Dislcaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
A/N I've gotten complaints about the characters thoughts and emotions so I've been trying to tie them altogether. In this chapter I have a little less of Avy so we can see Draco and Harry more, so I hope it can help the story! Thanks for reading :) I thank my beta Kai for looking over this chapter and getting it back to me even though her computers acting up :) Super Beta to the rescue! hehe.
Warnings: None yet, well as far as sexual content go. A bit of gay bashing though, that's all I can think of.
Harry was busy holding a wand to a broom as the broom cleaned up the soot on the floor. Draco breaking through his floo barrier had done quite a number on his fireplace and living room. He hadn't had time to replace the barrier, though, so he was a bit on edge as he swept the dirt into a pile on the floor.
"Harry?" was asked from the fireplace and Harry jumped back aiming his wand at the fireplace. The broom was still spelled and it flew up as he jerked his arm upwards, hitting the person right in the face.
"Ow! HARRY! Pay attention to what you're doing you imbecile!" Draco's head snapped from in the fireplace. Harry quickly took the spell off the broom, causing the broom to fall to the floor. Placing his wand down on the table Harry sat down on the couch.
"Sorry, Draco. I wouldn't have to think to protect myself if you hadn't broken through my wards on the floo network, though," Harry pointed out. Draco rolled his eyes at Harry and glared at him some more.
"I'm still sorry about Avy's behavior; she had no right to say what she did and I'm amazed you didn't hex her right there for what she said," Harry said, placing a hand on his head as he remembered Avy was still downstairs and still needed to be taken care of.
"I'm not a teenager anymore. She's not my daughter so it's not for me to punish her," Draco said simply, staring Harry down. Harry sighed and nodded. He knew he had to punish Avy he just knew she could weasel her way out of anything so he had to make sure it was completely non-negotiable.
"You're using Hermione's fireplace, right?" Harry asked. Draco nodded slowly with a confused expression on his face.
"Didn't you want me to use her fireplace?" Draco asked.
"Yes, but I need to ask Hermione a favour since she already pulled one for me with another Quidditch team. Ask her if she has some odd jobs that Avy can do around her house please," Harry responded.
"Okay," Draco said seemingly satisfied. "You're going to be working for another Quidditch team, then?" he asked.
"I'm going to see if I want to," Harry replied. Harry took a deep breath and looked up at Draco. "So, how about tomorrow night?"
"What about tomorrow night?" Draco asked. Harry started to chuckle because the look Draco had on that moment was priceless. He had his nose scrunched up and looked annoyed because he thought he'd missed something in their conversation.
"You were flooing me right now so we could talk about a date?" Harry reminded him with a triumphant smirk on his face. It was like Harry had won something. Draco took a second before his eyes lit up with understanding.
"Oh, tomorrow night! Yes, that's perfect," Draco said, smiling.
"Don't forget to ask Hermione about those jobs for Avy," Harry said.
"What are you planning?" Draco asked curiously. Was he that obvious?
"Avy needs some humbling. Hermione will know just what to do," Harry explained.
"Humbling is in your vocabulary?" Draco snorted out. Harry glared at Draco and picked up a pillow that lay beside him. Throwing it at the fireplace the pillow hit Draco's face with a soft phoomph.
"Shut up, Malfoy, of course it is. I learned from the best," Harry said.
"Thank you," Draco replied with a grin on his face. Harry was about to send another retort when Hermione interrupted Draco. "Harry, I have to get going or Hermione is going to grill me over her barbeque."
"Okay, tomorrow I'll see you in Diagon Ally at the Leaky Cauldron," Harry said. He got up and picked his wand up, pointing it at the broom once again. The broom sprang up and started to sweep across the floor.
"The Leaky Cauldron?" Draco said in a surprised tone. "I thought you didn't…"
"I'm not comfortable with the publicity I'm getting because of Magda's cursed article," Harry said stiffly as he maneuvered the broom around the room with his wand. He didn't want to explain that he knew it was a never-ending cycle in his life and that he couldn't hide from people because sooner or later they'd find him.
"Then why the heck are we going into the Leaky Cauldron, Harry, if you don't like the fame?" Draco asked accusingly. Harry sighed but didn't look at Draco.
"It's not like I can hide from it, is it?" Harry asked Draco darkly. Harry kept sweeping the broom across the room trying to make sure every crack was soot free.
"You're right," was all Draco said to end the subject. "I'll see you tomorrow at seven. Okay Hermione, I'm going!" Draco growled out.
