A Whispered Confession Can Change Everything

Chapter 21

Draco’s knuckles were turning white, gripping one of Hagrid’s sleeves as he rode in front of the large man. Hagrid had a steady hold on the bike, flying the great machine over town and country. He’d cast a simple disguising and silencing charm to not alert muggles to their presence and then had climbed on what was apparently a flying motorcycle. Hagrid plopped a helmet on his head and had climbed on behind, starting the machine with a loud purr before taking off. The helmet did little to convince him he wasn’t going to die. Although that might be a mixed blessing. He had no illusions that Albus wasn’t going to be mad.

“Here we are Draco...London. Now then, where would you like ta go?”

Gulping, taking out his notepad and checking the address and yelling over the engine, “Number 4 Privet Drive!”

Hagrid frowned to himself. He knew that address. It was from long ago but he knew it well enough. It took a few minutes before it clicked in his mind: Harry. Harry was at that address. Well, why didn’t Draco just ask if he wanted to see Harry? Shrugging to himself, he steered the motorcycle that way. It would be good to see ol’ Harry.

Within a few minutes they landed softly at the park, Draco expanding his cloaking spell so no one would see the motorcycle hiding there, “So, ya want me ta wait while ya see Harry?”

Guilt bubbled up in Draco’s stomach but he pushed it back down. He was actually kind of surprised that Hagrid had pieced together a part of his plan but it did make things easier. Hagrid was big. Intimidation would go a long way, “Actually, Hagrid, I was hoping you’d come with me. I want to see Harry but I don’t think the muggles will agree unless you’re there to...intimidate them.”

A quirk of a grin spread across Hagrid’s face, “Ya mean scare ‘um?” Draco nodded silently, gathering up his courage to confront muggles, “Well alright then.” Draco’s trust in the half giant grew immeasurably in that moment.

Stiffening his spine, Draco spun on his heel and stormed with confidence down the street, Hagrid ambling behind him. With practiced ease he slid the wand he’d hidden in a sheaf at his back out as he transfigured his muggle clothing into wizarding robes and charmed his hair to flatten back against his head. Affecting his Malfoy mask and adding a sneer to it, he led the way up the drive and to the door, “Go ahead, Hagrid...I think you knocking will get their attention.”

Hagrid’s knock, no matter how light, knocked the door off of it’s hinges and it thudded to the ground in the entryway. Draco’s eyes widened just a fraction but he managed not to drop his jaw, “S’rry bout that.”

Shaking his head, “Poor construction.”

Barely stifling his giggle with years of practice, he pointed his wand at a fat man clambering to his feet, the other two cowering, “Just what do you think you’re doing? You’ve no business here now get!” Vernon’s eyes widened at Hagrid, “You!”

Pausing to flick invisible dust from his shoulder, “Harry Potter is my business, Muggle.”

The man stormed forward, jerking back when Draco slipped into a defensive stance, wand pointed out and ready to use it, “There are no Potters here and I’ll have no more freaks in my-...”

Draco no longer had to pretend to be angry and cold, his eyes frosting over. Shaking his head ever so slowly, his tone mocking and every bit that of Lucius Malfoy, “Freaks? No, you misunderstand the word I think. Freak implies inferior. Inferior implies weak...I am neither.”

Petunia screamed, “Get them out!!”

Tempted to rub his ringing ears, in the back of his mind realizing his emotions were twisting in an odd way and instinctively realizing being in this house was a bad idea. He didn’t know why or how he knew, only that something more than just his good acting was escalating his hate, “I don’t think you understand how this works. But you are muggles so I’ll use small words so you will. You see, I’m a Malfoy. Malfoys always get what they want. I want to see Harry, so see him I shall.” Moving forward a step, wand close to touching Uncle Vernon’s nose as his hand trembled in the effort not to act on his thoughts, “And those that stand in my way get turned into puddles of slime. A fitting end, I should think.”

Face beet red, lower lip quivering a voice a little too nasally, “You’re not a wizard.” Draco raised an eyebrow, “You’re a child. You probably go to that freak of a school of his. You can’t perform magic or you’ll be expelled.”

A shark-like grin spread across Draco’s face. He was going to enjoy this, “Oh, yes, that would normally be true if I were using my Ministry approved and registered wand...but this wand?” He twirled it with his fingers, “This wand is not registered. It was commissioned just for me in case I had to do illegal things with it. You see, my father doesn’t like muggles...he’s a Death eater after all. He tortures them and well, you can’t use trackable wands to do that.” Vernon was now as white as a sheet, Aunt Petunia clutching her son in fear and Draco’s hate rose to the boiling point, almost too much for him to control, “If you need proof I can kill your fat son over there or, you can show me Harry.”

