Regina avoided being anywhere where she was likely to run into Emma over the next couple of days. Since telling her the true story about her marriage and Daniel's death, the brunette was uncomfortable about being in a situation where the younger woman could try and talk to her about it. Regina felt as though she'd let Emma in too much, told her too much, shown her too much of herself. It made her uneasy and she was almost convinced that Emma would have told her friends everything she'd learnt.

On Christmas Eve Henry persuaded his mother to go to Hogsmeade so he could do last minute Christmas shopping. She rolled her eyes at his lack of organisation, informing him that she had done all of her shopping before the second week of December and her presents were now sitting in the houses of those they were intended for. Henry had just rolled his eyes right back at her and called her a control freak, earning himself a stern frown in return.

As they pottered around the shops so that Henry could browse for what he wanted to buy, occasionally telling Regina to leave so that he could consider something for her present, they bumped into Tonks. Henry beamed at his older cousin and began chatting excitedly about various things.

Regina hadn't been entirely truthful with Severus when she told him she rarely saw the young woman. The truth was she and Henry saw her niece and her parents often. The trouble was that no one else knew about it. Regina sighed at just how many secrets she was carrying, but it couldn't be helped.

"Are you going to your parents' for Christmas, Dora?"

"Call me Tonks, Aunt Gi." The young woman begged, not for the first time. "You know I hate Nymphadora and Dora."

"Your mother would skin me alive, dear, as well you know." Regina told her with a smirk.

"I call you Tonks." Henry chipped in with a grin.

Tonks ruffled his hair and beamed at him. "Yeah you do, kid. But your mum has a point about my mum." She grinned at her aunt. "Besides, she's an adult, so she has to be all boring and sensible."

"Do you wish me to start calling you Nymphadora, dear?" The older woman asked innocently.

"No, I really don't." Her niece shook her head, pulling a face. Then her face fell slightly and she shrugged. "But yeah, I am going to pop round Mum and Dad's. Molly Weasley invited me to theirs, but I thought, considering… Remus will be there and… things…"

Regina nodded understandingly and squeezed her niece's arm sympathetically, but Henry looked confused. "What things?"

"Things that don't concern you, Henry." His mother said firmly, smiling down at him. "Don't we have shopping to do?"

"I'd better go. I'm supposed to be meeting someone anyway… I'll see you soon. Bye kid."

They waved as the metamorphmagus turned and trudged away through the snow. Regina didn't have long to contemplate her niece's heartache, before Henry was dragging her in the direction of Honeydukes. He made her wait by a display of Pepper Imps and Pixie Puffs while he rushed away and secretively began loading up his arms with treats. Regina watched him fondly as he slyly tried to pay for and pocket his items without her seeing.

"Is that everything, dear?" She asked as they left the shop and headed for The Three Broomsticks.

"Have you got Professor Swan a present?"

Regina blinked at him. "Of course not, why would I?"

"She's got you one." He answered simply, holding open the door of the inn for his mother to walk through first, like a proper little gentleman. "So shouldn't you get her one too?"

"How do you know she's got me a present?" His mother demanded, signalling the barmaid for two Butterbeers.

Henry shrugged. "She told me."

"Why would she–?"

He sighed deeply as though it was very simple. "She wasn't sure whether you'd like it, so she asked me. I think you will like it."

"What is it?" Regina asked, unable to stem her curiosity.

"I'm not telling you!" Henry replied indignantly. "It would spoil the surprise."

"Henry Daniel Mills–"

"No, Mom!" He laughed and shook his head, taking a large gulp from the Butterbeer that was set on the table in front of him.

Regina frowned. "Are you sure it's a present for me?" He didn't answer verbally, just rolled his eyes and nodded. "I will have to get her a present then, won't I? It would be incredibly rude otherwise."

Henry grinned into his Butterbeer and said nothing as she leant back in her chair, sipping at her own drink and thinking hard. Many possibilities ran through her mind, but most were attached to an underlying insult; a dictionary to improve Emma's vocabulary, a watch to stop her being late to everything, self-tying shoelaces to stop her being quite so clumsy, whistling bookmarks so she would stop losing her books and students essays, sugar quills so that she could snack on them in class without anyone noticing. Then Regina frowned, irritated that she seemed to know the blonde Charms Professor well enough to consider gifts that would be useful to her. No, the woman told herself, she would buy the woman something generic, something impersonal that would not prove a connection between them.

