Summary: Sequel to Moving On. With a history of fighting and bickering, Harry and Draco can't seem to make their relationship last. But they can't seem to stay apart either. A story about falling in love all over again. Begins 7 years after the end of Moving On. Slash.
Author's Note: I never intended to do a sequel. I really didn't. I wrapped things up with the epilogue and I was done. And then I got bored. I started to wonder exactly how easy it would be for them to be together after the war was over and what they would want to do with their lives. This was the result. This is part 1 of 3.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all other characters belong to the goddess JK Rowling and her publishers. No money is being made and copyright infringement is not intended.
All You Need
By LadyKatie
Harry didn't know many muggle songs. It wasn't as if his aunt and uncle had bought CDs for him, or even had any interesting music in their own collection. So he wasn't extremely familiar with a lot of the popular stuff, past or present. Even so, once in a while one would stand out to him while in a muggle shop. He once heard a song that said "all you need is love" and thought that it made perfect sense. What else could one need? In retrospect, it was extremely naïve of him to think that love could make up for everything else that was wrong in the world.
But that was in those post-war days when love meant everything. The war had been won by the power of love. His mother's love for him, his love for his friends and Voldemort's inability to understand love all contributed to the end. And then Harry was in love. Truly, completely in love. And it hadn't come without sacrifice. Coming out to the entire wizarding world wasn't something he would have chosen, but he survived. And so had Draco. And what's more, they had survived the Death Eater Rebellion, led by Philip Laurent. They were battered and bruised, but alive and ready to spend the rest of their lives together in blissful love.
If there was one thing that Harry had learned in his life it was that few good things truly last. He never thought he would have to apply that principle to his relationship with Draco. It turned out there was a reason they had been mortal enemies when they were in school together.
After the Rebellion was defeated, Harry went to Auror training with Ron, just as they planned. Harry and Draco had both felt significantly demoralized by the homophobia they experienced in the wizarding world and were determined to do something about it. Draco didn't have any current career goals, nor did he actually need to get a job with the Malfoy fortune in his Gringott's vault, so he made it his mission to reach out to other witches and wizards who were struggling with sexuality and petitioned the Ministry for equal rights. Harry helped out, but it was largely by Draco's political knowledge and organization that the movement got underway.
If Harry were completely honest with himself, he let their jobs come between them. Draco accused him of being jealous of the time he spent with the Gay and Lesbian Wizarding Association, or the G.L.W.A. as it was called. And although he denied it vehemently, Harry knew Draco was right. Perhaps the years of fame and constant attention had gotten to him after all. Why couldn't he just be happy for Draco's success? Instead it was all too easy to fall into the pattern of bickering and sniping that had created their schoolboy rivalry. They eventually became known among family and friends for their tempers and it took its toll on everyone.
The true victim in their relationship problems was Ron. He and Draco had gotten to actually like each other during their time patrolling Diagon Alley together and a very odd, and sometimes hostile, friendship had been formed. Ron was put in the middle of every argument the couple had during the last few months together. After Draco moved out, he and Harry were both forbidden from mentioning each other in Ron's presence, as he was determined to not appear to be taking sides.
It was the week after the four year anniversary of the defeat of Voldemort and the most talked about celebrity couple broke up. The wizarding papers had a field day. Harry couldn't go anywhere without reporters following him and then the love letters started pouring in. Harry continued living in Grimmauld Place with Kreacher, while Draco decided to get his own flat in Diagon Alley. That was almost four years ago.
Unfortunately for them, and everyone around them, they still were in constant contact due to their friends, Teddy and the G.L.W.A. Harry wasn't going to let his and Draco's problems stop him from being involved in something he felt so strongly about and often Draco would be at Andromeda's home when he went to get Teddy. They didn't say much unless it was absolutely necessary, but they were always bumping into each other someplace.
Today was one of those days. Harry entered Andromeda's house to find that she was gone and only Draco was home with Teddy. They were sitting at the kitchen table, but both looked up when Harry entered.
"She had to do some shopping," Draco explained.
Harry nodded silently and sat down next to Teddy. The boy, now nearly eight years old, was drawing a picture with color-changing crayons.
"Harry, guess what I did today!"
"What?"
"We went flying!"
At Harry's sharp look Draco rolled his eyes.
"We didn't go very high, I promise."
"Like last time?"
