And Then He Was Gone

What Friends Really Do

"Common sense is not so common."

~Fortune cookie day-by-day calendar

"I didn't tell her; I couldn't bring myself to tell her. I don't know if I want to anymore," the black-haired man sighed rubbing his nose where his glasses always sat.

"What do you mean you didn't tell her, Potter? You're the one that tracked me down!" The blonde man was pacing furiously in front of Harry's desk. It was late at night, shortly after Harry had left the dinner party, and here he was explaining why he wanted Malfoy to go back into hiding.

"I know, but I didn't expect to find you between the time Pansy left the office and the dinner party."

"Well, I'm terribly sorry that my ass didn't sit on the toilet longer to give you some time to reconsider. I came back because you said something was wrong with Pansy; is there or is there not a problem?" Malfoy spat turning to glare at the young man.

"There is," Harry sighed leaning forward on the desk and wishing Malfoy would sit down. "I know that something went on between you and Pansy."

"Everyone and their toad knew Pansy and I were friends, how thick are you? For Christ's sake I feel like I'm having a conversation with Weasel," he said. Exhausted he sat down in a tough leather chair in front of Potter's desk.

"I mean, I know that more went on," Harry said already fed up with his enemy's presence after a few minutes.

"Well, maybe you need to mind your own business, Potter. Are we done here, because, believe it or not, I have a life to get back to."

"And just how is that life going, Malfoy?" he spat curiously.

"Perfectly fine now that there are no hero boys around to live up to."

"I mean, do you enjoy it?" Harry asked trying to get through Malfoy's large, stubborn ego.

"Potter, if you're asking if I'm happy, yes. Sure, some things could always improve, but I'm not complaining. Although I highly doubt my life is as interesting as yours."

"If you were to come back among us Remus would more than oblige to find a job for you here at BC," Harry said businesslike.

"Potter, I didn't come here to listen to you try and recruit me. If there's a problem with Pansy tell me what it is."

"You care?" Harry asked smirking at his own ingenious.

"Of course I care, we were friends. She's the only one like me left, now that Blaise is gone."

"I think it's more than that," Harry said sitting back realizing this could take all night.

"Well, congratulations on your theory. Why does it matter to you whether I screwed Pansy or not?"

"Malfoy, that is not what I was getting at!" Harry said whipping the mental image from his mind. "Did you two have sexual relations?" Harry asked out of curiosity, immediately regretting his words.

Malfoy smirked and stood, throwing his cloak behind him and leaning his palms on Harry's desk. "Don't worry, you're still her only in that department," he said.

Harry's face paled immediately and his eyes grew to the size of realization.

"Potter, I did have something for Pansy. But I left after realizing that I could never match up to you. I never have and, by the looks of it, I never will have sexual relations with Pansy Parkinson."

"Malfoy, I am involved with Ginny and I won't risk that," Harry said standing facing Malfoy in much the same way he was.

"But back then Ginny wasn't visible to you. There was smart, beautiful, seducing Pansy. Whatever there was between Pansy and I, died. The war tears people apart and brings others together. It wasn't meant to be. Now, if I may leave...."

"You can't hold against me something that happened forever ago," Harry said enraged.

"Of course I can, I'm a Slytherin. Besides, at the time it happened, it was the day after I told her I loved her." Draco Malfoy turned on his heel before Potter could see the emotions in his face. He hobbled slightly to the door on one of his legs injured in the last battle. Grasping the handle for life, Draco threw it open and stormed out the door, slamming it shut behind him causing the frames to rattle in Harry's office.

Harry sat down shakily in his chair his mind reeling. Perhaps no one will ever know the role Draco Malfoy played in that final battle. But right now there was a war raging inside Harry; a war between past memories and present ones.

"Damnit!" Harry cursed slamming down a picture of Ginny and him in front of the burrow. Two minutes later Harry Potter had grabbed up his cloak and fled from his comfortable office in BC. Before Harry could comprehend how to fasten his cloak he found himself in front of the flat of the very person who was tormenting him.

"Harry?" the woman asked opening the door.

"I need to talk to you," he gasped heading out of the darkness and into the light of her home.