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Chapter Text

Monday morning, Harry got up and quickly dressed into his Auror robes before he went to the kitchen, where he could already hear Draco putting plates on the table.

"I told you I usually don't eat breakfast."

"And I told you that that's barbaric and will change. We'll have breakfast, together, every morning as long as I am here. Sit."

Too stunned to do or say anything else, Harry sat down and watched Draco levitate some toast and scrambled eggs onto their plates before he sat down as well.

"Eat."

"Be careful or I'll get used to you cooking for me," Harry joked before eating a fork full of eggs. "I don't know how you make simple scrambled eggs taste so fantastic."

"Thanks," Draco said with a pleased smile. "So who will we talk to first?"

"I sent my Patronus to Robards right after waking up, asking for a follow-up meeting with him and your boss. We can talk to them both at the same time and have it done in one go."

"That's good thinking on your part, I'm almost impressed. The sooner we get out of there, the better. I might be good at my job, but being a Malfoy is enough to keep that from counting if I have to leave the job for Merlin knows how long because I accidentally got bonded to someone. They won't be too happy about it."

"You should take my name then," Harry joked. "Nobody except you gives me shit for anything."

"Don't tempt me. That sounds like a dream come true. You have no idea how many people don't trust my work solely because of my name. At least twice a week, Mr Bates sends another Curse Breaker to my old jobs just because they want someone else to check if I did my work correctly."

Looking up, Harry watched Draco poke at his food with a grave expression. It wasn't fair. "I didn't know it was still that bad. I'm sorry."

Laughing dryly, Draco looked at him. "That's nothing compared to other things that happen from time to time. We all have to pay a price for who we are, don't we?"

Suddenly not very hungry anymore, Harry pushed his half-eaten plate away and waited for Draco to finish his so they could leave. They shouldn't have to pay a price for what they had done. People mostly ignored him, but it was bad right after the war. If Draco still had trouble, he didn't even want to think about how bad things had been for him in the past.

"Shall we go?" Draco asked, forcing Harry out of his pondering.

"Yes. Let's get it over with."

Leaving the house, they Apparated to the Ministry and went to the conference room close to Harry's office where they were to meet with their department leaders.

Stepping in, they weren't surprised to see them already waiting for them.

"Gentlemen, you wanted to meet us for an update?" Robards asked as soon as they closed the door behind them.

"Good morning to you too, Sir." Sitting down, Harry waited for Draco to do so as well before he looked at the two men sitting in front of them. "We're here to give you an update, yes. But probably not that kind of update you were hoping for."

"Mr Potter, time is a precious commodity in our position as you know. Please tell us what this is about so we can go back to work," Mr Bates said, sounding an awful lot like Vernon Dursley while doing so.

"What Mr Potter wanted to say, Sir, is that our usual work schedule has to wait a bit longer until we can pick it up again. We were involved in an accident this weekend, which resulted in us getting bonded to each other. The bond isn't lethal, but at the moment neither me nor Mr Potter, can leave the other's side until everything settles down. It was a wedding bond, meant for the marriage ceremony of Healer Pansy Parkinson and Unspeakable Theodore Nott, so we have to treat it like an official wedding if we don't want to risk Mr Potter's health."

Harry's blood began to boil as Draco only spoke about his health, instead of taking his own into consideration as well. As if he was of less worth. Draco's words from earlier shot through his head and Harry balled his hands into fists in a desperate attempt to keep quiet.

Looking at Robards, he found him watching them with a thoughtful expression, whereas Mr Bates looked like his head was going to explode any second now.

"How could you be so incompetent?" Mr Bates hissed towards Draco. "I accepted Mr Potter's request for your help, simply for the reason that he personally asked for your expertise in this field. I should have known that I couldn't trust you to do your work without pulling him into some kind of shenanigans as soon as you got the chance to do so! This will be discussed further as soon as you're back at your desk!"

"I don't think your reaction is reas—" Mr Robards started.

But Harry couldn't keep his mouth shut even one second longer. Draco had shrunk into his seat while Bates was on his rant, and it didn't look like he'd stand up for himself, which pissed Harry off beyond words.

