~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~
Draco sat on a large, silky blue chair in a room full of people he didn't know. They were all talking and whispering to each other, glancing at him every once in a while. One of his house elves, Pelly, was babbling on and on to them all, resulting in more talking of the strangers. Draco simply wondered when Pelly would come back to take him home. Pelly was his favorite house elf because she was nice and would play with him when he asked her to.
"Please, Pelly," A tall man with a white beard broke into Pelly's rambling. "Do start over again. We can't understand a word you are saying."
"Pelly is sorry!" Pelly exclaimed. "Pelly try again. Pelly very sorry!"
"It's alright, Pelly," The man smiled kindly. "Now please do get on with the explanation. Why did you bring Draco here?"
"Little Master is safe here!"
"Please, Pelly," the man sighed. "Can you begin at the beginning?"
"Little Master in danger at Manor! Master and Mistress never come home from last meeting they go to!" Pelly's eyes were wide. "Little Master not safe there!"
"Why Pelly?" the man asked amidst knowing glances from everyone else in the room.
"Because Great Master is looking for Little Master! Wants Little Master to become what Master was!" Pelly cried out in distress. "Little Master in danger! Help Little Master?"
"Yes, Pelly, of course," the man nodded. "But we must first know what we are helping with. What happened to Draco's parents?"
"Pelly not know! Master and Mistress leave often on meetings," Pelly nodded solemnly. "Leave Little Master with house elves and maids. Little Master never understand what Master and Mistress supposed to be. Little Master not understand what parents do. Little Master have no friends and is lonely, so Pelly play with Little Master."
"You sound like a wonderful friend, Pelly," the man smiled. "What exactly is Draco in danger of?"
"Great Master!" Pelly cried out. "Maids and house elves love Little Master. When Master and Mistress not come back, Pelly know must get Little Master away! Great Master coming for Little Master soon. Must not let Great Master get Little Master!"
"Who is Great Master, Pelly?"
"Great Master is Master and Mistress' master!"
"Does Great Master have a name?"
"Yes, yes Great Master have a name!"
"What is it?"
"Great Master name Voldemort. But Pelly not supposed to tell anyone!" Pelly glanced over at Draco. "Great Master want Little Master. Keep Little Master safe! Everyone tell Pelly to take Little Master here. Take Little Master and keep safe. Pelly must go now! If Great Master finds Pelly and Little Master gone, Pelly will be in trouble when Pelly gets back!"
"Alright Pelly," the man sighed. "You may go. Thank you very much for helping Draco. All of us here will forever remember your name."
"Thank you! Goodbye Little Master," Pelly came up to the confused Draco. "Little Master stay safe."
"Pelly?" Draco frowned. "Goodbye? Where are you going?"
"Goodbye Little Master!" And with that, Pelly dashed out the door.
"Pelly!" Draco cried out, jumping out of his seat to run after the house elf.
"No, Draco, you must stay here," the man came over and sat Draco back in his chair. "Sit here while we talk."
Draco wiped his watery eyes, willing himself not to cry. He didn't understand what was happening! Where did Pelly go? Why did she leave him with all these strangers? He wished she would come back and take him home. It was late and he was tired. He curled up on the chair, letting the soft murmurings of the strangers soothe him into sleep.
"What are we... with him? He can't... here."
"...Know. We will... someone's...."
"Who?"
"I don't.... What about...."
"No! Not..."
"We must... safe...."
"Fine, but... horrid aunt and uncle...."
"Draco?" the man's voice was closer now. "Come, Draco. We are taking you to safety. Get up."
"Where?" Draco sat up slowly. "Home?"
"No, Draco, I'm afraid you will never be able to go back home," the man's voice was soft and apologetic. "Come now."
"I don't want to!" Draco cried out suddenly, clutching as tight as he could manage to the chair.
"You must," the man sighed. "Come now."
"Where did Pelly go?" Draco loosened his hold and looked at the man.
"Ah, the brave little house elf," the man smiled. "Pelly has gone back home. She took a big risk bringing you here."
