Pairings: HP/DM SS/RL NL/BZ RW/HG PP?

Rating: R, drama, angst and sap. Post Hogwarts

Warnings: R, bad languageAll flames will be made fun of! THIS IS SLASH! How many times will I have to say that for you homophobic guys understand that you shouldn't be reading these kind of fics I don't know… But you have been warned so I again tell you… All flames will be made fun of!

AN: This is not the first Harry Potter fic I've written, but the first I've ever published.

Disclaimer: I asked Dumbledore to magically give me the rights over Harry potter and crew, so now he has been arrested for plagiarism and fraud! Now I own nothing but the story T.T

Getting you back.

By Black Komagoro

It had been two years since the final battle and the day he left England. He was aware that a lot of people had been looking for him, mostly because Charlie would tell him about them. During the battle he had used wandless magic and it was with that, that he killed Voldemort. However what really gave him the power to win was someone else and not himself.

What he had seen in the battlefield, just before his magic exploded and he killed the man, would hunt him forever. He felt empty and didn't want to deal with what would come later, so he escaped. He had seen Charlie trying to control the dragon and at the same time trying to cure its severed arm. Harry approached him and helped the redhead to cure the hurting animal. Once that was done he asked Charlie to take him away from there, to help him get into hiding and to swear not to tell anyone about where he was.

Charlie accepted, not asking questions, for that he would have time later. They left, using the confusion that took place just after Voldemort had died and his followers tried to escape. Without their leader they were lost and Aurors were now after those who tried to escape. Others just fell in defeat and others decided that suicide was a better option. While Aurors where busy with that others where still fighting against some of the dark creatures still in the fields, and those who were injured 'lightly' were helping those who were in worst shape.

At the moment he hadn't even thought of them, there was just one thing in his mind and that was getting the hell out of there. Away from the pain and away from reality. Now... now he felt horrible about that. Now he felt that he should have stayed, even when Charlie had told him over and over again that he shouldn't.

He stayed in Rumania for a year in Charlie's house. He would take care of the house while the dragon tamer was working and would help him whenever he needed with Norbert. There was only one person who knew he was still alive apart from Charlie and that was Dumbledore. He had sent a letter to the man asking him to send his things with Hedwig; he also told him not to follow the owl, track him or tell anyone about him. The old wizard felt relieved to know Harry was alive and somehow ok but he felt sad that he didn't want anyone knowing where he was or why had he left the way he did.

Dumbledore shrunk Harry's trunk with all his things in it and sent it with a letter to the young man, asking him to at least tell him why he felt the need to leave. Harry only sent a letter telling him, in the most polite way he could, that it was none of his business.

Harry would use the invisibility cloak to go with Charlie to work sometimes and others he would just stay with Norbert, whom now lived all relaxed and happy in a secluded forest at the mountains. After a few months of living together they started sleeping together and even though they didn't love each other they were quite satisfied with their arrangement. Charlie cared deeply for him and Harry needed the contact, at first he felt that he was taking advantage of Charlie and to his surprise Charlie had felt the same, but when they finally talked both discovered that neither really cared. They felt ok together and decided to keep it that way.

Everything started one night when Harry had been more depressed than usual and had been drinking, he wasn't completely drunk but was relaxed enough to talk. He had told the other man about the one he was in love with and what had happened to that person. When tears started to flow down his cheeks Charlie took him into his arms and helped him to cope with his grief. Neither really knew when they started kissing and then moved to the bed. The next morning Charlie woke up alone, only a solitary note attached to the pillow next to his. 'I'm sorry'

Charlie had found him where the boy always went when he was feeling depressed. Harry was sitting next to Norbert, feeding him some dead rabbits and petting him lightly on its head. He had taken Harry by the back of his robes and dragged him back to the house and threw him on the couch. Harry had stayed silent while the other yelled at him for being an idiot and what had happened the night before had been something both of them had wanted.

Harry tried to argue but Charlie finally silenced him with a kiss and took him back to the bedroom. After they had spent each other, Charlie finally said that he knew Harry didn't love him and that he really didn't mind. That he understood how he felt and that while there was no love there still was a deep care and that he should enjoy it while it lasted. Charlie always knew that Harry would find someone who would take care of his heart and would love him as much as Harry had loved that person he had lost and that the boy would love that person too.

