Christmas Day
“Haaarry. Theooooo. Wake uuuuuup.” A voice whispered gently, and Harry groaned a bit as he felt a large hand rub small circles into his back. “Good mooooorning…”
“Five more minutes…” He heard Theo murmur from the bed below, the shuffling of fabric telling him that his friend had pulled his blanket back over his head, and he could vaguely feel the hand on his back trembling, likely from laughter.
“It’s Christmas, brats.” Gid chuckled a bit. “It’s time to get up.”
Harry’s eyes shot open at that, and he sat up immediately, a bright smile forming on his face as he looked at his dad. Theo did much of the same, although he still wasn’t fully awake, and was just slow blinking in confusion at the two of them.
“Is… Wha..?” He asked, rubbing his face.
“Christmas!” Harry laughed, jumping up off of his bed and tripping as he threw his arms around his dad. “Happy Christmas, Dad!”
“Happy Christmas, boys.” Gid laughed a bit, hugging his son back and reaching down to ruffle Theo’s hair. “Go and get into some comfy clothes. Mum’s got hot cocoa ready and is waiting for us all downstairs.”
Theo nodded a bit, slowly standing up and clamoring off his bed, still trying to rub the sleep out of his face. Harry beamed at him, rushing off into the bathroom to do his business and get dressed before switching out with his friend. Eventually, he remembered to stick his glasses on his face, even though he had been maneuvering around his room perfectly fine without them up until that point.
He waited for a few minutes for the other boy to exit the bathroom, before he grabbed his hand and led him down the stairs, their bare feet padding against the cold, wooden floor as they walked into the living room. Theo gasped a bit, his eyes wide as he looked around.
The whole living room had been decorated with tinsel and lights, the scent of hot cocoa filled the air, and Fiona was stood in the middle of the living room wearing what Harry thought was, quite possibly, the ugliest Christmas sweater in existence.
And it was beautiful.
“Happy Christmas, Mum!” He called, rushing over and hugging her, being a bit more careful than he usually was now that he knew about her little secret. She laughed a bit, hugging back.
“Happy Christmas, baby.” She smiled, looking up at Theo and holding out an arm for him as well. “Happy Christmas to you too, Theo.”
Theo smiled, walking over and hugging her as well. “Happy Christmas.”
They pulled away after a moment, looking over at the tree, which had quite the pile of presents underneath it. Gid came up behind them, resting his elbows on top of the boys’ heads with a grin. When Harry turned to look at his dad, he snorted, realizing that he was wearing an equally ugly and gaudy Christmas sweater.
“Alright.” He said, his arms sliding off their heads and moving to wrap around their shoulders. “Here’s the drill. Harry, your presents from Mum and I are wrapped in the black paper. Theo, yours are wrapped in the green. The other presents are from your friends, and I have no idea whose is whose, you’ll just have to read the attached letters.”
“Wait, you-” Theo stopped for a moment, his eyes wide. “...You got me presents?”
“Of course we did.” Gid smiled. “What? Did you think we weren’t going to get you stuff?”
“I… Didn’t think you would. Is that… Is that a normal thing people do for guests?”
“Theo, honey.” Fiona said softly, resting his hand on the boy’s arm. “You’re a part of the family. Of course we’re getting you gifts.”
“But I didn’t-”
“Oh hush. You didn’t need to get us anything. The best gift of them all is knowing that you’re safe, and here with us.”
Theo looked at her with wide, teary eyes, before he hugged her tightly. Harry smiled a bit, rubbing his friend’s back comfortingly as he sat down next to his pile of presents.
After a few moments, Theo was able to compose himself, wiping his eyes with his sleeves as he sat across from Harry, offering him a small smile while the two adults sat opposite them. Gid handed them their mugs of cocoa, with Harry’s in his favorite green mug, and Theo’s in the black cat mug he had found in the back of the mug cabinet his first night at the house.
Once everyone was situated, and drinks of cocoa had been had, the two boys grinned at each other in excitement, and began opening their presents.
They opened the ones from Gid and Fiona first, and neither one of them were able to peel the smiles off their faces the entire time.
