Lulu ran towards the sitting area, to the older elf sitting near the fire, "I've brought him, huddle Rowna! I gots him to come!"

Draco braced a hand on the ceiling as he shuffled after her, trying not to run into anything as he looked around.

Huddle Rowena stood up from her chair and swept her hand in front of her and the chairs in Draco's way parted and skidded across the floor out of his way.

"Huddle Rowena," Draco said, bowing his head, "I'm sorry to keeping you waiting."

Rowena smiled ruefully, "I doubt that, Mister Malfoy." She had two silvery cuffs on the tops of her large ears, one adorned with blue crystals and the other engraved with an intricate geometric pattern. A simpler silver cuff was clipped to the side of her ear. She was wearing what a first glance could have been mistaken for a pillowcase but was closer to a toga with a shift underneath a large piece of cloth draped over her head. It was held in place by a ribbon belt and a pin on her shoulder made from a large black fabric button sewn with black crystals and beads.

Rowena snapped her fingers, and one of the pillows on a nearby couch doubled in size, "Find comfort, we have much to speak to you about."

Draco rearranged himself, sitting on the pillow, "How did you fare after the battle?"

"Much magic was lost in the damaging of the castle," Rowena said, picking up a scuffed book filled with mismatched pieces of paper, "More in the rebuilding, it took so much." Her ears dipped, "A child was lost, a weak boy, two mothers did not bear young. The magic is strong again with the young wizards return."

"I'm sorry," Draco said.

"Much is lost in battles," Rowena said.

"It wasn't your war," Draco said.

"Never is with wizards. Elves suffer anyway," Rowena said, "But maybe it does not have to be such." She opened up the book and smoothing out an old piece of parchment, the copy of the house elf treaty of eleven hundred and four, "You gave us the old contract. So we know what was done, the deal that was made."

"I don't know how much it can help you," Draco said.

"It helps greatly, Mister Malfoy. Before most elves thought this was our choice, our meant to be, a destiny. Now we know, we were weak and a deal was struck to make best use of us and us to survive." Rowena flipped through a few pages to something written in large simple handwriting, like the careful penmanship of a child that hadn't quite got the hang of writing. "Elves have always had stories of what was, but never written down. Only I and my eldest write in our croft where learning is easy. Few others can, other Huddles sometimes, strange ones sometimes."

Lulu sat in one of the chairs on the edge of the fire, hugging a pillow to her chest. A few other elves were standing behind the ring of chairs, watching Draco with nervous interest.

"What about reading?" Draco asked.

"Same," Rowena said, "Since last we spoke, I have begun the work of collecting stories, writing them down."

"That's fantastic," Draco said.

Rowena's ears twitched, "Your questions found their answers already."

"Yes, when I found the contract but I..." Draco hesitated, "...I'm curious about you- about house elves."

"Why?" Rowena asked flatly.

"I grew up thinking-" Draco sighed and looked into the fire, "I was raised to treat house elves like things. And I know I'm not the only one. Most wizards take elves for granted but the more I learn about you, the more I see how unfairly you have been treated." He looked around, "And the wonderful things you've made-"

"We are allowed the broken things, the lost things, the things left behind. We have made with what we are given," Rowena said.

"But we tend to vanish broken damaged things."

Rowena nodded, "Vanished things as well."

Draco's eyes widened, "You can find vanished things? Where do they go?"

"We have ways," Rowena said, "That is not a conversation for now. Now we talk about stories and past times, yes?"

Draco nodded and remembering where and when he was, took out his watch. "I have detention at seven. And I haven't eaten yet," He said reluctantly.

"Lulu will get a plate!" Lulu said hopping to her feet.

"Thank you, Lulu," Rowena said as Lulu apparated away. "Mister Malfoy, would you like to know some stories of the past?"

Draco nodded.

"There are stories of the old old forests, and I am thinking those are the first stories. After that, there are stories of the fair folk."

"The fae? From before they closed the gates between our realms?" Draco said.

