This has been sitting in a word document waiting patiently to be edited for two three days now. I kept getting distracted. And I should probably warn that I edited this at one in the morning so a couple may have slipped through. I'll never learn.

Anyway I wish there was a way that I could keep you updated on my progress on this, since the posting is going to be fairly random and it all depends on how quick I can write and edit, I actually just thought and developed a way of doing this right now. If you want to keep up with how I'm getting on you can follow my Tumblr I just created. Stephanniexo . tumblr . com. [without the spaces obviously] My personal is attatched to that too but you don't have to worry about that, it's not important.

I doubt it will be very interesting but I'll try my best. This way I can also reply to all your comments and criticism rather than spamming your inboxes, which I've never really been comfortable doing before.

Anyway enjoy and I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Part 2.

Harry sighed as he sat down at the large kitchen table with his dinner, a bowl of stew that he had just finished making for himself. He'd actually adjusted pretty well to living on his own, being able to cook, thanks to some help from Molly and her cookbooks. He started to eat as he picked up one of the two applications that Natasha had given him to look over and consider. He still couldn't quite believe his luck in the two people he had to choose from to live with.

Even though he really didn't want to live with either of them, he didn't really have a choice. He could keep putting the advert in the paper every day until he found someone he liked but that could take, weeks, months even and he didn't really want to wait that long, he wanted it sorted now. It was now down to picking the lesser of two evils. Romilda; who could potentially poison him, or Malfoy; who could also potentially poison him. Of course Malfoy would be able to purposefully poison him, he owned an apothecary after all so he'd even be able to successfully bump him off, Romilda would probably do it by accident and Harry couldn't decide which option would be worse. He felt like banging his head against a brick wall to see if that would bang the decision into him.

What Natasha had said seemed pretty right though, Malfoy had seemed to have changed. Harry found out from reading his application that he was involved in all sorts of charities to do with the aftermath of the war and a number of other things too, some of which Harry was involved with as well, and he'd had no idea. The doubt was still there though, had he really changed as much as it looked as if he had?

The fire that was crackling in the fireplace next to his kitchen table, suddenly glowed green and Harry looked up form Malfoy's application to see Ron and Hermione stumble from the fire, dusting down their robes. Hermione was shrugging off her cloak before she even said hello.

"Hey," Harry said with a nod at them both as Ron sniffed at the air and cast his eyes towards the stove.

"Is that stew?" Ron asked and Harry nodded, gesturing his hand towards the pot on the stove and the contents started to empty themselves into an already waiting bowl.

"Do you want some 'Mione?" Harry asked as Ron settled at the table beside Harry with a spoon ready, waiting on Harry levitating the bowl over to him.

"No thanks Harry. I, unlike Ron, can only eat one portion of dinner," Hermione said softly with a fond, if not a little exasperated, glance at Ron.

"But this is stew Hermione, there's always room for stew," Ron said, tucking into the bowl as soon as it hit the table. Hermione just 'hmm'd and sat down on the other side of Harry, Ron didn't say anymore, his mouth full of food.

"What are you working on?" Hermione asked, frowning at the parchments around Harry, squinting to read them at an angle.

"This isn't work, it's the applications for the housemates," Harry explained.

"Was that today? Who did you get? Are they nice? Are they normal?" Hermione asked, pulling Romilda's application to her.

"You'd never believe me, that's why I asked you to come over,"

"And there I was thinking you just liked our company," Ron said as he poured himself a cup of pumpkin juice from the jug in the middle of the three of them.

"Romilda Vane?" Hermione exclaimed looking up over the parchment at Harry with wide eyes. "I told you, you would get the crazy ones!"

"That's nothing, guess who else," Harry said solemnly handing over Malfoy's application he had kept in his hand. He pushed his bowl away, having finished eating and took a sip of juice as he watched Hermione's expression change from surprised to complete outrage.

"Malfoy? Draco Malfoy?" Hermione said, quieter than when she had found out about Romilda, but still loud enough for Ron to hear and choke on his mouthful of stew.

Harry thumped him on the back until he stopped coughing and Ron looked at him with pity. "Blimey Harry, you couldn't have asked for worse people,"

"Tell me about it, and that was without them knowing it was me in the first place. What's worse, is Malfoy was given the opportunity to back out and he didn't! Just said yes and carried on as if it was normal. And now the decision is up to me," Harry explained. Ron and Hermione were both looking at him now, slightly uncertain, unsure of how to help him decide. "I don't know who to choose!"

