Homeless - Drarry

Trust

The man threw Draco into the brick wall and pinned him forcefully against it. Draco tightened as rough hands lowered down his body, gripping him painfully.

"No..." he tried to say, but his voice was gone.

He was starting to panic when suddenly something small and wet licked his nose. Draco's eyes snapped awake, and the krup was right in front of his face. He licked his nose, again, and whined.

"Thanks..." Draco whispered, glad to have been pulled out, before his dream what further than reality. He petted him. "Are you Gus or Shadow?"

The krup rolled on his belly for scratches, again.

"Well, I can see why Potter loves you," he drawled and then swore.

He had no idea what time it was. He still had to walk to work. He felt rested, for once, but his muscles were sore from the attack. He got up and the krup followed him into the loo. They did like attention. Draco saw that his work shirt and pants were in a pile on the counter, and he opted for a quick shower before putting them on. He treated his hair and left Potter's clothes there.

He needed to be going. He had to be at work soon, if the light was any indication of the time. He packed his bag and went to leave the room, when Kreacher met him on the other side.

"Master Draco! Kreacher made lunch!" he announced.

"Oh... thanks. I guess I'm hungry," Draco said, and followed the elf to the kitchen, tailed by Potter's krup, and Kreacher presented him with three sandwiches. "Three?"

"Kreacher wasn't sure what sir liked. There's a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, and this is an egg and cheese sandwich and this one is a cucumber sandwich!"

Draco smiled. Cucumber sandwiches were a more formal offering. He said thanks and took the BLT.

"Kreacher will make more if master wants!"

"That won't be necessary. Do you have a bag? Can I take these?" he asked. They should stay fine until tomorrow.

"Yes! Of course!" Kreacher conjured a paper bag with his elf magic.

"Thanks... thank you, Kreacher. For the food and the room," he said.

"Kreacher loves helping master."

"Still. I have to go out, but I appreciate the help."

"Where is master going?"

"To work... will you tell Pot-Harry?"

"Kreacher will tell him, now!"

"No! Just when he comes home, okay?"

"If that is what master wants!"

Draco sighed. "Tell him thanks... too."

Kreacher gave him a look... like the hope was draining from him. "Master is leaving?"

"This isn't my house, Kreacher, and I've intruded too long. But it was nice to meet you."

Kreacher sniffled and disappeared. Draco packed up the extra sandwiches and noted that Potter's krup was watching him and wagging his tail. Draco pulled a piece of bacon from the rest of his sandwich and held it out for him.

"Thanks for keeping me company."

After the krup ate it, the other one came in, as though it knew his brother got a treat. Draco smiled and gave him a piece, too, and then walked down the hall to the door, the pups following him. He glimpsed back into Potter's home, and the feeling of homesickness was already settling in. No, it was past time. He didn't belong here. He didn't have a home. He said goodbye to the two krups and walked out the door.

In daylight hours, he could get his bearings on where he was, though he had never been on the street. It would take about an hour to get to his work from here. He set out on his hike, trying not to get hit by cars nor knocked to the ground by pedestrians on their talking devices. He also had to keep a lookout for the muggle police, too. Not having an ID seemed to upset them a lot. He made to work twenty minutes early, which the night manager didn't seem to appreciate. He kept giving him looks all night, but didn't do anything but bark orders at him.

After the last drunk left, Draco felt the anxiety start building. When he was working, he could ignore what had happened last night. Now that his shift was coming to an end, he didn't want to leave alone.

"Drake! Finish up... here's your pay."

The man shorted him, again. He dared to give him a look.

"What?" he growled. "You obviously have enough to bleach your hair, poof."

Draco blushed, but wasn't going to tell him that his hair was just that dirty. "I just cleaned up a bit."

"Yeah, sure. Finish your jobs and close up."

"But... I... almost... got mugged last night."

The scummy manager snorted. "That's because you look like a bitch. You don't have anything worth taking. You better scrub the toilets tonight, too, slag."

Draco flushed, but didn't rise to taunt. The manager knew he had gone down for money before. It was probably why he had given him a job. "Can you just wait...."

"No, grow some balls," he said and walked out.

Draco sighed and did what he was told. He actually had extra money for once. Plus, he had two sandwiches to hold him over for the next day or two. He went to the door and steadied himself. There had been no stalkers staring at him, tonight. There was no one out there, he told himself. He gripped his bag tight and slowly opened the door. He stared at the supposedly empty alley, but he didn't trust it. He didn't want to leave, but the manager would watch the tapes.

