Title: Muggle Conveniences
Author: ixchelmala
Genre: Humor, romance, ?
Pairing: Draco/Harry
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Harry and Draco belong to each other, JKR, &WB
Summary: Harry goes away for a visit and Draco is left to his own bachelor devices.
AN: This little ficlet was inspired by ivblossom and fueled by true events...
Many thanks go out to ivyblossom for encouraging me to write, and again to maruchina who was willing and ready to read this through, on the fly, via IM.
For Ivy and her poor crappy pots.
*******************************************************
Muggle Conveniences
Harry and Draco were living in a one bedroom flat one floor up in a quaint sea side community. They had a small living room with a tiny balcony over looking the street below. A huge magnolia tree gave them shade from the west setting sun everyday. The kitchen was small and efficient. It met Draco's basic cooking needs and was outfitted with a small counter on the other side of the sink. Their bedroom was as large as the rest of the flat and had two huge sliding mirror doors which hid their closet. Over all, the flat was small, however, by muggle standards, full of conveniences.
Somehow Harry had convinced Draco of living among muggles, had advantages over living in a wizarding community. When they went looking at flats, Harry was as giddy as some of his fans from school their days at seeing all the "modern" conveniences.
Draco secretly delighted in seeing Harry this giddy, although it was a bit much at times.
In the end, Harry had his own suspicions as to why Draco gave in sooner than was his norm. He was pretty sure that if Harry decided to live in his little cupboard again, Draco would be easily swayed, as long as Harry was there.
Draco eventually figured out Harry's motivation behind all this "convincing ". It was a simple desire to experience all the things that as a kid he was not able or allowed to do without some kind of criticism or reprimand by the Dursleys. What was amusing, yet sad, was that Harry didn't see this himself. At least Draco didn't think he did.
Instead, Harry just kept going on about all the machines the muggle world had. Automobiles, telephones, computers, the list went on and on.
In particular, there was the dishwasher.
Draco loved watching Harry collect the dishes from their meals and organize them neatly into this loud muggle contraption. He refused to turn the machine on until it was full, which meant that Draco got to cook a lot more than he normally did. He was fine with this, as he *did* enjoy cooking for Harry.
When the cavernous box was full of dishes, pots, pans, assorted silverware and utensils, and ready to run, Harry's excitement was almost too much to bear.
Then again, Draco enjoyed watching Harry do this too. Draco was a bit of a voyeur.
It did make him a little sad sometimes to think Harry would get so excited over something which seemed so simple and common in muggle life. He could only imagine the wretched conditions Harry had described when he was living with the Dursleys.
In any case, the dishwasher ran, loudly, much to Draco's annoyance, but he eventually got Harry to compromise on a muffling spell, so that the pleasure of hearing the contraption go through it's cycles, was not completely lost on Harry.
Overall Draco found all of this archaic, especially when there were magical ways of doing all of the things that Harry's "muggle conveniences" did.
**************************************************
About a year after settling into their flat, Sirius owled Harry to come visit he and Remus up in the north country. It had been about 4 years since he had last seen his godfather, and the chance for some flying in the north country was tugging hard at Harry's heart so badly, he couldn't refuse. Never mind the fact that he loved to visit with his godfather and old professor.
Harry had packed his rucksack tight and had it slinged across his chest over his back. He sat on his broom hovering just above the ground, as he went over the list of "chores" that Draco had to attend to while Harry was away.
Draco was smiling and nodding. When Harry got to the damned dishwasher, he caught himself almost rolling his eyes at Harry.
Draco had other plans.
He was going to have one of his old house elfs come to the flat and "take care" of things. He wasn't going to be bothered by any of these "conveniences" when he had magical ways of doing the same chores, even if it wasn't him doing the actual "chores" as Harry was endeared to calling them.
Harry finally was off to the north country. He owled Draco every day.
Draco instead kept a diary for when Harry returned. It was pretty mundane.
He woke up late.
Showered, got dressed, and then made breakfast. Harry voice echoed in his brain when he put he un-rinsed dishes in the sink.
He left that part out of the diary.
Later he owled for his house elf to come as soon as possible and went about his day.
Lunch time came around and as Draco was a bit peckish, he made himself some lunch.
He didn't use many dishes, but they all ended up in the sink.
Along with the rest.
He spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the box Harry called television. He found this to be quite addictive. He found some of the programs Harry watched were quite different from what Draco found entertaining.
The so-called reality shows were rather intriguing. He found the majority of his opinions of muggles were confirmed there. Other shows of this nature were based more on contests of talent. Having more than a hundred channels to choose from made time pass rather fast.
Eventually, Draco's appetite for food got his attention again, and so he was off making himself dinner as he watched the television from the kitchen. He didn't notice the pile of growing dishes or the lack of house elf with his attention so engrossed on the current show he was goggling at.
