Author's Notes: I updated. A miracle has befallen upon everyone. Don't ask what took me so long because I've been really busy working and stuff and I HAVE to set aside time to write this story. BUT! it is up to my fanfiction buddies that I love so much to help me keep going, so I ask that you review and tell me what you think. Thanks so much!

The Argument and the Blood

"No, Voldemort is supposed to be dead!" Draco cried, his eyes fixed at the bright spectacle above him. "Potter, you killed him, didn't you?" Draco said frantically, grabbing onto Harry's shoulders and shaking him so hard that his glasses slipped down his nose.

"I thought I did. It wasn't until after the war ended that I started to get a feeling that he was still alive." Harry said, pushing his glasses back up and biting his lip in thought. Draco let go of him and turned around and stared back at the Dark Mark with a scowl on his features. If Voldemort is back, that means my father is going to want me to become a Death Eater. Draco thought miserably and Harry stared at him concernedly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, I understand where you are going with the situation about Voldemort being alive, but I will kill him… or at least I'll try my hardest to. That's the only way I will be able to fulfill the prophecy." Harry said and Draco blinked out of his daze and stared at Harry in confusion.

"Prophecy?"

"In my sixth year, a prophecy was made about Voldemort and myself. It said, 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…. Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hands of the other for neither can live while the other survives… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…' So basically, I was destined to fight Voldemort." Harry said and Draco's mind swarmed with the interesting, yet terrifying new information.

The silver- eyed man turned away from the piercing emerald and gaze and looked at the Dark Mark that glowed eerily in the sky, then without warning headed back into the Ministry of Magic with Blaise and Harry staring after him wonderingly.

"I don't understand what's wrong with him. Blaise, do you know why he hates his father so much?" Harry asked turning to the man beside him who crossed his arms over his chest and then shrugged.

"Not a damn clue. That's one secret he's not willing to tell. Then again, Lucius Malfoy isn't exactly the kind offather someone would have, so I don't blame him." Blaise replied and Harry stared in the direction that Draco had just walked in and couldn't help but speculate on the subject. Why won't he tell someone? Why doesn't he want anyone to help him? Harry thought and Blaise nudged him and the raven- haired boy jerked back to reality.

"Thought I'd lost you there." Blaise and at that moment the Dark Mark disappeared from the sky.

"Sorry." Harry replied and he went up after Draco, hurrying to ask the man some questions before his mood became worse.

Harry approached the office and walked to the door and crackedit open only to see Draco standing by the enchanted window, looking out at the starry sky. A sad looked edged up on the pale face and Harry couldn't help but feel slightly helpful and sympathetic. Whatever was going on the blonde head in front of him must've been pretty bad to turn him like this.

Harry finally took that moment and pushed the door fully open.

"Draco…" Harry whispered and the blonde turned around slowly and smiled as Harry shut the door and approached him.

"What's wrong, Potter? You called me by my first name." Draco said and Harry shook his head and tried to hide the worried look on his face, but Draco wasn't fooled and could see right through his mask. "Don't try to hide it. I know you well enough to know that something is on your mind." Draco said and he leaned his shoulder against the charmed window, waiting patiently for an answer.

"Well, I… I'm not entirely sure what's on my mind, considering I don't entirely know the situation." Harry said and Draco had a feeling in his body that he knew where Harry was going.

"If you are talking about my father and myself there's nothing to talk about. There are certain things he did that you or anybody else wouldn't understand." Draco said looking out at the fake sky and sighing heavily. The blonde pushed off the window and walked away from Harry, though those green eyes were still on him.

"Malfoy, why won't you tell anyone? Why won't you tell me?" Harry said desperately for the sake of both him and Draco. "Damn it, why won't you let anyone help you?" Harry suddenly yelled after him and Draco turned around angrily, stepping on papers that were on the floor.

"And what do you thing you'll do, Potter? Do you actually think you can help me? You don't understand what the hell you are talking about! You have no idea what I've been through! Just because you're the bloody hero doesn't mean that you can fucking help me!" Draco shouted then he grabbed his bag and turned around and stalked out of the room furiously leaving Harry staring astonishingly at the closing door.

This was the first time they had fought in years and to tell the truth it was kind of surprising and unexpected. Harry slid down the wall and fell to the ground staring at the door that Draco just left with a frown firmly in place. There is something wrong. Something happened between him and his father that he doesn't want to talk about, but what? Harry thought miserably and then the door opened and Blaise slid in looking concerned for the ex- Gryffindor man.

"Harry, what happened? Draco just stormed out looking pretty pissed. Did something happen between you two?" Blaise asked and he walked over and stood next to Harry's unmoving body.

