Harry Potter and The Vanished Slytherin Prince

Chapter 7

Harry and Draco get some news

~~~

Harry suspects that talking about Malfoy did upset Draco, because he can't find him anywhere even after the Weasleys have gone. He searches the entire house aside from Neville's floor, as Draco never goes there.

"Draco?" Harry asks, opening the door to Regulus's room. When he doesn't find him, he moves to leave, until he hears a faint meow.

Draco meows again, and Harry listens for where the sound is coming from. He finally pinpoints it to a half-open drawer full of clothes.

"Hey, are you okay?" Harry asks, lifting Draco out and cradling him the way Draco only allows when he's wanting to be pampered. "I'm sorry, I know it's not pleasant to be talked about, I should've seen that it bothered you."

Draco chirps softly, hiding his face in the sleeve of Harry's shirt.

Harry tuts, bringing Draco back down to the bedroom and putting him on the spare pillow.

"I'll be there in just a moment." Harry promises, heading into the bathroom to move through his toilette for the night.

Draco is asleep when Harry returns, but wakes up even though Harry tries to get into bed as gently as possible. The cat pads his way over and curls up right below Harry's throat, purring noisily as he drifts off again.

"Sweet dreams, kitty." Harry murmurs.

~~~

Hermione, true to her word, sends Harry an exhaustive list of muggle jobs for him to look into.

Among them include: park caretaker; pet shop worker; school teacher ( also could be at Hogwarts, Harry, you know Minerva wants you to teach DADA ); librarian (really follow Malfoy's lead! ).

Harry puts the list into a drawer in his desk, wanting to thoroughly review his options but not feeling up to making the decision now.

Instead, he goes outside to bother Neville as he works on their garden.

Draco startles Harry by landing on his shoulders as Harry's passing through the kitchen, and he suspects Draco had been on top of the refrigerator, though he couldn't prove it.

"Hey lads." Neville greets them pleasantly as they step into the afternoon heat. "Pass me that spade, would you?"

"Squash?" Harry asks, gesturing with the tool to the vines Neville's untangling.

"Summer squash, reckon you could make something with this?"

"Sure, there's loads of ways to use a good summer squash." Harry shrugs, then starts going through the list in his head so he's prepared for when Neville puts it on the counter in a week or so. "Have you thought about the teaching position?"

"A bit. I've had some time to consider it today. They don't need an official answer for some time still, but I'm leaning more towards yes than no, to be honest."

"Yeah?" Harry asks. Neville laughs.

"Don't sound too excited about it, I'll think you want me out of the house."

"Who would grow my food for me?" Harry teases.

"Good point. Think you'll look for work anytime soon?"

"Not... not soon. But I think I will. Maybe if you go to Hogwarts then I'll be bored enough to look for something." Harry shrugs.

"Oh I'm sure you will be. I'll bet you could find something you enjoy, though. There's a 'help wanted' sign on the shop I was at earlier, they sell lots of arts and crafts things but I go for the gardening materials."