I'm soooo sorry it took so long to update. I don't really have an excuse. Hopefully, I won't take long for the next one... :)

CHAPTER 13

The headline flashed,

MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN AGAIN?

Harry spit out his coffee.

By the time he had completed the paperwork last night, it had been 11:30 pm and obviously it wasn't such a pleasant time to fix a meeting with anyone, let alone Draco. So he had gone home and crashed on his own sofa, having no energy to walk to the bedroom. And that's just it. When he woke up the following morning he had just the right amount of time to get dressed and leave for work, but that is where magic comes in handy, right?

Being too lazy to shower he had cast a few cleaning charms on himself. Kreacher being the 'lovely' elf he was, had already made him breakfast and a nice cup of coffee and Harry had been sipping the coffee, relishing the taste.

He had just sat at the table with cup in one hand and The Daily Prophet in another and BAM!

The coffee he'd been sipping was spat back in its cup.

Harry quickly unfolded the paper and started reading.

As reported by the Ministry of Magic in the early hours of this morning, there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban which can be approximately timed between 3 to 4 am. This has come as a major shock to the public as the last time this had happened nine years ago , it had been You know Who's doing. The criminals who escaped are indeed former death eaters. The wizarding community is going crazy outside the Ministry while aurors have been trying to contain the commotion.

The Ministry is trying to keep their heads cool and have given assurance that the aurors are working on it and will soon round up these escaped convicts, but according to some Ministry sources, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement isn't as confident as they are showing out to be. (These trusted sources have requested to keep their identities hidden.)

Meanwhile, rumour has it Draco Malfoy being the only known death eater who managed to circumvent any serious punishment after the war, has a crucial role to play in this prison abscond.

"It's just not possible that a mass breakout could occur without the help of someone working from outside." said a Ministry insider. "There's a strong suspicion of Draco Malfoy being behind this escape of such a huge magnitude, seeing his father is one of the escaped criminals. But we ask the public not to panic as he is currently being held in custody at the Ministry."

While nothing has been proved yet, the Ministry has given affirmation that they are doing everything they could. As the Ministry is working to recapture these criminals, we ask the people of the wizarding population to remain cautious and alert.

The article was accompanied by a moving picture of people crowding outside the Ministry. Below that were the photographs of the former death eaters who had escaped.

Augustus Rookwood

Alecto Carrow

Amycus Carrow

Antonin Dolohov

Thorfinn Rowle

Lucius Malfoy.

Harry's eyes moved like a pendulum between 'Lucius Malfoy' and 'Draco Malfoy', pausing on each name for two seconds before repeating the action four more times. He pushed his chair and stood up. Placing the newspaper on the table, he wrapped his auror robes around himself and walked to the floo.

"Is Master Harry Potter sir not wanting his breakfast?"

It was Kreacher. Harry didn't pay him any mind, as his mind was already occupied with other serious issues...like the fact that Draco Malfoy was behind this prison break. He was trying to suppress the anger which was threatening to shoot up to the surface. He hurled the floo powder angrily into the fireplace, spilling some outside on the carpet and vanished in green flames.

When Harry appeared in the atrium, it was utter chaos. There were aurors everywhere trying to stop the reporters who had somehow made it inside the Ministry from moving further. The reporters were pushing and jostling each other, not bothered about who got hurt in the process.

"Have you located the death eaters?"

"Did you find out how they broke out?"

"What is the Ministry's next course of action?"

They were screaming at the top of their voices, each wanting to be heard over the other.

Many of the questions were directed at Harry as well, but he pushed through the crowd and made it to the lifts. The poor button became the target of his fury as it had to bear the vicious stabs while Harry jammed the 'up' button five times.

The lift doors opened and Ron walked out. His expression that of vexation.

"Harry! Where the hell were you? You wouldn't pick up the calls nor answer my patronus and your damn floo was locked! I was just about to apparate to your house! Do you know how much went on over here?! We were summoned at 4:30 this morning and you're coming now..at eight! These auror trainees are so inept, they couldn't even keep these reporters outside the Ministry! We weren't this bad, were we? And-" Ron didn't seem like he was going to stop anytime now, so Harry broke in.

"Where's Robards?"

"In the conference room. A meeting's going on and I was sent to look for you. He's angry." Ron informed Harry.

Harry took the lift without waiting for Ron. He reached level two and strode briskly towards the conference room (more like stomped to the conference room really).

