Punishment

Chapter 4 – The House

Harry and Draco went inside and saw a girl, who looked like she was taking drugs, and stood in front of her table, which had the sign, 'Front Office' on it. Harry looked expectantly at the girl. She didn't seem to have noticed them because she was sitting down with earphones blasting in her ears so loudly that Harry and Draco heard it, she was chewing gum and she was on the phone, too. Chatting loudly with some person.

"Excuse me," Harry said very loudly so she could hear him.

He looked up and the chewing gum fell from her mouth.

"Hello," she said, to the girl on the other line of the phone, "I'll call you back…" then she muttered something that made the girl on the other line squeal.

"Er, hi," she said uncertainly, turning her walkman off, "welcome to Happy Day apartments―"

Draco snorted but was cut short when Harry elbowed him in the ribs.

"How may I help you?" the girl continued, she seemed too occupied with staring into Harry's eyes to notice him elbowing Draco. She seemed very taken by him. Harry found this strange.

"We, er, have a reservation." Harry said.

"Name under what?" said the girl absently.

"Excuse me?" Harry said, raising an eyebrow and smiling in confusion.

The girl seemed to snap. "Under what name, sir?" she said, consulting her clip board suddenly.

"Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy."

"Harry Potter?" she looked up and smiled. "You're Harry Potter aren't you?" she said.

"Erm, yeah…"

"The name suits you, you know that?" the girl said, completely unaware of Draco covering his mouth to prevent an outburst of laughing; tears were evident in his eyes.

"Er…right…" Harry said, backing away hesitantly. He actually wanted to hex the girl, but he couldn't do bad magic here.

"Here's the key to your room." she said, handing Harry a key. "Invite me, hmm? I'll be here." She winked two times which made Harry send her a horrified look.

"Right." He said and he turned to Draco. "Shut up." he snapped.

Draco was shaking madly, tears in his eyes. He was dangerously close to the bursting point.

When they were out of earshot, Draco let go and burst out laughing. Tears leaked down and Harry could've sworn they heard him in China.

"Shhh, Draco!" Harry said, putting his index finger in front of his mouth.

"Haha…" he dried tears in his eyes, "sorry, I just…ahaha! That was so funny! Haha! She was checking you out and you…ahaha... you're reaction was…oh god…hahaha!! It was priceless! You that that horrified look as if the girl had just eaten a cockroach! Oh, lord, Harry! Hahaha!!!"

"Oh, yeah, make fun of me, why don't you." Harry frowned.

"Oh, sorry, Harry," said Draco, wiping the last of the tears in his eyes, "it was just so hilarious…"

"Come on." Harry said, grabbing the smiling Draco by the arm and leading him to their new home but as it turned out, they had not just rented a flat, but a whole house…

They came through a big dark brown front door made of oak which was at the very left of the house. When they entered, they were met by two huge comfortable looking sofas that were beige. They had little square cushions on them. On their right, based on their spot when they came in, was one of the couches and was apparently the sofa bed. In front of them was much smaller couch whose arms were pure wood without any softness that the sofa-bed gave. Further onward was a table with a lamp and beside it was the television. Beside the sofa-bed was a hanging lamp above the table where the telephone was and past that was a blank space they could probably fill. Past the television was the dining table without any wall to separate it. Past that was the refrigerator's right side and to the refrigerator's front were the kitchen stove and the counter. On the counter was the dish rack and beside that, the sink. On the sink's right side, which was the refrigerator's left side, was a shelf full of cookbooks and teapots and above that was a cabinet. Next to the shelf was the bathroom with green tiles. It had everything, a toilet, a little plastic shelf on top of the toilet for shampoo, soap, conditioner and everything else, the shower but no bath tub. In front of the sofa-bed was a coffee table. Parallel the coffee table was the stairs.

"Not bad," Draco commented, looking around and lazily plopping himself on the sofa.

"Yeah," Harry agreed, settling his luggage in a corner, "not bad at all."

He got his things and brought them up, the wooden stairs creaking under his weight and his luggage.

As Harry went up, on the right side of the stairs was a wall and the other side was like a wooden brown fence that separated the stairs from what looked like a study table.

Harry looked forward onto a big, blank, white wall. He turned right to the study table and put his luggage on the far corner, near the closet that was parallel the table.

