Chapter Text
24th of December of 2007, 07:14 P.M.
“Tell me again why I am accepting to do this.” Said Draco while he was adjusting his tie in front of the mirror.
Blaise sighed and got himself up of the chair he was sitting for the last fifty minutes.
“Because,” he said, tired of having to deal with Draco’s apathy for the millionth time that week, “you are 27, handsome and rich. And you’ve been mourning your wife for over two years, you could use some fun. Astoria wouldn’t have liked that you had confined yourself in here, and that’s exactly what you’re doing.”
“But the kids…”
“The kids will be fine. You’ll be apart of them only for a few hours, they’ll be fine. Greg and Millie can be a lot of things but they are good parents, they haven’t got their kids killed yet, have they? I’m sure they can manage your little demons.”
“It’s Christmas Eve.” He knew he had lost the battle before it started, but he needed to listen every reason to be sure he was taking the right decision. They got over the same argument five times that week and it was always the same.
“And you’ll be with them tomorrow morning to open the presents. The dozens of presents you got for that spoiled brats.” Said at the same time he helped Draco putting the robe over his shirt, robe that was almost five hundred galleons worthy, which seemed too presumptuous even for him, but a Malfoy should look perfect in any situation, right? And it wasn’t like he couldn’t afford it anyway. It was the first time he was out publicly since the accident, he had to look perfect.
“Are we done in here? It’s past seven already and the reception will start at eight. I heard that the Ministry has put a lot of wards we’ll have to pass through, and if you keep looking at your face in the mirror we’re going to be late.”
“If you had features like this, you’d like to watch it too. Now, seeing what you’ve got for an excuse of a face…” Said Draco smirking and tuning to face Blaise.
“Okay, we’re leaving now.” Blaise said with a small smile. “Time to say goodbye, big baby.”
Blaise opened the door of the room and let Draco exit first, leading them to the living room where Greg and Millicent were playing with their two children and both of Draco’s kids. When they got closer they could hear Scorpius’ voice screaming for something his sister had gotten away from him and Draco sighed at this.
It was going to be difficult leaving them but Blaise was right, he could take a night to have fun. Even if this party was organized for the Ministry.
***
As they were getting closer, Draco could feel his anxiety raising.
"Relax, Draco. We'll find you someone nice to pull out your frustration. I'm sure there has to be a girl good enough for you in here."
"Blaise..."
"Right, sorry. A girl or a boy good enough for you." He said arching an eyebrow.
"That was not what I meant. I am not interested in meeting anyone. Not now, not in a near future, stop trying. Okay?"
"Don't be so dramatic. I was just trying to cheer you up. Let's find our seats, shall we?" Said Blaise at the same time he looked at the panel looking for where their seats were. “Relax, seriously. You are making me nervous.”
“You don’t understand. It’s been years since the last time I saw them.”
“Them?”
“The people we went to school with. Them. They sure are going to be here, and I’m not sure if I could look at their faces, there’s too much I have to regret.” Said Draco while crossing the doors where the Ball was going to take place.
“You’re going to be fine, it’s not like you even have to acknowledge their presence or talk to them.”
“Yeah, right, whatever. I can’t help feeling uncomfortable, you know?” Retorted Draco crossing his arms. He felt small and that was not something he fancied feeling.
He had to admit that the ballroom was decorated with some class, in white and gold, very classic. Not that he expected less of the Christmas gala that the Ministry was hosting to present who would be the new minister but, well, yes, he expected less.
When it was made known to the public that the Minister Shacklebolt wanted to retire, the press went wild with speculation, not even Draco could remain unaware of it. Since it was a retirement, the current Minister was choosing someone of his team instead of holding a popular election like it would have taken place in normal circumstances.
Most people thought that the obvious bet was on The Boy Who Lived (Twice), the git didn't even finished school nor passed his NEWTs and was already Head Auror since last year, if he was named Minister of Magic that night, Draco would combust right there.
Another option was this woman who was rumoured to be a former unspeakable and was in the Head of the Wizengamot for over four years now, Alisha Mallory. That would be a better choice for sure, at least she had experience.
