Chapter Eleven
Albus woke up early the day of the trip, excited. His bags were already packed and sitting at the end of his bed; the clothes he'd wear neatly set over his desk and chair, beside his wand. By the time he went down to the kitchen, both his parents and Lily were already having breakfast, and smiled at him as he joined them. The ate mostly in silence, both adults repressing yawns and the girl asking a few questions, but still too sleepy to talk as much as she normally did.
"Will you go get the boys, Gin? Malfoy should arrive soon." Harry asked as he stood up, leaving his mug and plate inside the sink.
"Sure, Harry." The woman mumbled as he walked out. "Can't you do that for me, honey?" She asked Albus a few moments later. "I still need to finish packing some things."
"Must I, mom?" He pouted his lip.
"Be a good boy, Al." She insisted.
"Okay, okay, I'm going." He got up and left his dirty dishes with his father's before going back upstairs. He didn't like having to wake James up; the boy was always in a bad mood and took it out on him. Albus took a few deep breaths on his way, and knocked once on the door before trying the doorknob, surprised to find it open. "James, mom said-" He begun as he stepped inside, but silenced when he saw the selection of magazines on the floor. He didn't recognize any of the titles; he'd never seen them before, or he would've remembered: they all had mostly-naked women on the cover. Both boys had woken up when he called, and took a minute looking at his intrigued face before realizing the reason behind it.
"Shut the door, Albus!" James hissed, sitting up and grabbing all the magazines within reach, Jordan mimicking him after a moment.
"You're not supposed to read that." The younger boy stated simply, standing by the door after closing it.
"Oh, really?" James snorted, sitting on the edge of the bed and wrapping a blanked around his waist before getting up to pick the rest of the magazines. "Don't tell mom and dad."
Albus stood there in silence for a while longer, watching the boys hide the compromising material under the mattress. And he really thought their mom didn't know?
"What do you want anyway?" The older Potter asked, frowning at his brother and sitting back on the bed.
"Mom asked me to wake you up or we'll be late." He replied with a light shrug, opening the door.
"Hey, Al?" James called, and he turned around, one hand on the doorknob holding the door open. "You're not telling, are you?"
"Maybe you can have some of the magazines if you want?" Jordan offered with a tentative smile.
"Not interested." He replied before leaving, already planning how to use that information for his own advantage.
Albus returned to his bedroom and flew his bags downstairs - he didn't have many chances to use magic while on vacation, and now he had a legitimate excuse -, leaving his backpack on top of the suitcases just as he heard Scorpius and Draco arriving.
"Scorp!" He called, smiling and entering the study. The blond boy smiled back, and they suddenly felt uncomfortable, unsure what to do and looking away from one another. Harry smiled, trying not to giggle, and Draco cleared his throat, getting their attention. "I'm sorry! Good morning, Mr. Malfoy." Albus said quickly, and they shook hands.
"Did you have breakfast yet?" Harry asked, and the blond man nodded. "Good. There are a few things I want to talk to you about, Malfoy." He said before turning to the boys. "Why don't you two practice your spells a little and take these bags to the door?" They smiled, taking out their wands, as the two adults sat by the fireplace.
About half an hour later, they heard the honks announcing the taxi cabs had arrived, and the children all ran to the door, rushing outside. Ginny greeted the drivers and quickly divided them: she'd be riding in one car with Lily, James and Jordan, and the other two boys would go with Draco and Harry, who helped the drivers to carry the bags into the trunks - under countless complaints from the blond man, who was effectively just supervising the work.
It was a quiet ride to the airport, and things seemed to be running smoothly, to Harry's relief. But as they were dropped off at the terminal, the problems began. The four of them quickly realized they were at the wrong place, and Ginny and the others were nowhere to be seen. Draco seemed on the edge of throwing a tantrum - the first time of many to follow that day - and Harry took a couple of breaths to calm down - the blond was already driving him crazy - when he saw an officer a little to their left. After telling the boys to stay close to Draco - and make sure he didn't pull out his wand or use any suspicious words out loud -, he approached the man with his boarding pass on hand.
