Disclaimer - I don't own these characters. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction. ;-)
A/N - Alrighty. I have decided that I WILL continue this story. I have revised the previous 7 chapters, because I got tired of looking at all the spelling errors, and took out a few parts, added some etc. They're not major edits, so you don't have to go back and read it all again. Enjoy this chapter. I know that this chapter doesn't really contain anything of Slashy Goodness - this was more so for me to get back into writing this, so expect more of the SG in chapter 9 which is due between the end of September and middle October.
-Aconitum
Chapter 8
Harry was irritable and angry that Draco had done nothing for the 2 weeks of their unemployment, save sitting on the couch, chain-smoking and watching sappy muggle romance films. He had just finished a cigarette and was about to light another one when Harry had yelled at him.
"Hey! Lighten the fuck up, will ya?" He lit his cigarette with the tip of his wand and inhaled deeply before removing it to speak to his flat-mate. "And between the money, the both of us have, well we could live like kings for the rest of our lives... or close to it." he added as he once again got distracted by the characters on the screen of the television and put the cigarette back into his mouth.
"About three or four years Draco, before the well would run dry; that's hardly the rest of our lives."
Draco blew a thin line of smoke. "It is for me." he sighed and leaned forward to tap the collecting pile of ash on the end of his cigarette into the star shaped ash tray on the table in front of him. "My point is, we don't have to get jobs for the 6 months we're unemployed." He returned it to his mouth and turned the volume up on the television signaling that he was done with this routine argument with Harry.
Harry, having enough of the smell of nicotine and the fact that he viewed smoking as a disgusting habit, reached over and pulled it out of Draco's mouth."I would like to reserve that money for the time when it's a real emergency."
"What the fuck?!" He looked incredulously at him, before pulling a fresh stick out of a fairly new pack.
"Don't you get the point?!" He yelled at him and took both the pack and cigarette and chucked them across the room. He gripped the back of the couch and leaned menacingly into Draco's face. "Get. Off. This. Couch. And. Find. A. Bloody. Job." He said through gritted teeth to keep himself from yelling again.
"Well why don't you get a fucking job then?" He asked and threw the remote at him. "Or apply for the job that Dumbledore gave us? Hm?"
"I really don't think either of us would want to ruin our lives any further by sinking THAT low when there are plenty of muggle jobs to apply for."
"Oh and what was the job Dumbledore suggested we do? Hm? 'Cause I think it would be sinking lower than rock bottom if we applied for a muggle job."
"We LIVE in a muggle area. So if would make sense if we APPLIED for a muggle job to get muggle money." Harry was on the verge of hitting Draco. "Besides, you seem to like their movies enough, so what would be the problem working for a few of them over the span of 6 months?.And it would be YOU that would be applying. I've already got a job working at a store."
"I don't like their movies.. I watch them because they amuse me." He stated as he started changing the channel every five seconds with a simple flick of his wand.
"Oh really?" he asked, trying to ignore the horrid smell of cigarettes that lingered around Draco "So that wasn't you crying at the end of that ridiculously long movie, Titanic? It wasn't the former Slytherin that's sitting in front of me, sniveling like a bitch with a skinned knee when Rhett left Scarlet? And don't even get me started on how you get at the end of E.T."
"Alright! Alright!" Draco said in an angry, but defeated tone. As he got up, he walked over to the discarded pack of cigarettes, picked them up and flopped onto the other couch opposite the one he previously occupied. He lit another cigarette, picked up the muggle newspaper that was lying next to him and thumbed through the thick pages of it until he came to the Classified section. "Happy?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.
Harry shook his head and sighed. "You're incorrigible." he said before turning off the television and walking out of the room.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You did WHAT?!" Hermione shrieked
Hermione had heard of the two being suspended from their jobs for alleged homosexual activity, but couldn't help but wonder, who the idiot was, who found them and told the school board. It didn't surprise her in the least when she found out it had been Ron.
"I got Harry and Draco suspended from their jobs."
"I can't believe you Ron! I can't fucking believe you!"
"What? You should have seen them. 'Minoe, they were kissing each other. And not just like, a little peck on the cheek. Oh no, there was tongue and... Draco was on Harry and.. ug." He shuddered for a moment before regaining his usual composure "I did the right thing."
"You mean to tell me," she was whispering for fear that she would start screaming again "That you got your best friend suspended for kissing another man?"
