a/n: Eggy bread also known as: French toast, German toast, eggy bread, French-fried bread, Poor Knights of Windsor, Spanish toast, nun's toast, and pain perdu.

Early the next morning, Draco apparated back to the iron gates of the Manor.

"State your purpose!" The gate demanded.

"I'd like to speak to Libbi, the house elf," Draco said.

After a minute, the little elf appeared on the other side of the fence, looking at Draco warily, "It is you again."

Draco nodded, "I just want to know if the Mistress is doing well."

Libbi lifted her chin defiantly, "The mistress is well. And you will be leaving her and Libbi alone." she snapped her fingers and disappeared.

Draco went back to his flat and tried to read more about how mental spells affected the mind, but he couldn't focus. He should be happy that his mother was doing well... that she was writing to her sister. Draco frowned, how many times had he suggested she do just that, but now she was doing it. That was good. But it didn't feel that way.

Draco did his best to study but couldn't concentrate for more than five or ten minutes at a time. He tried to push himself through it but spent a lot of time sleeping, eating when he remembered and was rather relieved when it was time to go back to work on Monday.

His second week, he found the work didn't tire him as much. He could scrub out even the largest cauldron, which he had to bend nearly double to reach the bottom of, with much less soreness the next day. It seemed like Florence's potion inventories were getting easier and easier to manage, with smaller brewing batches needed to fill up the stores. Draco had requested a filing cabinet, charmed to be almost endless but he hadn't yet figured out what papers to save and which he could vanish. To put that off as long as possible, he instead spent his spare hours creating an inventory of ingredients so he could order those they were running low on and test some of the older ingredients for potency.

Draco was testing some mugwort he had found in a neglected drawer when a paper-aeroplane sailed into the room and gently tapped him on the head. It said he had a visitor waiting in the entrance hall.

"Hubert, I'm going to go have my... break? It might end up being my lunch depending on long it takes me," Draco said.

Hubert didn't look up from his cauldron, absently waving Draco off.

When Draco came into the front desk, he saw Harry's hair first, a shock of black above the crowd and headed towards it.

"Did you get hurt again?" Draco asked.

Harry's face broke into a grin as he turned, "No, I'm fine. I was just-"

"Oh. Oooh. So this is why you volunteered us to come and take statements," A woman said, a cheeky smile in her voice before Draco even moved to see her. It took a second to recognise her, Draco hadn't seen Lavender Brown since school, and he hadn't seen much of her then. She mostly kept to her small social circle and wasn't involved in Potter's drama. The biggest change was the three scars marking her dark skin, across her cheek and over her mouth from where she had been attacked by Greyback in the last battle. She wore a cocky confidence that carried the scars better than any style or makeup.

"Lavender Brown," Lavender said, holding out a hand, "I'm Potter's auror partner for my sins."

"Draco," Draco said, "What sort of sins are those?"

"Don't-" Harry tried.

"Mainly being the only one who'll put up with him," Lavender said.

Draco raised an eyebrow, "Then it seems to be self-inflicted, you must have a martyr complex."

Lavender laughed.

"Oh, but suppose Harry already has that covered," Draco said.

"I like you!" Lavender said, "Even if you are making Harry a distracted mess."

"Lav, please," Harry said.

Lavender jabbed Potter with her elbow, "But it's been ages since I've had something to tease you about."

Harry rolled his eyes, "You tease me about everything."

"Ages since I've had anything new to tease you about," Lavender said.

"Great," Harry muttered.

A mediwizard tapped Lavender on the shoulder, "The patient is okayed give a statement now, but Healer Saundra says you can't let them get overexcited or you'll have to leave."

Lavender nodded, "Alright, I'll do it."

"I should come with you," Harry said reluctantly.

Lavender gave him an amused look, "Healer said we can't get them overexcited, that means no Hero Harry Potter's, sorry."

"I'll, uh, meet you-"

"At the cafeteria?" Draco suggested.

Harry nodded.

"Alright," Lavender said, giving them a wave as she followed the mediwizard, "Get me a coffee while you're there!"

"You can go back to work if you need to. I just wanted to say hello," Harry said.

"I haven't had my lunch yet," Draco said, leading the way down to the cafeteria.

"Oh, me neither. Is the food any good?" Potter asked.

"Don't touch the curry, no matter how good it smells. The soup and sandwiches are decent, except the tuna which is not reliably... anything worth eating," Draco said.

"That's a shame. I like curry," Potter said.

"It's the curry that doesn't like people. I'm personally no good with spicy food, even when it isn't malevolent," Draco said.

Potter nodded, "Sounds about right."

Draco shot him a look.

Potter laughed, "Not like that! I just meant that all my friends are the same way. I never really even had curry until after school, but it turns out I have a pretty high tolerance for spicy curry."

