I do not own Harry Potter.

"Harry! I brought fresh pastries, get your lazy ass down here!" yelled Hermione up the stairs, before she proceeded to the kitchen. She opened the door and was surprised to find Harry standing in his boxers in front of a pretty witch, perched on the counter. "Oh! I'm so sorry!"

Harry turned and said, "Morning Mione. You remember Pansy?"

"Oh, um yeah. Hi. I'll just be going," stumbled Hermione turning and practically running out of the kitchen.

Harry chuckled then said, "I'll be right back," to Pansy before going after Hermione. "Mione, wait up!"

When he caught up with her she was blushing furiously. "I'm so sorry, Harry!"

He shook his head and said, "Mione, it's fine. I should have cancelled our plans for breakfast, I'm sorry."

Hermione smiled at him and said, "I'm going to go now. Maybe we can catch up later?"

He nodded and said, "Yeah, definitely. I'll floo you later?"

She smiled and turned to leave, then hesitated and turned back, smirking, "Pansy?"

Harry grinned.

"See you later lover boy!" she cackled before leaving.

Harry laughed then headed back into the kitchen. Pansy was now sitting at the table reading the prophet. She smiled at him as he sat down next to her, "I hope you don't mind. The owl came while you were talking to Hermione."

"Of course not. Anything good in there?"

"Hermione's event is obviously on the front page and several other pages. There's actually a nice picture of you both dancing."

"Really?"

"Yup. See for yourself," she turned the picture towards him.

"That is a nice one."

"Why didn't you two ever get together?"

His eyes widened a bit then he said, "Um, we just never really felt that way about each other."

"Bullshit."

Harry chuckled and said, "Fair enough."

"So?"

"Ron. Ron's why. He was always fiercely jealous of me and paranoid about us getting together."

"Maybe for good reason."

"Are you trying to set me up with my best friend?" he asked mischievously.

She laughed and said, "No. Just curious is all. You two seem like you would be the perfect match."

Harry shrugged and said, "Maybe." He stood up and pulled her with him, "Now, what do you say we save some water and shower together?"

"Who am I to keep you from doing something good for the environment," she replied teasingly.

….

"Mione?" yelled Harry through the floo.

"Harry?"

"Yeah!"

"Come on through," yelled Hermione.

Harry stood up and jumped into the floo, calling out Hermione's address. He looked around when he exited but Hermione wasn't there. "Where are you?"

"I'm upstairs come up!"

Harry climbed the stairs and made his way to her room. She was standing in her bra and panties looking into her closet. "Hey."

"Hey. Sorry, I can't decide what to wear."

"You look great just the way you are," he smirked.

She rolled her eyes and said, "Oh stop. I have a date and he'll be here in an hour."

Harry came into the bedroom and sat on her bed, "Who're you going out with?"

"Don't tease me."

He smiled and said, "Oh now I'm interested."

"It's not even really a date. It's just that he's in town and thought we should catch up. You know for old times' sake."

"Mione, you're blushing! Who is it?"

"Viktor."

Harry grinned and said, "That's great. How long is he here for?"

"I'm not sure."

"Do you know where you're going?"

"Just dinner I think. How about this?" she held up a dress for Harry to look at.

"Try it on, I'm useless looking at dresses on a hanger, you know that."

She pulled it over her head and then turned to him.

He shook his head, "No, you don't have enough skin showing."

She rolled her eyes then pulled the dress off over her head. She grabbed another one and put that on, turning to Harry again.

"Better but keep looking."

She turned back and pushed around dresses in her closet until she stopped and looked at one.

"Yes, that one," said Harry, now standing next to her.

"Really? You don't think it's too …"

"Nope. It's perfect. Now put it on."

"So bossy. Now, tell me about your night! How did you end up with Pansy?" She asked as she started to change into the dress.

"I was hiding on an upstairs balcony when she came up to do the same. We got to talking and well," he trailed off shrugging.

"She just ended up in your bed? Only you Harry."

He snorted and said, "Please. Like you've never fooled around with someone?"

She fixed her dress and slid into a pair of shoes before turning back to him, "You know I don't do one-night stands, Harry."