"Any ideas?" Henry asked as they left The Three Broomsticks. His mother had barely spoken since she'd decided that she would have to buy Emma a present to be polite. "What are you thinking?"

"I have no idea, Henry… a scarf?"

He beamed and nodded furiously. "That's a brilliant idea, Mom! She was saying the other day when we were making the snowman that hers is rubbish and falling apart."

Regina silently cursed her suggestion. Now it would seem like she had been paying attention and deliberately got her a scarf because it was something Emma wanted. But Henry was so fixed on the idea that she had no choice. With a sigh, she followed him towards Gladrags Wizardwear and let him peruse the stock until he found one that would, apparently, be perfect for the irritating blonde.

With a shrug, Regina paid for the scarf and watched, as though bored, while the shopkeeper gift wrapped it for her. Tucking the package under her arm, Regina and Henry left the shop and made their way back towards Hogwarts.

Christmas morning dawned bright and early for Regina. Henry had bounded into her bedroom at least an hour before she had planned on waking up and practically thrown his gifts at her from the other side of the room. She briefly considered scolding him, wondering why on earth she'd considered it a good idea to tell him the password to her private chambers, but the childish excitement on his face made her reconsider and she merely chuckled and patted the blankets beside her. Henry bounded across the room and leapt onto the bed, almost knocking Regina out in the process.

She unwrapped her presents slowly, taking the time to ensure the paper didn't get ripped. Her son rolled his eyes, reached over and tugged a corner, ripping it away with a satisfying noise. Then he laughed at her irritation.

"Come on, Mom!" He encouraged.

Regina looked at him for a moment, before tearing into the paper. Henry laughed delightedly as she scrunched it into a ball and threw it at him in retaliation. Then she turned her attention to her gifts. He had bought her a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a box of Fudge Flies and a box of Glacial Snow Flakes. She beamed at him, marvelling at his thoughtfulness.

"D'you like them?" Henry asked, almost nervous of her reaction. "I know Aunt Bella burnt your copy of Beedle the Bard when you had that argument just before we came to Hogwarts and those two were always your favourite sweets, so I thought…"

"Oh, sweetheart, I love them. Thank you." Regina pressed a kiss to the top of his head and flicked through the book with a smile on her face.

When she'd been a little girl, right up to just before he died when she was fourteen, her father would read her stories from The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Her favourite was The Fountain of Fair Fortune, although she often asked to hear The Warlock's Hairy Heart as the wizard in it reminded her of her mother and she used it as a reminder of what she did not want to become. Her father had been horrified the first time she'd asked to hear it, never having told it to her himself as he felt she was far too young at five-years-old to hear the grizzly tale. When he asked where she had heard it before, she innocently explained that Bellatrix had told her. Henry had been furious with his twenty-year-old step-daughter, but she had just laughed and said that Regina needed toughening up.

As her son rightly said, Bella had hurled the battered copy of the book that had belonged to her beloved father into the fireplace when she had heard that Regina planned to take up a position at Hogwarts. She had been hoping to get a reaction out of her sister, but had been sorely disappointed when the younger woman barely batted an eyelid at the action. Internally she had been distraught, but outwardly she refused to show any emotion.

"Mom?"

Realising that she was sliding into memories, Regina smiled warmly at her son. "I suppose you'll be wanting your presents now, dear, will you?"

He almost head-butted her in his excitement and Regina conjured a pile of presents onto her bed with a flick of her wand. Henry dived in happily, sending wrapping paper flying in his haste. His mother leant back against her headboard and watched affectionately as he unwrapped his presents and examined each and every one of them carefully before putting them in a neat pile on his other side with far more care than he was displaying in the unwrapping process.

Once he had finished, thanking his mother profusely and wrapping her in a tight hug, they got dressed. Henry had brought his clothes down from his dormitory with him and changed in Regina's study while she dressed in her bedroom. Winding the Chudley Cannons scarf she had given him tightly around his neck, Henry reminded his mother about the present she had bought for Professor Swan.

