Unofficial Portkey Archive

Here I am, going on a quest to finish this collection before Christmas… Let's hope, ne?

Okay, I'm taking the prompts from the "25 day of fic" going on tumblr. The max length is 1000 words, which I already surpassed with this one, but… yeah. Hopefully, I'll manage. And yees, I know I should be updating my other fic.

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Title: "let's blame it on the hat"

Rating: PG-13

Words: 1,486

Theme/Prompt: #01 - mistletoe

Warnings/AN: ootp au, in which Sirius lives.

Summary: But what about her? Had it been good for her? `Well, it must have, otherwise she wouldn't have hugged me and pressed all of her soft bits into me... I think.'

Disclaimer: The Usual.

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He was supposed to put the blame on someone, point his finger and scream "it's your fault!", but if anything, Harry thinks, he was actually truly grateful.

Of Sirius, because the present came from his wayward Godfather.

But before feeling all happy and grateful, he'd felt pretty bloody angry.

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He should've known the present would be some kind of prank; Sirius looked way too smug after handing it over. But, oh well, no point in whining now. He only needed to avoid getting close to anyone until Christmas Day came to its end.

Because, you see, Sirius' present, while harmless at first sight, was a device that would leave him locked in place with whomever he bumped into: a freaking Santa hat with a mistletoe hanging from the tip.

An innocent gift; normally something a bloke would joke and laugh about with his friends and be daring and wear it and see if he could catch the girl he fancied with it.

But in a house where the male guests were the vast majority and the female guests were either too old, related to his best mate or his best friend, Harry didn't have much of a choice but to run and hide.

Because once he put on the hat, he couldn't take it off until a kiss was shared under the mistletoe.

The twins offered to help him, saying they could try to find a way to take it off if he would let them use it on Ron and see if their brother had the stones to kiss Hermione (just thinking about it made his stomach clench unpleasantly), but he'd declined.

Ron told him jokingly that he and the twins would even let him kiss Ginny if he really wanted to get the hat off, only to be scowled by Mrs Weasley, but not before Harry caught her wistful look as she looked between Ginny and him. That, too, he declined.

Remus gave him the most sensible advice, but still he was forced to decline. "Just ask Hermione to help you. You know she'd do anything for you."

And it was true, which was why he had to shoot down his suggestion.

Which left him with only one option: harass Padfoot until he caved.

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Forcing Sirius to break the spell on the hat was easier said than done as, hours later, Harry found himself dragging his feet towards the dining room of Grimmauld Place for dinner.

Sirius' words were still ringing in his head, along with his cheeky smirk. "There's no counter for the spell, Harry, only a kiss will do. Now, be careful though, the hat picks up on your feelings, which means only a kiss you enjoy will work."

Harry sighed as he entered the dining room. How was he supposed to enjoy a kiss that was being forced on him?

I'll get you for this, Padfoot.

Making sure the mistletoe was hanging over his back, Harry approached the table tentatively, scanning the room for a free chair, deciding that the farthest from his friends the better.

"Harry, dear, don't sit there all by yourself! Come, I saved you a spot, right here."

Mrs Weasley smiled at him, but Harry couldn't bring himself to return the gesture, his eyes glued to the chair reserved for him-that just so happened to be the one next to Ginny.

Oh, no, thank you.

"It's okay, Mrs Weasley, I'll be fine here-"

The sound of a chair scrapping against the floor cut his sentence short. It was accompanied by a soft "oh, honestly!" and soon, to everyone's utter shock, Hermione was stalking in his direction, a determined look on her face.

Harry, and everyone else, was frozen in place, not knowing how to react to this sudden turn of events, because, until then, Hermione had remained quiet over his predicament.

Grabbing hold of his hand, and keeping a safe distance from him, Hermione started to drag him to the nearest empty chair, but that was still close enough for him to properly enjoy Christmas dinner.