The doors to the room banged open and Harry walked in, catching the attention of every person inside. Robards was in the middle of saying something and he literally jumped five centimetres in the air at the sound echoing off of the room.

"Potter!" he barked. "There is no need to break open doors!" He quickly straightened out his robe and said, "I am not going into the matter of where you were when you were most needed, now that you're here... thankfully..." he added with a glare directed at Harry and continued, "... I want you to checkout these locations..." he held out a file, "... that were used as hideouts in the past. The death eaters are more likely to-"

"Where's Malfoy?"

"What?" Robards frowned.

"Where. is. Draco. Malfoy?" Harry gritted out between clenched teeth.

"You don't have to worry about him, Auror Potter. He has been taken care of and I'd really appreciate it if you don't interrupt me while I'm talking." Robards said angrily. "So as I was saying-"

"And I would really appreciate it if you could give me proper answers to the questions I ask." Harry interrupted again.

The aurors in the room were overtly excited to be the few ones who got to witness this interesting conversation between the Head Auror and the Head- Auror- to- be.

"What is wrong with you, Potter?! Do you remember who you're talking to?!" Robards growled.

"Yes, of course. I'm talking to someone who's supposed to be retired by now but is still employed only because I refused to take up his post."

There was dead silence following these words. Robards' eyes widened so much that they might as well have popped out of their sockets. Harry could see his face turning red and then purple, but he couldn't care less.

"I think I will have to take this up with the Minister." Robards said, his voice shaking with subdued fury.

"I was about to go there myself. You're welcome to join me." said Harry, before treading out heavily.

He left the conference hall and took the lift to level one, walking briskly to the office of The Minister of Magic.

"Potter! You can't just barge into the Minister's office like this!" came Robards' breathless voice from behind Harry. He was panting with the attempt to catch up with him.

On reaching the antique, intricately carved, majestic brown oak door, Harry knocked thrice, waited a second and opened it. Kingsley Shacklebolt's office was nothing like the door. He had a high grade table made of sheesham wood with a glass tabletop facing the door, a comfy high back chair on which he was seated, signing a couple of papers. There was a huge window adorning the wall behind him, the black curtains complimenting the pale white of the wall. To the right was a ceiling-high frosted glass cabinet and a shelf holding several files. Overall it was a quite modernised office.

"Auror Potter. Auror Robards." he greeted them with a nod. Robards had finally caught up with Harry and he was breathing heavily, hands on knees.

Harry stepped into the office followed by Robards who shut the door behind him.

"How may I help you today?" Kingsley asked with a small smile.

"Good morning, Minister Shacklebolt. I have something important to discuss with you. Auror Potter here believes that I am still the Head Auror as a result of his magnanimity bestowed on me. It is-"

"Can we please discuss this later? I have a more pressing matter to deal with, Minister." Harry piped in with as much decorum as he could muster.

"This seems equally important, Auror Potter." Kingsley said solemnly.

"No it's not!" Harry banged his hand on the table, decorum flying out the window.

"Auror Robards, if you could be so kind as to wait outside for a few minutes." Kingsley requested, motioning to the door. Robards gave Harry a long look before nodding at Kingsley and leaving the office.

"Take a seat, Auror Potter." the Minister gestured to the chair in front of him.

"No thank you, sir."

Kingsley rubbed his temples and looked at Harry who had a scowl etched on his face.

"What happened, Harry?" Kingsley asked with a sigh, dropping all formality.

"Why is Draco Malfoy under custody?" Harry got right to the point.

"Isn't it obvious? He is suspected of having a hand in the prison break."

"Don't talk like an idiot, Kingsley! You know he has nothing to do with it!" Harry exclaimed exasperatedly.

"I never said I suspected him, Harry. You and I, both know he won't do anything like this, but in the eyes of the public, he's still the same boy who helped in Dumbledore's murder."

"He was pardoned, Kingsley! He served his sentence and was pardoned for his mistakes!"

"We know that, Harry, but the people never forgave him for what he did. Nobody bothers if he was still a kid, if he wasn't even an adult... all they see is the mark on his arm. All they know is that he was in league with Voldemort and that is all that matters to them."

"Fine! I don't care what the others think. I just want him out, that's all."

"There will be an investigation, Harry and only then could anything be done. His father being one of the escaped criminals makes it more complicated. You know I cannot intervene. If I order them to let him out, the media will get wind of it."

