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The first time that it happened, Neville would say you probably could have heard the shouting from three floors down. Draco Malfoy had somehow stumbled through their Floo, which really didn’t make sense. Neville wouldn’t have ever thought that Malfoy would have been able to come through the wards. He remembered nearly the entire interaction.
Harry looked up when he heard the Floo, same as Neville did. When they saw who came through, his eyes widened. “Malfoy? The hell are you doing here?”
It didn’t take Malfoy long to compose himself. “I could ask you the same question, Potter, what are you doing in my… In my…” Wherever Malfoy thought he was, Neville wasn’t sure because Malfoy looked around with confusion. “Where the bloody hell am I?!”
Harry didn’t look too happy with Malfoy’s ‘answer.’ “You’re in my bloody flat, Malfoy, don’t act dumb, it doesn’t suit you. So why the hell are you here?”
“Well I don’t know! I was trying to Floo into my own office as I do every morning!” Malfoy threw a glare at Neville, then at Harry, like he thought one of them- “I’ll bet you tampered with my Floo, just to make me look the fool.”
Harry scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Come off it, Malfoy, why would I fuck with your Floo?” Neville put his bookmark in his book, and considered giving the two of them a moment alone. Everyone knew the… rumors about Harry and Draco, of course. Everyone but the two of them, it seemed.
“To make me late for work and make it look like my own fault!” Before Neville knew it, Malfoy was rounding on him next. “And what are you doing in Potter’s flat anyhow, Longbottom?”
Neville rose an eyebrow at him, glancing to Harry. “Mate… I live here.”
Well, Malfoy didn’t seem to take too kindly to that. “You what? ”
“Neville and I live together,” Harry repeated. “We’re going to the same uni, for the same major. Made sense to me, at least. Don’t know why your knickers are all in a twist.”
It looked like Draco didn’t know what to say, looking back and forth between the two of them before he finally gave a frustrated growl and turned on his heel, picking up some of their Floo Dust and throwing it down. “Ministry of Magic, Cursebreaking Department!”
Before Neville or Harry could try to get a word in edgewise, he was stepping into the Floo and gone, like he’d hardly been there to begin with. Neville rose an eyebrow over towards Harry. “Mate, what was that all about?”
Harry frowned back at him. “Why are you asking me? I don’t know what he’s on about!”
“Alright, alright,” he said, raising his arms to show he was unarmed. “It was just a question, no need to get so uppity.”
“ Uppity, ” Harry huffed as he moved into the kitchen, continuing on making himself a fry-up. “I am not uppity. If anyone is uppity, it’s Malfoy. That’s his specialty, after all.”
When it happened again the next morning, then the morning after that, it was becoming apparently obvious that there was something wrong with the Floo system. Neville got woken up by their screaming match and headed out to the living room to where they looked to both be red in the face. “You think I want to keep coming here?! I have work to be doing, far away from you, Potter!”
“Why the fuck else would you keep coming here, Malfoy, unless it’s to fuck with me?!”
“Well, I-” They were both interrupted by the whistling of the kettle, which amazingly grabbed both of their attentions. Harry abandoned Draco to attend to the tea, leaving Draco standing there in front of their fireplace- “Is that Earl Grey?”
“What?” Harry looked at him with a frown. “No- Yes- Maybe. Why the hell do you care?”
“I don’t.” Right. Obviously. “I just consider myself a bit of an expert in these sorts of things.”
“‘Bit of an expert,’” Harry scoffed, apparently not believing him. “Listen here, you posh blond git, you don’t get to say anything about the tea I make when you keep letting yourself in-”
“How many times do I have to tell you I don’t even want to be here in the first place?!”
Neville finally cleared his throat, catching their attention. He looked to Draco. “You want a cup, then?”
Draco harumphed, crossing his arms. “No, I do not want a cup!”
