Chapter eleven: Enough!
The next two weeks were a blur. The two wizards spent their time training. Harry, taking extra care to pay attention to all of Draco's instructions to avoid another incident but accidents happen.
"Bloody hell!" Draco cried lying on his back sporting a gash under his eye and was gasping for air.
"Oh, Draco, I'm so sorry." Harry apologized, hovering over the blonde. "I tripped."
The pair were practicing a maneuver where Harry was suppose to rush Draco who would step aside and use Harry's momentum against him by flipping him on his back. However, as Harry came barreling toward him the dark-haired boy tripped over a stone and instead crashed into Draco sending him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him and the offending stone hit Draco right under his eye.
"I think we've done enough for today. Besides the sun's going down." Draco said once he had enough air to speak. Harry nodded mutely still looking awfully apologetic and plopped down next to the Slytherin.
"I really am sorry." He mumbled. Draco touched his wound and hissed in pain.
"I know you are." He said and laid back to watch the stars come out. Harry looked down at him.
"At least let me fix it. I know a healing spell that would leave you without a mark." Harry offered.
"No." Draco said more harshly than he intended. "I mean no thanks. It's fine really. Just a scratch is all. "Harry looked at his suspiciously.
"Draco, is there a reason you won't let me do any healing charms on you?" Harry asked. Draco sighed. He had promised to trust the boy and he intended to keep that promise.
"Yes," he whispered, and before he could say anything else Harry interrupted him.
"I knew it. Oh c'mon Draco I promise I am really good at healing charms. I'm not going to mess up. Trust me." Harry sounded like a child when he pleaded. Draco smirked.
"Nah, that's not it." He said. He could sense Harry's confusion.
"Then why is it?" he asked softly. Draco took a deep breath.
"Because I have sworn of healing charms," he answered simply.
"What? Why?' Harry sputtered.
"Oh Harry, that's a long story and now is not the time. But I promise I will tell you soon." He answered. It was the truth. He planned to tell his life story in one go and it would take a while and he was so tired as it is he couldn't handle that tonight.
"Does it have to do with your father?' Harry asked quietly.
"Yes" He saw Harry nodded out of the corner of his eye. The pair lapsed into silence, before Draco spoke.
"Tell me about your life, before Hogwarts." He requested softly and hoped Harry would.
"There's not much to tell," Harry said with a heavy sigh. Draco sat up and looked down at the other boy.
"Please?" He begged. Harry threw up his hands.
"I'm serious. If I wasn't getting beat up by Dudley and his gang, or forced to do chores, I was locked in my cupboard. My life didn't start until I went to Hogwarts." He exclaimed. Draco was a bit taken back by the outburst. He was quite for a minute before speaking again.
"You've mentioned a cupboard before. What do you mean?" Draco asked and Harry blushed.
"My bedroom was the cupboard under the stairs until I was eleven. Then I got Dudley's second bedroom." He mumbled.
Draco's eyes widened in outrage.
"What?" He asked in a deadly hiss. Before Harry could answer Draco was up and striding toward the house.
"Oh hello there Draco," Harry's Aunt Petunia cooed from the living room where she was watching TV, while the new housemaid they had hired, was dusting the mantle. "Care to join me for some lemonade?" She asked.
Draco glared at her and continued on his way. He came to the stairs and set into the side was a small door with a tiny window that had bars across it.
Draco opened the door and let out a howl of fury.
His cry caused Harry, The Dursleys and the housemaid to come running.
"This…this…cupboard was you bedroom for ELEVEN YEARS!" Draco shouted causing the crowd to shrink back from him, all but Harry who approached him cautiously.
"Draco? It's ok," Harry said calmly which just enraged the blonde more.
"No Harry. It's not ok!" Draco responded and then turned his fiery gaze onto the Dursleys
"What do you have to say for yourselves?' He asked his voice venomous.
"Who do you think you are?' Harry's uncle asked, rhetorically, in a would-be dangerous tone if he had been talking to anyone but Draco Malfoy.
"I am Draco Malfoy. I am the only son and heir of Lucius Malfoy. I am a pureblood and your better, muggle. And I demand your respect." He cut in, his voice low, deadly and laced with cold superiority.
Uncle Vernon's face turned fifty shades of red until settling on one that was actually purple.
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT IN MY OWN HOME!" He roared. Draco didn't so much as blink. "You want to know why I put the brat in there as soon as I laid hands on him. Because he's no good.
He'll end up just like his father. Getting himself blown up and leaving his responsibilities on good decent folk. James Potter was a worthless, no good, troublemaking freak and his son is no better!"
