Chamber of Secrets, or Treasures Discovered

Title: Chamber of Secrets, or Treasures Discovered in an Attic
Author: CiraArana
Rating: NC17
Pairing(s): Harry/Teddy (also mentions Harry/Ginny, Teddy/Victoire, Harry/OMC, and Teddy/OMC)
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended. All characters engaging in sexual activity are 16 years or older.
Summary: After Ginny's death, Teddy is determined to take care of his grieving godfather. But then he finds out things about Harry that turn his world upside-down.
Warnings: character death (pre-story), mourning, mentions of infidelity and het, angst, and a duck.


Chamber of Secrets, or Treasures Discovered in an Attic


It was a cold, blustery day. The silver light of the sun shone through ragged clouds, its warmth carrying the promise of spring. But the air was still winter-chilly, and the wind cut through robes and into exposed faces and hands.

It tugged insistently on the red-and-gold quilt covering the form that lay on the low black marble plinth.

The group around it huddled close together, heads bent, listening to the soft voice of a small, rotund man. Several of the women were crying.

At a discreet distance, more people had gathered. They furtively craned their necks to see and strained their ears to hear what was spoken. Some of them carried flowers in their hands. None of them was crying.

The ceremony ended, and the Ministry official stepped back with a reverent bow. Slowly, one after the other, the mourners approached the table and laid their tokens down on the red-and-gold quilt; flowers, letters, small figurines. The crowd behind them seemed to take a step forward.

A young man with glossy, blue-black hair who stood at the end of one row of mourners cast a contemptuous, angry glance at the crowd. Vultures, all of them, Teddy thought heatedly. Couldn't they leave them alone just for one day?

There was the unmistakable flash of a camera, and Teddy grimaced. Of course they couldn't. Vultures.

He turned back when the man beside him moved towards the pedestal, his fluttering coat revealing the dark red of Auror robes underneath. Teddy watched silently, and worriedly, as his godfather simply stood there, head bent, staring down at the covered body of his wife.

The silence radiating from the watching crowd vibrated with breathless tension.

Harry remained motionless for long moments, then bent down and touched the quilt for a second. He nodded once and stepped back.

A whisper ran through the gawking crowd.

Teddy's hair flashed into a fierce, deep-red of anger. He stepped closer to Harry, who had resumed his previous spot, and protectively curled one hand around his elbow. Harry swayed softly on his feet and leant into Teddy but never looked up.

They stood like that while the rest of the mourners took their last good-bye from the deceased. The Ministry official raised his wand, and with a flash, the body burst into flames. The flames thickened, darkened, and froze into a tomb. Another flick of the official's wand, and silver letters appeared on the luminous black surface. They read:

GINEVRA MOLLY POTTER

born August 11 1981

died March 11 2020

The dates were followed by the usual epitaph of loving mother, wife, and daughter. Teddy eyed the simple inscription and wondered if Ginny had ordered that, or if her mother had decided for her. He thought it was probably the latter. Oh, the words were true, but reducing her to only that was … Well, she would have hexed the Ministry official for sure.

'They ought to add that she was a marvel at the Bat Bogey Hex,' he said under his breath.

Harry didn't answer, but Al, on Harry's other side, turned his pale face towards Teddy and gave him a shaky smile. There were traces of tears on his cheeks.

'Yeah,' he said roughly. 'Mum would've liked that.'

Opposite them, Mrs Weasley began sobbing and turned to bury her face in her husband's shoulder. Arthur, looking old and grey, absently patted her head, his faded blue eyes fixed on the black tomb.

The Ministry official approached Harry and spoke softly to him, words of condolence and comfort. Harry nodded, but Teddy doubted he heard anything. His eyes were as fixed on Ginny's tomb as her father's were. The official smiled gently, and after briefly placing a hand on Harry's shoulder, went to give what comfort he had to the grieving parents.

Teddy watched for a while, his hand still on Harry's elbow silently offering what support he could, as the little round man spoke to Mr and Mrs Weasley, before movement from the corner of his eyes caught his attention. The crowd was dispersing, though most of the wizards and witches gathered were moving towards the tomb instead of away from it. They walked slowly and hesitantly, eyeing the family, but Teddy could see that that was going to change soon.

He could see the naked curiosity in their faces, and he couldn't help missing the flashing cameras.

'Vultures,' he hissed under his breath, and then turned to Harry, who still hadn't budged. He tightened his grip on Harry's elbow and leant forwards to whisper into his ear. 'Let's get going, Harry. The vultures are closing in.'

Harry nodded, but didn't speak, didn't stir. Teddy looked around at the others, family and friends. They all seemed frozen, clinging to each other, still unable to understand that Ginny was gone.

The sound of gravel crunching let Teddy know that he had better do something.

'Come on, Harry,' he said softly but firmly. 'Let's go home.'

He gently pulled on Harry's arm, and the man followed without resistance. Thankful, Teddy looked beyond Harry to the children. Lily was clinging to Jamie, crying and hiccoughing helplessly. Jamie had one arm wrapped around her thin shoulders. He was blinking and swallowing rapidly. Al clutched Jamie's other hand. He was, silent, no longer crying, and the tears were drying on his face.

'Jamie, Al,' Teddy called them as he wrapped one arm around Harry's shoulders. 'Let's get you home.'

They looked at him, eyes dark with confusion and pain. Teddy ached to hug them and tell them it was okay to cry. He knew how they felt, and he knew they'd feel better once they'd had the opportunity to let go of their pent-up emotions.

But not here. Not in the open, where the gapers would only stare at them or offer false sympathy, where the reporters would take pictures and count every tear.

To prevent that, they'd have to move now.

'Vultures,' Teddy repeated, nodding his head towards the people who were approaching. 'Let's go before one of us is forced to hex them.'

Jamie swallowed and took a deep breath, then gave Lily a gentle shake and began leading his brother and sister to the Apparation point. Teddy moved ahead of them, tugging Harry along, and did his best to shield both his godfather and his cousins from the curious eyes.

Over his shoulder, he tried to catch someone else's eyes, to signal them to follow, but no one was looking his way. Mrs Weasley was by now weeping loudly, clutching at her husband. Auntie Hermione, who was usually in control of every situation, was crying almost as loudly.

She and Uncle Ron made an odd little copy of Mr and Mrs Weasley, senior, Teddy thought and had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing. It wasn't really funny.

'Oh, Mr Potter, we are so sorry for your loss!'

The simpering voice startled Teddy, and he realised with dismay that the first, most curious members of the crowd had reached them. He gave the witch, who was smiling at Harry and attempting to take his hand, a fierce glare.

'Would you mind leaving him alone for now?' he snarled at her.

She turned her sickly fake smile towards him. 'Oh, but I was only offering my condolences, surely you can understand that I, that we all, want to support Mr Potter in this difficult time, and we want him to know that—'

'You can support him best by leaving him and his family alone,' Teddy interrupted her and half-turned to call, 'Neville! We're leaving!'

Neville, a friend of the family and Teddy's old professor, jumped a little and looked up from wherever he had been staring. He blinked at Teddy.

Teddy suppressed an impatient sigh as the witch, now joined by others, began to babble at Harry again. 'Neville, no time!' he called urgently. 'Are you up to helping the children Apparate?'

Neville blinked once more, and then seemed to realise what was going on. His face changed from vacant sorrow to steely determination. He came forward, followed by Uncle George, whom Teddy's words had apparently roused as well, and who was looking equally determined. Wordlessly, they moved between the Potter children and the curious and guided them away from the tomb.

Teddy shot one last glance over his shoulder, decided that the others were adults and could take care of themselves, and followed with Harry by his side.

Soon Teddy was having difficulties moving forwards at all. The wizards and witches who wanted to offer condolences or shake Harry's hand or take pictures of him and throw questions into his face seemed to multiply from one second to the next. Teddy stopped telling them to leave Harry alone and began pushing his way through, not caring on how many toes he stepped, figuratively and literally.

But he couldn't shield Harry from the reporters. Teddy had seen only two before, but now there were at least five of them. They tried to follow, pushing and shoving as much as Teddy did to make way through the crowd. Teddy gritted his teeth and tried to hurry faster.

They had almost reached the Apparation point when one reporter, who seemed to have been waiting there for them, stepped in front of Harry. Before Teddy had time to do something, a camera flashed into Harry's face.

Harry, startled out of his trance-like state, stopped and blinked at the wizard in front of him.

Grinning, the wizard ignored Teddy's snarl and took the chance to question Harry.

'Mr Potter, how do you feel? Did you like the ceremony? Did you like the official's speech? What will you do now? How do you—?'

He suddenly snapped his mouth shut and stared at Harry, who was staring right back. Teddy quickly looked at Harry's face, and even he felt the intensity of Harry's green gaze like a minor physical shock.

'How do I feel?' Harry repeated the question. He spoke slowly and almost without inflection. 'How does one feel when one loses a part of oneself?'

He shook his head and simply resumed walking. The reporter took one startled step to the side to let him pass, and Teddy hurried after his godfather, his stomach twisted into a sick knot.

How does one feel, indeed?

He caught up to Harry and took hold of Harry's elbow again, even though he didn't have to lead Harry anymore. Harry was striding toward the Apparation point, not looking left or right, ignoring the milling people and shouted words. Teddy did the same, his fingers tight around Harry's elbow.

When they reached the Apparation point, the crowd thankfully fell back a little to leave them room to manoeuvre. Acidly, Teddy thought that if those people weren't afraid of being Splinched by standing too closely to someone who was Apparating, they'd be pouncing even now. They would probably have risked being Splinched nevertheless if they had thought they might be able to catch a hike to Harry's house by hanging on. But the last wizard who had tried had spent several months in St. Mungo's Spell Damage Ward before he had moved to Azkaban. The wards around the Potter house were tight and vicious.

Mindful of how little mistakes might trigger the wards, Teddy grasped Harry's shoulder as his godfather fumbled for his wand. Harry slowly looked up into Teddy's face.

It still shocked and thrilled Teddy every time he realised he was taller than his godfather.

'You okay to Apparate?' he asked softly. 'Or shall I take you?'

Harry considered him for a moment, and then lowered his hand. 'Take me,' he said just as softly.

Teddy swallowed and took a deep breath to calm his suddenly racing heart before he wrapped one arm around Harry's waist and Apparated them.

*

It was almost dark by the time Teddy finally closed the door behind the last guest.

They had held the traditional wake at the Potter house, and Teddy would stay there that night. He would have, anyway, but both Lily and – surprisingly – Jamie had asked him to stay. Teddy had hugged Lily and told them not to worry. He wouldn't be going anywhere.

'Good,' Jamie had said, his voice hard with suppressed emotion. 'Dad … Dad needs … someone here.'

Then he had fled to his room and hidden there, leaving Teddy to deal with the friends and family who had gathered to sit, eat, drink, and comfort each other. Weasleys and Potters, Neville and Luna with their families, members of several professional and non-professional Quidditch teams, all of them Ginny's friends – the house had been full of people.

When it had become clear that Harry wasn't able to do more than sit still and sip whatever drink he was holding, and Auntie Hermione wasn't going to stop sobbing uncontrollably, Teddy once more took charge of the situation.

He welcomed the guests, told them where to sit, where the drinks were, and when the food would be ready. He gave orders to Harry's elf Dinky, who had shown up the day old Kreacher had died, claiming Harry was her master, and thus managed to avert a domestic drama.

He made conversation and answered questions, prevented Mrs Weasley from hexing down Jamie's door when the boy refused to come out to eat with them, and rescued the increasingly overwhelmed Lily and Al from the hugs and caresses given by equally overwhelmed and helpless family members. Teddy took his cousins upstairs, where he stayed with Lily until she cried herself to sleep, and then sat first with Al and later with Jamie, letting them talk – or not – about whatever they wanted, instead of trying to make them "come to terms with the loss of their mother”.

When he returned downstairs, he'd had to calm down Dinky and then Mrs Weasley, who had tried to take over the kitchen and didn't like the house-elf defending her territory.

It had been a very long, exhausting day, and Teddy was tired. His feet hurt and his head was pounding. All he wanted to do was sit down and have a quiet moment for himself. But when he reached the door to the living room, and saw Harry still sitting there on the sofa in front of the fireplace, all thoughts of a few minutes alone left him.

Harry looked as though he hadn't moved since he had sat down after returning from the cemetery. He was holding a half-empty tea cup and staring down into the milky-dark brew, with the same distant expression on his face he had had all day.

All around him remained the scattered mess of the guests. The small table in front of the sofa was cluttered with tea cups and plates littered with the remains of sandwiches and tea cakes. Crumpled cushions and forgotten napkins lined the sofa. Mismatched chairs had been shoved haphazardly into small groups of three or four, and the carpet covering the wooden floor had been rucked up by careless feet.

Harry looked strangely out of place in this domestic setting, Teddy thought. A warrior used to hard and bloody battle, sitting on this strange battlefield, confused as to how he got there, bewildered by the loss of a battle he had never wanted to fight at all.

Teddy's heart clenched painfully, and for the first time that day he was fighting tears. He took a deep breath and swallowed before he entered the living room. When he sat down on the sofa, Harry looked up from his tea cup.

His eyes were as blank as his face. He looked as though he wasn't quite there but hiding in some happy place inside where the pain couldn't reach him.

Teddy bit the inside of his cheek to fight the rising tears. Wordlessly, he wrapped one arm around Harry's shoulder and pulled him into a loose embrace, leaving it up to Harry to decide whether he wanted the comfort or not, just showing that someone was there for him.

At first, Harry didn't move and just kept looking up at Teddy. Then he sighed heavily, put his tea cup down, and – to Teddy's surprise – turned towards him and burrowed into his side, resting his head on Teddy's shoulder.

Teddy pulled Harry closer and hugged him tightly, a wave of love and protectiveness rising inside of him so suddenly and forcefully he almost choked with the emotion.

For Harry to actively seek out comfort the way he had done meant that he was in a lot of pain, more than he would like to admit to and more than he could carry alone.

Forcing himself to keep breathing steadily, Teddy began rubbing Harry's back in a gentle motion. He rested his chin on the top of Harry's head and stared at the softly glowing embers in the fireplace. Safe in the knowledge that Harry couldn't see his face, Teddy relaxed a little and, concentrating on breathing evenly so that he wouldn't start sobbing, he let the threatening tears spill.

He wasn't crying for Ginny, or because the reality of her death had suddenly hit him. He wondered if it was cold-hearted of him not to mourn her more. Of course he was sad that she had died. He had liked her; she had been kind of an aunt to him. He had never been very close to her, though, and the distance had grown further after he had finished Hogwarts and only visited the Potter house from time to time instead of spending his whole summer with them.

Besides, her death hadn't come as such a surprise. She had been ill for a long time, having attracted an unidentified disease of the lungs during her early Quidditch career that the Healers couldn't cure entirely. Neither magical nor Muggle means were able to conquer this disease that had begun to affect primarily young wizards and witches.

Twenty-odd years after the disease had first begun to infect magical people, there still was no cure, and there was still no explanation for why it had started to spread. Some Healers claimed it was a reaction of the body's magic to the increasing number of magically adapted Muggle technologies introduced to the wizarding world.

Potions, spells, and a special diet could keep the disease at bay, and Ginny had mostly been fine. But each winter when she had come down with a cold – which she invariably did – she had worsened. This past winter, they had all known, would be her last. It hadn't come as a surprise. Everyone had had the time to get used to the idea for months, if not years, and Teddy couldn't find it in himself to cry over her untimely death or wring his hands at the unfairness of her fate. She had been prepared, and she had accepted it, more or less. He couldn't cry for her.

But he could feel for those who mourned her. He could – and did – cry for Harry. He knew how it felt to lose someone very close, his grandmother and only surviving relative having died when he was barely fifteen. He understood the pain Harry was in.

Unconsciously, Teddy tightened his arms around Harry. Harry moved, and Teddy immediately loosened his embrace, worried he had been squeezing Harry too much. But Harry didn't draw back. Instead, he shifted slightly on the sofa and slid his arms around Teddy's waist.

'Glad you're here,' he said roughly into Teddy's chest. Teddy bit the inside of his cheek so hard he tasted blood.

'Glad to be here for you,' he managed to reply, his voice thick.

Harry nodded, which made his cheek rub against Teddy's chest. Teddy hoped fervently that Harry was too wrapped up in his own world to notice the sudden, frantic beating of Teddy's heart.

'Don't go yet?'

Teddy swallowed, then swallowed again, and carefully tightened his embrace. 'I'm not going anywhere.'

He hoped that Harry wouldn't notice the trembling in his arms, and that if he did, he would chalk it up to the day's strains or exhaustion. And that he would put the hoarseness of Teddy's voice down to emotional strain or repressed tears. And that he would please, please think that the tiny hitch of breath in Teddy's throat came from Teddy fighting tears.

Anything was better than Harry realising the truth. A truth Teddy chastised himself for while he could do nothing to stop it. No sane person would feel like this when the one he loved was suffering so much.

But that in itself spoke the truth, for Teddy had been half in love with Harry for years. Having Harry so unexpectedly close – wrapped in Teddy's arms, leaning into him, asking Teddy not to leave – made Teddy's body react in an entirely inappropriate manner.

The wild beating of his heart could be excused. As could, perhaps, the quiver in his arms. The uncomfortable, traitorous tightness of the trousers he wore under his robes, however, was neither innocuous nor excusable.

Teddy bit the inside of the other cheek and tried to surreptitiously move his lower body away from Harry.

He couldn't burden Harry with this, not on top of everything else. Harry would try to be understanding, but he would be uncomfortable if he knew how much his mere physical proximity aroused his godson. He would draw away and thus lose the comfort he so desperately needed right now.

Teddy could suppress his own needs.

No matter how much it might hurt.