Right… That was why he was sticking around for so long, then. “Alright, mate. Suit yourself.” Neville walked into the kitchen, ignoring Harry’s shocked and betrayed looks while he fixed himself a cup. “Harry, did you get the notes for that last chapter?”
Harry frowned at him before giving a nod. “Yeah, they’re in my notebook, you know where to find them if you need them.”
Well. If this was gonna be happening, may as well pretend it’s normal. “What kind of work are you doing, Draco?”
“Excuse me?” Neville did his absolute best to keep from sighing. Was he the only one around here with a brain?
“You keep saying that you’re late for work, and that you’re trying to get to work, and then you Floo to the Cursebreaker’s office. You looking to be a Cursebreaker?”
Though at first he expected Draco to huff and bluster around and just eventually leave, he surprised Neville by finally nodding. “Yes. I am.”
That had Harry looking up at Draco proper. “You are? I thought you were gonna be some… Some business man, or some politician.”
Draco’s eyes narrowed at him. “You mean like my father?”
Merlin, denial was a river in Egypt, and Draco and Harry were both drowning in it. Harry tried to flounder around for an answer, but Draco just spoke right over him. “No, I decided I wanted to do something for the better of our society. I don’t need to justify myself to you, however. That is my answer, take it or leave it.”
Neville nodded before Harry could stick his foot anymore in his own mouth. “That’s a good way to look at things. I’m really looking to be a teacher, just can’t decide if I wanna go with magic or muggle.”
He watched Draco’s face wrinkle up when the word left his mouth. “Why would you consider teaching muggles?”
Yeah, he expected a response like that. “Because believe it or not, muggles need teachers too. I’m actually thinking about primary school. Most muggle kids get sent for schooling when they’re five, that’s the schooling most of the half-bloods and muggleborns get before they come to Hogwarts.”
Hey, if he could make Draco Malfoy reconsider his whole muggles thing, Neville would count that as a win and probably retire right then and there. “They start schooling so young?”
“Yeah,” Harry said gruffly. “It’s hell.” Right… He hadn’t had such great experiences. From what he’d told Neville, Neville would have probably come away with the same kind of opinions.
“Well, it certainly sounds like it. Now, I have to be going.” Like that, Draco was turning around and leaving like he had the past few mornings.
Neville looked at Harry. “A conversation. A real conversation with Malfoy. You finally growing up?”
That at least managed to get a laugh out of Harry as he reached over to push at his arm. “Shut up,” he said.
“I’m serious,” Neville told him with a nod of his head, taking a sip of his tea before continuing. “Looked like you two were having an honest conversation almost, near the end there.”
“Why do you think his Floo keeps sending him here when he’s trying to go to work?”
Thinking about it, Neville shook his head. It didn’t make sense. Floos were really easy to understand. You throw down the powder, say where you wanted to go, and the magic took you there. “Well… Maybe they blocked his Floo address?”
Harry frowned at him. “They can do that?”
“Oh yeah,” Neville said with a nod. “How do you think all the big names make it so that no one barges in? It’s just like the wards. That reminds me, how come Malfoy can get through the wards?”
“Huh?” Harry looked like he was trying really hard to pretend to not really care about the question, or his answer. Living with a guy for seven years, though, really made it so you could see through the bullshit. “Oh, I guess I just never bothered to think about keeping him out. Didn’t think he’d be such a big problem, you know?”
Neville shook his head with a snort, looking down at his cup. Merlin, they really were idiots, weren’t they? “Yeah, alright, Harry. Whatever you’ve got to tell yourself.”
As he walked out of the kitchen, he heard Harry put something down in the sink. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Can’t hear you,” he said, walking back to find Harry’s notes. “I’m studying.” Glancing back, he just barely caught Harry flipping him the bird.
✶✶✶
It had been a week since the first time Draco’s Floo had messed up, and it kept bringing him to their flat. At first it had been funny, but now it was starting to get a little sad. Neville had started setting out a third tea cup yesterday, and now they were on day two of Harry giving Draco a cup of tea. Each day now it was a different sort of tea. It was like a game between the two of them.
