First Place - Action/Adventure

"Where in the world are we going, Blaise?" Harry asked irritably. "Is there a reason you're dragging us into Muggle London right now? We just barely got out of Gringott's."

Blaise flashed a grin over his shoulder as he hurried through the crowds. "Just hurry up or we'll be late," he called.

"Late for what?" Harry hollered, but didn't get an answer.

Harry looked to Snape for an answer, but Snape just sneered at him and Harry didn't bother even asking. So, Harry looked down at Draco, who was doing his best to keep up. Harry swung him up into his arms, sitting Draco on his hip.

"Do you know where we're going, angel?" Harry whinged, not really expecting an answer from him either. Draco giggled, though, even as he shook his head, making it worth asking the question.

Harry resigned himself to following blindly and began pointing things out to Draco as they hurried through Diagon Alley, into the Leaky Cauldron and out the other side into Muggle London.

Harry didn't know where Blaise was rushing them, but he was enjoying Draco's reactions to everything.

"Wow!" Draco breathed. "What are those things?" he asked. "I bet they could go as fast as brooms."

Harry grinned. "They're called cars, Draco. It's how Muggles tend to get around faster. And you're right, they can go even faster than brooms sometimes," he whispered conspiratorially.

He got the reaction he wanted when Draco's eyes grew even rounder, watching in fascination the cars travelling the streets.

"We're here!" Blaise exclaimed triumphantly several blocks later.

Harry looked up at the sign, before staring at Blaise incredulously. "You hurried us along to go to an optometrist's office?"

"Yep," Blaise said in satisfaction. "You are going to finally get rid of those glasses and get those context thingies."

"Contacts," Harry corrected automatically. "But I don't have an appointment," he said, bewildered by this turn of events. "And I'm supposed to be taking Draco shopping, not doing something for myself."

"You do have an appointment in about ... two minutes from now," Blaise said smugly.

"How? How did you know where to go or that I'd need an appointment?" Harry asked, brow furrowed.

"Granger," Blaise admitted with a sheepish grin. "She seemed to know what to do and got the appointment set up for you."

Harry had been staring at him in amazement until now, and suddenly he burst out laughing. "You're just too much, Blaise!"

"This is long overdue," he declared haughtily, until he grinned, spoiling the false attitude. "Now come on!" he exclaimed, dragging Harry into the building.

It was an interesting couple of hours and Harry knew very well that the optometrist and his fellow workers thought they were an extremely strange group.

Harry soon found out at least partly why Snape hadn't argued with this appointment, even though it was for Harry. Harry was positive his eye exam took twice as long as it normally did with all the questions Snape posed the man. If he wasn't questioning the man's skills, knowledge, or equipment, then he was watching each step of the exam with an eagle eye.

Harry thought it was mostly curiosity on Snape's part regarding the Muggle technology, but there were a few questions that caused Harry to wonder if Snape was actually concerned about him.

Blaise and Draco had also gone into the exam room with Harry because, of course, Snape wasn't going to let them stay out in the waiting room by themselves, and Draco wasn't particularly fond of the idea of letting Harry out of his sight anyway. So, both boys sat off to the side watching the proceedings with fascination.

"Merlin, Harry! How could you see anything before?" Blaise exclaimed when the optometrist demonstrated what Harry's vision was really like.

"I'm just used to compensating for it, I guess," Harry said defensively.

"He really should have been in here for an exam many years ago," the optometrist patiently explained. The man had been frustrated with the group at first, but had soon resigned himself and, if truth had been known, had actually become quite fond of the odd group that had invaded his office.

He went on to explain further. "The eyes can be quite tricky and oftentimes vision changes as a child grows. In Harry's case here, his vision has deteriorated some since these glasses were made for him and his prescription has changed quite a bit."

"Prescription?" Snape asked, arms crossed imposingly.

"Yes, prescription," the optometrist explained, not intimidated by Snape, considering the man's obvious concern for the three boys in his care. He went on to explain what he meant by prescription, putting it in plain words for them all to understand. He demonstrated by adjusting his equipment and actually showing them what Harry's vision was like with his old glasses, then adjusting again to show what it would be like with his new prescription.

Blaise snorted. "I told you this was long overdue."

