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“Harry! Love, did you invite your friends over?” Lily calls from the kitchen.
“Yeah!” Harry responds, calling back. However, as he gets closer to the kitchen he returns to a talking tone, “Ron and Draco are meeting in Diagon Alley and I’m leaving to get them. I think ‘Mione is going to wait at The Leaky Cauldron.” He sits down on the bench in their entry way to start putting his shoes on, feeling a kiss pressed to his forehead shortly after.
When he looks up, Lily is smiling down at him, “Alright, be safe.”
“I will.” And with that, Harry is out of the house and heading towards The Leaky Cauldron. It’s a relatively long walk, but Harry doesn’t mind.
Many of his friends have questioned why he’s okay with living in the muggle world, but just like Hermione, Harry enjoys the flow of it. Enjoys the fact that people don’t care who his family is, because they’re not famous to the muggle. He enjoys the fact that his neighborhood isn’t constantly using magic and instead is just calm, and even though he doesn’t necessarily know much about living in a wizarding neighborhood, he likes the camaraderie that comes with his.
The elderly couple that sit and drink tea on their doorstep with their old dog laying at their feet who bring the Potters cookies or whatever sweet treat that they’ve made recently, the jogger couple that brings the Potters baskets of fruits and berries that they get from their most recent harvest, the girl that walks around with her son wearing a big floppy sun hat and spends most of her day tending to her gardens outside her house. Not to mention the kids that Harry got to meet and grow up with, the ones that he got to ride bikes with when they all started getting them.
So the walk is worth it, what with the way that the elderly man gives him a big smile and wave and his dog goes running up to Harry to lick at his hands. The man laughs when the dog nearly tramples Harry and calls, “Take Archie for a walk will ya, son?” He’s extending the old leash that he’s and his wife have walked Archie with for five years. Harry nods with a smile and walks towards him, grabbing the leash from him, to which the man smiles, “Was gonna take him out myself but since you’re out there.”
Harry shrugs and kneels down to clip the leash onto Archie’s collar, “I don’t plan to be gone for long, maybe twenty minutes at most.”
“Good, I think that’s all the old man can take anymore.” The man laughs, his smile wider than it was before. He pats Harry’s shoulder a couple times before Harry turns away. The teen continues on his walk, Archie keeping at a moderate pace by his legs. He says hello to several other people that he passes before he enters the main bustling area of London, dipping into an alley that leads him to The Leaky Cauldron without making him wade through traffic.
Hermione’s waiting outside for him when he gets there and she offers him a contained smile, “Hello Harry.”
“Hey ‘Mione.” Harry responds in kind.
He’s about to say something but his friend’s eyes fall on Archie, “Since when do you have a dog?”
“Oh, I don’t. This is one of my neighbor’s dogs that he asked me to walk. Would you mind taking him for me while I grab Ron and Draco?” Hermione nods and he hands the leash off to her, throwing over his shoulder before he walks into the building, “His name’s Archie, by the way.” Then he’s pushing into the store and slipping into Diagon Alley with a quick nod to the man behind the counter.
Ron and Draco are both standing there, held up in an awkward conversation--they still haven’t gotten the hang of the whole ‘civility’ thing even with Harry and Draco broaching their first anniversary soon. Luckily, they both spot him at around the same time and Draco pushes off the wall towards him, Ron following soon behind. And while Draco doesn’t kiss him yet, not with all the people around them that could recognize him, he does get just close enough to link their pinkies.
Harry smiles, “Ready to go? We’re going to have to walk for a bit, and I’ve got a dog with me.” Draco shrugs and Ron nods and before long, Harry’s leading them back into The Leaky Cauldron and onto the bustling streets of muggle-London once again.
Hermione’s still waiting outside when they exit the building, crouched down to pet the dog. When she notices their presence, she stands up and brushes off her shirt before handing the leash back to Harry, “Are you boys finally ready to go?” The boys nod and Harry leads them back to his house. During the walk, the four of them talk in easy bouts, just small topics they bring up as means to catch up about how their breaks have gone so far.
Just as they’re entering Harry’s neighborhood, Hermione asks, “Why did you invite us over, by the way, Harry?”
Harry shrugs, “My family’s having a get together and mum encouraged me to invite you guys over. I mean they’ve wanted to meet you all for a while.” He greets the woman in her garden with her large hat, Anna, and her son Charlie since they’re outside; Anna’s hunched over her recently-bloomed dahlias with some shears and a basket near her to collect them and Charlie’s playing in a dirt patch she leaves open for him with some of his toy trucks.
