Thanks to the 123 people that voted! Poll is closed, we have a name.
I know I am not the first to write a Kurt/Harry/Blaine pairing, but let me be the first to officially welcome Klarry to the fandom.
More than one person prompted the name Klarry, but the first one to do it was Love of GLEEK. So congrats! You get to either read the next 4 chapters of CL (14-17), check out my draft for future fics or a oneshot.
If you go to my blog, you will be able to see my avatar or the image for the fic in high definition. My best friend did it for me to celebrate that we have a name and I'll be bugging her for more!
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I'll see you at 876 reviews or 26/06.
Only 2 more chapters before the deal expires.
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Chapter 13
Apologies, Brooches and Blackouts
Harry groaned when he felt the familiar trouble in his temples and the strange feeling in his mouth. He quickly made an assessment. Where was he? He smelled the pillow and smiled despite the pain. It had been a while since he woke up in his Gryffindor bed.
Clothes? Yes, thank God.
Strange pains in his body? He stretched, only his neck hurt, not bad.
Recollection of last night events?
"Watch this" whispered Seamus to Neville over a strong cup of coffee. Neville raised his tea to his lips and blew gently.
Harry's eyes flew open.
"No" he said in horror. "Oh no, no, no, no…" he said stumbling out of bed and diving towards the table. With clumsy movements he grabbed his phone and stared.
His call history mocked him. One call to Kurt Hummel at 2:14 am.
"Shit" said Harry dropping his head in despair against the table and treading his hands over his hair. "Shit, shit, shit…"
"There, there" said Seamus poking him with his foot.
"We locked our phones" Harry said in despair. "We locked them!"
"Oh yeah, about that, I took yours out before we did that" said Seamus perching on the bed.
"What?" asked Harry wincing at how loud his voice sounded to his own ears. "Why did you do that?"
"I wanted to see if you had any good blackmail material there" Seamus said shrugging. "I'm disappointed in you, there weren't any dirty pictures or even sexts. You're losing style man."
"I called my boyfriend drunk out of my ass!" said Harry angrily.
Neville shifted uncomfortably. "For what's worth, I think you mostly talked about his tongue."
"Uh, tell me more" said Seamus excitedly.
"Please kill me now" Harry said crawling back into the bed.
"Oh, he went face first into the mattress" Neville said with a wince.
"It couldn't have been that bad Harry" said Seamus. "Not face first against the mattress bad."
Harry concentrated, trying to grasp the exact words he used and what he told Kurt. Groveling for forgiveness was so much easier if you know what to grovel for.
You're pretty. Boy pretty, not girl pretty, but you're pretty. Ok, that wasn't too bad, he was being complimentary.
It won't taste good unless I lick you. And that was bad; he was being inappropriate, but not too inappropriate thank God.
I have excellent diction, even drunk. Not bad and the truth, he did have an excellent diction.
You're a licky drunk, you lick stuff, but's ok, I like your tongue. That might have been oversharing.
I need to tell Kurt what I like about his tongue. Oh please let him not have told him. He didn't, that was the point where he handed over his phone and started to go back to the dorm, and he yelled at Neville to reassure Kurt he was straight and…
"Oh God" he said grabbing the pillow and putting it over his head. "Neville…"
"I didn't relay the second part of your message" said his friend.
"Thank you" sighed Harry relieved.
"But I would like to say it is very uncomfortable to know what I now know" said Neville with a blush.
"What do you know?" asked Seamus insistently. "Is it good?"
"Seamus, shut up" Harry said turning around. "Sorry for being such a buzz-kill yesterday Nev…"
"It's alright, it was quite interesting seeing you as a clingy drunk" laughed Neville.
"Was I that bad?" asked Harry massaging his temples.
"You spent most of the night telling me how much you missed Kurt, and how he was awesome and flexible, and how you were frustrated that you knew those things but…" Neville said amused.
"Ok!" said Harry loudly interrupting him. "I think that's enough sharing for today."
He remembered spending a good portion of the night complaining to Neville how he hadn't had sex or any kind of release from anything but his own hand in almost three months; the last time being a week before he heard Kurt singing. His friend had been uncomfortable and secretly impressed. He knew deep down Harry was a romantic at heart. If he had so quickly decided to focus all his energy on this Kurt guy, then he obviously felt strongly about him.
He might complain about it, but he knew Harry would be happy to endure his 'celibacy' for as long as he had a reason to. Even drunk out of his mind he had escaped Romilda and the rest of the Gryffindor girls like they had the plague when they hadn't taken no for an answer at their constant body shot proposals. Neville might not be as promiscuous and easy going as Seamus and Harry were, but he knew perfectly well what body shots with a girl like that meant.
There was a heavy silence in the room and Neville set his cup down. He could taste the tension in the air.
"Speaking of sharing" started Seamus casually. "It was very decent of you to let us know that you were coming, I mean, bordering on nice."
"Seamus" said Neville almost in a begging tone.
"No Neville, I think we gave him the space he wanted" he said with a furious expression. "I mean, a year and a half is enough time for our friend here to give us a call, say 'hey, how are you, I moved to fucking middle of nowhere, but I am alive. I'll send you some rocks, peace out.' But not even that, after 5 years of friendship we didn't even earn the right for a phone call!"