"I forbid you to speak to him like that! Draco did his work on my house and accomplished more in a week than me and Miss Granger could in months. As far as this situation goes, it's just as much my own fault as it is his, so what you said was directed towards me as well. It wasn't a plot or scheme of any kind, and I'm sorry that you see it this way because I see myself as obligated to report your outburst towards my husband to Minister Shacklebolt. I bet he’ll be very interested to hear how you treat your employees. We'll see each other in a few weeks if you get to keep your job." Standing, Harry nudged Draco to get up as well. "See you in a few weeks Mr Robards. I'm sorry for the inconvenience this bond brings to our department."

"Very well, Mr Potter. My compliments on your surprising wedding," Mr Robards said, barely hiding his amusement.

"Thank you, Sir."

Dragging Draco out of the room and towards the lift, Harry angrily hammered on the button while waiting for it to arrive.

"Har—" Draco started but Harry stopped him instantly by holding up his hand.

"I don't want to hear anything until we're back at home. But first we're going to Kingsley. Unbelievable."

"Wha—? We can't go to the Minister just because my boss is a dick! You can't do that!"

"Watch me."

The lift arrived and Harry stepped in. His sour mood was obviously painted all over his face because the people who were already in the nearly empty lift backed up towards the wall behind them, making more room than necessary for the two of them.

Level 1 - Minister for Magic and Support Staff

Storming out of the lift, Harry didn't even wait to see if Draco followed him and went straight to Kingsley's office.

Harry knocked hard at the door but didn't wait for Kingsley to answer before he pushed open the door with a loud bang, which earned him an outraged look from the secretary. He knew he was probably running right into an outstretched wand, but he was still so enraged that he couldn't have cared less.

"Harry, what happened?" Kingsley asked, lowering his wand, as soon as he saw him.

"I'm here to make an official complaint against the Head of the Office for the Removal of Curses, Jinxes, and Hexes, because someone else didn't deem it necessary to do so over the last few years."

"Have a seat. You too Mr Malfoy, come in. I want to hear what happened."

Turning around, Harry found Draco lingering at the door where he watched them with big eyes. He obviously hadn't dared to enter, but when Kingsley spoke directly to him, he took some careful steps forwards.

As soon as the door was closed and they both sat opposite Kingsley, Harry told Kingsley what happened that weekend, followed by the conversation they had with Robards and Bates.

About an hour later they were finally back at Niffler's Den, where Harry pushed Draco onto the sofa before he went to the kitchen and made tea for both of them.

He was still furious that Draco was being treated that way, and mad at him for letting it happen for so long, even if he knew that it wasn't fair. There was no chance Draco could have stormed into Kingsley's office like Harry had.

But now that Kingsley had promised to take care of it, he felt the anger slowly fade away. Things would change for the better for Draco, he wouldn't keep letting that happen. He didn't care if it was the bond that made him do it, or if he'd have done this even without. He was just happy that he was in a position to actually do something about it.

When the tea was ready, Harry took the cups and carried them to the living room. As soon as he entered, Draco's head shot around to look at him.

"I made us some tea. I hope I got yours right."

Draco said nothing as he took the offered mug. Turning his head away, he looked at the black screen of the TV, a thoughtful look on his face.

Knowing better than to ask him what was going through his mind, Harry sat down and took a sip of his tea.

"Why did you do that?" Draco asked quietly after some time.

"Because that arsehole can't treat you like that. You don't deserve it."

"That's the bond speaking. You wouldn't have done that without it."

"I would have. Listen, Draco." Crossing his legs, Harry turned on the sofa to face him. "I don't know if the bond had anything to do with this or not. I just know that you are brilliant at what you do, and that nobody should treat you the way Bates did today. It shouldn't matter who you are, not anymore, not after all this time."

"That's not how my life works. It'll always matter. You can't stop all of them."

"But I can sure as hell try," Harry grumbled.

