They all sit there in silence for a long moment before Draco asks,
"What about Greg?"
"What about him?" Pansy asks but her voice is heavy. She sounds tired and like she has been expecting this question but has also been dreading it.
"What are you going to tell him?"
"He knows I'm a hit wizard," Pansy says staring at the table. "I'll tell him that I'm going on a mission." Draco bites his lip. He's not sure Pansy and Greg's relationship is going to weather this. Not after all the things Greg had talked to him about this morning. About feeling left out of most of Pansy's life. Draco knows Pansy can't tell Greg anything because her mission is to protect him, but that still means that she can't tell him anything about a big portion of her life. Not for the first time, the idea of telling Greg that he works for the Ministry makes its way into Draco's mind. He can't, of course, but it's very tempting.
"McLaggen," Harry says. "You'll take Pansy's place at Flourish and Blotts."
"What?" Draco asks. They are moving too quickly in this conversation. And he doesn't want to have to see McLaggen every day. He sees him enough as is. "Well, you can't go before Christmas."
"Why not?" Pansy asks.
"What about your family?"
"Draco," Pansy says. "Please don't make this harder than it already is." She sounds as if she is trying not to cry. Draco hasn't heard her sound that way since Hogwarts and he immediately feels guilty.
"Really though," Harry says. "It's the twenty second. Surely you can wait until after the holidays."
"Shouldn't we ask Granger?" McLaggen interjects. "I know she just woke up, but she is technically in charge." Pansy purses her lips.
"Fine," she says. "We'll ask her." She pulls out her wand and jabs at her watch.
"Why not suggest that we meet at their house," Harry says. Pansy glances up at him and he holds her stare. After a moment her gaze softens. She nods and prods her watch again.
"And we're sure whoever is in that room won't get out?" Draco asks.
"She is unconscious and doesn't have a wand," McLaggen says.
"Does she have a watch?" Draco asks, looking pointedly at Pansy.
"Shit," Harry says. He hurries out of the room and doesn't return for several minutes, but when he does, he is holding a pile of clothes and a watch.
"What's that?" Pansy asks, looking up from her watch.
"All of her effects. She's now wearing a nondescript jumpsuit I found in the locker room."
"Good. We'll need her watch in case the Sim Soc try to contact her. I presume that's how they've been doing it." Pansy walks over and picks the watch up from the pile and wraps it around her wrist, next to her other Ministry watch. "I'll monitor it for the time being." Her watch glows purple and she glances down at it. "Hermione says we should meet her at her house after eight." Harry nods. He checks his own watch.
"Should we call it a day then? Until eight, I mean?"
"Sure," Pansy says. "McLaggen, I'll message you Granger's address." McLaggen looks put out for a moment before he nods. They they go their separate ways.
"I should go back to work," Draco says as he and Harry emerge onto Diagon Alley.
"Only if I can be there to distract you," Harry says. Draco rolls his eyes.
"Fine," he says. "Luca and Joe will love it. I think I saw them in Father Christmas get ups earlier, which I'm sure they are dying to have featured in Witch Weekly. But no more stockroom shenanigans."
"I can't promise that." Draco rolls his eyes, but he grins nonetheless.
…
Ron and Hermione's house looks like Christmas threw up on it and thus looks entirely different from when Harry and Draco visited it just a few days ago. Harry assumes it is Hermione's doing. Draco assumes that it is Ron's.
Ron greets them all at the door. He frowns for a moment when he sees Draco, but he waves them both inside.
"The others are in the sitting room," he says gesturing towards the closed door. "Draco, are you…?" He clearly doesn't know what question to ask and so trails off with a confused look on his face.
"Here to socialize with you?" Draco asks. "Yes, I am. While our significant others talk about important things without us." Draco had not been not thrilled when Harry had told him he wouldn't be joining them to discuss whether or not his boyfriend would be going under cover, but no amount of pouting had changed Harry's stance on this. They had to maintain Draco's cover, after all. Even, it seemed, with the Granger-Weasleys.
"Great," Ron said in a tone that almost made it sound like he thought it was, indeed, great.
"See you later," Harry says. He leans over and gives Draco a quick kiss on the cheek before disappearing into the sitting room. Ron looks awkwardly at his feet for a moment before he gestures for Draco to follow him back into the kitchen.
"Can I offer you some wine? Or beer? Or?" Ron gestures wildly around the kitchen.
"Wine, if it's open."
"Red or white?"
"Literally, whatever's open." Ron nods and picks up the half full bottle of red that's sitting on the counter near the sink. He walks over to a cabinet and pulls down two stemless wine glasses before uncorking the bottle and pouring two heavy pours of wine. He hands one of the glasses to Draco.
"Cheers," Draco says, holding his glass up. Ron nods once and clinks his glass against Draco's. Draco takes a rather large sip, desperate for the easy camaraderie that comes from him being wine drunk. He follows Ron to the kitchen table and sits down opposite him. They sit in awkward silence for a long moment.
