Chapter Four: Diagon Alley
Harry comes face to face with Draco for the first time since school's end, Quirrell's replacement is introduced, and Yoko struggles to connect with the last link to his closest friend.
It had taken days, but Harry eventually managed to shake the week-long apathy that had encompassed him since…Since.
Though he was opening up to the people around him, however, he wasn't dealing with his emotions. He avoided talking about That Night, as it had quickly become called in the Burrow, just as he avoided speaking Her name, apparently operating under the assumption that if he didn't say it, she wasn't gone.
Despite that one glaring hole in his emotional and mental health, Harry was, by all appearances, thriving in an environment that didn't include his relatives.
At least, it appeared that way to the children.
Molly, who had little interaction with Harry as the boy appeared to actively avoid her following his breakdown on his arrival, searched out the only other creature that might know how Harry was feeling.
Blaise and Yoko had been last-minute additions to the household.
When Arthur had arrived home, two hours early, pale as freshly fallen snow, Molly had been immediately concerned for her husband.
But it was the devastating news that he'd brought that had nearly broken her.
The Queen was dead.
The Order of the Phoenix had, obviously, been disbanded years ago, but while it had been active, Molly Prewitt, as she'd been known in the immediate early days of its founding, had frequently had contact with Tarana, because of her brother's Bond with the King.
While she wasn't necessarily close with Tarana, it was difficult to not be affected by the death of a being that was so old, so wise, and so royal in standing and stature.
It was the rushed and anguished conversation between her youngest son and That Boy that had first put the thought into her head.
The young Malfoy had been insistent that Ron get Harry out of the Dursleys, that night if possible. Ron had put the blond child off, but Molly truly should have known better, because three of her boys had disappeared in the middle of the night and retrieved him, but that was neither-here-nor-there.
Though her sons had gotten the start on it, the thought of Harry, far away with Muggles who didn't understand the intimacy of the Valerian Bond, hadn't left her alone. But bringing Harry to the Burrow would only be the start. They needed someone who understood.
Arthur had gone to the Mansion of the Moor on his next day off to retrieve the other Gryffindor that Ron was friends with, with the hopes that Yoko and Blaise could help them figure out how to help Harry.
Arthur had returned with Assassin and child, anger in his eyes, and his lips pressed into thin, white lines.
It had been in the dead of night that he whispered of the condition he'd found Blaise Zabini, and of the fast-talking that he'd needed to do to get his step-father, Desmond, to let him take both boy and Valerian, on a 'mission of the utmost importance'.
Molly had tried to broach the topic with the Assassin once, shortly after she'd finished dressing her sons down for the terror they'd put in her heart the night they'd retrieved Harry. The fox had been distant and, towards the end, downright cold in his responses, warning her against putting her nose where Desmond wouldn't allow it, because the continued survival of Blaise was, at the moment, more important than his safety.
After that moment, though both boy and Valerian had made themselves as useful as Arthur and Molly would allow, Yoko was…standoffish, of a sort.
But she had been left with little choice.
The very reason that the fox had been retrieved was to help the Weasleys understand how to help Harry, and Harry needed help because this avoidance couldn't continue.
XX
She found the Assassin where she near always could: in her garden.
Under the careful nurturing and, Molly wasn't quite naïve enough to believe that the fox hadn't been using it, his Element, her normally flourishing garden had moved into abundance.
Some areas were so tall, that it was difficult to see the fox himself.
"Yoko?"
Like a meerkat, the fox popped up on his hind legs to put his head above the stalks and vines. "Yes?"
Molly carefully made her way towards the fox. "I was hoping to get your opinion on a matter concerning Harry."
Yoko tilted his head, dropping back onto his haunches as the witch approached him. He was still getting used to the formality that the Prewitt born witch used with the Valerians, as most of the Sacred-Twenty-Eight did.
"What can I help with?"
"He doesn't…doesn't appear to be grieving. I fear it isn't healthy to hold that emotion in for as long as he has."
Yoko's tail swayed, brushing dirt and leaves aside as he averted his gaze from the witch, more thoughtful than dismissive. "You're correct," he told her. "Though I don't think it is avoidance. There were…instances, over the last school year, where Harry would have a moment where he would begin to express an emotion, good or bad, and then suffocate it. Hide it."
Molly frowned, not sure where the fox was going with the observation. To hide emotion like that was one of the first things that most purebloods, particularly the House Lords or Lords-To-Be, were taught.
Yoko must have read it on her face. "Blaise learned the beginnings of that talent at his mother's knee," he agreed with her wordless question. "However, even the most closed-off of Lords knows that the emotion they hide must be expressed somewhere, they need to decompress it. Delia had a room built where she could vent to her heart's content, be it sexually, magically, or verbally. You know, obviously, that it is usually done where one feels secure or safe. With a spouse or good friend."
Yoko's gaze was distant, lost in memory, though Molly wasn't sure if it was the memory of his previous charge or that of Harry's previous year at Hogwarts.
"To my knowledge, however, Harry's compressed emotions were usually coaxed out of him, and it was rarely easy, even for the one who was best at it," a glance in Molly's direction told her all she needed to know about who it was that was 'best' at it. It wasn't Tarana. "Based on those few observations the boy allowed me to make, I've had my suspicions for a while that Harry was, consciously or unconsciously, trained to hide those emotions so they wouldn't be used against him."
Molly's mouth dropped open.
The only ones who would have had prolonged contact with Harry, the kind of contact required to teach a child something of that nature would have been-
Yoko could feel the charge in the air, Molly's magic responding to her anger.
"I wouldn't," he tells her simply.
Molly's green eyes were filled with a raging inferno as she turned that growing rage on the fox.
"Don't misunderstand," Yoko told her sharply. "We are as livid as you are over the blatant abuse or negligence, whatever they have done to him, but Harry's guardianship has reverted to Petunia Dursley with the death of T-" Yoko choked, the one word like a stone in his throat, and he quickly averted his gaze.
Molly's rage fled her. "You can't say it either?"
Yoko's lip peeled away from a fang and he gave her a one-eyed glare, not turning his head back to her. "She was the closest thing to a sister and a friend that I have had in my entire life," the Assassin said, a rumble coating each word. "Forgive me for finding it difficult to rationalize that She is gone."
"I didn't mean to offend," Molly assured him gently. "You just…you appear so put together all the time, that I often forget how old you are. How much contact you must have had before…before coming here."
Yoko turned his head from her entirely. "We were the Ak-esh," he whispered. "The Shadow of the Crown. I was her alkai eskehl, her striker in the dark, for decades before I ever entered into true service to the Crown."
Molly swallowed.
"It was never a secret, that I was sleeping with the General," Yoko told her. "But if it was a scandal for the General and I to be having sex, it would have been so much worse if anyone knew how close She and I were prior to me making a Fealty Oath to the Crown. Her standing…." Yoko shook his head. "His Majesty was the only one who saw Her real worth, at least at first. She would never have been allowed to grow into what She became if anyone had known about me, a Thief, and an alkai eskehl."
"Did you two ever…."
Yoko huffed a breath, ever so slightly amused. "No," he told her. "Our relationship was never like that. For all that Valerian sexuality is highly fluid, I had never managed to find much attraction in the female body. Likely because She was one of the few that spilled blood in the way that truly attracted me, but by that point, She was already my sponsor, of sorts, and one doesn't play where they work."
Molly's eyes danced with reluctant amusement. "And that's why you and Fallen…."
Yoko turned his head to eye her. "Are you here to gossip, Molly Weasley?" he asked, tone a teasing lilt.
