sesheta66 | Second Chance (2025 Christmas Story)

Title: Second Chance – Chapter Eleven
Author:

sesheta_66 || AO3: sesheta_66
Prompts used:

slythindor100’s early bird prompt G – Box of Christmas Cards and Other Stationery (picture under the cut) and

dracoharry100’s prompts 14: Ice Skating and 25: Christmas Dinner
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Word Count: 1.8K (this part)
Rating: R (eventually; this part PG)
Warning: none
Summary: This is the second Christmas for Draco without Astoria and Harry's first since Ginny remarried. Will best friends Scorpius and Albus be just what they need to rekindle something they'd thought fleeting and lost forever?
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: Written for the

slythindor100 Early Bird 25 Days of Draco and Harry and the

Second Chance – Chapter 11

"When do you want me to start?" Draco asked as he picked up the quill and signed the contract.

Harry smiled and relaxed for the first time since Draco had arrived. Once they got past the initial awkwardness, and Harry had assured him that his request was legitimate, it had been fairly straight forward. He'd known Draco would ask for more money and had planned for it. He had enough wiggle room in his own budget to manage even more if he'd had to, but it was a fair contract for both sides. Looking into those steely grey eyes, he noticed them soften ever so slightly. He realised then that they'd both been on edge. When he'd arrived, his eyes had reminded Harry of the Malfoy he'd known at Hogwarts: cold, hard, guarded. Now they reminded him of better times with the man.

Harry took the contract from Draco in a deliberate move to rein in his thoughts, return to the here and now, away from what might have been. He signed it, replicated it and gave Draco the copy. For a minute there, when he'd first come in, Harry didn't think it was going to work out. He knew that Ron didn't like Draco, and figured the feeling was mutual, but he hadn't realised just how much that might have weighed on Draco all these years, particularly as Ron attained gradually higher levels of power. Power that could be used against someone like Draco, if Ron were that sort of person. The sort that Draco saw all around him growing up. The sort like Lucius. Harry wondered if there might be more to Draco's concern than he was letting on. Harry filed it away to think about later. Now wasn't the time to go down that rabbit hole. Now they had a drug manufacturer to catch.

"Well, that's done," he said, placing the signed contract back in it file and standing up. "Why not start now?"

"Now? But I have work –"

Harry chuckled. "Let me show you around now, introduce you to the team in the lab, then leave you to arrange when you might dive in."

Draco thought about his current workload. He hadn't expected to sign a contract and start right away. Truth be told, he hadn't known what to expect. "Okay. I'll have to balance my other obligations as well. I can delegate some of my ongoing work, but I can't work on this full-time."

"I realise that. I was hoping that you could review the material that Drummond has had prepared for you, bring yourself up to speed. Then you can assess where best you could put your skills to work."

"That sounds like a good approach." He frowned. "You know, Potter, this is all a little unnerving."

Harry wondered where that had come from. "How so?"

"It's just –" He paused, scowled, and looked around Harry's office. "When did you become so … efficient? So pragmatic?" He looked puzzled as he continued. "I mean, I suppose everyone matures, but it's strange to imagine the poster boy for Gryffindor bravado and impulsivity being a head of department, leading people, sitting in an elegant office and doing–" He looked at the contract "– paperwork."

Harry laughed. "I wonder about that every day. Not sure when it all happened, to be honest."

Apparently on a roll, Draco continued. "I obviously knew what you'd been up to. It's not like I had any choice in the matter – all of wizarding Britain watched you climb up the ranks over the years. All the fawning news articles."

"They weren't all fawning," Harry said in his defence. He'd always hated being in the news, whether for good or bad reasons. And especially hated when Skeeter was involved, because she made so much shit up it always caused a stir.

Draco ignored that and continued. "But I always took it with a grain of salt – in some instances a cauldron's worth – because I knew you. I knew that you weren't this calm, reasonable, thoughtful leader. You were hot-headed and impulsive. Even when you pretended for the cameras that you weren't." He waved his arm through the air in what appeared to Harry to be frustration. "And now you're hiring me not based on emotions or expediency, but on merit." He sounded exasperated. "Here we are, agreeing to work together, and here you are, being all …"

Harry grinned. "Calm and reasonable?"

"Yes! It's all a bit much to take in."

Harry laughed at that. "Well, imagine my surprise when I was informed that you were the most highly recommended potions expert to work on this case. That spoiled kid who only got good grades in potions because Snape favoured the Slytherins."

Draco gasped in outrage. "I'll have you know I worked for my marks!"

