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He wanted the job, and it would be so easy to just- no. Draco cut himself off mid-thought. He might be a Slytherin, and a former Death Eater, but he was trying to be better, and using magic to get what he wanted would not be that. Instead, he just sat and waited nervously like any other poor old sap. If it weren’t for his upbringing, he’d probably be tapping his foot against the floor anxiously. Instead, he forced himself to sit and wait patiently for whoever was supposed to interview him. Two years ago, if anyone had told him he would be anxiously waiting for a job interview to work in a muggle store, he probably would have told them that they were crazy, and then fired a few curses at them to be on the safe side. Now, though, he was pretty sure that the muggle world was the only place where he even had any chance of getting employed. And even that was questionable, since he didn’t have any of the things on his resume that muggles were supposed to have by this age. He’d already been turned down from several places, but something about this shop had stood out to him when he saw the advertisement in the local paper. It was a store selling various herbs, teas, and various home-brewed medicines. It seemed like something that belonged in the wizarding world, but when he asked around, it was definitely a muggle store. And even more interesting was that the few people who’d heard of it gave it raving reviews, claiming that they’d never been disappointed by a single purchase. And now Draco was here, wondering if his talent in potions class would translate to anything useful here. He did know a lot about herbs, but had only ever bothered studying the magical ones, which definitely seemed like a design flaw now that he looked back. But even if he just worked the register, he would be grateful. At this point, Draco couldn’t afford to be picky about where he worked.Finally, the door to the back room opened, and a young woman stepped out. Someone else was behind her, but they were blocked from Draco’s sight by the open door. “Thank you so much for your interest in the job, Miss Purella. I will be sure to call you as soon as I make a decision.”The woman nodded and shook his hand. “Thank you for your time.” She dipped her head down in a single nod, and then turned to walk away. The interviewer cleared his throat as he stepped forward enough to see whoever was still waiting for him. “Thomas Black?”Draco jumped up as the name he was using was called. When getting ready to integrate more fully into the muggle world, he’d gone to a few different muggle borns for advice. They’d told him that he’d probably need to change his name if he didn’t want to stand out so much. Just as his name finished rolling off the interviewer’s tongue, they were both in a position to actually see each other, and both of their eyes widened at the same time. “Potter?” “Draco?”They stared at each other for a long minute. Now Draco was sure that he must be crazy. True, he hadn’t bothered to keep himself up to date on all the latest magical gossip, but surely he would have heard about it if Harry Potter, the chosen one, the golden boy, the defeater of Voldemort himself, had decided to set up shop out among the muggles. But more importantly, he knew that there was no way anyone who knew him and his background would ever want to hire him, especially not Potter. “I should just-”“You’re going to leave before you’ve even had your interview?”Draco stopped to look at Potter with searching eyes, but he could only see genuine confusion. It didn’t seem as though Potter were making fun of him. Now that he was looking closely enough, he could see something close to concern in those bright green eyes, and Draco gulped. “You’d actually be willing to hire me?”Potter blinked once, and then shrugged. “Depends on if you’re the best candidate or not. I have already interviewed two people ahead of you, and there’s one more left after you.”It was a bit surprising to hear that a job in a small shop like this was so highly sought after. “I will do my best,” he said calmly, instead of any of the millions of other thoughts that were rapidly swirling around through his head. He followed Potter into the backroom, and they both sat down in the chairs that looked like they had been crammed in between the shelves last minute. Potter grabbed a clipboard that had been leaned up against one of the legs of his chair, along with a pen. “So, Thomas Black, huh? It’s always a little strange to remember that we’re sort of connected through the Blacks, since Sirius was my godfather. Is that the name you’re most comfortable using? You’re perfect welcome to go by Draco in here if you want.”Draco shrugged. “I’ve already done up all of the papers under that name, though I suppose it would be easy enough to fix them, if I get the job.”