Author:
goodgonegirlRecipient:
chibitoasterTitle: Bad Gifts and Good Results
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco, peripheral Ron/Hermione and Bill/Fleur
Summary: At Christmas, even when you get a present you hate, you’re supposed to put on a smile and say ‘Thank you’… but what comes out instead has some pretty great results, all the same.
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Warning(s): swearing, sex
Epilogue compliant? Completely ignores epilogue.
Word Count: 2,508
Author's Notes: Let me just say that I loved writing this fic. Really. It’s also my first fic that has taller!Draco, something that I enjoyed writing much more than I thought I would when the idea first came to me. Also, our beloved mods,
byroneybrynn,
dysonrules, and
taradiane, are goddesses of patience and kindness, because if they weren’t, I’d be sleeping with the fishes. Also, I’d like to credit my beta, Kimberly. She loves the H/D fandom, and yet, so very sadly, she does not own a computer and thus cannot truly join the fandom. She edited my fic by hand and red pen, and was really excited to be involved. I promised her that I’d print out the comments list for her to read, so please be sure to comment! Additionally, my fic was re-betaed by Bryoneybrynn, who was gracious enough to offer to do so repeatedly before I accepted. Finally, to chibitoaster; I hope this is something you love. Happy Holidays!!!
It was Christmas morning at Harry’s London flat, and things were quite festive, if Harry did say so himself. The tree twinkled merrily, surrounded by presents and bedecked with baubles and fairy lights, while three red stockings hung over the fireplace. The fireplace itself, however, remained cold and fire-less, one of Harry’s thoughtful accommodations for Draco. The scent of gingerbread pancakes wafted through the air from the homemade breakfast on the table, enfolded in a warming charm. All of these preparations were made for the seven year-old boy kneeling with the presents, his hair a Christmas-themed kaleidoscope of red, green, and white, organizing the boxes by recipient. Once he was finished, he looked imploringly over at Harry. Teddy had difficulty verbalizing his desires since he had found Andromeda’s body at the bottom of the stairs nearly nine months ago, back when she was his legal guardian. He only really spoke when his emotions were running high, but his face was so expressive that his irregular speech wasn’t really a barrier. His big golden eyes were just like his father’s.
“He’ll be grumpy if we call him this early,” Harry warned the boy.
Teddy’s only answer was to split his mouth into a big, mischievous grin. The smile was made all the more devilish by Teddy’s pointed teeth - his one werewolf inheritance from Remus.
Harry sighed and picked his mobile out of his dressing gown pocket and speed-dialed the primary number. It rang almost four times before a sleep-rough Draco Malfoy answered.
“What?!”
Harry smirked at the slight whine in Draco’s voice, though it was mostly covered by the obvious irritation. “Teddy wants to open his presents.”
“Potter, it’s 5 am! Tell him to go to sleep and to wake up in an hour or so!”
“Nuh-uh. If you want him to do that, you can tell him yourself.”
There was small rustle, which Harry imagined to be Draco sitting up in bed. He also envisioned exactly what Draco was wearing before forcing himself to focus. Draco growled, “I hate this stupid muggle ‘phone’. If I figure out how, I’m blocking all of your calls before eight in the morning.”
“I could have Flooed, you know,” Harry snapped into the mobile, and instantly regretted it. Ever since the Fiendfyre incident, Draco could hardly be in the same room with more than a lit candle without becoming nervous and twitchy, and Floo calls could send the blond into a full-out panic attack. Despite this, he adamantly refused to close his Floo connection, fearing that it would be perceived as weakness. Inwardly, Harry shook his head; his foolish, proud, arrogant Slytherin.
But then, he shouldn’t allow himself to label Draco as ‘his’ quite yet. Draco had worked so hard since the death of his parents and loss of his fortune to rebuild the Malfoy name, he was constantly paranoid that one tiny slip of composure would destroy the small life he had created and shatter any chance he had of being fully accepted into the Wizarding world. Teddy and Andromeda were the only family he had left, and after the witch’s death, he had actually shown up at Harry’s flat and pleaded with him not to be shut out of Ted’s life. Harry wouldn’t have dreamed of it anyways, but in the ensuing months of conflicting schedules, trips to the park, and evenings in the living room building towers out of wooden blocks, Harry had fallen in love with the tall blond. Draco rejected his advances, a move that was not entirely unexpected; the Slytherin had made it clear that he was in no position in his life to have a relationship with anybody - especially with a man. Harry took the liberty of reading between the lines and gathered that Draco liked him back.
“Listen,” Harry said in a coaxing voice, trying to smooth over any ruffled feathers, “He’s so excited that you’ll be spending Christmas morning with us - I mean, with him. Come on, it’ll make his day.”
There was a pregnant pause, and then a short, “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” and the line went dead.