"Well was there anyone else that applied? Anyone else that Natasha didn't think would be any good but are actually better than those two?" Hermione asked, looking back at the two applications in her hands as if hoping that they would change to someone easier to choose from.

"You've no idea how shitty my luck is Hermione. Who would you choose between an old drunk witch called Bella-" Hermione screwed up her face, clearly getting the same images of Bellatrix as he had when he had heard the name, "A thick junkie teenager-" Hermione's expression turned to looking slightly disgusted, "And Cormac McLaggen?"

Ron's spoon clanked into his bowl and he started quickly shaking his head. "No way are you going to start living with Cormac McLaggen," Ron said his voice definite and determined.

"I wasn't planning to," Harry said softly, with a small smile at how determined Ron was about the idea. He glanced at Hermione who was smiling too.

"I can't live with any of these people, but I've got to choose one of them, I would prefer a housemate sooner rather than later," Harry said. He sighed and leant back in his chair looking at his two best friends. Hermione started reading the applications again, properly this time, biting down on her bottom lip and Ron was staring into space as he finished his stew.

"Romilda wouldn't be so bad...I mean I'm sure she would happily do anything you asked her to. You could get her to make your meals and do all the chores and everything," Ron said looking back at Harry with a suggestive shrug.

"She's not a slave Ron, and I don't think Harry was planning on paying someone to come and live with him," Hermione said.

"I don't think Romilda would mind, she worships Harry," Ron said. Harry gave him a reproachful look, knowing better than to admit to considering it in Hermione's company.

"Yeah, that's all well and good until she gets sick of it and realises what an arsehole Harry is for doing that to her and moves out, leaving Harry exactly where he started," Hermione said, lowering the parchment and glaring at Ron.

"Hey, I'm not an arsehole," Harry said frowning at her, half offended and half just trying to steer her away from causing an argument.

"I know you're not Harry, I know you would never treat someone like that, I'm just saying you would be if you did treat her like that. Frankly I'm slightly concerned about Ron and his idea of acceptable treatment towards someone else, no matter how morally wrong they are," Hermione said, glaring at Ron now over where she was reading Malfoy's application.

"I was only joking Hermione jeez," Ron said, pushing his bowl away at last and leaning back in his chair. He looked at Harry with a look that said he wasn't joking and that he thought Hermione was overreacting, they had shared this look so many times, Harry knew it off by heart.

"You know if I didn't know that this was Malfoy, I'd actually consider him. His application is excellent," Hermione said, ignoring Ron now that she was focused.

"Natasha did say that he was the best out of the lot of them. She said he told her everything in the interview, admitted to everything of his past and looked as if he was genuinely sorry about what he had done. It was the fact that he had told the truth no matter how ugly it was that made her choose him. She thought it was something I would have done, had the positions been reversed," Harry explained, and that spark of curiosity flared again as he wondered if Malfoy could possibly have changed so much. All he could remember of him was how horrible they had been towards each other during school and how much he had hated him.

"She's got a point. As much as I hate to admit it, it really looks as if he's changed. Did he seem different when you met him again?" Hermione asked.

"Not really. I mean he was really polite but he still seemed really snarky and pompous," Harry said, "He was still like the Malfoy from school," he added with a slight scowl. He'd forgotten how much he had disliked Malfoy in school until the flashes of memories of spat words and vicious spells sprang to the front of his mind. Could he put all of that behind him? Could either of them?

"Well, I think a pro and con list is the way to go," Ron said, leaning forward on his crossed arms on the table. He'd said it with such conviction Harry was almost tempted to go and get a sheet of parchment to start one straight away.

"A pro and con list? Isn't that a bit unpredictable? I'd be making the decision on the out come of the list and not what I really actually wanted," Harry said, looking at Hermione, thinking she would agree with him but it seemed Hermione was more surprised that she hadn't come up with the idea herself.

"Well your pro and con list would actually reflect what you really wanted anyway, for the pro and cons would apply only to you, if you see what I mean, that's a really good idea Ron," Hermione said nodding and looking at Ron as if she was remembering why she was engaged to him in the first place, and forgetting about Ron's lack of judgement just minutes ago. Ron took the compliment with pride and sat up a little straighter, grinning wide.

Before Harry could protest any more, Hermione had taken a sheaf of parchment from her robes and a quill and was already heading each side of the page, one with Romilda and one with Malfoy. He really shouldn't have been surprised that she even had all of that with her but he was anyway. He glanced at Ron again and realised he wasn't getting away with this anymore.

