Awkward
"Shit." Harry muttered to himself, fingers crawling at his birds-nest hair, "Shit, shit, shit! I just tortured a random person." Stress seeped through him like a cup with a hole at the bottom, "I scared a random person, fuck." Harry repeated.
"Then he can get out of my bloody house." Sirius somewhat smiled, folding his arms.
"Pads, he'll be put in a mental asylum!" Remus told him, but looked at everyone in the room. "Names like 'Moony', 'Moody', 'Sirius', then there's the magic: and the kidnapping." He looked directly at Moody.
"He doesn't exactly have a normal name himself." Tonks mumbled.
"They'll dub the magic stuff down to trauma and he will go insane."
"I'll do it then." Declared Harry. Maybe I'll even apologise. All the adults turned to him but Moody, who grunted in agreement.
"Absolutely not, pup." Sirius glared at him, like it would un-convince him to do it.
Moody finally spoke up, "I don't see the problem: he's gonna have to when he becomes an Auror."
"Exactly!" Harry nodded, triumphantly when Sirius gave in.
"I'll go too." Tonks shrugged, "Kinda fond of his cold, nervous demeanour."
"That's fear." Remus corrected.
Tonks smiled at him, like what he said didn't make much of a difference. "As the Muggle saying goes: 'It's all swings and roundabouts to me'." Walking over to Harry, she grabbed him by the hood of his jacket. "Come on then Chosen One, let's get to Draco."
Stumbling, Harry quickly managed to find his footing after Tonks viscously yanked his hood, but his cheeks still turned pink. As they drew closer to Draco's room, Harry didn't actually know what to say. Does he apologise? Does he offer compensation?
Tonks unlocked the room and the blonde boy was exactly where they left him - surprise to nobody. "Hey..." Harry softly trailed off, scratching the back of his neck and then fiddling with the sleeve of his jumper. "So, erm-", After entering the room, Harry looked up. And by Merlin he wishes he hadn't because when locking eyes with the blonde he was lost for words. "I-"
"You're not Florian Malfoy." Tonks said, not looking at Harry but at Draco. God this is awkward. Draco is our hostage and we're going to just... let him go? Can I even call him Draco? Is that ok?
"Finally!" Exclaimed Draco, feeling the urge to throw his hands in the air, which he currently could not do. "I swear if you let me go, I'll tell nobody. Please, please let me leave."
"'fraid we can't do that..." Tonks trailed off. "We can take off the restraints but, well, you can't leave." All colour drained from the blonde's face. Trapped, confined, imprisoned. The orphanage was better. He had a warm bed with only a thin layer to cover himself but at least it was a bed; he was clothed and he could bathe. Most importantly, he was not held against his will!
Freedom was something he could kiss and hug, but now it was ripped away like the Fate's cutting a person's fiancés thread.
Nodding, Draco allowed Harry to come closer - it was like the blonde was a cat: Harry didn't know if he was going to pounce or purr. Shackle-free, Draco shook his wrists and stood slowly to stretch his back. Groaning, his back clicked and he wrung his wrists in low circles because the weight of the metal was still there.
Somehow, it felt like they were weighing him down, but Draco knew for definite that he wasn't a ghost in eighteen hundreds England.
"We can... assign you a room, if you- no, of course you'll want a room. Wait, do you want a room? Do you want to sleep in here? There's no bed, we could get you a bed!" He exclaimed so loudly Harry shied away, "Or... not..." Draco would have found Harry's incoherent babbling rather endearing if he wasn't a prisoner.
Tonks shut him up by putting a hand by his face and it was like she cast a freezing charm because Harry's mouth did not move.
"We can give you a minute, but we would like to talk to you downstairs soon. Out the room, down the corridor, right at the bottom of the steps turn left and that's the dining room." When Tonks made to leave, Harry and Draco locked eyes again.
Both looked as if they were desperate to say something, but Tonks pulled Harry's jumper again. "We'll leave you alone, right Harry?" Why the fuck is she so strong? Harry complained. If she pulled anymore she would have shredded his jumper in two down the middle.
Freedom... sort of. It's better than being bound to a chair, I guess. I could try some stuff that Moony did, see if it'll work for me... Draco already knew he could summon an object to his hand without having to move, but he hadn't tried the water one before. Like in science: air contains water vapour. Maybe if I concentrate on condensing that water I could... create a drop? No, I could do a whole litre - more than he did.
Eyes closed, Draco breathed in through his nose for a count of three and released it through his mouth in the same amount of time. Bringing his hands together, the grey-eyed teen imagined a thick line of water in between his two hands.
It started off as a droplet, no bigger than the unseeable rain that fell like tiny kisses on the skin.
