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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 - Sorry about this being so late, but I fear I'll be this slow for a while. Things should go back to normal in April though.
Here's a fic by my friend Zebee that I really like. It's about Sevi in and after Azkaban and how it changed him: http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=566763 It's really worth reading and fits in perfectly with my own fic.
Chapter 15: A Visit from the Aurors
Monday morning right after breakfast Draco dashed over to tell Mike that he was still here. He hadn't been able to do that the evening before when they'd gotten home, because Professor Snape had decided that it was too late to bother the neighbours.
Mike was so happy when he saw Draco that he asked his parents for permission to go to the market with the Snapes. Consequently his mother handed him part of her shopping list and a little pouch of money. Mike grinned at that and Draco wondered if he'd ever give any of the return money back to her.
Severus and Sarah didn't mind the unexpected company and when they saw the shopping list Severus quickly grabbed a piece of parchment scribbled something down and handed it to Draco.
"If you two are going shopping on your own anyway, you can help out and get the fruits for us." he explained handing him some coins as well.
Draco stared at the list and the money for a moment. What?
"But I've never bargained before. I have no idea how it's done. I'll cost you a lot more money than you'd normally spend on this."
"Well, you'll never learn, if you don't try. You can't spend any more money than I gave you anyway. Try to get everything on that list with it."
Draco stared at the list again then at the money in his hand. "That's impossible! That'll never be enough for all of this."
"In that case, you'll have to set some priorities. Try to find out what we really need and what we can do without."
Draco sighed again and stuffed the list into his pocket. How was he going to do that? What fruits were more important than others?
Mike grinned at him. "Oh come on. It's not that hard. Even the little kids can do it."
"It mightn't be hard, if you've been doing it all your life, but I hadn't even ever been to a market until three weeks ago."
"Not? Where'd your parents buy their food then?" Mike asked confused while they walked down the stairs.
"They didn't."
"What? What did you eat then? Everybody needs to buy food."
"Our house elves went to the market for us, I suppose. I never really asked."
"House elves?" Mike looked at Draco wide eyed.
"Yes, those little creatures with the long ears, you know. Kinda cute and always eager to work."
"I know what they are. That's I've heard about them, but I've never really seen one. I thought only the guys with the big old castles had house elves."
"Nope, the guys with the big old manors that look almost like castles do, too."
"Did you have one of those then?"
"Yes, one of the biggest and oldest in England ... draughtiest too. And it was pretty dark and scary in some places there as well."
"That must have been great. I wish I had such a big old manor. Or at least a small new manor."
"You know, if it hadn't been confiscated by the ministry, I'd probably have sold it as soon as possible and bought something smaller and more comfortable from the money. Maybe a flat somewhere around here, or maybe in London."
"You'd exchange a big castle like manor for a small boring flat?" Mike sounded horrified.
"Well, maybe not." Draco decided. "Maybe I'd have bought one of the small houses nearer the market place so we wouldn't have to walk this far to get there. The manor should have brought enough money to afford one. But that's a moot point anyway since I no longer have the manor. I can't afford to buy anything now."
"But the rest of your family's still rich, aren't they?"
"Well, Uncle Thomas certainly seemed to be, but he didn't want me and Cousin Eugene didn't look poor either, but maybe he's just living on Uncle Thomas' money." Draco shrugged. "Jeremiah's place didn't look all that expensive, but he's supposed to inherit a big manor house as well. Maybe he'll let me live in his cottage after he does. At least until I earn enough money to buy something of my own."
"A cottage must be a great place to live, too. I'd like to have one."
"You'd like to have anything. Though I admit that you could always sell it and get some money for it if nothing else." mused Draco. "I wouldn't like to live in Jeremiah's cottage all that much though. It's in the middle of nowhere. Nothing but sheep around."
"That's nice. Imagine to be able to go home and there's no neighbours to disturb you. Nothing but nice fluffy sheep ad green countryside to look at. No gray houses, no nosy aurors, no noise ..."
"But it's so far away from everywhere I want to go."
"No problem once you learn to apparate."
Draco stopped for a moment. He hadn't thought about that. Once he had his apparition license he wouldn't have the slightest problem getting anywhere he liked from the cottage. Maybe it wasn't such a bad place to live after all!
"Well, we still neither have a cottage to live in or sell."
"Well, that's life." Mike didn't seen to mind much. "Come on, we're almost there!"
"Wait! Stop for a moment! I've got to pack away the dog!"