The table was long and also white. It had a few scratches on it that told stories which Harry would never know the ending to. There were two tables, one, the one on the left, had a stereo on it. And on the far left corner was an average sized speaker and there was also one on the far end of the right table. Near the speaker was a black electric fan that looked like it was going to collapse with one touch. It was on another table. No, not really a table as it was something else when Harry came near it. It was dark gray and it had cabinets…oh! A file cabinet. He opened it; it opened with a small screeching sound and the sound of gears pulling against it each other. He closed it again and the same sound emerged.

Connected to the table on the left were three cabinets, all had a dusty smell and all were, ironically, dusty. Harry opened a cabinet opposite the closet when he put his luggage near to. He saw their school supplies were there. Notebooks, pencils, pens, two pencil cases, scissors and everything lese they needed.

Near the file cabinet was a brown oak door, similar to the front door. Harry peered inside it and, at once, an air of cold hit him. He went inside and smelt the air conditioning. It made him feel better. It was so hot outside and it felt like winter in the room.

Once Harry got used to the cold, he looked around. At his right side were, again, two tables. Both were smaller than the ones outside. He guessed that the ones outside were for keeping things and these were for writing on. This was where he and Draco were supposed to do their homework.

Suddenly, a hand was on his shoulder. He turned to see a smiling face of Draco looking around the room approvingly. He was slowly nodding his head he saw different Muggle artifacts. Parallel the two tables were another two tables. However, unlike the other tables, they had two computers on them. Both were turned off and both were grey with a bit design on the CPU. The windows were closed with glass, so they still had sunlight but the cold air wouldn't come out.

That was all there was in that room. So, Harry and Draco reluctantly left that room. They went to the other one where there was also an aircon but it wasn't turned on. The windows had Venetian blinds and the glass wasn't closed, but there was glass. There was also a ceiling fan that provided wind when it was too hot. Near the table was another television. But it wasn't like the one downstairs, it was much bigger. Beside it was a closet and parallel it was a closet.

"The hell?!" Draco said, his eyes big.

"What?" Harry turned. He saw what Draco was looking at.

The bed. Its sheet was virgin white; the pillows look like they would swallow you with their softness and the blanket was soft beige, like the sofa downstairs. It wasn't this that bothered Draco, though. It was that fact that there was only―

"ONE BED?!?!?!" he shouted, hands in his hair. "What the fuck are they on about?!!?" he sat down on the bed.

"Potter, the time I sleep beside you in the same bed, that oaf, Hagrid will be Headmaster and the Giant Squid will teach up Potions! I want to make that perfectly clear. Like hell I'll sleep with you!" Draco was completely red from all his shouting. His eyes were wide and his sudden outburst took Harry by surprise. He was so surprised; actually, that he found himself patting Draco on the back.

"It's okay. Here," he smiled at Draco, taking his wand out his pocket and pointing it to the bed, "Separio! All better?" he added. The bed was split in two.

"O – okay." Draco stammered, breathing fast. He started shuffling out the door, rubbing his eyes. He was mumbling something that sounded like, "Completely immoral…"

***

The day went by without much fighting which surprised Harry. He didn't think he could've lived a day with the company with his former enemy, but he was mistaken. Fix Draco with a Muggle contraption and Harry burst into a fit of giggles.

That same morning, Harry had spent his time with Draco and some machines that Draco hadn't seen in his life.

"What is this, Potter?" Draco asked, examining a computer. "Is it some box Muggles play with?"

Harry chuckled. "No, Draco, it's not. It's called a computer. You open it like this." Harry put his hand on the start button and pressed it.

Draco jumped when the screen flickered to life. When the computer had loaded, he cocked his head to one side and crossed his eyebrows. Harry thought it was extremely cute.

"Not bad…" Draco poked the monitor. "Hey! Why can't I touch it?!?!"

"Draco, it's inside the computer. It's software, meaning," he added seeing Draco look more confused, "you can't touch it because it's … er… inside. This, however, is hardware." Harry tapped the speakers and the CPU.

"Hardware? Like…you can touch it?"

"Your logic astounds me."

Draco smiled. "Right, sorry. And what's this?" He touched the mouse.

"That's called a mouse." Harry said, smiling.

This time, Draco fell out of his seat. "A ― A mouse?" He looked at it as if it were going to jump on him any second.

"Not a real one. It's just what they call it. When you move it, this little white arrow moves. It's called a cursor."

"Does it― Does it curse you?"

"No, of course it doesn't."

