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Halloween - The Aftermath: Chapter 9
🕑 Added 2022-08-22 17:30:01 +0000 UTCJames Potter was outside their home, looking in the distance when he heard the front door open. He didn’t bother to turn around and heard soft footsteps approaching him.
Harry came outside and stood beside him, looked at him for a moment before he fixed his gaze at nothing, seemingly looking in the distance. The father-son duo stood there for a while in silence, staring far away into nothingness before James shifted.
“Grab on,” he said, holding out his arm. Harry looked at him for a moment before he grabbed it, and James twisted on the spot and disapparated with a soft pop.
They landed in an alley in London, and Harry easily recognized the place as the Crimson, a fairly new club that had opened in Horizont Alley.
“Let’s head inside,” James prompted, and Harry nodded before they started to walk toward the entrance.
The guards’ eyes widened slightly when they recognized them and they were quickly ushered inside. Making their way through a small crowd, they took their seat in a secluded part of the club. A menu quickly appeared on the table.
“Ogden’s finest for me. You?” James asked, and a glass of the vintage firewhiskey appeared on the table, which James picked up.
“The 682,” Harry intoned, and James raised his eyebrows slightly.
“Pretty strong one you’ve got there,” he remarked, as they clicked the glasses. He took a sip and sighed audibly when the burning sensation coursed through his throat. Harry swirled the drink around inside his mouth before he gulped it down, closing his eyes and leaning back on his seat as he did so.
“Coach made us try it once. Never looked back,” Harry replied, and James chuckled.
“Perfectly understandable. A little too strong for me though.”
Harry nodded.
They sat there in silence for a while, slowly sipping their alcohol. A few women and men came forward to greet Harry or ask for autographs or pictures. He indulged them for a bit before catching the eye of a guard, silently conveying his need for privacy, who nodded at him.
Harry touched the rune engraved on the side of his chair and the music dimmed around them as the privacy wards activated.
“I seriously can’t imagine having a life in which I’m hounded by people whenever I’m in public,” James chuckled. Harry looked at his father and gave a small laugh.
“No, I can’t imagine you would like that,” he replied in mirth.
James looked at the small group of youngsters who had come up to greet Harry as they stood to the side, talking excitedly.
“All this… it looks so attractive from afar, but even imagining facing this every time I’m outside feels tiresome.”
“Listen dad, I…” Harry sighed, “I’m sorry I did that to you. What I did was really selfish of me and you didn’t deserve it.”
James sobered up quickly and looked at Harry with a frown. Harry was leaning back in his seat and placed the glass on the armrest of his chair.
“Even if you’d given Narcissa your permission, I should’ve known better. I’m sorry,” he said sincerely. James sighed.
“Look. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hurt when I heard about all of it. I was pretty angry about what happened too. Even now, a small part of me is resentful of what the two of you have done,” James confessed, and Harry looked at him sadly.
“But I understand. She’s never been your mother. She’s not raised you, so you have no maternal feelings for her. And despite being years older than you, Cissy is no less attractive than a young model. I understand that things happened the way they did last night, and I’d prefer if we tried to move on from all the miserable truths that come with it.”
Harry looked at his father with slightly wider eyes.
“Being an auror is much more than being a dark wizard catcher, Harry. That life teaches you a lot, and the biggest merit is the ability to take decisions by analyzing a situation as quickly as you can,” James chuckled.
“I might’ve been raging and getting mad over this fact for a few days if I’d been your normal person, but my career has already prepared me to make quick and sound decisions without wasting valuable time or effort. It’s saved my life countless times and that of my comrades, if I’m being honest.”
Harry nodded.
“It’s kinda similar to Quidditch too, I guess.”
James chuckled.
“Maybe,” he shrugged.
A comfortable silence took over as they sat there, nursing their alcohol and looking around.
“Oh, I just remembered,” James began with a grin, and Harry looked at him curiously.
“What?”
“I met a certain someone a few hours ago. Right after my latest assignment, actually. Someone who claimed to know you quite closely,” James smirked.
