A/N: long time no update, so I figured I'd put one up. I'm uber busy with school and midterms and such, but I'll try and update more often.
The teenagers slipped unnoticed into one of the quiet train cars and sat towards the end nearest to the door.
Draco exhaled heavily, as if he'd been holding the breath inside his lungs for hours. "We're safe."
The smaller teen simultaneously wanted to hit Draco, scream at him, cry, and roll his eyes. "Oh yes, very safe," Harry snarled sarcastically, "The police are after us! They're after Thomas Malfoy?! Who in fucks sake is Thomas Malfoy?!"
"You knew him, the little boy at the orphanage."
Harry froze and glanced over at Draco, "How did you know that? How did you know about the orphanage?"
"Thomas Malfoy died years ago, he took on a different name and he vanished from your world." Draco said quietly, "I thought you'd remember by now, what happened that day. But I guess you still don't want to accept it."
"I'm going to sleep so I don't have to listen to your bullshit." Harry growled. He rested his face against the window pane and shut his eyes.
"Sweet dreams, kitty cat."
The sky was a heavy, black blanket above them. The stars shone through like little twinkling holes cut into the cloth, revealing a bright sunshine behind it. Sparkling merrily, the stars seemed to smile down upon them.
They were seated on the slightly slanted, shingle roof of the orphanage, Thomas lying down and Harry seated, arms wrapped around his knees. The dark haired boy craned his neck in order to see the stars, it was starting to ache. But he didn't dare lie down, he was to frightened of sliding off the roof.
"Thomas, I'm going to laugh when you fall off the roof," Harry chuckled nervously.
"I won't,"
"We haven't been to the moors in ages, Ms. Crawford got so mad at us last time though, remember? She said that if we went we'd fall into that huge gorge there."
Thomas grinned, "We'll go over tomorrow then, but for tonight just relax! Look at the stars."
Harry did and commented, "They're really sparkly,"
"They're more then that. Every little star up there has a history, they form constellations and some of them are planets. There's another world out there." Thomas said in wonderment. He stretched a hand skywards, "That's where I wanna be, Harry. Way up there, not stuck down here."
"Yeah, but Gods the only one who can get that high, us people just aren't supposed to be up there."
"I don't care what god says, I wanna fly up there."
Harry shrugged, "Yeah, but it's just a dream."
Thomas smiled, "Maybe, hey lookit!" he pointed, "See that? That's Draco the dragon!"
"Wow a dragon! Where?"
Thomas traced it out in the sky with his finger, "See, there's the head, and then the body."
"Cool," Harry laughed.
"Dragons are so cool, they're all mean and fierce and stuff, but then they protect their friends, ya know? I wanna be a dragon!"
Suddenly Harry got an idea, he glanced down at Thomas, "Hey, how about I call you Draco?"
"Huh, why?"
"I dunno, sometimes it feels weird to call you Thomas, it just doesn't fit you." Harry explained, "Draco…yeah that's you alright."
"Okay, then I'm gonna call you cat!"
"Huh?" Harry laughed.
"Look right in Draco's head!" Thomas pointed, "See that really bright star? It's a nebula, it's called the cats eye nebula."
"Woah, it's really bight, and it's sorta moving." Harry said in awe, "but still, why am I cat?"
"You have cat's eyes. I've never seen a person with such green eyes."
Harry grinned, "So we're like, stuck together? A dragon and a cat?"
"Yupp, ya mind?"
"nope," The dark haired boy said quietly, lying down on the roof top. "It's kinda cool to be in the sky together."
And suddenly Harry was in a room, a white room splattered with blood. The thick red liquid was everywhere. There were two barely recognizable bodies on the floor. But Harry knew them.
There was a shock of red hair and wide, starring green eyes the same shade as his.
And the other wore broken glasses and messy black hair.
His parents.
He was bloody too.
There was a dark figure, walking towards him, a knife glittering in his hand.
Harry's eyes widened, "Draco!" He screamed.
"Harry?!"
"D-draco?" Harry stammered, he pressed a hand to his forehead and made a pained sound in the back of his throat. He suddenly noticed that Draco's face was really close to his, too close, "Why're you all close?"
"You just screamed my name, dipshit." The blonde said sullenly, settling back in his seat.
"Where are we?"
"A few stops till London."
"But I was only asleep for a minute!" Harry protested.
"More like three hours." Draco said snidely.
The smaller teen huffed and curled into his seat, "I'm so fucking confused," Harry sighed. "So I've met you before?"
Draco raised a pale eyebrow and nodded.
"Okay….at the orphanage, right? Y-you're Thomas Malfoy?"
The blonde nodded and pressed a finger to his lips. Harry was still confused, but he shut up. "It's not safe to talk about." Draco explained quickly. "Listen, in London, follow my lead, we need to lay low for the weekend."
"Why?"
"Multiple reasons."
"…can I have two?"
"One, the police are after us. Two, I have a friend in London who might be able to help us out." Draco said.
Harry shrugged. "Fine."
