As it turned out, it did. Lucius was equally as shocked as his wife when he learned the Boy-Who-Lived was in his home, and becoming a quick friend to his son upstairs. Severus re-explained the situation to Lucius who, much like Narcissa had, listened quietly and intently, waiting until Severus had finished to ask anything.

They came to the conclusion that Severus would return to Hogwarts with Potter for the night, leaving many of the real challenges for the following day. The three of them had spent nearly two hours mulling over the day’s events, losing track of time in the process. So invested in their conversation, they had all been shocked when the house-elf popped! in next to them, announcing dinner was ready in her squeaky voice.

“Has it gotten to be that time already?” Lucius stood, arching his back and allowing it pop audibly. Severus and Narcissa followed suit, standing and straightening their robes. “I suppose someone should fetch Draco and Harry.” Nacissa looked directly at Severus as she spoke and he rolled his eyes in turn. “Me?” “Of course it should be you, the boy has hardly met me and has yet to even lay eyes on Lucius.”

Severus rolled his eyes again, although he knew she was right. He sauntered up the curved staircase, thinking over the vague plan they had come up with. The Malfoys’ were to adopt the boy, with many of the strings involved being brushed aside by Lucius’ position in the ministry.

They had yet to come up with the story for how the adoption would come to be, knowing that the Prophet would undoubtedly advertise the event on the front page for a month, if not longer. They too, for the same reasons, would need to prepare not only themselves but Draco and Harry for the reactions of the wizarding world. ‘Ex-Death Eaters Adopt Boy Who Lived’ would not be anything less than an unwanted shock to the general public.

Sighing, Severus pushed open the door to his godson’s room. “Dinner is-” He paused as he noticed the silence in the room, his hand automatically gripping his wand. All thought of the boys being kidnapped or, Severus shuddered to think it would happen again, apparating themselves to another surprise location vanished from his mind when he layed eyes on them.

Harry, curled more into a spherical shape than a human one, was asleep on the plush carpet, his arms wrapped around the purple dragon Draco carried with him. Draco was also asleep, his own arms attached to Harry and a smile still on his face.

Severus allowed himself a few moments to simply watch the two as they slept, grateful for the peace. He was pleasantly surprised by the connection the two had formed already, as it would benefit everyone in the near future, especially Harry himself if he had a close friend to rely on.

“Severus? Is everything alright up here?” Narcissa called from the top of the stairs, concern evident in her voice. “It seems Potter decided he’d rather sleep here for the night.” Severus answered, stepping to the side to let her see into the room.

Narcissa smiled, “I suppose they won’t mind growing up together much at all.”




Draco’s collection of cards was massive and made Harry wonder how there could possibly be more. “Each card has a famous witch or wizard on it, like this one here. See? That’s Merlin. And on the back it tells you all sorts of stuff about him! D’you wanna see, Harry?”

Harry flipped the card back to the front, gasping and dropping it as the image moved. “What’s wrong?” Draco asked, immediately turning from the stack of cards to face Harry. “I-it moved!” Draco laughed and picked the card back-up showing Harry the now empty frame. “Yeah, they do that!”

They had gone through dozens of cards, Draco making sure to tell Harry everything he knew about the wizards on each. After one particular card, of a woman with a strange name Harry didn’t think could be pronounced at all, he glanced up to Draco again. “What’s wizards chess?” He asked.

Draco gasped, “You’ve never played wizards’ chess before?” Harry’s eyes dropped to the floor and he shook his head sorrowfully. “I forgot,” Draco said, “You grew up with muggles. It’s okay, though! I’ll show you!” He let the cards in his hands fall to the floor and jumped up to his feet, turning and almost running to one of his toy-filled shelves.

Harry watched as he scanned the items until he pulled out a fancy wooden box. Draco turned back toward Harry and sat down abruptly, his legs folding under him naturally. He set the reddish brown box on the floor and, his fingers struggling for a moment, flicked up the gold lock.

Once open, a checkered board was pushed to the top, the top and bottom lids raising it off the floor a little. Draco pulled open a drawer Harry hadn’t noticed and pulled out two cloth bags. Harry watched as he dumped the first one over the board and a dozen white figures fell out. He dumped out the other pouch closer to Harry and started standing them.