“Right, Draco it is, then. And please, call me Harry.” That was definitely going to take some getting used to, after all the years of thinking of him as just ‘Potter’, but Draco was trying to be different, trying to be better, and calling an old peer by his first name seemed like a small thing that he could do. “So, first, why don’t you tell me what has you interested in a job here.”The rest of the interview passed by fairly quickly, and Draco was surprised to find that Harry had a pretty good sense of humor. And he also appreciated the way Harry asked him to talk about himself and his past without any judgement in his eyes, and without acting like he already knew everything about Draco. Then they got to the end, and Harry leaned back in his seat, giving Draco a friendly smile. “Now is there anything that you would like to know about me?”Draco didn’t have to think for long to come up with a question. “How did you of all people end up here?”Harry tilted his head to the side as he thought about that. “Well, in terms of funds, it was easy enough. I know magical currency doesn’t translate to muggle, but it was easy enough to melt down the gold and silver coins and sell them. As for why I set up in the muggle world, that’s simple enough. It’s where I grew up first and know the best. And even if I have a lot of friends and loved ones in the wizarding world, I have plenty of bad memories associated with all of it. And there’s the fact that I would never be able to live an ordinary life there. I would always be Harry Potter, the boy who lived, and never just Harry. And selling remedies just seemed like a proper thing to do. I’ve never understood why wizards always refuse to try and do anything that could help muggles.” He smiled. “Any other questions?” Draco shook his head mutely as he processed Harry’s words. “Well in that case, it was nice to meet you. I’ll call you when I’ve made a decision.”Draco wandered out of the shop, feeling slightly lost. He felt like he’d just wandered into some strange, fake version of the world. Sure, Harry had testified on his behalf, and on his mother’s too, during their trials, but it had never been indicated to him that Harry would be so open and friendly towards him. Whenever he started to feel like this, with a spinning, out of control something in the pit of his stomach, he liked to turn to muggle traditions and get himself some ice cream. Perhaps the flavors weren’t quite as… exciting as the ones available in Diagon Alley, but there was something refreshing and good about the simpler tastes. And the fact that it could be purchased whenever he felt like it, though maybe that part was just because he was an adult. He stopped at a market on the way home to grab a small tub of vanilla bean, a box of sugar cones, and a jar of cherries. Then he headed home to make himself a feast. For once, he was glad that he lived by himself, so there would be no one giving him judgemental looks for having a lunch made of ice cream and sugar. Except for maybe his cat, Diane, though she was usually too busy lazing around to be bothered by anything Draco did.It was only a few hours after his interview that Draco’s phone started ringing. Now that had been a muggle invention that had taken quite some time to get used to. He answered quickly, feeling rooted to the spot as he held it up to his ear. “Hello?”“Hey, Draco, it’s Harry. I’m calling because I’ve been looking over your resume and…” he trailed off, interrupting himself with loud giggles. Draco narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth, not appreciating that he was being made fun of after all. But before he could say anything, Harry continued on. “Um, I just was wondering if you had realized that you gave me a print out of an article titled ‘10 Ways to Know if Your Cat Loves You or is Just Using You for Food’. Well, I guess that could have been what you’d intended to give me, but I didn’t think it was, so-”Draco abruptly hung up the phone in the middle of Harry’s rambling, feeling panic well up inside of him. He’d actually been given a chance, and he’d gone and messed it up so thoroughly. He didn’t need to worry about being treated unfairly because he was apparently just going to sabotage himself. Draco grabbed the jar of cherries and hurled it at the wall angrily, watching the thick red syrup ooze down. The phone rang again, and Draco picked up it on auto-pilot, not even bothering to give any greetings. It was Harry again. “You can just bring in a copy of your actual resume if you want. Your interview went well, and the job is yours, but I just need a better idea of your specific skills so that I know how to best utilize you within the shop.”Draco stared at the wall with wide eyes. “Wait- what? You’re hiring me?”