While Potter was quiet on the engagement, the rest of the world wasn't. While Draco liked to live in a bubble of solitude from the Wizarding world, he did still hear news every now and then. Namely he heard it from his teammates who talked and asked questions about Potter and his friends near constantly. If not them, then Draco heard it from his mother, who sometimes still read the papers when she was feeling especially brave. Or Andromeda who, like tonight, had brought Teddy over for a sleepover.

"No Potter this time?" Draco asked, eagerly getting his hands on Teddy. He had a full evening planned of fun activities after he'd found a few muggle board games on his way home from work.

"Harry's coming by a little later," Andromeda said, "Ron and Hermione are telling Hermione's parents about the engagement, you have heard about it haven't you?"

"Can't escape it," apparently.

Andromeda nodded, "They'll be there a little while longer before coming here."

Wonderful.

He plastered a smile on his face anyway, promising that everything was fine as he took Teddy over to where Draco had set the games out. His mother left with a kiss on his head and a warning to be nice when Potter came around. Draco promised as best he could, but the last time Potter had stayed over was still strong in his memory. He wouldn't let them push him out of his room tonight. He'd just… he'd just set Teddy up with them instead.

Easy.

Draco was used to the silence anyway. Well, when he didn't have an owl trying to break into his room that was.

He was fixing them both something to eat when the door went. A novel concept since the door didn't go. Not after dark. It took a few moments for Draco to remember Teddy wasn't the only person coming around that night. Even longer for Draco to convince himself to move. Still he made Teddy hide behind a chair as he slowly opened the door.

His heart was still pounding even after his brain registered Potter. Imperious came to mind. Or polyjuice. Anything could have someone else behind Potter being here.

"Malfoy?" Potter asked.

He closed his eyes, forcing those thoughts back, "Right. Come in I guess."

Teddy had heard the voice, and caught Potter before he was fully through the door. Potter lifted Teddy up with more ease than he had that first time, he must have been around Andromeda's a lot.

"Same set up as last time then?" came behind him, Weasley closing the door to the manor without a care as to how old those hinges were.

"Please." He didn't want to make nice if he didn't have to. "If you know where the parlour is that's where I've set him up. If not, I suppose you can stay here while I finish making my supper."

"What are we having?" Potter asked, trying to grab his glasses back from Teddy.

"I am having toast," since that was definitely something he couldn't burn. "Teddy's already had his supper."

He could feel the eyes rolling at the back of his head as he went off towards the kitchens. He'd actually need to make up a bed this time. He hated making beds.

Potter and company were gone by the time he came back up, but they weren't in the parlour when Draco checked. He told his heart to calm itself down as he went off looking for them, figuring Teddy had probably taken them on a tour of the manor. He loved giving tours. That was all. Nothing else. Draco would have known if someone had broken in. There were wards mother had keyed in. The floors didn't muffle noise either. He'd know if something was wrong.

It still didn't stop him from getting a little frantic the more minutes that went by and he couldn't find them.

He went back downstairs, slowing his breaths down so he could actually listen as he gave up and called, "Potter?" the walls echoing his voice enough it was heard in all corners.

"In here," was the call back, then, "Sorry," as Draco followed the echo to where it was loudest.

"Don't apologise to him," he heard Weasley say as he drew nearer. "Merlin's sake Harry we're not doing anything wrong."

They were in his room, of all places, and really Draco should have thought to come here first since, as Potter told him, "Sorry," again, much to Weasley's chagrin, "Teddy wanted to show us-" Potter motioned to where Teddy was investigating Draco's wardrobe. "Something I guess."

Draco sighed, pushing past the crowd to grab the little monster rooting through his clothes, "I told you Teddy, I'll buy you dragon socks of your own when you can fit into them. Now out Mister."

"Socks" Teddy insisted, coming out with at least one pair of them.

Draco let him keep them, he'd lose interest in a while anyway. Not before he'd tried stuffing them on his own feet and tripping up to where his bed usually sat. He noticed it wasn't there after another fall, waving his hands around like it would magically appear before blinking over at Draco.

