Hey guys! Ummm…sorry? That probably doesn't cover it. Eck. I know this chapter took forever. I've had huge writer's block on this one though lately. Originally, I was going to start it completely different, but failing to come up with the words, I decided to change it. Anyway, I hope this chapter is worth the really long wait y'all had to endure.

Chapter 10: The Faults of Love

"It's just one day. Surely whoever it is can reschedule, right? Please?"

Draco was finding it very difficult at the moment to keep his expression neutral when Potter had spent the last ten minutes practically – no, literally – begging Madam Vina to let Draco have the rest of the day off. The other man had done everything slight of get on his hands and knees, which would have been nothing but pathetic if he had done so. However, it wasn't Potter's insistent begging that was pulling at Draco's funny bone. No, it was the fact that it was completely unnecessary because Madam Vina had already changed his schedule in the day planner that Creevey had seen in a window one Christmas and thought to buy for all three of them in order for Madam Vina to have an easy way to update them on their schedules. The slot for the rest of the day now read, "Out with Auror Potter."

Really, the only reason Potter was making a complete tosser of himself was the fact that Draco was and would always be a Slytherin and if Madam Vina had gone to Hogwarts, he was sure she would've been in that House as well. Therefore, he was not about to allow Potter to get away with his Gryffindor urges so easily. Thus, he had secretly written in his planner under her words, "Only if he begs," before leaving his office. Getting his message, Madam Vina had been quick to stop Potter and himself from getting anywhere near the lift, a feat that Draco inwardly deemed remarkable because Potter had seemed ready to apparate out of this building the moment Draco had agreed.

"You seem to be under the impression that we deal with common miscreants, Auror Potter." Madam Vina snapped back, glaring directly at Potter's twitching form.

"No, I didn't, I mean…"

"I will have you know that our clients are among the most highly ranked officials in all of Wizarding Society, and as such, they are very busy individuals that do not enjoy having to reschedule even a minute of their time."

"Well, who are they? Maybe I can talk to them…"

"We do not disclose the names of our clients, Auror Potter, as you should very well know, and even if we did what would you propose to do? Use your name on them? I do not know if you know this, Mr. Potter, but your name is not all it used to be."

"That's enough, Madam Vina. I am positive that my meetings can be rescheduled, so Auror Potter and I really will be leaving now." Draco finally broke in, feeling that if he allowed this conversation to go any further, it might tip into some very dangerous territory.

He then nodded towards the lift while glancing at Potter's nose, not wanting to look into those green eyes at the moment. Frowning, Potter made a movement towards the object Draco had just indicated, only to be stopped by a coughing noise coming from the desk. Draco turned back and stared directly into Madam Vina's black eyes until the woman finally relented. "Should I expect you here tomorrow, sir?" She asked in a tone that suggested something Draco would never have dared even think about.

"No. I have a special meeting tomorrow, and that should last most of the day." He responded curtly, watching her eyes widen and then narrow as she understood what kind of meeting he was talking about.

"Of course, sir. See you on Monday then," She said and then took a moment to glare at Potter before returning to her work.

Frowning slightly, Draco shrugged and then got into the lift with Potter. As soon as the doors closed and he leaned across Potter with his arm, causing the other man to attempt to jump back slightly, to press the button for the first floor, it began to dawn on Draco just how small the lift was. How small and how quiet it was. Neither of them spoke, so the only sounds he heard were their breathing, which did not help when his only thoughts were on how if he just moved any part of his body a few inches, that part might make contact with the other man. Therefore, when the doors finally opened, he had to force himself to not actually leap out of the lift and instead to walk like a normal person who had not just had the most awkward lift ride in his entire life.

Both of them passed through the first floor quite easily and without any problems, since Ms. Carlton had already been informed of what was happening. After all, with those two women, nothing ever passed one without the other finding out in mere seconds. What seemed like forever ago, he had tried to separate them by moving Madam Vina up to his floor without a personal fireplace, but within a few days, the two women had found an alternate route of communication, namely being the memos that the Ministry used. While Creevey had laughed at the "paper airplanes" flying constantly from one floor to the next, it had not sat well with him. After all, the first floor was meant to be a purely muggle-style floor and the memos were undoubtedly magical. Therefore, they had eventually settled on a two-way diary, much like the planner that Madam Vina, Creevey, and he all shared.