Teddy concentrated on his breathing and forced his erection away. His groin tingled sullenly, and he bit the insides of his cheeks again to stop himself from whimpering with pain. His Metamorphmagi abilities were a true blessing, but it hurt like fuck to Morph his cock out of an erection.

When he finally thought he could speak without his voice trembling or betraying his inner turmoil, Teddy turned his head to speak softly into Harry's ear. 'How are you holding up? Will you be all right?'

Stupid words, perhaps, but the best he had to offer.

A deep, heavy sigh moved Harry's body as he turned his head to stare into the last remains of the fire. 'It's going to be hard,' he said, his voice vague, as though he was talking to himself. 'It's going to be hard to learn to live without her. To accept that the door won't open to admit her again. To get used to the fact that we'll never again sit here in front of the fire and talk half the night through.' He shivered and sighed again. 'It will be very hard.'

Teddy's arms tightened reflexively as another wave of fiercely protective emotions surged through him. Deep inside, something soft and trembling writhed with pain, but Teddy could ignore it and concentrate on his burning need to comfort and protect Harry.

'I'll take care of you now,' he whispered to Harry. 'Don't you worry about a thing. I'm here for you and I'll take care of you. Of you and Jamie, Al, and Lily. You aren't alone. You won't ever be alone. I'll always be here for you.'

Just as Harry had always been there for him whenever Teddy had needed him. He had been there when granny had died, offering Teddy a home in his house and family. He had been there when Teddy had found out from others that Victoire was dating a class-mate after her return to Hogwarts. He had offered Teddy a patient ear and shoulder to cry on (though Teddy hadn't cried), when Teddy had received a letter from Victoire in which she informed him that she had a new boyfriend.

Harry had also been there for him during the painful and confusing months after Victoire had finished Hogwarts and tried to get back together with Teddy. He had supported Teddy's decision and vocally defended him when everyone had been leaning on Teddy to take her back – because couldn't Teddy see they were made for each other? – and they couldn't understand when Teddy wouldn't.

And although he had never known it, Harry had been there for him when Teddy had, in consequence of the Victoire situation, realised that he was attracted to men. Harry hadn't known the truth, but his smile, his hand gripping Teddy's shoulder tightly, and his promise that, 'Whatever you do or decide, Teddy, you know I'll support you' had been enough.

Harry had always been his rock and anchor. Now it was Teddy's turn to be there for Harry, and for Harry's children. It was his turn to be strong for them.

'I'll take care of you,' he repeated, soft voice sibilant with determination. When he looked down at Harry's face, he could see Harry smile in the dim light of the room.

*

Teddy had known that it would be hard to be there for Harry and support him while hiding his own emotions and yearnings. And the following five weeks sadly proved Teddy's assumption right: it was hard. It was even harder than he had thought it would be.

After the first week, Teddy decided that he would never, ever think of the present situation and hard again in the same sentence, because that was … a really, really bad innuendo.

So the word of choice was difficult. It was difficult. It was even more difficult than Teddy had thought it would be. Being in Harry's company so often – which Teddy was – continuously challenged his resolve. He caught himself prolonging hugs and touching Harry more often, whenever he thought he could get away with it. And then Harry would lean into him, often, Teddy thought, unconsciously, and it strained Teddy's resolve even more. But worst was the way Harry would attempt a smile or a conversation, only to falter back into silence and stillness. It made Teddy's heart ache with helpless tenderness.

To compensate, Teddy did his best to help Harry in every other way possible. He took care of such things as instructing Dinky and dealing with shop-owners, reporters, and the public. He visited Harry at least twice a week, after work or during the weekend, and made Harry go out of the house, take a walk or fly, or visit Uncle Ron and Auntie Hermione. He Floo-called Harry every other day to at least talk a few words with him, and each time he had seen or talked to Harry, he afterwards sat down to write a short letter to Lily.

The children had gone back to Hogwarts after the funeral, and Teddy knew they were worried and felt slightly guilty for leaving their father alone. Teddy had promised them – when every one of them had separately taken him aside before they left – that he would keep an eye on Harry and let them know how he was. He wrote most of his letters to Lily, because he knew that this way, the information would reach Jamie and Al, too. She had no trouble walking over to the Gryffindor table and the Slytherin table respectively to tell her brothers how their father was. And she always wrote back, either to him or to her father, and Teddy knew how much these letters meant to Harry.

It seemed the only time Harry ever really smiled anymore was when he read one of Lily's letters, full of Hogwarts chatter and worried questions about 'how you're doing, Daddy, please go out often with Teddy, we love you.'

After the third week of being there for Harry, taking care and watching him smile over Lily's letters, Teddy knew that the "half” part about being in love with Harry had turned into "deeply".

When, during the fourth week, Harry Floo-called Teddy and gave him a tired but genuine smile, Teddy added "madly" and gave up fighting himself.

Now the fifth week since the funeral had almost passed, and Teddy was getting worried. He had not heard from Harry – neither by Floo call nor by owl – since he had seen him last on Saturday. True, Harry had seemed to be getting better and sooner than could have been expected from his demeanour on the day of Ginny's funeral, but he was still not well.

He was still prone to brooding, locking himself away, and forgetting about the world around him. This included such insignificant things as eating, sleeping, or writing letters to his children.

At first, Teddy had been able to keep his rising worry in check, knowing that if something had happened to Harry, Dinky would instantly have gone either to Uncle Ron and Auntie Hermione or to Teddy himself. But she would only do so if Harry wasn't able to tell her otherwise or so badly hurt that his life was in danger. She would not make Harry eat or sleep when he ordered her to leave him alone, or make him get up in the morning when he refused to do so.

So when Teddy returned home that day from his office at the Ministry, and there was still no owl waiting for him with a letter from Harry, not even a note on the kitchen table in Harry's illegible scrawl, he couldn't keep his worry down anymore. Without taking the time to change out of his work robes, he marched straight to the fireplace, grabbed a pinch of Floo powder, and went to check on Harry.

The torches in the Floo Room of the Potter house sprang to life when Teddy stepped out of the fire, but no one came to greet him, not even Dinky. Harry was home, then. Otherwise, Dinky would have come to tell the unexpected visitor that her master was out.

Teddy brushed the soot off his robes and swiftly crossed the room towards the door. It opened when he approached. He paused in the hall and cocked his head to listen. The house was eerily silent.

'Harry?' he called.

There was no answer. Teddy felt his heart beat faster with worry. Quickly, he walked down the corridor towards the entrance hall. 'Harry?' he called again, louder this time. 'Harry?'

'Master is in the living room.'

Teddy whirled around when Dinky suddenly spoke behind him. The tiny house-elf looked disapprovingly up at him.

'Is he all right?' Teddy asked anxiously.

Dinky huffed. 'Master sits in the living room, asking Dinky to bring tea all day. Master is not doing anything.' She shook her head, glared at Teddy as if Harry's lethargy was his fault, and disappeared with a soft pop.

Teddy relaxed a little, but hurried on. Harry being up was good news, but Harry sitting all day and doing nothing but drinking tea wasn't.

The door to the living room was closed, and Teddy debated for a moment whether to knock or not. Then he realised that he was being ridiculous – Harry must have heard his voice and be aware that Teddy was here. He'd also know that Teddy would come to look for him. Nevertheless, Teddy opened the door cautiously to peer into the room before he entered.

Harry was, once again, sitting in front of the fire, a tea cup in his hands. A tray with a teapot, creamer, and a plate of biscuits was set on the small table in front of him. The difference was that this time, the living room was tidy, and two armchairs had replaced the sofa. Harry's head was bent so low that his hair hid his face. He didn't look up.

Teddy's heart clenched painfully at seeing Harry so still and silent and lost. The familiar urge to walk over and gather Harry into his arms, never letting him go again rose inside of him. He'd felt like this many times in the weeks since Ginny's death. Like he'd done all those times before, Teddy took a deep breath, counted to ten, and then allowed himself to act.

Quietly, he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. 'Harry?' he said softly. 'Are you all right?'

There was no reaction, and Teddy quickly walked over to Harry's armchair, where he sank to his knees to peer worriedly up into Harry's downturned face. 'Harry?' He reached out and touched Harry's knee.

Harry's lashes fluttered, and he blinked liked someone who had surfaced from a dream. He raised his head and looked at Teddy, a little surprised. Then a small smile turned up the corners of his mouth. Teddy was relieved to see that Harry's eyes, though dark, had lost their distant expression.

'Teddy. Hullo.' Harry's voice was a little hoarse, but it became clearer the longer he spoke. 'Sorry, did we agree to meet up today? I think I lost track of time a little.'

Teddy frowned. 'No, we didn't arrange to meet, but I didn't hear anything from you for a week. And yesterday, I got a letter from Lily asking about you. She said you haven't written to her for ages, and she's worried about you. And, well, I was worried, too!'

Harry's smile grew a little, and his eyes cleared until they were bright and present. Teddy's heart fluttered a little with happiness.

'Aaaahh.' Harry drew the sound out. 'And so you came to check up on your poor, old, heartbroken godfather. Without, I deduce from you still wearing your Ministry robes, eating dinner first.'

Teddy flushed, embarrassed and stung. 'Yes, well, I said I was worried.' He got back to his feet, turning away. 'Sorry to be a bother.'

Harry's fingers curling around his wrist stopped Teddy. He looked back down at his godfather.

'Sorry,' Harry said with a rueful smile. 'You meant well and I mocked you for it. I'm sorry, Teddy, I didn't meant to belittle you.' Harry let go of Teddy's wrist and took his hand instead. 'Thank you for worrying about me.'

Teddy's cheeks burned, and he had to look away from Harry's bright, intense eyes. His heart hammered against his ribcage. 'Uh, yeah, well, we all worry. And you're not old.'

Harry laughed and let go of his hand. Teddy felt only a little sorry for the loss of contact, because hearing Harry laugh like this was better than anything. He felt the roots of his hair tingle as it changed colour, and the strands that fell into his face turned bright turquoise.

'That colour looks better on you,' Harry said, eying Teddy's hair. 'Better than the brown. Why did you keep that for so long?'

Teddy ducked his head, pleased with Harry's praise but embarrassed at the question. 'Um. I just, you know, thought it'd fit. Better. Um. Didn't think bright was, you know. Right,' he stammered, flushing even more at sounding like a teenager.

'Oh, Teddy.' Harry laughed as he got up and ruffled Teddy's hair. Teddy made an annoyed sound and ducked away. 'You're too nice to me. You'd better stop being so considerate or you'll turn me into an egocentric bastard. Well, more of one.'

Teddy opened his mouth to protest, but Harry flapped his hand at him. 'No, hush. We need to teach you to be a bit more self-centred. Speaking of which, are you hungry? You can't have eaten before you came, and I'm sure Dinky would be delighted to prepare dinner for us.'

'Dinner is waiting for Masters to stop talking and go sit down.'

Both wizards jumped a little at Dinky's unexpected appearance. The elf was holding a wooden spoon almost as large as she was and gave both Harry and Teddy a hard look.

'Dinky is very happy to have dinner for Master and young Master Teddy,' she declared, sounding threatening rather than happy. 'Dinky can serve dinner right now.'

Harry looked questioningly at Teddy. 'Would you like to stay?'

Teddy's affirmation was interrupted by the growling of his stomach. Dinky huffed and tapped the end of the spoon onto the floor like a ceremonial staff before she popped out.

'I hope you didn't have any plans for tonight, because if you do, you'd better escape now,' Harry said as he turned towards the door. 'Dinky is bound to have cooked up a storm, and she won't let us get away without having seconds.'

Teddy shook his head as he followed Harry out of the room. 'No plans, no. Apart from having dinner, but I'd rather eat Dinky's cooking than try something on my own.'

Harry laughed softly as they entered the dining room where Dinky was waiting for them to serve the soup, and Teddy's body tingled with happiness. The second laugh in one evening, and he had caused both! Teddy almost floated to his chair.

They sat down to eat, not speaking for a while and enjoying Dinky's cooking skills in silence. Dinky, unusually, stayed until Harry had half-finished his soup before she vanished. Teddy looked curiously up from his bowl.

'What's up with her?'

'With who?'

'Dinky. She's been glaring more than usual, even at me. And she was watching you eat like a nesting dragon just now.'

Harry huffed, swallowed his last bit of soup, and sat back. Instantly, Dinky was there and, glaring at them, refilled both his bowl and Teddy's. Harry eyed the steaming soup for a moment.

'I suppose she's glad about the opportunity to feed me properly,' he said softly. 'I haven't been eating much lately.'

Teddy eyed him sharply. Harry didn't look that much thinner, but for a house-elf to start acting the way Dinky was, things must be dire.

Harry must have noticed Teddy's expression, for he smiled and shook his head. 'No, don't worry, Teddy. It's not as bad as Dinky seems to think. I just haven't had a lot of appetite.'

'She's worried about you,' Teddy realised. Harry's eyes fell and he concentrated on eating. 'She's worried and shows it the only way a house-elf's allowed.' Teddy's spoon clattered to the floor as he sat up, alarmed. 'Harry!'

Harry raised his eyes slowly. He looked worn and tired, but he gave Teddy a small smile. 'I'm fine, Teddy. Better than most of you seem to think. I've just … I've just been thinking a lot. Trying to get used to … Well. And it's Dinky's first human death. She's probably heard all kinds of stories about how humans react to death from Kreacher, and she's expecting me to act like Sirius's mum did when Regulus died. Lots of shrieking and crying. I think you can remember her portrait.'

Teddy wasn't convinced. 'But a house-elf wouldn't start acting like a dragon mother without reason! And her glaring at me has nothing to do with you not eating, has it?'

Harry sighed. Teddy could hear he was getting annoyed. Well, good, he thought. Anything was better than brooding and looking lost.

'You haven't written to Lily, either, though she said you promised to write her once a week,' he continued. 'She's worried, you know, that something happened to you, too, when she didn't hear from you for so long. And I can't believe you'd simply ignore that.'

'Teddy.'

There was a clear warning in Harry's voice, and Teddy subsided immediately.

'Sorry,' he mumbled, staring down into his bowl. 'I'm just worried and … and I want to help you. Sorry.'

Harry sighed, again, and Teddy felt bad for being such a bother. Really, what was he thinking? Harry was an adult, and he had a lot of friends. Why would he want or need help from his godson?

'Teddy.' Harry's voice was a lot softer this time, and he reached out across the table to touch Teddy's hand. 'I understand. And I appreciate that you all worry about me. But, Teddy, you mustn't believe everything the Prophet writes about me.'

Teddy's head snapped up. 'I don't!' he cried, indignant. 'I don't even read the stuff they write about you!'

Harry smiled a little at him, but before he could continue, Dinky popped up and exchanged their soup bowls for plates piled high with steak-and-kidney pie. Again, she waited until Harry had made a sizable dent into his serving before she vanished. Teddy surreptitiously watched her in the hope of perhaps finding out if she was freaking or if Harry was truly worse than he claimed. But apart from her intent observation of Harry eating and an occasional flutter of her large ears, he detected nothing.

'You really don't have to worry so much about me, Teddy.'

Harry's voice jerked Teddy out of his thoughts, and he raised his head. Harry's face was serious but kind. Teddy looked away.

'I can't help but worry,' he said quietly, and then had to swallow the lump in his throat.

'I know. Really, I understand. And perhaps you will understand better a little later.'

'What?' Teddy frowned in confusion.

Harry nodded his head at Teddy's plate. 'Eat up, or Dinky will glare some more at you. I'll tell you later. It's not the kind of thing to talk about over dinner.'

'Tell me what?' Teddy was mystified.

Harry shrugged. 'A little story. The truth. Why you don't have to worry so much about me.'

He wouldn't say more and asked Teddy about his work instead. Teddy was unwilling to change the topic, but he loved working for the Experimental Charms office at the Ministry and got enthusiastic telling Harry about the Charm they had developed to replace the paper plane Interdepartmental Memos. Harry listened attentively and asked all the right questions, and the rest of dinner went by without Teddy noticing.

Afterwards, Teddy found himself sitting in one of the deep armchairs in the living room, a fire crackling merrily in the fireplace to his right. Dinky arranged a tray with two crystal glasses and a bottle of golden shimmering liquor on the small table before she vanished with a bow.

Harry poured both of them a generous amount of Amberdew and handed Teddy a glass, then sat back in his armchair, sipping the whisky. Teddy took a cautious sip and coughed a little. 'Uh, wow, strong,' he wheezed.

Harry grinned and raised his drink in a silent toast before he took another sip. Then he lowered the glass to his lap and regarded Teddy with a serious, searching expression in his eyes that made Teddy want to fidget.

'I promised you a little story,' Harry began suddenly. Teddy sat up a little straighter and clutched his glass. 'The truth, so that you won't have to worry so much.' Harry nodded slowly, still watching Teddy closely. 'And you're old enough to hear it.'

Teddy blinked. 'Old enough? What? I—'

'It's not a story you can repeat to Jamie or Al or Lily,' Harry cautioned, 'Even Ron shouldn't know. Hermione, well, I think she knows. I'm sure Ginny told her at one point. But you mustn't tell any of the children, Teddy, no matter what.'

Teddy swallowed and flexed his fingers around his glass. His stomach twisted with both excitement – he was about to hear something not even Harry's children or his closest friend knew! – and dread, for what could be so bad that the children and Uncle Ron mustn't know?

'I. I won't tell. Promise,' he croaked.

Harry nodded. 'Good. Now relax, Teddy. It's nothing bad. But you said yourself how much Lily worries, and I don't want to … Well, they shouldn't know. Not yet.'

Teddy tried to relax but all he did was almost drop his glass, so he decided he'd rather be tense. Harry didn't notice, anyway, because he was staring into the fire, the flames dancing over his thoughtful expression.

