Title: Home is where the heart is.
Pairing: Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy
Long summary: Harry is lonely living in 12 Grimmauld Place on his own but can not bring himself to sell it or rent it out to anyone else and so he decides to put an ad in the Daily Prophet for a roommate/housemate. He realises he can get a lot of attention from this and so gets his secretary at work to deal with interviews and viewings of the house.
Draco has been living with his mother since the end of the war and has come to the decision that at twenty five it is about time that he moved out. He doesn't want to live on his own and the Malfoy family fortune is off limits while his mother is still alive so he decides to look for ad's in the paper. He comes across an interesting one almost immediately and can't believe his luck when he passes the interview.
Disclaimer: The wonderful and talented J.K. Rowling has dibs on the characters and the majority of everything else. I do however own this particular variation so if you'd kindly not copy and claim as your own, I'd be grateful.
Rating: M for Mature content, probably. I don't know if there will ever be sex in it, I hope there is but it just depends if I can write it at the time or not.
Part 1
Harry Potter smiled as he watched his assistant push her reading glasses up her nose and start to read the sheaf of parchment he had just given her. He was kind of nervous about what she was going to say. She was the first person that he had told about his new idea and it meant a lot to him to see what she thought about it, to see if it really was as good an idea as he originally thought.
"You want a roommate?" Natasha asked with her eyebrows raised, her voice high in surprise, the parchment Harry had just handed her with a rough draft of an advert for the Daily Prophet hanging loosely now in her hand. Natasha was naturally very petite and skinny and extremely kind and open-minded which was one of the reasons why he chose to tell her first.
"Well yeah, more a housemate I guess, it's not like we're in school or anything. I need some company Natasha, I'm starting to drive myself insane. You know I actually caught myself having a full blown conversation with my own reflection the other day?" Harry said pushing his glasses up his nose and moving around his desk, falling into the chair behind it.
"And you think an ad in the Prophet is going to help that? You're going to get a whole load of weirdo's this way you realise? Not to mention all the people that will apply just because of who you are," Natasha said. She perched her reading glasses on the end of her nose again and peered at the advert once more as if to make sure she wasn't imagining things.
"That's why I want to put it in under your name. Also, if you don't mind, if you could narrow down and interview the best suitable people, well that would also be really helpful," Harry said. Natasha looked up, over her glasses at him but luckily she seemed more curious than angry.
"I would be getting paid extra for this?" she asked, pushing her glasses back, onto the top of her head and perching on the edge of Harry's desk.
"Of course," Harry said with a smile, knowing he had her on board as long as he agreed to her conditions. The whole process was quicker and easier than he had expected, for which he was glad.
"So, I place this advert in the paper under my name and narrow down the applications to say...two people. Then what?"
"Then you contact them to make an appointment for a showing, where we will reveal it's my house and see if they are still interested. You'll need to be there, I think it would be good if they know at least you and are familiar with you, having done the interview. If they both are still interested, we choose which one is best, if not, we're left with whichever one hasn't freaked out," Harry explained. Natasha frowned but nodded to show she understood.
"Alright. I'll send this to the prophet immediately," she said and stood from where she had been perched on the edge of Harry's desk. "Just so you know though, I think you're crazy for doing this," she said, without looking back as she went through the door.
"Thank you Natasha!" Harry called after her. He sighed, thankful that it had gone so well. He knew Natasha was reliable enough to find him someone suitable to live with, someone that shared the same interests, or at least that was what he was hoping for. He tried to put the whole idea out of his head and pulled a memo towards him, ready to get some official work done. It was difficult to concentrate when the thought of who he could possibly be living with kept barging to the forefront of his mind.
"Harry, are you sure you have thought this through? You could end up with anyone," Hermione said as she handed him a cup of coffee, two sugars and went back to settle on the couch next to Ron, her own mug of tea cradled in her hands.
"I've told you Hermione, I've thought about everything. The Fidelius charm protects the whereabouts of the house, so I'm not going to be sold to the papers, the fact that Natasha is doing the interviews and such is going to stop anyone seeking inside information on me, from applying in the first place. If I do get anyone particularly interested in me, then I will deal with that when it happens. Hopefully I'll still have the other person to choose instead. Everything's covered," Harry explained for what he was sure was the third time and took a grateful sip of coffee.
