Chapter Two

Draco's grin was enormous. Blaise, his best friend, was staring at him being creepy with a glass of Firewhisky in his hands. "Aren't you going to tell me what happened?"

Draco's grin widened impossibly. "Oh, no." Blaise groaned. "It's about the Potter boy, isn't it?"

Draco nodded in response, his grin never once dropping."He agreed to meet me tomorrow, at his place."

"He agree to meet you tomorrow, at his place?" Blaise asked incredulously.

"Okay, no." Draco admitted. "I might've provoked him a little bit and he may have told me that I was git, but in the end he asked me to come over to his place tomorrow for lunch."

Blaise covered his ears, as he was afraid his eardrums would burst with the high pitch of the squeal Draco had let out. "Geez Malfoy, it's not even a date."

"Oh, shut up!" Draco snapped. He was a little bit pissed off that his best friend didn't seem to be taking this situation in the correct light. He was finally, finally, getting on the right side of Harry Potter.

"Sorry, mate." Blaise said, abashed. He hadn't really meant to be negative, he was happy for his friend, he really was. "It is honestly great that you're getting along with Potter. After all, how many years was it that you had a crush on him exactly?"

Blaise was grinning cheekily at Draco as he said this, knowing his friend would get embarrassed. Seven years was a long time, after all.

He was right.

Draco Malfoy was blushing to his roots. He muttered a half-hearted, "Shut up."

"So, what exactly are you going to do when you go over to Potter's place tomorrow?" Blaise smirked and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Draco gasped. "I-I, I don't kn-now." He looked positively terrified. "Merlin's balls! What am I supposed to do, Blaise? What am I supposed to say? I'm going to make a git of myself, aren't I?"

Blaise was a little surprised. This wasn't the reaction he had been expecting. What had happened to the confident Malfoy?

"Why don't you give him a kiss the minute you see him?" Blaise suggested, rather stupidly.

Draco turned with an annoyed look on his face. "Don't play the fool, Blaise. Potter wouldn't give me another chance if I did that. He doesn't even like me that way. He was pining over the Weaselette when I talked to him." He practically spat out the derogatory nickname he had for Ginny Weasley.

"Wait, really?" Blaise was surprised. As far as he knew, Potter hadn't even so much as glanced in Ginny Weasley's direction after he found out she was cheating on him, and had refused to listen to her explanation and pleas to take her back.

"Yeah." Draco said, bitterly. "He was going on and on about someone's legs and face and ass and hair. Now, it wouldn't be me, would it?" Draco added, as a sarcastic afterthought.

Blaise humphed. "Well, you never know, Draco."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Get out of whatever delusional rock you're living under. This is the real world, mate."

"I think you should come and live with me under my delusional rock. It's a much nicer place."

"I might just take you on that." Draco sighed. "I have no idea what I'm going to do on this date."

"Oh, so it's a date now, is it?" Blaise smirked suggestively.

"Shut up." Draco reddened. He hadn't meant to say that, honestly! It had just slipped out.

"I can come over tomorrow to help?" Blaise offered.

"Are you sure?" Draco asked, worried. His friend had a lot of things going on at the moment, and he didn't want him to stress himself.

"I wouldn't have offered otherwise, Draco." Blaise frowned.

"Alright, alright." Draco cried, hastily. "Honestly, I would love your help. This is Potter we're talking about."

"I think you need to relax a little bit. After all, what's the worst that can happen?"

Draco kept his mouth shut, not wanting to voice all the things that could go wrong, because we're talking about Harry Potter, Blaise not my mother.

XXXXXXX

Harry was flipping out.

There were clothes strewn all around his room, his hair was a mess and his eyes were positively maniacal. He had nothing to wear. This was an absolute disaster.

Why had he invited Draco -no, Malfoy- to his house again?

"Maybe it's because you've had a crush on him for the past five years of your life, if not more." Hermione pointed out helpfully.

"Honestly mate, I don't know what you're so worried for. It's just a dinner at your place." Ron said, rolling his eyes.

Harry took a deep breath and stepped away from his wardrobe. "Don't pretend that this wasn't you when you asked Hermione out for the first time, Ron."

"Huh-I—!" Ron spluttered.

Hermione swooped in to save her boyfriend. "So you've finally accepted the fact that this little dinner of yours, is a date after all?" She smirked. Harry had been vehemently insistent on the fact that no, this was not a date because why would Draco Malfoy want to go on a date with me.

Harry turned red and looked away. "Oh, shut up. If you're going to be over there judging me, you can leave." He huffed.

"Don't be like that, mate." Ron complained. "The black shirt looked good on you." He added, helpfully.