"Seamus, can we just…"
"Not even a fucking bloody call!" yelled Seamus. "You turned 16 and you disappeared, nobody knew where you were, how you were, how you were copping… and we, Neville and me, your friends, kept looking, we called everybody there was to call! The teachers, our friends, fuck, we started calling the hospitals and the police thinking something might have happened to you! I get it, life's a bitch and you wanted to leave, that I get, I really do Harry, but you could have told us. You should have told us you were moving away, that you weren't even in the country if only for our fucking peace of mind!"
"But, oh, it's all a-ok because you sent a letter" said Seamus with a grandiose tone of voice and a sarcastic laugh. "I am nothing but full of sympathy for all the crap you had to go through in your life Harry. And yeah, most of the time you were alone, but this time, this time you had us and I wanted to be there for you. So Neville, forgive me if I feel a little bit cynical when my best friend moved all the way to fucking Ohio and left us behind without a second thought... I know loyalty is not in our house motto, but I assumed it was implied and everybody else might be happy to pretend you are still the Gryffindor golden boy, but I know the truth… and the truth is that you are a coward and you ran away."
Seamus stood up and left, slamming the door shut and Harry didn't react, staring at the ceiling of his bed.
"He's right you know" said Neville. "Not about everything, but… we deserved better than that."
"I know" Harry said closing his eyes.
"He's hurt… I am hurt, we both are, because you left us here" said Neville in a calm collected voice. "You were able to just walk away from all this, from our friendship and Hogwarts. Hogwarts Harry! Your home… you left and started over on the other side of the world and the worst part is that you are happy. You seem, sound and look happy. Surrounded by what sounds like great friends and in love with who I assume is a great person, and we? We got left behind and we miss you, but it doesn't seem to matter to you at all… and you're supposed to be the good guy Harry, the loyal friend that doesn't give his back to people."
"I couldn't stay Neville, I tried, I wanted to, but I couldn't have stayed. Wanting was not enough to make me stay" said Harry closing his eyes, a different kind of pain filling him.
"I get it Harry, if anything I get it better than anybody" Neville said. "And I forgive you for being a selfish jerk, because you were a selfish jerk in the exact moment you deserved to be one, but please let us back in, give us a call every once in a while, write to us, I don't know, send Seamus inappropriate pictures of your hook ups."
"I…"
"Yeah, yeah, you don't do hook ups anymore… see? That's new for us; we never got to see you being serious about somebody. Hell, you were dating Cedric in secret and we had to hear it from him…"
"He called it dating?" asked Harry with a snort. "It had more fucking than it had dating."
"True as that might be… he seemed pretty torn about the whole thing" said Neville with a sympathetic air. "He begged us for a way to contact you, literally begged. But we didn't have one and I guess it was a good thing, because I think I would have given in."
"You are a good friend Nev" Harry said sitting on the bed and giving him a look full of regret. "I wasn't fair to you or Seamus, you deserved better and I am really sorry, not of what I did, but how I did it."
"It's alright" said Neville, smiling at him in an honest manner. "But you won't be winning the friend of the year award from us… I think we won't even nominate you for that matter."
"Well dammit, all my hopes and dreams have been smashed. At least tell me Malfoy wasn't nominated either" asked Harry starting to look for his shoes.
"I dunno, Crabbe and Goyle seem to be really rooting for him this year" said Neville tossing him one shoe. "I think you threw the other one to the lake…"
"Awesome" Harry said with a sigh. "I'm going to shower, to the kitchens, make some hangover cure and then go look for Seamus… and my shoe. In that order… then on the train back to London I will call Kurt and grovel."
"Seamus will be thrilled you put him above your footwear" said Neville with a laugh. "Your boyfriend might have an issue though."
"I don't know, if somebody can understand me putting footwear above them it will be him" Harry said grabbing his overnight bag with intentions of a long, long shower.
IIIII
"So… this is the call the next day where I am sober and very regretful" said Harry much later, sitting on the train back to London.
"I see" Kurt said with a laugh. "Don't worry, it was quite an interesting experience to be part of. I can't talk much. My dad and I have something important to do. Was that the worst thing you did last night?"
"That and throwing my shoe to the lake" said Harry. "I apparently spent a good part of the night being a clingy, chatty drunk with Neville. I think it's the only type of drunk I've never been before."
"Why did you throw your shoe to the lake?"
"I was trying to get the Giant Squid to come out" said Harry with a nostalgic tone. "It's a running joke in the school that a Giant Squid lives there."
"And eats shoes?"
"And eats shoes" Harry said smiling. It was dark already and he felt… how did he feel? "I feel homesick."
"Oh?" asked Kurt moving to close the door of his room. The tone on Harry's voice was something he had never heard before.
"It's strange you know? I miss my life here, but I miss my life there too… it's a strange feeling" repeated Harry, glad that he was the only person in the wagon.
