Empty Spaces

Chapter 4

It's the small victories. You're here, against your father's wishes. That's got to count for something, right?

But afternoon was passing and his search was turning up nothing but closed doors and pathetic apologies.

They're afraid to house a Malfoy. Having anything to do with me means getting entangled with my father. And nobody wants that. I don't blame them. I don't want that either.

Getting hungry and starting to verge on disappointment, he figured he could at least kip at the inn until he figured out what to do next. He wouldshow up at Hogwarts regardless, dammit, because it was the perfect alibi: He had every right to be at school this year, and even Lucius would have a time of it coming up with a socially palatable excuse to drag him back to the Manor. If nothing else, it gave Draco almost an entire year to figure out his next move.

He put his trunk away and headed over to the Hog's Head– at least the barman here could be trusted to leave him alone and not ask stupid questions. He briefly considered getting a firewhiskey, but talked himself out of it because in order for this to work, he couldn't show up on the first day completely sauced.

"Hey," Draco approached the counter, "I'm looking for a room. Got anything for tonight?"

The barman put down his dingy glass and turned around.

"How many nights?"

"Just tonight."

The barman looked suspicious, but didn't ask questions; he simply named his price and sent Draco upstairs with the key to room 203.

The sound of familiar voices down the hall made him turn his head– Granger, he could understand, but Potter? Potter had never seemed all that interested in school. What the hell was he doing here? Not really having the wherewithal to make it through what would inevitably be an awkward conversation, Draco opened his door and flung himself on the bed.

When he opened his eyes, panic struck for a moment before he remembered where he was, only to return when he realized he had mere minutes to make it to the school gates. He summoned his school robes, pulling them on as he raced out the door and down the hall before colliding with someone on the stairs.

"Hey– watch it!"

Oh shit.

Potter turned around, fuming with annoyance. How Potter managed to live his life with his emotions so blatantly obvious was a mystery to Draco. Angry, annoyed, frustrated, sad, happy... it was all out there, wide open for anyone to read. The exact opposite of how Draco had been raised.

"Stairs are for going up and down on, Potter, not standing and staring at the walls," he managed to get out.

To his dismay, Potter's reaction was a dry laugh.

"Malfoy," was all he said.

What the hell does that mean!? How do you go from being stupidly easy to read to impossible!?

"Hello, Draco," Granger piped up out of nowhere, "Come on, Harry, we'll be late," she urged. "The letter said 6pm SHARP, and you know McGonagall, she means it..."

"Yea, yea..." Potter said distractedly, and Draco somehow found himself swept out the stairwell by both Potter and Granger and the three of them apparated to the front of the school gates at precisely 5:59.

"Names," announced a grumpy-looking Filch, peering at them over his parchment.

"What? It's us," Potter said, annoyed again. Really, Potter, how thick can you be?

"Draco Malfoy," Draco announced, and strode out and away from Potter and Granger. The last thing he wanted was to be seen entering the Great Hall with the pair of them.

Keep your head down and your guard up. You're still a Malfoy.

All in all, he supposed the feast could have been worse. He'd gotten through the whole affair by putting on his best leave-me-alone-because-I-am-better-than-all-of-you expression, which was generally successful. He couldn't avoid Parkinson and Zabini, both of whom were back because their parents made them return, but they both seemed satisfied enough with his answers to their questions and eventually left him alone. Draco guessed that maybe half of his class had returned– Weasley, he noticed, was back, but not sitting with Potter tonight. Maybe they'd had a row and Potter had gotten with Granger as revenge. Not that Draco cared about Potter's personal life. There was a handful of new teachers as well; it looked like Slughorn had gone back into retirement, so one of them must be the new Potions teacher...

The feast ended, and Draco headed back to the gates with a handful of other 8th years, Potter and Granger among them. Draco apparated the moment he stepped outside the gates, ignoring everyone and telling himself it would get easier once classes got started. What does Draco Malfoy want? No idea. But right now, I just want to be left alone.

Knowing it was a stupid thing to do, but also not really caring because there was nobody to hold him back from doing it, Draco headed to the bar instead of his room and ordered the firewhiskey'd restrained himself from earlier. Congratulations on making it through the feast. Now to make it through the rest of the year.

He put down his shotglass to reveal a dark pair of eyes looking interestedly at him from across the bar.

What does Draco Malfoy want? For everyone to leave him alone.

"Sod off," he said to the stranger on his way back up to his room. But the owner of those dark eyes simply flashed him a grin and threw back another drink.