Author's Note: I don't own Harry Potter- JK Rowling does. I do however own Miranda. She is of my own creation.

Christmas 2004; Hogwarts.

Christmas had arrived at Hogwarts. The elegant castle had been decked out with beautiful Christmas Trees, and lights that shone cheerfully in the windowpanes. All of the tables had beautiful poinsettia centerpieces on them, and red and green curtains adorned the massive windows, giving it a festive feeling. Even the weather was cooperating for once, snow had begun falling steadily the evening before and had not let up. As students prepared to leave the castle and travel to Hogsmeade to catch the Hogwarts Express Miranda found herself reminding her students to bring their cloaks, and to dress warmly, the last thing any of them needed was a bunch of students returning from their winter breaks with the flu. As the last of the students that chose to leave exited the castle, Miranda let out a sigh, turning to head to the Great Hall for lunch. She was not leaving for the burrow until the next day, thus she had plenty of time to brood without the entire Weasley family surrounding her.

"Miranda" Minerva McGonagall's voice echoed in the empty hallway, and Miranda winced involuntarily as she turned to face the Headmistress.

"Yes, Minerva?"

"I thought you were spending your holiday at the burrow this year? To meet Harry and Ginny's little boy?"

"I am, I thought I would head over tomorrow." She told the headmistress with a faint smile. "The burrow tends to be crowded on the holidays." And I don't need to risk too much alone time with Charlie Weasley, Miranda thought to herself.

McGonagall smiled at Miranda, her eyes tired but watchful as she took in the younger witches appearance. "The Holidays are still tough I take it?" she asked gently as they began to walk in the direction of the Great Hall together.

Miranda shrugged, and entered the Hall and crossed the room, passing the house tables and taking seats next to one another at the staff table. "I don't know if tough is the right word. I miss Sirius all the time, but this year I miss Remus, and James and Lilly. " she paused, her eyes clouding over. "They would have been so proud of Harry and Teddy."

McGonagall nodded sympathetically, and the two women proceeded to fill their plates with food as the rest of the staff and the students who had not gone home filtered into the Great Hall and took seats around them. "Have you thought about trying to move on?" she asked carefully. " I mean have you considered dating again? It's been almost ten years since Sirius was killed." She paused, keeping her words as light as possible. "I think, that he would want you to be happy. "

Miranda squashed the very enticing image of Charlie Weasley that flashed across her mind as she contemplated Minerva's words. Her face flushing slightly as she struggled to come up with the words to answer the Headmistress' very carefully worded question, without giving any information away about her ridiculous schoolgirl crush on Charlie Weasley. "I have… but let's face it, Minerva, at this point I'm damaged goods… I'm a 42-year-old single woman..who was injured so badly in the battle that she can't ever have children, who lost the love of her life who was also an accused murderer. Voldemort tortured and killed my parents for information on Harry's whereabouts and ever since the war ended I have allowed Molly and Arthur to adopt me because they pity me."

"Trust me when I say they don't pity you." Was all Minerva said in response, taking a sip of her drink. With that, the two women fell silent, out of things to say to one another for the moment.

The Burrow

Charlie Weasley hadn't been to the Burrow since last Christmas. Work obligations had kept him extremely busy for the past year, and he was grateful that his boss had allowed him to take the entire month of January off to spend with his family in addition to the two days before Christmas and the week after. As he trudged up the hill to his childhood home, snow swirling around him, he found himself thinking of Miranda Jacobs and wondering if she would again be spending her Christmas holidays at the burrow with his family. Despite their ten year age gap and the fact that she had been a teacher at Hogwarts when he attended school, Charlie greatly enjoyed Miranda's company, finding the teacher both incredibly smart, and kind as well as funny. Not to mention that the previous Christmas they had found themselves liplocked under some mistletoe when no one was paying any attention. Charlie brushed thoughts of his former teacher away as the front door of the burrow came into view. He took a deep breath, before pulling the door open and entering into his families own personal form of insanity.

"Mum! I'm home!" he called loudly, slamming the door shut behind him. He removed his hat, scarf, and coat quickly, leaving a trail of wet snow behind him. From somewhere in the back of the house he heard his Mother shriek and braced himself for impact.

