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Harry was a little nervous. He had met Louis’ family before, in fact, his family and Louis’ family had even gone on camping trips together every summer for the last couple years. Except, this year he was spending a major holiday with Louis’ family. Louis’ muggle family. He gulped at the thought. Again.
It’s not that muggles made Harry uncomfortable. Its just that, even though he’d been taking muggle studies since his third year at Hogwarts, the idea of spending an entire week without magic terrified him a little. He’d never gone a full week without magic his entire life. An entire week in a muggle’s house while underage could have serious consequences if he slipped up. He was determined to do the full week without even complaining about the lack of magic, but he was unsure of how much he would miss it.
Either way, the train was fast approaching King’s Cross where Louis’ mum was waiting to pick them up. Louis was smiling gently out the window while Harry sat in silent panic.
He had told his own mum that he was going to Louis’ for Christmas because he had to write 4 feet comparing wizarding and muggle Christmas traditions, and Louis had told him so much that he wanted to see it for himself. He needed to know how much Louis had been telling the truth. Although this was mostly true, Harry had over exaggerated the story making it seem like it was mandatory for him to spend some time with muggles over the holidays. His own mum had betrayed him though, and was making him come home for Christmas. She was originally picking him up early Christmas eve but was forced to push the time back until late that night because there was no way Harry was going home early on Louis’ birthday.
Louis turned to Harry and his smile softened even more. Harry marveled at the beautiful boy sitting beside him. Some of Harry’s awe must have translated into nervousness when combined with his tense posture because Louis reached over and pressed a thumb’s up into Harry’s thigh. Harry smiles shakily over a Louis, and when Louis winks back Harry relaxes into his side.
As the train pulls into the station, Harry sits up and grips the armrests tightly. Louis stands up and stretches out in front of him and suddenly Harry’s tight grip is for an entirely different reason. Louis walks over towards the compartment door, and as he goes he threads his fingers through Harry’s hand and gently removes it from the armrest. The light tug is enough to get Harry off the seat and trailing ever so slightly behind his best friend.
Harry felt immensely proud of himself for managing to hold it together and not marvel over any muggle inventions the entire drive to Louis’ house. He refused to admit to himself that it was because he’d driven in a car many times before, because that would mean it was less of an accomplishment and his nerves would skyrocket again. As they pulled into the drive, Harry noticed how normal Louis’ house looked. Nothing about the place set off alarms in Harry’s head that would have indicated it was non-magical.
This won’t be too bad.
Harry regretted his thoughts in the car the moment they walked through the door and Louis’ mum flicked the light switch. At least Harry knew what that was and what it meant. Elektrisity. He would be living off Elektrisity for a week. He wanted to go home.
Except Louis was standing right there. And that’s what all this is about isn’t it? Louis.
Harry was here to prove to himself that he could survive in the muggle world. For Louis. He refused to admit to anyone, or even himself, why this was so important. Gemma’s teasing be damned.
Harry stubbornly refused to acknowledge anything non-magical. He felt super out of place, but he didn’t want to make things awkward. It was his first time in a muggle’s house and he didn’t want to stand out - especially now that Louis’ large gang of younger sisters was bounding down the stairs.
Harry ended up spending an hour or so playing with the littlest girls and their dolls. He was nervous at first, expecting them to notice he was different from the rest of their friends and family. The task though, was ever so similar to the way he had played with his sister and her dolls growing up. He had gotten so into it with all the different voices and character motivations that the little girls were delighted and kept him busy and distracted.
Phoebe gets tired of the dolls first. She wanders away from the game in search of something that sounded like a “nintandoo” to Harry. He shrugs it off and keeps playing with Daisy who has now decided his doll and her doll are eloping with unicorns. Harry is deeply amused by the whole thing.
When Phoebe comes back she’s carrying what looks like a plastic book. Daisy is still demanding his attention via unicorns, so Harry watches Phoebe frown at the book-thing from across the room.
Eventually Phoebe wanders over to him and drapes herself in his lap. “Harryyyy, can you help me beat this level?” She’s making the biggest puppy dog eyes he’s ever seen. He wants to help, he does, but he honestly has no idea what she’s talking about.
