Work Text:
20th June 2003 (Whitehall, London)
Harry Potter P.O.V
At twenty-two years old, Harry James Potter stood taller than he had been in his school years, with short, wavy black hair that could not stay flat giving him the appearance of having just dismounted his broom, emerald green eyes framed by steel rimmed glasses, thin black stubble lining his cheeks, and a slightly muscular fame underneath his shirt and jeans.
Now a fully, the former Gryffindor Seeker and Quidditch Captain had graduated from Hogwarts five years ago in 1998 and immediately enrolled into the Auror Training program, having wanted to be an Auror ever since his Fourth Year.
Naturally, being an Auror was hard work, requiring years of training and expert knowledge, both practical and theoretical, but there was one thing Harry would say was just as hard, if not harder.
Living with a female roommate.
Especially when said room-mate was Padma Patil, a studious, hard working Ravenclaw Prefect who had been in his year at Hogwarts, and had moved into his flat six months ago, after he had offered her his spare room when she was looking for somewhere new to live, not wanting to be a third wheel around her twin sister Parvati and Dean Thomas.
While living with Padma was not a bad experience in any way, being in close proximity to her in their small flat had led to a few awkward moments since she moved in, especially when it came to them dating other people.
To put it mildly, neither of them approved of any romantic partners the other one brought home, no matter who it was.
How Padma refused to talk to him for three days after he had brought one of his dates (whose name he could not remember to be honest) back to the flat one night, also remembering the smile on her face when she found out that he was not going to see her again.
Just as he remembered the pang of jealousy in his chest when he saw Wayne Hopkins picking Padma up from their flat, the fact that she did not come back until she finished work the next day only made him feel worse.
Then there was the actual living together part.
Though they both had their bedrooms in this small flat in Whitehall (close enough for both of them to walk to work), living together in a confined space had caused a few issues.
Whether it was him coming across a rather racy thong in the laundry pile last month (which she quickly snatched from his hands after turning as red as a tomato), or how in those first few days of having her as a room-mate, he had walked out of the bathroom after a shower and straight into her, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.
For a whole week after that incident, Padma could hardly look him in the eye without blushing.
Or how he had walked in on her in the shower three days ago (by accident, he swore), a small part of him wishing he had seen more of her before quickly vacating the bathroom.
Or a part of him wishing that he had joined her in the shower instead, which he did not dare voice aloud whenever she was around, not wanting her to think he was a pervert.
But there were good times which came with living together as well, sometimes the both of them were happy to just spend time together, especially after a long day of work (as she worked in the Investigation Office of the DMLE), where Harry was just as happy to cook for Padma as she was him.
How she made him some of her family’s mango curry one night, which was so delicious that he asked her for the recipe, or how he had asked his Aunt Andromeda Tonks (not a real Aunt but a close friend of both of his parents) to make an extra sponge cake (that she sometimes made for him) for Padma.
Sometimes they went for a drink after work, talking and laughing about their day with each other, even receiving a comment about how they were such a lovely couple by an older witch one time.
Casting a quick “Tempus” Charm to check the time, Harry saw that it was getting late and decided to call it a night, knowing that he had work tomorrow and that Padma was still out on her “date” with someone whom Parvati had introduced her to.
Half an Hour Later…
Harry P.O.V
Just as he was about to get into bed, Harry heard the door to the flat slam shut with a bang, so loud that the noise reverberated through the entire flat.
Jumping to his feet, Harry drew his wand and almost ran out of his room, thinking someone might have broken in.
Thankfully, that was not the case, as the door slamming shut had just been Padma, who threw herself onto their settee with a huff.
Four months older than him at twenty-three years old, Padma had been dressed to impress tonight, with a gold plait in her long black hair behind her head, dark olive skin and chocolate brown eyes, wearing a sleeveless blue shirt, black skirt and high heels that had Harry trying not to stare at her when she left earlier.
Taking her high heels off with a scowl on her face (something had quite clearly pissed her off), Harry had seen that look more than once in the last six months.
Whether it was a lousy date that had been arranged by her sister or one of her friends, or when she had directed that anger at him when he broke one of the patterned plates given to her by her Mother when she moved out, he knew that Padma Patil was not a witch to be messed with when she was pissed off.
Even if he had managed to calm her down once or twice when she had been in this state, he was always cautious around her when she was like this.
That did not mean that she did not allow him to try and cheer her up when she was in a bad mood sometimes, but other times she would tell him to leave her alone.
Knowing that she would just outright tell him to leave her alone if she wanted to be left alone, Harry approached her.
Placing his wand on the small coffee table in front of the settee, Harry sat down next to her, catching her eye as he did so.
It was only when he saw the reddish tint to her cheeks that he remembered that he was only dressed in his pyjama bottoms and no shirt, seeing her blush at the sight of him shirtless, his toned abs on full display for her.
Maybe that was why she did not tell him to leave her alone, that she liked seeing him like this.
At least that was what Harry hoped.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Harry was sincere as he asked her.
Letting out a huff, Padma folded her arms.
“What is there to talk about… that apart from one eight month relationship, my love life is shit… and even that relationship went to shit when Terry dumped me for some ginger slag who hangs onto his every word” Padma retorted snarkily.
Shifting a little closer to her, Harry was relieved when she did not move away.
“That bad, huh?” Harry asked her.
Meeting her eyes, and seeing the fire burning inside of them, Harry braced himself.
“Worse… I swear, the next time Parvati sets me up on another date with someone she knows, I’m going to fucking strangle her with her tights” Padma growled.
Not stopping her angry rant, Padma kept going, and Harry just sat there and took it all, only stopping her when she started ranting in Punjabi, as she only did when she got really angry.
“Easy, Pad, easy” Harry tried to calm her down.