It had been a long day at work, once he had finally got his mind off his new idea and got down to some paperwork. He hated his paperwork days. He'd much rather be out on the field, however, being head of the Auror department unfortunately meant he had to dedicate two days out of his five at work, to paperwork and that wasn't including the extra he did on weekends, at home.
"But didn't you ever think of renting the house out? Wouldn't that be easier than living with a complete stranger, a complete weirdo?" Ron asked, pulling Hermione's legs over his lap as she settled properly on the couch.
"I did, but the thought of having complete strangers living in the house without me just made my skin crawl a little bit. You know I couldn't do that," Harry explained. Ron jerked his head in understanding but Hermione remained dubious, Harry could tell by the way she was looking at him.
"I don't know Harry, it just seems so...unusual, why go through all of the hassle?" Hermione asked. Harry sighed and put his cup down on the coffee table in front of him. He was hoping he wouldn't have to tell them this, certainly not admit it to Ron of all people.
"Because Hermione, I'm starting to go a little insane in that house on my own. I don't think it would matter if I moved into a smaller house, I would still be lonely, just in a smaller setting," Harry said. Ron very tactfully took that moment to look down at Hermione's feet in his lap while Hermione tilted her head to the left a little and gave Harry another familiar look; of empathy. Hermione knew what it was like to be lonely, she had spent most of her childhood alone, friendless, because she was different, and so had Harry. She could relate on a certain level but she didn't know this kind of lonely.
The kind of lonely that Harry had felt for well over the past year, was different from not fitting in or not having friends. Harry fitted in just fine, at work and in the wizarding community, kind of hard not to when you're the chosen one. And he had friends, plenty and the best he could have ever asked for, but this was different. He wanted to be able to wake up in the morning and have someone to speak to other than his own refection or his owl Nicolas, it didn't even have to be someone that he was in a relationship with. He just wanted to be able to go to sleep at night knowing that there was someone else in the house, that he wasn't completely alone, just to have someone else's presence in the house would be more than ideal to him. That was all he was asking for.
"I'm not going to act as if I think it's the best idea that you've ever had Harry, but I'm not going to tell you that you shouldn't do it either. One, because you wont listen and two, because I believe in your judgement that this is the best option for you," Hermione said. Harry picked his mug back up off of the coffee table and smiled at her as he took a sip of it. He glanced at Ron who just shrugged and smiled back at him.
"Hermione's right though, you could end up with anyone if you think about it," Ron said.
"Oh yeah? Who were you thinking about?" Harry asked, grateful for the slightly lighter tone the conversation had taken.
"Well can you imagine if you started living with someone like Luna?" Ron said eyebrows raised in Harry's direction and a grin on his face as he obviously thought about the consequences of that. His grin faded a smidge when he looked at the reproachful glance Hermione was giving him. "I mean, I love Luna, she's brilliant but can you imagine living with her? You'd never get away from wrackspurts ever again,"
"He's got a point, can you imagine if she made tea like her dad? I'd be poisoned within a week," Harry said, grinning with his best friend now as he thought of the consequences of living with Luna and what it would be like every day. Hermione's lips twitched, even though everyone in the room could tell that she had tried to stop them from doing so. Eventually she gave in and couldn't help smiling too. The grinning and smiling turned into laughter and the trio spent the rest of the night coming up with different scenarios of who could become Harry's housemate.
Draco sighed as he slowed to a stop at the door of the drawing room on the first floor of the Manor. He leant his shoulder on the door frame and watched his mother as she stared out of the window, quill in her hand poised over a sheaf of parchment, ink dripping steadily from it. The sun shone directly into this room from the east and made all the little trinkets and crystal ornaments twinkle and reflect little rainbows over the dark walls. Draco could see why his mother spent so much time in here.
"Mother?" he said gently, as not to startle her. She tore her eyes from the window and looked to the side, so that Draco knew he had her attention. "Are you sure that you're okay with this?"