Mike stopped and turned around to stare at Draco and 'That Dog'.
"Pack away?" How did one pack away a dog?
To Mike's amazement Draco simply took off his backpack and handed it to him.
"Here hold this open for me for a moment."
Mike took the backpack still looking doubtful, but also a little curious. What was Draco up to?
Draco quickly grabbed 'That Dog' before he could get suspicious and try to run off and stuffed him into the pack just like he remembered Professor Snape doing it last week.
"Okay," he announced. "That's one problem taken care of."
"Why don't you just make him walk?" Mike finally asked. "Wouldn't that be a lot less of a bother?"
"No, he'd tangle his lead, try to run off, steal sausages. This way he's a little heavy, but absolutely unable to get into any sort of trouble."
Mike regarded 'That Dog's' head, which was the only part of his body still sticking out of Draco's backpack, thoughtfully.
"You couldn't do that with a cat, you know. He'd just wriggle out and jump."
"I don't need to do it with the cat. He has no problem with staying at home alone and never gets into trouble." Draco shrugged the argument off. "I guess cats are brighter than dogs as well."
"Well, they definitely are a lot more independent. They'd never expect a human to always be there to get them out of any stupid situations they might get themselves into. I guess that would make them more careful than dogs. They certainly know how to help themselves when the need arises."
"You seem to know a lot about cats." commented Draco.
"I've got one for a familiar. Just your ordinary gray tabby, but she sure knows her own mind. Maybe I'll show her to you when we get home. If she's at home and in the mood that is. As I said she has a mind of her own and if she's not feeling like meeting you, she's not gonna talk to you at all."
"Really? Isn't that a little annoying? I mean, the Snapes have a cat too and so do some of my classmates at school, but I can't imagine having a familiar who's never there when I want him."
"It's certainly better than that dog of yours." Mike grinned. "He's always there even if you don't want him to, always gets in the way and he's no magical qualities whatsoever."
"And he isn't mine either!" protested Draco. "I'd never want such a little nuisance in the first place. I used to have an owl. He was really useful and came on call."
"So you're gonna get another owl once you've got a new home?"
"If my family lets me, I guess I will." mused Draco. He hadn't really thought about getting a new familiar yet. "Someday I'd really like to have a raven like Professor Snape though. Munin's much cooler than any owl I've ever seen and he can do all sorts of tricks."
"So why don't you just get a raven right now?"
"I guess I couldn't afford it. I bet they're really expensive and then Professor Snape says they're very hard to train."
"I bet Uncle Severus would help you with that though."
"Probably, but I still don't have any money and an owl will certainly do for now."
"I guess you're right. I'd like to have an owl too. Then I could write you as often as I want and wouldn't have to pay the post office all the time."
"I'll tell my owl to stay and wait for a response every time I send him to you." Draco promised.
They were now in the thick of the market and could no longer see the Snapes anywhere. Draco remembered seeing them disappear in the direction of the bread stands which made sense considering that they'd told Draco to get the fruits and it was the best strategy to get the things that were sold in the center of the market as early as possible before the arrival of the big crowds around lunchtime.
Draco wasn't worried about losing the Snapes though. Professor Snape had asked them to meet them outside the apothecary around lunchtime after they were done with their shopping so they could have lunch together.
"Okay, where do we go to now?" he asked Mike who pulled out his shopping list.
"Lets see. I need vegetables, cheese and fruits. You only need the fruits. Cheese is almost at the other end of the market. Vegetables are right over there and the fruits right next to the vegetables. We'll be fastest if we start with the vegetables, then buy the fruit and leave the cheese for last and you can watch how I talk to the vendors at the vegetable stands before you have to try and buy something yourself."
"Can't we do the fruits last then?" Draco asked suddenly getting a little nervous again.
"That would mean we'd have to push our way through to the cheese stands and then right back here again. It'd cost us a lot more time and nerves that way." Mike reasoned. "Come on, I'll help you with the bargaining anyway. It's not that hard. Everybody does it."
Draco sighed and relented. He'd have to do it sooner or later anyway. At least once he'd gotten it over with he wouldn't feel so nervous about it anymore. 'I'll only be nervous about what Mrs Snape will say when she sees how much money I spent.' he thought morosely. But Professor Snape would defend him against her wrath, wouldn't he?
He watched Mike's negotiations with the vegetable vendors closely and tried to play several possible little conversations through in his mind before Mike announced that he had everything he needed and they went over to the fruit stands.