Rowena turned a page in her book, running her hand over of the writing with a pensive expression, "Mayhaps they were the ones to shape us elves. To give us magic to use and to make us slaves to it. Mayhaps we were made to serve them and their hungry courts and never able to run away."

Draco said, "Some of our old legends suggest house elves might have been made by wizards. There was a terrible age of magic when many magical beings were created out of dark magic, like veela and kelpies..."

"Mayhaps," Rowena said thoughtfully. She looked up from her book with a sigh, "You were made to treat elves like things, elves were made to serve, but we are not what we were made to be, yes? We deserve to be more than our making."

Draco felt like all the air had been knocked from his lungs, "Yes," he whispered.

Rowena turned back to the copy of the house elf contract, tapping it with one long finger, "This problem stops us, and I have not thought a way past."

"That's what you wanted to talk with me about," Draco said.

Rowena nodded, looking more hesitant, "We can trade, information and stories, we can serve-" her ears drooped, "-we... would be willing to share most anything for better futures."

"Serve-? No. You don't- I don't want that," Draco said quickly, "I would like to learn from you but not as a price, as friends."

Rowena nodded, "You are good for a wizard, you ask, you learn, you are friend to elves. After talking to Huddle Kipper, I am even more sure of it."

"You've spoken with Kipper?" Draco said.

"He came to see some elves from your manor croft taken home here," Rowena said, "He has told us of your kindness; time off for working elves, money to buy desired things, freedom to travel. Wizards never given freedom to travel before."

"I should have done it sooner," Draco said.

"You are young and learning," Rowena said.

Lulu reappeared a plate heaped with food balanced on her head, "Lulu returns!"

Rowena sighed with a faint smile.

Draco took the plate. Lulu pulled a fork out of a pocket on the front of her smock and held it out.

"Can we destroy the contract?" Rowena asked.

"No," Draco said, taking the fork "Or you could, but it wouldn't change anything. I have another copy myself, and I suspect at least one was made for every major family that took in elves back then. I wouldn't be surprised the ministry has a copy as well even if no one has seen it in hundreds of years."

"If we ask for better contract?" Rowena asked.

"You'd be refused by a majority of wizard and all of the wizgamot, I suspect. A few more liberal-minded wizards like Granger would support you, but it wouldn't be enough."

Rowena's ears fell, "Can we do nothing?"

Draco balanced the plate on his knee, "Well... there is one thing. I learnt about it a bit in the history of magic, the greengrocer's revolt of 1724, wizarding producers and grocers were having trouble competing with muggle ones, so they got together and formed a guild and demanded protection from the ministry."

Rowena's brow furrowed, "Elves could form a guild?"

Draco nodded as he thought, "In order to negotiate, all elves must know what they want and ask for it together. You have more power if you're unified."

"Then wizards refuse anyway," Rowena suggested knowingly.

Draco grimaced, "...if they refuse to renegotiate the terms of the contract then... you refuse to work?"

"Can't," Rowena firmly shook her head, "If elves refuse to work then wizards can send them away. No magic, elves grow weaker and weaker until they are dying."

"But they can't send you all away. Both Hogwarts and Ministry rely on elf labour. I'm fairly certain neither could function if you refused to work. And St. Mungo's house elves do all the cleaning and cooking there as well," Draco said.

"They can send away enough to hurt, to scare elves back to work," Rowena said.

Draco frowned in thought, "You'd need a safe place to go if elves were freed. You could use the manor, it's over five hundred years old with constant wizarding occupation there has to be some magic built up."

"Enough?" Rowena asked.

"I don't know," Draco said. "I don't know how much magic you need."

Rowena looked thoughtful.

Lulu patted Draco's knee, "Eat! Lulu brought food, you has to eat now."

Draco sighed, "Why is everyone always telling me to eat?"

"You is too thin!" Lulu said cheerfully.

"I am not," Draco muttered stabbing a piece of chicken sulkily.

"Hogwarts," Rowena said, "When the young wizards are here there is magic enough for all elves of the land."

