Chapter 17
New Years was clearly a massive affair on the farm. Remus, Harry and Draco spent the whole morning of the 30th putting up streamers all around the farm house, and adding even more lights and lanterns. It took all day, and Draco was exhausted and sweating by the end, despite the freezing outside temperature. Harry and Remus were the same, all of them having carried ladders and countless boxes of decoration all around.
Dinner that night was a tired affair, and Draco fell into bed so thoroughly exhausted he didn’t dream. The 31st was spent with Sirius running errands and doing the food shop in the village. The two of them bought a staggering amount of food, and Draco started to wonder if the whole village was going to turn up. The boot of the car was stacked tetris-like and precarious, the back seat was full of bags of wine bottles and crisps, and all around Draco’s feet in the car sat yet more bags of shopping.
As was a sort of tradition now, Sirius and Draco ate more donuts than was healthy together before heading back, making a detour to the station to pick up Pansy, who had to slot herself in and hold several shopping bags on her lap to make space, before heading back to the farm.
They were met by Harry, and between the two of them Harry and Draco carefully unloaded the car, making a horrible amount of trips to and from the kitchen, laden down. Sirius took Pansy into the kitchen and chatted with her whilst Remus, Molly and Ron were running around preparing sauces and marinades and dips for the next evening, and once the hard labour was done, Draco, Pansy and Harry were shooed out and told to “make themselves useful” by Molly, which had Ron smirking at them from where he was measuring spices.
‘Making themselves useful’ included getting an endless stream of spare stools out of one of the sheds behind the barn used to store feed for the chickens, and Draco’s arms were burning. Pansy just stood and watched, laughing when Draco’s arms started to shake. He didn’t have to do any lifting at uni- and though he went to the gym with some friends when he could be bothered, it wasn’t the same- and all his muscles ached after so little practice, and a culmination of the last few days of preparations.
He stood and shook his arms out, before lifting them to massage along his shoulders. He caught Harry staring at him funny, and stuck his tongue out at the other boy, stretching once more before going to get yet more stools.
“So tell me about new years here” Draco asked once they were done and sprawled out on the grass between the house and the cottage, the heat generated by the work they had done protecting them against the freezing late-december weather. Pansy was lying with her head in his stomach, napping lightly as he stroked a hand through her hair.
“It's class here. Nearly t’whole village comes, and there’s food and drink and fireworks and that” Harry said, turning his head so he was staring at Draco. A flare of heat ran down Draco’s spine when they made eye contact. He would never get over how beautiful Harry was. He never wanted to- it wasn’t the sort of thing that should be forgotten.
“It sounds amazing” Draco said, pinned in place by Harry’s emerald gaze.
“Aye, that it is” Harry agreed, grinning widely at Draco.
Sirius instructed them to get ready at around six, and Draco had an opulently long and hot shower, taking the time to let the heat soothe his sore and tired muscles, and washing the sweat generated by a hard day's work out of his scalp.
He still hadn’t perfected plaiting, and Pansy was too busy getting ready, so he pulled his hair back into a bun, leaving some shorter tendrils out, and Pansy announced she would buy him an alice band to keep them tucked away.
Pansy wore a knitted dress and thick tights with boots and a massive puffer coat. Draco dressed nicely too, but also for the weather. The dark jeans he wore at Christmas, a thermal henley under a cable knit sweater and his work jacket, before putting his boots on and taking Pansy up to the house. The kitchen smelt heavenly when they entered, and the sides were covered in various foodstuffs. Ron and Molly had gone home to get ready, so it was just Remus and Sirius in the kitchen, standing leaning against the counter with an open bottle of wine between them.
“Ah, Draco! You need a haircut” Sirius had taken to saying this to Draco at every opportunity, and seemingly found it hilarious. Draco grinned at him, before asking if there was anything he could do to help.
“Aye, lad. You and me just have t’take table out, and we’re done” Remus said, pushing away from the counter to help. Pansy stayed with Sirius, preparing the last of the food to be taken outside.
As they were positioning the table, a car full of Weasleys pulled up, and the twins and Charlie spilled out, holding lots of boxes with the words ‘fragile’ and ‘flammable’ written ominously across them.
“Alright, lads? You know where t’go” Remus said to them in greeting, and they went to the lawn between the two houses, and immediately started setting something up.
“The twins have been doing t’fireworks since they were about fifteen” Remus said, nodding towards the gaggle of ginger men, who were now, Draco understood, setting up the firework display for later.
