Sorry for the long wait! Have been busy at work. Here's the new chapter and I hope you like it!

He continued to cut the ingredients for the potion while he waited for Malfoy to talk. All the while he felt that the blond was watching him and he was getting nervous, not knowing what the other man would tell him. After a few more minutes, Malfoy took a deep breath and Harry knew that he was about to talk now.

"Since Voldemort was destroyed, I wondered what did become of you. I never heard what you were up to... I eventually stopped to ask myself the same questions over and over again and since I heard Ginevra talk about you from time to time, I knew that you must be okay."

He paused for a moment and Harry tried his best to seem unaffected by his words, but his hand was shaking and so was the knife he was holding.

"But when I saw you at the Ministry, I was ... surprised. You seem really less like a hero than you ever did. It was shocking to be honest. You look old and restless. What happened to you?"

Harry flinched when he cut his finger and saw the blood seep from the wound. Just when he was about to stick his finger into his mouth to stop the bleeding, Malfoy was at his side and grabbed his wrist.

"Don't. The leaves you were just cutting are poisonous."

"Great!" Harry wasn't able to hide the panic in his voice and felt foolishly.

Malfoy slowly let go of his hand, making sure that Harry wouldn't do something stupid and walked over to a cupboard.

"Don't panic, I have the andidote here..."

He came back to Harry, a small flask in his hand and handed it over to him.

"Two drops of it onto the cut and you'll be alright."

Harry nodded and did as he was instructed. The cut began to smolder slightly and a weird smell filled the air.

"It stinks."

Malfoy smirked, "You stink, Potter."

Harry wanted to give a retort, but Malfoy held up his hand to silence him.

"Answer my question Potter. What happened to you?"

The Gryffindor sighed and looked at the opposite wall, not wanting Malfoy to look him into the eyes.

"Nothing happened to me. Why is everybody always asking that? Why does everybody suppose that I live my life like nothing ever happened? How can they think that I forgot all the people that died during that war... The ones who died for me?" his voice died at the end and he drooped his head.

"That's no reason to give up your life now. Because all of them died. That's the best reason to carry on and do the best of what's left."

Harry looked up at the blond, surprised to hear such words from him. Malfoy looked back at him, his grey eyes burning with rage about Harry's behaviour.

"Really Potter ... Stop pitying yourself, that's pathetic. I mean, look at me!" he unfolded his arms to emphasize his words, "I should be the one to sit at home and do nothing. Everytime I go outside people look at me and I just know what they're thinking. I know that they think I am worth less than the dirt on their shoes. I am nothing to them. Nothing."

His intense gaze left Harry breathless for a moment.

"You have a wife..."

Malfoy rolled his eyes and then turned away from Harry.

"Because it was arranged for me to marry her."

He looked at Harry over his shoulder, a sad smile playing around his lips, "And still, I don't feel pity for myself because of it. I do the best with what I've got."

Harry honestly admired the blond for his words. It seemed as if Draco had found the strenght he himself had lost so long ago.

Draco... Harry smiled to himself, thinking the name and turned back to cut the remaining ingredients.

They worked in silence for a while, only talking when Draco told Harry what he needed next. But all the while, Harry had to think about what the blond had told him about Astoria.

"Aren't you happy with her?" he asked the question before he had really thought about it and Draco looked up at him, puzzled.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Aren't you happy with Astoria?"

Draco looked away from him again, stirring the potion. He seemed to ponder on his answer for a moment.

"No. I don't love her, how am I supposed to be happy?"

His face wore a grim expression and he sighed.

"She's pregnant."

Harry nearly cut his finger again, but pulled his hand away quick enough, dropping the knife instead.

"Is that a bad thing? I mean... Err... When she's pregnant that means that the two of you... Well... you know," he felt the heat creep up into his cheeks and quickly dived under the table to pick up the knife and hide his face.

"Well, we're supposed to have a child, but I am not entirely sure if it's mine."

Harry felt at a loss for words and just shrugged. What was he supposed to say to that?

Draco seemed to realize that and waved his hand dismissively.

"It's okay. We don't have to talk about that... You can go home as soon as the potion is finished, I won't need you again today."

Harry nodded, "Okay. What about tomorrow?"

"We start at 8am."

Draco smirked, "I start earlier, but it's fine when you're here at eight."

...

Harry eyed Ron suspiciously. His friend was behaving weird.

Once Ron had picked him up after work, they had went to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink.

"Spit it out Ron. Tell me what you want to say."

Ron sighed and sipped at his drink, pulling a face.

"I am embarrassed."

Harry just looked at him without saying more. Either Ron would tell him or he would not.

Finally, he took a deep breath and in the next second the words were literally spilling out of his mouth, "I want to marry Hermione."

Harry chocked on his drink and stared wide-eyed at Ron.

"What? Marry her? Now?"

Ron shrugged, "Why not?"

"Dunno..."

"She's pregnant Harry! There won't be a better time than now."

"If you say so," he took a big gulp of his Firewhiskey, not sure what to think about the whole thing.

"Yeah I do," Ron nodded, "Besides, I think you should go and see Ginny. She was very unhappy yesterday."

"She should be happy and not unhappy! I won't use her and I told her so, where's the problem with that?"

Ron sighed, "Mate, she's still in love with you. That's why."

"I'll go to her tomorrow after work. I can't wait to come home today, I am tired."

He emptied his glass and got to his feet, preparing to leave. Ron mirrored him and they left together.

When they entered the house, Hermione was already waiting for them and kissed Harry on the cheek once she had greeted Ron with a proper kiss. She then looked at Harry expectantly and he knew what she wanted to hear.

"Yeah. I had a good day."

Ron frowned, "What? Really? I thought that you had to work with Malfoy? How could that possibly be a good day?"

Harry raised an eyebrow and looked at Ron, "Well, he saved my life today because I nearly poisoned myself."

"How?" Hermione sounded slightly nervous and he sighed.

"I was cutting some leaves for a potion when I cut my finger. They were poisenous and I wanted to put my finger in my mouth... He told me that I shouldn't do that and gave me an antidote."

He held up his finger to show her where he had cut himself, "Look."

And she did look, but her eyes became wide and he himself felt kinda uneasy when he saw the wound on his finger.

"Looks like you have an allergic reaction," Ron stated dryly and went to the kitchen.

"Well," Harry shrugged, "He'll have to look at it tomorrow again."

Hermione grabbed his hand and examined at his finger from all angles, her brows furrowed.

"Are you sure that you don't want me to have a look and find out what it is?"

"Yes," Harry freed his hand of her grip and followed Ron to the kitchen, realizing that he had not eaten the whole day.

reviews appreciated...