Title: A Torturous Reminder

Chapter 6: Revelations

Rating: M

Warnings: H/D SLASH, HBP SPOILERS

DISCLAIMER: We do not own Harry Potter! Characters (except those created by us) belong to the amazingly talented J.K. Rowling, WB, and the publishing companies. Don't sue us! We are just bored teenagers having a go at poor Harry and Draco!

"Ugh," Harry groaned, trying to sit up in the bed. He looked around the darkened room with no idea of where the hell he was.

Draco suddenly came into the room. "Thought you'd never wake, Potter," he said once he saw Harry was awake.

"Awe, concerned with my well-being?" asked Harry dramatically, falling back down on the bed.

"Don't flatter yourself," drawled Draco, opening the curtains in one quick, swift motion.

"Fuck, Malfoy, what are you trying to do? Blind me!" yelled Harry, shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight that had poured into the room.

"Perhaps. Now get up, lazy ass, we have work to do."

Last night's events came crashing into Harry's head, and he quickly looked at his hand and with relief, found it as normal as it was before. But, how did he get here in the first place?

Draco, noticing Harry's puzzled eyes, spoke up.

"Well being the complete idiot that you are, you grabbed an inferno lapillus."

"A…what?" asked Harry, confused.

"It's a pebble, it was burning your hand," stated Draco simply, looking at his fingernails.

"But my hand looks fine now," Harry said, once more directing his gaze towards his hands.

"Yeah, and you owe me big time for that."

"Thanks, Malfoy," muttered Harry, not looking at Draco.

"What was that? I didn't hear you," said Draco, smirking. It wasn't everyday that wonder-boy thanked him for something.

"I said thanks," said Harry annoyed, "and what was this pebble doing there in the first place?"

Draco sighed and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. "Don't be daft, Potter, a death eater left it there, who else? Either it was accidentally dropped, which I'm sure was not the case, or they left it there, hoping that who ever was following them would get hurt, possibly even die. It was more of a warning, you can say."

"Oh, I see. So what are we going to do now?"

"We need to get back to the office; I have a hunch to where the death eaters may be."

"You already know?" asked Harry, surprised that Malfoy already had an idea to where this was leading them.

"Well, as I said before, I am a genius," Draco said, smirking.

"Shut up, Malfoy," said Harry good-naturedly, throwing a pillow at Draco and hitting him directly on his head.

"Watch the hair!" whined Draco, but all he found was a laughing Harry.

"Git," mumbled Draco at Harry.

"Prat," Harry retorted.

"Four-eyed brat"

"Ferret"

"Damn it, just get ready, we'll leave in 20 minutes."

They both arrived at the office half an hour later.

"Good morning you two," Mr. Bradford said as he passed by them. "Any luck with the investigation?"

"We may have a lead," was all Draco said before ushering Harry and himself into the building and into his office.

Draco placed the stone in the middle of his desk and Harry looked at it, confused.

"It's harmless then?" asked Harry.

"Yes, it's harmless now, Potter," Draco said, bringing out a book from under his desk.

Draco flipped through the pages as Harry sat opposite him, staring at the stone in the center of the desk. He tentatively reached out for it and finding it cool, picked it up cautiously. He brought it close to his face and stared at it, intrigued. The stone was not bright anymore, but dull. Harry continued going over it when he grew conscious of someone looking at him.

"What!" asked Harry uncomfortably at the two silver eyes that seemed to be piercing through him. "Have you found out something?"

Draco seemed to snap out of a daze and now stared at Harry. "Yes, I've found where we can locate the place that this stone came from. Luckily for us, it narrows it down to one store."

Harry took the book Draco offered and sure enough, there was the store at the top of the page. Below it was a written description, along with where it could be found, the price, and the amount of stones in the world.

"Wow, whoever planted this stone must be loaded," Harry said as he looked at the price. "They must really want us dead. The only store is 'Midnight Rarities' in Boston?"

Draco nodded. "Are you ready to leave?" he asked him, eyeing him carefully.

"Now!" asked Harry confused.

"No!" Draco said impatiently. "Really, Potter… I'm asking if you're ready to go there? To face some death eaters?"

"Oh. Well, I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Harry said, sitting up straighter in his chair.

"Great then," Draco said. "We'll leave tomorrow, first thing in the morning. We'll take my car. Be sure to pack clothing, we may be there 2 or 3 days, maybe more, depending on the trip."

"We're going in a car!" Harry asked.

"Yes," Draco replied back impatiently.

"But, why don't we just go in an airplane?"

"I have a fear of airplanes," mumbled Draco.

