Harry made a quick stop at the store on the way to Eli's school. They had left earlier than normal as the Auror was determined to get his son to his class on time today.

"I'll just be a second"

Harry told the boy as he hopped out leaving Eli, who immediately tuned the radio to a hard rock station as soon as his dad had left.

Harry headed down one of the isles, looking for something quick to cook for him and his son for tonight's supper and as he turned the corner he almost smashed head long into Draco who was coming from the opposite direction.

"What are you doing here?" Draco snarled, surprised at seeing the brunet so quickly

"Just picking up a few things,"

Harry answered, remembering when that voice had been husky with sleep, with passion, instead of the sharpness that was evident at the moment. He ought to have memories just as clear about Ginny, but he didn't.

"Don't worry. I'm not trying to run into you every time we turn around."

"Believe me," Draco said, his tone stiff.

"I didn't once think that you were."

The blond went to turn away when the card and envelope he had been holding dropped to the floor. Before he could reach down and pick it up himself, Harry bent over and reached it first.

Harry straightened and held out the birthday card that Draco had been roped into picking up for one of the teachers at the school along with the envelope. The blond reached out for them and Harry deliberately brushed his fingers with Draco's. The action was a double-edged sword, however. Draco jerked his hand away, holding the items as if he had been burned, and the jolt Harry had felt left more than his fingertips tingling.

"Eli told me what he did yesterday,"

Harry intoned, wanting to make some kind of effort to appear unaffected. Draco just continued to stare and said nothing. The dark haired Auror exhaled a breath of air, feeling impatience swell inside him.

"Damn it, Draco, as least say something."

The blond's ivory face could have been carved from ice.

"Be careful driving. Road gets slick sometimes."

Then he turned on his heel, and for the third time in two days, Draco walked away from him.

XXXXXXXXXX

Despite Draco's hopes, days two, three and four of Eli Potter were just as bad, or worse, than day
one. He didn't hit another student with a dodge ball, but he was still miles away from the model of behavior. A conversation with his previous school had told the blond that this was not the norm where the young boy was concerned.

Draco had actually been surprised to find out that the young Potter had been going to muggle schools since he was old enough to attend. He would have thought Potter would have home schooled the lad and stayed in the wizarding world.

Harry had, in fact, thought of that, but had decided a good background in muggle subjects would serve his son well. Plus, he wanted the boy to interact with the muggles so he wouldn't develop prejudices later in life.

By Thursday, Draco knew he had to speak with Potter about his sons problems. He hated the fact
that several times throughout the day, he put off calling him. It showed his cowardice and since he was supposed to be thoroughly over the man, what did he have to be afraid of?

For another ten minutes or so, his students would still be in the cafeteria, practicing their part in the Halloween program they'd be presenting soon, and Draco had done enough dithering. Nerves all nicely inflated, he snatched up the phone and dialed the police station. What Potter was doing pretending to be a muggle constable Draco couldn't fathom, and he soon decided he didn't care.

The receptionist answered and told him that Harry was out.

"I can get a message to him if it's urgent," the woman stated.

"His son's okay, isn't he?"

'Okay is a subjective term,' Draco thought sarcastically, but he answered the woman's concern
politely.

"It's not urgent. I'd appreciate you asking him to give me a call when he's free, though."

"Sure. No problem," the overly cheerful woman agreed.

"Thank you, goodbye."

Draco hung up the phone and glanced at the birthday card he had yet to sign before passing it along to the other teachers.

The blond had an unwanted image of Harry shoot into his brain. He knew he'd be turning twenty six this year. The Gryffindor's July birthday was just another one of those details about the man that he couldn't seem to get out of his head.

Draco, lost in thought, nearly. jumped out of his skin when the phone rang. He snatched it up.

"Draco Malfoy," he answered a bit breathlessly.

"Sounding sort of tense there, Draco." The blond's breath eked out.

"Brody." Draco looked toward the classroom door. He could hear footsteps outside in the corridor.

"What are you calling me here for?" he asked, lowering his voice.

He made it a point not to blur the lines between his muggle work and his other job. It's the reason he'd been as successful as he'd been at keeping the magical side of his life under wraps.