Once they had exited the building, Draco finally looked at Potter properly and was surprised to find the other man staring not at his face but at his robes with a horrible expression, an expression that was summed up into one word: improper. "What?" He growled defensively, feeling rather off-put that Potter, of all people, was disapproving of some of his best robes.

In answer, the other man looked up at Draco's face and grimaced before asking, "Do you own muggle clothing?"

Draco blinked and took a step back, because that was not at all what he had been expecting. "Yes," He replied, feeling that as long as Potter wasn't insulting the style of his clothing that he might as well try and be straightforward with him, if not nice.

Potter smiled in the most unusual way; it was as if he were trying to hold back a lot of laughter. "I meant, do you own anything muggle that is casual and not meant for five-star restaurants?"

"Absolutely not. Merlin, who do you think I am, Potter?" He scoffed, suddenly feeling much like he had back before fifth year, before his entire upper-class life had come crumbling down.

Potter actually did laugh then, making Draco's face turn light pink, a notion that just made Potter's laughing problem worse. Groaning slightly, Draco grabbed the sleeve of Potter's robes and dragged him into the alleyway on the side of the building. Turning around to face the brunet, Draco readied his glare to get Potter to stop chortling, but it wasn't necessary. The other man wasn't laughing anymore. In fact, he looked concerned now rather than bemused. Feeling more on edge with each passing moment about this whole affair, Draco finally asked, "Well, where did you have in mind that needed muggle clothes for?"

"Err, I know this diner in South London that serves really good food and, as far as I know, no one else in the Wizarding World knows about it, so it's a nice place to have a private conversation." Potter explained, or babbled really.

"That sounds...quaint. However, neither of us is dressed for such a place and as I stated before, I do not own casual muggle attire."

"Well, I do, so we could stop by my place to change before going." Potter offered to Draco's dismay.

Was Potter actually asking him over to his house? Was he truly offering his own clothes up for Draco's use? This wasn't right. Something was very wrong with the man if he was talking to Draco as if he fully trusted him after all that had happened between them.

Then a thought occurred to him, a thought that made him both grateful and infuriated. Had Granger told him? If she had, was he doing this out of sympathy or…no. He would not go down that road. After all, that couldn't be it at all. Granger would not have just out right told Potter. She would have done something more clever and devious than that. She would...no. She didn't! She did, didn't she?

Irritated at his thoughts on Granger's motives, he hadn't realized that Potter was now looking at him with an expression that was beginning to portray just how hurt and broken the man was. Just with that, Draco was beginning to see that no matter how much he might be falling straight into Granger's trap, he would not be able to leave this man's side for fear of just wounding him more. Therefore, he might as well go along with whatever both Gryffindors were up to, even if one of them had no knowledge of the other's plans.

"Okay, fine. Where do you live, Potter?"

This question seemed to startle the other man, because his eyes widened and he took a step back as he frowned tightly. "Why do you need to know that?"

"Because I will need to side-along you there, obviously. Did you expect me to walk to your house?"

"Why can't I just side-along you?"

That question, though he had expected it, stirred some rather nasty emotions inside of Draco, leading him to snap the next few sentences at Potter angrily. "Are you joking with me, Potter? Have you forgotten who found you last night? The last time you apparated, you nearly got yourself killed!"

"That's not true." Potter muttered, staring at his shoes like a kid that had repeatedly lied to his parents about going on his broom when they had sternly told him not to.

"What about that, for Merlin's sake, is not true?"

"I apparated here from Ron an' 'Mione's earlier,"

"You did what? How could they let you do that? Did the healers not tell you to not apparate for a while?" Draco growled, thoroughly disgusted with Potter's so-called friends. First, they had taken hours upon hours to get to the hospital when they had been informed that their best friend could possibly die at any second and now that he was deemed healed, they were already letting him risk his life again. It made Draco feel slightly nauseous, at the very least.

Draco saw Potter's face redden behind the shield of messy black hair, and without lifting his face, the man said sheepishly, "They didn't know, but I got here alright. It was just because I was...err, not myself last night. I'm fine to apparate now."

"Well, excuse me if I do not think so, Potter. In fact, I have half a mind to send an owl to your boss and have him temporarily take your license away if you continue to apparate while under orders not to."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wished he could somehow take them back. However, it was too late. Potter's eyes had finally left his shoes to latch onto Draco's eyes and they were the loathsome eyes Draco had been accustomed to seeing as a child. They were the eyes that meant only one thing, and Draco had never wished to see those eyes on this new adult face. It was too much for him to handle and he had to turn around and start walking. He had to. If he stayed there staring into those eyes, he was scared that he wouldn't be able to pull off the glare that he had so perfected as a child. He was afraid that he might start crying again and right now, Potter was the one in pain. Potter was the one in need. He couldn't let his own feelings get in the way of that.

