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runaway dragon
Disclaimer 1: Draco, his parents and teachers all belong to JKR. (As if you
didn't all know that.)
Disclaimer 2: Severus Snape owning a raven belongs to J.L. Matthews. (Go
read her story everybody. It's great.) I found a new name for him this time
though.
Disclaimer 3: The gang name Sharks is borrowed from the musical West Side
Story of course. I don't remember where I found the name Rakers, but I know
I read it somewhere.
Disclaimer 4: The idea for Snape having a family comes from Al's fic Time
of Trial. (Thanks Al. I always seem to get the best ideas when reading your
fics.)
Disclaimer 5: The Glizzard family and Gringolf Glizzard belong to my friend
Pega Pony. Thanks for letting me borrow them!
A/N - I just managed to finish this one in time. Please understand if the
next chapter is a little late. I'll try to get it done within a week, but I
might not manage.
Chapter 14: A Trip to Wales
This time Jack did come to Draco's last Soccer game with the Rakers. Maybe
they were really starting to get along.
Sammie was in great form and actually scored a goal for his team. After the
game he was beaming with pride and didn't even mind that Cathy Cat had
scored twice. It was their clearest victory yet and Jack's team looked
almost depressed.
The sight of a group of Sharks carrying buckets of white paint cheered them
all up though.
"Hey, looks like the Fishies are gonna whitewash their aquarium!" Mary
cheered just loud enough for them to hear.
"Well, there's nothing healthier than honest work." confirmed Cathy. "And
then there's always the satisfaction of a job well done at the end of a day
of hard work."
The Sharks, Pretty Ricky, the two smallest boys and one of the girls Draco
hadn't noticed much before, glared at them, but continued on their way.
They were careful to stay off Raker territory which meant that they had to
make an odd detour from the Black Ring's side of the border path onto their
own grounds and then along the side of the house to the door all the time
under sharp observation.
"Maybe we ought to warn Angel Anna that there are fish swimming on her
turf." Jack suggested with an evil grin.
"Maybe we ought to help her, get rid of them since she isn't around." Larry
countered as always spoiling for a fight.
Pretty Ricky paled and fell back behind his companions.
"Hiding behind little children, Ricky, my friend?" Draco asked him sweetly.
"You still owe me a fight, you know. You were in such a hurry last time you
didn't even have time to tell me where you had to get to so urgently all of
a sudden. Maybe this is our chance to fight it out."
Ricky looked about ready to either drop his paint and bolt or faint on the
spot.
"Nah, not our ground." Jack finally relented. "We wouldn't want to cross
the Black Ring's border without asking. Such nice neighbours as Anna's gang
deserve a little consideration. We're not that impolite."
The hidden reference to the Sharks' manners was of course totally lost on
Ricky who breathed a sigh of relief and pulled out his mirror for a quick
meant to be hidden glance to check his hair. Mike rolled his eyes at that
behaviour.
"Well, I guess that was my last chance at a fight against the Sharks."
stated Draco more softly once the little group of paint carriers was safely
inside and out of sight.
"Maybe not." suggested Sammie. "Maybe that Cousin Jeremiah of yours doesn't
want you either and you get to stay with us for another week."
"Maybe." conceded Draco. "But it's not really likely and then there's still
Cousin Eugene on Diagon Alley."
"I still hope Jeremiah doesn't want you." Sammie insisted.
Despite his sadness at leaving the Rakers Draco had decided to spend his
last afternoon in West Hogsmeade with Billy. If Cousin Jeremiah let him go
back to Hogwarts, he'd get to see his friends on Hogsmeade weekends. Billy
he might never see again.
The Baby who had no idea that that was 'Dako's' way of saying goodbye to
him was delighted to have his attention and made him play with every last
squishy toy he owned, twirl him through the air and cuddle until he dropped
into bed totally exhausted.
That had the special advantage that this time Draco didn't wake up in the
middle of the night unable to get back to sleep.
It was Munin who woke him as usual in the morning and Draco once again
responded with an attempt at hugging the bird. As a creature of the open
sky Munin did not appreciate the gesture. He needed freedom to move his
wings to be comfortable. Any type of trying to flatten his wings against
his body constituted an attack.
With an alarmed "Caw!" the raven fled from the room to the safety of
Severus' shoulder where he remained until after breakfast.
