Post war, Hogwarts, etc. Harry is a lost soul who runs into Draco. Both lives are changed. Eventual HPDM Slash
My First attempt at Slash - please review honestly! Thanks in advance!
Harry eyed the glass sitting on the bar in front of him warily. It had been glaring back at him for the past 45 minutes, begging him to pick it up and shoot the amber-colored liquid down his throat. He knew his threshold was fast approaching and he would soon give in to temptation if he didn't get the drink away from him. He had been sober for just over a year now and every day seemed to be worse than before, despite what those in his support group told him. He was told it would get easier and his resistance would increase. It hadn't. He had been coming to the same bar every day, having the bartender pour the same drink, testing his will and resolve. He hadn't cracked yet, but felt the time was fast approaching.
After the war, Harry had begun drinking quite heavily to numb the pain of all that had happened and it had actually worked quite well until he ran into one of his old classmates. Harry thought back on that night as a wave of mixed emotion washed over him. He had been sitting in this very bar, on his way to polishing off a bottle of firewhiskey on his own, when he heard a familiar drawl echoing across the room. He nearly choked on the shot he had just thrown to the back of his throat when he heard the sound. Malfoy.
Harry looked over to the corner of the bar where Draco had been sitting that evening over a year ago. He remembered the way Draco had looked, almost as if time had left him completely alone. His porcelain skin was as flawless as he had remembered it, though his hair was a bit longer than it was while in school and it effectively hid his eyes whenever he looked down at the table. Draco apparently had done well for himself as his robes were tailored from the finest material and he was impeccably dressed, though Harry didn't know where he was currently working. His smile was as radiant as ever, though Harry had seldom seen it while in school. It seemed as if Draco was a completely different person. Almost happy. Draco was laughing and joking with two other men Harry assumed were co-workers.
Harry had watched the group of men in furtive glances and at one point in his conversation, Draco had unexpectedly looked up and met Harry's blurred vision. Thanks to the firewhisky virtually boiling in his gut, Harry had thought this was a good moment to break their four year silence by swaggering over to Malfoy's table to get reacquainted. Harry didn't remember much after that, but he did remember snippets of memory that indicated Harry had make a complete arse of himself and that Malfoy had helped him home, took him upstairs, got him ready for bed, and left. Harry had been so humiliated the next morning when he realized his vulnerability and stupidity, that he immediately checked himself into a dependency treatment facility designed specifically to treat wizards that had endured the war and began his journey to sobriety.
"You want me to get rid of that for you?" A voice asked Harry, jolting him from his memory. His gaze met Terri, the husky bartender that had worked in The Purple Skrewt for as long as Harry had been frequenting the place. She had her hand on his still full shot glass.
"Yea, please," Harry replied quietly and let her remove the drink.
"You need to stop doing this to yourself," Terri scolded. "After you get sober, you aren't supposed to put yourself into situations that can tempt you." Her voice carried a mixture of sadness and chiding usually reserved for a parent speaking to their child.
Harry slowly replied, "I know. I just was into the routine so long that habits are hard to break."
"You know what I think?"
Harry knew what was coming and he hated hearing her say it.
"I think you come here looking for that blonde bloke you were with that night." She stopped drying the glass in her hands and leaned into him to whisper. "You went on about him enough previous times when you were pissed that I almost didn't believe he existed. Then here he shows up, you make a complete fool of yourself, and suddenly you don't drink anymore. Honestly Harry, I think it's great that you've cleaned yourself up, but you are killing yourself thinking he will ever show up again. I had never seen him prior to that night."
Harry knew that she was right. She was always right whenever this topic came up. But he couldn't get the possibility of running into Draco out of his mind. He was determined that he would get to talk to him again, and this time, he wouldn't be pissed out of his mind when it happened.
"Thanks Terri," Harry mumbled, and hurried to get off the bar stool before her lecture continued. "See you tomorrow I imagine."
"Harry! It's so wonderful to see you!" Hermione gushed as she threw open the front door.
"Hey Mione," Harry said as he quickly looked at the ground. He hadn't been invited to her and Ron's home, but decided to take a chance and drop by.
"I haven't seen you in almost a year. I was so worried about you!" She threw her arms around Harry in a strong, awkward bear hug that threatened to crush his insides.
"It's great to see you too Mione. I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch. I really didn't know how….."
Hermione cut him off with a raised finger and gave him a quick look over. "It doesn't matter now Harry. I'm so relieved to see you. You look really good!"
Harry had broken off contact with pretty much everyone he knew from his past due to the rehab and he had alienated the rest with his drunken antics. Both Ron and Hermione had been willing to stand by his side, but their faces brought back so many reminders of his past that he found it difficult to let the history go. Harry subsequently told them as much and he severed all ties with them shortly after entering rehab.
"Well, you are thinner than you were, but it suits you well. You look like you did back at…." Her voice fell away as she sent an apologetic glance, hesitating to bring up the past.
"It's okay Hermione," Harry reassured her. "I'm moving on from that whole thing. So…..what's up?"
A grateful smile crossed her face and she grabbed his hand.
"Okay, well come in anyway. Where are my manners?"
Hermione led Harry into the living room of the house she shared with Ron. It was quaintly decorated and instantly reminded Harry of the borough where Ron had grown up and Harry had spent so many Christmases. Mrs. Weasley must have had a strong hand in decorating the place, a fact that Hermione surely hated.
Ron and Hermione had dated for a year after leaving Hogwarts, but eventually decided that their friendship was much too important to ruin it with a relationship. Despite the fact that both were crazy about each other, it was immediately evident upon moving in together that they were both crazy with each other and they agreed to remain friends with occasional benefits. They kept the three story house they had purchased together, but remodeled it to contain two master suites; giving both Ron and Hermione the privacy they needed should either of them bring someone home for the evening. The arrangement seemed to be working, or had done so for the last four years.
Harry found himself in Hermione's bright yellow kitchen listening to her fill him in on the entire goings on over the past year. It seemed that not much had changed, but Hermione seemed more strong-willed, if that was at all possible. She had taken a job as the head of a newly created department at the Department of Ministry called the "Care of Rambunctious Muggle Creatures" that specialized in using magic to control unruly house pets.
"So I told the lady that we would have to take her cat away if she didn't learn to control him, but she didn't seem to get the importance of the situation….." Hermione went on.
Harry realized that he hadn't been paying attention to a word she had been saying. His mind was positively lost in replaying that night in the Purple Skrewt for the hundredth time. Something about the way Draco had looked at him. Something about that night….
Hermione was interrupted by a door slamming from the front of the house.
"Mione! Hey Mione!" Harry recognized Ron's voice bellowing through the house. "Where are you? You will never guess who I ran into today!" Ron bellowed, his voice getting louder and louder. "It's someone that saw Harry…." Ron's sentence remained unfinished and the words hung in the air as Ron's flaming red hair poked through the swinging door that lead to the living room. His mouth opened silently then closed again upon seeing Harry seated at the kitchen counter.
"Harry!" Ron exclaimed nervously shooting a hesitant glance at Hermione who simply shrugged and smiled back at them both.
Ron pushed his way into the kitchen holding the door open for another body to step into the bright kitchen. Ron began to speak but Harry didn't hear a word he said. He was too focused on the tall, lean, blonde boy standing before him.