A/N: This was originally written for a challenge on SIYE (the December Engagement Challenge, for those of you who care) and was three chapters. I have condensed it into one because I don't like the hassle of chapters. So, if there are large breaks between text or one sentence paragraphs right in a row, that probably means a chapter previously existed there.

"You're sure she won't come in here?"

"Yes, Harry! Why would she come in here? She has no reason to be here."

"Well, I don't know, I heard Lavendar and Parvati talking about how they went ring shopping where they just went around and looked at rings. Maybe Ginny does that—I don't know!" Harry exclaimed, worried. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Harry, Ginny is NOT the kind of person who would go fake ring shopping. Now come ON," she said, dragging him into the store while Ron followed behind, wanting badly to laugh at the scene.

It was warm inside the little shop, and bright. There were little counters made of glass, illuminated by unseen light bulbs. Gems glittered and sparkled, all colors of the rainbow to be found. Harry saw some other nervous-looking men hanging around the counters. Some gave him an odd look, as if wondering why a teenager and his two friends would be coming into the shop, but others were either too absorbed to notice their presence or too nervous to.

"May I…help you?" Harry turned around. There stood a strict, prim looking woman. He hair was up in a tight bun and her stylish glasses were small, square and pointed. She carried a clipboard and a pen with her. Hermione spoke before Harry could say anything.

"Um, yes, my friend here would like to look at the engagement rings," she said. The lady raised an eyebrow but beckoned with her hand.

"Come follow me. We have lovely sets of engagement rings. All are the latest style. Let me ask you a few questions, what stone, first of all?"

"Uh," Harry answered intelligently. "I uh…I don't know." Harry was fairly sure that if the lady raised her eyebrows higher they would disappear into her hair.

"Well," the lady answered in a huff, "that's not much of a problem. Let's just have you look at some examples, shall we?" The lady went behind the glass counters, took out some keys and brought out some beautiful rings. She brought out one with a diamond in it, one with a sapphire, another with a ruby and one with an emerald. She pointed to each and gave Harry several details which he did not understand in the least, though Hermione was nodding and listening intently. He wasn't sure if that was a girl thing or a Hermione thing. Harry looked at each of the stones in despair—how would he ever pick? He turned to Ron.

"Ron, do you know what Ginny's favorite gem is?" he asked. Ron shrugged.

"I dunno, mate," he said. Hermione gave him a look.

"What use are you if you don't know things like that? Why did we even bring you along?" She turned to Harry. "Why did we bring him along?" Harry shrugged.

"Because he's Ginny's sister and knows her really well," he said. Hermione huffed.

"He doesn't seem to know her well at all if you ask me! Anyway," she said and turned back to the counter. "I think Ginny likes emeralds best." Harry nodded. That made sense—Ginny's favorite color was green. It did not escape him that that was the color of his eyes. The woman who was helping them seemed to brighten.

"We have an excellent line of emeralds," she said, moving to another counter. Harry looked down at the sparkly objects with absolutely no idea of what would be pretty and what wouldn't be. "Does she was a silver or a gold ring?" Harry exchanged a glance with Hermione. While gold didn't typically go very well with emerald, giving Ginny a green and silver engagement ring would be an insult—he didn't want to commit marital suicide.

"Gold," Hermione and Harry said simultaneously. Ron just stood off in the background—actually, Harry was amused to note that he was looking at sapphires—Hermione's favorite gem. He could be almost sure that Hermione would be getting a pretty bracelet or necklace this Christmas, and perhaps a sapphire ring sometime next year. Harry turned back to look at the saleswoman as she brought out some very pretty gold rings. Harry liked them all, but none of them were absolutely perfect.

"Are there any more?" Harry asked, almost pleadingly. The woman sighed.

"I can check the back. I'll be back in five minutes," she said and walked off. Harry sighed, then looked around quickly—where had Hermione and Ron gone? Probably off snogging somewhere. Harry sighed—now he was all alone.

"Shopping for a special girl?" asked a man who, Harry was surprised to see, was right next to him. He'd have to get better at looking—Hermione and Ron could've been standing right there and he'd never have noticed. The man himself seemed to be about thirty. He was looking at the emerald rings and necklaces.

"Yeah," he said. "You?"

"I'm shopping for an engagement ring," he said proudly. "I've finally got up the nerve." Harry smiled.

"Yeah, me too," he said, and resumed examining the rings. He didn't need to look to see the odd look the man was giving him.