“Yup!” Came Harry’s cheerful response from the other end. “You were always much better than me in potions, not that that’s saying much. And I don’t exactly brew potions here. But having another wizard working with me will make it a lot easier to continue on the same as before without worrying about being caught.”He reached up to rub at his watery eyes. He hadn’t expected to actually get the job. And it didn’t even sound like it was a pity hiring, it sounded like Harry honestly thought he was the best man for the job, and that was just, well. He didn’t even have the words. “Thank you. I’ll be there soon with my resume, I promise.” He quickly rushed to grab it from where it had been resting innocently on his bedside table, and he berated himself for putting that stupid article down on top of it last night. He’d have to wait to clean up the mess in the kitchen, even though that unfortunately meant it was probably going to get sticky and gross in the meanwhile. It didn’t take very long for Draco to return to the store, though Harry was in the middle of helping a customer as he walked in. He paused in the doorway to watch. “-myself. And I don’t have a single spot on my face, do I?”The teenager he was talking to shyly reached out to take the small jar of cream from Harry’s hand. “Thank you.”Harry ruffled the kid’s hair. “And, just for today we’re holding a special sale. Fifty percent off all purchases made by anyone with a valid school ID.”The teenager smiled as he fumbled to pull out his wallet. “This is great timing for me.”Draco waited patiently until Harry had finished helping the teen, and had sent the kid away with a small bag that seemed to hold more than just the jar that the kid had actually paid for. Then he walked over to the counter, and double checked that the paper in his hand was the right one before he handed it over. “Here.” He internally winced at how abrupt and rude that had sounded, but there was nothing he could do about it now.Harry didn’t seem to be bothered at all by Draco’s attitude, though. He just gently accepted the paper (kindly ignoring the fact that it had been vaguely crumpled up during the transport), and began to skim over it, humming thoughtfully. Draco waited there nervously, not sure what he was supposed to do. And despite how many times he’d insulted Harry throughout their school years and called him an idiot, he didn’t think that it would actually take the man so long to read over the single sheet of paper. It felt like years had gone by before Harry finally looked up from the paper, still smiling. “Alright, so to start you off, I’m going to have you work the register. But I want you to show up an hour before opening and stay an hour after so that I can start showing you the ropes on how to make everything properly. It shouldn’t take too long before you’re ready to work on those things by yourself, and then I’ll finally get a chance to sleep in.”The relief hit Draco so hard that it almost felt like someone had just punched him right in the gut. “Thank you. I know that with everything in our past, it must seem like a difficult choice to make-”Harry suddenly reached out to grab one of Draco’s hands. “After finding out that you were an option, it wasn’t much of a decision at all. You’ve always been a brilliant wizard.”“You never even asked me why I’m so desperate for a job in a supposedly muggle shop that’s in the middle of muggle Britain.” Harry shrugged. “I figured that it was your own personal business, and that you could choose for yourself whether you wanted to share it with me or not. I know that I have my own reasons for being here that I haven’t yet mentioned. Just because we’ve known each other since we were children doesn’t give either of us the right to have information about the other that we are unwilling to give up. Everyone is allowed to have their own private stuff.”And he really sounded like he was telling the truth. It felt almost too good to be true, and Draco couldn’t help it when a soft, “I think I love you,” slipped out. His face immediately turned a bright pink, and he was filled with mortification. “I didn’t- I mean- it just- I wouldn’t-”Harry laughed, and Merlin, it was such a beautiful look on him that it was only making Draco feel even more nervous and embarrassed. He just wanted to go home to his cat and his mess of a kitchen and pretend like this day had never happened, even if he really did need the job. “Relax, I’m not going to fire you before you’ve even gotten the chance to get started.”,,,Three months later, and Draco found himself waking up with more energy and motivation than he had felt in years. It was the first day that Harry was trusting him to open up the shop by himself, and he didn’t want to let Harry down. Since he’d started working at Harry’s store, the two of them had gotten plenty of time to talk with each other and get to know each other better. They’d put the past behind him, while also making sure that they were able to clear up the misconceptions that they had built up about each other as children. Last night, Harry had handed over Draco’s very own key to the store with very little ceremony, and it had been one of the happiest moments in his recent memories. He quickly got ready, and then hurried to the shop. Even though Harry would technically have no way of knowing whether Draco had showed up on time or not, it still mattered to Draco that he was there when he was supposed to be.Though he was somewhat surprised when he went to unlock the front door, and found that it was already unlocked. One of his hands instinctively reached into his pocket towards his wand, ready to fight off any intruders if he