"Good luck with that," Draco huffed. "I gave it up. It's way easier to just ignore most of those people than to fight against them over and over again. I'm tired of fighting." Finally looking at Harry, he quirked a brow. "And you should try ignoring them too. You called me your husband in front of our bosses already. Can you imagine what would happen if you did that in front of a random stranger on the streets?"

"Oh god, I really did, didn't I?" Harry could feel heat crawling up his skin. He knew he really should try to tame his temper. But on the other hand... “You know what? I don't care. I would say the same to a random stranger if that meant they'd leave you alone. And it's not even a lie. Technically you are my husband now, even if our happily ever after has an expiration date. Why not use it to your benefit?"

"This is the worst idea you’ve ever had," Draco said, staring at him in shock. "There'll be a lot of negative reactions towards you."

"So what?" Harry laughed. "I'll get a few letters less a week, or more if they feel the urge to tell me how disappointed they are. I don't even receive those letters, the Ministry arranged a central collection point for letters addressed to me. I only see the reports about cursed or hexed letters; the ones including gifts or valuable objects go back to the sender, and I get another one on the statistics of how much danger there is that I'll get poisoned with a love potion so I can keep my eyes open. I don't exactly care what people think of me, never have, and I sure as hell won't start caring now. Believe me! This can work! And maybe things will change for the better!"

"People will think I set this up, just like Bates did. And it'll get even worse after those six months. I don't think this is such a good idea."

"Fine. So I won't take you out on fancy date nights in public then. Your loss, I can be quite charming if I have to."

At that Draco laughed and Harry felt the last bits of anger leave his body. If he couldn't do more, at least that was something he would do.

"You can always take me on a fancy date night somewhere Muggle. I really want to see that charming Harry Potter in action. Because the only thing I’ve seen so far is the chaotic, barely-able-to-survive-on-his-own version. And he’s not really husband material if you ask me."

"You're always so negative," Harry sighed theatrically. "I haven't cursed you so far, or kicked you out. You got to see a lot of new fish and I paid more money for food in one shopping trip than I usually do in a whole month."

"Whatever. We need to go to my place later, I need to get more clothes and a few of my things. Can't watch TV the entire day."

"Sure. Wanna go now? We could get changed into something less 'uniformy' and go get your stuff straight away. I'll even help you carry it because I'm a nice person, you know?"

"Sounds like a plan. And since you're offering, you'll carry my books."

Draco got up with a shit eating grin on his face. Placing the half-empty mug of tea on the small table, he left the room. Staring after him, Harry only shook his head. How bad could carrying a few books be?

An hour later Harry was able to answer his own question. Bad. Really bad. Draco was somehow in possession of at least thirty books that weren't allowed to be spelled lighter or shrunken. And they were huge.

"Are you sure you'll need all of them?" Harry asked in a desperate attempt to save some of his dignity. He was already gasping for air only carrying them from Draco's study to his front door; he couldn't imagine how bad it'd be as soon as he tried to walk all those stairs.

"Well, yes? Who knows how long I have to stay at your house? Could be for a few weeks or the entire six months. I’d better take everything I could need with me now,and spare us the stress of coming here later just because I need something I forgot."

"So do you have everything now or is there something else you might need?"

"Only have to get something from my bathroom, then we're good to go. Could you please check if I got everything from the fridge? I don't want to come back to the smell of rotten food."

"Sure."

When they returned to Niffler's Den, Harry carried the box of books to his own study and dropped it on the desk. Only a few seconds longer and he was sure his arms would have fallen off. If it wasn't for being friends with Hermione, Harry would have declared Draco totally bonkers for needing so many books in such a short time. But he knew better than to start this discussion.

Dragging himself to the sofa, he watched as Draco went upstairs with the bag that held the rest of his stuff.

Deciding that it'd probably take a while for Draco to unpack everything, Harry threw himself across the sofa and turned on the TV. He knew he should probably do something around the house, like cleaning the floor, or even getting rid of the leaves that his tiny trees had shed, but he just couldn't get himself to do anything after carrying those books around.