"Yeah, and you knew why I never got here before," Harry snapped in irritation, more upset with the Dursleys than Blaise. "Besides, it's not like it was that bad. It's not like I couldn't see anything."

Blaise looked at him sadly and the optometrist looked at them both curiously before responding. "Your vision with the old glasses was not outrageously bad, but you will find that things will be much sharper and more in focus than they were before."

They finally moved on and Snape stood back, observing impassively as Blaise and Draco had a blast helping Harry select some new frames for a backup pair of glasses and giving Harry a hard time as he learned to put his new contacts in and take them out.

After demonstrating, the assistant had left Harry to practice and once Harry got it, he looked in the mirror before grinning at the others proudly. "So, how do I look?"

"I think you look fabulous without those old glasses," Blaise declared with a winning smile.

"Me, too," Draco piped up, grinning widely.

They were in a quiet room by themselves while Harry was learning to deal with his contacts and Snape sneered at them. "More importantly, I think these contacts will be better in a battle situation."

Harry's face fell in resigned acceptance that Snape was right. He quietly turned back and began packing everything up. No wonder Snape had allowed this visit today.

"Sev'rus, why'd you have to say that?" Draco's little voice demanded. "He was happy and you just made him sad again."

Harry answered before Snape could respond. "No, Draco," Harry said quietly. "Your godfather is right. Come on, let's get out of here." He didn't notice the glares that both Draco and Blaise were shooting at Snape for bringing Harry down again. Even if he'd noticed, Harry wouldn't have been sure what to make of Snape's expression.

As Harry paid his bill, he had the receptionist call a taxi for them and not long after, they were at the clothing store that Blaise said Draco had frequented in Muggle London.

Harry understood better when Blaise finally let on that a couple of witches ran the Muggle establishment. Harry stood back, waiting with Draco while Blaise went to talk to them.

Soon enough, Harry and Draco both found themselves in a back room being measured and trying on tons of clothes.

Harry was quickly overwhelmed and his wide eyes showed it. It didn't take him long to give up on any ideas of embarrassment, though, and just let it all happen - because it was happening whether he said anything or not. Blaise bustled about as much as the two assistants that had been assigned to help them, ordering Harry to try this or try on that, but not those two together and so on and so on.

Draco, on the other hand, was going through the same thing, but he seemed entirely in his element - no big surprise there. Harry managed to get through to the assistants that he wanted Draco to have some actual little boy play clothes. Blaise didn't look like he quite understood, but the ladies did, and they went bustling back out to gather more clothing.

"What do you mean, 'play clothes'?" Blaise asked in puzzlement. "He can play in these clothes," he said, pointing to the pile of what Harry considered to be almost formal wear.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Draco needs some jeans and rough n' tumble clothes," he tried to explain. "Clothes that it's not going to matter what the hell happens to them. Creased trousers and silk shirts are not what I consider to be play clothes. Comfortable overalls and non-wrinklable shirts would be play clothes."

"Non-wrinklable?" Blaise asked, eyebrows raised. "That's not even a word, let alone a type of clothing, Harry." However, he was grinning at Harry, obviously understanding now.

"Well, it's a word in my vocabulary, even it it's not in Draco's realm," Harry retorted, grinning back at Blaise.

Harry and Draco ended up with some dressy wear like creased trousers and silk shirts, but they also ended up with plenty of jeans, a variety of colorful t-shirts and jumpers and hooded sweatshirts.

Blaise somehow managed to combine their preferences and Harry got things like silk pyjamas while Draco got soft wool sleepers with feet, which Draco found astonishing because they'd keep his feet warm and he wouldn't even have to wear slippers. Draco's wardrobe choices were being toned down, while Harry's were being spruced up.

Somewhere along the line, leather trousers were added to their growing pile of items they were buying. Dragon hide boots sat alongside regular trainers.

Harry wasn't sure where they'd come from, but wizard's robes appeared and they selected several of those, too. They even picked out formal robes despite the fact that Harry couldn't figure out why they'd need them.

Snape stood leaning against the far wall, simply observing the whole process. He didn't interject comments of any kind, whether positive or negative. He didn't even comment when Draco picked out a red and gold jumper that would match one of Harry's selections. There weren't any comments forthcoming when Harry selected one with green and silver either.

