Draco stepped through the fireplace at Grimmauld place, and in the next step was running through the parlour, footsteps squelching, water dripping off his sleeves as he ran down the hall, and stairs into the kitchen, "Harry!" he said excitedly as he walked past the long kitchen table cluttered with jars and thick rubber bands.

Harry looked up from where he was sautéing onions, and garlic in a large pan on the hob, "How did it g- Why are you soaked?" His eyes narrowed, "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Draco said, offended at the implication, "I am the injured party in this, obviously."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Sure you were, that's why you didn't bother drying off before coming home."

Draco couldn't stop the smile from filling him up from the inside out, from Harry calling this home, their home, even if he had only moved in recently. The moment his mother's house arrest was finished, in fact. She was still living at the manor, still renovating, but now she could leave if she wanted, and the floos were open again, so visiting was easy.

Harry took out his wand and charmed the water from Draco's clothes with a flick of his wand, siphoning the stream to the sink. He turned back to the stove and picked up his spatula, "Alright, if you're done being insufferably smug about it, tell me what happened."

Draco grinned, sitting on the end of the table, "It was meant to be a basic remuneration case for breaking of contract terms. The Rosier croft had issued several complaints that Eggbert Rosier had repeatedly tried to demand work after seven pm and quite often before seven am. They say evil doesn't sleep-"

Harry snorted, "That certainly doesn't apply to you."

"I'm not evil. So of course not," Draco said, "And it's just a saying."

"Of course, of course, go on then," Harry said, grinning.

"He's old as shit so it doesn't surprise me he can't be bothered to respect the new contract outlines-"

"And probably entitled," Harry said.

"Eleven-year-old me levels of entitled," Draco agreed. "I wouldn't be surprised if Rosier still has his elves punish themselves, but that isn't the sort of thing the older elves will complain about. They happen to like having the time off, though."

"So how did that end up getting you soaking wet?" Harry asked.

"Well, I told him that he couldn't call a house elf during their evenings off. And he said he could because they were his elves. And I patiently-

"-you mean, condescendingly."

"-patiently explained to him the elves worked for him and did not belong to him. He did not like that. He asked who they belonged to then, and I said, themselves of course, which he thought was very funny," Draco smiled humourlessly.

Harry whistled under his breath, "So? What did you do to him?"

"Me?" Draco put a hand on his chest, "I am a respected member of society, I would never-"

Harry raised his eyebrows.

Draco couldn't quite keep a straight face, "You're no fun."

Harry waved him on, "I just know you, I'm not saying you should stop."

"Stop talking or stop provoking people?"

Harry shrugged, adding sausage to the sautéed onions and garlic, "Both are fine... most of the time."

Draco glared at him for a second then went on with his story, "Anyway. I told Rosier that his behaviour was very unbecoming of such a noble house. To which he replied, 'Better than an upstart blood traitor with no sense of propriety'-"

Harry frowned.

"-which was perfect, because then I could do whatever I liked and no one could accuse me of being too severe," Draco scooted further back, idly swinging his legs, "I then said, 'in light of these proceedings, I feel obligated to have an elf inspector join the Rosier croft for a month to make sure the contract is followed."

"There are no wands allowed in guild negotiations, right? Otherwise, you'd be in St Mungo's curse ward right now," Harry said.

"Yes," Draco said, "and as you surmise he was properly livid, went entirely red. He's bald as an egg, so he looked a bit like a dic-"

"Don't," Harry said, pointing at Draco with his spatula, "I don't need that image in my head."

Draco sniffed, "If you know what I was going to say, it's already in your head, pervert."

"If I'm a pervert, it's your fault," Harry said.

"I ought to get a reward," Draco said.

Harry shook his head, adding tomato paste to the lovely smelling sauce, "Finish the story."

Draco obligingly went on, "Rosier started yelling, saying it was his house and he wouldn't have uninvited spies in his home. I remained very calm, and just talked over him about protocol and the contract until he grabbed the jug of water off the table and threw it over me."

"That would explain the water," Harry said.

"Unfortunately, it was charmed to be ever-filling so, after the initial splash kept going, he knocked me out of my chair and held the jug over my head." Draco kicked his legs idly, "I believe he was trying to drown me."

