pairing: ex!harry james potter x wolfstar daughter!reader
warnings: mentions of alcohol, slight cursing, weirdo cormac
summary: reader gets invited to a christmas party reunion of hogwarts students by pansy parkinson, she didn't expect to find and rekindle with an old flame
song: a nonsense christmas - sabrina carpenter
-------------------------------------------------------
Storage, check. Keys, check. Personal belongings, check. The only thing left was turning off the lights and then the bookshop would be officially closed for the holiday. I took a quick scan around the place to make sure I didn't forget anything, then my eyes landed on the letter on top of the register counter.
Ah, right. The invitation.
I sighed and walked towards the counter to grab the letter. I looked at the neat and all too familiar handwriting addressing the letter to my bookshop. Opening it again for the second time that day, I was met with the same message.
Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas time, if you're not too busy tomorrow, I'm hosting a Christmas party down at the club.
It's reserved for Hogwarts students era '91 only, with some exceptions.
Would be happy if you could join, party starts at eight, ends whenever it ends.
Hoping to see you there!!
PS. the dresscode is everything and anything Christmas
I knew that I wasn't going to go. After graduating from Hogwarts and opening my own bookshop, I haven't really spoken to any of my Hogwarts friends. With the exception of Pansy and Hermione (who sometimes come in to my bookshop). I have even lost contact with him.
Shoving the letter to my bag, I turned off the lights and walked out of the shop, before locking the door with the shop key. Snow immediately fell down and rested itself onto my hair, I walked to my car and drove home to my apartment in London.
I intended to relax and enjoy this Christmas eve by having some hot chocolate and watching classic Christmas movies in bed. Mid way through my movie and hot cocoa, my phone rang. When I saw the caller ID, I picked it up.
"Hey, Y/N! Happy Christmas eve!" a familiar cheery voice from the other line called out, "Did you get my invitation?"
I chuckled, "Yes, Pansy. I got your invitation personally delivered by an owl coming into my shop this morning."
"Great, you're coming, right?"
"Uhmmm...." I paused the movie while waiting for her reaction.
"Oh, come on! Don't be such a Grinch."
I scoffed, "Excuse me? I am not anywhere near a Grinch, Pansy Parkinson. I am a very festive person."
"Then come to my party tomorrow! Wouldn't it be fun to have a little Hogwarts Christmas reunion?"
I sighed, "I don't know, Pans. It's been such a long time since we all saw each other. I'm 23 damn years old now, it's been quite some time."
"Woman! That's exactly why I'm hosting this reunion party—Merlin's beard, you never changed." she gave a chuckle.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" I laughed.
She sighed, "Look, just give it some thought. Okay? You don't have to socialize if you don't want to, you can hangout with me."
"Mhm..." I say unconvinced, "Fine, I'll think about it. But I made no promises, alright?"
I can practically hear her smiling through the phone, "Okay, great! I'm counting on it. Anyway, have a great Christmas eve, bye!"
"You too, Pans." I hang up the phone and continued my movie without having any second thought about the party.
But as I tried to sleep that night, thoughts about the party went over my head. Should I go or should I not? Will I regret it after if I didn't go? I decided to sleep it off and make up my mind on Christmas morning.
The next day, I got up earlier to get into the Christmas spirit. I put on some music while I make myself some special breakfast, and when the doorbell rang, I open it to find a delivery man handing me a wrapped present. It was from my dads. The famously known Lupin-Black couple.
I quickly read the christmas card, tearing up at what my papa wrote and silently laughing at what my dad wrote. I really miss them, but I am coming back home for the new years. I put the card aside and opened the box to reveal a pair of beautiful snowflake dangly earrings.
They were absolutely beautiful, I love how they always know what to pick for me. I store them inside my jewelry box and made a mental note to thank them later. After I finished my breakfast and did all of my morning routine, a notification came from the online daily prophet.
Have a very Merry Christmas to all witches
To make this day even more festive and fun, all
Hogwarts alumni from '91 are invited to
a Christmas party down at Amortentia.
Get ready to dress up, get drunk, and have a
blast from the past for a reunion!
I click on the notification to find more details about the party. Damn, Pansy really went all out for this. My mind hasn't made up on whether I should go or not, although deep down I knew it wouldn't be so bad to go.
Driven by temptation, I walk over to my closet and look through my very minimum collection of dresses. None of the dresses were Christmassy enough, till I caught my eye on an unopened dress.
It was a red fluffy dress with sparkles all over the fabric, it had a bow around the waist, with a puffy short sleeve to complete the look. I had never worn it before, but it did scream Christmas.
Standing in front of the mirror, I held up the dress to my body and looked at myself up and down. I would look good in it. After some considerable thought I decided that I'm going to that Christmas party. It's not like I'm going just to see if a certain someone is going to be there...
Around seven, I took a shower and got ready. I put on the dress and did my makeup. I wore those snowflake earrings my dads bought for me, did a little crown braid over my hair, and put on a pair of shoes.
