Given how his last year has transpired, it had been a while since Harry had been able to attend one of Robards’ quarterlies. Scheduled as overtime on a Friday at the end of each quarter, it was intended to cover everything from budgeting to ethics among middle management.<br/>The offered whiskey always seemed to blur the lines between work and a social affair, however, and still Harry hadn’t particularly missed the meetings. Usually a decent excuse to swing by the pub with a few of his younger coworkers, Harry found that he no longer harboured a near-desperate impulse to keep himself occupied and out of Grimmauld Place for as long as possible.<br/>Still, Harry had taken the floo from the department to the Tipsy Tadpole along with three of the most junior Inspectors, drawn to the pub by something else entirely; the simple knowledge that Draco had been invited out by Connor, and would likely already be there.<br/>The opportunity to coincide at the pub, even just for a fleeting moment, had Harry’s stomach flipping with anticipation, adrenaline mixing with the buzz left behind by the whiskey. They could have just met up at the Manor later tonight, but Harry itched to see Draco here, like this. Somewhere in the far depths of his mind, he knew he could be dead sober and just as excited, never seeming to tire of being around Draco, less of all in something that almost felt like real life.<br/>Harry had barely had a chance to brush off the soot off of his coat sleeve before finding Draco in the crowd; how could he not?