Redemption

Chapter One

Harry awoke to the soft pitter patter of rain drops chasing each other against his bedroom window. Wiping the remaining sleep from his eyes, he yawned and sat up in his bed. His naked torso prickled with goose bumps against the chill of the room as the silk sheets fell from his body. He smiled to his two furry companions, one, a long haired, black furred mutt, and the other a short haired, brown furred mutt who were both still sleeping soundly near the foot of his king sized four poster canopy bed. Looking to the alarm clock resting on the dark cherry wood surface of his nightstand, Harry sighed and shook his head. “I need a vacation. A very long vacation.” He mumbled as his bare feet hit the plush deep blue carpet that covered his floor.
He smiled when, in a mere matter of minutes, Sirius and Remus were at the door begging to be let out. As the door shut, memories of the previous night at the club entered his mind. He had made his way to the bar with every intention of drinking the thoughts of the breakup he had just been through into oblivion. He had been half way through his fourth -maybe it was his fifth, he didn’t remember the drinking too well- bottle of beer when he felt a pair of eyes on him.
He remembered turning to scan the room before stopping on the most beautiful pair of gray eyes boring into, what seemed like, his very being. After five minutes of time moving entirely too slow, Harry decided that his thirst for adventure couldn’t be quelled anymore. He had noticed with a dull interest that men were starting to gaze at him hungrily as he made his way to the blonde sitting by himself in the corner. It was no secret to everyone that he was bi, and by far, the regulars at the club knew all too well what a depressed Harry was capable of.
“Mind if I sit here?” He had asked.
A smile had toyed on the blondes lips as he nodded his consent. Harry had been in awe of the blonde’s beauty. He couldn’t stop himself from staring. He was sure now that the arousal he had been trying to hide in the confines of his leather pants had been the alcohol he had consumed and not the blonde -whose body had just screamed ‘sex on legs’-he had been talking with.
A smile flitted across his lips as he went about dressing for work. He could still feel the other mans hands gripping his hips, grinding into him, as they moved together in perfect unison. The beat of the music had moved their bodies perfectly when they danced for what seemed like hours. The sound of barking on the porch brought him out of his current thoughts and he sighed.
“I’m coming guys, hang on.” He called. When he opened the door, he couldn’t help but laugh. He saw his two companions growling on the porch, their bodies rigid with playfulness. Both dogs had a sleek, amber eyed, black cat cornered between them and the wall. Pulling the two away, he noticed that the cat looked exhausted and entirely hungry.
“Come on…girl. Let’s see if my ex left any cat food here yeah?” He asked. He was surprised when the cat allowed him to pick her up. “Sirius, Remus, let’s get some breakfast. Come on boys.” He called. He laughed when the dogs bounded inside and sat patiently at their food bowls. Filling them up, he made his way to the counter where he say that cat down on the marble surface. Pulling out a can of wet cat food, he opened it and placed it on a small plate for her to eat. Looking at the I.D tag around her neck, he smiled when he found what he was looking for- a phone number.
“I’ll call your owners when I get home from work tonight.” He said to the cat, which merely looked up at him while licking her lips. “You two had better behave and leave the cat alone.” He told the dogs at his feet before grabbing his briefcase, a mug of his favorite coffee and his car keys. He had been promoted nearly two months ago and that meant longer hours and more paperwork. It also meant he was now a supervisor of a small branch of the law firm he worked at. He was only 21 years old and he had only just graduated from college.
Harry sighed as he steeled himself for a long day ahead. Stepping through the rotating doors, he nodded to the few people who acknowledged him this early in the morning and made his way to his office. Sure enough, waiting on his desk when he sat down was the ever dreaded and ever hated paperwork. Quickly getting lost within the different cases presented to his eyes, Harry’s mind was cut off to even the clock on his desk ticking the hours to lunch away slowly.
“Mr. Potter?”
Harry looked up to see one of the men he supervised standing in his doorway. Said man also happened to be a good friend- he had been Hermione‘s boyfriend-, not that any of the others under him knew that.