“Uh. Sure?” Phoebe hands over the book thing. There’s pictures on it. This Harry thinks he can handle. Phoebe presses a button and suddenly there’s different pictures moving much faster. Things start flashing red and Harry panics and starts pressing random buttons on the thing hoping they’ll help. They don’t. “GAME OVER” reads in big intimidating letters on the screen.
“Wow. You’re worse than I am!” Daisy points out. Harry’s freaking out a little internally. Where’s Louis??
“Have you not played this game before?” One of the twins inquires gently.
“Erm. No?” It’s a game Harry doesn’t understand. He’s clearly supposed to manipulate the pictures with the buttons, but he doesn’t know what the buttons do, or what he should be trying to do. The look on Phoebe’s face suggests that he should try again. She clearly struggles with this game a lot. How on earth is he supposed to help?
He’s saved from a full-blown panic attack by the gentle call of “FOOD IS READY!” coming from the kitchen in Louis’ voice. That explains where he went. Harry’s calmed a little, but only momentarily. On the short walk to the table he suddenly remembers that Louis cannot cook to save a life. Fuck.
Dinner was different in the sense that there were just so many people. Thankfully, it was Louis’ mum who did all the cooking, and it was delicious. Not Hogwarts house-elves delicious, but still completely satisfying. It was a little overwhelming, but not in the I-don’t-know-how-to-fit-in-without-magic kind of way. Louis’ mum was ever so kind and always made sure to include Harry in one of the many conversations going on at once. Not that it was really necessary, as Louis was bringing Harry into every conversation at such a consistent rate that Harry barely had to make an effort to get along with everyone around the large, cramped table.
Harry spent a good portion of the time around the table catching smirks on the older two of Louis’ sisters. It made him a little wary of Lottie and Fizzy. He decided it was probably in his best interest not to spend too much time with them alone over the break, just knowing what that look generally meant on Louis himself.
Harry and Louis stayed behind after dinner to clean up and wash all the dishes. This Harry felt he could handle. His own mum had made him wash the dishes without magic as a punishment so many times growing up, he was confident in this particular non-magical skill.
It didn’t stop Louis from making fun of the amount of water he splashed everywhere though. Apparently he didn’t have nearly as much practice as those who had grown up without magic. A fact he planned on never pointing out to his own mother.
“Here, love, you can dry, I’ll take over the washing so we don’t flood the kitchen,” Louis gently pushed him out of the way and handed him a towel, “and the girls make just as much of a mess as you did, so you can calm down and stop looking like a tomato.”
Crap. Louis noticed the blush. Harry stayed quiet while he dried the next few dishes and worked on breathing slowly. Within the next couple minutes, his face didn’t feel so hot, and he felt like he could risk a few glances in Louis’ direction.
Louis doing muggle tasks was a sight for sore eyes. He was clearly so at home and practiced in his actions. He was smiling gently to himself and humming a song under his breath that Harry didn’t know.
Louis looked over and smiled ever so gently and Harry felt his knees go a little weak. He took a deep breath in.
“You alright there, Haz? You’re uh, drying those dishes a little slow…” Harry looked down and realized he’d been drying the same spot for two full minutes. The rest of the plate had been dripping on the floor. Oops.
“Oops?” Harry felt the blush creep back into his cheeks.
Louis slowly removed the plate from Harry’s hands and set it aside, grinning. “Is something distracting you?”
“Uhm,” words. Words? Words - what are words? WORDS. “Words.” Shit. Harry was NOT supposed to say that out loud.
“Aww, Haz! If you were so tired, you should have said something! Mum would have let us out of chores!”
“No, its okay. I’m fine I promise.” Harry picked the plate back up and dried it quickly. “See?”
Louis looked skeptical, until Harry smiled. Louis’ answering grin was so wide, Harry’s heart rate sped up.
“Let’s finish these quickly then, and maybe we can watch a movie after?”
“Sounds good.” Harry had no idea what he was agreeing to. He’d heard of movies of course, knew that juggles gathered in large groups to watch them, but he’d never seen one. He had no idea what to expect.
