Chapter 4, Yard Work

Harry turned over and slowly opened his eyes. His gaze quickly turned to the bed Draco was supposed to be sleeping on, but it was empty. Harry sat up a little too quickly, the cuts on his back burning a little, and he looked at the time on his bedside alarm clock.

9:15 am

Crap. He could just imagine Uncle Vernon bursting in at any moment to yell at him about making breakfast so late. Just as those thoughts entered his head, the pleasant smell of bacon reached his nose. Shaking his head, Harry stood up, combed his hair, and walked down to the kitchen.

There stood Draco and Narcissa, cooking breakfast! Draco looked up to see Harry's figure leaning casually against the refrigerator, a look of surprise on his face. Draco smiled and turned back to his cooking. Harry walked up next to Draco and whispered, "Thanks," into his ear. A pleasant shiver ran down Draco's spine as he looked up at Harry, accidentally dropping a piece of bacon onto the floor. He then glared at Harry, who chuckled and smiled warmly at Narcissa. She nodded and continued to scramble some eggs.

He stepped around the Malfoys and walked to the edge of the dining room. He spotted Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley sitting at the dining table. Dudley kept checking his watch while Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia whispered to one another. Dudley looked up to see Harry, smirking as he mouthed one hour before the boys come over.

Harry quickly drew back and entered the kitchen once more, Draco and Narcissa now putting the food on plates for everyone. The three grabbed the plates and handed them to the Dursleys. Soon everyone was sitting down and eating their breakfast, talking about the local news and about what was planned for the day.

"Well," said Uncle Vernon while piling more eggs and bacon onto his plate, "Dudley's friends are sleeping over at the house today, so if you want to hang out with them you can, Draco."

"Can Harry come too?"

Dudley's face broke into a grin, "Sure he can, Draco."

Harry stared at his food in disbelief. Dudley usually went to sleepovers at his friend's houses. Dudley never had one here. Now Harry would have to deal with "the gang" for the whole day and night. Shit.

When breakfast was finished, Draco and Harry washed the dishes. Narcissa read a book while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon sat on the porch chairs to wait for Dudley's friends to arrive. Dudley was up in his room, trying to hide anything that might be "un-cool" to have.

Harry stiffened when he heard a truck pull into their driveway. Three of Dudley's friends clambered out of the bed and waved to the parent that dropped them all off. Dudley raced down the steps to meet them near the entrance of the house, doing their retarded secret handshake before walking toward the staircase.

Dudley had acquired a new set of friends over the year. Travis was a tall skinny guy with brown short hair; a liar that could get you out of trouble in a heartbeat. Henry was a hockey player, about the same height as Travis, with black spiked hair that was red at the tips. He beat up a kid so badly that the kid was in the hospital for two days. Finally, Steve was a short kid with black spiked hair and always wore shades. He was rich and bought you expensive gifts if he was your friend.

As they walked past the kitchen to get to the staircase, Harry and Draco were just stepping out to head up to Harry's room. Everyone stopped, and Steve asked, "Who're you?"

"I'm Draco. You must be one of Dudley's friends," he replied with a slight sneer.

"Yeah, we're Big D's friends," Travis cut in, taking a step closer to Harry and saying, "So Draco, you this freak's friend?"

"Yes, I am."

"Hey Big D, I think we've got ourselves a second punching bag," Henry laughed evilly.

Travis now turned to Draco, "Yeah Dud. I was beginning to get sick of the Pothead myself anyway."

Draco smirked over at Dudley, saying, "Touch me and your daddy won't be getting any pay raise. You know how he gets when things don't go his way, especially if he knew it was you that messed up. "

Suddenly Dudley's face paled as he beckoned for Henry, Travis, and Steve to follow him up to his room. Travis snarled and spit in Harry's face as they walked by; Henry trying to ask Dudley what the big deal was. Harry grimaced as he took his shirt and wiped the spit off of his face and glasses, then smiling broadly over at Draco.

Draco thought Harry had gone mad, finally asking, "What are you smiling for? We could've gotten killed by those idiots!"

"But they didn't kill us! You actually stuck up for me, and all I had to deal with was a little spit in the face. Usually I get the snot beaten out of me. Thanks."

Draco stared at Harry in disbelief before saying, "Uh, don't mention it. Any time."

"Harry!" called Aunt Petunia in her sickeningly fake sweet voice, "You have some chores to do. The list is on the counter."

As Harry gave a small wave to Draco and moved toward the list, Aunt Petunia said, "Draco, Vernon will be remaining here while your mother and I go shopping, so if you need something just ask him. In the meantime, you can go hang out with Dudley."

