Notes: This chapter is kind of a calm before the storm, so to speak. Ron's job was chosen due to that lovely incident in second year. You'll know it when you see it.
Chapter Three
"I thought he said it was a small pamphlet." Seamus commented. Seamus, along with Dean, had joined Ron and Draco for a quick lunch before each went off to their respective jobs. In Seamus' hands was the Wizard Survival Act's pamphlet, which turned out to be, while small in width and height, two inches thick. The Irishman flipped through it, before slipping it into his coat pocket.
"You know the Ministry." Ron said as he picked at his plate. "They seem to make it their sole purpose in life to ruin our own lives."
"I think you're reading too far into this, Ron." Seamus replied. "It's just a book."
"It's more than a book, it's our lives they're screwing up." Ron snapped.
"Ron, just stop." Draco ordered. Ron looked at him sharply, before softening slightly.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"I'm fine... Just a little tired." Draco muttered.
"Is it the nightmare?" Ron asked. Draco gave him a dark look and stood up. "Where are you going?"
"The loo." Draco replied.
He ignored his husband's concerned looks and made his way through the small wizard diner and into the restroom. The two stalls were thankfully unoccupied. Draco paid no attention to them, choosing instead to stand in front of the mirror. He took a deep breath, turning on the faucet to let hot water run. After splashing his face, Draco finally glanced at his reflection. A slim face with gray eyes and slicked back blonde hair stared at him. He narrowed his eyes critically at the hair. Perhaps, it was finally time to change his style. Shaking his head, he finally took in the paler than usual skin.
"Always looking in the mirror." Dean commented as he entered the restroom. Draco glared at him briefly through the reflection. "Don't mind me."
"What do you want?" Draco asked, pulling out his wand to carefully dry his still wet face.
"To see if you're alright." Dean replied, before giving him a slight smirk. "Actually, Harry showed up. I adore Harry like any other person in this world, but he makes me a tad uncomfortable. So, I figured I'd come in here and kill two birds with one stone."
"I'm touched that you would risk my company in order to escape Potter's." Draco said sarcastically.
"Please." Dean scoffed, before his smile vanished. "Ron said you had a nightmare?"
"It happens." Draco said stiffly.
"Seamus still has them." Dean said lightly, as though talking about the weather. However, the serious glint in his dark eyes told Draco differently.
"I haven't had one for a year, if you must intrude. This was the first since then." Draco told him, turning away to look at his reflection once again. The twenty-two year old man in the mirror stared back at him with a bored expression. Unless Draco looked closely at his tired eyes then even he wouldn't have noticed it was fake.
"Seamus gets them about once a month." Dean commented. "A little over four years and he can't forget."
"Don't act so surprised." Draco said, tilting his head as though in thought. "After what my father did to him, did to me? It's no wonder we aren't in St. Mungo's Psychiatric Ward."
"Yes... I suppose you're right."
"Why this sudden desire to talk about it, Thomas?" Draco asked. Dean looked away from his reflected gaze.
"It's this parenting thing. I suppose I'm wondering how we are all going to be capable of taking care of children when we still have things haunting us." Dean replied softly. "They actually want to place an innocent in our hands, after the things we've seen and done."
"The Ministry is known for it's stupidity." Draco said.
"That's an understatement." Dean agreed.
"Look, don't take this the wrong way, okay? But I honestly think we can handle being parents." Draco suddenly said, with an indifferent shrug. "We may be young in body, but we had to mature faster than most. Besides, some of us will be sure to not make the same mistakes our parents did."
"We should get back." Dean said after a moment of fidgeting silence. "I'd imagine they are wondering what we're up to."
"Why, Thomas." Draco smirked. "Don't deny our hidden passion for one another."
"Humor." Dean gave him a half-smile before turning toward the door. "Draco Malfoy and his horrid humor."
"I resent that." Draco insisted, following him back into the diner.