“These are the pieces, you need them to play the chess.” Draco began, placing one piece that looked like a castle in the corner. Harry looked down at the black ones and noticed a similar looking castle. Copying Draco, he placed in the corner square. “Every piece does something different. Like this one?” He lifted a little figure, one of a man riding a horse and whispered. “This is the knight. It’s my favourite. It goes here,” He pointed to a black square, “And it moves like this.” Harry watched as he moved the piece to a different square.

Draco went through each piece, telling Harry how they eached movie and where they went. Harry was still confused after Draco won the first game but he had understood some of it. Like how the little ones at the front, pawns?, weren’t actually useless, and how the castle pieces (a rook, Draco had called it) could move across the whole board!

Harry wasn’t upset when Draco won their next game, too. He was happy he was learning, he had collected five of Draco’s pieces that time. And on their third game, Harry had almost won! He forgot that the pawn could take his pieces on a “diagonal”. He’d never heard that word before.

“You’re doing really good, Harry!” Draco praised after he lost his second knight during their fifth game. The game was taking longer and longer each time as Harry learned more and more. He was really liking the game and how much he had to think about it. Dudley would never be able to beat him at this, he thought with a small laugh.

As he thought of his cousin, Harry began to panic. He didn’t want to go back. He didn’t want to leave Draco and his magic and his fun games. Draco made him happy, he didn’t want to leave to go back to his uncle.

“Harry? It’s your turn- Are you okay?” Harry felt as Draco came toward him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Harry? What’s wrong?” Draco shook his shoulder lightly and Harry looked up at him, eyes wet with tears.

“I don’t want to leave. I like it here. With you.” Draco shook his head. “It’s okay, Harry, you aren’t going to leave. Mum and Dad and Uncle Sev won’t let you. You’re a wizard! Remember? You have to stay here with us, because you’re a wizard. You can’t go back to live with muggles, not now that we found you.” He shook his head again as if to cement his point, and wrapped his arms around Harry. “It’s okay, I won’t let them take you back.”

Harry didn’t know what to say to that. He didn’t know if he believed it or not yet, but he knew that he liked the idea a whole lot. He hugged Draco back and felt the same sense of calm he had earlier. Found. He liked that, too.


Draco woke up with a smile the next morning when he realized he and Harry were in the same place they had fallen asleep the night before. That made him happy, he had meant it when he said he didn’t want Harry to leave.

Draco wasn’t used to having a friend, and definitely wasn’t used to having a friend that seemed to want to be his friend as much as he did theirs. He liked that most about Harry, he thought, how happy Harry got when he did something well and how Harry actually wanted to stay and play more with him. It made Draco happy, too, Harry’s happiness.

He wiggled out his arm from under Harry, and gasped when he stood up and looked at his room. It was a mess! Mum and Dad would be so upset with him when they saw it! Draco quickly started to pick up the marble chess pieces, putting them in the small draw-string pouches they came from and stuffing them in the drawer. He locked up the chess set and pushed it back to where it went on the shelf before collecting all his chocolate frog cards and sliding that box away, too.

Darco sat back on his knees with a huff once he had finished putting tidying up. Just as he did, he heard Dobby pop! into his room. “Good morning young master Draco, mistress has requested you and young Mr.Harry for breakfast.” “Okay, Dobby tha-Wait! Harry is still sleeping.” Dobby pulled at both his long ears, his big eyes going impossibly bigger.

“It’s okay, Draco, I’m ‘wake now.” Harry yawned, his voice surprising both Draco and Dobby. The house-elf gasped, “I hopes I didn’t wake you, young Mr.Harry! Dobby is sorry, sir!” He vanished before either boy could say something.
“Wha-What was that?” Harry asked as he sat up. “Huh? Oh! That was Dobby, he’s a house-elf.” Draco explained. He stood up, his knees shaking as he steadied himself and moved to help Harry stand, too. He could smell the blueberry pancakes he loved so much and started bouncing on his heels, so eager to go eat them.

“Come on, Harry! There’s pancakes downstairs and I bet bacon, too!” He smiled still holding Harry’s hand as he all but ran down the steps. Behind him, Harry laughed. “Hol-hold on, Draco!” Draco didn’t stop and instead ran all the way down the steps and slid on the tile into the kitchen half wall, his hands coming out to catch him.

