Chapter Text
Harry didn’t expect the owl.
Most of his friends had gone away for the winter holidays; Ron and Hermione were visiting the Grangers in Australia, Neville and Hannah were on a couples-cruise in the Fjords, and Luna and Ginny were somewhere in the Amazon Rainforest. Even Molly and Arthur had gone away to see Charlie in Romania.
Though he’d been invited on nearly all of his friend’s holidays, Harry had declined. It would be nice for them to all get away as couples, and celebrate their first real Christmas since the end of the war—it was technically the second, but most people had still been grieving too much to enjoy the first. Harry didn’t want to be a third wheel.
He didn’t really know anybody else, so he couldn’t imagine who would be writing to him. None of the general public knew where he lived, for obvious reasons, so it had to be somebody who knew him. Kingsley, perhaps, or Andromeda.
The owl was a beautiful one, a Barn owl with stunning mottled colouring, and wise, dark eyes embedded in a snow-white face. Harry hadn’t yet been able to face getting a new owl, the pain of losing Hedwig still too much for him, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate a good-looking owl when he saw one.
“Hello, gorgeous,” Harry said as he unfastened the letter from its leg, cringing as he realised he was beginning to sound like Hagrid, or that eccentric Newt Scamander who Harry had met a few months ago.
He gave the owl a treat before he turned his attention to the letter, which had Harry’s name written on top of the envelope in an elegant scrawl. He tore the envelope open and pulled out the parchment inside, eyes scanning the words. It read:
‘Potter,
I know I’m probably the last person you want or expected to hear from, but I could do with your help and would appreciate it if you didn’t tear my letter up. You still have a thing for saving people, yes?
To get straight to the point, Potter, my family are having a get-together with several of our extended family and friends. While family gatherings are horrific enough as it is, I am actually making a point to improve myself and move away from the twisted Pureblood ideals which ended up causing so much harm, both to myself and others.
Basically, I want to say a big ‘fuck you’ to my family and their friends. I know that saying ‘fuck you’ to bigots is a hobby you also enjoy, so I wondered if you might care to join me in this. As well as being blood purists, many of the guests are homophobes who only pretend to accept my own homosexuality so long as I keep it quiet and play straight when I'm around them.
So my plan, Potter, if you’re down for it, is for you and I to pretend to be a couple at this family gathering. I had considered using Theo or Blaise, but they’re both Purebloods from respected families, whereas you’re a half-blood who not only despites blood purity ideals, but destroyed the man who was trying to take over the Wizarding World with those wicked beliefs. Your presence would greatly disturb my family and their friends, and Pureblood culture dictates that they’d have to suffer in silence in order to not cause a scene.
If you’re down for this, Potter, send an owl back post-haste. If you’re not, don’t bother telling me. But you know you want to do this. Trust me; we could have a lot of fun.
Yours,
D. Malfoy
Well, Harry thought deviously as he read the letter over once more; it looked like he had plans for the holidays after all.