Billy responded much better to Draco's hug goodbye and immediately cuddled
up against his chest in response. He spent breakfast in Draco's lap thereby
successfully stalling their departure since it turned out to be very
difficult to eat with one arm around a curious baby.
The cat graciously accepted a hug as well. Apparently he was in the mood to
bee cuddly.
Sarah hugged him on her own and righted his Rakers cap before they left.
They had to wear muggle clothes under their robes, because they'd have to
take a muggle train from London.
'That Dog' barked and jumped excitedly when he realised that he was going
out with his master and the boy again. Last time had been such an exciting
walk in the forest and then there had been that interesting smelling inn.
Only the odd place where the floor had moved and he'd fallen in his attempt
to greet that old witch had been scary. He hoped that this time they'd not
go there again.
'That Dog's' hopes were disappointed though. They went right to the train
station and boarded the southbound morning train.
They could have used the public floo station to floo to the Leaky Cauldron,
which would have gotten them to London much faster, but they'd have had to
walk through the busy morning traffic to get to Kings Cross Station from
where they'd take the muggle train since the station didn't have its own
floo connection and Severus who had totally forgotten that most muggles
didn't go to work on Sundays didn't want to brave the horrors of the London
rush hour.
Instead they took the magical express train which goes between Hogsmeade
and London twice a day, once there, once back and takes the same route as
the Howarts Express, but at more than twice the speed.
Draco watched the world streak past the window with the incredible speed of
the train for a while. That was one really fast train!
"How come it goes so much faster than the Hogwarts Express?" he finally
asked Severus.
"It has a special spell on it, that the Hogwarts Express doesn't."
"Well, why doesn't it?"
"Tradition, I guess and the fact that it's a very complicated spell. As far
as I know this is the only train in Britain that has it."
"But Dumbledore has to be able to do it. Why doesn't he?"
"As I said, because of tradition and because it would be a lot less fun if
the journey were so short."
Draco had to think about that. The headmaster's interest in his students
having fun was a new concept to him. Why would Dumbledore care? But it
seemed that he did. If even Snape actually considered it a good reason not
to enspell the train ...
The train despite being so special was almost empty and they had the
compartment to themselves for the whole trip. Munin remained cautious and
stayed out of Draco's reach most of the time. Draco had hugged him once. He
might do it again. Better stay safe and away.
'That Dog' had crawled under Severus' seat again as soon as the train had
begun to move and all Draco could see of him was one quivering ear peeking
out from behind Snape's shoe. Maybe they should have left the dog at home.
He did seem terribly afraid of trains.
Consequently he was ecstatic when they got off at Kings Cross, robes stored
away in their backpacks. Draco felt very adventurous going among muggles
dressed up like one of them for the first time. His father, or more often
one of the servants, had simply cast an illusion charm on them to make it
appear like they were wearing muggle clothes when they'd taken him to and
from the train.
Snape led him through the barrier and into a big hall filled with people
hastening in every direction. Draco felt slightly lost, but Snape just
grabbed a hold of his arm when he started drifting off and pulled him
through the masses of travellers to the big board that announced the
departure times of the trains.
Draco stared at the board in fascination as one train suddenly disappeared
from the top and all the others slid upwards to fill the gap. How? What?
But wasn't this supposed to be the muggle part of the station? Was that
...?
"Yes, it's electric." Snape confirmed with a slight smile.
"Electric? Can ...?"
"No, we don't have time for a closer look. We arrived just on time. Come
on, that's our train over there." and Snape steered him away from the
fascinating departure board again.
Draco followed him obediently, but with a slight sigh. He wondered if the
board was a bigger version of Sammie's gameboy. Or was that voice that
announced the arrivals and departures of the trains independent of the big
board?
"Can't we just wait and take the next train?" he asked as Snape dragged him
onto the platform. "I'm hungry."
"We'll eat on the train." Snape decided. "There isn't enough time to wait
for the next one."
"But don't we need muggle money for that?"
"What? Did you think I came unprepared?" Snape grinned back at him. "We
don't have much though, so we'll have to eat cheap."