Harry looked over at Teddy and nodded encouragingly. “He’ll be here in a few, Ted.” The child grinned and crawled under the tree to look up through the branches. Harry sighed and lay back on the couch, just to rest his eyes for a while, of course…
Harry was jerked out of his doze when the crack of Apparation sounded right next to him. Turning his head to greet Draco, he realized he was eyelevel with soft wool trousers that encased a very pert bum. Suddenly, the pretty arse whirled away from him, and he found himself staring directly at a rather nice-looking groin. Slowly, deliberately, he pulled his eyes upwards until he met the tired, unusually flushed face of Draco Malfoy, who seemed not to be breathing. Harry smirked.
“Hello, Draco.” Harry said, intentionally making his voice husky. The blond gasped slightly as Harry’s hot breath wafted over his left thigh.
The moment was ruined, however, when that thigh was tackled by Teddy. “Draco!” The little boy shrieked, almost unintelligibly, making both Harry and Draco smile.
Draco picked up the child. “Has Harry been napping, Ted? How come Harry gets a nap, but I’m not allowed to sleep a little later?” He joked. Teddy giggled and planted a swift kiss on the pale cheek before wriggling to be set down.
Harry sat up. “Hey!” He grabbed Teddy and began tickling his ribs mercilessly. “You haven’t given me a kiss! Where’s my kiss, huh, Ted?” The little boy laughed and struggled until Harry released him, and then turned tail and hid behind Draco, clutching at his pant leg while peeking out at his guardian. Harry pretended to be offended.
Draco looked down at Teddy. “Am I here to watch your Uncle Harry act like a buffoon, or are you going to open some presents?” he teased, handing the small boy a present. Ted squealed and clutched the present tightly, hurrying over to the tree to place it with the other gifts.
Harry stood and whispered in Draco’s ear, “Thank you for coming.”
Draco turned and smiled a bit at him. “Wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
Harry smiled back, quickly grasping and squeezing Draco’s hand. “Really,” he said earnestly, “Thank you.”
Draco backed up, startled, and Harry dropped his hand and sauntered over to join Teddy before he pushed the skittish blond too far.
……………..
Teddy opened all of his presents first, delighting in Molly’s hand-knit sweater, blue and emblazoned with a ‘T’, and Ron and Hermione’s gift of a collection of funny children’s books entitled “Captain Underpants”, which Teddy giggled incessantly over. Harry groaned to himself, just knowing that he’d be reading these books as bedtime stories well after he was sick of them. George sent some relatively harmless toys that rolled rainbow-colored ink all over the floor, only to fade after a few minutes, leaving all surfaces unstained. Harry had bought Ted his very first toy broomstick, complete with an easy-to-catch Snitch, a child-sized Quaffle, and beanbag Bludgers. Charlie sent genuine dragon scales and a book illustrating the different types of dragons, and Bill and Fleur gave Teddy different kinds of colored clay that Harry suspected he’d be cleaning off of the flat’s various surfaces for months. Hagrid’s present, which rattled rather ominously, was immobilized and tucked away for later investigation, a move Teddy seemed much relieved by.
Unfortunately, these wonderful gifts were interspersed with a few disappointments. Percy’s was expected, as he didn’t know much about kids in general; he gave Teddy a rather formal quill and ink set. Teddy said nothing, just shrugged and placed it with the others. Ginny’s gift, on the other hand, made Harry’s blood boil. Honestly, just because she was angry at him for refusing to rekindle their previous relationship, the explanation that he was flamingly gay going unrecognized, was no reason to take it out on his godson. She had gotten Teddy a quill and ink set, in pink of all colors, obviously knowing that Percy had gotten him one too. Ted had actually frowned at this, and Harry made a mental note to have a chat with Mrs. Weasley about her daughter’s attitude.
By the time Teddy came to Draco’s present, Harry had noticed that the blond was unusually subdued and looking edgily at anywhere but the present Teddy was unwrapping. Staring worriedly at Draco, he was about to ask what was wrong before he heard Ted’s frustrated voice yell, “Not another quill and ink set!”
Harry whipped his head around to gape at the child, who looked honestly astonished at what had popped out of his mouth. Draco mumbled a quick excuse and fled to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. Harry stood and looked sternly down at Teddy. “I’m very disappointed in you, Ted.” The boy looked ashamed.
Harry marched Teddy to his room and sat him on his bed, locking all of his toys and books in the toy chest. “You’ll sit here and think about how rude that was. Understand?” Teddy nodded, his eyes wide and watery. Harry softened the smallest bit, and reached out to rub his godson’s shoulder reassuringly before leaving.
He went to the bathroom and knocked softly on the door. “Draco?” he called gently. “Draco, I’m coming in.” Harry entered to find the Slytherin slumped over the sink, his head piled on his arms.