Narcissa gave Draco a hug and whispered in his ear, "Thank you for telling me about Harry this morning. Keep an eye out for him, and please do not get into any trouble! I love you, and be careful while I'm gone."

Draco nodded; Narcissa and Aunt Petunia walked out the door and headed for the car. Uncle Vernon was still in the living room, watching T.V and eating chips, while Draco watched Harry go outside. He followed Harry and found him pulling out a bucket from the shed in the garage.

"What are you doing Harry? It's bloody hot out here," questioned Draco as he wiped the sweat already forming on his brow with the back of his hand.

"I need to pull the weeds from the garden and put them in this bucket. Then I have to mow the lawn and fix the end of the fence where bike hit it. After that I've got to do some chores inside, but I can take you to the park later or something."

Draco gaped at Harry as he walked over to the garden, got on his knees, and began to pull weeds. After a minute Harry stopped and looked over at Draco, saying with a grin, "Take a picture, it lasts longer."

Draco then glared at Harry and said, "And to think I was just about to get you some water! Humph, well I'll get you some anyway just because I am a nice person and all."

With that, he stomped inside and headed toward the kitchen. Just as he found the cups in the top cupboard and began to fill one with water, he heard Dudley and his friends heading down the stairs. They turned the corner into the kitchen and bumped right into Draco, causing him to fall backwards and spill the water onto the floor.

"Oooo, Dudley look who we have here!" exclaimed Travis as Henry opened the refrigerator and began to pull out some eggs.

"Travis, get away from him. We can't do anything to him," said Dudley urgently as he roughly helped Draco up and began to wipe the water with some paper towels. "As long as we don't do anything to him, he has nothing to say to his mom or dad about a bad home-stay or something."

Draco couldn't believe what he was hearing! Did this mean that they could still hurt Harry without any worries? Travis and Steve glared at Draco as they left the kitchen; Henry and Dudley following close behind with eggs as they headed back up to Dudley's room. When Draco heard them shut the door, he quickly tiptoed up the stairs and put his ear against the door to figure out what they were up to.

"Alright, wait till' he gets up to put away that bucket. Then chuck as many eggs as you can at him!" Steve's voice filled with laughter.

Draco's eyes widened and he bolted from the door and down the stairs. To his horror, Draco got outside just in time to see Harry stand up and get pummeled with six eggs! Laughter from the room upstairs could be heard as Harry groaned and began to wipe some of the yoke off of his arms and face. He looked up to see Draco and blushed slightly, turning away and grabbing the bucket to put back into the garage.

"Harry, let me get that. Why don't you go inside and wash up."

"No, my uncle will KILL me if he sees an egg yoke track left in the house. Thanks, but I do have an idea," replied Harry as he put the bucket filled with weeds and eggshells in the garage.

Harry walked through the lawn to the back of the house, and Draco followed. They reached a garden hose and Harry began to unravel it. He turned it on and took his shirt off; Draco could feel the heat rising to his cheeks as Harry revealed his slightly scarred but toned and tan back. He hosed his shirt down and began to rinse the muck out of his hair and off the rest of his body.

Harry turned to Draco and smirked, "Looks like you could use a good bath."

"Excuse me? I'm one of the most well groomed people you'll ever…," Draco's sentence was cut off by a full blast of water in the face. Harry doubled over with laughter and Draco lunged towards him, tackling him to the ground and trying to take the hose. Draco pinned Harry's wrists to the ground and they were both breathing hard; smiles playing on their lips as the hose continued to be held in Harry's hand.

"Surrender Potter or I will have to resort to desperate measures," said Draco as Harry struggled to get out of his grasp.

Harry smirked and retorted, "Oh yes, I should definitely be frightened of a cute little ferret."

"Did you just call me cute Harry?"

Harry tried looking away from Draco, replying, "NO! I was just…"

"Good because I'm DAMN SEXY, not cute."

Harry grinned , but that smile was wiped away once Draco slipped the hose out of his grasp and began attacking Harry's face with water.

"I think you missed a spot Harry. Move your hands out of your face! I can't finish the job if you keep trying to push me away."

"BOY WHY HAVEN'T YOU MOWED THE LAWN?" called Uncle Vernon angrily out the window.

Draco stopped spraying Harry, and Harry replied, "Oh, I was just finishing up…err… pulling the extra weeds I found in the back. I'm getting to it!"