Looking at myself once more, I grabbed my purse and wand, put on my big warm coat, then headed out the door. I wasn't going to spend any money on an uber car when I have my own, though I hated driving in the snow.
When I got there, I could already hear party music coming out from the building. A big LED sign that says "Amortentia", Pansy's own personal bar. After locking my car and taking off my coat, I walk towards the door which had a sign that says "Closed for private party."
As I open the door to enter, the bouncer stopped me and asked me for my invitation. Luckily, I had it with me in my purse. He made sure it was the right invitation and he let me in. Christmas party music immediately blasted in my ear as I stepped into the place.
The place was decorated for Christmas, for obvious reasons. I've personally never had been in Pansy's bar since she opened it, I would be lying if I say I wasn't impressed. The place had a huge dance floor and a big bar. A wave of magic energy flew through me, it feels good to be surrounded by wizards again.
"Merlin's beard, Y/N/N! So glad you decided to come!" I heard Pansy yell through the noisy crowd as she walks towards me with a glass of presumably firewhiskey in her hand.
"Hey, Pans. The place looks great! It's way bigger than I imagined." I smiled, "You look very pretty, by the way."
"Awe, thanks babe. Don't even get me started on how you look." she looked at me up and down, "Damn. Anyway, come with me."
Before I could even say anything, she was already dragging me while sipping on her drink. Not a second later, I was by the bar and saw Pansy's slytherin friends. Don't get me wrong, they're my friends as well, but it's been a long time since we ever said a word to each other.
"Look who I brought!" Pansy said in a sing-song voice to her friends, all of their eyes immediately went on me.
"Lupin-Black! Long time no see!" Theodore Nott greeted me with a smile, which I returned back.
Blaise Zabini gave me a fist bump and Draco Malfoy, didn't seem to change, just gave me a nod to indicate that he senses my presence. My anxious self slowly began to calm as I started to talk with them, casually looking around as well and seeing a bunch of familiar faces.
I couldn't help but feel the desperate need to catch a sight of a specific face, a face I knew I would recognize from far away. But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't seem to find him. Pansy seemed to notice me glancing over my shoulder a few times, so she asked.
I was brought back to my senses and looked at her, "Hm? No, no one."
"Oh come on, really? You're giving me bullshit for my Christmas present?"
"Ha. Ha. Very funny, but seriously—I'm not looking for anyone." I defended myself.
She sipped her glass, "Alright, if you say so. But just for your information, I did send an invitation to him. So there might be a chance he's here."
I raised an eyebrow and she rolled her eyes, "Stop pretending, Y/N/N. I know who you're looking for and you don't have to be ashamed to say that you're looking for Potter."
My eyes widened as I attempt to shut her up, "Shh! Are you mad?! Don't say that out loud or people might hear and think I'm obsessed with him or something."
"Aren't you...?" she asked lowly, I fought the urge to smack her across the face.
"Pansy. Please. I'm over him, besides he's with Ginny, isn't he?"
She shrugged, "I wouldn't be so sure of that."
The rest of the night surprisingly went very well. I eventually got brave enough to talk to some old friends and had fun on the dance floor with them, it felt good to reminisce on the feeling of having secret booze parties at Hogwarts. It also felt good to drink firewhiskey again.
When I was sitting at one of the couches in the corner, resting my feet from dancing and walking around, I felt an uncomfortable presence beside me. I had a guess on who it might be before even looking at the person.
"Merry Christmas! It's Y/N, right? Hufflepuff? It's been a while, you look hot now." the person said.
I mentally rolled my eyes, "Uhm...yeah."
"You remember me, right? Cormac Mclaggen." he introduced himself, I simply nodded my head.
He scooched himself a bit closer to him, swinging his hand behind so he could touch my shoulder. I avoided his gaze as much as I could. Dear Merlin, get me out of this place.
"Say, what are you doing tonight? Want to maybe come by my place?" he said with a very forced seductive voice.
I held in a breath, "Uhm....I'm good, Cormac."
"I could maybe buy you a drink?" this man would never give up until I agree on something to do with him, would he.
To my surprise, a voice called out from behind me. A familiar voice, "Sorry, she's here with me."
Cormac seemed to be taken aback, he inched away from me before then walking away like nothing happened. I sighed and stood up to face the person who saved me, "Thanks for that.."
He smiled and nodded his head, "No problem. Can't believe Parkinson invited him to the party, but I guess she invited everyone with no exceptions."
I couldn't help but take a good look at him. He had grown a few inches taller since I last saw him, his brown fluffy hair stayed the same, his body had gotten more fit too. But the thing that mesmerized me the most were his eyes. Those green beautiful eyes. Same as ever.
"I've been doing well. I mean—yeah, being head auror isn't an easy job, I almost get zero hours of sleep everyday. But hey, it's the holidays, and I'm surviving" he laughed.
"What about you? I heard that your bookshop's the best in London. I wouldn't be surprised about that, truthfully."
I chuckled, "That might be a little overreacting. But I'm doing really good as well. But I feel the most happy tonight, it's been a while since I'm surrounded by my kind of people."