Eventually he fell asleep on the couch. In the morning he was aghast to find his hand in his pants and drool dried up at the corner of his mouth. The television was on but Draco, slightly disoriented, turned it off, went to the shower and tried to wake up and figure out why he had not made it to bed.
He got dressed and was suddenly hungry again. So he made himself breakfast.
Again dishes went into the sink and no house elf.
Draco owled for his elf again, and then went back to the couch to see what else he could find on the television.
The next 2 weeks were pretty much the same.
Then he got word from Harry that he would be returning a few days early.
Draco was elated at this news. He was tired of sleeping alone. He figured he kept falling asleep on the couch, because he didn't have Harry to curl around and snuggle with. He missed Harry.
Then he was struck with a wave of terror.
The dishes.
There was a pile stacked high in the kitchen. Draco had resorted to using paper plates so as to not have to wash any of the soiled dishes he could have used.
Then he remembered something...
the elf, it never came.
Draco was in a panic.
Harry would be arriving any moment and he knew he would not be happy.
He tried using the dish washing contraption, but much to his frustrations, he couldn't figure out where the cleaning solution went.
He'd seen on one of the television shows where someone under similar circumstances had the same dilemma. They had just poured large amounts of the solution into the dish washer only to suffer a large wall of soap in the end. It was funny to watch, but he knew this was not the way to solve his problem. He stopped himself from panicking any more, and thought about this.... (Really the things that television does to ones brain.)
He considered all the possibilities, and eventually he opted for just taking all the dishes and tossing them over the balcony on the side where the dumpster was kept.
Rather convenient he thought.
No sooner had he finished when Harry arrived looking happy and relaxed.
Draco went out to the street to meet Harry.
When Harry saw him, he ran as hard as he could and nearly tackled him to the ground. His arms were hugging Draco so hard he only could find the strength to hug him as powerfully in return.
They found each others lips and started to kiss each other.
Eventually, Draco moved Harry's arms so he could carry him on his back into their flat.
Harry eventually got settled. It was near to dinner time and Harry felt like cooking for Draco. Not his forte, mind you, but he wanted to show Draco how much he missed him.
Draco suddenly had to use the restroom.
Harry was in the kitchen opening and closing all the cupboards.
Draco apparently had to use the restroom badly. He was in there a while.
Harry was about at ask Draco about how things went when there was a knock at the door.
Draco was suddenly done using the restroom and raced to get the door before Harry.
They got there at the same time.
Harry opened the door, and looked down, then over at Draco, as he cocked an eyebrow at him.
All Draco could so was offer a lopsided smile back at him.
It was a small house elf. For some reason she was carrying all of their dishes. They were neatly stacked, and to Draco's relief, clean.
Draco quickly ushered in the little elf and had her go about her business in the kitchen. Harry turned to follow the elf, but Draco grabbedhis arm to stop him.
"Hold on..." said Draco
"What happened while I was gone?" asked Harry
"Well, I got a bit distracted by your 'muggle conveniences'." answered Draco
"Oh?, How's that?" asked Harry, looking rather amused at Draco's slight embarrassment.
"Reality shows?" offered Draco, raising both of his eyebrows.
Harry snorted. Of all the things Draco would end up getting distracted by, this was by far the most hilarious of them. He tried not to laugh to hard. Especially when he saw Draco was flushing more each second from it.
Harry changed the subject.
"Well that tends to happen.... what happened to the dishes and why is there a house elf here?" asked Harry
Draco's color left him faster than it had gotten there. He tried to cover and offered, "It was a surprise?"
"Well," with a chuckle, and looking at the elf, "yes, I'd say it's a surprise, but I didn't think your house elf, would have to leave the flat with our dishes to clean them, especially with there being a dishwasher here."
Draco saw the elf was about to offer an explanation, when he shot a quick glare at her and looked up at Harry apologetically.
Like a small child with his hand caught in the cookie jar, he said, "I used them all, and didn't want to wash them. So I threw them out."
Harry just stood there. His mouth agape and slowly looking around the flat, trying to imagine what took place during the time he was gone.
Draco reached over and pulled Harry's chin over to him.
"I'm sorry." he said. "I really tried, well no I didn't, but I *did* owl for the elf when you left. I'm not sure why she took this long to get here."
Harry looked at Draco and just smiled. He nodded and said, "It's ok Draco. Muggle life was what I grew up with. I'm glad you got the house elf to come." With that he leaned in and kissed Draco.
Draco then dragged him into their room. There would be time to discuss all of this later, for now, there was an elf in their flat, which meant they could catch up on some much needed time together in their room.
*********************************
The next day, Draco ordered new self cleaning dishes that stayed dirty until the charm was activated. The dishes were for Harry, the charm was for him.