'Um. Why Uncle Ron?' Teddy couldn't help ask. 'I mean, why can't he know?'

Harry slid his eyes to the side to look at him. 'He was always an overprotective brother.'

Teddy frowned. 'This is about Ginny?'

'About Ginny and me. I'm telling you this so that you can stop worry yourself sick, Teddy. I'm not the one who has lost weight over the last couple of weeks!' Teddy opened his mouth to protest, but Harry shook his head sharply and went on. 'Well, the first thing you need to know and to believe is that I'm not as desolate and heartbroken as the Prophet claims I am. I mourn the loss of my wife, yes, but not the loss of a lover.'

That wasn't at all what Teddy had expected, if he had thought about what to expect, and he blinked stupidly. 'Huh?'

A small, tight smile tilted the corners of Harry's mouth. 'The big secret, Teddy, is that I haven't been in love with Ginny for a long, long time. Neither has she been in love with me, really.'

Teddy gaped at that. 'W-what?'

Harry didn't seem to have heard him. His eyes looked inwards, and he spoke softly. 'We haven't been lovers for almost ten years. We were friends, very good and close friends. And I … I loved her and mourn her as the best friend I ever had.'

Teddy sat in stunned silence. Never in his life would he have expected Harry to tell him this. He had always believed that, if there was a happy marriage, then it was Harry and Ginny's. If there was proof of the mate-for-life concept, then it was Harry and Ginny's marriage. The reason why he had never even dreamt of being Harry's lover was that Harry was so absolutely, undoubtedly, and happily in love with Ginny.

He couldn't believe it. He had seen them together, had lived for three years in their house as part of their family, and kept visiting afterwards. Never would he have thought that they hadn't been … together anymore.

'That is why you can't tell my children.'

Harry's quiet voice startled Teddy from his stunned thoughts.

'You are surprised. They would be devastated,' Harry continued.

Teddy shook himself out of his stupor and nodded. 'Yes. Yes, of course. I … Um.'

'Not what you expected,' Harry said with a lopsided smile.

'Uh. No.'

'No. Not what anybody would have expected. Except, perhaps, Hermione.' Harry shrugged.

'But,' Teddy began, and then bit his lip. No, he couldn't ask.

'But what?'

'No, it's all right. I shouldn't ask this, anyway. Sorry.'

Harry twirled the glass between his hands. 'You wonder why I've been languishing like a bad caricature of a heartbroken lover.'

Teddy flushed and looked away. 'Uh. Yeah. Sorry.'

Harry was silent for a long time, so long that Teddy began to believe he'd never explain. But Harry spoke at last, and his voice was so thick with emotion that Teddy hung his head and closed his eyes. He couldn't bear to look at Harry.

'Because losing her was hard. Despite the fact that we both knew that it was … coming. It was hard to let her go, egotistical bastard that I am. And because I miss her, Teddy. We've been together for so long. I've known her since I was a child and we've been married for almost twenty years. When you share a house with someone for that long, you get used to them.

'And I can't get used to the fact that she isn't here anymore. That I can't talk with her anymore. I used to talk with her about everything. I find myself turning around to tell her how hard being alone is and … and she isn't there.'

He took a deep, shaking breath. Teddy bit his lip and tried to surreptitiously wipe his eyes.

'She was my best friend,' Harry went on after another long silence that had only been broken by the crackling of the fire. 'She knew me in and out. Better than I wanted her to, most of the time. And that's … that is what I miss.' He gave a short, harsh laugh. 'I said I'm an egotistical bastard. But you see, Teddy, as soon as I stop being an arse I'll be all right.'

Teddy made an unidentifiable noise of protest, which Harry didn't seem to hear. He was back to staring into the fire. There were no tear-tracks on his cheeks.

Teddy opened his mouth, but closed it again. He didn't know what to feel or what to say. Harry's words and his actions didn't seem to match. Or perhaps they did, and Teddy simply couldn't understand well enough. It just was too confusing. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it. It had no effect save for catching Harry's attention. Teddy saw him looking and shrugged.

'It's … I don't know what to say,' he confessed helplessly. 'I don't understand.'

Harry frowned a little. 'Understand what? There's nothing for you to understand, only accept.'

'But,' Teddy raised his hands to gesture. 'I'm sorry, I know it's not my business, but … I just … I mean … how?'

Harry's frown deepened. 'How what?'

'How … how did it happen? I mean, you were married, and you were so happy, and I just don't understand.'

Harry's frown melted away, and he nodded slightly, as if to himself. He drained his glass and put it next to Teddy's on the table, then leant back in the deep armchair. It left his face half in shadow, and the light glinting off his glasses obscured his eyes. Teddy shuffled his feet a little, nervous and worried he had said too much, or the wrong thing, and that Harry was angry.

'You don't have to be in love to be happy,' Harry said calmly. He didn't seem angry. 'Being happy together doesn't mean being in love with each other. Neither of us was in love with the other, and so we could be happy together. As friends and partners. Just not as lovers.'

Teddy nodded slowly. 'Yes. Okay. Just …'

'It's always a little shattering when you find out that things aren't what you thought they were, and that reality is different from what you saw. Especially with respect to a godfather.' Harry's lips twisted in a smile that didn't look happy. 'Though I tried not to disappoint you.'

'You didn't disappoint me!' Teddy immediately cried, anxious to correct Harry's impression. 'It's just … I just can't wrap my mind around it yet, you know. And, and I wonder … I'm sorry, I'm not trying to pry, I just wonder how … how you fell out of love. If you were so happy together.'

Harry's glasses flashed as he shook his head. 'We weren't always that happy together, Teddy. Not while we were, well, in love. We were happier once we stopped trying to be lovers. How we fell out of love?' He shrugged. 'People change. You fell out of love with Victoire.'

'Yeah, but that was because—' Teddy began and then bit his lip, hard. Inwardly he cringed. This wasn't really the best time to tell Harry, not about his attraction to men and … definitely not about the other thing, either.

'Because?' Harry prompted with a smile.

'Um …' Teddy floundered. He felt his cheeks heat and tried to hide in the shadows of his own armchair.

'Because things changed,' Harry finished the sentence. 'Because you changed. Because you grew up. Because she wasn't what you thought she were. Does any of that fit?'

'Uh. Yeah. Um. Some.'

'See.' Harry smiled gently. 'Things change. Some people manage to change with them, or change together. Or adapt to the change. Ginny and I … didn't. We just … fell apart.' He stopped and was silent for a while. Then he exhaled audibly.

'I've never spoken to anyone about this before,' Harry went on. His voice was thoughtful. 'Only to Ginny, of course. I don't … speak about myself easily. But perhaps I ought to. Tell you. You're an adult and I. Ah. I never got to know my godfather well. I always wanted you to have all the things I that I didn't. You want to know, and I promised myself I'd never … hinder you. Keep things from you. And, unlike me, you're old enough to understand. So.' Harry took a deep breath. 'So, I'll tell you.'

Teddy swallowed hard. 'Thank you,' he whispered, his voice almost lost in the crackling of the fire.

Harry nodded his head slowly. Abruptly, he began to talk, his voice quiet and hesitant.

'We'd been married only five years when the trouble started. Or perhaps it started before, I don't remember, but it was after Lily was born that, well, that things changed so much. I was so busy with Auror work, still working my way up the ladder and trying so hard to make a difference. Ginny, she was busy with three small children. When I came home, we were both tired and only wanted to be left alone and relax.

'We didn't have much in common anymore. We didn't have much to talk about. She wanted to tell me about her day and the kids, I wanted to talk about my cases. We both pretended to listen, but neither was really all that interested in what the other had to say. And then we were just living side by side, in the same house, but not together.'

Harry paused and flexed his fingers. He seemed unsure about how to go on. Then he shrugged and continued, but a light pink crept into his cheeks that couldn't have come from the fire. Teddy watched in fascination.

'On the danger of, uh, embarrassing both of us …' Harry coughed and rushed on, 'We didn't have sex anymore.' The red in Harry's face deepened, and Teddy could feel his own cheeks heat to match. 'She was tired or not feeling well and … Well. Just not happening. And … god, I hope you won't think too badly of me, but I … went to look … elsewhere.'

Teddy's jaw dropped. 'You cheated?' he gasped.

Harry hunched his shoulders and rubbed his eyes but nodded. 'Yeah,' he admitted softly. 'I did. And I can give you all the pretty excuses – it didn't mean anything, it was just once or twice, just to get off. I felt like shit every time and promised myself I'd never, ever do it again.'

'Did you?' Teddy bit his lip the moment the question was out. 'Sorry.'

'No, it's all right.' Harry clenched his fists. 'You … It's a legitimate question. But no, I didn't. It wasn't what I wanted, after all. So I … talked to Ginny. She was so furious, made me feel even worse. But, and that's the most amazing thing, once she'd calmed down a little she got what I was trying to say. And she … God, I admired her so much, I wouldn't have been able to do the same, I think, but she was willing to put it in the past and work on a future.' Harry's voice was choked with emotions, and he had to stop for a moment. When he went on, he sounded a little hoarse.

'So we talked a lot, about the relationship and what we wanted, and we decided we'd try. Talk more, go out more without the children, stuff like that. It worked for a while, though it was still rocky. Then I was promoted to Head Auror and had even less time than before. We still both wanted to keep trying, but everything got into a rut again. And then …' Harry took a deep, long breath. 'Then I met someone and fell in love.'

A log exploded in the hearth, the sound loud in the silence that had fallen after Harry's words. Sparks shot every which way, and in their flickering light Teddy could see Harry's eyes behind his glasses. They were half-closed and bright, looking back onto a happy memory.

Teddy gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He sternly told himself that he had no right to be jealous. None at all. Not now. He'd never been jealous of Ginny, for having what he thought was Harry's love. He had neither right nor reason to be jealous of this new love in Harry's life.

But the light in Harry's eyes, an expression Teddy had never seen before, hadn't known was how Harry would look at someone he loved, caused a cold fire in his heart. Anger and yearning twisted together. He wanted that look for himself.

He was jealous, bitterly jealous.

Teddy was so lost in the burning sensation in his chest that he almost missed Harry talking again.

'What I felt then, during the first few weeks and then months … Well. It was very different from what I'd felt for Ginny, that's for sure,' Harry mused. 'It helped me realise not only how much I'd changed from the boy I'd been when we'd first got together but also … It made me realise things about myself that I'd never really been aware of. Or maybe been aware of but hadn't wanted to, uh, acknowledge. I also realised how much my relationship with Ginny had changed, away from being lovers. That we'd been fighting a losing battle, trying to hold onto what we had. There was no going back, only forwards. And forwards was, could only be, away from each other.'

There was another pause during which Teddy struggled with his emotions and Harry stared into space. Finally, Harry shrugged and raised his head to look straight at Teddy.

'I didn't cheat again,' he said earnestly. 'Well, not without Ginny knowing what was happening, anyway.'

Teddy blinked and opened his mouth, but Harry didn't notice and just kept talking.

'We had another long talk once I realised that these new feelings wouldn't go away. And Ginny'd noticed that something was different with me, so we sat down and talked. Turned out we'd both reached a point where we thought, well, that we'd be better off … not together.'

'But you never did,' Teddy objected. 'Separate.'

'Not officially and publicly,' Harry agreed, 'though we did talk about it. When we were trying to decide how we should go on, what should happen next. What would be the best for both of us and the children. They were still babies, and we agreed that they needed a family. Both parents. So we just split off privately, kind of. Separate bedrooms, stuff like that.'

Teddy's head whirled as he tried to combine his memories of living with the Potters with Harry's words. He'd known Ginny had had her own room, but he'd thought that had been her retreat, like the study was Harry's. He'd never realised they were sleeping in separate rooms. Teddy shook his head, incredulous. 'And that worked?'

Harry grinned wryly. 'Oh, no. Not immediately, no. We had a number of screaming rows before things got resolved. But then, yes, it did work. Once we'd got over the love complications and settled into a friendship. And then we worked together brilliantly.'

'But your lover? Didn't she mind?' Teddy felt a perverted curiosity to know more about the new lover. 'Or didn't you get together?'

Harry looked at Teddy searchingly for a moment before he answered, voice soft. 'We did get together, yes. It wasn't easy, always, but no, he didn't mind.'

It took a while for the information to register in Teddy's brain, and when it did, he jumped, feeling like he'd been hit with a Freezing Spell. 'He?'

Harry's eyes were intent on Teddy's face as he nodded. 'He,' Harry confirmed.

Teddy gaped. His thoughts whirled. He felt dizzy. 'You … What … I …' He couldn't manage a single coherent thought.

Harry flushed a little and finally looked away. His fingers clenched on the rests of his armchair. 'That's what I learnt about me. That I'm attracted to men. Always have been, but I didn't want to see it. I wanted a family and to be normal, so I ignored it all until I met … met the man who became my first lover.' He took a long, shaky breath before he went on. 'And that's … that's the second reason why Uncle Ron mustn't know, not yet. He'd never forgive me, no matter how things were between Ginny and me, that she was okay with it. Later I'll tell him. Maybe.'

Teddy snapped his mouth shut, opened it again, and finally managed, 'Uh.' After a pause, he added, 'Oh.'

Harry didn't say anything. His face was hidden in the shadows of the armchair again, but he had stopped clutching the armrests.

'Are you still together?' It was the only thing Teddy could think of saying.

Several seconds passed before Harry answered. 'No. Not anymore. It didn't last. For several reasons. Most of them work, though.'

'And … and no one, since then? There isn't … anybody now?' Teddy bit his increasingly sore lip again and then, fearing he'd betrayed too much, he hastened to add, 'I mean, I didn't ever know, and perhaps there is someone coming over here, or perhaps they'd like to come over and take care of you and I keep butting in and … and they can't because you want to keep that secret, I mean, that you've got someone, and I'm forever interrupting—'

He broke off suddenly, choked with emotions, eyes burning with tears at the thought that, perhaps, Harry hadn't really needed him all along, that he'd never been more than a nuisance when he thought he was taking care of Harry and helping him. Teddy squeezed his eyes shut.

A touch on his knee made him open them again. Harry was leaning forward, reaching beyond the table between them. Bent forwards, he was looking up into Teddy's face, eyes wide. When Teddy met his eyes, Harry smiled gently and sat back.

'No, don't worry about that either, Teddy,' he said. 'There isn't anyone right now.'

Teddy's breath came easier. He rubbed his face to hide wiping away the moistness in his eyes.

'There hasn't been anyone steady for … some time,' Harry continued, still speaking gently. 'It's difficult, to be in a relationship you have to hide from everyone. Not many are willing to hide like that. And it's even more difficult being me and trying to be in a relationship that has to remain hidden.' He laughed a little. 'Auror classes in Stealth and Tracking are really useful for more than hunting Dark wizards, you know.'

Teddy let his hands sink into his lap and stared at Harry. His thoughts still spun wildly. It felt as if they were bouncing off the inside of his skull and crashing into each other. Harry hadn't been in love with Ginny. Harry had been in love with a man. Who? But Harry hadn't had a lover for some time. No one steady. Short flings? Had all of them been men?

Teddy wanted to ask, wanted to know and yet not. He wanted to know who Harry had fallen in love with, and yet never find out what kind of man he had been. He needed to know, because if he did, he would know if he had a chance …

But if he wasn't what Harry liked, wanted, then Teddy never wanted to know.

But perhaps he was.

And then … maybe …

But would Harry love him?

At least, he trusted Teddy.

He had to like him.

But love?

There wasn't anyone in Harry's life. Harry had said so. Perhaps Harry would … could … if he knew …

Two thoughts collided, and Teddy heard himself whisper, 'Me, too.' He glanced up at Harry. 'I. I'm attracted to … to men, too.'

Then his mind caught up, and Teddy held his breath, suddenly panicked.

Harry didn't look surprised at all.

He was nodding.

'Yes, I thought so,' Harry said softly. He didn't look angry or disgusted, though, he couldn't know, could he? But his eyes were so intently on Teddy's face, and it might have been a trick of the fire, but there seemed there was a spark in them Teddy couldn't ever remember seeing there.

His reaction wasn't at all what Teddy would have expected. Par for the course for the evening, some surprisingly coherent part of his brain commented, while the rest of Teddy gaped. 'What? You … you knew?' Had he been that transparent? What else did Harry know?

Teddy had long since stopped believing everything the Prophet reported on his godfather, but what if it was true and Harry could read minds?

Teddy's face must have given him away, for Harry laughed. 'No, no, don't panic, Teddy. I didn't know. But I suspected. I thought you might be, but I wasn't sure. You never said anything, but sometimes, you reminded me of myself at that age. And when you wouldn't get back together with Victoire, even after she'd been using all her part-Veela wiles on you …' He shrugged.

Teddy felt as though his jaw had been permanently hexed open. 'What? She did what?'

Harry chuckled. 'You weren't aware, were you? Yes, she did, and it frustrated her quite a lot that you wouldn't react.'

Teddy blinked, momentarily diverted. 'Oh. How'd you know? You never, I mean, Uncle Ron could sometimes be a little, uh, weird, around Vicky's mum, but you never did anything stupid.'

Harry shrugged. 'I'm not susceptible to Veela charm. Well, I reacted once, when I first saw Veelas in action, but never afterwards.' He grinned at Teddy. 'That ought to have clued me in, but I was a bit busy with trying to survive the Triwizard Tournament and Voldemort's return to realise what it meant that I didn't. I can see it, though. It's not difficult to see the Veela charm when you're not blinded by it.'

'I never saw,' Teddy said slowly.

'You saw but weren't aware of what it was,' Harry corrected.

'Um …'

'And yes, that was the biggest clue. But you never said anything to me, and I, well. I didn't want to confront you with it. I didn't know how you would react if I did. I know I would have reacted badly if someone had told me. And—' Harry spread his hands '—I really wasn't absolutely sure. So I thought it better not to say anything. If you'd wanted to tell me, you would have told me.'