He heard Harry gasp behind him and looked to see his friend stumble, his shoes from yesterday still on and squeaking against the floor. Harry yelped and crashed into Draco who somehow managed to keep them both from falling.

Draco laughed and grinned at Harry who smiled back, “You saved us!” He giggled, steadying himself on his own legs. “I did!” Draco jumped excitedly. He spun around, his socks still sliding, and grinned up at Narcissa. “Mum! Did you see! I saved Harry!”

Narcissa smiled back, “I did, Draco, you did a good job.” She pulled out a chair as she placed down the pre-made plate in her hand. “How about some breakfast my little hero?” “Yeah!” Draco cheered and skipped toward the table.

As he started pouring his maple syrup, Draco looked back and saw Harry still standing in the middle of the kitchen. He titled his head, confused, “Come on, Harry, don’t you want some breakfast?”

“Oh! Draco, be careful.” He looked from Harry to his mum and watched as she lifted the syrup from his hand. He giggled at his pancakes, now turned to mush in the ocean of syrup. He took a bite and looked back toward Harry. “It’s so good! Come have some, Harry!”

Narcissa placed a second plate down, next to Draco’s. She looked at Harry with a gentle smile, “You can come have some, Harry. There’s plenty for everyone, I promise.” She patted the top of the chair and Draco watched as Harry took terribly tiny steps toward the chair, his little hands shaking as he pulled it out.

Draco grinned around a half chewed bite. “Do you want some syrup?” His fingers stuck to the glass container as he offered it to his friend. Harry waited for Narcissa to ensure it was okay before smiling at Draco and taking the liquid sugar.

Harry didn’t pour nearly as much as Draco did and set the jar down carefully. Slowly, he picked up his fork and stabbed a square of pancake. Impatient, Draco didn’t wait for him to swallow before he asked, “Isn’t it the best pancakes ever!”

Harry licked the syrup off his lip before nodding, “I’ve never ‘ad pancakes before but these are really yummy.” Draco gasped and dropped his fork, the metal tinging as it hit the porcelain pate. “Never?” He looked to his mum, “Do muggles not have pancakes, Mum?”

Before she could answer, Draco was cheering again. “Dad! And Uncle Sev! You’re still here!” Lucius smiled at his son’s eagerness, kissing Narcissa before moving to place a kiss on Draco’s forehead. “Goodmorning, Drago. And goodmorning, Harry. I don’t believe we’ve met yet.”




Harry never liked the big, fancy parties uncle Vernon would host for his important company job. Aunt Petunia would dress him in the only nice clothes he ever had, the ones that itched a lot and with all the buttons that took so long to undo when he had to go to the bathroom.

She would spend all morning making cakes and cupcakes and big dinners and Dudley would spend the day crying that he couldn’t have any until the next day. But uncle Vernon always gave him a big toy so he would be good.

And then all the people would come. Once, Harry had been locked in his cupboard the whole time, but he had drank a whole bottle of water and so he snuck out to go to the bathroom. He had thought everyone was busy but one of the important people saw him and started asking uncle Vernon why he was in the cupboard. He said that Dudley and him were playing hide and seek and had to give Dudley a really big cupcake before he could say that wasn’t true.

After that, Harry got to stay in the living room with Dudley. Harry didn’t like that very much. There were so many people in the house, and they all wanted to talk to him and ask him what he liked to do and about his friends and if he had a favourite toy. And they were all big and tall and laughed at everything Harry said, even when it wasn’t funny. They would ruffle his hair and tell him how nice his aunt and uncle were. Harry didn’t like it at all.

But that wasn’t how he felt in Daco’s home. His mum and dad weren’t asking Harry questions that he quickly lie about and they weren’t saying how good it was of uncle Vernon to take care of Harry like aunt Marge. They asked Harry if he slept well in Draco’s room and if he liked playing with Draco. Harry liked these questions, they made him happy. He liked Draco a lot and Draco liked his mum and dad and his uncle Sev a lot and Harry thought he liked them a lot, too.

Draco stayed at the table when he finished his pancakes and told his mum and dad all about what he did yesterday. Harry listened really closely to all the things he said about Hogwarts and potions and magic and even the weird headmaster person. When Harry finished his last bite, he piled his fork and cup and napkins into his plate.