"You're staying with Harry tonight," Draco told him, since he doubted Teddy knew Potter by his last name. It was a little weird saying it. Off.. "In the other room. The room you're actually supposed to use."

Maybe if he'd actually been strong he wouldn't have caved that first night and found himself here all these months later with Teddy insisting, "No. This is my room."

"This is my room," Draco corrected. "And you, mister, are an interloper who I let stay here when we don't have other people who want to sleep over." he grabbed Teddy from under his arms, "Now come on, I'll let you keep the socks on while we finish mouse trap." A game Draco was determined to win even if that blasted trap hated him.

"My room," Teddy insisted the whole walk down. "Is my room." He was going to have hell on when it actually came to bed.

After losing mouse trap, again, Potter took over as he rightfully should for interrupting their evening again. Him and Weasley played some sort of adventure game for a few hours until it got dark, and after proving they weren't as incompetent as last time it turned out Draco didn't need to argue, again, that Teddy had to stay in a different room. Granger had that all sorted for him, near boring poor Teddy to death until he was so tired he didn't care where he was so long as he could sleep.

Draco finished making the bed, shoving one last blanket on as he made it clear that, "You'll be in here tonight. The bathroom's through there, I'll see you in the morning."

The voices started up as soon as he closed their door, and Draco didn't need to be a genius to know they were talking about him.

He ignored them, flopping on his own bed and ignoring the fact that, again, there were strangers in his house. He didn't sleep a lot.

When they finally left he didn't sleep either, as was his life. Which meant he was still stuck depending on his lunchtime nap to stop him from going insane. A nap which, somehow, was thwarted that Monday morning by Potter opening his damn mouth. "I didn't know that was your room." There was a rustle then, "Why didn't you say anything that first night?"

"Wasn't worth the headache. Are we done? I'm tired Potter." and his mother appeared to be spending less and less time in the manor these days. Always flitting off with Andromeda, meaning Draco was often alone in the evenings.

There was a beat of silence, then, "I just, it doesn't look like your room."

"You've never been in my room before, how on earth would you know what it was supposed to look like?" It wasn't like Potter had broken into his dorm at Hogwarts. At least he hoped not. He wouldn't put it past Potter to have spied on him in his own dorm that sixth year.

"I guess that's true," Potter agreed. "I dunno," he sighed, "I just, the one we stayed in on Saturday was bigger. Had a bathroom too. Yours didn't."

"Believe me, I'm acutely aware of that." He still, even after two years, couldn't go across the hall to pee in the middle of the night. Either he went before bed or waited until morning. If his younger self could see him now he'd call Draco pathetic. Sometimes Draco called himself it when he'd had a bit too much water before bed.

"It's a nice room," Potter offered after a while. "Very tidy."

"Not all of us are slobs." without a house elf picking up after him as well Draco had taken great pains to keep his room, and the rest of the manor, clean.

"Are you saying I am?" Potter challenged.

Draco glanced Potter's way, "I'm just judging it off your general appearance. You're an adult Potter, surely you know there are things to help you look nice."

A bit of colour came into Potter's cheeks. "Forgot how much of a git you can be."

"I'm merely stating the obvious." He wasn't all bad. He didn't smell at least. Well, not at lunch anyway. After a full day on the pitch however even Draco gave off a wift of something. "And I don't know what you expected sitting here. We've never been friends Potter. Just because we're playing for the same team does not mean that's going to change."

"I know that," Potter huffed, an edge of frustration seeping into his tone. "I just thought-" He stopped, closing his eyes for a moment before he tried again, "I thought for Teddy's sake we could at least try to get along."

Which was a fair point. Draco had hated when his parents fought when he was younger. Potter and he were in it for the long haul too. That was if the Ministry didn't decide they'd made a mistake and come arrest him. He wouldn't put it past them. "I'm civil to you when he's around aren't I?"

Potter snorted, "I'd hardly call that civil. And you practically bite Ron's head off."

"Well maybe if you didn't invite yourself along to things I wouldn't." Oof, looks like he was a little more sore about that then he thought.

Potter looked a little taken aback too. "Andromeda invites us."

