Outside Our World

By: IcyAurora8

Rating: R

Pairings: Harry/Draco

Genre: Humor/Angst/Fluff/Slash

Summary: Sent to live in the muggle world for a half year, Draco and Harry encounter what they would have never believed possible: A life where the Harry Potter series of books really exists, based on none other than their own lives. How did they not know! New friends, new relationships, comedy and embarrassment enter the lives of the two boys as they adjust to their new secret. Of the Harry/Draco slash variety.

Warning: This is SLASH! In other words, there are male/male relationships. If you don't like, please don't read!

AN: Unfortunately, I do not own anything Harry Potter.

This is the first story I have written for any type of fanfic… so hopefully it is worthy! I would like to thank the person who started a story where the Harry Potter series was real for muggles, and the Hogwarts' students were forced to live in the muggle world. It was an unfinished story, and quite a few years old, but if the person who wrote this is out there, thank you! Ever since I read those few chapters, this idea has been eating me alive! I have yet to be able to find another story that is even near similar, so I decided that I would write the story I would love to read. Thank you again!

And on the final note… this story is pre - HBP. I don't think my story would work very well otherwise.

To the question about studying (though I can't remember now where this question came up!): The pursuit of knowledge, as by reading, observation, or research. This is pretty much the form that I will be using this word in.

To Slytherinsess in response to the quote question: I did it to show that Harry thinks of Remus as his godfather, but he actually isn't (not legally). I'm not sure if it is grammatically correct, but I'm used to using them like that. I don't like to use regular double quotations because to me that means it is a specific quote or comment someone said. Hopefully that answers your question! Thanks for the review hun!

Also, I just wanted to let everyone know about the timeline. I understand that DVD's were not really around at the same time as the original HP timeline, nor some of the movies I am using as examples, along with the HP books being written. I am basically ignoring some of the time aspects to make the story work better, especially for the books. So for now… let's just assume it's early 2000's for when this story takes place. Or you can just ignore the timeframe altogether… like I do. LOL.

And thank you to everyone else for the reviews, I'm sorry that I've not had time to tell each one of you that personally!

Chapter 6

Harry woke the next morning feeling quite relaxed after a restful night's sleep. It was odd waking in a different place, but not uncomfortable. Even though it was only a little after eight in the morning, the brunet decided to get up and moving. The two boys had another day to relax and adjust to the new town, and Harry wanted to drop off his work application at the coffee shop.

One of the first things Harry decided he was going to do that morning was try out the 'whirlpool' tub. It didn't take long for him to fiddle with the tap and buttons to have a satisfactory result. He decided that the massaging jets were the best thing ever invented for a bathtub. He was able to relax for nearly an hour before loud pounding on the door forced him to remove his now wrinkled body from the pool of cooling water.

"Potter! I have to use the loo, so hurry up!" Draco yelled, the door still vibrating from his fists.

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Harry. "Give me two minutes and then she's all yours." He could hear Draco huff before his footsteps stomped away. Harry hurriedly dried off before pulling his trousers on, then used the towel on his dripping ebony hair. When finished, he left he room and knocked on the blonde's door.

"You can use the bathroom now," Harry called through the closed door.

Draco cracked the door, catching an eyeful of the half naked boy standing in the hallway. His eyes widened briefly while they scanned the still glistening body, lingering lightly at the slight indentations at his hips, shown off by the too-big jeans and lack of shirt. It only took a moment for his eyes to snap back up and his face to return to its usual demeanor before saying, "Go put some clothes on, Potter, I don't need to see that." The Slytherin pushed past a stunned Harry and entered the bathroom, slamming the door behind himself.

Harry just shook his head at the strange boy before making his way to the kitchen to fix a nice breakfast. He altogether ignored the suggestion to put a shirt on.

He decided he would make breakfast sandwiches, made with fried eggs, bacon, cheese, and toasted English muffins, all topped with a bit of maple syrup and served with orange juice. The brunet marveled at the completely stocked kitchen, loving that he only had to worry about making food for himself, but decided in the end to fix a sandwich for Draco also.

The blond was surprised to find breakfast waiting for him when he entered the kitchen after cleaning up; he figured his classmate would have left him to fend for himself. Harry was surprised that it only took the vain boy fifteen minutes to get ready.