Draco made a face.

"I like it! It's really good," Potter insisted. "I've wondered if it's genetic, 'cause of my dad's family being from India."

"They are?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, as far as I can tell. It's hard to find any information on them other than the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion stuff. I kinda lost all my family history when my parents home got destroyed, and the war killed off most of the people that really knew them."

"I'm sorry," Draco said quietly, suddenly aching aware of what it felt like to have his history stripped from him.

"It's alright..." Potter said, "Well, it's not, but there's nothing I can do about it."

They got in line, and Draco ordered a turkey sandwich and a small bowl of tomato soup, Potter got the same. They sat at one of the many metal and plastic tables around the room.

Harry said, "Uh....do you want to do something when you have a day off? If you're not too busy."

"I'm sure I'll do something on my day off," Draco said, teasing just a little.

Harry rolled his eyes, "I meant with me."

Draco dipped the corner of his sandwich in the soup and took a bite letting Harry wait. He was going to say yes. Other than the sleep, having so much time on his hands only made him miserable. He'd still have enough time to research.

"As long as it's not too early, then yes. I have the weekends off," Draco said.

Harry smiled. It still felt strange to see such a happy expression on Harry's face because of something he had done.

"What about Saturday then?" Harry asked.

"Sounds perfect," Draco said, "...By the way, didn't you say you were going to get coffee for your partner?"

"Shit," Harry shot to his feet, "I'll be right back."

Draco was sure he would be.

Saturday morning, Draco woke with the dawn light, sweat sticking to his skin, his heart racing from a nightmare. He would still see it, vivid as the day it had actually happened, his mother in bed, face flushed from fever, breathing rapidly and Draco unable to do anything to help. In the nightmare, she died. In the past, she lingered, survived, seemed to be getting stronger only to get sick all over again.

The healers at St Mungo's had been useless, at best stabilising her with potions Draco could brew himself, but they couldn't fix what was wrong with her. That had called it something like broken heart syndrome and said there was nothing they could do. So Draco had studied potions, gotten his NEWT's, tried to work at St Mungo's, tried to get apprenticed for Mastery in Potions; all to help his mother. But he hadn't been able to.

Draco knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so he took a shower, trying to wash the sweat from his skin and worry from his mind. He only managed one.

So he dressed and left the store, so early he had to use his key, and apparated to the Manor.

"State your purpose!" The gate demanded.

"I want to speak to Libbi," Draco said.

The gate went still, and Draco shivered as he waited, but there was no pop of apparation only the gate once more opening its mouth, "Denied!"

"What?" Draco frowned, "Then- then Taldy!"

"Denied!" The gate bellowed.

"What about Jasli! Or Koby!?" Draco said, grabbing hold of the cold iron.

The gate narrowed the shapes of metal eyes at him, "All your requests are denied!"

Draco stood there, silence ringing in his ears as the face morphed back into curling black iron. He took a breath, then another, slowly reaching through the metal to the wards just beyond and felt them push back against him. Draco jerked his hand back from the hostile magic. Libbi couldn't have turned them against Draco on her own, she would have to have permission from one of the family.

So Mother was alive. But that was all he knew.

Draco went back to the flat, returning a weak wave to Ron's greeting. He knew it was more important than ever to focus himself on reversing the curse so that he could make sure his mother was safe but... somehow he ended up laying on his narrow bed, staring at the wall.

Draco didn't know how long he lay there, how much time had passed.

"Draco? Are you awake? Or, err..." Harry said, the stairs creaking as he came up.

Draco forced himself to sit up, rubbing his face. He had forgotten Harry was coming.

"If you're not feeling well-" Harry offered.

"I had a nightmare," Draco said.

"Oh. I- yeah, I know all about nightmares. Do you want to talk about it? Sometimes it helps," Harry said.

"My mother died, and there was nothing I could do to help her," Draco said.

Rather than be put off, Harry just nodded, "Yeah. Yeah, I, uh have a lot of those sorts of dreams."

"Does anything help?" Draco asked.

"Talking to someone mostly, to try and get my mind off it." Harry laughed weakly, "I've woken most of my friends in the middle of the night more than once and then talked their ears off about quidditch or whatever show I'm watching."

"I don't have anyone like that," Draco said.

"There's me," Harry said and then glanced away, embarrassed, "I'd listen whenever you needed. If you wanted."

"That's... very kind," Draco said.

Harry looked around, "About today. We don't have to go out. There's always other days."

"I don't particularly want to go anywhere-"

Harry nodded, trying to hide his disappointment.

"-but I don't want to be left alone with my thoughts either," Draco said.

Harry brightened up.

And in the moment of silence, Draco's stomach decided to grumble loudly. He pressed a hand over it, embarrassed, "I forgot to eat this morning."

