A Thousand Miles from Yesterday

Harry had to admit he was jealous of Draco for being able to join the Auror training before he could. It was silly, but he hated the thought of Malfoy getting a head-start, as he knew Draco would be a tough one to follow; Draco\'s overall grades were better, he had the advantage of knowing most of the Death Eaters by their first name, he was a gifted Occlumens as well as Legilimens, not to mention the Wand of Faith!



Looking down at the paper on Mimbulus mimbletonia for Herbology, Harry almost wanted to tear the parchment apart and start over, convinced it was the worse Herbology report he had ever written. There had been a hostile atmosphere in the flat for days and to make it worse, as Harry looked up, he saw Draco stretch and roll up his essay with a self-satisfied look on his face and then as their eyes met; Draco grinned and had the nerve to ask if Harry found the assignment a bit hard.



"Geroff my case, Malfoy…!" Harry barked sending Draco a grim look making Draco sneer, walk over and push Harry off the chair as he hissed "Ever considered starting your assignment earlier than the day before it’s due?!" Out of reflex Draco had drawn his wand and pointed it straight at Harry\'s chest as he continued with a sneer. "Ever considered I might help you if you had the common sense to BLOODY ask me?! Or is it beneath you to ask a former Death Eater for help?!" Harry\'s face was an unmasked grimace of pure humiliation and anger. "Well, I didn\'t think you had time between screwing \'Mione, Auror training and striding around reminding us all that you are filthy rich!"



"HARRY!" Hearing the yelling from the living room Ron and Hermione had run from the kitchen to see what was up and now Hermione looked at her best friend and her boyfriend in shock. She had thought it would be Ron and Draco that would end up in a row, so to see Draco holding Harry at wand point and hear Harry mouth back in such rude manner, left her standing frozen as her brain denied what she was seeing. "Have you two gone barking mad?" Ron asked in an annoyed voice "Put your wand down, Malfoy! And Harry back off! NOW!" Ron pushed himself between the wand and his best friend with a determined look at Draco.



"The only one gone mental here is Potter!" Draco lowered his wand with a glare at Harry "What the bloody hell is up with you…? Insulting me for offering to help you… That\'s one shitty way to give thanks… Are you jealous or summat?" and to Draco\'s surprise it looked like his word hit dead centre as Harry grimaced and looked away "It that was this is about…? You\'re jealous? Of what exactly, if you don\'t mind sharing?!" Draco offered Harry a hand to get up and the other wizard took it with a sigh; he knew it was ridiculous, but he couldn\'t help it and didn\'t want to share, so just shook his head.



"I think you owe Draco an explanation, Harry." Hermione said in a quiet voice "And I would like to know, too… This isn\'t like you." Faced with three sets of wondering eyes Harry scowled saying he knew it was stupid, but he just couldn\'t comprehend how all seemed to work out for Draco and why he, "The boy who lived" had to struggle with his N.E.W.Ts, a place to live and living up to being Harry fucking Potter! "Draco, you have it all; a beautiful girlfriend, a smashing flat, flair for every bloody N.E.W.T level subject, a promising career as an Auror and not one, but two families that are proud of you. And hell, as a cherry on top you are the master of The Wand of Faith! Is it any damned wonder I envy you just a tad!" sneering Harry added that it was like Lucius Malfoy had put it, "From Villain to Hero… Not bad for a Malfoy!" and walked out of the room.



"He is kidding right…" Draco scoffed "He\'s got to be joking… Like my life has been a bed of roses!" Shaking his head Draco picked on Harry\'s piece of parchment from the floor and out of curiosity let his eyes scan the text written on it, raising his eyebrows as he realized it had to be one of the best explained descriptions of the Mimbulus Mimbletonia plant he had ever seen. "What is he so worried about… its better that mine!" Draco murmured for himself, rolling up the parchment and said he better go find that Nutter Potter grabbing his own paper as he passed it, looking worried… what had made Potter so unsure of himself?!



Draco found Harry sitting on a swing on the playground in the park. Sitting down on the sandbox across from him, Draco looked at Harry, but didn\'t say a word and they just sat there for a long time, Harry avoiding Draco\'s eyes, trying to gather the courage to look at the blonde. He felt so stupid for letting his angst and low self-esteem out on Draco; the former foe that had accepted Ron and Harry moving in, so as not to split up the Golden Trio, when Draco would have preferred that only \'Mione had moved in. "This is a great paper… Why can\'t you see that?" Draco\'s finally asked in a natural voice throwing Harry his rolled up parchment. Thanks to his Seeker reflexes Harry caught it even if he hadn\'t been prepared to. "Harry, look at me… If you could pick whatever job you could…would your first choice still be as an Auror?!"



Harry was about to auto reply, but Draco stopped him "NO! I want you to think about this, Potter… And for more than ten seconds… Please." Draco had a gut feeling that what was bugging Harry had nothing to do with Draco\'s luck, but more to do with the wizarding world presuming that naturally Harry Potter wanted to become a top Auror and Harry not being sure he wanted to go that way. "What would you choose, Harry?"



