Yes, I know I know. I solemnly swear that I will finish writing fic before I start posting it from now on, but this fic is done yes!. Anyway,…..
Big shout out to everyone who reviewed Chapter 5 and Chapter 4 (as I didn't manage to include you all in the last update!). You light up my desktop with your loveliness, squee!
Awkward – Yes, I'm putting more up as we speak. Yes, I am rather mean – I've even been referred to as gasp "Evil"! Glad you liked!
Dark-Fairy-Magick – Glad you think so! Thanks for reading!
Michelle – Just hold on to that ledge a bit longer honey! Thanks!
Chi7890 – Thanks, lovely comments! I'm glad you liked Ronnie, I really enjoyed writing him – he is my interpretation of canon Ron! Of course Draco's gonna listen, DH Forever! Nice of you to still be reading!
Sarkywoman – Cheers, glad you think so!
Curious DreamWeaver – Winks back ! Sméagol loves nice commentses!
Chibikat the Canuck – Hope you're okay and thanks for all your sheer loveliness and time! Hugs!
Lyonessheart – Sorry it took so long! As I've said before, I'm "Evil"!
Un morceau de craie - You say you're mean, but I just think you rock! Well, on with the show…
Disclaimer: Unfortunately Draco and Harry are not my person playthings, sob sob.
Chapter 6 – The Truth Will Out.
The dance floor of the club was crammed with bodies all undulating to the throbbing techno beat currently churning out of the immense black speakers hanging menacingly from the ceiling.
From his balcony view of the crowd, Draco felt they reminded him of an ocean – with people writhing together in such close quarters all you could see was the wave of motion throughout the room, rather than any singular person.
Caïna this place was called. Club Caïna.
He remembered the name from a book he'd read years ago, back at Hogwarts. He'd finished all his homework essays for that week and he had been browsing through the fiction section in the library in the hope of a good read. As his eyes passed over the title "Inferno", he found himself reaching for the book and studying the cover.
Dante's Inferno. A book about a man's journey through hell. Having been to a similar place, Draco was immediately intrigued.
From what he could recall, Caïna was in the pit, in the deepest circle of hell, reserved only for those who betrayed their lovers and kin. Draco briefly wondered what kind of symbolic merit he could derive from that information, but felt it best not to pursue the thought.
"Here you go, babe. JD and coke. Sorry I took so long but the bar was heaving."
Richard had returned bearing drinks, having been at the bar more than forty minutes. If Draco were in a different mood, he would have been suspicious about the delay, but he found he couldn't bring himself to care.
"No problem, thanks for the drink." He raised his glass to the other man and downed it in one gulp.
"Hey, do you want me to get you another one of those?" Richard enquired, and Draco noted a strange note of eagerness in his tone, as if he was trying to get Draco drunk – fat chance of that, thought the blonde, unless this place stocks Firewhisky.
"Why not? And I'll nip to the little boy's room while you do."
Quickly entering the toilets and making for the nearest cubicle, Draco slumped down on the seat and rested his head in his hands.
Nothing was going to plan. In fact, everything had gone terribly wrong. And Draco didn't know what he could do to put everything right again.
It was going to be a long night.
"Harrrryyyy!" Ron whined, "Please let's go to the bar. I've been paraded into countless clubs and bars tonight, most of them catering to the homosexual client, not to mention mauled by an excessively demonstrative gay bartender, and still you haven't yet let me have a pint. It's beyond unreasonable Harry – it's downright cruel."
Since entering Club Caïna, Harry's eyes had been scanning the crowd closely, searching for a glimpse of blonde hair.
"Ron. Right now, we're supposed to be rescuing my boyfriend from the clutches of his evil, slimy abductor and then spiriting him back to my castle where I can do unmentionable but exciting things to him. And there may be an apology included in that story somewhere but, none-the-less, until we have accomplished our task then no one is going to be getting distracted by the lure of Newcastle Brown Ale."
Ron gave the frustrated sigh of man in desperate need of refreshment.
