Deck the Claw
By: Sheltie
I don't own Harry Potter at all
A/N: right, I decided to do a Xmas HP story to close out the year. I wanted to have at least one last update before the end of the year. I know, I know this is a horrible title. This one has Cho Chang, Padma Patil, Penelope Clearwater and Su Li. I just tossed these girls into this at random really.
"A little higher Su."
"Ugh, if I go any higher I'll need to grow" Su grunted as she was now on tiptoes.
"Just a bit higher."
"Darn it Padma, if you want it higher than you do it. I'm out of height" Su said furiously as she was straining to go as high as she could go while keeping her toes on the top of the ladder, her arm out stretched to its full length and still not even close to where Padma wanted the ornament. So she tossed the ornament at her fellow Claw and hopped off the ladder with cat like grace.
Padma snatched it out of the air like a skilled Seeker. She then got on the ladder and hung the ornament where she wanted it.
"You know Su, you're a witch, we can use magic" Cho commented from her side of the tree she was decorating with her wand.
Su paused and then covered her face with her hands as she let out an embarrassed groan.
There was laughter at this.
Su, Padma, Cho and Penelope were in the middle of decorating for Christmas. The tree was the focal point and it was almost as big as the trees that Hagrid hauls in for Christmas to put in the Great Hall at Hogwarts. It helped that the room was more than large enough to accommodate not only tree, but also everything else the girls have been setting up including the furniture that's in the room.
"Come on now, we need to get this all done before he gets home" Penny said as she was hanging garland on the cornice.
"Yeah, yeah" Su muttered as she pulled out her wand and began to decorate the tree again.
"Not there Su, over there. Those are too close" Padma said.
"Oh for goodness sake Pad, you're acting like Hermione" Su said steamed.
"I just want things perfect Su, you know that" Padma said.
"We all do Pad, but you need to relax" Cho said as she stepped around the tree from behind with a row of icicle ornaments following her.
Padma took a few deep breaths to sooth herself.
"Okay, fine" she said. "It's just this will be our first Christmas together with Harry. All of us."
The other nodded understanding this since it was true. They were sometimes busy this time of year so spending it together was at times difficult. This year was the first year there was no busy schedules to hinder them.
Penny smiled.
"Dory" she called.
A house elf appeared with a gentle pop.
"You called mistress Penny?" Dory asked.
"Yes, I think we need some refreshments. How about some of that brie and crackers along with the white grape juice" Penny said.
Dory nodded and popped away only to reappear a few moments later with a large tray of various cheeses, crackers and cups of white grape juice.
"Thank you Dory" Penny said.
Dory bowed and left.
"Right, this should help" Penny said.
The girls nibbled on the snacks as they kept decorating. Some Christmas music began playing in the background.
"Who put that on?" Cho asked curiously.
"I did, I thought it would make it more festive" Penny said.
"Turn it up, I like this song" Su chirped.
The song playing was Jingle Bells. It was a simple song, but Su loved it as she twirled and danced to it as she kept up decorating.
Soon the place was fully decorated.
"I hope Harry will get here soon" Cho said frowning.
"He said he had to stop by the Burrow since he wouldn't be able to on Christmas" Su said.
"I still wish he'd let one of us go with him. You know how Molly will try and push Harry at Ginny like every time before" Padma said frowning.
"That woman" Penny said shaking her head, "she's still quite adamant about how Harry and Ginny are fated together when they never dated before."
"Yeah, I mean he dated all of us at one point or another" Su said.
"I know, I was first since he took me to the Yule Ball" Padma said with a smirk at being the first to date Harry.
"You tricked your sister in trading and I'm still not sure if counting the Yule ball as a real date" Cho said.
"You just want to claim the title of being first since you and Harry dated a bit in his fifth year" Penny said.
Padma's date with Harry at the Yule Ball was magical for the former Claw. Something that couldn't be said for her twin, whose date was Ron Weasley. The redhead completely ignored her as he kept his eyes on Hermione and Krum seething in some kind of jealousy whether it was because Hermione was with Krum or vice versa was still up in the air since the redhead would never confirm either or.
Harry however kept his attention on his date and Padma enjoyed it thoroughly. Though being with Harry at the Yule Ball led her being his captive in the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The two dated until after the end of fourth year and Harry broke up with Padma. He didn't want to endanger her with Voldemort being back. Padma understood at the time though wasn't totally happy about it; she just understood where Harry was coming from.
"What so wrong about that. Sure we broke up since I was still getting over Cedric, but it was mutual and we still cared for each other" Cho said.
Cho and Harry did date in Harry's fifth year for a few weeks, but it didn't last since Cho still was grieving and that wasn't a great place to try and get into a relationship. So they broke with each other. There were no hard feelings and Cho promised to help Harry in any way she could. She kept that vow when her best friend ratted out the secret unauthorized defense club Harry was running was outed and Cho wasn't happy with her friend doing this and broke ties with her. Then during the war she helped with the war effort since she believed in Harry.
"Harry and I dated for a bit in our last year after the war" Su said, "it was so strange being back at Hogwarts afterwards."
After Voldemort was finally vanquished by Harry's hand Hogwarts closed down for a bit since it needed to go through repairs since the school was the place for the final battle. Not to mention there were a lot of funerals and memorials that needed to be done then came the trials. Once re-opened it was decided that all students who were seventh years were to re-take the year since the previous year was considered to have never had happened since Hogwarts was under Death Eater control. Harry came back due to McGonagall's urging. He really didn't need to since he had an open spot to become an auror, but Harry felt he deserved a quiet school year after all he's been through.