"You want to get engaged? Wow. I had you pinned around eighteen—boy I must have been off," the man said with a laugh. Harry shook his head.

"I'm seventeen," Harry said. He'd nearly forgotten the slight differences in wizarding and muggle culture when he had walked into the store. Then he remembered—although it wasn't uncommon for couples to get married right after school, their school lasted a lot long—they got out at about their earlier twenties. It wasn't all that common for a "kid" to get married. In some muggle countries around the world, Harry would still be considered a minor. The man shook his head in disbelief but said nothing more. The saleswoman came back and shook her head.

"I'm sorry sir, there isn't anything in the back," she said. Harry sighed.

"That's all right. Thank you for your help today," he said politely. He left and the saleswoman took to helping the other man. He found Ron and Hermione looking at some watches. When they looked up hopefully, he shook his head. Hermione gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"It's okay, I'm sure we'll find something somewhere," she said. Harry sighed and nodded. They had to. They simply had to.

Fred and George Weasley were two particularly annoyed people. Harry Potter, their younger sister's pending fiancé, was getting cold feet. If you could even get cold feet before you were even engaged. Yes, Harry Potter always managed to make the impossible possible in everything he did. Apparently, engagements included.

"What do you say we do to him?" Fred asked placidly, twiddling his thumbs.

"Oh, I don't know my dear brother. This is a hard case indeed!" George replied, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Indeed, brother," Fred agreed mournfully. "It's difficult to believe that Harry has gotten cold feet. I thought he had more Gryffindor courage than that!" George nodded, then paused, a maniacal grin spreading across his face. Fred flinched back in mock horror.

"Brother! Are you having an epiphany which I am not experiencing at the same time? That's blasphemy!" he exclaimed. George only nodded.

"I am, my twin. You see, I think that its about time we took the term cold feet to a more literal sense…" George said. Fred smiled wickedly, catching on to his brother's evil genius.

"Oh, my brother, I always knew you were the stronger source of all knowledge. Shall we begin?" he inquired.

"Oh indeed my brother. Oh indeed…" With that, the pair began on their evil (but hilarious) plot to release Harry from his frozen state. Or perhaps put him there in the first place.

Harry himself was having an exceedingly bad day. In the weeks that they'd had to find Ginny a ring, he had hesitated and not found anything. It was almost Christmas, and he hadn't gotten a ring. Oh, well. Maybe it was all for the better. If he were to marry Ginny well, that would only place her in a greater danger with Voldemort. He couldn't bear to see Ginny die, and he simply would not allow it to happen. Marriage meant nothing to Harry when placed up against Ginny's own safety. Even if it meant he lost her love with his hesitation. Anything would be better than her death. These revelations, however, did nothing to help his mood.

Grumbling, he rose from the bed, made it quickly and headed downstairs. Most of the Weasley family was already up, and Hermione and Ron had already arrived from their own home not far from London. Fred and George were there as well, and all of them were sitting at the table, enjoying breakfast with Mr. Weasley and Ginny (Mrs. Weasley, as usual, was not at the table, but fussing about the kitchen). Ginny smiled, causing Harry's heart to flop over for a moment. Harry hastily thrust the wild beating of his heart out of his mind as Ginny came forward and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. She took his hand in hers, leading him to the table.

"Good Morning, Harry," she said with a sleepy smile.

"Morning, Gin," Harry said, giving her a warm hug as she giggled. Suddenly, Harry felt a strange feeling in his foot. It was becoming unnaturally cold. It became so cold in fact, that, surprised, Harry could no longer feel it, and he fell to one knee.

"Uh, Harry?" Ginny asked. Harry looked up, puzzled, then with a growing dread realized what this must look like. Ron was poking Hermione with a growing urgency to look up from her book as he looked on with pure joy. Harry's stomach dropped, and he fumbled to stand up, the curiosity not receding from Ginny's eyes even as the joy disappeared from Ron's face as Hermione looked at him in annoyance, not realizing what had occurred.

"I, uh, I tripped. Uneven flooring, you know…I should fix that later," Harry finished lamely.

"Right," Ginny said, and rolled her eyes. They continued to the table, Harry's face hot and his foot still cold. He saw Fred and George snickering and Harry glared at them, realizing that whatever had occurred, they had had something to do with it. He'd get them back someday. Fred turned to George and whispered something. Harry didn't like the sound of this. Somehow he knew that this would all be to his disadvantage.

"So, what would you like to do today, Harry?" Ginny took Harry's hand again.

"Ice skating!" George piped up. "I think Harry should go ice skating. Have you ever, Harry?" Harry looked at him, startled.