"You're the Minister of Magic for god's sake! There must be something you could do! Investigate all you want, but he's not gonna stay locked up!"

Kingsley took up what Harry likes to call 'his thinking pose', elbow on the table, thumb supporting chin and fingers shading the side of his face. After a minute he looked up at Harry with a serious look and said,

"I have an idea. If you agree to be his parole officer until he's found not guilty of helping the convicts escape, he can be let out."

"Yes, okay." Harry readily agreed to it.

"You realise what you're agreeing to? He's not being let out on probation. So he will have to stay with you for his parole..." Kingsley cocked up his eyebrows in question.

It took a second to dawn on Harry the implications of what he was agreeing to and when it did,

"What?!" he yelled. "That's the best you could come up with?!"

"Do you have something better in mind? If people question me, I could say that he's only been let out on parole and that Auror Potter is keeping an eye on him."

"But that's...I mean...I can't...He will never agree to it." Harry stammered.

"That's his problem. Why have you got your knickers in a twist?" Kingsley smirked.

"It's not funny, Kingsley! You know we could hardly tolerate each other in a huge castle, now sharing the same house is not gonna be easy! We'll end up killing each other!"

"There's nothing else I could do, Harry. I know this isn't how things work, parole officers are not required to host prisoners in their own house but the wizengamot will never agree to let him out without a catch." Kingsley gave him a sad smile.

After five whole minutes,

"Alright, fine. I'll do it." said Harry.

Kingsley scribbled something on a piece of paper, signing his name and sent it flying.

"He's in the holding cell."

"Thanks, Kingsley." Harry smiled, reaching for the door.

"Auror Potter?" Kingsley called before he can step out, the formality back in his tone.

"Yes, Kin- sir?"

"Just remember that no matter what, Robards is still your senior and I won't tolerate any disrespect towards any of my staff. He has every right to sack you if he wants and if he decides to do so, I will not come to your aid."

"Yes, sir." Harry nodded guiltily.

Hermione was still frantically pacing the Ministry hallway outside the holding cells. She wasn't allowed to go inside as she didn't have permission. Ron was busy with the mayhem of the breakout and she wasn't able to contact Harry. She had no idea what to do now. She was just contemplating going to Kingsley when she noticed Harry walking towards her.

"Oh Harry!" she was so happy to see him. "Draco's been arrested!"

"I know, Mione. I spoke to Kingsley. He will be let out now."

"Oh! You spoke to Kingsley! I was just about to go to him! Thank Merlin he's being released. I was so worried! He isn't even fully healed yet. These aurors didn't even wait for him to be properly discharged from the hospital before pulling him out of bed and bringing him here!" Hermione ranted, distaste at the aurors' conduct coating her words.

"He's not exactly being released- wait a minute, hospital? Why was he in hospital?" Harry asked, confused.

Oops! Hermione had been so relieved that she had spoken without thinking.

"Oh..um...he...actually...got injured...at work..." Hermione said, trying her damnedest to meet Harry's eyes and keep her expression neutral.

"What work does he do that he had to be hospitalized?"

"You forget that. You said he wasn't exactly being released, what do you mean?" Hermione asked, quickly changing the topic.

"Yeah... He's being let out on account of me being his parole officer...which means he will have to stay with me..." Harry sighed.

"Don't be so upset about it, Harry. You know he's changed." Hermione patted his arm in consolation.

"Yeah I know that, but I'm not very sure he's gonna be happy about this arrangement."

"You cheer up first, then we'll see how happy or not he is. Now go, get him out." she pushed him lightly towards the door.

Draco was dozing on the stone bench in his holding cell when he heard the creaking sound of his gate opening. He opened his eyes thinking it was one of the aurors who had come to take him to the investigation rooms as they said they would, when he was assaulted by the image of Potter standing there. It was the first time he saw him after that almost-kiss that had happened yesterday and he quickly looked down to hide his embarrassment.

Don't be stupid, Draco! Stop acting like a pubescent school girl. Your brain had been befuddled with sleep. Draco told himself.

Assume what you may. You know you're lying, said another voice in Draco's brain.

Shut up!

"Draco?" Potter called.

Draco looked up with a sneer, trying his best to act normal. He didn't directly look at Harry, he was staring at a point somewhere above his shoulder.

"Hello, Potter. So you are the one assigned to investigate me? I did hope for better actually."

