A/N: Here's chapter eight. A surprise appearance, Harry worries a bit, and a visit with a friend.

This is Harry/Draco, post-Hogwarts, though the slash content is extremely light. There are very vague suggestions of other relationships as well.

I've got this all written out, and am posting one a week. There will be 23 chapters total. All that's left is the editing.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Dedication: To Foodie, who still betas me despite my predilection for slash, and for FionaFawkes, who read and reviewed every single chapter, and gave me such excellent feedback. Also, for everyone who's read and loved my Harry/Draco. This one's for you.

-----8

The second test came, and they went once more to the Ministry. What Harry had said about seeing things from other's points of view stayed with Draco when he took the test. It even helped him in improving his score. The test was the same questions again. Some of the questions had seemed so obvious the first time, but now Draco found himself questioning each of them. Draco could recall his answers to many of the questions the first time around, but he was rather surprised by how his talk with Harry had changed his view of what the correct answer might be.

Shacklebolt had brought his score again, and had again loomed over both he and Harry, though Harry had shrugged it off easily. The real surprise had come when they had left the Ministry that day.

He and Harry had been discussing the fact that Draco's scores had improved, and Draco had been telling him exactly why, when he heard a familiar voice at the far side of the Atrium. He looked across the room and was stunned to see his father, well-clothed, but in chains, in the company of two Aurors and a man Draco recognized as the Malfoy solicitor. He stood stock-still in the middle of the room, shocked, watching as his father and the men around him approached the spot where he stood, none of them even aware of Draco's presence.

Draco recognized the moment when Lucius's eyes scanned right past him and alighted on Harry, who had followed Draco's gaze, and was now glowering at the blond crossing the room. A sneering smile curled Lucius's lips as he stopped in front of Harry. "Mister Potter. Fancy meeting you here. And what task brings you here today?"

Part of Draco was offended that Lucius hadn't even recognized him, but another bit was grateful for the very same fact. How would Lucius react to his now-even-more-youthful son? Draco felt pleased he could hide in the anonymity of youth, and had to restrain himself from physically hiding behind Harry.

"Nothing that concerns you, Malfoy. Just here for a visit. We'll be leaving now."

Draco knew this was a mistake as soon as Harry said it, for the moment he'd said "we," Lucius's eyes landed upon Draco, and widened for a moment. Draco raised his chin, determined not to let his father see his fear but finding his vocal cords paralyzed, and therefore unable to speak.

"Draco…?" Lucius asked, cautiously.

Harry's hand landed on Draco's shoulder. "I'll ask you not to speak to my charge, Malfoy. He's not allowed to spend any time with Death Eaters," he said stiffly

Lucius's eyes shot back to Harry, and his sneer turned to a snarl. "What have you done to him, Potter? You'll pay. I promise you that."

Harry snorted. "Like you have any power left, Malfoy. I haven't done anything to Draco that he wasn't fully aware of and completely accepting of. Now, if you'll excuse us…" He pulled Draco ahead of him and moved to the lift to the street, leaving a horrified silence behind him.

Their return to Harry's house was utterly silent, both of them lost in thought.

Draco couldn't believe how different seeing his father again had been. The man had been his major influence in life, but he hadn't seen him in months. Not since the final battle. It was surprising how quickly his hold had loosened. But was that due to being separated from his influence, or was that because of Harry's more constant influence in the last few months?

He turned to Harry several times during the trip home, wanting to talk to him, but Harry obviously wasn't up to talking, so Draco sat, wondering how this might affect everything.

Harry allowed Draco to play on the computer in the den when they got home. He said he had a few things to deal with, and then they could think about what to have for dinner, then for the first time ever, he left Draco alone in the room.

Draco tried to lose himself in a game of Civilizations, but it didn't seem to help, so he switched over to Sims, where he'd just made a new house. Harry had showed him something he told Draco was called the internet, where there were all sorts of things to do. Information of just about any sort could be found there. Rather like Wizarding books, though the content on the sites he showed Draco were stranger than anything he'd found in the Malfoy library, or even at Hogwarts. And there were things Harry had shown him that he'd called "downloads," which were all sorts of different things—games, movies, sounds, and best of all, additions to the Sims.

