Chapter 5

It had been one of the most peaceful mornings I've had in a long time. I had slept in the guest room of Sirius' and Remus' house. No one woke me up by being too loud or ungraceful. No one woke me up at all, apart from my alarm clock, that is.

Remus was up and about when I said my goodbies but Sirius was fast asleep.

I went directly to the karate studio. On Sundays I had a full day of work for mostly younger classes or private lessons. Today was going to be a lot worst to deal with if I hadn't had the bowling with Hermione, Ron and Ginny to look forward to.

I stopped in my tracks.

Ginny.

Will it be weird between us since I didn't come home after our fight? I just felt like I couldn't deal with her, it wasn't like I was running away! Okay, maybe a bit. But it was self preservation!

Brilliant, Harry! What a move, you must be the next Einstein, for crying out loud. Leaving your wife alone the whole night after a fight? Are you insane? Brilliant, just brilliant.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was what went through my head the enitre work day. I could imagine Ginny's angry face when I'd come towards her and my friends at the bowling place. How she'd yell in my face about how stupid I am and how worried she was.

"Excuse me?"

I could imagine the stern look she'd send my way and make me feel like a little child that got caught with his hand in the cookie-jar.

"Mr. Potter?"

But if she could just see herself form my point of view for once in her life maybe she'd understand. Or maybe I need to see myself from hers.

"Mr. Potter?"

My eyes went into focus as my student stared at me questioningly. I cleared my throat a bit, realising I've zoned out of conversation.

"You were just about to tell me what to do with this", the student said. His name was Mr. Pierce Johnsson, a lawyer who has gotten quite a few death threates, He is under the impression that by studying karate he can defend himself if need be. He's not wrong.

Mr. Johnsson held a stick in his hand and eyed it skeptically.

"You put it over your shoulders, straight, with one hand on each side and swing as far as you can", I instructed. I told him to put his hands a bit further apart since they were both too close to the middle.

I had ended the lesson with some small excersises for his shoulders, legs, back and some specific muscles to ease the tension.

Mr. Johnsson was my last student for the day and I saw how the outside world grew darker. It was around six pm when he left to go home, without showering in our locker rooms. Some are not that comfortable showering in local places and some are more than that.

Since Mr. Johnsson wasn't going for the showers I took the liberty to do that instead. I'm just happy there was some warm water left. If there hadn't been any warm water I'm afraid I would've had to shower still since I don't want to smell like sweat when meeting Ginny later tonight.

I had brought clean clothes and underwear to change into after the shower and felt the anticipation that is meeting my wife's wrath.

It was 6.30 pm when I left the building, I was the last one out. My bag with sports wear was left in my personal locker.

Pitch black. That's what it was outside. Pitch black. How come I always seem surprised at how fast it gets dark at winter and autumn? It's not like I've never been in England this time of year before, I grew up here so I shouldn't be so surprised. It always seem to blow my mind though.

Just a bit ahead were the bowling hall which meant I had come quite a bit from the downtown. A noise, suspiciously close to a sob was heard from my left causing me to look to it. All I could see was darkness.

And then I heard it again, just a tad louder this time. I decided to look for the cause of it. According to Hermione my curiosity will be the death of me. So far everything's good. Well not everything of course, but a lot of things, I suppose.

A shape was huddled close to the brick wall of some closed shop or something. The shape was clearly distressed, I could tell by all the shaking and once or twice I thought I heard a muttered "shit".

I walked closer to the shape almost soundless.

"Is everything alright?" I asked and kneeled down next to the shape only to have recognition dawn on me. "Draco!"

Draco pushed himself further back against the wall, possibly as far back as he could. It was almost like he was afraid I'd hurt him.

"What has happend?" I asked. The skin around one of his eyes were reddened and would most certainly have become a black eye come morning. His nose was broken and dried blood was smeared beneath it.

"Go away", he hissed and shield his face with his hands. That's when I noticed something.

"You're covered in blood!" I shrieked and reached for his hands but he pushed himself away from me. "I'm not going to hurt you", I said as calmly and reassuringly as I could.

Draco kept pushing away from me so I grabbed at his sides to hold him still. He went stiff, choking down another sob and I saw black, messy letters on his forehead.

"Draco, what is this?" I asked as I could read the three letters clearly.

Fag.

I stared at the word, frozen in place. One hand left his side and instead smoothed the skin on which the dark letters were written.

"What are you doing on saturday's?" I asked. "I have an empty schedule after lunch, if you're interested I can teach you how to defend yourself. Will you let me help you?"

"I can bloody take care of myself. I don't want your pity", Draco said and if he wouldn't be crying nor bleeding I would've rolled my eyes at him.

"Good, 'cause you don't have it", I said. "Is there anyone I can call?"

Draco furrowed his brows a little before closing his eyes. "No", he said and I sighed.

"Okay, I'll call Ginny and then I'll help get you home", I said and started digging in my pocket after my phone.

