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Contract Under Love	By : CelticKitsune Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 32702 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 9
Disclaimer: I do not own, or make any money from Harry Potter or anything related to it.

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Contract Under Love
Chapter 7

The first week back at school was turning out to be nothing like Harry had expected, though, in truth, he hadn’t known exactly what to expect, only assuming it would be different than his previous years at Hogwarts. However, after a week of attending classes, eating lunch, and returning to his rooms, everything was almost exactly the same as it has always been. The only difference was that he was not sleeping in Gryffindor tower any more, but with how normal everything else had been, Harry decided that it wasn’t really that big of a change.

“A normal school year is a pretty big change for us though,” Ron pointed out when Harry had voiced his surprise to his friend on their way to breakfast one morning.

“Yeah, but that’s the ONLY thing that’s changed,” Harry said. “And as far as I can tell, it’s just us. I haven’t seen Hermione around nearly all week, nor any of the others that are here for Eighth year,” Harry said with a frown.

Ron nodded his agreement. “Hermione’s been pretty busy. She has her apprenticeship at the ministry, so she has to floo over there from McGonagall's office pretty early in the morning, so she can be back here in time to do her own classes with the others. Apparently because there’s so few of us, everyone is doing their apprenticeship time in the morning, and then they all have pretty much the same classes later in the day, so it’s not being split up by houses any more.”

Harry ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “How am I supposed to talk to Hermione, get her research on other jobs available, if she isn’t even around all day for me to talk to?” Harry asked.

“You could ask Malfoy, I’m sure he would know just as much about it as Hermione does,” Ron said, trying to be of some help to his best friend.

“I can’t even do that! You would think that sharing a room with him, I’d see him more than anyone else! But no, I haven’t seen him all week! He’s gone when I wake up, and I’ve already gone to bed by the time he comes back. I’ve started to think that he’s just keeping his things in the room, and… I don’t know, maybe sharing a room with Blaise instead!” Harry said irritably. He knew he was far more upset about not seeing Draco than he should be.

“I thought that would have been a good thing,” Ron said. “I mean, I know the situation you two are in, but that doesn’t mean you have to share a room, or actually spend all that much time together… does it?”

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself slightly. “Normally, I would have been thrilled at not having to see him, after finding out we had to share a room. But it’s just the opposite,” Harry said, not sure if he could put what he was feeling about the situation into words just yet.

Ron just nodded his head, as if he understood what Harry was going through. “You could talk to McGonagall about it, I mean, she's the one who does those kinds of meetings anyway,” Ron reminded him.

“I might have to do that,” Harry sighed, “if I don't see either Draco or Hermione this weekend,” he decided. “You know what, you go on ahead, I’m not all that hungry this morning to be honest, I’ll see you in class,” Harry turned heading outside instead of into the Great Hall. He decided that he would give it another week, if he couldn’t catch Draco or Hermione by next weekend, he would go and talk to McGonagall then.

--------x

Harry stood in the hallway, scowling at the door to McGonagall’s office. His Head of House wasn’t there at the moment, so Harry resigned himself for more waiting, though honestly after two weeks he was tired of waiting for everything. Two weeks since school had started, and Harry had only managed to catch a quick glimpse of Draco in passing, however, the blond teen had been hurrying off so quickly that Harry hadn’t been able to catch him; that had been two days ago.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Harry leaned against the wall next to the door. He knew he would have a better chance of catching McGonagall in her office if he left and just came back later, after classes were done for the day. But Harry wanted to get this done, he wanted to find out what other options of a career he had, and with Draco never around, and Hermione just as busy, his other two sources of information were gone.

“You would make a wonderful wall mount.” Narrowing his eyes, Harry looked up at the owner of the voice he was beginning to dislike as much as he used to hate Draco.

“What do you want now, Zabini,” Harry said, hoping that Blaise would get the hint that he wasn't in the mood at the moment to deal with him.

“Just passing by, Potter,” Blaise said with a small smirk.

“Then by all means, don't let me keep you from continuing to pass by,” Harry said, turning his attention away from the Italian.

“See now I am starting to get the impression that you don't like me,” Blaise said, moving to lean against the opposite wall from Harry. “Care to enlighten me as to what I did to be on the receiving end of Harry Potter’s famous temper?”

“I didn’t like you to begin with,” Harry pointed out, looking away as Blaise raised an eyebrow at him.