"Pro-Seeker! If I had a choice I would want to be playing Quidditch as a Pro-Seeker!" Harry looked up rather surprised he admitted that to Draco as well as to himself. And when Draco smiled back at him with an I-knew-it glow in his eyes, Harry roared and leaped of the swing and threw Draco back into the sandbox, landing himself on top of him, pinning down the blonde\'s hands above his head and hissed, "Stop mocking me, Malfoy!" by the look of surprise in Draco\'s eyes he really hadn\'t seen that coming and he lay completely still. "I… I wasn\'t… I just wondered why you…" Draco started but stopped as he realized they lay in a bit awkward position "Umm… Do you mind letting go… this looks…"



Widening his eyes in panic Harry let go and almost jumped of Draco, making the other give a short laugh. "Oh…that look…in your eyes…so precious!" Reaching a hand up to Harry to get a hand getting to his feet, Draco sighed and said Harry didn\'t have to do what everyone expected him to "Just be true to what you want for yourself, Potter… But it would be nice to have something to fall back on, when you can\'t be seeker anymore! Are you helping me up or what?!"



Pulling Draco back on solid ground Harry frowned wondering if Malfoy had a point… Why should he be forced to be an Auror, if that wasn\'t where his heart lay? "Hell, if I hadn\'t been offered the spot on the Auror training class, I might have chosen that career myself… And beaten you there as well…!" Draco grinned started to running back to the flat, turning and walking backwards gesturing for Harry to follow. "From Villain to Hero…Foe to friend… Who would ever have thought it possible?!" Harry murmured for himself and ran the few feet up to Draco, as it began to snow.



As the two got back to the flat they were met Ron and Hermione who had been about to go looking for them. "So… Alright then?" Ron looked from blonde to black haired wizard and by the crooked smiles on their faces he guessed they had worked their problems out. "Harry just had to realize he didn\'t have to do anything he didn\'t want to… Eh, Ron… do you know of any teams that needs a seeker?" Draco winked as he passed the red haired slightly confused wizard. "Why? You want to be a seeker now?!"



Harry placed his hand on Ron\'s shoulder "No… He\'s happy by being an Auror-in-Training… It\'s me… I don\'t really want to fight anymore Dark Wizards, just want to chase the golden snitch around a Quidditch pit… So, you know of any team in need of a seeker?" At this Ron first frowned, then raised one eyebrow as he realized his friend meant it and then grinned saying that The Prides definitely needed a new seeker as the last one took a Bludger to the head and still wasn\'t all there yet, "And well… Gudgeon is rumoured to be leaving the Cannons after summer…"



"So they finally realized he\'s hopeless!" Draco scoffed making Ron\'s face turn red with fury and murmur, "Don\'t mock my team!" and go for his wand. Making Hermione call a time-off and order the boys to separate rooms. "HARRY – ROOM… RON - KITCHEN… DRACO – ROOM NOW!" The tone in her voice made the boys jump and obey her orders "And I don\'t want to see ANYONE in the living room till after dinner, I would really like to finish MY paper!" Hermione\'s eyes shot daggers after them as the fled the scene. Soon laughter reached her ears from all three rooms, making her smiled and shake her head "Boys!"





"Mom… Is Daddy come home in time to see Uncle\'s team beat the Cannons?" The little blonde girl looked disparate down the lane, longing to see her dad as he had been away much too long for her liking. "He said he would Melinda… And a Malfoy never breaks a promise, you know that!" Hermione grinned at her daughter. Melinda had just received her Letter to join the brothers at Hogwarts. The twins Samael and Dante had been spilt in to two separate houses; Samael into Slytherin and Dante into Gryffindor, but they spend what time they could together, causing havoc with the Weasleys.



"Relax, sis… Daddy wouldn\'t miss this for a billion Knuts." Samael smiled and lifted his sister away from the window and swirled her around, laughing at her feeble attempts to make him stop. A whoosh from the fireplace made him stop and frown as Draco Malfoy stumbled out covered in dust, cobwebs and his shirt torn apart. "DAD! Are you okay!" Dante leaped from his chair to his father\'s side, soon followed by the rest of the family.



Grimacing Draco nodded "Just the downside off being an Auror, but I didn\'t have time to clean up… Got to see Potter versus Weasley!" Getting to his feet he winked a Melinda to assure her that he was fine, and the little girl giggled and throw her arms around his neck. "I knew you would make it Daddy." With a smile Draco picked his precious little Princess up and looked proud at his family. "Let me fix this, Dray" Hermione shook her head and with a wave of her wand her husband looked a bit more presentable and they walked out the door and Apparated to the stadium.



It seemed that the Malfoys weren\'t the only once that wanted to see this Quidditch match. The stadium was sold out so Hermione and Draco were thankful to know players on both teams; that and the fact Draco over the years had assisted in catching many of the Death Eaters and the few new groups mostly consisting of children of Death Eaters, earned them some of the best seats in the arena.



Sitting back in his seat Draco relaxed in the knowledge that he had broken the chain of faith and done alright for himself. He got a loving family, good friends and knew they would understand his choice of leaving the Aurors. He was only 38, but had worked hard and was tired of hunting Dark Wizards and missing out on seeing his children grow, and with the job at Hogwarts, he would be there to see them everyday. As the whistle sounded he took his wife’s hand and smiled as Potter and Weasley flew in front of their teams to cheers from the crowd. It felt as if a new journey was about to start.





-The End-