Christmas Lovin' #1 (Patreon)

Daphne stood by the window, looking out in the snowy dark expanse beyond, the yard painted in white, and the path ahead. The light hanging off the ceiling on the porch illuminated the silently, but steadily, falling snow.


A frown marred her pretty face and her heart felt heavy. Harry had been away for a while now, and she had no idea when he would be back. Not to mention the heavy snowstorm that was ravaging the hills of Scotland where they lived together in a cozy cottage large enough for a small family.

She pressed her cheek against the cold glass window and prodded the silk curtains with her fingers. "Why?” She asked herself yet again. “Why did we have to fight? And today of all days?"


It was Christmas Eve and she was all alone. Daphne had been alone before and was pretty used to the feeling as well, but this felt different. She had never had a boyfriend before, and finally falling for a man was a foreign feeling for her. They had been together for almost a year now, and Daphne could say with absolute certainty that she loved Harry with all her heart.


Perhaps this was why she was so excited to share Christmas with him. She had envisioned them doing things together – sharing wine and sweets, talking late into the night, exchanging gifts, everything a couple did on Christmas, and more.


She envisioned them dancing slowly under the candlelight, kissing under the mistletoe, before doing something they had never done before.

Daphne was a traditional woman. She had decided long ago and even told Harry that she would not have sex until marriage. Harry was perfectly understanding and had never forced her to do anything she would not be comfortable with. That is why she imagined the look of absolute surprise on his face when she finally told him that she wanted to make love to him for the first time on Christmas.


Daphne pulled herself away from the mirror and looked around the living room. Her gaze finally stopped on the Christmas tree – the one that had caused the fight between them, now standing innocently in the corner, dark and ignored. She recalled the two of them decorating the entire living room just a few hours ago. They had finished quickly – magic tended to be a huge help, and the entire living room was decorated exactly as per her liking in only a few flicks of their wands. It was when they decorated the tree that things got a little bit heated.



They had started delicately decorating the tree, levitating the glowing lights and putting them in place. They were talking about various things when she said that they would have the gifts stored near the fireplace and not under the tree so that the small angels could be placed there, and Harry looked at her funnily. He said that the gifts should be under the tree, and to keep the dolls by the fireplace or in front of it, and she disagreed. One thing led to the other and she finally told him that he didn’t know how things were done properly, and to let her handle things so that he didn’t spoil it. Harry didn’t like it. And he left. Hours ago. As for Daphne, she was too upset to go look for him. Only when she did finally calm down did she realize the mess they had created over such a nonsensical thing.



She had now been waiting for over three hours for him to come back. The weather outside was steadily worsening and she didn’t want him out, wizard or not.



Daphne flicked her wand to levitate the kettle and cast a heating charm to make some tea. She let it heat up and went over to the front door to check whether he was coming back home.



No sign of anyone.



She sighed and closed the door, making her way over to the kitchen slab to fix her ginger mint tea.



As she made herself comfortable on the chair, sipping the hot tea, she thought back to the past year. They had been classmates at Hogwarts but had never spoken a single word to each other. However, a few years after graduating, when he was busy with cleaning up Wizarding Britain, their paths crossed at the ministry. She had joined the Dept. of International Magical Cooperation straight out of Hogwarts, and he was a close advisor of the minister as well as the British ambassador to the ICW. As a result, their paths would often cross while working.


He was really hesitant at first, not speaking much and just keeping it professional. But one day they started talking. Hours passed and they discussed almost everything – how Hogwarts was for them in either house, how she was doing at her work, how hectic it was to represent Britain globally, and more. When it was time to get back home, he asked her out. On a real date.


For a girl who had never had a boyfriend, who was already in her twenties without having so much as a hint of a close romantic relationship with someone from the opposite sex in her life, it was pretty intimidating. But her friend Tracey helped her stay calm.


They met the next day, and he took her to the muggle side of London. Having never experienced the muggle world, it was intriguing. An evening that started with flowers was filled with what he had called a movie and then dinner at a nice restaurant, and it culminated with him dropping her off at the flat she shared with her friend Tracey in Diagon Alley.


For the first time in her life, Daphne thought she had found someone truly special with who she could see herself. Harry had always been kind and gentle with her. He treated her with utmost respect, kindness and showered her with all the affection he could, and he had that in abundance. He was very attentive to her and her needs, and she could recall no incident when she had been offended by him. This was probably the first time they had an argument that resulted in him getting so upset, he simply left.



