Harry sat alone inside the Three Broomsticks, sipping his butterbeer. He had left Ron and Hermione in the library at Hogwarts, telling them he was going for a walk to clear his mind. Harry grinned, looking out of the window beside his table. In reality, he had wanted to get away from them, so he could finally buy his Christmas gifts for everyone. He'd already owl ordered Hermione and Ron's gifts; a year-long subscription to the wizarding journal Potion's Monthly, and the newest Chudley Cannons merchandise. But he still had a whole gaggle of Weasley's to buy for, as well as his teachers and members of the Order...and a few more of his classmates. Actually, now that he thought about it...he had seen a pretty interesting plant in the window of the Apothecary, which would be perfect for Neville...
Humming to himself, Harry downed his butterbeer, left a couple of coins on the tabletop, and walked out into the snow. Wrapping his red and gold scarf around his neck, he walked over to the Apothecary to purchase the plant (something called a Fibular Distraughta) before moving on to purchase some Lemon Drops (for Dumbledore, obviously) and a pair of woolen socks (also for Dumbledore). Harry picked up a pair of atrocious tartan slippers (McGonagall would love them) and decided to stop by Zonko's to get some of their newest products (for the twins) and a really cool looking fire-proof bag (for Charlie). He bought a couple of rare books on curse breaking (hopefully Bill would like them because they were bloody expensive) as well as purchasing a huge basket full of colorful yarn, knitting, and crocheting needles, and different knitting and crocheting patterns (Molly would absolutely adore it). He'd already gotten Remus's gift, and as always, he picked out a suitably muggle thing for Arthur, along with an instruction manual (because the Weasley patriarch would undoubtedly need it). For Ginny, he hesitated over a beautiful silver hairpin, before deciding that it was too much like something a boyfriend would give to their girlfriend. In the end, Harry got her the new practice snitch, model 2.0.
When all that was done, Harry took a deep breath and blushed. There was only one more person to buy something for, and he'd been putting it off all day. Moving slowly towards the brightly lit store, Harry gulped. This was it. Charmed Chains. Stepping inside, he hurried towards the counter and looked at all the beautifully displayed pieces that sat there behind glass.
"Hello dear. Can I help you with anything, or are you just looking?" Harry looked up to see an elderly witch standing behind the counter, silvery-white hair in a long braid, and brown eyes looking kindly down at him. Harry smiled nervously at her, before licking his lips.
"Um, actually, I was wondering if I could pick up an order? Uh, the man that I spoke to before said it would be ready by today, umm..." He shrugged awkwardly. The witch smiled and nodded.
"Of course dear, come through to the back! We've been expecting you..." She led Harry into the back of the shop, where a man was sitting at a table, hunched over.
"He's here, Orwin. Go on, get up! Let the lad see what he's come all this way to get." The witch pushed the man's shoulder and nudged Harry closer to the desk. "Go on, dear, take a look."
Harry moved forwards and looked down. His eyes widened as he saw the beautiful silver chain, the links tiny and delicate. His gaze trailed over it until they came to rest on the charm at the end. He raised a hand and traced the dark blue heart. It was perfect, completely perfect. Clearing his throat, Harry turned towards the two shop owners and smiled. "It's beautiful, and exactly what I asked for. Thank you so much." They both smiled and nodded.
"Do you want it wrapped dear? I'm sure Orwin would be delighted to do that for you..."
Harry left Hogsmeade twenty minutes later, and many galleons lighter. He grinned as he made his way back to the castle, his gifts shrunken and stuffed in his pockets. He kept the small box with the necklace in his hand and looked down at it. Hopefully the person it was for would like it...hopefully, they would like him...
oOoOoOoOoOo
"Hey, Harry. You awake?"
Harry woke to see a pile of presents at the foot of his bed. Well actually, he woke up to see Ron's blurry face looming over his head.
"AAAH! Ron, what the hell?" Harry reached over to the side table for his glasses. He flailed around for them, finally grabbing the metal frames and shoving them on to his face. Blinking slowly, his eyes came into focus to see his friend's freckled nose inches from his own.