Draco stood up and quickly began to wrap up the hose as Harry bolted toward the shed to grab the lawn mower, throwing on his damp shirt. Just then, Uncle Vernon stepped outside and walked over to Draco, saying, "Hello Draco. Dudley and his friends want to go see a movie and would really like for you to come along. I think it would be best if you joined us to relax a bit and get out of the hot sun."

Then he turned to Harry and said in a stern voice, "You did not finish your chores, so you will be staying here. I'm going to go to the movies with the boys so I will have to lock the house. Don't worry, you'll probably be finishing up out here by the time we get back."

Draco looked at Harry with an apologetic glance and went inside to get cleaned up. Harry angrily started the lawn mower, glowering at Dudley and his gang who had just exited the house and were advancing toward him. Harry stopped the lawn mower and growled, "Stay away or I'll run you over with the lawn mower. "

"Touchy are we?" retorted Travis as he roughly pushed Harry, making him stumble into the shed wall. Dudley then grabbed the front of his shirt and punched him in the stomach, making Harry's glasses fall off and get the wind knocked out of him. Henry laughed as he stepped on the fallen glasses and made the lenses crack.

"Oh Harry we're going to have so much fun with your friend," said Steve in a sly voice, "but don't worry. All of us will have lots more fun tonight."

All three laughed as Harry slid to the ground and didn't even bother looking for his glasses. The front door could be heard creaking as Uncle Vernon and Draco stepped outside.

"KIDS GET IN THE CAR!" yelled Uncle Vernon as the three boys ran over to his Black Mercedes. Draco quickly ran over to Harry to say goodbye and was appalled to see the state Harry was in.

"Harry… what did the shit heads do now?" Draco asked as a growl crept up in the back of his throat.

"Draco, I'm fine. It's just my glasses. We can't use magic outside of school to fix them, so now I can't see!"

"It's okay. Look, just sneak into the house and go to my suitcase. You'll find a potion in a blue bottle that has a dropper at the end of it. They are special eye drops that help restore eyesight. A large majority of my family members have to use either reading glasses or glasses to see in general, so I use those eye drops to prevent myself from having to use glasses when I get older."

Uncle Vernon called for Draco as politely as he could, so Draco gave Harry a quick pat on the shoulder and began to jog over to the car. Harry still gaped at Draco's blurred figure and couldn't believe his luck. As the Mercedes pulled out of the garage and sped away, Harry quickly began wondering how he was going to sneak inside.

First, he tried the front door just to see if Uncle Vernon hadn't locked it properly. Harry frowned when the door wouldn't budge. Then, he circled around to the side of the house and squinted his eyes to see the window to his room a little more clearly. If only his room was on the first floor! He dropped the idea of scaling the house wall, so he continued circling the house until he found the jalousie windows that led into the kitchen on the first floor. Quickly he began to remove each of the jalousies until Harry could climb through and into the house. He felt along the kitchen counter and around the corner, only to trip up the first step and bang his head.

"Damn it!" yelled Harry as he sat up from his awkward position on the steps and rubbed his head.

Then he continued up the steps by crawling on all fours so that he would not trip. Finally, he reached the second floor and stood up, cautiously walking down the hall to the second blur on the left. That would be his door.

Harry pushed it open and slowly walked into the room. Harry squinted his eyes and was able to spot Draco's trunk on the bed. He walked over to it and began to look through the contents. Neatly folded clothes and school supplies were all he could find. Harry was about to give up when he turned and spotted something blue next to his cinnamon scented toiletries. He smiled as he picked up the bottle and read Eyesight Restoration. Directions: Put two drops of the potion into each of your eyes and then blink 3 times. Warning: may cause bleeding, puffiness, or extreme pain.

He must have used it while getting cleaned up this morning, thought Harry as he looked nervously at the warning. What could possibly go wrong? Heck, if Lord Voldemort couldn't kill him then how could a few eye drops?

Just after he placed the eye drops in his eyes and blinked three times, he could hear a car pulling up in the garage. Quickly, he put the blue bottle down and was amazed at the fact that everything was so clear! He bolted out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen, wondering how Uncle Vernon could have possibly made it back so fast. He wasn't gone long enough to see a movie!

Harry climbed out the window and was hurriedly trying to put the jalousies back in. Aunt Petunia's voice carried throughout the house as the door was opened, "Wasn't that fun! I'm so glad that you got the black dress; it looks so formal and elegant on you."

"Why thank you. I think I'm going to get a sip of water from the kitchen. Would you mind putting the dress up in my room? You could just throw it on the bed if you like," replied Narcissa.

