A/N: aaaaaawwwww… all your nice reviews make me feel all fuzzy inside! xD Thank you, thank you, for the praise : bows to you all :
:ahem:
Just thought I would remind you all who haven't seen the updated summary, this is a dramedy.
Meaning drama mixed with comedy. Thought I'm not so used to writing humour, I'll try…: sweatdrop :
Anyway: Chaper 2
Xxxxxxx
(one week before the seventh year begins, in Diagon Alley)
"Draco? What's the matter with you?" Pansy touched Draco's shoulder, just after he had frozen on his spot. His eyes were wide open as if realising something.
"Draco?" Pansy shook his shoulder a little. When there was no reaction, she started wondering… She followed his gaze and saw… The Golden trio. 'What the…?' She couldn't understand why he would be staring at them so much. Sure, they had all changed a little, Granger had tamed her hair and filled out on her curves, Weasel had grown (if possible) at least two inches more and didn't have so round cheeks anymore and Potter… yes he had changed too. The most, actually.
His hair had really grown, he was wearing it back in a pony-tail. It reached at least one inch below his shoulder. He wasn't wearing any glasses, so Pansy took it he had realised that you were actually able to correct someone's sight permanently in the magical world. He had high cheekbones she noticed, and he was sure wearing awfully much dark colours… Black trousers and a dark-green T-shirt. And… was that an ear-ring glittering in his ear? And black combat boots?
She was shocked when she realised that he was actually… handsome.
Clearing her thoughts of the trio, she looked back at Draco, who was still staring at them, mouth slightly agape. Then she realised it- one of the trio must be his chosen mate! Her eyes widened.
"Draco! Snap out of it!" She shook him harder and Draco turned to her, mouth still hanging open.
"Draco, close your mouth before you catch any flies! Come here, I have to talk to you!" She grabbed his collar and dragged him away into an empty alley.
"Now, I want to know what that was all about. Who of them were you staring at?"
No answer. Draco seemed to be back to his old self again and was fighting, trying to hide a blush. He seemed angry though.
"I take one of them was your mate then, judging by your reactions?"
Still no answer.
"Draco, answer me! This is serious, damn it!"
When Draco finally answered, his voice was a bit hoarse.
"Yes. One of them was my mate."
Pansy winced at his tone. "It wasn't Weasel, I hope?" she asked worriedly. Because that would have been awful. Pure-blood or not, that would still have been so… wrong… She grimaced at the thought.
"No. It wasn't Weasel." Pansy sighed.
"Then who? Granger or… Potter?"
Draco twitched when he heard the last name. He forced himself out of Pansy's grip and stalked out of the alley.
"I have to… see my father. I'll see you later Pansy." Then he was gone.
Pansy sighed again. She knew that Draco looked up to his father, but she also knew that said father wasn't a… good person. If it turned out Draco had chosen the wrong one, she dared only to hope that there still was a little love left in the adult man.
Draco was her best friend, but there was no way she could stop him from talking to his father. His mother was dead since last year. No one quite knew why. Not even Draco. He hadn't got to look at her after she was dead. He didn't see her body. He had always loved her dearly and her death was a big loss for the part-veela.
Pansy looked at the trio again. Somehow she knew it wasn't Granger. Potter was laughing slightly at something Weasel said and she could see the contrast. His clothes were dark, but himself was light and happy. It was a great combination. She understood that the veela in Draco had chosen Potter.
She could only hope that Potter didn't hurt Draco too badly, when Draco finally told him.
And with that thought, she went home.
Xxxxxxx
Draco was scared when he stepped inside the mansion. He shivered a little. It wasn't cold inside, the house elves made sure of that, but he had thought of his father's reaction when he found out what Draco was about to tell.
Draco climbed up the great stair-case leading to the second floor, shaking as he took each step. He walked down the hall and paused at a big oak door. His father's study.
He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
His father's cold tone answered with a 'come in'.
He opened the door slowly and stepped inside. Lucius didn't even raise his head from the papers he was reading.
"Father." Draco spoke softly. Lucius still didn't raise his head.
