Reminiscing between two estranged friends never failed to cause excitable energy to flow though the surroundings of those two friends, so it came as a warmly welcomed surprise to Harry, that the morning after Draco had arrived at his house, his cups no longer lagged and the dishes were done with grace; void of complaints.
Harry sat in his kitchen relishing in his first full day off in months. Merlin knew that the work he had been involved in whilst locating the latest threat of Horcruxes had been very tiring indeed. He had been stationed, admirably, between crossfire in the wizarding capital in Iceland, and whilst the weather conditions had been miserable it had also been a death defying job in which Harry was often found at the receiving end of a hex.
Such strains had taken toll on the body Harry once was proud in, but now the scars and 'war wounds' littered the naturally tanned flesh. Not too mention the fact Harry's ever fluctuating weight, even though he never was over weight, was now at an all time low. And it wasn't like Harry didn't eat, for out of choice he loved food, but when fighting both day and night, being hit with hexes and having been slung in between vendetta's of rival dark clans, one's body tends to fall short of the healthy line.
Laughing silently to himself, Harry mused over Draco fixing himself like he fixed his home. It made sense in a way, for Harry needed the company; he needed another body in the house.
Then, Harry wiped away 'nasty' images of himself and Draco doing 'naughty' things. It wouldn't do to be disgusted so early in the morning would it?
Harry stood up and walked his way to the self-replenishing fridge that was wasting away money like no tomorrow. Because of the recent rise in 'fill up instantly' objects such as fridges, teapot's, larders and general food items, the ministry was forced to put price on all objects that had been refilled, so that the shops which relied on the customers that never really came anymore could have a helping hand in business.
It made sense really, but it bugged Harry to bits that the fridge never took heed to his notice of departure, so it always let the food go mouldy thus making itself replenish, costing Harry ridiculous amounts of money.
Harry pulled a yogurt from the cooler and sat back down at the table, hoping to get an hour or so of peace before his blonde lodger woke.
"Harry!" Shouted Draco just as Harry's bum touched the seat, "How do you work your shower!"
Harry groaned loudly, pushed himself up from the table and made his way with uncertainty, up the stairs twice and too the left, so he could help Draco. Harry rapped on the bathroom door impatiently, the object in hand was opened instantly.
And there he was; Harry clad only in blue and white checked, cotton pyjama bottoms and sexy bed-hair. The breath in Draco's throat caught instantly, unable to dislodge itself.
"You had a problem?" Harry asked irritably.
"Yeah…" Draco tailed off as Harry pushed past him and into the bathroom.
The shower was on in no time, and Harry left with clear instructions as how to turn it off. Harry should of saved his breath, for an hour later a clean, crisp Draco hurried into the kitchen, made himself food, sat down and lazily greeted Harry with; "The shower is still on!"
Now this was another thing that bugged Harry; the water bill. Just so he could have the cleanest, healthiest water from Sweden, every time the water went rampage so did the bill.
Harry almost lept from the table, up the stairs twice and to the left. He slammed open the door, freaking when no sound of water speckled his hearing.
"You needed an element of surprise!" Draco shouted from the foot of the stairs.
Harry seethed but kept his mouth shut to avoid argument.
XxXx
Peace is a luxury often pined over, but rarely a given gift. Harry's friends, colleagues and acquaintances all knew of his long haul work of late, they all knew that he had only been home roughly fourteen hours and yet, after walking into his private study, he was bombarded by letters, wiz-e-mail's and glass ball picture messages.
'Harry,' Hermione had written: 'Please make sure your safe. I'm sorry.'
Harry chuckled, how could she have ever let Draco head towards the Potter house in seek of refuge? Hermione really wasn't a person to lay 'burden' on another, more of a person to solve each problem with grace and accuracy, in a rather textbook fashion.
Harry jotted a quick note back to her, telling that he would be fine and she need not worry. He also described weakly Draco's house doctoring and issued that it was a good thing that the snob was living with him.
The rest of the post was dismissed after glancing at it. Menial letters describing jobs on offer, or distant friends writing to explain a new quidditch crazes that they wished he would join them in.
None of it interested him, so he took to finding Draco in order to ask him what the blonde wanted for lunch.
XxXxXx
Draco stood in the dining room/ kitchen, staring absently at the cooker. He wasn't cooking, in fact he couldn't remember why he was still in the kitchen at all, it just seemed that as he was making his way from the room his attention was caught by something and it was hard to tear his eyes away from what ever it was.
