Symbiosis 2: On Privet Drive

Hermoine nervously bit her lip as she stood on the deserted sidewalk of Privet Drive, Lucius gripping her wrist firmly once again.. Deserted, that is, except for herself and the Malfoys. She really hadn't wanted to tell Lucius where Harry lived, but then she had been dragged into the invisible carriage and a wand had been stuck in her face so she had told him. Instantly the vehicle had started to move and now a short time later the three of them stood staring at the house where the famous Harry Potter lived.

Draco stared at the house in disbelief. "Potter lives HERE? You got to be kidding. You gave us the wrong address, didn't you?"

"NO! I swear I didn't!" Hermoine said as she too studied the house. Except for the glass-covered addition, it appeared identical to the other houses in the neighborhood. "But I've never been here before. No one from school has!"

Lucius turned to study Hermoine. "And why is that?"

"His uncle won't allow it." She replied matter-of-factly. She glanced around, wondering if Harry was at home and if his bodyguards were watching him. With luck, the guard had already spotted the Malfoys and word had been sent to Dummbledore. Unless the one on duty was that careless, sorry excuse for a wizard, the one that had popped off to go buy stolen cauldrons! If it were his shift now, then they'd be doomed! Lucius would catch Harry and it would all be her fault! "Ooh, why did we have to come here?"

"Feeling guilty?" Lucius asked, a smile on his face. Then he straightened up and started up the walk towards the door, dragging her along. Draco silently followed. Upon reaching the door, he stopped, staring for a moment in confusion. "Where's the knocker?"

Hermoine rolled her eyes. "Use the doorbell. But this is a very bad idea."

"No one asked your opinion, Granger." Draco sneered as he moved to stand on the other side of his father, so Lucius was between the two teens. "We're here to get your precious Potter and we'll get him!"

"But you don't NEED him!" she cried in aspiration.

"I insist that Potter spend the weekend with us." Lucius told her in no uncertain terms. "Then and only then will I keep MY end of our deal. Until then, you're our … guest."

'You mean prisoner!"

"Well, if you insist on using that term." Lucius cautiously raised a gloved finger and pressed the doorbell. A faint ringing could be heard from inside.

"Bad, bad idea." Hermoine took an uncertain step backward, putting some distance between her and the door.

The door flew silently open and an extremely fat boy wearing a Muggle-style suit stared at them. His eyes narrowed, raking Lucius from head to foot.

"Hello," Lucius started to say. "I'm …"

The door slammed shut, the wind lifting Lucius' long hair off his shoulders.

"What…?" Lucius glanced at Hermoine. "Who was that?"

"Ummm, I think that's Harry's cousin." She guessed. "From what I heard of him, we're quite lucky actually. He'd pound you to a bloody pulp and rob you."

Draco stared at Hermoine, his gray eyes widening in shock. "A filthy Muggle would beat us up? You got to be kidding, Granger!"

"We're Malfoys." Lucius stated, as if that explained it all. "We don't take this kind of abuse and certainly not from Muggles. It's obvious the boy didn't know who we are."

"That and he's very rude." Draco drawled.

Not to be outdone, Lucius rang the buzzer again and waited. After a few short moments, the door opened to reveal a fat Muggle man dressed in similar fashion to the boy. His beady eyes narrowed as he studied the odd assortment of people on his doorstep.

"Who are you?" Mr. Dursley asked, suspicion in his voice. "You're one of them, aren't you?"

"Excuse me?" Lucius asked, confused. "I'm Lucius Malfoy and I'm here to see Mr. Potter. I understand that he lives here?"

"How many times do I have to tell you people not to come around here!" Mr. Dursley hissed, his eyes darting nervously around at the other houses. "Can't you people dress normally? Nooooooo! Got to wear odd stuff! And…."

Mr. Dursley's words trailed off as his eyes landed on the Malfoy carriage, which for the moment wasn't invisible. His mouth dropped open and his face turned red, then purple. "EEEEEEEHHHHH! What is that THING in front of my house!"

Lucius turned calmly and glanced behind himself. "My carriage. Why? Is there something wrong?"

"The boy isn't allowed to have any guests. He's being punished! Good day!" Mr. Dursley started to close the door, but Lucius quickly stuck his cane between the door and the frame. "Sir! I insist you leave immediately or I shall be forced to call the police!"

"I think there has been a slight misunderstanding." Lucius said, smiling. "I do not wish to visit with the boy but take him for a few days."

Mr. Dursley blinked, his face going blank. "Take him?"

Lucius' smile grew wider. He put an arm around Draco's shoulders, the other arm around Hermoine's. "You see, my children here are friends with Potter and we'd be grateful if you'd let him come visit for a few days. Do you think that could be possible?"

