CHAPTER FOUR

[Ease]

HARRY

Harry stepped off the daft bus with an uneasy gut and even bruises than before. The night air greeted his lungs with gasping breaths. He was thankful that he didn't have anything in his stomach at the time or otherwise he might have thrown it up. Apparently, Malfoy had the same idea.

He stumbled out behind him and almost tripped on the stairs. His hair was sprawled across his pale face with a hand covering his mouth and the other holding his abdomen. "I think I'm going to be sick..."

As soon as both his feet touch the ground, the bus is gone. It races down the abandoned street in the search for its next victims of the night.

Harry sits down on the sidewalk to try and regain his balance. The coldness of the pavement digs into his cut-up palms while a harsh gust of wind blows by and through his shirt. He grits his teeth and puts his head in his hands. There was a headache was pounding in his head and his panic attack earlier and the sharp jerks of the Knight Bus hadn't helped either.

Malfoy walks over and leans against the light pole with a groan. "Bloody hell..."

They sit there for a couple of minutes in a comfortable silence. Little to no one was wondering the streets this late at night beside a few night-owls that passed them without a second glance. Harry wondered how often this was a sight for them.

Harry looks up at the sky briefly and catches Malfoy doing the same. The stars weren't nearly as bright in the city as they were on Privet Drive but you could still clearly see the almost fully illuminated moon.

"Waning gibbous," Malfoy mutters, taking Harry slightly by surprise. Wizards barely referred the moon phases by their muggle names so it was a shock when they left his mouth, let alone him knowing what they mean. The action somehow left him a little more comfortable enough around him to spit something back other than a snarky comment.

"Yeah...," he lifts a hand to point at the sky, "and Orion."

Silence falls over them once again but this time it was slightly more uncomfortable. Harry takes the time to notice the crack on the bottom of his glasses' lenses. He inwardly groans knowing he'll have to put up with it until Hogwarts unless he got new ones, which, as he thought about it, wasn't that terrible of an idea. He's had the same pair since he was six. And they weren't even the best having to get them from Ms.Figg.

"Are we going to go in or not? Because quite frankly, I'm cold and in need of food. You should be grateful I even came with you..."

Harry grits his teeth. Back to being an annoying git as usual.

"Sod off Malfoy. I wasn't the one about to puke my guts out, was I?" He pulls himself off the ground but grunts in pain from his sore back. Malfoy's loathsome facade falters when he sees Harry could barely walk without wincing.

Malfoy bites his lip and turns his head away with a troubled look before taking a deep sigh. He slowly wanders over towards Harry with an extended hand for him to take. Harry racks his head for any type of sick trick this could be. Eventually, he finds none and lets the blonde pull him up.

Malfoy pulls Harry's arm around his shoulders and helps him walk towards the front doors of the Leaky Cauldron. He mummers something under his breath, suspiciously sounding along the lines of 'father will definitely not be hearing about this...'

He manages to open the doors with his free hand. Harry was immediately astonished by the different atmosphere the pub brings. Wizards and witches were packed into the small building with a variety of different bright, bubbly drinks in their hands. People were yelling and laughing everywhere he looked. Others were tightly twirled around each other and dancing to the music blasting throughout the room.

The scene caused a lump to form in his throat. All these adults were drunk off their arses. Harry knew every adult wasn't like Uncle Vernon when drunk but that didn't stop the fear burning in his chest. Just count to ten, Harry thinks to himself. It was a trick his first-year teacher taught him after being cornered by Dudley.

Malfoy pulled him through the crowd towards the bar counter. He had been so round up in his thoughts he hadn't even realized he had pulled up his jacket's hood to hide his face. It didn't do much though because people still drunkenly whispered as he passed.

"The Boy-Who-Lived..."

"....he has the scar, look!"

"Is that blood on his face...?"

"Someones with him..."

When they finally get to the front Malfoy manages to catch the bartender's attention. Harry's not able to hear most of what they say over the rush of blood pounding in his ears and the thunderous music.

"Sorry mate, there's just no more rooms left. It's The Festival of Wonder is today." The man winks and tries to pull away but Malfoy catches his wrist just in time.

"What do you mean 'Festival of Wonder'?"

"Well, you know, the legend of Cassowary and his comet. How it grants a miracle to all the lost souls." The bartender squints his eyes, "Have you really never heard of it?"

Malfoy shakes his head.

"Well, it's mostly just seen as an excuse for people to get laid these days. Kinda disgusting really when you think about the origin of the holiday and what it was meant for..."

Malfoy quickly drops the man's wrist. "Oh, okay. Thank you. Have a nice night." He turns back around to Harry and put his arm around the other again.

"Where are going...?"

"Somewhere else."

"Thanks."

The crowd started thinning out when they got to the entrance to Diagon Alley. They push through the newly installed door to be met with total silence once again. The streets were deserted and almost all of the stores were closed for the night.

"Come on. I think I know a place where we can stay."

Harry snorts, "And where would that be?"