Malfoys' first rule: If you are thrust in an uncomfortable situation, make a biting remark to mask the awkwardness you're feeling.

"Actually, no. I've come to let you out."

"Let me out?"

"I spoke to Kingsley...um, Minister Shaklebolt." Harry looked equally uncomfortable, albeit for a different reason.

"And he agreed to release me?" Draco asked happily.

"Well...not exactly..." Harry scratched his head.

Draco waited for a whole minute for Potter to continue but Potter only continued to scratch his head, messing the already very messy hair- if that was even possible.

"Potter, are you always like this or is this buffoonish behaviour only reserved for me?"

"The thing is... youwillhavetostaywithmeinmyhouse" Harry blurted out, rushing the words without a break.

"Wow! I didn't know you were so fluent in gibberish." Draco screwed up his eyebrows in an attempt to understand what Harry was saying.

"Oh God!" Harry groaned. "I'm supposed to be your parole officer until you're proven to have not been involved in helping those death eaters escape and until then... you are supposed to stay at my house." Harry sighed, looking at the floor.

There was silence for a minute and then,

"Okay, let's go." Draco said.

"What?" Harry looked up so fast, he cricked his neck.

"I said let's go." Draco screamed in Harry's ear.

"You don't have a problem with that?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Yes, it does! I was expecting you to throw a tantrum here and you so coolly say 'let's go'. You can't expect me not to be shocked."

"For your information, I am not very happy with this arrangement." Draco folded his arms stubbornly. "But I don't wanna waste my time in talking about things which cannot be changed. Because no matter how much I am gonna despise staying with you , it's still my only choice. After my time in Azkaban, I decided never to step foot in a prison again and in order to do that, if I have to live with you, fine, I don't mind. For the past few years, nothing goes the way I want it to and I've learnt to live with it. So yeah, if you are the only option I've got, then so be it."

"Can you please stop curling the 'you'? It's not any better than you spitting out 'Potter'."

Draco just raised his eyebrow and walked out.

Harry signed a few papers and entered the hallway to find Hermione hugging Draco, which in itself was very surprising. Harry didn't know they had gotten so close.

"Are you alright?" asked Hermione.

"I'm fine, Hermione."

"Do you need to go back to the hospital?"

"Nah, I'm pretty much healed now. Magic is always fast." Draco waved off her concern.

Harry frowned. Now that he thought about it, Hermione had deflected his question of what work does Draco do that he was so badly injured and needed to be hospitalized.

"You'll manage staying with Harry?"

"As long as he doesn't step out of line. Because if he does, then you can't exactly blame me for murdering him in his sleep."

Hermione smacked him on the head.

"Ouch! You are an evil witch, Granger." Draco said playfully, rubbing his head.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

Harry looked on, surprised. Harry had expected Draco to react violently at Hermione hitting him. This was way too friendly for Harry to process.

"You better behave, Draco. Harry's not that bad, you know." Hermione said.

"We'll see about that." Draco grinned.

"I didn't know you two had become this close friends." Harry moved out of the shadows and walked towards them.

Draco immediately stopped grinning, his expression turning sour.

"You've got a problem with that, Potter?" he asked without turning to look at him.

"No! When did I say that?"

"Draco, go home and rest. I'll get your things from your place for you." Hermione intervened, trying to ease the tension.

"Potter's home. Not exactly mine, is it?" he muttered, still not looking at Harry and walking away towards the apparition point.

"What is his problem?" Harry asked as soon as he was out of earshot. "Is the prospect of staying with me that bad that he's so irritated?"

"No, I don't think the real problem is staying with you. I think there's something else that's got him upset." Hermione said, thinking.

"Maybe his son?"

Hermione shook her head. " Can't be. He doesn't seem worried. He's only annoyed at you."

Harry snorted. "Like that's anything new. Anyway, I'll see you later then."

"Okay." waved Hermione.

Harry found Draco waiting for him at the apparition point rather impatiently.

"Will you hurry up?" he snapped, still not looking his way.

Harry held out his hand for side-along and Draco eyed it for a second with disdain before taking hold of it. Harry apparated them directly to the living room.

"So this is your humble abode. Not very good, I must say." Draco said, walking around like he owned the place.

"Thanks." said Harry, rolling his eyes. "Do you want me to show you around?"

"No, I'll manage. Where's my room? I hope there is one. I won't sleep on the couch."

