Pansy heard two sharp knocks on the door to her bedroom, or rather dedicated closet and bathroom space, since she'd been spending all of her nights with Harry.
"Come in!" she called, and Harry entered. Pansy's eyes scanned Harry to appraise his dark suit and freshly washed hair. "You clean up nicely, dangerously, even," she told him, holding out her hands to draw him over to her where she stood near her closet. "Care to zip me up?" she asked, turning around to reveal the expanse of her back behind the open zipper in her dress covered in sparkling gold sequins. She swept her dark waves aside to leave a clear line for the zipper's path.
"I thought you could do these up with magic," Harry asked, as his fingers found the pull for the zipper at her lower back. He traced them up her spine ahead of the pull, touching her as much as possible during the process, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck.
"Not as fun as when you do it," she told him, and Harry stepped closer, gripping her hips with his hands.
"You're so beautiful," he whispered at her neck as he held her back to him. "I tell myself you can't possibly be as beautiful as I remember you to be, and then I see you and you're even more beautiful than you are in my head. I'm always losing my breath around you," he told her, moving his hands to her shoulders, then down the sequinned front of her dress, over breasts and past her belly to rest again at her hips.
Pansy turned in his arms, threading hers around Harry's neck before pressing her lips to his. "You flatter," she told him between kisses.
"Nope. I will always tell you the truth," he returned. "I suppose we should go before Draco comes over to drag us to the Manor himself," Harry said.
"I'm ready," Pansy said. "Let's go." She grabbed Harry's hand and led him out of her room.
"We are so delighted you both could join us," Astoria said, pressing kisses to their cheeks in turn. "Taffy here will take your coats, then we're all in the parlor."
Harry and Pansy gave their coats to the waiting elf and followed Astoria to a grandly decorated room, with sparkling trees as high as the ceilings and festive music complementing the warm holiday scents permeating the room.
"Pansy, Harry," Draco said, moving to greet them. "So glad you could make it. Happy Yule," he said, offering his hand to Harry.
"Draco, Happy Yule," Pansy said before moving in to hug him.
"Refreshments and drinks are on the tables, help yourself."
"Let me guess, all the poncy cheeses I've ever wanted," Pansy teased as Harry gave Draco a look of amusement.
"Plebe," Draco retorted.
"Hardly," Pansy snorted. "There are other food than only cheese and accoutrements, Draco."
He ignored her, and turned to nod across the room. "Granger and Theo are here and everyone else keeps trickling in."
"Ron?" Harry asked.
Draco sighed. "Blaise is coming, and I would assume his paramours will join him. Fucking Prophet," he said.
Harry grabbed Pansy's hand. "Let's see what kind of bar you stock," he jabbed.
"No doubt better than yours," Draco snorted. "We've got that wine you like, Pans," he said as he led them over to the bar.
"Harry! You made it!" a glowing Hermione said as she swept over with Theo in tow. Greetings exchanged, Harry asked, "how are you feeling? How's my niece treating you?"
"Well. We're both well," Hermione shared. "Hungry, though," she added.
"So hungry," Theo added with a smirk. "Sometimes even at half three."
Hermione turned to Pansy as Theo moved to fill a plate for his wife. "I've got another file for you. I ran into a contact yesterday, a solicitor I know at the Ministry, and have a list of available properties around Diagon Alley for you. After the holiday we can start to scout them out."
"Fabulous!" Pansy exclaimed. "I'm so excited to get the process started and that's really the next thing that needs to be set before we can progress much further."
"Around Diagon?" Harry asked with a curious expression on his face. "That's good, smart," he told Pansy, threading his arm around her waist while pressing a glass of dark red wine into her hand. Pansy grinned up at him. "Have you talked to Ron yet, Hermione?" Harry asked, changing the subject.
"A bit a couple of days ago, but not at all since yesterday's Prophet came out. Quite the shocker," she supplied.
Pansy raised her dark brow at Hermione. "Really, Granger?"
"Well…" Hermione trailed off. "Parts of it, anyway. Not everything. Definitely not everything." Theo laughed and Harry looked surprised at her response.
"Come on, love," Pansy said while patting Harry's face. "Let's leave Granger-Nott to her small selection of pasteurized cheeses."
A short while later the party was in full swing, guests chatting in small groups around the festive space. Harry and Pansy wandered over to where Luna was sitting, cross legged next to Greg Goyle on one of the sofas.
"I wonder if there would be any merits to try to introduce additional species into some of your crosses," she was saying. "You might have less control, sure…"
"Right. It's seemed to risky to try. I've got this idea for working some kneazle characteristics into crup cross-breeds," Greg told her.
"Hmmm," Luna pondered for a moment before turning towards Harry and Pansy. "Hi, Harry, hello Pansy."
"Hi Luna, Greg," Harry said before bringing his ale to his lips.
"We were discussing animal husbandry," Luna told him. "But that's not what you want to talk to me about right now." She sipped from the fogging, ice-colored cocktail she was holding.
"Yeah...how...nevermind," Harry began. "I was wondering if I could talk to you about something in private, Luna."
"Private?" Pansy asked, her eyebrow raised at him.
"It's about a gift of sorts," Harry replied, moving to press a kiss to Pansy's forehead.
"And it will work like you want it to," Luna replied vaguely. "Gregory, you and I are going to have many more words tonight, and tomorrow," she told him, while passing him her fogging drink. "For now. Come along, Harry," she said and Harry moved to follow her out of the room.
