This story may contain some shonen-ai in future chapters but I haven't written the whole thing yet, so I'm not sure. There will be shonen-ai and maybe some yaoi in the sequel though, so look out for that in the future if you like boyXboy lovin! If you don't then go away!
Review Response:
Kimi-sama: The reason I didn't take Harry's childhood into consideration
before I started writing this story is because I'm a big, stupid...person!
But now that I think about it, I do have a good excuse! See, Harry acts
like a normal five year old child because with Draco, he has a sense of
security and trust. It's the same kind of thing with how Draco warmed up
to Harry so quickly. I know that probably doesn't make sense and I'm sorry
I didn't take any of anything into consideration before I just took pen
to paper. I'm such a failure. ;_;
Layce74: Well, Draco does find out a bit about how the Dursley's
treated Harry in this chapter, but I don't any plans for revenge...yet...
gizachick: This fic will be exactly 8 chapters long. In chapters
1-7, each chapter is one of the seven days in which Draco must take care
of Harry. The last chapter takes place after Harry is back to normal.
And just as I promised....
Harry: Is it my turn now?
Sushi: Yes.
Harry: Yay! *kisses Wynjara, driven to insanity, Kimi-sama, angel74,
Kimmy15, eminem4eva, Nemati, Manisha, pears, Kaaera, Dymphna, Lo26, Stephanie,
Layce74, gizachick, Cavaradossi, Serpent of Light, Son of twilight, Ranma
Higurashi, AncientHistory, nonny noony, ravenbeaut, Benjis VIP, br, tati1,
and dlihc* Owwww! Draky! My mouth hurts now! *runs to Draco*
Draco: *glares at Sushi* Slave Driver!!!
Anywayz, I'm veryveryveryveryveryveryveryveryveryveryveryvery!!!! sorry about the horribly long wait on this chapter but it was terribly hard to write and the longest one so far. The next chapter is going to be so frickin' funny you'll fall out of your chair laughing (atleast, I hope so) but you might have another long wait for it. SORRY!!!! Anywayz, on with the show!
* * *
Childhood Simplicity
Draco knocked on the door leading to Snape's classroom lightly before he touched the door knob and prepared to enter.
"Who are we going to see again?"
Draco looked down at Harry who was grasping his hand tightly, a slightly nervous look in his huge, emerald eyes. "Professor Snape, my godfather."
Harry nodded his head in acceptance of the answer and they entered the room.
Snape was sitting at his desk grading papers, not concerned with the extraneous amount of his favorite red ink that he was using. His head shot up when he heard his classroom door open and he glared at the intruder. His gaze softened, however, when he noticed that it was his godson who had interrupted his work. "I was beginning to think you'd decided not to come."
"Well, I'm here now, so will you help me?"
"Yes," Snape said, pushing papers, quills, and ink bottles carefully aside as Draco pulled a book out of his bag and placed it on the desk.
Harry stood quietly beside Draco as he talked to the snake man (Harry misunderstood Draco when he said "Snape"). He looked around the room at the many pictures, books and bottles of gruesome things. He wanted so desperately to touch them, but he knew he would get into trouble if he did. That's when he noticed a door just off to his left, tucked away in a corner behind the snake man's desk. The door was slightly ajar and Harry could see a light glowing from something in the room.
Being the five year old little boy that he was, he had to investigate. He looked up to check and see that Draco and the snake man weren't watching him before he quietly tip-toed to the door. He checked once more before he pushed the door open just enough for him to fit, and slipped inside.
It turned out that the door led to a storage closet filled with shelf upon shelf of bottles. Every bottle was a different size, shape, and was filled with all kinds of ingredients, substances, potions, and preserved creatures of the likes which Harry had never seen before. He stared at all of them in awe, even daring to touch a few, until he saw the thing that had drawn him into the closet in the first place.
It was a small, glass bottle filled with a shimmering, pale blue liquid that glowed like the full moon on a perfectly cloudless night. Harry had to see it more closely. He stood on the very tips of his toes, his five little fingers reaching and stretching to feel that cool glass. He was nowhere close to reaching what he desired so much and he almost went to ask Draco to get it for him before he realized that he would probably get in trouble if he knew he was in here.