Draco ended up taking a short nap as Blaise and Harry argued over exactly what to keep and not to keep, but eventually everything was selected, paid for, and bags and boxes shrunk down to fit into one bag. Harry was once again dressed in the original clothing that he'd arrived in, but Draco was dressed in blue jeans, t-shirt and a green hooded sweatshirt with white trainers on his little feet.

Harry handed Blaise the bag as they finally left the store and picked up the tired little boy. "Draco, did you know shopping for clothes was such exhausting work?" Harry asked with a tired smile.

Draco nodded fervently. "Oh, yes! But normally it's not this much fun!"

Harry laughed and hugged Draco to him. "I suppose it was kind of fun, too. But we're not doing that again anytime soon," Harry said mock sternly.

"You two have enough clothes to last you awhile, I'd say," Blaise declared.

Harry glared at him. "Well, it's certainly not because of me. I would have grabbed a few jeans and t-shirts, some socks and underwear and that probably would have been about it."

"Then it's a good thing I came along, isn't it?" Blaise said cheekily.

Harry shook his head and gave him a rueful smile. "Let's just go get something to eat. It's way past lunchtime. I never expected clothes shopping to take so long."

"Yeah, I'm starving," Draco declared.

"There's a McDonald's right over there," Harry said, pointing to the golden arches across the street and down a ways.

"Pray tell, what is a 'McDonalds'?" Snape sneered.

Harry grinned. "It's a fast food restaurant that sells food. Juicy hamburgers and greasy chips. I think my cousin Dudley got half his fat from that place alone. Once in a great while they even brought some back for me. It's really good!"

Blaise looked at him curiously as they automatically started walking towards the place. "You've never actually been there?" he asked.

"Um, well, no," Harry admitted quietly, having not realized until then that he'd let something else slip about his past. He was once again uncomfortably aware that Snape was eyeing him, a calculating gleam in his eyes, and Harry quickly averted his gaze back to Blaise.

"Well, then it's definitely decided that we're going to this McDonalds place to eat," Blaise said cheerfully. Harry could've hugged him for his understanding and letting the issue drop.

A short time later they were seated in a booth and the three boys were happily wolfing down burgers and greasy chips. Harry did his best to hide his amusement as he watched Snape eyeing his food with distaste. Harry went back to the counter and when he came back, he set a salad with recognizable food items in front of Snape without a word. Harry tried unsuccessfully to tone down his grin when Snape actually shot him a grateful look.

In contrast to Snape, Draco was ecstatic over his Happy Meal. Starving, he made short work of his burger and fries and happily slurped down his root beer, even as he marched the little toy that came with it all across the table.

"Harry, what is that?" Draco asked suddenly. "What are they doing?"

Harry looked where Draco was pointing to the play area right outside. "Well, it's a play area for kids to play on. You can climb up through those tunnel things and slide back down the slides," Harry tried to explain.

"Why would they do that?" Draco asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.

Harry looked at him with a sad smile. "Because it's fun, angel. There used to be one kind of like that at the school I used to go to, but it was a lot smaller. Sometimes I got to play on it and the slides are especially fun."

Draco was still watching the kids outside curiously and Harry glanced at Snape. He wanted to take Draco outside and show him, but wasn't sure if Snape would allow it. He'd been nice enough overall today, for Snape, and Harry didn't really want to push his luck.

Snape gave a curt nod to his unspoken question.

"Thanks!" Harry said, a grin brightening his features again. Harry turned to Draco. "You want to go check it out?" Harry asked.

"Yeah!" Draco exclaimed.

Blaise followed them outside and the three of them stood there simply looking at the giant play structure. "So, what do I do?" Draco asked quietly.

Harry crouched down next to Draco and pointed. "You see that hole there?"

Draco nodded.

"You start there and climb all the way to the top. Then you can slide down," Harry explained, his hand pointing out the path Draco should take. Draco was still looking a little unsure.

"Just go with him," Blaise said.

"I'm too big," Harry protested.

Blaise rolled his eyes. "Just go!"

"Yeah, come with me, Harry," Draco pleaded, tugging on Harry's hand.

Harry grinned suddenly. "Fine." He let go of Draco's hand and began backing away towards the play structure. "I bet you can't catch me," Harry challenged, before turning and running towards the tunnel opening.

