Chapter Two: The Return Of Draco Malfoy


Harry took a deep breath and opened the door. Sirius stood there with Draco Malfoy. Malfoy looked all at once scared, angry and sullen.

Sirius pushed Draco forward gently. "Go on." he said.

Draco stepped inside. Sirius followed with a small duffel bag. Harry closed the door and the two of them all stood and stared at each other.

"Well," Draco spoke first. "Listen Potter. I wanted to say thanks for letting me kip here."

Harry nodded. "No problem. I needed help with the rent anyway."

Sirius looked closely at the two young men. "I guess I'd better leave you two to get reaquainted." he said, tossing the duffel on the sofa and turning to leave.

"Wait," Draco said quickly. "You'll be sure and get me that information?"

Sirius turned back to face Draco. "Yes." he said. "And I'll get back to you in a couple of days to make sure you really want to know it."

Draco nodded. "Fine by me." he said.

Sirius turned to go again. Harry asked, quickly.. "Are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner?"

Sirius turned to face Harry, this time. "I can't." he said. "I am off to see Amethyst, remember."

Harry sighed. "Yes, of course I remember." he said resignedly. "Tell her I hope she's feeling better."

Sirius smiled. "If I can get that overgrown bat of a brother-in-law to let me in, I sure will."

And he was gone.

Harry and Draco stood and stared at each other. Harry cleared his throat and said, "Let me show you your room."

Draco grabbed the bag off of the sofa and followed Harry down a narrow hall. Harry pointed to a door at the end of the hall. "Lav." he said, standing between two closed doors. He turned right and opened that door. "Here's yours." he said, stepping in. Draco followed. There was a bed and a dresser. "Not much furniture, but I figured you'd eventually fill it up yourself."

Draco nodded. "Thanks, Potter." he said, as he threw his bag on the neatly made bed.

Twenty minutes later, Draco appeared freshly showered and changed. He wore black sweat pants but nothing else. He found Harry in the kitchen, bending over the stove.

"Smells good." Draco said, making Harry jump.

"You just about scared the shit out of me, Malfoy!" Harry snapped.

"Sorry." he said, and he looked it. "Must be the bare feet."

Harry took a deep breath. "No problem. I just thought you might not be interested in dinner." he waved a spoon towards the stove. "Made plenty, though. I hope you like Italian."

Draco nodded and looked around the kitchen. "Where are the dishes. I'll set the table."

Harry stared. "You know how to set a table?"

Draco laughed. "Honestly, no." he said. "But I thought I may as well try to pull my weight around here."

Harry tossed the spoon back in the pot and gave Draco a tour of the kitchen. "The formal dining area is there." he said, pointing to the table along the kitchen wall. "Probably not what your used to but -"

Draco held up a hand. "I've been in Azkaban for a year and a half, Potter. It's been a long time since I've had to wear my dress robes to anything."

They managed to set the table and begin their meal without making each other too uncomfortable. Harry tried to start a conversation. "I don't mean to be nosy, but what information is Sirius getting for you?"

Draco looked at Harry for a long time. "He said he was going to tell me who it was killed my parents." he finally said.

Harry choked but recovered quickly. "He is?' he managed.

Draco looked at him oddly. "Yea." he said. "I want to shake their hand, whoever they are."

"You do?"

"Listen, Potter. My parents were not nice people. They got what they deserved, if the rumors I heard in prison are any indication." Draco said. "I can't tell you how glad I am to be rid of them."

Harry drank from his bottle of ale. Slowly he nodded. "I suppose if someone killed the Dursleys, I wouldn't have minded much myself, come to think on it."

"You may not believe it, but I do hope Professor A is OK." Draco said after another minutes silence.

Harry had to think for a second who Professor A was. Then it hit him. "Ohhh, you mean Amethyst." he said. "I guess she will be, she's been a little under the weather, but won't let anyone treat her like she's sick. She's a stubborn lady."

"Just like her husband." Draco said. "I never thought I would be seeing Professor Snape again." he said.

"Well, you won't right away, if Amethyst is sick." Harry said. "You'll probably be working with Taja for the first few days."

Part of Draco's probation was working with the very person he'd committed a crime against, Amethyst Snape.

Harry yawned and said sleepily. "I'm sorry, Malfoy. I'm exhausted. Don't mean to be rude."

Draco grinned. "Go to bed, Potter. I'll clean up here. Be nice to have a little something to do."

So Harry went to bed, marvelling that he and Draco hadn't gotten into a fight their first night living together.



Severus answered the door, ignoring Sissy's tutting at him. When he saw Sirius he said. "Your later than I thought you'd be."

"I had to go get Draco from Azkaban, remember. Even in my car it took a couple of hours. He's all settled in with Harry by now, I'm sure." Sirius said, coming in.

"They'll probably kill each other by morning." Severus said, chuckling. "They were forever at each others throats at school."

"How's Amethyst." Sirius asked as the two men stood in the front hall.

"She's trying to get out of bed. We figured out what was causing her fainting and I've fixed her a potion to keep it happening again." Severus said.

"So what's wrong with her?" Sirius asked, the concern in his voice obvious.

