Complications

Chapter Seven

Granted, running away again probably wasn't the best thing to do. Not only did he run away, but he ran straight out of the country. Well not ran, but Apparated. However he did have a good excuse for it. A job offer which arrived for him by owl post the very next morning. Of course he jumped on it. Going away for a job would do well to help him get his priorities back into perspective and keep meddling Slytherins from scrambling away his control.

And he did send an owl to Marvolo explaining his hasty departure, so it wasn't like he left without a word to anyone. He figured if he just left without saying anything he would have erased any civility Marvolo was hanging onto. They were still in the midst of peace talks after all. He didn't want to mess that up despite his panicky state.

"Not panicking," he muttered quietly to himself as he carefully made his way down a dim lit corridor, aware that the floor could be booby trapped.

He was a good curse breaker, well trained, and had loads of experience under his belt from the last five years, but after it was all over, Harry realized he should never have taken this job. He didn't have the right mindset. He couldn't focus. So he shouldn't have been half as surprised as he was when he walked right through a ward he should have picked up on. He only noticed when the ground and walls started shaking around him.

Harry's eyes widened as the walls ahead of him started to explode out, covering the path with large chunks of stone. He spun around and started running for the safety of the open hall in the opposite direction. But the corridor was a long one and he had already walked half of it. And then it got worse. The walls at the beginning started to explode out, so now both sides were blocked and there were no other passages leading out. He was fucked. Clearly so when he tried Apparating and that didn't work.

"Shit," he muttered and brought his wand up, quickly murmuring a spell for himself, trying to bury himself with as much protection as he could before the exploding bits reached him. He dropped to his stomach and wrapped his arms around his head and prayed this wasn't going to be as bad as he thought it would be.

"Potter!"

Harry's eyes opened and he bit back a groan. Then he mentally thanked the heavens he was still alive, though now he was covered in who knew how much heavy rubble. And now he also felt like an incompetent berk. "Stupid," he muttered to himself and tried to move and found he couldn't. At least his spells had protected him somewhat. He felt bruised and battered but nothing felt broken. The clothes he wore for curse breaking also probably helped out a great deal.

"Harry Potter?! Are you down there? You're not dead, are you?"

Harry sucked in a breath when hearing that voice. And then he felt like moaning in annoyance. This was the last person he wanted to see…ever. Why would Dafrey send this bloody wanker? Dafrey knew!

"I'm here," he called back even though he loathed doing so.

It was procedure for the guild. The curse breaking guild he'd joined after finishing his training and being certified. It was one of the things he liked about it. If a curse breaker got into some sort of trouble on a job, the Guild Master- Dafrey- was immediately alerted and another of the guild was sent out to help… or to collect the body and finish the job. Dafrey sent fucking Myles. He hadn't seen Myles in four bloody years.

"Harry," laughed Myles. "Whatever have you done now?"

"What does it look like?" he snapped back. "Are you going to help or stand there all day laughing?"

Julian Myles did not immediately reply, but Harry could hear him moving around, picking his way through the rubble, whistling at the damage done.

"You were much better than this the last I saw you."

Harry kept his mouth closed. The less he said to this bastard, the better. At this moment, he wished he'd never left home at all. Actually he would rather stay under all this rock than have to face Myles again. Unfortunately Myles quickly got to work and soon Harry was able to move, sitting up to look around. The entire corridor was full of rock, up to his knees. He ignored the hand held out to him and climbed to his feet on shaky legs.

"Thanks," he grudgingly said.

"Harry, you're looking good. Aside from the few gashes to your face, and the blood."

"Bite me," he ground out.

"An invitation?"

Harry scowled. "Never again." Clearly Myles hadn't changed a bit. And when Harry finally faced him directly, he wasn't really surprised to see he looked exactly the same as well. Handsome to a T and knowing full well that he was. Arrogant and patronizing. Not a loyal bone in his body… and what the hell had he ever seen in this bugger? Aside from the killer blue eyes and dark blond hair, Myles really had nothing going for him. His personality lacked everything. "Excuse me."

