Day 4, June 5th

One gray, bleary eye opened and blinked back shut. Draco turned his head to the side, away from the shaft of morning light that fell across his face. At least he assumed it was morning light. With a yawn and a stretch he sat up and surveyed his surroundings. Where the hell was he anyways? In a rush, the early morning hours came back to him. He had gotten wet, changed at Potters place, and apparently fallen asleep on his couch. Perfect.

He untangled himself from the covers and stood up. On a chair by the front door he spotted his clothes with a little note, all nearly folded and in a pile.

Draco,

Dried your clothes for you this morning. Sorry that I had to leave before you woke up. Kingsley needed me. There's a cup of coffee in the kitchen if you want it. Please use the floo when you leave, otherwise you'll sent all my wards off. Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow morning.

Harry

The blond balled the note up in his fist and walked into the kitchen. Coffee, he needed coffee. A cup sat on the counter, still steaming hot. He breathed in the rich aroma and gratefully wrapped his hands around the cup. Lifting it to his lips he took a careful sip and discovered that it was even sweetened just the way he liked it. Damn.

He quickly changed into his own clothes again, not caring that he was doing it in the middle of Harry's living room. Draining the last of his coffee he scribbled a quick 'thank you' on the back of a napkin and left via floo, taking his other shirt with him.

--

It was pouring rain outside; the kind that could only be described as horizontal. The two wizards stood by the door of the office and stared into the sheets of wetness. Draco huddled in his coat and even Harry had his shoulders hunched.

"We'll have to drive the route today," he said.

"Why?" Draco asked. "Water repellent charms and heating spells should do the trick."

The brunette shook his head. "The wind is too strong and any second it's going to become a thunder storm." As if on cue rolling thunder washed across them. Harry raised his eyebrows and held one hand in front of him, palm up. "See?"

Draco huffed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, let's get this over with then."

--

Harry drummed out a steady beat on the steering wheel, waiting for the streetlight to change. Beside him, Draco was playing with the buttons, mainly the one for the window. He let it slide down for the hundredth time, rain flying into the car and ruining Harry's upholstery. The dark-haired wizard reached over to his left and pushed the auto-lock button, putting an end to the button pushing when the window was closed again.

Draco blinked at the button, pushing it up and down frantically. "Uh, Potter," he finally said. "I think I broke you window."

"You didn't. I auto-locked it. Finally!" The light had turned green and Harry shot through the intersection.

He played with the radio, but only received static. This is going to be another long night, he thought, turning the radio off again. He pulled into a side street and slowed the car down, unlocking the windows and lowering his. "You might want to place those water repellent charms on yourself," he said, sticking his wand out the window and casting a spell over it. "You'll be doing a lot of walking."

Draco grumbled but cast the spell anyways. He grabbed a newspaper and looked at the house they had stopped in front of. "Porch, right?" Harry nodded. With a sigh the blond opened the door, stepped into the rain, and made a mad dash for the house.

"Close the damn door!" Harry shouted after him. "You're ruining my car!"

Draco ran back, hopped into the car and smirked. "I think that's the first time I heard you speak so fondly of anything," he teased.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Then you obviously never heard any of the things I say when you weren't around."

Before Draco could reply, the car stopped again and he had to get back out. Harry watched him dash up to the next porch. Just talk to him, a voice that sounded a lot like Hermione said in the back of his head. He shook his head violently to dislodge the babbling.

"Are you having some sort of episode?" Draco asked, sliding back into the car.

Harry nearly hit a mailbox in his frustration. "Just shut up and do your job."

--

Draco tapped a leftover newspaper against his leg. He stared at the red light and wondered yet again why Harry couldn't just drive past it anyways; it wasn't like there was anyone else on the street. He wasn't sure why Harry had agreed to drive him home, and he didn't really care; flying in that rain would have been a bitch.

"Why?" Harry suddenly asked him, keeping his eyes trained ahead.

Draco furrowed his eyebrows. "Why, what?" he asked.

"You know damn well what," Harry growled. "Why the hell did you fuck me over like that? I thought we had a good thing going."

The light bulb went off in Draco's head. "We did," he said. "And I told you before, I hadn't meant to. But you never gave me the chance to explain."

Harry laughed humorously. He glanced over at the blond and Draco sucked in a breath. If looks could kill he was sure he would have dropped dead right then. "And what explanation would you have given me, pray tell?" he asked. "That it wasn't what it looked like? That it was a mistake? That you loved me and had never meant to hurt me?"