Never would she have guessed that one man could mean so much to her. His emerald eyes flashed in her mind and she took a deep breath, exhaling softly.

Having finished her tea, Daphne stood up and waved her wand, cleaned the cup, and put it back on the rack. Turning the lights out, she left the kitchen and went back to the living room. She gave one last look to the Christmas tree before turning the lights out. Just as she was about to go back to the door to check once more, a soft knock sounded. Daphne froze, unsure if she heard correctly. Another knock, a loud one this time, was enough to break her out of her stupor and she rushed outside, brandishing her wand and taking down the locking charms built-in.

Her heart was beating furiously as she made her way to the front door, hoping against hope that he was outside. She took the locking charms down and flung the door open to see a dark-haired man standing outside, fully covered in snow, his clothes wet and a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"M-M-Merry Ch-Christmas…" Harry shivered, as he pushed the flowers forward.


Daphne grabbed his arm and roughly pulled him inside, shutting the door which locked itself up automatically.



"You idiot! What the hell were you doing out in this kind of weather!?" She shouted as she kept applying warming charms on his body. Steam evaporated from his body as the snow slowly melted and his clothes dried up.



"I don’t know what goes through that brain of yours sometimes," Daphne said.



She took the flowers from him and turned away as she felt her eyes well up when she realized just what their idiocy had caused. Daphne made to move away before she suddenly stopped.

‘No,’ she thought, ‘Let him see. I don’t care anymore.’

She dropped the flowers on the ground and turned around to see that he had hung his coat by the door.

"I'm so sorry!" She tearfully said and threw herself into his arms. Harry wrapped his arms around her tightly as she squeezed him. "I’m so sorry! I'm so sorry, Harry, forgive me, please?"


"It's okay," Harry murmured into her hair. "I'm s-sorry I left. I behaved like an idiot too."

Daphne looked up, tears cascading down her face. "Harry, I..."

He planted his lips on hers. Their lips moved together tenderly, and Daphne slowly relaxed, her worries fading with every delicate touch of his lips on hers.

A few minutes later they broke apart and Daphne looked up at him and smiled.

"Come on, I'll fix you some tea. One hot cup will warm you up more than those pesky warming charms. But first, take off your shoes and socks."

She picked up the flowers and waved her wand. The flowers floated away to the vase on the table in their living room as they walked in. Daphne made her way to the kitchen to heat up the kettle once again.

"Err… please make me a glass of hot chocolate instead?"

"Harry, you’ve been freezing, and you really need to have..." Daphne started to say before she stopped herself, recalling how they had fought over a similarly nonsensical thing before. Turning to smile at him, she said, "...a hot chocolate, exactly. You go sit by the fireplace and I’ll be back in a jiffy."


Daphne looked around the kitchen for the cocoa powder as she simultaneously cleaned up the kettle. Meanwhile, Harry walked over to the sofa in front of the fireplace. He made himself comfortable under the blanket before turning on his side to look at her.

The kitchen was only a few steps away, being an open one, and he could easily observe her bustling around. He knew she was trying to distract herself and sighed.

"You didn’t conjure those flowers."

“I didn’t.”

“Where did you get them?” she asked, as she came over with a steaming mug of hot chocolate.

“Thanks” he muttered as he took the cup from her. He took a sip as Daphne took a seat beside him on the sofa.

"A florist by Hyde Park."

"And you went muggle again."

“Yeah…” he muttered sheepishly, blowing gently on the hot surface before taking a large sip. He could feel her side-eyed gaze on her.

"How long were you out in the cold?"

"Well, long enough. My feet are kinda cold still," Harry said.

"Harry…" Daphne sighed. "Wait here."

She rushed off to their bedroom and a moment later, she returned with a wrapped package.

“Well… it’s a bit early but you can go ahead.” She said as she took a seat beside him before holding out the package. Harry looked at her for a moment before he nodded. Taking the package from her, he carefully started taking the wrap off. Daphne rolled her eyes. Harry had this habit of carefully opening the gift wraps. He didn’t like tearing them off. Daphne, on the other hand, didn’t care.

