Author's note: Oh Jeez guys, this is the last chapter! I had so much fun writing this and I want to let y'all know how much I appreciate you subscribing and reviewing and favoriting this story! I will be posting an epilogue, most likely tomorrow, so you know what happens after this. I'm also going to write a new fic, called Crazy, so keep an eye out for that:) I love you all, enjoy!
Tomorrow came quickly enough, and Draco awoke at the crack of dawn preparing himself for meeting with Harry. He began a shower, stripping down while the water got warm enough. He stood in front of the mirror, scrutinizing himself to determine the amount of work he'd have to do. He obviously needed to shave the bit of stubble forming on his face, giving his distinguished featured a haggard look; he also needed to even out the somewhat presentable haircut he had given himself in haste to remove the resemblance of his father.
Draco spent a bit of time studying his eyes. The silver orbs had a new look about them, like the fire that once burned in them had returned. They looked calmer, but a hint of a nervous gleam was present. He quickly shot that idea down—Malfoys do not get nervous. He evened out his hair before he got in the hot shower, that way the hair that didn't fall wouldn't cover his robes.
He sighed in relief as he stepped into the shower, the hot water relaxing his tight muscles. It also calmed a bit of his nerves. He lathered up and covered his body is a fragrant soap, making the blond smell enticing. It reminded him of fresh mowed grass in a way, mixed with some other manly scent. He thought about Quiddich, and decided he needed to play sometime. Thoughts of Quiddich evolved into thoughts of Harry, and then thoughts of Harry naked on a broom. Draco almost couldn't believe he would be aroused at that image, but then again, he was always aroused when thinking of Harry. The lines his muscles made on his taught torso, the mop of disheveled black hair on the top of his head, the thin trail of dark hairs connecting his belly button to the base of his cock.
Draco found himself stroking his length, much in the same way Harry had when they fucked. He closed his eyes and imagined the raven sitting on Draco's bed, pleading for Draco to fuck him senseless. Harry crawled to the middle of the mattress where he began to touch himself while on his knees. The look Draco imagined in his eyes was full of lust, begging Draco forward. In a matter of minutes, Draco painted the shower wall with cum, moaning as thoughts of Harry shoved him forcefully over the edge.
As regained his breath, he turned off the water and stepped out, stopping at his sink to shave. When he finished, he realized he only had twenty minutes until he had to meet Harry, as he recalled being summoned at six. He also remembered Astoria's letter, and he remembered he has to sell the house. It would be easy, as he could sell it to muggles without anyone the wiser about his lie, and he planned to put a listing in the muggle paper. He'd also have to look for his own place, preferably a smaller home, with one or two bedrooms. After he'd dressed, he took the floo to the ministry, making sure to charm himself to protect his cleanliness.
He arrived precisely at six, stepping into Harry's office and sitting in front of him gracefully.
"Ah, right on time Draco," Harry said, leaning back in his chair. "Tea?"
"I'd love some," Draco replied, watching Harry as he filled two cups with what Draco assumed was Earl Grey.
"Draco," Harry said seriously as he handed Draco his cup. "We need to discuss…last weekend."
Draco nodded and they both began to speak. "I feel-"
"I need to tell you-"
"I want you to know that I-"
"You should know that-"
"I like you." They both finished simultaneously.
"W-what?" Harry asked, trying to comprehend Draco's words.
"I-I said I like you. And as I recall, you just said the same thing to me," Draco said nervously.
"Oh," Harry said simply.
"Pansy was right when she said I had to be the Gryffindor here…" Draco laughed shakily, standing up and leaning over the desk to kiss the stunned man behind it.
The kiss was sweet, nothing but a surprisingly relieved emotion flowing from it. Draco wouldn't have pulled away, if it hadn't been for the loud cackle that sounded behind him. He turned, and to his surprise found the face of his soon-to-be ex.
"This—oh this is good. Very good—for me at least. I can't believe it…Draco Malfoy a ponce? Not to mention the fact that he's shagging his boss, Harry Potter. You must work very hardto get promotions, Draco. I bet the only reason you even got this job was because you had the Boy-Who-Lived in your bed. The press will absolutely love this." Astoria laughed as she looked at them, then slammed the door as she left to go to the Prophet.
