The Right Thing to Do

The thought of his son Albus ever ending up in a House other than Slytherin had never occurred to Harry. Not because he thought the idea wrong or bad, but because everyone around him was, or had been, Gryffindor. All of the Weasleys were, Harry himself, Hermione too, and most of his friends, as well. Just something he never considered.

All up until Ginny put the little bug in his mind. She had insisted she would be appalled by the idea of her son ever ending up a Slytherin.

That shocked Harry. First of all, Albus had the middle name of a Slytherin (which, Harry thought, Ginny only pretended to approve of to indulge him, but she never used the name, as far as Harry knew, and always avoided it). Second of all, he had never though Ginny could be so... narrow-minded.

"I'm telling you, I don't even want to think about our Albus being in Slytherin! Just think about all the people who were Slytherin! Riddle, Snape, Malfoy, all the bad names came from the House of Snakes. I don't want my son associating with that kind!"

"What kind, Ginny?! I can't understand you, it's like I don't know you any longer. What kind of a narrow-minded opinion is that?" Harry yelled. He simply couldn't understand.

"No, you don't get it, Harry. It would mean we didn't do our job right as parents! Albus deserves to be a Gryffindor, just like we were," she said, pleading for him to understand.

"I will love Albus the same, no matter which House he ends up in. It's just a House and each had its own values." Harry shook his head. "I cannot believe you just said that. I have no idea what's gotten into you." As soon as he said that, Harry turned away from her and Apparated out.

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One of the few things he could count on, Harry thought, was for Ginny to always be there for him and to always have the right words. That's why Harry felt so attached to her -- because she always knew what to say and how to make him feel better no matter what. She was his shelter, his lover and his companion.

However, it all seemed to change. In the last couple months, their marriage was like a rollercoaster. Their ups and downs (mostly downs, though) were terrifying and often very difficult for both of them. Small quarrels often grew to deeper arguments that resulted in Harry having to run away to keep himself from saying, or doing, something he would forever regret.

This night was one of those. Ginny's idea that Albus could never be in Slytherin was in the same time appalling and childish -- something he would have expected from a teenager, not from a grown woman with a family. She was GINNY, Harry thought, she used to be reliable. The changes in her were unexpected.

That's why, more often than Harry liked, he found himself sitting alone (or with his Firewhiskey, if you counted that), in the Leaky Cauldron, secluded in a dark corner. It was the place he could run away to.

In the last couple months, he had started thinking about breaking up with Ginny, getting a divorce. The thoughts came to him shyly and he dared not think about the idea for far too long. He was a public figure and he had to do what was right, so he always waved off divorce and decided it was not an honourable thing to do. Ginny was his wife, he had children... and with that came certain obligations he couldn't simply break because he had run into a few bumps.

"Well, well, well..." a voice broke into his thoughts, "isn't it the famous Harry Potter I see sitting here alone and brooding."

Harry lifted his head to see how many people noticed his name spoken out loud, but it seemed that his new companion spoke quietly enough not to disturb the other nightly clientele.

"Malfoy, we meet again," Harry acknowledged. "How have you been?"

"Hm... it seems that I should ask you the same thing. You look like hell, Potter," Malfoy commented. Not too acidly, Harry noted.

"Why, thank you, Malfoy. You don't look so good yourself, either," Harry replied. One quick look-over of Draco's body proved that what Harry said was a terrible lie. Draco looked better than ever. Even better than the last time the two of them met in exactly the same place only a month ago. Draco Malfoy looked like a God, Harry would say if he only dared think something like that. Harry quickly turned his eyes back on his drink (fourth, but it wasn't like he was counting...).

"What's wrong this time?" Draco asked. He invited himself to sit on a chair on Harry's left and looked knowingly in his direction.

What was it with Malfoy to know exactly when Harry had a problem? Oh, yeah... he remembered... they had met in the Leaky Cauldron no less than ten times in the last few months. If anyone knew what Harry had been going through and exactly how he felt, it was Draco Malfoy. How ironic, wasn't it?

They never talked about it if they ever met during the day. They did meet quite a bit, though. It was as though they were two different people during the night and during the day. It was like... a dirty secret.

"Nothing," Harry finally answered to Draco's question. He fingered his drink absently, thinking if he should go into this Ginny business again.

Draco snorted into his drink and answered, "Yeah, right. You're here just to have a jolly ol' time. You can convince someone else, Potter, but not me."

Harry breathed out. "Ginny and I had an argument."

"That much was obvious," Draco commented. "Why else would you be here?"

Here we go, Harry thought. "She said she would be appalled if Albus ended up in Slytherin. Honestly, I don't know what's gotten into her. She keeps having these ideas and I don't know what to say to her." He shook his head.

"So, the Gryffindor is afraid of a little snake. What, she thinks that her son would be spoiled by the Slytherins?"

"Something like that, yes," Harry admitted. "It's far too childish, if you ask me. I don't understand. She was ever so delighted when I suggested his middle name be Severus."

"I can't say I'm surprised, Potter... You Gryffindors always were the queerest group in Hogwarts," Draco smirked.

"Why are you here then, Malfoy?" Harry asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, nothing. Just thought I'd see if you were here," Draco answered. He smiled a too cheerful smile that Harry immediately recognized as fake.

"Malfoy, you never just 'come here' to hang out with me," Harry said quietly. "You can't fool me, no matter how much you'd like that. As long as with sharing... what's up with you?"