"Last time was an accident and no one got any permanent injuries. When I was his age I flew all the time and I survived."
"Unfortunately," Harry muttered under his breath. Teddy didn't seem to notice, but Draco certainly did.
"Do you have him now? I need to get out of here."
"Hot date?"
Draco scowled. "Yes. And no, it's no one you know."
"Oh, I bet I could make a good guess."
Draco's hands went to his hips. "I don't ask you about your dates. Oh, wait, you don't have any."
"I date," said Harry, taking offense.
"What you do is not dating. It's humping muggles in a trashy club."
"Harry?" Teddy said suddenly, looking up from his parchment. "What's 'humping?'"
He let out a frustrated sigh. "That's something Draco wasn't supposed to say."
Draco looked at Teddy. "I'm sorry, mate. That's not a nice word. Don't tell your grandma about it or I might get in trouble."
Teddy grinned. "No problem. Just like when you said that 'fuck' was a naughty word. I didn't tell Gram 'bout that either!"
Harry narrowed his eyes on Draco, excused them from Teddy and dragged his ex toward the door.
"What did I tell you about your language around Teddy?"
"As if you're any better!"
"Nevermind. Just watch your mouth."
"Yes, master," Draco responded sarcastically. "Anything else?"
"Yes. Were you always this annoying?"
"If you were always this stupid."
Harry walked away without another word and joined Teddy in the kitchen once more. The house was quiet for several minutes with Teddy focusing entirely too hard on his picture of a hippogriff. He actually was quite a good little artist. Harry was amazed by the accuracies of the drawing, even if the colors were a bit exaggerated. With Teddy, more color was always better. His favorite color currently was green, although Harry knew it would change in another day or two and it would be easy to spot. Whenever his favorite color changed, so did his hair color.
"Do you like Draco?" he asked suddenly, keeping his eyes on his paper.
"Er, did he tell you to ask me?"
"No." He shook his head and looked up with big questioning, green eyes. "Gram said so."
"She did?"
"I told her that I didn't think you liked each other and she said that sometimes when people love each other a lot then they fight because they don't know what else to do."
"Oh. Well I'll have to talk to your grandma about that. Uh, me and Draco, sometimes we don't get along."
"But you used to love him. I remember when he lived at Grimmauld Place with you!"
"Sometimes people just don't get along well enough to live together. That's what happened to us. But we both love you."
"I really had fun with Draco today."
Harry couldn't resist asking, "How high did he really let you fly?"
Harry truly loved spending evenings with Teddy, but as it neared dinner time his mind wandered to Draco. It did that a lot when he knew Draco was on a date. Harry didn't know how Draco knew about the muggle clubs, but it wasn't as if it was a secret among their friends. Ginny often went with him and Ron and Hermione even went a few times. To Draco, the club was just a little too primitive. He dragged all his dates to the most expensive restaurants in the country. But the kinds of things they had done together and the dates they had were things of the past. There were days when Harry really missed it, but he concentrated on filling the void with whoever he could find.
Occasionally Ginny fit that description. She was still living in the Burrow, but shortly after leaving school, she began a very promising career with the Holyhead Harpies and did a lot of traveling. She was busy with quidditch and didn't want a relationship, which was really perfect for Harry. He had given up on relationships. Turning to Ginny for comfort and company had just seemed natural. By sheer bad luck, Draco had found out about it the first time it happened. They had been planning a big rally for the G.L.W.A. and Draco brought over the outline of what Harry's speech was supposed to cover only to find Harry and Ginny both extremely hung over and only partially clothed. It was only a couple weeks after Draco moved out and although Harry technically did nothing wrong, he felt a pang of guilt over the pain he knew he had caused. The guilt faded quickly when Draco made sure he was caught by reporters snogging a very famous quidditch player a few days later. In the nearly four years since that, they had never learned to be friends.
Harry stayed for supper with Teddy and Andromeda and then helped put Teddy to bed. He didn't waste any time once the boy was asleep.
"You told Teddy that I love Draco."
"He told me you two fight all the time. It's not good for him to see that. And frankly it's getting on my nerves as well. Narcissa purposely avoids any situation where the two of you will be in the same room. It's gotten worse recently and I'm not sure why."
"I thought we were dealing with things quite nicely. How should one act toward an ex-boyfriend?"
