Draco Malfoy and the Philosopher's Stone
Two – The Vanishing Glass
Ten years went by at the Wilcox household though those who lived around it would swear it was little more then a blink of an eye. The cottage itself hadn't changed much at all, surrounded by a brick fence, soft yellow plaster covered the front vines creeping up to the roof, the garden neatly tended. But things had faded in time, where once brightly coloured balls and a kiddie-pool had adorned the yard, now two pushbikes free of training wheels and a basketball ring rested on the sidewall.
Ten Years had brought a lot of change, some things, however remained the same.
"DRAKE-IE-POOS!"
"Ged off, Cally!" The boy squirmed beneath his covers, blinking sleepily. He was a slight boy, almost pixie like. White blond hair stuck out of his head from a number of different angles, falling over pale skin, almost, but not quite covering the lighting shaped scar on his forehead. Wide grey eyes took a few moments to focus on the mass of irritating flesh that rested heavily on top of him. The form that had woken him up from a dream of riding flying motorbikes.
Draco Malfoy glared up at his cousin. Caroline Wilcox was three years older then her ten-year-old cousin. At thirteen she was becoming a young lady, though Draco was more inclined to say she was becoming a tree. Cally was taller then most girls her age and she towered over Draco. She delighted in teasing her quieter cousin, and as they had grown up together, he had become her pale shadow. That was until she'd gone off to boarding school with out him two years ago.
"Get up, get up, get up!" her much too happy voice cried out, bouncing lightly, her short black hair falling in front of her blue eyes.
"I won't!" Draco huffed, pulling his covers back over his head.
He really should have known it was useless, when Cally got an idea in her head, there was very little that could sway her from it.
"Wake," she pulled the covers out of his hands, "UP!" She kissed him on the noes.
"Don't kiss me!" Draco cried, sitting up suddenly, wiping his noes. "You've got girl germs."
Cally laughed hugging him whilst trying to bounce. Draco tried to pry her long limbs free with little luck.
She bounded out of the room, crying out; "it's Summer!"
Draco watched Cally eat. The girl shovelled food like a vacuum cleaner, talking all the while. Draco wondered how she managed not to spit it everywhere. She talked of school, her friends, Lacrosse (she was the captain of the girl's team), Jamie Anderson who was the best-looking boy in her year, the new sweater she wanted, the house and any number of things that went through her head at one time.
Uncle Dillon and Aunty Simone seemed content to let her go, injecting questions occasionally. Uncle Dillon was still the same man Draco remembered from growing up. He was big and imposing, but he was the nicest Uncle ever. Aunty Simone was the opposite of his Uncle, but just as nice, even if she got sick a lot. Now they listened to Cally's every excited word. The house was a lot noisier when summer came and Cally returned.
"How's the old school Drake? How are all your friends doing?" Cally paused, food halfway to her mouth as she looked at him.
Draco smiled, "good." The single word seemed to please Cally and she went back to talking to her parents. Draco never had the heart to tell her that he didn't have any friends. It was almost like he didn't exist at school. Like he was that small shadow following the third year Cally around when he first started.
Cally had done everything for him when they were little. She had spoken and answered for him, deciding what he was doing and when he was doing it. After a couple of years even his aunt and uncle had stopped asking him questions, asking Cally for him. At school it had been only natural that she had taken him under her wing. She had told him once that he was the little brother she never had and she wouldn't let anything happen to him. So he'd become nothing more then her ghost.
Even now no one at school talked to him, his aunt and uncle said nothing more then a sentence to him in a day. As such, Draco had become very observant to the world around him, he noticed small things a child his age probably shouldn't. That was probably the most outstanding thing about him. It was a quiet existence, but it was all Draco had.
"It's Uncle Lucius's birthday soon, isn't it?" Cally asked around a mouthful, unmindful of her own parents flinches. "Shouldn't we go see his grave?"
Draco noticed. "How's Diana?" He asked quietly, setting Cally alight, the girl happy to have him contribute something, and went off on her tangent about her best friend.
Draco watched his Aunt and Uncle relax, both shooting him gratified smiles. Draco often wondered what his father had done to cause such a reaction every time his name was spoken. He didn't remember his parents, though he had tried often enough to. Aunty Simone said they'd died in a car crash when he was a few months old, but Draco didn't remember anything, except, perhaps, a flash of green light. He touched the scar on his forehead, fingering it lightly, he supposed that was how he got it.
"Maybe," Aunt Simone broke through Draco's thoughts, cutting off Cally's steady stream of conversation, "we should take you two to the zoo. It's a lovely day and we haven't done it for such a long while."
Uncle Dillon agreed, causing Cally to whoop in delight, trying to convince her parents to let her bring Diana. When they asked Draco if he had anyone he wanted to bring, he said no.
The family car wasn't all that big, but it suited its purpose. Draco sat behind his uncle because he was so much smaller then the two girls and Uncle Dillon needed the seat back as far as possible.
