Adaptation

Chapter 3

Draco followed Harry as he purposefully strode towards a particular place. Harry walked so briskly that he had to remember to check whether Draco was still close behind. A left turn revealed an offshoot alley of shops. Glancing casually, but deliberately, around the area Harry then deemed it okay to enter a particular café. The café was relatively small and hidden compared to the bolder and more decorated shops. For a moment Draco wondered whether the ordinary looking eatery was a place only magical folk could see, but a quick inspection of the small crowd inside revealed that the people were Muggles reading the daily newspaper over their pot pies and cups of tea.

Harry did not wait to be seated, rather choosing a booth in the back corner of the small shop. Draco slid into his side of the booth, somewhat bemused by Harry's behaviour.

'Sorry about this, but I sensed Hermione wanted to know what I had to tell you. Had we stayed at HMV she surely would have tried to eavesdrop somehow. I suppose she's probably noticed we're not there anymore...she can take that up with me later,' Harry explained in a steady voice.

'No complaint here, Potter. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's none of her business,' Draco responded, actively attempting to speak of Hermione in a civil manner so as not to antagonize Harry.

A middle-aged waitress ambled over to the two young men. Harry ordered a pot of breakfast tea and two servings of sausages and potato mash. When the lady moved back to the counter, Draco pressed Harry for the news he had spoken of.

'Potter, I can take it. Whatever it is. Just tell me,' he insisted. A spark of fire could be seen in his grey eyes but Harry wasn't looking at that particular moment. The Boy Who Lived was in a moment of inner conflict. He shifted uncomfortably, glancing to his left so as to avoid Draco's gaze.

'Potter...'

Harry raised his hand so as to stop Draco from pressing further.

'Listen Malfoy, I'm not even supposed to be contacting you about this. I don't owe you anything. But I think you should know. Besides you've offered your allegiance if I ever need to call upon it,' Harry began, becoming slightly animated. A grimace appeared on Harry's face. 'Your father...his trial has been scheduled. The new Ministry...'

'When and where?' Draco gasped. He felt as if someone had punched him in the gut, winding him and making it hard to breathe.

'I can't reveal that to you.' Harry had tried to say this coolly but failed. He knew what it was like to suffer the loss of loved ones. He thus could somehow relate to how it would feel like to have effectively lost loved ones in the sense Draco had. Even if their undoing was their own evil fault.

'Potter, I need to know,' Draco implored, leaning forward in an attempt to show how serious he was. 'What's going to happen? Does my mother know?'

Draco suddenly felt lightheaded and faint. Inside his conscience burned and his mind throbbed. Harry leaned forward, stressing the secrecy of the information he was passing on.

'Malfoy, there's something else. Your mother...'

'What?' Draco whispered firmly. 'What about her?'

'She's been found. She's being held by the Ministry...Listen Malfoy, you can't do anything about this but I'm telling you because otherwise you won't know anything. No one will tell you because no one knows where you are and some people still want to question you, or put you away, over Dumbledore... and your father's involvement with Voldemort, and your own part in the whole saga...even though, you know...anyway, I didn't want you to find out about this by hearing it as gossip on the grapevine or on the front page of the Daily Prophet when it's reported on soon...'

Harry stopped, unable to take in Draco's reaction. The blond haired wizard had momentarily gone blank before a visceral look of pain washed over his face before giving way to a brave façade that indicated he was trying desperately to hold it together. The suffering he had endured, partly due to his own fault, seemingly had culminated in this excruciatingly sad moment.

'She was found? But how...They're going to be...,' Draco mumbled, almost inaudibly. 'Killed...or are the Dementors back on the good side...their souls instead...'

'I don't know,' Harry admitted, squirming a bit.

'Of course you know,' Draco reacted with an edge of anger. 'You're the hero! They would tell you these things.'

'I'm telling you, Malfoy, that I do not know what's going to happen to them. But it certainly looks grim and I think you should prepare yourself. I don't know what your plans for the future are, whether you're going to keep living here in London for awhile or not, but since you can't exactly return to the wizarding world for now...just, I don't know...'

'I could go back, you know,' Draco said rashly.

'No Malfoy, you can't. Not right now anyway. Not when this whole ordeal still feels so raw and recent to everyone back home. Some people are not very forgiving, you might as well be a Death Eater in everyone's eyes.'

Harry was stating the obvious, but somehow hearing it out loud stung Draco more than he thought it would.

Still in shock, Draco took a deep breath and kept trying to compose himself.

'So I'm supposed to keep myself in hiding whilst my parents are put on trial and probably sentenced to death or worse...that's just brilliant, really brilliant. I suppose it's all well deserved in the end, but still...I suppose I don't even have a wand too which is also hilarious...a pure-blood living amongst Muggles...punishment enough, ha ha...'

A heavy, bitter silence followed. The two wizards picked at their food when it arrived but neither was very hungry any more. Harry looked at his watch and announced it was time to get back to HMV. Draco obediently followed Harry back to the music superstore, shaken and defeated.

When the two wizards approached HMV, they noticed Hermione standing at the front of the store with her arms folded and a sour expression on her face. Harry muttered to himself and shot her a warning look but it was futile.

'Where have you two been?!' she spat. 'I was worried sick. Absolutely worried sick.'

