Tattoos

Harry James Potter has five tattoos in total, ranging in size and type. Some of the bigger ones were Muggle, but a lot of the smaller ones were Wizard. Also known as: five times Harry Potter got tattoos on his body, and the one time he helped someone else get a tattoo for themselves.

1. The first tattoo Harry ever got was at a Muggle tattoo and piercing shop in London, after he got settled in the house his Godfather left him with, Grimmauld Place. He and his best friends spent ages tidying it up and erasing all of the bad memories from the War from it. Of course, they couldn’t get rid of the portraits. And when he came back home with a still tattoo of a hippogriff on his shoulder, a furious Walburga Black raged at him the rest of the afternoon. Even after he put the plain grey cloth over her, she kept murmuring and yelling while he tried to sleep. Needless to say, it was worth it.

2. The next tattoo was Wizard, by Ron’s request. It was a little outline of a golden snitch. The process of watching a Wizard tattoo being put on was fascinating, and it captivated Harry the whole time. They went to Tatoo Artist in Diagon Alley for the work to be done. For his Muggle tattoo, he had to wait days for it to heal, and then weeks to get it completely filled in and finished. But in Tatoo Artist, then entire procedure was done in less than a day. In fact, he still had enough time to visit the Weasley’s for dinner and show off the fluttering little snitch to the family. Molly Weasley nearly fainted when she saw it, complaining that “those marks are permanent, you know,” and “what will your future lovers say?” Harry only responded in an embarrassed flush and mumbled apologies that he didn’t really mean. The golden snitch travelled all over his arms as he did so.

3. The third tattoo was another Wizard one, because damn was he on a roll. It was around this time where he was becoming reacquainted with old “buddies,” Draco Malfoy in particular. The blond boy (well, more of a man now, he supposed.) had invited him to a Muggle bar, where they could both have a nice time and enjoy each other’s company without it being front page of the Daily Prophet. Harry and Draco had gotten particularly intoxicated, enough to lower his inhibitions to the point where he would agree on getting a snake tattoo on his back. They’d come to a point in the conversation where Harry confessed to almost being sorted into Slytherin, and Draco said it was too good of an opportunity to not do it. The morning afterwards, when they were both hungover, yet in their right minds, Harry received a formal apology in the form of a letter from the Malfoy Manor. He responded with a picture of the beastly little tattoo chasing around his golden snitch on his right forearm with words on the back saying, “Come visit soon.”

4. A few months after his third, he got the itch for a new one. Hermione joked that he was becoming addicted to the tattoo ink, but he ignored her and went back to the Muggle shop that he went to for his first tattoo. As much as he loved the Wizard ones, Harry wanted to go back to his roots for this one. He sat in the leather chair with his shirt off completely, wearing only his pants, and it was the most nude he’s ever been in a public establishment like that. When he had the first job done, nobody could tell what it was by the outline. Everyone guessed, but every time Harry would just shake his head. By the second time going, the picture was becoming more clear. Deer antlers, against his pelvis, with lily flowers blooming in between the empty spaces. McGonagall smiled sadly at him when he told her about it, so he supposed the tattoo did its justice. Sometimes Draco would charm the flowers to turn in circles or have butterflies fly around them.

5. His last tattoo (“I promise, ‘Mione. No more after this one!”) was directly related to his new relationship with Draco Malfoy. Ron said that it was a bad idea, in case they break up and then Harry would just have this tattoo of his ex on his ankle. But they were going on quite steady, and Harry could see himself marrying that man someday. So he got another Wizard tattoo, on his ankle. It wasn’t, like, his name or anything. It was the Draco constellation. Charmed to shine brightly at night, whenever he and Malfoy were close together.

+1. “It’s alright, Draco,” Harry whispered as they crossed the threshold into the Muggle tattoo shop. “It’s not as bad as folks make it out to be. But it will take a while to heal.”
“Oh, joy,” the blond deadpanned, gripping his husband’s hand tighter.
The ladies at the front desk smiled at Harry, then at Draco. “Hello, boys, how may we help you today?”
“We’d like to get a tattoo for my husband here,” Harry gestured towards the Slytherin.
The process of getting Draco onto the chair was an interesting one, since the Pureblood wizard didn’t understand why he couldn’t just stand while getting it done. Wizards could be completely walking around and even doing light exercise while getting their tattoos, as long as they had a large, open expanse of skin for the artist to work on.
When he lifted up his sleeve, the tattoo artist grimaced and sucked in through her teeth. “Jesus, I bet you’re glad this is getting covered up, huh? This one a drunken mistake?”
Draco set his jaw and nodded. “Yes. And it was definitely a mistake.”
Four hours later, and the two men could go home. It was late at night, and Harry was trying to seduce him. Draco was not indulging him, saying that the tattoo was painful and "would be millions of times better if it was Wizard." He didn't truly complain though, seeing as it was a symbol.
Harry smiled and looked down at his husband's forearm, the left one. The Dark Mark was ugly and faded after so many years. When they first met, Draco constantly had medical gauze wrapped around it to keep anybody from seeing it. After dating for a year and a half, he finally got him to unwrap them.
Now, though, there were flowers all over it. Overlapping and crowding it, suffocating the Mark with color and beauty. They were narcissus flowers, based off of his mother who would do anything for him. Who lied straight to the Dark Lord's face to save him.
Narcissa Malfoy cried from happiness when she saw it for the first time.