Chapter Text

Ch. 1

Draco had no idea what brought him to the conclusion that this could have possibly been the best option. His mind must be completely shattered as that was the only reason he could think of that he was currently walking about the neighborhood that Scarhead himself was supposedly living in. He was also under the impression that the information he had been given was completely incorrect and was seriously debating calling the night bus to take him back to the manor, as terrified as he was to go back. 

No. He shook his head to dispel the urge to give up. He had come to this decision weeks ago and this was his only opportunity. He had three days before his father would be back and he needed to use his time wisely. However, being thirteen years old had its limits and he was unfortunately unused to being out in the real world on his own. Not to mention being in the muggle world. 

He thought that the great Harry Potter would have been living in much better conditions than this. Looking around the neighborhood he couldn’t tell one house from another and he was seriously disturbed by the monstrous looking machines parked in front of each house. He was also concerned with how the muggles kept looking at him as though he would attack them at any moment. Draco Lucious Malfoy was the heir to a noble house. To have some muggle woman turn up her nose at him and call him a ” hooligan”, whatever that was, was almost laughable. Or it would be if he didn’t have the distinct feeling that every step he took was being watched carefully by the many different eyes peeking out of the windows of the cookie cutter houses. 

He rounded a corner and found himself once again back where he had started. He let out a frustrated noise and collapsed onto the curb of the street. He needed to rethink his plan. He rested his elbows on his knees and groaned into his hands. He knew he had a limited amount of choices but he was used to that. He had been born into a prestigious pureblooded family, limited choices were all he knew. He was good at thinking outside of the box, that was why he was here in the first place and not cowering in his room at home. He ran his hands through his hair several times to calm himself and resisted the urge to physically pull his hair out of his head. He scanned the houses on the street in front of him. It had been foolish to assume Potter would just notice him walking past his house and come out to investigate. They had been classified as nemesis for the better part of two years. He wouldn’t come outside until he knew what was going on. 

Just as Draco was pulling out the sandwich one of his house elves had made him for lunch while trying to come up with a plan to let Potter know what he was doing there he heard a low growling sound from behind him. He turned around slowly due to the rising hairs on the back of his neck, only to see a large black dog coming towards him. The dog looked pitiful in all honesty due to his shaggy matted fur and the prominence of his ribcage. Draco felt something then that he couldn’t quite place. He felt horrible for this starving dog and he did something that he had never even thought of doing before. He reached out and placed his sandwich in front of that poor, defensive, hungry animal. 

The growling noises stopped. The animal looked down at the sandwich, and then up at Draco. It seemed very intelligent for a dog. Draco could tell by its eyes that it hadn’t seen any sort of human decency in a long time. The black mutt's eyes were the same light gray as his mothers. As his. Draco took this as a sign that the dog was meant to be his. He could tell that the dog and he were connected. If by nothing else than by the horrors he was sure they had both experienced. For he was sure that the same look in that dog's eyes right now was reflected in his own. 

The dog snatched up the sandwich and slowly made his way towards Draco. He reached out with his nose and nudged Draco’s bag. “Sorry, I don’t have any more”. The dog whined and Draco stretched his hand in front of the dog's nose to allow him to sniff. The dog snuffled about his hand and then gave it a lick. Draco reached up and patted the dog's head. “What’s your name?” The dog continued to snuffle about Draco’s robes and bag looking for more food. “Let’s call you Snuffles, yeah?” Snuffles seemed to internally debate this name as he looked Draco in the eye and tilted his head to the side. Finally, after what seemed to be a good minute of intense deliberation he heaved a great sigh and collapsed into Draco’s side. Draco wrapped his arm around the dog and ran his fingers through the matted fur. He was surprised to find that this action calmed him almost as much as it seemed to calm the dog.

He had just begun debating how best to go about getting in contact with Potter again when he heard yelling from a few houses down and the sound of a door slamming. He looked up as the dog next to him pricked up his ears. He could not believe his luck. There was Potter, storming down the sidewalk towards Draco. He stood up quickly, ready to defend his reasoning for being here, when Potter looked up and seemed to realize that he was not alone on the sidewalk. 

“Malfoy?” Potter stopped walking. He seemed genuinely surprised. 

Well here goes nothing. Draco thought as he took a breath, ready to explain why he was sitting outside what seemed to be ‘The Chosen Ones’ house.