*~* Chapter Nine *~*

“Harry . . . I’m sorry! I . . . Last night . . . Last night, I slept with Draco Malfoy.”

Of all the things that Oliver could have said, nothing would have shocked Harry more than this. The younger man struggled to keep his balance in the chair on which he sat, gapping at his dismal looking friend. Oliver’s face flushed and he averted his gaze as he fidgeted with the ends of his robe.

“Oliver . . . Oliver, I . . . I don’t know what to say . . .” was Harry’s weak response. After all, this was really none of his business . . .

Oliver’s face fell as he buried his head in his hands. “Oh, god, Harry, I’m so sorry!”

This was the second time that the phrase ‘I’m so sorry’ had left the Keeper’s mouth. Harry scratched the back of his head in confusion. “You’re sorry for what?”

“Betraying you!”

“Huh?”

“Harry . . .”

“You’re a free man, Oliver. You can shag whoever you want to!”

“But . . . but . . . Harry, I love you!”

This caused Harry’s mouth to drop open. So everyone was right! Oliver really had feelings for him! Deep ones, at that. Oh, no . . . how am I going to let him know about Severus without breaking his heart? “Oliver, you can’t. Severus and I . . .”

Oliver winced, nodding reluctantly. “Yeah . . . Malfoy told me.”

“I’m sorry. People tried to tell me that you were interested, but I didn’t believe them,” Harry mused lightly.

“Why not? Can’t picture yourself with me?” Oliver asked miserably.

“No! No, it’s not that! It’s just . . . dating you would be like dating Ron or whatever, and that would be too weird!” Harry moved his chair next to Oliver’s and placed a sympathetic hand on the older man’s back. “You’re a really great guy, just not . . .”

“Yeah, I get it.”

It was Harry’s turn to wince. How could he say this without hurting Oliver’s feelings any more? “Don’t say it like that! I mean . . . you’re . . . well . . .”

“Harry, really . . . I get it.”

“Oh.”

They sat in silence, taking turns sighing and sneaking each other nervous and hesitant glances when the other wasn’t looking. Clearly, both young men were unsure as to how they were going to continue their relationship, now that (almost) everything was out in the open.

Harry spoke first. “Well . . . what are you going to do? About Draco, I mean. How . . . what happened?”

Oliver went on to describe how Malfoy had surprised him at a photo signing, blatantly flirted with him- including the deal with the quill, and finally how Malfoy had forced him to go out to dinner that night. Harry went from amused, to embarrassed and shocked, and amused again as Oliver told the whole story.

“And then we went to this great restaurant, had a surprisingly good conversation and then we went to my place and . . . well . . .” Oliver blushed. “You know.”

Harry smiled. “Sounds to me like you had a pretty nice date.”

“Er . . . yeah. I thought so too. However, when I woke up this morning, he was gone!”

“No! He left? No note, no nothing?”

“Nothing. I must’ve done something wrong . . . Although I honestly can’t figure out what.”

“Well, what makes you say that?”

Oliver produced the snapped quill out of nowhere and places it on the table. “This! He broke it.”

Harry looked the gaudy quill over, confused. “But how can you be sure of that? I mean . . . couldn’t he- or you- have just . . . rolled over on it?”

“Come on Harry! Quills are more durable than that, especially if it’s expensive. I mean, he practically bit my head off because I twirled the damn thing with me fingers!”

“You’re right. I guess he wouldn’t have been stupid enough to leave it on the bed where something could happen to it . . .” Harry’s eyes twinkled. “Unless you two were too busy getting it on with each other that you just didn’t notice.”

“Ha, ha. Not funny. I’m serious here! I want to see him again, but if he’s mad . . .” Oliver swept a hand through his hair. “What could I have done wrong? Hell, I know I’m not a horrible lover!”

Harry blushed like the innocent virgin that he was. “No, I’m sure you’re not . . .”

