Author Note: I apologize immediately for how long I've once again taken. This time there's no excuse. I was just being lazy. Anyways hope you like it and enjoy! Oh and next chapter the romance begins!

Chapter 8-Retracing Fallen Stars

Draco walked slowly down the empty street, not quite sure what to do. Because of his argument with Harry, he'd never quite thought about how he was going to get to Harry's house. Originally, he had planned on waiting until nightfall and taking the night bus, but now, here he was on an unknown muggle street in broad daylight with no idea where he was going or how he was going to get there.

"Stupid Harry and his stupid stubbornness", Draco grumbled. Sinilu nipped Draco's ear and he smiled. "Ok, he's not stupid, but he is stubborn and there's no way you can argue that." Sinilu chirped in agreement and Draco laughed. Unfortunately, he was quickly silenced as a huge wave of water came crashing down on him. Draco coughed and sputtered: choking on the water that had splashed into his open mouth. Sinilu squawked loudly, and puffed up her feathers; trying desperately to dry herself off.

The small white car that had driven so speedily through the puddle screeched to a halt. It slowly backed up until it was even with Draco. The darkened window slowly went down and an older gentleman with slightly graying hair popped his head out.

"My sincerest apologies, my young lad", the man smirked, trying to hold back a laugh. Draco could hardly control his anger. Here he was, sopping wet, and this man had the nerve to smirk as he's attempting to apologize. Suddenly, Draco had an idea: the perfect solution to his problem.

"It's quite alright my good sir, but perhaps you could tell me how close I am to Surrey?" Draco asked innocently: trying his best to sound his sincerest.

"Not far actually, unless your walking?" The man had a quizzical look on his face, as though beginning to understand where the young blond was going with this conversation.

"I'm afraid I am. I'm here visiting a good friend of mine; he has a package for me. Unfortunately, he never showed up to take me to his house. He gave me the address though, but I'm not familiar with the area." The man sighed. Whether it was guilt or what, he wasn't sure, but the man unlocked and opened the door.

"Hop in, I'll take you where you need to go. It's the least I can do for soaking you." Draco was slightly leery to get into a vehicle with a complete stranger, and a muggle at that, but it had been his idea, so he carefully climbed in and closed the door. Sinilu continued to preen her feathers as the man began driving.

"That's a beautiful bird you've got there." Sinilu puffed up its feathers and gave the man an indignant squawk. "Guess she doesn't like me." Draco giggled.

"It's not that. Sinilu just likes her feathers more." The old man gave a hearty laugh.

"By the way, I'm Nicolas."

"I'm Draco."

"So what's the address?"

"Number 4 Privet Drive."

"Privet Drive you say. I know where that is: full of snobs and busybodies if you ask me. No offence to your friend of course." The man added quickly.

"None taken. He thinks the same thing. That's why I'm hoping he'll move in with me." Draco blushed at the thought, and was glad that only Sinilu had noticed.

The rest of the drive was relatively quiet and the car slowly came to halt fifteen minutes later, outside of a medium sized white house.

"Well this is it." The man said as he unlocked the door.

"Thanks." Draco slowly started to get out, "Um…I was wondering…if perhaps you could…I mean…if you have nowhere else to…if you could…"

"Wait for you and drive you home?"

"If it wouldn't be any trouble, I won't take long, I promise."

"Alright, alright, hurry up." Draco smiled widely.

"Thanks, I'll be right back."

Draco whispered quietly to Sinilu. "Stay here and make sure he doesn't leave, otherwise we'll be stuck here." Sinilu nuzzled Draco's cheek before flying back to the car and perching gracefully on the armrest. Draco quickly made his way up the driveway and around to the back of the house. He couldn't let the muggle see him breaking into the house. Luckily, that wasn't necessary, since the back door was unlocked.

Draco entered quietly and made his way to the stairs. He could hear voices coming from upstairs and cringed each time the stairs creaked beneath his feet. While he wished he could just barge in and kill the whole lot, he knew Harry would hate him for becoming a murderer.

Draco slipped quietly down the hall: stopping in front of the only open door. The room was completely empty except for a tiny bed and a rickety old desk that appeared to have been infested by termites at one time.

