A Business Affair

Chapter Ninteen: Manipulative Schemes 101


"Oh god, Seamus. What am I doing?!" Harry asked. Seamus was still leaning against the sink casually, listening as Harry questioned himself.

"I don't know. What are you doing?" he asked. Harry frowned and looked up at himself in the mirror. He turned on the water and quickly splashed himself in the face with it.

He looked over at Seamus who was raising a skeptical eyebrow at him. He sighed and turned back to the mirror. He had come out to find Seamus and had been forced to tell him everything.

Seamus hadn't said anything as Harry had told him of his semi-affair with Draco. He hadn't known how to exactly describe it, given that it wasn't quite any kind of normal relationship. Neither liked the other. Harry wasn't sure of Draco's reasons for wanting to do this in the first place.

His reasons were clear. He hated what Ginny had done to him, cheated on him and felt no remorse. He wanted her to feel his pain, know that twisting feeling every time she looked at him. He hated that she didn't feel it.

"I... I'm... Oh god. I'm fucking around with Draco Malfoy!" Harry moaned, burying his face in his hands.

"But why?"

"To get back at Ginny," Harry said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But why?" Seamus pushed, looking for the real reason. He knew that Harry would never do something like this, especially with Draco Malfoy, without a damn good reason.

"Because she cheated on me!" Harry exclaimed then clamped a hand over his mouth. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that," he said, his eyes wide. "Please, don't tell anyone you know."

"She what??" Seamus repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah!" Harry said. "And she doesn't even care either. You should see her, walking around like nothing is wrong. When I ask her if there's anything she wants to tell me, she just says, 'Oh, no, everything is just fine.'"

"Okay, I understand more now," Seamus said slowly. "But what I don't get is why Draco Malfoy of all people?"

Harry turned to him and stared at him, dumbfounded. "I don't know," he said, shrugging. "It just kind of happened."

"Huh," Seamus said, thinking. "Well, you did pick a good one."

"Seamus!"

"What?! He's so hot, Harry. Please tell me you have at least noticed that."

Harry grumbled something and shrugged his shoulders again. Seamus smirked as he watched Harry.

"Good. If you're gonna do this, you've got to do this right."

Harry looked up at him, shocked.

"You don't care about what I'm doing?" he asked in disbelief. Seamus shrugged.

"Of course I do. I want you to be happy and if Ginny isn't doing it, you gotta find someone who will."

"But I don't like Malfoy!" Harry exclaimed, disgusted. "That's not what this is!"

"Uh huh. Right, Harry," Seamus said skeptically, still smirking.

"It's not!" Harry said, outraged.

"Right, well, what have you done so far?" Seamus asked interestedly.

"I'd really rather not go into that," Harry said, looking uncomfortable.

"Fine," Seamus sighed. "But will you at least tell me if he's as well-endowed as the rumors say?"

"Seamus!"

"Oh, come on, Harry! You're the only one besides Pansy and Michael that know. Can't you give me just a tiny hint?"

Harry looked up sharply when Seamus mentioned Michael’s name. "What do you know about Michael?" he asked, ignoring Seamus' question.

Seamus paused, thinking. "From what I've heard, and what I knew in school, they had quite the little relationship back then. Nothing serious, of course, but always good for a shag."

Harry scowled slightly when he heard this. Seamus looked at him closely, wondering what he said that could have caused this.

"Why?" Seamus asked suspiciously.

"No reason," Harry replied quickly. He took a breath and pushed himself off the sink.

"Right," Seamus said, clearly not believing a word.

"Right, well," Harry said briskly. "I better be going. You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" he asked pleadingly.

"Of course not!" Seamus said. "Really, Harry, you can trust me." Harry gave him an uneasy look and Seamus scoffed. "No, really."

Harry nodded and turned to go out the door. Before he pushed it open though, Seamus called after him.

"Don't forget, Harry. I'm here if you need anything, just to talk if you need it."

Harry nodded quickly and disappeared out the door. Seamus sighed to the empty washroom and laughed to himself.

"I have a feeling you're going to need to talk to someone before this is all over."

***

"Draco, you better be careful," Blaise warned him. Draco played idly with the tea bag in his cup as he stared out the window of his living room. Outside, the sky was a grey color and rain threatened to fall in the early winter afternoon.

"Why's that?" he drawled, turning away from the window and facing Blaise who was sitting on the adjacent couch.

"Hermione," Blaise said simply. Draco scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I'm serious. She definitely suspects something is going on between you and Potter. It won't be long until she figures it out for sure."

"Blaise," Draco said plainly. "You think I would let Granger find out that easily?"

"Well, no, but--"

"Right," Draco interrupted him. "Stop worrying about her. If she does find out, I'll take all the blame. I could care less what she thinks of me."

Blaise sighed and rolled his eyes. He knew Draco never seemed to care for his wife. Luckily, Hermione was very open-minded and had been able to forgive him much quicker than Ron or Harry had.

"But she already suspects and Potter isn't the best at hiding things, you know."

"I know," Draco agreed. "That just means I'll have to find more ways of shutting him up."

"Please," Blaise said, cringing. "I don't need to know the details of your sordid affair."

Draco chuckled evilly to himself at the thoughts that entered his mind. Blaise rolled his eyes again as he saw his friends mind starting to wander.

"So what exactly are you doing to Potter? I mean, not 'the acts', the mind messing," Blaise clarified quickly. Draco looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Well, I don't exactly know why he is so eager to cheat on his wife, but he seems committed at least. I think he's having some kind of inner struggle, unfortunately for him, his libido wins out every time. The Weaselette must not know how to please him."

