Chapter Text
‘Right then,’ Harry said, watching Hermione and Nott leave, and resisting the urge to run after them and separate them like naughty schoolchildren as Nott held his arm out to Hermione and she took it, daintily and gently. Hermione is a grown woman, he told himself, and you trust her. She trusts Nott. Ginny trusts Nott, and you trust Ginny.
‘I still don’t know why I’m doing this,’ he continued. ‘Why, exactly, am I doing this?’
‘Because we made a bet, Harry,’ Ginny told him. ‘No skipping out on a bet. Besides, when Malfoy here gets hopelessly lost, he’s going to have to wear Gryffindor colours for a month of Quidditch games.’
‘One game, Weasley,’ Malfoy said. ‘But it doesn’t matter, because I’m not going to lose.’
‘You’re not going to win, either, Malfoy,’ Ginny countered, ‘if all we do today is hang around here bickering.’
‘Get moving, then, Weasley,’ Malfoy’s tone wasn’t quite as sardonic as it used to be, Harry thought, and honestly, the way he extended his hand to Luna was - almost sweet. For Malfoy, anyway.
They headed out into London, and it went against every instinct that Harry had, but he let Malfoy take the lead. Malfoy turned them right, but before he turned to follow, Harry glanced back and saw Hermione disappearing into that little bookstore she liked, the one she dragged him into every time they met in London. He grinned to himself. Probably Hermione would be just fine, then.
They walked along for a few minutes, and Harry tried to simply enjoy the freedom of walking through the crowded streets with his girlfriend, and with Luna, who was one of his favourite people, and tried to ignore the fact that he was also with one of his least favourite people, but he couldn’t help watching Malfoy watch his surroundings, eyes widening and narrowing as he took in the sights of Muggle London, from the red bus trundling along at an almost sedate pace compared to the Knight Bus, to the posters hanging in the window of a music shop showing a blonde Muggle singer in nothing but her underwear. (Malfoy’s eyes had widened enormously at that, and Harry wanted to snicker, to act as though beautiful women in their underwear in public was an everyday occurrence for him, but - )
Ginny cleared her throat and both boys jumped as Harry realised they’d been staring just a little too long. Luna had wandered ahead to the next store, and Ginny rolled her eyes at them, but she was smirking a little, too.
‘We’re going to look at some clothes,’ she said. ‘Catch up when you’re ready.’
Harry watched as Ginny caught up to Luna. She said something and both girls laughed, Ginny loud and boisterous, Luna softer, but no less cheeky. He sighed. Better get it over with.
‘So, Malfoy,’ he said.
‘So, Potter,’ Malfoy replied, and maybe he wasn’t the embodiment of all evil anymore, but he was definitely still a git.
‘What are you getting out of this? Don’t tell me this is all in service of seeing Ginny and Hermione wear Slytherin scarves. Of all the bets in the world, you chose that?’
Malfoy was quiet for a moment, and Harry followed his gaze to where Luna was pointing at a hat in the window of a charity shop.
‘Technically,’ Malfoy said, ‘Theo chose that bet. And I don’t think he has any interest in seeing Weasley in his scarf, if you catch my meaning.’
‘So you’re here, spending the entire afternoon with us, just so your mate can spend some time with Hermione? That’s awfully generous of you.’
‘I don’t have to explain myself to you, Potter,’ Malfoy said, but his tone was casual and - almost friendly?
‘No, you don’t,’ Harry agreed, matching his tone. ‘And it’s pretty obvious that you don’t actually care about making Ginny meet the terms of the bet, either. And you could easily ditch us right now, and Nott would still be off who knows where with Hermione. So that leads me to think that you want to stick with us, and I can only think of two reasons.’
‘Oh, please, enlighten me,’ Malfoy said. ‘Show us the impressive deductive skills they’re teaching you in Auror school.’
‘You don’t want to get lost in Muggle London alone, and you want to spend more time with Luna,’ Harry said simply.
Malfoy shrugged. ‘That wasn’t too hard a leap to make, honestly, Potter. I’m almost disappointed.’
Harry wasn’t going to let himself get sucked into an argument. ‘Luna?’ he asked. ‘And please keep in mind that I’ve already given one brotherly threatening speech today.’
‘That was a threat?’
Harry shrugged. ‘Nott got my meaning. Do I need to make my meaning clear to you, also?’
‘No,’ Malfoy said, then backtracked. ‘Or, wait, maybe yes? I don’t know, Potter, fuck, I’m confused. Fine, okay, yes, I like Luna, and I like that she has you and Weasley and Granger ready to fight for her, so yeah, you probably do need to warn me off. But no, you don’t need to warn me off because I bloody spent half of last year sneaking her food and blankets in my dungeon, and do you think I would risk doing that for just anyone?’
Harry considered it, smiling to himself on the inside. There was just something about Luna that drew people in, and he shouldn’t be surprised that she’d caught Malfoy in her net as well.
‘No, you wouldn’t,’ Harry said. ‘I’ll just give you the same advice, then. Be good to my sister, okay, Malfoy?’
‘Yeah,’ Malfoy said, looking as serious as he ever had. ‘Yes, Potter, I will.’
‘Right, then,’ Harry said again, then took a breath and called out. ‘Oi! Girls! Get back here, Malfoy’s going to give us his plan for the day.’