Somehow they ended up curled together in the corner of the couch watching a movie called “Tangled.” A children’s cartoon based on a common muggle children’s story about some princess called Repuntsle. Louis said he didn’t even care for this one much, it was his little sister’s. Based on Louis’ smile and mouthing along to the music, he had definitely been lying. The thought made Harry smile.
“Do you like it?” Louis suddenly asked, sounding very worried.
“Uh. Yeah. It’s… cute,” or at least Louis’ reactions were. Harry hadn’t been paying much attention to the actual plot. He’d been too busy watching Louis’ face. “The music is pretty catchy, at least.”
“Oh. Okay.” And why did Louis sound disappointed? Did Harry say the wrong thing?
Looking at the screen real quick, Harry added, “and I really like her hair. I wish I could grow mine out that long.”
Louis’ smile could light up the entirety of Hogwarts, Harry was almost certain. He wondered vaguely if there was some sort of magic that could actually make that happen. He’d love to just sit around all day and make sure Hogwarts was brightly lit if it meant Louis was smiling the whole time. Even in his sleep - what. Crap. That means he’s more screwed than he previously thought. Whatever. Louis is a great person to just like… sit and kind of just admire what he’s like. Nothing else matters as long as Louis is smiling.
So of course Louis had to go and ruin the moment by interjecting, “this is actually a really creepy German fairy tale that I grew up with. Glad Disney could make it a little less terrifying for my sisters.” Uhm. What?
Harry stares at the screen a little more and watches the scary figures sing songs in a pub about dreams. “So like… the hook man doesn’t sing about being a pianist in the German version?”
Louis blinks slowly and patronizingly explains, “no, Harold, the Germans didn’t tend to write fairy tale characters singing about dicks.”
Harry turns back to the movie a little confused before a startlingly loud burst of cackling laughter erupts from his mouth. He knows its audible when he slaps his hand over his mouth. He can’t believe he made that ungodly sound in front of LOUIS.
But the next thing he knows Louis is shaking a little and his face is turning bright red. When he looks up at Harry all that comes out of his mouth is soft little giggles Harry wants to play on repeat for the rest of his life.
It’s after spending the rest of the movie in fits of giggles and banter based on a concept Harry doesn’t fully understand that Harry asks, “So how did the version you grew up with go?”
“Well, the creepy part mostly happened at the beginning when the princess was kidnapped as a baby and kept in a tower all her life,” Louis starts as he leads Harry off to bed. “Then some prince comes to rescue her by climbing up her hair or sommat. That’s it really.”
And if Harry dreams of braiding a certain blue-eyed boy’s 12-metre-long, luxurious hair that night, no one has to know, really.
Louis’ parents took the girls out Christmas (“and birthday!” Louis had been adamant about shouting every time it was mentioned) shopping the next day, which left Harry and Louis alone with the house to themselves. Harry had been a little nervous at first so when Louis had asked what he wanted to do, the only thing Harry had come up with was a panicked blurt of, “how do movies work?”
So that’s what they did.
They sat around all day and Louis popped in movie after movie claiming it was all for Harry’s “muggle education.” Whatever that meant.
They watched some movie about a guy named Ferris Bewler, something “romantic” about some ship where the guy DIES (Harry secretly loved that one but was not about to tell Louis), another kids movie about a princess that looked a little bit less… magic? is all Harry could really describe it as, a movie about football, and something about singing lions.
The only conclusion Harry made by the time the girls got home was that muggles, particularly Louis, liked to sing.
After dinner, Louis brought Harry up to his room. He insisted they watch one more movie. Harry looked around and didn’t see anything that looked like the movie device thing he’d seen downstairs, until Louis pulled a smaller version out from under his pillow.
“Uhm,” Harry hated himself for being so ineloquent sometimes.
“You’re gonna have to come a little closer, love.” Louis shuffled a little closer to the wall and patted the bed beside him. Harry felt a little bit like molasses as he slowly walked over and crawled into the small space beside Louis. Something started up on the screen that had a lot of people looking a little… enthusiastic? about dancing in a way that made Harry a little uncomfortable to think about when he was pressed so close to Louis.
