MOI: Ack! Thank you for pointing the whole chaser/keeper thing out. I was being absent minded, and my beta didn't notice it. So sorry! It's switched now. And to answer your question, I know some boys who are surprisingly touchy-feely at that age. It's once they get to be eleven that that starts to change. And it will in here too, trust me.
A shoutout to my awesome friend and beta, Catie, who encouraged me to keep going with this! Thank you so much!
A/N: I got to wondering one day, what if there had been no Voldemort? I love AU fics, and since there aren't many Harry Potter ones, I thought it might start a trend...(hint hint). I don't know exactly where this is going, since only recently did my muses plop this plot bunny down in my mind. This WILL, however, be a bit different than the canon (if not a lot), so don't hurt me. OOC characters, UC couples, and even slashiness (oh, did you ever doubt it?) WILL ensue. It's not my fault, however, you must understand. It's just those darn muses…
Other things that you may need to know:
The chapters will be LONG. You think this one is long at about 5,500 words? Heh. You ain't seen NOTHING yet. The chapters are planned to span entire school years, so yes, they're gonna be mega chapters. This is always subject to change if they get TOO long (over 15,000 words). But that's the plan, anyway. If you're a first time reader of my fics, and I didn't make it clear before, this is going to be SLASH. That's m/m relationships, folks. So that means anyone who gets squicked by that better skidaddle, 'cuz believe me, this ain't worth your flames. In this first chapter, there are going to be a lot of what seems to be plot holes. Not to worry, though, I have plans for pretty much all of them. All loose ends should be tied up by the end. If you spot something that you're not sure that I have noticed, feel free to email me with it, OK? Reveiws or feedback by email is AWESOME, and if you do review I will love you forever.That's about it. Now to the story itself!
A WORLD WITHOUT
Chapter 1: In Which There Is A Parting, A Meeting, And Lots of Cookies
All was not right at number eight, Periwinkle Road. Things were actually, terribly, horribly wrong, according to ten year old Harry Potter.
"But Mum! I don't want to go to Mrs. Figg's! I want to stay here. I can take care of myself. I promise. Eve and I will be just fine, won't we Evie?" Harry's little nine year old sister Evelyn nodded, and looked up at her mother with big pleading green eyes.
"Harry..." His mother Lily warned, "for the last time, no! Your father and I have to go away on business. You only have to go there for a week. Please stop being so disagreeable."
Eve's mouth opened in protest. "But she lives right next to Cousin Dudley's dreadful friend Piers! And Piers is so mean mummy! He's a -" she stopped short as her mother gave her a long LOOK.
"I don't care what he is, you're both going to Mrs. Figg's, and that's final! You will be going to Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus' after a week at Arabella's, but until then, I expect you two to be on your best behavior, and NO MORE COMPLAINING. Do I make myself very clear?"
"Yes mum," Harry and Eve mumbled together, resigned. Then, little Harry's brow furrowed and he concentrated on a solution to their, erm, desperate problem. With his head bowed, and his glasses hanging lopsided on his face, he looked quite adorable, thought Lily Potter silently to herself. Suddenly, his face lit up as he thought of a solution.
"Mum, couldn't we just go to Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus' earlier?" Harry's face considerably brightened at that option. Surely his mother would agree to this plan. It was fool proof.
However, Lily once again shook her head. "Harry, dear, we've been over this already. Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus are vacationing until the 12th of June. You can't go over to their house until they get back, and you cannot vacation with them either. Now, you two need to finish getting ready to go. Harry, go get your socks on and brush your teeth. Eve, come here, I need to braid your hair."
"Aw, ma," Eve complained, even as she got up onto the stool. "I can do it myself!" Lily arched her eyebrows at her young daughter, but otherwise ignored the comment. Eve sighed and resigned herself to having her hair brushed and braided.
Secretly, though, Lily knew perfectly well that Eve could do things like that for her self now. She was quite a mature girl for nine, although most people often didn't see it right away. Eve tended to have her head in the clouds, much preferring fantasy to reality, and because of that, she didn't always pay attention to things that she should. She also had two left feet, and often felt very discouraged, especially since Harry took after his father, and was very well coordinated, an excellent quidditch player, almost a bloody prodigy. Evelyn, although she loved the game just as much as her father and brother did, couldn't even so much as catch a quaffle that was coming straight at her.