Draco said, "That would be perfect. You could speak with the other huddles and create a list of demands, then quit working just as the student return in the fall."

A murmur rose up around them. Draco looked around realising that nearly every chair and all the standing room behind him was occupied by elves listening to their conversation.

"Yes, I know," Rowena agreed with the grumbled unrest. She told Draco, "Our croft too full, old wizard houses fell during the war and elves came here. We have no spaces left."

Draco nodded slowly, chewing on his bottom lip, "...I think McGonagall, the headmistress, might help you. The castle has enough space."

Rowena closed her book and set it to the side, "...I have much to think on and talk with other huddles to do. For now, we should be eating, yes?" She looked pointedly at the crowd, "Talk can be of nicer things until your seven o'clock."

The elves around him began moving towards the long tables. The meal appeared on platters all along the tables and the food looked remarkably simialr to what had been served for lunch upstairs.

"So that's why there's always far too much food at meal times," Draco said with amusement.

Rowena smiled, "We find our ways."

_______

McGonagall was watching the hands of her heavy brass pocket-watch as Draco stepped off the stairs and crossed the room to her desk. She snapped closed it as Draco sat down, "You're tardy, Mr Malfoy."

"I'm sorry, Professor," Draco said, "I was detained."

McGonagall stared at him, "Well? You had best tell me what kept you."

"I was meeting with Rowena, the house elf huddle leader," Draco said.

McGonagall raised her eyebrows, "Huddle leader? The head of the house elves is Ras. I speak with him quite regularly."

Draco blinked in confusion.

"Explain yourself," McGonagall said.

Draco said hesitantly, "I'm not sure I should say..."

"Tell me anyway," McGonagall said severely.

Draco said, "Ras... is the head of the worker elves, he's like a butler, I suppose. He's in charge of the castle management. Huddle Rowena is the leader of the entire Hogwarts elf community."

"Really," McGonagall threaded her hands together. "So, what I've gathered from what you said is that working elves are separate and different from another community of elves that lives in Hogwarts but that I have never seen."

"The amount of elves working usually represents only a quarter or so of the size of the entire community. If the only elves in the country were the ones we saw working, house elves would be more inbred than most pureblood families."

McGonagall blinked, "Fifty-two elves maintain the castle and work in the kitchens. Are you saying that another one hundred and fifty live... here? Somewhere?"

"Hogwarts supports close to three hundred elves now. They took in a lot of refugees when some of the old pureblood houses fell with the end of the war," Draco said.

McGonagall sat back in her chair.

"House elves require magic to live like we need sunlight. They get weak and waste away without it, the young especially. So Hogwarts is ideal for them. The castle supports the largest community of house elves in the isles."

"Where are they then?" McGonagall asked.

"Under the castle. It's like a cellar but without any entrances," Draco explained, "House elves can apparate through even the strongest anti-apparition wards."

"How do they manage during the summer?" McGonagall asked flatly.

"The castle absorbs a lot of magic, they normally do just fine drawing from the stones."

"Normally?"

Draco sighed, "Rowena said that a lot of magic was lost during the battle, I don't know if enough of it will have built up by this summer. I asked, but Rowena wouldn't tell me much. I don't blame them, wizards haven't done much to earn any sort of trust from them."

"I have worked here for decades, and I was never aware there were more house elves than the ones working. Yet, I have never seen a house elf child nor have I seen any particularly elderly house elves around the castle. They would need a home and someone to care for them... " McGonagall said pursed her lips. She took a deep breath, massaging her temple, "For now, you were ten minutes late so you can stay ten minutes long to make it up. We can talk more about elves at another time."

Draco felt a stillness catch in the centre of himself, too loud in its silence. He couldn't tell if she believed him for not and he was far too afraid of the answer to ask.

"For tonight's brewing, you normally brew six potions, two doses each, yes?" McGonagall said.

Draco nodded.

"Tonight you'll be brewing four potions of three doses."