Draco's grey eyes turned murderous. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the beefy man's heart.
"I swear by Merlin that I will kill you right now if you do not take it back." Vernon Dursley gulped.
But before either of them could say or do anything the lights began to flicker. Draco looked up startled. He looked to the Dursleys; he had no idea if this was a normal occurrence in muggle homes.
All three Dursleys were looking at something behind Draco with a look of utter fear. Draco turned slowly.
Harry was…glowing. His eyes were an emerald fire and a green light was radiating off of him. His fists were clenched so tightly that his nails were digging into his skin. Drops of blood were seeping out of the spaces between his fingers. Light bulbs nearest him popped and shattered.
"My father was a better man then you'll eve be." He growled, his voice boomed and echoed of the walls. "He died to protect me! Say what you will about me, but never ever speak my dad's name again. Understand?" Three more light bulbs exploded.
Vernon gave a slight nod. He was almost paralyzed with fear.
"Good," Harry snarled and left the room. Draco did a quick repairing spell to the broken light bulbs and gave the housemaid a memory charm before he followed Harry out of the room and up the stairs.
"Harry? Harry!" He called after the boy trying to catch up with him but Harry's strides were long and determined. Draco followed him to his room where Harry pulled out his wand and began to point it at various objects and sent them flying into his opened trunk.
"Harry, what are you doing?" Draco asked his head throbbed from the unused adrenaline in his blood.
"We made a deal, Draco. Do you remember?" Harry replied his voice cold and a bit condescending. Draco's eyes flashed with indignation and anger.
"Yes I bloody well remember. But you can't be serious!" Draco cried. When he had made that deal he hadn't expected anything to happen. Besides, where would they go? There was no where that they were safe.
"I am deadly serious." Harry said his voice low, stepping up to Draco. He was mere meters from the blonde. "I am leaving and you cannot stop me, Malfoy."
Draco hissed as if Harry had hit him. It hurt to hear Harry using his last name. For the time he had been here Draco had almost forgotten that he was a Malfoy. He had become just Draco, or at least when he was with Harry he was.
"You're not thinking straight, Potter. It is folly to leave. We have no where to go." He stepped closer his voice barely above a whisper but crystal clear.
"What would you have me do Malfoy? Stay here and let him talk such rubbish about my family or should I rather take a leaf out of the Malfoy Family handbook and just kill them all. What use is a muggle anyway?" Harry hissed. His voice was so cold and his eyes hard. It made Draco sad to see such a normally soft person turn to stone.
"You're no killer, Harry." Draco said softly staring into those intense green eyes.
"How do you know? You don't know me." Harry cried but his eyes had already softened.
"No I don't. But I know killers and I know what it takes to be one and you don't have that." the blonde answered not backing down.
"And what's that?" The dark-haired boy whispered.
"To be inhuman. You're too human to be a killer Harry. Too pure, too kind, too warm. You have a heart, a soul, a conscience." He replied losing himself in the green depths of Harry's eyes. "Unlike a killer. Unlike me." Draco's voice was so quite now Harry had to lean forward to hear him.
"What do you mean?" The Gryffindor breathed. Draco closed his eyes for a minute then opened them again.
"My father use to host parties for Death Eaters, even after the Dark Lord's demise. I guess they thought of themselves as a society, a social class. Part of the 'festivities' was a hunt. My father or one of his buddies would bring a muggle, usually a small child, male. They kept the girls or older boys if they could get them for more one-on-one activities, if you know what I mean.
It was the year before my fifth; my father decided I was old enough to attend one of these parties. So I spent hours dressing and doing my hair. I felt so grown up and important. I was the youngest on there. None of my friends' parents had let them come. They were too young.
As I came down the stairs I saw a group of house-elves carrying a cage that had a small muggle boy in it, out to the yard. I had heard of the hunt, and I didn't really think about it but when I saw that boy…it undid me.
He was no more than twelve, only a few years younger than I was. His hair was ratty and covered in dirt but I could tell it was once blonde, his red-rimmed eyes were a dull blue, and his face was a sickly pale white.
He reminded me a lot of myself. Not just because his age or how he looked but because of the look on his face. He looked so numb to it all until he saw my father. He began to scream and tremble. He was so scared. Terrified, really.
So much like I was every time I was called to my father's study. Numb as I walked the halls until I came to his study. The minute I saw him behind his desk, candle light giving him a demonic look, then I would begin to beg and plead, tremble and shake and I was always so afraid.
Needless to say, my father caught the boy and got the pleasure of killing him. But before he died the boy looked at him, more like through me, and begged me to save his sister. With his last breath, he didn't plead for mercy because he knew he wouldn't get it, instead he tried to save his sister. Give her a chance.