Today, Draco stepped in and paused, sniffing the air. “Green peppermint with a bit of cinnamon.”
“Alright, what the fuck?” The exclamation had Neville nearly in stitches with laughter as Harry charmed the cup to float over to Draco. “That’s getting freaky, you shouldn’t be able to be that specific just with a smell.”
Draco scoffed as he took the cup without pause, not seeming to even care about Neville. “Working with potions as long as I have, it gets to be a rather simple skill. You also used two incredibly distinctive scents,” he pointed out. Taking a sip, he rose an eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to serve me breakfast?”
“Hardy har, Malfoy. Just get the fuck out of my sight.” Of course, Harry wasn’t actually going through with kicking him out, just kept cooking breakfast for the two of them while Draco finished his cup of tea.
“That reminds me, have you seen this morning’s edition of The Daily Prophet ?”
Neville answered for the both of them, composing himself and shaking his head. “We don’t get that paper. We get the Quibbler and the muggle news.”
Draco’s nose wrinkled up at him. “Why?”
“Because I got sick and tired of them sticking their noses where it didn’t belong and digging up stories about my life that didn’t exist,” Harry huffed, flipping their pancakes a bit roughly.
“Oh hey, that reminds me. Malfoy, do you think maybe they blocked your Floo address at work and that’s why you keep getting sent here?”
“I don’t see how those two things could correlate.” He set his cup down to cross his arms. “I work there, why would they block my Floo address?”
Neville shrugged. It had just been a thought, after all. “Because they’re spiteful pricks that hold a grudge?”
“Well, that much is true, but no, I doubt that they’ve blocked my Floo address.”
“Why don’t you check when you get in, then? Anyway to check without asking someone?”
Thinking about it, Draco nodded. “Yes, I think so. I’ll have to schedule an appointment with a Floo technician to come in and have a look at my Floo. Perhaps it just needs some adjustments. It’s rather old, after all.”
Well, that made sense, too. Old houses typically had old Floos. Sometimes they just needed a good sweeping, or their grates were starting to get too stiff or too loose, depending on how often they were used. That could explain why he kept ending up at their place. “Alright. Let us know when that is so we can get a good idea of when this’ll be put to rest, yeah?”
Draco stared at him for a minute, like he was sizing him up before he finally nodded. “Very well.”
Picking up his cup, he finished off his tea before levitating it back to Harry in the kitchen and turning around and heading out to work.
Neville looked to where Harry, not bothering to look up, took hold of the teacup and set it down in the sink to wash out later. He never really understood Harry’s thing about cooking and cleaning, but in Neville’s mind, if Harry liked the work, he would happily leave it to him. At least, Harry hadn’t asked for help, far as he could remember. “So. A week of morning Malfoy visits. How are you holding up?”
Harry looked up at him. “I know what you’re doing. You’re not funny.”
He rose an eyebrow at him. “I’m… not trying to be funny?” Neville looked around and no, Draco had left. Was Harry just finally starting to catch on to everything. “First couple days you two were screaming about how much you hated each other, now you’re making him a cup of morning tea.”
“I can’t hear you,” Harry said, serving their plates while he kept from looking Neville in the eye. “I’m cooking.”
Well, Merlin may have miracles. Maybe he wasn’t drowning, after all.
✶✶✶
When Draco came in the next morning, it was with a groan. “I scheduled an appointment with the Floo technician yesterday. He said that he was all booked, and seeing as he didn’t classify this as an emergency, he put me for a week out, rather than trying to squeeze this in any sooner.”
Harry rolled his eyes as he finished up their tea. “So we have to deal with you for another week?”
“Yes, unfortunately,” Draco said with a huff, walking over and sitting down on the recliner. Well, someone was definitely making themselves at home. “Black orange spice.”
“Arse,” Neville heard Harry mutter as Draco’s tea ‘pop’ped from the kitchen to the coffee table in front of him.
