citrine extras

black magic

—————

"Hey, honey."

(Y/N)'s chirped greeting elicited only a small smile from Harry's features, not at all the reaction she was used to from him.

"Hi, sunshine," he responded, sounding drained. Though it took a second for his aura to kick in for her, the second it did, she could see just how muted the colors were compared to the vividness she was used to from her Flame.

"What's the matter?" she asked, shifting her car into drive to take them back to her apartment for the night.

Harry heaved a sigh in the passenger seat, running a heavy hand through his hair. "Jus' a long day. I like the record store, and I've been getting a handle on training, surprisingly, but 's jus' a lot to get used to. Haven't done anything like this in decades."

"Oh, H," she crooned, reaching across the center console to lace her fingers between his, "But after you're done training, they're going to cut your hours back down, right?"

"Yeah," he breathed out, looking to her with softened eyes as he squeezed her hand, "Jus' feels like 's so far off; I miss you. I've barely even had time with Bonnie and Dande this week."

Running her thumb in quiet circles over the warmth of his hand, (Y/N) sighed. She ached in her chest, knowing how much he was hurting. He loved his little animals, so she was sure that this past week alone had put a lot of strain on his heart. "I know, but it's almost over. They'll be so excited to see you when you come home this weekend, too. It'll be special since it's been a little while."

A small smile touched at the corners of Harry's lips at the idea of his girls getting the jitters from being excited to see him. "Right," he breathed, "I'll have to make something special for dinner for them."

For a flicker, Harry's aura reappeared, filling her car with his divine light. Vividity had returned to the rings haloing his form, even if the drained, beige ribbon was still wrapped around the very edge. She hoped he would be able to feel how content that made her to know that he was feeling even a little better.

"We'll have to do something special together, too," he told her, bringing her hand up to his lips to press a kiss to the back of it.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," she said, looking to him from the corner of her eye as she kept her attention on driving. (Y/N) had already been thinking about something she could do to make this week up to him, though she was sure Harry had different ideas than she had had swirling around.

She just hoped her idea worked out the way she wanted.

—————

(Y/N) was out of breath by the time she made it up to Harry's meadow.

Looking out on the wide open space, despite the cottage and the flora filling the space, it felt so empty without Harry there. He was like the sun of this space, everything revolving around him and bending to his will out of nothing but love. Even Bonnie, who was curled up on the porch of his house, looked bored out of her mind since her dad wasn't there.

"Hi, sweetie," she greeted the mountain lion with a pass of her fingers over the fluff between her ears. Bonnie only huffed before laying her head back down on her paws. "He's coming home tonight, you know. He'll be home a lot more now after this."

As if she could understand what (Y/N) was saying, Bonnie looked up with her big eyes, nose puffing. A twitch came to her ears as if she were perking up at the news, keening into (Y/N)'s petting hand. "Me too," she told her, "I'm excited too, sweetie."

With a lingering pet, (Y/N) pushed through to Harry's cottage. He'd barely been spending any time here this past week, having taken to sleeping at (Y/N)'s place through the nights so he wouldn't have to go too far to get to work on time. The area was just as she was sure he had left it the previous Sunday: records out of place with Pink Floyd on his player, his kitchen a little bit of a mess with crumbs from his breakfast he made himself before rushing out, and his bed unmade. The little divot at the end of the bed still remained from where she was sure Dandelion had been sleeping since her dad had left.