"So, what do you need to buy first?" Mike asked Draco.
"Can't we just do your shopping first? I'd like to hear some more examples."
"That doesn't make any sense, Draco. We'll probably both need the same stands so we'd better do it together. Look I'll go first, but we need to know what stands."
"Um ... I don't know where to go first." Draco said staring at his shopping list.
"Well, you always start either with the most expensive or the most important. Since you probably don't have enough money to buy everything, I suggest you start with the most important."
"So what would be the most important then?"
Mike peeked over Draco's shoulder to take a quick look at the list. "Apples." he decided without the slightest hesitation. "Apples are always the most important fruit and we'll get the cherries right after that, because they're cheapest at his time of the year and therefore will be easiest to get. Pears will be easy too, but we might have a problem with the bananas. Maybe we shouldn't buy those at all. We definitely need to get the lemons so I suggest to make those third, then the pears and we'll keep the oranges for last in case we still have the necessary money left."
"You make it sound so easy." sighed Draco.
"I'm just thinking about what my Mum would do." grinned Mike. "I've gone shopping with her often enough to know."
"I wish I'd had a mother like that." Draco sighed. "Don't get me wrong. I'm really grateful to her for saving me from Father and it's a really big thing to know that she loved me so much she died for me, but I wish she'd have spent some time with me sometimes instead of always having to be at some party."
"How can one have to be at a party?" Mike asked scowling. "Parties are just for fun."
"They're also social obligations. You know, keeping up important connections and such stuff. Some parties are about charity and such things. Those are important for the family image. Some parties are just tradition."
"You rich guys are strange." Mike declared still scowling.
"I'm not rich!" protested Draco. "At least not anymore."
"Well, okay then. Lets buy some apples all right? We always buy them over there. The green ones are the best though some people think they're too sour."
"Not Professor Snape." said Draco with a laugh. "He likes his potions tasting of lemon so he'll like sour apples as well."
"What about Aunt Sarah?"
"I don't know. I never asked her, but I don't think she'll mind. Lets just go and buy them."
With Mike going first and lowering the price Draco found that it wasn't all that hard to bargain as he'd thought. He knew Professor Snape would have gotten a much better price though. In the end he had to settle for no bananas and only half as many oranges as he'd been told to buy. He hoped the Snapes wouldn't be too angry with him.
"Okay, there goes the last of my money. Where to now?"
"Now I need to buy cheese. That way." Mike answered.
They had to push their way through the already very dense crowd at the bread stands and through several of the chatting groups Draco had first noticed last week. The vicar was once again surrounded by a large group of women right in the middle of the market, but this time Draco wasn't pushing around a large baby buggy and managed to squeeze through the group almost easily.
The cheese stands were overrun by customers and they had to wait a lot at the different stands until Mike finally declared that he had everything he needed and they should try to fight their way through to the apothecary.
Draco suggested to try to get to the side of the marketplace and walk around it instead of trying to go through the center once again and after a short glance at the sky to judge the position of the sun Mike agreed. That way they might take a little longer, but the going would be easier.
Somewhere behind the meat stands they ran into Jack who was busy flirting with a tall blonde girl Draco had never seen before. She was wearing green shorts and t-shirt and for a moment Draco considered asking what gang's uniform that was, but decided to postpone that question. He didn't want her to know that he didn't know. Mike or Cathy would certainly tell him, if he asked them later.
Jack greeted them rather coldly indicating that he wanted them to get lost and leave him to his attempts at wooing the girl who as far as Draco could tell wasn't really interested in any of them. He strongly suspected that a girl this pretty already had a boyfriend and probably even the leader of her own gang, but didn't think it a good idea to point that out to Jack.
Mike just shrugged and suggested they move on so they wouldn't keep the Snapes waiting and despite the fact that they had more than enough time for a little chat Draco agreed readily. If Jack didn't want them around, he wasn't going to stay just to make him angry.
He did look around for the rest of the gang on the way though, but didn't see any of them. Either they were all hidden from view by the crowd or Jack had sent them away as well. Both options seemed equally likely to Draco.
A Muggle Shop attracted Draco's attention a little while later and Mike had to wait patiently while he stared at some kitchen utensils in fascination.
"I wonder what that mixer thing does. Look Mike, it has a plug. It must be electric!"
"You use it to mix all sorts of ingredients for food." Mike explained patiently. "For baking mostly."
Draco stared at it some more in wonder.