“I’m not sure your family is bound to like me,” Draco adds on, “From what I’ve heard from my family, Lily and James Potter are Gryffindor’s through and through, in every sense of the word.”
Harry just gives his boyfriend a cheeky grin, “You’d be shocked. I should probably actually tell you that it’s not going to be just me and my mum and dad.”
“‘S not?” Ron asks, tilting his head and furrows his brows a bit.
“No, several of my aunts and uncles are coming and they’re… a handful sometimes.” Harry sighs.
“Is one of them Professor Lupin?” Hermione asks, “Isn’t he your godfather or something.”
“My uncle.” Harry nods, “But don’t call him Professor Lupin, he doesn’t like it. Remus is just fine for him.”
“I’d rather not refer to a past professor by their name.” Draco says, not unkindly but more hesitant.
“You could call him Moony but I’m not sure Sirius would be very fond of that. He’s protective of that nickname for anyone outside of his group and me.”
“So how many people are going to be there?” Hermione asks.
Harry hums, “For sure…” he takes a moment to count it out, humming each person’s name before he answers, “Other than you guys, twelve. Maybe thirteen or fourteen but it depends.” By the time he finishes his sentence, he passes by the elderly couple’s house and the man is still sitting outside with his favourite book--a worn copy of Fahrenheit 451 that he once lent to Remus with it’s spine nearly unreadable with the cracks and the front cover almost separated from the book and more notes in the margins then there is empty space. When Harry calls out to him, he looks up and smiles once again, pushing himself off the porch swing his son built him years ago.
“Oh look at that, right on time. Nineteen minutes, young Potter.” He gives a laugh and grabs Archie’s leash from Harry’s hands, “Thank you kid.”
“It wasn’t a problem. Archie seemed happy to accompany my friends.”
“Oh and what a fine group of friends it is. Well, I’ll let you get back home, have a good one, Harry.” He pats Harry’s shoulder once again and turns back towards his porch, throwing over his shoulder, “And tell your folks that Eleanor and I say hello.”
“I will.” Harry smiles, meeting his friends back on the sidewalk, “Have a good day, David.” And with that, Harry pushes on, only passing two more houses before he’s walking up to his front door.
Just before they get to the door, Draco hums, “Maybe it’s my family, but I was expecting more… flashy and less cottage homey for your family.”
“Well, you were expecting wrong.” Harry teases, and pushes the door open--making that god awful creak that Sirius has been wanting to fix for years but always forgot about until he complained the next time he was leaving. Once he and his friends are inside, he calls out, “I’m home!”
It’s Lily’s voice that greets him first, “Welcome back! We’re in the kitchen!” Harry toes off his shoes, making his friends do the same, and he leads them properly inside the house and into the kitchen.
When he gets inside, Mary and Lily have clasped hands and they’re dancing to a tune that Pandora is humming while she’s leaning over the stove. The three glance towards the entry way when they notice that Harry and his friends have entered and Lily gives him a smile, walking to press another kiss to his head, and Harry kisses her cheek, “Hi mum.” Then he looks at Mary and Pandora, “Hey you two.”
Mary walks over and ruffles Harry’s hair, “Hey kiddo.”
“Hello Harry.” Pandora smiles at him with a small wave, “Who’re your friends? I mean, I know names but I’m not sure I could guess faces.”
“I could,” Lily snorts, “The blonde one has to be Draco. He’s got Mafloy’s cheekbones.”
Pandora snorts, “But Cissa’s facial features.”
“Ah, so he’s not a complete tragedy.” Mary jokes, then turns to him, “Sorry, love. We don’t mean to insult you, your mother was a looker but your father…”
Draco just awkwardly waves a hand, “It’s alright.”
“Either way,” Harry sends a glare to the three women, “I figure I’ll introduce my friends properly once everyone’s here. And speaking of which… where are the others?”
Lily pushes away from Harry to reach into their spice drawer and pull a couple things out, “Your fathers, Sirius, and Remus went out to lunch hours ago. I imagine they ended up at the bookstores, but I texted James and he promised they’d stop by the store so…”
“They’ll be here last.”
“Naturally.” She rolls her eyes but her tone is fond, “It’s likely that Remus will drag them back before long. I don’t know about Barty and Evan but Marlene and Dorcas are going to be late, something about one of their cases keeping them long and Peter is on the way.”
Pandora throws over her shoulder, “Last I talked to them, Barty and Evan are going to be getting here probably just before dinner starts. Something about Barty wanting to…” she throws a glance over her shoulder at the teenagers and changes her facial expression, “Well, you know the two of them. I’m sure you can guess.”