Just as Dean had stated, Harry Potter was lounging at the table. Specifically, in Draco's seat. The hero of the century was still short, about the same height as Draco himself. He was lean and slender, with well defined muscles. As could be expected, considering his position as England's first string Seeker. He still wore glasses, though they were now oval wire frames that fit his face. Tanned, with the same green eyes, and a bright smile. The lightning scar was still there, along with a few others along his bared arms and neck both from the war and Quidditch.
"Potter." Draco greeted as he stepped up to the table.
"Malfoy." Harry said with a roll of his eyes. "Hey Dean. How's that sexy, dark arse of yours doing?"
"Considerably well, Harry." Dean replied. "And you?"
"Eh, fine." Harry shrugged. "I was just telling Ron about this guy I just met down at the pub."
"A pub, Potter? At eleven in the morning?" Draco sneered.
"I thought you were dating that Henderson bloke." Seamus broke in before an argument could start. "The Auror?"
"Oh, him." Harry waved a hand. "He was all right for a while, but there wasn't any... Spark."
"He wouldn't sleep with you, is what you mean." Draco stated.
"Honestly, Malfoy, I often get the suspicion you never enjoy the pleasures of the flesh." Harry shook his head and sighed sadly. "It's a wonder Ron has managed to stay married to you."
"Harry." Ron growled. Harry looked away, a small flicker of some unseen emotion on his face. "That was uncalled for."
"Sorry." Harry said quickly. After a second of put upon silence, Harry grinned. "So, what's this I hear about you guys getting pregnant? Oliver Wood's floating on cloud nine, if you're interested. Could you simply imagine his and Percy's kid? Talk about one psychotic child, what with Percy's obsession with rules and Oliver's single-mindedness."
"It is a rather scary thought, now that I think about it." Ron chuckled.
"I wonder how the Ministry is going to deal with so many people on maternity and paternity leave when the time comes." Seamus commented.
"Probably realize what fools they all are." Draco replied. "It would do them good."
"Speaking of the Ministry, I should be getting to work." Ron sighed.
"Yes, me too." Seamus groaned. "I'm really started to hate the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee. They keep interfering with our job."
"That's what you get for being in the Invisibility Task Force, Seamus." Dean told him with a grin.
"Well, aren't we the stuck up bastard." Seamus retorted, though it was stated rather fondly. "Just because you get paid to do your favorite hobby doesn't mean the rest of us aren't having fun. I get to make things invisible, while you sit around painting and trying to make ugly arsed witches pretty."
"Ladies and Gents, my husband." Dean announced. He reached over and grabbed Seamus' hand, pulling the Irishman to his feet. "Come along, dearie, it's time for work."
"See you lot later." Seamus gave a little wave, before both men apparated away.
"Well, that was not at all refreshing." Draco said, after they had left. He glanced briefly at the two, now unoccupied, seats, but chose to push his way into Ron's lap and give Harry a direct stare. Harry blushed slightly, looked away to compose himself, and then leered in their direction. Draco snorted. "You, Potter, are the worst excuse for a man with loose morals that I have ever seen."
"I beg your pardon?" Harry glared.
"Please." Draco sneered. "The fact that you run around, creating all these relationships and then get rid of them at the drop of a hat does not make you the sleaze that you seem to revel in being. It merely makes you unable to commit."
"Bugger off, Malfoy." Harry replied coldly. "Ron, I'll talk to you later."
"Yeah, okay. Take care, Harry." Ron replied with a smile. Harry sent Ron a grin, glared once more at Draco, and then sauntered out of the diner and into the crowded street. "Honestly, Draco, was that really necessary?"
"It was about time someone told him the truth." Draco said, sliding out of Ron's lap and into the nearest chair.
"Are you going to Hogwarts this afternoon?" Ron asked, changing the subject. It always seemed best to avoid the topic of Harry Potter.
"Yes." Draco replied. "Severus is getting rather impatient for my thesis on the new version of Wolfsbane we are developing."
"Finally trying to fix that god awful taste, huh?" Ron snickered.
