Title: Lest we forget

Author: DR asia

Ratings: G

Pairing: None (or pre-slash, really pre-slash)

Categories: AU/Drama

Disclaimer: The last time I checked, I wasn't her.

Summary: AU Two 10-year-olds meet up again after two years, Featuring child!Harry and child!Draco!

Warnings: For one, Voldermort (aka Dark Lord) doesn't exist. So, James and Lily lived until they (really) died in a car accident. Secondly, I have taken some liberties with the Malfoy family…well you'll see when you read it.

AN: The adult Potters were dead by this point in time and Mrs. Figg was their neighbour here, in this story.

Lest we forget

Chapter 1

2 years later…

The burial was over a few weeks before. That day, Harry had slowly made his way back to the house in the drizzling rain with Mrs. Figg carrying an umbrella overhead.

Raining. It was always raining. Since that day, he had learnt to loath the rain.

            All he wanted to do was to crawl back to the twin graves and stay with his parents. Such a simple wish, who had the power to grant him that wish?

            But Mrs. Figg wouldn't like that. She would want him to stay out of the rain and inside the house where it was warm. Since his parents' deaths, she had been taking care of Harry. Mrs. Figg was a nice woman, but she could be a bit overprotective of him at times. Didn't she know that her forced cheerfulness was suffocating him? Why was she always reassuring him?  He knew that his parents weren't going to come back for him from that cold and damp place which they were now confined in.

            He also knew that they would want him to be happy. But it seemed wrong, to be happy when they had gone. Perhaps it was okay for him to be sad for just a little while longer? Maybe…

            "Harry dear? What do you think about a cruise?" Mrs. Figg asked, looking at the morning mail in her hands. They were having breakfast in the kitchen.

            "A what? Cruise?" Harry was puzzled. Why would Mrs. Figg mention the word 'cruise' out of the blue? Unless she's going to… but she wouldn't, right?

            "Oh yes, a cruise. I was thinking that we should go for one. The ocean is a very relaxing place." She carried on, looking extremely interested at a particular letter as she munched on her ham sandwich. "And I thought that we would go for a week or so. What do you think? There will be plenty of fun and games on a cruise ship. You may be able to make some friends too."

            Harry chewed on his toast thoughtfully. A cruise sounded like fun and he didn't want to disappoint Mrs. Figg. So, he agreed to the idea and watched as Mrs. Figg finally turned her eyes onto him and beamed a smile.

            Mrs. Figg, living with her numerous cats, was going to be his parent now. And Harry made a deal with himself to be happy on that cruise. No matter what.

*************

Few weeks later…

            Finally, after many days of waiting, they were going on the cruise. Though they had ran into some problems regarding where to place Mrs. Figg's cats (they couldn't come with them and they have to be fed regularly, you know), everything had been taken care of. Tickets were brought, passports and luggage were checked and all the switches and windows were closed. They were ready to go.

            Harry looked back at the house as Mrs. Figg locked the door with a firm click. He had spent the last few days pondering on various matters. In the end, he had decided that he would a) not forget his parents (of course!), and b) be himself again. He didn't like feeling sad and crying all over place as he had did at first. It exhausted him and worried Mrs. Figg in the process.

            Being happy was a lot easier and less tiring. Besides, Mrs. Figg wouldn't fuss over him so much if he was being happy. Now, everything would be much easier if the nightmares would stop coming to him in his sleep…

            Harry blinked away his thoughts as he realised that the car had stopped. He glanced out of the window and saw that they had already reached their destination. How long had he been thinking?

            Harry stepped out of Mrs. Figg small car and went to help her with their bags. Dragging them along the road, Harry was quite surprised to see that their cruise ship, where they were going to spend the next seven days on, was actually very huge and magnificent-looking. Why, it looked so huge that it could fit in all the people in the country!

            He mentioned this to Mrs. Figg, but she only laughed and said that it could only take about two thousand passengers. Perhaps the reason why Harry had thought of it that way was because he was just 10-years-old and children tend to think that things were larger than they looked.

            Harry got another shock when Mrs. Figg said that they would be staying in one of the VIP's rooms. Young as Harry was, he still knew the difference between a normal room and a VIP one. He wondered where did the money come from but stopped when Mrs. Figg told him to help her look for their room. He wanted to explore the ship.

*************

            Draco was beside himself with excitement and joy. It was his first time on a cruise. He had leaped in joy when his father first mentioned that they will be going on a cruise and now, after endless days of waiting, they were finally on board!

            He took in every detail of the luxury ship with hungry eyes as his father pointed out the various parts of it. Everything sounded great and he could hardly wait until he had time to explore it. He was determined to make the most out of this trip.

*************

tbc…

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