"Charlie!" Molly Weasley practically tackled her son in her excitement to see him. "It's been too long." She forced herself to release him from her hug and took a step back, taking in his long red hair, dragon's tooth earring, and his jeans and a heavy sweater. " Come into the kitchen, Miranda and I have been working on lunch."

Charlie felt his face blossom into a smile at his Mother's words. "So Miranda is here?" he found himself asking, his tone of voice betraying his curiosity.

Molly's eyes narrowed as she examined her son's face. "Yes, She's here. She wanted to spend the holiday with Harry, and Teddy."

"Well, then. Lead the way, Mum."

That night after dinner had been served, and Teddy and James had been tucked into bed, Charlie, George, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Miranda sat in the living room of the burrow, gathered around the fireplace where a blazing fire had been built. Each adult nursed a glass of fire whiskey as they caught up with one another, telling stories about those that were still living, and those that had long since passed. Their laughter rose and fell as the conversation ebbed and flowed naturally between a group of people who had been through hell together and helped one another get through some of the darkest times of their lives, and who truly enjoyed the company of one another.

As the fire whiskey ran out their group started to disperse, first was Hermione, who was followed shortly after by Ron. Then Ginny, who was followed by Harry. George disappeared to his room shortly after, more than a little unsteady on his feet leaving just Charlie and Miranda to watch the flames in the fireplace burn down to embers. In the absence of fire whiskey, she had poured herself a glass of wine and sat in an armchair staring into the fire lost in thought.

Charlie, watched her for a long moment, listening to George stumble he way up the stairs to his bed, then moved so that he was sitting in the armchair across from her. "Penny for your thoughts Mira."

Miranda glanced over at him surprised, her face blossoming into a smile when she realized he was still there. "Sorry. I didn't mean to get lost in my head." She took a sip of her wine as they both turned their attention back to the fire for a moment.

Slowly, Charlie reached for Miranda's hand enveloping it in his own calloused one. "Maybe we should talk about what happened last Christmas?" he suggested his voice gentle.

Miranda's face flushed, as she drained her wineglass and sat it down on the table next to her. "We kissed Charlie… I'm not sure what else there is to say?"

He watched her face carefully, having learned over the years how to read Miranda. She didn't seem unwilling to have the conversation he was pushing for, just genuinely confused as to why there needed to be one. "Have you been with anyone since Sirius?" he asked quietly, realization dawning on him.

Miranda shook her head, her eyes downcast. "No…" her voice trailed off, and Charlie reached over with his free hand, gently raising her head so that her eyes met his. They were both quiet as they stared at one another for a long moment. Finally, Charlie muttered a hushed curse under his breath and closed the distance between them, capturing Miranda's lips in a kiss.

Someone cleared their throat behind them, and they sprang apart guiltily. They turned in unison to meet the eyes of a very amused Harry Potter. He regarded them both for a long moment struggling to keep a straight face. Finally, he shrugged and reached down scooping a stuffed animal out of the chair. "It's about time." Without waiting for a response he waved at them both and disappeared back upstairs, presumably to deliver the stuffed animal to his son.

His exit left Miranda and Charlie staring at each other in silence once again. Finally, Miranda drew a long breath, and opened her mouth to speak, "I'm ten years older than you."

"Don't care."

"I can't have kids."

"Didn't want them anyway."

"I'm damaged goods, Charlie."

"I think you are the only one that believes that."

"We live in different countries."

"Stop making excuses."

"I'm scared."

"We'll figure it out."

Upstairs out of sight of the other two, Harry Potter leaned against the wall a smile on his face. His Godmother deserved to be happy, deserved to move on from the grief that losing Sirius has caused her, and he couldn't think of anyone better to help her with that than Charlie Weasley. He just wished that it hadn't taken her a year to actually consider that Charlie could make her happy. He heard they're arguing come to an end and made his way back upstairs to the room that he now shared with Ginny, carefully sticking the stuffed animal he had been sent to fetch in his son's crib, before joining his wife in bed. He wrapped his arms around her as she turned to sleepily to him. "Everything okay downstairs?"

"Yeah." Harry chuckled. "I think Miranda and Charlie have finally realized what the rest of us realized last Christmas."

Ginny smiled. "It's about bloody time."