Energy

Title: Energy
Rating: Mature
Disclaimer: i own nothing; What is worse is I don't even have food in the fridge...

Chapter 4: Black and White

Harry spent as little time as possible in the ratty, little flat he and his family lived in. It was quite unfortunate for him that his Uncle was awake and clearly hung over by the time the emerald eyed boy arrived home. Vernon, who had been sitting on the couch nursing a head ache, had attack Harry the moment he walked through the doors.

“Where the hell have you been?!?” The obese man spat at the younger boy.

“I just got off work,” was the small reply. It was always like this after Vernon drank. Harry was the easiest target for his anger despite that fact that it was only because of his nephew that they had a place to even live.

“Lot of good you are! You’re whoring around and we still don’t have any shit in this place to eat.” Harry flinched ever so slightly.

“I was just on my way to the store.”

“Dressed like that?” The anger in his uncle’s voice was rising. “Are you trying to embarrass me?!” Vernon yelled.

“I came home to change first.” Harry pulled at the hem of his skirt, embarrassed by it’s short length.

Vernon rose from the couch, swaying dangerously. He balanced himself by grabbing the back of the
couch, his fat hand bared in the thread bare material.

“You should have had the shopping done a week ago!” He lumbered closer to Harry.

Harry had neglected the shopping last week in favor of buying the books for schooling. He could care less if his Uncle and Cousin were fed. It seemed though that all of his actions were wasted now. His books were gone and his Uncle was furious.

The brunette sensed the danger teetering his way and decided that a black eye would not make his already dismal day any better. As quickly as possible he ran to his small bedroom, closing the door as quickly as possible. He shut the door just in time to avoid the lumbering figure chasing him. Vernon pulled at the handle of the door, twisting it ruthlessly despite it being locked.

Harry leaned back against the door, closing his eyes. It was so hard to pretend he had a better life when all he could here were fists pounding at his locked door. It didn’t seem as if Vernon would stop his assault on the door anytime soon, so slowly Harry pulled himself from the door and wandered over to the farthest corner where all of his clothes were folded.

He pealed off the tight mini skirt pushing it under his mattress. If it was there he wouldn’t have to look at the offensive article of clothing. It seemed his Uncle had decided to start shouting through the door while pounding on it.

“Good for nothing whore!”

Harry pulled on some boxers and loose jogging pants. His head was starting to pound in the rhythm of his Uncle’s beating fists.

“Disgusting slut!”

A loose white shirt and beat up sneakers completed his outfit.

“...parents never wanted you...”

Harry grabbed the money Tom had given him.

“...they would be disgusted...”

He walked to the small window, undid the latch and opened it wide.

“...hope someone kills you one of these days...”

With that Harry climbed out of the window and began his journey to the store, the sound of his Uncle’s hateful voice and violent pounding fading with the distance.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m hungry!” Draco rolled his eyes.

“What’s new?”In truth, the blond was also rather hungry . His guest this morning had prevented him from having breakfast delivered to the room. The last thing he had eaten were the finger foods served at the party the night before.

Blaise was driving away from the towering Malfoy Inc building. It was the main building for the entire company and had been built at the center of down town. It was easily the tallest of all the sky scrapers and exuded the wealth and power that was the Malfoy family.

The meeting had dragged on for quite some time but it appeared that the newly acquired land was going to be a major financial success. After exchanging pleasantries with his father and a brief meeting with Andrew Montife, his PR specialist, Draco was finally free to leave.

“We have to go down to the Key’s for spring break.” Once the hotel was built, which would be in early February, Lucius Malfoy had agreed that Draco could host his largest party to date. It was something the Malfoy heir could hardly wait for.

“Sounds like a plan to me, but first I think we should get something to eat.”

Blaise turned down a busy, down town road. The street was lined with little restaurants by day and clubs by night. People of all social classes roamed down the streets. Finally he found a café with roof top seating. There was a small sign just out the front door listing the day’s specials. Unfortunately there was no parking near the restaurant. Grumbling to himself, Blaise began looking down side streets in search of an open meter.

So wrapped up in his search for parking that neither of the two noticed the small figure making his way across the crosswalk.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry was slowly making his way to the general store located just on the outskirts of the down town area. It was warm out and he just wanted to get the excursion over and down with. He increased his pace in hopes of getting to the store quicker. He still hadn’t taken a shower and now he was getting sticky with sweat.

He stopped at a light opposite a tiny restaurant advertising its sandwich specials. Harry paid little attention to the people he was passing. One time he had seen one of his clients walking down the sidewalk with his wife. It had been uncomfortable to say the least. He paused at a red light waiting for the oncoming traffic. The light flashed the signal to pedestrians to begin crossing. He had only made it half way across when he noticed a large black Hummer coming at him rather quickly.

The car didn’t appear to be stopping any time soon and Harry was right in its way. He closed his eyes, frozen on the spot. The sound of tires squealing drilled into his mind. He waited for the impact, not even daring to breathe.

The painful impact of metal against flesh never came, though. Slowly, he opened his eyes to see the grill of the large car only inches from his body. Two doors opened and shut and before Harry could compose himself the two people in the car were in front of him.

“God, Are you all right.” He recognized the dark haired boy instantly. He was the same one that had mouthed off to Tom. It would do Harry no good if the boy recognized who he was. The emerald eyed boy could already imagine the disgust he had seen in the man’s eyes earlier coming back. The guy would probably be sad he hadn’t ran Harry right over.

He was surprised to feel two gentle hands on his shoulders turning him to face the second man from the car.

Emerald eyes locked with silver and the two stared at each other for a few seconds. This man two looked vaguely familiar but Harry could not figure out why. It was obvious the blond was wealthy just by looking at what he was wearing. Harry couldn’t help the twinge of embarrassment at the abysmal shape of his own attire.

“You alright there?” The blond spoke in a soothing voice.

Harry nodded, not trusting himself to speak. The blond gave him a soft smile.

“You’ll have to excuse Blaise, driving has never been his forte.” The dark haired man, Blaise, glared at the blond.

“My name is Draco.”

“Harry,” his voice was soft and shaky.

“Well Harry, it only seems right that we make this up to you. We were just on our way to lunch, if you haven’t eaten, you should join us.”

“Actually I was on my way somewhere.”

“Not to worry, we can drop you off afterwards.”

“I really don’t...”

“Please join us,” Surprising himself, Harry nodded. This Draco was rather persistant.

“That would be nice.” It was a free meal and there were no strings attached. Another upside was the added time away from home. Harry immediately refused to acknowledge all the reasons he should just continue on his way.

With a smile that made many weak at the knees, Draco Malfoy took the arm of one Harry Potter.

“Blaise, go park the car, and try not to run any one else over.” With that Draco began to lead Harry to Mimi’s Café, leaving Blaise dumbfounded.

Harry allowed the blond to guide him, not knowing that he would never quite make it back.