FIC: Up on the Housh-hic-Housetop, Potter [Harry/Draco - PG]
Title: Up on the Housh-hic-Housetop, Potter
Author: flaminia_x
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Prompt: 11
Word Count/Art Medium: ~1800
Rating: PG
Contains (Highlight to view): Excessive schmoop and tipsiness.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: Drunk Draco is convinced someone is trying to break into the Manor-through the chimney-and it’s the night before Christmas, no less! Well, he certainly wasn’t going to fix it himself.
Up on the Housh-hic-Housetop, Potter
Draco sat slumped in a chair in front of the fire in the Manor library. His dressing robe lay open and he balanced one slipper absent-mindedly off the toes of one foot.
He was not at all drunk. No, that bottle of Ogden’s Old had certainly had mere drops left in it. He had done himself a favor by finishing it off, that’s all. He was also completely nonplussed that he was alone. He was alone most nights, after all, and if he were truly honest, there were few people he felt were worthy of his company. He certainly did not care that it was the night before Christmas, and he definitely was not thinking about what people like Potter and Pansy and Nott and Potter were up to, and he absolutely only said Potter twice because Potter was so negligible, really, that he had forgotten he’d said Potter the first time. And he was, without question, not drunk.
Draco had just started to doze off, blissfully warm, when he heard a loud thump. Looking down, he ascertained that his slippers were still on his feet, and looking over, he made sure his glass was still upright. He blinked blearily around the room, but nothing was amiss. He was about to call his house elf, Blitzy, for some tea when he heard the noise again. Oddly, it sounded like it was coming from the roof. But he was the only one at home tonight, not that he had reason to believe that his mother would venture out onto the roof of the Manor on such a cold night, or, really, ever.
The thump turned into a scrape, as though someone were dragging something heavy across the roof. Draco stood up, not at all wobbily, and reached for his wand. The noise was right above him, moving … toward the chimney, it sounded like.
Well. Clearly whomever might be on the roof was an idiot. Anyone with even a child’s intelligence knew that you didn’t enter a magical fireplace from the chimney-you used the Floo. Especially in winter, when the fireplace was likely to be lit, as his was. Draco scoffed silently at the culprit, but then he was struck by a sudden thought. How on earth did Roof Person get past the wards? The Manor’s wards were second only to Hogwarts. No unintelligent person could have gotten past them. Yet they clearly didn’t know how to use a Floo. The conundrum puzzled Draco, who found that for some reason, he wasn’t able to come up with a reasonable explanation.
The thumps got louder, and a tiny bit of ash trickled down the chimney, sparking as it hit the fire. That did it. Roof Person was clearly irrational and stupid, and was about to be roasted alive in Draco’s chimney, and frankly, he wasn’t quite sure how much he’d have to add to the house elves’ monthly salary to clean that up, and that left only one logical solution.
Drawing his wand, he cast a hurried Patronus. “Go find Potter!” he cried.
***
Harry sat alone in his office, chair tilted dangerously back and a Muggle pencil twirling between two fingers.
In a flash of light, a silvery otter suddenly appeared, nearly sending Harry to the floor. When he heard Draco’s panicked-and tipsy?-voice shouting for help, he paled. Standing up, he grabbed his cloak and quickly sent a memo to his supervisor, alerting her to Urgent Auror Business. Seconds later, he had Disapparated.
***
With a pop, Harry appeared on the front steps of Malfoy Manor, wand drawn and at the ready. The wards had given him no trouble, so Draco must have had the presence of mind to let him in-or the wards were down completely. Cautiously, Harry crouched down and began a complicated series of ward-testing spells. However, he was thrown off balance when the front door suddenly opened, and he toppled over onto his bottom.
“Potter, you came!” Draco exclaimed, beaming. “Took you long enough, though. Could’ve been murdered! And why’re you down there?” he asked, brow creasing in confusion.
Harry clambered back to his feet, flushing slightly. “I got here within seconds, Malfoy, I’ll have you know. Sounded urgent. What’s the problem?”