Harry gingerly picked his way through the rubble, thankful that at least this had been the last of his trek through the 'haunted mansion'. He'd already broken a dozen curses throughout the place so he could just leave now and go to Dafrey, kill the bastard for sending Myles of all people, and then go home.

Thankfully as Myles followed him out of the place, he remained silent. Once outside, Harry aimed his wand at the doorway and marked the estate clean. Then he spun on the spot and Apparated straight to Guild headquarters located in Berlin. It was downtown Berlin and quite out in the open, the shop. It looked like any business office until you walked in and then it became clear you were in a magical establishment unless you were muggle. Then it still resembled a muggle office.

Harry entered the building and then barged straight into Dafrey's office, ignoring Miranda- Dafrey's secretary- who tried to block his way.

Dafrey was in the middle of speaking to two curse breakers when he came in. The Guild Master immediately jumped to his feet and held up his hands to ward off the furious look on Harry's face.

"Harry! You're alright!"

"You unbelievable rotten wanker! How could you send him? Why would you do that?" he shouted.

Dafrey then hurriedly shooed out the other curse breakers and once they were alone and the door shut, Dafrey immediately tried to defend himself. "Harry, I didn't really have a choice!"

"You're the bloody Guild Master, Dafrey! Of course you had a choice!"

"He was in here for an assignment! He heard the alert and demanded he be the one sent!"

"YOU COULD HAVE SAID NO!"

"He left after you before I could really say anything on the contrary. Please believe me. I would never have done it on purpose."

"I never wanted to see him again. I told you that."

"Harry, I really am sorry, but maybe it's time to let it go. It's been four years…"

Harry raised a hand and the look of fury on his face made the older wizard gulp in fear. "He betrayed me, took advantage of my trust and my name. He used me, Dafrey, and probably fucked all of France behind my bloody back!"

Dafrey sighed and nodded. "You're right. You're right, Harry. I just don't like to see you alone."

"I'm fine on my own."

"No, you're not. You never have been. You can keep denying it, but that's not the kind of person you are. No matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to make yourself that cold."

Harry swiftly turned around and aimed for the door. "Just make sure you send my payment to Gringotts, Dafrey."

As he left the building and aimed for the designated Apparition point in the nearby alley, Harry shook his head in annoyance. Well this job did the exact opposite of what it was meant to do. Calm him down. Now he was more upset than when he'd left home.

"Harry." A hand attached to his arm before he could concentrate on Apparating.

He yanked his arm away and tried to keep from raising his wand to blast a hole in Julian's chest as the wizard moved to stand before him. "Do not touch me again," he said evenly. "You don't have that right anymore."

Julian stood there, studying his face. His eyes were so damn intense. "Harry I thought we could go and have a cup. Reacquaint. It's been too long since we've last spoken."

"Not an accident." The fact that this wizard was acting like everything was sunshine and daisies with them. That he hadn't actually broken Harry's heart in a thousand horrible ways… Harry wanted to kill him. "I don't want to sit down anywhere with you, Myles."

Julian frowned. "You aren't still mad about what happened in Paris, are you? It was Paris! The city of love. La ville de l'amour! You're still overreacting. I asked if you wanted to join."

Harry gaped at him. "After I caught you! After you dragged my name through the mud! After you made me a laughing stock of everyone we knew!"

"I've missed you, Harry," Julian softly whispered, moving closer. "And it seems the years have been good to you," he stated, his blue eyes roaming up and down Harry's body. "We had a lot of fun, didn't we? We could have so much more."

Harry stepped way back and raised his wand. He seriously hated this bloke. Just before Apparating away, he hoped he never saw Myles again.

He landed in his yard and dropped to his knees, trying to pull in calming gulps of air. It wasn't really working. Harry clenched his jaw tight in frustration. "The nerve of some people," he spat as he climbed to his feet.

