A/N: Hey, another chapter yet again. This is going so quickly already. Now, some questions need to be answered.

EveJHoang: There is a reason for why Hermione is in the character listing, but she will return, but it won't be until later. When that is, remains with me.

R. A. Cross: Your questions will be answered in this chapter. Hope you like the answer.

Well that is it, and this went for a lot longer than I was expecting it to go, so sorry about the length. But anyway, enjoy.

-Line-Break

His fingers ran across the keys of the piano with deadly precision, telling a tale as the sweet sound of music ran through the apartment. When he had been hiding out in one of the Black family Manors in France, Harry had taught himself how to play, as a way of filling up his free time.

The sweet music told a tale of hope for a family, of joy when receiving that wish, of finally having a family…

Of course, Harry couldn't read a sheet of music to save his life, he preferred to improvise and create new music every time he played. He preferred to use music to help him revisit his memories, as it was more comforting than using a pensieve, as he didn't seem like an outside observer.

The music changed to that of great elation, of having someone to love, and be loved by. It quickly turned to horror, and emptiness at the loss of that someone…

Harry didn't notice Steve and Bucky enter the room, already dressed for their night out on the town, despite Steve's and Harry's unwillingness to do so. Harry was ready too, dressed in dark, navy blue formal robes, which looked a lot like a suit, with red trimming and gold cuffs. Steve wore his usual brown trench coat and formal shirt, with black slacks that seemed a little too big for his small stature. Bucky was wearing a simple pair of dark jeans and a leather jacket, with a blood red shirt on underneath.

The music continued into horror, the loss of those he called family, anger and pain leaking in to the music towards those that had taken his loved ones from him. The music changed to betrayal before…

Harry hit a sour note, stopping his play of music immediately after the wrong note, as per the norm. He let out a breath, sighing at the memories running through his head, before he closed the lid over the keys of the piano, before getting up, and turning to the other two occupants of the room.

"Sorry about that, guys, just needed to let off some steam" Harry said to the two, both men still completely awed at Harry's display of music. "Shall we go? I know you two have wanted to see a wizarding pub for a while, so come along."

As the three friends left the apartment, Harry leading the trio, he couldn't help but reminisce over the last couple of months. It had been six months since he landed in 1941, six months since landing on Steve's coffee table and saving his life. He knew he wasn't supposed to tell the two muggles what he was, though Bucky seemed to have some understanding of what he meant (Harry thought that Bucky must have been a squib, but wasn't entirely sure he wanted to ask). He knew the Statute of Secrecy was definitely in place in the 40's, but he felt like he could trust the two. And besides, he knew for a fact that he was still in his own timeline, and knew that he was in his own universe.

As he had told Hermione and his honorary brothers, the Hallows tended to whisper things to him, telling him who to trust, what was okay to do and what wasn't. At first, he had been sceptical, as he knew hearing voices for no reason was a sign of madness, wizarding world or muggle, it didn't matter. But when he followed the voices instructions, and it had saved his life and countless others along the way, he had started to trust the Hallows more and more. It helped that they had said he was needed on the other side of the Veil, and that had been true. Since his arrival, Steve had had three more attacks, all of which would have been deadly if not for Harry.

And they had told him that he should trust Steve and Bucky explicitly, and so he had. After Bucky had come home that night he arrived, he had told them both his whole story, leaving nothing out. Bucky had still been wary of him, that was until Steve's next attack about a month after his arrival. He had been present the whole time Harry had healed Steve up and nursed him back to health. Bucky had warmed up to Harry very quickly after that incident.

The three friends walked through the streets of New York, as Harry turned onto the street with the Empire State Building. Walking up to the entrance, Steve and Bucky had quizzical looks in their faces as Harry opened the door for them with a smile and a "After you."

Over the six months, Harry had grown to like Steve as more than just a friend, but was scared as to how to say it. He knew that the situation in the forties wasn't the best for being Gay, but he couldn't help it. Though he was more scared on what Steve would say, rather than what the public would say. He was worried he would run his first friend in the forties off, that he wouldn't return the feelings and would be disgusted with him and kick him out. Though he hoped that Steve did return the feelings, as he knew Steve had a big heart, and even if he didn't, he wouldn't be disgusted in him.

It was now July, the twentieth to be exact. The three had decided that, even though Harry's and Steve's birthdays were at either end of the month, they would celebrate them together. Though, this was more because Harry and Steve didn't want to have to go to the pubs twice in the same month.

The three walked over to the elevators, entering the one on the far left. The others looked at him questioningly, before he said "just watch." He turned to the buttons, pressing the button to close the door.

