Unfinished Business: Shattered Pieces
DISCLAIMER: Look at first chapter.
WARNING: Look at first chapter.
A/N: Happy Valentines Day! Here's a little chapter to tide you over. Enjoy.
A Rose by Any Other Name
As James woke up in the morning, he groaned at the pecking at his window that had woken him up. Pulling his bed curtain aside, blinding white light invaded his darkened solitude. After his eyes had adjusted to the morning light, he saw a large brown owl perched at his window sill.
James' curiosity piqued at the sight of the unfamiliar bird and, now fully awake, he jumped out of his bed. The moment James pulled the window opened, the owl was blown inside with the force of a gust of winter winds. James closed the window as the owl ruffled its feathers, ridding itself of the snow that had settled on top. When it was free of the chilling snow, it jumped onto James' bed and held out its leg. It was then that James noticed the bag that was tied to it.
After untying the load from the bird, and giving it some bird treats, it nibbled affectionately on his finger before flying back up to the window sill. The moment James opened the window again, the owl soared through, even against the fierce winds.
"So what'd you get?" A groggy voice asked from next to James, surprising him.
"Don't know. I just got it, didn't I?" James said as he picked up the pouch.
"Well open it," Frank said as he sat up on his bed. "That bloody bird woke me up. I'm curious to know why."
Curious himself, James pulled the strings on the bag loose. The moment he did, four red rose petals flew out of the bag before hovering before him. They stayed there for a moment, as if to let James get over his shock before one of the petals began to fall. When James caught it in his palm, golden words appeared before him.
"What's it say?" Frank asked, having gotten up from his bed when the petals had shot out of the bag and witnessed the shiny letters appear.
"A petal falls," James began, and as the words left his lips, another petal fell into his hand before new words appeared. "Each day I fall," he said before that petal was replaced by another. "Deeper in love," he said, causing his cheeks to tint red at the words. "With you."
By the end, James' cheeks were as red as his sister's hair, but the petal weren't done. After saying the last words, they flew out of his hand and spun in a circle before they burst into a golden light. In its place, a single rose hovered before him, emitting a soft glow.
"That's devotion," Frank said, impressed.
"That's Zabini," James said as he took the rose between his fingers.
"What makes you think McLaggen didn't do this?" Frank said as he took the bag before looking inside, looking for evidence of its sender. "He's your boyfriend after all."
When he pulled his hand inside, James was expecting Frank to pull out a card from the bag. What he didn't expect was the rose sized, cylinder glass case that was pulled out instead.
"This gift is too subtle. McLaggen is more flamboyant then that," James explained as he watched his friend remove the lid. "No doubt he'd do something a little more public, which is why I've been dreading this day for weeks," he said when Frank took the rose from him before placing it underneath the glass case.
"Valentine's Day? Who dreads Valentine's Day?"
"Me. You know how I hate getting too much attention."
"Says the guy who loves pranking," Frank joked. "Newsflash, that gets you attention."
"No. My pranks get attention," James corrected. "People are too busy focusing on them to pay attention to me. I guarantee you, whatever McLaggen's got planned, it's going to be public and it's going to get me a lot of unwanted attention."
"Wake up Harry," a voice whispered in his ear that morning.
Groaning at the thought of having to get out of bed, Harry opened his eyes a tad. When Harry took in the sight before him, a smile grew on his lips. Before him stood his husband and daughter with bouquets of flowers in their hands.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Daddy," Lily said as she walked up to him with a bouquet of daisies in her hand.
"How beautiful," Harry said, taking the flowers as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"I also got flowers for my baby sister," she said before pulling another bouquet of white flowers from behind her. "They're jasmines," she informed him.
"If you'll notice the Slytherin colours," Draco smirked. "It's a sign."
"Papa, she's not even born yet and you're already predicting what house she'll be in? You're impossible," she said, rolling her eyes at his shocked look.
"Ignore your father," Harry said as he took the second set of flowers. "They're beautiful. Thank you."
After giving Harry a hug and kiss on the cheek, Lily wished happy Valentine's Day to Harry's stomach before dashing out of the room to get ready for her day with the Weasleys. When she was gone, Draco walked up to Harry and presented his own bouquet of red roses. As they wished each other a happy Valentine's Day, they shared a small kiss.
"So, what did you get me?" Draco said cheekily.
