“Let’s party.”
Sunday, December 18
“This was a terrible idea,” Harry hissed at Ron. “I’m not going out there!”
“It was your idea!” Ron cried.
“Mm, I think it was Ginny’s,” Hermione said absently as she quickly finished braiding her hair, her fingers flying in quick blurs down her dark brown locks. “And quit worrying, Harry, do you really think anyone’s going to stare at your wheelchair when Fred and George are likely to have hidden a few canary creams in the snacks?”
Harry laid his head back on his chair and focused on breathing very slowly and evenly - he was not going to cry. Harry let Ginny call Gwen and invite people to the Tower. Harry let everyone get giddy about having a party. Harry had even been mildly excited to see all his friends from Midtown, introduce them to his friends from Hogwarts, and now Harry couldn’t leave the bedroom that Ron and Hermione were sharing for the holiday.
The others were already out in the sitting room, laughing and dancing and probably drinking and eating, and Harry was regretting ever agreeing to the party.
“I can’t go out there,” Harry said quietly, blinking very quickly at the ceiling of the room. “You guys go, just tell them I’m sick or something.”
“Harry James Potter-Stark.” Hermione crossed her arms and stormed over to stand in front of Harry’s chair. Harry wasn’t sure if it was the odd angle he was looking at Hermione from or the fact that Hermione was dressed in a muggle skirt and sweater outfit that threw him off, but he didn’t like it either way.
“You are not going to make me go out there and mingle with all of your friends without you,” Hermione said sternly. “If anyone so much as looks at your wheelchair sideways, I’ll have the twins lock them in the loo, but you will go to your own party.”
Harry looked around Hermione to Ron, hoping for support, but Ron just shook his head and grinned.
“Sorry, mate,” Ron grinned. He waved his hands up and down his body, showing off the casual muggle clothes that he’d nicked from Peter when Peter showed up with a backpack asking for a bed to stay for two weeks. “But I’m ready to go pretend to be a muggle and I’m going to need your help to keep my foot out of my mouth.”
Harry felt his lower lip quiver so he bit down on it hard and nodded his head shortly.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
“Harry…” Hermione kneeled down in front of Harry and her stern look melted. “I swear to you, I won’t let anyone be cruel. And neither will Peter or the twins—”
“Or Gin,” Ron added. “She’s worse than the twins, mate, I reckon she might just lob someone out a window.”
Harry couldn’t explain to them that he didn’t think anyone would be ‘cruel’, everyone who came were friends of Gwen or Peter, but they were going to stare. They were going to stare at Harry and when they left they were going to whisper about him and gossip about poor pitiful Harry and his one leg and wheelchair.
If would actually be kinder if they just said something cruel to his face.
Instead, Harry forced himself to smile and push himself to the door.
“Let’s party,” Harry said flatly.
Hermione huffed, unfooled by Harry’s smile, but Ron laughed and followed Harry with a pep in his step.
The first thing Harry noticed as soon as the three of them left the room was that the twins worked fast. In just the time it took Ron and Hermione to change to casual clothes, the twins and Peter had somehow transformed the perfectly normal flat to something that pulsed with loud music and had flashing lights everywhere. There were dozens of people there, a few that Harry recognized like Brittany and Shani, and many more that Harry didn’t.
Peter was there though, playing pool with Luna and losing spectacularly it looked like. And Harry was sure that—
“HARRY!” Gwen came running to Harry at full speed and launched herself at him, literally climbing in his lap to hug him. “Oh my God, I have missed you so much! You’re like a total hermit now! I come here once a week and you never have time for so much as coffee? You’re the worst friend in the world!”
Harry grinned at Gwen’s never-ending rant and pushed her off him half-heartedly with a horrible blush.
“You said you weren’t speaking to me anymore,” Harry reminded her.
Gwen stuck her lower lip out in a pout and made big sad eyes at Harry as she batted her thick lashes.
“But then you and Peter worked out your silly fight so I can talk to you again,” she said. Hermione laughed at her statement and Gwen’s face snapped up to where Hermione and Ron stood just behind Harry, one on each side.
