(HP Đồng nhân Eng) Seven Years Too Late

Chap 7

When his doorbell rang later that night, Draco considered not answering, but if he didn't, word would get around town quickly enough that he hadn't been under his own roof at eleven o'clock at night. Knowing the grapevine in his neighbourhood, he'd soon be battling rumors of a wild, probably lascivious nightlife. The gossip around here was worse than in the wizarding world sometimes.

Draco didn't ignore the bell. He went to the front door and peeked behind the curtained window beside it. He didn't need the circle of illumination from the porch light to recognize Harry standing on his doorstep.

"Go away, Potter." He also didn't need the rumor mill gearing up over the presence of a man at his house at this hour, especially since said man was wearing a policeman's uniform. He also wasn't over the sting of the Gryffindor's accusation where Eli was concerned.

"Come on, Draco. Open up," Harry wheedled from the outside.

"Why?" Draco asked with a sneer. He saw the brunet tilt his head back.

Harry exhaled into the cold air, creating a cloud around his head. 

"Because it's bloody freezing out here."

"Doesn't sound like a good enough reason to me."

Harry focused on the window that Draco stood on the other side of. "So I can eat some crow, all right?"

Draco pressed his lips together and pulled open the door. A draft of cold air slid inside, making the blond shiver.

Harry stepped in, his gaze traveling first over Draco's green flannel robe, then to the chain lock that he very clearly hadn't needed to unfasten. "Start locking your doors," the Auror stated flatly. "This one, and your car."

Draco rolled his eyes at the Gryffindor's protective tendencies and then closed the door, pressing his back against it and crossing his arms over the chest of his thick robe. "Well?"

Harry pulled off his coat and when Draco didn't offer to take it, tossed it over the back of his wing chair. "I overreacted," he said abruptly. "I'm sorry."

The thing was Draco wasn't hugely upset that he'd overreacted. Stung, yes, but more importantly, the blond was concerned with why Harry had been so upset. "You were worried about Eli and you didn't know he was with me," Draco surmised, watching the Gryffindor closely. "Did you?"

Harry ran his fingers through his hair, leaving it in short, dishevelled black waves. "No." The Auror had been terrified when his son hadn't shown up at home at his usually time, thinking that perhaps some rouge Death Eater with a grudge to bear on The-Boy-Who-Lived may have found them and grabbed his son.

"Why were you looking for him, anyway? Weren't you supposed to be on duty?"

"I wanted to tell him I was going to sign him up for horseback riding lessons," Harry told the blond, remembering that his son had shown an interest in it. It really was just and excuse to see his son, though.

Draco raised his eyebrows. "And that necessitated a special trip to school?"

"He's been bugging me about it since we came to town. We got into it this morning before I dropped him off at school. I left knowing he was upset and I didn't want to wait any longer."

Draco steeled himself against softening too easily. "As I recall, you don't care much for horses," the blond returned remembering the one and only time he had convinced Harry to go riding with him at Malfoy Manor. 'You would think that someone who rode a hippogriff would be able to ride a horse,' the Slytherin mused privately.