Chapter Eight

A month passed. Harry went on with his life, sort of. He really did not know what it was he was supposed to do. He felt as though he should give Blaise and Draco time to fix things between themselves first, anyway. After all, they’d been friends first. He was the intruder. He was the one who’d broken everything. He decided to keep to himself for a while, and mostly involve himself in Ron and Hermione. The news of the baby was, after all, life-changing news. There was rather a lot of excitement around the home of the couple, and almost every flat surface was completely covered in books about pregnancy and birth which Hermione had gotten. Seamus had felt a little odd, being there, and knew he was burgeoning on wearing out his welcome, so he’d asked Harry if he could stay at his apartment. Harry of course said yes, even though his flat was fairly cramped already. Seamus was, however, the perfect houseguest. He was so appreciative that he cleaned up not only after himself, but after Harry too, and he cooked. Not only that, he did everything he could not to get in Harry’s way too much. And of course, the boy was utterly charming. Harry could not possibly get annoyed in his company. He was just too much fun.

Harry did not feel like talking to Hermione and Ron about his relationship situation, since they, of course, had better things to think about. But Seamus listened. Harry didn’t really have a job at the moment, as he could live quite comfortably off his inheritance. He planned to get one, though. Some time. So when Seamus came home from his own job, whatever it happened to be at the moment, the two of them would eat and talk together. Harry began to think that perhaps he had a new best friend. He could certainly use one. After all, Ron and Hermione were always his favourite people, but they had each other. He sometimes felt very isolated from them.

Seamus’ advice had been to call Draco, but then he changed his mind and said not to, and then he said that first he should call Blaise, but then he changed his mind and said not to. He then suggested forgetting about it altogether and just finding a new man, but then he said not to do that after all. After several hundred possible solutions, Seamus agreed that the best thing to do at this point was, well, nothing. Harry had rolled his eyes. He knew that. He’d known that.

So Harry waited. And he waited. He missed Draco. He missed him, he did. And it wasn’t only the sex, really. He’d liked being around the boy. He was witty, and clever, and sharp. But even with all those sharp edges, there’d been something underneath; something warmer, and softer, almost hidden. Draco had always made sure not to hurt Harry, when he entered him. And he’d never said ‘I love you’, which almost always ends up being a lie. And Draco had always touched all of Harry, not just his cock. He’d looked into his eyes. He’d smiled. These things were so small, but they had had an echoing, burrowing effect on Harry. Draco did not ever pretend to love Harry. He just did these things, because they happened to present themselves within him. He didn’t even notice that he was doing them. He just was.

Harry almost gave up on Draco. But Seamus made sure he didn’t. He reminded him all the time, with random little phrases. As they were eating dinner: ‘Draco liked this stuff, didn’t he?’ When they watched television: ‘Did Draco ever watch t.v? It doesn’t seem like he would.’ And when he noticed Harry staring glumly into space: ‘He hasn’t forgotten you, Harry!’ So Harry hoped.

One day, Harry was on his way out, when a blur which resembled Seamus threw itself in front of him, preventing him from leaving. The blur, which turned out to in fact, be Seamus, grinned widely and held out the telephone. Harry took it, giving Seamus an odd look.

“Hello?”

A pause.

“Hello Harry.”

Harry glanced wildly at Seamus, who nodded, still grinning.

“Draco?”

“Yeah, hi. Listen Harry, can you meet me tonight?”

Harry didn’t know if he should be excited, or nervous.

“Er, yeah. Yeah.”

“Great, Madame Rosmerta’s, at seven. That alright?”

Harry nodded, then remembered that Draco couldn’t see it.

“Okay, I’ll be there.”

“I’ll see you, Harry.”

“Bye.”

“Wait—Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ve missed you.”

The line was silent, as Harry very nearly exploded.

“I’ve missed you too.”

Another pause, and then a click. Harry slowly lowered the phone, and turned back to see Seamus with his hand over his mouth.

“Awww!! He said he missed you?” cried the sandy-haired boy.

Harry shrieked as Seamus jumped on him, causing the pair of them to crash to the floor.

Seamus patted Harry on the cheek and then leaned over to open Harry’s door. Harry stayed still in the car for a moment, biting his lip. Then Seamus shoved him out onto the sidewalk.

Harry glared at him as he struggled to regain his composure, and the boy smiled.

“It’s okay, Harry. Just don’t say anything wrong!”

