Don't Own
Please R&R
Wow this took me so long!
Hope you like it!
Harry was still standing stock still, watching the spot Severus had just been. He was alone in the cool night air just trying to figure out his confusing thoughts. He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of another engine. Harry whipped around to see another limo coming up the driveway.
"What the hell" Harry muttered. There were only supposed to be twelve contestants.
The limo stopped and a pair of women's heels appeared out of the open door. Harry totally forgot about his confusing thoughts and felt joy well in him as Luna, in a sky blue, summery dress stepped out.
"Harry!" Luna squealed giving him a hug "I'm sorry I'm late I had to fly in from Germany because the floo networks are down.
"No worries, I'm glad you're here. How's the work with your father going?"
"It's great; we have a lot of information about blue freckled pixen nargals." Luna said her starry eyed look as always plastered on her face.
"Uh...yeah" Harry said rubbing the back of his head with his hand. The twins, Harry, Ron and Hermione had gone through all the people they knew and had tried to decide who would be the best host for the show. They decided that Luna's dreamy way and her likeableness would make her a great host. Hermione had also stated that there should be some sort of female presence in the house. When they had called Luna up to ask her she was excited about the idea and had told them she would love to.
"So what are you doing out here?" Luna asked "Aren't you supposed to be inside?"
"Well I just finished meeting all the contestants and it was...a little overwhelming." Harry said with a sigh.
"Having regrets?" Luna asked thoughtfully.
"No" Harry said easily and it surprised him "No, I'm glad I did this. It seems like it will be fun, it's just a lot to take in."
"Well I bet, it's probably not the easiest thing meeting twelve possible future husbands in one night."
Harry shook his head "You have no idea."
They both laughed. Harry smiled and hugged Luna once more "we should get inside; I have to eliminate two people tonight."
Luna nodded and together they made their way up the stairs.
...
Harry peeked into the next room; all of the men were lined up waiting for Luna and Harry to make their appearance.
For the thousandth time that night Harry thought 'I can't believe this is happening!'
Harry looked over at Luna, a makeover artist was just finishing off her makeup, when she saw him looking she smiled and gave him a thumbs up.
Harry breathed slowly and deeply, no reason to over excite himself he didn't want to start getting sweaty. Luna was to walk out first, say a few words then introduce him and finally let the contestants know that two of them would be going home tonight.
"You ready?" Luna asked quietly after the makeup artist had finished.
"As ready as all ever be" Harry said, apparently it was more nerve racking to be in a room with everyone that it was to meet them individually.
"Let's go then" Luna said. She walked into the adjacent room and Harry could hear her welcome everyone to the Mansion.
He stood silently against a wall and carefully listened to Luna's speech.
"Thank you all for coming. Harry and the officials at Wiz-Vo are happy they could share this experience with you. We have a long twelve weeks ahead of us and with each week it will become a little more a taxing but hopefully the end result will be worth it. So I would now like to welcome the man responsible for all of this..." Luna began to introduce him and Harry had to stop himself from snorting he was no way responsible for all of this, no that acknowledgement belonged to Fred and George who were calming sitting in a tent right now, not about to be introduced to a bunch of men.
Harry felt a prod to the ribs and looked up at the makeup artist; she was waving to the entrance of the other room. Apparently he had missed his cue, just great. He stood up strait and calmly walked into the room, it was a little nerve racking having all eyes on him, it reminded him of how he had felt when his name had been drawn out of the cup in fourth year.
He smiled at his...guests and went to stand beside Luna "Thank you for that lovely introduction Luna and I too would like to welcome you all here tonight." Harry said the overly rehearsed lines easily.
Luna smiled and nodded "Tonight Harry is here to get to know you; you will each be entitled to spend fifteen minutes with Harry and tell him a bit about yourself. Make good impressions because two of you will be going home tonight."
Harry could feel the tension in the room when Luna gave them that bit of information.
"Now" Luna said with a wide smile "Please have a nice night and you may begin to mingle."
All of the men began walking around, no one seemed like they wanted to be the first to approach Harry.
Some waiters carrying drinks appeared and starting offering them to the contestants.