Harry looked at him with a small frown.
“Who are you talking about?”
“Oh, no one of note. Just a woman named Fleur,” James grinned when he saw Harry’s eyes widen.
“And there’s the reaction I expected. I must tell you how proud I felt when I heard her talk about you. A bloody veela! My boy, you’re going places,” James laughed at the slightly nervous look on his son’s face.
“She was kinda put out by you though. Said that you bailed out on her or something. Is that true?”
Harry’s eyes widened and he slowly placed his glass on the table.
“Fleur’s in England,” he muttered softly. James grinned and nodded.
“Yeah. I’ve given her our address. She said she’d come over this week when she’s off work.”
Harry shakily nodded.
“She’s gonna kill me,” he whispered. James frowned.
“How badly did you screw up?”
Harry looked at his father for a moment before he sighed.
“She’s been asking to meet for some time now, but I was so busy with training and the season that I couldn’t make time for anything else. When we were allowed our vacations, she was going to have her curse breaking thing, so we never got to meet up. Now that she’s here, she’s gonna be mad because I didn’t even meet her after the season was over,” Harry muttered.
James looked at his son as if he were crazy.
“You couldn’t make time for a woman like her!?”
Harry winced.
“I’ve got no excuse,” he sighed.
“Damn right you don’t,” James nodded, “Be glad that girl still wants you. Any other woman would’ve moved on long ago.”
Harry nodded with a frown.
James looked at him for a short while.
“Is it serious with her?”
Harry looked at his father for a moment before he nodded.
“We really like each other, and I’d like to give it a shot.”
James nodded.
“Then how’re you going to explain the situation with Cissy to her?”
Harry chuckled.
“You don’t know her like I do. That girl is different. I don’t mean to brag or anything, but I was with her and her sister, together, and she loved every second of it. I bet she’d find what’s between me and Cissa pretty hot, enough that she’d love to join in.”
James’ eyes widened.
“Seriously!?”
Harry nodded.
Another moment of silence followed, and James cleared his throat.
“Listen Harry. There’s a reason why I asked you to come with me here tonight,” James began, and Harry gave him his full attention.
He saw his father look at him for a long moment, before sighing.
His eyes widened with every word that came out of his father’s mouth until he could only sit there in shocked silence, his mind working in overdrive to comprehend what his father just said.
“So? What do you think?” James asked once he’d finished. Harry sat there with his mouth parted into a silent ‘O’ as he looked at him before giving a small nod.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine with it. Whatever you want, dad,” he nodded, and James smiled.
XXX
It didn’t take them long to get back home. Their discussion was done some time ago, and once they finished their drinks, they saw no reason to stay, and after settling the bill, they walked to the apparition point and vanished with a soft pop.
“You’re really okay with it, right? It won’t be awkward, I hope,” James implored once again, and Harry looked at him with a small smile. He had properly processed his father’s request in all the time they had at the club, and Harry had concluded that it was something he would be open to trying out.
“I don’t think so,” he shook his head, “I mean, I haven’t tried something like this ever, so it will be a new experience for me as well.”
James nodded.
“And,” Harry began with a soft smile, “given how you have accepted all of it, it would be really unfair if I denied you something as simple as this.”
James chuckled before he clapped his son on the back. They walked over to the front door and the door opened. They looked up in surprise before similar smiles lit up their faces.
Narcissa stared at the two for a moment before grinning. She stepped to the side and watched as James and Harry walked in, before shutting the door behind them.
“So? Where did you two go?” She asked. James chuckled and wrapped his arm around her waist.
“Just over to the bar. Had a couple of drinks and talked some. What about you? Done with your special dinner?” He teased. Narcissa chuckled.
“Come on, you two,” she pulled James toward the dining room. Harry trailed after them in amusement.
They walked inside and James stopped to look at all the food on the table.
“That’s some spread you’ve got here,” he remarked, sharing a look of surprise with Harry who looked at him with slightly widened eyes.