"Sorry mate. Merry Christmas, by the way. Just checking to see if you were still asleep. And now that you're not..." He grinned wryly and pointed at the presents.
Harry shook his head in exasperation. "Merry Christmas, Ron. Now get off my bed!" He shoved his best friend and sat up. Ron laughed and leaped onto his own bed, instantly digging into his pile of gifts. Harry snuggled into the blankets and looked over his own year since his 11 birthday, Harry had received presents on Christmas. And every year it felt just as special, like it was the first time. He didn't think he'd ever get used to the feeling of being cared for. He smiled at the brightly coloured wrapping paper and the boxes and bags, and reached forwards for his first gift.
"Oh! Cool! Fred 'n George got me their new prank kit!" Ron's voice came from the other bed, and Harry laughed when he looked over. The unmade bed and its surrounding floor were currently covered in scraps of wrapping paper from the gifts Ron had already torn open.
"Wonder what they got me." He said, before looking down at the gift in his hands. It was labeled in neat cursive, undoubtedly Hermione. The package was medium sized and rather heavy; definitely not a book, then. He slowly, painstakingly unwrapped it, making sure the paper wasn't too torn. Looking at it once it was unveiled, Harry /It was the newest set of Quidditch gear, and Harry was already anticipating the next Quidditch game after the winter break.
He proceeded with the same care for all of his gifts. He got a box of chocolate frogs from Ginny, a new woolen jumper from Mrs. Weasley; this time in dark green, with a golden H. Charlie's gift was a pair of dragon hide Quidditch gloves, and Ron and Bill had pooled their money together to get him one of the new Disguise Rings. Brilliant, now he could sneak around the castle at night any time he wanted, and no one would know it was him! He laughed when he opened his gift from the twins -they'd given him a package of Insta Answer Quills, that would absolutely come in handy during Potions- and a box that can only be opened by its owner.
"That was thoughtful of them." He said to himself, placing his gifts into the box one by one.
"What was that, Harry?" Ron asked, pulling on his new maroon jumper and wincing. The bright blue R that was on the front made the maroon all the more prominent. Harry grinned.
"Nothing. Love the maroon, though. It really is your colour."
"Oh, shut it. Better get yours on, or Mum'll blow a fuse at breakfast." Harry snorted and reached for the jumper he had left folded up at the bottom of his bed.
"Boys! Breakfast is ready!" Mrs. Weasley's voice came from down stairs, and Ron jumped down from his bed. He hastily threw his covers up, as pathetic an attempt at making his bed as always.
"See ya down there, then." He said. Harry stood up and nodded.
"Save me a seat, I'll be down in a moment." He pulled the green jumper over his head and waited until he could no longer hear Ron's blundering footsteps on the stairs, before carefully taking his neat pile of perfectly folded wrapping paper and placing it in his box from the twins. Ron wouldn't understand the need to do this, Harry thought. He's had love and family his whole life, and yeah, he knows I haven't, but still. The Weasley's are my family, but they won't be around forever; I need the memories. The love. Harry sighed, shoving the melancholy thoughts from his mind and placed his box on the ground, pushing it under his definitely-neater-than-Ron's bed. He was about to stand up, when a little red box on the ground by his side table caught his eye. He reached over and picked it up, turning it over to see the 'Merry Christmas Harry' that was written on it in beautiful golden cursive, and Harry traced the letters with his finger. Opening the small box, Harry's eyes widened, and he froze in shock. There, resting within the box on a small foam pad, lay a small silver bracelet. Attached to the delicate chain were small, sparkling charms.
Each was a tiny lion in a different position, and each lion had different coloured eyes. One had red eyes, another blue. There were yellow and purple and even black. But one section of the bracelet was bare; a charm was missing. Harry gazed at the bracelet, before checking the box again for some hint as to who might have sent it.
There was nothing, nothing to indicate who the sender might be, but Harry wasn't worried. He knew that the Burrow had wards surrounding it, nothing threatening could get in, no one could send him a harmful present. He slowly stood up, the delicate silver chain in his hand, and he heard a voice call up to him.