Lily loved brushing Eve's hair. It was long and wavy, reaching down to the middle of her back, and was a lovely dark auburn. Lily ran the brush through Eve's hair until it shined, then carefully divided and braided it up into pigtails. Each pigtail she fastened with an emerald green bow that matched her daughter's eyes. Frequently, Eve would shift, lost in so fantasy, and Lily would have to tell her to sit up straight and not to move. However, thought Lily, that was better that what Harry used to do when she brushed his hair, which was to scream as if he was being murdered (Harry brushed his own hair now).
"There, I'm done," said Lily, and Eve hopped off the stool, quickly stealing a peek in the small mirror Lily held up to show Eve her handiwork. Eve smiled, quickly thanked Lily by giving her a peck on the cheek, and then raced off to find Harry, who was currently whining loudly about not being able to find his socks.
"Having fun?" Lily looked over her shoulder to see her husband, James, walk into the room with two steaming mugs of coffee.
Lily smiled and took her cup, giving him a peck on the cheek. "Oh, scads," she replied with a grimace. She took a long sip of the coffee and smiled. "Mmmmm...I don't know what I'd do without coffee."
James grinned back at her. "Spontaneously combust, probably. I swear to god, you are more than just merely addicted to this stuff."
Lily swatted at him playfully, "Oh, shush you." James just chuckled and stuck out his tongue as he dodged her hand. "I swear to God, James Potter, sometimes you have the maturity level of a first year."
He grinned and pecked her on the cheek. "And you wouldn't have me any other way."
************
Harry sighed as he looked out the window of his family's green station wagon. Yeah, even though they were a wizarding family, they had a car - Lily insisted. She also insisted they go to Muggle schools until they got their Hogwarts exceptance letter, saying that it was a 'Great learning experience'. James did not argue, as he had learned long ago that arguing with Lily Evans Potter got about as much results as arguing with a brick wall.
Harry hated going to Mrs. Figg's. It's not that she herself was that bad - sure, she smelled eternally of cats and cigarette smoke, her house had the nauseating scent of cabbage (at first, until you got used to it), and she had a knack for cheating at the Muggle card game poker (they played it every time they went to stay at her house - but don't tell their parents that), but, really, she wasn't bad company. She let them do whatever they wanted, and made the best chocolate chip cookies that Harry had ever tasted. It would be great to stay at Mrs. Figg's, actually, except for the one rather major detail that his sister had pointed out earlier to their mother - Piers Poltkis lived right next door.
Piers was a small, rat-like boy around his age. Despite his scrawny looks, he was viciously mean and was best friends with Harry's enormously fat and bullying cousin Dudley. Both attended the muggle elementary school that Harry went to, and made it their purpose in life to beat him up at every single possible chance. It seemed, as well, that Dudley always knew when Harry was spending time at Mrs. Figg's, and take that day to visit Piers.
"Harry," Eve whispered, twisting against her seatbelt to reach over and tug on his sleeve. "Who's that?" She pointed out the window with curiosity at a large moving van in the driveway of the house on the other side of the Poltkis's.
Harry shrugged his shoulders in response. He wasn't sure. There was no one out in front of the house for him to tell.
Eve frowned at him and tugged more insistently. "Harry..." she whined impatiently.
"I dunno, Eve," Harry snapped, annoyed. "Bug off, will you?" Eve sniffled and screwed up her face into an expression that meant her temper was going to blow any second.
"We're here!" cried their father, unknowingly narrowly avoiding a disaster. Both Eve and Harry looked out the car window to the small white house they were pulling up next to.
Harry sighed and turned his head away from the window, crossing his arms and slumping in his seat. He stared ahead at nothing in particular, not even noticing when his sister got out of the car, until his father had to stick his head into the back part of the car and say, "So, you getting out any time soon?"
Harry turned towards his father and nodded sullenly, unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car as well.
James smiled and gave his son a quick squeeze. "Good man, Harry. I'm glad you're being so cooperative about this."