And yet the words still make Harry groan, “Gross.”
Mary laughs, and shoves at Harry’s shoulders, “You know your uncles. Either way, go watch a movie or something with your friends, show them around. The Medu Vada that James made has finished if you want to grab some of that to snack on. Dinner’ll be a while.”
Harry nods and walks out of the kitchen with the tray the woman handed him. He guides his friends to the living room, pointing out where the bathrooms and whatever else they may want is. Then he settles himself on the couch and lazily flicks his wand, turning on whatever muggle movie comes on first. The four of them are relatively quiet for a couple minutes while they get themselves settled; Draco and Harry splayed out on one of the couches, Draco sitting politely with Harry outstretched and his head in the blonde’s lap, and Hermione taking the couch chair nearby while Ron decides to just lay on the floor.
Eventually, Draco speaks up, “Sorry for asking this, but which one is your mother?”
Harry hums and lazily tilts his head so he’s making eye contact with his boyfriend while he looks down at him, “The one with red hair. Her name’s Lily. Mary is the one with dark hair and Pandora is the one with white hair.” Once he finishes his statement, he reaches over to the coffee table and grabs two of the Medu Vada sitting on the platter. Once he’s settled back, he offers one to his boyfriend with the mumbled information that it’s vegetarian.
Draco asks what it is he’s being offered and accepts the snack after Harry explains what it is, “Medu Vada. An Indian snack that my dad loves making. They’re like doughnuts but different, if that makes sense.” And after the blonde finishes the treat, he informs Harry that he liked it, which makes the boy smile and push his body up so he can press a kiss to the blonde’s lips, in which Draco returns gladly.
“Wow, they’re almost a spitting image of you guys in school.” Comes a voice from behind them all. Harry, obviously recognizing the voice, shoots up from where he was laying, almost knocking foreheads with his boyfriend. But the voice doesn’t seem to care, as they continue, “I mean, I can see you guys all sitting like this at the Potter house.”
Another person laughs, “Sirius and Remus on the couch, me on the floor in front of them and Pete on the chair doing whatever he did.” Then the laughter is coming closer and Harry doesn’t get a chance to get up from the couch before a hand is ruffling his hair and the previously-laughing voice is saying, “Hey kid.”
Harry looks up after shaking the hand from his messy hair, “Hi dad.” Then he turns around and gazes over the back of the couch, “Papa, Remus, Sirius.” Remus and Regulus both choose to just nod but Sirius trots up to the couch and ruffles Harry’s hair--more aggressively than James did--with a wide grin on his face.
“Getting all touchy-feely with your boyfriend in front of your friends and family, kid?” Sirius knocks the back of his head just a bit, “Perfect. Disappointin’ your parents Black style.”
“You were the disappointment,” The first voice says, walking towards where Sirius and James are standing. Regulus quickly makes it to the side of his brother, “I never snogged my boyfriend in our mother’s living room.”
“No, because you were desperately pining for a taken man, baby brother.”
“Either way, I do have more sense than you.” Regulus rolls his eyes, leaning forward to gently knock his forehead against Harry’s, “How are you, Harry?”
“I’m alright, papa.” Harry smiles, “How was your day out?”
“It was good.” Regulus responds with a smile, “I would tell you more, however, I think James and Sirius are dying to properly meet your group here.” Harry nods quickly and calls for the women in the kitchen. After a couple seconds, the three are emerging and moving to sit around the living room with the guys that have now settled. James and Regulus are sitting on the other couch, sharing it with Pandora and Lily--Pandora presses a kiss to Regulus’ cheek and he does the same to her while Lily and James embrace in a one-armed hug before they sit down--and Mary settles on the arm of said couch. Meanwhile, Remus and Sirius sit on the floor opposite of the coffee table to where Ron has sprawled.
Once they’re all settled, Harry clears his throat, “You guys, these are my parents and two of my uncles. Lily, my mum, Mary and Pandora, her girlfriends. My dad James, and his boyfriend Regulus. Then you guys know Sirius and Remus, my uncles. Family, these are my friends Ron and Hermione, and this is my boyfriend Draco.” James and Sirius wave enthusiastically--although Sirius has already met all of them--while Lily, Pandora, Remus, and Mary offer gentle smiles. Regulus, however, just slides his gaze over each of the three that’s been introduced to him and nods to them individually after a couple seconds.
And after a couple seconds of quickly blinking, Ron finally speaks up, “Wait, sorry. Your mum’s girlfriends? And your dad’s boyfriend?”