That changed me. From that day on I never begged or pleaded with my father again because I knew I wouldn't get mercy, I never did.
As my father said goodbye to his guest I walked through the hallways of their wing. I knew that my father most likely put the girl in one of his rooms until he could see to her. I knew the fate that met the girl and it sickened me.
My father would rape her. Over and over again, never getting satisfaction until she died, this was a sure thing. He would break her sprit then her body. It has happened before. Many times. But I couldn't get that boy out of my head. Begging for his sister's life as his was being taken from him.
I heard crying coming from one of the rooms. The girl was curled into a ball on the bed sobbing. She looked just like her brother, albeit cleaner. She had dark blonde hair that went to the middle of her back and red-rimmed dark blue eyes. She looked to be fourteen or maybe fifteen. My age.
When I opened the door she began to scream and cry louder. I tried to hush her but she mistook me for my father. I slapped her and she quieted. I told her that I was there to help. She asked, begged me to save her. I told her I would.
I had a potion with me. I told her it would calm her. Help her. She didn't know any better and she believed me and she drank it." Draco's words became slow. They were painful to say and he forced himself to push them out. He took a deep breath and continued. "Minutes passed and nothing happened, then she began to choke and sputter. Blood trickled out of the comer of her mouth and then she fell back and stopped moving.
I left and my father found her moments later. He thought she had killed herself. He knows nothing about potions and couldn't tell one from a muggle poison."
Draco's story was followed by silence until Harry broke it.
"You poisoned her?' Harry whispered his breath warm on Draco's cheek but cool where his tears were flowing. Draco nodded.
"You saved her." The other boy said.
"No, I killed her." Draco said determined and disgusted. "And I will never let myself forget it."
"You said It yourself, her fate was worse. Way worse." Harry said calmly. Draco looked at him.
"How can you be so understanding? How can you act like its ok?' He cried incredulously.
Harry took another step closer. They were so close now that all Draco had to do was move a half a meter forward and their lips would be touching. But he wouldn't. He promised himself he wouldn't. But that doesn't mean Harry couldn't.
Harry made to close that small gap between then and Draco held his breath. Harry, however, turned his head and whispered into Draco's ear.
"Because you are no killer," He said his lips brushing his skin causing Draco to shutter involuntarily. Harry dropped a small kiss on Draco's ear lobe before pulling away. It was so light and quick that half of him wondered if it was his imagination. Draco was speechless.
He wanted to tell Harry that he was wrong. That he was a killer, a monster. He wanted to make Harry see how ugly he was. How horrible. But he couldn't, because for once, Draco believed that he wasn't a killer or a monster. That maybe there was hope for him yet. Maybe he was really just human after all.
Let's go," Harry called bringing Draco out of his thoughts. He saw that both his and Harry's trunks were packed and stacked in the middle of the room along with Hedwig's empty cage. Catching Draco's look Harry answered his unasked question.
"I sent Hedwig on ahead. She'll show up at the Leaky Cauldron when we arrive." He said and reduced the two trunks and cage with a spell before tucking them away into his pockets. "Ready?" He asked.
Draco looked around the room. He didn't see anything left behind so he nodded and followed Harry out of the room and down the stairs. Waiting for them at the bottom was a very enraged looking Vernon Dursley.
"You are going no where Harry Potter," He snarled. Harry ignored him and continued to walk down the stairs as if five-hundred pounds of angry muggle wasn't blocking his way. "I know what you've been up to. Doing magic! And that little show, well that's liable to get you expelled from that freak school of yours. Don't think I don't remember that you aren't allowed to do magic."
"The moron actually seems proud of himself for having that knowledge. What a good cow." Draco said with a twisted smile. Harry chuckled, his own lips in a sadistic smirk.
"Oh didn't you know Uncle? I am now seventeen and legally allowed to do magic. Wonderful news that is because if you don't get your fat arse out of my way I plan to hex you." Harry cried with false cheeriness.
Uncle Vernon began to sputter his face rapidly changing colors again.
"If you walk out that door you will never come back. You hear me? NEVER!" The man yelled.
"Ooh that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." Harry said with a mock squeal of excitement.
"Do you think he means it Harry?" Draco asked sardonically.
"Oh I assure you I do Mr. Malfoy." Vernon responded the vein in his forehead throbbing. Both boys smiled evilly and continued on down the stairs. "DON'T YOU DARE WALK OUT THAT DOOR!" He roared.