"Wolfsbane is a very volatile potion. The more you brew of it the more likely a small mistake will cause it to explode," Draco said.

"Volatile but not dangerous. If it explodes you'll only lose time so, best you don't make any mistakes. It's detention. It's not meant to be fun," McGonagall said, "You've wasted enough time as it is, and you need to recalculate your measures."

Draco pulled his notebook out of his bag and started writing.

_______

Harry looked up as they walked into the potions lab, knife frozen mid-dice, asphodel falling off the blade onto the work table.

Draco stared back.

"We haven't got all night, gentlemen," McGonagall said pointedly.

Draco hurried over to the table, taking out the new calculations and setting them in the centre of the table, "We have to brew three doses to every cauldron instead of just two, it will be far more volatile."

"When the asphodel is added," Harry said.

Draco nodded, "And the powdered bone although it's a lot rarer for that to cause a bad reaction."

"Okay," Harry said. He wiped the knife off and set it aside, setting up the scales to the new weight.

Draco reached across the table, placing his hand over Harry's.

Harry twitched and looked at him, eyes wide.

"...After," Draco murmured.

Harry turned his hand, squeezing Draco's and nodded.

_______

Draco held his breath as he sprinkled the asphodel into the last potion of the night. They had ruined the first one when it exploded rather glurpily and left them smelling faintly of swamp forcing them to start over on it, but Draco was starting to get a feel for how to more precisely add ingredients now.

He moved the stirring rod in slow, careful circles, he nodded when it felt right, and Harry gently sprinkled in the bone as Draco continued to stir. They watched with apprehension, but after a few tentative green bubbles, the potion settled, allowing them to add the last and more dangerous final ingredients to finish it.

Draco didn't allow himself to relax until he had dispelled the flames under the cauldron. The potion was the right colour and sludgy consistency, but Draco took a tiny sample to test anyway.

McGonagall's chair creaked as she stood up, putting her parchment and quill away, "All finished then?"

Draco finished examining the hair sewn to the poppet and nodded, "Yes, that's everything."

"I'm going to retire for the evening." McGonagall opened the door and was already outside when she said, "I trust you can finish up here on your own?" pulling the door shut behind her.

Draco looked over at Harry who was looking down at his hands, "I'll err... just crack the door open, so the smell doesn't build up." he said, hurrying over to the door and easing it back open.

"I didn't really have a chance to think about what I wanted to say, but I know one thing for certain." Draco gripped the edge of the table, "I won't apologise for what happened in the great hall or in the train. Because I didn't do anything to apologise for."

Harry slowly let go of the door handle.

Draco held his breath.

"....You're right," Harry said. "I'm sorry about the great hall. And- and the train I... panicked."

Draco's his grip on the table loosened.

Harry didn't turn around. "Listen, I- when I was dating Ginny, when I was with her I could forget the war and everything, it was like being in a world with just the two of us, but she couldn't be with me all the time, she had dreams and things she wanted to do and I was-"

"...Harry."

Harry's head dropped forward, his hair brushing against the door, "-I was like a weight around her neck, dragging her down. I don't want to do that to you so-"

"Then don't," Draco said.

Harry spun around, "It's not that simple!"

"It is so," Draco countered, "I have no doubt that being with me makes you better, look at me," he gestured to himself grandly, lifting his chin in profile. "So when we're together you're generally improved, and when you're not, you can go back to being, you know, you."

"You what?"

Draco shrugged, "You-you. I mean other than saving the world, you're rather mediocre."

Harry sighed at him, "I'm serious about this."

"So am I. You sounded like you were trying to break up with me."

"It's just-"

"No." Draco said, nearly stomping on the floor in frustration, "I don't want to."

"You can't just refuse to break up! That's not how it works!"

"I can too. And you obviously don't want to either. So stop it and help me decant the last potions."

Harry shuffled over and got his wand out, levitating the cauldron while Draco got the funnel under the first potion vial.

Draco could tell Harry was thinking and his frown meant he was headed in entirely the wrong direction.

