Authors Note: Posted because Chatty Cat 11 is giving me the hardest time. Whatever muse possessed me to write the last 8 chapters really fast has left me. Come back muse!! xP
Knitted Stockings
Knitting was supposed to calm ones mind. It was supposed to be relaxing; like golf. Draco Malfoy didn't find it relaxing in the least. As a matter of fact, he found it highly aggravating.
His doctor had told him that he needed to remove as much stress from his life as he could; or to start a relaxing hobby. Since most of his stress came from running his business—and he couldn't remove that from his life—he had looked at relaxing hobbies. Whatever that meant.
His Father had suggested starting a collection of some sort—his own being ancient texts. Draco had started a collection of ancient coins. He had about a hundred now, and was bored with it. Narcissa thought that a book club would be great and had invited her son to come to one of her meetings. For two hours the ten women did nothing but talk about fashion, men, home décor, and other pointless things; that months book, The Historian, completely forgotten. One of Draco's employees enjoyed golf and had invited the blonde to a game. It had made things worst. Draco now owed the man two new sets of golf clubs, and the resort one of the strange little moving vehicles.
"You destroyed a golf car?" Harry had asked, snorting his tea all over the dining room table. At his lovers sour expression the dark haired man had started laughing.
A week after the golf incident, the two men had taken a walk in the park near their house. As fate would have it, the blonde had seen a knitting group sitting under a nearby tree. The women, ranging from early womanhood to the elderly, were all chatting happily, seeming to posses not a care in the world.
"I think I'll give this knitting thing a try," he had announced, making a beeline for the nearest knitting shop, dragging a chuckling Harry along.
Had he know what a head ache the whole affair would be, he would have never given the thought any life. His first scarf, the perfect project for any beginner or so Hermione had proclaimed, had turned into a lumpy rag that the Weasley's dog liked to play with. None of the other projects were looking any better.
"Awe, fuck this! I give up!" he shouted as he threw his latest project, a pink and white baby blanket for the next Weasley-Granger, onto the floor.
"Give what up?" Harry asked, poking his head around he living room corner. He spotted the mass of fluffy pink and formed a silent oh. Crossing the space, he scooped the started blanket up and held it out at arms length to get a better look at it. "Darling, this looks great! Why are you giving up?"
"Because I dropped like ten stitches, the yarn keeps getting stuck and doing this spontaneous felting thing on me, and it's just taking too bloody long," the blonde pouted.
Harry frowned. "The yarn is going what?"
Draco waved his hand. "It's something Jackie said to one of the knitters at the shop. It's when the yarn gets hard to work with, and is doing this weird stick together thing…never mind," he said as his lover looked even more puzzled.
"Well," Harry said slowly, taking a seat on the coffee table, blanket handing between his legs. "I think you should keep going on this. You've been working so hard, and 'Mione is really looking forward to it. Besides, what was that about 'I'm going to try making stocks after this blanket'?"
Draco snorted. "That was before I realized what a pain in the ass hobby this was. Maybe it's a woman thing, that's why I can't do it."
Harry tried to suppress a smile but failed. "Draco Malfoy admitting defeat? I though I'd never see the day. And all over a thing of yarn. Had I know this while we were at school, I would have send you hundreds of them."
"It's called a skein. And had you send me any while in school I would have hexed you into jelly."
Harry chuckled. "Fine, whatever. Just finish it? And when you're all done, and know how to make socks, I'll let you make me a pair of stockings," he said with a wink.
"St-stockings?"
"Uh huh. Like the lacey kind you seem to like so much."
Draco blinked at the other man. Suddenly he leaned forward, snatched the project from his lovers' hand and began working on it with new found fervor. He glanced up long enough to see the smug look on Harry's face.
"Well," he said slowly, trying to think of a good cover for his determination. "You're right, I've worked very hard on this. And Grangers baby will need something warm to be covered with when it finally arrives."
"Uh huh," Harry responded, rising slowly to get back to his paper work. "Well, you let me know when you're done and we can buy you more yarn. I'll even let you pick the colors."
As he walked into his office he thought he heard the needles clicking together even faster.