Reunions

"Blake here." She answered, sleepily.

Harry laughed, "Listen to that so grown up even when you're tired. Hello, Anita!"

"Who?" She sat up between her lovers in their bed under the Circus. The nightlight in the bathroom cast a vibrant glow almost blinding her. She blinked into the dark room still coming awake.

"What we don't speak for a few years and you forget your best friend?" He teased. He knew it was late but he was at the airport with time to kill so he figured now was the best time to tell her he'd be in town. There was silence from the other line. He could hear distant murmurs but couldn't make it out, likely someone she was sharing a bed with. "Anita I was only teasing you didn't actually forget me did you?"

There was shuffling and a door shutting softly. She sounded more awake when she answered, "Harry?" She was quiet and unsure. 

Harry smiled all the same, "Glad to see I made an impression."

"It's been ages," She grinned despite herself. 

“It has. I did call and wake you up for a reason though, promise.” 

“And what reason is that?”

“See a little bird told me my best friend was getting married to a real life king and what kind of best friend would I be if I didn’t roll into town to help her?” 

“Wait, you're in town?” She stood straight awake now.

Harry laughed, his taxi pulled up while he was standing there. He waved at the driver that he’d be just a minute more. “Yea, hey listen my taxi is here so I will have to call you back but Im staying at a hotel near the Riverfront.”

“Wow you’re really here,” She pulled her phone away quickly checking the clock. “Lets try for dinner? My house?” She told him her address.

“I’ll see you then and maybe get introduced to at least some of your sweeties?” He teased.

“Yea yea we’ll be there,” Anita agreed good naturedly.

They hung up laughing. He hadn’t seen Anita since they were little kids, long before his Hogwart years but they’d written for a long time. They had been each other's only friends for years. Until the war picked up and he had to stop. He hadn’t gotten in contact with her since they were fourteen. He was forever thankful to that man Bert from her office for giving him her number so he could call her directly. He had missed her. The war was done, he was safe so he decided to get some air, see his long lost best friend and tease her about getting that fairy tale wedding they’d always discussed.

Evening came fast when you were trying to treat jet lag with a nap that lasted much longer than it should have. He had just enough time to shower, get some fresh clothes and call for another taxi. That was going to be his first order of business once he got his feet under him, get some wheels. Preferably some kind of bike. Sirius had taught him how to drive his old wheels but that bike hadn’t survived the crash. He didn’t want to think about that though.

He was nervous. This was Anita’s house and it had been closer to sixteen years since they’d seen each other. They had both probably changed a lot. He had so much to tell her. Not tonight though. Tonight he wanted to catch up with her and everything she had done since they last talked. After he apologized for going silent on her though.

There were four cars in the drive and the lights were on so he knew they were home. He wiped his palms on his trousers. He knocked twice. Standing there he realized he should have brought something, anything to commemorate the moment. Before he could even conjure supplemental flowers just so he wouldn’t be so empty handed the door cracked open and a man he didn’t recognize spoke. “Hello, you Harry?”

“Hello, yes I’m Harry Potter. Here to see Anita? Anita Blake.” Harry couldn’t help himself and smiled at the man.

“Ah,” The man surveyed the street and empty lawn behind him like he was hiding something but he chalked it up to the man doing his duty. He knew from the papers that Anita was famous, so it made sense that she’d had threats on her life. He certainly had his fair share. He entered the house to see several men and one woman standing around. From the brief glance around the room he could tell some of them were bodyguards. The all black uniform they were all wearing was a solid tell but the other men looked very comfortable. Were they all her lovers? He wasn’t going to assume anything especially about information he gained from the papers. They tended to lie after all.

“Anita?” He called into the room. A woman who certainly looked like the little girl he remembered came around the corner trying to look carefully blank but he could see the nerves in the way she pointedly made eye contact. It was something her Grandma had taught her. He felt like a little kid again. “‘Nita!”