He really should have known better. About Myles. Even back then he should have known better. Anything in regard to their relationship had been treated with an abundance of annoying casualness. Even when Myles seemed sincere with his declarations, Harry had always felt this air of casual coming from him. Not really as important. The relationship had never been as important to Myles as it had to him. Harry wished he would have figured that out right from the start. And he knew he was the idiot not to have seen it. To have believed everything the bastard ever said. "Naive sod," he muttered to himself.

Harry straightened up his backbone and headed inside, whistling for Hedwig as he did so. He would not be doing this again. Giving Julian Myles even a second more of his time. And at least Myles could never find him here. He doubted very much Myles had the contacts and resources Marvolo had. That was the only reason why Voldemort found his home the first time.

Stopping just inside the kitchen, he grabbed the back of one of the wooden chairs and took a second to shut his eyes and just breathe in. Strangely that helped. And then he kind of smiled when he realized he was happy to be back home. His home. It was a nice feeling.

A quick hoot and the rush of wings brought Harry back to the matter at hand. He went over to the corner of the counter where he kept some parchment paper, a quill and ink, and wrote off a quick, "I'm home." He dried it, rolled it up, and handed it to Hedwig.

"To Marvolo, Hedwig. Quick as you can. I don't imagine he was pleased with me for just popping off."

Hedwig hooted in such a way that it seemed she was agreeing with him. Harry watched her fly away before going into the sitting room and crossing to the cold fire place. He crouched down to gather up the post mail which had been dropped off during his absence. There was more than he anticipated. But… several were of the same parchment. Harry grimaced. He knew who those were from. Leave it Marvolo to send him letters of annoyance even when he knew Harry wasn't home.

Instead of opening any of it, he set them on the coffee table and headed upstairs for a much needed wash. He didn't think about Myles after that. He spent his bath thinking about what he was going to make for dinner. And then when he was making a meal, he spent much of the time thinking about Marvolo and Snape. After dinner the previous week, and after Anna had been given her ice cream, Draco told him what memory it was the Dark Lord took from him, what he'd been aiming for by Obliviating Draco.

He thought it was a pity he couldn't remember the look on Marvolo's face upon finally realizing who it was. Draco had said there was a lot of disbelief. That made sense. And then Draco had said the Dark Lord then ran away. Left without saying anything to anyone. He hoped that was true. He hoped Marvolo wouldn't use this against Professor Snape.

Throughout dinner, Harry's eyes would be drawn across the kitchen and peer into the hall as if he could see the front door. He fully expected to receive a visitor. This time the raving lunatic version. But by the time he was done with dinner and settled down into his sitting room with the latest Darric Mills novel, no one had come. And by the time he was going to bed, and still no visitor, Harry was startled to realize he was disappointed.

This went on for a few days, where he didn't hear from anyone other than Ron or Hermione, and that was only brief Floo calls. And he should have been happy with that. Happy there wasn't an immediate Slytherin takeover. Harry shook his head at himself. But he wasn't happy about it and he really couldn't say why.

He was once again back on the roof, finishing the retiling as there were some storms brewing. These storms were promising to be brutal. He wanted to be finished with the roof before then.

"Finally back, I see."

Harry didn't fall off the roof but it was a close thing and still all he could do was grin at the blond standing below in the lawn.

"Wasn't gone for long," Harry replied as he carefully traversed the roof to the other side where a ladder was set up. Draco walked along the side of the cottage with him. Wand in hand and narrowed eyes on him. "Besides, it was a job. I never turn down a job."

It wasn't until Harry was on the ground did the wand get stowed and the narrow eyes disappeared. Harry rolled his. "I wasn't going to fall off!" Draco snorted and then smirked at Harry's indignant expression. "What brings you here?"

"You."

Harry frowned and cleared his throat. Not at all comfortable with how that immediately made him feel. "Hmm."

He missed the quick grin flashing across Draco's face as his eyes had immediately avoided Draco's and skirted around to stare at the cottage.

"I've brought you this," Draco elaborated, holding up a rolled parchment. "Another writ."

And now disappointment. "You could have just owled it."

"I was told to check up on you."

"I… I see. Well." Harry snatched the writ out of Draco's hand. "As you can see, this grown man is fine and can take care of himself."

