It was a little more than an hour's drive to Port Angeles, and the ride had gone smoothly; passed with periods of discussion and companionable silence. Once free from the dense forest surroundings of Forks, Harry felt significantly lighter and was wondering why he hadn't thought to make this trip earlier. They reached the heart of the city at around six-thirty, and had a spirited debate over what sort of place they should find for dinner. It was Edward, ironically, who made the final decision by silently parking the jeep in front of a steakhouse and refusing to drive any further. When Draco, Jacob and Harry realized that they were no longer moving, they gazed out of the tinted windows to observe the establishment beyond the curb.
"'Big Al's Steakhouse?'" Draco read questioningly. He looked at the vampire who shrugged at him. The pureblood sighed.
"Works for me."
The four of them left the warmth of the car and trudged through a layer of slushy snow as they hurried to the resturaunt. Once inside, Harry's glasses fogged irritatingly and Jacob blew hot air into his boyfriend's gloved hands. As the stood waiting for a server to acknowledge them, Edward beckoned them closer to him and reached one hand into the pocket of his coat.
"Alice left these on my desk before she left with Jasper. Apparently she acquired them a while ago. So, against my better judgment…" he left the sentence hanging and drew three plastic cards from his coat. He spread them face up to reveal three very authentic- though false- identification cards. Suddenly, Jacob, Draco, and Harry were 21. They grinned at him and each took their respective card. Edward just shrugged.
"Of course, I know Draco and Harry were of age back home, so really only Fido was the issue here, but-"
"I don't even care that that was an insult," Jacob said blankly. "You just became marginally cooler… You bastard." And he held out his hand genially to the vampire, who looked momentarily taken aback before reaching out to grasp the hand. There was a soft hissing sound as the two creatures made contact- like the fizz of hot metal on ice, and though each grimaced slightly, it was an altogether friendly moment of acceptance.
"Shit," Jacob swore in amazement as he turned the card over in his hand. His own face stared up at him. "Quil and Embry will not believe you gave me this."
Edward smirked at him. "Don't make me regret it. You ahd better be able to hold your alcohol or you are cleaning your own vomit."
Jacob smiled. "Do you honestly doubt me?"
The vampire shrugged. "The way you look? No, I suppose not."
Music was loud in the steakhouse. A consistent heavy beat vibrated in their chests, accompanying the hits that played in a cycle over the sound system. There was a rowdy commotion by the bar, where a crowd was engaged by several flat screen televisions, which played sports highlights. The quartet was finally ushered to a booth by a harassed looking waitress with two pencils behind her left ear and another in her hand. She passed them each a menu and trotted away before any of them could make a request. They had just begun to look over their options when there was another uproar from the bar. They looked across the room to where a busty young waitress in a low-cut top was refilling drinks fro the shouting and whistling crowd. Just as quickly, the drinkers' attention was returned to the flatscreens as a memorable stunt replayed in hi-definition slow motion. Angered and appreciative shouts mingled and rose once more.
Draco scoffed and scanned his menu. "Reminds me of Father's poker nights."
Jacob immediately looked up at him. "Really?"
Draco never spoke of his family- something that, to be truthful, frustrated the wolf a bit. Since revealing himself to the blond, he had not kept any secrets, and yet he felt that he knew next to nothing about his boyfriend.
The slytherin didn't look up from his menu. "Yes. They were loud and crude. Mother always went out on those nights, and I wasn't allowed in until I'd turned eleven. The years before then, I spent every Tuesday and Thursday evening alone with My Dobby." His head then jerked up, as though shocked that he had allowed the words past his lips. Harry's head perked at the mention of the elf and caught Draco's eye.
Jacob noticed. "What's a Dobby?"
"Oh," Draco began. "Dobby was my…" he floundered for a second and Jacob raised an eyebrow.
"The butler, Dray." Harry offered. "Don't be embarrassed that you had money. You can admit it." He glared at the pureblood, who he had now rescued multiple times from his own verbal predicaments.
"A- a butler? Yes, I suppose he was. But he was also a very dear friend, so I couldn't think of the exact word for what he was. More than a butler, you know."
"Really?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Oh yes," the slytherin assured him, nodding sincerely. "Dobby was very close to me. When I was four, he took the blame when I set my Father's wardrobe on fire."
