Hey guys! Aren't you proud of me? Its been less than two weeks! I thinks this is my fastest update since the second or third chapter. On a less happy note, I only got two reviews last chapter. It made me sad. I need people to inspire me! It makes me want to right.

Anyway, I want to thank my anonymous reviewer:

Magic Pirate - I totally agree with you. Thanks for the review, and complimenting my writing skills. (Some of my friends are much better.)

It's almost Christmas! I mean, in the story, obviously. In real life, Passover starts tonight! That means that my dad will be Kosher for the only time all year! Anyway, enough about my life. On with the story!

~Robin

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I may own a Gryffindor scarf, and have all of the books, along every movie except the seventh, but that means nothing. I still don't actually own the world of Harry Potter. Only JKR will ever have that prestigious right.

Chapter 10

December 19th 1998

Hermione was leaving the platform with her parents, who looked happy to see her after such a long break from being able to. (They had needed to stay in St. Mungo's for a few months after their memories were returned to make sure that they recovered completely and Hermione hadn't gotten to see them.)

Harry, Ron, and Ginny, however, were apparating from the station to the Burrow. Before they could do that, they sent their trunks to the house with a charm that they had learned earlier in the year. Then they grabbed hands and spun on the spot, before disappearing with a small pop and reappearing at the Burrow once more.

Before they even managed to suck in a breath from the dark airlessness they had just squeezed themselves through, a tight embrace enveloped them all. "Oh, dear. I was so worried one of you would splinch yourself, but you're all safe and sound. Now come on inside, dears, and take your trunks upstairs before dinner," Molly said, finishing with a clap of her hands and shuttling them all inside.

The three followed her inside with their trunks suspended in the air behind them before levitating them up to their respective rooms. Harry was staying with Ron because Percy was staying for the holidays, as were the twins and Charlie, so it was the only room left. Teddy, had apparently been staying in Molly and Arthur's room now that he could sleep through the night without waking them up by crying, and Hermione would be staying with Ginny when she got there before New Years.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny spent the evening eating a delicious dinner with Teddy and the rest of the Weasley family (minus Bill and Fleur, who wouldn't be staying at the Burrow, but would be visiting several times). Molly asked them how school was going, while Charlie and the twins asked about the quidditch team's prospects for the house cup. Harry fed Teddy for the first time since that summer and had put his godson to sleep after they all finished eating.

After that, he, Ron, and Ginny, exhausted from their long day, went to bed early. Charlie had somewhere to go, but wouldn't give them a straight answer as to where.

When they reached Ginny's room, Ron went right up to his, but Harry paused to say goodnight.

"Night, Harry," Ginny said, kissing him lightly on the lips.

"Night, Gin," Harry said, brushing a hair out of her face. "Love you," he added with another kiss.

"You too," Ginny mumbled against his lips.

Then Fred came shoving up the stairs past them. "Oi, not on the stairs, you two," he scolded, clicking his tongue and wiggling his finger teasingly.

"Shove off, Fred," Ginny replied, kissing Harry one last time before going into her room and closing the door, as her brother laughed while climbing farther up the stairs.

Harry chuckled slightly and turned to climb the rest of the way up to Ron's bedroom below the attic. When he arrived, Ron had already changed and was sitting on his bed. Harry grabbed his pajamas from the top of his trunk and pulled his on too before turning to face his best mate, sitting on the camp bed he usually used when he stayed at the Burrow.

"Mate, we're going to have to set rules for you and Gin while we're here," Ron started.

Harry stopped him, holding up his hand. "Got it Ron. We sleep apart and we don't snog in public at all unless I want the rest of your brothers to kill me. I've got it just fine, thanks."

Ron looked slightly abashed. "Yeah, yeah. Look, I'm not trying to be harsh," Ron told him. "I just don't want to see you get roughed up too much, alright? I'm one of the less protective brothers. Bill is the worst by far," Ron finished with a slight shiver.

"Thanks, mate. I'll keep that in mind," Harry said wryly, lying down and pulling the blankets up over him.

"I'm just warning you," Ron said, climbing under his own covers before closing his eyes and almost immediately falling into a deep sleep.

Harry, on the other hand, was having trouble falling asleep. He was tired, that was for sure, but he wasn't used to sleeping by himself anymore. He had been sharing his bed with Ginny for over a month and it felt odd to be the only one in it. He tossed and turned, before eventually falling into an uneasy sleep.

Ginny, however, several floors below him, was having an even worse time of it. Before she had started sharing a bed with Harry, she had been having occasional nightmares. Sleeping with him had gotten rid of them completely, but now that he was gone, they were back full throttle.