"You'd take Potter?" Mr. Dursley repeated.

Lucius nodded, still smiling.

"And the bloody pigeon, too?"

"Yes?"

Mr. Dursley leaned a bit farther out the door. "You do understand that if the boy does any damage I'm not going to pay a bloody pence! Got it?"

"Of course."

"One moment…" Mr. Dursley left the door open and went a bit into the house. "POTTER! Get down here right now and bring that bloody pigeon with you! Those weirdoes are here to take you for the summer!"

Harry appeared on the upstairs landing, Hedwig's cage in his hands. He stared down at his uncle in confusion. "Who's here?"

"I don't know and I don't care, boy! Only thing I DO know is they got some giant eyesore in front of my house and if they don't get going soon I'll have all sorts of questions from the neighbors to answer! So if you know what's good for you, you'll get down here this minute!" Mr. Dursley bellowed. "Probably the same freaks that wrecked my fireplace and got dirt all over my living room!"

"The Weasleys?" Harry hurried down the steps dragging his black bag of clothes and books behind him, his owl in the other hand. Since he had been only home for a day, he hadn't really unpacked. In truth, he had been wishing that the Weasleys would show up and take him to the Burrow, so he had put off unpacking. If he unpacked, then he'd have to face the reality of being trapped in this horrible house with his wicked Aunt and Uncle. He'd rather face another basilisk than stay here. "They didn't say they were coming…"

"Well, there here." Mr. Dursley gripped Potter firmly by the upper arm and started shoving him towards the front door. "And the faster you join them, the faster they'll leave!"

Harry spotted Lucius Malfoy calmly waiting outside the door and he tried to dig his heels into the floor. "That's not the Weasleys!"

"I don't care who it is! I only know he's willing to take you off my hands!" Mr. Dursley tightened his grip on Harry's arm and flung him out the front door right on top of Lucius. Both Lucius and Harry were knocked to the cement sidewalk, Hedwig's cage tumbling until it came to a stop lying on its side in the grass.

Harry glared at his uncle. "I wasn't going to stay anyway! Anywhere is better than here!"

"Keep him and don't bring him back!" Mr. Dursley said as he slammed the door.

"Harry! Are you all right?" Hermoine hurried to her fallen friend and helped him to his feet.

Harry straightened his glasses and stared at her in disbelief. "Hermoine? What are you doing here? And why are you wearing a … swimsuit?"

"Death Eaters are not supposed to go to beaches!" Hermoine whispered to her friend. "It's so unfair! But they caught me and insisted I tell them where you were! I didn't want to, really! But he was insistent and I didn't know what to do! I'm so sorry, Harry, really I am!"

"It's all right, Hermoine." Harry told her. His green eyes scanned the area, but he only saw the Malfoys. "We'll get out of this somehow. Is it just the two of them?"

Hermoine nodded.

While they had been talking, Draco had helped his father to his feet and Lucius brushed invisible dust off his clothes. The elder Malfoy moved closer to Potter and stared into the boy's eyes with pure menace. "I strongly suggest you cooperate."

"Fine." Harry replied. He retrieved Hedwig's cage and his luggage, then went down the walk and climbed into the Malfoy's carriage.

Hermoine watched openmouthed, and then she hurried after him. "Harry, you're not just going to go with them, are you?"

"Anywhere is better than here." He stated.

"Well," Lucius glanced down at his son. "This has gone a lot more smoothly than I had hoped."

Harry watched nervously as Lucius and Draco joined them in the carriage, his mind conjuring up all the horrible things that could be done to him. The most obvious one being that he would be handed over to Voldemort. The evil wizard wanted him dead and would be all to glad to finally do the dirty deed. Although he was concerned with his own safety, he was more worried about Hermoine. So he was quite taken aback when Hermoine started to speak to Lucius.

"You better keep your end of the bargain!" Hermoine glared at Lucius. "You said the weekend and since today's Friday that means we have three days!"

"What?" Harry's mouth dropped open in shock. He shifted on the hard wooden seat to look at his best friend. "You made a bargain with HIM? How could you do something like that? He's a Death Eater and belongs in Azkaban! I trusted you!"

"Would you calm down?" Hermoine quickly said as she turned to face Harry. "It's nothing sinister! It's quite simple really. And yes, he's supposed to be in Azkaban but as you can clearly see he's not. He's got this crazy idea of killing Muggles and we have three days to convince him not to!"

Harry blinked, not sure he had heard her correctly. "You expect us to get him to like Muggles in three days! That's impossible! He hates Muggles!"