"Come on, then. We can use Ms. Carlton's floo to get to your house. I trust it is attached to the floo network?" He managed to say, able to be calm and himself as long as those piercing green eyes were on his back and not staring him in the face.

"It is," Potter replied shortly as both of them re-entered the building. Ms. Carlton looked up in surprise at their appearance and immediately she latched onto Draco's face, looking for something as if she were able to read him like a book.

"Mr. Malfoy, I thought you were leaving. What are you doing back so soon?" She asked, her eyes now lingering on Potter and by her expression, Draco knew that he still didn't want to see what Potter looked like at the moment.

"I forgot that we had some transportation difficulties, so we need to use your floo." He responded, staring directly into her eyes so that she would not ask too many questions for once in her life.

She was frowning and he could see that she was worried, but as it was none of her business, he was not about to let her in on any of this. This had become, rather oddly, a personal matter and that meant she, as the business side of his life, should not be any part of it. Thankfully, she seemed to understand that without him needing to say anymore, for the next moment she was pulling a pot of floo powder out of one of her drawers and holding it out to him. Nodding, he took the pot and held it out to Potter, his eyes focusing on anywhere besides the man's eyes.

"You first, Auror Potter," He offered, returning to the use of titles to avoid further offending the man. Potter nodded and took up a handful of the powder before stepping behind the desk and up to the fire. He said two words that Draco couldn't quite make out but sounded something like 'Gremlin Place', and then he stepped into the flames and disappeared.

Draco then picked up his own handful of floo powder, but did not move towards the fireplace as he was waiting for some sign of Potter in the flames, having no idea where he was going. However, the flames only swayed back and forth with the rhythm of the heat waves coursing through the room. There was no sign of the other man and Draco was beginning to wonder if he was actually going to go through with his plans after all. Nevertheless, just when Draco was about to give up on him and go back to work, Potter's head appeared in the flames. "Sorry for taking so long; I had to alter the wards to allow you through. The address is 12 Grimmauld Place, okay?" He said and Draco latched onto the fiery green eyes and relaxed. It was going to be okay.

Draco nodded and then the head disappeared again. He took a step towards the flames and was about to toss his powder into the fireplace when a voice from behind stopped him, "Mr. Malfoy, are you sure this is a good idea?"

He turned to glance at Ms. Carlton and noticed the way her lips were turned down and her eyes were widened slightly as she stared at him with nothing but concern. Letting out a quiet sigh, he shook his head but smirked at her. "Absolutely not, but who knows? It might be the best idea." He muttered more to himself than to her before tossing the powder into the flames, announcing his destination, and letting the fire take him.

As he watched the desired fireplace opening come into view, Draco took a step forwards and felt his world turn upsidedown while his feet found the floor. Putting two fingers up to his temple to right his mind, he calmed himself from the familiar sensation of floo travel before taking out his wand to banish the dust from his clothes. When he was finished, he opened his eyes to find Potter glaring at him. However, it wasn't quite a glare. It was more as if Potter was either supremely jealous of something or thoroughly irritated by it, or both.

"How do you do that?" The man asked in a voice that matched his eyes.

Frowning, Draco looked around as if thinking he could find the question to Potter's question in the…kitchen? Had they landed in a kitchen? Momentarily distracted, Draco admired the detailing on the counter-tops and especially the cabinets. Was that a basilisk that was engraved around the letter B on the top of the fireplace? This couldn't be Potter's home. He was a Gryffindor and this place, by the gorgeous table alone, had to be owned by a rather rich Slytherin family. Just as Draco was about to start admiring the detailing on the marble sink, his attention was diverted when Potter coughed pointedly. Shrugging, Draco looked at the man and merely asked, "How do I do what exactly?"

"How do you use the floo without getting all rumpled?"

Draco merely raised an eyebrow and shook his head as he took a few steps away from Potter to run his fingertips along the smooth wood of the counter. "That would be the fact that I was raised by wizards, Potter. I've been using the floo along with all other sorts of legal magical transportation since I could ride my first broom." He stated as he focused on the small silver doorknobs on the cabinets, each of which had the same letter B engraved onto them as the fireplace mantel had. "Are you sure this is your house, Potter?" He finally asked, turning back to face the other man who was still standing by the fireplace, watching him.

