Happily Ever After
When Harry once opened his eyes on December 31st and saw that he was in his cottage, in his own bed, he’d been relieved.
It was nothing to how Harry felt when he opened his eyes and saw his living room, his Christmas tree, and no other fuckin Harrys in sight.
“Thank Merlin.” Harry sat down on the couch and pulled Fred down with him. They’d only been gone for what felt like a few hours, Harry had no idea how it had gotten so dark out.
It was comforting darkness, normal darkness. It was better than all the weird shite that Harry learned that day.
“What?” Fred was beaming when he plopped down by Harry, immediately pulling Harry onto his lap. “You didn’t have fun?”
Fun? Maybe. It was interesting, to be sure.
“Will it be strange to say that I don’t much like myself?” Harry asked. “I don’t like them, actually. They were all pretending to be me and not doing it right, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Fred agreed, holding Harry close. “They could never be you, darlin. You’re one of a kind.”
Yes, he really was. If Harry learned nothing else that day, he learned that he was exceptionally unique.
“They let you die, repeatedly,” Harry said, still pissed about that. “You must have been more reckless without me.”
“Or… you went out of your way to keep me alive because you loveeee me,” Fred said as he started nuzzling Harry’s neck, grinning against his skin. “You loved me enough to keep me alive, to not leave me for some bloke with one arm. You loved me enough to not get a death eater tattoo.”
As if Harry would ever do that - then what would he consistently mock Sev for?
“You loved me enough to not ditch me for a muggle life, and enough that you never shacked up with a vampire,” Fred went on. His nuzzling became softer, sweeter. “You loved me enough to come back,” he breathed, sending goosebumps across Harry’s body. “You didn’t leave me.”
No, he didn’t. Not permanently anyway.
Harry let Fred carry him away for a few minutes with soft touches and sweet words. They might have spent the entire night on the sofa together, if it weren’t for seven sudden cracks of apparation that had Harry rolling off Fred’s lap and pointing his wand at —
“Merry Christmas, Harry!” Susan was the only one brave enough to ignore Harry’s wand and push past it to embrace him. Harry saw over her shoulder that the others were all there as well - Theo, Rosie, and Luna. Ron, Blaise, and Neville. And - and Charlie.
“I thought - you had plans?” Harry said dumbly.
“As if we’d miss Christmas together,” Neville grinned. He pulled a bottle of firewhisky out and Blaise summoned glasses from the kitchen. “A night cap?”
“And I want to hear about the AU potion,” Theo said, passing Harry’s goddaughter to her the instant Susan released him. “I want my own potion once it’s on the market,” he told Fred.
Harry held Rosie on his hip and looked around at his friends, his family, and he finally cracked a grin while the knot of disappointment he felt all day finally lessened.
“They were all boring,” Harry told his brother, settling down between Fred and Luna to share the story. “Well, the Sorcerer was fuckin’ brill, but there was one who was knocked up by a vampire.”
“No!” Susan giggled and sat down on the floor with Charlie and smiled up at Harry while Blaise passed around drinks. “A baby born of a vampire and wizard would be terribly strong though…” she mused.
That was how Harry knew he was home. When he was surrounded by his people, his family, and nothing he said was shocking or startling to any of them.
The other Harrys could keep their lives, Harry would never trade his for any of them.