10. Malfoys Don't Champion House-elf Rights
"What in Merlin's name is that?"
At the unmistakable sound of Ronald Weasley's voice coming from the living room, Draco looked up from the recently boiled kettle. He was currently standing in the kitchen of his flat, with his wand hovering above various pots and pans.
Draco sighed to himself in exasperation, unsure as to whether he was irritated because he just knew that this was going to be yet another of Weasley's pointless and unnecessary questions, as well as an overreaction to a trivial matter, or if he was exasperated simply because Weasley was in the living room of his flat in the first place.
Surprisingly, Ronald Weasley had visited Draco's flat rather a lot over the past few months, ever since Draco went with Harry to his wedding.
Draco had spent weeks dreading the wedding, but in all honesty, it hadn't been as bad as he had thought that it would be. Of course, there had been the expected uncomfortable stares and whispered comments when he arrived at The Burrow, where the wedding took place, and he had felt like he had to be very careful and keep a respectful distance from certain witches and witches; which is why he chose to sit right at the back during the ceremony, and also the reason why he selected a table hidden away in the corner of the marquee at the wedding reception.
However, certain witches and wizards who he actually got along with had also attended the ceremony, like Astoria and Dennis, and Kingsley Shacklebolt, and even Luna and Rolf Scamander had made an effort to talk to him.
Draco was grateful that Astoria and Dennis joined him at his table in the far corner of the marquee, because Harry had been busy with his best man duties for most of the day, and Draco had encouraged him to spend time mingling with the Weasleys and the other guests, because he had already understood that Harry Potter would be as much a part of the celebrations as his two best friends, and Draco definitely hadn't wanted to create any unnecessary divides or attract even more negative attention if Harry appeared distracted at the event because he was worried about his boyfriend.
It had almost been pleasant, spending an afternoon drinking with Astoria and Dennis, and when Draco made the decision to leave a bit earlier than Harry so that his boyfriend could spend some quality time with his friends and the Weasleys, Draco was very thankful to be able to retreat to the relative safety of Astoria and Dennis's new home for even more drinks.
Even though it hadn't exactly been the best day of his life, he had felt extremely relieved that nothing had gone wrong when he reflected on the event later in the night.
With another sigh, Draco brought his thoughts back to the present as he headed out of the kitchen and towards the living room.
He made sure to fold his arms and to adopt a suitably exasperated expression as he walked into the room, because it wasn't as though he and Weasley were friends now. Not by any means.
The first time Weasley had come to his flat, not long after Harry first made the decision to live with Draco on a more permanent basis, Weasley had arrived with his wife, and it was blatantly obvious that they were both visiting just to spend time with Harry.
However, the second time they visited, Harry and the new Mrs Weasley had spent most of the visit discussing yet another campaign linked to house-elf rights, even though Hermione Weasley no longer worked for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but she apparently still liked to be involved in a lot of its campaigns.
Weasley had looked rather bored throughout the discussion, and he had spent most of the time alternating between gazing out of the living room window and staring at various books and magazines piled up on the coffee table. He had almost looked grateful when Draco handed him a bottle of Butterbeer, no doubt relieved to have yet another distraction.
The third time, another discussion between Hermione Weasley and Harry about Ministry business began, and again Ronald Weasley kept his distance, looking bored and disinterested.
Draco had been a lot quicker that time time in heading to the kitchen, and again Weasley had seemed appreciative when Draco handed him a cup of tea.
The next time, Draco already had the tea ready before Weasley could start to look bored, and he had even let Weasley help himself to a few of Teddy Lupin's leftover Honeydukes sweets from the last time his cousin had stayed with them.
Draco was certain that the two of them had shared a mutual moment of exasperation when they both sort of rolled their eyes at each other just as the discussion about the latest issues within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement got even more enthusiastic. He hadn't been sure whether to feel relieved that he wasn't the only person in the wizarding world who had little interest in the workings of the Ministry of Magic, or if he should have been terrified at the prospect that he and Weasley actually agreed about something.
From then on, Draco always made sure that he had food and drinks and sweets available whenever Ronald and Hermione Weasley came to visit.
Not long after the first few visits, Hermione Weasley suggested that she and Harry take their work 'meeting' to one of the pubs in Hogsmeade for half an hour, as Ronald Weasley had already yawned through most of their conversation.
Draco hadn't even thought about what this would entail until his boyfriend had already left the flat with Hermione in tow and Draco realised with a rush of horror that he would be left on his own with Weasley.
