Chapter 8: 1st Meeting
Dudley was abruptly awakened by the sound of a voice over the intercom in the train announcing that they would arrive in London within the next 5 minutes.
He was a bit nervous about meeting the weasel guy from the other day, he knew that if a wizard wanted to use him or play with him like an animal of sorts he could. He knew he had to trust this guy to be a good and honorable man though, but he almost sounded too good to be true.
Dudley knew from experience that someone being too happy or in this case too polite meant that in the most cases it was a show to get someone to do something they wanted or believe in something that was simply not true. He had had a façade for a really long time and he would recognize someone not being true to themselves in a heartbeat.
You could be a good actor, so good that you even could fool yourself. Dudley had made himself believe that he was someone he wasn´t and never wanted to be to please others almost all his life. The thing was though that he had lived that life like a walking dead without heart and true emotions and instead just hollow commands and angered fear.
One thing the life he had lived had made him though was bad at giving orders and being the leader Vernon had almost certainly wanted him to be. That almost made him happy to be the opposite of what his father had tried to shape him into being.
Dudley hadn´t had the power of his own life and desires in his own hands for a really long time so to now have choices and being able to do what he wanted with his life and his future felt strange. He had found himself wondering what his parents would demand of him and expect him to be doing in different situations before he abruptly stopped remembering that what they wanted didn´t matter anymore because they would never support the real him and what did matter was him and what he wanted and his feelings and emotions.
Truth be told he wanted or maybe even needed someone he could trust, someone he knew would not try to use that trust and turn him into someone's puppet. He needed someone to let him be just him without demands but still be the one in charge. He did by no means want to be powerless and would not let that ever happen again but he didn´t want to be the one taking all the heavy decisions. He just wanted to feel save and loved for being himself and not for something he wasn´t.
His father would be appealed he knew but he didn´t care anymore he had finally realized what he wanted, he wanted to be taken care of, to have someone that understood him and could be the kind and passionate dominant he needed to steer him with a gentle hand. He needed someone that could be his rock, someone to listen and be there to help find himself and teach him what love was all about.
Just because he now knew what he wanted didn´t mean he knew who he was or what he was meant to do with his own life. But the fact that he knew that he had a long way to when he would accept a lot of things about the real him that he had been taught to disapprove of and that he had a long way to when he would be ready to open his heart to someone else and let them be the one he needed. Just the fact that he knew this was a step in the right direction finally he was on the right track the track that he had chosen to travel on.
The 5 minutes had past fast under Dudley´s musings and he found himself having to scramble his things together to get off the train in time.
When the doors had closed behind him he took a deep breath and looked around and as he had though the station was packed with people, for what felt like the millionth time he couldn´t help but think that finding this guy was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
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He had apparated to a deserted back alley 3 blocks from the central station and then walked the rest of the way trying to blend in and not draw any attention from the muggles all around him.
He had of course done his research and was well prepared to make this experience as short as possible, he knew exactly where to go to have the best chance to find the muggle he was out to get in the least amount of time possible. He hadn't taken Arithmancy for nothing.
It really was fortunate that the wizarding world kept records of all the muggles in case that someone saw something they shouldn't and aurors would have to search them down to obliviate them. From these records that his family of course had a copy of, being a Malfoy did have it perks, he had found information about where in in the UK Dudley where from and from that he had predicted which train he had most likely taken to the station and he was now perched on the side of the staircase that came from the track he thought Dudley´s train would stop at.
He looked around while he was waiting on the wave of muggles that was bound to come any minute now, he grimaced in disgust seeing a group of teenagers eating some sort of greasy food with their bare hands. Really as he had thought ten years ago, barbarians the lot of them, they wouldn´t recognize class and manners if they looked it in the eye.
He had on a pair of sunglasses, a long black coat and finished his attire off with a hat. He had gone for discreet but was now wondering if he had over done it a bit when he got a few funny looks and even a snicker from a cheeky teenager walking past.