'I wanted to,' Teddy said immediately, worried that Harry would think Teddy didn't trust him, 'but … I …'

'It's okay, Teddy. You didn't before, and the reasons are your own. No need to explain anything to me. I'd have understood if you never said anything to me. In this matter especially you need to do what you're comfortable with, not what others expect you to do or think you should do. Besides,' he added with a rueful smile, 'you had the courage to face and accept it.'

'But not enough courage to tell you,' Teddy mumbled. 'I'm not a Gryffindor.'

'Teddy.' Harry turned serious. 'I've always told you that House affiliation doesn't give you the monopoly on character traits. I know I've told you, like I told Al, that the bravest man I ever knew was a Slytherin. Gryffindors don't have a monopoly on courage. But if you want to make this a matter of House affiliation, let's say that you were loyal enough to remain honest with yourself – and that I wasn't Gryffindor enough to face the truth about myself.'

Teddy twisted his fingers together and squirmed. His cheeks, he knew, were glowing red once more – praise always did that to him – and he wanted to say something to Harry, somehow negate Harry's self-accusation. But he couldn't seem to find the right words, and he refused to embarrass himself by stammering.

Before Teddy had had the time to transfigure his stuttering thoughts into clear arguments, Harry spoke again. 'Teddy, I … may I ask …' he began but stopped, running a hand through his hair. Teddy, thrown by Harry's unusual hesitation, blinked. 'Ah, this is difficult. Um. It's just that I'm curious, but, you know, you can tell me if it's none of my business. Have you … Have you ever … dated someone?'

Relieved that it was such a simple question with such a simple answer, Teddy shook his head. 'No. Uh. Not really. No one for long, anyway. And not, um, usually not wizards.'

Now Harry looked the way he did when he was following a hot lead during a case. 'You dated Muggle boys?'

'Yeah. It was easier.' Teddy shrugged. 'To find someone, you know. There are all kinds of … of places in the Muggle world you can go to, see. There's nothing like that in the wizarding world. That is, there is, but if you go there, everyone will know the next day and I, well, didn't want that.'

'Ah, yes, the infamous Meeting Place.' Harry cocked his head, eyes bright and interested. 'So, you found Muggle boys to date but never dated anyone for long?'

Teddy began to feel a little uneasy with the direction of the questions. What if Harry asked why? Nervous, he babbled, 'Um, yeah. It's difficult, you know, because despite all the Muggle technology the wizarding world adapts, there are differences, things wizards simply don't know. Our tech doesn't work like theirs, and how do you explain that a text message never reached you when the guy knows you've got this mobile thing because you gave him your number? Can't tell them yours works differently because, well, it's magic! Or not having an email address, or a car, or never taking them to your place because the first guy you brought there had to be Obliviated when the Floo went off, stuff like that. Uh. Yeah.'

Harry smiled with amusement. 'I see. But you're not generally against dating a man or dating a wizard?'

'What?' Teddy's eyes widened in confusion, and he had to consciously stop himself from Morphing them even wider. 'No. Why?'

'Well. I once … knew a wizard who was kind of freaked by the idea of dating a man, no matter how many he, uh, f-fucked.' Harry stumbled over the word. 'And with you saying you usually don't date wizards, well, I was just wondering.'

Teddy looked down at his fingers and swallowed hard before he answered. 'Oh. N-no. That's not … I mean, I don't mind. Dating wizards. If, you know, I could be sure the whole wizarding world wouldn't know the next day. I'd rather they don't.'

'Ah, yes. I know,' Harry said, slowly. 'It's hard to find someone anyway, but harder to find someone you can trust to keep quiet.'

Teddy looked back up to agree to that and all conscious thought scattered.

Harry was leaning forward so that Teddy could see his face, his elbows propped on his knees and hands hanging loosely down. There was a faint smile on Harry's lips, and his eyes were watching Teddy intently, with a focussed expression Teddy had never before seen on Harry.

Teddy's heart skipped a beat and jumped into his throat, where it fluttered nervously.

'We're both sitting on the same broom, Teddy, aren't we?' he said slowly. 'Same situation, both looking for the same thing.' His voice seemed deeper than usual, sending shivers down Teddy's back that all seemed to end with an excited tingle in his balls.

Teddy swallowed and licked his lips.

Harry's eyes glittered behind his glasses, or perhaps it was only the firelight that made them glow. His smile deepened, and he reached out, once more putting one hand on Teddy's knee. The touch made Teddy jump with the sudden, unexpected explosion it set off in his guts. He took a deep breath, and suddenly Harry's scent was in his nose, and Teddy's cock hardened so quickly he was left dizzy.

'We'll both find our man one day,' Harry said softly, eyes glowing, searching, fixed on Teddy's. 'One day, Teddy. We'll find the one we can love and trust unconditionally.' His hand tightened. 'I know we will.'

Teddy, trembling and clinging to his armchair, could only stare down at Harry's face. He was speechless, his mind fallen back into confusion. His thoughts seemed to race twice as fast as his heartbeat did. He couldn't get hold of one.

He had to be imagining things. Harry was being supportive and understanding, like always. He didn't mean anything by it. His touch, his words, they were meant to encourage Teddy. Nothing else. His smile, his focus on Teddy, they were meant to reassure him.

Had to be.

Even though Teddy didn't need encouragement or reassurance. But perhaps Harry thought he did. Or Teddy just didn't know he did.

Because if not … What Harry was doing? What was he thinking?

Did he know how Teddy felt? Was he reassuring Teddy that although he knew things wouldn't change? Did he not know? But if he didn't, then he wouldn't be reassuring Teddy … he would be … and that firming grip on his knee, was Harry's hand sliding up?

Teddy's breath had sped up. He could hear himself panting. His cock was so hard it was aching.

He was hallucinating. He was seeing things. He'd only sipped a little of his Amberdew, but perhaps lack of oxygen …

'Harry,' he breathed, his hands unclenching from the armrests and reaching out for Harry.

Harry seemed to be getting up, rising to his feet to move closer. Teddy lifted his head.

'It is very late, Masters.'

Teddy startled so badly he jumped to his feet with a little cry, and then almost lost his balance and knocked his head against the mantelpiece. He gripped the hard stone to steady himself and turned, wide-eyed and breathing quickly.

Harry hadn't stumbled but shot to his feet with practised ease and had fallen into a defensive position, wand in hand and at the ready. He exhaled heavily and relaxed, letting his hand sink down to his side.

In front of them stood Dinky, arms akimbo, and glared at them with fierce disapproval.

'Dinky,' Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair, while Teddy staggered back to his seat. 'Don't sneak up on me like that. I might have hurt you.'

Dinky sniffed. 'Dinky has come to tell Master it is very late. It is time for sleep now.' She transferred her glare to Teddy. 'Young Master Teddy should be sleeping hours ago. He is having to rise early to go in to work. Dinky remembers the time young Master Teddy is to be in bed.'

Harry sheathed his wand. 'Teddy's an adult now, Dinky, he doesn't have a bedtime anymore.'

'It is very late,' Dinky repeated, unimpressed.

The exchange had given Teddy time to steady his breathing and glance at the clock. He got quickly back to his feet.

'Dinky's right, it's past midnight! I … I really should go.'

Harry turned to him. 'Teddy …'

But Teddy couldn't even bear to look at him again. The evening had been too much, first Harry's disclosures that turned Teddy's world upside down, and then his own confession, and the last, tense moments before Dinky's interruption … if he hadn't dreamt them, that is … It was all too much, and he felt close to shattering. He needed to leave, go home, away from Harry, and think.

'I, ah, thank you for dinner, Dinky, and Harry, um … I'll see you later, I guess.'

'Teddy, wait!'

Teddy gave both elf and wizard a shaky, uncertain smile and hurried from the living room.

'Good night, Harry! I'll write Lily not to worry, but don't worry, I won't say anything! Good night!'

And with that, Teddy dashed down the corridor to the Floo Room, grabbed a pinch of Floo powder, and fled home to his own, small, safe apartment.

*

Saturday the following week, Teddy again Flooed to Harry's house. This time, he was invited. That didn't make things better.

Earlier that week, five days after their unplanned dinner and conversation, Teddy had received an owl from Harry. Harry had asked him to come over on the weekend. He was planning some work that needed Teddy's help. Teddy had fought with himself for almost two days before he owled back his assent. He couldn't think of a reason to say no that wouldn't hurt Harry. But that still didn't make things better. Or easier.

Teddy still wasn't sure how he felt, what to think, or about anything else, really.

He'd been thinking a lot about that night. About the things Harry had told him – not being in love with Ginny, cheating on her, having a male lover – and what had happened between Harry and him. Or perhaps what had not happened.

It had been on his mind constantly, distracting him at work and making him toss and turn in bed at night. Had he been imagining things? Or had Harry indeed been flirting with him? Was that sparkle Teddy had thought he'd seen in Harry's eyes true? Was it desire? Or had it been all wishful thinking?

He'd spent a lot of time freaking, wondering, worrying, and thinking until his body was aching with nervous tension and his head throbbing in pain. His colleagues at the Experimental Charms office had repeatedly asked him whether he was coming down with something because his hair kept flickering. Only illness and strong emotions made Teddy ever lose control over his Metamorphmagi abilities these days, making his hair change colour rapidly, and Teddy hadn't so much as hinted to anyone that illness wasn't the reason.

The first time his boss offered him a day off work, Teddy had taken the chance to go home and try to think things through. But the next day, he was back at work, still flickering and worrying his colleagues, but anything was better than staying at home and having nothing to do but think.

After Harry's owl had come, Teddy had firmly told himself to stop freaking. It had been nothing. If it had been something, Harry would have come to visit Teddy by now. He hadn't. He hadn't acted as though anything was different. So it wasn't.

In the end, Teddy had decided that he had been imagining things. Harry had been supportive and encouraging and Teddy, in his emotional state, had seen what he'd wanted to see. Harry had only done what he had done so many times before, been his confidante and father-figure.

Only even having come to that conclusion didn't stop Teddy from thinking about that look in Harry's eyes, his touch, and his smell. It most certainly didn't stop Teddy's body from reacting. Half of the tossing-and-turning-in-bed time was spent on wanking himself nearly raw.

And so it was with his thoughts and emotions still jumbled that Teddy arrived bright and early on Saturday morning at Harry's house.

As he stepped out of the Floo Room, he was greeted by a glowering Dinky.

'Young Master Teddy,' she growled and bowed deeply.

'Oh, hey, Dinky.' Teddy smiled a little shakily, half-relieved to not be greeted by Harry and half-worried about Dinky's mood. 'Um, everything all right?'

Dinky snorted. 'Master is in the attic,' she said by way of answer.

Teddy blinked. 'The attic? Why? What's he doing there?'

'Master is making a big mess.' A pop, and a feather duster appeared in Dinky's hand. Ostentatiously, she swept it over the hall table. 'Master has told Dinky to tell young Master Teddy to go up.'

Confused, Teddy thanked the house-elf and climbed the stairs to the first floor landing. At the other end, a rickety ladder led up to an opened trapdoor. Above his head, Teddy could hear thumps.

'Uh. Harry?' he called, walking towards the ladder. The closer he came, the faster his heart beat.

More thumps, and then Harry's head appeared upside-down in the trapdoor.

'Hullo, Teddy!' he greeted, surprisingly cheerfully. 'Come on up!'

Wiping his sweaty hands on the legs of his trousers, Teddy took a deep breath and climbed the ladder up to the attic, then boosted himself up onto the wooden floor. Careful not to bang his head against one of the low beams, he straightened and looked around. A cloud of dust made him cough, and once he'd finished wheezing and wiped his streaming eyes, he looked around wide-eyed.

Usually, the attic was a relatively neat space. Shelves lined the walls, and boxes and crates full of old toys, books, and out-of-season clothes were stacked neatly. Now, it was chaos. Boxes had been pushed to and fro, some were opened and their contents strewn everywhere. Half of the shelves were empty, and their contents took up the remaining space on the floor. Next to the trapdoor leaned two big sacks, full to bursting.

'Mess' was the right expression, Teddy thought and sneezed again. 'Harry? What are you doing?'

Harry appeared from behind a listing tower of boxes. 'I'm cleaning up,' he said brightly.

Teddy eyed Harry's dusty clothes, the dirt streaks on his face, and the cobwebs in his hair. 'Um,' he said.

Harry laughed and shook his head. A small snowstorm of dust motes raged around his head. 'Cleaning up and cleaning out. Going through this stuff and deciding what to keep and what to throw away. Thought you might like to help? Besides, some of these boxes are yours,' he added and pointed towards the other side of the attic. Several big, dark wooden boxes piled were there, almost blocking the small window.

Teddy looked at them and his heart clenched. These were boxes with things he'd taken from his grandmother's house after she had died and he had moved in with Harry. Harry had let Teddy keep everything he'd wanted to keep, no matter what it was. Harry had simply packed the boxes and told Teddy he'd store them in the attic until Teddy had his own place and needed his stuff. Teddy swallowed hard.

The sudden touch of a hand on his shoulder made him jump and spin around. Harry was standing behind him, looking at him with a sympathetic expression.

'Perhaps it's time now to go through them,' he said softly and gave Teddy's shoulder a squeeze. 'Remember and then let go. Find closure.'

Teddy had to blink several times against the burning in his eyes. 'That's what you're doing?' he asked, voice hoarse.

Harry smiled a little. 'Yeah. I thought … After I talked to you last week, I thought it was time for me to stop being such a self-centred arse and try to get on with my life. I'm not the only one who lost her. 'Sides,' he said with a sudden grin, 'Ginny would've been the first to hex me for moping around and brooding.'

'So, um, I'm here to … to go through my boxes? And, I dunno, throw stuff away?' Teddy wasn't sure whether he should be hurt by Harry's insinuation that Teddy might want to throw away things that had belonged to his grandmother, or happy that Harry was obviously moving on.

'Only if you want to.' Harry let go of his shoulder and nodded at the boxes. 'I thought it might be good. And we could do this together, you know. But if you don't want to—' he shrugged '—you can help me with my stuff. You know, sort through things, throw away broken toys, and move boxes. Can't do anything with magic here. You never know what's inside one of these things, and whether they might explode when you try to levitate them. I had a nasty run-in earlier with one of George's old wheezes. That one definitely went into the trash!' Harry grinned and showed Teddy where his shirt had been singed.

Teddy swallowed again at the hint of skin that was revealed when Harry pulled on his shirt and quickly looked away.

'Um. I-I think I'll, uh, help you first,' he stammered. 'Go through stuff. Um. Maybe make some more room?'

'Probably a good idea,' Harry agreed cheerfully. 'I've been making a big mess, just opening box after box. Not sure you'd have room to go through your things at the moment.'

Teddy nodded and moved to a box piled high with clothes and bits of leather that turned out to be Quidditch gear. 'What about those, Harry?'

'What? Oh, the Quidditch stuff. That's all keepers and can go back into boxes.' With a grunt, he moved a box aside and wormed his way over to Teddy. 'Only, you know, that's everyone's stuff mixed together,' he panted. 'Some of Ginny's she wanted to keep for Lily, Jamie's old Quidditch uniform. Can't throw it away, he'd kill me. But, you know, I thought I'd not just throw everything into one single box again, but make one for each of us. See? So that we won't have to go through everything again, and everyone knows which boxes are their stuff.'

Teddy nodded. 'Okay. I'll do that.'

'I don't think I've enough boxes yet, though,' Harry said, taking a look around.

'Um. Okay. So I'll just make piles for now?'

'Oh, that's a good idea! Just take care to put them somewhere where they won't get mixed up with unsorted stuff!'

Teddy nodded again and bent his head over the pile of clothes, pretending to be concentrating. Harry clapped him on a shoulder and wriggled away over to whatever he was doing, and Teddy breathed a sigh of relief.

In the closed, cramped space of the attic, Harry's presence seemed even more intense than usual. He was flushed from moving heavy boxes, and his scent, dusty and sweaty and Harry, had gone straight to Teddy's cock. Teddy shifted in an attempt to move his erection into a more comfortable position, took a deep and silent breath, and began sorting through Quidditch gear.

For a while, they worked in concentrated silence, interrupted only by one of them sneezing or Harry swearing at a box. Once a forgotten Christmas cracker went off when Harry dug it out of the box, blowing soot into his face and scattering half a dozen Mini Magicians, collectible figures that had been all the rage about ten years ago. They squeaked like mice when they hexed Harry, who was trying to hunt them down. Harry cursed and sucked his singed fingertips when he finally managed to stun the last of them.

A little while later, Teddy lifted a large, stuffed duck out of box labelled 'Jamie's!' in a scrawly child's hand. Turning it over in his hands he was about to make a comment to Harry when suddenly the duck came alive. Teddy dropped it in surprise, and the duck fluttered around the attic, quacking loudly, until Harry and Teddy managed to herd it out of the window. They could hear it quacking indignantly as it flew away and finally allowed themselves to collapse with laughter.

'Oh, god,' Harry wheezed and, taking off his glasses, wiped his eyes. 'Jamie! How in the world did he manage that?'

'Looked more like one of Uncle George's tricks to me,' Teddy said faintly, holding his stomach.

'Nah, if it'd been one of George's, that duck would've turned into something explosive. Or a Niffler. Something destructive, anyway. More George's style.' Harry shook his head and laughed helplessly. 'He must've transfigured it and been too scared to tell anyone and hidden it in that box.'

'Scared? Jamie?'

Harry shrugged, turning to look at Teddy. 'Well, he knows all about how I got a Hearing with the full Wizengamot for fending off two Dementors when I was fifteen. He was probably worried he'd get taken into Auror custody, what with his dad actually being an Auror.'

