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The Office	By : Samaelthekind Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 8417 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
The Office Part 8...by Samayel
Three years. With Draco Malfoy. That's how long they'd been turning the Wizarding world upside down. Three years had passed in the twinkling of an eye, and Harry looked back at them without regret. His life hadn't turned out anything like he'd imagined it would...but for Harry that was surprisingly normal. An 11 year old orphan thrust suddenly from unwanted adopted nephew to magical student and inheritor of a terrible legacy. A young man finding himself a father of two and husband after defeating a terrible evil that had dogged his heels all through school. An Auror with no great enemies left to fight after spending his life fighting just to stay alive. A divorcee with a job he'd come to hate and children he missed. And it all came to here and now...a man living with another man...once his boyhood rival...now oddly his best friend and companion.
Jamie, now sixteen and almost Harry's own height, popped through the door of the manor's antechamber and found his father staring into a mirror, lost in thought.
“Dad! C'mon! You're supposed to be ready by now! Draco'd lose his mind if he saw your tie looking like that at this hour! Lemme help.”
Harry turned and let his son, who was surprisingly good with the complex knots called for with formal ties, get the thing sorted out properly. He'd already fiddled with it himself for some twenty minutes before he'd got lost in thought.
Lost in thought. That might have described his last decade! So much had passed in what felt like so short a time. Here he was a man in his thirties, bespectacled, fit despite the years, respected around the globe for his youthful heroism, but largely quiet in his personal life...and for all the distance he'd come...he still felt like an awkward kid thrust into a role he wasn't prepared for and making it up as he went along. Was that all life was? Was that the secret? Just doing as well as one could whether your plans worked out or not, no matter which way the winds of fate blew you?
Jamie tucked the tie into Harry's vest carefully, patting smooth after securing the knot just right. “Much better. You look sharp, Da! Don't let anyone fuss at you over it! I think you finally look like the kind of wizard who might just have saved the world...instead of just looking like my dad. I'm proud of you!”
Harry smiled. “That's my boy. To the rescue, when I needed it most. Thanks. You make your old man proud. You look pretty sharp in those formals yourself, kiddo.”
Jamie headed for the door. “Right-o, dad! Your welcome. Just be ready when they start the music.” And then he was gone and the door to the hall was closed.
The other double doors looked out onto the Malfoy gardens, dense with tailored foliage. Harry shuddered at the thought of all the cameras that would probably waiting to click out there. All this time and he'd never gotten over his intense dislike for media scrutiny. Presumably, people like Rita Skeeter could be blamed for that, but the past was the past. The world he looked out at now had gradually changed in ways he hadn't expected. In a way, he was a part of another tide and struggle that was changing the world, standing in the middle of a changing way of looking at life and people's places in it. And like usual, it wasn't something he'd planned or expected...it was just something that happened...and that he wasn't sorry about...not even a little.
There had been improvements in his life's lot...and almost all of them trailed their origins back to Draco. That chance encounter in a pub, singing songs off key and complaining about life's little cruelties, had touched off a chain of events that had altered everything that came after. Harry no longer worked for the Ministry. As a part of the Wizarding world's most famous (or infamous) 'gay power couple' he had no need to eke out a living on an Auror's salary. He was backed up by Draco's massive fortune...and able to take a break while he figured out what to do with his life...and he'd quickly found what he really wanted to do.
He spent his days working for various charities both in and outside the Wizarding world. He used his name to get attention for causes that were worth it, and he had the staffing to investigate charities before lending them his name and fame for their cause. Those that swindled and deceived their way to donations without helping their supposed cause found that Harry was just as willing to use his influence to destroy them and help get funding shifted to better agencies. The foundation that Draco had formed for him made it possible to live on a small stipend from the massive donations, issuing grants to various agencies with the rest. It had been Draco's idea...and while Harry hated media and publicity...there was a certain sense to using his name to help other people. He'd done it sparsely before, carefully choosing causes he liked and supported, but now it had expanded into a career in philanthropy. He'd even gotten a bit better at public speaking.
Draco had promptly joined him in the enterprise...and it was hard for people to find fault with either of them, when they clearly appeared to care principally about doing things that made a difference in people's lives, not for gain, but just to see to it that it was done. Direct grants from the Potter Foundation included spokesmanship by Harry and Draco...although Harry was clearly favored by the press...and that kind of publicity was almost worth more than the Galleons or Euros.
