Punishment
Chapter 8 – Aah, Finally! Smeltings!
"Bye, Sirius!" Harry called, waving after his godfather.
"Bye!" Cho said over her shoulder.
Harry cleared his throat and ignored her. His eyes darted sideward, he didn't notice Draco look quizzically at him.
Once Cho and Sirius were out of ear-shot, Draco rounded on Harry.
"What was that all about?" he asked, sitting on the sofa bed.
"What was what all about?" Harry replied, trying to sound curious but failing.
"You know what I'm talking about, Potter." Draco patted the space beside himself.
Harry sat beside Draco. So, he did notice. And Harry though he could get away with it. Sometimes, he really did underestimate his enemy, didn't he? There was a moment of silence, as Draco smiled at Harry expectantly. Harry bit his lip, his elbows connecting to his knees as he bended.
"Harry?"
Harry turned to look at Draco. Green meeting gray. A silent question in Draco's eyes.
Harry blinked and looked down again. "Are you sure you want to know?"
"Yes."
"Oh, alright." Harry leaned back. "I'll tell you on the way to Smeltings."
"What? And skip breakfast?" Draco asked incredulously.
Harry shrugged, getting up. "Maybe we can pick a burger or two…"
Draco raised his eyebrows, looking confused. "A burger?"
"Okay, it's like this," Harry started as they grabbed their change from the counter and made their way to the door.
"You're going to explain what a burger is?" Draco interrupted as Harry gave him a little round package with an 'M'.
"No, seeing as you're already holding one, anyway." Harry replied, pocketing the money now. Draco stared at what he was holding and looked a little skeptical. "There you go again, judging food before you taste them. Just like with the pizza." He grinned at the thought. "Anyway, I'm going to explain our schedule. Come on, we best find a map so I can show you."
So, off they walked, munching their burgers ("Not bad at all, Harry…") and occasionally talking. Most of what they were talking about was about Draco asking what this and that were and Harry answering him.
As they got to but stop, there was a small bulletin board with glass upfront. They approached it. There was no one there yet, so it was quite quiet and it left Draco space to sit on one of the benches, where he wiped with a clean tissue first, before sitting on. Harry's brow, Draco saw, was furrowed in thought as he tried to analyze the map, his finger trailing down and curving up occasionally. Finally, he cupped his chin and nodded.
He turned to Draco, who was throwing their stuff. "Draco, come here."
Draco approached him, rubbing his hands together to shake dirt off. "Yeah?"
"Okay, right now, we're here." Harry put his hand on a dot in the map. "We get a bus and go down near this area…" his finger made circular motions on an area. "Then, if we go down on the right place, we can walk to school. Get it?"
Draco nodded, reviewing what Harry said. "Got it."
Harry smiled. "Good."
So they went aboard the bus, Draco looking startled by the Muggles. Harry led Draco to a seat, not seeing Draco's panic. They sat down, Harry getting the window seat.
"So," Draco said nervously, "when do we get out?"
"Relax, Draco, it'll take… maybe a quarter of an hour before we get down." Harry said, looking uncertainly at Draco nervous face. "That's weird; a while ago, you were really happy and now…"
"Sorry, I'm not used to Muggles." Draco bit his lip.
Harry patted his arm, which sent shivers down Draco spine, calming him a bit. "It's alright. They won't hurt you."
The rest of the trip went quite smoothly, Draco looking suspiciously at Muggles that were boarding the bus. Harry had to nudge him to get him to stop looking.
"Okay, we'll get off at that sign over there." Harry said, pointing near a bunch of Muggles, standing around a sign.
"Right," Draco said.
The bus stopped and after Draco and Harry had gone out of it, the bunch of Muggles stepped in. Draco sighed, relieved.
"I thought we'd never get out of there." He said. Harry laughed, looking at his watch.
"Draco, it's only been fifteen minutes."
"Well, yes, but…"
Harry laughed again at Draco inability to retort. In turn, he grabbed Draco wrist and led him around the corner and went straight. Past stores, restaurants and the occasional police. Draco sped up at the sigh of one, which, again, made Harry laugh. Ahead, Draco could see an overpass with a blue ceiling, one or two people going across it.