“Harry,” She stood there but Harry wasn’t going to accept that, they had hugged each other any time they could and now would be no different. There was a spark of energy as their bodies remembered each other. He got more from that spark than he thought he’d get but he’d worry about that later. He pulled her in watching the men and guards around them tense like they expected her to explode. She tensed in his arms but eventually relaxed and hugged him back. “I missed you.” She whispered into his neck.

Harry squeezed her extra tight and pulled back. “I missed you too, and I'm sorry I stopped replying to your letters. I kept every single one you sent.”

“Really?”

“Of course! You are my best friend. It wasn’t safe to write back but I treasured that you didn’t give up on me, at least not immediately.” He let his sorrow fill his voice.

“What wasn’t safe?” She was very serious. She held in by the elbows looking him up and down. She took in his scars on display from his short sleeved shirt.

“It was in the past not terribly important.” Harry grinned offering reassurance to her. They ended up running their hands down each other's arms taking in the obvious years of dangerous activities. She looked at his left arm pointedly and he did the same, offering her a cheeky smirk. Two could play at that game. She didn’t ask about them and he took that as a win even if he knew her well enough to know she’d ask about it again later.

“So what actually brought you to town? It couldn’t have been my impending weddings,” She stepped back putting some distance between them. It hurt a little but the last time he’d written back they’d been fourteen and the last time they’d seen each other had been the summer her mom died, the distrust was warranted but still. He had cherished her, none could hold a candle to the fierce little girl that stood up to Dudley all summer every summer for so long.

“Ah well maybe I’m here to cash in our deal before you run off and marry Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome?”

“Our deal?” Her arms dropped from where they’d been crossed under her breast.

“Oh ho, you aren’t going to say you forgot did you?” He smiled wide, mischief in his eyes.

“I’d say I did if Im asking you,” She pouted.

Harry chuckled for her and said, “Well it’s a good thing I brought this with me now isn’t it?” He pulled a full size journal from his pocket. The journal was clearly old and worn, with both their names scrawled across it in chicken scratch crayons.

“You still have that thing?”

“Of course, we put all our dreams for the future in this thing including how we were going to have our wedding if you remember?” Harry smiled at her teasingly.

She blushed bright red and stammered, “We were just little kids back then and I- we- “

Harry laughed, “Relax Anita I know that besides I might have a few lovers of my own hidden away…”

“Do you?” She peered at him.

“Well no but I have seen other people that's not the point here. I remember you were a pain in the ass about the details even way back then so I figured I could help out these poor gentlemen trying to see you walk down that aisle.” Harry chuckled at her waving the book around.

“Even back then?” One of the others in the room asked, incredulous.

“Always,” Harry smiled looking between the two wondering if this was one of her lovers or if they were just a friend. Something about them didn’t say bodyguard so it had to be something.

“You’re going to embarrass me the whole time you're in town aren’t you?” She shook her head smiling.

“Well I mean I sort of intend to move into town so maybe not the whole time.” He told her honestly, letting the journal fall to his side. 

“Really? No more traveling back and forth?”

“Nothing left for me there so I figured why not move closer to one of the most important people in my life.”

She looked like she wanted to question that but a man with an insanely long high ponytail came around the corner. “Anita dinner’s ready.”

“And who might this be?” He queried, smiling again softer now.

“Ah right,” Anita grabbed the man’s hand smiling. “This is one of my fiances, Nathaniel.”

“Pleasure to meet you Nathaniel.” Harry grinned. He watched as another man, Anita’s height with shoulder length brown hair, walked over to her joining the two of them in happy smiles. He was another of her lovers, they were a threesome. Harry felt warm knowing Anita found happiness and a home in others.

“This is Micah,” Anita told him but never took her eyes off the other man standing with her.

“Pleasure,” Amused, he looked at the others in the room, several of them in similar all balck outfits. The three lovers settled into their own little world. One of the guards by the wall was looking him over with a very serious stare. Harry tensed just enough they saw it and frowned. 