“Now I’m really curious, I am fairly sure that I haven’t done anything wrong,” Blaise said, looking more curious as Harry shot him another glare before looking away again. “Not going to give me a hint?”

“Just go away, and leave me alone already, I’m not in the mood to deal with you,” Harry said, refusing to look back at the tan boy.

“I see,” Blaise said, though it was painfully clear that he still didn’t understand. He remained leaning against the wall, continuing to watch Harry. He could see the smaller teen’s shoulders tensing the longer he watched.

“What!” Harry finally snapped, turning to glare at Blaise.

“I’m trying to recall if I have actually done something to you, that would cause you to dislike me as much as you apparently do,” Blaise said with a shrug.

“You’re annoying, and you talk too much!” Harry said.

“Qualities that could be used to describe Draco, more than myself,” Blaise pointed out, smirking at the look of irritation on Harry’s face.

“Well that’s something that I wouldn’t know, seeing as how I haven’t seen Draco in two weeks,” Harry said with a huff, looking away from Blaise.

“That’s because he’s been busy with school and his apprenticeship,” Blaise pointed out.

“Yeah, I know, he’s been so busy that, despite the fact that we’re sharing a room, I STILL haven’t seen him in two weeks!” Harry said, obviously really irritated about the fact that he hadn’t seen Draco at all.

“Okay…” Blaise said slowly. “Any reason in particular that you want to see him so badly? You could just go see him in the hospital wing,” Blaise suggested.

“He’s working, and I would be in the way. Besides, what I wanted to talk to him about is going to take more than a five minute conversation,” Harry said, glancing back at Blaise. “Why am I still talking to you? Weren’t you just ‘passing by’ before?”

“I was, but clearly you need someone to talk to, anything I can do to help? Or is this something only Draco can help you with?” Blaise asked.

Harry frowned, eyeing the other boy for a moment, trying to decide if he should continue talking with Blaise or not. Harry did find him to be more than a little annoying, and he certainly didn’t like him. But today, Blaise seemed to be a little more tolerable than usual. “I don’t want to be an Auror,” Harry said simply.

“Okay, so what do you want to be?” Blaise asked.

“That’s the problem, I don’t know what else there is, I don’t even know where to start looking at other career choices,” Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I wanted to ask Draco about it, or Hermione, but I haven’t seen ANYONE in two weeks. Everyone is so busy with their own apprenticeship, so I was hoping to talk to McGonagall, but even she’s too busy,” Harry said in frustration.

“Well, I have some free time,” Blaise said, earning a curious look from Harry. “I could help you, I’m sure there’s something else you would be good at, other than catching the bad guys. Though admittedly, you are really good at that,” Blaise said with a small smirk.

“I’ve had more than enough of chasing dark wizards, I would really like to do something else with my life,” Harry said, pushing off the wall.

“Any ideas about what you want to do?” Blaise questioned.

“I don’t really know, I want to do something that would help people, protect them,” Harry admitted softly.

“Of course you do,” Blaise said rolling his eyes.

“Don’t start, Zabini, I don’t need your help if you’re going to act like an arse,” Harry snapped.

Blaise held his hands up in defence. “Easy Potter, just a little teasing,” he said, still smirking even as Harry continued glaring at him. “Honestly, you really need to lighten up a little. Every time I’ve seen you in the past couple months, you’re always angry about something,” Blaise said.

“I am not!” Harry argued.

“You really are though, life can’t really be all that bad,” Blaise said.

“Oh really?” Harry raised an eyebrow at him. “If you think so, why don’t we switch, you can be me and see how happy you are with people constantly running your life for you,” Harry said.

“Quit your whining, Potter, you’re not the only one who’s had a rough life,” Blaise said, his smirk fading. “The world doesn’t revolve around you and your problems.”

“I never said it did,” Harry said, frowning now.

“Then stop acting like it,” Blaise huffed. “Now, do you want my help or not?” he asked.

Harry narrowed his eyes at Blaise. The other boy was beyond annoying and Harry really didn’t want to spend any time with him.

“Though you’re probably going to have to talk to Dumbledore, or one of the School governors, so they can set up an apprenticeship for you,” Blaise said, watching Harry closely, as the smaller teen frowned, looking like he was putting some serious thought into it.

“I suppose if I can just talk to a school governor, one that isn't Malfoy, that could be alright,” Harry said, looking back up at Blaise.

“Still not happy with the Headmaster?” Blaise questioned.

