A/N: New chapter ! We are getting closer to the part where all the action starts ;) Enjoy !

Chapter 3

The next morning Harry woke up before dawn; or to be more specific, he was woken up by silent whispers. Harry opened his eyes and faced a dark room and blurry face of Draco Malfoy, sitting next to him on the king-size bed.

"Finally," Draco sighed and crawled out of the bed. "Come on, we have to go."

"Where?" Harry asked. He rolled a foot to right to be able to reach for the nightstand. He put his glasses on. He was in Draco's room, because after his parents' sudden arrival Harry obviously couldn't settle himself into any guest room. Harry had offered to sleep on the floor, because thought of him sharing a bed – though the mentioned bed was the same size as Harry's room back in Privet Drive – with Draco was uncomfortable, but the blond had only laughed at his "childish nature" and told him to sleep in the bed. So Harry had, and quite frankly, he had enjoyed it; the bed was amazing and due its ridiculous size it felt like he was alone.

"Just hurry up," Draco said and Harry crawled out of the bed as well. Both of them had slept with all their clothes on to take down the awkwardness even a hint, so Harry was quickly ready. He tried to tame his hair which was, as usual, wildly sticking itself to every possible direction, but it was no use, so he just let it be. Draco's usually flawless hair had too marks of sleeping. Draco grabbed his cloak from a chair and threw it on.

Draco opened the door slowly and quietly, and then stuck his head out to see if there was anyone around. Seemingly not, so Harry followed him out. The manor was even creepier at dawn than it was at night; every little sound was dead, the floor creaked hauntingly under their feet as they passed hallway after hallway on their way somewhere. Neither one of them said anything, Harry didn't even think about it; thought of Lucius Malfoy waking up and spotting Harry Potter strolling around his house would lead to nothing good.

Finally Harry realized their way was leading down to the cellar. He wanted to ask, but decided to remain silent anyway. Draco stopped dead before the stairs leading downstairs and Harry nearly ran into his back. Draco silently took out his wand under his cape and started creeping down. Harry followed him couple of steps behind. So many questions were spinning in his mind that he wouldn't have even known where to begin if he had had the chance to ask them. Draco halted at the end of the stairs, stretched his neck forward and over his shoulder Harry saw a figure, sleeping on the floor, back turned at them.

"Stupefy!" Draco whispered and a flash of red burst from the tip of his wand and hit the figure's back. It flinched but didn't look any different than before the spell had hit him. Harry followed Draco when he opened the door to the cell and they both went to the limp body of the muggle.

He was a male about in his thirties. He was average weight, quite tall, had short golden curly hair, high nose and little thicker lips than average men have. He was typically handsome yet looked sophisticated with his vest and blouse. Harry wondered why on earth Voldemort would want this poor muggle to be captured. Maybe he had just been in a wrong place at the wrong time. Draco crouched down, took his hand to his hair and ripped couple hairs off. If Harry too had been a muggle, this would have been quite odd thing to do to an unconscious person, but now he knew exactly where Draco was going with it.

"Are you serious?" Harry asked on a low voice when Draco took a tiny bottle of transparent liquid under his cloak.

"If we're going to keep you here, this is the easiest way," Draco muttered and opened the cork with a soft plop.

"Easiest? What about safety? This man is a muggle whom Voldemort wants. What if he comes to take him while I'm him? That's a nice surprise for him," Harry hissed. He didn't like this at all.

"Don't worry, he isn't going to just burst in here, I know it," Draco said and dropped the hair to the liquid. It turned to crimson red, reminding either blood or very deep cranberry juice. Harry pointed this out to Draco, who just snorted. "Merlin, Harry, quit being a little girl. So you have to clean something or get some pumpkin juice for Dad? Is it really that bad?"

"I don't reckon that would be all… No offence, but it's your dad we're talking about," Harry muttered.

"Trust me," Draco said and handed him the bottle. "You won't get killed."

Oddly, dying wasn't what Harry was afraid of when he rose the bottle to his lips and gulped it down. He remembered the disgusting taste of overcooked cabbage when he had turned into Goyle few years ago, but this stranger tasted mildly like honey. Quite pleasant taste, actually. Harry felt burning under his skin when it began to change shape. His skin bubbled; he grew taller and taller, and was now taller than Draco. His black hair changed color and curled, his skin tanned a notch. His clothes felt extremely tight and ripped from shoulders and thighs, and Harry was very grateful the muggle was skinny rather than muscular. When his transformation was completed, Draco looked at him with approval. Then they simply moved the real muggle aside to a cabinet (Harry noticed he was surprisingly strong), took his clothes and left the poor man with only his underclothes on.

"Only bad side here," Draco said, "is that you have to stay here in the cellar when you're not needed in the house." When Harry scowled him and was about to say something, Draco continued: "But don't worry, I'll take care of you when my parents are not around. You won't starve to death, I promise."

"Fine," said Harry with the muggle's voice which was little lazy. He had a Scottish accent which he couldn't help. Draco waved him goodbye and left. When he was gone, Harry began changing his clothes to the muggle's slowly. He was wondering what kind of guy the muggle was. If he had family, if they were missing him. If he had a job. Harry was pretty sure he had been in greatest schools; he found thinking very effortless and easy. What kind of house he lived in? He was seemingly wealthy; at least he had nice clothes and the same kind of expensive watch Uncle Vernon had once got from his boss for Christmas few years ago. Strangely enough, Harry thought about his name last. He wondered if Draco's parents knew it. If Voldemort knew it. If anyone knew it.

The whole day Harry was sitting in the cellar by himself, sometimes walking around a little to fully master his new body which was at least a head taller than he actually was. Harry tried to memorize the story he had made up for his new identity in order to not come across suspicious if he would be questioned, but found his thoughts slipping over and over again to his upcoming trial. He still had no information about anything. It was two weeks away, but he would have felt much better if someone cared enough to inform him about it. Now, living as a stranger in Malfoys' Manor, Harry was quite positive he wouldn't get any information any time soon.

The day was painfully boring, and Harry found himself wishing one of the Malfoys would come and order him to do something, but no one did. Soon it was half past midnight and Harry's stomach was growling angrily. No food in the whole day surely had its price. Harry felt anger towards Draco. He had promised to feed him, yet failed to deliver. That brat. Maybe he really was not on Harry's side.

"Harry?" Harry suddenly heard a familiar whisper and he got up and stumbled his way to the gate. Speak of the devil... Draco was peering through the darkness, carrying a tray which had a bowl of soup and piece of bread on it. Harry was quite positive that that was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"I'm here," he said as if he could be anywhere else and Draco came to the gate.

"Here, this is all I've got," he said, opened the gate and Harry took the tray with pleasure.

"Thanks," he smiled and dug into the piece of bread to calm his growling stomach down. "So? Anything I should know about?"

"Well, not really," Draco said vaguely and closed the gate between them again. "My parents don't know anything of him. Not his name or anything."

"That's good news," Harry said, mouth full of bread.

"I guess," Draco said. They were silent for a moment, both unable to come up with anything to say. It was getting uncomfortable, so Draco cleared his throat and took a step back.

"See you tomorrow, I'll bring you breakfast," he said and turned around.

"Good night," called Harry after him.

"Good night," he heard a voice far away, and listened as the footsteps slowly faded away.

A/N2: Did you see that one coming? Please let me know in the comments!