The office. Those words meant something entirely different now. Now they had offices in Malfoy Manor, with huge and ancient desks and comfortable surroundings with properly compensated hired house elves to see to their comforts. Harry didn't like paperwork...or long meetings...but he'd carefully picked a staff that would translate legal documents into legible forms and do the investigative work he needed to be sure of proper candidates. It was a good cause. He felt good about it. He woke up knowing that he'd made a difference and that it mattered.
It had also been three years since either he or Draco had had more than two alcoholic beverages in a single session. A glass of wine with dinner, a champagne toast here or there, a cold beer on a warm day or with close friends. That was the limit...and it was hard to want to drink when life seemed rich and full. His friends were constantly coming and going, regulars against all odds at the Manor that had once housed a family greatly feared by wizards everywhere. Now it was the social center of the Wizarding world, a hub of activity and friendship.
Harry heard the orchestra strike up a tune. It was time to leave this last gasp of quiet behind and face the next step in a strange life. He had no real doubts, no regrets, and no fears. Outside family and friends waited to celebrate alongside him. He was doing precisely what he wanted to...without compromise or uncertainty. He had the support and well wishes of many backing him up, and it wasn't such a great leap to make when you thought about it. Three years of proven happiness, even with the tiny bumps along the road and the occasional bruised feelings. It meant something.
There was no more time to woolgather. Harry opened the double doors and stepped out into the flash of cameras. It wasn't the first time his private and public life had crashed together...and it probably wouldn't be the last.
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

Draco had been ready for half an hour. No...scratch that...probably closer to an hour. All he could do was pace and try to comfort himself with the knowledge that spells were keeping him tidy and properly groomed whether he sweated from nervousness or not. The formal robes and tie stifled, but he was actually used to them far more so than others. His life had been one of formalities and inconveniences that came with social standing.
So many ups and downs. His life had risen and fallen so many times that it was hard for him to experience more than marginal confidence about the future. He been born to wealth and comfort and privilege...only to see it all slide away and then return to him. He'd adored his daughter despite the circumstances of her birth, and watched her shepherded away from him, only to return and light up his life. He'd gone from a life of leisure, to a life of labor that he hated, only to find a purpose and relevance to his life that made his current work seem like a walk in the park.
And then there was Harry. Worst enemy of childhood, best friend of adulthood, closest confidante, dearest lover and partner in all things even up to and including parenthood. Even if he couldn't be sure that it might all fall away tomorrow...Draco was happy with where each day had brought him so far. These past few years had been, without reservation, the best of his life so far.
Cissy peeked her head through the side door of the antechamber and saw her father pacing. The coltish young woman smirked impudently, a perfect echo of her father, and teased him ever so slightly. “Daddy...pacing will only make you sweaty and flushed. Even spells can't hide that forever. Stand still and be a proper gentleman...just for a few more minutes. The wait is almost over. Look at yourself in the mirror...I KNOW you love to do that!”
A little proper snarkiness actually eased Draco's tension...especially when it came from his beloved daughter. Cissy had none of her mother's malice, but all of her father's knack for backhanded compliments and subtle sarcasm, usually put to use for someone's amusement or benefit. She was a natural at lightening bad moods and bringing people around to a wisely chosen course of action.
Draco took a few deep breaths and faced the mirror. “You're right, sweety. I do look pretty good. I ought to...it cost a small fortune to get everyone matching in the height of good taste for this season...but it does really flatter me to be surrounded by so many people looking their very best, doesn't it?”
Cissy lunged forward and gave her father a hug, then stepped just a foot back and made sure the creases uncreased by magic properly. “Oooo...I'm so proud of you! I feel like a princess in a fairytale dream. It's perfect...all of it! I just wanted to let you know that the band is almost ready...and tell you this: I love you, Daddy! I'm so happy for you I could just...just...Merlin...almost explode with joy!”
Draco flushed slightly with over-emotionality that he'd once thought was limited to Hufflepuffs. Cissy was his pride and joy, the one person besides Harry that he adored beyond reason or limit. That she could be here this day, for him, was all he could have hoped for and then some. “Now, now, love. Calm...calm...don't get me started, too! Giddiness looks perfectly appalling on Malfoys!”
He'd meant to say more, but just then Lily Potter poked her head in the door and whispered “Sorry...Cissy...we have to be in position. Hurry!!”
Draco smiled and kissed his daughter on the head and cheek. “Go on, sweety. I'll be along as soon as the music kicks off. Thank you...very much in fact. I love you. Now get in position and try to look as magnificent as I know you can.”