Thankfully, his roommate listened to him and did calm down.
“If you want to talk… I’m all ears” Harry continued.
Padma sighed.
Of course, Harry was not going to leave her like this, deciding that comforting Padma was more important than sleep right now, even if both of them had to go to work tomorrow morning.
Scooting closer to her, Harry decided to take a chance and wrap his arm around her shoulders, hoping that she might get even closer to him.
The fact that he was shirtless did not stop Padma from resting her head on his shoulder.
He even saw her eyes occasionally glancing down at the toned muscle on his abdomen.
“It didn’t go well then?” Harry asked her softly.
“That’s putting it mildly” Padma replied.
Shifting slightly, Harry squeezed her shoulder.
“Feel free to cry on my shoulder, if you want” Harry joked.
As she let out a harsh laugh, Harry just sat there and listened to her, tracing his hand on her shoulder as she told him how this bloke (whose name he did not even bother asking her for) took her to Club Magic (opened a few years ago in Diagon Alley) before leaving her for another woman who as Padma described, was prettier and more scantily dressed.
When she finished her story, Harry squeezed her shoulder.
“Fuck him, Pad… its his loss and it only makes him an even bigger idiot, if that was even possible” Harry told her.
“Now you’re just being stupid, Harry” Padma retorted.
“Maybe I am being stupid… but so is he if he blew his chance with you”
Padma sharply turned to face him, pulling herself free from his arm and looking directly at him.
Looking right into his eyes, though it looked like she was trying to avoid looking at his chest, just as he was fighting the urge to look at her cleavage.
“Yeah well… maybe if I didn’t scare away every bloke who looks at me, I wouldn’t keep getting set up with blokes who get immediately turned off by a woman who would rather spend her night reading novels with glasses of wine instead of than rubbing her arse or her tits against him on a dance floor” Padma told him heatedly.
Merlin, Harry found himself enjoying this side of her.
“Maybe I should just swear off men for the rest of my life… since no decent man ever actually looks at me for more than ten seconds before someone prettier catches his eye” Padma continued.
Before he could stop himself, Harry pulled her towards him and kissed her, deciding to show her that he had been here all this time.
Given how shocked she must have been at him kissing her without warning like that, Padma did not react the way he hoped she would.
When Harry finally stopped kissing her and moved away slightly, he could see how shocked she was, but she was not angry.
As she stared at him in shock, Padma did not even need to speak to demand an explanation from him.
Taking a deep breath, Harry took hold of her hands.
“Fourth Year, when we danced at the Yule Ball, even though I had gone with your sister instead… my first year of Auror Training, when you chewed me out for getting Robards’ paperwork wrong, and spent an hour helping me correct it… at the Halloween party at the Three Broomsticks last year, when you asked me to be your fake date so that Roger Davies would stop trying to get you into bed… I’ve always noticed you, Padma Patil” Harry told her softly, keeping his eyes on hers.
Maintaining eye contact as he told her just how long he had liked her as more than a friend and colleague.
This prolonged eye contact was also making their cheeks turn red.
“Why… why didn’t you say anything?” Padma replied, her voice soft and trembling just a little bit.
Harry sighed and squeezed her hand.
“I’ve been trying to ask you out for ages… but I kept losing my nerve… I thought you might have realised after a bit” Harry confessed.
No sooner had he spoken those words, Padma let go of his hands and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck, melding her lips to his passionately.
Quickly kissing her back, Harry followed her down as she pulled him towards her, falling onto her back underneath him on the settee.
21st June 2003 (Whitehall, London)
Padma Patil P.O.V
Sleepily rubbing her eyes as she stirred awake, Padma raised her head from Harry’s bare chest, feeling a little shock that they had decided to sleep in each other's arms on the settee instead of going to bed, especially after they had sex on this settee.
Morgana, how was she going to sit here from now on (without the memory of last night forcing its way to the front of her mind), having ridden him to multiple toe-curling orgasms on this very spot, instead of dragging him to her bed and jumping him.
Of course, she had fantasised about fucking him quite a few times since she moved in with him, especially after he walked in on her in the shower the other day.
Oh, how she wished he had joined her that day.
“Thank Morgana for Silencing Charms” Padma thought.
He was right last night as well, She had been so blind that by focusing on all of the negatives of her previous dates, she had failed to see that the one decent bloke was right in front of her this entire time.
Though his shyness from school followed him into his adult years, Padma found him to be incredibly sweet and kind, a blush creeping onto her cheeks as she thought about how he had gone from being a cute boy in school to a handsome man as he grew up.
As she slowly sat up, using her discarded wand to check the time, Padma saw that it would not be long before either of them had to start work.
Dropping her wand, Padma leaned down, cupping his chin and kissing him.
As she kissed him deeply, Harry slowly woke up, catching Padma off guard as he wrapped his arms around her and flipped her over, pressing her down into the settee, which made her squeal with delight against his lips.
When he finally relented and stopped kissing her, Padma glared at him.
“Get up, Potter… we have to go to work soon” Padma told him firmly.
Harry kissed her again before replying.
“Maybe we should call in sick, Patil… then we can do whatever we want for the rest of the day… see who’s got the comfier bed”
Shaking her head, Padma wriggled out from underneath him and stood up.
“I’ll have you know that I work very hard at my job, Mr Potter… and I do not intend to miss work just to spend all day in this flat with you” Padma told him firmly.
Turning to walk away from him, Padma told him she was going to have a shower.
Jolting when she felt him slap her arse, Padma glanced over her shoulder at him when he got up and replied.
“We’ll share… saves time, that way”
Giggling like a schoolgirl, Padma was not about to refuse that offer as he chased her into the bathroom.
Yes, life was definitely on the up now.