"Okay, give me a con about living with Romilda," Hermione said, underlining the word con and looking up at Harry.

"Well I think the most obvious one is that she might try to enchant me with a love potion," Harry said. Hermione nodded and wrote it down and asked him to keep going. He was starting to regret thinking that it was a good idea to involve Ron and Hermione, he didn't know if he really wanted an honest answer about who he should choose anymore.

Harry sat up in bed later that night, brushing the tip of his quill over his chin as he tried to think about any more pro's and con's to living with Romilda Vane or Draco Malfoy. He knew there were no more but he was kind of afraid of admitting what that meant.

Romilda Vane

Con

Tried to give me love potion- always a possibility she'd do it again. Would never be able to accept anything from her because of this.

Don't know her really at all – makes her unpredictable

Talks too much

Absolutely nothing in common

May leak private things to the press.

Pro

Probably kinder and nicer to talk to than Malfoy is.

Less likely to try and kill me.

Would do things for me if I asked.

He'd added the last one of Romilda's pro list because Ron had insisted that it was a good thing, even though he had to say it while Hermione was at the toilet and he couldn't add it until they had gone home because Hermione would have freaked.

Draco Malfoy

Con

Used to be a Death Eater and follow Voldemort

Hated each other at school – possibly still do, makes things a bit awkward.

He's a git.

Ron had also added the last one of Draco's con list but Harry couldn't really argue with it, for Malfoy was a git, unfortunately that kind of summed up the rest of his con's. There was nothing left to add after that.

Pro's

Appears to have changed since school.

Share a lot of interests – Quidditch, chess, some of the same charities.

Know him well enough to be able to predict what he may or may not do.

Could come in handy for work if he knows any Death Eaters still out there.

Would probably keep to himself.

Kind of attractive.

Harry had added the last pro to Malfoy's list long after Ron and Hermione had left and had written it in very small letters. It took a long time for him to admit that to himself and had kept it kind of open ended. There was no denying that Malfoy was attractive, but he had hummed and hared about whether to add it to the pro or con list. He still wasn't sure where it would stay.

Either way though, there was no getting away from the fact that Malfoy's pro's outweighed his con's and Romilda's con's outweighed her pro's and Harry really wasn't sure if he was ready to accept the inevitable decision. So he had sat up for the past hour and fifteen minutes trying to think of any more and had come up completely blank, everything was there, set out in black and white. As much as he didn't want to admit it, his decision was made whether he liked it or not. And maybe, subconsciously his decision had been made from the very beginning.

"Draco?" Draco's mother said softly from the door of his bedroom and he turned from where he was hanging up his cloak into his wardrobe. He was a little surprised to see his mother stepping into his room, it had been a while since she had been in there, so he was a little concerned.

"Are you okay?" he asked stepping forward in an action to help her over to sit down. She shook her head and smiled softly as she walked towards the chair by his window.

"Of course I am, I'm not an invalid Draco," his mother said, her tone containing a bit of a bite to it which made him drop the subject immediately. She settled herself down on the chair and looked out of the wide window over the entrance of the Manor, at the pathway up.

"I had dinner in town, while I was there, I don't need anything tonight," Draco said gently and he sat down on the edge of his bed, taking a wild guess that she wanted to have some kind of conversation, and not wanting to miss a bit of it in case she had something important to say.

"I thought you might have," his mother commented absently as she turned her attention from the window and what was outside to the curtains around it. "We should really get new curtains for in here, these are getting a little shabby," she said, running a hand over the soft green velvet.

Draco frowned at her and wondered if she remembered that he had been out to see the house he had hoped to move into that afternoon. Of course he hadn't told her that the house happened to belong to Harry Potter, not yet, he'd only just got home. He wasn't even sure if he was going to tell her yet, maybe once he knew if he was actually going to move in.

"I went to see that house today," Draco said absently brushing imaginary dust and fluff from his suit trousers.

"Yes. I know. How was it?" she said, her voice distant as if she wasn't really interested, but still focused on the curtains instead.

"It was...good. Yeah it was a nice place. Very big. I just have to wait on the person deciding whether to agree to let me move in or not," Draco said.