Draco had to stop himself from laughing at that. "I'm sure. So it was Andromeda's idea to invite you along when I had Teddy that first time? You weren't checking to make sure I wasn't hurting him? Protecting him from the Death Eater he got saddled with as a cousin?"

Potter's mouth flapped for a moment, no reply coming out.

"Knew it," he flopped back down. "You can dress up your idea of friendship as much as you like Potter, but both you and I know that you're only saying it because you want to keep an eye on me. You never cared in school, and you don't now, so please, just leave me alone."

Potter didn't. Either because he was as stubborn as Draco, or there was no one else around for him to gravitate towards but he stayed there the whole of lunch, stewing quietly in the same spot he always sat.

The next day found Potter back again, and no less loud than he had been yesterday. "You're right," he said, which, okay, Draco was interested in hearing. Especially if it was Potter saying it. "I didn't care in school about you."

"No, you didn't."

"But in my defence you were the worst," Potter said, and while his tone was light, his words were not.

"You weren't exactly the best either."

"You're the one who started all those fights though," Potter pointed out.

"And you're the one who could have easily walked away. Besides, you didn't grow up like I did."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

Loathe as Draco wanted to admit it, he'd had time to think these past few years and, well, "Did you ever think that maybe I was just saying what everyone else was. I know it doesn't excuse me, okay, I do, but you weren't brought up like me-"

"No," Potter agreed, "I was brought up by muggles who thought locking me in a cupboard was a good way to pretend I didn't exist. Yet you don't see me going around calling people mudbloods."

He felt himself pausing, and while he would have liked to continue down that road Potter had opened up he had a point to make, one which was easily introduced with, "Well did you like them?"

"Like who?"

"Those muggles? Did you like them? I know they were your family and love is love and all that, but did you like them Potter?"

Potter floundered for a moment before admitting, "Well no but-"

"I loved my father. I loved my family. On the days he was nice, he was the best man I'd ever met. I would have done anything for him. I did do anything for him. It's not like I would have learned any different at school either. My friends were all the same, we'd all been brought up with the same values. And no one from the other houses would talk to us. As soon as you branded us evil no one wanted anything to do with us."

"I didn't brand you as-"

"Please," Draco scoffed, "Don't think no one hears you when you speak Potter. 'Oh a Slytherin, he's definitely going to be a dark wizard when he grows up'. 'I'd rather have my arm cut off than talk to one of those snakes'." Then there were the other things. "Everything I ever did as well, you just, you obviously thought there was something else behind it. I made the Quidditch team on my own merit you know. I can fly Potter. Have done since I was a child. I made that team and my mother, not my father, she was the one who told him to buy those brooms because she loves Quidditch, and she wanted us to have a good season. But no. Obviously I had to have bought my way in because no second year could possibly be so talented that they're able to make the Quidditch team." he raked his hands through his hair, "My exams I did well in. But did anyone care? No, because Granger got the best scores, and of course anything she did was newsworthy. Father didn't care after that, why would he when a muggleborn witch got top of the class."

His hands shook when he grabbed the bench underneath him. But he felt good, finally letting it all out.

"I'm not saying I didn't have a good childhood," Draco continued, "I did. I know okay." He had money and everything that came with it. "I'm just saying that maybe not everything is as one sided as you think it is."

Potter mirrored him, slumping over until his elbows were on his knees. "It feels like it is."

"Course it does, you can't exactly read my mind can you?" At least, he didn't think Potter could.

"I'm sorry," Potter said after a while. "About the Quidditch thing. I know you can fly. Knew it the second we played in second year actually." Sure, Draco might have been a little distracted, but he'd almost beat Potter to the snitch. "But you were a dick."

"I'm not saying I wasn't." He could admit he was. "You were too though. And," he couldn't believe he was saying this but he'd honestly been spending too much time around Andromeda, "Maybe that's not entirely our fault. Some people just don't get along and there's nothing you can do about it." Clashing personalities and all that. Andromeda said there might never be hope for them. Yet still she trusted Draco.

"Maybe," Potter agreed.

They watched everyone filter back onto the pitch in silence.

