One of Joseph's sentences here, and others in future chapters, is italicised. That means the sentence is in French. Doing it this way because I'm too lazy to write the sentence in French and write the translation in brackets. :P

Chapter 11

Harry was sitting on the couch in Joseph's living room. A minute after Joseph's shirtless flatmate had answered the door, another head popped out of the door and Harry was able to ask if he had the right address. He was glad that he did have the right address and felt greatly relieved that the taller raven's other two roommates were together. As he sat there, Jess and Louis left him to make some tea and discuss why Harry was there. He could hear them talking, but barely understood anything cause he never learned French. He never really saw himself coming to France to see Joseph.

"So Harry, what brings you here?" Jess asked as she and Louis returned with a tray of tea.

"I think it's quite obvious." Harry replied, thanking Louis as he was handed a cup of tea. "I'm here to see Joseph."

"Why though?" Jess pressed on. "Joseph's been here for the past eight years. You couldn't drop by in that time?"

"Well, after the war, a lot of my friends and I helped in rebuilding Hogwarts, getting it ready for the next school year," Harry said, "Then we finished up school. After that, I started training to become an auror, but I finished training early, given all the experience I already had. I then worked to catch all the escaped Death Eaters to keep them from doing any more harm. I thought maybe…"

Harry trailed off for a moment, shaking his head, "For the record, I had no idea Joseph has been living here for eight years. I asked Draco when we were starting to get to know each other about 3 years ago, but he had told me that Joseph was still living in the house under the Fidellius charm with his parents. I just...I assumed I hadn't done enough to make him feel safe, so I worked twice as hard. I finally captured the last of the Death Eaters yesterday. The news should have been in circulation this morning."

Jess and Louis both nodded, exchanging looks with one another. It was Jess that spoke first.

"I don't think he meant to make you feel inadequate, Harry," Jess said softly, reaching a hand forward to take his in comfort.

"So, where is he?" Harry asked.

"At work." Louis said. "His shift ends at five, but he might get home a little late today."

"Oh, well thanks. And sorry about the impromptu introduction" Harry said. "I'll just go to a café or stay at the room I'm staying at while waiting"

"Don't be silly, Harry. You can stay here, we don't mind." Jess said. "And we've always wanted to meet you."

With that, the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Jess excused herself after a moment, and it wasn't long until Louis was following right after her. Harry sat alone on the comfortable couch shared by Joseph and his flatmates. In these moments, he finally took the time to look around and take in the apartment. There were very few pictures, especially when it came to Joseph. Most if not all of the pictures of Joseph were from his time in school. Harry gave a small smile, never did he think he'd see the taller raven in the powder-blue uniform of Beauxbatons.

"He always complained about the uniforms." Louis said as he went to stand next to Harry. "Not just because of the colour, but because it was made of silk."

"Well, he always preferred darker colours. I'm sure he'd rather sport Hufflepuff's yellow than that." Harry said with a chuckle. "But to be fair, he complained about our robes too. Usually when we had Care for Magical Creatures class outside and it was particularly warm."

"Well, it'll still be a while before Joseph gets back, and there's not much to do here." Louis stated before handing Harry a huge photo album. "I had gotten Jess a muggle camera during our fourth year, and she became obsessed. Majority of the photos will be of landscapes and random things Jess thought to capture at the time, but there are some with Joseph in them."

Harry thanked Louis before sitting on the couch and started going through the album. Louis was right; a lot of the pictures were of landscapes, but Jess was a really great photographer. Harry had gone through several pages, and then he stopped at one. He stared down at the picture of Jess and Louis, standing in the middle of the gardens of the Beauxbatons grounds. On the left of Louis was the tall, spectacled, amber-eyed raven that Harry had been thinking of for ten years.

Harry didn't know how long he'd stared at the pictures, but he didn't care. Harry hadn't seen or heard from Joseph in so long, and these pictures gave him a lot of what he'd been hoping for. He saw pictures of the taller raven studying, opening Christmas presents, and even attending social events. The last picture which had Joseph in it was of him, Jess, and Louis all sitting under a tree by a lake. Harry's heart ached at knowing that the empty space next to Joseph in the picture was where he should've been.

Harry was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of the door unlocking, and Harry's heart started beating faster. The door opened and he could hear two people talking to each other speaking in French Harry may not have understood what they were saying, but he knew that one of the voices belonged to the one he came here for.

"I'll stay and prepare." Joseph said as he and another person came in carrying boxes.

The taller raven was about to continue when he turned, and his amber eyes met Harry's green ones. Joseph set the box down and slowly walked towards Harry, making the shorter raven's heart beat faster.

"Harry...is it really you?" Joseph asked.

"Yeah." Harry replied, nodding slow.

Joseph lifted his hand, slowly reaching forward, and gently taking Harry's. The long, slender digits felt cool on Harry's skin. He squeezed Joseph's hand slightly, and felt the other male's grip tighten as well. Harry was then pulled closer, and he felt the taller raven's arms wrap around him tightly. Harry hugged back tight as he buried his face in Joseph's chest, willing himself not to cry.

"I've missed you so much." Joseph whispered.

"I've missed you too." Harry returned, looking up at the Slytherin. "Not a day went by without me thinking about you."

Joseph smiled, cupping Harry's cheek gently. He then lowered his face, inching it closer to Harry's until their lips pressed against each other.

To Harry, it felt as if the last decade of his life fell away. He was standing next to Black Lake in the fall and Joseph had just taken him into a surprise kiss. He was in their corner of the library, holding a hand under the table in secret. He was staring into Voldemort's eyes in the Forbidden Forest, doing what he had to do.

When the kiss broke, Harry took a deep breath, looking into Joseph's eyes. A second later and their mouths were meeting again. Harry held desperately to the taller raven's clothes, forgetting about everyone else in the room. In this moment, Harry had his Joseph, and that was all he needed.