Harry winced at the thought of what sort of punishment Dobby had endured for such a thing, but Jacob snorted.
"How did you light a wardrobe on fire?"
Now Draco, apparently satisfied with his coice of a meal, slosed his menu and tapped his fingers on the cover. "I actually don't remember. I must have been frightened or something."
Jacob frowned at him. "It sounds like you were a unique child."
"You have no idea."
Yet another waitress approached their table for their orders which they each gave. Jake and Edward both ordered rather raw steaks, which made the woman grimace as she scribbled down the requests. Then she returned (after double checking their ID's with a serious look of doubt on her face) and grudgingly placed four beers on the scratched wooden table. Jake snapped the top off of his and took a sip, grinning at his fortune.
"So what were these poker nights like?"
Draco considered the question carefully, and then answered slowly. "It was loud and smoky, highly inappropriate for an eleven year old boy. Of course, I thought they were terrific at the time. And men only. You know the sort," he added to Harry. "Rabastan, Macnair, LeStrange, Greyback. Yes, men only- except for the entertainment." All of his companions made a disgusted sort of sound in their throats.
"And you attended these events?" Edward asked disapprovingly.
The Slytherin nodded. "I was invited when I turned eleven, because it made me a good host- a good Malfoy. It was Father's way of ensuring that I would know how to behave at school."
"By whoring women?" The vampire accused with his eyes narrowed.
Jacob took offense at that and put an arm around Draco's shoulders, pulling him into his side. "That's not what he said! Was it, Dragon?"
"No, it's not," he agreed. He reached up to hold the werewolf's warm fingers where they rested near his collarbone.
"I was supposed to learn my position in society. Recognize who was beneath me."
"Such as who?" Prompted Edward, and he noticeably shifted his eyes slowly from Draco Jacob.
Draco froze abruptly and glanced at Jake as well before turning his icy glare back to the vampire. "That's enough about me. I owe you nothing."
Later, when they had finished their meals and were enjoying the advantages of Edward's fake ID's, they found themselves more able to hear the loud music that blasted from all corners of the room. The sports fans had trickled out tipsily as the games ended, leaving the steakhouse marginally quieter, and the four were singing and laughing along to the lyrics between conversations.
"But I mean, seriously. 'The Gun to my Holster?' I mean, who would want to be that?" Jacob repeated emphatically.
"Of course it's dumb," Harry answered. "But I'm just saying that 'Sexy Bitch' is way worse. Here's this guy, talking bout how he wants to respect his girl, and then he makes the refrain all about how she's his sexy bitch." He slammed his bottle onto the table with a clunk as though to emphasize his point.
"At least she was sexy, mate." Draco supplied offhandedly.
"Yes, well. There's that." The music shifted seamlessly to the opening beats of a different song; this one sung by a woman. "Hush, this one's different." Harry announced.
The four of them listened intently to the lyrics as the music beat around them. "Mrs. Weasley would hate this stuff," Harry said quietly to Edward, remembering spending Christmases with Celestina Warbeck.
"It's from the debut studio album "The Fame" by the recording artist Lady Gaga," the vampire muttered to him. "It was released on August 19th, 2008 by Interscope Records."
"Mhm," Harry responded, humoring his musically inclined boyfriend with feigned interest. "What's it called?"
I can see you standing there
Across the block, with
A smile on you mouth and
Your hand on your—
"Well shit," said Draco plainly. "That proves it."
"Proves what?"
"This is a dirty song."
Jake stared at him in a stupor. "You just figured that out?"
"Well yes. I was trying to think if I could remember if there's any such thing as a 'disco stick.'"
The shape shifter snorted. "Only this one," he laughed. And without further ado, he brazenly reached down and squeezed Draco's crotch.
"Jacob!" Draco shouted in shock as he turned a deep shade of red.
Harry roared with laughter.
"Okay, that's enough. Let's get out of here before any of you really does something stupid," Edward reasoned.
