"I'm leaving."

It wasn't a threat anymore; there was no trace of anger in his voice nor any of the malicious glint that had previously lingered on in his eyes. He just stared at the man he had loved "I can't stay, not now. Not while-"

He was cut off by the other man's accented voice, "Not while the woman who you slept with has your baby without you. Not while you give her the money that you think that she deserves to raise your child. Not while the rest of the world looks on at the pair of you thinking "What a perfect family". You should save your breath, we've been here before." The voice that Harry had loved, still loved, rang through the air like a bell in mid ring.

"It doesn't stop it from being true, every word I ever said to you-" Harry tried to explain but he was once again cut off.

"I know Harry, you say that it was all the truth, that you love me still but you need to be with her. I know that Harry."

There was a long pause "I love you."

"You're a good man Harry Potter."

"No I'm not."

"Have you proposed to her yet? Make sure not to send me an invite."

"If I could turn back time."

"I wouldn't go to the wedding even if you did."

"I would change everything."

"I don't think that my heart could take the damage."

"Seamus."

"Stop it Harry! Just go!" Seamus finally snapped and threw something it Harry's head, it shattered above him on the wall glass shards cascading onto his head and onto the carpet where it created moonlit pools of shattered glass. They both looked at it for a moment, only after a minute did they both recognise it - it had been the glass paperweight that Harry had been given by Seamus when his paperwork had started to take over the flat.

It had been light green and see through, it had looked so lovely when they had seen it in the shop that Harry had been unable not to grin at it as soon as his eyes had rested on the small object. Seamus, who had been on his right (explaining why they needed to get back in contact with Ginny and the others), had instantly known that it was prefect for his partner.

The broken glass littered the floor. Harry hadn't seen anything quite so beautiful since the end of the war. He had stood as dawn arrived over Hogwarts, standing at the top of one of the turrets which had been broken apart by a multitude of spells early on in the fighting. There had been a hand on his shoulder and he had turned. Ginny kissed him softly and moved to stand behind him. "Its beautiful," she had said looking out over the ruins of the castle "Terrible, but it holds its own beauty."

Harry had agreed with her, he had comforted her, they had needed each other more then than anything else in the world. When things had gone too far, when they lay back off each other and realised that they had done one thing to much in their relationship, it had been too late. And then they had fallen apart, shattered like the glass had against the wall.

Harry felt like metal that had been bent out of shape, pounded and used so many times that he had forgotten what it felt like to be shiny and new. He had been so scarred when the war had ended. So terribly scarred, that when Seamus finally told him that he might like him he had just cracked up the middle.

The nighttime air slowly entered the room where the two wizards stood, they had left one of the windows open. The sound of the traffic from outside was somehow hushed, a thick fog of silence around them that they couldn't seem to shake off. It was like being drunk, Seamus was familiar with that feeling at least.

He had been drunk when he first admitted it to Harry that he like him. They both had had a bit too much to drink in the Leaky Cauldron. They had staggered up the stairs into the room that they had booked to share (them both being there for the same reunion), and collapsed onto one of beds both looking up at the ceiling for a minute until.

"You know what Harry, I think. And I think that I'm right. I think that you and me would be absolutely brilliant together."

Harry, as drunk as he was, had just moved closer to the other man.

Seamus, not stopping like he would have if he was even a fraction sober, continued "In fact I think that we should just do it Harry."

"Do what?" Harry had asked, sleep marring his voice.

"Get together."

"You're funny."

"So you don't want to?"

Harry had looked slightly worried when he had heard that, he had sat up suddenly and without a single warning he pushed himself onto Seamus "I never said that."

The next morning had been awkward to say the least - Harry had woken up first and then had woken up Seamus with a small cry of shock.

They had avoided each other for a week before they were stuck on ministry business together, they had had to make up and get the job (a particularly unpleasant one involving Weasleys Wizarding Weezes products being sent to a muggle address instead of the new store) done and had gone out on their first date that night.

The shattered glass started to glow, not with magic Harry realised, but with moonlight. They had stood there, among the remains, for over an hour. "I need to go."

"Back to her?"

"Where else could I go?"

"You're 'Harry Potter', we both know that you could go anywhere you want." The words were cutting and Seamus knew that there would be no going back to what they had had, not now, not ever.

"I can't." Harry said shortly, "I can't go to the one place that I want to go to more than anywhere else."

Seamus recoiled quickly, "There's no need for that Mr Potter. There's nothing there for you anymore, for either of us. The past should be left alone."

