Harry Malfoy's Trials | Book One

| Harry Becomes a Malfoy

Harry woke up feeling completely warm and comfortable. He opened his eyes slowly to see a big stuffed snake coiled around his body, the head resting on his chest which he is hugging. Harry stared at the snake for a long while as memories of yesterday came back. He was away from the Dursleys, away from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, away from Dudley. He might never have to see Number 4 Private Drive ever again! He now lives in Malfoy Manor, the blond-haired boy next to him is going to be his brother! He's a wizard!

Harry reached his glasses and returned to hugging the big snake as he turned to look at his bedmate. He wondered briefly if snakes could talk. Draco was still sleeping, holding the same chimera from last night. His mouth was opened to make a little 'O' shape. Harry just stared at him, watching the little Malfoy sleep, before turning around to look out a window. The sun hasn't even risen yet but Harry could see peaks of pink on the horizon. He wondered what time it was as he turned on the bed again. What would the Malfoys make him do, he wondered. Will they have him do chores like the Dursleys? He hoped not. The Dursley's chores took all day and Harry wanted to play with Draco more.

He looked down at the stuffed snake. "Umm... can you let go please?" he asked it. The stuffed toy seemed to have been sleeping as it lifted its head to stare at Harry before shaking its head and resting back on Harry's chest. With nothing else to do Harry huffed and took off his glasses. He was a little tired still, might as well go back to sleep.

Dumbledore paced his office frantically. The boy has been gone for eighteen hours. From what he could put together, Harry Potter was at the park near his home with his family yesterday morning. He was on the swing sets before falling off and Apparating. Where the boy apparated to Dumbledore could not say. He and Moody searched the entire neighborhood but found nothing. Not even probing the Dursley's minds while they slept revealed anything. The farthest he got was watching the boy apparate as he fell.

Dumbledore needed to find the boy, he needed to return him to his relatives. What if somebody finds the boy? What if a wizard finds the boy... somebody from the magical community. No... that would be awful, too awful, Dumbledore would never allow that. "I've got to find him," Dumbledore said. Perhaps he should start looking through wizarding families. But if the boy was found by a wizarding family, then surely the Daily Prophet would hear about it by now. He supposed he should wait till his copy arrived but... if it is true, and an article about Potter appears in the morning Prophet, then all those years planning, all those years correcting lives would be wasted. No, he couldn't have that, he would not accept that. As long as the boy doesn't appear on the Daily Prophet, then all would be fine. And his life's work for the past ten years wouldn't have been wasted.

An owl appeared in the distance and Dumbledore waited in anticipation as the bird flown towards the castle. He opened the window and allowed the owl to land on his desk, dropping the Daily Prophet, before flying away. Dumbledore closed the window and turned his attention to the newspaper. He snatched it and quickly rifled through the pages, his eyes scanning the headline for Potter's name. A feeling of relief flooded him when he couldn't find Harry Potter's name, or any indications to Potter at all. He closed the newspaper and sank into his chair. Potter is still missing, that much is obvious, but at least he can still be found by Dumbledore. Feeling some confidence by that fact, Dumbledore stood from his chair and took the newspaper in his arm. It is breakfast time for the castle, and he wanted to make sure his students were all keeping up with their studies.

Harry woke up again two hours later. The toy snake was no longer on him, it slithered back to the shelf where it sat, and Draco was already dressed and rummaging through his dresser. Harry sat up in the bed and watched Draco.

"Useless house-elves, picking the wrong clothes," Draco grumbled as he pulled out a pair of briefs and placed them on a folded green long-sleeved shirt. He then pulled out some dark pants and a pair of socks. Picking up the pile of clothes, Draco turned to the bed to see Harry watching him. "You're up!" he smiled. "I got more clothes for you to wear! The darn elves forgot to get your clothes out!"