“Hello,” she beamed. “Gwen Stacey, and you are?”
Hermione reached a hand out with her own wide smile. “Hermione Granger and this is Ron Weasley.”
“Oh, beautiful and British,” Gwen said brightly. “Don’t tell me you’re brilliant too, because then I’ll know I’m dreaming.”
Harry heard Ron make a shocked noise and decided to simply… wheel away. Harry wanted to go over by Peter and hide around the pool table with him, but he kept getting stopped by various prior classmates.
“Harry!” Brittany was dancing slowly in the living room to the music playing off the telly. She smiled at Harry, slow and lazy with black painted lips. “I miss you, dude.”
Harry raised his hand at her, “Miss you too.”
“Cool chair,” the girl Brittany was dancing with, a girl with a short purple bob and thick black eyeliner, said.
“Thanks,” Harry said with a grin. “Cool hair.”
“I've got more dye at home if you need a change,” the girl winked.
Harry laughed at the offer and shook his head. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Harry got stopped a few more times by students from Midtown saying they missed him, an odd sentiment since Harry rarely spoke with any of them, but one he appreciated all the same.
Fred and George were in the kitchen, standing behind a counter covered in glass bottles of what looked like… Harry squinted at the bottles and then hollered at the twins…
“Hey! Did you swipe those from my dad?” he demanded. Harry was not going to get in trouble or upset Tony because the twins wanted to play bartender.
Fred shook a silver jar that sounded like it had ice in it and winked at Harry. “Nah, we nicked them from Sirius. You want a drink?”
Harry waved his hand, brushing aside the offer, and Fred shrugged before pouring a blue drink in a plastic red cup and handing it off to a girl Harry didn’t know with a flourish. Harry didn’t actually care if they stole the liquor from Sirius, Sirius drank too much anyway, but he didn’t want Tony to be mad at him either.
I hope your date’s going good. I’m not saying that we’re having a party, but if we were- would you be mad if there was alcohol here?
Tony texted Harry back by the time Harry made it over by the pool table beside Peter.
Nobody drives and if anyone asks, I had no idea.
Thanks, love you.
Love you too, kid. Be smart and safe.
“You win!” Peter cried, throwing his pool stick on the table only a moment after Harry put his phone away. Peter smiled at Harry and pointed playfully at where Luna was rocking on her heels with a very smug smile. “Did you know she’s a hustler?” he asked Harry. “Where’d you find her, huh? Scamming the Outlaws down at the pool hall?”
“Luna’s a genius,” Ginny said loyally as she wrapped her arm around Luna’s waist and laid her head on Luna’s shoulder. “You’re just mad you got your arse kicked by a girl.”
Harry waited until the girls took off to the kitchen for food and drinks before raising a brow up at Peter.
“You let her win, right?”
“Oh, abso-freakin-lutely,” Peter laughed. “I nearly worked up a sweat trying to purposefully lose without looking like I was doing it on purpose.”
Peter put his hands on Harry’s armrests and bent down, his brown eyes sparkling with little flecks of gold in them.
“Do I get a consolation kiss?” Peter asked. Harry laughed when Peter rubbed Harry’s nose with his and then actually yelped when he heard Ron’s voice pipe up near them.
“Oi! Get a room!”
Harry, flustered, accidentally wheeled forward instead of backward and nearly ran Peter over before he jumped out of the way and Harry looked over at Ron with guilty eyes and a red face. Ron didn’t look… disturbed or disgusted… but maybe he hadn’t seen that Harry was about to snog Peter?
It wasn’t… a secret, necessarily that Harry and Peter were dating, but Harry had never really talked with Ron about it either…
Ron just grinned and waggled his brows. “Better Peter than one of my brothers. I really thought poor Harry was going to try and snag Bill for himself,” he said to Peter. There was an almost mean taunt to his tone when he added, “If only Harry were a bit older…”
Harry once again turned a furious red while Peter let out a carefree laugh and then dipped his head to kiss Harry squarely on the lips.