Molly flushed. "I didn't mean to be nosy…."
Yoko chuckled. "I like to believe it to be what makes you female, that need to 'be nosy'."
Her cheeks still a pale pink, Molly got quickly to her feet. "I need to begin making lunch."
Yoko watched her stride through the garden. 'Molly,' he called, causing her to turn back. She was too far away to see the wicked glint in his own green eyes. 'For the record, Fallen hated me when we first met, but that was spectacular too, in its own way.'
Molly's face turned even redder, and she quickly turned to march into the house, leaving the fox to laugh, perhaps for the first time in almost two weeks, as he thrashed on the ground in his amusement.
XX
Though Yoko was expending his excess energy and grief into teasing Molly and turning her garden into some sort of super-vegetable patch, he wasn't totally lost to the grief of his charge.
Despite occasionally getting glimpses of Blaise's anguish and heart-hurt, the door between the two of them was quickly closed.
Any attempts to get the child to open up about it, however, was met, oddly, with resistance.
Yoko had woken, more than once, in a stranglehold, as Blaise dreamed of horrible things, but where he was very open with the nightmares that came from his 'punishments' from Desmond, he remained closed-lipped about many of his new ones, ones that Yoko could only surmise to have come from Her death and everyone's reaction to it.
He was at a loss as to how to bridge the sudden gap between himself and his charge, when Arthur asked him for his help one afternoon, nearly a week after their arrival.
"I found Ron behind my shed yesterday evening," the Weasley patriarch told the fox as they walked towards the garage, presumably so Yoko could help him grab a delicate part that he didn't want to risk breaking with magic. "He was crying, but refused to tell me, or his mother, what the problem is."
Yoko hummed thoughtfully. "Blaise has been much the same," he admitted. "He has been remarkably open with regards to the nightmares I already knew the cause of, but the new ones, the ones I am sure sprung up because of Her death…."
Arthur blinked down at him. "So, you didn't tell the boys to hide?"
Yoko glared at him. "What need would I have to do that?"
Arthur flushed in embarrassment. "Molly and I thought…."
Yoko snorted. "I am grieving, Weasley," he told the man shortly. "But Blaise Zabini is still my charge. His well-being is as important to me as your children are to you and your wife. This is not healthy for either of them, thus it affects his well-being."
Arthur raised his hands, trying to placate the rather volatile fox. "I didn't mean to offend you, Lord,"
Yoko curled a lip. "Yes," he said, "you did. Which is why you are out here talking to me about it instead of your wife, who knows better. She sent you out here because I would be less likely to tear out your throat for that implication, on that ignorance alone."
The tips of the wizard's ears turned a dark red, and that was all the answer the Assassin needed. He scoffed.
"No offense to you and your wife, but this plan has my charge written all over it. Ron would never have been able to come up with something this emotionally considerate."
He ignored the near-silent exhale of relief from Arthur.
"You think they planned this together?"
"To hide their grief so it didn't add to Harry's and my own? Absolutely." Yoko told him. "It's a foolish plan, but a logical one. Blaise has witnessed all three of us being strong for Harry. He's adopting the practice in the hopes of helping us and likely convinced Ron to do the same if the boy didn't simply pick up on Blaise's behavior and begin doing it on his own."
Arthur fiddled with one of the tools in the garage that he had likely never used, not knowing their purpose. "Do you have any advice on how to encourage them to stop?"
Yoko tilted his head thoughtfully. "Corner them about it. Ron will fold like a house of cards in the face of his mother's disapproval. Blaise will never admit to it, he's been keeping secrets," he looked pointedly at Arthur, "for nearly his entire life. Once Ron caves, however, he may listen to whatever advice you two try to give your son."
XX
Because Yoko was part of the problem, despite his desire to shake the two boys until they caved and realized what they were doing wasn't helping Yoko, he eventually agreed to leave the conversation itself to Molly and Arthur.
Despite his irritation, however, he also respected the fact that Blaise had been trying to stay strong for him, and left the house entirely when Molly and Arthur called for the two boys to remain behind after dinner had been cleaned up.
The hug he got when he returned, was enough proof that whatever had been said, had convinced Blaise to stop.
XX
Harry, Blaise, and Yoko had been at the Weasleys for little over a week when Archimedes arrived with little more than a date and time that the Malfoys would be in Diagon Alley.
For the first time in days, Harry had looked like he was anticipating something, only for Molly to awkwardly shoot it down.
The Weasleys' tradition, likely to avoid the Malfoys if Yoko had to guess, was to go two days later.
Despite his disappointment, however, Harry didn't say a word, which caused Blaise and Ron to exchange worried glances.
They thought for sure that, if anything, seeing Draco would have been reason enough for Harry to argue.
It was honestly pure happenstance that Yoko wandered into the house, well after the children had gone to sleep, to find Molly and Arthur quietly discussing the apparent hold that the Malfoy heir had on Harry.
"Not that you would know, given you won't interact with him, but the hold is actually the other way around," Yoko said coolly, starting the two adults so badly that they jumped.
"Yoko-"
"Harry was the one who attracted Draco's attention, and promptly held it by doing nothing at all, if Fallen is to be believed. Their friendship is a unique one and is certainly no longer as 'one-sided' as it began. All three of them are protective of one another."
Yoko briefly entertained the thought of sharing that Draco was as abused as Blaise was, though his abuse was less physical and more magical in nature, but quickly dismissed the thought. Fallen and Severus had shared that information with him and Tarana with the understanding that it would go no further.
"I'm not saying that the problem is Draco, Yoko," Arthur said, "but Lucius has been known to use anything and everything to keep the upper hand."
"And?" Yoko pressed. "I'm a Scout of the Valerian Crown, Weasley. Assassination required information, yes, but my job as Scout was just as likely to give us information to blackmail our enemies. If you're looking to convince me that such information hoarding is a bad thing, you're looking to the wrong Valerian."
Molly and Arthur exchanged glances.
"Regardless, that's not the point. Your problem is with Lucius, keep it with Lucius, I don't care. But, no matter how temporary, Harry Potter is in your care and he's in emotional distress and suffering serious emotional and mental trauma. Are you really going to keep something that might help him away from him because you don't like the patriarch? I had honestly thought higher of you."
"We're only looking to protect Harry, Yoko," Molly said. "He's young, and he's impressionable. Lucius Malfoy did horrible things as a Death Eater."
Yoko snorted. "We all do horrible things for our ideals," he told her. "Are you implying that Fallen would let Lucius do something that would directly, or indirectly, harm Draco pass? If you'd spent more than ten minutes in Draco Malfoy's presence, you would know that yes, he worships the ground his father walks on, but he also makes his own choices. He's a Gryffindor. Do you imagine that was a Sorting that Lucius approved of? Draco had zero communication from his father for nearly the whole year, and he didn't stop interacting with Harry, Ron, or Hermione to make that bridge mend itself any faster than it was." Yoko shook his head. "The problem is not from the Malfoys end, Weasley. It's from yours and considering what I'd thought of your family, that is a great disappointment."
Yoko turned on his tail and headed up to the room where the three-soon-to-be-Second-Years were squished together in Ron's rather cramped bedroom.
He made no move to acknowledge Fred or George as he passed them on the stairs.
XX
He likewise doesn't acknowledge the announcement that they would be joining the Malfoys in Diagon Alley for the first time since the feud between the two families had begun decades ago.
A few days before the agreed-upon date, the Hogwarts letters finally arrived at the Burrow, including both Blaise's and Harry's.
Harry took one look at the envelope and promptly attempted to tear it in half.