"What is it, boy?" Draco shivered at the still cold tone of Lucius' voice.
"Well…" Draco didn't know how to start. Lucius raised his head a little bit and stared at his flushed son.
"You know who your mate is, don't you?" Draco nodded his head a little.
"Well? Who is it?"Draco opened his mouth, but nothing seemed to come out. He loved his father dearly, he had always sort of worshipped him, but he knew that Lucius would be angry with him. And an angry Lucius was not something funny.
"Speak boy!" Lucius was growing impatient. Draco swallowed. Then he whispered so softly, Lucius could almost not catch it, "Harry Potter."
Silence
"Pardon me?"
"Harry Potter, father." Draco said, clearer this time. Lucius was silent for a while and then turned back to his son.
"Your mate. Harry Potter."
"Yes father."
Lucius went silent again, as if thinking about something.
"Very well, son. You will seduce Potter and then lure him to the Dark Lord…"
"No!" Draco almost shouted. He couldn't do something like that.
"No? Did you say no, Draco?" Lucius' face grew even colder that before. Draco nodded.
"Then I have no use for you any longer." Lucius stood up from his seat and walked over to Draco.
"F- Father?" You could see the fear flicker past in Draco's eyes.
"I refuse to murder my own son. However, I don't want anything more to do with you. Draco, I disown you. You are a disgrace to the Malfoy family." With that said Lucius sat back down behind his desk and picked up his papers.
Draco stood there, silent, not believing what had happened.
"Oh and you have exactly ten minutes to leave this mansion before I'll call my… colleagues to deal with you. Since of today, you are a wanted man, Draco."
Draco's eyes widened considerably and he bolted out of the doors.
'Have to get Knives.' He raced down the hall, to his bedroom and tumbled inside. Frantically, he searched the room. He saw what he was looking for, scooped it in his arms, hurried down the stairs and ran out of the Malfoy Manor's doors. They slammed shut, never to open for him again.
Draco blinked and tried to will his tears away. He wasn't succeeding though. He turned away from the mansion and ran.
Xxxxxxxx
(4 days later)
Draco blinked away the last of his sleep and opened his eyes completely, only to be met by blackness. He didn't know what time it was, but he guessed on day-time, since he heard lots of voices coming from the street.
He was blind.
Two days ago, his vision had gone a little… fuzzy. Yesterday, he had barely seen anything and now… nothing. He knew why, though. It was because his mate, Harry-pain-in-the-arse-Potter, wasn't there with him.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he had known this would happen. He had after all, read about it. Veela's through the ages had willed themselves to go blind if their mate wasn't there and/or had rejected them. Sometimes their mate would take pity in them and take them 'back', but mostly it was because of their depression. If they couldn't see their mate, they didn't want to see anything.
After a couple of hundred years, it had gone automatically. Now his only hope of ever regaining his sight was for Potter to love him. And by that really love him. Be willing to stay with him forever and whatever of that sappy crap. Which was not bloody likely to happen because Draco hardly even knew where he was, not to talk about where Potter was. He could be anywhere!
Draco listened to the by-passers talk.
"I think we can find Dragon-claws in that shop there, hon."
Yup. He was in Diagon Alley. But where? Probably somewhere in a dark alley, right next to the pharmacy. He didn't know how he looked and something told him he didn't even want to know.
Knives yawned slightly on his elbow. The talk about Dragon-claws had clearly unnerved him, since he was a miniature dragon himself, a couple of inches wide and tall, almost the same size as some sort of sea gull or something. He was completely black with green eyes and tongue and silver pikes on his back. Draco loved him dearly, even though he would never admit it to anyone but the dragon itself.
"Morning Knives." Draco smiled fondly at his left shoulder, where the slight pressure came from. Knives carefully nuzzled Draco's neck. Draco raised himself from the ground and rubbed his sore back.
"Knives, since I cannot see, please lead my way."
And with that the dragon raised itself a little in the air, tangling its tail around Draco's arm and flied forward, leading the way for Draco. It was a strange sight indeed and Draco sensed the other people's stares.