They hadn't drunk much, but it was enough that Jake had dared to cop a feel in public, something that the vampire suspected the werewolf would not have attempted had he been sober. He beckoned to the waitress, but when she approached and made to hand Edward the check, Draco intercepted it. He fished an impressive leather wallet from his jacket pocket and flipped open a flap of it to reveal and excessive amount of crisp cash. With nary a glance at the total amount, he thumbed out a few bills and tucked them between a beer bottle and a glass half filled with ice. Jacob carefully watched this occur but didn't say anything. They all stood, shrugged on their coats, and left the restaurant to face the icy weather outside.
It had snowed a lot in the hours that they were in Al's Steakhouse, and the wheels of the jeep were half buried. They jumped the pile of muddy snow at the curb and Jacob and Harry hoisted themselves into the vehicle while Draco and Edward stepped into the street to get in from the other side. As the heat blew from the front and warmed the car, Jake laughed teasingly at the snow that melted in Draco's hair, causing the blond locks to become darker and plaster to his face. The pureblood pouted in annoyance and shivered when precipitation dripped from his temple and seeped down his collar. Edward stepped on the gas and the buried wheels spun uselessly, making a whirring noise in the snow.
He sighed. "Harrison…"
"No problem," the wizard told him. He then turned around and gave Draco a pointed look, which the blond understood at once. "Hey Jake, let's play a game," he said as he turned to face the Quileute. Jake looked thrilled. "Okay."
"Alright, I'm going to cover your eyes," he said softly.
In the front seat, Edward pretended to choke.
Draco placed his hands as he said he would, warming them against the werewolf's heated skin. Then his face became blank with realization that he had no idea where to take this 'game.'
"uhmm, Now count backwards from 30."
"Why?"
Draco looked around uselessly. "It's a surprise," he ansered.
Harry threw him an exasperated "That's all you have?" look and as he grabbed the door handle he waved his wand in a lazy motion.
"Oh shit!" Jacob exclaimed as soon as Harry stepped out of the car.
Draco jumped but was careful to keep his hands in place. "What?"
"Damnit, Dray! Billy! I was supposed to, supposed to-" he struggled against the hands covering his eyes. "I don't remember! Jesus, it was important!"
Draco hushed him and glancing out the window, he checked Harry's progress. The sidewalk was empty- holiday shoppers suddenly rushing to their homes to accomplish forgotten but "important" tasks.
"It's alright," he attempted to calm his partner. "We will get you home in a minute."
"No, NOW!" The wolf roared. "He needs me! I was meant to…gah!" he twisted violently and irrational panic came into his voice. The slytherin looked over his shoulder again to see Harry out the window, melting snow with streams of hot air from his wand. He hoped he would hurry. It wasn't normal for muggles to resist a repelling charm, and he didn't know what would happen if he continued to withhold Jacob, who was now reaching the point of desperation.
"God Damn it, Draco! Get your fucking hands off of me!" he shouted.
Shocked, the blond dropped his hands. Jake turned furious eyes on him as they sat face to face on the wide back seat. "This is important! Why the hell are you being like this! Hell, you never listen to m-
Draco caught him mid-speech in a searing kiss and the werewolf eagerly reciprocated. Draco felt Jake's body relax entirely and he leaned backward until his back was nestled bearably at the corner of the car and the back of the seat. Jake followed him, not breaking their contact, and easily covered the smaller body with his own. Edward clenched the steering wheel determinedly and stared through the front windows, wishing hopelessly that he could magically become deaf.
The Boy Who Lived pulled open his door and heaved himself up as he reattached his wand to the holster on his forearm. He glanced into the backseat, where the couple's frantic kiss had become slow and passionate; Jacob's fingers threading gently through the damp hair at the base of the pureblood's neck. The black haired wizard turned his baffled gaze to his boyfriend. Edward shrugged at him.
"Draco's distraction."
Harry snickered. "Oh."
"Yes."
"Shall we ignore them?" Harry asked, and he made a show of relaxing into his seat with his hands behind his head.
"We shall."
Without bothering to look over his shoulder at the road, Edward pulled out of the space and onto the main road, the wheels making a terrific splash as they spun through lakes of freshly melted snow.