The night was chilly and silent, for long seconds all that was heard was the beeping sound of the phone waiting for Ginny to answer.

She didn't, so I called Ron instead.

"Hey mate, are you running late with a student?" Ron asked causing me to roll my eyes.

"Ron, listen. I won't be able to make it tonight, I'm sorry, something came up", I said. I knew Ron would be the most reasonable out of the three of them. I was right.

"Alright, mate. I'll see you some other time", Ron said and I sighed in relief.

"Thank you, I owe you one" and then we hung up.

Truth be told I think I owe him a hundred now or something for all the times he's gotten me out of trouble with both Ginny and Hermione.

I stood up and offered a hand to Draco. His grey eyes eyed it sceptically, as if I would give him another black eye.

"I won't hit you, I teach defense not offense", I told him. The edges of his mouth went up just slightly before he accepted the hand and I pulled him up onto his feet.

"Now, may you be so kind as to show me the way to your place?" I said trying to sound a bit ancient as we did when we first met. I failed miserably but he smiled nonethless.

And we walked. I noticed how my companion tilted his head forwards so as not to be recognised nor noticed. It made sense a bit I believe, trying to hide that you are hurt and thus avoiding comments from other people, even if all they want is to help.

It was around 7 pm now, close to no one was out and about which made it a bit easier to help Draco home since he stiffened everytime he heard a voice or footsteps apart from ours. I don't blame him.

The air smelled faintly of cigarrettes and I realised that I've never been in this part of town before. Bricked apartments were placed in an unbreakable chain. I wondered what kind of people would live here and glanced quickly at Draco as I realised that he's taking me there.

"Do you live here?" I asked. He sent me a suspicious look, his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth a thin line. The blood from his nose was now completely dry and had started to wrinkle.

"Yes", he said and turned his head straight forward again, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Yes, I do".

If I didn't know better I'd think he looked ashamed but that was probably just my imagination, I mean he has nothing to feel shame for.

We walked a little bit further until Draco pointed at an apartment. "This is it", he said as if he expected me to wave him goodbye and leave.

I went toward the door. He turned big, surprised eyes at me. If the time was different, if he wasn't covered in blood nor bruises, I would probably have found the look a little... I don't know. Adorable?

"Are you going to open it or not?" I asked. "I'm not going to leave you alone in this state", I said, possibly sounding not at all as reassuring as I would have hoped.

Draco looked like he wanted to argue but decided against it as he pressed the correct code and opened the door for the both of us.

We went into a dull white space. The floor was dirty grey and the walls were almost yellow with darker spots. Draco lead me to the right where there were a door. And he let me in.

If I would have guessed a place where Draco would have lived I would have guessed maybe a manor or a big, fancy house but not this.

The walls weren't just a dirty white, they were also a bit ripped as if made by a cat. Or perhaps a tiger...

Draco hung of his jacket and I did too just a second later. The shoes were also left by the door. When we both lacked our outside garments we stared at each other as if asking the other what we're supposed to do next.

"Where's your bathroom?" I asked. His eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed. If I had a guess I'd think he was wondering what I was going to harm him. However the red colour that spread on his cheeks told me that was probably not the case, so the question is what was he thinking?

"Bathroom", I repeated making his blush deepen.

Draco cleared his throat and showed the way. The room was a small space with matching green and blue mosaik on both floor and walls, a small shower by the end of the room.

"Sit", I commanded and pointed at the toilet seat. Draco's eyes went big and in the light from the opposite wall his grey eys suddenly seemed like glowing silver. I don't know why but I had to cough and look away, something felt rather odd, unexplainable. I catched my breath.

"And what now?" I heard him ask but I took another second before I looked back to meet his eyes. He was sitting on the closed toilet seat looking at me with confused eyes. I cleared my thorat.

"How is your eye?" I asked making his eyes cold and his body stiffen. Probably the question brought him back to Earth.

"A little", he responded. "A lot, actually".

"Do you have a steak, or ice?"

He nodded. "Well only ice, though. It's in the freezer", he said and not even a second later I was gone. It wasn't that hard to find the kitchen since it was just around the corner, basically.

I just knew I couldn't stay in the room with him for a second longer.

I opened every drawer in the kitchen to find a plastic bag to put some ice in and suddenly my body worked as if by autopilot.

A bag filled with ice was laid in my hands, the freezer were closed and I was kneeled on the floor when I got the control back. The bag slid out of my hands as I laid my head in my hands.

"What are you doing, Harry?" I asked myself, hoping for some kind of answer before returning to the bathroom.

I put the plastic bag, containing the ice against his eye sofly and carefully knelt down in front of him. His breath hitched when the cold of the bag met his soar eye and it almost made me smile a little bit before I caught myself.

My eyes met the harsh black letters on his forehead once again, making me swallow. I wondered if maybe he thought I was attractive, I mean with him being bent and all. I wouldn't be surprised if he was a "fag", there are hardly any straight men as attractive as him.