"So," Ron says eventually. "You finish your Christmas shopping then?"
"Yes," Draco says, latching eagerly onto the conversation topic. "We did ours in Italy."
"Oh, right," Ron says. "Your European sojourn." They spend some time laughing again at the story of Harry getting stuck in the snowbank and by the time they start talking about other things again, the wine has loosened Draco's tongue and the conversation flows naturally.
Draco is almost amazed at how easy it is to talk to Ron. He perhaps should have realized this sooner — the man is Harry's best friend after all — but it's better to realize it later rather than never.
"Say," Ron says after about twenty minutes. "You mind if I put the telly on? I wanted to watch the recap of this weekend's quidditch."
"Of course," Draco says. Ron's face breaks into a grateful smile and he flicks his wand at the television. They move from the kitchen table to the little sitting area in front of the telly. Ron sits on the sofa and settles back into the cushions with a contented sigh. Draco takes the comfortable chair to the left of him and lets the noise of the quidditch wash over him. He tunes out most of the specifics but it seems that the Wimbourne Wasps are on a winning streak. Ernie will be pleased.
Ron chats idly about the Cannons before, after another twenty minutes or so, he falls asleep, his head lolling back on the cushions. Draco doesn't take offense to this. He can tell from the shadows under the other man's eyes that he's knackered.
He leans forward and plucks the wine glass out of Ron's slack fingers and places it on the side table next to him. Then he tiptoes into the room where the others are still deep in discussion.
"Harry," Hermione is saying. "You're overreacting."
"I am not," Harry says. "You're pregnant. This is too dangerous."
"I'm maybe two months pregnant," Hermione says. "It's well before the time when we would even normally tell anyone."
"I want to protect you."
"I'm not made of glass," Hermione shoots back.
"We just got you back, 'Mione."
"So the safest place for me to be is in contact with them," Hermione argues. "They don't know I'm not the imposter. It's you lot they'll be looking at closely. In fact, it might be safer for all of us if none of your roles change."
"Do we know yet who the imposter is?" Draco asks from the door. They turn to look at him. He walks into the room and shuts the door behind him. "Ron's asleep," he says, jerking his head towards the kitchen.
"I checked in on the cell before I came here," McLaggen says. "No change."
"Mm," Hermione says. "We'll find out in the morning."
"I also put her under a stasis spell," McLaggen says to Draco. "So she won't wake up."
"Which brings us to: I will be monitoring the Sim Soc watch until at least after the holidays, after which, we will reevaluate the danger of the situation." Harry looks as though he wants to argue, but Hermione is looking sternly at him so he doesn't say anything.
"Oh good," Draco says. "I don't have to put up with McLaggen." He grins impishly as McLaggen stares daggers at him. Pansy chokes back a laugh, hiding her smile behind her water glass.
"I still don't like this," Harry says.
"When you're head of the team," Hermione says. "You can make those decisions. For now, it's my call." Harry glowers but nods. "And we're not going to talk about any of this until after Christmas. Merlin, it's two days 'til Christmas Eve. Be normal. Celebrate with your families. Take the next few days off."
"Crime sleeps for no one," Pansy protests, but she says it very quietly and Draco is quite sure she's trying to make a joke.
"Is that your polite way of kicking us out?" McLaggen asks.
"It might be," Hermione says with a small smile. She stands and after a moment, the others follow her lead. They slowly file out into the hall. There is a general scuffle as they don their coats and scarves, then Hermione is wishing them a Happy Christmas and sending them on their way.
…
"Pub?" McLaggen asks as the door to the Granger-Weasley house shuts behind them.
"Really?" This is Harry.
"Why not?"
"Voluntarily spending time with you outside of work? I think I'll have to pass." Harry winks.
"No need to be such a dick about it," McLaggen snaps. There's a flush creeping up his face from underneath his scarf.
"I'm kidding, McLaggen."
"Cormac," he says.
"Sorry?"
"You call everyone else by their first names."
"He's got a point," Pansy says. Harry flicks his eyes towards her. Whose side is she on?
"Fine," he concedes. "I'm kidding, Cormac. Let's go get a pint and pretend we're all best friends."
…
The Coach and Horses is warm and cosy after the December chill and they manage to snag a booth towards the back of the pub. Harry announces that the first round is on him, possibly as a way of making amends with McLa—Cormac, and makes his way to the bar. It is more crowded than one would imagine for a typical Monday evening, and Draco thinks this must be because so many people have taken the week off with Christmas being on Thursday. He wishes he could do the same. Either from Flourish and Blotts, or from the Ministry. But, he did only just come back from their ski trip, so he supposes he can't complain, even though a part of him would argue that had been work.
