"I knew it," a beaming Harry Potter said. "I knew it would be that green Porsche. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!"
Harry and the dashing Draco were back in the car once again, travelling down the motorway as quick as a blur in the dark of the night. The two had come back from the secluded main office responsible for the manufacturing of the limited edition Green-Porsche Charm Z50, released around three years after making only thirty models. One of those cars was worth more than half of Draco's entire estate.
The pair had agreed to travel back to the ministry so that Draco could floo home; he did not like apparating.
"Brilliant," Harry continued, smiling over their triumph of discovering Labro did in fact own one of these beautiful cars.
Not that he would tell Draco but he had been beginning to panic since he had felt like the case was going nowhere. Harry Potter was over twenty-four hours into the high profile investigation and the two of them had found out nothing significant. Harry had spent the entire night researching and checking all airports and international floo security checks, causing him to oversleep this morning and completely forget he was promptly needed at work. The Auror had gone through every muggle and wizarding hotel's registration in the whole of London and West Midlands, where it was believed Labro had distant relatives. The French minister had definitely not checked into any local accommodations. Draco had found no unsual bank transactions between Gringotts or Banque D'ensorcellement, the only wizarding bank in Paris.
The news about the Labro owning and still using the car was the only piece of information they had on Labro's domestic life that they possibly could use. "It'll be easy to track him down now, Malfoy." It was an optimistic thing for Harry to say, but he said it none the less.
Draco smiled and did not voice his concerns; 'Did cases always take this long?' Draco thought.
"You get all the answers you need, don't you Harry?" Draco teased.
Harry's grin faded as he pondered. "That's not true. I don't get a straight answer from everyone." Harry looked at Draco pointedly, his meaning clear on his face. Draco was thankful that the minimal light coming from the lamp posts did not expose his blush as he looked out the window. It cannot be denied that Draco liked to be vague and baffling to Potter.
There was a moment's silence. The car swerved out of the motorway and into dark secluded streets, the sound of invaded gravel and tyres pushing through the boundaries. "What are going to do when you get home?" Draco asked eventually, looking at Harry only briefly before looking out the window again.
"…I don't know. Probably just have something to eat and go to bed. You?" Harry questioned politely.
"About the same." Draco muttered.
Harry gulped and felt goosebumps press against the sleeves on his shirt as a small discomfort in the pit of his stomach stirred; the air of something left unsaid unsettled him. Which one of them had forgot to add something to their answer?
"Aren't you seeing that boyfriend of yours?" Harry asked, feeling the need to speak stunt his judgement on what would be appropriate to say. His eyebrows tensed slightly as he waited for his reply.
The question caught Draco off guard. "Who?" he snapped, genuinely shocked and confused.
Harry then looked just as baffled. "Urrr…what's-his-name...Mitchell?"
And then it dawned on to Draco. Blood flooded back up the Draco's face as he thought, 'Michael Westwood…my fictional character.' He then wondered what he should tell the Auror.
'Oh to hell with it.'
"…I made him up," Draco said quickly after hesitating slightly, his cheeks burning even more with embarrassment.
Surprisingly, Harry chuckled and asked, "Why?"
If Draco had thought he was taken aback before, it was nothing to how surprised he felt now. The blonde stammered, wishing the car seat would swallow him as the X5 drove through the night. "Because…I…I…you know, I-"
"-You have odd ways of getting my attention, Draco." Harry cut in, his smile still resting on his face as he watched the faint roads ahead. Harry heard Draco inhale and exhale raggedly.
"…I always want your attention, Potter." Draco's now quiet voice said.
A serious look had moulded onto Draco's face, watching patiently as Harry stared at the road. The accountant's heart collided against his rib case repeatedly when he noticed Harry's smile fade. Only then it dawned on Draco what a huge gamble he had just taken.
The Auror could feel Draco's eyes on him as goosebumps trailed again up his toned arms even more insistently. Where his forearms were exposed, Harry's hairs visibly stood up despite the heating. Harry swallowed nervously, not sure if he was entirely comfortable with where this conversation was heading.
"Can I ask you something, Harry?"
The car slowed down and knocked forward as Harry drove over a speed bump. "Go ahead." Harry said flatly, as he sped up again.
"What happened between you and Ginny Weasley?" Draco asked, watching the driver intently.
Harry did not reply…however his whole posture and the grip on his wheel became oddly stiff.
"Why did you break up?" Draco continued, keeping his voice quite casual with only a hint of eagerness.
Harry frowned and was clearly uncomfortable judging by the way he was stretching his neck and adjusting the hold on the wheel. After a while, the Auror coarsely said, "Umm…can we not talk about this?"