He went to reply but stopped short at the sight of her. She was breathtaking in the short flowery dress. The flowers made the dress look innocent but there was a deep v in the front exposing a fair amount of cleavage and it was just a tad shorter than usual, so her legs looked very long.

"That good?" she asked, smirking at his response.

He nodded and said, "You look gorgeous."

"Thank you. Now stop stalling and tell me about Pansy."

"We had a good time, what else is there to say?"

"Are you going to see her again?"

"Maybe."

"Harry!"

"What?"

"You have to stop this and start dating."

"I hate dating."

"It's not that bad."

"Mione, the last person I tried to date told the paparazzi where to find us, so she could be in the paper."

She cringed and said, "Okay, that was bad. But…"

"And the witch before her called me Harry Potter all night. Do you know how tiring it is to have someone call you by your full name for four hours?"

"Hmm. Yes, but…"

"Or how about the one who tried to video us having sex, so she could sell it?"

"I'm sure there's someone out there for you, you just have to find her."

"I doubt it, Mione."

"What about Pansy? Did she try and do any of those things?"

"No."

"And did you enjoy her company?"

"Well, yes, but…"

"But nothing. Take her out to dinner."

He groaned and said, "Mione."

"No whining mister or I'll make you double with me and Viktor."

"Geez."

"Now, can you clasp this for me?" she asked, putting a necklace on and turning around so he could latch it.

He brushed her hair out of the way and took the necklace out of her hands, then clasped it. He ran his hands along her shoulders before stepping away, "All set."

"Thanks," she said, looking at herself in the mirror.

"Does Ron know about tonight?"

"No and I have no intention on telling him."

Harry sighed, hating that his friends were still so weird after their breakup even though it had been years.

"Does he know about you and Pansy?"

Harry snorted and said, "No. And I'm definitely not telling him. He'll have a fit."

Hermione laughed and said, "Yes, he would." Then she changed her voice and pretended to be Ron, "Harry, have you gone mental! She's a Slytherin!"

Harry laughed hard.

"We're terrible."

"No, we're not. It's not like we don't all tell him he's stuck in the past. It's just time to move on."

Hermione nodded then put some lip gloss on.

"Pansy asked me why we never got together."

Hermione stopped and turned to him. "What did you say?"

"That we never felt that way about each other."

Hermione raised her eyebrow at him.

"I know, I know. She didn't buy it anyway."

"Really? Is that the first witch who's seen through your lame line?"

Harry nodded, smiling.

"See. You should definitely take her to dinner."

"Yeah, I guess I will." He stood up and approached her, brushing a stray hair off her face. "You really do look stunning. Victor is a lucky man."

"Thanks," she said pulling his hand to her face and holding it close for a second.

He looked at her questioningly, but she snapped out of it and let his hand go. "You alright?"

"Yeah, just nostalgic. You brought up a lot of memories."

"Good ones though."

"Yes."

"We've never really talked about it…"

"And we never have to. It was exactly what we both needed."

Harry snorted and replied, "You make it sound like it was just one-night."

She smirked and said, "I told you, I don't do one-night stands."

"Mione, be serious. I know in the past it was all about recovering. First from Ron leaving us, then after Ginny and I failed, and then again after you and Ron failed. But what about now?"

"Harry, you're my best friend… the thought of losing you… if we tried, for real, and something went wrong, I couldn't imagine you not being in my life."

Harry nodded and stepped back.

Hermione looked at him, trying to analyze the emotions swirling in his eyes, but before she could say anything her doorbell rang.

"That would be Viktor," said Harry smiling. "I'll get the door, so you can finish getting ready."

"Thanks," she replied, kissing his cheek softly.

"I still can't believe you went home with Potter!" squealed Daphne, pouring herself another glass of wine.

Pansy rolled her eyes and said, "How many times are you going to keep saying that?"

Daphne giggled and said, "I'm sorry, it's just so crazy. Now, dish!"

Pansy shook her head and said, "No way! You think I'm going to be like those slags that go to the Prophet about their perfect night with Potter?"

"Pansy! Of course not, but I'm your best friend, surely, I get special privileges. Besides if it wasn't for me setting you up with Marcus, you would have never ended up with Potter!"

