Chapter 7: Quarter Chinese
Music Recommendation: Drugs by EDEN
The last months of 2009 passed in a blur. All Harry remembered was missing Teddy and being nervous about his godson at Hogwarts. He didn't know what the public thought of his disappearance or how it affected his reputation or the rumors about his past shenanigans. The letters he eventually received were full of a disbelieving Teddy about tales of trolls, dementors, basilisks and some rather impossible quidditch feats. Harry promised to answer and explain everything in person, which made Teddy even more determined to come to Harry's for Christmas, which both Harry and Andy revolted against passionately.
Eventually, Harry celebrated Christmas alone, with the exception of that lone trip he made every year. His and Hermione's old tradition of going to Godric's Hollow hadn't been abandoned, they just did it separately now. He arrived early on Christmas Eve, and visited his parents' and the Dumbledore's graves, since he supposed Dumbledore couldn't do it himself. And then he would hide somewhere and wait for her. And she would come and notice the wreaths already there, and add her own on the four graves. All the previous three times Harry had tried to pluck up the courage to go and talk, but something always held him back, and he stayed in the shadows, watching her visit the War memorial, his parents' house and Bathilda Bagshot's house in the same order they had done every year since 1998. Well, technically 1997, but oh well.
Then he would visit the noisy and crowded pub and somehow, despite his tradition, no one except the barkeeper was aware of his presence. There he would drink his sorrows, and spend the night in one of the Inn's rooms upstairs, sending his unopened Christmas presents back to Grimmauld Place with Kreacher, who learned to bring him a good breakfast after the first time it happened.
January melted into February, and 2010 had been looking up so far – Caramel was less bossy than usual, Jon looked more tired which ended in the siblings fighting less, Clark was his usual chirpy and nose-poking self who still invited too many of his friends to the place in lieu of free coffee, and Jade – well, Jade was a lot calmer than usual. The four had, of course, bonded rather closely and somehow, it had become tradition to spend at least one night every month hanging together with everyone's college buddies invited over to Clark's flat, which was surprisingly spacious.
The last two months had featured Skye joining in on the rather raucous nights, smiling happily and mixing up with everyone easily, looking to Harry like she was literally the light of the room. The amount of chatting and slip-ups that Harry uttered around her had become rather ridiculous and he would even go so far as to say that she knew the most out of everyone else from among his acquaintances. Or friends. Whatever.
February 25th was the day that Caramel had flippantly informed Harry that she'd set him up on a date, and he was supposed to appear at a Chinese restaurant at eight that night. It wasn't an unusual thing for her to do but Harry was still rather surprised since she hadn't pulled something like that since a few months ago, when he had stood up one of her good friends – Hayley or something. It made Harry ponder his love life again, thinking of Skye and how he would have loved to just spend a relaxing evening with her, finally get the guts up to find out how her lips would feel against his, or more….
Well, as it was, Harry abandoned the thought, arguing mentally that now was not the time. But then, when was the time? A voice suspiciously like Caramel's wondered, and he considered it. It had now been almost three years since he'd left, and they had passed by in a whirlwind, and he had not had a serious relationship since three years before that. Occasional, careful one-night stands kept him sane, and even though he successfully barred attempts for a second time with anyone, he sometimes felt too lonely. Sure, he had contact with Teddy and Andy and May 2nd passed somehow in a haze of alcohol and flashbacks, but his life now seemed like one long stretch of discarded phone numbers and rejected dates.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Harry pulled on his helmet and drove into town, heading for the cozy little Chinese place a few blocks away from MM. He entered, trying to shake off the moisture on his jacket, and before he had started looking for the prospective girl, he noticed her.
"Caramel." They groaned in unison as a way of explanation, Skye shaking her head with a small smile.
"I knew she looked too innocent when offering up a blind date with that much enthusiasm." She said eventually, a bemused smile on her lips as her eyes raked over his nervous figure standing unsurely by the table.
Thoughts were going rampant in Harry's head, mostly a lot of curses directed towards Caramel and her too bloody observant brother. In the back of his mind though, the same voice was screaming at him to grab at the opportunity with both hands, and he decided to oblige himself, hoping that Skye wouldn't think it was too weird, though her expression said otherwise. She seemed to be very amused with his silent struggle.
