Modern No-Magic AU Drarry

Chapter Eleven

The sunlight streaming through the window making his head throb terribly, Draco stirred. He was in his bed, still in his clothes from the night before. How had he even gotten to his bed?

Outside his room, he heard rushed whispers, only pieces of the conversation.

"...home, drunk, dropped off..."

"...-eir boy, the Long..."

"...not tolerate. We m... immediately... no arguments."

"...one more mo... sleeping..."

There was a sharp knock on his door, and Draco quickly smoothened out his hair, pulling his sheet up so that his old clothes wouldn't be seen. "Come in."

The door widening, Lucius and Narcissa cautiously walked through.

"Draco," Lucius began, his voice cold. "Would you care to explain the... happenings of last night?"

The thing is, Draco wanted to. He didn't want to disappoint his parents. But the problem is, he couldn't recollect a single moment. All he could remember was the first two drinks he had back at the party, and then everything else was just a gaping hole in his memory. "Father, I..."

"Inebriated in public?" Lucius demanded, and Draco could tell that he wasn't going to get a word in. "When we gave you permission to go to this function, we were under the impression that it was a modest gettogether, not an out of control, teenager party!"

It wasn't out of control, he wanted to say. But he could never argue back. So he clenched his jaw and took the blows as his father called him a disappointment, a family disgrace and many more things that he said so often they hardly had any effect anymore.

"You may as well be securing our family's place with the low-lifes and start living on the streets with how you've been behaving." Lucius finished, the tips of his ears red and his chest heaving. He massaged the bridge of his nose and turned to his wife. "Narcissa, would you please tell the boy to smarten up and get his act together?" He turned his back to his family, muttering loudly, "And in front of those people, including the Potter boy... I can only imagine what He would say or do to us."

Narcissa's lips were pursed tightly and there was sorrow in her eyes, but her chin was tilted up and her hands clasped together in front of her. "Draco..." she began, and Draco winced, readying himself.

Then, dangerously quiet, she said, "Never again. Is that understood?" Narcissa shifted so that Draco could only see half her face.

He didn't dare move. "Yes, Mother."

"Good."

---

As the sun began to sink, Harry tried to force his tired brain to calculate how long it would take to walk to a bus stop and if he had enough money on him to pay for the ride to Remus and Sirius' apartment. He had his suitcase which carried enough clothes for the week he'd be staying there, like he always did.

With a squeaking of gears, a familiar car pulled up next to him.

"Need a ride?" Sirius smiled, leaning out the front seat window.

Suppressing a grin, Sirius watched Harry in the rearview mirror. "Long shift?"

"Long night," Harry said, rubbing his forehead and leaning against the headrest. "Staff party."

"Jesus, what do you kids do at parties these days?" Sirius marvelled, shaking his head. "You look half dead, Harry. Was it worth it?"

"Yeah, of course." He furrowed his eyebrows. "At least, I think. I can't, um... really remember much. Don't tell Remus."

Sirius laughed. "Your secret's safe with me, kiddo. I had just as much fun with your dad when I was your age."

At the mention of his dad, Harry's eyes flitted up so that he could see Sirius' face. "Did you guys go to a lot of parties?"

"Um, wherever I went, the party followed." Sirius turned on the indicator as they stopped at the lights. "But yeah, of course. You're only eighteen once. Unless you really fuck up or something, I dunno how time works if I'm being honest. We had some legendary staff parties, too, and I also can't remember most of them. James told me I did some great speeches though, so maybe I could be a politician."

"Can't be too hard, then." Harry teased.

"I have great hair and am stubborn as hell. I was basically born for politics."

"So why didn't you pursue it?"

Sirius scrunched up his face. "Yucky assholes. Don't need that kind of stress in my life, it's not good for the complexion."

Harry snorted before readjusting his position against the headrest. "So... why did you pick me up?"

His hands tight against the steering wheel, Sirius stared straight ahead, his eyebrow slightly furrowed.

"...Sirius?"

"What? Oh, right, ah..." he laughed, but it felt forced. "Just thought you wouldn't want to bother with the whole bus thing after not only a long shift but a long week with the assholes, whatever their names are. Did you get that meme I sent you on Wednesday?"

"The one about idiots or the one about Dwayne Johnson?"

Cackling, Sirius took one hand off the wheel to wipe his eye. "I forgot about those two. Those were both great. Hey, why didn't you reply? Do you not appreciate my memes, Potter?"

Harry shoved his glasses (which had slowly slid down his nose with the vibrations of the car) back up his face. "They were hilarious, don't worry. Sense of humour's a bit tacky, though, I'll have to send you actually funny stuff."

"Excuse me, you little sh- you, I mean... asshole." Sirius ended up muttering, sinking back into his seat. "My sense of humour is flawless. Ungrateful brat."

"Alright then, Uncle Vernon," Harry laughed, but the silence that followed made him gulp.

Finally turning into the driveway, Harry didn't miss when Sirius glanced down the road before locking the car.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Hm? Oh, just thinking about... uhh..." he scrunched up his face, unable to think of an excuse. "Um... s... sex."

Harry blinked rapidly. "Jesus Christ, alright."

Sirius grimaced with regret as he watched Harry speedily retreat into the apartment.

Within his back pocket, Sirius' phone began to buzz so he quickly took it out and held it to his ear. "Afternoon."

"Afternoon," Remus' voice crackled through the phone. "Is Harry home now?"

Sirius locked the car, wiping some dust off the mirror. "Yep, just got back."

"Did you tell him?"

Stopping momentarily, Sirius leant against the side of the car and sighed.

"You didn't, did you?"

He rubbed his face. "How am I meant to, Remus? He deserves to know, but I-I can't just..."

"It's okay." As always, Remus' voice calmed Sirius almost immediately, but there was still a nagging feeling of worry. But he didn't want to focus on that right now.

"Okay. I'm gonna start making dinner now, I'll see you when you get home. Love you!"

"I love you too, Siri. Please don't set the kitchen on fire. See you soon."