Granger's Café

Pairing: Draco/Harry.

Disclaimer: Hermione decides that the drama in the wizarding world is growing too much. She decides to open up a café in the muggle world, so as to enjoy simplicity during the day. Little does she know that one of the applicants for a job there, will cause a whole new circle of drama for her. And how exactly will her little café benefit Harry and Draco's lives, and how will it banish the drama from both worlds they live in? You know what they say, about Granger's café; her food is like magic, that's what they say, because it keeps all your problems and troubles at bay.

Chapter three: King's Cross

"A life filled with love must have some thorns, but a life empty of love will have no roses." - Anon

Draco Malfoy lay cold and crumpled, slumped at the bottom of one of the brick platform barriers, his head resting on the concrete floor with his ripped coat draped over him as a form of blanket to protect his frail body from the late night chill. The tattered coat helped to keep the draft out. Dried blood and semen stained everything that was on his body, skin included, along with dried tearstains running down his cheeks. In short, this once fabulous young man, who, on the outside, had everything anyone could ever dream of, was now a broken wreck in the throng of sceptical passers-by. He slept fitfully, whining, tossing and turning, and a few sympathetic people tossed him a handful of muggle coins.

'Great' he mentally thought as he had drifted in and out of consciousness at the clattering of coins by his head, 'they think I am a pauper ... well I guess I am'

By 11:02pm the security guard, named Clifford, had had enough and stepped out of his watch-booth to have a word with Draco. He was a stout, beefy man, with a thick neck, and rounded features. His hair was light brown and thinning beneath his cap. He knelt down beside the battered blonde man and decided that he would call the police once he got the lad's story. He extended a hand and hesitated at the sight of the filthy state the young man was in. He swallowed gruffly and jabbed the blonde with his thick finger. "Excuse me, sir, but you cannot sleep here" he rested a firm hand upon Draco's shoulder and nudged him, trying to arouse the young man from the black folds of his sleep. "Sir? Sir, I must inform you that you are to wake up now and leave the station"

Draco groaned and rolled onto his back and cracked his gold lashes open slightly, "Who are you?" he asked groggily, raising a dead hand to rub at his eyes. He had finally gotten to sleep and now he was being roughly awoken by this walrus of a man.

"I am the security guard. Name's Clifford, and I am sorry sir but you must leave. This is not a bed-sit"

"What's a bed-sit?" Draco yawned and stretched with his battered limbs. They hurt him so much. He winced but continued to stretch. He needed to otherwise he would be wrapped within the aftermath of sleep for hours to come.

Clifford frowned, "are you alright sir? Is there anyone I can contact? Parents? Wife?"

Draco shook his head to rid his brain of the awful memories those words brought. He had no parents. His wife was dead to him. The only person he had was his son, safely tucked up in his bed at Hogwart's. He didn't even know what house he had gotten into. Tears welled up within his cold, grey eyes. "N-no ... there's no one"

Clifford's frown deepened. There was no way that this young man was left kin-less on this planet. Everyone had someone. He coughed, "well there must be someone I can contact. I can't leave you out there all alone, and you cannot stay here"

Draco shrugged as he sat up and looked down into his lap. In a low voice he muttered, "I'll be fine. I'll find another corner to haunt"

Clifford shook his head, "absolutely not. I am off duty now so I would be happy to offer you a bed for the night" Draco was hesitant as he looked up into the round face of the kindly man and felt his barriers weaken. After all he was already beaten and raped, so what could one more piece of irrational thinking do to him? He tried to use his legs to push him up onto his feet, to no avail. He slumped heavily onto his bruised backside and winced. Clifford shook his head. He would not call the police. This lad was clearly in need for some help. First thing in the morning he would call around and find a suitable homeless shelter for the lad. "First things, first; I'll take you into my office, then I'll call an ambulance"

"What's an ambulance?" Draco asked limply.

Clifford helped pull Draco to his feet and started guiding him towards his office while murmuring, "poor guy. So delusional he doesn't know the basics"

~0000~

Lillian Inez Potter frowned in her bedroom as her mother purposefully started another row with her father. What was it about this time? Not spending enough time with her? Lily mentally scoffed; Harry didn't want to spend time with Ginny. That much was clear to everyone. Feeling scared for her father, she tiptoed from her room in her socks, being careful to dodge the creaky floorboards, and peered through the banisters. In her own way Lily was glad that she inherited nothing from her mother, not even the waxen skin that she caked in thick foundation. She had inherited her grandmother Lily's looks; dark, glossy auburn hair in long waves, doe-like eyes, and pale skin with tan freckles unlike the hideous ginger splodges on her mother's face. She had her grandfather's eyes; a smooth hazel colour that was framed with thick black lashes. For all she knew, she was not related to Ginerva Weasley at all. In truth, she did not want to be. She tiptoed the rest of the way downstairs and pushed open the living room door. The noise on the other side stopped abruptly, as though someone had pulled the plug out of the radio whilst listening to an awful song. Harry was the first to break the silence, dropping to her height and peering deeply into her eyes, "What's wrong Lily-bee? Did we wake you?" Lily nodded and rubbed her bright eyes for extra measure. Ginny merely scoffed in a disgusted manner above them.

