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Persistence	By : stacygalore Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 1422 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make money from writing this story.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
�Persistence�

By Stacy Galore

Chapter 4: Correspondence

�From the blond gentleman sitting by the window,� said
Elsie, her rosy cheeks and bright eyes beaming, as she placed a dish in front
of Theodore. Upon the dish was a
warm chocolate croissant. He looked
up to find Draco looking his way – not staring intently, but casually
gazing in his general direction. When their eyes met, Draco gave a slight smile
and a curt nod. Theodore returned
only the nod.

�By the way, I hate you, Theodore,� the waitress added with
a giggle, then bent down to whisper, eyeing the young man sitting across the
cafe. �Hottest piece of arse
that�s walked in here in ages.�

Theodore teased, �No, that title belongs to you, my dear� as
he made a show of smacking her rear end, to which she responded with an
emphatic eye-roll and a friendly elbow to the arm. Malfoy scratched the back of his neck and averted his eyes,
the faint smile disappearing from his face. �Thank him for me, won�t you?� Theodore said, capturing her
chin with a gentle hand.

�You mean you won�t thank him yourself?� Her voice matched
her scandalized expression.

�My attention can�t be bought with sweets,� he declared with
haughtiness intended for Malfoy rather than for her, even though he was far
enough away that the other man couldn�t hear him.

�You�re ridiculous,� Elsie said, shaking her head with
disbelief. �More hot arse for the
rest of us lonely girls then,� she chuckled.

Though Theodore did have a weak spot for all things
chocolate, especially warm things, he let the uneaten croissant grow cold on
the plate as he smoked a cigarette, sipped his mochaccino, and scribbled in his
journal, never giving Malfoy a second glance. He wasn�t going to approach Draco, no matter what the man
did to invoke him. It was harder
this time, ignoring Malfoy. Now
that they�d acknowledged each other�s presence, it became difficult to pretend
that Draco wasn�t watching him, and that Theodore wasn�t doing the same.   He wasn�t hiding behind his paper
this time – Draco wanted Theodore
to look. He couldn�t help but
steal glances from behind his coffee cup each time he took a sip. Soon, he found himself staring.

The last few times he�d seen Malfoy were at funerals
immediately after the war, almost seven years ago. There were too many of those. Back then, Draco looked lanky and pallid; an empty shell
compared to how regal he�d looked just two years prior.

Time had been exceptionally good to Draco and seemed to
erase the stain of war. His
platinum blond hair was no longer plastered against his head. Instead, it was artfully tousled and
peppered with golden brown highlights that brought a warmth to his skin which
he�d lacked as a child. The gaunt lines and sharp angles of his body gave way
to sculpted curves, accentuated by his perfectly tailored suit. Draco�s face revealed little, if
anything, of what he�d been through as a Death Eater. He had the look of a seraph fallen from heaven to cavort
with the demons of hell – angelic and flawless, with a devious quirk to
his brow and a sly twist to the corner of his mouth. And his eyes – oh gods, those silver eyes which could
devastate armies with their penetrating stare – they were impossibly more
expressive than Theodore remembered.
This was the Malfoy who�d inspired Theodore�s sexual awakening, now aged
to perfection.

Theodore pressed another cigarette to his lips to keep from
gaping at Draco. Shit, he felt
pathetic, like a swooning schoolgirl all over again. He felt exposed and vulnerable. No doubt Malfoy had read his book and learned of every
significant twist and turn, every one-night-stand and failed relationship,
every hidden emotion and suppressed desire of Theodore�s life in the past
twenty-four years, concealed in the events of Kieran Tate�s story. Perhaps
that�s why Malfoy was here – to find out just how closely Kieran�s life
mirrored Theodore�s.

An agonizing fifteen minutes passed before Malfoy heaved a
dramatic, bored sigh. Theodore
glanced up, expressionless, and watched him walk out of the caf�. �Self-centered prat,� he grumbled to
himself.

