With the way Potter kept looking at him, maybe he had to thank Pansy for the impromptu shopping trip. They had both met at Teddy's school to pick him up, and Teddy was ecstatic. He talked the whole entire walk back to Andromeda's house, dramatically recreating his day and talking expressively with his hands.

"He gets that from you," Harry murmured into Draco's ear, leaning over Teddy as he continued to talk about his day.

"His lack of breathing in between sentences comes from you," Draco retorted.

Harry just grinned back at him and asked Teddy a question, who happily obliged in supplying an answer.

"I love when you both spend time with me together," Teddy said suddenly.

"We'll all be spending a lot of time together now," Harry said, picking Teddy up and spinning him around.

"Really? You promise?," Teddy asked, looking at Harry and Draco in awe.

"I promise."

"And when you promise something, you never, ever, break that promise," Teddy replied solemnly.

"That sounded very serious," Draco brought up while he was sitting on Harry's kitchen counter watching him make dinner.

"Hmm? Oh, it's from one of our favorite Disney movies."

"What's a Disney?," Draco asked, wrinkling his nose.

"It's the name of a company that makes a lot of movies."

"Is that what all of the songs Teddy sings are from?"

"Mostly. He'll sing whatever I listen to though so I need to be careful. I got an earful from Hermione once when he started singing Don't Trust Me by 3OH!3 while he was at the Burrow."

"That sounds seemingly harmless."

"Not when they sing 'shush girl, shut your lips, do the Hellen Keller and talk with your hips' it's not."

The laughter fell out of Draco's mouth before he could stop it. He was horrified, and that made him laugh more.

"Is that what he was spewing?! Merlin Potter that's low, even for you. That poor muggle woman."

"The song is catchy!," Harry protested, feeling his face heat up.

"Don't they also sing about 'hoes'? I assume they weren't singing about gardening tools."

"It's not my fault that they have one really catchy line in the song!"

"Which is?"

"Tell your boyfriend if he says he's got beef that i'm a vegetarian and I ain't fucking scared of him," Harry recited dramatically, gesturing with his spoon.

Draco laughed again, dropping his head into his hands.

"Potter, you are not at all like I've imagined," Draco finally choked out.

"You've been imagining me have you?," Harry teased with a wink. "I've been told many a time that I do not meet expectations."

"I never said it was bad."

"You'd be the first to not be disappointed. It's why I don't date anymore. Too much hassle, I don't know who I can trust, and you weren't wrong when you said I was essentially married to my work. That's something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"How can I help?"

"You can help me fill out my calendar."

"You want me to... help you fill out a calendar?," Draco asked slowly.

"Your schedule and mine, this way we can make sure Teddy is taken care of. I already penciled you in for every single Wednesday. They were not pleased at the Ministry by the way, I can tell you that much. I think your friendship will come quite in handy when I need to eloquently tell people to fuck off."

"Yes, I am quite good at that. It's a hobby you know."

"I remember. Dinner is done now."

"Oh, speaking of. Your weird requested list of all of my dietary habits."

"I could just feed you kiwi," Harry threatened as he set the table.

"I could transfigure you into a kiwi," Draco retorted, sliding off of the counter and pouring drinks for both Harry and himself.

"I know that wasn't meant to sound tempting but wow. I could lounge around all day and not be bothered because no one could find me."

"But what if someone eats you?"

"There's a threat of dying every day at work Malfoy, that's nothing new."

"Do you actually like your job?," Draco asked as they sat down to eat.

"Do I like my job? Some days. I'm good at it, and apparently that's all that matters."

"Is it? Potter I love my job. It can be challenging, but every new case is like a puzzle that I can't wait to solve."

"I'm glad that you're happy."

"I wouldn't go that far," Draco replied with a snort. "I would say I'm content for the most part. My way of living leaves some things to be desired."

"Like?"

"I can't tell if you're actually interested or just trying to keep attention off of yourself."

"It's both, but when have I not been interested in you?"

"About time you finally admitted that. I suppose at points it can just be lonely. I live alone in my flat, I work from home most days, so most of my correspondence is done through owls. Pansy mostly works out of the country, so I don't see her as often as I'd like to. I also cannot cook many things, so I have a heavy reliance on takeaway."

"I'm lonely too. I have Andy and Teddy but I don't see Ron and Hermione nearly enough. I might be surrounded by people at work, but I think they only put me on jobs so that it looks like I support whatever the Ministry is doing. They've sent me in as recon on missions I had no part of, just so I could be photographed there."

"You signed a contract when you went to work for them, yes? And that included your job description?"

"I did, yes," Harry replied slowly.

"Do you have a copy of it?"

Biting his lip, Harry quickly categorized the papers he knew he had in the study.

"I do! In a folder on the desk in the study."

"Bring it to me after dinner. Which is very good by the way, thank you."

"You're always welcome for dinner, you know. With or without Teddy. I usually end up cooking too much anyway," Harry offered with a shrug.

"Thank you for the kind offer. What about you? What do you like to eat?"

"I'm not too picky," Harry admitted with a shrug. "I don't like olives. Honestly that's about it."

"If you could eat anything, what would you want to eat?," Draco pressed.

"You know, no one's ever asked me that before. I think freshly baked bread is really nice, but that's not a meal is it? You can't go wrong with pasta honestly. Maybe tacos? It's easy to get the perfect bite, and you can choose from a lot of fillings and toppings."

"I can't say I've had many tacos."

"What do you like? Beef, chicken, pork, shrimp?"

"I'll eat either. I do have an affinity for seafood though."

"That's essentially the one thing that Ron won't eat. He draws the line at shrimp."

"Well, I happen to love shrimp."

"Likewise."

"What's your pickup and drop off schedule with Teddy like?"