The sheer thickness of the parchment and the number of pages inside that were just as thick, made the act difficult and allowed Percy to tear it out of his grip before he could get a better grip and try it again.
"Harry!" Molly gasped.
"I'm not going," Harry said evenly, tilting his head.
"Of course you are!" Molly insisted. "Your education is important! You have to-"
"I don't." Harry insisted, crossing his arms and not meeting her gaze. "I won't go back there."
Yoko slowly gathered his paws beneath him from the corner and Harry flinched.
"All of you, outside." The fox ordered.
The twins eyed their breakfasts dejectedly.
"Take it with you."
Despite their fear of the Valerians, a well-earned threat given what they remembered of the year before, all the Weasley children turned to look at their mother, before quickly gathering their dishes and fleeing into the back garden after Blaise.
"I'm going to need a better explanation than a simple 'no', Harry," Yoko told the only remaining child, jumping onto Blaise's abandoned chair and looking the child in the eye.
Harry kept his silence, fiddling with his breakfast, but if he was looking to outlast his 'opponent', he'd picked the wrong one.
Yoko waited him out and the boy did, indeed, break first.
"She promised we'd do it together," Harry whispered hoarsely. "She promised she'd be there every step of the way. I won't go back without her."
Yoko jerked, a barely-there brush of movement, at the indirect mention of the Queen.
"Harry," Molly whispered, laying a hand on his wrist. "She wouldn't want you to give up your education over this."
Harry twisted his wrist and leaned away from her. "We'll never know that, will we?" Harry hissed under his breath. "I can go back to my other school. Get an education there and never…never come back here."
Arthur looked as though someone had slapped him at the very idea of someone giving up this world for the muggle one, despite his own fascination with it. "Harry, this is your home." He insisted.
Yoko winced.
"No," Harry said, voice predictably arctic. "It isn't. I've only been a wizard for a year, after all. How hard could it be, to go back and finish my school years there? Get a job. Pretend this place never existed."
"Harry," Yoko said, drawing everyone's attention, two hopeful and one dejected. "None of us have the legal right to force you to attend Hogwarts, so I won't bother trying," Harry sagged, and Molly looked ready to explode. "However, the entire Weasley family will be in Diagon Alley. Surely you'll join us when we go, regardless of your stance on Hogwarts. Draco and Fallen will be there, after all."
Harry smiled weakly at the fox. "Sure."
Yoko nodded, and Harry took it as the dismissal that it wasn't and grabbed his plate, joining the others outside.
"Yoko," Molly said. His name in that tone said everything that the witch was thinking, and none of it was kind.
Yoko tilted his head, green eyes glittering. "Please," he sneered. "As though I'd give up that easily. The boy is determined not to see the inside of Hogwarts, and he'll dig his heels in with the two of you regardless of what arguments you bring to the table. And there is no legal way we can force him to attend. The Dursleys are his guardians again, and we are very aware of what their feelings on this world are. They'd rather Harry attended any school other than Hogwarts, so it would be in our best interest not to inform them of that particular loophole."
"So, we're just going to wait and hope he changes his mind?" Arthur asked skeptically.
Yoko grinned. "Harry is stubborn. It will take more stubborn minds than yours to change his." His tone was suddenly all innocence. "Do you have any parchment lying around? How long do you think it will take Errol to get to Malfoy Manor?"
XX
Ironically, it is Hogwarts that forced Harry to begin facing the death of his guardian.
The night before they were all to head to Diagon Alley, the Hogwarts staff send Harry a letter of condolence.
Harry tore it into pieces.
"Three weeks!" He yelled, tearing the letter into fourths and then roughly bunching them together to tear it again. "It took them three bloody weeks!"
The Weasleys all stared at the child, unsure of what to do with Harry's sudden rage.
His sensitivity was likely what kept Yoko from likewise being startled. It wasn't just his scent that was tinged with his rage.
The magic that was infused in the Burrow, magic that sank into the foundations at its foundation and seeped into the walls just from housing a family of magic users, was twisting and wrenching itself out of its placid state.
"Harry-" he tried to say, not sure if the walls would remain standing if the magic that kept it upright suddenly started doing something else at the angry child's unconscious behest.
Harry interrupted him with an incoherent scream of rage, spinning to throw the torn shreds into the fire behind Yoko.
The fox braced himself, just in case the magic found an outlet as Harry turned his attention on him, but the child froze, arm raised to throw the letter into the fire.
The elder Weasleys exhaled silently in their relief, but Yoko shook his head rapidly, never taking his eyes off Harry.
It wasn't over.
His raised arm quivered, either with the strength of his emotions or with the strain of keeping it raised.
Yoko yelped as the magic gathered in the room exploded, glass and knick-knacks shattering, the very walls seeming to bend with the strength of the onslaught.
The fire behind him abruptly went out, which was just as well because the magic shoved Yoko into the fireplace to get at it.
Unlike the Dursleys, however, Molly and Arthur had seven magical children and were no strangers to magical outbursts like this one, and the children were likewise not surprised by Harry's.
Molly and Arthur were on their feet, wands drawn, to quickly bring the uncontrolled magic back under control and where it belonged.
The sheer strength of the outburst, however, had surprised everyone.
Harry's power, even at twelve, was nothing to scoff at.
His stamina, however, was still that of a child or less and he sank to the ground as soon as it was over, paper fluttering around him, and he rocked himself back and forth.
Yoko dragged himself, covered in ash and splinters, out of the fireplace and shook himself, uncaring of the mess he made of the carpet.
Molly, once sure that nothing more was going to break, was quickly on her knees by Harry, wrapping him in her arms and rocking him back and forth.
Arthur gave the others a quick once over before looking at the fox. "Are you alright?"
"Fine," Yoko assured him. "It was all bluster, little finesse. Blaise has done worse to me."
Blaise flushed at the mention of his name.
"What set him off?" Percy asked, looking at the room as though the answer was there.
Arthur glanced behind Yoko; expression grim. "The fire."
George frowned. "But we've had a fire going before."
"It was likely a combination," Yoko said quietly. "The emotions brought on by the letter and then the fire…." He glanced at Harry and Molly on the floor.
The witch was watching Yoko with a mother's pain written all over her face.
"Did Fallen mention if She had used her Element during the fight?" Arthur asked quietly.
Yoko shook his head. "Fallen didn't tell me anything about it. It was too fresh that day. I expected to need to wait until at least Hogwarts."
"If I had that level of power, and had to protect my children," Molly said, tightening her grip on Harry. "I would use every ounce of it."
XX
It was several hours before Harry was finally deemed okay enough to go to bed, long after the others had been sent there.
Molly ran right over her children's protests, reminding them that they had a long day tomorrow, as they were heading into Diagon Alley.
Ron and Blaise were still awake when Harry came in, kneeling beside his cot to change into his pajamas, the closest the boys had to privacy in the cramped accommodations.
"Don't be mad," Ron said, "but we told Hermione and Neville about Ta-Her."
"Hermione is going to be in Diagon Alley the same day," Blaise added. "Neville was going to try but told us not to get our hopes up."
Harry hummed quietly.
Ron and Blaise exchanged a wordless conversation that included a lot of hand gestures.
"Harry…are you still serious about not going to Hogwarts?" Blaise eventually asked.
Harry flopped on the bed, back to his roommates. "Yes." He said firmly. "This world killed her."
Ron opened his mouth to counter that logic, but Blaise made frantic 'abort' gestures and he kept silent.
XX
The morning was spent reading over the course books and the rest of the supply list.