Harry nods, “Yeah. Long story short, mum and dad were going to get married but then they had some like emotional bonding or something and realized that they were better off as friends and dad and Regulus had been in love but in denial about it for a long time and mum just refused to acknowledge that she was in love with Mary and Pandora because my grandparents and aunt aren’t the most accepting people. So, even though mum was pregnant with me they went off and found love and now they co-parent me.”
Remus snorts, “That’s probably the worst way you could describe it with such a quick summary.”
But then Sirius butts in, “No, he could’ve told his friends that one of them was like emotionally cheating on the other or they were both hiding themselves because they were gay and didn’t want to tell the other.”
“Still, likely not the best way for him to phrase it.” Regulus rolls his eyes. He stands up and extends his hand to Lily, “I know that you were cooking, but would you like to come with me and Remus to grab all the books we got.”
Lily smiles and grabs his hand with a nod, “Sure. I mean, I’m mostly finished with the desserts, all that’s left is for you and Sirius to make yours and James to get to work on the rest of dinner.” To which James sighs dramatically but stands up as well, disappearing into the kitchen, closely followed by Mary and Pandora. Remus stands up shortly after and follows the other two out of the house.
Meanwhile, Sirius sighs dramatically and looks away from where he was just watching Remus leave to level Harry with a look, rolling his eyes, “Nerds, the lot of them.”
Harry laughs and gestures to Hermione and Draco, “They’re super into books as well. Sometimes I think they’re the ones dating with how often they’re talking.”
“Kid,” Sirius starts laying his hand out flat on his knee and leaning forward, “You wouldn’t believe the amount of times I thought Moony was going to leave me for Reggie when we were in school.”
From the kitchen, James laughs, “You think that was bad? I’m not sure how I ended up with Reggie; several times I thought he and Lily were going to be the ones that end up together.”
Sirius barks a laugh, “To be entirely fair, I’m pretty sure Moony assumed that one day he was gonna walk in on you and me snogging.”
“I’m honestly surprised that we didn’t.” Comes yet another voice from the doorway. Peter walks in and throws his jacket down on the bench haphazardly. He stalks into the living room and throws himself on the floor.
But Harry groans, “Can we stop talking about my dad snogging people?”
“Never!” Sirius laughs, “How’re you Wormy?”
Peter shrugs, “I’m doing alright. Harry, let me meet your friends.”
Harry nods and gives him the quick rundown of the people with him, then gestures to Peter, “And this is my uncle Peter, or Pete. Whatever you fancy.”
Hermione smiles and offers Peter a gentle wave before turning to Harry, “Is it common that people just waltz into your house.”
Harry nods, “Our house is kind of the hangout for everyone so yeah. I mean, floo connections are open for everyone that’ll be here tonight so if they want to jump in they can, unless we turn it off.”
Draco shrugs next to him, “We also have people go in and out of our house all the time, though that’s mostly due to the nature of my family’s association.”
Sirius groans and throws his head back, “Pricks, all of ‘em.”
“I forget that you’d know some of the people that would enter my house.” Draco says, then he turns to Harry, “I knew of you being close with Sirius, but why have you never told me that Regulus is a father-figure to you?”
Harry shrugs, “You seemed to have a bad enough reaction to me being close with Sirius, I didn’t want to drop that on you randomly.”
Ron grimaces from where he’s laying on the floor, “So Harry, you’re dating someone that’s related to your dad?”
Harry bobs his head back and forth, contemplating, “Technically? I mean, Sirius and Regulus are Draco’s… uncles? His mom is their cousin but they were both disowned and I’m not blood related to either of them? And even then, the Potters and the Blacks have already intertwined our family trees before…”
“Pure blood family shit.” Sirius concludes, “It’s weird to come around to, but when you realize that Regulus isn’t just my brother but also my cousin, you learn to ignore it.”
“I’m also fairly sure that there’s some relation between my mother and my father as well.” Draco says, as though he’s just talking about the weather.
“Okay…” Ron drags off, whistling a bit, “I regret asking.”
“Just don’t think too much about it.” Harry shrugs, “I try to ignore it.” And by the time that he finishes his sentence, Lily, Remus, and Regulus are walking in with stacks upon stacks of books in their arms. They walk towards the many bookshelves they have lining the walls in their living room and set them down. Immediately, Hermione’s interest is peaked when she notices one of the books, The Picture of Dorian Gray, sitting on the top of one of the stacks that Remus puts down. She unfolds herself from the couch chair and pushes towards it, asking about the book. To which Remus smiles and starts talking to her about it, which eventually has Regulus and Draco joining in on the conversation as well. Sirius groans and starts talking to Pete which leaves Harry and Ron alone to their own thoughts.
