Chapter 1

Engaged. Engaged. Who the hell gets engaged before they are 25? Well, obviously people who are wanting to spend the rest of their lives together. Even so, Harry can't quite wrap his head around his two best friends getting engaged. Life seems to be moving so fast nowadays, with them all out of education and finally living in the real world. Harry is happy with being a floater, a drifter. Nothing wrong with enjoying yourself while you still can. Not that there's much time for enjoyment between Auror duty and all the other boring grown up stuff you have to do. Like shopping. Only Ginny would ever enjoy shopping. So mindless and boring. Harry still bribes her to do the food shopping for their flat. Perks of living with someone who enjoys boring stuff.

Harry and Ginny have been sharing a small flat for 3 years now. It's a small flat in an old building in West London but the arrangement works quite well. Since Harry finally got the guts to come out just before they left Hogwarts, their relationship has been completely platonic, and Harry finds he prefers it that way. The flat is small and homely and with a beautiful view over the rooftops. Also, Ginny is an excellent cook. Ginny works horribly long shifts as a nurse and Harry is only there half the time between duty. Its good as he can mainly avoid the steady string of men (and occasionally women) making their way into her bedroom as she seems to be working her way through most of her workmates. Hermione and Ron only live a few minutes away too. They bought a house together early on as to have a place to live together while Hermione was at Uni and Ron was working at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. It's nice having them so close by. So really for Harry, it's a win-win situation.

But about a month ago, Ron got down on one knee at a Sunday dinner and opened a ring box. He proposed to Hermione in front of their closest friends and family and she accepted. They are hideously in love and so excited for the big day. It's kind of sickening and adorable at the same time. Harry still finds their PDA utterly revolting, even after 6 years. But really, Harry knows he loves it. There is nothing he wants more than to see his best friends totally and completely happy.

It's their engagement party tonight. Harry has already seen the decorations when he went round earlier to deliver food and he has to admit, it really looks incredible. There is a white marquee wrapped in fairy lights, glowing lanterns hung in strings from the trees and floating candles positioned around the perimeter. Magical. Hermione is a tiny hurricane of excitement, rushing everywhere with handfuls of napkins and place cards. Ron is wisely staying out of the way, taking the 'manly' job of sorting tables and chairs. Typical. Harry hopes they never change. Ginny frantically rushes through the door of their flat, hauling handfuls of shopping bags. Harry doesn't think he's ever seen her not in a rush. She crashes onto the sofa and screams 'HELP ME CHOOSE' at a bewildered Harry. Ginny is still trying to get his fashion sense to kick in after all these years. It hasn't worked. Harry still tends to grab the clothes nearest to him and shove them on. Laundry is his worst nightmare.

Finally, Ginny is dressed in a short black dress (That to Harry, looks identical to all her other dresses) and ridiculously high heels. She wobbles around the apartment, throwing various shirts at Harry and ordering him to try them on. They are only slightly late when they finally settle on his normal black jeans, t-shirt combo with a slightly classier shirt thrown on top. Ginny attempt to do something with his messy black locks but it's impossible. They stay as wild as normal. After shouting at Harry to get a haircut, Ginny drags a bemused Harry out of the flat and onto the street, one hand holding the engagement present and the other clamped onto Harry's wrist. Ginny stalks along the pavement, looking at her watch and muttering something about Hermione exploding. Harry smiles at the small bundle of fury stomping along the road in front of them. Possibly the best sidekick anyone would want, despite the many flaws she has. Harry is lucky to have her.

They arrive only a bit behind schedule much to Hermione's relief. She pulls them both into a hug and quickly ushers them into the garden, where most of the guests are gathered. Molly Weasley runs over to them and engulfs Harry in a huge bear hug, then proceeds to berate him about his hair. Ron then comes over, attempt to drag Harry away, gets in a brief argument with Ginny and then leaves when Hermione calls him. Ginny heads over to speak to Luna, standing beneath the apple trees and Harry, left alone, wanders towards the tray of champagne. Alcohol usually helps in situations like this, Harry has discovered. Holding his drink, he turns round and almost drops the glass in shock.

Standing in the far corner of the garden is Charlie Weasley. That's not a surprise, Harry sees him a lot, they even briefly dated at one point before Charlie's dragons got in the way of things. Now they're just good friends. No, it's the person standing next to him that gives harry a shock. Standing there with a smile on his face, looking more relaxed and happy than Harry has ever seen him is Draco Malfoy. As if Draco knows Harry is watching him, he turns around and smiles at Harry, eyes dropping shyly to the floor. Charlie beckons Harry over and wraps him into another famous Weasley bear hug and Harry can feel Draco looking at him. Sure enough, Draco is staring at him with a strange expression that Harry just can't quite place.

'Well, I'll leave you two to catch up. I'm going to go and help Hermione bring food out. It's so good to see you, Harry,'

Charlie winks and vanishes into the crowd of people. Harry can't do anything but look at Malfoy. The years out of Hogwarts have been good to Draco. He's filled out, no longer looking like a gangly teenager. Under his black t-shirt, Harry can see the outline of muscles that weren't there when they were in school together. His face is the same, with those clear grey eyes and ice blonde hair. The sharp jawline and those muscles just add to the fact that Malfoy has matured well. Harry can't tear his eyes away.