The boy who lived is finished. The boy who lived is finished. Finished. Finished. No! It couldn't be. Harry couldn't be dead. Voldemort's announcement was just to get them to lose spirit, to stop fighting, to join his side. Harry wasn't dead. It wasn't possible. He wasn't allowed to die. Voldemort wasn't finished yet. Harry had to be alive. All the thoughts echoed around Ginny's head as she followed the Ron and Hermione and the rest of the mob out through the great doors of the castle.

Then she heard the first cry. "NO!" It was McGonagall. Ginny had heard her make a sound that desperate or distraught.

Ginny started to rush out now, joining the frantically screaming crowd. She followed Hermione and Ron, breaking through the front line in the crowd, only to hear their shouts of upset and dismay ringing in her ears.

Then her eyes found what everybody else had already seen. His body. Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, Harry, was lying dead on the ground, a sobbing Hagrid standing behind him. She wasn't imagining it. He was really dead. Voldemort wasn't lying. "Harry! HARRY!" she screamed, the sound breaking from her vocal cords without her willing it to. She broke down into sobs, her legs giving out beneath her and letting her fall to the ground, head cradled in her hands, screams still escaping in gasps from her mouth.

"G-Gin," Charlie's voice said, his strong hands shaking her shoulders. "It'll be okay. We can make it through," he kept saying, repeating the meaningless words over and over again to her as he lifted her back up to her feet.

"Ginny, it's okay, sis. Nothing's wrong," he continued, but he was wrong. How could anything be right again with Harry gone from the world?

"Ginny!" Charlie said, shaking her again and causing her to wake from the nightmare into her brother's waiting arms, at home safe in her bed, but still sobbing and shaking uncontrollably. She melted into Charlie's arms, shaking against him as he shushed and comforted her. "What's wrong, Gin? Are the nightmares coming back again? What was the dream this time?" he asked her in a soothing tone of voice.

"It was H-Harry, Charlie," Ginny whispered. "Harry d-dead," Ginny finished, her voice shaking, before collapsing once more into sobs.

Charlie didn't know what to do. He really wasn't very good with emotional females. There was only one thing he could really think of, but he was reluctant to do it. Then he looked back at his sobbing sister on the bed and steeled himself. If it was what Ginny needed, he would push his brotherly protectiveness onto the sidelines for the moment. He sighed quietly. "I'll go get Harry," he said to Ginny before stepping back out of her room and tiptoeing quietly up several flights of stairs all the way to the room that Harry was sharing with Ron.

He cracked the door and went over to the black-haired teenager on the camp bed, shaking him awake. Harry's eyes opened immediately and he sprang up, grabbing his glasses and wand before Charlie had a second to react. "It's just me," Charlie whispered to Harry.

"Oh. Sorry, Charlie. Automatic," Harry said, gesturing to the wand in his hand.

"I figured," Charlie responded wryly. Then he got serious again. "Ginny's had a nightmare. It was you dead. I heard her shrieking in her sleep. Can you-er-come and calm her down, or something?"

"Gin's upset?" Harry asked, immediately concerned. "Yeah, I'm coming," he finished, stretching and following Charlie back down to Ginny's room.

Charlie opened the door for him and Harry rushed to his girlfriend, who was huddled on her bed, tears still leaking down her cheeks. "It's okay, Gin, I'm here," Harry said, cradling her to his chest and wiping the tears from her cheeks, laying a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I-I dreamed you w-were d-deadag-gain," Ginny cried, as Harry tightened his arms around her.

"I'm right here," Harry whispered.

Thanks, Charlie mouthed from the doorway as he stepped back. Harry nodded in reply, most of his attention focused instead on the crying redhead in his arms. Charlie closed the door behind him and went up to his and Bill's old bedroom, wiped out after the events of the day.

Harry took he and Ginny being alone as an opportunity to lean back against the pillows of Ginny's small bed and pull her to his side, keeping a tight grip on her and sitting quietly as she slowly calmed down once more. "Sorry," she mumbled once her tears had finally stopped.

"Gin, you don't have to be sorry for having nightmares and then getting upset about them. I had nightmares for years and woke up in a cold sweat half-way through the night all the time. Sometimes I screamed or thrashed about. Just ask Ron. They were terrible," Harry said, turning to sit crossed-legged, his knees touching Ginny's.

"I know," Ginny chuckled. "I was more sorry about waking you up in the middle of the night."

"It's alright. I wasn't sleeping very well without you anyway," Harry said, brushing a hair from her face and leaning in to brush his lips gently against hers.

