When Living Ain\'t Easy

See Prologue for all the normal warnings, disclaimer, etc.

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Chapter Seven : Wiping the Slate

\"Mr. Potter, are you implying that our beloved Ministry of Magic, in conjuction with the revered Hogwarts Board of Governers, have failed to provide a fair percentage of students with sufficient information to make a smooth transition between the muggle and magical worlds?\"

The dark Slytherin had been relatively quiet throughout the morning meal. His words caused Harry\'s head to move with less grace than he\'d like, honing in on the voice to watch Snape\'s face. Truthfully, he knew that not everything the older man said was intended to be offensive or antagonistic... but damned if it didn\'t *sound* like it sometimes.

\"Yes sir, we feel it\'s definitely needed. And no offense, but the Ministry\'s run by idiots. The Governers aren\'t much better. To adopt a phrase from... an unnamed source-\" here Harry smiled sweetly at both older men \"-calls them a bunch of elitist snobs out to make money and gain power for themselves, without even bothering to try doing their jobs. Ignorance can be fixed, but stupidity is bone-deep. Think we can institute IQ tests for all prospective Ministry employees? Although... that might mean we\'d have to fire more than half of the current bunch. Merlin, what a mess that\'d be! Nevermind that, we should just take over and have \'Mione put everything on computer.\"

Lucius followed the young man\'s ramblings, first snickering at his opinions of the governmental employees. At some point, Harry\'s train of thought wandered far off track, losing the pureblood somewhere between IQ testing and computers. The blond\'s counterpart did somewhat better, as Severus had more hands-on experience with muggle artifacts, but he appeared to be slightly baffled as well.

Seeing the confusion on both wizards\' faces, Harry abandoned his list of complaints (for the time being) with an apologetic grin. \"Sorry bout that. Remind me to get one of the \'Magic Meets Technology\' pamphlets from \'Mione for you to look over, ok? Anyways... Yes, I think the magical community goes out of its way to make things a little more difficult for us muggle-raised than is necessary. After all, don\'t we need every person we can get in this war? And adding to the gene pool can only be a good thing. Not meaning to be offensive, but you purebloods are going to breed yourselves out of existence pretty soon unless you start bringing in fresh blood. The percentage of squibs is getting higher every generation.\"

As he paused for breath, Harry took the opportunity to evaluate both older men. Lucius\' face was only partially masked, allowing the Gryffindor to see his careful contemplation in play. On the other side of the table, Severus\' eyes were narrowed in displeasure, but it didn\'t seem to be pointed in Harry\'s direction so he simply made a mental note and resumed his pontification. He really liked that word -- always made him give an internal giggle.

\"There\'s nothing wrong with following your heritage, keeping track of every person\'s parents and cousins and step-dog twice removed. Nothing wrong with the whole \'heirs\' bit either. It\'s a fine thing to take pride in one\'s ancestory, culture, and abilities -- until someone goes overboard with it and starts killing off anyone different from them. Cus hey, differences are good, and can be loads of fun too. And now it\'s probably time for me to shut up, since I\'m starting to sound like the \'Moral of the Day\'.\" A faint blush crept across Harry\'s cheeks, and he suddenly found the table top to be fascinating. Really.

\"Mr. Potter-\"

\"Professor, please, if we\'re going to be working together this closely, living side by side and all, would you consider calling me Harry? This is supposed to be our summer holiday -- surely we can leave the starch out til September, right? And you too, Mr. Malfoy. We\'re going to be living in each others\' pockets for the next seven or eight weeks. All this formality just doesn\'t sit well for the here and now.\" Although his cheeks remained flushed, the color spread no further than his lower jawline.

Harry let his gaze fall on the younger blond, who looked to be dozing off against the kitchen wall. Snagging a fresh raspberry, he took aim and lobbed it toward Draco\'s open mouth. His aim was spot on, unfortunately the Slytherin\'s lips weren\'t parted enough to allow the berry inside. Instead, the blond roused slightly and yawned, almost choking on the small fruit as he inhaled. Harry\'s Seeker reflexes saved his classmate from tumbling to the floor. To his great amazement, Draco remained half-asleep and limp as a wet noodle. With a wave of his wand, Harry turned the blond\'s chair into a lounger and stretched him out to rest.

Watching his student closely, Severus didn\'t know how to react to Harry\'s request. It was hardly against protocol for a teacher to address his pupil by their given name outside of class, and yet he had never been invited to do so with a non-Slytherin. Of course, the young man did have a point -- working as closely as they were anticipating, it would be a waste of time and energy to keep up such tall walls of formality. Severus decided to go one step farther.

\"Harry, I shall agree to call you by your personal name on the condition that you do the same with mine. Regardless of age or rank, we four must begin on more equal ground if we are to build the level of trust necessary for many of the upper levels of spellwork I wish to undertake.\" Darting a look at the senior Malfoy, he voiced the question for Harry\'s benefit, having already seen agreement in the blond\'s face. \"Lucius also, of course. Especially since it might prove difficult for you to remember to adress Draco as anything other than Malfoy. Old habits do take great strength of will to break.\"

Offering a barely-there smile, the elder blond tilted his head forward in a mock bow. \"Naturally Harry, you must learn to call me Lucius. Or Luc, as Severus does. Our fathers surely enjoyed saddling us with such pompous names.\"

When Harry finally remembered to lift his mouth off the floor, he reigned in his astonishment long enough to rethink that last sentence. And then he snickered, just a bit. Which developed into a snort. That then went on to become a full-blown bellow of laughter. As the older wizards watched the supposed savior of the magical world dissolve into hilarity, the only answer to their questions as to what had caused his uproar was --

\"Draco?\" *snort* \"Pot meet kettle!\"