"Not the way you are. You both act bitter and resentful, like you got your hearts broken. It's not like he cheated on you. Don't think I don't notice how you each try to outdo the other in everything. It's a bit childish, dear."
"That doesn't mean that I love him, so Teddy doesn't need to hear that."
"I think you do love him. In some way, if not in love. Somehow you'll find your way back to each other."
"You know I consider you to be a very wise woman." She smiled. "But in this case you're out of your mind. All he's finding his way back to is into the trousers of that French liaison to the Ministry."
"You sound jealous, dear."
"Not jealous, annoyed. They're only dating because he wants Marquardt's influence."
"I met him. He seems nice."
"You met him?" Harry sounded somewhat disgusted.
"They seem to get on well. Not like you and he did in those early days, but well enough to make a relationship."
"I'm sure that's wonderful for them. Jacques Marquardt headed up the gay rights movement in wizarding France for a while. Draco wants him to help with his own project. He talked about that back when we were still together. That's how long he's been plotting this. He's using his cute little arse to get the political connections he needs."
"I think it's more. Does that bother you?"
"Why would it? If he wants to whore himself out then it's not my business. We haven't been together for ages. I've seen him date a lot of guys."
"Then maybe you should work on finding someone for yourself. It has to get lonely."
"I keep busy."
"With strangers in clubs?"
Harry scowled, annoyed. "Does everyone know about that?"
"Draco may have mentioned it."
"He talks about me?"
"No more than you talk about him. And less since he started seeing Jacques."
He felt another bubble of irritation at the mention of the man's name. Andromeda caught it when he rolled his eyes.
"You better get used to hearing his name. Draco is having him speak at the benefit next week."
"I noticed. That's all the committee is talking about. You'd think the guy cured Dragon Pox, he's so popular."
"It's the hair," she smirked. She knew very well that Marquardt's perfect locks was another source of irritation for Harry, who often said that Draco had to pick the only person in London who spends more time in front of the mirror than he did.
"Yeah, okay, I get it. I'll let it go."
"Do you have a date for the benefit?"
"I'm going alone. I'll do the whole 'eligible bachelor' thing and give Witch Weekly something to talk about. Besides, the only person I have to bring would be Ginny and I always feel like a bit of a fraud when I take a girl to a gay thing."
"There's nothing wrong with liking both women and men."
"I know. It just feels like I'm still hiding something by bringing her, especially since she's not actually my girlfriend. It makes me less gay and then the papers start in on my sexual confusion and then I have to deal with Draco's attitude about it."
"Draco again? He can't stay out of our conversation. You said yourself you and Draco haven't been together in years. What does it matter what he says about it?"
"I still work with him at the G.L.W.A. We have a lot of the same friends, Ron and Hermione especially. And I see him here. It's not like his snide remarks are easy to ignore."
"Narcissa wanted you to come to dinner with Teddy and me this Sunday, by the way."
"See? I can't really escape him if his mum keeps having me over."
"Maybe you're just not meant to escape him."
That thought haunted Harry. What if he was destined to be stuck with his ex for the rest of his life? Everywhere he went, it seemed, some reminder of Draco was there. Ginny said that it was the reason why he always came to her. She was the farthest thing away from Draco. He had to admit that she was probably right. Their break up was tough for everyone around them and there was still a sense, among their families, even after four years, that it wasn't going to last. Somehow they would end up together again. Harry didn't let himself think about that. It was too painful. For a time he did hope that, but it got ugly fast. It was the disadvantage of being lovers with someone who you spent seven years of your life fighting with. Each person knew exactly how to make the other feel absolutely miserable.
And the papers loved the feud. There had been rumors of an actual duel taking place after Harry walked in on Draco with another man. None of it happened of course. Draco didn't cheat, but to the papers, he would never completely step out from under the dark shadow of Lucius Malfoy. It was too easy to make him look like the bad guy.
Despite this, Draco had done a fine job making a name for himself among the upper class and the Ministry officials and Harry was truly proud of him. People often approached him with possibilities of working in the Ministry, but Draco turned them all down. He was focused on the G.L.W.A. and he wasn't about to give it up to work for a Ministry that didn't treat him as an equal citizen.
Ron and Hermione had moved out of the Burrow shortly after Ron entered Auror training. Their flat was just down the street from Draco's and near George's place. The day of the benefit, Harry agreed to meet Ron and Hermione at their place and arrive together. He didn't count on Draco being there. Merlin, was he everywhere?
