Draco and the Old Man

Seven

"What did you do, Draco?" Daphne demanded.

"I didn't do anything!"

"Stop with the bullshit." she dropped to her knees beside her fallen brother-in-law. "What. Did. You. Do."

"All I did was wave my wand and say a few little words."

"What. Words." After Draco had said the blatant accusation without grounded foundation, Daphne had apparated Draco away and back to her house. She demanded at her nephew that he stay in his room not matter what he heard, and started to drill Draco in her small living room. He had played half sat on the couch staring blankly.

Draco waved his own wand around in demonstration. Like a child, he recited the words, "I said, Tollite me deinceps triginta quattuor, no, novem?- annis, sed temporis spatium non introduc me in tempore auxilio amicus."

In a whirlwind of screams and actual wind, Draco was swept away and taken to Merlin knows where.

But Draco knew where. He was taken to the land where Daphne's house was built. The odd things was, there was no house. It was just the land. It was almost nightfall but Draco could still see the pale outlines of the village, Hogsmeade, only a moment's walk away.

Draco picked himself up off the ground and started stumbling his way over. His staggered steps tried to get himself there steadily, but several times they got caught on something of other and he tripped and either fell or almost fell.

He finally got to the dim streets of Hogsmeade. Something was different though. He couldn't quite place what it was though. He stepped into the light of one of the streetlights, just newly lit. It seemed oddly chilly for early September.

Suddenly, a loud, ear shattering wail burst out and four dementors appeared out of nowhere. Draco fell back on his bum and raised his wand in a weak defence.

"Expecto- Expecto patro- Expec- Expe-" his words failed him. Memories of his wife's last moment flashed into his head. She's gone. She's really really gone. Draco felt like he had lost all sense of happiness and self worth. He felt nothing good whatsoever.

"Expecto Patronum!" someone yelled from the other side of the demontors. A large blue glowing goat burst out of someone's wand. The Dementors fled and left Draco to be. The man with the goat partonus walked over and dragged Draco to his feet. He dragged the young man over to a nearby pub.

The man, who Draco could now see was a slightly familiar old man, sat him on the couch and threw a water bottle at him.

"What kind of idiot do you need to be to be outside during the war."

"War?"

"You're more drunk than I thought." he rolled his eyes. "Drink from the bottle. It'll help with that."

Draco didn't budge. He was usually slightly confused when he was drunk, but this was more than that. He recognized everything here but his memories were way too fuzzy to even begin to place it.

"What's your name, boy?"

"Draco." he slurred in response.

"As in Malfoy?" the man's nose turned up in disgust.

"Unfortunately."

"What are you doing out of the castle, Malfoy?"

"Why would I be at the Castle?"

"School."

"My son goes to school. I don't."

"You are more drunk than I thought. Drink the potion." He gestured to the water bottle he had thrown at Draco.

"Where am I?"

"You're in Hogsmeade, Mr. Malfoy."

"No, this looks different from Hogsmeade." Draco tried to get up off the couch but vertigo kept him down. He took a sip of the potion and made a face. It was simply nasty. He shook his head and it sobered him up a little bit. He finally knew what questions he wanted to ask. He just couldn't quite remember. "I think I've been drunk for a couple weeks straight. What's the date?"

Like a child reciting for a teacher, the old man recited. "It's Thursday, March the eighth, 1998. And how did you manage being drunk for weeks, anyways?"

"Did you say 1998?" Draco felt the need to take another sip of the potion. One sip ended up being him downing the rest of the bottle, but he still heard loud and clear something unbelievable.

""It's Thursday, March the eighth, 1998."

A/N: I made new covers for the entire series! Happy New Years Eve, too! -J.C