When Malfoy came back that evening, Harry had himself firmly under control. It was going to be okay. He had hidden it from himself for over seven years; he could hide it from Malfoy.

"Hey," he said, without looking up from his book. "How was your date?"

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Malfoy take off his jacket and hang it on the coat stand. "Wonderful," Malfoy drawled. "She's quite a catch."

Malfoy slipped off his shoes and dropped down on the couch across from the arm chair. Harry finally had to look up, or he would be drawing attention to himself.

Malfoy eyed him curiously. "You seem tense," he mused. "Though not as tense as I would have thought. How are you coping with the withdrawals?"

"Fine," Harry said with a shrug. "I think it'll all be fine."

Malfoy studied him, but nodded. "You look peaky," he said. "But that's to be expected. I'd be more concerned if you were feeling great."

Harry gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile, and leaned back in his chair.

"So what's next for you and Parvati?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "You said you were getting serious." To his horror, now that he was aware of it, he could detect a small note of jealousy in his tone.

Malfoy raised his eyebrows at Harry's question, but didn't indicate one way or another if he had noticed the jealousy. "We are," he said with a smirk. "I guess one night soon I might have to send you out of the house."

Harry stiffened, but forced a smile. "It'll be a good excuse to see Amy." He bared his teeth, inwardly groaning that he was obviously so far gone that he couldn't help but throw that in Malfoy's face in the hopes that he would be jealous too.

As if Malfoy would be jealous.

Malfoy's jaw twitched. "Aren't we both lucky." He stood up and walked into the kitchen. "Tea, Potter?"

Malfoy made them both tea in silence, while Harry contemplated how long he would have to stay here before Malfoy would let him go back to his apartment.

"If you need me, I'll be in my room," Malfoy said suddenly as he handed Harry his tea.

Harry blinked in surprise, but nodded. He supposed that did make things easier, although he was strangely upset.

Monday morning, Malfoy and Harry decided to hunt down Smith and Wilson.

"Ah, there you two are," Malfoy said with a grin as they met the two Aurors at the elevator. "We thought we'd missed you." He clapped his hands aggressively on both their shoulders and steered them away from the open doors.

"Listen, we wanted a little chat," he said as he thrust them into the closest tea room.

Harry leaned back against the counter and smirked. He was feeling really good since his small relapse on the weekend. Taking only small doses until he could stop altogether was obviously the way to do it.

Wilson blustered, drawing himself up to his full height - several inches shorter than Malfoy. "What is the meaning of this?" he snapped. "You two are on ward duty. We're in the field. You can't do anything about it."

Malfoy leered at Wilson. "As Head Aurors on your case, Wilson, we can do whatever we like about it so long as it doesn't contravene our darling Head's orders. And I don't know about you, Potter, but I'm feeling creative."

Smith shrunk. "What do you want?"

"How were your investigations the other day?" Malfoy asked, ignoring him. "Any leads in our suspects?" He grinned.

Harry remembered the list of Malfoy's favourite restaurants and fought back a laugh.

"We're confident we'll get something out of them soon," Smith stammered, while Wilson glared at both Malfoy and Harry. "They were starting to crack."

"Good man," Malfoy sneered. "Now, we're going to need immediate updates on any evidence, alright? Not a weekly report, not a brief summary - constant updates. Patronuses are used for a reason. You find something; we're your backup. You got that? Don't call anyone else."

"I hardly think those were Mr. Wiffleston's orders," Wilson protested. "You weren't to be put on the field. You were to manage from afar."

"Manage," Malfoy interrupted. "Look the word up in a dictionary. Now get out of my sight."

"Do you think they'll do it?" Harry asked as the two Aurors scurried out.

"Smith will," Malfoy replied. "If Wilson doesn't veto him. At least this gives us a chance of making it out on the case still. With security as tight as it is, I think Wiffleston is going to be breathing down our necks a little too harshly for us to sneak out, otherwise."

As if summoned, Wifflesont strode into the tea room. "We need those wards doubled!" he barked. "We've just had another attack."

"Where were the alarms?" Malfoy asked, frowning.

"We're trying to keep it under wraps," Wiffleston said, straightening his robes. "It was disarmed before there was any explosion. But the point is, it made it through the wards. Which I believe was the responsibility of you two gentlemen." He glared at them.

Much to Malfoy's disgust, they were forced to spend the rest of the day reinforcing the wards.

It occurred to Harry that the Dark Magic Department could have something to offer by way of creative magical use, but for some reason he didn't want to bring Malfoy back down there, so he stayed silent.

"Bloody pleb work," Malfoy muttered, brushing past Harry to collect new potions from the cabinet. Harry flinched back from the touch.

"Oh, have you brought your note in from St. Mungos?" Malfoy asked, looking up at him suddenly.