Being five means you have little idea about the laws of gravity. So, when Harry decided to climb up onto the bottom shelf to get closer to the bottle, he didn't consider the likely chance of the shelf collapsing under his weight. But that was exactly what happened. And when the bottom shelf gave way, Harry went with it, as well as the shelf he had been holding onto for support and the shelf underneath that one. Potion upon potion came crashing down against him and the floor as the sound of breaking glass filled the small room.
"Do you understand now?" Snape asked when he had finished explaining the effects of a certain potion to Draco.
"Yes, thank you." Draco closed the book and put it back into his bag when he noticed that Harry was no longer standing quietly by his side. He looked around for the boy, praying that he hadn't decided to get into trouble somewhere.
"Lose something?" Snape asked, seeing his godson's slightly panicked face.
"Yes, I can't seem to find Harry."
Just then they heard the distinct sound of shattering glass. They looked at each other then at the closet before Snape rushed to the door. Just as he grasped the doorknob, the door burst open and Harry bolted out like a screaming streak of lightning. The frightened boy ran straight into Draco's arms, crying his eyes out.
"Harry, where on earth have you been?" Draco asked as he pulled the crying boy away from him so that he could see his face. Draco's eyes grew wide when he saw the boy's condition. His hair had turned into a headful of slimy, pink worms, his tongue was green, he had little, red bumps all over his skin, and to top it all off, he had a pair of black cat ears poking out from amongst the worms and a fluffy, black tail poking out from beneath his robes. The tiny, but numerous cuts that also covered Harry's skin and clothes only added to Draco's concern.
"WHAT IS GOING ON?!?" Snape looked like he was ready to explode as he finally burst out from between the door and the wall.
"Wah! Draky, don't let the scary snake man get me, please! I'm sorry!" Harry clung tightly to Draco, fresh tears streaming down his red cheeks.
"Professor, it's my fault. Please don't get mad at Harry. I should have been watching him more closely."
Snape growled as he stomped toward the two, but Draco could tell that the man's rage had decreased considerably. "The boy just needs a good spanking..." the man muttered as he aimed his want at Harry. With just a few spells, the shaken boy was back to normal, except for his cat ears and tail. "His punishment will be dealing with those until he is returned to normal." Snape ignored the look of excitement on Harry's face as he shifted his gaze to his godson. "Your punishment is to clean up the mess in the closet as well as the rest of the classroom, without magic, of course."
Draco groaned, already feeling tired from the work load that was to come.
"Oh, and you might want to get started soon, because you won't get any supper until you've finished." Draco groaned even louder as Snape, with a flick of his wand, made plenty of cleaning supplies appear next to Draco as well as some paper and crayons which he handed to Harry.
"What are those for?" Draco asked, pointing to the paper and crayons.
"Just something to preoccupy the boy while you clean. We wouldn't want him causing any more mischief, now would we?"
Draco just sighed and rolled his eyes in response. He donned on a pair of rubber gloves and grabbed a trash can before heading to the closet where he began to carefully clear the floor of the hundreds of shards of glass.
In the meantime, Harry crawled up into one of the class seats and began drawing anything that his little mind could come up with, his new tail moving excitedly all the while. After a few minutes, Snape left, knowing that his godson wouldn't dare try to escape his punishment in his absences.
* * *
After about an hour, Draco had finished cleaning the cramped storage closet and was glad to move on to the much more spacious classroom. He had successfully cleaned up all the glass and spilt potions, fixed the three broken shelves and had come out with only 17 cuts on his fingers, hands, and arms, and just 3 rips in his robes.
Draco decided to take a short break between cleaning the closet and the classroom and took a seat beside Harry, looking at the drawings the boy had done. Some of them were of the two of them doing things together, even one of them flying together on his broomstick. There was one of a fat, red-faced man, with his belt in his hand, whom Draco assumed to be Harry's uncle, the one he had had a dream about. There were some of Hermione and Dumbledore and even one of a very angry looking Snape with green, scaly skin and a snake-like tongue, which made Draco laugh until he felt like his sides would split.
