnap her! Her sobs continued as she begged him to leave her alone and stop asking her questions.
"No! Please! Please! Don't hurt me! I just want to go back home! Please!" Layla collapsed on the floor and curled into a ball, hugging her knees against her chest as more sobs spilled out of her dry mouth. Shocked with fear, she didn't even hear what the bloke was saying. She just closed her eyes again and pictured her peaceful apartment, crying even harder as the thought of her never seeing it again flashed across her mind.
She would probably end up raped and dead in a ditch somewhere by tomorrow morning, and the neighbors would bring casseroles and pies to her parents in form of their sympathy of the loss of their daughter. Finally, she came back to the horrible reality, and screamed when the mans face was inches from hers.
"Bloody hell! Shut up muggle! You're giving me a headache! Now, what the hell are you so scared of? I am not going to hurt you! If I performed magic in front of you I would get in trouble with the ministry, and they are already keeping a close eye on me thanks to my cowardly teenage decisions." The man shook his head as he remembered those regretful years.
"What is wrong with you?" Layla finally got the courage to ask "What makes you think you are a wizard! They aren't real! You are absolutely mental! Mad-"
But the rest of her sentence was never heard, as a cold hand pushed against her mouth. A muffled scream echoed across the cart.
"You mean these books they are.. they're fiction? Aw Merlin, this is ridiculous! How is it that no other wizard has discovered this?" he said to himself as he fought against Layla's screams and attempts at escaping his grasp. She finally resorted to one final idea.
"Agh!" the man snatched his hand away from her mouth as if it was on fire "You filthy muggle bitch! How dare you do something as vile as lick my hand!" However, as he was complaining Layla got up from her previous stance and grabbed her purse, reading to flee to train when the next stop came up. However, before she could escape, the same cold hand grabbed her wrist refusing to let go.
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere. I still have many questions for you" the man said as he forced Layla in close to his chest. She fought and flailed trying to get out of his grasp, but his arms had wrapped themselves around her and seeing as there was no way out, she gave up. Layla started sobbing again as she stood the arms of a mad man who seemed to actually believe he was… a wizard.
How is it, she wondered, that she got stuck in a train with a complete basket case who was convinced he has magical powers. Layla hadn't done anything so horrible as to deserve this, and she questioned the idea that she usually lived by that what goes around comes back around. Surely, she must have done something monumental to get stuck in a situation like this. But these thoughts only lasted so long, because Layla went back to realizing her 'situation' was most likely only going to get worse.
She had watched countless murder mysteries with her mother and she knew that if this man was crazy enough to believe he could fly around on a broomstick- then it was very unlikely she was getting out of this… alive. Crying even harder now, weakened with fear, Layla began to slowly fall back to her knees, but the bloke held her up- tightly grasping her lower back.
"Pull yourself together for fucks sake! You need to be focused to apparate." The man sneered. Her eyes snapped open, did he just say apparate? Layla choked on the words she never managed to get out, because an overwhelming sensation took over her whole body. Did he drug her? Was she loosing blood? Is this what dying felt like? She closed her eyes as the sensation tugged every limb of her body and next thing she knew she was no longer in the train. Layla gasped loudly, as she was now suddenly in a huge drafty room that was painted a dark green.
Thoughts and anxieties flew into her mind so violently that she was knocked to the ground. The sensation of apparaing, and the frightening reality of her childhood imagination not just being her imagination, made her retch all over the marble floors. It was all real. Her breaths became heavier as she put the pieces together- but the darkness took over and she feel into a peaceful sleep.
Layla slowly opened her heavy eyes to see the tall, sullen blonde standing over her glaring. She screamed and scrambled away from him in fear but her back eventually hit the wall and she found herself in the same situation she was in the train. Except this time she had no way of escaping. She knew no way out. Her eyes captured that of a terrified little girl as she stared up at the man and spoke. "Where-where am I?" tears started pouring out of her eyes again.
