A/N: General disclaimers and all that jazz. The purpose of this short story is to be a reference point for my depiction of the HP characters and is also the origin story for Harry's mysterious lover in my Potter's Hands stories.

"…surely Harry Potter, boy-who-won and the most-eligible-bachelor has time for romantic interests?

A naked Daphne Greengrass gasped and flopped back down on her four-poster bed in the Slytherin girls' dormitory. Sweat made her creamy skin glisten and her beautiful blonde hair stuck to her in various ways. Her girlfriend and lover, Tracey Davis leaned over her heaving chest and a naughty smirk curled Tracey's ruby red lips.

"Who knew that you had that much tension built up after just one week? The shoots that exhausting?"

"Is studying for the bar exhausting?"

Daphne didn't open her eyes as she responded to her girlfriend's teasing with a sharp retort of her own. The two witches enjoyed each other's bodies at least three times a week and the emotional component made their couplings that much sweeter. Lately though, with their exhausting schedules the witches were not able to enjoy their expected intimacy and fell dead asleep in each other's arms every night.

"Well, I haven't teased you enough and I expect to wring four more earth shattering orgasms out of you before you pass out?"

"You better."

Normally, Daphne would fight back with Tracey's commanding tone, but her mind wasn't entirely focused on their pleasurable activities and Tracey tweaked a nipple. Daphne hissed at the enjoyable pain and rolled her eyes.

"It's stupid. Bloody Harry Potter won't let me rest."

"Speaking of another while I make you melt and especially a man? Shameful."

"Rumour has it that he's doing more with his time than studying his arse off and trying to become the next Merlin. The rumour states that he has a lover."

Tracey's fingers stopped circling Daphne's pebbled nipples and her eyes sparked with curiosity. The boy-wonder had catapulted to stardom and fame even more so after he defeated the Dark Lord and with his career choices. Despite all this, Harry Potter didn't deign to date any of the numerous witches that threw themselves at him, nor did he fool around with them and the lavatories were filled with speculations and gossip.

"And pray tell how this is stopping you from ravishing me?"

"Harry means a lot to many people and I like to think that I am one of his friends. He has done so much for all of us and has asked nothing in return."

"Potter has always been a Gryffindor through and through. What of it?"

Daphne shook her head and curled a hand around one of Tracey's bare hips. Tracey shifted her hips so that Daphne's fingers rubbed against the smooth, bare skin of her snatch and Daphne humoured her girlfriend. She didn't do much more than stroke the sensitive, outer skin and Tracey mewled her protest.

"I told you that I've tried to find out more about Potter's life after he defeated the Dark Lord, but he remains elusive and a mystery."

"So that means that his supposed lover is international or muggle?"

"Both of those possibilities are heavily favoured yes. C'mon Daphne, please."

Happy with this newfound information Daphne pushed two fingers into her girlfriend's folds and Tracey trembled with a low groan. Harry Potter might want his life to remain private, but with how powerful and influential his friends were, his life wouldn't remain private for long.

"…Harry let's slip that he has a date…"

"Drop and give me twenty since Avery can't remember the three-punch combo we've been working on all bloody day!"

"Yes sir!"

Twenty Hit Wizard cadets dropped to the ground and held the up position of the push up exercise. Their instructor didn't give the prepatory command for the corrective exercise to begin and Dean Thomas's arms strained with the effort not to collapse. Sweat trickled down his nose in steady streams and he resisted the urge to wipe it off.

"Down. Up."

"One!"

Many would think that having become an Auror already that the next step in picking a specialty would be easy. As Dean Thomas forced his body to follow his instructor's ever-changing cadence he snorted in disbelief because after Voldemort's Second War, choosing a specialty in the Auror force was anything but easy. He looked to his left and saw his friend Harry Potter robotically crank out one push-up after another seemingly with ease. The boy-wonder, or the man-who-won, was a top candidate in the Auror academy and a natural choice for becoming a Hit Wizard. Many would have thought that Harry Potter would have been given special treatment but with Kingsley Shacklebolt in charge of the Auror force now, Harry didn't receive a lick of special treatment.

"Twenty!"

Dean Thomas breath came in slightly heavy gasps, but he held that same upward position as before and jumped to his feet when their instructor gave the command to recover. The pit bull of an instructor paced back and forth in front of them and called them to attention. Dean Thomas snapped into the position out of muscle memory and kept his gaze locked slightly unfocused ahead of him.

"Fall out!"

"Oorah!"