The next day Potter tried again, determined, for some reason, to stop Draco from getting any sleep at all. "Why do you stay up here every lunch?"

"Because it's easier to ignore people up here."

Then the next day, "I'm sorry for stealing your time away from Teddy. I know you like him."

On Friday, "Do you actually eat lunch at lunch or do you just sleep? I just realised I've never seen you eat."

Usually because he had his lunch throughout the morning. "I don't think that's important." He never had time to make enough for breakfast and with all the flying he found himself picking at his food until it was all gone by the time lunch came around. "Besides, I think why you continue to come here is cause for more concern than my eating habits."

Potter picked a little at his sandwich. "You're going to think it's stupid."

"I think all of you is stupid Potter. I mean honestly, you're on a professional Quidditch player's salary, get yourself some clothes that fit." Why Potter continued to turn up to matches wearing clothes three times bigger than he needed was beyond him.

"I haven't had time," which was a lie since he'd had all summer to shop for himself. Yes, maybe Draco had to start shopping in the muggle parts of Britain, but Potter surely didn't need to. He could just pick himself up a new shirt and be done with it. Anything was better than those rags he wore to work. "And, well, don't laugh okay but you're the only person I know here."

Draco waited for more to come yet it didn't. "I'm the only person you know here?" he repeated. "What about Wood?"

"Well," Potter shuffled about a bit, "He's older than me. We didn't really have that much in common besides Quidditch."

Okay. "And the others? You know they're dying to be your friend right?"

Potter's face twisted, "Maybe, but, I don't know, it was just easier sitting with someone I know."

Unbelievable. "I'm going to say this one more time, and that's it. You're an adult Potter. You can make friends other than those two you have waiting for you at home," of whom, Draco was still pretty sure they were some sort of triad or whatever. He wouldn't put it past the Weasley girl to be a cover of some sort. "Just go up, ask them a question and they'll be falling at your feet. It's definitely better than sitting here every day."

"You sit here everyday," Potter mumbled.

"That's because I'm tired, and this bench means I don't get sunburn," Even if it was starting to cloud up now it was nearing winter. "I come here to nap, Potter, and you talking to me means I don't get to do that."

"Well maybe I want to nap too."

"Then go nap somewhere else, urgh," he raked his hands through his hair, of course, of course Potter was here because of something so stupid as being shy. Nevermind he had the whole of Gryffindor falling to his feet at school. No, now they were out, and school houses meant nothing, now Potter was too shy to make friends. He was pretty sure his life was one big joke.

Proven more so when he saw a smile curling at Potter's lips.

He turned his back on the man, bunking down for his usual ten minutes.

They only had three days of training that next week before another game, which meant both of them were too stressed to start nagging on the other. Draco may also have been asked to be on babysitting duty that weekend again and the stress of telling his aunt that maybe just the evening and not a full day wasn't the best option right now was killing him.

Enough so he was a bit curt with everyone the morning of the match. He may also have stared down the opposing team a little too much since he got searched for cursed objects right before the match started.

"Idiots," Draco huffed, hands tightening on his broom.

"I know," Potter muttered, "It's like everyone forgets wandless magic exists."

Draco shot him a look. One Potter returned with a cheeky smile.

Git.

He knew, before he even flew out there, that their victory wasn't going to be as easy as the last. Yes, they won, and yes, the winning part of it wasn't too hard to obtain. It was the after. The fighting the coaches got into as Draco's mood for the day just had to be because he was up to no good. The Ref didn't even look to want to side with Peters, despite the fact that there was no use of magic, at all, that had been performed on the pitch.

Draco felt like an idiot listening to them. He was supposed to be professional. Which meant not turning up to a match in a foul mood. It hadn't affected his performance today, no, but in the future it might. He-

"You do know this is ridiculous right," Potter piped up.

Loud enough for the coaches and ref to hear, their heads turning as one to Potter. "Excuse me?" the Harpies coach asked, far more polite than she had been a second ago.

"All this fighting. Malfoy's harmless. That's why he's not in Azkaban with his dad. Fair enough if he's done something, but we won that game as fair as we did the last and you know it."

