Again, this is now the new chapter 2! So if you have read this far, I will have chapter 3 up this week! If I do not, feel free to yell at me through messages and reviews until I post it! Lynn 3
I don't own Harry Potter still, even if I wish I did!
It wasn't until he'd heard the crunching of leaves and felt a hand on his shoulder that he realized he'd been joined by the other man.
"Mind if I join you?" Harry asked, startling Draco nearly out of his seat. After taking a few calming breaths he shook his head and moved over.
"Why did you split so fast?" Harry asked, already sort of sure of the answer but wanting to hear it from his companion.
"Something the waitress had said. Scratch that a bunch of things everyone has said. Its nothing you said wrong, mind you, just problems I have with myself." Draco muttered, unconsciously running his hand over the scars on his forearm. Harry watched the action and understood. Draco saw no value in his living. Harry watched the man next to him for a moment, appraising his hair, messy and unruly yet neater than his own, glancing at the contours of his face and torso. For a man who spent a lot of time locked up in a hospital he was in great shape. Harry had always somewhat found Draco attractive. When they were younger it was less so, because the child looked strange with his hair slicked back, but as he got older and figured things out for himself the unruly and unshaven look suited him. His eye had bags however, and the blue they had in them had dulled so much. He looked at least 10 years older than 23, and his whole demeanor spelled depressed.
"You know, I don't agree with you. You are young, single, with a highly important job within years of having graduated from school, in a place where you would never have expected. You have shut yourself away from people because of fear of things that happened in the past. Both Dean and Seamus accepted you, and Ginny accepted you readily." Harry spoke, starting to work himself into a tangent.
"You don't give yourself enough credit mate. Think about all the things you've accomplished over the years. In such little time you've helped countless people from things as small as broken bones to complete petrification reversal. Don't think I didn't hear about that, I was on that case." Harry put his finger over Draco's mouth, as if the blonde man was going to speak. Draco flushed again under the Auror's touch and went to pull his head back, however the still slightly drunk Harry placed both of his hands on Draco's face.
"You have a face any man would die for, and you're eyes are a piercing blue. You look like some Greek God playing mortal. It isn't fair for the rest of us." He spoke, his breath falling towards Draco smelling of alcohol and licorice. Draco felt torn. His attraction towards this man was hard to deny, and he didn't want to, however he couldn't tell what Harry was feeling, seeing as how the drunk man was all over the place.
"Hey, let me walk you home. You're drunk." Draco stood, pulling his face from Harry's hands and offering his own to help him stand. Harry accepted it and allowed himself to be pulled up from the bench.
"I live this way." He said, leading Draco towards where he lived. The walk was quiet, a pleasant change from the suddenly talkative duo. Draco followed obediently knowing that as soon as the dark haired man was sober the familiarity would go down from pleasantly friendly to civil at best. He wanted to make the most out of the niceties while he had the chance. From behind Draco could see the nape of Harry's neck, and he wanted to reach out and touch it, but nothing could bring him to do it, whether they were walking and holding hands or not. He realized that tomorrow would be another long day, and he realized that everything would go back to as it was. A sigh escaped his lips, but when Harry turned around he covered it with a smile that wasn't too forced, and wasn't too quick. Somewhere in his heart he felt it flutter, and a small panic set in over him. He hadn't developed affections for anyone in years, having been rejected by his once friend Blaise, albeit indirectly, and attempting to cover his preference by dating Astoria Greengrass. That however ended up with his girlfriend going out with his crush, and the rest is history. He glanced at the back of Harrys head again. His hair was as unruly as it had ever been, and longer than before, only slightly. His shoulders were broader than they were in school, and from having healed the man from head to toe he knew that the boy had filled out nicely. Draco pulled himself from his thoughts as he arrived back at a familiar home. He couldn't believe that Harry was living in Grimauld Place. The apartments slide apart to reveal the seemingly less decrepit house. Harry nodded to himself and led Draco up to the front door.
