…And here we have a very irrational plot BOOM, which didn’t quite go the way I wanted it to. I have, uh, figured out the rest of the plot though, if that’s any comfort.
Disclaimer: I disclaim HP characters. And anything else vaguely Harry Potterish.
!
“Draco, dear, why don’t you come home?”
It was five thirty in the morning. Draco put a hand to his forehead and sighed, away from the receiver of the phone so his mother wouldn’t hear.
“Mother, I’ve got a job and a life here. Maybe in a few years.”
“Oh, love.” Narcissa made an anxious little noise. “You’re living in the Muggle world. I don’t think its safe out there; no protection spells or anything!”
“And the wizarding world is any better?” he asked dryly, getting off bed and going to the window.
“Don’t use that tone of voice,” she replied sharply. “Of course it’s better. You don’t fit in there! Come back, Draco. You belong at home, with me,” she said, her tone coaxing.
“Someday, Mother,” Draco said, exasperated. “I just need a change in life right now. It’s still too early.”
“Nonsense, dear! It’s been four years. It’s time enough! No one remembers any of that anymore! You know the media; they’re in it for the quick thrills, but as soon as it’s all over, they completely forget about it-”
“Do they, Mother?” Draco asked sharply. On the other line, his mother hesitated, then said in a pleading, cracking voice,
“Oh, do be gentle with me, Draco! It’s been difficult enough as it is, with everything in bits and pieces, and you refusing to come home, and your father-”
“I understand, Mother,” cut in Draco, feeling ashamed of himself. He sighed. “I still need some time-”
“You’ve had the luxury of four years!”
“-and I know that. Just give me…give me a little more time, all right? And then I’ll go home and fix everything, all right?”
“You promise?” Narcissa asked, sounding tearful and childish.
“Yes, Mother,” Draco assured her in a soft tone, staring bleakly out at the cold morning sky. “I promise.”
===
Cho placed the dusty cardboard box on the table. It was about the size and shape of a shoebox, and had numerous cracks and tears at the edges, despite the corners being held together with small triangles of aluminum.
“What’s this?” Su asked, wide eyed. It was a Sunday morning, and Cho had the day off. The Tombe de Cheval didn’t open until midday, and it was only nine in the morning.
“Pictures,” Cho said gleefully, whipping the cover off with flourish. “From our school days!”
===
Castor heard the shrieks of delight from the tables and winced. Just what they needed, reminiscent Ravenclaws. And he could already hear the geek jokes running…
“Hey, Su, remember that gag Roger Davies used to tell?”
“Which one? By God, all of them were awful!”
“Okay, there were two guys walking down the street, and one goes ‘Man, I think I lost an electron!’ and the other guy asks him, ‘are you sure?’ and the first guy goes-”
“I’m positive!” three voices shrieked. Orla stuck her head out over the counter, laughing and pointing insanely with Su and Cho.
“I remember that one too!” she giggled. Su reached over and high-fived her.
Exchanging glances with a horrified Wayne, he edged closer to the emergency exit.
“Ouch! Warrington, watch where you’re going!” Draco snapped, backing out from the oven with a tray full of pastries.
“Right, sorry.” Castor blinked. “What are all those…poofy things for?”
“Hm? Dessert,” Draco replied, placing the tray carefully on the kitchen counter.
“Oh.” Castor exchanged more puzzled glances with Wayne, who shrugged and deliberately focused intently on preparing vinaigrette.
“What’s wrong, Malfoy?” he asked, leaning over his bent shoulder and stealing a strawberry.
“Don’t eat that.” Draco snatched it out of his fingers and replaced it in the bowl. “Nothing. Why do you say?’
“Well,” Castor said carefully. “No reason. Only that this seems like an awful lot of berry clusters you’re making for no one.”
“Huh?” Draco blinked and stared at his counter. “…oh. I…I must have miscalculated.” He looked vaguely troubled, before shrugging. “Well, we can sell them as the item of the day. If there are left overs, I’ll take them home.”
He returned to primping his pastries. Backing away, Castor shot another pained look at Wayne, who raised an eyebrow and mouthed ‘miscalculated?’ Castor shrugged and grabbed his jacket.
“Right. Anyways, I’ll be taking a little trip to the market now.”
===
“Look! Look look look! Look at this one!” Su squealed, holding up a small square of picture. Cho took one look at made a face.
“What is that?!” she asked indignantly, pushing Su’s hand away.
“Oooo, I think it’s a little picture of Cho and Michael Corner behind the trophy case!” sang Su gleefully, waving it persistently in front of her face.
“We were just friends,” Cho snapped, snatching it away and stuffing it back into the pile of pictures. Su and Orla exchanged smug grins and turned to regard Cho with innocent looks.
“Oh, but you two were such a cute couple,” Orla said, batting her eyelashes.
“You always did go for younger men,” Su added.
“They look good on me,” Cho sniffed.
Shaking her head and laughing, Orla reached over Su’s shoulder to shuffle through the pictures.