Luna winked and gave him a little nudge to get him moving. Harry's feet felt like they were glued to the floor but finally managed to make his way into the group of people. He had no idea who to pick to talk to first either. So he went with random but comforting at the same time.
Harry stepped up to Neville and began his first conversation of the night.
Neville gave Harry a bright smile, like he knew how Harry was feeling "Why don't we go out and talk by the pool?" he suggested.
Harry was so relieved that Neville had mentioned it; he really didn't want to have a conversation that should probably be private with eleven other people listening. He walked quickly outside with Neville.
"Overwhelmed?" Neville said with a chuckle.
"Oh man you have no idea, its brutal standing up there in front of everyone." Harry said with a sigh as he grabbed a glass of white wine from one of the waiters.
"I'm sure once you get into it everything will become easier." Neville said patting Harry on the shoulder.
"Yeah you're right." Harry said feeling instantly better and knowing he had made the right choice about picking Neville first. "So Nev, tell me about yourself."
Neville smirked "Well I'm sure you already know a lot about me Harry since we did spend...oh seven years living in the same dorm. Let's see...after I graduated I spent a year apprenticing with Professor Sprout and Madame Promfrey at Hogwarts." Neville began.
Harry smiled; he hadn't known Neville had been an apprentice. "During my second year there, Professor Snape had a difficult, experimental potion he was working on and needed some assistance with what plants would be needed so he asked me for my help. Though I had always been afraid of him I gave it a try and I think it was the best thing I ever did in my life. I was still the bumbling, nervous fool when I started working with Snape but my months with him toughened me out. He was the one who suggested I go abroad with Professor Armand and use my talents to discover new plants, and that's where I've been ever since."
"That's cool Nev, how's your Gran?" Harry asked.
"She's doing surprisingly well for her age, she pushed me to come on this show." Neville explained.
"What you didn't want to be on it in the first place?" Harry said in mock hurt,
Neville laughed and shook his head at Harry's antics "Well I didn't know if it would be weird or not, seeing as we are really good friends."
Harry laughed "That being said I'm glad she pushed you to come, who else would be so comfortable to talk to the first time."
"I'm sure you would have found someone." Neville said taking a few steps away from Harry.
Harry wondered what he was doing until he felt a hand on his shoulder "Mind if I cut in Neville?" Lee said behind Harry.
Harry mouthed 'Don't leave me' dramatically, Neville laughed "Sure mate." He gave Harry a smile and walked off into the house.
Harry took a gulp of his wine and turned around to face Lee. He smiled best he could and waited for Lee to say something.
"You look sexy tonight Harry" Lee said checking him out. Harry almost laughed 'Well I wasn't expecting that' he thought to himself.
"Why don't we sit down?" Lee said moving over to a seating area beside the pool. Harry followed and sat down beside him. He placed his glass of wine on the table beside his seat.
"Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself Lee other than your Hogwarts years, do you have any family?"
"Yeah" Lee said excitedly "I have two sisters and I live with my parents."
Harry made a mental note of Lee living with his parents; he wasn't sure how he felt about that.
"My youngest sister was so jealous of me tonight when she found out that I was going to be on the show, she doesn't really get that you're gay and all." Lee continued.
'Hmm do I want to be in a relationship with a guy whose little sister wants to get with me even though I'm gay?' Harry thought.
Lee put his hand on Harry's knee and whispered cockily "I bet she'll be a whole lot more jealous later on for other reasons."
Harry felt his face warm, the thought of being with Lee didn't strike well in his gut and he stood up quickly.
Lee looked confused.
"I just thought I might get some water, come inside?" Harry asked.
"Well okay" Lee said standing up.
Harry knew the fifteen minutes weren't up yet but he would rather not talk to Lee anymore.
"So Lee..."Harry said looking for a topic to cover the time "what are you doing with your life right now?"
"Oh well I've moved sort of in-between jobs at the moment, see I was commentator from the world Quidditch leagues but then there was this incident..."
"I remember that" a voice said breaking through Lee's, "didn't you and one of the players get into a fight because you called him a cocky bastard when you thought no one was listening."
Harry and Lee turned to see Draco standing before them. Harry for once was happy to see Draco.
