So Close But So Far Away

26: Bartholomew

Harry needed a drink.

It had been 24 hours since Draco found out about Harry's sleeping habits, and Harry hadn't seen Draco since he fell asleep in his arms.

He didn't know how, why, or where Draco snuck off to, and he didn't know when he was coming back. Pansy didn't know either, but she wasn't as concerned as Harry. He could only assume Draco was mad at him or embarrassed that he had shown vulnerability once again when he let Harry sleep on his chest.

Pansy didn't keep alcohol in her house while she was breastfeeding. Not even a White Claw or kombucha. After Teddy fell asleep (which was a hard point to get to because he was missing Draco, and all he wanted was for Draco to read him a bedtime story because Harry didn't know how to do the voices the right way), he let Pansy know he was going out, and he found himself at a bar.

He didn't want to go crazy with the drinks. He wanted a glass or two of whatever drink the bartender recommended. It had been a while since he'd had a drink because it had been a while since he felt he needed one.

He pushed open the door and a bell rang, but no eyes turned to him. It was refreshing, actually, not having every pair of eyes on him the second he walked through the door. It was refreshing to not be famous, to live in a world where no one knew his name.

That was the thing he loved most about the Muggle world. In the Wizard world, he was Harry Potter. He was the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, he was their savior. In the Muggle world, he was just Harry. Not even that, he was nobody. He was a random face in passing, he was some dude with glasses who looked just like everyone else. He had a fresh start with everyone he knew, and no one liked him because he saved them, they liked him because they saw something in him that was likable.

He sat at a barstool and leaned over the counter, his arms crossed in front of him. The bartender came up to him with a towel in her hand, smiling.

"What can I get you?"

Harry looked up at her and her smile faded when she read his pensive expression. She dropped the towel on the counter and nodded.

"I get you. Spirytus Vodka. Strongest drink we have. Sound good?"

Harry nodded, "Sounds excellent."

The bartender left to make his drink and he let his head fall against the countertop. He groaned, wishing there was some way he could call Draco and make sure he was okay. Of course, that was impossible. Harry was there when Pansy showed Draco her phone.

"Good lord, what is that?" he had asked, grabbing the device out of Pansy's hand and examining it from all angles.

Pansy giggled, "It's called a phone."

"What on God's green Earth is a phone?"

Pansy reached over and tapped a few buttons on the screen, and Draco's eyes lit up in an entirely opposite way than they did when he discovered Jack and Jill bathrooms. Harry was sitting next to him, watching what Pansy was doing. When Pansy pulled her phone away, an app opened up on the screen and Draco was staring into his own eyes. The camera app.

Yes, he screamed.

Yes, he threw the phone across the room.

Yes, he started to cry.

In the bar, Harry felt a presence next to him. He ignored it, keeping his head down until someone spoke to him.

"A penny for your thoughts?"

The voice was deep, gravelly. Harry looked up and was met with the exact face he would have expected from the voice. He was tall, fit, with his hair buzzed and patches of hair lined his jaw and under his nose. He had a small gap between his front teeth and smiled softly at Harry. He was attractive, by Harry's standards. No, he was nothing like Draco, but he wasn't bad-looking either.