"Only following orders, Harry."

"Brilliant." Draco nodded. "So was that it?" he demanded, pissed off and not exactly sure why. Draco's knowing smirk wasn't helping.

"Still working on your roof?"

"Sorry?"

Draco gestured up to where he first saw Harry hunched over working. "Your roof."

"Oh. Yeah. Only a little more to go. I'll probably finish before tonight. The storms, you know?"

The blond frowned. "How much do you have left?"

"Just a small section. Like I said, it could be finished before tonight."

"We could finish it now," Draco suggested as he moved off back towards the ladder. He'd unbuttoned and drew off his travel robe before Harry could understand what he was about.

"Wait—hold on!" he sputtered out when that robe was tossed at him and now Draco was rolling up the sleeves of his sweater. He was in jeans again. Imagine all the difference a dress robe could make. It should be illegal for Draco Malfoy to obscure his form by blasted robes. "Wait! You're not serious?!"

Draco didn't answer until he was on the roof and quirked a challenging eyebrow. Then he turned around and quickly disappeared from sight. Harry inhaled a breath and started to quickly climb. "Be careful! Don't fall, Malfoy!"

He wasn't answered until he got to the top. Draco was there waiting for him, crouched down. "Did you honestly just say that to me? You?"

"It was a freak accident! Could happen to anyone!"

"But it didn't happen to just anyone, did it?"

Harry gnashed his teeth together and contemplated throwing himself off his own roof. That would show them. Right?

"Show me what you're doing here?" Draco called over his shoulder and Harry looked to see Draco had moved to the section he'd been at when the blond first called out to him.

"Really, there's no need. I've got it… Do you even know how to do this?" his tone suggested not and Draco glared at him.

"Potter, I can do anything you can do."

"Not a very mature response." And something the old Draco would have said and still it made Harry smile broadly. "Don't complain to me when you break a nail or something."

He laughed at the incensed glare he received.

"That went really well!" Harry exclaimed a few hours later as he slowly walked the roof, eyeing each section critically.

"No need to sound terribly shocked," Draco returned dryly as he stood and dusted his hands off a little.

"I honestly didn't think you knew how to use a hammer."

"Potter…"

Harry laughed once more at the annoyance in those eyes and then he shook his head. "No, really. Draco. Thanks."

"You can thank me by making dinner."

Harry didn't even think twice about it. "Sure. Sounds good." He was nodding and smiling obliviously and Draco just wanted to eat him up.

"I'll pop home and get washed up."

"Erm… you don't have to leave to do it. I've uh… I've got a guest room with a washroom connected. You can use that if you want."

Harry was already descending the ladder before he'd even finished speaking and it seemed as if he weren't going to take no for an answer.

"Have you seen them lately? Voldemort and the professor?" Harry asked the moment Draco joined him in the kitchen.

"Yes. Why?"

"Was he… is he being mean to Snape?"

"No more than usual… perhaps less so."

"Less?"

"He's a lot quieter with Severus around, now that I think about it?"

That wasn't really encouraging news. Harry grabbed up the writ and unsealed it to look for the date of the next meeting. "Tomorrow?"

"You've been gone a week and a half."

"I've been back for two days. Haven't heard a word."

"Nevertheless, he's not going to purposely seem anxious even though that is exactly what was happening when you just suddenly left again."

"I didn't leave without giving word first," Harry muttered.

"You ran away."

"Bugger off, Malfoy! I did no such thing!"

"You can deny it all you want, but that is exactly what you did."

"Up the stairs!" he snapped. "First left, down that hall, last room!"

Draco nodded, again with that infuriating smirk, and walked out of the kitchen. Harry blew out a breath and went to the sink to wash his hands. He then went about gathering the ingredients for dinner and setting that out before going up to take his own shower.

"Potter!"

He paused as he was passing that first hall to see Draco leaning out of the room. Clearly Draco had no sort of shirt on. Harry kept his eyes pinned on Draco's hair. "Yeah?"

"Does your cat make it a mission to invade people's privacy? He's sitting in here just staring at me. Won't leave the bathroom."

