Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Behind the Fog (Backup Upload) ❯ Behind the Fog (Backup Upload) 8th Chapter ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Anything you recognize is property of JK Rowling. Additionally this is not my story. I am uploading this to my own account in support of the author the story belongs to who has been struggling with hackers.

The thing I've most been dreading as a fan is that the story would be removed from the site by the hackers and the author wouldn't have access to their old chapters when the situation was eventually brought under control in the event the site moderators wouldn't be able to give the author their account back.

For anyone interested the author goes by Hancock23 on Fanfiction -dot- net. I will remove the story from my account when Hancock23 has gotten the story safely uploaded elsewhere or has been safely given their account back on Fanfiction -dot- net. Without further ado I give you a backup upload of: Behind the Fog by Hancock23.

PS: This Backup Upload contains minor edits for grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Plus some rewording/restructuring of sentences so they make better sense and flow better. Hope you don't mind me becoming something of a Beta Reader for this Backup Upload Hancock23.

Chapter Eight - Opening

It was a bad day to pick a fight with Draco Malfoy. He was on pins and needles as it was, because the store had opened today. A lot of the money that Blaise had loaned him had gone into buying, renovating, staffing, and creating products for the store and it was imperative that the store does well if he had any hope of repaying his friend and surviving. Blaise was in no hurry to get the money back, but Draco did not want to be in debt for any longer than he needed to be; so he planned to repay him as fast as he could, before he even began thinking about a place to live.

Diagon Alley as it was, had several well-established apothecaries and beauty shops, so he didn't expect things to be easy at first, but he was still hopeful. So today, was really not a good day to pick a fight with him; but Ginevra Weasley had no way of knowing that, and thus she approached him as he headed to the Slytherin table for lunch.

"What do you want Ginger?" He snapped, with a cold look in his eyes.

"We all know why you are doing this Malfoy" She hissed.

Draco raised his brow in annoyance. "Little girl, remove yourself from my path or I will be forced to remove you." He had no patience for her, and that annoyingly superior look she wore. He used to hate her before because she had Potter, but that didn't matter anymore; Now, she was just another obstacle in his path.

"We all know that you are poor now Malfoy, and by suing me, you surely think Harry will pay you." She said with a huge smirk. "How much do you want Malfoy?"

Harry stared in horror at his girlfriend and his husband. The entire hall had heard that and everyone was essentially holding their breath, waiting for an explosive reaction, but it never came.

"How very common of you!" Malfoy said, in his most aristocratic voice, practically looking down his nose at Ginny like she was a worm.

"You must be mistaken. Last time I checked my last name was not Weasley. No Malfoy has been poor since the first Malfoy centuries ago, and of the lot, I am the least likely to break the tradition. Now, move out of my way you pitiful plebeian." Ginny was so shocked she actually moved; no doubt wanting to escape the steely grey eyes that were looking at her like she was an unsavory thing stuck under his expensive shoes.

Draco had never looked more like Lucius Malfoy than in that moment, but this manner that could intimidate people was something he was actually quite grateful his father had instilled in him. He walked straight to his place at the Slytherin table, and sat between Blaise and Pansy like he always did. For his part, Harry debated whether he should go collect Ginny from where she still stood frozen, but he thought that would create even more chaos; so he remained in his seat. The students were chattering madly, and Ginny eventually shook off her shock and went back to her table.

"Are you okay Ginny?" Harry asked gently. "It was the Imperius." She said loudly, so loudly in fact, that some of the Hufflepuff students at the adjacent table caught her words. "There is no way I could move for Malfoy like that. He used the Imperius curse."

There was a gasp, and Harry wanted to roll his eyes, but didn't. Malfoy had not even reached for his wand, and Harry was hard pressed to imagine even Dumbledore or Voldemort could perform a wandless Imperius Curse, even ignoring that this was Hogwarts which had natural defenses for the Unforgivables.

"I knew it wasn't normal the way you stepped aside." Ron agreed, anger rising higher on his cheeks.

This time Hermione wisely chose to stay out of the conversation, probably having come to the same conclusion that Harry had. That intimidation was all Malfoy and secretly, Harry thought that he had handled it well. Ginny had been way out of line with that comment. The rest of the day proceeded as usual. Everyone was talking about what Malfoy had done, but the Slytherin didn't seem affected by it all; In fact, he spent the rest of the day like any other.