“Not really, and I am not having this conversation with you again, Zabini,” Harry snapped, giving Blaise a warning glare.

“I’m just saying, he’s not as wonderful as you seem to think he is,” Blaise said. “If you would just admit that he has failed you, then you could get properly angry at him, and I am sure that would make you feel much better,” he added, continuing to watch Harry, as he went from slightly irritated, to full on angry.

“You know what, forget it, I don't need your help after all!” Harry said, turning to walk away, but Blaise grabbed his arm stopping him, only to have Harry turn and punch him in the face.

“Leave me alone!” Harry yelled, pulling his arm free and running off in the direction of the hospital wing, knowing that Draco would most likely be there, and even if the blond teen was busy, Harry was hoping he would at least be allowed to sit in there and spend some time with his fiancé.

---------------x

Draco was busy sorting out the potions in the supply cupboard, making notes of what they had in stock, and what potions would need to be made to restock their supplies. He was only halfway done when Pomfrey came over to him.

“You have a visitor, Mr. Malfoy,” she said. Draco blinked at her.

“Who is it?” he asked, even as he set his parchment down, turning toward the door to head out into the main room.

“Mr. Potter,” Pomfrey said, smiling as Draco quickened his pace, hurrying out to see Harry standing by the door leading out of the hospital wing.

“Harry? What's wrong?” Draco asked once he was standing in front of the other boy. “It's only been two weeks since school started, you couldn’t have gotten hurt already, that would be impressive, even for you,” Draco said with a small smirk.

Harry rolled his eyes at the blond. “Nothing's wrong, I just had to talk to you, and since waiting in our rooms for you doesn't appear to be an option, I decided to come here instead,” Harry explained.

“What do you mean waiting in our rooms isn’t an option?” Draco frowned. “I would have been back after dinner tonight,” Draco said.

“Yeah, like you’ve been back every night in the past two weeks,” Harry huffed in annoyance.

“I have been in our rooms every day except for one last week when I fell asleep in the Slytherin common room,” Draco said, unsure about why Harry was so upset.

“Draco, I have see you only in passing since school started. The last conversation we had was two weeks ago,” Harry explained, doing his best not to show how upset he actually was about that.

“I saw you this morning,” Draco said, “we talked,”

“You said good morning to me while you were running out the door, that may count as a conversation to you, but for me I would really like to sit and talk with you,” Harry pointed out with a long sigh. “I know you're probably busy right now, but if you could, try to spare more than a few seconds for me at some point?” Harry requested.

“I don't think you realise how busy I am, and why I have to work so hard at this apprenticeship,” Draco sighed.

“I do understand,” Harry said. “I get that you are being made to jump through hoops left and right, because people don't trust you,” Harry said, smiling a little when he saw the look of surprise on Draco’s face. “I just really want a little of your time so you can help me decided what to do, because I don’t really want to be an Auror.”

“You want my help with this?” Draco asked, “and since when do you not want to be an Auror?” Draco knew he shouldn’t be all that surprised by this, it was just another thing to add to the list of how much Harry Potter had changed.

“I don’t know.” Harry shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, since I killed Voldemort, and decided that I was done fighting,” Harry said. “And I never really put much thought into what other jobs there were available out there.”

“Okay, but why come to me? You could talk to your Head of House about this just as easily,” Draco said, though he wasn’t angry that Harry had come to him, he just found it a little strange that the smaller teen hadn’t tried other easier options.

“I was going to do that, I was waiting outside her office for her, then Blaise showed up and offered to help but...me and Blaise get along about as well as you and I used to,” Harry said with a small grin.

“I really doubt that, no one could be as bad as we were,” Draco chuckled. “So I’m guessing Blaise irritated you, so you came here to find me instead,” Draco said, and Harry nodded his head in confirmation.

“Something like that, but I’m not here to talk about my dislike for Blaise and his opinions,” Harry said.

“Right, you want to know what other career options you have,” Draco said, glancing over his shoulder to see Pomfrey standing not to far away. Letting out a small sigh he turned his attention back toward Harry. “If you can wait until after dinner tonight, I will be back in our rooms early, and we will be able to talk then,” Draco said.

Harry nodded slowly, though didn’t seem to happy about the fact that he had to wait longer. “Thank you, maybe now I can stop worrying about it so much,” Harry said, giving Draco a small smile. “I… will let you get back to work now,” he turned to leave the hospital wing, but Draco reached out and stopped him. Harry looked back at the blond boy curiously, raising an eyebrow when the blond didn’t say anything.