"Harry, please. Just a quick one and a nice moment's sit down on that balcony up there. You'll have your bird's eye view and I'll have my nice, cool drink. Look, this is the last place we have to go and it's one of the ones that Jake said Richard was quite a regular at, so I bet there's someone we could ask. Come on, mate, I'll even make it a lager instead of bitter – and I wouldn't do that for just anyone you know."
Harry finally brought his gaze to rest on Ron, finally acquiescing after a beat.
"Okay, let's get a drink, Ron. I just….I really wanted to find him."
"And maybe you will, with a better view and a quenched thirst."
Harry nodded and began to make his way over to the stairs leading up to the second floor bar.
"And Harry?" Ron reached out a comforting hand to the other man's shoulder. "If you don't find him tonight, it's not the end of the world. If you love each other, then it'll happen for you. Maybe not tonight, but it will. Things always work out in the end."
"Thanks. I so want you to be right." Harry smiled gratefully at his oldest friend.
"Mate, when am I ever wrong?"
The two men looked at each other briefly before they, chuckling, made their way to the bar.
"Do you really want me to answer that question?"
As they reached the top step, however, Harry ceased his laughter and his face took on a pained grimace.
"What's wrong?" asked Ron, unaware of the reason behind Harry's sudden tension.
"That's him."
"Who's him?"
"Richard." Harry clarified, "That man in the red silk shirt, over there at the bar, is Richard. As in the one that Draco left with earlier."
Ron peered closely toward the bar area and then turned to Harry with an inexplicable look of glee upon his face.
"So let me get this straight – Richard, the slimy prat that left with Draco that we've been chasing all night, is the same guy that is standing over by the bar wearing a shiny red shirt?"
"Yes." Harry answered, finding it hard to believe that even Ron could need this level of explanation.
"Oh, this is fantastic! Please excuse me for a moment."
Crowing with joy, Ron swaggered over to the bar leaving behind a confused and slightly worried Harry, who watched nervously.
"Richard!" Ron called loudly, gaining the attention of both the man in question and various other customers, "Holmesy, great to see you again mate, how've you been?" The red head grabbed the shell-shocked man's hand and began pumping it enthusiastically, not failing to notice the long awaited approach of Draco himself as he looked over Richard's shoulder.
"Weasley? Ah, well, um, good…I mean great. And it's great to see you, pal."
Aware of both Harry's inquisitive gaze on his back and Draco's entrance into hearing range, Ron played his trump card triumphantly.
"And how's the wife nowadays? Family life must be keeping you busy if those two boys are still the balls of energy I remember, eh?"
Richard was too busy sweating profusely to notice both Ron's eyes flicking to look over his shoulder and the fact that two people had held their breath waiting for the answer to leave his lips.
"Yeah, the boys are still hectic. But Hannah's a great mum, she keeps them in line. She looks after us all really."
At this point a crisp, aristocratic drawl cut into the conversation.
"Really? Does she now? And this is how you repay her?" Draco sneered, "People like you make me sick. You're wife deserves better and so do I." The blonde turned is gaze onto Ron. "Thanks Weasley, I think you've made your point. Please excuse me."
Draco brushed past a perplexed Ron and, glancing briefly at Harry, strode quickly down the stairs towards the club exit.
"Go on then, mate. What are you waiting for?" Ron asked his best friend.
"I don't really know if it's my place." Harry looked torn and not a little miserable.
"Oh snap out of it for goodness sakes! It is your place, you're his boyfriend, now stop whining and go do your job. " Ron replied sternly, pushing Harry toward the stairs.
"Okay, all right – I'm just-"
"Scared, nervous? Mate, channel your inner Gryffindor or something because you're acting like a wuss. And I know – pot, cauldron, black. Old news. Now get going!"
"Draco! Wait a minute." Harry had to jog quickly to catch up with the fast retreating Slytherin in front of him.
"What, Potter?" the blonde replied, stopping suddenly and turning to face the other man. "You and Weasley got what you wanted. I feel nice and silly now, so you can mosey back to your little flat, knowing that tonight's work is done."
"Draco, I'm sorry, I didn't even know that Ron knew Richard. I just wanted to find you, to apologise-" Harry said, trying desperately to reach the now pacing man.