"I'm sure they will," his mother said. She turned away from the curtains and rose from her chair looking around the room, a small smile on her face. "You know, I think the whole room could be re-decorated, a fresh start almost,"

"A-a fresh start?" Draco stuttered watching her movements around the room, a little scared now, he hadn't even moved out yet and she was talking about re-decortating, replacing him. What had happened to the woman that had refused to talk to him for a week after he had told her he wanted to move out? It was almost as if she had taken a completely different out look and couldn't wait to get rid of him.

"You'd get to pick the colours of course, Draco, it's still your room. I just want it to be nice and fresh for you if you ever decide you want to stay one night, maybe, if you wanted too." His mother said turning from the wall and smiling directly at him and he could see the sadness in her eyes again.

"Yeah, that would be...nice," Draco said, unable to find anything else to say, even though he appreciated it very much, more than he would ever admit to her. Because even though he was preparing to fly the nest, the manor would always be a place to return to and call home while his mother was still there.

She smiled at him and walked over to the bed to grasp his shoulder for a second. She kissed the top of his head and he squeezed the hand on his shoulder. "I'll be in my room if you need me Draco, for now though, goodnight,"

Draco was left to his own thoughts once she had left and shut the door behind her. At least if he did move in with Potter, he would have somewhere to go if he became too insufferable. It kind of surprised him how the thought of living with Potter wasn't as disconcerting as he had originally thought it would be. He wasn't thrilled about it but he wasn't that bothered either. He saw that house. It was big enough for more than two, so he was sure that they would be able to find their own space in there and keep out from under each others nose. Of course there was also the fact that he had thought up a plan concerning that house. All he needed to do was get a few details and everything could change. He wasn't sure, but it might actually be interesting living with Harry Potter, he could find out all sorts of interesting things.

"Good morning Harry," Natasha smiled at him as he entered his office the next morning, flicking through memo's that had followed him all the way up. He smiled back and muttered a hello, hoping to just deal with the memos and be able to leave to go out on the field as quickly as possible.

He carried on from her office into his, leaving the door open, hoping to go back through it any minute, as soon as he was done with the memos he had. He always started off optimistic and then an hour or two would go by and he would start to loose that again, still he had to try.

"There are a couple of messages for you that you need to answer prompt-ish, but apart from that, there's nothing else. I'll handle these, I can tell you're dying to get out. If there is anything urgent, I'll get a message to you," Natasha said, after following him into his office and taking the memo's from him. He grinned at her and quickly sat down at his desk to respond to the messages left for him.

"Thank you," he said gratefully. Natasha shrugged and left the office again, carrying on with her job. She was always there while he was out, picking up the slack that he got away with and leaving bits of it for him when he came back and had time. She knew how much he valued being out and fighting the bad guys with everyone else.

Harry was finished with the messages within fifteen minutes and was passing through again, swinging his cloak over his shoulders. He stopped at Natasha's desk where she was quickly writing out a letter for the head of Goblin liaisons. She held up a finger to stop him from talking before she was finished her sentence. When she was done she looked up expectantly.

"I'm off out now, wont be back until late, I suspect, but if I could get you to leave the contact addresses for the two applicants for the housemates on my desk, I would be grateful," Harry said as he fixed the collar of his cloak. Natasha's face brightened and she leaned forward further over the desk.

"You've made your decision already? Who have you chosen?" she asked.

"You'll just have to wait and see," Harry grinned. He tucked his wand carefully in it's holder on his belt and turned for the door. "I'll see you later!" he called on his way out.

"Are you really sure about this?" Ron asked, a few hours later as they were leaving the house of an elderly witch that they had been called to on numerous occasions because she kept thinking that her nephew was sending her cursed letters, to try and get his inheritance early.

"Positive. Hey, it was your idea to do the pro and con list, it's not my fault that Malfoy came up on top," Harry said with a shrug, even though that wasn't strictly true. It was kind of his fault that Malfoy came across better as he was the one that decided what traits were good and what ones weren't.

"But it's Malfoy, he's a git, he's always been a git," Ron said making a face as he did so.

"Yeah but hopefully he'll keep out of the way the majority of the time. I think the house is big enough for us to keep our distance and live as harmoniously as possible. And you never know, he might have changed," Harry said, looking down at his watch to check the time as they went down an empty side road so that they could apparate away.

"I still think you're mental. Romilda would have done anything for you," Ron said, scuffing his shoe over a stone on the path making it skitter along the street.

"And slipped me a love potion in the process, yeah that would have been ideal," Harry said sarcastically, giving Ron a look to ask if he was completely crazy in thinking that would ever be a good idea.

