filcet post, old prompt Title: Jack-O-Lantern Author: Ruby Tuesday Pairing: Harry/Draco Word Count: Not quite 1000 Rating: G Summary: Draco loves Halloween, Harry does not. Warnings: Silliness Prompts:awdt- “It’s not enough.” harrylovesdraco- Halloween Beta:iamisaac Disclaimer: Not mine, I’m just having fun.
Halloween had never been Harry’s favorite holiday, for obvious reasons. For most of his childhood, Harry never actually had a favorite holiday since he wasn’t really included in the Dursley’s celebrating.
His feelings, or lack thereof, about holidays changed when he came to Hogwarts. Christmas quickly became his favorite, after a few years spent in the warm glow of the Weasley’s generosity and the ambiance of Hogwarts during the holiday season.
It was not Christmas yet, however. It was Halloween, and it already felt a bit much for Harry. After several years of dating, this was his first year celebrating Halloween with his new live-in boyfriend, Draco Malfoy. Little had he known when he had succumbed to Draco’s insistence that they should move in together that Draco had a tendency to go a bit… shall we say… overboard for the Holidays.
Case in point: Halloween décor. There was a skeleton hanging on the front door of the flat and orange lights in all the windows. There was a witch banner hanging on the kitchen terrace and ghost centerpieces on the dining room and kitchen tables. There was a scarecrow doll on either side of the fireplace and plastic pumpkins covered the mantelpiece. In every doorway hung at least one bat, and there were fake cobwebs in every corner. And last night, Draco had adorned all of the mirrors in the flat with little rubber, stick-on black cats.
Harry hadn’t yet said anything to Draco about his distaste for the abundance of decorations. Draco was having fun and Harry didn’t want to spoil it for him. But then Harry discovered the black cats on Halloween morning when he went to brush his teeth.
It was too much.
“I don’t want to look at cats when I am brushing my teeth,” he told Draco.
“But they’re so cute, Harry. What’s wrong with them?” Draco asked.
“Draco, I know you love holidays and I haven’t said anything about it so far, but this is just too much for me. It’s enough already. We are not living in a haunted house!”
“Oh Harry, it’s just for one more day. Lighten up a little. I know Halloween gets you a bit down because of your parents, but I think it’s time to move on from that. Like tonight, we will go to Blaise and Pansy’s party and make new, happy memories. Let’s enjoy it!”
Harry sighed. He was not in the mood to discuss his parents and he was about to be late for work. “Fine. Its fine, Draco. Just… no more, okay?”
“Okay Harry, that was the last thing I was going to put up anyway,” Draco answered cheerily. “Don’t forget, we still need to carve our pumpkin for the contest before we leave for the party tonight, so don’t be late getting home, all right?”
“I’ll be here,” Harry answered and kissed Draco goodbye before apparating to work.
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“It’s not enough,” Draco said, sighing, as he walked around the kitchen table examining the pumpkin.
They had been at the carving project for almost an hour and Harry was more than ready to be finished with it. It had taken almost half an hour to scrape all of the innards out of the enormous pumpkin that Draco had brought home a week earlier. Draco, of course, insisted upon saving all of the guts of it because he wanted Kreacher to make them pumpkin soup and pie with it.
After finally getting the pumpkin cleaned out, they had to decide which side of the wretched thing to carve the face on. This took almost ten minutes, as Draco kept changing his mind about which was the pumpkin’s “best side”. He finally settled on the side that was the flattest and so, would probably be the easiest to carve.
Harry was doing the actual carving because Draco didn’t want to mess up his newly manicured nails which he had painted a shiny black for the party tonight. He was directing Harry on how he wanted the face carved. So far, the jack-o-lantern, that Draco had named “Buddy”, had two oval eyes, a triangle nose and a huge smile with lots of pointed teeth.
“I think it looks good, Draco. It’s finished, what more does a face need?” Harry asked.
“Eyebrows. He definitely needs eyebrows. Make them big and crooked,” Draco directed.
Harry made huge bushy-looking eyebrows and they sat back to examine the pumpkin.
“Looks good,” Harry said.
“It’s still not enough. He needs a cleft in his chin. I want a manly jack-o-lantern.”
“Draco, why is this so important? It’s just a silly contest at a dumb party for a kids’ holiday!” Harry asked, exasperated.
“I want to do a good job, Harry! You know I don’t often get to express myself artistically!” Draco explained, petulantly.
“Fine, a cleft in his chin.” Harry carved out a small comma shape on the bottom of “Buddy’s” face. “Now it’s done,” Harry said emphatically.
Draco examined the pumpkin for a long moment. Finally, He said, “No, no it’s still not enough. It needs something… Ears! He needs ears, Harry, with earrings! Yes, that’s it. Then he will be perfect!”
“Are you sure, Draco? This is the last thing I’m carving.”
“I’m positive.”
Harry stretched out his hands and cracked his knuckles before getting back to work, carving two large ears with dangling bat-shaped earrings. Then he sat back and looked up at Draco expectantly.
“Perfect!” Draco exclaimed with glee. “It’s perfect! Thank you Harreee!” he said, giving Harry a sloppy kiss.
“You’re welcome,” Harry said dryly. He shrugged and stretched his neck, looking at the decorations cluttering up his kitchen. “I can’t wait until tomorrow morning, I am taking down all these damn ornaments first thing when I get up!”
“Oh Harry,” Draco whined. “Can’t we leave them up for just one more day?”