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.
Reviews: Okay I am not getting e-mail alerts for any of the reviews, faves and adds of my stories (I know that sounds extremely big-headed) and so any reply's may be severly delayed.
Thank you for all your kind cliff-hanger related reviews in the last chapter, along with the much-appreciated 'Ginny-must-die' Reviews. They just make my day!
~000~
Chapter Eighteen: Growing up and being free
Scorpius had spent one night in that huge dreary place and it had been the worst night of his life. He had been in his room after he had ran away from the house elves and that horrid blonde woman. He glanced around the dark space as the rain hammered down against the window pane. He could only assume it was his room, it was filled with children's things; Quidditch posters, a toy racing broom, and a small wizard chess set. He had hidden beneath the large four poster bed when he had heard a voice screaming his name and heels clicking along the hard, polished floors outside the bedroom door. Under the bed he had found a loose floorboard. Under this floorboard he had managed to find a worn out little book with fairly neat handwriting. The pages were thick with newspaper clippings and copies of photographs. He studied them each carefully. Most of them were about this so-called "boy-who-lived" known also as Harry Potter. He frowned. Did he know that name? There was also a photograph of a small blonde boy and a older blonder man, hugging and laughing on the green of a muggle park. On the back there was a note on the back saying; "Daddy Draco and Son Scorpius" Scorpius frowned. Was this man his dad? He liked the idea, better than that old man downstairs. He liked the idea of laughing and smiling and being cuddled by someone. He missed it, whatever it was.
He sighed and replaced the small mementos underneath the floorboards and crawled out from underneath the bed. He straightened up and brushed the dust off of his tailored little suit. He was due for brunch any minute now. He scowled. He wasn't hungry, and most certainly did not want to eat with those people downstairs. The woman was too shrill and the old man always had a weird look in his eyes when he looked down at him. It made Scorpius feel sick. He needed to get out.
He ventured leisurely into the bedroom and into the en suite bathroom. The light flipped on and the room was bathed in a sickly yellow light making the blue tiles glare. It made his eyes hurt terribly. His eyes were shadowed with dark rings and his bare feet were cold. His reflection was hostile to his own eyes. The cabinet above the sink held general things, like scissors, razors, plasters, after-shave, tablets and other things normally found in a bathroom. He breathed in and out in shaky breaths. He tiptoed up and pulled open the door of the cabinet. The scissors glinted from the second shelf. It was a little too high for him to reach. He had to step up onto his little step which he used to brush his teeth, and eased himself up onto his step and reached up and was just about able to grab the scissors from the shelf. Relaxing on his feet he face his mirror. His reflection. He ran his hand through his hair, memorizing each and every glossy strand. He viciously grabbed a chunk and slashed the scissors through it. He watched emotionally dead as the strands of gold fell down onto the tiled flooring. "No more Scorpius Malfoy" he sneered as he continued to rake the hair from his head. Gold threads drifted in spirals down to the floor. He was left with a skull cap of blonde fuzz save for the slightly lengthened fringe. A tear trickled down his cheek.
"SCORPIUS? COME DOWN FOR BRUNCH! NOW!"
Scorpius flinched, the scissors fell into the sink the a clattering sound. He winced, straining his ears for more yelling but none came. He clicked his tongue inside his mouth. He knew what he had to do. And his plan would commence that night.
~000~
Draco stirred in the knotted mass of sweet-smelling blankets and inhaled the scent deeply. He ran a hand through his disheveled hair and exhaled, a serene smile on his face. "Good morning" the sudden voice startled Draco, making him jerked into a sitting position in surprise. A barely dressed Harry chuckled from his spot on the wicker chair in the corner, a Luke warm cup of tea in his hands and a large shirt thrown over his torso. "You look so cute with your hair ruffled"
Draco scowled, falling back onto the pillows and flattening his hair with his palms. He opened his eyes to stare at the sun-bathed ceiling. He sighed sadly. "Harry?"
"Mmm?"
"What will happen if we cannot find my son?"
"We will" Harry insisted.
"What if we don't?" Draco snapped, tears pooling in his eyes.
Harry was not offended. He could understand that this was a hard time for Draco. He moved from the wicker chair and sat on the edge of the bed, beside the warmth of Draco's body. Instinctively Draco coiled into the warmth radiating from Harry's thighs. From this angle Harry saw the glinting tear tracks down the blonde's cheeks. He ran a hand down the smooth of the other mans cheek. "I'm here for you" he murmured.
Draco's silver irises flickered to Harry's face and then to the wall. His Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed thickly. "T-thank you" Harry smiled. He bent down and pressed a kiss to the blonde's forehead.
"Do you want breakfast?" he asked cautiously. Draco nodded feebly. "I'll go and make it, Hermione has taken the kids to the zoo and dragged Albus along with them. Ron's gone into the office, and everyone else has gone out. So it's just you and me"
As the bedroom door closed Draco frowned as he replayed Harry's last words in his head. What had he meant by that? Just the two of them? Alone? In someone else's house? His heart lurched in his chest. No! He couldn't think about those sorts of things! Not with his son missing! He stirred in the tangled sheets. A burning feeling was stirring in his boxers. He gasped and tried to will his semi to go limp. He rolled over and buried his face into one of the pillows. And gasped. The scent of the dark-haired man who had just left clung to the soothing fabric of the pillow. He inhaled longingly. "Such an exotic scent" he mused to himself.
He decided he might as well get out of bed, seeing as Harry was being so kind as too make him breakfast. He rolled into a sitting position and dragged himself out of bed. He stretched his aching muscles and went hunting around for something to cover his torso. There seemed to be a consistent heating charm within the house, making it so that Draco would be comfortable in his boxers and a T-Shirt. He found his lumberjack print over-shirt and threw it on. He yawned wildly and retraced his steps down to the kitchen. The smell of cooking bacon, toast and eggs made his stomach growl loudly. Harry turned and was surprised to see Draco standing awkwardly in the doorway. "I didn't hear you get up" he started softly.
