The Proposal

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Ginny was off talking to Hermione when the familiar but not totally welcome figure of Draco Malfoy approached the bridal party table clad in green/black dress robes.

‘Evening Potter’ He said.

‘What do you want Malfoy?’ Harry said shortly.

‘Who says I want anything?’ Draco said with his trademark sneer.

‘You’re Draco Malfoy you always want something’ Harry said.

‘I was wondering if we could have a chat?’

Harry opened his mouth to speak.

‘No I don’t want anything, No I don’t need anything , No I don’t want to hang shit on you and no I am not going to curse you!’ Draco continued. ‘I was wondering would you like to join me for a walk? We can chat here if in front of witnesses if you still don’t trust me’

There was a long silence as Harry made up his mind.

‘Okay but if you try anything I won’t hesitate to hex you into the second hereafter!’ Harry said getting up.

For the first time since the end of the war Harry saw Draco laugh. Not a sycophantic sarcastic laugh but a genuine belly laugh. Something that somewhat surprised him.

‘Oh yeah I’ve heard about your Dragon Dung Hex’ He said with a chuckle ‘Is that what you do on your long service leave? Invent spells?’

‘It passes time’ Harry said feeling weird at joking with someone who had been his enemy all throughout school ‘I’m working on a few more’

‘Writing a book?’ Draco asked as they walked away from the main gathering of guests.

Ginny saw them from the dance floor and started to walk over but Harry surreptitiously shook his head. She gave him a questioning look but stayed where she was. Harry and Draco moved away over to a stone wall that fenced and elaborate magical plants garden and leant on it each with a Firewhiskey on the rocks.

‘So what’s up?’ Draco asked.

‘The sky’ Harry said rolling his eyes.

‘Seriously though I know you went on immediate long service leave after that incident at Flourish and Blotts and have not been at the Ministry or seen in public since are you hiding?'

‘No offence Malfoy but I find it really hard to believe you give a rats arse’ Harry said ‘Why are you acting all palley palley all of a sudden? For as long as I’ve known you you’ve been the world’s biggest git, why change all of a sudden?’

‘Oh come on Potter have you already forgotten the war and the final battle?’ Draco said ‘That experience changed who I am to the core. I want to try and repair any damage I any have done in the past. Including all the shit at school’

‘Why?’

‘Because I have gotten to the point of realizing being on your own is no fun, Longbottom helped me see that. I’ve been thinking over the last couple of weeks I should especially try and fix things with you Weasley and Granger as I gave you three the most crap at school. You have to understand I grew up as a Malfoy I was brainwashed with all that pureblood is better and should rule the world crap. I now realize that is a load of bullshit and blood means nothing. It’s who a person is that matters. Life is too short to hold on to such predjudices’

Harry stared at Draco incredulously.
‘You know if you’d said this ages ago you would’ve saved yourself an awful lot of hassle’ he said finally swirling his Firewhiskey idly as he watched a nearby patch of Mandrakes sway in the evening air.

‘Well prior to now I was getting over my own stupid pride’ Draco said ‘And Mafoys aren’t exactly known for swallowing their pride’

Harry snorted.
‘You can say that again’ He said.

There was another long pause, the only sounds being the sway of the mandrakes and the rumble and slight thump thump beat of the music form the DJ.

‘So I suppose what I’m saying is I apologise’ Draco said ‘I apologise for all the crap I heaped on you at school, you Weasley and Granger. I don’t expect you to forgive me but I needed to say this to you. The selfish part of me just wants to get it off my chest for my own benefit but I’m looking at the bigger picture now and trying to think of other people more than myself...can we shake?’

Draco held out his hand.

Harry looked at Malfoy for a long while then grasped his hand and shook it.

‘Okay’ He said ‘I suppose it’s time to leave all the past behind us a change is as good as a holiday’ He said.

Draco grinned as the handskake became stronger and more assured.

‘So’ He said.

‘So what?’

‘Are you going to take the D.A.D.A job for the new term?’

‘How the fuck do you know about that?’ Harry exclaimed snorting half his Firewhiskey up his nose and coughing hard.

Draco rolled his eyes.
‘Oh come on who do you think it was that suggested to Minerva that you be the choice in the first place? He said ‘I told her you were the best person for the job’

‘What for?’