With a sigh, Regina picked it up and looked at it for a moment, knowing that as soon as she handed it over they would cross a line in their relationship which would be impossible to go back from. Even their kiss could be brushed over; it had been in the heat of the moment, under mistletoe, after Regina had drunk several glasses of Sparkling Rose Hip Wine which was notorious for going to her head. But the exchanging of Christmas gifts would put their relationship in a different place and the witch was not sure whether she could handle that, especially after her emotional outburst in front of the blonde a few days earlier.

"I'm gonna go and sit with the others, Mom, OK?" Henry asked, glancing at her as they entered the Great Hall and saw that most of the minimal holiday population of the Castle were already present.

"Of course, sweetheart, enjoy yourself." She urged, squeezing his shoulder before he darted off and took a seat at the single table they were using while there weren't many students left at the school.

Cursing her nerves as she began to walk briskly up towards the staff table, Regina clenched her fist tightly around the package she was carrying, willing herself to stay calm. A small smile rose, unbidden, to her lips as Emma glanced up and met her eyes, waving her over to the free seat beside hers. With no reason not to take the seat, as Severus was nowhere to be seen and she didn't feel like sitting beside Horace, Regina moved to do as the blonde had requested. Emma beamed at her.

"Merry Christmas, Regina."

"Merry Christmas, Professor Swan." The brunette replied with a smirk.

However often Emma asked her to call her by her first name, Regina refused. She thought that Emma quite liked it anyway, because there was always a twinkle in her eyes directly afterwards.

Deciding to bite the bullet and hand over her gift first, making it look as though she was not expecting to receive one in return, Regina placed the package beside Emma's plate and looked at her quickly.

"Henry and I saw this in Hogsmeade yesterday and he thought you might like it."

She felt a little guilty placing most of the – was blame the correct word? – for the gift on Henry, but she would far rather Emma think it had come more from him than allow her to believe it had been Regina's idea to buy the gift. She watched, feigning disinterest as the younger woman excitedly ripped into her present and pulled out the soft scarf. It was striped scarlet, emerald and deep blue and seemed to be shimmering softly. The shopkeeper had explained it had something to do with a temperature regulator inbuilt into the fabric, but Regina hadn't really been listening.

"Oh, Gina… it's beautiful. Thank you." Emma told her, turning to face the brunette with what, alarmingly, seemed to be tear-filled eyes.

"You're welcome." She nodded stiffly, doing her best to ignore the fact that the younger woman seemed liable to burst into tears at any moment. "Henry will be glad you like it."

"I…" Emma pulled a small, rectangular package out of her pocket and held it out nervously. "I got you something too. I dunno if you'll like it… I asked Henry and he said you might, but…"

Curiously Regina began to unwrap her present. Emma's nervousness set her slightly on edge as she wondered what on earth it was. When the paper slid off and the gift was revealed, Regina almost dropped it in shock. One hand flew to her mouth as her eyes filled with tears. The other hand clutched at the heavy silver frame almost desperately.

It was a photograph of her and Daniel when they'd been at school. Regina vividly remembered the occasion. Hufflepuff had just won the Quidditch Cup and, as Captain, Daniel was clutching the large silver Cup proudly. He was not looking at his prize, however. His gaze was firmly fixed on the brunette beside him, one arm around her waist as she looked up at him with a proud smile on her lips. As Regina watched the picture, Daniel bent down to kiss her gently, pulling her closer into his body with the arm around her. When they pulled away, they kept their eyes locked on each other.

"Is… are you… do you like it?" Emma asked worriedly as she watched the silent tears rolling down Regina's cheeks. "I didn't mean to upset you, I just… Henry said you didn't have any pictures of Daniel and…"

"Where did you get it?" The brunette whispered, her eyes fixed on the photograph.

"Neal. He had it in that scrapbook of his."

Tearing her gaze away from the moving image, Regina sent Emma a heartfelt smile that lit up her entire face. "Thank you, Emma. It's probably the best present I've ever been given." She rubbed at her face quickly and sent a quick glance in her son's direction. He was peering worriedly up at them but, seeing the smile on his mother's face, he beamed and turned back to his breakfast. "Although don't tell Henry that or he'll be disappointed that I don't think his presents are the best."

Emma seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Then she grinned. "Hey! You called me Emma!"

"A momentary lapse, Professor Swan, I apologise." Regina told her with a smirk.

"You can have a momentary lapse anytime, Regina. Anytime."