Chapter 8
Draco Malfoy was holding a mobile phone… DRACO MALFOY was holding a mobile phone and typingsomething on it like he had done it a hundred times. He was also staring at her like she had 3 heads.
“What?”
She knew she was gaping, she felt her mouth pop open and stay that way, so wide he could likely see her tonsils. She couldn’t form words, or coherent thoughts. The Malfoy she knew would have never touched muggle technology. What had happened in the last 7 years?!
“What… How… You… What…” her brain was sputtering incoherently like a car that just wouldn’t start and instead just rolled over repeatedly in surrender.
“Spit it out Granger, I’m trying to send a message here. I can only stand to live here without proper food and resources for so long.” He was frowning at her and his hands were still clutching his mobile phone.
“You… have a phone?” she squeaked.
“Oh, that. For fucks sake I thought something truly serious had happened like one of the wards was breached or you saw a baby acromantula crawling around in these decrepit caves that marginally resemble cabinets.” He rolled his eyes and continued to type out his message.
“But… I cant wrap my mind around this. I don’t even have a mobile phone and I’m muggle born”
“yes, well, we have had to do a lot of adapting over the years. Everything will be explained once we’re all together just know that this may be the first muggle electronic you see being used by wizards but it definitely wont be the last. It’s the only truly reliable form of communication that the Death Eaters can’t track.”
“oh…” that did make sense she supposed. Death Eaters would surely believe that any muggle innovations were beneath them and discard them as threats.
She stared at Draco as he looked at the screen on his phone as it dinged with new messages over and over and he typed replies. It was truly surreal to see a wizard of any kind holding muggle technology but seeing him holding it had her totally floored, especially knowing how much he despised anything related to muggles when they were at Hogwarts. Then again he claimed that was all an act to stay in his fathers good graces, and seeing him now scrolling and tapping away at the screen, maybe it was all an act…
He finished up and pocketed the mobile and looked up with a yawn “I’m done in for the day, I’ll be taking a shower if I can manage to fit myself inside of it and then I plan to pass out.”
Furrowing her brows she replied “Its only 4 PM, you’re that tired, getting old are you? Next up the early bird special at the local diner is it?” she gave him a little pout and tilted her head in faux sympathy.
He glowered at her “I’ll remind you I was running from a Death Eater most of the night while also searching for you, and then I had to provide a lengthy account of my childhood and life up until recently while apparating us all aver the place!” his cheeks were flushed and his hands were raised like he would strangle her or pull his own hair out “I am tired and you will let me sleep or I will hex you into next week.” He finished with yell as he aggressively attempted to shut the bathroom door. He couldn’t slam it, she knew, because she had tried several times in the throes of grief and anger after the war. The door stuck and needed a little lift and jiggle to shut. Any attempts to slam it and it would bounce back and hit you in the face. She watched as he tried to slam the door as hard as he could and saw him block the doors assault with his arm as it bounced back.
She smiled and let out a laugh for the first time in 7 years watching him struggle with the bathroom door. It was unexpected and very nice to feel an emotion other than despair, maybe she could replicate this feeling in the future… With a sigh she decided it was best to help him as he was raising his wand at that moment with a look like he was going to blow the door off its hinges. “you have to lift it and jiggle the handle a bit to get it to shut all the way.”
He lowered his wand, did just that, and the door finally shut with a click. She could swear she heard him continue ranting about how everything in this tent was either old, ugly, or a pain in his ass.
She was reading and sipping on a glass of firewhiskey when he came out of the shower looking damp and slightly disheveled, his hair was standing up at odd angles and he was no longer wearing his robes or cloak. Instead he was wearing green plaid pajama pants and a grey t-shirt that clung to his muscled chest. She was trying not to stare at him but it had been a very long time since she had anything yummy, no… new, anything new to stare at. She had the same tent, the same furniture, and the same decor in the tent since she packed it up so really he was quite the novelty, that’s why she stared.
Gesturing to the back wall of the tent he asked “Which ones are yours?”
“I’ve slept in them all, you can choose and I’ll be fine with whatever’s left.”
She watched as he chose the bunks in the back corner of the tent as far away from the bathroom and sitting area as possible. He flopped face first onto a bunk and snapped the curtains shut.
Returning to her book and drink she was comfortably sitting in the silence she had known for so long when the curtain surrounding Draco’s bunk flew back open and she saw him glaring daggers at her.
“What is that noise?” he growled.
“Noise?” she frowned, she hadn’t heard anything…
He squinted at her like it was obvious she was lying to him “The noise, that one! The scratching, what is that? Make it stop.” The last part came out half whine half growl. Then she heard it, a light scratching somewhere in the vicinity of the tent flap.
Grabbing her wand she was rising to inspect what it could be, a low hanging branch probably. She’d just use a quick severing charm and lob it off. Then she heard a meow and groaned.
“What was that? Was that a meow?” he demanded from his position on the bunk.
Then it was her turn to growl “Yes, I’ll take care of it. Just go to sleep”
“Do you have a cat?” he was rising from the bed now in obvious curiosity.
“No, now go to sleep and let me deal with this on my own”
“If its not your cat, then where did it come from? We are kilometers from every nearby village.. town? Whatever… and more importantly how in blazes did it get through the bloody wards?” He had risen from the bed and was right behind her now questioning the back of her head.
“The answer to all is ‘I don’t know,’ unfortunately this just happens and it has been happening ever since I went into hiding. They just find me, then when they’re ready they leave.” she shrugged helplessly.
“They don’t stay? Are you mean to them? Don’t you feed them, I saw the kibble in the cupboard but assumed it was a hold out from the previous owner or from your cat.. what was his name? Crinkle? Crankshin? Kreskin?”
“Crookshanks” she said flatly “I keep the kibble on hand because every new camping location brings a new cat, or cats… but they do always leave, none have ever stayed longer than a few weeks” a series of meows sounded outside the tent at hearing their voices close by.
She opened the tent flap and in walked in a sleek grey cat with bright green eyes. It wandered over to the cupboard that housed the kibble and sat down. Sighing she walked over to the kitchen and began setting out food and water for the beast.
Draco, was studying the cat as if he had never seen one before. “but how did it get through the wards?!”
“I don’t know” she whined “they just do”
“I’m going to go check then. To make sure I didn’t leave any holes” He grabbed his wand and exited the tent as she placed the food down in front of the new TCP.
Petting the cat she told it “He wont find any holes, you all are either too clever or somehow wards don’t affect cats.”
She settled back on the couch with her book and just as she was picking up her glass Draco stormed back in to the tent yelled that he was putting a silencing spell up around his bunk and shut his curtains with a snap. The cat looked at her questioningly to which she replied with a shrug and returned to her reading as the cat made itself at home curling up next to her.