the happy ending [DISCONTINUED]

chapter eighteen

"That was his reply?" Hermione shrieked as her smile widened.

"Yes, Hermione. I don't think I stuttered." Harry sighs, trying to focus on the target.

"That's absolutely adorable! Oh, you must check out Riddler's Avenue, there's some wonderful places for rent there as well." Hermione giggles, effortlessly dodging the branches of the trees. They were practising going through forests and obstacle courses on their brooms at high speed.

"You still haven't told me how you know all this." Harry huffs, tucking his head in as a branch narrowly misses a hair.

"You know Jane from the third department? Her sister is a real estate agent. Heard she's dating Gregory." Hermione groans. She still has issues with the people Draco hung out with, especially Greg and Pansy.

"I see." Harry monotonously replies. It didn't help anyone to hold a grudge and Harry knew that better than anyone, but he just couldn't help it.

"Well done!" Mr Wimbly chirps as an Auror trainee whizzes by. "Mr Potter, you're slowing by a whole half a minute today. What is up with your performance?" The middle age man with a petruding belly clicks his tongue. He hurriedly scribbles down on his notepad before looking back up at Harry. "You know He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named would've easily killed someone in 30 seconds."

Harry nods solemnly. He hated it whenever people brought up Voldemort. It wasn't even his choice that he was prophecized to kill Voldemort, let alone become the one who lived. Hermione ran up to Harry, patting his back before shooting Mr Wimbly a mean glare as he walked away. "Don't listen to him." Hermione whispers. Harry only nods.

It's been tiring. He misses Draco and all he wants to do is see him, give him a nice hug and let Draco shower him in kisses. It was absolutely tragic that he had to wait until the weekend to go house hunting with Draco, but it was better than not getting to see him at all. Hogwarts wasn't that far from the Weasley's house, perhaps he could pay Draco a visit.

Draco sighed. 35A Riddler's Avenue, it read on the stone brick wall. It was an old building, not too shabby but definitely not new. It was tall and.. compact. The gate was rusted and groaned loudly as Draco opened it. He could already imagine how nasty this place would look during Autumn when it was all wet and cold. It was a good 10 minutes walk from Hogwarts.

"3,000£? For a single room?" Draco hissed at the old lady in the front desk. There was a price list on the wall next to the window where the lady sat, unamusedly reading her newspaper. The place was definitely old, the stairs struggled to move around and the floorboards were starting to mould. It would make no difference if no wizard lived there!

"Here's a key, the elf will show you the room." The lady lazily holds out a pair of rusted keys with the word "45EZ" painted on the handle. Just before Draco could grab it, an older elf grabs it from the lady and shoots Draco a stern glare.

"Come." The elf grumbles as he walks up a flight of old stone stairs which Draco quickly follows. After the second and a half flight, the elf stops in front of an old teal door. He forcibly shoves the key into the knob and twists, before ramming the entire side of his body against the door, making it swing open. A wave of dust flew out at Draco, making him cough and choke.

"This isn't the worst part, pretty lad." The elf chuckles, his voice low and scratchy. The elf walks in and snaps his finger, making all the candle in the room light up. After regaining his sight and smell, Draco walks in cautiously. The room was absolutely barren. The floor and walls were made of stone cold concrete, the window was small and the curtains were basically rags. There was an old rusted bedframe in the middle of the room and sat on it was a spring bed with coils sticking out of it. The bathroom was small and the shower head faced the toilet, and between them was the basin and mirror. Was this an apartment or a prison cell?

"The closet's in the wall." The elf pulls open yet another ancient looking door to reveal something that resembled a storage cabinet in comparison to a closet.

"Are you bloody kidding me? Tell me you're kidding." Draco storms up to the front desk, slamming the key onto the table.

"Look. Riddler's Avenue is the peak street and it's close to Hogwarts. We also have multiple places where you can apparate and disapparate from." The old lady flips a page in the newspaper, the front picture is trying to stifle its laughter at Draco's face. "So are you taking it, or no?"

"Good Merlin, no!" Draco walks out of the building in frustration. Hurrying back to the dorm, he couldn't wait to see Blaise and tell him about the lovely place down at Riddler's Avenue that he recommended. How could Draco subject Harry to living like that?