"Really? Do you have one at home? How does it work?"
"Well, it simply mixes." Mike declared feeling rather stupid. How does one explain a mixer? "It isn't particularly exciting, you know."
Draco just shrugged. "Maybe not to you. I think it's fascinating. I'll try to learn everything about it one day."
In the end Mike simply grabbed Draco's arm and dragged him away from the shop window and towards the apothecary. Draco, he decided, was a great friend to have, but sometimes he could get really annoying and strange. Especially when electrical things were concerned.
The Snapes were nowhere in sight when they reached the apothecary and a quick glance at the sun showed that they were still early. So what were they going to do now?
"Lets go back to the Muggle Shop." Draco suggested at once.
Mike had a sudden vision of spending the rest of the day looking at light bulbs and microwaves. Oh no, no way was he going back there! He cast a quick look around and indeed the solution came to him.
"Nah, lets go over there. That's where they sell toys. They've got all sorts of neat stuff and we can still see the apothecary from there. That way we'll know when the Snapes arrive and won't have to run back and forth to catch them."
"Toys? Do they sell gameboys too?" Draco asked curiously.
"Of course they do. They sell all kinds of toys you can imagine. ... Gameboys are terribly expensive though."
"That's okay I don't have any money to buy anything anyway. I just want to look."
They pushed their way over through crowds of children and some adults and finally reached a group of stands that sold mostly used toys, though there were some new ones among them as well. The first place they got to to their disappointment sold only dolls and doll clothes, but the second stand had a lot of stuffed and rubber animals that were rather cute to look at.
Mike eyed a rubber snake for a while wondering if the Sharks would fall for it, if he dropped it on their heads from a tree. Mark or Robin were probably too old for that kind of trick though and scaring Pretty Ricky just didn't seem worth while. Anyway he wouldn't need to spend money on a rubber snake for that effect. Balling your fists and charging at him usually sufficed to send him running.
Draco meanwhile was looking at stuffed crocodiles, frogs, hedgehogs, eagles ... It seemed anything could be bought as a stuffed toy. There even was a stuffed muggle car among all the animals. Why would anyone want to cuddle a car? It could be interesting to drive one though, Draco suddenly thought. He wondered if Snape knew how to drive a car. Probably not. The things were rare among wizards and probably even expensive in the muggle world. Still he might have learned during his time in muggle school. Did muggles learn how to drive cars in school? Or could one just buy a car, get in and drive off?
Another stand had nothing but baby toys. Billy would have loved those, but Mike just frowned at them and dragged Draco on to the next stand where they had all sorts of boxed games. Mostly board games and puzzles, Draco found out after a while. Aside from the usual wizard games he knew there were also muggle games and some games appeared to have both wizard and muggle versions.
There were chess games with non moving pawns right next to wizard games where little toy horses poked their heads out of the box to sneer at their motionless neighbours. One adventurous chess knight even climbed out of his box dragging his mount behind by the reigns to take a closer look at his muggle counterpart and after finding no reaction from him stalked back to his own box to find that the lid had closed behind him and he couldn't get back in. His horse snorted at him angrily while he turned to the customers with a desperate plea to let him back in. The vendor finally came and with an angry glare and the stern admonition to stay inside held the lid open for him and the disgruntled horse.
Draco would have loved to watch some more of the wizard toys' antics, but by that time the Snapes had arrived and Billy looked definitely hungry and thus they went straight to the side alley and camped on the empty boxes again. Sarah once again fed Billy while Severus bought pumpkin juice and fed Munin and 'That Dog'.
Mike laughed when he saw how the raven tricked the dog over his food again.
"He really isn't very bright." Draco commented to Severus.
"Indeed, he isn't." Severus confirmed. "How did your shopping go then?"
Draco grimaced at the question and handed the two knuts he had left from the money he'd been given in the morning back to Severus. Severus pocketed them calmly and asked to see Draco's purchases.
"I didn't get the bananas and only half of the oranges." he admitted hesitantly. He wondered how Snape would punish him. Or would he just let Sarah scold him instead? That would be getting away easy, Draco thought. After all he had already learned to tune her out.
Snape smiled. "You got everything else?"
"Yes, Professor."
"Very good."
"Good?" Draco exclaimed startled.
"That's a lot better than I expected on a first try."
"Well, Mike helped me a bit, you know."
Severus nodded. "Yes, I know. That was the idea."
Draco smiled a little. "You really think I did well."
"Of course you did."