The train restaurant turned out to be expensive though and they had to
settle for sandwiches. Draco pouted for a bit, but soon got distracted by
all the many muggles on the train. Some had little black boxes they talked
into during the whole trip and it appeared that the little boxes were
talking back. Draco longed to ask Professor Snape about the things, but
didn't dare, because the muggles didn't seem to wonder about them at all
and he feared to attract their attention. Would they be able to tell that
he was a wizard if they noticed he didn't know the little black boxes?
Halfway through the trip one girl's bag suddenly started emitting sounds
similar to Sammie's gameboy's and she opened it and produced just such a
little black box. That thing was making the sound!
The girl looked at it for a moment, then frowned, pushed a button on it's
front and then held it against her ear.
"Yes, Mum." she said to the little box.
Draco tried not to stare. (Luckily the muggles probably thought he just
found the girl attractive and not her cell phone.) How could that little
box be her Mum? For a moment he wondered if her mother was dead and her
ghost was in the little box, but that couldn't be it. No ghost he knew fit
into such a small object. Helplessly he turned to Snape a very pleading
look in his eyes.
"I'll explain later." he promised to Draco's relief. "Did you see all the
sheep outside?"
Draco shook his head. No he hadn't seen any sheep. He'd been too busy
watching muggles to notice. He turned his attention to the window. Looked
like they were indeed in Wales already. There were green pastures filled
with sheep everywhere.
"Lets play a game to pass the time." Severus suggested. "Whoever sees more
black sheep wins."
Okay, look for black sheep. Draco didn't even ask why Snape would suggest
such a ridiculous game. Anything to distract him from staring at that
muggle girl.
"Of, course I'm on the right train, Mum!" she was telling the little black
box. "I checked the departure board and I asked at the ticket stand. I'll
be home in half an hour." ... "No, I didn't get sunburn. I bought some
suntan lotion at the little shop next to our hotel. They have it all over
the world, Mum. It's not a catastrophe to forget it." ... "Of course not!
What do you take my friends for! He wouldn't dream of molesting me! Honest,
Mum! You have such a dirty mind!" ... "No we didn't." ... "I'm telling you
we didn't!" ... "I'm sixteen, Mum! I don't need a babysitter." ... "Look,
I'll be there in half an hour! We can talk then." ... "Will you just leave
me alone for a bit!"
She pushed another button, sighed loudly and threw the little black box
back into her bag with force.
Draco turned his attention back to the window to look for black sheep
again.
He could still see her reflection in the glass though. She looked
exasperated for a bit, then turned to her bag once again, dug the black box
back out again and started pushing a whole series of buttons then held it
to her ear again. She waited for a bit and then:
"Patty!" she squealed at the top of her lungs. "I'm baaaack!"
Draco considered covering his ears against the sound, but it was probably
impolite to do so. He decided to suffer through it. She'd get too hoarse to
scream on soon enough.
"OOOOHHH! Isn't that exciting!" the girle squealed on. "Did he ask you
out!" ... "Really? Oh, I just can' believe it! I'm gone for only three
weeks and ... wow!" ... "OOOOHHH! He did? He really did?" ... "Frank and I
had so much fun in Malta." ... "Yes, it was great." ... "Of course we did!"
... "Yes, yes, but listen! You mustn't tell my Mum, okay. She thinks I'm
still a little girl." ... "Yes, she's impossible!" ... "Sorry Patty, but I
have to hang up now. I've got to get off the train and Mum will be waiting
at the station. I don't want her to overhear. I'll call you back once it's
safe." Still talking to her little box she squeezed towards the door and
disappeared.
Draco sent another pleading look Snape's way, but he only mouthed 'later'
and pointed towards the window again. With a sigh he continued his search
for black sheep.
As soon as they got off the train Draco turned to his teacher to ask about
the black boxes, but again Snape just said: "Later. First we need to get
some directions."
They saw nobody at the small station however and thus had to start down the
main road of the village until they finally met an old man and his Collie.
"Excuse me Sir." Snape asked the muggle while Draco dragged 'That Dog' away
from the Collie before he started a fight. "Could you tell us the way to
the Malfoys' house."
"Ah!" said the old muggle slowly. "The mansion in town. You need t'go back
to t'train."
"Oh, but we weren't looking for the mansion. We were told that there's a
Malfoy family living in a cottage around here."
"Ah!" the old muggle said again. "T'young Lord live that way." he indicated
a general direction with a sweeping motion of his arm.
