Rita Skeeter here, with the latest exclusive from the lives of the biggest families in our world. Once more we are talking about Draco Malfoy with all the spicy details of his relationship with Alfred Davis, the handsome fourth born of the Davis family, from all the way in America. As some of you readers will know, the Davis family is one of the richest and most powerful families in America, making their wealth from harvesting cotton nymphs for the famous magical 'Davy' fabrics we all know and love. Warm in the winter and cool in the summers without the need for extra charms that can damage your beloved fabrics in the long run.

I met young Draco Malfoy during my coverage of the Triwizard Tournament that the hero of the wizarding world, Harry Potter participated in.

Harry rolled his eyes. Why did he even have to be mentioned?

He took a sip of his morning tea and kept reading. Malfoy was still asleep upstairs and he was back to reading where he left off last night, having found it too much to read in one sitting. And not because of the length of the articles. This was now the sixth paper he read and after what he'd read so far, he didn't want his name anywhere near this mess.

Never would I have imagined he would grow up to be such a scandalous young man! Keep this story away from prying young eyes dear readers, even the censorship spells may prove too weak for the amount of scandal about to come!

Harry scoffed in disgust. The articles written about him used to be bad, but they never were this… disgustingly invasive and disrespectful. He didn't think Rita was capable of coming up with what she wrote. Even she wouldn't have gone this far to make something up. This Davis guy was taking the limelight and milking it for everything he could.

In the court of public opinion, Draco Malfoy was a nymphomaniac that had cheated on this guy several times until his poor, tragic heart could take it no more and had a momentary fling with the person he was caught with.

Harry could instantly tell who was lying without even having to meet this guy. He'd spent six solid years hypervigilant around Draco Malfoy and this description of him in the papers had nothing to do with the brat he'd known. Or even the teen that had lied to Bellatrix when the trio had been captured. Or the man that threw the Elder wand at him in the face of all danger.

Davis made Malfoy out to be some perverted guy with twisted rituals whenever they were intimate. 'Intimate' was a soft word used by Harry because this guy went into sordid detail that had no place in the Daily Prophet. What the hell was the editor-in-chief thinking? This was the same newspaper that got sent to eleven-year-olds at Hogwarts for Merlin's sake!

"All caught up are you?" Malfoy asked and Harry looked to see him looking very serene, in a scary kind of way. Harry threw the newspaper on the table.

"I don't need to read any more of this rubbish. Believe me."

"Good. Excuse me." Malfoy came round and with a flick of his wand threw the newspapers straight into the aga's burning vent.

Harry let him do so without complaint. He watched him breathe deeply and sit himself down, eyes glassy with unformed tears. Harry stood and started making him a cup of tea, just like he did yesterday, pretending he didn't hear the muffled sobs behind him.

"In the end, it's all my fault." He said after some minutes of silence. Harry turned to see him somewhat composed but with eyes red.

"Whatever the full truth is, I highly doubt any of the Daily Prophet's rubbish is your fault."

Malfoy drank the tea and shook his head. "I should have just married a witch. Done what my father said. Instead, I was… stupid enough to think…" Malfoy took a deep breath and looked away. "Look at me… this is how much I've fallen. Venting out my grief and frustration on Potter of all people."

"It could be worse." Harry said. Malfoy scoffed and let out a dry laugh.

"How could this possibly be worse?"

"You could have married that man. How would he have treated you if you had married him? He seems disgusting. Looks like you dodged something big there." He said.

"That's true… instead I've lost my family, my friends, any chance of a respectable wizarding job… I know I'm woefully unprepared for a muggle life but… I suppose I'll have to figure something out." Malfoy said and that was the part that confused Harry.

"Why are you running away? Surely your mother didn't blame you for this, Pansy too, aren't you still friends with her? Didn't she once shave a girl's head right in front of the Slytherin prefects just because she'd tried to insult you or something?"

"How did you even know that?" Malfoy asked.

Harry shrugged. "Just heard about it in passing. My point is, are you actually trying to cut yourself off from the wizarding world? I thought you were planning to just… live there, not work there. You literally have no skills that could get you a decent-paying job over there." Harry said.

"I guess I'll have to learn a trade." Malfoy said simply. "I have no choice in the matter and frankly it's none of your business what I do."

The blonde was right. It was none of his business. Why was he even prying? Still, just going along with Malfoy's plan just felt like letting a small angry chihuahua out in a field infested with vultures.

"Let's go out for breakfast. This time you take the lead. You order, you pay the bill, you try out a simple muggle event and see how it goes?" At the very least, Harry would get an entertaining display. Best case scenario, Malfoy realizes he's in way over his head and decides to go home, because as humiliating and destructive as those articles are, Harry very much doubted it was reason enough for Malfoy of all people to leave the comfort of everything he knows, everything he worked hard on, to fall into a muggle life with no educational background to support him and minimal savings to depend on.

"Do I seem so incapable that I wouldn't even be able to purchase food from a muggle place?"

"Need I remind you that I saved you from getting arrested yesterday evening over a measly cup of juice?"