"Come with me, Sirius." Seveus said, starting up the stairs.

Sissy was standing on Amethyst, trying to keep her down. "Master said stay put!" she was shouting.

"Get off of me before I get mad, Sissy." Amethyst was growling.

"I see your feeling better." Sirius said, walking over and kissing his sister on the cheek.

"You may go, Sissy." Severus told the house elf, who promptly hopped down and left the room.

"I am, but Severus won't let me out of bed except to go to the bathroom." she complained. "And I suppose I should be grateful he lets me do that."

"I'll have you up and working like a house elf tomorrow." Severus said, smiling. "Tonight you stay in bed." he rolled his eyes. "Rest, woman. It won't kill you, honest."

"So what's with the fainting?" Sirius said. "Severus won't tell me anything and I'm having jitters thinking something is seriously wrong with you."

Amethyst smiled brightly. "Nothing serious, Sirius." she said. "I'm pregnant."

Sirius sat on the edge of the bed. "Excuse me?"

"Pregnant." Amethyst and Severus said together.

Sirius closed his eyes and opened them again. "Pregnant?" he asked.

Amethyst took her brothers hand. "You are going to be a uncle."

"I am?" Sirius said. He took a great breath. "How?"

"I am not explaining sex to you, Black." Severus said. "I think you know if you bother thinking about it for a minute. You can't possible be that stupid."

This seemed to being Sirius back to earth a bit. He glared at Severus and hugged his sister very tightly. "OK, then. When?"

"Late August. Early September maybe." Amethyst said.

Sirius nodded. "And you'll be coming back to the office, when?"

"In the morning." Amethyst said quickly.

"Good." Said Sirius. "Because Draco will be working with you starting tomorrow. Which reminds me, he was telling me he wants to shake the hands of the people involved in his parents deaths."

Severus nodded, "I thought he might." he said. "I know I would have."

"So it would be alright to tell him who was responsible?" Sirius asked.

"I suppose he has the right to know." Amethyst said, yawning. "Now get out, I'm exhausted again." and she settled down and was asleep in no time flat.



Draco gave up on getting back to sleep and sat up in his bed. The sun was not quite out. He threw his legs off the edge of the bed and ruffled his blonde hair. From his bed, he looked out onto the perfect Saturday morning. He shook his head. His room had a view of the street. Potters had a view of the alley. Draco still had a hard time understanding Potter's treatment of him. He was being kind. Very kind. Perhaps that had something to do with his just getting out of prison, but somehow Draco doubted it. He was suspicious by his very nature., and had suspected something was up from the very beginning.

He and Harry had sat up quite late the night before. Draco was not really surprised to find out that Harry was, for the most part, a homebody. When he did go out, he tended to stay away from wizarding establishments. Draco was also a bit of a homebody, regardless of having been cooped up in Azkaban for eighteen months. His parents never let him get too far away from him, and now he was half scared that he'd get into some sort of trouble, and that was the last thing he wanted. The abandonment of Azkaban by the Dementors had done nothing to cheer up the prison, in Draco's opinion. He didn't want to go back there.

He and Harry had talked Most of the night. Being nine o'clock in the morning meant Draco had managed to get about five hours of sleep. Draco had no idea how similar his life and Harry's life had been. Unhappy home lives for both of them. Harry's family had never abused him to the extent Draco's had, but it had still been there. Harry's trust issues stemmed from his fame, Draco's from his parents training. Death Eaters were not supposed to trust anyone, not even each other.

Draco sighed and got off the bed. He went, took a shower and dressed. He padded, barefoot, into the kitchen and started messing with the pots and pans. He was just filling a glass with water when he heard someone behind him. He turned to see Harry, in a pair of sweats, standing and watching him. His hair was in a worse state than usual and his eyes were at half-mast.

"Didn't mean to wake you, Potter." Draco apologized.

"Coffee." was all Harry could make come out of his mouth.

"Coffee?" Draco repeatedly, a bit stupidly.

Harry dragged himself into the kitchen and rummaged under the countertops. He reappeared with a machine Draco had seen only at work, some Muggle contraption. Harry moved around the kitchen still half-conscious, getting what looked to Draco to be a paper bowl, and a bag of beans from the freezer. He fished another Muggle contraption out from under the cabinet where he'd gotten the first and poured some of the beans into the lid of the second contraption. A whirring noise startled Draco. Harry then dumped the now pulverized beans into the paper bowl, which he put into another bowl which slid neatly into the larger contraption. He removed a glass decanter from under the main part of the contraption, elbowed Draco aside and filled the decanter with water. He poured the water into the top of the larger contraption, put the decanter back where it had been, pushed a button and glared at it until it started making sort of a bubbling noise.

He turned to Draco and said, again. "Coffee." His eyes had gone from half mast to three-quarters-mast. "I don't know what it is, but this morning I need coffee. Probably Amethyst and Taja's doing. Didin't used to be able to stand the stuff."

Draco had noticed that there was an awful lot of the very stuff filling the decanter at their place of work. Only Amethyst and Taja ever drank any of it. Draco now remembered it was called coffee.

"How can you drink that stuff." Draco asked, looking at the pot with disgust.