"Is she going to be okay?"
"Yes, she'll be fine," the man said. "Come now. She did this for you. She wanted you in safety. Do you want all of her risk to be in vain?"
"No," Draco shook his head vigorously and sighed. "Can I have something to drink before we go?"
"Of course," the man smiled and looked at a man with peculiar black eyes and hair. "Get him some water, please?"
"Of course," the man half-sneered.
"Why can't I go back home? And who are you?"
"I am Albus Dumbledore, call me Dumbledore," Dumbledore smiled slightly. "It is not safe for you at home."
"Yes it is!" Draco insisted. "I want to go home."
"You can't, I'm sorry Draco. Here's your water," Dumbledore handed Draco a glass, which he drank eagerly.
"I'm hungry," Draco looked up at Dumbledore after he finished the water.
"I'm afraid we need to get going now," Dumbledore took the cup and handed it to the black haired man. "You can eat when we get there. Or actually, I think I might have something."
Draco watched curiously as Dumbledore dug around in his pocket. He tried to peek in, but Dumbledore's hand blocked his view. Dumbledore pulled his hand out, along with a small green box. Draco's eyes lit up as he realized it was a box of chocolate frogs. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he handed the box to Draco. Draco immediately tore the package open. His eyes widened as he saw 10 chocolate frogs.
"Thank you!" he smiled up at Dumbledore and threw a frog in his mouth.
"You're quite welcome," Dumbledore smiled back. "You may eat those on the way there. Follow me."
Draco nodded and followed Dumbledore through hallways and finally into an office-like room. Dumbledore threw in some flew powder, and soon they were in yet another strange place. Draco sighed as he was dragged through the small house. Looking around, he didn't recognize all of the items in the house. Dumbledore talked to another man while Draco studied each item. There was a large box with two metal poles sticking out of the top. An older boy sneered at Draco and picked up a small rectangular object. The boy pressed a button, and, to Draco's amusement, he found it was a picture frame. The only other picture frames the people in this house had were ones that didn't move. He blinked as the boy pressed another button and the picture changed. The light of the picture frame seemed to pull Draco closer.
"What is that?" Draco asked in an awed voice.
"It's a muggle contraption," the older boy snapped. "A Malfoy wouldn't care about a muggle contraption. Go away."
"What?" Draco frowned, but backed away as the boy glared at him. "Okay..."
Draco sighed and leaned against a wall, hoping he'd go home soon. The large picture frame changed again, and Draco giggled as there was a drawing of a cat chasing a mouse, the mouse seemed to be winning. When the older boy turned to glare again, Draco sighed and slinked off into the darkness. His attention was soon caught by another rectangular thing, but this one was bigger than the small rectangle, yet smaller than the big box. It, also, had a pole sticking out of it, but only one and to the side. On both sides there were lots and lots of holes in the hard surface, and Draco could see a stretched cloth under it. There were buttons on top, and when he pressed one, there was a static sound with what sounded like music somewhere in the background. The sound was loud, and Draco scrambled to try to figure out how to turn it off.
"Don't touch our stuff!" The boy was suddenly behind him, reaching to press a button that turned it off.
"Sorry," Draco said softly, backing away.
"Whatever," the boy turned back and went to watch the moving picture again.
"Draco!" Dumbledore called.
"Coming!" Draco ran over, relieved to not be alone with the mean older boy.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes," Draco nodded eagerly.
"Good," Dumbledore smiled and nodded to the man he had been talking to. "Well then, let's go."
"Percy!" the other man called. "Come on."
"Where are we going, dad?" the mean older boy asked.
"You'll see," the strange man glanced at Draco then back at Percy. "I'll tell you about it later."
The three began walking out the front door, Draco hurrying to catch up. They stopped at a large, strangely shaped metal thing, Draco thought it looked quite like a very large dog's head, except with a nose on both the front and back of its head. The strange man went to the opposite side of the thing and opened a door. Draco's eyes widened as everyone else opened doors too and went inside. He hesitated before climbing in after them, hoping the dog would be in a good mood and not swallow them.