"Daaaad," Harry said, squirming out of his father's arms, afraid someone would see him.
James smiled and released him, reaching out a hand and affectionately ruffled his son's hair, then sprinted away before Harry had the chance to retaliate. Harry grumbled, pushing his already naturally messy hair into some sort of semblance of order. He warily walked up to where the rest of his family was standing, Mrs. Figg's doorstep.
As soon as he reached the top step, Mrs. Figg's door opened with a creak. Harry tried not to gag as the stench of cabbage hit him full force. Really, it wasn't that bad once you got used to it, but Harry hadn't been there for a year and a half. On the other side, old Mrs. Figg stood there with a smile.
"Hello," Mrs. Figg said pleasantly, "Right on time. Come in, come in." She ushered them all into the house with a sweep of her arm. "Harry, Evelyn, why don't you put your bags in the guest room?" Under her breath, she also whispered to Harry, "The cards and chips are in the same place as always. Get it set up while I talk to your parents, right? I've got some cookies in the oven too." Harry nodded, picked up his duffel bag, and scampered up the stairs after Eve.
Once upstairs, he walked down the long hallway, heading towards the large guest bedroom at the end of the hall. Three quarters of the way there, he felt something soft encircle his ankles, and looked down.
" 'Lo, Tufty," he said as the large calico cat rubbed against his legs. He reached down to pet the cat, and Tufty purred her approval loudly. As much as he tried to pretend otherwise, Harry actually really like Mrs. Figg's cats (especially Tufty, who was his personal favorite.)
"Harry! Are you coming or what?" shouted Eve from the guest bedroom.
Harry rolled his eyes, and patted the cat's fur once more, murmuring to it, "I'll see you later, OK Tuft?" before hollering, "Coming, Eve!" He hurried over to the guest bedroom.
Inside, Eve knelt next to a large blue suitcase, taking out neat piles of clothing and putting them into drawers. There was a large green suitcase, identical to hers, lying on the floor alongside it. He just stood there in the doorway as Eve carefully took pile after pile from the floor and neatly stuffed them in an open bureau drawer, until she turned around and said, "Well, aren't you going to unpack too?"
Harry sighed and nodded, walking up and kneeling before his own suitcase. He hated unpacking. It took forever.
However, this time he found unpacking much easier than usual. He realized that if you just shove whatever into an open drawer instead of putting them in neat piles according to category, it actually went along fairly quickly. Eve didn't seem to like his new method, though.
"Harry!" she cried, "How are you ever going to find anything in that mess?" Eve was a well-known neat freak.
Well, Harry certainly wasn't going to let that bother him. "Mind your own damn business, Eve."
Eve looked hurt. "Alright, no need to be rude," she huffed.
"Sorry," said Harry, pulling his sister in an apologetic hug. "I'm just not looking forward to this. You know that, Evie."
"S'ok," said Eve, biting her lip. "I know that Piers is a big meanie. Why do he and Dudley have to be so mean to us, Harry?"
Harry though for a minute, then replied, "I reckon they're scared of us witches and wizards. Don't know why exactly, but that's what Mum tells me. The only thing is, if they were scared of us, wouldn't they just stay away from us?"
Eve shrugged, and Harry released her. Then they heard Mrs. Figg's voice calling, "Harry! Eve! Come say goodbye to your parents!"
"Coming!" they both shouted, and they raced out the door and down the hallway to say goodbye.
***
Once they had said goodbye to their parents, and waved to them as they drove down they street, Harry and Eve turned away from the large picture window. They saw Mrs. Figg looking back at them, a small smile on her face. "Did you get the cards and chips out yet, Harry?"
"Darnit!" said Harry, "I completely forgot. Sorry."
Mrs. Figg sighed and shook her head, then patted Harry on the shoulder. "Not a problem, dearie. Just go up and get them now, OK?"
"OK!" Harry replied, and he rushed up stairs to get them. In no time, he was back down there with the cards and chips, and he lay them out.
Mrs. Figg was in the kitchen, checking on the cookies. Eve was looking through one of Mrs. Figg's large bookcases in the sitting room, trying to find something to read. "Eve, dear, you're near the clock, could you tell me what time it is?"