"Thank you." Severus said fighting down the urge to lecture the muggle on
how to give directions. Draco would have to live with these people
practically next doors, if he was going to stay with Jeremiah and it
wouldn't do the boy any good to make enemies from the start.
"We'll get lost that way." Draco prophesised once they were a few metres
away and probably out of earshot.
"Maybe not. We know about what direction to go and we'll ask the next
person we meet for further directions."
As it turned out that wasn't necessary however. There appeared to be only
one path leading out of town that led that way and it looked well travelled
enough though Draco complained that it appeared to lead right into the
wilderness with no building bigger than a shed or just a roof to protect
the sheep from the weather.
"It used to be a hunting lodge, Draco. It would be a little lonely."
Severus explained.
"A little? It's in the middle of nowhere!"
"Well, if you still don't like it after you've met them, we can still go
and try Eugene."
That seemed to console Draco a little. For a while he walked beside Severus
quietly.
"What about those little black boxes then?" he asked finally. "You promised
to explain."
"They're called cell phones." Severus obliged. "Miniature versions of the
telephone that don't require cables and can be carried around."
"Oh," Draco commented sounding very puzzled. "And what is a telephone?"
"They're muggle devices used to talk to other muggles not present at the
time. The way we use our fireplaces to talk to people. The only downside of
the telephone is that you can't travel through it."
"But you can't carry a fireplace around in your pocket."
"Indeed, cell phones can be useful, but then they can also be a lot of
trouble. Especially if you're looking for some privacy. I'm quite sure that
muggle girl in our compartment wasn't too happy about that call from her
mother and I doubt anybody was happy to hear her squealing to her friend.
It seems to me that with all those inventions the muggles no longer get a
moment of peace and quiet. If it isn't their own cell phone ringing, it's
somebody else having some annoying conversation on theirs."
"They could be useful in an emergency, though." Draco suggested.
"But their use would have to be restricted to emergencies only and it
appears most muggles just use them for their amusement. I can do without
that, thank you. Not everything muggles invent is always a good idea,
Draco. Not even, if it's electrical."
"Well, maybe not." Draco conceded. "All that squealing really was beginning
to hurt my ears. That girl was worse than a whole bunch of Hufflepuffs in
front of Lockhart's office."
Severus just rolled his eyes at the mention of his former colleague.
Dumbledore really had hired a bunch of impossible people to teach DADA over
the last few years, but compared to Gilderoy Lockhart even stuttering
Quirrel had been a model teacher. Severus still didn't understand the
headmaster's decision to hire him. Albus had explained it to him several
times, but as far as Severus was concerned, it still didn't make sense. He
just hoped he'd never have to see the walking fashion add again.
They finally came to the cottage, which looked rather nice, but small
especially for the Malfoys. Considering how well Draco was coping with life
in a small flat however Severus began to think the boy might really grow to
like this place. Yes, maybe Jeremiah had really been a good choice.
There was no doorbell anywhere, which didn't really surprise Snape since it
was a wizard's house, nor did any eager house elves pop up as they reached
the garden gate. After waiting for some kind of reaction for a few moments,
he decided to let himself in and try the front door. Draco followed him
looking around curiously. They walked through the well kept garden up to
the door and still nothing happened.
Still not finding a doorbell, Severus decided to knock. Nothing.
He waited for a few moments then knocked again. Still nothing.
Finally after the third try the ghost of a little boy poked his head
through the closed door.
"They not home." he declared putting his ghostly thumb in his mouth and
looking up at them through big round ghost eyes.
"Ah, well, do you know when they'll be back then?" Severus asked trying
hard to remain patient. Such young ghosts could react with very sudden
flight if startled.
"No, Jerry didn't say. Jerry never says. I'm just his big brother. Nobody
ever cares about me." complained the little ghost.
"I see. Might they have mentioned where they were going to, then."
"I think Spain. Or maybe it was France? Well, somewhere around there
anyway."
Severus exchanged a look with Draco. It appeared that Jeremiah had taken
his wife and possible kids on a longer holiday then. Draco shrugged back at
him.
"Maybe if we come back next week or so?" he suggested.
Snape sighed. "Well, maybe Eugene knows when they'll be back." He turned
back to the little ghost. "Thank you for your help then, young Mister
Malfoy. We shall return to talk to your brother when he's returned from
France or Spain."