Louis pulled Harry a little closer with an arm around his waist. “You’ll like this one. Promise.”
What Harry believed to be the title popped up on the screen. Dirty Dancing. If Harry’s heart rate picked up a little he would absolutely deny it to any one that asked. Including McGonagall who somehow knew everything. Wait. It’s the holidays. Harry is NOT going to spend his time off school thinking of his Headmistress. Especially when Louis is RIGHT THERE.
Dirty Dancing ends up being Harry’s favourite movie. Louis teases him because he’s only seen a handful, and “not even the good ones!” Regardless, Harry really wants to master that dance, but he really doesn’t want to try right now. Not with Louis curled up next to him and clearly already dozing off.
There’s words moving on the screen still and music playing and Harry doesn’t know how to make it stop.
“Hey, Lou? How do I.. erm.. make it stop?” Harry softly whispers into Louis’ hair.
Louis slowly mumbles instructions to Harry until Harry finally hears CLICK and then silence. “Sorry I didn’t show you better, I’m just too comfy to move.”
All the lights are off in the room and Harry’s grateful because its warm and Louis just admitted he was comfy right where they’re curled up in together in Louis’ childhood bed. Harry wonders if Louis can tell he’s blushing or knows that his heart rate has sped up significantly.
Louis’ slow, steady breathing against his neck calms him eventually, and Harry’s left thinking about how happy he is that he got to spend the week here before he drifts off to sleep.
Louis is very adamant about Christmas traditions minimally interfering with his birthday. His typical grump when asked about his views is something along the lines of, “I should be more important to my friends and family for at least one day.” So naturally, the Christmas tree is always decorated by the whole family several days before Christmas eve every year.
Harry feels a little weird intruding on such a family-oriented tradition, but the entire family is insistent on involving him. From the littlest girls asking him for lifts to hang their favourite ornaments higher, the older girls passing him hooks, Louis smiling sweetly at him approximately every 10 seconds (which never fails to make Harry’s heart melt - he feels like a puddle for the entirety of the afternoon and well into the evening) and Louis’ parents asking him questions and refusing to leave him out of the conversation.
They get a short break from Christmas traditions for family dinner, all of them squished together around a single table. After everyone is well fed, they all curl up together in the living room and Harry tries valiantly not to snuggle into Louis too much. They all get a steamy mug of hot chocolate and plenty of warm fuzzy blankets to watch the little girls’ favourite Christmas movie. It’s about some fuzzy green Grinch trying to steal Christmas until his heart grows three sizes in one day. So that’s what Harry’s heart was doing today. It all makes sense now.
He watches Louis fall asleep and thinks his heart must be growing at least another two sizes.
Turns out it snowed overnight. Well. As much as it can snow in Doncaster, apparently. There’s still a few flakes falling from the sky and the little girls are thrilled at the thin layer of dust all over everything. Harry can’t help but compare it to Christmas at Hogwarts, where there’s mountains of snow by this time, and you’re always guaranteed a snow ball fight after classes finish for the Holidays.
After breakfast, Harry and Louis help get the little ones all dressed up nice and warm and then take them all to the park to play. They run around with them outside for an hour, periodically trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues and watching them melt on each others mittens.
The walk back to the house is a little tiring, with the little girls wanting to be carried and the older ones upset they have to go back inside already. Harry couldn’t be more thrilled at being able to see Louis be such a great big brother and handle everyone’s moods so gracefully.
Harry ends up carrying Phoebe. She’s so sweet. She doesn’t say a word to him. She just curls into his shoulder and lets him carry her. No kicking, no tears. Not even a sniffle. Her tired breathing against his neck is so endearing. He doesn’t even know why. Maybe its the Tomlinson genes.
He watches Fizzy and Lottie fight over whether or not there will be enough snow to build a snowman this Christmas. He realizes he’s smiling wider than any normal person probably would at their best mates little sisters bickering.
Definitely the Tomlinson genes then.
That afternoon Louis says he needs to teach Harry some “basic muggle concepts” so Harry will “survive the Apocalypse” while Louis goes his dentist appointment tomorrow.