"Might as well as do this…" He muttered to himself, shedding his jacket and sitting down on the chair opposite to Skye, who couldn't seem to stop staring at him.
"Y'know you don't have to… if you're not comfortable, with this." She said, indicating between them over the table, in a slightly downtrodden voice, probably playing off of his bitter expression.
"No! No… I mean, well – I, uh, meant to, sooner or later, but it's good that Caramel did anyway." He stuttered out finally, with a shy smile. Skye's grin lightened and she trilled out a slight laugh.
"You mean it would've taken you another few months to grow a pair and finally do something about it?" She mocked, and his face burned as his heart sped up slightly. He hoped she didn't think he was a complete spineless goner because he couldn't ask out a girl properly.
"Well, yeah." He smiled self-deprecatingly, "I'm not very good at… well, this." He copied her action to indicate between them, and she nodded understandingly. She didn't say anything but something in her face prompted him to keep talking.
"I haven't had to ask someone out since I was fifteen. Things have just… somehow, happened for me after that. And I haven't met someone I actually wanted to date for a long while, before you came along, of course."
"It's alright. I haven't either, in case you were wondering. My last relationship was me trying long-distance with someone I'd dated for a few months, and it didn't work too well. So… here were are."
Harry nodded in understanding. "I'm glad she did it though. Caramel." He said with a soft smile and Skye grinned back, coloring slightly.
"Should we order something? I always suspect I might be half or quarter Chinese, at least."
"Really? That's… something. I did know my ancestry, though probably not as well Hermione would have wanted me to. Still don't know much about my parents, of course."
"Except that they went to the same school and got married right out of school, which is fucking adorable, if you ask me." She nodded sagely, throwing back more proof for why he should be minding his mouth tonight. He shook his head at her as they quickly ordered something that they'd only eaten for takeout before.
"I think Chinese is meant purely for takeout purposes. It'll feel weird eating it out, right?" Skye immediately after ordering.
"I was thinking the same thing actually." He said, and he hailed over a server as an idea struck him. He told the man to make the order for takeout, then turned to Skye.
"How do you feel about Cranberry flavored cookies?" He asked and she raised her eyebrows with her ever present smile.
"We're going to MM?"
"Of course not! My house. I'm trying my hand at them, how'd you like to taste 'em? Only if you're comfortable, of course." He shrugged into his jacket as Skye rolled her eyes as response and copied his movements, and they patiently waited for their packed order to arrive. He took it as a good sign that an excited sparkle had entered her eyes at his mention of home. He realized it might have been because not many of his friends or staff, except Tony, had been there, or even knew where it was.
They were steadily talking about Teddy when everything was packed to go and Harry watched Skye eye the bike with the widest grin she had supported tonight. He slid into his seat easily and offered his helmet to her, which she denied, looking slightly mad with her eyes sparkling in the dim light of the parking lot.
"Are you okay?" He asked, as he waited for her to climb on behind him. She did so, shaking slightly, as she replied, "It feels like an insane adventure sport or something, getting on this thing."
"I'll go slow if you want?" He enquired, but she shook her head, making a negative sound, moving her hands to grip his waist. He might or might not have shook slightly as he felt the contact and his stomach flipped over into itself as he felt his heart quicken again.
He kicked the engine into a roar and drove off into the busy traffic, which thinned to barely a car or two as they reached the highway.
"Can we stop for a minute?" Came Skye's shouted request a few minutes later, and Harry slowed the bike to a stop carefully, before removing the helmet and turning his face to ask her, "Everything alright?"
She replied by getting off the bike and looking at the scene to their left, where the landscape was barely visible, but a vast expanse of the sky shimmered brightly. It was an unusually bright night. He could make out Skye gleaming silvery near him, and he had the sudden urge to haul her up the bike and kiss her senseless so that those wondrous eyes would train on him.
"It's nice, isn't it?" She said, turning to him, with those beautiful eyes reflecting the stars and he nodded dumbly, getting off himself to stand by her and appreciate the scene.
It was calmly silent and comfortable for a while, and he heard her shuffle slightly closer.
"Harry?" She whispered, still looking through the slight darkness.
"Hmm?"
"What happened to Teddy's parents?"
Harry's heart skipped a beat and he straightened from the bike in a sudden movement. Skye turned to look at him with the earnest expression he knew so well now, and waited.
