Author: HatefulRodeo

Story: A Photo of Past Ghosts

Notes: Sort of Epilogue Compliant, OOC, and Yaoi; Don't like it? Don't read it! I think that's it for warnings but if there's more I'll post them at the beginning of the chapter if needed. Also, THANK YOU to all that fav'd, followed and reviewed. It is always much appreciated. OH and a big HUG to Borderlinecrazy for giving me the prompt that prompted me to write this little diddy; even if I totally strayed from the suggested idea. Alright moving on; Enjoy LOVELIES!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I will make no money from the posting of this story.

Previously:

"I'm not hexed, or under a potion; I'm just done with you and this miserable marriage. As for me not acting like myself...do you even know me and when I say know me I mean me, not Head Auror Potter or the Man-Who-Lived, I mean Harry just Harry? Do you know my favorite color? Do you know my deepest secrets? No, you don't because you never cared to find out. You wanted to marry me since you were eleven years old because I was your hero and knight in shining armor."

Ginny snarled; "Than why did you marry me then?" Harry grimaced; "Because it was easy. No one cared or objected to me being with you since it was expected so I didn't have to deal with any backlash from anyone. I thought I could make it work and for a long time I tried to but after a time I gave up and just drifted through life, going to work and coming home, spending time with the kids; so you know our children are the three things I will never regret about our marriage by the way."

"Now, Ginny, if you'll excuse me I have to go before this situation deteriorates more than it already has." Harry swiftly walked into the foyer and spun on his heel, with a sharp crack he was gone, leaving his former wife screaming at him with enraged tears streaming down her face. He couldn't bring himself to care.

~*~*~*Chapter 2~*~*~*

The moment Harry entered Grimmauld Place he went into the study on the ground floor and began to draft several letters; the first set was to his children, letting them know what was going on between him and the woman who called herself their mother. The emerald eyed savior would not have his kids blindsided by the news of their parents impending divorce.

Harry was honest when he explained why he was divorcing their mother. The raven haired wizard wrote about his dis-satisfaction with Ginny and how he loved someone else but had little hope of being with them again. He never confessed that his long lost love was in fact Draco Malfoy but he did allude to the fact that his lost love was male.

He knew his kids would be alright with their dad's sexuality; Harry hadn't raised bigots. At the end of each letter he explained that while he regretted marrying Ginny he never, not for one moment, regretted having them. He even went so far as to tell James, Lily, and Albus that they were the reason he lived and continued to wake every day.

Harry knew his kids knew that he loved them but he never let the chance pass to tell them how their father felt about them. The Man-Who-Lived also left his kids with the choice of who they wanted to live with; Harry or Ginny. Though the choice was a forgone conclusion; they would choose their dad any day, all day.

Ginny may have birthed them but Harry raised them. He was the one who stayed up with them when they coliced as babies or had a bad dream in their adolescents. He was the one who checked for Boggarts under the bed and in the closet and he was the one his kids came to when they needed help or advice. There was no way in hell his children would choose to live with the red headed shrew that bore tham.

Maybe he wasn't being fair to Ginny but after all these years of swallowing his arguments and pushing down his discontent Harry wasn't feeling very fair. His soon to be ex-wife married the illusion of Harry James Potter that she created in her own head. And when she realized that reality Harry and dream Harry didn't mesh she tried every day to make the emerald eyed male fit into the mould she had created for him inside her mind.

Shortly after they were married Ginny began to push hard for them attend party after party and then when Harry stubbornly resisted going to puffed up, useless events she left him to play professional Quidditch. Not that Harry minded his spouse's long absences, not in the least. However, when she became pregnant with James the raven thought she would stay home and give up playing Quidditch.

Harry had just graduated the Auror Academy when James was born and had little to no time to care for a child so it made sense that Ginny would stay home and look after their newborn son. That was not what happened.

His wife yelled and screamed indignantly when Harry asked if she was going to quit the Harpies and stay home with their son; essentially she told him she would continue to play and return home like she had been. She also told Harry that he should be the one to stop working since he was the one who really wanted kids in the first place; hearing his wife say that was like a slap in the face to the emerald eyed man.

He often wondered why Ginny even allowed herself to become pregnant if that was really how she felt about children? Did his ex-spouse only become pregnant because she thought that was what she should do? As the savior's wife she should be reproducing; at least that was what Harry thought it could be. He really had no clue why Ginny did half the things she did and he really didn't give a fig either.

So in the end Harry stayed silent as his wife left to rejoin her team and made due with the situation he found himself in. During James' first four years of life the raven haired savior was worn out to the bone; he woke up early to feed himself and his son and get them both ready for their day. Once they were both put together Harry brought his son to Molly's for the day.

After getting James settled at his grandma's Harry went into work for who knew how many hours and only stopped working to scarf down whatever food source was in front of him. By the time he left the Ministry he was exhausted and only had enough energy to pick up his son and have a cuddle with his adorable baby boy before going through their nightly bedtime routine.