Harry walked quietly to him, resting his hand on Draco’s lower back. The blond flinched and raised his head to look at Harry with a broken expression, his eyes glassy.
“I just…” Draco croaked suddenly, “I just didn’t know what to get him. I don’t have that much money anymore, Harry, and I didn’t know what he would want. I totally buggered up his entire Christmas didn’t I?”
“No,” Harry said fiercely. The intensity of his voice was undercut by the gentle hand he reached up to cup Draco’s thin cheek. “He was just upset by Ginny and Percy’s gifts, that’s all.”
“But that isn’t all, Harry, don’t you get it?” Draco backed away and into the tiled wall, slumping against it dejectedly. Harry followed, refusing to allow the gorgeous, tall man out of his reach.
“I got him the same present as someone who is not only the most boring person on the planet, but also knows nothing about Ted. And then, it turns out to be the same present that the Weasley bint, gave him, because she knew it was awful! He’s going to think I hate him, or I don’t know him. And maybe I don’t, maybe I just completely failed at this entire attempt-“
“Draco,” Harry cut him off, “What is Teddy’s favorite bedtime story?”
“…Goodnight Sheep.”
“What does he usually want for breakfast?”
“Cinnamon-apple porridge with cream.”
“And who,” Harry asked, moving closer until he and Draco were toe-to-toe, “Does he look forward to seeing every single day, enough so to wake him up at five in the morning because he just can’t wait any longer?”
Draco stared at him, grey eyes searching Harry’s for a trick, before hopefully rasping, “Me?”
“Yes, you.” Harry confirmed softly, his right hand resuming its position on Draco’s cheek, and his left carefully resting on his hip. “For his birthday, I had bought him a pet rabbit, which it turned out he was allergic to. Teddy spent his seventh birthday at St. Mungo’s, covered in an itchy rash. Draco, we all make mistakes. If the worst you do is buy him a gift he didn’t want, he’ll have no reason not to love you.”
“Okay.” Draco ducked his head, but kept his eyes on Harry’s. “Thanks,” he added in a quiet voice.
“You know,” Harry continued, tightening his hand on Draco’s waist, “He’s not the only one who still loves you, despite everything. Even though you got involved with the wrong crowd and made choices you regret now… even though you’ve told me ‘no’ a thousand times… I still care for you.”
“Y-you do?” Draco’s voice hitched, his eyes growing large with disbelief.
“Yeah,” Harry breathed, hardly daring to trust that this may be happening. “And if you could still care for me, too, despite everything I’ve done…” Harry’s right hand trailed down from Draco’s cheek to delicately trace where he knew the Sectumsempra scars lay, “Then can’t you see that even if we deny this for years, for decades, it’ll still be there? That it’s not going away?”
“Harry…” Draco moaned, his eyes falling shut at Harry’s touch, arching into Harry’s hands. Gods, he made Harry so fucking hard. So he did the only thing he could do; Harry leaned up, pressed his body against Draco’s, and kissed him furiously on the mouth.
Draco whimpered and immediately opened to him, allowing Harry’s tongue access to desperately search every corner of his mouth, flicking his own out to meet Harry’s fast, electric licks. Harry moaned up into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Draco’s waist to haul them closer, and their groins met with stunning bliss. Draco cried out against Harry’s lips as the brunet manipulated his way between his long legs and thrust purposefully. Harry couldn’t have stopped kissing him if Voldemort himself burst through the door, Merlin he had wanted this for so long…
Harry came explosively, too soon, but thrust through the orgasm until Draco came as well, mewling and bucking. Satiated, Harry nuzzled into pale neck, affectionately licking and sucking the skin there as Draco happily buried his face in his hair, huffing against the sweaty strands. Soon, though, reality began to seep into their private bubble, and Harry raised his head to look at Draco. Brushing some hair out of the blond’s eyes, he whispered, “Is this okay? I mean, are you…” he was suddenly uncertain.
Draco smiled. Not a half smile or smirk or bitter quirk of the lips, but a real smile. He pressed a kiss to Harry’s forehead and nodded. Then, he asked, “Not that this wasn’t, well, something I’ve dreamed of for months, but where’s Teddy?”
“Oh. I err, sent him to his room after what he said. You know, as punishment for being rude to you.”
Draco nodded and thought for a moment before saying, “If this is the result of his rudeness, maybe he should get a medal from now on.”
Harry groaned and disentangled himself from the handsome man. “We should probably go talk to him, yeah? About us, I mean.”
“We could… but then again, he probably already knows. After all, his room is on the other side of this wall.” Louder, he called, “Hey Teddy!”
Faintly, Harry heard, “Hey Draco!”
All Teddy could hear now was his uncle’s groan, and Draco’s amused laughter. He laughed too. Teddy had a feeling that his punishment was going to be over very, very quickly, and that his two favorite people in the world were going to be a lot happier than they had been in a long time.
~End