"It's called Ebroin's Nightowls."

"Never heard of it."

"Good."

He doesn't care to elaborate so Harry had to refrain himself from pressing. The last thing he needed was a fight, especially in his current situation. Besides, his eyelids felt like lead trying to keep them open. The only reason Harry didn't pass out right then was his relentless migraine.

"Hey dung brains, we're almost there. Don't you dare fall asleep on me." Malfoy drags him around a corner and it takes him a minute for him to register it as Knockturn Alley. Harry pushed away from him.

"What do you think you're doing? Luring me into a trap, are you? Of course, you are, I should have expected it sooner..."

"Oh for Merlin's beard, Potter. Get your head out of the clouds. Not everything is going to be about you oh bloody 'boy-who-lived'. Other people have lives as well, and believe it or not, some are just as complicated as yours. Just because you haven't seen it yet, doesn't mean it gives you the authority to judge anyone that doesn't agree with you."

His face is slightly flushed and he's panting slightly. Harry stood uncertain, not expecting an outburst like that from someone as usually refined as Draco Malfoy. Guilt immediately starts eating at him.

"Look, I didn't mean too. I just-" Malfoy's cut off by a gasp escaping his lips. He leans up on the wall behind him and squeezes his eyes shut.

"Malfoy?"

He doesn't seem to hear me. Instead, he pulls his left forearm closer to his body in an agonized manner and a tight grimace on his face.

"Malfoy!"

Harry reaches out towards him but the blonde pulls back quickly as if his hands were made of knives. Malfoy's hands cradle his head and cover his ears. It looked like he was trying to block out something. Harry looked around desperately to see what was causing it. Nothing.

Suddenly, his eyes flew back open. They were wide in the fear that he knew too well. Malfoy took one look at Harry before turning away and spilling his stomach's contents.

~~~

"You done yet?"

"Fuck off."

There was a flush on the other side of the stall door then Malfoy came out looking slightly better than before. That didn't stop the smell of puke radiating the bathroom though. Harry scrunched up his nose and Malfoy sneered.

"You look no better yourself Potter so I would keep whatever you're about to say to yourself before I find my wand and hex your eyebrows off."

He ripped some paper towels off the roll next to me and Harry rolls his eyes. He turned back to the mirror and continued trying to get the dried blood from Dudley and his uncle off his face. You could already see a black bruise forming all around his eye along with the sleep-sunken bags underneath from the nightmares. There were a few cuts on his cheeks as well but those didn't worry him as much as the deeper one running across his temple. Now that the blood was gone it was clear that he might need stitches for it to heal completely unless he found a wizard or which nice enough to fix it for him in the meantime. Harry's nose ached too but that was the least of it. It was his ankle and back that was causing the most pain at the moment.

Malfoy walked out the door causing Harry to limp after him. They were only a couple of feet from the inn when Malfoy vomited the first time, so when he finished he just ran straight inside and into the bathroom. Harry had to apologize to the landlady profusely before following him inside. She only smiled warmly when they walked out. She came out from behind the counter and walked over with welcoming arms that reminded Harry of Molly Weasley. Malfoy gave a genuine, affectionate smile back that told him they obviously knew each other.

She was an old, petite woman in what was most likely her seventies. Her hair was a mix of black and grey put up in a bun held up by two sticks in through both ends. Everything about her screamed motherly.

"Draco," she walked up to him and gives him a big hug. "It's been too long! My my, you've grown, haven't you?"

He flushes. "Yes ma'am"

"You look sick, why, are you coming down with the Spattergroits again? I can go get a sickness potion from my stores. If that's fine by you- oh and who is this fine lad you brought with you?"

"That would be great Bramble, thank you. This is just a friend from school. We're in a little...predicament. I need to ask a favor of you."

"Of course dear, what is it?"

He looked back at Harry nervously. Harry can't hear their conversation, only the slight surprise on the witch's face tell Harry he begins to explain everything. Harry silently pray to Merlin that he leaves out the part with my uncle. He doubted it. He was a Malfoy after all. Political gain was the most important thing to them above all morals.

"Yes of course. We have an available room on the third floor. Are you sure about leaving?"

"Yes, I have to get back. Just one room please."

"Thank you so much." He gives her a hug and wonders back over to where Harry's standing as he goes behind the desk to get a key.

"One room?" He questions.

"I need to get back to the manor. She said I could use the fireplace to Floo back."

"So what? You're just going to drag me here and leave me wandless and without any of my school supplies or clothes?"

"I- you can get new ones. I'm going home."

"No, you aren't. Not until you help my wand back. I can't buy a new wand. I need that one." Harry crosses his arms like a stubborn child.

Just then the woman known as Bramble comes back. She hands him the small key and turns back to the blonde. "You know Draco," she says with a twinkle in her eye, "he has a point."

~~~

Take me back to the basics and the simple life

Tell me all of the things that make you feel at ease

~~~

Words: 2081 

Edited: 7/29/20