Molly and Arthur exchanged glances that weren't missed by Harry, Blaise, or Yoko and the two boys exchanged silent nods.
Though breakfast was a mostly good-natured affair, the morning continued on a sour note.
The fastest and safest way for the Weasley brood to get to Diagon Alley was by Floo Powder.
Harry had two problems with that method of travel.
One, he'd never used it before.
Two, it was a method of fire travel.
Despite how eager he was to go to Diagon Alley and reunite with Draco and Fallen, he managed to find an increasing number of things that he'd 'forgotten' up in the room he was sharing with his fellow second years, until it was only himself, Blaise, Yoko, and the two adult Weasleys.
And when those ran out, his reasons that he suddenly couldn't leave the Burrow began to get increasingly ridiculous.
Molly was gradually losing her temper with the child and was preparing to simply put her foot down, when Arthur, again, realized the problem.
"Oh, Harry," Molly whispered, wrapping the boy in another hug. "I'm sorry, we didn't realize."
"She won't let me leave the house." Harry confided into her chest. "I tried, but She won't let me."
Yoko jerked as though he'd been struck. So, our hypothesis was right. She did contain him to the house.
"I'll take him," Arthur said, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "We can try this again next year, when the pain isn't so fresh."
Molly's eyes narrowed on her husband. "Not in that car." She told him sharply.
Arthur blinked. "Car?" his eyes lit up. "Oh, I was thinking Side-Along, but the car, he could tell me how-"
"I don't think so," Molly said, letting Harry go to plant her hands on her hips, before looking at the dejected child between them. "Are you sure you can manage?"
Arthur nodded. "We'll be fine."
Yoko eyed the man carefully. "It's a long distance to travel, Arthur."
"It's a talent I have," Arthur admitted. "Not a powerful or famous one, but a talent none-the-less."
"I can attest for that, if nothing else," Molly said, a teasing half-smile on her lips.
Yoko nodded. "You realize that if any harm comes to him, Fallen will tear you to pieces, correct? And I will poison everything you love?"
"Yoko!" Harry gasped.
Arthur, however, smiled. "Of course."
Yoko nodded and sauntered to Blaise's side. "Then we will see you shortly."
Blaise, who was well familiar with traveling with his guardian, bent to pick up the fox and get him settled on his shoulders. The fox draped his front paws nearly around the boy's neck, with his tail covering his own muzzle. He looked like one of those stuffed scarves rich women wore, for all that he was still a vicious creature capable of tearing out a man's throat.
"Be safe," Molly said, kissing her husband on the cheek.
Arthur, with his hand still on Harry's shoulder, watched his wife and their other guest leave, before looking down at the boy. Harry was already looking up at him.
"What's Side-Along?" The brunette asked.
Arthur steered him toward the backyard.
"A branch of Apparition," the redhead told him. "As it implies, it takes a passenger, if you will, along. It is not something one should attempt without full confidence, as it increases the chances of splinching."
Arthur was oblivious to the fact that Harry had no idea what some of those words meant, even as he was mouthing them silently, testing them on a silent tongue.
"Are you ready?" Arthur asked, looking down at the boy.
Harry shrugged. "I guess." He told him.
Arthur nodded and, after pulling the child more firmly to his side, disappeared from the Burrow with a sharp crack.
XX
Arthur and Harry arrived in an alley not far from the Leaky Cauldron, a wizarding pub, in London.
Keeping a firm hand on Harry's shoulder to avoid losing him, Arthur navigated the short walk quickly, ignoring the odd looks he received from the muggles on the street.
"Why didn't we just Apparate into the Leaky Cauldron?" Harry asked.
"Too much risk that we would land on someone," Arthur explained. "We have set areas for Apparation to keep muggles from seeing us travel, and to keep others safe when we arrive at our locations. Here we are."
Harry instinctively reached down for a hidden form that wasn't there and the lack of Her was like a blow to the chest.
XX
The Weasleys were brushing soot from their clothes toward the back of the Leaky Cauldron, and Arthur steered Harry in their direction.
"Alright there, Harry?" Ron asked, looking his friend over.
Harry smiled weakly. "I don't think I like Apparition much," he said, trying to hide how much it hurt to be here without his guardian. "It felt like I was being squeezed through a tube the whole time."
Yoko chuckled, green eyes dancing. "Imagine what it feels like for us," he told him. "Even for our speed, Floo travel makes us feel sick to our stomach. To move like that is worse."
Harry gave him a half-hearted smile.
After a quick headcount to assure herself that all the children were accounted for, Molly ushered them all toward the back courtyard, where the entrance to Diagon Alley was hidden.
Arthur smartly tapped the appropriate bricks and they spread out and away.
Diagon Alley somehow seemed less than the first time that Harry had seen it.
The street was still made of cobblestone, and the people still cheerful, and the street still bustling. Nothing about the magical street had changed, but Harry still felt like he was seeing it through a heavy fog.
It wasn't the first time that he'd gone through a day like this. Not wanting to ruin the trip for his friends, he didn't say a word, just followed the taller form of Percy as they all moved quickly toward the centerpiece of Diagon Alley, the glistening white stone building that housed Gringotts Wizarding Bank.
He kept his eyes mostly on the ground, and as such didn't see when Molly pulled one of the twins down to whisper in his ear, both glanced back at the dejected-looking pre-teen and Fred nodded.
Harry's first major distraction came almost as soon as they arrived at Gringotts.
Hermione Granger stood at the top of the stairs, using the elevated position to scan the crowds. As soon as she spotted the large group of redheads, she flew down the stairs and, had he not braced himself, would have been flung to the streets.
"Harry!" she cried; voice muffled by his t-shirt. "I'm so sorry!" She tightened her grip on him for a moment before pulling back and looking him over. "Are you alright?"
Harry shrugged, tugging himself fully out of her grip and averting his gaze from her.
Hermione managed to keep a strong face for all of two seconds before she promptly burst into tears.
This was obviously a common occurrence for her, because the two adults, her parents presumably, that had been standing with her, rushed down the steps to wrap her in a hug and whisper-quiet assurances.
It was apparent to Yoko, if no one else, that the Grangers were confused. It had become obvious as soon as Hermione had burst into tears that the reason for her grief was somehow linked to Harry, and the looks on the faces of the others, be they adult or child, were all feeling it.
Look, Your Highness, Yoko whispered into the Ether. Look at how many of them find you Important. Look at what you've left behind.
Blaise reached up to the fox on his shoulders and squeezed the back of his neck.
Quietly, for the ears of the boy he lay on, Yoko keened brokenly.
XX
It took a few minutes to get everyone back under control, and it had been several before anyone even thought to move off the main path and out of the way of other shoppers while they did so.
They did eventually manage to get inside the building and make their way to the line up to the counter.
They'd been in line for only maybe five or so minutes when Harry abruptly looked towards the doors.
Molly followed his gaze and frowned.
Like a guided missile (not that the witch knew what one was) Draco Malfoy was heading for their group, Fallen trotting at his side and, even as she watched, snapped his fangs lightly at someone who got too close to Draco in his head-long rush to get to Harry.
The young Malfoy didn't even bother with greetings, simply pulled Harry into a hug, pressing his forehead into the slightly taller blonde's shoulder.
Harry went practically boneless, leaning almost his full weight on his friend.
Neither of them made a sound.
Molly and Arthur exchanged worried looks, no doubt fearful as to what this bond between the two boys could mean for Harry, considering the Malfoys' beliefs and not-so-public allegiance.
