Chapter 4: In Which Alcohol is Consumed

A time to kill, and a time to heal;
- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Harry had spent a good half hour looking for Malfoy before he gaveup. Obviously, the other man had left when he had become bored, although Harry remembered seeing him shortly before Charlie had assaulted him.

'Did you see where, er, Hugh went?' he asked Ginny the next morning. She had shown up at his doorstep – the one at Grimmauld Place, not at Hogwarts – first thing that day with a hangover cure.

'No,' she answered. 'Did you lose track of your boyfriend, Harry?' The question was asked with a long-suffering air that half-convinced Harry that this wasn't the first time he had done this. Not that a boyfriend was something you could, say, drop in between the couch cushions.

'I don't think so,' Harry replied warily. Ginny's moods were volatile, as evidenced by the black eye Ron had received the previous night. 'He must have left with Pansy and Oliver. He could have said goodbye.'

Ginny smiled and poured Harry a cup of tea. 'You two really are the most adorable couple, you know. How long have you been together?'

Harry's mind was blank. What could he tell her? 'I'm not sure, really,' he replied weakly after a momentary pause. 'Sometimes it seems like days, sometimes it seems like years.'

'That's so sweet, Harry!' Ginny exclaimed happily as she toddled around the room, clenching a cup of hot tea in her hands. 'When are you two getting together again? I'd really like to meet him in a quieter setting than Christmas or New Year's.'

'I'm not sure,' he said uncertainly. 'He just sort of… left last night. We didn't get a chance to plan our next encounter.'

'Owl him,' Ginny commanded, pulling a quill and a piece of parchment out of a drawer.

'W – what? I can't just owl him, Ginny,' Harry protested.

Ginny gave him a strange look. 'Of course you can, Harry – he's your boyfriend, remember? Just Owl him a note, Harry – or shall I write it for you?'

Harry took the quill and made a show of getting the parchment ready to write on. 'But what will I say, Ginny?' he asked nervously.

'Oh for – ' she stomped over and yanked the quill from his hand. 'Let me do it, Potter.'

Harry backed away as she scrawled a dinner invitation across the page and signed it 'Harry'.

'Now,' she straightened and thrust the note at him. 'Owl it, Potty, or you'll get the business side of my wand.'

He Owled it.

XoX

Draco was sitting on Pansy's couch, sulking.

'Honey,' Pansy sighed, crossing her legs and flashing a pale thigh at him from between the folds of her purple, silk house robe. 'If you don't tell me what's wrong, I can't fix it.'

'You can't fix it anyway, Pansy,' Draco said sullenly. 'Unless you've got some sort of mind control magic that Potter can't overthrow.'

Pansy sighed. 'Really sweetie, I thought we got over all this with Potter – what's he done now?'

'HekissedCharlieWeasleyrightinfrontofme,' Draco muttered.

'What?' Pansy's voice had taken on a dangerously inpatient edge.

'I said,' Draco paused. 'Potter made out with Charlie Weasley right in front of me.'

'He what?' Pansy shrieked. 'He made out with some other bloke with the press present? Do you know what this could do to your reputation?'

'Well,' Draco said. 'It was only Creepy Creevey, and he was in the corner snogging some brunette.'

Pansy raised an eyebrow. 'You're not… defending him, are you Draco?'

'Of course not,' Draco bristled. 'Don't be daft.'

'You are defending the git! Draco!'

'Shut it, Parkinson – I know. And it's not like I'm going to do anything about it. Obviously, he likes red heads.'

Pansy snorted. 'Are you kidding? He hasn't gone out with a red head since Ginny Weasley. It's been blondes and a couple brunettes for him so far. And I'm not a Parkinson anymore, Draco.'

'Look,' Draco growled. 'I don't need to know, and I'm not going to do anything anyway, Wood.'

'Why not?'

'Why not what?'

Pansy made a frustrated gurgling sort of noise in the back of her throat. 'Why aren't you going to do something about it? You obviously think he's attractive, and if you dyed your hair blonde again he'd find you attractive too. Just ask him if he wants to make out while you look for your solution.'

'Pansy!' Draco cried, frustrated. 'I can't do that!'

'Get over yourself,' Pansy snapped. 'You'll both be back in your own time soon enough, and then it won't matter. You'll be in New York and he'll be going out with Ginny Weasley still. Or have just broken up with her. Either way, you two won't see each other after you get back. Just do it.'