To the rain in a hailstorm, then a flash flood. Eyes open, Draco breathed through his nose and mouth quicker than a count of three as he smiled, seeing a trail of water between his spread arms. It waved and jiggled as water did in a cup.
And nothing dropped down, not even the droplets no bigger than the unseeable rain that fell like tiny kisses on the skin.
Allowing the water to drop onto the carpet (it was ruined before he allowed the water to fall, if he was honest), to then replicate squeezing a mop for the water to evaporate into the air.
Draco wanted answers. He craved them, needed them. Hopefully, his kidnappers will give them to him.
Walking down stairs, the rambling chatter dropped to miniscule murmurs when he rounded the corner. There was Tonks and a guy with one eye in the corner, Moony and Sirius carrying plates of food each from the kitchen to the dining room, and Harry sitting at the table in silence.
"Hey Dray!" Exclaimed Tonks, waving him over enthusiastically.
The man with one real eye grunted, pursing his lips. "I better be goin' now. See you at the Ministry, Tonks." Draco watched as the man walked to a fireplace and grabbed ash. He didn't question it, although seconds later he certainly did, because the man threw the powder to the floor and called out the name of a place, who then disappeared.
"Someone tell me where that man just went!" He exclaimed, looking at all of them in panic.
Harry was still trying to wrap his head around what was going on. Florian Malfoy had a twin, a twin who looked so much like him but still so much different. And how can someone born from such a wizarding family know nothing about magic? Harry had so many questions, but he supposed Draco had them, too. And Draco deserved them answered more than he.
"It's called 'the floo'," explained Moony, "You pronounce the name of a place clearly, and then throw the powder at the fireplace."
"But how does that work!" He was like Florian, Harry thought, demanding things instead of asking.
"I... actually, I don't know." Moony answered, frown on his face as he tried to think over all the facts in his head. Sirius and Tonks didn't, either.
Sitting down for dinner, it was Draco who spoke first. "Seeing as I am some form of... kidnapped, hostage roommate, it is only fair I know your names, yes?"
Sirius bit his tongue as he wanted to bite the cocky kids head off. "I'm Harry, that's Sirius, Remus and Tonks." Harry smiled at him, though it was met with a weary grimace.
"Weird names." Harry heard Draco mumble and he wanted to smack him upside the head.
Whilst they ate, there was almost complete silence until Remus spoke up. "Harry, how are your studies going?" He said through an awkward cough that he played off as swallowing food that was too hot.
When Harry responded, Draco wanted to know what they all were. Like, what does Defence Against the Dark Arts entail? There's Dark magic? And, Care Of Magical Creatures: like unicorns, goblins? Draco almost laughed at his ridiculous musings.
When everyone was done, Sirius called for someone named Kreacher and they popped up, just out of nowhere. At this, Draco jumped from his seat. "Who-what is that?"
"Grey eyes, silver hair... Kreacher hasn't seen a Malfoy since little Florian was an infant." That thing said, "Mister Malfoy! Oh, what a pleasure it is to serve you once more. Kreacher will do whatever Mister Malfoy wants: just call and I will be there!"
The horrid little thing clicked his fingers and all the plates were gone, then he vanished himself. Draco wanted to run. To sprint out of the door, to not look back and to process the creature he just saw. "He's a House-elf, Draco. He's a magical being, like us. Nothing to be scared of." Replied Remus: Sirius was smirking and Harry was looking at the table, smiling.
Instantly, Draco snapped out of it and straightened in his seat and folded his arms. "I am not scared of that wretched creature. It came as a shock, that is all." When Harry openly laughed, Draco shot him a glare.
They wanted to keep an eye on Draco, fearing he would run, and so all sat in the living room. Sirius nursing a glass of whisky listening to some old records whilst Remus spoke to Harry about his parents, and what they got up to in school. On the other side of the room, Draco was reading a book found on one of the many random shelves in the house, this one titled 'Salem my heart'.
"Do you have everything prepared for tomorrow?" Harry asked Remus and Sirius in a hushed voice, believing Draco was too immersed in his reading to pay attention.
Sirius smiled, "Pup, I'll be walking out that trial scott-free, just you wait." He didn't look worried, but when Draco quickly glanced at the man his hand beside his leg was shaking. "Maybe even with some compensation." He shrugged, "A new house wouldn't be so bad, possibly a car or even an apology letter from the Minister read aloud in front of all the Ministry Officials."
Now, Draco was no genius on this weird fucking world he has found himself in, but he heard the words 'trial', and he doesn't particularly want to hear anymore. So, he interrupts. "Do you know my parents, then? If I am who you think I am, then you must know at least about them, surely?"