"Of course I am Draco. This should have happened years ago, I was much too selfish to want to keep you here all this time," his mother said. Her voice was soft and Draco was surprised he could hear her at all, probably because it was that quiet around the house these days, there was no background noise.
"I've only just started looking. It could be months before I find something suitable enough," Draco said. His mother smiled and turned her head back to the window.
"But of course. It might be. We shall just have to wait and see," she said.
"Yes," Draco said even though he was frowning at her. Of course she didn't see this, having her back to him and all but Draco wouldn't have been surprised if she just knew anyway. "Do you want me to get Florence to bring you up a cup of tea?"
"That would be...nice," she said. She dipped her head forward, over the parchment and began scratching away at it. Draco took this as his leave and turned his back on the room, retreating towards the kitchens, his hands in his pockets and his head dropped in guilt.
He dropped down at the kitchen table and pulled the prophet towards him, only minutes later. He had sent Florence, the house elf off to give his mother a cup of tea and anything else that she may need. Draco flipped to the ad pages and leant back in his chair, bringing the piece of the prophet and a quill from his pocket with him.
He was feeling a little guilty and anxious about actually finding anywhere suitable enough for him to live. He didn't know whether he really wanted to leave his mother on her own or not. She was almost insufferable to actually live with these days, flicking between moods in a blink of an eye and alternating between wanting to be alone or wanting company so much that Draco didn't know whether he was coming or going some days.
His eyes roamed over the paper quickly, half scared that he wouldn't find anything suitable enough for him and half scared that he would. He paused half way down in the middle of the page and leant back over the table again, quill poised.
Housemate wanted. Large spacious house situated in the centre of London. Three available bedrooms, drawing room, dinning room, kitchen and study. Looking for someone to share it, and make it feel a bit more homely. Please send all applications to Natasha Smith Jones and you will be mailed with an appointment to meet and view the house and it's owner.
Draco could barely believe he was seeing this. He had never imagined finding something so suitable to him within the first couple of days of looking. The house sounded so grand and perfect, not unlike what he already knows with the manor, but slightly warmer and definitely not full of haunting memories, and with what sounded like good company as well. Now that he had found the perfect place, written out in black and white, he didn't feel so guilty about leaving his mother. He had her blessing, even if it was a bit of a reluctant one and he needed to do this, he needed to grow up and out of the security of what was familiar, and what a perfect place to find to do so. Now all he needed to do was pass the application process and get an appointment and he would be well on his way.
"Now Harry, there weren't a whole lot to choose from. Some of the other applicants were awful. There is one really good applicant, he's after this one. This is the best of the worst, she's okay, just a little eccentric that's all," Natasha said, a bundle of parchments in the crook of her arm, the first applicants application among them.
"Okay, well we only need one good person if they are okay with this whole thing. What's the first ones name?" Harry asked peering down the street from his door step, hoping to catch a glance of this person.
"Erm, her name is Romilda, Romilda Vane," Natasha said. Harry's face dropped and he looked at Natasha quickly.
"Romilda Vane?" Harry asked.
Natasha smiled at him, "Yeah, she's only a few years younger than you, you probably went to Hogwarts at the same time, do you remember her?"
"You could say that. I don't know if-" Harry started quickly but Natasha was already looking over his shoulder, grinning and waving.
"Romilda! Hello," she said. Harry gritted his teeth as she skipped down the steps and counted to three. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, maybe she was different now, maybe she had changed from when they were at Hogwarts, and they were older now, he had to give her the benefit of the doubt.
"Hi Natasha, thank you so much for considering my application," Harry heard Romilda say, for one thing her voice hadn't changed a bit it was still as flowery and girly as it had been six years ago. How could he possibly justify living with the girl who tried to give him a love potion in sixth year? To himself, or to Ron and Hermione?
"Well we should probably discuss something before we get too ahead of ourselves here, you see, it isn't me who needs a housemate, er...Harry?" Natasha said slowly. Harry sighed and rubbed his hand over his face, he realised that it was too late to just forget the whole thing now, especially with Natasha babbling away, none the wiser to the inner turmoil that was going on inside Harry. He was standing in plain view it wasn't like he could just apparate away, it would be both rude and a little obvious. So instead, he had no choice but to turn around and face the music.
