The Liars Department || Drarry

Chapter 10

They walked through the manor, down identical lavish hallways and past dark wood doors that all looked the same. The portraits were technically different, but all the sneering blond faces looked unsettlingly similar. Harry was pretty sure he had had nightmares like this.

"What are you planning?" Harry asked.

"Hmm?" Draco said.

"You must be planning something."

"I'm not," Draco said, "You can't plan with my father. He understands planning and scheming, he's a Slytherin to the core. Now impulsive stupidity, that almost always works." He glanced over his shoulder at Harry, putting his hand over his heart, "I just pretend I'm you."

Harry rolled his eyes, "I'm pretty sure you don't need me as an excuse, you can do impulsive and stupid all on your own."

Draco shot a glare over his shoulder and almost ran into a door, only saved by Harry grabbing the back of his jacket.

"Hey-!" Draco protested, then looked back, his nose nearly brushing the carved woodwork. He startled back with an 'eep' that Harry's was sure he would have been embarrassed about if he hadn't fallen back right into Harry's arms.

Harry had to fight to keep his balance, holding onto Draco tightly and stumbling back with him. They stood very still for a moment, both breathing a little too fast and not just from the shock.

Harry thought- well, thinking wasn't actually involved, as his hands curled into the fabric of Draco's jacket, squeezing him tighter. Draco's breathing hitched-

"Excuse me, sirs."

They jumped apart, startled all over again.

"The table is prepared," The butler house-elf had opened the doors in front of them and was staring at them, their expression completely unreadable as they gave a short bow and disappeared.

"fuck," Harry said under his breath. "Are all your house-elves bastards?"

"No," Draco said, taking a deep breath and nervously straightening his sleeves, "Not at all. Asbestos is one of a kind. That was Butler. He, as you might imagine, wants to be the perfect butler, in so far as he knows about them from those cheap muggle mystery novels he reads."

"Your butler is named Butler," Harry said.

"He picked it himself," Draco said, "All house-elves pick their own names and change them whenever they like."

"Isn't that confusing?" Harry asked.

"Not to them, and I'm entirely certain they don't care what we think on the matter," Draco said. He hesitated and then said more slowly, carefully, "Before house-eves are freed, there isn't a lot that they can change or choose for themselves, so those things that they can are very important to them. It's a bit... cultural, I suppose."

Draco and Asbestos must be better friends than Harry had thought. He had known Draco liked and respected Asbestos; otherwise, he wouldn't let her insult him. Harry had never been quite sure if she liked him back. But since she must have told Draco all this information about house-elves, she must like him, at least a bit.

"So uh... you aren't worried that 'the butler did it'?" Harry asked.

"What?" Draco asked.

"It's a cliché in those muggle mystery books, that the butler did it," Harry said.

Draco continued to stare at him blankly.

"Like in a story with a butler, usually the butler is one of the suspects for who committed the crime," Harry said, "I don't know how often the butler is actually guilty, but it must have been enough for it to become a cliché."