AN: I own nothing. As a special birthday gift to LovelessZim here is a very early update. Without her this story would not even be written. It's taken a turn from what she really wanted, but I think you are all enjoying it anyway. LovelessZim, you are a goddess, I thank you.
Additional note: There is a shameless cameo in this chapter. If you get it and don't mind, I hope I made you smile. If you get it and do mind, it's only this and the next chapter. If you don't get it...well, then I feel sorry for you are missing out on some WONDERFUL eye candy. On with the show! Er..story.
Accepting Draco as a roommate was a lot easier than he and Harry had thought it would be. Sirius and Remus simply welcomed him for as long as he'd like to stay; and he stayed. For the next few weeks the four men had a strange symbiosis going on in the house. Harry and Draco would wake up in the morning and cook breakfast; it took Draco a long time to come to grips with the fact that there were no House-Elves at Grimmauld Place, but he learned to cook and clean eventually. No one was willing to do it for him.
Then the four would plan out what renovation projects they would tackle for the day. Draco decided quickly that he didn't mind sharing Harry's room and bed every night, and told Remus that they could continue work on the top-floor suite until it was finished before moving on. Remus was extremely grateful; Sirius was extremely suspicious. He had no reason to be.
After the impromptu blow-job Draco had given Harry neither boy brought it up again, or acted on the feelings that they had for each other. They took their turns wanking in the shower every morning; always separate. They slept facing different sides of the room; never touching. If Harry occasionally wiggled in his sleep so that he could tangle his feet with Draco's well, neither one of them brought it up. If Draco occasionally held his breath while Harry was in the shower so that he could hear him well, what Harry didn't know couldn't hurt him.
It was peaceful. It was comfortable. It was frustrating as hell. The person who had it the worst was, ironically, Remus. As a werewolf he could smell the pheromones that came flooding from their bedroom day and night. As a werewolf that was the bonded mate of an Animagus there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't even speak about it unless Siri wanted to; and he never wanted to.
Sirius became painfully overprotective of his Godson over those weeks. Once, even coming very close to snarling at Draco when the boys smiled at each other in his presence. He had no idea what had come over him; other than perhaps 13 years of being unable to protect Harry from the world. He knew that something was bothering his mate but turned a deaf ear to it. He didn't want to discuss the looks that Harry and Draco were sending each other; he didn't want to think about Draco's swollen lips and disheveled hair the first afternoon he'd been there; he definitely didn't want to know what his mate's superior sense of smell was picking up from the two of them.
Sirius was perfectly fine to have his head in the sand, thank you very much.
So domestic bliss was theirs to have for a few short weeks, 24 days to be exact, when a few things came tumbling down. Harry and Draco were making breakfast and discussing some near-future renovations for their floor when Sirius and Remus appeared.
"I still say you're daft Scarhead, red and gold in your bedroom would be a disaster. You have too much natural light coming in the windows in the morning; you'd be blinded before you even woke up!" Draco was gesturing wildly with a spatula as he prodded the bacon in the pan and Harry stood to the side, shaking his head and grabbing plates.
"It's my room Ferretface, if I want to be blinded in the mornings then I will be. You can paint your room silver and green for all I care, but you will not tell me how to decorate my own bedroom." Harry put the plates on the table with a little more force than necessary, cracking the bottom one. Remus chuckled and walked over, fixing it with a wave of his wand.
"Maybe you two should get out of the house today. Do something productive; you've been sniping at each other a little too much lately. Cabin fever." The last was said to Sirius as an undertone, but both boys heard anyway. Draco looked up and caught Harry's eye, who nodded.
"Okay, we'll head out after breakfast. Make a list?" Sirius consented and made a list for them, things that the renovation of his and Remus' suite required that they hadn't had a chance to get. Leaving the breakfast cleanup for the two older men, Harry and Draco headed out to Gringotts, their first stop.
"Some of this we will have to get in Muggle London, so I'll need muggle money and wizard money…hmm. How much do you think Draco?" Draco peered at the list but was unable to help because he still didn't know much about muggle currency. Harry had gone over the amount and conversions before but it didn't interest him, so he didn't care.
"Doesn't Gringotts offer one of those AMT card thingies that the Muggles use? Can't you get one of those and some wizard money for the rest of it?" They apparated before Harry could answer but when they landed in front of the bank and saw an advertisement for a new Debit card, Harry was ecstatic.
"First, it's ATM card…automatic teller machine, and second Draco you might be a genius!" Harry slapped Draco on the back and bounded up the stairs into the bank without another word. Business at the bank took little to no time at all and they were on their way through the Leaky Cauldron out into Muggle London.
They walked along silently, taking the time to stretch sore muscles and think. Little did they know that their version of domestic bliss would come to an end once they reached the Homebase store that they were heading towards.