"You bitch!" laughed Pansy.

Daphne smirked and said, "Now tell me all about it, I'm literally dying to know!"

Pansy cackled but just as she went to start spilling, her doorbell rang. Daphne groaned, and Pansy laughed as she moved to the door. Pansy looked through the peephole and her smile turned feral. She opened the door wide and said, "Well, this is a pleasant surprise."

"Hey, I hope I'm not disturbing you," said Harry.

"Not at all. Come in," she motioned him in and he stopped when he saw Daphne.

She giggled then said, "Hi Potter."

"Harry," he corrected, nodding at her, "Hello Daphne."

"Well, I'll just head to my room, let you two chat," she said, taking her glass of wine with her.

Harry watched Pansy sit down and pick up her glass of wine. She was observing him closely and it made him nervous. He looked around and motioned to the couch and said, "May I?"

"Of course. Would you like a glass of wine?"

He shook his head and sat down next to her.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what brings you by?" she asked.

"I was hoping you would have dinner with me?"

"Tonight?"

"If you don't already have plans, yes."

"Well, you're in luck because my plans for tonight consisted of drinking wine and hanging out with Daphne."

He smiled and relaxed, "We can definitely drink wine with dinner."

She raised her eyebrow at him and said, "I have expensive taste, be careful what you offer."

"I think I can afford it," he teased back.

She smirked at him then finished her drink before she stood up. She moved to stand in front of him, making him lean back into the couch, then leaned down to kiss him. "Hmm," she moaned after she pulled away. "Just let me change."

He nodded and watched her walk away. He then heard her loudly call, "Daph!"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to head out to dinner."

"With Potter?"

"Yes. Can you keep him company while I change?"

Harry snorted, thinking he surely didn't need to be kept company. A few minutes later Daphne reappeared. "You don't have to keep me company," he laughed.

"Heard all that, did you?"

He smiled in response.

"So, Potter…"

"Harry…"

"Harry."

"Yes?"

"You and Pansy."

"Is that a question?" he teased.

"Kind of an odd pairing, don't you think?"

Harry shrugged.

"She's not as tough as she pretends to be," said Daphne seriously.

Harry looked at her and nodded.

"She's my best friend and I don't want to see her hurt."

Harry nodded again.

"You're the bloody savior, no matter what happens, you'll come off looking good. But Pansy…"

"I know. Believe me I know. It's why I hate dating."

Daphne nodded, feeling like she got her point across. "Where are you going for dinner?"

"I hadn't really thought that far ahead," he admitted bashfully. "Any suggestions?"

Daphne smiled and said, "I could tell you some of her favorites if you want?"

"Would you? That would be really helpful," he said hopefully.

"On one condition," she replied.

He clenched his jaw, damn Slytherin's.

"Treat her well."

"Of course," he scoffed, insulted by the idea he wouldn't.

Daphne nodded and said, "Do you have a phone? I can pull up the restaurants for you and then you can pick one."

Harry nodded and pulled his phone out, handing it over to Daphne. She pulled up the first one, showing him the menu but he shook his head. Then she pulled up another and he nodded, happy with the menu. Daphne then made the reservation for him and said, "You have half an hour to get there, it's under Pansy's name. Figured you wouldn't want the attention, even if it is the muggle world."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it."

"No problem."

"Are you two actually getting along?" asked Pansy from the doorway.

"I was just about to insult his Gryffindor traits, you got here just in the nick of time," replied Daphne, winking at Harry.

He smiled and said, "Thanks for the save, love."

Pansy's heart stuttered at the term of endearment, but she smiled and said, "No problem. Are you ready to go?"

He nodded and stood up, "You look beautiful."

"Thank you, darling," she replied moving towards the door. She turned back to Daphne and said, "Don't wait up."

"Have fun lovebirds," teased Daphne.

"Thanks again," called Harry before he exited the apartment.

"What are you thanking her for?" asked Pansy curiously.

"You'll see soon enough," he replied smirking.

….

Harry and Pansy were sitting in a beautiful outdoor patio, surrounded by beautiful plants and twinkling lights and the stars in the sky were clearly on display.

"I have to say, this place is amazing," said Harry.

