Spoilsport (H/D) for the HP UK meetup

[sesheta66]

Oops! Forgot to post this little ficlet I wrote for the HP UK meetup earlier this month. My fluffy little story went to joan_waterhouse. I'm pleased that she enjoyed it, but jealous that I couldn't go. *pouts* Ah, well. Perhaps next year?

Anyway, below is my ficlet, and in case you didn't catch the comment, it's a little pretty um ... very fluffy.

Title: Spoilsport
Author: sesheta_66
Beta: alaana_fair
Brit-pick: cassie_black12
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~ 1270
Summary: Excuses work on Harry, but Draco? Not so much.
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein are not mine. They belong to JK Rowling and her publishers. No money is being made from this fiction, which is presented for entertainment purposes only.
Challenge: awdt's prompt: Why aren't they coming here?



Spoilsport


"Oh, do tell. Why is it they're not coming this time?"

"Come on, Draco," Harry reasoned. "They're in America. You know that."

"And?"

"And it's rather a long trip, don't you think?"

"If you're a Muggle, yes. All that business of flying on those metal death traps." Draco shuddered. "And the queues! Let's not forget the queues."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Once, Draco. We only did that one time."

"One too many, if you ask me."

"Yes, well … you've made that perfectly clear. Repeatedly."

Draco leaned in and kissed Harry on the neck, then nibbled on his earlobe. "I did, however, appreciate your diversionary tactics."

Harry grinned. He too had enjoyed their initiation into the Mile High Club. He pressed his lips softly against Draco's, then waggled his eyebrows. "Oh, really?"

"Don't get any ideas, Scarhead." Draco put the palm of his hand against Harry's chest and pushed him away. "It's not happening again."

"It was rather cramped," Harry conceded. "But I have improved my spell work --"

"No way, Potter. No matter how large you can make that toilet now, I'm not climbing aboard another Muggle death trap."

Harry chuckled. "Fair enough."

"So … you still haven't convinced me. Surely they can get a Portkey back home. It's not the busy season, and he is a war hero. You can't convince me he doesn't have connections."

"I suppose not." Harry tried to hide his disappointment. It would be nice to see Neville again.

"She's the reason, you know."

"Don't, Draco." Harry didn't want to have this conversation again. "You don't know that for sure."

"Like hell I don't! She's still not over you --"

"It's been five years," Harry reasoned. "I'm sure she's long since over me."

"I'm not so sure," Draco argued. "But even if you're right, she's never going to get past you being with me."

Harry opened his mouth to dispute that fact, but found he couldn't. He supposed Draco was right. Ginny had never been able to separate Draco from Lucius in her mind, and to her, Draco would always be the cause of her suffering and near death in the Chamber of Secrets.

"And now she's preventing you from seeing one of your oldest and dearest friends. It's not right."

Harry shrugged. "Neville can make up his own mind. Like you said, he's a war hero. He could stand up to Ginny if he really wanted to be here."

Draco scowled. "I hate that I'm the cause of this."

Sometimes, in those moments, Draco's hard shell crumbled, and he looked so vulnerable. Harry felt at once humbled by Draco's trust in him - enough to let down his guard like this - and responsible for the pain in Draco's eyes.

"But you're not to blame. Just like Neville, I am capable of making my own choices."

"And you chose to be with me."

Harry nodded and took Draco in his arms. "And I don't regret it." He gave Draco one of his toe-curling kisses, the ones that never failed to get his own heart racing. "Not for a minute."

*~*~*

THREE WEEKS LATER …

"Hey, mate," Ron greeted Harry as they entered the pub. "Draco."

Ron had surprised Harry. Not that he should have been surprised, when he thought about it. After all, Ron had always been there for him - minus a few adolescent bumps along the way.

He had been one of the first to accept Harry and Draco's relationship - before even Hermione - to everyone's shock. He hadn't said much when Harry told him, merely shrugged and grumbled, "Should have seen it coming, I reckon."

Ron had even tried talking to Ginny, though it had been like talking to one of Hagrid's pets: tread carefully and get ready to run.

Harry couldn't deny that the estrangement from Neville hurt. They'd always been close, but when Neville and Ginny started dating - a surprise to no one - he'd started pulling back from his friendship with Harry.

