Draco's summer was going with a bang. Remus, Sirius, and Snape were finally making up for all that lost time, which, in Draco’s opinion, had been spent more often than necessary on family discussions and arguments. Draco was still confused about the whole timeline of him becoming part of their family though.
“You need to be on that train,” Draco exclaimed, frustrated at how many times they'd had this argument (to his memory, thrice). They were seated in the lounge area at Spinner’s End. Sirius lay on the sofa with his head in Remus’s lap, while Snape was in their bedroom packing their belongings and making arrangements for their stay at Grimmauld Place. Draco had spent the afternoon trying to work his Patronus charm, but for what felt like the thousandth time, he had failed again. Try as he might, he just couldn’t get the hang of it, hence his request for Remus to accompany him on the train to Hogwarts.
“Why?” Remus asked absentmindedly, too engrossed in carding his fingers through Sirius’s hair.
“Because…” Draco made an effort to lower his voice to remain calm, “because in a couple of weeks, when they find out that this one,” he waved his hands at Sirius’s lying form, “is not in prison, they will unleash dementors on the school train, innocent kids be damned.”
“How can you say that?” Remus asked with a curious hint. “The aurors have never done something like that.”
“Because for starters, it’s Harry, and anything that could go wrong will absolutely go wrong for him—”
“I can attest to that,” Snape seconded in a bored tone, coming to sit down on the floor with his back against Remus’s legs for support.
“And Dumbledore has never proven to be circumspect of child safety. I don’t aspire to die at a young age or worse,” Draco shuddered just thinking about it, “have my first kiss with a dementor.”
“That’s a harsh sentence, even for you,” Snape remarked.
“What, the death or the first kiss part?” Sirius said cheekily but was quickly silenced as Draco threw a cushion at his face.
“Will it be fine?” Remus pulled Snape’s hair to get his attention.
“It should be,” Snape replied contemplatively. “But you never know. The Ministry could very well commit to such stupidity.”
“Fine. I’ll be on the train,” Remus said resignedly.
“That way you two get to play out the angsty, broken-hearted estranged lovers in the Great Hall,” Sirius drawled.
“Oh, shut it, Padfoot,” Snape said with fond affection, and Draco shuddered.
Draco’s visit to the Zabini’s had led him to meet the Countess, which had probably been the second most awesome thing since he arrived in this world. Theo and Neville had also joined them for a brief (three-day) stay. Most of the visit was just Blaise and Neville stressing over getting Theo out from the shadow of the Notts and finding a better living space. Then there was the whole matter of Vince and Greg and their sorrows. Vince had lamented how he would have to pay attention to studies now if he wanted to be emancipated from his parents. Greg was just worried he would be separated from Vince.
His visit to the Lovegoods had been more than good as well, albeit a little weird at times. Especially when Mr. Lovegood had decided they needed to fish for the rainbow shell inkgills for dinner. They had ended up covered in mud with weird scratches and rashes that needed Pomfrey’s care. Then there was Pansy and her weird insistence that Harry was over the moon for Draco (which, admittedly, was true, but the real question was how Pansy found out?) and Draco needed to do something about it (which Draco had no idea what to do). Then there was Luna and her little persistence that no matter what, Draco should be the only one to throw Harry his birthday party.
Ginny and Luna took it upon themselves to plan the birthday for Harry, and Pansy promised to set everything up from Portkeys to lunch and movies. She had even asked Harry, ‘if your muggles are going to be a problem?’ to which Harry had said he would ‘talk to Archie to sort it.’ Apparently, everyone and their parents, except Draco, was on a first-name basis with the Gastrells.
......
Draco had never thought that saving someone could be such a mundane task. To be honest, Draco never thought he would be the one saving others in the first place. As a small kid (yeah, he was a typical puny kid, so what?), he had always thought he would be the stereotypical side character in any story who gets bullied and trampled over by both the protagonist and antagonists the same. He could be the cause of bringing two individuals with savior complexes together, but he never thought of himself as the one saving others.
That had changed when he arrived in this world and saw that green-eyed brunette with the bad family (which somehow wasn’t even the case anymore) and idiot wizards trying to sacrifice him for the greater good. He had promised himself to change Harry’s circumstances, even if it cost him his life. But all seemed so redundant now, especially in the face of the new family Harry had somehow found without his help at all.
“Can we provide them any protection at all?” Draco asked Remus during one of their ‘family discussions’ resigned to the stupid wizard laws.
“None of us can get them out of their parents' houses without their parents’ consent, you know that,” Remus said placatingly. “We can have a place ready for them when they come to us, but we can’t take them away from their homes.”
“If we interfere in any way, it could end up turning into a big public fiasco or even a criminal case for us,” Snape interjected. “Unless they are either emancipated or have us named as their guardians… somehow.”
“But that will take months, and what if their parents find out and try to stop them?” Draco was frustrated to no end. The same laws that were supposed to protect the children had failed Harry spectacularly, and now this. It was always the same rubbish, whether in Draco’s world or here, the stupid laws.