“Drink?” Peter offered. He grinned when Harry nodded. “I’ll be back.”
Ron drifted over to stand beside Harry and sighed theatrically while Harry watched Peter make his way through the growing crowd to get to the kitchen.
“He’s half-spider, mate,” Ron whined. “You can’t find that attractive.”
“Mm… he’s got a great arse,” Harry said, smiling a little shyly at Ron, warm in an unfamiliar way at Ron’s easy acceptance.
“He’d have to have a great something to make up for the spider shite,” Ron said seriously. “Oi, by the way, your friend stole Hermione from me.”
Harry looked around the flat - had the crowd really increased that much more since Harry left the bedroom? and was that… Pietro in the kitchen with a stack of pizza boxes? - until he found Hermione.
“Uh…” Harry gaped at the very un-Hermione way that Hermione was giggling and twirling her hair and smiling at Gwen. Gwen leaned forward to whisper something in Hermione’s ear and Harry could see Hermione’s skin darken with a blush at whatever she said.
Harry raised his hands innocently and looked up at Ron. “Mate, I’ve got no idea what’s happening.”
Ron sighed and put one hand on his chest. “And I really thought our kiss next to the dead basilisk meant something…” Ron’s eyes roamed through the living room and snagged on Shani. “Course… this is a holiday,” he hedged.
“And that girl likes accents,” Harry told him cheerily. “Her name’s Shani.”
Ron brightened considerably and ran a hand through his hair before slapping Harry on the shoulder.
“I think I’ll go see if Shani wants a drink,” he said with much more confidence than Harry usually saw from him.
Had everyone changed that much since Harry left England? Hermione was giggling at a girl and Ron was swaggering over to someone with a cocky smile. Ginny and Luna were dancing together in the living room, making dopey eyes at each other. The twins were having a riot in the kitchen, cracking jokes and making drinks for the crowd of teens watching them.
It made Harry a little sad, but also it wasn’t as if Harry himself hadn’t changed, he supposed.
“You look thoughtful, Bright Eyes.”
Harry looked up and smiled genuinely at Peter and accepted the drink he gave him, something pink with pieces of fruit in it that smelled like alcohol. It was tasty, the twins were apparently good at making drinks.
“Just thinking about how much everyone’s changed this year,” Harry told Peter. “Everything was- was so different last year.”
“Bad changes or good?” Peter asked. He was crouched down on his knees beside Harry and tilting his head cutely on Harry’s shoulder.
Harry shrugged, “Good, I suppose. Just… takes some getting used to.”
Peter turned and kissed Harry’s cheek swiftly before standing up and smiling at him.
“Wanna see if we can kick the twins’ asses at pool?” he offered. He poked Harry on the nose, causing Harry to scowl at him. “Turn that frown upside down, Bright Eyes.”
“You’re an irredeemable sap,” Harry said. “And I don’t know how to play pool.”
“No better time to learn!”
Harry was a bit tipsy an hour later, laughing his arse off, and winning in pool against Hermione and Gwen thanks solely to Peter when he heard a familiar voice call his name.
“Hey! Stark!”
Harry’s ability to steer his chair was diminished some by the tingling in his fingers, but he managed to turn and blink up at Flash Thompson.
Flash was smirking at Harry, his arms crossed and his head tilted to the side. “Thanks for the invite.”
“I didn’t invite you,” Harry said, honesty compelled by the fruit flavored drinks the twins kept supplying everyone with. “I don’t even really like you.”
Flash laughed and then looked curiously at Harry’s wheelchair. “You really need that chair or do you just get sick of hopping around?”
Harry furrowed his brows for a moment and was struggling to think of an answer when a bright purple pool ball went flying directly at Flash. And, considering it didn’t actually hit him, Harry had to assume it wasn’t Peter that threw it.
“What the hell did you just say?” Gwen shrieked, bringing the attention of everyone in the living room and dining room to her. Gwen had her pool stick held like a sword and she stalked closer until she had the pointed end at Flash’s throat. “Who even invited you? Do you think you’re funny?”
