Chapter 5

A Wizard's Debt

Harry woke up before he opened his eyes. His bed felt so hard, like he was sleeping on wood. He groped for his glasses but they were not there, all he felt was grass. The smell of vomit lingered, and he nearly gagged.

He opened his eyes. The sun nearly blinded him at first. He grabbed the trunk of the tree he had slept by and pulled himself up. He tried to remember why he had slept out here. Then it came.

I'm going to die. There's no way out this time, no Dumbledore. It's all a matter of bloody goddamned time.

"Potter?" he heard a snapping voice inquire. The blonde boy peered at him, smirked. Pansy was beside him, and beside Pansy was a blonde girl he didn't know of.

"What the fuck do you want…?" Harry asked. He felt like he had a hangover. Perhaps that was just what he wanted.

"What the hell are you doing out here?" he prodded.

"I feel asleep under this tree. What are you doing out here?" Harry didn't know why he even cared, but the truth was he was trying to distract himself from his looming death.

Maybe Trelawney can come preach the Grim to me, he thought amusedly, and almost chuckled.

"I'm showing Lauren around." Draco indicated to the new girl. She was very pretty, Harry found. She had honey blonde hair and lovely blue eyes. "You look like a drunken bum, Potter." Draco jeered, and the girls giggled softly.

"And you look like a monkey's ass." Harry replied. "But that's nothing new."

"Why you –" Draco lunged at Harry, but Lauren and Pansy each grabbed one of his arms. Lauren's French-manicured nails dug into the fabric of his shirt and pulled the collar down to reveal a huge, nasty purple bruise that looked fresh. Draco stopped, immediately alarmed, and pulled his collar back up. A tiny blush appeared on his pale cheeks. Harry stared curiously at him as he pulled himself up off the cold ground.

"Draco, what happened?" asked Pansy.

"Nothing." He said in a would-be casual voice. "You watch your ass, Potter."

"Sorry, I don't bend that way." He called out, but Draco was already gone. He sighed exasperatedly and went into the condo. As he went through the door, he was nearly hit with a coffee mug. It whizzed past his head and onto the dead grass outside, where the handle cracked and fell off.

"Get out, get out, GET OUT!" Aunt Petunia was screaming, hurling dishes and things at Uncle Vernon, who had taken refuge behind the kitchen counter as Harry had once done.

"You're mad!" He hollered, ducking. A plate grazed what remained of his hair. "Barking!"

"Well at least I'm not FAT!" she screamed, throwing a blue glass.

"You stupid whore! Go back to your professor!" He shouted as he ran (or waddled, really) into the other room.

Harry stood there in some sort of a shock. He had forgotten that Uncle Vernon was human and new those sorts of words.

Aunt Petunia was sobbing into her apron again, and this time Harry stood his distance. He was now very scared of his aunt. He just wasn't in the mood to have dishes hurled his way.

"I can't take it, Harry! I really can't!" she wept, and ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs rather noisily. Meanwhile, Uncle Vernon was pacing back and forth in the living room. If he wasn't careful, Harry suspected the floor would eventually collapse under him.

Shrugging, remembering that he was going to die, he removed the brandy from the cabinet where they had the liquor and got out a shot glass. Hesitating, he left the shot glass on the counter and took the whole bottle instead.

Draco approached his father directly. His Mother had taken Pansy, Pansy's Parents, and Lauren on a picnic across the lake. Lucius and Draco had decided to stay, Lucius because he was waiting on information from the Dark Lord and Draco because he wanted to ask his father about precisely that.

"Father?" he asked. Lucius was reading the Dailey Prophet while drinking firewhiskey, and didn't even bother to look at Draco.

"Hm?"

"Did you bring Potter here to execute him?"

This made Lucius look up. "How did you know about that?"

"I heard you and Mother talking after Pansy and I came back from the lake." Draco told him.

"Well, I – wait, what were you and Pansy doing at the lake last night?" Lucius peered at him quizzically.

"Swimming." Draco lied quickly. Lucius was silent for a moment.

"Bullshit, you fucked her." Lucius said matter-of-factly. Draco stood, his mouth agape, in shock. "But anyways, to answer your question, yes, we're finally going to kill Potter."

"But…why?" Draco didn't know why he was even asking. He knew that he should be happy, but for some reason he was critical of the whole situation.

"You know why, Draco. Don't insult me."

"Yes, but why here? Why not in front of Dumbledore, at Hogwarts?"

"Because we're tired of waiting, don't you see? And this is Romania, there's no one for miles around, and they're just Muggles and Mudbloods." He said casually, turning the page of his paper. "Why do you even question it? You hate Potter."

"Yes, I know." Draco lingered. Lucius looked up at him again.

"Why are you still here?"

Draco, caught in an unexpected flood of anger and fear, yanked down his collar to show off his ugly bruise. "The girls saw, Father. And I had no prepared lies to tell them."

"And why is that my concern?"

"Because you did it." Draco retorted, his nostrils flaring. He was buckling under his anger. "You drunk ass, you fucking beat me!" he screamed. He knew it was a bad move, but this had been bottling up for quite a while, especially after he had discovered that he really wanted to kill his father, and he could think of all too many creative ways to do it.

Lucius stood up so quickly that passersby might have thought that he had already been standing. He grabbed Draco by the collar so brutally that it ripped, but he took no notice. He was breathing like an animal. "I don't know how you even dare to speak to me that way, boy. But I can assure you that it is a mistake."