Eve check the time on the big, ornate grandfather clock, placed between two bookcases. "It's three o'clock!" she said loudly, so her voice would carry into the kitchen. Harry groaned. Three o'clock was always Mrs. Figg's naptime. She slept for exactly an hour, and nothing could stir her, with maybe the exception of the world ending.
Mrs. Figg laughed. "Oh, don't worry. We can play when I get up. The last batch of cookies will be ready then as well. We can eat as we play. We'll have ourselves a right party, I promise. Just be patient."
"Alright," Harry said, hiding his scowl as he looked down.
"Good boy. OK, I'll see you all at four," she said, and Harry and Eve both nodded. Eve barely looked up, however, because she was engrossed in one of her favorite muggle children's novel, "A Little Princess."
Harry muttered, "I think I'm going to take a walk." No response, not even so much as an 'Mmmhhhmm.' Harry snorted, and shook his head as he headed towards the front door. Eve could get like that sometimes, so completely into something that she pretty much screened out the rest of the world. Ah, well, it was her fault that she hadn't listened, so he wasn't going to feel at all sorry later when she was upset when she found him gone.
He opened the door and stepped outside, feeling a cool breeze hit his face. Yes, he loved the outdoors. The way the air was moving, it would be a perfect day for practicing quidditch. He felt a pang of homesickness at that. Then he shrugged, trying to collect himself, and took a deep breath. Yes. He would much rather be out there then sit inside all day, even if it did mean that he would have to be extra careful so that Piers and Dudley did not see him. He wasn't sure why, but they acted like he had a sign pinned on his front that said, "Target with legs. Attack."
He reached the sidewalk, and began to walk along it, smiling and humming 'Here Comes the Sun' (his parents were big fans of muggle music) under his breath. He would have kept on walking, too, if he hadn't heard something that made him pause in midstride.
Sounds, coming from in-between Piers and the new people's house. Cries, a familiar malicious voice saying, "Little wimp," and the sounds of fists hitting flesh. Harry could tell that they were beating someone up. It had happened enough times to himself, and there was no mistaking it, anyway. He could see the blur of Dudley's flying fists and the coppery red blood on them.
"Stop it!" he cried, his small hands clenching with anger. He didn't like to see anyone being Dudley's punching bag.
"Oh, yeah?" Dudley replied, turning around. "And I suppose you're gonna make m-" he stopped short when he saw who it was, and a rare trace of fear fluttered over his face. He was never scared of Harry at school, because he knew Harry couldn't do anything with the teachers or other students around. Now, however, there was no one their except Piers for protection, and unfortunately, although Piers talked a good lot, he was seriously lacking in both physical and mental strength.
Harry searched the ground for something. Finding it, an almost straight twig with no extra twig parts on it, he picked it up. Facing Dudley, he brandished the twig as if it were a wand.
"If you don't stop," Harry said, hoping he sounded menacing, or at least the tiniest bit scary, "I'll turn you into a toad!" It was a silly muggle notion that wizards turned people they didn't like into toads, and he wouldn't have the slightest idea how to do that even if his kind DID do that; however, Dudley didn't know that. He gave Dudley the fiercest glare he could muster.
Dudley glared back, but his glare was half - hearted and now filled with fear. "Here," he said finally, shoving a small, bruised body into Harry's arms, "You can have him if you want him so much. I was done with him anyway. You might enjoy spending time with him. He's one of YOUR kind; a loser, and abnormal." With that, he and Piers shuffled away as fast as they could, while still maintaining some small semblance of pride.
Harry dropped the makeshift wand and looked at the small, beaten boy in his arms with surprise. Sure enough, he wore a small, shabby second hand robe, and Harry spied an old model Comet 180 sticking out of a small broom shed of the house next to Piers as well (as he assumed that was where this boy lived). So, he was a wizard too, huh? Well, maybe staying at Mrs. Figg's was going to be interesting after all.
The boy looked up at him with large blue-gray eyes, frightened, but too weak to push himself out of Harry's arms and run away. The boy's face was pale, marred with dark purple bruises and a smear of crimson blood on thin lips that greatly contrasted the pale beauty of him. He had pointy, slightly aristocratic features, with very prominent cheekbones. His hair was a silken silvery blond that fell slightly past his chin.