"Uh, well, once, in my first year at Hogwarts," Harry said, trying to recall that afternoon.

"Only once?" Ginny asked. She got that trademark mischievous Weasley smile. "Well that won't do. Come on, there are some ice skates in Dad's shed." With that, Harry found himself being dragged out of the house and toward Mr. Weasley's shed by a determined Ginny. She wrenched open the door and sifted through the things. Occasionally Harry had to duck from some random muggle object being thrown over his head. "Aha!" Ginny finally shouted, triumphant as she paraded two pairs of ice-skates over her head. "These should fit you," she said, tossing him one of the pairs. Reluctantly, Harry put on the skates. He was sure he would make a fool of himself right in front of Ginny. He couldn't ice skate for beans!

He stood on wobbly legs, trying to balance himself on the ice skates just in the snow. Ginny was at a run for the frozen pond.

"Come on, Harry!" she called, giggling, as she made her way onto the ice. Harry just watched her gliding for a moment. She was so happy, so free in that moment. It was as if there were no war. It was as if they could all be carefree and happy at no cost. It was as if there were no Voldemort ruining Harry's engagement plans. Sighing, Harry slowly put his feet out on the ice. No matter what it seemed like for a moment, it was only for a moment and the truth of the matter was that Harry couldn't marry Ginny. He just couldn't put her in more danger than she was already in. He had been enormously reluctant to even get back together with her in the first place. His heart wrenched as he realized he was about to hurt her again. If he wasn't going to propose, then there was no reason for him to tie Ginny down.

"What are you just standing there for you goof? Get out onto the ice!" Ginny laughed. Catching Harry unawares, she grabbed both of his hands and swung him out onto the ice with her. Surprised, Harry cried out. He was going as fast as he would on a broom. The only difference was that, while he knew how to control a broom, he certainly didn't know how to control his skates. Right when he thought he was going to swing out and hit the snow, Ginny was tugging on him again, bringing him back into the circle of the pond. Harry began to relax as he looked into Ginny's smiling face. She wouldn't let him fall. Even if she did, she'd catch him before he hit the ground. Just like always.

Harry wasn't sure how long they skated for. He only remembered laughing and smiling and a couple of kisses. He loved the elation he felt at skating and the free feeling he gained from it. It was just like being on a broomstick. Content but exhausted, he and Ginny went inside where he whipped up some hot chocolate for her and for himself. He handed her the cup when suddenly an owl flew in the window, a paper at its leg and a pouch around its body.

"The Prophet's here," Ginny commented. "It must be late because of the snow." Harry nodded and put a few coins in the owl's pouch. The poor thing was so covered in snow it could almost pass for Hedwig. It gave a hoot that sounded as if it were shivering from the cold, and then flew off. It was the front page that brought Harry back down to the Earth—Mad-Eye Moody was dead. "Harry?" Ginny asked tentatively. "Harry, is something wrong?" Harry walked solemnly back to the couch and sat down, handing the paper to her gravely.

"Moody is dead. Killed by Voldemort himself," Harry sighed and rubbed his temples, suddenly feeling very old. "I guess he most certainly doesn't stop for the holidays." They sat there in silence for a minute. Harry couldn't take his eyes off the front page. The picture didn't move. How could it? It was a picture of Moody—of Moody laying there dead, that is. "Ginny…" Harry said and then he sighed. He looked her right in the eye and Ginny looked about ready to cry. She bit her lip and turned away.

"Don't say it."

"Don't say what?" Harry asked, befuddled.

"Don't tell me that you need to break up with me because of Voldemort. Harry, please," she looked at him and took his hands. "Are you going to let your life be run by some madman?"

"Ginny, I couldn't bear losing you…" he said. Ginny's beautiful grey eyes flashed with fire.

"And what, you don't think that I couldn't bear to lose you? You think that I don't worry about you every single day? You don't think that you breaking up with me would be close enough to a loss? Well, I do! Harry, please, spare me your righteous speeches. I'm not going to stand for this. I'm going upstairs, and I'm not coming down until you give me a straight answer, Harry. You've already been confused once, and I took you back. Well, I'm not going to take you back again. Decide, Harry. Do you love me or not?" Ginny ran from the room furiously and jumped up the stairs two at a time. Harry sat there, dumbstruck.

"Having some relationship issues, eh mate?" George said. Fred and George looked miffed, to put it lightly. Harry put his head down and groaned silently. Now he'd have the Weasley brothers to deal with for hurting Ginny.

