Modern No-Magic AU Drarry

Chapter Thirty-one

Just as he pulled into the driveway, Draco scanned the area before swearing rapidfire as he saw the cars already there. Flinging off his seatbelt, he swung open the door and sprinted to a nearby bush which he practically crashed into. Tiny branches dug into his skin as he tried to keep his breathing as quiet as possible.

Within a few seconds, multiple figures came lounging out of the large house, their footsteps crunching against the gravel of the driveway.

"Whose car is that?" a deep voice growled.

It was met with a whiny, high-pitched voice. "Oh, what does it matter? Go break in if you must. No one's stopping you, Greyback."

"Bet you it belongs to the kid." Greyback said with a huff. He continued talking, but they had gotten into a vehicle and Draco couldn't hear the rest of it.

Ignoring an ant crawling over his blazer, Draco uneasily watched from behind his shielded position as the car pulled out, and he prayed that wherever Harry was that he wasn't doing anything stupid that would get him killed.

---

Legs stretched out almost as if he were attempting to do the splits, Harry gritted his teeth as he reached out his hands to grab his backpack, a foot keeping the door open. Fingers brushing the bag strap, Harry wobbled dangerously.

"You right back there, mate?" The bell sang its high-pitched tune as Ron stuck his head through the door. "It's freezing, we're ready to go."

"Just-" with one final grunt, Harry's hands closed around the bag and he jumped back up, pushing through the back room door. "Yep. All good."

"Good." Ron held open the glass door for Harry who walked past.

"You didn't have to wait for me," Harry told him, but Ron shifted uncomfortably and Harry could immediately tell he wasn't telling him something. "What?"

The lanky boy grimaced and spoke in a low tone. "Being in the same space as both Hermione and Lavender... think I'd rather dip my dick in strong vinegar, if you ask me."

Harry nodded. Seemed fair enough.

"And then," Ron scowled as they walked across the street to a small group of people. "There's him."

Cormac McLaggen. Standing between the two girls, his massive arms were crossed in front of himself as he squinted down the street, doing something weird with his face that he probably thought was attractive.

As the boys approached, Hermione looked up with relief in her eyes before Ron's presence reminded her of their previous quarrel, causing her to press her lips together and tilt up her chin.

"Are we ready?" Lavender smiled, latching onto Ron's arm.

Hermione made a visible effort to shuffle slightly closer to Cormac though her posture didn't relax whatsoever.

As they began walking into the park which had turned dull from the frost, Harry walked behind the two couples and wondered if he was supposed to do this type of stuff with Draco. Would he want to? He had almost forgotten that just earlier that day he had held Draco's hand in his own. Did he do it awkwardly? Maybe he held it for too long. Is that a thing? Harry hadn't even realised a conversation had begun until Hermione looked pointedly back at him.

"We were talking about this two days ago, I think it was. Remember?" she asked expectantly.

After blinking a few times, Harry unconvincingly smiled with a nod.

Stifling a sigh, Hermione continued talking, her dark eyes scanning the frosty path in front of her instead of having to watch Ron and Lavender. "It was Pennsylvania who passed the Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, in 1780. Which meant that alongside prohibiting the importation of-"

"Oh, I heard of that one." Cormac said haughtily, turning his head so that his neck cracked, making Harry wince uncomfortably. "My Dad was at a dinner with Horace Slughorn - the professor, you may not have heard of him."

"We were all taught by him," Ron muttered with a surly look.

"Anyway." Cormac continued, his self-confidence a sparkling, unbreakable suit of armour. "It doesn't surprise me you're so obsessed with the whole slavery tale, Hermione, because my Dad told Slughorn that the only people who are concerned with the old American civil rights stuff are leftist zealots and-"

With the next word leaving Cormac's lips, everyone stopped in their tracks.

The park was completely silent aside from a bird launching off from a nearby park bench.

Not even Lavender said a word.

Slowly, Ron turned around to face Cormac, his freckled face the scariest Harry had ever seen it. "What the hell... did you just say?"

Looking amused, Cormac glanced Harry as if he would sympathise and say how weird Ron was being.

Harry gave him a disgusted look in return.

"Ron, what are you talking ab-" Cormac began to laugh but Ron cut him off.

"No, I heard what you said." he snarled, taking a step forward. "You very, very stupidly just said the 'N' word, McLaggen."

Cormac took a step back, still maintaining his unbothered smile. "God, Weasley, don't get your knickers in a twist. It's just a word."

"It's not your word to say." Ron said. His fists were squeezed tightly. "Sure, it's just a word, but a word that was used by people worse than even you and should only be used today by people of colour or, um, black people, or however they- they call themselves." He quickly shook his head before glaring at Cormac again. "Are you gonna go ahead and call Hermione the 'R' word as well? She's black and autistic, does that mean that by your dumb dad's standards she's just not as good a person as everyone else?"

His cocky smile fading, Cormac grasped for a way to climb out of the pit he had dug. "Look, he didn't mean everyone. And I didn't even know Hermione was re-"

Before Cormac could even finish, Ron's fist slashed through the air between their two heads. It would have made contact with Cormac's nose if Ron's foot hadn't come into contact with one tiny icy part of the pathway, flying out from beneath him and causing him to crash to the ground. By the time Ron sat back up, heart thumping, Cormac was already halfway across the park. "COWARD!" he yelled after his retreating figure, rubbing the back of his head.

Standing with her hands over her mouth, Hermione couldn't utter a single word. Next to her, Lavender was patting her arm.

"You okay, mate?" Harry asked softly, holding out a hand for Ron.

Clenching his jaw, Ron didn't take the hand. "Yeah. Just pisses me off."

Knowing that all he could do was give Ron space, Harry walked over to Hermione and hardly stretched out his arms before she pressed her face into his shoulder, hugging him tightly.

Harry patted her back, thinking over everything Cormac had said.

Heavy footsteps came pounding down the pavement.

"I'm 'ere- I'm- what happened?" Hagrid panted, squinting to where Cormac was last spotted. "I'm 'ere to protect you from the dark side 'nd that, Harry, but I can help with other stuff, too." With an observant eye, Hagrid looked around at each teen. "In yer own time, tell me if you need to."

"He called her the 'N' word," Ron said bluntly and Hagrid's bushy eyebrows went up.

"He didn't," he said quietly, looking to Hermione who wiped her face and moved back from Harry.

"He did." She said, looking over to Ron who was still sitting on the floor. "But Ron told him off. And if it weren't for this bloody weather, Cormac's face would have gotten the punching it deserves."

Glancing up, Ron huffed out a chuckle, and Hermione requited it with a quick smile.