He looked away no need to bring unnecessary attention to himself, this was supposed to be a happy dinner and he so did not want to handle any of that just yet. Maybe after he had settled in the area and was able to talk with Anita about everything one on one but first they really should catch up. Do all the happy chattering about the good things that had happened in the last fifteen or so years. Granted his list wasn’t too long… Best not to think of that right now. 

Harry shuffled a bit. Watch Anita with these two men he knew then she was incredibly lucky to find them, people to love her so completely. He was a little jealous watching them be together like that. It was heartwarming all the same.

“Dinner, Anita.” Nathaniel chuckled, pulling away.

She blushed and pulled away from them both. “Right right.”

“Lead the way?” Micah told him, pulling both of them towards the back of the house, contrary to his own words.

Harry followed after them and so did the guards. Anita’s kitchen wasn’t particularly large holding both a six seater table and all the counter space. Harry enjoyed getting a look at what he would consider the center of the house. Knowing Nathaniel was the one who cooked, the one who brought it all together was a bonus in his mind for the younger man. It was also a sneak peak into Anita’s world. The home she had created.

“So how long have you three…?” Harry asked as he rounded the table to sit across from 

“About four years,” Nathaniel answered while taking his own seat next to Harry.

“Yea? How did you three meet?” Harry asked between bites. 

The three of them shared a look. Their meeting likely wasn’t that love at first sight kind of story one told at dinner’s like this but he didn’t care. The pasta dish Nathaniel made was delicious. They ate while Anita, Micah and Nathaniel took turns telling about how they met. He could tell they edited the story for his benefit making it seem less… life threatening than it was but that was something he understood on a whole other level. 

“So you managed to grow up to be a princess after all,” Harry wagged his eyes brows teasing Anita.

“And the knight in shining armor!” Nathaniel added happily.

“That too,” Harry chuckled.

Anita blushed and spluttered. “What about you?” She was done talking about herself.

Harry laughed, “You mean since you achieved both our dreams?”

“I-” She was stunned, eyes wide. “I don’t know what to say to that.”

“There's nothing wrong with doing both Anita,” Harry chuckled. “I sort of did the whole knight in shining armor bit too, it's technically Sir Harry these days.”

“You’ve been knighted? I didn’t think the Queen was still doing that?”

“Ah well I don’t know if you know about the terrorist attacks that had been happening in England a few years back?” She shook her head. The others in the room were looking at him with rapt eyes, he had everyone undivided attention. “Whole families were dying from undeterminable causes. Well turned out the bastard behind it all had a hard on for me in particular.”

“He was hunting you down specifically?” Nathaniel asked whispering like the bad guy would come around the corner any minute.

“Yea.” Harry told him, his smile dimmed a little but it had been years since all that he could talk about it now. “Remember those stories the Dursleys used to tell about my parents?” He asked Anita.

“You mean the drug addicted prostitute and her pimp that died in a drunk driving accident?” Anita asked, frowning.

“That's the one. Turns out it was all a lie. The big bad terrorist was actually a cultist and he murdered my parents largely because they wouldn’t drink his kool-aid. He even tried to kill me that night but failed. It's how I got this,” Harry ran his finger over the faded scar on his forehead. It had started to heal better once the horcrux had been removed but he wasn’t going to explain all that tonight. They didn’t even know core-witches exist so telling them about soul magic and its evil uses was just too much.

“That's crazy.” She sipped at her wine, a nice pairing for the pasta.

“You’re telling me. Anyway he goes quiet for most of my… childhood,” for lack of a better word. They both knew what little that actually meant. “Came back when I was fourteen and started up his old tricks. I ended up killing him at seventeen and the Queen thought I deserved an award for service to my country.

“No kidding! That's great, Harry.” 

They continued to chat talking about the easier things. Graduating from school and what they did afterwards. How the both ended up working for the government one way or another. They talked about what Micah and Nathaniel did which led into what Jean-Claude did. A little of everything really. They laughed, they drank and the night came quickly. Harry and Anita caught like they’d never been apart. The journal with the supposed wedding plans of a six year old Anita lay forgotten on the table. There was plenty of time for that later.