After the Battle, Lucius Malfoy was sent to Azkaban and Narcissa was sent to St Mungo's. Draco was allowed to stay at Hogwarts for 8th year under a set of conditions. After his brutal questioning and being totally ignored by the other students, Draco started to fade away. At the same time, Harry was struggling with everything that happened. Golden Boy or not, the Battle had deeply affected him. It was Hermione that managed to get him out of the deep pit of darkness he was slowly falling into. Hermione had just been there for him the entire time and whatever she did helped him so immensely, he managed to step past what had happened and move on with life. Harry is indebted to Hermione, he knows this and Harry is willing to do anything for the girl who helped him back to life. Harry also found out that Hermione had been talking to the outcasted Draco Malfoy, helping him with the darkness too and eventually, she invited him to start hanging out with their group. It took a while for everyone to accept Draco, as he was the Draco Malfoy who had been their staunch enemy since the first year of school, but this wasn't the same Draco. This one was a shadow. Harry found it weirdly comforting to be around someone who was as deeply broken as he was, someone who had the same nightmares night after night. An unusual sort of friendship started, and stayed like that until the end of school. Draco was there all through the commotion when Harry finally came out. For several months, he was dubbed 'The Boy Who Was No Longer Available' but everyone was generally accepting. He had killed Voldemort after all. By the end of 8th year, everyone was going off to different places. Hogwarts was the last place he saw Draco Malfoy before going off to become an Auror.

And now here he is, standing in front of Harry with a shy grin and that adorable hair. Harry blinks and shakes off the daze of being around Draco Malfoy again. He realises he's been staring at Draco in silence for a good few minutes. Draco breaks the spell and starts speaking.

'Um… hi,'

'Hi'

This is not going well.

'Its been a while since I last saw you. How are you?' Harry mutters, looking at the ground.

'Um, good actually. Hermione invited me when I saw her in February,' Draco replies shyly.

'You saw her in February?' Harry is sure Hermione didn't mention seeing Draco that recently.

'Uh yeah, she was wondering whether I'd seen you, as we work in the same field. She was worried about you,'

Aaah, February. Harry had been sent of an Auror mission to some woods in the Highlands of Scotland after the Ministry had heard of some escaped Death Eaters hiding up there. They were short of staff so only Harry and another guy had been sent. It was one of the most dangerous mission Harry's ever been sent on and he almost died multiple times. While defeating the Death Eaters, he got a broken ankle and ended up staying there 2 weeks longer before anyone found him. The other guy had scarpered long ago. Hermione and Ginny had been sick with worry when they had reported him missing and has gone around frantically asking anyone if they knew where he was. Hermione had been ready to fly out to the woods but Ron stopped her. Mildly traumatic but that came with the job.

'What are you working in now?' Harry asks

'Oh, I'm currently helping recruit new Aurors from all over the world. we're severely short staffed, with so many wizards going into Muggle professions nowadays. It's a good job really, what about you?'

'Still an Auror. Not much to say about that. Ginny's now a qualified nurse so she's stopped dipping into my pay-check for her ridiculous shopping escapades,' Harry smiles as they both turn round and watch Ginny fiercely flirting with one of Hermione's scholar friends.

'You're not…together, are you?'

'Oh God no, The Boy Who Was No Longer Available, remember,' Harry smirks and points to himself. 'we share a flat though, not too far from here,'

Draco looks weirdly relieved, flashing Harry an uncharacteristically huge smile. 'I'm happy for them. The Weasel and Hermione, I mean,'

'Yeah, its not every day you find true love like that,'

Harry jumps as music suddenly fills the crowded garden. He vaguely recognises it as Photograph by Ed Sheeran. It's often playing when Harry goes round to their house. The soft vocals fill the garden as the crowd parts and Hermione and Ron start dancing. Her eyes are closed and his arms wrap tightly around her waist as they sway softly to the music. A feeling vaguely like jealousy shots up Harry's spine. They are so in love. Slowly, the entire garden starts dancing as everyone finds a partner and joins the spellbound couple. Ginny is paired with her scholar boy, Luna and Neville are together, Molly and Arthur Weasley, Bill and Fleur, the entire garden in perfect synch. Harry turns awkwardly to Draco, a blush settling over his cheeks and mutters awkwardly ' Err, well… we don't have to do it, I mean it's for the couples..um,'

Harry almost jumps 3 feet into the air when Draco's arms wrap softly around his waist, effectively shutting up Harry's nervous babbling. He draws Harry closer until he can whisper in Harry's ear 'Just go with it,'. Harry's arms unfurl and rest on Draco's shoulders as they start to move to the music. Harry can smell Draco, a soft mint smell from his hair gel, laundry powder and a smell that is unmistakably Draco. Harry shivers as soft blonde hair brushes his cheeks. Draco pulls him even closer until Harry is pulled up right next to Draco's chest, not even an inch apart. He silently gloats as he realises he's just an inch taller than Malfoy. Malfoy rest his soft head on Harry's shoulder and Harry's heart jumps. The sound of Ed Sheeran spirals around the small garden, the couples keep dancing and Harry feels happy. So happy. He never wants this moment to end.