Draco gulped. Where the hell is this coming from? he thought. "Well… yes, but–"

"Are you kidding me?" Harry nearly shouted. "You, prince of eloquence, would have used the biggest clichés in modern language? I may have expected something like that from Boot, Thomas, or Nott. But not from you."

Draco sat in the passenger seat, dumbstruck, staring out the windshield, only vaguely noting that Harry had shot through the last three red lights. With a deep breath he faced the other wizard, straining against the seat belt.

"And what would you have me say?" he asked. "They may be clichés but they were accurate. I did love you, and never meant to hurt you. Hell, I still love you. It was a stupid mistake, and I regret it every damn day. What else do you want from me?"

Harry turned a corner too sharply, sending Draco forward, his nose colliding with the stick shift. "How about," he ground out between clenched teeth. "An actual explanation, and a decent apology?"

Draco straightened up, wiggling his nose to make sure it wasn't broken. "Fine. I'm sorry, okay? I have never been sorrier about anything in my life. I was drunk and he was just kind of there. And he looked so much like you… and you were never around–"

Harry slammed on the breaks. The blond jerked to the side, nearly hitting his head on the dashboard. Beside him, Harry was gripping the wheel until his knuckles turned white. He turned his head slightly to look at Draco, mouth set in a hard line.

"Are you trying to tell me it was my fault?" he asked, voice cold and even.

"Wha – no! Of course not. But you were always so busy with your damned Auror training. You were gone for three bloody months for Merlin's sake. Zabini thought it would be a good idea to go out and have a drink; get me out of the flat. And suddenly I was drunk, and Davies was just there, and he looked so much like you… And I'm sorry, okay?! Gods Harry, what the fuck else do you want? Shall I go get down on my knees and beg and plead before the Chosen One? Would you like that? Well, you can forget it. I realized that I fucked up, but I'll be damned if I bow down before you!"

The car was silent. Harry flexed his hands. He licked his lips and nodded once. "Get out," he whispered. But Draco didn't move. "I said, get the fuck out of my car, Malfoy." The passenger side door opened by itself, letting sheets of rain in.

Draco glared at Harry. "Gladly."

As he slid out of the car he took one last look at Harry and slammed the door shut. He flipped the collar of his coat up and stormed off down the street. Behind him the car jumped back into gear and sped down the street, spraying gravel into the air. He kicked a can out of the way and yelled, "Fuck!"

--

Harry rolled over in his bed, wishing hangovers didn't hurt that much. His head was pounding out a steady beat, keeping time with the idiot that was pounding on his door. Running a hand over his eyes, he swung his legs over the side of his bed, perched his glasses on his nose and padded down the hallway.

"Alright, alright, I'm comin'." he yelled. The knocking thankfully stopped.

He wrenched the door open, to the smiling face of Hermione. "Oh good, you're awake," she said happily, bustling into his flat.

He shut the door with a kick of his foot. "How could I not be? You've been pounding on my door for the last five minutes. 'Mione, why are you here?"

"I came to check on you. I heard last night didn't go over very well," she explained, depositing a tray of coffee and bag of bagels on the kitchen counter. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." Harry popped the top off one of the cups and took in a deep breath. It smelled delicious. Hopping onto the counter he took out a bagel, bit into the warm, soft bread and closed his eyes. Heaven.

"Really? 'Cause Draco is a bit… beside himself," Hermione said. She had the second cup raised in front of her lips, eyebrows raised.

Harry nearly chocked on the bite he was swallowing. Hermione rushed forward, pounding on his back until he raised his hand and began to breathe somewhat normally again.

"And you know this how?" he croaked.

"He, uh, send me an owl this morning. Wanted to know what he should do. He said he still cared about you and was sure he had really messed things up."

Harry's shoulders slumped. It wasn't like Malfoy to ask Hermione for help, no matter what it was about. The Slytherin was too proud for that. He chewed on his bottom lip, deep in thought.

"He said that?" Hermione nodded. Harry frowned and looked into his cup. "Then maybe he shouldn't have said those things this morning. God, all I wanted out of him was an apology and he gets all bitchy."

Hermione frowned, crossing her arms at her chest, the coffee forgotten. "Well, it's not like you were being very nice about the whole thing. Jumping down the poor guy's throat like that."

Harry blinked at her. "Whose side are you on? Malfoy insulted me, and made it sound like the whole thing was my fault."

Hermione glared at him. She took a step forward and said, "Had you listened to me the first time instead of storming off, I wouldn't have had to insult you this morning! Gods Harry, you are so hot headed it's nearly impossible to talk to you sometimes."

