Six years after the war and everything settles perfectly for Harry Potter: life, marriage and family. It all flips out of Harry's control when he bumps in old-flame, Draco Malfoy, in a muggle supermarket. Nothing is ever what it seems.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
This first chapter was beta-ed by Llyralei. Thank you very much girl! I dedicate this story to you as it would have never progressed without your enthusiasm. Wherever you are, I hope you are happy!
(I am looking for a BETA, check out my profile for more info-please contact me soon!)
Notes: Flashbacks will be in italics with ~ signalizing start and finish.
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Broken Normalcy
Chapter one: Encounter
Silver caught emerald and time stopped, sound faded, vision blurred to be clear on only one image—
"Potter,"
"Malfoy?"
Harry tried not to gape at the blond man as he stayed in the motion of reaching out for a can of Heinz spaghetti on a shelf a bit too high for him. Frozen in the action of taking it or not, Harry blinked wordlessly.
The blond shifted on his footing looking away in the supermarket's crowd as he tucked some short strands of hair behind his ear at the same time.
"Let me help you with that."
His voice was raspy, Harry noted, and watched him step closer; reaching easily for the can he had been previously aiming for.
Draco Malfoy had grown up quite nicely. Not that he had ever been ugly, Draco had always been an attractive sort of looking kid, but now, with his stylishly cut hair, soft looking skin and matured built, he looked truly breathtaking. His cologne quickly got to Harry, it was faint, delicate and spicy all at the same time, but it had Draco's signature.
"You…You had always been taller than me anyways." he said, realizing a bit late that Draco was holding the can towards and looking at him expectedly. He lowered his gaze.
"Oh eh, thanks."
Their fingers brushed.
Draco retreated his hand as if he had been burnt and Harry finally looked up at him again, still holding the can in his hand how he had grasped it from Draco, alien jots stinging him all the while.
"So, I find you well."
At this, Harry looked down at the can knowing that he was been looked at by the other.
"Yeah, you too." he replied quietly, his thumb brushing on the can's tag. Another awkward pause made the noise of the busy supermarket fade away. Harry's senses were only focused on one thing now. If it was the slight warmth he could feel from Draco's body, his odor, or simply the sound of his breathing and the occasional gulp—Harry honestly didn't know.
When the blond moved, shifting again, Harry looked up. Draco was staring elsewhere, silver eyes glinting. Then, Draco chuckled, grinning and shaking his head as the situation got to him and Harry couldn't help but smile himself. He just had to smile, when had he last seen Draco Malfoy smiling like that?
"Well," Harry bit his lip as he looked up at the blond. "It has been nice seeing you again." Harry didn't know what to reply, he wasn't sure if he wanted for this unexpected encounter to finish just yet. He was dusting his brain to find something to say when he finally noticed that Draco was still there, still looking at him, and he could still, literally, feel him there.
"Yeah," Harry breathed and he tried a small smile which made Draco tint just a bit and look down. Fatedly, his gaze fell on the can in Harry's hand.
"Heinz, eh?" Harry grinned confidently this time and Draco raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, it's not me. I don't like this stuff. Actually, it's Ginny she lo—"
"Ginny?"
"Yes, she's my wife now."
"I'm seeing someone too."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
Harry was growing to understand that slight sore look Draco had sported seconds ago before he had masked it away.
"Oh," he repeated, turning a bit to place the can in his halfway filled trolley, he used that time to compose himself.
"Raided all the shop yet?"
Despite the uncomfortable situation, Harry laughed letting some of the tension go, grateful for the change of topic as he turned to be met by another grin from the blond.
"With two miniature piranhas as Potters at home, I don't see why not."
That killed the mood once again and Harry froze slightly.
"You have kids?" Draco looked stunned and Harry chewed on his bottom lip momentarily.
"I…Yes, I have two kids. Melissa and Derrick, they are twins."
Draco nodded his head. "Ah right, twins right, right."
Deciding he couldn't face more weird silences, Harry rumbled on. "They are six and too smart for their own good already. They eat like pigs and no wonder, with the mother's favorites and all…" he made a sheepish gesture towards his trolley, the Heinz can sitting peacefully on a packet of family size chips.
