Chapter 3: Hungover
That was difficult.
Difficult for Teddy, Harry, and overall…Malfoy.
He didn't bloody understand why stupid Potter brought him to see the sodding child in the first place. What was he trying to get out of bringing him there? To what— make him feel solemn remorse or guilt.
Or perhaps Potter was trying to cover his own indiscretion after what happened to the boy's parents. It was all a circle of different people pointing fingers at what had happened in the past.
Why should he even care? He didn't have rights to the sodding boy, did he? He wasn't directly responsible for the death, only a contributing factor but nothing like that.
Coming back to the now—Malfoy had apparated without thinking. At the moment, he didn't entirely care where he transported as long as it was far away from Potter and his stupid scarred face.
Gasping for breath, Malfoy fumbled in a dark street. A searing pain in his lungs tightened, taking his breath away. The area's location could not have been more apparent once again. Faltering to unknown mysterious places is the trend for Draco these days.
Before investigating his whereabouts, he propped himself up against a brick wall in a side alley. His heart rate felt like it was going at the speed of a Firebolt broomstick, and his lack of breath began to make him feel light-headed.
A deep pit in his stomach eventuated. Grasping his stomach, Malfoy stumbled over to a rubbish bin and retched.
After a quick minute of vomiting his breakfast, his Slytherin house colours flushed his face.
"For god sake," spat Draco, hurrying out of the alleyway and into the street. "Where the sodding hell am I now! That blasted Potter!"
Gazing around the new unknown location, Draco spotted three black hooded dressed figures walking his way. They began laughing while pushing each other into rubbish bins or closed buildings.
Drunk.
Malfoy's wizarding instinct caused his hand to reach for his wand. Halfway pulling it out of his trouser pocket, he stopped. The ill-felt man wasn't sure where he was, and it occurred to him that the location could be in the muggle world. He stashed his wand back in his pocket, leaving a firm grip on his wand.
Stupid Muggles. Stupid Mudbloods.
Walking down the street dazedly, Draco tried to remember where he thought of when he apparated.
He could not remember.
What happened with Teddy and Potter made him blind with rage. Yet again, he wanted to kill Potter and make him pay for being such an utterly imbecilic snog face. Perhaps his un-friendly fist will meet Harry's inviting face once again.
Malfoy felt the stomach of his body grumble, begging for food. Draco realised he hadn't eaten since eight o'clock and had missed supper.
The street began to narrow as he came upon a corner store painted in black. Malfoy gazed at the sign to the store as his temple throbbed with a lack of nutrients. Ambling around the black hanging sign, the golden-coloured words "The Leaky Cauldron" appeared with a black cauldron on it as well.
Draco felt a pressure of relief in his chest as he marched towards the entrance. He was flinging the door open when laughter, converse and music filled his ears.
Malfoy never hung around the Leaky Cauldron for various amount of reasons. His father would refrain from him being around muggles and mudbloods, and this pub was full of them. Before Voldemort died the first time, segregated pubs and inns had been created for pure-blood families of witches and wizards like Draco himself. His father cared for class, and the place he was in gave run-down shack vibes.
Draco proceeded deeper into the building, taking in its rough, run-down features. The walls had slanted pictures placed on the wall with wooden pillars that were out of place. Hooded witches and wizards in various colours cornered the back of the pub, keeping to themselves. Passed-out parties of people lay along the floors and tables with a half-drunken beer in their tankards.
Malfoy was disgusted with the lack of organisation, but after everything that just happened, Malfoy desperately needed a drink.
He shuffled over to the pub counter, almost tripping over gorged bodies. He didn't care that he wasn't allowed to drink or even be here in the Leaky Cauldron on the orders of his bloody father.
"Ello, sir! What can I do fer yah." The bartender spoke as he dried down a wet tankard.
Malfoy didn't respond; he still felt like crap and needed a minute to get his head straight. Seeing Teddy might just have been too much for him. He was frustrated for not understanding what was wrong with him and what exactly the child had triggered that made him like this. Malfoy buried his face in his hands along the pub counter, trying to recollect his thoughts.
"You look like yous need a drink, eh?" Repeated the bartender.
Malfoy still didn't respond.
Pouring and whirling could be heard behind the bar, and a bang on the counter let Draco know that the bartender just served him with, hopefully, some sort of strong alcohol.
Not that butterbeer rubbish.
He looked up from his hands and quickly grasped the tankard, gulping it down in seconds. The liquid burned like lava as it crawled down his throat, reaching his stomach. Draco found the taste smashing as he gripped his throat, coughing, trying to catch his breath again. Small bits of sparks flew out of his throat as he coughed.
"What the bloody he-" he attempted raising a shaky finger at the Irish man.
"Fire whiskey, eh? Yous a fan, mate?" The Irish bartender asked, leaning against the bar with a raised eyebrow. "You must of had a barmy day, eh?"
"Wha-" Draco grimaced as he tried to understand.
"Yous will be staying ere all night, I can see. I'll be getting you another round." The bartender spoke again before turning around to serve up another shot of fire whiskey for the deranged Malfoy.
The fire whiskey had officially made its way into his system, and he felt awake.
"Bloody hell, man." Draco managed, still feeling the fire of the whiskey in his mouth. "Your right, mate. I will be here all night!" An already wonky, ill-felt Draco sneered.
"What is his sodding problem? Such an arse he is." Harry exclaimed.
Ginny and Harry were packing away the leftover nosh they prepared for Malfoy.
