Distorted Exposure

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you may recognize. Everything belongs to the wonderful JKRowling and others. I am making no profit from this. To put it plainly: don't sue.

AN: Thanks for all the reviews they made me so happy. So here you go.

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“Hell no.” Harry cursed, not pausing to check his language. “Why me?” Harry begged glancing up at the ceiling.

Looking at the ex-Slytherin he noticed him wearing a sour look but he had yet to open his mouth in any sort of protest, though if he was feeling anything like Harry was feeling at the moment it wasn’t a complete mystery as to why. Harry’s stomach was coiled painfully tight and resent rose up bitter in his throat.

“Is there a problem?” Alexander asked, speaking up for the first time as he cast his glance from Draco to Harry and back to Draco again.

No! Harry felt the need to scream, No, this is just fate taking me for some sick ride again. But Harry held his tongue all the same, if Malfoy hadn’t lost his cool then he wasn’t going to lower himself by throwing a tantrum. Surely he could figure out a more plausible excuse, decide that this wasn’t to his taste or something of the like. Ren had said that he could back out at any time after all.

But before Harry could declare some bullshit reason as to why he couldn’t work with Malfoy, a cold voice cut through the tension that hung thick in the air, causing Harry to wince at the tone.

“There most certainly is. I refuse to be subjected to the incompetence the likes of which Potter is certain to bring to this arrangement. If you are determined to photograph him, I must insist that you do so without my participation.” Cold, dignified and arrogant as always Harry noted with a flicker of distaste. Malfoy was so predictable.

Alexander raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t bother to respond. And Harry felt it was about time he defended himself.

“Well it’s not as though I’m overly ecstatic about the fact that it was you who walked through that door either. And here I thought this might be fun. With the likes of you around, I think I’d find more pleasure in getting my teeth pulled.” Harry hissed, his jaw clenched painfully as he tried to rein his roaring temper.

“Eloquent as always Potter.” Draco spat looking at him as though he was something especially foul that needed to be scraped of the bottom of his shoe.

“In case you haven’t noticed that holier-than-thou attitude of yours is a bit worn out Malfoy. And seeing as you’ve so graciously removed yourself from the picture if I should decide to stay, I think I’d rather prefer it if you could remove yourself entirely, preferable from existence all together.”

Harry thought he saw Alexander hide an amused chuckle in the midst of a coughing fit at the comment but refrained from mocking Malfoy outright. And speaking of Malfoy, Harry thought he rather looked as though someone had forcefully cleaned his mouth out with a low-grade bar of soap.

“And I suppose you consider yourself dignified even after speaking to me in such a manner. Even on my worst day I could outshine you in the blink of an eye, Potter.” Draco scowled, and Harry thought he could make out the shape of clenched fists in the pockets of the casual, viper green jacket he was wearing. “And seeing as I have more experience in this particular field than you I don’t see why I should be the one to leave.”

Harry opened his mouth to retort, a cheeky comeback already on his tongue but gave it a moment’s pause. This was eerily reminiscent of his years at Hogwarts, making it seem to him as though nothing had changed, as though every ounce of animosity they shared was still untouched.

After all these years and everything he had been through, did it all lead up to the fact that his biggest hindrance in life was his school time rival Draco Malfoy? No, he wouldn’t let himself fall into that trap. He would step up and be the bigger man and hope that Malfoy was as much of a coward as he remembered, simply so that he wouldn’t need to go through the trouble of putting up with him.

“Look Malfoy, I’m not the one so adamant against working with you, therefore it’s only right that you leave.”

“That’s just like you. Always the victim, never the villain. Don’t you dare expect me to believe for a moment that you’re willing to work with me.” The glare that Malfoy fixed him with would have had any lesser man running for cover. As it was it shook Harry’s confidence and unearthed his recently buried anger.

“Well if you must insist on being so insufferable I doubt anyone in their right mind would want to work with you.” Harry couldn’t help himself, as valiant as he tried to be, Malfoy had always possessed the uncanny ability of bringing out the worst in him.

“You know what, I don’t need this.” Without another word Malfoy turned heel and began to walk away, leaving Harry unsure as to whether he should feel the thrill of victory or perhaps be left with the sinking thought that Malfoy was actually better than him for walking away as he did.