Draco tried to rush after her, but he found that she locked the door. No matter what he tried, the door wouldn't budge. Frustrated, he began to pound on the door, screaming and screaming until he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders.
"Draco, it's no use. You going to lose your voice," Harry turned him around and looked into Draco's semi-crazed eyes.
"I have to try! Don't you get it? We both could lose our jobs over this! She keeps trying to ruin my life and now—now I think she's done it. And as a bonus your life is ruined as well!" Draco held on to Harry, trying not to sob.
"We'll figure it out, Draco. I promise we will and then everything will turn out just fine," Harry hugged the Slytherin close, smoothing his platinum hair.
"Please explain how on Earth you think things will turn out, because quite frankly I don't understand your crazy Gryffindor logic. She ruined our lives, Harry. We are going to lose our jobs, and it's all my fault," At this revelation, Draco burst into tears. "I'm sorry Harry! I didn't mean for things to end up like this!"
Harry kissed Draco's head, trying desperately to calm the man down. He whispered "everything will be fine," and "don't worry," and other things that Draco needed to hear. He talked about taking Draco as a date to Ginny's wedding, and how much fun it would be to dance with him again. He even talked about playing Quiddich and that if Draco was lucky, Harry would let him win.
Harry would have continued, but just then the door opened and Ron walked in.
"Harry? What are you doing in here? I thought when you said you were going to talk to Malfoy you were going to make him happy," Draco turned around and gave Ron a death glare.
"He's not the reason I'm crying Weasley. If you must know, my ex-wife caught us and locked us in so she could tell the Prophet about us. And I was going to chase her but the door won't open…wait. How the hell did you open the door? Never mind," Draco sprinted out of the door, Harry following close behind and Ron bringing up the rear.
They managed to make it to the Prophet in record time, but they were still too late. As they walked in, Astoria walked out, with a smug look on her face. Next thing they knew, Draco and Harry were surrounded by reporters for the Prophet, questions being shouted left and right. How long have you two been seeing each other? What made you decide to start dating? Do you have plans for marriage? Did you only date the Boy-Who-Lived to improve your image Malfoy? Harry, did you write your previous statement about Draco's mental health to cover up your romance?
Draco was sick of it, all the stupid questions that he didn't want to answer. "Stop! We are not answering any questions and any allegations about Harry and me dating will be ignored. I am tired of Astoria Greengrass trying to smear my name, and I will not let it continue do you understand?" With a wave of his wand, Draco Apparated to the entrance of the Ministry, Harry and Ron side-alonging. Draco pulled Harry into the latter's office, closing the door behind him. Sensing Harry's confusion, Draco sat him down and began to explain himself, pacing as he talked.
"Harry, we have to talk. We need to form a plan of action, and quickly. I'm positive that the Prophet is cranking out a reprint of today's paper with this story in it, and we've got to figure out what we're going to do."
"How about we tell them the truth about us? I'm sure that even Slytherins tell the truth sometimes. All we've got to do is tell them how we happened, and we can go back to whatever afterwards because everything will be solved, But as of right now, there isn't much to do besides our jobs, which we should have started half an hour ago," Harry got up from his seat and grabbed the blonde's shoulders, forcing him to stop pacing and look Harry in the eye.
"Of course you'd be more concerned about work schedules than a major personal crisis. You don't honestly believe that just the simple truth will fix this, do you? Well I'll tell you, it won't. Who's going to believe us, when I'm terrible ex-death eater filth and you're the Boy-Who-Bloody-Lived? They'd think I'd put you under the Imperius curse, and then ship me off to Azkaban like my father. What a lovely reunion that would be, 'Oh hello Father, remember when I testified against you and you ended up here? Well now I'm here too because they thought I'd cursed Harry sodding Potter into shagging me.' Brilliant, simply brilliant!" Draco collapsed onto a chair in front of Harry's desk, running his hands through his light hair.
Before Harry could reply, Ron knocked on the door. "Harry mate, Kingsley would like to see you and Malfoy in his office."
"Alright be right out," Harry replied, lifting a hysterical Draco from his chair.
They stepped into the Minister of Magic's office, taking the seats in front of Kingsley Shacklebolt's desk.