Draco tore off after him, giggling all the way. Harry crawled through the tunnels, Draco scrambling behind him, trying to catch up to him. They reached the top and Harry waited only a few seconds before Draco jumped on him. "I got you!" Draco shouted happily.

Harry tickled him, causing Draco to squeal, peals of laughter echoing through the series of tunnels.

"H-Harry, st-stop!" Draco gasped out through his giggles.

Laughing himself, Harry stopped and turned Draco to look out the bubble dome they were currently in. "Look, angel," Harry encouraged.

"Wow!" Draco breathed. Suddenly, Draco started waving and Harry looked out himself to see a grinning Blaise waving up to them. Harry saluted him and laughed.

"What do you think, Draco? Should we go back down and make Blaise come play, too?" Harry asked.

"Yeah!" Draco shouted enthusiastically.

Harry sat down at the top of the slide and motioned Draco over to sit in front of him. "Come on. You can slide down with me your first time."

The two of them went swooping down the slide - only to land on their backsides at the bottom.

"Ouch!" Harry said, rubbing his arse as he got up.

"It didn't hurt at all, Harry," Draco exclaimed.

"Not for you," Harry retorted. "I cushioned your landing."

Harry was grinning, though, looking at Draco's flushed cheeks and his blinding smile. "Let's go get Blaise so we can go back up again," Harry whispered conspiratorially.

Draco and Harry ran to tackle the unsuspecting Blaise and the tumbling trio ended up wrestling, chasing, tackling, climbing, sliding and especially laughing their way through the next hour.

Snape had come outside at some point to watch them, and eventually the trio collapsed in front of the bench where he sat. They were dirty, sweaty and disheveled - and all still grinning happily, if tiredly.

Snape raised an eyebrow at them, but didn't comment. Harry was thankful. He didn't want the man spoiling Draco's fun and suspected that was actually why Snape wasn't flinging scathing insults at him. Harry wondered if he'd be hearing about his foolish behavior later, though.

Out on the street again, they were waiting to flag down a taxi to take them back to the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley when they spotted a toy store a couple of storefronts further down from them.

"No," Snape declared forcefully. "I had agreed to take you three to Diagon Alley to go shopping for necessary items for Draco today. I ended up agreeing to the appointment for Potter's eye exam. You shopped for your clothing here in Muggle London. I allowed the longer time spent there seeing as how you were able to buy your robes as well. Somehow I allowed you to drag me into ... this establishment," he spat, glaring distastefully at the McDonalds behind them. "We will not be going into a toy store. The hour is growing late and we will be going back to Diagon Alley now."

All three boys hung their heads dejectedly, none of them arguing. Harry bent down and picked Draco up, hugging him and murmuring soothingly to him as the boy began to sniffle.

"We're ready then, sir," Blaise said quietly, eyes still downcast.

"Oh, for ...!" Snape exclaimed.

Harry, Draco and Blaise tentatively looked up at the man as he began muttering under his breath.

"You have thirty minutes," Snape sneered. "Not one minute more and then we go straight back to Diagon Alley where you will follow quietly as I finish the necessary shopping. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir." They all nodded quickly in agreement. Harry and Blaise exchanged a glance before they quickly took off for the toy store. They came to an abrupt halt directly inside the door and stared incredulously at their surroundings. Then Harry set Draco down and grasped his hand tightly so he wouldn't lose him.

"Let's go!" Harry said with a grin.

Harry quickly gathered puzzles and tons of block sets, before moving on to the books and swiftly gathering a rather large selection. Blaise was fascinated with the wide array of cars and trucks and heaped a bunch into their quickly overflowing cart. Draco was ecstatic with his find of a stuffed dragon and held onto it tightly. Draco also came across a section with arts and crafts and Harry added a huge supply of paper, scissors, glue and whatever other materials struck his or Draco's fancy.

Twenty-eight minutes later, they were back outside, standing in front of Snape, loaded down with bags and bags of stuff. Draco would not be lacking for things to do over the next four months.

Snape rolled his eyes at their exuberance and pulled them into a side alley so he could shrink everything down to one bag. Now they only had to carry the bag of toys and the bag of clothes.