"Yes. Why? Do you not like it?"

"No, I actually quite enjoy it. However, I feel it is a bit Slytherin for your tastes, and I do not believe either you, or your wife, have a B anywhere in your names."

"That's because this house belonged to the Blacks a very long time ago. I inherited it from my godfather in sixth year and have lived here since the war ended. Don't worry though; I'm sure the rest of the house will be more up to your expectations." Potter explained, grinning mischievously before heading towards the door Draco had not yet noticed and stepping through. Draco followed cautiously, going up the steps out of the kitchen and into a long hallway with two doors on the right, a staircase on the left, and a portrait hidden behind some curtains beside the door directly in front of him that was presumably the front door.

As for his expectations, Potter was correct in his assumptions. If he looked closely, Draco could still see the remnants of the old Black house but the trimming along the walls was painted with red and green lines and the staircase had red and gold ribbon wrapped around each column. Also, other than the mysterious portrait, pictures were put everywhere along the walls. Each one showed various members of the Potter-Weasley clan doing various activities, none of which Draco supposed the Blacks would have approved of. Overall, if this was just the entrance hall, he expected more Gryffindor flair throughout the rest of the house.

When Draco was done glancing over the hallway, he focused his attention back on Potter who was waiting outside of the second doorway for him to catch up. "Hey, do you mind waiting in here while I go take a quick shower? I haven't exactly been able to change since yesterday morning." Potter flushed as he rubbed his fingers along the back of his head sheepishly. At that, Draco glanced down and really noticed the auror robes Potter was still wearing. There were stains from the ground all over one side of them and the end of his left sleeve was covered in dried blood. That and the fact that Potter's hair was actually starting to lay flat from the amount of muck probably still stuck in it made Draco wonder how he had failed to notice all of this before. Therefore, he nodded and Potter grinned, said he'd be right back, and then ran up the stairs.

Once Draco was alone, he glanced around at the Gryffindor decorations in the hall again before shrugging and entering the room Potter had indicated before leaving. This was a room Draco liked, but for an entirely different reason than why he had liked the kitchen. No, this one was what he wished more rooms in the Manor were like: comfortable. There were two soft, plush chairs, a three person sofa, a rug that seemed to be a patchwork of several different rugs on top of a dark-tiled floor, and a cozy looking fireplace with more pictures of Potter's kids sitting on the mantel. Three of the four walls were covered with shelves of books with all sorts of topics that Draco couldn't imagine Potter would be even the slightest bit interested in. His fingers traced over a book with the title Cures and Poisons, How to Cure the Simplest Poisons, and it barked at him "Don't touch! I'm still reading it! Page 235" in a young boy's voice.

Interested, Draco tapped the spines of three other books in various positions on different shelves and they all called out roughly the same thing with a different page number at the end, denoting what page the reader was on. They were always the same voice though, so he deduced that only one member of the Potter family was actually interested in reading these books. Strangely, no matter how he looked, Draco could not seem to figure out what the sorting system for the books was though. It seemed that though the books were in a condition that Madam Pince would have approved of, they had just been put back in a random place to continue reading later. He supposed it made sense. Potter had never seemed to be very organized as a child and even if reading had somehow become his son's interest, it didn't mean that the kid would actually make an ordering system for the books.

Once he was done fiddling with the books, the last wall caught his eye. The entire wall was covered with what seemed to be some sort of family tree, except instead of a tree, it seemed to just be made up of vines. As he looked closer, he noted that most of the names had the surname belonging to the house and not to Potter, so he very much doubted that Potter and his family were actually on this wall at all. With his finger, he traced one of the vines that held the name Walburga Black and followed it along to her brother Cygnus's line. Down from there, he was only slightly surprised to read his own mother's name, which was connected to his father's name. Down from there, he found himself connected to Astoria Greengrass and from there, the vine ended with Scorpius. It made him wonder whether or not this family tree automatically grew when people married or had kids or if Potter had actually added Astoria and Scorpius on here.

He was leaning forward and about to trace Scorpius's name when he heard something upstairs crash. On alert, he left the room and ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. When he reached the second floor, he looked around and panicked. He had no idea where anything was in this house or even what floor that noise had come from. "Potter?" He called out, hoping that the other man was fine and could respond. After another minute of silence, Draco jumped into motion, running down the hallway on the second floor trying each and every door in search of Potter. Failing with that floor, he ran up another flight of stairs. Now on the third floor, he looked through each room and still found nothing besides empty bedrooms. Thoroughly panicking now, he ran up the final flight of stairs and almost cried out with relief when he saw the door on the left open.