He was broken from his unimportant gaze by Harry, who bustled into the kitchen adamantly. Draco snapped his head round towards the figure peering into the fridge and then back to the spot he was just focusing on. A space void of colour and intrigue was where his eyes where gazing.
"Draco?" Harry asked, a muffled sound being made as his head was in the fridge. Draco looked round, only to be met with the pert rear of Harry sticking from the fridge.
"Yeah?"
"What you want for lunch?" Harry emerged and smiled.
XxXxX
It was weird, co-inhabiting the house with Harry. He felt like he belonged, and yet didn't quite know how to fit in around Harry's schedule. The favour from Harry in itself was enough to lay down the rules, yet Draco felt like he was stepping on thin ice all the time.
He felt like a young boy, always saying 'please' and 'thank you', offering to help at all times, and even learning how too cook, just to impress his friend.
And that's where Draco found himself a few weeks after moving in; standing over the stove, cooking breakfast for an eagerly hungry Harry.
"Draco?" Harry inquired lightly.
Draco mumbled back in response, as his full attention was on the eggs in front of him.
"Draco, I was wandering if you wanted to come for a drink with me later?"
The blonde, who was currently clad in an apron and boxers, felt the rise of excitement within his stomach. "Of course!"
"Great!" Harry chortled back, leaving silence to over come them until breakfast was finished.
XxXx
Draco had finished the clearing of the pots and pans and was lazily making his way up the stairs towards his bedroom, when he stopped out side the other guest room. On the floor out side the door was a note book; it looked very private.
With manners still intact, Draco picked up the journal and set about finding Harry. Even though Draco had never been in Harry's bedroom, he knew where it was. It was hard to miss, when so often he had seen Harry fleeting from it in the morning, half naked and cute to boot!
Draco knocked lightly on the door, so as to be polite, and when no answer came Draco decided on opening the door anyway, so he could rush in and out, placing the book in Harry's room so it wasn't disturbed.
The door creaked slightly, a chill of excitement running through Draco with the sound, and upon entering the room, the grey eyes of the blonde fast locked on Harry napping, spread eagled and naked on the huge bohemian bed.
Feeling as if he was an intruder, Draco quickly shut the door with the book still in his hand, and fled like a naughty school boy to his room ubove Harry's.
Once confined in the loft room, Draco breathed heavily with the weight of what he had just seen.
"Oh my… Merlin!" He whispered to himself as the rise of erection slowly took over. It was bad to think of such things; to begin to feel attraction to not only the person who soul saved your life, but a straight friend that you happened to live with.
'Shit!' Thought Draco, his head brimming with anger towards himself and lust towards that sleeping figure.
His mind began to curve over the flesh that had been in front of his eyes only minutes before. Soft, calculated curves of skin clung without fat to the strong, lithe frame below. Dark hair lay on top of the shell in light, perfect patches; Harry wasn't hairy, but the body hair that Draco had seen was just enough to not look pre-pubescent and so little that it didn't hide the body beneath.
And then there was the sleeping, glassless face of Harry. His mouth was open just slightly, his eyelashes flickering with the motions of dreams and his hair going wild… like Draco as he reached inside the confines of his clothes to redeem himself from the steel-like hard on he now possessed.
After just a few brief moments, Draco was released from the impending prison of lust. Scolding himself for his actions, stupidity and recklessness Draco realised one important thing; Living with Harry wasn't going to be easy, in fact it was going to be hard, seeing as he would continually see the raven haired, sex god of a man half naked most of the time.
Xxxxx
Pubs, apposed to bars, with their cottage feel, warm fires and local banter was the closest thing Harry could think of, to a magical free-house. Plenty resided on the outskirts of where he lived, many he visited often when at home. So, deciding on his favourite, the 'Lion and Prince', he held Draco by the arm and apparated to the small out house outside of it.
"They do fantastic food here," Harry stated as he brushed himself off, "So if your hungry…"
Draco smiled, moved his hand away from the shoulder of Harry reluctantly and followed the younger man from the hut and towards the pub.
Once inside, warmth enveloped them and with instruction from Harry, Draco found a table, waiting for the brunette to come back with drinks.
Muggle refreshment was an indulgence for Draco, seeing as his parents flat out refused to serve or consume anything of the nature. The blonde could never figure out why though, seeing as the variety was far more broad and the taste; exceptional.