Many of the Hit Wizard cadets dropped to the ground the moment their instructor left the training area and a few grumbles were tossed at Cadet Avery. The wizard in question flipped them all off and Harry stopped any fights from happening by ordering everyone to head to the showers. Naturally, Harry had been selected to lead their little melting pot of a cadet platoon and he kept them all from falling apart. Dean Thomas walked beside Harry and rolled his shoulders with a groan.

"I think my bones are going to fall out of my skin soon Harry. I don't think my muscles can take all of this."

"Too much roughness for your soft artist hands?"

"Oi!"

The two wizards walked into the locker room and to their lockers that were side by side. They stripped down and stepped into the showers. Twenty minutes later as Dean laced up his trainers he watched Harry button his grey dress shirt up three-quarters of the way and fix his collar. Dean stood up and closed his locker as Harry did the same.

"Look at you dressing up all fancy schmancy. Have a hot date or something?"

"You could say that."

Dean stopped walking and his mouth dropped open. The returning 'seventh' years who were eighth years had quite the workload and although Harry had managed to secure half days for those that already had jobs in the real world, the eighth years didn't have much free time. The eighth years went to lessons for the first half of the day at Hogwarts and went to their job training for the second half. Somehow, Harry had managed to convince the school governors, headmaster, staff members and the Ministry to let them do this and the process had worked out so far.

'For a man that says he hates politics, Harry is good at playing the games.'

For those overachievers or those that worked two jobs like Harry did, their free time was even more limited, and it went without saying that Harry was one of those overachievers. He had completed the Auror academy at a record pace, was training to be a Hit Wizard and was an apprentice to a respectable enchanter at the same time. How he managed to fit all of this into one-day flummoxed Dean, but Harry would always give an enigmatic smile and finger a gold chain he wore around his neck.
"Wait, wait. You're going on a date? With who? Since when?"

"Yes, I am and since last week."

Dean jogged to catch up to his friend as Harry had walked out of the locker room and into one of the many lifts in the Ministry. They rode the lift to the Atrium in silence and Dean followed Harry into one of the lifts that took them above ground to muggle London. Harry stood on the street corner, hands in his pockets and silver reflective aviators on his face. Dean shielded his eyes from the bright sun with his hand and looked about for Harry's date.

"Where's your date?"

"Hasn't arrived yet."

"Oh, come on, give me something!"

Harry smirked and walked up the street. Dean didn't see anyone trying to catch Harry's attention, but Dean's mouth dropped open again as Harry opened the passenger side door to a beautiful deep red Ferrari 488 GTB that purred to a stop on the side of the street. Just as Harry was about to drop down into the beautiful machine a thought struck Dean and he waved his hand.

"Oi Harry! What about the meet up tonight with everyone at the Leaky Cauldron? You've got to be there!"

Harry didn't answer but saluted Dean with two fingers off his brow and dropped down into the car. The Ferrari's windows were heavily tinted, and the car sped past Dean into the evening's traffic. Dean threw up his hands in disbelief but walked the few blocks to the semi-hidden entrance to the Leaky Cauldron and tapped the brick wall with his wand. The bricks moved aside, and Dean spotted his group of friends taking up the back part of the ground floor. He moved his way through the crowd and spoke the password to get through the privacy and security charms.

"Oh, good you made it Dean. Where's Harry?"

The beautiful Hermione Granger stood up to greet him and he kissed her cheek in greeting. She pulled him down and gave him a bottle of butter beer that had been chilling in the ice bucket at the centre of the table. Dean rolled his eyes at Hermione's question and he knew that the only reason he had been invited to join this rather exclusive group of future movers and shakers was because he was slated to be partners with Harry Potter when they became Hit Wizards. Harry had insisted on Dean coming but he very rarely attended these bi-monthly catch up get togethers and Dean took a long pull of his butter beer.

"Harry couldn't come because he actually is on a date right now."

"What?"

The loud, warm conversations that had been taking place between the twelve witches and wizards ended abruptly and all eyes were on Dean. He shrugged his shoulders and threw up his hands when all the witches' eyes tightened in rather impressive glares.

"I don't know anything about her because I've never seen her, and Harry only told me about it because I made a joke about him dressing up after training today. He got into a rather sweet Ferrari, but the windows were tinted so I couldn't see who he was driving away with."

"He means that the windows were black and hard to see into."

Hermione translated some of Dean's response to those that had no idea what tinted windows meant. Luna Lovegood looked at him with that peculiar tilt of her head and when he had first gotten to know the other worldly and ethereal blonde-haired beauty he had thought she was trying to read his mind. Harry had chuckled when Dean had brought it up the next day after his first night out at these get togethers and had stated that Luna wasn't reading his mind (although she could) but was piecing all the little clues in that moment together.