"I'm just dropping off the cufflinks that Ron is borrowing. I trust you have your speech prepared."
"Yes, mother."
Draco glared.
"Where's the boyfriend?"
"If you're asking about Jacques, I'm on my way to pick him up right now."
"Good. I'd hate to have him miss it."
Draco took two steps forward, well into Harry's personal space. The closeness and the height difference were meant to be intimidating, but Harry knew him too well for that. "You're going to be civil to him. For just one night we can show the country that we can behave as adults. This is about all of us coming together to serve a greater cause. Egos need to be set aside."
Ron muttered something unintelligible and left the room. He wasn't getting in the middle.
"You're telling me this? If anyone needs his ego set aside it's you."
"Boys," Hermione interrupted. "Give it up. Everyone is acting adult and will have modest-sized egos this evening. You need to go so you'll be there when everyone starts showing up, Draco."
He nodded and she gave him a peck on the cheek. "Good luck. I know how hard you've worked for this."
After he was gone Harry threw himself down on their sofa. "Do you have to placate him like that?"
"Do you have to pick fights like that? Now stop thinking about Draco and complement my dress."
He hadn't even noticed until then. It was royal blue and tight-fitting.
"You look good."
"Thank you. Ron didn't even notice that it is new."
"Draco helped you pick it out, didn't he?"
She seemed startled and he knew right away he was correct. "How do you know?"
"He always said blue was your best color and the style is definitely what he would pick. He did good; you look amazing."
"You don't sound too thrilled."
"Isn't it a little weird to get excited about my best friend and ex-boyfriend going shopping together? Why can't you and Ron at least hate him?"
She laughed. "After everything the four of us went through and how much it took to put aside our differences to accept him you think we can just hate him because the two of you were too stubborn to stay together?"
"No. You're right. And the dress really is beautiful."
She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "You will be a grown up tonight?"
Harry agreed, although there was still a feeling of uneasiness that he couldn't quite name. He didn't want to fight with Draco, but he didn't really want to just accept things either. He didn't want to play nice with the new boyfriend. And he really, really didn't want to see the two of them together. Andromeda was right, things had gotten worse lately and as far as Harry could tell, it started right around the time that Draco started seeing Marquardt.
Harry went to the benefit, entering just behind Ron and Hermione. Quite a fuss was made when they attended any large social event since they were generally regarded as war heroes. But it was nothing compared to the chaos that erupted when the great Harry Potter made his entrance. There were several reporters outside the benefit venue and Harry did his best to put on a smiling face and answer their questions.
"Harry you don't have a date tonight?"
"Still looking for the right person, I guess." He actually winked at the pretty young woman who asked. Merlin, he was reminding himself of Lockhart. This had to stop.
"Is Draco Malfoy seeing Jacques Marquardt?"
"You'd have to ask Draco about his own relationships, I'm afraid. I can only say that whoever he's seeing, I wish him the best." Somebody kill me now.
"You were seen out to lunch with Neville Longbottom. Anything going on there?"
"Leave him alone, we're just old school friends."
It was this part of his fame that he hated the most. Every person he came in contact with was a suspect of being the dirty secret of his sex life.
"What do you hope to accomplish here tonight?"
"Well, this night was put together to raise money and awareness for equal rights. The Ministry will be taking a vote on same-sex marriage again this year and we want to make sure it passes. We've made some progress in the past months and we really want to see this happen."
"Delores Umbridge is heading up the opposition. She recently said the G.L.W.A. is attempting to undermine the values that are necessary to the protection of our world. If this law passes then we would be no different from the muggles."
Harry fought to not roll his eyes in annoyance at the mention of Umbridge. She was another person who wouldn't go away. She still managed to keep her job at the Ministry and had even led a small campaign to keep him from getting his Auror certification. She claimed that he was mentally unstable and wanted him to go through St. Mungo's psychotherapy program to ensure that he didn't have lasting emotional damage from all that he'd gone through. She wasn't taken seriously and he made sure to smile and wave his Auror badge at her after he had passed the training program.
Now she was the leader of the League of Traditional Values. They were formed shortly after the G.L.W.A. and they had been responsible for the gay marriage law being voted down the first two times. Harry had heard that there were similar organizations in the muggle world and wasn't surprised that she would be the one to lead it. The muggles had begun legalizing same sex marriage already and Harry felt a sense of pride that the wizarding world wasn't far behind.
