Pairing: Harry/Draco
Rating: M
Summary: After the war, Draco moves to the Muggle seaside resort of Skegness. Since no wizard in their right mind would choose to holiday there, he assumes he's safe. But Harry Potter has never really been in his right mind.
Disclaimer: Characters do not belong to me.

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So Bracing - Chapter One

"Please ensure your child remains seated until the ride comes to a complete halt." Draco's voice was weary and irritable as he spoke into the tannoy and the snappy edge to it earned him glares from twenty or so of the parents who were rushing forwards to collect their little angels from the carousel. It was only the thousandth or so time he'd said it today, but he'd been ignored more or less every time. He could almost excuse the ignorance of the safety rules from the excitable kids, but he'd have thought parents would be more mindful of them. Maybe next time he'd just save his voice and skip the health and safety announcements and let the children dance around on the edge of the merry-go-round. Mummy and Daddy might wish they'd listened to him then, when their darling son or daughter is lying with their brains spilling out onto the concrete.

Unfortunately, while is would teach certain people a lesson or two, that would almost certainly result in him losing his job, and Skegness Pleasure Beach being sued for a small fortune. Instead, Draco made do with playing out the scenario in his head as he opened the gate for the next stampede of screaming children, collecting the bright orange ride tokens from their parents as they went. Through gritted teeth, he repeated all of the safety instructions and then turned the key to begin the ride (and the tinny music that came with it).

As the horses galloped around and around, Draco buried his nose in the copy of OK! magazine that had been left in the booth by whoever had been working the carousel last. In an instant, the squeals of delight that he'd been trying to drown out had turned into a chorus of "eurgh!"s and the sound of one or two children crying. Without even looking up, Draco could tell what had happened and he hit the emergency stop button, dropping his magazine down next to his chair. With his nose wrinkled in disgust, he grabbed the 'wet floor' sign, bucket and mop kept for such occurrences and placed them next to the pool of vomit kindly left by a young boy who'd fallen victim to one too many ice creams.

"Exit to the left, please. Sorry for any inconvenience, your tokens for this ride will be refunded," he announced. Impatiently, parents barged forwards trying to grab the tokens from Draco's hand faster than he could give them out. When he'd gotten rid of them all and placed a sign declaring the ride temporarily closed by the entrance, he turned around to deal with the incident. Still kneeling at the feet of the horse, looking rather pale, was the child who'd left the mess for Draco. It took a considerable amount of self-restraint not to throttle the kid, but unfortunately his father was stood right behind him and he'd probably have a word or two to say about Draco's hands ending up around his son's neck.

"I'm sorry about this. Here, let me clean it up." The man reached out to try and take the mop from Draco, but stopped still halfway through his movement, then quickly folded his arms across his chest in an awkward-looking manner. "Um…actually, I think we'd better get going. Sorry again."

Draco watched as the man bent down to pick his son up from the floor, his messy black hair flopping around and his glasses slipping down his nose as he did so, and recognition dropped onto Draco like a ten ton weight.

"Potter," Draco spluttered, and then tried to cover it up with a cough. No, this could not be happening. Out of all the wizards that could've accidentally stumble upon Draco and see what he'd become, it had to be The Chosen One? Fuck, fuck, fuck. He needed to think of something to say, other than an expletive. Nobody could find out he was here, he needed to make sure Potter wouldn't run home and blab to everybody.

"Popping out kids with the She-Weasel already, I see?" Draco was relieved to note his voice remained somewhat steady throughout the question. "He's decidedly less ginger than I'd have expected."

The way Potter's face fell calmed Draco. Insulting Potter and co made him feel as though he were back on familiar territory, though it possibly wouldn't go very far in earning him the favour he was after. An uncomfortable silence settled around them and Draco distracted himself from it by beginning to mop up the mess.

"Malfoy, this is my godson, Teddy Lupin. Remus and Tonks' son."

Draco's face was the one to drop this time and his grip on the mop tightened, turning his knuckles white.

"Ah," he said, looking away to hide the flush of his cheeks. "So not yours and..?"

"No, not mine and Ginny's."

"Ah," he repeated. They stood there for several more moments; Draco spraying disinfectant across the carousel floor and Potter just staring at him as he did it. "You said you had to get going," Draco reminded him eventually.

"What? Oh yeah. Sorry. We'll see you later." Potter's words sounded disjointed and forced and he looked almost as pale as Teddy did. He stood and watched Draco cleaning for a little while longer before remembering he was leaving and almost running with Teddy away from the carousel.

In the hours that followed, Draco had two more people throw up on the carousel and a missing child alert five minutes before park closing. His mood only worsened throughout the day and by the time he returned to his flat that night, he was feeling no better about Potter's appearance than he had been when he was actually stood face to face with his enemy.

The encounter had been a disaster on so many levels that he couldn't even decide what it was that bothered him the most about being reunited with Potter. It could be the humiliation of being seen working in a Muggle theme park, of all places, by one of the people he hated the most. Or perhaps it was the embarrassment of sticking his foot in his mouth and assuming that Teddy was one of the Weasley's offspring. And then there was the general annoyance that always came with seeing the Boy-Who-Lived, and of course the fear. The fear that Potter would open his big gob and let slip to the Wizarding World that Draco Malfoy was living and working as a Muggle in Skegness.

He wasn't going to kid himself; he knew most people would, upon hearing that news, take a few minutes to laugh and ponder the wonders of karma, and then it'd be forgotten. He really wasn't up his own arse enough to think that people still cared what the Malfoys were up to. Then again, he also wasn't naïve enough to think that disappearing for a few years would've earned him forgiveness. People could hold grudges for a long time and all it would take was for Potter to mention who he bumped into to the wrong person for all of Draco's hard work to be unwound.

He needed to see Potter again.