"Excuse me, sir, but I think I'm a little lost. Could you tell me which way to go to get on this flight?" He asked with an apologetic smile, handing over the piece of paper.
The man, who was probably in his early fifties, laughed easily as his eyes ran through the paper he'd been handed. "I'm sorry, son, but you're on the exact opposite side of the airport for that flight. Did you not tell your driver where to drop you off?"
"I did, but I think we had a bit of a misunderstanding." He explained quickly. "Could you tell me how to get to the right place, then?"
"Sure, sure. You just go in through those doors, keep walking until you find escalators and go up one floor. Then to your left, and you should find the shuttle to take you to the right place." He smiled kindly, returning Harry's boarding pass.
"Oh, thank you very much. Just... Just one more thing. Where can we find those carts I saw some people using?"
The man laughed a little again. "I'm afraid you'll just have to carry your bags by hand, son. We ran out of carts on this side. Maybe you'll find some along the way?"
"Hopefully. Thanks again." He smiled, taking a step back.
"No problem. And have a good trip!" He called, smiling at Harry.
"Yeah, we will!" He said as he walked back to where the other three stood.
"So?" Draco asked impatiently, one of his hands firmly holding his wand on the inside pocket of his jacket.
"We'll have to do a bit of walking, I'm afraid." He smiled, picking up two suitcases with one hand, and reaching for a third with his free hand. "Can you boys each carry one of your bags?" They nodded. "Good. Let's go then, no time to lose."
"What, we'll have to walk there and carry the bags? Why can't we just Levios-"
"Malfoy!" He said in a tone of warning. "You know bloody well why not. Now stop complaining and pick up your things. I don't want to be late." Harry started walking into the airport, Albus and Scorpius following close behind.
"Why can't we at least get one of those carts?" Draco called after them, still standing in the same place.
Harry stopped walking and turned around. "There are no more of them. Now let's go."
"Can't we just conjure-"
"No, Malfoy, we can't. Now let's go."
"Fine, fine, no need to be so stressed out..." He mumbled, clumsily picking up three bags with two hands. "Malfoys weren't made for any kind of physical labor, you know." He complained as he caught up with the others. "There should be someone to carry this for me. Can't we just pay one of those muggles to-"
"For Merlin's sake, Malfoy, watch your mouth!" Harry whispered alarmed, looking around to make sure nobody had heard them. "It's the third time in less than five minutes!"
"Well, I'm not the one who's had the brilliant idea of travelling among... these people, am I?" He raised an eyebrow, making the brunet man roll his eyes. Both boys were trying to repress their laughs, deeply entertained by the little argument between their fathers. "Can I at least... Make my bags lighter?" He asked trying helplessly to find a better way of holding everything. "I promise I'll do it nonverbally, nobody will notice."
"Malfoy, why don't you just stop complaining and concentrate your efforts-" He stopped his lecture when he heard a loud noise behind him, and turned around to find the blond had dropped everything on the floor. Luckily the bags were all properly closed, and nothing fell off them. "Fine. Okay, I see your point. Let's just... There, that corner." He half-pointed to a spot to their right. "So we have a little more privacy."
"Finally, you seem to have grown some sense in that thick head of yours." Draco whispered, picking up his things again. "And I'm making the boys' bags lighter as well." He said as left the bags on the assigned corner, Harry, Albus and Scorpius forming a sort of wall around Draco. "There. It wasn't so hard, was it? I could probably shrink them as well and-"
"That's enough magic, okay?" Harry cut him off. "I'll probably already get in trouble for that, and-"
"Why you? I'm the one who did it, weren't I?"
"Well, I said I'd be responsible for you, so-"
"Why would I need anyone to be responsible for me? I'm a grown up, Potter and-"
"Because we're in the middle of a bunch of... These people, and you are completely clueless when it comes to dealing with them. Hopefully Gin will have some better sense than you, since I can't be there to supervise her as well." He explained, picking up his bags again, and almost falling backwards due to the difference in weight. "And what are we going to tell the airline people? How do we explain these huge bags being so light?"
"If you'll cover for me, I'll undo the spell when... Well, whenever you're worried about it. And I bet the little Weasley would love to know she needs supervision like a child, don't you think?" He teased, gaining an angry look before they started walking again.
