The Wizarding Award Scheme Programme (or W.A.S.P. for short)

3. They Got Me A Wife

A/N Warning: this chapter does contain some homophobic language.

Harry followed behind Malfoy, taking the opportunity to admire his firm arse nicely clad in his tight black combats. He knew full-well he was letching but it would a shame to waste the chance considering that beautiful backside wasn't hidden beneath Malfoy's professor robes, for once...

Malfoy returning to Hogwarts nine months earlier had been somewhat unsettling for Harry. And despite the lack of consultation with her deputy head on Minerva's part (though to be fair, he had been away in France when she was interviewing), he didn't disagree with the appointment; Malfoy was one of the best potion masters in Britain. Still, it was a bit awkward.

Of course, there'd been all that trouble in the press surrounding his divorce after Malfoy had been caught having an affair. It was at the centre of much press speculation and gossip though surprisingly little information leaked out about the full details and reasoning of the marriage break-up as the Greengrasses and the Malfoys underwent a huge and acrimonious custody battle over Scorpius. Harry did know that the problem wasn't the affair per se, it was more that Malfoy had been caught in bed with another man and, while Astoria was singularly unimpressed, it was actually Lucius who was deeply ashamed of his son's sexuality. It seemed that Lucius Abraxas Malfoy was horrifically homophobic and therefore the ensuing scandal such news would cause was devasting to him (and him alone). Draco had come out of the ensuing argument with his father extremely badly after Lucius took both his wand and the handled-end of the familial cane to his twenty-seven-year-old son. After which, Draco was locked away from the public eye and his sexuality was kept under wraps despite the rest of the wizarding world not actually caring one iota about an individual's sexual orientation (much to Harry's own relief regarding the matter).

Harry also knew that Lucius had enough on the Greengrasses' own illegal activities during the war to prevent them from going to the press with the fact that Draco had been unfortunately indiscrete with another man. Marcus Greengrass hadn't been foolish enough to become a Death-eater but he'd had a very healthy black-market business in dark artefacts that made Borgin and Burkes look like a toyshop in comparison; a matter the Aurors knew about well and truly but repeatedly failed to find enough evidence to prosecute the man. It seemed the financial trail was particularly elusive. Harry surmised that Lucius's hold over Marcus Greengrass was probably the only reason he'd managed to arrange Draco's marriage in the first place, because how else, with the Malfoy name in tatters since the war, could Lucius get a perfect little pureblood Slytherin wife for his son without a bit of blackmail involved?

Harry had actually known Malfoy was gay for some ten years. Since the 5th June 1999, to be exact. It wasn't a night one could easily wipe from one's memories, even with a pensive.

It had been a particular shit week, Ginny had left on her first European tour with The Harpies, their relationship was under a lot of strain, and he'd just finished wrapping up a particularly difficult case with the Aurors centring on rounding up a group of Neo-Deatheaters and a deeply upsetting case in which the group had committed a gruesome, torturous murder of a young muggle-born couple, leaving behind three young children, the eldest of whom was only six. Harry was physically and mentally exhausted and the last thing he wanted was to go back to the empty flat alone and face the reminders of his failing relationship with his girlfriend. He'd remained sitting in the Leaky Cauldron alone long after the other Aurors had left after their traditional 'celebratory' case-closing drink.

'Another one, Tom,' he sighed sometime later as he pushed his empty Firewhiskey glass across the old wooden bar. He was debating getting a room for the night, he really couldn't be bothered to Apparate back to the flat. Annoyingly, he didn't feel in the least bit drunk, despite the sterling effort to get there.