"He had it coming" Lee said annoyed.
Draco almost rolled his eyes "Well Harry, you think I could take up my fifteen minutes of fame with you?"
Lee looked annoyed.
"Yes please" Harry said beyond carrying about hurting Lee's feelings.
Draco smirked and Lee turned around in a huff.
Draco held out a wine glass to Harry, who took it with a smile and sipped the liquid down with a hum of delight "Thank Merlin Draco! I didn't think I could take that any longer!"
Draco smirked again "Well I guess it's a good thing we made a truce less than an hour ago.
Harry blushed "Yeah it was possibly the second greatest thing I've ever done in my life, the first being destroying Voldemort."
Draco genuinely laughed and Harry found he like the sound of it.
"So Draco what have you been up to since we left school?" Harry asked, they were standing just outside the doors to the living room where most of the contestants still were huddled around.
"I work at Gringotts" Draco said.
"Really?" Harry asked "What's that like?"
"It's challenging, seeing as how my supervisor is a temperamental goblin" Draco said with a slight smile "I'm like the face of the bank, it's true that some wizards are still not open to the Goblins and don't want to be served by them because they think they are lower life forms. I'm sure my father, were he still alive would be one of those people, thankfully the war helped me to change that part of my attitude and so did working at the bank. If only those wizards and witches knew that I was trained by the goblins and I'm not allowed to allow a transition without their overview and agreement on the whole thing."
"I never knew wizards had problems with the Goblins." Harry said he was very pleased with what he was learning about Draco.
"Oh yes, it's been going on ever since the starting of Gringotts, Wizards have never approved with the Goblins but it's not up to them since the magics that keep the wizards' money safe belong to the Goblins.
"That's really interesting." Harry said honestly "So you're happy with your life right now?"
"I'm happy with my job, it took me a long time to become settled working there and working my way up, now I'm at a comfortable position but I want to work on having a family."
Harry could see that, it was something he wanted too.
He and Draco shared a moment.
"Well I'm sorry to say I think our fifteen minutes are up, it was nice getting to know you Draco, hell it took us long enough." Harry said.
Draco laughed "Yeah I know but I'm glad we finally did."
Harry walked inside and scouted the room for someone he could easily get alone. Charlie was standing talking to Neville so Harry decided he would make his way over there.
"Hey Charlie" Harry said "You want to have a little one on one?"
"Why of course" Charlie said.
Neville left some parting words to Charlie and walked away.
"So Charlie, I hadn't expected you to come" Harry said.
"Well after Fred and George told me about this I wanted to be a part of it" Charlie said.
"What about Romania and the dragons?" Harry asked.
"I've taken the time off for now, seeing as how I've worked there since I was eighteen they let me have the vacation time." Charlie explained.
"But you plan to go back?" Harry asked.
"Oh yes" Charlie said "I couldn't live anywhere else, Romania is now my home, it's where my work is and hopefully will be where my family is some day."
Harry frowned but covered it up quickly "So if I was to choose you at the end of all this you would want me to come live with you?"
"Oh I like the sound of that" Charlie said with a twinkle in his eyes "Yes, I would insist on it. You would love it there Harry, plenty of fresh outdoors, you could come by and see the dragons I'd teach you about all of them maybe you could even get a job there or you could floo back and forth from England to Romania so you could still work during the day."
Harry stopped paying attention as Charlie rambled on about what he loved about Romania. Harry didn't want to move away from England. It's where his life was, he couldn't just leave that behind.
"Hi ay Harry" Victor's voice broke through Charlie's speech.
They both looked at him "I would like to tell you about myself" Victor said.
Well that was one way to be strait forward.
Harry nodded at Charlie then walked away with Victor. They sat down on a couch in the room. Harry could feel and hear people milling about around them but Victor didn't seem to mind.
"So" Harry said "Do tell."
Victor grinned "You know I am from Bulgaria of course."
Harry nodded.
"I'm still on the Bulgarian Quidditch team but I plan on retiring soon. I have made enough money to do so and I would like to settle down."
Harry thought that sounded reasonable. However after his chat with Charlie needed to know something "Would you want me to come and live with you in Bulgaria?"
