The store was quiet in the late hour.
Ron looked up from the magazine he was reading at the counter and grinned when he saw Draco, "Yeah?"

Draco nodded ruefully, "I could use a distraction."

Ron checked his watch, "Still got a half an hour till I lock up. I can get started on closing up if you watch the counter." He spun the magazine around so Draco could read it while he headed upstairs.

Draco flipped through the pages. It was a copy of Quidditch Pitch and had ten pages on all the different teams outlook in the coming season. He got weirdly engrossed reading an article about how to set up a fantasy quidditch league with your friends, he'd never heard of it before but liked the idea.

"That fantasy quidditch thing, huh? I was reading that too. Apparently, muggles make fantasy teams for all sorts of sports," Ron said, leaning over his shoulder.

Draco jumped in surprise and then glared at him.

Ron laughed, "Sorry! Ready to go?"

Draco nodded, following Ron outside into the cold.

"What did you think?" Ron asked, turning the key in the lock.

"About?"

"Fantasy Quidditch," Ron said, "Think you'd do something like that?"

"It sounds interesting," Draco said.

Ron nodded, "You in then? If I can get enough people interested, maybe I can set something up."

Draco shrugged one shoulder, "I suppose so."

"You could try being a little enthusiastic about it," Ron said.

Draco smiled faintly, "I'd rather not."

"Rude," Ron said.

Draco's smile grew, "Let's see you actually get it started first, then I'll think about it."

Ron laughed, and gave Draco a friendly thump on the arm, "I will, just you wait and see!"

Ron went into the pub first, heading to the table at the far wall and raising a hand in greeting as cheers met his arrival. He turned to hook an arm around Draco's neck, towing him forward, "I want you to meet-"

"Draco?" Potter said, looking surprised and pleased all at once.

Ginevra Weasley, sitting next to Potter on the narrow booth bench, sat forward, looking from Potter to Draco. "Wait! Is this him!? Is this the bloke you keep talking about!?" she laughed.

"shut up," Potter hissed.

"Wait, how do you know Draco?" Ron asked, letting Draco go.

"How do you?" Potter asked right back.

"I rented him the flat on the top floor of the shop. I ought to know him," Ron said, "You though-"

"I- I ran into him at that new coffee shop," Potter said.

"Literally," Draco said, prompting another wheeze of laugher from Ginevra.

"Of course, he did!" Ginevra said, falling against Potter, much to his annoyance.

Granger sighed and stood up, giving Ron a hug and holding out a hand to Draco, "I'm Hermione, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you as well," Draco said, his handshake loose and nervous.

"Ron's told me a little about you. Congratulations on the new job," Granger said.

"Thank you-"

Ginevra stood up and slapped her spot in the booth, "Here take my seat."

"Gin-"

"Shut up, I'm doing you a favour," Ginevra said, walking over and stealing a chair from another table and spinning it around to sit on it backwards.

Granger and Ron sat on the other side of the table, and Draco sat in the spot vacated by Ginevra, ignoring her smirky grin.

"You don't have to sit next to me if you don't want to," Potter said.

Draco raised an eyebrow, "And miss my chance to sit beside the illustrious Harry Potter? I think not. I might even get an autograph."

Ginevra laughed.

"You're out of luck there. Harry quit doing autographs a while back," Granger said so flatly Draco couldn't tell if she was taking the piss or not.

"Except for little kids," Ron said.

"Well, yeah, that would just be mean," Potter said.

Draco wasn't surprised. It seemed like the noble sort of thing Potter would do.

"Will Nev show this week?" Ron asked.

Granger shook her head, "Already been here and gone."

"What? Again? He's always leaving before I show!" Ron bemoaned.

"He has classes to teach," Granger said.

"On the weekend?" Ron said.

Potter nodded, "Yup. He's working on some sort of big project with his seventh years. Talked our ears off about it."

"Maybe it was best I missed him after all," Ron joked.

Granger sighed at them, "I thought it was fascinating, and I'm looking forwards to hearing about the results."

Potter shrugged, "Herbology was never my thing."

"Hello, hello!" A soft voice called, bringing with it a tray, "I got all the drinks!"

The tray was levitated onto the table revealing behind it Luna Lovegood smiling cheerfully.

"I saw Ron and his friend come in, so I got two more," Luna said.

Ron frowned at the tray and the different glasses and strangely coloured concoctions, "What are all these?"

"I don't know." Luna said, "I asked the barlady to surprise me, and she did. Isn't it delightful?"

Ginevra grabbed another chair and pulled it up to the table for Luna.

Ron thought for a second and decided, "Sure." Picking a random drink and taking a sip that made him wince and then cough, "Bloody hell that's strong."

"Luna this is Draco, he's just moved to London recently," Granger said.

Luna didn't offer her hand, tilting her head with a perplexed expression as she stared at Draco. "Have we met before?"

"It's possible," Draco said evasively.

Luna twirled a loose curl of her hair around her finger, "I have the strongest sense of deja-vu when I look at you."

"Give me the blue one," Ginevra said, holding her hand out for a drink.

"Please?" Ron said, sliding the electric blue cocktail to the edge of the table.

Ginevra rolled her eyes, "Please, mum, may I have a drink. Maybe if I'm drunk enough, my brother will seem like less of a twat."

"Ha Ha," Ron said flatly, "Hilarious Gin."

"You know Luna," Granger said, "bartender is gender-neutral. I'm not sure barlady is even a word."

"That's true," Luna said, picking a drink with a bright red cherry in it and put it in front of Draco before picking a green coloured cocktail for herself, "But she was wearing a pin that said she, her and I thought barlady would be nicer."

"But what if she prefers bartender over something more gendered?" Granger said.

"Should we ask?" Luna said.

Granger made a face, "I'm not sure that's appropriate. That's why I think-"

"We stop talking about it? Because we don't know her and leave it at that," Potter said.

Draco picked up the cherry drink and sipped it, it tasted like lemon-lime and grenadine. He couldn't taste a bite of alcohol in the mix.

Luna gave him a smile.

"I visited Teddy yesterday, looked after him for a few hours so Andromeda could relax," Potter said, "And she said her sister has started writing her. Narcissa Malfoy."

"Really? Why?" Granger asked.

Draco froze, his heart starting to pound inside his chest.

"Andromeda said she wanted to reconnect," Potter said.

"Do you think Narcissa's planning something?" Ron asked.

"I wonder if she's lonely," Luna said, "It must be quite lonely, with no one else in that big house."

Draco's hand tightened on the glass.

"I think it's probably fine. Narcissa saved me in the end, in the forest..." Potter said and then frowned, "for... for some reason..."

Draco stood up, "Excuse me."

"Leaving?" Ron asked.

"Loo," Draco said hurriedly, heading around the booth to the narrow hallway leading to a small dimly lit bathroom. He flipped on the tap and splashed cold water on his face, shivering as it soaked into his sleeves. The lighting charms flickered overhead and dropped him back in time like a lead weight. Draco slammed the water off and hurried out, his breath catching painfully in his chest.

He didn't want to go back to the table. He couldn't go back into the loo.

Draco made it down the hallway before sinking down against the wall, his knees pulled up to chest. He was close enough to hear the conversation from the table.

"Chips! Let's order a plate of chips!" Ron was shouting over everyone.

"Order them then," Granger said, "You can get the next round and some food."

"I mean, we have to finish Luna's weird drinks first," Potter said.

"I'll finish them," Ginevra said. "These are the sort I like anyway. You can get your pints, and I'll actually get proper wasted."

"Don't you have practise tomorrow?" Potter asked.

"Yeah, it's gonna be hellish," Ginevra said jokingly.

"Practise on a Saturday?" Granger asked.

Luna piped up, "Ginny practises four days of the week and does strength training on the off days. It's not too bad though, she's only gone four or five hours most of the time."

"Hey Luna, when you said you got deja-vu looking at Draco, I felt something like that as well. A really strong... like I felt sorry for him," Granger said.

"Pity," Ron said. There was a pause. "What? That's just how I felt when I first saw him, but he was standing there in the middle of the street looking like a kicked puppy."

"Yeah," Granger said slowly, "Maybe it's just because I know what he's going through."

"Hm? What's that?" Ginevra asked.

Draco leaned his head back against the wall.

"He was disowned. Had his last name taken from him," Ron said.

"How awful," Luna said.

"Hey, we shouldn't talk about him when he isn't here," Potter said, sounding defensive.

Draco smiled faintly.

"You would say that," Ginevra teased.

"I wasn't going to say anything else," Ron said, "I'm not a gossip. Just... so you know, you all give him a fair shot."

Potter sighed, "I'm gonna- quit grinning."

There a sound, and footsteps, but Draco didn't bother moving or pretending hadn't been listening. All the people at that table hated him when they knew him, or pitied him. He felt exhausted.

Potter stopped, staring at him. Then surprisingly, he came over and joined Draco, sitting next to him on the floor and casting a bubble of silence around them.

"I'm sorry," Potter said.

"About what?" Draco asked.

"Well," Potter said, "If you wanted everyone to know that about you, you'd have told us."

"It's fine. I'd rather know what people think about me," Draco said.

"That's... one way of looking at it," Potter said, "I don't like it, though."

Draco huffed in amusement.

Potter leaned a little closer, so their shoulders touched.

Draco closed his eyes, his mind focusing entirely on that little point of warmth between them.

"...Are you okay?"

Draco nodded.

"You're sitting in a pub hallway by yourself," Potter said.

"I'm not by myself," Draco said, glancing over at Potter.

Potter raised an eyebrow.

Draco closed his eyes again, letting himself lean his weight against Potter just a little. "...I've been.." he sighed. "I was alone for a long time. ...I got a little overwhelmed."

"Should I go?" Potter asked.

"No," Draco said and was surprised that he meant it, "Stay."

"That's good, because I wanted to," Potter said.

"Can I call you Harry?"

"Yeah? You don't have to ask," Harry said.

"I do. Because it's different. I think it helps that it's different," Draco said.

Harry pressed his hand against Draco's forehead for a second.

"Just checking for a fever," Harry said, "You do feel a little warm. If you wanted to leave-"

"I'll stay a little while longer," Draco said. "I forgot to thank you for the radio. I should have written, but I don't have an owl of my own and I've been too busy to stop by the post."

"I wasn't sure what sort of thing you bought for a house warming gift so I- I'm glad you like it," Harry said.

Draco nodded and slowly opened his eyes, "Help me up?"

Harry helped pull Draco to his feet, and they went back to the table. Ginevra was leaning close to Luna, listening to something she was whispering in her ear.

"I ordered, chips and... more chips!" Ron said.

Granger sighed.

"What? Everyone likes chips," Ron said.

Granger shook her head with a faint fond smile, "Yes. Yes, they do."

"I wanna apologise for being a bit too mean," Ginevra said, "I feel kind of angry from some reason, and I shouldn't be taking out on you guys."

Potter nodded, "Sure."

"Bout time-" Ron said.

"Not you," Ginevra said, "Brothers don't count."

"What?" Ron said.

"You heard me," Ginevra said, "I don't have to be nice to you, that's the benefit of siblings, practically the only one."

Potter laughed.

"Ginny-" Granger chastised.

"Only children don't get a say, you don't get it," Ginevra said.

Granger frowned.

"She's kind of right. Much as I hate to say it," Ron said. "It's just how we are, you know?"

"No. Quite frankly that sounds like nonsense," Granger said petulantly.

Ginevra laughed, and Ron started to laugh, only to turn it into a guilty cough as Granger glared at him. Draco felt Potter lean against him ever so slightly, and was filled with a quiet calmness that let him smile as the rest of the table bickered on.