"You sound sad" said Kurt, looking at the smiling picture he had of Harry pasted on his mirror. Now that he thought about it, he seemed to have put a lot of reminders of Harry around his room since he dropped him at the airport. He traced the smile with one of his fingers. He had never seen Harry sad and was it horrible of him that he wanted to?
"I guess I am sad" said Harry closing his eyes. "I haven't really been back to Hogwarts since I left. I came to a small town on the edge of the school to meet some people, but this is the first time I actually entered since I left… some of my friends weren't happy with me."
"Why?" Kurt asked interested. The conversation seemed to be getting heavier and heavier.
"I kind of left in a hurry, no goodbyes… can't say I blame them for being mad" sighed Harry. "But I had a few heart to hearts with them before I left and we're ok now."
"I'm glad" Kurt said raising one leg to rest his chin on his knee. "Why did you move to Ohio? You never told me."
"I guess I haven't" said Harry and his voice seemed tired. "What happened was that… it's kind of hard to explain, but…"
"Kurt!" yelled his dad knocking on the door. "Kurt we are going to be late!"
"Can we wait 10 more minutes?" begged Kurt, this had to be the worst timing ever. He knew his dad must be surprised, because there was silence on the other side.
"It's alright Kurt" said Harry grasping at the unexpected exit his dad had provided quickly. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."
He hung up without waiting for a reply and Kurt almost, almost wanted to call back and yell at him. He sighed instead. Harry was like a spooked horse when it came to his past, one wrong move and he hightailed out of the situation. Kurt might have been taking advantage of the small opening Harry had presented, he had been in an emotional place and if he had pushed just a little bit more, maybe he would have finally gotten some answers.
"Is everything ok buddy?" asked Burt opening the door.
"Yeah" said Kurt with a sigh. "I think Harry was going to tell me something important."
Burt frowned for a second. "Don't you think is a bit too soon for the L word?"
Kurt stared at his dad. "Dad! Not that, it's way too soon to use that word, I meant something about himself. Something important…" Kurt eyed the picture again for a moment, before picking his coat. "He'll tell me some other time, let's go see mom."
His phone beeped and Kurt took a quick look at the message, a smile breaking on his face immediately.
FYI gorgeous, I'm returning earlier. Had a bit of trouble with my airline, so bought another ticket. See you the day after tomorrow.
IIIII
"Harry's here!" squealed Kurt, having been sitting by the window unmoving; looking outside after his calculations determined Harry would arrive within the next 10 minutes. He ran out of the house, uncaring he was only wearing his socks. "You're back!" he exclaimed and threw himself at his boyfriend, not caring how undignified he looked.
Harry laughed delighted to see his boyfriend. He caught him and held him tightly, kissing him briefly and burying his nose in his neck. He took a deep breath, comforted by the familiar smell. He easily lifted him, Kurt's legs folding behind him so he was handing from his neck and carrying him back inside. "I missed you like crazy" whispered Harry against his neck.
Kurt blushed and laughed, kissing his cheek and clinging onto him. "I missed you too, like you have no idea…"
Somebody cleared their throat behind them, prompting Kurt to look over his shoulder at his dad and scowl. Harry squeezed him one last time, before letting him go.
"Hi Mr. Hummel" Harry said while his boyfriend rolled his eyes.
"Come on honey, I want to show you my room now that it's been properly furnished" said Kurt grabbing his hand and dragging him upstairs.
"Bye Mr. Hummel" Harry said not putting much of a fight and following after Kurt like a lost puppy.
"Open door policy Kurt!" called Burt shaking his head.
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"I can't stay long" Harry said with a sad tone, the moment they had entered the room they had hugged each other again and neither seemed keen to separate. "Oliver has practice scheduled in a few hours."
"I hate Oliver" decided Kurt. Kissing Harry's lips once and resting against his chest.
"Join the club" muttered Harry. "I got something for you" he said and pulled a small box from behind. Kurt changed his focus to the slim box and carefully opened it.
"Oh" he breathed. "You got me a Burberry Printed Fringe Strip Scarf!" he gasped.
"So that's what it's called?" asked Harry amused. "I just thought I got you a pretty scarf"
"This is not just any scarf Harry; this is a wool scarf that has ribbons of textured wool sewn on it. The wool is printed in a tonal check pattern and has been hemmed with fringes each side. Not to mention the tassels at each end of the scarf. I believe it is eighty inches by twelve inches…" Kurt's hands caressed the texture. "It's too expensive Harry, the retail price is 350, I couldn't possibly…"
"Wow, I am kind of impressed by the level of detail you were able to explain there, and your precise memory about retail prizes, but all that aside, I got it for you" Harry said firmly. "You can return it to me, but I will just go to a charity shop and donate it... or Luna will jump me and steal it, she had her eye on my blue scarf for a while."
Kurt gasped now in outrage. "I can't allow that… and Luna can suck it, I have all the rights for that scarf."
"That you do, and I guess you will have to keep this one too" said Harry smugly. "Get it out of the box."