Victor thought about it "I would not require it, I'm happy to live anywhere as long as I am with family. Bulgaria, England or even Canada, does not matter to me."
Harry smiled, for a moment he saw himself with Victor while he taught their children to fly, he knew him and the Quidditch star would have a lot in common and probably get along well.
He however needed one more reassurance which he realised he should have asked Draco too. "If we are together will it be weird for you to spend time with Hermione?"
Victor took a moment and then shook his head "No, Hermione and I realised we didn't have anything between us other than friendship, we left on good terms. I would get along with her if I were to spend time with her."
Harry smiled 'check' he said in his head.
Harry noticed Remus making his way over and excused himself.
Remus smiled at Harry "Had enough yet?" he asked.
Harry laughed "It's not that bad but I will be happy when I can crawl into my bed."
Remus gave Harry a knowing smile.
They walked over to the bar and Harry leaned against it while Remus stood in front of him.
"So have you got over the shock of it being me who came out of that limo?" Remus asked.
"Yeah" Harry said "Though I have come up with some questions for you."
"Shoot" Remus said giving Harry the go ahead.
"I hope they aren't too personal, you can stop me if they are. I mean I wouldn't normally ask but it's important..." Harry was cut off by Remus.
"Don't worry Harry, I do understand. I'm sure I know what you're going to ask me and believe me when I tell you, you're not the first one to ask."
"Well okay" Harry said "How will everything work with us, with you being a werewolf and all?"
Remus nodded "Well I guess it won't be the most stress free life in the world but it has gotten easier in the last couple of years with the improvements to the wolfsbane potion and all. I still transform on the full moon, I don't think that will ever be changed but it's like I'm in my human mind the entire time, it's just I'm also in wolf form. And I'm tired a few days leading up to the full moon as well as after but once the cycle is complete I'm your same old Remus."
Harry considered this "That doesn't sound bad."
"It really isn't, not compared to how it used to be." Remus said with a sigh.
Harry leaned in closer to Remus and said quietly, because though he felt comfortable saying it to Remus he wasn't sure about everybody else "I want to have maybe two or three kids, will your...disease" Harry felt bad as he said it but he didn't know how us to describe it. He blushed and looked away.
Remus put a hand on his shoulder "its okay Harry."
"Will it affect the children?" Harry whispered.
Remus sighed "It's a well known fact among werewolves that if the werewolf is to be impregnated than its offspring will have the werewolf gene, however if the werewolf impregnates someone else the offspring will not carry the gene and will be fine."
"So you're saying as long as I'm the 'mother' everything will be fine?" Harry asked.
"Yes" Remus said sadly.
Harry caught the sadness in his voice and gave Remus a bright smile "Well lucky for you I'm not adverse to that."
Remus smiled back. "I believe you still have a quite a few people to talk to, I'll leave you to it."
Harry smiled and walked away.
He was going to go outside because he saw Cedric by the pool but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Harry turned around and smiled at Blaise. "I wanted to catch you before you went outside again."
"Well you've got me and my attention is set one you" Harry said.
Blaise smirked. "So what would you like to know about me?"
Harry liked having this option "What is your family like?" he asked.
"Well I have an older sister and a younger brother, my father left us when I was ten and my mother is now sick and weak." Blaise said.
Harry almost cringed 'Well that's sad' he thought.
Blaise seemed to realise he was uncomfortable "Sorry I didn't mean for it to sound like that. My father was a prick, he moved away for another women but my mom stayed strong and took care of us. She's worked all her life and was always my inspiration. I own the 'Whizzhard Books' next to the Wealsey's shop that's I know them and heard of this. My brother, sister and I all take care of our mother, that's why I work so hard and my shop is doing pretty good business. I think it helps that when people's children go into the Weasley's shop their parents come into mine."
"I always like 'Whizzard Books' they always have what I'm looking for, I just didn't know you owned it." Harry said
"Yeah I do" Blaise said proudly "I'm even thinking about starting up a chain of them and putting the next one in Hogsmeade or maybe even go worldwide."
Harry thought about this, he wondered if Blaise would have time for a family if he was set on this business.