“Hey Draco,” Neville finally said, leaning against the kitchen door frame and watching as he took a sip. “I don’t know many people that work eight days in a row.”
It looked like a flush of red was creeping up his neck and towards his ears as he took a long time with that gulp before he finally put his teacup down. Probably needed to think of a lie. “Unfortunately, it is perfectly legal for them to schedule me for ten days in a row, so long as I have two days in a calendar week off.”
“Uh huh.” Oh, yeah, totally. Neville was definitely buying that one. Not. Looking back at Harry, Neville could see the gears turning in his head, too. Maybe the two of them were finally gonna get their acts together?
“You didn’t mention, Potter, what sort of schooling do you intend to provide, then?” The question startled the both of them, and Neville watched as Harry glanced to him. He nodded to Harry. If Draco had a problem with what Harry wanted to do with his life, that was his problem, not theirs.
“I wanna open up my own school,” Harry said, finishing up their breakfast and- And he made three plates. “Combine muggle and magic.”
Draco looked like he thought it over as he took the plate from Harry, not even questioning it. “You mean teaching a muggle curriculum to wizarding children, I assume.”
“No,” Harry said, shaking his head. “Teaching muggle and magic learning to muggle and magic kids.”
“...At the same time?” Draco seemed like he had a hard time wrapping his head around the concept. Neville couldn’t blame him. When Harry first explained it to him, he’d thought Harry had lost the plot a bit. “Don’t you think that’ll be a bit difficult, what with the statute?”
“Who says I give a damn about the statute?” They both couldn’t help but snicker at Draco’s eyes practically popping out of their sockets. “I’m Harry Potter. What are they gonna do, snap my wand?”
He could see Draco putting the pieces together in his head- “Granger. She’s been investing herself significantly in politics recently.”
Harry nodded, his arms crossed. “We agree. In this day and age, there’s no reason to keep the statute up.”
If they thought Draco looked shocked earlier, that was nothing to what he looked like now. His jaw was practically on the floor, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. “You want to get rid of the statute?”
“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “If we got rid of the statute, there’d probably be a lot less people like my relatives out there.”
“Your…” Yeah, Neville wasn’t stupid. Most everyone had at least heard the rumors about the kind of people Harry had grown up with when he was young, and he was sure that Draco had heard the exact same rumors, too. “I see,” he finally said, taking a bite of the breakfast Harry had made for him.
Neville, rather than saying anything, just ate his own breakfast with Harry and Draco. Of course, it didn’t take long for Draco to finish his plate and come up with something or other about being late for work, and he was heading out the Floo.
Looking to Harry, he gave him a nod. “So, you’re making breakfast for him, now.”
Harry looked like he was trying really hard not to blush, and failing pretty hard at it, too. “Just cause he keeps popping over while I’m in the middle of making it. It’d be rude not to. ‘Sides, bastard’s too skinny by half.”
“Uh huh,” Neville said, standing up with his own plate to set it in the kitchen. “Come on, or we’ll be late. You know how Stephens is about that.”
“I know,” Harry groaned, scarfing down the rest of his food before he stood and set his dish in the sink to wash later. “You know, if I didn’t know better I would say that Stephens was just a Polyjuiced Snape.”
“It would make sense,” he replied, quite serious about the matter before the both of them were smiling at one another and giving quiet laughs. Sometimes the loss of the war still hurt, but if they could make light of it… Maybe they were going to be okay, eventually.
✶✶✶
And for the next week, that was how it would go. Draco would pop in around the same time in the morning, Harry would make him tea and breakfast, then he would rush out the Floo, saying something or other about being late for work. They both thought that Neville was an idiot, but he wasn’t. He noticed that each morning, Draco stayed just a few minutes more. That each morning, Harry was being a little more careful and thoughtful with serving Draco’s breakfast, and their ‘game’ with the tea seemed like it was turning more into Harry trying to find Draco’s favorite kind without either of the two of them acknowledging it.