He had not time to come to a conclusion on the subject though before something hit him on the chest. There was a thud on his right and he looked around himself in bewilderment.
"Hey mate pass the ball back will you" a guy maybe 12 years old was shouting at him and then he saw the round ball laying a feet or 2 away from him. He had heard muggleborns talk about a sport in their world called soccer and even seen a picture once featuring this kind of ball. He snickered and made a movement with his leg making it seem like he kicked the ball forwards the guy while in reality he levitated the ball with speed and accuracy so that the ball hit the guy right in the gut "oops" he said aloud sounding sincerely apologetic.
That should teach the guy a lesson Draco thought pleased, he had changed since Hogwarts but he was not about to not give back to people that deserved it. He snickered even more when he heard the boy being scolded by his very frantic mother, "what have I been saying about playing in crowded places, no more playing on this trip" the woman looked up at Draco and gave him a small smile and a wink as if saying children, you will know what I mean one day.
After the mother had dragged the boy away it didn´t take long before the muggles started pouring down the staircase.
Draco had almost given up hope and thought he had used false information predicting where Dudley would turn up. He knew what he was looking for, a guy his own age quite certainty he would be looking both lost and flustered not really knowing what to do with himself. Draco rolled his eyes what he did to get what he wanted, sometimes his patients and tolerance even surprised himself.
Half a minute after the last person before him though a guy came stumbling down the stairs, he had horrible clothes unstyled hair (although not as bad as Potter´s) and a duffel bag thrown over his right shoulder. Draco knew instantly that this guy most be his guy, he smirked sometimes things was just too easy.
Draco stayed put waiting on the guy to notice him and take in his undeniably gorgeous form before stepping forward to greet the guy and start phase 1 in catching Harry Potter. He was not fast enough though because Dudley beat him to it.
Draco looked on bemused and he got completely of track as Dudley´s eyes widened and his whole being became guarded "if my father hired you as a privet detective to track me down, I swear to merlin you are gonna regret not leaving now because I am not going back there to be send away to cure me from myself or some other utter bullshit."
Draco found himself laughing, it seemed he did not only have a talent to rail Harry Potter up, no it seemed to be the whole potter family. He had managed to make this guy angry without even uttering a word.
He pushed himself away from the wall and made his way up to Dudley and stretched out his hand "Draco Malfoy, and I am definitely not working with your father, wouldn´t touch him with a ten foot pole actually I can assure you."
Dudley´s shoulders slumped and it looked like the tension went out of his body, he hesitated for a second looking around as if shaking another guys hand would draw attention and be seen as inappropriate, Draco frowned at that, how much had this guy really been in the closet?
It seemed though that Dudley had found the coast clear and clutched Draco´s hand in a tight yet soft and warm grip before giving a firm but yet somehow not overpowering handshake.
"Sorry Mr. Malfoy, it´s just that your clothes seem like taken from a movie where you would be shadowing someone or something" the guy was blushing but Draco could for the life of him not say why but he found himself giving a genuine grin for a second or so at that.
At least the guy was not a total loser the "Mr. Malfoy" had certainly been welcome maybe playing nice wouldn´t be as hard as he had thought it would be. He had never seen muggle movies but it seemed the feeling about these clothes maybe not being the best choice turned out to be true unfortunately.
No one let go of the others hand seeming to be in their own minds for some time, Dudley was the first one to realize this and quickly took a step back and Draco found himself having to fight down a blush himself, what was it with this muggle trying to turn him into a Hufflepuff?
Draco straightened his back and went into his Malfoy host persona, very polite but not overly personal or invasive making it easier to not slip and show too much emotion. "How rude of me, please follow me so that I can take us to my home."
Dudley just nodded and together they strode out of the train station as a very odd couple of companions, but yet Draco did not have the uncomfortable feelings he thought he would, and the silence was welcome and the presence of Dudley beside him almost comforting.