"Sorry. I didn't get you anything. I was too busy creating life," Harry smiled, gesturing to his swollen stomach.
"Not even chocolate?" Draco asked with his bottom lip forming into a pout.
Harry rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically at his husband's antics. "Check the top drawer," he said nonchalantly.
Draco whooped for joy childishly before pulling Harry's drawer open. When a box of Honeydukes Best Chocolate was revealed, the blonde turned to his husband with a wistful expression.
"I love you," he said in a chocked voice.
"I love you too," Harry smiled, sharing another kiss with Draco before the blonde started opening the box. "You know you're sharing that with me, right?"
After getting ready for the day, Harry gave his daughter his Valentine's Day present, a crown of white lilies. Lily had bounced on her toes as she put the crown on her head. Luna arrived soon after to drop her off at the Burrow. Once the two ladies were gone, Harry and Draco took the floo network to work.
Even though they had gone separately, they rode the elevator down together. When Harry got off on his level, after Draco had gotten off on his, the Auror was met with someone he would have rather not have to deal with on this lovely day.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Potter," McLaggen leered at Harry while presenting flowers.
"McLaggen. Don't you have anything better to do?" Harry said, side-stepping the other man.
"Actually, I'm here on official Ministry business," he said as he followed Harry through the rows of Aurors booths.
When they reached Harry's office, Harry opened the door and let McLaggen in before entering himself and closing the door behind him.
"What do you want?"
"What I've wanted for a long time now," McLaggen leered again, causing Harry to roll his eyes. "I came to see if you found out who put the curse over the wizarding world."
"Unfortunately, we don't know yet," Harry said as he sat in his seat behind his desk. He had no intention of telling McLaggen the truth seeing as he was withholding information of his own.
"You must be joking," McLaggen chuckled as he sat on Harry's desk. "It's been over four months and you and Malfoy live with the only two suspects. Surely you know who's done it by now."
"We've tried getting the information we need, but it's been difficult."
"What about Veritaserum or Occlumency," McLaggen offered.
"I think you mean Legilimency," Harry said stoically.
"Whichever one is reading people's minds," the other man said dismissively.
"Well Veritaserum was ruled out very early on. Ginny is pregnant and I won't make her drink that potion while she's carrying a baby."
"Maybe that was her plan," McLaggen offered.
"Greengrass, on the other hand, is from a wealthy and old family and, like Draco, has probably built up a resistance to it," Harry pointed out.
That notion wasn't so farfetched. When Draco had given her the potion over the holidays, it had worn off quickly because she had built up a resistance to it. Fortunately for Draco, he had gotten all he needed before that happened.
"Something a person with something to hide would do. What about the other one?"
"You mean Legilimency. It's more obvious than Veritaserum seeing as how you need to have eye contact with the person. Only Draco is good at it, but Greengrass is good at Occlumency and Ginny won't stay in the same room long enough for him to try," Harry said as he started losing his patients. "Listen McLaggen," he said as he got up from his chair. "As grateful as I am that you brought this case to my attention. This is now an Auror investigation," he said as he guided McLaggen to the door. "Leave the investigating to us."
"But you let that Creevey guy in?" McLaggen asked, stopping Harry from opening the door. "I heard you got Kingsley to let him take a lap in the tank."
"He's a very good Auror and I'll be needing his help in the near future."
"Is your pregnancy starting to get the better of you?" McLaggen smirked.
Without warning, Harry grabbed McLaggen's wrist. Then, in a flash, he had it twisted and pulled up against McLaggen's back. The other man yelped in pain as he tried to break free, but Harry held on tight. When he was finally released, McLaggen used his good arm to cradle his injured one.
"You were saying?" Harry asked without care as he opened the door.
"I think I need a healer," McLaggen whimpered.
"There's one somewhere on level three. I'm sure she'll take good care of you," Harry said before pushing him out of his office and closing the door.
February the fourteenth was turning out to be a very special day to the students of Hogwarts that year. As is usually done during festive days, like with the Halloween and Christmas feasts, an event was to take place after dinner. This time, it was going to be a semiformal ball for forth years and up. Even though the event excluded the lower years unless they were invited, it didn't mean that the rest of the day couldn't be celebrated by all. This was the case when Scorpius had presented Rose with a flower, causing the redheaded girl to turn a shade similar to her hair.
"Well I didn't see that coming," James had said during breakfast.