He gazed at her for a while, contemplating. This was the moment, wasn't it? He had to make his decision of whether he would be going all out in this… relationship, or would eventually either abandon it or be abandoned. He couldn't bear to think about putting the full weight of his sorrow, his darkness on her shoulders, but then, she blinked at him, her expression patient and eyes still twinkling merrily. If someone could take it, or understand, even parts of it, for some reason, he felt like it would be her.
Harry looked away as he said, "They died when he was little." Perhaps it was the bitter tone to his words, or his hardened voice that prompted her to move her hand over his own, which clenched into a fist. She loosened it slowly and slipped her hand through to hold his. The most soothing feeling of calmness stole through him and he felt he could stand here forever in silence, or keep talking forever, as long as she would be there to share it.
"Did you know his father or mother?" She said again, murmuring the words slightly closer to his ear.
"Both." He replied, easily recalling Remus and Tonks radiating happiness together in one of their wedding pictures. "Remus was one of my Dad's best friends and my teacher in third year. Best teacher I ever had." He said with relish, "Met Tonks in fifth year, she was related to my Dad's other best friend, Sirius, my godfather. Second cousin or something but she was a hoot to be around. And she had the brightest bubble-gum pink hair you could imagine…"
When they finally reached home, finished dinner, and dessert, which included a thorough helping of Apple pie and some experimental Cranberry flavored cookies, Harry settled into his old couch with a glass of Elf Wine, which Skye had made a face at first, but quickly emptied her glass. As he watched her move around the living-slash-drawing room, to the pictures on the mantelpiece, he vaguely wondered what it was about her that drew him so much.
It was like something brewed just below the surface, almost coming out to show him, like his magic was attracted to it. And whatever 'it' was, seemed to like his magic and was almost ready to react to it. Skye's absence of knowledge about her parents made him wonder if she might have been a squib, abandoned but then, he had some experience when it came to detecting magic, and it wasn't that, inside her.
"Are these Hermione and Ron?" She said from in front of the slow embers, and he was jerked out his thoughts. Brought unpleasantly to reality, he remembered again, one of his slip-ups in those monthly parties, when he had said he did have best friends, thank you very much. Everyone had dropped it at his tone, except of course, Skye, who had proceeded to ask him their names, where they were now and why he didn't talk to them. He had shrugged and answered the questions calmly, after which she had left him alone.
He nodded at her, getting up to stand beside her, gazing at the many now-still photographs that adorned the mantelpiece and the wall space around it. She moved her hand slightly again, touching his right this time, and the scars on them seemed to tingle as her hand moved to brush her fingers over them. He gave a barely detectable flinch.
They had yet to discuss his scars. He could tell she was curious, of course, when he had finally got rid of his jumper while cooking, and the scars on his hand and forearm were thrown into relief.
"You're unnaturally pale, did you know?" She had remarked after staring for a second too long, and no more questions had been asked.
Presently, she seemed to remember and gripped his hand lightly to move it up. Slowly, he was guided to his own couch and she tilted his hand sideways to read.
"Sadistic toad of a teacher." He muttered breathlessly as her warm breath fell on his fingers, when she breathed "'I must not tell lies…'"
Slowly, her hands trailed up to the same forearm, where the two puncture marks were thrown into relief by the fire. "Snake bite." He whispered, looking at the frown in her forehead.
Unbidden, he touched the frown with his left forefinger, moving them away as the crease cleared and their breathing quickened at the same time. He ghosted his hand slightly over her perfect features – her brown doe eyes, deep caramel in the reflected firelight, dark red cheeks, blushing prettily, and his thumb finally rested at her lips, parted slightly as she looked at him with an unidentifiable expression.
Before he knew it, his fingers were tracing her jaw and he was pressing his lips to hers. His chest soared as he tasted the wine on her lips, and he felt her hands move to his shoulders, and she was kissing back, pliant and slow under his hands, and then he was moving forward, wanting to feel her against him, aligned perfectly.
It was a while before he came up for air, breathing deeply, hovering over her. He opened his eyes, realizing in doing so that he had closed them in the first place, and gazed at her, probably very sappily, fighting the happy smile that threatened to break out on his face when he noticed that she was gasping for breath too and smiling brighter than the sun.
