Butler in Britain

Chapter Four: Draco in Harry

Everyone has a story to tell. Behind every person lie a thousand thoughts that had driven him or her to the person that is right now. Every piece of memory affects our judgement, our whole being, our borne identity but most of all, our dreams. We dream of telling stories to our grandchildren beside the Christmas tree, while the lights blaze and the ground is soft beneath the snow. We dream of them smiling while their eyes sparkle in adoration.

But what if our memories are stolen from us because of a decision we had to make?

And all our ideas and fantasies blur and we end up hoping that the vivid dreams we have at night, the ones that makes us smile, were once real. What if we tried hard to fight our feelings penetrating inside even though nothing could keep them apart? What if we found love in the most unexpected place but the new memories we have created with this person yearns to be forgotten?

What if we fall in love when we know that we have to say good bye?

Ginny Weasley fell in love. She fell in love without opening her eyes or clearing her ears. She didn't fall in love with his masculine face or outrageous popularity. She fell in love with his sweet words that rang through in his heart. She cried, laughed and sang her way through him.

But most of all, she found herself when she found him.

All love stories are the same, and their story started out as clichéd as the first love story ever made. They went through countless of problems and they nearly succumbed to tragedy.

I'm telling you this because the guilt is overpowering my whole body, and because after all, I played a rather big role in their affair.

*.*

Draco grabbed at his hair as he endured the painful sensation that was going throughout his whole body. His skin was pinching from all sides and he felt his hair growing thicker yet shorter within his very hands. He wondered frantically, what's happening to me? But he knew there was nothing he could do, for the very thought of calling out to Creevey for help made him sick to his stomach. He was too weak to even breathe. He choked once or twice and by the time he had sunk down to his knees, he heard Creevey shouting.

"Someone's here to see you!" he had screamed.

Draco allowed a good three painful minutes to pass before fully standing up, straightening out the tuxedo that was not his, and smoothing through his hair. He was surprised to find that it felt softer within his touch, but he dismissed the thought as soon as it came, thinking that the grease the twins had used on it was cheap and thus couldn't hold his hair for long. He walked on wobbly knees, squinting to see properly, and found a blurry image that was definitely Creevey, and opened his mouth for what he hoped to be one hell of a cursing.

"Creevey, what are you talking about--" he began.

"It's me, Ginny," a soft voice floated from in front of him; a voice that unquestionably didn't belong to Creevey.

*.*

There was complete silence as Harry drove Hermione's car. He glanced at her as they came upon a stoplight and saw that she was in a deep thought as she sat beside him without so much as a word. It was evident from the way her eyes were glazed and the way she was absently biting her fingernails that she didn't want to be disturbed.

As the light turned green, Harry asked from out of the blue, believing that whatever it was that she was thinking it needed to be shared badly. "What seems to be the problem?"

Hermione gave a fretful sigh before answering. "There was another attack--and it happened right under our noses."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry as he swerved right, now even more anxious to get to Grimmauld.

"Happened last night, in Beresford--room 1056. It's just that--we had Malfoy and everything, but he didn't even notice anything suspicious or--"

"Malfoy's not prepared for attacks right now, even the smallest of them." Harry protested, as soon as he got the gist of what Hermione was saying. "He's still very vulnerable after the accident."

"Accident?" Hermione shrieked disbelievingly from her seat, her eyes opening wide in bewilderment. "Pardon me if I'm wrong but you were the one all infuriated and livid when you first saw him. You used to be one of us!"

"I know I always convinced myself and the entire Wizarding world as well," Harry responded calmly, "that it was Malfoy's fault--but last night..."

"What happened?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows provocatively.

"Last night, they asked me to go through all of Colin's tapes to see if there was any clue as to who his attacker might be. I saw the trial, Hermione. Malfoy's trial we never really bothered going into. I saw why the jury let him slip. I saw why Malfoy still hasn't been stripped from his powers, and why he had not experienced nine years of torture in Azkaban unlike the other Death Eaters."

"Enlighten me."

Harry looked away from Hermione and pretended that he was concentrating on the road. He sighed--the same way Hermione had sighed before. His forehead was wrinkled with worry, and all the years of stress and problems were suddenly weighing on his face. "He was crying."

"Harry, Harry, Harry..." Hermione groaned loudly, not even trying to hide her growing detest for the subject, "he was in court. Of course he'd do anything to get himself out of it."

"Open your eyes, Hermione! Draco Malfoy? Trying to get out of something he's supposed to be proud of?"

"Malfoy's a coward, Harry!"

As soon as Hermione's words rang into Harry's ears, the blue Chevy took a sudden curve into an empty driveway and stopped right there. The move was so fast and unexpected that both passengers were thrown back into their seats. Hermione panicked momentarily, knowing all to well that for Harry to stop the car in an emergency meant that she had offended him in more ways than one. As she feared, Harry turned to her, every curve of his face in serious mode, and whispered, "He saved Ginny's life. He can't be a coward."

