CHAPTER 12

Marco walked out of the bedroom feeling rather smug as he always did after a good shag. He knew Draco would be one of the best because it's Draco and that's that. Marco went to get a glass of water for himself and for Draco after all the activity, they both felt rather dehydrated. Walking to the cupboard, he scourged around to look for glasses and he quickly filled them both with water as soon as he found them. He wanted to return to Draco as soon as he could and perhaps do a repeat of what they just did but no such thing happened. Just as Marco made way to leave the kitchen, a note on the dinner table caught his eye and he set the two glasses down to pick up the note.

Dear Draco,

Thanks for looking after me as I know it must have cost you a lot and yet you never once complained or made me out to be a bother. I'm sure you set plans throughout the day yet you put everything aside to accommodate me and I am very thankful for what you did. Also, thank you for taking care of Blaise as well. I'm sure he is very grateful for your care even though he won't say it. You both have a long history and I am sorry I got in the middle of it all. I hope you forgive me for disrupting the friendship between you two and that you will accept my gratitude for your care over me.

On a side note, I think I need to talk to you so if you would, perhaps contact me about a meeting we could set up. I know we're not friends or anything, but it would be nice to start somewhere.

Gratefully yours,

Harry Potter

So, Harry hadn't gotten the chance to thank Draco yet and so only one thing could be left for Marco to do but his thoughts quickly got interrupted by a call to him.

"Marco, what's taking you so long?" asked Draco who obviously made his way out of the bedroom and getting closer by the second.

Marco's eyes widened and he scrunched up the note to toss under the table just as Draco entered the kitchen and leaned lazily against the door post, "Marco, where is my water?"

Marco smiled handsomely and lifted up a glass, handing it to the gorgeously beautiful man standing before him.

Draco accepted the glass seductively from Marco and tossed his head back, knowing full well of all the skin he currently exposed and downed the whloe glass of water.

Marco stood captivated by the sight before him, Draco Malfoy with his hair all tousled and beads of sweat on the pale smooth body accompanied by throwing his head back to drink water all the while with his gaze fixed on Marco himself.

Knocking the glass of water out of Draco's hand and letting it shatter on the kitchen floor, Marco jumped the man and unmentionables had been done on each other.

After they finished and both made their way to Draco's bed, Marco took a walk on dangerous grounds, "Hey, Draco."

"Yes?" mumbled Draco who had his eyes shut and his back turned to Marco.

"You know that man you came to the club with?"

Draco's eyes furrowed and his tone became defensive, "what about him?"

"Well, I know he stayed with you for a while right?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Oh, well everyone talked about it a few weeks ago. The guys you brought home that one night bragged about how they got to go home with you two."

Draco let out a breath and let go of the response, "What about it then?"

"Well, I just thinking it would be so rude if he never thanked you properly. I mean, you leant him your clothes and everything, all the while he probably never felt anything for you."

Draco pursed his lips together, "Well, it's not like I expected one anyway. And we left on rather awkward terms so it's understandable."

"Oh." replied Marco who's mind worked as hard as magic itself.

"Now, I'm going to sleep." said Draco with a yawn as he did not want to speak about Harry or his ungratefulness for what Draco did for him anymore, "Good night."

"Good night." replied Marco automatically as he waited for Draco to fall asleep before getting out of bed to dispose of the note.

Marco picked up the letter from the ground and flattened the creases. It clearly could be a beginning for the two but he wanted Draco for himself. He wanted Draco and the other man did not deserve it. Harry had Blaise anyways. Why should he be greedy and take Draco too? Marco decided to fold the note neatly and hid it in his wallet before returning to bed and wrapping his arm around Draco's smooth pale body.

"Come on, Harry." pleaded Blaise sounding almost too desperate for a grown man.

"No Blaise, I don't understand why we have to do this."

"It's not supposed to be anything more than dinner Harry."

"Yes, but that restaurant is so expensive. Why that one? We could always go to a cheaper one."

"Because I've been looking for ways to make it up to you for what I did. You have not been letting me do anything to ease my mind so I decided this is a great place to start this. I want to show you how sorry I truly am."

"Blaise, if I go with you, will you stop talking about what happened and just let it go?"