"What?"

"I have a fear or planes."

Harry laughed out loud when Draco cut him off. "At least I can apparate," said Draco, "which would be much faster if you would too."

Harry stopped laughing. The comment was in fact very true, he grudgingly admitted to himself.

"Fine then, we'll go by car," he said before standing up, and stepping out of Draco's office.

Harry made his way to Alex's office, hoping to catch him before he left to a raid or anything else that could come up.

As soon as he stepped through the doorway of Alex's office, Alex turned to him, leaving aside a stack of papers. "Where were you last night?" he asked accusingly.

"Alex, don't jump to conclusions," he said exasperatedly, then realizing he had done the same thing with Malfoy decided not to pursue that particular topic. "Malfoy and I went to the next place that the clue we found in Bane Alley led us too."

"And it took you all night?" asked Alex, raising an eyebrow.

"No! Well yes… sort of… you see we did find something there. Well, I found a pebble but once I touched it… it was horrible," he said shuddering, remembering the pain he had gone through.

"Oh Harry! Do you know what it was?" asked Alex, his tone changing from accusatory to concerned.

"Yeah, Malfoy told me it was an inferno lapillus. He apparated me to his apartment, did the counter course, and since I was still knocked out, he left me there to sleep for the night."

Alex got up from his chair, and gave Harry a hug. "I'm glad you're fine now," he said, whispering into Harry's ear.

They stayed hugging for a few moments until Harry, getting uncomfortable, got out of Alex's embrace and sat down on a chair.

"So where was 'there'?" Alex asked curiously.

"Excuse me?" asked Harry, puzzled at Alex's question.

"Where did you specifically sleep?"

"Oh… in Malfoy's bed," said Harry tentatively.

"What! Harry, you slept in the same bed as that bastard!" yelled Alex, flaring up.

"No! We didn't sleep in the same bed, he slept somewhere else, not with me," said Harry, blushing against his will.

Alex seemed to calm down after this. "So… what now?"

Harry look at him puzzled, but then realized what Alex was implying. "Malfoy and I are going to Boston tomorrow. The stone comes from that place, so we are going to pay a little visit to the seller of these stones."

Alex leaned back on his chair. "Well, that seems like a good plan. Hopefully you two will find something. When will you be back?"

Alex's last question reminded Harry of Oliver and those same words he had uttered, but Alex wasn't Oliver. 'No one can be Oliver' he thought bitterly. Shaking his head of un-welcomed thoughts, he answered Alex.

"Maybe two to three days, we'll see how it goes. Hey Alex, is there any chance you can get out early?" asked Harry hopefully.

"No, sorry Harry, I need to finish all this shit load of paperwork," he said, giving the stack of papers a careless wave. "I'll drop by your apartment later, though. I must give you a proper goodbye," he said suggestively.

"Oh, right, I guess I'll see you later then," said Harry, blushing for the second time that day at Alex's obvious comment.

He stood up from the chair and left the room quietly, heading back to his apartment to pack his clothes.

Harry opened the door to his apartment and found it unnaturally clean.

'Someone must have cleaned up this place,' he thought as he walked over to his room.

He brought out his suitcase from under his bed and began piling clothes in.

"Change of clothing for day 2, pajamas for night one, pajamas for night two, and clothing change for day 3," he said out loud to himself as he packed it all in. He headed to the restroom to gather any other necessities he might need.

He closed the suitcase and picking it up, took it to the living room. As he set the bag down, his stomach grumbled.

'Guess I'm hungry,' he thought, heading towards the kitchen. He sat in front of the countertop with some food before him when he noticed a stack of papers to the side. He reached over to them and noticed they were letters.

"Hmm… how did they get here? By owl?" He mused, thinking of Hedwig. He had left her in Hermione's care after the airport had refused to let him carry his owl.

He got the first letter from his countertop and saw it was from Hermione. He opened it and began to read.

Dear Harry,

I know you might be going through a difficult time right now, I'm sorry, but it seems everything was for the best. It's good it was ended early, and remember what I told you, meet new people! Don't let this bother you, although I know it will, but if you need anything, please we're only a fire call away, don't hesitate. I'm here for you.

Love, Hermione

He set the letter down, glad at a few words from his friend, though puzzled. 'Why should Hermione feel sorry for him?' he thought. With this thought still in mind, he reached over for what appeared to be Ron's letter.

Hey, Harry!

What's up mate? How's it going over in NYC? You lucky bastard, getting in on all the action over there….I wish I could be there…Ouch! Hermione just hit me, I need to get to my point. Anyways, Harry, hang in there man. Do I have your permission to beat the shit out of him?