She gave a defeated whimper as she sunk down unto her seat. "I don't understand you. First, you were Mr. Gloom and Doom, telling us that Malfoy spying for the Order is a bad idea. You almost ripped our heads off even when we told you our plan and now you're saying this? That Draco Malfoy is innocent, just because he saved Ginny's life which was probably something he didn't mean to do in the first place?"

"I knew you wouldn't believe me, Hermione. That's why I brought it with me." Harry reached out to the compartment and from there, pulled out a tape that Colin entitled as: Malfoy's Trial and placed it on Hermione's lap. "I think the reason why Colin taped this is because he felt that Malfoy was innocent too. Remember, Colin knew more than all of us combined...he was the one spying on Malfoy the entire time. Give it a try, Herm, and when you truly consider what Colin and I both believe in, please promise me that you would look into it...that you would help me investigate."

Hermione bit her lip as she stared at the tape. What was in it that made Harry change his mind so suddenly? If there was one person who truly despised Malfoy, it was him, so what happened in the trial that made him believe otherwise? And Colin too...if what Harry was saying was right, if Colin indeed thought that Malfoy was innocent, if that was his reason for taping the trial...then why? He was one of those who have seen Draco Malfoy at his worst. He was at the scene of the crime. He was one of the witnesses.

So why would Colin believe that Malfoy was innocent?

Hermione felt a cold shiver down her back as she asked herself the question she had feared the most, ever since Harry brought the subject back up after nine years.

Was Draco Malfoy innocent?

Draco Malfoy, she thought silently, what are you hiding from us?

"I really want to help you Harry," she said in a pleading voice, "but I know that even after I watch this, I know in my heart, I wouldn't buy one word that will come from Malfoy's mouth. That's why I need you to tell me this: What did you do while you watched Malfoy testify?"

"I closed my eyes Hermione," Harry answered quietly. "I closed my eyes and listened."

*.*

Now, Draco had no clue as to who Dinny was supposed to be, but from the way Dinky's voice sounded, he was pretty sure that whoever was standing on Potter's doorway was a girl. Even though he couldn't really see her, he still gave her a smile (My smile that melted a thousand hearts, women and men alike, Draco thought sinisterly), and decided to get his 'groove' on.

"I can't see you right now," said Draco, in what he hoped was a husky tone, "there's something wrong with my eyes but lucky for you, there's nothing wrong with my heart. What are the odds, my lady, of an ugly person bearing a beautiful voice like that? I don't need eyes to see, I just need my heart to beat and that is enough for me to know that I had fallen in love with a blurry red image that is you."

Of course, nothing that came out of Draco's mouth was even a bit near the truth, but after all, it was Draco Malfoy talking in Harry Potter's body (although he didn't know that), and there were only three things that Draco understood in his small, demented world: 1 - Snape, 2 - Potions, and 3 - Girls. And he knew very well that what he had just uttered were the very words, women (and men) craved for.

"Oh!" she had cried out before flinging herself into his arms. It took Draco a moment to find out that the girl was crying on his shoulder. "It's been so long since I've seen you! You don't know how glad I am for changing my mind!"

Draco was certain that he had never seen her before for Elise was the only person he knew that belonged to the opposite sex while he was in Azkaban. And even if by long she meant his time spent in prison, he was pretty sure that no girl loved him this much.

"Uh..." he mumbled in between her sobs.

"I am so sorry for quitting the Order. I was selfish and lazy and I didn't want to help anyone but myself and--"

"Hey," Draco interrupted, "being selfish is not a bad thing. Sometimes, you have to think for yourself and for whatever you might be interested in."

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, for right after he spoke, the girl had broken up in his arms once more, this time with disgusting snot to accompany the tears. As she sobbed, Draco decided to think things over. The girl appeared right after he had drunk the Potion--maybe she was the effect that the Potion made.

That's just silly, thought Draco, why would Granger give you a Potion that would make girls appear?

But somehow, Dinky was the only explanation he could find.

Of course, due to all the commotion that happened, Draco never really bothered looking into a mirror. If only he did, he would've found out the answer to his question staring right back at him--with a huge scar on its forehead.

*.*

She couldn't believe Harry understood all this time. She always thought that he had imagined ten different ways of beheading her, after she had proclaimed her decision on that fateful night. After so many years, she had missed his touch. She always craved to comb his hair while they were talking on the phone. She had always lusted over his scent every time he sent her a letter. There was this one time when she told Hedwig to nibble his ear for her while she wrote her reply which consisted of her explanation of Hedwig's sudden ear lust. After a few days, Harry owled her back, ordering her to stop sending kisses through his pet, for he was finding it hard not to kiss Hedwig back. Hermione thought that kissing an owl was rather unhygienic.