The drive back to Forks began uneventfully. Slow traffic gave way to open roads as they left the city limits, and soon they were traveling speedily down a black stretch of road with at least a mile's distance between themselves and any other vehicle ahead of or behind them. Jacob and Draco had cooled down in the backseat. They somehow managed to switch positions, so that Jacob's bulk was now settled caddy-cornered to the seat and window. His left leg hung off the seat while his right was extended along the length of the bench, and Draco reclined comfortable between them, leaning his back against Jake's front. Their low conversation reached the front seats quiet and muffled, broken intermittently by the soft snick of a sweet kiss or sigh of content. Harry's left hand was clasped tenderly in the chilled grip of his boyfriend who was driving one-handed. The wizard's speech was mildly slurred as the alcohol he drank worked through his system, and Edward laughed with him as he talked aimlessly.
"So you know what I mean, right?" he asked finally.
Edward gazed at him, raised an eyebrow, then chuckled softly and replied. "You are drunk, Harrison."
His counterpart nodded in agreement. "Yes. But it makes sense, you know?"
"Mm," Edward said noncommittally.
"Well, you've not been drinking, so you wouldn't be. And Jake- he's a bit gone, but look at the size of him, you know? He's still fine." He sighed dramatically and looked out the window at the thickening trees that lined the road as they drove. Wet snow was falling steadily and was building around the lip of his window.
"'nd Draco's been having drinks since he turned old enough to be a proper Malfoy, so he's fine too."
"You've never had a drink before?"
"I have!" the wizard insisted indignantly. "Seamus shared whatever his cousin sent to him. I think we were fourteen. Yeah, yeah. Fourteen, because we got real sick after the dragon." He continued to stare into the swirling darkness beyond his window, but there was something else there now too. It was intermingling with the falling flakes, but its shape was rippling and contorting as though neither water nor gas. He squinted.
"Edward, pull over here."
"What?"
"Please, pull over."
The vampire sighed and pulled the car sharply to his right, and as they crossed over the side-lane ridges, the buzzing and sudden jolt of the vehicle drew an
"Ouch," "Sorry," "no, it's not your fault." From the back seat.
Harry turned to face the disoriented couple. Jacob was looking over startled Draco, who put two fingers to his bottom lip, which had been bitten when they hit the warning strips. As the Gryffindor opened his mouth to explain their sudden need to pull over, Draco gently pulled his fingers away and winced when he noticed them coated with blood. Edward sucked in a breath, deeply and audibly before he ceased breathing entirely and clenched his jaw. Harry carefully extricated his fingers from the vampire's tightening grip.
"Edward?" The pale face creased in concentration and Edward shook his head very slowly.
"Go," Harry urged him. "Please. You can go into the woods right here. We will meet you later."
Draco had replaced his fingers at his lip, trying to staunch the potent flow, while Harry encouraged Edward to leave before, well, something. Finally, Harry reached across Edward's rigid form, lifted the lock, and in a swift pull/push motion, unlatched the door and opened it outward a few inches. A chilled blast of air encompassed the car's occupants and the vampire shuddered again as the tangy scent of Draco's pure blood swept around him on the breeze. He opened his eyes minutely and focused a burgundy gaze on Harry, who was still half across his lap.
"I'm sorry," he choked. And quick as a flash he was gone and the driver side door was swinging.
"Jacob, please calm down." Draco's voice, muffled, said. Harry faced them once more. The couple was sitting upright in their seats, Draco holding a stained handkerchief to his mouth and Jake trembling like a leaf.
"He was going to-" the wolf began.
"He was not!" Harry defended hotly. "He's stronger than that, so don't you even suggest that he was going to snap!"
"What are we even doing? Why did we pull over to begin with?" The werewold demanded as his shaking calmed.
"I-"
Harry looked out the window and locked his eyes on the silver shape still drifting near the tree line. His eye caught a brown street sign, splattered with wind-blown snow, but recognizable as depicting two figures with backpacks, carrying walking sticks.
"There's a hiking path. I thought I'd fancy a walk." He told them. He was met with blank stares.
"Just come on," he stated heavily, and he wrenched his door open and stepped out into the damp winter. Harry turned up his collar and tucked his left hand into his right sleeve, his right into the left, where he kept a cautious grip on his wand. Behind him, he heard the jeep's doors slam in unison and listened as Jake's and Draco's footsteps crunched toward him. They stood, huddled silently and awkwardly, none of them really knowing what they were going to do. Luckily, the alcohol they had consumed seemed to have affected Harry more than the others, and his bladder made an excuse to break away of them.