Lesson one: How to Use a Toaster. Harry’s pretty proud of himself. He follows Louis’ directions exactly. He puts the bread in the right spot and he presses the right thing.
“Now we wait!”
“For what?”
“The toast silly!”
“This is why wizards think muggles are stupid. You don’t need to wait for toast.”
Harry’s glad Louis is using his banter-glare and not his angry-glare. Harry’s life goal is to never be on the receiving end of one of Louis’ angry-glares.
All of a sudden the toast comes flying out of the evil toast machine and Harry finds himself not only jumping a foot back in surprise, but also squealing like a small child.
And Louis looks like he’s going to die if he doesn’t stop laughing in about 10 seconds.
Harry’s too shocked to be angry at Louis for laughing just yet. He can’t even be concerned for Louis’ health. He’s just really startled by the idea of muggles having to wait for toast, but having the capacity to make it fly unexpectedly. Wait. Muggles can’t do that can they? This must be a prank. Louis used his wand.
“Louis! That’s not fair! You promised you’d live like a muggle this week! You can’t use magic!”
For some inexplicable reason this sets Louis off again. Somehow worse than before.
“Didn’t. Magic. Toasters. Do. That.” Louis manages to wheeze.
Harry frowns at the silver appliance sitting oh so innocently on the counter.
“Liar.”
“Oh my god, Haz. Not lying. Look.” Louis puts another slice of bread in the slot and this time twists the dial all the way to the one before pushing the lever. Both boys sit silently watching the toaster. Waiting. Harry feels stupid.
Harry feels even more stupid when he still jumps at the bread popping up the same time as the lever.
“Still not fair.” He mumbles as he walks away.
Lesson two: Using the Remote.
Louis spends half an hour patiently teaching Harry about all the buttons on the remote control for the television. He also manages to successfully teach Harry how to put on a movie from their collection. This, of course, ends in Harry and Louis curled up on the couch with mugs of hot chocolate watching a movie about a Christmas Elf stuck in New York City over the holidays. Harry feels a little bit like Buddy. Poor guy.
Lesson three: The Internet.
Louis tries to explain to Harry that there’s some sort of secret invisible cloud over everything muggle that you can access and get things from. Harry tries grabbing at the air. Nothing happens except for Louis looking like he’s torn between laughing and rolling his eyes.
Louis opens a metal book thing. The buttons on it look familiar. “Oh! Is this a computer?!”
“Well look who does his muggle studies homework.” Harry’s answering blush is maybe a little bit of an over-reaction. “Okay, well, did they teach you what all the buttons do in that little class of yours?”
Harry knows they didn’t, but he’s curious to see if he can figure them out before Louis teaches him anything. He recognizes numbers and letters but everything else looks like gibberish. “Uh. No.”
“That’s alright. This one here is the power button. It will turn the laptop on.” The screen lights up and shows Louis’ name when he presses the button he showed Harry. “My password is slither in 69. Don’t laugh. I made it like 5 years ago.” Harry does that barking laugh thing again. He hates himself a little, but the look on Louis’ face is worth it. “Just type it in the little bar thing here when you see the blinking line, okay?”
“Alright.”
“I think the easiest thing to teach you how to do on here is internet. Just for the sake of our time. Video games might be a little beyond you yet. So to get on the internet, you click twice on this little icon over here okay? Remember that picture. Just that one. Got it?”
“Yeah. The multi-coloured circle. Got it.”
“Alright, now this is called google. You just type in what you want to find up here, and it will show you what you’re looking for.”
“Couldn’t you just summon it?” There’s a long pause. Louis just blinks at him for a minute.
“Harry-“
“Does it, like, materialize the thing you want somehow? That’s against the properties of magic. I don’t see how a muggle could have figured that out.”
“Harry, sweetheart, it’s more for like information rather than material objects.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. And there’s no restricted section on the internet.”
“You mean they don’t have like evil and inappropriate content in there?”
“No, that’s not at all what I meant, Harold.” Louis grins wide and mischievously, “I mean that no one is restricted from accessing it.” He wiggles his eyebrows ridiculously. Harry’s jaw drops.