The little ghost beamed proudly at the formal address and withdrew his head
back into the house.
"Well, so much for leaving me with Cousin Jeremiah today. I guess you're
stuck with me for another week." Draco commented with a sly little grin
that made Severus wonder for a moment. The boy couldn't have manipulated
the situation to cause Jeremiah to go on holiday, could he?
"But we can try to see if Eugene is home. We'll be going through London on
or way back anyway." he decided.
"It'll be evening by then. We still have to take the train back to
Hogsmeade." argued Draco.
Didn't he want to find out where his future home would be?
"No we don't. We'll just take the public floo network from the Leaky
Cauldron."
"Do you think he'll like that?" asked Draco looking down at 'That Dog' who
smiled up at him widely as if to confirm that he liked to do anything in
the world if he could only be with his master and his boy.
"He certainly looks happy enough about the idea." Severus promptly said.
"He can't even understand what you're saying." Drco protested. "He probably
thinks you suggested a long walk through the woods and scaring up a few
rabbits on the way."
"Maybe so, but you can't deny that he does like travelling by floo powder
better than by train. Just look at the way he's always hiding under the
seat."
"That at least keeps him quiet." Draco grumbled, but couldn't argue the
fact.
They walked back to the village slowly trying to fill up the time until the
next train back to London. The village was so small that only very few
trains stopped there and for some reason Draco couldn't discern Severus
knew exactly when they were scheduled to arrive.
Draco tried to concentrate really hard hoping that the information would
just magically, or maybe since it was a muggle train station electrically,
appear in his brain. He hadn't seen any big electric departure boards
anywhere near the station when they'd arrived so maybe the information was
passed around telepathically or something like that. All his concentration
didn't help any though. He still didn't know when the train would arrive.
Or at east he wouldn't have known, if Snape hadn't already told him.
"Sir?" he finally asked.
"Yes, Draco."
"How do you know?"
"Know? Know what?"
"When to expect the train."
"Why I checked when we arrived of course."
"I don't remember you checking anything."
"That's because you were so preoccupied with wondering about cell phones."
Severus explained. "You weren't paying attention to where we were going."
"But I'm sure I didn't see a departure board. I wouldn't have overlooked
something that big."
Suddenly Snape laughed. Draco looked up at him in wonder. What was so funny
now?
"Oh Draco, small stations like this one don't have those huge departure
boards like Kings Cross. They've just got a message board where they hang a
piece of paper and call that their departure board. It works, because there
aren't very many trains stopping here at all. It's no problem to list them
all on just one piece of paper."
"Paper? What's paper? Something electric?"
"No, sorry. Paper is mMuggle parchment. It's hardly any different from our
parchment. Not very interesting at all."
"Oh." said Draco disappointed. "Can I at least take a closer look at the
departure board at Kings Cross once we arrive in London?"
"Sorry Draco, but there won't be enough time. We don't want to disturb
Eugene in the middle of the night." Snape decided.
By the time they reached London however Draco had managed to convince
Severus to grant him ten minutes to observe the departure board. Except for
the discovery of the arrival board that didn't help him much though. The
board remained a mystery. It didn't even seem to be controlled by any
muggles, but Professor Snape insisted that it had to be and probably was
remote controlled from some office they couldn't see.
"Maybe even somewhere in the ticket boxes, but I doubt that. The station
must have some main information center somewhere and the most logical thing
would be to control it directly from there." he explained.
Still Draco found it hard to believe that someone sitting in a different
room might be controlling the constant changes on both the huge boards.
Maybe they had a little square cartridge like Sammie's gameboy? But how
would that cartridge know if a train was late? And how would the
information center know it even before the arrival of the train? He decided
to ask Snape that question, just to prove that the information center was
unlikely.
"By telephone, maybe even by cell phone. Somebody on the train's staff or
maybe at one of the earlier stations would call ahead to inform them that
the train was behind schedule."
Draco frowned. He hadn't thought of that possibility. Did Snape have an
answer to everything? He glowered at his teacher.
"What?" Severus asked calmly.
"You can't be all knowing." complained Draco.
"I never claimed to be. I'm a complete failure at Transfigurations for
example and there are some decisions I've made in my life that ... Well,
lets just say that I'm leaving being all knowing to the expert."
"And who would that be?"
