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Darkness was just beginning to settle over London. Heat rose up from the pavement as muggles dressed in skimpy clothing made their way to the many night clubs, bars, and pubs. A boy of seventeen ran a hand through his untidy black hair as he gave his trunk, containing everything he owned, one last shove before slumping down on top of it.
Harry sighed and tried to catch his breath. He had carried the trunk all the way to the heart of London from Number Four Privet Drive. Harry was still numb with anger from the fight earlier with Uncle Vernon. Now that Harry was seventeen, the Dursley’s wanted nothing more to do with him. After a long, intense, argument with Uncle Vernon, Harry found himself dragging his trunk as well as Hedwig’s empty cage up the street.
“Like I really want to live with you and your fat b*****d of a son, anyways!” Harry had yelled happily over his shoulder while giving his uncle a rude hand gesture. He had smiled as he walked away, leaving for good, finally. His heart had felt so very free then.
But that was then. Now, Harry was starting to worry slightly. He almost wished he was back at the Dursley’s. At least there he had a warm bed, a roof over his head, and three meals a day, even if one of those meals only consisted of a slice of grapefruit.
The streets emptied as the clubs filled and Harry sat there on his trunk, rubbing his forehead in frustration. Where the hell was he supposed to go? Ron and Hermione had taken off to Germany, to spend a little time alone, therefore, Harry couldn’t stay with either of them.
“Damn them...” he cursed under his breath as he thought of Ron and Hermione. The two of them were probably cuddled up together in a big, fluffy bed in a warm, safe hotel room, while he was sitting out in the street alone.
Harry had caught his breath by now. The Leaky Cauldron wasn’t too far from here. He decided that he would rent a room there until he came up with a better idea or until Ron and Hermione returned from their little tryst.
Outside the Leaky Cauldron, Harry paused for a moment. The noises coming from inside sounded like a drunken brawl. Giving the door a shove, he forced himself, Hedwig’s cage, and his trunk inside the pub. The place was mobbed. Witches and wizards laughed and talked drunkenly. A few witches were table dancing and flashing the patrons as they were cheered on. Everyone seemed to be having a merry ol’ time.
Harry smiled as Tom the innkeeper hobbled over to him. He was looking forward to getting settled into a room and coming back down to join in all the drinking and merriment.
“Ah, Mr. Potter, so nice to see you again,” said Tom, bowing low. “What can I do for you this evening?”
“I need for a couple of weeks,” Harry replied dryly, his emerald eyes falling on his least favorite professor-Snape. The disgusting man was sitting in a shadowy corner with a thin, hooded person, that Harry couldn’t recognize.
“This way, Mr. Potter,” Tom said curtly, before Harry had the chance to approach Snape and rip him limb from limb. The innkeeper lead Harry upstairs and down a corridor. “You’re lucky, sir. We’re almost completely booked, because of the Weird Sisters’s concert tonight at the theater up the street,” Tom explained as he unlocked the door and handed the key to Harry. “Have a good night, Mr. Potter,” he called over his shoulder, stumbling away.
Harry shut the door and flopped down on the bed. Why the hell is Snape here? he wondered hotly. His curiosity getting the better of him, he pulled on a hooded cloak and tucked his invisibility cloak inside. He would use it to follow Snape whenever he left. For now, Harry would just hide his face with the hood of his normal cloak.
When he was back downstairs in the pub, Harry found a vacant table near Snape and his “friend”. He order a glass of firewhiskey and sat back sipping it while he observed his ex-Potions teacher.
Snape leaned in close to the hooded figure and whispered something in their ear before kissing them roughly on the mouth. Harry scowled in disgust wondering what woman on earth would let that ugly slime ball lay his hands on her. The woman, he concluded, must be a prostitute, if not, she was there against her will. Harry came to that conclusion by watching the way the hooded woman flinched when Snape touched her and by the way she kept her arms crossed firmly over her chest and kept her head tilted away from Snape’s face. She nodded reluctantly as Snape whispered in her ear again. The slime ball stood and helped his hooded companion to her feet and the two of them disappeared up the stairs.
Wondering what they were up to, Harry followed after them. As soon as he was out of the bar patrons’s sight, he pulled on his invisibility cloak. Snape and the woman made their way down the corridor, stopping at a door next to Harry’s room. Harry crept up behind them as the opened the door and stepped inside. He rushed forward, but was smacked in the face as they quickly shut the door behind them.
“Damn,” Harry muttered, rubbing his nose. He sighed and went next door to his room. The walls in this place were almost paper-thin, maybe he could hear what Snape was saying.
Standing on the bed, Harry pressed his ear against the peeling wallpaper. The voices coming from the room next door were harsh and loud. An argument. He could hear two male voices, but no female voice. Harry frowned realizing the person in cloak, the person that Snape had been kissing, was a male. And not just any male. Harry would recognize that cold, sneering voice anywhere. What he heard through the wall mad him shudder.
“I told you it’s over, Serverus! Thanks to you, my father disowned me! Yeah, that’s right. Crabbe let it slip that I slept with you to pass potions and he chucked me out!” Draco yelled. Harry bit back a laugh. This was priceless, too good to be true! He’d never let Malfoy live this one down.