"And you always manage to dismiss it, whenever anyone asks..." Draco said, rolling his eyes.
Harry's jaw jutted out as he gnawed his teeth together but said nothing. Now Draco knew he was pestering Harry but his curiosity overcame the odd feeling that he was trying to enter forbidden territory. The very idea that there was something about Harry's life that Draco did not know about deeply unsettled the accountant. He preferred it as it was in school and in the first few months in the ministry; Draco preferred the days when he was the one who knew everything you possibly could about Harry Potter.
Draco then added, "I…it's a part of your past that I have never been able to understand." The blonde crossed his arms and looked away from Harry who still had not replied to his last question. Draco muttered something about Weasley and Harry seeming so right for each other, disgust etched in his phrasing and voice.
Suddenly, Harry abruptly said, "We weren't."
He was loud and irritated, still staring out onto the streets engulfed by the blind sky. He was driving uncharacteristically quickly now. "Draco," Harry continued, quiet and collected once more. "I do not want to discu-"
"-You've clearly relaxed to the idea of telling me, Harry. You may as well…continue." Draco said, wanting to know desperately. A part of Draco thought, if he found out about this little corner of Harry's life, he would finally be able to understand Harry further and why he was always alone despite his good looks, charms and fame… "Just tell me, Harry."
Harry was fast becoming more infuriated, now that it was clear Draco was not going to stop asking. "It's GONE." Harry boomed.
Draco's eyes widened as he turned his head to the driver, dumbstruck at the shouting.
"It's the PAST." Harry added with thunder in his eyes as he squinted, trying to drive as fast of possible.
Draco gaped at Harry, concerned and surprised. One thing that needs to be understood about Malfoy is that he does not ever mean to make Harry too angry; he just always managed to unintentionally. Draco licked his dry lips as he watched Harry let out a long breath.
"Why would I ever need to 'just tell you'?" Harry asked Draco, looking at him after turning a corner. "We never talk about our past." His eyes narrowed at the accountant as he made his point.
Harry had been slightly stunned at how close Draco's face was to his own when he had turned his head. A violent flip churned in his stomach as he watched Malfoy scan his eyes. Draco's gorgeous sharp features flashed into view in bright orange fluorescence whenever they passed a streetlamp. Harry and Draco looked at each other for several moments, re-visiting memories briefly. The orange glow was like the burn of Fiendfyre. As quick as lightening, it forced it's way in; flashes of broomsticks, fire, screaming, Crabbe, flying, flames, the war, the struggle, the heat, Draco…
"That's different." Draco replied quietly, watching Harry's iris through the round glasses as he separated the orange and searched for that luminous green.
"How is it different?" Harry snapped, changing gear so hard there was a sharp groan as parts moved too fast in the front bonnet.
Draco almost laughed. "Are you trying to convince me that your relationship with the Weaslette was as rocky as ours?" He was looking out the window again, not really able to make anything out of the consistent darkness.
Harry paused before replying with a defeated, "No. It wasn't." The Auror changed to a lower gear when he saw, through his headlamps, that they were nearing the end of a road. "I guess it isn't as extreme." Only temporarily did Harry sound amused before skating back to his serious tone. "That doesn't change the fact it is difficult to talk about."
The car then abruptly stopped, before it could plunge into a main road streaming with cars, looking like floating pairs of lights moving through a black mist. Both men hit the edges of their seatbelts from the force of the halt. Harry tilted his head towards Draco who turned to him also.
"Please try to understand." Harry said.
There was silence between the two while Harry indicated and pulled his black car into the new direction. As he gathered his new found mad speed again, zooming through the dark, he thought to himself. His face then postured into an angry scowl when Draco said nothing. He loathed the silent awkwardness that surfaced between him and Draco after moments like these.
"You always do this, Malfoy." Harry shouted.
Draco jumped at the suddenness of Harry's stupidly loud complaint. "What's wrong now?" he asked, agitated and mirroring Harry's rude tone.
"Come on. Look at us today; we've been getting along fine-" Harry began.
"-Yes, aside from the fact that we have been arguing every few seconds-"
"-But that was alright, that was petty…" Harry said. Draco watched Harry as he spoke. "Now we're…" Harry stopped to glance at Draco, knowing he'd be watching him.
The pair thought in unison, 'And now we're fighting.'
Harry focused back on driving. He took long breaths before speaking quite calmly. "You always dig too deep." As quick as a flash, Harry was angry yet again. "Why can't you keep any of your questions to yourself?"
"I WAS JUST WONDERING." Draco shouted. "…I was trying to make conversation."