"Draco's not a man!" He cried "He's a filthy, disgusting, Slythe-"
"Oh for Merlin's sake Ron, grow up! Draco's a man just as much as" she hesitated for a second "you are.You're 23 years old Ron."
"He betrayed me." He said stubbornly.
"Come off it Ron." Hermione scoffed. "Everyone 'betrays' you. There's just no winning with you. You're acting like a 2 year old."
More to himself than to Hermione, Ron added in a dark undertone, "Everyone's out to get me... everyone."
Hermione raised a questioning eyebrow at Ron. For the past year, he had taken to muttering to himself. Though rather infrequently, it creeped her out when he did it.
"Ron, no one's out to get you." She said calmly. "Especially not Harry."
"HE WAS KISSING DRACO! DRACO'S A SLYTHERIN! A FILTHY DISGUSTING LOW LIFE SLYTHERIN WHO WAS KISSING MY BEST FRIEND!"
"Two things; One we're in a public place so please keep your voice down. Two, have you forgotten that I'm dating a Slytherin? Keep in mind that not all Slytherins live up to the tales of horror you and the others seemed to have cooked up around the common room fire back at Hogwarts. And for Merlin's sake, you're still going on with that house rivalry? You're 23 years old, get a grip."
" 'Mione, you don't understand - Malfoy's plotting something... I can sense it."
"Oh yeah Ron." She said rolling her eyes. "He's trying to distract Harry from Quidditch so that Slytherin can get the house cup."
The sarcasm was not lost on Ron, but it might as well have been.
"Yeah, probably something along those lines." He mused to himself again. "That's the way all those foul Slytherins think."
Deciding that it would be best if she left now, while Ron was deep in conversation with himself, she started going through her purse for a few notes to pay for her part of the lunch.
"I have to go." She said in a cutting voice that shattered the trance Ron was in. "I'm meeting someone."
"Oh? Who?" Ron asked as he shoved the last bit of his sandwich into his mouth. He knew who she was meeting, he wanted to make sure he was right.
"You know fully well who I'm meeting."
"Who is he anyway?" he asked quickly, hoping she would let it slip.
"For the last time, I'm not telling you."
"It's Draco isn't it?" He said holding back his fury.
"What? No, Ron it-"
"Don't lie. That's why you were so angry. I figured out the clues, they all point to that ex-Death Eater."
"Oh yeah, never mind the fact that my BEST FRIEND was just suspended from his job by my homo-phobic ex-husband, but I'm completely upset that Draco is out of a job for the next 6 months."
"Wait, if it was Draco, then he would be out of a job. Huh? So tell me; what does your precious mystery man do now for a living?" He was practically on top of the spindly coffee table they had been sharing and looking at Hermione with that insane glint in his eye.
"He still teaches at Hogwarts." She said calmly, getting her things together.
"And we knew him when we were there?"
"Mmhm."
"And... he was in ...Slytherin?"
"Yes he was." She got up and started walking away. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Ron was about to say something, or walk after her, but he felt rooted to his chair. He watched her walk away, her long hair gently swaying back and forth. He watched her until she turned the corner and was gone from his view. He didn't want to think of who the mystery man was; it sickened him to even think about thinking about thinking about it. He ordered himself another coffee which he drank over the course of an hour. After that, he left a few notes on the table and began to walk to his darkened, lonesome apartment.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was nearing the end of October when Draco had finally obtained a job at a local Blockbuster store. I was happy more so that he wasn't coming home with tales of horror nearly every other day from job interviews and short lived jobs than the fact that he actually had a job.
One of the more memorable short lived jobs was when he was a janitor at a local High School. The job was cut short the second day. According to the police report, Draco had taken a 17 year old boy, shoved him in a trash can and pushed the trash can down a flight of stairs. According to Draco, the kid was already in the trash can when he pushed it down the stairs.
I still don't know how he got out of that one.
Another job, that lasted a bit longer than the previous one mentioned, was when he was a tele-marketer. Having been plagued with boredom after the first day or so what with the hang ups and generally no one being interested in whatever insurance he was selling, he decided to make things interesting. From changing his accent and name to things like "Yeah Johnny, I got the stash right here. I had to kill a few cops, no real people, 'cept for Alex, but he was dyin' anyway." and screaming into the phone about how he needed someone to clip his toe nails.