"I'm glad you'll get to see your family for Christmas, Pans," Draco says. Pansy turns her gaze to him and it is not the excited look he was expecting. Rather, she looks annoyed. "Unless you didn't want to see them?"
"I do," she says. She blows out a breath, still looking a bit put out. Draco scoots over in the booth until he is right next to her.
"Is this about Greg?" he leans in and whispers in her ear. From the way that she stiffens beside him, he guesses he's gotten it in one. "Did you want to talk about it?" he asks at normal volume.
"No," she says. He nods once and then moves to give her space again. Harry walks over to the table and deposits two beers before hurrying back to the bar to collect the other two. Once they are all settled, Draco picks up his pint and holds it out.
"Cheers," he says. "Happy Christmas." Pansy's scowl softens and she clinks her beer against his. Harry and Cormac do the same. They drink in silence for a few minutes before Pansy says,
"I wonder if someone should seduce Roger." Cormac, who has just taken a sip of his beer, spits some out in surprise. It dribbles down his chin and he wipes it away quickly with the back of his sleeve. Pansy glares at him briefly. "What?"
"Nothing."
"Why Roger?" Draco asks.
"He's the highest ranking in the Ministry. Stands to reason he might be the highest ranking in the Sim Soc."
"It's an idea," Harry says slowly. He doesn't want to commit to anything before they've had a chance to run things past Hermione. He knows they've worked well on this on their own up until now, but he would feel much more comfortable with her input.
"I presume you're suggesting yourself for the job," Draco says.
"If he's straight," Cormac says.
"And also assuming he's actually high up in the org."
"What's to think he isn't? His sister's in it too," Pansy says.
"It might be prudent to wait until Hermione's scoped the group out a bit," Harry says, ignoring the look that Pansy is now giving him. Draco is pleased to see that now that Harry has been working with Pansy for this long, he is as immune to Pansy's death glares as he is. To him, it means that they're properly friends. Not that he would point this out to either of them. They seem to enjoy pretending they don't care about each other.
"I agree with Potter," Cormac says.
"It's Harry," Harry says, witheringly. "If I have to call you Cormac, you have to call me Harry."
"Force of habit." Cormac flushes and Harry rolls his eyes.
"Fine," Pansy says. "We'll wait." She slumps down in her seat. Draco watches as she takes one of the rings off of her fingers and spins it on the table top. She's clearly put out about Greg and her suggestions of going under cover and now of seducing a mark have him convinced their relationship is doomed. He wishes she would just rip off the plaster. But perhaps she's waiting until after the holidays. No need to ruin Christmas, after all.
"So are you three actually taking the next few days off?" he asks.
"No," Pansy says at the same time as Cormac says,
"Yes." Cormac looks inquisitively at Pansy. "But Granger said—"
"— Someone has to watch Draco."
"I can look after myself," Draco protests.
"I'm already scheduled to come in," Pansy says. She picks up her ring and slips it back on her finger. "Don't want to let down Big Dick." She doesn't look at any of them, but instead stares detachedly at her fingers.
"True. And you don't want to miss the Flourish and Blotts Christmas Eve party," Draco says. He nudges her in the ribs. She makes a horrified face.
"The what?" Harry asks, intrigued.
"Sorry," Draco says. "Flourish and Blotts employees only."
"What? No significant others?" Harry asks. He sounds scandalized. Draco shakes his head.
"Nope, not even famous ones."
"Harsh."
"Harry, it's an hour long get together after work where Joe and Luca invariably get too drunk on firewhisky and we all sing carols and eat mince pies. I'll be home by seven."
"Home?" Cormac asks. Draco says nothing, only stares at him. "You two live together?"
"It's our cover."
"But you're actually dating."
"You're not going to let that go, are you?" Harry asks.
"No, I'm not. It's against policy." Cormac crosses his arms across his chest. "Does Granger know? I highly doubt she'd sign off on it." Cormac stares at Harry, his eyes challenging. Harry gnaws at the inside of his cheek.
"I haven't had a chance to tell her," he says, not looking Cormac in the eye.
"Cormac," Pansy says, putting a hand on his arm. "It's Christmas. Let it go." Cormac turns to look at her, his eyes dropping momentarily to take in her hand on his arm. A flush spreads up his face.
"Fine," he says.
…
The next few days pass uneventfully. Draco keeps up with his normal routine, but nothing jumps out at him from the newspapers. It appears that Pansy is wrong — crime does sleep sometimes —and Draco isn't going to complain about that. It means that he can concentrate on the last minute Christmas shoppers at Flourish and Blotts, because despite what Pansy seems to think, he takes pride in his job at the bookstore.
Pansy and Greg avoid each other as much as they can, which Draco hates but can't do anything about. He wishes that if they were going to break up, they would just get on with it. But he can understand wanting to wait until after the holidays. He knows Pansy has to go to her family's Christmas dinner and face questions from her mother and aunts about her love life and that it's probably easier to say that she's with someone, even if their relationship is on the outs.