Aunt Petunia nodded and walked upstairs to put Narcissa's shopping bags away and sort out her own. Narcissa walked into the kitchen, got a cup from the cupboard, and began to pour herself some water from the sink when she heard a small scraping noise. She looked around the kitchen to find a jalousie moving!

"What's going on? PETUNIA!" yelled Narcissa as she dropped her cup into the sink and grabbed hold of the moving jalousie.

"Narcissa, it's me, Harry! Uncle Vernon locked me out and Dudley's friend broke my glasses. Then Draco told me that he had some eye fixing thing and said it was in his bag. I had to get in somehow!" whispered Harry fervently.

"Oh, sorry -"

"Need something Narcissa?" called Petunia from upstairs.

"No! I found the cups," Narcissa replied, and then she said to Harry, "Look, I'll keep her upstairs for as long as I can. Just… please try not to do that again."

With that Narcissa picked up her cup, filled it with water, and briskly walked upstairs. She saw Petunia beginning to leave her room and asked for her to try on the pink dress she bought, because Petunia hadn't shown it to her in the store. Petunia was more than happy to oblige because she was glad that her guest was taking interest in seeing her look her best.

Meanwhile, Harry finished putting back in the jalousies and jogged over to the lawn mower. He didn't realize how out dated his glasses prescription had been. Now, everything looked clearer than they had with his glasses. Harry definitely wanted to keep using those eye drops.

Harry was able to finish the lawn and begin working on the fence when Aunt Petunia and Narcissa decided to sit on the porch and gossip about the neighbors. He was repainting it just in time for Uncle Vernon to come home.

Everyone stepped out of the car and began to walk toward the house. Dudley and his friends were talking animatedly about the movie while Draco looked thoroughly bored. Narcissa and Petunia walked inside with everyone and Uncle Vernon walked around the yard, checking if Harry missed anything.

"Harry, there isn't much you can do inside except for cooking dinner and then doing the dishes, so you are finished after the fence is completed. But you better hose off the paint on your filthy hands and jeans because I don't want to see a speck of paint on the floor. If I do you will be scrubbing the entire house tonight!"

Harry glared at Uncle Vernon as he waddled inside to join the rest of the family and friends. Harry finished painting the end of the fence, trudged over to the hose, and sprayed off his hands. Then he tried scrubbing off as much of the paint on his jeans as he could. By that time he really wanted to see Draco and was wondering what had happened at the movies.

Harry walked onto the porch and took off his soggy shoes. He winced as a blister was exposed and rubbed against when he took off his socks. Then he opened the door and walked inside. Narcissa and Petunia were outside watching the boys play catch while Uncle Vernon was watching T.V. Surprise, surprise. Draco was nowhere to be found.

Harry decided to look for him upstairs, so he headed up to his room. When he entered, he found Draco laying on Harry's bed and staring at the ceiling. Draco looked over at him and broke into a smile, "Well I see you're dirty all over again."

"Well doing yard work definitely doesn't help," Harry said as he sat on the edge of the bed.

Draco turned onto his side and faced Harry, placing the side of his face in his hand as his elbow rested against the bed. Grinning, he said, "I see that you found my eye drops! How did you get in?"

Harry explained how he snuck in through the window and got caught by Narcissa, who actually helped him escape the wrath of his Aunt. Draco found the whole situation quite amusing, bursting out in a fit of laughter after the story was finished. Harry took the bed pillow and whacked him with it.

"Hey, what was that for?" Draco inquired, trying to keep a straight face.

"Oh nothing, I just feel like hitting people with pillows every now and then."

Draco sat up and positioned himself cross legged on the bed and said, "Going to the movies wasn't nearly as eventful as your day has been. We got there and the three oafs kept trying to ask me questions about why I wanted to hang out with you and how un-cool you were. Heck, you're the bane of their existence. It seems that the only thing that they are capable of is making you miserable."

"You know, that doesn't sound so different than yourself just a little while ago," Harry responded with a laugh as Draco shoved him off the bed.

"You know I'm not like that now. Besides, I wasn't only capable of tormenting you. I had many other things that I excelled at. For example, I'm almost the top student in Potions. I'm sure Dudley would kill for a C in any of his classes."

Harry stood up from the floor and shook his head. Uncle Vernon could be heard calling Aunt Petunia and Narcissa and telling them to bring the boys inside. Harry grabbed his toiletries and raced to the bathroom to get cleaned up before he had to make dinner. Uncle Vernon would definitely not like a dirty boy making his dinner.