The Deceit of Man

A Much-Needed Break

*A/N at the end

A week and a half had been the amount of time it had taken for things to settle down at Hogwarts. In that time, Harry and Luna had both been bombarded with questions by students and teachers alike. It had come down to them having to be escorted from class to class just to get there on time. Not that everything had been easy or simple, nothing worth anything in life was after all, but the two Chosen had done their best to make do.

Harry especially had faced a lot of opposition. Mostly from his old House, whom had trouble understanding the difference between Dark Magic and Black Magic. There had been a lot of suspensions issued to that House and they were less than half of what they normally were. Ron, Seamus, and Dean had all been suspended for throwing curses at Draco and Neville when they had been walking back to the quarters. Ginny had been suspended for bullying a First Year.

There were several Seventh Years who had been suspended for attacking him when he was alone, wrongly assuming that he would be an easy target. No deadly curses o hexes had been thrown which is why they had only been suspended but it had still been enough to set Fred and George off. Honestly, Harry was sure that when they came back, the amount of shite they were going to have dumped on them by the prankster duo would cause them to drop out.

All that said though, he was glad the drama had finally died down and he would be able to ask his squirrelly Consort-to-be out on a proper date. So far, getting Draco alone had become troublesome, almost as though the blonde was ignoring him. It was starting to grate on the dark-haired wizard's nerves but he was hoping it was just due to the drama of Umbitch's demise and that the blonde hadn't changed his mind. There was only one way to find though. Steeling himself, Harrison grabbed the Marauder's Map off his desk and scoured it in search of his wayward mate.

*** *** *** ***

Draco wasn't hard to find, the Slytherin Common Room should have been the first place he looked, but Harry was more concerned about what his distance meant. Having located the object of his affection, Harrison decided to put the next phase of his plan into action. Clearing the Map and leaving in his seat, he took a handful of Floo powder from above the mantle and stepped into the fireplace, "Vertic Alley."

The Floo let him out in the center of Vertic Alley in a circle of outward facing fireplaces. The Alley was nowhere near as crowded as it had been during the summer but that was to be expected as the children were either at Hogwarts or home with their families and the older generations had work. The emptiness of the street suited his needs just fine though as he strode towards one of the nicer restaurants in Wizarding London, Amorentia. A quick wave of his wand and his attire changed into something wouldn't get him escorted from the property without a word. It may not be on the scale of Gregori's but there was still a mandatory dress code. Instead of the school uniform he had been wearing, Harrison was in a crimson vest with gold rearing lion buttons, a light gold button down, crimson trousers, and light gold loafers. His shirt cuffs had rearing lion cufflinks to match his vest and his Gryffindor and Potter signet rings were on display. The general populace was best left in the dark as to how many titles he truly held.

Reaching the entrance, he regretting the need to act more mature than he truly was but, even if he'd had that luxury, the Dursleys had beaten any desire to act his age out of him early in life. Even still, he wanted to laugh at the look on the maître d's face when he walked in. There was the awe he was used to, but there was also shock. He wasn't sure if it was due to him being there or his appearance, not that he cared either way. He just wanted to make a reservation.

"Lord Potter-Black, how can we at Amorentia serve you today?"

"I would like to make a reservation for tonight, a table for two, around seven? Perhaps at a private table," Harrison slid a small pouch with 20 galleons inside across to the man, "for your discretion."

"Of course, Sir, we take matters of privacy very seriously. There will be no worries of nosy reporters or fans to disturb your and your date tonight."

Harrison inclined his head slightly in thanks and left for his next stop, Twillfit and Tatting's. Draco would no doubt want a new outfit for tonight and it was best to get it out of the way now. He was probably counting his occamies before they hatched but he was hopeful that Draco would say yes. So to Twillfit's he would go.

*** *** *** ***

An hour later, he stumbled back through the Floo, trying to be careful not to ruin his and Draco's attire for the night. Of course, as Potter luck would have it, he nearly ran into the blonde in question who did not look pleased. Harry swallowed hard and tried to smile, knowing it probably came out as a grimace.

"Hello Draco," he began but was cut off.

"Do not 'hello, Draco' me. Do you know how worried I've been? I came in to ask if you were going to be eating in the Great Hall and you weren't here. To make matters worse, I couldn't even find you on that damnable map of yours. Now here you come nearly falling of your face with your arms full of shopping and act as though everything is just fine?"

By this time, Draco had started yelling and Harry hung his head. He really should have let the blonde or Neville know he was going but he wanted things to be a surprise and he said as much, "I am sorry Draco. I just wanted to surprise you. I haven't been a very good mate to you lately with everything going on and I didn't want you to think I had changed my mind about us. I went out to make reservations for us at Amorentia and pick you up something new to wear as I know you would have worried about it."

Apparently, that had been the right thing to say as the fight seemed to leave Draco completely and he sighed and held his hand out, "Well, let's see what you risked life and limb for then."

Harrison grinned and handed over the outfit he'd gotten done in a slate grey with hints of green to match his own. By the face Draco was making, he'd gotten the style right (or rather Madame Twillfit had anyway) and it met with the Ravenclaw Lord's high standards.

"Alright fine, you win this time but don't expect it to be so easy next time. What time is our reservation?"

"Seven." Harry fought back a chuckle when Draco blanched.

"Seven," Harry had to admit the shriek was worth seeing Draco's face as he fled to get ready.

Retreating to his own rooms, Harrison felt lighter than he had before. The weight of the Dark Mantle was heavy and he was glad for these moments of levity. Before he could sink too far into deep and darker thoughts, he shook his head to clear it and pulled his suit from the garment bag it was in. 

*A/N: Sooooooo.............I don't know whether to apologize just go throw myself on the pyre.....JK.......kinda.......Anyway, in case anyone is curious after the last chapter my muse ran away and i had to go find it. No seriously, there were several times that I just wanted to give up on this story and discontinue it but I knew that wouldn't be fair to my readers so again I am left to apologize to you guys. On a happier note though, I got engaged!!