I hope no one's expecting me to wrap this up soon… Because I won't. I don't know what happened exactly to this story, but the Muze decided she wanted to take a lot longer before giving either one of the boys what they wanted.

Hence, you'll have to be patient too… which I hope you'll be?

Enjoy, guys. I promise there will be action in the end.

~ Anvan

***

When Harry opened his eyes after dozing off for a minute, he instantly realised he was where he belonged, at his office in the Ministry of Magic. A spontaneous smile broke through on his face, as he saw Ron opposite of him, working fervently.

"By Merlin's beard, it's good to be back," he sighed.

Ron looked up from his papers and made a slight face. "Still getting over your adventure with Malfoy, ey, mate?"

Harry squinted at Ron's choice of words. "You could say that," he nevertheless admitted.

"Seems he really got to you," the redhead replied. "I'm surprised he hasn't smeared the whole thing in The Daily Prophet yet."

Nodding his agreement, Harry glanced at his papers, although he knew Ron and he were not thinking of the same 'whole thing'. His eyes scanned standard issues, but still it was appalling that in the aftermath of Voldemort's near reign, so many people still insisted on exploring the Dark Arts or maintained their loyalty. Perhaps it was time Harry considered lecturing in Draco's classes.

Wait… Did I just consider that?

"How long has it been," Ron asked, interrupting Harry's thoughts.

"Months, really, I haven't kept track."

"And he never even sent you a thank-you-for-saving-my-life-yet-again-oh-great-Potter-note?"

"Technically," Harry said absently. "He may have saved my life once or twice too over there. Maybe even thrice."

"Really," Ron blurted out, a slight edge to his voice. "How come I'm only hearing this now?"

"Because when I was telling you about the mission, you were too busy being distracted by Herm…"

"Never mind," Ron squealed. "I think I remember."

Harry snorted lightly, but let the subject rest. Since he did not want anyone prying into his own love life, or lack thereof, he decided it best to leave others be as well. Ron and Hermione had the brains to come talk to him, if they needed his opinion and until they did, Harry thought it wise to leave them alone.

Also, since Hermione had confronted Harry with much the same issues Draco had confronted him with; Harry had no intentions of butting in on her love life anymore than he felt the need to taunt a Horntail. After much prodding he had told her about the incident with Draco.

"You what?"

"I kissed him, Herm, and I don't know why."

"Well, I can give you a few reasons," she smirked.

"Hermione!"

"Okay, okay, sorry," she said, not sounding the least bit so. "But, Harry, honestly, what do you expect me to say?"

"I don't know… Any piece of advice seems welcome at the moment," Harry sighed, pushing his fingers to his temples. Hermione's warm hand rested kindly on his arm.

"Look, I know he has changed and any woman with an eye for beauty will assure you there could be worse men to kiss, but…"

A tone of concern had slipped into her voice, which made Harry look up. She had always defended Draco, since Voldemort had fallen. For some reason he had not expected her to have concerns about Draco, or what this all implied. Rather, Harry had hoped she could have given him some clarity.

"But what," he prodded.

"As much as he might have changed, Harry, you're crazy to put your heart into the hands of a Slytherin."

"So you're saying this is wrong?"

"I'm saying you need to be very careful. Draco has been spotted with lots of women at his arm…"

"Then why didn't he ever marry one of them?"

"Are you and Ginny married?"

"No," he said crossly. "What does that have to do with it?"

"Am I or Ron married?"

"You mean are you and Ron married?"

She threw him a warning look and Harry quickly shook his head.

"We have not yet reached the age when people expect you to be married, or be about to anyway. So why would you expect it of Draco?"

A bit frustrated, Harry pulled at his hair and shrugged.

"You see," she said. "Not being married is not the same as being gay."

"Please don't use that word," Harry moaned.

"Harry… Come to terms with it. It's the only way and if messing around with Draco is the only way to deal with it, then do so. Just be careful."

She hesitated for a split second.

"He's a heartbreaker."

Well, she definitely had set things in motion, if only sending his mind reeling with images after using the words 'messing with Draco'. And it was a good thing that he had not spoken to Ginny since his return, although it was not for lack of trying on her part. Ron was angry with him about it. The two men never talked about it. Harry would have to deal with Ginny as well, to finally end things.

Fuck it, how long can I lie to myself?

He needed to see Draco. It had been months since they had seen each other, after the Thorfinn mission. Apart from some owls up and down, they had not talked. The owls had initially carried messages from Harry to Draco, informing him of the outcome of Thorfinn's case. Apparently there was still a network of Dark Wizards and Thorfinn was a tiny fish in that particular pond. The Ministry would need a lot of time and manpower to get to all of them. After that the messages became less frequent, the two men sharing some general knowledge about new spells, hexes and potions to be used against the Dark Arts.

Harry had come to some sort of terms with what he had done to Draco as well, although Harry guessed that the fact that Draco had not spilled the whole mission (more particularly their not-so-mission-related discussions) to the press also had something to do with it. He considered Draco a friend, if a bit of an odd one and this fact proved that much. But he had been lying to himself…

Lying about the fact that he did (not) want to see Draco. Lying about the fact that Malfoy had become Draco. Lying about the fact that the one incident where he had given in would remain the only one. Lying about the fact that he did not want to storm into Draco's office at Hogwarts and f…

"Okay," Harry said, a slight edge to his own voice. "I think I need to be going."

"Going? It's barely two o'clock."

"Well, Kingsley has not dropped in here yet, so I think I can go check whether professor Malfoy is up for some lectures on history in his Defence against the Dark Arts lessons."

Ron looked Harry over quizzically, but then shrugged and turned back to his paper work.

"Come over for dinner tonight?"

"Depends," said Harry. "How are you getting along today?"

"Harry!"

"Sorry, sorry," the Head Auror said, without a tone of regret to his voice. "Of course I'll come over. Sevenish?"

"Sounds good."

Harry had not quite known why he was so unkind to Ron, but perhaps it annoyed him to see how two people who got along fine were making things infinitely complicated. Life could be easier, he thought, if people would just… now and then… say what was on their mind. Ron and Hermione loved each other dearly, yet were incapable of settling down in what Harry thought would be a blissfully pleasant relationship. Or maybe he was still too romantic by nature; the Gryffindor shook his head at his own naivety.

***

Hogwarts welcomed him like an adult's old bedroom in his parental house would, including every good and bad memory that is triggered at the sight of details. Instantly pleased with his decision to come here, Harry beamed at nothing in particular. He still had that insanely content look on his face, when he walked into the halls of Hogwarts. For some reason he had not informed anyone, except Ron, of his decision to come here and since all students had class at the moment, no one noticed his arrival.

***

Except for Draco Malfoy, who got a little alarm sound from the huge map behind his back, as Harry Potter entered the walls of Hogwarts. Raising an eyebrow without looking over his shoulder, Draco wondered what on earth had kept the Golden Boy so long from giving in.