Serpents, Lions, and Soldiers
By Razzy25
Draco groped aimlessly in the dark. The floor felt cold, sort of like the stone in the Slytherin dungeons. It was freezing in here, he was naked and shivering, although for the moment, he could not remember why. As the young wizard began to get his bearings, he noticed the sticky substance on his face; the iron taste of blood in his mouth, and the aching that racked most of his small body. Slowly, small bits of Draco's memory began to return. Father had been beating him again. Draco could recall hearing an expression somewhere, "Shit roles down hill." Must have been something Muggles said, Draco had never heard any of the Hogwarts students use it before. That particular maxim definitely applied in the Malfoy family. The Dark Lord abused the Death Eaters; the Death Eaters abused their families. Draco figured that enough of his father's beatings would eventually change him from a scared little boy trying to be the school bully to a something truly evil. "I must have tried to Apparate away from him and fucked it up," thought Draco. He had heard of wizards messing up this particular skill before and ending up in weird places. Where the fuck were his robes? Draco supposed that they could have disappeared somehow when he tried to Apparate. At least he didn't get splinched and lose an arm, leg, or even worse, his dick. Draco couldn't feel his clothing anywhere in the immediate vicinity, but he did make some minor progress. His hand touched a wall, and he began to slowly feel his way along it. There was a great deal of random crap stacked in here that Draco could not identify. Damn, where the fuck was his wand? A simple lumos charm would vastly improve his situation. Even a poor excuse for a wizard like Longbottom would be able to get themselves out of this with a wand. After a couple of minutes, Draco felt what was unmistakably a door knob. The instant that he reached to open the door, Draco heard a commotion in another part of whatever building he was in. He could make out noises that were definitely other people yelling, yet in strange accents that he could not immediately place. The yelling was followed by a succession of loud bangs that sounded like firecrackers coming from the next room. Panic was added to the other emotions racing through Draco's head, the hurt of being beaten by Lucius, and the confusion of being in some weird place minus his memory. Considering his lack of proper wizarding attire, Draco scrambled to find a hiding place amongst the various odds and ends stacked in the room. As it turned out, he wasn't quick enough. With a loud slam, a door on the other side of the room that Draco had not seen was kicked in. The sudden flashing of sunlight from the now open door blinded him as he crawled towards the other door to get away from whoever had burst into the room. Draco wasn't quick enough in his disoriented state. The intruders greeted Draco loudly with exclamations of "Freeze! LAPD!"
Draco squinted and tried to make out his pursuers as his eyes adjusted to the light. There were four men in the room with him, and the sounds of others elsewhere in the building. By their dress, Draco could immediately tell that they were Muggles. Muggles with firearms to be precise. They were the very worst kind. His father had taught Draco a little about the weapons Muggles used. Lucius had said that guns were the Muggle equivalent of the Avada Kedarva curse. In other words, one of the dirty stupid bastards could kill you without even uttering a spell. Draco's revulsion at sharing the same room with full-blooded Muggles was quickly replaced by fear when he remembered that he was without his wand. He hadn't found it anywhere when he was groping around the room. "Shit," he muttered under his breath. His father would beat him even harder for losing his wand. Draco and the Muggles regarded one another silently for a second. The first one to speak was a large man with a shaved head and piercing blue eyes much like Draco's own.
"Jesus goddamn Christ," the man exclaimed. "Lem, go check that kid out."
"Will do Boss," replied the other Muggle, a tall one with spiky blond hair.
"Vic, I'll go get Dutch," said one of the others with some kind of regional accent that Draco did not recognize as he gestured towards him. "Cases with naked boys seem to be right up his alley." Even with the odd speech, Draco could easily detect the disdain and sarcasm in the man's voice.
"Shut the fuck up Shane," said the blond Muggle as he knelt next to Draco and took his pulse. "I think he's dealt with enough of some asshole's crap today already." Turing to Draco, Lem asked, "What happened to you kid? You got a name? My name's Curtis. My buddies and I are cops; we're here to help you."
Draco had a mix of emotions running through his mind. On the one hand, he didn't like being touched by Muggles, but on the other hand, he supposed it was better than being beaten by his father. Besides, this Muggle cop was the only person who had offered to help Draco in a long time. Even though he didn't know where he was, Draco could see that the cop was genuinely concerned about him. For the moment at least, he was safe. With his chin quivering, Draco looked up at Lem and began to cry.
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