12 Grim Old Place

Chapter 15
Date Started: 03-12-07
Pairing:
Disclaimer: Yep. Don't own them. Wish I did...but nope. The idea wasn't even mine. It was Yami Bakura's. I had thought of something like this... but my idea was a lot stickier so I knew deep down I'd never write it. XD http://hp.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=1296771786

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Harry sat, impatiently staring at the clock. Hedwig was out hunting so he didn't have to think about her. The puffskein had taken to sleeping in his bed with him but that really didn't bother Harry. The only thing that mattered was what was happening at midnight.

The small light changed. 11:58.

Harry inwardly groaned and reached for his wand off the table. He wanted nothing more than to freak his family out for all the mistreatment he'd had to indure. It just wasn't normal to stick a small boy in a closet under the stairs. It wasn't normal to make him wear clothes about five times too big. He didn't plan on doing anything as drastic as sending his uncle flying through the air...

He did want to give Dudley a nice matching set of ears to go with that tail.

He knew that his cozy little family were probably all sitting around the TV. Dudley would be allowed to stay up late because he whined and he was so spoiled that denying him anything meant things getting broken and tables turned over. Dudley was strong for the short pudgy destructive thing he was.

Harry was secretly glad that Dudley would be awake. All the better for him to show off his coming of age. It would be nice to celebrate with a few fireworks with his family? How would he know they wouldn't love it...?

His eyes traveled back to the clock. If he didn't know better, he'd say that time actually went slower when you wanted it to change. It was almost as if time enjoyed playing cruel tricks on people. He reached for the furball beside him and pulled it into his lap. His fingers lightly traced the soft furr and he heaved a sigh.

Only 11:59.

Shifting his hands to lightly cup the puffskein, he lifted it closer to his face, puckering his lips and glaring faintly. No matter what he seemed to do the creature never did anything but practically purr from time to time. He scooted himself on the bed so that his back was against the wall and waited out the remaining minute.

After he'd finished making a few various faces at the puffskein, his eyes landed on the clock again.

12:02.

Harry could feel his body slump and sat the puffskein on his bed before picking his wand back up. Time for the show...

He slowly walked down the stares before peeking into the living room. He wasn't really sure what he should do so he grinned and watched the family live in their few remaining moments of normality.

His eyes fixed on the cozy little scene playing out infront of him. His Aunt and Uncle sitting cozily on the couch and Dudley lumped up in the lounge chair. Harry would have snorted but he fought it back, simply studying them and when they didn't move after the commercials went off he assumed that they planned to watch the next program.

Casually, Harry stepped into the room and moved to sit in the chair across the room from Dudley, all eyes suddenly turning to glare at him. He couldn't help but smile inwardly.

"What are you doing, Boy? You should be in bed..." Vernon snapped, adjusting himself on the couch so he could better glare at Harry much to what seemed to be Petunia's dismay.

Harry knew that she knew. That made it all the better for him.

"I came to watch the telly."

Vernon's face was slowly turning pink. Harry felt delighted.

"Why...? None of your folk are on there."

Harry felt slightly tempted to argue that fact, after all it was a little obvious to him that as much as the wizarding world and muggle world were seperated that some things still leaked through the tiny cracks. "So? I just want to watch the late night news with you."

Vernon was now a nice shade of red that could rival Ron's flaming hair. "Get upstairs! You don't need to watch it!"

"No." Harry said flatly, staring blankly at the screen.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

Harry turned and glared. All he wanted was to sit there. They made him do it? "I will not."

"GET UP THOSE STAIRS BOY AND BE QUIET ABOUT IT!" Vernon bellowed.

Petunia looked pale and Dudley was smirking. Dudley always did seem to find amusement when Vernon took to yelling at Harry.

Harry frowned faintly and stood. "No. I will stay down here as long as I like. You're not my-"

"Not your parents, eh? Then get out of my house!"

Harry glared, reaching for his wand.

"OUT!"

His hand clentched around the base so tightly his knuckles turned an unnaturally white color. "NO!"

Vernon seemed to shrink at the sight of Harry's wand. Petunia's was nervously patting Vernon's shoulder and quietly suggesting going to bed.

Harry glared at his guardians before he turned his head to glare at their son and almost laughed. Dudley was clutching the arms of the chair and looking deathly pale. You'd think he'd seen a ghost or something. That boy wouldn't stand five minutes at Hogwarts.

"You wouldn't boy! They'd-"

"No they wouldn't... I'm of age now." Harry said with a satisfied look.

Vernon blanched and Petunia looked nervously between the men of her life.

