spellbound heart

𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐦

Author: SweetDreamsAreMadeOfNaruto

Summary:

Harry hasn't seen Malfoy since the end of the war. He's not happy he will have no choice but to do so today. Still... life has been usually dull, and some part of his misses their old enmity in Hogwarts. Will resisting the opportunity to mess with him be too hard for Malfoy?

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Harry fidgeted awkwardly, allowing himself to do so the few precious moments he still had for himself. He glanced to the doorway for any sign of his host, whom so far had yet to make an appearance.

Harry had arrived at the fireplace by floo punctually at three o'clock where a house-elf had met him and shown him to a spacey, airy room that appeared to be some sort of study. Not as formal at he'd expected, but then, it would have been superfluous to use the conference hall when it only were the two of them. Harry had been told he was expected, been served tea, and then left alone while the house-elf had left to inform her master of his arrival. Almost five minutes had passed since. Harry drummed nervously on the couch a few times before he willed himself to stop.

He'd been against the entire idea if coming here, and not for the first time was reconsidering his decision in declining the offer to become the Mister of Magic... if only to have had the authority to turn down this request or give it to another person.

He did not want to be here.

Though the Malfoys had lost much after the war, the new business was blooming and they were yet again one of the richest and most respected families in England – but this time, it was Draco Malfoy that was the head of the family, and it was he that had been the one to raise the dying family business up from the ashes. It appeared that Draco Malfoy's stubbornness in leaving Harry alone at Hogwarts and his constant taunting and evil schemes could be turned into raw potential and a cunning mind for business when he straightened out his priories. While Malfoy always seemed to fail at attempting something destructive, he was brilliant at building things up, and was arguably one of the youngest, most successful wizards in the word. More surprising was that Malfoy, unlike his father, seemed to go against everything Harry had ever learned about the Slytherin House by making fair deals and upholding honesty. No charges against the company. No blackmail. No slithering. If anything, Draco Malfoy had cleared the family name since he took over.

It wasn't that Harry didn't think Malfoy was unworthy of the Ministry's time. Or that he thought he lacked the right to consult officials. He'd not done anything questionable since the end of the war, and even a git like him deserved a second chance. It was just that it was Draco Malfoy and Harry wished he hadn't requested Harry Potter so specifically. Surely, anyone could do this. Anyone. There was no need for Harry to be here and feel lukewarmly uncomfortable. No real danger, but not safe, either. He'd tried to forgive Malfoy, but after so many years of enmity the habit of diligence around him just didn't seem to go away.

They hadn't really been in contact with since they left Hogwarts. Harry had spoken for him and his mother at their trial after the war, but he had kept his distance. They had seen each other briefly, but always been surrounded by their own crowds, or been nothing more than another passerby in the streets of Diagon Ally. The feeling of Malfoy being up mischief today was over-bearably strong, and Harry couldn't make himself at ease. It was as if it was unthinkable that their reunion would be untainted, that nothing shady would happen.

In some inexplicable way, maybe Harry would even be disappointed if it was.

He remembered Kingsley Shacklebolt's words all too well. "You need to lay down your guard." And if Kingsley said something like that, it truly must mean he was being paranoid. This wasn't Fudge they were talking about. And it wasn't only Shacklebolt. It was everyone. Everyone wanted him to get along with Malfoy as if they were best friends, as if their friendship was the only way to know for sure that Voldemort's reign was over for good.