It was then that Ren, who had been silently watching their exchange, decided to cut in. “What a shame. And you would have made such a cute couple too. But don’t let that stop you from squabbling over all those petty difference that you two seem to harbour.”

Malfoy swivelled around in an instant, and fixed Ren with a cold, disapproving stare. “There is not one person in their right mind who would believe that Potter is worthy of being in the same frame as me let alone someone who would use the word cute to describe us together. So please refrain from trying to make me bring my lunch back up again.”

“Oh I suppose you’re the expert then?” Ren was still smiling pleasantly but there was now a hard glint to her eyes that Harry picked up on, but the way Malfoy went on, he was sure the ponce had yet to notice.

“I’m of sane mind. That’s all you need really. When I entered into this agreement it was with the assumption that I would be working with quality people. Apparently I assumed wrong.” At this point Malfoy’s gaze flickered briefly to Harry and he saw that the prick was overly smug about his position, almost as though he was sure they would pick him over the Golden Boy any day. Harry would have stepped in and thrown the idiot from his high throne but he saw the danger in jumping into this conversation, especially when Alexander joined in.

“Well it’s not as though you’ve given anyone a chance.”

“And besides,” Ren continued, picking up where her brother left off, reminding Harry vividly of the Weasley twins and leaving him wondering if the pair were in fact twins. “You can’t deny the quality of our work.”

“Nor did I ever think to. Your reputation is one of the reasons I responded to the invitation. But never did I think your judgement would be so poor as to hire that-”

“That boy who defeated Voldemort? Protected the school of Hogwarts against invading death eaters? And became the best seeker Puddlemere United has ever had in a matter of years? No, I suppose I have no idea what we were thinking when we decided he would be good for this shoot.”

For a moment Malfoy looked speechless and Harry decided he preferred it that way. And seeing as he was going to get dragged into this anyways Harry decided to enter on his own terms, and if that meant antagonizing Malfoy then so be it.

“If you think-” Malfoy began but Harry cut him off before he could get any farther.

“Scared Malfoy?” He goaded, knowing by the way his newest employers were watching him that they hadn’t expected this.

And just as Malfoy was the only one who could get under his skin, it seemed he was the only one who could get under Malfoy’s coolheaded composure, which up until that point he had maintained a semblance of. But the instant the words were out of Harry’s mouth Malfoy’s expression turned murderous.

“Not by the likes of you.” Malfoy spat, strolling up to Harry as he did so that by the time he was done speaking he was mere inches away from him. “And don’t ever presume that you have the right to call me a coward.” Malfoy hissed, a dark look passing over his already dark expression.

“Whatever Malfoy,” Harry muttered, thrown from his goading by Malfoy’s sudden ominous expression and the fact that for a brief moment his blazing silver eyes had caught his own causing him to pause almost like a prey caught by the eyes of snake about to strike.

At this point Ren must have thought the situation rather volatile because she jumped in. “Well now that that’s all settled, how about we get some dinner?”

Malfoy was still looking venomously at Harry who despite his disorientation at being at such close proximities with an obviously angry Draco Malfoy was refusing to back down. Finally icy mercury eyes seemed to soften a smidgen and the cold Malfoy mask fell into place again, making Malfoy the arrogant, domineering aristocrat he always was. He turned away, walking towards the door with a quick nod at Ren, which surprised Harry because he had expected for Malfoy to put up more of a struggle.

When he got to the door Malfoy paused, his hand on the doorknob and he turned to address Ren and Alexander who had just made to follow him. “Alright, I have a contract to uphold and so I’ll go through with this. However…” At this point he paused and fixed Harry with one last vindictive glance before continuing. “…I will take the position of the dominant partner in the shoots.”

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AN: okay the reviews were wonderful, especailly the ones that boosted my grammer ego. However I realize that this chapter isn't up to par, and I'm a bit tired today so I didn't get a chance to fix it. Therefore I apologize for how bad it was but I felt the need to post it anyways. I think I might re-write it depending on the response I get to it. The thing is I'm pretty sure as to what I want to happen in the next chapter but I couldn't work on it until I got this one out because it was bugging me, so hopefully the next chapter will be better.

The next chapter isn't started yet but I think I can have it done by tomorrow or the day after. Until then be happy that this chapter is pretty long. By the standards of this fic anyways. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. You have no idea how wonderful they made me feel.

- Incessant_Darkness