And Ron turns to Harry, “Your family is… interesting.”
“I told you. Also, I’m not sure you can say much about it.” Harry raises an eyebrow, “I think your family is just as weird. And, I mean, this isn’t all of them. Cas, Marlene, Barty, and Evan still need to show up.”
“Also,” Pandora adds, walking in from the kitchen with a towel in her hands, “I’m sorry to eavesdrop, but I do believe that Luna was going to come as well.”
“Yeah, where is she, by the way?”
“She was going out with that girl she likes.” Pandora smiles, “Told me that she was going to ask her if she wanted to come to this. So whenever she finishes up with her, either just Luna or both of them will be coming.”
Harry nods but Ron furrows his eyebrows, “Luna? Like Luna Lovegood?”
Once again, Harry nods, “Yeah, she’s Dora’s daughter. Kinda a sister to me by this point.”
“I didn’t realize she was into women?” Draco says over his shoulder, apparently having been half-tuned into their conversation.
“She’s been gushing about this girl she met last year for months now.” Pandora says, “She’s scared that the girl isn’t going to like her back, the poor thing.”
“Sounds like someone I know, Dora.” Regulus says with a smile on his face as he turns to her.
“Like mother, like daughter.” Lily adds on, not looking up from the book that she’s holding in front of Hermione.
Pandora rolls her eyes, “Like either of you were much better.”
And Lily is going to retort, but Peter gets to it before her, “Let’s be honest, I think every single one of you were messes before you got into your relationships.”
“We weren’t that bad.” Sirius rolls his eyes.
And this time it’s Harry that levels him with a look, one matching Peter’s, “Didn’t you tell me that you confessed to Moony drunk then refused to talk to him, or even dad, because you thought you fucked everything up.”
“Language, Harry.” Remus chides, though it’s half-hearted, “But you’re not wrong.”
“Hey, you were content to pretend that you weren’t head over heels for Sirius because you figured that him just being in your life was better than pretending that he would actually love you.” Lily smiles at him, pressing her hand to his arm.
“Okay, we don’t have time to unpack all of our love stories.” James says, walking in from the kitchen.
“Oh just because you don’t want to relive the way that you were head over heels for me,” Lily teases with an easy smile on her lips, “While also trying not to freak out because you were all of a sudden looking at your best friend’s little brother in a little bit too much of a romantic sense.”
“That’s an understatement.” Peter laughs, “Prongsie boy once told me that when he looked at Regulus he just wanted to ‘watch him melt completely under hi-’”
“There are children in this room!” James cuts him off with a terse smile, “One of which is my son. I’d prefer we don’t talk like that.”
“Oh they’re teenagers.” Sirius pouts, clearly having enjoyed watching James’ face go red.
“I’d appreciate it if you guys don’t scare my friends off from the first time you meet them.” Harry says through clenched teeth, “I do like them.”
“Oh please Haz, we’re just preparing them for Marlene, Barty, and Evan.” The man says lazily, allowing his head to fall back and loll over so he’s looking at Harry.
“Great.” Harry sighs and rolls his eyes, though it’s fond.
Then, to Harry’s great appreciation, James rolls his eyes as well though he says, “Pads, did you want to start making some of the desserts you and Reggie talked about?”
“I don’t trust him to make anything in our kitchen.” Regulus says, making his brother groan. He pushes himself to a stand, “At least not alone.” At that, Sirius huffs but still stands up as well.
“Good, I need some input on spice levels for some of the food. Harry was saying his friends don’t eat a lot of spicy food.” James smiles at his boyfriend, who has now reached where he’s standing. Regulus nods and wraps an arm around James’ elbow, leading the two of them into the kitchen with Sirius hot on their tail.
There’s only a couple seconds of silence after they’ve left before Ron is turning back to Pandora and Harry, “I’m still on the whole Luna thing.”
“What about it?” Harry asks, tilting his head a bit.
“Like the fact that you guys are basically siblings and that she’s in love with a girl.”
Hermione sighs as she too pushes herself from the floor and makes her way back to the chair that she was sitting in before, “Was it that hard to tell that she liked girls? I mean the way that she looked at me when we first met made it obvious.”
Harry smiles at the girl, before he turns back to Ron, “As for the sibling thing. Pandora shares custody with her ex so Luna has spent a lot of time here and we’ve grown to see each other like siblings.”
“That makes sense.” Draco says, also joining the group once again. He settles down next to Harry and gives his boyfriend a small smile when the Gryffindor puts an arm around his shoulder.
“Well then who does she like?” Ron asks, seemingly still a bit confused.