"Wow, that was quick," Harry said, commenting on the short time spent in the loo.

Draco looked at him in confusion before realizing that he was talking about his grooming habits. "I'm not done yet. I just brushed my hair."

Harry wasn't sure whether to laugh or groan. Well, so much for the whirlpool tub for the next three months; Malfoy'll have commandeered the entire loo by the end of today. Taking another bite of his sandwich, he said to the other boy, "I made you breakfast. A bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich." Harry smiled at Draco.

The blond-haired boy hesitated, unsure of what to do. No one besides house elves had ever made him food before, much less his school rival. He looked at Harry, who was sitting at the small table in the corner of the room, eating his own sandwich. "Thank you," was the hesitant reply from the Slytherin, before he took his own sandwich off the counter and joined Harry at the table to eat. He figured that at least if it was poisoned, he wouldn't have to endure three months of muggle torture.

The kitchen was filled with a slightly uncomfortable silence for a few minutes because of the awkward situation between the boys. Both had been civil (for the most part) to each other for the last twenty-four hours, which was a feat in itself. Now, add their first shared breakfast, ever, in seven years, things were a little tense. Neither boy knew what to make of the situation.

Draco's eyes gazed slowly over the still-shirtless boy, lingering slightly on the tanned collarbone, refraining from comment. He finally broke the silence. "You know, this is really good. I've never had a sandwich like this before." He hesitated for a moment, before saying another quiet, "Thanks." He then smiled at the brunet, a genuine smile.

Harry was floored, not having expected any appreciation for his efforts, much less a compliment. He had only made the other boy breakfast so he wouldn't starve. The boy which Harry had thought he knew so well was ending up to be someone he didn't know at all. Pretty much everything in the past twenty-four hours had surprised him, and most of it was because of one Draco Malfoy.

Harry finished the last bite of his sandwich before speaking, "We need to fill out the work applications today and drop them off, then maybe we can explore the city some more."

The other boy nodded, agreeing to the plan. He watched as the Gryffindor got up from the table, putting his plate into the sink before walking down the hall to his room, leaving the blond in the kitchen alone.

It was only a few moments later that Draco followed the other boy's example, leaving for his bedroom to finish getting ready for the day ahead.

XOXOXOXOXOXO

It was late morning by the time Draco was finished getting ready and he found Harry in the living room. The boy was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the sofa, while filling out his work application on the coffee table in from of him. Draco noticed that they were similarly dressed, Harry wearing light colored jeans and Draco wearing dark. Both had on slightly clingy t-shirts, Harry's deep green and Draco's silver. The blond-haired boy was slightly worried about their similar fashion sense, especially since until this weekend, Harry had never seemed to possess any at all. Draco thought that Harry either figured out how to match or his own fashion sense was going down the drain.

Draco grabbed his application off the kitchen counter before joining Harry on the floor, copying his actions. He didn't know what a few of the things on the application paper meant, so he either left them blank or asked the other boy for help. It didn't take long for the applications to be completed, especially since they didn't have to worry about filling out prior job experiences (neither had any) and they only had one number for reference (Lupin), not to mention it was temporary work only.

"You ready to go?" Harry asked Draco. The blond nodded in return.

Once the two students made their way to the lobby of their building, they found the weather to be rather dreary. It was warm outside, but raining quite heavily. Normally, one would cast a shielding charm to dispel the rain around oneself, but since there was a restriction on their magic, neither boy could. Harry didn't want to go back up to the flat just to grab a jacket, but he remembered that muggles used umbrellas when it rained (though he never had, he hadn't been allowed the privilege), and decided to ask Mr. Brown, who was working the front desk that day, for one.

Mr. Brown was very helpful, lending the two boys a large blue umbrella. Harry took it outside and opened it, then held it over his head. Draco looked rather impressed at the seemingly simple idea, and insisted on carrying the cheap parasol.

With their applications tucked safely in envelope, the boys started walking towards Café Dot Net, huddled under the umbrella together. Even though there was quite a bit of room under the mushroom shaped canopy, the Slytherin and the Gryffindor seemed to gravitate to each other's sides, so close that the two boys were walking with their shoulders touching and arms occasionally brushing past one another. A couple of times in the two block walk, Harry or Draco would notice how closely together they were walking and would move away, but the surrounding rain and warmth of the body next to him would gradually draw the two back together.