Kinsley lifted up a newspaper, today's edition of the Daily Prophet to be exact, and pointed to the story on the front page. The headline read in big bold letters 'Head Auror Potter in bed with ex-Death Eater Malfoy: Is it more than a casual relationship?'
"Harry, you need to explain this. Now," the look on the Minister's face was not a nice one.
"Well, over the weekend I slept with Draco, and neither of us knew about the feelings we had for each other so, but I had to tell him, so I owled him yesterday to meet me in my office, with the intention to tell him that the way I felt was more than a little lust, and it turned out he felt the same way so we kissed and his ex- wife Astoria walked in and started laughing because this would surely complete her desire to ruin Draco's life, as her last plan of telling lies about Draco to the Prophet failed, so she locked us in the office and Draco was in tears but then Ron let us out and I chased after Draco who was going to the Prophet, but we were too late and a whole bunch of reporters surrounded us and Draco being completely fed up with it yelled at them and Apparated here and was going mad in my office and now we're here, explaining this entire situation to you," Harry explained in one breath.
"…You could have left out the part about me crying, you know," Draco said, a little embarrassed.
"Well, now we have to figure out a way to solve this problem. Your actions are not helping the Ministry's image, which is already bad because of the decisions Fudge made when he was Minister. I cannot allow the both of you to continue working in the same department, especially now that this story is out. I'm not going to choose which one of you resigns either, because that would not be fair to either of you. I'm not doing this to punish you either, I'm simply trying to diffuse the bomb that has been dropped," Kinsley said, sitting back in his chair.
"Of course you're not. What we've done is wrong, especially because Harry is my boss. I'll resign from my position; it would not be fair to Harry should he have to resign because of this, especially because he has a better position than I do. I will send an owl to the Prophet, telling them I will do an interview for them, to tell them the real story, and send my apologies for what we've done," Draco uncrossed his legs and began to stand, intending to clear out his desk and send the owl.
Harry grabbed his arm. "Draco, are you sure? I mean, wasn't the whole reason you took this job was to do something with your life, something you wanted to do? I can resign if you want this job," Harry looked into Draco's eyes, losing himself in the bright silver orbs.
"I'm positive. Surely you don't believe I can't do anything else? I was the best in our year at potions, given that my Godfather was so talented. Not to mention I could play Quiddich. Despite my record, any of the teams would sign me in a heartbeat. Plus, as attractive as I am, it is ridiculously hard for me to look attractive while sweaty. You, however look very attractive covered in sweat. Therefore you deserve this job better than me and I'll find one that I can do well while still looking sexy. Now if you'll excuse me I have personal things to retrieve form my desk and a letter to send," with those parting words, the Slytherin prince left gracefully.
The stares he got from his former co-workers reminded him of the day he came to apply for the job he so readily gave up, but he ignored them much like he did that first day. As he was cleaning out his desk, Ron and Ginny came up to him.
"Kingsley didn't fire you, did he?" Ron asked, watching Draco shrink down his things and put them in is pocket.
"No, I resigned so Harry could keep his job. He deserves it far more than I do. This whole mess is my fault anyway, so I'm fixing it." Draco finished packing up and moved on to writing his letter to the Daily Prophet.
"What are you going to do for a job then, Draco?" Ginny asked.
"I'll probably do something with potions, I'm better at that then I am at this."
"That very noble of you Draco, I'm sure Harry appreciates you doing this for him. Speaking of Harry, did he invite you to my wedding? I'd love it if you'd come, even if it's a month away," Ginny hugged him.
"I believed he mentioned something about it this morning, and I'd love to attend thank you. I'll see you later, I've got some things I need to do," Draco hugged her back, and walked out of the Auror department.
Draco Apparated to his home, sending his letter off with his owl. He had Winky tidy up the house, and s she did so, Draco went out to put his house for sale in the muggle paper. With it being so large, and Draco deciding to leave it fully furnished, it would sell for a lot of money. But with the amount of people in muggle London looking for a home like this, Draco knew it wouldn't be long until his house was sold.
After he did all of his errands, he laid back on the couch, covering his eyes with the crook of his arm. He didn't hear Harry come in, but soon a tan hand moved his arm off of his face and soft lips touched his. The kiss was languid and sweet, not like the lust filled ones they had previously shared. There was something different to it, a sort of appreciation, or even a sense of relief. They didn't break apart for a long time, only the lack of air came between them.
