Chapter 2. Letters 3 and 4

Harry apparated directly in the kitchen, failing to notice Ron who was drinking probably tea, since their third year both Ron and Harry decided to drink only packaged tea, the one that come in a small bag to submerge in hot water. He had a lot of unpleasant memories from tea. Who could have imagined a cup of tea could traumatize both war heroes?

"you're late" said Ron making Harry emerge from his thoughts

"mhmm?" Harry couldn't help to think in Nott when he heard those words again "sorry what did you say?"

"you're late" repeated Ron "you were that busy?"

"yeah, this case is more difficult then we first thought"

"why didn't you call me?"

"don't worry, I was checking the files" said Harry dismissing Ron's worries "I do need from you to look up for the payments of the war crimes from the Death Eaters both incarcerated and freed, there are some number that doesn't add up"

"sure, I will do it tomorrow morning" Ron was an excellent auror too but lately he thought his brother needed more "anything else?"

"only that, but I do need you to be very thorough with the information, probably you'll need to reach to Gringotts" Harry added "but send someone else not a rookie, we both known how goblins can be with unexperienced aurors"

"I'll do it myself" said Ron writing everything he needed to do in his special notebook Hermione got him the moment he got the job

"no! send someone" added Harry "we don't need to go through the same thing than last time, right?"

"hey! That was barely my fault, that awful goblin provoked me even though I warned him" said Ron defensibly "I warned him four times Harry not one or two, four"

"Sure, sure. And yet both ended at St Mungos, that's all I'm going to say" said Harry with his hand in the air as apologising "better send mmm Connor Thomas, he seems at ease in the company of the goblins of probably not, but he seems at more ease than any of us"

"true" agreed Ron "fine, Thomas it is"

"okay, then. Wait! Ask Thomas to ask for the movements of my vault three years ago, specifically after Nott's trial and tell him I need it first thing in the morning" added Harry "off to bed, I'm having a terrible headache"

Harry wasn't telling the truth but wasn't lying either, his new information of Nott's vault and everything that happened after made Harry's mind to spin as fast as it could, apparently there was indeed too much information to be able to acquire in such short time. And he thought Ron's romantic life was such a chaos.

Wait, romantic life? Harry thought about he thought and felt of Theodore Nott, he was fixated in him, but he always thought it was because of how he acted at his trial and the trials of his friends, after all he knew nothing of him, did he? Although what made Harry to speak on his behalf? Yes, the trial was brutal and yes, he didn't deserve it but why doing something as reckless as what he did? And yes, he was talking about paying for his crimes AND the kiss

Ah, the kiss. In Harry's mind that kiss was something else. Why did you kiss him? Harry thought. Agh apparently, he wasn't going to sleep well nor much this night, he refused to get up again because he knew if he got up, he would never go back to bed. Think in something else urged Harry oh I have an idea! Think in professor Binns. That did the trick.

You sent me an owl asking why I would do something as stupid as speaking on your behalf, I never answer not because I didn't want to but because I didn't have an answer to give you, I knew that sending and owl only saying 'I don't know' wouldn't satisfied you so, I decided not to answer. After that I didn't heard from you. I knew you left London, you went to Milan or Rome or Sicily somewhere in Italy, Hermione told me. Why she would tell me was beyond me, apparently you sent a letter to Malfoy and he told her.

Did you go to Italy to escape from you demons? Probably not, you seen the type of person to coexist well with them, I'm terrible by the way. I tried to confront them, you know? I went to see the Dursleys two or three months after the war ended. They had to change residency because of me, apparently, I did some damage as well not only them. I walked around the house to see they probably ditched me from their lives. I wanted to talk to my aunt after all she was the sister of my mother, I never got the courage enough to do it, so I left. See? I'm terrible living or confronting my own demons.

Harry woke up with a terrible headache even though his "think in professor Binns" tactic works doesn't mean is the best method to sleep a pleasant sleep. It took almost all Harry's strength to get up but finally did it. Unlike Ron he preferred to get ready for the day before eating breakfast. Normally he went for a run or practiced boxing in the mornings but today he wasn't in the mood. Every single part of his body ached, his back, his arms, his legs, his lips, especially his lips.