He plastered a smile on his face and turned on the top step leading to his house and descended to the bottom, where Natasha and Romilda stood. Romilda's eyes widened in shock as he stepped up beside her and stuck out his hand, trying to be as polite as he could while still wishing to be anywhere but here at that moment, to be in the company of anyone but her.
"Romilda, it's nice to see you again," Harry flat out lied, his smile still fake and his voice controlled in such a way that Natasha was looking at him with a frown.
"H-Harry Potter," the younger girl breathed. She looked at Natasha and then back, her eyes still wide before grasping Harry's hand tightly, squeezing his fingers painfully. "You remember me from school?"
"Of course. A little hard to forget really," Harry said and forced a chuckle to which Natasha looked at him even more confused than she already had been.
At least she had the decency to blush, Harry thought vindictively and tugged his hand from her grasp again. He stuffed it into his pocket and looked at Natasha, whom was surveying him critically. "Should we start then?" he asked trying to show in his smile how uncomfortable he was about this whole thing.
"Er- yes- yes lets go in shall we? As you have probably assumed, it is Harry that is in the need of the housemate. This is his house, and before we carry on I believe that it would be prominent that you sign this secrecy agreement, vowing not to tell anyone else the location of the house, certainly not the press. Of course it has a fidelius charm set on it but the agreement includes the contents of the house as well. Do you agree?" Natasha asked.
"Uh- yes, yes of course," Romilda said. She shot a smile in Harry's direction, he just narrowed his eyes, not for one second willing to believe she would keep her word. She took the quill from Natasha and signed the parchment she held out for her. Natasha grinned, believing she had just secured Harry's secrecy and turned to him.
"Okay, let's just get this sorted then," Harry said turning to the house he and Natasha could see. As the one and only Secret Keeper of Grimmauld Place he was able to tell anyone he wished where it was, but anyone he told was not able to tell anyone else. After the war, because of how many people were still out there as secret keepers as members of the order, with a little help from Hermione they were able to lift the old charm and create a new one.
He wanted nothing more than to get this over and done with as quickly as possible. He was not going to let Romilda Vane live in his house. He just could not take her seriously, at all, and would never know whether he could trust her enough to even let her make him a cup of tea or something. No this would not do. But he had to carry on for the sake of saving face and so with a heavy sigh he opened his arms wide and gestured to the join of the two houses either side of where they stood.
"Welcome to 12 Grimmauld Place," Harry said.
"It's an outright no, Nat," Harry hissed, exactly half an hour later, back to standing on the top step of the stairs leading to his house, watching the back of Romilda Vane slowly retreat down the street.
"I don't understand why though Harry. She was very kind and seemed pretty normal, not like she was about to go rifling through your drawers any time soon. Sure she's a little eccentric, a little excitable and maybe even a little immature but it's not like we don't deal with that every day at work," Natasha explained.
"You don't understand okay? When we were at Hogwarts, she tried to slip me a love potion," Harry said. Natasha's mouth dropped open and Harry nodded, "Yeah. I didn't take it, it was hidden in a box of chocolates she'd given me and I had discarded them one day while looking for something and Ron thought they were a birthday present. He ate them and the following events ended in him almost being killed from being poisoned,"
"She made a dodgy love potion that was poison?" Natasha said, a little taken aback, glancing over her shoulder to see if she could tell anything dodgy by the way Romilda was walking away from them, even though the girl in question was now long out of sight.
"What? No. It's a long story okay; the fact is that I don't think I could live with someone like that. I'd always be scared of being slipped a love potion, even if she is different now and has gotten over the crush she had on me. The doubt would always still be there," Harry explained tapping the side of his head to demonstrate where the doubt would be.
"I suppose. Look it doesn't really matter anyway Harry, this next guy is much better." Natasha said confidently. She shuffled around with the parchment cradled in her arms and withdrew a very crisp looking piece.
"He owns his own apothecary and everything and okay so he's got a bit of a past but doesn't everybody these days? Plus you said you didn't mind if they did, as long as they had turned a new leaf, and I really think this guy has. He's donated quite a bit of money to charities and does a lot of work with them too, so it's not all just money and no effort," Natasha described.
