Title: Love The One You're With

Author: magika_draconia

Other pairings/threesome: None

Rating: PG

Word count: 1,200

Content/Warning(s): None

Prompt: A 5+1 thing. Five partners Severus thought weren't good enough for Harry (and needed to be sabotaged) and one who finally was.

I must have been under a Confundus Charm to have agreed to this, Harry Potter thought, taking a long sip of wine. He'd complained how difficult it was to meet people, and Hermione had suggested a dating service. With all of his friends – including Severus, surprisingly enough – in agreement, Harry had reluctantly signed up to Cupid's Arrow True Love Match. And now, here he was.

On a blind date.

"Are you from Cupid?" a breathless voice said from behind him. "I'm sorry I'm late, but I had ... Harry?" it continued, as Harry turned to see Ginny Weasley.

His ex-wife.

SSHP

"I mean, obviously they found us compatible," Harry complained to Severus the next day. "We were married, for Merlin's sake! You'd think they'd have known that – the divorce was all over the Prophet for weeks!"

"No reconciliation, then?" Severus asked, giving him a sharp glance.

Harry shook his head, watching as the older man moved around him, collecting ingredients. "No. We're better friends than we are lovers. She's almost like my little sister." Severus raised an eyebrow at him. "You know what I mean!"

"Well, then," said Severus, "if you aren't gallivanting off with Miss Weasley, you can chop these."

The next night, when his date turned out to be Cho Chang, Harry wondered if he shouldn't just give up right now.

"That's a nice necklace," he said, awkwardly.

Cho clasped it in her hand, her eyes glistening with tears. "It was the last thing Cedric ever gave to me," she explained, her voice wavering. "I can't help thinking ... but perhaps it's time to move on. I think he'd want me to move on, don't you?" Her lips trembled as she met his gaze.

Harry took a very large gulp of his wine and surreptitiously looked at his watch.

HPSS

"And after telling me all about the last date they'd ever been on, she finally burst into tears and ran out of the restaurant." Harry folded his arms and scowled. "People thought it was something I'd done. You should have seen the glare this little old lady gave me!"

Stirring clockwise, Severus dropped three rose petals into the cauldron, counting under his breath. "The thwarted first love," he said, once he was done. "Nothing so perfect as the one that got away – or died," he added, thoughtfully.

Harry scowled even harder at the reminder of Severus' firsthand knowledge of this.

"Malfoy?" Harry blinked several times, then looked dubiously at the wine glass in front of him. Just how many had he had? "What are you doing here?"

"I'm your date." Malfoy spread his arms in a 'look at me!' gesture. "Isn't it wonderful?"

"Er..." Wonderful wasn't quite the word Harry was after.

Ignoring Harry's speechlessness, Malfoy seated himself in a flurry of robes, and crossed one leg over the other so flamboyantly he almost kicked the table over.

"So," he said, smiling so widely that Harry could see all his teeth. "Shall we talk about what's new in my life?"

SSHP

"And after half an hour of non-stop prattle about himself, he all but dived over the table at me, and tried to grope me." Harry shuddered in remembered disgust. "It was like he'd turned into an octopus. I had to cast a stupefy at him to get away." He looked to where Severus had turned his back, and narrowed his eyes at the other man's shaking shoulders. "Are you laughing at me?" he asked, suspiciously.

"No," Severus said, sounding strangled. He had to clear his throat several times. "Just a tickle in my throat. No second date with Draco, then?"

"Umm—" Harry looked back and forth between the Patil twins. "Is this allowed?"

"Oh, yes!" one twin – he thought it might have been Parvati – said eagerly.

"I read through all the rules thoroughly," added the other one. "Twice."

"Oh. I see. Well, then. Ah ..." Harry forcibly closed his mouth as the two girls beamed expectantly at him. This was surely every red-blooded male's dream, and yet he couldn't think of a single thing to say.

Except...

"Oh! I'm sorry, I'm being summoned back to work," he lied, springing to his feet. "So sorry; got to dash; call me!"

HPSS

"You ... ran away?" Severus repeated, in disbelief.

Harry hunched his shoulders. "I know, I know," he groaned. "It was a shitty thing to do, but I couldn't think of anything else!"

"Most young men would have thought of plenty 'else' to do," said Severus, pointedly. "And none of it would have involved running away!"

"Well, I'm sure they'll be very happy dating Padma and Parvati," Harry retorted. "Perhaps the agency should set Malfoy up with them." Severus gave him a sharp look as he gently squeezed the pus from a bubotuber. Harry sighed. "Fine, fine; I'll call and apologise."

"Harry! Good to see you again!" the voice boomed, causing heads to turn all across the restaurant. Harry slid lower in his chair as Ernie McMillan strode confidently to his table. "Can you believe they matched us up as compatible!"

Harry weakly shook his head. No, he couldn't believe it.

"I was just saying to old Smith the other day – you remember Zacharias – I said, 'Smith, old boy, I was thinking of looking up Potter,' and d'you know what he said?"

With a sigh, Harry drained his glass in one go, reached for the bottle, and wished heartily for earplugs.

SSHP

"Ernie McMillan," Severus mused thoughtfully, weighing out a measure of some dried ingredient or other. "No, I don't think I remember him."

Harry snorted, raising a small cloud of dust from the table in front of him. "Hufflepuff," he said. "Very pompous. Even more so, now."

Severus finished measuring, and began sprinkling the whatever-it-was into the cauldron. "What does he do?"

"Aside from have lots of conversations with Zacharias Smith, I have no idea." Harry frowned. "Perhaps he'd have been better off dating him, instead."

"Really, Harry," said Severus, sounding very amused, "which side of this agency are you on?"

Harry took a small sip of his wine and resisted the urge to sigh. His next blind date was late.

"Oh, good, you're still here," said a voice, and Harry almost got whiplash as his head snapped around to meet Severus' gaze.

"What are you doing here?" he exclaimed.

Severus slid into the chair opposite him, and lifted the bottle of wine to examine it. "I do believe, Mr Potter," he said, tilting an eyebrow in Harry's direction, "that I am your date for this evening. Although, if you'd rather I left again—"

"No, no," Harry croaked. "Please – stay."

HPSS

"I have a confession."

Harry raised himself up on an elbow to study Severus' face. "Those aren't the words I want to hear in bed," he said.

"I'm afraid – I own Cupid's Arrow."

"What?!" Harry gaped at him.

"All your blind dates were organised – by me."

"So Ginny – Cho – Malfoy –?" Severus nodded sheepishly. "For Merlin's sake, Severus, why?!"

Severus squirmed, guiltily. "To show you – that they weren't really good enough for you." Harry gave him a stern look. "And because you'd've thought it strange if your only date was me."

Harry smiled. "Good job I love you, you git."