Pandora hums, “Oh I wish I could remember her name. Luna’s told me several times, Harry what was the name of the girl she liked?”
Harry gets a grin on his face and meets Ron’s eyes directly at his next words, “Her name’s Ginny.”
The woman snaps her fingers and nods, “That was her name. Oh, I feel bad for not being able to remember it.” However, Harry’s more focused on the way that Ron’s face has lost all colour and he stares back at Harry wide eyed.
“Ginny?” The ginger asks, nearly squeaking it out. From beside him, Harry can feel Draco’s shoulder shake with silent laughter and he watches as Hermione gets a small smile on her face.
Harry nods, “Yeah, haven’t you noticed them talking a lot more recently?” Then he turns towards Pandora, who’s thrown the towel she was previously holding over her shoulder, “Ginny’s one of the Weasleys.”
“She was the one that you liked, right?” Lily asks, slotting the last new book into a bookshelf and standing up.
Harry nods, “Yeah. I get why Luna likes her.”
Peter, who still refuses to move from the floor, barks a loud laugh, “There’s definitely a type in this family of yours.”
“Whatever do you mean?” Lily asks, but she’s grinning.
“Oh I wonder. A Potter falls for a ginger-haired Gryffindor girl with a bit of a mean streak then realizes that he actually likes men and ends up with a Black family descendent. And once they’ve moved on from their ginger, in swoops a Lovegood-slash-Rosier girl to panickedly sweep her off her feet.” Pete sums up, laughing through his words.
“Don’t forget that at some point both generations have fallen for their best mate’s younger sibling.” Remus adds on.
“Oh it’s just like a repeat of us in our Hogwarts years.” Lily laughs, “And to think that it all almost ended early.”
“Oh thank fuck it didn’t.” Peter smiles.
“For someone who’s constantly groaning about being around us,” Lily begins teasing, “Those are strong words.” She waves him off with a hand as she reaches where Pandora is standing, pressing a kiss to her lips, “We need some music.”
“Please.” Pandora smiles. She and Lily walk towards the record player in the corner of the room. It’s an older thing, something that James bought Lily for their first anniversary alongside a couple of her favourite records. Now they have a whole crate of records that they’ve gotten over the years, either as gifts or spontaneous buys from days out and things that some of their friends have scrounged up and just left here.
“What vibe are we feeling tonight?” Lily asks as she leans down to grab the crate from the shelf under the table the record player is sitting on. She gets several shouts from the living room and the kitchen and it takes a couple minutes before they’re able to come up with a consensus on what order they want to play the records in. Though, eventually there’s music coming from the corner of the room and the room feels just that much more lively.
At some point, James pokes his head into the room telling them all that it’s likely going to be another couple hours before dinner is ready so the groups disperse into doing whatever they feel like doing. Harry breaks out a wizard chess board for him, Draco, and Hermione to take turns against Ron--at some point, Remus even folds himself on the ground in front of the coffee table to play a couple rounds against him and he manages to win a couple times.
There are several people going in and out of the kitchen to take part in cooking whatever they were working on. When people aren’t cooking, they’re singing along to the music and, when it comes to Lily and Mary and Pandora, dancing to some of the songs. Drinks get spread around--alcoholic and non-alcoholic for the teens--and Harry is glad to see his friends and boyfriend get marginally more and more comfortable with the atmosphere.
At some point, Marlene and Dorcas apparate in and are introduced to Harry’s friends and Marlene presses a wet kiss to Harry’s cheek when he flips her off for teasing him about the way he and Draco are leaning into each other.
And about an hour before James tells them dinner’s ready, Luna and Ginny are walking through the door, faces red and hands clasped between them. Pandora gives her daughter a big hug and tells her she’s happy for her when Luna introduces Ginny to her family as her girlfriend--and it’s comical the way that Ron’s eyes widen even further than they had previously and he takes a couple minutes to process any information; it’s the only time that Harry’s been able to beat Ron at wizard chess.
Once Luna’s introduced her new girlfriend, the couple make way towards the couch that Harry and Draco are sitting on and settle down, immediately joining the fray of the group.
Then, just before dinner, Barty and Evan appear in the house and the first words either of them say is Barty shielding his eyes and in a fake scandalized voice shrieking, “Too much PDA, little Potter! How dare you cuddle your boyfriend in public.”
To which Evan rolled his eyes at his boyfriend, though he still smirked and said to Harry, “Get a room, H.”
“My son will not be getting a room.” James says, stalking into the living room, “At least not yet, because dinner’s served.” Then the group migrates into the kitchen to start serving themselves up.
