From his position at the base of the wide, curving staircase, Harry was sure he could see the color drain right out of Draco's face when the blond looked down and saw him, even though the club was not brightly lit.

Suddenly a curly brunette woman was smiling at Harry. She looked vaguely familiar, and then he realized he had seen her at the same school Draco taught at. 

"Hello, you're Harry Potter, right? I'm Deirdre Crowder, a friend of Draco's. Pleased to meet you,"
she greeted holding out her hand. 

Harry took ahold of the woman's hand, suddenly feeling a stab of jealously as he wondered just how good of friends this woman and Draco were. Did she know about his past with Draco? Was she the blond's girlfriend? 

"Nice to meet you as well," he greeted, plastering on a well practiced smile. 

"And this is Evan Taggart," Dee continued as she introduced the gentleman beside her. Harry shook the man's hand and then he glanced up toward Draco, still seated there like a statue at the table above, his blond hair a gilded crown in the swirling flashes of light.

When his gaze met the Slytherins, though, the blond got up and left the table. Draco walking awayfrom him was becoming a seriously irritating habit. 

"Ah...well...maybe I'll see you later then," Harry said, breaking the infinitesimal lull that marked Dee's silence. 

Dee glanced up at the now empty table and sighed before putting on a bright smile. "Yes, that
would be nice. Margaritas are calling," she joked as she hooked her arm in Evan's and headed back toward the stairs.

Harry walked through the throng of dancers on the floor to get to the back of the club where he was to meet Terry. 

"Harry," his fellow Auror called over the pulse of the music and the Gryffindor made his way over to the small table in the corner and sat down. 

"I've pulled every bit of information I could find,"

Terry stated as he passed over a manila folder that contained at least a half inch of muggle accounting papers and wizarding parchments. 

"What are you looking for particularly?" 

"A common thread," Harry replied as he took the folder.

"Good luck finding it," Terry quipped. "Ron and I have been through it all and didn't see anything amiss, but maybe fresh eyes are whats needed." 

Harry grimaced wryly. 

"It's been a long time since I've considered much of anything about myself to be particularly fresh." Terry's lips quirked at the comment. 

"I hear you there, but I'll still suggest you wait another few years before you say that." 

Harry tapped the folder. "I appreciate the hard copies." 

Harry hadn't wanted the information going in or out of the station house. He wasn't going to do anything to cause questions to be asked about what he was doing, which is why he agreed to meet his Ravenclaw friend here in the club. 

Terry shrugged nonchalantly. "No biggie. Are you settling in all right here?" he asked. He hoped
Harry wasn't having too hard of a time of it being back in a place that held such bad memories for him

"I haven't seen the Dursley's and everyone I have met is pretty friendly." Well except Draco. Not like he had remembered the blond being when they had known each other those years ago. Known. What a pitiful word to describe those few brief, memorable months. 

"Except for freezing my ass off,"Harry finished, pushing past thoughts aside. 

Terry smiled in some amusement at that. "Most folks figure coming home is always an easy thing todo."

Well that was an unexpected observation from the Ravenclaw, but then he wasn't an Auror for nothing. "I'm not 'home' in that sense," Harry corrected easily. "This is just an assignment." 

Terry eyed the Gryffindor hero for a silent moment then he nodded. Whether in agreement,
acceptance or amusement, Harry couldn't tell. Not that it mattered, anyway.

"Appreciate this," Harry stated as he tapped the folder. "I'll let you get back to enjoying your evening now." 

Terry didn't argue and they headed back towards the exit. Dee spotted him before he could makefor the door, though. 

"Come and have a drink with us."

"Afraid margaritas are not on the menu for me, I'm on duty," Harry answered, trying to excuse
himself from the dance floor where he was being jostled by the dancers. He wasn't technically onduty, but he didn't figure anyone there would argue the point. Particularly Draco who was dancingwith his back to him, surrounded by dozen of admirers, gazing wantonly at him.

"They have coffee here, too," Dee assured. "Come on. You can't go back out in this temperature without putting something warm inside you. Did you know its ten degrees colder than it normally is this time of year?" 

Despite himself, Harry smiled. 

This muggle was hospitality in motion.'They should hire her here,she'd make them a bundle,' she'd make them a bundle,' the Gryffindor thought. 

From Draco though, who had just turned and noticed him talking to his friend, he could practicallyfeel the waves of animosity directed towards him. Now, since he'd always been contrary to what theblond wanted, he changed his mind about leaving. 

"Feels more like twenty degrees," he told Dee.

"And coffee would be welcome. Thank you." 

At his hip, his radio crackled with a call being sent to one of the muggle officers on duty. He turned down the volume a little more. 

There were plenty of places to sit at the large table at the top of the stairs. Dee went off to get
drinks from the bar and it probably wasn't the smartest thing Harry had ever done in his life, but hewaited for Draco to sit before taking the seat closest to the blond.

