The Things Harry Knows
Part Two of the B-day Fic!
He knows many things. He is not stupid like everyone wants to think. He is more Slytherin than Gryffindor. He is a master manipulator from the shadows. Not even Dumbledore was able to pry his real secrets from his mind. There were only four people in this world who knew them and three of them were dead. How did that song go? Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead. Yeah that sounds about right. The fourth you ask? Well he knew he would keep his secrets for they were layered in his. Late night meetings, reading curled up together, pretend stalking and fights that sometimes went too far. Trying desperately to figure out how to defeat Voldemort and how to stay alive.
He knows that his silver hair is soft as silk, that his hands sweat when he is nervous, that his breath would catch if you nibbled the right spot. He knows that his favorite food is cashews, his favorite drink a fine vintage wine compared to his own taste of cherry bourbon, and that the only sweets he really likes is candied nuts. He knows that he wanted to be a keeper instead of a seeker, that his Father embarrassed him by his blatant bribes to get him somewhere in life, and that he loves his mother with every fiber of his being. He knows that he was supposed to have an older brother, then a baby brother, than a baby sister, but his mother miscarried both times after and his father got rid of the firstborn because he was a suib. He knows how hard he works to be better than everyone else just to please his father, but always falls short. He knows that he is terrified of the dark even after all these years. He knows that his favorite subject is Runes and that he hates potions. He has been making potions since he was a toddler in his Godfather's lab. The class is boring to him and he hates to be bored. He knows that he wants to be a Healer, but is resigned to following in his father's footsteps.
He knows that things can never ever be what they want them to be. He had hope when he flew at him tossing high his mothers wand to him. How he drifted to the shadows watching and waiting for him to come to him. How he was dragged away by his mother and father, how quickly they became outcasts in the Great Hall. He knows that there will be no more secret cuddles, stolen kisses, or time to be together. It is time that they both faced reality. They will never be allowed to be together. They have a supposed duty to their bloodlines, to the Wizarding World. They must fulfil them before they can be happy. And they have.
19 years later, they are both in unhappy, unloving marriages, each having children, he only having one, he having four, one his adopted. Their eyes meet and they both know. They know that the other still wants, still waits, but they must still hold on. He has one child left to go to Hogwarts. Then maybe they can find happiness.
He also knows that he believes that they will never be happy. Can never be because of society. He smiles and thinks, just wait another year, then we'll have everything we ever wanted. And he knows that he will wait, because there is nothing else to do but wait. Wait until the day the can be together again, this time without stealing away to see each other. To be able to show their love openly. It will be a hard, tough, long road, one that might never end to get to the other, but they have waited this long. Fighting is no trouble. Their children might not understand, but he knows his two oldest know how miserable he is and he can see his son looking at him almost pleading in his eyes, Make my Father happy. Maybe he is just delusional, but he nods and waits. He knows he is good at waiting.