"At least you would have been happy. I don't see you being very happy living with Malfoy, for all you know he could slip you an undetectable poison," Ron said quietly, gently shrugging, feeling a little ashamed for even bringing up the whole Romilda thing again. He wasn't sure who hated the idea more, Hermione or Harry.

"Ron, are we Auror's or not? I think I'll be careful enough not to get myself killed by a stupid poison. I can handle poisons better than love potions," Harry shrugged too and hit Ron on the shoulder, playfully, "Anyway, the decision has been made, we'll just have to wait and see. I've got that court hearing in half an hour, I better get back to the Ministry. Will you be okay to take up with Skivington for that raid in Manchester?"

"Of course, do you want me to tell Hermione about who you have chosen?" Ron asked, looking across at Harry, curiously as he rummaged in his pockets for his wand.

"If you want," Harry shrugged, not seeing the difference in who told her, it didn't effect what her reaction was going to be, even though he wasn't too sure if he could predict it, Hermione's reactions were never quite what you expected them to be. It wouldn't surprise him if she already knew who he was going to choose from the very beginning.

"Expect a floo call from her, at least, later tonight then. I'm sure she'll have something to say about it," Ron said.

"You know, you are taking this better than I expected you to," Harry commented, looking up at Ron as they both got into position to apparate away separately.

Ron smiled and shrugged again. "I figure that it's your choice and I know anything I'm going to say isn't going to make you change your mind, I'm just glad you didn't end up choosing McLaggan."

Harry smiled back. "Thanks," he said. Ron shrugged for a third time and sheepishly grinned.

"I'll see you later, maybe tonight if Hermione drags me along," he said. Harry nodded and they bid their farewells and apparated away.

Harry took a deep breath as he sealed each envelope with his wax seal, that had his initials on it and stood up to take them over to Nicholas, his owl that was waiting on the window ledge. As soon as the letters were away, there would be no turning back; he would have to live with Draco Malfoy. He was really starting to doubt his thoroughness with his lists and whether it was really worth getting a housemate after all.

He stood for a good five minutes with the letters in his hand, wondering whether to send them or not while Nicholas impatiently hopped from foot to foot and ruffled his feathers. Finally just before Nicholas took off, having grown tired waiting, he gave him the letters and told him to go before he could change his mind again, which he promptly did, clearly not wanting to wait around any longer anyway.

He sat down at the kitchen table and stared into the fire that was crackling merrily there, contemplating many things ranging from the decision he had just made to what he could have for dinner later. It wasn't until the flames turned familiarly green that he was brought away from his contemplations and drawn to the figure stepping out from them.

"Hey, want some tea?" Harry offered straight away as Hermione shook soot from her hair.

"Please. None of that green chi stuff you like though, that stuff is revolting, just normal tea please," Hermione said, dropping her cloak onto the back of the seat opposite from the one Harry was sitting at. Harry flicked his hand in the direction of the tea pot already sat on the stove and it began to simmer.

"I take it Ron told you then," Harry said, leaning forward, resting his chin on his hand as Hermione smiled at him. At least she was smiling, that was a good sign.

"Yeah, as soon as he got in. I got the impression he wanted me to come over straight away and start giving you hell," Hermione said over the noise of the gently whistling kettle.

"But you thought it best that I settle down and get comfortable first and then come over and give me hell," Harry said, grinning.

"Naturally," Hermione shrugged and gave a small wink.

"So you're okay with the decision?" Harry asked seriously now, straightening up and leaning forward on his elbows.

"Of course I am. It's up to you and I don't see how anything I can say will change your mind. I expect you've already sent a letter letting them know too, so it's not like I can stop you, maybe that's why Ron was so eager to get me here so quick," Hermione said, the last part contemplative as she looked to her left, out of the window.

The kettle was whistling loudly now and Harry got up to pour the boiling water in the two waiting mugs he had ready, knowing from experience that hot water and wandless magic did not go well, even if you were an expert at wandless magic, which he wasn't. He was good but he was no expert like Hermione was. He waited until he had sat down again and handed Hermione her tea before continuing their conversation.

"Ron seemed really okay with the idea though. He said he couldn't change my mind so there was no point in trying," Harry said taking a sip of his tea and wincing at how hot it was.

"He probably hoped I would kick up enough of a fuss for both of us," Hermione said, blowing on her own tea.