"It doesn't stop me from wanting to be there."

"No I guess it doesn't."

"I have to go."

"I know."

Harry closed the door behind him with a soft thunk.

"I'm pregnant." With Ginny there was never any beating around the bush - if something was there then it was there, if something wasn't there then it wasn't. With Ginny things were always black and white with no shades of grey. There were good people, there were bad people. There were Death Eaters and then human beings. This, by most, could have been called the simple way of life, but there was one thing that came from it that was very good - Ginny never could lie.

"You're, you're what!" Harry had choked out, wide-eyed, he counted on his fingers the months since the last battle "Five months."

Ginny just looked at him with her eyes wider than ever before, nodding "It's yours Harry, you're going to be a dad."

She had been so happy, so very very happy. He hadn't the heart to tell her that he thought what they did a mistake, now he was paying for his lies in the worst way possible. There was only one thing that he could do in his mind. Just one thing. He bent down on one knee, he felt like he wanted to fall on his face. He looked up at her, he felt the world resting on his shoulders. He opened his mouth to speak, all he wanted to say was "so what?" but his mouth had to say those words.

"Will you marry me?"

When he had told Seamus that they were over the younger man had thought that he was kidding. They had fought and Harry had said things and Seamus had said worse things in Irish so that Harry didn't know what he was saying but could guess with the tone of voice that Seamus was using.

Harry had only told Ginny that they were flatmates, nothing more nothing less. He had told her that Seamus had had to listen through night upon night of his pining after her. He had mentioned that it was now a joke if anyone hit on him that Seamus would say "He's reserved." He had told her so many lies that it almost sounded like to the truth, even to him.

Then there had been the final row, the row that had made him leave without anything, even an overnight bag. He had gone to Ginny and tried to loose himself in the preparations for their wedding, but he couldn't. All he could think about was that right now there were things that Harry needed to do, things like move out of the house with its ghosts of all the nights that he had spent in the arms of the Irishman. Ghosts of the places they had gone together and the people that they had grown close to after the war. Ghosts of the time before things had been rushed, when Harry was just 'Harry' and not 'Harry Potter'.

So he had left in the middle of the evening, untangled himself from Ginny's plans and caught the Knight Bus. He had travelled as fast as he could, not using the floo powder incase somebody heard the password 'Green as sin' (Seamus' favourite phrase about Harry's eyes).

He had turned up at the door to the flats and smiled at one of the neighbours kids (who was bent over double retching his guts out while still trying to impress the girl on his arm). He had made his way up the stairs and used his extra key to get into the flat. He had seen Seamus at the window, looking out at the sunset over London and all that he could think to say had been "I'm leaving."

Seamus had to agree.


It was a strange feeling, Harry admitted as he pushed his daughter's trolley, full of her things for her first year at Hogwarts. It was a strange feeling to walk off the ordinary, everyday muggle platform and onto the magical one. Even if one had been there many times before there was always something about it that gave him an excited leap in his stomach.

Ginny's hand was wrapped around his waist and a fake smile, almost wholly deceiving to the masses but not to Harry was plastered on her face. He knew her smile, her real smile. This was not it. There was a slight edge to the way that the family was walking, there was no conversation and ever present was a silence so thick that it was almost smothering, clinging to the area around them as a vine would to an abandoned house.

They walked through the steam from the engine and spotted people they knew dotted among the throng of people on the platform, a slight nod of the head was all that it took for the younger Potters to take off and go their separate ways, James had spotted one of his friends from the Gryffindor Quidditch team and had run off. Harry could see the smile on his face as wide as if he had just been told that Christmas had come early, Harry couldn't blame him. He would have the same look if he could get away from everything even for a term (because of cause they would be coming home for the holidays for a family Christmas and not staying and experiencing the holiday season at Hogwarts).

Albus had been a little more subtile in the way that he had slipped off and had joined Scorpius Malfoy and a little group of other Slytherin third years, he had done so at a point where his mother was squinting through the fog to see if she could see her bother and his brood. Harry smirked at his son who gave him the 'if-you-tell-on-me-then-you-are-not-my-father' look that he seemed to have mastered over the years of Harry and Ginny arguing.

Lily was quieter still, she had just moved fast enough to get onto the train while her mother was still peaking around trying to find where her brothers had gone. Harry had given her a hand with her trunk - putting a feather light charm on it so that she could get it on without having to waste time. Lily had given him a shy 'thank you' grin and nod. He had blown her a kiss which she caught and then entered the train.

