Happily Ever After I'm Dead

Chapter 5

Harry finished the three-hour long class and sent his students on their way. He then promptly flooed to Grimmauld Place and collapsed onto the nearest chair to eat lunch. He loved teaching his classes, they kept him in shape, but sometimes he just wanted to sit down at home and think.

His thoughts turned to his newest partner and wondered why Draco Malfoy had wanted to join the aurors. He assumed it was to redeem his name in the Wizarding World, but briefly considered the possibility that he just wanted to get out and do something to maintain his shape since he no longer flew competitively. And then he wondered if it was just to prove to Harry that he wasn't his father. That he was something more than the political backstabber everyone thought he would turn out to be.

Reluctantly, Harry pushed the blond out of his mind and answered his fire-call.

"Damn it Kingsley, what is it this time?" Harry's gut filled with dread. Not one fire-call from Kingsley ever ended well for the auror. It usually ended in a few nights of no sleep and lots of overtime.

"How's training going for your newest partner? Haven't scared him off, have you?"

"No boss, but I doubt that's why you called."

"You're right Potter." The older man became much more serious. "I need you to get started on a mission ASAP. But you need Malfoy. I can't let you go out on missions by yourself now that there's an even number of Aurors. So I need you to get him trained sooner than we planned. Meaning: you have one week to make sure that he's up to ship-shape."

"To what extent of training are we talking?"

"The maximum. As in, as much a you can cram in his mind-do it. I'll expect you two to be coming into work in a week." Harry watched his face disappear and hit his head repeatedly on the table. Not only does he have to continue with his aerobics classes, but now he had to put in overtime with Draco Malfoy.

Could life punish him any more thoroughly?

He dragged himself upstairs to his room and stripped to his boxers in a sleepy haze. He then promptly fell on top of his sheets and fell asleep.

He should have known things could get worse. He hadn't thought about how busy his mind had been today and how that would affect his sleeping patterns, but he should have. He had never had this much to think about since he had to battle Voldemort and sure enough, he woke up to the sun, something he hadn't done since the War. And then he remembered he had to train Malfoy.

It was a moment of instant panic, the moment that you wake up and foolishly hope you're dreaming but you know that you're not. In that moment Harry felt a pang of fear, something that he hadn't felt since Dumbledore's death. It was in that instant that he felt completely overwhelmed and didn't know what to do.

"DAMN IT I'M LATE!" Harry struggled to get into his clothes and ran to the fireplace to floo to the Malfoy Manor. When he walked out of the fireplace, he stopped short at the sight that met his eyes.

Draco Malfoy was running on his own, down the same path they took on the very first day Harry started training him. He was astonished to see that his partner was almost halfway done with the three-mile path Harry had made, which had to mean he had started a while ago. He was amazed, no one had ever taken the initiative to start their training without him, and the fact that Draco Malfoy of all people did surprised him. He hadn't been surprised since he had seen all the students that took cover in the Room of Requirement when Snape had been Headmaster. It seemed that Draco was stirring a lot of emotions he hadn't thought he could feel in years.

He watched him run the whole way, and promptly passed out when he saw him stop by the tree and start doing push-ups on his own.

The right way.

Draco woke up on time and looked around waiting for his trainer from hell and partner from his worst nightmares. When he didn't show up by six, Draco decided it was about time to start running. The last thing he needed was to take a day off. He knew that he'd hurt worse if he didn't keep up with Harry's mad training from the Devil's gym. That and he wanted to impress him when he showed up. He was tired of knowing that Harry, and most other people, thought of him as lazy just because he grew up a rich little boy. No one ever knew that he went out to the pitch late at night from second year on to practice for hours on end just to better himself. No one ever knew that he would go to bed early to study his head off so he could get better grades and do better. They just assumed it was from how he was raised and he was sick of having people see him like that. He was determined to impress Harry if it killed him.

He ran the three miles within an hour and promptly started doing push-ups. He'd never admit it to his partner, but he actually enjoyed the exercise much more when he did it right.

He stopped when he heard a thud and bolted upright. Who could possibly have gotten into the Manor? He walked over to the French glass doors and saw the brunet passed out on the floor.

"Potter!" Ah, now this is why Draco was put into Slytherin all those years ago. Payback is a bitch. He drew out his wand and sprayed a gentle stream of ice cold water on the man.

"Ah! Malfoy, you twat! What was that for?"

"Payback sucks doesn't it? Now get up, you lazy arse." Draco took the moment to drink some water.

"Um...Right. So Kingsley has a job for me which means physical work is going to have to be put on hold for now. So. Show me what you've learned since school." Draco showed him impressive display of various spells. He faltered after a few minutes after seeing the look on his spectator's face.

"What?"

"Impressive. For anyone but an auror. Now I want you to learn these spells and learn them well. You know where to reach me if you need me." He handed Draco a textbook chalk full of spells that he had made written notes next to. It would figure that he would write in books, he never had much respect for the texts.

The severity of the damage was worse than he had thought, but at least it was readable. Of course, Draco would have to wait until the next day when the culprit would come back to give him a tongue-lashing. He never took it lightly when someone would write in a book-why wouldn't you just write your notes on some parchment and stick it in between the pages like any respectable person would do?

Although, as he looked through some of the notes, he noticed that they were all apparently hints to mastering the spells. In some spots, he even found spells written into the ends of chapters with brief descriptions as to what they did and how to perform them.

All in all, it was pretty interesting and before Draco even thought about taking a shower he was sitting in the nearest chair and completely enraptured. After a few minutes, he decided that he was confident he could figure out the simpler spells without the hints and notes written in the margins.

However, after several failed attempts, he decided to try just one hint. He scowled when it worked effortlessly.

And, although he'd never admit it, Draco spent the next nine hours memorizing the book. He then had to force himself to stop when a house elf came in and forced him to eat dinner and take a shower.

After a delicious meal, consisting of a very fresh fruit salad and strawberry lemonade, Draco got into his crimson silk pajama pants and settled down to practice more spells.

By ten at night, Draco had all of the spell incantations and movements memorized. And to his delight, he could perform most of them successfully.

Taking the broken chandelier as his cue to go to sleep, he put the book on his nightstand and as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was immersed in a peaceful heavy sleep.