After following the strange instruction, Kurt gasped. Underneath the scarf, a beautiful collection of unique brooches rested. There was a regal red and yellow seal with a lion, a very detailed lily in dark pinks and green, the head of a stag, a magnificent bird with the wings extended and a long tail, another bird, a snowy white owl with a letter on its peak, a black sleeping dragon curled like a dog around a blue gem, a strange creature, half eagle, half horse seemingly flying with its wings extended, a small golden ball with fluttering wings, a dog pointing with a paw and its nose to something, a howling wolf and finally a lightning bolt.
"Oh Harry…" said Kurt touched. "They are all gorgeous, impeccable in every single way and the attention to the details breathtaking… and this one, this one is my favorite" he said taking out the lightning bolt. Harry grinned when Kurt extended his hand to take the fringe off his forehead and trace the scar there. "This one reminds me of you… they will all remind me of you, but this one seems so… personal, like a symbol of you I get to carry around every day."
"Funny you mention that… that seal was the symbol of my old house at Hogwarts and it has always meant a lot to me, the stag has been a symbol in my father's family for a long time, my mother's name was Lily and this bird… it's a Phoenix" Harry caressed that one. "The phoenix hope can wing her way through the desert skies, and still defying fortune's spite; revive from ashes and rise…"
"They are all so beautiful" said Kurt with shiny eyes.
"I know I haven't been very open about my past, so I figure every time you put one of these, I can tell you something new. About the things I remember fondly and really mean something" explained Harry with a small smile. "All these symbols and things, they are all special to me."
"I love them, they are all beautiful, but it means a lot more that they all mean something to you" said Kurt touching them reverently.
"Put the scarf on, you can play with those later" Harry said jokingly.
"You will regret it when I make you go buy outfits for each one of them" Kurt said and with an excited sound, placed the box carefully on his bed, and wrapped the scarf around his neck. "It's like being wrapped in a cloud of good style!"
Harry laughed and kissed his nose with affection.
"You totally killed my gift with those brooches, but either way, my turn!" said Kurt and jumped to his dresser, he placed a somewhat heavy box into his hands. Harry quickly made work of the paper and grinned widely.
"The Beatles?" he asked with a grin, examining the box. "The Remastered edition! This is actually very cool" he said and hugged Kurt.
"What do you mean actually?" asked Kurt narrowing his eyes. "You didn't think I was going to give you something lame did you?"
"Of course not!" protested Harry immediately. "I was sure I would like your gift, I just underestimated how good you are at shopping."
Kurt grinned pacified. "Why thank you, it's a gift."
"I'll see you at school tomorrow right?" asked Harry.
"The day after" pouted Kurt. "My dad wants me to stick around as long as possible."
"It's ok, I'll have you all to myself after" said Harry hugging him and sighed contently. "Oh, in a couple of days we should be able to move to our new dorm."
"Perfect!" Kurt said clapping his hands. "Blaine should arrive tomorrow, so we can start packing then. Oh, I have just the perfect idea for our color scheme! I was thinking that…"
IIIII
Harry and the rest of the team had a grueling practice that afternoon, it was a Thursday and they would only be able to practice Friday and Saturday. Sunday they would talk strategy, but allow their muscles to relax a little before the big game on Monday. Oliver was pleased that the break hadn't affected the players and the team was as sharp as ever. Everybody was thrilled that they would have the game on the first official day of classes and while the next few days would be hard, they were confident they could make it.
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"Uh… Harry, sorry I woke you up" Blaine said once Harry answered the phone. He yawned before responding.
"It's alright Blaine, what can I do for you?" he asked ignoring Ron's snores.
"I'm sort of stuck at the airport" confessed Blaine. "My car died and I tried calling a cab, but no luck so far…"
"I'll be there as soon as I can" replied Harry already standing up.
"You don't have to come now" said Blaine hurriedly. "It's ok if you come at a more decent time."
"Blaine, it's 2 in the morning" Harry responded. "I won't let you be stuck in the airport until a decent time."
"Thanks" Blaine said shyly.
"See you soon"
IIIII
"Hey" Blaine said slightly embarrassed at having Harry come pick him up.
"So, this is becoming quite the tradition" said Harry leaning against his car with a playful smirk.
"And you know that's quite an insensitive thing to say?" asked Blaine raising an eyebrow.
"Harry Potter, ignoring political correctness since I learned to speak" said Harry lifting his chin arrogantly. Blaine smiled unable to help himself, he liked that Harry wasn't treating him like he was about to have a break down. "How was your break?" asked Harry while helping him lift his luggage onto the back.
"Pretty good. Spend it with my parents, sister and her boyfriend, soon to be fiancé if she is to be believed, how was London?" he asked in return.
"Grey, cold, foggy and rainy… I miss it already" smiled Harry wistfully. "It's my favorite city in the world."
"Don't let Kurt hear ya" teased Blaine climbing inside and closing the door.
"He knows, he just refuses to see the light" smirked Harry. "Here, happy holidays" said Harry throwing a box on Blaine's lap.
"Oh…" said Blaine holding the box in surprise. "You didn't have to."
"Of course I did, I have tons of money and love to shop in catalogues" Harry said starting the car.
"You shop in catalogues?" asked Blaine surprised.