Draco had made the bags so light they practically floated, and they just had to stir them around. A million concerns went through Harry's head, specially about the statue of secrecy that they'd deliberately broken. Well, at least he'd made sure no muggles saw them, and it was just a minor spell, right? To keep Draco from driving him mad with his complaints even before the trip began. Not that it worked quite as well as he hoped.
"Why again do we have to walk so much? Don't mu- these people have those things that take us places? Like the one we used to come here?" He asked as they finally reached the escalator - which Harry wasn't too sure what was, but figured it meant those moving stairs they'd found.
"They're called cars, Malfoy, and they're meant for outdoor use. I suppose there are some vehicles that work inside, for people with disabilities, but we're definitely not part of those."
"Why not? I could just cast a-"
"No, you couldn't. And stop saying such things, won't you? I mean, even the boys know better..." He whispered the last part, but it was still loud enough for the blond to hear and frown at him.
"Well, I still think it's pretty stupid of them to invent such things if they can't use them when they need it."
"We don't need it. We can walk just fine. Actually it's pretty nice to stretch our legs, don't you think?" He turned to the boys, who shrugged at him.
"See? They don't like having to walk either."
"Well, we don't have a choice, so why don't you just stop complaining and keep walking?"
"Just because you are into all this mu- this stuff, doesn't mean we all are, Potter. And since you've dragged me here, the least you can do is take my complaints into consideration."
"Into consideration... Yeah, sure. Noted. Now can we please move on?"
"Okay. Next. I think these flying machines-"
"Airplanes."
"Airplanes. Are very unsafe. How can it fly without... you know? And why would you think it would be fun? My feet are already killing me. At least tell me we'll be sitting down sometime soon."
"We will, Malfoy. I heard there's a pretty decent lounge for us to stay in while we wait to board. And they're perfectly safe, people have been using them for ages now. And I said move on from the complaints, not to the next one."
"Easy for you to say, Potter. You grew up with those things, but I haven't and I don't trust- Merlin, what is this thing now?"
They'd reached the waiting area for the electric shuttle that would take them to the right area of the airport, where a few other people already were. There were glass doors on both sides of the hall, with luminous panels above them informing where the cars were and how long they'd take to reach them. The boys were more interested in spotting some of the planes taking off on one side, while Draco looked very closely at the panels, just to be surprised when the doors automatically opened to allow them in, gaining quite a few looks from the people around and causing Harry to smile apologetically and embarrassedly at them.
"Come on, boys, it's this way." Harry waved to them, and they quickly boarded, Draco finding an empty seat and letting out a sigh of relief.
"No, seriously, why do we have to walk so much?" He asked, making Harry roll his eyes.
"Hey, man, seriously though, that guy is so weird!" They heard a young man, aged somewhere between his late teens and early twenties, whisper to his friend, not very discreetly pointing at Draco and trying to hide his laughter. "Did you see the way he was looking at everything?"
"Yeah, and did you see his face when the doors opened?" His friend asked, doing an even poorer job of hiding his amusement. "Like he'd never seen anything like it! Where the heck do you think he's from?"
"Cavemen, or something." The first man replied and they laughed loudly, gaining a slight frown from an older man sitting across from them.
Harry smiled; he was also rather entertained by Draco's reactions, but a quick glance the blond's way was enough to reveal the other man wasn't taking it so nicely, one hand already around his wand in his pocket. "Hey, hey, calm down, alright? They're just kids." Harry whispered, putting a hand on his shoulder that was quickly pushed away.
"One hex, Potter, just one and they'll see-"
"Yes, yes, Malfoy. Now come on. We're jumping on the next stop."
"Already?" He frowned, slightly confused. "I thought you said it was on the other side of the airport."
"I did. And we're here already. These things move fast." He smiled, grabbing his bags and standing by the door, both boys behind him.
"Okay, fine. They got lucky this time." He mumbled as they walked out, meeting Ginny a few minutes later.
