Jani-Chan: We all love Joel. We should start a fan club. I could write a series of stories on Joel alone! I won't, though.
Michiko: Well, it has been eight years since the 3 air conditioners so I imagine something happened to them. Lets just say that Joel took them apart to find out how they worked and Draco had to throw them away and take Joel to the emergency room. Is that a good explanation?
Grey Malfoy: I like the word 'spiffy'. J
Dark One Shadowphyre: I know! Those are the exact kind of conversations I have with my friends. Part of the reason I found it funny people were saying the story was unbelievable. They should hang out with me sometime. I'll show them unbelievable.
Everyone else who reads or reviews. . .thanks! I appreciate it! You rock.
Dedicated to my sistas, Jenny from the Block and Ace because they actually read this and liked it. Especially Francois who was created in the image of Michel from Gilmore Girls. If you don't watch the show, you should.
Not JK Rowling. I don't own Harry Potter or the entire world within. Anything you recognize would belong to her. Anything you don't would belong to me, including the crack!plot of this trifle of a story. I am (obviously) making no money off this though if you really want to sue me, I've got $10.00. Good day.
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Walking from the bathroom to the kitchen, Draco poured himself a cup of coffee and entered in the living room to sit on the sofa. He stared out the window and down fifteen stories to the streets of New York crowded with late-night party goers finally heading home and the older folk of the city heading off to work. Checking the clock, Draco saw he still had a half hour before grabbing his apron and heading to the diner. As he leaned back into the cushions, he sighed and rubbed his fingers over the porcelain of the cup.
Harry wasn't here at the moment. He had left over an hour ago to take Cherish out for breakfast before promising to walk her to school. Yesterday was supposed to be Draco's day off but the diner had been especially busy with tourists and he had been called in leaving Harry and Cherish together for the day. There was disappointment in him at not being able to spend a day with his daughter and jealousy mixed in with it when he returned home and found out that Cherish and Harry had spent the day together.
Of course they had spent the day together. What else had he expected them to do? This green-eyed monster of jealousy was not flattering on him but it did insist on rearing its ugly head. Sunday afternoons with Cherish in Central Park were a time he had come to look forward to, part of what kept him going during the week. It was a tradition between the two that started way back when Melody left and Draco found he needed that one day a week to bond with his daughter.
Harry, on the other hand, had been gone from his life for ten years and he found it rather annoying that Cherish was spending more time with him than he was. It was Harry who had been helping her with her homework. It was Cherish getting hugs and eating dinner with Harry. He knew he shouldn't be jealous but he just couldn't help it and then this morning Harry had suggested walking Cherish to school.
Releasing a short laugh, Draco shook his head and drained his cup of the cheap, instant coffee. He stared at the bottom of the cup, a thin layer of deep brown liquid swimming over the white porcelain unpurified with flecks of pewter. It was ridiculous to be jealous. He should be happy they were getting along. In fact, he was happy they were getting along. He just didn't want to be forgotten along the way.
Setting the cup in the sink, Draco checked the clock again and sighed. Lost in thought, the time had passed by without him noticing and he now found it was the designated time for him to set off to work. He grabbed his apron and keys, shoving the latter in his pocket as he headed for the door. Shutting off the lights, Draco stepped through the threshold and let the door fall shut behind him as he headed for the diner.
Draco loved the smell of New York in the morning. There was something about it that pacified him, made him feel as if he were truly home. It had taken time, but New York had become his home. It was familiar and more warm than life back in the Malfoy Manor had ever been. Most people were distant and everyday he would walk past a group of people he knew he would never meet. It was part of the excitement, the unpredictability, and Draco loved how it kept him guessing.
There was one woman he passed every day. She carried a cell phone and a briefcase, always dressed in suits, and her heels made a familiar click against the sidewalk. Draco would nod his head at her in acknowledgment, offer her a small smile, and she would do the same as they passed before continuing on their way. This had been going on for close to four years. They never exchanged any words and Draco found that he liked it that way. It was constant, dependable, and something predictable in a world full of uncertainty, a shred of stability in a city full of chaos.
It was nothing like what he was going through with Harry. Things were supposed to be dependable, constant. Life with Cherish had its ups and downs and with the exception of the events that Joel caused almost daily, there were never any real surprises. Now Harry was back and Draco was torn. He wanted the old life back but it would never return. He wanted a new life with Harry but there were so many possibilities, so many chances to get hurt, that Draco wasn't sure he was ready for it. Ready or not, he had been thrust into this position. He wished it would leave his mind.
Pushing open the door to the diner, Francois hurried up to him with a plastic cup and shoved it into his hands. Draco noticed that the sign marked 'CLOSED' was still showing even though they were supposed to be open for a good two hours now. In the corner sat Gabrielle slumped against the wall with a cigarette dangling from her fingers. She lifted it to her lips, took a drag, and puffed out a billow of smoke before letting her hand fall to her side once again.