"Hi," Harry said gently, trying not to frighten the boy any more than he already had, "I'm Harry. What's your name?"
"Draco," the boy whispered, the fear receding a bit from his face.
"I'm sorry about what my cousin did to you, Draco," Harry replied, maneuvering himself so that he held Draco up in a standing position, steadying him with one arm around his waist.
"It's no big deal," Draco mumbled, looking down. "It happens a lot. I don't even care anymore."
"It happens a lot to me too," Harry admitted. "That kid that was hitting you? That's my cousin Dudley. His family, the stupid muggles they are, hate me."
"Wh-what? Did you just say 'muggles'? Does that mean you're..." Draco looked up at Harry for the first time, hope clearly written on his face.
"Yeah," Harry said, nodding. "I'm a wizard too."
A smile slowly spread over the small boy's lips. "Good. I'm glad. That means I don't have to hide anything from you." He said it as if they were old friends, and for some strange reason, it felt like they were.
Harry grinned back. "I'm glad too. I don't want you hiding anything from me." They just grinned at each other for a moment, and their eyes locked. The other boy's blue-gray eyes held a merry twinkle, and they were very pretty. As he looked into them, Harry felt a shiver go down his spine. It wasn't a bad shiver, just, well… tickly. And strange. And almost pleasant, in a way. He finally broke their gaze, and gestured to the small house next to them, which was covered in light blue paint "That your house?" he asked.
"Yeah," said Draco.
"I suppose we'd better get you back there, huh?" said Harry. Draco nodded, but made no move to get out of Harry's arms. He liked this boy, he decided, and was reluctant to let go. Plus, there was one other thing….
"Nobody's home," Draco mumbled. "Mum had to go to work."
Harry saw he was hesitating heard what he said, and said, "OK. Why don't we go over to Mrs. Figg's place? We can get you cleaned up, and then maybe we can get some chocolate chip cookies, OK?"
Draco considered that, and then smiled and nodded. "OK."
And then Harry gently led Draco back to Mrs. Figg's; feeling like maybe this summer would be fun after all.
***
Draco Malfoy marveled at this boy who was treating him so kindly. Every touch was so gentle, every gesture showing this boy's caring, compassionate heart. No one ever treated him like this, save for his mother. It had him absolutely flabbergasted, yet at the same time, made his heart fill with joy.
Anyone his age that he had ever met had disliked him, had been put off by him. He was always too short, too skinny, too studious, too poor, too weak, too odd, too SOMETHING. He hadn't been lying to Harry when he had said that he got beat up a lot.
Harry had led him to a house two away from his own. As they reached the door Harry said, "This is Mrs. Figg's house. My sister and I are staying here while our parents are away. Mrs. Figg's a witch too, so she'll be able to fix you right up."
With the arm Harry wasn't using to hold Draco up with he hesitantly knocked on the door. There was a sound of feet pounding down the hallway, and then a worried and slightly out of breath Eve open the door. "Harry!" she cried, flinging open the door and pouncing upon him. "There you are!"
"Now Harry, where did you go off to?" said a rather amused looking Mrs. Figg. "Nearly gave your sister a heart attack at an early age – say, who do we have here?" she asked as she noticed Draco. "Now what on god's good earth happened to you?"
"He got a little beat up," replied Harry, disentangling himself from Eve, and he gently ushered Draco into the house. "Do you think you can heal him, Mrs. Figg?"
"I'd wager I could do a little something," Mrs. Figg said. Then she turned to Draco and winked. "I also have some cookies in the oven. I hear they're pretty good at healing a person from the inside out."
Draco smiled, and uttered a thank you. As Mrs. Figg made her way into the kitchen, he turned to Harry and said under his breath, "Say, does something smell like cabbage to you?" He wrinkled his pointed nose adorably. Harry concealed a chuckle with a cough as Mrs. Figg exited the kitchen with her wand, and a tube of magical ointment. Eve followed with a plate piled dangerously high with cookies. She staggered under the weight a bit, and the stack of cookies teetered precariously. Thankfully, though, nothing spilled. Yet.