Harry laughed again. "Apparently so. See, I figure neither of us is the boy we'd imagined each other to be. Though, in fairness, impulsive is a good description of me, at least the schoolboy me. And both of us have matured, have come into our own." He paused to let that sink in. "And now we'll have the chance to work together and see each other in a different light, yeah?" Harry thought again about their short time together, when they'd certainly seen a different side of each other, and added, "No matter how unnerving this whole situation is."

"I suppose so."

They went into the outer office, and Harry handed the file folder to Gabi. She smiled and pushed a box of Christmas cards towards him. Shit. He'd been meaning to get to that. He nodded his acknowledgement. "I'll work on those as soon as I return," he assured her. Ignoring her I've heard that before look, he turned to Draco. "Draco Malfoy, this is my assistant, Gabriella. She'll take care of getting you set up with security access and whatever else you might need."

She smiled. "Welcome aboard, Mr Malfoy." She opened the file and glanced over the contract. Satisfied, she said, "I should have all the paperwork filed and access processed by the end of the day. If you'd like to come back here after nine tomorrow morning, I'll have everything you need ready."

"Oh, and Gabi, would you reach out to Amelia and get the briefing material for Draco as well, please?"

"Sure thing." She addressed Draco again. "I'll have it ready for you in the morning with the rest."

Draco nodded. "Thank you. I look forward to seeing you then."

She turned back to Harry. "Department Christmas dinner details should be finalised today as well. Looks like ice skating is a go beforehand." She sounded positively delighted at the prospect.

"Great." Harry forced a smile. He'd never been good at skating. He pretended not to see her grin and the twinkle in her eye. Sometimes he wondered if she was a secret sadist.

They exited the office and made their way to the lifts. "So, Draco, how does it feel now that you've agreed to work here?"

"Surreal. You sure you didn't cast some Auror spell on me to get me to capitulate?"

Harry laughed. "Hadn't thought of that, but I'll keep it in mind for next time."

"There won't be a next time." He looked mildly ill.

Harry slowed his pace, noting Draco's unease, and put a hand on his arm. "It's not too late to back out, you know. I won't lie, I'd be disappointed – frankly I'm half surprised you agreed in the first place – but I meant what I said. No pressure. I can't imagine it's pleasant for you, being back here." Draco shook his head.

Harry remembered his own appearance before the Wizengamot, how helpless he'd felt in front of all those witches and wizards. And that had only been for breaking the Statute of Secrecy. "I can relate."

"Can you now?" Incredulity dripped off Draco's words.

Harry nodded. "My only experiences in this place before I came to work here were escaping expulsion, arrest and death. I had to attend a hearing in front of the full Wizengamot before the start of fifth year, when Umbridge tried to have me expelled after sicking some Dementors on me over the summer. Then there was the complete shit show at the Department of Mysteries at the end of fifth year." He left out the details, given that the Death Eaters, including Draco's father, had tried to kill Harry's friends, Draco's aunt did kill Harry's godfather, and Voldemort had possessed him in order to get Dumbledore to kill him. "Then when Ron, Hermione and I broke in during what should have been our seventh year – I was Undesireable Number One you may recall – we barely escaped with our lives, and Ron got splinched in the process. So … not the best memories, no."

Draco's jaw dropped and his mouth hung open. When he recovered, he tilted his head slightly to the side, as though Harry were something to be studied. "You never said. I mean, after the war. I've obviously heard stories, read articles, but you never know what to believe and what was just to sell books or newspapers. You never mentioned all the stuff you went through."

Harry raised a brow. "As I recall, we didn't really talk much." Draco's cheeks flushed, reminding Harry very much of what they had got up to. With what amounted to Herculean self-control, he resisted the urge to go further down that road, however tempting it was. "Besides, what would have been the point of bringing up unpleasantness? It was all over by then. In the past. I was trying really hard to look ahead, not back."

Draco continued to scrutinise Harry. "And yet, after all the unpleasantness you still came to work here?"

Harry pressed the button for the lift and shrugged. "I did indeed. Came here for training, then to work, and above all, to clean the place up. Not just me, of course, but yeah. We were determined to weed out the corruption that had infested this place, from top to bottom. All in all, I think we did a pretty good job. You can't catch everything, but we did alright."

"Seems like you did well for yourself."

Harry smiled. "I think so. And it looks like you did as well. Could you have imagined the two of us being where we are today back when we were in school?"

"For a while there, I couldn't imagine surviving beyond my teens."

Harry took a deep breath, letting that sink in. "You and me both."

The lift opened and they went inside, remaining silent all the way to the lab.