Paul couldn’t help but mirror Malfoy’s smile, small and non-committal but encouraged. Malfoy had really met a tremendous amount of aversion in the past decade, but as he sat in front of him, Malfoy appeared little more than a kid, still, for the amount of growing up he had had to have done on his own.<br/>“Good,” Paul said, nodding. He was weighing his words, considering how to best approach the conversation that inevitably followed Malfoy’s interest in applying for a position.<br/>“You must allow me to be forward, son,” he eventually introduced, shifting forward to fold his hands on the tabletop. “If there’s even the slightest in you that would want to make a career of this, then I would strongly urge you to be mindful of what you’re getting yourself into with Potter.”<br/>He looked at Malfoy, not unkindly but perhaps a little curtly. Paul really believed himself to have Malfoy’s best interest in mind, and sometimes, that required crude honesty, no matter how awkward the topic. While he could not say whether or not it had been obvious to others, Paul had found it almost impossible not to pay notice of the intimacy between the two men, but particularly, he saw it reflected in the way Malfoy behaved around Potter, and the way it crumbled his focus on his work.<br/>“Potter is your hiring and superior officer, Malfoy,” he reminded him. “While he should not have put you in this position in the first place, do mark my words when I say there is no situation where he will be the one to face any repercussions. Any opportunity for a career is dead on arrival.”