And the kitchen smells delightful. On the island sit several large platters and dishes piled full of food. On a separate table are a bunch of different desserts. Everyone serves themself up other than the teenages, who Harry and Luna make wait so they can explain each dish.
Harry points to each dish individually, “They’re all Indian food, but I think dad has tried to keep some of them as least spicy as possible. That is Malai Kofta, not normally super spicy and vegetarian, then the other less spicy one is biryani.” He then sweeps his hands over the dishes that he’s standing over to serve himself, “These two are probably super spicy, this is Vindaloo and that one’s Chana Masala, which is vegan. That over there is Chapati, it’s a type of bread that’s eaten with all of these.”
Luna reaches over and grabs herself some of the Malai Kofta, already having grabbed some Chapati, “I love Chapati, it’s even better with the garlic spread James makes.” Then they help their friends serve themselves up and make their way to the table that the Potters set up earlier.
Once everyone’s sat down, the eating and conversations pick up. Harry gets quite the kick out of the way that Ron’s face seems to be permanently red and the way that Hermione seems a little flustered by the way that his family talks and interacts with each other. Harry had figured that Ron would be more used to the weird conversations that his family would have, considering the family that he grew up with, though it does make sense that Ron’s family would discuss weird things in a very different form then Harry’s.
It’s comical the way he almost spits out his water when Barty starts flirting with Sirius--in which was through many sexual innuendos--which makes a jealous Remus whisper something into his boyfriend’s ear that clearly gets him very flustered.
And later in the dinner Hermione swats at Harry’s arm when he snorts at James rolling his eyes at the two couples sitting across from each other and saying, “You look like you’re about to pounce on each other, just fuck already.”
But none of the conversations or weird things said at the dinner send any of Harry’s friends running for the hills, so he counts it as a win. And Draco doesn’t seem super put off by the way that Harry’s family has taken humour in cracking jokes about theirs or Ginny and Luna’s relationship--in fact, it almost seems like he’s finding some part of enjoyment in the teasing.
And when dinner finally finishes up, the group migrates back into the living room and a couple people go to take care of the rest of dinner and wash up. Harry and Mary bring out the desserts from the kitchen, placing them all on the coffee table--Apricot Pate de Fruit and Profiteroles made by Regulus, Jammie Dodgers and Treacle Tart made by Lily and some leftover Battenburg Cake that Harry and Luna spontaneously baked the previous day.
And by the time that the night is wrapping up, Hermione seems comfortable talking with specifically Remus, Regulus, and Lily and Draco is sitting and softly smiling though he doesn’t say much--James remarks at one point that he and Harry have very similar taste when he notices that Regulus hadn’t said anything in thirty minutes--and Ron eventually comes around to some of the conversation topic that the group is having.
Marlene and Dorcas eventually head home, saying that they have work in the morning. The rest of them finish off the night with Harry and Luna bringing Hermione and Ron to one of the guest rooms and Ginny disappearing into Luna’s room while Draco and Harry go into Harry’s own--blushing from the way that Barty and Sirius tell them to be safe in twin shouts that then make the adults break into howling laughter.
The two get ready for bed in relative silence and it’s not until Draco and Harry are laying embraced in each other’s arms does Draco speak, “Your family is much different than I was expecting.”
“Yeah,” Harry snorts softly, “You were just expecting my mum and dad who have bad rep with your family.”
“I suppose so.” Draco’s smiling and it melts Harry’s heart, “Though I can’t say I was expecting the Slytherin pure-bloods.”
“No one ever does.” Harry trails off and once again the couple fall into silence.
It’s only after a few minutes does Draco speak up again, “I didn’t know anyone in my family line could be that openly affectionate and comfortable.”
Harry cracks his eyes open just enough to gaze at his boyfriend’s face, “What do you mean?”
“I mean Sirius and… Remus were so comfortable with each other. They were joking about getting married and everything. Then Regulus and your dad… Sirius and Regulus were both smiling and joking and they didn’t have walls up. I didn’t realize that was a thing possible for anyone in my family line.”
Harry sighs and reaches up to cup Draco’s cheek with a hand, “It took a lot of work for them to get here. I mean, I only know what they’ve told me but it was hard for them to accept the love and friends that were being given to them, they figured they didn’t deserve it. Apparently papa thought it was impossible for him to love someone, and when he did he was sure they’d alway leave him.”
“But it was possible for him to love. And he and Sirius did deserve it.” Draco says and while it’s not phrased like a question, there is something ponderous to his tone. Almost like he’s only now seeing that as an option, even for himself.