Obviously, all that were just rumors, nobody knew nothing, it could be bloody Longbottom for all they knew, Merlin help us if that's the case thought Draco.
While he was lost in his world, Blaise managed to find their table.
They were in the same table with some other business people, Draco recognized some names in their side of the table like Quincey, Studwick or… Nott, which was a surprise for both Blaise and him, they hadn’t known of him since 1998. It seems like an interesting night, after all.
Three people were already seated across their seats and having an animated conversation. Draco couldn't recognize any of them at first sight, he mouthed a plain "hello" while his friend saluted with a "good night", all three of them turned with a smile in their faces to greet them which faded when their eyes met his face, recognition passing through all three.
Silence.
"Oh, yeah. Hello." Said one of the women after a couple of heart-beats, now that he took the time to look properly at her, Draco recognized her for the annual list of 'Most Successful Business Wizards and Witches of Britain' that The Daily Prophet published every year, Marlot Derrick, a muggle-born in her early forties who owned the most successful business in hair potions. She looked very uneasy. In her defense, it was not a thing that happened every day that you had to eat in the same table that a former Death Eater. Draco smiled at her and she jumped a little in her seat. Then, she proceeded to ignore their presence the rest of the night, and so did the other two. Her companions weren’t anyone Draco could remember or recognize at all, and he didn’t care anymore.
More silence. This is going to be great.
When the invitation for this came with an owl of the Ministry, he was to throw it away like he did with all the ones that came the years before. Balls, parties, informative reunions… He wasn’t interested. He knew he wasn’t really wanted, they only keep inviting him to maintain the façade of the Ministry forgiveness, and because he was Head of some of the more profitable companies in the country and had a few galleons at his name in Gringotts.
When Astoria was alive, it was different. She was always by his side, taking his hand when he got upset when someone said something stupid, smiling at him all the time and being that sweet woman everybody seemed to love, and him more than everybody else. She thought that going to some of these things or charity balls were good for him and his reputation, that their presence showed that he was not hiding at the same time that he was sorry for all that happened. She even involved herself with some charities that helped war orphans to find a good place to live in, she persuaded Pansy to take part in some of them as well.
He took a second to think about her best friend this time, he tried not to think about them in public places but then he couldn’t avoid it. It was almost funny how he had to say goodbye to every woman he had loved in his life, well, if you’re into cruel humor at least. First, he had to let her mother go to France when the Wizengamot ruled that he could stay while Narcissa was banned to be in English territory because of her war crimes. At the time, he thought that better that than having her imprisoned. But then the accident happened and he lost the mother of his son and his best friend all at once. If it wasn’t for Blaise he doubted he would had left his bed, so when he asked him, well, demanded him, to come tonight he knew he was coming, even if he was being difficult.
“Mates!” A loud shout broke his line of thought and someone was pulling him and Blaise in a kind of hug from behind their chairs. “It seems like we didn’t see each other for a millennium.” Draco stared to a not-that-wall aged Theodore Nott whilst the last was laughing at his own joke.
“Yeah, Theo, it’s been a while.” Said Blaise smiling at his former roommate and hitting lightly Draco’s leg under the table to make him react.
Draco put a polite smile on his face and greeted Theodore properly, the last took seat at Draco's left.
“So… What are you up to, boys?”
“I’m going to finish my collection.” Blaise said whilst Nott looked between the two of them with a lost expression.
“Blaise, for the millionth time, women are not objects you can collect.” Draco interjected.
“No, but hear me up, Theodore. I had a resolution this year, I would have slept with girls of every race and from every continent by New Year’s Eve. And I’ve been with white European girls, black European girls, white Asian girls, Asiatic-American girls… Every combination you can think of, except for an Asian-European one. And, you see, since I’m running out of time, today’s the night. Now or never.”
“You say the most idiotic things I’ve listen in my life. I can’t even fathom why would they even be closer than three foots from you.” This behaviour of Blaise disgusted Draco to the core.
“Did you really have sex with all that women?” Said Theodore, amazed.