"Dumbledore of course." Snape said with a smile and a wink that caused
Draco to laugh despite his frustration at not being able to figure out the
mysteries of the departure board.
Riding the Tube, as Snape told him the London subway train system was
called, was a totally new adventure. It was Draco's first encounter with
automatically closing doors.
"How do those work?" he whispered to Snape excitedly.
"They're probably remote controlled by the driver. I mean, who else would
know when to close them?"
"But how do they pull them back together so tightly?"
"I don't know. There must be some mechanism hidden inside the train's roof
I suppose."
"But what does than mechanism look like? How does it work?"
"I don't know Draco and I can't just pull out my wand and make the wall
disappear so you can have a look. I bet most muggles don't know either."
"But you could make it disappear and they can't. Please!"
"No Draco, I can't. What would all the muggles think, if I did? The
ministry of magic definitely wouldn't be happy with us for it."
"So who cares about the ministry?"
"I depend on their goodwill, Draco. They've got reason enough to give me
trouble."
"Trouble? What can they do?"
"Cut my wages. Send me to Azkaban. They already had me as good as sentenced
to the Dementor's kiss once."
"What!?"
"Albus had to pull a lot of strings to get me out of that back then. It's
almost a miracle he even managed to fend off a life sentence in Azkaban."
"And that's why he can't pay you fully? He convinced them of cutting your
wages instead of the Dementors kiss or Azkaban?"
"Cutting my wages and five years in Azkaban and I really got away easy.
They weren't fond of Albus' meddling with the Voldemort war at all at the
ministry back then and they couldn't get their hands on many of Albus'
agents."
"You went to Azkaban for spying for Dumbledore?"
"Not quite. I got out of Azkaban for spying for Dumbledore. I got in for
having been a death eater. Albus thought he could convince them to let me
go free though. That's why he's so angry about it all. He thinks I would
have deserved to go free."
"But if you only joined the death eaters to spy, they can't just punish you
for helping to fight them."
"They couldn't, but they would have liked to and I was an easy target,
because I didn't originally join to be a spy. Nobody likes a traitor,
Draco. You'll do better to decide what side you're really on before you
join up with anybody. That's probably the most important lesson I've
learned in my life."
Draco stared at the floor for a while. That was a lot to accept there. And
was Snape trying to warn him of something there? He'd never really asked
him not to join the death eaters, but Draco had thought that his admission
of having been a spy had been meant like that. Now he just said to be sure
about his choice?
Lucius had always told him that Voldemort was the only possible choice
there was. Why wouldn't Snape say the same of Dumbledore and the ministry?
Was it because of what the ministry had done and was still doing to him?
And if the ministry had tried to punish Dumbledore's spies, were Dumbledore
and the ministry even the same side? Could there be three sides in a war?
If a battle was between good and evil then who was the third side? What
exactly was good and evil? Was his father really evil? He'd done a few very
bad things, yes, but he could also remember him doing kind things every
once in a while. Lucius had fully believed in the rightness of Vodemort's
cause. Voldemort believed that what he was doing was for the good of all
the wizarding world. How could the ministry be good after what they'd done
to Snape? And how could Dmbledore be good, if he worked against the
ministry?
"What is wrong and right then? How do I tell who's good or evil?"
"In the end you can only define those things for yourself. It's all up to
your judgement, so I advise you not to judge easily. Everything has many
sides. Some people will tell you that something is entirely good or
entirely bad, entirely black or entirely white, but they are wrong. It's a
child's simple view of the world as a fairy tale. Others will tell you that
everything has two sides and all is gray and such can be more good than
evil, or more evil than good. That's an easy way out too. I've never seen
anything that was that simple in my life. Everything has many sides and
what you see of it depends to a large part not on what it really is, but on
who you are and where you're standing. Of course that makes it impossible
for any one person to ever see all of any thing or to judge objectively.
And it also makes it impossible to rely entirely on the words of others
about anything. We can not judge anything objectively, no matter how hard
we try, because we are subjective beings."
"What about colour then? We can see and say if an object is black or
white."
"And still it might be purple to a bee's ultraviolet vision. Even among
humans you cannot be sure that the way another's brain shows him purple is
the same that yours shows it to you."
"We still both call it purple."
"Unless it's such dark purple one of you decides to call it blue."