Now Draco was positively beaming. Professor Snape thought he'd done well.
"Can we go take another look at the toy stands, Uncle Severus?" Mike begged once they were done with their meal.
"We have much still to buy, Mike, and then we still need to carry it all home and put away."
"Please, Professor."
"Yes, please Uncle Severus."
Severus looked from one boy to the other. Somehow this didn't sound right.
"Does it bother you Draco?" he asked suddenly.
Draco blinked startled. What was Snape talking about? "Bother me? Does what bother me?"
"That Mike calls me Uncle Severus, because if you want to you can too, you know."
"Really? Do you really mean that?" Draco beamed even more. Wasn't that almost like being part of the family?
"Of course I mean it."
Mike rolled his eyes at the scene. Draco looked almost like 'That Dog' did when somebody had said a friendly word to him.
"Well, what about the toy stands then?" he tried again.
"Please, Uncle Severus." said two voices this time.
Severus smiled. Yes, that sounded a lot better. "Well, all right, but you'll have to take the cheese and meat supplies with you and you have to promise not to go anywhere else. We'll come to get you from there once we're done with all the shopping and I expect you to be there then."
That promise was given readily enough and the two boys soon dashed off back towards the market. Of course they didn't get much further once they had gotten out of the alley. At a much slower pace they had to squeeze through the large midday crowd of the market.
Mike once again found it difficult to drag Draco past the Muggle Shop, but Draco soon forgave him when they found a stand that had real Soccer balls and even some Quiddich stuff. The only toys that seemed to be totally missing from the West Hogsmeade market were broomsticks. The stands had Quiddich clothing and Quiddich balls and all sots of posters and even strategy manuals, but not a single broom.
Draco felt a little disappointed at that. He really did miss his good old Nimbus 2001 and had almost entirely forgotten that he'd wanted to talk to his father about getting a better broom only a few weeks ago. Now it felt almost like it had been a whole lifetime since that horrible day when his father had killed his mother and everything had changed. Yes, it seemed almost as if he'd been living in West Hogsmeade for a hole lifetime instead of just three short weeks.
The next morning when he came down into the park to meet the Rakers for another Soccer game he'd already forgotten all thoughts about brooms, flying or Quiddich however. Life was great and it was even better to be able to look forward to yet another week of fun with his friends. Too bad it would all be over at the end of this week. There wasn't much chance that Jeremiah would turn him away after all. He almost wished Jeremiah would, but then he'd have to move to America and wouldn't be able to go to Hogwarts anymore and meet the Rakers on Hogsmeade weekends.
Sammie ran up to him the moment he left the house.
"Dragon! You're back! I hoped so much that you'd come back." he shouted and stopped just short of actually hugging Draco.
Several other Rakers raced up to him as well, but luckily none of them were as enthusiastic as Sammie.
"Jeremiah's on holiday." he explained to them. Let Jack wonder what was going on, if he didn't want to come and ask for the story. "And Eugene drinks."
"So the Snapes won't leave you with him then?"
"No, they were both quite appalled that he offered me alcohol."
"Why? You're not really that young anymore." said Larry and Draco wondered how his drinking father handled such things. Poor Larry and his brothers probably didn't have much of a chance to avoid becoming alcoholics themselves someday.
"Well, considering the way Draco lost his parents it's at the very least inconsiderate of him." stated Charlie. "The Snapes are quite right not to let him take him, if he doesn't even realise that."
Jack was in a rather bad mood after that and the game went accordingly. Draco's team worked together like clockwork by now while Jack started shouting and cursing at Mary the moment Cathy Cat scored the first goal.
Mary of course didn't take that too well and yelled back at him which resulted in Jack's cursing Mike and Larry. Larry couldn't see what he might have done wrong and blamed it all on Mary which resulted in a fight between the lovers and Mary finally stalking off annoyed leaving the rest of her team behind to guard their goal as they saw fit.
Draco took pity on Mike and Larry and offered to lend Matt to Jack to even the odds.
"Matt!" Jack yelled in fury. "That good for nothing ..."
"Matt's a great defence player!" Draco cut him off before he could insult the boy even more. "And that's what you need. You and Mike are both good attackers and Larry is the only one qualified to replace Mary in your goal. I don't have a second keeper to give you and you don't need an attacker so I'm offering you the best defence payer I've got and that's your response?"
"You need attackers, not defenders to win a game!" yelled Jack.
