Prompt: an owl flying through the snow.
Author's Notes: Well, this ended sadder than the earlier parts suggested, but that's par for the course with me, I guess.


Harry said as soon as he opened his eyes and then regretted it. He drank far too much the night before to be yelling first thing after waking up. He closed and rubbed his eyes. He was in Malfoy Manor. He was lying in a bed in Malfoy Manor and he remembered every detail of how he'd got there. He hadn't been nearly drunk enough the night before to let him forget.

Very slowly he pulled himself up and saw that Narcissa had left him a hangover potion on the nightstand. She had mentioned something about sobering him up.

Harry groaned, because she had also mentioned something about making sure Draco would be there for breakfast so Harry could tell him he was an ungrateful prat. Which he was, but Harry might need a few pints of something strong before he'd have the nerve to say that to his face.

After the war, Harry had done a fine job pretending that Malfoy didn't exist. Everyone around Harry, not so much. He lashed out at Ron one day over breakfast when he'd read aloud an article about Malfoy:

'Why do you insist on tell me about Malfoy's every bloody move!'

Ron and Hermione gaped at him, but Rose just laughed. 'I thought you wanted to know, mate,' Ron had said, 'you always did before. It's just in the iProphet/i and . . .'

'Well, I don't anymore.' Harry swallowed. 'I don't care anymore.'

'Are you alright Harry?' Hermione asked, as she continued to feed her giggling daughter, who seemed to think Harry being angry was the most amusing thing she'd ever seen.

'I'm fine. I'm just tired of everyone bringing me every shred of gossip they can find about Malfoy. Ron reads me every article he comes across about him. You, Neville, and even Ron's mum mention every time you see him at the Ministry, shopping, or eating—'

'I'm just talking about my day—'

'Luna owls me every article the Quibbler writes about him and underlined all the quotes she gets about his love life—which I do not have any interest in.' Harry raised his voice on that last part as both Ron and Hermione were trying not to laugh. 'Even Ginny tells me when he's up to something she finds suspicious or as she has been putting it recently: interesting.'

That caught Ron's attention. 'What's she find interesting?'

'That he goes to all Puddlemere United's games even though everyone knows that he supports the Falmouth Falcons. She thinks he's after Oliver Wood.' Harry rolled his eyes. Oliver might be into blokes and Malfoy might be the most gorgeous man Harry'd ever laid eyes on, but Oliver would never go for Malfoy. Not that it would stop Malfoy from trying. But it didn't matter. Harry didn't care.

Hermione and Ron were watching him out of the corner of their eyes as they had one of the secret conversations by just looking at each other. Harry hated when they did that.

'It doesn't matter,' Harry said. 'I don't care. I don't want to know anything about him anymore. Can we please just move on? The war is over. It's all over.'

'Okay, Harry,' Hermione said at the same time Ron said, 'Sure, mate.'

The thing was that until the almost car accident, Harry kept far away from Draco Malfoy. Harry wasn't intimidated by him, but he also wasn't in a hurry to reestablish contact. Or for that contact to be them ripping into each other, which was what it would undoubtedly become if he told Malfoy how he felt about being abandoned at St Mungo's the night before.

Harry found a bathroom and washed up as best he could without taking a full bath, and then, as quietly as he could, he walked down the grand staircase. He hoped to sneak out the front door and owl Narcissa his apologies once he was safe far, far away from Malfoy. Harry did not want to hear what his friends would have to say about this, and he swore that Hermione was the best Legilimen ever, or maybe she just knew him really well.

Either way, Harry was shit at keeping things from her.

'Not sneaking away I hope.' Narcissa's voice was soft and pleasant, but it still made Harry wince.

He turned toward her. 'I'm sorry for the way I acted last night. I was—'

'Drunk.'

'Right, I apologise and thank you so much for your hospitality, but I should—'

'Join us for breakfast.' Narcissa gestured toward the breakfast room. 'Please, do. I was so looking forward to the conversation you were planning on having with my son. I'm old. I don't get out much. It'd do my heart some good.'

