Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any characters.
Harry was awakened a few hours later by Jones opening the curtains, letting light stream through the huge windows into his bedroom.
Yawning, Harry sat up and stretched. "Good morning, Jones."
"Good morning, sir." Jones began opening a package containing uniforms for Harry.
As Harry headed for the bathroom he glanced at the clock. It was 6:00am – he'd gotten, maybe, four hours of sleep – today was going to be painful.
Once he had taken care of himself Jones entered to help him put on his new uniform. He took one look at Harry's bloodshot eyes and asked, "Sir, do I need to get Molly's hangover cure for you?"
Harry shook his head, "No, I'm not hungover, I just had trouble sleeping, that's all."
"Ah, well, I think I can get you something to help with that, sir." Jones said as he helped Harry tie the cravat that came with the uniform.
"Really?" Harry asked in surprise.
"Yes, sir. I'll be right back."
While Jones was gone Harry attempted to tidy up his hair some, but it was a hopeless cause. After a few minutes Jones returned with a glass of some green mixture.
Harry frowned slightly as he looked at it, "Jones, it looks the exact same as the hangover cure."
"That's because it's the exact same thing, sir." Jones replied calmly as he handed Harry the glass.
"What is it?" Harry eyed the glass suspiciously, what had he been drinking every morning for the past decade and a half?
"It's a collection of vitamins, nutrients, caffeine, and a cleanser, sir." Jones said in his usual calm manner as he pinned things onto Harry's uniform coat.
Now Harry eyed the glass with true suspicion. A cleanser? Like bleach was a cleanser? "A cleanser?"
Jones looked up from the coat and sighed, "Sir, it's perfectly safe. All the cleanser does is cleanse your body of any toxins. Thus allowing you to live the lifestyle you've been enjoying for the past decade and a half – drinking all night and exercising or playing all day."
"Ah," Harry said rather stupidly. Well, he decided, it hadn't hurt him yet. He pinched his nose shut, tilted his head back, and downed the nasty liquid in one gulp.
Harry put the glass on the counter as he fought back a gag. It was truly vile tasting stuff.
Jones then helped Harry into his coat before slipping the snitch-shaped cufflinks onto his cuffs. Harry stared at the cufflinks for a moment, images of catching real snitches flashing through his head. He was flying high over the Quidditch fields at Hogwarts, soaring and diving on his Firebolt, but then there was a small cough and Harry was back in his opulent bedroom, looking at a confused Jones.
"Sir, are you alright? I've never seen you look quite like that before." There was honest concern in Jones' voice as he spoke.
Harry shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, I'm fine, I'll see you tonight Jones. Bye!" For some unknown reason [,] Harry reached over as he spoke and gave Jones a quick, one-armed hug. "Take care of yourself, Jones."
As Harry left the room Jones stared after him in shock. Once the door was shut he whispered, "Harry, you've really changed." As he whispered this a small, fatherly smile graced his elderly features.
Harry hurried down to the kitchen, where he found Mrs. Weasley humming as she baked something that smelled delicious.
"Good morning, Mrs. Weasley!" Harry called out as he entered the kitchen.
She looked up at him, her face full of surprise, "Good morning, sir."
Harry ambled over to the kitchen table, where Mr. Weasley, Ginny, and a few other servants sat. "Mind if I join you? This looks delicious." Harry eyed the spread of eggs, toast, kippers, bacon, sausage, and muffins hungrily.
Mr. Weasley finally managed to answer, "N-n-no not at all, sir. We're honored."
"Great!" Harry took a seat next to Ginny and a girl that reminded Harry a bit of that horrible waitress from when he met Ron for the first time in the Soccer Memories. Idly he wondered if she was the same girl as he began eating enough food for two people.
When he was done he climbed off the bench, faced Mr. Weasley and gave a short bow. "Thank you for letting me join you, sir." He gave Mrs. Weasley a quick grin and a nod of his head, "Thank you, Mrs. Weasley. Your cooking was delicious, like always."
Harry then headed out to the gardens, he need to retrieve the Grindle before Malfoy arrived to pick him up.