Finally, Draco decided that it was time to get back to work, but before he could, Harry insisted that he let him check his hands and arms for any more cuts or scratches. Every time the boy had heard Draco say "ouch" while he had been cleaning the closet, he would come running with a bandage and a kiss to mend his poor Draky. Once everything was approved of by Harry, Draco was allowed to go back to his punishment.
Draco decided to start by cleaning the table tops so he began at the front of the room and made his way toward the back.
As Draco was cleaning, Harry continued to draw. He was drawing a picture of himself with his new tail and ears, playing with some yarn, just like a real kitty. But as he continued to draw the yarn, his blue crayon ran off the edge of the paper and onto the table. Harry looked at the wax line on the table for a second until he decided that he liked the way it looked. He liked it so much, that he drew another line. Harry liked that line, too, so he drew a flower. It wasn't long before the boy had covered the whole table....and the table behind him....and 3 other tables.
Draco finally finished with the last table and turned around to view his handy work. He almost couldn't believe his eyes. Every table was covered in drawings, each in a different color. "Harry!"
Harry jumped in his seat when he heard Draco yell his name. Uh oh. The boy slowly turned to see Draco storming toward him.
"Harry, did you do this?" Draco pointed angrily at the tables.
"N-no..." Harry tried to look as innocent as possible.
Draco sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. He threw a wet rag on to the table closest to him and began to sloppily wash the wax covered surface with hard, brash movements. After another half hour, Draco had finished cleaning the tables for the second time.
Once Draco had finished, he turned around once again. The tables were all cleaned, just as they were supposed to be, but Harry was no longer in his seat. Instead, he was drawing on the wall to Draco's left and in 30 minutes, the boy had managed to cover over half of the wall in a rainbow of doodles.
"HARRY!"
The boy had been caught red handed and when he turned to see Draco storming toward him once again, he looked like a deer caught in headlights. He knew there was no way of getting out of this one.
Draco grabbed Harry roughly by the arm, causing the boy to whimper. He sat atop the table nearest him with Harry laid out across his lap. He lifted the boy's robes and yanked down his pants so that the only thing covering his bottom were his bunny rabbit covered undies.
SMACK
The loud crack of Draco's hand connecting with Harry's thigh echoed through the silent chamber, only matched in volume by the frightened boy's cry of shock and pain.
That was only a warning hit.
Five more slaps followed, each harder than the last, each hitting the desired target -- the soft, plump cheeks of Harry's tiny bottom. Harry's fluffy, black tail lay flat against his bottom, trying to deflect the stinging blows of Draco's hand, but the older boy simply grabbed the tail in his other hand and and held it down against the small of Harry's back.
The boy's cries rang in Draco's ears and the sight of tears streaming down his cheeks tugged threateningly at his heartstrings. Punishing Harry was just as much, if not more, painful for Draco.
When he was done, he straightened the boy's clothes and tried to hug him, but Harry pushed him away, slid out of his lap, and ran away to the back of the room, where he hid under a table.
Draco sighed heavily as he slid off of the table himself and began to scrub the cold, stone walls. He hated having to hurt Harry, but he didn't want the boy to start thinking that he could act up and not get in trouble for it.
Harry sat under one of the tables in the very back of the room, far away from Draco. It was hard to find a comfortable position to sit in, seeing as the sting of Draco's hand was still prominent on his bottom, He wiped his wet, tear soaked face repeatedly with the sleeves of his tiny robes until they were damp. He couldn't believe that his Draky had given him a spanking. He thought that Draco was nice. He thought he could trust him, not like his aunt or uncle or Dudley.
After Draco had finished cleaning everything, he gathered all of his cleaning supplies in one place where Snape would be able to find it when he returned. Draco the grabbed his bag and headed toward the back of the room where he knew Harry would be. He found the table under which the boy was hiding and knelt down so he could see underneath it. "Harry..."
The boy tried to scoot farther away from Draco.
"Come on, Harry. Let's go eat lunch now."
The boy didn't budge.
"Harry...please..." Draco offered his hand to Harry.
