Of Burnt Toast and Crayons
Chapter 2
Thank you everyone who reviewed! Sorry this took soo long to update.
I don't own them. Sorry. I know we all wish I did. XP
Again, sorry this took so long. I added a couple sentences to chapter 1, nothing you'd notice unless you were holding the old and the new side by side. I think I've finally come up with a vague idea of where this is going. You know, aside from Harry and Draco hooking up. I've never written a character as a parent before, and I find myself having trouble combining adoring father with horny young male. Guess it's a well needed exercise in creating multi-faceted characters.
Same as before. It is slight AU. I pretty much ignore Deathly Hollows. Voldemort was defeated and they all moved on with their lives.
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Harry stared at the disaster that was his living room. All the furniture lay tossed around, the television was jammed into a corner on the floor with a large crack across the screen. The books that had been sitting on the single bookshelf were now just a whirlwind of papers and one of the down pillows that decorated his couch had exploded and white feathers and pages floated around like snow.
Haley stood in the center of it all trying to look sheepish. Her attempt was ruined by the fact that she couldn't seem to stop giggling. Molly was jumping in circles around her clapping her small hands and laughing.
"Do I even want to know?" he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "And where's Mr. Whittaker?" he asked, suddenly realizing the Ministry's Examiner was nowhere in sight. There was a shuffling noise and the short, fat man crawled out from behind the upside down couch.
Mr. Whittaker adjusted his glasses and brushed the feathers from his brown tweed jacket. "Well," he muttered. "That was unexpected."
"He made me use a wand," Haley giggled, holding up 16 inches of australian blackwood above her head like it was some kind of trophy.
"I just thought we should give it a try," he said defensively. "Terribly sorry about your apartment."
"I can fix it!" Haley yelled. She tossed the wand to Mr. Whittaker, who fumbled with it a moment before grabbing it firmly with both hands against his chest. Haley held her arms out to each side and started humming. The hair on Harry's arms stood on end as he felt the magic in the room building. Molly stopped moving and stared at her sister in silent anticipation. Mr. Whittaker looked like he wanted to hide back behind the couch.
Without warning Haley stopped humming and brought her hands together in front of her with a loud 'clap!' and the room snapped back to its previous, unexploded state.
"Yay!" Molly cheered, jumping up and down again.
"My my," Mr. Whittaker murmured. "Very impressive. You know," he said, turning to Harry. "You really should let us take her to the Ministry for a little while. With the proper facilities, we could really test how far her powers extend without compromising the well-being of this apartment building."
"Hell no," Haley stated.
"You heard her," Harry told the Examiner. "And don't swear," he scolded Haley.
"Hell no!" yelled Molly, clapping her hands.
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Draco was exhausted. It had been a busy past few months. Not long after the war, the Ministry had decided to construct a building complex in the muggle world. With the number of wizards being born to non-magic parents on the rise and with all the wizards in general who were quickly growing fond of the convenience of muggle living, it had become necessary to do something to ease the transition between the two worlds.
So they had come up with an idea. It was a sprawling complex of apartments centered around a large hotel that towered over the rest. The whole thing was supposed to serve as a sort of gateway between the two worlds. It was going to be a place where wizards and muggles could live and come together without having to worry about leaving their own worlds behind. The one in charge of overseeing its completion, as well as one of its largest financial backers, was none other than Draco Malfoy himself.
The young man was currently doing his best to stay awake through yet another meeting with the board members as they discussed which designer to hire for the high-class restaurant that was going to be attached to the hotel. The guy they had previously chosen had to back out due to some kind of diving accident while he was vacationing in Fiji.
Malfoy stared blankly at the sample sketches spread out in front of him provided by the top three candidates. It took him a moment to realize the room had gone quiet. He looked up to see everyone staring at him. Honestly, he wasn't sure what had just been asked, but he was tired of all this indecision. "Enough flip-flopping back and forth," he said standing up. He grabbed the sketches that seemed to fit best with the already-decided-apon hotel motif and tossed them into the center of the long table. "We'll go with this one," he said. No one dared argue with him as he pulled his coat on and made his way out the door. Hell, they were probably just as happy to be done with it.
Just before he stepped into the elevator that would take him down to his waiting car, he glanced out the window at the city below him. In the distance he could just make out the silhouette of the nearly completed Hyperion Hotel, the Ministry's shiny new beacon of financial and political hope standing proud against the drizzling late October rain. As long as things stayed on track, the hotel would be open in time for Christmas.
Right now, however, Draco felt he could use a distraction. After climbing into his car and telling his driver to head home, he pulled out his phone and dialed the new number he had saved in there two weeks earlier.
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Harry had just sent the final chapter off to his editor and was ready to relax in front of the television for the night when his phone rang. He dug his cell out from under the pile of papers next to him but didn't recognize the number.
"You should answer that!" Haley called from the living room just as he was about to hit the 'ignore' button. He frowned at the open doorway but answered it anyway.
"Hello?"
"Potter."