“-and then we got to the park and- Harry, what are you doing?” Harry startled at Draco’s words, almost dropping the plate as he stood up. He gasped and held it steady with two hands, closing his eyes tight. He wasn’t supposed to mess up! He was supposed to be quick and quiet and take care of all the dishes and he messed up and now he was going to be punished.

“Harry?” Draco asked again, more confused than he had been a minute ago. Slowly, Harry looked up at his friend’s tilted face. “What are you doing?” Harry looked back at the plate in his hands, the cup teetering.

He jumped as a chair screeched back, breaking the silence. As Batman slowly took the few steps toward him, Harry squeezed his eyes shut again. But Batman didn’t hit him, instead he placed one gentle hand on his shoulder and used the other to grab the plate from Harry and put it back on the table.

Harry watched without moving as Batman knelt down, his other hand coming down on Harry’s shoulder, too. “Harry, do you remember what I said yesterday?” Harry felt his eyes widen. Oh no, oh no, oh no. What had Batman told him? How could he forget it, he was so- “Shh, Harry it’s alright.”

Harry swallowed, he could feel tears starting to form. Uncle Vernon hated crying. “Harry.” Batman said again, “I told you that you wouldn’t be punished if you didn’t do anything wrong. Do you remember that?” Harry paused and then nodded, “Yes’ir.”

Batman nodded, too. “Good. And do you know what you did wrong just now?” Harry nodded sadly, his shoulders dropping. “I d-” “Nothing.” Harry’s head shot up. “You did nothing wrong, Harry. Do you understand?” Harry wanted to stop Batman, to tell him that he did do wrong, he dis’rupted breakfast and that meant he should be punished. But he wasn’t allowed to talk back, so instead he shook his head.

“But Harry-!” “Not now, Dragon.” Draco’s dad shushed him and Harry heard him huff. “Harry what were you going to do with the plate?” He looked back at Batman, didn’t he know already? He was doing what he’s s’possed to do. “I was doing my-my job, sir.” “That isn’t your job, Harry.”

Harry’s whole face frowned, even his eyebrows. “Your job isn’t to clean up, Harry, that’s what the house-elves do.” “Like- like Dobby?” Batman smiled, “Yes, Harry, like Dobby. It’s Dobby’s job to clean up the messes and cook the food when Narcissa doesn’t choose to. Not Harry’s job. Do you know what your job is, Harry?”

Harry stopped, his lip pulling between his teeth. “No, sir?” “What was your cousin’s job?” Batman asked. Harry laughed quietly, “Dudley doesn’t have a job t’ough, sir.” “And why not, Harry?” Harry was quick to answer, “B’cause Dudley is a good boy, sir, and good boys don’t have jobs.” He shook his head, cementing in his answer.

“You’re a good boy, too, Harry, a very good boy.” Harry shook his head- he wasn’t! Uncle Vernon always told him how bad he was, how he messed up even the really, super easy stuff! Good boys didn’t grow their back in the night or shrink their clothes so tiny only their broken army men could wear them. Good boys didn’t get poor grades in school or get coal for christmas or steal food from the table or take too long to do their chores. Only bad boys did, bad boys like Harry.

“Harry,” Batman said again, this time not louder but bigger, more important somehow. He tilted Harry’s chin up and looked in his eyes. “You’re a good boy, Harry.” Harry frowned again, but this time he nodded.


Lucius couldn’t tear his eyes from the scene, his heart breaking as he watched the too-small boy insist he was bad. Next to him, Narcissa had gripped his hand and hadn’t let go, using her other one to wipe at her tears so that neither of the boys saw.

He could tell Draco didn’t understand, hell he was glad Draco didn’t understand. He didn’t want his son to understand the worthless feeling he himself could only imagine Harry felt. To raise a child like a house elf, to lock them in the cupboard for six years?

His own father had hit him occasionally, he remembered the soreness of his jaw even days after he had broken his great-great-grandmother’s enchanted necklace. But to whip a boy for not doing the gardening fast enough? Lucius hardly contained himself, quieting his temper only to not frighten the already shaking boy.

He could feel the wave of magic as Severus looked in the boy’s mind, the charms on the manor alerting him as he did. Though he didn’t know yet what his friend had seen, he watched as Severus took more than one steadying breath, his voice firm and velvet as he spoke. “You’re a good boy, Harry.”