The trouble came in the form of a man at the paint counter. An exceedingly attractive man, slightly older than the two friends but noticeably taller, with dark curly hair falling over his forehead, grey/blue/green glass colored eyes and cheekbones that you could cut yourself on. He also had porcelain skin, elegant body language and a voice that sounded like a jaguar hiding in a cello. Draco would have instantly found him attractive, if only he hadn't been flirting with Harry.
"Oh, you can call me Ben, Harry." Draco hated the way that this…muggle purred Potter's name like that. It was all wrong.
Draco fumed, pushed off to the side as the two had an inane conversation and flirted with each other. Draco huffed, crossed his arms over his chest, turned his nose up into the air and tapped his foot; all to no avail. Potter's attention was captured by Ben.
"Oh, I don't have a mobile, or a computer to get e-mail. We've only just got home from boarding school and we've been helping my Godfathers renovate their house. We just haven't even had the time for that stuff." Harry smiled up at Ben, who then had the audacity to put his hand on Harry's shoulder and lean down, too far into Harry's personal bubble for Draco's taste. Too bad Harry didn't seem to mind.
"What a shame. Well, we could just plan to meet up? How about tomorrow at 6 at the Tottenham Court Road Curry's? I could help you pick out a mobile and a laptop and then we could, I dunno, get dinner or something?" Draco narrowed his eyes, surely no one actually fell for that kind of…his jaw dropped open as Harry spoke.
"That sounds great! I know right where that is! Okay, tomorrow at 6, I'll be there Ben. We should really get going now, see you tomorrow." Harry smiled once again at the tall, dark and handsome practical stranger before grabbing Draco's elbow and dragging him out the store. They hadn't even got what they came for.
"Draco, do I have a date for tomorrow?" Draco pursed his lips, refusing to speak. Almost afraid of what might come out of his mouth if he did speak. He rapidly made his way back to the Leaky Cauldron so that they could Floo back to the house. He couldn't trust himself at that moment; he wanted to rip Harry's head off. He wanted to explain that he was in love with the stupid Scarhead and why was he accepting dates from strange muggles?
But Draco could do none of these things, so he flooed home. Remus happened to be standing next to the fireplace as Draco gracefully came out of it, and he wordlessly held out his arms for the blonde boy. Draco stepped into the embrace without hesitation. Remus knew the look on Draco's face; his own had held that same look for six of the seven years that he'd been at Hogwarts.
"Boys like Harry…and Sirius, they don't think. It takes them so long to see the things that are right in front of their eyes. Boys like us…we get hurt. But we stand by them, we have to." Draco melted into Remus' embrace, stiffening when he heard the floo activate behind him. He pulled away after Remus pressed a kiss to his cheek. Draco ran from the room before he could see Harry tumble into it.
"Remus! I have a date tomorrow! I've never had a real date before! You've gotta help me, you and Siri, I dunno what-" Harry's throat closed in panic. He was excited, certainly, but apprehensive. He was being honest when he said he'd never had a real date before. It was all chaperoned, group gathering type situations, and it'd all been at school. Nothing like this.
Sirius stepped into the room and Remus met his eyes only briefly before pasting a fake smile onto is face for Harry's sake. Remus didn't like Harry dating any more than Draco did, not that he could say why. Sirius hated the whole situation, but would do everything in his power from letting anyone know that. He threw an arm around Harry's shoulder and steered him into the kitchen.
"Who is it pup, tell your old Godfather so that I can date vicariously through you?" Harry's eyes brightened charmingly as he spoke about his date.
"He's gorgeous! His name is Ben and he works at Homebase but it's only part-time while he's going to University in town. He's tall and has dark curly hair and beautiful eyes and his voice…oh his voice." Harry's voice trailed off as he and Sirius made their way into the kitchen; Remus silently slipped up the stairs to check on Draco.
Draco had quickly made his way upstairs to his unfinished room as soon as he'd heard the floo activate. He knew that he had to get some time to himself immediately if he was going to be a supportive friend for Harry about his date. He would be supportive, but in the mean time he shut the door behind him and sunk down in the middle of the bare room. He sat on the wood floor and allowed himself to cry.
Draco didn't hear the door open or notice when Remus stepped in at all. The older man sunk to his knees behind Draco and wrapped his arms around the blonde boy's shoulders. Draco leaned into him, soaking up his strength. After a few minutes, he was able to stop crying and find his voice.
"How Remus? How could you endure this? I know the truth; we belong together! I can't…I just can't imagine that I can continue to stand by and watch him…" Draco's throat closed up and Remus tucked his face into his shoulder, rocking him slightly like he would a little child.
"It's hard Draco; I know better than most just how hard it is. You can survive it because you are strong." Remus paused and tilted Draco's face up so that he could look him in the eye, absently noting how amazingly attractive the boy looked even when his eyes were red and puffy from crying and his nose was a little runny.
"I know how strong you are; this takes a different type of strength than what you had during the war, but it comes from the same place. You can do this and Harry will realize the truth eventually." Remus dropped a tiny kiss on Draco's forehead, then the tip of his nose, then his lips. He sat back with wide eyes. He hadn't meant to do that.