Diana was a tall bulky girl, her heavyset body made her the goalie for their school's Lacrosse team. She had a happy face covered in freckles and wiry hair that she wore pulled back in a tight braid. Though the two girls had only been on summer break for a week, they talked like they hadn't seen each other in years.
Their current conversation was motorbikes.
"My older brother just got his motorbike licence," Diana said excited, her voice rising in pitch over the hum of the engine. "It's so choice! He took me for ride last night!"
"I dreamt I was on a flying motorbike last night."
The car grew quiet for a moment. Diana had never heard Draco so many words at once before.
His Aunt and Uncle shared a look.
"Motorbikes don't fly!" Cally said suddenly.
"I know."
But Cally was already asking Diana about her brother's bike.
With summer, the zoo was full of families. Youngsters excited by it all dragged parents from pen to pen. His Aunt and Uncle fell behind the two girls, letting them run ahead, occasionally pulling Cally up when she got too boisterous. Draco walked beside them, looking at the animals with just as much interest though not as nosey as Cally.
He saw bears, and tigers. He watched the seals swimming, his face pressed against the glass, wondering what it would be like to be able to swim like that. Diana and Cally pooled their pocket money together and brought an ice cream each for the three of them and they all shared hot chips for an easy lunch.
It was a lovely day all and all, until they got into the reptile and insect house.
Cally and Diana ran into the dark enclosure, looking at each enclosure long enough to find whatever animal lurked behind the glass before moving quickly onto the next. Draco stopped by one of the python cages.
The coils of the large snake were wrapped around a large trunk, the intricate diamond pattern some what mesmerising. A small child banged eagerly at the glass, trying to get the creature to move. The open eyes watched the child as it quickly became bored, dashing off when his mother called.
The snake looked at Draco and appeared to roll its eyes. If Draco hadn't been watching the creature closely enough, he would have sworn it hadn't happened. The snake suddenly seemed to take an interest in Draco, unwinding its body so that its head was as high as Draco's head.
"You must get that all the time," Draco whispered, laying his hand gently against the glass. The snake nodded, head bobbing. It seemed almost delighted to have someone to talk to. "Where do you come from?"
The Snake nodded to the sign beside its cage. 'Boa constrictor, Brazil'. Draco had never seen out side of London, let alone another country.
"Was it nice there?"
Shaking his head the snake pointed once again to the sign. 'This specimen bred in zoo'.
"Oh," Draco looked back at the snake. It was a beautiful creature, Draco couldn't help but feel sorry for it. To never see it's home, or know its family.
Draco couldn't quiet explain what happened next. One moment he was touching the glass, the feeling of helplessness spreading through him. And then the glass was gone.
The snake didn't seem surprised by it, instead, he suddenly sprang to life. He uncoiled from around the trunk, slithering out of the cage. Draco stepped back, shocked. A woman, somewhere, screamed as the snake stopped in front of Draco. It winked before continuing on its way.
As Uncle Dillon grabbed him, pulling him away from the snake, Draco could have sworn he heard the hissing voice cry out 'Brazil, here I come'.
The cottage door opened, admitting an excited Cally. "Did you see it? It had to be as big as the lacrosse field!" She said, for not the first time, dancing into the house. Draco thought she must talk even more then normal when she had a scare. "You were so lucky Drake! It could have eaten you! They swallow their food whole you know-"
"Caroline." Uncle Dillon's voice was tired. "That's enough now, go and call Diana, make sure she's alright."
"Ok!" And she was gone.
Draco sighed, sitting down at the table with his Aunt and Uncle. This wasn't the first time something strange like this had happened. Once Draco hadn't done his homework and didn't want to go to school. He had locked himself in his cupboard, hiding away from his Aunt and Uncle. Nothing they did would open the door, his Uncle's axe had shattered when they tried that after nothing else had worked. Draco had crawled out of the cupboard when the sun had gone down, dirty and hungry.
Another time, a boy at school had made Cally cry, and Draco had wished and wished he would never do it again. The boy hadn't been able to talk for a week, both his parents and the doctors unable to explain the sudden voice loss.
Strange things happened when Draco got emotional. He had learnt not to let things bother him a long time ago.
Both adults looked at him, concern written on their faces. "Are you all right?" Aunt Simone asked. Draco nodded, even though they all had been there when the zoo's doctor had checked him out for snakebites.
"I'm tired," he said quietly.
"You can go to bed, if you'd like," Uncle Dillon said. "You've had quite a day."
"I'll make you a warm drink," his aunt stood. Her smile was tired. Draco hoped she wasn't getting sick again.
"With Marshmallows?"
She laughed, the sound breathless. Draco's heart sunk. She was getting sick again. Uncle Dillon heard it too.
"How about you go and get Draco settled, and I'll bring the drinks." Aunt Simone looked like she was about to argue, but Draco took her hand, leading her to his room.
Draco sat on the bed, looking at the bare walls. When things like this happened, Draco always wished he was able to talk to his parents, to have them tell him it was ok when all these strange things happened.
"I wish I remembered them," he said suddenly, surprising himself as much as his Aunt.
"Oh Drake," she wrapped her arms around his slim form. "I bet they wish they were here to."