Making a Decision

I don't own 'Harry Potter'

Harry looked down at the paperwork in front of him and wondered.

Could he do it? Sign up to carry on fighting? Continue tiring himself out doing something he didn't even want to do in the first place?

He was tired.

But everyone kept telling him he was supposed to. He was Harry James Potter, he was supposed to be an Auror (like his father), marry a nice girl (like his father), and have a 'proper' life with kids (like his father).

He wondered if people realised his name wasn't James.

Nobody ever asked him what he wanted. He liked Ginny, sure, but fighting in a war kind of put things into perspective. She was nice, but she kept nagging him like everyone else. She just kept pretending that things were the same.

They weren't. His nightmares could attest to that.

He looked at the parchment on his lap. He'd filled in the entire application for the Auror academy, but he hadn't signed it. Something was stopping him. Common sense, perhaps?

"Harry?"

He looked up to see Oliver Wood looking at him strangely. Well, frowning if he was honest.

"Hey, Oliver."

The older man – and he was clearly a man now as Harry's hormones reminded him – walked over to him and sat down on the bench next to him.

"What are you doing in muggle London, Harry? What's that?" he finished with a nod towards the parchment.

Harry cleared his throat. "Auror application."

Oliver frowned. "You don't sound very happy about that."

"... Everyone keeps telling me it's what 'Harry Potter' would do, like they know me without asking."

He wouldn't usually be so upfront with someone, but Oliver had always answered Harry's questions no matter how stupid they seemed. He'd be frank with Harry which he desperately needed right now.

"Well, ignore what 'Harry Potter' should do, what does Harry want to do?"

"Don't know."

"So burn those papers to start with."

Harry whipped his head around. "What?"

"Harry," Oliver began seriously, "if you don't know what you definitely want, then don't let yourself get sucked into something with long-standing consequences. If you want to be an Auror later join then, but if you join now and end up hating it you'll end up miserable trying to deal with quitting."

"Huh."

It was quite a nice change not having someone telling him what to do.

"You know my parents wanted me to work in the Ministry."

Harry turned to older man questioningly. "Really?"

He nodded. "Yep. They didn't want me playing Quidditch at all. Kept moaning constantly until they saw me play. They realised how happy it made me and they've supported me ever since.

"If people care about you they'll be happy if you are, regardless of what you do."

Harry smiled at the taller man, feeling lighter than he had in weeks. "Thanks Oliver."

Oliver good a considering look on his face and looked Harry in the eye.

"You know, you're pretty different from what I remember."

He opened his mouth to say something – most likely something sarcastic about him being taller now – before he was cut off.

Oliver was kissing him.

Harry remembered what the other man had just said and he decided he wanted to be happy for once, not just for work. He pressed forward into the kiss. He didn't care they were in public, in muggle London, that his Auror application had just fallen into the mud. He kissed Oliver.

He eagerly opened his mouth for the other man to explore, he held onto the strong biceps he'd been admiring since he was eleven, and he enthusiastically started raking one hand through the other's hair.

When they finally separated he could feel his lips were wet and his heart was racing. He'd bet his face was bright red and his glasses felt a little wonky. Who cares?

"So, Harry Potter, what do you want?"

Harry grinned. "To be somewhere we can carry this on without traumatising anyone, like that middle-aged couple over there. They look appalled."

Oliver looked and saw two wide-eyed faces and let out a deep laugh. "That can be arranged."

The two got up and walked away, leaving the parchment behind.

A/N: Hello people!

I actually really like Oliver. I know everyone always makes him some sort of Quidditch-obsessed idiot, and while he does love the sport I don't think that's all there should be to his character.

Let me know what you think :)