Draco had a point. Neville had made countless excuses for missing one function after another. But this - Harry and Draco's engagement party - this was far too big a deal to overlook. Neville knew what it had taken them to get there, and for him to miss out, to not support Harry, was a dark shadow on an otherwise bright occasion.

The fact that it meant so much to Draco too made it worse. Neither of them cared if Ginny showed up - Draco no doubt preferred that she didn't - but, well …

As they entered the back room reserved for their private party, Draco led the way, giving Harry's hand a squeeze. He turned round and smiled warmly. Harry smiled back, reassured that things would be all right. Better than all right. He was marrying Draco Malfoy. Harry was the luckiest man in the world.

Putting everything else out of his mind, Harry leaned in for a kiss.

"Oi!" Ron's voice broke them apart. "You've only just got here. Surely you can keep your hands - and lips - off each other for a few hours!"

Laughing, they joined the crowd. Harry surveyed the room, taking in the familiar faces, marvelling as he had countless times over the last few years that their friends had become … well, friends. It never ceased to amaze Harry to see Pansy chatting animatedly with Hermione, and Blaise drinking Guinness alongside Seamus.

Deep in conversation with George about the latest Quidditch match, Harry was startled when Draco said, "Harry, someone's here to wish us well."

Harry looked up to see Neville, shy grin on his face and gift in hand.

"Hey, Harry."

"Neville? But … I thought you couldn't …"

"Yeah, well …" Neville motioned to Draco. "Someone pointed out just what an arse I've been."

Harry looked at Draco, and caught him glaring and shaking his head at Neville.

"Draco?"

"Don't be upset with him," Neville hastened to add. "He was right. It's been too long, and … well, I have been an arse."

"Don't you Gryffindors ever shut up?" Draco asked, exasperated. "Not that I don't agree with that last bit."

"Yeah, well … I'm sorry, Harry." Neville looked chastened. "I should never have let Gin--"

"Merlin, Longbottom. Enough already!"

"Er … right," Neville said. He handed his gift to Draco, then scooped three glasses of champagne from a nearby table. "I'll shut up, but only after I make a toast. Congratulations to the both of you. May you live happily ever after!"

Harry caught Draco rolling his eyes.

Neville coughed. "How about I try that again?" He raised his glass. "May you live a long and prosperous life together … and may you not come to blows --"

Neville turned purple at Draco's horrified expression - no doubt he was imagining a life without blows - and Harry could feel tears of mirth building in his eyes.

"Er …" Neville looked mortified, and at a complete loss for words.

Ron rescued him. Raising a glass to the room, he addressed Harry and Draco. "May you have great times together, may you keep all the details to yourselves, and may you not kill each other along the way."

"Here, here," Seamus chimed in.

"Amen to that," added Blaise.

Pansy cleared her throat, looked at Hermione and winked. "You can share whatever details you like with us!"

To Ron's horror, Hermione raised her glass. "Here, here!"

Harry gaped at the women in shock. Draco wrapped his arm around Harry and glared at Pansy. "Not bloody likely."

Pansy and Hermione sighed. "Spoilsport."

Comments

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

Aw. I'm glad Neville stood up to bitch!Ginny.

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Hee! Now, now ... he could have done that earlier. And we don't know she's a bitch, do we? That's just Draco's opinion. And apparently most of my flist's too. ;D

[jamie2109.livejournal.com]

Awww such a sweet thing for Draco to do. And I love how I can comfortably continue hating Ginny. Bravo, my dear! ♥

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Heh. I can just feel the Ginny love. :)

[alaana-fair.livejournal.com]

Awww.... I love Draco here. Sweet on the inside, sassy on the outside. *g*

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Hee. Thanks, hon.

[adores-draco.livejournal.com]

I loved Ron's speech and totally agreed with Pansy and Hermione. Sharing is really important, isn't it? ;)

Thank you for a lovely story.

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Sharing is good. Not that I would, but if Harry and Draco did, well ... that's another story. :)

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Yay for Neville finally finding his balls again! :)

[emansil-08.livejournal.com]

So very very glad you made Ron the first to accept them. I do get tired of homophobic, or rather should I say Dracophobic Ron. and yay for Neville, but I was kind of pretty sure Neville would not let us or Harry down.

