Manhattan
Chapter Five
Draco wakes up on one of the sofas in Nott Manor's parlor, one of his legs hanging off the side, with his arm thrown over his eyes to block the sunlight that's streaming in through the window. His head is pounding and he thinks, perhaps belatedly, that he should have stopped a few drinks earlier last night.
Draco groans and drops his arm from his eyes. He attempts to sit up, but his head throbs painfully, so he decides that if he's going to die, he supposes that doing so in Theodore Nott's home would probably be sufficient payback for all of the chaos that the aforementioned wizard has caused in Draco's life.
Draco sits up slowly and digs through his pocket to pull out his mobile phone. He flicks it open and checks his messages, hoping that Granger hadn't needed him while he was indisposed– she hadn't. No messages. Draco sighs with relief.
"You have a mobile phone?" Draco hears from somewhere behind him in the room.
"It's for work," Draco responds, closing the device and tucking it back into his pocket.
Theo rounds the sofa and drops down onto the lounge across from Draco, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table between them.
"Can't your captain just floo you or send a patronus if she needs you?" Theo asks, and Draco knows he's asking out of genuine curiosity, not prejudice.
Theodore Nott may be Pureblood, but he was the first of Draco's circle to realize that 'Pureblood supremacy' was complete bollocks. Draco thinks that it was mostly his father's harsh treatment that soured Theo on blood purity, but either way, Theo had figured out that there really wasn't much difference between the 'us' and the 'them'.
Theo actually finds Muggles and Muggle technology to be fascinating. When Draco had first moved into his flat in Manhattan, Theo had visited and spent hours fiddling with all of the appliances that came with the flat. Draco had actually found it rather endearing, and useful, seeing as he didn't know much about Muggle appliances before Theo had explained some of them.
"It's not for my captain. She calls me on it sometimes, too, but right now it's more for a case I'm on."
Theo's eyes brighten.
"Ooh, what's the case?" he asks, despite knowing that Draco can't tell him.
Draco eyes him pointedly.
"It's a protective detail," Draco responds. He can at least share that information. He just can't share who he's protecting. Not that his friends would believe him if he said it was Granger, anyway. "And no, I can't tell you who."
Or, well, technically, Draco can tell him– he just won't. Potter never did make him make an Unbreakable Vow, after all.
"I wasn't going to ask," Theo lies, and Draco knows that he's lying by the way he smirks.
Draco stands from his friend's sofa, knowing that he told Granger that he would be back in Manhattan by noon on Saturday, so he should probably get moving.
Draco walks towards the floo, Theo trailing behind him. Draco grabs a handful of floo powder and prepares to vomit from the extended travel time of international floo.
"Thank you for coming, Draco," Theo says, his voice sincere. Theodore Nott doesn't often do sincere, so it jars Draco slightly, but he recovers quickly. "It meant a lot."
The corner of Draco's mouth turns up slightly.
"To Daph or to you?"
Theo returns the almost-smile. Draco steps into the hearth.
"Both."
Draco tips his head slightly in acknowledgement before throwing down the powder and calling out for his flat in Manhattan.
"Malfoy! My office!" Katrina calls across the Auror offices, walking back into her own office and closing the door behind her.
"Ooh, Malfoy's in trouble," Auror Jeffries– a young woman, about Draco's age, with dark skin and caramel brown curls sings, laughing, as she props herself up against her desk, which is across from Draco's.
Draco rolls his eyes.
"Bugger off, Mona," Draco groans, not entirely sure what Katrina could possibly be upset with him about, but in any case, it's probably not Mona's business. Unless it is.
Ramona "Mona" Jeffries has been Draco's Auror partner for the last six months. She's a good witch– powerful. She's exceptionally smart and quick on her feet. Draco has quite enjoyed having her as his partner. He trusts that she has his back in the field, which is the highest compliment one can give to their partner.
"She's right. Mom sounds mad," Grady Cole, another Auror, smirks, biting into an orange slice as he twists side to side in the chair at the desk beside Draco's.
Draco eyes Cole pointedly, but decidedly doesn't respond. "Mom" does sound mad.
Draco stands from his desk and makes the short walk to Katrina's office, shutting the door behind him as he steps inside. Draco takes a seat in front of Katrina's desk.
Katrina is sitting at her desk, with her hands folded neatly in front of her– a far cry from the Katrina Gordon that Draco has become accustomed to working for.
"Kat?" Draco questions, informally, which is technically inappropriate, but his boss is also his friend, and right now, his friend looks displeased.
"You were supposed to have your reports on that Muggle-born attack on my desk on Monday, Malfoy," Katrina states, glaring at Draco. "You're not a slacker, and you have never been late on your paperwork, not once, since I hired you. But it's Thursday. What's with the delay?"
Draco frowns, rubbing his hand across his brow in frustration.
"I'm sorry, Kat," Draco apologizes quietly. "I went home this past weekend. I suppose I just got a bit distracted. It won't happen again."
Katrina sighs.
"Are you alright, Draco?" Katrina asks, her voice softening. The use of Draco's first name denotes a change in the tone of this conversation.
Draco thinks for a moment. He's not usually one for sharing his innermost thoughts and feelings. However, Katrina is probably the closest person to him– given the fact that most of his friends are on a different continent. Draco likes his fellow Aurors, but they're not exactly friends. They're friendly, he supposes, but not to the level of camaraderie that Draco feels with Kat.