"Mmmhmm," Ginny sighed. "There's another good thing about Charlie going to get you," she muttered, kissing him gently again. "He can only blame himself if we're both here in the morning." With that, she pulled Harry down onto the bed with her, cuddling into him like she would in his bed at Hogwarts.

"Very true," Harry agreed, pulling the blankets over the two of them so that they wouldn't freeze before the morning.

"Love you, Harry," Ginny said, nestling as close to him as she could get, needing his touch after seeing his dead body flash through her dreams.

"Love you too, Gin," Harry murmured, wrapping his arms around her before falling into a dreamless sleep, having no trouble now that she was there with him.

December 20th 1998

"Charlie, dear," Molly requested, "Would you go wake the others up so their breakfast doesn't get cold?"

"Sure, Mum," Charlie said with a yawn, standing up from the worn kitchen table. He was used to getting up early on the dragon reserve, but he had been up really late the night before and it was getting to him a lot faster than he had expected.

With a groan, he started up the stairs to Ginny's room. Without knocking, he opened the door, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "Gin, Mum says it's time to get up," he said.

"What?" Ginny asked, her voice thick with sleep.

"It's time to get up. I've got to go wake Ron and Ha-" Charlie stopped mid-sentence, remembering that he had left Harry in there the night before, not truly thinking it through. "Harry," Charlie finished with a groan, slapping himself in the forehead and swearing quietly as he saw the other body in bed with his sister.

Harry sat up, and looked sheepishly up into the second-oldest Weasley brother's face. "Sorry," he muttered. "Fell asleep here." Harry pushed the covers back and stood up.

Charlie mentally thanked Merlin that Harry and Ginny were both still fully clothed. "We'll be discussing this later, Potter, you mark my word," he threatened.

Ginny snorted. "Bloody hypocrite," she said. "And where did you go last night, dear brother. I doubt that you were sitting in a tea shop and having a nice pudding. No, you were probably at some girl's flat shagging, thank you very much."

"It's none of your business what I was doing last night, Gin," Charlie said, feeling the back of his neck growing warm.

"As it's none of your business what I was doing," Ginny said, finished his sentence for him.

"You've just turned of age. You're not out of school. You haven't moved out yet."

"And you're so much more mature," Ginny countered.

"Oh, shut it both of you," Harry said before a full-out shouting match could begin between the two hot-headed siblings.

"Don't tell me what to do, Potter," Charlie warned.

"You can talk to me later, Charlie, but we didn't do anything last night. Don't get your knickers in a twist without any reason," Harry said reasonably.

"Fine," Charlie agreed before stalking out of the room and up the stairs to wake Ron up. The twins, Arthur, and Percy were working until Christmas Eve and had already left for the day, so Ron was the only one left who wasn't awake.

"You don't have to explode every time one of your brothers starts a fight you know," Harry told Ginny as they walked down to the kitchen.

"I do so. If I back down, they'll think they have power over me and I can't have that," Ginny replied, indignation obvious in her voice. "Plus, you should be glad. If it had been Bill, there would have been spells exchanged, not just words."

"Yeah, Ron warned me," Harry said, shivering at the thought of Bill's wand aimed at him, ready to use some curse that Harry had never seem or heard of before.

"You realize that they're all going to confront you together at some point," Ginny continued conversationally. "Even Ron."

"I kind of figured. They've all been threatening to talk with me one by one. It's actually kind of funny," Harry said with a chuckle.

"It won't be if you say something wrong and they curse you," Ginny before they stepped into the kitchen. Harry shrugged before walking in and over to the table, where Molly sat the two of them down and started to fuss, heaping food onto their plates.

By the time they had started eating, Charlie had managed to get Ron out of his room and down the stairs, probably by mention breakfast.

Once they were all seating Molly asked them, "I'm guessing that you all have some Christmas shopping to do?" The three nodded. "Alright then. We can go into Diagon Alley after breakfast, and then, if you still have things to buy, you can all go into Muggle London for the afternoon and I'll take Teddy back here with me," she concluded, nodding her head towards the giggling baby, who was sitting in a high-chair at one end of the table.

"Sounds good, Mum," Ginny agreed. "Although we'll have to split up in Diagon Alley some of the time so that we can buy presents for each other."

"Alright then. You three finish up eating, then you can get ready and we'll be off."

They finished off breakfast quickly and then split to get changed. Ginny went into her room and Harry followed Ron up the stairs to his room.

When they both got inside, Ron spun around and threw the door closed, before turning on Harry, a slightly pained look on his face. "What the hell do you think you were doing?" he asked.