Zapping through the channels, he settled for a rainforest documentary because the narrator had a nice, soothing voice, which was exactly what he needed. And they hadn't even had lunch yet.

Some time later, Harry heard Draco puttering about the kitchen. The smell of fish and chips filled the air and Harry knew it was about time he got up to at least help get the plates. But before he could find it in himself to even lift his head, Draco entered the room, lunch in hands.

"Get up, lazy."

"I was about to come over and help you," Harry mumbled into the cushions of his sofa.

"Sure you were," Draco huffed, amused. "Now get up or I'll use you as my seat."

"I'm not a comfortable seat."

"That's not for you to decide. Chop chop! Or we'll find out."

Stretching himself, Harry yawned before he left his comfortable position to sit and make some space for Draco.

"Isn't fish and chips a bit basic for your liking?" Harry asked, while taking the offered plate.

"How can food be too basic? As long as it tastes good I'm happy with everything."

"Says the one who thinks takeaway is barbaric."

"It is, now shut up and eat."

"Yes my dear, of course, my dear."

"Shut up."

Popping a chip into his mouth, Harry grinned at Draco, who only rolled his eyes before doing the same.

"I think I'll try to get back to work on the house after I put away the books. I mean, it has been suspiciously quiet since we made the deal to get along. But I wouldn't trust it to stay that way. And now that my stuff is here I'd rather not have this place burn down."

"Are you sure you feel good enough to try it?" Harry asked carefully.

"We'll see when I try."

"Okay. But you have to stop if you feel like it won't work. I don't know what will happen if one of us gets hurt, and I don't want to find out either."

"I won't die," Draco rolled his eyes. "Nothing will happen."

Huffing, Harry ignored it and looked back at the TV where the narrator talked about a huge colourful flower that bloomed only once a year.

After they finished their lunch, Harry took their plates to the kitchen and cleaned up while Draco went to the study to take care of the books.

After everything was done, Harry took a random book from the shelf in his living room before grabbing two pillows and sitting down in his hallway, waiting for Draco.

It wasn't too long until Draco joined him and, with a careful look towards Harry, pressed his hand against the wall.

Watching him for a while, Harry saw Draco relax under his gaze. Reassured, Harry opened the book and suppressed a snort. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, how ironic to pick this exact book from the shelf.

Opening it, he started reading.

When he reached the second story, his eyes started getting glassy and he had trouble making out the letters in front of him. Knowing instantly that something was wrong, Harry fumbled for his wand.

But it was too late.

The world around him turned dark. He could still feel and hear his surroundings, but there was no light reaching his eyes. He tried to speak, call for Draco to help him, but it seemed impossible for Harry to open his mouth. He felt his panic rise, uncertain about what would happen next. The feeling of being alone in the darkness, again.

A calming presence filled his mind, lured him out of his panic and steered his thoughts towards happier things. He was safe, nothing had happened, everything would be alright. If only he trusted the presence. He wasn't alone.

Not alone.

Recognising what it was, Harry wanted to scream yes, wanted him to know how relieved he was. That he trusted him, no matter what happened. But the words never left his mouth.

But Draco understood, nevertheless. A wave of gratitude washed over Harry, emotions that weren't his own.

As suddenly as it came, everything was over again.

Gasping for air, Harry opened his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Draco's panicked, pale face appeared in front of him. "I'm sorry!"

Instead of answering, Harry leapt forwards and tackled Draco to the floor, before burying his face in Draco's shoulder.

Feeling his whole body shake, Harry tried to calm down to no avail. When arms closed around him, Harry closed his eyes, welcoming the warm embrace.

He had no idea how long they stayed in that position. When he finally calmed down enough to speak, his voice sounded hoarse.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Remember the first day, and me telling you that it was possible that I'd take a wrong turn?"

Harry nodded.

"I'm so sorry, Harry. I've never met someone who reacted that badly to someone entering their mind. I shouldn't have tried to work with a bond this fresh, I put you in danger."

"You couldn't know. I'm fine, just a bit dizzy. That's all."

"But I should have known. Should have considered the risk that this bond would pull me towards you no matter what." Draco's voice was barely a whisper.