Oliver noticed and rolled his eyes. “I swear, you need to get laid, Harry! If I weren’t so confused right now, I’d sure as hell make an offer to-”

Harry got up and smacked him on the back of the head. “Don’t start! Now, I’m gonna give you the address to where Draco works and the one to his apartment . . .” Harry dug a red and gold address book out of a kitchen drawer and copied the aforementioned addresses onto the back of a napkin. He handed it to Oliver. “There. Go find out what went wrong, make it right, and see if this thing between you and Draco can’t be something more.”

Oliver broke out in a grin. “Thanks Harry. You’re a lifesaver.” He stuffed it into his pocket, stood up and attempted to compose himself. After all, Draco would definitely not be interested in a scruffy looking man. After a few minutes of primping, he became aware of Harry’s amused gaze on him. “What?”

“Well . . . it’s nice to see you moving on . . .” said Harry smiling widely. “I really hope things work out for you, Oliver.”

Oliver couldn’t help but notice how attractive Harry looked just then, with his hair as unkempt as usual, emerald eyes shinning and a huge, wide smile on his face. His heart clenched at the thought of what he could not have, but he knew that Harry would never be his. With his thoughts going back to the napkin in his pocket, he vaguely realized that in his desire for Harry, he may have stumbled onto something just as appealing . . .

“. . . and if I can help you in any way at all, just ask, okay?” Harry was saying. “So if you need or want something . . .”

“Actually, Harry . . . there is something . . .” Oliver came closer to his perplexed friend until they were barely inches apart. “Can I kiss you?”

Harry’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “But . . . Oliver, I-”

“You say that there can be nothing between us, and I just want to make sure before I leave here today. So, let me kiss you, please. I, no we need to be sure.”

“. . . alright . . .”

Oliver moved in, taking Harry’s face in his hands as he placed a gentle kiss on his friend’s lips. Harry’s eyes remained wide open as he kept his lips pressed firmly together. He wanted to keep it as chaste and simple as possible, so as not to give Oliver the wrong impression.

If you didn’t want to give him the wrong impression, then you shouldn’t have let him kiss you! A part of his brain hissed. Yeah, okay, maybe he should’ve showed Oliver the door when he’d asked for this particular ‘favor’, but hell, what could it hurt?

The kiss ended quickly enough. Harry took a step back, his cheeks warm with color, and looked up at his friend hesitantly. Oliver was grinning goofily.

“God, Harry, now I’m glad that I shagged Malfoy last night! That was an awful kiss!” he exclaimed with laughter in his eyes.

Harry’s face got even redder. He grabbed Oliver by the arm and steered him towards the front door. After yanking it open, Harry shoved him outside and stuck out his tongue. “Go find Malfoy already! Good luck!” Then he closed the door in Oliver’s face.

Shaking his head, Harry went back into the kitchen. “Now, what was I doing . . .?”

“You were just about to tell me what the hell you were doing kissing Oliver Wood.”

*~*

Draco Malfoy had gone into work earlier than usual that day, in order to get his mind off of some . . . things. Work was one of the few things, besides a good game of Quidditch, that Draco could fully throw himself into and forget about everything else. He loved his job- he was able to enjoy and express himself, not to mention make tons of money, at the same time.

Draco was sitting at his desk in his office on the very top floor of his sky scraper office building, sifting through design after design of various articles of clothing when his secretary, a pretty young woman with raven hair, came over the intercom.

“Draco, dear, there’s a young man out here to see you,” she practically sang. He could hear the smile in her voice.

“What’s his name?” he asked lazily, tossing a rather horrid design for a suit into the wastebasket next to his desk. “What company is he from?”

There was a brief pause before she replied, “Oliver Wood. He says you two are old friends.”

Draco sneered. Old friends? Like hell. One night of sex didn’t make them old friends. “Send him away.”

“. . . he says he’s not leaving until you see him.”

“Tell him to go to hell.”

There was a moment of silence in which Draco assumed that Oliver had taken a hint and left. Good riddance! I hope I never see that bastard again. However, Malfoy’s relief was shot to hell when the yelling began.

“DRACO, OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!” shouted Wood as he began banging against Draco’s steel door. “I’ll stay out here all day if I have to, but you WILL talk to me!”