'I will say this only once, Weasley,' Fallen warned, tilting his head just enough to put them in his view as he watched over the two children. 'Keep your loose lips shut. My charge and his family are currently of no concern of yours. We'll watch our tongues and manners if the lot of you can do the same. For him.'
Red eyes drifted to Harry, who was staring blankly at Draco's shoulder, lost in whatever was going on in his head.
Lucius Malfoy stood several feet away, having followed his son and Fallen only as far as he could to get a line of sight on the Weasleys and the children temporarily in their care. His hands were folded calmly over the snakehead of his cane, but his blue eyes were cold on the Weasley family.
Fallen turned his head to the Lord and Lucius tilted his head questioningly. Fallen nodded.
'We'll be fine,' the wolf told him. 'We'll meet you at Flourish and Blotts to pick up the lunatic's collection.'
Fallen was too far away to see Lucius' lips twitch in his amusement, but he knew his former charge well enough to know it had happened regardless.
Draco was, reluctantly on some parts, seamlessly entered into the growing entourage, there was no sign of the hatred his family had for muggles when he politely introduced himself to Hermione's family, though it was there in the way that Fallen kept himself well away from the muggles and Draco touched them as little as possible afterward.
As they waited to get to the Goblins that ran Gringotts, Yoko scrambled down from Blaise's shoulders, much to the pre-teen's relief.
Whether it was being so close to serious magic the year before or having actually eaten during the school year, Yoko was heavier than Blaise remembered and holding him long-term was becoming more and more difficult for the dark-skinned boy.
The fox nuzzled the wolf's neck and the wolf draped it over the fox in a return of affection. 'How are you and the Malfoys holding up?' Yoko asked.
'We're managing,' the wolf said vaguely. 'Draco hasn't been sleeping well. Lucius and I have both questioned him, but he won't tell us if it was because of her or Harry.' He looked at the two children in question.
Draco had an arm wrapped around Harry's shoulders, keeping the brunette close as he told Blaise, Ron, and Hermione about his holidays. Neither seemed in any rush to break the contact and Harry was most definitely checked out, likely not even following the conversation and simply moving where Draco did.
'I expect more of that,' Fallen said, tilting his head towards his charge. 'Draco has no interest in facing his nightmares and likely plans to channel all of that negative emotion into helping Harry with anything he feels the boy needs, whether Harry actually needs it or not.'
Yoko's lip quirks. 'I was just telling the Weasleys about their rather…unusual friendship a few days ago. For their age, they are rather connected, aren't they? Picking up on details older children, hell, older adults wouldn't notice, but that observation is only limited to one another. It's almost like they don't see anything else.'
Fallen hummed, lowering his head to brush his muzzle against Yoko's nape. 'Perhaps we best take our cues from Draco and not Harry then, as to how to handle things here in Diagon Alley….'
XX
Draco's plan, apparently, is to do everything for Harry.
Once they'd gotten to the counter, he spoke to the Goblin on behalf of Harry and himself, dragged Harry to the cart that would take them, at great speed, down into the depths of Gringotts, leaving the Weasleys to do their own banking. He waited only long enough for Blaise to join them, as the Zabini heir was unlikely to fit into a cart with the whole Weasley brood as it was, and despite his concern for Harry, Draco was well aware that Blaise had triggers of his own.
At the Potter vault, he filled bags with more money than Harry could possibly need in a year, especially considering the brunette wasn't planning to attend Hogwarts, but the younger pre-teen simply resolved to give it to the Weasleys as thanks for putting him up, aware that Blaise was likely doing the same.
After a stop at the Malfoy and Zabini vaults, where Draco practically counted the money as he pulled it from the vaults, quietly telling Blaise that he had been allotted a certain amount by his father and, given the freedom he was being granted, didn't want to risk his ire by accidentally taking too much.
Blaise said nothing because he was in a similar situation. Considering what the Weasleys had done for him over the summer, however, he was willing to take the beating he knew he was going to receive to repay them in any way they would accept, even if it meant joining Harry in secretly helping to pay for the Weasley children's school supplies.
XX
When everyone re-met in the lobby of the bank, Draco was polite but firm when he told the Weasleys that Harry would be joining him and his family for their school shopping.
Harry, who had remained mostly blank and drifting, letting Draco pretty much do what he liked, fully surfaced for the first time.
"I'm not going."
Draco snorted. "You're grieving and not thinking straight," he told his friend. "Of course you're going."
Harry narrowed his gaze on his friend. "Don't do that." He said. "I'm not going."
Draco met his friend's ire evenly. "Do what? Make sure you don't do something stupid? What else would you do if you didn't go to Hogwarts? Go back to them?" he spat the word, ever conscious of the muggles at Hermione's back. "I don't think so."
"You don't get to make the choice for me!" Harry hissed.
Yoko tilted his head, meeting Molly's gaze with a smirk.
"Enough." Fallen rumbled quietly. There was little threat in the word, but both Harry and Draco flinched as though there had been, breaking their glaring match to look at the wolf.
'This is no longer about you, Harry,' Fallen told him evenly. 'Yoko and I have made a promise to our Queen that we would watch over you. We can't very well do that if you are in Surrey and our charges are at Hogwarts. Will you honestly impugn my honor over something this trivial? If it is fear that keeps you from Hogwarts, Yoko and I will be doing everything in our power to cover the gap left by Her Highness, regardless of the laws in place to contain us.'
Harry looked down; fists clenched at his side.
"Do you understand?" Fallen asked him.
Harry's fists slackened and he sighed. "Yeah." He whispered, nodding. He didn't look at any of the others, but Draco looked victorious.
Yoko hid his smirk by suddenly developing an itch behind his ear that his hind leg just had to scratch.
XX
Fight over, however, there was nothing more to keep Harry present, and he sank back into his own head, letting the others plan their next course of action.
Draco slipped an arm through Harry's and discretely led him through the crowds of Diagon Alley, talking about what he'd heard about the upcoming year at Hogwarts through his family.
Blaise and Yoko joined Harry, Draco, and Fallen as they drifted through Diagon Alley, promising to meet the Weasleys at Flourish and Blotts in an hour.
Harry, who could barely be trusted to know where they were going, was carefully wedged between his two friends, with the Valerians clearing a path for the other two boys, neither of whom were all that comfortable in large crowds.
Despite currently being there for school supplies, Draco often made trips, not necessarily to Diagon Alley, but to the area with his father, and it wasn't unusual to see him and Fallen. Regulars of the shopping center stepped politely out of the way of the wolf and Malfoy, and everyone else barely even spared them a glance, lost in their own shopping.
It was a quick and painless process.
XX
There was one shop keeper in Diagon Alley that knew Draco on sight and by name, not that it was a great surprise to Blaise or Yoko.
The apothecary sold potions ingredients, after all, and Draco's godfather was the youngest Potions Master in England, as well as their professor at Hogwarts.
"How did Severus take the news?" Blaise asked quietly as they waited for their orders.
Draco shrugged. "I'm not sure," he whispered back, glancing at the two Valerians, they were close enough to overhear but were likely pretending otherwise or engaged in their own, private, conversation. "Father told him, but I don't know if he even had a reaction. Things weren't always good between him and…."
"But they seemed pretty friendly by the end of the year," Blaise pointed out. "So, he couldn't have been totally unaffected, right?"
Draco could only shrug again. He'd spent a lot of time with his godfather over the summer, but little of it After. He hadn't wanted to be far from Fallen or his Father, and certainly, never leave the protection of the Manor. He'd never been sure if the Queen had been a target of opportunity or if they were methodically moving through the converging Valerian ranks, ranks that hadn't worked as one since their arrival on Earth and their bonding to the Ancient and Noble Houses of the Wizarding World.