He still hasn't told me what exactly initiated his permanent removal, and I'm quite sure that I don't want to know.
There's quite a list of his job rejections and his reactions, but not enough time to go through all of them. The best thing about this, is that he was now working, and seeing as he loves movies, he hasn't stirred any trouble amongst his co-workers.
This coming Thursday, we both have off. This is going to be fun.
Draco stumbled in the flat somewhere between 3AM and 4AM, pissed as hell. I woke up because he started screaming about something after the distinct sound of the door slamming. I'm not even sure if he was screaming in an attempt to get me into his line of vision; as it was, I could here that he was having an argument with the sofa again. He was so drunk and drenched with the scent of alcohol, that I didn't have to leave my room to get a strong whiff of him.
"Great way to start my day off." Rubbing my eyes in exhaustion I walked out of my room to the site of a shirt-less Draco, standing in front of the sofa with his right hand holding the tattered remains of his shirt.
"I hate this fucking thing." He said, shaking the hand holding the shirt rags, before collapsing entirely on the floor.
"Shit." I ran my fingers through my hair, thoroughly annoyed at him.
I knew that he was going be terrible in the morning - but at least he would be in a state for me to start questioning him. Sighing, I picked him up and partially dragged his unconscious form to his bed. I left him on top of the covers and watched as his eyes fluttered open every few minutes and then would slowly close.
I sat down next to him on his bed, and watched him for a while, like I always did when he would got like this. His mass of platinum blonde hair carelessly obscured his face. Without thinking, I saw my right hand reach out and move the soft hair away to have a better view of him. He's the only man that I would have ever said, was beautiful. A slight smile was tugging at the corners of my mouth. He was indeed beautiful.
Time passed by quicker than I had imagined; I could see the dark blue light beginning to seep through the tree branches and spill across the wooden floor. I had almost fallen asleep myself due to the comforting silence, when Draco started thrashing around in his sleep, screaming in a way that was quite unsettling; I reached forward and pulled him into a tight hug to hopefully restrain him in some way. It worked for the most part. He calmed down and fell asleep with his head on my chest. I still had my hands loosely around his waist as he went back to sleep.
The last thought that ran it's way through my mind before I fell asleep, was the kiss.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Draco's P.O.V.
Mmpf. Stop. Goddamnit fucking stop.
There was something making an unearthly high pitched sound and it felt like someone was taking a needle and sticking it in my temple repeatedly.
Nng, Fuck, why won't it shut up?
I wanted to stick out my hand to find something to block out the source of the annoyance, but I couldn't. I couldn't move anything. I heard a voice, though what it said was indistinct.The bed shifted and I heard the wood floor creaking in a familiar way; then something being shut and the sound was no more.
I heard the floor creaking again and the bed bounced a little as something layed down on it. I felt arms wrap themselves haphazardly around my naked torso.
Who's in the bed with me? Why don't I have my shirt on?
I heard someone snoring. I couldn't open my eyes and I couldn't even open my mouth to make a noise to alert whoever was holding me, that I was awake. I felt sleep dawning on me again, and I let it take me.
I don't think it was long afterwards that I woke up and was able to move my body again. It felt a bit strange at first, like how your hand feels when it's just 'woken up', only for my entire body. Opening my eyes, I could see a mass of raven black hair, slightly covering, a very thin and faded scar.
Before I realized what I was doing, I lifted my left hand to trace his scar. He furrowed his brow a little at my touch and I pulled away, for fear of waking him.
I tried to move, but something was holding me to the spot. It was Harry's arms. Still a bit woozy from last night, and not fully awake to react how I normally would, I smiled a bit at this. I layed back down trying to fall back to sleep, with a new throbbing pain in my temple.
I had begun to fall back into my slumber when my eyes flew open at the revelation of the current situation.
Harry's holding me?!
I heardhim groan a bit behind me and my eyes widened.
We didn't... we couldn't have.
I moved my head too quickly, and a familiar painful throb went through it. Without moving too much, I tried to get out of Harry's comfortable embrace. I didn't want to wake him and I didn't want to move too quickly, as I knew both actions would result in myself being in more pain.
My efforts to move to the other side of the bed quickly, were in vain. Harry woke up with a start and screamed which was promptly muffled by the sound of a feather pillow smashing against his face.