"What? Of course not" Harry said offended. "You and Kurt are far too gullible."
Blaine rolled his eyes and carefully opened his present, curious to see what Harry got him. The box felt kind of heavy.
"How did you know?" he asked awed.
"I know everything" said Harry smugly.
"No, just… for a second stop joking, how did you know?" asked Blaine carefully taking the Polaroid camera out of its box.
"I spend a lot of time in your room Blaine" said Harry with a shrug. "You can tell a lot about a person by their room. Your board is full of old Polaroid, but there's no new ones since you came to Dalton."
"My camera broke" Blaine said immensely touched by the gesture. "Actually, it was broken… I never got around to getting a new one… I can't believe you would notice something like that."
"I am pretty good at reading people" said Harry awkwardly, Blaine tilted his head.
"You're not very comfortable with people's gratitude" he said curious. Harry shrugged, not looking at him. "That's adorable" said Blaine grinning widely. Harry laughed unfazed. "So, what else do you know about me?"
"It will creep you out" said Harry giving him a side eyed look. "It's one of those talents that can be creepy."
"Now I have to know" said Blaine getting his new camera out and running his fingers over the smooth surface.
"You like horses, used to ride a lot, probably even competitively but stop doing it after a bad fall. You also like fencing, but it's something your brother used to do and didn't want to be compared to him more than you already were, you like old music more than you like pop, my guess either the 70's or the 80's, you hate your hair, you are intimidated by your sister because your parents brag about her all the time, but you love her all the same and can't wait till she has kids so you can be the cool uncle… you didn't start to get bullied because you were gay, they used to bully you because you had money and were going to a public school, but when you came out that's the only thing people focused on and it made you kind of grateful… and you like dark chocolate."
Blaine was staring at Harry open mouthed.
"Oh. My. God" he said his surprise and excitement bigger than his self-consciousness. "How did you… oh my God. This is so cool! Are you like the guy in the Mentalist that can see everything and make assumptions? Are you like super, super smart? I promise not to tell! Oh, oh, do you have superpowers, can you read my mind?"
Harry let him continue to speculate for a minute, before he couldn't contain it anymore and laughed; pulling to the side of the road so he could continue to laugh.
"I'm sorry, 'm sorry" he said between laughs at Blaine's offended expression. He took a deep breath. "Ok, I'm calm now" he smiled. "You are a very disinhibited drunk, you told me all that."
"I did?" asked Blaine surprised.
"Yeah, after everybody had passed out. We were the only ones awake for an hour or so and you basically told me your life story" said Harry smiling kindly while getting back on the road. "You seemed to have a lot of things you wanted to get out of your chest."
"Oh" Blaine said self-consciously.
"I like horses too" offered Harry. "I learnt to ride at 11 and I used to play Polo back in Hogwarts. How about you?"
"Don't you know already?"
"Drunk you didn't go into details about anything, just rambled a lot…"
"I stopped riding when I was 14" said Blaine looking at his camera to avoid eye contact. "The horse got spooked and sent me flying. I fell on my back and somebody tried to help me get up, but the moment they pulled me to my knees I couldn't breathe… completely terrified me and I haven't been able to get on a horse since then."
"That was a very stupid thing to do" said Harry. "You should never move somebody that just took a fall, I should know, I had my share of them… I actually have a few scars thanks to them… I could teach you, you know?"
"What?" asked Blaine confused.
"Fencing, I could teach you" Harry said.
"You would?" asked Blaine eagerly.
"Yeah, but you should know Jeff loves to remind me what a horrible human being I am and how I deserve to die a painful death every time we practice" said Harry.
"He still practices fencing?" asked Blaine.
"Yeah, when we both have free time we practice. Sometimes he comes after Warblers on Mondays and I stay late to help him with is form. Join him someday and I'll teach you" said Harry.
Blaine smiled widely, barely containing his excessive energy at the prospect of learning to fence after years of looking from afar. The rest of the ride was spent with Harry explaining the rules of the sport and the basics, at least until Blaine fell asleep.
They made their way tiredly to Blaine's dorm. Harry dove into the big bed without thinking about it, having been wearing his sweat pants and a hoodie. Blaine hesitated while he changed. He didn't want to abuse Kurt's or Harry's trust and they hadn't discussed if Blaine was allowed to cuddle with them if the other wasn't present…
But he really wanted to.
"Too loud" said Harry grabbing a pillow and putting it over his head. "Your thinking is too loud. Get in the damn bed already."
"You kiss Kurt with that mouth?" he asked relieved.
Harry smirked in a predatory manner and Blaine blushed in reflex, he knew what Harry was about to say would be embarrassing. "He might act pristine and perfect, but you should see what my dirty mouth does to him…"
"Why do you have to overshare?" bemoaned Blaine slipping inside the covers.
"Shock factor" Harry said with a yawn and moved so he could press his side against Blaine's, one arm going over his stomach and holding him loosely. "Night…"
Blaine smiled, taking in how perfectly comfortable he felt in Harry's presence. Even if he spent most of his time trying to rile him up and embarrass him, when it truly mattered, he knew Harry would be there.