"There's something-" Harry said, focusing very intensely on the cauldron, "just let me tell you something first then you can decide."

"You're not going to change my mind," Draco said.

Harry finished dividing the potion between the three vials, setting the cauldron down before he spoke, too nervous to look at Draco. "...I... I've never told anyone this..." he took a shaky breath, "when.... when I was growing up with the Dursley's I kind of just lived from day to day. There really wasn't anything to look forward to, so I just survived and- And then I came to Hogwarts, and every year there was a new mystery, and someone was trying to kill me or stop me, or I was trying to stop them..."

Draco sealed the vials one by one with melted wax.

Harry chewed his bottom lip, "...I feel like I'm always waiting for- for an attack that never comes. Everyone says the war is over, that I'm supposed to live a normal life, but I don't know what normal is and..." he swallowed hard, "and every time I try and think about the future, I panic. It's so big, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I can't stand it. I'm left only being able to manage one day at a time all over again."

Draco put the potions in the transport box and latched it closed before levitating the cauldron over to the sink. The other cauldron was still waiting to be washed, and Harry grabbed the scrub brushes, handing one to Draco. They cleaned them out side by side.

"Not that the days are bad, I enjoy spending time with Ron and Hermione and you but at night when I think about tomorrow I- merlin, I hate it," Harry said quietly. "And on the train..."

"It's not that I don't know you care. I do know," Draco said hurriedly, "I was just sca- I was worried, and I wanted to hear to hear you say it."

"...I know," Harry said.

Draco used an aguamenti to rinse the soap off.

Harry grabbed a towel from the back of the sink and did his best to dry Draco's hands, "it just felt far too big to say then, it felt like a promise of forever and I couldn't- I just couldn't."

"Just use a drying charm," Draco said.

"Your sleeves are soaked," Harry said, dropping the towel over the edge of the sink and taking out his wand. "You ought to push them up."

"You're not the only one afraid of things," Draco said smoothing his hand over his left forearm.

"Oh..." Harry cast a drying charm over both of them. "The thing is... relationships are supposed to have a future, and it doesn't feel right to be with you when I can't even say how I feel because it feels too big."

Draco took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "...Come on, let finish cleaning."

Harry hesitated and then followed him back to the brewing tables.

They put everything back where it belonged, and cast a few more cleaning spells around to hopefully get rid of any potion splatters they might have missed.

"Will you walk me up to the owlery?" Draco asked.

"Should I get my invisibility cloak?"

Draco shook his head, picking up the box of potions in one hand and grabbing Harry's hand with the other.

"Are you sur-"

"Yes." Draco said impatiently, "Now stop talking I have a lot of thinking to do."

Harry threaded their fingers together, holding on tightly as they walked out of the empty dungeons, through the halls and up the owlery tower in uneasy silence.

There was a biting chill in the air as they stepped into the owlery.

Draco shivered and called for his owls. "Take this to Kipper," he told them, "You know the way." He waited a beat, watching the two owls fly off before turning back to Harry,"...I've heard everything you had to say."

"Yeah?" Harry said apprehensively.

"You're doing it wrong," Draco said with a huff.

"Doing what wrong?"

"Being selfish," Draco said, "I've been selfish my whole life, and I can assure you that when you're selfish, you're supposed to get what you want."

"I'm not being selfish," Harry said.

"Seems selfish to me, you trying to decide our relationship all by yourself. Except that you're not getting what you want and I'm not getting what I want so I'm having trouble seeing what the point is," Draco said with growing annoyance.

Harry sighed, "I don't want to hurt you."

"I don't want to hurt you," Draco said right back.

"You haven't-"

"It was only luck you weren't hit by a stray hex in the great hall," Draco snapped.

"That wasn't your fault," Harry said firmly.

Draco rolled his eyes, "It was. It was because I was a death eater and because I tried to kill our headmaster and nearly killed two other people, because I crucioed other students in seventh years when the Carrows told me to."

Harry's eyes widened.