All the while, she ranted about his unreasonable desire to stay away from everyone, hat or no hat. "Enough of this, Harry! You're going to sit with us and enjoy dinner with your friends and family and you're going to forget about that stupid hat. It's only a few hours to midnight and the-ahh!"

But as luck would have it, Hermione tripped and lost her balance, falling. And already knowing what was going to happen, Harry went with the flow, making use of his Seeker reflexes and catching the girl and pulling her against his chest to prevent what would have been a painful accident.

The hat twitched on his head, reacting to his feelings, and the mistletoe lurched forward, hanging merrily above their surprised stare.

And the kiss was being demanded.

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Harry didn't know when his feeling for Hermione changed, but he remembered when he became aware of them; it was the day after the battle in the Department of Mysteries, when he sat by her side in the Hospital Wing.

All she'd ever done for him had rushed through his mind, the sacrifices, the choice to disregard rules because of him... all of it had gave him clarity and he'd realized more than he expected.

And now, watching her blush travel down to her neck (and most likely beyond that), Harry couldn't, for the life of him, resist the urge to kiss her any longer. Moving his hands over her shoulders and around her neck, he used his thumbs to tilt her head back so he could try to read her expression (a mixture of surprise, hesitation and longing).

She didn't disappoint.

Smiling softly, Harry brushed her lips once before pressing his mouth to her gently. He closed his eyes, and someone moaned softly in response, he didn't know whether it was him of Hermione.

He kept the kiss gentle, the brushes of lips soft and deliberate, enjoying every second of it. Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, pushing against him, and took the kiss up a notch. He, responding in kind, snaked his arms around her waist and let his tongue prove gently at her lips.

After that, everything was bliss.

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Not even the outrageous cries or the happy laughter broke through the haze surrounding them. No. It was the soft thudding sound of something hitting the floor what made them snap out of their bliss-induced trance.

The hat had fallen.

Dinner proceeded as normal, if a little bit strained. The twins, Sirius and Remus were all grinning at him. Mr Weasley was being his usual pleasant self, but Mrs Weasley, though she tried to hide it, and the youngest red-haired youths were not happy. At all.

But it was Hermione's reaction what worried him more. She'd kept quiet all through the meal and made a hasty retreat as soon as it was politely possible. Leaving Harry feeling disconcerted.

It had been a good kiss, right? He had enjoyed it. Well, of course he had, the hat had fallen and it was Hermione, the girl he... cared about. It couldn't have been anything other than perfect. But what about her? Had it been good for her?

Well, it must have, otherwise she wouldn't have hugged me and pressed all of her soft bits into me... I think.

Of course she enjoyed it, or he'd be sporting a lovely hand-print on his face right now.

Then why run?

Well, who could understand girls anyway. They were all confusing. But still, Harry figured there was nothing wrong with him going to talk to Hermione to make sure everything was okay between them.

So, after all the residents of the gloomy house had gone to bed, he quietly snuck out of his room and padded slowly to her door, knocking a softly as he could and hoping she was still up.

Luck seemed to be on his side, because seconds later, Hermione stood in front of him, clad only in a pair of flannel pants and a large shirt.

"Um, hey... I... I just wanted to make sure you... didn't hate me or something..." he said, immediately feeling lame.

"Why would I hate you, Harry?"

"Because I kissed you in front of everyone... and probably embarrassed you."

She blushed prettily, looking uncomfortable, but shook her head. "I, um, don't hate you, Harry, I could never hate you. And, er... the kiss was lovely."

He perked up at this. "Really?"

"Really."

Shifting nervously on the spot, Harry fiddled with the hat, which he'd brought along not knowing why, drawing her attention to it.

Hermione looked from him to the hat and back a few times, until she focused solely on the hat. Without a word, she took it from his hands and looked up into his eyes. Smiling mischievously, Hermione placed it on her head.

Harry smiled back.

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End.

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Hopefully, I'll be updating this soon.

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