On the front doorstep of twelve Grimmauld Place stood Seamus and Draco, the latter of the two now dressed in a dull brown woollen jumper, trainers, and carrying a small pile of clothes. Seamus held out his arm but Draco did not take it. He didn't like the thought of apparating with only one hand holding onto Harry's spare clothes. Seamus glanced upwards and met Draco's eye with a questioning look, his gaze then falling to the clothes. He rolled his eyes and grabbed Draco's upper arm firmly. 'Hold on,' he muttered before they disapparated, leaving the doorstep abandoned and the street empty.

The alleyway in which they arrived was also empty and dark. Buildings on either side of the lane reached high into the dark sky and leant towards each other, blocking out the moonlight. Draco recognised they were in a magical part of London at once. Muggle buildings had a habit of being very much upright.

'This way,' Seamus whispered, opening an inconspicuous door in the brickwork. Draco followed Seamus into a narrow hallway. The air smelt musty and Draco had to overcome the urge to hold his breath. He headed towards the faint outline of a staircase, keeping his feet light on the stone floor. It was surely past midnight by now. Draco guessed the pub was also an inn given that Seamus had his own room, and that meant other staff or customers would be trying to sleep.

On the second floor Seamus overtook Draco and led him down the hallway. They passed by a couple of doors and rounded a corner, but as they did Seamus stopped completely still. His pause was so sudden and unexpected that Draco almost walked into him. Draco peered over the shorter boy's shoulder. He could see only one door at the end of the hallway, but unlike the others they had passed by this one had light flooding into the darkness from around its frame.

'What's wrong?' Draco whispered.

'Shhh, you'll wake Iain – he finds you here and I've lost my job.' Seamus gestured to the room up ahead. 'That's my room. Wait here.'

Seamus drew his wand and crept forward. He paused a moment to take a deep breath and raise his wand, then silently threw open the door. A look of surprise crossed Seamus's face. He lowered his wand and stepped into the room. At least it seemed that whatever was there was not of a sinister nature. Ignoring Seamus' orders to stay put, Draco stepped up to the doorway.

As he did so he found himself standing opposite a spindly-built but handsome boy around their age, with curly black hair and lightly tanned skin. Seamus looked to Draco with an expression of annoyance, but what also seemed like concern. The stranger's thick brows were furrowed and the eyes beneath them burned with a fiery glow as he caught sight of Draco.

Seamus turned back to the stranger. 'What are you doing here?' he hissed as quietly as he could.

'Me? What about him?' the boy replied, turning his nose up at Draco.

'None of your business, that. Though if you have to know, I've got orders from an auror to give him accommodation for the night. Now if you hurry up and get out of my room I won't turn you over to Iain. This is breaking and entering.' Seamus's tone was like ice. Draco had seen Seamus angry countless times, but it was always a loud and aggressive anger. He was never so cold. It seemed to shock the other boy even more, for his eyes grew wide like a deer caught in the blinding glow of a car's headlights.

'But please, Seamus, I had to see you.'

Seamus let out an exasperated sigh. He raised his wand again. 'Out. Get out of my room now.'

The boy stepped towards Seamus, quickly closing the space between them in the small room. Draco realised for the first time that he had a bouquet of flowers in one hand. Draco's mind was about to explode; this night could not get any crazier. He was beginning to wonder if it were all a dream. Who was this boy? Why was he is Seamus's room – with flowers of all things? One explanation that came to mind seemed too outrageous to even consider, but what else would be going on?

'I brought you these,' the boy said, holding up the flowers. Seamus glanced at Draco. A mixture of panic and anger crossed his face, both trying to overcome the other. Seamus' face was red and eyes narrowed; it looked like anger was about to win out.

Seamus whipped back towards the boy and muttered, 'Incendio.' The flowers burst into flame. The boy let out a gasp and dropped them to the floor, where the flames died away and left the blackened remains smouldering. Seamus gestured towards the door with his wand, to which the boy needed no further encouragement. He skulked past Draco and into the hall, followed by Seamus with his wand still raised. They disappeared into the darkness.

Draco waited for a moment, listening to their footsteps die away, before stepping into the room and placing Harry's clothes on a battered armchair. He dropped his gaze to the ash on the floor, shaking his head. It was a ridiculous thought, but as the seconds passed by it seemed to get clearer and more concrete in his mind. What else could explain the scene Draco had just witnessed? He supposed he would hear the truth in a minute or two; there was no way Seamus could expect to get away with not explaining that.