Draco smiled tightly and Harry felt as if he was going to panic.
"I see."
Again, Draco shifted as if he was going to leave and Harry's stomach tightened painfully. He didn't leave, he only stepped up the aisle, looking at some shelves and Harry inhaled as the now familiar warmth left him.
"So, are you on some kind of rescue mission to the supermarket for your starving family as well?" It was lame attempt to lighten the mood, but it made Draco chuckle something that sounded, "Ever the hero." under his breath. Taking this as a positive sign,
Harry pushed his trolley towards him, trying not to bump in other trolleys as he did.
"I don't have kids." The blond finally said.
"Really? It didn't really take some time for Ginny and I—"
Draco had stopped to look for what he had been searching for and pierced his gaze at Harry.
"I mean, we can't have kids."
Harry's jaw tightened. "I'm sorry," somewhere in his mind, he wondered how it happened that he was having this kind of conversation with Draco Malfoy, in the middle of some muggle supermarket.
"All I can say is to keep trying. As I was saying before, even if with—"
"No, I mean, we can't. He can't." The blond was smirking as he watched Harry flush.
"Right." And Harry reached for some random spice on the shelf, not even seeing what it was, his moves somewhat jerky.
"Just," he heard Draco trail on, "checking out the groceries and seeing if there was something worth cooking, if anything hit my mind."
"Cooking?"
"Yeah, I like cooking."
"Yes, eh, I remember. I'm just…surprised that you took it on."
Their eyes met again and Harry's heart thumped harder. He stopped the trolley to let a few people pass, his hands grasping tightly at it.
"It's only for a hobby." The blond said, "Nothing serious."
"Shame, you could be a professional."
Draco shrugged at that, his eyes left Harry's as he stepped on, Harry with his invading trolley, right behind.
"It's ok. I do it occasionally, for special occasions I guess."
"Are you celebrating something?"
"Yes, our anniversary."
"Ever heard of restaurants?"
Draco bolted around; face unreadable as Harry stopped in mid step, eyes going wide as he realized what he had said.
"I mean, it would save you the trouble…" he said quickly, trying to cover what had suspiciously sounded like a jealous snap to his own ears.
Hesitantly, he looked up at Draco. The man was watching him carefully and Harry breathed out, not liking it. However, Draco had a small smile on his face.
"It's alright, I don't mind."
Harry was forced to stop at a side as a pair of trolleys passed trough. He wasn't really sure to what Draco was referring to exactly, him not minding cooking or Harry going all jealous—for how weird it might have sounded.
"Look," he said after they had more space, but he didn't move from the trolley, he wasn't sure if it was alright to not have something separating them.
"I'm sorry, it—"
"Don't worry about it."
Harry nodded but said nothing else. Finally, he took hold of the trolley and swung slightly to pass the blond. "I need to get going," he said in a rushed tone. Harry slowed down his pace to push a carton of juice, squishing the salad in the process, before it fell from his trolley. "It was nice seeing you."
Harry had taken just a couple of steps before Draco called to him.
When he stopped and turned, Draco was at his side. Once again, what was Draco's essence reached to him, Harry felt it, and as Draco's lips moved, he wasn't sure if he was paying more attention to how they were moving than the beautiful sound they were making.
"Coffee?" Harry repeated stupidly. Draco licked his lips, "Yeah, I know this really good café' on Night's Bridge road, I thought, we could meet up and well, catch up or something."
Yes, definitely beautiful sounds. Oh no wait, what was he thinking?
Harry's mouth opened to say something, overwhelmed and stunned that Draco would want to `catch up' with him. It was then that a meaningful glance passed between the two. Harry looked away, his heart somehow slowing.
"Draco, I'm…I'm married." As the blond exhaled, Harry shivered at the hot breath that met his cheek. Draco wasn't even that close, he wasn't, but Harry was so aware about him that every single thing he did, to Harry was amplified.
"I know," the low tone made Harry shiver again and he tried to shift his position to hide it. "But I, seeing you now…It's been so long."
Harry could feel his cheeks heat at an incredible temperature and he looked down at his clutching hands on the trolley, his knuckles were deathly white.