"Let's make our way into the sitting room, shall we?" said Mrs. Figg, gesturing to the room over. Harry nodded, and took Draco's hand, leading him in. He led them to a couch, where he sat down, and patted the spot next to him, indicating that Draco should do the same. He did, and Mrs. Figg knelt in front of him, raising her wand to his face. "Reparus," she said, and suddenly the swelling and bruises on Draco's face suddenly vanished. She unscrewed the ointment cap, squeezed some on her finger, and carefully applied it to a healing cut on Draco's lip. "There," she said, standing up, "Your face should be as good as new by morning." She gestured towards the plate of cookies. "Now, feel free to have as many as you like."
"Thank you," Draco said again, and hesitantly reached out and took a snikerdoodle. Harry was already happily munching away on a chocolate chip cookie, and Eve had grabbed a peanut butter one, and was nibbling it as she curled up in an armchair and read 'The Secret Garden'.
"Already finished the other one, squirt?" asked Harry.
"Yeah," said Eve, not even glancing at him. There was a pause, and then she raised her eyes from the page to glare at him, "And don't call me squirt!" Harry glared right back at her, and they held it, neither wanting to back down. And neither did, until they heard a strange, wondrous sound. Laughter. The merry sound spilled from the small boy Harry had brought in like a musical stream.
"You…two…" Draco gasped out between laughs. Then he just shook his head in mocking disapproval and laughed harder. Harry and Eve stared at each other with wide eyes now, befuddled. Then, slowly, each began to crack a smile. Slower still, they began to chuckle as well. Soon, it progressed into a full-scale laugh, and then all three were rolling with laughter, grasping at their sides.
Mrs. Figg, watching from her rocking chair smiled at the seen. Harry and Eve, and now young Draco Malfoy (whom she had recognized from the get go) were becoming friends. This was a wonderful thing, indeed.
***
"C'mon," said Draco, pulling impatiently on Harry's hand. "I want you to meet my mum."
"Ok, ok," Harry said, laughing slightly, letting Draco lead him towards the small blue house. Out in front of the house was a tall, willowy blond woman who had a large, floppy straw hat on to shield the fair skin of her face from the sun. She was on her knees in a small garden bed, pulling out weeds with her long fingered, glove clad hands.
"Mum!" called Draco. The woman looked over at the two, and seeing their clasped hands, she gave a small, warm smile. Draco raced to her, dragging Harry across the lawn.
She laughed at the sight, and Harry knew where Draco had gotten his wonderful laugh. "Draco," she said, "Honey, slow down, you're about to pull the poor boy's arm off." Draco did slow down, and sheepishly offered Harry a small smile as an apology. Harry smiled back, and squeezed Draco hand reassuringly, having not taken offense in the slightest. They had known each other for just five days now, and already Harry knew what the boy was saying with out him even having to utter a word. Harry wasn't sure why, but he didn't question it. He was just very glad to have found a friend.
"Hello," Narcissa said kindly to Harry, smiling a gentle smile that reminded him of his own mum.
"Hello, Mrs…uh, Mrs…" Harry stuttered, coming to realize that he had no idea what his new friend's last name was.
"Just call me Narcissa, Harry," she said, laughing again. Then she tilted her head and peered at him curiously, then her eyes widened. "My goodness! Are you Lily and James' child?" Harry nodded, wondering how this woman knew his parents. She continued, "I knew them from school. Lily was a good friend of mine. She was a wonder in Charms. And your father, the famous quidditch chaser! Everyone knew about him. You look a lot like them." She peered at Harry again, assessing his features. "Yes, you're almost the spitting image of James, except you have your mother's eyes. And…goodness, how did you get that?" She pointed to a scar over Harry's left eye, on his forehead, shaped like a bolt of lighting. Often, it was concealed by his bangs, but when the wind blew them out of the way, Harry was afraid it stuck out like a sore thumb.