“You seriously made all this!?” He exclaimed, and Narcissa grinned.
“Indeed. Now grab a seat and dig in,” she told them before sitting down. Harry and James looked at each other before shrugging and taking their seats before doing what Narcissa told them to. They dug in.
For a while, the only sound that could be heard was of the cutlery and occasional praises of the food thrown in between, coaxing chuckles out of Narcissa whenever either of them mentioned it.
“No really, I mean,” Harry began, and Narcissa looked at him with mirth shining in her eyes as he grinned, “if I’d known how happy you’d be, I’d have done something a long time ago,” he gave her a meaningful look. Narcissa flushed as James chuckled.
“I should’ve sent you two to a party sooner then,” he remarked. Harry grinned at his father as Narcissa looked at him in surprise before chuckling softly. It was good that James was joining in, instead of getting off-put by what had transpired.
Finally, the dinner was over, and Harry gave his father a look before getting up.
“I’ll put all of this in the sink,” he nodded at Narcissa before getting up. James nodded at him, understanding what he was trying to do, as Harry levitated all the dishes and the cutlery in front of him and walked over to the kitchen sink where he unloaded them all and tapped his wand to the cleaning utensils, watching as all of it came to life and started cleaning everything up.
James, meanwhile, looked at his wife, who was looking at him with a smile.
“I know you’re up to something,” she remarked, and his eyes widened slightly.
“What gives you that idea?” He asked smoothly, grinning at her, and she chuckled.
“I’ve known you for years, James. I know when you’ve got something on your mind. Now, are you going to make me wait any longer, or are you going to let it out?” She placed her chin on her hands and rested her elbows on the table. James glanced down at her exposed cleavage visible through her translucent nightgown and grinned.
“What if I told you that I’d planned something for tonight?”
Narcissa grinned.
“You know I’d always love to be with you James. Just because I’ve got Harry now for that doesn’t mean it’d mean any less to me when I’m with you. Whatever you’ve planned, I’m sure I’d love it,” she answered honestly, and James smiled.
“I’m glad to hear that, but I’ve planned something different for us tonight,” he replied, grinning when Narcissa frowned in confusion.
“Alright, I’ll bite. What is it?”
James laughed, and Harry turned to look at them before turning around with a smile. His father must be dramatizing all of it.
Meanwhile, James laughed and looked at her.
“You really think I’ll tell you directly? No, my dear lovely wife. You’ll have to wait until we go to bed before you get to know what it is that I have planned.”
Narcissa narrowed her eyes before looking around at Harry, who was standing at the sink, looking down at where the plates were being cleaned by the enchanted utensils.
“What are you doing over there?” She called out, and Harry turned to look at her and grinned.
“It’s so cool to watch them doing that,” he remarked, gesturing to the cleaning job that was going on. Narcissa looked at him oddly for a moment before she sighed and turned around.
“Your son really needs to come up with better excuses,” she remarked, and James looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Narcissa rolled her eyes.
“I’m not some idiot, you know? I can tell whatever it is, you’ve already told him, and he’s over there so he doesn’t have to answer me,” she remarked. James grinned.
“Don’t worry, love. Have a bit of patience. It’s late already. How much longer do you think you’ve got to wait now? An hour at the max?”
Narcissa huffed as she got up.
“I’m going to watch something. Tell me when you’re ready to,” she threw behind her, and James watched her hips sway as she walked away. Turning around, he saw that Harry was also watching her walk away, and caught his eye. Father and son grinned at each other before James got up.
“An hour, Harry,” he said, and Harry looked at him before he nodded with a grin.
“Alright,” he grinned.
James left the dining room and walked inside the living room. He saw his wife sitting there on the sofa in her nightgown and watching TV. With a smile, he joined her.
Narcissa scooted closer when he sat down and cuddled up to him, her eyes glued to the TV. James kissed the top of her head and smiled.
He was looking forward to the night that was about to come, and if he knew anything about his wife, he was sure she would love it.
XXX
To be continued…