"morning" announced Ron eating what it looked a bowl of cereal "spoke to Thomas yesterday, he said the is having your vault's information at your desk for you to look into it the second you enter your office"

"for Merlin's beard, eager much?" asked Harry feeling like crap, Ron shrugged

"you look like crap" finally Ron turned to look at Harry

"I feel like crap" agreed Harry "do you have any potion for this?"

"sure, mate. In the first cabinet to the left of the sink"

Connor Thomas started two years ago-ish, he wanted to work with/for Harry so much he was so eager as hell, probably that was why Harry tended to ask some things to him, he knew exactly how to move the entire earth and sky to make thing happen. He was great with the administrative part of the job, filing information, knowing where to get to necessary documentation for the team to have every information possible. But for the physical part of the job, well let just say he was still alive, wasn't he?

"I think he likes you" said once Ron after seeing his eagerness to please Harry, his words not mine.

- flashback -

Harry was talking to another aurors about a case in Knockturn Alley, it was a relatively easy case since there was someone breaking in to different shops reuniting object for some sort of contraption, what? They weren't sure.

"I need a list of every shop this robber entered" instructed Harry "also I need every single item that was robbed, what do those items do, and probably why would the robber want them"

"I have the whole information Ha… auror Potter" said Connor eagerly "also there is a report of what items the robber is missing and where to find them, all in Knockturn alley"

"the last part of the report is all guess" said Harry reading the report

"yes, well with the items he has there's so little the robber can do, so I ventured to think what the robber could do much greater than the things he can do with the items the robber has now"

"fine I'll use it, Thomas" said Harry turning to look at him "but still I want at least three more aurors to keep an eye every single time. You three: Evans, Taylor and Brown would help Thomas here with to make sure the robber doesn't get any of these items, Ron is going to make sure everything is fine and according to plan, he is the one to tell you if your plan is a go no-go"

"are you sure, auror Potter?" asked Thomas not being able to believe what he was hearing, Harry only nodded "I won't let you down I promise!"

"he's so eager, auror Potter" mocked Ron when they were finally alone "I think he fancies you, auror Potter"

"he is new, of course he is eager" defended Harry "don't you remember when we first started as aurors?"

"he is no rookie, Harry" Ron reminded him "he has worked on two cases now with us? And difficult ones I must add"

"definitely you are crazy" said Harry "he wants to help, that all"

"I think he is quite eager to please" Ron laughed "so eager to please you, auror Potter"

- end flashback -

True to his word, Thomas had left the balance of Harry's vault in his desk. The whole balance was right but still there was something weird about both information. Harry realized he needed the documents of the payments for the war crimes.

"Thomas" yelled Harry poking out his head through his open door "I need the information of the payments"

"yes, auror Potter" Thomas run to Harry office "I spoke this morning with one of the goblins the file I left on your desk was the one document they could give in the moment, but the goblin said he'll have the information today as soon as possible"

"okay, at what time?" asked Harry rubbing his temple "I need them before noon"

"I'm not sure, I'll go to Gringotts to make sure you can have it before then"

"if not, please ask them for only the payments of Theodore Nott and mine"

"yours?" definitely Thomas was intrigued now "but you fought against them"

"just do it, please"

"sure, auror Potter"

Thomas was no rookie, but he was indeed young and as almost everyone didn't know Harry by speaking on Nott's behalf had accepted to pay for his mistakes, probably only the Wizegamont, Kingsley, Hermione, Ron, Draco Malfoy and Theo Nott himself new about that. Although the day before Theodore didn't know Harry was supposed to pay.

Nott.

Don't apparate, come through the Floo network of the Ministry

H.P.

Theo wasn't a morning person that was why he got so mad hearing the tap on his window. He recognized immediately Potter's owl Ook* as she was almost the same as his first owl. The very first time he saw Ook was almost a month after his trial, he had to go the Ministry to sign some paper of his release and some other about his behaviour and one notification about the payment for his war crimes.