"Francois won't open the diner until we catch the mouse," she said shrugging as she crossed her legs. "No problem with me. I'm perfectly content sitting here all day doing nothing even if I could use the tips."
Draco snorted. "What tips?"
"Point taken." She nodded in agreement as she took another drag from her cigarette. Coughing, he held a fist to her chest as smoke flowed from her nose and mouth in long wisps. Draco grimaced at the sight.
"You can't be serious about this."
"I most certainly am," said Francois. "Gabrielle says she saw it in ze back."
"There is no mouse, Francois," protested Draco. "Gabrielle didn't see anything. She's messing with you. Aren't you, Gabrielle?"
"Yeah but he doesn't get it." She shrugged putting her cigarette out. "Come on, Draco. Let's go look for the mouse. If Francois won't open we might as well do something."
"You 'ad better find it," said Francois, lingering in the doorway of the staff door as Draco and Gabrielle wandered down the hall.
"This is ridiculous."
"I know," she said taking the cup from him. "There's no mouse but he swears he saw it. I swear, the poor guy's gone loony. Anyway, I convinced him to open up for lunch but he won't open it a minute sooner unless we come back with the mouse. Even Francois can't keep his precious diner closed for a full day."
"Right."
"'Ave you found it?" came Francois's voice and Draco laughed as he saw him inching into the kitchen. The cook, David, was sitting in a folding chair by the fryer rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, we shoved the critter in to the fryer, here," said David. "Feller put up quite a fight but Draco grabbed the thing by the tail."
"It was a very valiant deed," added Gabrielle. Draco grinned.
"No thank you necessary. I'm proud to do my job."
"Do not mock me. Zis is not a laughing matter. Zere is a mouse in ze diner and I want 'im found immediately."
"Yes, Francois."
"No mocking me, Draco. It is not funny, 'umorous, or amusing in any content of ze phrase."
"I understand, Francois."
"I know zat tone of voice. Zat is ze tone of voice of a man who can't be trusted."
"Don't be ridiculous, Francois."
"I am not being ridiculous. You look for ze mouse. Do it now!"
"There is no mouse, Francois."
"Do no patronize me. Look!"
"Humor him," muttered Gabrielle. She started wandering around the kitchen, eyes focused on the group. "Oh dear. I do not see a mouse anywhere. I must not be here, I fear."
"Okay, Dr. Seuss," said David. "I would not eat it in a house. I would not eat it with a mouse."
Draco snickered. "Way to bring up mice, David."
"Oops." He shrugged putting down his newspaper. "Francois, did you ever stop to think that you're imagining things. I work back in this kitchen all day and I have yet to see a mouse. Draco and Gabrielle work all over the place in here and no one has seen this mouse but you. Doesn't that say something?"
"It says you do not pay enough attention to your jobs and should be looking more carefully around 'ere. Zere is a mouse in zis diner and just because I am ze only one who 'as seen it does not mean I am imagining it. You just need to look a little 'arder."
The mouse hunt continued until lunch and at one point, Francois had made Draco crawl around on his hands and knees to look under the cabinets for anywhere alleged mouse could be hiding. Around 11:30 Gabrielle finally was given permission to open the diner and customers started to fill in, many of them wondering what the delay had been. Draco had carefully concocted a story about Francois refusing to open until Draco shined his shoes and most customers bought into it. Even worse than the mouse hunt had been Francois's desperate attempts to lure the creature out of hiding. He had taken to tying tiny of pieces of cheese on David, Gabrielle, Draco's, and his own shoelaces in hopes that the mouse would go for the bait. The tiny pieces of cheese bouncing against his shoes was really starting to annoy Draco when at 12:30, Harry entered the diner and sat at the counter.
"If you sit at ze counter you must order somezing."
"Er -"said Harry, "well, I'll have-"
"Do I look like a waiter to you? I am ze manager, not some common server. Draco! Get out 'ere! You 'ave a customer!"
"Good God, Francois, there's no need to shout," said Draco, coming out of the back and smiling upon seeing Harry.
"Why are you smiling?" demanded the little French man.
"Hey," said Draco ignoring Francois.
"Hey. If I sit at the counter I have to order something."
"Yeah. Francois developed that rule a few months ago when he got sick of Joel and he had no money. He doesn't really enforce it except for with Joel unless he's feeling particularly nasty. Isn't that right, Francois?"
"Do not mock me. Zis creature Joel zat you speak of is evil and must be destroyed."
"Can I get you anything?" he asked, wiping a few crumbs off the counter.
"What do you recommend?"
"Nothing from the fryer. Try a sandwich. Cheeseburgers are a pretty safe option and David makes them so that they aren't all dried out."