"Come on, then!" Harry said, shaking Draco's arm. "We'll have to go up."
"What? Oh, right." They climbed the overpass, and as they got in, their voices echoed.
"So, why are we using this… thing?" Draco asked, poking curiously at the cement.
"It's called an overpass. We use because if we cross the street below, it'd be like committing suicide." Harry gestured downward.
"Oh," said Draco, looking over the edge, "nice."
They walked down the stairs and saw a wired iron gate, crisscrossing paths.
"Draco!" Harry said.
Draco followed him, smirking, as they entered the gate and Draco and Harry's moths fell open. To their left was a cement road, and beside that was a huge field with well trimmed grass as well was five of the biggest trees Harry and Draco had ever seen, there was a small yellow side walk to separate them. Across them was a path way that led to the main road. And on their left, was a big parking lot, around five cars parked. Further across the road in front of them was a building. It was around twenty meters ahead of them, so from what they could see, it was a classroom.
They walked forward, awing at the scene before them. They turned left; there was a building around five meters from where they stood. There was a big white wall with around five windows. Inside, they saw dark green tiles and a small see-through window. They walked on forward; a small bridge came in to view. It connected the building with five windows with a court. There was no water below the bridge, only land. But it was apparent that it was placed there because it was cemented and the ground below was layered with leaves.
Forward again, and there was a large green court. On one end, opposite Harry and Draco, was a stage with two stair cases at the sides. On the left stair case was a door, on the side of the right one, there was another door. In front of the stage was a square-ish criss-crossed metal frame, with the face and hoop on top. It was around seven feet high. On the sides were bleachers three cases high, and in front of them, behind more criss-crossed fences, was large face with the hoop, hung on the ceiling. Draco coughed in awe.
Past that was huge field around thirty meters wide and forty meters long, along the end of it was a side walk with trees and benches along it. There was a path way connected to the far end of that one that was horizontal. On the far end of it was a walk (again), and beside the walk was a chapel. On the near end was a small stair case that led to the end of the chapel.
Forward again, and there was another court. This was brighter since it was only benches and not bleachers. It was tiled gray and there were four pay phones. The criss-crossed wire fence reached there and ended with a gate, alongside it, was a guard.
"Welcome to Smeltings," she said, smiling, "name and level, please."
"Er… Draco Malfoy." Draco said.
"Harry," Harry said in turn, "Harry Potter."
Draco looked at Harry, Harry looked at the guard, and the guard frowned.
"Don't you know your level?" she asked. They shook their heads. "Well, you must know your age, at least."
"We're both fifteen." Harry said.
"Oh, you're in ninth grade, then…" the guard, opened the gate.
/Ninth grade? But we're fifteen! Not nineteen./ Draco sent it to Harry.
"Well, yes, but the Muggle system works different, Draco." Harry whispered in reply.
"Oh. Right, of course." Draco said, blushing a bit.
The guard led Harry and Draco to the bulletin board, where their sections were posted.
Draco turned to Harry. "So, how do they sort here?"
"Well, it's not really sort," Harry said, looking thoughtful, "they just… put us in sections. And it's not based on anything." He added, seeing Draco's face.
"Oh…" Draco raised an eyebrow. "So, it's completely random?"
"Yeah."
"Last names?" the guard asked.
Draco smirked. "Malfoy."
"Potter."
The guard put her finger through eight pieces of paper.
"Ah!" she said, pointing her finger on a piece of bond paper. "Malfoy!"
Draco started in surprise, taking a small step backward.
"You… are… in… Christmas!"
Draco stared at the guard. "Eh?"
"Christmas!" she repeated.
"Christmas?"
"Christmas!"
"Seriously?"
"Seriously!"
"Really?"
"Really, really."
Draco narrowed his eyes at the guard. "You mean… wait. What's my whole section?"
"9 – Christmas." The guard said happily. She looked at the list again.
"You're in Christmas, too!" she pointed at Harry.
"Oh…" Harry said blankly.
"Of course." Draco stated.
"Right."
There was pause.
Harry cleared his throat. "We'll be… going then…"
"Uhh… yeah…" Draco agreed.
"Okay, bye!" said the guard.
