Chapter 3
To Draco’s surprise, it was Sirius who was stood outside the next morning, knocking at a much more acceptable time of day. He was leaning somewhat heavily on a cane, which surprised Draco even more. Perhaps it was why Sirius never seemed to be doing any actual farm work.
“It’s Harry’s day off” Sirius said, but the bags under his eyes and the paleness of his face made Draco believe that Harry was missing because of the dinner the night before.
“Some of Molly’s boys are here to help Remus around the farm, so you’ll meet them later. Ron’s older brothers. I thought today I would take you round the local village and get to know my cousin a bit better”
Draco nodded and smiled, and some of the light went back into Sirius’ eyes. Sirius led him to a garage a little ways off from the big farmhouse, inside which was the land rover that Remus had first picked Draco up in about three days ago. Sirius eased his way in. He looked stiff and ungainly but not in any pain.
Draco slid in the front on the other side, and they were off. It was a maybe 15 minute drive, and Draco stared at the fields as they flew by his window, blurred white dots of sheep adorning the landscape. Then, a few houses joined the sheep in the fields, and before he knew it they had entered a little village. The buildings were small and quaint, mainly red brick. They had manicured front gardens and little white fences and Draco felt a little like he had fallen into an Enid Blyton book.
Sirius parked down one of these residential streets, and indicated for Draco to get out of the car.
“This tiny village is called Hogsmeade. There’s an okay pub here with good food, and a market on spring and summer weekends. Just on the other side is the big supermarket where we buy essentials.” Sirius explained as they made their way down cobbled residential streets, until they came upon quite a large square with a fountain in the middle and a large, old looking building on one side.
“This is the centre. That building right there is the village hall. It used to be like the government of this little place and the surrounding farms but now it’s used for the primary school disco, bingo night and various other communal events.”
Draco nodded as he took in his surroundings. The square was lined with boutique clothes shops and tea shops and cafes and charity shops. It was very quintessentially British, the sort of place his private school mates’ grandparents would have lived. Life must be so boring here, he thought to himself. He couldn't imagine living in a place so small, where everything must have been so slow paced.
“Right, let's get some tea. The scones aren't as good as Molly’s, but they are good.” Sirius said, setting off towards one of the tea shops Draco had seen, choosing a table outside and lowering himself into a chair, more gingerly than Draco had seen him do at home.
“Who’s Molly?” Draco asked as he sat, drawing one of the laminated menus towards him.
“Ron’s mum. You must have met her when Ron took you to get some more suitable clothes” Sirius said and Draco remembered the warm and motherly woman at Ron’s house, who seemed so overflowing with love, a stark contrast to Draco’s mother. He adored her, but her capacity for love was limited at the best of times. She showed her love though gift giving and quality time rather than hugs and kisses and Molly seemed to be the opposite.
“Their house is called the Burrow. Ron is Harry’s best friend, has been since they were both born. Ron is the second youngest of seven, with Ginny being the youngest and only girl. You’ll meet two of the older brothers later, they're helping out Remus today and will stay for dinner.”
“That's a lot of children” Draco said, dumbfounded that anyone in the modern day and age would have any more than three kids.
“That it is, but I’ve never seen a man and woman more in love than Molly and Arthur, even if they have a unique way of showing it,” Sirius replied, smiling gently at Draco. It made Draco relax for the first time since he arrived, the look of friendship on Sirius’ face.
The two of them spent a pleasant day around the village after their tea, which was delicious. Draco was glad he couldn't drive otherwise he would be at that tea shop every single day of the summer.
Sirius showed him around, pointing out the historical buildings and who lived where. They went into some of the boutiques, and Sirius bought Remus a thick knitted fisherman’s jumper, telling Draco he tries to buy Remus something every time he comes to the village. It warmed Draco’s heart to see such easy love between two men. It wasn't something he had ever had the privilege of witnessing, and seeing proof that he would be able to live a happy domestic life without a wife meant more to him than he had ever realised. He even found his eyes pricking with tears a bit to hear Sirius talking about Remus with such love and adoration written across his face.
They walked for about two hours, going around the tiny village about three times. Sirius knew most of the locals by name, and they all greeted him cheerily, which he hadn't expected. His view of old english villages were that they were all quite racist and homophobic. When he voiced this to Sirius, he hummed.
“It took a long time for them to get used to us, and I think a lot of that comes from the fact that we don't live here, so they never have to see us be that affectionate or anything. We only come to this village for the communal events. Not only are we careful to not be overly affectionate in front of everyone, but we also almost always have Harry, and the locals will always love us more for what we have done for Harry than they’ll hate us for being gay.”