Harry found a cup and filled it with coffee. "Amethyst got me to try some about a year ago and I have been using it to wake up when I need to ever since. It's addicting, this stuff." His eyes were now open. He looked around the kitchen like he was just now seeing it. "You're making breakfast? You can eat after last night?"

Draco found a bowl, then pulled out his wand and the pot began filling with porridge. "Takes a lot to mess with my appetite." he said, as he found a spoon and sat down with Harry and his coffee.

Harry watched him eat, his own stomach churning. "You'll be getting your questions answered today." he said.

Draco looked up. "Yes." he drawled. "But I bet you could have saved me a lot of grief and told me all about it days ago."

Harry tried to look innocent. "What?" he said.

"You know, don't you? Draco said, "You know who killed my parents."

Harry opened his mouth to lie and found himself saying, instead, "Yes, I do."

Draco simply looked at him. "Your easy to read, Potter. Not too easy, but easy nonetheless." he finished his breakfast, washed the bowl out and put it in a drainer. He then turned to face Harry. "I won't ask you, though." he said, grinning. "I can wait another couple of hours." and he left the kitchen.

Harry remained in the kitchen where he finished his coffee. He drank coffee until he finished the whole pot. He prepared another pot except didn't start the coffee maker. He'd do that later. He thought he might need more coffee today. He thought he might need a drink before noon.

Harry had managed to shower and dress and was laying on the sofa enjoying the quiet when the knock came. He dragged himself up and answered the door. Sirius, Severus and Amethyst walked in. Sirius looked as usual, but both Severus and Amethyst looked especially serious.

"Is he ready?" Sirius asked.

"I'll go get him." Harry said and walked down the hall to Draco's closed door. He knocked. When Draco answered he simply said. "They're here."

Draco nodded and followed Harry out to the sitting room. He saw Amethyst and Severus and he closed his eyes. "You?" he asked. He opened his eyes and looked at Amethyst. "It can't have been you."

Amethyst simply looked at Draco. "I assure you, it was." she walked up to him. "I can also assure you it was not done because of my personal overfondness of you, Mister Malfoy."

Draco bit his bottom lip and nodded slowly. He offered Amethyst his hand and she took it. He then shook hands with Severus. "I know you didn't do any of this for me, but I thank you anyway." and he turned to Harry. "No wonder you didn't tell me anything. I would have called you a liar to your face."

Harry shrugged. "I didn't want them to do it, actually." he said. "They went ahead and did it anyway."

Draco stared at Harry. "Why wouldn't you want them to kill my parents?" he asked. "They deserved worse than they got."

Harry sighed, exasperated. "You sound like them." he waved at the other wizards in the room. "I still don't like what they did. It just doesn't seem right."

"And yet you did not turn any of us in." Severus said, quietly.

Harry sighed again. "Partly because I didn't want my godfather in any trouble. He's had enough, thanks. Partly because, well, I guess I am as bad as you all are. I just think maybe prison would have been better, is all."

"We have had this conversation before." Amethyst said. "You are different. Not like us. For that, even my brother is, what? More kindhearted than either myself or Severus. It is in your blood, I wouldn't doubt. That which makes you a Griffindor through and through. Griffindors differ from Slytherins in so few ways, didn't you know that Harry?"

Harry sat down and considered this. He looked at Sirius. "A Gryffindor won't go to the lengths that a Slytherin will?"

Sirius looked very thoughtful. "A Gryffindor is incapable of going to the lengths that a Slytherin will. Especially if those lengths go against their moral code." he glanced at his sister. "Morality is not a Slytherin trait."

Severus snorted. "Morality," he said "complicates things."

Sirius smiled. "You would think so, Severus." and his eyes flicked towards his sister. "I would dare say my sister agrees."

Amethyst allowed herself half a smile. "Do you remember all the times I would do something and Father would go ballistic on me?" she asked, looking directly across the room and into her brothers eyes. "Father would say to me 'Why?' and I would reply 'Because, Father'. He never understood that. Why I would do something just because it needed to be done. Father hated me at those moments. That's why he called me a Slytherin bitch before he died, isn't it?"

Sirius slowly nodded, as if slowly coming to an understanding. "You struggled so in Griffindor House, didn't you? There was a code of moral conduct there that you never did understand. You could never understand how sometimes things just weren't to be done." he walked over to his sister. "That's why you fought me so hard over him," and he nodded towards Severus. "Because he was what you wanted and you were bound and determined to do what you wanted and the rest of us be damned."

Amethyst nodded. "I think there is a very thin line between becoming a Griffindor and becoming a Slytherin. A Slytherin requires more cunning. More immorality, if you will, than a Griffindor does. But Griffindors must be capable of doing what needs to be done and by any means necessary. Or you would not have accompanied us to the Malfoys."

Sirius was shaking his head. "No. I don't believe that. I believe that I am not just our father's son, but our mother's also." he said, while Amethyst nodded. "And young Harry here is all Griffindor. The only one in this room."

Malfoy broke the moment by saying, "My condolences, Potter."

Harry rolled his eyes. "You make it sound wrong, Sirius." he said.

"Not wrong, just different." Sirius said. "Different is never wrong."