Title: Dinner
Author: Magicallioness
Rating: K+
Warning(s): no beta, since these pieces are far to short to bug anyone with. Besides, it'll mostly be last minute work anyway.
Beta: none
Word count: 494
Disclaimer: Anything belonging to the HP universe belongs to J.K. Rowling and others who have bought the rights to meddle with her toys. Anything that's not is mine, unless stated otherwise. I'm just playing around here, not making money, so please don't sue.
Author's note: Kaleidoscope universe.Some domestic squabble and a slight surprise.
Summary: Harry comes home from work and doesn't find quite what he expected.
DINNER
His own home never seemed less inviting. Harry sighed as he stepped into the entrance hall of his sizeable mansion. He never got used to flooing and preferred apparating onto his front lawn and walking in the Muggle way. His workday had been more tiring than usual and he really didn't need Draco Malfoy grating on his last nerve.
Instead of an annoying Malfoy though, Harry found a delicious smell drifting through his house and so made his way to the kitchen. He almost dropped the case file he was holding when he found aforementioned Malfoy bent over the stove, inspecting the contents of one of the pots that stood happily simmering away there. Seeker reflexes saved the file and its contents, but the rustle of paper betrayed Harry's presence and Malfoy turned around.
"Ah, your home," was all he said, before returning to the kitchen counter and chopping something up.
"You're cooking!" Harry blurted, looking mildly bewildered.
"And you're stating the obvious," Malfoy told him, without turning around and dumped the cut-up pieces into a pan, causing another waft of delicious scent to drift through the kitchen.
"In my kitchen!" Harry tried again. Malfoy did turn around at that and pointed the wooden spoon he just found in one of the drawers at Harry in irritation.
"Yes, well what did you expect me to do, starve to death around here?"
It briefly occurred to Harry that leaving your guest alone all day without anything to eat, drink or do was not what a good host would have done, but considering the fact the guest was Malfoy, he wasn't all that concerned about being a good host anyway. He wasn't upset about Malfoy using his kitchen either though.
"It's just … I didn't expect you could cook," he answered somewhat lamely. Malfoy snorted.
"It's not that different from potion making. Besides, who do you think kept me fed these past years?" Malfoy answered, returning to his cooking.
"House elves?" Harry ventured. He knew Malfoy was no longer living at the manor, had heard he had very little contact with his parents since the end of the war, but Harry really hadn't thought about why or how Malfoy might have been living.
"I didn't have any," Malfoy answered curtly. "Now ready the table, dinner's almost done."
And Harry, too stunned to realize he was being bossed around in his own home, put down the case file and laid out the table.
Dinner was tense and quiet, but – to Harry's amazement – very tasty. And because Harry was cursed with good manners and he might've felt a little guilty about being a bad host after all, he told Malfoy as much after they cleaned up the table together.
"Thank you, Harry," his new houseguest answered before returning to the living room, leaving Harry completely stunned and with an annoying tickle in his stomach.