"I'm fine," Draco responds, and it's not exactly a lie. Katrina raises an eyebrow at him, as if in disbelief. "Alright, fine. Perhaps this security detail that I'm doing for the Ministry is just making me miss home a bit."
Katrina tilts her head, questioning.
"How so?"
Draco leans back in his chair, looking to the ceiling to steel himself for a moment before responding.
"My charge– she's English. Her accent and her voice. On the rare occasion that she speaks to me, her voice reminds me of home. We went to school together, so I suppose it just brings back memories."
Katrina smiles a sympathetic smile.
"What made you go home over the weekend?" Katrina asks, genuine curiosity in her voice. In the four years that she's known Draco, he's only gone home a handful of times, so twice in just a few months, Katrina knows, is odd.
"A friend's birthday."
Katrina nods, leaning back in her chair and resting her arms on the arms of her chair, before changing the subject.
"How are things with the protection case?" Katrina asks. She doesn't ask often, as she knows that there isn't much Draco can tell her, but as Draco's boss, she does have to ask every now and again.
Draco shrugs, resisting the urge to groan aloud in frustration.
"Fine, I suppose," Draco states finally. "It doesn't appear that she's in any immediate danger, but I'm still keeping an eye on her."
Katrina nods again, although her expression is skeptical.
"That's the thing with danger, though– it's not always apparent. Just stick with her, Malfoy– that's an order."
"No arguments this week?" Draco asks, raising his wand to ward Granger's front door. He's just arrived at her flat for his weekly wardings, and so far, Granger hasn't complained.
Draco hears Granger huff a small noise from behind him. Last Draco checked, she was sitting cross-legged on her sofa, with a knitted blanket over her shoulders, reading Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. The book has a sticker on the spine, which tells Draco that it's a copy from a public library.
Granger decidedly does not respond to Draco's question.
Draco moves next to the window beside her fireplace. He whispers the spell for the wards, taking care to make them as strong as he can do.
"Romeo & Juliet– love story or no?" Draco asks, knowing that this particular question is one that any literati will have an opinion on.
Granger scoffs– Got her.
"The original title for the play was The Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet. It's not a love story. The entire play takes place over five days– not to mention the fact that Juliet is just thirteen years old. It's a classic, and I still enjoy the play, and it is about love, but it is decidedly not a love story."
Draco smirks, still with his back turned to the bushy-haired witch behind him. His thoughts exactly.
"I'm surprised you know Shakespeare," Granger says quietly, a hint of contempt in her voice as Draco hears her turn a page in her book.
Draco's eyebrows raise.
"I wasn't raised in a bubble, Granger. My father hated Muggles, but appreciated literature– I also have been known to pick up a book every now and again."
Draco finishes warding the window and turns to face Granger. Her hair is piled on top of her head with her wand stuck through her bun, and she is in fact sitting cross-legged with a knitted blanket circled around her shoulders.
Draco could swear that he sees the ghost of a smile tugging at her lips. He should've known that if he wanted to ingratiate himself to Granger that all he needed to do was talk about books.
"I agree with you, by the way," Draco says, bringing his point back to Romeo & Juliet, rather than his father. "About Romeo & Juliet."
Granger snorts indelicately, and shakes her head, not lifting her eyes from her book.
"I guess ferrets really can fly, then."
Draco arrives home from warding Granger's flat and shucks his Auror robe, hanging it up on a coat rack beside his front door. Next, he kicks off his dragonhide shoes and tucks them beside the same coat rack. Finally, he unholsters his wand, and unbuckles his shoulder wand holster, hanging it up on a separate hook from his cloak.
Draco pads into his kitchen and sets about preparing his dinner.
Draco has found that he actually enjoys cooking the Muggle way. It's not unlike Potions– follow a recipe, add ingredients at the proper time, stir, boil, let simmer for a predetermined amount of time.
Draco realized quite early on in his adventure of living alone that he did not care for the taste of food prepared with magic– at least, not food prepared with magic by his hand. He'd always liked the meals served at the Manor and at Hogwarts, but something about his magically prepared meals tasted off.
So, Draco had found a public library close to his flat, signed up for a Muggle library card, and checked out two cookbooks that looked interesting to him. It took about three weeks of cooking every day to finally make something that Draco deemed edible, but now, after four years, Draco has learned a lot. Now, he would even consider himself to be a good cook, even if just for himself.
Draco finishes preparing his dinner and plates it up. He is about to take his plate over to his dining table when a hooting outside of his kitchen window catches his attention.
Draco opens the window and allows the bird to land on his window sill.
Draco doesn't recognize the owl, but he takes the envelope attached to the bird's claw, anyway.
Before opening the letter, Draco offers a handful of treats to the owl. The owl pecks at them gently and doesn't bite Draco's hand even once. Draco thinks that this is quite a well-mannered owl.
He turns the envelope over to the front and looks at the address. As soon as he looks at it, he knows who this owl must belong to and who this letter is from.
On the front of the envelope reads one word: Malfoy.
Oof. Hello, friends. I'm sorry for missing my upload yesterday. I started a new job on Monday and had to have an unplanned, very minor surgery yesterday, so the day just got away from me. I apologize.
Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying this fic! I can't believe we're now at almost SEVENTY followers! Thank you all so much!
As for behind-the-scenes of this chapter, just know, there is absolutely a wand-holster agenda in this fic. :P This is already like the second or third time Draco's has been mentioned and it will not be the last, lol.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I will sincerely try to get the next one out on time next week! Thank you for your patience!