“It is, and they deserve every drop of love they’ve gotten from all those people you met today.” Harry smiles and presses his forehead to Draco’s, “Just like you, Dray. I love you.”
Draco takes a couple seconds and it looks like he’s contemplating saying something, chewing on his words, before he smiles back, “I love you too Harry.” And he’s pressing a gentle kiss to Harry’s lips then they’re falling asleep in each other’s arms.
The next morning, the boys wake up to a commotion happening downstairs--though that technically doesn’t wake them up, as they’re used to quite a bit of noise in the mornings--and a banging on Harry’s door. Harry groans and is just pushing himself to sit so he can start reaching for his glasses from his nightstand when the door is slammed open and in comes Sirius.
The man smiles at the two of them and nods, “Good, you’re clothed. Moony made Teisennau Tatws, he made sure to make them so Draco can have some.” Then he’s backing out of the room and slamming the door shut.
Draco groans and wraps his arms around Harry’s waist, “Your uncle is incredibly annoying.”
“You get used to it.” Harry smiles and runs his hand through his boyfriend’s hair, working out some of the knots that worked into the blonde’s hair while they were sleeping.
“Do you?”
“Eventually, yeah. Did you want to get some breakfast? And I imagine that one of them made tea.” Draco grumbles a bit at the question but eventually pushes himself up as well. Together, they get out of bed and make their way downstairs where several people are lounging around in various stages of consciousness; though it’s clear from Peter and Barty’s lack of presence that they’re both still asleep. Remus, Lily, James, and Regulus are sitting at the table with plates in front of them and mugs full of either tea or coffee. Remus is currently coaxing Sirius to sit down, Lily seems to be pretty awake and she’s not saying much in favour of just watching the couple while she eats, and Regulus is resting his head on James’ shoulder seemingly asleep--though Harry can tell he’s somewhat awake by the way that he’s accepting the food that James offers him every once in a while and reaching to bring his mug to his lips.
Evan is just finishing serving himself up and Mary and Pandora are both grabbing plates by the time that Harry and Draco get into the kitchen and Harry is quick to grab some food for himself and Draco while Draco makes them tea. The teens sit at the table once they’re finished and Harry asks where Luna and Ginny are.
Pandora grins at him, “Luna came down and got herself and Ginny food and tea then brought it to her.”
Next to him, Draco groans, “Why couldn’t you have done that for me?”
“Because I know you, and I know that you like getting out of bed as fast as possible so you wake up easier.” Harry smiles, “And Ginny is impossible to get out of bed, at least according to Ron.”
“It’s a trait all Weasley’s have apparently.” Hermione groans as she walks into the kitchen. She’s wearing proper clothes now, clearly having spent some time getting herself ready before she even considered leaving the guest bedroom, “It’s like they close their eyes and enter a miniature coma.”
“Try getting Ron up in the morning to get ready for school.” Harry groans, “Neville, Dean, Seamus, and I started making a game out of it a couple years ago.” Hermione sighs and grabs herself some food, settling down at the table as well, asking about the dish she’s been served like she has with all the other things the family has offered her.
And a couple hours later, after everyone is awake, Harry and Luna are leading their friends and partners out of the doors of the house, beginning to walk them back to the Leaky Cauldron so they can head home.
A couple minutes into their walk, Draco speaks up, “Now that I’ve met who raised you, I can see how you managed to be such a chaotic git.”
Hermione nods at his statement, “I’ve always wondered who raised you to become the way that you are. I guess it makes sense now having met them.”
“And what does that mean?”
“Oh nothing.” Hermione smiles, “Your ‘family’ is just a little unique.”
From behind the group, hand in hand with Ginny, Luna shrugs, “It makes for interesting breaks when we come home.”
“Yeah,” Harry smiles at his pseudo-sister, “You never know which ones are going to threaten to make out with who.”
Luna grins back at him, “I’ve started making a list for every time it happens. We’ll have to analyze the trends together.”
“Oh that would be lovely, Luna.”
Ginny laughs next to her, “I liked them.”
“Of course you would.” Ron groans, “They were nice and all and I love you Harry, but I will need another six years of knowing you before I ever consider going to a family dinner with your family again.”
Harry gives his friend a critical look, “Oh really? I was thinking of having my family and the Weasleys have one big family dinner one day.”
“Now that would end in a couple people getting hexed, I’m sure of it.” Draco remarks, making the group hum in various degrees of agreement.
“I think it’d be interesting.”
“Of course you would, Harry.” Ron groans once again, “You just delight in chaos happening around you, don’t you.”
“It’s all I’ve ever known, Ron.” Is Harry’s only response to that, grinning.