Chapter 10
When Draco stepped out of the floo at Luna's cottage, he had two goals. The first, to allow Lily another moment, however brief, to gaze adoringly at her son. The second, to finally obtain some of his actual DNA so he could successfully infiltrate Potter's dreams and end his own waking nightmare.
But when he turned back to share his plan with his ghostly companion, she was nowhere to be found. "Fucking hell," he muttered. If he didn't find a solution to this soon, she might not be anyone's problem to worry about at all. And as much of an inconvenience as Draco liked to tell himself it was to have Lily Potter's ghost hovering around him day in, day out, he knew it wasn't true. In fact, it would haunt him forever if it was his fault she vanished completely, her soul never returning to its rightful place. Merlin, after this assignment, Death would be recruiting him next.
Though that might not be the worst thing, Draco thought to himself as he made his way over to the kitchen for a drink. He had heard the division offered a significant signing bonus...not to mention a sweet life insurance packet. There was Martin to think about after all, in the case of Draco's untimely demise...
"Draco!" Luna interrupted his maudlin thoughts. "You came! How's our...mutual friend?" she whispered conspiratorially, looking behind him for a ghost she couldn't see. "She...er, couldn't make it," Draco answered, feeling guilty.
"Oh, that's too bad," Luna frowned. "Well, in any case, I'm glad you're here. Look who else made it!" She steered him over to a group of witches and wizards he vaguely recognized from his year at Hogwarts. Lovely.
Perhaps he'd get another opportunity to steal Potter's hair. Surely, the chance tonight afforded couldn't be worth the torture of making small talk with people he hadn't seen in years, most of whom hated him. He was just about to make his excuses to his annoyingly chirpy host, when he heard it. That chortle could only have come from one witch.
"Pansy?" he called into the crowd.
"Draco!" A second later, she was in his arms, talking a mile a minute. "Pans!" Draco interrupted, overjoyed to see a friendly face. "What are you doing here?"
"Blaise invited me! Isn't that why you're here?" She asked, confused. "Actually, Luna is a colleague," Draco started to answer. "She-Ow!" he flinched, rubbing his shoulder where Pansy had just flinched him with a perfectly manicured nail. "Why didn't you tell me they were together! Nevermind, I have so much to tell you..."
Draco followed his friend happily into the sitting room, listening to her chatter on about all the gossip she'd just charmed out of their classmates, along with some amusing French anecdotes.
"Anyway!" She said with a sigh, leaning on Draco after finishing another drink. "Enough about me. What about you! I haven't seen you in months! Month? How's your..." she paused to look around tipsily before mouthing "ghost problem" at him. It would have been funny if it had been about anything else.
Draco’s smile faltered. "Oh you know, still around," he said. "Not here!" he added, hastily when her eyes grew wide. "But you know, in general. I'm working on it though," he assured her.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "How?" Draco grimaced. "I can’t say. But I appreciate your help, Pans. Really."
"Ah," she nodded in understanding. "It’s a work thing then is it? Say no more!" She stood up suddenly, pulling Draco along with her away from the couch and back towards the crowd. "Come on, let's go bother Blaise!"
Draco had almost forgotten all about his little side mission until he walked directly into the man he spent pretty much every waking hour thinking about.
"Oh, Malfoy! Er, sorry about that. Here, let me..." Potter clumsily patted at Draco's sweater with a napkin, rubbing the wine stain from Draco's glass further into the cashmere. "That's quite alright!" Draco responded nervously in what could only be described as falsetto. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I mean, that's alright, Potter. Thank you." He took a step back, letting the napkin fall between them.
"Well, at least let me get you another one..." Potter offered, out of some sense of Gryffindor obligation no doubt.
"That's not-"
"...an offer he can refuse!" Pansy inserted, nudging Draco towards Potter. "Is it, Draco?" She said with an exaggerated smile. In a whisper so low, it could have very well been legilimency, she added "talk to him!"
Draco gave her an equally smarmy smile back behind gritted teeth. "I couldn't possibly leave you, darling..."
"I'm needed elsewhere," she said, giving him a hurried kiss on the cheek and walking back towards the adoring fans she'd made earlier that night.
"So..." Potter said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Red wine, was it?"
Draco sighed. "Lead the way."
Half an hour and several drinks later, a mildly drunk Draco was having a surprisingly good time with Potter. As it turned out, when he wasn't busy being a very important Auror, or ignoring Draco's existence entirely, Potter could be pretty decent company.
"I don't ignore your existence entirely! If anything, you ignore me!" Potter retorted. Apparently Draco had voiced that last thought out loud. Oops.
"Nonsense," Draco said with a wave. "I acknowledge you all the time. Why just the other week, I said hello to you in the lift!" He offered the example triumphantly.
Potter snorted. "Oh was that you? I thought it was a deer in headlights." By the smile playing on his lips as he took a swig of his drink, Draco could tell Potter was being clever.
"Wha-" Draco hiccuped, leaning over the bannister outside the cottage for balance. A chorus of croaking frogs and chirping crickets filled his ears, mixing with the sounds of laughter and music coming from inside. The cold winter air felt good in Draco's lungs, even from that angle. He took a deep breath before righting himself.
"Wha's headlights?" he asked seriously.
Potter laughed, pulling Draco back by his sweater and turning him around so he leaned with his back against the bannister instead. "Careful. Wouldn't want to fall," Potter teased.
Draco gulped, transfixed on that smile that was so rarely directed at him. "No," he said softly. "No, I s'pose I wouldn't..." He still felt a little wobbly. Potter's hands were on Draco's arms, steadying him. Draco suddenly felt rather warm. He turned his gaze back to his drink.
"Let's put that down, shall we?" Potter plucked the wine glass out of Draco's hand and placed it carefully beside him. When he turned back, Draco blinked at him owlishly.
"What?" Potter asked.
"You have an eyelash..." Draco said, pointing. "Just there."
"Oh." He flashed another goofy grin and batted at his face. "Is it gone?"
"Er no," Draco chuckled. "May I?"
At Potter's nod, Draco slowly lifted a hand to Potter's face, carefully holding his jaw while the pad of his finger gently swiped the offending hair away from the other man's cheek. "There," Draco breathed happily when he was done. When he looked up, Potter's smile was gone. His eyes looked almost black under the fairy lights on Luna's porch and the intensity of his gaze caught Draco off guard. For a moment, he forgot to breathe.
The moment didn't last.
"Harry? Are you out there?" Was all the warning they got before Granger popped her head out the front door in search of her best friend. "Uh, yeah, Hermione, we're here," Potter said, taking a step back from Draco.
"There you are, I've been looking every-oh! Draco! I didn't know you were coming!" Granger beamed. "Well come in, both of you, it's almost midnight! Luna and Blaise are starting the countdown."
"Right. Yeah, be right there," Potter said, clearing his throat. He gave Draco one last glance before ducking inside. "Thanks," he said with a final, sheepish smile.
"Don’t mention it." Draco watched Potter retreat, taking a moment to down the rest of his wine before he followed. He spent remainder of the night by Pansy’s side, occasionally getting pulled into conversation with Blaise and Luna and refused to steal glances at Potter. Every so often, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise and knew Potter's eyes were on him.
When Draco got home, he carefully extracted the eyelash from a small vial he kept in his pocket and watched it fall gently into the potion before falling into bed utterly exhausted. With a small smile on his lips at the acheivement, he fell into an easy sleep.