Turning the Page

Draco fought hard to not fidget under the man's- Mr. Mustang's -gaze, all the while kicking himself inwardly for the absolute dumpster fire he had gotten himself into. 

He thought he had gotten everything perfect! He had adjusted, calculated, and organized everything meticulously. So, how had everything gone so wrong?

He had no clue where he even was or who the man in front of him was. Was he a wizard? Could Draco get away with stunning him and making a run for it? Surely, the Ministry would forgive his use of underage magic in the name of self-defense. 

"So, " Mustang began, interrupting his inner turmoil, "how did you break into my home? And what made you think that was a good idea?"

Draco flinched, leaning back on his outstretched arms behind him from where he still sat on the bed. "I... I promise I didn't have any ill intentions." Breathe, Malfoy. You can buy yourself some time. 

Draco took a deep breath when an idea popped into his head. 

"I was running away from some gits that have been harassing me at school. With them on my tail, I just... reacted and used your home as a hiding spot. I apologize for having barged in like I did, I wasn't thinking straight."

Draco inwardly bristled at having to apologize to some stranger, but he knew that feigning regret would be his best bet at trying to weasel himself out of the situation he found himself in. He looked down at the bed, so as to avoid the stare of the man in front of him. 

A few beats of silence passed before Mustang spoke. "Alright, well, word of the wise, maybe don't commit a crime next time you're trying to outrun some bullies. Some people may not take as kindly to a stranger in their bedroom as I did." He heaved a sigh before continuing. "Moving forward, the other question I have is how exactly did you break in? Nothing seems out of place and I didn't hear the window opening or anything being moved."

Lifting his head, Draco clenched his jaw before he said, "I came in through the window, I was just... really quiet. I didn't want to arouse any suspicion- although, I very clearly failed on that part."

Mustang quirked an eyebrow. Another tense silence filled the air for a moment. 

"I don't believe you."

Draco felt an ice-cold chill run through him at those words. Well, it was now or never. 

The teen shifted his weight to the side, hurriedly stuffing his hand down into his trousers pocket to draw his wand, a Stupefy on his lips. Unfortunately, Mustang was quicker.

Draco grunted as his wand arm was snatched and twisted painfully behind his back. Mustang was behind him now, one hand holding his arm in place and the other wrapped tightly around him, effectively restraining him. His wand lay out of reach now, forgotten.

"That wasn't a smart move. Now, I'll ask again," Mustang's voice rumbled in his ear. "How did you get in? And what do you want?"

Draco pushed against the other man's hold. How dare this filth lay hands on him?! "Let me go!," Draco snarled. Mustang's grip only tightened in response.

"I saw the light, I know what you did. Stop playing me for a fool and tell me the truth." Draco stopped his struggling at those words. So, this man was a wizard? Draco sneered, his pride pushing away his fear for the moment. 

"If you know what I did, then you are one stupid bloke. I am the Malfoy heir, unhand me at once! My father will hear about this! We'll report you to the Ministry for assault!" Draco hissed as Mustang tightened his hold yet again- he would most definitely be sore after this whole debacle.

"Ministry?" the man questioned. 

Despite the situation, Draco found himself smirking. "Yes, the Ministry of Magic. My father is a very powerful individual and we will make sure you are heavily punished for your crimes." The hands holding him slackened just the tiniest bit in response; however, they quickly tightened again when Draco tried moving away.

"Magic?," Mustang scoffed. "Do you mean alchemy?" 

Draco frowned. "No, I meant magic. Alchemy is a nearly dead art- why would there be a Ministry dedicated to it?"

At that statement, the man behind him made an odd choking sound. "Dead art?! What are you talking about?"

Now it was Draco's turn to scoff. "As riveting as this conversation is, your unrelenting grip on me is becoming quite painful. Could you unhand me now?" A beat of silence followed his question before the hands holding him loosened. 

"Just don't try anything funny. The next time you attempt something slick, I will tie you up and take you to a jail cell myself."