He turned his head around, so that everyone clearly could see the pale blue, dazed eyes that they had become when he became blind. The people gasped slightly, understanding the situation and continued doing whatever they were doing.
Suddenly he bumped into someone. He growled a little at the dragon, who almost smiled apologetically, even if he couldn't see it. The other person squealed a little. It had been a woman. A short one at that.
"Excuse me, ma'am." He apologised quickly, staring off right forward since he didn't know where to look.
"Oh, that's quite fine young ma-" She gasped when she saw he was clearly blind.
"Something wrong, ma'am?" Draco tried to smile, but it came more out like some sort of grimace. He couldn't let her walk away. He needed food. Maybe she would take pity in him and give him something to eat.
The woman clearly regained her a bit thrown-off composure and answered hurriedly.
"Oh no, it's nothing my dear." She smiled at him, before realising he couldn't see it. Her smile turned sheepish. "Don't you have anywhere to go, dear?" She asked when he continued standing in the same spot as before. He smiled a sad smile at her.
"Well… No, not really. I am not that used to being… blind yet and I don't know where to go."
He could almost feel her melting at the sadness of his tone and had to refrain himself from smirking. 'Gotcha' he thought when she sighed.
"Oh you poor dear. You could always come with me, you know. I live with my family in the Leaky Cauldron. We could get you something to eat and new clothes."
She gasped when she saw the boy break into a huge smile. It was truly a happy and beautiful smile.
"Thank you so much ma'am. I'm very grateful." He took her hand after a bit searching and squeezed it in both his.
"No need to thank me. My name is Molly Weasley by the way." Draco froze. Shit.
Mrs. Weasley noted the sudden change in the somehow familiar boy. She couldn't place it, but she was almost sure she had seen him somewhere before. The boy relaxed again.
'I need her. She doesn't recognise me. And I bet Potter's with them. If she doesn't recognise me, maybe they won't either. None of them have ever seen me this filthy as I feel right now. Calm down. If I take a bath, I'll change my hair or something. They won't recognice me. I need them, sadly but true.'
"Nothing ma'am. I just remembered my rudeness for not introducing myself." He smiled a flashing smile at her and she melted even more.
'Think, Draco think! A name no one at school has.'
"Eh… Michael Blythe at your service, ma'am." He bowed slightly. 'So cliché with the bowing…' he nearly cringed but retook his composure. 'Good name, though'. He smiled.
"What a wonderful name, Michael! May I call you Michael?"
"Yes, ma'am. You can call me Michael, if you wish." He smiled again. 'Eurgh. I seem to be smiling an awfully lot lately…'
"You can call me Molly or Mrs. Weasley. It sounds so… formal to be called 'ma'am'" She laughed a little. "Now let's go find the others…"
She took his arm. "Okay… Mrs. Weasley." He tried to hide his nervousness. Luckily, he was a good actor. Knives settled on his shoulder again and they started to walk in a direction.
"Lovely dragon, you have there Michael. Does it have a name?" Mrs. Weasley smiled at the Dragon, who was currently nuzzling Draco's neck, while still trying to look as menacing as possible… It was failing, by the way.
Draco smiled at her and answered.
"Yes mrs. Weasley. It's called Knives. It's been Knives since I got it as a kid and cut my fingers on his pikes. I think I was eight." He grinned a little at the memory. Knives had been but a baby by then and not even half as small as it was now.
Mrs. Weasley beamed at the strange boy and continued walking, while relaxingly chit-chatting about nothing serious with the strange boy she had met that day.
Xxxxxxxx
A/N: I'm not even sure about this chapter myself… O.o I think it's quite good, but then again, I think it's quite bad… I don't even know what to think anymore…. xD Ach… hope it's good… Please R/R! Tell me what you thought about it! Constructive critism is alright, but believe me, I've got enough of that from my 'current' beta.
This chapter was still a little of an introducing chapter! I haven't exactly figured out the plot yet, I'm just writing as it comes… ; for example, I had no idea that Mrs. Weasley would even show up in this story and I didn't know until now that Draco would change his name xD anywho… hope u liked it!