“REALLY? Don’t KIDS use computers?”
“Yeah, but like, parents watch them better? Make sure what they do online is appropriate for their age group and whatever.”
“Oh. That’s not so bad then.”
“Do you want to try looking something up?”
“Okay. Like what?”
“I don’t know. What are you thinking about?”
“Umm. Hmmm. So I just write what I want to look at here?”
“Yup. Just like that.”
“And you want me to look at what I’m thinking about?”
“Oh yeah. Definitely.”
Harry writes l-o-u-i-s-t-o-m-l-i-n-s-o-n into the bar. Louis’ grin is a mile wide.
“Hazza, love, this big button right here lets you put space between words, okay? And when you’re done typing what you want you just click right here like this. Got it?” Harry’s blushing furiously right now. Louis didn’t get it, but he didn’t seem to mind either.
They look around at other Louis Tomlinson’s that supposedly exist elsewhere. None of them are as cool as the one sitting next to him. Louis also shows him around on some of his favourite pages. He shows Harry something called YouTube - which is not at all like the underground train he learned about at school. He lets Harry play around on it a bit and Harry watches videos Louis claims he forgot existed he watched them so long ago. Things like a sneezing panda, a kid named charlie biting another kids finger, a few talking dogs, some people falling on ice, and something called shady warehouse - which showed up in the recommended videos thing on the side and Louis denies knowing anything about.
The next morning, Harry spends half an hour whining to Louis about how he should be allowed to go to the dentist to watch. Harry still has no idea why dentists exist and is very insistent that Louis take him with him. For his own education. Imagine how impressed his muggle studies professor will be. “Please, Louis, pleeeeaaase.” Harry begs for probably the thousandth time.
“Harry, I really don’t think its a good idea. You spent half an hour this morning trying to pop the bubbles in my lava lamp. It’s normal to be fascinated by it and watch it, but you’re obsession with it was a little scary. Dentists use sharp tools, and I really don’t want anyone to get hurt.” Seriously?
“But what do dentists do if they use sharp tools? Aren’t they like.. Teeth doctors? This could be an excellent learning experience.” Think about the bragging he could do to the other purebloods at school.
“Harry, I just really don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come today.”
Harry just stands there pouting at him while Louis puts his coat on. It almost looks like Louis is starting to give in before his mother shuts down the idea completely.
“Louis’ right, dear. You should probably spend some more time learning about harmless things before you go to the dentist. Maybe next time you visit, yeah?”
Harry just stomps into the living room and decides to put on a random movie while the rest of the Tomlinsons go to the infamous “dentist.”
He ends up watching a movie about a little kid left alone in a house for the holidays. Harry feels like he can really relate to this kid. Until the burglars come.
Harry watches the rest of the movie from under the couch. He feels like this kid was really onto something with the sounds and whatever to make it look like he wasn’t home alone.
At the end of the movie Harry feels a little silly and decides to go hide in Louis’ room. Louis’ laptop is still lying around so Harry decides he might be able to learn about dentists on that U-Tube thing Louis showed him yesterday.
It’s an hour later when Louis finds Harry in his room hysterically laughing and cooing at cat videos on the internet.
It’s Louis’ birthday tomorrow, and he wants to take Harry on a wintery muggle adventure.
Skating.
It’s just running around on the ice… sort of. How hard could it be?
Harry watches muggles skate circles around the rink. It looks a little harder than it sounds, but it really can’t be that bad?
Louis helps him lace up his skates, stand up, and wobbly slowly over to the edge of the rink.
“Ready?” Louis is smiling so adorably up at him, an inch or two shorter in these skates.
“I think so.”
Louis steps onto the ice first and turns around to help Harry.
One foot on the ice. Cool. Alright, two fe- nope. No that did not work.
“My bum hurts.” At least Louis looks a little sympathetic and moves to help Harry up onto his feet. Once Harry feels relatively steady and is standing on two feet he looks up into Louis’ face. “How do I move?”
Louis giggles and Harry feels like he’s going to fall over again.