"Yeah, we fought. Usually, I'd just push away the fight like nothing ever happened, but it's been so long that I kind of wasn't expecting it, but I guess in a way I deserved it." Harry said and he stood up and turned to face Blaise. "I'm going home." He said sadly, not entirely surewhy this one argument was affecting him so badly.

"Alright. You'll be okay, though?" Blaise asked putting a hand on the raven- haired man's shoulder comfortingly and Harry nodded and grabbed his coat and his bag and left the room.

Harry fumbled with the keys to his flat and when he got the door open and swung it open he heaved a dramatic sigh and stepped forward, shutting the door behind him. Throwing his bag in a nearby corner, he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottled butterbeer from the refrigerator and walked to the sofa, falling down on its soft, scarlet cushions. He placed his right arm over his eyes and thought for a while staring at the blackness that was his eyelids. What am I going to do? I don't want Malfoy to be mad at me and I know he's going to hold this against me. I feel like we're going back to our childhood. Harry thought and he laughed softly and took a sip of his butterbeer when the telephone in the kitchen rang. Who would call him? He was required to have a phone in his flat, but he hardly ever used it.

Harry walked into the kitchen and grabbed the cordless phone off the receiver and pressed a button before putting it to his ear.

"Hello?" Harry asked and then he waited for a voice to answer.

"Hello? Harry? It's me, Ron." Ron said on the other end and Harry grinned in surprise.

"Ron? Why are you using a muggle phone?" Harry asked.

"Herm insisted. She thinks I should get in touch with my muggle side. Whatever the hell that means. She says that if we are going to be married for long, I have to know what kind of life she lives." Ron said and Harry leaned against the counter.

"It may be a new experience for you." Harry said and Ron laughed.

"Like I need any more of those. Anyway, Herm's getting out a great dessert and we wanted to know if you'd come over and have some. We haven't really seen each other in a long time." Ron said and the sound of a little girl's laughter was heard on the phoneand then Ron shushing her softly.

"Sure. I'll be over in a minute." Harry said and he hung up and set the butterbeer on the counter and apparated out and appeared a second later at the doorstep of Ron and Hermione Weasley's home.

Harry knocked lightly and the door opened slowly and revealed a five- year- old girl staring up at Harry with large brown eyes.

"Uncle Harry!" She squealed in delight and she ran over and hugged Harry's legs, the raven- haired man bent down and hugged her.

"Hello, Emma. How are you?" Harry said happily and she grinned and took his hand and led him inside.

"I'm fine. Idrew a picture! Wanna see?" She giggled when Harry nodded and she ran off to get it from her room upstairs.

Hermione emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands in an apron she was wearing and her hair tied back in a ponytail.

"Sweetie, who was it?" She asked, aloud.

Her eyes lit up when she saw Harry standing in her living room in his work clothes.

"Harry, it's so great to see you. It's been a couple months since we last saw each other." Hermione said and she walked over to him and hugged him tightly.

"Yeah, it's been a long time, Hermione. It has just been so busy at the Ministry." Harry said casually and she grew serious for a second, a frown forming on her delicate features.

"Yeah, a lot of little things have been happening. I understand you are busy." Hermione said and she took off the white apron and hung it on a hook in the kitchen and smoothed out her blouse.

"And it's about to get worse since the murder and the unexpected appearance of the Dark Mark." Harry said and she walked over to the stove to boil some water for tea.

"Yeah, I heard about that. It's so horrible." She said turning the stove on and placing the kettle over the heat.

Just then, Harry heard Emma squeal again followed by footsteps coming down the stairs and Ron came into view with his daughter in his arms, both of them grinning.

"Hey, mate, it's about time we actually saw each other in person. I was getting sick of this writing to each other thing." Ron said setting down his brown- haired daughter gently and she handed a piece of parchment to Harry who looked at the scribbled drawing of a sky and some flowers and what was supposed to be her and her parents holding hands.

"It's great, Emma. You really have some talent." Harry said and handed the picture back to her and she grinned up at him.

"Then I'm going to draw one for you." She said and she left the kitchen leaving the ex- trio to talk with one another. There was an odd silence in the kitchen, except for the sound of boiling water until Harry broke the silence.

"So, Ron, how's quidditch?" Harry asked and Ron grinned again and grabbed a picture that was hanging on the wall just outside the kitchen.

