Disclaimer: The characters and places and stuff belong to JKR. But for now, they are at my mercy. *evil grin* I'll return them as soon as I'm finished…maybe.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed!
In this chapter: Harry flirts, a trip to the cinema, a movie that hits home, and Harry/Severus alone in the theater
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Chapter 11
When the three arrived at Thomas's, Dean was shocked to see Harry, with a walking cane, in the company of two of the most-hated Slytherins in school.
"Long story," Harry muttered under his breath to his friend. "I'll tell you when you come back to school. Are you working here for the summer?"
"Yeah, Mum insisted," Dean sighed, "again. Here, follow me."
He led Harry, Draco, and Severus to a table in a secluded corner of the restaurant. They sat down, and Dean gave a menu to each of them before asking what they wanted to drink.
"Water," was Severus's reply.
"Hot chocolate," Harry requested. Everyone raised their eyebrows at him, and in a defensive voice, he said, "What? I can't help it if I'm cold in the middle of the summer." Dean just shook his head and turned to Draco.
"I never did like Muggle restaurants," Draco muttered to himself. To Dean, he said, "Fine, I'll have water, as well."
"I'll bring those right out," Dean said. "Take a look at your menus, pick what you want, you know the drill." With that, he walked away, and Harry chuckled mirthlessly.
"Like I've been to a restaurant before," he mumbled as he looked over his menu.
Draco and Severus exchanged a look. Then Severus smiled slightly.
"Both of you, get whatever you want," he told them. "Ignore how much it costs. As long as you don't get so much that you'll get sick, order anything you want. You both deserve it."
After their food arrived (Draco, shrimp; Severus, steak; and Harry, chicken), Draco suddenly looked back and forth between his companions.
"Are you wearing the same shirt?" he wondered, noticing that they were both wearing identical black silk button-down shirts.
"I should think that it would be quite difficult, Draco, for two people to wear one shirt," Severus replied, smirking. Draco glared at him and punched his arm.
"You know what I meant, you prat."
"Severus gave me this for my birthday because I was admiring his," Harry explained, his eyes sparkling. He winked at Draco and turned back to Severus. "About that, I've been meaning to tell you: I wasn't admiring the shirt. I was admiring you in the shirt."
Severus stared at him for a moment, unable to think of a reply while Draco grinned. Harry just smiled and rose from his seat.
"Excuse me for a moment," he said. "I'm going to the restroom."
With that, Harry made his way to the men's room. Instead of going into a stall, he dropped onto a chair next to the sink. He rested an arm on the edge of the sink and laid his head on his arm, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. After a few minutes, he heard the door open, and he felt a hand rest on his back.
"Harry?" said Draco's concerned voice. "Are you all right?"
"Mmm-hmm, a little dizzy," Harry replied, picking his head up. He grinned tiredly at Draco. "Can't believe I just said that to him." Draco chuckled.
"He was shocked, to say the least. Even I was a little surprised."
Draco frowned when Harry laid his head back down. He touched Harry's cheek, then grabbed a paper towel, running it under cold water in the sink before gently pressing it to Harry's face.
"You have a little bit of a fever. Maybe we should get our food 'to-go' and get back to Hogwarts." Harry shook his head, waving his hand.
"No, no, I'm fine," he insisted. "I think I just need to eat something. All I had today was a bit of toast for breakfast; not even enough to call it breakfast."
With Draco's assistance, Harry made it back to the table in one piece. Severus seemed to have recovered from the earlier incident, and now he was a little concerned when he saw that Harry's cheeks were flushed with fever and that his eyes were glassy.
"Eat, now," Draco ordered Harry, firmly. Harry just smiled softly, shaking his head as he ate some of his chicken.
"Is something wrong?" Severus wondered.
"Harry was a little dizzy in the restroom, and he has a fever," Draco reported. "He insists that he just needs to eat because all he had today was some toast at breakfast." Severus looked sharply at Harry.
"What about the lunch that was brought up for you?"
"I wasn't hungry," Harry replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Contrary to what some people believe, I will not eat when I'm not hungry just because they want me to." Severus sighed, shaking his head.
"Children," he muttered. Harry stared at him for a moment, hurt and sadness showing in his eyes.
"I am not a child," he said, hotly. "I have never been a child. I was denied that right the night my parents died."
After that, dinner was silent, except for the weak attempts at conversation. Severus paid the bill, and Harry said good-bye to Dean. Then Severus, Harry, and Draco left the restaurant and stood outside for a few minutes, thinking of what to do next.
"Well...I suppose..." Severus said, slowly. Harry and Draco just watched him. "It's only six o'clock. Perhaps we could go to the cinema and watch a movie?" Harry's eyes widened.
"Are you serious? Could we, really?" By then, he was bouncing up and down with the excitement of a six-year-old. "I've always wanted to go to the cinema!"
"Have you ever gone anywhere, Harry?" Draco asked as they walked towards the movie theater. "Your first time in a restaurant, your first time to the cinema... Even I've been to the cinema before, and my father didn't like Muggles!"
"I went to the zoo once," Harry offered. "But I kind of accidentally made the glass on a snake house disappear. My cousin fell in the snake house, and the glass appeared again so he couldn't get out. Meanwhile, I was talking to a python after it escaped. Needless to say, I wasn't allowed to go back there again. Or anywhere else, for that matter."