"Yeah, yeah. The one on the left." Harry pointed to the door on the left leading to the guest bedroom.

Draco walked towards the door and turned around to look at him directly for the first time that day.

"Before I go, I have a set of rules."

"Go on." said Harry, rolling his eyes again.

"Don't disturb me when I'm inside."

"Okay."

"I won't pay for my food as it's you who is hosting me and I'm here without a choice."

"I wasn't going to ask you to pay."

"You are not allowed to enter my room without my permission , especially when I'm not here."

"You do realise it's my house..?"

"Yep! I know that and guess what?" Draco paused for dramatic effect and said, "I don't care." he shrugged, a smirk playing at his lips. Then he turned around and went into his room, shutting the door with a thud.

"Arrogant prat." Harry muttered to the walls.

As soon as he closed the door, Draco took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. This was going to be one hell of a stay at Potter's house. Whenever Potter was there, all he could think about was that kiss that didn't even happen! What was wrong with him?! Maybe he should have just kissed Potter that time and been done with it. He could have said he wasn't in his right mind or something. Maybe it's just a passing crush which will go away with time...yeah, that's just it.

But the thing is, Draco had had crushes in his life but none of them made him feel this way. It was like a numb ache in his gut whenever Potter was there. A feeling you get when you lose someone or when you know you can never have them. An empty feeling in your heart that you know can only be filled by that someone. Eeesshh! This was too dramatic for Draco. He shook his head to clear it.

Let's focus on more important things. Like the fact how he was supposed to return from work with Potter in the house. Because no matter how dumb a person is, they will obviously know when a person is reeking of sex. Afterall, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. It only complicates things with Potter there. Maybe he should have chosen to stay locked up.

No, No, Draco! You couldn't go back to Azkaban! Anywhere is better than there.

One more day there and Draco knew he'll go insane. Should he go over to Hermione's and shower before coming here? But Weasley is gonna be there! Okay, so all he could do was come back late. He will have to wait for Potter to leave for the Ministry before he could return.

He walked to the bed and lied down on it. He hoped Scorp was fine. He wanted to go see him now, but he had no energy absolutely. Although the wounds were healed, he was still too tired and sore all over. He felt like he needed a massage. His whole body ached with the beating it suffered last night. If only there were lesser people, he might have been able to fight them. As it was, he had been outnumbered.

He was hungry too, but by now he had had practice to handle that. He didn't want to get up and go to the kitchen. Potter is going to be there and he didn't want to face him again so fast.

God! Why Potter?! Couldn't it have been anyone else?! Potter of all people!

Seriously, Potter knowingly or unknowingly was a definite pain in the arse. Not enough he was always there during his childhood, besting him at everything, always around to mock him that he didn't want to stop irritating him even now. His mere presence was enough to set Draco on edge, whether because he hated him for years or because he suddenly started liking him, he didn't know. Ah! As soon as he thought of Potter, there was that deep longing again! By now, no matter how much he didn't want to, he had to accept that he genuinely liked Potter.

He looked around the room. It was nice and cosy. Decorated with peaceful colours, giving a homely effect. It wasn't very big, it had a modest wardrobe, a dresser, a side table and a queen sized bed beside the window embellished with silk curtains. To be honest, Draco loved Potter's house. It was so contemporary but not overdone. Draco had expected it to be covered with garish red wallpaper with gryffindor posters or something...but there was no trace of red at all. Maybe because Potter didn't really like red. Draco still remembered that day at the restaurant when they had had breakfast, Potter had said his favourite colour was green. Draco liked green too. He smiled to himself thinking about it.

The comment about how Potter's house wasn't very good was just Draco trying to be rude.

Malfoys' second rule: Being rude is another way to deal with your own insecurities.

So that's what Draco's been trying to do from morning. Seeing as Potter was the reason for Draco being insecure and uncomfortable, he was attempting to be as rude as he can to Potter. But something was really off. He was actually feeling bad for being rude to him for no reason whatsoever. He never had a problem being rude to him before... yes of course! It's his brain fighting his heart. Since he developed this stupid crush (or whatever this was), his heart wasn't very fond of him being a jerk to someone it likes. Draco rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on! It's not like you really like him!" the brain spoke to the heart "You actually hate him! Like, it's not the like like...it's just like.. Like the normal like."

The brain was confusing the heart even more.

Draco covered his face with a pillow and groaned in irritation. He was fucked up. Totally fucked up...

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