The Beginning of the End

Albus Severus Potter was awoken by the sound of his father's bedroom door being quietly shut. The man in question - Harry Potter - carefully kept through the house like a skilled thief, stopping briefly at Albus's open door, and Albus made sure to keep his eyes firmly shut so that his father wouldn't suspect anything.

Finding this acceptable, Harry passed Albus's room and continued towards the front door, making sure all was peaceful and quiet, before he slipped out into the inky, black night. The air outside was cold in the mid - autumn night, and the slight wind caused his coat to flap repeatedly behind him. Gloved hands raked through messy black hair, trying his best to straighten it and look presentable.

Elsewhere, Albus Potter had slipped on his boots and coat, quickly leaving through the first story window, intent on finding out just where his father was going in the dead of night - although, he did already have some ideas. It was no secret that his parents hadn't been getting along recently, so much so that his mother - Ginny - had told him to sleep in the guest bedroom. Not that Harry had put up much of a fight, seeing as he couldn't look at her these days.

Albus, at thirteen soon-to-be fourteen, wasn't as oblivious to the situation as James and Lily were. They had just assumed Harry and Ginny had had another fight - as they so constantly did these days with his father working late so often - but Albus noticed things. Things like Harry coming home dishevelled and trying to hide his guilty grin. Or the way he smelled differently every time Albus hugged him. Or the late night phone calls his father took on the roof until all hours of the morning. Harry was seeing someone else, and Ginny knew about it.

The air was cold on his face, but Albus trudged determinedly on, making sure to keep a few paces behind his father to remain unnoticed. The walk wasn't a very long one, just to the small park the he used to play in as a child, which was a block or two away from his house. His father sat down on the bench he had the very first time he had brought Albus and James here and watched them play for hours. Cautiously, Albus remained within hearing distance, knelt down between two bushes.

A tall, slender figure immersed from the shadows, and all Albus could compare it to was the grace of a predator as it was about to make a kill. His face was visible against the bright moonlight, and he looked none to happy about being called upon at all hours. Albus watched as his father stood, slowly as if in a daze, and whispered one word almost inaudibly, "Draco." The first thought that came to Albus's mind was Draco? As in Malfoy? That can't be right, but his thoughts were discarded as Harry strode up to Malfoy, grabbed him by the collar of his coat and into a bruising kiss.

He was sure his mouth was hanging open, but he could not help it. This, this was who his father had been cheating on his mother with? Did she know? No, she couldn't have, she was have thrown him out of the house and never allowed him near Albus and his siblings ever again. Albus did not know what Ginny's qualms with homosexuals were, but she could not tolerate them, and a small part of him understood why Harry had kept this such a secret.

Malfoy placed his hands on Harry's chest and pushed gently, until there was an arm's length of space between them and his hands rested at his sides. Harry frowned at this gesture, and lifted his hand to run a thumb across Malfoy's razor - sharp cheekbone, and Albus stifled the urge to look away from the intimate moment being shared between these two men. Malfoy shivered at Harry's touch, but quickly caught Harry's wrist and held it away from his face.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, hurt by Draco's rejection. Draco had his eyes downcast, as his chin slightly facing away from Harry, but Harry cupped his chin with his other hand and brought Draco's face closer for inspection. Harry's heart sunk all the way to his stomach as he caught the pained expression in those silver-grey eyes, and the thin line that was his lips. He took in a ragged breath, and uttered the words that Harry Potter dreaded most in the universe.

"I can't do this anymore, Harry." Malfoy said, and Albus watched from his hiding place as his father went completely rigid, hands dropping to his sides and balling into fists. He was muttering to himself, Albus could hear him, a steady stream of: please, no, Draco, don't do this and I can't bear it without you, and Albus felt his heart squeeze in his chest. He had never heard his father utter that tone with his mother, nor put that much emotion into the words.

"I've tried to do this, to make you happy and I sacrificed my own, over and over again and I can't do it anymore. You've left me so many times, more than I can count really, and I try to reassure myself that you're always going to come back - but one day, soon, you're going to realise this was all a mistake and finally stay with your wife. I can't keep doing that to myself, Harry."

Throughout his speech, Malfoy had begun to tremble violently and Harry, well he had fallen to his knees on the gravel, more out of shock than disbelief. Albus could see the tears forming in Malfoy's eyes, but Malfoy shook his head to keep him composure, while Harry stared at his hands. Finally, he nodded in understanding, and stood up once more.

"You're right. You deserve better than this - than me. You deserve the stars and every damn constellation in the sky, because that's all I see when I look into your eyes, and as much as I want to be the one to give them to you, I can't. I can't leave Ginny, or my children, and I know you can't leave your Scorpius, and I'd never ask you to. You need someone you won't hide you in alleyways and hotel rooms and make you sneak around in the middle of the night," at this Harry paused to sniff unceremoniously, taking a tentative step closer to Draco, cupped his face gently in his hands, he said, "To deserve to find love, Draco Malfoy, and I need to let you."

Then they were kissing, not the disgusting, devouring kind he had seen his mother doing to his father. No, I was soft and gently, a brushing of lips for a second too long before they pulled apart and stared into each other's eyes. A lone tear slipped out of Malfoy's eyes and slid down his cheek before Harry could wipe it away. "Goodbye," Malfoy said, pressing one last kiss to Harry's forehead, without looking back.

Malfoy didn't hear what his father had said after he had left and Harry had sat back down on the bench. Harry looked up at the stars, mentally looking for one in particular and when his trained eyes finally found it, he whispered, "But I love you, I love you." Then he finally let his shoulders sag as he drew in a shaky breath, one, two, three...and he was sobbing, full out crying silently until it felt as though his lungs would give in and his heart would burst. But the pain was welcomed, he deserved it, he knew he did for thinking he could be selfish enough to keep Draco Malfoy's love all to himself. What a foolish, ridiculous thought, but at least he had the pain. Because if there was pain, he knew it had been real.