"Megan needs more schoolwork. She's already blown through the materials you left."

Draco wasn't surprised. His few encounters with Megan had told him the girl was exceptionally
bright. His associate, Brody, hadn't been entirely thrilled with the idea of home schooling the girl.

Presenting the child as his daughter while under his protection was one thing. Trying to keep the girl up on her school work was another. Not even two months of it had made the man more comfortable with the situation.

In reality, Draco was just a go between, while Brody was the trained agent. It was a position he'd
sort of fallen into. When Coleman Black had approached him, he'd been swayed by his passionate explanation of how a person like him was needed by The Agency. Draco had believed he'd been abandoned by Harry, so he'd needed to count, to matter to this world in ways that had nothing to do with anyone else but himself.

That's what made Draco's involvement these past years with The Agency work so beautifully.

Their charges, children of Death Eaters that needed protection from those who were afraid of a new Dark Lord appearing from those they considered easily swayed to the dark side, could be hidden in the muggle world.

In Megan's case, her parents, Simon and Debra Devereaux, both mid-level Death Eaters and Purebloods, had been killed earlier that year by the Ministry in a raid. Draco would arrange safe houses and supply magical studies when contacted.

The agents came in with their various charges for a while, and then moved on when it was time.
The blond never knew where the children went, only that they'd found a permanent safe haven from those that lumped them in with the deeds of their parents.

Draco knew exactly how those kids felt, as he had been seen as just a clone of his father when in fact he had never wanted to follow in the footsteps of the man at all. At the time he had always felt he never had a choice. If it hadn't been for Harry, Draco was sure he'd be in Azkaban right now, irregardless of the fact that he had been forced against his will to do the things he had.

Draco snorted derisively, since the death of Voldemort, the whole damn wizarding world had
become overly paranoid of anything that might remotely be dark, and the children are suffered for it, being ostracized and unable to attend Hogwarts or any other magical school for fear they'd use the knowledge for evil purposes or revenge when they grew. Durmstrang had been shut down because of the curriculum they taught.

The footsteps outside in the hall sounded louder.

"I'll pull some more work together for her. Want me to bring it out to you?"

The safe house where Brody was staying with Megan was about fifteen miles out of town, located midway between nothing and more nothing.

"I'll pick it up sometime tomorrow," the agent stated.

Draco frowned a little, not liking the alarm that was forming inside him.

"Brody..."

"Appreciate your help, Draco. You're a good teacher." The connection was severed.

Draco slowly replaced the receiver. When he lifted his gaze to the doorway, Harry Potter stood
there. The sight so surprised him that he actually gasped.

"Didn't mean to startle you," Harry apologized.

Denying he had been would be foolish. Draco drew his hand back from the telephone and eyed the  Gryffindor. "What are you doing here?"

Harry's eyebrows rose a little. He wore the typical muggle bobby's uniform of black jacket and
pants, his radio and badge hanging off his heavy belt that could also sport a weapon and a half-dozen other items, but currently didn't.

"You left me a message, remember?"

Draco realized his gaze had focused on Harry's lean hips and he quickly looked back up to the Aurors face.

"Barely five minutes ago. I didn't expect you to show up here."

Harry closed the remaining distance between them and picked up the gleaming red apple that Draco had been given by a student.

"What'd you want to see me about?" Draco hadn't wanted to see him at all.

"Eli cheated on his math test today." Harry's gaze sharpened on the Slytherins face.

"Eli doesn't cheat."

Draco pushed back from his chair and stood. Sitting there while the Gryffindor towered over his
desk just put him at too much of a disadvantage.

"Well, he did today and he did yesterday, during the spelling test. He also tried to turn in another student's homework as his own."

A muscle flexed in Harry's jaw, making the angular line even more noticeable. It was only one in the afternoon, yet he already had a blur of five o'clock shadow.

"He doesn't need to cheat," he replied flatly.

According to Draco's conversation with Eli's last school, that had been the story, too. Eli's grades hadn't been as high as they could be, but they'd been solid.

"Maybe not, but that doesn't mean he didn't do it."

The blond pulled out a slightly wrinkled piece of notebook paper and pointed at the corner where pencil marks had clearly been erased and overwritten with Eli's name.