Harry smiled at the voice on the other end of the line. Honestly he didn't think he'd be hearing from Draco again and it surprised him how happy he was to be proven wrong.
"Malfoy. Hi. What can I do for you?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.
There was a brief pause before the answer came. "Actually, I was wondering if I could cash in on that dinner you owe me."
"Tonight?" Harry could feel his grin grow even wider. This was an unexpected development, but there was no way in hell he was going to let it pass him by... no matter how tired he was. He glanced at the clock hanging over his desk. It was only just after five. "I'd love to, hold on moment. I have to see if i can get a babysitter." He stood up and walked out into the living room to find Molly shoving her coloring books into her backpack while Haley tied her shoes for her.
"I called Mrs. Harper next door," Haley explained. "She said it'd be fine if we stayed over for the night. She's watching her grandson for the weekend and would enjoy the extra company."
"We're gonna make cookies!" Molly cheered. Mrs. Harper lived two doors down and was the epitome of the perfect grandmother. She often watched the girls when he had somewhere else to be.
Harry arched an eyebrow at the teen. Sometimes it worried him how she always seemed one step ahead of everything. He brought the phone back up to his ear. "Alright. Give me at least an hour to get ready," he said glancing down at his t-shirt and boxers.
"I still have a couple things to take care of myself. I'll pick you up at seven." And with that the line went dead.
"Bye daddy!" Molly waved from the building hallway as the door closed, leaving him alone in his living room. He knew he was grinning like an idiot. He couldn't help it. Never in a million years would he have thought he'd have any chance at getting into Draco Malfoy's pants. Now that the opportunity, however tiny, fluttered around the edges of the realm of 'possible', it was all he could do to keep his mind on track . He dare not call it a date. At least, not yet. But hopefully some subtle flirting and a few drinks would bring him the kind of night he hadn't had in what seemed like ages.
The father in him frowned at his overactive imagination, shaking a finger at how eager he was to be rid of his daughters for the night to spend time with a man he almost killed back in school. The guy in him was too busy thinking about Malfoy's ass to think about much else. Besides, he was confident that he was raising two brilliant girls and he deserved this.
With that final thought, he turned and headed for the shower.
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The night started off quite promising. After picking him up, they went to a small french restaurant not far from the apartment. Now they sat across from each other in a small booth at the back of the room and Harry was having a hard time keeping the word 'date' from his mind as he studied the man across from him while they talked.
To say the years since Hogwarts had been kind to the blonde would be an understatement. Draco was tall and lean, all elegant lines and graceful movements. Harry had allowed himself a few improper fantasies back in school and they kept popping up at the back of his now slightly more adult mind. He forced himself to focus on their conversation.
"So that's why you're living in the city right now."
"Indeed. It's much easier to keep and eye on things when I don't have to constantly travel back and forth between the two worlds," Draco responded as he pushed his now empty plate away from himself.
"You know, it's about time the ministry did something like this. The wizarding world is hardly a secret from the muggles anymore, and I never could understand why wizards insisted on ignoring science. Don't know why they choose to live without certain modern conveniences," he griped, remembering hours of playing chess with Ron when all he wanted was a video game.
Draco laughed. "I know what you mean. I've been living in the muggle world for just over a year now, and I honestly don't think I could give up my television. Or my phone. I think a lot of people are starting to feel the same way."
"So when is the project supposed to be complete?"
"The hotel is scheduled to open at the beginning of December. Our only possible hang-up would be the restaurant, which we had to hire a new guy for the interior design. As long as he can stay on task, though, we should be fine. The apartments probably won't be complete for almost a year after that, but we will be opening them up as they are completed, the first building hopefully being done by February."
"I'll have to come see it when it's done."
Draco smiled. "Why don't you accompany me to the Grand Opening. There's a lot of people who would be more than happy to see you there."
"No, I don't think so. Those stuffy parties really aren't my thing," Harry replied.
"Why not?" Draco pushed. "I mean, You're Harry-bloody-Potter. This could be like your re-emergence into the wizarding world. People want to know what happened to you," he said, leaning forward in excitement.
Harry frowned. "See, that's exactly why I left in the first place. I don't want to be famous."
Draco growled in annoyance. "But you could do so much with that fame! People idolize you, they'd listen to what you have to say! Why would you throw that away?"
"Throw what away?" Harry snapped back at him. "Having reporters following me around, making up stories about me? Being wary of every person who wants to get close to me, wondering if they're honest or simply in it because I'm famous? Everything I did would be constantly under scrutiny by the entire world! Forget it!" he cried, throwing his hands in the air.
"Well, I hardly think you should waste your life hiding from your past!" Draco snarled. A small voice at the back of his mind kept telling him to shut up, but he ignored it. The few glasses of wine he had were now fueling on this pointless argument.
"Is that what I'm doing?" he asked, standing up. "Wasting my life?" And with that he grabbed his coat and stormed out of the restaurant.
Draco was left sitting by himself at the table, feeling like an asshole when the waiter dropped off the check. The last thing he had wanted to do tonight was get in a fight with Potter. Guess some habits were hard to break.