Once they pulled apart, the floo spit out Blaise and Justin, the giggling pair wiping soot off of each other.
"Hey Draco, we just wanted to pop in and ask about the lie Astoria put in the pap—Oh Merlin, they're true!" Blaise exclaimed, Harry glaring daggers at Justin.
"What the Hell, Justin? You dump me for someone else? Or were you two dating before we broke up?" Harry started screaming, and Draco had to hold him back from hexing the Hufflepuff into next week.
"What? Justin, when did you two break up? You never even told me you had dated Potter," Blaise looked confused.
"Don't worry Blaise, we broke up months ago. We've been dating for a week now, and do you really think I'd cheat?" Justin soothed, trying to move Blaise back into the floo.
"Bull shit, Fletchley. You had just broken up with him during my first week of work. If there is one thing I hate, it's cheaters. Not only have you cheated on my now boyfriend, you've cheated on one of my best friends," Draco let go of Harry, getting threateningly close to Justin, backing him up into a corner. "The good thing about Auror training is that they teach you a lot of ways to kill someone. The bad thing about it is that when you aren't an Auror anymore, you aren't allowed to use them without going to Azkaban. But you know what? I haven't seen my father in a long time and I'm not afraid to go for killing worthless, disgusting, useless filth. Do you understand?" Draco grabbed the collar of Justin's shirt, lifting him off the ground.
"Y-yes! P-p-please let me go! I-I swear I won't do it again, just please let me go!" Justin squirmed, trying to release Draco's grip on him. "Why are you two standing there, help me! Don't let this freak kill me! I'm too young to die!"
Draco began to see Gryffindor red, and he slammed Justin's head against the wall. "I'm a freak? I'm not the one who can't keep it in his pants, and has to resort to cheating! I don't want to see your face anymore, not here, not in Diagon Alley, not even in muggle London, or I will kill you. Now leave!" He slammed his head on the wall once more and threw him into the fireplace, tossing floo powder in as Justin groaned his address.
Harry and Blaise stared at Draco, who was trying to calm himself down. He had become so incredibly angry talking to Justin; he stormed out of the room and locked himself in a downstairs bedroom. After pacing and smashing the same vase and fixing it again over and over for a few good minutes, he heard a soft knock at the door.
"Draco, will you let me in please? Please just unlock the door," Harry said quietly, his head against the door.
"No. I need to be alone until I calm down," Smash. "You'll have to just wait."
Draco didn't quite hear what Harry mumbled but in the next second Harry stood in the room with the blond, closing the door behind him. Draco turned away, throwing the fixed vase once more.
"I told you I needed to be alone," he whispered, closing his eyes and sitting on the bed.
"Well I ignored you. Please Draco; tell me why you did that for us, for me and Blaise?" Harry sat next to his boyfriend, putting his strong arms around the man.
"I don't like cheaters. I hate them with the very core of my being, because they remind me of my failed marriage to Astoria. I don't like the way it feels, to know that when your wife comes home, she just finished having sex with another man, and I imagine not knowing is even worse. I can't see why they'd do it, if they aren't happy, why stay?" Draco was barely audible, tears leaking down his face. "For the longest time before we divorced, we didn't even share the same bed. She slept in the master bedroom, and I stayed in a small room upstairs down the hall from it. Sometimes I could hear her in there, having sex with someone else, and it was like she was screaming that I wasn't good enough anymore, getting louder and louder until I couldn't take it anymore and I slept down here. She made me insecure Harry, which is something I would never admit to anyone, but she ruined me.
"That's why I acted the way I did, it was like Astoria all over again, but this time I could actually look into his eyes and threaten him, something I could never do to Astoria. I didn't want you or Blaise to feel the way I had for years," Draco was sobbing violently then, and Harry pulled him onto his lap, letting the man in his arms cry, letting him feel.
"Thank you, Draco. You are the most wonderful man I have ever met, so kind and beautiful, you're perfect. We were supposed to happen, I can feel it. I couldn't imagine a better person for me."
Harry held him until he fell asleep, tucking him under the sheets and crawling in with him. When Draco wakes up in the morning, Harry wanted the blond to be glad that he stayed.