"Been wanting to do that for a long time." He murmured lowly, gazing at her swollen lips, which twitched invitingly again.
"Me too. I think I want to do it again…" She replied, smirking hungrily at his lips, and he obliged, bending downwards to capture her lips in a kiss fiercer than the last. She was gripping his hair, fingers grazing his scalp deliciously, which elicited a throaty groan from him. It was all he could do to not make a move to get rid of his clothes at once, remembering that he wanted this to be perfect, slow. His moan was rewarded with her parting lips and suddenly, everything was much louder and dirtier.
He pulled back after a few seconds of mind-numbing want, but not completely and punctuated each of his words with an open-mouthed kiss on her neck and shoulders, leading slowly downwards, "Want – to – say – something – before – doing – something –"
He felt her push backwards slowly and complied, sitting up, and Skye climbed onto his lap, dress hitching over her legs. He clutched her hips and she kissed him hard once again, leaving him slightly dazed about what exactly he wanted to talk about.
"Right. Um – Yeah." He stuttered, staring at her mussed hair and swollen red lips, before shaking his head.
"Skye. I – You need to know some things about me. I'm not – There's a reason I don't… date or go out with other people. Why my friends are not here. Why –"
"Why you have this stupid hairstyle covering that scar on your forehead?" She said, cutting him off into shocked silence. A small flutter of panic rose in his chest, but she moved her hand to brush away the overgrown hair on the said scar, staring at it for a second before tracing his face, and continuing, "Or why you don't talk to Ron and Hermione and the others from home? Or why you keep that bird locked up in your office? Or why the third drawer has sweets looking like quills of all things? Or why you don't touch your phone at all? Or why you keep a knife cutter in your back pocket at all times? Or why you hate journalists and newspapers? Or why there are no school or class photos in your house? Or no proof that your life existed after your teen years? Or why you sometimes speak like you're far older than you look?"
She moved to sit beside him as she continued, and he stared at her, shocked. He belatedly realized that she had broken into his office but it didn't bother him as much as it should have.
"Or why you wore only full sleeves even in the summer heat?" She said again, grazing the scars on his hand, raising an eyebrow. He nodded slightly, and opened his mouth, but it was a while before words formed.
"Or why I can't have a proper normal relationship. Why I don't sleep most nights –"
"– So what? I don't either –"
"– Or why I have nightmare almost every day!" He exclaimed, wanting her to understand the problem, the danger of even sitting in this house with him.
"And before you say you have them too – mine are real. Every last one of them. I haven't told you, or anybody why I – why all those things –"
He sighed, dropping his eyes pathetically to stare at the fire. How could he explain? How had he ever deluded himself into thinking he could do this?
"There are weeks when I don't sleep. Caffeine is the only thing that makes me move. And there are days I can't sleep – the nightmares, the flashbacks - the noises won't stop!" He growled, clutching his head as he realized he was ruining it. Ruining the only thing he had wanted so dearly…
"Hey." She whispered, taking one of his hands, and he dared to look at her: she was frowning slightly.
"How… how about we take this slowly? You have stuff you need to tell me. That's okay. I'm here for it all." She said bracingly, her voice hopeful, as she added, "If you want me to be."
"Of course I do." He replied immediately, folding his hand tighter over hers. "I'm just – I don't want you to think…"
"I'm scared too." She said slowly, caressing his hand with her thumb, "But your problems don't scare me. You don't scare me. This scares me. It's the first time I've wanted anything so much… But I'm not gonna chicken out."
"Good." Harry said finally, after staring into her resilient eyes. "Because I'm scared shitless too. And I'm glad you know where I stand. I'm new to this and… and I just want to say that when the surprises are too much for you… When it becomes too dark for you to handle, just say the words and I'll disappear out of your life. Out of your memories even, if you want it."
Her eyes widened slightly, but her grip did not slacken and he went on, making sure everything was out in the open.
"And some things have no explanation. No answers. There are some questions I simply cannot answer and… and the biggest of those problems… lies… is that I'm actually much older than I look." He said, gauging her reaction carefully. A frown formed on her face and she seemed determined not to appear shocked, no matter what he said.
"I'm going to turn thirty in July." He blurted out, watching her eyes widened considerably.
"What?!" She exclaimed, clutching his hand harder than before, and he winced slightly, but nodded.