Author: ixchelmala
Genre: Humor, romance, ?
Pairing: Draco/Harry
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Harry and Draco belong to each other, JKR, &WB
Summary: Harry goes away for a visit and Draco is left to his own bachelor devices.
AN: This little ficlet was inspired by ivblossom and fueled by true events...
Many thanks go out to ivyblossom for encouraging me to write, and again to maruchina who was willing and ready to read this through, on the fly, via IM.
For Ivy and her poor crappy pots.
*******************************************************
Muggle Conveniences
Harry and Draco were living in a one bedroom flat one floor up in a quaint sea side community. They had a small living room with a tiny balcony over looking the street below. A huge magnolia tree gave them shade from the west setting sun everyday. The kitchen was small and efficient. It met Draco's basic cooking needs and was outfitted with a small counter on the other side of the sink. Their bedroom was as large as the rest of the flat and had two huge sliding mirror doors which hid their closet. Over all, the flat was small, however, by muggle standards, full of conveniences.
Somehow Harry had convinced Draco of living among muggles, had advantages over living in a wizarding community. When they went looking at flats, Harry was as giddy as some of his fans from school their days at seeing all the "modern" conveniences.
Draco secretly delighted in seeing Harry this giddy, although it was a bit much at times.
In the end, Harry had his own suspicions as to why Draco gave in sooner than was his norm. He was pretty sure that if Harry decided to live in his little cupboard again, Draco would be easily swayed, as long as Harry was there.
Draco eventually figured out Harry's motivation behind all this "convincing ". It was a simple desire to experience all the things that as a kid he was not able or allowed to do without some kind of criticism or reprimand by the Dursleys. What was amusing, yet sad, was that Harry didn't see this himself. At least Draco didn't think he did.
Instead, Harry just kept going on about all the machines the muggle world had. Automobiles, telephones, computers, the list went on and on.
In particular, there was the dishwasher.
Draco loved watching Harry collect the dishes from their meals and organize them neatly into this loud muggle contraption. He refused to turn the machine on until it was full, which meant that Draco got to cook a lot more than he normally did. He was fine with this, as he *did* enjoy cooking for Harry.
When the cavernous box was full of dishes, pots, pans, assorted silverware and utensils, and ready to run, Harry's excitement was almost too much to bear.
Then again, Draco enjoyed watching Harry do this too. Draco was a bit of a voyeur.
It did make him a little sad sometimes to think Harry would get so excited over something which seemed so simple and common in muggle life. He could only imagine the wretched conditions Harry had described when he was living with the Dursleys.
In any case, the dishwasher ran, loudly, much to Draco's annoyance, but he eventually got Harry to compromise on a muffling spell, so that the pleasure of hearing the contraption go through it's cycles, was not completely lost on Harry.
Overall Draco found all of this archaic, especially when there were magical ways of doing all of the things that Harry's "muggle conveniences" did.
**************************************************
About a year after settling into their flat, Sirius owled Harry to come visit he and Remus up in the north country. It had been about 4 years since he had last seen his godfather, and the chance for some flying in the north country was tugging hard at Harry's heart so badly, he couldn't refuse. Never mind the fact that he loved to visit with his godfather and old professor.
Harry had packed his rucksack tight and had it slinged across his chest over his back. He sat on his broom hovering just above the ground, as he went over the list of "chores" that Draco had to attend to while Harry was away.
Draco was smiling and nodding. When Harry got to the damned dishwasher, he caught himself almost rolling his eyes at Harry.
Draco had other plans.
He was going to have one of his old house elfs come to the flat and "take care" of things. He wasn't going to be bothered by any of these "conveniences" when he had magical ways of doing the same chores, even if it wasn't him doing the actual "chores" as Harry was endeared to calling them.
Harry finally was off to the north country. He owled Draco every day.
Draco instead kept a diary for when Harry returned. It was pretty mundane.
He woke up late.
Showered, got dressed, and then made breakfast. Harry voice echoed in his brain when he put he un-rinsed dishes in the sink.
He left that part out of the diary.
Later he owled for his house elf to come as soon as possible and went about his day.
Lunch time came around and as Draco was a bit peckish, he made himself some lunch.
He didn't use many dishes, but they all ended up in the sink.
Along with the rest.
He spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the box Harry called television. He found this to be quite addictive. He found some of the programs Harry watched were quite different from what Draco found entertaining.
The so-called reality shows were rather intriguing. He found the majority of his opinions of muggles were confirmed there. Other shows of this nature were based more on contests of talent. Having more than a hundred channels to choose from made time pass rather fast.
Eventually, Draco's appetite for food got his attention again, and so he was off making himself dinner as he watched the television from the kitchen. He didn't notice the pile of growing dishes or the lack of house elf with his attention so engrossed on the current show he was goggling at.