“I just need to find an Asiatic girl willing to be with me, that doesn’t seem so difficult. A girl like… that one, or that one. God bless the 21st century and its diversity.” Draco blocked out there, he loved Blaise but his man-whore side was something he would never learn to love.
In that moment, Kingsley Shacklebolt went up and stood behind the lectern facing the crowd.
***
Draco was looking for a quiet place away from Theodore, now that he could get rid of him when he was distracted. He was tired of hearing Nott asking when will he be available to party with him, he hadn’t changed a bit.
He didn’t seem to understand that Draco wasn’t twenty anymore, he had responsibilities. He had to make sure the family business was doing well and, because of what happened ten years ago, it was an arduous task. He was now a father of two and, in addition, a single parent. He had no time to party.
He entered a balcony, he could use a little fresh air, and maybe Nott wouldn’t look for him outside. And then he noticed the other man standing there, looking away. He could recognize that mop of a hair and that clumsy body posture anywhere.
Draco was about to turn and run just when the other man looked at his back and locked eyes with him. He hadn’t seen those green eyes for years, and now he couldn’t look away.
“Hello.” His voice had changed, it was a deeper. And his hair was longer.
“Um. Hello.” Draco prayed to not look as awkward as he felt. “I was just leaving. I don’t want to bother…”
“You’re not bothering.” Harry frowned, and then relaxed. “You could keep me company. It’s been years since we talked.”
If you count what we did like talking, there’s definitively something wrong with you, though Draco. But he was walking towards him and positioning himself beside Harry.
They just remained there a minute, in silence, looking each one of them in different directions, until Harry spoke again.
“So… I heard your business is doing well. Your new potion to polish broomsticks is selling quite good.”
“Keeping track of me? Or it’s just part of being an Auror? You got files of useless information of every one of us in your office?” It turned out a little harsher than he expected.
“What? No. And I… I’m not an Auror. Not anymore. I quit.”
“What, being the youngest wizard to made it to the Head of the Auror Department is not good enough for you? You’re unbelievable, Potter.” Said Draco with a sneer, but Harry remained unimpressed. It was always like that with the two of them.
“So… You’re keeping track of me, Malfoy?” Said Harry at the time he looked up at Draco with a smirk. Potter was smirking at him, really?
“I couldn’t get rid of you even if I wanted. Trust me, I tried. The press seems to never get bored of you.” He shrugged. “All that was hard to miss, I don’t life under a rock.” But he sort of did, figuratively speaking. If he only seemed to pay attention when Potter was on the paper, it wasn’t something he was going to admit out loud.
“Right.”
Draco looked through the glass and frowned to the people dancing and laughing.
“Don’t you have to get back to your wife, Potter? Or go and be celebrating with Granger? What are you doing outside anyway? Waiting for me to be alone so nobody would witness my death? If that’s the case, be quick, Nott could notice my absence any minute.”
“Wouldn’t that be counterproductive, Malfoy?” Oh, there are even big words now, when did Potter became so eloquent? Draco was looking at him, not getting what he meant, while Harry had a sad smile in his face. “If I ever wanted you dead all I had to do was leaving you in that room.” Here it was, the conversation he wanted to avoid at all cost.
“You didn’t have to, you know?” He passed his fingers through his hair, it was a nervous tick he had adopted not long ago and he hated it but, at the same time, he couldn’t help it. If they were having this conversation now, he was to do it properly and taking all off his chest. “Nobody would have blamed you. Even I wouldn’t have blamed you. People would have understood.”
Draco had never had a conversation as uncomfortable as this one in his entire life.
“I would have blame myself. I… I couldn’t leave you there to burn yourself to the death.” He looked very conflicted, like he wasn’t sure he wanted to say something more or not.
“Well, I never got the chance to thank you for that so… Thank you, Potter.” Draco said looking right to Harry’s eyes. “Don’t tell anyone that I said that, you’ll ruin my reputation.” Finished with a smile.
“And now that we are having this talk…” He left the rail and straightened his back, he turned to face Draco properly. “You… You didn’t tell Bellatrix, that afternoon in the Manor...” Draco didn’t need any explanation, he remembered that day very vividly.