'Hermione, it's fine,' Harry said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

'It's not fine! Why are you even talking to Malfoy anyway? Why won't you tell me anything?' she demanded to know.

Draco couldn't hold his emotions in check any longer.

'Oh shut it, Granger. None of your business and you'll find out soon enough anyway,' Draco snarled. 'I'm sure you won't feel sorry for me because I don't deserve pity so why don't you just forget about it, okay?'

Harry didn't respond to Draco's outburst, which annoyed Hermione but she did not engage in a war of words. Instead she just glared at Draco and fought back the emotions she was feeling. She had endured so much too...sometimes it was like people forgot that fact.

'I'll be going now,' Draco decide out loud. He gulped before putting on a brave face once again. 'Potter thankyou for contacting me about...about you know what. I appreciate it.'

'Just...don't do anything that's...,' Harry began.

'I assure you I'll be in the hell-hole that is this world for the time being. I will not try and return to the wizarding world and break in to the Ministry or Azkaban, if that still exists. Although death may be a better price than effectively being banished and reduced to living like this,' Draco said woefully. 'Being stripped of everything you are. Everything. It's like I don't even get a second chance. That's it.'

Harry and Hermione were somewhat taken aback by Draco's admissions. They did not move to say goodbye. Harry searched for something comforting to say.

'At least in the end...in the end you chose the right side. Dumbledore thought you were worth saving,' Harry said. 'Just wait it out. There could be a second chance. You'll get to come back, perhaps by proving your allegiance to those who matter.'

'Perhaps,' Draco muttered.

Hermione bit her lip and looked away for a moment. Then she sighed and turned back to speak to Harry.

'Are we just letting him go, like this?' she asked Harry through gritted teeth. 'I loathe him but still...'

'I'm standing right here. I can hear you,' Draco said. He looked around helplessly. 'Don't start pitying me now, Granger.'

'Well, I know I said you don't deserve my pity and I know you don't want it...' she retorted.

'What are you suggesting?' Harry asked.

'I have no idea,' she shrugged, frustrated. 'Forget it. Malfoy, I'm sure you can get back home from here, right?'

Draco did not respond. His mind was reeling and he was lost in every sense of the word.

Harry shook his head.

'Make sure he gets home,' Harry insisted to Hermione. 'I have to get back. I have a meeting with the Aurors.'

'Well I have to meet Ron!' Hermione exclaimed.

'Hermione. This is important. I'm sure Ron...'

'Ron already hates the fact I agreed to help you with this...'

Harry wasn't having any of it. He had important business to take care of with the Aurors and had to return in time.

'You agreed to help me with this. So honour your promise,' Harry said firmly, looking his friend in the eye.

Hermione scowled but accepted the fact there was no backing out.

The two wizards nodded in acknowledgement of each other. Harry hurried off, destination unknown. Draco figured Harry would soon apparate to wherever he was going or venture into a wizard area like Diagon Alley.

'Come on,' Hermione sighed, leading the way back to the correct bus stand.

'Why did you even agree to be the one to babysit me?' Draco asked. 'You could have said no.'

Part of him was so completely miserable and helpless that he felt that provoking Hermione would at least make him feel slightly better. It was petty and childish but comforts to him were few and far between.

'Rubbish. I had no choice. Ron probably would've gotten you lost and for some reason this is really important to Harry,' she replied.

'So you and Weasleby, I mean Weasley, finally together I gather?'

'I know you're just trying to annoy me, Malfoy.'

Hermione clutched her bag tighter and quickened her pace. Her shoes clacked on the footpath and she appeared to be very flustered. Malfoy sauntered behind her, taking his time, knowing it would irritate her.

'Well my life is pretty much over. You can't blame me for at least trying,' he said bitterly after awhile. He suppressed the urge to break down. He was not going to show weakness. He had already conceded certain realities but he wanted to retain what little dignity he had left. 'Me, a pure-blood living among Muggles, whilst you, a mudblood get to live happily ever after...'

'Well you played your own part in your own fate,' she snipped, ignoring the fact she was just called a mudblood.

'That's what people are probably saying about my father. And my mother,' Draco mumbled.

The bus ride to outer London was uncomfortable and seemed to drag on time-wise. Draco slumped in his seat. Hermione, having refused to sit next to him, sat behind him once more and looked out the window.

Looking over his shoulder, Draco stared at Hermione. He tried to remember what his life was like five years prior. Just memories now, he thought.

'What?' Hermione asked when she caught him staring.

'Nothing.'

'Why won't you answer me about Weasley? Come on, I have no entertainment around here. Unless you expect me to watch Coronation Street or Emmerdale or Casualty on that idiot box you call a television.'

'Wouldn't learning about what other people are doing make you more miserable?' Hermione scoffed. 'Finding out what you're missing out on? As in friendship, love and everything else life has to offer.'

'Not if it's not worth missing out on,' Draco quipped. 'I contend Weasley is in that category.'

It was a bizarre defence mechanism but not a surprising one. Sarcasm and other people's misery to make oneself feel better.

'Well you're wrong.'

Hermione would not say more. She was blushing a little and she knew it. Draco snorted.

'You don't think you're better than that? Even a mudblood like you could do better than that.'

'Shut up, Malfoy.'

Hermione wondered whether the insult was really a back-handed compliment...and if so, what it really meant. Draco turned back around and waited for the bus ride to end.