"So, Harry stated that he was going out on a date and didn't infer or go along with your statement?"

"Yes, your Honor he did."

Dean's retort to Tracey Davis's question had the others at the table chuckling. Tracey had recently joined a powerful and prestigious firm and had the makings of a one of the most powerful lawyers (both magical and muggle) soon. She raised a manicured eyebrow and Dean resisted the urge to slouch and met her stare as best he could. Tracey's best friend and lover Daphne Greengrass swatted Tracey on the arm and the raven-haired beauty broke her stare to look at her blonde-haired girlfriend. Like most hot-blooded males, Dean had fantasized about being the 'exception sandwich' in the Greengrass-Davis relationship as the statuesque and already famous model Daphne had become made any bloke star struck.

"Why didn't he let us know? I wonder if he met her over the summer?"

"I bet. Harry didn't want to talk to anyone after he defeated Voldemort and even Sirius didn't know where Harry kept disappearing to."

Hermione had a pensive look on her face and Dean surmised that she was looking back over her interactions with Harry this past summer. Susan Bones took a sip of her wine and relaxed back into the booth where she sat in the middle of Hermione and Luna. The other blonde-haired witch had defied the expectations laid upon her at birth and had also gone into the entertainment industry like Daphne had but had become a singer. Her rise to the top was steady and she worked hard with her label.

Still, Susan kept up with the comings and goings of the world and endorsed and promoted many of her friends' causes with her increasing fame. Sirius Black, exonerated two years ago, now had been Susan's aunt, Amelia Bone's former partner in the Auror force (when she was an Auror and before his wrongful imprisonment) but now worked with the Auror force as a consultant as well as being a strong promoter for the Auror force as Lord Black. It almost went without saying that Susan had almost unrestricted access to come and go from Black Manor (she was a close confidant of Harry Potter as they grew older) and because of this she talked with Sirius often.

"He hasn't said much after either. It's almost as if killing Voldemort took much of Harry's carefree spirit."

A slightly gloomy atmosphere settled over the table, as everyone thought back to those hectic three months were Voldemort had made his final attempt to overthrow the Ministry and take control of England. He hadn't succeeded of course because of many factors but largely in part due to one raven haired, green-eyed wizard that apparently kept secrets from his friends. Hermione had commented last, but Luna clucked her tongue reprovingly.

"I wouldn't say that he has lost his carefree spirit because he needs creativity and free-thinking to keep up with his enchanting apprenticeship after all."

No one refuted Luna's statement as the younger witch had followed Harry into his apprenticeship as an enchanter but her true passion lay in wand making. Dean had been confused at first as to how the Ravenclaw witch had finagled a spot in their group, seemingly skipped a year and wasn't as loony as her nickname made her out to be. Like usual Harry had explained everything to Dean as the two had grabbed a drink after training one day and he simply stated that Luna had no one to try for, no one to impress and no one to recognise her achievements due to both her parents being dead (her mum having died while Luna was still a child and her father being murdered during Voldemort's Second War). Harry had told Luna that he saw her for who she was and who she could be. He would be her friend and recognise her achievements. If she wanted she could try for him. Luna tested out of her year and moved up to be by Harry's side ever since.

"Ah well, we'll kick Harry's arse for not telling us and get the information out of him when we see him next. Whenever that is. Now, let's change topics and get something to eat."

"Way to be sentimental there Ron."

Everyone laughed and the Weasley twins smacked their younger brother upside the back of his head. Dean turned his attentions to the others at the table and flirted with the Patil twins for the rest of the night.

"…already gone early in the morning but always returning with a smile on his face…"

Even after a war that had reshaped magical (and muggle to a degree) England, Hogwarts remained unchanged for the most part, both in the physical appearance and the traditions that created the school. The summer after Voldemort's defeat in the largest of Hogwarts's courtyards, the staff (both human and non-human) had labored hard and long to rebuild and at the beginning of the fall term Hogwarts had regained its classic magical beauty. The sunrise burned back the morning's fog and mist but at six in the morning most of the inhabitants in Hogwarts were still fast asleep. Even war could not change a repeated generational habit of young ones and teenagers sleeping in till the last possible moment.

'Except for Harry Potter. Of course.'

Susan Bones sat on a bench in the Entrance Hall that had a perfect view of the large double doors that led out to the grounds and crossed her legs with a sigh. She rested her chin in her hand and tapped her foot to an unheard rhythm. She needed to have a conversation with someone very important to her after an informative get together with their mutual friends and she wanted to know why one of her closest friends would keep a secret from her. The doors creaked open and a sweaty Harry Potter walked into the Entrance Hall. He stopped as he saw Susan staring at him and smirked as he headed for the central staircase.