However, although Weasley hadn't exactly looked thrilled by the idea, it wasn't though he had complained about it, either; he had been too busy turning the pages of one of Harry's Quidditch magazines.
Draco suspected that Harry had played a part in planning the whole thing as an excuse to encourage him and Weasley to be more friendly with one another and for them both to share more civilised conversations, and it worked in a way, because he and Weasley did actually manage to talk to one another, even if the discussion mainly involved a lot of criticisms on Weasley's part about various items in Draco's flat-namely every book that Draco owned, as well as his green and silver scarves and jumpers that were left in neat piles in the living room.
Much to Draco's surprise, Weasley then started showing up at Draco's flat every now and again, usually just before Harry came home on Friday evening after teaching at Hogwarts, which also happened to be the reason behind today's visit, and Draco always made him something to drink whilst he waited for his friend before Weasley and Harry went for an evening meal and a catch up together. Or other times Weasley would go for something to eat with Harry and Hermione, but then he would leave slightly earlier than them when the Ministry of Magic discussions got to much for him, more often than not ending up at Draco's flat, complaining about the content of the conversations, and they would fall into their usual pattern of Weasley making comments about Draco's home, with Draco trying to make witty comebacks whilst they both waited for their partners to return.
It couldn't be considered as a new-found friendship in anyone's eyes, but Draco decided that it had to be better than the hatred that had existed between him and Weasley back at Hogwarts.
"Well?" Weasley prompted, as soon as he noticed that Draco had entered the living room.
Draco quickly looked around the room to see if he could spot anything out of the ordinary that Weasley might be referring to. Along with the sofas and the silver cushions, Draco's neat piles of potions books and a copy of Witch Weekly magazine that was definitely Astoria's or Pansy's and not Draco's, there were now also piles of Harry's Defence Against the Dark Arts books, and his books about Quidditch, and a couple of Harry's Weasley jumpers. Nothing that Weasley hadn't seen already.
Draco had been the one to suggest that his boyfriend should move in here, wording the suggestion in a way that made it seem like the move would only be logical, given that Harry stayed here almost every weekend anyway, and it would definitely be a convenient place for him to come back to after he finished teaching his classes at Hogwarts.
Surprisingly, Harry had agreed, although the two of them had considered this new step to be on a trial basis, as they were still dealing with their own personal arguments, as well as the outside pressures that went with their relationship now being public knowledge; but so far, Harry hadn't said anything about potentially moving out, and he seemed to have settled well into the flat.
At first, Draco had worried that the constant presence of Harry's Weasley jumpers would get on his nerves, but strangely enough, his flat now felt more like a home than ever.
"What are you on about, Weasley?" Draco asked him with another sigh.
Weasley pointed in the direction of the mantelpiece with a mumbled, "That," as though he were in such a state of disbelief that even speaking in full sentences would be too much of an effort.
Draco walked closer to see if he could work out what was causing Weasley to look so shocked.
The most obvious objects on the mantelpiece were a couple of Teddy Lupin's toy dragons-toys that he and Harry preferred to keep out of the way whenever Teddy wasn't staying with them, as they both had a tendency to trip over his toys and games when they were left on the floor-as well as a few pictures of Draco's friends and family.
It was only when Draco's eyes were drawn to the centre of the mantelpiece that he noticed the offending object. He rolled his eyes. Of all of the items for Weasley to come across in the flat; he just had to find the tiny S.P.E.W. badge, displayed next to a photograph of Teddy.
"I would have thought that it would be obvious what it is, Weasley," Draco drawled, "considering that there at least twenty of them displayed all over your house, thanks to your wife."
"I know what it is! I'm just wondering why it's there," Weasley snapped back at him. "Never would have pictured you supporting Hermione's house-elf rights campaign, Malfoy," he continued, sounding to Draco like he was torn between amusement and disapproval.
Draco hesitated before he responded. How could he explain his reasons for displaying that badge to somebody who he had not only disliked up until a few weeks ago and still wasn't on the best of terms with, but who also knew that the Malfoys had most definitely not been on the side of those supporting house-elf rights back when Draco was a Hogwarts student?
Besides, it wasn't as though Draco had fully managed to explain to himself the reason why he had agreed to display the S.P.E.W. badge in the first place, especially when he knew how disappointed his father would be if he spotted it the next time he came to visit.
He had definitely been reluctant when Harry first brought the badge home, even though his boyfriend had explained repeatedly that Hermione no longer used the S.P.E.W. badges when she was assisting with house-elf rights campaigns at the Ministry, as she now had access to much more sophisticated campaign tools; she merely kept them as a reminder of the 'early days' of house-elf right campaigning back at Hogwarts, and she still liked to hand them out to her friends and colleagues every now and again as a reminder of 'how far they had all come since Hogwarts' and also as a reminder of 'how much they still had to accomplish'.