"Oi, Harry! Get down here! Mum wants to see you in your jumper!" Fred's voice -or was that George's?- reached his ears, and Harry jumped slightly.
"Coming, be there in a second!" He called down, grabbing his wand and sticking it into his pocket, before stepping out of the room and walking down the stairs.
Upon entering the kitchen, a chorus of "Merry Christmas"'s washed over him, and he grinned widely.
"Merry Christmas everybody. Sorry I'm late, Ron doesn't know how to clean up after himself. There was paper everywhere." Harry sat down at the table as he said this, and Ginny snorted.
"Hey!" Ron's protest was drowned out by Mrs. Weasley's voice.
"Merry Christmas, Harry dear. And my, doesn't that jumper look lovely on you? See Arthur," Molly said, turning towards her husband who was standing beside her. "I told you green was the right colour. Now Harry," Molly turned back to him and smiled. "You're awfully thin dear, so best dig in, before Ron eats all the bacon!"
Everyone chuckled as Ron, who was in the middle of stuffing a large piece of bacon into his mouth, flushed bright red. Harry grinned at his friend, sipping his pumpkin juice and grabbing some bacon from the platter in front of him. As he was piling bacon on his plate, he turned to his left to ask Ron if he could help him put the bracelet on, but found his best friend too busy stuffing his face to be able to help. Turning right, he smiled at George -or was it Fred? Nope, the jumper had a G on it- and asked him, "George, can I ask you a favour?"
The redhead smiled and winked. "I'm actually Fred; we switched sweaters as soon as we got 'em. But yeah, whadd'ya need?" Harry snorted. Classic twins.
He placed his right wrist onto the table and showed Fred the charm bracelet. "I need some help putting this on. It's really hard to do with one hand." Fred smirked and picked it up.
"Sure thing, Harry. If you don't mind me asking, who's giving you jewelry? Got yourself a girl we don't know about?" He grinned, snapping the clasp closed, and Harry blushed.
"Actually, err...no. I don't know who gave it to me, it didn't come with a note...but I rather like it." He lifted his wrist up and watched the charms glint in the light. The colourful gems caught Ginny's eye, and she looked up at it, a look of surprise flashing quickly across her face. That bracelet...hadn't she seen it somewhere before? Yes, she had...hmmm. Interesting. She looked at it for a moment longer, before turning to the messy-haired brunette across from her.
"Oh, that's lovely, Harry." Harry smiled at her, not seeing the knowing look in her eyes, before lifting up a piece of bacon.
"Thanks, Gin."
oOoOoOoOoOo
Christmas at the Burrow was the same as it always was; loud, boisterous, and full of great food. Harry was surrounded by the people he loved, minus Hermione, who was at her parent's house still. But he would see her tomorrow when they all arrived back at Hogwarts, so she wasn't missed too much.
In fact, the only person who was really missing was Percy. Harry looked around, frowning. Percy hadn't been there at all. Not in the morning, for breakfast. Not during the day, when they all messed around with their new things; and not now, for dinner. Harry wondered where he could be, but just as he was about to ask someone, Remus walked in.
"Merry Christmas, everyone!"
"Remus!" He said, jumping up to wrap his arms around the man in a tight hug.
Remus laughed, before hugging him back. "Hello, Harry. Merry Christmas."/p
Harry pulled back and grinned up at him. "Did you get my gift? I made sure Hedwig knew exactly where to bring it." Remus grinned back, before reaching into his robe pocket and pulling out the muggle t-shirt and holding it up. It had a picture of the full moon and a dark wolf on it, and the hashtag #TeamWolf on it in dark red.
"Oh, I got it all right. Honestly, Harry, you should have seen Severus' face when I wore it to breakfast this morning..." Remus rolled his eyes.
Harry laughed as he tried to picture what Snape's face must have looked like. "Oh god, I can't even imagine. And? The other part?" Harry smirked slightly. "The pants? The trousers?"
"Yes, Harry, I got the trousers, and the pants. Don't you think the pawprints were overkill?"
Harry giggled and shook his head. Remus raised a single eyebrow in amusement.
"No? What about the claw marks then, hmmm? And really, #TeamWolf..." Remus shook his head slightly, as Harry's giggles grew louder.
