Confessions of an Ex-Death-Eater

Saturday 17th November 2007

It had been exhausting. Harry really didn't understand what the two women had got out of it all. Not least because they were battling with late-night shoppers in central London who seemed to be already on the countdown for Christmas. Harry had returned to the house with a new haircut, bags full of clothes he didn't know he needed, and the two women pledging to come over to Walpole Street the following morning to 'sort out' his wardrobe.

Ron had smirked quietly when Harry had come to pick up Teddy who was quite happily bossing his younger 'cousin' around during bath-time.

'Blimey! You're in trouble now, mate!' He'd laughed. 'They won't rest until they know you've kissed him!'

'Kissed who, Dar?'

'Never you mind, Teddy,' Harry threw a glare at Ron who only laughed more.

'Are you talking about Mr Malfoy, Dar?'

'No, Teddy. Don't you dare repeat that.'

'Does it mean I get to see Scorpius again soon? Please, Dar.'

'I'm sure it can be arranged, Teddy. Now, we need to get home, before Ron gets me in anymore trouble.'

As he stepped into the Floo with Teddy, he heard Rose saying, 'dad, has Uncle Harry got a boyfriend?'

He groaned to himself and would have buried his head in his hands accept he was holding on tight to Teddy, Teddy's school bag, and his several bags of new clothes, as well as his own briefcase. He ignored the way his stomach did that Funny Little Flip-Thing at the thought of Draco being his 'boyfriend'. In the end, he hadn't dared mention the Stomach Flip-Thing to Mione, she would have bought herself a bloody hat.

Mione and Gin had been true to their word and were waiting for Harry in the sitting room when he got back from his Saturday morning run. Teddy had been quite happy playing with Lego while Harry was out, though Harry had set up special warning wards should Teddy need him in an emergency.

'You didn't train this hard for me,' Gin smirked.

They had set too on Harry's wardrobe while he was in the shower and by the time he came out all his old clothes were piled on his bed and Gin was putting them into plastic bags to take to charity.

'Hey, can't I keep anything,' he complained, gripping fast to the towel wrapped around his waist.

'Those hoodies, those three shirts, and your dress robes because I brought them for you recently,' said Mione.

'Oh!'

She threw a pair of his new slim-fit jeans, a white long-sleeved t-shirt, and a sand-coloured loose fit jumper at him and told him to get dressed. Meanwhile, she needed to pop out.

Teddy had stuck his head around the door, looked positively bewildered by what was going on and retreated to his Lego, Harry was seriously tempted to join him but he was trying to defend his wardrobe as Gin single-mindedly stuffed everything into the charity bags.

'Hey, I'm keeping that scarf, your mum knitted it for me.'

'Okay, I'll allow that, it is rather gay,' Gin's mouth twitched as she threw his brightly coloured scarf at him. 'I don't think mum realised when I suggested the wool to her.'

He wrapped it around his neck, despite being inside. 'And I like those t-shirts,' he complained, trying to rescue them.

'Harry, you've been wearing them since sixth year, its time you tried out something other than grey t-shirts.'

He gave up and went and got a cup of tea.

Hermione came back with new crisp white bedsheets (the others were awful and thread bare – you should be ashamed), a silver wristband and the Potter black-stoned platinum signet ring which she had retrieved from his Gringotts vault.

'How did you get in?' he asked, it felt odd to be wearing jewellery other than his heavy silver watch but he quite liked the look of the metal against his olive skin and wondered why he'd never thought of wearing it before. He flexed his hands, looking at the ring on his little finger appreciatively.

'Never you mind,' she said mysteriously before guiltily sliding his wand across the table. He hadn't even missed it, but then again, he hadn't needed to use it for such a long time. He mentally logged away the information that perhaps he needed to find a secure place for it, imagine if it got into the wrong hands.

By the time they had left, Harry was distinctly fatigued and felt slightly dazed. By the evening, after Teddy had gone to bed, he was quite happy to settle down on the sofa in front of the fire with a glass of wine and the book Draco had given him.

Only, despite Jane Eyre just meeting Mr Rochester for the first time and causing Mr Rochester to fall from his horse, Harry was failing to absorb any of the words because all he could think about was Mione's parting conversation as she stood in his kitchen laden with bags to take to the charity shop.

'What else did Anthony say about Draco?' she'd asked.

'That he has a large faculty of compassion and, in the past, his faculty of ambition and vanity was encouraged, undoubtedly by his father. Also, his pride and arrogance has been overcome with maturity and through his reflection on his younger years.'

'And...'

'That's about it.'

'I see. Well, you need to be the one to ask him out on a date, remember, he doesn't know you're gay.'

'I...' Harry felt the colour drain from his face. 'I need to think about it,' he muttered.

Mione touched his arm softly, 'okay, but don't think about it for too long, Harry, you might miss your chance if you do.'

He was disturbed from his reverie by the Floo kicking into action and a familiar voice saying, 'Harry?'

*****