Harry wasn't really ready to move on to the next person but that's when Roger came up to him.
"Hey Harry, you mind Blaise?" Roger said.
"No" Blaise said and moved away.
"So Roger, what do you want in the future?" Harry asked.
"Well right now I'm working for Olivander, he's retiring in the next year and leaving the shop up to me." Roger said happily.
Harry was happy for Roger but the thought of not having Olivander there made Harry a little sad.
"He's been teaching me and I think I'll be able to do him proud. So when I have the store I'll be financially set. So when it comes to family I think I'd want to have one child. Preferably a boy."
Harry wasn't sure what to say. "Only one, how come?"
"Because I had five brothers and sisters and I was the youngest, I wouldn't want to put my children through that, it would be horrible." Roger said
Harry didn't think it would "Not even two?"
"Only if we had a girl first and had to try again for a boy" Roger said "Things would just be too stressful. Plus if we only had one son than I could raise him so that he could take over Olivander's when I retire, though then it might be known as Davies."
Harry didn't want to raise his one and only child to work in the family business, he wanted his kid to decide what they wanted to do on their own. And he didn't want anyone changing the name Olivander's either.
"I would rather it be called Olivander's still, I mean think about it almost everyone knows the name, you would get more business." Harry said.
"Ah good thinking, you have a brain for making money don't you Harry?" Roger said an unsettling glint in his eye.
Harry smiled "Well I think I better go and try to talk to the others"
Harry found Cedric and smiled at his friend "Whoa this night is becoming tiring."
"Hopefully you'll still have the strength to talk to me though" Cedric said.
"I don't know, I think I might skip your fifteen minutes and go take a nap" Harry said with a fake yawn.
"Arse" Cedric said with a playful shove.
"Okay okay" Harry said "Go on give me the 411 about yourself."
Cedric raised his eyebrow at Harry, however being a halfblood he understood what Harry meant.
"Well you already know a lot about me, is there something you want to know?" Cedric asked.
"What do you want in a family?" Harry asked.
"Well for starters I want you" Cedric said playfully and Harry rolled his eyes.
"Yes and?" Harry asked.
"Spoil sport. Well I'd want maybe two to three kids." Cedric said and he smiled at the thought. "I'd like to live in England, I'll probably stay on the Quidditch team for a few more years but then I'll want to live out the rest of my years with our family. I want to teach our kids how to fly and take them to Quidditch games. I want both genders. A little boy who I can teach to throw a Quaffle and nickname him my little man. A girl to adore and call her my little princess and a husband who will want to spend the rest of his days with me."
"Aw Cedric I didn't know you were such a romantic" Harry teased but the truth was he really didn't know that about Cedric but he like the family Cedric had described, much better than the one Roger had.
Luna popped up to them "Harry it's almost time for you to go and deliberate, you need to hurry up."
"Oh sorry Luna" Harry said sheepishly "I only have three more people, I'll be quick."
Harry moved from Cedric to Colin.
Colin was happy to see Harry come his way.
"So Colin" Harry said "What would you want in a future together."
"Well, I want a regular life." Colin said "I want to have a family in a few years; I'll take some time off at my job at the Daily Prophet to help you raise the kids. I'd want to teach them the art of photography and I'd like them to go to Hogwarts."
As Harry listened to Colin describe the calm, normal life he thought to himself 'We could have that life, our kids won't have to worry about some dark lord, and it will be a new peaceful generation. This could actually happen!'
Colin was easy to talk to and Harry got a feeling that if he stayed with Colin that's how his life would be. Easy.
Harry walked over to where Oliver stood. He was talking to Cedric about Quidditch. That seemed to be a big topic tonight and Harry began to wonder if he married someone like Oliver, Cedric or Victor if his life would revolve around Quidditch.
"Oliver" Harry said "would you like to talk?"
"Harry I wondered when you were going to come around?" Oliver said with his think brogue that Harry loved so much.
"Have you any plans for what you'd like to do in the future?" Harry asked.
"Oh so many it's hard to count" Oliver said, his smile bright on his face.
"So would you want to have a family?" Harry asked.