When classes had ended that day, those that had dates for the ball started getting ready.
"And just who would you be going with tonight, Mr. Longbottom?" James smirked, seeing that they were both getting ready.
"I'm taking Molly, okay," Frank snapped, causing James to burst out laughing. "Twat," he added, shaking his head with a reluctant smile.
Soon they were all already to head out, except for Dominique. She was staying with Victoire, who pouted at the fact that her boyfriend was too busy with his Auror training. Everyone gathered in the common room before heading out. When the trio reached the Great Hall, they spotted McLaggen standing outside. After greeting McLaggen, Frank and Molly went into the hall together.
"Are you ready?" Hector asked, reaching out his hand for James to take.
"As I'll ever be," James smiled, taking the outstretched hand before he was led inside.
When they entered the Great Hall that evening, it had been completely transformed. The floating candles were now heart shaped and the enchanted ceiling showed a light snowfall against a darkened sky. The long tables were replaced with several round ones. Each table was decorated with a white table cloth and a heart shaped, glass center piece that had floating red roses inside.
When James saw the band playing, he quickly led Hector towards the dancefloor. Others quickly followed and the hall was soon filled with dancing teens.
As the students at Hogwarts celebrated this romantic holiday with a ball, Harry and Draco celebrated the day in their own way. With Lily spending time with her godmother, the two men had the whole cabin to themselves.
At the moment, they were up in their room. Harry was laid out on the bed as a blonde head bobbed up and down between his legs, while two sets of clothes littered the floor.
"Sweet Merlin, Draco," Harry said as his cock throbbed within his husband's mouth.
Draco lapped up the pre cum that dripped down Harry's weeping member, trailing his tongue along the underside of the Auror's length. As Harry whimpered and bit his lip, the blonde used well-oiled digits to stretch Harry's entrance, purposefully brushing against his sweet spot.
"Draco, please," Harry moaned as he gripped onto the sheets. "I don't think I can take much more of this."
Satisfied that he had tortured the other man long enough, Draco sucked on Harry's member one last time, letting it go with a pop, and sat up on the bed. Then with lube in hand, Draco coated his member.
With his body heated and aching for more, Harry turned on his side as Draco leaned closer to him. The blonde trailed his hand along Harry's cheeks and upper thigh before spreading his legs apart. Then he eased himself into Harry with a deep groan.
"Fuck," Draco groaned as he pushed deeper into Harry. "That's so good."
Harry merely panted as Draco rode into him, his hormones setting his body on fire. As he leaned his head back, he pulled Draco's head down and captured his lips. When their tongues began to dance, Draco draped his arm over Harry's waist and started pumping Harry's cock in time with his trusts.
"Fuck, Draco," Harry moaned as he broke the kiss. His eyes then rolled back as Draco started trailing kisses along his neck. "I don't think I can take much more of this."
"Then come for me," Draco whispered as he nibbled on Harry's ear. Then he started pushing harder into Harry, making sure to hit his sweet spot without mercy.
A few seconds later, Harry was spilling himself all over the sheets and Draco's hand. Harry rode out his orgasm as Draco continued riding into him. With a few more pumps into Harry's tightened hole, the blonde was spilling his seed as well. As Draco milked himself into Harry's welcoming hole, Harry collapsed forward, spent. With a final grunt, Draco too found himself spent before pulling his satiated member out of Harry's entrance.
As their heated bodies began to cool and their panting started to slow, Draco began trailing kisses along Harry's neck. Then his hand trailed along Harry's side, and along his protruding belly, before resting at his hips. Soon, Draco's awakened member was grazing Harry's butt cheeks as Draco humped his back. Before Harry knew it, Draco's hardened cock was inside him again.
"Sorry, but just the sight of you has gotten me hard again," the blonde said as his thrusts went deeper.
"As long as you don't stop, you're forgiven," Harry said, reaching behind him to grasp onto the blonde's hair.
As everyone cheered for the band and began dancing again, James snuck into a little corner to get himself under control. He had gotten his Valentine's Day present from McLaggen only moment ago, and as James had predicted, it had been mortifying.
When McLaggen suddenly left his side during a song, James was confused. When he saw McLaggen climbed up on stage, James' face began heating up with embarrassment, fearing the worst. He hoped against every fiber of his being that McLaggen wasn't about to do what he suspected. But when the frontman for the band suddenly gave the mic to McLaggen, James' heart sank.