"You need defenders not to lose one though." Mike attempted to diffuse the situation. "Dragon's team isn't as strong on the attack as ours. He's offering you the best player he can afford to do without. And with Mary off our defence is seriously weakened."
"I don't want Matt!"
Matt suddenly tore his Rakers cap off his head and slammed it down at Jack's feet. Draco managed to grab his arm and stop him just in time to stop him from walking out as well.
"Well, that's your loss then." he told Jack. "Then I get to keep him. I'll be generous and make yuo another offer though. How about Charlie?"
"That loser? She's worse than Matt."
Charlie stared down at her feet looking very, very ashamed.
"Charlie won me the very first game I captained." Draco stated calmly. "And I remember several other games she turned for us."
"Well, I don't want her. Maybe you like her. She isn't that ugly, I'll admit, but I want a Soccer player not a mascot. Give me Cathy!"
"I can't play with only one offensive player."
"Then let Charlie or Matt play offence. You claim they're so good. I think Cathy's the only good player your team's got. I want her."
"Jack ..." Mike started cautiously as he picked up Matt's cap and started brushing the dirt off of it.
"You can't have me!" Cathy Cat cut him off sharply. "Dragon can't lend me to you, because I refuse to play for you. I left your team because of your constant yelling and as we've just seen that hasn't improved any. I see no reason to come back."
"Just one game, Cathy Cat." begged Larry. "Please. Mary will be back tomorrow."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Larry." commented Mike. "She might be expecting an appology." he hinted.
Matt reluctantly accepted his cap back, but didn't put it back on. He remained standing right beside Draco as far as possible away from Jack glaring ominously while Jack and Cathy traded insults for a while seemingly unaware of the presence of the rest of the gang. Draco didn't mind that. Anything was better than Jack shouting at him and Cathy proved quite capable to hold her own against the gang leader.
Maybe they should all go home though? It was clear there wouldn't be a game today after all.
While Draco was still wondering what he might do with the rest of the morning there was suddenly a loud 'POP' somewhere behind them and when they turned to see what it was they saw a man in an auror's uniform was suddenly standing beside the door to the house.
POP, POP, POP POPOPPOPPOPPOPPOP .... more and more aurors apparated into the park until there were two standing in front of every house guarding the doors and groups of six aurors each disappeared into each building. Yes, one group even dashed into the garden shed, but they did come out again rather quickly, the leader looking a little sheepish, and started a search of the bushes instead.
Jack and Cathy Cat had finally shut up at the sight of the aurors.
"Ugh," commented Cathy. "That doesn't look good."
"What's going on?" Draco asked confused.
"Raid. I wonder what happened this time." murmured Jack more to himself than in answer to Draco's question.
"Probably just another attack on some muggles somewhere in England." shrugged Larry.
"I think you'd better eat lunch with us today, Draco." suggested Mike. "There might be trouble if you try to go back to the Snapes now."
"Yes, they search them every time some moron dark wizard as much as walks through Diagon Alley." explained Charlie.
"Actually they perform those raids for show whenever they need to prove to the press that they're working on some case they don't have a suspect for. They dash in here, search a few flats, make a lot of noise and drag some people off to question them back at their offices in London. Then the Daily Prophet will write a short article about the big auror campaign against dark magic and the next morning they let everybody go." Mike elaborated. "Unfortunately Uncle Severus is a particular favourite of theirs. He gets to go to London almost every time. Guess they just like it if they don't have to explain the procedures all the time. He must know their questions by heart by now."
"So what do we do now?"
"Sit down under some tree and wait. They'll not let us in until we can swear we're expected home for lunch." ordered Jack. "We can watch them look important and turn people away though."
Draco soon discovered that watching aurors guard doors was rather boring. Maybe even for the aurors themselves. Nobody seemed to need to get into any of the houses urgently enough to want to approach them, everybody just shot them nervous glances ad walked on trying to look as innocent as possible. Maybe the aurors started arresting people right off the streets if they got too bored?
He wondered what they were doing to the Snapes right now. Search the flat? How did one do that? Malfoy Manor had been searched by aurors too, he remembered, but he hadn't been there to watch. That was when they'd found all his father's dark arts objects. Would they really arrest Uncle Severus? What would they do to him then?
"It's okay Draco." Mike whispered into his ear. "They really do let them go again the very next morning."
Draco nodded quietly. He didn't feel like talking at the moment. What did they do with the people until they let them go? Did they put them in Azkaban? What would it do to Severus to have to go back there even if it was for just one night?