Ginny, having finally spotting Ron and Hermione across the platform grabbed Harry's hand sharply, her eyes keenly dancing around to see if the kids were anywhere near. "Did you see where the children went?" She asked, her eyes looking at him as if she knew that he had helped them escape unnoticed, Harry shrugged. He didn't want to get the kids in trouble for not saying goodbye and running off, he would too if he had the chance.

"Never mind."

Ginny turned to talk to Hermione about something to do with a tea break. Just as they were about to go into an in depth talk on tea (Harry and Ron exchanged looks from either side of their wives), another couple joined the group and Ron and Hermione cut off their conversation with Ginny and Harry and started up another conversation that included almost everyone.

Ron and Hermione looked and were every bit of the couple that Harry wished he and Ginny could have been - they were laughing at something that one of the other parents had said and were holding onto each other lightly, exchanging little smiles with one another as they talked. After about a minute of conversation about the weather, Ron turned to Ginny and asked her "So how are the rest of the kids? I haven't talked to the older ones in ages, they don't want to talk to Uncle Ron anymore." The other couples laughed, Ginny smiled.

"Their doing well, Arthur is in New Zealand hoping to get the ministry there in on what the muggles in their area are doing and trying to set up a school there (did you know they don't train wizards there at all - they rely on people moving there!). Harry Jr. is doing well in St Mungo's, trying to get some experience before he gets the promotion that he's been promised for the diagnostics department, he's enjoying himself almost too much! And Gwen's been in the auror academy for six months now. She's not regretting anything and like her twin is working hard to climb the ranks, we're ever so proud, Kingsley was looking over the training and told Harry that the position of Head Auror might just stay in the family when he leaves!"

Harry listened to Ginny boast about their oldest children and how well they had been doing, Harry hadn't wanted a large family, perhaps three kids when he was well into his twenties and settled down. He hadn't wanted to be one of those people who were driven poor by the kids that they had never wanted. When it came down to it there was still more money in the Potter vaults than they would ever need, but when people asked him whether he was happy he would just sigh and say "I have no reason to be unhappy." Their oldest children had all left home in the last six months, they had only been too happy to leave when they did - Ginny thought that Harry was being unfair to her by not taking time off work on the day that she had a job interview (instead he had offered to have lunch with her before the interview so he could get some work done).

Ginny had, as usual, forgotten about Teddy in her ramblings about the family, Teddy Lupin was more Harry's concern than hers and it showed (though this could be applied to their children as well). Ginny hadn't liked the way that Harry would spend equal times playing with Teddy as with Arthur, claiming that it showed that he was stuck in the past, playing with a dead man's son who he owed nothing. This had caused mass fighting in the Potter household.

He caught the eyes of one of the other parents and started "Dean!"

Said man smiled at him warmly "Harry," he said coming closer to him "how're things in your world?"

Harry wanted to lie, he wanted to say that everything was perfect, that in the last twenty one odd years that he had been faithful to Ginny, that they were as happy as everybody thought they were. But looking Dean in the eyes, seeing the happiness there. The happiness that he had let slip into the darkest recesses of his mind. Dean had been one of the people that knew about Harry and Seamus, it had been impossible to keep it from him when he decided to stay over Christmas that year. After that things had always been open between the couple and Dean, they hadn't ever lied to him again while they were together, they had been close. Harry remembered all the times that Dean had told him that he had made the wrong decision leaving Seamus. And then, looking at the man after too many years of silence, he could lie no more. "Not brilliantly."

The train let out a whistle and many of the surrounding students started to hurry onto the train. There were a few breaks in the conversation after that, many of the people on the platform looked at their watches every now and then so that they knew when to move to the edge of the platform to wave their children off. Dean slowly mingled over to Harry. Carefully he put his hand on Harry's shoulder and led him off slightly to the side of the platform. "What's happened?"

Harry looked around the platform, not really seeing the the crowd around the two of them, Dean pushed him slightly in the shoulder. Harry, thinking about where to start, shoved him slightly back. "I don't think that this is the life that I want."

"You mean that you're not happy with your life? Are you having a -"

Harry cut him off "I'm not having a midlife crisis Dean! I don't even think that I have a life really, I just feel that everything that I do is something that I don't want!" He clamped his hand to his face "I thought that once I had settled down then everything would settle down with me. I thought that as soon as I gave up everything that was me, everything that everybody else didn't like, that I could just be me! Not Harry Potter 'the boy who lived, the man who concurred death'. I thought that as soon as I became boring with a wife and six kids, that I would be fine! Undisturbed! At Peace!"

