It was the last Hogsmeade weekend before Christmas and even strict Headmistress had allowed Harry and Hermione to sit their detention in some other day. So they joined a big crowd of cheerful students wrapped in their colorful scarves and winter robes on their way to Three Broomsticks. Harry was content albeit half-frozen to spend this time with his friends instead of polishing every single part of the castle Filch and random professors saw fit.
He sat in a booth with Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Luna. Dean and Seamus joined them later, generously bringing pints of Butterbeer and some Honeydukes sweets to share. The chatter and laughter of his mates were a bit surreal considering recent headlines that polluted the front pages of the Daily Prophet. There were rumors that Corban Yaxley had resurfaced and had been spotted by the muggle police, who had him on their most wanted list as a part of the cooperation task force with DMLE. The said muggles were found in various states of injury and torture, some of them under the influence of the Imperius Curse.
Harry had reasons to be worried: Narcissa Malfoy had provided a lot of valuable information about Yaxley's involvement in the Ministry coup. He was a family friend that had sat at dinner parties and even owned some shares in a couple of Malfoy's business investments. If the bastard was still in England it meant that neither Draco nor Narcissa was safe.
"Why is he lurking about there?" Ron interrupted his thoughts pointing at the fogged-up window. Outside the pub a tall shape of Draco Malfoy wrapped in his expensive fur-lined cloak was standing apprehensively.
"He is not allowed to be in Three Broomsticks anymore, Ronald!" Hermione explained.
"I didn't know Malfoy was allowed to go into Hogsmeade at all," Ginny chuckled next to him.
Harry gave her a sharp look and stood up to see what was it all about.
"Harry, where are you going?" his girlfriend called after him.
"The loo," he lied. "I can get us a refill on my way back."
"But you've barely touched your glass!" Ginny pointed out and Harry shrugged his shoulders picking up his pint of Butterbeer and downing it in one go.
"I will get some more snacks," Hermione followed him too.
She caught him by the arm as he was about to exit the establishment.
"Harry, don't! What if Ginny sees you together?" his friend protested.
"I am just trying to make sure he is okay after getting off the potion!" Harry grumbled.
"As if you weren't sneaking away every night to check on him in the hospital wing," Hermione deadpanned.
"How did you…" he thought he had been careful, always going out when everyone in his dorm room was sleeping deeply and not letting Malfoy notice him either. He wasn't sure the Slytherin would appreciate seeing him after Harry did exactly what he forbade him to do: take him to Pomfrey.
"I am not stupid, Harry! And Ginny isn't either. You cannot keep this charade for much longer. Being Malfoy's friend is one thing, obsessing over him like you do is quite another." Hermione was unswayed.
"I am not obsessed, and me and Ginny are fine!"
"Yeah… but why does she keeps complaining to me that when you two are together your thoughts are elsewhere?" his friend was looking at him worryingly and it made Harry feel really guilty.
He just didn't know what was wrong, he couldn't just forget about rogue Death Eaters still not being caught and about Malfoy trying to cope with his potion addiction. And somehow there wasn't any space left in his head for his relationship with Ginny.
"Fine!" Harry exhaled, he went up to the bartender to get some more refreshments, and the next time he looked out of the window the Slytherin was gone.
On their way back he saw Malfoy being dragged back to the castle by scandalized looking McGonagall. He was not allowed to go to Hogsmeade after all.
Draco was sitting on the snow-covered bleachers, cigarette firmly gripped in his cold fingers. The Quidditch pitch was still under the reconstruction so no games or trainings were conducted here. It was a perfect place to be if you wanted to avoid everyone.
He had gotten the news that his mother was taken into protective custody after Yaxley was spotted in Birmingham. They didn't even have time to talk properly when it happened and he wasn't allowed to send her any owls. Draco foolishly thought that trying to catch Potter somewhere and ask him to bend the rules a little bit was a good way to go. But when he saw them all, laughing and being merry with the Weaslette in Hogsmeade, he wasn't sure he needed to even bother with the git anymore.
It was painful to realize that Potter was the one that Draco fancied all along and he had been almost certain about it. And the bastard would just let him flirt and hug and touch him as though he and the Weasel were doing that as best mates all the time. He had heard the rustle of the Invisibility Cloak during the nights he spent in the Infirmary and Draco could have sworn that it was some sort of auditory hallucination if not for the fact that he was painfully sober and hyperaware.
"Fancy meeting you here, Malfoy!" he heard a voice somewhere up in the snowy sky.
"Leave me alone, traitor!" Draco shouted to the hooded figure riding the broomstick in such a weather.
"Oh, come on… I was trying to help you!" Potter said, nearing the stands and hopped off his broom in front of the blonde. "What are you doing here?"