Malfoy opened his mouth to argue but decided against it, finishing his cup of tea instead. "Are we going or not?" He said, standing to leave.

"Fine, we can go." Harry said.

oOoOoOo

Draco stared at the window with multiple advertisements for apartments showing. In his hand, a paper bag holding a sausage roll that he was eating slowly. If his mother could see him now, eating with his hands on the street. It went against every fiber of his etiquette training and yet here he was, feeling somewhat victorious since he managed to get through the interaction without much issue.

Potter stood beside him, looking at apartments also, while still looking concerned. Draco too was sharing the sentiment, though probably for another reason entirely. These places were tiny. Most of these places were about the same size as his room, and although the Slytherin common room wasn't necessarily a manor of its own, he had the rest of the castle to roam if he wanted to. How was he supposed to fit a child on top of everything?

A child… how does one take care of a child? No, pull yourself together Draco Malfoy, you can't lose it right now.

"I'll choose this one. Let's go in." Draco said.

"Wait, Malfoy… there is one thing first." Draco rubbed his temples, a headache coming. It wasn't really Potter's fault, he'd just been getting headaches ever since… he started getting symptoms.

"What is it now, Potter?" He said.

"If you do find a place you want, and you want to go ahead, you're going to need muggle identification, and a bank account, and then you need the bank account first, which you need two forms of ID to open, but then you don't have a drivers license or any other forms of ID. We could get some from the ministry but it would take time."

Draco listened to his rambling and figured that his increasing headache was perhaps partly to do with Potter's words.

"So how can I procure a residence." Draco asked.

"Well… You have to try and get all those documents, which could take several months, before you can get a residence."

"I can't go back, Potter! So, figure something out!" He turned and stormed off, making his way back to where they came. Having seen a park on their way here, he made his way there desperately looking for somewhere to sit before his nerves gave out.

oOoOoOo

Harry watched him go and sighed. What was Malfoy's problem?

"Deep breaths, Harry. You're doing it to protect muggles from his erratic behaviour." He told himself. Malfoy did almost attack that muggle when he first came across him. "Why me?" He mumbled, walking after the blonde before he could get too far away and he lost him.

Why did he have to put up with Draco Malfoy's nervous breakdown?

Hermione's nagging voice came into his mind but he ignored it and hurried to catch up with the blonde before he got himself run over.

He finally managed to catch up with Malfoy at the park. He sat on a bench, eyes closed and eating the sausage roll he'd purchased earlier. He sat down beside him, saying nothing at first, just trying to catch his breath.

"Look, as much as we used to despise each other..."

"I still despise you very much." Malfoy cut in but Harry chose to ignore him.

"I understand what it's like to want to hide under a rock after a big-fat-lie of an article is published about me." Malfoy was about to argue and he cut in. "I know that nothing that's come out so far about me compares even close to the garbage I read this morning, but I understand wanting to disappear. However, I don't want it on my conscience that I sent you off into the muggle world unprepared. Every single pureblood I know of, that ran off into the muggle world unprepared ended up miserable in life with a miserable death."

"Then what will you have me do?" Malfoy asked, rubbing his temples with his sausage-roll-free hand.

"How about you stay with a wizard, until you get your paperwork sorted to move into the muggle world. Maybe in that time, things will cool down and you'll change your mind. Or you'll be more prepared to join the muggle world." Harry said.

"There isn't anyone I can stay with! Are you missing the point entirely? I refuse to go back to anyone I know to see them mock me, or tell me 'I told you this would happen', or even tell me to never come back." Malfoy insisted.

"You could stay with me." Harry suggested against his better judgment. Malfoy looked at him in the same disgusted face he imagined Ron would have made had he been present.

"I know you require glasses, Potter, but you should get them adjusted because your place is a ruin."

"Fine, that's it. I gave you an option that would keep you away from the public eye and you don't want it, so have it your way. Go, join the muggle world."

"I will. Someone in this blasted world must be willing to take cold hard cash in exchange for a place to stay." Malfoy said, getting to his feet and throwing the wrapper to the bin next to Harry. "Thanks for the help, Potter. I will demand the bill for your help so far in due course."

Harry watched him storm off and tried to ignore the nagging feeling to follow him. Malfoy will figure out he's in way over his head, give up and go back home. It was who he was. Malfoy wasn't someone impulsive. He was calculating. As all Slytherins were. So why was he so against the obvious solution to his predicament?

Malfoy by now was out of his sight and no longer his problem so Harry just took in the songbirds chirping around Hyde Park, watching children walk by with their parents, some people cutting through the park to get someplace else.

Harry wondered what he could do today. He could visit Ron and Hermione, but he'd have to call them up and make sure they're in in the first place. Ron was working on his Auror training and Hermione was working on a huge report due for her apprenticeship in the Ministry of Magic.

A cold drop fell on his hand and looking ahead he noticed the dark spots left by the rain starting to fall from the skies. Harry felt his stomach twisting uncomfortably and groaned. He got to his feet and hurried towards the last place he saw Malfoy. "Stupid... prat." He grumbled to himself.

But once he reached the corner, he couldn't see Malfoy anywhere, and the rain began to pour.