Now James wasn't a romantic person by any means. He never got the subtlety of it. But he had always thought that public displays of affection were rather silly, to the point where he would poke fun at others whenever they did it. He believed that romance was supposed to be spent between the ones involved.
The less people involved, the more romantic it was.
Being serenaded with half of the school there was the complete opposite of that. His mouth dropped as McLaggen began to sing and everyone turned to see his reaction. James had to cover his mouth while he cringed inside. James figured it was karma's payback for charming McLaggen's hair. But that was nothing compared to having to stand by the stage while your fake boyfriend sang to you in a hopeless attempt to get you to fall in love with him.
James bit his lips and tried to look doting as McLaggen sang his song, all while wanting to just Avada Kadavra himself into oblivion. When the song had finally ended, McLaggen climbed off the stage and approached James. While resisting the urge to strangle him, James embraced the Head Boy before sealing his fake affection with a kiss.
James felt sick.
Now that the party had gone back to normal and the school was back to paying attention to the band and not to him, he had taken his chance and sought refuge in a corner of the Great Hall. Just as he started feeling sick all over again, the door beside him opened and he was suddenly pulled inside before it closed again. When he turned to see who had kidnapped him, he found BJ sealing the door.
"Zabini, not now," James said warily.
"I just thought you needed some time away from everyone," BJ said, gesturing to the party that was happening outside the room.
"Thanks," James said, realizing the small blessing before he busied himself with surveying the room.
It was a smaller room, lined with paintings of witches and wizards. A fireplace on the other side roared with a dazzling fire. Even though there were now students in the room, the witches and wizards paid them no mind as they began to waltz with the music coming from the Great Hall.
"I take it you didn't like McLaggen's present," BJ said as he got the other boy's attention.
"You could say that," James scoffed before distracting himself with the witches and wizards waltzing through the portraits.
"Did you like mine?" BJ uncertainly asked after a short while of silence.
James turned to the other boy then. An image of the floating rose in his room popped into his head and James' cheeks heated up.
"You could say that," James said as he turned away.
Suddenly, James was very aware that they were alone together. The last time they had been alone, Zabini had kissed him. It had been a nice kiss, a very nice kiss in fact. But now that James knew the truth about them, everything seemed weird.
In another life, he and Zabini were friends, close friends. They were so close, in fact, that James had wanted to be placed in Slytherin because of him. It was a thought that rattled James' mind. He wondered if things would have been different for them this year if the curse hadn't been cast. He wondered what the other James would have done with the knowledge that his best and long-time friend was in love with him.
When a hand gently touched his shoulder, James jumped. He turned to find Zabini looking at him expectantly.
"Sorry," James said.
"That's okay," Zabini smiled. "I just wanted to know if you'd like to dance."
"Oh," James said uncertainly. "Okay," he said before he could stop himself.
At the delighted smile on Zabini's face, James finally found himself smiling again. Zabini then wrapped one arm around James' waist while the other one held his hand. Once they started their dance, James couldn't help but feel a little more comfortable in the other boy's company. More than he was expecting anyway. He didn't need to force himself to relax as they twirled around to the music. He didn't need to force a smile on his face as he looked up at the other boy. Instead, he found himself having fun as Zabini spun him around the emptied room.
Not like with McLaggen.
Forgetting about the plots against them, BJ led James around their private dancefloor. He silently thanked his mother, who had forced him to learn how to dance. He had never saw the point of it before. But as he spun James around only to bring him back into the Slytherins' arms with a laugh, BJ understood. He was elated and he hoped that this feeling wouldn't end.
When the music began to fade, BJ took a chance and leaned forward before capturing James' lips in a kiss. This kiss wasn't like the first one they had shared. Where that one had been a surprise to the other boy, BJ made sure to give James enough time to back away if he wanted to. When James didn't and their lips touched, BJ took it as a sign.
As they stood in the middle of the room within their embrace, BJ parted his lips slightly, letting his tongue caress James' lips. When James' lips slowly parted, BJ deepened the kiss as his tongue explored James' mouth. At the soft moan that escaped James' lips, BJ tightened his hold around James waist, bringing the two closer together as James wrapped his arm around BJ's neck.
This was truly a Valentine's Day to remember.
End of Chapter: A Rose by Any Other Name