"You're not going to jump us and have sex, are you Harry?" Bucky asked, a cocky grin on his face. "Cause you know, no one can see us now."

Harry laughed, shooting a "Shut up Bucky" over his shoulder, crouching down to just below the buttons. There was a slot that needed a key, or so it seemed to Bucky and Steve, as Harry pulled out his wand and inserted it into the slot. A disembodied voice filled the elevator from overhead, saying "Scan complete. Greetings, Harry James Potter. Are you aware that two muggles are in the lift with you?"

"Yes, thank you Samantha, I already knew that" Harry replied, looking to the roof as he said it. "They're visiting with me, so can you please provide visitor badges?"

"Of course, my Lord" the voice, Samantha, replied. "Please insert seven sickles, you shall receive the badges when you get to your floor. Now, where do you want to go?"

"Seventh Floor, Pub District" Harry said quickly, holding back a laugh at the shocked faces Steve and Bucky were sporting. "As close as you can get to The Prancing Dragon, please?"

"Of course, my Lord" Samantha said, before the intercom audibly shut off. With a jolt, the elevator went down, shocking the other two even more.

Getting over his shock quickly, Steve said "I though the Empire State Building didn't have a basement?"

"Oh it doesn't" Harry replied, still holding back a smile. "At least, not to muggles, that is. When they were drawing up the plans for the building, the Wizards in the city asked to put their own shopping district beneath the building, as it would be the perfect entrance for wizards to get to the shops. It beats having to go through a pub whenever you need to go shopping, I can tell you that."

The elevator dinged as it got the seventh floor of the New York Wizarding shopping district. The doors opened up to show The Prancing Dragon on the other side of the street. Two guards in deep purple robes (the colours of wizarding America) stood on either side of the door. The one on their left, a woman with long black hair, turned to them holding two badges that looked like shields, both made of silver with the word "Visitor" engraved in elegant script across the surface.

"Here you go, my Lord" she said, her voice like silk. "Remember, curfew for muggles is half past ten, so you have to be gone by then."

"Yes I remember, than you Ma'am" Harry said politely, grabbing the badges and walking a few paces away, Steve and Bucky following behind. When out of hearing of the woman, he turned to them, pinning the badges to their collars so they were clearly visible. "Okay, so as the woman said, curfew for you two is at ten thirty, so we will be leaving at ten. Bucky, if you want to go to your usual hangout, that is fine by me, but I'm sure Steve and I will return to the apartment. Am I right?" He looked at Steve as he said this, who nodded in acceptance. He turned on his heel, before looking over his shoulder and saying to Bucky "Try not to flirt with any women tonight, please. Their fathers will take it as a marriage proposal, and I know you don't want that." Bucky gulped, nodding his head to show he understood, as they walked into the Pub.

-Line-Break-

Steve could only stare in awe at the pub as they walked in. It was both exactly like a normal pub, but also not at the same time. There seemed to be the usual types of people, the drunks, the visitors, the workers. They even had live music playing. But that was where the similarities ended. Plates and cups flew through the air, meals appearing in front of customers as the shouted their orders to the table, cups and mugs magically refilling themselves when they were emptied. There was a corner completely fenced off with a waist high wall, and Steve could see wizards duelling as a crowd formed, placing bets on who the winner would be.

The bartender looked up, and upon seeing the trio, called out "So it seems that our champion has returned. Shall you be joining the competition tonight?"

"Only for a little while, Horace, but in an hour" Harry called back to the bartender, with a bow to the room when everyone looked their way. "For now, I want three Butter Beers in the usual room, thanks."

Harry led them to the room in question as Horace walked in, carrying three large mugs of what Steve believed to be Butter Beer. Nodding in thanks, and handing over three gold coins (Galleons Steve thought), they sat around a large oak table, with a fire roaring next to them.

Bucky grabbed a mug and raised it high, saying "Happy Birthday Boys" before sculling half the glass, clearly liking the taste. Harry and Steve lifted their mugs to the toast, and took smaller gulps of their drinks. Steve moaned in joy when he tasted the sweet, warm liquid roll across his tongue.

"So, boys, I think it's about time for presents, don't you think?" Bucky said, pulling his bag from where he had placed it at his feet, pulling out three wrapped parcels, passing two to Steve and one to Harry. Harry, in turn, pulled out a shrunken box from his pocket, placed it on the table and un-shrunk it, opening it to pull out three parcels as well. He removed the wooden box from the table, placing it at his feet, and passing two parcels to Steve and one to Bucky.

At Bucky's confused look, Harry said to wait while Steve and Harry opened their gifts. Steve passed one of the parcels to Harry with a "Happy Birthday", with Harry doing the same to Steve, telling him to open his first.