Draco felt sadness at the resignation of his tone, but he also wasn't naive enough to think that everyone was accepted everywhere. He was also burning to ask what they had done for Harry. Sirius didn't seem inclined to share though, so he tucked it into the mental folder he had of Harry, which already included being called James, and the sadness it caused.
Seemingly eager to change the subject, Sirius stopped abruptly and said “right. We just need to pick up Hermione then it’s home for lunch” with forced cheer.
They wandered back to the car, and Sirius knocked on the door of the house they had parked in front of. A tall black woman opened the door, her face set like thunder. She broke out into a smile when she saw Sirius though, and drew him into a crushing embrace.
“She’s just upstairs” the woman said to Sirius, with a strong Caribbean accent. She then turned to face into the house and hollered “Sirius is here sweetie” up the stairs. At the noise, a black man who Draco assumed to be her husband wandered out of another door and greeted Sirius with enthusiasm. Then, Draco saw a girl who must be their daughter descend the stairs. She was in knee-length shorts and a cropped polo shirt with converse. Her hair was in box braids and hung to her waist, tied back into a low ponytail.
She had thick rimmed glasses on, and Draco found her strikingly pretty. She threw her arms around Sirius's neck, and then immediately started talking a mile a minute about her school studies as she waved goodbye to her parents and got into the car.
“Hermione, this is Draco. He’s my cousin, staying for a few months and helping us with the farm” Sirius said when she finally paused to take a breath.
“Hello Draco” Hermione said to him, smiling warmly. she too had a carribbean accent, though less thick than her parents'. her voice was rhythmic and soothing.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Hermione,” Draco replied, happy that she seemed to have taken to him faster than Harry and Ron.
The drive back consisted of Draco and Hermione discussing their studies after realising that they had both studied English and History. Hermione had then also studied politics and sociology, and Draco had done French. They discussed which exam boards they had done, what their A-Levels had been like, and discovered they had also done the exact same History exams.
Sirius looked amused but stayed silent, and the drive was over before Draco knew it. They all piled out of the car and Draco noticed that Sirius was leaning on his stick even more heavily than before. The walking around the village must have been hard on him.
Noise reached them before they even opened the kitchen door. Voices so deep they bled together. When Sirius opened the door, Draco saw Harry and Remus sat with two ginger boys he hadn't met before. They were all shovelling pasta into their mouths in between sentences, and Draco took a moment to appreciate how much energy farm work must burn.
Sirius announced their presence and Harry’s face stretched into a grin as he yelled “Hermione!” and leapt up, hugging her with so much enthusiasm he lifted her off the floor. She laughed and hugged him back with as much force, before he set her down and got out three bowls, before sitting back down and pulling her down next to him.
Sirius sat next to Remus, who was watching his limp with a concerned expression. One of the ginger men shifted up to allow Draco to sit, before passing him a bowl filled with pasta with tuna and sweetcorn.
“Charlie, Bill, this is Draco, Sirius’ cousin” Remus said.
The two other men barely spared a glance at Draco but both said “y’alright, Draco” in perfect unison. They both had long ginger hair pulled into buns at the back of their necks. Bill’s ear was adorned with piercings, and Charlie had strands of hair falling into his face that he kept tucking behind his ear. They looked so similar to Ron, only older, and Draco was confused at how anyone could tell the six boys apart when they were all together, not that he’d met them all yet.
“Where’s Ron?” he asked once everyone had finished eating.
“He’s helping mam. He’s the only man in our family with any skill in t’kitchen” Bill said, and Charlie chimed in after, saying “There’s a little party in the village tomorrow for Saint Dunstan’s day, and mam bakes the cakes for it every year, and Ron has helped since he was tall enough to see over the kitchen counter”
The image that conjured was so sweet. Draco had never done anything like that with his mum. She used to take him to art galleries sometimes, and then to posh cafes afterwards, but she was never an ‘arts-and-crafts mum’ as she referred to them, usually with disdain.
“Molly’s cakes are God's gift to this earth” Sirius said and everyone around the table nodded vigorously, and Draco was once again struck by the sense of community he had found here. This life was so different to the one he was used to, and while a mere five days ago he thought it was an inferior way of life, he was starting to see that maybe his life, with its lack of true connection and friendship and love was the inferior way. This kitchen held more warmth than his whole childhood had, and Draco found that hard to fit in with his world view.
At nineteen, he was being forced to face the fact that maybe, just maybe, his worldview was wrong. It wasn't a comfortable feeling.