Finally Mike decided that it was time to go home for lunch.
"Let me do the talking." he told Draco as they walked up to the door and the two motionless aurors beside it.
Draco just nodded. He was beginning to feel a little scared.
"Hold it!" came a sudden command and the two boys froze in their tracks. "This house is closed. Go back home."
"This is our home. We live in there." Mike explained calmly.
"Then come back later. No access right now."
"We have to go in. Mum's expecting us for lunch. I promised to be there. She'll get worried."
The auror eyed them suspiciously looked them over from head to toe, then finally came one single step closer.
"Names!" he bellowed.
"I'm Clever Mike and he's Dragon. Can we go in now?"
"So you two have to go home for lunch, yes?"
"Yes Sir, Mum's expecting us."
"What flat?"
"412."
The auror regarded them closely once again, then decided to take the risk.
"Dave, escort those two little rats to flat number 412. Make sure they don't touch anything though."
The other auror nodded to his colleague and then indicated for the boys to go ahead. He didn't seem to consider them worthy of speaking to.
They walked up the stairs slowly the auror following closely behind never letting them out of his sight.
Another auror was positioned on the fourth floor and he glared no less than the other two had downstairs.
"What's that?" he demanded of Dave pointing right at Mike and Draco.
"The kids from 412. They want to go home for lunch so their Mummy won't get worried. Frank said to bring them in."
"Well, take them home then and be quick about it. Can't leave the door unguarded."
Dave roughly pushed them forward and they stumbled into the corridor. Draco glared back at the auror angrily. Just who did that guy think he was? But he remembered just in time that they could probably do horrible things to Severus and decided to let it go. Only a little longer and then he'd see Mike's flat from the inside. Lunch at Mike's would be fun.
The door to the Snapes' flat was standing open and Draco could see two aurors tearing up his home. Severus was standing right beside them eyes blazing with anger, but still just watching. Draco almost stopped and ran inside, but Mike grabbed his arm and dragged him along past the door and Severus looked up for a moment and quickly nodded at them to move on. Draco suddenly wondered if they'd take him along as well, if he admitted living with he Snapes. Maybe that wouldn't be all bad though. maybe they'd let him and Severus stay together so he could keep him company.
"Come on, move it!" Dave growled behind them. "There's nothing to see here."
"Several of these ingredients can be used in dark arts potions!" he heard a woman's voice from somewhere inside the flat. "What do you need all those stores for anyway? They aren't just normal household stores."
"Research. I teach Potions and need to keep up to date with new developments. My wife has a degree in medical potions and often requires non standard ingredients as well. We are both licensed to handle them." Snape declared calmly. He sounded as if he'd said it about a hundred times before. Weren't aurors supposed to know things like that?
They reached the door of Mike's flat ad Mike pulled out his key, but Dave pushed him aside and rang the doorbell instead.
A small round woman with a face that probably looked friendly and happy normally, but immediately assumed a defiant look upon seeing Dave's auror uniform opened the door.
"Are these yours?" Dave indicated Draco and Mike with a sneer.
Back at the Snapes' something clattered to the floor loudly and Billy started wailing in fear. Draco clenched his fists angrily. He wished he could turn and run back to take the baby in his arms and calm him. Where was Sarah?
"Yes, and they're late for lunch too. Come on in boys." Mike's mother said without hesitation.
Draco wondered once again at the helpfulness of the people of Merlin Park. They had to know why the aurors were after Severus, but still they were willing to lie to keep Draco safe from them. Maybe they were cold and dangerous to outsiders, but they helped each other out as best they could and Draco was one of them for the simple reason that he was temporarily living with the Snapes. The Snapes belonged here and therefore so did Draco. The aurors however did not.
Mike's mother glared at Dave until both boys had slipped past her into the flat, then she slammed the door shut without another word. Draco breathed a sigh of relief. No more auror in his back and he couldn't hear the sounds from the Snapes' flat all that clearly anymore. Was that 'That Dog' growling out there? Draco had heard him bark, whimper or whine before, but never growl. He'd never thought 'That Dog' could be aggressive towards anyone. Maybe he was a guard dog after all?
Mike's mother was very nice and she turned out to be almost as good a cook as Sarah, but still Draco hardly ate anything. He could hear the noises of the aurors despite the closed doors. What were they shouting about now? What had made that clattering sound? Would they take away his teddy again? He hoped not. He'd come to like holding Cuddly in his arm when going to sleep. He was so nice and ... well cuddly. That was where the teddy had gotten his name from. Not that Draco would ever admit to anyone that he had named him.