"There's a trail this way. Let's see where it goes. But I'll be right behind you- I've gotta go have a piss."
And he trudged a good twenty feet to the left of them and stepped into the brush. Here, he dropped his fly, took care of his business, and stumbled further into the trees where he found what had called him from the car. A patronus sat patiently, nestled between two logs, and when Harry nodded, the badger opened its mouth and delivered its message.
"Mr. Potter. The guard has detected a magical signature in the area, something that doesn't belong to anyone we work with. The elite and half the team are tracking the signal based on the point of apparation where the signature first appeared. It is about two miles south of our current location."
The badger fizzled out and Harry growled. That had been the least informative message he had ever received- if he didn't count the nearly nonexistent letters he suffered from the Order before 5th year.
"Diggory!" he hissed. "Show yourself if you're here. And anyone else too!"
Within a few moments, several men had lifted disillusionment charms, stepped out of the trees, and congregated around Harry, who was reminded of the Death Eaters responding to the call of their master.
"Had a few drinks, Potter?" One of them chuckled, and the Gryffindor blushed, noting that he had to remember that these men watched everything he did when away from home. He reconsidered. This was nothing like the death eaters. None of them would have commented upon watching Voldemort empty his bladder against a snowdrift.
He looked to Amos, the hufflepuff who the badger most likely belonged to, and winced internally when he recognized the crystal color of the man's eyes were precisely the same as his son's. Harry used his wand to clear and dry a fallen log, and then sat upon it. He replaced his wand back up to his arm and tugged his sleeves down over it to embrace the heat of the warm coat he wore.
"So what's going on?"
Edward heard her coming to him, but waited patiently for her approach. When the footsteps stopped in front of him, he raised his glazed eyes to her face, but did not stop feeding from the slowing artery that pulsed warm, sweet nectar into his eager mouth. He kept his eyes on her, and pierced his elongated canines deeper in a short thrust that downward. The deer's legs twitched feebly as the last of its lifeblood was drained. The vampire kept his iron jaw locked around the animal's jugular for a few more moments, suckling until the flesh grew cold in his mouth. Then he retracted and lowered the corpse to the ground. He had learned long ago not to look into the eyes of his kills. The glassy, horrified gaze was eerie, and for some reason the deer always made it worse. He stood up and brushed his hands down his front, knowing that he wouldn't have a speck of anything on his person, but doing so anyway. She huffed and placed her hands on her slim waist. "Are you quite finished?"
"Yes, thank you." He answered cheekily. "What are you here for?"
"Alice had a vision," Rosalie informed him.
"Oh?" They began walking in no direction in particular, side by side. "I thought she and Jasper were in Alaska this week?"
"They are, you lovesick twit. Why do you think I'm delivering the message?"
He would ignore her attitude for now, he told himself. "So what did Alice See?"
"She said it was fuzzy."
"Regardless. It must be substantial for her to make you track me here."
"Must be."
"Well, what is it?" he asked, clenching his fists."
"She told me to say, 'hightail it back to Harry as soon as you can, and watch his butt.'"
Edward's eyes widened, and then narrowed.
"You really are a piece of work," he ground out thickly.
The statement didn't faze her. She huffed at him.
"Really, because I want to spend my existence passing on the message for you to eye up your human boyfriend's backside?" She said sarcastically.
"It's a warning, Rose! She's not telling me to check out his ass, and you know that!" he retorted furiously.
"As if you wouldn't mind," she accused. "And if he's in so much danger, why are you still here?"
"I'm going," he said as he turned. "Go home, Rosalie."
"Gladly."
She turned on her heel and sprinted from the woods, and Edward felt his head spin as everything else seemed to move much slower while she ran. Then she was gone and time returned to him. He closed his eyes and tilted up his chin, inhaling deeply and slowly. He caught the scent that meant so much to him now, and deduced that his boyfriend was south of him, back closer to the road, but in the trees all the same. He growled a bit, thinking that he should tell Harry to be careful wandering into the woods when a vampire was feeding, but he knew the wizard wouldn't appreciate the warning. He breathed deeply once more, and after realizing that Harry seemed to be with several other people, he sprinted off in that direction to discover what was happening.