Neither boy thought too much of their actions; the only real reason for moving apart was out of habit due to the explosive nature of their (previous) relationship. If they had known what the closeness of their walking together looked like, they would have taken more efforts to stay further apart. Thankfully they were paying too much attention to each other and their new environment to notice a few hungry looks from passing females. It wasn't every day that women got to see two attractive men practically glued to each other's sides.

The two students were only slightly damp when they reached the coffee shop. Since it was the middle of a school day, very few people were in the building that late in the morning. The boy who was behind the counter was the same one that had been working the day before. He was a tall and had short brown hair streaked with orange, and his eyes sparkled whenever he talked. He looked about nineteen years old, or at least out of school. When the two British boys walked into the shop, he was leaning forward, arms resting on the bar rail of the counter.

"Hey guys," came his baritone voice. "I'm Ryan. How can I help you?"

Harry took the slightly damp envelope containing the applications from Draco's outstretched hand and put it on the counter. "I'm Jeremie, and this is Davin. We are from the UK and are doing an exchange program with Harrison High. We're only here for three months, but we both need to find work. We live right down the road at Pennsylvania Terrace Apartments, so this would be really convenient for us, especially with no transportation." Harry was slightly out of breath by the end of his speech and Ryan was looking at him with a huge smile plastered on his face.

"Wow, you guys really want this job. Alright, you are both hired. Our weekend help just quit because she started an internship for her University classes, so we could use you both. When can you start?" asked Ryan.

Harry looked to Draco, who was staring at Ryan like a deer in headlights, before answering, "How about Saturday? We start classes tomorrow, and it's going to take a few days for us to adjust, especially with the time difference."

Ryan nodded in agreement, before proceeding to shake both boy's hands, then picked up the applications. "I will see you two on Saturday then. Wear whatever, it's pretty casual around here."

Harry thanked Ryan for everything, before grabbing a still stunned Draco by the arm and pulling him out of the shop.

"What's wrong with you?" Harry asked.

Draco stared at the sidewalk for a minute before shaking his head clear. "Oh, I just didn't realize it would be that easy to get work. I thought it would be a lot of interviews and they would all turn me away, then I would be searching forever to find a job. As much as it pains me to admit it, I know I have no experience when it comes to things like this." The blond grimaced at the thought.

"Well, it looks like we're set, so no big deal now, huh? Come on, let's get going, I want to look around some more." Harry took the umbrella from the side of the building where he had left it and opened it before holding it over their heads.

The boys decided to walk in the opposite direction of the mall, seeing as they had spent the previous afternoon there. They didn't know what lay ahead, since Harry had accidentally forgotten the city map on the kitchen counter that morning.

As they walked, they noticed a few small shops filled with clothes and trinkets. After about fifteen minutes of walking in the drizzle both boys thought it best to enter a small thrift-like shop, mostly to get out of the rain. The store proved to be interesting though, especially since it advertised reasonable prices for movies, music, and more.

Harry headed straight for the video section while Draco struggled with trying to close the umbrella. When the Slytherin finally caught up to his roommate, he just crossed his arms and glared, slightly angry to be left behind with the infuriating muggle device.

Harry looked up at the offended boy and smiled innocently. "What?" he asked. "Umbrella give you a bit of trouble?" Harry couldn't help poking fun at the blond, it was a hard habit to break.

Draco just huffed and ignored him.

Harry shrugged and continued to look through the racks of DVD's, searching for anything that might be interesting. He came across a few that sounded promising, so he set them aside.

Draco eventually wandered back to Harry's side and picked up the movies the boy had set on a separate rack. "'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,' 'Lord of the Rings Trilogy,' 'Willow?' What are these?" he asked.

"Well, they sounded interesting, and a couple of them talk about magic, so I figured we should check them out. You know, for the muggle view on things."

"Oh," was all that Draco could say.

"Come on, I want to go look at the books too." Harry grabbed the small stack of movies and headed towards the front of the store, where the rows of books were located. He noticed an aisle stand with a large green sign that said "Favorites" and quite a few colorfully bound novels below it.