He didn't know how much of a threat that reunion was, he was too young to understand it, but he was old enough to know that it was one. Just as he 'knew' that Fallen's trip to the Ministry a week ago wasn't for his father's business.
He'd overheard his father and Fallen talking about information that he and Yoko had accumulated and how Fallen had wanted Lucius to use the things he'd given to his father if the Ministry ever went back on whatever agreement he and the Minister had come to during that day-long visit.
After a quick glance around to ensure that no one else was around except for Blaise and Harry, Draco told them of what he'd learned.
"A couple of days after Fallen got back, he and Father went to the Ministry. Supposedly, it was so Father could finalize getting Uncle Nathaniel settled on the Hogwarts' Board of Governors, but Fallen has never gone with him before, at least not since he and I Bonded.
"I'm pretty sure that, because the laws and agreements the Valerians have with the Ministry were all made by the Crown, he went to make sure that they remained intact after…" he trailed off, letting the incident fill in itself so he didn't have to say it. "I heard them later on. Fallen has some stuff on people in the Ministry, probably the same way that Father does. If the Ministry ever goes back on the Treaty, my Father is supposed to use whatever he has to make sure they regret it." He glanced over at Fallen and Yoko again. "He mentioned talking to Yoko too."
Blaise glanced at his guardian. "I don't doubt that whatever Fallen has is only a fraction of what Yoko's got." He admitted. "My mom had a lot of stuff too. According to Desmond, it was how she kept getting away with stuff."
'Stuff' implied the suspicious deaths of the multiple husbands Delia Zabini had throughout her life. Deaths that had ended when Desmond had, according to the rumors of the elite, turned the tables on his new wife and killed her before she had the chance to do the same to him. Like with Delia, however, there had never been any proof and, as such, Blaise had grown up with a man who despised him for everything except the money he had access to as Blaise's legal guardian.
"It makes sense," Harry mumbled, voice monotone and distant, like he's not all there with them. The sound of his input made Blaise and Draco jump. "Yoko is the Scout of the Crown, right? Some of the muggle books I read growing up said that the scout wasn't always about plotting battle positions, but also about getting information on the enemies. Like an international spy."
Blaise and Draco exchanged confused looks and Harry rolled his eyes, but any interest he'd had in the conversation slowly faded and he didn't feel like explaining what an international spy was to the two purebloods. They'd figure it out eventually.
XX
After the agreed-upon hour had passed, the boys and their guardians made their way back towards the bookshop.
Unfortunately, and oddly, they weren't the only ones.
What seemed like half of Diagon Alley was moving swiftly towards Flourish and Blotts.
Before they'd even arrived, Fallen had body-checked at least four wizards and two witches for nearly stepping on the boys or Yoko, and the fox himself had narrowly avoided being stepped on and yowled angrily at the perpetrators three or four times.
Blaise quickly stooped to pick up the fox and needed to be dragged along by Draco as he staggered back to his feet.
"Don't get lost, idiot," Draco berated him. "In this insanity, we'll never find you."
Harry hissed like a scalded cat when someone bumped into him. "What the bloody hell is going on?" he asked, stepping back as Fallen stepped between him and another shopper, snapping fangs and a snarled warning.
"Lockhart," Fallen growled.
A quick glance around, not that they were given much chance before they were nearly run over again, revealed a banner stretched across the upper windows that stated Gilderoy Lockhart, the author of no less than seven of the books on the Second Years' school reading list, would be signing his autobiography that afternoon.
"What idiot picks the day that students are trying to get their school supplies?" Blaise asked.
"Someone with no publicist." Draco snarked back, grabbing Harry by the back of his shirt and tugging him closer to himself and Blaise as Fallen created a haphazard circle of free space around them. Free space that he needed to continually fight to keep that way, as people saw the empty space and rushed to try and fill it.
"Keep an eye out for Lucius or the Weasleys," Fallen told them. "I'm giving this maybe five minutes before you're swamped again, and in the mood I'm in, I'll kill the next person who so much as twitches in your general vicinity."
Draco huffed through his nose but obediently began to scan the crowd for the large group of redheads, or his taller father.
"There!" Blaise said, pointing over Harry's shoulder where the Weasley clan was likewise being bumped and prodded as everyone struggled to get inside the shop, despite there being literally nowhere else to go.
"Move quickly," Fallen said, the only warning they received as his eyes abruptly flashed demon-black.
The people between them and the Weasleys suddenly found themselves stumbling or outright falling as the air between them all suddenly 'pushed back'.
The boys ran.
"Oh, there you are!" Molly said, breathlessly, though Yoko wasn't sure if it was because of the continued jostling or because she was a fan of the man they were apparently all in line to see.
Fred and George shook their heads and shoved the three boys between them as best they could, keeping them from getting lost in the shuffle.
"This is madness," George growled. "I can't believe this guy is this popular!"
XX
Shortly afterward, they were through the door, where a harassed looking wizard was trying to contain the outside chaos outside and not the books and shelves that were within his employer's walls.
"You should have Aurors outside to control this chaos," Fallen snapped, shaking himself as though the touches had in someway contaminated him and he was looking to be clean.
The shopkeeper bowed quickly. "Apologies, General," he said, but he couldn't say much more, because a group of witches was struggling to push their way inside. "Calmly, please, ladies."
Now that they were out of the almost riot outside, the boys could tell that much of the crowd was actually made up of witches around Molly's age, though there were plenty of wizards mixed in for variety.
Yoko shook his head. "That poor man," he mumbled. "I almost want to knock them all on their asses and give him half a minute to breathe."
Fallen's lip curled and he paused in the process of brushing dust, imagined or otherwise, from his head with one paw. "They should have better prepared for this, how I'll never know, but the man is on the Prophet's bestseller list. This was inevitable."
Fred reached a fist down and Fallen bat at it in a familiar 'fist bump' type gesture between the Valerian and the twins. "Wish we could've missed it," he said in agreement. "Mum's a fan, though." He nodded in his mother's direction.
Sure enough, Molly was brushing down her hair and trying to straighten her clothes into some semblance of order.
Fallen shook his head. "Women," he muttered derisively.
Yoko snickered but abruptly stopped when George was jostled so badly that Blaise was nearly knocked off his feet.
"Watch where you're fucking going!" The fox snapped viciously.
The wizard, a photographer by the look of it, glanced quickly at them, prepared entirely to dismiss the angry person he'd bumped into, but did a swift double take and swallowed his words.
"Sorry, Lord Yoko."
Yoko snorted sharply, curling a lip away from his fangs and making no sign that he had any plans to accept the wizard's apology.
Whether it was the apology or the fact that the man had stopped taking pictures to bow to Yoko, the commotion drew Gilderoy Lockhart's attention and he looked up from the book he was signing.
Only a hermit or an idiot didn't recognize the Valerians on sight.
Since this man was obviously not a hermit, Yoko and Fallen could only surmise that he was an idiot, for what he did next.
Blaise and Yoko were close enough to be seen from where Lockhart sat, and Harry, though he was half-hidden, purposely, by George, was likewise in his line-of-sight.
"It can't be! Harry Potter!"
Harry slunk lower.
"Let me down, Blaise," Yoko murmured.
Blaise loosened his grip and the fox jumped to the ground, half-hidden by the crowd as everyone turned to try and get a glimpse of Harry.
The shuffle also allowed Fallen, brief though the opening was, to slip between the Grangers and the Weasleys and come up behind Harry.