Harry stopped stirring and turned around.

"It was fine," Draco said.

"What about that is supposed to be fine?"

"He was eighty-three, Harry, it's not like he did a good job. The Rosier elves bound and stunned him in very short order," Draco said. He pointed at the pot, "Careful, that's going to burn."

"It's done anyway," Harry turned off the hob and moved the pot back off the heat, "An angry old man tried to kill you with an ever-filling jug of water," he said flatly.

"Fantastic, isn't it?" Draco said.

Harry shook his head, "And after that?"

"I had him arrested," Draco said.

"You said he was eighty-three."

"Yes?" Draco said.

"And you had him arrested," Harry said.

"He tried to drown me, of course, I had him arrested," Draco said, "He's not going to Azkaban, he'll probably be out by the morning once he can put together bail. More importantly, his household will be watched for a month, and when he inevitably breaks the contract, again, I can free all the elves in the Rosier croft from any obligation to serve him. His wife will have to order all his meals for him, if she decides to, I hope he starves."

Harry opened his mouth, and Draco cut him off.

"Don't you be too nice at me," Draco said, pointing a warning finger at Harry.

"I was going to say, you're right," Harry said.

"Oh. Well, yes, I am," Draco said. He took out his wand and charmed down plates and silverware for dinner.

"And if you hadn't had him arrested I'd have hunted him down and hung him up by his ears," Harry said.

Draco grinned, "Too bad, I would have liked to see that."

"The pasta still needs to be drained," Harry said.

"If it's gone mushy you're dead to me," Draco said, levitating the pot over the sink and pouring it out over the strainer.

"I put a stasis charm over it, you melodramatic shit," Harry said. He grabbed the strainer and manually divided the noodles and then the sauce onto their plates as Draco got off the table and took off his robes, draping them over the bench as he sat down.

Harry sat across from him with a sigh. He picked up his fork, set it down and charmed the dirty pans into the sink. He went to reach for his fork again and stopped again, "I forgot-"

"Forgot what?" Draco asked.

Harry stood, stepping around the end of the table and tipping Draco's chin up to kiss him, "Welcome home."

Draco smiled, catching Harry's fingers and pressing a kiss to his knuckles. He held on as Harry sat back down their hands stretched across the table. Draco brushed his thumb over Harry's nails, each one painted with a tiny house coat of arms in house colour, with a simplified Hogwarts shield on his thumb, "You finally got your nails repainted."

"I went to Hogsmeade during lunch," Harry said, "Pansy said that Three Witches is going to be featured in Witch Weekly again."

"I suppose we should expect to be owled a bundle of magazines," Draco said.

Harry nodded, "The students like them, but I feel a bit weird about giving them away just to get her more business."

"No one's forcing them to go," Draco said, picking up his fork with his free hand and eating a small careful bite of food; he didn't want to make a mess have to let go of Harry's hand.

"Good?" Harry asked.

"Everything you make is good," Draco said.

Harry smiled, "That's not true, remember the first time I tried to make roast-"

Draco did, it had been like trying to eat shoe leather.

"Or the fish-"

Draco grimaced.

"The lasagna that was more like soup-"

Draco tried not to laugh, "Shut up. Most everything you make is good."

"...Alright, that's- better," Harry said.

"You could have just gone along with it," Draco said.

"I could but, I mean, I'm not going to get any better with you always saying everything I make is good," Harry said, he tried his own food with a thoughtful expression.

"I don't think my parents have ever made so much as a pot of tea for one another," Draco said, "I... appreciate it."

Harry looked up with a small smile, "Is that why you always make me tea?"

"I'd make more, but you won't let me," Draco said with a pout.

Harry sighed, "You caught the toaster on fire-"

"I'll get it next time!"

"-three times." Harry shook his head, "I think you could probably cook if you didn't get distracted or try to read while you're supposed to be watching the food."

"It's not my fault it's boring," Draco said.

Harry rolled his eyes even as he squeezed Draco's hand

"How did today go?" Draco asked, "Did you work with McGonagall, or did you have to assist the defence woman again?"

