Wish

Chapter Three

Gold Tarnish

Draco awoke to a very delicious smell and a faint humming coming from the kitchen. He noticed that the television had turned off because he knew he had fallen asleep with it on. He also remembered what he had been watching and prayed that something similar wasn't playing when the angel had turned it off.

Draco groggily made his way towards the humming and the smell. He entered the kitchen and was shocked to discover it was actually clean. Draco had never hired a housecleaner and never would. He didn't like anyone touching his things when he wasn't around, besides he had read lots of stories were house servants had ruined everything for their employers. He was determined to avoid that at any cost. If there was anything he had learned from home, it was never trust anyone. The only exception was an old friend of his whom he hired to watch his house sometimes when he was out. There really wasn't much point to a maid anyway, he was rarely ever home.

"What are you doing?" He asked the angel as he sat down at the table.

"Here. Pancakes with whipping cream, strawberries, and chocolate chips with iced tea… right?" Harry said and placed a plate in front of him.

Draco blinked," How did you know?"

Harry went back to washing the dishes. "I'm an angel."

"Yeah, so? Do you have some kind of automatic food decipher thing?" He asked with his mouth full, he hadn't had breakfast since the first morning Harry was here and he never had in the five years prior. He usually just grabbed a coffee on the way out.

"No," Harry said, now putting the dishes in their cupboards and wiping the counter. "I just remember. I've seen you before." He said quietly.

Draco was going to ask him what he meant when Harry nervously changed the subject. "What time is work?" He asked, sitting opposite of Draco.

"8:30, but forget that, I'm not going."

"Oh? Why not?"

"Because we are going to go out instead." Draco said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"But," Harry protested. "If you don't go to work. You won't be contributing to the economy in which--"

"Work can wait. The economy won't crash if I skip a day, trust me," Draco said, standing up and putting his plate in the sink. "Now come on, we're going to go shopping.'

Harry blinked in confusion as Draco took his arm and led him upstairs.

Harry was overloaded with packages and bags. "Are you certain I need so many clothes? There are people who have very little to wear and I feel--" Harry was saying and Draco took a few bags and parcels from his burden.

"Well if they worked harder I'm sure they could have lots of nice things too." Draco said, rather callously.

"But Draco! Some of them have no choice! Sometimes the areas in which they live are--"

"Yeah, ok, I'm sorry. Here, look," Draco gave one of the bags he was carrying to a man who was asking for spare change. "Have a nice day man, and hey, if you get a chance, why don't you head on over to the Malfoy building and I'll see if I have a job for you."

Harry smiled at him and that alone made it worth while in Draco's eyes. "That was very nice of you." Harry said, still struggling with his heap of merchandise.

"It was nothing." Draco said and took some more of Harry's load. He hailed a taxi and when one came he put all of their things in the back. "Take this to Malfoy Manor." He slipped the man some money and told him to give the parcels to a woman names Star. She was Draco's 'house-watcher'. She stayed in a smaller house near his so it was easy for her to get there whenever he needed her. She was used to receiving his packages. He trusted her not only because they went to school together but because she was an acquaintance of Diamond's too.

"Come on." Draco said to Harry who was busy thanking the taxi driver. He took his hand and pulled him across the street.

Draco was quite pleased with himself. He had made the angel change into a less unusual fashion and was quite happy with the results. However, tinges of jealousy irked inside him whenever someone stared at Harry for too long. Especially when Harry wanted to stop and have a conversation with them. This worried Draco. He was sure what he was feeling couldn't be natural, but then, he reasoned with himself, this was an angel he was dealing with, it was anything but natural.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked. His face was slightly flushed with the excitement of the day and his hair was a little untidy, which, oddly enough, made him even more attractive.

"I don't know," Draco admitted. "I just thought we'd go for a walk."

"Oh, that sounds great." Harry said smiling. His smile was contagious and to Draco's horror he discovered he was grinning as well. Draco didn't grin… not like this anyway… he put a hand to his mouth and convinced himself to stop it.

They walked through a park. It was one of the nicest ones in the city. It was surprisingly quiet too, with the exception of some teenagers playing soccer and laughing couples with their children.

Draco and Harry didn't talk much. It was almost strange to enjoy the silent company of the other and somehow it wasn't strange at all.

They were passing a graveyard and Draco was about to ask Harry if he was hungry enough for lunch when he noticed that the angel was no longer walking beside him.

"Harry?" He said, turning. His eyes scanned the area for the untidy black hair and he spotted the angel not too far away. He was staring into the graveyard with a morose expression on his face.

"Harry?' He said again, coming up behind him. "What's wrong?"