"I'm surrounded by them everyday. But it's been a while since I saw you." he looked at me and I swear my heart plummeted down to my feet.
Harry and I had a thing back then, it went from third year until the fifth. He was my best friend first, I got along with him and Ron and Hermione really well. He was my first kiss and my first time, but we never addressed our relationship. In other words, our relationship was messy.
It was never clear what we were supposed to be, more like a 'friends with benefits' type of thing, that's why it just kind of fell apart at sixth year. He had a thing for Ginny and started dating her, leaving me heartbroken, but not really surprised.
But seeing him now, looking as good as ever, made me rethink about what we were back then. Making me feel like I wanted him again. But I pushed that thought aside.
He's with someone. You can't do this, it's Christmas.
"I was watching you all night, you here with anyone?" he asked. He was watching me all night?
"No, no one. I even didn't want to go in the first place, but Pansy convinced me. I'm not with anyone, or seeing anyone, for that matter. Just—by myself is all."
Why does it feel like I'm trying to make it super extra fucking clear that I'm not in a relationship or even as close to seeing anyone? He wouldn't care for that...would he?
"Oh...I see." he said, I could somehow see his body relaxing a bit after hearing my answer.
"What about you? Last time I heard you and Ginny are engaged?" I took an unnoticed gulp.
He chuckled at that, "Oh no, you're way behind on the news. We broke it off a long time ago. It wasn't working. We kept arguing and bringing the worst out of each other."
"I'm so sorry to hear that, I was really happy when I heard about the engagement. I thought you two would've already been married by now.."
He shrugged, "Thinking back now I think I was a little rushed, I'm not ready to be married just yet. Not when I've not gotten the right one." he looked straight at me with a warm smile that managed to make my heart go 'badump'.
"Anyway, what are we both doing here when we could dance while drinking firewhiskey." he broke off the tension, "Dance with me?"
He stretched out his hand and bowed down a bit, smirking up at me and waiting for me to take his hand. What a dork. I laughed and took his hand then he lead me to the dance floor. While we were dancing, he got us both a glass that floated itself to our hands.
I ended up spending the rest of the party with him. Dancing, drinking, laughing, telling stories, everything. It felt like we were both fifteen year olds again, too nervous to label our relationship, but knowing how we felt towards each other deep down.
"How are Sirius and Remus, by the way? Haven't seen them in a very long time." he asked while the party slowly started to die down.
"They're very well. I plan to go home for the new years, you could join me if you'd like." I widened my eyes a few seconds after realizing what I had said, I think the drunkness is slowly getting to me.
"I mean not like....you know. I mean you said you haven't seen them in a long time, so I thought maybe if you would...I don't know—"
He bursts out laughing at how I panicked, "Hey, relax! I wasn't thinking anything like that. I would love to join you, message me about the date and stuff. It'll be fun."
He conjured a piece of paper and a pen then wrote something on it then giving it to me, "Here's my number."
I took it and stared at it, realizing that I indeed did not have his number ever since I got a phone. I smiled and nodded at him, putting the paper in my purse. After another hour, we decided that it was enough partying. So we walked around to try and find Pansy to inform her that we were heading out.
"Y/N/N, there you are! I was looking all over for—oh...I see." Pansy said once we found her, smirking at the both of us, "Had fun?"
"Yeah, the party was a lot of fun. Thanks, Pans. We're going to head out now, I can't have any more drinks or I can't go home." I chuckled.
She continued smirking at us, "Uh huh. Stay safe you two, drive home safely."
After that, we both head on out and was met with the quiet cold air instead of the loud party music once again. I was freezing cold, I shouldn't have put my coat in the car. Harry seemed to notice as he started to take off his own coat.
"Here, wear this." he wrapped his coat around my body and stood there as if he's not freezing to death.
"What about you? I have my own coat, it's just in my car." I said but he just shook his head.
"It's alright, just bring it back to me when we go to your dads for the new years. I'm not that cold anyways."
I chuckled and held onto the coat tighter, "Thank you, Harry. Really. Thank you for hanging out with me at the party as well."
He smiled, "No worries. Truthfully, I wanted to talk to you ever since you stepped in. I saw when you just arrived, but I didn't say anything."
He paused for a few seconds and gulped before continuing, "I just wanted to say that you look extremely pretty tonight. You've always looked pretty, honestly. And uhm...I'm really glad I got to see you again tonight."
I tried so hard not to blush, but it probably wouldn't even show because my cheek and nose were already red from the cold, "I'm really glad I got to see you too, Harry."
We then said goodbye to each other and started to walk our separate ways to our own cars, but then he took my hand and turned me around before giving me a light kiss on the cheek.
"Sorry, couldn't let you leave without doing that." he said quietly.
I stood there, shocked. Smiling shyly and didn't do anything but nod my head slowly, "Alright, bye for now...Get home safe." he said as he walked away and waved.
I kept staring at him until I saw him apparate. I touched my cheek and couldn't help but smile widely. I don't know what in Merlins name just happened but whatever it is, I'm glad I came to this Christmas reunion party.