"No you weren't, you were being nosey." Harry retorted. "Nosey about something that's a nothing-"
"If it's 'a nothing'" Draco shouted, mocking Harry's low voice. "Why won't you talk about it? It is undeniably clear now this that is a testy subject with some kind of depth to it and I bet it has a lot to do with how irrationally and coldly you can behave sometimes! If it's no big deal, why did you shout at me? Hmm?" Draco was clearly smug about his perceptive argument by now.
"Because-" Harry looked at Draco, extraordinarily annoyed that Draco was shouting back. Malfoy did not sound right shouting… "Because…Because of lots of reasons, Draco!"
The blonde looked away from Harry, rolling his eyes.
"I don't need to tell you about my personal past. Every-…I made a clean start after I broke up with her, okay? I never want to think about her." Harry said, rage clearly possessing him.
It did not go unnoticed to Draco that Harry could not say the Weasley's name out loud.
There was a dragged out pause as Harry drove for what felt like hours, down impersonal, identical roads, each as dark as the next.
"And I thought I was a closed door…" Draco muttered.
The Auror looked at Draco, filled with a strange combination of fresh aggravation, curiosity…and a dab of hurt. 'Why does everything he say bother me?' Harry blushed as he swerved into another lane; only Draco made him that weak.
"I don't know…" Draco said. Harry listened up. He had not expected Draco to carry on speaking. "I just thought because we were…getting along I could…ask you something-…ummm…"
His tone changed back to his usual assertive smug slur. "But clearly I was wrong." He had tried to sound amused but instead sounded bitter.
"You don't always need to plunge deeper, Draco." Harry said. He wanted nothing more than to shut Draco up so he himself would stop feeling slightly guilty for making such a huge fuss out of a quite innocent question. "I think, in terms of how much we know about each other, which is far too much by the way and our…you know…our…"
Draco glanced at Harry, wondering when the Auror had dropped his brain.
Harry shook his head and simply said, "I...We're fine the way we are."
The additional 'simple' comment struck a very loud painful chord within Draco. 'I really wish he had just stopped talking.' The blonde thought. He said nothing as he stared out the window to his left, catching his wounded expression and his slightly sparkling grey eyes in the glass, as they drive past muggle street lights. Draco scowled, hating himself.
After a long deliberation, Draco faced forwards. "What is this?" Draco asked himself more than Harry. "What are we? Friends? Collea-"
"-Why do you need to question that?" The accountant looked at the driver. "…Actually, fuck that. It's everything. Why do you question everything?"
Draco turned away.
"You can't just let things be, Malfoy. I mean, we get along-"
"WE GET ALONG?" Draco shouted, his voice oozing with 'Are you kidding me?' "We get along?" He repeated, crossing his arms in that defiant manor he always had surrounding and poisoning his air. "Sorry, I was just so unaware that we are in fact co-workers who get along so fucking well." Draco finished sarcastically.
"Merlin's. Sake." Harry whispered, running a hand through his hair, wanting to hex Draco into a thousand pieces so he would just shut up about things that Harry tried not to think about.
And yet like feather landing gently onto a surface, the question filtered it's way into the Auror's mind. '…Good question. What are you and Draco exactly then, Harry?'
The X5 screeched to a stop at a red traffic light. The car was now on a street running past the back of a popular restaurant only ten minutes away from the Ministry for Magic phone booth. Usually the street was filled with parked cars but tonight it was empty.
Harry sighed and did something incredibly foolish and pathetic; he pushed the burden of this question to someone else for once, hoping they would give him the answer. "What is it? Are we more than that?" Harry asked quietly, typical rude sarcasm on his tongue despite his sincerity.
Draco said nothing…what could he say to a mean as irritating, argumentative and ridiculously in the dark as Harry Potter?
'Yes.
They were so much more than a 'we get along.'
They were so much more than co-workers, it was almost mad. They were a heated, conflicting combination of familiarity and friction. They were sincere, fresh and undeniably compatible despite the fighting and the wariness on Harry's part.
He's an annoying dumb wanker who I actually can't stand yet I am completely infatuated with him.'
When the accountant made no reply, Harry opened his mouth to argue, probably to call Draco stupid, an insinuating flirt, insane or something along those lines. But his words left him when his ears caught something…
There was a small but clear sound echoing through the inside of the car. How he had failed to notice it before this point was beyond his comprehensiom. Yet there it was.
It was an unmistakeable noise…Tick. Tick. Tick.
Harry's eyes widened in the red, turned orange, turned green light, as he was set ablaze with shock and supreme fear.
There was a bomb in the car.
Note to readers: everything explained okay? Thanks to all the people following the story :D
pleeeeease review :)