"Where have you all been? We've been waiting here forever! And you know what James is like when he gets bored; he's a lot worse when he's with friends, and you know it very well, Harry. And Lily, she's been complaining too, she's very bored and tired of standing around. Do you know how long we've been waiting here? What took you so long? And-"
"We had some problems with the driver, he dropped us off in the wrong place and we had to walk here." He explained briefly, annoyed he was getting complaints from two sides now. "But we're here now, okay, so let's just go on with it."
"Don't think I believe you, with that stupid excuse of yours. But I'm tired as well, so let's please just check in."
"Okay. I'll go first and deal with the attendant and-" Draco cleared his throat loudly a couple of steps behind Harry, and the other two turned to him. "What?"
"Uh, I think it's about now we have to solve our... Little problem."
"Wha- Oh. Right, I'd forgotten. Hm... Hey, Ginny, could you watch the kids for a moment? We need... Some privacy?"
"What for? What are you up to? And why are you talking in code like that?" She inquired, her dissatisfaction clear in her tone of voice.
"It's... Just a little problem, it'll only take a second. We'll just take some bags, and we'll be right back." He looked away as she frowned at him, looking for some private corner. "Over there, Malfoy. Will have to do." He pointed to a spot a few steps away, and the blond nodded, each of them grabbing two bags. Harry figured Draco wouldn't be able to carry all four of his in one go once they had their full eight back, and preferred to work in two goes.
"What are they on about, Albus?" Ginny asked, holding the boy by the shoulder.
"They're... Returning the bags to their original weight." He replied in a low voice, trying to repress a smile. He knew his mom wouldn't be pleased.
"They did what? They used- they really- I swear, I thought they had more sense than that, I thought..." And she kept on mumbling, holding Lily by the hand, as the boy managed to walk a few steps away to where Scorpius was guarding their belongings.
"Is she alright?" The blond boy asked, raising a curious eyebrow and looking at Ginny.
"She'll be fine. They're all a bit tense, I suppose." He smiled, and they watched as the two men returned to change the bags.
After leaving their belongings with the airline company, it was time to go through the security check, and Harry had forgotten completely about it. Of course, he knew it would happen, and he'd even been told how it'd proceed, but not having mentioned it to anybody - especially Malfoy - caused quite some trouble.
They were all required to take off their shoes and put their bags through a scanner - and Draco couldn't stop complaining about how outraging that was, and how invasive and how - and Harry tried desperately to tell him it was just a standard procedure and every other passenger was submitted to it as well. It also put many security officers on alert, who began questioning why the blond was so reluctant to comply. As a result, they had to search him once he walked through the metal detector - and given the choice between having it done by one of the staff members and a machine, Harry begged him to pick the latter. He'd most certainly throw a tantrum if he was touched.
The digital scan came up clean - of course - except for one funny-shaped object he carried in his suit pocket - his wand. And once again Harry had to interfere and come up with an excuse not to have that taken away or, even worse, have Draco detained for investigation. After several minutes talking to the officer - and a little confounding spell - later, they were finally cleared and allowed to go through.
Once they'd finally finished the check in and security check procedures, they headed to the waiting lounge. As they were flying first-class - Harry would've loved to see Draco in economic class, but figured he'd probably be pushing it too far -, they found themselves in an elegantly designed hall, with areas dedicated to fine dining, lounging, and even a spa-like section - not that any of them really knew what it meant. Draco quickly found himself a large and comfortable leather chair, while the kids ran to the large windows to watch the planes landing and taking off.
"Look at that!" James exclaimed with a wide smile. "Look at that, dad!" He turned around briefly, seeing Harry approach him, also smiling. "They're flying! They're actually flying without- Ouch! Albus!" The younger boy was standing beside him and had hit him with an elbow. "What was that for?"
"Just shut up, James."
"Okay, be nice, Al." Harry asked with a smile. "But do you remember what we talked about, Jamie? About mentioning that subject around... people?"
The boy frowned a little, trying to understand what was being said, and his face lit up after a moment. "Ah! That! Right. Sorry."
"Just be careful, Jamie." Harry replied, messing his hair and gaining a frown before walking away.