When the boy nodded back, finally agreeing although obviously still unsure, understandably so, Lucius felt like he could breathe once more. Narcissa sniffed loudly next to him, letting go of his hand to summon a cloth and dry her face.

Severus stood on unsteady knees a moment later, sharing a look with Narcissa and Lucius that said too much. “Draco, why don’t you go show Harry the gardens?” Draco gasped, jumping from his chair. “And the peacocks! Come on, Harry, thanks dad!”

The moment they were gone Severus sighed and collapsed into Draco’s now unoccupied chair. “That Albus Dumbledore left that boy in their care-” “Merlin, Severus, what did they do to him?” Narcissa sniffed again, shaking her head in disbelief. “If someone had caused Draco to act half that way, I’d-”

Lucius took her hand, calming her since he couldn’t himself. He would need to contact his associates faster than he had thought.



Severus hoped he never had to be in the headmaster’s presence again. The man knew. He knew that the boy was being mistreated, knew he wasn’t being properly taken care of. The only thing those family service witches were doing wrong was trying to get the boy removed. “A firmer hand”. Severus scoffed.

He and Lucius had spent the morning before breakfast discussing the matters at hand, loosely arranging letters and putting things in place. They had planned to have a trial before the adoption was final, it would be much more legal that way and not to mention give them more time to get their story settled. Plan how to explain why Severus had taken Draco to a small muggle town like Surrey in the first place. How he, miraculously, didn’t know the city's connection to The-Boy-Who-Lived, being a part of the Order and a ‘close friend’ of Dumbledore and all.

But now he didn’t care about protecting the old man. Severus figured Albus assumed his hatred for Potter Sr. was more intense than his love for Lily. But seeing Harry, his skin pale and thin under the stained, dress of a shirt he wore, watching as the boy braced himself to be hit too many times in far too few hours. Lily had very little to do with it all.

Severus sighed before looking back at Lucius. “Damn the legalities, they’ll take too long. We need to get Albus out of the way more than those muggles. He needs for Harry to be with them, they couldn’t care any less.”

Lucius was quick to finish the first letter, starting on the second and third just as fast and sent them off with his grand eagle owl only minutes later. These were sent to varying members, each holding a high position in the wizengamot and someone willing to help. He sent another to a journalist. If it was going to make it in the press regardless, they figured they should at least be sure there was truth in it.

Before the hour was up, the owl had returned, a letter tight in its grasp. Severus watched as Narcissa stood, her tea almost spilling over in her haste. Meeting it at the window, Severus was pleased to recognize Amelia Bones’ name stamped in the wax.

He scanned the letter, taking in every word carefully. When he finished he folded it back in thirds and let it fall to the table. “What did it say?” Narcissa asked with all the patience of her son. “We need to get as much detail of the abuse as we can,” He paused, regret for the actions he hadn’t yet done heavy in his voice, “and it must be Harry’s own words.”







Although Draco was as pleased as ever to spend the day shopping with his mum, he didn’t understand why Harry couldn’t come with. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his dad or uncle Sev to not be nice to Harry, either, it was just that, well, Harry was really scared all the time. And Draco knew how scary his dad and uncle Sev could be and he didn’t want them to scare Harry from wanting to be his friend anymore.

His mum was acting funny, too. She had passed her favourite clothing shop and the ice cream place they always went to when they came to Diagon Alley. Draco loved getting a triple chocolate cone and put as many cherries on top that would stay. He giggled thinking about it.

“Mum, aren’t we going to go to Flor-Florean- to the ice cream place?” Narcissa stopped, not having realized even where she was. She turned and saw the parlour behind her and sighed. She needed to calm down, her husband would take care of it all and soon Harry would be safe.

“Of course, dragon, I’m sorry. I hadn’t seen it.” Draco smiled as they turned back, almost jumping as they waited in line.

Once they got their ice cream, Draco picked the perfect place to sit. It was the one he always chose, close to the owl emporium. He liked to watch all the creatures flutter around inside, mentally listing all the qualities he thought best for when he would get his very own owl for school.

Idly, he wondered what kind of owl Harry would want. He would of course want an owl over any of the pets, they were the only real useful ones. Cats were very cool and all but they didn’t do much other than keep away the mice. Rats were dumb and smelly and no one brought toads anymore. So an owl was the obvious choice, of course.