This couldn't possibly be Harry's room, could it? It hardly looked livable. Draco watched horrified as a cockroach scuttled out from under the bed and disappeared beneath the desk. It must be one hell of a big floorboard, if Harry managed to hide all of his things inside it.

Draco quietly closed the door behind him and knelt on the floor. It wasn't long before he'd found the loose floorboard Harry had mentioned. Unfortunately, it wasn't what Draco had imagined. Inside were only four items. Draco slowly pulled out the items and set them on the floor next to him. There was Harry's wand and firebolt, as well as an invisibility cloak, and an old photo album. Draco couldn't help but page quickly through the pictures: stopping continuously to smile down at the pictures of the little baby Harry with whom must have been his mum and dad.

He looked so happy. It hurt when Draco thought about how little Harry had to smile about anymore. He didn't understand why he cared, but for some reason, all he wanted to do at the moment was to make Harry happy and see him smile.

Draco carefully wrapped Harry's things in the invisibility cloak, and continued to search the remainder of his room. The rest of Harry's things had to be around there somewhere.

After a nearly ten minute search, Draco had still found nothing. There were no other loose floorboards, the drawers on the desk were empty, and there was nothing under the bed or the desk. Draco made his way over to the closet: tightly clutching the bundle of Harry's things to his chest. It was the last place left to look.

He opened the door and was clobbered on the head by an ironing board. Draco jumped back as mops and buckets and other cleaning utensils came crashing to the floor, along with large heavy looking chains.

Draco stood frozen to the spot as he listened to the sounds of a door banging open and someone lumbering down the hallway. Draco waited with baited breath until the door to Harry's room swung open, revealing a large burly man with no neck and at least three chins, followed by a thin horse looking woman, and the fattest boy Draco had ever seen in his life.

"WHO ARE YOU ARE WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE", the man shouted violently at Draco.

"Who I am is none of your concern, the question is, where are Harry's belongings?" Draco sneered.

"Your one of them aren't you, one of those freaks?" The man snarled. Draco whipped out his wand and pointed it straight at the burley man, who cowered a bit: the other two attempting to take shelter behind him.

"And you must be Vernon Dursley. And let me guess, Petunia and Dudley. Harry's told me so much about you. All of which makes me wonder why I don't kill you all right now." Vernon tried to muster some of his courage as he smirked at Draco.

"You don't look a day over fifteen. Don't think we don't know about your underage laws. If you do anything, you'll be expelled from that freak school for sure."

"True…but I, unlike Harry, don't care if I am expelled." Draco's reply wiped the smirk clear off of Vernon's face. "Now I'll ask you one more time…where are Harry's belongings?" Nothing was said for a moment before Petunia coughed and spoke up.

"All of it's gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Draco asked.

"The day Potter arrived home…we burned his things." Draco's jaw dropped.

"YOU WHAT?!" Draco was trying desperately to control his anger. If it weren't for the fact that he didn't want to upset Harry, Draco would have already hexed the whole lot of them into oblivion.

"That freak deserved it, he deserved everything he got, he…"

"SHUT UP NOW!" Draco was fuming. He had sat listening to Harry's story in near disbelief. He had tried to convince himself that Harry was only exaggerating, but after hearing that, and seeing the chains, he knew that everything Harry had said had been nothing but the truth. "You're all sick! How could you do this to your own nephew?"

"We didn't ask for the little freak…"

"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST SEND HIM TO AN ORPHANAGE, ANYTHING, RATHER THAN TORTURE HIM LIKE THIS?" Draco picked up the chains, his fists shaking with rage. "YOU JUST WANTED A SLAVE, DIDN'T YOU? THAT'S ALL HE WAS TO YOU, WASN'T HE? A SLAVE!" Draco shouted as he threw the chains at the Dursleys feet. "Get out of my way now! I can't stand the sight of you in my presence any longer!" Draco snarled as he pushed past the stunned muggles. He stopped for a moment and turned back to face the Dursleys. "Don't think even for a second that this is over. I guarantee you that you'll pay for what you've done to Harry, and you'll pay with your lives."

Draco turned back around and made his way though the house and out the front door: leaving the Dursleys gaping in fear. He knew he would return one day and kill the Dursleys, but not until he was sure Harry would be all right. If he did it now and was caught and thrown in Azkaban, Harry would be left all alone, and he wasn't sure why, but he knew Harry needed him just as much as he needed Harry.

