Bittersweet Christmas by Monkeys Rok my Sox
AN and Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Diagon Alley, Voldemort, or Ginny Weasley- or any of the other Harry Potter characters, for that matter.
I hope you all like this story, which I dedicate to Sugar Babe. Glad you had a good Christmas .
Anyway, I know it's way past Christmas, but I never got around to updating this around Christmas, and I'm too impatient to wait until next Christmas to upload it, so I'm posting it now for Christmas in April. If there is such a thing.
And to all you readers out there, Happy Christmahanakwanzakah to you- - and please review!
"Mommy, Daddy!" Tina jumped eagerly onto her parents' bed. "Wake up, it's Christmas!" Ginny rubbed her eyes, sitting up in bed as she shook her husband's shoulders.
"Hear that, Harry? It's Christmas morning! We'd better go see what Santa brought," she said, eyes twinkling, and he nodded sleepily, smiling through a mess of black hair.
"Let's go, Daddy, let's go," Tina urged, grabbing her father's hand and pulling him downstairs towards the Christmas tree. As soon as she saw it, she gasped; the brightly lit Christmas tree that had been standing solitary in the living room the night before now was surrounded by brightly wrapped presents. Ginny smiled as her daughter squealed and hurried down the stairs to open the presents.
"Mommy, look at this big one! I want to open it first," Tina decided, trying to lift a large square package to no avail. Harry chuckled and went over to help her pull it out from under the tree. Harry and Ginny sat back on the couch, arms wrapped around each other, as Tina eagerly ripped off the wrapping paper. Picking up her wand from the table, Ginny flicked it towards the wizarding radio, which started to play soft Christmas music.
"Mommy, look; Santa brought me the dollhouse I wanted," she cried happily, smiling as broadly as a four-year-old could.
"That's great, honey," Ginny replied, smiling fondly at her. "Why don't you go see what else Santa brought you?" It turned out that Santa Claus had brought Tina quite a few other things too: a toy broom, new robes, and little dolls for her dollhouse that would straighten up the house when they weren't being played with, among other things.
"Look, who's that little box to?" Harry asked when Tina was done opening her presents, pointing to a small box decked with a gold bow. Tina went over and picked it up, trying to read the label.
"M-Mommy," She deciphered, handing the box to her mother. "From Santa," she added, looking pleased with herself. Ginny grinned, accepting the small package from her daughter and unwrapping it as Tina went to play with her new toys. Beneath the wrapping paper was a small velvet box, and Ginny smiled excitedly at Harry before opening it. She gasped; it was a beautiful diamond ring on a thin gold band. As she turned it, examining it closely, rainbows were scattered across the walls.
"Oh, it's beautiful," Ginny gasped, beaming at Harry, who shrugged his shoulders, looking pleased.
"What can I say? Santa has good taste," he replied, and Ginny rolled her eyes, still smiling nevertheless. She leaned against his shoulder, snuggling in as she watched her new ring reflect across the walls.
"Thank you, Harry," she whispered. "It's beautiful." He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tight as he kissed her on top of the head.
"Nowhere near as beautiful as you," he murmured, and she smiled, blushing slightly as she tilted her head upwards and leaned in for a kiss-
Ginny sat up straight in bed, sweating slightly. It was Christmas, but she knew it would be nowhere near as perfect as it had been in her dream. Wiping at her forehead, she padded over to her window, pulling her thin bathrobe tighter as she stared down. Diagon Alley, usually thriving and merry around Christmastime, was desolate and empty; Christmas decorations that had filled the windows of shops for years past never were put up, and holiday greetings that usually rang through the alley were now just echoes of memories of better years. Ginny sighed; she didn't know why she stayed here. It wasn't as though anything would ever be here for her, but still she lingered. Maybe part of her subconscious refused to believe that he was gone, and wanted to stay so he would be able to find her if he ever came back, but in her heart and mind, she knew the truth: Harry was dead. She had watched him, the one person she had ever truly loved, the one person she had ever really felt comfortable around and safe around and completely loved by, fall from exhaustion after finally defeating Voldemort. He never got back up.
Ginny sighed, leaning her head against the window frame. The war had changed everything; there was no one who hadn't had a close friend or family member die during the time Voldemort had been back, and shops owned by supporters of Dumbledore had been exploded, the entire business lost. It had all ended a few months past, but people still had hardly begun to pick up the pieces. Ginny was one of the few inhabitants of Diagon Alley, renting out an apartment above an abandoned shop.
I miss him, she thought, breathing deeply. He was all I had- but now I have nothing. A single tear rolled down her cheek as others welled up in her eyes, and she snorted ironically as she thought of the date. A Merry Christmas indeed.