Draco’s eyes widened and he placed a finger to his lips in caution. “Shhhh! Roof Person will hear you!” He grabbed the edges of Harry’s cloak and tugged him into the Manor, shutting the door behind them.
“Roof … Person?” Harry asked. “Who or what is Roof Person?”
“Well, how should I know?” Draco asked imperiously. “That’sh why you’re here, Auror Person Potter.”
Harry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “Okay, Malfoy. How about you start from the beginning?”
“Oh, alright.” Draco tugged Harry toward the library. “Well, you see, it’sh the night before Christmas.”
Harry nodded, hiding a tiny smile.
“And all through the house,” Draco continued, “not a creature was stirring. Not even-”
“-a mouse?” Harry supplied.
Draco looked at Harry. “No, of course not, Mouse has the night off. Anyway, I had just settled in for a long winter’s nap-”
Harry bit his lips to keep them from twitching. “But where’s your cap?” he couldn’t resist asking.
Draco stopped. “Why on earth would I wear a cap?” Squinting at Harry, he asked solemnly, “Have you been drinking, Potter?”
Harry choked back a snort. “Never whilst on duty,” he replied, voice shaking with the effort of hiding his laughter. “Please, carry on.”
Draco pulled Harry into the library and again motioned him to be silent. Harry looked around the room nervously, unsure of what he was to be looking or listening for. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, he started to ask Draco what was going on.
Covering Harry’s open mouth with his hand, Draco pushed Harry up against the wall and shushed him. “He’ll hear you,” he scolded.
“Who?” Harry asked, lips brushing against Draco’s cool fingers, and realized he was becoming acutely aware of how close Draco was standing. He could smell the faint aroma of Firewhisky on Draco’s breath, could see the tiny flecks of green in the grey surrounding his blown pupils.
Just then, there was a loud thud and the fireplace coughed out a cloud of ash.
“See?” Draco hissed triumphantly. “Roof. Person!” Sliding slightly behind Harry for protection, he pointed his wand at the fireplace, his trembling absolutely the result the sight of so much soot covering his antique djinn-made rugs.
Harry covered up a laugh with a tiny cough, looking at Draco’s shaking wand hand poking out past his shoulder. “Seems more like Chimney Chap to me,” he said, cocking an eyebrow.
Draco peered intently around Harry’s side at the fireplace and nodded earnestly. “Right. Chimney Chap,” he agreed. “Is Chimney Chap going to kill me?”
At that, Harry couldn’t resist and broke out into peals of laughter. Draco frowned at Harry, unable to see what was so funny.
“Draco,” Harry began, gently pushing Draco’s wand hand down. “Didn’t you ever wonder who brought you your Christmas presents as a child?”
“Mother and Father, of course,” Draco said matter-of-factly.
Harry shook his head, unsure whether or not he was surprised at the thought that Lucius and Narcissa would take credit for Christmas. “Well, yes, sort of,” Harry said. “But you’ve never heard of Father Christmas?”
“You mean our old house elf?” Draco asked, grinning. “I remember him.”
“House … elf,” Harry mouthed to himself. “Draco, he’s no house elf.”
“Yes, he is,” Draco exclaimed. “I saw him when I was little, once. Mother said he had gotten old and had gone off to live-”
“At the North Pole?” Harry asked.
Draco squinted. “How’d you know that, Potter?”
“Maybe with his other elves, Dasher, and Dancer …” Harry prodded.
Draco thought hard, jaw slack. “Rings a bell, I think,” he answered slowly.
Harry snorted. “Right. Well. To make a long story short, Draco, your mysterious Roof Person-”
“Chimney Chap,” Draco corrected gravely.
“Chimney Chap,” Harry continued, lips twitching, “is none other than Father Christmas.”
“Oh.” Draco said.
Harry stared at him. “What d’you mean, just oh?”
Draco pouted and toed the carpet. “It’s just that that wasn’t very exciting, Potter. Really, I’d expected better of you.”