"But surely when those people went out, they couldn't leave you alone!" Draco insisted. Harry shook his head.
"They didn't trust me in the house alone. When they went on vacations, I stayed with either Vernon's sister or Arabella Figg, who I didn't even know was a witch until she came to teach in fifth year."
By then, they were standing in front of the theater. There were two movies showing: one was about love on a huge ship that would eventually sink; the other was about two gay men who won't admit that they're falling for each other, and their female friend has to push them together. Draco insisted that they get tickets for the latter.
I wonder why he was so keen on this movie, Harry said to himself, chuckling silently.
The three wizards bought some snacks and went into the theater to sit down. Draco made it so that Harry and Severus had to sit next to each other, and he sat on Harry's other side. As the movie started, Harry leaned over to whisper in his friend's ear.
"So you're the female friend, eh?"
"Metaphorically speaking, I suppose I am," Draco replied, smirking. "Now watch the film, and maybe the two of you can work things out."
So Harry turned and watched the movie. At least, he tried to. There were some funny moments, and the storyline was good, but to Harry, it just seemed to drag. He eventually ended up falling asleep, with his head resting on Severus's arm.
~~~
When Harry was woken up, he opened his eyes to find Severus looking at him. Harry covered his mouth and yawned, looking around to find the theater empty, except for the two of them. He slowly stood up, only to have his leg scream out in pain and collapse out from under him, and he fell straight into Severus's arms. The two looked into each other's eyes for a moment, not moving, and finally, Severus spoke.
"Are you...all right?" he asked, his voice a little hoarse. Harry nodded slightly, still staring into the older man's obsidian eyes.
"My leg just hurts..." he murmured. "Sorry about that." Severus nodded and suddenly lifted Harry up into his arms. "What are you doing?"
"You're still tired, and I don't want you to walk on your leg when it hurts," Severus replied, simply.
Harry just shrugged his shoulders and laid his head on Severus's chest, closing his eyes. Severus carried him out into the lobby, where Draco was waiting by a water fountain. The three went outside and, once they were away from Muggles, they used a portkey to get back to their rooms at Hogwarts.
While Draco went to get a shower, Severus and Harry sat on opposite ends of the sofa in silence. After a few moments, Harry crawled over and lay down with his head in Severus's lap, closing his eyes. Severus smiled slightly and ran his fingers through the younger man's hair.
"What happened?" Harry asked with a sleepy sigh.
"What happened when?"
"In the movie... What happened to Steve and David?"
"Well..." Severus started, softly. "They had to be locked in a closet together before they would admit that they loved each other. They talked, they shagged, and they lived happily ever after." Harry chuckled slightly.
" And Carrie? What happened to her?"
"She finally found happiness, as well. She went out to celebrate getting her two best friends together, and she met up with her brother's friend. They went out a few times, fell in love, and got married."
Harry was silent for a little while, and Severus wondered if perhaps he'd fallen asleep again. Then Harry's eyes suddenly opened, and he looked up at Severus with curiosity and hope in his eyes.
"Do you think that's realistic? Could things really happen like that and end up perfect?"
"I suppose it's realistic, in a way," Severus replied, thoughtfully. "But then, what is perfect?"
"Perfect is when everybody is happy with how things turn out," Harry said, softly. He frowned suddenly. "Draco's like Carrie. He doesn't think he can be happy, but he wants the important people in his life--you and me--to be happy, even if he can't be. Why doesn't he think he can be happy, Severus?"
"I don't know, Harry," Severus sighed. "That's something we won't know until he decides to tell us." He changed the subject. "Does your leg still hurt?" Harry shook his head.
"No, it feels fine now," he replied, yawning. "I think I'm going to go to bed. Thank you for tonight. I had fun; at least, I had fun when I was awake." Severus smiled and removed his fingers from Harry's hair.
"I'm glad," he said, softly. He squeezed Harry's shoulder. "Good night, Harry."
"Good night, Sev," Harry said, smiling at the older man before heading to the bedroom.
After changing into his pajamas, Harry went to his bed and found a small package and a note sitting on his pillow. He cautiously unfolded the note and sighed with relief when he saw that it was from Sirius.
Harry,
I thought you could use this more than I could. Remus got it for me when he found out that I was having nightmares about Azkaban, and now that I have Remus, I thought I'd pass it on to you. I slept with it every night, and while the nightmares didn't completely disappear, they gradually got better. Sleep well, love.
Siri
Harry unwrapped the package and smiled when he saw that the gift was a teddy bear. He climbed under his blankets and held the bear tightly in his arms as he lay down and closed his eyes. He opened his eyes again when he heard Draco come in.
"Draco?" The blond boy looked at him. "Severus told me that in the movie, Steve and David were locked in a closet. If you were getting ideas from the movie, please don't lock me in a closet, okay?" Draco gave a slight smile and walked over to Harry's bed.
"Of course I won't," he assured Harry, gently touching his cheek. "I saw what happened last time you were in a closet." He leaned over and kissed Harry's forehead, and beads of water dripped from Draco's hair onto Harry's face. "Oops, sorry. Anyway, I got a few other ideas from the movie. Go to sleep, and tomorrow, you can tell me what happened between you and Sev when you were all alone in the theater after the movie ended." Harry blushed a little. "And I'll teach you how to kiss him."
"Thanks, Draco," Harry murmured, tiredly. "Good night."