When his son was finally snoozing happily in the bassinet near his bed Harry would fall face first into the mattress and be dead to the world until his alarm rang early the next morning. This routine continued through Albus' and Lily's birth; he may not be a fan of Molly's anymore but he was grateful to the woman for looking after his children during those early years when Harry was cutting his own path in the Ministry.

His kids saw how hard their dad worked to support them and take care of them while their mother was nowhere to be seen. Harry knew they resented Ginny but couldn't bring himself to care; the bitch brought it on herself by being absent for most of their lives.

It wouldn't have surprised him if his children had at one point thought Hermione was their mother and not Ginny; the bushy haired woman was a constant in their lives until she uprooted and moved to Paris for her work.

Even now Hermione wrote James, Lily, and Albus at least twice a month to check up on them. Harry was amused by this since his ex-wife rarely wrote their kids at all. He had hoped that Ginny's strained relationship with their kids would improve when she retired form Quidditch but he was once again wrong. Even without Quidditch to take her away Ginny was as inattentive and blasé about their kids and what they were doing in their lives as she always was.

Harry couldn't even get mad about it anymore; he felt saddened more than anything really. He imagined what his life would have been like if Draco was the one to have their children and how the blonde would react to parenthood. He truly believed that Draco would have been a great father to their kids and from what Albus wrote about Scorpius Harry knew Draco Malfoy had done well with the blonde boy.

With a sigh he sealed the three letters and called for the spare owl he kept at Grimmauld Place for emergencies; it seemed his forethought was paying off in dividends today. When his Eagle owl, Cassius, alighted himself on the desk Harry softly spoke to him; "Hello, Cassius, I need you to take these to Hogwarts quickly and then come back. Don't wait for a reply from them, alright?"

The intelligent bird blinked his dark eyes, hooted lowly to show he understood Harry's words, and spread his large black wings in preparation for flight. With a small gust of wind Cassius was off and winging himself out of the charmed window in the study as the bird swiftly made his way toward Hogwarts.

His next letter was addressed to his Goblin Manager Griphook; he requested an early morning meeting for tomorrow with the goblin to go over his accounts and put together a reasonable settlement to offer to Ginny in the upcoming divorce hearing. The Potter-Black Lord also rescinded any access Ginny had to their joint vaults. Harry knew his ex-spouse had a vault in her own name so she wouldn't be destitute while she and Harry chalked out how much money she would get from him in the seperation.

The next missive was to his solicitor and former classmate, Ernie Macmillon, asking for a meeting tomorrow afternoon. Together he and the Macmillon Lord would wade through the legal aspects of his divorce and prepare for the divorce hearing.

Harry was not looking forward to the hearing but it was necessary in cases when a Lord was divorcing their spouse. The process had changed over the years and was less restrictive but it was still a pain. A contingent of five impartial Wizengamot members would convene to hear the reasons for the divorce and if the reasons were satisfactory they would grant the divorce. However, the contingent very rarely denied a divorce request.

However, the raven knew his ex-wife would make this process as painful as possible for him. No doubt she would bring up his affair with Draco and try to play it up that Harry was unfaithful to her during their marriage. This was a blatant lie and he would submit to Veritaserum if need to be to refute her claims of infidelity; he may be a coward but he was not a liar or a cheat.

He thanked Merlin that only the Wizengamot panel and the named parties in the divorce decree would be present inside the courtroom during the divorce hearing. That meant his private life wouldn't be slathered all over the front page of the Prophet but he was sure his red headed ex would take the opportunity to squawk to the press about how much she hated Harry and how he cheated on her, etc, etc...

That was why he would ask Ernie to request a Gag Order on everyone involved in this situation; no one would be running their mouth off to the press as it would onlky distract them from the real issue; their divorce. Harry just wanted it done with now that he decided to go through with it. But it wouldn't be as simple as Harry was willing to make it, not by a long shot.

The emerald eyed wizard also had a feeling that Ginny would try and get as much money and property out of Harry as she could out of spite but the Lord of House Potter and Black would be ready for that. The settlement he was going to offer her was more than fair; the house they shared in Ottery St. Catchpole would be Ginny's outright and a monthly stipend of three hundred galleons a month would be deposited into his ex-wife's vault until Lily was of age.

He felt this was more than fair seeing as his wife came into their marriage a pauper and lived quite well off Harry's money for most of their marriage. The savior was sure the members of the Wizengamot overseeing his divorce would agree with him on the fairness of his offer and grant the divorce even if Ginny objected.

That was one of the perks the magical divorce process had over the muggle one; if the Wizengamot thought the settlement fair they could conclude the proceedings despite one of the involved parties objecting. All he needed to do was meet with his vault manager and his solicitor to get things rolling.

Once he was done writing his letter to Ernie he folded the parchment and sealed it, adding a few security spells to each letter for good measure. Seeing as Cassius wasn't back yet he made his way to the floo and lit a fire, when the flames were crackling merrily he grabbed some floo powder from the bowl on top of the hearth and threw it into the flames, calling out Griphook's address before he flung the letter into the green flames.