Draco and Harry spent the rest of the morning learning how to use the computer. Harry knew a lot about it since he took the subject up when he was in school. But Dudley never really let him use his computer, so, he didn't know much except for what the teacher told them.

When they were done and Draco had enough of the terms and all that, they turned it off. They went outside of the cold room and Draco decided to take a bath.

"I'll just take a shower, Potter. That's one thing I know about in this world."

"Okay, the tap for opening the heater in the one on the left, next to that is for the shower and to open the water, turn the one on the right. To adjust the shower it had a tab on the face and you can turn it."

Draco raised his eyebrows.  "I stand corrected."

Harry snickered and nodded. "After that we can eat and then we'll go to Smeltings and explore around. If it's okay with you, of course…"

"Sure. Where'll we eat?" asked Draco, getting some clothes from his bag.

"We'll see." Harry looked at what he was getting and saw robes. "Draco, you can't wear robes! Aside from the fact that people will look at you weird, it's sweltering hot outside!"

"Well, I don't have anything else." Draco said, eyebrows still raised.

"I'll lend you some of mine. I'd say we're roughly the same size. We'll just have to buy new clothes later." Harry led Draco to his bag and shoved some clothes on his hand.

Draco looked down and saw denim jeans and a navy blue t-shirt. "Okay, thanks."

***

After Draco dressed up, they went out and walked to the nearest mall, asking for directions. When they finally got there, they were both sweating and panting.

"Why'd you have to go and insult the police guy?" Harry sighed, sitting on the nearest bench.

"He was being…really…rude…" Draco panted.

Along the way, Draco and Harry had gotten lost because Draco said to trust his 'natural instinct'. They had run into a cop and asked him if he knew where the mall was. The cop asked them if they were knew and Draco had replied with a rather sarcastic, "Of course not! We just wanted go around asking people things we know." The police had taken this as an outright insult and had started a rather rude conversation and Draco had just turned away and said, "Nice talking with you."

So, the cop ran after them and Draco wanted to hex him. But Harry said that Dumbledore said that they should only use magic for good purposes. So, they ran like the wind. Harry, being used to running from Dudley, ran faster than Draco. By the time they realized where they were, ten minutes had already passed.

"Come on, then." Harry said, nodding to the doors that led to the Mall.

"Right." Draco followed.

They ate in Pizza Hut in which Draco was quite reluctant to even touch the pizza. Harry, on the other hand, was tired and very hungry.

"I' won' bi' y'know…" Harry reassured Draco.

"Well, that's all well since I've no plan to bite it either." Draco replied with his nose in the air. Harry grabbed another slice and started on it greedily. "You eat like a pig, Harry."

"Fanksh," Harry said in between chews.

Draco rolled his eyes and continued glaring at the pizza as if it had just mortally offended him while Harry ate.

"Oh, come on, Draco," said Harry gulping his iced tea. "Just one bite, yeah? You can't seriously judge pizza before tasting it!"

"But it has oil, Harry. Oil isn't good for you." Draco said disgustedly. Harry continued drinking and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"A'yu o'wayshtha'sh rick?" Harry was eating so much, it was a challenge to hear him coherently. "Sorry," he said, smiling. He wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Are you always that strict?"

"Well, yes. We have to keep out bodies in shape, don't we?"

"Just one bite, Draco. Please." Harry pouted with puppy-dog eyes.

"Oh, Harry, no pouts! That's totally unfair!" Draco turned his head.

Harry quit pouting and smiled. "Just one bite. It won't kill you, Draco. Look, I'm eating it and I'm not dying."

"Not now," Draco answered stubbornly.

"Just one!! Please! Just taste it!"

"No."

"I'm going to throw a fit, if you don't." Harry smirked.

"Just you try." Draco snapped, narrowing his eyes.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!" Harry started digging his fingers into his hair, scrunching his face up. "JUUUST EAT IT ALREADY!!!"

"Okay, okay, quit it, Harry!!" Draco said, waving his arms around frantically; people were starting to stare.

Harry instantly stopped and smiled at Draco. Draco gasped inwardly at the breathtaking smile. "Now eat it." He ordered.

Draco's shock was removed almost instantly. "Oh, fine." He turned to the still watching audience and 'did a Harry'. "What?" he said. "There's nothing! Nothing's happening! What are you looking at?! Go away, shoo!" the people went back to their food, still glancing occasionally.