Upon entering the room, he took in the wave of Gryffindor themed décor before falling to his knees in front of Potter, who was sitting on the floor in a green robe sobbing as he stared at a picture on the ground beside him. The picture, which must've caused the crashing noise he had heard for glass was shattered all around it and the frame was broken into two pieces, was of Potter and his wife. They were dancing in their dress-robes in the Great Hall at Hogwarts at what must've been the reopening ceremony. Though Draco could tell just from the picture that Potter was a horrible dancer, the Weaslette seemed to be having the time of her life as she was swung around by the man she loved. After a few moments, the Potter in the picture stopped her silent laughter with a deep kiss and the real Potter let out a very audible sob.

Realizing quickly that the picture was the thing that was causing Potter distress; Draco banished the glass and broken frame before picking up the picture and turning it upside-down so that neither of them could see the dancing duo anymore. He then pulled Potter over to the bed and sat beside him with their backs against the foot-board. Their shoulders were pressed together, but other than that, Draco did not dare to touch the man. He did not say anything either, knowing that asking might very well make it worse. Potter needed to speak on his own time and in his own way, otherwise the healing process might go badly. Therefore, he just waited silently beside him as Potter sobbed into his knees, his wet hair dripping onto the carpeted floor underneath them.

After a long while, Draco was beginning to get frustrated. He was not a very patient person, having inherited that trait from his father, and his mind was burning with questions about what was really going on. He figured it had something to do with the Weaslette, but knowing how the media had treated his own relationship issues, he did not want to jump to any conclusions without some sort of proof against his theories. Therefore, when it looked like Potter had finally stopped crying and was not going to start talking first; Draco tried something that shouldn't be too impersonal. "So, how about we just make dinner here and eat rather than going out to that muggle place? You do have food here, right?"

Potter took a bit to respond, but when he did, he wiped at his eyes with the backs of his hands and smiled slightly at Draco. Encouraged, Draco got to his feet and held out his hands for Potter to grab onto. Slowly but surely, the other man grabbed onto Draco's offered hands and used the ground as a base to push himself to his feet. Once he was there, their hands dropped to their sides and Potter grimaced as he realized he was still just wearing a bathrobe. "Err, yeah. I..umm…do. Just, g-go back to the kitchen and I'll meet you down there in a sec, o-okay?" He finally said shakily, sobs most likely still caught in his throat.

Draco nodded slowly and then headed back towards the hall. Before he left the room, however, he turned and glanced concernedly at the other man. "You'll come down as soon as you've changed, right?" He asked just to make sure. He was worried that Potter might see another picture – because Merlin knows this place is full of them – and break down again. After a moment or two, Potter nodded, and Draco left the room and headed down the stairs. Once in the kitchen again, he started to open up each of the cabinets to see what was in each of them. However, besides a carton of milk in a cabinet that was charmed to stay cold and a bag of crisps in another cabinet, there seemed to be little to no food in the house. He was about to open up the last cabinet when he heard another crash come from the hallway…and then screaming.

"Shut up! I get it! Will you be quiet for once in your life, Mrs. Black!" He heard Potter yelling as he ran back into the hallway. The drapes that had been covering the portrait had been uncovered and Draco saw that the portrait was of a horrible looking old woman that had an even horribly shrill voice, which she was using to yell out profanities against muggleborns and blood-traitors. He took a couple of steps closer and she stopped screeching as soon as she caught sight of him.

"You! What are you doing in this filthy blood-traitor-turned house? I was proud when you married my niece and now you're dealing with him. I thought better of you, Lucius. Explain yourself to me now!" The woman demanded of him, staring down her pointed nose at him.

"But I'm not…" He began, but Potter had finally caught up with him and after some cursing and heaving on his part, he managed to pull the drapes closed over the portrait again. Groaning and cursing about permanent sticking charms, Potter led the way back into the kitchen and sat himself down at the table. Draco took the seat opposite him and frowned as he asked, "Whose portrait is that?"