"That's impossible!" She said again, blinking and looking carefully at him. Harry felt the comfort leave him as waves of panic hit him, what would happen now? He was surely doomed. But then, it couldn't be helped – this was the most important thing to be shared right now.
"Are you – like a vampire or something?" She said, frown deepening as if seriously doubting him.
"No. I stopped ageing at 17, yes, but not because I'm a vampire. I can't stomach the sight of blood for one." He chuckled at her reaction, but the panic didn't drop it's claws.
"So – so you're not going to kill me and drink my blood right now, right?" She asked suspiciously, and she actually looked doubtful, which made another nervous laugh bubble up out of him.
"No, but I'll understand if you want to – well, if you don't want to do – see me again –"
"Shut up. It's not about that. Just let me wrap my head around it." She said immediately, relaxing her death grip on his hand, but no letting go. And all that mattered, as they kissed later on, and she challenged him to produce birth papers to prove his age, and they barely talked the rest of the night, is that she didn't let go.
"But you are human, right?" Skye said, lazily sprawled beside him on the couch, where they had just finished another heavy snogging session.
It had been three months since the first time Harry had kissed her, and the memory still made him tingle slightly. Being in a relationship was unlike anything Harry had ever thought. Especially with Skye, the best thing was that she didn't remind him of Ginny, even though the two surprisingly shared many core qualities.
Caramel had practically fainted with disbelief the next day, when Skye had entered the café and Harry had casually greeted her with a kiss. The rest of his staff were fawning over them soon and they had been too glad to retire to office to continue their greeting. They had, of course, blabbed to everyone else and Harry had faced a minor heart attack when Pepper had casually asked how she was doing.
It had reminded Harry of all the unprecedented dangers of being him, or being with him, and he had faced a minor crisis again, wondering if he should be putting all these people at risk by even being here. What if someone from the older chapters in his life decided to have another shot at the Boy-Who-Lived? Even though he had taken every precaution possible, he himself knew there were loopholes in the life he was living and the largest of them was Teddy.
He hadn't calmed until Skye was with him, holding his face and reassuring him that it was all going to be alright, and he didn't need to leave. During such times, he wasn't sure what all he had revealed to her in moments of delusion, but so far, it had only been this one incident, and she wasn't running for the hills yet.
"Yes, I am human. Thank you very much." He replied presently, shifting slightly to grab the remote and switch through the channels. He still liked doing it a lot because of the fact that he hadn't got to do it much in his childhood. It made him feel better about his life in general, and reminded him that he was doing much better.
"Then why did you stop ageing at 17?" Skye said, chin on his shoulder, gazing steadily at him. "Tell me if I go too far with the questions." She added quietly.
"I actually don't know why that happened. It's one of those questions that I didn't know the answer to. Although I'm sure Hermione is doing her best to find that out right now." He smiled slightly, and received a laugh back in reply.
"Why do I get the feeling that Hermione is one of those goody-two-shoes type?"
It was Harry's turn to snort loudly, and he recalled the Hermione from first year and how she had to reset her priorities for him in the following years.
"Oh she was anything but a goody-two-shoes after spending one year with Ron and me. We've ruined her for the rest of her life. I still don't know she keeps it going at the Ministry."
"She works in the Government?" Skye asked, surprised, and Harry realized too late that hadn't said that before. "I hate the government. All the systems and secrets and everything. I think Government agents are officially the creepiest."
He chuckled slightly before replying, "Yeah me too. I'm not a huge a fan of our Ministry either. It's mostly filled with lying arseholes who want to sit in a chair and get fat all day."
"Which is actually exactly what you do, if I remember correctly." Skye replied with a teasing grin and Harry looked at her in disbelief.
"I do not! Are you calling me fat?!"
Skye sat up from where she'd been leaning by his side and laughed loudly, exclaiming out a "Yes!"
Harry was about to dive in for a tickle fight, when his gaze shifted to the TV for a second as made to drop the remote on the table. Tony's face was on the screen, along with the video of a bombing. He didn't register the words until he heard Skye's soft gasp from beside him.
"Billionaire Tony Stark feared dead in terrorist bombing in Afghanistan"
I know it's kinda short - very short when compared to the last one, but I'll be breaking that up into two so it's easier. I hope you liked this one. Can't wait to hear back from y'all. I'm so excited! :D