"Pretty good. Our team has a game against Ireland soon. I can already hear Ludo Bagman yelling 'And the Chudley Cannons win!'" Ron said dramatically adopting the voice of what was supposed to be Ludo Bagman. "And then the crowd goes wild, demanding that they get the autograph of the greatest keeper the world has ever seen." Ron said holding up his chin proudly and holding the moving photo of the Chudley Cannons quidditch team.

"Alright, Ron. You don't want Harry to leave, do you?" She asked and they all laughed feeling just like the old days when they used to sit around the fire in the Gryffindor common room.

"But you'll come, won't you?" Ron said turning back to Harry and Harry nodded.

"Of course, I wouldn't miss it." Harry said and Ron beamed hugely.

Ron led Harry out into the living room and the two settled on the sofa, Emma sprawled out on the floor with papers and crayons scattered all around her. Hermione came in a few seconds later carrying three cups of tea and headed back into the kitchen for three slices of cake. She settled in the loveseat by herself and held the cup of tea in her hands.

"What about you, Hermione? How's your research going?" Harry asked, trying to get his mind off thinking about Draco angry with him and she smiled.

"It's going very well, actually. I have almost discovered a new potion that could help out the wizarding world." Hermione said affectionately, obviously showing signs that she liked her work.

"Plus, she wants to find a new way to integrate muggle life into the wizarding world. I keep telling her that she's crazy, but you know how once she starts something, she'll have to finish it." Ron was saying and he and Harry laughed under their breath. "Kind of like that spew thing you started." Ron said and she suddenly looked defensive.

"It's not spew, Ronald. It's S.P.E.W. and I would've finished it if I had only started it earlier, but we graduated before I could finish it." Hermione said and Harry and Ron rolled their eyes at each other, each of them taking a bite of the cake and sipping at their tea.

"It's kind of weird." Hermione suddenly said, gazing deeply into her tea. Harry and Ron both looked up at each other and then turned to Hermione who was silent for a second. "Here we are sitting together just like what we used to do when we were at Hogwarts. Even though it has been four years since we graduated, it feels like nothing has changed, but everything has changed." Hermione said seriously and they all looked at each other.

"Well, that's good, isn't it? We don't want anything to change between us." Harry said and Hermione nodded.

"Yeah, it's just that we have all grown up and gotten jobs and yet we are still our childhood selves." Hermione said and they all were silent until Ron started laughing under his breath and then they all broke out into a heart- warming laughter over nothing.

"So, Harry," Hermione began, wiping tears from her eyes. "How's work at the Ministry?"

"Busy. Everyone depends on Malfoy, Blaise and myself to do most of the hard work because we are the only first class aurors." Harry said, running a hand through his hair and sighing. "We have hardly found anything about the murder last night." Harry said feeling frustrated and Ron looked sympathetic.

"It's alright, mate, you'll find something eventually." Ron said and Harry nodded.

"I hope so."

-

An hour or so later, Harry found himself back in his flat feeling even more guilty about his fight with Draco. He thought that going over to see Ron and Hermione would help, but he felt worse than before having been thinking about it the whole time he was there. He paced for a moment and stopped then walked to the phone and dialed the number to Draco's phone, hoping that he would answer.

It rang once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then, Harry sighed and hung up heading into his room and falling into the bed. He was laying in the dark before he fell into a deep sleep.

-

The next morning, Harry woke up and ran a hand through his hair, making it look worse than it did when he first woke up. He got up, showered, and changed his clothes to a scarlet dress shirt and a pair of black pants. While he was tucking in his shirt and grabbing his coat, he checked his watch and saw that he was already late, so he decided to skip breakfast and apparated to the ministry.

He arrived at the top floor and took his time, slowly taking the lift to his department. Frankly, he wasn't ready to face Draco yet and knowing the blonde, he probably was still upset. Harry arrived all too quickly at their department and walked up to his office and stopped in front of the door, taking several deep breaths.

Blaise walked by with a stack of papers in his arms and he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Harry standing at his door with a determined look on his face as he stared at the door handle.

"Harry, are you okay? You've been standing at your door for a couple minutes now. You look pretty lost." Blaise said after a minute of staring at Harry strangely. Harry turned around and leaned against the wall beside the door.

"Hey, did you see Malfoy today?" Harry asked and Blaise nodded slowly, suddenly understanding.

"Oh, I get it now. Yeah, I saw him. He's in your office." Blaise said, jerking his head in the direction of the closed door.

"Did he still look angry to you?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Nah, just go talk to him. He won't hold a little fight against you. Draco has changed a lot since school. He's not the same little, obnoxious kid that used to fight with everyone." Blaise said and he smiled at the thought. "Just go talk to him." Blaise said finally and he walked off and left Harry to take a deep, steadying breath and then opening the door slowly.

