Modern No-Magic AU Drarry

Chapter Nineteen

Closing his eyes for a moment, Draco mentally prepared himself. He pushed open the door, the creaks echoing around the large house. And for one misleading moment, he thought that there was peace.

"Where have you been?" His mother's anxiously twisted face appeared right in front of Draco. "You are being grounded, you can't just go outside unannounced. Where did you go?"

Swallowing, Draco didn't look up from his polished shoes. His pale eyebrows were tense. "Just for some fresh air," he said quietly, coldly.

Narcissa hesitated, her lips pursed. She didn't want to have to chastise her son.

Sharp footsteps pounded down the marble floor and Lucius appeared, looking very angry, coming towards them. His eyes were on Draco. "Where were you?"

Not shifting his position aside from his jaw clenching, Draco said again, "Just getting fresh air."

Holding the bridge of his nose, Lucius looked at Narcissa with wide eyes as if asking can you believe this boy? "Draco-" he spun back around, eyes squinted in his permanent frown. "You need to be thinking about your task. We won't have you distracted with..."

"With getting fresh air?" Draco murmured.

A dangerous silence hung in the air between them and Draco didn't even have time to regret what he said before his cheek stung and Lucius was walking away, rubbing his hand.

Heart pounding and tears stinging at his eyes, Draco clenched his fists, trying to control his breathing.

"Draco..." Narcissa raised a gentle hand but he flinched away, quickly swiping at his eyes. All Narcissa did was watch as her son quickly walked away and up the stairs.

He shouldn't have said that. He shouldn't have said yes to Voldemort's task. But then his family would be killed. He shouldn't have spoken to Potter. He shouldn't have even been born, that would fix everything. His parents wouldn't get stressed over him constantly not reaching their high expectations.

Hands trembling, Draco locked his bedroom door and slid down until he was on the floor. His potentially comfortable position was interrupted by an angular object poking him from his back pocket. His phone. Quickly, he took it out, almost dropping it with how sweaty his palms had become.

Accompanied by the muffled sounds of his parents shouting at each other somewhere in the house, Draco opened his phone with thumbprint recognition, having to try more than once before he got it right. He went into previous calls and found a number that he had almost memorised at this point. Taking in a shaky breath, he typed up a message. And then, not caring that he would regret it later, he clicked send.

---

With Molly's arm around him, Harry made it through the hallway but had to raise his eyebrows at the sheer amount of people in the Weasley's living room. They had a lot of kids, but this is excessive.

He saw a few people he barely recognised - some teachers from subjects at Hogwarts he never took, some random people he had seen working around the Government building whenever Arthur took him there. So many bodies crowded the room, Harry couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.

Suddenly, people were being pushed out of the way.

"Harry!" Someone called out.

A smile immediately leaping to his face, Harry looked around. He knew that voice. Then before he could even register it, Harry was crushed in a tight hug. Fighting back tears, he breathed in the scent of Sirius' cologne.