"You're in my home. We apparated here. I figured apparating would be and appropriate and efficient way of getting here since you seem to have a hard time believing that I actually am a wizard." He has crossed his arms over his chest, now looking even more intimidating.
Layla was in shock. She couldn't find the will to speak, much less breathe. Everything she had read about was.. it was real. Hogwarts, Harry, wands, the owl post, the Weasley family, quidditch… she could not believe it. This world that was her childhood, her imaginary second home, it was all real. Layla found the strength to open her mouth but that was it- she just stared, gaping, at the man who she now knew to be none other than Draco Malfoy. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Layla spoke.
"You- You're- I know who you are" she said shyly. Draco raised an eyebrow.
"You do?"
"You're Draco Malfoy." When she said his name, he twitched, so he was written about in these books… was he talked about often? Was he a major character? Surely not since the series was about Potter. To his surprise, and hers, Layla continued. "Your father is Lucius Malfoy and mother Narcissa. You're, er were, a Slytherin at Hogwarts, and you were the seeker for their quiddich team, you live here at Malfoy manor and you used to have a house elf named Dobby." Draco's eyes widened at her knowledge, but now Layla couldn't stop. Her word vomit continued. "You're good friends with Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, your wand is made out of Hawthorne wood with unicorn tail and-"
"Stop!" He demanded. He had enough of this nonsense. How on earth did she know all this?
"Where are you getting this information? Who told you?" he snapped. Layla saw the anger in his eyes and she brought her knees up to her chest again in fear.
"I-I its in the books." She said feebily. Everything from her weak voice, to her widened and terrified eyes reminded Draco of a little girl who was hiding from what she belived to be a monster.
"Look you don't have to be scared of me! I'm not going to hurt you!" he snapped impatiently. He was getting tired of her continuous sobs and the constant fear in her eyes. "Alright" he sighed "how many are there of these books? What has this person written in them? How much, exactly, do you know? Do you know about the Dark Lord? Do you know about the war?"
"There-there are five books. One for each year Harry spends at Hogwarts. So-so" she gulped, remembering what he said- I'm not going to hurt you – and since she knew him not to be a mad man anymore, she believed him and her voice became slightly more confident. "So naturally the book I'm reading now is about Harry in his fifth year- when that awful Umbridge woman is in power. I know about Vo-Voldemort and I know about his followers, the death-"
"Do you know about the war? Surely not if you have only read up to our fifth year." As he said this, memories of his fifth year at Hogwarts whizzed around into his mind. He remembered prancing around tattling on Potter and his little club, and what had happened that summer. Clenching his jaw, Draco cast the memory out and continued to prod Layla with questions.
"A war? Is there another one? I suppose that makes sense, since… he… comes back to his full strength at the end of fourth year"
"Yes, yes there is another war. And don't be afraid to say his name- he's long gone." Draco said absent mindedly, not realizing he had just spoiled the whole series for Layla.
"Voldemort is- he's dead? How is that possible? I- You just gave away the ending to bloody Harry Potter! There are more books coming out you know! The sixth one is due in only a few days! I don't know everything that has happened yet!" Layla complained, now trusting Draco enough to express her true feeling to him without fear of being murdered. Although, he still was a wizard, and at this age he was most likely capable of doing the killing curse. She shuttered at the thought and looked up at Draco, who had on that unmistakable smirk.
"My apologies" he said sarcastically. "So tell me. What do you know? Tell me everything that you know about my world?" Draco sat on a couch that was in the center of the room and raised a golden eyebrow at her "are you going to sit down?"
Realizing she was still curled up in the middle of the floor, Layla quickly got up- blushing slightly- and sat in the black suede couch across from him.
"What do you want to know?"
"Start from the beginning. How did Potter and I meet?"
"Well, you met just before you're first year, while being measured for robes."
Draco raised an eyebrow at this. So someone had written about his, well Harry's, life at Hogwarts. Were they spying on him? Did this writer interview someone? Maybe she worked for that god awful Skeeter woman.