Harry smiled as he piled up all the soot into a pile to be put into the garbage. "Don't forget to tell her," Harry said as he looked back at the fireplace. Draco looked annoyed and slightly rattled. "What's wrong with you?" Harry asked.
"Hermione just hexed me and gave me a tail! Because I'm taking too long!" Draco said with agitation lacing his voice. Harry broke out laughing and waved goodbye to Draco.
"Bye Draco, have fun with your tail!" Harry said and then burst out in a fit of laughter. Draco blushed and started to curse Hermione as he pulled out of the floor connection. Draco didn't say goodbye but Harry knew he was busy at the moment.
Harry kept the smile he had on his face for the remainder of the night.
"You didn't have to give me a tail! Now get rid of it!" Draco protested to Hermione. Hermione held Karyn in her arms with her hand wrapped tightly around her wand so Karyn could not reach it.
"You should have left when I told you to! Now I have to wait another day to get to Ginny about my babies due date," Hermione said angrily. She stared Draco down and Draco toyed with the blonde tail he'd sprouted thanks to Hermione.
"I'm sorry, okay? I wanted to talk to Harry when Avy wasn't around. It's hard when she's around to not give her a piece of my mind," Draco explained, apologizing as sincerely as he could even though he really had been intentionally selfish. Hermione had let him use her floo on the pretence he was quick about it and he had gone over the limit she set on him knowingly.
Hermione sighed and pointed her wand at Draco's tail. It quickly melted away to the floor as dust. Draco sighed and rubbed his tail free bottom. He was still a little upset about being given a tail, but he was slowly warming up the pregnant woman in front of him.
"I know, Draco, she's a handful," Hermione replied. Looking at Karyn she smiled and kissed her forehead. Karyn struggled in her mothers grip, trying to get away from the caress stubbornly.
"Oh that reminds me… Harry's wondering if you have some odd jobs for Avy to complete," Draco said. Hermione looked up at Draco with surprise and put her daughter down onto the floor.
"You don't have any?" Draco asked, wondering why she looked so surprised.
"No, I'm not surprised. I just never thought… Oh, it doesn't matter. You can tell Harry I have tons of jobs for Avy to do over here. I'll be glad to put her to work," Hermione responded with a sly wink.
Draco didn't press for what Hermione meant, he already knew.
Harry arrived at the Leaky Cauldron five minutes late the next night with his mind made up; he knew he was going to receive a lot of stares and maybe a few slanders tonight, but this was it. It was time to announce the truth about his and Draco's questionable 'friendship.'
Harry opened the old door and stepped into the pub, calling attention to himself just by breathing. Wizards and witches from all over the pub, even the hag in the corner, stared at him as he searched and located Draco.
Draco was beside the bar talking to the bartender, Tom. Harry walked more confidently then he felt towards the bar and sat down silently beside Draco. "You're late," Draco snapped at Harry, looking at Harry out of the corner of his eye.
Harry stared back out of the corner of his eye and silently challenged Draco to comment any more on it. Tom stared at the two for a second or so and then laughed. "What can I get you?" Tom asked Harry and coincidently breaking the small fight.
"Anything strong," Harry responded. He felt like he was on trial for becoming the new Voldemort. He could feel the many eyes on Draco and him and it was weirder then when people stared at him with any girlfriend. It was like they were scrutinizing them; perhaps they were.
"He's going to have butterbeer like a good little boy," Draco interjected, daring Harry to argue with him. Harry sighed because he knew that for right now it was a smart idea not to get drunk.
"Yes, I'm going to have a butterbeer and be good. I'm sorry I'm late, Avy held me up." Well at least it was the truth. Avy hadn't said anything about his leaving because she'd locked herself in her room after another fight today about her new job.
"You up for this?" Draco asked, not looking back at their audience but still knowing they were there.
Harry waited for Tom to place the butterbeer in front of him, opened it up, took a gulp, and set it back down. "I am now, brace yourself," Harry said, giving Draco no warning for what he was about to do next.
"What the—" Draco asked, looking confused before Harry captured his lips with his own and gave Draco a heated kiss, in front of the whole pub to see. Harry heard someone gasp and a male voice yell 'Get out of here!'
Harry broke the kiss and went back to drinking his butterbeer. He was quite aware that in the corner sat Marjorie Magda, the pathetically annoying reporter and new bane of his life.
"Harry, are you sober?" Draco asked, but he didn't sound upset. He sounded the opposite, ecstatic even. If Harry had the courage he'd turn to see what their audience thought but right now it was acceptable just to see Draco's dazed but happy face.