Potter, Nott noticed was about to enter the Ministry when an owl hooted and gave him a letter of some sort. Apparently Weasley had to go to France to help the French Ministry in some agreement between the Department of Law Enforcement of both countries. Probably that was the reason of the letter to tell him he was still alive.

"okay, okay fine" yelled Theo annoyed "I'm up, see?"

Even though he found the owl offensive -mostly because she just waked him up- he found it quite stunning, the colour was difficult to find specially since she was a Nia owl, and they are not natives of the United Kingdom, so yeah definitely she was Potter's owl. He has a really good taste in owls.

"thank you, Ook" said Nott petting the owl "since I'm already up, and you are here, would you like to eat something?"

Nott managed to arrange a semi decent breakfast and found some food for owls, after all Draco had also a certain weakness for owl, he tried to always have owl food if he didn't want to be bitten or scratched, they both ate in silence, mostly wondering if he was always as lonely.

It was already past 10 o'clock so Theo decided to star getting ready, after all apparently, he was going to walk from the Ministry atrium to Potter's office, fuck probably he'll have to ask someone for direction since he didn't know where it is.

After his shower, Theo opted for a simple grey suit with a black shirt, his hair was combed to the back, not as Malfoy used to wear it, his hair seemed to be combed with his fingers and wasn't sleeked to the back but instead it kept certain volume, giving Theo an aristocratic air so alluring no one could refuse him even if they wanted to.

Theo arrived at the Ministry at forty pasts eleven, every single person turned to look at him, instead of shrinking like he used to do when he went with his father to visit Malfoy senior at the Ministry, he decided to walk as straight as he could, and his head held high. He was waiting for the lift when he noticed someone standing next to him, he turned to look at her, a girl or better yet a woman around his age or probably older.

"excuse me, do you work here?" Theo asked before the lift arrived

"yes" answered the girl coyly "can I help you?"

"I'm sure you can" he said with an alluring smile in his lips "would you be so kind to tell me where I can find the Department of Law Enforcement?"

"oh sure! It's in the sixth floor" the girl started to flirt with him "you'll see since Harry Potter is and auror the whole floor belongs to the Department, since almost everyone wants to work with him"

"and you? would you like to work under auror Potter" Theo asked as close as he could of her ear

"I did try, and I do have my qualification. But when then gave us the physical exam I resulted to be totally rubbish"

"maybe they didn't know how to encourage you" that evil smile on Theo's lip was able to send an entire country to war if he wanted to.

"sixth floor" announce a voice in the lift "Department of Law Enforcement"

"this is my stop" announce Theo and without a second glance he got off

Finding Potter's office wasn't difficult, so he only walked to it, but a kid, yes sound about right, a kid got ahead of him and knock on the door almost feverishly sweet Salazar pants, eager much? Thought Theo glaring at the boy.

"auror Potter, I brought the documents you asked for" announce said boy with a box full of papers, documents apparently "sorry my delay! But the goblins, you know how they are"

"for the love of Godric" Theo heard Potter said, apparently the kid didn't "come on in"

The kid did as instruct opened the door as he could since Theo decided not to help him and Potter apparently was to busy to help or the decided not to help either, yes, Theo went for that instead the former. Harry was on his desk with his head on his hands as if he was really tired. Wonder why? Thought Theo.

"sorry, auror Potter. I wanted to give you at least the report you asked for, but the goblins, sir" the kid apologized so profusely "they preferred to give me everything at once, and I think is better this way, so you have all the information at once and not only pieces of it"

"you think is better, huh? Thank Merlin you think that way, that means I'll be able to do my job better now" said Harry from under his arms, after some second he lifted his head in the kid's direction "sorry, Thomas. You have done an excellent job and there is no reason why I take my irritation on you"

Potter got up of his chair and took the box full of documents from Tho… the kid's hands "is that all?"

"amm yeah, sure" responded the kid

"Nott you are already here" said Potter after noticing Theo at the door "you're early, but come in, come in" turning to Thomas he asked, "is that everything or is something else?"

"no, sorry, auror Potter" Thomas rushed through the door letting Nott entering and closing the door behind him.