“Well, unless you want me to fight Father Christmas for you …” Harry said slowly.
“No!” Draco exclaimed. “You might hurt the presents!”
Harry laughed. “Of course. You’re absolutely right.”
“Of course I am,” Draco preened. “So does that explain how he got past my wards, then?”
Harry nodded. “No wards can stop Father Christmas,” he replied. “But … how come I was able to get past them, then?”
Draco flushed. “You’realreadykeyedin,” he slurred in a rush.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” Harry said, leaning in closer.
Draco cocked an eyebrow. “You. Are. Already. Keyed. In, Potter,” he said condescendingly. “Honestly, top Auror and can’t hear properly.”
“I see,” Harry said, pointedly ignoring Draco’s tipsiness, which he privately thought was adorable. “And why is it that I’m already keyed in?”
Draco rolled his eyes. “Just what do they teach you lot at the Ministry, anyway? You’re keyed in in case I need help, Potter.”
“So all of us Aurors are keyed in, then,” Harry said, taking a step closer to Draco, enjoying the way his eyes grew even larger.
“No,” Draco whispered, swaying a bit and flushing. “Just you.”
“Just me, hmm?” Harry asked. “Tell me, Draco. Do you need help from me right now?”
Draco whined, eyes dropping to Harry’s mouth and tongue darting out to wet his own lips. Harry smiled and closed the gap between them, leaning forward to kiss Draco.
The fireplace gave one last twitch, and Father Christmas popped out, sooty and disheveled. He gave one approving look to the library’s otherwise occupied inhabitants, who had not at all noticed his arrival. In a trice, the presents-wrapped in a stunning combination of Slytherin green and Gryffindor red-were laid underneath the gently glowing tree, and all of the soot and ash was promptly Vanished. Looking back at Harry and Draco, he winked, eyes twinkling. A split second later, he laid a finger aside of his nose and disappeared back up the chimney from whence he came.
Harry and Draco were too preoccupied to notice, but later on, they swore they heard a faint voice calling “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
Author: flaminia_x
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Prompt: 11
Word Count/Art Medium: ~1800
Rating: PG
Contains (Highlight to view): Excessive schmoop and tipsiness.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: Drunk Draco is convinced someone is trying to break into the Manor-through the chimney-and it’s the night before Christmas, no less! Well, he certainly wasn’t going to fix it himself.
Up on the Housh-hic-Housetop, Potter
Draco sat slumped in a chair in front of the fire in the Manor library. His dressing robe lay open and he balanced one slipper absent-mindedly off the toes of one foot.
He was not at all drunk. No, that bottle of Ogden’s Old had certainly had mere drops left in it. He had done himself a favor by finishing it off, that’s all. He was also completely nonplussed that he was alone. He was alone most nights, after all, and if he were truly honest, there were few people he felt were worthy of his company. He certainly did not care that it was the night before Christmas, and he definitely was not thinking about what people like Potter and Pansy and Nott and Potter were up to, and he absolutely only said Potter twice because Potter was so negligible, really, that he had forgotten he’d said Potter the first time. And he was, without question, not drunk.
Draco had just started to doze off, blissfully warm, when he heard a loud thump. Looking down, he ascertained that his slippers were still on his feet, and looking over, he made sure his glass was still upright. He blinked blearily around the room, but nothing was amiss. He was about to call his house elf, Blitzy, for some tea when he heard the noise again. Oddly, it sounded like it was coming from the roof. But he was the only one at home tonight, not that he had reason to believe that his mother would venture out onto the roof of the Manor on such a cold night, or, really, ever.
The thump turned into a scrape, as though someone were dragging something heavy across the roof. Draco stood up, not at all wobbily, and reached for his wand. The noise was right above him, moving … toward the chimney, it sounded like.