True to their word, the three boys followed meekly through Diagon Alley as they finished their shopping, visiting the Apothecary, the quill shop and a few other places. They completed their business quickly at each stop. The only time there was any hesitation was when they slowed almost automatically as they passed the Quidditch store. Snape shot them a glare and they quickly hurried their pace again.

Their odd group received many curious glances, but no one approached them. Harry came to realize Snape's death glare could actually come in handy sometimes.

Finally, they had a quick meal in the Leaky Cauldron before Flooing back to Hogwarts.

"Did you have a good time today, boys?" Dumbledore asked as they came tumbling out of his fireplace.

"Yeah," Harry murmured tiredly, totally exhausted by the day's activities. Draco was sound asleep in his arms and the only reason Harry hadn't actually fallen out of the fireplace was because Snape had gone through first and had caught him.

Blaise had nodded slightly, but didn't even bother trying to give a verbal response.

Dumbledore gave them a huge smile. "It would seem your trip was successful, Severus."

Snape rolled his eyes. "Are the rooms ready?" he asked, ignoring the headmaster's comments.

"Yes, yes, everything was moved today while you were gone," Dumbledore said easily.

Snape herded his charges to the doorway without another word and led them to the dungeons. Taking the bags from Blaise, Snape sent him on to the dorms before leading Harry to his own chambers. Eyes barely open, Harry simply followed, paying no attention to his surroundings until suddenly Snape was carefully taking Draco from his arms.

Harry was startled to see Snape laying Draco on a bed and beginning to remove the boy's shoes and outer wear. The bed had sheets and blankets that Harry recognized, and he quickly stripped down to his boxers, too tired to search for pyjamas, and slid into the bed, paying no attention to Snape. When Snape placed Draco under the covers next to him, Harry simply wrapped his arms around the small boy protectively, not even opening his eyes.

Both Harry and Draco were sound asleep and neither realized that Snape stood watching them for a long time that night. Harry never saw him in the dark shadows when Draco woke screaming a couple hours after lying down.

Groggily, Harry automatically sat up, pulling Draco onto his lap, murmuring soothingly to the crying boy until he was down to the occasional hiccupping sob. Harry blinked to see the handkerchief along with the glass and jug of water on the nightstand, and dazedly remembered that the house elves had moved things to the dungeons for them. Obviously they had remembered to leave these things out for Harry.

"I'll have to thank Dobby later," Harry muttered as he poured Draco a glass of water and helped the boy take a drink. Harry used the handkerchief to wipe down Draco's face and looked at him closely.

He was so sleepily focused on Draco that he still didn't see the man in the far shadows of the room watching them intently.

"Better now?" Harry asked quietly.

Draco hiccupped, then nodded slowly, but he kept his head down.

"Can you tell me about it?" Harry asked.

Draco shook his head fervently and Harry sighed. "Was it a different nightmare this time?"

Draco was silent and unmoving, tense in Harry's arms.

He really didn't have a clue if he was handling Draco's nightmares very well, but he took a stab at it anyway.

"Draco, remember I said if you tell me about your nightmares, I'll take them from you so you don't have to worry about them anymore," he said softly.

Harry felt the little blond head nod slowly against his chest.

"Can you tell me then?"

"It wasn't like a memory one," came the tiny voice answering Harry's question.

"Just because it's not like a memory doesn't mean it can't be just as scary," Harry said softly. "I've had lots of nightmares that weren't really memories."

Wide silver eyes peeked up at Harry. "Really?"

Harry gave him a sad smile. "Really. Sometimes things scare us even when we know they aren't really true. And especially when I was little, I had lots of nightmares. Partly because I simply didn't know as much as I do now that I'm older. Lots of things can be scary when you're little and don't understand."

"Like what?" Draco asked softly.

Harry chuckled lightly. "All right, my little Slytherin, we'll do this your way again. I'll tell you, but then you'll tell me. Deal?"

Draco shuddered in Harry's arms, but then he nodded resolutely. "Deal," he said, albeit a little shakily.

Harry closed his eyes for a few moments trying to figure out what to tell Draco without scaring him anymore than he already was. Still he didn't realize that Snape was watching and listening intently.

