A/N: This is HP/DM slash. Don't like it –don't read it. Rating R for future chapters.
Haunting
Green Lagoon
It was a dark night, dark and warm. The streets of London radiated the heat that had absorbed in the concrete during the long, hot summer day. The streetlamps were burning holes into the inky night sky, casting their soft beams over the nocturnal creatures of the capital.
Green Lagoon, a newly opened gay bar in the heart of the Muggle London, was swarming with people. The queue reached almost at the broken telephone stand a hundred meters away, which was the secret entrance to the Ministry. It was evident that not everybody could be let inside this evening.
Harry Potter watched the scene of the partying people from the balcony of the Green Lagoon VIP premises, sipping contently a Bloody Mary. He was in the company of a certain Benjamin Woodstock, the son of the bar's owner.
"Looks like it's going to be a wild night," Benjamin smiled, and wrapped his arms around Harry's waist from the back and leaning his chin on Harry's shoulder.
"Hmmh," Harry mumbled. "Yeah."
"Tell me again why you agreed to go out with me, Harry," Benjamin purred.
Harry took a long draft from his drink. "I have already told you."
"Because I remind you of somebody you once knew?"
"Yes."
"And because I am drop dead gorgeous?"
"Yes, that too," Harry grinned.
Benjamin was a complete Muggle, with no magical abilities, and with no knowledge of the magical world's existence, either. And that was exactly how Harry wanted things to be. He wanted to keep the distance between them. Turning to look at his companion, he saw large, light grey eyes staring at him, smiling.
"Want another drink, Harry?" Benjamin asked.
"Yeah, I do."
Benjamin watched Harry drown his existing cocktail at a great speed, as if wanting to get it in his lungs in stead of the throat.
"You okay?"
"Sure," Harry wiped his mouth. He ruffled Ben's soft, blonde locks, and ventured a faint smile. "Sure."
"Sorry I brought the subject up again. I shouldn't be reminding you about him."
"No problem. You do it all the time, anyway."
Benjamin leaned forwards, reaching well over the balcony railing, peering downwards. "Did he hurt you much?"
Harry dropped the glass from his hand, and it fell down on the street, far below him. It shattered in countless, sharp pieces, all of them coloured blood red from the juice. "W-what?"
"Sorry," Benjamin muttered.
"No," Harry said, his voice barely audible. "No, he did not hurt me."
Benjamin gave Harry his respective drink, as to replace the fallen one, and Harry took it in his shaking hand.
"It's alright, Harry. You don't need to tell me."
"There would be nothing to tell," Harry exhaled. "Nothing ever happened between us. He never knew."
There was an awkward silence for a couple of minutes, as Benjamin did not know what to say next, and Harry was otherwise silent, a dreamy expression plastered over his face.
"…he was so very beautiful. The last time I ever saw him," Harry finally said, breaking the stillness of the high balcony.
Benjamin just nodded, making his snow-white locks wave. He was not a very jealous nature, rather the opposite actually, and Harry's outburst had not insulted him at any rate. He and Harry had met just three weeks ago, and neither of them was in love with one another. Benjamin's probably favourite hobby was one-night stands, and Harry just wanted somebody who would not question his doings, follow his every move or be dependent on him.
"It's been three years soon, when I last saw him," Harry whispered, merely to himself, but Benjamin overheard him nonetheless.
"So you were seventeen. He was a school acquaintance, then?"
"He was really no acquaintance," Harry let out an empty laughter. "Just somebody who… who touched me profoundly, Merlin knows for what weird reason."
"So… Why didn't you two get together?"
"Because of the world that kept us unavoidably separated," Harry smiled, sadly. "And because he was not gay."
"Aye, well, that's a bit of a problem. Straight men rarely approve of us cake boys," Benjamin scowled.
Harry snorted, "He never really approved of me anyway."
"What was your relationship with him, again? You certainly weren't friends, and now you say you were not even well acquainted."
"Oh, we knew each other, alright. But we were so different. He was more like the Terminator type whereas I was the Jedi type."
Benjamin laughed. "So, was he the first, evil Terminator, or the second, good one? Or the mixed third one, perhaps?"
"I think he came quite close to that female version," Harry laughed.
Benjamin giggled. "Oh, so he was really-really pretty?"
"Yeah, he was. And also impossible to…" Harry was about to say 'kill', but decided against it, "…conquer."
"Hard to get, was he? My, my…" Benjamin teased Harry, "I'm sure he left you real hot and bothered."
"Not that he knew it, though," Harry admitted, smiling.
"So, if he was the female Terminator… Which one of the Jedis were you? Luke Skywalker? Obi-Wan?"
"Oh, I was definitely Darth Vader. Always wearing a mask. Turning from an innocent and goody goody boy to a horrible monster behind the curtains."
"Yeah, you're quite a beast in the bed," Benjamin chuckled.
Harry slapped his boyfriend on the head, grinning. "Behave yourself, Ben."
"Okay, okay… Ready to go down to the big party, soon, baby?"
"Guess so," Harry chuckled. "As you said, it's gonna be a wild night, and I'm certainly going to have my share of it."
…TBC…