"Professor Laurel," Harry said.

"I'm never going to remember her name," Draco said.

"It's not hard."

"That's not the point," Draco said, "I just don't care."

Harry rolled his eyes, "You should. Professor Laurel was an auror for- since she was nineteen to sixty-five. She's very good, I've learned a ton from her, it's just she's-

"Old," Draco said.

"Not very strong," Harry corrected, to be contrary. "She told me she's probably only going to teach for one more year. I can't imagine who could replace her. It's been so long since Hogwarts had a decent DADA teacher."

"Mhmm," Draco said, thinking that the young man who had practically acted as her teaching assistant would be their first choice.

Harry hesitated, narrowing his eyes slightly at Draco, "...McGonagall does want me to help with the sixth years large scale transfig practise on friday, and Flitwick said he could use my help next week..."

"I see," Draco said neutrally. He wondered if McGonagall and Flitwick might want Harry to take over their positions as well. If Harry wanted to take over a full-time teaching position, of course. He might prefer to just keep helping out where he was needed.

Harry's eyes narrowed further, "You know something."

"Me? No-"

"You do." Harry said, "I can always tell, you're terrible at hiding it. "

"Am not," Draco said.

"You are. You always look too pleased with yourself."

"That's good to know, for future reference," Draco said.

Harry shook his head as if he didn't believe Draco wouldn't learn how to hide his tells. Draco might not hide them around Harry, but no one else needed to know what he was thinking.

"Tell me," Harry said, "And no trying to distract me either."

Draco took a large bite of sausage bolognese. Harry did the same, and they stared at one another, trying to wait each other out. Harry nudged Draco's shoe with his foot. Draco pretended not to notice. Harry couldn't do much in only stockinged feet except being annoying. He tried, but after years of Pansy, Draco's tolerance was ridiculously high.

"Okay-" Draco said.

Harry grinned.

"you like puzzles," Draco said, "You've always liked puzzles-"

Harry's smile faded into something like a pout.

"You have all the pieces," Draco pointed his fork at Harry, "So, do you really want me to tell you?"

Harry smacked Draco's fork down with his own, "You complete bastard."

"Here, I'll give you a hint," Draco said, "No one wants to kill you, and it will in no way risk your life."

"I'm not good at those kinds of puzzles," Harry said.

Draco snorted, "Fucking shocking."

They finished eating, and Draco used a charm to get the plates mostly clean, so they only needed a swipe with a soapy cloth and a quick rinse.

Harry leaned against the counter as Draco cleaned, "I could-"

"No," Draco said firmly, Harry said this every time, and Draco wasn't going to budge. He suspected Harry only offered to be polite, but he wasn't going to risk it, "You cooked, I'll clean."

"Alright-" Harry said with a smile. "So, how's the Hogsmeade croft going, it's nearly done being built, isn't it?"

Draco pushed his sleeves and grabbed a plate, "The main communal area is complete, the more private sleeping areas are about halfway done, in a few weeks it should be ready to live in. Of course, if I can't get their shop up and running so they can earn money for food and whatever else, it doesn't matter if the new croft is ready."

"I thought you had the shop sorted," Harry said, "You and Hermione-"

"Hermione helped me use her anti-discrimination laws to rent a shopfront." Draco sighed, "The elves can sell the things they make, furniture and little decorative things, which are remarkable, but their most valuable asset is still their labour, and the labour council has said they can't hire out."

"What? Why not?" Harry cast a drying charm over the pile of cleaned dishes are started putting them away.

Draco rinsed the pot and turned off the water with more force than was strictly necessary, "To ensure the safety of all parties."

Harry made a face, "They mean the humans don't they?"

"Yes! When obviously the elves are the ones most at risk." Draco said irritably, "Elves have been beaten and ordered to punish themselves at the slightest mistake for hundreds of years while there hasn't been a single case of a house elf hurting a magic-user without first being ordered to do so by their master-"

"Except Dobby," Harry said, putting away the plates.

"He was an exceptional elf," Draco said.

Harry nodded.

"I expect I'll have to draw up a new contract for temporary hiring and will need Hermione's help to bully it through the council seeing as they try and reject anything to do with house elves," Draco said.