"Just kick him out."

"Now why didn't I think of that," Draco drawled. His brows dashed down in annoyance. "His claws are sharp. Get him out of here."

Harry detoured down that hall. Draco disappeared so he was able to take a steady breath. He was kind of wishing he had taken a better look. And then when he was at the room, it was to find Draco standing just inside. In fact, Harry had to brush by him to get into the room. He was almost sure Draco did that on purpose. Not to say he didn't enjoy the view, because he so did.

"Bast," he hissed at the cat, who sat in front of the bathroom, looking innocent and washing himself. As he went to pick his cat up, he noticed his hands were shaking. Not surprising. He was severely uncomfortable.

Draco frowned when he noticed this. Also noticed the wide panicked eyes too before Harry hid his face against Bast's fur as he quickly left the room. "Who the hell did this to you?" he hissed once Harry had hurried away out of the room and shut the door firmly behind him. Harry may have always been uncomfortable around people and in a social setting, but he'd never been scared of people. Draco knew that much. Clearly this was going to be more difficult than he imagined. He would need to be more delicate. As he turned back to the bathroom, he shrugged. He wasn't afraid of hard work, he had patience, and in the end, it would be worth it.

The writ transported him to an alleyway. Harry frowned. Did he get dressed up for nothing?

"This way, Potter."

Harry turned around to find Draco standing at the end of the alley. A muggle car flew past behind him. "Where are we?"

"Really? You've been gone a while but surely you remember."

Harry walked to him and then peered out onto the street. Oh. They were right outside the Ministry of Magic. He turned back to Draco but the blond was already walking down the sidewalk to the phone booth. Harry eyed his back in annoyance. Something seemed off. Or at least, Draco seemed off. With him. He was being standoffish. All through dinner last night it had been annoying. Like they were only associates or something taking a meal during lunch break.

Once in the phone booth, Draco took the necessary actions to get them moving. Harry went to take the visitor's badge that popped out, but Draco grabbed it before he could and crumpled it.

"You don't need one."

"Why here?" he asked once they reached the Atrium.

Draco didn't answer that. Instead he remained still. Looking out of the phone booth glass at the morning's rush of wizards and witches getting to work. It was one of the busiest times in the Ministry and the Atrium was overflowing with people.

More than a little annoyed at being ignored, Harry huffed and wrenched opened the door. But as soon as he stepped out, he was jerked back inside. He rounded on the blond, fully prepared to release some steam, but went very still when Draco lifted his hands to his face and carefully slid his glasses off. He put the spectacles in his front pocket and then grabbed the hood of Harry's cloak to toss it over his hair. Once that was done, he rounded Harry and took the lead.

"Let's go. He's waiting."

"But I can't see anything."

"Just stick close to me, Potter."

That was easier said than done, what with the rivers of witches and wizards rushing about and constantly bumping into him or coming between the two. At one point he lost sight of Draco and froze in place, squinting. Desperately trying to relocate the man and cursing said man for taking his glasses. He felt his breath hitch. He was surrounded by people. And they would start to recognize him at any moment.

He nearly started to panic when he realized that's why Draco had taken his glasses and pulled up his hood. So people wouldn't recognize him. This realization calmed him down immensely and he even had a smile on his face when his arm was suddenly grabbed and Draco was there in front of him, glaring. The glare didn't faze him at all.

"I told you to stick close."

Harry continued to smile. "Sorry."

He didn't even stop smiling when Draco turned away, still with his arm in hand, and began to lead him to the lifts like a child. They had a wait for their turn to a lift and Harry turned to look out across the Atrium. He wished he could see it clearly. "Is it different? Has he changed it?"

"Only a little," Draco responded quietly. "But he can't exactly make it obvious as to who he really is, can he?"

Harry turned to him. "Do you work here?"

Draco smirked. "Sometimes. But it's not my day job."

A lift became available and Draco tugged him into it and soon they were heading to Level 1. "Minister of Magic offices and Support Staff," the disembodied voice chimed just before the doors slid open.

