Chapter 2: The Boy
Breathing heavily, Draco stumbled to his feet, catching himself on a nearby tree before falling. He took in his surroundings, trying to figure out where he was and, most of all… "What the sodding hell just happened!?"
The wind began to pick up, whistling aggressively, shaking the leaves of the trees and plants nearby.
Crushed in between his fingers, Draco forgot about the mysterious letter.
A portkey. He thought, examining the damage.
"What in the bloody world was wrong with this scar-headed Potter!" Malfoy snarled to himself, bringing the letter closer; he read it again…
Potter.
He was sick of hearing, reading, and even listening to his old classmate's name. It angered him.
"For god sake, POTTER!" Malfoy spat through gritted teeth, ripping the letter open…at last.
"How many bloody times do I have to tell you to bolt head. Leave. Me. Alone!" Gritting through the syllables, he began to read, temple fuming, hoping for an explanation for the prolonged owls and this now fateful kidnapping.
Dear Mr Draco Malfoy,
Whilst I understand that the last time we spoke was not on the best of terms, I hope to reunite again and look past our spiteful hate for each other. I come bearing news, like the first twenty-seven times I wrote to you. By the way, I hope my owls found you well. Now unless you changed your address, you must be burning these. So I will cut it short and save my ink. I would like you to meet me at my home in Godrics Hollow. The reason being is there is someone I want you to meet. No, Malfoy, it's not that therapist you always so profoundly needed. I will find you if you ever decide to show up.
From,
Harry James Potter
Malfoy groaned at Harry's lousy effort at putting humour into the letter. He cursed him under his breath as he stashed the letter into his coat pocket.
The man kicked at the rumble on the ground and gripped his head with frustration. His fury with Harry was always a never-ending promise he made to himself, being that they became a feud on their first day at Hogwarts. How were they going to put aside this dreadful spite?
They weren't. They possibly couldn't.
Looking around the village of what must be Godrics Hollow, Draco started to walk around, letting the beat of his cane hit the floor and echo throughout the town.
Windows were covered with thin curtains that let the warm light of candles and fireplaces peek out. Gardens were neatly attentive, and flowers of all muggle brands bloomed in bushes and planters. Laughter can be heard coming from diners and homes. Children skipped down the road and hurried to their parents as rain drizzles began to fall.
Malfoy grimaced at the sight of the cheerful little town. A place where murder and tragedy struck all those years ago is now a place of beauty and happiness. Malfoy didn't believe it.
He stomped along the town angrily, looking for his stupid kidnapper, Potter. A quick glance at his watch told him it was nearly three o'clock, and he was already late for several meetings.
Malfoy decided that he would send a heavy fist to the face of Potter when he found him.
Harry came home early. Ginny had manipulated him into spending the rest of the week with her.
"Harry," Ginny called faintly after her love.
"Yes, I am home early," Harry replied, hanging his coat and turning the corner into the kitchen.
"How are you?" He looked up to a grinning girlfriend. Way too happy for no apparent reason.
"What are you-"
"Just wait, Harry. I hope this doesn't upset you, but-" Ginny help a promising hand to cover Harry's mouth.
"What did you do?" Harry interrupted with an exhausted sigh.
"Just listen now, okay? I hated seeing you so frustrated with the whole Malfoy situation, so I took matters into my own hands." Ginny gave him a half-fake grin and showed him to the kitchen window that outlooked the street.
"Er…" A puzzled expression began on his face as he looked out the window.
The weather was beginning to brew. The wind whistled harshly, and the lightning cracked louder each time. Fat droplets of water hit the window, and the little town of Godrics Hollow's families hurried inside.
"What exactly am I looking at, Ginny." Harry stared blankly out the window, waiting for something to appear. He so longed for his bed and a lovely warm butter bear despite the day being so young. The young man had woken up to handle an emergency case for the Ministry at two am and has been working hard ever since.
Still looking out the window appeared a tall white figure dressed in black. He was cradling himself in the murky storm.
Allowing his head to wander around the village, desperately looking for something. As he marched nearer down the street, his features came into similarity.
Malfoy.
Harry recognised the man while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He turned and ran out of the kitchen and back out the front door.
"Oi!" Harry hollered as his shoes met the wet pavement. He ran into the street and towards Malfoy, more delighted to see him than he should have been.
BAM!
Malfoys fist met Harry's face faster than he could say, "Bloody hell".
Harry stumbled backwards to the ground clutching his nose as shards of his broken glasses fell onto the floor.
"What the sodding hell is wrong with you, Malfoy!" Harry managed as blood ran from his broken nose. This wouldn't exactly be the first time Harry would have had his nose broken by the same twisted man.