Harry shrugged. "Sure. Go for it."
Draco smiled as he scribbled down the order and sent it over the counter to the back. From the corner of his eye, he saw Francois leering at him, watching his every moved, and Draco smirked as he turned to face him. "Can I help you, Francois?"
"You can find ze mouse."
"There is no mouse, Francois."
"Mouse?" asked Harry, raising his eyebrows.
"Yeah. Francois thinks there's a mouse and I spent all morning searching for the alleged and yet non-existent animal. Check out my shoes."
Leaning over the counter, Draco showed him where Francois had tied the cheese to his shoelaces and he immediately began to laugh. "Is that cheese?"
"It is to catch ze mouse."
"Francois's idea. Rather amusing, if not clever. So what did you do all morning?"
"I dropped Cherish off at school after breakfast and then I spent the morning with Ron, Hermione, and the kids visiting museums. Tomorrow we're going over the whole museum thing again but I think I might visit Joel instead. Too much culture gives me a headache."
"You never did get art."
"No. I thought I'd come see you for lunch and then I'd pick Cherish up from school and bring her back here. Joel said he was looking for inspiration in Central Park so I thought I'd unload him of the burden."
"Joel will not be coming by today?" said Francois looking as if Draco had just quit his job. Harry nodded. "Zis is ze best day of my life and I will forever remember you as ze one who told me of such good tidings."
"Er - okay."
"Don't mind Francois. He and Joel aren't the best of friends."
"I understand. Do you work Saturday?"
"Unfortunately, yes, but I'm off Thursday. We can spend the day together."
"Great. Would you mind if I took Cherish with Mione and Ellie on Saturday then? Mione wants to make it a day on Broadway. She splurged on four tickets to about three shows but Harper refuses to go and Angie wants to go back to the zoo. I thought of Cherish right away."
"Sure," he said rather shortly as the small bell dinged behind him. He whipped around, swiping the plate from the counter, and slammed it down before Harry.
Harry stared at the plate before him and then glanced up at Draco. "Um - Draco? Is there something wrong? Do you not want me to take Cherish with on Saturday?"
"It's fine."
"If it was fine you wouldn't be slamming around dishes with your manager looking at you as if you committed a serious infraction in serving etiquette." Draco gave an awkward shrug before sending a very pointed glare to Francois. The French man glared back.
"It's just. . .I don't know. You've only been here for a few days and I never get to see you. You and Cherish are always together. I don't know. Leave me alone. I don't want to talk about it."
Harry snorted, pushing his cheeseburger around on the plate. "Draco, are you jealous?"
"Of course not."
"You are. That's so sweet."
"Sod off, Potter."
Chuckling, Harry leaned across the counter to place a light kiss on Draco's lips. "You are too cute, Malfoy."
"What is zis? What is zis!" demanded Francois coming between them. Harry snickered as he took a bite out of his cheeseburger.
"Is your outburst relating the fact that I was kissed by a man or that I was kissed at all?" asked Draco. "There are people who find me to be attractive and not just a complete waste of flesh, space, and oxygen."
"'E is your boyfriend?"
"I thought you knew I was bisexual."
"I did, but you are dating?"
"Francois, this is Harry. My Harry that Joel's been ragging on me about for years."
"Zis is your 'Arry?"
"I like being 'your Harry,'" said Harry, snickering. "Its nice to feel possessed. In a manner of speaking, that is."
"I am very pleased to meet you, 'Arry," he said shaking Harry's hand.
"You're pleased to meet someone who loves me?"
"I am pleased to meet someone who 'as scared away Joel."
Draco stifled a laugh at this, shaking his head, and Gabrielle ushered Francois away to attend to a rather annoyed customer. The rest of the afternoon had been peaceful, Harry returning with Cherish a few hours later and he endured a second round of teasing over his bite from the jealousy bug. Harry and Cherish had sat at a booth eating ice cream until Draco finished his shift and the three walked back together, Cherish standing between them as they held hands behind her back.
"I can't believe you were actually jealous, Draco," said Harry as they walked into the apartment.
"Me either. Daddy, I thought you would be happy that Harry and I are getting along."
"I am happy. I don't know. Harry just came back and I've been so busy with work that I haven't gotten any time with him and I'm missing out on time with you. I guess I'm just feeling left out."
"You have a job, Draco. I'm just bumming around the city on holiday. Cherish is going to be going to school most of the time. We'll have plenty of time together. Even more if our relationship doesn't end with the holiday."
"Just so you know, Daddy, I like Harry. I hope you stay together."
"Thank you, babe, for that sentiment. I'll keep that in mind."
They had barely sat down when the door to the apartment flew open and Joel staggered in, notebook in hand and pen in mouth. He kicked the door shut with his foot and spit the pen out onto the counter. The notebook dropped beside it as he climbed onto the stool without explanation and proceeded to jot down notes as if the dramatic entrance had never occurred.