Yet as the time ticked by, Draco began to hope that he already knew the truth, which was that the curly-haired boy was a clingy ex-lover. As much as he loathed admitting it, the idea of Seamus being attracted to men stirred something within him that few guys had before. Of the handsome, older Slytherins that used to swagger through the corridors at Hogwarts, only a handful had captured Draco's attention for long. He presumed he had high standards. Yet here he was, hoping that maybe Seamus Finnigan of all people was gay, which generated the possibility of him finding Draco attractive.

Draco sighed heavily. Such thoughts were absurd. Seamus was a foolish Irish lad with a penchant for trouble and bad jokes. He was nothing like the elegant prince Draco dreamt of. Even if he were, Draco would be wasting his time fawning over him. It seemed Seamus could hardly stand the sight of Draco.

Seamus returned with a blanket and thin pillow from the inn's store of spare bedding. He didn't say anything as he piled them onto a small table beside the door, closed the door and locked it, and went to sit down on the bed. Off came his jacket and shoes, which were chucked to one side of the room as he avoided eye contact with Draco.

Draco cleared his throat. Seamus paused for a moment with his eyes on the floorboards before turning to the face Draco. His cheeks and ears were pink. Was he embarrassed?

'Mm-hmm?'

'Care to explain what that was all about?' Draco asked. With anybody else he would be wearing a smirk and speaking with an air of arrogance, knowing he was about to find out a juicy secret. Now, however, Draco was nervous. These days he was in no position to use information against people, especially not a friend of Harry's after he had done so much for Draco and his mother. There was nothing for Draco to gain from what Seamus said next. Instead anxiety bubbled through him, sending waves of nausea crashing in his stomach.

What if Seamus was gay? Draco could admit that he admired Seamus's guts, but he still thought of Seamus as reckless and undignified. Developing an attraction to someone so unlike him would be like finding out he wasn't really the person he thought he was all his life. What if a confession kindled the fire of infatuation within Draco that he would rather remain unlit? He didn't want to have to deal with feelings for anyone right now, let alone a Gryffindor friend of Harry Potter.

Seamus leapt to his feet and had his wand pointed between Draco's eyes within a second. 'If you speak one word of this to anyone, you're dead.'

'One word of what?'

Seamus rolled his eyes. 'We both know you're not stupid. Snobbish and evil, yes. Stupid, no.'

Draco was too tired to feel offended. 'Look, just forget about it, ok? I saw nothing.'

'No, I can't have you getting the wrong end of the stick. I'd rather you know the truth and spread rumours than start telling lies because you don't know the whole story.' Seamus stepped back and lowered his wand. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes for a moment, readying himself. When his eyes opened they locked onto Draco's. 'It's exactly what it looked like. I hooked up with that guy. He wanted things to go further but I didn't, I mean I can't even remember his name. Now he's become some obsessed loony. But I'm not gay, so don't go telling people that.'

'Classy.'

Seamus huffed but looked relieved that Draco hadn't jumped back in horror.

'So, you hooked up with a guy but you're not gay?' Draco continued. 'I'm not quite sure that's how heterosexuality works.'

Seamus watched Draco for a moment before a grin broke out across his face. He let out a laugh that filled the small room, but it quickly faded, as did his grin. His expression turned from one of amusement to one of dismay. Draco nearly started to laugh at Seamus's reaction to his own acknowledgement that what Draco had said was slightly funny.

'Merlin, Finnigan, you look like you've seen a dementor. You're allowed to laugh at jokes.'

'I didn't know you had a sense of humour.'

'Well, you learn something knew everyday.'

Seamus shook his head, the grin re-forming. 'Like not to bring one-night-stands back to your room in case they start turning up in the middle of the night to announce their love for you, yeah?'

This time is was Draco's turn to grin. 'Exactly.'

Seamus sighed. 'I'm not gay. I still like lassies.' He shrugged. 'I can just get off with guys too.'

Draco wrinkled his nose slightly. 'Charming. But I must say that's fair enough. Shock-horror, I'm not judging. Now, do you think I might be able to get some sleep any time soon?'

Seamus gestured to the spare bedding. 'Knock yourself out.' He walked over to his own bed and began to unbutton his shirt. Draco didn't move. What did Seamus expect him to do, make a nest on the floor? He remained standing, wondering if perhaps this was one of the Irishman's attempts at a joke. The shirt slipped to the floor and Draco took in the sight of Seamus's bare back, with broad shoulders tapering into a slim waist and the outlines of shoulder blades visible beneath pale skin.