The girls were off with a few giggles and waves goodbye, and Draco was alone in the antechamber off the gardens again. So little time left...he could spend the last of it staring into the mirror and ruminating about the past. Better than pacing. It had all worked out in the end. Harry Potter, of all people, had made him happy, content, relevant and nearly confident. It defied reason to some, but Draco understood it.
They were two of a kind, from a special time and place, and they understood one another in ways that made them work oddly well together. They'd had experiences, in war and in peace, that had made them who they were today...and they each grasped how those events had changed them and molded them. It was sealed when they'd finally taken up a true relationship...complete with the kind of intimacy that only came from a relationship between equals. Harry might not have been gay, as some saw the word and its meaning, but he was honest with himself and able to thoroughly enjoy intimacy with another man. Draco...well...he might have been married and a father and divorced as well...but he knew himself well and knew that he would never have chosen another woman as his partner...his preferences were simply stronger in the male direction than Harry's, but that hadn't changed the dynamics of their relationship at all.
Harry was still his rock, his center, his calm and competent partner that soothed away his stresses and worries, while Draco was Harry's verve and adventurism, making the idle thought into reality and making the impossible seem achievable. They simply worked, in a way that others slowly began to see as well, and in due time the press had gotten over the shock and simply trailed them about like royals, making them the center of public speculation at every turn. It was Draco that had seen a way to turn it to good purpose, making the press work for them, and incidentally getting good things done in the process. It had made all the difference in the world, with the Wizarding populace suddenly devouring news of them and finding a place in their hearts for good causes along the way. It might have seemed at odds with his Slytherin heritage, but the perfect culmination of events that all worked out to his advantage made it a comfortable arrangement...and in truth, when Draco attended the events and spoke for causes and saw the good work that people were doing, his compliments to them were quite genuine, and he had to admit that making a difference for people in so many seemingly small ways did make him happy. His father might only have seen the advantage of improved social standing, but Draco liked knowing that he'd altered the course of events for the better.
The music started up. It was time to go. He loved to be the center of attention, or at least half of it now that he had Harry alongside him...and there would be more than enough attention to go around today. Draco turned away from the mirror and opened the double doors to the garden, stepping out in perfect style.

_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

It had started in a pub. It had floundered in a kitchen and living room, come alive in museums and restaurants, dipped and crashed at a social event and in the offices of the Ministry, then fluttered back to life again stronger than before. It was cemented when they found themselves able to be close to another as adults, not afraid of roles or definitions that were meaningless, and it flourished brightest and most beautifully when they helped each other to achieve goals that meant more than drudgery and survival. They'd made memories of helping others and changing lives, sharing their lives with friends and family that grew as their lives inexorably intertwined.
Strangest of all, it was the children that had pushed things the last step further. They were the product of another time, with different rules and expectations. Jamie, Lily and Cissy had all sprung the question for them, at different times and in different places...wondering why their fathers weren't married when they ought to be. To them it seemed a normal enough question...just a matter of two grown people whose relationship deserved to be marked as proper and permanent. To their parents it was a different matter...unnerving and almost alien to consider. Times had changed. What 'just wasn't done' in their day was now done all the time, around the world, by consenting adults in love. When they spoke of it together, they'd had their doubts about what was appropriate or not...but when your own children conspire against you (or rather, for you) to imply that a wedding was the only way to show that you were serious about the other person in your life...what could you do?
In the end, Draco had been the formal one and proposed, with rings in hand for each of them, and simply asked Harry to marry him. Harry, having known it was coming from their discussions over the children's inquiries, had already long since thought it all out, looked at his life and where he expected it to go...and said yes with a smile. And thought brought them to here...in the Malfoy gardens, each marching in perfect time through a throng of hundreds until they reached the altar with their oddly appropriate mixture of groomsmen and maids. In front of the clicking and flashing cameras and hosts of relatives and friends and colleagues...they tied the knot once and for all. Part and parcel of a world that offered different possibilities than the one they'd been raised in.
It wasn't ending here, just as it hadn't ended during the other momentous events of their lives...it was only another beginning, but it had a firm foundation that suggested lasting togetherness and enduring affection. Where it would finally lead no one could say with certainty, but Harry and Draco began a new chapter in their lives in a fitting way, blazing the trail that others would follow, opening doors that had once been closed and opening minds and hearts in the process. All in all, not a bad legacy to share with an ever changing world, no?
FIN
- 7
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The Office