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Whoever Harry expected his new coworker to be, because McGonagall sure hadn’t told him who she’d decided to hire as the new Potions professor, he didn’t expect Draco Malfoy to walk into the start-of-term meeting. Professor Slughorn had rightfully retired, and it hadn’t taken long for McGonagall to announce that she had found a replacement. The way she had cut her eyes at Harry during said announcement already made him realize it wasn’t someone he would have chosen.
“Malfoy’s who you hired?” He hoped his exasperation didn’t come out as much as he felt it. Of course, a lot had changed since the war, and he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t let himself read every article that mentioned his name. But as far as actually seeing him again, especially in a professional setting, he didn't expect it to be less than five years later.
"Thanks, Potter," Malfoy replied as he sat himself in the chair next to Harry. "Good to see you again, too."
"Sorry," Harry muttered, sinking back in his seat once he realized the other professors were staring at him. "I'm glad you're a part of the team."
The rest of the meeting went off without much fanfare, as they usually did, but as soon as they were back out into the hall and Malfoy was headed back to his office, Harry quickly followed, tapping his elbow. "Malfoy, hey."
Malfoy turned on his heel and sighed, struggling to not roll his eyes. "Yes?"
"I just… I think we got off on the wrong foot earlier-"
"No surprise there."
"Okay, I deserved that," Harry grinned. "Look, I'm… I'm glad you're teaching Potions and I think you'll be brilliant at it, I just wasn't expecting you, that's all. I mean, after…"
"Yeah, uh, Professor McGonagall gave me a bit of a pass. It's been… hard, to say the least, to find a decent job, considering."
"I'm sorry."
Malfoy shrugged. "Not your fault."
An awkward silence fell between them as they stood in the hall for the first time in years, staring at each other and thinking about how different things were. "Do you… do you need any help with getting your things to your room?"
Malfoy opened his mouth as if to say something instinctively, then decided on. "I don't, but if you insist on accompanying me, you can. If you don't have some more world-saving to do."
"Not this year."
"So," Harry began as they started walking, hands in his pocket, "how have you been?"
"Fine," Malfoy replied shortly. "And yourself?"
"Great, actually. I've, er, this is my second year working here, so it's… I missed it over the summer."
"Let me guess, Defense Against the Dark Arts?"
"Yeah, actually. It was between that or the Quidditch instructor, but Madam Hooch isn't going anywhere and she doesn't think I'd be hard enough on the kids to get them to play a good game, even though I was fine as a captain-"
"Because they were all your friends." Malfoy smirked, and Harry found himself laughing.
"Okay, that's fair. But still. I feel like I'm very capable of teaching a group of kids to play Quidditch if I can teach them spells."
"Debatable, apparently."
"Git."
It didn't take them long to find Snape's old office, and once they were standing in front of the door, neither of them spoke. They just stared at the wood, a heavy silence between them. He knew it wasn't just Snape's. It had been Slughorn's for the past five years. But the implications of them both standing there in front of it as professors was a weird feeling. Harry's stomach was heavy, threatening to sink right down to his feet.
“You’re uncharacteristically speechless,” Malfoy muttered, so quietly that Harry almost didn’t hear past the soft buzzing in his ears.
“I just… I don’t know why this feels so weird.”
“It’s like I’m taking his place. Snape’s, I mean. This office held a lot of memories for the both of us, I’m sure.”
“Yeah.” The first night in second year, Occlumency lessons, interrogations, his failed attempts with Slughorn, and everything in between. It didn’t look exactly the same, as it changed with each professor, but the cold stone walls and shelves containing bottles of various animal parts and plants still lined the walls. Malfoy pushed the door open as if he expected Snape himself to be standing there.
“I’m not-”
“I know.”
“He meant a lot to me, too. I’m sorry we lost him. I’m sorry you had to see it.”
Harry took a deep breath. “Thanks.”
Malfoy was silent as he got to work, unpacking his things and setting them up in his office. He didn’t have a lot, and Harry wasn’t even sure how Malfoy was preparing to teach, but he could tell the other man was beginning to get nervous as he took everything in, as the weight of the job he’d taken on crashed in around him. Harry knew the feeling well - his first week of teaching was a disaster. He’d tried to cram way too many lessons into each class, had forgotten to assign homework, and found himself going off-book and trying to teach the students things that were far too advanced for their skill level. It hadn’t taken long to get the hang of it, but as the (now) second newest professor here, he felt somewhat obligated to offer his advice, even if Malfoy wasn’t going to take it.
“If you need any help with lesson planning or anything, I can give you some pointers. I know I don’t know much about teaching Potions-”
“You barely know anything about learning Potions, Potter.”
“Yeah, yeah, I walked right into that one.” Harry sighed, running a hand over his face. “I’m just offering. It’s harder than it seems at first.”
“Why are you trying to be so nice to me?”
“I…” Could Harry really answer that? “We’re starting over here, right? We’re not in school anymore. I mean, technically we are, but it’s different. We’re not kids. I’m willing to put everything in the past behind us and not…”
“Hold it all against me?” Malfoy still wasn’t looking at him, just carefully setting out things on the empty shelves. Books and trinkets he’d probably brought from home. No pictures, Harry noticed.
“Yeah. I think more people should give you another chance.”
“So the hero complex is still working hard, I see?”
Harry couldn’t see Malfoy’s face, so it was hard to gauge his tone, but Harry shook his head. “No. I’m done being a hero. I just want to focus on being a decent person. And… I’m getting this chance to do that with you, so I want to take it.”
Malfoy finally met Harry’s eyes with something that looked like longing. For what, Harry wasn’t sure. “I’ve always wanted to get you very, very drunk and watch you embarrass yourself,” he said with a hint of a smirk. “Kind of on my bucket list. And considering we don’t have work tomorrow, I think the Hog’s Head might be a good place to do that. Indulge me and we’ll see how it goes from there.”
“Indulge you?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. I’ve had my fair share of embarrassment lately. I’m not sure there’s much worse you could do.”
“We’ll see, Potter.”