Once Harry had calmed down a bit, he noticed that Draco's arms were shaking just as much as Harry's had been only a few moments before. Rolling off of him, Harry rested his head on Draco's arm before laying his own arm over Draco's chest and closing his eyes with a sigh.

"Stop always blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault. I'm fine. I only react badly to people entering my mind because my body goes on full defence mode since—" since I got rid of the part of Voldemort's soul living inside me and entering my mind for years. Harry didn't dare to say the rest out loud. But he didn't need to.

"I heard them talk about it. At the Manor. I know what he did to you, what happened when your godfather died. That's another reason why I should have been more careful."

Harry stayed silent, not knowing what to say. He couldn't believe Draco knew about his link to Voldemort for all those years and still treated him like he always had. Normal, at least what they'd call normal. Not even Dumbledore treated him the same way after he'd found out about it.

"We should get up," Harry said after a while. "I need to take a shower. I want to impress my date tonight, and I can't do that if I stay here on the floor."

"Oh," Draco said. "Tell me about your date. Someone I know? Someone interesting?"

"Hmm. Pretty annoying guy if you ask me. Posh and snarky, sometimes a real dick. Just the way I like them."

"You are the annoying one here, Potter." Draco laughed, slapping Harry with his free hand. "But fine. I don't want you to be late for your date. When will you pick him up?"

"I'd say I'll surprise him with a knock on his door at six and hope he's ready to go. What do you think?"

"Yeah, I think that could work for him."

Grinning, Harry jumped up and helped Draco from the floor before running towards the bathroom, suddenly feeling giddy.

The giddy feeling still hadn't left when he knocked at Draco's bedroom door at six o'clock sharp, dressed in his nicest clothes. And it only got only worse when Draco opened it.

"Good evening Draco, I was wondering if you'd grant me the pleasure of taking you out for dinner tonight?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Draco said, smirking. "You're lucky. I'm a very busy man, you see. But as luck would have it, I'm free tonight."

"Brilliant! Shall we go then? I placed a reservation at a nice restaurant earlier today, I think you'll like it there."

"We'll see."

Holding his arm out, Harry waited for Draco to take it before he led their way out and Side-Alonged them to London where he led them to a small Italian restaurant hidden on a side street. He had discovered it after the war while cleaning out Grimmauld Place and still occasionally returned to eat their pasta and bruschetta.

"Welcome to The King's Bite, the best Italian restaurant I know," Harry said, as he held the door open for Draco. "It's Muggle too; another reason to love it."

"It looks nice, I'm impressed. A restaurant with real linen on the tables. I never thought you'd be a man to fancy this kind of important detail."

"I'm full of surprises."

Closing the door behind them, Harry waited for the server to seat them in the small secluded booth Harry usually sat in.

After their drinks arrived, Harry grinned at Draco.

"So, you like fish? Anything else I'm supposed to know about you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Draco grinned back. "How about you? I didn't see any pets, or an obsession with a certain kind of documentaries. What are your secrets?"

"All my secrets can be found in the Daily Prophet, some more detailed, some less. I'm an open book. But since we were at animals, I like owls. I visit Eeylops everytime I'm in Diagon Alley, just to pet them."

"How come you haven't got one yet?"

"I wasn't able to settle on a new one after Hedwig—I use the Ministry's owls or my Patronus if I have to. Why don't you have one?"

"I'm living in a Muggle neighbourhood, in a Muggle house. I'm not stupid. There's always the danger of people seeing an owl come and go. I just want to keep that danger minimal by not having one myself."

"That's fair."

"So, Harry, what are your plans for the future? As your current husband I should know what I didn't sign up for."

At that Harry had to laugh, "Neither did I. Plans for the future? I think maybe having a real wedding one day would be nice. Also a few kids, and a dog. Something that fills my house with life, you know?"

"Our marriage is already doomed to fail," Draco sighed theatrically. "A dog? Really?"

"We can compromise. How about three kids, a dog, and a fish tank?"