Draco jumped to his feet, his normally pale face red with anger. He strode across the room and yanked the door open. “Just who the hell do you think you are, huh? How dare you come barging in here like you own the place or something, demanding to see me? You have absolutely no right!”

Oliver was slightly taken aback by Malfoy’s anger. “Woah, whoa! Look, I just want to talk . . . about last night,” he added softly.

Draco was aware of his secretary leaning over her desk to get a better view of the action. Sparing her an evil glare, he grabbed the front of Oliver’s shirt and pushed him roughly into his office, slamming to door shut behind him. “It seems to me like you came here to cause a scene, Wood,” he sneered. “I don’t think we have anything to talk about.”

“So it’s back to last names, huh?”

“Yes.” Draco eyed the older man with suspicion. “How the hell did you find me?”

“Harry gave me your address this morn-”

At the mention of Harry’s name, Draco’s face twisted and on it formed a look of pure rage. “POTTER?!” he exploded. “You went to POTTER this morning?! After last night?! You bastard!!”

“I’M a bastard?!” Oliver demanded incredulously. “ME? Last NIGHT?! YOU were the one who left without a goddamn word the next morning, so don’t you-”

“It’s always about damn Potter! Saint Potter! I wish he’d go to hell, I hope the Death Eaters get him, I hope-”

Oliver quickly advanced on Draco, grabbing his arm roughly and pulling him close. By now both men were seething with anger, both engulfed by the feeling that they had been done wrong the previous night. “Don’t you dare say another bad word about Harry! After all he’s done for your sorry ass, after all he’s done for all of us! So just shut your mouth!”

Draco growled and shoved Oliver back so hard that he almost fell to the floor. “If he’s so great, then why don’t you go crawling back to him, huh? Go and screw him, because I know that’s what . . . who you wanted last night!”

“What the hell is your problem?” Oliver demanded, a scowl on his face. “You whiny little brat! You knew how I felt about Harry the night you came to that store, flirting with me and all of that. You knew!”

Yeah, and maybe I was stupid enough to believe that I could actually change that. Draco suddenly felt drained. His eyes fluttered closed warily. “Yes, you’re right, I did. Now would you please leave? I have work to do.”

“I want to know why you left last night.”

Draco laughed bitterly and plopped down in his big black office chair. “You ass. Don’t pretend as if you don’t know.”

“I’m serious! What did I do wrong?”

“ . . . you’re pathetic. Pretending as if you’re innocent and clueless isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. Hell, admitting what you did won’t either. Nothing will, so just get lost!”

Oliver frowned. This hadn’t gone the way he’d planed. He had told himself that he wouldn’t yell under any circumstances, but the ridiculous things that had come out of Malfoy’s mouth . . . He sighed. “Fine. I’ll leave, give you time to cool down . . . but I’ll be back. I’m not giving up. I, er . . . I like you, and I hope that we can at least be friends . . . if not more.” He fished something out of his pocket and threw it onto Draco’s desk, then left.

“Damn, that bastard,” Draco swore loudly, glaring at the plain box resting in front of him. “Just what is he playing at?”

*~*

“You were just about to tell me what the hell you were doing kissing Oliver Wood.”

Harry whirled around to face one very angry Severus Snape standing in the door way of the kitchen, conveniently blocking the only exit out of the room. Harry nervously began wringing his hands together. Severus had seen the kiss?! This was bad news and the mildly possessive look in Snape’s dark eyes that made Harry gulp didn’t help at all.

“Umm . . . well . . .”

“Maybe I didn’t mention this before,” said Severus in a silky, surprisingly clam voice as he seemingly glided closer to Harry, who was shuffling around anxiously. “But along with a divorce, I most certainly will not tolerate any sort of straying.”

“Straying . . . right . . . no straying . . .” muttered Harry. By now, he was backed up against the kitchen counter, hands gripping it tightly as Snape towered over him. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Severus’ black ones. “But . . . you see . . . you totally misunderstood the situation.” Harry laughed a little.

“Oh, did I?” Severus replied disbelievingly. “You can’t deny that you were kissing him.”

“Well, yes I let him kiss me . . . which was really a stupid idea, now that I think about it . . .” Harry rushed on. “But that was only because he fancied himself to be in love with me . . .”