Blaise sighed, "Harry, I'm not going to let it go but it will ease my mind a bit."

Harry finally gave and flung his arms in the air, "Fine I'll go. But I'm not ordering anything too expensive."

"Why not? I have a lot of money left over from my father. Being pureblood has perks, I just don't know what happened to Ron's."

Harry turned and glared but Blaise smiled so he knew the other man just joked around though a small amount of bitterness could be noticed in the tone.

Blaise opened the door for Harry and all that ran through Harry's thoughts were how unnecessary the act was. But when the door revealed a smile that he kissed so many times, it felt a little better.

After the two ordered, there was the most awkward silence that fell upon them as neither of them knew what to say. It was plainly obvious what this dinner's purpose was but it did not make it easier on either one of them.

Blaise decided that he needed to break the ice, this whole ordeal was his fault anyways, "So, I like how they changed the place. The decorations and the colour combinations are much easier on the eyes."

Harry smiled in agreement, "Yes, the dark green and with gold trim simply just did not fit as well as this new red and with silver trim."

Blaise nodded, "Yes."

"Yes." replied Harry and they both fell into an even more awkward silence than before.

This silence was the reason why they were both so ecstatic to see Ron and Hermione enter the restaurant.

"Hermione! Ron!" exclaimed Harry as he stood up. Blaise stood up as well but was not as verbal about his joyous feeling.

The two looked over and asked to join Harry and Blaise's table. After a quick order from Ron and Hermione, the four sat in silence but this time, Hermione broke the ice properly, "So, Blaise, this is awkward to see you two back together again after what Ron and I said to you in our last encounter with each other."

Ron was obviously not as forgiving as his accompaniment and stayed quiet with his arms crossed.

Blaise looked a bit nervous before replying, "I truly am very sorry for what happened."

Harry's eyebrows furrowed, "Look, Hermione, Ron, Blaise, can we just forget about this? For me? I don't want to talk about it again. It's in the past and it is so much easier to forget that anything ever happened."

There was silence at the table as no one wanted to be the first to speak and disrupt this predicament but once again Hermione took her brave role and broke the silence, "Fine."

Blaise quickly followed with a nod.

When Harry, Hermione, and Blaise looked at Ron, the man glared at Blaise and refused answering anything.

"Come on Ron, for me. This isn't for Blaise, this is for me. We've been friends this long." pleaded Harry and this worked as Ron sighed and agreed with the rest of the group.

Ron was still angry until Harry broke out into a smile and his mind was set at a much better peace.

"So." said Harry, "What's new?"

"Well." replied Hermione cheerfully, "You remember how Neville and Lavender were dating?"

Harry nodded and leaned slightly forward in anticipation to hear the gossip.

"Well, apparently they both slept with other people on the side and now, they don't know who to get mad at."

There was silence at the table again but each for their own reasons. Hermione was silent as she was waiting for the fire to erupt in Blaise. She wasn't put in Gryffindor for not standing up for what she believed in. Ron was silent in annoyance at having to remember what Blaise did. Blaise was quiet because he did not know how to respond to this and he honestly felt very embarrassed and uncomfortable. Harry, on the other hand, smiled at it and brushed the comment off as nothing but could not muster enough of himself to reply to such news.

"So anyways." continued Hermione smoothly as she did not meet eyes once with Blaise, "that isn't the biggest part. Neville was sleeping with Dean who is still dating Seamus but Seamus still doesn't know what's going on between Dean and Neville."

Harry's eyes widened as he broke out into laughter and immediately followed by Hermione and Blaise laughing with him. Ron stayed silent in the corner but inwardly he was relieved that Harry felt so much better than before.

"You have to be kidding." said Harry, "I always knew something was up with Neville and Dean but I just never knew what it could be. Who knew it would be this complicated."

After the topic of Neville's love life died down, Ron decided to contribute to the conversation. By this time, the food arrived and the four of them continued their small talk while eating the meal, "So Ginny broke up with another guy."

Hermione looked at Ron sharply as she didn't hear of this but by the way Ron refused to meet anyone's eyes and the smug look he was currently casting at his food, she knew he was lying through his teeth to purposefully anger Blaise. She returned to her meal with no intention of correcting Ron in the slightest.