They worked together perfectly and when Harry finally decided to go back to England and try to start a new life it saddened him. True he didn't love him but he cared so much that it was hard to let him go. Harry asked Charlie to lend him some money to start a small business and that he would pay him back once he got to Gringotts and retrieved some money. Once again Harry found himself at the end of Charlie's angry tirades about friends and such. At the end Charlie gave him the money and threatened him to hex him to next month if he ever dared to pay him back.

Harry rented a small apartment near London, in Dartford – Kent. He opened a store to repair different things but mostly video cameras, TV's, DVD, etc. Everything he could repair with a simple reparo, as he thought it was easy and he had a lot of free time. The store was near his home and not too far from the principal street.

As Charlie asked he never paid him back, at least not with money. He would always buy him something he knew the other man needed, or would go visit him and invite him dinner in a nice and usually expensive restaurant. Charlie wasn't stupid and knew what the other was trying to do, but he didn't stop him, as he knew it would hurt Harry if he asked him to stop.

Sometimes it would be Charlie who came to visit him and talk and sometimes share the bed. It was in one of that visits that Harry's world changed completely, because it was when he discovered the horrible mistake he had made.

It was Monday and he never had anything ready for Mondays so he would have the whole day to repair everything he had taken during the week. He was examining a DVD that had been brought last Wednesday when the phone rang.

"Magic Touch may I help you?"

His voice was polite but it had a slight bored tone.

"Harry! It's me Charlie, look something happened and I need to see you right now!"

Harry got quite worried instantly, Charlie never shouted unless it was extremely necessary.

"Are you ok? Did something happen with the dragons?!"

"I'm fine Harry, but I really need to see you!"

"Ok, ok… look take the floo to my house, you know the wards are always open for you. I'll be there in ten minutes ok? I must close the shop"

"Ok, but please hurry!"

With that Charlie hung up, leaving Harry more worried and now in a hurry. He left the DVD over the table and went to the front to close the doors and lock them, both with the keys and with some spells. He then went to the back, took his things and left the store by the back door, once again locking it with the keys and the spells. He looked to one side then the other and when he was sure no one was around he disapparated.

When he appeared again in his place, Charlie was already there sitting nervously on the couch and biting his nails. Harry left his things on the armchair next to the fireplace and sat next to the other man.

"Stop that Charlie"

He said taking the man's hand away from his face.

"Harry…"

He was nervous and somewhat pale which worried Harry even more. He sat down next to him and took his hands in his.

"What has happened Charlie? Did someone get hurt? Ron, Bill, your parents?"

Charlie opened his eyes wide and shook his head.

"No! Nothing bad happened… well mostly… but nothing to them"

Harry raised an eyebrow and turned his head in confusion.

"Then why are you so nervous?"

Charlie sighed and let go of Harry's hands.

"I called you from Ron's house… I was visiting him and Hermione when someone appeared at the fire. It was Neville Longbottom, you do remember him don't you?"

Harry nodded still not understanding why Charlie would be so nervous if everything was ok with his family.

"Yes, I remember him"

"Well, he appeared suddenly and his face showed how tired he was and that he was pretty worried"

He stood up and went to the small kitchen that was separated from the living room by a small countertop he used to eat his meals. Harry took two beers out of the fridge and brought them back to the living room.

"Here, drink this"

Charlie took the bottle and drank a large gulp. The Gryffindor sat next to him and waited for him to calm down.

"Harry… I don't know how to tell you this, I…"

The redhead took another gulp of the cold liquid and sighed.

"Just tell me… as it is, I don't think there's anything that could surprise me nowadays"

Charlie would have smiled if he hadn't been so nervous.

"Oh, believe me, this will surprise you… Neville has been living with Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson these last two years…"

Harry's eyes grew wide and he almost choked with the beer.

"Ok, you were right… I still can be surprised. But, somehow I guess that's not what has you so nervous"

Charlie shook his head and turned to look at his friend and sometimes lover.

"They've been living at Malfoy's manor… Harry, Draco's alive"

The bottle Harry was holding fell from them and went crashing on the floor, his eyes couldn't be wider and he was shaking.

"I-I don't believe you… That has to be a lie… Or maybe you heard wrong… Charlie, he can't… I saw I-"

Charlie put his bottle over the small table in front of him and embraced the other man tightly.

"I would never lie about something like this Harry… I would never hurt you like that. I asked Neville if he was sure, that maybe he had been mistaken… it was then he told us he had been living there with the other two… Harry, he needs you, that's why Neville was looking for Ron and Hermione. It seems he has been looking for you for a while now. Ron told me that was not the first time he asked them if they knew where were you"

Harry had his head buried in Charlie's chest and would stop shaking; some tears were already leaving his eyes.