Harry went to their room straight after dinner and to his surprise, Malfoy was already there. The blonde glanced his way once, before going to take a shower and unexpectedly, Potter was still around when he got out. Pouring himself a glass of wine from a self-refilling bottle Biddy had placed on the dining table, he went to his sitting area, intent on catching up on some of his favourite manga series.

His parents had taken him along on a business trip to Wizarding Japan when he was younger and Draco had returned to England with an obsessive love for anything Japan. Since then, he got his manga volumes through subscription owl order and he couldn't be more grateful for his insomnia that allowed him to read as much as he wanted. He was just about to expand his manga section when he noticed Potter approaching.

"Where do you go?" The boy asked, arms crossed over his chest expectantly.

"Excuse me?" Draco asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Where do you go, when you are not here?" There were no signs whatsoever that he was being suspected of evil deeds, but Draco knew that he was. It was logical for really, for Potter to think that Draco went to the Slytherin common room, but the fact that he had asked; meant that he somehow knew that, in fact, that was not, where Draco spent his time. He needed more information.

"What is your reason for asking?" He asked, injecting just the right amount of suspicion that one should have, for an enemy who suddenly wants to know their business.

"I am just curious." Harry said, relaxing his posture just a little.

"Many places." Draco answered. "Sometimes I go to the Slytherin Common Room," There was a slight narrowing of green eyes, "Others, the Kitchens," Narrowing again, "The Astronomy Tower," Even more narrowing; Seriously? Did the boy have sentries all over the school keeping track of Draco's whereabouts? "Sometimes even the room of requirement."

"What have you been doing in the Room of Requirement?" Potter asked; Draco deduced that whatever method Potter was using to keep track of him, was ineffective in the Room of Requirement and coincidentally, his own secret base.

"Is there a reason why you are interrogating me?" Draco asked, growing annoyed at how nosey the other teen was being.

"Just answer the question dammit." Harry spat, unable to keep his own annoyance at bay.

Draco affected a huge sigh, and expanded the manga section. He reached for a random volume, and handed it to Potter.

"If you really must know, I go there to read Potter; Does that answer your question?' Harry frowned as he looked down at the book.

Dawning realization came over his face a moment later, and without saying a word, Potter reacted as Draco had expected. Looking at the book, Harry figured that Malfoy would not want people to see him reading a comic book; It did not fit with the Malfoy persona and that's why he hid away in the Room of Requirement to read them. He thought it was kind of cute.

"You are afraid people will make fun of you if they find you reading this, aren't you?" He asked.

"If you are done interrogating me, I want to get to my reading." Draco said, as he held his hand out for the book. Harry gave it to him without protest, and then thought better of it; It would be a good way to pass the time, since he had nothing better to do and he had no urgent homework to finish.

"Lend it to me." He said, and Draco raised an eyebrow in question. "I have nothing better to do this evening." It was just lucky that Draco had already planned to stay in the room tonight; or he wouldn't have had a way to explain why he was leaving when Potter already knew of his hobby.

"You can't start with that one since that volume is mid-series. If you are sure you want to read, I will give you something else." He said holding out his hand for the book again, and this time, Potter gave it back. "What kind of things do you like?" He asked Harry as he put the book back in its place.

"I am not really sure." It was true. Harry had never really had the chance to get to know what he liked. The Dursleys were too mean to allow him to know anything but chores, Hogwarts was a whole new world which he was still learning about, and with the yearly Voldemort attacks, he hadn't taken much interest in anything except quidditch.

"I don't suppose there is one about quidditch?" He asked, not very hopeful at all.

"I have some sports manga, but I don't recommend you start with those." Draco said, his face oddly serious. "I will choose something for you."

Harry would have liked to argue, but he knew nothing about 'manga' as Malfoy had called them. After a few minutes in thought, Draco reached for a book and handed it to Harry. "Death note?" Harry asked sceptically.

"You don't have to read it." Malfoy said with a shrug.

"I will." Harry said resolutely.

"Okay. There are a few things you need to know before you go then." He said, as Harry started for his side of the room. "First, take very good care of it, or I will murder you in your sleep. Second, the first page of the story is on the last page of the book, and you read the text captions from right to left, instead of left to right."

