Away Childish Things

Chapter 9

It was all right.

Harry Apparated to Grimmauld Place first, fetching his Invisibility Cloak. After putting it on, he Apparated to the street outside the warehouse on Colville Road. Still under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry activated the Seeing-Eye Ball. When he saw that no one seemed to be inside the warehouse, he made his way there quickly.

Inside the lab, Harry located the cabinet he'd been under when he'd knocked the potion over. The broken glass had been removed; the sickle he had used as a Portkey was gone. Whoever had been coming into the lab right after Harry had de-aged must have found them.

Finding the Life Water was easier than Harry had thought it might be, mostly because it was in the cabinet next to the potion that had fallen on him. After confirming it was the Life Water through one of Draco's diagnostic spells, Harry grabbed a bottle of it. He then cast a Ward Record on the Seeing-Eye Ball so he would be able to see whether anyone came in or out of the room.

Once he was done, he Disapparated, hopefully no one having detected his presence at all.

*

After Apparating back to Tailored Tinctures, Harry took off the Invisibility Cloak, and Draco came running down the stairs, his wand held high in his fist. The silver fox streaked behind him. "Who is it? Who's there? I know Incendio!"

"Draco," Harry said, as Draco hurtled into the room. "It's me-it's Harry."

"Oh." Draco caught himself against a lab bench, wavering there as though he still wanted to lunge forward. "Well then, are you . . . all right?"

"Draco." Harry came out from around the lab bench, noticing that Draco was very pale. "I'm all right."

"No one attacked you?" Draco still looked like he was going to fall over.

"No one attacked me," Harry affirmed, beginning to take another step forward.

Draco must have misinterpreted, because he flung himself against Harry. "I thought dark wizards were going to come for me," he said, clutching Harry's robe. "I thought Muggles were going to get me."

"How could Muggles hurt you?" Harry asked, staring down at Draco in bemusement.

"They've invented mechanical weapons," said Draco. "Because they don't have magic. They have an Adam Bomb. It has clouds made of mushrooms-fungus mists. They killed a whole town. They just wiped it out. Not a small town, either. It was-it was the size of Oxford. And then they did it again."

"Draco," Harry said again. He tried to peel Draco off of him, but again Draco must have misinterpreted the movement, because he pressed his face harder against Harry's chest. Remembering how Draco had held him after he thought Harry had been in danger, Harry put his arms around Draco. It hadn't really occurred to him at the time that Draco had done that because he had been terrified, and touching Harry had made him feel better. "Muggles aren't going to drop bombs on you," Harry said.

"But they could," Draco said, finally easing up a bit. "Or they could have shot one at you."

I thought you didn't care about me, Harry wanted to say, but it so obviously wasn't true. Draco had managed to work himself into quite a state since Harry had left, which Harry supposed he should have predicted, only he didn't see how he could have. Draco had always seemed worked up in school, but Harry had thought that it was just because Draco hated him, and not because Draco had too many strong emotions he had difficulty controlling. "I'm not in danger from any Muggles," Harry said, experimentally petting Draco's hair.