Draco's long legs were crossed elegantly, and he turned his head to look over the people dancing below. Against the black silk shirt he wore, his shining hair looked almost white. It was quite a bit shorter than it had been seven years ago, but it still suited his handsome features. There was no way Draco could be unaware of him in the seat barely two feet away, but the blond didn't look at him. 

"Here you go, Harry." Dee handed him a thick whole mug full of steaming brew, passing over a
couple of creamers and sugar packets.

"Excuse me." Draco reached past him for his drink. He still didn't look at the Gryffindor, as hebrought the drink towards him. 

Not the smartest thing he'd ever done, Harry thought again. This was something that had always
been a problem where Draco was concerned. 

"What are you doing?"

Draco's gaze flickered to the other occupants of the table. Dee sat on the opposite side near the endclosest to the aisleway chattering away a mile a minute to Evan, probably running on margaritafuel. 

"More to the point, what are you doing?" The blond's voice was low as he looked at the drink inhis hands. 

"Drinking coffee," Harry stated as he lifted the mug. 

"You're probably familiar with the act, despite that." He nodded toward the now half empty margarita glass the Slytherin had just placed on the table. 

"Where's Eli?"

"At home with a babysitter," Harry answered. "That a problem for you?"

The fine line of Draco's jaw flexed slightly. He glanced around again. "Not as long as he's doing hisown homework." His voice was dulcet. 

"And you know well and good I'm not talking about coffee."

Harry leaned closer, his arms resting on the table. This close to the blond, he could smell the
fragrance of that beautiful pale hair. It used to smell like lemons. Now, he couldn't put his finger onthe scent, but it was soft, and seductive; damned heady, too.

The Gryffindor wrapped his fingers around the mug in front of him. He kept his voice low, for theSlytherin's ears only. 

"You hate all your old lovers with this much passion, Draco?" 

He had no business wondering how many there might have been, no business caring. Harry wondered anyway, cared anyway. 

Draco snatched up his drink. "Only the ones who lie as easily as they breathe. You really should have been in Slytherin." 

"I didn't lie to you."

Draco snorted softly and pulled out his cigarettes from his shirt pocket. He struggled with thematch, striking it against the cover a couple of times and then cursed softly when it flared and went out, lifting his finger to his lips to blow on it. 

"Did you burn yourself?"

"Seems to be my problem when you're in the vicinity," Draco returned, his cheeks coloring as he put the cigarette back in its pack, laying it on the table. 

"You know I tried to stay away from you." Merlin, Harry had tried, but Draco had been the only onethat had understood just what he had had to do back then. Everything else had been going to hell,but Draco had been...Draco.

Harry could still remember the day he'd met the Slytherin after his trial, how they had talked, how they had finally understood each other. The blond had nearly made him forget his own name when they had become closer and Harry had been too damn weak to resist basking in someone who liked him for himself, for just being plain old Harry. At least for awhile, until the responsibilities in his life couldn't be ignored, couldn't be put off any longer. But after he'd ended it, he'd never forgotten the blond, nor forgiven himself. 

Draco had gone still in his seat. "You should have tried harder," he finally said, his voice nearly
inaudible over the music. The blond stood quickly from the table, grabbing the package of smokes.

"Dee, I've got to run. I'll see you tomorrow."

"But..." Dee started to rise, but Draco had already pushed his chair back and was hustling down the stairs. He wasn't worried about Dee getting home, Evan or Potter would be sure to give her a lift. 

Harry watched him go. He set his unfinished coffee down beside the empty margarita glass and
quickly bid his own goodbyes. He didn't even care if the other couple thought his departure after
Draco had anything to do with him, but by the time he made it outside, the blond was already gone.

Harry yanked open the door of the police cruiser cursing under his breath as he tossed the manila folder inside and climbed behind the wheel. Going after Draco would be beyond stupid. The blond had made his feelings more than plain. He had no affection for Harry lingering inside him, no soft and sweet memories of the time they'd spent together. The times when the Gryffindor had learned that he could be just as content sitting beside the Slytherin on a beach towel as he could be burying himself inside the sweet warmth of that pale body. 

The gravel crunched beneath his wheels as he headed away from the club, a few snowflakes hittinghis windshield. Going after him would be pointless.

Harry called in his location as he was supposed to. He didn't want to be tied up with dozens of mundane calls when he had higher priorities, but he also had to respond to enough calls to keep up appearances. At the end of the short road that led to the club, he turned towards the residential section of the town, flipping the heater up another notch.

The road was empty, the pavement stretching out in front of his vehicle in a dark, snaking path,
snowflakes dancing in the beams of his headlights. Except for the unexpected sprawl of growth LittleWhinging had experienced, nothing about the place had really changed since Harry left it for the lasttime all those years ago.

Harry continued to follow the way he knew Draco would have to take in order to get home and soon enough he saw the small blue sedan driving well within the speed limit and obeying all the rules of the road. The blond had always been a little rule follower, all conservative and cool on the outside, despite the heated passion hidden within. 

Harry's foot gained some weight and the cruiser inexorably began closing the distance between
them. He turned on his red and blues and pulled up behind the sedan when Draco slowed and
veered off onto the soft shoulder.