"Oh, that," Harry replied, "Well, one day, when I was about seven, I thought it would be fun to try out my father's broom. I had seen him use it, and although I knew I wasn't supposed to, it just looked so fun. So, when my mum was out I sneaked it out of the broomshed and started to fly. I was right when I thought it looked fun. It was fantastic. I was having a wonderful time, and I'm really not sure what happened. Just...all of a sudden I felt unwell, and started to lose controll of my broom. I fell off, and my mum found me about an hour later. She and the medi-wizard did as much as they could, but in the end I still had a sprained wrist and this." He pointed to the scar. "They're still not quite sure why they couldn't heal it away."
"But," he continued on, more cheerfully now, seeing the looks on both of their faces, "then Dad started to teach my how to fly, and now I have no problem. It's the best! When I get home, Draco should come over. We can play quidditch together!" Draco looked over at his mother hopefully at that, and she gave him a look that said, 'We'll see.'
"So, how are your parents, Harry? Oh, I would love to see them. It's been such a long time."
"They're fine, thank you," said Harry politely. "They're on a business trip right now, but they should be back in another week. On Sunday, Eve, my sister, and I will be going to Uncle Remus and Uncle Sirius', and then we'll go home. We live near here, though, so I'm sure they'd love to see you when they get back."
"Well, tell them they're welcome to come over or owl at any time."
"OK," said Harry. "I will."
Draco smiled; glad that Harry and his mum were getting along so well. Then he grabbed Harry's hand and tugged at it yet again. "Alright," he said, "Now I want to show you my house!"
"Ok," said Harry again, and they headed inside.
***
"I don't wanna leave," whined Harry.
Sirius raised his eyebrows. "You don't? My goodness, and here I thought your mother said when she owled us that you couldn't wait to come and visit us."
Harry rushed to give his favorite Uncle and godfather a hug. "Oh, it's not that I don't want to see you and Uncle Remus, but, but…" Over Sirius's shoulder he saw a small figure running towards them. "Draco!" he cried, wriggling himself out of his godfather's arms.
Draco looked at him sadly, biting his bottom lip. "You're leaving?"
Harry stuffed his hands in his trousers' pockets and kicked at the ground. "Yeah."
Draco's brow furrowed even more and there was silence. Finally he said quietly, "I'm gonna miss you, you know."
Harry looked up at him, and said, "I'll miss you too." Draco whimpered, and then burst forward to give Harry a hug.
Harry wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and said, "It's OK, it's ok. I'll only be gone for a week, and we can owl each other until then. And when I get back, hey, I don't live that far away, only about a half a mile or so! I can easily come and visit you."
Draco sniffled, nodded, and then said, "I know." Finally, he pulled away, and smiled at Harry. "Have fun."
Harry gave him a blinding smile back. "I will!"
Sirius and Remus looked at each other with raised eyebrows, over hearing the exchange. Sirius smiled and then mouthed to Remus, 'They're so cute.' Remus nodded and mouthed back, 'I know.'
Suddenly there was a shout of, "Wait!" and a figure came bursting from the blue house. Narcissa ran from the house, in a decidedly undignified manner to join the other 5 on the sidewalk, a brown paper bag clutched in her hand. "Here," she panted, thrusting the bag into Harry's hand. "I thought you might like this.
Harry opened the bag, and inside was two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a muggle concoction that both Draco and his mother were mighty fond of, and something Harry found he rather fancied himself. He gave Narcissa a hug and thanked her.
Sirius and Remus stared at her in amazement. "Narcissa St Claire?" said Sirius. "Or Narcissa Malfoy, should I say? What in the bloody hell are you doing here?"
Narcissa laughed. "Language, Sirius. To answer your question, I live here. And I'm back to Narcissa St Claire now. I'd love to stay and chat, but it seems you'd best be on your way."
"Oh…" said Sirius, still staring. "Um…yes. Yes, of course. Well, good to see you then. Bye."
"Good-bye," she replied with a small smile.
Harry, Eve, Remus, and Sirius then loaded into the car, and before Harry knew it, they were driving away. He waved furiously at Draco, as Draco raced down the sidewalk after the car. He waved and waved, even when his hand ached, until Draco was completely out of sight.
***
A/N: So…there was chapter one. You like? Should I continue? I rather hope so, 'cuz I'm fairly proud of this one myself. Review, dear reader, review!