It was nice, in a way, that they could finally let themselves see where this could go. It was also nauseating that they had fallen so hard for each other, and could barely pull their own heads out of their asses to see it. Watching them dance around each other was getting to be more aggravating and boring than it was funny.
It was getting to be late though, and they still hadn’t seen a sign of Draco. If they didn’t leave soon, they were going to be late for their class, but the way that Harry had started to pace anxiously in front of the fireplace, Neville had the thought that that would be something better left unsaid.
Finally, just as he was about to suggest that they get going, the Floo roared and Draco stumbled through, looking… Well, flush, for one. Ruffled, for another. “Well, I had the Floo technician round.”
“And?” Harry looked like he was hopeful and bracing for impact all at once.
“And someone’s put a charm on my Floo so that whenever I use it, I always come here. I have a fairly good idea in mind of whom might have done that. He said he’d be by tomorrow morning with the proper equipment and that by my regular time I leave, it should all be cleared up.”
Like someone had popped a balloon, Harry deflated. “Well… Good. I was getting sick of seeing your ferret face around here, Malfoy.”
Neville watched as, rather than getting upset, Draco just gave a smirk that was almost like a smile. “Yes, I was tiring so of your constant jabs. Can’t say that I’ll miss them.”
“So that’s it, then. We never have to look at each other again.”
“Indeed.”
When the silence filled the room, Neville looked between the two before picking up his bag and clearing his throat. “Harry? We should go.”
Harry looked at Neville, his face resembling an owl before he finally nodded. “Right. Right, yeah, you’re right. We need to get going, Nev.” Picking up his own bag, Harry glanced at Draco one more time. “Bye, Malfoy.”
Draco didn’t look like he was saying goodbye or anything, though. He just nodded, “Potter.” Then he was turning around and leaving through the Floo.
Hesitant to be the first to say anything, Neville finally leaned closer to Harry. “You know he’s up to something, right?”
“That’s the fun part, Nev, keep up,” Harry finally said, grinning at him and opening the door of their flat to lead them out.
“Merlin have mercy,” he murmured.
✶✶✶
When the two of them were making breakfast the next morning, Neville was surprised when the Floo roared and Draco was making his way through. “Hang on,” Neville said, putting his hands up, because this was really getting ridiculous. “I thought you said that the Floo technician was going to fix your Floo.”
“Oh, he did,” Draco said with a nod and a smirk. “I just decided to come here, anyway.”
Harry rose an eyebrow at him, crossing his arms. He was gonna let the eggs burn, and he probably didn’t even care. “Why the hell did you willingly come here, Malfoy?”
“Well, you know what they say,” he taunted. “You fed me. Now I’m just going to have to keep coming around for breakfast and tea.”
“Yeah? Just watch for any potions that might get into your tea, you prat. There’s no reason for you to still be coming around here, you can probably get your damned house elves to make you breakfast if you want it that bad.”
Draco rolled his eyes, settling himself on the couch like he lived there. Neville was really agreeing with the ‘prat’ and ‘bastard’ comments, right now. “I could, but that would be nowhere near as satisfying as dropping in.”
“So you’re just gonna… keep coming in every morning for breakfast and tea?” Looking at him, Neville snorted. “Come off it, Malfoy. You’re not going to work fifteen days in a row. Just admit you’re here to see Harry.”
“Wha- How dare you, I am not-!”
“Neville, what are you talking about?!” They were both bright red, and Neville looked between the two of them. He just couldn’t be expected to do this anymore. Picking up his bag, he gave a shake of his head.
“Listen, I’m going to pick up something before class, alright? I’ll leave you two to… Make up, or shag, or whatever, just spare me the details when I get back, alright?”
Ignoring their sputtered arguments against his words, Neville turned around and left the flat, walking down the stairs to head to his class. He really hoped that they got over themselves and just snogged and got it over with. He was sick of it all. But, well… At least Harry seemed happy with Draco. In the end, he supposed that was what mattered.