"But I saw him…"

The older man could only caress the dark haired man softly, soothing him and making him ready to hear the rest of what he had to say.

"I know, maybe what you saw wasn't what you thought it was… you know sometimes things aren't what they seem"

Harry stayed silent, trying to put his head in order and calm himself, it wasn't easy because he knew there was more to come and he didn't think he wanted to know. After more or less 20 minutes Harry had finally calmed down but wouldn't let go of the other man.

"Harry, for what Neville told us and how he told us, I think there's something pretty bad going on. He was desperate and asked us to find you no matter what, that they had done all they could but it hadn't work… Draco's not fine Harry and it seems he's getting worse every day"

Finally the younger of the two raised his head to look at the worried face of the redhead.

"What did he tell you?"

Charlie took Harry's hands and caressed them softly with his thumb.

"Not much, but enough to know he needs you… All I know is that he's in a catatonic state. He's like a zombie and either Neville or Blaise must assist him constantly, he doesn't do much and it seems that he has lost his voice… and his magic"

Charlie felt the hands he was holding tense and when he raised his face to look at Harry the man was crying again.

"I shouldn't have left… Somehow this is my entire fault… I know it"

Harry never expected the hard punch he got on his face.

"That's it! I'm so fucking tired of hearing you talk like that! Harry, none of this is your fault, that was a war, a bloody fucking war! You didn't start it and surely you didn't want it to happen"

The scarred man was holding his hurting cheek and staring at his friend sadly.

"Charlie… I know the war wasn't my fault; it was its consequences what I blame myself for. There were people who shouldn't have been there, had I been more focused they wouldn't have gone to the battlefield… I could have stopped them from going but I didn't and they died"

Charlie sighed exasperated and stood up.

"Tell me, if it had been someone else; let's say I don't know… Snape, the one who had to kill him… would have you stayed behind knowing that maybe you could help?"

Harry stayed silent for some minutes and then dropped his shoulder defeated.

"No, I would have gone too…"

"Then why did you want them to stay behind when they so obviously wanted to go? Even when they knew they could be killed?"

Charlie sighed and sat down again taking, once again, Harry's hands in his.

"The thing is, you're not to blame… Voldemort is"

Harry closed his eyes and embraced the older man letting his tears fall from his eyes and wet the redhead's shirt.

"I could never forget myself for his death, and I felt even worse because it hurt much more than others. Ginny was my friend, like a little sister… and even though it hurt me to know she was dead it would never match the pain his death left in me… And we weren't even friends"

"You love him Harry… You thought you had lost a part of you, a very important one… At the end it was him who gave you the strength to defeat him. I'm sure Ginny, Percy or all of those who died during battle don't blame you nor do they hate you for that"

Harry let himself be embraced by those strong arms that had been with him during the last two years.

"But I'm sure they would be quite angry if you don't help those who need you now. Draco's alive and he needs you, you have the power and the ability to do something… Do something Harry"

The ex-Gryffindor let go of his friend and dried his eyes. Charlie was right; he had a second chance to do what Pansy told him to do two years ago.

"I will… But could you do me a favor?"

"Anything…"

Harry smiled and stood up.

"I don't want to go there unannounced, could you please tell Neville that I will be there in two days and that I won't use the floo? I don't want to scare Draco if he's as bad as he said"

Charlie nodded understanding Harry's precautions, they were more for himself than the others. He knew there would be a confrontation and he didn't want it to happen in front of the blonde.

"I will Harry, and don't worry… everything will be alright"

Harry turned to look at him and smiled.

"Thank you Charlie… I really don't know what I would have done without you…"

The older Weasley smirked.

"You would have found someone else to shag, though it wouldn't have been as good as me… Draco better not be the jealous type"

Harry shook his head and punched the other lightly on his arm.

"Idiot… and I'm sorry to tell you but I'm pretty sure that he is the jealous type… he's always been quite possessive, at least that's what I remember"

Charlie could only laugh at that, hard. Once he had calmed down Harry invited him to dinner, so while he was cooking Charlie helped with the plates, cutlery and other things. They talked about the time they had spent together and the things that were yet to come, about Draco and what had happened. Harry still felt bad for not staying but the red-haired scolded him once again about not being stupid, that he didn't know and that he had suffered enough already.

Charlie had left shortly after they had finished eating and said he would contact Neville early next morning.

TBC