"Two kids, a fish tank, and a cat. And you are allowed to watch the dog of one of your friends once a year while they are on holiday."

"If that's your last offer we'll make it a deal," Harry laughed.

By the time dinner arrived, they were both back to discussing the pros and cons of different owl breeds and their usual character traits. Harry told Draco that he obviously had no idea what he was talking about, because he was of the firm conviction that barn owls were lazy, and on top of that, the most boring ones anyone could buy.

"Do you like your pasta?" Harry asked after Draco was halfway through his plate.

"It's fantastic. They obviously make it fresh instead of buying it, and the sauce is exactly on point. Do you like yours?"

"I always do," Harry smiled.

He didn't know why, but the fact that Draco was happy with the place he chose got Harry very excited.

"So, since we're now living together, re there any hobbies I should know of?" Harry asked after taking a sip of his water.

"I play the bagpipes every Saturday morning, and I read a lot. Also, I'm a passable knitter."

"You do what?" Harry asked, shocked, not knowing if he had heard correctly.

The second the question left his mouth, Draco had already burst out laughing. "You should have seen your face! Of course I don’t play the bagpipes. But that was brilliant."

"But you knit?"

"I do. Want a scarf for Christmas? I can make you one. Or a hat? A new jumper? Socks? I needed something to do after the war; mother used to knit when I was small. So I decided to try it out, and realised that I enjoy it as well. It's easy enough without a wand."

"We could gift one to Mrs Weasley. It wouldn't surprise me if you get one as well this year."

"You know what, I find this idea quite funny. And I think she'd love to get one."

"So you'll really knit a jumper for her?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Sure, why not? It's not like I have a lot to do anyways."

Smiling at him, Harry took another sip of his water before returning to what was left of his pasta.

After finishing dessert, Harry asked for the bill before looking at Draco, who looked positively pleased with how their night was going so far.

"Want to go for a walk before we go home? There is a lovely park right around the corner. It's probably closed now, but that shouldn't stop us."

"Don't you know that it's against the law to enter a park after it has closed?" Draco asked mockingly. "So you never got out of the habit of sneaking around after curfew, it seems."

"Not really, no. How boring would it be if I did?"

"Very."

Paying their bill, Harry led their way out of the door and Apparated them straight into the center of the park.

Small lights on each side of the path illuminated their way as they followed it, Draco still holding onto Harry's arm, the only sound reaching their ears coming from the rustling of the leaves underneath their feet.

He had always enjoyed this place: the silence at night, and the chatter and playing kids on days where the world threatened to crush him under its weight. Just like the restaurant, he had found it on one of his endless strolls around London after the war.

"I think it'll snow soon," Draco said, looking up into the cloudless sky.

"Probably. It's cold enough if you ask me. I always loved the first snow at Hogwarts. It still reminds me of the huge Christmas trees in the Great Hall, and the singing suits of armor in the halls."

"We always had a big Christmas tree at the Manor when I was a kid. I often snuck out to shake my presents to find out what was in them while my parents were asleep. They knew I did it, but didn't intend to ever stop me from having my little secret mission."

Looking over at him, Harry found Draco smiling at that memory.

"We should get one as well. We could put it up in the living room. It'll be my first Christmas in my own home."

"That's worth a celebration. And I'm sure I’ll have fixed your house by then. We could invite Pansy and the rest for dinner at some point. I don't know how the Weasleys celebrate Christmas so we should probably schedule it around their plans."

"Do you usually visit your mother for Christmas?" Harry asked carefully.

"I do. But she'll understand that I can't come over this year."

"We—we can go there. It's okay. She's your mother, and she saved my life. The least I can do is to go there with you on Christmas so she's not alone."

Draco stopped and turned to look at Harry. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"You'd go to the Manor for my mother?"

"And for you, yes," Harry said. There was no doubt left in his mind. He'd do it without thinking twice about it.

Suddenly he found himself with Draco in his arms, hugging him so tight it nearly hurt while he repeated "thank you" over and over again.

Not knowing what to say, Harry just hugged him back.