'We've got you,' Fallen assured the brunette.
The Valerians change of position didn't mean a thing to Lockhart, as he quickly moved around his table and approached the Weasleys.
George tensed, aware that he was just as between Yoko and Fallen as Harry was, and given the death of the Queen, he was pretty sure that neither Valerian was going to be in a mood to be anything other than bloody.
Draco stepped between Blaise and George.
"Surely, you've heard the news, Mr. Lockhart," the blond said haughtily. "Harry Potter is a friend of the Malfoy family. I wouldn't dare to assume that someone of your fame would be looking to assault him."
Lockhart came to an abrupt halt just out of reach of Yoko's fangs. "Of course not!" the wizard said, smiling brightly. "I was simply hoping to take a picture with you, Harry! After all, I'm going to be your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year!"
Fred and George groaned and even Percy seemed to pale slightly.
"There will be no pictures with Lord Potter, Mr. Lockhart," Fallen said dangerously. "And any attempts to take one without his knowledge or permission will be met with a lawsuit, not only from the Malfoy family but also from the Potters."
Lockhart's smile became, just slightly mind, a little dimmer. "Of course, of course! Simply good publicity is all."
"Go through his publicist," Yoko said snappishly.
Molly quickly regained her wits, having, in the excitement, forgotten that Harry was not in a good headspace.
"Percy, why don't you take the others back up to the front of the shop?" she said.
Lockhart, however, wasn't through. It was clear that he wasn't going to get a photo with Harry Potter, but perhaps he could endear himself in another way. Gesturing to his own agent, still behind the table, he called for the group to wait a moment.
"Free of charge," he told them, handing him a stack of books that must have been everything the man had ever had written about himself, "I'll be seeing you at Hogwarts, Harry."
With a jaunty wink and a wave, the man returned to his fans.
In severe contrast, Harry was pale and shaking.
"Get him outside," Draco mumbled to the twins. "There are too many people here now."
George nodded and, wrapping an arm around Harry's shoulders, started talking eagerly about the things he and his brother planned to do once they'd returned to Hogwarts as he dragged the younger Gryffindor out of Flourish and Blotts.
XX
As they approached the entrance, Harry took a moment to dump the numerous books that had been shoved at him into Ginny's cauldron, telling the young witch that he wasn't going to need them.
"Indeed," Fallen said evenly. "I'm sure you're capable of buying your own books for the school year, Harry."
Harry, still pale and his hands shaking as he wrapped them around himself, didn't agree or disagree.
Flanked by the Weasley twins, both of whom were nearly two heads taller than the second years (or first years in Ginny's case), with Percy, even taller than his brothers, urging them quickly towards the doors, they are stopped by an attendant, not the same one that was running the doors, or hovering worriedly by the table further in the back, but a new one.
"Lord Potter!" the man called, rushing around the checkout counter. "A moment, if you please!"
Harry hesitated, but Fallen brushed against his side. 'We're still here, Harry.' The wolf told him.
Draco stepped up beside his friend. "Lord Potter isn't feeling well at this time." He told the man.
The attendant bowed deeply. "We're aware, Master Malfoy," the man said, sounding harried and harassed even though, for the moment, things were calm on this side of the store. "The Daily Prophet has reported Her Highness' status. You have my deepest condolences, Lord Potter," the man said, sounding like he honestly meant the words. "Also, our deepest apologies for what has just happened. We know this is but a small recompense, but we hope it is enough, or at least a step in the right direction." The man offered Harry several copies of A Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2.
Harry, for his part, stared at the books, not sure how he felt about them. He glanced at Draco.
The blond tilted his head just slightly, in the, what was now becoming clear was likely a manager's, direction.
Harry swallowed. "Thanks." He mumbled, reaching out to take them.
"Harry," Draco said quietly, a gentle rebuke, but a rebuke none-the-less.
The manager was treating Harry as the Potter Lord, and despite the turmoil that was going through him, he needed to pretend, just for a few more minutes.
"Thank you," Harry said, looking up through his lashes at the manager. He glanced over his shoulder at the hovering Weasleys. "Could I trouble you for something else?" he asked, turning his attention back to the attendant. "Not for free, of course, these were more than enough."
"Anything, Lord Potter," the man said promptly.
Harry glanced again at the Weasleys. "Can I buy a few books?" he tilted his head in the direction of the hubbub that was growing in the back of the shop again. "Preferably without going back into that."
The manager straightened. "Of course, sir." He said, catching on quickly. "For what years?"
"First, Second, Fourth, and Sixth," Harry answered promptly. "And an additional set of Lockhart's books, I guess."
The man's lips twitched, but he hid his smile by bowing once more. "You're very kind, Lord Potter," he said. As he straightened, he looked to Draco. "And you, Master Malfoy?"
Draco shook his head. "My Father has likely already purchased what I require, thank you, but perhaps for Master Zabini? I'm sure that this chaos has likewise prevented him from being able to carry out his business here."
The manager nodded. "We'll have it all sent up to the Leaky Cauldron for you, Lord Potter."
Harry nodded in return, already sinking back into himself. "Thanks again."
"So, what did he want?" George asked once they were finally clear of the mob outside the shop.
"Free books for our trouble," Draco said, smoothly ignoring the fact that Harry had actually paid for the Weasleys' things. "They're sending them up to the Leaky Cauldron for you."
Fred blinked. "Us?"
Draco shrugged. "Guess they felt really bad that you nearly got run over by an idiot." He lied flawlessly. "Got schoolbooks for all of you."
George narrowed his eyes on the Malfoy. "Sounds awfully generous."
Draco smirked but declined to comment any further.
"Thank you, Fallen."
Fallen tilted his head. 'You're welcome,' the wolf murmured. Like the many times before, when the wolf had coached Draco on how to speak to adults to get the respect he felt he deserved, neither would speak of the incident out loud nor was it likely to ever come up again.
XX
They were afforded only a few minutes of blissful silence before it was interrupted again.
"Afternoon, Draco," an unfamiliar voice said evenly.
Draco bit back a groan. "Hello, Uncle Nathaniel. Katelyn."
The Weasleys tensed but Fallen and Yoko merely gave the intruder and his daughter a lazy once over.
Nathaniel Malfoy would do nothing in public, Katelyn, on the other hand, was just proud enough to do anything her father would let her get away with.
Unlike his older brother, Nathaniel had little of the elegant lines that made the Malfoy men femininely attractive, though he was not ugly by any means. Tall, lithe, and well-dressed, he was just as impressive as Lucius, with the same, cold blue-gray eyes.
Like his facial features, he likewise hadn't inherited the platinum blond that Draco and Lucius both had near-identical shades of, instead sporting, equally as well-maintained mind, a more traditional blond, several shades darker than that of his kin.
Katelyn had inherited her father's narrow facial features and hair color, and her uncle's equally as narrow eyes, but she had her mother's brown eyes as opposed to the more dominant blue-gray of the Malfoy family.
"Can't go out into public without a protective detail, Potter?" Katelyn sneered. "And what would your publicist say about turning down such a prime photo op."
"Katelyn."
Lucius' arrival couldn't have been more dramatic or perfectly timed.
The jostling crowd still outside Flourish and Blotts parted around the Malfoy Lord as though his very presence moved them aside.
For a moment, Harry was jealous of the ability, before deciding that it probably had something to do with the air of 'don't-touch-me-I'll-kill-you' vibe Lucius had.
"Do remember that we're in public, girl," Lucius said casually, tapping his cane once on the ground as he came to stand between his brother and his niece, staring down at the Weasleys even as they were scrambling to their feet from their slouched/sitting positions on the ground. "We have an image we are trying to uphold."
