5/

A Night Out

It had been three days since Draco had sat at Harry's kitchen table and shared tea like they had always been friends. It still amazed Draco how accepting Harry has been over the whole thing. Maybe because, Draco thought, although Harry had been on the 'good side' of the war he had had more than his fair share of bad experiences and probably seen more terrible things in seven years than most people would in a life time.

Draco found himself sympathising with Harry, after all Malfoy Manor had been the residence of Lord Voldemort in the months running up to the war and he himself had seen some pretty horrific things. The more he thought about Harry however, the more he wanted to see him. Draco though about inviting him for dinner, he knew he would have to get Astoria to look after Scorpious again, but it had been Astoria herself that told him to get out some more. Draco was a little apprehensive about asking Harry out for dinner in case Harry thought he was being odd in wanting to see him again. Draco sighed and sat back in his armchair in his hotel room at the Leaky Cauldron. He tried, hard, to get Harry out of his mind but being the stubborn Gryffindor he was, he stayed put.

Try as he might Draco could not relax so he got up and dressed for dinner. He decided to eat at the Savoy, he could afford it after all and muggle London made him feel safer, less people recognised him walking around there. He checked his appearance in the full length mirror, gave himself and nod of approval and apparated into the Gentlemen's wash room in the foyer of the Savoy. He wrinkled his nose at the undignified destination but supposed it was better than appearing out of thin air in front of a group of muggles or worse still by the London Underground. He walked out of the washroom and headed in for dinner.

Had it only been three days? Harry thought. It seemed like months. Three days of training with Shane and Collette had come and gone and he hardly remembered a thing. It was the weekend now however and as the stickler for tradition that he was, got ready for the 'Golden Trio's Night Out' as it had been christened by Hermione. Or has Harry and Ron liked to call it the 'Heroes Pub Crawl'. It had been this way for years. He would meet them at their house in Kensington and their first stop would be the Three Bells in muggle London and do their usual pub crawl until they were barely upright. They'd call a cab back to Grimmauld Place and have a final whiskey then Ron and Hermione would floo home and leave Harry to drag himself up to bed. There were occasions that Ron and Hermione would stay and Harry always got Kreature to help him make up the spare rooms for if they did decide to stay.

His thoughts drifted to Kreature then. He still wasn't sure if the house elf liked him, but Harryw as a very lenient master and although Kreature was still bound to him Harry allowed him 4 days off a week so he worked three and even then Harry did most of the tasks around the house. Except for the dusting, it made him sneeze and besides, house elf magic was better for those kinds of things. It was then that his thoughts drifted to Ginny. Somehow he'd know that things weren't right and that no amount of 'let's talk about this' was going to help. Soon after they had split he had realised why they hadn't been working and thankfully he had remained friends with Ginny. She now accepted his new found way of life and he was grateful that she had an open mind. He was pleased that she had got back with Dean and he thought that they made a lovely couple.

Although he was happy for her he couldn't help but feel that now, without her presence around the house it felt somewhat empty. Apart from when his kids were with him, they brightened up his life to no end. They were not there all the time though, and what Harry thought was that the house needed someone, besides himself. Who that would be... he did have one idea but banished it as absurd before it had time to make a home in his conscience.

His hall clock brought him out of his thoughts as it announced his lateness. He hurridly put on his coat, shoved his feet in his shoes and flood to Ron and Hermione's. It was a lovely house, huge with big garden. They had used the money they got from the Ministry for their 'Outstanding War Contribution' to buy a house big enough not only for them and their two children, but for the rest of the Weasley family too. After Bellatrix burnt the Burrow to near ashes, Molly and Arthur tried to rebuild it, but it was never the same, and although they were sad to go, they accepted that it would be better for everyone, long term, if they all moved in together. George lived over his shop and Ginny had a little flat in the West End and as Molly and Arthur were getting on in years the arrangement suited everyone. Ron and Hermione's house was so huge that it was like there was no one there at all. Even when the entire Weasley family and Harry were round for Sunday lunch it was never crowded.

Harry greeted Ron with a rough hug and Hermione witha light peck on her cheek.

"Right", said Ron loudly, beaming "we off then?"

"Yes dear, let me just get my shoes" Hermione called from the walk-in cloak cupboard. Ron rolled his eyes as if to say 'women, eh?' Harry just smiled and shrugged to which Ron let out a booming laugh.

"Ahh yeah, I forgot you were a ponce." Harry sighed, Ron had been accepting enough of his choices but still managed to squeeze in as much teasing as he could when he was sure Hermione wasn't listening.

"Ronald Weasley!" Hermione's loud voice came from the cupboard. "Just because I can't see you does not mean I can't hear you. Harry you have my permission to sock him one." She came out of the cupboard in her full length coat and shoes, grinning at her husband who was wincing and rubbing his right arm. Hermione strode past them,

"TO THE BELLS!" She shouted and flew out the door.

"That's my girl" Ron said proudly and followed her. Harry shook his head smiling and shut the door behind him making sure he had a door key, just in case, as his friends always seemed to forget the essentials when faced with a night of drinking.