"You didn't know that part..." Draco crossed his arms over his chest, "Well, maybe we ought to call it off because I was such a horrible person."

Harry shook his head, "That was-" he took a few hesitant steps closer, "it's in the past, you're not that person any more."

Draco shrugged, "I don't know, the past is as real as the future, isn't it? If you can be haunted by the future, why am I not allowed to be haunted by the past?"

"Because..."

"Because you hurting me is worse than me hurting you?" Draco tsked, "Selfish again." He frowned when Harry didn't respond, "You don't actually believe that?"

Harry glanced down at his feet, "...I'm used to it."

"Well so am I? You want to turn this into a competition?" Draco jabbed a finger into Harry's chest, "I'm always up for it, Potter. I may not have as much practice as you but two and a half years is a good start and I'm a fast study."

"It's not a competition," Harry said quickly, "I just don't want to hurt anyone I care about."

"And you think I don't feel the same way?!" Draco shoved him.

Harry grabbed his wrist, "It's not-"

"What about if we were together and I barely slept and was always working and studying and forgot to eat and started to lose weight and became cruel, pushing you away even as I got weaker and sicker until I collapsed? That wouldn't hurt you?" Draco tried to pull away, and Harry just moved with him.

"It hurt my mother. It hurt Pansy. I've hurt the people I loved," Draco said, his voice wavering, "I know how it feels and how very much I don't want to hurt them ever again, but I'm not going to push them away."

"Draco..."

"I need them. I need them as much as they need me and I-" Draco pulled his hand free of Harry's weakening grip, sliding it over his cheek. Harry's skin was cool, stubble prickling under Draco's fingertips, "I might have exaggerated about you being mediocre, although I am entirely biased on the matter-"

Harry smiled faintly, putting his hand over Draco's.

"Because you're very clever, you can learn anything provided it actually interests you, you're terribly attractive, and I care about you. I want to stay with you because I care about you."

Harry hesitated, opening his mouth to say something and failing. He chewed on his poor bottom lip and tried again, "I- I want to...I..."

Draco put his hand over Harry's mouth, "Let's try this another way. How do you feel about me right now? I don't care about forever, I don't care about next week or even an hour for now. How do you feel about me right in this one moment?"

Harry pulled Draco's hand away and gently kissed his palm, "right now... right now, my heart is beating so hard it hurts. I'm happy, and scared but in a good way, I think."

Draco smiled.

"Is that-"

"Perfect," Draco finished, leaning forward and kissing him. He pulled back and brushed his thumb over Harry's lips, "and quit knawing on your lips."

"I was nervous," Harry said, "I thought-"

"Don't. It makes me furious just thinking out about it. We're not breaking up unless I say we are," Draco said.

Harry opened his mouth to argue then stopped. "You're sure?" he asked.

"Yes, you absolute fucking idiot," Draco said.

Harry grinned, "Even though I don't know how to be in a relationship?"

"Nobody knows how to be in a relationship," Draco said impatiently, "In any case, you have more experience with them than I do."

"...I suppose I do. You seem so comfortable with everything, I keep forgetting."

"It's all about projecting confidence," Draco said.

"I think there's a word for that, it's called bravado," Harry said with the barest hint of cheek.

"You ought to know all about it then with your Gryffindor nonsense," Draco said.

Harry smiled carefully, wrapping an arm around Draco's waist and pulling him close, "Merlin, I've missed you. I know it's only been two days but-"

"Two days too many considering how you used your time," Draco sighed.

"Yeah..." Harry said thoughtfully. "I want to try... being better. Although I have a long way to go to catch up to you."

"Being better as in health-wise or being a better person?" Draco asked.

"Both?"

"Are we counting everything we've done, because you've won a war and that's-"

"Starting after the war," Harry said. He thought for a moment and grinned "Want to make it a competition?"

"I have quite a head start," Draco said.

"I'll catch up in no time," Harry said.

"Fat chance," Draco said.

Harry stole another kiss, "We'll see."