Harry watched them a few seconds more while the drone of the newscaster's voice echoed softly in the background. Once Harry felt satisfied he sat back down in his chair. It took Uncle Vernon a few minutes before he got up the courage to even move and another half hour before the man had stood, grabbed an unexpected Harry and shoved him promptly out the front door.

Harry cursed under his breath and turned back to glare at his uncle, raising his wand just as the door was slammed.

"WE'RE LEAVING! GO PACK! NOW! GET UP, DUDLEY!"

Harry sat there on the walk a few minutes listening to his uncle's bellows and barks at his family, smirking faintly. He may be outside but at least something productive was happening inside.

Several minutes later the door opened to reveal a purple faced uncle and pale aunt with their red faced son. Harry would have laughed but carefully raised a brow nad kept his expression as neutral as possible.

"We're leaving. I want all of your things gone by in the morning... or..." Vernon paused.

Harry just smiled. He wasn't planning on staying anyway.

"JUST GET IT ALL OUT!" Vernon shoved Dudley forward, causing the boy to stumble to the ground and roll a couple feet before waving his wife on. "GET IN THE BLOODY CAR!"

Harry watched them all scramble about and stuff into his uncle's small car before sighing and finally standing. At least he could pack in peace.

***

Remus Lupin had returned to the werewolves after he spent the full moon at 12 Grimmauld Place. Draco was happy for that as the wolf seemed to have a liking to his bed and had woken him up with that disgusting licking twice more that night. If Draco hadn't seen the frown Snape had been wearing he could have sworn that the man was laughing inwardly. Snape always seemed amused when something happened to Draco.

Perhaps it was how friendly his Professor had been with his Father and Mother. Either way, it didn't really matter. It wasn't proper for people to find Malfoy's amusing. Malfoy's were supposed to be regal. They were supposed to demand attention just by standing in one place and when they spoke it was supposed to be something everyone wanted to hear. They bowed down to no one and never backed out of something.

Malfoy's were extremely proud creatures. Draco had been taught this and how to act that way in even the worse situations ever since birth.

Draco idly paraded about the house as if it were his own. If there were anyone else around tonight he would have eagerly looked down upon them. He was just in one of his moods. When he was left alone for too long he forgot that things didn't always go the way that they did in his head.

The fact that he was only in a towel didn't change anything. He had been told that it was unlikely that anyone would be here until morning. He did this in the manor... so why not here. When his hair was wet it would actually hold position when he would comb it back instead of falling around his eyes as it did when dry.

He could close his eyes and pretend that nothing had happened. He could pretend he was still at Hogwarts, boasting and showing off the Dark Mark he'd recieved. He could pretend that it was summer, before his mother had cried while his father took a firm hold on him and he was taken to meet his Lord. He could just as easily pretend that he was still innocent and being a Death Eater souneded simply wonderful. Not the frightening reality that it truely was.

Sighing, Draco shook his head. That was a past part of his life, though the present wasn't terribly wonderful. He was in an old house and while he'd gotten used to the musty smell he could still see the collection of dust nearly everywhere.

He had recieved some nice words and praise on his bloodline from one of the paintings when he had checked what was behind a pair of very thick curtians. Though, when he had replied that he was in fact not the new owner of the home the painting had taken to screaming much louder than anything Draco had ever heard in his life. He wouldn't be touching that thing ever again. It had to be cursed or something.

Wandering into the small living room, he sat down, flicking his wand and muttering a simple 'incendio' and there was a nice little fire waiting for him after he finished changing. He headed back into the room that he'd taken sort of as his own and found some of his clothing before pulling them on and returning to the main room to find it sweltering hot. Why he had assumed that this house would be like the manor. It was significantly smaller and obviously heated up much quicker. A pleasant warmth would have been welcomed in his home and in the dungeons of Hogwarts but in this little house it was almost unbearable.

"Aquamenta..."

With a flick of his wand the fire was out and Draco was moving about the house to open a few of the windows and waving his arms in small, somewhat useless attempts to push out all the hot air.

The door slowly opened and Draco didn't really hear. He assumed it could be any number of people considering the traffic this house had on a daily basis. It was horrible to think what the poor floors had been through. Possibly worse wear than a ballroom.

"Malfoy... what are you doing?"

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A/N - OMG I AM SO SORRY!!! This chapter took forever... but yeah... I've been traveling and and and... trying to write something else ( with absolutely no success ). T___T I feel awful but hey! Better late than never? I really think that I should make a new summary... cause the one I have now sucks... XD but anyway. >>;; BUT HEY... I learned how to fix up my DVDs... YAY TO MAKING HARRY POTTER MVs! oo That will amuse me and my friends endlessly...

Thanks for all the reviews! They are wonderful!

P.S. hotel internet sucks