Harry had gotten a Walkman, multiple cassette tapes to go with it- including Wham!, ABBA, KISS, and Queen, his own gaudy Christmas sweater, a new pair of boots, about a dozen different VHS tapes of some of his favorite movies, and a few sets of earrings. That last gift had Gid grinning like a madman, turning his head to the side so Harry could look at his own array of piercings.
“Just let me know when you wanna do it, Haz. I brought my kit home with me so we could do your ears.” He said, which had made Fiona laugh.
“Do it in the bathroom so you don’t get blood all over my rug.” She said simply, to which they both replied with a single phrase.
“Yes, ma’am!”
Theo, who still hadn’t quite grasped the concept of getting gifts from Harry’s family, had received another wonderfully gaudy Christmas sweater, the entire Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings book set, a nice set of fingerless leather gloves that Harry had placed a warming charm on, and, to his surprise, a pocket knife.
Harry had taken his own knife out to show him, flicking it open and closed a few times to show his friend how to work it.
“Magic isn’t always going to cut it, y’know?” He said softly.
“...Yeah.” Theo nodded a bit. “Yeah, I get it.”
The gifts from their friends had been just as amazing. Neville had sent them both thick books; Spellcrafting for Beginners; Making Magic for Harry, and Ritual Runes Around The World. The note he had sent along with them had been wonderfully simple and sweet.
-
Happy Christmas, Harry and Theo!
I hope this helps you guys! Gran’s had these books in the library for ages collecting dust, and I know this is the sort of stuff you’re interested in.
Thank you for the seeds! I’ve never grown some of these Muggle plants before! Thank you for writing out how to grow them, too! They were the best Yule present ever!
Best Wishes
Neville and Trevor
-
Trevor had even left a foot mark on the parchment, which Harry found utterly delightful.
Draco had also sent Harry a book, this one a copy of Quidditch Through the Ages. Theo’s gift had been a box of what looked to be potions which he tucked to the side with a small smile, although the guarded expression on his face had stopped any of the Hartford’s from asking what they were.
Blaise’s gift, and by extension, the Contessa’s, was a box of jewelry. Each one had a note attached, designating who they were for.
Harry, Theo, and Gid had all gotten silver bracelets, while Fiona had a silver necklace. Each one was done in a slightly different style, but one thing was the same: each one had a wolf engraved into either the pendant, or a part of the bracelet itself.
“The wolf is the symbol of the Zabini family.” Theo explained to them when Harry traced the animal’s shape on his bracelet’s pendant. “These are symbols of allyship with the Contessa. They’ll heat up if one of us is in danger and needs help.”
“That’s incredible.” Fiona murmured, looking at her pendant. “Magic is incredible.”
Harry nodded, smiling widely as he did so.
“One gift left, Haz. I think this one is addressed to you.” Gid said, scooting over and handing the brown paper wrapped package to his son. When it landed in his hands, he raised a brow.
It was… Incredibly light, almost like there was nothing in it.
And there was no name attached to it.
He shrugged, opening it carefully, and watching as a silvery, shimmering fabric slid out of the paper.
“A cloak?” Theo offered, sipping his cocoa, which was mostly cold at this point.
“I think so?” Harry offered, standing up and wrapping the cloak around himself, almost screaming when his body completely disappeared, only his head remaining. His family all jumped up, their eyes wide before Theo exclaimed.
“Holy shit, it’s an Invisibility Cloak!”
“A what?” Fiona asked, rushing over to quickly make sure that her son wasn’t actually just a floating head, completely ignoring the loud expletive that just came out of the other boy.
“An Invisibility Cloak! They’re really rare, even my father has never seen one before.”
Harry nodded a bit, taking the cloak off and staring at the fabric in amazement.
“...Theo, we could sneak into the restricted section with this.” He whispered excitedly, looking at his friend.
“We are absolutely sneaking into the restricted section with it.”
“Yes!”
Gid managed to regain his composure after a moment, kneeling down to pick up the note and reading it aloud.
“Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A Very Merry Christmas to you.” He said softly, looking back at Harry. “Looks like this belonged to James Potter, then. I wonder who had it…”
“Maybe his friend, Remus?” Harry offered.
“Maybe.” His dad nodded thoughtfully, before he shrugged. “Well… Be careful with it, alright boys? Don’t get it taken away. Something like this is… Definitely going to be an asset somehow.”
“Oh, lord, Gideon don’t encourage their mischief.” Fiona sighed, although she was smiling as she did so. Harry and Theo both snorted, carefully folding up the cloak and setting it next to the other gifts, before they looked back at her when she spoke again.
“And… Well, we have one last gift for you guys.” She smiled brightly at them, and the boys both returned the smiles.
They already knew what was coming, after all.
—
Fiona’s upset at not being able to properly tell them the news about her being pregnant was only rectified by the fact that both Harry and Theo admitted that Blaise had accidentally dropped the ball, and that she’d actually done a really good job at keeping it a secret.
That had lifted her spirits exponentially, and she had spent over an hour showing them the sonograms- which amazed Theo so much that she had given him one of the many pictures- and explaining what she wanted to do for the nursery, and answering all of their questions.
It was a girl, she was due at the begining of July, she wanted to paint the nursery lilac, and they were Not naming the baby Raven, no matter how cute that name would actually be.
All of them were utterly over the moon at the news, spending pretty much the entire day together in the living room, fiddling around with their gifts and watching movies on the telly.
They went through some of the Christmas classics, like Rudolph, The Grinch, and A Christmas Carol, but ended up getting sucked into watching Die Hard about halfway through the afternoon, which had both of the boys absolutely enthralled the entire time, to the point where everything around them had faded into the background. They only came back to reality when the movie ended, and Fiona tapped them both on the head, drawing their attention to her.
“Dinner’s here.” She chuckled a bit.
“Oh! What are we having?” Harry asked curiously, sitting up a bit. Theo had curled up into his side, his head resting on his shoulder, so he couldn’t quite move all the way, but he wasn’t just going to shove his friend off of him.
“Chinese.”
“Sweet, from the place up the road?”
“Of course! Theo, I hope you don’t mind, we don’t really do the whole… Traditional feast thing.”
Theo shrugged, sitting up a bit. “I don’t mind at all. I’ve never had Chinese food before, though… How were you even able to get it? Aren’t most stores and restaurants closed today?”
The two boys stood up, following Fiona to the dining room, where Gid was setting up plates and cups, two large bags of food sitting in the center of the table, waiting to be unpacked.
“Chinese restaurants are always open on Christmas.” Gid explained with a hum as they all sat down, starting to unpack the takeaway bags and set the containers out.
“Why?”
Harry hummed. “Because not everyone celebrates Christmas, and they stay open for those who don’t, or for weirdos like us who like to eat Chinese food on Christmas.”
“Pretty much. If you want the whole historical reason, I can tell you, but it’s a long winded explanation that’ll involve a lot of side explanations.” His dad said, looking at Theo with a raised brow.
“Oh, alright.” The boy nodded, watching in fascination as, once Gid sat down, Harry immediately grabbed his plate from in front of him and began placing food onto it, only giving it back and starting to serve himself when he had piled it high.
“It’s everything that I think is good.” Harry explained with a smile, nodding at Theo, who was looking over his plate with a smile on his face. He could hear his parents serving their own food just behind him, but he really wanted to see the look on his friend’s face when he took a bite.
And he was not disappointed in the slightest.
—
Theo, apparently, really liked sweet and sour pork.
Theo didn’t know that he liked sweet and sour pork until he had it for dinner.
The bug-eyed look of delight that had spread across his face when he took his first bite was so incredible that Harry wished he had a camera to take a photo of it, because he really wanted to show that face to his other friends back at school. It had caused a flurry of giggles amongst the table, mostly because it was, as Gid had put it.
“Pure fucking joy.”
Which, Harry was inclined to agree with.
Dinner, like usual on Christmas, was a peaceful, quiet affair. No one had too much to say, as they’d all spent the day together, but the silence wasn’t awkward in the slightest.
