Protected

“You can’t be serious!” I screamed at my boss, when I found out what my next mission was going to be.

Kingsley Shacklebolt crossed his arms over his chest, frowning. “I realize you’ve had your problems in the past with him, but this is your job.”

“It is not my job to babysit,” I grumbled.

“Listen, Harry,” Kingsley sighed, “he’s the only key witness we have right now. We need to keep him protected, until it’s time for him to testify.”

Knowing he was right, but not wanting to admit it, I just sat and sulked. We’ve been very close in nailing down the rest of the Death Eaters who took over after the fall of Voldemort. I knew he was a good informant for us, but I still hated the idea of what I would have to do to keep him safe.

“You will both leave first thing tomorrow morning,” Kingsley continued, as he pushed two plane tickets forward on my desk.

I grabbed the tickets and studied them. My eyes widened when I saw the destination of where we were going. “The States?” I exclaimed.

“It will only be for a few months,” Kingsley replied, as he stood up from the chair, walking toward my office door.

“Sir?” I began again, looking up from the tickets and over at my boss.

Kingsley turned back around, waiting for me to continue.

“This place is safe, right?” I nervously wondered, never having been anywhere outside the United Kingdom before.

Kingsley nodded, as he opened the door to leave. “You’ll be fine. It’s actually where we send a lot of our protected witnesses. Strangely, they seem to easily adapt over there.”

When Kingsley left, I took a deep breath as I stared at the plane tickets again. “New York City,” I read. “I hope you’re right.”

*****

“Potter, are you sure about this?” he nervously said, standing outside the terminal.

After paying the cab fare, I turned around, ignoring his question and staring at the big building in front of me. I took a big gulp, before picking up our suitcases and carrying them over to a waiting line, where some husky man was checking everyone’s luggage. I would never admit it, especially to him, but I was very terrified of what we were about to do. I had never flown before. Well, okay, I had never flown on an airplane before.

“Potter?” he asked again, following closely behind me.

I continued ignoring him, concentrating mostly on my breathing tactics Hermione had taught me earlier. When I learned I would be flying on one of these things, I immediately went to her, knowing she has been on these a few times in her life and could tell me what to expect. Of course, I didn’t tell her where we were going. No, there were only three people who knew where we were going and that was Kingsley, me, and the annoying git to my left.

“Potter?” he said again.

“Damn it, Malfoy, what?” I snapped, finally having enough, as I turned to look at the blonde next to me.

Draco Malfoy just smirked at me. Prat. I’m sure he was more than thrilled to see he had irritated me once again. Yes, the cab ride over was most enjoyable, I must say. Oh, sorry. Please excuse my sarcasm. I tend to use it a lot.

After checking our bags and entering the terminal, we made our way over to another line. Now, if I didn’t ask Hermione what to expect, then I would definitely have thought seeing people standing in line carrying their shoes, instead of wearing them, would have just been plain weird. When we made it to the end of the line, I instructed Malfoy to take off his shoes.

“What the hell for?” he asked.

I clenched my teeth, but knew I couldn’t be too mad at him. I would’ve asked the same thing. Oh, all right. I did ask the same thing. “It’s a security issue,” I explained to him. “They just want to make sure we don’t have any explosives or anything.”

“Explosives?” Malfoy exclaimed.

A few people frantically turned around, after hearing Malfoy’s exclamation. I quickly covered his mouth with my hand, nervously chuckling at the people in front of us. “He’s never been on a plane before,” I began to explain.

Most turned back around, but there were still a few who were cautiously watching the blonde, glancing down at his feet a few times. “Malfoy, you can’t go screaming words like explosives and bombs in an airport,” I quietly scolded. “Now, do as I say and take off your shoes.”

Malfoy rolled his eyes and huffed, before unlacing his shoes and taking them off. I had secretly wished to see holes in his socks, but alas, there were none. I frowned, as I turned back around, inching further in the line.

“This is taking forever,” Malfoy groaned, after about five minutes.

I rolled my eyes again, but I couldn’t help agreeing with him. The line was going rather slow, and I just wanted to get on that plane already. I wanted to get this whole experience over with once and for all.

Finally, after about an hour later, we had made our way to the front of the line, where this huge contraption was standing in front of us. I remembered Hermione telling me about this, but I honestly forgot what she had called it. Something detector.

“Please remove everything from your pockets and put them in this tray, before entering through,” the lady next to the machine drawled.

I nodded, as I emptied my pockets and placed them in the tray. Not sure what would happen when I went through, I took a deep breath and held it, as I walked under it.

Beep.

I frantically turned around, not sure what had just happened. I turned to the woman, hoping she would be able to explain it.

“Sir, are you wearing anything metal?” she expressed.

Metal detector! I internally smacked my head, before nodding. The woman just shook her head, gesturing for me to step back out. The machine buzzed again, as I walked through, and I couldn’t help but look over at Malfoy. I thought for sure he would be laughing at me, but he wasn’t. He looked terrified, as he stared up at the machine.

“Please remove anything metal you may be wearing and step back through,” the woman instructed.

I took off my necklace, placing it in the tray, before holding my breath and stepping through once more. Thankfully, the machine did not beep, and I was free to go. I grabbed my belongings from the tray, waiting for Malfoy to enter next.

After emptying everything from his pockets, he slowly and carefully walked through, staring nervously above. I breathed a sigh of relief when the machine did not sound, knowing we had just passed one hurdle.

“These Muggles are insane,” Malfoy stated, as we walked further inside the terminal.

“They’re just doing it to keep people safe,” I responded. “Their world has become a very scary place nowadays.”