"Harry, for fucks sake! Grow up! She's not a baby any more! So fucking stop treating her like one! She's a spoilt brat as it is and you're only making things worse!" Ginny spat attempting to tear Lily away from her father's tender yet firm embrace.

"And you're not?" Lily snapped up at her mother, who adopted a look of surprise at her daughter's chilling voice, doe-eyes narrowed and blazing. "You are a violent stupid woman and I hate you! Everyone does! No one wants you here! You steal daddy's money! You locked me in the kitchen cupboard whilst that big, bossy Bulgarian Quidditch player came and did things to you on the kitchen table!"

Harry gaped up at Ginny, "you slept with Krum and made her watch?"

Ginny ignored her husband and sneered down at her daughter, "don't you dare talk to me like that young lady! I brought you into this world, don't think I'll hesitate to take you out of it!"

Harry gawped at his wife in pure mortified horrification. "You cunt!" he yelled at her as he slapped her so hard she flew backwards a few steps, clutching at her painfully red, stinging cheek. She looked at Harry with venomous bloody-brown eyes. Her red hair was half-flung across her face like scraggly red spider webs.

"Daddy" the soft, calm voice of his daughter drew Harry's attention back down to her. "I'd like to go now" and with a calm composure Lily quietly turned and walked up to her room, grabbed her teddy bear and waited in the dark.

~0000~

The guard-booth was warm and inviting and Draco immediately relaxed as Clifford guided him into a chair to sit down. It was nice to feel warmth again after being so long in below zero temperatures. There was a knobbly device attached to the wall, which radiated heat. Draco cuddled up beside it, loving the feel of warmth washing through him. He had no idea what half of the things in the guards' office were called but whatever this knobbly thing was, he worshipped it. Clifford cast a weary glance at Draco, scared in case he was a psychopath, as he picked up the phone and dialled a number. He was on the phone for a while to some authority figures, Draco assumed. Clifford replaced the phone on its receiver and turned to Draco, planting his beefy hands on his broad hips. "So, young man, where are you heading?"

Draco shrugged. He didn't even know the answer to that himself so how was he supposed to tell this sack of meat? "I don't know. I barely know this area" he sighed and rubbed his sore eyes.

Clifford frowned. How could a seemingly well-off young man come to end up in this sorry state? "Well I have called the police and an ambulance. You will be taken to the hospital and questioned there" Draco frowned but made no comment. A shiver ran through his body. He cuddled his body tighter and shifted a little closer to the knobbly heating device. Clifford swallowed thickly eyeing the young blond. "Are you sure there is nobody I could contact for you? Old friends who live in this neighbourhood? Or nearby? Anyone?"

Draco shook his head gravely, tears threatening his eyes. It had suddenly dawned on him just how alone he was in the world. He desperately wanted someone to be his 'emergency someone' in either world. A muggle world no less, where he had barely any knowledge of let alone know his way around all the various twisted, knotted streets. London was a large, concrete and glass maze to him and, he loath to admit it; he was petrified to be alone in it. But sometime being alone was for the best, to become more independent. Besides, he needed to regain his own life if he was ever to see his son again. "No" he muttered hoarsely, his throat feeling like sandpaper, "there's no one" The ache inside his heart decided to grow heavier making it harder for him to breathe. He roughly scrubbed at his eyes and looked at the floor, cuddling closer to the muggle device he adored. He didn't want to talk any more. If he had no answers to give then there was no need to speak. He promptly clamped his jaws tighter together. Clifford gave up his questioning and decided to let the police deal with the blonde.

~0000~

"Where the hell do you think you are going with my daughter?" a furious Ginny Weasley snarled as Harry returned yet again from upstairs with another suitcase clasped tightly in his hands.

Harry cast her an emotionless look before shouldering a duffel bag and heading out to his car. Lily watched her mother from the stairs, clasping her teddy in her lap. Ginny would never admit it, but her daughter frightened her in that way she just stared out from beneath thick black lashes and the long auburn fringe that fell in front of her eyes. Harry returned and wheeled out both of the small suitcases. The banging of the boot being shut made Ginny's stomach lurch. He was really leaving her. Was he serious? Harry returned once again. "Come on Lily get your coat on"

"Yes daddy" Lily drifted down the last few steps and walked down the hall after bumping into her mother's legs fairly hard, hard enough to make her stagger to one side.

Ginny whirled around and glared up at Harry, "and where do you think you're going to go?" she snarled.

"Anywhere other than here" he stated coldly, his burning gaze making her heart scream out in fear.

"And you're taking my daughter?" she let out a shrill laugh. "I can easily tell them you're an alcoholic and she will be thrust right back into my custody" the smug smirk on Ginny's mouth looked as fake as her lipstick. She was scared. He revelled in this knowledge.

