Blackberry Jam (A Drarry FanFiction)

Chapter Fourteen

   Draco didn't have much to pack, so he only had the suitcase he had brought with him from London to carry with him an hour or two later, and a pair of shoes that he was going to transport separately as they didn't quite fit. "You'll meet me by the school gate?" he made Harry promise by the front door.

"First thing tomorrow," he agreed. "And you can tell me all about the bed and breakfast, and about your dinner out!" Mrs Malfoy had made reservations at a fancy restaurant in the bigger town over the way, but when Harry heard they actually served snails he found he really wasn't all that jealous.

He and Mrs Figg waved them off, waiting until they had walked all the way down the lane before closing the door, despite the biting December air. "So now it's just us two," Mrs Figg sighed.

"And about a hundred cats," Harry joked, but inside he was feeling quite hollow. He was as used to Draco being by his side as he was his own shadow, and now he wasn't going to be living at home for a whole month. Without thinking, he bent down and scooped up Shelley the kitten, hugging her to his chest. "At least you and Treacle don't want to scratch me," he said, nuzzling his nose into her fur.

"None of them want to scratch you," Mrs Figg said with a tut, then shooed Harry away. "Go on with you, I think I've held you captive enough for one day. Go, have fun."

Harry though had lost his appetite for a walk. Instead, he rummaged through Draco's books, picking out Treasure Island, and with a grey and golden kitten entourage, retreated to the attic to lose himself in someone else's adventures for a while.

He told himself he would sleep better that night, like Mrs Figg had said. With no one to slap his face or roll into him, how could he not? However he found the reality to be that he was plagued with terrible nightmares, like the kind he used to have back in London, and he woke crying and trembling with no one to comfort him.

Over the next few days he tried to get used to his new routine, and smiled widely whenever Draco talked about the exciting things he and his mother were getting up to. He was happy for him, he really was. But with more and more news coming through about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, and the Americans joining the war, Harry found his nerves to be even more on edge, and his dreams to be persistently unsettling.

Mrs Figg was determined to be cheerful, despite Harry's mood, and he forced himself to try not to be such a stick-in-the-mud. Draco's absence was only going to last a few weeks, and then things would be back to normal. He didn't want to begrudge his best friend time away with his mother anyhow, that would be very mean spirited indeed. And even though Pearl Harbour was a terrible tragedy, everyone was saying that it was a good thing that America was now joining the war effort. "Now we'll send those Jerrys running," Mrs Figg said one morning whilst reading the paper. Gradually, his dreams about more bombings began to calm down again.

Harry got into the habit of letting both Treacle and Shelley sneak up to his and Draco's bedroom, even though he wasn't supposed to, and having their extra weight on the bed, no matter how nominal, helped him sleep a little better at night. The nightmares were still worse than when Draco was there, but it was hard to lie in the dark crying when there were two mewling fluff balls there to cuddle.

The next weekend, he helped Mrs Figg put up her battered Christmas decorations; they may have been older than he was, but they cheered Harry up immensely with their bright colours and gay sparkle. They went to the carol service at the local church on the Saturday night, and Mrs Figg even let him have half a cup of mulled wine, which made his head swim alarmingly but he rather enjoyed it all the same.