"So sorry Uncle, we have a bus to catch." Harry said patting his uncle's arm once they reached the bottom of the stairs and he made to move around him.
"You're not leaving this house!" He yelled. Harry whirled around and aimed his wand at the man.
"Who's going to stop me?" He questioned in an icy tone that chilled even Draco's blood. When no answer came Harry smirked in a scary Slytherin way and turned back around.
Vernon's face was nearly blue at this point. He was outraged. He made to follow his nephew but Draco stepped in front of the opened door.
"Nuh-uh-uh," He said moving his wand back in forth in front of his face with each syllable. "I don't think you want to leave this house until we are gone. Harry is a puppy dog compared to me. If you make me raise my wand again, I will use it." He raised the wand and pointed it between the man's small eyes. With one last pointed look Draco turned on his heels and left the house.
He walked down the cement walk where Harry was waiting for him.
"So how do we leave?" Draco asked stopping in front of the other boy. "I can't Apparate yet."
"Ever hear of the Knight Bus?" He asked and the blonde paled and took on a greenish color. "I guess that's a yes." He laughed and held out his wand.
Nothing happened for a minute and then there was a loud CRACK and a violently purple bus pulled to a stop in front of them. The door opened and a tall gangly man in his early twenties with dark brown hair and chocolate eyes greeted them.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus." He smiled showing off perfect teeth. "My name is Roland."
"Hi, I'm Harry," Harry shook hands with the man. "Where's Stan?" He asked.
Roland's smile drooped.
"Stan was killed," He said looking around fugitively. "By You-Know-who," he whispered in Harry's ear.
Harry looked disturbed. Roland straightened up and his smile returned.
"So, where you headed?' He asked. Before Harry could answer Draco stepped in front of him.
"Malfoy Manor." He said and handed the man the some gold before stepping onto the bus and lying on a bed near the front, leaving Harry and Roland standing in shock. Harry was the first to recover. He smiled weakly at the man and stepped onto the bus taking the bed next to Draco's.
"Uh, alright than, let's go," Roland said getting onto the bus himself and closing the door. "Take it away, Ernie." He told the driver who didn't need telling twice.
The bus suddenly lurched forward and was speeding through the streets of London. Once Roland was busy doing other things Harry turned to Malfoy.
"Malfoy Manor?" He hissed.
"Yeah, you got a problem with my home?" He questioned with a glare. Harry answered with one of his own. "Oh alright, I figured that we have five weeks left until school, why spend them in that dingy little pub? We can save money as well as our health."
"Makes sense," Harry said though still upset. "But you could've told me before. I hate looking like an idiot."
"Aw, sorry baby doll but you can't fix stupid." He smirked and laughed when Harry stuck his tongue out at him.
The boys' good mood didn't last. The ride was stressful to say the least. The constant heart stopping turns and gut wrenching stops had them on high alert. Not to mention that it seemed that the Knight Bus crew didn't want it know that they serviced the son of know Death Eater Lucius Malfoy.
The bus zigzagged all over England letting all of it's other customers off first before stopping in front of Malfoy Manor an hour or two after dawn.
"Here ya are, Malfoy Manor. Thanks for riding the Knight Bus it has been a pleasure, tell your friends, ok bye-bye now." Roland gushed as he all but shoved the pair out of the door.
"Gee, thanks," Draco grumbled as he watched the bus take off as if the very hounds of hell were on its tail.
He turned to Harry. The Gryffindor hadn't seemed to notice Roland and Ernie's apparent relief that the two of them were off the bus. Instead he was staring open-mouthed at Malfoy Manor.
Draco looked at the massive house as well before sighing and turning back to the other boy
"Nice huh?" He smirked when all he got in response was a straggled moan. He gave Harry a playfully punch in the arm "C'mon, I need a shower. Bad." And with that the blonde took off toward the front gates of the Manor leaving Harry behind to gawk.
Draco walked up to the large silver gate that held the Malfoy crest (it was a large 'M' made out of two white snakes, entwined around the 'M' were two black snakes and a sword down the middle.) in the middle. He pulled out his wand and touched the crest.
"Draconus." He said and the gate opened. He turned around.
"Welcome to my humble abode."
(A/n: yeah let the fun begin!
I have been trying to use the…metric (?) system. I know that Europe uses a different measuring system than America. So I have been trying to use it…
I got the idea for the hunt from another fic and I changed it.
'Can't fix stupid' is from Ron White. I thought it was funny and had to use it lol. : D
I tried some hyperlinks for drawings I did of the gate and crest (I cannot draw so they aren't very good but it gives you an idea) if they don't work and you wanna see then email me. )