Your Fortnightly Drarry Story (Back by Popular Demand)

15. The Final Problem (otherwise known as an Epilogue™)

'My father is coming back to England,' said Draco as they sat at the breakfast bar. He threw the letter onto the countertop and picked at the piece of toast in front of him.

'Yes,' said Harry, looking up from the report he was reading about reforms to holding-prison conditions and new protocols.

'You knew?'

'Yes.'

'You know he'll try to interfere,' sighed Draco.

'He hasn't tried yet.' Harry took an absentminded sip of his coffee.

It had been three years since Harry had been promoted. It was a celebrated promotion and the public were behind it. However, at the same time, rumours had escalated very quickly that Head Auror Potter and Auror Malfoy were in a relationship (Harry suspected that it was probably Ron and Blaise's fault). Draco applied to transfer to the Department of Mysteries before he was pushed to somewhere he didn't want to go. There were certain rules to which the Ministry wouldn't turn a blind eye, particularly the Head Auror shagging his Auror partner.

'Maybe,' sighed Draco, 'but now that his exile is over and he can come back permanently, he'll want to get involved again. He can't help himself. He and mother have confirmed that they will call by here tomorrow at 7pm for dinner. They've accepted your invite to stay here for the night before they go to the Manor.'

'Okay,' said Harry, turning the page of the document. Mione certainly knew how to write too much. He was sure she could have used half the words.

'When were you even going to mention that you'd invited them here... that you'd been communicating with them?' asked Draco.

'Sorry, I've been a bit caught up... I forgot...' he said, trying to decipher what Mione was actually saying in her report.

'You forgot! You forgot to tell me you'd written to my parents. And you invited them for dinner. Harry, are you even listening?'

'Yes. I'll cook something nice. Can you do your French Onion soup?'

He ignored Draco shaking his head. He knew that Lucius planned to return to England long before Draco, mostly because he'd had to apply for permission and travel documents and portkeys and Ministry regulations said that his return would be closely monitored for the next five years. Lucius knew this. Draco knew this. And Harry knew this because he was Head Auror. Harry also knew that Lucius planned to return because Harry had written him a personal letter a month previously and Lucius had said as much in his reply.

'Aren't you in the slightest bit concerned?' Draco said.

'About what, exactly?' Harry looked at Draco, pushing his glasses up his nose (because he couldn't actually get out of that habit and it was a necessity). 'That he hasn't actually turned over a new leaf or that he'll have something to say about us?'

Draco faltered and Harry saw the masks come up and the expressions close off as his back straightened.

'Dray, he hasn't had anything to say about us for the past three years and we've been all over the press from one week to the next. There's no way he doesn't know that we're the darling couple of everyone's eye for which we can thank Faye and our "Fortnightly Drarry Fiction" for selling us to the public long before we even happened. Besides, I wrote to him, ages ago, to tell him.'

'You did? When?'

'When you officially moved in.'

Draco's face went very stony and his eyes narrowed. 'Why?'

Harry put the document down and took hold of Draco's hand.

'To inform your parents that we'd made the decision to shut up the Manor and cohabit together. And that we'd hired an estate manager and would visit the Manor together regularly to make sure all was in good order but that there was no way that either of us wanted to live there due to the bad memories associated with the past. I added that my intentions were honourable and we were very happy together, now that both of us were able to live our lives as we wished and not under the dictation or expectations of others.'