"What?" Harry said, confused.

"Why did you sneak down with Gin last night after the rest of us went to sleep?" Ron asked, slightly angry.

"What!" Harry said, this time in shock. "I didn't do that. I stayed up here until Charlie came to get me saying that she was having nightmares and needed me. That's when I went down there to calm her down. Then I just, sort of, fell asleep there, and Charlie found us this morning," Harry explained quickly.

"Damn," Ron groaned, sitting down on his bed. "She's having nightmares again. Hermione said that she had them over the summer a bit, but that they'd stopped now. D'you know what it was?"

"The nightmare?"

"Yeah," Ron clarified.

"Me. Dead," Harry whispered, head in his hands, imagining how hard that was for Ginny and Hermione and the Weasleys, along with everybody else fighting that day, to see. He couldn't imagine seeing any one of his friends dead. He'd already had enough of that between Collin, Remus, Tonks, and Andromeda. Nobody needed any more death for a long time.

Ron was thinking. The one night that Harry hadn't been with her, Ginny had had a nightmare about Harry being dead. Could the two things be connected. "Hey, mate?" Ron asked, shaking Harry from his thoughts. "Do you think she had the nightmare because you weren't there?"

"It's possible, I guess," Harry said, shrugging.

"Well, did she sleep alright after you were there?" Ron questioned.

"Yeah, fine. So did I as a matter of fact. I kept tossing and turning before that," Harry confirmed, eyes widening when he realized where Ron was going with this. "You think we can't sleep apart and still be able to sleep now? We've gotten too used to having each other there?"

"It could be, mate," Ron said with a shrug. "We should ask Hermione about it when she gets here."

"Why, because she's supposed to know everything?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Hey, it's possible she'll have read something about it in some health magazine or something," Ron answered with a shrug. "We really change though. Mum'll kill us if we keep them waiting too long," he added as an afterthought.

"Right," Harry agreed, moving towards his trunk and starting to sort through its contents to find clothes for the day.

By mid-morning, they were all ready to go. The three apparated first, followed by Molly, and then Charlie, who apparently had something to do. Again. He was being very secretive about where he kept going when he went off, like the night before and again that day. Harry and Ginny chose not to ask, but Molly kept asking him what he was off to, and Ron looked slightly grouchy, although that was more likely to be from not seeing Hermione for a day, rather than anything to do with Charlie.

"Well, you three," Molly tutted, "I'm off to get a few things, so get as much done as you can and then we'll meet back at the Leaky Cauldron for some lunch before heading home."

"Molly, could I take Teddy for the morning?" Harry asked. "I feel like I've been shoving him off on you with school and all that," he elaborated, squirming slightly guiltily about not fulfilling his godfatherly duties.

"Oh, nonsense dear," Molly said, brushing off the comment, but, all the same, handing the gurgling, smiling eight-month-old to Harry. "Now, back at noon, alright?"

"Yes, Mum," Ron said sarcastically. Then, lowering his voice so that only Harry and Ginny could hear, he added, "We heard you the first three-hundred times."

Molly then turned to head farther down the narrow street, which was filled with bustling witches and wizards finishing their Christmas shopping. "So, where to first?" Ginny asked the boys, looking down the road at all the tiny shops.

"Well, we should probably split up so that we can shop for each other," Harry said, gesturing between the three of them.

"Right," Ron agreed. "How about we do that first, then we'll meet up back here around eleven and wander around a bit?" he suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Ginny shrugged. "See you soon," she added before wandering into a little shop just a few doors down from where they were standing awkwardly in the middle of the street, obstructing the flow of traffic as people pushed by them to pass.

"Right, well I'm heading this way," Harry said, waving to Ron over his shoulder. The boys split up and went in opposite directions down the alley, glancing in the windows of shops and sometimes going in for a closer look, buying something if they thought that it suited somebody they still needed to buy for.

At five past eleven, Ron and Ginny were waiting impatiently in the cold for Harry to get back, weighed down with their shopping and their money bags much lighter than they had been. "Where is Harry?" Ron complained. "He's usually the reliable one."

"You don't think something's happened to him, do you?" asked Ginny worriedly.

"Gin, honestly," Ron sighed. "He defeated the darkest bloody wizard of the age. Nothing is going to happen to in him broad daylight in the middle of a crowded street."

"Who are you talking about?" Harry asked, appearing from nowhere behind them, with Teddy sitting happily in his arms.

"Don't do that!" Ginny scolded, smacking her boyfriend's arm as he laughed at the expression on her face. Then she noticed he wasn't holding any bags. "Where's your shopping?" she asked.

