Malfoy's Growth

A quarter of an hour later, Dudley and Draco sat in a fast-food restaurant nearby.

Draco Malfoy held a tissue to his still-bleeding nose and wore the Malfoy family's trademark "elegant yet polite" smile as he held out a hand to the burly man across from him.

Since he was Harry's older cousin, that made him Draco's future brother-in-law.

With that thought in his head, Draco, who had yet to recover from his lingering fright, said it aloud. "Thank you so much for saving me, brother."

Dudley Dursley stared at Draco's outstretched hand, his eyebrows rising almost to his hairline. Instead of taking it, he picked up his cola and took a long gulp, the ice rattling in the cup.

"...Who are you calling brother?"

The air froze for a moment.

Draco's smile stiffened on his face, his hand hanging in midair. He couldn't decide whether to pull it back or leave it there.

He's a Muggle, but those muscles are pretty intimidating...

Just then, the door to the restaurant swung open, and the wind chimes jingled.

The red-haired girl stood in the doorway, her gaze sweeping over the restaurant. When she spotted Draco and Dudley, her green eyes widened, and she hurried over. Goyle followed behind her, panting and wiping sweat from his face with his sleeve. The big fellow had clearly run all the way to fetch her.

Dudley immediately raised both hands. "I swear I wasn't hanging around with bad company!" He pointed at Draco. "I was just coming back from boxing class when I saw someone holding a gun to this kid's temple!"

Harry's frown deepened.

In the years since her rebirth, Aunt Petunia and her family had indeed treated her well. Though she had never been able to grow truly close to them, she had repaid them as best she could-for example, by stopping Dudley from going down his old delinquent path of "punching kindergarteners."

She just hadn't expected Dudley to actually listen, much less get into the habit of reporting where he was at all times.

"What happened to Malfoy?" she asked Dudley, completely ignoring the way Draco's eyes had lit up the instant he saw her.

"A thug with a gun." Dudley mimed firing one. "He was about to pull the trigger. This kid pulled out a stick and nearly got himself killed."

Harry turned to Draco, speaking as though she were scolding a cat for scratching the furniture. "Be careful when you go out. The Muggle World isn't like the wizarding world. Their weapons-"

"It would've been different if I'd had my wand!" Draco interrupted, craning his neck.

"Sure," Harry said, folding her arms. "First, you'd need permission to use your wand outside school. Second, you'd have to be faster than a bullet."

Draco's face went from white to red to green, making him look just like a peacock being strangled.

Dudley suddenly stood up and gave Harry a crushing bear hug. Harry's whole body went rigid, goosebumps spreading from the back of her neck to her heels, though she showed nothing on her face.

"I'm heading home." Dudley let her go and grabbed his gym bag. "Mum should come see you tomorrow."

"Okay." Harry tossed Draco's wand back to him. She glanced at him, her tone softening for once. "Shall we head back?"

Draco nodded.

Night had fallen over the streets of London, and Draco followed Harry in silence.

The bruise on the bridge of his nose glowed purple-red beneath the streetlights, and dried blood still stained the collar of his expensive shirt.

Hermione Granger stood outside the hotel, waiting for Harry to return. She leafed through a hefty book, the warm yellow light edging her in gold.

When Draco looked up and saw her, he stopped in his tracks.

In his eyes, Granger now seemed like the embodiment of power. No matter how harmless she looked on the surface, she still brought the Slap Goddess and a handgun to mind.

"G-good evening, Granger," Draco stammered, taking the initiative to greet Hermione.

Hermione looked up in surprise.

Before she could respond, Draco grabbed Goyle and Crabbe and hurried past her, looking as though he'd seen a ghost.

"What's gotten into him?" Hermione asked, looking at Harry in confusion.

Harry shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe a Muggle knocked his brains out."

Hermione couldn't make sense of it. She shrugged and went back to their room with Harry.

It was getting late. If they didn't go to bed soon, they wouldn't be able to get up the next morning.

Early the next morning, sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the hotel lobby, falling across the marble floor.

Harry was introducing her friends to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, who had arrived early that morning.

"This is Neville. He's especially good at Herbology."

"Oh! Is he the boy who's always sending you strange plants?" Aunt Petunia looked Neville over, while his ears turned bright red with nerves.

Just then, a deliberately softened set of footsteps approached.

Draco Malfoy had appeared behind them at some point. He straightened his collar, took a deep breath, and stepped forward.

"Good morning, Mrs. Dursley, Mr. Dursley." He bowed politely.

Aunt Petunia narrowed her eyes and turned to whisper to Uncle Vernon, "Is this the brat Snape mentioned in his letter, the one chasing after Harry?"

Ever since discovering that young boys might pursue Harry, Snape had enlisted everyone around her, regardless of whether he had thought much of them before. All to keep those brats from having a chance!

Uncle Vernon looked Draco up and down, from his gleaming leather shoes to his tightly fastened shirt collar. He snorted and whispered to Aunt Petunia, "Just like James. One look and you can tell he's no good."

Draco hadn't heard their whispered discussion about him. Smiling, he said, "You must be Harry's aunt and uncle. I'm Draco Malfoy. It's an honor-"

"Oh, so it's you." Aunt Petunia suddenly put on a false smile, her voice sickly sweet. "I hear you 'care a great deal' about our Harry?"

A chill ran down Draco's back, but he nodded all the same. "Yes, ma'am."

Uncle Vernon stepped forward, his beer belly jutting out. "You certainly do care... You're the kid who let the whole school know Harry was on her period, aren't you?"

The air instantly froze.

Draco's face went white in an instant.

He had been young and foolish. Even giving her brown sugar ginger tea had led to an argument with the Gryffindors, until the whole school knew. Looking back on it now, he wanted nothing more than to cast a Memory Charm on himself.

"Back then... I was young and didn't know any better," he said stiffly.

"That's right," Aunt Petunia sneered. "You certainly didn't, and you still don't know much better now. I hear that if it hadn't been for our precious Dudders yesterday, you'd be dead?"

Draco lowered his head in shame. He hadn't slept a wink the night before, the cold sensation of the gun barrel against his temple replaying in his mind. The "stupid Muggles" he had mocked actually had weapons more terrifying than Avada Kedavra.

"I... I admit my views on Muggles were too narrow before." His voice trembled, but it was unusually firm. "Professor Burbage was right. Muggles and us... aren't all that different."

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon exchanged a surprised look.

Meanwhile, on the second-floor corridor of the hotel, Snape watched it all with a dark expression. The coffee cup in his hand cracked with a snap.