Misery and Grief

A/N: It was going to be longer but I had to cut it off at some point, I suppose, so not nearly as much fun happens in this chapter as hoped. Will update soon. Happy Thanksgiving!

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The inhabitants of Number 12 Grimmauld Place had only barely woken up, individually, when the bell rang. Draco, whom ususally would have been woken up much earlier if not for his bout of nightmares he'd been having recently, pretty much walked down the stairs only to hear someone was at the door, so stalked back up the staircase before Harry had a chance to open the door.

Harry, who had always been a late sleeper if he had a choice, braced himself as he opened the door. He sighed when he saw Hermione Granger standing there, thinking to himself that it could be much worse. "Hello Hermione." She smiled gently and he moved aside to let her in, her carefulness acknowledged in comparison to Ron's a week before. "So what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well, you know why I'm here really, I'm sure. You trust him, so I trust him for the moment, but the Weasley family is not so easily reassured... or fooled as they'd probably put it." Her smiled didn't waver. "They were worried but Molly absolutely told them they could not come over to harass you about it and she and Arthur have been terribly busy lately. So, here I am." She made her way to sit on the love seat in the sitting room and Harry sat on a chair of his own. "Now that that's all clear, do you want to update me on anything?"

Harry really didn't but couldn't bring himself to let her return with nothing. "Me and him don't really talk much, and bicker when we do. Old habits and all that. If he wanted to kill me in my sleep, he'd have byt now. He's up most the night walking around the house." He noted Hermione's eyes wandering around. "Oh yes, and he's been cleaning. I rather think he's taken a liking to it, actually. I cook, he cleans, we sleep, restart in the morning."

She looked partially outraged and Harry really could not understand why. "He just cleans all day? That's all?"

"I suppose so. I know he's not taking anything if that's what you mean..."

"That's not what I mean at all!" Hermione shrieked. "He's out of his own environment with obviously no positive socialization from you and locking himself up and doing manual labor all day. Does that sound healthy to you? I'm astounded at you."

Harry got it. S.P.E.W revival, for wizards this time. "Okay, so you disagree. What do you think, just give him a wand now?" She shut her mouth, which was an obvious indication that would not be prudent. Her brows furrowed together in a way Harry had seen far too many times. This was hard for her, trying to decide if someone should be treated like an equal or not. The obvious answer was yes until remembered that that person was Draco Malfoy, whom wasn't exactly known for his honest nor honorable nature.

"Well, what does he like to do?" Harry almost dropped his jaw. How was he supposed to know? "Well find out, and do it, within certain safe limits of course. It can be an emotional reward for his cleaning activities. No matter what, you must balance work and fun."

"You're the very last person I want to hear that from, Hermione." The black haired boy said, with the inability to not smile as he proclaimed it. With that, she had excused herself and left Harry with the mentally strenuous task of confronting someone who hates him, finding out what he likes to do, and then doing it with him. The man, running a hand through his tussled hair, didn't even know how to breach the first problem. Draco's quiet presence had been fine in itself until Hermione mentioned that it was unhealthy. The bottling up in himself wasn't a good thing, he supposed, but it was so much better than fighting, right? Fighting between the two of them couldn't be healthy either, and Harry could not help but believe that maybe Draco ending up on his doorstep was not the right thing for either one of them. He had to remind himself that if Draco had anywhere else to go, he surely would have, before he headed up the stairs. Every step magnified his uneasiness as he made his way to Draco's room. The door was closed, so he knocked gently.

Draco had been hiding, quite sure that any moment a Weasley or something bigger and badder would run through the door and accuse him of things. He now was ducked behind the other side of the bed, away from the door, unsure of what to do. They had knocked. It could mean that they weren't a threat, or that Harry had told them to be polite, or it could be Harry. So with those options, he couldn't think of any reason why he would want to open it but at the same time if he didn't the person on the other side would come in anyways. So, quite agianst his will, he tiptoed to the door and opened it slightly. Looking quite paranoid as he looked at Harry and decided no one else was there, he opened it further. He couldn't very well stop the man from being wherever he pleased in his own home.

Harry's movements were fluid, the Slytherin had to notice, as the scruffy looking man came in and sat at the desk, turning the chair to face Draco. "Sit." Draco at first looked completely shocked at being told what to do, but he found himself sitting on the bed none the less. They both sat there for a moment, unable to look at each other, before the brunette began to speak. "So, I appreciate your enthusiasm for cleaning but immersing yourself into it all day every day isn't a good idea for anyone." He didn't have to look at Draco to assume that the boy was glaring at him with eyes that asked who he was to tell him what was good for him or not, however in reality Draco only stared at him with an unsure gaze. "It'd be good for you to do something you enjoy doing, a hobby or something." He watched Draco's face contort a little, shocked and beating himself up and saying that for once Hermione had a bad idea.

