When You Turn Your Back [Drarry]

[11] Gimme a Minute

The road beneath could cut his feet in half with all the sharp pebbles and stones jabbing at his skin. Draco deliberately ignored the pointed looks that were directed his way for his inadequate clothing for the cold weather, as he rushed towards the supposedly correct direction. He had missed Scotland for a number of reasons, but the snowy winters remained the most loved factor of the country till this day. But never in his dreams he could have imagined himself walking down the streets of Stirling in his track pants and bare feet.

A bunch of dreadful questions kept digging at his mind while he half ran through the packed streets, knocking people in his way that took too long to move out of his way. The freezing air did not bother him anymore, for he was already numb from laying on the concrete floor for Merlin knew how long. The thin cotton shirt was half wet from the damp it had absorbed and his feet could hardly feel the rocks he stepped on even as he tried to miss them.

“Ma'am, could you please help me?” Draco stopped a middle aged lady.

“Yes?”

“How do I get to Abbey Road?” he silently wished her to be a witch despite of her muggle attire.

“Abbey Road…turn right from that corner, the second one. From there on you can find the directions quite clearly.” she nodded at him while pointing forward.

“Alright, thanks.” he smiled back at her.

The ticking minutes brought the sun out of the clouds only about a quarter of an hour later Draco had turned out on the main road. From the directions of the boards, all he could gather was the information that the street was supposed to be half a kilometre away. But the heat of the sun had purchased him a new problem over the cold. He was sweating. It was a problem because the wind was blowing as cold as the morning but with the shirt sticking to his body with sweat while he ran along the road was something he didn't have to experience.

The note was still in his pocket, probably soaked wet from the perspiration, but he hardly needed it to remember the words scribbled on them. Despite of the lack of threat in the words, Draco didn't have to read them twice to smell the imminent danger that was lurking between the lines. No, this was not a doing of a Death Eater to get a revenge for the Dark Lord's death. This was someone with a nasty mood to play games. This was way too elaborated.

A sharp turn pointed towards the Abbey Road on a green board that lead him into a broad colony of housings that seemed to go miles deep. Even thinking about having to find a building numbered 401 in that jungle of buildings made him want to cry from the fatigue he was suffering from due to his blocked nose. He bent over to take in a deep breath with his hands on his knees, thinking about all the things that could go wrong if he reached the flat too late. The first thing that popped into his mind was Harry's face. Who knew where he was; even if he was safe or not.

His jaw clenched with contempt upon remembering the evening before that he had spent with that man. He felt cheated and exposed and vulnerable for everything he had done with him, for everything he had done to him. But, Merlin, that man! He couldn't find anything shady about the man even when he concentrated on the past events of the evening. How could a man have resembled someone else with such spotless acting was beyond his imagination. His suspicions of him being from Hogwarts were strengthened further, or he couldn't see any other possibilities of knowing someone with such perfection that even their vulnerable moments hadn't escaped his observation. Even the way he touched. Replaying even a single second of the scenes stirred the bitter bile in his stomach.

Therefore, he ran, picked his speed up, despite of his aching lungs and pounding head from the lack of oxygen. There was no way he was going to let him interfere in his life like that, never let him tear the world apart that he had built up so carefully over the years, with great calculations before each step he had taken. He had made sure to live only by his rules and hold on to the reigns with all his might so that it was just himself that was controlling him, not some petty peasant that happened to suddenly drop by with his little funny games. He was the master of this circus and he would like to keep it that way.