"It is. I stumbled upon it during Uni. And since then it's been one of my favorite restaurants."

"How did you find it?"

"Some awful guy wanted to impress me, so he brought me here. He was a total pig, but the place, well, it's just beautiful. So, I kept the place and ditched the guy," she finished, winking at him.

"Did you date a lot in Uni?"

"I did. I made it a point to put myself out there. To truly immerse myself so I could see if having magic truly made me better than anyone else."

"And?"

"Of course, I assumed that I would prove myself and my family right, obviously. But to my utter surprise I found that I'm not better. Different? Yes. But not better."

"That must have been a shock?"

"Hmm. It was," said Pansy, obviously deep in thought.

"Was there one thing that made you see that or was it everything together?"

"One night in particular stands out… I was at a party and I had had too much to drink. Things got out of control and I found myself in a… bad situation. I… hadn't been carrying around my wand for months… so I couldn't protect myself magically… and physically I was no match. I was fortunate that someone came to my rescue. In those few moments, it hit me, that I am exactly like women without magic. And men without magic can be just as horrible as wizards."

Harry reached out his hand and covered Pansy's, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you talk about a bad memory."

Pansy shook her head and said, "It's in the past now."

"Still."

She smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

"Your turn. Ask me something you're dying to know," he said playfully, trying to distract her.

She laughed and said, "Just one question? Oh, there's so many to choose from! hmm… do I want to know why you really split from Weasley? Or do I want to know all the steamy details of you and your bestie? Or why you were obsessed with Draco in school? What your childhood was like? How you learned your skills in the bedroom?"

Harry laughed and said, "Those are some interesting questions."

She smiled then became serious and asked, "What memory is the most prominent when you're near Dementors?"

Harry sat back, shocked. That was a deeply personal question.

She saw the change in him and said, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to. It's just… I know you've always been affected by them. You may not have realized that I am too. When I was younger I would always see this memory of my father and his friends torturing a muggle family. I wasn't supposed to be downstairs. I was supposed to be in bed, but I heard noises and I snuck downstairs to see what was happening."

"That sounds horrible. How old were you?"

"I'm not sure, but it was before I started Hogwarts. I learned not to go downstairs after that. I would just hide in my closet, crying."

Harry nodded.

"After Hogwarts it was memories of the battle, memories of the things my father did. Now, what happened to me that night in Uni is always in the mix. Horrible creatures to make you feel such despair. I usually need a whole bottle of fire whiskey after a run in with one."

Harry nodded then said, "I see the memory of my mother dying. It's been the same since my first encounter with them. I can hear her voice begging Voldemort to leave me alone, begging to take her instead."

"Oh Harry, that's awful," whispered Pansy, squeezing his hand.

"Sometimes other things will appear, usually the memory of Hermione being tortured by Bellatrix is prominent."

"I had no idea she was tortured …"

"Yeah. We don't talk about it publicly, it's not something she wants to share."

"I can understand that."

"I try and stay away from Azkaban as much as possible, so I don't have to relive everything. Luckily being me does have its privileges sometimes. The Ministry thinks I don't want to see Voldemort again, but the memories, they're not focused on him. They're about the people I love getting hurt or killed and there's nothing I can do to stop it. It's about me feeling helpless. I hated it then and still I hate it."

"I can agree with you there. In my experience, nothing good comes from being helpless. After my incident, I decided to get in shape. Then once I was in shape I started taking self-defense classes and then I just kept going. I've done kickboxing, boxing, martial arts, and all sorts of other things. I even learned archery." She laughed and said, "Like I'm going to have a bow and arrow handy if someone attacks me."

Harry laughed and said, "You never know. It could come in handy."

She raised her glass to him.

"So, you could probably kick my ass?"

"I could definitely put up a good fight."

Harry leaned closer, smirking, and replied, "Tempting, but I think I prefer working out with you."

"No complaints here. I definitely enjoy our joint workouts. In fact, I was thinking we should probably do something to burn all these calories off after dinner."

"I completely agree. And we haven't even ordered dessert yet."

"We'll have to work really hard then."

"I think I'm up for the challenge. Are you?" he asked mischievously.

"Absolutely," Pansy replied smirking.