"I dropped it off at the house," Harry said.

"Why couldn't you have waited and we could have gone with you?" Ron asked.

"Because, Ron," Harry said firmly, "if you did, you would have seen one of the presents I bought, and that ruins the whole surprise."

"Alright, mate, I was just asking," Ron grumbled.

Harry shrugged and stole one of Ginny's bags before she could protest, shifting Teddy so that he was holding him with one arm. He giggled and pulled at the hair above Harry's ear.

"Harry!" Ginny protested.

"I'm being a gentleman," Harry said, defending himself as best he could with a baby on one side and a bag on the other.

"I understand that," Ginny grumbled, rolling her eyes, "but you can't carry that bag. It has your present in it," she explained like she was talking to a two-year-old.

"Oops," Harry said, handing her the bag back and taking a different one before she escaped. "There. Everyone's happy." Ron muttered something under his breath that Harry didn't quite hear, but figured was that since Hermione wasn't there, he wasn't happy. Harry gave him a sympathetic, but slightly awkward, pat on the back. "You'll see her soon," he mumbled quietly.

"I know, just miss her," Ron replied with a slight shrug.

Ginny was tapping her foot impatiently. "If you don't mind," she said crossly, "I'd like to go somewhere warmer. It's not exactly pleasant out here," she added, looking up at the cloudy sky.

"Sorry, Gin," Harry said, chuckling under his breath at her impatience. She was worse than Ron sometimes, not that he would ever tell her that, of course. "Let's head back to the Leaky. We can get a table and wait for your mum to get back," he suggested.

The other two nodded and shrugged in agreement and the threesome walked back towards the end of the alley where the Leaky Cauldron was the gateway between Diagon Alley and Muggle London.

They had only been there ten minutes before Molly arrived, several bags on her arms and looking slightly frazzled from the sheer amount of people around. She quickly spotted them and made her way over to their table, occasionally bumping somebody with one of her bags before apologizing and continuing towards them.

"Did you all finish your shopping?" she asked, sitting down across next to Ron, who had grudgingly 'allowed' Harry and Ginny to sit next to each other.

"Almost," Ginny answered, frowning as she went through her mental list. "I just need things for Fleur, Hermione, Angelina, and Katie. I was thinking I could go to a Muggle book store and maybe a clothing store too."

"Right. I don't have anything left, but I'll tag along," Harry said.

"I just need something for Hermione," Ron told them.

"Alright then. I'll just send all your bags home and put them in your rooms, dears. Then you can go off and finish up," Molly said, taking out her wand and waving it at all the bags under the table, which then disappeared with a small popping sound.

"Thanks Mum," Ginny said with a smile before standing up and pulling her coat and everything back on, the boys following suit.

"Harry, I'll take Teddy now," Molly said, holding her arms out for the baby.

"You really don't have to, Molly," Harry said.

"Oh, nonsense," she said, taking him anyway. "Have fun, dears," Molly said, before turning on the spot and disappearing back to the Burrow.

"Follow me," Harry said. "I know where there's a mall nearby," he added, leading his girlfriend and best mate out into Muggle London. They walked a few blocks before Harry pointed up at a large, brightly lit building in front of them. "Here we are," he said. "I'm glad I remembered where it was."

"So are we, mate," Ron agreed with a smirk. "I don't know about you two, but I'd rather not get lost in the middle of Muggle London around Christmas time."

Harry and Ginny laughed, glad that Ron was at least joking a little, and not still grouchy about not seeing Hermione. "Let's do this," Ginny said, face set as she looked up at the huge building full of Muggles and Muggle things.

"It's really not that tough, Gin," Harry smirked with an eye roll.

"Shut it, Potter. Not all of us were raised by Muggles," Ginny said with a glare at her boyfriend's smug expression.

"I know, but it isn't that tough. Just let me handle the money, and there won't be any problems," Harry suggested, remembering how Arthur had had problems when they went to the Quidditch World Cup and had to pay the campsite manager.

"Fine," Ginny huffed, taking his hand and allowing him to lead her into the building, Ron following behind them, looking around in awe.

"It's just shops mate," Harry grinned, looking back at his best mate and chuckling at his expression.

Ron's ears turned red. "You may be my best mate, but don't think that'll stop me from throwing a punch at you if you bug me too much," Ron threatened. Harry just laughed, turning back to face forward. "Let's just finish the damn shopping," Ron muttered.

Yay! All done. I hope you liked it. Next chapter has some drama, so be looking forward to it. Please review. I must know what you think of me!