⚠︎This is not mine, for offline purpose only to satisfy my need and i also want to share it with all of you in case you haven't read it
Original Author: slashedsilver
Original Publisher: livejournal
Link to the story
http://slythindor100.livejournal...
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It was a brutally cold night.
Clutching his hands to himself, Draco breathed on them in a vain attempt to warm them up. It was impossible.
His gloves, one of the few items he'd salvaged from the acquisition of the Manor, were threadbare from repeated washing. There was no point performing cleaning spells with his Ministry-issue wand -- they were erratic at best, and very often a fraction of the strength they should have been if cast with his old wand. Draco supposed it was still with Potter. He didn't know for sure; the Chosen One had never bothered to contact him after the war ended.
To be fair, Draco had very effectively vanished after the war. There had been no need to advertise how low the Malfoys had fallen; it was better to just take himself off the map as he regrouped and learned to navigate the rules of this brave new world. It had taken many months of proving that he was capable of working hard with head down and mouth shut at St Mungo's before he was finally taken on as Assistant to the Resident Caretaker. It was the lowest life form in the hospital but it paid the bills, or so he had to remind himself on particularly bad days.
Making his way to the Apparition point, Draco braced himself, pulling out his pathetic excuse for a wand. He spun on his heel and uttered the Apparition spell. Nothing happened. Draco supposed he should have counted himself lucky that he hadn't Splinched himself.
With a sense of resignation, he stuck out his wand and hailed the Knight Bus. For all of its indignities, it would at least ensure that he got home safely.
~*~
"Malfoy. Hey, you -- Malfoy! Help out with the Christmas decorations, would you?"
Draco bristled as he scooped out another bed pan. Was he the only one who ever had to do actual work around here? Everyone else (with actual jobs) just seemed to be doing anything but what they were being paid to do. "What's the occasion?"
"Besides Christmas?" came the sarcastic reply. The bespectacled young man brandished the pair of gaudy baubles like they held the obvious answer. "Well..." he scrunched up his forehead and pretended to think hard. "I don't know."
Draco gritted his teeth. So now even the interns had learned that they could get stroppy with him.
"I meant why are we actually decorating the wards this year?" he said, forcing himself to sound polite. "Haven't we always just gotten by with a Christmas tree in the visitors' tearoom?"
"Haven't you heard?" the intern said with exaggerated shock. (No of course he hadn't, seeing as no one exchanged news with him over coffee in the break room.) "Harry Potter's making a visit to St Mungo's today."