He exited the door and cast another look. He saw no one, so he shut the door and it locked. He turned around quickly, unwilling to be caught off-guard, again, but no one was there. He made his way to the street, when someone just appeared at the entrance of the alley. Draco stopped. He was sure no one had been there before, but he hadn't heard the Apparation crack.

"Draco? Sorry, I didn't want to scare you."

Draco narrowed his eyes in the darkness. It was the Savior. "Potter? What are you doing here?"

"Well, I didn't think I'd take that long today, and I wasn't expecting you to go to work."

"I can't afford to lose this job. I don't have any muggle papers."

Potter frowned. "Okay... I understand now."

"Why did you come here?"

"Kreacher was crying when I flooed in, and he said you went to work... so, I came to take you home."

Draco tightened up. "I don't have a home, Potter."

"I said that you can stay with me, Draco. It couldn't have been that bad. Plus, I'll pick you up every night."

"Why?"

Potter looked wiped, but his green eyes stared right at him. "You keep asking me that, and my answer hasn't changed. I would like to stay until you have enough for you to get your own place. You don't have to be homeless. You can stay with me for as long as you like. We can figure out things, okay? Just... trust me, Draco. I'm not trying to manipulate or use you. I'm just offering you a place to put your feet up and relax. No, ulterior motives. Just safety and security. Please don't stay out on the streets, because it's too insulting to accept my help."

Draco looked back and forth and then at the ground. It was so hard to trust anyone. He trusted his parents, and that got him branded like a stock animal and kicked out of the magical community. "I don't know, Potter. This is... this is crazy... what happens when people find out? Your fans aren't going to appreciate you helping out a Death Eater."

"I don't give a flying fuck what people think and neither should you. It'll be fine, Draco. I'll try to keep that from happening, but if it happens, we'll deal with it," he said, maintaining an unnerving stare with him.

"That guy wanted to hurt me because I was a Death Eater. What will they do if they think I'm corrupting you?"

Potter rolled his eyes. "If you go by that... they already hate you... what're a few more idiots? Besides, I've pissed them off decently already, so don't worry about it. Plus, what's safer than a house under a Fidelius Charm?"

He had him there and let out a breath. He looked at Potter, who gave him a smile.

"Come home with me, Draco. Don't keep living like this."

Draco thought about the cold nights sleeping in the park, scrounging for food on daily basis and when times get bad, getting down on his knees. He didn't want to do it anymore. He wanted a home that was warm... and safe. He slowly nodded.

"Come on. We can eat and get some sleep," Potter said and held out his hand.

Draco took it and got pulled into his Apparation. They landed inside the kitchen, and the krups started barking at the noise. Potter had to quiet them down, again.

"We might just have to come home outside, from now on," Harry commented and headed to the icebox. "Do you work every night?

"Umm... yeah," Draco said, but frowned as Harry pulled out food. "I still have the sandwiches that Kreacher made in my bag. You don't have to make me anything."

"Oh, sandwiches? Wait... he said that you left right before I got home. That was over eleven hours ago."

"Yeah?" Draco said.

"Did you put them in a fridge at work?" he asked, looking at him.

"No... but it's fine. They'll be alright."

"No, it isn't. You could get sick. You can't eat them. Just throw 'em in the rubbish bin."

"I... I don't like throwing out food," Draco said and looked down. He knew that he was being insecure, but he hated the feeling of not knowing when he was going to eat. Wasting food wasn't something he did willingly.

Potter didn't seem surprised by this, nor upset. "How about a trade? I'll make you enough for two meals... if you give me the sandwiches. Is that okay?"

Draco pondered it and nodded. Potter had him sit down at the table.

"Okay, you hold on to them for now, and I'll get you your payment," Potter said and, with a chip in his step, got cooking.

Draco watched him, confused that Potter would even come up with a deal like that and why he wasn't shocked by his strange idiosyncrasies. Before he figured it out, the black and white krup jumped into his lap, and he petted him.

"Is this Shadow?"

"What? No, that's Gus. Did he jump up there?"

"Yeah... he woke me up this afternoon, too."

Potter gave him a look. "Were you having a nightmare?"

"Yeah, I-how did you know?"

He smirked, and turned back to the stove. "Gus wakes me up when I get too deep into my nightmares. I love him for that. I see he's taken to you."

Draco was still processing what Potter first said, but nodded. "I might have feed them both a bit of bacon this afternoon."

