Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if that's you.

Author's Note: Have I mentioned that I'm a part of a forum that is hosting a Shipping War? We write fics about our favorite ships to earn points and the ship with the most points wins the War!

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 10); MC4A
Individual Challenges: In a Flash (N); Ethnic & Present (N); Yellow Ribbon (N); Yellow Ribbon Redux (N); Sett to Destroy (N); Gryffindor MC (N); Slytherin MC (N); Brush (Y);
House: Hufflepuff
Assignment No.: Term 10 – Assignment 6
Subject (Task No.): n/a
Other Hogwarts Challenges: 365 Words [10 – Welfare]; Insane Prompt Challenge [865 - Lovers]
Representations: Harry Potter;Harry Potter/Blaise Zabini
Bonus Challenges: Odd Feathers; Demo (Lovely Coconuts; Machismo; Unicorn)
Tertiary Bonus Challenges: n/a
Word Count: 581

(^^)
Irreplaceable Love
(^^)

Blaise carefully carded his fingers through Harry's shoulder-length hair. He loved the way that it felt, so soft and fine and so very different than his own hair. While Harry had grown out his hair after the war in the hope that the added length would make it more controllable, Blaise kept his hair shorn close to his scalp. After he had started dating Harry and they had decided their exclusivity, Blaise had shaved a sowilo and an eiwaz as the runes similar to Harry's infamous scar in the left side, near his ear and clearly visible for all to see. That was the way of his ancestors, as handed down by his mother by her mother and so on backwards to the very first of their clan.

Harry had been so confused when he had seen it, not because he thought it looked strange but due to being so unused to someone being so blatant with their connection to him. Blaise fingered the copper ribbon that Harry wove into the small braids which came from both temples to meet before ending in the mid-back of his head. The ribbon was embroidered with a repeating pattern made up of Blaise's clan name in runes and imbued with as many protective charms as Blaise's mother could fit without risking the material disintegrating under the weight.

His mother was as protective of Blaise's lover as she was over Blaise himself, something that seemed to baffle Harry just as much as Blaise's open courting and then declaration. Harry was used to being treated as easily forgotten, even by those who called him a friend, and to have someone who cared about his welfare had taken a lot of mental adjustments. Harry had a habit of tossing himself between his loved ones and danger, believing himself inherently worth less than them.

And why wouldn't Harry think that, when the circumstances of his life up until their bonding had confirmed it? He hadn't been worth more than free labor to the monsters who had raised him. He had been assigned value as a celebrity by most of the staff and students of Hogwarts, worth only what gossip or rumor drew people's attention. Every adult in his life had put the desires and manipulations of a single man over the health and safety of the child Harry had been.

Knowing that he was going to be upset if he continued thinking about what had made Harry so unaccustomed to being loved, Blaise buried his nose into the crook of Harry's neck and focused on breathing deeply instead. Harry sighed and then relaxed further against Blaise's chest. Blaise wrapped his arms around Harry's waist, drawing him farther onto his lap.

Whatever had come before, Harry had survived long enough for Blaise to earn his trust and love. That alone was enough to loosen the fear and anger that threatened to overwhelm Blaise's senses. Harry was here and content where Blaise could protect him like the precious treasure he was.

This was the perfect end to any day. As part of their daily ritual, cuddling Harry was just as irreplaceable to Blaise as Harry himself. As long as Blaise could hold the smaller man in his arms, he knew that he could handle whatever else was happening in their lives, no matter how overwhelming or chaotic it became.

As long as Blaise had Harry, he could do anything, even convince his hard-headed husband of just how irreplaceable he was.