"Yes, Harry. Why don't you wear the blue shirt though," Hermione said, shooting a glare at her boyfriend, "and wear your favourite black skinny jeans?"

"Those pants make your arse look fantastic. Malfoy won't be able to resist you in those." Ron called out, cackling to himself. Harry nodded and went to pick the clothes up from the floor. Sighing, he went to the bathroom and quickly changed.

He stepped back out, and looked at Hermione questioningly. "This good?"

"Yeah, it's simple and casual but it brings out your physique. Just roll up the sleeves a little bit to show off your arms a bit more, and you'll be good to go."

"What about food?" Ron enquired.

Harry's face paled. "Merlin's bollocks!"

"Harry!" Hermione scolded. "You can't possibly have forgotten to think about the food, could you?"

Harry's face was white at this point. "Shit. Shit. Shit. This is a disaster. What am I going to do. Oh, no Malfoy is going to hate me for the rest of my life!"

"Okay, calm down mate." Ron said. "We'll think of something, alright."

"Harry, why don't you just ask him what he liked when he gets here, and then you can cook it then?" Hermione suggested. Yes, Harry Potter was a good cook. After moving out of Grimmauld Place a year ago because it was getting swamped by reporters ( Kreature was more than happy to see him go ), he had moved into a cosy apartment on the outskirts of the city.

And living alone meant that he had to leave how to cook because no matter how easy conjuring food was, it didn't taste nearly as good as the real stuff. Having spent one year alone now, Harry had become quite the proficient chef, even if he did say so himself.

"Okay." Harry breathed out. "Okay." It wasn't a disaster, not yet. He could manage.

"Um, mate. Malfoy should be getting here soon and it wouldn't do well for the both of us to be here when he does." Ron stated.

"That's right." Hermione agreed. "We'll be going now, Harry. Don't worry so much, everything will be fine. If Malfoy agreed to come, he must like you right?"

"Right." Harry exhaled. He could do this. Totally.

"Bye, you guys."

"Cheers mate."

"Good luck, Harry."

As he walked his friends out, Harry couldn't help but feel that this was the universe's way of messing with him. After all, how many people could claim to have sustained a crush on their childhood rival for five years while fighting a war against said rival and after winning the war, convince rival to come over to his house for lunch on an almost-date?

Draco Malfoy made him do all sorts of weird things.

Harry shook his head as he watched the now tiny figures of his friends in the distance. They were so perfect for each other, just like Ginny and he had been.

Was he really not worth it?

Sighing again, Harry walked in. Relationships really were not his thing but he desperately wanted to call a certain blond-haired gray-eyed Malfoy heir his own. Pining for years after that ass, like a thirsty stalker, had taken a toll after all.

He walked around his flat for a bit, straightening some things out and making sure everything was perfect. Snow, his owl, hooted at him from her stand disapprovingly.

"I can't help it, girl." He crooned as he stroked her head. "I'm so nervous about this. You did meet the correct Malfoy and ensure he got the address, right?"

Snow hooted again, eyeing his balefully. "Sorry." Harry apologised. "I just want everything to be perfect. And what sort of host would I be if I didn't even give my guest the proper address?"

Snow huffed her feathers haughtily and turned away from him opting to tuck her head into her body and go to sleep. "I see how it is." Harry accused the sleeping bird. "You don't care about me and my struggles at all."

Leaving his owl to sleep, he slowly walked to the kitchen to ensure he had most, if not all, the ingredients required for any dish Malfoy would throw at him.

Harry hummed and decided to make a pot of tea. Merlin, he knew Drac-Malfoy loved his tea. It wasn't his fault if he was an observant person, was it? And Malfoy did act like an addict whenever he drank tea.

No, no it wasn't his fault, for sure.

He was an Auror after all. It was his job to observe things.

Harry couldn't help but feel that he was going on the defensive. No matter, Malfoy would get his tea.

He put the kettle to boil, just as the doorbell rang.

Harry looked up, confused. He had assumed that Malfoy would come by Floo, after all wasn't that how wizards normally travelled?

Squaring his shoulders, he strode towards the door and stopped. Mentally preparing himself, he opened the door only to find Molly with a covered tray of what looked to be cookies.

His eyes widened. "Mrs Weasley?" he squeaked.

"Now, now Harry dear, I know you're expecting someone for lunch - Ronald told me - and knowing you, you would have forgotten to prepare food. And I baked these just today morning." Molly said grinning. "Stop gaping and take these so I can go back home and ensure that the twins have not wrecked my house."

Dumbstruck, Harry took the tray and watched as Mrs Weasley disapparated away. Maybe this was a good omen. This date might not be so bad after all.

xx

Sorry for taking so long to update but i assure you i have not given up on this story. Until next time :)