“They will be safe in Hogwarts,” Snape reminded him softly.
“Between the trolls, Forbidden Forest, the monsters, and Dumbledore's brilliant record of drafting teenagers and sacrificing them in war? Sure, let's go with that,” Draco snapped.
.....
At the start of the last week of July, Draco packed up his stuff and got ready to spend his week with Neville. Snape, Remus, and Sirius (or his Adults, as he had started to call them) were going to move to Grimmauld Place and try their best to get it into livable conditions. Draco was awfully melancholy to separate from these three.
He was greeted by a very excited Neville, an unexpected Blaise, and a very unimpressed Augusta Longbottom at the Floo. After the whole Pureblood shenanigans of tea rituals, Draco was led to Neville’s room and finally let in on the secret of Blaise’s unexpected presence.
“Ok, out with it… what are you guys on about?” Draco asked, getting comfortable on Neville’s bed. Blaise looked at Neville, who was honestly glowing for lack of a better word.
“We won’t be able to join you guys for Harry’s birthday,” Blaise said, taking a deep breath as if to fortify himself.
“Ok… didn’t we already know that?” Draco asked, looking at Neville.
“Yeah, we did,” Neville replied, his voice positively giddy, with a large grin on his face.
“I’ll be announcing my Intent of Courting Neville on Harry’s birthday,” Blaise said in a rush.
“What?” Draco said, a little confused.
(“Next time when I tell you to read the small print, you should probably listen to me,” Vii quipped.
“A little less sarcasm and more information, please.”
“It’s the point where I talked and you screamed at me and I quote, 'nope, not doing that, too much pedo-ish for me',” Vii replied.
“Oh right.”)
“Yeah…” Blaise hesitated.
“When did that happen?” Draco asked, and Blaise gave him a weird look that belatedly translated into ‘are you seriously that oblivious?’
“I don’t know, a couple of years now? You’ve been there the whole time,” Blaise grumbled.
“So you and Neville, huh?!” Draco trailed off.
“Something like that,” Blaise muttered.
“Can’t see your grandmother very happy about it,” Draco said to Neville.
“Oh no, she’s happy for sure,” Blaise joked.
“She’s beyond happy. She’s ecstatic about how her useless grandson was finally worth enough to form a formidable alliance with the Zabini’s,” Neville said with a self-deprecating smile.
“Oh… That hurts.”
“Tell me about it,” Neville sneered.
.....
Harry’s birthday proved to be a weird experience for Draco (not the real birthday, but the extenuating circumstances). It started with Vii's weird exclamation.
“You do realize he intentionally got all dressed up to show off for you. Right?” Draco had just Apparated to Privet Drive when Vii said it, and Harry, with his guard dog (that’s what Draco was going to call him from now on), came into view.
Draco had to agree; Harry looked all dolled up and handsome, for lack of any other word. Draco and Harry talked almost daily through the mirror, but hehad somehow missed Harry growing what felt like a foot over the summer. His swimmer’s build was a little more prominent than the last time he had seen him. His clothes fit him well and looked new, not hand-me-downs from his cousin. At this point, Draco had admitted to himself that Harry had gotten fitter over the summer. It was… distracting.
“You think he’s still on that tripe?” Draco asked, more for his benefit than Vii’s.
“Honey, he’s thirteen, and being a wizard and all, he has chosen you as his life partner. He’s literally programmed to think like that. For all you know, the next time you meet, he will be the one announcing his Intent to court you.”
“Hey,” Harry had said bashfully and hugged Draco, who had been too busy in his internal monologues.
“Hello. Can’t honestly say it’s good to see you, though,” Archie had said with a sour look on his face.
“Huh?” Draco had blinked at Archie, as Harry had looked at the both of them with amused fondness, still at a loss as to what he had done to Archie.
“Let’s get on with it, shall we?” Archie had said, unencumbered. “It’s 12 o'clock right now; you have 5 hours, to be exact. I expect you to bring Harry, unharmed emotionally and physically,” Archie had given Draco a fierce glare, “back here at 5 o'clock sharp. If you are even a second late, be sure I will be notifying the authorities of a potential kidnapping. So I hope you remain punctual for your own well being.”
“Please don’t,” Harry had whined.
“Are we in accord?” Archie had asked, his eyebrow raised, as Draco blinked at him, feeling more than a little like an idiot.
“Yes…” Draco had said uncertainly.
“Please don’t listen to him,” Harry had said when they arrived at the restaurant for their reservation. “I think Archie has the wrong idea about us.”
“Like what?” Draco had asked a little humorously.
“That we are on a… date,” Harry had said sheepishly.
“Oh,” Draco had said, not really knowing what else to say and was saved from replying with anything else by Harry asking about Neville and Blaise and that had been that. After that, the day had gone as planned (by Pansy). They had lunch and went for movies. Draco was still not sure how Pansy had managed to plan the day, let alone how she had known about the cinema. But all in all, it had been more than good—from the lunch to the movie to the milkshake after. By the end of it, Draco had more than a suspicion it had been a date, and he had played the oblivious fool to a T.