Harry didn't answer. He just stared at the hundreds or thousands of tombstones standing and guarding those buried beneath them.

"Hey." Draco said taking Harry by the shoulders. "What's wrong?"

Harry finally averted his gaze and stared into Draco's eyes. This movement made Draco uncomfortable, he felt as though Harry was reading his soul and he sure that angels had that power.

"It's nothing." Harry lied and took Draco's arm. He pulled in the direction they had been walking in. "Were you saying something about lunch?"

Draco narrowed his eyes at the angel for a moment. He was hiding something, of that he was sure. He made a silent vow to himself to find out what it was before long.

"Yeah," Draco answered. "How would a café suffice?"

"Sounds fine!"

They walked to the nearest café, which was about three blocks away. They ate in relative silence, supping their cappuccinos and biting their lunches. They were sitting in the outside area with an umbrella keeping the sun off their faces. Draco considered asking the angel about the graveyard but decided it was better to wait.

When they had finished, Draco paid the cheque and left a good tip. When they were leaving, a man bumped shoulders rather harshly with Draco and Draco stumbled a little.

Harry took his arm to steady him. "That was rather rude of him." He commented.

"It's fine." Draco said, glaring at the man's retreating back. "I have to stop by the office for a moment, do you mind?"

"Not at all." Harry said. He still hadn't let go of Draco's arm but he seemed unaware of it.

When Draco and Harry entered the Malfoy Building, Diamond was trying to file something but Spade wasn't letting her.

"Come on now, don't you want to do something besides work?" Spade was saying in a low seductive voice.

Diamond was blushing. "Honestly, is that all you ever think abou-- Mr. Malfoy!"

Spade looked up at the door. "HA! I knew he wasn't sick! Pay up, Babe." She said and Diamond moodily gave her ten dollars.

"You owe me ten dollars," Diamond said to Draco. Finally being allowed to file her papers. "I actually had faith in you."

Draco gave her a twenty and Spade scowled at him. "Don't bet on my well-being. Besides, faith is a silly thing to have in me." Draco missed the twinge of slight disappointment in Harry's face.

"Angel!" Spade said, moving to Harry's side. "How are you?"

Harry smiled happily at her. "I'm fine thank you, and yourself?"

"I'm just great. Could be better though." She shot a look at Diamond who sighed and turned back to her computer.

"Ok, enough." Draco said and motioned for Harry to follow him. "I'm just here to pick up a few things, then I'll be on my merry way." He and Harry got on the elevator.

Once they were on floor fifty, Draco went to his desk and pulled out a couple papers. Looking through them, he quickly scribbled a note on some yellow paper and stuck it to the papers.

"This is a nice office." Harry commented from across the room.

"Thanks," Draco said. "It's really a second home to me."

"Why are you face away from the country?" Harry asked.

"Because the country bores me." Draco said truthfully.

"Oh." Was all Harry said.

"I think I'm done here." Draco said and picked up the papers. "Ready to go?" He asked Harry who bounded over to his side.

They went back down to the main floor and Draco had to cough loudly to get Diamond's attention away from kissing her girlfriend who was sitting in her lap.

"File these and tell Kado I don't need his support, I can close the Rydal deal on my own."

"Ok." Diamond said. She wrote something down on her desk. "Will do."

"Get back to work." Draco drawled to Spade, who flipped her hair over her shoulder and said, "In a minute."

"Oh yes," Diamond said. "A man came by earlier today and said you offered him a job…"

"He was dirty." Spade piped up and Diamond elbowed her.

"Oh yeah," Draco said, remembering the bum. "Give him Didi's."

"Are you sure?" Diamond asked. "Can he do it?"

"Sure," Draco shrugged. "How hard can accounting be?"

Diamond and Spade looked at each other as if to say, 'he's-lost-his-mind'.

"You're insane, Malfoy." Spade said going to the elevator. "I'll see you later." She said to Diamond who nodded and waved.

"Alright, we're going then." Draco said and he and Harry made their way to the front doors.

"Enjoy the rest of your day off, Mr. Malfoy." Diamond said, typing into her computer.

"No more kissing breaks." Draco said and left Diamond blushing in her seat.

Draco and Harry were back at home and all the new clothes had been put away as well as all the small things Draco had bought when Harry showed the smallest interest in it.

They were sitting in the living room, the TV was off. Draco didn't feel much like looking at the people on the TV at the moment.

"What's Heaven like?" He asked and Harry looked a little surprised.

"Well--" Harry said trying to think. "It's really pretty. Nice, friendly people."

"Are the streets gold?"

"No, why would you think that?"

