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Playing Away From Home
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Chapter 2: The Verdict
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"Dear Mr. Malfoy-Potter,
Thank you for trying out for the England Quidditch position of Seeker during the August qualifying session. The final team has been selected and the positions that have been chosen are as follows:Keeper – Geoffrey Whistleton
Beaters – Daniel Armstrong and Campbell Warren
Chasers – Jordan Wright, Amelia Roberts and Bertram Wensleydale
Seeker - "
Harry felt his heart stop.
" - Harry Malfoy-Potter"
And at that the letter fell from Draco's hand.
Harry screamed and jumped into the blonde's arms, both of them laughing and crying at the same time. Draco felt a lump form in his throat and couldn't even begin to describe how proud he felt of Harry at that moment. He squeezed his husband so tightly that his knuckles whitened. "You did it!" Draco gasped, his voice muffled by Harry's shirt. "You did it…."
Harry's chest heaved, the words still ringing in his ears. Seeker – Harry Malfoy-Potter…. He couldn't believe it. Seeker….
His childhood dream to play professional Quidditch had been realised when he had joined the Appleby Arrows three years ago, but this…. To play for England…. This was a once in a lifetime chance and he had done it.
He had done it.
For a few minutes the couple just held each other, too overwhelmed to speak, and when Harry finally drew back, Draco saw the tears streaming down his husband's cheeks. The blonde bent to place a soft kiss on his forehead and smiled at the beaming man, raising a hand to brush away the tears. "You're amazing, do you know that?" he whispered. Harry felt a lump rise in his throat and his stomach fluttered a little as he gazed at the wizard before him. Draco always managed to do this. He was a successful and acclaimed Auror in his own right, yet he always made Harry feel as though he was the most special person on earth.
"So," Draco quipped, leaning closer and lacing their fingers together. "Does this mean I'm going to have to get used to sharing you with thousands of adoring fans?" He narrowed his eyes seductively and a smile played on his lips. "Wouldn't be the first time…."
He was, of course, referring to the constant barrage of attention that he and Harry had received shortly after they had first started seeing each other. The chain of events that had led towards them getting together had all started nearly eight years ago, and Harry's mind drifted back to that time….
After they had left Hogwarts during their seventh year, the wizarding world had been thrown into disarray by the impending Final Battle and, much to the surprise of many, Draco had played a key role in passing inside information to The Order. At first, Harry had refused to believe that Draco was anything other than a liar and a Death Eater, but as the months wore on he had grudgingly grown to value his efforts and even respect the young wizard. It was during that same year that the Order triumphed in the final defeat of The Dark Lord's supporters, and soon, the only thing that remained was to find Voldemort himself.
After months of searching, and following endless leads and chasing supposed sightings of the dark wizard - many of which amounted to nothing – it was finally decided that a particular source needed to be urgently investigated.
Harry and Draco had been assigned to deal with the task.
Harry had been noticing himself feeling a certain discomfort around the blonde, and had put it down to their former volatile relationship during their school years. He was sure about one thing, however – he didn't want to work in such close proximity with his former enemy. He had gone to Dumbledore and spoken to him about it, but the wizard had said that it was necessary that he and Draco work together on this - although he had been a little vague as to why - and Harry had been forced to back down.
It was during the following weeks that the young wizards had grown to trust each other, and even care for one another. After all the past years of hatred and ignorance, Harry and Draco had realised their true feelings. Much later, when Harry questioned Dumbledore as to whether he had been playing matchmaker for the two, the old wizard simply gave him a bemused expression and claimed he didn't know what he was talking about. But that familiar twinkle behind those half-moon spectacles told Harry otherwise.
A few months after the final fall of Voldemort, however, things started to worsen. Any attempt by the two to spend time together ended up as front-page news, and the media and public attention caused an absolute frenzy – with Harry and Draco right at the centre. The couple could barely move for Daily Prophet reporters and photographers, desperate for a few words or a picture of the two. Harry grimaced as he remembered the never-ending questions…. Harry – how does it feel to finally be able to have a relationship without worrying about You-Know-Who using it against you? Draco – how are things going between the two of you? Harry – is it true that there will be wedding bells soon…? And so on, and so on…. From the world's point of view, their relationship had turned out to be too good to be true. The wizarding superhero and the Death Eater's son-turned-spy. Everyone had gone crazy.
It had been an extremely trying time for the couple, and they had really felt the strain of the intrusion into their private lives. At the end of one particularly bad day, when the two had had to cut short a holiday due to not being able to leave their hotel without having microphones stuck in their faces, they had sat down to have a serious talk about the way that things were going. Harry's stomach lurched as he remembered that night….
Draco pushed apart the curtains of the hotel window slightly and was greeted instantaneously by a flash of lights from the waiting cameras, lighting up the darkness of the night. He quickly pulled the drapes together once more and rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"I'm guessing that they're still there," he grimaced.
Harry sat on the edge of the bed, his face in his hands. He exhaled heavily. "This is crazy, Draco," he mumbled, his hands partially muffling his words.
Draco sighed in reply. "I thought it would get better by now. It's been nearly half a year. You'd have thought we wouldn't be that interesting anymore."
Harry raised his eyes to meet Draco's. "What are we going to do? We can't live like this."
Draco turned to face the window. "There's only one thing I can think of."
Harry's mouth suddenly went dry. He felt a coldness creep into his chest and it was as if icy fingers had wrapped around his heart. This was it. Draco was going to break up with him. He had finally had enough of the constant intrusion into their private lives and couldn't handle it anymore.
Harry suddenly froze. He wanted to shout and scream and argue and plead with him to change his mind but the words stuck in his throat and he found that he couldn't even breathe. He felt a silent tear fall down his cheek. So this is what it felt like to lose the love of your life….
And that's when Draco slowly knelt in front of Harry and took the trembling man's hands in his own. He tenderly reached to brush a strand of dark hair away from his forehead and held his tear-filled gaze with his own soft grey eyes.
"Marry me, Harry."
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A/N: So that's the story of how they got together! Just on a side note, I made Harry play for the Appleby Arrows rather a more obvious team like the Chudley Cannons, for instance, because Appleby is in Yorkshire, which is where I grew up!
