Disclaimer:
Not mine, except the plot. Any similarities to already existing fics are unintentional.
Warnings:
Slash (boyxboy), explicit sexual situations, abuse, possible mentions of rape.
Summary:
Biased and slightly spoiled, Draco only realizes that there's a whole different world out there too, when it – literally – smacks into his face. Magic AU/OOC
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Found
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Chapter 2 – Try explaining that!
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Carrying the unconscious body back to his home had been harder than expected. The boy had seemed so light – too much so even and Draco had added possible undernourishment to the list of things to look out for. Draco had even had to put him down several times to catch his breath and glare at some staring passers by.
Now the black-haired youth lay on Draco's bed, still dirty and in his rags and still unconscious. To be honest: Draco was at a loss as to what the next step should be. Maybe child services? The police? The ambulance? Perhaps in reverse order? Well, he guessed he could just give his rescued friend here some medicine. He wouldn't want all the effort to be in vain. Also, once he was well again an explanation of last night would be enlightening – to say the least. Draco was still quite confused by the sudden tender action toward his person. He did not even know this boy…
Deciding that asking his parents for help would be the most logical plan of action for the moment, he descended from the top floor of their large manor house where his rooms were and made his way toward the enormous terrace. His parents were home, but they were busy sunbathing, so they hadn't seen or heard Draco come back home a mere half an hour after he'd left. They looked at their son questioningly when he stepped through the door of the terrace.
"Did you forget something? What's wrong?" the latter question was uttered with a worried frown by his mother, who had taken one look at her son's expression and guessed, that there was something bothering him.
"Well, it's actually a bit complicated, but…I need you to come up to my room and help me with something." Draco didn't wait for his parents to get up off their chairs, but turned and stepped back into their house and began climbing the stairs to his room.
"Draco, what is it? Don't just walk away." his dad wasn't fond of incomplete information, but Draco reckoned he would find out soon enough anyway. As his parents both stepped into his room and noticed the boy in his bed, they were momentarily stunned silent. Of all things, an unconscious boy in their son's bed wasn't one of the things they had expected to find. Especially this boy…how could they not have recognized him.
"Before you go ahead and jump to any conclusions: I have no idea who this is. I found him down a few blocks. He was in an alley. He fell unconscious and obviously he's quite ill. I thought I'd bring him here and we could help him. Give him some medicine?" Now that he thought about it, it seemed quite illogical to have brought the boy here, instead of the hospital. He should probably have just called the ambulance or the police and let them handle everything.
His parents, however, nodded without question and stepped up to the bed, his father kneeling down beside it and laying his hand on the boy's forehead. Draco was immediately thankful for the lack of questions and the obvious support they were about to give the youth he had dragged home.
"He's running a spectacular fever, I'd say. Honey, get me our thermometer and some cold medicine. Oh, and bring me a cold and a hot water bucket and a face cloth." With nothing but a nod, his mom stepped back out of the room, presumably to go and fetch the requested items. Draco never saw the meaningful look his mum directed at his father, before she turned to leave.
"I think he's gonna be okay with some care, it just looks like a really bad cold. And maybe a cough. We'll need to watch out for pneumonia. I'm not sure why you brought him here, instead of calling the ambulance, but we'll figure out what to do with him, don't worry." His father smiled reassuringly at him when he said the last part and it worked to calm Draco.
"I'm not sure myself, why I brought him…but I just couldn't leave him lying there." As Draco looked at the figure laying in his bed now, he noticed for the first time a purplish bruise on the side of his face and more of the same disappearing beneath the collar of his faded shirt. He reached out to outline them and asked his dad, "What do you suppose happened to him?"
"Who knows. He looks like an unfortunate soul, maybe he lives in a violent home. Or he lives on the street and got beaten up by some hooligans." He saw his fathers hand clasp the small one of the boy on the bed. His eyes looked at the motionless figure sadly. "I really can't imagine, if something like this happened to you…I think I'd cur- I'd shoot them with a gun. Poor boy."
As his mother stepped back into the room, she was accompanied by their maid, who was pushing a cart with the water buckets and medicine on it. As his father first gently undressed, then washed and finally dribbled the familiar weirdly-colored, home-made remedy against all sorts of illnesses gently down the boy's throat and put the cloth, that was now dipped in cold water on his forehead, Draco and his mother watched on from two chairs they had pulled up beside the bed.
Dressed in one of Draco's trainers and a t-shirt, cleaned and not so feverish anymore, the boy looked to simply be sleeping peacefully. Only the bruises were testament to the tragic situation.
There was a tense silence on the room, as neither had spoken since his father had unclothed the clearly undernourished boy and had subsequently shown them all, just how bad he'd been beaten up. The bruises were sometimes finger-shaped, sometimes large and covering a big patch of skin. He also had some scratches, which would probably need to be dressed soon, so they wouldn't get infected. As Draco looked over at his mother's face, he was shocked to actually see her face twisted in anger.
"Who would do this to a child! Especially him!" she hissed. A tone she very rarely took. It was not becoming of a lady of her standard. Obviously this occasion was bad enough to call for it. Though, Draco agreed: why would anyone mistreat someone so badly. What had he possibly done to warrant this? But…
"What do you mean by that? Especially him?"
"He looks so innocent. I'm sure he suffered so much horror." Her gaze never left the bed and she made no further move to elaborate.
Having grown up in the rich part of town with the rich kids and not much violence or injustice done to him, Draco couldn't fully grasp what this meant. What it could mean, mentally and emotionally, for this person to be abused. Yes, that was the right word: abuse. The thought of actually seeing someone so violently abused, something he had only ever read about in books or heard about in the TV – it made him sick to his stomach. He actually did feel sorry and righteously angry for the slight youth here, but his logic told him, that this should be a very clear case: bring him to the authorities and let them deal with it. He'd read about the serious mental consequences abuse could have. What if he was dangerous? Bipolar? He'd already proven to be quite loony when he attacked Draco the previous night.
"Should we just bring him to the hospital? They'll help him there and figure out his situation." he voiced his thoughts.
"No!" His father said vehemently. His mother shook her head decisively, underlining her husband's statement. "We can't, Draco. He's our responsibility now and – " his father hesitated to continue and looked to Narcissa for reassurance. She gave it by means of a slight encouraging nod. "- and we need to talk to you about something you should know. Please wait for us in my study. We'll be down in ten minutes." Looking at his son with a serious face, Lucius watched him stand up slowly, look at them with a blank expression and finally decide to just follow the request and go to the study to wait.
"Do you think it's the right time to tell him, love?" Lucius sounded a lot less sure of himself to Narcissa, then he had just a moment ago.
"I don't know. It's only been two years." Narcissa paused thoughtfully, "But now that Potter is here, it seems there's no going back. Something must have been released for him to bring a stranger home. I don't think we can pretend this hasn't happened anymore. We're going back. I'll make the arrangements after our talk with Draco."
Draco, who had stayed in the hallway to eavesdrop had heard every word. It seemed to him, as if he needed desperately to remember something important, but for the life of him he couldn't say what. Deciding that he would surely find out soon, he made his way to the study.
His parents would have a lot of explaining to do.
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