Taking Him In

an awkward week goes by

Quick filler chapter. Will get back to action asap after.

The next week was surprisingly quiet. Well, by Harry's standards any way.

Renovations continued. Draco seemed to be using them as a way to keep himself busy. The effort was obviously paying off by how different the house was. It no longer made you feel like there was a house on your back that you had to carry, and it no longer looked like a place from a horror movie. There wasn't much left. Just a couple more hidden corners of the house, like the basement, a couple bedrooms, and a couple bathrooms. Draco had also planned to get Harry to do his own room; for obvious reasons.

Besides renovations, a couple other interesting things occurred.

When Harry had booked Draco's therapy sessions, the person who answered seemed quite bitter when they heard the name 'Draco Malfoy'. They turned their mind right around when they heard it was Harry Potter booking it. So Harry had payed them a visit and asked if the therapist would have a problem with it being Draco Malfoy. In the end, the person at the receptionist desk was fired.

Another interesting thing that occurred was the ministry official, Morgan Martin came to check that nobody had died yet. He'd asked each of them separately how their first two weeks together had been. They each told everything that had happened in their own perspective, as Martin swiftly wrote everything he could down. Once they finished with that, Draco showed Martin all the changes he'd made to the house. Martin was quite impressed. The before photos didn't even look like they were from the same house. Morgan Martin left the house with a smile, and a long report to write.

Meals had become quite awkward. Either Kreatcher would make the food, or Harry and Kreatcher would have a shouting match before Harry made the meal. Then following the meal finally being finished, Harry would grumpily sit down and eat. Then Draco would proceed to tell of how the house was changing, or his planning for a room. Harry was grateful for the distraction.

Not working full time had definitely been taking a toll on Harry. Constantly Harry was going out flying, cooking, or finding something for himself to do. He was bored out of his mind, and had at some point even began helping Draco refurbish.

........

Harry had been trying to hide his nerves about how the therapy session would go. Him being nervous, might just make Draco refuse to go.

Then suddenly it was time to bring Draco to his therapy session. Draco wasn't excited, he seemed more like he felt resigned to doing the therapy by his tightly held shoulders, and unreadable expression. Which was true. In his trial, it had said he needed a month of therapy.

So Harry had dropped him off, and was dealing with the silence of the house. Quickly he found himself growing bored, and desperate for something to do. He couldn't wait to get back to work.

Draco on the other hand felt uncomfortable. The person in front of him was encouraging him to speak of whatever was troubling him.

Chester, the therapist, was a tall thin, yet muscular figure that would be rather intimidating in battle. Their dark hair was neatly brushed, and the clothing all business casual. The large dark brown eyes that showed concern from behind the thick rimmed glasses, were rather encouraging.

"So Mr. Malfoy, how do you think you're faring at the moment, emotionally and mentally?"

Goodness. Talking about his emotions... That's something he'd been taught to never do. Unfortunately this was part of the deal.

Taking a deep breath, he began, "If I'm quite honest, I'm not sure. The war had one simple goal which was to survive. I wanted to keep me and my mother alive. Emotions, and mental health didn't matter then." Draco looked back at Chester's therapist certificate. Seemed pretty real.

Draco's posture was still perfect as it has been ever since he left Grimauld place. "Now I'm just confused. I've gone from doing everything to survive in a location I'm familiar with, to a completely new location where I'm always safe, yet don't feel it. I'm living with my old enemy, and we're developing the strangest acquaintance?" Draco tried to explain.

Chester nodded encouragingly with a smile. Curse therapists and their friendlyness, Draco thought to himself.

"All we've ever done is fight, and now suddenly we're living together, and I basically owe a life debt and a half to him." Chester gave a calculating look before jotting something down.

"And how do you feel about these life debts Mr. Malfoy? Why are they so important to you?" Chester asked with quite a considerate tone.

"Please call me Draco. I don't appreciate the reminder." Chester is really hitting the hard spots. I hope we can change the topic.

"My apologies Draco. Please explain how you feel about them. why are these so important to you?"

Draco shifted slightly in his seat which caused Chester to jot something on his paper. If that was a intimidation move... It works. "I'm not totally sure. Its definitely negative. It's been drilled into my head for years that I need to be the best."

Chester gave a knowing look, and asked him to try to describe how he feels about the life debt. So much for a distraction.

"I'm sorry, do we have to speak about it now? I'm not quite sure how to answer."

Chester nodded with a small smile. "We don't have to no. Just think about it, and we'll talk about it in another session when you're ready." Then Chester paused. "So you mentioned your situation with Mr. Potter was strange. How so?"

"Is this even related to my well being? Are you just one of those people who want to talk about Potter?"

Chester began explaining, "indeed it is important, and no I'm not. I'm here to help you Draco. We can get back to the stuff that you want to change when I'm sure the place you're in now won't add more negativity to your mindset. Avoid a step in the wrong direction. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, I believe it does," Draco answered bitterly. "So you asked about the situation with Potter?"

Chester nodded. Hands clasped and staring nearly emotionlessly. A curious look falling through Chester's eyes as their attempt to remain emotionless was nearly perfect.

"Well starting from the beginning would most likely make more sense to you, so I'll start from the first conflict we had. It all started with a handshake. Well a refused handshake anyway."

For the next fifteen minutes he explained how they'd interacted, the many cases when they fought, and a lot was ranting about Harry.

"I have a general understanding now Draco. You can stop ranting now." Chester smiled. "I understand how it could be strange living together, but you also have to look at it from his side. A lot of the situations you described involved you initiating the conflict did it not?"

"Well..." Draco had an excuse on the top of his tongue. Chester is here to help he reminded himself. "Yes."

"So it must also be weird for Mr. Potter to be taking you into his own home. From the sound of it, none of his friends would agree with the choice either would they?"

I don't believe they would, no."

Chester's fingers made their way through the neat, dark hair before explaining, "at this point the best approach, from my point of view, would be to tiptoe around your differences and attempt to build a friendship on your similarities. Does that make sense?"

"Unfortunately... Yes."

"Good. That's our time for today. Thank you Mr. Mal- I mean thank you Draco."