"I don't know. When someone says Heaven, I usually think of gold streets."

"Do you? That's odd. No, there are no streets."

"Oh, you don't have like cars and stuff, right?"

"Cars, no. We just… rest…"

"Rest? How fun is that?"

"Well once you've earned your wings, you can fly, so there's really no use for cars in the first place."

"Oh yeah, of course."

Draco was about to ask what Harry was like when he was on Earth but a knock on the door startled them both.

"Who can that be?" Draco wondered out loud as he made his way to the front door.

He opened the door, "Pansy? What the hell are you doing here?'

"Draco!" She flung herself into his arms. "Draco, I forgive you! I don't care if you were seeing other girls. I love you! We can work through this!"

Draco pushed her way. "What are you doing? Go away."

"But, Draco. Aren't you listening? I said I forgive you. Don't you miss me?"

Draco's eyebrows knitted. "Is that a joke? I didn't miss you. You were a temporary distraction from the world, understand?"

Pansy's jaw dropped. "What? But Draco! What about all the times we spent together? Didn't… didn't it mean anything?"

"Yeah, about $5000, goodbye Pansy." He said and pushed her out of his house. He shut the door and locked it. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Bloody chicks…"

"That was cruel." He heard Harry's voice and looked up to see him standing at the top of the stairs.

"Yeah… well she had it coming…" Draco stopped as a strange sensation took over his body. A burst of pain had erupted from somewhere inside him and he couldn't breathe properly. He clutched at his heart and fell to his knees.

"Draco?" Harry said, coming down the stairs.

Draco looked up at him. His eyes were pleading. Something was very wrong. All of a sudden if felt like the world was collapsing in on him. He wasn't claustrophobic but it now felt as if he were.

Harry was kneeing beside him now with a hand on Draco's back. "Draco? What's wrong?" He was saying.

Draco tried to speak but all that came out was an anguished choke. He fell back, clutching his throat. Why couldn't he breathe?

Harry pulled off his shirt and his worst suspicions were confirmed. A black upside down pentacle glowed on Draco's chest.

"A curse!" Harry cried. "Oh, Draco, this is all my fault!"

The angel's wings unfolded from inside of him and stretched out wide. They broke the new shirt he was wearing and let it in tatters on his shoulders.

A sign on Harry's forehead glowed but Draco couldn't tell what it was. His vision was blurring and he knew he's pass out soon. The image of the man who had run into him today flashed through his mind. Could that casual harsh bump have been someone cursing him?

Harry's hands were together and it appeared that he was praying. Draco could make out some words and it sounded like he was begging God for strength and power.

The blackness was descending on him and he was fighting to stay conscious.

Suddenly he was aware of lips pressed to his. Breath was flowing into him and he could breath again.

Draco sat up. He was dizzy and nauseous. Harry backed up a little to give him his space.

The upside down pentacle on Draco's skin flashed and disappeared.

"I banished the curse, I'm sorry, did it hurt?" His eyes were wide with concern.

"No."

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine… thank you…"

Harry let out a sigh of relief.

"What was that?" Draco asked, allowing Harry to pull him to his feet.

"A curse," Harry said sadly. "This is all my fault. I really shouldn't be here… I'm only going to get you in more trouble."

Draco held him by the shoulders. "No, don't say that. It's not your fault. I should've been more careful. It could have happened to anybody!"

Harry was about to disagree but Draco put a finger to his lips. "No, it's not your fault, ok?'

Harry reluctantly nodded.

"Good." Draco said and let the way back up the stairs to the main floor.

"Could there be demons here?" Harry wondered out loud.

"Nonsense," Draco replied. For some reason he was desperate to convince Harry that he was incorrect. TO forget about this whole ordeal and go on as though nothing had happened. Not because of the horror of it, but because of the fear that Harry might leave him. "There's no demons, it was an accident."

He was happy with Harry here. Happier than he could ever remember. He didn't want the happiness to leave…

Harry wisely didn't reply to this.

They sat down in the living room and Draco turned on the television to some sitcom. They needed a distraction. As Harry watched the TV, Draco watched Harry. Why did Harry make him feel as though he mattered so much to him without ever really saying it? Draco felt as if he were a somebody, as sure he was used to feeling important as a CEO but this feeling was different… it was spiritual…

Geezuz, Malfoy… Draco thought to himself. Harry's an angel! Of course he's going to make you feel all weird and different and shit… he was in your frickin' tree after all… angels are supposed to be special… they can probably make anyone feel anything…

Yes… of course… Harry the angel… a beautiful holy member of Heaven… and you… you are just a mortal.