Magic | D. Malfoy

05. Apartment Hunting

"So, this is it," the woman, a Miss Smith Draco knew he wouldn't remember in a day, smiled at him and Theo when she finished showing them the apartment. Theo smiled back at her in a polite manner Draco didn't attempt to copy. He waited for a while, and when it seemed clear the woman wasn't planning on leaving any time soon, he cleared his throat, called for her attention. She glanced his way as if startled.

"Would you mind leaving us for a moment?"

"Of course," she nodded at once, already taking a few steps back to the front door. "Call me if there is anything you need. I'll be right outside."

Draco waited until she had walked out to turn to face Theo. He didn't need to talk. He was already explaining himself.

"Look, I know you said this isn't exactly what you've been looking for-"

"This is the fourth apartment in the row this is happening, Theo."

"I know, I know, you told me to stop searching for apartments and I didn't but! There's a but. This apartment is so nice and cosy and it has a garden and-"

"It's surrounded by muggle homes."

He seemed reluctant to agree. "It has the privacy you were looking for, though."

"And what if someone peeks through the windows and sees something they shouldn't? What if they somehow find out where I leave and next thing you know there is a crowd in my front door demanding I am prosecuted or something?"

Theo frowned. "That hasn't happened in a few years though."

"I wouldn't want to risk it," Draco insisted, "and I would also not want to have more work in the office than I need to. To obliviate any muggles that happen to see the incident is that last thing I want. I would really rather not."

Finally, Theo seemed to back down. "I know. How do you expect to find an apartment in the muggle world without those issues though?"

Draco didn't have an instant answer. Theo watched him, his frown not lessening. He had his own apartment in the muggle world but he hadn't had the same wishes as Draco for it. For one, Draco wanted space so that the neighbours wouldn't hear him. Theo never had that issue and as for Blaise, he lived in the highest floor of a tall building that housed about a dozen people already. Chances of anyone that had an issue with him finding him there were a lot more scarce. Draco was a bit more fearful.

"I can find a way," he mused, lips pursing in thought. "I could ask Aira."

"Really?" Theo fixed him with an unimpressed look.

"Why not?" he raised a brow at him. "I need a favour, she can grant it. Isn't that what friends are for?"

"I'm not sure if you'll be asking her to do something legal."

"It's not illegal. She will just need to do some things a bit quicker than usual to find me a place."

"And to also make those granting the permissions get over thet fact that she will be doing it for you."

"I have a perfect record ever since the war."

"You'll owe her. A lot."

His lips curled into a smile. "Yeah. It wouldn't be the first time."

The next day, right after his shift, instead of waiting for Theo and Blaise the way he usually did, he turned left and walked through the door in the middle of the hall that led to the offices of the Invisibility Task Force. It was around the time most Ministry workers finished their job and so he met a few people on his way, most of them looking at him weirdly as they recognised him. He didn't have a reason to be there, he didn't work in their division. Draco ignored them and walked on.