Harry blinked at his best friends again, totally confused. "Wha—"

But she pressed on. "Furthermore, you chose the worst time to have this talk. I thought it would be over coffee or something, or at least somewhere where I didn't have to worry about getting my head bashed in by your fucking dashboard!"

"What the hell are you talking about Hermione? Have you completely lost…" Harry trailed off, watching Hermione's bushy, brown hair straighten out and turn blond. Platinum blond. "You didn't."

"Oh, I did," Hermione squealed, her voice becoming deeper and deeper. "Because this was going to be the only way that I would be able to talk to you."

Harry watched as Hermione's soft features turned more masculine, her hair shrinking to sit in neat spikes on her head. Malfoy stood before him proudly, arms still crossed over his chest, looking a bit ridiculous in the feminine robes.

"I don't believe you. How dare you polyjuice into my friends just to talk to me?"

"Because otherwise you wouldn't have listened. And I needed to talk to you. I want to set things right."

Harry snorted. He folded his hands under his chest and leaned backwards until he rested against he cabinet behind him. With raised eyebrows he said, "Go on then."

Draco licked his lips, unsure where to begin. Taking a deep breath he plunged in, head first. "You can't imagine how sorry I am. Like I said, I was drunk and Davies looked too much like you. I missed you like crazy, Harry. You were always gone on your little Auror training missions." He held up a hand to stop the words that Harry was about to utter. "Let me finish. If I had a time turner I would go back and change it, I swear. But I can't. I won't ask you to forgive and forget; I just wanted to deliver that apology you wanted." He pressed his lips together and nodded. "I'll see myself out."

Harry sat on the counter, staring down at the floor. He saw Draco's shoes walk past him, felt the brush of robes against his knees. With a determined huff he jumped off the counter and followed the blond out into the living room. But he was already gone, the front door softly clicking shut.

--

One leg languidly flung over the armchairs armrest swung back and forth in time with the ticking clock. The flat was otherwise silent. Harry's head was tilted back at an uncomfortable angle, but he didn't notice it much. His thoughts were elsewhere anyways; mainly with a certain blond.

Because otherwise you wouldn't have listened. Malfoy had told him.

Harry frowned and sank deeper into the cushion of the armchair. "I would have too listened," he muttered underneath his breath. "How can he just assume that?"

I missed you like crazy, Harry.

"I was gone a lot. No," Harry huffed, shaking his head and sitting up quickly. "This was not my fault. And I am not going to start thinking that maybe it was."

He stormed off into the kitchen, sure that something needed cleaning. His eyes fell on the remaining coffee and bagels. With an angry swipe of his arm he threw them into the trashcan. It was ridiculous. He hadn't thought about Draco in months and suddenly traces of him where everywhere.

…I would go back and change it, I swear. But I can't.

Harry walked into the bedroom and rummaged through his armoire. Once fully dressed, he picked up his broom and invisibility cloak. Swinging the cloak over his shoulders he opened the patio door, stepped onto the landing and locked the door again behind him. He kicked off. The promise of even more rain hung in the muggy June air.

He smiled as he shot high into the air, letting his feet brush over the treetops. Flying would clear his mind; it always did.

I still love you. Malfoy's' voice continued, undeterred by the flying.

"I still love you too," he whispered. With new determination, he turned his broom around and flew in the direction of Diagon Alley.

--

Draco sat behind his desk at Gringotts, doodling little swirls in the margins of his ledger. One of the goblins walked passed him, patting his back in reassurance. Suddenly a thick file landed on his ledger and quill. He looked up into the scowling face of his supervisor.

"Malfoy, I thought I had told you to take time off," the wizard said. "What are you doing here?"

"I know. I just wanted to drop something off and… lost track of time."

The wizard nodded. He pointed at the file and said, "Take this home with you. It's the Auror department's funding budget. It needs looking at." With that he turned around and strode away.

Draco pulled the file closer and flipped it open, and groaned. Tiny, crammed handwriting ran across page after page, labeling random expenses. Arrows pointed from one column to the next, running over the top of sentence, and making a general mess of things. Letting the file fall shut, he leaned back in his chair, eyes closed. Suddenly the chair tipped back even further. Draco yelped and tore his eyes open; only to look into a pair of emerald green eyes hovering above him.

"You're an arrogant, evil, sadistic, bastard. But damn it if I don't love that about you," Harry said before he leaned down, pressing his lips to Draco's.

"What are you doing here?" the blond asked against Harry's lips when they parted.

"Looking for you. You're right, I'm not going to forgive and forget, but I would like to try again," Harry said, smiling down at the blond.

Draco suppressed a laugh, instead wrapping his arms around Harry's neck to draw him down for another kiss. "I'd like that."