“Well… As you pointed before, that debt is solved.” He felt very awkward, and hoped for the conversation to head to an end.
“You and your mother were crucial, I couldn’t have made it without you. I needed to tell you for ages, I should have...” Draco had enough with this, that conversation had turned rather annoying. He was not a saint, he didn’t do anything just for altruism or heroism, he just wanted to save his mother and, in less measure, himself. He didn’t do any of that to help Potter’s cause and if he though he turned to the light he was very wrong.
“And you spoke in our favor in both of our trials. As I said, that debt is solved. Leave it.”
“But…”
“Seriously, Potter. If you think that I did any of that because I had miraculously found myself believing in your cause, you couldn’t be more mistaken. All I did in the war was for my own benefit, nothing more, not to save you, not because I stopped believing in the Dark Lord’s purpose. I never changed my beliefs because of you.” That achievement belonged to someone else, thought him. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad the war ended the way it did, but my actions were to my own profit, there’s nothing heroic hidden on them.”
“Once a Slytherin, always a Slytherin, I guess.” He smiled at Draco again.
When will he stop smiling? He though; Harry’s smiles were never meant to him and Draco didn’t know how to manage them. It’s making me mad, I want to punch him and erase that stupid expression of his stupid face, God. He blushed and he didn’t even know why. Why did everything have to be so confusing with Potter?
“But I always wanted to know…” Draco’s eyes were hard on Harry, so he dropped the subject and turned again to look at the gardens.
They remained there in silence for a few minutes in which Draco wondered how would have been his life if things would had been different. If the Dark Lord would never had existed, if his father would had chosen differently or if Potter would had taken his hand that day in the train. Would they have been friends in any of that universes? Draco liked to think that they would.
But, at the end of the day, the things were what they were. And they were this version of themselves, it was a loss of time wondering all that things. They were Potter and Malfoy and none of them could change that fact.
“Good talk, Potter. I’m going now.” There he was, touching his hair again. God, Potter made him so nervous, it was like being fifteen all over again. “Say to Granger my congratulations, I’m sure she will be a good Minister, we needed a person like her.” And he truly thought that, Hermione was the brightest witch of their age after all, who cared about her blood status?
Harry was shocked by his words, but before he turned and could say something, Draco was already leaving the balcony and was walking through the people dancing.
***
Draco found Blaise with one of the girls he was looking at before among the other couples dancing. “Heeeey, Drey-Drey, meet my new friend, Natasha Wong.” He had been drinking too much.
“Hi.”
Draco took her hand in his and said “Nice to meet you, Miss Wong. If I can borrow my friend here, I promise it won’t take long.” And then flashed her a smile.
“Yeah, of course. No problem.” She didn’t have much accent, although.
“I’ll be here before you can feel my absence.” And the he proceeded to kiss the back of her hand.
“Aren’t you desperate?” Asked Draco once they were outside the room.
“At least I’m getting laid tonight.”
“I’m going home.” He turned to look at his friend, that had stopped walking.
“What? Why? It isn’t even eleven. It’s too early to leave.”
“I want to kiss the kids goodnight.”
“I don’t buy it. They are too excited for tomorrow to be in the bed just yet, I’m sure they’ll wait a bit longer. What happened the last half hour, Draco?” He hated that he knew him so well. “You look miserable.”
“Nothing happened. I’m just tired, not used to so many people anymore…”
“Who did you talk with? What did they say to you? I swear if…”
“Nothing happened. I’m just not used to this…” Draco kept repeating, he looked almost apologetic and guilty, “I’ll see you tomorrow at lunch time…”
“Don’t tell me that…”
Draco said nothing, and stared at the bouquet of flowers right at the left of where Blaise was standing.
"I can't believe you. Are you serious?" Inquired Blaise. "After all this years?"
At least, Draco had the decency to blush at this. He turned and started walking.
"Don't you dare leaving like that, Draco Malfoy."
"Bye, Blaise. Have fun with that Asian girl."
Blaise sighed, watched how Draco disappeared with the dusty green the Floo powder gives and headed again to the dance floor. He was going to have fun indeed.