The process was repeated over again for the letter to Ernie; when the last letter disappeared into the flames Harry rose and made his way through the house until he came to the master bedroom. He glanced around the room and felt a small smile cross his face; he loved this room. When Harry renovated Grimmauld he was the one who picked everything out; from the floors to the furniture everything was chosen by him.

This bedroom sported the same dark hardwood floors that graced most of the house and beautiful cherry wood furniture. A large cream rug with green and blue accents was on the floor; it added a bit of lightness to the dark room. The bed was monstrous and the comforter and pillows were comprised of various shades of cream, green, and blue. The room was soothing to the Potter male's frazzled mind and tired body.

Without a thought he stripped out of his clothes and fished out his luggage from his robe pocket. Once he un-shrunk and found his toiletries he entered the en suite bathroom and readied himself for bed; he didn't give a ruddy damn that he was naked and there was no one there to be offended by his nudity. Teeth brushed and face washed he exited the washroom and strode to the massive bed; Harry threw the soft covers down and slipped onto the comfortable mattress.

With a sigh he closed his green eyes and let his mind drift; at least he didn't have to worry about a custody battle with Ginny. His kids were old enough to choose who they wanted to live with and once the divorce was settled the Wizengamot would rule on the matter of custody and speak to both parents and the children to ascertain the best place for them. In cases like Harry's where the kids were teenagers the panel of Wizengamot members weighted the children's' wishes above the parents'.

At least one thing would be simple about this split. Merlin knew the press would have a field day once the news of their Savior's divorce leaked which it would despite the Gag Order. However, the emerald eyed wizard was ready to stand his ground and do what he had to do to be happy for once in his life. Maybe Draco would see the news about Harry's divorce and make contact with him?

He immediately dashed that wayward hope; Draco was married and while he may not love his wife in the traditional sense he and Astoria had, at this point, been married for over sixteen years. It was a lot to ask for his blonde to leave his whole life behind for the moron who broke his heart and married someone else.

Could he even refer to the haughty Malfoy Lord as his anymore? Probably not but Harry didn't know any other way to think of Draco other than as his, even if the raven would never physically possess the beautiful grey eyed male again..

At least the raven still had the memories of his time spent with his gorgeous blonde lover; those he would treasure for the rest of his life. Even if he and Draco would never again be together he could at least view the memories in his Pensieve or replay them in his mind late at night when he was lonely.

He also couldn't forget that if Albus had his way they would be welcoming Scorpius into the family in a few years which meant that Harry would again be spending time with his Malfoy; that counted for something, right? Just because he couldn't have Draco in the way he desired didn't mean he couldn't enjoy spending whatever time with him he could.

Merlin, Morgana, and Medusa he was pathetic but he only had himself to blame. This situation he found himself in was entirely his fault and if he was lonely well he only had himself to hold accountable for it. But it still sucked and he still wanted Draco more than anything but Harry wouldn't push the Malfoy Lord into, or for, anything. If it happened for them again it would; if not the emerald eyed man had his precious memories of sweat slicked alabaster skin and shimmering grey eyes full of love.

Gods Draco was so beautiful back then and he still was from what Harry saw; the other man had aged well. Both of them had if Harry could be so bold as to still consider himself attractive. That eighth year was a new beginning for both of them and they seized the chance to bury the hatchet and move onward with no animosity between them.

He and Draco still argued; they were too strong personality wise to ever back down on the things that mattered, but the arguments were just that; arguments, not the malicious hurtling of painful insults and hexes they used to be. They began their relationship slowly, working together on projects for classes when they were assigned together as partners.

Those meetings shifted after a few months to them joining each other in Hogsmeade for the day. It was after one of those outings to Hogsmeade, and several Firewhiskeys, that Harry finally got the courage to kiss the sexy blonde teen. That kiss was a revelation for the raven; until then he never knew exactly where he fell when it came to his sexuality but after snogging a delicious Draco Malfoy Harry was pretty sure he was bisexual.

Harry classified himself as bisexual seeing as he was attracted to the female form; he had three kids with no help from potions or aphrodisiacs after all, but he preferred sculpted pectorals, a firm arse, and a hard cock over soft, full breasts and soft curves. He knew without a doubt that if he never kissed Draco he would have been happily married to a woman.

However, after Draco no one else would do for him; the arrogant Malfoy was it for Harry and he was stupid to think he could ever ignore that. Well he wasn't ignoring it now and he was taking the steps to make it right; unfortunately, it was eighteen years or so too late to really matter for him and Draco but then again Harry always had been a bit slow on the uptake and too damn stubborn to boot.

He comforted himself with the thought that he was finally doing the right thing for the right reasons and that would have to do for now. With those last thoughts Harry drifted away into sleep's inky embrace; the divine image of an eighteen year old, nude Draco Malfoy spread out beneath him hovering tantalizingly in his mind's eye.

Well that's chapter two; next installment will be purely of the flashback slashy variety since I didn't get to it this chapter. Apologies but it just didn't want to be written and I wanted to get something posted for you guys.

Anywho, this story is feeling soo cliche to me and it makes me nauseous. But oh well I like the fic so far so until next time my dears!

All Mistakes Are My Own!