"Oh, and what are you going to do? Hit me harder? I doubt I can be hit any harder than you've been doing lately, because you're a goddamn drunk!" Draco challenged. For some odd reason, he was laughing.

SLAP.

The side of his face exploded in pain. The print of Lucius' wedding ring (two serpents) was imprinted on Draco's face. His cheek was a huge red blotch, and it would probably bruise as well.

"Do you want more? Do you want another slap from this drunk?" Lucius yelled, so close to Draco's face that his words sprayed Draco with spit.

Draco looked up, his head lolling. He was almost unconscious, but he was just holding on. "Slapping is for pussies." He muttered. He took his hand, straightened it, and brought his palm to his father's nose. There came a satisfying yet unexpected crack, and Lucius howled with pain. "Fuck you." He said almost inaudibly. Darkness was spreading quickly in his line of vision. It wasn't too long before it was dark altogether.

Harry wondered back outside after decided not to go anywhere near Uncle Vernon. He sat on the steps below the door. It was late afternoon, and the temperature was decent and better described as warm than as anything else.

He was resting his head in his hands, but it snapped up quickly when he heard a commotion coming from next door. Lucius was holding somebody's limp body…looked like Draco's. He was either sleeping or unconscious. Lucius was muttering to himself and he nearly tripped as he walked down onto the dead land. He dropped Draco under a nearby tree and went back inside, still talking to himself.

Harry, curious and oddly worried, got off the steps after Lucius had shut the door behind him and ran over to Draco, entertaining the thought that he could very well be dead. This made him run faster. Even though he hated Draco, he didn't want him to die.

He peered down at the blonde boy. His cheek looked red and irritated and also starting to bruise. There was a small cut on his forehead, and blood was running. His eyelids looked sort of purple. Harry bent down and placed his hand on his chest.

Oh…Harry thought with fright.

He wasn't breathing.

He got down and, though it was revolting, he used the Muggle technique that they had learned in school before he left. He pinched Draco's nose shut and seemingly kissed him, though he was really breathing air into Draco. He waited then did it again. Draco still wasn't breathing. Desperately, he tried one more time. He waited and was relieved when Draco coughed and then gasped for air.

"What…Potter?" he squinted.

"You owe me, Malfoy. Your drunken ass father almost killed you this time." Harry muttered, staring down at Draco.

"Huh…really?" Draco asked stupidly. "So, what, you revived me or something?" He sneered.

"Yeah, actually." Harry answered coolly. "You don't have to tell anyone or anything. Just know that you owe me."

"Fine. I owe you." Draco muttered reluctantly. "And I think we should at least be civil towards each other in front of Pansy and Lauren, they think highly of me and I don't want to be embarrassed. I don't really give a damn about you, but…maybe if I'm in a good mood I'll set you up with Lauren or something."

"Sure. Fine." Harry replied, not really caring but willing to agree. "Just remember what I said about debt, Malfoy."

"I'll remember. Trust me for once in your life." Malfoy said.

"Why should I?" Harry asked.

"Because I know things you might not, and I might be able to help you out. Just trust me." Draco shrugged. Harry thought vaguely that he might be talking about the plot to kill him, but he decided not to say anything. "Do you want to walk around the lake later with Lauren and Pansy and I?"

"Why the hell are you being so nice to me, Malfoy? I just asked you to remember my debt, not to be my best friend." Harry inquired suspiciously.

"Because I pity you, Potter. And if you want to know why you had better stop being such an asshole."

"I saved your damn life. Don't tell me what to do. Maybe I'll just let you die next time."

"Fine, I didn't ask for you to save me. Maybe I'll just let you die too." Draco retorted hotly.

"So you know that your father brought me here to kill me?" Harry's voice got very quiet, and his glasses looked slightly fogged. Draco said nothing for a bit, because if he was in Potter's situation, he would be pretty put off as well.

"Yes. I just found out last night."

"That makes two of us."

"So are you going to run?"

"S'pose so."

The two were silent for a minute.

"Amazing, I can't believe we just had a civil conversation." Harry remarked.

"Only because I pity you." Draco said.

"No, because I think you understand me."

"That's absurd." Draco crossed his arms.

"No it's not, we both hate your father."

Silence again, this time not so awkward.

"That's true." Draco murmured.

"Anyways, perhaps I'll take you up on that walk tonight. I'd like to meet Lauren and get out from under the Dursleys anyways. I need some time to clear my head before I run. But then again, what's the point? They'll kill me anyways and I'll just look like a coward. Perhaps I'll stay and get drunk, then I'll fight. What do you think?" Harry asked. Draco snapped out of his state when he was aware that Potter was finally done talking to himself.

"If you want, it's up to you. But I suppose there's no way out, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then you might as well stay. Hell, maybe you'll even get to fuck Lauren before you go."

"I can sure tell you respect her." Harry smirked.

"I respect her about as much as I respect Pansy, maybe a bit more. They're both sluts anyways, and I find them repulsive."

"I don't know Lauren. Pansy's just a bitch." Harry stated, staring at his reflection in the water.

"I agree. So I'll see you later then. I guess we'll be going at about seven."

"Okay, I'll meet you here."

"Bye then."

As they went their separate ways, both boys were a bit surprised when they realized they had just formed the basis of a shaky friendship.