Title: Malfo-Puff

Challenge/Prompt: The One AU World Boot Camp/Prompt #36: misery.

Rating: G/K

Warning(s): Not much. This is meant to add a connection between some of the events.

Word Count: 1069

Characters/Pairings: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, and a special guest. Pre-Harry/Draco.

Summary: Draco's feeling miserable.

As he was wont to do, Draco had made a habit of exploring the Hogwarts grounds. Usually, the young Hufflepuff skipped across rocks – laid out in such a way that he just felt the overwhelming compulsion to do so – and ran after butterflies. He was still a boy, after all, and boys did… well, boy things. Well, at least that was what his Uncle Sev said – as the man dragged him back indoors, an hour or so before curfew.

And that's where Draco had started. No, not inside just before curfew. He had started running, and may have… accidentally wandered into the Forbidden Forest. It had happened without the blond knowing, though. Completely against his consent.

Pretty soon, he was perched atop a boulder, huddled inside his robes. The hat his mother had sent him was pulled tightly over his blushing ears, as his teeth chattered. His Warming Charms were never the best, and hardly did anything for his clothing, or his person.

The Hufflepuff cursed those same butterflies he had chased; why did they have to fly so far, that Draco had had to follow them into the dark and scary forest?

Draco was just… miserable. Yeah, that would be the correct description for his current situation.

He jumped slightly at a clawing sound. What was that?!

Ever the Slytherpuff – as Hannah usually described him, due to his borderline Slytherin-tendencies - the blond wanted no part in whatever was making those sounds. He was still a second-year, darn it, and he wouldn't allow his life to be shortened due to some… some beast hidden within a school's grounds.

Really, what were the Founders thinking? Draco huffed in offense, and then shivered as a frightfully frigid wind blew on his neck, teasing him with the idea of just freezing to death. Here Lay Draco Lucius Malfoy, his tomb would read, He Died Mournfully Due to the Forbidding Wind. Hah… Forbidding, because of the forest.

He gazed up at the dark night sky, wondering why he was even here? The boredom alone was threatening to send him into lunacy.

Another scratching noise. Draco jumped again, startled by the suddenness of the sound. Standing up shakily on his legs, knees buckling slightly, the Hufflepuff called out, "Anybody there?"

Feeling vaguely stupid and irritated at the absence of any answer, he was about to sit back down when a stumbling caught his ear. Turning his head towards the direction he thought it had come from, he jumped down from his boulder, grabbing hold of his wand in his left-hand.

"Hullo?" he called again, all Slytherin preservation instincts shouting at him to cut his losses and to just leave as quickly as he could.

Another noise and the distinct sound of another person's cry of pain, and Draco visibly relaxed. Walking closer, the Hufflepuff made his way towards the humanoid shape.

The figure stopped, looking this way and that. Draco held out his hands in a gesture of peace, "It's okay. I'm just lost."

"M-Malfoy?" he heard the timid voice ask, and Draco knew to whom it belonged to, all at once. Harry Potter, of all the people.

Huffing slightly at his misfortune, the Hufflepuff held out a hand for the other boy to take. Potter shrugged his shoulders and pulled himself up, causing Draco to sneer slightly in distaste.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" the blond snapped, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"I think the question could be directed towards you, as well, Malfoy," the Slytherin replied, dusting off any stray blades of grass and dirt.

"As I have already said," he started, rolling his eyes. "I'm lost."

Potter let out a mocking laugh, and then shook his head. "It figures you would, Malfoy."

Draco pulled his wand out and pointed it at the raven-haired boy's forehead, "Never underestimate a Hufflepuff, Potter. We may seem perfectly harmless, all about fairness and all that rot, but we've got a rather nasty bite. Tread carefully."

Potter snorted in derision, swatting at Draco's hawthorn. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

The scratching sound came again, even closer than before, and Draco looked for it. "Did you hear that?"

Potter nodded his head slowly, "Yeah, I reckon I did. What is that noise?"

As Draco walked closer, the sound got even louder, until he could also hear the distinct sounds of a small animal crying out. A whispered Lumos and a box came into sight. It moved side to side, the sounds of impact not very loud, and the top was open.

Draco sucked in a breath and let it out slowly, not wanting to release the sound he had been about to make.

But then it had purred and mewed and he just had to exclaim, "Awwwweeee!"

Dropping his wand in his robes pocket, the Hufflepuff knelt in front of the box and held his hands out, taking out the small kitten that had been abandoned inside. Cradling it to his chest, Draco nuzzled its fur.

"Oi, Malfoy," Potter called, "What are y—"

Potter was on his knees in an instant, emerald eyes huge behind his round spectacles. "Is that a…"

"Yeah," Draco grinned beatifically. After a few seconds, he realized whom he was with, and turned his smile down a notch, turning his body slightly away.

"C-can I touch it…?" Potter asked, his voice soft and gentle in light of the adorable creature. Draco vaguely wondered if it was part-Kneazle, as it automatically turned towards the Slytherin's questing hand. Letting out a sigh, Draco nodded his head, loosening his hold.

The kitten leapt into Potter's arms, nuzzling him as well. Potter laughed as a pair of paws batted at his tie, before it jumped right back onto the ground and rubbed its head on Draco's knee. Smirking, the boy stuck his tongue out at the pouting Slytherin and picked up the kitten.

After a few seconds of petting his new-found companion, Draco hesitantly questioned Potter, "Do you happen to know where we are?"

"Yeah, near the Black Lake," he replied just as softly, scratching behind the kitten's left ear. Getting up from the ground, he wiped off his trousers and turned towards the direction of the lake.

A few feet later, and Potter called back, "Come on, Malfoy. It's nearing curfew!"

Draco covered he kitten up as best as he could and followed the Slytherin.

Well, at least he wasn't as miserable, anymore.