The hall was enormous. Even without his glasses Harry could see that. The center of the level was comprised of rows and rows of desks. Most had people sitting at these desks working, though there were always people rushing to and fro between the aisles. From the lifts, he was led around this nest of desks towards the back where the enclosed offices were located.

They went to the great mahogany door dead center of the row of doors. Draco opened the door and waved Harry to precede him. Harry expected to walk into an office. But it was another hallway. Tall vaulted ceiling, warm wood on each side. The floor was a dark purple and very soft carpet. "This should be blood colored," he said of the carpet.

Draco may have snorted, but Harry couldn't be sure. The blond went back to leading him. Down the hall, past several other doors and to the door at the very end. A bronze plaque hung on this door announcing it was the Office of Marius Ravharrow, Minister of Magic. They walked in to be immediately faced with a wizard at a desk. Empty chairs lined the walls in this office. Draco ignored the wizard and led Harry to the door behind this wizard. The bloke took one look at them, at Draco, and then went back to his work. So Draco's appearance in the Minister's office wasn't a rare occurrence.

Just before Draco opened the door, he handed Harry back his glasses and pulled the hood back down. "In you go, Potter." He gave Harry a shove and shut the door directly behind, leaving Harry alone with the glaring wizard behind the large ornate desk.

Harry took the seat in front of the desk but remained silent. He didn't know what to say. He kind of felt like a misbehaving child, as crazy as that was. That's what that glare was making him feel like.

"Potter."

"Why's everyone gone back to calling me Potter?" he mumbled in annoyance. "This was punishment, wasn't it? Making me parade through the Ministry."

"Punishment for what?"

Harry clenched his teeth. It was. Marvolo was being a berk. He wasn't going to answer that. "Have you come to a decision? About us being at peace?"

"It's become apparent you can't handle peace."

"That's not true." One dark blond eyebrow raised. "It isn't. That's ridiculous."

"You ran straight off to go break some curses. And nearly got yourself killed in the process."

Harry shot to his feet. "I didn't run away! And how did you know that?"

"You will sit down and keep your voice level, Harry."

Harry only did because of the use of his given name. Not the barely there patience in Marvolo's tone. "How did you know that?" he asked again. He hadn't told anyone about that part of his trip. It took him several minutes of silence to figure it out. "Bloody Dafrey."

"Did you really think I didn't keep tabs on you during your five year absence?"

"Time to change Guilds." Which was a shame because this guild paid a lot and always had the best jobs.

"Not that that would make a difference."

"It would in regards to some things."

"Ah, yes. This Myles character."

Harry's nostrils flared. "Dafrey is going to die."

"It's not as if he had a choice… Do you know it gives me delightful shivers to hear you say that so seriously and to know you mean it wholeheartedly."

Harry felt a bubble of laughter trying to make its escape. He clenched his teeth together and turned away to look out of the window. He snorted. Marvolo would have it depict a torrential storm.

"Did you love him?"

Harry's eyes snapped back to him. His eyes mirrored the storm out of the window. Marvolo witnessed the pain and humiliation before Harry masked it. "Love is foolish. Pointless. A waste of fucking time. This conversation also seems to be a waste of fucking time. Can we cut the bloody chatter and get to business?"

"Seven years ago you would have never said something like that, let alone think it."

"Guess that's what war does to a person. And what do you care anyway?"

"I want to know why you've let yourself become so defeated."

"No one has defeated me," Harry replied lowly. "I'm fine."

The Minister's eyes bled red and he stood. "This meeting is over. I suggest you leave now."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise and then they narrowed. "If that is your wish."

Marvolo watched Harry storm from his office before letting his eyes travel to his window. He didn't want to know this Potter. This child who was a shadow to his former self. It couldn't have been just a failed relationship to have done this. What exactly happened to make Harry leave Britain in the first place, to leave everyone he knew behind to travel the world? To decide the world wasn't worth fighting for. It wasn't just his distaste for war either. What happened?

A/N: Updated, yay! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did let me know. More to come soon. Have a great day! :D