"that sounds like the little terror fancies you, Potter"

"he's name is Connor Thomas, and no he does not fancy me, he is just optimistic" Harry put the box in one of the shelf he had specially for these moments "you're welcomed to sit wherever you please. I'll have to apologize but I haven't been able to see the documents of the payments of the war crimes. I did ask yours first, but the goblins believe that what I do is a joke apparently"

"well so, I can come back if you want to" said Theo

"you'll have to learn to stop saying thing you don't mean" harry said searching for Theo's documents

"sweet Salazar, you're like a walking lie detector. Granger was right"

"she is always right, but don't tell her I said it if you do, I'll deny everything"

"what do you want to talk about and why I had to come here through the Floo?"

"it's easy, we need to discuss these papers and probably will need to talk to Minister Shacklebolt about it, so this is easier, and also somewhat of a payback for yesterday" Theo could hear Harry's smile in that sentence, that smug bastard.

After a while they went through all the papers in regard of Harry and Theo, they noticed both Harry and Theo did the payments and Theo's were excessively inflated to Harry's taste, there couldn't be a mistake in that since Harry's payments was made a day before and all the paperwork was delivered also in time. Maybe it took him one more day to make the payment, but he did it.

"I don't care they charge me more" said Theo after a while

"probably you don't care, but I do" responded Harry irritable "you don't get it, do you? this case is of financial fraud what if the financial fraud was made by the Ministry to you?"

"Then nothing Potter we don't say anything and that's that. Although you really believe that the case here?"

"no, not really. Is something bigger than that" agreed Harry with a sigh "still what they did was wrong, I know the Ministry needs the money but still that's just wrong. Anyway, I'll initiate the paperwork for that money to be transferred to you vault as quick as they can be"

"Potter, I'm not starving to death I can live without that money"

"then donate if you are so rich"

"hey, don't yell at me for your stress" said Theo defensively "I'm not the one plotting any financial fraud against the Ministry and Gringotts"

"You are my stress" yelled Harry after silencing his office "do you think I'm angry because of your financial statements? You left me, yesterday, you just decided to leave without a fucking word"

"I… I… you… I…."

"oh, shut up" Harry said before kissing Theo again, again it was him who made the first move he noticed but opted to say nothing, he was angry at him, how dared him to keep him awake all night long. Harry took the folder from Theo's hand and throwed it to the desk, to carry on with the kissing session, little by little Theo started to respond firstly kissing Harry back and then he made Harry straddle him, at first the kept his hands on Harry hips keeping him still but he couldn't take it anymore and put his hands on Harry's ass helping him rock back and forward finding a rhythm they both felt comfortable with.

"if you keep doing that I'm gonna cum" said Theo in Harry's ear

"then cum" Harry reply "but cum for me"

That was everything he needed to culminate with Harry's name dancing at the edge of his lips, he refused to let Potter with this one, he already made him ruin his impeccable trousers, but saying his name when he came was to much, Nott's logic apparently.

The very first time I found you at a pub was surprisingly a nice surprise. You weren't sulking but, in a way, you were. "I'm a pariah" you said but it was really only your perception, after all, I made everything I could to help you. I told you so, but sometimes it seems you prefer the dark side of yourself don't get me wrong it's interesting watching it happen almost alluring, but I've never known someone like you, so I don't know what to do or how to react.

You're the kind a guy I would go to war for, stupid of me to say I assume but you are so alluring that sometimes it makes me shudder. That very first day was so difficult for me to stop staring at you, thank Merlin you were sulking otherwise you would've caught me.

That was the first time I wondered my sexuality not that I haven't wondered if before. But you are the kind of person to do that to make every straight guy and probably lesbian girl to asked themselves if they are correct loving and being attracted to a woman when they could be loving you.

So, no I don't believe you are a pariah. When to me, you actually are a king.

Hi everyone!

This is my first story thought it would be just a short one but apparently the characters have a mind of their own. This story is sort of inspired in another story called Modern Romance by olivieblake (an amazing writer, if you get time to read one of her stories, please do).

I have to apologize for the grammatical and orthographic errors, please understand English is not my native language so, my apologies.

The name of Harry's owl: Ook is in honour of one of the owls who played Hedwig in the movies.

Hope you enjoy it.