He was looking forward to moving to a new dorm already.
IIIII
"Eh…" said Blaine when he entered the room to find the three Weasleys playing a game of cards on the floor of his room.
"Kurt arrived" said Ron in a self-explanatory manner.
"Harry kicked us out of the room" added Fred. "Sevens?"
"Wanna play?" asked George. "Go fish…"
"He kicked you out of the room?" repeated Blaine finding hard to believe. "There are three of you."
The brothers exchanged a look, before turning to Blaine.
"Oh you poor thing" said Fred sympathetically.
"You have no idea what is like" said Ron with a shiver.
"He will find out all your secrets" whispered George. "The dark, twisted one inside your soul" he said dramatically. "And he won't say a thing about those; he'll take them to his grave…"
"But when you do something embarrassing, he will be there" said Fred solemnly. "With a camera…"
"And he will never let you forget" said Ron subconsciously rubbing his neck. Blaine stared at them, rolled his eyes and left his room. He'll just go to dinner early; he wasn't quite ready to handle those three without back up. "That poor kid has no idea…"
Fred and George nodded in an understanding manner.
IIIII
After they brought each other up to speed, Blaine and Kurt had gone mad. Both extremely excited about their new living arrangements. Every free second the three of them had, was spent together, doing things and talking about their dorms. They both had decided to take full advantage of Harry's influence among the administration.
As if it wasn't hard enough when Blaine and Kurt disagreed on something, it was worse when they set their minds on the same goal. He hoped this was not some sort of sign of how their friendship was going to work.
They were in a full decorating spree and it was awful; esthetically pleasant sure, but awful for him.
Thankfully, it provided a good, surprisingly relaxing, distraction. Friday he had been holed up in administration, using all his charms to get the proper paperwork and move things along when he wasn't at practice. Miss Hart was wrapped around his little finger and didn't mind bending the rules for him.
So far his Saturday afternoon, again, after practice, had been full of putting furniture apart and reconstructing it in the other room. At least he didn't have to pack, an activity that seemed to entertain Blaine and Kurt in a mysterious way.
"Ok, time to talk, what's the deal with you three?" asked Ron, who had been enlisted to help transform the room into something habitable. Blaine and Kurt had given him a list of the essential things that needed to be in their new room.
Fact: They didn't know the meaning of the word essential.
It was Harry's task to play Tetris with the furniture while the two of them decided on decoration. The room was exactly like his old one. It even had a second exit that connected to the West wing, the portrait being of a knight instead of a fat lady. There was a tall ceiling, the top made mostly out of windows (thankfully the sun didn't come out that way), their own bathroom and no hot water. He'd fix the latter after the game.
"Mate, I wish I knew. As far as I know Kurt and I are dating each other and only each other. Pass me that piece."
"So let me get this right. With Kurt you barely manage second base and with Blaine you are not even playing."
"If you wanna be crude about it..."
"No, hear me out. You are not dating Blaine, but you have been doing a lot of things that sound boyfriend like to me now."
"Screwdriver, I am intrigued go on."
"You usually pay for him. When the three of you went to the cinema, dinners, lunches, coffee..."
"I've got money" said Harry with a shrug. "I also pay for your lunch and I can assure you I am not interested in getting to any base with you."
"Fair enough" admitted Ron. "You bought him bed sheets and a lot of crap for 'your' room. Stuff that he expected you to give your opinion towards selecting, only to be wrong of course."
Harry chuckled. "True, learnt my lesson. Kurt and Blaine do not know how to agree on decorations. Stay away"
"You let him ride shotgun when Kurt is not there, even when I totally called it."
Harry scowled at him. "Let it go, he rode at the front once, big deal."
"It's not that he was the co-pilot, it's that he got to pick the music. You only let Kurt pick crappy music and Harry, Katy Perry is not an improvement from Lady Gaga."
"Amen to that" muttered Harry. "Ron, weren't you supposed to help?"
"When the three of you go shopping, you carry his bags too" said Ron while finally passing the screwdriver. "You picked him up from the airport."
"His car died" defended Harry. "I also picked up the twins a state away when they fell asleep on the bus back from their tournament."
"It was 2 am when he called you, the twins called you at 10 on a Saturday. You didn't bother to get out of bed until noon and you still got lunch first." Ron smirked when Harry didn't answer. "You went to an American Football game with him yesterday because he didn't have anybody else to go with."
"I was supporting the school..."
"Please, a little respect. I am your best friend not a teacher" Ron lost the joking tone and asked as seriously as he could. "Talk to me Harry; do you like this guy? You are sort of moving together with him and your boyfriend. You share a bed, and I am not saying anything bad about it. But if you don't have feelings for him you are sort of leading him on. And either way, you and Kurt need to talk."
Harry sighed "I am not oblivious Ron. I know we have a weird thing on the go. I don't like-like Blaine. I am barely getting to know him as it is and I haven't allowed myself to get too close to that, because Kurt? I am sort of crazy for him. I could fall in love with Kurt. I am already on my way there. And Blaine, I do think he's a nice guy and I am pretty sure it wouldn't be that hard to love him if the circumstances were different."