It became plainly obvious to Draco that he didn't have any real hobbies. He was just so used to being able to do as he wished whenever he pleased. Usually his time consisted of spending money on unnecessary thing, bullying someone, or studying, and none of those sounded remotely fun now. A moment's panic ran over him, his life had not only been turned around but made so it was devoid of all fun. He hesitated, but since he did not have an answer he retaliated with a question. "I don't know, give me an example. What do you like to do? As a hobby and such."

This time it was Harry's turn to realize that he himself didn't have any real hobbies. He enjoyed flying but that was both dangerous now and he wasn't sure he could consider that an actual hobby. Chess was plaid between him and Ron but that was to Ron's discretion more than his own. Looking like a deer caught in the head lights, me muttered. "You know, I have no idea." He raked his hand through matted hair. "I've always been too busy or not allowed to do anything fun, with the exception of things I let my friends choose."

They studied themselves for a moment. Draco looked as if at any moment he would ridicule Harry for not practicing what he preached, the dark haired man only looked a bit sheepish. Neither said anything for a long time. It was an uncomfortable silence, to be sure, but at the same time it seemed less awkard to just be in each others company in silence than to try to ignore the other one's existence in another room. "Fine, get ready, we're leaving." The shorter man rose, looking sturdy and regal in his own fashion, and left the room. Draco looked around nervously, as if to try to find an excuse to stay behind, but as he found himself alone his protests didn't matter. Giving up, he opened the wardrobe.

Harry, himself, got his clothes and showered. He himself wasn't exactly sure where they would go but figured some time out of this blasted house, no matter how pristine it now looked, was a good idea for both of them. He came down to find no one there and assumed Draco was not yet ready. The darker man did not wear anything particularly fancy, a tee and some jeans. So it was no wonder that he was startled when Draco came sauntering down with a high collared white dress shirt and a steel grey damask vest, complete with black slacks. Sure, he had bought the clothes, and certainly Draco had done anything but slack off on his impeccable dressing skills, but Harry thought it was still rather interesting to see. While he wanted to take it as a hint that Draco was excited, he couldn't help but let a slight laugh burst through his lips.

Draco didn't look amused, quickly turning on his heel. "Fine, I'll change." Slim, rough fingers that had all to often ran through black hair grasped Draco's wrist and gently pulled him back.

"No, it's fine. I guess I never really get used to how formal you are."

Draco frowned even deeper. "So I'm overdressed?"

"Probably a bit, but let's just call you fashionable and get on with it." Harry didn't want to compliment the git but he didn't want to wait for Draco to change ten times before they could leave, it seemed instinctual that that was the very same type of thing Draco would do, too.

"I'll go change."

"Hey." Another tug at Draco's wrist made the boy spin towards the physically stronger individual, reminding them of the physical contact. Harry, however, did not let go. "I'm not calling you a fop or anything. I'm just not really used to it. We got me, who pretty much wears what's there, Ron who as you point out to him often poor and gets hand me downs, and Hermione who pretty much dresses like a normal muggle outside of school." He shrugged slightly, tugging the boy with him as he pulled him out of the room and into the hallway. "You should know better than to take my opinion on clothing seriously, I mean look at me." He indicated his hair but something sparked in Draco that Harry saw only momentarily. Raising an eyebrow, he couldn't help but be curious when the blonde suddenly looked excited. Not his outer features, mind you, but his steely gaze now sparkling like diamonds over silver.

The two of them became painfully obvious that the rough hand of the man whom owned this house's hand was still clasped gently around the pale, slender wrist of his former opponent. Draco blushed, tempted to pull away in horror, while Harry pretended it didn't matter as he in the back of his head noted how silky smooth the skin was, and how lacking it was in hair for the most part, with the exception of very fine short white blonde every so often. Both of them swallowing and not noticing the other's awareness of the situation, Harry apparated, taking Draco side along. Then, he let himself release his grip - as if that had been the plan the entire time.