"They really don't know anything about Muggles." Hermoine corrected. "It may not be as difficult as you think."

Harry leaned closer to Hermoine. "So, how are we going to do this?"

"Well, obviously we need to take them somewhere a lot of Muggles go, someplace fun." Hermoine glanced down at herself. "But I need to change first. I can't go anywhere like this."

"Very well," Lucius agreed as he directed the magical carriage to proceed towards Hermoine's house. "But I will keep Potter here with us, so you best come back out or the deal is off. And if you attempt to send an owl, I'll know and things will go badly for your friend here."

The carriage quickly moved through the streets and a short time later stopped in front of Hermoine's house. She opened the door and jumped the short distance to the ground. Her hand on the door, she paused and glanced back at her friend, concern on her face. "You'll be all right, Harry?"

"I'll be fine. Just go." He told her, hoping that it would be true. It had occurred to him that once Hermoine had disappeared inside, Lucius could simply drive off and kidnap him. But would it actually be kidnapping since his uncle had practically given him to the Death Eater? And where had his bodyguard been while all this had happened? Surely they would recognize Lucius Malfoy on sight! He watched Hermoine disappear through the front door of her house and he shifted his attention to the Malfoys. "What do you want?"

"Why, the opportunity to study Muggles." Lucius said sweetly, his hands holding his cane across his lap. "And to spend some time with you. Surely there's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"And what if I don't want to spend time with you? I don't trust you." Harry boldly stared him in the eyes, unafraid.

"Potter," Draco interrupted. "Who was that man that tossed you out?"

"My Uncle Vernon." Harry replied. "He's a Muggle and he doesn't care for OUR kind."

"You're not our kind, Potter. We're Purebloods, remember? How many times do I have to tell you?" Draco snarled.

"I wouldn't want to be your kind!" Harry argued back, defiance in his green eyes. "You're all inbreeding! You'll end up with sterile babies that have feet growing out of their heads! And they'll be Muggles, too!"

"What? How dare you, Potter! You'll pay for that!" Draco launched himself across the short distance between the two seats and flung himself on top of Harry. He took a swing at Potter's face and Harry gripped a handful of Draco's whitish-blonde hair, yanking hard. Draco's head was pulled back and he shrieked in pain.

"Children! Children, please!" Lucius got to his feet and gripped his son by the shoulder, pulling him off Harry, who released the other's hair. Roughly shoving Draco back into his own seat, he angrily glared at the two of them. Picking his cane up off the seat where he had put it for a brief moment, Lucius waved it angrily. "There will be no fighting! If I catch you fighting again, you'll both get it with this. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Father." Draco answered, his gray eyes downcast. When he lifted his gaze, he glared at Potter through his bangs.

Lucius turned his attention to Harry. "And do you understand?"

Harry glared right back at Draco, but nodded his head. "Yes, Mr. Malfoy."

"Good." Lucius returned to his seat next to his son, one hand firmly wrapped around his cane. The distance inside the carriage was small enough that he could strike either Potter or his own son as needed. "Now Draco, I want you to treat out guests politely. That means no insults, either to Potter or Miss Granger. And I certainly hope you will not engage in common brawling again!"

"But their just filthy Mud…"

The cane whipped out and struck Draco on his fingers hard enough to sting but not hard enough to do any serious damage. "You will not use that term, Draco. How many times do I have to tell you to play nicely, especially if you're in public! The proper term is Muggle-born."

Draco stuck his aching fingers by his mouth. "Yes, Father. "I'm sorry, Father."

Harry sat quietly for a moment, thinking. It was clear that Lucius meant what he had said. But was it actually possible for him to get along with Draco? "You should know we're not exactly good friends at school…"

"I am aware of that," Lucius replied. "That is why I will accompany you anywhere we go while Draco watches Miss Granger."

Draco's mouth dropped in shock and he turned to his father. "You're pairing me up with that …girl?"

"That girl gets better grades than you do in every subject!" Lucius pointed out harshly, then his voice softened. "But I'm pleased to see you can learn not to use certain words."

"It's not my fault she gets better grades!" Draco protested quickly. "I do the best I can, Father. You know that."

"Ummm, excuse me?" Harry butted in, his voice unsure. It had almost seemed the two had forgotten he was there watching them.

"Yes?" Lucius replied as he looked at Potter with interest.

"I was just wondering if either of you have ever visited the zoo? My Uncle took me there once several years ago…" Harry asked, sure that it was a totally dumb idea. The Malfoys were so rich that they probably owned several zoos.

"The zoo?" Draco said, his brow wrinkling in concentration. Then his face went totally blank. "What's a zoo?"

"It's where Muggles keep their animals." Harry explained. "And there should be lots of Muggles there to observe as well."