"We can solve them," Fred said, taking a seat beside him. Harry looked up into his ominous face with skepticism.

"Oh yeah? Just like how you solve having to go to class with skiiving snack boxes?" Harry asked, a bit sarcastically. Some kids would do anything to get out of class. Not Harry. The prospect of having to literally feel sick and throw up for a little while didn't appeal to him all that much.

"Now, now, Harry"

"No need to get snippy"

"We're just trying to help, see?"

"Just one little sip of this potion here"

"And you'll be on your way to solving all your relationship problems!"

"Uh," Harry said. "No thanks. And please, stop sounding like a commercial on the wizarding wireless for Witch Weekly. It disturbs me to hear how well you do that." Fred and George gave their trademark grins.

"All right Harry," George said.

"It's up to you," Fred said. They left. No, Harry thought, it's not up to me. They'll do with me what they please while I eat or drink or sleep. My decision only makes the prank more fun for them.

That afternoon, Ginny did not come down for lunch. After shouting at her to come down for a good while Mrs. Weasley gave up and began to distribute sandwiches and glasses of milk.

"Here, I'll take that Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, taking his own glass of milk and sandwich to the table. Ha. Fred and George couldn't get to it now. Harry took a triumphant gulp and instantly regretted it as he saw Fred and George smirking at him from across the way. Dang it. He thought. I should have remembered that rule—always make your host drink first just in case it's poisoned.

That was Harry's last coherent thought before he drifted into a long and very deep sleep.

Harry knew something was wrong when he woke up with Sirius standing over him.

"I'm dead, aren't I? Fred and George finally slipped something poisonous into my milk, didn't they?" Harry asked idly, still a little groggy from the sleep. Sirius laughed—his barking sort of laughter warmed Harry's heart.

"No, you're not dead my boy. I've come to tell you a piece of advice—don't make the same mistake I did," Sirius said. Harry furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"What mistake?" Harry asked.

"Of missing your opportunity! Harry, you have a girl who loves you very much. You can't let Voldemort rule your life. You're making the very same mistake I did—I only wish I'd been around a bit longer to give you this advice in person," he said. Harry shook his head.

"Aren't you here in person now?" he asked. Sirius shook his head.

"You're in a dream-like state, Harry. You walk in the world of memories and dreams. If you'll come with me I have three things to show you before you wake up from this dream and leave this world of the in-between. I'm going to show you Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future," Sirius said. Always good-humored, Harry laughed.

"Don't we need three separate ghosts for that?" Sirius grinned.

"Funding is running low in this department, unfortunately, and I've got to cover for the ones who lost their jobs," he replied.

"So, what am I in for anyway?" Harry asked as he got up. "Am I being marked as a Scrooge for not giving to charity that often? I'm just trying to make sure I have enough to have resources to defeat Voldemort with, I promise." Sirius grinned and slapped him on the back.

"No, no. You're a different kind of Scrooge, Harry. You're a love Scrooge. Like I said, you've got a girl who loves her, and by pushing her away, you're making a huge mistake. I'll show you just how huge. Come on," he said and grabbed Harry's arm. Harry felt funny for a moment when finally they were in the Gryffindor common room. It was Christmas obviously, as there was a tree in the center of the room and it was snowing fairly hard outside. Two people entered the room—a young looking Sirius and a beautiful blonde girl.

"I thought Christmas past, present and future meant my past, present, and future, not yours," Harry asked in confusion.

"Well, you didn't have a past Christmas with Ginny so I had to improvise. Cut me a little slack, champ—I'm working on a low budget here," Sirius replied. Harry turned his eyes to the young Sirius and the girl.

"Rose, you know I love you," young Sirius pleaded. "But we can't be together. I'm going to be an auror, Rose. I'm going to be fighting Voldemort, and I don't want you to get in the way of that danger. I promise, once he's gone we can get married and settle down." The girl turned towards him, her eyes filled with tears and anger.

"And how long do you think that will be, Sirius? What are you thinking, a year or two? He's absolutely unstoppable! This could take years, decades even! I don't want to be fifty and getting married for the first time! I want children, Sirius. I want a white picket fence and a house in the suburbs," she said, then pulled Sirius close. "I want a dog, too. Please, Sirius." Sirius reluctantly turned away from her embrace.

"I can't, Rose. I'm sorry," he replied. Teary-eyed, Rose ran past the current Sirius and Harry and through the portrait hole.

"Who was she?" Harry asked softly. Sirius sighed, sorrowful.

