The Touch

Disclaimer: The characters belong to the blonde lady in Scotland and a movie studio who doesn’t like that we play with them. But I mean no harm and make no money.


The Touch
By: RD Wind
Beta: WV Sailor (Thank you!!!!)

He sat silently as the television show ended with a soft kiss. Smiling to himself, he realized that more than anything of his previous life, he missed the touch of another human being who loved him.

Harry Potter had never been one that was shown great affection. His friends, ever true, had shown him his first hint of kindness when he was eleven. The Weasleys adopted him as one of their own early on. It was them who had given him his first Christmas gifts. Through his seven years of boarding school, he had lost many of his newer friends, watching them die as the mad man tried to ruin his world. When that same man had threatened to end the lives of his closest friends, Harry had killed him. Harry showed no regret or sorrow at taking another life, it was simply the only option to save the two friends that had saved him from a life of solitude.

But now, some twenty years later, Harry Potter found himself home alone on Christmas Night. His children, both of whom he gave birth to, were away at school. His friends, forever asking him to join them on the holidays had left England for a ‘get-away’ and Harry was not invited that year. His now ex-husband was currently living with his third wife just a few miles up the road.

Harry and Oliver were still friends. After the war, they fell in love quickly and moved in together within a month of their romance beginning. The feelings, fresh, new and complete were easy to believe. The marriage was anything but romantic, but there were two wonderful children born from it. Harry had reflected many times that if he could go back, knowing everything that he had known now, he would still have married Oliver. He would still have been at the club that night. He still would have gone home with him, and moved in with him. Harry still would have loved him.

When the first pregnancy was discovered, it was in the middle of a breakdown between the two. Harry was violently ill and finally agreed to see a healer. When he found out he was pregnant, he swore that he would work it all out with Oliver. They did have some reconciliation and after James Garrett Potter was born, things spiraled.

Harry had the equivalent of the baby blues and was not the nicest person to be around. Oliver went to work, and Harry stayed home, but although it took a few weeks, Mrs. Weasley had Harry sorted out and he felt much more like a parent than someone to be feared. The second pregnancy, just a few short months after the first birth, ended with a miscarriage. Harry and Oliver were fighting over something stupid and Oliver had hit him. Harry fell down a flight of stairs. When they went to the Emergency Room at St. Mungo’s and found out that they had lost a child, Oliver realized that he had caused it.

There were many promises made, and within two months of the miscarriage, Harry was pregnant again. The little girl, Jordan Lily, was born almost fifteen months after James. The only problem was that Harry had an emergency operation to give birth and was alone when it came time. Harry resented Oliver for working instead of being with him during the birth, and as such, decided that there would never be another child. The healers asked if Harry was sure of his decision, and they performed a simple sectioning operation which would prevent future pregnancies.

It was two days later that Oliver showed up at the hospital with a lame excuse of working away from any correspondence. Harry tried to forgive him for the sake of the family, but a few short years later, the marriage ended. Harry kept custody of the children and moved to Ottery St. Catchpole to be nearer the only family he felt he had, the Weasleys. It was about this same time that Ron married Pansy Parkinson and brought a beautiful black haired wizard into the world. Hermione married a man from Austria and had since divorced him and moved back to be closer to the Wizarding world to continue her studies. Ginny and Neville had married as well and she was pregnant within months of the marriage.

So it was that Harry’s children were older than his friends’ children. Oliver still corresponded with the children while away at school, and saw them for a few weeks during the summer, but otherwise, he and Harry remained only friends. Oliver had married again within a month of the divorce and when that one ended some ten years later, he moved in with a witch who was nearly fifteen years younger than he was. Harry simply said nothing unless his opinion was asked.

Harry, over the course of the twelve years of being single, dated. He had even had a very serious relationship or two with men whom he felt he could share his life. But, the beginning of James’ fourth year, he gave up and decided that he would spend the rest of the time he had with his children as a parent and let Oliver do the dating and mistakes. After all, Harry reasoned, he was only going to be a parent to these two. Once they had both left Hogwart’s, he would seek companionship again. Until then, he just gave up.

Chapter Two: A Visit from an Old Friend

Harry had turned off the television and decided that what he missed most in the world was the touch of a human being. His children, who were almost grown, were only home in the summer and it was James’ seventh year. Jordan was in her sixth and trying desperately to leave Hogwart’s at the same time her brother left. Harry was sure there were reasons he had not been told yet, but decided to let her do her best and go from there.

Harry sat back in the rocking chair that he had rocked both of his children and watched the fire in the fireplace. It was connected to the floo, but he doubted that there would be anyone over at this late hour. He stared and remembered the men in his life and sighed. “Will I ever find someone that loves me for me?” He asked to the empty room.