A long sigh came from Draco and Harry felt him step closer. He looked up then, stopping Draco with his glance.
"Just, as friends I mean, just to talk and have a cup of coffee."
He looked sincere and even if Harry couldn't find it in him to analyze the blonde's expression to a better depth, he knew Draco had that hopeful look on his face. That hopeful look that made his cherry lips part and the bottom to pout just a bit as his eyebrows fought to stay neutral but a crease would wonder in the middle, his eyes looking carefully at him, fully knowing that if he'd look to intensely, his hopefulness would have showed.
Harry knew him to well for that. Still, there were some parts of Draco that Draco could have never hid from Harry and even now, after so long. Deciding that it was slightly amusing, Harry breathed in and nodded.
"Alright then for old time's sake it is."
Draco gave him a charming smile, as if this had broken the ice around them.
"Splendid," he was still smiling, "when are you…free?" "Oh, eh—" Harry looked away as he thought about that, heart speeding once more as he scowled at himself for acting as if he were sixteen again. He glanced at Draco, darn it, that wasn't good.
"I don't know." He said finally, purposely missing Draco's reaction.
"I'm quite busy, life and all…"
"I understand."
"Yeah."
"So…"
Harry swallowed as he looked down at his trolley, already regretting the fact that he would have lots of shopping bags to attend to later.
"I need to get going now." He vaguely thought if he sounded like a parrot. "I'm glad I saw you."
This made Harry pause in his mid motion to push the trolley.
"Yes, me too and I'm certain will get to catch up some other time."
"Sure." Draco didn't sound too sure. When Harry looked at him, he was frowning. Harry chewed at his bottom lip, not liking Draco's expression.
"Look, I, it will be for another time, ok?"
"Right." The blond agreed in a sarcastic way. "Of course we will. Next thing I know, we'll randomly meet at some parking lot or hell knows my own funeral."
"Don't say that!"
They glared slightly at each other and only when Draco looked away did Harry talk.
"Why are you making this such a big deal? I have my own life, you have yours. You can't just expect me to leave it because you decided to show up and—"
"What? Potter, all I wanted was a nice conversation in front a cup of coffee, that's all. I never meant to steal the great Daddy-Harry-Potter from his family. I just asked for a couple of hours of your life, is that too much?"
It had perfect sense what Draco was saying, Harry decided, and he knew that it had been him overreacting and not Draco. But he couldn't, finding Draco here like this was having a strange effect on him.
However, before he could have made a worse fool out of himself, Harry looked away and nodded.
"Alright then, I'll give you my mobile number then, er, do you know—"
"I know what a mobile phone is, Potter." Draco broke in, still irritated. "My partner is a muggle."
"Oh, I see, right."
Before he knew it, Harry had found a pen and some paper, scratched down his number with a slightly shaky hand and handed the paper to the blond. This time their fingers didn't brush and Harry didn't know if it was right for him to feel disappointed.
As he drove home that night, his head was swimming with what had happened. He couldn't believe it. He would have never said it.
Harry had met his arch enemy in a muggle supermarket.
Enemy, to then the surprise, surprise— sudden boyfriend.
To the, surprise, surprise, sudden heated relationship, a wave of emotions Harry had experience only with the blond.
And to the pressure of their secret relationship, then their major break up, the war, the 'sides', Voldemort…
And then, to seven years later in some flimsy muggle supermarket, they met again.
Harry suddenly spanned the car to the side of the road, cars hocking wildly at him but he didn't care. He stumped his foot on the brake and breathed in quickly as tears suddenly blurred his vision.
Draco. He had seen Draco again. After all that time, no letters, no words of him, not news no nothing. After all the talks about how Draco had been fooling him, how he was on the 'other side', how he wasn't right.
Harry had met him again.
The twenty-four year old suddenly grasped at the wheel, resting his forehead on it as he wept. He didn't know if it was by relief, grief or them both together or because he was so confused or because he felt so happy but so angry or because…
He had seen Draco again.
And dear Merlin, all the wrong Harry found in that was because he was contradicting his friend's words.
Because, all in all, seeing Draco Malfoy again to him had felt terribly right.
So, Harry cried.
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