"And you do?"

"Oh, yes," Draco drawled, smirking. Blaise just shook his head.

"But you're not sleeping with him, right?"

"Of course not!" Draco exclaimed, looking horrified. "I wouldn't do that," he said with a shudder.

"Good," Blaise said, relieved. God only knows what would happen if they made it that far...

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Blaise," Draco said condescendingly.

"Sorry," Blaise apologized. "I was just making sure."

"Don't even think that," Draco said forcefully.

"Okay, okay," Blaise said in acceptance. "I won't."

"Good, I won't either."

***

Harry slipped quietly through the door and took off his coat to hang up on the rack. He slipped off his shoes and went in to the bedroom to change. When he came out, he saw Ginny sitting on the couch. Their Muggle T.V. set was turned on and she appeared to be watching it.

She smiled warmly at him as he sat down. She must have forgiven him for running off and believed he had truly forgiven her too. She snuggled closer to him and he resisted the urge to shove her away.

"How was lunch?" she asked pleasantly, looking up at him.

"It was... good," Harry said, looking for the right word. Finding none, he had opted for the old standby reply.

"How's Ron doing?"

"He seems good," Harry replied again.

"Did he tell you whatever it was, you know, when he came by a while ago...?" Ginny said, carefully skirting the issue of what had happened that day.

"You know," Harry said thoughtfully. "He didn't." His mind wandered to that night and he felt a hot flare of anger build up in his chest as he remembered what Ron had told him then. He bit his lip to stop from saying something inappropriate. Ginny actually thought he was fine now. He didn't want to disturb that image... not yet, anyway.

"Well, that's interesting," Ginny said, not noticing Harry's sudden silence. "I wonder what it was."

"Dunno," Harry replied shortly, not trusting himself to say anymore.

They were silent for a minute and laughter could be heard issuing from the T.V. in front of them. Harry stared at the screen, not really seeing it. The anger that had flared up earlier was now festering low in his gut. His shame from being intimate with Draco had all but disappeared.

Every time he was reminded of her treachery he couldn't help but think he was doing the right thing. She deserved to feel his pain. She seemingly held no regret for her actions, why should he?

The T.V. show ended and Ginny turned down the volume and looked up once again at Harry.

"Did you see anyone interesting in the Ministry?" she asked. Harry had to stop himself from laughing as he thought of his encounter with Draco and what she would say.

"Uh, yeah, I saw Seamus for a while and the Minister, of course. He dragged me away talking about something or other," Harry said while rolling his eyes.

"You know he worships you, Harry."

"Worships," Harry scoffed. "He's just relieved I got rid of Voldemort before he went into office."

Ginny flinched when Harry said his name. Harry rolled his eyes. It had been five years for god's sake.

"Oh, Harry," Ginny sighed. "Don't be so pessimistic about people that like you. They don't always have an ulterior motive."

Harry frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. Who was she to talk about people liking him? She didn't even like him! Or so it seemed.

"Yeah," he agreed just so she would let it go. As he suspected, she nodded her head happily. Above her he rolled his eyes but said nothing more.

She pushed herself off the couch and padded into the kitchen. He could hear her rustling around with dishes, obviously making something.

"You want some tea?" she called from the kitchen.

"No, thanks," Harry replied. He switched off the T.V. and stared at the black screen, his own image glaring back at him. The noises Ginny was making filtered through his head and were gone. He stared unseeingly at the screen.

This is right, right? he questioned himself.

Of course it's right, his inner voice kicked in. She deserves to feel the pain, the deception that you feel.

Yeah... Yes.

***

"Good, very good," Wood praised the team as they landed together in the middle of the pitch. Harry touched down beside Michael, ignoring the dark haired boy.

Wood appeared much happier with the days practice. The weather had improved slightly for the day. The sun had managed to peek through the ominous clouds for a little while earlier.

Wood went on for quite a while on all the improvements the team had made since the last practice. Harry stopped listening halfway in as his attention was drawn away from Wood to Draco who had attended once again.

He was standing off to the side with a thoughtful look on his face. He smoothed down his shirt unnecessarily. Harry's eyes were drawn to his slim waist and the jeans that hugged his ass perfectly. Harry shook his head and turned back to Wood, trying to figure out what he was saying.

"...much better! Hopefully we'll improve on this in the future practices. Alright, that's all for today. See you all tomorrow."

Most of the team turned to leave. Harry saw Michael hesitate and move toward Draco. Harry stalled for a minute, crouching down to retie his shoe lace. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Michael approach Draco.

"You look good out there, Michael," Draco said in a suggestive tone.

Michael chuckled softly. "You look good down here," he replied with a smirk.

"I always do," Draco replied pompously and Harry had to stop himself from laughing derisively.

Michael only smirked. "I don't know," he said evasively. "I think I might need some proof."

Harry looked up sharply, forgetting about pretending to do up his shoelace. He felt something boil deep in his stomach. His eyes widened as he saw Draco smirk and lean in very close to Michael, presumably whispering something in his ear.

Michael chuckled darkly and nodded his head slightly. Draco stepped back and slid his arms around his waist. Harry's mouth dropped open at the sight. He remembered that he wasn't supposed to be watching though and quickly looked away, still watching out of the corner of his eye.

"Ready for some fun?" Draco drawled.

"Always."

Draco smirked and pulled Michael closer. Harry watched in utter shock as the pair disappeared in a pop.


~~~**~~~


A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! You didn't think just because it was a holiday I wouldn't post this, did you? :) I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and don't forget to leave me a present by reviewing! :D