Harry sat across from Draco and gave him the typical boyish grin, Draco could remember seeing countless times the whole six years they schooled together. It started out crooked, the corners of Harry's mouth just twitching, then it evened out into something toothier, broader and wild.
It caused Draco's stomach to fast forward, all the contents within going to hell in a hand-basket.
"So," Draco casually started, "Are you seeing anybody?"
Harry snorted, "With my work load?"
The answer wasn't a question, more of a statement. Something behind it though, told Draco that Harry had more reasons than work to not be seeing anybody. "What else though, I'm sure that if you wanted to see somebody then you would make time.
"You work," Draco added, "Because you have nothing else to do."
Harry nodded, "I haven't met anybody that I would want to spend that time with."
Draco felt crest-fallen. What he expected? Harry to leap up and demand that they date? 'Harry is straight!' Draco scorned himself.
"What about that Weasley girl?" Draco tried, hoping to god that she had made a fatal mistake to which Harry now resented her for.
"She and I were a bit of a fling," Harry brushed it off, "Anyway, what about you?"
"Me?" Draco's eyes widened, "I was seeing someone, but it was just physical really. Nothing to tie me down to."
"So you broke up?"
"Yeah," Draco sipped his drink, "It was a bit of a disaster really."
"How come?" Harry leaned into his chair, the comfort of his surroundings sweeping over him.
"Well, once I wasn't 'rich' anymore, they decided that even the mere sex we had wasn't enough."
"Shit."
"And," Draco continued, "There is too many memories I would rather forget held to that person."
"Who?" Harry asked, hoping he may know who it was.
"Pansy's brother Angelo. Good looking, great fun but just like Pansy!" Both men snorted into their drinks.
"So are you hoping to stay single then?" Harry asked softly.
That made Draco freeze. Yes, he did want to be single, but he also wanted to be Harry's; the being single didn't come out of choice really, more of a forced position because he couldn't have what he wanted. "I don't know."
"So how is Pansy and all of that lot?"
"Well," Draco smiled, "The one's that weren't condemned to Azkaban by you are lying low, most living abroad. Pansy herself spends her days at the command of her husband Merculisk, but to be honest I don't really know the inns and outs of that lot. We all fell apart shortly after…" Draco tailed off afraid to go on. Afraid to upset Harry.
"After Dumbledore?" Harry questioned, a chilling undercurrent in his voice.
"Yes." Draco replied. "After… that."
XxXxX
Draco woke early the next day, and out of character he felt an urge to impress his house mate once again with breakfast. He rose out of bed, headed for the shower so he could clean the hangover from his skin.
Once dressed, he made his way down the stairs and towards Harry's bedroom, his heart beating fast as he lightly rapped in the door.
"Yeah?" Came a husky voice from behind the barrier.
"Harry?" Draco asked, his voice a little shaky.
"Come in!" Harry said loudly.
Draco hesitantly walked in, his feet barely leaving the floor as he pushed his lithe form into the master bedroom. "Morning…"
"Hey…" Harry was sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands, his back arched gracefully forward.
"Harry?" Draco asked worriedly, "Are you okay?"
Harry shook his head sombrely, the messy hair falling limp to his head as if sweat had drenched the raven locks. Draco moved swiftly towards Harry and stood in front of the man, giving enough space so that Harry didn't feel suffocated, interrupted and pestered.
"Do you want to tell me what is up?" Draco asked softly, kneeling down.
"If I told you Draco, you would think I was stupid…"
"I wouldn't!" Draco said with offence taken.
"Well, if you were telling me the same thing, and I was in your position them in sure I would think of you a bit odd!"
"Thanks…"
"Besides, its no big deal. Really, I'll be fine." Harry didn't sound assuring, but Draco took the hint and stood, changing the topic effectively.
"I'm making you breakfast, what would you like?"
Harry looked up, a small smile gracing his face. "What do you feel like making me?"
"Harry…"
Draco reached out and took Harry's left wrist in his hand, pulling him up and into a warm hug, "Don't be upset… its just that your not working, its getting to your head."
Draco held Harry's skull firmly against his chest, whilst his other arm wrapped around the shoulders of the unsettled man. Harry nodded in response.
"And," Draco added in a whisper, "I'll make you whatever you want me too…"