"Shame that nutty bloke couldn't stay for dinner. He must have been wandering around Godrics Hollow for a good bit without any supper." Ginny said kindly, ignoring Harry's lousy tongue.
"I knew he wouldn't stay long. To be blunt, I didn't even know that he would come. We shouldn't have gone out of our way to prepare a meal for that bloody fool. I mean, look at the waste." The knackered Harry Potter bickered, slamming the tupperware into the fridge.
Ginny turned around. "Calm down now, Harry; you'll wake-"
A wail rang from upstairs, and the exhausted couple sighed.
"Teddy." They both said together.
"Don't worry now. I will get him. I woke him, didn't I?" Harry said, comforting Ginny, who gave him a graceful peck on the cheek.
Harry trudged upstairs and hurried into the wailing toddler's room.
"There there now, Teddy." Harry hushed while picking up the toddler. His hair was still bright blond, and his eyes were still a smoky grey. Harry was disappointed in his godson's form of chosen appearance.
He brought Teddy down to the kitchen to meet Ginny, hoping for the endless crying.
"Oh Teddy, don't cry now-" Harry began again, brushing his messy hair from his eyes.
"He's two, Harry. Give the boy a break." Ginny frowned, stealing the boy from his arms.
"Almost three, but whatever," Harry argued, watching his girlfriend dance the boy to the sitting room.
He still didn't approve of the Malfoy form Teddy had taken.
Sitting alone in the dining room, he was left with his thoughts.
Why was Malfoy more of a condescending dodgy jerk than usual?
What was he thinking?
Did he like Teddy, or was he just disgusted?
Harry could have sworn he had seen a pair of glassy eyes form from the deranged Malfoy.
Perhaps Malfoy was emotional? Or maybe that was the rage.
The questions burned through Harry's head, but why should he care? He never wanted Malfoy to meet his precious godson in the first place.
He finally came to the absolute conclusion that Draco Malfoy would never have a heart and perhaps was never capable of loving.
And he felt sorry for him.
The next morning sun rose and peered through tall windows.
Draco lay asleep on one of the dining tables in front of the bar.
Clearly hungover.
A shiver of cold sweat surfaced on his skin. Malfoy was panting, heart thumping faster than a pixie. He was flinching in his sleep, muttering sorely under his breath.
Suddenly he blinked awake as the sun shone on his face. He sprung up, wandering his gaze around as to where he was.
The disorientation was beginning to agitate him.
He grimaced at the smell of butterbeer, gin, and all sorts of smells that reeked through his nose. Several passed-out personnel lay everywhere around the place, as were Draco.
He groaned, realising he had fallen asleep at the Leaky Cauldron. However, the exhaustion weighed down on his light eyelids. Since his last two years at Hogwarts, Draco was incapable of having a decent night's sleep. After a while of putting up with the two to three hours of rest, he began to take sleeping draught. Unfortunately, the nightmares would just worsen over time, and Malfoy finally accepted that this was his fate.
This was always his fate; the mark on his arm would always be a reminder of that.
He was hungover with the taste of fire whiskey on his lips and pumpkin pasties in his teeth.
"That's just great!" He muttered, flipping his hair over his head and wiping the sweat away. He stood up, checking his watch eagerly to see the time.
(7:28)
"Sodding-"
THUD!
Malfoy stumbled over the bench connected to the dining table at the Leaky Cauldron. A sharp pain seared all over his side, causing his head to throb again.
How pathetic do I look now? A pure-blooded auror passed out in a pub. He thought, pulling himself up with the bench that caused his fall.
The Leaky Cauldron was surprisingly quieter in the morning, considering it was Saturday. Looking around at the stillness, Draco couldn't tell if they were dead.
He made his way to the door without managing to stumble again in his hungover mood and left the building.
"Elf….ELF!" An upset voice bellowed throughout the walls of the house.
"Yes, madam?" An older elf said calmly, walking through the sitting room door.
"My husband!? Did he come in last night?" Astoria Malfoy (formerly Greengrass) asked, wrapping her grey bathrobe around her irritably. "I didn't hear him, yet he said he was coming in late."
"He didn't, madam. None of the other house-elves seen him, madam." The old elf answered, rubbing his saggy skin hands along his pillowcase uniform.
"Right then. Fetch and owl! I need to write to him immediately." Astoria demanded. She padded away down the hall to her room, longing for her husband.
Malfoy apparated with a clearer mind this time. He returned to his manor limping from the pain that throbbed at his side.
How come everything hellish involves Potter?
As he arrived home, Astoria was waiting with that unpleasant look he gets when he comes late. In this case over twenty-four hours late.
They argued for over two hours before his wife finally gave up and went to bed. After Malfoy cleaned himself up and chugged down a warm meal made by his elves, he followed to bed in hopes he could sleep better, considering it wasn't in a pub long way from home.
Time passed, but the guilt left in Mafloy's stomach didn't. He couldn't help but loathe everything in existence at the reason for the unexplained feelings that occurred in himself. He kept thinking about Teddy and longed for another drink of fire whiskey to keep it down.
The sound of the blackbirds sang; the sun shyly began to peak itself above the meadow, and Draco still didn't get a blink of sleep.
The pitiful feeling in his organs and his hopes of it leaving remained. Something in him longed for something, but he didn't know what it was. It had become this burning sensation. Whatever it may be, though, Draco felt it was unfinished, and the desire need to finish it became a priority.
Author's Notes: I hope you guys are enjoying my story. I really am liking this website, and if you guys have any suggestions for what to add in the story/change/fix/or remove, I would love to hear it.