"But you're not. You're really okay with this? Tell me the truth," Harry said, adding the last sentence when he saw how contrived Hermione's smile was.

She studied him for a moment and he half felt like a book that she was flicking the pages on. Eventually she sighed and leant back in her chair, hand wrapped around her mug. "I am okay with it. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little concerned about your welfare, but I know you well enough to know that you can take on someone like Malfoy if you need to, and I know that you are mature and responsible enough to act like an adult around him. He on the other hand I'm not sure, but if he's changed as much as he appears to have done then I don't see why not,"

"Thanks. Let's hope it works out that way," Harry said. Hermione shrugged and sipped her tea. They both sat in silence for a little while before they changed the subject. There was nothing more to be said on the matter, nothing more could be done, so there was no point in discussing it any further.

They eventually finished their tea and Harry's stomach propelled him into making dinner and Hermione agreed to stay, having not eaten anything yet. They prepared a simple fry-up together, working as a team and talking about random stuff as they did so. Sometimes Harry liked it better when it was just him and Hermione. He loved Ron, he did, but their friendship was different and sometimes that got in the way of how he and Hermione were able to act with each other. Harry could discuss anything with Hermione, where as with Ron, there were limits and taboo subjects.

"So what happened to that guy with the blond floppy hair that you were seeing, you haven't mentioned him in weeks?" Hermione said as she cut into her fried bread, after their discussion about what had happened in the court room earlier that day had ended. Hermione had been there during the trial Harry had attended because the suspect had not only practiced extremely dark magic in front of muggles but had also sexually abused a house elf. It had been a relief to see him get carted off to Azkaban that day as Harry had found it difficult to even look at him without showing any signs of disgust.

"Eh, he started to leave his clothes here, even putting them into my wardrobe and stuff. It was starting to get a bit too serious for my liking," Harry said with a shrug, pushing his baked beans around on his plate.

Hermione shook her head, chuckling sadly. "Do you even realise that whenever anything looks like it's going to turn the slightest bit serious with someone that you just cut them off?"

"What are you talking about? I've been in serious relationships before," Harry said, looking up at her.

"Oh yeah? Name one," Hermione challenged, one eyebrow quirked in a way that only she had perfected.

Harry narrowed his eyes, accepting the challenge but knowing almost immediately that he wouldn't be able to come up with much. "Well there was...uh..." he frowned and looked down at his plate. Surely there was one. "Erm..." he could feel Hermione's gloating eyes on the top of his head and wanted his brain to hurry up and kick into gear. "Ginny. She was serious," Harry said finally but knew before he was finished that it was stupid to even bring Ginny up.

"That was six years ago Harry and it only lasted six months, not to mention you promptly started preferring men as soon as it ended. That's not what I call serious," Hermione said.

Harry pouted but knew that she was right anyway. "Well I don't see why it matters if I like to get serious or not. I'm still young. I can still have fun,"

"Are you trying to say Ron and I don't have fun because we are engaged?" Hermione said, teasingly, knowing that's not what Harry was implying but enjoying watching him squirm anyway.

"Of course not! Hermione I just meant-" Harry glanced up and saw the smirk twitching at her lips and narrowed his eyes. "You're only kidding," he shook his head and flicked a piece of bacon in her direction. Unluckily she was able to deflect it with a twitch of her fingers and send it straight back to him where he had to think quick enough to transfigure it into a butterfly to stop it from smacking him in the face.

In his haste however, the bacon purely sprouted a couple of spotted feeble butterfly wings and struggled to keep it's self in the air. Harry frowned and watched it struggle, sitting back in his chair as he did so.

"Huh," He said finally and Hermione looked away from the flying bacon and frowned at him. "A flying pig," Harry finished and looked at Hermione. Within seconds they could barely control their laughter.

"Okay, I think that's the last box," Draco grunted as he shuffled down the narrow hallway, carrying in the last large heavy box of his stuff. It was moving day at last.

"Are you sure? 'cause my arms feel as if they're about to drop off if I have to lug in anymore of your shit Draco," Blaise said over the banister from up one flight of stairs.

"Pretty sure," Draco said dumping the box at the bottom of the stairs, the trinkets and items inside not destined for his bedroom but for around the house instead. He had to put his own touch on it somehow, whether Harry wanted him to or not.