Draco and Harry looked horrified.
"B – b – Bye…"
"Are you sure Smeltings is even a fairly normal school?" Draco asked Harry as they headed out of the school gates, an uncertain look upon his face.
"Oh, come, now, Draco," Harry said, smiling. "You shouldn't judge things before you get to know them. People here might not be the same as the guard…" he paused. "hopefully."
Harry and Draco walked slowly along the gates near their house. As they entered the navy blue gates, the girl, the very same one, snapped upon them.
"Hi," she said, smiling suggestively, "you've got mail. It's been here for around two days already."
Draco looked overhead, expecting to see an owl.
The girl raised an eyebrow. "Here…" she handed the envelope to Harry.
"Thanks," Harry smiled.
As they turned, the girl sighed dreamily.
"What is it?" Draco asked as soon as they reached their house.
"Mail, no doubt." Harry replied, taking seat at the dining table.
Draco rolled his eyes. "No kidding, Pots."
They opened the letter, which was sealed with the Hogwarts crest. This fact surprised them both.
"Must be the letter that Sirius said Dumbledore sent," Draco wondered aloud.
Harry nodded.
"Open it, then." Draco said, sitting on the couch while Harry stood up near the kitchen table.
Harry opened the letter and was thrilled to see Hermione's legible writing. His eyes went down the paper as he read, he smiled and chuckled a bit.
"What's so funny?" Draco asked Harry, looking over from the couch.
Harry stood up, still smiling and walked to Draco. "Here."
Hi Harry and Draco!
Just wrote to tell you that you don't have to go to the Write Place anymore Sirius and Cho are going there. Draco, if you're reading this, can you make sure that Harry does his homework? He seems to cough accidentally forget to do it. Harry, if you're reading this, DO YOU HOMEWORK!
Oh, yes, and please study when there's a test, and even when there isn't because you never know when there could be a pop quiz, right? Don't listen to her, Harry! This Ron, if you can't tell. Just have fun, and try to not miss us too badly! Hahaha… Hi Draco, if you're reading this! Take of Harry, right? Or else I'll really regret trusting you!
Ugh, Ron.
Bye Harry! Bye Draco!
From, Hermione. J
Draco chuckled and smiled. "So, the Weasel So, Ron trusts me now, does he?" he said, handing the letter to Harry.
"Seems like it." Harry said, taking the letter and putting it atop the coffee table. "What time is it?" he asked himself.
"Two o'clock." Draco answered. "Hey, we haven't had lunch yet."
"Well, it seems really hard to have it since we don't know how to cook." Harry said, still smiling at the letter.
Draco looked thoughtful. "Hmm… well…"
Harry looked up. "Uh-oh," he sighed. "Draco, you have that mad glint in your eyes again…"
"Hey, Pots, listen..."
"Can you please stop calling me that?" Harry said, grinning at the nickname.
"What? You're begging now?" Draco joked. Harry scowled. "I'm just joking, Harry… sheesh… and they call me sensitive."
Harry chuckled. "Who says you're sensitive?"
"Ehh… well…" Draco thought. "Hmm…"
Harry laughed. "Sensitive, Draco, is not one of your more appealing traits." He put the letter down.
"What are my appealing traits?" the blond said, sitting down.
"Later, Draco. Maybe… before we go to bed, I'll name some." Harry said. "Now what was it you were going to tell me?"
"Oh, right! Do we have cook books?" Draco asked.
"Yeah, I think there was a free one in one of the things Sirius bought…" Harry went to the shelf parallel the cupboard. "Ah, here it is." He handed it to Draco.
Draco ginned, flipping through the pages.
"Why are you smiling?" Harry asked, afraid what the answer might be.
"Weeeeellll..." Draco said, lip curling. "I've always wanted to learn how to cook."
A/N: Hahaha! It's been so freaking long since I've updated this! I'm not going to be surprised if no one reviews… I hope you do though… lol… really sorry for the long wait… I was really busy, and since I live on the other side of the world, I have to look for a convenient time to post this so people will see it (which I think I have failed at lol). R&R! And be sure to tell me if you notice that anything's missing wink! Because I left it out on purpose. :)