"How does this author know all this? Where is he getting this information?"
"I- I don' know. She just writes the books. She said she just started writing the story on a piece of napkin one day."
Through the innocent years of Draco's life- when Hogwarts was his home and there was less pressure from his family to be something he didn't want to be. The pressure was always there, haunting him, but in his early years- it was much less. He almost smiled at some of his innocent memories- but it was wiped off his face with the mention of a name.
"- and Dumbledore was so much more relaxed about it than the other headmasters…" Layla babbled on, but that was all Draco heard… that name… Dumbledore. It had been three or four years since Draco was supposed to kill him, yes, and he was mostly over it, but when people said his name and caught him off guard- Draco flinched at the thought of the most horrific and mortifying night of his life. Suddenly he heard his own name.
"Draco? Draco… are you alright?" Layla said softly. The way she said this reminded Draco of that nutter back at Hogwarts- Luna Lovegood. He looked up at her and scowled, for that was his initial reaction to almost everything.
Layla stared at him carefully, shrugged, and then kept going on about what she knew. She talked for about twenty minutes, mostly about Hogwarts and the 'golden trio' as she called it which he assumed was Potter, Granger, and Weasley. She talked about the founders of Hogwarts, the different houses, the ghosts, the feasts, the lake, the classes, the moving stairs, the common rooms, the proffesors, and so much more. A thought popped into Draco's head as she was going on about the Gryffindor common room.
"Let's say you attended Hogwarts… what house do you think you would be in?" he said with an almost mocking tone. He sat laid back in the chair with his elbows rested on his thighs and his fingers intertwined. It was the most arrogant a person could look without even seeing their face. He leaned forward a bit, looking sarcastically interested, rested his chin on his interlaced fingers, and raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I've taken some tests…"
"You mean you took a test to see which house you would be in? How would anyone know? Only the sorting hat can-"
"Yes well they're obviously not extremely accurate." She snapped. "They're only for fun really. Anyways, I answered a few questions about myself and I am a Ravenclaw." Layla said confidently.
"A Ravenclaw? Well at least your not a bloody Gryffindor or a silly Hufflepuff." He sneered.
"Hey! My best friend is a Hufflepuff! They're very good people you know! Without Hufflepuffs the world would be a sad, dark place."
Draco scoffed and studied her face for a few seconds "is that everything you know?"
"Yeah. I guess. There's probably stuff I forgot but it'll come to me later."
"I don't have time for later."
"Well I guess you'll have to live without knowing everything I know about your world."
She smirked at him and he fumed. Draco didn't doubt for a second that she would be a Ravenclaw- she was very witty, sarcastic, manipulative, and questioned everything.
"You're a bright one" he growled through gritted teeth, trying hard to hide his anger. "Tell me, where did this sudden courage to say whatever you like to me come from?" he said. The fire in his eyes scared a little bit, and sent her back to being terrified of him, but only so much. It was as if he read her mind, and was trying to tell her that she was wrong in trusting him.
"You-you said you wouldn't hurt me, so I…"
"You trust me?" the fire in his eyes was still there, and Layla gulped.
"Should I?"
"That's for you to decide."
Draco's lips curved into the most arrogant and terrifying smirk that she had ever seen- a shiver went down he spine as her whole body tensed up, and she started thinking of things she could do to escape him. he saw the rising terror in her eyes and let out a hollow laugh.
"You- you're just trying to scare me!" Layla said, mostly thinking out loud to convince herself that it was true. "you won't really hurt me" she sucked in her breath and puffed out her chest, as if putting the confidence back into her. Draco just glared at her, smirk still lingering on his face, for a very long time, like he was trying to read into her thoughts. Then finally he spoke.
"You're right"
A very loud sigh of relief fled from Layla's lips, and she prayed that Draco didn't hear it, she didn't want him knowing how scared of him she was at times. But it seemed that he heard it loud and clear, because when she looked over at him he was laughing.