"Yes but I think I'd want one a little later on." Oliver said.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"We're still young Harry, I don't want to settle down with kids just yet, I want to break free of my Quidditch team and travel around the world for a year or two. We could see many places like the Great Wall of China or the Eiffel Tower in France. Then we could come back to England, or anywhere for that matter and start a family." Oliver said his eyes bright at the thought.
Harry liked that idea, he hadn't thought about traveling before it seemed like it would be fun.
Harry was happy when he walked away from Oliver, maybe his life wouldn't revolve around Quidditch.
Harry looked around, only one more person to go but where was he. Harry realised that somehow he had left Severus for last again.
Harry saw Luna peeking around a corner and went over to her "Have you seen Severus?" he asked "He's the last person I need to talk to."
"I think I saw him go out the back doors a minute ago" Luna said.
"Oh" Harry said "Why would he go out there?"
"I don't know" Luna said "Just hurry and find him, the ministry executives want to go home for the night."
Harry rolled his eyes.
"I know I think it's stupid too but they are getting rather antsy and it's driving me insane." Luna said.
"Okay I'll be as quick as I can" Harry said, he made his way out of the living room and walked around to the back doors. He saw Severus standing outside.
Harry went and opened the doors; he walked up to Severus and cleared his throat. "Uh Severus...what are you doing out here?"
Severus turned around he had a sad smile on his face "oh sorry" he said "I had gone to the bathroom and was on my way back when I saw the lovely rose garden out here and thought I'd come take a look at it."
"Oh" Harry said "Well it's your turn for us to have our fifteen minute chat, seeing as how you're the last person.
Severus nodded but didn't say anything.
"So..." Harry said "What would you like out life to entail if we had a life together."
Severus was thoughtful, like he hadn't had the whole night to think already.
"As you know I'm still a Professor at Hogwarts so I would still want to work there." Severus said looking to Harry to see if he objected. No one else had done that to Harry tonight, they had all just assumed, like Charlie and Roger, that he would be okay with it.
"I wouldn't have a problem with that." Harry said truthfully.
"I'd want us to live together, whether that be in my rooms at Hogwarts or in a house all our own. Where would you want to live?" Severus continued.
" Uh..." so far he had only gotten to the fact he wanted to live in England "Well I would like it to be in England, the flat I have now is too small for a family so somewhere else..." Harry had a place in mind but he didn't want to tell Severus. However as always Severus could read him like a book.
"You have a place in mind?" he said not really as a question but just to prod Harry in the right direction.
"Well I understand if you wouldn't want to but I've always dreamed of getting a place in Grodric's Hallow..." Harry said looking anywhere but Severus.
"I wouldn't have a problem with that." Severus said echoing Harry's earlier reply to the shock of Harry.
"Seeing as how I'm older than most of the other contestants I'd like to start a family earlier rather than later." Severus said.
"Well seeing how I've always wanted a family, starting one soon wouldn't be a bad thing." Harry said.
"I'd want more than one kid" Severus said looking at Harry.
"Good cause that's a must for me, I've always wanted to have like three kids." Harry said.
Severus nodded his head approvingly.
"No matter where we live, I want them to go to Hogwarts." Severus said.
"Couldn't agree with you more on that one" Harry said. He found it weird that he was easily talking to Severus.
"I want to put the past behind us Harry" Severus said seriously, turning and standing right in front of him "I don't want to get into arguments later in life and you throw something at me like how I treated you in school. I'm very sorry for that and I wish I hadn't had to do it."
Harry nodded "I understand that and I wouldn't throw it in your face. The war was a long time ago and I want it to be left in the past too."
Severus smiled "Lastly I want our relationship to be passionate and amazing. I would never tolerate you cheating on me and I would never cheat on you. If you choose me I would give my heart and soul into it. I would truly love you till death do us part and into eternity. "
Harry felt a shiver run through his body "I want that too" he whispered.
"Good" Severus said and he leaned down to kiss Harry.
Harry was in heaven. He wasn't sure how the man did that to him.
Harry pulled away slowly "We better get inside; Luna told me the ministry officials were getting antsy.
Snape rolled his eyes just like Harry had "Of course they are."
They headed inside and Harry couldn't help but be nervous, he had to make a big decision now.