Draco made his way down the driveway and into the waiting car. He sat down in the seat with the tightly wrapped bundle in his lap, as Sinilu hoped onto his shoulder. Draco sighed and starred at the bundle, begging the tears at the surface of his eyes not to fall.

"You alright? I could have sworn I heard yelling." The man asked, clearly concerned for the young blond.

"Yah, I'm alright, just a little argument is all." The man looked at Draco and the strange bundle he was clinging to, before starting up the car.

"I take it you got what you came for then?" Draco merely nodded. "Do you want me to take you back to where I picked you up at?"

"Yes, that would great if you could."

"Of course." The car drive back was completely silent except for the gentle tweeting Sinilu was making in the attempts of cheering Draco up. Anyone could tell that the visit had greatly upset him.

The car slowed to a stop about a block away from the Leaky Cauldron. Draco slowly got out and closed the door.

"Thank you for your help, sir, I really appreciate it."

"It was no problem. Now you take care of yourself alright?" Draco nodded and the car slowly drove away.

Draco began the short walk to the Leaky Cauldron with his mind weighing what seemed a million pounds. Perhaps this was the reason Harry had wanted to go with him, because he knew there wasn't going to be much to retrieve. Harry should have just told him; then again, it wasn't really any of his business. What reason did Harry have to tell him…none? Draco felt even worse now for yelling at him.

Still, what really got to him was why Harry hadn't run away back when his things had been burned. Why had he stayed when things had gotten so bad? Why did he wait until he was almost dead to finally leave? There had to be a reason, right?

Draco suddenly had a great idea. He would go and buy everything Harry had lost: all his clothes, his books, his supplies, everything. If that didn't bring a smile to Harry's face, he didn't know what would. Draco smiled widely as he told Sinilu his brilliant plan. She chirped happily, glad that Draco was cheerful again.

Draco hummed a merry tune as he entered the Leaky Cauldron and made his way to Diagon Alley. He quickly made his way to dozens of stores, piling up his purchases on a levitation cart. He took special care in choosing Harry's cloths. Selecting only items that would bring out Harry's brilliant eyes. After paying for the final purchase, a dark green dress robe with velvet black trimming, he stopped for a bite to eat: shoving most of it in his bags for Harry, before heading back to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Tom, I already ate, so don't worry about bringing anything up, ok?" Draco called across the counter. Tom quickly turned around and was surprised by the huge grin on Draco's face.

"Ok, but what's got you so bright and bouncy?" Tom laughed.

"Let's just say I've met someone and I'm about to make them very happy."

"Ah, I see, love. That explains everything. So, when am I going to meet this special someone?" Love, the word shocked Draco to no end, but then again, it did make sense. Maybe that's why he felt this way about Harry. Maybe he was in love. But would Harry love him back?

"Soon, but not yet, not until I'm sure they're the one." Draco couldn't help the close feelings he had toward Tom. He was beginning to see him as a father, and that made his grin grow even wider.

"Well then, need any help taking your mini store up to your room?" Draco blushed.

"No, that's alright. Besides you've got plenty enough to do on your own. See you tomorrow", Draco half sang as he bounded up the stairs with his purchases floating behind him and Sinilu happily chirping on his shoulder. Draco reached his room and pulled out the key, but as he touched the handle he realized that the door wasn't locked.

Fear flooded though him. Harry! He swung the door open as fast as he possibly could and felt his stomach drop. Harry was gone and a man was sitting beside the bed with his back to the door. Draco whipped out his wand and pointed it directly at the man.

"Who are you and what have you done with Harry?" He didn't seem the least surprised as he turned to face Draco.

"So, you've finally returned." Draco's eyes grew wide and his fear doubled as he realized who it was. He backed against the wall.

"YOU!"

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ManIACjAcKaL: Your wish has been granted. Enjoy!