Once parked, Draco didn't wait inside the car the way he should have. He shoved open the door, stepped out onto the road and strode toward Harry, meeting him halfway. 

"Are you out of your bloody mind?" Draco shouted, shocking the hell out of Harry when the blondpushed his hands against the Gryffindor's chest, shoving him. 

"You nearly scared the life out of me!"

Harry steadied himself easily enough. 

"Assaulting an officer, Mr. Malfoy?" the Auror queried as he peered into the pale face that was brilliantly illuminated by his strobes. Oh, yeah. Harry was a stupid damn fool that was for sure. 

"Give me a break," Draco bit back, rolling his eyes and then glaring at him.

"Have you been drinking, Sir?" Harry asked in his most professional voice.

Draco crossed his arms tightly over his chest, which only drew attention to the fact that he hadn't pulled on his coat, but stood there in the light snowfall wearing those fitted pants and that silk Idare-you-to-touch-me shirt. 

"You're abusing your authority here, Potter. Think that's wise for the wizarding world's hero Auror?" Harry scowled and was about to retaliate when Draco interrupted. 

"So..." he drawled sarcastically, tossing his arms out dramatically as if he was offering for Harry to cuff him. 

"Am I being stopped for drinking a margarita, the audacity of suggesting your son cheated today, or for my monumentally bad judgement to have fallen for your line seven years ago?" 

"I never gave you a line," Harry answered tightly. "And I'm sorry that you were hurt when I broke itoff. You knew it would happen though, because I told you it couldn't last. I told you and you insistedthat it didn't matter, that the only thing that mattered was the here and now. And damn it to hell, Iknew better than to believe you really felt that way. You were such a kid." 

Annoyed that he'd stopped the blond, annoyed that he was there in Little Whinging in the first place, annoyed that he still wanted the Slytherin, Harry turned away from him. It was either that or kiss him. Harry was an idiot, but he wasn't that much of one. 

"We were both just kids," Draco scowled back, dropping his arms back to his sides.

"Fine," Harry huffed, looking back at the blond. "The hell of it is, if anyone fell for someone's line, it was probably me. Because I fooled myself into thinking that you weren't going to get burned in the end." 

Draco was staring at him as if he possessed three heads. "It wasn't a line, you stupid jerk. It was
the way I felt. I didn't lie to you!"

"Meaning that I did?" Harry asked as he grabbed Draco's shoulders. Ignoring the squeaky gasp fromthe blond, he hauled him forward until he was only two inches from Harry's nose. 

"Stop tossing out accusations like that. What exactly did I lie about, Draco? What?" 

Draco was trembling. From cold or from the Gryffindors surprising behaviour, Harry didn't know. Heonly knew that, once again, every action he took when it came to Draco was the wrong one. Heexhaled roughly, deliberately setting the blond back on his heels and started to let go of his shirt.

"You didn't tell me about Eli and you didn't tell me that barely two weeks after you broke it off with me, you were marrying his mother"

Harry hadn't fooled himself into believing that Draco didn't know he'd been married, but he damnsure didn't expect him to know it had happened right after he'd stopped seeing the blond. 

"Damn it, Draco, my marriage to Gin was..." 

"Don't!" Draco's voice rose. "Just don't. I might have been foolish enough to fall into your bed, butdo you honestly think I'd have done that if you'd told me you were engaged to be married? That youwere already involved with someone else? That you had a child with her?" Draco's voice broke overthat last and he shrugged out of Harry's hold.

"I saw you, you know, on your wedding day. I stood by a bush and watched you exchange vows with her while you held your son against your shoulder. There wasn't a single thing seven years ago that you didn't lie about, including your work." 

"I couldn't tell you about Auror business," Harry replied.

"What? Were you worried I'd run off to my Death Eater friends and spill the beans?" Draco snapped back. 

"Why did you go out with me? Was it so you could trick me into giving you information? You never trusted me and you didn't have to pretend you..." Draco put his hand up in front of his face. 

"Forget it, just forget it. Its old news anyway, water under the bridge." The blond reached for his cardoor. 

"Now, officer, do you mind if I get back in my car and drive away? Or are you going to haulme in on some trumped up excuse?" 

"I didn't pretend that I loved you," Harry answered, his voice was quiet, but it still carried to the
blond. "And I wasn't engaged to Ginny when I was with you. When I was with you, I was only with
you. I can explain it all."

Draco's shoulders stiffened. "Save it. I don't even care anymore."

"Is that so?" Harry challenged. "Now who's lying?"

Draco didn't answer and after a silent moment that stretched on too long, he yanked open the car door and climbed inside. A moment later, he set the car in gear and pulled off the shoulder, back onto the empty, snow dusted road. 

Harry brushed a snowflake off his face, watching the red tail lights until he could no longer see
them. Then he climbed back into the cruiser. He'd known coming back to Little Whinging would be amistake. He just hadn't realized that mistake would include the ones that he'd already made, andcontinued to make, with Draco Malfoy.