“Ok, I’m gonna let go, and skate a little bit and I want you to watch. Can you do that?”
“You mean without falling over again?”
“Preferably.” And suddenly Harry is standing there unsupported while Louis gracefully glides along. Why is Harry paying attention to how graceful he’s doing it. He’s supposed to be watching his feet. Right. But wow look at those powerful thighs. What. “Alright, now try doing exactly what I just did all the way to me!” WHAT. He sounds way too excited when there is way too high a chance of Harry falling on his ass again.
“Er. Could you like, show me one more time? Maybe come back so I can see from a different angle?”
Louis starts to skate back and Harry tries REALLY HARD to focus on his skates. Somehow he ends up staring at his thighs. Again. Oops.
The amused sparkle in Louis’ eyes when he stops right in front of Harry is probably totally called for.
“How about I hold your hands to keep you upright?”
YES. Woah. Play it cool. “Uh, okay.” Somehow Harry’s definition of cool now includes a death grip to prevent falling flat on his face. Lovely.
Harry ends up falling 3 more times and he only manages to pull Louis down with him once. Unfortunately, he hadn’t managed to get Louis to fall on top of him like in one of those rom-coms where falling leads to kissing. What a wasted opportunity.
“Seriously Lou, what spell is everyone using to keep themselves upright?” When Louis starts to roll his eyes Harry rushes out, “I feel like my bum could really benefit if you share the secret.”
Harry loses his train of thought watching Louis laugh into his mitten. Why did he think spending a week with Louis and his family was a good idea?
Louis’ birthday is a relatively quiet occasion. Louis doesn’t really have many friends over this time of year because they all have family commitments their parents won’t let them out of, but Harry gets to meet Stan - Louis’ childhood best friend that always makes sure to leave some time for Louis on his birthday.
Louis, Harry and Stan hide in the basement for the annual birthday/ Christmas Eve viewing of a movie called Die Hard. Harry’s nervous because he’s heard of muggle’s scary movies. He’s not entirely sure he’s prepared to watch one. He’s told they look very realistic.
It’s not too far into the movie when Harry realizes its not at all what he expected and he relaxes into Louis’ side to watch the rest of the movie.
After the movie the boys have to help the girls finish decorating the house before Louis’ birthday party with the rest of the family, travelling in from other parts of the country.
Louis’ mum gives them a box of decorations to put up. It involves a lot of running around and wrapping each other in ribbons and lights before being yelled at.
Eventually they get towards the bottom of the box and Stan pulls out a sprig of some plant that looks familiar but that Harry can’t place… until Stan starts shaking it in Louis’ face and making kissing sounds. Harry’s heart starts thudding. Shit. He didn’t even think mistletoe was that common anymore. What if he could somehow get himself and Louis underneath? Would Louis be okay with that? Would Harry even survive that encounter?
It apparently doesn’t matter because Stan is chasing Louis around the whole house with it, much to Louis’ little sisters’ amusement. Stan finally backs Louis into a corner and Louis grimaces and scrunches his face real cute with disgust while Stan plants a sloppy kiss into his cheek. Louis’ mum even looks on fondly before smiling gently over at Harry. Shit. She knows.
She gets Stan to hang the mistletoe up over the entrance to the kitchen. It’s not well used, but everyone starts to make a real big show of tiptoeing around the mistletoe to avoid getting caught underneath it with someone else. Well, mostly everyone. The twins decide to try it out and very sweetly and adorably kiss each other underneath the mistletoe.
Harry also gets the sense that Lottie is trying to catch him with it too, because she tends to appear in the kitchen every time he goes in there. Louis looks suspicious about it. Harry’s a little terrified that he’ll end up having to kiss Louis’ 10 year old sister instead of him.
Stan has to go home, and Harry knows he’s leaving in a couple hours as well. Other than that, the rest of Louis’ family comes over for a holiday-themed birthday party. The little girls are running around loud and excited because there’s cake and they get to give their big brother their carefully picked out presents tonight before they get their own tomorrow for Christmas.