The following day, Theodore contemplated avoiding the caf�,
but decided he wouldn�t let Malfoy affect him anymore. He wouldn�t change his routine for
Malfoy. He recalled bitterly how, beginning in their fifth year of Hogwarts,
Theodore would wake up obscenely early and go to bed very late just to avoid
seeing Draco in the dorm room.

Theodore entered the caf�, eyes cast downward, cigarette
pressed tight between his lips. He
was relieved (though somewhat disappointed) to find it devoid of the blond man
who�d become a regular fixture there.
He sat down at his table and found a tiny envelope, �For: Kieran Tate�
written on the front in neat, loopy script. Puzzled, Theodore quickly turned it over and opened it. Inside was a folded white card made of
expensive looking paper. Embossed
on the cover were the initials �DTM�.
Theodore hesitated before flipping open the card, taking a deep drag off
his cigarette.

Dear Kieran,

Ignoring me only makes you look bitter. Still harboring ill feelings? Do yourself a favor and let it go.

Sincerely,

Alex

The corner of Theodore�s mouth curved around his cigarette,
forming an amused smirk. How
clever of Draco to communicate with him by role-playing the character he
inspired – Alexander Moreau.
Alex played a large role in Theodore�s book, namely because of the
impact he had on Keiran�s life, though he rarely made a physical appearance in
the story. He quickly scribbled
down a reply on a sheet of paper ripped from his journal, shaking his head
incredulously, mumbling, �Still such an arsehole after all these years.� That stubborn little shit couldn�t
confront him directly and had to hide behind a fictional character to speak to
Theodore. He made a half-arsed
attempt at offering an olive branch via a chocolate croissant. Sure, it was slightly flattering that
Draco spoke through a character Theodore wrote, but it was clear that the
missive was coming from him, and meant for Theodore. He was just too proud, and perhaps too emotionally inept, to
use their real names. Theodore
played along, now thoroughly amused.
He wrote a note using Kieran�s voice and left it for Magda to relay it
to Draco, should he return. And
Theodore was fairly certain that he would.

Alex,

In case you haven�t noticed, I�ve moved on ages ago. It�s obvious by your presence here that
you�re the one who is having difficulty letting go.

- Kieran.

Theodore left the note with Magda. The next day, Magda handed him another little, white
envelope.

�Did he say anything to you?� Asked Theodore, as he took the envelope and tore it open
without hesitation. Magda shook
her head. �Did he read my letter
here?� Magda nodded. �And?�

�Nothing. No
reaction. Couldn�t gage his
expression. He just read it, sat
down at the counter, and had a quick coffee while he wrote this one,� said
Magda, inclining her head towards the little card. She watched Theodore as he read Draco�s reply. �So he�s an old school mate of yours,
you said? I don�t understand why
you two can�t just talk to each other like normal people.�

Distractedly as he read the note, Theodore said, �Draco
Malfoy is not a normal person.�

Magda scoffed, �With a name like that, one would expect it.�

The letter read:

Dear Kieran,

To say that I have let go would imply that I actually
held on to something. Truth be
told, I let go before I even had anything in my grasp.

Sincerely,

Alex

This was becoming infuriating. Draco�s notes were maddeningly reticent and cryptic. Malfoy had let go of what,
exactly? Was it his hatred for
Theodore? Clearly, this hadn�t
been the case. At school, Draco�s
silence was more hurtful than anything he could have said. True, Theodore made a point to avoid
Malfoy, but the other boy made a concerted effort to publicly snub him whenever
he could. When their fathers went
to Azkaban after the Department of Mysteries fiasco, it put an end to Theodore
and Draco�s summer familial obligations to one another. The two didn�t see much
of each other after that. But when
they did interact, Draco was cold to the point of being icily debasing. Whereas once they had been equals,
Theodore was no different to Draco than a mudblood or a blood-traitor.

Theodore�s reply notes were becoming more dismissive and
angry in their tone, the pen digging deeply into the paper with spite.

Alex,

Isn�t it sufficient that you inflicted me with enough
pain to last nearly a decade?