Teddy snorted. 'Reckon that would've been an incentive. He'd probably have loved to be taken in as, you know, a "dangerous criminal”.'

Harry hiccoughed. 'He's spent way too much time with George.'

They grinned at each other, but after a moment, Teddy's grin faltered and he looked away, concentrating on taking deep breaths.

Harry looked completely rumpled – his hair was even more of a mess than usual, a feather sticking out of it; his shirt wrinkled and dirty; his face was flushed and covered with even more smears than when Teddy had arrived. His eyes were shining, and he was breathing hard from laughter. Teddy wanted to jump him, tear his clothes off, and devour every inch of him. Damn. There was his stupid prick again, rock hard and throbbing.

'Teddy?' Out of the corners of his eyes Teddy could see Harry leaning forward, looking worriedly at him. 'Are you all right?'

'Uh. Yeah. I'm … 's just …' Thankfully, a sneeze interrupted him, because he had no idea what to say.

'Okay,' Harry said slowly and got to his feet. 'I was just wondering …'

Teddy looked up apprehensively. Harry shrugged. 'You hair keeps changing colour, and you've been a lot quieter than you usually are.'

'Oh.' Teddy quickly got up and dusted himself off. 'All right. Yeah. Just.'

'Just what?' When Teddy didn't say anything, Harry pressed, 'If there's anything I can do to help you …?'

'Oh, no, it's not … I mean …' Teddy groaned and rubbed his eyes. 'It's just been me again, Harry. I, uh, you know I can't stop, um—'

'Worrying and thinking and making yourself sick with it,' Harry finished the sentence fondly. 'I know. Worrywart. But still, is there anything I can do with what you're thinking about this time?'

Teddy stared sightlessly at the chaos in front of him. Thoughts raced through his head and he wondered which of them he could voice. 'I, um, I've just been thinking … about stuff.'

'Stuff?'

Teddy fidgeted a little, uncomfortable. 'Yeah. Um. About … About what you told me, the other night. Just … thinking. Wondering how, you know, things worked out. And how come no one ever found out. Stuff like that.'

'Ah,' Harry said softly, only this and nothing more. Teddy peered at him from behind his lime green hair and saw him staring into space. He wondered what Harry was thinking. Perhaps he shouldn't have told Harry that?

'Yes, it's quite a surprise no one ever found out, isn't it?' Harry finally said. He raised his head to look at Teddy. His expression was thoughtful and a little amused, not annoyed as Teddy had feared.

'I always wondered how we managed to evade being caught,' Harry went on, shoving his hands into his pockets. 'Auror skills in hiding are all well and good, but most of the wizarding world aren't Dark wizards we need to hide from. And reporters have a habit of finding out far more than you want them to know.' He paused thoughtfully. 'Perhaps it was because we were both Aurors and knew how to hide and keep our private life private.'

'He was an Auror, too?' Teddy burst out, surprised.

Harry nodded and smiled. 'Yes, he was. That was what brought us together, and that was what separated us in the end, too. Too many cases, too much danger, too many secrets. It worked for a while – we worked for a while – together, but … It got too difficult, with me technically being his boss.'

And Teddy knew, in that moment, knew who Harry's first male lover had been. The image of Tyrone Gladfield, Harry's partner on the cases he had taken on after his promotion – the difficult, potentially scandalous cases that could only be trusted to a handful of Aurors – stood vividly in front of Teddy's inner eye. Tyrone was tall, handsome, and wickedly funny. He'd often been a visitor at the Potter house, a friend of the family, and everyone had liked him.

Teddy remembered how surprised he'd been when Tyrone hadn't visited as often anymore the year after Teddy had moved in with Harry and his family. But back then, he'd still been dealing with his grandmother's death, and he hadn't really wondered for long. When Lily had asked, Harry had just said that he and Tyrone weren't working together any longer, and so they didn't have much contact anymore.

Teddy realised that must have been the time when things had ended between Harry and Tyrone. He cast his mind back and tried to remember anything that would have told him what was going on, anything that would point out the truth – and, dimly, he remembered many times when Harry and Ginny had been talking behind locked doors and Imperturbable Charms.

'So Ginny knew,' he said softly to himself.

'Yes, of course she knew.'

Teddy looked at Harry, who was smiling again, knowingly. 'Of course she knew,' Harry repeated, 'I couldn't hide something like that from her. The change in work arrangements had been coming for a long time. The Head Auror was never meant work on cases, you know. The Wizengamot had changed that post-Voldemort, when so much work needed to be done and so many Ministry wizards and witches turned out to be at least supporters of Voldemort, if not Death Eaters.

'They changed that back. We'd known it was coming and we'd talked about what we'd do when it came. We'd agreed on it, and for a time, it worked. But it was different, me being his boss instead of his, well, boss-partner. I'd always talked to him about what my job entailed, and now I wasn't allowed to anymore. He didn't like me keeping secrets from him, even though we both were aware that I couldn't have done anything different and kept my job. That we both couldn't have done anything else and kept our jobs.

'And then I had to send him out into the field. God, that was hard. Sending him out into danger, knowing he could die but unable to keep him safe with a desk job because he'd hate me for that. And I'd promised to never let my personal feelings dictate my decisions on the job.

'It was all too much in the end. We both dealt badly with it. It messed up our work, not to speak of our relationship. So he broke it off. Said he didn't want to be torn between me and work, didn't want to force me to decide between him and work.'

Harry fell silent, breath coming quick and shallow. Teddy didn't say anything, simply stood there, watching Harry and listening to him. Remembering what Harry had told him the previous week, Teddy thought this was probably the first time Harry talked about his relationship with someone who wasn't immediately involved. It did him good, that was obvious, for when Harry went on, his voice, while soft and a little unsteady, was never hesitant.

'We'd been together for years by that time. Six, almost seven years. I trusted him more than I trusted anyone else. And I loved him like I'd never loved anyone else before. I know, it sounds unforgivably cheesy, but that's how I felt. When he told me he wanted to end it … that crushed me.

'Of course Ginny knew. She'd known about the problems we were having. I hadn't meant to tell her, but she confronted me and made me tell her, saying she wanted to help me. And she did help me, us, a lot. So when things were over, I told her. Told her everything. She just listened, and then she comforted me. She was the only one who knew about me and him, the only one I could … be honest with.'

Teddy bit his lips at the emotions trembling in Harry's voice.

'We became even closer after that, closer as friends I mean. She was my confidante, and whenever I had a problem, I talked to her. She listened and helped me. And then, when she met someone and things ended unpleasantly, I listened to her and comforted her.'

He stopped and ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up everywhere, which gave him the look of having been zapped by a Flashbolt Hex. Then he shook his head and went on, pensively.

'I suppose it's really amazing no one ever found out. Not the reporters, and none of our friends. Except Hermione, but that's a given. It's … Well, I guess I'm just that private and secretive. Ginny, ah, you knew her. Gryffindor lioness to the bone, fierce and protective. Ready to hex your head off if you threatened one of her "cubs”. Guys were probably all too scared of her to sell their story to a paper.'

Harry was smiling fondly, eyes distant with memory, and Teddy turned away. It wasn't so much that it hurt to watch Harry remember, though it did, a little. He just couldn't look at Harry right now. Because looking at Harry conjured images of Harry and Tyrone together, kissing, embracing, and undressing each other, and that did hurt. Or made him jealous. Or perhaps both.

Teddy's emotions were so confused he didn't even know what it was he was feeling. The only thing he could identify was the small bubble of warmth inside of the roiling chaos, untroubled and calm. It was happiness, a little spark of pride, that Harry had told him. That Harry trusted him that much, enough to tell him more, without any reason except wanting to tell Teddy.

It felt … good.

When Harry resurfaced from his memories, Teddy was able to give him a small smile. Harry beamed back, and with tacit agreement, they went back to their work of sorting through dusty reminders.

The light in the crammed room was getting dimmer, and they had made their way through about half of the boxes, a huge lunch tray, and a lecture from Dinky about trailing mess through the house. Teddy was digging through a box filled with books, loose paper, and little stacks and piles of more paper, letters, and pictures. He'd already cut himself twice on the loose sheaves and was alternately sucking on his fingers and hissing curses.

Behind him, Harry slammed a heavy crate shut and yawned hugely. Then he sneezed five times in a row. 'Urgh,' he sniffed. 'Time for a break. I'm going to stretch my legs a bit, get a bit of fresh air. What about you?'

Teddy, attention caught by the pictures, gave a distracted, 'Huh?'

Harry laughed and cautiously made his way over to him. 'Hey, what's got you so fascinated?'

Teddy blinked up at him. 'Um. Pictures. They were loose.'

He held the first few up to Harry, who took them and then laughed at a toddler Lily, who was poking a butterfly and ran away screaming when it took off.

'Oh, yeah,' he said with a chuckle, handing them back to Teddy, 'I've got lots of those pictures. I never got around to putting them in an album. Just sort them in a vaguely chronological order and put them back. I'm going downstairs and out for a while, in case you didn't hear me before. You want to come with me?'

'Oh, no, thanks, I'm good,' Teddy replied and focussed on the pictures. Being in Harry's presence was not a burden. But after being in his presence for hours and in such a confined room to boot, surrounded by Harry's possessions, Teddy welcomed a little break from the man himself.

Perhaps his dick would go down again, even if only for five minutes, if Teddy didn't keep getting a noseful of Harry's scent every other second.

'Okay, I'll tell Dinky to bring some more juice, though, okay?' Harry forced his way through boxes and the piling sacks of things to be thrown away towards the ladder. Teddy could hear his footsteps on the staircase, and then Dinky's voice scolding Master for bringing down more dust. Knowing Harry was safely away, Teddy exhaled and sagged. He dropped the pictures into the box and rubbed first his eyes, and then his stupid, half-hard cock. Both brought him a little relief and, rolling his shoulders, Teddy got to his feet.

Climbing over the crates with his own stuff, he made his way to the window and opened it, letting some fresh air into the attic. He took several deep breaths before he went back to the pictures, leaving the window open.

The light that fell into the attic was still sufficient for Teddy to see the little people in the pictures. He sorted through them, occasionally chuckling at one or the other, watching Jamie, Al, and Lily grow up through them. Having finished with that stack, he carefully conjured some strings to tie them into little packs, before he dug once more through the box and came up with more pictures. He shuffled them together into one neat stack, and then turned a little to the window to look at them.

The first one on top was of him and Harry, and Teddy almost dropped the entire stack.

Quickly, he went through the rest of the stack, and the more pictures he looked at, the sicker he felt.

More pictures of him with Harry, but also some of him and Victoire, and other Weasleys. Teddy recognised the background in the pictures as the garden behind Harry's house and knew when they had been taken: the summer after his seventh year at Hogwarts, when Teddy had received the results of his NEWTs, and the family had come together to celebrate.

Staring down at them in horror, Teddy hoped fervently that not being put into an album meant that Harry had never really looked at them. Because if he had … But no, he couldn't. Teddy relaxed a little as reason returned and pointed out that Harry hadn't known that Teddy was attracted to men.

He had said he hadn't been sure, a little voice pointed out to him, but Teddy ignored it. Harry hadn't known. He'd never seen the pictures. Teddy hoped he never would. Because if he did … If he did, there was no way he could not know how Teddy felt about him.

With shaking hands, Teddy went back to that first picture and stared at it. It was him and Harry, standing in front of the house, Harry's arm slung companionably over Teddy's shoulder. Harry was grinning and waving at the camera. Teddy wasn't.

Teddy was looking at Harry, and the expression on his face was so clear, so obvious, speaking louder than words that Teddy was in love with the man standing next to him.

Teddy examined his own younger face. He looked serious and open. Bright turquoise hair fell into his eyes, eyes that were dark brown and fixed on Harry with an expression of helpless yearning.

Oh god.

Teddy squeezed his eyes closed.

He'd been eighteen in that picture. Eighteen and dating Victoire and still unaware that he was attracted to men. Unaware that he was attracted to Harry.

The picture showed a truth he hadn't been aware of until almost a year later. How could that be? Teddy had never heard that wizarding pictures showed a truth that the object of the picture didn't know. But then, he knew little about the potions necessary to develop magical photographs. It was possible that there was a potion, or something in the potion, that had this effect.

Well, there must be. The picture could only show the person in it the way they had been at the time the photo had been taken. Retroactive changes to a picture-person's behaviour weren't possible.

Oh god.

Hand still trembling, Teddy slowly went through the stack of photos again. Each one that showed him and Harry, he paused over longer and examined it closely. Harry was never aware of the way Teddy looked at him, and Teddy always looked at him with that soft yearning in his eyes.

It was almost ridiculous how different he looked in the pictures of him with Victoire. None of that openness and yearning. Teddy thought he rather looked a bit embarrassed and uncomfortable. And a little confused, as though he wasn't quite sure how he had ended up there and what he was supposed to be doing.

Towards the end of the stack, there was another picture of only Teddy and Harry. They were seated in the garden, a paper lantern hanging behind them. It threw light onto Teddy's face while Harry's was half-hidden by shadows as he turned to the side to talk to someone outside of the picture. Teddy's eyes were once more glued to Harry's face. Or rather, Harry's mouth which was moving as he spoke.

In the present, Teddy flushed at the naked hunger on his younger self's face. He remembered feeling exceptionally horny that night, a fact that had delighted Victoire, but he had put it down to the amount of alcohol he had drunk. He hadn't connected it to sitting next to Harry almost the entire evening, but now that he thought about the night, he could clearly remember it. He could remember the feeling of Harry's body when Harry had hugged him, and the warmth his body radiated. There had been the occasional and not-completely-accidental touching of thighs and knees under the table, the brushing of hands, Harry's scent and his smile and his glowing pride in Teddy's achievements …

'Hey, found something interesting?'

Harry's voice sounding suddenly behind him made Teddy jump and cry out. Whirling around, he half-stumbled to his feet and dropped the pictures. They slid across the floor and the space between them.

'Sorry, sorry!' Harry said, backing up a step, hands thrown up in apology. 'I didn't mean to startle you.'

Teddy flopped back onto the floor, gasping. 'D-didn't h-hear y-you.'

'Sorry, Teddy. I didn't think you were so immersed in those photos you wouldn't hear me bang my head on the beam by the trapdoor.' Harry grinned a little and knelt down, reaching out for one of the scattered pictures. 'What are these of that could so capture you?'

Teddy jumped again and scrambled to his feet. 'Oh, n-nothing, nothing important,' he babbled, panicked, as he hurried to gather the pictures. 'Just … just pics of the summer after my NEWTs, sorry, it's okay, you don't have to help me, thank you.'

He fairly snatched the few photos Harry had picked up from his hands and hastened to stack them neatly together. It was made difficult by his still – again – shaking hands and the expression of confusion, worry, and faint curiosity on Harry's face.

Please don't have seen one of those photos, Teddy begged silently. Please don't be curious enough to want to look at them. Please, please, just ignore this, please.

Of course Harry wouldn't.

'Teddy?' he asked, leaning forwards to touch his shoulder. Teddy almost dropped the photos again.

Desperately trying to appear as normal as possible and blame his panicked state on having been badly startled, Teddy smiled in Harry's general direction and shook his head. 'Oh, I'm all okay now, just s-startled, yeah. Uh, I was just, um, kind of lost remembering, you know? Yeah.'

Harry didn't look convinced. 'Teddy, what's up?' He came even closer and peered worriedly into Teddy's face. 'What's wrong, Chick?'

Teddy almost lost it at Harry's use of Teddy's childhood nickname, and he clung to his untidy pile of photos as a way to not simply drop everything and throw himself into Harry's arms.

At the age of about five, after learning about Animagi, Teddy had decided he wanted to be an owl when he grew up. He'd bring granny and Harry their mail, he'd told them, and for a while they had called him Chick. Teddy had emphatically forbidden them to call him that after he'd got his Hogwarts letter.

Hearing it again, now, after the shock of the pictures, was too much.

Blinking rapidly, Teddy got shakily to his feet, keeping that smile plastered to his face. 'N-nothing's wrong, I'm fine, thank you,' he babbled. 'I … I think I'll go…' Somewhere, anywhere. 'Uh … bathroom.'

And, still clutching the pictures, he ran.

He could never tell how he had made his way to the bathroom, but a while later he found himself leaning over the washbasin and splashing his face with water, the door safely locked behind him, the photos pooled at his feet. Once he'd calmed down a little, Teddy raised his head and stared at his face in the mirror.

It was wet, pale, with hectic red spots on his cheeks, and wide, fevered eyes. His deep purple bangs dripped more water down his face and onto his shirt.

The mirror tutted at him. 'Now, dry your face and comb your hair, dear. We cannot go around looking messy, can we?'

Teddy groaned and dropped to his knees, hiding his face in his hands.

He was such an idiot. Running away like that … Hell, there was no better way to arouse Harry's curiosity, and letting him think something was wrong was bound to raise all of his protective instincts. Ginny wasn't the only Gryffindor lioness where fierce protectiveness was concerned.

Ginny.

Teddy suddenly froze. His hands dropped lifelessly into his lap. His eyes widened in horror.

Ginny. Ginny had taken the pictures that night. He remembered her squinting at the camera and telling him to smile now.

She'd taken the pictures. She had seen …

Oh, god!

Teddy doubled over in mortification. She had to have seen, even if she hadn't been the one to develop the photos, and if she hadn't, then someone else had seen, too, but Ginny had definitely seen … seen how Teddy looked at her husband … though he hadn't been her husband back then, not really, only in name … still …

But she had never told Harry. Harry hadn't known. Didn't know.

Perhaps she hadn't seen? Perhaps the Teddy in the picture had been clever enough to hide until he knew it was safe? The pictures had been lying in that box for several years. Perhaps he'd simply given up the pretence?

Was that even possible?