"I missed you too much," she uttered when she finally let go of him with a huge smile on her face.

"Uh," Harry responded. He was wearing a very confused look indeed.

"Where are your glasses?" she asked sweetly.

She looked around in a feeble attempt to find his glasses, just in case he forgot them clumsily on the table, but instead she spotted Dennis standing in front of a wall, studying the wallpaper closely. She heard about him losing his memory from Hermione. She always pitied him ever since.

"I don't need any," said Harry scruffily, "there's just something wrong with my eyes. I don't know what it is--"

"You've been experiencing astigmatism throughout your life. I think that's what's wrong with your eyes."

Ginny giggled as soon as she saw Harry's shocked face. She knew he was acting of course. They had talked about astigmatism a few times, in front of the fire, as they drank wine that was left from supper.

"So, what were you planning for today?" she asked him as she gave him a flirty wink. "A walk in the park? Dinner in Swiss Chalet? Tell me! I'm bubbling in excitement!"

"Well right now, I can't seem to remember what our plan is since you've just bombarded me with the saddest news I've ever heard!" he cried out in a pained pitch.

Ginny dismissed Harry's weirdness with a shrug. "It's okay if you didn't make any reservations. I forgot to do something anyway. You don't mind do you?"

"Mind what?"

"It's Thursday," she answered quite impatiently, "you know what I always do in Thursdays."

"I guess so," said Harry, seeming to her that he was more confused than ever. She had no clue why Harry was acting very weird, as if he was seeing her for the first time. She truly hoped that he was just not feeling very good today, for if it was more than that....well, she preferred not finishing the sentence. At least, not right now.

*.*

The stranger led him into a garden filled with stones. She bought some flowers on their way, telling him all about how she had missed him and how annoying cameramen were. He had absolutely no idea what she was going on about, but he occasionally filled her with "Oh yeah?", "That's nice," "Cool!" and his all time favourite, "Uh." He learned that one from Crabbe.

They passed dark alleys on the way, although Draco wasn't quite sure if they were indeed alleys or if they were really dark since everything was a huge blur. She told him that by passing this way, they could avoid the cameramen. (Again with the cameramen! Draco thought tiredly. Why can't she pause and explain to me what they are for just a second?) She didn't stop walking until they reached a silent place, where the garden was littered with grey stones and a strange smell filled their nostrils.

She stopped at one particular stone and placed the flowers beside it. He watched her as her shadowy figure knelt, contemplating in the peace of it all, seeming to him she was in a deep prayer. He soon found out that he was mistaken when she spoke.

"Quitting the Order had a back side unto it," she murmured quietly, "I know we talked about this a couple of times and I talked about it with my brother, although we had a huge row after that."

"Uh," he responded.

"But can you tell me at least? Sometimes, I feel mad at Hermione when I think about the Memory Charm she did on me. Sometimes I feel like yelling at her, asking her why she erased that particular memory of mine...everyone else knows about it."

"Uh."

"All I remember is this: I was there when my father was killed. I saw it with my own eyes, but those facts are just hazy scenes that I dream about when my brain's yearning to break through the spell. I remember myself crying at night begging Ron to tell me who or what killed our father but he wouldn't say a thing."

"Uh."

"I know it's one of the cases the Order takes care of and I know you've ridden me of those memories for the safety of your agency but..."

She sighed shakily. He didn't notice for wasn't listening. He was too busy squinting to see where they were.

"I simply satisfy myself thinking that whoever killed my father was drunk. He probably didn't know what he was doing, or he was confused and crazy. That right now, he's rotting in prison, forever guilty of the crime he did."

Draco suddenly felt a chill going down his spine. They were in a graveyard. The familiar smell, the creepy wind blowing through his hair--they were standing upon dead bodies buried six feet into the ground.

And this girl--

Dinny--

She was crying over someone dead.

"Please tell me," she sobbed, her voice cracking, "please tell me...I can't rest until I know who he is..."

Draco bit his lip, feeling pity seep through his skin. He didn't know who she was, but to hear her cry and beg in front of him broke his heart--if he had one, that is.

Trying his best to comfort her, he knelt down beside her and held what he hoped was her hand. Words flittered inside his mind and the wheels in his head were turning as fast as they were worth for.

I don't know who killed your father...I don't even know who I am right at this very minute...you're very beautiful, you know that right? Even though I can't see you properly...maybe I changed and you're not seeing me right now but someone else...because no one...not one person...can ever love me as much as you're loving me right now...this isn't real, maybe I'm dreaming...but dreams are supposed to be perfect...she seems like a perfect person...except she has a dark past...this isn't fair...I'm happy and she's crying for Merlin's sake...

But Draco decided to keep his mouth shut, and instead said the first few words that he felt was the right thing to say.

"I'm sorry," he murmured softly, "I can't."

*.*