In This World And The Next (Completed)

Chapter 26

"Aw George, that's not fair. They're not even teenagers yet and you would have them settling into a rut already. These two are more imaginative than that."

"Naw Fred, I'm still mad that Draco was cut down before I got to see him dangle, I don't want to miss the next one."

It was Harry who answered, "Well George, if we were still at Hogwarts I could do my best to arrange you getting a bird's eye view of the next one. That is if you really want to?"

George actually fell off the bench he'd been sitting on in his haste to assure Harry that was not necessary. This was met with roars of laughter, especially from those who the twins had played pranks upon.

The laughter was broken by Andi, "Oh Dear, with all the excitement of the wedding I forgot all about Draco. Guess I won't be meeting him during the holidays after all." This was the last time his name was mentioned as everyone want back to enjoying themselves, even Pansy never thought about the blond Slytherin again for the rest of the holiday.

-oOoOo-

Draco was currently lying in bed, unable to sleep. This was hardly an unusual occurrence for youngsters the world over as Christmas beckoned. What was unusual though is that it wasn't excitement that was keeping the boy awake, Draco No-Name had simply nothing to get excited about. The Australian buzz in Hogwarts had only been overshadowed once in the last few weeks, straight after Professor Lupin had announced he was going to marry the pink haired auror. That this auror was the daughter of the woman he was looking forward to meeting over the holidays almost certainly meant Draco was heading for another disappointment.

If the Potters had arranged for all their friends to be in Australia, it was a given that the parents of the bride were going to be flown out there too. With Sirius Black also getting married, the chances of Draco being accepted into any of those families was dwindling fast. There would probably be little Blacks and Lupins running around soon. Andromeda Tonks would then be a grandmother and an aunt, she wouldn't want him hanging around as a reminder that both her sisters were staying an Azkaban.

Anyway Draco figured it, he could see no other future for himself but the orphanage. With no name, family, bloodline or gold, he was all out of options. That was enough to stop anyone sleeping and seriously diminished his Christmas spirit.

-oOoOo-

Albus was ecstatic, right in front of him were the trunks he had the foresight to place tracking charms on way back in the school term. His portkey had been worth all that effort, it had done its job exactly as it was designed to. The trunks sitting squarely at the bottom of the four-poster beds tripped some internal alarms for Albus and, as his elation started to fade, he soon began to realise what was so very wrong with this scene. The trunks were exactly where they had been when he placed the tracking charms on them, sitting at the bottom of the children's beds in their Gryffindor dormitory. How could this be? He was supposed to be in Australia, not Scotland. How could they possibly go on holiday without taking their trunks?

His special portkey was only charged for a one way trip and Albus knew better than most he needed to get outside the wards before he could escape by apparition. He badly needed time to figure out how his plan had been foiled. Since Albus was no longer the current headmaster of Hogwarts, the castle wouldn't allow portkeys made by him to pass through the wards. Another special portkey was also out of the question, he had neither the time nor the energy required to create one.