Eventually he fell asleep on the couch. In the morning he was aghast to find his hand in his pants and drool dried up at the corner of his mouth. The television was on but Draco, slightly disoriented, turned it off, went to the shower and tried to wake up and figure out why he had not made it to bed.
He got dressed and was suddenly hungry again. So he made himself breakfast.
Again dishes went into the sink and no house elf.
Draco owled for his elf again, and then went back to the couch to see what else he could find on the television.
The next 2 weeks were pretty much the same.
Then he got word from Harry that he would be returning a few days early.
Draco was elated at this news. He was tired of sleeping alone. He figured he kept falling asleep on the couch, because he didn't have Harry to curl around and snuggle with. He missed Harry.
Then he was struck with a wave of terror.
The dishes.
There was a pile stacked high in the kitchen. Draco had resorted to using paper plates so as to not have to wash any of the soiled dishes he could have used.
Then he remembered something...
the elf, it never came.
Draco was in a panic.
Harry would be arriving any moment and he knew he would not be happy.
He tried using the dish washing contraption, but much to his frustrations, he couldn't figure out where the cleaning solution went.
He'd seen on one of the television shows where someone under similar circumstances had the same dilemma. They had just poured large amounts of the solution into the dish washer only to suffer a large wall of soap in the end. It was funny to watch, but he knew this was not the way to solve his problem. He stopped himself from panicking any more, and thought about this.... (Really the things that television does to ones brain.)
He considered all the possibilities, and eventually he opted for just taking all the dishes and tossing them over the balcony on the side where the dumpster was kept.
Rather convenient he thought.
No sooner had he finished when Harry arrived looking happy and relaxed.
Draco went out to the street to meet Harry.
When Harry saw him, he ran as hard as he could and nearly tackled him to the ground. His arms were hugging Draco so hard he only could find the strength to hug him as powerfully in return.
They found each others lips and started to kiss each other.
Eventually, Draco moved Harry's arms so he could carry him on his back into their flat.
Harry eventually got settled. It was near to dinner time and Harry felt like cooking for Draco. Not his forte, mind you, but he wanted to show Draco how much he missed him.
Draco suddenly had to use the restroom.
Harry was in the kitchen opening and closing all the cupboards.
Draco apparently had to use the restroom badly. He was in there a while.
Harry was about at ask Draco about how things went when there was a knock at the door.
Draco was suddenly done using the restroom and raced to get the door before Harry.
They got there at the same time.
Harry opened the door, and looked down, then over at Draco, as he cocked an eyebrow at him.
All Draco could so was offer a lopsided smile back at him.
It was a small house elf. For some reason she was carrying all of their dishes. They were neatly stacked, and to Draco's relief, clean.
Draco quickly ushered in the little elf and had her go about her business in the kitchen. Harry turned to follow the elf, but Draco grabbedhis arm to stop him.
"Hold on..." said Draco
"What happened while I was gone?" asked Harry
"Well, I got a bit distracted by your 'muggle conveniences'." answered Draco
"Oh?, How's that?" asked Harry, looking rather amused at Draco's slight embarrassment.
"Reality shows?" offered Draco, raising both of his eyebrows.
Harry snorted. Of all the things Draco would end up getting distracted by, this was by far the most hilarious of them. He tried not to laugh to hard. Especially when he saw Draco was flushing more each second from it.
Harry changed the subject.
"Well that tends to happen.... what happened to the dishes and why is there a house elf here?" asked Harry
Draco's color left him faster than it had gotten there. He tried to cover and offered, "It was a surprise?"
"Well," with a chuckle, and looking at the elf, "yes, I'd say it's a surprise, but I didn't think your house elf, would have to leave the flat with our dishes to clean them, especially with there being a dishwasher here."
Draco saw the elf was about to offer an explanation, when he shot a quick glare at her and looked up at Harry apologetically.
Like a small child with his hand caught in the cookie jar, he said, "I used them all, and didn't want to wash them. So I threw them out."
Harry just stood there. His mouth agape and slowly looking around the flat, trying to imagine what took place during the time he was gone.
Draco reached over and pulled Harry's chin over to him.
"I'm sorry." he said. "I really tried, well no I didn't, but I *did* owl for the elf when you left. I'm not sure why she took this long to get here."
Harry looked at Draco and just smiled. He nodded and said, "It's ok Draco. Muggle life was what I grew up with. I'm glad you got the house elf to come." With that he leaned in and kissed Draco.
Draco then dragged him into their room. There would be time to discuss all of this later, for now, there was an elf in their flat, which meant they could catch up on some much needed time together in their room.
*********************************
The next day, Draco ordered new self cleaning dishes that stayed dirty until the charm was activated. The dishes were for Harry, the charm was for him.