“I really don’t know how much more busy I’m going to get, as the school year progresses,” Draco said.

“I know, I honestly wasn’t expecting you to be able to talk to me today, but I’m glad I got to say more than a quick hello,” Harry said, fighting off the light blush that was coloring his cheeks. Draco smiled and nodded his agreement.

“I will see you after dinner then,” Draco said, smiling at Harry, who turned quickly, pulling his arm free from Draco’s grasp and left the hospital wing. Draco watched his fiancé until the door had closed behind him.

-----------------x

Harry sat on the floor in front of the coffee table, his school books spread out in front of him, and a slice of half eaten treacle tart sat to one side as Harry had his head resting on his arms and his eyes closed, though he wasn’t sleeping just yet. If he had been left undisturbed for a few more moments he might have been, but Draco chose that moment to return to their rooms.

Cracking open an eye, Harry watched as the blond teen paused in the doorway before letting out a small sigh.

“Welcome back,” Harry greeted, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

“Nice to know that your eating and sleeping habits are consistent,” Draco said, removing his robes and draping them over the back of the settee.

“No idea what you’re talking about,” Harry said with a cheeky grin, turning around so he could face Draco.

“Treacle tart is not dinner,” Draco said, frowning when Harry just shrugged his shoulders.

“It still counts as food though,” Harry said, turning slightly to grab the slice off the table and finish it.

“I think the only way to make sure you eat properly, is sit and watch you eat,” Draco sighed.

“Don’t know how you’ll manage that, since you're really busy,” Harry shot back, and Draco’s frown deepened, as Harry sounded bitter about the fact that Draco was so busy, and wouldn’t always have time to make sure Harry ate properly.

“I’m sure that I might be able to arrange something.” Draco said, watching Harry closely, smirking a bit at the hopeful look Harry gave him.

“If you’re sure that won't be a problem,” Harry said.

“If it was going to be a problem, I wouldn't have suggested it in the first place,” Draco pointed out, earning a small smile from Harry. “Now, you mentioned earlier that you didn't want to be an Auror anymore, any idea what you do want to do?” Draco asked.

Harry shifted to make himself more comfortable, keeping his eyes on Draco. “I really have no idea, I never put much thought into other careers, after I learned about Auror’s and what they did,” Harry admitted.

“I take it you never even put much research into that career choice either,” Draco said.

“I was young and stupid, and quite honestly, the more that Umbridge insisted that I couldn’t be an Auror, the more I wanted to be one.” Harry shrugged.

“Yes, if I recall, you did dislike her quite a bit.” Draco chuckled when Harry glared at him. “I don’t blame you, of course, she was definitely one of the worst teachers we ever had.”

“This coming from the boy who was part of her inquisitorial Squad.”

“I took advantage of a situation, and ensured myself an easy passing grade for that year,” Draco pointed out. “Believe it or not, my targeting you was nothing personal, that year at least. There were far more important things going on,” Draco said.

Harry let out a small sigh. “I know, but you didn’t make things any easier for me that year, you’re just lucky you never had to sit through one of that toad’s detentions,” Harry said, his hand clenching into a fist.

“I heard they were awful, though I never did find out exactly what she did during detentions. I was too busy making sure that me and my friends remained on her good side, and never got detention with her,” Draco said.

“Yeah, awful, that’s one word for it.” Harry said bitterly. “Anyway,” Harry added, seeing the curiosity on Draco’s face and wanting to get away from the topic of what Umbridge’s detentions were like before his fiancé could ask any difficult questions. “As I said, she kept telling me that I wasn’t good enough to be an Auror, and I was determined to prove her wrong. But, I don’t have anything left to prove any more, least of all to her,” Harry said with a small shrug.

“I am not sure I understand why you cared what she thought at all,” Draco told him with a frown.

“I really don’t want to talk about that woman, Draco,” Harry insisted, and while Draco didn’t look pleased he didn’t push the issue. “It isn’t going to do anything to help me work out what I do actually want to do with the rest of my life.”

“I suppose not,” Draco agreed. He was still very curious, but he let the subject drop because there really were more important things to be talking about at the moment. “So we have established that you do not want to be an Auror,” Draco said, leaning back in his seat so he could study Harry for a moment, trying to decide what other job Harry might be suited for.