There was a moment of silence between the two of them, there was another whistle from the train and both the men let their eyes drift to their watches. Three minutes to go. "Seamus told me something, before the wedding," Dean didn't look at him, Harry was grateful for it. "He told me that you didn't mean to get Ginny pregnant."

"I was an idiot."

"Was?"

"Okay," he turned around and had a weary grin on his face "Perhaps I still am."

"Perhaps?"

"What do you mean Dean?!" Harry snapped, finally getting tired of all the questions, all the insults.

"I mean, if you loved him, if you really loved him then you would give up everything to be with him," Dean took a deep breath "Harry you two were together for three months, I was happy for the two of you and you two have never looked happier than you were at that point. I thought that as soon as you realised that having kids with Ginny wasn't going to cut the mustard with you then you would leave Ginny, kids or no kids, and find a better life, I'm not saying that that life would be with Seamus, I'm not saying that it would have been with anybody, but it would have been a better life. That is the path I thought that you would take when you split up with Seamus."

"But I didn't."

"No, you didn't."

The two of them stood for another moment in silence before Harry said "How is he? Where is he?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Dean responded, nodding at a window half way down the Hogwarts Express. Harry squinted at the window through the mist and he could just make out the form of a man in it "He's teaching transfiguration this year, McGonagall and Neville both convinced him that he should take the position. When he told me I thought that it was fitting."

"Yes, it is." Harry responded almost wistfully "A very good fit indeed."

"He's not married, he's got no kids and no partner at all. I would almost say that he's lost all interest in anyone but then you never know. He might just be telling me things that he thinks that I want to hear from him," Dean shook his head "He's an idiot like that, not telling me who he dates, it could save him so much heartache."

Harry looked down at his watch, there was about a minute until the train left. He could almost feel Seamus' lips on his, nothing comparable to the feeling, Ginny's kisses were polite and sweet but Seamus' were full of 'things that shouldn't be done' suggested in a single, glorious, kiss.

30 seconds

Ginny's hand fit into his completely, it was small yet callused from the time that she spent cleaning around the house. Seamus' hand had covered his, perfectly the same size as his. Her laugh was short lived, few and far between. His had been booming and brilliant, not halting for a second when he found something funny.

20 seconds

Harry found himself running, slipping through the crowds of people on the platform and right next to the train.

5 seconds

He swung himself onto the train through a door that was closing. The bell sounded. The train left the station.

Back on the platform, Dean's wife came over to him and stood next to him, waving off the children on the train. She noticed that he was smiling "What are you so happy about?" she asked curiously.

"I think that I'm a miracle worker," he responded smugly.

"And why's that?"

Dean watched the train till it was out of sight before answering her question "Because I think I just made the world a much, much better place, by the way, I think you better fire up your printing press when you get to the office dear. There's going to be breaking news any minute -" he was cut off by a tap on the shoulder.

"Dean you haven't seen Harry around here have you?" Ginny asked "Only I can't seem to find him."

Dean's wife smiled a Ginny "No sorry, we haven't though I think that Dean was talking to him weren't you dear?"

Smiling Dean affirmed this "He said something about having to go to somewhere for awhile, I'm sure he'll contact you soon enough Ginny."

The redhead moved off and the remaining couple looked at each other, Dean amused and his wife alarmed "Is Harry Potter divorcing his wife?"

Dean just laughed.


The Daily Profit

HARRY POTTER DIVORCES GINNY WESLEY
By Lavender Brown and Sarah Thomas

We at the Daily Profit can confirm the rumours that have circulated concerning the marriage of Boy-Who-Lived, Man-Who-Concurred and Master of Death, Harry Potter and Ms Ginevra Potter (nee. Weasley). These reporters can confirm that the two of them have decided to divorce after 'years of things not being right between us'. The famous couple and the parents of six (Arthur 20, Harry Jr 19, Gwen 19, James 15, Albus 13 and Lily 11) as well as looking after Teddy Lupin (21) when he was younger, have moved into separate houses and are currently 'dividing the furniture'.

