"I don't love my wife."

"You don't love me either."

"No," Harry admits. "But I like having sex with you."

Whoa. You've created a Harry I hear saying this almost casually--not an easy feat! Gorgeous imagery throughout the story, too!

Aaaaah, I love this!!! I have an infidelity kink a mile high, and this hit it right in the bull's eye. :D What others have said above: I love how it seems so simple, but also not. I love the lack of melodrama, lack of a reveal, lack of real soul-searching guilt. I love morally-ambiguous!Harry, justifying it all to himself as the need for an adrenaline rush, of all things. :D And I really, really love that Harry and Draco aren't necessarily destined to be together, a true love kind of thing thrown off track by marriages, and that neither of them is really pining or desperate for the other. And yet...

AND YET. Five years, and still going strong. Are they just in the habit now, going through the motions, or is there more love or care there than Harry, our unreliable narrator, will admit to us? *cackle* Love it! Also love how enigmatic Draco is. It was hard to get a read on him at first, through Harry's POV (well, same for Harry, I think), but then we see hints of how Draco feels... maybe just issuing Harry a challenge that first time, to amuse himself... then trying to cut Harry off when he thinks Harry is going to throw a tantrum or insist on some talk about morality... then diving right back in when it's clear Harry is not going to do that...! LOVE! And the end... God, so reckless but hot, being drawn to each other like that... and I can't help but think at the very end that maybe Ginny and Astoria know... or do they? I love that, too!

And the way you wrote the sex scenes was fabulous -- minimalist but so hot. I'm glad you didn't dwell on Harry's "first time with a man" being a big deal. It was what it was, and I loved how he came to crave it, while not being repulsed by his wife in any way (which I think can be a bit of a cliche in fic). And the idea of Harry loving being fucked... yeah, hi, that kind of melted my brain. ♥♥♥

Oooh, the infidelity is delicious! It's tantalizing the way their relationship has got stuck like this for years, even as their marriages evolve and the children grow up. Love the natural way it develops, how Harry adapts after meeting Draco via the chemise and snippy notes to other departments, and we get just enough information about the sex. I really enjoyed this :-D

I thought this was very well done. I don't usually read many infidelity fics where Ginny never finds out. But this was done in a very real way. I really liked it. : )

Two years, and the guilt has worn off. Perversely, he thinks: so this is what it feels like to be a Slytherin.

I don't know what this says about me, but the above statement really makes me wish I was a Slytherin for real.

This was marvelous and seamless. I really adored your prose. And the story itself was refreshingly good for a fandom and pairing that tends toward melodrama more often than not. Just a lovely story, finely crafted. Good job.

This has been a great read - I'll be hunting down more epilogue compliant fics now. Thank you!

I adored this fic - I love your writing style, quite sparse, conveying setting and character without the dread verbosity. I loved how Harry fell into the affair and how it was Draco rather than he who had a crisis of conscience. I think the borderline callous way Harry approaches this is so true to his canon blindspots about some of his behaviour and I loved his flash of jealousy when Draco mentioned Astoria. Just wonderful :)

this is an interesting take to the plot, i love how Harry's gradual change through out the fic.

I absolutely loved this... the whole idea of them having an ongoing affair that is both happy and a little angsty is brilliant. The mystery and passion of it all is what seems to drive them to it!! Great job with this story!! :D

Awesome! Was this supposed to be sad? It doesn't seem sad. I kinda want them to go on forever, everybody happy or innocent or no longer guilty. Nicely done!

This was a really nice piece of writing. I especially liked how you made us feel Harry's detachment with your words.

I also liked that there were no big uncovering or angst about someone wanting it to be more, but just life as it goes.

Very well done.

I absolutely loved the rawness of this; Harry being so blunt and Draco being almost careless. This was a stunning work :)

This is such a sexy fic. Infidelity aside, it pushes all kinds of buttons I didn't know I had.

One thing you mentioned that really resonated with me is that Harry came into his prime at twenty and in a sense grew restless. THIS. SO. MUCH. I think I love this type of indiscretion, too. Harry has no intentions of leaving Ginny, but he has no signs of slowing his affair either.

Also, and this is just me being strange. It was how you described Draco sitting in the wingback chair all languid and almost blissed out, enveloped in green smoke. I don't know why, but this imagery subtley reminded me of the caterpillar in Alice and Wonderland. And I just find that UNGODLY sexy. Odd, I know <3<3<3

It was how you described Draco sitting in the wingback chair all languid and almost blissed out, enveloped in green smoke. I don't know why, but this imagery subtley reminded me of the caterpillar in Alice and Wonderland.

*ducking in before Actual Writer gets a chance to reply to comments*

Oh my GOD, P, stop it, you're making me want to draw that and the to-do list is three point eight miles long...

(but christ, yes, wasn't it a gorgeous image?)

What a great story!

The last paragraphs made me wonder though: Astoria seems to know about Draco and Harry. But Ginny? She could tense either because of her school-history with Draco, or because she suspects or knows about the affair.

Well, we'll never know :-)

Yes, this Harry as a Slytherin. Exactly. He wants the family and Draco so he figures out a way to have both where no one gets hurt. Perfect. I actually really enjoyed this despite it not being all nice and tidy.

Edited at 2012-01-02 03:59 am (UTC)