Ron

Harry smiled at the letter but was still puzzled. 'What in the world did they have to say sorry for?' he thought. He looked over and saw a newspaper lying there on his countertop. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Oliver being pulled by a hand out of the picture then stepping back in dizzy-eyed.

He grabbed it and opened it to the front page, his eyes wide with shock.

'Quidditch Love: Wood and Taggart' the headline read.

'Oliver Wood, keeper for Puddlemere United seems to be dating Ralph Taggart, chaser for the Oxford Bees. It seems like a match made in heaven, or does it? We wonder what happened to Harry…'

Harry put the article down, a knot in his stomach. He had a morbid feeling as he continued scanning the article.

'I am with Alex,' he thought. 'It seems right that Oliver would want to see someone too,' he reasoned with himself. This was exactly what he was doing too. He shouldn't be feeling badly about it, Oliver had a right to see other men now.

His eyes suddenly caught sight of a recent interview done by the reporter.

Reporter: "What about Harry? It seems that just yesterday you two were waltzing around, one of the most famous couples, and now you're with Ralph, like Harry had never happened. What happened between you two?"

Oliver: "Harry who? Oh, him, nothing happened, we just decided that what we had was never real, no true feelings were involved. Plus, Ralph is ten times way better than Harry."

Reporter: "When did all this animosity spring up - ?"

Harry put the paper down, his hands shaking and heart pounding.

How could Oliver do this? He hadn't done anything but tell him he was going on a mission and the relationship had gone up in flames! 'Maybe there never really had been anything on his part,' he thought, gazing back at the newspaper where Taggart was clearly trying to kiss Oliver.

Disgusted, Harry pushed the paper aside and went to his room. He paced around awhile, his anger boiling, and then walked into the shower to cool off.

'But why!' he thought angrily as he changed after the shower, going out into his apartment and pacing around his living room.

His thoughts were still muddled when the doorbell rang, an anxious Alex waiting behind.

"Hey Harry… what's wrong?" asked Alex, concerned after he got a look at Harry's pale face.

"Nothing, I just… feel a bit bad, um, a headache…"

"Oh really? Well then, maybe you won't have to go with Malfoy tomorrow!" said Alex hopefully.

"Uh, no, well come on in."

Alex stepped into the room and looked around in contentment. "Well, they did a pretty good job. You did have a huge mess in here."

"What? Whose they? Who cleaned my apartment?" asked Harry. He really had been wondering why it was so clean.

"I hired some people to clean both of our apartments. I don't have time to clean so I figured you didn't either."

"Thanks, I guess" mumbled Harry, sitting on the couch.

"Harry, you look really shitty. Why don't you go take a nap? I'll just watch T.V. or something. We can talk later."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure, no problem, go to sleep," said Alex, pushing Harry into his bedroom.

Harry, grateful at being given the chance to sleep, took off his shoes, got into bed, and fell into a deep sleep.

Three hours later, Harry felt a movement on his bed. He lazily opened one eye and noticed Alex leaning towards him. He felt slight kisses all over his neck. Alex was tenderly kissing him, and Harry just leaned closer to him, enjoying the feeling.

Alex felt Harry shift beneath him. "Hello, Harry," he said in his ear, his hot breath caressing Harry's neck and causing shivers down Harry's back. "Alex?" Harry asked questioningly, turning around, only to be met by a full-on kiss by Alex.

The kiss took Harry by surprise, but he pushed his lips against Alex's, ensuing a battle of dominance over the kiss. He placed his hands on Alex's chest and continued to kiss him, working in his talented tongue. Alex moaned as he felt the sensation Harry was giving him. Aroused, he quickly pushed himself on top of Harry and started to unbutton Harry's shirt.

Alex hotly trailed his kisses towards Harry's ear, gently pulling and nibbling at it, producing soft moans from Harry's obvious pleasure. He pulled Harry's shirt off and began to lustily touch at Harry's chest, his kisses beginning to trail lower.

Alex stopped kissing Harry, looked at him with passionate eyes, and began taking off his shirt and pants. When he was done, he placed his lips back on Harry's, his fingers ghosting over Harry's zipper, causing Harry to shudder. Alex pushed down on Harry, who emitted a raspy cry in return. He started to undo Harry's jean button, and then he slowly slid down the zipper…

Harry closed his eyes as he felt Alex touch him. He was lost in an ecstasy of feeling. He moaned louder as Alex pushed roughly against him, making Harry fully awake and realizing the situation.

"Wait…. Alex… stop," he managed to breathe out, trying to get Alex's attention.