"We're going to have to drive there," the strange man said. "A flying car would definitely be noticed."
"Yes," Dumbledore nodded, then looked into the back seat at Draco. "Buckle your seat belt, Draco. Percy will show you how."
"Okay," Draco glanced nervously at Percy, who glared and slid a metal thing into another metal thing. Draco did the same, wondering what the things were. There certainly seemed to be a lot of them here. Draco looked out the window as the head began moving forward and down the street. Small houses wooshed by and he could hear a crackling of gravel below him. The stars and moon were out and bright, lighting everything up perfectly. After a while of watching, Draco's eyes began to close slowly.
An hour later, Draco was being shaken awake. His eyes widened as he realized he had fallen on Percy while he slept. The older boy didn't say anything, just unbuckled his seat belt, that was what Dumbledore had called it, and opened the door. Draco struggled with the metal clasps, but couldn't pull it out. The door beside him suddenly swung open and an exasperated Percy stood above him.
"Can't you even unbuckle your own seat belt?"
Percy reached over and pressed down on a blue, square button on the outside of one part of the clasp. Miraculously, the seat belt came loose and Draco wriggled free of it. When he looked around, Dumbledore and the strange man were nowhere in sight. The head was in front of another small house, and Draco assumed they had gone inside the open door. He looked uncertainly at Percy, who was leaning against the trunk of a tall tree.
"Where are we?" Draco managed to convince his voice to say.
Percy glanced at him. "Harry Potter's house."
"Harry Potter?" Draco frowned, trying to figure out where he had heard that name. "Who's that?"
"Don't try to fucking trick to me," Percy swung around to face him. "They might believe you're innocent and sweet, but I know you aren't! You're a Malfoy, you're trained from birth to be a follower of Voldemort! This is probably some trick set up by him. Kill little five-year-old Harry Potter."
Draco stepped back, frowning. Voldemort. He knew that name well. Every time he was around his parents, they mentioned Voldemort. And now he remembered Harry Potter. His parents scorned Harry Potter. When he had asked what Harry Potter did wrong, his parents had glared and locked him in his room for two days. That day, he learned never to question them.
"I don't understand," Draco whimpered softly, feeling tears fill his eyes. "Pelly, come back!"
Percy eyed him suspiciously. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I wanna go home!" Draco rubbed ferociously at his eyes.
"Back to mommy and daddy?" Percy sneered, the hate back in his eyes.
"Mommy and daddy?" Draco frowned and backed up a step, wondering what the older boy was talking about. "What's mommy and daddy?"
Percy paused. "You better not be fucking with me."
"What?" Draco asked, even more confused.
"Come on, it's time to go," Percy said, but his voice was a bit gentler than it had been before.
Draco looked up and saw Dumbledore, the strange man, and another small boy walking out of the house. Two figures appeared in the door, a large one, and a thin. The door slammed shut and Percy ushered Draco into the head, helping him buckle into the middle. Another boy about his age sat down beside him and buckled the seat belt. Draco wondered jealously how he knew how to do that without being told. Soon enough the head was going down the street again, and Draco found himself drifting off to sleep.
"Draco, Harry, wake up," Percy's voice slid into Draco's mind and pulled him back to consciousness.
"Where are we?" Draco asked, peeking over the other boy to see out the window, but he couldn't see.
"Far away from where we were last," Percy said simply. "Come on, get out."
"I can't," Draco said.
"Oh, sorry," Percy reached over and unbuckled him. "There."
"Thank you," Draco smiled slightly and followed the other little boy out of the car.
He looked around in wonder. They were in front of a small house, although it was bigger than the other two houses he had been at. There was a small, grassy yard with a tree in the middle. The head was standing on a long strip of cement, and Draco could finally see that it stood on two black circles. A peek around to the other side revealed two more, making four. At one end of the gravel strip was the street, and on the other was a fence. Inside the fence was another head, but this one was bigger and longer, so Draco figured it was from a giant wolf. He looked up to see Dumbledore talking with two strangers on a patio in front of the door of the house.