"That's what you get for bloody kidnapping me, you filthy Potter!" Draco yelled as he propped his hands on his knees and looked down at the squirming Harry rolling on the floor.
Harry managed to haul himself up and whipped out his wand.
Ready to duel with the deranged prat again.
Draco did the same.
"Flipendo!" The broken-nosed man shouted.
Draco flipped back about twenty feet and landed face-down on the pavement.
He picked himself up and blundered the spell, "Stupefy", desperately pointing his wand at his opponent.
"Protego," Harry countered, throwing off his now useless glasses. "What are we students again, Malfoy!? Come on! We are grown men. Enough with the amateur charms."
"Amateur charms!? Like you could manage anything usefully powerful during school, you dim-witted Potter."
Wands were drawn and pointed. Ready for the sparkle of magic to trickle out of the wands and attack.
Ginny ran in between them with her own wand at the ready.
"Knock it off, you two! Malfoy, I am the one who put the portkey charm on the letter." She pushed away at Malfoy as she began repairing Harry's broken face.
"Stupid sodding Weasleys, I hear." Draco hissed under his breath. "If you dare ever touch me and your annoying red-headed face again-"
"Enough!" Ginny barked as she whipped around to confront Malfoy.
Malfoy sneered, spacing himself from the pair as he cursed them again under his breath.
After repairing Harry's glasses and nose, she took him by the arm and started to walk to the house. "Now come on inside and let us explain; then, we will finally show you what we have wanted to show you for a while now."
"Remind me again why this was a good idea" Harry eyed Ginny while massaging his face.
An hour passed, and shouting erupted on the other side of the tall wooden door of the house. The shadows of aggressive wand threats and pacing shone through the white pane glass on either side of the door.
"You know, after all this time, I would have thought that you would have finally come to your bloody senses and have a change of heart!" Voiciferated Harry.
"Oh yeah, well, I would have thought that maybe you had an absolute sense of mind, Potter. But yet again, you and your freak show of friends had to have the audacity to waste my time and drag me out to your run-down piece of junk." Spat an irritated Draco Malfoy.
Harry buried his face with his palms and let out a long sigh.
Dried blood could still be seen on his grey shirt.
"What, Potter? Am I exhausting you? Or are you just admitting defeat?" Sneered Draco as he leaned on his cane.
"Enough, Malfoy. I had it with you. All I ask is that you meet the bo-"
"Meet the boy!? Blimey, he is not even my kid, to begin with!" Draco leaned towards Harry with a low voice- "And might I remind you, Potter, I practically sided with his parents' killer."
"Then you have all the reason to do him the honour and meet him. You know you're such a foul git!" The very annoyed Harry said through gritted teeth.
"Right, listen here, Potter-" Draco started but got cut off by the opening of the tall brown door.
"Alright! That's just enough, you two! You are both grown men! Now act like it!" Ginny, Harry's beautiful girlfriend, roared with a red face eyeing both boys. The wind fiddled with her red hair as rain poured over the village.
As much as Draco wanted to start another useless brawl with Ginny, he wanted this meeting to be over.
He rolled his eyes and pushed past Ginny through the house. Harry, who had already given up on the pointless gamble with his old schoolmate, reluctantly followed, allowing Ginny in first.
The house chimed with self-washing dishes, obviously done by magic and the sound of fire crackling on the brick fireplace. The house had reminded Harry and Ginny of the Weasleys Burrow, and they both cherished how alive it always felt. The aroma of vegetable stew and pot roast filled the air and eventually reached the noses of the guests.
Harry watched as Draco helped himself to look around the sitting room. Ginny hurried off upstairs, and yet again, Harry was left alone with his old enemy, Malfoy.
"Okay, listen here, Malfoy." Harry began trying to devise a way to reason with the man. "While I understand that you don't fancy half-bloods-"
"You blasted right I don't, Potter. I consider yourself a piece of filth as well." Interrupted an agitated Malfoy, both boys minding their volume from Ginny.
"-so I understand why you and your family want to avoid him." Harry continued ignoring Draco's rude outbreak. "But…you need not know he would not be in your care. His grandmother is raising him, and I look after him when needed as his rightful godfather. Okay?"
"Whatever, Potter. I still don't understand why you and your bloody girlfriend are making me do this. I am his cousin... 'once removed'." In all honesty, Draco was quite shocked to have received Harry's letter(s) and was interested in knowing what he had to say. He hadn't talked to him since the battle of Hogwarts. Quite comforting to see an old face again, even if it was the nastiest face of the Potter.
But, of course, he would never admit to that.
"Don't worry; it's just Ginny. I would never agree to this. I wouldn't have listened if it wasn't because I loved her so much. I would never consider bringing a filth like you anywhere near the boy." Harry glared at Draco as they both leaned against the wall.
