A/N: Hello and welcome to the seond part of my Seven Days of Christmas! Many more to come, hope you're all having a lovely winter!
A big thanks to my Betas and Discord Staff - Alec, Fox, Metzger, BaptismByFire and Zevoros!
Special thanks to Discord users: Noob Salad, 5Firehawk, Guiding Moonlights, Kovacs, Dr Maou-Senpai, Post Mortem, Denduck, Wumjumba, Ac, R3, Shirokama, TrustTube, Zachary, JDH, Avatar, CJ07, Echoh, Elizabeth Wilbrooke, Jacks_, Kappe, Kryn_Womble, Mr. E, Pat, Plut0, Presno, Shawnjohn120 and Trop C'est Trop for supporting my writing and commissioning works!
Feel free to join my Discord for updates, giveaways (for those who actively chat), early access, information and now, commissions/free one-shot giveaways, link on my profile. Without any more rambling from me, I hope you enjoy the story!
(Sorry if you don't like the work!)
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE KIND REVIEWS. We now get so many that it's impossible to respond to all of them, but each and every one of you taking the time to speak your support mean the world to me. Please, by all means, speak with me in Discord!
Harry turned his head from left to right, his eyes going up and down the hallway he found himself in. There were torches aplenty lit, and through the windows he could see snowfall that was only occasionally cleared by a strong gust of wind. It was beautiful, but it wasn't what mattered to him.
What mattered was the absence of people, and when he ascertained that he was alone in the cold dank hall, he entered through the door and closed it tightly behind him. He barred it not a second later for good measure, and then he turned around… to find a wand pointed at him.
His eyes traced up the arm of the holder until they settled on a girl with short, dark hair, her visage cold and aristocratic.
And very beautiful.
Harry smiled and brushed aside her wand. "Happy Christmas, Pansy."
She huffed as she stowed her wand back in its sheath. "It's not Christmas yet, Potter — and you're late," her hands fell to her hips as she glared at him, those dark eyes of her bearing into his. "Don't you know it's rude to keep a lady waiting?"
Whilst the question was said far sweeter than her former words, something in that blokeish brain of his rang like an alarm. He didn't know witches well, he knew that, but such a sudden shift in emotions couldn't mean something good for him. No, he reckoned it couldn't.
"Sorry?" he offered sheepishly and with that smile turning more puppy-doggish in quality.
Surely she'd not hex him if he looked so innocent, right?
When he remembered that it was Pansy he was dealing with, the hex that came a few seconds of silent-staring later came as no surprise. Nonetheless, his hand on reflex shot out and swatted at the spot on his side where she'd got him, and when next his eyes found hers she was stowing that wand again; he'd have to watch her more closely if she could move so quickly.
"Apology accepted," Pansy finally huffed, but she didn't move from blocking him in the entrance. Instead, whilst tapping a foot on the ground, she turned her face to the side. "Aren't you going to kiss me?"
There it was. He grinned and stepped closer, and when he was finally close enough to do as she liked, he brought a hand up to her chin and turned her face, slow and gentle, as she loved. When her eyes found his own again, he could see her breath hitch even if her expression remained indifferent.
"Well?" Pansy's voice sounded impatient, and quieter.
Harry, pleased, gave her what she wanted. He moved in, pressing his lips to hers. As always, Pansy's lips were soft and pliant, yielding immediately when he deepened their kiss. That was her. She'd always put up a front just to yield to him whenever they snogged.
When he pulled away, a bit of saliva connecting the pair's lips before a cleaning charm did away with it, he found her cheeks reddened and her expression suddenly shy. Her eyes switched between looking at the floor and reconnecting with his own, whilst her hands were far bolder, grabbing up his shirt.
The two stayed like that for a moment, and then, she parted and the two delved deeper into the room. Not a minute later, and the reason for Harry's lateness was spread across a cloth-covered table.
"What is it?" Pansy asked, eyeing the stacks of gingerbread up just as well as the frosting used to keep it together; she was especially interested in that, having the voracious sweet-tooth that she did.
"You've seen a gingerbread house before, haven't you?"
She blinked at him and cocked her head, a finger prodding him in the side shortly thereafter to come forth with what it was.
"We'll use the icing to hold together pieces of the bread and we'll cut different pieces to fit them into a home or whatever you'd like to make," he explained, gesturing for her to take up a piece of gingerbread in her hands.
Pansy raised a brow at him and muttered, "This sounds Muggle," but, to his delight, she did as he asked. She examined the piece of bread, prodding it and testing the firmness before she simply grabbed another piece and spread it with icing on the rear.
Like that, she'd begun to build the front of the home, and Harry couldn't be more pleased watching her. He thought there'd be a bit of resistance, especially after the comment, but there wasn't. Not even an ounce of hesitation.
"Are you going to stand there and watch me work, or are you going to help, Potter?" Pansy asked, her narrow-eyed gaze losing all heat when he noticed the bit of frosting she'd gotten on her top lip; there was more on her cheek too.
He grinned and stepped right beside her, and after she finished putting up another piece of the structure's base, he caught her face as he'd done earlier.
Pansy grinned for a split-second, if that, and then she rose a brow at him feigning innocence. "What?" she asked, the taunting quality urging him on.
As before, he caught her lips, and when she pulled away after a few second's time, it was with a grin. "You're even sweeter with icing."
He just about made to kiss her again, but she shook her head. "I'd like to build our dream home. You'll have to guide me, of course. I'm not sure how Muggles do these things."
Harry grinned. "I can do that," he promised her.
The two then began to build their dream house, as Pansy desired. There were a few broken pieces of bread of course, and a lot of wasted frosting, but by the end of it, he had to admit, it was marvelous looking. Pansy truly had an eye for style.
Speaking of Pansy, when next he gazed at her, he noticed another large spec of frosting on her lips. When their gazes joined again, the smile was all the invitation he needed to move and he had to say by the end of the day, Merlin, was the icing tasty.