Seamus opened a chest of draws that sat alongside the bed and began to rummage around. He seemed to notice that Draco had not moved and stood back up, unselfconscious about showing off his body.

'What?' he asked, gazing over at Draco.

'I seem to be missing a bed.'

'Oh, of course,' Seamus said vaguely, looking between Draco and the bedding. He scratched at his head and ran his hands through the short hair. 'I wish you'd been more of a git this evening, Malfoy. I can't make you sleep on the floor now.'

Draco couldn't help his mouth from falling open. 'You were going to make me sleep on the floor? Didn't Granger tell you to do the 'right thing'?'

'Well, I wasn't exactly happy when she told me I had to bring you back here. I'll admit that was childish, ok? But we don't have any free rooms at the moment, so you're either in the bed with me or you're on the floor. Don't try the armchair.'

'Why not?'

Seamus bit his lip as he glanced at the battered piece of furniture. 'Just trust me.'

'Finnigan,' Draco started, unsure about how to phrase what he wanted to say. 'I know I've been a pretty cruel person, but my past actions haven't shown me. I'm self-centred and arrogant at time, yes. I'm not the guy you knew at Hogwarts though. I'm… I'm sorry for everything. I know that doesn't make it ok, but were you really going to make me sleep on the floor? Is that really all you think of me?'

'Harry may have forgiven you or whatever, I don't know, but I haven't. Not yet. I do appreciate your apology…' Seamus's voice trailed off. He turned away and started idly searching through the chest of drawers, not really paying attention to what he was looking for. 'It'll take more than one laugh to erase the hell you put us through, Malfoy. I'm not a git though; I won't treat you like a dog. You can share the bed, I don't mind.'

Draco cursed the whole situation. Not only had he turned out to be right in predicting that Seamus was gay – well, not gay, but attracted to guys – but he had found Seamus's brief attempt at banter with him oddly charming. Now he was supposed to spend the night in Seamus's bed. How was he supposed to ignore his sudden infatuation with the Irish boy if he was going to be pressed up against his fit body for however many hours – the bed certainly wasn't of the generous size provided at Hogwarts or Malfoy Manor.

He tried to tell himself that it didn't matter. By morning an auror would be ready to take him away. Seamus wouldn't have to forgive Draco and Draco could return to dreaming of his usual prince charming.

'Bed it is then,' Draco said in the lightest tone he could manage, trying to lift the heavy mood that had fallen across the room.

Seamus nodded acceptance. 'You don't mind the whole me shagging-guys thing?'

Draco rolled his eyes. 'If I remember rightly, Finnigan, you hate my guts. What do I have to worry about? I doubt you'd 'shag' me even for all the money in Gringotts.'

'That's a lot of money. Though I'm sure you're probably into dark, kinky bedroom stuff,' Seamus teased.

'Oh, Merlin.' Draco cringed. 'Will you believe me if I say you're one-hundred per cent wrong?'

'Probably not.'

'Well, you always were stubborn,' Draco replied with a shake of his head. 'This conversation is over.'

Seamus chuckled to himself as he turned away to finished getting changed.

As he had gotten changed, Draco examined Harry's spare clothes. Harry's lack of style was not a surprise, but Draco quickly became worried about how the clothes would fit. Harry was nearly a head shorter than him. He would have to ask whichever auror turned up in the morning if someone could retrieve a selection of Draco's own clothes from home, if there were still any left.

Draco slid into the bed first, followed by Seamus. With two fully-grown young men sharing it certainly felt smaller than it had looked, and it hadn't looked terribly big to start with. While Draco tried to act relaxed he felt tense as Seamus wriggled around beside him, his arms and back brushing against Draco multiple times. In the dark Draco stared up at the ceiling, listening to the sound of Seamus's breathing and the creaking of the old building.

The time dragged on and despite how tired Draco felt he could not fall asleep. Too much had happened that day. Seamus was only a small portion of it. Most important was his near-death-by-Death Eater experience and his mother's disappearance. She could be dead now. But some small glimmer of hope swam at the back of Draco's mind. Death Eaters loved a ritualised and perfectly planned killing. If anybody was going to keep Narcissa alive until they had Draco captured too, in order to carry out some elaborate murder, it would be Death Eaters. While the thought sent shivers down Draco's spine, he clung to it desperately. The only other possibility was that his mother was already gone.

'You asleep?' Seamus whispered, breaking through the awful images clouding Draco's mind.