Draco shrugged himself out of the man's grasp of him, rolling his eyes as he did so. "Rest assured, I will not be the one in a jail cell" he muttered. 

Draco turned around to face Mustang, pointedly ignoring both the door and the wand. As much as he loathed to admit it, Mustang had a clear advantage over him at the moment. Although he was itching to get away from the brute, he needed to act more strategically for now. Besides, once the man realizes the mistake he's made, he'll be groveling on his knees for his forgiveness. 

Mustang looked at him intently, his eyebrows drawn in slight confusion and apprehension for a moment. "That accent. Where did you say you were from?"

Draco sniffed haughtily, pointing his nose slightly in the air. "I didn't, but I'm from Great Britain. Obviously."

Mustang nodded slowly, his expression turning oddly pinched for a second before it smoothed out. Draco watched as the man leaned backward and reached one arm back to the end table at the head of the bed. He opened the drawer and pulled out a single folded sheet of paper. 

Unraveling it, Mustang laid it in between the two of them. Draco glanced down at it- it looked to be a map. Unimpressed, he looked back up at Mustang. 

"Would you do me the favor of pointing Great Britain out on the map?" the man asked. Draco quirked an eyebrow at the request, before looking back down at the paper in front of him. It seemed like a waste of time, but he supposed he could entertain this man's odd question. 

Peering down at the map, Draco furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. This map... didn't make a lick of sense. The countries it listed- Draco had never heard of them before. Amestris, Creta, Drachma... what the bloody hell am I looking at? Draco looked up at the man across from him. "Are you pulling my leg? This map doesn't make any sense. I've never seen any of these "countries" before."

Mustang stayed silent for a moment, just regarding him with that strange unreadable expression from before. "Earlier you mentioned magic. What does magic look like to you?"

Draco's eye twitched in irritation. The damn git didn't even answer his question. Sighing, he didn't bother to hide his irritability. "What do you mean 'what does it look like?' Like magic! Wizards and witches using wands to cast anything from transfiguration spells to charms."

Mustang regarded him for a moment before raising his hand to his forehead. Draco watched incredulously as the man massaged his temples. He was acting as if Draco was a nuisance! The nerve!

The man sighed heavily. "Show me," the man said. 

Draco's eye twitched again. "Show you?"

Mustang glared at him, his mouth ticking downward. "Yes, show me. You're quite adamant in your statements. I'm curious to see what exactly you mean by 'magic.'"

An inkling of worry began to slither around in Draco's stomach. Was this man a muggle? No wizard would ask these questions of another.. unless they tended to be a paranoid bastard. Draco narrowed his eyes at Mustang, for the first time noticing his attire. His shirt was nothing special, just a form-fitted black athletic shirt. However, his trousers seemed very.. official. Almost militant. He narrowed his eyes at him while considering his request.

On one hand, he could take advantage of this. He could stun him and make a run for it. However, on the other hand... Draco's eyes flickered over to the map still spread on the bed. He had no idea where he was, but he was definitely not in England anymore. He wasn't even sure if he was still in his reality- the ritual he performed involved interdimensional elements, after all. 

Ultimately, it would be unwise if he were to toss away his only shot of an ally so early on. 

Draco looked back at Mustang, who still sat on the bed, patiently waiting with that same unreadable expression on his face. He sighed through his nose, closing his eyes briefly, before addressing the man in front of him. 

"I can show you, but I do need my wand. If I try to grab it from where it is by the bed, will I have your word that you aren't going to try to attack me?"

Mustang quirked an eyebrow at his question. "Your wand? I can just hand it to you."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Fine, then hand it to me." He watched as Mustang reached over the side of the bed, his gaze still trained on him, as he grasped the wand laying on the ground. Raising an eyebrow at Mustang's not-very-subtle skeptical look, Draco extended his hand out for Mustang to deposit the wand. As soon as his fingers touched the familiar wood, Draco felt a surge of relief course through him. What they said about wizards and witches being connected to their wands is quite true.