Draco poured himself a shot of Firewhiskey in a glass he conjured. "I'm not drunk enough to spill my guts to you, Potter. However, I see you've had enough of this Firewhiskey to knock down a horse."

"Who cares?"

"Won't you feel ashamed the next morning when a photo of you goes out in the Daily Prophet, with a charming title suggesting how pissed you got?" Draco asked. "I thought Harry Potter always did the right thing."

"I wish, Malfoy, I wish," Harry answered. "If I always did the right thing, my marriage with Ginny wouldn't be like this... I wouldn't even be here. I don't know what to do anymore, Draco."

"Get out of it if you can't handle it anymore. There's no shame in divorce," Draco reasoned.

"I can't believe you're the one saying this to me. The pureblood heir of the Malfoy line."

Draco shifted in his chair, and poured himself another glass of Firewhiskey (it was sliding down his throat more and more easily). "Well, guess we all change, don't we, Potter? Who'd have ever thought I'd stop finding Astoria attractive. Alas, I did." And another shot of Firewhiskey burned a path down his throat. "She's gorgeous and soft and white and pureblood.... and so... so female. It makes me sick."

"I didn't know that," Harry said, his fogged mind jumping in surprise. He knew Astoria and Draco had problems of their own, but... "When did this happen?"

"Oh, I don't know, Potter... It's been a while," Draco admitted. "Even before Scorpius was born, I reckon. I never thought much of it. I never wanted to think about it. Even though I knew, I never wanted to think of it consciously. It's something a Malfoy is not to think about. You know?"

"I know what you mean. I can't say I have some smart advice. I can't tell you to finally do something about it, when I can't do anything about it myself - about Ginny and me, I mean. But I know how you feel."

"No, you don't know how I feel!" Draco yelled, but his voice was drowned in the general noise of the Leaky Cauldron. He came closer to Harry's left side and whispered, "Have you stopped thinking about your wife, just to start thinking, all over again, about black hair and those eyes... those eyes that you want to see every day... and that body... have you ever thought, when fucking your very female wife, about someone, someone kissing your lips hungrily and his very much male cock against you. His voice screaming out your name... Have you, Potter, have you ever?" Draco asked and abruptly pulled away. "I guess you haven't." His onslaught of words stopped as abruptly as they came.

Harry squirmed uncomfortably and his eyes fluttered open (when did they close?). "You're drunk."

"Not drunk enough," Draco answered. "I hope I could write this up to drunkenness," He said, closing his eyes. "I apologize."

"No, it's fine." Harry cleared his throat. "I know what you mean." That simple sentence carried a weight that Harry had previously been unfamiliar with.

"I wish you had known before... I wish I had told you, after the war. Maybe everything would have been different... maybe, you and I..." Draco drifted away in his thoughts, coming closer to Harry. "Maybe then I could do this every day without feeling guilty in my mind every time."

Then, his lips touched Harry's. Harry groaned, in shock and desire, and Draco's tongue found his. In an instant it turned passionate, like all the dreams that had never come true. It was bliss.

Then it stopped. He opened his eyes, and saw his own desire mirrored in the gray eyes. They looked into each other's eyes for a few more seconds, and then Draco got up and quietly turned away. Harry felt too powerless to say anything, or to do what his body was screaming for him to do. To pull Draco back.

The blond turned to Harry once again, and said his two final words, "Goodbye, Harry."

Long after the door of the pub closed after Draco, Harry answered, "Bye, Draco."

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The next day shone bright and warm. Harry was all but that. His head felt like it was splitting in half and his body hurt due to sleeping on the couch again.

"Harry?" he heard Ginny say tentatively and he opened his eyes slowly. "I... I don't know what to say."

"What is it, Ginny?"

"I'm sorry about being so childish yesterday," Ginny said, sounding embarrassed. "I just... I'm sorry I drove you away and said that about Albus. It was so stupid."

Harry refused to speak. He knew Ginny would apologize, she always did.

"I'm honest, Harry. I'm just... I was worried. You can't believe how worried I am for our children. I don't want them to end up in a House that will make their life harder for them. You must know that I didn't mean that I would love Albus any less."

"Well it pretty much sounded like it, Ginny. I don't want to argue about it anymore."

"Me neither," Ginny said and hugged Harry. "I'm really sorry and I hope you forgive me. I was only thinking in Albus Severus' best interest. I don't want his life to be difficult because of one stupid House."

"It won't, Ginny," Harry said, resigned. "He has us for his parents. Plus, there's a whole year ahead of us. I don't know why you even thought of that in the first place. There's time. Everything will be fine."

"I know, Harry..." She kissed him and he kissed back. It was the right thing to do, but the memory of last night's kiss came crashing in, like a lightning bolt. He groaned and pulled away, covering his face with his hands.

"Come on, I'll make you a great breakfast to make up for my headache," she grinned.

Harry followed. It was the right thing to do.

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One year later

"Look who it is."

Harry turned around to see Draco Malfoy standing there with his wife and son. Scorpius was going to Hogwarts, too. Draco looked well. Harry and he hadn't spoken since last year. Each avoided the other, Harry guessed. Even though they had established a friendly bond over the years, it broke on that night.

Draco caught sight of them and nodded curtly. Harry gave a small nod just before Draco turned away again.

It was for the best.