"But?..."
Harry smiled sadly. "I always suspected that Kurt hadn't gotten over Blaine completely and now that they dropped their mentor thing. Blaine is allowing himself to see Kurt as a guy he could date and Kurt is remembering all the great things that made him like Blaine in the first place."
"This is why you are holding back on Kurt" concluded Ron not liking what he was hearing. "You think they'll get together."
"There's a reason threesomes are a fantasy" pointed out Harry and messed his hair. "Honestly? Yes, I think they are falling in love with each other. I've seen the way Blaine looks at us sometimes, like I am taking something away from him."
"Why are you doing this then?" asked Ron motioning to the room. "If you think they are going to choose each other, you should be separating them, not encouraging."
"I am enjoying it while I can" Harry said with a sad smile. "Better loved and let go and all that rot... I trust Kurt and Blaine to do the right thing... besides, if I try to tell them they will only deny it, it's up to them to realize…"
"This is not like you" said Ron frowning. "You don't give up or do things this, this passively. You fight, you're letting Kurt slip away and not doing anything about it!"
"I guess… it was easier to fight Blaine when he wasn't a friend" said Harry. "I do think Kurt is falling for me and deep down I am hoping he chooses me… things were a lot easier for me when Blaine was a jerk."
Ron frowned. Harry might not see it, but that soft spot he was developing for Blaine was part of the reason he was so not-himself with the whole thing. Friend or not, if somebody else had looked at Kurt twice he would have gone into a full jealous rampage by now, with death and destruction skipping after him.
However, for all his good qualities, Harry was a self-sacrificing moron.
He could tell his friend had caged himself. On one side he wanted, felt the need even, to help Blaine. He might as well have picked up an abused stray puppy, which he was now teaching to trust people again. He was working to get Blaine to open up and stop being self-conscious about everything, however to do that he couldn't push him away from the support he was building around him, which meant he couldn't push him away from Kurt and himself without doing irreparable damage to the boys self-esteem.
In other words, Harry was risking being the one hurt in the future so Blaine wouldn't be the one hurt in the present.
He was officially friends with a masochistic imbecile. The joy.
IIIII
"Follow me" ordered Harry as Blaine and Kurt exited the Warblers rehearsal. He power walked back to their new room. "If you don't like it, then you fix it, because I will be crying on a corner, singing songs about the cruel world and then Oliver will kill you because I will be too sad to play" announced Harry and opened the door with a flourish.
Their bed was against the wall, the tall lamp squeezed so it was accessible from Kurt's side of the bed. Blaine had a nightstand with another lamp. That was nice, thoughtful even, but nothing out of the ordinary which suited them just fine.
Blaine's desk was on the wall parallel from the bed, which meant that when working he would turn his back to the bed. There were two bookshelves on each side of the desk. There were some hooks on the wall that Blaine stared at curiously, but before he could ask Kurt interrupted.
"Harry, I don't mean to be a buzz kill, but how on Gaga's sweet platform shoes did you think that was a good idea?" asked Kurt pointing to the ridiculously high wardrobe that occupied one of the remaining corners (the last one had Kurt's vanity/desk). Next to it, where the two standard closets that Dalton provided.
"Well..." started Harry opening it to reveal five metal tubes "when you press this button" he demonstrated and the tubes rotated until Harry pressed again "it moves, like in the dry cleaners but up and down... Kurt?"
His boyfriend was staring at the closet with awe; he walked decisively towards Harry and hugged him as hard as he could, showering him with quick kisses. Blaine laughed. The bunk bed that was there only to make administration happy was pushed against a convenient niche on the room and was bound to become storage space.
Blaine surveyed their new room and his chest contracted.
"Guys... I don't think this is..."
"Oh... for Dior's sake Blaine!"
It took an hour before they could convince him that yes, they didn't mind. Blaine and Kurt unpacked and decorated happily. Harry stayed in the doorway for a moment, watching them argue about color schemes with a small smile on his face. The grip on the box he was carrying tightened, but his own smile didn't waver.
IIIII
"Ok, we're tied one all, but we can do this! We have five minutes before the end of the second half. One goal, we need one goal and then we'll be on our way to the finals and then we go to nationals championship lads, nationals! They only need a tie to pass to the next round, they will waste time, but we will go all out now and get what's rightfully ours. Harry, how are you holding up?"
Harry threw him a dirty look. He had sat as soon as Oliver called the time out and the team had regrouped around him. "Like I spent all game getting pushed, kicked, tripped, abused, molested... you know the usual, I am peachy, just peachy."
"I know they've been going hard on you, but that's because you intimidate them and that's why you are going forwards" said Oliver happily. His team mates stared at him in horror and then at Harry's sorry form. He was bruised, covered in dirt, grass, one or two blood stains and his shirt was slightly ripped.
"If I wanted to be manhandled I would have joined a rugby team" muttered Harry while one of his team mates helped him up. His ankle was hurting like a bitch and if he didn't stop soon he was going to be limping for a while.
Oliver grabbed Harry's face with both hands and stared at him intensely.