Potter was quite possibly the only person who could stand there and say that. If Wood, or hell even someone from the other team had stood up for him, they'd probably claim he'd cursed them. While he could see some people gearing up to do the same to Potter, he also saw them hold their tongues. No one, apparently, wanted to accuse the two time around saviour of the wizarding world of being under a Death Eater's control. Not after the many he defeated in the war.

So they were given their victory, and when Peters sent them off to the showers Draco knew before it happened that he was going to be called over. However, unlike the yelling he expected, Peters told him to, "Forget them Malfoy. They're always going to try and take our wins away. You flew good out there, you got that? Don't let what other people say tell you otherwise."

He nodded, Peters hurrying him off to get changed.

He took his time, forcing himself to calm down. They'd won. Despite everything they'd won, and they'd kept that win so things worked themselves out somehow. Meaning, he took a deep breath, "I don't think I can take Teddy for the whole day. Sorry Andromeda."

"Oh?" she didn't look mad. That was a good sign. Right? "Your mum said you weren't busy."

"I- er, well no but-" He didn't have enough material to keep Teddy occupied for a full day. He didn't have the energy. He didn't think he could handle it on his own. Evenings were fine. When he had Teddy during the day it was because Andromeda and mum were there too. They always took Teddy when Draco got a bit overwhelmed. Alone? What did he do if something happened? It wasn't just a few hours they would be gone, it would be almost a full day. Morning, afternoon, night, then the next morning until Andromeda picked Teddy up again.

"Everything alright?" Came behind him, Draco not surprised to see Potter steadily creeping closer.

"Fine," Draco waved off.

"Draco's not going to be able to look after Teddy on Saturday Harry," Andromeda explained.

"Well, not all day. I can look after him during the evening. Or maybe just the day…" One or the other. Not both.

Andromeda seemed to realise what he was trying to say as she nodded. "The evening would be fine Draco."

"Or," Potter chimed in, Draco's stomach dropping as he predicted those next words yet not able to stop them from being said, "I could come around and help. I'm sure the two of us could take care of Teddy for you."

"Harry," Andromeda sighed, head tilting slightly, "The whole reason I need someone to watch Teddy in the first place is because we're supposed to be going to the Burrow."

Potter's mouth twisted, "Well, I mean, you can still go?"

Andromeda gave him a look that told both of them what she thought of that. It made Draco wonder what exactly was going on at the Burrow. He didn't ask however. He didn't care that much.

"Or you could just go out?" Potter amended. "Be an adult."

She gave him another look. "I'll think about it."

Draco thought that was as good as it was going to get. Which reminded him, "Where is Teddy?" He hadn't been tackled once in the five minutes he'd stood here.

"Molly has him," Andromeda huffed. "Like I can't look after my own grandson."

"It's not like that," Potter sighed.

Draco rolled his eyes, taking his mother's arm, "Whatever it is like I suggest we go rescue him before I starve to death."

"I wouldn't say he needed rescuing," Potter mumbled, but didn't fight as he waved Teddy off to join his own celebratory party.

Whatever Potter called it, Draco had Teddy's undivided attention the rest of the evening. His aunts also as she kept a close eye on him. He tried not to take it personally but, well, no one looked at a person 'like that' without there being some motive behind it.

"Something on your mind?" Draco asked as he helped Andromeda find her coat, the manor still echoing Teddy's latest story to his mother.

She hummed, letting Draco help her get it on, then took his face, his whole body freezing. "You look tired Draco, have you been sleeping?"

"No less than I usually do," which she couldn't comment on since she didn't actually know how long he slept for. He was actually quite proud of that response the more he thought about it. Especially since Andromeda realised the trap Draco had led her into as well, her eyes narrowing as she went off. Probably to ask his mother just how many hours of sleep he got. Not that she knew either. His door was closed at proper times, and since his mother never checked in on him, what did she know about his sleeping habits?

Andromeda kept a close eye on him the rest of the night however. Then later, before she left, told him she'd call Potter, tell him to come around. "I'm suddenly feeling festive."

A punishment, maybe, for sort of lying to her. Whatever the case, Potter was coming over, and Draco couldn't say a word to stop him.