Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling. No money is being made

Written for Quidditch League Competition – Round Two

Prompt - SEEKER: A work based friendship

Constant change

Things changed. That was a universal truth. It didn't matter if it took seconds or eons for it to happen, but it always did. Sometimes things changed for the worse, other times for the better, but they did change.

Looking back he couldn't say that this particular change was good, but he couldn't say that it was bad either. It just was.

One could argue that friendship was always a good thing.

But what if that friendship came with strings? With so many strings that he was sure that he would end tangled up in them?

What did it say about him that he couldn't really bring himself to regret this friendship, even if it only started because of their mutual work?

And it hadn't even started out smoothly. He would be the first to admit that it had been mostly his fault. But you couldn't erase the past, especially not one as adventurous as their own.

Laughter broke him out of his thoughts and he looked around. Taking in all the people mingling and the children playing, so different to everything he had been used to, but so much more enjoyable. A small smile graced his lips when he saw his son being tackle by a gaggle of children and the happy laughter coming from the puppy pile they had created.

He could only imagine how some of his friends would react if they had seen their own children acting like that. He sure remembered how his own parents would have reacted.

And all of it started with a small folder holding the information about his new field partner.

He could still clearly remember just how indignant he had been when he had seen just who had been assigned as his partner. From what he later learned his partner's reaction had been just as indignant as his own, there were rumors of things blowing up, considering his friend's temper that really wouldn't surprise him. It was a known fact that when he was in a temper then you best run for cover. It was something that he had learned with time, but he did learn it. As well as a multitude of other things that he had once suspected and mocked about his friend and now cherished.

Their first sparing session had gone down in history, though. The tension between them hadn't lessened in the slightest when their instructor told them to have a spar. Suffice to say that when they were done the training room had been close to demolished. The spars between them had been put on hold after that.

He could pinpoint the exact moment that everything changed for him.

They were captured.

They were captured and it had been his fault.

They weren't in captivity for long, they weren't overly hurt. All in all it wasn't even a traumatic experience. However they had both known that it had only been his mistake that had lead to their capture and when their boss had asked them for their report his partner had covered for him.

He had cornered him shortly after, asking him why he had done it, why he would risk his career for him.

He didn't know if he had been surprised or not when his partner simply turned towards him raised an eyebrow and replied, "We're partners." as if that was answer enough, as if that was all that mattered.

It took him a while to realize that it truly was everything that mattered to his partner.

And that changed everything.

It created an uneasy friendship at first. He was slightly worried to go along with it, but he ended up falling victim to those strings.

A 'let's have lunch' string. Another that was 'let's go have a drink after our shift'. Yet another that was 'hey, you free? Gotta get out of the house for a bit'. And those strings were soon joined by 'she's having the baby now!' and 'hey, it's my eldest birthday tomorrow, don't forget to get there a bit earlier to help set things up'. So many other strings that he lost count along the way.

Still, looking around he just couldn't regret this friendship that started as nothing more than a work friendship and became so much more. He had learned to accept it with open arms, to enjoy every single string pulling him towards this band of people that would have driven him completely crazy in his younger years.

Truthfully they still drove him crazy, just as much as he drove them, but it was so full of life, of joy, that he couldn't imagine how his life would have turned out if he had gone through with his threat and changed partner right at the beginning.

He lost a lot to keep this friendship, true. He hardly ever spoke with his father anymore because of it, but he had gained so much in return that he considered it a fair trade.

"Daddy!"

He looked up when he heard his son and he laughed out loud when he saw his fluorescent pink hair with little dog ears twitching at the top.

"Daddy!" his son now sounding quite indignant and pouting for all he was worth when he saw that no help was coming from him.

A chuckle on his right made him look at his partner, his friend, and smile.

"Which one of yours did that?" he asked, trying to sound stern but the mirth in his eyes gave him away.

"I think it was James, with Teddy's help." the amusement in his eyes was there for all to see.

"Really, Potter, those boys of yours are a menace." he didn't even try to hide his affectionate tone.

Harry laughed and pulled him along towards the playing children.

"You wouldn't change them for anything in the world, Draco."

He followed along, shaking his head, knowing that the other man was right.

He wouldn't change his life for anything in the world.