"It really is a waste of my abilities." Draco insisted, stiffly. "Fixing that potion for his-" Draco raised his hands and made a quotation motion with his fingers. "-'werewolf friend'. Why Lupin and him keep dancing around each other is beyond me."
"It's kind of a good thing, though. I don't want to picture those two getting married and having children." Ron looked rather green about this idea.
"You really don't pay attention to the laws around here." Draco rolled his eyes. "Lupin isn't allowed a child, by order of the Ministry. They'd let him have a dog, though. A little Husky, perhaps? Close enough to his breed to be called a child."
"Oh, stop." Ron sighed. Draco shrugged in response.
"You better get going, Ron." Draco said. "Wouldn't want your department to go on without you. Who knows what could happen, with all those magical cars there?"
"You're just jealous that I get play with things all day." Ron teased.
"Yes, heaven knows I want to roll around in grease while experimenting with Ministry cars." Draco said sarcastically. "I'll stick to my spiders and potions, thank you."
"Will you be home for dinner?" Ron asked as he stood.
"Possibly." Draco replied. "You know Dumbledore, the old freak. He's always trying to get me to stay for tea and lemon drops."
"You could always say no to his offer and come home to me, you know." Ron told him with a half-smile.
"Have you ever tried to actually say no to that man?" Draco questioned, looking annoyed. "He's like a bloody cockroach, you know. No matter what you throw at him, he survives and comes back for more."
"Yeah, whatever you say, Draco." Ron leaned over and gave him a light kiss in top of his gelled head. Draco glared up at him, though the amusement in his eyes was evident. "See you tonight, eh?"
Ron apparated out of the small diner and to the Ministry of Magic. With a sigh, he went through the steps it took to get to his department. He was thankful it was later in the day, leaving there to be no lines for the lift. He made his way to the sixth floor: Department of Magical Transportation. Nodding to a few co-workers, he finally entered the Experimentation of Magical Transport Center.
Unlike most of the committees and departments the experiment center was a large and open room, and only held a single desk, which was overflowing with little diagrams of engines. Ron hung his outer robe across the back of a rickety chair and made his way through the clutter of bolts, screwdrivers, and other mechanical items. Near the back of the room was a car. It's hood was opened and on the floor next to the vehicle was a dismantled transition.
"'Ello, Weasley." An old man who was fiddling with a tiny version of a car engine greeted.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Rockton." Ron smiled.
"How was your mornin'?" Mr. Rockton asked. He frowned at a piece of metal in confusion and reached up to scratch his head. Ron tried not to chuckle as grease was transferred to the sparse white hairs.
"Horrifying." Ron admitted. Ron sat down on the floor next to his transition and began the tedious, yet enjoyable, work of studying it.
"Yes, yes." Mr. Rockton agreed. "I do believe something like that meeting you had would actually give me a heart attack. Well, now... That would be a terrible way to die, wouldn't it?"
"The worst." Ron laughed.
"Ah, boy, I can't seem to get this right." Mr. Rockton sighed. "For some reason the mechanics aren't working as well when it's this small."
"I've been thinking about that, actually." Ron replied. He absentmindedly rubbed at the side of his face, unknowingly creating a streak of black grease. "Do you think we'd be able to cross-breed it with the engine from the motorcycle?"
"It would be so much easier if one of us were muggleborn and knew this sort of thing." Mr. Rockton noted. "But, it's worth a try. Never can one say this isn't a complicated job."
"I can ask Hermione to go to that muggle library she visits and get a book on engines, if you'd like." Ron offered.
"Oh, yes. And ask her to get something on... What was your father calling it?" Mr. Rockton frowned slightly. "Oh, yes! A tely-visor."
"Umm, a television?" Ron asked. Mr. Rockton nodded in excitement. With a grin, Ron agreed to ask. He momentarily felt sorry for Hermione, who would no doubt be asked to borrow many more books from the library for Mr. Rockton in the future. Ron continued with his project, finding the work easy to slip into. He nodded and chatted with his boss, but for the most part remained in his own little world.