“I haven’t gone back and looked at any pictures in such a long time,” she admitted, studying a few pictures of Ravenclaws making faces at the camera. “You know, I was always scared of what I might see.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know…something particularly embarrassing?” Orla laughed a little self -consciously, and wrinkled her nose when her fingers unearthed one such picture.
“Aw, Orla, that’s cute!” Su shrieked, studying the picture. Cho glanced over and giggled.
“Yeah, you were adorable then too! I loved your braces. They were so unique.”
Orla covered her face with her hands. “Why why why did a perfectly normal couple of magical people have to inflict such torture on their only daughter instead of having her teeth fixed normally with magic?”
“Builds character?” Su suggested, laughing, looking over more pictures.
“Builds character,” Orla snorted. “My ass. Builds a steadily inflating balloon of humiliation is more like it.”
“Graduation pictures!” Cho said suddenly, and spread a pile of snapshots on the table top. “Oh, wow. Look at my hair. What was I thinking…?” she muttered, patting her head self-consciously. Her friends looked and made sympathetic noises, while holding back smiles.
“Oh, hey, it’s Us!” Su said, pulling a picture apart from the pile. Cho glanced over. It was a picture of a whole group of students, many of them clad in graduation robes. Cho was in the center, smiling widely and holding a bouquet of roses. To the right, Harry stood, blushing and uncomfortable. Many other students surrounded them, laughing and patting their backs. Su, still a plump, awkward kid, stood behind her, making faces and bunny ears. In the corner, Cho spotted the flash of light blonde hair. The sulky, thin face flashed in and out of the corner a couple of times, sometimes behind Michael Corner’s head.
She pointed to the figure, ignoring the enraged scowl and asked Su in bewildered surprise, “How did he end up in here?”
“He is part of Us, you know,” she replied flatly, and Cho hurriedly explained.
“Of course I know that, but wasn’t he supposed to be…I don’t know…undercover?”
“Oh, what difference does it make? From anyone else’ viewpoint, he’s just taking pictures with friends.”
“True enough.” Cho shrugged, laying aside the snapshot. “Though to outsiders, doesn’t he stand out a bit? He never exactly was any best friend of ours, not in public anyways.”
“We’re all very proud of him,” Su said stiffly. “We don’t regret taking him in one bit.”
“Su, I didn’t mean it like that,” Cho reassured.
“He’s innocent, Cho!”
“I never said he wasn’t. You’re taking it all the wrong way! I-” She stopped and sighed in frustration. “Forget it.”
“Cho, he didn’t do it,” Su said softly and earnestly. “He can’t; he’s a good kid.”
“I know he is.”
“Then why can’t you believe him?”
It was silent, and Cho stared fixedly at a snapshot. There was a muffled curse from the kitchen, and Orla jumped before running into the kitchen. Su’s expression seemed to say a bitter “I knew it.”
“…I’ve always liked this picture,” Cho said softly, finally breaking the silence. She pulled out a picture with a fingertip and positioned it in front of her. She smiled. “He looks so normal in it.” It was a picture of Cho in the foreground, dressed in Ravenclaw Quidditch robes and positioning a Snitch on the top of one finger. Draco was in the background, also in Quidditch gear. He was grinning mischievously and winked rakishly at them before he prepared to jump the picture Cho.
“It’s a good picture,” Su admitted, smiling despite herself. “Colin took it, didn’t he? This was the last game you played before graduating.”
“That’s right.” Cho put the pictures down and smiled a bit sadly at her friend. “Stop fooling yourself,” she said softly. “He did kill Death Eaters that day. You can’t deny it. Stop pretending it didn’t happen, because he isn’t a child, not then or now. He had no choice, and he certainly had good enough reason to, but the truth is that he did. You can’t change it.”
The silence was thick and heavy, and Cho refused to meet Su’s eyes. Instead, she turned, and caught sight of Draco’s piercing stare. He had come out of the kitchen and was leaning against the door, arms and legs crossed an indiscernible expression on his face. Su followed her gaze and stopped.
“…oh, man,” she whispered, her voice cracking. Quietly, Cho took her bag and got up from her chair. She turned away from Draco’s burning stare and calmly left the café. Only then did her legs begin to shake uncontrollably. Through the window, she watched as Su got up, walk stiltedly to Draco and embrace him tightly. With uncommon tenderness, he returned the gesture, but his eyes never left Cho. Her mobile phone rang, and Cho snapped it open with an efficiency and professionalism she did not feel.
“Hello?”
“Sorry, love. I know it’s your day off, but Mr. Randolph’s heart is acting up-”
“I’m on it,” she replied briskly. “Give me twenty minutes.” Without another look behind her, she strode away from the restaurant.
!
…and so it ends. Just kidding. Next chapter should be up by Friday. Just need to edit it a bit.
And so, Draco’s eetle past comes out. Big surprise to no one, right? Anyways, details, explanations, plot development in next chapter…pigs fly… oink.
Cho! Be more original! [shakes her]