Alex stopped and looked at Harry, not believing his eyes.

"I'm not ready, I'm sorry Alex," whispered Harry, turning to the side.

He felt Alex leave the bed, slowly dressing himself.

"You've disappointed me, Harry," he said, before walking out of Harry's room and slamming the door behind him.

As soon as he heard Alex slamming the door shut, he realized what he had done to Alex. "Oh fuck! He's probably mad at me!" he yelled out loud, cursing his stupid reasoning… but it hadn't felt right, especially after an image of Oliver had lingered in his mind.

He groaned as he sat up on the bed. 'Why does everything happen to me? Why can't I just be happy, for once?' he thought angrily, getting himself out of the bed and heading to take a shower, preferably a cold one.

Maybe he still loved Oliver. He wasn't ready for a relationship. He had to explain to Alex why he had acted the way he did… why he had shunned him aside. Feeling terrible, Harry got out of the shower and made up his mind to go see Alex and talk to him.

Harry got dressed and walked over to Alex's apartment, trying to figure out exactly what to say. 'I'm sorry I didn't mean to… I just wasn't ready?' thought Harry as he stood outside Alex's door. 'No,' he thought, shaking his head, 'I guess I'll explain about Oliver,' he thought sighing, nervously running a hand through his hair.

He knocked the door, ready with his explanation and hoping Alex would understand. After about a minute he knocked again and once more got no response. 'I wonder where he is,' he thought, trying to figure out what to do. He went into Alex's apartment. 'After all, he constantly goes into mine unannounced,' he reasoned.

He cautiously peered in and immediately walked in. He stared around, his mind reeling. A vase had been knocked down and several books that were more than likely for display lay on the floor.

'It looks like some kind of struggle went on here,' Harry thought, drastically looking around to make some sense of things. 'I wonder where Alex is."

He came in farther into the room, only to find a discarded shirt lying on the floor. A few more steps brought him to another shirt along with some pants, and more articles of clothing lying around.

He glanced curiously at the clothes, raising an eyebrow, 'It looks like there were two…" he thought when he suddenly heard a groan emit from behind a door.

He walked towards it, now hearing moans and phrases he didn't know how he had missed before. He was sure one of the moans emitted, along with a phrase of exaltation, was from Alex. He came nearer and stood outside the door as he heard a cry that seemed to beg for Alex emit loudly from the room.

Harry, flushed, yet furious, and hoping he wasn't about to see what he expected, turned the doorknob and swung the door wide open.

"Alex!" he said, disgusted.

A naked Alex was currently engaged with a man below him. Alex quickly turned around when he heard Harry's voice, looking directly into Harry's eyes.

Harry felt his world collapse around him. What…what was Alex doing? Wasn't he with Alex? He thought they were together! He started shaking, furious with Alex's action. When Alex turned, he also intensely stared back, Harry's hands forming into a tight grasp.

"Harry… I'm…"

"I don't want to hear it," said Harry in a deadly tone. "Save your breath, looks like you might need it," he snapped, his magic starting to get out of control. A vase on Alex's nightstand exploded, sending its contents to the occupants of the bed. With that, the man Alex was with had the decency to sit up, covering himself… it was the same man that Alex had been with in the bar, Harry noticed. 'Perkins,' he thought bitterly.

Without a backward glance, Harry left the room, slamming the door as hard as he could, his head throbbing as he stepped into the hall.

Suddenly, an arm grabbed him, and he was pulled towards a warm body. He turned and there was Alex, buttoning up his jeans.

"Harry, I'm sorry… but you left me before we could finish! I had to do something!" cried Alex pleadingly, grabbing Harry's shirt. "Please! It's nothing!"

"Don't touch me you bastard," snarled Harry, forcibly pushing Alex's hands away. "So I didn't please you, and you ran off to fuck someone else! Are you insane! Then what the hell do we have? Nothing! Because apparently it looks like it!"

"No! Harry… listen…"

"I'm listening enough just by standing here," replied Harry, coldly looking at Alex.

"Look, maybe we can continue…"

Harry gave a manic laugh. "Are you serious?" he whispered, withdrawing his wand and pushing it against Alex's neck. "You have no respect."

Alex gulped and looked nervously at the wand, "Now, come on Harry… be reasonable!"

"Reasonable? Ha! Well. Fuck. You." yelled Harry, taking his wand and punching Alex in the face, the force making Alex fall to the floor. He headed towards the elevator; he couldn't take seeing him anymore. He wanted no more.

A/N: Whew…rough chapter for Harry! Awww! Review to make him feel better!