Mr Potter (37) is continuing to reside at his home at 12 Grimmald Place while Mrs Potter (36) has moved back to her family home at "The Burrow" with her parents. Their children (those who are living at home) are reported to be living with their father during the summer and and staying at Hogwarts during the holidays "to get the full experience". Though this isn't the first time that the Potters have split up (they split for 3 years 16 years ago) this is the first time that they have confirmed that they are going to stop being married "and move on with our [their] lives".

Family insiders wouldn't confirm rumours that it was Mr Potter himself who demanded the split though they did mention that the relationship between the Potters was over permanently. Not wasting any time, both members of the couple have been seen out with others in the wizarding community on group outings and they both look happier than they have done for a long time. We at the Daily Profit think that they are making the right choice and wish them well as previous articles and stories about them in recent years has suggested that they had been having marriage difficulties almost from the very start of the marriage.

What are the consequences of this divorce on the Wizarding World, well our correspondents in the ministry have said that since the famous couple filed for a divorce there has been an uptake in such cases "people now know that if people like the Potter's have been having difficulties they just can't get over, that it is acceptable for them to divorce also," one ministry official. Another stated that "as soon as the Potters broke up more and more people have realised that relationships forged in fire aren't perhaps the best relationships out there though some cases - Mr and Mrs Ron Weasley for example - happen to be an entirely different kettle of fish."

After the news broke our offices were bombarded with letters from the public, a few read:

I always thought that the Potter's relationship was too good to be true, they always seemed so happy about everything that it was almost impossible when they were out in public, to look anywhere else. They were the perfect family but I guess we all should have seen it coming when Mrs Potter was seen with another man last month.
No T. Surprised

I heard that the Potter's were splitting up and I thought to myself 'it's that Harry Potter again' the man is incapable to not be in the news. My mam says that this is just another publicity stunt for his ego - like saying that You Know Who was back years before he actually was - and popularity to get another boost after living in the shadows for so long. I bet that the two of them will be back together in less than no time after the divorce, saying that they were mislead by some magical creature or another in...

Harry dropped the newspaper onto the desk in front of him with a soft thump, not wanting to read again anymore of the public conspiracies. He was in Seamus' courters in Diagon Ally seven months after the paper had run that story, it being the weekend meant that Seamus could go to his house and spend time with him there without having to introduce Harry as his boyfriend to the rest of the faculty and students of Hogwarts before they were sure that Harry's kids would approve.

There was a knock on the door and Seamus entered with a bundle of papers "You're going to have to sign these love," the Irishman said, chucking the wad of papers at Harry.

"And then I'm not married?"

"And then you are a bachelor again," Seamus smiled "Easy."

"I don't think that I was ever a bachelor Seamus."

"Oh, I can fix that Mr Potter just give me a weekend and line up several batches of hangover potions."

"Only several batches?" Harry smirked happily at Seamus who tilted his head to the side for a second as if contemplating what he had just said.

"No, you're right," the Irishman looked serious "It may be a few more."

They both grinned at each other for a minute and then Harry asked "Do you have any pens in here?"

Seamus tossed a pen at Harry's head and the seeker caught it easily "You've still got it." Harry, too busy scribbling his name on the pieces of parchment, only responded to the comment with a grunt that sounded approving.

Finishing the signature with a flick and moving to attach the paperwork to the leg of a barn owl that sat in the corner of the room, Harry started to laugh. After a minute debating whether to join in with the laughter or call a healer, Seamus joined in.

A while later, when both of them found themselves in bed and ever so slightly unclothed, Seamus faced the other man lying next to him "So Mr Potter, there is a small matter that we need to discuss."

"And what would that be?" said Harry, moving closer into the warmth of the Irishman's body.

"Would you like to go on a date with me?" Seamus asked, trying (and somewhat failing) to contain his giggles. When Harry didn't answer for several minutes he stopped giggling and looked at him, worried that Harry still hadn't answered. Harry's eyes were slightly glassed over, his breathing was regular, as was his pulse that Seamus could hear when he reached out and touched Harry's arm. As soon as their skin touched, Harry was back out of the trance.

"How many ways," Harry said grinning madly "Do you think I could use to say yes?"


Fin


I don't own Harry Potter, I am not JKRowling, I will never be JKRowling for as long as I live even when I am old and grey. In other words unless Remus turned into a pink, sparkling, fluffy bunny with an addiction to old socks during the full moon, I own nothing other than the plotline.

What can I say... The plot bunnies got to me.

Written in partnership with YKWillstone (hence the slightly odd authors note that was there before)

r&r if you're in the festive spirit.

See Ya

MDM