Teddy whimpered softly and rubbed at his face.

What was he going to do? He had to find an explanation for Harry, and some excuse to hide those pictures so that Harry never, ever saw them!

Teddy sat up and gathered the pictures together once more. He stared down at them for a while, wondering how he could hide them so that Harry wouldn't find them. Though, really, as long as Harry didn't see those of Teddy mooning over him, he could have the others.

Quickly, Teddy went through the stack and took all those with him staring at Harry out. Those, he stuffed into the pockets of his jeans, the others he stacked together again. Giving himself a sharp nod, he got to his feet. The mirror reminded him once more to dry his face, and Teddy did so, trying to regain his composure.

When he felt as steady as he would probably get, he went back to the attic. He'd laugh over his behaviour, hand Harry the pictures, and ignore those burning in his back pockets as well as he could.

As he climbed through the trapdoor, he was greeted with light. Harry had conjured globes that glowed like small suns to hover under the ceiling. Harry himself was sitting in front of the box Teddy had been sorting through. Around him spread a ring of letters, paper, and parchment.

He raised his head as Teddy came closer, and Teddy steeled himself for the inevitable questions. But Harry smiled and only asked, 'Feeling better? I'm really sorry I startled you so badly.'

Teddy sighed a little with relief. 'Yeah, thanks, better now. Uh.' He gave a small laugh that only sounded a little fake. 'Here, I accidentally took them with me.' He held out the photos to Harry.

'Oh, yes, thank you.' Harry took them and went through the stack, glancing only cursorily at the pictures. Teddy was glad he'd taken out the others. 'Right, your NEWTs party. I remember that. Wasn't that Ginny mussing with her new camera?'

'Oh. Yeah, I think so.' Teddy shuffled his feet a little. 'Um, what next? If you're going through this stuff, what should I look at?'

Harry put the pictures down into the box and looked up at Teddy. Teddy tensed again, waiting, expecting Harry to say something more, to ask more questions. He expected Harry to give him a searching, worried look and offer to help with any problem Teddy might have.

But all he got was a look that he thought might have been faintly calculating before Harry nodded at the pile of sacks stacked next to the trapdoor. 'Could you take those downstairs, please?' he asked. 'I'm afraid if I show up again and trail more dirt through the house, Dinky will either hex me or force me into the shower to scrub me down.'

Teddy blinked, a little bewildered. 'Of course. Uh. Where should I put them? I don't suppose Dinky would like them dumped into the entrance hall.'

Harry gave a weak chuckle. 'No, she wouldn't. Put them out into the garden, I think that's best. I'll get someone to pick them up on Monday.'

'Okay.'

Teddy turned and heaved one sack up on his shoulders, mindful of Harry's earlier comment about being unable to use magic for fear of exploding something. It was difficult work, because not only were the sacks heavy, they were bulky and unwieldy, too, and he had to pay close attention if he didn't want to knock some knickknack over or smash a window. On his third trip down, Dinky appeared and trailed after him, grumbling and muttering under her breath. On his fourth trip down, she stopped him.

'Is Dinky's Masters still making a mess?' she demanded to know.

'Uh.' Teddy dumped the sack at his feet and took a deep breath. 'He's still sorting through the boxes, yeah.'

'Throwing away lot of his old things?'

'Yeah,' Teddy answered cautiously, wary of her narrow-eyed look.

Dinky gave him a grim smile. 'Good,' she said emphatically and vanished.

Teddy blinked, shrugged, and hauled the sack outside.

When he returned, he saw Harry standing in front of one of the shelves. The boxes had been pushed aside to make a small aisle that led to the shelf, and Harry was fumbling with something on the top shelf, obviously trying to get it down. Something that looked large and heavy, and as if it were about to drop on Harry's head.

'Careful!' Teddy cried out and dashed forwards just as the huge thing – some kind of crate but octagonal instead of square – slid off the shelf and almost out of Harry's hands.

Teddy reached Harry just in time to grab the crate as it knocked Harry off balance. The heavy crate slammed into Teddy's hands at the same time that Harry stumbled backwards and into Teddy's chest. The impact of the crate sent small waves of pain through Teddy's wrists up his arms, and the impact of Harry forced all the air out of his lungs. But he managed to both stop the crate from falling onto Harry and himself from toppling all of them to the floor.

'Oof,' was his eloquent comment.

'Oh, wow,' Harry panted. 'Thank you. Didn't think that thing was so heavy. You got it?'

'Yeah.' Teddy grimaced. 'Could use help, though.'

'Okay, wait, lemme…' Harry fumbled his wand out and stabbed it at the crate, which immediately got lighter and easier for Teddy to hold.

Somehow, the motion also made Harry press even closer to Teddy, and Harry's arse right into Teddy's groin.

Teddy's cock showed his interest immediately, and Teddy was only too glad that the crate wasn't as heavy anymore or he would have dropped it.

'Uhng,' he gasped.

'You all right?' Harry said. He made no motion to move away, only tilted his head back to look at Teddy.

'Nhhn,' said Teddy. 'Uh. Yeah. Um. Crate?'

'Yes?' Harry looked up at him, eyes glittering behind his glasses, smiling.

Teddy stared down, his mind losing track of what he had been saying. His cock hardened further and was Harry wiggling against him?

Only almost dropping the crate again reminded Teddy that it was there. He also remembered that it wasn't a good idea to stand there and grind his cock into Harry's arse, no matter how nice that felt.

'I…' Teddy coughed to clear his throat. 'You …'

'Hmmm?'

'Where, uh, d'you wanna put the, uh, crate?'

Teddy was rock hard by now, straining against his fly. Harry had to be aware of what it was that was poking him, but he made no move to move away. Uh.

'Oh. The crate.' Harry turned his head away to look at the crate, still held half on top of the shelf by Teddy.

Teddy sagged a little, but that only made his erection come to rest snugly between Harry's buttocks. Harry shifted on his feet and leaned back a little. Teddy fought back a whimper.

'You'd best get it down and put it on that box over there.'

Teddy shook his head and tried to understand what it was Harry had said. But then Harry turned in his arms and they came face to face, with only inches between them, and Teddy forgot what had been said.

Harry's eyes were so big and luminous. They shone with a light Teddy had never seen in them before. They were so green.

They were staring at Teddy's mouth.

Teddy licked his lips.

Harry's eyes widened, and he sighed softly.

His warm breath brushed over Teddy's skin and made him shiver.

The crunching sound of the crate sliding off the shelf caught Teddy's attention just before it fell. He caught it, but with Harry still standing between his outstretched arms, Teddy couldn't keep a firm grasp on it, and it slid through his fingers. Fumbling to avoid letting it drop, Teddy leaned forwards, right into Harry, unbalancing them both.

The crate dropped from Teddy's fingers and landed with a resonant thud. Harry shuffled backwards and sat down hard on the crate's top. Teddy fell over Harry. Harry sprawled backwards over the crate, head hanging off the other side, and Teddy came to lie flat on top of him, face smushed against Harry's shoulder. Harry's belt buckle bit into Teddy's stomach, and Teddy's still hard cock was comfortably pressed against Harry's thigh.

Both men gasped.

'Hmph.' Harry's gasp blew warm breath over Teddy's ear and he shivered.

'S-sorry,' he croaked.

''S okay,' Harry whispered. He moved his thigh, and Teddy couldn't bite back a whimper.

'Teddy, you all right? Did you hurt anything?' Harry's hands came up and brushed softly over Teddy's shoulders and down his back.

'A-all right,' he gasped and tried to get off Harry without pressing his erection into any of Harry's body parts. 'Y-you?'

Harry's hands spread on Teddy's back. 'Ooh, I'm fine.'

He sounded rather hoarse, though. Teddy dared to raise his head to peer at Harry, but Harry had also raised his head and was peering at Teddy. Harry smiled. Teddy flushed and thought getting up and away from Harry was more important than saving his dignity. He pushed himself half up on his feet, which of course made him lose his balance again. This time, though – thankfully – he slid sideways off Harry and onto the floor. He bruised his elbow and knee, but he could live with that.

'Um, sorry,' he mumbled as he scrambled to his feet. 'I, uh, hope there wasn't anything breakable in that crate? Oh, and didn't you say you couldn't use magic on those things?'

Harry sighed and propped himself up on his elbows. 'Nothing fragile, no.' He grimaced. 'And it's only if I don't know what's inside of a box that I won't use magic on it. I knew this one wouldn't blow up on us.'

'Okay.' Teddy carefully stepped back, trying to hide the obvious bulge in his jeans in the shadows of the attic. He didn't look at Harry.

Harry sighed again and sat up. From the corners of his eyes Teddy saw him run both hands through his hair and then get up. He seemed a little agitated.

'Sorry for, ah, well, sorry,' Harry said. His voice sounded a lot less hoarse and a lot more subdued. 'Are you sure you're all right?'

Teddy nodded and noticed with chagrin that his hair had turned fuchsia. He concentrated and the bangs falling into his eyes turned his usual turquoise. 'Yeah, I'm sure. And it's okay, no need to apologise, you didn't make me drop that crate and fall over you on purpose, right?'

A long pause, and then Harry said softly, 'No, of course not.'

'Okay. All right. Um, I'll take the last sacks out, yeah?'

Without waiting for an answer, Teddy turned and began hauling the next sack down the trapdoor.

He fervently hoped Harry didn't notice how stiffly he was moving, but walking with a dick that was still persistently hard was really uncomfortable.

On his way outside, he came across Dinky. The house-elf took one long look at him and disappeared into the kitchen.

Teddy flushed with embarrassment and hurried outside. There, in the chilly spring air, he worked to get his breath under control and his hard on down. It took quite some time, but the low temperatures helped in the end, and Teddy was once more able to move without pain.

He took the last two sacks down and out without talking to Harry or even looking his way, though he heard Harry rummaging around somewhere at the back of the attic. The octagonal crate stood abandoned.

On his last trip outside, he was stopped by Dinky, who announced that dinner was ready and he should go wash his hands. She would go tell Master. Teddy didn't even try to convince her he wasn't really hungry and did what he was told.

And so they had another dinner together, once more watched over most of the time by Dinky, though this time, it was Teddy she was watching. It was a somewhat awkward affair, with Dinky hovering obviously in the background, and Teddy prone to flushing in remembered mortification. Harry didn't talk much and mostly stared down at his food. Teddy thought he was brooding and was worried that something had made Harry regress to the state he'd been in after Ginny's funeral. He tried to catch Dinky's eyes to convey his worry, but when he did, the house-elf just rolled her huge eyes, flapped her ears, and served him second helpings.

Teddy somehow got the impression she was rolling her eyes, exasperated, at them both. It was a fairly humiliating thought.

After dinner, Harry invited Teddy to come to the living room, but he seemed half-hearted and not surprised when Teddy pleaded exhaustion and wanting a shower and go to sleep.

'Of course,' Harry said with a twisted smile. 'I've already taken up enough of your Saturday. Good night, then, Teddy.'

'Good night,' Teddy echoed, worried over Harry's smile and lacklustre tone and half-decided to stay after all, despite his own state of mind, because Harry needed him. But Harry had already turned away, and Dinky was waiting at the door to the Floo Room, and Teddy remembered that if he stayed, Harry might ask questions Teddy didn't want to answer. So he left and Flooed home.

His first stop was the shower. Shucking his dusty clothes into a corner of the bathroom to rot there, Teddy stepped under the spray and tilted his head back, let the hot water pour over his face and down his body. A few drops ran down his hips and tickled his balls.

Teddy groaned and turned around, letting his head fall forward and the water pound onto his shoulders and back. He concentrated hard on the relaxing sensation of the heat and pressure.

It didn't help. His mind kept turning back to those moments in the attic, standing behind Harry to grab the crate, with Harry in his arms, leaning into Teddy. Teddy's cock pressing into Harry's arse. Falling onto Harry and lying on top of him, with Harry's hands on his back and Harry's thigh so nice and firm against Teddy's aching erection.

It was no use. With another groan, Teddy wrapped his hand around his cock and began to stroke. Slow at first, more teasing than anything else. Then faster, gripping himself more firmly, stroking up and down in time with his rapid heartbeat.

He remembered the feeling of his cock cradled between Harry's buttocks – nice, muscular buttocks, and oh, god, Harry's body was still so amazing, hard and muscled, firm, and so warm.

He imagined a different outcome, one where there hadn't been a crate to catch, and Harry had turned in his arms, smiling wickedly up at Teddy before he snaked a hand down to grope Teddy's cock.

Teddy whimpered, his own hand replaced in his imagination with Harry's, slightly smaller but harder, stronger, calloused from years of holding his wand or a broomstick. He imagined how it would feel, a little rough on his skin, but it was Harry, Harry was there, and Teddy could feel him and smell him and oh, god.

Teddy came with a choked cry that echoed faintly in the bathroom and soon was drowned out by the sound of the shower running. Teddy panted and leaned against the cold tiled wall and swore softly at himself. While having fantasised about Harry more than once over the years, it had never been this real – or this overwhelming. If this was any indication …

Teddy didn't know how he'd ever be able to get over this.

With a sigh, Teddy reached for his soap and hurried to finish his shower. He felt exhausted and only wanted to go to bed and sleep and hide.

Scrubbed clean and spelled dry, he fell into bed. His body was relaxed, feeling heavy and sated, but his mind lingered and lingered on the memories, the images, the sensation of Harry, the fucking pictures. Falling asleep took a very long time.

*

After having spent a restless night, Teddy was woken by a voice calling him from his fireplace. Sleepily, Teddy dragged himself into his living room and stared uncomprehendingly at Harry's smiling face, hovering in the fire.

Vague thoughts about something having happened to one of the children flashed through Teddy's mind, but apparently everything was all right. All Harry wanted was to ask if Teddy would be willing to come over again and spend his Sunday digging through more dusty boxes.

Teddy woke up too late to stop his mouth from saying, 'Yeah, sure, just give me an hour or so to actually wake up.'

Horrified, he watched Harry laugh and then withdraw from the fire. He stood still for what felt like hours, staring at the hearth and cursing himself, before he went to have a shower.

A long shower, a heated wank, and two mugs of strong tea later, Teddy told himself that just because he'd been in Hufflepuff didn't mean he had no courage, and Flooed to Harry's house.

He was once more welcomed by Dinky, who wore an expression of such patient suffering that it made Teddy grin. She pointed him toward the attic.

'Master promised no mess today,' she said, shook her head, and vanished. She clearly wasn't convinced.

Teddy wasn't convinced, either, though he and Dinky were most likely not thinking the same definition of mess. Besides, Teddy was aware that there was one kind of mess he wouldn't at all mind creating together with Harry. As soon as the thought appeared, he chased it away and told his dick to go back to sleep. Then he climbed up the stairs and the ladder that led to the attic.

Like he had done the previous day, he first had to take a deep, centring breath and wipe his sweaty hands before he climbed up the ladder.

The first thing he saw was the octagonal crate, standing in front of the shelf it had been stored on, unopened, and there went his shaky calm. Teddy swallowed and forced his eyes away from the shape and his mind from the memory, and looked around instead.

The attic was noticeably less messy and less cluttered than it had been the day before. There were neatly stacked boxes along one wall, and the shelves had been filled again. Instead of stacks of clothes, boxes, and bags stuffed in there higgledy-piggledy, everything was ordered. There were even empty spaces, evidence of all the unused clutter they had thrown away.

Right next to the shelves, however, the mess continued. Boxes and crates littered the floor, and several piles of old robes, bed linens, and clothes that looked like cleaning rags rose between them. Harry, dressed in the same dusty clothes, was bent over an old trunk, and Teddy couldn't help notice the way Harry's trousers clung to and outlined his arse.

He licked his lips and cleared his throat. 'Er …hey, Harry.'

Harry didn't rise but peered at Teddy from underneath his arm. 'Good morning again, Teddy,' he greeted. 'Awake now?'

'Should be.' Teddy grinned a little. 'Well, at least I won't fall asleep over one of those boxes.'

Harry laughed and rummaged around in the trunk. When he finally rose, he was clutching a small box. It was brightly gold and red, and the design was familiar. Teddy's eyes widened.

'Wow, Harry, are those your old Chocolate Frog cards?'

Harry grinned proudly. 'Yep.'

'Wow. They must be worth a small fortune now.'

Harry nodded happily. 'Yes, the other day I saw a listing in the It's Magic! games section, and a Ptolemy was worth almost a thousand Galleons.'

'Guh.' Teddy shut his dropped jaw with a click and made his way over to Harry to peer over his shoulder at the cards. 'What are you going to do with them? You're not selling them, are you?'

'No way!' Harry exclaimed. 'I'm going to frame them and put the frames up along the ground floor hall. Much more impressive than having landscapes hung there, don't you think?'

Teddy laughed. 'Yeah. Though you'd probably never get Uncle Ron to enter a room again. He'd want to stay in the hall forever, staring.'

'Hmm, good argument,' Harry said with a wink. He closed the box and petted it before he carefully put it down out of the way. 'Okay, let's not get distracted. We've got some more work to do.'

'Slave driver,' Teddy mock-complained.

'You can look at the cards later.' Harry's smile became wicked. 'If you're a good boy. I might let you touch them.'

Teddy flushed and choked out a laugh, convinced that Harry hadn't meant to say what Teddy heard. 'Uh, okay, I'll be good,' he stammered.

'Great!' Harry lightly punched him in the shoulder and pointed toward a pile of clothes that had obviously been dumped on an open trunk equally piled with clothes. There were a lot of pink and glittery bits in there.

'There, that's one half of the children's clothes we have kept for some incomprehensible reason. You can go through and decide what's good enough to be given away, and what should go into the trash.'

Teddy sighed but nodded and obediently made his way over to the clothes. 'See me being a good boy,' he said gloomily.