It was at that moment a head appeared in the flames, “Mr. Potter?”

Blinking stupidly, he recognized the blonde hair of Narcissa Malfoy. “Yes?” he answered.

“May I come through?” She asked with as much sincerity as she could muster.

Harry thought about it for a moment before giving permission. He stood and waited for the Malfoy matriarch to step into his home for the first time. When she did, she looked like the angel from the top of the Christmas Tree that he had not put up that year. “How can I help you?” He asked.

“Could we speak for a bit, Mr. Potter?” She asked.

Gesturing to the couch, he asked if she would like tea. When she agreed, he left her alone in the room to put the kettle on the stove. Rather than sitting, she looked around the room. There were pictures of Harry and his two children through the years, a few pictures of her cousins, Sirius and Nymphadora, and the werewolf. There were books on the shelves that, she assumed, held more photographs.

As he returned, he observed her for a moment, taking in the beauty that was Narcissa. He had never been attracted to a woman before and it took a moment for him to realize that her son, Draco, looked very much as she did. Clearing his throat he entered the room. “Here we are, Mrs. Malfoy.” He said handing her a cup of tea.

Thanking him, she sat quietly for a moment sipping her tea and looking at him. She knew she was about to ask for something completely unorthodox, but hoped he was still the man she knew he once was. “Mr. Potter, I have come with a rather odd request.” She stated bluntly.

“Mrs. Malfoy, the fact that you are here is odd in itself, what could you possibly ask of me that would make this visit any less odd?” He said with a grin.

“I assume you know about Draco’s unfortunate run-in with the Ministry?” She asked.

Harry had to think about that one. “Not the particulars, only that he is in Azkaban for a few years.” He admitted to her.

Clearing her throat, she continued, “It seems that my son was caught with a young witch at a club he should not have been, given that his wife was home eight months pregnant.” Harry nodded. “That was two years ago. He has been in Azkaban since, and still has three years to serve before he can come up for parole.”

“Mrs. Malfoy, I am sorry for your losses. Draco and I became friends after we left Hogwarts and I would never have believed it possible that he would be with someone so young that he would go to prison for it. But I have no influence at the Ministry to assist him in getting out early.” He said, trying to comfort her and end the conversation at the same time.

She looked into his green eyes. “Oh, no, you misunderstand me. I did not come through to ask for your assistance in this, I came to ask you to…” she hesitated for a moment, “well, you see, his wife has divorced him, his friends were all gone long before this happened, and he is alone except for Lucius and myself. We write, but I thought, perhaps, you could begin corresponding with him as well.”

Harry was dumfounded. She wanted him to write her son while he was in prison for propositioning a girl that was Jordan’s age. Was she mad? “I don’t know that I can do that.” He said truthfully. “Why would he want to hear from me?”

“Mr. Potter, Draco has made many mistakes in his life. The girl in question was employed at that club, had a false identification card showing her age at twenty-one, and had been there over a year when he met her. I don’t know why but when he asked her to go home with him, she told the police. The club was closed and he was not the only one to get prison time, he just got the longest. She is free to live her life with no more charges than possessing a false identification card. He is guilty, but it is not cut and dried. He had never done anything like that before.”

Harry listened and tried very hard to believe what he was told, even with the holes in the story, it didn’t sound as though it was about which something he could not find out more. “Please go on, Mrs. Malfoy.” He urged.

“At the initial hearing, he was given a bond and allowed to go home. That was when his second child, Andrew, was born. They knew that it was only a matter of time before he had a trial, and although she promised she would wait, the day after the sentencing, she filed for divorce and received custody. We see the children, mostly when she wants to go out, but she does not keep us from them. Draco, however, does not hear from her. We pay her a stipend to keep her in a home and the children in private tutoring, but she is not the type of person we had hoped he would marry.”

Harry stood and walked around a bit while she continued her story about her grandchildren and what kind of father Draco wanted to be when he was released. She didn’t really get his attention again, until she said, “…he asked me to ask you if he could write you.”

Turning, Harry asked why.

“Because, it seems Harry, that you are the only one he trusts outside of Lucius and myself. He knows what type of man you are and hopes that you and he can renew your friendship.”

Dropping his head, Harry thought for a moment. “Yes, he can write me. I will try to write him as well when I have time.” He promised.

Standing as well, Narcissa walked over to him, “Thank you, Mr. Potter. I am sure that the two of you will find a way to be friends again.”

Gesturing to the fireplace, he said, “I am making no promises, other than write.”

With a smile and a whoosh of flames, she was gone. Harry wondered to what he had just agreed.