Harry winced. 'I'm embarrassed by my behaviour—'

'Don't be. It's my son who should be embarrassed, and I really did want your help in making sure that happens. I feel he'll listen more to you than to me.'

'To me?' Harry was surprised. 'All we do is fight. He doesn't care at all what I think.'

'He cares more than I think even he realises, but mostly he knows I'll always love him no matter what. So he respectfully disagrees with me and then brushes my views aside. You—you he has to confront. It's good for him.'

Harry hesitated, but eventually followed her. It felt rude not to after how well she'd treated him the night before with him waking her up and hollering drunken ravings around her entryway.

'Mother,' Malfoy said as Narcissa entered the room in front of Harry. 'What kept you? I buttered your—' Malfoy stared wide-eyed at Harry, holding a piece of toast in midair. Both Harry and Narcissa had taken their seats by the time Malfoy recovered, and asked, 'What is he doing here?'

'Draco, don't be rude; he is obviously joining us for breakfast.'

Malfoy shook his head and turned his attention to Harry. 'What are you doing here?'

Being unprepared, Harry said the first thing to come to him, 'I came here for your apologie.'

'My what?'

'I was at St Mungo's for an hour after you left, having no idea if you were alright or they were keeping you, not knowing where you went, and without so much as a thank you for saving your life—not that I expected it from you, but you could have at least—'

Malfoy cut him off with a somewhat baffled expression and a whispered, 'You waited?'

'Of course, I waited!'

This was far more embarrassing than Harry had imagined. Draco hadn't even known he was waiting for new from him. He could feel himself turning red and lost the ability to look anyone in the eye.

'I was fine. I thought you knew that.'

'It just that my magic can be . . .'

'Forceful?'

Harry shrugged. 'The car caught me off guard, so I wasn't sure how hard I'd hit you.' It didn't bother him as much as it had in the beginning, but Harry had unintentionally hurt a few of his fellow Aurors during training. He just had to focus. Which he wasn't doing when he threw the spell at Malfoy.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes as he looked back and forth between Harry and Narcissa. 'So you came here this morning to see if I was alright?'

'Um . . .'

'No.' Narcissa smiled. 'He came here last night pissed and wanting to tell you off.'

'And you invited him to breakfast!'

'I thought you could use some telling off.'

Malfoy stood. 'I did nothing wrong here.'

'Sit down!' Narcissa said. 'He saved your life. Is a "thank you" too much too ask? I understand things were delicate during the war, but now? On a Muggle street? He took a lot of risks for you, and you can't afford a simple polite phrase for him.'

'I didn't ask him to save me!' Malfoy looked at Harry. 'I didn't ask you to save me. I didn't ask for it before and I didn't ask for it now. Maybe, I didn't want your help.'

The way Harry had remembered the fire Malfoy had wanted and asked for Harry's help. It didn't make sense. The car was headed right for him. Malfoy needed his help.

'You needed my help,' Harry said with force, looking at Malfoy again. 'You could have died.'

Malfoy fell back into his chair. 'Why'd it have to be you?'

'Fate works in mysterious ways.' She looked to the window. 'Speaking of . . .'

There was an owl flying through the snow toward them, but it wasn't holding a package or note that Harry saw. Narcissa let it and it flew straight through the room and up the stairs.

'Lucius's owl is home,' Narcissa finished.

'What did you do?' Malfoy asked. 'Father's not here, so you must have sent it.'

'I've been looking for a Healer for you.'

'I am a Healer,' Malfoy grit out.

'Not the kind I'm looking for—'

Malfoy cut her off with a wave of his hand. 'This is none of his business.'

'I've been thinking about that,' Narcissa said as she picked up her tea. 'You need saving, Draco. And Harry here seems to be the expert at it.'

Harry gave a pained laughed. 'I think I should leave you two to your conversation. Malfoy's right; this sounds more like a family matter.'

Narcissa smiled and nodded her head, seemingly alright with relenting for the time being, and Harry escaped out the front door with the feeling that this situation was far from over no matter how fast or how far he ran.