I'll Play Your Game

After quitting the Auror department at the ripe old age of twenty two, Harry Potter finds a nice, uneventful job in an apothecary. At least, it's uneventful until his old rival Draco Malfoy comes into the shop.

They strike up an unlikely friendship, which evolves into an increasingly convoluted scheme, which then snowballs spectacularly out of control into a tangle of lies and blurred lines.

They'd agreed to a fake relationship ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ̶ in Harry's case, to get the wizarding world to take him off his 'perfect saviour' pedestal, and in Draco's case, just to be given a chance in wizarding society at all ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ̶ but neither of them expected just how difficult that might really turn out to be. Especially when the stakes grow ever higher, and they both start falling for each other. Just a little bit.
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•Written March 2017 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ̶ May 2020•
[Complete, 52k words]

The first 5 chapters were beta'd back in early 2018 by @ItsATwix, @SimonTheVampir, & @drarryislifeforme; the first 7 in autumn 2019 by my friend @CoraWritesThings. Thank you all for the feedback!
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Title & original inspiration from '18' by Anarbor.

(Photo featured on cover by Vasilisa A./Hoang Thien Nga [user: @lisaeeva] via Instagram; 'Le Pain Quotidien'. Link to original post in first chapter. All edits Mine.)