Flash raised his hands and tried to back up, but Hermione appeared out of nowhere, blocking him from escaping Gwen’s rather terrifying wrath.
“Hey, be cool, I was just—”
Harry snorted then, finally understanding what Gwen was so pissed about.
‘Hopping around’.
It was so terribly cruel that it hadn’t even registered to Harry that it was meant to be an insult.
Flash’s retort to Gwen stuttered off when Harry’s laughter began filling the room and everyone stared at him. Harry didn’t know why they were all acting so shocked, Flash had only called attention to the thing they’d all been wondering about since arriving at the tower.
“Five points to team jock,” Harry snickered. “You’ve managed to make my crippling depression somehow worse, Flash.”
Gwen took an uncertain step away from Flash when Flash turned and grinned at Harry.
“What do you call a guy with one leg in a pile of leaves?” Flash asked Harry.
Harry raised a brow, waiting for the punchline.
“Harry.”
Harry laughed and then worked hard to look unimpressed. “Did you look that up beforehand?” he asked.
Flash carefully sidestepped Gwen and strutted over to Harry. “Did you cut your leg off for pity sex?”
“Even with only one leg, I’m not going to shag you,” Harry said seriously. “I’d need to feel much worse about myself first.”
Flash laughed and then hesitated with his hands over the handles of Harry’s chair, silently seeming to ask permission which Harry gave with a nod.
“When are you coming back to school?” Flash asked as he easily wove through the crowd to get to the kitchen. “You might actually be better at basketball now in this chair.”
“Yeah, I was pretty bummed about losing my leg until I thought about how much better at basketball I’d be,” Harry snorted. He managed an impressive quick stand on his one foot to snag a piece of pizza before sitting back down and taking a huge bite of it.
Flash jumped up on the counter next to the boxes of pizza and took two slices for himself.
“So you’re just gonna hide out here for the rest of your life? Too good to come to school with us two-legged peasants?”
“‘Zactly it,” Harry said around his bite of pizza. “Maybe if you cut off one of your legs so we matched then I’d come back.”
“My old man would kill me if I cut off one of my legs,” Flash said with his own grimace. “I’m not going to college on some brainiac scholarship, basketball is my only hope.”
“You should try with your good looks,” Harry said. “Might be worth community college anyway.”
Which, according to Tony, ‘shouldn’t even count as real college’.
“You’re a dick,” Flash laughed. He looked around the flat and prompted Harry to do the same.
There were entirely too many people there… Harry didn’t even know how more and more people seemed to fit in the flat.
“Who’s the red-head?” Flash asked, nodding toward one of the twins in the living room.
“Fred or George,” Harry said. “I can’t tell from here; if he’s got a freckle under his left eye, it’s Fred. If not, it’s George.”
Flash hummed and then hopped off the counter and gave Harry a playful salute.
“If he asks, I’m a great guy,” he said.
Harry raised his eyebrows, “Sure, I’ll lie to one of my best mates for the sake of a bloke who acts like a prat.”
“Thanks.” Flash slapped Harry’s shoulder, which Harry was actually getting rather sick of people doing, then took off with a slice of pizza and a grin toward the living room.
As much as Harry had worried about seeing so many people, it turned out his wheelchair was the least insane part of the impromptu party.
Sleepin here. Hope pepper loves u. Cu later alllligator.
Harry woke up the next morning with a headache pounding inside his skull, the warm weight of someone on his chest, and momentary concern that he had no idea where he was.
It took a loud cough for Harry to lift his head up enough to see Peter standing in the doorway of a bedroom, a green potion in his hand, and a grin on his face.
“I pass out on a couch and you replace me?” he said. “I’m hurt, Bright Eyes.”
Harry blinked at him very slowly before looking down and seeing that Ron was sound asleep with his head on Harry’s chest and one long arm thrown over him. Ron was snoring and Harry was rather disgusted by the puddle of drool he was leaving on Harry’s chest.