"I've worked on it in the last few years, what with no one living here except me." He spoke, unlocking the door and walking inside. Draco looked around, and from what he'd remembered from his childhood, before the Blacks and the Malfoy's entirely separated, and the drab decorations had been removed. He could appreciate the now beige colored walls, with paintings that moved covering the glaring spaces. It was brighter, and looked lived in and cared for. Harry sighed heavily and dropped onto the settee that sat in front of the fire. Draco raised an eyebrow at that and sat in the armchair across the way.
"Why don't you join me over here? I haven't offended you have I?" Harry asked sitting up and swinging his long legs down and to the floor. Draco smirked and moved over to sit on the same side as Harry. In turn the shaggy haired man flopped into Draco's lap. Draco tensed up at the sudden contact in a very intimate area of his anatomy. He was no stranger to the same sex. Nor the opposite for that matter however his preference was strongly towards the first. He had had multiple one-night stands over the years, finding the release better than anything lengthy. Sticking to muggle bars where no one would recognize him, and never going to the same place twice, he got what he needed without the drama. However, laying across his lap was one of the worlds most famous men. He was every magazines go to write, whatever story they could come up with. Draco knew that if anything happened tonight, not that he would allow it to, it would be plastered all over the magazines and newspapers first thing in the morning. Everyone's golden boy seen with a former Dark side supporter?! Draco shook his head violently, causing the sleepy and drunk other man to look up at him from behind his glasses.
"Now your hairs out of place!" Harry fussed, reaching up to run his fingers back over Draco's ruffled hair. He laughed and moved the other man's hands back to himself.
"Where is the loo?" He asked, inching himself out from under the dark haired mans head.
"Down that hall on the left, next to the kitchen." Harry drawled, obviously used to giving that very same instruction. Draco nodded and followed the instructions, however instead of using the W.C. he made his way to the kitchen. Once there he quietly ransacked the place looking for ingredients for a sleeping potion. Draco did not want to end up in a bad situation with Harry, having just made up with him after so many years. Once he'd procured all that he needed, Draco brewed his potion, making sure to blend in nicely into a cup of black tea, he brought that out to Harry, carrying his own cup.
"Hope you don't mind that I also used your kitchen for some tea." Draco placed the tea down onto the end table next to Harry, who snatched it up as soon as it wasn't being held and took a large gulp from it.
"I honestly never thought you'd be able to brew your own tea." Harry joked and polished off the tea in seconds. Draco nodded, keeping an eye on Harry and watching for the signs of drowsiness. Within moments of putting the teacup down Harrys head lolled forward and almost pitched him into the table if Draco hadn't grabbed the man into his arms. Draco found that Harry wasn't as heavy as he might have thought at the mans height, and marveled at how easy it was for him to pick him up.
"You dumb oaf. I did this for you, as you should know." Draco murmured, not unkindly as he carried Harry up the stairs bridal style and into his bedroom. He placed the man on his bed and immediately pulled his glasses off. He then went to the wardrobe and the dressers and searched for something resembling pajamas. Once he found sweatpants he took to dressing the sleeping man for bed. This he was used to. As much as his fellow healers and assistants informed him that it was not his job to dress and help to bathe patients however he knew that it would make healing easier. Having changed Harry into something better to sleep in than his hoodie and jeans, he pulled the duvet over him and left, having put a note on the table to explain to the man in the morning, as well as a potion that he could use to help a hangover if need be. With a sigh, Draco decided to use Harry's floo to get back to his apartment. Undoubtedly he was connected to the floo network, what with his job and everything people needed him to do. Draco stepped into the fire with his powder and flooed back to his own apartment.
