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Harry knew that someone was supposed to come today. And still, when his alarm charm went off and informed him of the presence of an intruder, he was startled out of his sleep and fell off the couch.
He groaned in pain as his shoulder hit the floor.
As the alarm went off again Harry stared at his ceiling, trying to accept his horrible fate. Slowly, his world came into focus.
Yes, he was expecting guests today.
Yes, it was already morning.
Yes, it would be expected of him to already be awake and functioning by now.
He hadn’t bothered updating the Ministry about his change of schedule ever since he was sent home “for his own safety” following a few “incidents”. What was the point in going to sleep and waking up early if he had nowhere to go? It got even worse when, somehow, his address was leaked to the media. That resulted in several house changes, and, eventually, in Harry not leaving his home at all for fear that someone might spot him at the entrance. He couldn’t recall the last time he dared set foot outside of the house , he only flooed to Ron and Hermione’s, which was itself a rare occurrence.
The Muggle phrase ‘Third time’s the charm’ popped into his mind as the alarm rang yet again. He pushed himself off the floor and made his way to the door, putting on his slippers on the way. He mumbled the charm that would allow his visitor to see the door and enter.
“Bloody hell, Potter, I knew you withdrew from life, but this is worse than I expected.”
Harry stared in disbelief at the man who stood on his doorstep. He knew one of his coworkers would be sent to protect him from the increasing threats, but why did it have to be –
“Malfoy ? What are you doing here?”
“The Ministry sent me.” Malfoy ignored common courtesy and walked past Harry into the living room. He stopped a few steps away from him. “Clearly I’m needed here.”
His tone told Harry he was not at all talking about the various death threats Harry had been getting. Threats that’d escalated with a dungbomb at his doorstep yesterday, making the Ministry decide that Harry needed a personal bodyguard to stay with him until they found the person behind the threats and eliminated the danger.
But out of all the Aurors available…
Harry closed the door and turned back to face his home. Malfoy was standing a few meters away. Harry could only see his back, but he could feel his judgement as he stared around the room. Suddenly Harry felt very aware of his living conditions. The clothes – shirts, trousers, pants – thrown about the furniture and the floor. Take-out boxes and used tissues and dirty dishes scattered on every surface. He glanced down at himself; his too big T-shirt, decorated with various stains and food leftovers; his boxers he tended to wear as trousers lately. His slippers. Malfoy was impeccably dressed, smelling of fresh cologne, looking like he charmed his hair to make sure not a single strand was out of place.
Harry felt his face turn red in shame.
He decided to pretend everything was perfectly normal about him. “Yeah, well – I received death threats.”
“Not that!” Malfoy sounded frustrated. He turned to look at Harry, scanning him from head to toe, looking more horrified the farther down he got. “Potter, you have a Chinese noodle stuck to your shirt.”
Harry’s blush deepened at being called out like this. He hurried to remove it.
“And – Salazar – what are those ?”
Harry followed Malfoy’s eyes. “Uhm, you mean my Crocs? They’re comf – “
“Hideous. There’s only one body part rubber should be worn on. We have to take care of that.”
Harry’s mouth went dry. “I am not going to have sex with you!“
Malfoy’s eyebrow arched up. “I meant your lack of style, Potter. But I can’t blame you for going there .”
“Aren’t you here to protect me, or something?”
“I am! Apparently your sense of fashion is in much graver danger than your physical safety.”
“Malfoy, I really don’t care for – “
“Where’s your closet?”
Harry found himself following Malfoy in his own house, his requests for Malfoy to stop snooping around his home completely ignored.
“It’s much worse than I’d imagined,” he heard from his bedroom.
Harry hurried there, scared to find out what Malfoy had found.
“Malfoy, get out of my – what the fuck did you do?!”
Harry’s clothes were – gone . Emptied. Vanished. Instead, Malfoy was standing there holding dress robes Harry had never seen before, and definitely did not own .
“I fixed your problem. Come on, you have to change.” He paused, sneered. “Maybe take a shower first.”
Harry reluctantly did as he was told. He was too tired to argue, and a shower might not be such a bad idea. He walked out of the shower fully dressed. There was no way he was going to let Malfoy see him naked.
For a moment he thought that he left a mess on his face or something, since Malfoy, for several seconds, just gaped at him.
Was it blush he saw on his pale cheeks?
Malfoy cleared his throat. “See? You’re capable of looking decent.”
Harry might have been away from society for a while, but he was still capable of recognizing attraction when it was right in front of him.
With his tiredness and need for solitude gone, Harry smirked. “Surprised?”
Maybe having Malfoy around wouldn’t be so bad, after all.