"Unless there is a severe emergency, I drop Teddy off at school every day. Pickups are a lot harder to schedule since I never know where I'll be, but I never miss a Wednesday."

"Your pager was given to you by the Ministry yes?," Draco asked slyly, gears turning in his head.

"Yeah it was."

"May I see it?"

"I guess so. Here."

Harry removed it from where it was clipped to his pants, and Draco removed his own pager. Pulling out his wand, waved it a few times murmuring to himself, and then he pressed a few buttons.

"Here. If you press the number one three times it will page me. Try it."

Looking skeptical, Harry did as instructed and raised an eyebrow when it worked.

"I can do the same for you. This is the fastest way to reach me if you or Teddy need me."

"Thank you Malfoy."

"It's nothing," Draco brushed off with a shrug.

"I wish you wouldn't do that."

"Do what?"

"Brush off compliments like that. I mean it, you really are quite brilliant. You should take pride in that."

"Being prideful hasn't gotten me anywhere, Potter."

"It kept you alive, and I'm grateful for that."

"I do recall that you're the one who kept me alive," Draco retorted.

"You refused to identify me. I know that you knew it was me. We could do this all night, Malfoy. Or, we could accept that we both weren't the best people, but now we're friends," Harry emphasized, "the past is behind us, and now we're going to plan some dates with Teddy."

"Okay."

"Brilliant. Let me pack up the leftovers and do the dishes."

"I'll help. It's the least I could do."

"Are you sure? You don't have to."

"I don't mind," Draco replied with a shrug.

Draco watched as Harry pulled out containers of multiple sizes.

"I always make extra so that I have lunch for myself and Teddy. Anything else that isn't finished I just pop into the deep freezer for those nights where I don't feel like cooking. I try to meal prep so I don't rely on takeout, but I tend to work very late on either Mondays or Fridays so those are normally my takeout days."

"Do you even have a set schedule?"

"No. I work Monday and Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, but I'm always on call."

"I cannot wait to get into your contract."

Draco washed and dried quickly and efficiently and Harry was impressed. Harry led him to the study where Draco quickly began pouring over the contract. With a wave of his wand, Draco made a copy of the document.

"Do you have something to write with and some parchment?"

"I have a pen yeah hold on. Here you go."

"Do you have one of those bright markers too?"

"A highlighter?"

"Yes, a highlighter."

Draco would prove to Harry that he was useful, and that he had changed. Harry already seemed to believe that, but Draco couldn't get past his need to be accepted by Harry.

"When did you start working as a Junior Auror?"

"September 1st, 1998."

"That's fitting isn't it," Draco mused with a snort. "Okay. Do you have your pay stubs from Gringotts?"

"In the safe."

"Do you mind if I see them?"

"Not really, no. I presume you will not be sharing my salary."

"You're a government employee. I could find it if I really wanted to. I have a point to this, I promise."

"I trust you," Harry replied before leaving the room.

Draco felt giddy that Harry trusted him enough with all of this information, and absolutely no idea of what he was doing.

"Anything else you need?"

"I'll have more questions I'm sure. When do you expect to have your current caseload finished up?"

"By the end of the month."

"What do you say to taking off the week that Andy goes on her trip?"

"A week? A whole entire week?," Harry sputtered.

"When was the last time you even took a day off?"

"Well Teddy was really sick last year-"

"When did you take off to do something enjoyable that you wanted to do Potter?"

His silence was enough, and Draco clicked his tongue in disappointment.

"Exactly. You'll have the week off I'm sure."

"I'm not."

"Give me a few hours and I can guarantee you'll have your week off and a pay rise."

"I don't need a pay rise."

"These numbers beg to differ. Put it into a fund for Teddy then. Get a pool. Buy a quidditch team."

"I have always wanted a pool," Harry mused.

Draco continued to ask Harry questions, and the frown on his face grew the more answers he received.

"I think you've accrued a year's worth of vacation time Potter."

"How is that possible?"

"You don't use vacation days. They make you work holidays. They call you in on weekends and on your days off. If they don't call you in they send you files to look over, officially meaning that you barely ever have a day off."

"What a pathetic life," Harry sighed, slumping onto the table.

Draco ran his fingers through Harry's hair automatically in a sign of comfort. Harry hummed and leaned up into Draco's touch.

"It will get better. I'll help you set some boundaries. It didn't matter as much when Teddy was younger, but now he's making core memories and I don't want you to miss that."

"Thank you for helping me."

"I figure I owe you one, or five, but who's counting."

"Your company is enough," Harry promised, smiling up at Draco.

"I'm going to give you a letter to give to your boss tomorrow. If they ask, I'm your legal counsel. We'll draft up your official vacation request, being very specific in our wording so that if they break it you're owed another week, and then I'll be on my way."

"You're absolutely brilliant Malfoy."

"I know," Draco replied with a teasing grin.

Draco always knew that Harry's smile was dangerously beautiful, having admired it from afar for years, but it was another thing to have it directed at him. He knew his face was going soft, and he cleared his throat as he looked away.

"It's late, I should get going."

"I'll walk you out. Are you going to need these papers again?"

"That depends on how tomorrow goes for you."

"I'm confident in your abilities."

"Just don't take any shit from anyone Potter."

Harry laughed despite himself.

"What?"

"It's just funny hearing you swear in your posh voice," Harry teased, nudging Draco's shoulder with his own.

"Fuck off," Draco retorted playfully, bumping Harry even harder.

"Oh, I have lunch for you for tomorrow," Harry said after giving Draco his jacket. "Hold on."

"Thank you Potter. Let me know how it goes tomorrow will you?"

"Of course. Goodnight Malfoy."

"Goodnight Potter."