[A/N: So, I got some really lovely reviews for the last chapter. I am pleasantly surprised. Because I love you guys so much, I'm going to make this chapter double long. It was just going to be a Draco/Ginny chapter but since your reviews last chapter were so above average awesome, you deserve a treat in the spirit of Christmas, even if it's May as I write this *finger guns* *wink*.]

GINNY POV

At long last, it was Christmas time. There had been some speculation about whether or not students would be allowed to go home for the holidays, but when the news came that we would everyone got excited. I was happy to be going home since school had been hell for me since I'd been back, even with Draco keeping an eye on me.

We were boarding the Hogwarts Express, everyone was dizzy with excitement about leaving and knew exactly what we were going to do once we got home—except for Draco Malfoy.

"I am not going to your house for Christmas and you cannot make me," Draco said.

"But even your mum and dad want you to 'spy on the Weasleys' this Christmas," I said. "No one outside of Tonks has even seen Mira. They all want to see her so badly."

Draco sighed. "I don't know."

"Come on," I pleaded. "Think for a moment, not about yourself, but about your daughter. It's going to be her first Christmas. When she asks about it, what are you going to tell her?" Draco shrugged. "What'd you do on your first Christmas?"

Draco shrugged. "I don't remember caring enough to ask."

"I'm pretty sure Mira will have more of a soul than you do and actually will want to know," I said.

"Or, you know, she could take after me and not care because it's not like she'll be able to remember it anyway," Draco said.

"Look, do you want Mira to have a Christmas tree and a tiny Weasley sweater and have everyone in the house want to hold her and someone hovering over her the whole time with a camera taking photos that Mira will hate when she's 16?" I asked. "Think of the memories."

Draco sighed. "Christmas last year was nice. It was the only really good Christmas I had aside from the Yule Ball with Hannah. And I do miss everyone, even if I am slightly terrified that they might hate me. But, you're right about Mira. And I don't want to look back when she's all grown up and not have that memory."

"I knew you'd see it my way," I said. "And at any rate, it won't be my whole family. My parents, as it happens, are going to see Charlie again, so we'll be staying with Tonks, Lupin, and Kaitlin. They're having Sirius and Veronica over along with Fred, George, Emily, Bill and Fleur."

"Oh, right, so the only two people I was positive wouldn't strangle me aren't going to be there," Draco said.

I laughed. "You will be all right. Trust me."

"Draco, there you are!" Emily said bursting into our apartment.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's Luna—they're taking her away," she said.

"Luna?" I asked getting to my feet. "Why would they be taking Luna? She hasn't done anything."

"Emily, stay here and keep an eye on Mira for me," Draco said. He took hold of my hand pulled me from the compartment and off the train. There was a lot of commotion on the platform—students shouting angrily, death eaters with their wands drawn prepared to attack. One of them had Luna grasped tightly by the arm.

"What's going on here?" Draco asked.

"Ah, Malfoy," one of them said.

I stared at him for a moment. "Stan? Stan Shunpike? You're a death eater?"

"Quiet, Weasley. I don't believe I was talking to you," he said.

I rolled my eyes. I still forgot that people were "allowed" to speak to me that way now.

"We happen to be taking Miss Lovegood—orders come right from the top if you follow my meaning," Stan said.

"Bit Luna hasn't done anything wrong," I said.

"Ginny, please," Draco said insisting that I shut up. "Where's she being taken to? With the wandmaker?"

"Aye. Wanted to keep a close watch on this one in case her father put another toe out of line," Stan said. "With all that rubbish he's been spitting out in that 'paper' of his, I'm surprised we haven't gotten hold of her sooner."

"All right then, just get her out of here. You're causing a scene," Draco said.

"Draco, you can't just let them take her," I said.

"She and her father made the decision to support the Undesirables. If you're suggesting that it's proper to support those traitors then you can go with her," Draco said.

"Yeah, I'm sure they'd love it if we brought a Weasley by to play," Stan said.