Bucky handed over wrapped present, which looked suspiciously like a book, and unwrapped it, finding a copy of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. He thanked Bucky for the gift, who knew he loved fantasy novels, before he turned to the presents from Harry.

The first was a rather flat box, wrapped in blue paper with silver stars that moved around like the night sky. Upon unwrapping it, Steve found an ebony wood box, with an elegant engraving of S.R. engraved on the lid, with silver trim on the edges. Opening the box, Steve could only stare in wonder at the new artist set he found, complete with paints, brushes, pencils, both coloured and black, charcoal, pastels and a new sketchbook bound in leather. He even found eagle feather quills, and bottles of coloured ink in a small compartment separated from the rest. Everything sat in a black silk lining that was perfectly fitted to the inside of the box

"I know you've been meaning to get a new book, and you've been needing some new pencils for a while, so I thought you might want set" Harry said upon noticing the look on Steve's face. "And I know you've wanted to go into other mediums as well, which is why you have paints and inks and other materials. The sketchbook is charmed to be never ending, and the leather is the skin of a Hungarian Horntail. Took me a month to find a seller willing to sell it at a decent price. It's also charmed so it doesn't get damaged by fire or water, and drawings won't smudge unless you purposely do it. The same protections go for the box, and only you can open it. The paints, inks pencils and other materials will never run out, either."

"Thanks Harry, this is beautiful" Steve said, being completely honest with his secret crush. He turned to the second present, and started to unwrap it while saying "You didn't need to get me anything else, you know. The artists set itself must have cost a fortune."

He still unwrapped the second present, not noticing Harry's shrug of the shoulders. This one was also a box, though this time it was a simple oak box, with nothing but a small clasp and hinges on the outside. It had no discernible way of telling what was inside, so he undid the clasp and opened the lid. Inside, was a golden pocket watch on a thin, silver chain, polished to shine perfectly in the light. On the lid of the watch was an engraving of an eagle in flight, its wing tips reaching around to the edges of the watch. Its eyes were a perfect match for Steve's icy blue ones, made of pale blue sapphires. Steve couldn't help it. "It's beautiful, Harry. This is amazing. All the detail, this must have cost a fortune. Forget the artists set, this must have cost more."

"Open yours Bucky" was all Harry said in answer to the comments.

Steve looked over to Bucky, who unwrapped his gift tentatively, opening the box without bothering to question the young wizard. Inside was a similar watch, though this one was silver, with an inlay of onyx writing J. B. B., standing for James Buchannan Barnes. Without looking up from the watch, Steve heard Bucky say "You didn't have to do this, you know? You barely know us, and it isn't even my birthday. This is too much."

"I understand that, but you two are my only friends, and you know that" Harry said, defending his actions. "And besides, they have protections for you on them..." and so Harry gave Steve and Bucky the same run down of the watches as he had with Hermione, Neville, Fred and George. "…And besides, Bucky, if you want to, think of it as an early birthday present, okay? I just want to see the two of you safe, and with the way the war is going over in Europe, on all three fronts, it's just a matter of time before you get conscripted. So I want to see that you are still save, okay?"

They both nodded, not wanting to challenge the wizard, before Steve spoke up and said "Go on, Harry, open yours. They aren't as expensive as what you got us, but we're sure you will like them either way."

-Line-Break-

Harry pulled a small present his way, wrapped in emerald green paper. Carefully unwrapping it, being careful to not damage the paper, finding a small bottle of cologne. Spraying some onto his wrist, he carefully let it dry before breathing in the scent, his mind going fuzzy from the heavenly scent. It smelt familiar to him, though he couldn't remember where from.

"Heavenly" Harry said, honesty clear in his tone. "Thank you Steve, this is wonderful." With that, he sprayed some more on himself, making sure to smell it some more before placing it back on the hard wood table. He pulled over the second present, still wrapped in emerald green, though this one was clearly a bottle, and a lot larger than the cologne bottle. He had a feeling it was alcohol, not that he cared. He did indulge himself every now and again. Pulling off the paper, he found a bottle of whiskey, from the late seventeen hundreds, in France. He was absolutely gobsmacked at the gift. "Wh-where di-did you get this? It can't have been cheap, because this is rare shit?"

"The price isn't a problem, but I found it in a small store down a back alley, sold really old stuff, from alcohol to furniture, weapons and other such stuff" Bucky said. "Almost missed that, actually. The label was covered in so much dust, I couldn't read it."

"Thank you, the both of you" Harry said, elation clear in his voice. "Now I think it's time for dinner, don't you think?"