And with those words of confidence, Seamus drove off, leaving Harry alone in front of the restaurant.

He stuffed his hands into his coat pockets and went inside. However, when he spotted that distinctive blonde head, he also became aware of another, darker one. He almost stopped dead. But didn’t. He slowly moved toward the table of Draco and Blaise, and the two of them stopped talking when they saw him. Draco smiled a little, and gestured for him to sit down. Blaise didn’t make eye contact.

“Harry, Blaise is just here for a few minutes, okay?”

Harry swallowed, and bit his lip. But he was relieved, a little, by that knowledge.

He watched Blaise until the man looked up and made eye contact, and then Harry offered him a smile, hoping hoping hoping that it was returned.

It was.

Whew.

Then he felt an immovable urge to say something.

“Okay, wait, before you say anything, I just want to say that I am really, really sorry,” he said, staring into Blaise’s brown eyes. “I’m not an ass, not really. I mean, I was, to you. But—but, I honestly didn’t even think that you could actually like me…Usually guys just sleep with me, and…and that’s it…” he trailed off, putting his hands in his lap under the table. “I just didn’t think--”

“Harry, stop,” Blaise interrupted gently. “It’s alright. I mean, I was pretty upset, but then I got over it.”

“You…”

“Got over it,” he finished with a small smile. “And also, it was half Draco’s fault, wasn’t it?”

Draco spoke:

“Yes, Blaise and I realized that all three of us had some serious issues. I mean, you have inferiority issues, Blaise here has a thing with possessiveness and vengeance, and I, I have a desperate need for attention.”

The corners of Blaise’s lips quirked up, and Harry raised his eyebrows.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah,” said Blaise. “Anyway, Harry, I just wanted to tell you that I still pretty much think you’re an ass, but Draco is too, and you two deserve each other. And I’ve found someone better.” Oh! That was how he’d gotten over it, wasn’t it? “Who I happen to be late meeting.”

Blaise stood up, and Harry did too.

“Blaise, seriously. I feel awful. Are you sure you don’t hate me?” he said.

Blaise reached out and touched his arm.

“Harry, I forgive you.”

Harry opened his arms and hugged him. Blaise whispered into his ear, “asshole”. They laughed, and Blaise left, raising his hand to Draco.

Harry sat down again, and for some reason, he suddenly felt very shy and awkward.

Then he felt Draco’s warm slender hand on his own, and he looked up.

“So you two are really okay?” he asked.

Draco looked down and smiled a little.

“Yes, Harry. We’ve sorted ourselves out. I mean, at first, we completely avoided each other. But then one day he stormed into my flat and started screaming, and we really let loose on each other. We pretty much tore each other to shreds. You should have seen the blood! My shirt was ruined…” Harry knitted his brows. “But no, it was perfect. We’d already had a lot of weird stuff between us, Harry. See, we used to be together.”

“Oh!”

“Yeah. So, it was actually really cathartic. And then we talked. We talked for ages, just sitting there bleeding. And we kept talking, for a few days. Then after a few weeks I realized that I felt something for you.” He glanced up, and Harry melted. “Well, actually, Blaise realized that I felt something for you.” He smirked. “He said I was really boring now, and that I had to call you.”

“So you did,” stated Harry. Draco looked into his emerald eyes and nodded.

“Well it certainly took a while, didn’t it? I just didn’t think that could happen, you know?”

A lopsided smile formed on Harry’s face. Then the brunette scooted his chair around the table so that he was right next to Draco, and he leaned forward and kissed him. Ah, it had been so long. So long. Draco tasted so good. Like coffee and vanilla. Draco kissed back, not ferociously, as they’d used to do, but softly. When they parted, Harry let out a giggle. He couldn’t help it! Draco smiled at the sound, and leaned close to him.

“Do you want to go dancing?”

Fin.

(For now).

A/N: Okay loves, thank you for reading, and double thanks if you reviewed! You can still do so, by the way. Anyway, here is my plan. I am going to make a sequel! Yes, I feel like this is the end of this part. But it’s certainly not the end of everything, is it?

I hope you liked it. I hope you wait up for me, for the next bit. I hope that all your dreams come true! I mean, really. I like you a lot, even though I don’t know you. Because you are the only people in my life who read my writing. And I want to be a writer, I do. This is how I work on it. I don’t know why I am still talking!

Goodbye for now!