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Yeah ... every once in a while, I like to ensure Ron shows some level of maturity and acceptance. Thankfully Draco reminded Neville of how important Harry's friendship is. :)

[felaine.livejournal.com]

So funny, and Draco is very right about Lions.
Glad Neville came around, and such an awkward toast.
Love imagining the look on Draco's face.
Good job.
Felaine

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Glad you liked it!

[anexiana.livejournal.com]

Hehe, so cute. =) I love your accepting!Ron, he makes me happy. As does Draco's awesomeness. And Neville's toast.

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it. Poor Neville and his awkward toasts. :)

[kingzgurl.livejournal.com]

Yay Neville! And Draco telling him he was being an arse <3 And Gryffindors talking too much. This was wonderful!

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much. Glad you liked it. :)

[piratesmile331.livejournal.com]

You can't blame Pansy and Hermione for trying. *lol*
This is lovely! YAY! for Draco contacting Neville.

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Hee. It's certainly worth a try. ;)

And yay for Draco!

[(Anonymous)]

really don't understand why Ginny would be jealous if she's with Neville. Ginny is not the whiny, fragile type. I bet she's happy (and lucky) shagging Neville and she would definitely move on with her life.

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Edited because I realised I jumped right into a response. I'd like to say thanks for taking the time to read and comment. And now, for my response:

Ginny may very well not be jealous at all. That's just Draco's suggestion, which Harry argues against. In fact, I suggest here it's more that she hates Draco, doesn't ever want to be around him and can't stand that Harry is with him. I don't perceive Ginny as the whiny, fragile type either (though some people do).

Moving on with her life doesn't necessarily mean she wouldn't still feel a bit stung that her first love turned out to be gay and ended up with a man whose father tried to kill her. Even if Harry had only been her friend, she might still feel resentment at that fact.

To be honest, as I was writing this, I was more annoyed with Neville. I saw Ginny as secondary, in the background (possibly quite content with her life; possibly not), and someone others could blame. It's reasonable for her not to want to remain friends with her ex, and in this case she's angrier about it because Lucius tried to kill her. Not totally unreasonable, imo. However, Neville chose time and again not to see Harry (presumably because Ginny didn't want to, though we don't know that). It was his choice, not hers. So Draco was right to tell Neville to step up and remember that Harry is his friend. Make sense?

Sorry if you thought I portrayed Ginny as jealous, whiny and fragile - that wasn't my intent.

Thanks again for your input. :)

[(Anonymous)]

omaybe I should have elaborated a bit more, but I jumped right into commenting too. O
verall I really liked the fic and the reconciliation with Neville at the end.
I guess I just felt annoyed because I have a soft spot for Neville, Ginny and Neville/Ginny together. as I adore them I sometimes am too protective (as I feel anyone is with the characters they love)and I guess reading this fic at first I perceived them both as a bit OOC: Neville as too weak and Ginny as too whiny, when I feel they're really the opposite of that.

I realise that maybe I reacted a bit strongly as this is first and foremost a H/D fic after all, but you see: I really like Harry/Draco too and often I get angry when I'm really enjoying a good, well written H/D fic and then I read character bashing just to get Harry and Drcao together or move the story along more easily.

I'm not saying that's what you did, becasue I realise now that was not your intent at all, but bashing is something that is sadly very common in H/D fic and I feel it's just so unnecessary and very annoying for someone that absolutely loved Harry and Draco together but has a soft spot for other characters too, especially the Weasleys, who are often the most demonized (by the way one thing I loved about your fic was that Ron was a loyal friend for once, and not the raging homophobic guy that he is often portrayed as in fics)

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

No worries. I like having discussions around different perceptions of characters. :)

Not that you necessarily want this, but I'll give you what I imagined the Neville/Ginny situation to be:

Ginny doesn't want to see her ex. That part of her life is over, and she doesn't want or need to revisit it. Harry being gay made her (at the time) feel as though their entire time together was a lie. It hurt, and it made her angry. She may have got past that, but she isn't about to forget it. Nor is she particularly interested in reliving it. Further, her entire family hated the Malfoys. Lucius tried to kill her. Draco was never nice to her. She's not inclined to want to become buddies with him - certainly not for the sake of an ex whom she doesn't want to see anyway.

Neville is sweet (not weak). He loves Ginny and wants her happy. Despite her never 'demanding' or even suggesting he not see Harry, Neville felt it would hurt her, so he didn't want to do that. He never realised he was hurting Harry in the process. Not weak. Just a bit unaware. Until Draco set him straight.