"Avoiding you!" the Slytherin said, "How do you always know where I am? It is beyond disturbing."
"You looked like you wanted to talk to me," Harry cleared out a bit of space on the bench beside him and recast the heating charm once again. "I saw you near the Three Broomsticks."
"The Aurors got my mother… " Draco confessed, "They say it's for her safety and that as soon as they catch Yaxley she would be free to go. But I am worried about her… They wouldn't even let me owl her!"
"What can I do?" the Gryffindor asked quickly, ever the Savior.
"I would like a visitation... just once... before Christmas. It will be the first one without Father and I thought…"
Warm fingers squeezed his hand sympathetically and Potter nodded.
"Thanks, Potter," Draco said quietly.
They lapsed into silence, watching the snow leisurely fall to the ground around them. In the distance, Hogwarts was a grey and lonely shape amidst all the white.
"If you hate Aurors that much, why do you want to be one of them?" Potter asked after a while. "You signed up for the Training Programme."
"I hate the two-faced bastards like Robards who think their shit doesn't stink!" The Slytherin replied, kicking a bit of snow off the bench in front of him. "I kind of want to prove them wrong by being there! By showing that a Death Eater scum like me can also make a good Auror!"
"That's great!" the Gryffindor smiled "It means we will train together!"
"If I get into the Programme, of course," Draco said bitterly.
"You need to be able to produce a Patronus. Can you do it?"
"I used to know how, but it only looks like that…" the blonde took out his wand and spelled a whiff of silvery smoke into the air.
"That's still impressive, Malfoy, and I reckoned you…"
"What?! That since I am Marked the maggots will devour my flesh if I try casting one?!" Draco gritted defensively.
He remembered the first time he was able to do it, hiding in the Hogwarts alcove from Carrows, trying his best to find some cheerful thoughts in his depressed brain. His Dark Mark started to hurt when he finally managed to produce a Patronus, it felt like his skin was being peeled off his left forearm, but Draco for the first time in a while felt happiness and hope that those dark times would pass.
"No… I didn't mean it. It's quite complicated magic," Potter mumbled, embarrassed.
"Alright…" the blonde stood up, shaking the snow off his winter robes, "You should probably go, don't let the Weaselette worry too much."
The red locomotive was moving along the tracks, leaving a trail of smoke, a crimson line in the endless field of white.
He was sitting alone in the compartment, his cheek resting on the glass, feeling anxiety make his heart beat faster the closer they came to London. Draco was supposed to meet with Potter right after they arrive. He promised to persuade Williamson to take them to the safehouse his mother was in.
He saw a bushy-haired head pop into his secluded space and look at him worryingly.
"Hey, Malfoy? You alright?" Granger asked, getting inside.
"Peachy!" was his sarcastic response.
"I've brought a bit of our Memory Restoring Elixir for you," she said, handing him a vial with a potion.
"Thanks, Granger, but I don't think it is much of use to me anymore," Draco twirled the glass in his hand.
"But we've been working so hard on it…" she bit her lip, "Keep it anyway, maybe one day it will be handy!"
He shrugged. He already knew what he meant to remember, and that realization did not help him have some peace of mind at all.
"I bet you are excited about your parents having all their memories back," the blonde mused.
It was the main reason they both agreed to take up that project in the first place. Granger told him how she had to Obliviate her parents to keep them safe and perhaps at that moment she stopped being a stuck-up know-it-all for Draco and became a real person. He could not imagine what it was like to know that your loved ones are still alive but have no idea about your existence.
"I am," the girl agreed. "You know, Malfoy… We can still be friends even though we don't work on the same project together."
"And get in trouble with one more Weasley?" he let out a short laugh.
"Have a lot of that going on, don't you?" Granger winked knowingly. "You really fancy him… Harry."
"That doesn't matter," Draco replied.
"Well, I am tired of trying to save whatever nonsense is happening between him and Ginny… so who knows, maybe you have a chance."
She was a bit barmy at that moment. What was she even suggesting? To forget about his family responsibility and about the fact that Potter was trying his best to seem straight and pursue whatever strange relationship was between them. It was a recipe for a disaster, public ridicule, and a broken heart.
"Choice is yours, Malfoy," Granger finally said, getting up to leave. "I think Harry is too deep in denial to make any first moves."
"Thanks, Granger… for being a friend to me," Draco called after her quietly.
She gave him one of those wide sincere smiles that Gryffindors only show each other.
They were outside the visitor entrance to the Ministry of Magic disguised as a simple telephone booth. Harry looked at Malfoy who was wearing his poshest and the most inauspicious muggle suit ever, a bouquet of bright Christmassy flowers in his hands and a strained expression on his face.