Harry was a little dubious. This was the same person that had picked out Romilda Vane from a handful of random people, knowing his luck and hers put together she was bound to pick out someone else from his past that he didn't get along with.
"He wanted to move out of where he was already staying because he still lives with his mum. That's kind of depressing for someone that is twenty five I suppose," Natasha said, the last statement mainly directed towards herself. Harry frowned as he realised that the person she was talking about could have been in his year if they went to Hogwarts, and to be honest if they were living in the UK right now, there was a great chance that they were.
"Did-did they go to Hogwarts?" Harry asked, a little timidly, not sure if he really wanted to hear the answer and find out that it was some Slytherin he didn't get on with, or a particular Slytherin that immediately jumped to his mind whenever he thought of that house.
"Erm...doesn't say. But it does say they are British so I'm assuming they did," Natasha said with a shrug. She glanced up from the parchment and once again looked over his shoulder with a smile. Before she could skip down the steps without him being able to stop her again, he grabbed her by the elbow and turned to see who it was and his worst nightmare was brought to life.
Down on the pavement, across the road from the house was Draco Malfoy, looking down at a piece of parchment, clutched in his hand and then up at the sign that said Grimmauld Place, clearly checking he'd gotten the right street. His blonde hair was as bright and shiny as ever, and his features were just as chiselled and gaunt looking as when Harry had last saw him, the day after the war when he had returned his wand. He was still as slim and was wearing a muggle styled suit instead of robes, clearly forewarned that they were going to be in a muggle street.
"Fuck," Harry breathed and rubbed a hand over his face.
"What? What is it? Do you know him?" Natasha asked Harry, worry lacing her voice at his reaction.
"Yes. We went to Hogwarts together. To say we didn't get on is an understatement," Harry said, his eyes never leaving Draco Malfoy once. Of course he was curious about him, who wouldn't be? It was only natural, wasn't it? No one had really seen or heard from him since the end of the war, he'd kept to himself, kept his head down.
"How bad can it be Harry? So you got into a few arguments at school, six years ago, so what?" Natasha asked him.
"No, you don't understand Natasha, we hated each other. Like despised each other. I really don't think that would go away. I really don't think so," Harry said shaking his head, still not lifting his gaze from Draco Malfoy, while the blonde waited, glancing at the watch on his wrist, not knowing that he was being watched by Harry Potter, only meters away.
"Do you want my opinion Harry?" Natasha said gently, in such a way that made Harry stop his unblinking gaze at Malfoy and look back at her. Her eyes looked kind of disappointed and her mouth was set in a straight non quivering line. He'd trusted her so far, so he thought it only right to be able to trust her opinion, so he nodded.
"I interviewed this guy, yeah? And he was so gracious and so polite and well spoken and he admitted everything to me. He admitted that he had been a Death Eater and that he had fought on the wrong side of the war, but you should have heard the way he told me. He was so sorry, so, so sorry. He's tried to make up for it since but I can tell he still carries it with him and that he has changed since he was in the war. I'm sorry but someone who wasn't sorry would not have revealed all of that to a complete stranger, who was in the position to give them a place to live.
"He's clearly very troubled when it comes to this, but the way he was completely honest with me and not full of bullshit that he thought I wanted to hear, that's why I choose him, because I knew that's what you would have done if you were in his position you would have told every little bit of truth," Natasha said.
Harry looked back across to Draco, who was looking at his watch once again and looking up and down the street anxiously. He felt Natasha's hand on his elbow and sighed. She was kind of right, even though he wasn't entirely thrilled about it. He was still a little dubious though. It was one thing to consider Romilda living with him, but Malfoy? He knew that would not go down well with Ron and Hermione.
"Come on Harry, the past is the past. You will never know unless you give him the chance," Natasha said softly and Harry looked at her again, completely torn. She was talking so much sense but the niggling voice in the back of his head that sounded like Hermione was telling him it was a ridiculous idea.