Draco got up from Pansy's couch and began to pace. 'Pansy, what do you think will happen when Potter and I go back to our own time?'

Pansy shrugged. 'I don't know. I don't think anybody has ever travelled this far into their own future before. You could end up screwing everything up when you return, or…'

'Or we forget everything, right?' Draco sat back down and rubbed his temples. 'That seems like the most likely option to me. After all, if I knew that you didn't hate me, I would have come back here much sooner.' He smiled at Pansy. 'I did miss you, Pans.'

Pansy rolled her eyes. 'You can be such a Hufflepuff sometimes, Draco. And maybe… maybe you won't get back. Maybe you and Potter are stuck here for good.'

Draco sighed. 'Pansy, as much as I'd like to be able to stay with you here, I want to experience everything I've missed more. I want to know how I got a penthouse apartment, I want to know why I coloured my hair this Godforsaken colour, and I want to know about my life.'

'You're right, of course,' Pansy said, somewhat haughtily, as she summoned a House Elf. 'I suppose we should enjoy the time we have while we have it, then. The you of this time is certainly not going to come back here.' She paused for a moment, a calculating expression on her face. 'I could Owl you, I guess. Demand you come back home and all that.'

'You could,' Draco said cautiously. 'Only I'd probably burn your letter and kill the owl.'

Pansy pulled a face.

'You could come visit me though, Pansy. I can give you the address of the penthouse I woke up in.'

'That you woke up in?' Pansy laughed. 'Are you sure it belongs to you?'

'Well the doorman knew my name and the manager came around for a payment,' Draco admitted. 'Otherwise I wouldn't be sure. The apartment I remember living in wasn't nearly as nice as this one is.'

A worried expression flitted over Pansy's face. 'Aren't you going to lose your apartment if you're over here?'

Draco shook his head. 'No, I told the manager I needed to take care of my father's will and might not be back for some time, and when that didn't work I paid him two months in advance.'

Pansy was about to reply when the House Elf she'd rang for finally showed up carrying a letter. 'They showed up earlier today, it's addressed to you.'

'To me?' Draco took the letter and frowned at it. 'No one… Oh.' On front of the folded missive, someone had scratched out the word 'Hugh'.

'Yes,' Pansy said knowingly. ''Oh'.'

Draco opened the letter and scowled. 'It's from Potter and the Weaselette – they want me to meet them for dinner. Oh, and you're free to come to if you don't have a previous engagement.'

Pansy gaped at him. 'Why on Earth would I want to go to a dinner with Potter and a Weasley? Whatever would we have to talk about?'

Draco smirked. 'Well, you could talk about being Fag Hags, that's something you have in common.'

Pansy smacked Draco.

'Just for that, Malfoy, I am coming. And if they ask how we know each other, I'm saying that you're an underwear model.'

Draco rolled his eyes. 'Who says we're going? I'm still mad at Potter, you know.'

'Mad at, or mad for?' Pansy asked sardonically, raising a dark eyebrow. 'Let's meet them. You can ask Potter what he was doing with Charlie Weasley –' Draco snorted. '– besides the obvious, and I can make fun of Ginny Weasley.'

'Fine,' Draco grumbled. 'I'll agree to meet with them. But you're coming, and we're not letting them choose the restaurant.'

XoX

Harry and Ginny ended up choosing the restaurant.

'Are you sure about this?' Harry asked nervously as they stood outside Scott Free's. 'Things didn't go over so well last time we were here.'

'You can't go around thinking that this place has bad karma, Harry – it's your favourite restaurant. You should be able to go there with your boyfriend whenever you want to without fear of another fight.'

'Right,' said Harry. 'I should be able to, but I can't.'

'Oh, Hugh!' Ginny said, smiling and waving.

Harry sighed, and turned to face Malfoy and Pansy. Pansy had obviously dressed Malfoy in one of her creations, because Ginny had started to coo. Personally, Harry didn't see what all the fuss was about.

Malfoy was dressed in an off white, ribbed turtle neck and pinstripe trousers. The only thing that separated his outfit from that of a Muggle was the plain black robe he wore over everything else. The robe was open, and only came about two-thirds of the way down his arms.

Harry thought Malfoy looked like a prat, a bit like he'd grown out of his robes.

Ginny, however, could not praise his outfit enough.

'Oh, it's adorable, Pansy!' she exclaimed, as if the two had been friends for years.

'You really think so? I could barely get, er, Hugh out of the house!'