'No.'

'Neither.' Seamus paused for a moment before saying vaguely, 'This is so weird.'

'You're telling me.'

'I never thought I'd have to deal with you ever again, you know?'

'Neither did I, although not necessarily in those exact terms. I thought I'd never see anybody from Hogwarts again. Yet here I am. I think what's most odd is that we aren't fighting.'

'Ha! Imagine if the others could see us now.'

Draco smiled in the darkness. What a sight that would be. He thought of his Slytherin friends, Crabbe and Goyle, Blaise and Pansy. What would they think? To be honest, Draco decided they probably wouldn't care. Draco had corresponded with Blaise and Pansy briefly via owl over the summer but their writing had felt awkward, like they were writing to a distant family member than an old friend. He doubted they would ever rekindle a friendship. Their lives had changed too much after the war. The thought saddened Draco, not because he would miss their company exactly but because his future looked so lonely without them. While he had always enjoyed long spells alone he still needed company like everybody else.

'They don't know about you, do they?' Draco asked, referring to Seamus's own group of friends.

Seamus sighed but did not reply. Draco thought he was not going to say anything at all, but eventually he felt Seamus turn towards him in the bed. 'No,' he said, his breath blowing warmth across Draco's shoulder. 'I don't think they need to know. I'll find myself a nice lass someday.'

'Do you think they'd understand though?'

'Not sure. Dean would have to, being my best mate. The girls might too, and Neville. He's such a Hufflepuff when it comes to dealing with other people. It's my family who really can never know. Too Irish, too Catholic- my dad's side anyway.'

Draco thought of his own mother. His father didn't matter anymore; locked away in Azkaban he was dead to Draco. His mother, however, was a different story. Would him being gay upset her – if he ever saw her again to tell her? He couldn't deal with that thought. It would be best if his secret remained just that, untold and unknown. Draco would have to keep his feelings restricted to his dream world with prince charming; he could do that for his mother. It would be better if nobody knew about him.

'Why do you care?' Seamus asked, rousing Draco from his thoughts.

'Us Slytherins thrive off information.'

'Remember what I said before, Malfoy. If you tell anyone, I'll kill you.'

'Relax, Finnigan. I've got nothing to gain from telling anyone your secret.'

'So why are you asking if what I tell you is meaningless to you?'

It wasn't meaningless though. If Harry had been honest earlier that night when he said Draco may one day have a friend in him, or even a group of friends, he wanted to know whether they may accept Draco's secret. But hadn't he just decided that no one could ever know he was gay in order to protect his mother? Draco sighed. His mind was a mess. He didn't know what he wanted.

'Just curious,' Draco lied.

'Whatever. I guess you've already got a lovely little pureblood girl lined up for you, yeah?'

'I probably did. Not anymore. Who wants a Malfoy these days?'

'What about Parkinson? Weren't you two an item at school?'

Draco laughed. 'Merlin, no. Friends, nothing more. She really wasn't my… type.'

'And what would that be?'

'Well, I prefer people without pug-faces.'

Seamus chuckled. 'Fair play, so do I. But come on, you must have some sort of plan for finding a wife. Purebloods marry young, don't they?'

'Traditionally, yes. These days it's only families like mine who still do, but who would want the former Death Eater son of Lucius Malfoy?' Draco twisted his head to face Seamus for the first time since they'd gotten into bed. 'I don't think I'm going to get married. If I do, I'm not having children. I'm not burdening a child with the Malfoy name.'

Seamus's eyebrows furrowed in the darkness. Draco could just see them in the glow of the moonlight streaming in from around the edge of the curtains. 'Really?'

'Really.'

'Hmm. Maybe you were right before.'

'About what?'

'That you're not as evil as we all thought.'

'Are you admitting I might be a decent human being after all?'

'Decent may be pushing it,' Seamus said through a grin.

'I suppose 'not-evil' is something.'

Seamus turned over to check the clock beside the bed. 'Oh, Mother Mary, it's already two in the morning. I'm going to be so knackered tomorrow.'

'I guess that's my fault.'

'Largely.'

'Well, sorry, I guess. I could always risk the armchair if you want to get to sleep.'

'Don't be silly. It's ok.' Seamus lay back down, leaving his back facing Draco. Draco yawned and felt his eyelids finally becoming heavy. He turned to face the wall in the hope that sleep might come soon. He was doubtful, however, for now his mind was racing even faster than before. Seamus was talking to him with unexpected ease. Did that mean he could learn not to hate Draco one day? Draco hoped that he was right, which once again contradicted his decision to ignore boys for his mother's sake.

