Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to the amazing JK Rowling, and sadly, not me.
Thank you to my beta, HPalto87, and Hearts to my reviewers!
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14
Harry placed the dirty dishes in the sink and turned the faucet on. As he reached for the soap, Hermione stopped him.
"Harry Potter, as much time as you spend with us, you do not live here and you do not need to do dishes," she scolded.
Harry turned away from the sink and smiled. Well, he tried to smile, anyway. Happiness, even fake happiness for his friend's sake, was not an easy emotion to grasp right now.
"I made the mess," Harry explained.
"Just get out of here," Hermione laughed. Harry gave in and watched as she cast a spell that she had learned from Molly. The dishes began to clean themselves, and Hermione went about wiping down the counters.
Harry wandered out of the kitchen and back to the letter. He picked it up, glared at it, and threw it back down. This was not helping matters! He and Draco had loved each other, yes, but things change. People change. Draco was not the same person he had been when they started dating, and consequently their relationship had taken a turn. It had affected every part of their relationship except the sex.
They still couldn't keep their hands off of each other. No matter how bad things got between them, the sex was always good. A good portion of their arguments ended with the two of them naked and kissing passionately. They used it as a distraction from the real problems, because, though their relationship seemed to be deteriorating, they were still very much physically attracted to each other.
Harry's thoughts wandered to Draco's sweet kisses, his creamy skin, his hard cock and tight-
Not going there. Harry's groin was responding to those thoughts, and that was not a good thing. He did not need to be sexually frustrated as well as emotionally frustrated.
He began to read the letter again, if only to distract himself from sexy thoughts of his boyfriend. No, ex-boyfriend.
We walked slowly down to the Great Hall hand in hand. Neither of us said anything. I suppose we were both thinking about what would happen when we walked in together.
It was terrible. Everyone looked at us. The whispers started, passing along with rumors that had formed over the past day. Wondering just what the extent of our relationship was. You looked at the floor. I smirked and pulled your face up to mine, pulling you into a soft kiss.
This was not helping matters. Harry did not need to be thinking about Draco's soft kisses and warm embrace, or his body pressed against his own…
Didn't he have more to say about Death Eaters and Quidditch, and things that didn't lead to sexy thoughts?
On second thought, Quidditch wasn't a good topic either.
Harry read a bit more, but it was only making him more upset. He dropped the parchment and wandered out of the study.
He found Hermione reading to Penelope. Ron was hastily getting ready for work. He grabbed a briefcase, and leaned over to kiss his wife and daughter. He smiled at Harry as he passed into the study. Harry heard the floo roar to life, then Hermione's soft voice as she read.
Harry leaned back against the wall. This was something he would probably never have. He had always wanted a family like this with Draco, but that dream had been shattered. There was a time when he could picture the two of them raising a child together as a happy little family. It was his ideal life. He wanted to give some young witch or wizard the love and opportunities that he never had as a child. Now, it looked like the closest he would get was to help with Penelope, and honestly, Ron and Hermione were perfectly capable of doing that on their own.
He could always find another guy, of course. But as irrational as it was, in his mind, there was still only one man who could provide that dream for him. And he was gone.
Harry had pushed him away.
He pushed you away first, Harry thought.
Penelope giggled at something and pointed to the book. Hermione smiled and said, "Yes, that's right! That is a duck!"
Harry couldn't handle this anymore. He went back to the study, gathered his things, and walked out of the house.
"Harry?" He heard Hermione call his name as the door slammed shut. Before she could follow him, Harry apparated away.
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Flashback
Harry loved the Quidditch practices. It was liberating, flying like that again. He loved the challenge of the drills, and the thrill of working with people who were just as excited about the game as he was.
The team was great. They helped and supported each other. Philbert and Morgan were tough but fair. Morgan was known to swear at the other players all through practice, but it was always with a certain level of affection. She was a lot like Oliver when he was the Gryffindor captain.
"What the hell was that, Wood? You're supposed to block the rings, and instead you're letting Hernandez figuratively ass-rape you and your position! Kenley, if you don't stop missing the fucking bludger I'll shove that bat strait up your- hey!"
Jennifer had thrown the quaffle at the back Morgan's head, but the chaser easily flipped around and caught it.
"It you ever do that again, Sage, I'll knock you off that broom and replace you so fast your ditzy little head will spin. Potter! What the hell are you laughing at? Did you get the snitch? No, I didn't think so. You've reached your time limit anyway, start the drill over!"
As Harry flew past Oliver, he heard the keeper say, "Bit of a bitch, isn't she?"
Harry paused and smiled. "She only wants us to be good. You were kind of like that when we were in Hogwarts, you know?"
Oliver smiled back. "I was never that bad, was I?"
"Wood! Potter!" Morgan ended their conversation.
Harry sped off, and Oliver resumed his position protecting the rings.
---
After practice Oliver approached Harry.
"You look beat," he said amicably.
"So do you," Harry commented.
Harry felt like he had been through a long training session with Mad-Eye Moody. He felt pain in muscles he didn't know he had, and he was so exhausted he didn't think he could apparate home. He was seriously considering flying to the nearby town to floo.
"Going home to Malfoy?" Oliver asked.
"Yeah," Harry replied, wondering where else Oliver thought he would be going.
"So you're, you know, happy with him, right?" Oliver said slowly.
"Of course," Harry answered automatically.
This wasn't quite the truth, but he didn't want their personal problems to become public. But this was Oliver, Harry reasoned, he wasn't going to go to Witch Weekly or the Daily Prophet with all of his and Draco's secrets. For some reason, Harry felt like he could trust him.
Oliver was staring at Harry, like he was waiting for an admission of some sort. Or maybe he just appeared that way to Harry.
"No," Harry said finally. "I'm not always happy with him. But we work through it."
This of course, was only true up to the point where sex came into the picture. Once one of them began to lust for the other, any attempts to work out problems became futile.
"You deserve someone who makes you happy," Oliver said.
"I know," Harry replied. Harry smiled and looked up at Oliver with big green eyes that could melt anyone. "I love him," he said. It was true, despite everything. Harry knew that no matter what, he would always love Draco on some level. He had been such an important part of his life.
"You have beautiful eyes," Oliver said.
Harry was slightly taken aback at the sudden change in subject. "My… what?"
"Ah, nothing," Oliver said, but Harry was blushing slightly. "I, uh… I sort of had a crush on you when we were in school," he admitted.
Harry's eyes widened. "I didn't know you were… uh… that you liked…"
"I'm gay," he confirmed with a laugh. "It's not a big deal. I mean, you're gay too."
Harry laughed too. "You're right. Why didn't you ever tell me you liked me?"
Oliver shrugged. "You were too young. It would have just confused you, right?"
Harry had to agree. He had only been thirteen when Oliver left Hogwarts.
"Oh, but you've got a good life going for you now," Oliver said. "You don't need me mucking it up."
"Are you seeing anyone now?" Harry wasn't sure why he was asking.
"No. I was in a serious relationship a while back, but nothing since," Oliver replied.
"Oh," Harry said. He wasn't sure what sort of answer he had been hoping for.
"You should go home, I'm sure Draco's waiting for you. I know if I had a boyfriend as cute as you, I would be waiting, anyway," Oliver said. "I'll see you tomorrow." He turned once and apparated away.