"Draco, Harry, come here," Dumbledore called.
"Coming," Draco said, running over to Dumbledore and almost tripping on the steps. Harry was only a few steps behind him.
"Draco, Harry, these will be your new parents," Dumbledore smiled kindly. "Say hello."
"Hello," both boys said in unison.
"Hello boys," the woman smiled kindly.
"Wow," Draco's eyes widened and he looked at Dumbledore. "She talks different!"
"We're in America, Draco," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "It will be safer here. And yes, they do talk differently."
"But Father said America was far away," Draco said, wondering why the adults all got an uneasy look.
"It only takes a few hours the way we took," Dumbledore said, very gently Draco noticed.
"Where's Pelly? I want to see Pelly," Draco demanded.
"You're not going to see Pelly for a very long time," Dumbledore sighed.
"Why not?" Draco frowned. "You kidnapped me!"
"No, Draco-" Dumbledore started, but Draco cut him off.
"Yes you did!" Draco tried to fight back tears, but his eyes still watered up. "Pelly would never ever abandon me! She said so herself! Take me back to Pelly! I wanna go home!"
"Calm down Draco, I know this is hard for you," Dumbledore sighed. "Pelly didn't abandon you. She brought you to me to take you somewhere safe, so I brought you here. You'll like it here, Draco. They Trellers will be wonderful parents."
"But they aren't my parents," Draco said, now confused. "Parents are the people who give birth to you, Pelly said so."
"But parents are much more than that Draco."
"Pelly used to tell me that too," Draco nodded solemnly. "I want to see Pelly."
"Maybe I will be able to arrange for Pelly to come visit you," Dumbledore said. "Would you like that?"
"Yes!" Draco exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.
"Very well then, that's what will happen," Dumbledore turned to look at Harry. "What do you think about all this, Harry?"
"I like it," Harry smiled tentatively.
"Good," Dumbledore smiled and turned to the Trellers. "I will leave them with you now. If you need anything, you know what to do. Goodbye, and good luck."
With that, Dumbledore hurried back to the car, where Percy and his father were waiting. Draco watched as the head backed away from the house then down the street in a blur. He and Harry followed the Trellers into their house and were shown to a large, beige couch with little dark blue dots all over it. The walls were extremely white, and the shaggy carpet was also beige. Draco, who had left his shoes by the front door as commanded, curled his toes in the long strands of carpet. Beside the couch he sat on were two beige recliners and across the room was a large fireplace with a crackling fire. To his right was the doorway on the same wall as the couch, which led outside, and behind the couch were two large windows, covered by drapes. On the right wall was another doorway leading to a room with a large red oak table and 6 chairs; two on each side and one on each end. On the same wall as the fireplace was a hallway. The left wall was bare.
The two boys sat in silence as the two adults brought in drinks and snacks. When all was ready, they sat down. Each boy said his name, then the Trellers introduced themselves as Michaela and Johan. Draco finished his drinks and snacks, which he thought tasted delicious, and listened as Michaela babbled on about how happy they were to have the boys. It wasn't long before both boys were fast asleep.
Draco spent the next few days getting to know the Trellers, Harry, and the house. On the fourth day, a knock came at the door. When Michaela opened it, Draco had cried out in happiness when he saw a nervous Pelly standing there. He had spent the whole day telling Pelly all about what had happened, how much he missed her, and asking what had happened at home. Everyone that had previously worked for the Malfoys were now at Hogwarts. When the visit was over, Pelly promised to tell everyone that Draco said hi and missed them. Draco had been disappointed Pelly had to leave, but had been told Pelly could come visit again if he was good.
~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~
A/N: Finished with the first chapter! I didn't finish it as fast as I wanted, which also means I didn't update my other story as soon as I wanted. ^^; Oh well. Review!