Chapter 7
Drao
“e on,” Harry had said. He was tugging on Drao’s hand, hair still messy from sleep and a smile pying over his fae. “It’ll be fun.”
Drao didn’t wa want to beause Harry was making him go outside, and to Diagon Alley no less, where he wnized, where people would stare and mutter and snarl awful thiheir hands and maybe everippi his feet, and he would be with Harry, and if Harry saw all that he would realize what an awful mistake he had made, what kind of person he had io his home—but Harry was smiling down at him and touhing him and Drao is quikly losing his ability to say no to things when Harry is looking at him like that, so he throws the b off of him (I don’t sleep very well, Hermione said whe a bundle of blue into his hands, so I thought I’d make you ooo) ao his feet.
“Alright,” He had said, even though the thought of stepping foot outside this house makes his stomah url in on itself, and Harry’s smile gets bigger. “I’ll go, you bastard.”
There was no bite in his words, and two hours ter he found himself walking through the Leaky , listening to Harry say hi to Old Tom, who despite everyone who had been lost i few years, uttering around in his bar and hurning out pots of watery offee. When they walk out into the alley, Drao has to squint against the sudden burst of sunlight, and rowds into Harry without notiing it.
“Alright?”
Drao kh to really say it, that if Drao truly wasn’t alright, they would turn around and apparate home a, and Harry would spend his day off like he had speher day off. But suddenly, Drao wah this alleyway and squeeze his way through the other shoppers with seoed to be a free man who didn’t feel like he o be in hains. Ahe only way to do it is to fae thihis head on.
And besides, Harry was with him. It’s hing was going to happen when Harry was with him.
Drao takes a deep breath, fores himself to be the oake the first step into the rowd, even if he does searh behind him and keep his fiouhing Harry’s wrist, like Harry was a life buoy and he would drow go for even a seond.
“Alright.” And it was.
&o the apotheary first. That was the whole poirip, beause he and Hermione needed s for their experiments, and when Drao had given Harry the list, he had looked faintly embarrassed and the he had o look for.
“You really like this stuff, huh?” Harry was sitting up oer, beause the girl behier was friends with him and deided she ould take a break while he was in the shop (not like anyone’s going to try anything with you in here, eh, Harry?) so it was just the two of them. Drao ouldn’t imagis Harry beio limb up on ounters and pik up items that he had no iion of buying just te at what was inside. Shool Harry had been muh less imposing, but maybe this one had grown into his skin a bit more.
“I do.” He had a full basket beside him, full of odd bits of this and that. “It was always…soothing I guess.”
“And yood at it.” Harry offers, and his gaze was fixed on Drao oming so sudden that Drao duked arou of shelves to break it. “You always did like being good at things.”
“That art of it.” For a mht they were ing along the edge of something gerous and thought about pying along, this moment ihiely different. And he ould have, god knows he’d do his throat seemed to dry up and the words would. He holds up the basket to break the tension, instead, f a friendly smile on his fae. “You want anything?”
Harry startled, jumping evehe irl (Hahe bak, the bell oinkling. I was o know that Drao wasn’t the ohe tension in the air. “hed the bak of his nek, ruffled his hair so it fell down over his sar. He was due for a hairut soon. “Not from here.”
They bouore to store, after that, from the book store to the deli to even duking into Bin and Burkes for some reason (Drao had the sneaking suspiion that Harry was either trying to i is some detetive work while Drao’s bak was turil finally ndih supply store.
“I want a new broom.” Harry said, running his fihe hahe ohe manager had left for them to suspet, eyes ing. Drao figured this is what he must have looked like bak iheary shop. “Deserve it, after st year, huh?”
&.” Drao waso living with someone like harry, a person who had felt what it was to o onserve money. In Drao’s house, if you saw something you wanted, you got it, . (Eve wasn’t moary.) “Use some of your Prophet money.”
&rials after the war entered arou aories they had been pri was as if they had turhe whole building upside down and shook it, ued editors and writers had fallen out, fired and without ao turn tot a lot of reparatiohe things they had pri him in his fifth year.
Harry looked tempted for a moment, but the bak and looked around for the manager, who he either wao say good bye to or thank. He’s alolite to the people ould I fly it, anyways?” But theurning bak to it again, so