When this had been completed, they went back to the car and opened the boot, revealing an entire sound system.
“Come on lad, let’s help” Remus said, walking towards the car and starting to lift a speaker out with Charlie. Sighing at yet another round of physical labour- he was a gay private schoolboy for gods sake, this wasn’t the life he envisioned for himself- Draco went over to help them set the speakers up around the area, hooking them all together up to a deck that was set up in the shadow of the wall of the farmhouse.
“Reet. Are we done now?” one of the twins-maybe George?- asked, and Remus nodded, and they all went back inside. Harry had materialised since Draco had been gone, and he was laughing with Sirius and Pansy over something as he twirled a wine glass in his hand. The movement drew Draco’s attention immediately, and he decided he probably had an unhealthy obsession with Harry’s hands, how strong they were, how sure. He wanted them cradling his face, sliding down his back.
Draco poured himself a large glass of wine, desperately trying not to gulp it down as he tried to get his thoughts back on track. Pansy winked at him as if she knew exactly what he was thinking about, so he turned away from her and engaged in conversation with Charlie.
Before long the rest of the Weasleys materialised, and everyone bar Sirius was tasked with carrying the bowls and plates of food out to put on the table. There were bowls of crisps and cupcakes and brownies and dips and breadsticks and charcuterie boards and cheese and crackers and fruit. When it was finished it looked like the kind of table one would expect to find on mount Olympus, a smorgasbord laden with mouth-wateringly good food.
Then the Grangers arrived, and after that it was a steady stream of people and cars coming into the farm. Fred had put a playlist of seventies music on, and the songs moved between Bowie and Fleetwood Mac and countless others as the heart of the farm filled with people. Andromeda arrived too, with her daughter and husband in tow, and greeted Draco as if she had known him his whole life, not just a couple months.
Wine and cider was flowing freely, and Draco found himself hovering near the table talking to Ron, Hermione, Pansy and Harry. Harry stood right next to him, their elbows and shoulders brushing as they talked and laughed and drank. It was a wonderful evening, and Draco didn’t once remember that he was a new addition to this world- he felt fully immersed as he joked with Ron and Hermione, subtly shifting closer and closer to the warm, solid body at his side. What was even nicer was that everyone made a huge effort to ensure Pansy was included- explaining inside jokes and the like, making sure she could keep up with the conversation.
At five to midnight, the firework display started and it was stunning. Fred and George should get into some sort of design- the colours blended seamlessly together, and it was wonderful to watch. Then, the countdown started, and as everyone screamed “one… Happy New Year!” Draco couldn’t even remember that he was miles away from his parents surrounded by strangers, all he knew was the arms of Pansy gripping him, her lips on his cheek, his lips on hers. Hermione’s arms wrapping around him, followed by Ron, followed by Harry. He knew Sirius, waving at him from a few meters away, a matching glint in their grey eyes. He knew real happiness.
Amid the hubbub, he felt a hand grip his arm, and turned to see Harry leaning in.
“Follow me, yeah?” Harry said, before turning and weaving his way through the crowd. Confused, but buzzed from the wine and the feeling of elation bubbling up within him, Draco followed him, all the way up to the fell. Then, Harry stopped abruptly, turning around.
“I ken it’s tradition to do this at midnight, but I weren’t too keen on doing it in front of t’entire village” Harry said, and Draco was trying to work out what he meant, before Harry’s hand was on the back of his neck, pulling him down, and Harry’s lips were covering his. Draco melted, his body molding against Harry’s, his gloved hands coming around Harry’s back to splay across his shoulder blades.
The kiss remained chaste for long, divine minutes, until Harry made a deep noise at the back of his throat and opened his mouth under Draco, his tongue licking gently across the seam of Draco’s lips until Draco opened his mouth too. God, it was- Draco didn’t have the words for what it was. Harry’s mouth was so, so warm in the cold air of the new year, and his hand had come up and pulled Draco’s bun out, and now Harry’s hands-oh God, his hands- were gently combing through Draco’s hair.
After a long time, but still far too soon, Harry pulled back. “Was tha’ alright?” he asked, the cheeky grin on his face showing he knew very well what the answer was.
“More than” Draco breathed before pulling him back in by the front of his jumper, their lips sealing together again, and Draco whimpered. It was perfect, more than perfect, it was everything he had hoped it would be. Harry was everything he had hoped he would be.
It was much, much more than alright.