When Draco let go of him, the air around them felt a lot colder than it had before. Harry wasn't sure if it was because of the loss of Draco's warm embrace, or just the usual thing that happened at night in November. But he suddenly couldn't wait to get back home to his warm house. And he obviously wasn't alone in that.

"Let's go home and warm up," Draco said, smiling before taking Harry's hand and Apparating them to Niffler's Den.

Once at the door, Draco stopped and turned to face Harry, looking somewhat nervous.

"This was quite a charming date, thank you for asking me out, Harry."

"Thank you for coming with me," Harry said, smiling at him. "I'd like to do it again sometime."

"Yeah, me too…"

Harry looked at Draco, who was chewing on his lip, not knowing what else he was supposed to say. There was something, a tension between the two of them that had been there the entire evening, which reached its peak at this exact moment, and Harry didn't know what to do with it except stare at Draco in awe.

He had thought that this night could be fun when he had decided to ask him out, but it had been way more than that.

"I'll get into something more comfortable," Draco said, suddenly opening the door behind him. "Meet you in the living room?"

"Yeah. I'll do the same."

When Harry followed Draco inside the house, something suddenly whacked the back of his head. Turning around, he found an innocent looking stick on the ground but couldn't find anything else.

Grumbling, he rubbed the spot the stick had hit him and closed the door to follow Draco upstairs to get a pair of joggers from his room.

He was in nothing but his pants when realisation hit him.

A date. They were on a date. Draco stopped them in front of the door for a reason.

Cursing himself loudly, Harry ran to his closet and grabbed the first pair of joggers he found and pulled them on before running out of his room and knocking furiously on Draco's door, hoping it wasn't too late.

"What?" Draco asked from the inside, where Harry could hear him sprinting to his door before prying it open. "Did something hap—?"

Not waiting for him to finish his sentence, Harry pulled him close and pressed his lips against Draco's.

At first he wasn't sure if this had been a good idea, but when Draco slowly started to relax in his arms he knew he had made the right decision.

When they parted again, Harry's head was spinning and his hands, resting on Draco's sides, were shaking hard enough to send ripples over Draco’s loose shirt.

A laugh carried his attention back to Draco's face.

"You, Harry, are the most annoyingly clueless guy that ever stumbled around on this entire planet. This really took you ages to realise, didn't it?"

"Yeah," Harry grinned sheepishly. "Not one of my prouder moments to be honest. But at least I thought about jumping into my joggers before knocking your door down, that must be worth something."

"Pretty sure I'd have closed the door if you turned up in nothing but your pants. That's a bit too daring for a first date if you ask me."

Laughing, Harry gave Draco another peck on the lips. "I'll look for a shirt now and wait for you on the sofa."

"Do that. I'll be there soon. Jerk."

"Git."

Still smiling, Harry turned to finish getting dressed before going downstairs. Throwing himself across the sofa, he turned on the TV and zapped through the channels until he found something about whales, which technically weren't fish, but still close enough.

When Draco joined him some ten minutes later, he didn't even bother to tell Harry to sit up and make some room for him. Instead he draped himself half behind, half over him and nestled his face into Harry's neck.

The whales were quickly forgotten when Harry turned his head and captured Draco's lips in a slow kiss.

With the amount of awkward bumping against each other, and the giggles that followed before they started over again, Harry felt like a teenager all over again. But if he had to be honest, it had been ages since Harry fell asleep next to someone, and even longer since he had snogged someone until they could no longer keep their eyes open. So it didn't bother him too much that this wasn't working out perfectly, it only made it feel more real to him.

They didn't even make it to bed that night. Instead they fell asleep on the sofa, cuddling and stroking each others backs.

Harry woke up mere hours later to Draco jumping up next to him. He was already looking for his wand when Draco let out a scream.

"Harry!"

"What? What happened?"

"I know it! I finally figured it out!"

"What?" giving up the search for his wand, Harry sat up and blinked at Draco, who looked extremely excited.

"I know what is wrong with your house!"

At that Harry's tired brain snapped awake. "You do?"