"Most of them don't even have house elves, I don't get why they seem to hate them so much," Harry said.

"They say the influx of house elf labour will ruin the economy." Draco put on a high nasally mocking tone, "House elves will take work from good witches and wizards from our community, it will cause inflation and unemployment."

"Racist bullshit?" Harry said.

Draco nodded emphatically, "As if there have ever been witches and wizards doing cleaning work. They would consider it beneath them." He threw up his hands, "And they're putting money into the economy that was just rotting away in old family vaults. And it's not like they'd be hired by anyone that couldn't afford them!"

Harry nodded and gently nudged Draco to leave the kitchen.

"It's fucking nonsense-" Draco said, walking towards the door but stopping at the cluttered mess halfway down the table, "What is this?" He asked, picking up one of the jars, lifting it to the light and squinting at the tightly packed jar of green... something.

"So we're done ranting about-" Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "Fine. Right. It's gillyweed."

"Why?" Draco asked, "And why are there rubber bands? Are these two things supposed to be related?"

"I don't know if you remember me talking about escape routes from the various dorms," Harry said.

"Vaguely," Draco said absently.

"Muggle buildings have all sorts of plans for fires or other dangerous things and Hogwarts just has, 'listen to your prefects or teachers and do as they say.' No safety drills, no emergency spells practised, nothing.

"So, what if something did happen?" Harry said, "Like a fire or an explosion or something. There's no guarantee the older students could manage something like that while also protecting the younger years and if a bunch of eleven-year-olds were caught in something dangerous by themselves- What could they do?"

"Gillyweed from the slytherin dungeons," Draco said, setting the jar down and picking up a rubber band, "And these?"

"I was thinking of enchanting them with a lighting or floating spell of some kind that could get them down from the towers," Harry said.

Draco nodded, "Clever. Easy to put on, fits all sizes."

"And I'll need to make some sort of hammer or tool that can break the windows if they won't open, but I'm not sure how well that will go over with Minerva," Harry said.

"I'm sure she'll see the logical need for them," Draco said.

Harry frowned faintly, "It's less that, and more if the students have these in every room in their dorms, what's going to stop them from messing around with them?"

"Detention with Filch?" Draco suggested.

"Well, yeah but..." Harry narrowed his eyes in thought.

Draco watched Harry's expression change and shift as he thought, enjoying it as much as any book.

"I'm overthinking this," Harry said, "When a kid pulls a fire alarm, there's an alarm. So if I attach an alarm to the emergency supplies, one that can be heard through the entire dorm-"

"And the teacher's room," Draco said.

"Right! So it helps in an emergency but also there are real repercussions for trying to mess around with them," Harry said, excitement creeping into his voice.

"You'll have to make the spells very intricate keep older students from tampering with them," Draco said.

Harry nodded, looking like he was about to sit down, patting his pockets for his wand; and the nod turned into a no, "Wait. No. Nope. We're gonna go upstairs!" He grabbed Draco's hand and pulled him to the door.

"But-"

"The work can wait," Harry said.

"Are you sure?" Draco asked, "I could help. It would-"

"It's not going anywhere. And I don't want to miss any time with you," Harry said. He stopped in the sitting room in front of the large couch they had picked out together. He grabbed a fluffy blanket off the back, wrapping it around his back and then around Draco as he pulled him down onto the couch with him.

Draco tangled his hands in Harry's hair, bumping his glasses even further askew, which Draco carefully removed before re-indulging himself in playing with Harry's soft hair.

Harry buried his head into the curve of Draco's neck, his breath warm and ticklish, "Newer muggle toasters pop up when the toast is done all by itself."

Draco's brow furrowed.

"I'll buy one, see if I can get it to work with magic," Harry said.

Draco smiled, "So I can make toast without catching it on fire?"

"Mhmm," Harry said.

"Sounds like a challenge," Draco said softly.

Harry snorted, squeezing Draco tight as he laughed.

.

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Authors Notes: Thank you SO SO much for reading! This has been the longest and trickiest story I've ever written and I'm both happy and sad to finally see it finished. I hope you enjoyed it and ♡Thank You♡ again!!!!