It was like the atmosphere completely shifted in less than the blink of an eye. "Narcissa, Narcissa, Narcissa..." Sirius sighed. Remus growled his name in warning, but the black-haired man took no notice, "Wonderful young woman she was: had a chance to prosper in baking when she was a teenager: loved it." He kept a level face, "Shame she married your no-good, blood-purist, bastard father."
Though Draco had never met his parents, he felt a need to defend them, to say something in their favour. But what would he be able to say? That they abandoned one of their children when he was barely a month old? He knew nothing: what Sirius said could be true.
His anger showed in his clenched jaw and thinned lips, "I will be heading to bed before I say or do something I may very well regret."
"Really, dear cousin?" (this was news to Draco.) Sirius raised a mocking eyebrow. Remus tensed. Harry didn't know what to do. On one hand, Sirius is, well, Sirius, but, on the other hand, he's unfairly laying into Draco. "Like what?"
"As I said, I may regret it if I do. However, if I was, I would say you are a bitter withered man in his mid-thirties with no direction in life, which is a sad fact considering you seem to have a child to care for. And the fact that you dress like a homeless man, or that you have this cocky exterior that anyone with a single brain cell can see through and recognise it's a façade for an insecure, insane person."
Just as Harry was about to jump in with anger flaring in his veins, Sirius laughed. "Definitely a Malfoy, kid, definitely a Malfoy." Draco was still weary, "Narcissa and I, we are related: cousins. She married Lucius Malfoy, your father. He is the follower of a mad man wanting to kill all the mug- non-wizarding folk, muggleborns and half-bloods."
"Who?" Remus explained blood purity, different types of Wizards and Witches, and even more. Draco sat interested during the whole conversation, Harry watching on and not minding the lecture if only to see Draco's curious face and hearing his questions.
"So... I am a Wizard, who comes from the Muggle World?" Draco tried to reason.
"Yep: same as me." Harry smiled, and Draco felt like he finally understood. Well, at least some of it.
"Remy and I are going to turn in, lads. See you tomorrow?" Sirius looked at Draco when he said that, who nodded, "Up early, remember." He said to Harry.
When they went upstairs, Draco's eyes went from Harry (resting against the sofa fiddling with the end of a jumper too big for his small frame) to the bottle of whiskey. From Harry, to the bottle of whiskey. Deciding not to care, Draco reached over for the bottle, just over half of it left. "What are you doing?" Harry bit, only looking and not reaching out himself.
Ignoring the question, Draco took a quick swig, screwing his face like a baby when they have a lemon as he swallowed. "Want some?" He offered to the red-faced teen, basking in his annoyance. "Okay then," He shrugged, "more for me." Taking another swig, it was just as painful as the first but even more satisfying.
"You can't just take someone's stuff!"
Draco's lips drew in a thin line, "And you can't take someone from their home, either. It's called kidnapping. Pretty sure I don't have to ask to have whiskey, because I wasn't asked when I was knocked out."
"This is different!" Weakly defended Harry.
Draco snorted, "Of course!" Harry went to talk, "Look, Harry, if you have nothing nice to say, go drown yourself with some conjured, magical water." Getting up, Draco took one more gulp, wiped his mouth gently with the sleeve of his shirt, and traced his steps through the house to the room he was taken to.
Before realising he had no bedroom, or clothes to sleep in, never mind not having a bed. Unluckily for him, when someone knocked on the door it wasn't the competent adults, but the fifteen-year-old who couldn't even do his hair in the morning. "Hey erm- just realised you... er- you don't have a - um - a bed. So... well... follow me." Embarrassed for him, Draco obediently followed behind.
They wound up in Harry's bedroom: decorated with posters and a few of his own stuff. Hanging on one wall was a bit of wood, like the top of a broomstick.
Whilst Harry was turned around, going through a draw, Draco perched himself on the closest bed. "Here, they might be a bit big on you but short. Sorry, I don't have anything else for you to wear." Turning back around, Harry threw then at Draco who silently took them.
Awkwardly, they both stood there until Draco said, "Turn around, Harry."
Blushing, Harry quickly did, "Oh! Right. Sorry." Whilst Harry aimlessly stared at the door, counting the chips in it, he heard the faint ruffle of clothes. "Are you done yet?" He didn't get a reply, "Take that as a no, then." He mumbled under his breath.
"You can turn around." Harry knows he was meant to dislike this kid - him being a Malfoy and all - but there was something about having him in his baggy but short clothes that knocked the breath out of him.
Draco settled on one of two beds. This one moulded to a smaller body.
Harry sighed, sliding under the covers on Ron's bed. "G'night, Malfoy." He whispered.
"Night, Harry." Draco said back.
Harry couldn't help but think that if Draco knew his last name, he'd be known to him as Potter.