Harry gently took the wrapping paper off and opened the box. Inside was an emerald velvet blanket with gold trimmings. He looked at her and saw her gesturing for him to take it out. He placed the box on his lap and took the blanket out. However, he noticed something peculiar. His hands felt really warm. Shoving the previous blanket aside, he covered his legs with the new one. Immediately, he noticed his legs warm up.

Harry turned to look at Daphne who was smiling softly at him.

“It took a few hours to properly weave the runes, but I bet it works. Now you have a blanket to keep you comfortable in any weather.”

He finished his hot chocolate up in two big gulps before lifting the blanket up, wrapping it around both of them as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in. Daphne cuddled up with him on the sofa under the blanket as Harry lifted her face to kiss her softly.

Daphne kissed him back lovingly. She couldn’t believe they had fought over something so trivial, and it made her recall something.

Pulling back slightly, she kept her forehead against his, and looking him in the eyes, she said, "I have to show you something."

“Can’t it wait? I don’t want to move…” he muttered as he pulled her into a soft kiss again.

Daphne kissed him tenderly and laughed into the kiss as Harry tickled her side.

“C’mon. You’ll like it.” She swiftly pulled away and before Harry could say anything, she dashed away from the sofa and towards the dark corner where the Christmas tree was standing.

Harry sighed before he let out a chuckle and stowing the blanket aside on the sofa, got up to follow her. He reached Daphne to see her waving her wand around. Soft, golden fireballs lit up the entire area, casting it in a glowing halo.

Harry was mesmerized. Daphne looked so beautiful in the low glow, her blonde hair having a soft shiny tint to them and her face glowing, and he felt himself fall even more in love with her.

Daphne swishing her wand towards the Christmas tree was what finally pulled his attention. He looked over to see the Christmas tree light up in gold, red, and silver.

Harry smiled as the tree lit up, streaks of gold, red, and silver lights woven around as the decorations glowed. He noticed something peculiar though – their gifts were placed right under the tree, the shiny wrappers glowing softly as the lights reflected off them.

"You put the gifts under the tree," Harry whispered, "Why Daph? It was so important to you."

"You, my love, are far more important to me than pesky gifts and dolls," Daphne said. "These things have as much meaning as we put in them."

"Then we should make something of our own," said Harry. "Get the angels."

When Daphne picked up the colorful dolls, Harry took them from her before he started adjusting them under the tree right beside the gift boxes. However, he abruptly stopped as he got an idea. Smirking, he dropped it back in his hand before looking over at Daphne.

“Come here,” he said as he made her stand in front of the tree. Standing behind her, he bent down, wrapped his arms around her knees from behind, made her sit on his shoulder, and lifted her up. Daphne squealed and they laughed together.

"Put the biggest angel on top with the star."

Daphne smiled and adjusted the enchanted angel on top of the tree, putting it right up there alongside the star. Once she was done, Harry gently grabbed her waist before lowering her back on the ground. Standing behind her, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against him, placing his chin on her shoulder and his cheek against hers. They stood like that for a while, admiring the sight of the Christmas tree glowing softly in the golden lights shining around with the snow angel playing around the star on top.


It felt perfect to Daphne, as she stood with the love of her life keeping her in his embrace, with her back against him and their faces pressed together. Releasing a sigh, Daphne loosened his arms around her just a bit to turn around slightly. Facing him, she looked him in the eyes, and whispered, “Look up.”


Harry tilted his head upwards slightly and smiled. The mistletoe was hanging right above where they were standing and as he looked back at her, he saw her smiling slightly.


“Not that I need an excuse for this. Still, nicely done.”


Daphne grinned.


“So, may I have a kiss, my lady?”


"Mm-hmm"



Harry lowered his lips down on hers and kissed her, pouring all his love into it. It started tenderly but gradually grew more passionate with, all his love, passion, joy, want, and need pouring into it. They kept kissing each other, their lips continuously moving in perfect harmony as their passion grew with every moment their lips stayed pressed up together.


"Wow!" Daphne whispered breathlessly once they pulled apart. She had her eyes closed and Harry thought she had never looked more beautiful than she looked right at that very moment.



Daphne whispered, "I never want this to end, Harry. I love you so much…”



Harry pulled her in close to him and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head. ”I love you, Daphne, more than anything.”


The two lovers stayed together under the mistletoe, wrapped in each other’s embrace as the weather outside worsened, snow falling heavily while the Christmas tree kept glowing softly in the golden firelight.


*****
To be continued…