And so Bucky and Steve got their first taste of House Elf cooking. Bucky got a steak, Steve got a bowl of beef stew, while Harry got a plate of Lasagne, and for desert, Harry ordered all three of them Treacle Tart, saying it was the best desert there was. They both seemed to agree. Finishing desert, Harry packed all of the presents into the wooden box at his feet, before shrinking it so it fit in Bucky's bag. Placing it in the bag, they made their way from their private room to the main room of the Pub, taking seats around the duelling ring to watch a match. It was eight thirty, so they still had a while to go before they had to leave.

The current duel wasn't really good, in Harry's opinion. Even Weasley could put up a better fight he thought though they are drunks, so that isn't surprising. When the duel finished, with both men falling unconscious due to inebriation, the bartender walked into the centre of the ring, waiters levitating the two drunks out of the pub. Holding his wand to his throat, he announced to the collected audience "Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen. Tonight, we have our esteemed champion here, willing to demonstrate the practicalities of duelling." He gestured to Harry, who rose from his seat and made his way to the centre of the ring, standing to the right Horace. Applause ran through the room at the site of the champion, as Harry transfigured his formal robes into more suitable battle robes that hugged his form nicely, and were easy to move around in. He noticed some women swooning off to the side, but didn't bother to acknowledge their existence. He failed to notice Steve staring at him the whole time. "So who here is willing to fight our champion in a duel, best two out of three?"

About a dozen men stood up at once, and about half as many women, before Harry whispered into Horace's ear "Make it three against one, I can't take all night."

Horace looked sceptical, but announced the change either way, and allowed Harry to pick the contestants, as usual. For the first round, Harry picked two men and a woman, for the second two women and a man, the third was a group consisting entirely of women, and the final three groups were entirely men, who looked battle hardened and ready to fight. He always left the best to last.

Facing each other in the centre of the ring, Harry on the left, his three opponents on the right, the four contestants all bowed respectfully, spun on their heels before walking gracefully to their ends of the ring, spinning around to face their opponent, getting into their battle stances. While his three opponents tensed up, ready to fight, Harry stood there easily, his weight on his left leg, wand loosely grasped in his hand. Horace counted down from three, and at one the duel began.

It didn't last long. Harry's opponents, believing they had an upper hand, were cocky and not expecting a fight. They were certainly not expecting large gouts of fire to be sent their way, knocking one out, before being quickly, if inefficiently blocked by the others. As they twisted out of the way of the flames, Harry sent a blasting hex to the woman, throwing her to the ground, knocking her unconscious, before he sent a leg locker to the remaining man, who simply tripped over and lost his balance, making them lose to fight.

The next two duels went similarly, though these six contestants were able to throw some spells towards Harry before they were knocked out. The duel with the three women took longer, as they all twisted elegantly away from the spells before sending some to him, which hit Harry with pinpoint accuracy. Despite the better start on the part, they were still beaten quickly.

The fifth duel ended with Harry having a broken leg, which was quickly mended after, due to a stray bone breaker. This time Harry conjured a whip of lightning from his wand, coiling and tightening its way around him protectively, before he lashed out, attacking the men, leaving them moaning in pain from severe burns to their arms and legs.

The sixth and final duel had Steve sitting on the edge of his seat, worried that Harry would get severely hurt. He was bleeding from several cuts and wounds across his body, and a bone was sticking out of his left arm. He was clearly in a lot of pain. Steve was sure, that with the state Harry was in, that he was going to lose. But what happened next shocked the whole room.

Harry pointed his wand in the direction of the two remaining competitors, thinking of Steve's smiling face when he opened his presents just an hour ago. With a shout of "Expecto Patronum Inflamare" the whole room went quiet. Three patroni, wreathed in flames, burst from the tip of his wand. A stag, tall and ethereal, looking very much like royalty. Prongs. A wolf, siting in its haunches, howling towards a non-existent moon. Moony. And finally, a large, grim like dog with a large, goofy grin on its face. Padfoot. Prongs and Moony charged towards Harry's opponents, setting their clothes on fire as they stood stock still, before they ran out of the pub, yelling "Aguamenti" at their clothes as they went. Padfoot came up to Harry, nuzzling his hand before he disappeared as Harry cancelled the spell.

With that, Harry collapsed to the ground, focusing on his core so that he could channel his magic into healing his body. He felt the broken bone in his arm reset itself, moving back into place, the bone mending, the flesh and muscle stitching itself back together. He felt the rivulets of blood flow slow and finally stop as the cuts slowly healed up, bruises slowly fading from existence, to leave perfectly smooth, creamy skin, with no evidence of there ever being any damage in the first place. Standing up on still shaky legs, he thanked Horace, who handed him two vials, one a pepper up potion, while another was a blood replenisher.