"Any kid could have done that,"

Harry responded after looking the paper over. Draco exhaled and reminded himself that Harry wasn't the first parent who didn't want to acknowledge some imperfection about their child. Or maybe he didn't want to acknowledge that the boy could have a hint of Slytherin traits in him.

"And you believe him, unquestioningly?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He's my son."

Draco pressed his lips together for a moment. How well he knew that and how well he remembered that annoying Gryffindor habit to believe in everything and everyone, even if there was evidence to the contrary and especially if it was someone you cared for.

"Yes, and it doesn't change the facts" he finally said, and hated that the words sounded husky.

The blond cleared his throat.

"Why don't we three meet together after school and we can talk about it then."

"I don't have time after school." Harry replaced the apple on the desk.

"Maybe Eli would be better off with a different teacher." Draco's fingers curled.

"I'm the only primary three teacher here." 'And a damn good one,'  the blond thought to himself.

He was quite proud of his accomplishments in the face of so many difficulties that he had endured when he had first entered the muggle world and he wouldn't have the great Harry Potter dumping on them.

For the first time, Harry showed some sign of frustration. He pushed his long fingers through his unruly hair, leaving the black strands even more rumpled.

"Damn small town," he muttered. Defensiveness swelled inside Draco.

"You're the one who came back here, Potter. Merlin only knows why, after all this time." The blond felt the warmth in his cheeks and knew they probably looked red.

"I have things to do here."

The dam of discretion Draco had cultivated over the years sprung a leak.

"How admirable of you. By all means, the great Harry Potter has important things to do and damn anyone that gets in his way."

"I'm not here to argue with you, Draco. What happened between you and me was a long time ago."

'Seven years, four months and three days,' Draco thought.

"If you think I'm holding the fact that you dumped me against your son, you're way off the mark."

"I didn't dump you," Harry intoned in a miffed tone.

Draco gave a short, humourless laugh.

"That's exactly what you did, but it doesn't matter anymore. I never even think about it" 

'Liar' the blond's inner self asserted.

"Then why the hell are you so angry?" Harry questioned in exasperation.

Draco's lips parted, but no answer came. He'd gotten over angry a very, very long time ago.

But the hurt?

That was a much harder row to hoe. Chock full of boulders and stone hard dirt. The blond took a deep breath and settled his emotions.

"I could care less about you, Potter. You're not worth getting angry over."

Harry stifled an oath.

"Merlin, Draco. We saw each other for less than three months. Does it occur to you that you might be overreacting?"

Anger wasn't beyond the Slytherin after all. It curled low and deep inside him like a tensed Basilisk waiting to strike.

Mirroring Harry's position, Draco pressed his hands against the edge of the desk and leaned forward, wishing he had his wand handy so he could hex the shite out of the stubborn man before him. He was close enough to see the individual lashes tangling around the
Gryffindors green eyes to see the faint crow's feet beside those eyes and an errant strand of silver threading through his thick, lustrous hair, right above his left temple. Even though he was still young, the stress of those past times seemed to be catching up to Harry.

"Dumping me was one thing. Lying to me was another," Draco spat out.

"What, exactly, did I lie about?" Harry asked, his expression suddenly unreadable.

Draco could hear the roar of kids coming down the hall. Chorus practice was definitely over.

"I'm not interested in giving you a list, Potter. What would be the point? You know your own lies better than anyone." The blond pushed the homework page that Eli had stolen at him.

"Talk to your son about his behavior in school. We need to get this straightened out for his sake."

"Eli never had trouble in a class until now," Harry ground out.

Meaning this was Draco's fault? The blond didn't reply. If he did, he'd lose the tenuous hold on his temper for certain.

Chrissy Tanner was the first student to round the classroom door, closely followed by several more, and Draco was heartily glad to see them.

When Eli skidded around the corner, his eyeballs about bulged out of his head at the sight of his
father standing there. He gave Draco a furtive look as he greeted his father with a mumbled "yo"
and then headed to his table. Harry looked back at Draco.

The radio at his hip was crackling and he reached for it, automatically turning down the volume.

"We'll finish this later," the dark haired Auror stated, making it sound more like a threat than a promise of parental concern.