"Muggles have animals? Besides cats and dogs you mean?" Draco asked. Then he leaned back in his seat and smirked confidently. "Father usually takes me to the horse races or to the opera. Sometimes we play a round of polo, but Quidditch is much more exciting. Truthfully, polo is a baby's game, don't you agree Potter?"

"I never played polo before." Harry admitted. Although he didn't want to tell Draco, he just barely knew what polo was and that it involved horses. "My uncle isn't exactly keen on taking me places."

Draco leaned forward. "Don't tell me you've never ridden a horse!"

"No, not really." Harry said, slightly embarrassed.

"Well," Draco continued with a confident smile on his face. "I've been riding horses since I've been seven-years-old. We have our own stables, you see."

"Hey!" Hermoine appeared at the open carriage door, a surprised look on her face. She was now dressed in a white T-shirt and blue shorts, athletic shoes on her feet. "Don't tell me you two are actually talking to each other!"

"No," Harry answered. "He's just boasting again. Same old same old, you know how it is. But I thought we could try the zoo."

Draco glared at Harry but didn't dare try anything else.

Hermoine leaped up into the carriage. "That's a great idea! You'll see how well the Muggles take care of all the animals!"

"These animals better not be dangerous, not like the things that oaf makes us study." Draco remarked, the memory of Buckbeak suddenly sharp in his mind.

"Well, I admit those Blast-Ended Skewts were a bit much…" Hermoine agreed.

"What, you're agreeing with me?" Draco said, surprised as he stared at Hermoine.

"Well, there really was no point studying them now was there? I mean, we're never really going to encounter one ever again." Hermoine said matter-of-factly. "But it's perfectly safe at the zoo, as long as you don't crawl into an animal's enclosure. But if a person is dumb enough to do that, well, they're just begging to get bit or trampled or gored."

A short time later the magical carriage arrived at the London Zoo and the four of them climbed out. Hermoine immediately went and bought the tickets, knowing that Purebloods such as the Malfoys wouldn't have a clue about Muggle money. Once she had the tickets, she marched them all through the gates. Inside, it looked a bit like a park with paths that led off in various directions. There were signs on posts that guided the visitor to different areas like Asia or Africa.

"I don't believe that I'm in a Muggle zoo. How degrading." Draco drawled as he glanced around, a bored expression on his pointed face. Sighing, he went up to Granger and gripped her arm. "Father says I'm supposed to watch you. No sneaking off."

"You mean I have to watch you!" she replied as she glanced down at his hand on her arm. "Or else you're liable to do something stupid."

"Fine. We'll watch each other." Draco started walking down the first path he saw and Hermoine was forced to go with him. Up ahead and to the right he spotted a large pond set among the trees. Some odd birds that he'd never seen before were wading in the water, some dunking their heads. The birds were brilliant pink with down curved beaks edged in black. "What are those?"

Lucius and Harry joined them by the little fence that kept visitors out of the birds' area.

"Flamingoes." Hermoine answered.

"Do they breathe fire?" Draco asked.

"No."

"Petrify you?"

"Nope."

"Do they do ANYTHING at all?"

Harry bent over the fence and was wiggling a finger, trying to get the attention of one of the birds. One curious flamingo slowly came over on its long, stilt-like legs. After eyeing the finger for a moment, its head snapped forward and bit the finger. "Owwww! Let go!"

Draco watched, laughing. "I like them after all!"

"Harry! Stop torturing that bird!" Hermoine yelled at him, running over and trying to pull his arm away from the bird. But the hungry flamingo wasn't about to give up the tasty treat it had found.

"I'm not! It's torturing me!" Harry protested as the bird was yanked off its feet, its long neck stretching over the waist-high metal fence with its beak sealed firmly on Potter's trapped finger.

Hermoine, realizing the bird wasn't going to let go, ran over to Lucius. "DO something!"

Lucius, trying very hard to keep a straight face, quickly glanced around to see if anyone was watching. Determining that they were alone for the moment, he gave the flamingo a sharp whack on the head with his cane. The startled bird instantly released Potter's finger and collapsed to the grass unconscious.

"We better get out of here before someone comes along!" Hermoine said as she gave Harry a shove on his back and he started down the path, his hand cradled against his chest. Her brown eyes shifted to Draco. He was sitting on the little fence and laughing hysterically, tears running down his face. She ran over to him and gripped his upper arm. Hauling him to his feet, she dragged him further into the zoo and away from the abused waterfowl. "Stop laughing!"

Draco only laughed harder. He threw an arm around her shoulders and leaned against her a bit. "The mighty Potter getting bit by a bird!"