‘Because you are. I gathered after that incident in Flourish and Blotts a few months ago you were reluctant to go back to the Ministry and suggested to Minerva that she seek you out to see if you were interested in taking over from Morris. You are the best person in our world for the job and I think all the current Hogwarts students would benefit from you teaching them. And you’re somewhat protected within the walls of Hogwarts and wouldn’t get hassled there as much as you do otherwise. Rita Skeeter wouldn’t hassle you there because you know Minerva wouldn’t let her within a hundred miles of the castle. And I’ve heard about those disguise hats George Weasley has invented so you could wear them when you have to go outside’

‘You’ve been thinking about this a lot haven’t you?’

‘Of course I want to try and convince you to come back to Hogwarts’

‘Who put you up to it? Because I have told everyone who knows about it to not hassle me or I’ll hex them into a blob’ Harry said ‘The same goes for you by the way’ He added.

Draco raised an eyebrow.
‘I’m not hassling you’ He said ‘Just wondering what you thought’

‘Okay I’m going to tell you this once and only once. Yes I am thinking about it. I am reluctant to return to heading the Auror office and want something to keep me occupied. I would like to return to Hogwarts in some capacity but I’m unsure which one. As I’m sure you can imagine a decision of this magnitude cannot be taken lightly. I’m sure you didn’t say ‘Yeah sure’ when you were asked to take over the Transfiguration job’

‘Yeah actually I did’ Draco said with a laugh ‘I wanted out of the Ministry too. The Department of International Magical Co-Operation is not the nerve center of the Ministry and I don’t like to twiddle my thumbs’

‘You’re staying in the job?’

‘I plan to’ Draco said ‘Believe it or not I love teaching it’s a great occupation, I think given time you’ll see that too. Had you planned on going back to the Auror office?’

‘Sort of. I’m just in limbo at the moment. I want something to occupy my time but there’s the issue of being mobbed every time I go anywhere and the fact I just about had my fill of fighting the bad arse guys during the war. And I’m not entirely sure I need to go back there. There are plenty of good people there already’

‘You sure about that?’ Draco said raising a disbelieving eyebrow ‘From what I’ve heard at the Ministry everyone is desperate to get you back. You’re the Auror head the best Auror in the department since Mad-Eye Moody’

‘Who the hell have you heard that from?’ Harry exclaimed.

‘No one specifically just general canteen chat’ Draco said ‘You’re missed at the Ministry. Everyone wants to see you back in some capacity’

‘Great I’ll sod the Auror department and apply for the canteen manager’s job’ Harry said in joking sarcasm ‘In the course of inventing the Dragon Dung Hex I cast a cleaning charm so strong I broke every window in Gin’s potions lab’

Draco snorted.

‘So what else is happening with you?’ Harry asked hoisting himself up on the wall and leaning on one of the marble lion sculptures ‘When I saw Neville a week ago in Hogsmeade he said you had been dating Astoria Greengrass but broke up with her two years ago'

‘Yeah Astoria and I were dating but I dumped her for reasons I'd rather not go into right now' Draco said making a face 'Suffice to say I was a nanosecond away from murdering her'

Harry decide not to ask the barrage of questions that just burst into his thinking.
‘So you seen any prospects here you fancy?’ He asked finishing his Firewhiskey with a gulp.

‘There’s one or two possibilities but to be honest I’m not really looking. Love is something that finds you, you don’t find it’

'Geez you’re sounding like Dumbledore’ Harry said ‘A lot of people who I’ve talked to in the last two weeks have been spouting pearls of wisdom like he would’

‘Hmm well times have changed what’s happened in the few years has forced a lot of people to grow up including me. One is more likely to say something mature when they are actually mature’

‘So are you a shit of a teacher?’ Harry said with a grin ‘Twenty points from Griffyndor and all that?’

‘Oh ha ha’ Draco said rolling his grey eyes which still had the haunted look the war gave them ‘I am a fair teacher and I dock or give out house points based on the virtues of the students that belong to them. I’m not like Snape I don’t dock points from Gryffindor and give them to Slytherin just to get my rocks off’

‘You thought the sun shone out of Snape’s arse at school and now you’re saying he was unfair?’ Harry said in surprise.

‘Yeah well we’ve all got 20/20 vision in hindsight and looking back he wasn’t very fair to students other than those in Slytherin’ Draco said ‘I’m not like that. I’m not who I used to be at school anymore’

‘And I'm starting to see that’ Harry said sliding off the wall and heading back to the festivities ‘C’mon lets go back to the party I want to see if there’s anymore cake left and have another Firewhiskey want to join me?’

