𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 \\ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗷. 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿

𝐿𝐼𝐼．

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙮-𝙩𝙬𝙤

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —

BECAUSE OF THE traumas they had endured, Caroline and Harry never got full nights of rest. During the first few days of Christmas holiday, they had started taking naps together every afternoon to catch up on the sleep they never seemed to get anymore. It was a regular part of their day, and Caroline looked forward to it each afternoon.

      She was still heavily reliant on calming and sleeping draughts, which worried Remus, Sirius and Mrs. Weasley. They were the only things that kept her functioning, at this point. Caroline didn't spend a ton of time with her friends, as the Weasley children visited Arthur every day, and Hermione and Harry often went with them. She stayed home, reading novels and wandering the cold house.

      The day before Christmas, Caroline, Hermione and Ginny were in one of the bathrooms, rebraiding Caroline's hair. Caroline taught the girls how to do box braids, using hair extensions she had to lengthen the braids. Once the girls got to work, the long process started. "I still can't believe he hasn't asked you to be his girlfriend yet." Hermione said, working on the back of Caroline's head.

      Caroline shrugged. "He's having nightmares about Voldemort constantly, Mione. And to be fair, I could ask him to be my boyfriend just as easily." she said. Caroline was afraid of many things, but saying the name of the man who killed her parents and brother was one thing she was always confident enough to do.

      Ginny accidentally yanked harshly on Caroline's hair, making the brunette slap the redhead harshly on the arm. Ginny winced, slapping Caroline back. "So ask him to be your boyfriend." Ginny said, starting up another braid.

      Shaking her head, Caroline started on the front pieces of her hair. "I'm not asking Harry to be my boyfriend, because it would be horribly embarassing if he rejected me." Caroline explained.

      Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're mad if you think Harry would reject you. He's obsessed with you." the bushy-haired girl said, tying off a long braid and letting it fall to Caroline's ribcage.

      "He's been obsessed with you for years." Ginny added, finishing with her part of braids.

      Caroline rolled her eyes, completing her final braid. It had taken the girls nearly three hours to complete the task, and Caroline smiled when it was done. Ginny disposed of Caroline's excess hair that they didn't end up using, while Hermione cleaned up and Caroline styled her braids over her shoulders. The three girls left the bathroom, running into Harry and Ron.

      "You braided your hair?" Harry asked immediately, seeing that Caroline's natural coils were gone.

       Caroline nodded. "Do you like it?" she asked, a small smile on her face.

      "If you don't, too bad, because it took us three hours to do the braids, and I'm not spending amy more time undoing them." Ginny said, pushing past her brother and heading down the stairs into the main room of the house.

      Hermione left with Ron, and Caroline pushed her back against a wall as Harry stood in front of her. "I love it. I'd love it no matter what you did to it." Harry smiled, walking closer to Caroline.

      He pressed his lips to Caroline's, smiling as she giggled, breaking them apart. "It feels better. Like I have control again." Caroline said, and Harry kissed the side of her head, playing with some of her braids before leading her down the stairs with their hands encased.