Harry gives Louis a Comb-a-Chameleon, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, a Decoy Detonator, a nosebleed Skiving Snackbox, and a really nice quill with a blue feather that suspiciously matches Louis’ eye-colour. Louis smiles really sweetly because Harry had clearly tried really hard. Louis gets lots of other practical things, and really sweet things his little sister’s picked out, but he didn’t smile nearly as big as he did for Harry’s present.
After presents, Harry goes to the kitchen to refill his drink and is on his way back when he bumps into Louis.
“Oops.”
“Hi.” Louis smiles up at him.
“I was just getting another drink…”
“Yeah, me too.”
It’s quiet and they’re just sort of… staring at each other. Harry doesn’t know what to do with his hands. What does he normally do with his hands? Does he put them behind is back? Ok, clearly not, but if he moves them now he’ll look like an idiot.
“YOU’RE STANDING UNDER THE MISTLETOE. YOU HAVE TO KISS!” Harry whips his head in the direction of Fizzy’s shouting. Harry notices Lottie’s glare in the background. Then he realizes what they said. Fuck. He looks up, and they are indeed standing under the mistletoe. With Louis’ entire family staring at them. Shit.
“She’s sort of right, Haz,” Harry doesn’t understand why Louis is whispering. Harry doesn’t even understand how this is even happening. Is he supposed to kiss Louis on the cheek like Stan did? Could he live with himself if he wasted that opportunity? Why is Louis’ face so red? Is his own face giving off steam yet with how hot it’s gotten? Can he stop thinking stupid things for just one second so he can kiss the boy of his dreams?
Louis is starting to lean forward a little. Not that they were really that far apart to begin with. Harry’s eyes widen when he realizes he can feel Louis’ breath on his face now. Louis is actually leaning in to kiss him. This is a thing thats happening. Fuck. Harry smashes their mouths together. Shit.
They both flail a little in surprise, but Louis grabs Harry’s arms and pins them to his sides while taking control of the kiss. It turns sickeningly sweet and absolutely perfect. Harry’s knees wobble and Louis breaks up the kiss and takes a step back.
Harry stares straight into Louis’ eyes until Louis smiles gently. Oh thank fuck. Louis’ not upset.
For some weird reason there’s applauding and cheering coming from where’s Louis’ family is gathered in the other room. Louis hides his face in Harry’s shoulder. Harry can feel Louis not only blushing, but smiling too.
“Finally!” Louis’ mum is a little mean, but maybe really onto something with this hidden mistletoe agenda.
It’s only a few minutes later when Harry finds himself getting ready to leave.
“Harry, wait! I got something for you,” Louis runs up the stairs and disappears while Harry’s buttoning up his coat and wrapping his scarf nice and snug around his neck. When Louis reappears he’s carrying a small, neatly wrapped box. “Open it.”
Harry looks at Louis hesitantly, but starts to rip open the paper. Inside the box he finds a small silver gadget.
“It’s a cellphone? I bought some prepaid minutes. We can keep in touch while we’re apart for the rest of the break? And over the other breaks too. If you take good care of it, we can use it after we’re done at Hogwarts?” Louis explains it all as if he’s uncertain. Louis should never be uncertain. Harry’s pretty sure this is the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for him. He’s watched enough muggles use these over the past week that he has a pretty good idea on how to use it. “I programmed my number into it. It’s the only one in the contacts. Shouldn’t be too hard to find.” And there’s Louis’ beautiful smile.
“Yeah, Lou. I love it. Thank you.” There’s a knock on the door. Harry knows it’s his mum, but he needs to tell Louis one more thing first. “I also got you a Christmas present? It should be on your desk upstairs. Don’t open it until tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay. Bye, Harry. Merry Christmas.”
“Happy birthday, Lou.”
The next day, Harry’s new cellphone beeps loudly and unexpectedly. When he opens it there’s a message that says, “Thanks for the ornament, Haz!” There’s also a photo of Louis smiling next to the custom-made magical tree ornament Harry bought Louis during the last Hogsmeade visit with his and Louis’ faces on it.
Harry manages to figure out how to reply, all by himself, which he brags about all day to anyone who will listen. All he says is, “Miss you. xx”