"Walburga Black. She was Sirius, my godfather's mother. I suppose that would make her your great-aunt or something like that. She put a permanent sticking charm on the back of her portrait and on the family tree, which you probably saw in the drawing room. There were a few other sticking charms elsewhere, but during the remodeling, we just ended up tearing down those walls and replacing them with new ones. Kreacher made me keep her picture though, and Hermione thought the family tree could be restored as it was an important artifact or some other rubbish, so those are still there." Potter explained as he rubbed at his still red eyes.

Nodding, Draco frowned and thought for a moment before asking, "Three things: who is Kreacher, what was that loud noise, and where have you hidden the food in this place?"

"Kreacher's my house-elf, I err tripped going down the stairs, and I don't actually know. Kreacher has been preparing the meals lately whenever I'm actually here, otherwise I either eat out or at whosever house I'm at." He responded, scratching the back of his head again.

"So where is Kreacher now?"

"Err, he's on his Hermione-mandated holiday with his daughter, and I'm not allowed to call him back. Err, if there's no food, we could always just order delivery."

"Delivery...?"

"Oh, um. It's a muggle thing. You call your order on a telephone and they deliver it to your house...or the corner in my case." Potter explained and Draco just raised an eyebrow in response, not understanding the majority of the words that had just come out of Potter's mouth.

After a few moments of silence, Potter shrugged and reached into the pocket of his trousers before pulling out a small rectangular...thing. He then pressed a button and the front part of it lit up. He touched the front part a few times and then pressed it to his ear. Eventually, he started speaking, "Hey, I'd like to order some pizza to be delivered to the bus stop at Grimmauld Place...yes, that's right...the order is for Harold Parker...it'll be cash...yeah, one supreme and one meat-lovers, hold the olives on the supreme...thanks, bye."

Then Potter put the rectangle back into his pocket and looked back over at Draco, who was staring at him with a mixture of confusion and awe. "What was that?" Draco finally was able to ask once he had been able to grasp the gist of what had just happened.

"I ordered us some pizza, and before you ask, I don't know how to explain it so you'll just have to taste it when it gets here." Potter said, not at all answering any of Draco's questions, but Draco decided to just let it go. It was a muggle thing and he doubted he would ever really have to understand it.

"So, can we talk about why I am here now?" Draco asked, feeling like that was too blunt, but his mind was still jumbled from a mix of this house and the fact that Potter had just ordered food with a box in his pocket.

Potter frowned and glanced down at his left hand, where Draco noticed a thin circular scar was left where the healers had reattached it, but that wasn't what surprised him. What did surprise him was the fact that the ring finger was empty of a ring. "Could I ask you a question first?" The man finally answered with a question of his own.

"Go ahead," Draco said, having a strange feeling that he knew what Potter was about to ask.

The brunet looked up and into Draco's grey eyes as if looking for something that wasn't there before settling his gaze back on his left hand. "Why are you divorcing Astoria?"

Draco started back in his chair and frowned as he thought about the tapestry where his name had been connected with a golden line to Astoria's. What would happen to it when he left her officially? He supposed that her name might've disappeared completely had he not had Scorpius. Now that Scorpius was here though, he would always be connected to her even when they were through, even if Granger was able to get him full custody. She was a permanent part of his life, but he would do anything to get rid of her now.

Swallowing hard, he shook his head and stared at a scratch in the table as he began to speak. "Astoria and I never loved each other. However, when our parents arranged the wedding, neither of us could find a way to say no. The wedding was good for my family name and my father was still dead-set on me producing an heir. As for her, her family had been going through some financial turmoil so her marrying into my family meant that her family would gain enough money to get back on their feet. It was a perfect match, so to speak.

"For the first year, we tried until she finally became pregnant with Scorpius. However, once he was born, she moved into a different wing of the Manor and we lived quite happily apart. We had an unwritten agreement that we could date whoever we wanted, so she regularly brought guys home. Eventually, I made a second, smaller house in the grounds that she could use with her guests so that Scorpius wouldn't see. However, my son was getting older every year, and the more he understood, the more I feared he would sense that something was very wrong with his family.

"Therefore, when Scorpius turned eleven, I brought it up to her that it might be best for all of us if she and I officially broke it off because I was not going to be able to hide her affairs from my son for very much longer. She said she would think about it, but weeks passed and she continued to avoid me whenever I tried to bring it up again. Three months ago, I found out why. Astoria is pregnant and the child is not mine, but Astoria knows nothing about being a mother so she is scared of having to raise a kid on her own. At first, I was sympathetic to her plight and told her that if she stopped sleeping around on the Manor grounds, I would help her raise the kid.

