He mumbled a thanks and said, "I'm up, if you haven't noticed."
                              
"That's not why I'm holding it up."
                              
Draco's eyes regarded him strangely, and then he tried to take a step forward and nearly fell cause his leg gave out. Potter caught him just in time and helped him up.
                              
"Easy... and this is why we take people home. You're crashing. The fear and adrenaline the attack caused is gone and your body is recovering from the shock. Give a bit and you should be able to walk fine.
                              
Draco took another step, with Potter gripping his arm and slowly, he was able to walk, but it was sluggish. He walked to the end of the piss-and-sewer smell alley and Potter was next to him, holding his hand.
                              
"I'm fine, now. You can let go. I can walk on my own."
                              
"We'll see. Where's your flat?"
                              
Draco grimaced. He did not want to take Potter there, but he literally couldn't stop him. He walked down the street.
                              
"Hope you're up for a walk. It's twenty-five blocks away."
                              
"Twenty-five? You walk twenty-five blocks to get to work? We can take the Tube... or a taxi."
                              
Draco ignored him and kept walking. Those cost money, he thought, and he didn't have much. He was living off the money he made every day at the pub. That was all he had. He walked and Potter followed. The Auror seemed disgruntled by the physical exercise, but did start with some small talk that he did not contribute to. Everything from his staff in the Auror office, to Ron and Hermione's wedding, and even the fact that Ginny and him were separated, now, but it was an amicable split. Ginny fell for one of her teammates in the Irish league and was making a name for herself.
                              
Draco wondered why he cared... or at least found it... interesting. He supposed that he was so lonely after a year on his own that any piece of information about his past life was like breathing life into him.
                              
"Anyway... I remodeled the whole house... took months... but it's all fixed up, and there aren't too many things that will kill me."
                              
"I suppose it would be annoying if your towel tries to strangle you when you're trying to dry off," Draco drawled.
                              
Potter looked at him, happy that he finally responded, and laughed. "Yeah... it would. Had a few curtains try it, though!"
                              
Potter laughed... at his joke. What was happening? Draco thought and lapsed back into silence. He was still shaken from the attack and cowed by the year of isolation. Muggles don't make the best conversationalists, and most of the cretins he talked to wanted to get sucked off. He didn't usually oblige them, but money was money and occasionally, he needed to eat and have a roof over his head. He hated sleeping outside.
                              
"Draco!" Potter almost yelled.
                              
"What?"
                              
"I've been calling you for a few times now."
                              
"Sorry, I was thinking. What it is?" he said.
                              
"Are we almost there?"
                              
Draco looked at his surroundings and nodded. "It's one more block and to the right. He wondered if Potter understood where they were at. Jokes about the red-light district didn't really make sense to him at first, but there were cheap accommodations to be had, for both on and off the clock. He stopped in front of the building that had many boarded-up windows and turned to Potter.
                              
"Thanks for the escort... and rescuing me in the alley."
                              
Potter seemed to be keenly interested in the building. "I'll see you in."