Harry stayed there for a few seconds before it started to be weird. "Oliver, don't get this the wrong way, but you are totally creeping me out man" the team chuckled, the tension that had been building evaporated.
"Get me, us, that goal or die trying Harry, because we've got to win today, we've got to and I swear to you on the World Cup of '66 that if you do this for me, I'll do anything. I'll give you my first child. Hell... I'll carry your first child. I've never had sex with a guy, but if that's what it takes to motivate you..."
"I have a boyfriend!" said Harry, his voice slightly higher than usual. "But that's... thank you, that's... nice?" he moved away not bothering with subtlety "Just, please don't... ever..." that elicited a booming laughter from the whole team, even Tom had a mocking smile on.
"Priceless" said Ryan while wiping tears from his eyes. "Better than the bisexual babies" Oliver's lips quirked, satisfied with the results of his stunt.
The time out ended and the ball was back in play. Things stayed on the edge for two minutes, until Chad stole the ball from an overconfident player.
They moved efficiently, passing without letting the other team intercept. Harry's ears buzzed from the adrenaline. Someone elevated the ball and he prepared to hit it with his head and redirect it to someone from his team when he felt something colliding against his head.
He wasn't sure of anything except that he was rolling, his mouth filling with grass and dirt. He lost momentum and came to a painful stop. His head felt heavy and his senses were coming back slowly. Things were pretty fuzzy; there was some shouting and a whistle, then screams.
For a good minute he stayed down, willing his muscles to work. He finally got on his hands and knees and with a final push he rolled until he was sitting down. Something warm was making its way across his face.
He felt disoriented and had to blink several times for things to come into focus. From the distance he could see the medical team rushing to him. Oliver's face appeared blocking the view. Harry grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and brought him down until they were face to face.
"You get me off this field in anything other than a body bag and I'll kill you Oliver, I swear on the jewels of the crown, my stack of tea and Freddie Mercury's grave that I will fucking kill you!" Harry hissed and Oliver nodded solemnly.
Their team mates who were around stared at them in uncomfortable silence.
"I think he took Oliver's speech too seriously" muttered someone.
"That or the kick to the head was worse than it looked..."
"One of them is British and the other is half British, with some Scottish" said Tom in a bored tone of voice. "They just take soccer that seriously."
Oliver offered his hand and got him on his feet in one smooth motion. He let Harry collect himself and dismissed the first aid. "Harry, we got a penalty kick. Are you up for it?"
"Dead first if I let those twats get that sodding bloody fucking trophy now that I am really bleeding for it" he took the blood out of his eyes in a far too calm gesture.
"It'll be down to you Harry, to show them that a player has to have something more than skills..."
"Don't go chick flick on me" snapped Harry when it seemed his captain was going off on another speech.
"I just realized I love you in a non-romantic way" said Oliver with a smile, he whispered only for Harry to hear. "Don't wipe the blood off of your face. I hear that their goal keeper can't stand it."
Harry laughed and adopted a fanatical smirk. His face was half covered by blood and his eyes were sparkling with the adrenaline. He stared unwavering at the goal keeper's eyes and waited for the whistle. His eyes darted towards the left for a millisecond.
He ran and shot the ball straight forwards.
The goal keeper threw himself to the right.
"YES!" screamed Harry and jumped as far as he could in excitement, pumping his fist against the air. He was surrounded by arms and screaming team mates, they all laughed, hugged and started chanting Dalton's hymn.
"Guys! Guys, this isn't over, we have two minutes left of game!" screamed Oliver, but he was almost crying and his voice was sort of breaking.
"You heard the boss! We have two minutes more to go" screamed Harry at the top of his lungs. He didn't really play for the rest of the time. He could barely stand as it was. He had a towel pressed against the cut on his head and he was getting dizzier by the second. The signal of the end of the game had never been sweeter.
"Harry!" screamed Ryan, the closest team mate. "We freaking did it! We did it! We are going to the finals!"
"Ryan?" Harry asked weakly.
"Harry? Are you alright man?" he asked staring at his pale face.
"Someone should call... you know, 'cause I'm about to..." the world turned black after that.
- End Chapter 13 -
I decided to add a scene for next chapter that is going to be a bitch to write, but if it works it will be amazing!
Also, The Big Purple Book of Stories is out. There will be 3 different categories. Outtakes of this fic (extra scenes, other POVs, etc) / What if scenarios (self-explanatory by the name) and full AUs.
The first chapter was an outtake. Including how Harry, Ron and Hermione met each other in this verse, plus how Jeff and Nick became best friends.
Second chapter will be a what if about Harry and Blaine.
Third chapter will be a supernatural AU where Harry is a hunter, Blaine a werewolf and Kurt a vampire. (Grins to herself). It's delicious if I do say so myself.
Oh! And the thing I am most excited about, I am working on another AU for the big purple book, fully cannon to Champion's Lullaby, BUT, I found a way to include magic in what hope is an original manner.
It is so exciting to be writing magic again and if I had this idea way long ago, when I was starting this fic, I might have actually gone with that direction and had magic in the fic. But alas is way to late for that and I love my fic as it is.
All the best,
SweetCaroline91