Chapter 1

It was a little late in the day for Draco to be walking around downtown London on a day like this, but he felt as if it was just… needed. Looking at all the people that were walking around him, smiling, laughing, completely blissful, he just couldn't help but think, they truly have no idea how lucky they are. Draco just hung his head more to avoid looking at them as the wind suddenly picked up.

Fuck, it's cold. He thought to himself as snow swirled around him suddenly, creating small ripple effects in front of him on the pavement. He looked up suddenly to see if there were any pubs close to him that he could dip into to avoid the blistering wind that didn't seem to want to calm down. He spotted a little hole in the wall just a few blocks away that he knew was very rarely frequented by the magical community and figured it would be a good place to slip into while the weather dredged on and he could warm up some before finally making it to his flat.

Draco picked up the pace slightly, so he could get to the pub quicker. He slipped through the doors to the little hole in the wall, suddenly feeling better with the warm atmosphere and light conversation going on in the building. Even with knowing that it was highly unlikely that he would spot anyone that knew him, he feigned a sigh of relief as no one that had turned to see who had walked in the door, was spitting curse words under their breath, or giving deathly icy glares.

He made his way up to the bar, slid into the only open stool against it, he was only stopping to warm up and didn't want to take up a table that could have been put to better use by someone else. Looking up to see where the bartender was, he spotted the gentleman next to him out of the corner of his eye. He had long dark, almost black hair pulled up into a bun, only being secured by a chopstick of some sort. The man was laughing loudly with the person next to him, neither of them noticing the sudden occupancy of the seat he had taken. Draco looked a little more closely at the gentleman, he had nothing better to do while waiting for the bartender to eventually come down his way.

The man had his back facing Draco, but from what he could see, he had lightly tanned olive skin, a rather big smile, from which Draco could see his cheeks rise every time he laughed. His shoulders were toned and muscular from what he could tell in his T-shirt and he flexed often. Draco pulled out of his thoughts towards a random stranger when he saw the bartender finally walking towards him. He was just about to order a glass of whiskey when out of the corner of his eye, the man next to him had turned. Draco could just make out the silhouette of his neighbor at the bar, noticed that what he thought was a chopstick in the man's hair, was really a wand, and his stomach dropped.

Draco stood suddenly and rushed out of the bar, leaving the bartender calling after him in complete confusion. Once outside, he leaned back against the brick wall and pulled out a cigarette. It was a filthy habit that he had picked up during the war, and he just never had a reason to quit, even when his wife, ex-wife, he reminded himself, Astoria, would constantly beg him to break the habit.

"Please, Draco," He remembered Astoria saying quietly one night after he had just come back inside from one of his nightly breaks, "Stop this nonsense. I would like you to still be alive and healthy enough to watch Pius grow up. It's horrible for your health, smoking those things."

Draco smiled slightly at the memory, even though the pang in his heart reminding him that he would no longer hear her pleads to quit smoking, or see his son daily, and lit the cigarette. He took a deep inhale, feeling the drop in his stomach ease, and exhaled, watching the smoke dissipate in front of him, just like everything else really. Suddenly he heard the door to the pub open and shut, but he didn't bother to even look up, he knew that he was imagining things, that his mind was playing tricks on him again. Or at least he thought it was.

"Draco Fucking Malfoy"

"Meeting up at the Cauldron after work mate?" Ron's head had appeared through the crack in Harry's office door, smiling his usual freckled grin that he typically wore at the end of the day. Harry sighed and looked down at his desk, he still had 3 more cases that had closing paperwork that needed to be drawn up and filed. He knew that he would be here for at least half past end of business day.

"Not today Ron, I still have 3 cases to finish and I know that if I don't do them tonight, they'll never get done." He looked over at his best friend and tried his best to give an 'I'm sorry' look to him, even though Ron always saw straight through those.

"Alright, well if you finish up early, you know where to find me." Harry nodded and Ron took off.

Harry finally finished the cases and looked at his watch, it was only fifteen past but he just didn't have the drive to go to the Leaky Cauldron. Every time he went with Ron, he either had someone staring at him, or people coming up to him at the most inconvenient times, and he just didn't want to deal with that today. He decided that a walk through London would be the best thing for him, let him clear his head for the day before going to pick up Teddy from his grandmother, who always gave him an earful about what new things she's read about in the Muggle magazines, and how Harry needed to find a better job that didn't risk Teddy being without his Godfather.

Being an Auror wasn't as dangerous at it was when he first joined. The first couple of years consisted of finding any former Death Eaters that had escaped arrest and trial right after the war. The thought of the consistent field work with Ron, hunting down some of the most dangerous and lethal, made Harry smile as he walked down the sidewalk on the busy London streets. But now, now it was just picking up random one-offs. Someone broke into a store, someone was smuggling illegal potions from outside of the country, a duel had gone off in front of Muggles between two irritable Wizards who had gotten drunk and couldn't agree on the next location. It had all gotten so bland and predictable for Harry that it didn't have the draw to it like it used to.

Harry had finally looked at his surroundings after walking for what seemed like an hour when he saw a little hole in the wall Muggle pub across the street. It looked warm and inviting and the thought of being able to have a drink or two without being stared at sounded like heaven at just that moment. He walked across the street and entered the pub, no one looked up, no one jumped at the sight of him, no one bombarded him, and he smiled.

Harry sat down at the bar and ordered a Scotch, took a small sip and the tension that he hadn't realized he was holding in his shoulders, released. He sighed, leaned back in his seat and smiled again.

"Long day mate?" A voice next to Harry said gruffly, startling him. He snapped his head up, worried it was someone that knew who he was.

He looked at the man next to him apprehensively, "You could say that." Harry said slowly, waiting for the worst.

"Ya sure look it. Here, have another one on me." The man waved to the bartender to pour another one for the both of them. He held out his hand to Harry and said genuinely, "The names Eric."

Harry looked at the man and then looked at his hand outstretched towards him, Harry shook it, and cautiously said, "Harry."

"Well, nice ter meet ya Harry. Ain't never seen you in Lucky's b'fore." Harry sighed realizing that the man had no clue who he was and was just being kind to a random person at his local pub.

"Was walking by, thought it looked nice and warm, figured I'd stop in for a drink on my way home." Harry smiled slightly, letting his worry fade as he continued to talk to the gentleman. They had talked for what seemed like half an hour when he felt someone sit down next to him. Noticing that the person was just there to get a drink as well, Harry continued with his conversation with Eric and didn't think twice about Lucky's newest patron.

The person next to Harry had been waiting for a few minutes without the bartender, whose name Harry learned was Bert, serving them. Harry made eye contact with Bert and nodded behind him. Bert looked around Harry and saw them sitting there without a drink. Bert walked over and Harry had turned, about to ask for another round for himself and Eric, when the person next to him had jumped out of their seat and took off out of the bar. Bert was calling after them and Harry turned around to get a look at the person.

Harry's breath hitched as he noticed the bright platinum blonde hair of the man walking towards the door. There's no way, Harry thought, this is a MUGGLE bar. Surely… Harry slapped some muggle money on the bar, enough that he knew would be more than what he and Eric had drank. "Keep the change Bert." Harry said as he rushed out the door of the Pub.

Harry stopped just outside of the door, looked to his left, and realized that he was wrong. Draco Malfoy was leaned against the brick outside of the bar, taking a long drag on a cigarette, and, if Harry had to admit it to himself, looked a lot worse for wear than he thought Draco Malfoy ever would let himself look.