"Oh, don't you walk away from me Harry Potter."

"Then I suggest you walk with me Susan because I'm not going to sit and chat right at this moment. No matter how cutely you pout."

Susan rolled her eyes, stood up, and smoothed down her uniform's skirt before following Harry. Her magic thrummed like it always did when she was near Harry and she knew that this was because of the latent magical power Harry let out. He led her to the kitchens and tickled the pear to walk inside. The house elves acknowledged both of them and Dobby appeared from out of thin air to hand Harry a platter full of potions and tall glass of water. Susan winced as Harry pounded the potions back like shots one after another and drain the glass of water in two big gulps. His injuries and subsequent recovery were carefully monitored and recorded by the best St. Mungo's had to offer and Susan had been alarmed at the amount of injuries Harry had sustained over the course of his eighteen years of living.

"Susan? Susan, I'm sure you didn't want to talk about my horrible potion regiment. What's going on?"

"How much longer do you need to take the potions?"

"A few more weeks."

Susan shook her head to clear the musings and looked up into Harry's beautiful green eyes. She knew now that he was taken but she was a witch and she could still look, right?

"So, all of us learned something interesting at our get together last night. You missed both this month by the way and that's just not acceptable."

"I'm a pretty busy guy Susan."

"No, you chose to go on a date yesterday instead of having dinner with us."

"Ah, I knew Dean wouldn't be able to keep that to himself."

Harry walked further into the kitchen and sat down at one of the tables. He waved off the house elves that asked if he needed anything and stared at Susan. She chewed on her bottom lip but didn't join him at the table and internally waged a war over whether she should just let things be or inquire about this new information.

"Why didn't you tell us that you had a girlfriend Harry? Why didn't you tell me? We tell each other everything."

"I feel like I live my life in a goldfish bowl most of the time Susan and the fact that I have kept this to myself felt like one of the best things in the world. Was it selfish? Absolutely. But for once in my life I made a decision entirely on my own and I could do anything I wanted with my choice. I'm not sorry and if I didn't have to tell anyone about her right now then I would have kept it a secret for as long as I could."

At one-time Harry's words, would have struck Susan as hurtful or immature. Instead, she understood Harry's choice and acknowledged him for it. Harry hadn't been pulling his punches (be they physical or verbal) for the past year leading up to his confrontation with Voldemort. Those smart enough to recognise the changes and distinctions Harry was making for himself were considered Harry's friends and Susan had been one of the first.

"Will you tell me some things about her? They don't have to be big, but I just want to know a little about the girl that caught Harry Potter's attention."

Harry chuckled and patted the spot next to him on the bench. Susan sat down and smiled at Harry's wistful look.

"She's a pureblood and comes from a very influential family but not in the conventional or traditional sense."

"So, she's not a member of the Ruling Nine or doesn't have a seat on the Wizengamot?"

"No to both. Her family's power base is derived from an intricate and multi-faceted conglomerate. I would even go as far as to say they have built quite the business empire here in Europe."

Susan's eyes widened at the tidbits about Harry's girlfriend and she wondered how the boy-wonder had kept something like this under wraps for so long and so well. She knew Harry kept as much of his personal life as private as possible and had a great deal of success with it, but his love life was one of the most speculated topics in all the tabloids right now.

"Harry you're not pulling my leg, are you?"

"Just because I did that one time…"

Susan smacked Harry's arm out of reflex and he chuckled again. He stood up suddenly and stretched. Susan admired the distinct lines of his abs and the V-shape underneath as his shirt rode up.

"Stop perving and let's go. I need to take a shower still and get ready for the day."

"Prat."

The young magicals walked out of the kitchen and despite her many different tactics to get more information out of him, Harry remained silent about any more details about his girlfriend.

"…stays out late and comes back after curfew almost every night…"

Ron looked across the table at Harry as the two wizards played a game of wizard's chess and he tried to read his friends blank expression. Harry had been strangely silent about the informational bombshell Dean had dropped at their get together a few days ago, and Ron figured Harry might be relaxed enough to talk about it.

"So, you have a girl now eh?"

"Yes, I do."

Harry moved his rook and didn't elaborate on his answer any further. Ron looked at the board for a moment and then moved his bishop to counter.

"She good looking?"

"I'd like to think so yeah."

Conversation outside of Quidditch or whatever bird Ron was trying to hook up with this time around had never been Ron's forte and information gathering was even lower on that list. Ron knew that Harry knew what Ron was trying to do but Harry was much better at the word/mind games then Ron and he wasn't going to budge even a little on this topic.