Draco sighed. "That's confusing. You're telling me that nothing is what it
is."
"No, I'm telling you that you can't see it for what it truly is nor can
anybody else."
"It's still confusing."
"Yes, life is."
Draco sighed again. Was Snape right? Or was all of this just the result of
five years in Azkaban? He'd heard that less than one year there could brake
a person and nobody ever came back unchanged. Who had Snape been before
Azkaban then? Would he be shocked if he could see the difference. How deep
were those scars that the unknowing couldn't even see?
Confused thoughts kept Draco busy until they stood in front of his Cousin
Eugene's door. He suddenly got very nervous when Snape knocked though and
shifted slightly closer to his teacher. What if Eugene was just like his
father?
They heard a loud bang from behind the door as if something large had been
pushed over, some rattling and banging as somebody was probably righting
the object again, then footsteps and finally the door opened and a silver
blond man with very tousled hair and bloodshot eyes blinked at them
sleepily.
Had he been asleep? No, couldn't be. He hadn't had enough time to get
dressed, but then his clothes were wrinkled enough to lead you to suspect
that he might have slept in them.
"Sorry, my butler just walked out on me last week. It's hard to get good
servants these days." Eugene offered instead of a greeting.
"Good evening, Mr. Malfoy. Please forgive our intrusion. I am Severus Snape
and this is your cousin Draco."
"Ah yes, Lucius' son, isn't it? My father mentioned that you're looking for
a new home for him. But do come in. It's no use talking about these things
through the door."
Curiously Draco followed Eugene into his luxuriously furnished, but untidy
apartment. There was something about the place that he didn't like. Somehow
it reminded him of Lucius. Snape too was watching Eugene closely. What was
it he didn't like about him? Draco had no idea, but his teacher's behaviour
made him feel even more uneasy. Something was wrong here.
Eugene led them into his expensive looking living room and went straight
towards a huge house bar. Snape glared angrily at several empty glass
bottles that were standing around the room.
"Why don't you sit down for a moment so we can talk more comfortably."
Eugene offered. "Please forgive the appearance of the room. My momentary
lack of a butler I'm afraid. Something to drink Mr. Snape?"
"No thanks." Snape nearly growled. He obviously didn't like Eugene much.
Eugene however seemed entirely unimpressed by Snape's gruffness. He just
continued to smile stupidly and turned to Draco.
"How about you, cousin? Some Sherry? Or do you prefer Vodka? I think I must
still have some beer left in the kitchen as well."
Draco shot Snape an alarmed glance. Eugene was inviting him to drink?
"Draco is only fifteen, Mr. Malfoy. I don't think any of these beverages
would be appropriate." Snape said in his most dangerous soft voice.
"Oh nonsense. One is never too young for a good beer, right Draco?"
"I ... um ... I really don't think, I should, Sir." Draco stuttered. This
was getting more and more scary.
"I think we'd better go now." stated Snape getting up.
Draco practically jumped up and towards the door.
"You wouldn't happen to know when Mr. Jeremiah Malfoy will be back from his
holiday?" Snape asked over his shoulder once Draco was safely out of the
room.
"Oh, on Wednesday I believe. Are you sure you don't want to stay for a nice
little drink? It isn't that late, you know."
Snape just slammed the door shut behind him.
"That Draco," he explained to the confused boy. "is a man who's absolutely
unfit to care for a child. He probably needs a babysitter himself."
"He seems to get by without one though." commented Draco.
"I guess that's why the butler left him." suspected Snape. "He was probably
tired of doing both jobs."
"So what do we do now?"
"Take another trip to Wales next week and hope that Eugene's right about
Jeremiah. ... I should have remembered to ask him about the Colemans as
well. Now we'll have to wait and ask Jeremiah for their address."
"I'd rather move into the cottage than to America anyway. Even if it is a
little lonely there."
"It's a nice place for kids, but lets not make any decisions until we've
met them. They might still be as disappointing as Eugene. And America isn't
a bad place either. I hear most Americans really like kids."
"It's so far away. They will make me go to some American school and I'll
never see you, or Hogwarts or the Rakers again."
"You'll also make a lot of new friends and you can still visit and nobody
said you can't move back here once you're old enough. If you still want to
by then, that is. America is a very interesting place. You might come to
love it so much, you'll forget all about us."