The sound of smashing glass and screaming woke both Draco and Seamus. As they sat up in bed they started to cough. Opening his eyes, it became clear to Draco that the room was quickly filling with smoke.

'What the…?' Seamus choked out.

Draco pushed Seamus out of the bed. 'Fire!' he shouted. They both pulled on a pair of trousers and collected up a shirt, shoes and their wands. Draco ran for the door but Seamus didn't follow.

'Finnigan!' Draco called. He could no longer see Seamus despite being only a couple of steps away. More screams filled the air from somewhere else in the building. Draco thought he could hear laughing along with the breaking of more glass. He stepped back into the room, prepared to grab Seamus around the waist and haul him over his shoulder if that was what it would take to get him out of the burning pub. However, Draco only managed to take one step before Seamus crashed face-first into him. Unfazed, he grabbed Draco's empty hand and pulled him down the smoky corridor.

As they rounded the corner and headed towards the stairs the laughing grew louder. It sent a chilling shiver down Draco's spine. It was too familiar to be a coincidence. The Death Eaters were here.

As he and Seamus passed by a window, red sparks blasted it to pieces. Draco fell backwards and Seamus was thrown forwards. Draco recovered and sent a volley of spells upwards towards the window, hoping he might hit whoever was outside. One seemed to hit its target, for the laughing Draco heard suddenly stopped as if a hand had wrapped itself around the Death Eater's throat.

Back on his feet, Draco called out for Seamus. He trod carefully forward over the broken glass, trying to think of a spell to clear the air. Suddenly one came to mind. Draco lifted his wand and muttered the spell, turning the smoke transparent. What he saw nearly sent his heart jumping into his mouth. There was a large hole in the floorboards in the landing just beside the stairs, and Seamus was struggling to stop himself falling through it.

'Merlin,' Draco exclaimed before racing towards Seamus. He let his shoes and shirt fall to one side and grabbed Seamus under his arms, hauling him back through the hole and onto the solid floor. They gasped for air but only started coughing again. Draco felt as if he were drowning in the smoke. He managed to stand by pulling himself up against the wall and motioned for Seamus to do the same. Finally they reached the stairs and stumbled the rest of the way down the hall.

Seamus threw open the door into the alleyway and fell to the ground, breathing in large gulps of fresh air between coughs. Draco searched the sky for black-cloaked figures. People were running through the narrow alley in both directions, screaming and shouting, distracting him. Further away he spotted an auror in uniform. A wave of relief washed over him. He turned to Seamus, planning to pull him up and walk him into the main street away from the burning building, but was stopped by what he saw. Seamus's legs were burnt. His trousers were in tatters and the skin up to his knees was red and already starting to blister.

Draco was speechless. It took him a moment to collect himself. Somehow he found words to encourage Seamus to his feet and helped him hobble down the alley. As he did so, feelings of guilt began to swim around his mind. This was his fault. The Death Eaters were after him, he was the reason someone's pub had been gutted by fire and Seamus had been injured. Had anybody else been injured? What if Draco ended up being responsible for someone's death? The thought was probably the worst he had had all night.

When they reached the main street the sight in the sky caught Draco's attention. A team of aurors were spread across the ground and shooting sparks in the air flew while three Death Eaters fought back from the sky. Draco tore his eyes away from the scene to search for someone to help Seamus. Two shops along he spotted an emergency healer, identified by the St Mungo's logo on her sleeve. Draco took more of Seamus' weight as he struggled to walk up the path.

'Not much further,' Draco encouraged. 'We'll get you to St Mungo's in a minute.'

The healer was crouched on the street treating an old woman sitting on a shop doorstep. 'Please,' Draco said. 'We need help.' She turned around and was met my Seamus's legs right in front of her. Her eyes grew wide.

'Oh, dear,' she said as she contained her alarm. She looked up at Draco. 'He needs to get to St Mungo's immediately. Penelope!'

A junior healer appeared beside her, startling Draco. Where had she come from?

'Yes, ma'am?'

'Take these two to the emergency burns ward. This young man needs his legs treated as soon as possible. They will both then need to be transported to the general ward for smoke inhalation and an assessment.'

'Yes, ma'am,' the young witch replied. She stepped forward in one swift motion and placed firm hands on Draco and Seamus's shoulders. Before Draco had time to realise what as about to happen, she disapparated them.