"You going to tell me her name at least?"

"Checkmate."

"What? That's not her name! Be serious!"

"No, Sirius is my godfather and I've put you in checkmate Ron."

Ron looked down at the board and saw that Harry had indeed somehow put him in checkmate. He knocked over his king in disgust and looked across the table at Harry. His friend leaned back in his chair, smug smirk on his face and looked at the chessboard in satisfaction. Ron decided to ignore this momentous occasion and made a show of looking at his watch.

"Shouldn't you be going?"

"And where would I be going exactly?"

Ron rolled his eyes and shooed Harry away with his hands. Harry remained sitting but raised his eyebrows in silent inquiry to Ron's actions.

"You're always gone at this time of night and you don't come back into the dorms until way after curfew."

"I didn't know you kept tabs on my whereabouts. Scared to remain in the dorms by yourself late at night?"

"Oh, sod off!"

Ron humphed and crossed his arms indignantly across his chest. Harry chuckled and walked away from the table to the fireplace where Hermione sat curled up reading a book.

"…Harry is hardly ever present at Hogsmeade weekends and is found not to be at Hogwarts or Hogsmeade at all…"

Luna ambled out of Honeydukes on a bright, sunny Saturday afternoon and unwrapped the rather large and colourful lollipop she had purchased a moment ago. Ginny and Susan walked on either side of her and were currently discussing the ever elusive as of late Harry Potter. Both witches were upset that Harry was absent once again from a Hogsmeade weekend and besides the first Hogsmeade weekend out of the castle, he hadn't been gone to one since. This upset Luna as well because she loved any and every minute she got to spend with Harry but at least she was decent enough to respect the fact that the biggest hero of Voldemort's Second War wanted/needed some privacy now and then.

"…searched every inch of Hogsmeade and asked all the shop owners if they've seen him."

"Ginny stop and think for a moment. If Harry asked for the shop owners to keep quiet on his whereabouts here in Hogsmeade do you honestly think that any one of them would divulge his whereabouts to anyone else?"

Ginny frowned at Susan's statement and Luna squee'd as she finally unwrapped her delectable treat. While she appreciated the fact that the plastic wrap protected her candy from unwanted nastiness, did the shop owner really need to wrap her lollipop up so much in the plastic wrap? Susan and Ginny looked at Luna, but the younger witch didn't bother to notice as she shoved the entire lollipop in her mouth. The burst of flavors made Luna hum happily and she closed her eyes.

"The lollipop really that good Luna?"

Luna nodded, with her eyes still closed, and licked the lollipop all the way around as much as she could with the delicious candy jammed in her mouth. She popped the lollipop out of her mouth, spun the treat in her fingers and waited for a lull in the conversation between Ginny and Susan.

"You can't find Harry at Hogsmeade because he's not here and he's not back at the castle either. Harry has left the region entirely."

"What?"

"Is he even allowed to do that?"

Luna sucked on her lollipop and looked back at her two friends with wide, innocent eyes as both other witches looked at Luna incredulously. Luna thought the fact obvious but as Harry kept gently reminding her, most of the world didn't operate the way that Luna's mind worked, and she took her treat out of her mouth again with a sigh.

"Harry has chosen to pursue other interests and activities to fill his free time on the weekends. Haven't any of you noticed how late he stays out at night and how early he comes back the morning after? I imagine he is spending as much of his free time as he can with his new girlfriend."

Susan nodded, and her baby blue eyes were downcast. Ginny shrugged her shoulders to hide the fact that her eyes darkened (Ginny still held a torch for Harry) and Luna knew that although Harry treated Ginny better than he should have, Harry didn't hang out with the red headed Weasley as much as he did some of his other friends.

"I waited for him one morning earlier this week in the Entrance Hall and had a chat with him. He evaded all my questions and he told me very little about her."

"What do you know about her?"

Luna nodded to show her interest as well at Ginny's question and Susan sighed. She tossed her braid over her shoulder and picked at her nails.

"I know that she is a pureblood and is from a powerful family. Harry says that her family doesn't derive their power from the Wizengamot or the Ruling Nine but instead from business and commerce."

"That's really not that surprising. Harry doesn't appreciate the way that powerful dignitaries or politicians are throwing themselves or their daughters at him and he doesn't like to talk about politics in general."

Susan nodded at Luna's statement and the three witches resumed walking down the street.

A/N 2: This story is told in snap-shots and will not be a long, multi-chaptered story. This really was just a monster idea that wouldn't get out of my head and I wrote it out. As always, if you have a question, comment and/or concern feel free to PM me or drop a review.