Greg, for his part, seems to want to prolong the inevitable in the hopes that it is, in fact, not inevitable and that their relationship will magically sort itself out.
So Draco flits between them, first spending time with Greg while they stock shelves, and then spending time with Pansy as the two of them man the tills. It is annoying, but there's not much he can do about it. And, if he's honest, there's not much he wants to do about it.
Before Draco knows it, it's six pm on Christmas Eve, and he's turning his key to lock up the shop for the holidays. As the lock clicks into place, a cheer goes up behind him. He grins as he turns back to his colleagues.
"Happy Christmas," he cries and Greg turns on the Christmas carols.
…
Pansy, Greg and Draco meet up with Harry and — gag — Cormac at the Leaky Cauldron. Greg is very confused by Cormac's inclusion to their group. He's said as much to Draco all day when Draco had mentioned they would be meeting up with them later. Draco can hardly blame Greg. After all, he isn't sure why Cormac has been included in their Christmas Eve drinks. It's not like they have a gift for him.
Hannah grins at them as they walk in and jerks her head at the VIP area. Draco waves Pansy and Greg on and makes his ways over to Hannah.
"Hello," she says, a welcoming smile on her face. Draco feels the affection from her smile wash through him.
"Hello darling," he says, enjoying the way her face scrunches up in joy at the endearment. "Can I get three gin and tonics? And you in person in the back room when you get a chance? We come bearing gifts."
"The gin and tonics I can do now; the visit might have to wait."
"No rush." He grins at her. His whole body is suffused with the warmth of the holiday and he feels utterly Hufflepuff-ish as he gazes fondly at Hannah. But that's not really a bad thing. The Draco from school might have thought that it was, but this Draco knows better. She plonks three glasses on the bar in front of him before hurrying away again with the promise of seeing him later.
…
"And you just gave it to him?" Harry asks. He's doubled over laughing. It's nearing midnight, Hannah and Ernie have now joined them all in the VIP room, and everyone is several drinks in. Draco is telling the story of when Snape found him reading a Playwitch in the Slytherin dorms. His face is flushed an adorable shade pink.
"What else was I supposed to do?" Draco snaps, but there's no venom behind it.
"Vanish it," Cormac says. "And lie."
"Cormac's right," Ernie says.
"You're encouraging lying, Ernie?" Draco asks. "But you're a Hufflepuff."
"Sure, but a Hufflepuff who never got caught reading pornographic magazines by my teachers."
"Ernie!" Hannah cries. He grins, leans over and kisses her on the cheek.
"Time for presents!" Draco yells, partly to distract everyone and partly because he's been patient until now and he really just wants to give everyone their Christmas gifts. He reaches under the table and pulls out the bag of gifts that Harry had stashed under there.
They spend the next half an hour swapping presents and generally enjoying everyone's company. Unbeknownst to Draco, Harry had picked up something for Cormac last minute, so even he had a present (a generic scarf, but a nice one). Pansy loves the handbag that Draco had (briefly) agonized over getting her and he's pleased that he still knows her well enough after all those years to get her a gift that makes her face light up with joy.
"Oh," Cormac says suddenly. Draco is starting to find that after a number of drinks that's he's lost count of, Cormac McLaggen isn't a complete prick. "It's Christmas."
"No shit," Harry says.
"I mean it's after midnight," Cormac amends. He lifts up the glass in front of him. "Happy Christmas everyone. I'm so pleased to be ringing in the holiday with you."
"Don't get used to it," Pansy mutters, rolling her eyes. Cormac catches her eye and she sticks her tongue out at him.
"Give it a rest, Pans," Greg says, surprising Draco. "He's not that bad." Draco wonders if Greg would be this magnanimous if he knew how often Cormac hits on Pansy. "S'Christmas." Ah, that explains it. Greg is drunk.
"Let's play a game," Harry cries enthusiastically.
"Yeah, alright," Ernie says. "What should we play?"
"Spin the bottle!"
"No, Harry," Draco says firmly. Harry is clearly in one of his 'I love everyone' moods. It happens sometimes when he drinks gin. Or drinks anything, really.
"Exploding gobstones snap!" Greg yells, perhaps louder than he meant to.
"Yes!" Harry yells back, equally enthused.
"Exploding what?" Cormac asks. "I don't know how to play that."
"You're smart," Pansy says. "Play and learn the rules as you go." She nudges him with her elbow and he relents.
Which is how they convince Cormac McLaggen to do a naked lap of the (empty) Leaky Cauldron in the wee hours of Christmas morning. Draco thinks it might be the best Christmas he's ever had.
I am so so sorry this is so terribly overdue. The real world has been very distracting recently. I might have to move to one chapter a month for a bit until I get everything sorted again.