When I was 16, I turned my back and ran from everything
and everyone that had been forced upon me from birth, and with good
reason. You and your supremacist
ideals bred nothing but hatred and self-doubt, destroying friendships and
alliances that took generations to build.

Why do you feel the need to chase me down just to pour
salt into wounds that have already healed?

I�ve found myself.
I�m finally content with who I am.
I suggest you leave me in peace to go seek your own serenity.

- Kieran

Draco�s response the next day was his most revealing letter
yet. Frankly, Draco�s depth
surprised him.

Dear Kieran,

You may have stopped running, content with the person
you�ve become, satisfied that you�ve escaped the demons that haunted you your
whole life. But you�ve never
really confronted those demons. So
though you say you�ve found peace, you have never truly found closure. Until then, you�ll forever be running
from the truth.

When you�re ready to stop running, I�ll be here.

Sincerely,

Alex

Who the hell did Draco think he was? Setting aside the fact that they hadn�t
spoken in years, Draco never really knew Theodore to begin with. Did Draco honestly think he could read
Theodore�s book and assume he understood the inner workings of his psyche? Theodore stubbed out his cigarette and
tapped his pen to his lips, deep in thought. After several refills of coffee and many discarded
long-winded drafts heralding Alex�s arrogance and professing Keiran�s
transcendence, Theodore finally settled on a laconic missive.

Alex,

Give me a reason to stop running, and I�ll consider
it.

Kieran

That afternoon, Theodore left Caf� Novus Ars to run a few
errands around town, finding tranquility in the banal, allowing the colorful
buzz of the neighborhood to take his mind off of Draco and his cryptic
message. He would have kept on walking
right through until the evening, had it not begun to rain. Theodore didn�t have an umbrella. He kept his head down as the light
drizzle covered him in a fine mist that dampened his hair.

When he arrived at the front door to his flat, head still
pointed to the pavement, fumbling for his keys, Theodore found a pair of
impeccably polished shoes standing in the doorway. His eyes shot upwards to meet Draco with a look of
desperation in his silver stare, not dampened at all by the rain. The rain fell off him in glistening
beads as if he were made entirely of wax.

Before Theodore could muse about the cleverness of Draco�s
spell, the other man seized him by the collar and said, the same desperation
from his eyes trembling through his voice, �I�m giving you a reason to stop
running.�

Then Draco pressed his lips to Theodore�s, unleashing years
of unspoken desire and suppressed lust in one breathless, ravenous kiss. He let
Draco take control of the kiss, reluctant to return his passion, fearful that
if he showed any sign of eagerness, the other man would pull away and humiliate
him all over again. A mistrusting,
rational voice at the back of his mind screamed at Theodore to push Draco
away. As Draco�s hands on
Theodore�s collar relaxed and moved to hold his face gently, that voice
faded. As the rain began to fall
in earnest, Theodore found himself yielding to Draco, letting his guard fall to
the puddle of rain upon which they stood.

The kiss was simultaneously wonderful and upsetting, full of
passion and sorrow. To Theodore�s
surprise, burning on Draco�s lips was the taste of years of fruitless yearning
– familiar and bittersweet.    It felt like he was being stabbed in the gut
while his stomach was filled with butterflies. How could he do this to him now, just when Theodore was sure
he had fully recovered from the despair left in Draco�s wake? Theodore shivered from both the cold
dampness and the overwhelming juxtaposition of emotions. It took him years to
build a shield around himself, to protect against heartbreak, and now Draco was
destroying the shield with one kiss.
The rain streaming down his face masked the tears that began to fall,
but he was sure Draco could taste the brackishness as he lapped softly at
Theodore�s lips.

Theodore drew back slightly, gazed into Draco�s disarmingly
penetrative eyes and implored, voice unsteady from the ache in his heart,
�Why?�

Draco�s stare never broke as he answered, �Because ten years
ago, I couldn�t,� then pulled Theodore in for another kiss.

A/N: There are two more chapters after this one. As soon as they�re beta�d, I�ll post
them. The reference to pouring
salt on wounds is credited to Jenniffer.
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- 5
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Persistence