Time passed before Draco saw Harry again, and even though he'd tried to leave on good terms, having taken care of the man as a patient, both inside and outside of work, he had seen the looks of disappointment and frustration on the mans face. In times when Draco was healing the Aurors who undoubtedly would show up in the intensive care wing, Harry would give a brief if forced report on the condition of his men and women and then wait in the hall until Draco was done healing to enter the room again. Eventually it began to wear down on Draco, who hadn't wanted to make a mistake that could reflect on his then friend, or at least acquaintance. Nights off were spent in bars around muggle London again, hoping to find some way to forget the looks that he would receive by people he worked with, as well as the ones he'd get from Harry. Many of the nights he was amazed at being able to get back to his apartment in one piece, and many times he'd wake up with pain in some odd place on his body from a fall, or sometimes fights he'd get in. If Harry noticed any changes in the blonde man over those few weeks he'd say nothing about it and carry on his business.
Time had found Draco within another bar, however this one was at Hogsmeade with Neville. On a quick observation that only a professor could have over his children he knew that Draco was not in the right mindset to work with people. The man was volatile to criticism and had obviously been worked harder than ever before.
"Draco, I have an idea. How about I talk to McGonagal and see if she would let you train as a Healer in the infirmary? Poppy has worn herself ragged and would appreciate the help, and I think some familiar terrain would be good for you." Neville threw the idea forward. Draco actually considered the proposal. He needed to get out of an environment where the boy wonder was constantly staring him down as if he'd done something wrong. He'd have explain his dual occupancy to his director, however the man had only good things to say about Draco, and it would be a good chance to get away.
"When could I start?" Draco asked, hoping to meet with the new headmistress of the school as soon as he could. It was a weekend for Hogwarts, and the school year was halfway over already.
"I can probably have you in a meeting within the hour. Unless you'd like to join me in the Castle?" Neville asked, turning his attention towards how grateful Draco had been. It wasn't that Neville knew what was going on for the poor man, however he figured it had something to do with the night he and Harry and snuck off together.
"Is everything alright with you and Harry?" Neville dared to ask. Draco stiffened around his cup of butterbeer.
"We are fine. Professional. He doesn't talk to me any more than he needs to, and I know I blew any chances of us to actually get along." Draco shrugged. He had expected that part of the conversation to occur a lot sooner than it had.
"What happened that night? Did you two do anything?" Neville pried again, knowing that he might be taking things a bit too far.
"Other than me slipping him a sleeping potion in a cup of tea because he was coming onto me, no nothing." Draco snorted, placing his cup down a bit roughly. Neville's eyes widened at that. Draco had done that to Harry?!
"What prompted that?! Why did you do something like that?" He asked. Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair, which had gotten shaggy in the time between trims.
"I didn't want him to make a mistake that would reflect on him in the future. I am a man who's made his mistakes early, and many people haven't forgiven me, or my family, for what has happened. Now matter how much good I do for this world, people will never accept me for who I am. I can't let my reputation stain all that Harry has worked to prove for people just by sleeping with him. Not only would rumors fly about a relationship with a man, but a relationship with a shamed man who was once seen as a supporter of Voldemort! How could I let something like that happen!" Draco hissed, keeping his voice low enough so that no other patrons of the bar would over hear his conversation. Neville realized in that moment that Draco had used such an action to attempt to protect Harry from the same scrutiny he'd been placed under straight out of school.
"I understand now. I apologize for prying into your life." The professor bowed slightly. Draco awkwardly pat his back to reassure him that he wasn't mad. If anything getting the reason for his actions out in the open made him feel better.
"I'd like to speak with Headmistress McGonagal if that's alright." Draco spoke quietly. Neville nodded and smiled gently at that. 20 minutes later both men stood outside the statue that guarded the office.
"She couldn't bear to change the password, if you couldn't guess it already." Neville laughed.
"Lemon Drops." Draco spoke with a small smile. Dumbledore had been a man he'd feared and respected, having been brought up to view the man as such. The staircase spiraled itself down and they soon stood outside the office. A quick knock and the door creaked open. Minerva McGonagal hadn't changed much in the years after school for Draco had ended. Her robes stayed very similar to how they had been from her time as Head of Gryffindor.
"Mr. Malfoy. It is an unexpected surprise to see you in this school again." She spoke, using his former last name.