had to. He knew that Harry would understand if he had just been defending the store.But there were no dangerous figures occupying the small store space, just a frazzled looking Harry who was muttering under his breath as he rummaged through a large box that was resting on the main counter. “Harry?” He was pretty sure he knew Harry well enough by now to know that the man wouldn’t just suddenly change his mind about giving Draco more responsibility, so while he was a little bit worried on his own behalf, he was mostly just curious about what Harry was doing here. “Did you forget that I’m supposed to be opening up without supervision today?”Harry slowly looked up at Draco, and his eyes looked redder, and more tired, than Draco had ever seen them. “No, no, I didn’t forget. I’ll get out of your hair in a minute, I just needed to grab something and-” his voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. “Sorry, I’m just having a bit of trouble finding…” he trailed off without explaining what he was looking for, and resumed his search through the box.Draco slowly walked closer to the counter, not wanting to spook Harry away. “What’s going on?” He reached out hesitantly, and then put a hand on Harry’s shoulder. He’d figured out by now that Harry loved physical contact, like a cat that hadn’t been pet often enough, but he almost never initiated it himself. “I’d like to think that we’re friends now, and if there’s anything you need to talk about, then I’m here and willing to listen.”Harry sighed, but didn’t pull away from Draco’s touch. “It’s just that- well. Five years ago today is when Sirius died. And I know that there’s other things that happened later than that that should probably be more traumatizing, or saddening, or whatever. I wanted you to open today so that I could selfishly take the day off, even though I- well. Then I was lying in bed, unable to sleep, thinking about how I’d only known Sirius for like, ten percent of my life at this point. I’m twenty now, and I only really knew him for about two years before he died. And then I started worrying that because I’d barely known him, I might start to forget what he looks like, but I can’t remember where I put that damn picture.” This was definitely out of Draco’s realm of expertise. He was no good with emotions, and especially not when it came to consoling people who were grieving. But this was Harry he was talking about, and Draco couldn’t stomach the thought of just leaving him to deal with all his worries on his own. He pulled Harry into a hug. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay, we’ll find that picture. We don’t even have to open up shop today. I’m sure the customers would understand, considering how much you’re always doing for them.”Harry gulped a few times, but didn’t actually start crying like Draco had thought that he would. “Ah, maybe you’re right. Thank you, Draco. I mean, I know that I’m the one who hired you in the first place, and I’m also the one who told you to be here today at this time, but even still, thank you for being here for me.”“No problem. It isn’t a hardship to support you, Harry. You deserve to have people who care about you. I’m sorry that you lost your godfather.”Harry nodded. “Thanks. And I’m sorry that you lost your father. I don’t know if I ever said that before. Admittedly he was never my favorite person, but it still can’t be easy to lose a parent who you were raised by, so I’m sorry for that.”The ‘closed’ sign on the front door was left where it was, and it seemed to be almost like magic that not a single customer showed up that day to be sent away in disappointment. Eventually, Draco convinced Harry to go home, and he went along as well. The two of them got slightly drunk, but much less than Draco would have expected, all things considered. Harry talked about Sirius and all the things he missed about his godfather, which eventually transitioned into talking about his parents, and then from there to everyone else he loved who had died.Based on everything that had happened in Harry’s life, it seemed like something of a miracle that the man was functional at all, let alone as strong and kind and charitable as he was. Even now, buzzed and upset, Harry made sure to remind Draco that he didn’t blame him for any of the losses that he was lamenting.It was at that point that Draco couldn’t resist the urge to just lean over and place a little peck on Harry’s lips. He pulled back almost immediately, apologies about to start spilling out everywhere.Harry reached out to gently grab Draco’s arm. “Don’t go. I’m not… tonight isn’t a good night for new things. There’s too many old things still on my mind. But you can stay, and I’ll even let you have my bed while I sleep on the couch, and tomorrow, we can talk. Please?” Well. When he looked at Draco with those eyes, he was really quite helpless to say no. He nodded once. “I’d really like that.”Harry smiled, and scooted over on the couch so that he could cuddle up to Draco. “I’m really glad that I hired you,” he said quietly.“Me too,” Draco agreed in an equally soft voice. “Me too.”