"Hey, Harry, guess what I've just won in…" Ron was happily waving something resembling a large-sized frame that had been carefully wrapped with brown paper before his smile froze as he realised that the Potters were not alone. Gingerly, he got out of the fireplace without bothering to rub the soot off of his nose, chin… and basically all over his jumper.
"Oh… I didn't think that you'd have guest." Harry was not entirely sure what to make out of his tone, Ron did not sound particularly upset but his previous excited mood had certainly been affected. He walked over slightly hesitantly as he gave Malfoy, who was sporting a neutral expression at the moment despite having just talked about Ron in front of the Potters a moment ago, a slight nod while looking at him curiously.
Harry sighed and said, "It's generally considered a good idea to call before barging into someone's home like that, Ron." He loved his two best friends with all his heart but he had not realised how similarly annoying the couple could be as he remembered how Hermione had repeatedly entered his office to look through his stuff behind his back.
Ron looked unfazed as he casually pulled out a spare chair to sit on at their table across of Draco. "Sorry, mate. I was just too excited to show you my Chudley Cannons team autographed poster." Harry could hear Malfoy give a barely audible snort which Ron had fortunately missed as he was fussing with the wrapping paper.
As much as Harry hated to side with Draco against Ron, he had to agree that his best friend had questionable taste when it came to Quidditch teams. He mustered as much enthusiasm as he could for his mate's sake, "That's cool!"
Ginny, however, did not mind embarrassing his own brother in front of their guest. "Harry, don't encourage him! Honestly, Ron, at this rate I will have to disown you if I don't want to risk ruining my reputation. How could I expect anyone to take my tastes and analysis seriously at work when my own brother is supporting the second to bottom team of the league? Also, do you have any idea how rude you were to just sit down like this without asking for permission?"
"Since when do I have to ask for permission to visit my sister and my best mate's home?" Ron seemed genuinely incredulous by her demand. However, upon catching a glimpse of Ginny's wand, which had quickly been withdrawn and was now pointed to his face, and her no-nonsense glare, he asked reluctantly, "Fine, would you mind if I join you here, Malfoy?"
To his credit, Draco gave Ron an amused but otherwise not offended look as he gestured his hand out and said, "I suppose not." It was not the most excited response but was enough to make Ron happily return his full attention to his new treasure.
"Anyway, regarding the Cannons, it's just a temporary setback, they will come back stronger, as they always do." He held the frame up to admire the poster with a silly grin. Harry could not resist rolling his eyes as he thought, if by stronger Ron had meant going from twelfth place to eleventh place. Of course Ron had not been able to see this but Harry realised with embarrassment that Draco had caught his rolled eyes as he looked at Ron with a smirk.
"By the way, I don't think you would mind if I have some of this cake? This looks delicious!" Ron had promptly gotten up himself to get an extra plate from the kitchen as if he was at his own home before receiving an answer, leaving his poster to take up a third of the table. It was a good thing that Harry had the habit to clear all the used plate and clean the table before serving desserts. Harry sighed as he wondered if his best friend was trying his best to embarrass himself in front of Draco, but it was unlikely as he could not have known about this dinner beforehand since it had only been confirmed two days ago and he had not told anyone about it. Therefore, Harry was more inclined to believe that Ron was just completely being himself.
Harry had baked a strawberry shortcake for dessert, he doubted it had been fancy enough to impress someone like Malfoy, who had grown up in luxury, but his guest seemed to have liked it quite a bit that he had finished his generous slice of cake within a few minutes, despite his flawless table manners, which was quite a contrast compared with the way Ron was devouring the cake at the moment. Having finished his own dessert before Ron had arrived, Draco had the same amused smirk on his face the whole time while Ron was eating, while Ginny was trying her best to ignore her brother to keep engaging their guest with small talks.
Although Harry wanted to go back to talk about the gathering, there was really not much to talk about now that Draco had agreed to attend, except for a couple of details which could totally wait. Even though Hermione had assured him that Ron was okay with it and had agreed to come, he was not ready to talk about it in front of Ron, who seemed completely ignorant of the annoyed looks Ginny was throwing him every other minute while he was cluelessly recounting the story about some idiot who had tried to steal from Weasley Wizard Wheezes a few days ago with so much excitement that Ginny was struggling to converse with Draco without shouting that she finally gave up. Draco seemed to not mind quietly observing his old rival, who still had cream at the corner of his mouth and soot on his face, for his amusement though.
Harry thought really hard to come up with a topic of mutual interest for Draco and Ron except for Quidditch to avoid any further awkwardness but could not find it. If the Easter gathering was going to be anything like this, it was bound to be a disaster.
About fifteen minutes after Ron had arrived, while his best friend was having his second helping of the cake and requesting a slice that he could bring to Hermione, who was still working at the Ministry, for some late night snack, Draco suddenly said, "Thank you for your hospitality, Potters. I had a good time but it's getting late, I should get going." Harry looked at his watch, it was only ten thirty.
Draco was already standing up when Ginny protested, "But it's not that late, Draco. Is this because of Ron? If he's making you uncomfortable and want to leave, I can send him off because you are our dinner guest and he's the intruder." Ron gave her an insulted look but thankfully managed to keep his mouth shut.
Draco gave a small laugh. "I doubt Weasley could make me uncomfortable even if he tries." Even though the snark was delivered with a smug look, Harry thought Draco's eyes looked more playful than mean. He hated to admit it but a part of him actually missed this side of Malfoy as it felt exhausting and uncomfortable for him to bare his feelings to others saved Ginny and his best friends and for the past few months, most of his communication with Draco, both written and in-person ones, had been surprisingly personal to his liking.