"However, not a week passed when my father found out. Naturally, he was pissed, and knowing how the Daily Prophet works, he was not going to have that kind of scandal in his house. I filed for a divorce, and told her I would do everything I could to split everything up equally and if she needed me, I would be there for her. About a month into the divorce proceedings though, she got scared and turned on me. At first, it was just that she wanted more money or more furniture. Then she decided she wanted the Manor.

"At this point, I was done with wanting to help her and as long as she didn't touch my son, I could care less what she got out of it. Not too long ago though, she decided she wanted him too. Now, I'm fighting against everything to keep my son, but she has now started to show and I'm scared that now that she's gotten the publicity involved and already against me, she's going to pull the sympathy vote about her pregnancy. She'll probably lie and say that the kid is mine and because I'm gay, I want nothing to do with the child since I didn't want it in the first place, not to mention Scorpius. The public will rule on her side and even with Granger - Attorney Weasley - on my side, I very much doubt I'll be able to keep him."

Draco stopped speaking and glanced over to Potter, blinking away some water that must have welled up in his eyes while he was speaking. Upon seeing those green eyes look at him with actual concern, Draco immediately went back to staring at the scratch on the table. His finger traced it carelessly, wondering aimlessly if there was a way to fix it without damaging the wood. He felt ridiculous. Potter probably had just wanted the simple version, 'I never loved her, she never loved me, so we'd be happier separated', rather than this version, the version he had never fully told to anybody, not even Granger.

"Malfoy?" came Potter's voice tentatively. Draco sighed quietly and looked up at those green eyes again; those eyes that had caused him so much pain as a child and somehow were now healing him as an adult. "I'm going to go get the food, but I'll be right back, okay?" He said and Draco blinked. It sounded so much like Potter was actually worrying about him, but that didn't make any sense. Potter never worried or cared about Draco, and Draco was supposed to be the one comforting Potter, not the other way around.

"May I go with you?" Draco found himself asking despite himself.

Smiling crookedly, Potter shook his head. "If you want to watch, you can sit on the doorstep while I talk to the pizza man, but you can't come with me to do the transaction."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one, you're still in wizard robes," Potter chuckled and Draco first looked down at the robes he had hastily put on this morning before glancing over to the tight-fitting blue shirt and jeans Potter was wearing.

Swallowing down some irritating feelings, Draco nodded and stood up to follow Potter out of the house. He stopped on the top of the steps and leaned against the doorway, not wishing to actually sit on the ground. Potter grinned and winked at him before jumping down the steps and into the darkened street. Frowning, Draco struggled to keep Potter in sight as he walked towards the edge of the street where a small pavilion had been erected. Leaning forward a little bit, he saw a guy in a red outfit that was holding two boxes start talking to him, but from this distance, he couldn't hear any of the words being said.

Eventually, Potter was handed the boxes, and the guy in red got into a car and then drove off. A minute or two later, Potter jumped back up the steps and lead the way back into the house. If that was the entire trip, Draco was sorely disappointed. He was under the impression that muggle transactions would at least be a tiny bit exciting. All Potter had done was talk to the guy before receiving the strange boxes that supposedly held their food. Feeling like he had missed out on something, Draco followed Potter back into the room with the tapestry and sat down in one of the plush chairs after Potter did the same.

Potter put both boxes on the coffee table and opened each of them. What was inside looked absolutely vile. The 'pizza' that Potter had ordered was a circular creation made of some sort of bread, sauce, cheese, and a rather strange assortment of vegetables or meats. The brunet peeled off one of the meat-covered slices and brought it up to his mouth where he eagerly took a bite out of it. Draco immediately scrunched up his nose and shook his head, feeling ill. When Potter saw this, he started laughing, nearly choking on his bite in the process. "Come on, try one. I promise it takes better than it looks, though it looks pretty good to me."

Draco made a face at that, but he decided he might as well go with it. He peeled off one of the vegetable-covered ones and held it with both hands as he scraped off a miniscule bit with his teeth. He swallowed thoughtfully and decided that it wasn't, in fact, going to kill him, so he took a slightly bigger bite. When the flavors hit him, he had to hold back a moan. He had never in his life tasted something so deliciously seasoned. It literally made his mouth water so that when he swallowed that first bite, he immediately had to take another.

"Like it?" Potter asked and Draco glared at him. He was ruining the second bite.