He should've felt nervous and endangered, but he didn't. Harry couldn't help feel warm, surprisingly warm and safe. He couldn't decide whether it was a good or a bad thing.
When the train pulled to a stop and the conductor shouted London, Draco grabbed Harry's arm and hauled the smaller teen off the train.
"Draco lemmie go!" Harry wined.
"You'll get lost."
"But you're holding my hand."
"There's lotsa gays in London," The blonde growled. He led Harry off the train platform and led them up a flight of stairs. They emerged in what seemed to be the heart of London city.
Harry protested loudly, "But I'm not gay!"
"I'm not either, so deal with it and shut up."
The dark haired teen did.
Draco led them into the nearest alley and followed a complex series of turns twists through the alley ways. The blonde seemed to know them like the back of his hand. The whole journey had been in complete silence, the only noise was the sporadic roar of a car or hint of chatter. Suddenly things started to get louder.
The alleyway widened to a large group of people, mostly wearing black and metal, talking loudly. They were gathered in front of a heavy steel door from which music and vibrations poured.
"What is this?"
"Brixton Academy, it's like a concert venue."
"Oh." Harry said quietly. He stuck close to Draco as the blonde threaded through the crowd of mostly gothic looking teenagers. Finally the duo made it to the front door. The guard took one look at Draco and nodded.
Harry glanced back and forth from Draco to the guard, what sorta connections did Draco have? They entered the club and Harry's headache got worse. His bones felt like they were pounding along with the music.
"Draco!" Someone shouted.
"Sirius!" Draco grinned back. He hugged this new comer and then patted the taller man's back, "Damn, I haven't seen you in forever!"
"Been in America trying to set up some relations there," Sirius said with a wicked grin. He blended in with the club, he was wearing all black with silver cuffs around his neck and on his wrists. His arms were bare and his skin shone like milk against all that black. Even his hair was black, long, shaggy, and black. His eyes were a blue-gray with heavy lids and dark, thick lashes.
Harry couldn't help but feel like he'd seen this Sirius before.
"Rem sent you to do relations?" Draco laughed, "You're the biggest asshole I know!"
"Yeah, but wolfie thought I'd be 'pragmatic,' hell if I know what that means."
Draco laughed even harder.
"I did actually get something set up, they've got a rough group going." The man suddenly noticed Harry. Those heavy-lidded eyes widened painfully and recognition illuminated his features, "Harry?" Then he grinned, "Fuck, it is you!" Then Sirius hugged Harry tightly, "Damn, I didn't think we'd ever see you again!"
Harry stood there awkwardly, being hugged by a man he'd never met. "Er…who are you?"
Sirius took a step back and smiled, "Damnit you look just like James," Then he ruffled Harry's hair. "I'm Sirius Black, your godfather."
The teen's eyes widened, "I have a godfather?"
The older man smiled sadly and Harry could see a flash of an extremely intelligent, jaded mind. "I was hoping you'd never have to meet me. We tried to hard to get you out of this world. I thought your Aunt and Uncle would keep you safe, guess not, huh?"
Harry was still too shocked to form an intelligent sentence.
"C'mon, we should go consult the wolf-man."
"How's Remus doing?" Draco asked, he noticed Harry's discomfort and almost subconsciously wrapped an arm around the smaller teen's shoulders. Although he would never admit it, Harry felt better with one of those long, pale arms around his shoulders.
"Tired, running this whole operation is really started to wear the poor guy down."
"I can imagine, how's he doing finding some flunkies?"
"Not so good, it's a pretty limited market to begin with, ya know? I mean we're looking for wizards in a world that doesn't actual acknowledge the existence of wizards. And most people are too scared of Hogwarts to come out and admit they're wizards." Sirius explained.
"Wizards?" Harry mumbled dumbly.
"You didn't tell him?!" Sirius yelped.
"How am I supposed to tell the little catholic boy that he's a wizard?" Draco shrugged. "Oh fuck," he suddenly realized the cat was out of the bag. The giant, clawed, angry, violent cat.
"Nuh?" Harry said. "Wizard, me?"
"Uh…pretty much, yeah."
"But god…witchs are bad!" Harry gasped. "Oh my god! I'm a witch?! A witch?! How am I gonna go to heaven! Oh my god!" Harry repeated 'oh my god' about ten more times before Draco's patience finally ran out.
"Oh come on, you're not going to heaven anyway, fag."
"I am not a fag!" Harry snarled.
"You like men, right?" Draco said sarcastically.
"No! I do not!"
Sirius sighed, "You two have managed to develop the most functional dysfunctional relationship I have ever seen."
"I don't wanna go to hell!" Harry whimpered, "Can you burn me? Will that make me not a witch?"
"No." Sirius said.
Harry resumed whimpering. His whole world had suddenly been shattered. How could he be a witch? Was that even possible? Well he had fallen ten feet and not been hurt. But maybe that was just…adrelenine? Naw, that sounded stupid even to himself. Jesus, how would he ever go to church again? How could he pray when he was a….witch.
"Draco am I going to hell?"
"Probably, but I'll be right there with you."