The word, though it had been said to Katelyn, was obviously geared towards his son, and Draco swallowed and stepped away from Harry, straightening from his own slouch on the wall.
As though to try and make up for the distance Draco had suddenly put between them, Lucius watched as Harry swayed into his son's personal space. Though his face remained impassive, Fallen had spent too long, Bonded or not, with the older Malfoy not to recognize his attention.
'Regardless of our former bond, Lucius, I will tear you apart to protect him, and I will do worse if you try and utilize my Bonded's friendship with him to bring danger upon him.'
Lucius' gaze slid, briefly, to Fallen and he said not a word in answer.
"I believe the schoolbooks should be ready about now, Nathaniel."
There was a moment, a blink and you miss it moment, where Draco was certain that his uncle wasn't going to follow his father's politely put demand. Then the moment passed, a smile was plastered over his uncle's lips, and he turned and walked away.
Katelyn didn't even spare the rest of them a glance.
Based on the amount of information Draco had been forced to sit through at mealtimes on their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, he was certain that it wasn't because she wanted to stay close to her father.
Once Nathaniel and Katelyn were gone, the Weasleys might as well have gone with him for all the attention that Lucius gave them.
"How is your stay with your hosts, Lord Potter?" the Malfoy Lord asked, "I hope they're treating you well."
"Yes, sir," Harry answered.
"That is good to hear," Lucius said, tilting his head slightly in Fallen's direction. "We were, of course, hoping that Fallen had gone to retrieve you. Given what you've lost, muggles are no substitute for true companionship and comfort." Harry swallowed and wondered just how much Lucius knew about his home life. "It was a long week for those he left behind, I can only imagine what it was like for you."
The implication that Fallen had simply disappeared from Malfoy Manor, as opposed to informing Lucius or Draco, caused most of the group to look at Fallen.
The wolf was unapologetic.
"I stand by my decision," he said.
It escaped everyone's notice, bar Lucius, that what the decision that Fallen was standing by was.
"I'll be returning with Harry to the Weasleys', Father," Draco interrupted.
He flinched when Lucius turned cool gray eyes on his son, unimpressed. "You certainly will not be," he said, tone infuriatingly even. "One couldn't possibly know what conditions you might pick up there."
Harry and the Weasleys bristled.
Draco flinched to hide the fact that he buried his elbow in Harry's gut.
He didn't look pleased with Lucius' dismissal.
'That was a long shot call, Draco,' Fallen pointed out. 'Yes, your Father likes to get you out of the house and away from your mother, but he has the image your family tries to uphold to keep as well. The Weasleys are not someone your family normally associates with, and regardless of the grief you have and the fact that you are trying your best to help a friend, Lucius can't afford to break character.'
Draco gritted his teeth, but other than a line of tension in his jaw, none of his frustration showed on his face.
Thankfully, Lucius was distracted by the arrival of Arthur, who had been coming out to check on the children out of their sight.
"Draco."
Draco blinked and turned his attention from the most out of control he'd ever seen his father and looked at Blaise and Ron.
The other two Gryffindors looked at Harry before turning their attention back to Draco.
"How'd you figure out what he needed so fast?" Ron asked him quietly.
"I don't follow."
Blaise licked his lower lip thoughtfully, piecing together his thoughts.
"He's more…present-I guess," he said slowly.
"Present?" Draco asked skeptically, giving a distracted looking Harry a once over.
"He hasn't spoken much," Ron agreed, "but he's, I don't know how to describe it, he just feels here in a way that he didn't before, even though he's not really paying attention to what's happening around him."
"Yes, he is," Draco responded, without thinking about it.
"Mate, I don't think we're seeing the same thing," Blaise pointed out. "To us, he looks as out of it as ever."
"He's paying attention, he's just not reacting," Draco said, aware that it didn't make any more sense out loud than it did in his head. "I can't explain it."
Blaise shook his head. "That's what we mean. You just…get it."
"Then I guess to answer your first question: I don't know. It just… It's written all over his face."
Blaise and Ron exchanged glances.
Draco's answer didn't help them figure out how to help Harry once they were back at the Burrow.
The three boys looked over at Harry, staring into the middle distance. As he registers that he holds their attention, however, his gaze sharpened and met Draco's evenly before drifting off to something else that only held his attention for a second or two, and then skipped on again to the next thing.
"He blames himself," Draco whispered. "Constantly wonders what he could have done better. Done differently."
Hermione touched his shoulder slowly, never quite sure of her welcome where the Malfoy heir was concerned. "How…."
Draco's eyes were glazed over and dull when he looked over his shoulder at her. "It's what I would be doing if I ever lost Fallen like that."
"Draco," Lucius called sharply. "We're leaving."
Draco didn't immediately follow his father down the road, instead, stopping and putting a hand on Harry's shoulder.
Harry looked up at him with a half-hearted smile.
"See you soon, Harry?" Draco whispered, more question than statement.
"See you at Hogwarts, Dray." Harry murmured back, reassuring his friend that he'd be at Hogwarts as promised.
Draco nodded and squeezed Harry's shoulder reassuringly, before turning and jogging to catch up to Fallen, who had paused to watch and wait for his charge.
XX
Over Draco's shoulder, the wolf watched Blaise, Ron, and Hermione circle Harry, uncertain of their welcome in a way that Draco hadn't been.
'Fallen.'
Fallen's gaze drifted to the fox, half-hidden in the shadows and watching, not his charge and their friends, but Fallen himself.
'What's the plan, General?' The fox asked.
'Plan?'
'You're looking to extend your protection to Harry, aren't you?'
Fallen's lip twitched. 'Nothing gets past you, Scout.'
Yoko's head swayed in an 'if you say so' type gesture. 'Going under the assumption that She was right about Dumbledore's interest in Harry, he won't let the full year pass without trying to endear himself to the Boy-Who-Lived while he doesn't have Her protection.'
Fallen was quiet for a drawn-out moment before he sighed. 'I made a promise. I didn't know that it was going to last longer than the strike for the Stone, but I still made it. My word still means something to me. You're right. I will be protecting Harry at Hogwarts. I have spoken with Lucius about what to do if the Ministry attempts to take action for anything I do this year, but the reality is that without the Crown, I don't particularly care for this alliance, weak though it has become over the last century or so. It can go to hell if it keeps those boys safe.'
Yoko said nothing about the potential war Fallen was apparently willing to start if it protected the children. 'Fallen, I need you to point me in a direction. I want to help him. I need to help him. He's all I have left of Her, but I can't see.'
Fallen glanced behind him, where the Malfoys were growing ever more distant and Draco's unease without him at his side was a pulsing heartbeat in the back of his head.
'Dark lured Harry outside using the Dursleys. Her Highness wasn't home. She made it in time to intervene, get the mortals inside, and proceeded to trap them there. When he couldn't get out to help her, Harry watched as Arcana tore her throat out.'
Yoko hissed quietly.
'When I arrived, nearly five days later mind, his cousin needed to get me a key to let me into Harry's bedroom. His aunt and uncle had locked him inside for everything short of, I assume, trips to the bathroom.'
'Fuck,' Yoko breathed.
'Yoko, the most important moments after Her death, and he was left alone to deal with the guilt and grief alone. He's drowning and the adults in his life gave him five days to decide that this was okay.'
Yoko huffed through his nose. 'I'll do what I can.'
Fallen nodded before turning on his heel and darting quickly through the consumers and salespeople of Diagon Alley.