It was comfortable.
It was home.
Theo had decided to help Fiona wash up after dinner, because he didn’t believe that she should be doing any sort of labor in her ‘condition’, but couldn’t find a way to talk her out of it, so he resolved to help her instead.
Which left Harry and Gid to their own devices.
And they, unfortunately, had a piercing kit.
“Is it gonna hurt a lot?” Harry asked curiously as his dad disinfected the needle for the fourth time, and then disinfected his earlobe again. He was sitting up on the bathroom counter with a towel on each shoulder and his hair tied up, ready for his ears to be pierced.
“It’ll pinch.” Gid hummed. “You might bleed a tiny bit, but I do this basically every day. I know what I’m doing.”
“I know you know what you’re doing. That’s not what I’m worried about.”
“Still. I don’t want you to feel stressed about this, Haz. I’ve got you. I wouldn’t let anyone other than myself do this.”
Harry smiled a bit, closing his eyes as he felt his dad’s gloved hand grab his ear gently.
“Alright.” Gid said softly. “Want me to count down, or just do it?”
“Just do it. That way I won’t tense-” He began to say, before he felt a quick pinch, and before he really knew what was happening, he felt the back of the earring click into place.
“First ear done.”
“...Seriously?”
“Yep.”
Harry turned from where he was sitting, his eyes opening again to look at his ear. Sure enough, where there used to be just an empty earlobe was now a simple, small, black stud earring in his ear that looked a bit like a spike.
“...That’s so freaking cool.” He whispered, his eyes lighting up a bit.
“Ready for the other one?” Gid chuckled, and he nodded quickly, turning his head back towards his dad and tilting it so he could access his other ear. After another quick disinfecting, the second piercing was done, a matching black spike jutting out of his ear.
“Oh I look awesome!” Harry laughed, running a hand through his hair, before he threw his arms around his dad’s neck in a tight hug, who returned it happily, kissing the side of the boy’s head.
“I’m glad you like it, Haz.” He chuckled. “I’m glad you didn’t have to do it the way I did.”
“How did you do it?”
“Safety pin and ice.”
“Ow? Why did you-”
“I was a really, really dumb teenager.” Gid snorted, ruffling Harry’s hair. “You, however, don’t need to be a dumb teenager, because you have parents who are more than happy to help you safely indulge those urges.”
“That I do.” He laughed, batting his hand away from his hair. “Still… Thank you. I really like it.”
“No problem, kiddo. Maybe next time we can do a cartilage piercing.”
“Oh, absolutely.”
“Sweeeeet.”
—
“Hey, Harry..?” Theo’s soft voice cut through the quiet of the bedroom, stirring Harry from his half asleep state. He let out a soft hum, propping himself up with his eyes still closed.
“Yeah, Theo? What’s up?” He asked groggily.
“...Thank you for letting me stay with you and your family for Christmas.”
“You don’t gotta thank us, Theo. It was a blast. Thank you for coming.”
“...This is the first Christmas I’ve celebrated since my Mum died.” He admitted quietly. “It’s… It’s the first… Anything, I’ve celebrated since Mum died.”
Harry frowned a bit at that, a soft grunt escaping him as he grabbed hold of his blanket and slowly shuffled down onto the trundle bed that his friend was lying on. He could hear Theo move to the side a bit, making room for him as he climbed down. He laid his blanket on top of the already present one and slipped under the covers, opening his arms to him.
“...You’re always welcome here, okay..?” He said softly. “Mum and Dad love you already, and… And you can always come celebrate anything with us, yeah? Especially Christmas, or Yule, or whatever you wanna do. Your birthday too. You can just… Come be with us.”
“Yeah..?” Theo asked quietly as he shuffled into Harry’s arms, tucking his head under the other boy’s chin as their arms wrapped around each other.
“Yeah.”
“Okay… Thank you, Harry.”
“Of course, Theo.”
“...And Happy Christmas.”
Harry smiled a bit, nuzzling the top of Theo’s head as he felt himself drifting back off to sleep.
“Happy Christmas, Theo.”