Harry shoved the arm from his shoulders out of pure spite and glared at the blonde. The most irritating part was that being in hell with Draco made the whole 'going to hell thing' a little more bearable. "Wait-where are we going?"
"To see Remus," Sirius said with a grin, "He hasn't seen you since you were two."
"I know him?"
"No, but he was one of your fathers best friends." Sirius laughed, "I think he baked the cake on your third birthday too. God knows Lily couldn't cook to save her life!"
Draco shared a grin with Sirius and then looked to Harry with that grin still on his face.
It made Harry feel just a little bit sad.
He couldn't make Draco smile like that.
The three of them walked down the hall and finally reached a thick wooden door that had been painted black. Sirius opened the door and cheerfully said, "lookit what I found!"
Inside was a desk and three chairs, seated behind the desk was a tired, pale looking man with thick, wavy golden hair and equally golden eyes. He didn't look older then Sirius, but he looked worn to the bone.
"Harry?" The golden haired man whispered.
"You're Remus?"
In a blink the man was out from behind the desk and hugging Harry. "I'm so glad you're alright! So, so glad."
Harry awkwardly patted the man's arm.,"Me to?"
"Does he know-" Remus asked.
"No." Draco sighed, "I didn't tell him."
"Alright, all of you please sit down, Harry can I get you something to drink?" Remus sighed.
"But I'm underage!" Harry gasped.
Draco and Sirius snickered as Remus smirked and filled four shot glasses with an unknown amber liquid. He dolled out the glasses and sat down behind the desk. Remus downed the shot and said with a sigh, "So, Harry. I'll be blunt here. Your parents were killed by Hogwarts because they were the last of the Potter line."
"There's blunt and then there's traumatic," Draco muttered.
Harry couldn't actually form a sentence.
Draco had hinted at the same thing, but it was different to have it told so straightforwardly. His family line was dangerous? A threat to Hogwarts? "But Hogwarts is just a catholic school, why would they want to kill my family?" Harry asked finally.
"Hogwarts isn't just a school. It's a-well-it's a coven I guess."
"Coven-witches?!!" Harry whimpered.
"Why're you so scared, you're a wizard," Draco said.
"But witches are different," The smaller teen murmured. Wizard didn't sound as scary as witch. Wizards didn't conjure images in his mind of terrifying women in black robes covered in blood killed someone who was screaming, someone who wouldn't stop screaming. "It's not rational," Harry whispered in acknowledgement.
Remus and Draco shared a pointed look.
"What? What do you know?" Harry asked.
The man and teen shook their heads.
For the moment Harry didn't care, he just wanted an explanation.
"See, there have always been wizards," Remus explained, "But when Hogwarts was founded in the 1500s, it was origionally an institution to hunt witches. As the years passed it changed it's identity to a catholic school. But Hogwarts has always been run by witches, witches who are powerful and manipulative enough to get away with killing all the other witches and wizards."
"Are all witches bad?"
"No, female wizards are called witches." Sirius shrugged, "We just call the people at Hogwarts witches because the technical definition of a witch is someone who uses black magic. Hogwarts is overflowing with black magic."
"But why did they want my parents dead," Harry asked doggedly. He was trying desperately to maintain an aura of skepticism, but all this wizard stuff felt right somehow.
"The Potter family is well known as some of the strongest witches in history. They've always opposed Hogwarts. Your parents were the last of that family and now you're the only Potter left." Remus continued.
"So why am I still alive? Why didn't Hogwarts just kill me."
"That's where the answers run out," Draco sighed, he ran a hand through his hair. "We've been trying for years to find where they'd put you and what they wanted with you. So far, no luck."
"Oh," Harry said.
He couldn't really think of anything smarter to say. He knew he should be upset, but he was too tired to feel upset. And for some reason none of this was that scary. The witches freaked him out. But wizards, his family, Hogwarts, all of it seemed to pass through him like water through a sieve.
"So what do we do?" The dark haired teen asked.
"We wait, if they're going to do anything to you it'll be on Halloween, witches are most powerful on Halloween." Draco said.
"Sounds like a plan," Harry muttered sarcastically, then a thought struck him, "Hey, Remus? What sorta operation are you in charge of?"
Remus smiled weakly and responded, "Well we're calling it the ministry of magic. Your parents have been trying to disband Hogwarts since before you were born, Me n' Sirius are helping. We're currently organizing wizards and trying to establish some sort of central power in England. I've been in charge of it for the past five years."
Harry nodded. "What about that night in Hogsmade, that attack?"
"Hogwarts was behind it." Draco said, "They're after you, Harry. And the police? That was Hogwarts too. They've been following us, they even followed us on the train. But we lost them, I'm positive."
Harry rolled his eyes, "Very reassuring." He lightly massaged his temples and then asked, "What about Jack the Ripper?"
"What about him?"
"You don't think he's involved?"
"No!" Draco snapped. He looked nervously at Remus, "No?"
"No," Remus agreed.
"Yeah, no, definitely, No," Sirius said and then smiled, "Just your average serial killer there."
Harry still wasn't convinced.
Not at all.
And then they heard the scream.
A/N: