"Draco?!"

As the name spills from my lips, so does the tray from my hands. The smash of glass is deafening. My legs are soaked in whiskey.

A huge cheer goes up around us - a bigger applause than I got for my pole dance.

Flustered and furious, I quickly crouch down to try and clear up as much of the mess as I can.

"Leave it," Draco demands, leaping up from the booth and instantly removing his jacket, "you'll end up cutting yourself."

"You think that's my biggest problem right now?!" I hiss as I grab at the broken shards. "What are you even do- OW!"

I curse, standing up quickly as I clutch at my hand where a piece of glass has just pierced my palm.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OVER HERE?!" Andrew yells. His eyes are angry as he storms across the club towards us.

Draco hurriedly wraps his jacket around me. "Give me the word and I'll punch this fuck," he drawls in my ear.

But I shake him off, furious. "You need to get the fuck out of here before I lose my-"

"I'm so sorry, sir," Andrew apologises, bowing at Draco as though he is some kind of king. "Scarlett is already on her last warning and I can assure you she will not be working here again. In the meantime, if you'd like to accompany me to our VIP booth, I'll send for a new bottle of whiskey served by our top tart. You'll find, afterall," he continues with a displeasing glance in my direction, "that Candy is much more accommodating."

A low growling sound purrs in Draco's throat as he moves me aside to confront Andrew.

"You can keep your whiskey and your top tart," he snarls, towering over him, "and no, Scarlett won't be working a second longer in this filthy place. Creeps like you do not deserve to even breathe the same air as her."

"Draco, no!" I grit, grabbing at his elbow. I look up at Andrew over his shoulder. "I'm really sorry, I'll clean this up, but please don't fire me. I need this job."

"No you don't!" Draco splutters, wheeling back round to face me. "Harri, you're loaded. What is wrong with you?"

"Harri?" Andrew frowns, looking from me to Draco and then down at Draco's jacket which is still draped around my shoulders. He glares at me in realisation. "What have I told you about bringing boyfriends here?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" I say, ripping off the jacket and thrusting it angrily against Draco's chest, glaring up at him.

How dare he just show up like this! And what the fuck is he doing in a Muggle lap dancing club anyway?

Draco grabs my wrist, refusing to take the jacket back. "Harri, I've been looking for you for nearly two years now. How the hell have you ended up here?"

"Right, both of you out before I call security." Andrew warns.

"There'll be no need," Draco says, snapping my wrist down but not letting me go. "We'll gladly get out of here, won't we, darling?"

And then he proceeds to drag me though the club.

"Draco, stop!" I gasp, trying and failing to free myself from his strong grip. "I need my clothes!"

"I'll buy you new clothes."

And he forces me out of the club like some kind of possessive husband.

"How could you?!" I scream at him as we stand out on the street, people giving us strange looks.

"What do you mean how could I?!" Draco seethes, rewrapping his jacket around me. "How could you just disappear from our lives like that?! It's been two years! And then I find out you're working as a prostitute in the Muggle world!"

"I'm not a prostitute, I'm a dancer!"

"The two thousand pounds I just paid for you to give me a lap dance says otherwise."

"Well then you are an idiot!"

"Why? Why this? You have money, Harri. Fuck - you have a whole inheritance."

"Not in the Muggle world, I don't!"

"You're a witch, Harri. You don't belong in this world."

"No, I'm not. Magic destroyed me and everyone I love. I don't want to be a part of it anymore, and I don't want all that blood money."

"It's not blood money, your parents left it to you. And Sirius did too. It's all just sitting there while you're out here stripping for dirty old perverts."

I turn away from him, looking up and down the street for a taxi. I have no idea how I will pay for it as I have left my purse, along with my keys in the club.

I see one approaching and wave my arm out in attempt to hail it down.

"Harri, what the fuck are you doing? Where is your wand?"

"I don't have a wand."

"You mean to tell me that you don't even do magic?"

"No. I'm back to being a Muggle."

"You're not a Muggle!"

"YES I AM!"

I breathe heavily, my voice ringing around us.

"Harri, listen to me." Draco implores, grabbing my arms and making me face him. "You are a witch and you belong in the wizarding world. Your life ambition is to become an Auror and to put shits like me in their place. Come home, Harri, come home and do all those things because you know that's what you are destined for."

I shake my head, wanting to cry. "You don't understand, I can't."

"Why?"

The taxi crawls to a stop next to us. I wrench myself out of Draco's clutches and open the door, quickly sliding in. Draco follows, clearly with no intention of letting me go.

"Where to, love?" The taxi driver grunts.

I give him my address and, completely unperturbed at having a half naked woman in the back of his cab, the taxi driver nods.

"I have a wand." Draco hisses in my ear. "I could have Apparated us."

"Well why don't you Apparate yourself back home, then?" I hiss back.

If he comes back with me, he will learn the truth and I don't think I can bear the truth to ever come out. It's why I ran away in the first place.

"I just spent two years trying to find you, Potter. And I don't intend to let you go again."

As I look up into his silver eyes, I find the anger suddenly leaves me, realising how I missed him so much. His scent, his everything is so familiar and comforting.

"Why did you hide?" he murmurs, his eyes searching my face. "You won the war. You survived. Why runaway?"

"Because I couldn't face anyone anymore," I whisper, the knot in my chest so incredibly painful as the dead all flash in my mind.

Hurt flickers over his face. "Even me?"

"You left during the battle!" I point out. "You ran away with your parents."

"I thought you had died! I didn't want to fight anymore. What was the point when you were- you were-" he breaks off, his voice cracking.

"I wasn't dead though, was I?" I say. "Your mother knew I wasn't - she helped me that day. Without her, I would have never defeated Voldemort."

Draco winces.

"And where were you then?" I ask, still hurt by his silence post battle. "When you found out I was still alive? Where were you, Draco?"

He looks ashamed, and glances away.

"I went to Fred's funeral," he says, staring out of the window. "I saw you there. I wanted to go to you, to comfort you. But I was afraid of showing my face. I was afraid you would blame me for him being dead."

I glance up at him, surprised. "You were at the funeral? Draco, you should have said something. You should have come to me."

"I wanted to, so badly. But you were so sad. You looked-" he swallows, his throat bobbing, "you looked broken. I didn't want to upset you any further."

I glance down at my lap, my heart racing uneasily, recalling how the very next day I ran away, so ashamed at myself at what I'd done.

Without another word, Draco reaches out and takes my bloodied hand, carefully unfurling my fingers. "I can fix this," he says frowning down at the cut. "It doesn't look too deep."

His eyes flick up to meet mine, and we share a look that contains so much feeling that for a moment I cannot breathe.

"I've missed you," I whisper, my voice trembling.

And then Draco pulls me to him, enveloping me in a hug, holding me in a way which is so familiar and so wonderful. I have to try so hard not to cry from the overpowering and overwhelming emotion it evokes in me.

Seeing him out of the blue like this is so incredibly hard. It brings back everything I'd run away from. Even his scent transports me back to a time I just want to forget: a time of great loss and sadness.

I cling to him, my fingers bunching his shirt. The strength in which he holds me makes me feel as though he never intends to let me go, his muscles tense and ready to fight if I ever try to leave.

But then the taxi eventually turns into my street and rolls to a stop. Draco only lets me go then to reach for his wallet and pay the driver the extortionate fare.

"I guess you'll want to come in?" I ask as we stand at the front door to the block of flats where I live.

"Do you even have your keys?" Draco asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't need them," I say, pressing the buzzer.

"Hello?" crackles a woman's voice after a few seconds.

"It's me," I say into the intercom, "Sorry, I left my keys at the club."

There is a loud buzz and I push open the door. Draco gives me a quizzical look.

"Flatmate?" he asks.

I shake my head. "Just a friend. One of the girls at the club, actually. It's her night off."

"And she spends it at yours when you're at work, why?"

I sigh. He'll see soon enough.

With the lift broken, we take the stairs, climbing the three flights to my floor in silence. By the time we reach my flat, the front door is already open ajar.

"You're back early!" Gina calls out as we enter the cramped hallway where she is already putting on her coat. She looks up, her smile freezing on her face.

"Scarlett, why are you still in your uniform?" She flicks her gaze up at my white-blond haired companion. "And who is this?" The way her eyes light up, she is clearly impressed. "I didn't think we were allowed to bring the clients home?"

"Andrew sacked me," I mutter, "and this here is an old school friend. Draco, Gina. Gina, Draco."

Gina eagerly steps forward to shake Draco's hand. She beams up at him widely.

"How is she?" I ask before Gina can ask for his cock size.

"Oh," Gina says distractedly, not taking her eyes off Draco. "Fine, never any trouble, as always."

Draco's eyebrows knit and I can see him trying to work it out.

"I'm afraid I left my purse at the club on account of being unceremoniously fired," I explain. "But I'll give you a tenner as soon as I've picked it up."

"Don't be daft," Gina says, finally tearing her eyes away from Draco to look at me. "What did that prick sack you for, anyway?"

"I dropped Draco's whiskey," I explain. "It was a shock, you see, to find out that an old school friend had ordered me for a lap dance."

Gina glances back at Draco now, looking decidedly unimpressed.

"I was never going to make her do it!" Draco splutters. "I was saving her, you see. Hence why she is wearing my jacket."

"Ah," Gina says, smiling again. "And I guess that didn't go down too well with poor old Andy Pandy? Trouble is, I hope you realise that Scarlett is now in the shit because of you? Rent is hell around here and nothing pays quite as well as that gig. Girls are literally queuing up to get a spot there."

"She doesn't need that job." Draco snarls, his lip curling in distaste. "And she certainly doesn't need a boss like that."

Gina rolls her eyes, having heard this type of shit far too many times before.

"Whatever," she mutters. "Scarlett, I'll try and sweet talk Andy Pandy round for you. He may just be having a bad night."

She blows me a kiss before slipping out the door.

Draco turns to look at me. "Care to explain what is going on here?"

I sigh, leading him further into my flat and beckoning him to follow me into the one and only bedroom.

As soon as we enter, I slip quietly across to the small wooden crib on the other side of my bed.

Draco joins me, his voice shaking as he peers down at the sleeping red haired child inside.

"You have a- you have a-?"

"Her name is Lily Freda," I whisper, staring down at my daughter with such a feeling of intense love.

"Shit, Harri," Draco murmurs hoarsely. "I had no idea that you were pregnant during the battle."

I freeze, my heart beating uneasily. "I wasn't."

"But-" Draco looks up at me. "She looks just like him - like Fred. And her name-"

"I know," I breathe, suddenly feeling dizzy with grief and shame.

"Harri," Draco says slowly, "tell me, who is the father?"

"She turned one year old last month," I say, desperately wanting to avoid having to tell him myself.

Draco continues to frown, doing the maths in his head. I wait for him to get there.

"So, she would have been conceived two months after the battle?"

I nod, my breathing quite tight.

Draco looks back down at Lily, the Adam's Apple bobbing in his throat as he finally works it out.

"Harri," he murmurs quietly, "Is that why you left?"

I nod again, this time tears join in the party and my face is wet.

I disappeared not because I was too sad with grief to face anyone - I disappeared because on the night of my fiance's funeral, I slept with his twin brother.

*****