Harry laughed and bent back over his trunk. Teddy quickly concentrated on the clothes and only peered over to ogle Harry's bum once or twice.

He'd made his way about halfway through the pile when Harry closed the lid of the trunk and sat down on it. When Teddy looked up, Harry had his hands folded in his lap and was watching Teddy with a small crease between his brows.

'Oh.' Teddy looked down at the t-shirt he was holding and then back up at Harry. 'Something wrong?'

Harry shook his head, slipped off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose, put his glasses back, squared his shoulders, and looked at Teddy. 'No, not wrong. I just …' He took a deep breath as though he was steeling himself to say something unpleasant. 'I've been … well, this time it's me who's been wondering.'

'Wondering? About what?'

'Uh.' Harry scratched his neck. 'You, actually.'

Teddy flushed and gaped. 'Me?' he squeaked. 'Why? About what?'

Harry sighed and fiddled with the hem of his shirt. 'About what you told me,' he said with a faint, lopsided smile. 'You know, about dating Muggle boys. Um, actually, about the boys part in there.'

Teddy blinked, not understanding where this was going. 'Huh?'

'Well,' Harry said slowly, drawing out the vowel, only to rush on, 'I'm curious. Of course, I know it's technically none of my business, and if you want, say so and I'll stop asking, but … You know, I, um, you said you're attracted to men, and I, well, I was wondering about what kind of man.'

'What kind of man?' Teddy repeated, feeling a bit uncomfortable. He had a faint idea of where Harry was heading.

'Yes. Your type.' Harry cocked his head. There was nothing but honest curiosity on his face. Teddy nevertheless felt a little suspicious. Why ask that question now?

So he asked, 'Why? I mean, why'd you want to know?'

'Told you, I'm curious. And … Well, we're both in the same position in this, aren't we? Attracted to men, but no one knows, except you and me. Well, okay, three people in my case, and I talked a lot to Ginny, but … And don't you, I don't know, sometimes like to talk about it? About what you want in a guy? Talk about, I don't know, the trouble of dating another man, and things like that, with someone who knows and will listen, and has the same problems and experiences as you do?'

Teddy could only stare because yes, of course he'd wanted to talk. Sometimes he desperately longed for someone who would just listen. He'd made do talking to his friends, leaving out the detail that it was guys he was dating. But that was only a last resort, because he could never be entirely honest, and holding back things not only made Teddy uneasy about lying to his friends, but it also distorted matters. Sometimes to the point where things looked completely different to an uninformed outsider, and Teddy's friends were honestly confused about what the problem was.

And now Harry was offering to listen.

It was both the fulfilment of a long-held wish and another twist of torture. Because Teddy would have to hold back again. He would again have to leave details out and arrange things so that Harry wouldn't guess the truth. He would still be lying.

'Teddy?'

He blinked. 'Yes?'

'Listen, you don't have to if you don't want to!' Harry looked apologetic. 'I didn't mean to pressure you, or anything. Just thought I'd offer, you know. And, um, curious,' he ended with a rather wry grin.

'Oh. No, no, it's all right,' Teddy hastened to reassure. 'I was just … a bit stunned. That you'd ask.'

Harry tilted his head again, this time to the other side. 'Why?'

'I don't know.' Teddy shrugged helplessly. 'Because you're the first to know?'

Harry nodded thoughtfully. 'Hmm, yeah, I can understand that. But do you want to talk?'

Teddy hesitated, chewing the inside of one cheek, and thought about the pros and cons. 'Yeah,' he finally said softly.

'Good.' Harry beamed at him and leaned forwards. 'So, if you don't mind me asking, tell me about your type? What do you look for in a guy? Are you looking for a relationship when you go out or only for, um, a bit of entertainment?'

Teddy chuckled weakly. 'A bit of entertainment? That's a good one.' He lowered his eyes to stare sightlessly at the shirt in his hands. 'I … I'd like a relationship,' he said quietly. 'I … I'm not someone for "a bit of entertainment”. Only, with most Muggles I've met, it's nothing more than that. And … and even those I meet more than once … Things always get to a point where I either have to explain who and what I am, or never see them again. And that usually ends with the guy calling me names and kicking me out of his flat.'

'I see.' Harry's voice was just as quiet. 'I understand. It's a bit like that for me, too. Of course, the guys know who I am, so I don't have to hide that. But, those who were interested in a relationship, they all want to stop hiding some time. Or they don't want to go through all the, the contortions necessary to keep us secret. You know?'

Teddy nodded. For a while, they sat in silence, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. It felt warm and safe to Teddy. He felt connected to Harry at a deeper level than ever before. He quite liked that.

'So.' Harry cleared his throat after a while. 'You still haven't answered. Your type?'

Now, that question made all the nice and safe feeling go away to be replaced by nervousness. 'Um. My type,' Teddy mumbled. 'Dunno.'

'Oh, come on, Teddy. What do you like in a guy? How does he have to look like for you to be interested?' Harry cajoled.

Like you, Teddy thought and bit his lip. 'Um. Dunno. Not too tall, I guess. Or too bulky. I … I rather like the, um, more slender type.'

Okay, that was good so far. Nothing too specific, nice and casual.

'Hmm, not too tall and slender,' Harry mused. 'So, the boyish type? Young looking?'

God, why was Harry asking all those questions?

'Uhh, n-no. Not boyish, no. Definitely no boys.' Teddy shuddered as he remembered the one time he'd tried to date a boy, someone who was barely of age.

'Older, then?' Harry asked immediately. He would fall off the trunk if he leaned any further forwards, Teddy thought.

'Older.' Now, this was getting too close for his taste. 'That's … okay. Not necessary. Just, no boys. No one who looks and acts like a teenager, you know?'

'Someone experienced?' Harry suggested.

'Yeah, would be nice,' Teddy answered without thinking, and then flushed when he saw Harry grin. This was definitely getting too close to a truth he didn't want to talk about. So, in an attempt to divert Harry from the topic, Teddy asked, 'What about you?'

'About me?' Harry's smile broadened, looking pleased. Almost as though Teddy had just done exactly what Harry wanted.

'Yeah, what are you looking for?'

Only when he'd said that it occurred to Teddy that this wasn't the safest topic, either. Did he really want to know what Harry wanted? What he was looking for? The kind of man he desired?

'I want a relationship,' Harry said softly. He was looking straight at Teddy as he spoke, and somehow, Teddy couldn't look away. 'A relationship with someone who understands that I won't be able to be open about our relationship, at least not immediately. I want someone I can trust, someone I know I can count on and depend on. Someone who cares for me and can be my friend as well as my lover. Someone who knows how to relax and enjoy life. Someone who can drag me out and make me have fun when I start brooding. Someone who can be young and goofy, but also mature. Someone who cares for my children and doesn't think they're competition. Someone who gets along well with my friends and family. Someone … someone I know will be mine, will stay with me "in good times and in bad times, in sickness and in health”, as the Muggles say.'

There was more silence after Harry had finished, a somewhat tense and meaningful silence. Teddy had to look away from Harry's bright, intense gaze. He thought about what to say in answer to that and couldn't think of anything. Harry had been so open, so honest … and Teddy felt honoured and crushed at the same time, because he just knew he could never be what Harry wanted. He'd done his best, but he knew he couldn't be the … the anchor Harry was looking for.

'That's, uh. That's a tall order,' he finally got out.

'Yes,' Harry agreed softly. Wistfully. 'It is.'

Teddy randomly picked up another t-shirt, gazing absently at the glittering cat that gambolled over the lilac-coloured cloth. 'Um, do you … d'you think it's … possible? To … to find someone like that?'

And then he held his breath, cursing himself for asking, cursing himself for hoping, and cursing the whole stupid fate thing that had got him into this situation.

'Yes,' Harry said again. He sounded strange, hopeful maybe. Pleading? Teddy peered at him from the corner of his eye, but only saw Harry watching him, and looked away again. 'Yes, I think it's … possible. I think…' Harry trailed off and then added in a whisper, so softly Teddy wasn't sure whether he was meant to have heard it at all, 'I might already have.'

It hurt. A lot. Even more than the thought of Harry having had another lover in the past. Even more than watching Harry remember that lover with a fond expression on his face. It hurt so much Teddy thought he couldn't breathe. It hurt so much Teddy thought this must be how Cruciatus felt. He couldn't make a sound, couldn't say anything, do anything but mechanically continue sorting through the children's clothes.

After long moments, he heard Harry sigh and get up to his feet. 'Yeah, it's a tall order,' Harry said, his voice completely different than before. Casual, not intimate. That hurt, too. 'Almost impossible, wouldn't you say? But hey, my life's been a lot of impossibilities strung together, so why not this one, too?'

Teddy made a sound that might be interpreted as assent. His scalp prickled, and he clenched his teeth to stop his stupid hair from changing colour. With his luck, Harry would realise what the colour meant, and then start asking questions and try to comfort Teddy, and he just couldn't bear that right now. Stubbornly, he held unto his hair and his tears and worked his way silently through the pile.

When he was done, he felt more in control. Teddy stacked the good-enough-to-give-away clothes in the trunk and conjured a sack into which he stuffed the throwaway clothes. With nothing else to do, he turned to Harry, who had moved on to another trunk.

'I,' he began, and then coughed, hoping that would make his voice sound less hoarse. 'I'm done with that stuff.'

Harry raised his head. He looked a little pale. 'Okay. Good.'

'Um, I put the good ones in the trunk and the others in a sack.'

'Okay. Thanks.'

They both did their best not to look the other in the eyes. Dinky's voice, calling from the first floor, came as a blessing.

'Master? Young Master Teddy? It is time for lunch. Dinky is not bringing food to the attic. Masters come down and wash hands first, and eat second. Yes?'

'You hungry?' Harry asked Teddy.

Teddy shrugged. The mere thought of food made him feel sick, but anything to get out of the attic and leave this awkwardness and discomfort behind. 'Yeah, sure.'

'Okay. We'll be coming down in a minute, Dinky.'

'Yes, Master,' Dinky replied and popped away, presumably to get the food ready for serving.

'Okay, then, let's go. On the way down, can you float that trunk, Teddy?' Harry pointed at the one he'd gone through earlier. 'I want to take that one and this one here down to the study.'

'Yes, okay.' Teddy flicked his wand at the trunk and it rose to bob along before him as he climbed down the ladder. Harry followed with the second trunk, but he was having some trouble to get it through the trapdoor.

'You go on,' he told Teddy. 'I'll get this bastard unstuck and come down.'

'Yes, okay.' It seemed the only thing Teddy could say anymore. He directed the trunk down the stairs. Behind him he could hear Harry swear up a blue streak.

Teddy entered Harry's study carefully. It had been a special room to him when he was a child, almost sacred. It was Harry's room and completely off limits to both him and Harry's children. It was only to be entered when Harry said they could. He still felt as if he was doing something forbidden when he opened the door and directed the trunk through.

Inside, he looked around. He hadn't been in here for years, and although he thought the place looked different, it was also still the same. It still felt like a special place. This was Harry's room, a sanctuary. It felt intensely intimate to be in here. Everything was just the way Harry liked it, from the colours of the walls and carpets to the furniture.

And he still spent a lot of time in here, apparently, for it smelled so much like him that Teddy shivered. He needed to get out, fast, or he'd do something stupid. Like cry.

As he turned around, the single shelf above the desk caught his attention. There were picture frames standing on that shelf. Teddy knew those were pictures of Harry's family and friends. They usually stood neatly ordered into small groups – or at least, they had done so the last time Teddy had been in here and looked at them. Today, their arrangement seemed a little off. There was one frame standing in front of the others. From where he was standing, Teddy couldn't see who was in the picture, but it seemed important.

On impulse, Teddy crossed the room to look at the picture, the feeling of doing something forbidden rising. Yet he couldn't stop himself. The person in the picture was important, perhaps the one Harry thought he'd found. Teddy wanted to know.

He lifted the frame from the shelf and tilted it so that he could see the picture.

He almost dropped it.

It was a déjà vu in the worst sense because not only had he been in that situation before, picking up a picture only to almost drop it, he had seen this exact picture only yesterday!

There he was, sitting next to Harry, and the paper lantern hanging behind them illuminating the desire on Teddy's face.

Horror and confusion swept over Teddy as he kept staring at the picture. Harry had seen this, must have seen this, of course he had. He had seen that expression on Teddy's face, the longing, he knew what Teddy felt for him. But how? How did he get that picture? It had been in that box until yesterday, and Teddy had taken all of those traitorous pictures out before he'd given the others back. Or had Harry always had it? Had Ginny made another copy? Had Harry always known and only pretended not to?

'You missed that one.'

Harry's quiet voice suddenly sounding behind him made Teddy whirl around and bang his hip into the desk. He ignored the pain in favour of staring at Harry, who was standing, arms crossed in front of his chest, next to the door. The closed door.

Teddy felt his fingers shake, and he hastily put the frame down. 'W-wha—?' he stuttered weakly.

'You missed it when you picked up the others.'

It took Teddy a moment to remember that Harry had startled him yesterday, too, when he'd looked at this very picture. That he'd dropped the stack, and the pictures had scattered across the floor, and he had hurried to pick them all up again before Harry could see them. Then he'd run away to hide in the bathroom. He had apparently forgotten that one in his haste to get away.

'You … found it, then,' Teddy whispered. He licked his lips nervously.

'Yes, I found it.' Harry made no move, merely watched him. 'After you'd escaped like that, I was left wondering what was going on. If you'd seen something in that box that had upset you. And then I found the picture. It had slid halfway underneath a bag so you hadn't seen it.'

Teddy nodded and closed his eyes. He could see it, Harry worried, and then finding the picture, staring at it in … what? Fascination? Understanding? Disgust? No, not that, he'd have said something. Still …

'When you came back, you were so skittish. I'd thought about asking you, but you'd have run away again.'

Teddy nodded, ashamed of himself.

'And you gave me back the other pictures, but there were none of you and me in that stack.'

Teddy shook his head.

'There were more, weren't there? You took them out, didn't you?

Teddy nodded.

'Why?'

Teddy blinked his eyes open. Harry didn't sound angry or disgusted or … anything. His voice was calm and even. A little enquiring. But not pressing.

'Why did you take the others out, Teddy?'

Teddy looked down at Harry's feet. 'D-didn't want you t-to s-see,' he whispered.

'Why not?'

Teddy squeezed his eyes shut and wished he could just vanish. But there was an anti-Apparition ward on the house, and even if he somehow managed to Apparate, Harry would follow.

There were steps coming closer, and then Harry was standing in front of him. Hands, rough palms, gently cupped Teddy's face and tilted it up. He stubbornly kept his eyes closed.

'Why not, Teddy?' Harry asked again. 'Why didn't you want me to see those pictures?'

Teddy squeezed his eyes close even tighter. 'D-didn't want you to … Didn't want you to k-know.'

'Know what?'

Teddy shook his head.

Harry was silent for a while. Then he sighed and brushed the calloused pads of his thumbs over Teddy's cheeks in a caressing gesture.

'It's a pity you took the others. I'm glad I found this one. I like it very much.'

Teddy's eyes flew open and he stared at Harry, into Harry's eyes, so close, so green. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. His head was spinning. He felt dizzy and reached out for something to hold on to and found Harry's shoulders.

'Teddy.' Harry stepped even closer, all the while gazing searchingly into Teddy's eyes. 'I would … I would like to ask you a question. And I'd like to have … as honest an answer as you can give me.'

Teddy's eyes widened.

'Please, Teddy,' Harry said softly. 'Please try. I need to know. That picture.'

'I didn't know.' Teddy's voice was rough and sounded too loud in his ears. 'At the time.'

Harry's eyes grew even more intense. 'Didn't know what?'

Teddy swallowed. 'Didn't know I was a-attracted. To men. To … to you.'

Harry nodded slightly. 'Okay. So … Teddy, is attraction all you feel for me?'

Teddy made a choked sound and squeezed his eyes so tightly shut it hurt.

'Teddy, please.'

Teddy gasped. 'No.'

Harry's thumbs brushed over his cheeks again, then over his lips. Teddy shuddered.

'You feel more,' Harry said. It wasn't a question. 'You care for me. I know that. You … Teddy, do you … love me?'

Teddy sobbed. His fingers clenched into Harry's shoulders. 'Don't you know that?'

'No, Teddy.' Harry's voice was so soft, so gentle. 'No, I don't know.'

Teddy, surprised, forgot to be mortified and scared and looked down into Harry's eyes. It still, even now, gave him a thrill to be taller. 'You don't? But …'

Harry smiled a little. 'I'm only human, Teddy. And I can't read minds. When I tried … to find out, you ran away.'

'Oh.' Teddy blinked, completely stunned. Things clicked in his head, and suddenly certain events yesterday and today made a lot more sense. 'Oh, you …?'

Harry grimaced a little. 'I'm not … very good with relationship things. And other people's emotions. Or my own. I … well, I could just have asked you but I was scared you'd just run away and … Okay. So. Teddy? Please, do you …?'

Teddy stared down at him, noticing how unsure Harry looked, how worried. Teddy's chest ached with tenderness, and he spread his hands on Harry's shoulders, more a caress than a gentle hold.

'Yeah,' he rasped, 'I … do.'

'Oh, god,' Harry gasped, and then he was in Teddy's arm, kissing him, and Teddy was kissing Harry back.

It was messy and wet and included too much teeth, but it was the best thing Teddy could ever remember feeling. He clung to Harry, arms wrapped so tightly around Harry it had to hurt, and poured all his love and fear and yearning into the kiss. Harry whimpered. His fingers dug into Teddy's shoulders.

Teddy's hips jerked forwards. He was just tall enough that Harry's belt buckle dug painfully into his cock, but even that felt good. Harry moaning and moving against his thigh felt even better. Teddy felt brave enough to trail his hands down Harry's back and grope his arse, pulling Harry a little higher and closer.