Focusing back on the task at hand, Draco contemplated for a short moment on what spell he should use. Something simple, but performative enough to convince the man in front of him... Wingardium Leviosa would work, but the wand work was a bit... much. Alohomora would be too subtle of an effect. Twirling his wand, Draco smirked as he settled on the perfect spell.

Turning his attention back on the silent man in front of him, Draco raised his wand, noting with slight, smug satisfaction that Mustang tensed at the movement. Quickly swishing his wand upward and muttering Lumos, Draco easily summoned a ball of light at the tip of his wand. Satisfied, he looked back at Mustang, who had moved back in alarm. He smirked, rolling his wand back and forth with his fingers. "See? Magic."

Mustang just looked at him, his skepticism now replaced majorly by wariness, as he said, "Alright... not what I was expecting."

Draco frowned, lowering his wand, and dispelling Lumos in the process. "What else would you expect?"

Much to his frustration, the man ignored his question, opting to ask one of his own. Leaning forward, Mustang regarded him again with that intense look- the one that made him feel like he was one step away from being executed on the spot. 

"I expect the truth this time. How and why are you in my home?"

Roy Mustang was a man of science. Cold, hard facts ruled in his mind, leaving no room for fantastical concepts without any standing behind them. 

And one fact is that this teenager in front of him recounted an absolutely ridiculous story. A story that made Roy itch to write off this whole situation as insane, kick the kid out and go about his life, nonsense-free. 

And he would have. Had he not seen that same kid summon a ball of light at the end of a stick that he called his 'wand.'

What. The. Fuck. 

Roy sighed heavily as his mind tossed around the story he just heard. So, the boy in front of him performed some dark art ritual and that was why he was in his room at one-thirty in the morning. 

Oh, not to mention, that he was from a whole different world. A world where grown adults waved around sticks and completely disregarded the rules of physics and alchemy. At least, this is the conclusion that they both reached when they both thought the other was crazy by the time Draco finished his story. 

Roy fought the urge to massage his temples again, as his head ached from the absurdity of it all. Sighing once more, he forced himself to focus on the boy in front of him. 

A few seconds passed as he tried to will his brain to work with him and brainstorm what to do next. When he kept drawing a blank, he knew he had reached his limit of ludicrousness for the day. Honestly, he may have reached that limit for the rest of the week. 

"Alright..." Heaving himself off his bed, Roy glanced down at Draco, who quirked an eyebrow at him. "I think that this is a good stopping point for tonight." 

"'A good stopping point'..? I have no desire to stay here for any longer than I have to. I want to go back home!"

Roy felt his eye twitch. "Yeah, the feeling's mutual, trust me, kid. But, considering the nonsensical things you just spouted that I now have to learn how to accept as fact, not to mention, that we wouldn't even be having this conversation had you not gone meddling in something you shouldn't, I say we call it a night." He gestured with one hand towards the bedroom door Draco had his back to. "So, we're calling it a night."

Had Roy not been as tired as he was, he might have found Draco's readily reddening and sour face amusing. However, he was exhausted and just wanted to have a little bit of time to himself to process everything and maybe the world would cut him some slack and let him get some sleep. 

Hopefully.

Draco glared at him. "...Fine. Show me where I'll be staying then." Roy's mouth turned slightly down. 

"Y'know, you could at least show some gratitude for me not kicking you to the curb." 

All he got was a scoff from the kid. Go figure.

Miraculously managing to not roll his eyes, Roy strode forward, opening the door behind Draco. Stepping slightly out into the hallway, he motioned to the door adjacent to his room. "You'll be staying here for the night."

Roy couldn't even act surprised as the boy just bulldozed his way past him and slammed the door behind him. 

Dragging his hand down his face, Roy closed his eyes and let his head lean back against his doorframe. 

This was not going to be a fun adjustment.