'Really?' Ginny asked, hooking her arms through Pansy's and leading her into the restaurant. 'Harry was the same way with that outfit you sent over last night. I had to force him into it!'

Harry watched Ginny and Pansy enter Scott Free's warily, a horrified expression on his face. 'Are they… getting along?' he asked Malfoy warily.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. 'Don't worry about it, Potter – they're females.'

'… And?'

'And it's no wonder you're gay, Potter, you have absolutely no understanding of woman. Now, let's go. I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible,' Malfoy snapped.

Harry frowned. 'What's your problem, Malfoy?'

Malfoy growled and stomped into the restaurant.

No bad karma, Harry thought. Right.

XoX

Draco was sitting in the tacky restaurant he had first agreed to meet Potter in, wearing robes that were about twenty centimetres too short in the arms, wishing he had alcohol of some kind. Pansy was chatting happily away with Ginny Weasley, and despite his previous conviction that they weren't really getting along, they two had a surprising amount to talk about.

'I can't believe it,' Potter said, sounding befuddled. 'They're actually getting along.'

'Hmm,' Draco said into his tea.

'Like, really getting along.'

'Yes,' Draco said testily.

'Wow.'

Draco really wished he had something alcoholic in his hands.

XoX

When Ginny had suggested going to London and mingling with the Muggles, Harry hadn't expected Pansy to agree.

But she did. She agreed, took off her robes, forced Malfoy from his, and left them with Tom in The Leaky Cauldron while she went 'slumming'. Although, judging by the confounded expression Malfoy had had on his face when Pansy grabbed the back of his robes, he hadn't expected her to say yes either.

But now, the two of them were trailing behind Ginny and Pansy as the two women trotted through the busy streets of London, chatting each other's ears off.

'Seriously Malfoy, did you know they were going to get along this well?' Harry asked.

'No I bloody didn't, Potter!' Malfoy exclaimed, whirling to face him. 'Stop fucking talking about it! Stop talking to me!'

And with that, he grabbed Pansy by the wrist and left.

XoX

'Draco Lucius Malfoy!' Pansy shrieked. Draco winced; he'd only considered the possible consequences of his actions after he and Pansy had been halfway down the block.

'What?' he asked, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

'What do you mean what?'

Draco looked at his feet and hoped she would get it over with.

'I don't care what your problem is with Potter and his uncontrollable libido – I won't be embarrassed by your behaviour anymore, you hear me? Now, you apologize to Potter and you ask him why he was snogging Charlie Weasley. Or else.'

Draco muttered murderous phrases under his breath, but Apparated away meekly nonetheless.

XoX

Harry had barely had time to remove his jacket when someone knocked on the door.

Not the front door – that led into the restaurant – but the side door, the one that led directly to his house.

Harry sighed and opened the door, only a little surprised to see Malfoy standing there.

'What do you want?' Harry asked irritably. 'To yell at me again?'

'No,' Malfoy said, eyes blatantly scanning the room behind Harry. 'I'm here to apologise and make a date for our first research meeting.'

'What?' Harry asked, stepping back so Malfoy could enter the room. 'Did I hear you right? You're here to apologise?'

'Yes,' Malfoy said, shrugging off a Muggle style blazer. 'Pretty much. Pansy made me.'

'Oh,' Harry said, following Malfoy as he wandered through his house.

'Are you dating Charlie Weasley?' Malfoy asked.

Harry, stunned, took a moment to formulate his answer. 'No.'

'Then why were you kissing him?' Malfoy had found the kitchen and was systematically exploring Harry's cupboards.

'What are you looking for? And when? On New Year's Eve?'

'I'm looking for alcohol,' Malfoy said, pulling a bottle of cooking sherry from above the stove and taking a swing. 'And yes, on New Year's. Do you know how bad I would have looked if anyone had seen?'

'Well, I didn't think anyone had seen,' Harry protested, eyeing Malfoy warily. 'Do you usually barge into people's houses and drink their alcohol?'

Malfoy took another swing. 'No, not usually. And I'm asking you why you did it in the first place, Potter. Should you and Hugh break up so you and Weasley can ride off in the sunset?'

It took Harry a moment to remember who 'Hugh' was, but once he did he found himself strangely averse to the idea of a break up. 'No,' he said. 'Charlie just kind of kissed me, there's nothing going on between us.' And why did he feel like he was defending himself to his boyfriend? Probably because he was. In a sense. Well, maybe not.