“Uh-huh . . . and . . .” Snape lowered his face close to Harry’s.

“And he was trying to get over me . . . Draco- he wanted him, you see . . .”

“Right . . . and . . .” Closer still . . .

“And I made the kiss as horrible as I could, so he would loose interest . . .”

“Hmm . . .” Even closer. “And did he?”

“Er . . . I believe so. I threw him out and sent him straight to Malfoy! See, it was nothing! Now, I think I should get back to packing-” He tried to slip to the right and away from Severus, but the man placed a firm, but gentle hand on his arm, keeping him in place.

“You’re not going anywhere.” These punctuated words were said against Harry’s lips, sending shivers up and down the younger man’s spine.

“Er . . . I’m not?”

“No. When get through with you, you won’t even want to look at another man ever again.”

*~*

Remus watched in astonishment as Sirius finished packing his belongings for him. After a rather eventful night of heart-breaking discussions and . . . lovemaking (Remus winced) . . . Sirius was back to his usual impulsive, reckless self. His trademark grin that screamed, “I’m up to something, look at me” was firmly in place as he threw the last article of clothing into the suitcase. He snapped it closed and turned to Remus, still smiling.

“Okay, let’s start on my stuff.”

Remus just stood there gapping. What the hell had he agreed to last night?

“C’mon, c’mon! Let’s go! You were right Remus, this is going to be great.” He grabbed his lover’s arm and pulled him over to the closet where he began tossing clothes out and onto the floor.

Somewhere in his attempt to get Sirius to compromise about marriage and children, Remus realized that things had gone horribly wrong.

*~*

Oliver Wood was becoming a stalker. He found himself driving past Draco Malfoy’s office building so often that a police officer had pulled him over and asked Oliver if he was lost. After assuring the cop that everything was alright, he decided to enter a café across the street from Malfoy’s headquarters and sat by a window, drinking tea and pretending to read a magazine, while, in all actuality, his eyes kept darting over the office across the street.

He for a while he sat there until, at about lunch time, he noticed a sleek silver BMW convertible exit the building’s parking garage, it’s driver speeding down the road like hell on wheels. A silver, high priced car? Oliver immediately jumped to his feet and ran out to his own car, cranking it on and following the BMW. If he was correct, driver inside should be no other than Draco Malfoy . . .

However, the convertible’s windows were tinted, just like his own windows, so Oliver couldn’t see a thing as both cars came to a stop at a light. Oliver slammed his car in reverse, backed up a bit, and slid his car into the lane next to the other.

To his luck, the convertible’s top began to slide back, revealing the person inside. It was indeed Draco Malfoy, looking devilishly handsome in the sports car. He couldn’t help but gape at the sexy man, who’d taken the tie from around his neck, removed his jacket, rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt and unbuttoned the top few buttons of it. The sight of Draco like that brought back delicious memories of the night before.

He was snapped back to reality by the honking of horns, realizing that Draco had already sped off, leaving him sitting at a now green light. He drove on, catching up with Draco’s car a little up the road. He hung back, so as not to be obvious, and followed the other man directly to his house.

When Draco drove his car into the driveway of his huge mansion, Oliver jumped out of his and greeted the other man as he headed towards the door of his house.

“Draco! Wait a minute!”

The blond whirled around, dropping his keys. “What . . . you freak!” he exclaimed, noticing the car that Oliver had arrived in. “Were you following me? Have you become some deranged stalker or something?”

“I think so,” said Oliver softly. “This is what you’ve driven me to.”

Draco didn’t say anything.

“Did you like my gift?”

“ . . . I haven’t opened it yet.”

Oliver was relieved. At least he hadn’t said, “No you fool, I incinerated it!”

“While I’m mildly flattered that you’d stalk me, Wood,” Draco said as calmly as possibly, “I think you should just back off. I told you to get lost, and I meant it.”

“Come on, I just want to talk!”

“No! Go away!”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Draco looked confused. “What the hell is wrong with you? Can you not comprehend my words or something?” He suddenly laughed. “Oh, I get it. This is some joke, right? You and Potter are probably laughing it up behind my back, huh? Trying to have some fun at my expense! Well, fuck you!”