"Well, apparently, she was the one cheating on Dalas this time. That relationship will never work out though, if you ask me. They just cheat on each other back and forth and relationships just don't work that way."

The table was silent except for the clinking of the silverware and the porcelain.

"Anyways, Ginny cheated on him with a girl this time and he got so angry. Apparently it was a kick to his pride or something like that. He felt like he turned Ginny into a lesbian."

Hermione smiled and outwardly it would look like she smiled at the humour of Ron's comment which was the truth, to a certain extent. Harry smiled widely but if any one of the three were Draco Malfoy, they would be able to tell right away that this smile never reached his eyes. He was happy for Ron's contribution and so he allowed it to continue.

"Well, anyways, Ginny's planning on getting back together with Dalas anyways. I don't think it's going to last because in the end, cheating is still cheating." stated Ron firmly as he eyed Blaise angrily.

Harry cleared his throat politely to make the situation less awkward for Blaise and replied, "Well, it depends if they love each other and it seems like this is just how their relationship works so it's up to them to decide if they can make it work out in the end."

Blaise threw a smile at Harry and he smiled back before Ron noticed and responded bitterly, "Not when some things just can't work."

Harry smiled politely and after this, small conversations were used to fill the silence as no large topic was breached in fear of stirring up any more trouble.

To Hermione and Ron, they both knew Harry well enough to know that with the seed planted in his mind. All they needed to do was wait for everything to explode. Harry may be able to smile everything off and pretend none of it drew any connection with his own situation but they both knew that it would end soon and they couldn't wait for that to happen. This relationship was a sham from the beginning, how could Blaise ever be able to understand how important it was and how privileged he was to have Harry? Blaise could never treasure Harry enough and with the unfaithfulness, the man unknowingly proved just how right Hermione and Ron were.

AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. It's always good to know someone out there is reading my fic.

Special thanks, as usual, areto beposted. Fefs,you're welcome andI'm very gladI posted thechapter. I'm not sure when my next fic will be posted. I'm mainly working on smaller projects now. But in due timeI will start posting something again. I already have fics started, not finished yet though, soI'm not going to post untilI, at least, have an outline written for it. Thanks about the genius mind comment.It's verysweet of you. No,I havn'tgone through this before. I have been cheated on, once. But then again I can't really say anything because I was sort of cheating on him too. shrugs people drift and we got out of it alive. I'm honestlywrote this as it came to me. I wanted to be a bit angsty so maybe that's why it's so realistic. This is one heck of an angsty world we live in. Haha, how could you have knownI'm Canadian? Don't blame yourself for it. I'm very glad you've read Paulo Coelho too. He's so good. A bit too religious but it's still great.

JadeLilyMalfoy, haha, no... Blaise's gender wasn't confirmed in a book. At least I don't think so. I think it was in an article somewhere. But it is confirmed, somewhere, that Blaise has male bits.

Morena Eversong, haha, I live in Toronto so... I knew about all the gay marriage being legal and stuff. Yeah,I needed to throw some Blaise in there. When I was writing, it felt like it was so against Blaise and that the fic didn't show the extent to what Blaise felt. It's just so easy to blame the one who did the cheating that sometimes, people don't realize that it goes much deeper than that. It's actually researched that most people cheat on their spouses, not because they stopped loving them or started living someone else, it is because after they promised each other forever... they didn't get what else was expected to come from the relationship. Whether it be in the bedroom or just around the house. And I think that's totally understandable. If people say that for a relationship to work, you need two people. Then for a relationship to come apart, something must have gone wrong from both parties. It isn't always as simple as 'I just don't love you anymore.' It's sometimes 'I don't love you anymore because...'.

Know Thyself, haha, despite it would cause a lot of drama for that guy Blaise brought home to show up with a baby... alas, I've already gone through my mPreg phase. It's still a great idea for lot's of drama but thats' not how I'm going to end this story off. Thanks for the suggestion and review.

Astyra, haha, thanks for the compliment. You are such a sweet heart and don't shoot anything that might get you in trouble. Anything else, meh, go ahead. hehe