"Bacon? Oh yeah, the krups love bacon, don't ya boy!" Potter yipped to Shadow, who was at his leg and wagging his forked tail happily. But Gus hopped down and went to him, eager for treats. "Yeah, they'll definitely love you for that."

"Yeah, I'll bet. Why do you call the brown one, Shadow?"

"Cause he follows me around like a shadow, even more than Gus. He was beaten and starved a lot when we found him. It took a bit for him to trust me."

Draco nodded. It took him a bit to trust Potter, too. But he'd never felt safer in his presence, even when they were at school. He was so confident and a worthy adversary. When he saved him in the Room of Hidden Things, it had fortified that even more. Potter was the most self-sacrificing git he ever knew. He let the Dark Lord kill him after all. His mother said Potter just walked right up to him, unarmed, and let that asshole Avada Kedavra him. He has balls, that's for damn sure.

After a few minutes of cooking, Harry put a big plate of pork chops, fried potatoes and carrots in front of him. He set another bowl of food next to him with a cover on it. But when Draco made to take his silverware, Potter stopped him.

"Nah uh... we said a trade. Can I have those sandwiches?" Potter murmured, his hand out.

Draco dropped his head, embarrassed that he felt so attached to them. He was going against his instincts to give them up. Draco was sure if he pressed Potter, he could keep both, but Har-Potter was looking at him so damn hopeful, that he had to give them up. Draco looked at his pack and opened it. He pulled out the bag of sandwiches, which were at room temperature and the egg one was starting to turn. He had to look him in the eyes to find the strength to hand the bag over.

"Thank you, Draco," he said, as he accepted them. You don't have to worry about finding things to eat anymore. I'll make sure you have all you can eat."

Draco looked up at him and still couldn't trust that food would be there. Anything could change. Potter could decide that he was a piece-of-shit Death Eater and kick him out. He started shaking and was actively resisting the urge to cry.

"Draco, it's okay. I know it's hard, when you're used to hoarding your food. It's going to take a bit to get used to having consistent meals, again. You don't have to feel self-conscious. I know it feels...."

He felt a little attacked and disregarded his usual restraint and spat, "You don't know how I feel!" Tears were slowly trailing down his cheek.

Potter wasn't agitated by his outburst. "Not completely. But I used to stash food away, too."

Draco gave him a surprised look. "Why?"

"My aunt and uncle didn't like to feed me when I grew up. Sometimes it was days, and they locked me in my... room. I learned to hoard and save for those longer days. When I came to Hogwarts, I had to learn that food was going to be readily available. Now, I have nice full cardboards, with more food than I need."

He stared at him, as though trying to figure out if he was telling the truth. He was. Draco grimaced, and when Potter waved his hand towards his plate, Draco remembered that he was hungry. He started eating, and it was delicious. He was a good cook.

"Thank you..." Draco murmured. "...Harry."

Potter gave him a big smile and went back to eating. Draco could see that he was exhausted, and he wondered if Potter had been out in the alley all day waiting for him, despite having nearly no sleep the previous night. He didn't want to ask. Harry dumped more on his plate when he cleared it and he ate it all. When they were done, Harry brought him over to the icebox and placed his dish inside.

"Anything in here, Draco... you can eat, but leave it in here. There are Chilling Charms and the food will keep. If you take it to work, you should keep it in a muggle fridge. But some meals don't have to be kept cold," Harry said, then directing him to the cabinets. "They're in this cupboard. Feel free to take them to work, too. You work at the same time every night?"

"Until close. Close times vary."

"Alright. I can take you to work tomorrow... today. I don't work, okay?"

Draco blushed. "You don't have to...."

"And you don't need to walk five clicks to get to and from work."

"I don't know when I'll get out. You don't have to come to get me. I've walked nearly the whole city."

Harry frowned. "Alright... we'll figure it out. Time for bed?"

Draco nodded and was looking forward to the warm, soft bed. "Yeah... I'm tired."

"Me, too. Come on, boys!" Harry said, and the krups were frantic to follow him as he led the way up the steps. However, Kreacher's sudden appearance made them bark like crazy.

"Master Draco! You came back!"

"Yes, Harry's offered to let me stay here."

Kreacher waved his hands happily and disappeared after saying, "Kreacher will make lunch tomorrow! Goodnight!"

Harry sighed and calmed the distressed pups. "I wish he would stop doing that. They don't like it. Well, goodnight, Draco."

"Goodnight... Harry," he said, awkwardly.

Draco watched him go into his room and then went to his. He smiled and went into the bathroom. Eager for another shower... and maybe something else.