Harry peered inside and saw Draco glance up from the papers on his desk fora second to see who entered the room and then looked back down at the work he was doing.

"Draco…?" Harry said slowly and Draco sighed and stood up, handing Harry a cup of coffee and then returning back to his desk. Harry smiled at the coffee for a moment and then opened his mouth to say something when the blonde man at the desk cut him off.

"Don't apologize, Potter," he said, chuckling slightly and Harry closed his mouth and stared at the milk brown liquid in his cup. "I know you, Potter. I've known you for eleven years. You are way to innocent for your own good." Draco said and Harry smiled and looked up, heading over to his chair.

"So, you aren't mad at me anymore?" Harry asked.

"No, I'm not. Truthfully, I should be the one apologizing, since I'm the one who yelled at you. Though, can we just put this behind us and forget that it ever happened?" Draco asked and Harry nodded, wanting to keep on the good side of Draco.

They worked in silence for a few minutes listening to the rustle of papers, the scratching of quills and the occasional sip of coffee, until Harry's stomach rumbled loudly and the raven- haired man blushed brightly. Draco laughed at the embarrassed look on Harry's face and turned around to face him.

"When was the last time you ate, Potter?" Draco said, chuckling at the color of Harry's face.

"Um… I can't remember. Two days ago, I think." Harry said, the color rising in his face when his stomach growled at him.

"Come on, let's get breakfast… my treat?" Draco said, standing up from his chair and standing in front of Harry. Harry opened his mouth to speak again and Draco cut him off. "Don't worry, we'll invite Blaise too." Draco said and Harry smiled.

"Wow… you really do know me." Harry said and they walked out of the room and found Blaise talking to Lupin. They waited until Lupin walked away and then they approached the other man.

"Hey, Blaise, want to get some breakfast with us?" Draco asked and the other nodded his head eagerly.

"Yeah. This hunger has been annoying the shit out of me." Blaise said and they apparated out so Lupin wouldn't catch them leaving their job for a while.

The trio arrived at a small muggle café and they got a table inside by the window and sat down. A few seconds later, a woman bounced over and took their order of breakfast and hurried off.

"Why did I let the two of you talk me into coming to this muggle place? It was supposed to be my treat, as in I pick where we go. We could've gone to your godfather's bookstore/café and had something to eat." Draco whined and Blaise crossed his arms over his chest and leaned the chair back on two legs.

"And ruin the fun? Besides, when you say it's your treat, it only means you are paying for it. It is good courtesy to let your guests pick where to eat." Blaise informed and Harry laughed under his breath and received a glare from the silver- eyed male.

"And whose side are you on?" Draco demanded and Harry sighed.

"I'm sorry, but I have to side with Blaise on this one… but it's not that bad. Just think of it as a new experience." Harry said and Draco leaned his left shoulder against the window and Harry thought he saw the boy wince, but he dismissed it as part of his imagination.

The woman came back and she placed for plates of eggs, toast and sausages in front of them, along with three cups of orange juice. They ate and spoke about the ministry; until they had all finished and felt very satisfied.

"Come on, we should head back before Lupin finds we're gone and kicks our asses." Harry said and the other two nodded their agreement and stood, Draco paying for the meals.

As they were leaving the table, the ground suddenly shook violently causing people to go into panic and some hiding under the tables. Draco toppled backwards and was caught by Harry who was standing behind him.

"What was that?" Blaise asked, once it came to astop and muggles were beginning to peer over the tops of their tables.

"I'm not sure, but we should—." Harry was cut off when another violent rumble shook the store and they looked out the window to find people running in panic. Harry looked out the window and far in the distance he saw a tiny figure of flapping wings.

"Hey, look into the sky… is that… a dragon?" Harry asked and the other two gasped and stepped forward toward the door to find a place to apparate away from people.

Draco stepped over a toppled table and was heading forward when Harry noticed a small car flying towards the window and he grabbed Draco's upper arm and pulled him against his chest as he leaned against the wall. The car came crashing through the window, sending glass flying in every direction.

Harry looked over to his right and saw Blaise standing a few meters away, panting and his hand gripping his wand in his coat pocket.

There was a flash of green light, that made everyone shield their eyes and Harry stared in horror. Someone is going to die. He though helplessly and when the light subsided, Blaise hurried out of the door and out onto the street.

"Come on, that was obviously a wizard. We have to go find out what happened." Draco said and Harry nodded and let go of Draco and was about to follow right after him when he looked at his right palm and stopped, staring at his hand that was covered in blood.

Draco's blood.

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