Greg chuckled. "I have no idea," he said as Pansy frowned. "I hope you're not worrying. She already asked if I'd like to help demonstrate how her new yoga practice has helped to 'elongate her orgasms.' Can you believe it?"
"Yes," Pansy said simply, sipping her own wine. "How's Bastard?"
"All ready for you," he told her. "And I have a lead on a home for another of her litter mates. Blaise Zabini, can you believe it?"
"Strangely, this time, no," Pansy quipped. "What, a present for his new boyfriends?" she asked, eyes moving to where Oliver and Ron filled up an armchair while Blaise flitted around them, pressing drinks and starters into their hands with a besotted expression.
"Aye. Not until after the New Year, though," he said, before falling into silence as they watched Oliver's hand climb higher up Ron's thigh and Blaise change his focus to begin taking turns kneading the tension out of his companions' necks.
"I'm starting to wonder at how they weren't discovered earlier," Pansy asked.
"Uh-huh," Greg responded.
A short while later when Harry and Luna returned, the only discernable difference Pansy could see in their appearances was a bandage attached to the back of Harry's neck. Pansy rose to go greet Harry with a kiss. "I think I can guess what you've been up to," she told him, threading her fingers into the length of Harry's hair.
"Hmmm...guess you'll have to find out later," Harry told her, hands dangerously low on her lower back, pressing into the sequins on her dress.
"I guess I will," she said, finding his lips again then quickly moving to deepen the kiss.
They broke apart when cheers and whistles started to fill the room around them. "Hey," Harry said. "We were only…" but then stopped as soon as he saw that Luna had crawled onto Greg's lap and pulled his jumper over his head, and was currently undoing the white button-down he still wore.
Luna laughed at the attention, making a show of adjusting her position over his legs, and then pulled her wand from where it had been holding her dirty blonde locks into a messy arrangement on the top of her head, causing the strands to fall down her back. She pointed the tip into his chest a few inches down from his collarbone and began chanting a quiet spell, moving the wand in subtle movements across his skin. He watched her with an expression of awe on his face.
The rest of the party was slowly converging on the sofa where the two sat to watch Luna work. After a few minutes filled with her quiet casting, the spirited figure of a crup danced across Greg's chest. "There," Luna told him, a satisfied smile gracing her face.
"Shite, Luna, this is fantastic," Greg told her.
Ron had walked over to nudge Harry. "You tell your witch how you got the one on your arse?"
"Oh, he did," Pansy added. "Luna does great work," she smirked. "You've been busy, I see."
"Saw that, did you?" Ron asked. "Not quite how we wanted that to come out," he said with a sheepish expression. "I'm right pissed I'm probably going to have to quit the Ministry, but it's worth it," he said, gazing over at Oliver and Blaise, who were largely ignoring the proceedings by whispering in each other's ears.
"Ron, did you…" Harry asked, with a reluctant expression.
"Fuck no," Ron said. "Everything started after the deal was made, but you know how it is. The ministry is always bending to pressure from the Prophet."
"Fuck the Prophet," Pansy added, drawing nods from those around her.
Harry reached out, touching Ron's shoulder. "You're happy, right? I mean, you seem…"
"Yeah," Ron breathed, with a hopeful expression. "I know it's probably a shock. I mean, I never said I was...and while three people in a relationship isn't unheard of, it's not common. We're having fun. It's good. Fulfilling."
"Ugh," Pansy said. "Haven't we gotten enough details about how fulfilled you are in the last couple of days?"
Ron chuckled before turning again to Harry. "Wanna come to the Burrow for Christmas dinner tomorrow?" he asked.
"Your boyfriends going with you?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, of course," Ron answered.
"And has your mother seen all three of you together yet?"
"Uhm, probably just in the paper."
"Then no, not even a little bit," Harry told him. "I'm hoping for a peaceful holiday this year," he said, pulling Pansy closer.
"Some friend you are," Ron grumbled.
"Hey," Harry told him. "You made your bed."
"Arsehole," Ron said, as Pansy laughed.
Draco walked over to the fireplace, clanging a table knife to his wine glass. "We would like to raise a toast," he began. Astoria walked over to join Draco, threading her fingers through his.
"To everyone, thank you for joining us tonight, and this year. We're so pleased to have the love of so many friends in our lives," Astoria said.
"To new friends," Draco said, "and old. And to moving on from the past. Forgiveness," he said, purposely meeting Harry's eyes, then Hermione's.
"And to new beginnings," Astoria continued. "To new relationships, new ventures," she said, as Harry pulled Pansy into his arms. "To new children. To Theo and Hermione's coming child." Theo wrapped himself around Hermione, their joined hands resting on her growing belly. "And ours," she said, her smile glittering brighter than the fire or the fairy lights on the tree, or any of the lights in the room. "He'll arrive in June," she told everyone. Excited cheers and murmurs filled the room.
"To Astoria and Draco!" Theo called, and the room echoed him. The tinkling of glasses filled the air.
"And to you," Harry said into Pansy's neck, feeling the thrum of her pulse under his lips. Pansy turned in his arms until they stood face to face, forehead to forehead.
"And to you. You. Always you," she returned, punctuating her words with kisses.
"Home soon?" he asked and she nodded against his head.
"So soon," she whispered against his lips before claiming them again.
A/N: Happy Christmas Eve! (And yes, it's still barely Christmas Eve here where I am by a half an hour). One more chapter to go, followed by an epilogue to be posted some time in the next week. Thank you, as always, for reading and reviewing. Your words mean so much to me.