The clock struck ten o'clock. It came with a twinkling of bells produced by the magical clock in the living room.
Harry Potter, undisturbed by the noise in his living room, ran down the staircase in pursuit of his wife, who was walking as fast as her swollen feet would allow her. A look of agony and confusion was fixed on his face, but a tint of worry was also hinted at in his eyes. His wife, her blazing red hair flying behind her, hurried into the kitchen through the open door with her husband close behind her.
"Ginny!" Harry said, stopping in the kitchen when his wife of almost ten months, Ginny Weasley Potter grabbed a glass of pumpkin juice that had been sitting out on the counter. She took a sip of the now warm liquid before wincing at the taste and pouring it down the sink with a look of disgust clearly displayed on her face. She glanced in Harry's direction for a moment before answering him.
"What?" she snapped without meaning it but not regretting it immediately. She put her hands down, not on her large stomach as she had taken to doing. After silence for a moment, she began to speak again, "If you're going to debate with me more about the idiotic party, I'll save you some time. The answer is still no."
Harry sighed with disappointment at her response. "Come on, it will be fun." He emphasized the will. "Anyways, I already told Ron and Hermione that we would come," he said with a slight undertone of worry affecting his voice. He, knowing quite well of the potential of his wife's temper, outweighed the bad possibilities with the good ones and stepped toward Ginny with a firm foot.
"I don't want to be paraded around, being shown off as your pretty, pregnant wife," Ginny said forcefully, whipping out her wand (Harry flinched at this movement, fearing a well-placed curse) and simply flicking it without muttering any words. The cup instantly began washing itself. "I don't want everybody looking at me, expecting to pop at any moment," she added.
Harry stared at the cup busy producing suds while pondering how to reply tactfully and without upsetting his very pregnant wife. "Ginny, nobody would be like that, and to me, you're an amazing woman, not just an extremely pretty wife." His lips spread into a tight smile, which had occurred often during the past year. He finished his walk toward Ginny and wrapped his arms around her from the back, resting his hands entangled with hers softly on the large belly.
"Even though this is rather nice, do not expect this to change my mind on that party idea," Ginny said a bit more gently than when she had spoken before. "We spent Christmas with lots of people around and all. Can't we have New Year's to ourselves?" She turned her head to look at him, otherwise keeping their comfortable position. Harry leaned down his head to softly kiss her.
"You're right," Harry said after the brief kiss, letting her win the fight, "but I should floo Hermione and tell her we're not going to come." After a happy okay from his spouse, Harry broke the knitting of their hands and walked over to the fireplace already lit for the cold night ahead. He threw in some floo powder, and shouting an address, he stuck his head into the fire.
The room that came into view was festively decorated, obviously decked out for the stroke of midnight that would be coming in less than two hours now. When Harry called out her name, a young woman came into view wearing nice purple robes and (finally) controlled hair. When Hermione Granger Weasley saw Harry's face, a wide, sincere smile spread across her ace as Harry's head danced in the flames.
As Harry explained why they weren't planning on stopping by at the party, Hermione listened with no anger or unneeded sympathy. After his rather longwinded speech, she smiled and said, "Oh, that is okay. Don't worry about it. Send Ginny my love and best wishes for the next year. With a last smile and farewells, Harry pulled his head back out of the fire.
As Harry had been talking to Hermione, Ginny had prepared some warm butter beer for Harry and some fresh pumpkin juice for herself. When he had finished, she handed him the drink after he had brushed his knees off. With warm smiles directed toward each other, they advanced into the living with their drinks to be seated.
The clock struck eleven o'clock. The merry parade of eleven little chimes one after the other brought them steps closer to the New Year.
The next hour passed relatively quickly compared to the last one. Buried in each other's arms, drinks of the table, half forgotten, smiles seemingly permanently fixed on their faces, they passed the hour. They did not exactly count down to the precise moment, but they were aware of midnight approaching.
The clock struck twelve o'clock. Twelve tiny chimes sounded to the joy of the New Year.
"Happy New Year," Ginny whispered into Harry's ear and heard it again whispered back into her own ear. And the new year began with a kiss.
A/N: I hope you all had a good New Year's Eve and will have a good year. Reviews will be appreciated deeply. Good? Bad? Kinda weird?