"Unfortunately," Harry responded. "Please tell me no one's going to attack us," Harry whispered, glad he had his wand handy.
Draco took a quick glance back and shook his head. Harry then heard amused laughter coming from Draco and looked up at him. "What is it?" Harry asked.
Draco stopped chuckling and moved his head towards the right. "Magda's interviewing people about their reactions." Harry moved his head to see the woman with a quill talking to a very agitated man.
Slapping his hand on the table, Harry started to get up when Draco grabbed his wrist. "Let it go, Harry, we don't have to fight tonight."
Harry relaxed but only slightly. He was on edge the rest of the night but Draco was great company, he kept giving calming subjects for them to talk about and even got Harry distracted with arguing about Quidditch strategies.
Excerpt from the Daily Prophet the next morning:
Baffled Pub Sees Love-Struck Men.
London, Leaky Cauldron—Last night, Harry Potter was sighted with newest fling Draco Malfoy at the Leaky Cauldron. After a heated kiss, many outraged customers complained about the indecency the two men displayed in public. The pub's owner does not wish to comment but he would not ask the couple to leave.
Many customers said they would not stand for that sort of behavior and would have liked Malfoy and Potter to tone it down. One disgruntled wizard, Bob Collins, said, "I will not be going back to the Leaky Cauldron if they allow that kind here, it's disgusting."
Harry Potter who has recently left his Quiditch team for reasons unknown has not been seen for a few weeks in the public eye until last night. Perhaps he knows what he is doing is wrong and Mr. Malfoy has him under a curse?
One customer disagreed last night and said they were in love, simply put. Yet how should we know with the Malfoy's family history and Harry Potter's history? Harry Potter has a daughter and was living with a woman by the name of Cecelia Heart before Mr. Malfoy came into the picture.
Is it foul play or is it love? That is the question posed with this strange relationship forming in the wizarding world between the famous Harry Potter and the infamous Draco Malfoy.
—Marjorie Magda
Harry had found the practice pitch that Nyx had described with little trouble. He'd played a few times there before against Parker's team. Yesterday hadn't been good for tensions between him and his daughter because Hermione had reported the knowledge that Avy could in fact start today with a few jobs she had for the girl.
When Avy had learned of this she'd gone off in a fit of screaming and name-calling. Harry thought the boldest name she called him was an idiot fucker. Right now Avy was probably enjoying cleaning Hermione's floors and babysitting, and Avy knew Hermione would never let her get away with shirking chores given to her.
Harry walked through the stands of the pitch towards a woman wearing pitch-black robes screaming at the players on the field. "YOU STUPID IDIOT, TRY TO KNOCK HIM OFF WITH THE BLUDGER, DON'T SEND IT AS A PLEASANT GREETING OF I'M A WIMP!"
'That has to be Nyx Parker,' Harry thought to himself and looked at his watch. 12:00, right on schedule. Harry walked up behind Nyx Parker and sat down beside her. The woman swerved her head around and sent him a formidable glare.
Her features then softened once she realized who it was. One thing to be said about Nyx Parker was the colour in her eyes swirled around in a mass of different shades of blue. The next thing to be said was her gloomy appearance and dark hair that was tied into a quick ponytail.
"I'm Ha—" Harry started to introduce himself with when Parker cut him off.
"Harry Potter, I know," She said violently. Harry wondered if she already had a problem with him until she smiled warmly at him. Harry wondered if this woman was the type to get angry one moment then change her whole mood in the flash of a second to happy as the sun.
"I'm Nyx Parker. One second while I get those blundering fools down here to meet their new partner. You are joining the team, right?" Parker asked as if there was actually no real question posed.
"Uh… Well… You see," Harry was going to say he really did not want to put up with anyone who had a problem with him. The stare Parker had locked on him made him rethink it and switch his answer to, "Yes, I'm going to be joining your team."
"Wonderful, one moment please," Parker said, her voice suddenly switched from light to hard. "GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT, YOU SAD EXCUSE FOR A TEAM!" Nyx violently screamed.
Harry had heard Nyx Parker was a bit of a violent woman, he just had no idea how extreme they had meant. The players quickly shot down towards them and got off their brooms. They hurried up into the stands to meet their coach and it was apparent Nyx had her players on a tight, very tight leash.
Harry understood he would soon become another player on that leash. Once they saw who was sitting beside their coach they all stopped and that's when the questions started. One player with dark green hair broke the paused silence first.