"Please, call me Draco. I do not use that last name anymore. It brings too many memories and hard times to me now." Draco spoke, putting his hand out to shake the older woman's hand. She shook it firmly, slightly confused as to why he'd visited her nonetheless.
"I have found some help for Poppy. Draco is the Head Healer at St. Mungo's. He's experiencing a few issues however, and I offered to allow him to speak with you. He would help on his off days, maybe more if he preferred." Neville brought up gesturing to Draco.
"Do you have documentation of your employment? I trust Mr. Longbottom to be telling the truth, however I still insist on accurate documentation before we decide anything." She spoke with a small smile in response. She had nothing against the boy, he had been a problem child however in the end he proved his worth to the rest of Dumbledore's Army.
"I carry it with me in case of emergencies." Draco removed his dragon skin wallet from his pocket and removed his Healers card. It had a picture of him to prove its authenticity, as well as his status and other information.
"If you could start this weekend that would be best. We have a Quidditch match this weekend, and I fear that it will be ugly." Minerva spoke returning his card to him. Draco smiled, wider than he had in a long time, and nodded enthusiastically.
"If you would allow me to floo back to St. Mungo's I can inform my staff of my occupancy. As Head Healer they really don't need me unless its extreme." Draco asked.
"Of course, we are connected in this office." Minerva stepped back and allowed Draco to the fire place.
"St. Mungo's!" He shouted and dropped the floo powder. With a cough he stepped out of the fireplace and made his way to his wing. Dean and Seamus were there as well.
"I have something I need to discuss with you two. I need you to fill in for me for a while. I have decided to help Poppy Pomfrey with the Infirmary at Hogwarts. She has started to slow down, and they are looking to give her some assistance." Draco spoke, pulling the two men into his office.
"That's great! Of course we'll cover here. If we need anything though, we will firecall you if we need to. You won't be out of the floo network will you? I've never seen someone use it at Hogwarts." Seamus spoke, with a confirmation from Dean.
"That's how I got here. I'll be gone for a while but like you said, I'm only a firecall away." He said and glanced out the window to his office, where the door had been left ajar. Harry stood outside, a small shocked expression on his face. Draco swore and charged out of the office after Harry.
"What is wrong? What have I done to you?" Draco called, making sure the hallway was without patients who were sleeping. There was enough of a flurry around him that he wasn't disturbing people.
"What have you done? What do you think you did Draco, you know fully well what you did." Harry turned back, with an angry and hurt expression in his beautiful green eyes. Draco couldn't bring himself to look him in the eye after that moment.
"I didn't intend to hurt you, in fact in my mind I was protecting you. I'm not worthy of anything that you could want and need out of someone. I haven't done enough to earn the trust of the community, and if they saw that there was something, anything, even friendship, between us they would tarnish your reputation and you'd lose everything. Trust me. I know what that feels like." Draco spoke quickly, letting the other man listen to the full thing before he spoke anything. Harry shook his head with an exasperated sigh.
"You're a bloody idiot you know that? People have been deciding things for me since I was young. I am fully capable of dealing with the repercussions of whatever I decide to do. Now you won't even be around." Harry spoke. Draco couldn't keep the feeling in the pit of his stomach from rising to the surface.
"Do you understand what its like to not be respected by others? I've had to work so hard to prove I'm not someone like my father was. You also made it pretty clear for the last month that you wanted little to nothing to do with me after that night at the bar. I figured a time off would be a good idea. I'm starting to think I'm right. Sorry, but I have made my choice. I have to get to work." Draco turned on his heels, something he'd only done when he needed to make a point. He didn't look back, and he didn't want to see the look of hurt on Harry's face. There was nothing between them, other than some bad decisions and a rough history. He packed up what he felt he needed from his office into a bag that had been charmed to have a larger inside, and locked up. Flooing back over to Hogwarts, he realized that Minerva had created a room for him to stay in for as long as he would be there, as well as having sent some elves to clear out a good portion of his personal items from his apartment. They had even brought his poor cat. He scooped up the orange tabby and soothed her with calming pets. He knew that this wouldn't be a forever job, just until they could find another healer. Tomorrow he would need to be prepared to help the children who would get injured during Quidditch. A sport he hadn't played in many years.