“What can I do for you Mr. Mason?” He asked smiling.
Bryan Mason pointed to his watch and then nodded his head to the men standing behind him. Harry knew he was being asked for a lunch break. With a nod of his head, everyone was out the door. Everyone except Bryan and Harry.
Bryan stopped in Harry’s doorway. “You coming Harry?” He asked.
Harry shook his head. “Nah. Go ahead Bryan. I have a lot of paperwork to finish. Oh and thanks for the formality in front of the guys.” He said.
“Hey what are friends for?” He asked as he turned and made his way out the door and down to the lobby.
Harry sighed and picked up an old picture from inside one of his desk drawers. Encased within the glass frame were four smiling faces. One was his. The other two belonged to the two people he missed most in his life. Ron and Hermione had been killed in a car accident on their way home from a night of clubbing. A drunk driver had struck the car and run them off a bridge into an icy river 100 ft. below. Bryan and Harry had been heartbroken. “So much for forever, huh guys?” He asked, his bitter laugh ringing out in the silence of his office.
Shaking his head and pushing away the memories of his now dead best friends, he placed the photo back in the bottom of his desk drawer, wiped a stray tear away and went back to the paper work that was almost half way done.
It was nearly five hours later when Harry’s boss was about to head out the door on his way home. Every light on the third floor was off, save for one. Shaking his head, Vincent Vincarty made his way to the office that said, quite simply, supervisor. Peering in, he chuckled at what he saw. Harry was hunched over his desk, still hard at work, trying to finish the paperwork he had been filing all day.
“Potter, go home. The paperwork can wait.”
“Yes sir. Thank you.” Harry said after he got over his initial shock.
“Not a problem. I’ll expect the rest of that paperwork on my desk by tomorrow afternoon before lunch though.”
“I’ll have it to you by tomorrow morning.”
“There’s a good lad. That’s why I promoted you Potter. Your work ethics are very much desired.”
Harry smiled and packed his things into his brief case, grabbed his empty coffee mug, his jacket and his car keys before following his boss out. Making his way to his black Lamborghini, Harry climbed inside and started the car. When the engine roared to life, the car was slammed into gear and Harry was gone with the screech of tires echoing in the parking garage making his boss chuckle.
It took Harry roughly twenty minutes to get home and change. It was 6:30 and the local club opened at 7. He had a half hour to finish his paper work. Locking his car, he laughed when he heard Sirius and Remus barking at the front door. He was bombarded with licks and yelps of happiness as soon as he entered the foyer of his flat.
“Alright, alright. Come on.” He said walking to the back door. Harry looked down when he felt something rubbing against his legs. He smiled when he saw the black cat staring back up at him. Bending down, he picked the cat up and headed into his makeshift office with his briefcase in hand. Sitting down in his high backed leather office chair with the cat in his lap, Harry picked up his phone and dialed then number on the I.D tags.
“Hello?” A female voice answered.
“Um, yes. Hi. This morning I came across a black cat on my deck. It had your number on the tags. Is she yours?” Harry asked.
“No, she’s my brother’s hold on.”
Harry pulled the phone away from his ear when the girl yelled for her brother. A few minutes later, he heard one receiver being picked up and another being set down.
“Hello?” A sexy baritone voice answered.
“Um, hi. I seem to have found your cat.” Harry answered. ‘Down boy.’ He mentally told himself.
A heavy sigh was heard. “Alright, give me the directions to your flat and I’ll come get her.” Came the smooth and obviously relived reply.
“Sure, go over the St. Charles bridge, drive about half a mile and turn onto Stone Way. Drive for a mile until you see Spirit Dr. I’m the second flat on the left.” He said.
“That’s not far from me. I’ll be there in say, ten minutes?”
“See you then.”
Harry hung up and sighed. The cat had fallen asleep in his lap purring by the time he hung the phone up. He shrugged and started on the paperwork he had promised to have into his boss as he waited for the cat’s owner to arrive.