"And I can just tell them you traumatised her with your cheating lover on the kitchen table. They can watch all her memories, Ginerva, and they will know that, even if I was drunk, I gave her a happier life than you ever did" he smirked down at her. She narrowed her eyes up at him and ground her teeth together.

Harry looked down behind Ginny. Ginny spun around in alarm. "Oh. It's you" she sneered down at her daughter, "go on then, get out of my house. I never want to see you again you filthy little leech!"

At the door, Lily slowly turned to look up at her mother, her dark rimmed eyes from countless nights of trauma made her gentle features appear sinister in the dusk light filtering through the open door. "I curse you mother. I curse the day you were brought into this world-"

"Lily that's enough" Harry muttered, glaring darkly at his wife.

Lily raise her voice a little more, "I curse the day after you gave birth to me. When I know you began building the hate to do these things to me-"

"Lily that is enough!"

"AND I CURSE THE DAY YOU EVER SET EYES UPON MY FATHER AND RUINED HIS LIFE!"

"LILLIAN INEZ POTTER THAT. IS. ENOUGH!"

Lily turned to her dad who was still glaring at her mother. She understood why he was yelling at her. He did not want her to curse her mother. He wanted to do that himself. When she was least suspecting it. She had said what she needed to say, so she shrugged. Her daddy should have the last word, she decided, as she walked down the front garden path and climbed up onto the brick wall. It was damp from the slight summer drizzle that had occurred during the argument previously. She cuddled her teddy into her lap and watched the few cars passing by on the damp road. She began to murmur, "rain, rain, go away, please help keep mummy at bay, I want daddy to stay, rain, rain go away"

Harry watched his daughter sit on the wall, swinging her legs from side-to-side. He felt his heart ache. It was now or never. He turned to face his wife. At this moment in time, he had no idea why he had fallen for her. Because you refused to go after the one you really wanted and now you are going to deal with these consequences. "It's over Ginny. It was over since Lily's third birthday. Don't try to find me, because you won't" and without another word, he turned, picked up his daughter's little red rucksack and made his way down the small gravel path. He stopped at the wall and helped Lily climb down. Ginny watched her husband open the door. Lily climbed into the passenger seat, her face turning slowly to stare out of the window at her mother. Harry walked around the front of the car, he opened the driver's door and glared at Ginny one last time before climbing inside. The engine soon roared into life and it wasn't long before Ginny was watching her husband and daughter drive away into the distance. She ground her teeth. She would find them one way or another.

FLASHBACK ...

"Come on, Lily, mummy is going to give you a bath"

Harry missed the look of fear pass over his daughters' face at the mention of her mother giving her a bath. She looked up her dad, her little pointed party hat clashing with her hair colour. "But daddy I want you to give me a bath"

Harry kissed her nose, "I have to clear up all this mess sweetie, so your mummy can give you a bath" Lily sighed and walked ahead of her mum up the stairs to the bathroom. About an hour later they had still not come down from upstairs. Harry had heard a lot of splashing about, and assumed Lily was having fun in the bath. He went upstairs to the bathroom to check on the pair, and was not prepared for what he saw. Lily was sprawled on the bathroom floor, clumsily wrapped in a towel with Albus and James. Harry looked frantic. "What happened?" he all but yelled as he crouched beside his daughter and cradled her as Albus continued rubbing her blue tinted limbs. James was busy running a Luke warm bath for his sister.

"Mum ran her a cold bath and held her under" Albus informed his father coldly. "I ran in and pulled mum away after casting 'silencio' on her. I've been rubbing Lily ever since and we were going to put her in a Luke warm bath to get her circulation up and running again"

Harry nodded. "Okay. Keep it up you two. I'm going to find your mother" He found her. On the phone to one of her lovers'. When she shut the phone off she turned to face him and froze.

"Harry how long have you been there?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, "long enough" he advanced into the room. She backed up against one of the walls. He grasped her throat and pinned her against the wall. She gasped and spluttered. He leant close to her ear. "If you ever attempt to kill my daughter again I will make you sorry you were ever born" and without another word he rushed back to take Lily to St. Mungo's.

END FLASHBACK.

Lily yawned as she cuddled her teddy bear in her lap. Her father was driving them through the darkening streets of London to Sirius Black's house. After the final battle he and Remus had decided to move to a regular-sized apartment on the edge of London, instead of residing in that dismal 'House of Black'. It was fairly large all things considered and they insisted that Harry was welcome any time. Along the way to her 'Uncles' house they drove passed Kings Cross Station. Lily was leaning with her forehead against the cool windowpane of the car door. She paid no attention to the tall, thin blonde man who was shaking as he thrashed within the grappling hands of the paramedics who were trying to help him into the ambulance, the siren blaring above the tranquil quiet of the London evening.

A/N: Well there is chapter three. I hope you like this chapter, and I hope it was dramatic enough for you ;) R&R!