"Any similarities between us and the muggle government are not going to hurt our world. It was fear of muggles and archaic beliefs that were responsible for the last two wars we fought. It sounds to me like Umbridge wants us to go a third round. Look at her policies and compare them to Voldemort's. We have no room for that kind of Death Eater mentality in our government."
Harry excused himself after that. He wasn't going to get drawn into another debate about Delores Umbridge and he hated talking policy with reporters. Truthfully, what he had told them was taken almost word-for-word from what Draco had told him to say once upon a time. He learned a lot about managing his fame from Draco and those lessons stuck with him.
As he entered the hall, everyone was just beginning to take their seats at the round tables. He found his place near Ron and Hermione. Thankfully Draco had arranged to be seated at a separate table. Unfortunately, Harry's duty that night was to give a short greeting and introduce Marquardt. It was more of Draco's plan to show that they got along well. The public didn't need to know that they still drove their families crazy with their fighting.
After giving a brief speech and announcing Marquardt, Harry quickly returned to his seat. If he was going to watch this guy, he was going to do it with a drink in his hand. He had to admit that Marquardt knew what he was talking about. Before becoming the ambassador to the British Ministry, he had made a name for himself in his own country and was a major part of the campaign that eventually obtained equal marriage rights there. His speech covered parts of the campaign in France and mostly talked about the positive outcomes for their country.
Harry found himself hardly listening to the speech as his eyes wandered to Draco. He was following Marquardt's speech attentively and looked to have it memorized. Something about it saddened Harry. Draco had truly moved on from him and he hadn't even realized that it bothered him. Draco must have felt Harry's eyes on him and he looked over scowling. The expression softened a moment later when he registered the lack of hostility in Harry's features. Harry gave him a small smile and turned his attention back on the speaker.
They ate dinner and socialized. Hermione pointed out members of the Ministry that Harry wasn't as familiar with so that he could speak to them. The great thing about being Harry Potter was that he wasn't necessarily expected to say a whole lot. Usually just being there was good enough. Hermione would tell him something clever to say to impress a specific person and said person would control the conversation from there. When he felt quite sure that he couldn't get any more bored he found a quiet corner of the room where he could observe the dance floor with a glass of fire whiskey.
Draco appeared by his side a while later.
"Would you like to dance?"
"You're kidding me, right?"
"Yes, but only because I know you can't dance properly to save your life and I don't feel like having my feet stomped on."
Harry nodded and looked back out at the dance floor. Draco continued to watch him curiously.
"You looked so sad tonight."
Harry shrugged and changed the subject. "Marquardt did a good job on the speech. I think we have a chance of getting this thing passed this time."
"Yes. Although Umbridge's people have been getting increasingly more vicious."
"I saw the statement she gave the paper today."
Draco blushed and looked away quickly. Indeed, the statement was more than just her group's position on the subject. It had attacked Draco personally, even going so far as to mention his father in Azkaban.
"Ignore her. She's always been a stupid cow and always will be."
"Of course. It's not as if I haven't had worse things printed by my name."
"So you and Marquardt?"
"Do you have to ask questions you already know the answer to?"
"Just making conversation. Thought I'd give that whole 'acting civil' thing a try."
"Yes, Jacques and I are together. Why didn't you bring anyone?"
Harry shrugged. "No one to bring."
"Well you should try actually dating someone."
"I have." Harry glanced over at Draco. "You were a hard act to follow."
Draco let that comment go. "What about Ginny?"
"You know it's not like that with me and her."
"Could have fooled me."
"It takes more than sexual attraction."
"True. We had more than that and we still couldn't…"
"Let's not do this tonight. You did a good job putting this together. Let's just enjoy it."
Draco reached out and put his arms around Harry. Harry couldn't remember them embracing since they broke up and he nearly gasped at the familiar feeling that he hadn't known he missed so much.
"Thank you for being grown up tonight," Draco whispered.
Then he kissed him on the cheek. It was a friendly gesture, nothing remotely sexual in it, yet Harry had the nearly irresistible urge to grab him and never let go. After all this time, he was not over Draco Malfoy. This realization shocked him and he stood completely still in his little corner and watched Draco head back across the room. He and Jacques began dancing and Harry felt the little knot of jealousy forming in his stomach. He went home early that night.
