Claws scratching at his skin, making them bleed fine threads of crimson. Cloaks surrounding him, surround him with a veil of black darkness, it made him blind. Hollow breaths which made them sound like they were groaning, paining his ears with an endless headache. Coldness giving him goose bumps all over and an uncontrollable shiver, which shook his whole body like he was in spasm, it felt like ice were running through his veins. The kiss which made it feel like someone was setting you on fire, drowning you, stabbing you again and again with a knife, the feeling of everything dear to you was just about to go.
"You're still here Draco." A dementor said in a raspy voice.
"You'll always be here." Another said.
"Forever," one whispered in his ear, which sounded like nails on a blackboard.
"We're going to take your soul just like we took mummy and daddy's."
"We're going to make you suffer, because it's so funny."
Harry Potter appeared at the door.
"You deserve what's coming to you." He snarled. "You were always a cruel, idiotic bastard!"
Lucius appeared next to Harry, his mother soon after. "You were never the son we wanted, now look what you've done to us!"
You-Know-Who arrived.
"You're not here…you can't be." Draco said in a trembling voice.
"I am going to make you suffer, AVARDA-"
Draco shot upwards, it was dark so he quickly leapt up and turned his bedside light on. No Dementors, no You-Know-Who, nobody. He was all alone. He took a few deep breaths to try and calm down. He was drenched in sweat and he was cold all over.
He looked at his alarm clock, 8AM, today would be the day he had to go and find work. Where, he didn't know. What job could someone get if they didn't have all the muggle qualifications? What did muggles even learn? How boring was a school without magic?
He got up to realize he was starving; most of his remaining money was paying his rent, so food wasn't a priority right now. He put a white shirt on with a plain, black tie and a red, velvet black jacket on along with a pair of black trousers and a pair of shiny, pointed black shoes. Luckily he got to keep all of his old clothes.
He took his first step out into the boring, dull English day; it was still a little dark outside, the sun slowly coming up. Where could he eat? He listened to his rumbling stomach. The first place he saw was a little restaurant called 'McDonald's' he smelled chips wafting in his direction, which made his stomach growl loudly.
He entered the restaurant and looked at the menu up above the counter; some of the meals caught his eye. The woman working in there was looking tired; she walked over and yawned before talking.
"What can I get you?"
"Um, a sausage, egg and cheese bagel, ummm, large French fries and a large diet coke."
"That will be "£4.97." Draco took out his wallet, they had all his money transferred to English muggle currency, it's like they wanted to kick him out of the muggle world as fast as possible. He tried to remember what it was, the gold one was a pound, the small round one was a 5p the-
"You know you got a fiver there." she said in a blank tone. "I can give you 3p change, it would be easier you know." He could tell she was being sarcastic; he grimaced and passed her the note.
"I'll get your meal." She said before going off to get the meal.
'Muggles, always acting so fucking miserable," Draco said in his head.
She returned with the meal, Draco breathed it in, the smell made him realise how hungry he was, he hadn't eaten a decent meal in ten years!
The first bite was heaven, the crispiness of the toasted bagel followed by the soft inside, the sausage was succulent and filled with flavours of different herbs, the cheese was tangy and salty, and the egg was rich and creamy. He closed his eyes, this was the first feeling of pleasure he had in a long time.
X
After breakfast Draco went to find work, he didn't even know what to do, what could he do? He went into a small shop called 'Waterstones' about a mile away from his home, it had a large sign in the window amongst a display of books saying 'assistant manager wanted'. Draco shrugged, it was something at least.
The shop was rather empty and smelled like the fragrance of a new book being opened for the first time. "I heard about the job offer." He said to the curly-haired ginger boy managing the till, that reminded him of a Weasley.
"Yeah." The man said slowly and uninterestedly, he looked fairly younger than Draco, early twenties maybe, still recovering from acne.
"Do you know who I can talk to about it?"
"The boss, obviously." The ginger boy said, Draco had to hold his tongue before saying a harsh muggle insult to reply to the boy's sarcasm.
"Where is he?"
"One minute." He picked up a telephone and waited impatiently while it dialled after pressing a few buttons.
"Mr McFall, I've got a man here asking about the job…yes…okay…I'll send him up." the boy was now speaking in a well-mannered way, making sure every one of his words were properly pronounced. "Go up, there's a door behind the till upstairs, it's his office." He said, returning to his normal, annoying sounding voice.
"Thanks." Draco said through gritted teeth before going up to try and get a potential job and make his life a little easier.
X
Luckily he had succeeded in getting a job, not much money but it will do. His boss, Mr McFall seemed alright, bit of a bookworm but better than the ginger twerp downstairs. He learned that he had to have a CV, whatever that was. Mr McFall was not happy about that but he admitted that Draco seemed the most intelligent out of the five other men and women that had come to see him.
He fell back on his bed, he started work tomorrow and had to get up at seven, his new career and muggle life would officially start: tomorrow.
