Alone

Making Plans

Draco
Harry took me to number 4 and opened the door. As he let me through the hallway, a thin woman with a thin, long neck appeared from the living room.
"Who's this boy?!" she said, scrunching her nose up in disgust. I can't blame her, I am disgusting.
"This is Draco. He needs a place to stay." Harry replied coolly.
"You want him to stay here?!" the woman screeched.
"Yes. He has no where to go. He has to stay here."Harry paused for a moment and faked thinking, "Or would you rather I told the street you turned away a 16 year old when he needed help the most."
The woman paled, but stepped aside and let us by.

He led me up to his room and he let me use his bathroom. I was completely surprised that he had his own bathroom considering that his aunt and uncle hated him.
Jesus, I looked a mess. My normally soft hair was dripping rain water and the bags under my eyes were darker than ever. The area surrounding my nose was stained with dried blood, probably from when I smashed into the slide. My cheekbones are more sharp and defined as I hadn't been eating.... Shit, I hadn't eaten in the past 3 days. No wonder I'd been so weak yesterday.

Under my hoodie was even worse though. The place where my father had smashed me with his cane had started bleeding again and now the back of my neck was covered in ugly dried blood. At least my arms weren't bleeding. I quickly found my large plasters and covered the wound after washing away the blood and cleaned my face. I closed my eyes, thinking everything through. Now that I was here, I wished I wasn't. Part of me wondered if I should disappear to a different country, but I couldn't apparate and it's not like I can rob a bank. I could borrow (or steal) Harry's invisibility cloak, but I couldn't do that to him. I couldn't betray him like that. I wondered how long his aunt and uncle would let me stay. Or how long it would be before my father found me. Luckily, no one knew about my relationship with Harry, so chances of him finding me were very slim.

I heard my stomach rumble, and it was true that I was very hungry, but I knew I couldn't eat. Ever since I can remember I've been told that people will only love you if you're perfect. I'm definitely not perfect. I'm broken, damaged, insecure, rude, ugly, fat, and disgusting. Not even my parents loved me. My mother cared in a way, but I was mostly treated like a doll. A doll who needed to look nice and always smile. A doll who had to be perfect in every way. To my father I was more like a rag doll. Something to be thrown around and treated like shit. I was many things to my parents, but none of those things were a son. I would never be seen as a son.

Harry
My mind was spinning at the thought of Draco running away from his home. Then again, he'd always been unpredictable. I wondered what had pushed him to this. By the state he was in, it was clear that he hadn't really thought this through. He was dirty, cold, wet, tired, and he looked close to tears. And Draco would never show himself, as he said, 'weak' in any way. He didn't even look like that when his pet snake died. And he'd had that snake since it had hatched.

Draco always thought things through - normally how he could get away and be successful in so many activities. It's what made him a Slytherin. In fact, Draco was only reckless in any way if he was desperate. And to Draco, desperate was practically life or death.

There was no way that I was going to see Draco left alone on the streets for two months. I knew him well enough that I was the last person he'd seek for help, meaning this must be his last option and he had no where else to go. Now, call it my "hero complex" or whatever, but I care about Draco a lot - and I would kill Ron and Hermione before I saw him homeless.

I went downstairs, and prepared myself to speak with my aunt and uncle. Hell, I'd use magic and get myself expelled if I had to.

"Potter! Why is there a random boy in our house?!" uncle Vernon bellowed. Shit. He was mad.

I took a deep breath. "He's a very good friend from school and he needs a place to stay for the summer." 3, 2, 1....

"What?!" he yelled, his face going red,  "you want a queer like you to stay in this house for 2 months?! Are you mad?!"

I sighed. "No, I want to do a good thing."

"No, no, no!" he yelled. "I will not allow another queer in this house!"

"We're not queer!" I yell, before calming myself. "Listen, I've done chore after chore for you for 15 years. You kept me in a cupboard for the first 10. Can't you do me this one favour? I am your nephew after all, and he needs help. Please.... I'm begging you."

They looked surprised after what I'd said, and I could have sworn I'd seen some kind of sympathy in their eyes. Even in Uncle Vernon's, which surprised me.

Eventually Dudley, who I least expected, spoke up in a quiet voice.  "Maybe he should stay...."

"But Duddikins!" Aunt Petunia protested.

"Mum! I don't know what he did, or how - but last year he saved me, and we owe him. So I think his friend should stay. He can have the camp bed and stay in Harry's room."

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were quiet for a few minutes. "Alright, boy. He can stay, but he has to help with the chores, and if we get any bother from him he's out, understood."

I sighed. I knew Draco wouldn't be happy with doing chores, and he got offended easily, so it might be a bit difficult to get him to hold his tongue. But it was that or have him in the streets, so I agreed before going back to my room to wait for Draco.

Draco
I left the bathroom in a fresh hoodie and jeans, to see Harry sat on his bed. He immediately sat up to look at me, making room for me to sit beside him.

"Hey, you feeling better?" he asked.

"Yeah, a bit." I replied. I knew what conversation was coming, and I knew I couldn't avoid it.

"So..... You told me in the park that you ran away... Why?"

I sighed, "It doesn't matter. I ran away, and I am never going back"

"But there must be a reas-"

"Harry, just drop it. It doesn't matter."

"You're in some serious shit aren't you. You don't just run away from Lucius Malfoy." my silence provided him with an answer.

"Merlin, Draco." he sighed.

"Ugh, don't Harry." I groaned. I was already feeling like shit, I didn't need him making it worse.

"Well, I've convinced my aunt and uncle to let you stay until the end of summer, but there are some rules. You have to help with the chores, and you can't give them any trouble. So no lip or anything like that."

To be honest, I couldn't care less about them so I agreed. But I knew it was not going to be easy to get Harry to drop the subject of me running away. And I would let my father find me before I let Harry find out the reason.

~~~
Hi, so I finally updated. I'm sorry for not continuing this story, because I partly lost interest and I partly forgot about it. However, I saw that more people had been reading and voting for the story so I decided to carry on with it. So remember, if you liked this chapter, please comment and vote because it really encourages me to carry on writing the story.