‘Sure’

Harry and Draco headed back to the festivities and while Draco was pouring himself another Firewhiskey Ron pulled Harry aside.

‘What did that slimy git want?’ He asked.

‘He just made the first step to not being a slimy git’ Harry said ‘I’ll go and get Gin and ‘Mione and explain everything'

Harry got Ginny ad Hermione form the dance floor and led them to a corner table with Ron. He the sat them all down and explained to them about the conversation he and Draco had, had In the garden.

‘Wow it was him that set the wheels in motion. I am impressed!’ Ginny said pulling off her shoes and putting her feet on Harry’s lap ‘Maybe he isn’t such a prat after all’

‘I wouldn’t be so sure about that’ Ron said watching Draco chat to Professor McGonagall near the bar that had been set up next to the DJ’s stand.

‘Ronald Weasley don’t be such an idiot’ Hermione said also kicking off her heels and putting her feet on Ron's lap ‘Neville said last week he had changed and now you have heard an eye witness account from your best friend saying the same thing. If you can’t believe two of your best friends who can you believe?’

‘Yeah true’ Ron conceded rubbing Hermione’s feet ‘Well back to work tomorrow for all of us Harry do you have anything planned for tomorrow?’

Harry pointed his wand at a witches hat that belonged to Mrs Weasley that was on the table and muttered ‘Wingardium Leviosa’ It rose into the air and hovered.

‘Nah nothing solid planned’ He said making the hat twirl slowly in a circle ‘I have a breif meeting with Kingsley in the morning then I have to pick something up in Diagon Alley and I want to see about getting the last little bit of the Manor in Godric’s Hollow organized I want to move in there before Christmas’

‘You do?’ Ginny said ‘After nearly six years you’ve decided to move there?’

‘Yeah I finally feel it’s time’ Harry said ‘I’ve wanted to go back there for a while but with the war and the final battle then looking after Teddy it wasn’t really the right time’

‘So you’re going to leave us all at the Burrow?’ Ginny said.

‘No I want you to come and live with me’ Harry said now making Mrs Weasley’s hat do cartwheels in the air ‘You, Ron and Hermione’

‘Really Harry you sure?’ Hermione said sitting up wouldn’t you and Ginny prefer to have the house to yourself?’

‘Mione you and Ron are my best friends and I’m the type of person who needs my friends close. Anyway the Manor is huge there’s plenty of room for each of us to have our own space. You and Ron can have one end of the house and Gin and I can have the other end. It’s like two huge houses stuck together. We can socialise together when we want and socialize on our own when we want. Then if you want at a later date you can move out to a place of your own’

‘What would Mum say?’ Ron mused levitating a rose from the vase on the table to join Mrs Weasley’s hat in the air ‘She’d be lost with no one but Dad and her at home. Gin and I are the last ones at the Burrow’

‘She’d be upset at first but she’d get used to it’ Ginny said joining in on the levitating and making a fork join the hat and rose in the air ‘I mean I don’t think she’d expect us to live at the Burrow forever. I love Mum and Dad but I don’t want to live at home all my life’

‘Well if you do all want to come and live at Godric’s Hollow I think it’s best we all sit down with your folks and say what we want to do’ Harry said ‘I don’t think it’d be very fair if we just upped and left’

‘No Molly would probably hex us’ Hermione said levitating one of her shoes into the air.

‘So you all want to come and live with me?’ Harry said.

‘Does Hippogriff shit stink?’ Ginny said ‘Harry I’d love to live at the manor with you. I’d be closer to St Mungo’s for a start’

‘And you wouldn’t have to sneak around to have a shag’ Ron said wit a laugh.

‘Ronald Weasley if you utter another syllable I will make you sing 'I’m A Little Teapot’ in French in front of all the guests!’ Ginny threatened ‘I might actually transfigure you into a short and stout teapot’

Hermione laughed so hard she stopped concentrating on her levitating spell and her shoe fell onto the table with a crash shattering a champagne flute.

‘Whoops!’ She exclaimed in embarrassment as the shattering glass caused all the guests to look over their way ‘Reparo…’

The flute repaired itself.

‘Yeah I’d like to come and live with ya Harry’ Ron said ‘It’d be different living somewhere other than The Burrow’

‘You’ll have to wash your own socks though’ Harry said with a laugh ‘And we all know how hard it is for you to clean up after yourself!’

‘Oh sod off Harry’ Ron said rolling his eyes 'Fuckin' git'

Harry just laughed.

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