Harry had showed Draco how people liked to make downloads for the game, so that you could have different outfits, furniture, or even floors and walls in your houses. They'd spent an amazing afternoon together, finding all sorts of things, even managing to find a site that had wizarding world objects. "I guess I'm not the only wizard out there who has a computer," Harry had chuckled as Draco had downloaded Hogwarts Sims of all of their teachers, even Hagrid and Dumbledore, and new uniforms for the kids to wear to school so that it at least looked like they actually attended Hogwarts.

When he'd played the game next, the two of them had done their best to recreate something not too dissimilar to Hogwarts, though, again, they were only allowed two levels, which annoyed Draco no end, because he desperately wanted to make the Astronomy tower, so that he could take his Draco and Pansy Sims there.

Now he loaded the Hogwarts household, and found himself wanting to lose himself in it. Hogwarts had been home almost as much as the Manor, even though being there had had its problems. He wondered how it might have been different if he and Harry had managed to become friends, and even managed to stay friends throughout their time there, despite the fact that they were in opposing houses. He enjoyed most of the conversations they had now, even when they did argue. It was surprising how well Harry seemed to understand him, and how hard he tried to empathize with Draco. It was good to have someone trying that hard to help him. It was something he'd never really had before.

Growing bored with Hogwarts, Draco decided it was time for another house. He made himself and Harry, though this time he made himself an adult. He was sick of being a kid, both in game and out, and wanted to see himself as an adult. Even if it was only in simulated form. Harry was easy. They'd found him the perfect head last time they'd downloaded, and Draco wasted no time putting him together before moving on to his own Sim.

This was harder, as Draco had downloaded many blond heads, but few of them were the right colour of blond, and none of them had hair quite as long as he would have liked. He finally decided on a head that had pale blond hair pulled back in a pony-tail, then moved on to the outfit. For Harry, he'd chosen a red jumper and jeans, but for himself he found he couldn't decide between a black suit with a deep green shirt and a more exotic outfit with silver slacks and a pale blue shirt. He was scanning back and forth between the two outfits when Harry's voice spoke from over his shoulder. "I like the blue."

Draco looked up, startled. "Harry. How long have you been standing there?"

"Just a few minutes." He had a slight smile on his face. "Draco Potter?"

Draco shrugged, though he could feel his cheeks heat. "Well, I couldn't change his last name. You know the game won't let me…"

"I know, Draco. I just couldn't resist teasing you. Anyway, if you could finish up, we should start thinking about dinner."

"Sure." Draco clicked over to the outfit that Harry had chosen, then exited out of the game. He couldn't wait to make their house. Maybe Harry'd help him with that tonight…

◦♦☼♦◦

Now that Draco's grade had improved, Severus had an open invitation to visit when he wished, though Harry was still not allowed to leave the two former Death Eaters alone. The first visit after the second test a bit tense, though, because Harry felt that he needed to discuss Draco's father with Severus.

Draco had expected Severus to dismiss Harry's worries. After all, he had been friends with Draco's father for a very long time, even if Severus had ended up becoming a spy. To Draco's surprise, though, he and Harry talked very intently about the surprise meeting that day. He wanted to know every detail they could remember, and Draco could see how concerned he was by the fact that he did not snipe at Harry once.

"You say he had the family solicitor with him, Draco?"

Draco nodded. "Shay Venal. He and father were talking, it's how I even realized father was there. You know how his voice carries."

Snape sneered. "Yes. Lucius always was fond of his own voice," he mused. He turned to look at Harry. "I'll look into it, Potter. Who knows what he's up to now. If he should manage to secure his own release…"

"Surely that's impossible, Snape! Kingsley and I saw him at the final battle personally. He can hardly claim he wasn't a Death Eater, and it's been conclusively proven, thanks to that lovely spell Hermione discovered, that he has never been under the control of the Imperious curse. How could he possibly get them to release him now?"

"This is Lucius Malfoy we're talking about, Potter," he growled in response. "The man had his hands in more pockets than anyone, including myself and his family, could possibly be aware of. If he's found some sort of loophole, and this solicitor of his is competent—"

"He is," Draco said.