He took a deep breath and stood up straight. "I know it's a bit...obvious, Remus, but...As I said in my note, they're made of this muggle fabric that is really, really stretchy. So, I just thought that, you know...during your transformations..." Harry shrugged.
Remus's blinked slowly, and he cleared his throat. "Yes, I um, I read your note. Thank you, Harry. I'm very grateful, it's an incredibly thoughtful gift." He cleared his throat again, before turning towards Molly and Arthur.
"Molly, Arthur. Lovely to see you, thank you for having me." He said, before Mrs. Weasley crushed his thin frame in a hug.
"Of course dear, it's Christmas! We love having you, so why don't you come sit over here by Bill...There you go. And make sure you eat, you're as thin as a wand! There's enough for everyone, so don't worry about taking seconds..." Remus smiled as he sat down beside the eldest Weasley child, listening to Molly ramble on.
Harry also sat back down to eat, watching everyone's happy faces. Remus had been the last to show up, making it a party of 15; 8 Weasley's, Harry, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Tonks, Charlie's boyfriend Michael, Bill's fiance Fleur, and now Remus. Once again, the thought that there should be 16 to their party, and 9 Weasley's in all, crossed Harry's mind. He frowned into his glass of juice. He'd honestly thought Percy would have been here by now. And even though no one else seemed to be missing him, Harry could openly admit that he was. He most definitely was. But, since no one else was questioning the redhead's absence, Harry kept his questions to himself. He didn't want to cause any trouble, or bring up what could possibly be an awkward topic. It wasn't until much later, after picking halfheartedly at his dessert despite it being his favourite (treacle tart), that Harry let himself inquire as to the whereabouts of the missing Weasley child.
"Where's Percy?" He asked Ron, as they were walking up the stairs to bed. Ron made a face and shrugged.
"I dunno. Guess he's back at Hogwarts; him and dad had a row, the night you showed up...actually, just before you got here. He just left. Guess he's still angry." Harry was shocked. A fight at Christmas? About what? How could Ron be so flippant? Percy was his brother. I mean sure, Percy didn't always get along with his siblings, or his father. But that didn't mean he shouldn't be there for Christmas! Harry fumed silently.
"...Things must be pretty bad, if he didn't come home for the hols. Did...did anyone check to see if he was alright?" Harry pulled off his jumper and slid into bed, turning to face Ron's side of the room, eyebrow raised slightly. Ron was already under the blankets, and he looked back at Harry.
"Dunno, mate. I reckon he's alright though, else he would have owled. Knowing Percy, he's probably studying for his exams right now; the stuck up prat." Ron snorted and turned off the light before flipping over to face the wall. "Night, Harry." His voice was muffled by the thick quilt and pillow, but Harry could still make out the words. He scowled openly at Ron's back for a moment, before sighing.
"Night, Ron." He said distractedly. His mind was still on Percy being alone at Christmas, something Harry was far too familiar with. Something Harry knew a person feel terrible, as if no one cared about them. 'How could Ron be so casual about it? So...so rude? And how could no one say anything, or even check on him? He's their family, for Merlin's sake!' No one with such a loving family should have to spend the Christmas hols alone; and yet, it was this loving family who had created the problem in the first place. Harry sighed and turned over onto his back, trying to get comfortable. He thought of the redhead, always kind to him, always helpful, and felt like crying.
'How can they do this? How can they act like nothing is wrong, like no one is missing?' Harry stared at the white ceiling above like it held the answers. But it didn't, and no matter how hard he looked, it never would. He thought about his new box, filled with carefully folded wrapping paper, and sighed. That is the sort of thing that spending Christmas alone does to someone. Makes you think no one cares, makes you feel like happiness is only borrowed, love has a time limit. It makes you feel...cold. Cold and empty, like an abandoned building. Harry shivered and wrapped the blankets tighter around himself. He'd make sure to give Percy his gift when they all went back to Hogwarts tomorrow. He'd make sure he knew he'd been missed, that at least someone had remembered him. His mind wandered, filled with thoughts of the older red headed boy, until he finally fell asleep.