They arrived to the airport half an hour later. Ron had apparently decided to park as far away as possible, which was annoying as Draco was quite tired.
"Alright, so, I have the passports." He pulled them out of his pocket. "Here you go... Penelope Clearwater." He handed one to Hermione. "And yours, Cormac McLaggen." He handed one to Ron. "Brian Percival... honestly, how does he come up with these names... so bizarre." Harry took his passport. "And you all can call me... Colin Creevey." Draco flipped through the pages of his passport. "Hmm, looks like I've been to Scotland."
"One question," Hermione said. "How are we meant to buy the tickets? All of our credit cards have our real names on them."
"I've already thought of that." Draco confessed. He unzipped his bag and pulled out a thick envelope, and opened it to reveal a large amount of cash.
"What the hell? Where was that?" Harry looked gobsmacked.
"Um, under one of the floorboards in my room." Draco said, a light flush creeping across his cheeks. "Hey! That's all that was there, I promise. Just the money." He protested when Harry gave him a funny look. "I promise."
"Won't that look sort of... suspicious?" Ron asked.
"We'll be fine. Just follow my lead." And with that, Draco hoisted his bag out of the car and took off in the direction of the airport. "Coming?" He called over his shoulder.
Draco and his Band of MisfitsTM waltzed into the airport and inspected the flights schedule. They were in luck. A flight to Halifax would be departing in two hours. They stood in line for the kiosk and Draco noticed how visibly on edge the others were. If they blew this operation... that would be the end of him. He didn't have enough time to run them through Becoming A Criminal 101.
"Act natural, guys. You're being so obvious right now. We're just a group of friends going on vacation." He said under his breath. Hermione exhaled slowly through her mouth and rearranged her features into an expression of cheerfulness, and pinched Ron's arm to have him follow her lead. Draco ran his fingertips lightly across Harry's back and smiled when he instantly relaxed.
When they reached the front of the line, Draco stepped forward and took charge. "Hello." He said politely to the grouchy old woman sat on the other side of the kiosk. "I'll be needing four tickets to Halifax."
"You didn't purchase them online?" She replied in a snarky tone.
"It's sort of a last minute trip." He flashed her a dazzling smile - which did absolutely nothing to improve her attitude. She 'hmmphed' loudly and began clacking on the keyboard.
"Names?"
They all handed over their passports and waited while she filled out their information. Draco could feel sweat collecting on his upper lip and tried his best to focus on appearing calm and collected.
"Credit or debit?" The lady asked without looking up from the computer.
"Cash, actually." Draco answered smoothly. She looked up at him with narrowed eyes and a frown.
"Cash?" She repeated disbelievingly. Draco nodded and slid a thick stack of bills across the counter. She counted the money and looked suspiciously a him again, her fingers creeping to the phone beside her computer. He felt Harry tense up beside him, but Draco wasn't worried quite yet.
He knew people. Knew that their morals could be persuaded, or bought. He slid a few more bills towards her and smiled sweetly.
"For your discretion." He said softly, winking at her. She did a double take at the money, and tucked it discreetly beneath her blouse.
Bingo.
"Here you are, Mr Creevey. Gate 16B. Have a wonderful trip." She gave him a sly smile, as though they were sharing an inside joke.
"Thank you-" he checked her name tag, "Miranda."
He took Harry's hand and pulled him in the direction of the security lineup, Ron and Hermione following closely behind.
"You're amazing." Harry breathed in his ear, sending shivers down Draco's spine.
"That was nothing." He took a deep breath and exhaled shakily. "This is the hard part."
They placed their overnight bags on the luggage belt and put on their best We Are Not Fleeing The Country faces.
Thankfully, everything went smoothly and they cleared security without a hitch. They found their gate and seated themselves in a far corner, away from eavesdropping ears.
"I've let Bill know that we're on our way." Ron said in a hushed tone. "He'll meet us at the airport and take us to the cottage."
"Did you tell him? About what's going on, I mean." Draco asked warily.
"Yeah, he knows all about Riddle, we have nothing to worry about." Ron reassured him.
Draco still couldn't fathom why everyone was so hell-bent on protecting him- after all, he got himself into this mess. He was dragging the others down with him.
As if he could read Draco's mind, Harry wrapped an arm around his waist and rubbed small circles on his hip.
"We'll get through this." Harry whispered.
"Flight 256 to Halifax will begin boarding." A voice announced from the overhead speakers.
"That's us." Hermione sighed, adjusting the strap of her purse on her shoulder as she headed towards the flight attendant.
Once they had boarded the plane and found their seats, Draco allowed himself to relax. He got them through difficult part. Now all he had to do was sit back and settle in for a long flight, and an even longer fight for his life. He didn't exactly have a plan yet, but with Harry and the others by his side, he was confident that everything would be okay, eventually.
Riddle was going down, one way or another.
YOU ARE READING
Don't Move (dm.hp)
Fanfiction⍟muggle au ⍟ Draco has had a difficult past, to say the least. Raised by a mobster and an absent mother. Coerced into joining the family business. It was almost a relief when his father was brought to justice, and Draco got off easy. 2 years locked...
