Prologue
"Wake up." Someone jostled him. "We are almost at the station." It was Harry, way too chirpy for Draco’s peace of mind.
"Well, someone is excited," Draco grumbled, rubbing his eyes.
"Well, yes!!!" Harry exclaimed just a tad bit louder for Draco’s ringing ears. (Maybe he should have stayed behind and let Pomfrey do her thing.) "Archie wrote that he would be at the station to get me. Well not at the station, station but outside the barrier… him being muggle and all. You get what I’m saying right?" Harry babbled on to Draco’s confusion.
"Archie???"
"I wish he could come inside. Maybe you could look into it, Hermione? I just know him and Phill and Marie would just love Magic." Harry kept on babbling to Draco’s befuddlement.
"Back up. Who’s Archie?" Draco physically grabbed Harry’s face to stop him from babbling on and focus on what Draco was saying.
"My neighbor," Harry said easily enough. "You know who they are." Harry enunciated his words as if afraid Draco was not comprehending intentionally and forgetting about three whole characters from a book series. (which he was not.)
("Am I going crazy Vii? Who is this Archie?"
"No idea. Maybe he’s the intruder?"
"What do you mean no idea? You’re supposed to be my all-knowing guide through this world."
"Yeah sorry… my rebellious phase comes with a price. On the other hand, we can totally go check out this Archie guy and you can try to figure it out."
"Idiot, stupid good-for-nothing System.")
"-do you think Marie would mind sending us more cookies?" Draco focused on the last thread of what Hermione was saying.
"Who’s Marie?" Draco would have questioned his sanity if this was the real world, but right now he was starting to believe that he had made another jump to a new world while he had slept.
"Archie’s fiancée. You know, who usually sends us cookies on Easter 'cause Phill is just shit at baking." Harry was looking at Draco weirdly.
"Are you ok?"
"Are you missing memories?"
"Maybe we should send for Madam Pomfrey or Professor Snape?" This is from Harry, Hermione, and Blaise. Some of the most intelligent people in this world (in Draco’s opinion, well not Harry per se.) and Draco was ready to get checked in St. Mungo’s.
"Maybe I should meet Archie," Draco muttered and Harry went on a rant about how great Archie, Phill (Archie’s fiancée), and Marie (Archie’s other fiancée???) were and how excited he was to see them again.
Thirty minutes later they were off the train only to be waylaid by another train of redheads. (Someone should make sure to teach these Weasleys contraceptive charm or else the world will be seeing a redocalypse in the near future.)
"Hey boss," Fred said coming to stand next to Draco.
"Will we be seeing you anytime this month?" George said coming to stand on his other side.
"I would hope so-" Draco was saying as Ron piped up from…. somewhere between the sea of red. "Why would you be seeing them?"
"Top secret-"
"Confidential business." Fred and George teased back. As the Twins and Ron started a bickering match Draco felt Harry hold his hand and pull him.
"You still want to meet Archie?" Harry whispered as Draco nodded and turned to say their goodbyes.
Somehow in this small a time, Ginny had sidled up to Ron and the both of them were promising unimaginable torture to Twin’s new prototype products. It was good to see Ginny again though. She looked way better than the last time he had seen her. Pansy and Luna were standing on either side of her and supporting her war against the Twins. Pansy quite vocally while Luna was more the silent supporter.
Harry and Draco said their goodbyes before Pansy could turn on Ron and went out of the barrier to the muggle station.
Within a second Harry was engulfed in a black shroud. Quite literally. The guy currently giving Harry a bone-crushing hug was covered in black. From his short black hair, and grey black eyes to his black button shirt, black trousers, and black shoes. It was a barrage of black on black on black.
After the shrill excited greetings, the black figure turned towards Draco. The bright and sunny smile was instantly replaced by a cold calculating and quite frankly the most fearful glare Draco had seen ever. Draco was at a complete loss for…. how many times since he came into this world.
“You must be Draco.”
("What bullocks are this Vii?" Draco thought looking at the Character Tag for Archie.
"No idea. I’ll go look into this.")
Either Vii was playing with Draco or the System had finally glitched out. The Character Tag which normally showed all the character details including the way they will die, was just a blank space except for:
Name: Archie Gastrell
Age: 32 years
"Yes, Hello. I’m Draco Malfoy. Good to meet you." Draco gave him a polite smile despite his uncertainty and misgivings.
"Wish I could say the same." Archie gave him a sarcastic smirk as Harry turned to wrangle his luggage. "From what Harry wrote you are the one who enables his ill-advised adventures into the unknown."
Ok, now Draco has started to freak out. ("Who the hell is this guy, Vii?")
"I’m sure you would have loved to stay but it’s time we be heading out." Archie glared at Draco one last time (Draco was starting to get a complex) and turned to Harry all smiles again. "Marie made your favorite Quiche. Your aunt and uncle won’t be back till tomorrow so we get to have dinner together."
"Yes!" Harry gave an excited fist bump in the air grinning widely. "Will I see you anytime soon?" He asked Draco.
"You bet you will." (Need to keep an eye on this shady bitch.) Draco gave Harry a crushing hug of his own before saying goodbye and offered his hand to Archie a.k.a the shadowy bitch. "I guess I’ll be seeing you around as well." Archie held his hand and tugged Draco closer.
"You bet you will." Archie gave him a sinister smirk. "You better be taking proper care of him, you little shit," Archie whispered.
Before Draco could even comprehend what all of that was about Archie took hold of Harry and turned away. Draco stood there looking at Harry who kept waving to him till he disappeared in the traffic, a smiling Archie leading him away.