Harry felt that Malfoy was far too close. How could he not notice how close they were?

"No," he said shortly. "I don't want Wiffleston to know unless it's absolutely necessary."

Malfoy acceded with a grimace.

As they left the office, they bumped into Arthur Weasley.

"Harry," he said with a bright smile. "How's the case?"

Harry shrugged. "Alright," he said ruefully. "How's your enchanted picture frame problem?"

Mr. Weasley sighed. "No luck," he said. "I still can't figure out where the items are coming from. They don't seem to be stolen from anywhere. No reports of missing possessions. And the items are disappearing from the pictures before we can investigate too closely."

Harry frowned. "Sounds like it's a tricky one."

Mr. Weasley waved a hand. "Nothing we can't handle. We'll see you for dinner soon, won't we?" He turned to Malfoy suddenly, before Harry could reply. "You should come too, Draco."

Malfoy blinked in surprise. "Er," he said, sounding stunned for the first time in Harry's memory. "Certainly."

Mr. Weasley nodded and smiled. "I'll talk to Molly and set a date."

Harry grinned and nodded. "Thanks, Mr. Weasley."

"Potter," Malfoy hissed when they were in the elevator. "What was that all about? This is your doing, isn't it?"

"No Malfoy," Harry said patiently. "Believe it or not, Ron's parents are very nice people who only wish you well. I work with you, and they know we get along, so it's natural for them to invite you."

"Shouldn't you bring Amy," he spat, running a hand through his hair and looking profoundly agitated. "I feel like I'm meeting your parents."

Harry stiffened at the thought of bringing Malfoy home as his boyfriend and introducing him to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. He shook his head. "Don't be a git," he said lightly. "Come along and don't you dare offend them. Mrs. Weasley's a great cook."

Malfoy snorted a laugh. "We'll see about that."

Harry glared at him, but he only blinked innocently.

When they were home, they managed to make it all the way through a pleasant dinner at Malfoy's when a loud pounding suddenly threatened to break down the door.

Malfoy's eyes widened in alarm. "Stop hitting it!" he yelled, jumping up from the table and running to the door. "It's mahogany!"

Harry heard the door open, and then screaming sounded through the house.

"I don't care what it is, Draco Malfoy!"

Harry stared back toward the front of the house in alarm. He'd never heard Parvati scream like that. He heard a useless sort of shushing attempt from Malfoy, but no words.

"You blow me off for some 'Potter emergency' - whatever the hell that is - and then you ignore me for half our date - which, okay, fine, perhaps you were distracted - but then you talk about nothing but Harry Potter when you finally do begin to acknowledge me, and then you blow me off again for dinner with Harry, and you expect me to take it all with a smile and a fruit basket?"

Harry heard the sound of something being thrown against the wall, and several things rolling along the floor.

"Why don't you two just marry each other?!" Parvati finished in a yell that could be heard from Muggle London. "You couldn't keep your eyes off each other in Hogwarts anyway!"

Then the door slammed shut.

Harry stayed very still. He heard slow footsteps moving up the corridor, and for one panicked second he thought about apparating to Grimmauld Place.

Malfoy appeared in the doorway, one hand running through his hair and his eyes wide and unseeing.

"She'll calm down," Harry offered after a long silence.

"Don't think so," Malfoy countered, still staring straight ahead. "She's pretty pissed."

"I heard," Harry said, tapping the side of his mug with his fingers.

The silence continued.

"So," Harry said slowly. "What're you going to do about her?"

Malfoy shrugged, coming to sit down on the other side of the table again. "Move on, I guess," he said with a grin that was a lot more like his usual self. "It's not like I loved her, anyway." He laughed.

Harry remembered Malfoy's speech about love, and grimaced inwardly. He couldn't possibly be thinking what he was thinking, not when he knew that it couldn't go anywhere. When Malfoy had made it perfectly clear it would never go anywhere.

He would only be headed for heartache. Knowing that he was in love with Malfoy… following that thought could never end well.

But none of that seemed to make a difference to the new knowledge that was spinning round and round in his head: Draco Malfoy was interested in men, and he was now single.

A/N Not my best chapter, and a bit of a filler because some things needed setting up, but at least it's an update xD I finally finished my fic for the HD Erised fest, and Quidditch finals are coming to an end, so this fic is nearly back as my number one writing priority - woo! *hands readers a paddle to keep the bloody writer in line* Also, I'm on tumblr now - agentmoppet

My friend is doing well. She's booked in for a detox in a couple weeks, and rehab in 3 - 6 months (the earliest it can happen). That being said, she's staying with her mum and the last I heard about this was a week or two ago. So I'm not sure if anything has changed. Also, lulz to bubblecloudz xD That made me happy that you're hanging out for the plot as well as the Drarry. I assure you it's moving along and things will happen soon :D