"There is no reason not to think that he might be freed. And should he manage that…"

Harry sighed. "I know. The remaining Death Eaters in hiding would rally around him. So what do we do?"

Snape glowered. "You will do nothing, Potter. You've done your bit. I'll talk to my contacts and see what they know. And make sure that the Ministry is aware of just who it is they might free. They'd be far more likely to listen to a former friend of the man than someone who never liked him."

But whatever Snape discovered, he did not share it with either of them the next time he returned. Draco took malicious pleasure in showing him his Sim-self, and was highly amused as Severus found himself fascinated by the game.

The visits themselves were wonderful, but each time Snape left, Draco felt the hole not having his friends around him left. Severus and his father had been the only people from before he'd seen aside from Harry's friends since all this had begun. He was desperate to see one of his own friends. Any of them, really. Even Theo, who'd always gone out of his way to make Draco feel as though he was an imbecile.

When he brought up the idea of seeing the others, though, Harry shook his head. "It's in the rules, Draco. You're not allowed to see any of them, at least until both you and they make an O on both your tests."

"How do I know what they've made on their tests?" Draco grumbled. "For all I know, Shacklebolt and his cronies have been changing the official records. Could you at least try to find out? I'd really like to see either of them, Harry. It's been so long."

Harry sighed. "I'll have Snape or Hermione look into it, okay?" Draco nodded, and that had been it. Until a few days later, when Harry promised him a surprise.

When Blaise had stepped through the floo, it had been all Draco could do not to hug the other boy. Seamus Finnegan had followed closely behind, and glanced at Draco warily.

"Afternoon, Harry," he said, moving to where Harry stood.

Harry grinned. "Hey Seamus, how's it going?"

Seamus shrugged. "As well as can be expected, with a stubborn Slytherin git like him," he said, indicating Blaise over his shoulder.

Draco drew the other boy away across the room, and they settled onto a loveseat together. "How are things going?" he asked the dark-skinned boy.

Blaise's mouth twisted into a familiar sneer. "As well as can be expected, really. I get along with him well enough, I suppose." He glanced back at where the two Gryffindors stood talking, then turned back, an evil smile stretching across his face. "Got to be better than the Boy Who Lived, though. How's that going?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Don't, Blaise. He's…" He glanced up, and noticed that Harry was watching him. He looked away quickly, and back at Blaise. "He's been good to me. Severus has come to visit several times."

Blaise's eyes grew wide. "He allowed that?"

Draco nodded. "Heard from Pansy?"

Blaise shook his head. "No. I wasn't even aware I was going to see you today, to be honest. Guess Seamus and Potter arranged this without the Ministry's okay…"

"Probably. That would be like Harry. He's not as bad as I thought, you know."

Blaise snickered. "Oh, Draco? I seem to recall you asking me to put you out of your misery if you ever suggested that Potter was okay…"

"Yeah, well, I guess I had to grow up some time, hm?"

"You, grow up?"

"Oh, shut it, Blaise," Draco replied with a grin. The two were silent for a bit. It was good to see Blaise, but now that he was here to visit, Draco had no idea what to talk about. He felt almost like a completely different person than the last time they had seen each other.

Apparently Blaise was feeling a bit awkward as well. "You'll never guess who 'adopted' Pansy," he said with a smirk.

"Who?" Draco asked. He hadn't even known who Blaise was with, never mind Pansy.

"Your auntie," Blaise grinned.

"Aunt Bella?" That wasn't possible, was it? Surely she was locked even deeper in Azkaban than Lucius had been.

"No, not her. The one your grandparents disowned?"

Draco frowned. "Andromeda?" He'd forgotten about her, to be honest. His mother hadn't spoken of her other sister if she could help it. The shame of her disgrace had always been too much for Narcissa to deal with. "But she's a pureblood. I thought we all had to be taken care of by Muggleborns or halfbloods."

"Yes, but she married a Muggleborn, didn't she?"

"Ah, of course." A vague memory of something his mother had said once came to him. "Didn't she have a daughter…?"

"Who was killed in the last battle, yeah. I heard that too," Blaise said. "I suppose she's trying to make up for her daughter's death by raising one of us 'properly' or something."

"Well," Draco managed with a slight laugh, "I'm sure she'll have her hands full with Pansy…"