"Apologise? You thought I needed an apology? Well, that's magnanimous of you. You rip out my heart after callously ignoring my feelings but you're sorry about it. Is that supposed to make it okay? Do you think that makes me hurt any less?"
"No, I just wanted to explain-"
"Now you think I want to know why you hurt me? I think it's pretty self explanatory."
Harry sighed, trying once again.
"Draco, I'm sorry about how it sounded this morning. I didn't mean-"
"Save it, Potter. I'm surprised you found the need to scour the town for me just to inform me that you're an apologetic and well meaning asshole, but, none-the-less, thanks for the thought. Have a good night."
Draco turned to walk away but Harry's seeker reflexes allowed him to catch his wrist as he did so. Though Draco remained facing away from Harry, he felt the blonde's silent sigh and watched his shoulders fall in defeat.
"Ah, Harry. I can see you're not going to make this easy."
"I'm not sure what you mean, Dray."
"No, you're never sure, are you?"
"Dray-"
The blonde met Harry's gaze squarely.
"I'm sure now, Harry. You've broken my heart and that's something I didn't think anyone would ever manage to do – something I wouldn't let anyone do to me. But you changed that. You slowly eased yourself into my life and you made me need you. And you've made it clear that those feelings are not returned. I thinks that's all there is left to say."
Draco slowly pulled his arm from Harry's grip and began walking away. Then he paused for a moment, before turning back round to a surprised Harry.
"You know what? Sod that. I do want an explanation, Harry, because I don't understand. These last few weeks especially I've been trying to hide it, trying to uphold my part of the deal precisely so what happened wouldn't happen. I've done everything you wanted, except that time when you were sick last week, but you can't really hold that against me. I don't get it, Harry. Do you know, before all this, I actually convinced myself that maybe, given time, you might come to like the idea of us together in a real relationship. But, even if you never did, even if it was just the no-strings deal we had going for ever, I could have lived with that. I love you, Harry. Even knowing you didn't feel the same way, I would have been happy just for having you in my life."
The open, pleading and hurt expression on Draco's face was enough to allow Harry to find the words he'd been trying to say for weeks now. He composed himself before replying.
"But it wouldn't have been enough for me Draco. This is what I've been trying to tell you. I'm like you – I didn't think you felt the same way about me as I did about you. I didn't….I'm not…. I love you, Draco." Draco gasped sharply at this, "I've loved you for quite some time now. But the thought that you didn't love me, and that one day you'd probably find someone you did love, was too painful. I couldn't face being there when that day came, Draco – I couldn't cope."
"Harry, you love me?" Draco's voice had taken on an awestruck yet hopeful tone.
"Yes, Draco. I love you."
The next thing Harry knew was that he had his arms full of blonde Slytherin and his mouth was being nicely occupied by Draco's soft lips.
"I missed you so much, Harry, I was so down" Draco managed to get out between kisses. "I thought I was never going to get back up again."
"I missed you, too, honey. I love you." Harry answered looking into his partner's eyes.
Draco drew back and held the gaze, not quite managing to smother his smile.
"I assume, however, that you realise you are so not off the hook for this, Potter."
"What do you mean, Dray?" Harry asked, wearily.
"I've had serious mental anguish these last two days, you know. I demand some suitable compensation from you."
Harry smirked at his boyfriend before replying.
"Compensation, you say? What did you have in mind?"
Draco pretended to ponder this for a moment.
"Well, I'm not entirely sure on the finer details but I think we could muddle through. I'm confident with a lot of time and effort we could complete my compensation requirements."
Draco smirk seemed to mirror Harry's own.
"Well, what are we waiting for then? Your place or mine?
"Our place, Harry. Wait a minute? What about Weasley? Surely you don't intend to leave him defenceless and alone in a gay bar?"
"Oh, don't worry," Harry replied, as he steered Draco towards a waiting taxi, "I'm sure "Carrot Cake" is having the time of his life."
Draco shot Harry a bemused look.
"I'm not even going to ask."
A/N: It's done, it's over. I came, I saw, I….well I came and saw, all right? Isn't that enough for you people! Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Please review! Muah xx