"Okay. I'll give him a chance but if he doesn't want in when he finds out it's me, I'm not going to argue with him and try and persuade him other wise, alright?" Harry said, ignoring the voice and going with Natasha's instinct. Natasha quickly nodded, her mouth quirking up into a grin before she was skipping down the steps, revealing herself at the bottom. He had made the decision on the basis that he thought that Malfoy would surely say no, and because he was secretly kind of curious about the other man.
Harry waited a few seconds before following her so that they could greet and Natasha could explain the situation. He hesitated and contemplated just apparating away. He couldn't however bring himself to do so, his curiosity was starting to outweigh the thought that Malfoy would refuse. He wasn't completely sure what he was so curious about, he'd barely even thought about what Draco Malfoy was up to since he left Hogwarts, he'd not exactly had the time to, but now that he was practically stood on his doorstep he couldn't think about anything else.
He watched as Malfoy nodded as Natasha explained everything that was going on, watching how the nods stopped and the eyes were starting to widen, how he straightened up and his smile turned into a frown. Harry took this opportunity to step away from the house, revealing himself. Draco immediately noticed him behind Natasha and she turned, biting her bottom lip. Harry took a deep breath and approached them.
"Hello, Malfoy," Harry said politely as he fell into step beside Natasha.
"P-Potter...you- you're the one that wants a housemate?" Malfoy said, his eyes darting back and forth between Harry and Natasha, clearly very surprised. Harry supposed he would be too, if he had turned up to an unknown place, expecting to be shown around a strangers house and consider moving in with them only to be told that it was actually an old enemy that he had hoped never to see again.
"Yes. Because of obvious reasons, I had to put the advert in the paper under a different name," Harry said, attempting to keep his composure and grace, especially in front of Malfoy after what he had heard Natasha say about how well spoken he was and such.
"And like I was just explaining, of course you can change your mind and decide not to consider the opportunity, we do understand that it is a big commitment to bring yourself into a situation like this," Natasha said. Harry nodded and shuffled his feet, trying not to look as uncomfortable as he felt with Malfoy watching him so closely.
"Do I have to decide now?" Malfoy asked, finally flicking his gaze back to Natasha again.
"It would make the most sense to. There isn't any point in continuing into the house if you object to the idea of living with Mr Potter already. If we go into the house, you're committing yourself to the idea, and the decision is down to Mr Potter as to whom he chooses," Natasha said. She shuffled the bundles of parchment in her arms, clearly as uneasy at Malfoy's gaze as Harry had been.
Malfoy looked at both of them before looking up and down the street, his mind clearly working furiously, possibly coming up with some sort of plan, or maybe even considering moving in with Harry, Harry wasn't sure, he couldn't read Malfoy like he could his friends.
"I need to move out," Harry heard him mumble to himself while he faced away from Harry. He glanced at Natasha, who was grinning. His heart was beating hard in his chest as images flashed through his mind, of their time at Hogwarts, during the war, giving back his wand and scenarios of what it would be like living with Malfoy and he wondered if it was too late to back out now and just say he changed his mind.
"I am prepared to commit to this," Malfoy said at last, focusing his attention towards Natasha. Harry blinked a couple of times, wondering if he really was hearing right. Malfoy was prepared to live with him. In the same house. He looked at Natasha again who had launched into an explanation of having to sign the parchment to make sure there would be no stories surfacing about the whereabouts or the inside of Harry's house. Harry had been sure Malfoy was going to refuse and say he'd look for another place to live. He was half counting on it, even though he was still secretly curious.
Before Harry was really ready to, they were turning towards the house and Natasha was looking at him expectedly, so that he would reveal the address, lifting the charm so that Malfoy could see it. Harry sighed, wondering how the hell he ever got into this situation before stepping up beside her.
"Malfoy, this is 12 Grimmauld Place,"
"I just really do not see this working out Natasha. The idea itself is just ridiculous," Harry whispered animatedly to Natasha where they were gathered in the kitchen, next to the cooker, while Malfoy wandered around the rest of the house. Harry was subconsciously picking at fingernails and cuticles, a nervous habit, anxious about Malfoy going through his house, his godfather's things. He was itching to follow him to keep an eye on things but Natasha insisted on letting him explore on his own as they had done with Romilda.