"Whoa, Nyx, that question you asked last week about Harry Potter's scandal really was going to be of importance!" Harry wondered how the woman had the courage to speak to her coach like that. His old Quidditch coach would have skinned her alive if she spoke to him like that. Nyx glared at the woman and sniffed at her.
"Julia, I'll remind you that every question I ask you is important. I am the one who keeps your butts playing Quidditch, after all." The other players laughed at this and Harry wondered how they could all be so comfortable talking to someone who insulted them quite frequently.
Avy insulted him plenty but he'd never laughed at her for it. Harry felt very odd in the circle of players. "So Potter, you know this will piss of your old team right? Don't mind becoming a traitor?" Another player asked; this one wore a crooked wizard's hat.
"The more it pisses off Caulder the better," Harry responded bitterly. Nyx grinned triumphantly.
"That's the spirit! Don't listen to a thing Nyx says to you, she screams at everyone," a wizard holding a bludger bat said with a smile on his face. Harry was reminded of his sorting when he first went to Hogwarts and the 'We got Potter' chants the Weasley twins had called.
"Just so's you know, Potter, Richard over there already has a problem with you," the other beater said, indicated by the club in his left hand, pointing to a man with a scruff of beard growing out.
"Oh?" Harry asked, eyeing this 'Richard' with a bit of apprehension and caution. 'I hope this guy isn't one of the wizards who sent me a death threat,' Harry thought.
"Yeah, sure do! Went for that Malfoy instead of me!" Richard said jokingly. Harry was shocked and uncertain how to take this team's lightness. Nyx stared at Harry's reaction and frowned, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Okay, all of you, coffee break is over. Get your sorry arses back to the game," Nyx ordered. All the players grumbled but did as they had been told. Harry sat beside Parker stiffly.
Parker got up and leaned gloomily over him. "I know why you left Caulder's team, I understand you had 'disagreements' but understand this. Those disagreements are not going to happen on my team. Rule number one, respect," Nyx told Harry.
Harry looked up at her and flattened his hair but it sprang back up into a mess of course. "What's rule number two?" Harry asked, not really interested.
"Obey me. I'm the new bloody Merlin," Nyx replied sarcastically. Harry laughed in spite of himself. Nyx Parker moved away and started to walk up the stands towards the exit on the stands. She didn't even turn away and Harry heard her fleeting last comment clear as a bell. "You start tomorrow."
Harry sighed and looked back at the other players who were his new teammates. He'd need to get used to their ways of playing and their rules. From his previous knowledge, all he'd known was they were good because Nyx was a rabid monster. Now he could see they might have stronger bonds then just being called incompetent in a hundred different ways.
Avy's day had gone perfectly so far. Perfectly miserable.
It had all started yesterday when her father told her she'd be going to Aunt Hermione's to do some odd jobs. Her father had mysteriously left last night and Avy had read it all in the Daily Prophet the next morning.
Avy could have cared less that it was two men, but it was her father and his boyfriend. It only meant Avy automatically hated Malfoy, and he'd been so cool at first! Avy still did not feel she had been out of line in what she said to Draco and she was not about to apologize to Malfoy for it.
Hopefully her father had yet to see it. Avy had ripped up the Daily Prophet she had read and burnt it to a crisp. Hermione then made her clean the floor she'd scorched accidentally with a spell that she didn't even know!
Avy didn't object, of course, because it was Hermione. Her father and Hermione were different; Hermione could really put her foot down and her father… well, the closest he'd ever come to putting his foot down was when he'd stepped on her painting when she was four and spread paint all around the house. Her nanny had been fuming with him for months after that, it still brought a smile to Avy's face to think about it.
It had taken Avy two hours to find the spell and another hour to spell the floor clean and mark free. Then Hermione asked her to clean the attic. Now Avy knew basements, not attics. Basements could be clean or cluttered but attics; they were dusty and cluttered!
Avy had to dust everything then she had to sort it all, and then Hermione had asked her to vacuum the floor. It was a bleeding nightmare with wheels. Avy promised herself that when she was done with the task she would never set another step into an attic for the rest of her life.
Avy planned to personally send her father another death threat through the mail tomorrow morning.
Review Please! Tell me what you thought.
Thanks to Heartbrokenalloveragain I know Avy is a brat, it's partly her age and partly her upbringing, Harry's starting to wisen up though! Avy's playtime is running thin, DemonRouge, animegurl088, be.there.write.away, ePuiChi The descriptions are hopefully improving (I wrote this first when I was new to the whole story thing) if they aren't, keep stalking and leave hints on how I can improve, for your reviews, they were greatly appreciated :)