They were told to stay inside for the rest of the day.
"You'd only run into those aurors again. No telling what they might do." Mike's mother explained. "Why don't you show Draco your room instead, Mike? You could play a board game."
So they trudged off to play with Mike's toys. Mike's cat jumped off of the bed when they entered the room and mewed a complaint. It was too noisy in the corridor to go out, the cat thought. Why was there so much noise when she wanted to go out?
Mike immediately picked her up and handed her to Draco.
"Ah, there she is. I promised you to show you my cat, didn't I?"
The cat gave another little protest, but when Draco put one careful arm under her and the other around she decided that maybe this wasn't so bad after all and allowed herself to be held for a while.
The warm cat body had a nice calming effort on Draco and he managed to relax a little distracted by all the strange muggle style toys Mike showed him. That didn't last long however. The cat grew tired of being cuddled and wriggled out demanding to be let out of the room and, fascinating as they were, none of their games could make Draco forget the aurors and what they were doing to the Snapes entirely.
They started dinner without Mike's father as he would most likely find somewhere else to stay the night when he saw the aurors upon returning from work as Mike explained. Nobody liked to meet an auror and when they showed up in an entire flock one better got out of the way fast.
"Not too fast though." his mother added. "As fast as you can without attracting their attention. If you run away, they'll arrest you for sure."
Some time later the noises from the corridor suddenly increased and Draco stared at the door worriedly. What was that? He could make out 'That Dog' again doing his best to sound dangerous barking and growling almost at the same time. Billy was crying and Munin now raised a loud cawing protest as well some words Draco couldn't quite understand through two closed doors strewed in. Finally he heard a door slam and then everything went silent.
Mike jumped up and raced to the next window Draco right behind him. All they could make out in the dark park outside however were a few dark shapes moving away from the houses. They met in the center of the park and then suddenly disappeared. The aurors had finally left. The whole house lay silent.
About five minutes later the doorbell rang and Sarah arrived with Billy in her arms looking for Draco. Draco dashed over and hugged her. At least she was still there! He wasn't all alone in the world.
Sarah held him tight for a moment then gently pulled away saying. "It's all right, Draco. They do that every few months or so. Nothing unusual. Don't worry about it."
"What happened?"
"It appears that some muggle family was attacked in some village near London. Dark magic was used and now they're trying to find somebody to blame it on other than Voldemort. At least they'll pretend to be looking for a culprit until the media interest dies down. Don't worry, it's all just a big show."
Draco didn't feel much better when he saw the flat though. The aurors had upturned every last drawer, opened every cupboard and even pushed some of the furniture over. Draco had to climb over all sorts of items from food to clothing thrown carelessly to the floor to get through to the lab which didn't look any better. For a moment he just stood staring at the chaos wondering for some strange reason how many of the potion ingredients were ruined and how much could be salvaged.
Munin sat in the middle of the chaos staring at an upturned jar morosely.
"Ministry!" the raven cursed. "Aurors! Caw!"
"Come here, Munin." Draco gently picked up the raven and put him on his shoulder, then returned to the living room to look for Sarah.
He found her in the bedroom working on clearing Billy's bed so she could put the baby to sleep. It was rather difficult holding Billy in one arm while picking robes and cloaks out of his bed, but there was no place to put the baby.
Draco went over and took him from her so she had both hands free to work.
"Aurors!" Munin complained again.
"Fudge." Draco told the raven.
"Caw?"
"Fudge. That's the minister. It's his fault." the boy explained.
"Fudge?"
"Fudge." Draco nodded.
"Fudge! Ministy! Aurors!"
"Exactly. Good bird."
Together they managed to clear the beds and climb into them. For a moment Draco wondered where 'That Dog' and the cat were going to sleep tonight, but obviously they had found some place to stay as he hadn't seen either of them anywhere. He dug Cuddly out from under a pile of books, brushed off some powdered unicorn horn and went to sleep with the irrational hope that the world would have returned back to normal when he woke up.
A/N: What are the aurors going to do to Sevi? Are the Rakers gonna make up? And where are 'That Dog' and the cat? Please R/R!
In the next chapter: The Sharks hit back, we meet even more aurors (those guys are trouble and trouble never comes alone) and Sevi has to get Draco out of trouble. (Again that's what I think will happen. Haven't actually written anything yet.)
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