They both groaned as their cocks met through layers of jeans and underwear. Teddy thrust forwards again, revelling in the sensation. Harry thrust back, and for what felt like several ages, they simply stood there, rocking together, and kissing and kissing and kissing.

Finally, they broke apart, both pulling just that little bit back to pant for air. Harry gasped loudly, inhaling, and began peppering Teddy's jaw and neck with hot, hard little kisses. Teddy held on tightly to Harry, the only solid, stable thing in his whole dancing, swaying universe.

'I love you, too.' Harry's raspy whisper blew hot over Teddy's neck. 'Love you.' Harry moaned and pressed his lips to the pulse that fluttered in Teddy's throat. 'For so long now,' he went on. His lips moved against Teddy's skin, the sensation and the words made Teddy shiver and cling even tighter to the man in his arms. 'And more and more during all those weeks you came to me,' Harry whispered. 'When you came to sit with me, keep me company, talk to me, take care of me …' With a little cry, Harry stood on tiptoe and all but savaged Teddy's mouth.

Teddy grunted and gave back as good as he got. Harry's words echoed through his mind, and Teddy's heart beat, Me, too. Me, too.

Harry pulled away again to stare into Teddy's eyes. His glasses were askew and a little fogged, but his eyes glittered brightly, or darkly, so seductive Teddy felt as though his insides were melting.

'I've wanted you for so long,' Harry said quietly. 'So long. Tried to stop. Couldn't. So scared you'd find out and be disgusted … You're my godson, I'm your godfather, your father-figure, told myself it's wrong and sick and yet I couldn't stop looking at you and thinking of you and wanting you and—'

Teddy stopped his babbling with a kiss. Harry kissed back, but then broke away again to continue.

'Let me … need to say this … just this once! I never held any hope, even when I thought that you might prefer men … But I wasn't sure if that's what I was seeing or only what I was wanting to see, merely wishful thinking, you know. When you told me, god, I just wanted to … jump you, and pin you to that armchair and fuck you, and then I saw that picture, tried to find out if you were interested but you always turned away, and I—'

'Stop talking,' Teddy told him breathlessly and kissed him again. This time, he cradled Harry's head to make sure he didn't pull away again.

They could talk later. Right now, Teddy wanted to kiss and taste and feel Harry.

The words, the knowledge of Harry's feelings for him, pulsed through Teddy's body. It felt like a drug. It made Teddy more eager, more daring – enough to slide his other hand between their bodies and over the bulge in Harry's jeans.

Harry groaned into Teddy's mouth as his hips snapped forwards. The motion made Teddy's hand rub over his own dick, and he gave the moan back to Harry.

Harry sucked on Teddy's lower lip and snuck his hands up under Teddy's shirt. His fingertips trailed up Teddy's back, his hips grated into Teddy's hand. Teddy had to raise his head to cry out, and then he did so again, louder, his whole body shuddering with pleasure when Harry's fingers caressed the skin between his shoulder blades.

'Oh, hot spot,' Harry said with a breathless laugh and did it again, brushing the skin with his fingertips, tracing patterns.

Teddy whimpered and bucked. His hand tightened around Harry's cock.

'Fuck,' Harry hissed. He thrust into Teddy's hand as his mouth latched onto Teddy's neck and he started sucking. His hands kept running over the sensitive spot on Teddy's back until Teddy was writhing with need.

'Harry, Harry, gonna … oh, please …'

Harry tore his mouth away. 'What? Tell me.'

Teddy cried out wordlessly as Harry ground his hips against Teddy again. His cock throbbed and he could feel moisture gather at its head. 'More …'

Harry groaned and, tearing his hands away, took a step backwards. Teddy whined in protest and reached out to him. Harry grabbed the hem of Teddy's shirt and pulled it upwards.

'Off. Now.'

Teddy found his bearings long enough to wriggle out of his shirt and the t-shirt he was wearing underneath. Harry had used the time to tear off his own shirt. Even as Teddy let his t-shirt drop to the floor, Harry was on him again, running his hands up and down Teddy's chest, following their trail with his lips.

Teddy threw his had back and held onto Harry for dear life. The sensation of Harry's slightly rough palms, then the soft lips, followed by a hot, wet tongue … and it was Harry!

'Oh, god, need you, need you right now.'

At first Teddy thought he'd said that himself, but then Harry was pushing him backwards with a hungry expression.

'Sofa,' he growled. 'Behind you. Trousers off.'

Teddy stumbled backwards and tripped over his own feet, but had the enormous fortune to land sprawled on the sofa instead of on the floor. It took him some time to process what had happened, and by that time Harry had kicked off his shoes and was working on getting his trousers off. Then watching Harry took precedence over anything else.

Teddy watched Harry push his trousers down, revealing nicely formed thighs and an impressive erection, lovingly outlined by white pants. Teddy's hand slid into his lap, and he gave his cock a firm squeeze as he watched Harry undress.

Tossing his jeans aside, Harry raised his eyes to Teddy. They lit on Teddy's hand squeezing his cock and darkened. Harry licked his lips. Teddy moaned.

'Off,' Harry ordered hoarsely. He grinned wildly at Teddy as he stepped closer and reached for Teddy's waistband. 'Now.'

Teddy moaned again in agreement and scrambled to help Harry get him out of his remaining clothes. First his jeans, and then Harry tackled Teddy's pants, firmly pulling them down and freeing Teddy's cock. It sprang up happily, slick and pink.

Harry moaned and reached out. 'God, you're gorgeous,' he breathed.

Teddy had time to suck in a fierce breath when Harry's hand touched his cock for the first time, and for a split second he thought that it felt even better than he'd imagined. Then Harry's mouth slid over the head, and Teddy's thoughts scattered. There wasn't enough air left in his lungs to scream.

'Gngah,' he gasped, and Harry hummed around him and sucked him in deeper. Teddy's eyes crossed with pleasure. His fingers tangled in Harry's hair, nails scratching Harry's scalp, as Harry began to bob his head.

In his wildest dreams, Teddy had never imagined this. No one, it seemed, had ever had such a wonderful mouth as Harry, and no one had ever gone about this with as much enthusiasm as Harry.

'Harry,' Teddy gasped. 'Wait … stop … gone come … like this …'

Harry hummed again and twirled his tongue around Teddy's dick one more time, but he pulled off. 'Don't you want to—?' was what he began to say, but then Teddy grabbed his shoulders and hauled him up so he could kiss Harry again. One hand holding Harry's shoulder, the other was free to sneak down and into Harry's pants.

'My turn,' Teddy whispered into Harry's lips. He pulled back and gave Harry a small grin, before he slid down off the sofa to kneel in front of him. Careful not to hurt him, Teddy pulled Harry's pants down over his cock to let them fall down at Harry's ankles. That obstacle out of the way, Teddy had opportunity to admire the very hard cock straining towards him. His mouth watered.

Trying to steady his trembling hands, Teddy reached out to take hold of Harry's erection. Both men moaned at the contact, and Teddy ran his hand up and down the veined flesh. It felt wonderful in his hand, hot and twitching ever so slightly. It fit so well into his palm as if it had been made to fit. Teddy moaned happily and leaned in closer, nuzzling Harry's thighs, one hand stroking his cock, the other cradling Harry's balls.

Above him, Harry started swearing and pleading with him, and Teddy sighed. Harry's hands found their way into Teddy's hair. Teddy gently grazed his teeth over Harry's thigh, then turned his head and rubbed his cheek along Harry's drooling cock. Harry sighed. His hips thrust ever so slightly forwards, looking for friction.

But Teddy didn't want to rush. He'd dreamed of this for so long, had wanted this for too long. He wanted to savour every second, no matter how much his own body screamed for release.

He began by nuzzling Harry's cock, rubbing his cheeks and nose up and down the length, breathing along its underside, and burying his nose in Harry's pubes. At one point he had to grab Harry's hip to hold him steady. When Harry's pleading and swearing became a wordless whine, Teddy relented and let Harry's cock slip between his lips. Controlling his breathing and concentrating, he let his cock slide right down, all the way into his throat.

'Oh, god, Teddy!' Harry all but screamed.

Teddy backed off, suckled the head, and went right down again. Harry grunted and swore. His hands in Teddy's hair tightened.

Teddy eased up a little, not wanting to end this so soon. So he spent some time suckling like a baby, which made Harry hiss and yelp. He flicked his tongue up and down and around, then trailed deeper to lick Harry's balls. Harry groaned and spread his legs a little wider. Teddy followed the invitation, followed soft, silky skin. He felt about ready to burst, feeling and tasting Harry, surrounded by his scent, Harry's voice in his ears.

Harry tugged on his hair, trying to pull him back. Teddy nipped Harry sharply in reprimand and continued his discovery further.

Harry tugged sharper. 'Teddy,' he gasped. 'No … no more, oh, god, no, stop, please.'

The tugging wouldn't stop and became painful. With a huff, Teddy relented and drew back. Still kneeling, he peered up into Harry's flushed face.

This time it was Harry who grabbed his shoulders and pulled him up. He pressed a hard, passionate kiss on Teddy's lips, and then shoved him down onto the sofa.

'Want you,' he growled, and Teddy – about to protest – whimpered and let his legs fall open. He grabbed his cock and gave a few, hard pulls, trying to relieve the ache. Harry slapped his hand away.

'Mine.'

'H-Harry …'

Harry crouched over Teddy and bent his head down to catch one of Teddy's nipples between his teeth. He nibbled gently and then tugged hard, and Teddy arched off the sofa, his hands scrabbling over Harry's shoulders and back.

'Please, please, Harry … ah!'

Harry carefully pushed one finger inside Teddy's hole. Teddy clenched down on it and then forced himself to relax. Harry's finger slowly pushed deeper. It burned a little, slicked only by spit, but Teddy welcomed it. It was Harry.

He pushed back onto the finger. 'More, oh, please!'

The finger slid deeper inside and touched his prostate. The first touch, as always, felt uncomfortable, but the second changed the feeling to pleasure so intense it hurt. Teddy shoved back and twisted, wanting to get more of that finger, that touch.

'Careful, Teddy, slow down,' Harry breathed.

Teddy shook his head feverishly and pulled on Harry's shoulders. 'No, no, more, please, Harry, please!'

Harry groaned and carefully slid in a second finger. The burning increased, and Teddy had to take a couple of rapid breaths.

'Sorry, sorry, hurting you.' Harry's whisper sounded anguished.

Teddy grabbed Harry's wrist and prevented him from pulling out. 'No … 's okay …'

'Teddy, wait … lube …'

'Don't … need.'

Teddy squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated. His arse tingled, and the burning eased up. Harry's fingers slid deeper in easily.

'What … how?' Harry was staring down, wide-eyed.

Teddy managed a breathless laugh. 'Morphing,' he panted. 'Useful. Move.'

Harry did, finger fucking Teddy slowly at first, but when Teddy kept begging for more, he sped up. Two fingers became three, and he went deeper. Teddy moaned with each brush against his prostate that sent sharp jolts through his body.

'Please!' he cried out, pulling his legs back by the knees, exposing him even more to Harry. 'Please, more, Harry, fuck me!'

The sound Harry made was unmistakably a whimper. His head dropped onto Teddy's shoulder. A shudder ran through his body.

'Harry …'

'Yes, god, yes,' Harry panted as he pulled himself up. His glasses slid down his sweaty nose. Harry snatched them off and threw them aside. Without the glasses, his eyes looked bigger and wilder. Teddy bit his lower lip and bucked his hips, making his abandoned erection bounce on his stomach.

'Harry!'

With a last twist of his wrist, Harry withdrew his fingers. He pushed Teddy's legs back until his knees almost reached his ears, and Teddy shivered with anticipation. But Harry pulled back again, looking around frantically.

'What?'

Harry cursed softly. 'No lube. Won't fuck you without.'

'Use a spell,' Teddy urged.

Harry stopped in his tracks and blinked. 'There're spells for this?'

Teddy groaned out an incredulous laugh. 'How can you not know?'

Harry flushed a little. 'Always used lube.' He squirmed and reached out his hand, furrowing his brow. A second later, his wand slapped into his palm. 'So. Spell?'

'Gimme.' Teddy held out his hand. Without comment, Harry passed his wand over, and Teddy cast one of his three favourite spells first on himself, then on Harry, and then he threw the wand aside. 'Now. Fuck me.'

Harry gasped as the spell hit him, almost doubling over, but the next second he straightened and once more pushed Teddy's legs back. Teddy grabbed hold of them, allowing Harry one hand free. He reached down, and Teddy felt the head of Harry's cock brush over his opening and then press into him. Slowly, he went so slowly, sliding deeper, spreading Teddy open, and Teddy pushed back to get Harry even deeper. A last push, and Teddy felt Harry's balls resting against the curve of his arse.

They both stilled, enjoying the sensation, the connection. Teddy could feel his body trembling faintly. His eyes welled up and he let his lids close. Finally, finally, and it was so much better – was so much more – than Teddy had ever known it could be.

'Oh, god,' Harry moaned softly. 'Oh, Teddy.'

Teddy clenched his muscles around Harry's cock, and Harry jumped as if he'd been hexed.

'Fuck. Me,' Teddy grit out. 'Move.'

Again, Harry did just that. Starting off slowly, still a little careful, he soon lost all restraint and pounded into Teddy. Teddy felt each thrust reverberate through his body. Each brush over his prostate made jolts of pleasure/pain shoot up his spine, winding him up like a spring. His moans and Harry's mingled, echoing in his ears, accompanied by the slapping sound of flesh on flesh.

Sweat poured down Teddy's body, dripped onto his stomach from Harry. His toes curled as the pleasure/pain spiral wound tighter and tighter.

With a whimper, Teddy let go of one leg, let it fall over Harry's shoulder, reached down and grasped his cock. He'd barely touched it before Harry slapped his hand away again.

'Mine,' Harry declared and started jacking Teddy off. The slide of his rough hand, slicked by sweat and Teddy's pre-come, redoubled the pleasure. Teddy felt his body stiffen and arch, trembling in anticipation of release.

Harry's cock stabbed his prostate as his hand tightened around Teddy. Teddy threw his head back and came with a howl, hips bucking up almost violently. Dimly he was aware of Harry shuddering above, inside of him, and crying out. He felt warmth flood him and moaned softly as another, softer spark shot through him.

Teddy sagged back into the sofa cushions, breathless, spent, and utterly content. Harry collapsed on top of him, eyes closed and panting wildly. Teddy could feel Harry's heart hammer in his chest. With a supreme effort, Teddy managed to lift a hand and lay it on Harry's shoulder. Harry sighed, shivered, and relaxed.

Once his breathing had calmed down, Harry struggled to prop himself up on an elbow with a groan. 'Uh, mess.'

Teddy felt an utterly smug smile spread across his face. 'Mmhmmm,' he agreed.

Harry gave him a look that probably tried to be a glare. 'It's your mess.'

'You made it.'

Harry huffed and tried to find a way to lie down next to Teddy. But the sofa was too narrow for two grown men to lie next to each other, and so he ended up half on top of Teddy again. He sighed and poked Teddy's ribs. 'Can you reach my wand?'

'Summon it.'

'Can't. Dead. You tossed it.' Harry closed his eyes. 'Find it.'

Teddy wrapped one arm around Harry's shoulders and half-twisted to peer down from the sofa. Fortunately, the wand was perched right on top of the pile that was Teddy's jeans. With a little wiggling, Teddy managed to get it. 'Here.'

'Hmmm,' was Harry's reply. So Teddy cast the cleaning charms. Harry sighed contentedly and snuggled into Teddy's side. 'Love you.' He stretched a little and banged his toes on the wooden armrest. 'Bad sofa.'

Teddy, giddy with happiness, laughed a little. He ran a hand through Harry's hair, revelling in the fact that he was allowed to do so now. 'We could have tried for the bed. More room.'

Harry stilled, and then shook his head. 'No.'

Teddy's hand stopped its movements. 'What?' His voice sounded suspiciously thin.

Harry's head snapped up. 'Don't!' he said sharply. 'Don't you dare doubt us now!'

Teddy bit his lips. 'Um …'

Harry put his fingertips to Teddy's lips. His eyes looked soft and open. 'Not right now,' he said. His fingers moved, outlines the contours of Teddy's lips. 'Not the bed, for now.' He shook his head at Teddy. 'It's … we haven't slept together in it for years, but the bed's still the one Ginny and I bought when we moved in together. And I … I want … I don't want to make love to you in the old bed. I want a new one, for us.'

Teddy bit his lips again, this time to stop the tears welling in his eyes. 'Oh. Okay.' He smiled shakily.

'I love you,' Harry said softly and kissed him.

Teddy's arms tightened around Harry. 'Love you, too.'

He could feel Harry smile against his skin as he fell asleep.

Some time later, he woke up when someone was spreading a blanket over him and the warm body next to him.

'Hnuh?' he mumbled and blinked his eyes open, thinking that Harry had woken up. But Harry's head rested against his shoulder, Harry was still firmly asleep. Teddy frowned sleepily and tilted his head just as small hands pulled the blanket up and tugged both of them in.

Suddenly feeling a lot more awake, Teddy stared at Dinky. Instinctively, his arms tightened around Harry, pulled him closer. Harry murmured sleepily and burrowed deeper into Teddy's arms.

'Ah,' Teddy breathed. His brain sluggishly began to work, and he was vaguely aware that he should be mortified.

Dinky smiled at him and petted his head and vanished soundlessly.

Teddy blinked at the empty space, wondering for a moment, and then his thoughts derailed again. The blanket was very warm, Harry was very warm, too, and felt so wonderful in his arms. Teddy pressed a kiss to Harry's temple and, with a smile, fell back asleep.

END.