"Relax, Malfoy... Kingsley assured me that it'll be fine," he tried to cheer him up a little. It didn't seem to work much.
They got into the booth, too close to each other for Harry's comfort and he quickly put in a coin into the telephone and pressed the code.
Auror Williamson had already been waiting for them in the Artium next to the elevators. There were surprisingly few people walking around the hall, mostly because it was later in the evening since they went there straight from the Hogwarts Express.
"Mister Potter, Mister Malfoy, you need to hurry," the man said urgently. "The Portkey is going to go off in ten minutes. Follow me!"
Level Two looked deserted, there was only a night watcher at the post and he was sleeping merrily, his nose buried in a raunchy wizarding romance novel. Williamson opened the Head Auror office and gestured towards a can of sardines that was on the desk.
"Where is everybody?" Harry asked.
It eerily reminded him of the time they broke into the Department of Mysteries, of course after that the Ministry had enforced its security system.
"It is Christmas, mister Potter, everyone wants to be with their families," the Auror smiled and they hall put their hands on the can.
In a few seconds, the world whirled around them and they appeared inside a small but smartly furnished flat.
"Draco? Darling, is that you?" Narcissa called from another room and then she came into the hall, dropping everything she had in her hards and embracing her son tightly.
Harry had never seen Malfoys behave like that, they usually looked completely composed and proper and devout of emotions.
"Thank you, Mister Potter," the lady said looking at him earnestly, "Gentlemen, would you like some tea?"
He didn't know what to do with his hands, trying not to make a fool of himself in front of Mrs. Malfoy was quite a challenge. She was sitting on the settee close to Draco and whispering something to him in a worried voice. They looked very similar both blonde and slim with long limbs and delicate aristocratic features. Williamson was paying no mind to them, devouring the whole dish of biscuits instead.
"How is school for you this year, Mister Potter?" Narcissa asked him at last, studying his awfully inappropriate muggle jeans and a Weasley sweater with a hint of interest.
Harry was about to engage in some awkward small talk when the fireplace in the sitting room roared to life with green flames. Auror Proudfoot stepped out of the fire, his wand ready, and looked around the room incredulously.
"Williamson! What are you bloody doing here? You don't have the security clearance!" the Auror called.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
The dish of biscuits fell to the floor, breaking into little shards of porcelain, Proudfoot was lying on the floor in a stupor and Oliver Williamson stood up pointing his wand at the Malfoys.
"As touching as this reunion is, I simply cannot let you out alive!" he smirked unlike himself and Harry understood that his suspicions were correct.
"Expelliarmus!" he cried but the Auror simply shielded himself from the attack.
"Draco! Your wand!" Harry shouted, dodging a hex that was about to hit him.
The blonde quickly spurred to action, attacking the imposter. They were standing together dueling the man, their spells flying every which way and destroying the beautiful sitting room.
"Mum! The floo!" Malfoy urged to Narcissa throwing particularly nasty jinx to distract Williamson away from the fireplace. "Go to aunt Andromeda! Quick!"
The flames roared again and Mrs. Malfoy was out of sight. Williamson threw a slicing curse at the blonde it hit his shoulder and he yelled out in pain, clutching his forearm. Harry aimed his spell and the television behind the fake Auror exploded raining glass and bits of plastic everywhere. He used this as a distraction and dragged Malfoy into the corridor, throwing a couple of hexes to keep off Williamson.
"We need to get out of here!" Harry bellowed.
The safehouse was likely to have all sorts of anti-apparition wards and whatnot and the Slytherin was injured the only thing they could do is to get out of the building the muggle way.
"Malfoy, look around for the keys!"
"What?!"
"The keys, the muggle keys… they're usually somewhere in the corridor!" he levitated the dresser and made a makeshift barricade out of it, while Draco was frantically rummaging through drawers in search of the object.
"Hurry!" Harry screamed as Williamson got into the corridor and was throwing a curse after curse at them.
"Got it!" Malfoy exclaimed and after a minute of fumbling they were outside the muggle block of flats, wards ringing in their ears.
Harry did not know how they managed to get out of there alive, but somehow they did and despite a few minor injuries and a nasty gash in Draco's shoulder they were mostly in one piece.
"Where should we go then?!" the blonde asked, he murmured a quick healing charm to stop the wound in his arm from bleeding.
"My place", Harry suggested as they started to ascend the narrow street among muggle apartment buildings. "You are injured, you need some potions!"
"And how do we get there?" the Slytherin asked. "I cannot Apparate... they'll know where I am and I will get arrested!"
"The Underground!" he pointed to the red neon sign glistening in the distance.