“I think the first question I should ask is, do you want a job in the Ministry? Or are you thinking of something that could be more independent?”

“I… haven’t really thought of any of this,” Harry sighed, leaning back on his hands, he tilted his head to the ceiling, as if he might find the answer he wanted written up there. “Let’s start with a job in the Ministry,” Harry said, looking back at Draco. “What are my options there?”

“There are lots of options, Harry,” Draco said, trying not to sound frustrated, reminding himself that Harry had grown up with muggles, his knowledge about the Ministry of Magic would be limited. The only reason Draco knew as much as he did, was because his father had made sure he knew as much about the Ministry as it was possible to know.

“First off there is the Department of Magical Law enforcement,” Draco pointed out. “Which has more divisions than just being an Auror,” Draco added when it looked as if Harry were going to say something. “That is where the misuse of muggle artifacts office is located.”

“Oh… I don’t think I’d like to work their either,” Harry said.

“I wasn’t suggesting it as an option, just using it as an example,” Draco smiled. “Moving on however, there is also the Department of Magical accidents, the divisions in this department are centered around fixing problems with Witches, Wizards and Muggles, involving magic.”

“So if someone splinches themselves, they wait for someone from that department to come fix them up?” Harry asked.

“Yes, and if this happens in a muggle area, than they send out a second group of people in charge of Obliviating, and altering memories of muggles who were unlucky enough to see what happened,” Draco said, chuckling at the look that crossed Harry’s face. “So that’s a no,” Draco said. “Any interest in magical creatures?” Draco asked.

“No, I’m sure whatever mild interest that I used to have, was cured by Hagrid,” Harry said, though not unkindly.

“Thought as much,” Draco said, looking thoughtful again. “That leaves, International Magical cooperation, Games and Sports, and Magical Transportation,” Draco said. “You could always just join a quidditch team. You could probably just pick your favorite team and ask to join, I doubt anyone would want to say no to Harry Potter.”

“None of that sounds quite right.” Harry sighed, shaking his head. “And I don’t want to play quidditch for a living,” Harry admitted. “What about the Department of Mysteries, you didn’t mention that one,”

“That’s because they don’t usually allow new people in, I don’t even know what it would take to be an Unspeakable,” Draco said.

“So… you didn’t mention that because it’s not actually an option,” Harry sighed, he didn’t know if that’s what he wanted to do, but as he thought back to his adventure through that department a couple years ago, he was finding that he wasn’t all that averse to the idea of going back down there.

“I didn’t say that,” Draco said. “It might be an option, but that is something you are going to have to talk to one of the school governors about.”

“That’s the easy part,” Harry chuckled. “I think the only real question is, if they would even let me back in there. I did cause quite a lot of damage during my last visit,” Harry said with a small laugh as he stood up from the floor. “If they say no, well, then I guess I’ll just have to look into doing something that’s not a ministry job.” Harry moved to the little kitchenette area, and grabbed himself another slice of treacle tart.

“You could look into working at St. Mungo’s, they have a lot of job openings,” Draco suggested, watching Harry, who came back over, sitting on the settee next to him.

“Yeah, and then people will be pretending to be sick, or injure themselves on purpose just to have the possible chance of talking to me,” Harry said, knowing he was over exaggerating, but he also got the feeling that there were some people who might go to such lengths.

“That is true, so maybe a nice boring desk job. You could be Pansy’s secretary at the Daily Prophet,” Draco said, laughing at the look of horror on Harry’s face.

“Now you’re just being ridiculous,” Harry said with a huff. The two of them fell into a comfortable silence after that. Harry had a rough idea of what he might want to pursue as a career, and if that didn’t work, he would put some thought into Draco’s suggestion of getting a desk job somewhere. Harry leaned back in his seat, tilting his head back and closing his eyes feeling more relaxed than he had in the past couple weeks.

TBC

Okay! So this chapter went a lot faster than chapter six did! :D (as in it didn’t take me nearly a year to update it!)
I am trying to move things along, while Harry and Draco develop their relationship, while at the same time trying to skip over as much of the school year as possible due to the fact that not a whole lot actually happens during Harry’s last year at Hogwarts. The real fun starts after school! :D

Anyway! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it is shorter than some of my others, but I didn’t want to many time jumps in the same chapter either. SO! Onto the next chapter! Or to whatever my plot bunnies demand I work on next!
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Contract Under Love