Harry automatically thought back to the Dursleys, who always had a bog-standard cheeseboard on offer at Christmas, he knew as he'd taken it from its supermarket packaging often enough, but he'd never been allowed to so much as nibble them. He was to prepare the food while Dudley was opening his thirty -odd presents, then he was to go back to his cupboard and stay there.
"Of course, they did." Harry said softly. "They just never let me have any." He said, not looking at anyone as he took the cracker from Rabastan and bit into it. He neither liked nor disliked the double Gloucester with chives.
All at once, the room was reminded forcibly that he had been mistreated in his childhood by his muggle relatives and Harry watched as Rabastan bared his teeth and clenched both fists.
Lucius sighed and pushed the platter of cheeses more towards Harry, calling Pimsey back and ordering her to get even more cheeses.
"I want you to try all of them. Every single one." Lucius instructed him and Harry grimaced.
"Some of them look gross."
"Try them." Lucius insisted and Harry relented and took a slice of cheese that had red bits in it from between a garnish of fresh melon and red grapes.
He nibbled it without a cracker and he pulled a face and handed it to Rabastan, whose smile was a little forced.
"It has fruit in it! Who puts fruit in cheese?!" Harry demanded.
"You uncultured swine." Draco teased him.
Harry huffed and picked up another piece of cheese from the platter that Pimsey had just served, which was more white than the creamy yellow of some of the others. Nibbling on it carefully gave him nothing except that it was mild and very fresh tasting. He put more into his mouth and chewed it consideringly.
"Do you like that one?" Rabastan asked him gently and Harry nodded. "That was goats' cheese."
Harry picked up a little cube next, of what he thought was more goat cheese, but was very crumbly and salty on his tongue. He grimaced as he hadn't expected it, before actually realising that he did like it a little bit.
"That was actually feta." Rabastan told him with a laugh.
"Isn't that a salad cheese?" Harry asked.
"It is a salad cheese."
"Not very traditional." Harry said with a grin.
"I think your father is just making sure you try every cheese in existence." Rabastan told him with a small, forced grin.
"I don't like this game." Harry frowned as he eyed another ordinary-seeming piece of cheese. "I like cheddar, can't we just leave it at that?"
"No." Draco told him simply as he ate his own cheeses, sipping on a glass of red wine, which he was allowed only because it was a day of celebration. Harry had declined the wine to support Rabastan, who was strictly not allowed any alcohol on his recovery diet. Harry grimaced and tried another piece of cheese. It wasn't too bad it was just a bit rubbery for his tastes.
"That was edam."
"Not too bad." Harry sighed and he tucked himself into Rabastan.
He took some melon and a handful of grapes and he tried them, finding them at their perfect ripeness, naturally. He then turned to Rabastan and repaid the favour, feeding him bits of fruit, knowing that Rabastan was allowed to eat a bit of fruit from his written diet sheet that he had studied extensively so that he knew what his betrothed could have, and at what time.
Harry wiped Rabastan's chin for him from the juice that dribbled down it from the melon pieces and he did so willingly and lovingly. He didn't care and now that Rhadamanthus was gone, no one else cared either. In fact, Xerxes was watching them with a satisfied smile on his face and Rodolphus looked over every now and then, nodding approvingly.
Harry ignored them both and Rabastan's back was to them so he couldn't see. Rabastan let him know he'd had enough when he touched Harry's hands and held onto them. Harry finished off the last bit of melon and the few grapes himself before settling into Rabastan and just enjoying the peace with him. He didn't know why he'd ever been afraid of spending time with Rabastan, or why he thought it would be awkward. He laughed now at his previous thoughts on the matter, being with Rabastan was just…it just was. It was easy, it made him happy and the thought of a real future, a future he actually wanted, it was the best feeling in the world and he wanted it with all of his heart. He wanted Rabastan and he wanted children with him. It was as simple as that.
The Christmas period flew past, too quickly for Harry's liking as he tried to spend even more time with Rabastan. It wasn't fair that they would be split up again in just a week's time. He didn't want to say goodbye to him.
"Don't say goodbye while we still have time left together." Rabastan told him as he caught Harry glowering at the date on the corner of the newspaper that Lucius was reading.
"I can't help it. I don't want to go back." Harry said sullenly as he fingered his Lestrange pendant hanging around his neck. He'd kept his promise, he hadn't once taken it off, not even when he slept, showered or had a bath.
Rabastan smiled and cupped his hands, stilling them. He bent forward and pecked his lips while a suspicious Narcissa watched them closely, anything more than a full, second-long kiss on the lips would be repaid with a hex to the back of the head, or whatever particular body part she had a clear aim at.
"You have to go back, it'll only be until Easter, then you will be back again for a week." "It's not enough." Harry sighed. "It's not nearly long enough."
"It'll only be for a little while." Rabastan insisted. "You'll be out of Hogwarts sooner than you know, then we'll start our family."
Harry smiled as he heard that, deliriously happy that Rabastan wanted the same future that he did. It made him fall a little deeper in love with the man sitting next to him.
"I finished off the last of your homework last night, Harry." Lucius said as he folded up the offending newspaper as he finished with it. "It's perfectly acceptable and even exemplary in some cases. Well done, I'm very proud of you."
Harry grinned and sat up a little straighter, ignoring Rabastan's small laugh at his actions. He'd never get enough of having praise, especially from one who rarely gave it and barely had a nice word to say to, or about, anyone.
"If you keep up that level of concentration throughout your schoolwork, you should be looking at Exceeds Expectations throughout your examinations, except for your Defence examinations, of course. I would be highly disappointed if your standards slipped now and you got anything less than Outstanding."
"I find the Defence work too easy." Harry admitted. "Though, we are moving onto non-verbal spells now, which are more difficult as I find that my magic works better when I channel my emotions through it in the form of shouting, but I can still pick up the spells easily."
"Seeing Granger's face when you scored a hundred and forty per cent on that test made my day." Draco smirked.
"You scored a hundred and forty per cent?" Xerxes asked, his eyebrows touching his hairline. "I'm very impressed."
"Yeah, I scored perfectly on the theory exam and when it came to the practical, I outdid what was asked of me, the Professor had no choice but to mark me based on the skill I'd shown and I ended up with a hundred and forty per cent of the mark."
"What did you have to do?" Rabastan asked interestedly.
"We had to disarm and immobilise a charmed dummy." Draco answered. "Harry had to go one further."
"I disarmed and immobilised it." Harry told his brother with a grin.
"You disarmed and demolished it." Draco argued. "There was nothing left! Not even a pile of ash or dust!"
"What spells did you use?" Rodolphus asked interestedly.
"Expelliarmus and Reducto." "They're my favourites."
Harry
said.
"Your Reductor curse was so powerful that nothing was left after your spell hit it?" Rodolphus demanded.
"It's not that impressive. It's not supposed to leave anything behind, is it?"
"Yes! It's supposed to leave behind particles of the object it hits, whether a pile of ash, dust or mist or something. It's not supposed to just disappear entirely."
"Oh…well, I haven't left behind mist or ash for the last year. I just assumed I was doing it wrong or not putting enough focus behind the spell before."
"He got bonus points for only using two spells, as well." Draco told the table. "Most of the class had to use nine spells to disarm and immobilise the dummy, it kept breaking free of the weaker spells or deflecting the disarming charm."
"I hope you weren't one of the ones who took nine spells to combat a simple training dummy." Lucius drawled. "Of course not! I took three. My freezing charm wasn't strong enough."
"I can help you with that." Harry insisted. "It was the last wand movement that let you down, you jerked your wand too hard, it's a softer flick."
"You really would suit at being a teacher." Lucius told him.
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