As soon as the door to the kitchen shut behind Harry the place erupted.
"Was that really-?"
"Is he on drugs now?"
"He just came in-"
"What gives him the-"
Mrs. Weasley eyed the shouting chaos for a moment before picking up two pans and banging them together.
The noise reverberated through the stone kitchen, making everyone stop shouting and cover their ears. When the noise stopped they all looked a Mrs. Weasley, fear in their eyes.
"Now you listen here, it doesn't matter why he did that! Now sit down and eat! I didn't make all of this food for it to be wasted!" She turned back to the stove in a huff.
Ginny stifled a giggle and Mr. Weasley eyed her suspiciously. "Do you know something about this."
"No, of course not, Dad," Ginny said with a straight face, despite the twinkle in her eyes.
Harry crossed the gardens, retrieved the Grindle, and went to wait in the front parlor for Malfoy to pick him up at seven – not knowing of the chaos he'd left behind in the kitchen.
He didn't have to wait too long. Malfoy arrived and the two of them drove across town to Parliament.
"Alright, Potter. The first thing you and I are going to do is to relieve my father's personal guard. They'll drop him off and they won't leave until we're there. A Minister can never travel without a guard, it just isn't safe."
"Okay," Harry said as he watched the scenery. It looked a lot like the Londons he'd seen, but there were marked differences. The public areas looked even better cared for, while the private areas had the look of a slum.
Apparently letting the Nazis and Voldemort take control was not good for the private sector.
When they arrived at Parliament a valet went to park their car as Harry and Malfoy hurried inside and two a small room off the entryway.
Lucius Malfoy was waiting inside the room with two guards dressed in icy blue uniforms. Mr. Malfoy looked up from his watch as Harry and Draco entered. "You're two minutes late."
Harry watched in amazement as Draco bowed, "Sorry, Father, I had to pick up Potter and did not judge the time properly. It won't happen again."
"Good, now, let's go. I have an important meeting with, Mr. Bludge, the Minister of Finance."
Harry and Draco followed Mr. Malfoy throughout the day and Harry slowly began to realize that being a guard for a Minister was probably one of the most boring jobs in the world. It was no wonder that they went to clubs and partied in the evenings, it was probably the only enjoyment they got out of the day. All they did was follow Mr. Malfoy around and stand behind him as he conducted his business. There was so much security just to get inside the Parliament building that there job was rather superfluous. A monkey could've done this job.
It was a relief when they finally turned over Mr. Malfoy to the two guards in icy blue.
As Harry and Draco waited for the valet to bring the car around Harry found himself asking, "Is it always that boring?"
Draco's eyes grew wide in shock. "Boring? But wasn't it fascinating to listen to Mr. Bludge and Father discussing how to balance the budget? Or watching Father deal with how to convince the rest of the world that everyone is living on milk and honey here?"
Harry couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. Watching Draco talk so excitedly about such things, like how he used to talk about Quidditch or torturing first-years, was hilarious after such a long, boring day.
"Malfoy, you're different, really different."
Draco stared at Harry for a moment, an odd expression on his face. "You're in a much better mood today, aren't you?"
"Yeah, probably because I'm not hungover."
"Ah," Draco said softly as the two of them got into the car and headed off down the road.
The rest of the drive was accomplished in silence as Harry's thoughts drifted towards his plans for the evening. There had been a question niggling at the back of his mind all day and he intended to get an answer for it tonight – How could Ginny have had a crush on him when he was a drunken jerk?
Author's Note: Thank you y'll for being so understanding about what happened last week. It was truly out of my control.
Thank you so much to everyone that's been reviewing, faveing and alerting. It's y'll that keep me writing! :)
And, yay! People are putting up theories on the forum I created. i can't say if y'll are right or wrong, that's why I'm not getting involved, but I can say that there are some pretty good theories and ideas going up. So, please go and check it out if you can/want. There's also a place for you to put clues that you notice. :)
Oh, on my profile is a link to tvtropes. My sister put this up as a suggested story and if we get enough reviews it might get a tropes page that she plans to make. So, got take a look if you can/want!
Or, just read and enjoy!
Enjoy! Read! Review!