Hagrid was staring down at Draco in shock and amazement. But his tactics worked and the quaking man backed down the hallway and through the kitchen, opening the back door and fishing a set of keys out of his pocket. Draco followed silently, his anger threatening to boil over but it was no longer being influenced. A shed. Some kind of shed, probably for yard tools. How dare these pitiful creatures lock up his friend. The lock was opened with shaking fingers, the latch moved and the door pulled open.

Using his wand, he backed the muggle up, “Can you check on Harry, Hagrid? I’ll take his wand, muggle.”

Hagrid nodded and knelt down, ignoring the smell of trapped humanity. Days he would think. And to his horror, the bundle of soiled rags that moved in slow intervals was in fact breathing and the rags were Harry, “Oh by the Gods...by the Gods...Harry...what’ve they done to ya?” He didn’t know what to do. Should he move the boy? Should he call for a mediwitch?

Draco jerked around at Hagrid’s distressed tone, saw the half giant reaching for him. He felt his lunch threaten to escape but forced the nausea away. A clear head is what was needed, not panic, “No, Hagrid. Don’t move him. Please, can you bring the bike?”

Hagrid nodded shakily, swiping at his eyes as he turned sharply and pushed down the gate in his haste to get the flying machine, “Wand muggle. Now!”

Body shaking, “I destroyed it.” Draco mumbled a spell, encasing Harry in soft magic so that he floated carefully above the ground without jarring him in the slightest.

Draco turned his eyes to Vernon, the man stumbling back from the pure fury. How could a boy so young be filled with so much hate, “The pieces of his wand, then. And the rest of his things.”

Gesturing towards the second floor, “They’re up there. Take them and go.”

Draco’s eyes flashed, his anger only mounting. He had no love for muggles. Far from it in fact. All his life he’d been told of their evil, petty, beastly behavior and this fat tub of shit wasn’t disproving what had been instilled in him since he was a toddler. Spinning on his heels, he destroyed a good section of the fence to regain his control before turning back to the pile of human lard and glaring, “I want them here. In front of me. I will not accept your pathetic excuses and I care not of ending your life. You have two minutes.” Vernon stumbled back and clutched his chest before running for the flat.

Draco gripped his wand. He wanted to end this piece of filth. But he couldn’t. Not because he didn’t know ways to do it, but if he did so then everything that Albus had done for him would be for nothing. And he was too grateful to let Dumbledore’s kindness and hard work go to waste. He would be no better than his father, no matter what the justification.

Draco didn’t know medical spells, but his untrained eyed took a mental tally of Harry’s injuries and they were bad. Broken bones, blood everywhere...starvation. He closed his eyes and forced his anger down inside lest he do something stupid. The Dursleys came stumbling out with Harry’s things. A mangled cage, a school trunk, that was it, “Where are the pieces of his wand?”

Dudley glanced at his father before shifting uncomfortably. He reached into the bird cage and moved aside the bottom, showing a wand hidden inside. He gave them to Draco and ran back to his mother. Draco swallowed his anger, glaring at the man and stashing Harry’s wand, “Muggle, I’m going to explain this very carefully so that there is no misunderstanding. We are going to leave now. You will not touch Harry’s room or any things you may find. You will go about your lives as if I were never here and you will do one more thing.” Hagrid pushed the motorcycle into the Dursley’s back yard but Draco ignored him, focusing on the family that was clustered around one another, “You will pray to whatever archaic deity you believe in. For if Harry dies because of your actions you will see me again...and I will see you three depart from this world. There will be no mercy on my part, for I feel none for you, and your deaths will be a blessing to you. Am I perfectly clear?”

Vernon quivered some type of response, Petunia losing all color in her face and Dudley wetting himself but Draco ignored them, carefully levitating Harry onto the motorcycle, Hagrid holding onto the bubble surrounding Harry carefully. Hagrid looked back to Draco. He feared for the boy. He’d heard the words and knew it hadn’t been a lie or a bluff, “Draco?”

Giving the half giant a tight smile, seeing there was no room for him, “Go on. I’ll see you at Hogwarts.” Mumbling, he shrunk Harry’s things and pocketing them. And without another word he pointed his wand to himself, and illegally apparated.