Although Draco knew it was far off, he wondered what house Harry would be in. He knew he would find himself in Slytherin like uncle Sev and all the Malfoys, or maybe Ravenclaw like his mum had been. Probably Slytherin though, he thought he was more resourceful than witty (he would keep to himself that he didn’t really know what witty actually meant).

But he didn’t know about Harry. He didn’t seem very ‘witty’ either and he definitely wasn’t a Gryffindor (thank merlin). He didn’t think he seemed Hufflepuffey either, they were weak. And Harry wasn’t weak, he was just ‘dealing with his trauma’. Draco didn’t know what that meant, but he heard his dad say something like that to uncle Sev before he and mum had apparetted.

So that meant Harry would be in Slytherin, just like Draco! He smiled, proud of his deduction work, sucking a chocolatey cherry from its stem.

“Mum?” Draco asked, “Can we get Harry a gift?” Narcissa smiled at her son, “And what would be the reason for this gift, dragon?” Draco grinned. “Because we saved him! And now he’s going to stay with us forever so we have to get him a- a- a welcome home gift!”

Trying to cover her shock, Narcissa cleared her throat. “And where did you hear that idea?” Draco looked around, ‘rolling his eyes’ as best as he could, “I told him so- yesterday.” He paused to eat another cherry. “B’fore we fell asleep. I told him we wouldn’t let him go back with the muggles now that we saved him.”

Narcissa smiled, and for just a moment Draco thought it was a sad smile like the old woman was yesterday. But when he blinked it was gone, and his mum stood up. “Well, you told him correctly, dear. Let’s go find him a welcome home gift.”

Draco was a very picky shopper. Nothing seemed good enough for Harry’s gift. He wanted to get him something special. Something that Harry would definitely like and not something lame, like the dragon-hide boots his mum suggested.

They looked around Flourish and Blotts for a while, but Draco couldn’t decide on any books. He didn’t know if they were too boring for Harry or if they would be too confusing for him. He was still new to magic, Draco had to keep reminding himself.

Next, they tried the quidditch shop- one of Draco’s favourites. But again, nothing seemed just right to get Harry. At first he thought he could get him a new broom but his mum was quick to stop him. “Harry’s never ridden a broom before, dragon, it would probably be easier for him to learn on the one you first started with.”

So next they went to the apothecary. Draco loved to work with uncle Sev on potions, especially now that he was getting bigger and better at following instructions. Making- no, brewing - potions was such a fun thing! Of course Harry would enjoy it, too. But as Draco looked at the cauldrons and stirring sticks, he decided that wasn’t a very good welcome home gift either.

So he wandered off to the next shop, this one filled with ‘magnificent magical artifacts’, or at least that’s what the sign in the window had said.

Draco walked up and down the isles, carefully poking and prodding at all the items on the shelves. When he realized he had passed the same enchanted typewriter twice, he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. He just wanted to find a good gift for his friend.

Finally, just as his mum was leading him out of the shop, he found it. The perfect gift to get for Harry, there on the highest shelf.


Narcissa didn’t know if she was more relieved or worried as she apparatted herself and Draco to the iron gate outside the manor. She had enjoyed the day with Draco, her thoughtful son obviously having inherited her own shopping habits. It had made it easier to not overthink the situation with Harry.

She hated that she couldn’t be doing more for the boy but at the same time was grateful for the excuse to get out of the house. She doubted she’d be able to hold back her tears when he inevitably started describing the abuse. Of course, she knew that she’d have Lucius and Severus retell it all to her in detail later. In private, away from scared and confused little boys.

The tension in the air was thick as Narcissa pushed open the heavy front door. Draco raced past her, setting the wrapped present on the dining table. “Harry!” He called, loudly. “Mum and I are back!”

Just as Draco started calling again, Lucius appeared at the top of the stairs. He smiled down at his son but couldn’t hide his weariness from his wife. “He'll be down in a few minutes, dragon. He’s busy talking to Severus at the moment.” Draco frowned for a moment before shrugging, “What about?” He wondered.

Lucius ruffled Draco’s hair, drawing him into a hug once he reached the ground level. Narcissa watched as he shut eyes, pulling Draco closer. “How bad?” She whispered, dreading the answer. He shook his head, an answer all on its own, “Very.”