"I don't know Harry; I think you've been over reacting. He's been nothing but polite and gracious and he hasn't run screaming from the house yet. Doesn't it say a lot that he even wanted a look around in the first place?" Natasha said. Harry cringed and brought his hand up to his mouth to chew at his fingernails instead, only to have it beat down by Natasha who believed it a disgusting trait.
"Who else applied? Give me their names and what they did," Harry asked quickly. He wanted any other option, anything but this. It didn't even seem feasible to have Malfoy living in his house.
"I don't see why it matters; they were useless in the interview stage anyway. Erm, there was an old retired witch called Bella, she was nice but she kind of smelled of cats and firewhisky and-"
"Bella? No definitely not, who else?" Harry said, cutting her off with sharp images of Bellatrix Lestrange's look of triumph as Sirius fell through the black veil running through his mind. He knew it couldn't possibly be her but the name wouldn't bring any other image but her.
Natasha was scowling at him for cutting her short but he didn't care, just gestured for her to talk before Malfoy came back down. "Uh, a wizard just out of school, unemployed and really shit grades. Like Troll grades for most, except muggle studies and he was muggle born, so that explains that. Also had a strong smell of pot lingering around him, I assumed that you wouldn't want someone like that hanging around the house," Natasha said, making it very clear she was upset at questioning her judgement.
"No, you were right, of course I don't," Harry said gently. He was twitching his fingers, still scratching away at the cuticles on his thumbs with his fingers.
"There was only one more, a guy called Cormac McLaggen, he almost took the place of Romilda but he was a bit pompus and talked about himself a lot, a bit of a bullshitter I think," Natasha said.
"Sounds about right. He went to Hogwarts too. Just my luck that I got all the people I either hate or would be absolutely no use," Harry mumbled. He groaned and ran his hand through his hair before moving over to the window.
Would he really be able to live with Malfoy? He seemed like the only option left. Romilda was out of the question. He would never be able to accept anything off of her, believing it to be spiked with love potion and he could not trust her not to go blabbing about his personal life. Would Malfoy really be any better though? Had he really changed as much as Natasha thought he had? Was this all a stupid idea? Should he have listened to Hermione in the first place? Probably.
Someone cleared their throat from the doorway and Harry quickly turned. Natasha was smiling at Draco, who nodded back but was frowning and mainly focused on Harry. Harry stepped closer, next to Natasha and attempted a confident smile, but wasn't sure if it came across that way.
"This is a very grand, old house," Malfoy said. Harry paused before he nodded. Malfoy stopped frowning and raised his chin a little. "That tapestry on the first floor, in the drawing room...it has- well, it has my name on it,"
"Yes. This is the house of Black, Sirius being the last descendant, left it to me, his God son," Harry explained. He noticed a slight twitch develop in Malfoy's right eye and he straightened himself even higher.
"Of course. It's very warm, welcoming even," Malfoy said, glancing around the kitchen as he talked, sweeping one hand over the nearest surface. Harry could feel the magic of the house stir at the touch and shuddered, wondering what this could possibly mean.
"So you're still interested?" Natasha asked and both men looked at her, one with a scowl and the other with a wide smile.
"Oh yes, most certainly," Malfoy said. Harry shuffled his feet and Malfoy's smile turned into a smirk.
"Then it's just left up to Harry to decide, we'll of course contact you in a couple of days on the outcome either way..." Natasha said. Harry went back to the window as she approached Malfoy and explained everything again. Harry had no idea what his decision was going to be. He needed another opinion.
So, my edits for this first chapter kind of turned into re-writes. seriously, I've practically written this chapter about three times. I was getting a little concerned that I would never be able to finish it, that I'd just keep re-writing the same chapter over and over.
I'm going to apologise now, in advance because this will probably take forever to write and finish and post it all. But I'm hoping that I'll get there in the end, and that people enjoy this. I've already said I want to take my time with it.
Quick question, was this too long? I'm trying to make my chapters longer but I don't know if I went a bit over board on this one. It would be lovely to hear feedback on that.
And so I begin the journey of another story. I hope you enjoy it.