"Eat." Harry said, shoving a piece of pizza on Draco's plate.

"Oh, alright." Draco sliced a little piece from the slice and stabbed it with his fork. He put it in his mouth and started chewing. His face glowed and he beamed at Harry.

"Well?" Harry smirked again.

"It's…It's…It…"

"Words fail you?" Harry suggested, asking the waiter for more iced tea.

Draco nodded and started eating like Harry.

After lunch Harry and Draco were both full and happy, they set off to buy Draco new clothes. Their first stop; Bench.

"How about this one? What does it say?" Harry asked Draco, picking out a blue button up shirt with a white border at the sleeves and at the hem.

Draco looked at it thoughtfully. "It says, 'Hi, I'm a total freak, I'm single and I work in a grocery store.'"

Harry giggled. "I see. Scratch that one, then." He put it back on the rack.

"This is nice…Come 'ere, Harry…" Draco said, walking to another rack.

Harry walked near Draco, who was holding a gray shirt with a dragon and some Chinese writing on the side.

Harry nodded in approval. "That's for you, Draco. It brings out your eyes…"

"Does it?" Draco put the shirt in front of him to check how it would look like. "Oh, it does look nice, oh who am I kidding? Anything looks nice on me…"

"Buy it, then. Oh, and this is nice…" Harry picked out denim jeans with lots of pockets.

"Yes, it's rather nice, but we can't put it with this one," he said, holding another shirt they had picked earlier. It was a navy blue striped shirt with white streaks. "It would look like we're going ghetto or something…but it's nice with anything else."

Draco nodded. "True…Oh! You can buy this one, Harry! It fits you…" he picked out a green silk shirt with a spider on the front.

"Okay…" Harry said, putting the shirt in their shopping cart.

When they had finished, Draco had twenty new shirts, five new pairs of pants, some new underwear and new socks. Harry had five shirts, a new pair of pants, new underwear, new socks and new handkerchiefs.

"Whoa," Harry said, taking one of the shopping bags, "that was a serious lot of shopping."

He couldn't believe shopping with his enemy would be so fun.

"You're telling me." Draco agreed. "But it was fun. Where do we go now?"

"Smeltings. We have to get familiar with it. It's an exclusive school; very big."

"It doesn't sound like an exclusive school." Draco sniggered. "Hey, doesn't your cousin study there?"

"Yeah," Harry raised his eyebrows at Draco, "how'd you know?"

"Well, my father was school governor and all. I saw your profile. Actually ―"

"You – what?" Harry said, almost dropping the shopping bags.

"I saw your profile." Draco shrugged. "D'you know how to go to … err… that school?"

"Smeltings." Harry corrected, he decided to let the fact that Draco saw his profile go. "No, I haven't given it much thought. Maybe we could ask again?"

"No!!" Draco said hastily, and now he almost dropped the bags. "Ask your uncle." He suggested.

"What? My uncle?"

"Yeah, I mean, your cousin goes there, right?"

"Well, yeah…" Harry trailed off, looking at the ground. "Okay, I remember how to go there, at least."

"Great."

***

When they had gotten a cab, they plopped themselves inside and sighed.

"Good lord…I'm pooped…" Draco said.

"Join the club…" Harry smiled. "Number four, Privet Drive, please." He said to the driver.

The driver nodded and they were off.

***

When they got the house, the sun shone brighter and it was painfully hot. So, when they got out of the cool cab, Draco complained of a head ache. Harry cast a charm on him and he was back to normal.

"So, this is where you live…this is where the Boy-Who-Lived lives…" he examined the outside of the house.

"Yep." Harry got the shopping bags and handed one to Draco.

"Oof…" Draco said, adjusting to the weight of the bag.

They walked to the door and Harry's heart thumped. How would the Dursley react to finding Draco with Harry? With every step he took, the house seemed to get farther. He continued walking, sweating like Draco.

When they arrived under the shade of the doorstep, Draco spoke up. "Do I press it?" he pointed to the doorbell.

But it turned out he didn't because just then, Uncle Vernon opened the door.

He saw Harry and his eyes bulged, he looked at Draco and he became purple.

"PETUNIA!!!"

***

Please review! Sorry this took SO long!! I had writer's block…^_^ Gomen, gomen!! Please review! Please, please, please!! Flames are welcome!! ^_^ Ehehe!! Please r/r my other stories as well!!