Sinilu Silverspell: Actually I was going to wait for you to review before I posted the next chapter, but then I started to think what if she hadn't been alerted and never looked and then never reviewed and then I'd never post again and then well, I finally decided I'd just post anyways and hope you come back. And you did Yah! So don't cry. Me just happy you back. Oh and yes I did get your review before I got off the computer after posting that chapter. Me was so happy. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Except for the fact that without ever actually meeting you I'm trying to model Sinilu after you, but It's proving difficult, because Sinilu is turning out to be more of the serious type, and you're more of the silly type, although that's what I love about you. Still I hope that the connection between you two is still good. Well as you saw, no HP/DM action this chapter, but I am pleased to announce that the romance begins next chapter, yes I already have the next chapter all planned out. I just haven't written any of it yet. Hangs head in shame. I know I'm slow and lazy, but I apologize once again. Yes always in the bathroom he is, always…hint. Oops shouldn't have said that. The shopkeeper's motives will be revealed next chapter, you'll just have to wait. I purposely wrote it that way because at the time I wasn't sure if he was going to be bad or not, but now I know for sure, so yah. Tom does not know Harry is there…yet. The capitol letter thing is just your style: go with it. And yes I can totally see that all being read with the whole movie announcer voice. LOL! Well the kiss happened before feelings had been resolved, but let's just say, that next chapter, Draco won't be saying the same thing…hint. Calm down, you'll find out all about Harry's condition next chapter, gosh I need to watch what I say or I'm going to end up giving everything away. Anyways, sorry I took so long to update, but I've been really lazy lately. I know, I know, I sowy. Ok, and why a cat would be on your keyboard, maybe I shouldn't ask…anyways, don't worry about being lazy, so have I. LOL! Ok, enjoy, and hopefully I won't take as long next chapter.

Green, Silver and Black: Thanks, glad you like it.

Flammy: Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sad, it just sort of turned out that way. Sorry I took so long to update.

Silver Salamander: Harry's condition will be explained next chapter. Not a year, but I was so lazy it felt like one, didn't it? Sorry. The accident was because his feelings haven't been sorted out yet, but they're on their way, just watch and see. Yes, Harry's feelings are a lot more clear to him than Draco's, as you'll see next chapter. Well, You'll understand what I mean next chapter.

Earwen Tiwele: Glad you like it so far. Sorry I took so long, got a lazy streak going. Don't you just love my constant cliffies? LOL!

TCUDramaprincess: I'm glad you like it so far, and sorry I take forever to update. I'm glad at least one person doesn't think my cliffies are evil. Actually you know what, because of that, I'm dedicating this chapter to you. Enjoy.

Beloved: Glad you liked it. You'll have to wait until next chapter to find out the motives of the shopkeeper. Sorry I took so long to update.

Staryday: Seeing as how I took forever to update does that mean you don't forgive me, oh and seeing as how this chapter ends on a cliffy as well, does this mean you're doubly mad at me. Sorry, but I just love cliffies, it keeps them always coming back for more. Glad you like the accidental first kiss and the apothecary twist, although you won't find out anything else about him until next chapter. Well glad you like the chapter anyways and sorry again that I took so long to update.

BlahnessMucho: Glad you liked the chapter, I think? Anyways, sorry I took so long to update.

Malfoy Snogger: There will be more cuteness next chapter, trust me. Oh and sorry I took so long to update. Shopkeeper info will be revealed next chapter. I kept Draco/Dursley confrontation to a minimal for now, only because it will get really serious later on, and he will eventually get his revenge. Oh and as for Harry and Draco making up, well you'll have to wait until next chapter, sorry.

Princesspeper: They are cute caring for each other aren't they; well there'll be a lot more cuteness next chapter. There will be more kissing soon. Oops, shouldn't have said that. Anyways, sorry I ended it there, but I love cliffies. Oh and sorry I took so long to update.

PippinsMyHobbit: OOOOOOO…sevvy/remmy, let me know when you start posting it, I so want to read it. Oh and I'm honored that you think I've done well with the story I really appreciate it. Sorry I didn't update tomorrow, or well the tomorrow of when I posted it, but well you get it, sorry I took forever.

Zoomaphonethepirates: Stay tuned for Harry saving, and sorry, but once again I ended on a cliffy. Sorry.

Spamy: I'm glad you like it so far, and I'm glad you like Sinilu. Sorry I took so long to update, but I've been major lazy lately. You'll have to wait until next chapter to find out about the shopkeeper, sorry.

Kila1991: I'm glad you like it so far, and yah I purposely jumbled whether the shopkeeper was good or bad because at the time I really wasn't sure which I was going to make him, but now I know, so next chapter you'll find out.