The boys stayed there for several minutes, discussing their theories on how something so large could stay in the air without any magic applied to it, while Lily had sat with Ginny in a couch and distractedly flicked through a magazine in some foreign language she was not too familiar with. As Draco seemed to have dozed off, Harry opted to go get himself a drink at the bar, and spent a few minutes chatting with the sympathetic bartender who served him.
There weren't many other people in the lounge, so the children had quite a bit of freedom to walk around and talk. When Harry sat in an armchair across from where Draco was, he was greeted with a frown and a complaint about why he hadn't been offered anything to drink. The brunet tried arguing he was asleep, but the blond was having none of it, adding that episode to his growing line of complaints and persuading Harry to just get up and fetch him a drink before he either went insane or lost his patience completely.
Albus and Scorpius were sitting by one of the windows, far enough from the adults so neither of their conversations could be heard, and excitedly tried to guess how the sanctuary would be like and all the amazing things they'd do there. They could see James and Jordan a little farther ahead - and it always paid off to keep an eye on the older boy -, and were careful not to get too close to them. They most certainly looked like they were up to something, and none of them wanted to know what it was.
They'd arrived just over three hours before their flight was scheduled to take off, as Harry had been instructed, and with all the confusion about getting to the right place, and the checking-in process - which wasn't that long per se, but considering there were eight of them, it took quite a while, not to mention the commotion Draco caused -, they had under two hours of waiting to be done, and to distract the kids - who were growing evidently more bored by the minute - they ordered some appetizers and separated in groups to explore the lounge.
Things finally seemed to be getting back on track, with Draco very pleased with the service he was being offered - finally something to the standards of the Malfoys, he'd said, nodding approvingly when a waitress brought him a refill of his drink as soon as it was over, without his having to request it -, and consequently complaining a lot less, and even though Ginny was still upset about their use of magic, she also seemed to relax, and they even managed a few minutes of civilized conversation between the three of them at some point.
But short before they were due to board, an embarrassed employee appeared to offer his apologies, as their plane had suffered a long delay due to weather conditions, and would arrive at least two hours after the scheduled time. It was enough to get the blond man complaining about Harry's choice of means of transportation again, which was aggravated by Lily's complaints she was hungry and bored and sleepy and whatnot. As more people gathered in the lounge, the typical noises of people talking grew louder and could no longer be ignored, and forced them all to gather up and give the other travelers some privacy.
They decided to visit the restaurant a while later, as they were all getting very hungry, and for an hour or so, they all actually seemed to be enjoying the day. As expected, the food was really high quality, and the muggle desserts delighted them, who were too used to the typical wizard food, day in and day out. Once they were all properly fed, they decided to return to the lounge, where Lily and the adults were fighting to stay awake as they flickered through one magazine after another.
When they finally boarded, it was already mid-afternoon, which meant it would already be dark when they arrived at the airport in Romania. Charlie had promised to pick them up, and as they had no means of contacting him, Harry felt a little sorry for all the time he'd be wasting on the other airport. They were shown to their seats - the eight of them filled most of the space reserved to first-class -, and sat two by two, four on each side of the aircraft. Draco seemed to relax a little when he was offered a drink - and despite Harry's advices and warnings, he continued drinking, which made that his third? fourth? drink of the day -, and to everybody's general happiness, the plane took off not too long after that.
Lily was the first to fall asleep; all the nervous excitement draining her energy. Ginny didn't seem all too interested in flying inside a vehicle, and soon was napping as well. Albus and Scorpius managed to spend quite some time chatting and gazing out the window, but the scenery - the top of clouds - became rather dull once they reached cruising altitude, and about an hour into the trip, they were both off as well. The other two boys soon discovered that flying in a plane wasn't at all as exciting as they had foreseen, and engaged in their secret plans once more. As for Harry, he was observing Draco as carefully as he could, rather amused at the other man's struggle to get along with the electronic entertainment offered to the passengers.
"It wasn't so bad after all, was it?" He asked after a while, looking directly at him and smiling.
"Bad? No, Potter, it wasn't. It was terrible." He complained, finally getting angry with the earphones he couldn't work out and throwing them at his feet.
"Come on. It's been fun, despite all the problems we've had." He insisted.