The time when Su and Harry were dating was nice for Harry since he could actually relax and not worry about any looming prophecy declaring he had to defeat whatever evil is rising. There was a lightness to their relationship and only ended since Su being a Claw felt she needed to focus on her studies and Harry accepted the break knowing how much Su had ahead of her.
"Then finally me" Penny said, "it was after Harry graduated and we ran into each other and well, we got together really."
That's really how it happened. Harry and Penny ran into each other in Diagon Alley. A rare trip for Harry since he tended to stay out of public since he was so famous he got mobbed. The two hit it off and dated though stayed on the muggle side since Harry like the fact he could go out without any recognizing him. It helped that Penny was a muggle-born and knew this side well and could fit in unlike those raised in the magical world, who'd stick out like a sore thumb.
Along with all four girls having dated Harry at some point in time when it was time for Harry to settle down he chose them since he knew them and had dated them, plus they were all single and they still had feelings for Harry. It was a shock to find out that they'd be marrying the same guy. It turned out Harry had multiple titles, not just Potter. He got the Black title from his godfather, the Gryffindor title due to his lineage to the one of the founders of Hogwarts from his father's side and then finally an old family that thought long since dead, the Peverell line. So Harry had to marry four times since he couldn't merge lines due to keeping a balance of power. Harry let the four girls decide what name they wanted since he felt it was going to be their name they should be given a choice.
The weddings were spread out every three months really so each girl got their honeymoon with Harry and had some time just with him. Penny took the Potter title with Su taking Black, Cho taking Gryffindor and Padma taking Peverell. When the last girl was married to Harry they all moved into Potter manor, which the four witches renovated since it was in dire need of updating. They all lived happily together and sure they had their spats, but it did help they created a schedule so each got time with Harry.
Harry went with it since he knew his wives were much smarter than he was, but he did put his foot down when the time came. But other than that he didn't do too much. He actually didn't need to work since the Potters were loaded, but Harry did many other things like run several charities and such. His wives also didn't need to work, but wanted to since they needed something to do so they kept their jobs they had since Harry wanted them to be happy.
"HELLO, ANYONE HERE!"
"In here Harry" Su called back.
Harry came in and was astounded by what his wives had done.
"You like?" Cho asked smiling.
"Yeah" Harry said mesmerized by the fully decorated living room.
It was full of Christmas cheer, but not in a gaudy or overstuffed sense. It felt just right for the room.
"We worked really hard on this" Padma said.
"You all did amazing" Harry complimented.
"Thanks Harry" the Claws said in unison.
"So how was the Burrow?" Cho asked.
"It was fine then Ginny flooed in with her new boyfriend, Colin" Harry said.
"Colin, as in Colin Creevey?" Su asked.
Harry nodded, "yeah, turns out he and Ginny got paired up for an assignment and hit it off. They've traveling following a Quidditch team in some kind of in-depth look into certain Quidditch teams."
"Oh boy, I bet Molly was thrilled to bits about that" Penny said.
"Yeah, she was" Harry said as he rubbed the back of his neck, "she practically blew up telling Ginny how she should live her life. Give up her job as a reporter for Quidditch Weekly, get married to me, and have kids."
"And I bet Ginny was all for that" Padma said sarcastically.
"Ginny shouted back not backing down telling Molly that she doesn't run her life and she can do whatever she pleased" Harry said, "then she told Molly how she and Colin already had sex. Not something you really want or need to hear you know."
"I'll bet and in front of the family too" Su muttered.
"Yeah, the entire Weasley family was there and heard it since, well, Weasleys don't do quiet arguments" Harry said stating the last part like it was a fact.
"So nothing else big happened aside from that?" Penny asked.
"No, it was nice to see the twins and see how they're doing. Bill and Fleur are doing great, so is Charlie. Percy was there, but he seemed itching to leave and head back to the Ministry even if he's on holiday. Ron and his wife Romilda were there with their kids" Harry said.
Penny shook her head about Percy. Sometimes she wondered what she was thinking when she was dating him during her school years.
"That's great, I'm glad they're doing good" Cho said.
Harry nodded.
"They gave me presents to give you" he said as he pulled out a shrunken sack from his pocket that he enlarged to its proper size.
"That was nice of them, they didn't need to do that" Padma said.
"Well all of them think of you as family in some way aside from Molly, so they didn't think anything of it" Harry said.
His wives nodded. The other Weasleys accepted Harry's wives with only Molly being the only one not on board with it.
Harry took a seat on the couch that looked quite familiar to a red couch in the Gryffindor common room. Cho moved quickly and took up the spot on his left with Penny slipping in on his right.
"Hey, no fair" Su pouted.
"Sorry Su, but first come, first serve you know" Cho said smirking.
Su kept pouting then a smile spread across her face as an idea bloomed in her mind. She walked over and took a seat in Harry's lap with Harry wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to him instinctually since this hadn't been the first time they've sat like this.
"Well that's great, where does that leave me?" Padma asked with her hands on her hips.
"You got the floor Pad, sorry" Penny apologized sincerely.
Padma shook her head and then took her place on the floor.
"I'll win next time" she stated.
The four had a little friendly competition when it came to these kinds of things like sitting next to Harry since there was only so many spots to sit next to Harry.
The five just sat there enjoying the decorated tree, shining with a roaring fire going.
End
A/N: okay, this one was a hard one to figure out an ending to really. It took me a long time to figure out to end this since I just couldn't think of one that worked and didn't seem forced, you know. But finally did it and hoped it worked. Thanks for reading and please review.