Draco was already convinced that a refusal to champion house-elf right campaigns would not only have been a strict Malfoy rule, but it would also have been a general pure-blood rule.
Before the Battle of Hogwarts, owning a house-elf was not simply seen as a practicality and a convenience, it was also viewed by most pure-blood families as a symbol of wealth and social status. The concept of campaigning against this pure-blood 'tradition' was rarely talked about amongst most of Draco's parent's friends, but even if the topic had been brought up on a regular basis, Draco was certain that it would have been heavily frowned upon.
At Hogwarts, Draco had never even thought to question the pure-blood belief that house-elves were simply there to serve their masters, and it wasn't as though his fellow Slytherins would ever have said anything to the contrary.
In the years that followed the Battle of Hogwarts, even though (thanks to Hermione Weasley) there were now very strict laws protecting house-elves, and laws designed to punish witches and wizards who defied the protection laws, Draco was sure that it still wouldn't be the done thing to display badges in pure-blood homes like the one that was currently displayed on his mantelpiece.
Draco had therefore resisted as best he could when it came to the idea of putting the badge up in the living room, at first.
But then, not long after Harry moved in, his boyfriend had set a new rule that the two of them should confide in each other more and share open and honest stories about the past without getting into arguments. As a result, he learnt for the first the time the details of Harry's bond with Draco's former house-elf Dobby back at Hogwarts, and how Dobby had defied Draco's father so that he could go and warn Harry about impending danger, doing anything he could to protect Harry, even when it had meant that he would have to put his own life on the line.
Draco's thoughts had been all over the place when Harry first told him Dobby's story. He had felt a strange sense of admiration for the house-elf who had been brave enough to defy Lucius Malfoy when many wizards, Draco included, hadn't been able to do so back then. He had also felt a twisted sense of guilt as he remembered how fondly Dobby had talked of the Potter family, if only to himself, in scared whispers whenever he thought that Draco's father was out of earshot, and, now as an adult looking back on the past, Draco could only wish that he had taken more time to talk to the house-elf back at the Manor.
Draco had finally made his decision the moment Harry told him that, unlike most other house-elves, Dobby had been one of the very few who had supported Hermione's concept of S.P.E.W., back in the early days of the campaign. That same night, he had searched for the badge amongst Harry's belongings before discreetly placing it on the mantelpiece.
It hadn't really been about going against a Malfoy rule, and the decision wasn't entirely out of Draco's own feelings of guilt; it was more about honouring the memory of a house-elf who had been a part of both his and Harry's past, albeit in completely different ways; a house-elf who had represented yet another connection between him and Harry Potter at Hogwarts, and a house-elf who Harry still grieved for, in his own quiet way; a house-elf who had come to know Harry as a person and not just as a celebrity, and he had still respected and admired him.
Yet Draco didn't really feel ready to share all of these private thoughts and emotions with anyone but Harry. "Mind your own business, Weasley," he chose to snap. It definitely wasn't one of his most eloquent comebacks, but with a lack of ability to voice a more detailed explanation, it was the best that he could offer at the moment.
Annoyingly, Weasley burst into laughter, laughing so hard that he eventually had to grab hold of the nearest chair for support.
Draco could do nothing but sneer at him in disapproval.
"Bloody hell," Weasley managed to exclaim between his gasps of laughter, "for all your annoying comments about my wife making all the decisions, you're even more under the thumb than I am!"
Draco's sneer quickly turned into a snarl. He knew what Weasley was getting at; he thought that Harry had made him do it. He thought that Draco was now so besotted with his boyfriend that he simply nodded and went along with whatever Harry wanted to do so that he could keep him happy. He thought that Harry had some sort of upper hand in the relationship.
He had hundreds of remarks that he could make about this, including a few not-so-innocent stories that he could tell Weasley about how much Harry Potter liked having Draco on top of him bossing him around, just to see the look of horror on Weasley's face. But he decided to let it go for now, reluctant to share what he now considered to be the private details of his and Harry's relationship, as well as Draco's personal reasons for making the decision to go against this particular Malfoy rule.
Besides, he was fairly certain that asking Harry Potter to move in with him would constitute as an even bigger rule break in the eyes of his parents and their friends, and yet Draco was finding more and more often that he couldn't quite bring himself to care about what others thought.