Harry couldn't believe what had happened. Draco, who he'd never have believed to have changed in such a way had become a good friend over the course of one evening. And then that evening ended with him getting slipped a sleeping potion and said "friend" had disappeared. The note, which apologized for the crude treatment, and the potion on the table were accepted, however only due to Harry needing the remedy. Draco had been callous and cruel in how he'd treated Harry, and made the decision without Harry's consent. He knew that he'd been drunk, and the sober man had actually made the better decision, however it still irked Harry to know that Draco hadn't been tempted even in the slightest by him. Harry couldn't deny that the very night he'd seen Draco in his casual clothing in that bar, he'd been heavily attracted to him.
Draco had always been attractive. Nobody could really deny this fact, not even Harry's stupid friend Ron. Draco had only gotten more attractive as time went on, however without his hair slicked back, and a relaxed look on his face without a sign of a sneer anywhere Harry had fallen and fallen hard. Draco had hurt Harry and had been hurt by Harry and the man was determined then to do something to at least bring them back together as friends. He was at the point where even having him out of his life was impossible. That weekend he would go to the Hogwarts Quidditch match, that would be a good way to see how things were going. Harry prepared in his head everything that he would do to get ready for taking time off and visit his former school.
Thankfully the curse had been lifted on the Defense against the Dark Arts position, however with the considerable lack of need for the practice after the decline of Voldemort supporters, many students wouldn't find a need for those sort of classes. Harry thought about applying at the school as a teacher, however he didn't know what class he could teach. Maybe they needed a Care for Magical Creatures professor. All he knew was that he was determined to get into the school somehow. Walking into the Aurors office at the Ministry he stalked over to Ron's desk, which was cluttered and piled almost ceiling high with paperwork. Buried somewhere in the middle was a snoozing Ronald Weasley. Assistant Head Auror and right hand man to Harry.
"RON!" Harry shouted, watching as one of the piles of papers shot up and off of his sleeping associate, while three other piles toppled over on top of him.
"Where is the emergency?! Who are we fighting!" He jumped up ready to face any opponent.
"No one Ron. I'm telling you that I am going to take some time off. I haven't done so in a while, thus I am putting you in charge until I get back. If all works out I should be back sometime next summer." Harry spoke, not giving Ron a chance to argue or change his mind by turning and leaving at once. Somewhere in the back of his mind Harry knew he was being irrational. He knew that whatever was causing him to do this was something he'd never really done before. That having been said he cleared out his office of what he'd need and stalked out of the Ministry with a promise to sort out whatever was going down.
Draco sighed, realizing that taking up the job in the infirmary was boring unless something was happening in the school. The Weasley twins left behind a lot of their pranking supplies, so much of what Draco had to do on the average weekday was treat a child for magically caused nausea, boils and many other illnesses. Quidditch wasn't until Saturday this week, which was two days away. Boredom overtook Draco as he drifted off to sleep in his joint office with Poppy. A few giggles from the other room alerted him to the fact that he wasn't alone anymore and so he stood up, stretched his back, and made a promise to himself to brew a cup of coffee to wake up more. However with it being around 10 o'clock at night he hadn't expected people
"What can I help you with?" He asked poking his head out into the treatment side of the wing. The group of girls there giggled and pushed one of the group forward.
"I actually wanted to get to know you." She spoke, blushing heavily and not meeting his eyes. Draco sighed quietly and resigned to answering a few questions to cure his boredom.
"What do you want to know?" He asked, pulling up a wheeling chair he'd brought to the office for his desk.
"How old are you?" One of the girls giggled out.
"I turn 26 in the summer." Draco answered in a neutral tone. He had sort of expected a response like this to his presence, young teachers at Hogwarts were a rare occurrence. He observed the girls in front of them, making note that they were probably Third Years, from all four houses. The segregation of the houses ended peacefully it seemed.
