Ferret (Sequel To Scarhead)

chapter thirteen-many sleepless nights

Harry had told him that he would be back before supper.

But supper was over and is was growing dark outside.

He paced the kitchen, casting glances through the front window across the valley, waiting for him apparate into sight.

"Draco, honey. Why don't you go to bed, I'm sure he'll be back before morning." Mrs.Weasley told him. His pacing was making everyone in the house very anxious.

"I will not sleep until I know he is safe. I was the one who put him in this situation in the first place." he did not mean to yell at her, but his nerves were on edge and he was growing more worrisome as time went by. She left the kitchen slightly frightened and even more unsettled by his demeanor.

"Not sleeping will not bring him back any faster." Ginny said, leaning up against the door frame. She crossed her arms across her chest, "it will only make time seem to pass slower, plus it's not good for your anxiety."

"Go away. As much as I would love to talk about this, I really don't." he continued to pace, ignoring her scowl, and brought his hands together. He couldn't sleep without Harry there.  

He trotted around the kitchen all throughout the night, his gait restless and nervy. He couldn't control the shake in his hands nor the tremble in his step, no matter how hard he tried to sit at the table and be still, he couldn't. He didn't know where Harry was or what they had done to him, by this point they had for certain, done something to him.

The began to rise and as he stopped to look out the window at it, he felt two hands fall upon his shoulders. He jumped and spun around to see Hermione. She jumped back as well and mumbled an apology.

"Have you been up all night?" she asked she stared at the floor, blushing slightly.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep."

"Neither could I. but I'm sure Harry is okay, wherever he is. You know him, he can get through anything."

He nodded, only half listening to her. He was more worried about Harry than what she had to say. "I couldn't imagine what they would do to him. I mean he is kind of like, the savior of the wizarding world, right? Maybe they're still interrogating him. The story is quite long and they probably have so many questions to ask him."

"I guess we'll find out shortly. She said. He looked at her slightly disarrayed. "I mean when the Daily Prophet comes."

"Oh my god, you're right. When does it come? Do you think they'll have it out already?" he ran across the room and opened the window the Weasleys owl usually came through to deliver the post.

"You've really changed." she said.

"What?" he exclaimed, bringing his head back into the kitchen.

"You're different from when I first met you. Since you've been here, you've called me by my first name, you haven't sneered or poked fun at me. You're like a whole different person."

"I guess he's changed me. Before we started to connect, I thought that anyone who was below me, class wise, was not worth my time. I didn't bother with them, except to make them feel worse about themselves in the fact that they weren't as great as I was. When we started to become friends, it was like he opened a whole new world for me, a world outside of me, outside of class structure, and I started to see that the world was not as bad as I had thought it was. There were good people lower than I was, people who were better than I was in many things, like you for example. One of the first things he told me to do was to be nice to his friends, he told me loads of great things about you and that you didn't deserve the treatment I had given you all those years. Not only that, but he made me feel better too. He made me see myself outside of what my last name held."   

She wiped her watery eyes and hugged him, "you guys really are perfect for each other. When I saw you two fighting yesterday I was really mad at you. I was mad at Harry too, for letting you control his life. It was only a glimpse but I thought you guys looked miserable together."

He relaxed and hugged her back hesitantly. He had never held a full conversation with her before now and it felt odd. He wasn't sure what else to say to her, so he let her weep into him and compliment how perfect their relationship was on both of them. She released him and thanked him, leaving the kitchen and returning moments later with Ron, who looked as if he had not slept either.  

"Post arrived yet?" he asked. Hermione sat next to him and shook her head.

"It's only six, it doesn't come until at least seven."

"Damn, how the hell are we supposed to know what Harry is up to?" he swore a few more times before Mrs.Weasley enter the kitchen and started to prepare breakfast.

"How are you Draco?" she asked.

"Feeling like hell. How are you?" she smiled a little before he added, "oh, and I apologize for yesterday, I didn't mean to yell, I am just really anxious."

"You're okay, dear. We all feel that way. " Mr.Weasley entered the kitchen and kissed his wife on the cheek before greeting everyone. With breakfast on the table the whole family ate in a very stressed silence, hoping for the best when it came to what the newspaper had to say about Harry.

When the owl finally came in and dropped the paper on the table, it was Draco who reacted first, Practically flinging himself across the table to get it. "Oh my god." he said glancing over at the title of the paper. Hermione took it from him and read:

'"Harry Potter: the boy who lived, arrested for withholding information against death eater Draco Malfoy."' Draco fell into his seat, placing his head in his hands, Hermione continued, '"Harry Potter Incidentally requested a meeting with the Minister yesterday afternoon, claiming that he would give away the true story of what happened the night Voldemort was killed and he disappeared. (full story of how he survived on page 7). He ends the meeting by announcing the innocence of Draco Malfoy, after telling the congregation that he did commit the crime he was being held accountable for. "He did not avoid the question or lie about it, "says Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt, "instead he tried to explain why he committed the crime. After a long discussion of the reasons behind the crime, he would not disclose the location of his future fiance. We were then forced to arrest him under constitutional act 47.' oh Draco, I'm so sorry."

"We have to go get him. Maybe if I reveal myself they'll let him go?"

"Not likely, he'll have to give your location away." Mr.Weasley said.

"We have to tell him, he can't spend his life in Azkaban because he wants to protect me, this is all my fault. Someone has to get in there and tell him it's okay to-" Draco began.

"He won't do it." Ron said.

"He has to. This is his only option if he doesn't want to spend his life there." Draco got up and paced some more.

"He won't do it." Ron said again.

"He has to!" Draco yelled. He continued to pace, worrying about exactly what Ron had just said, Harry's willingness to save himself. there had to be some way he could convince him to do it. But the more he thought about it, the more anxious he got.