Harry peeked out at Draco through a crack between his arms, which he had been hiding his face behind. The pleading, desperate, sad look on Draco's face made him crumble like a cookie. He instantly launched himself into Draco's arms and wrapped his arms around his neck as Draco held him close. Draco had to smile at how hard it was for Harry to stay mad at him.
"I'm so sorry, Draky! I didn't mean to be so bad! I won't be bad ever again. I promise."
"Good, because I never want to have to hurt you like that again." Draco stood up, lifting Harry up into his arms as he did so. "Now, let's go get something to eat."
Harry nodded and smiled happily as Draco proceeded to carry him out the door, out of the dungeons, and to the Great Hall.
* * *
"Hey, Draco."
Draco looked up from his book as Hermione sat down across the table from him.
"Hey, I'm glad you came."
"No problem. Where's Harry?"
"He fell asleep after lunch, and I didn't want to have to wake him up, so I left him in our room."
"Oh, okay. So, what did you
want to talk about?"
Draco looked around the
library, but since most students preferred not to spend their Sundays amongst
the volumes of dusty books, he and Hermione were pretty much alone. "Well...for
the past few nights, Harry has been having nightmares, and they're so bad
that he's waken me up screaming each time."
"What were they about?" Hermione asked. Draco had sent her a note asking her to meet him in the library, but she had no idea that they would be talking about this.
"Well, according to what Harry told me, they always start out nice but then it just goes straight down hill. Like in his first dream, we were playing together, me and him, in this huge field of flowers when all of the sudden I turned into his uncle and started...beating him. Then, the next dream started out the same, except I turned into his cousin...Dudely, Dudley, something like that, and started beating him up."
Hermione just shook her head
as she listened. "Yep, that's Harry's family, alright."
"What do you mean?"
"Harry hates his family, and they hate him just as much, if not more. That's why he always stays here during the holidays. I'm sure that even if, for some reason, he decided to go back to his relatives' house, his uncle probably wouldn't even let him in the front door. Most likely, after graduation, he won't be able to set foot in that house again, not like he'd want to."
"Man, how come I didn't know any of this?"
Hermione just stared at him with a look that said, "Duh!"
"Oh, right, I guess arch enemies aren't really supposed to know or care about eachother's personal lives." He flashed a rather goofy grin and ran a hand through his hair. "What about the beatings in his dreams, though?"
"Well, Harry told Ron and me that, before he received his first letter from Hogwarts, his relatives really did beat him. At school, he would get beat up by Dudley and his lackeys nearly everyday. It wasn't any better considering that as soon as he got home, he was forced to do all the chores and was then locked in the cupboard under the stairs for the rest of the night. After he got accepted into Hogwarts, they stopped hurting him in fear that he, or some other wizard, would put some terrible curse on them."
"That's horrible." Draco rested his head against his hand as he thought. He has always figured that the Golden Boy would have had the perfect home life, even without his parents. Boy, was he every wrong! "Harry...had another dream this morning, as well."
Hermione kept quiet and waited for him to continue.
"It was just like the others, except in this one, I didn't turn into anyone, it was me beating him. It took me forever to calm him down once he woke up, he was so afraid of me." Draco paused for a moment, remembering the frightened look on Harry's face from that morning. "It really hurt, you know? I thought he liked me, trusted me."
"Well, five year old Harry does, I'm sure, but you have to remember that somewhere, buried deep inside of that little body, is 16 year old Harry, the Harry who still sees you as a threat. I'm sure the dream was just based off of memories and emotions that surfaced from the older Harry."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right."
"Of course I'm right, so don't worry about it. I'm positive that little Harry still thinks the world of you."
"Thanks, Hermione. You've really made me feel a lot better."
"Anything for a friend." Hermione smiled warmly at him.
Draco smiled in return as he closed the book in front of him and stood from his seat. "I should probably get going. I don't want Harry to get worried if he wakes up and I'm not there."
"Alright, I'll see you later then."
"Bye." Draco waved good-bye
as he rounded the end of a bookshelf and walked out of Hermione's sight.
Hope you enjoyed it! Please review!