The problem was Draco didn't know what they were to finish discussing; the problems with Eli, or the past.

Once Harry departed though, Draco enjoyed one benefit from his unexpected appearance in his
classroom. Eli didn't do one thing to earn a second glance from him for the remainder of the afternoon. He even offered to help clean up the counters after their science experiment.

Draco handed the boy the sponge.

"Don't make me regret this," he murmured.

Eli gave him an angelic smile that the blond wanted to trust and aside from flicking water at Chrissy when she began telling him that he was sponging all wrong, he behaved. In the end, Draco decided to look on the afternoon as a success.

XXXXXXXXXX

By the time he arrived at Dee's home, Draco was more than ready to put thoughts of both Potter men out of his head, and an evening out with his best friend would surely provide enough distraction to do just that.

He didn't bother knocking on the door as the two friends were comfortable with just running in and out of each other's homes.

The kitchen was empty and he headed through the house until he found his friend in her room, trying to decide what to wear. Dee was studying two outfits closely.

"Looks serious," Draco joked.

"Wear the yellow dress."

Dee snorted and pushed Draco out the door so she could get changed. He always had a knack for knowing what would look good on a person so she didn't argue with his choice. Most of the clothing in her closet had been hand picked by the blond.

"You should have been a fashion designer," she called through the door.

"I couldn't handle having to deal with all those prima donnas," he answered back.

"Dealing with you on a daily basis is bad enough."

"Ha ha ha, you're so funny," Dee replied scathingly. "And you're the prima donna here, not me."

The short teacher finally came out of her room and Draco nodded his approval.

"Shall we go," Draco said, offering his arm to the brunette woman.

Dee grinned and took his arm after grabbing her coat. They left her house and headed out to his
car.

The woman gave an internal sigh. 'Why are all the good looking ones always gay?'

She gave the blond a quick once over. He looked fantastic in his pressed black pants and black silk shirt under the long grey wool overcoat.

"So..." Dee drawled, the moment they were on their way to their favourite club. "...you like Eli's
father, don't you?"

"What? What gave you that idea?"

Draco questioned incredulously.

"Just the way you look at him. I do notice these things. I saw him in the hallway today."

"He came by the school to discuss Eli," Draco admitted.

"And?"

"And nothing," Draco responded. Just what the hell did she think he was going to say?

"Talk to me, Draco," Dee said seriously.

"Is this the man that you were involved with all those years ago? You never told me his name, but I just have a feeling about it, especially when I see the look in your eyes when anyone mentions him."

"What are you, psychic now?" Draco grumbled.

"There's nothing to talk about."

Dee looked over at her companion.

"You were in love with him."

Draco frowned and wrapped his fingers around the steering wheel. It would feel good to confide in someone and he trusted Dee with his life.

"I thought I was. A big difference." Dee just looked concerned.

"Is it?"

"Look, don't worry about me. I'm a big boy. Eli is the only challenge I have where the Potters are concerned."

Draco pulled the car into the parking lot of the Cosmo and Dee followed him into the club after the blond paid the cover fee for them both.

"Then you won't be bothered at all to see him at the school reception next Thursday when the kids put on their Halloween recital."

Draco stopped dead at the bottom of the stairs that led up to their usual table above the dance floor. He had completely forgotten about that.

"It won't bother me in the least." Dee looked knowing.

"Sounding a little perturbed considering his presence isn't bugging the life out of you."

"Dee," Draco warned as he went up the stairs.

Dee shrugged, deciding to give it a rest for now. She looked down over the balcony when they had sat and ordered their drinks. The dance floor was full and everyone looked slightly strange in the changing lights that were pulsing above the dancers.

"Oh look, there's Evan,"

Dee chirped cheerfully, pointing towards the entrance as the grocer she had a crush on entered. The brunette woman stood from the table and hurried down the staircase to meet him.

Draco would have laughed at the sudden change of his friend into a giddy school girl if he hadn't
also noticed the other man who'd entered behind Evan.

Harry.

Dealing with him because of Eli was difficult enough. So why did he have to keep popping up everywhere else he went, too? And why, if he'd put the Gryffindor in the past the way he kept telling himself, did that fact bother him quite so much?