"Fun? You call walking for miles, hours of waiting and sitting inside this tiny place for who knows how long fun? Seriously, Potter, remind me of never agreeing with any of your stupid ideas ever again, especially if they involve anything muggle-related."
"Don't say that word!" He warned in a whisper, looking around, but luckily nobody was paying him any attention.
"And having you as my babysitter. It's pathetic, Potter."
"I'm not your babysitter. I just have to-"
"Supervise me?"
"Well, yes, but it's just to make sure nobody finds out about... our secret."
"Yeah, right. As if I couldn't control myself if I didn't want to." Harry raised an eyebrow at him, and Draco sustained the look for just another moment before looking away. "Fine, fine, I slip sometimes - okay, many times - but it's just because I'm a pure-blood wiz- well, I wasn't brought up to... deal with this sort of people."
"Which is exactly why I need to supervise you." He smiled, looking at the blond man for another minute before looking out the window. "Hey, Malfoy?" He called almost half an hour later, looking back to the man who had his eyes closed and moaned a sleepy reply. "It's not that I'm complaining, but why do you put up with me?"
"Why... I don't know, Potter. Because you really are annoying, so I must be that great." His voice dragged more than usual, as if talking required quite the effort.
"I suppose it's because of the boys, but still... You know, I've made a few comments before, and you didn't even seem to notice. I was purposefully teasing you, and you point blank ignored it. When way less would've had us fighting to death in school."
"People change, Potter. Don't you know that?"
"Yeah, well, but-"
"If it bothers you so much, I'll start hexing you once we land, how's that?"
Harry giggled, and Draco finally opened his eyes, raising an eyebrow at him. "No, it's fine. I was just curious, I suppose."
"Well... If you want to know, it was mostly because of Scorpius. I wanted to be a better father for him than my dad was for me. Don't get me wrong, of course I... uh, love him, or something, I mean, he's my dad, but, you know. And part of that was becoming more tolerant. Not to mention I know you rarely think about what you're saying before you say it, and even when you do, nobody can expect it to be too much." He smiled slightly, closing his eyes again. "Can I please go back to sleep? This place is too small, I'm feeling a little claustrophobic, and all that alcohol is trying to get back at me."
"Yeah, sure." He smiled, returning his eyes to the window.
Unfortunately, their rests were cut short as they entered a strong turbulence that had them all jumping up and down in their seats and Lily crying because she was scared. Somehow, the younger boys managed to sleep through it, but the older ones seemed to finally be enjoying themselves, pretending to be on brooms flying through a storm. Draco, on the other hand, has on the verge of having a panic attack, complaining about how unsafe that was, and how Harry was a dead man, and that he'd be personally responsible for the brunet's death, regardless of whether they made it out of that thing alive and so on.
After what seemed like hours, but had only been ten or fifteen minutes, the plane had lowered enough to leave the turbulence zone and was getting ready to land. They boys finally woke up, confused as to what all the commotion was all about, and surprised to see night had already fallen outside. About an hour later, they had finally exited the aircraft and retrieved they bags, just to spend the following fifteen minutes looking for Charlie, who was nowhere to be found.
Much to everybody's general unhappiness, they still had to take cabs to an official Floo center so they could get to the actual sanctuary. The room they arrived in was wide, with another three fireplaces, one to the left and the others on the opposing wall. It didn't have any furniture, as it was evidently just a transition space, and wasn't very big either, but they were all too hungry and tired to pay any attention to any details.
Their bags were taken to the rooms they'd be occupying, while an excited and smiley Charlie guided them down a hallway and to the dining area. The place wasn't properly a hotel, since they rarely ever had visitors, so it had a much more familiar environment. The dining room resembled the Great Hall at Hogwarts, but in smaller proportions: two long wooden tables were set in the middle of the room, and another smaller one held all the dishes being served - and Draco readily complained about that as well, how come he had to serve himself?
There weren't many people eating with them, and the redhead man only waved briefly at them before sitting down with the others, promising to introduce everybody in the morning. After a quiet meal - they were all too exhausted from the trip to talk - they were shown to their rooms, and after making sure the children were properly tucked in, the three grown-ups collapsed in the beds and fell deeply asleep in a matter of mere minutes.