"What about pancakes?" Harry said, "I could show you how to make them, or eggy bread. I don't have a waffle iron, so waffles are out. And I have some frozen fruit so we could make a compote-"

"What's a compote?" Draco asked.

"It's just fruit cooked with sugar," Harry said

"I've always preferred fruit to syrup," Draco said.

"I have everything at my place," Harry said. Then stopped, "If you want to?"

Draco nodded, "I do. And I get to see where you live."

"It's not much," Potter said, "We can floo over."

They went downstairs, Harry grabbing some floo powder from a bowl over the mantle. "I'll go through first and open the wards for you. So wait a minute before following."

"What do I call?" Draco asked.

"Potter's Cottage in Croftside," Harry said.

Draco repeated it to make sure he heard it correctly, and Harry went through first. Draco counted the seconds before stepping into the floo and calling the address.

He stepped out into a small cosy cottage. Plush, comfortable-looking armchairs and a matching couch took up the centre of the room, all draped in soft knitted throw blankets. There was a muggle television, and the walls were covered in photos of all Harry's friends and family. Draco could spot little touches around the room that spoke of other people, a mobile made of beach glass and beads, a bright orange Cannons pennant next to a Harpies pennant, a bookshelf with Hogwart's a History, and some vibrant green plants by the window. There was music playing from a wireless near the archway, and as Draco stepped through, the music followed him into the next room.

Harry was in the kitchen putting a large metal griddle on the stovetop, "I was just getting everything ready. Which do you want to make? Pancakes or eggy bread?"

"We're not going to make both?" Draco asked, and then felt embarrassed but his own childish disappointment.

"We can make both," Harry said, grabbing a shallow dish. "How about eggy bread first? It's easier."

"The compote?" Draco said.

"Right!" Harry grabbed a saucepan and set it on a back burner, dumping in a bag of mixed frozen berries and a spoonful of sugar.

"How do you know how much sugar to put in?" Draco asked.

"I eyeball it," Harry said with a shrug, "I usually add less than I think I'll need. You can always add more sugar, but you can't take it out if it gets too sweet."
"You could add more fruit," Draco said, leaning against the counter to watch.

"If you want, but that way, too much compote lies," Harry joked.

Draco smiled, "Now what?"

"We let the fruit cook down until it's a little syrupy or we run out of patience," Harry said.

"And the eggy bread?" Draco asked.

"It's an egg and a splash of milk," Harry headed to the fridge, "Can you grab a fork, they're in that drawer next to you."

Draco handed him a fork and Harry showed him how to whisk the egg and milk together with some vanilla and a touch of cinnamon.

"And then you soak the bread in it and fry it on the griddle," Harry said, "You can make it savoury too if you want, with no vanilla and cinnamon but I'd rather have it sweet."

Draco nodded in agreement. Standing close to Harry, they took turns soaking bread in the mix and setting the slices on the griddle, two for each of them. Draco was sure that could have used some sort of tool to make the job easier, but there was something charming about standing shoulder to shoulder, hands messy, a sweet smell rising as the compote and bread began to cook.

"Are you going to make me flip them?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, of course," Harry said with a grin.

They ran their hands under the faucet, Harry dried his hands on a towel and tossed it at Draco. While Draco dried his hands, Harry grabbed a spoon and stirred the simmering compote. The song changed on the wireless and Harry began unconsciously swaying to the music.

"Do you dance?" Draco asked, taken by the idea.

"Badly, and only when I have to," Harry said with a rueful grin.

"Everyone's bad when they start. You only really enjoy it once you've used to it," Draco said and held out his hand.

Harry shook his head, "No. No way, I'll flatten your toes."

"Then take off your shoes, and I'll leave mine on," Draco said.

Harry hesitated, "It's going to be awful."

"You've seen me utterly fail to pick up an egg," Draco said.

Harry made a face but kicked his trainers into the corner and took his hand.

"Follow my lead," Draco said, putting his hand on Harry's waist.

"Alright," Harry said, putting his hand on Draco's shoulder and staring at the floor as Draco began to step, always about a half a beat behind.

"Look at me, not the floor," Draco said.

"I have to-"

"Trust me," Draco said, and as Harry looked up, he began softly counting the steps as they moved. Every time Harry nervously glanced at the floor, Draco would glare teasingly only to smile a second later, Harry smiling ruefully back. As the song faded and came to an end, Draco held on just a little bit longer, letting Harry pull away to flip over the eggy bread, two of them.

He handed the spatula to Draco.

Draco sighed, "I was hoping you forgot."

"Nah," Harry grinned.

Draco took the spatula and quickly flipped the other two. They landed at funny angles, far away from where they had been originally but still on the griddle. Draco considered it a success and held out his hand, "Another dance?"

Harry smiled and took his hand.