Draco studied Harry's features noting that nothing had changed at all. Staring at him in his red and blue plaid, he still represented bits of his Gryffindor pride.
Footsteps echoed down from the stairwell.
Draco glared devilishly towards Ginny, curious about what they were both waiting for. He jumped up from the wall, perhaps too quickly and turned to face Ginny. In her arms sat a boy from what looked to be the age of three. He had black hair and light green eyes and wore a blue coloured shirt with navy blue shorts.
Striking how noticeably similar the boy resembled Harry.
Ginny stroked his soft white skin and walked towards Malfoy gently.
Harry swept the boy out of his girlfriend's arms and into his own. "Malfoy, meet Teddy. Edward Remus 'Teddy' Lupin. Your cousin… 'once removed'." Smiled Harry as he held Teddy back to Ginny.
As much as Harry despised the man, he wanted to know Malfoy's reaction. When Harry first met Teddy, he became eccentric, as if all his dignity and manhood left his body.
Ginny stretched the boy towards Malfoy, signalling for him to take him.
"What? You only asked if I meet the boy you gid wits. Not t-touch him!" Draco argued with a sneering look, stepping back from the extended baby.
Ginny gave Malfoy one loathsome look. The urge to start another miniature war in the sitting room tempted him but only prevented his anger from bargaining because of the baby. It only took him a few seconds to finally comply.
The look Hermione gave Draco before she punched him or embezzled him with some off-the-book spell looked exactly like Ginny's, too much like Ginny's.
He propped his cane and coat on the sofa and slowly reached for the boy. Draco hesitated for a moment. He glanced at Harry, who was protectively observing the handoff with grimaced eyes.
"I can't believe you filthy fools are making me do this." He muttered as he slowly reached for the young toddler.
Draco hesitated momentarily- then Teddy was safely in Draco's hands.
The boy's hair changed colour from what used to be black to now a bright blond. Draco stared widely into the boy's eyes. Looking closely now, he realised that Teddy had one left blue eye and one left green eye. Inheritening each from his late Parents.
He restrained himself from showing even the slightest bit of excitement. He wouldn't give in to any of the games Potter and his little girlfriend was playing.
Pressure began to alleviate behind his eyes as memories of that night flickered through his head.
The battle of Hogwarts.
The reason why Teddy doesn't have any parents. The reason why many parents were left childless. Draco couldn't help but feel complete remorse and guilt for what happened. After all, Hogwarts was attacked in the first place because he allowed his father's fellow death eaters in. Sincere regret from that night wavered over him. He stood for a long moment with stern eyes at the boy, trying to keep it all in. Teddy squirmed in Draco's grip, still with extended arms and placed a small hand on his arm. The boy's eyes quickly changed colour to a smokey grey.
Now completely matching Draco. Hair and eyes.
Precious.
Draco remembers seeing the dead's bodies scattered across the great hall that night. The stillness of one of his fellow Slytherins, the blood-drained bodies of those killed by Fenir Greyback. And what used to not mean anything to him…the bodies of Professor Remus Lupin and Tonks. The fallen parents of the boy he was holding.
Dead. Because of him. Gone. Because of him.
"Adorable, isn't he?" Ginny chuckled as she went into Harry's arms.
"He is a Metamorphmagus, like his mother. No signs of a werewolf in him yet. I reckon we give him one more year." Harry said as he rubbed the shoulders of his girlfriend tentatively.
Tensity still trickled in Harry. He was quite uneasy with the entire situation of Malfoy being anywhere near Teddy.
"Very lovely." Malfoy snorted sarcastically. "Why can't he talk?" He demanded, looking disgustedly back at Teddy.
"We don't know. However, we were told his father was the same way as a child. Oh, he looks so much like him too." Ginny said sadly, putting her head on her lover's shoulder.
Malfoy sat the baby quickly but safely on the sofa, gathered his things, and ran out of the house. He busted the door open and strode out into the street.
Ginny was startled and ran over to retrieve Teddy.
"Malfoy-"
"Malfoy!" Harry called after him.
But he was gone with quick use of his apparition skills.
Thunder ripped through the sky with a loud bang, and the world went cold again.
"Ma-foo", squealed the young child, accompanied by a laugh.
"Ma-foo".
Author's Notes: If there are big spaces in between paragraphs...I don't know why. Still new to this.
Hello! I am quite new to this whole Fan Fiction universe and website, so bear with me, please, as I learn and add stuff to my stuff. About the story, my favourite character in the Harry Potter franchise has to be Remus Lupin for various different reasons. The first time I cried while reading the Harry Potter books was when I read the line that described the death of Remus and Tonks. I hope you like the story and do give any suggestions on what I might add. Writing is new to my young mind and I look forward to doing it.