“How dare you blame me? You brought this on yourself, you stupid whore,” Snape hissed back. There was a hard thud and the bed in Malfoy and Snape’s room slammed against the wall which Harry’s ear was pressed to. He held his breath listening hard.
“Don’t you EVER lay another hand on me again! Pay up and get out!” Malfoy snapped.
“As soon as you give me what I paid for,” sneered Snape, an icy contempt in his voice.
“NO! GET OUT! You never paid me for the last time! I can find plenty of other customers who are willing to pay up front!” Malfoy retorted.
“I don’t think so...” Snape hissed. There were sounds of a struggle, raspy breathing, the bed slammed into the wall again, and Draco cried out in pain. He called out again begging for help. Harry knew no one would hear the blonde boy over the noise from the pub. As much as he despised Malfoy, he could exactly stand by and listen while he was being beaten or even worse-raped. No one deserved that, not even Draco.
Without thinking, Harry jumped down off the bed and rushed out into the hallway. He stood outside their door and reached for his wand, but it wasn’t there, he had left it back in his room! There wasn’t time to go back. Harry shoved his weight against the door until it flew open, nearly sending him sprawling to the floor. The biggest, heaviest thing in sight was a black obsidian urn. Harry lifted it with some difficulty and smashed it over his Potions teacher’s head. It felt good to hurt Snape. A little payback for all the suffering he had caused Harry and his friends during their time at Hogwarts.
Snape fell over onto the bed next to Malfoy. He was out cold. Draco stared up at Harry, looking like a frightened deer as he curled the sheets around his naked body.
“Don’t just sit there! Help me get him out into the hall! Or would you rather have him wake up and murder you?!” Harry snapped at the blonde.
Still stunned, Draco scrambled to his feet and pulled on a robe. Harry picked up Snape by the hood of his robes and Draco grabbed the man’s feet. Together they dragged Snape’s limp body out into the corridor and tossed it down the stairs, letting it roll away into the bar.
“You owe me one,” Harry told Draco coldly.
“I don’t owe you anything, Potter,” Draco drawled.
*UPDATE*
“Yeah, well, I could have just let him rape you.”
“Keep your nose out of other people’s business.
“Look,” Harry snapped, slamming his hands on the wall on either side of Draco’s head, pinning him there. “I didn’t fancy listening to you scream and whine all night...”
“Let me go, Potter. I have to get back to work if I’m going to pay my rent.” Draco wound his arm around Harry’s waist as he ducked out from his hold. Harry watched him for a moment as he strode away down the corridor back to his room, hips swaying, before he went back to his own room.
Hot beams of summer sunshine already burned through the faded moth-eaten drapes, when Harry awoke the next morning. He frowned and reached for his glasses. Quickly, he gathered up his clothing and headed down the corridor to the bathroom to take a shower.
Although the bathroom door was unlocked, the shower was running. Harry blushed.
“Er–is someone in here?” he asked. He waited, but there was no answer. Shrugging his shoulders, Harry undressed, pulled back the plaid shower curtain and stepped into the water. A gasp escaped his throat as he discovered he wasn’t alone.
“Malfoy...” Harry mumbled, looking down at the shower floor.
Draco didn’t seem to hear him. He sat curled up in a ball, leaning against the wall. The blonde’s eyes stared off into space. His pale skin was covered in bruises and scratches. Harry knelt down next to him and put his hand on Draco’s shoulder.
“Malfoy...” he repeated, squeezing his shoulder. Draco looked up and stared at Harry with a frightened look. “Draco, what’s wrong?” Malfoy still didn’t say anything. “Come on, I’m going to take you back to your room,” Harry grunted.
He got back out and pulled on his clothes and grabbed what he assumed was Draco’s robe. Harry draped the robe over Malfoy’s shoulders and helped him to his feet. He felt so light weight in Harry’s arms as he helped him back down the corridor to his room. The door was locked, however.
“Where’s your room key, Malfoy?” Harry asked. Draco acted like he didn’t hear again.
“HEY ” Tom the innkeeper yelled, coming down the corridor. “What are you still doing here, Mr. Malfoy ? If you can’t pay the rent, you can’t stay here ”
Draco stared at the innkeeper. “I told you I’d have it soon I just need to rest a bit first ” he begged. He leaned closer to Harry as if he expected Harry to protect him.
“Sorry, about all this, Mr. Potter,” Tom said, bowing low. He grabbed Malfoy’s wrists. “Come along now, leave Mr. Potter alone.”
Harry shrugged and went back to his room. It wasn’t his problem if Malfoy got thrown out of his father’s house and couldn’t pay his rent. After all, Malfoy had treated him like dirt from the moment they first met. Still, Harry couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for the blonde. No one, not even Malfoy deserved to have to turn to prostitution to pay their rent. He tried to push those thoughts to the back of his mind and not worry about Malfoy too much.
Outside, the day was warm and inviting. Harry gathered up what he had left of his money and headed up Diagon Alley. He spent the day wandering in and out of the various shops, looking more than buying. Harry did however buy a large quantity of candy, Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, etc.
“Harry ” Fred Weasley called as he rushed out of his joke shop. He embraced Harry briefly.
“Long time, no see ” George called, clapping Harry on the back. “Got time for a cup of tea?”