"Did you go to Hogwarts?" One girl asked, from Slytherin. She had dark brown hair and bright violet eyes. He narrowed his in response to her eye color.
"I did. I have a question for you, would you happen to be related to Blaise Zabini?" He asked her. The girls eyes widened at the question.
"He's my cousin! Our mothers were twins so we look alike!" She smiled. Automatically he was reminded of Blaise. The boy he'd gone to school with and had a small crush on for some of that time.
"I was in the same year as your cousin, same house as well." Draco smiled, watching the girls start to get nervous.
"Sir Draco! We need medical assistance now!" Poppy came charging into the infirmary with another person closely following carrying a small looking student, probably a first year.
"What happened? Update, now!" Draco demanded, taking charge right away, as he was used to.
"We found him wandering around by the forest, it seems he got bitten by something." The other voice responded, one that sounded distinctly like Harrys. Draco ignored them for the moment, focusing on the child, and where it seemed they were hurting. He pulled the shirt up and ripped what was left off as he assessed the wounds. What seemed to be claw marks ran down the child's front, with a large bite mark on his side.
"I need a poultice of silver and dittany. NOW!" He shouted, stopping what bleeding he could with gauze and soft towels. Footsteps ran away and within two minutes came back. In a large bowl that was presented to him, Draco saw just what he needed. He'd treated many werewolf wounds in his day, and this was no different. Harry's hand reached towards the poultice and he touched it gently as if interested in its properties.
"How did you know it was a werewolf?" Harry asked hesitantly, he was holding his arm to his body in a gentle way, suggesting he was nervous. Draco was aware of Remus Lupin and his relationship to Harry, and knew that treading lightly would be best.
"The wound pattern. It is typical for a werewolf inflicted injury. I need you to help me spread the poultice over the wounds, it's the only way to heal them." Draco said with a touch of urgency in his voice. He wanted to tell Harry that he had treated them before and that this child would never live his life normally again, however he couldn't bring himself to do it. As the poultice was being applied, Draco watched them close slowly but surely, reassuring him that he'd made the right diagnosis. Harry sighed as well knowing that this boy's life was never going to be the same.
"By the way, why are you here? How did you find him?" Draco turned and asked Harry, who in turn had a guilty look on his face, Draco also then noticed that Harry was pulling his robes tighter around his black shirt, fiddling with the hems.
"I'm the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher now, the other man had quite out of anxiety. And I accidentally Apparated into the forest and he was there." Harry answered, not meeting Draco's gaze. Harry wasn't lying, the kids this year had given the man an anxiety attack, and Harry happened to be the next best choice. It was also still known that apparating directly to the grounds was extremely hard. Draco sighed and ran a bloodied hand through his hair. Harry stifled a surprised noise at this. The boy who had never so much as gotten a speck of dirt on him in all his years at this school just put blood in his hair? Realizing his tired mistake Draco turned to Poppy.
"You have it from here right? May I shower?" He asked.
"Of course Draco. You may, I haven't been doing this for over 40 years for nothing you know." Poppy smirked and took over the boys treatment so Draco could shower. He walked through the hallways of Hogwarts until he'd reached the 7th floor and opened the door to his rooms. Harry had followed casually, taking in the unchanged sights of his former school. Harry hadn't finished his 7th year, opting to go straight into working for the Ministry. Draco sighed and gestured around.
"If you need anything from the rooms I can call an elf to bring it, we have access to the kitchens late." He spoke leaving Harry to work out the rooms for himself. The room that Draco had been given was similar to an apartment. It had a kitchen area a living area along with the bathrooms and the bedrooms. Harry had only seen Slughorns rooms before when he was at Hogwarts, having never really seen the others. Wandering around he discovered that a majority of the items in the rooms were from Hogwarts rather than Draco. A curious fact. Slowly a tune started to come out of the bathroom and Harry realized that Draco was singing in the shower.