"Yes! It's nothing we can fix, but yes!"

"What do you mean nothing we can fix?"

"I mean that we can't fix it, but we don't have to! Remember when I accidentally entered your mind?"

Harry nodded.

"Your biggest fear was being alone again! And on our date you told me you want a family, to marry someone and settle down!"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with my house?"

"Can't you see?" Draco asked excitedly. "It's you! You built this house, the magic running through its core is yours! Together with your dreams and hopes! It settled down after more and more of my magic was added to the core, when you weren't alone anymore. It stopped us from fighting, locked us in to solve our problems. Your house was unhappy because you were alone."

"That sounds—"

"Like a crazy theory? I know. But trust me, after everything I read, after seeing what happened to the Manor, after studying your house and talking with you, it is exactly that."

"So we can't fix it?" Harry asked, not sure if he should be happy that Draco finally found what was wrong, or devastated that there was nothing he could do.

"No. Seems like you just have to keep me happy solely to keep your house happy," Draco said, grinning cheekily.

At that Harry had to laugh. Pulling Draco into his lap, he gave him a small kiss. "Shouldn't be too hard to keep you happy. What do you think?"

Epilogue

Harry stepped out of his Floo with a loud sigh. He couldn't believe that this year was about to end, and neither could he believe that Draco had managed to convince him that it'd be a good idea to invite all of their friends over for a New Year's Eve party.

They were just coming back from Pansy’s, after she had called them over to help her get the appetisers to Niffler's Den without risking the possibility that she'd drop everything while handling all those plates alone.

In truth, this was only a scheme to get them out of their house and into hers to finally show them the newly renovated rooms.

"Did you notice the empty room painted in light yellow?" Draco asked as soon as they brought the plates to the kitchen.

"Yes?"

"That's a nursery. I'm sure about that."

"So yellow rooms are nurseries?" Harry huffed, amused.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you ask her?"

"Because that's none of my business. Honestly, one doesn't go around and ask people if their empty rooms are supposed to be nurseries. That's insensitive."

"I never knew you were such a gossip."

"As my husband it's your job to suffer through my gossiping so I don't have to ask insensitive questions to my dearest friends."

Laughing, Harry wrapped his arms around Draco and gave him a kiss.

"That's a small price to pay. We owe Pansy a lot more than that."

"We do, right?" leaning into Harry, Draco let out a long sigh. "I think we should get ready. Our guests will arrive soon."

"You're probably right. Or we could go take a nap and let them celebrate on their own."

"Nope. Get your lazy bum in the shower and don't you dare to stay in there for ages again, or I'll start a fight and the house will take over for me."

"Hmm. That's not fair."

"I don't play fair," Draco grinned.

"Hey, before we get flooded by guests and all the chaos that comes with them. I was thinking—"

"Oh Merlin. You thinking can't be a good idea."

"Shut up you nag. Like I said, I was thinking. Don you want to move in, like, officially? Get the rest of your stuff from the apartment and stay here?"

"Yes! I'd actually love that," Draco said happily.

"Really?" Harry had been thinking about when and how to ask that question since Christmas. He had even tried to ask a few times before, but chickened out, fearing that Draco didn't want to.

Hearing his yes was like dropping a heavy weight.

"When do you want to get the rest? Tomorrow?"

"We don't have to get anything. I took everything with me when we went to my place to get my necessary stuff," Draco grinned before pressing a kiss on Harry's temple.

"Wait," Harry gawked at him. "Are you telling me that you moved in more or less when we got bonded—and didn't find it necessary to tell me?"

"Well, not officially. But yes, that's more or less what I did."

"Unbelievable. You're the worst. And I'm here worrying that you might not want to and would say no when I asked you!"

"Surprise?"

"Surprise indeed," Harry laughed. "Welcome home, Draco."

"Welcome home, Harry."

Smiling, Draco leaned in and captured Harry in a deep kiss. Their relationship might not be the easiest one, nor was it perfect, but it was exactly what Harry ever wanted: to be with someone special who made his house an actual home. And Draco was the most special person he could ever dream of.