Well. Clearly whomever might be on the roof was an idiot. Anyone with even a child’s intelligence knew that you didn’t enter a magical fireplace from the chimney-you used the Floo. Especially in winter, when the fireplace was likely to be lit, as his was. Draco scoffed silently at the culprit, but then he was struck by a sudden thought. How on earth did Roof Person get past the wards? The Manor’s wards were second only to Hogwarts. No unintelligent person could have gotten past them. Yet they clearly didn’t know how to use a Floo. The conundrum puzzled Draco, who found that for some reason, he wasn’t able to come up with a reasonable explanation.
The thumps got louder, and a tiny bit of ash trickled down the chimney, sparking as it hit the fire. That did it. Roof Person was clearly irrational and stupid, and was about to be roasted alive in Draco’s chimney, and frankly, he wasn’t quite sure how much he’d have to add to the house elves’ monthly salary to clean that up, and that left only one logical solution.
Drawing his wand, he cast a hurried Patronus. “Go find Potter!” he cried.
***
Harry sat alone in his office, chair tilted dangerously back and a Muggle pencil twirling between two fingers.
In a flash of light, a silvery otter suddenly appeared, nearly sending Harry to the floor. When he heard Draco’s panicked-and tipsy?-voice shouting for help, he paled. Standing up, he grabbed his cloak and quickly sent a memo to his supervisor, alerting her to Urgent Auror Business. Seconds later, he had Disapparated.
***
With a pop, Harry appeared on the front steps of Malfoy Manor, wand drawn and at the ready. The wards had given him no trouble, so Draco must have had the presence of mind to let him in-or the wards were down completely. Cautiously, Harry crouched down and began a complicated series of ward-testing spells. However, he was thrown off balance when the front door suddenly opened, and he toppled over onto his bottom.
“Potter, you came!” Draco exclaimed, beaming. “Took you long enough, though. Could’ve been murdered! And why’re you down there?” he asked, brow creasing in confusion.
Harry clambered back to his feet, flushing slightly. “I got here within seconds, Malfoy, I’ll have you know. Sounded urgent. What’s the problem?”
Draco’s eyes widened and he placed a finger to his lips in caution. “Shhhh! Roof Person will hear you!” He grabbed the edges of Harry’s cloak and tugged him into the Manor, shutting the door behind them.
“Roof … Person?” Harry asked. “Who or what is Roof Person?”
“Well, how should I know?” Draco asked imperiously. “That’sh why you’re here, Auror Person Potter.”
Harry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “Okay, Malfoy. How about you start from the beginning?”
“Oh, alright.” Draco tugged Harry toward the library. “Well, you see, it’sh the night before Christmas.”
Harry nodded, hiding a tiny smile.
“And all through the house,” Draco continued, “not a creature was stirring. Not even-”
“-a mouse?” Harry supplied.
Draco looked at Harry. “No, of course not, Mouse has the night off. Anyway, I had just settled in for a long winter’s nap-”
Harry bit his lips to keep them from twitching. “But where’s your cap?” he couldn’t resist asking.
Draco stopped. “Why on earth would I wear a cap?” Squinting at Harry, he asked solemnly, “Have you been drinking, Potter?”
Harry choked back a snort. “Never whilst on duty,” he replied, voice shaking with the effort of hiding his laughter. “Please, carry on.”
Draco pulled Harry into the library and again motioned him to be silent. Harry looked around the room nervously, unsure of what he was to be looking or listening for. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, he started to ask Draco what was going on.
Covering Harry’s open mouth with his hand, Draco pushed Harry up against the wall and shushed him. “He’ll hear you,” he scolded.
“Who?” Harry asked, lips brushing against Draco’s cool fingers, and realized he was becoming acutely aware of how close Draco was standing. He could smell the faint aroma of Firewhisky on Draco’s breath, could see the tiny flecks of green in the grey surrounding his blown pupils.
Just then, there was a loud thud and the fireplace coughed out a cloud of ash.
“See?” Draco hissed triumphantly. “Roof. Person!” Sliding slightly behind Harry for protection, he pointed his wand at the fireplace, his trembling absolutely the result the sight of so much soot covering his antique djinn-made rugs.