“I’m sure not as scary as our world,” Malfoy huffed. “Besides, it’s not like they have any Dark Lords or Death Eaters coming to get them anytime soon.”

I sighed, as we again found ourselves waiting in another line. Thankfully, this was at least the line to our gate. We were finally almost there. “No, but they have terrorists.”

“What are those?”

“Well,” I started to whisper, not wanting the other people to hear, “they’re these crazy people who usually follow some lunatic leader and kill innocents who don’t have their same beliefs and are just different than them.”

“Sort of like Death Eaters,” Malfoy mused. “Like, Muggle Death Eaters.”

I nodded, smiling a bit at his understanding, before handing the flight attendant my ticket when we reached the front of the gate. After Malfoy handed her his ticket, we walked down the tunnel, a bit frightened of where it was leading us. Of course, I was still putting on a very good show of not letting Malfoy know I was scared. Or so I thought.

“Would you just relax?” I heard him sigh.

“What? I’m not nervous,” I lied.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, I think the people all the way in the back would disagree, hearing you grinding your teeth so loudly,” he smirked.

I bit my bottom lip, as we continued walking. We were guided to our seats by another flight attendant and then we were finally able to sit down. Malfoy stole the window seat, but I didn’t care. If we were to fall, I definitely didn’t want to see it happening.

I buckled my seatbelt and leaned back on the seat, closing my eyes. I began my breathing techniques again, wanting to remain calm before the plane was to take off.

“Potter, what happens next?” Malfoy questioned, disrupting my thoughts.

“Well, as soon as everyone has boarded, the plane will then take off,” I explained to him.

“Oh,” he said. “Then what?”

I sighed, as I looked over at him. “Then we will fly to New York, where it will land and we will get off,” I answered.

“Oh,” he nodded. “How long will that take?”

“I don’t know. Eight hours?”

“Eight hours!” Malfoy exclaimed, causing a few heads to turn in our direction.

“Just frigging sit there and be quiet,” I commanded, through clenched teeth.

Malfoy crossed his arms in a huff, turning to look out the window. I turned forward in my seat, noticing the flight attendant already speaking about the safety precautions. I clenched the handrest a bit tighter, when I heard her begin talking about what to do in case of an emergency.

“Merlin, you really are scared, aren’t you?”

I quickly turned toward Malfoy, noticing him staring at me. I suddenly felt some movement and shifted my gaze toward the window, noticing the scenery start to move. I held the handrest firmly, feeling my body start to shake.

“Potter,” Malfoy said again, leaning a bit closer to me.

If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought he was actually concerned about me. I clenched my teeth and nodded, closing my eyes so I couldn’t see the scenery moving outside. I could feel the plane start picking up some more speed now and knew we were close to liftoff.

“I can’t do this,” I suddenly breathed out. “I have to get off.”

“I think it’s too late-”

“No, I need to get off!” I yelled, opening my eyes and staring at the blonde next to me.

Malfoy looked around the plane, seeing everyone staring at us. He returned his attention to me, narrowing his eyes. “Get a hold of yourself, Potter. You’re a Gryffindor, for bloody sake.”

I could feel the tears start to form in my eyes. What the hell was wrong with me? Why was I acting like this? Malfoy was right. I’m acting like such a coward. Bloody hell. Did I just say Malfoy was right? My heart was racing, as sweat started to run down my face. “Get me off, Malfoy,” I cried. “Get me off this blasted thing.”

“This is just like you,” Malfoy quietly spat. “Always needing to be the center of attention. Oh, look at me. I’m Harry Potter. Everyone should just bow down to me and do as I say,” he mimicked.

I glared over at him, feeling my anger rise. “I don’t think like that,” I growled.

“No, of course not,” he rolled his eyes.

I started getting even angrier now, always hating how people have this notion about me. I was anything but that type of person. I never liked being the center of attention. All I wanted was to have a normal life. “You have no idea about my life,” I finally said.

“Nor would I ever want to,” he sneered. “By the way, how’s the misses?”

I suddenly released my grip on the handrest, grabbing Malfoy’s wrist firmly in my hand. “Do not fucking go there,” I seethed.

Malfoy sat there smirking at me. Damn him. I wish I could just wipe that stupid smirk off his face. Did we really need his testimony anyway? I mean would anyone even know, or care, if the stupid git didn’t return with me when I came back?

“Congratulations, Potter,” he suddenly said, glancing down at my hand still clasped around his wrist.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, still not ready to let go of him just yet. “For what?” I snapped.

Malfoy motioned his head toward the window, causing me to glance over. I widened my eyes, noticing we were suddenly up in the clouds. I looked over at Malfoy, still noticing the little grin on his face.

“Wait,” I swallowed, feeling my throat become a bit dry. “Did you just say all that to distract me?”

Malfoy shrugged, before I finally released my grip on his wrist. I bit on my lower lip, as I looked from the window to Malfoy. I couldn’t believe he would actually do something like that for me. Damn it. Why couldn’t he just let me continue to believe that he is an egotistical prat, who only cares about himself and no one else?

“Thank you,” I finally mumbled, not able to look at him when I said it.

I suddenly heard a tiny snort, causing me to curiously look over in his direction. He looked over at me, smirking, “That really was hard for you to say just now, wasn’t it?”

“You have no idea,” I unexpectedly smirked in response. I’m telling you, those things are contagious or something.

Malfoy softly chuckled, before returning his attention to the window. I leaned back in my seat, and closed my eyes, fearful of how the rest of the flight was going to be. I mean eight hours on a plane with Malfoy? How will I survive? Oh Merlin, please, help me now.