'He just… kissed you?' Malfoy raised an eyebrow in a way that Harry remembered all too well from school.

'Yes.' Harry was definitely feeling defensive now.

'You didn't notice anything? I mean, usually there are signs that someone is going to kiss you.'

'Well,' Harry admitted reluctantly. 'In retrospect, maybe I had a bit of time to pull away. I didn't kiss him back.' And, judging by the expression on Malfoy's face, that had been the wrong thing to say.

'Why would I care, Potter?' Malfoy asked, slamming the bottle of sherry on the counter.

'You… wouldn't?' Harry hazarded.

'Damn right I wouldn't!' Malfoy exclaimed. 'Not one bit!'

Harry blinked.

'So… Do you want to come to the manor tomorrow to try and decode the dining room?'

Malfoy, Harry decided, had definitely had enough sherry.

XoX

When Draco had shown up at the door of Creaver's, the maitre d' had pointed him to the side of the house, down a dirty alley, to a bright red door. He knocked on it.

Potter's house was actually not that bad to look at. He had a set of blue, suede couches in his front room which Draco wouldn't have minded moving into his own apartment back in New York, and the glass table that sat between them wasn't bad either.

'What do you want?' Potter had asked. 'To yell at me again?'

Draco had nearly winced, but had gone ahead and pushed his way into Potter's house anyway, finding the kitchen and alcohol as fast as he could.

In the end, Potter had apologised for kissing Charlie Weasley, who had now replaced Ron Weasley as his most hated Weasley, and so Draco decided to forgive him for taking the sherry away. Presently, they were sitting on Potter's nice, suede couches and trying to come up with a safe topic of conversation.

'So,' Potter said after five minutes of silence. 'What time should I come over tomorrow?'

Draco shrugged and petted the arm of Potter's couch. 'Around lunch time, I guess. When do you have to go back to work?'

Potter turned wide eyes on Draco. 'I… I don't know,' he said. 'No one mentioned anything about it.' Potter stood from the couch and scampered into the kitchen. 'Do you think Pansy would know when school starts again?' he asked as he pulled a scrap of parchment and a quill out of a drawer. 'Can you write and ask her?'

Draco shrugged. 'I could just go ask her in person, Potter. And I'll see you tomorrow at lunch.'

'Oh,' Potter said. 'Right.' And why did Draco hope Potter would stop him from leaving? 'See you then, I guess.'

'Yes,' Draco said, somewhat stiffly, as he turned and walked for the door. 'See you tomorrow. Twelve o'clock sharp, Potter – I'll have the House Elfs cook something up.'

'Really?' Potter asked as he trotted behind Draco.

'Yes, really, Potter.' Draco had reached the front door, and after grabbing his blazer, opened it. 'Look, I'll ask Pansy if she know tonight, and if she doesn't I'll have her ask someone who does. You just make sure you haul arse and get to the manor by noon, tomorrow. All right?'

Potter blinked, and nodded. 'All right. You know you really have picked up an American accent.'

Draco rolled his eyes. 'Believe me, I was surprised too. Last I remember I was still getting laid because of my 'sexy British accent'. Goodbye, Potter.'

He closed the door in Potter's face.

It was a bit odd, he reflected as he strolled up the dingy alley away from Potter's house, to slam the door in someone's face as you left their house. Draco laughed a bit as he prepared to Apparate away; he couldn't wait to see Potter tomorrow and see what he had to say about the incident.

XoX

Harry, for his part, was staring at the closed door with some amount of perplexity. Had Malfoy just slammed the door to Harry's own house in his face?

What a Malfoy thing to do.

Harry sighed, and went to sit on one of his couches. One of the couches that Malfoy had been stroking. He flushed and turned his gaze to the arm of the chair. Harry sat there for a moment, imagining all number of dirty things, before growling in annoyance and sitting up. Malfoy was not interested, and even if he was, now would be a very bad time to start a relationship. Any time would be a very bad time to start a relationship with Malfoy, despite his blue hair and accent.

Despite his blue hair that had gone remarkably well with the couches and would probably look even better if it were, say, fanned out across the material as Harry slowly kissed his way down Malfoy's neck… He stopped.

Bad brain, he thought testily, bad, bad brain. Standing, Harry walked over the fireplace and took a handful of Floo powder. All things considered, Fleur, Hermione and Ginny were probably easier to deal with than his Malfoy-obsessed mind.