"I still can't believe you are choosing to live with Potter rather than your mother," Pansy said, having appeared at his side, just finished walking down the stairs, Blaise not too far behind. "I know for a fact that your mother isn't that bad to live with,"

"That's not the point though Pans. That's not why I even moved out. You said it yourself that it was pathetic that I was still living with her," Draco said, stretching his arms above his head to crack the knot out of his back, from bending and lifting his heavy boxes and furniture.

"Where is he anyway? I would have thought he wanted to keep an eye on you moving in," Blaise asked, glancing around, peering in the direction of the kitchen where he had believed Potter had been keeping out of the way, but had expected to see him appear from at some point before now.

"He got called in at the Ministry, some sort of emergency or something," Draco said, absently scratching the back of his neck as he frowned at the curtained portrait just inches from them, wondering what was under it, having been given strict instructions from Potter himself to not to even attempt to look.

"And he just left you here alone, with two of your friends? Merlin, he's more trusting than he looks that one," Blaise said smirking over at Pansy.

"Don't be daft. He's an Auror, he left a look out," Draco said absently still, running his hand over the curtain that hid the portrait, intrigued as ever.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a new voice said from the entrance of the stairs down to the kitchen making all three of them jump, and Draco whip his hand away. "Not unless you want to pop your eardrums anyway," Hermione Granger said with a shrug, stepping forward, a tray of cups bobbling along behind her.

"What is it?" Draco asked, curiosity getting in the way of his dislike for the woman.

"Not worth talking about. Harry will probably show you later anyway. I made tea, I figured you'd be a little thirsty after all that," Granger said gesturing to the couple of boxes left at the foot of the stairs as she walked further into the hallway the tray bobbed to halt in front of them.

"You made us tea?" Blaise asked, eyebrows risen in surprise with a mixture of suspicion there too.

"Yes. You can check for poisons all you want you won't find any, now drink up. I'm sure Harry won't be long," Granger said. She turned on her heel and went back off down into the basement, without another word. The three friends looked at each other before Draco stepped forward and muttered a simple revealing spell on the tea.

"No poison," Draco muttered.

"Told you!" Granger called up the stairs and Draco couldn't help scowling in that direction. Bloody nosey know it all. The three of them eventually took the tea and began to drink.

"come on, I want to show you something," Draco whispered, just in case Granger was still listening in on them. He moved past Blaise and Pansy and led the way up the stairs to the first floor. Still holding their tea, Draco nudged the door of the drawing room open with his hip and shoulder and walked into the middle of the room, where they could clearly see the tapestry hung on the wall.

"What is it?" Pansy asked, frowning and squinting at it while Blaise curiously took a few steps forward to inspect it further.

"Draco, your name is on here," Blaise said finally, after Draco had waited silently on him finding it. Pansy frowned further and stepped up beside Blaise to see if he was telling the truth.

"What is your name doing on an old tapestry in Potter's house?" Pansy asked spinning to look at Draco. Draco took a slow sip of his tea before he decided to answer.

"It's the Black family tapestry. My mother was a Black before she married my father. She was that idiot Sirius Black's cousin before-before he died of course," Draco said. "This is the house of the Black family, or it was before the last immediate descendent died and left it to his Godson rather than a family member,"

"But then, that means that the house technically belongs to your family. It's technically yours," Pansy said, with a slight frown.

"I don't know how strong the legal bindings of Sirius' will are but if they're basic like I think they probably are, then it would be easy to make it so. I'd just need to get a hold of them to see what could be done," Draco said, his face starting to split into a grin as Pansy's eyes seemed to light up.

"I knew there was a sensible reason as to why you were moving in with Potter," Blaise said, suddenly with a wild smile. He laughed, his laugh deep and contagious and shook his head. "I knew it was more than just wanting to get out of your mothers house, I knew you hadn't changed that much,"

"As soon as I saw this I figured something could be done to reclaim it, I had to give it a shot," Draco shrugged, smirking. Blaise was still laughing when he came back over to Draco and clapped him on the back.

"Do you think it could work?" Pansy asked.

"The house already reacts to my touch. Old magic that is able to detect family blood. I just need to find a loophole in that will and I could reclaim ownership of the house. I'd throw Potter out and live in what is rightfully mine, or at the very least make him pay rent or something," Draco shrugged.

At this point Blaise was laughing as uncontrollably and as loudly as ever. All Draco could do was grin and try and get him to calm down a bit. "I knew you still had some Slytherin in you," Blaise kept saying through bouts of laughter while Pansy just watched the pair of them, drinking her tea. Harry Potter wouldn't know what hit him.