The crowd burst into applause as Harry moved out of the ring, moving over to his friends, motioning towards the door. They stood and headed over, ready to retire for the night, in the case of Harry and Steve. As they made it to the door, a large, busty blond woman latched onto Harry's arms, dragging him back towards the onlookers. Her hand had an iron grip on his bicep, and he felt a pinch on his arm. Looking own, he saw she had very long nails, filed to a point, and what looked like a pink substance underneath.

His mind started to cloud over, a pinkish mist seeming to invade his occlumency shields, telling him that he had always been in love with this woman, Kathryn, the fog said. He shook his head, trying to shake off the mist, before the family magic in his lordship ring flared, dispelling the mist and purging the substance from his system. He smirked evilly, before turning to the woman.

"I'm sorry, Kathryn was it?" Harry asked, broad smile on his face that made him seem totally flattered by the woman. She clearly didn't see how fake it was, but others around them did.

"Why do you ask that, honey?" The witch asked in a high pitched, nasally voiced. "We've been together for a year now, and you can't even remember my name? How bad of you for forgetting your own fiancées name."

"Oh really" Harry drawled, the smile being wiped from his face in an instant. She tried to step back, but Harry latched onto her arm. "Is that what your love potion did, did it? Made me think you were my fiancée, did it?"

His voice was like steel, cutting through the room like a fin blade. Harry turned to Horace, grip still tight around the woman's arm, who was still struggling. "Horace, call the Aurors. Tell them it's a case of attempted line theft!"

The whole room gasped, the woman fainting at the sound of the charges. He quickly placed her in a chair, binding her to it with a quick "Incarcerous" before turning to Bucky and Steve, both of them awed at what had happened. "Sorry boys, but this is going to take a while."

-Line-Break-

Steve was still in awe when they walked out of the Empire State Building forty five minutes later, after curfew in the wizarding district, but with a valid reason. He knew his crush was good, but he hadn't known he was that good, at both duelling and pressing charges against criminals.

After the Aurors had arrived, Harry gave his testimony to them, followed by Bucky and Steve, before Harry conjured a piece of parchment, listing every potion he had been given in the past week, including the Amortentia that had been introduced directly into his blood stream. The Aurors had said that doing that could be deadly, and that he was lucky to still be standing.

They walked through the streets of New York, the three friends enjoying the silence of the streets, talking about various bits and pieces that had happened during the day that they had missed during dinner. Harry had bought some brewery in New England a month ago, and had received a small shipment of some of their latest batch of alcohol for him to sample. Steve had gotten a raise at work, with commissions for his drawings coming in quicker than ever. Bucky had been promoted at the Saw mill he worked at, being put in charge of a small group of men who worked on various machines. The promotion even came with a raise, so it made it easier on the rent, leaving a little extra left over for splurging on themselves. Not that it was a problem, as Harry had too much money to even know what to do with it, though Steve and Bucky only asked for a third of the rent, no matter how hard things got.

They made it to their street, where their apartment was, before they split, Steve and Harry going home, while Bucky went to the pub to check up on his mates, and to probably get drunk. The two friends walked on in silence down the street, before Steve spoke up. "Thanks for the presents again, Harry. I kinda wish I had gotten you a little more, now that I think about it."

"Don't worry about it, Steve" Harry said, climbing the stairs behind Steve up towards their apartment. "As I've said multiple times, I have got too much money, so I have to do something with it. And secondly, you deserve such expensive gifts anyway. You are such a kind hearted person, yet you never get treated like one."

Steve felt his heart flutter at the praise as he unlocked the door to their home, pulling Harry inside behind him. He didn't know what made him do it, but the moment the door was shut, he had rounded on Harry, placing a kiss on his lips, expressing all of his feelings towards Harry in one, single kiss. He then realised what he had done, and pulled back, mortified at what he had done. Would Harry like him that way? Would Harry still want to be his friend? Oh no, He hasn't reacted Steve thought Oh no, what have I done.

He turned to move back to his room, hoping to pretend what had happened didn't happen, when he was pulled back into a warm hug, sweet, smooth lips pressed against his own, expressing emotions that had been pushed down, surging forth in that one kiss. Steve felt a tongue pushing against his lips, asking for entrance, and he opened his mouth in acceptance. He felt Harry's tongue exploring his mouth, pushing at all the right places, and he did the same, mapping out Harry's mouth with his own tongue. Soon though, they had to break the kiss, gasping for air, foreheads touching, as they gazed into each-other's eyes, icy blue into emerald green. Harry was the first to break the silence.

"Now that was one great birthday present."