"My cousin used to pick on me a lot," Harry began, hoping he wasn't making a mistake by telling Draco this.

"Did he hex you?" Draco asked curiously.

"Um, no," Harry said. "He's a Muggle so he can't do magic at all."

"Then how did he pick on you?" Draco asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.

Harry looked down at the small boy in wry amusement. "You really have grown up magic-oriented, Draco."

"I don't understand," Draco frowned.

If nothing else, this was getting Draco calmed down again, Harry thought ruefully.

"I just mean that you've grown up with magic all around you. That's all," Harry explained. "When I was growing up, I didn't even know that magic was real."

Draco looked at him wide eyed. "Really?"

Harry chuckled at being back where they were earlier. "Yes, really."

Draco frowned again. "So, how did he pick on you?"

"Well, that doesn't really matter," Harry said. "Let's just say he used to call me a lot of names and just generally liked being mean to me."

"I don't like it when people are mean," Draco scowled.

"I know, angel," Harry said with a small smile, before sobering again. "So anyway, I didn't know about magic and neither did my cousin, but in my nightmares it was like we didn't know that. I guess you would say that I would dream about him hexing me. It's not what I called it then and they weren't real hexes because I didn't know about real magic, but I'd dream that he was using magic to hurt me."

"Being hexed is scary," Draco said quietly.

"I know," Harry agreed. "It was really scary for me, especially since I didn't really understand it."

"So, was your nightmare about someone hexing you?" Harry asked quietly, turning things back towards Draco.

Draco shuddered lightly again. "No. I was running," he whispered, dropping his head.

Harry wasn't going to allow that, though, and tipped Draco's head back up. "Tell me," Harry said softly.

Draco swallowed hard. "I was just running and running and running," he said, finally ready to tell about his nightmare. "That's all I could do, but I kept tripping. And then I'd get up and run more before I'd fall again. And I just knew I couldn't get away but I kept running anyway. I was so scared, Harry," Draco said, crying softly again.

Harry rocked him lightly and ran his hand up and down Draco's back. "I'm sure it was quite scary. Draco, do you know what you were running from?" Harry asked, suspecting the answer.

"My father," Draco whispered, confirming Harry's suspicions.

Harry's hand fisted tightly behind Draco's back but his tone remained calm and soothing. "I'm not going to let your father hurt you anymore, angel. So you don't have to worry about running from him anymore."

"But I'm scared, Harry," Draco cried.

"Shhh, I know you're scared and it's okay to be scared sometimes," Harry said reassuringly.

"It is?" Draco asked, frowning at Harry.

Harry smiled slightly. "Yeah, it's natural to be scared and everybody is scared of something."

"Even Sev'rus?" Draco asked, his skepticism showing.

"Yes, I'm sure even Severus gets scared sometimes," Harry said, smiling wryly.

Still neither of them noticed the man in the shadows who was stiffening even more at Harry's words.

"But he's never scared of anything," Draco protested.

"He just doesn't show it often," Harry explained gently.

"What could scare him?" Draco asked.

"I know he's scared of anything ever happening to you," Harry said, kissing Draco on his forehead. "Just like I'm scared of anybody hurting you."

"Oh," Draco said, blinking at Harry.

"So see, everyone can get scared sometimes. You just have to be careful not to let your fears overwhelm you."

Draco scrunched his nose up in confusion. Harry chuckled lightly and kissed Draco on his nose. "Um, it's okay to be scared once in awhile, but you can't spend all your time thinking about being scared." Harry scrunched his own nose, trying to figure out if that made sense or not. "There's lots more things for you to do than just being scared," Harry added.

Draco was nodding, seeming to understand at least a little better.

"Like right now we should stop talking about being scared and go to sleep again," Harry said lightly, winking at Draco.

Draco giggled.

Harry smiled tiredly. "So, does that giggle of yours mean you feel ready to go back to sleep?"

"Yes," Draco declared. "I'm not going to be scared no more right now."

"Good choice," Harry said as he settled them back under the covers. "Sleep well, angel," Harry said softly.

"Night, Harry," Draco mumbled.

They both swiftly fell into slumber again. Snape watched them for a little longer before finally leaving the room, having some answers to his many questions - with the boys' conversation only creating others.

Malfoy's Child - Chapter 12

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