Harry rolled his eyes. There was never anything simple with Malfoy was there? He nodded his thanks and headed to his couch. It was barely in the evening when Harry started the book, and he was shocked to notice that it was past midnight when he read the last page, but he could not bear to go to bed without reading the next volume. He hadn't expected to be hooked, in fact, the main reason he had taken the book was to see what gripped Malfoy so much about manga and now he understood it. He quickly stood up from the couch and headed to Malfoy's area and like himself, he was in the throes of a manga series.

"Sorry to disturb you, but do you have the next volume?" He asked.

It took a minute for the blonde to extricate himself from his book, but when he finally turned to look at Harry, he was smiling. It was the first time since they met six years ago that the Slytherin had smiled at him, and it was breath-taking.

"You like it then?" Draco asked, as he retrieved the finished volume from Harry's hands.

"Yeah." Harry answered simply. A few minutes later, Malfoy came back from his bookshelves with a bunch of books.

"All the volumes." He said, as he handed them over. "Take care of them." Harry smiled in thanks, before heading back to start the second volume.

He did not look up again until he heard Malfoy standing to go to bed at three, but Harry didn't follow, opting to continue with the book. He was still there when Draco woke up three hours later.

"Will you be okay without sleep today?" Malfoy asked, as he went about the business of getting ready.

"I am thinking of feigning sickness so that I can skip classes today. I bet I will be able to finish all the volumes by evening." He said, without really looking at Malfoy until he heard the boy laughing. "Welcome to the club." Draco said, after quelling his laughter.

Harry raised his left eyebrow, a habit he had unconsciously picked up from Malfoy. "I have been doing that for years." Malfoy explained, before going back to the bedroom to fetch his tie.

He came back a few minutes later, to find Harry in the same position he had left him in. "I will tell the professors that you are sick." He said. "Get some sleep when you are done."

"Please take this and give it to one of my friends." Harry said handing him a note. "I don't want them to come here until lessons are over." Malfoy took the note.

"Thanks." Harry said and went right back to reading.

Draco debated who to give the note to as he headed to the Great Hall. The Weasels or the Mudblood were out, because he abhorred them and could not stand the thought of speaking civilly to them, especially not nowadays. With resignation, he headed to the Gryffindor table, aware that his actions were causing a stir in the hall, but determined to get this over with as fast as possible.

"Longbottom." He called, and the boy turned to look at him. He had changed quite a lot in his fifth year, but everyone could see that he was uncomfortable talking to the Slytherin.

"Take this." Draco said handing him the note. He was already at his table by the time Neville overcame his shock and unfolded the note. "It's from Harry." Neville said to the others.

"What does it say?" Hermione asked.

"That he is feeling a bit under the weather, and he will stay in bed today. He says he will come to dinner if he is feeling better; Otherwise, he will see us tomorrow at breakfast." Neville read aloud to the group.

"I bet Malfoy has done something to him." Ron said sourly, and the others nodded solemnly.

"We should go see him during lunch, and make sure he is fine." Hermione suggested which was quickly agreed upon.

They returned to their breakfast after that and to their own thoughts, while Draco waited for the owls to arrive. He was supposed to receive the first report on the opening's performance and he couldn't help the worry that gripped him. The owls arrived at a few minutes to eight and Draco all but jumped when he noticed Aristotle flying to him. He quickly detached the rolled parchment from the owl's leg, and beckoned for Blaise and Pansy to look at the report with him. They put their heads together as he unrolled the parchment.

The report came in the form of a stock list. One side was the complete inventory the shop had when it opened and on the other, the inventory remaining after closing the night before. He quickly scanned the document and noted that the sales were slightly higher than he had expected. He couldn't have been happier.

"That's good for the first day." He said, and Blaise punched him lightly on the back while Pansy kissed his cheek.

His corporation and shop was called 'Dragon World', and this was the beginning of what he planned to be a forbidding empire. He checked the list and noted that all the potions were still adequately stocked and there was no need to make more at this juncture. It was only a matter of days before the shop's popularity shot up when everyone realised that it was the only place selling the new Cruciatus Cure potion. Smiling evilly, he abandoned his breakfast and headed to class.

Uploader's Note: This Has Been A Backup Upload of Chapter 8 of Behind the Fog by Hancock23.