This being a H/D fic, I didn't elaborate on any of that, because it wasn't what the story was about (and it was Harry's pov, and he doesn't know any of this, nor likely will he ever). But I did have this picture of them in my mind.

I'm glad you liked Ron. :)

[maevemist.livejournal.com]

It is unusual to see Neville as a bit of an arse. It is certainly not something I have seen before but I am happy Draco helped him find his inner Gryffindor and decided to show up for Harry after all.

I am also going to side with Pansy and Hermione on the sharing is love idea. Ron and the other boys can just block their ears lol

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Actually I see Neville as less of an arse, and more as someone who didn't realise how important he was to his friend. As I mentioned in the above comment, I pictured Neville as not wanting to hurt Ginny (and assuming it would if he went to see Harry without her), but not realising he was hurting Harry. Once Draco set him straight, he jumped into action. :)

Yay for sharing the love. ♥

[lire-casander.livejournal.com]

I'm glad Neville didn't let Ginny win this, in the end!

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

:)

*waves* Hi, honey!

[vwalk.livejournal.com]

This was great. I love it when Ron is the one who accepts their relationship without blowing his top. Its such a change from what people usually write, its refreshing.
I always enjoy an opportunity to dislike Ginny, and her keeping Neville away is a good one.
Neville's bumbling toast was hilarious.
Great fic.

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it. Ah, yes ... poor Neville isn't so good with the public speaking. *pets him*

Thanks :)

[snottygrrl.livejournal.com]

v. v. sweet. i especially liked the combos of grifs and slyths that were talking to each other.

thanks for sharing the fic with us ♥

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Can't believe I got so far behind on comment responses. *fails* On the plus side, I'm chipping away at them.

Thanks for your comment. I'm glad you liked it. ♥

[nursedarry.livejournal.com]

Loved this when I first read it and love it just as much now! * hugs Draco - AND you* xx

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaaand more responses to ridiculously old comments. *sigh*

Thanks so much, hon. ♥

*squishes you*

[reicheruchan.livejournal.com]

love it!

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Can't believe I got so far behind on comment responses. *fails* On the plus side, I'm chipping away at them.

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks. :)

Spoilsport

[joan-waterhouse.livejournal.com]

*re-reads* :D

This is such an amusing and cute little ficlet. :)

Re: Spoilsport

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Can't believe I got so far behind on comment responses. *fails* On the plus side, I'm chipping away at them.

So glad you enjoyed it. ♥

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Can't believe I got so far behind on comment responses. *fails* On the plus side, I'm chipping away at them.

Thanks for your comment. I'm glad you liked it. :)

[cassie-black12.livejournal.com]

Yay for fluff!!!

I love Draco in this - and I'm totally with Hermione and Pansy. I'm willing to listen to any details the boys want to share!!!

Thanks again

*hugs*

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Can't believe I got so far behind on comment responses. *fails* On the plus side, I'm chipping away at them.

Yay fluff! Glad you liked it, hon. ♥

[la-mariane.livejournal.com]

I'm with Hermione and Pansy, I want details!

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Can't believe I got so far behind on comment responses. *fails* On the plus side, I'm chipping away at them.

Hee! Don't we all? Thanks for reading and commenting. :)

[fancypantsdylan.livejournal.com]

oh I loved the ending it was so fun. I'm pleased Neville finally grew a pair and came to celebrate, honestly Ginny is such an awful cow (hehe)

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Can't believe I got so far behind on comment responses. *fails* On the plus side, I'm chipping away at them.

Yeah, Neville needed to be there. I think he just hadn't wanted to hurt Ginny, and didn't realise that he ended up hurting Harry. *pets him*

Heh. I'm not so sure Ginny is as awful as Draco would make her out to be. Just uninterested in spending time with her ex and Draco. Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for your comment. :)

[charmed310.livejournal.com]

LMAO!!

Loved it!

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Can't believe I got so far behind on comment responses. *fails* On the plus side, I'm chipping away at them.

Thanks, hon. I'm glad you liked it. ♥

[moonlitdark.livejournal.com]

Love this Draco - all squishy on the inside. :)

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Can't believe I got so far behind on comment responses. *fails* On the plus side, I'm chipping away at them.

Draco does love his Harry. ♥

Thanks, hon.