As he searched the rows for anything intriguing, his eyes noticed one particular book which caused his heart to start thumping wildly in his chest. "Hey, come look at this Davin!" he practically shouted, his voice croaking in shock.

Draco hurried over, looking at Harry with a confused expression. He noticed that the other boy was pointing at the bookrack with a shaking finger. The blond glanced to where he was pointing, his brain taking a few moments to digest what his eyes were seeing.

There, right in front of the two undercover wizards, was a book entitled Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

"Merlin's beard!" Draco exclaimed. He was shaking now too, unsure of what to do. "Do you think we should buy it?" he asked, his voice hardly louder than a whisper.

Harry just nodded dumbly, still astounded at the discovery and unable to form any proper words at the moment. Everyone going on the exchange had been told about the books, but just hearing about it was quite different from actually being able to hold tangible evidence of their lives in their hands.

Harry reached out slowly to pick up the book, then noticed a few other novels sitting next to the current offending one. Each of the other novels had his name on the cover, so he picked up one of each of those. He handed all five of the books to Draco and signaled for the other boy to follow him to the checkout counter.

Harry put the stack of DVD's from his arms on the counter and reached for the of books that Draco was holding, but the other boy shook his head.

"No, you get those… things, and I'll get these," he said.

"Thanks." Harry was suddenly quite nervous, wondering if anyone would recognize the blond or himself. He knew he had his glamour, and even without it, it would have been hard to connect him to the scrawny cartoon depiction from the novel, but he still couldn't quite suppress the irrational fear that they would be discovered.

Draco just smiled slightly and Harry returned his attention to the cashier. He paid with his credit card, and then Draco checked out and did the same.

Once both boys had their bags of purchases they walked outside. Harry breathing a quiet sigh of relief. He shook his head slightly, knowing he had probably overreacted, but still, he had never been in a situation like that before.

It had stopped raining, so Harry took the umbrella from Draco and carried it along with his bag of DVD's. The two decided that it would be best to head back to the flat and watch a movie, even though it was only early afternoon.

XOXOXOXOXO

The boys dropped the umbrella off at the front desk and headed upstairs to their flat, planning on spending the rest of the day in the same fashion as the previous night.

Harry decided he wanted to watch "Willow," and Draco didn't care either way. It turned out that the DVD player was rather simple to operate, and even Draco had learned how to run it by the end of the night. Harry decided to make soup for dinner again, and the roommates snacked on a bowl of popcorn throughout the movie. Both boys enjoyed the show immensely, even though the magical elements were somewhat unrealistic.

It wasn't very late when the movie was finished, so each boy decided to take a book and start reading before heading off to bed. Draco started at the beginning, with the first novel, while Harry picked up the second one, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Harry looked at the clock quite a few hours later, realizing it was close to 10:00 PM. He had gotten so caught up in the book that he was nearly finished with it, even though it did bring back some unpleasant memories. He couldn't believe how real the story was, mirroring his life almost exactly, and the things that weren't completely correct couldn't be told from anyone's point of view but his own. It was almost as if someone had been spying on him his entire life. Then again, that's what people at the Daily Prophet were paid for.

"Hey, I'm going to head to bed, we have school tomorrow," Harry said to Draco, who was sitting on the other end of the sofa.

Draco raised his hand in acknowledgement without looking up, too engrossed in the novel to pay much attention to Harry. Other than a few indignant squawks from Draco, the other boy had been completely silent the entire time he had been reading. Harry decided to just let the other boy be, figuring he could ask questions later.

Both boys were nervous about the coming day. The busy afternoon had distracted them, but as they got ready for bed, their thoughts were suddenly filled with the upcoming challenges they would have to face at their new school. As a result, it took both boys an unusually long time to fall asleep

Sorry that this was kind of a filler chapter… it just basically demonstrates that the two boys are still getting along. It does have a few vital parts… like the books, but certain things pertaining to that will not be questioned until a few chapters from now.

As always, thank you to my talented betas, Raven and Michelle. I will admit that this chapter really frustrated me, and if they hadn't been here to smack me in the head a few times, I don't think it would have turned out this way at all!