Draco shrugged taking a few small steps into the kitchen, "why would you? You have the radio blaring" he stated pointing over to the radio beside the coffee-maker.
Harry chuckled, "well I have loads of things getting ready, what drink would you like?"
Draco rubbed his temples, "a coffee would be great right about now"
Harry smiled and as he passed the table and gave Draco's shoulder a squeeze. Draco startled slightly but couldn't help but smile up at Harry as the dark-haired man went over to the coffee-maker, turned the radio down, and returned to the table with a cup of dark coffee with a touch of milk and two sugars. Just the way Draco liked it. He cocked an eyebrow up at Harry. "So you know what I like to drink?"
Harry smiled over his shoulder from where he was cooking the bacon, "yeah -I watched you a lot in Hogwarts ... I learnt a few things"
Draco did his best not to choke on his coffee. He set the mug down and rose from his chair. He stepped up behind Harry at the cooker, looping his arms around his waist and burying his face in the crook of Harry's neck. He inhaled the scent, the same scent as the one on the pillow. Harry smiled to himself. He wrapped an arm over Draco's own and stroked his long, pale fingers. "I'm sorry Harry" the broken voice in Harry's ear made him stop and turn his head to see the mop of blonde hair.
"What for Draco?"
The blonde sniffled, "everything I did to you back then"
Harry turned in the blonde's arms and clutched him to his chest, his hand tangling in the fine blonde hair and pressed kisses onto the older mans forehead, cheeks, nose and neck. "All if forgiven, Draco, I promise you!"
Draco looked up at the dark-haired man. The Saviour of the Wizarding World, The-Boy-Who-Lived-Twice, the Golden Boy, the Hero. None of these names seemed fitting now. A ghost of a smile tickled his lips. This man, holding him in his arms, was none of those things. He wasn't a hero, or a celebrity, to him he was Harry. Just Harry. "MY Harry" Draco breathed, leaning up and pressing his lips against Harry's own. Harry was startled to say the least, but only tightened his grip on the blonde man, massaging their lips together, liquid pleasure boiling in his stomach.
Harry marveled at what Draco had said. It was a world of difference to how Ginny bragged about him. He was Harry. Just Harry. He licked at Draco's tender lips, reveling in the gasp of pleasure from the other man. He was Draco's Harry ...
"You're burning your bacon" Draco breathed around the heat of their kiss. Harry merely grinned and pressed Draco tighter against his body. Draco jerked his head to one side, "No seriously Harry, the bacon! It's burning!"
Harry reluctantly whirled around and in fact saw the crisp bacon seething in its oil. "Shit!" he exclaimed as he snapped the gas off and shoveled the bacon onto a plate. The toast popped from the toaster, and the sausages were dished up, all the while Draco chuckled to himself, a cute blush on his high cheekbones. "What are you so cheerful about?" Harry winked as he sat opposite him on the table.
Draco shook his head with a smile, fork stabbing into his bacon. "Nothing" Harry beamed as he watched Draco turn his face away and blush brighter as he began nibbling on his breakfast.
~000~
19:00pm.
Scorpius had managed to hide out in the house elves quarters. He had been informed earlier that one of the elderly elves was dying and he had ordered them to not tell the strange people upstairs. They had obeyed. Rather reluctantly. He glanced down at the small cauldron in the corner of the kitchen. It was almost ready. He gathered the bag of his hair that he had swept up off of the bathroom floor and added it into the cooling substance in his waiting goblet. "Here Linky, take this to Obbles. Make sure he drinks all of it. He gets to die in a comfortable bed. And once you're done bring me one of his own hair. Go! Quickly!"
Linky took the goblet and bowed before scurrying away into the long tunnels of the manor. Scorpius drew in deep calming breaths. He had to do this. There was no other way. It had to be done. His palms were sweating terribly. He sat on the little stool and waited as patiently as possible. A few minutes later the elf returned with another Scorpius in tow, dressed in a filthy pillowcase. "Quickly, lets change clothes"
Linky watched as the two young Master Malfoy's switched attire. The one now in the pillow-case added one of the elf hairs to a goblet of polyjuice potion and downed it one, hacking as he swallowed. The real Scorpius Malfoy transformed into a house elf. He beamed. He looked up at the elf-turned-Malfoy. "May you travel to the next world in peace"
His mirror-image smiled with watering eyes, "my deepest thanks and gratitude, Master Malfoy"
Scorpius watched as the elf-turned-human be escorted out of the elves quarters and to Scorpius' room. Scorpius looked down at his wrinkled brown hands and felt magic prickle in the elf fingers. This just might work. "Only one way to find out" he breathed. He closed his eyes, focused on where he wanted to go ... and clicked his fingers. With a tug on his navel, he was gone.
~000~
Narcissa was helping Hermione clean the kitchen. She was staying in Draco's apartment until her son returned to work the following week. Hermione had gone to the office for a little while to sort out some paperwork so Narcissa was left on her own.
POP!
She startled when she saw the elderly, ill elf from the manor collapse onto the cold tiled floor. "Oh my goodness Obbles, what on earth are you doing here?"
The elf looked up at her, "Nana Cissy? You're alive!" the elf latched itself onto her legs and she felt recognition spike her heart.
She looked down into the elf's eyes. "S-Scorpius? Is that you?" she looked down into the elf's shining eyes and collapsed to her nears, her throat thick with emotion. She threw her arms around the small elf and felt tears dribble down her cheeks. "Oh Scorpius thank goodness you're safe!"
A/N: I know it took a long while but I had to think of a way for him to escape ;)