A One Direction Christmas

Chapter 20 | Harry

Harry knocked politely on the Archers' front door, tightening his grip on the bag of groceries in his hands. After Liam had conveyed his surprise date night idea to both the boys and the Archer family, everyone was on board for gathering together at the Archers' for a movie night of their own. Mrs. Archer had asked the boys if they would be willing to pick up some ingredients she needed from the store, and they had readily agreed. Harry had volunteered to run to the store, while Niall and Louis had offered to stay and help cook dinner.

"My mom says you don't need to knock." Ava stood in the doorway, her eyebrows raised in amusement. She was wearing an Elf t-shirt and snowmen-patterned pajama shorts, her hair in a loose ponytail. It was so far from what Harry was used to seeing her dressed in that he couldn't help but grin.

"Hi to you too," he said cheerily. "Nice pajamas."

Ava's expression quickly shifted to a scowl, which Harry was beginning to fondly recognize as one of her signatures. "It's movie night," she said flatly. "I always wear PJs for movie night. Excuse me if I want to be comfortable."

He chuckled as she stepped aside to let him in, and they made their way to the kitchen together. Niall and Louis stood in the kitchen with Mrs. Archer, listening attentively as she directed them around. Bea was chopping vegetables by the sink, Mr. Archer was sitting on the couch watching a basketball game, and Maisie was on the floor playing tug-o-war with Noodle. Observing this all, along with the Christmas music was playing (when was not in this town?) and the smell of dinner starting, Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of contentment that washed over him.

"When's the last time you had a normal holiday like this?" Ava asked quietly beside him.

He opened his eyes and glanced down at her. "It's been a long time. But this is really nice ... I'm glad I'm here."

Ava nodded. "This is my favorite time of the year. I'm–" she paused, considering. "I'm glad you get to be here for it."

Before he could comment on how shockingly sincere that sounded, she continued dryly, "I guess even super rich and successful celebrities need breaks from their hard lives, you know?" The grin she shot him as she headed to the kitchen to help was pure mischief.

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The Archers and One Direction boys sat around the dining table, laughing, chatting, and enjoying their meal, which had ended up including the delightful activity of everyone making their own pizzas.

"A staple in the Archer household," Ava had told Harry from her seat next to him.

"So, Maisie and Louis," Mrs. Archer said. "How are you two feeling about the baking competition? Hard to believe the Christmas Festival is only two days away now."

Maisie groaned and rested her head on the table. "Ugh, don't remind me."

Mrs Archer frowned. "Why the long face? You're going to do great, honey!"

"Plus," Bea added brightly, gesturing to Louis. "You have a teammate this year."

"A very talented, shockingly handsome teammate," Louis added, slinging his arm around Maisie's shoulders. He cleared his throat. "You're not inspiring much confidence here though, Maiz."

She sat up and shot him an apologetic look. "Sorry. I'm sure we'll do great, you're right. I'm just nervous."

"We got this in the bag," Louis said cheekily. "In Santa's bag, if you will."

That induced groans from most of the table, but Harry watched as some of the tension dissipated off of Maisie's face as she broke into a laugh.

"Okay, okay," she grinned. "You're right, we're gonna be amazing."