Narcissa shivered. She had been expecting an answer far from great but now that she had it she didn’t know what to do with it. All she could do was wait for the legalities to finalize.


Harry was sick of talking. He mouth was past dry, his glass empty, and he hated the look Batman and Draco’s dad kept giving him. It was weird, like the one the cat lady would give him whenever she saw him doing the gardening.

Harry wasn’t scared talking to Batman, not even when telling him the worst of what uncle Vernon did. He didn’t know why, really, but he felt safe with Batman. Like nothing could ever really hurt him. He figured it was because he was a superhero, that was their job wasn’t it? To save people?

Draco’s dad had led Harry and Batman to a giant library, a whole hallway away from Draco’s room. Harry could see parts of the garden as they past the big windows and smiled as he noticed one of the albino peacocks.

Batman let him sit in the big comfy armchair, it reminded Harry of the one uncle Vernon had before one of aunt Marge’s dogs had peed on it. Except this one was bigger and fluffier and was really soft.

Batman sat across from him and behind him was Draco’s dad, a feather-y pen floating in the air above his head, writing all on its own on a floating piece of rolled up paper. “Harry,” Batman started, sitting far forward in his chair. “I need you to tell me everything you can about living in your relatives’ house.”

So Harry had told him everything he could remember. He told him about the cupboard and the rules and how Dudley was always mean to him, how aunt Petunia cut off all his hair and how he had made the ugly sweater tiny. Sometimes, Draco’s dad would ask Harry to repeat something or ask him questions like what aunt Petunia did when uncle Vernon punished him or how much Harry got to eat.

Harry told the truth to all the questions. About why he ran away the first and the second time and about the nice ladies with the lollipops. He told Batman about when he first met Draco by the tree and how they magicked themselves to Draco’s bedroom, which Harry thought was weird since Batman had been there with them.

After, Batman asked if he could do a test on Harry, a magic one. “Like a maths test?” Harry whispered, he wasn’t very good at maths, so he hoped not. Batman smiled, “No Harry not a maths test. You won’t have to do anything for this, don’t worry. When was the last time you went to the doctors, Harry?”

Harry had shrugged and Batman started the test. He called it a ‘zam, Harry thought. Draco’s dad said that it showed all of the things uncle Vernon did to him and Harry watched as the funny pen scribbled down so much it needed a new paper.

Next, they did an eye ‘zam. Batman asked Harry to take off his glasses and read words from far away. Then they did it again but with his glasses on. Harry thought he failed because Batman asked if his glasses had ever let him see more than a few feet in front of him, and Harry told him how aunt Petunia had boughten the cheapest pair at the gas station.

Finally, Draco’s dad said they had got what they needed and left the room. Right before the door shut again, Harry heard Draco call his name and jumped up happily. Batman smiled again, “Just a moment, Harry. I have some potions I need you to drink.”

Harry frowned. “What- what do they do?” He remembered Draco say something about potions earlier, that his uncle Sev was the best at making them ever. Batman held up three bottles, the liquid in each glimmering a different colour.

“This one will help to heal your bones. Some of them have small cracks and many of them haven’t grown properly.” He offered it to Harry who, after sniffing the purple goo, drank it all once like the gross medicine aunt Petunia used to give him. “This will heal the bruises and scars on your skin. And this one will make you gain weight, you are far too skinny.”

Harry drank the next two just as fast. He would be happy for the bruises to go away, and the weird scar on his forehead. And he could grow taller! Harry smiled, handing the empty bottles back to Batman with a thank you.

“One more thing, Harry.” Harry sat back in the big chair and looked up to Batman. “Lucius and I are going to share what you’ve told us with some important people, and they are going to make it so that you never have to see you aunt and uncle again.” Harry looked at him in shock, never again? Really?

“After that, if you want to of course, you are going to live here, with Draco and his parents. They’re going to adopt you, have you heard of that before, Harry?” Harry nodded, his mouth still open from the surprise. Batman smiled at him again, “This next week is going to be very eventful for you, Harry. But-”

Before he could finish, Harry was on his feet and had his arms wrapped around Batman’s waist. “Thank you for finding me, Batman.” He said into the dark robes. Quietly, Batman pulled Harry close to him, “You’re welcome, Harry.”