𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 | Harry James Potter x Reader

YR 3 ☆•°~'* 08

AN - Comments and votes are highly appreciated, thank you! Enjoy the chapter!

❈🌠➵9¾♌ ⚯ 🗲━━━━━★. *･｡ﾟ✧⁺

It took a lot of convincing for Harry to abandon his murderous tendencies toward Sirius Black. What really did it, however, was Hagrid telling the quartet that Buckbeak, the hippogriff that attacked Draco Malfoy during their first Beasts class, was sentenced to death by the Committee for the Disposal of Magical Creatures.

And so Harry, Y/N, Ron, and Hermione spent the first few days of their Christmas break in the library and the common room, reading up on cases of marauding beasts beside the warm fireplace.

'Here's something... there was a case in 1722... but the Hippogriff got convicted -- ugh, look what they did to it,' said Y/N, disgusted.

Meanwhile, the castle was decorated with the usual Christmas ornaments, streamers of holly and mistletoe in every corridor. One evening, when Y/N and Harry were watching a particularly beautiful sunset from the common room window, they heard quiet giggles behind them. They looked around to see Ron and Hermione sitting on a couch next to the fireplace, suppressing grins.

'What's so funny?' said Harry, looking at his two friends with a quizzical look on his face.

'Oh, nothing,' said Hermione, smiling slyly.

Ron looked up at something above Y/N and Harry's heads then looked back down quickly, snorting.

Y/N looked up, and, to her horror (and secretly wishing no one could read her mind at that moment), mistletoe was perched right above her and Harry. She blushed and jumped out from under it. Harry, who hadn't caught on yet, looked slightly hurt.

'M-mistletoe...' mumbled Y/N bashfully, pointing up at the plant. Harry looked up and he, too, stepped away from it, turning a delicate shade of brick red.

Ron roared with laughter, choking on a pasty he was eating, and Hermione had to pat his back so he doesn't die.

Unbeknownst to them, Y/N cast Wingardium Leviosa on the mistletoe, moving it so that it was right above Hermione and Ron.

Harry grinned and gave Y/N a silent high-five. And for a wild moment, Y/N felt the urge to lace her fingers with Harry's, to pull him closer... She quickly looked away, being thankful that none of her friends knew Legilimency. She cleared her throat loudly and Hermione looked up at her.

'Above you,' said Y/N, suppressing a laugh. Hermione looked up and it was her turn to jump out from under the mistletoe, leaving Ron still coughing violently on the couch.

Hermione, who looked almost as red as Ron was, for reasons other than choking, whispered a quick 'Anapneo', and Ron's airway cleared.

On Christmas morning, Y/N was woken by Hermione's alarm clock at-

'Seven in the morning, Hermioneeeee!!!'

Hermione snatched up her alarm clock and turned it off.

'Sorry, Y/N, I wanted to cram in some revision today-' she began but was cut off by Y/N.

'Revision? Are you mad?' mumbled Y/N, sitting up and petting her cat, who had just leapt onto her bed. 'It's Christmas, Hermione, and there are presents to open!'

'Yes, well, it's always good to get a bit of work done every day,' she said, picking up her Potions book.

Y/N got up from her bed and snatched the book. 'Nope, you need a break, or you're going to break.'