Draco looked around, it was a place he had never been before. It took him a few moments before he recognize that there were muggle cars all standing side by side, in which he replied to this revelation with a quicksilver glare at Harry. "Potter, exactly where are we and why?" He was only responded by a shrug as the dark haired boy started to walk away. The thought of staying behind and refusing to go anywhere but back home - then cursing himself for considering his former rival's house his home - until a muggle car started his way. He ran after Harry, tempted to hide behind him but refusing to all the same. They entered a building, the door opening for them before they could even touch it, to find themselves almost immediately surrounded by people. Draco couldn't help but try to get as close to Harry as possible, afraid of getting lost and separated, also finding himself flinching every time someone came too close to him. "Uh, so, what are we doing?" He tried to keep his tone light and Harry couldn't help but feel it unnatural for the blonde boy's sharp edge to be dulled by a place that reminded himself of Hogwarts during passing periods.

Taking pity on the taller one, though he didn't seem it as he seemed to be crouching in Harry's direction as if to hide behind him, he answered. "Well, this is a muggle shopping centre. I figured you would enjoy shopping but it's hard for the famous Harry Potter to get around in the wizarding world, and I supposed you wouldn't want to end up in the paper somehow. Remember, can't even go into a book store without making the front page." Malfoy couldn't help but stare at his classmate, forced to awknowledge how carefully Potter had thought this through. He couldn't go into the wizarding world yet because of the death eaters, not without them knowing where he is anyway. And he wasn't sure he wanted it to get out that Harry and him were friendly now, even if it wasn't entirely true, and he had a feeling that Harry had thought that through as well. He was about to say thank you but he suddenly got bumped into. Standing straight for the first time since entering the crowd, but almost nudging impossibly towards the dark haired boy without actually touching him, he looked around.

Now that it came up, he was sure that shopping wouldn't be too bad. Granted he didn't have money any more, and didn't really want to shop in muggle stores, and didn't want to owe Harry any more than he did, and didn't want to shop with Harry. Suddenly he didn't like this idea as much. But there was no lie that he felt the pang of excitement nonetheless. He'd always had money, to be sure, and got whatever he wanted. But no one had actually went shopping with him to just go shopping with him. His mom would go shopping and take him with her, his father would buy things and take him on these outings - he shuddered at remembering his father - and he bought stuff for school. This was different, this was a free day to just do whatever they wanted, even if he felt slightly trapped by being with Potter in his own way he also felt safe. If anyone came after him, Harry could surely save him. After all, even if they still hated each other, chances are the Gryffindor would save him just out of sheer honor. He felt safe, even though his body jumped at every possible threat.

Harry lead the way for awhile, then ended up at a sign. It was a plain illuminated sign that had a red dot that told them where they were. As well as map of the entire building, color coded by what type of merchandise each store had. "So, what kind of stuff should we go look at?" Something seemed to click in Draco's brain, as when Harry had politely looked at him to await his answer, those silver eyes slowly came upon him, gleaming. For the first time the dark haired boy could remember since the Slytherin had come into his possession, the casual smirk seemed to place itself onto Draco's face. Momentarily the Boy Who Lived thanked Hermione for her great idea, then he remembered that the only reason Draco would possibly smile was if he was planning something that had to do with somehow humiliating Harry.

The green eyes watched Draco like a prey, frozen and unsure. Thin pink lips in an ensnaring grin caught his attention. "Let's go clothes shopping, Potter."

What? "I already bought you clothes, are you unhappy-"

"Oh no, not for me." The height of the other man suddenly became for more obvious, the blonde towering over him. "I can wear a dishrag and look stunning. Let's make you stop looking so absolutely mediocre." Harry really didn't know how to react, his head jarred between anger of the unnecessary attack on his appearance and the unwanted but not unappealing image of an almost naked Draco. Except not battered and bruised and unconscious, but smirking quite evilly at him as he was now and looking absolutely full of himself.

Draco suddenly dragged him off then, slithering past the crowds as best as possible but barging on without flinching once. Harry was left with painful skinny fingers clawing into his upper arm and dragging him along. People were looking at them but that's not what Harry thought about. The hand on his arm hurt a bit, sure, but he couldn't think of one reason why when Draco had grabbed him an electrical shock seemed to go down his spine. He must just be afraid, yes that must have been it.

Draco Malfoy had always scared him, he supposed, but now his lungs and stomach seemed to have contracted in sheer fright. At least he hoped that was the reason.

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Another A/N: Oh yes that's right, I'm going to jump right on the bandwagon for 'Draco tries to make Harry looks like he didn't just walk out of bed. Hopefully it will be a bit different. Remember, he's limited by muggle fashion and lack of magic and no money!