Draco, as much as he wished he weren't as comfortable knowing the man he'd had a great appreciation for was in his living room, he found himself singing in the shower. It started off with just humming however eventually the words worked their way out. He washed whatever blood had been in his hair and stepped out of the shower to dry off when he realized that he'd left the laundry in the living room to fold. Draco stood there for a moment in complete shock. He hadn't expected guests, so he'd told himself he would get to the laundry when he got off his shift that day.
"Damn…..Harry!" Draco called, realizing he really hadn't said Harry's name, his first one at least, in a very very long time.
"Draco? Is there something wrong?" Harry asked by the door. Draco blushed at how his name sounded coming out of Harry's mouth. A swift pinch to his leg shook him of what he'd been thinking and he opened the door slightly letting his shoulder and head poke out.
"I left my towels by the kitchen table, I don't have any here right now." Draco muttered.
"I'll get you one." Harry stated and turned to grab a towel wincing slightly. Draco couldn't hide his embarrassment from Harry, who blushed slightly while handing the towel to Draco. Draco returned to the bathroom, and began to dry himself off. Harry took that time to ask an a few things of the house elves, all of whom were grateful to see "Master Potter" back.
"I need one of you to grab me another shirt that looks like this, medium if you can. I also need you to grab a few of the dinners from tonight, I'm starving and I know he is too. Please don't let him know that I'm changing." Harry instructed quickly, telling them to put it on a rush. Within moments of putting the request out 4 house elves had brought everything Harry had asked. The request for the shirt was because both Harry's blood and the young boys blood was on it, and it had a tear in the side, easily covered by his robes, which were self repairing by magic, so he'd hid them as long as he could. Using a quick spell that locked Draco in the bathroom for a moment longer, Harry proceeded to change and sit at one side of the small table, which was set for dinner. Draco exited the bathroom with his hair still wet, and a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He glanced at the table, astonished that it was set for two.
"You didn't have to prepare food for me, I can call it myself." Draco smiled and sat down across from Harry, who smirked back.
"You did a lot today, for me and the boy, the least I can do is make your life a little easier." Harry commented. He wasn't sure what he was going to do about his new problem, along with how it would affect his job, however it seemed vaguely ironic that he would be teaching defense against the dark arts just like Lupin had done. Draco nodded, albeit suspiciously. Harry was wearing a different shirt than he had been before. It was similar to the first one, however this one had a design inside the collar while the other did not. Knowing that if something had happened Harry would tell him he didn't think about it too much.
Dinner went well, while Harry asked about the changes to Hogwarts since he'd been gone from it. Draco was glad to see that at least the black haired man was talking to him like normal again, even though he'd pursued him all the way to a new job. Harry had avoided talking about the fight in the forest, which alarmed Draco because he shouldn't have any reason to hide anything from him. When he pressed the issue Harry just said he'd talk with him later about it. Draco finally dropped it after realizing he'd get nothing out of the stubborn black haired man.
Harry was extremely worried. He'd gotten back onto the good side of Draco, even just barely, and he didn't want to lose the status he had with him over something like creature issues. When Harry rescued the boy, he'd been bitten on the side as well. It wasn't a deep bite, and it wasn't a hard bite, but it broke skin and it did what the werewolf had set out to do. Harry was going to be a werewolf.
As much as Draco had renounced his title as heir to the Malfoy line, as well as any pride he had as a pureblood, Harry couldn't count on the opinion of creatures having changed. When they were in school Draco did his best to let everyone know how he felt about magical creatures, half-breeds, and anyone else who wasn't pure. That having been said he has changed over the years, Harry didn't hold much faith.
Draco knew something was wrong and he would get to the bottom of it, even if it was breaching Harry's privacy to do it.
There you have it! The official end of chapter two! I didn't change anything from the chapters themselves, but I did add a sentence to the beginning to make the transition a little smoother. As of now, I'm almost done with the third chapter, so I should get that out soon, as I said before! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, and again I must thank the guest reviewer for giving me some pointers! As always, stay shiny!