A small cough or chuckle made me blush. "I said that aloud, didn't I?" I asked, closing my eyes so as not to look at him. He didn't answer so I opened my eyes carefully to look at him, to see what expression he would have. Would he be mad? Sad? Maybe he would be offended if he actually turned out to just be a gorgeous man.

Draco's head was tilted to the side, the hand holding the ice bag was lowered to his stumach. His eyes were glowing, not like silver but like a gemstone and I found it almost impossible to look away.

Scratch that! It was impossible for me to look away!

I just sat there, knelt down before him, staring up into his eyes. "Do you want me to wash your face?" I asked. I didn't wait for a response but went up to wetten a towel with warm water and then set to work on his bloodied face.

As I washed his face free form the dried bloo with the occasional gasp from the victim my eyes slowly drifted up to the word on his forehead.

"Does it bother you?" he asked carefully, almost shy and I blinked. Suddenly I realised my movements had freezed and I had stared at the black letters.

I met his eyes once again that night. "Not at all", I said and the sudden warmth of his eyes made me catch my breath. His smile was faint and I noticed the close proximity in which we were positioned. His breath danced on my skin. His eyes left mine for just a second to look down on my mouth. He licked his lips and that's when I noticed I stared donw on his lips as well and then we met each other's eyes again. Draco leant slowly towards me and I could do nothing but lean towards him, too. My eyes went shut.

I didn't have any control of my body anymore from the feel of it, a smell, faintly of blood and alcohol but also of apples and cologne. It didn't smell too spicy nor too sweet, it was just enough, it was perfect.

His lips were close to mine now, I could feel it. How the air between us went away more and more the more we leant towards each other, the closer we went. I felt his lips brush mine, like a feather and a redheaded woman with a fiery temper showed up in my head and I jumped backwards. Away from the man before me. Away from Draco.

Was I about to kiss another man? What had possessed me to do such a thing? Why was my heart beating so fast and why were my hands slightly sweaty?

I left in a rush. I don't remember standing up nor the way he looked at me when I did. Somehow I found myself outside the apartment, holding myself up with a hand against the bricked wall. It didn't cross my mind at first that my cheeks were wet nor that my breath came in shallow gasps.

What happened? What had happened in there? Was it something he did? Something I said? Was I about to kiss him? A man. An absolutely gorgeous man, but a man nonethless.

If the image of my wife wouldn't have come up, would I have kissed him?

At that last question I closed my eyes, inhaled sharply as more tears streamed down my face. That question was the only one I could answer with 100 percent certainty.

Yes.

Yes, I would've kissed him. I was going to kiss him. A man. Draco. The caterer at my wedding. The cashier at Muggle's. The man I found on the floor with the word "fag" written on his forehead. What did this mean for me? What did it make me?

I felt a headache coming on and I took a couple of shaky breaths home.

I'm not a pouf. I'm not a fag. I'm not gay. I'm not a homosexual. I'm not interested in men. I'm not attracted to men. I'm not any of these things.

Or I never thought I was. But I oculdn't be, could I? God, no! I'm a married man! Brilliant, Harry! As if you're marriage didn't have enough problems to begin with!

As I stepped into the house I dried my tears and strengthened myself even though Ginny probably was still bowling with Ron and Hermione.

The hall was dark when I entered, threw off my shoes and jacket. All I wanted as this point was to sleep. I needed the rest from my over-working brain. I needed one second to not think about the smell of apples and cologne. I needed one second to not think about the grey eyes, glowing like gemstones. I needed one second to not think about the black, messy word written on his forehead.

What I got when I entered the bedroom was not what I had imagined.

Ginny laid on the bed in her favorite sexy lingerie. The black and red corsett with the tiny bows and the matching lace string knickers. She had one knee bent upwards and dragged one hand up and down her thigh, sensually.

I looked at her as she smoothedthe skin on her hips, how she pushed her thumbs underneath her knickers, or the other hand slipping under the bra to cup her breast.

She eyed me for a second. "Come here", she purred but I stood still, completely frozen in place.

I've had sex with women, would it be any different with men? How would it feel to not give, but get. How would it feel to have another man's cock inside me?

"You're not even affected are you?" my wife asked me. Well the honest answer to that question is "I'm quite affected yes. But not by your doing". And that should have been the weirdest thing to happen today if my head didn't put certain images in my head, in some compromising positions.

"No, I'm not", I lied. "I'm quite tired, I just want to sleep tonight, okay?"

Ginny looked at me a little suspicious or concerned. "But you've always loved the making up sex. I mean you didn't come home yesterday and I'm pissed at that, I'm still pissed but this is the way we have always made up. By make up sex", she said as if to explain something completely new to me.

"Not today, sorry", I said and walked up to her to give her a small peck on her forehead before slipping under the covers.

It had been a long day and something told me it would be an even longer night.

(A/N) Hello! One day late I know! *sighs* I blame the storm for causing my internet to be down til today, but I had an extra day to make this chapter instead. I hope you like it and it's getting interesting! Please leave a comment, I read all!