"Hey, Joel," said Draco at length.
"Hold on," he replied, making a few more notes. "Okay." He shut the notebook, capped the pen, and turned to stare at him. "I love New York. More specifically, I love Central Park."
"What are you doing here? Don't you have books to be writing?"
"No time. No time. Besides, I need a break from Morgan Straker when I've got the real thing."
"I see. So why are you here?"
"I had to tell you. It was so great. I had another one of my brilliant, intellectual thoughts."
"I can hardly wait."
"You see, I was writing in my journal. You know, observing people-"
"Observing people?" said Harry.
"One of Joel's favorite activities. I usually go with him. We became observation buddies when I moved in with him. He sits in public places and watches people while he records his thoughts. Feelings. In a nutshell, observations. He claims it puts a more realistic perspective on his characters."
"I see. So you were observing people."
"Yeah. I was observing people and there was this shopping bag lady in the park. You know, one of those old smelly ladies who feeds the pigeons and has about a million cats following her around while she pushes a cart full of junk. It got me to thinking. Why do these old ladies wander around as if they have no money? I mean, you think they're homeless or at least very poor, but then where did they get the money to buy all those cats? And say those cats are strays. Where does she get the money to feed them? And even if you say that they eat out of garbage cans, how can she afford to still feed the pigeons? I think that the shopping bag lady is the most recent enigma of society. I can add it to my list."
"List?" said Harry.
"Yeah. Joel's got this list of people that he thinks are enigmas of society. Garbage men. Janitors. Pool men. Things like that."
"Right. Like, how does one become a garbage man? Is it something you just fall into? Is there any kind of training required? Is there a license you need to operate the garbage truck? I'm sure there must be besides a regular standard license."
"You see," said Draco. "Enigma of society."
"Exactly my point. Draco, it amazes me how well you understand."
"Sometimes I amaze myself."
They had dinner with Joel gracing them with his presence after explaining Samantha and the kids had gone to her mother's for the evening. She and Joel had a recent falling out as, apparently, it was okay for Samantha to be friends with him but to married to him was quite a different situation. Though they had been married for seven years, she still wouldn't accept them as a couple and he liked to stay as far away from Samantha's mother as possible.
It was late in the evening when Joel was about to leave as they sat before the television. Draco was nestled in Harry's arms while Cherish, already dressed in her pajamas, leaned against Draco. It was the flapping of wings and the clicking at the window that grabbed their attention and Draco turned his attention to the glass.
"What is that thing?" asked Joel. "It looks like a tennis ball."
"Pig!" shouted Harry nudging Draco and Cherish to get up. They both obliged as Harry opened the window and the small owl fluttered in, dropping to an empty chair after flying a few laps around the room.
Joel almost jumped up and down in excitement. "Oh my God, is that an owl? Does it have a letter? I can't believe I'm watching the Owl Post! This is so much better than the levitating salt and pepper shakers."
"Yes, well, I told you that was pathetic," said Harry as he untied the letter from Pigwidgeon's leg. He set a small dish of water before the exhausted owl and gave it a loving pet before opening the parchment.
"Dumbledore?" asked Draco. Harry nodded.
"He's more than thrilled that you're well and that we're back together. Old man's pretending he has no idea what I'm talking about in my accusations of claiming he set up the whole operation but I feel that if he were saying it to our faces, there would be a glimmer in his eyes."
Draco took the parchment from him, glancing down at the words as he rubbed the pads of his fingers over the material. Joel was inspecting Pigwidgeon with Cherish, both extremely excited to be experiencing the Owl Post firsthand.
"It's been so long since I've felt parchment," he remarked with a short, sardonic laugh. Harry gave him a small smile before wrapping his arms around his waist and resting his head on Draco's shoulder. "Its been so long since I've written with a quill. I'm used to notebooks and ballpoint pens now. Can you imagine? Me? Thinking a quill would feel foreign."
"Can I see the parchment?" asked Joel, now creeping up on them with Cherish close behind. Their eyes were fixated on the object in his hands and he laughed as he handed it over to them for inspection. "Fascinating."
"Have you thought about coming back?" whispered Harry once Joel and Cherish became engrossed with the parchment.
"I - well, of course. But. . .I just couldn't, Harry. I have a life here. And it isn't just me anymore. Its Cherish, now, too."
"It isn't like we'd leave her behind. I'm not asking for an answer right now but maybe you can think about it. You, me, and Cherish living in Hogsmeade. Or even Muggle London. You could go home."
"New York is my home."
"England is your home, too. Just think about it, Draco. For me? Consider coming home."
"Okay," said Draco in a soft but strangled whisper and he forced a smile to his face when Cherish turned to him, grinning as she held a tiny, ripped piece of parchment.
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