"Never!" How could he ever forget the Snapes or the Rakers? He'd never find
such great friends again in his life.
Snape led him back to the Leaky Cauldron and handed him a handful of floo
powder.
"Do you want Munin, or the dog?" he asked offhandedly.
"What?"
"I can't carry both of them through the floo, so you'll have to take one.
Which will it be?"
Draco looked from 'That Dog' who was busy sniffing around under an empty
chair and threatening to tangle his lead around its legs as usual, to the
raven who was sitting on Snape's shoulder like a statue only blinking every
once in a while to remind them that he was still alive.
"Munin." he decided. That was clearly less trouble.
Snape snipped his fingers and called to the bird and Munin hopped onto his
hand from where Snape transferred him to Draco's shoulder with a simple
"Stay!".
The raven cawed softly into Draco's ear, but stayed in place obediently
while his master picked up 'That Dog' and untangled his lead.
"Hogsmeade!" Draco told the floo as he threw in the floo powder and stepped
inside after it. A few moments later he steped out of one of the official
floos of the Hogsmeade floo station brushing the soot off his jeans. Munin
was still sitting calmly on his shoulder and only reacted with one little
"Caw!" when Snape arrived a few seconds after them 'That Dog' whining and
struggling in his arms.
"I knew the bird was the better choice." commented Draco. "What's his
problem, this time?"
"He's afraid of fire. Just every animal's normal survival instinct keeping
him safe from burns."
"Munin doesn't see anything wrong with floo travel."
"Ravens are clever. That Dog isn't."
"Do you mean dogs in general or That Dog in particular?" grinned Draco.
"That depends. Generally dogs aren't as clever as ravens, but this one does
seem particularly stupid to me. But then I've never had a dog before. Maybe
I overestimate the species' intelligence."
Draco regarded 'That Dog' closely for a while an decided that Snape's
estimation of dog intelligence was probably more correct than his own. That
one was a particularly useless specimen. But he was damn cute.
It was already dark outside and Draco was reminded of his very first
arrival at West Hogsmeade on their way back. How different everything
looked now, even though nothing had really changed. He remembered how
frightened and disgusted he'd been at the sight of the apartment houses.
Now they looked warm and welcoming and he couldn't wait to get inside. The
park that had once scared him now felt like coming home and he knew every
single dark shape in it and could have told exactly what it looked like at
daytime. Had he really been afraid of the group of trees and bushes that
hid the garden shed from view once?
He smiled happily as they walked past the Soccer lawn. Tuesday morning he'd
be back here to play again.
Sarah just smiled when Severus arrived bringing Draco back home once again.
"No luck with Jeremiah then?" she asked.
"He's on holiday, but is expected back next week. Eugene is out of the
question though. He offered Draco alcohol."
"He what!" Sarah shrieked. "You didn't let him drink any, did you? Oh, my
poor child. I'm seriously beginning to doubt it was a good idea to take him
to the relatives of his horrible father. Of course there can be a black
sheep in every family, but those Malfoys seem bad down to the very last."
"Draco isn't bad and I'm sure he has other relatives that aren't either and
no, he didn't drink anything. Eugene just offered the drinks." Snape
attempted to calm her down.
"But what if you hadn't been there to stop him? Oh no, we can't just hand
the poor boy over to some stranger, Severus. We can't!"
"I'm not planning to just hand him over. I'll have a good look at them
first, I assure you, but Draco does belong with his family."
"But offering a poor innocent little boy alcohol!"
"I'm not little anymore and I know well enough not to drink. You could at
least trust that my father's example has thought me that. How stupid do you
think I am?"
Sarah sighed. "Well, I guess you probably do know not to drink, but what if
it'd been cigarettes, or illegal potions. Severus, that boy would just take
any potion you give him without the slightest distrust."
"Exactly. Any potion I give him. That doesn't mean he would take them from
strangers."
Sarah however kept complaining about Eugene's irresponsibility and the
dangers of trusting a child to members of the Malfoy family for the rest of
the evening. Draco learned to tune her out after a while and just enjoyed
sitting there with Billy half asleep in his lap. It was good to be back.
br>
In the next chapter: Mike joins the Snapes on a shopping trip, the aurors
visit and Draco thinks about the ministry some more. (At least that's what
I think will happen. I haven't written any of it yet.)
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