However, he had no time to feel nostalgic about his teenage fights with his former nemesis as Ron had stood up and asked with a full mouth, "Are you challenging me, ponytail? I can think of at least fifty products from my store which can make you very uncomfo…"
Harry had interrupted his best friend with a pacifying pat on his shoulder, "Easy, Ron. Draco was just joking with you. Besides, he's my dinner guest and there is no way I would let you fight him." He suspected that if he did not interfere, he would not have to think back to his school days to relive a conflict he had had with Malfoy as it would play out right in front of him.
"Who said anything about fighting? Wanna bet that your new friend would feel more uncomfortable being tickled than burned?" Harry believed that Ron was joking but his tone sounded suspiciously serious.
If this had been one of the similar scenes in Hogwarts, Draco would try his best to provoke Ron further until this quickly escalated from snarks into an actual duel or fight. But instead of rising to Ron's bait, Draco just smiled teasingly while raising his hands half-way up, "My apologies if you're offended, Weasley. I've seen Scorpius playing with your stuff and I certainly don't want to be on the receiving end of whatever Umbridge had to deal with back then."
He had immediately dropped his hands before adding, "But I did expect the owner of a joke store to be able to take a joke much better than that. You might want to consider lightening up, or rather a change in career."
Draco did not even waited for a response from Ron, who did not seem to know how to react as he had gotten himself worked up for a fight that he seemed almost disappointed now having lost the chance to play an overdue prank on his rival, before turning back to the Potters. "Anyway, I really do have to leave for my personal reason which has nothing to do with Weasley. I would have to leave now even if he had not shown up. Thanks again for the meal and your cooking is surprisingly decent, Harry."
Harry thought the "surprisingly" was unnecessary but it was refreshing to see Draco acting more like his younger self tonight that he just silently nodded his appreciation of the compliment. Perhaps someday soon they could reach a balance in which Draco would no longer act awkwardly formal and more like his younger self around him but without the smugness and snarks that Harry would be able to be himself and to say whatever he wanted to say in front of him, the way one was supposed to act in company of a friend.
Ginny had already been on her way to the Floo to see their guest off by the time Harry remembered himself that he hurriedly followed as well. Harry believed Draco was going to reach for the Floo powder pot himself but Ginny had overtaken him to get to the pot first. "I won't hold you up if you really have to go, Draco, but I truly hope we can do this again another time because Harry and I enjoyed ourselves tonight and I think, if I may say so, you can use some company sometimes."
Draco's mouth parted a little in surprise then it curled up into a faint smile and his expression softened as he quietly offered a hand out to Ginny. Harry remembered Draco had admitted in front of the both of them in the kitchen at that time that he had had no friends and had felt jealous of him. Even if the novelty of making a friend had worn off after Christmas, Harry thought Draco looked genuinely appreciative of Ginny's friendship when she gladly took his hand to shake it.
"Thank you, Ginny. I would like to visit again, if you two would have me. Or perhaps... you would be interested in joining me at the Manor some other time?" There was a bit of hope in his tone but Harry thought he had rarely seen Malfoy as least confident as he appeared now, except for his two years as a Death Eater. Instead of sounding full of himself and entitled, he sounded… humble and sincere.
However, even though Harry had eaten at the Manor's dining room mere months ago and he was well aware of the fact that the Manor looked so much different from how it had looked more than twenty years ago, he could feel himself instinctively wanted to cringe at the mention of the Manor but thankfully, he was able to resist the urge and had kept his face impassive instead. Luckily for him, Ginny, who had dropped off Albus at the Manor no less than five times in the past, replied with so much enthusiasm that he was confident Draco had not seen his much less excited reaction. "Sure, that would be lovely! Al told me you served buffet at the Manor whenever you have visitors."
"Yeah, that sounds... great." Harry said so even though he did not truly mean it. While he believed he could truly enjoy spending more time with Draco, he far preferred meeting his friend again at his cozy home than in the same house where Hermione had been tortured and Dobby had been killed, but he did not want to contradict Ginny and disappoint Draco. "Thanks for coming again, Draco."
Harry shook hands with Draco too before his guest finally entered the fireplace. He surprised them again by taking the initiative to say goodbye to Ron, especially considering their near-fight mere minutes ago. "I suppose I'll see you soon on the platform, Weasley."
"Hmm… right… B-bye, Malfoy."
Draco gave a parting nod to the both of them before disappearing from Harry's kitchen.
A/N: Forgive the sloppy writing here because about half of the chapter was written within the last two days. I have no beta and edit all my stories myself but I always post only after finishing a chapter for at least a week. I don't have that luxury here because I basically forced myself to get enough content out for a chapter because I have wanted so much to be able to post today despite having been struggling for a while.
Today is the anniversary of the story so I really want to get a chapter out despite the chapter being not ready yet. I still go back to my older chapters to edit them occasionally but the changes are usually barely noticeable. I would likely come back to make some bigger changes here because both the chapter and I are a bit of a mess right now.
Please comment because I'm feeling all stressed out, sleep-deprived, and a comment could cheer me up so much.
By the way, the short "A Good Day" I had first started last month has been completed. It wasn't as much a "break" as I had expected but I did enjoy focusing on Draco and Scorpius' relationship over there. It would mean so much to me if you can check it out.