Harry covered up a laugh with a tiny cough, looking at Draco’s shaking wand hand poking out past his shoulder. “Seems more like Chimney Chap to me,” he said, cocking an eyebrow.
Draco peered intently around Harry’s side at the fireplace and nodded earnestly. “Right. Chimney Chap,” he agreed. “Is Chimney Chap going to kill me?”
At that, Harry couldn’t resist and broke out into peals of laughter. Draco frowned at Harry, unable to see what was so funny.
“Draco,” Harry began, gently pushing Draco’s wand hand down. “Didn’t you ever wonder who brought you your Christmas presents as a child?”
“Mother and Father, of course,” Draco said matter-of-factly.
Harry shook his head, unsure whether or not he was surprised at the thought that Lucius and Narcissa would take credit for Christmas. “Well, yes, sort of,” Harry said. “But you’ve never heard of Father Christmas?”
“You mean our old house elf?” Draco asked, grinning. “I remember him.”
“House … elf,” Harry mouthed to himself. “Draco, he’s no house elf.”
“Yes, he is,” Draco exclaimed. “I saw him when I was little, once. Mother said he had gotten old and had gone off to live-”
“At the North Pole?” Harry asked.
Draco squinted. “How’d you know that, Potter?”
“Maybe with his other elves, Dasher, and Dancer …” Harry prodded.
Draco thought hard, jaw slack. “Rings a bell, I think,” he answered slowly.
Harry snorted. “Right. Well. To make a long story short, Draco, your mysterious Roof Person-”
“Chimney Chap,” Draco corrected gravely.
“Chimney Chap,” Harry continued, lips twitching, “is none other than Father Christmas.”
“Oh.” Draco said.
Harry stared at him. “What d’you mean, just oh?”
Draco pouted and toed the carpet. “It’s just that that wasn’t very exciting, Potter. Really, I’d expected better of you.”
“Well, unless you want me to fight Father Christmas for you …” Harry said slowly.
“No!” Draco exclaimed. “You might hurt the presents!”
Harry laughed. “Of course. You’re absolutely right.”
“Of course I am,” Draco preened. “So does that explain how he got past my wards, then?”
Harry nodded. “No wards can stop Father Christmas,” he replied. “But … how come I was able to get past them, then?”
Draco flushed. “You’realreadykeyedin,” he slurred in a rush.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” Harry said, leaning in closer.
Draco cocked an eyebrow. “You. Are. Already. Keyed. In, Potter,” he said condescendingly. “Honestly, top Auror and can’t hear properly.”
“I see,” Harry said, pointedly ignoring Draco’s tipsiness, which he privately thought was adorable. “And why is it that I’m already keyed in?”
Draco rolled his eyes. “Just what do they teach you lot at the Ministry, anyway? You’re keyed in in case I need help, Potter.”
“So all of us Aurors are keyed in, then,” Harry said, taking a step closer to Draco, enjoying the way his eyes grew even larger.
“No,” Draco whispered, swaying a bit and flushing. “Just you.”
“Just me, hmm?” Harry asked. “Tell me, Draco. Do you need help from me right now?”
Draco whined, eyes dropping to Harry’s mouth and tongue darting out to wet his own lips. Harry smiled and closed the gap between them, leaning forward to kiss Draco.
The fireplace gave one last twitch, and Father Christmas popped out, sooty and disheveled. He gave one approving look to the library’s otherwise occupied inhabitants, who had not at all noticed his arrival. In a trice, the presents-wrapped in a stunning combination of Slytherin green and Gryffindor red-were laid underneath the gently glowing tree, and all of the soot and ash was promptly Vanished. Looking back at Harry and Draco, he winked, eyes twinkling. A split second later, he laid a finger aside of his nose and disappeared back up the chimney from whence he came.
Harry and Draco were too preoccupied to notice, but later on, they swore they heard a faint voice calling “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”