"The one girl I ever really loved. She was another member of the flower brigade—our name for three of the Gryffindor girls. Your Mom was one of them, as was Rose and Remus' long time girlfriend, Violet. I wanted to protect her, and I figured that if she was around me she'd be in danger. That's why Remus pushed Violet away as well, though his fear was that she wouldn't be safe around him because he was a werewolf. We were both sacrificing the loves of our lives to protect them. James was the only one of us who had any sense. I think Lily knocked it into him. They were the only ones who got married," he said.

"And both of them died because of it," Harry said. Sirius regarded him for a moment.

"Yes. But they died together, happy. James could watch over Lily and protect her for as long as he could. Since I had pushed Rose away she…she was raped and murdered a couple of years after our graduation by a Death Eater. If I had been there to protect her, it never would have happened, and she would have still been alive. Violet died later at the hands of Greyback, ironically enough. Again, if Remus had been there to protect her, she never would have died. Don't you see? No matter how much you might try to protect someone, you will never succeed by pushing them away," Sirius said. "Now, off we go again to try to talk some more sense into you." Once again he grabbed Harry's arm, and they were back in the Weasley kitchen, although this time the other Weasleys were there, staring down at Harry's unmoving body, Ginny cradling him to her, crying, while Mrs. Weasley yelled at the Weasley twins.

"Look at how much she misses you, how worried she is that you might be gone into something you won't pull out of. She can't live without you Harry, anymore than you can live without her. Why torture her so much with this yoyo off and on game of being with her and breaking up that you do?" Sirius asked. Harry watched, speechless and sobered. He couldn't believe the pain Ginny was in and felt the urge to slap Fred and George upside the head for whatever they had slipped in his drink—but he couldn't help but thank them at the same time.

"Well, onto the next one," Sirius said.

"Why don't you just drop me off here?" Harry begged, not willing to leave Ginny in the state she was. Sirius shook his head.

"Nope. I've got to pack my final punch of sense into you so there's no way you won't ask Ginny to marry you. Come on," Sirius said and once more grabbed Harry's arm. They arrived at a cemetery.

"Are you going to show me my grave?" Harry asked. Sirius shook his head.

"No. Worse," he said and led him to a small funeral that was occurring. Harry and the entire Weasley family—minus Ginny—were in attendance.

"It's so tragic," Harry caught Lavendar saying to Hermione. "She wouldn't have died if she hadn't been out looking for Harry."

"No," Harry said quietly and rushed to the front, near the casket. A picture was displayed beside it—Ginny's picture—along with a few items that were a memorial to her. "No!" Harry yelled. Sirius put a hand on his shoulder.

"You can prevent this Harry. Don't make the same mistake I did. Here," he said, and handed the distraught and tearful Harry and ring. It had a diamond in the center and two emeralds on the sides. "You've been looking for the perfect ring, haven't you? Well, here it is! Take it, and don't let this happen. Wake up, Harry. Wake up," Sirius, said, and the entire scene vanished and Harry went into total blackness once more.

"Harry, wake up." Harry could hear Ginny's desperate voice calling. Slowly, Harry opened his eyes. Ginny saw and squeezed him tightly. "Harry! Oh, Harry, we were worried you wouldn't ever wake up!"

"Of course I'd wake up, Gin. I'll always be here for you," he said, then opened his palm. There was the ring that Sirius had given to Harry. Ginny looked dazzled.

"Harry, what is that? Where'd you get it?" she asked.

"It was my Mother's," Harry said, and as he spoke the words he knew they were true. Sirius had given him Lily's engagement ring. "Ginny. I love you with all of my heart and I'm going to ask you this before reality hits me. I realized while I was…asleep…that I can't live without you. That I can protect you better if you're closer to me," he said, and clambered onto one knee. He offered up the ring to her. "Ginny, will you marry me?"

Harry didn't care that the entire Weasley family was watching. He didn't care that it was not the exactly perfect scene he had always pictured. It was perfect simply because Ginny tackled him, slipped on the ring, and said yes, right before they kissed for the first time as an engaged couple.

Harry learned an important lesson that day. He learned that no matter what kind of Scrooge you are, it's better for it not to get the better of you. You'll be happier for it in the end anyway. And when they were still married and had three children ten years later, Harry's thought on this subject was only reinforced. Being a Scrooge didn't have to mean being ridiculously wealthy and not giving back to the people—being a Scrooge now had a new extreme—being selfless to a flaw, and Harry was very glad to have seen the error of his ways.