"Oh, it isn't even funny!" Hermoine said, suddenly realizing she had never been this close to Draco before. In fact, before he would never have dared touch her because she was a lowly Muggle-born and she might contaminate him. But for the moment, he seemed to have forgotten it. Could it be her plan was actually working?

They came upon the next exhibit which was a large rocky island surrounded by a wide, deep moat. The island itself held several small monkeys with long prehensile tails. They had trees to climb, tires to swing from as well as ropes and even a few assorted toys to play with. The monkeys quickly scrambled up and down the trees, swinging from the ropes while making faces. Hermoine led the still laughing Draco over to the waist high fence and carefully leaned him against it. But she wisely kept a grip on him. The last thing she needed was for him to fall over backward into the moat!

In this area of the zoo there were many more people. Young mothers with strollers, families with shouting kids, wives with husbands. The younger kids climbed partway on the fence, their arms tightly gripping the top, so they could see the monkeys better. Lucius was watching the Muggles with interest. Amazing as it was, they seemed to ignore him, even if Mr. Dursley seemed to think he was dressed oddly. He was also under the impression that Muggle men had short hair and that his long, shocking white locks would attract undue attention. Yet that didn't seem to be the case. Glancing to make certain that Potter was occupied and out of trouble, he moved over to Hermoine. "The Muggles seem to be ignoring me, even if I'm dressed differently. Why is that?"

"Oh, these days Muggles wear all sorts of stuff." Hermoine explained. "There are all different styles and such. It's really quite silly really. And some men do have long hair."

Draco had finally stopped laughing and he wiped his face dry with his hands. He watched the monkeys for a few minutes, and then shifted his gaze to the other boy. Although Potter was facing the island with the monkeys, he really didn't seem to be watching them. Curious, he inched over until he was standing next to him. Besides, his father was engaged in some boring discussion with Granger. Between the two choices, Potter's far-away gaze seemed the more interesting. "Galleon for your thoughts."

Harry's green eyes shifted to Draco. "What do you want?"

"Well, seeing that we're going to be stuck together all weekend, I thought that maybe we should try to get along. Temporarily, that is. I don't enjoy getting my knuckles beat, you know?" Draco's gray eyes shifted down to Harry's hands where they rested on the short, mint green fence. "That bird didn't hurt you, did it?"

"No, not really." Harry replied, a bit surprised that Draco had even asked. "It doesn't have any teeth. It was just squeezing my finger really…"

"Oh." Draco crossed his arms and leaned against the fence. "Does it bother you that the Muggle threw you out? I mean, if my Father threw me out it certainly would bother me."

Harry shrugged. "Not really. I didn't want to be there anyway. Every year it gets worst…"

He paused, wondering why of all people he was telling Draco. He didn't trust the little ferret. He didn't even like him. He was always bragging and shoving people out of the way, telling big stories that were obviously fake…

"So why do you keep going back?" Draco asked.

"Because I have to. Dummbledore says so." Harry replied, frowning. He knew that he was required to stay at least a month of every year with the Dursleys to renew the ancient magic. This time he had been there for only about twenty-four hours, maybe less. But then, maybe he didn't really need the old magic anymore. Voldemort had taken his blood that day of the Triwizard tournament and now he had the same protection. So what good did it really do for him to stay with the Dursleys and get driven out of his mind? He never had a moment of peace while he was there. They didn't even give him enough to eat. If it weren't for Hermoine and Ron's food packages, he would have starved to death years ago.

"That old idiot?" Draco's eyes widened in surprise that the school's Headmaster was involved. "I don't see why you have to listen to him for. I mean, when we're not in school. Don't you have somewhere else you could stay?"

Harry considered the situation before answering. Draco seemed to be sincere, as hard as that may seem. He remembered that day long ago when Draco had held out his hand so they could be friends and he had turned him down. Besides, the Death Eaters probably already knew all this information so he wouldn't be giving anything away if he answered the question. "Well, I had a Godfather…but he was murdered. I was planning on going to go live with him…"

"I'm sorry." Draco told him. "You seem to have bad luck, Potter."

"Tell me something I don't know…" Harry turned around and leaned his back against the little fence. He watched the various families stroll past and his throat tightened a bit. He had never been brought here by anyone that truly cared about him. A part of him envied those carefree Muggle children running around gleefully, they of the sticky hands and faces as they had no idea a war was being waged or that some of the major participants of that war stood right in front of them. He turned to the blonde boy beside him. "You're lucky, Draco. You have parents that love you."

Draco watched Harry walk away to go sit on a nearby empty bench. His gaze shifted to his Father and thoughts began to roll around in his head.

To be continued…