The decorations twinkled brightly, reflections dancing in shades of gold, evergreen, and cherry red, all from ornaments gilded with the happiness of the holiday season. Of course, you didn't think that you could be more elated, but you hoped that you could be, once you had given your love the gift you had been so anxious to hand off for a few weeks. And the gift was, in no way shape or form, a light one.
Your shaky hands make tender work in tying off the boughs adorning the mantle. The crackling fire below warms you, not only physically, but spiritually. You continue to breathe, but your body tells you that the anxiety is going nowhere but uphill.
"Hey," Ron's voice says as he enters through the front door of your home. "Look at all this!" He comes into the common room, and you turn to face him, watching as the bright smile on his face reflects the beauty of the room, and all of the magic you had created with two hands. "You did all of this?"
You nod skeptically, hoping that he enjoyed it. "Do you like it?" you question.
"I love it, love," he says, his brow raised to show how much he truly meant it. He steps closer to you, sliding his hands around your waist to bring you in for an embrace.
"I thought it would be nice to use some good, old-fashioned Muggle decorations this year," you confess, slipping your arms around his neck and burying your face in the shoulder of his flannel shirt. "I wanted to show you that decorations can still feel magical without being magical."
Ron leaned back and let a hand move up to caress your face. You had missed him while he had been at work that day. "I missed you today."
"I missed you," he responds, leaning in to catch a quick kiss. His lips were warm and soft, and you melt within his grasp, nearly losing sight of what that night was supposed to be.
Ron pulls back a bit only to plant another kiss.
"Ron," you murmur against his lips.
"Mmm?" he responds, continuing to kiss you.
"Mmm, Ron," you said, breaking off the kiss gently, "gifts...remember?"
"Yeah, of course!" he practically exclaims pulling away from you so that he could head over to the Christmas tree and pluck your present from underneath it. He takes a seat and crosses his legs over the carpet after he has kicked off his shoes. "Have a sit, love."
You sit down across from him and grabbed his gift from under the tree, pulling it into your lap. "Yours to me first, okay?" you coerce, flashing a sweet smile.
He nods, grinning wildly the whole time. He hands you the box, and you receive it gladly. It's small, rectangular, and metallic red. Ron's eyes caress your figure as your own glance down at the rather intricately wrapped present before you. "Did you ask your mum for help in wrapping this?" you ask, teasing him, but only slightly. You knew that his gift-wrapping skills were subpar, and you wouldn't have minded if she had assisted him.
Ron chuckles and shakes his head. "Actually, she spent a rather grueling hour teaching me how to wrap a proper gift," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
"No, really," you said amid a laugh, thinking that he was completely joking.
"No," he said with a shrug, "really."
Your expression fell as you realize he wasn't joking. He truly had learned how to wrap a gift properly, courtesy of his mother. You are both shocked and heartwarmed at the thought he had put into his gift, which meant that it must be something truly heartfelt. He always made the best gifts for you, always basing them off of memories or around things you had once said. "What is it?" Your eyes return to the gift, carefully untying the thick, silver ribbon bow-tied around the box. "Does it have anything to do with our wedding? Perhaps it's based off of the fact that Hermione got skunked and we had a laugh about it?" Ron doesn't respond, he just sits there and smiles at you with the same satisfied smile. "Maybe it is based off of the fact that Hogwarts is interested in me becoming a professor of Arithmancy?" Ron let loose a gentle chuckle, and shook his head. You got the ribbon loose, and then lifted the lid from the box. There were strands of blue paper filling the box as a stuffing of sorts, and your gift lay beneath it.
Underneath the blue tassels was another box, this one made of leather. It had a magnetic closing hinge, and you knew that whatever he had gotten you lay within its clam-shell grip. Your eyes find the main clasp and you open it, ready to unhinge whatever lay within, though you were not ready for what you would find.
Within the leather-clad casing was not a gift that Ron had fashioned himself. It was not something strung from a memory. It was not homemade. It was a pearl bracelet with real rose-gold inlay, with a center black opal facet and something within the stone, something you couldn't quite see. This was not homemade, and it was absolutely expensive.
"Oh, my God," you say through an exhale, your fingers lightly grazing the magnificent piece of jewelry in front of you, your heart dropping at the sight of the manifestation of months of planning and a budget grafted from the means of a profitable occupation.
"I do make you great gifts," he admitted, no cockiness involved, "but I couldn't make that. It has all of your favorite bits of jewelry on it. I had it made for you...as if that wasn't obvious." He was obviously nervous and grinding his knuckles against his jeans. "I-If you don't like it, I can always - "
You half-crawled across the floor and captured his lips in yours, expressing with your mouth what your words were failing to convey. He got the message, responding with pressing his lips back to yours and allowing the cascading of mouth to mouth. "I adore it," you state with a whisper, "but nowhere near as much as I adore you. Thank you, my love."
"Happy Christmas," he mutters, smiling in return before you sit back down in your place. "Now, for mine."
You hand over the box. It is of medium size and meticulously wrapped, though you don't say anything regarding your wrapping skills, knowing that anything might set him off - given the gift you had just handed off, you wanted everything to go perfectly.
Ron's eyes scanned the box in front of him, his fingers making quick work in removing the wrappings, unlike the slow care you took in unleashing his immaculate gift. "What is this?" he questions, taking out a device which looks like the Deluminator.
"Click it." Your instructions come gently, and he recalls using that device several years ago, so he knows to press the button. He does, and the cap opens just like it had a long time ago, but this time is different. A white cloud of a wisp comes out of it and flits around his head. It seems to be whispering and on closer attention, he hears your voice whispering his name. "I had it made for you with the Minister's assistance. It's based off of the story of your return to us in the Forest of Dean that time, except that this actually has my voice in it. It's for times when you feel lost again."
"I won't, because I have you," he says, eyeing the device fondly. "I will cherish this, keep it in my office in case I feel lost or like I just need your vocal support. I love you."
"And I love you," you say, wringing your hands together. "There's, um...there's more."
Ron's brow furrows, his hands searching the box for the other part of the gift, and you can feel your heart rate skyrocket. Ron fishes a bit of cloth from the bottom of the box and removes it, straightening it out to see that it's a onesie. "What the hell is this?"
Your hands continue wringing, making white the knuckles which had been blooded only moments ago. Your breathing hitches in your throat as he continues to ponder the meaning behind such a gift. Your ring finger feels like it's shrinking beneath the lightweight wedding band and engagement ring wrapped around it. Teeth sink into your bottom lip as you see the still-confused expression on his face. It is then that he figures it out, and the widening of his eyes sends your entire being into an airy disposition.
"And that's my Happy Christmas," you say, smiling as you wait for his response.
Ron seems tongue-tied eyes wide and brightly glistening with the discovery. "Is this...are you sure?" he asks, his voice cracking and his eyes glancing up to meet yours. "Are you...I mean..."
You nod and smile. "We're going to be parents," you say. Ron's baby blues well up with tears and they begin to streak down his face. He drops the onesie to the carpet and quickly rushes over to you, pulling you immediately against his body, a hand holding the back of your head and keeping you pressed against him.
"This is the best gift you could have ever gotten me. Second-best to you marrying me." He pulls back, cupping his hands around the frame of your face. "Remy, I love you so much more than you'll ever know."
You shrug lightly, rubbing your cheek against his hand. "Love me and help me get through this."
"Always," he says, nudging his nose against yours. "Best Christmas ever."
You giggle, encasing his lips within yours and wrapping your arms around his neck.
Married to your truest love and carrying his child. His words could not have been more true.