Once he finished swallowing though, he turned to Potter and frowned. "This is probably the least healthy meal I have ever eaten, but yes, it is good. Now, I told you my sob story, so will you grace me with yours?" He asked, feeling that he was probably being unsympathetic, but he really was getting impatient.

Potter waited until he had finished his first slice of the pizza until he finally responded, "Yeah, okay. It's not going to be as long though, since I don't know what to do and I kind of need your advice. Sounds crazy, right? Me asking your advice?" Draco only shrugged as he took another bite of his pizza, waiting for Potter to go on. "Okay, well...it started a few months back. At first, it was just about my work schedule or the fact that I didn't spend enough time with the kids. Mostly, it was just a lot of yelling both ways, with Ginny I mean, and not a lot of listening. It was all small things though, so we got over it and moved on. I mean, we've been in several fights before, but not this many this close together.

"However, it got worse when the boys went to school. My work schedule got busier, and I was barely seeing Ginny or Lily. Eventually, even when I was home, she was gone. It was like we were avoiding each other because when we did see each other, we just got into more fights. When I found out you were getting divorced, I guess I started thinking about that for myself; it had never really been an option before that. I didn't mention it to her though, because mostly I was afraid of losing her family more than her.

"Don't get me wrong, I loved her. Err, I love her...I mean. I don't know. I just wanted what was best for the kids, and I knew she wanted that too. The problem was that I didn't know if what was the best for them was us staying together anymore. Lately, I had been thinking that maybe all we needed was some marriage therapy. I mean, we had been so happy before and maybe we had just lost sight of that. After last night though, I don't think even therapy can fix it. Malfoy, ugh...what do I do?"

Draco frowned, knowing there was a lot of details Potter was leaving out for some reason, but he didn't want to push him at this point. "What happened last night before I found you?"

"I was supposed to be in the office late again, but I was missing Ginny and thought that maybe since Lily was at her grandmother's, maybe we could work whatever was going on out. However, the door was unlocked and it freaked me out because that meant somehow someone probably had broken in. Running upstairs though, I found her. I found her with...Malfoy, I found her fucking cheating on me! In my own bed! So I went and got drunk and tried to apparate to Ron and Hermione's, but ended up at Malfoy Manor for some reason, and ugh. I just don't know what to do anymore!" Potter yelled, his fingers scratching at his scalp as if thinking pain would somehow solve everything.

Without thinking, Draco put his slice back and moved into Potter's chair. He wrapped his arms around the other man and pressed his head against his shoulder. Potter had gone through a lot of pain lately and Draco couldn't help but think about all the ways he had made it worse. A sob broke out of Potter's body and Draco felt liquid hit his shoulder as Potter began to cry again. Closing his eyes, Draco focused on rubbing Potter's back and rocking him back and forth. He didn't know what else to do, but he hoped very much that what he was doing would help in some way.

After a long time in silence, Draco propped Potter's head up with two fingers and smiled hopefully as Potter's green eyes looked into his. Draco could feel with every fiber of his being how close they were and he knew he had to get away somehow. He was afraid that if Potter continued to look at him for very much longer with those eyes, he might do something stupid like kiss him. Therefore, when he heard the doorbell ring, he had never been more thankful for an intrusion in his life.

"I'll get it; it's probably Granger anyway. You have another slice of that pizza and I'll be right back. We'll talk through this then, okay?" Draco said softly, his fingers not being able to help brushing themselves through Potter's ridiculous hair. Potter just nodded mutely, and Draco untangled himself from the chair. He glanced back at Potter who was watching him with tears still streaking down his face. He nodded encouragingly and left the room, closing the door behind him.

As he walked towards the door, he really hoped it was Granger. If it was anyone else, he would have a hard time explaining as to why he was in Potter's house. Just his luck though, when he opened the door, it wasn't Granger. No, it was probably the worst person to be here right now. It was the Weaslette.

"Malfoy? What are you doing here?"

"I would ask you the same question, but that would imply that I actually cared." Draco sneered, not feeling like she deserved any amount of kindness at the moment.

"Excuse me, but this is my house." She retorted angrily.

"Most likely not for long. Look, Ginevra. We need to talk."

As always, please please please review! I need to know what you guys think so that I know I'm writing this story okay. Also, the reason it took so long for Astoria to start showing is because she's like my step-mom (really skinny) and she doesn't take on weight easily (seriously, my step-mom barely looked pregnant when she was pregnant with my half-brother). Lastly, the semester is ending next week, so I'll have a lot more time to focus on writing really soon!