“What? Why do you keep dragging Harry into this? He has nothing to do with-”

“Oh, he doesn’t, does he? Get out of my face, you lying bastard!” With that, Draco swooped up his keys and opened the door to his mansion. He quickly went inside and slammed the door in Oliver’s face.

So . . . this had something to do with Harry, huh?

*~*

“You’re not going anywhere.” These punctuated words were said against Harry’s lips, sending shivers up and down the younger man’s spine.

“Er . . . I’m not?”

“No. When get through with you, you won’t even want to look at another man ever again.”

The impact of those words and the voice in which they were said caused Harry to shake slightly. Oh, lord, what had he gotten himself into? What was Severus going to do to him?

Severus dug on hand into Harry’s soft hair and the other slid around his waist, pulling Harry as close to Snape’s body as possible. Harry let out a little squeak as Severus swooped down and pressed their lips together. Harry helplessly opened his mouth to Snape’s demanding tongue and gasped in surprise as the older man suddenly slammed his hips against Harry’s. The man’s knowledgeable hands began roaming all over Harry’s body.

Oh, my . . . was Harry’s only coherent thought as Snape continued his devastating kiss.

Harry found himself enjoying this very much, and showed it by willingly kissing Severus back. But just as he was getting into it, Severus pulled back, leaving Harry confused, disheveled and whimpering.

Severus gave Harry his infamous smirk and whispered seductively into his ear, “Touch another man again, and that is what you’ll be missing.” With that, Snape spun around and swept from the kitchen, robes impressively billowing out behind him as he went.

Harry blinked rapidly, steadying himself against the counter. He just stood there, dazed for a while, until something hit him. Grinning foolishly, he practically skipped into his bedroom and found Severus eying some photos of him and his various Hogwarts friends that sat on his dresser.

“There are quite a lot of pictures of you and Mr. Finnegan,” Severus noted a bit harshly.

Harry laughed. “You’re jealous! You’re jealous of Oliver, and now you’re jealous of Seamus! This is great!”

Severus pinned Harry with an evil glare. “I am not jealous of either of the two,” he asserted, although deep inside, he did feel a little threatened by Wood. After all, the boy was closer to Harry’s age, successful, good natured, and they had a lot in common. Severus did not want to loose this chance for a baby.

“Uh huh. That’s why you practically threw me on the counter and had your way with me back there. It’s alright- I’m not going anywhere, Severus.”

“ . . .”

“Since you like staring at those photos so much,” Harry said easily, “You can pack those up for me . . .”

*~*

“There is no need for you to tell that insane Godfather of yours about our decision right now,” Snape asserted as he eyed the paper bag that Harry was carrying into the kitchen, trailing behind him slowly.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call him names, and I think we should,” said Harry, placing the bag on the table in the kitchen. “I mean, he’ll bitch and moan at first, but once he realizes that there isn’t anything he can do about it, he’ll get over it. And the sooner he gets over it, the better.” Harry produced two plates and forks out of nowhere, along with two mugs filled with tea. “After all, I would like to have him give me away at the wedding, since you insist on me being the woman here.”

Snape opened the bag and pulled out its contents. White boxes. “I hope you’re ready for the explosion that’s sure to come after we tell him. What is this?”

“Chinese food.”

“Chinese?” He immediately began tearing at the boxes with interest.

“Who would have guessed? Severus Snape, Chinese food fiend.” [1]

Harry was about to dig in when the doorbell rang. “I’ll be back in a sec.” He leisurely strolled over to the front door and looked out of the peep hole. There were Ron and Hermione.

Well . . . they’re here . . . might as well tell them . . .

Harry took a deep breath, opened the door and grinned. “Hey guys, you won’t believe what I have to tell you . . .”

Author’s Note: Cliffy, again, I know. Can’t help it. Anyway, unless you guys want me to I won’t keep putting the ‘next chapter’ notes up. Someone got on me about that . . .

As for the part about Sirius and Remus, you’re supposed to be confused about that part. All will be explained later . . .

Please review!