“I’ll dump him here and now if that’s a hangover potion,” Harry rasped out. “And, er, if you can get him off me? He’s heavy.”
Peter pressed the potion in Harry’s hand before…
Harry bit his lip to hold back a noise at the way Peter just lifted Ron like he weighed nothing and deposited him on the other bed in the bedroom.
“That was hot,” Harry whispered to Peter with a grin. “My hero.”
“Man, as much as I love hearing you say that, you’re about to hate me,” Peter said. “Your dad’s in the living room, I’m not sure how impressed he is with us right now.”
Harry was sure he paled some even as he quickly drank the potion and his headache and general queasiness disappeared.
Tony knew they’d had a party, he knew they’d been drinking…
“Fuck,” Harry whispered. He shouldn’t have drank, he should have stayed alert and made sure nobody did anything stupid that would piss Tony off.
They’d locked the room that led to the quidditch field, Jarvis never would have let anyone on any of the other floors… Harry actually had no idea what could have happened that would make Tony mad.
Peter unfolded Harry’s chair for him and Harry quickly slid in it, needing to go face the music.
Tony was standing just inside the living room, sticking close to the doors to the lifts- probably because there were about half a dozen teenagers passed out on the living room floor.
Harry tried to smile, but as Tony’s face was entirely blank, he was sure his smile looked at least partially terrified.
“Kid, when I trust you to do things, you have to do them,” Tony said sternly when Harry was right in front of him. “I know you don’t love the medicine, but missing doses can—”
“Wait, what?” Harry lifted his head then and stared at Tony. “You’re mad that I didn’t take my medicine yet this morning?”
“Or last night,” Tony said. He held out an uncurled fist and Harry saw his morning pills in it and he quickly grabbed them and swallowed them dry.
“I…” Harry looked over his shoulder at the mess that covered the flat along with the people everywhere.
“I’m sorry,” Harry told Tony, meaning it. Harry felt guilty that Tony had let him have a party and the one thing that Harry was supposed to do, he didn’t.
Tony relaxed some from his stiff stance and he grinned at Harry. “I’m not mad, to be clear, but you’re going to make yourself sick by skipping doses of your medicine. I’ll have Jarvis remind you from now on, in case we forget, okay?”
Harry nodded, that was fair. “Er… can he not say it’s for medicine?” he asked awkwardly. “Maybe just… could he just beep at me or something?”
“I’ll have him send an alert to your phone and if you don’t answer it within five minutes then he can beep at you,” Tony said. He raised a brow as he looked past Harry to the mess. “Good party?”
Harry shrugged sheepishly. “We’ll clean up, I swear. Oh! How was your date?”
All at once, Tony’s entire face went lax and his eyes sparkled while his lips curled up in a soft smile.
“Amazing,” he said, sounding like such a sap that Harry didn’t even have the heart to tease him. “Pep wants to go downtown tonight, see the lights and the Christmas stuff they’ve got set up. Think you can rouse your little band of rebels and meet us in the lobby by five?”
Harry agreed and then quickly pushed himself up, able to stand on one leg for just a moment while he impulsively hugged Tony.
“Thanks,” Harry said, hoping that Tony knew what all Harry was thanking him for—
For bringing Harry’s friends to New York.
For reminding Harry about his medicine without screaming or belittling Harry.
For… for everything, Harry supposed.
Tony’s smile was even wider as he carefully helped Harry sit back down.
“Anytime, kid,” he said fondly. “Want me to send breakfast down here?”
Harry looked behind him and saw that Peter had reclined back on one of the chairs and looked like he was headed back to sleep.
“I’ll come up,” Harry decided. “I want to hear about your date. They can text me when they wake up and get hungry.”
Tony lit up and immediately jumped in the story before they even got on the lifts. Harry listened with a stupid smile of his own, rather pleased to see Tony so excited and happy.
Harry supposed neither of them had really had much reason to be happy lately, but Merlin had Harry missed quiet moments of just talking and laughing with his dad recently.