I looked over to Luna. "It's going to be okay. You'll be okay." I wondered whether or not I was trying to reassure her or reassure myself.

Luna gave me a nod and Draco pulled me back onto the train into our compartment where Neville and Pansy had joined Emily and Mira. As soon as Draco closed the door I dissolved into tears.

"Ginny don't cry," Draco said.

"Where are they taking her? Why are they taking her?" I asked, sobbing.

"They've probably taken her because The Quibbler keeps printing stuff in support of Harry and Hannah. They want to make her father keep quiet," Draco said. "They're not chucking her into Azkaban or anything. They're taking her to my house."

"Your house?" Neville asked.

"That's where Mister Ollivander is, locked in my basement, has been ever since he went missing," Pansy said. "You-Know-Who is using Malfoy Manor as, like, a base so he keeps all the special prisoners there. Ollivander is the only he's kept alive for whatever reason."

"You mean they might kill her?" Emily asked.

"Don't think so, as long as her father cooperates she should be fine and I can't imagine that he wouldn't," Draco said. "And being locked in my basement obviously isn't ideal, but it's better than Azkaban and at least we know she'll be safe."

I wiped the tears from my face and nodded. "This is horrible. It's almost Christmas. Our friends aren't supposed to be getting kidnapped at Christmas."

888

When we arrived at King's Cross Station, I was feeling slightly better, though nothing was really going to be able to cheer me up after seeing my best friend taken away.

Looking out of the window I could see Bill, Fleur, and Kingsley waiting for us.

"Are you sure they won't kill me?" Draco asked.

I nodded. "I trust you. They will too."

"I think Hannah said that to me last Christmas and it wasn't true," Draco said. "I think you gingers have it out for me."

"I promise we're harmless," I replied.

"It looks like my father is here," Draco said staring out the window.

'What do you think he wants?" I asked.

"To give me orders I expect," he replied strapping his sleeping daughter into her stroller. "You don't mind taking her while I talk to him do you?"

"Not at all. It'll give me time to try to 'explain' things," I said.

"Right, make sure you really emphasize that we didn't actually sleep together and that I'm not actually evil and that I'm not really your boyfriend either," Draco said.

"Got it—emphasize the elaborateness of the ruse," I said.

We carried Mira off the train and I walked over to my brother where Emily and Kaitlin were already going on about how excited they were to be home.

When Bill saw me, he frowned.

"Firstly," he started. "I heard about Luna."

I nodded. "Yeah, but I wouldn't worry. I can't say anything about it now, but it'll be fine."

Bill nodded. "And what's all this business Mums been telling me about Draco Malfoy?"

"Dangerous bloke to be involved with," Kingsley pointed out.

"Not exactly. I can just say that you have to trust me where Draco's concerned and I'll explain everything once we get to Tonks and Lupin's house. But he's coming with me and you just have to trust me," I said.

"She's right, Bill. We'd up to our asses in shit if it not for Draco," Emily said.

"You expect us to just welcome him back with open arms after what happened? What about, Hannah? She's your friend and now you're messing about with her baby's daddy," Bill said.

"Don't be cross. Just trust me. Draco is okay," I said. "And this," I motioned down to Mira in the stroller, "this is Mira. Hannah and Draco's daughter."

"She eez precious," Fleur said examining the sleeping child.

"I know. And Draco wouldn't do anything to ruin this little girl's life," I said.

"He even scolds us for swearing around her. He is so serious," Kaitlin said.

"Trust me," I said.

Bill sighed as Draco approached.

"I'm skeptical," he said.

"We all were at first," Ginny said, "but Harry and Hannah also said there was no reason to distrust him. Even if he ran away he'd still do the right thing. He has been."

"All right then," Bill said.

Draco reached us and immediately checked on Mira.

"Every bloody time I put you in this thing you want to be all lopsided and you'll get a pain in your neck and then you'll cry until it stops hurting. So, what I need you to do Mira, is hold up that head of yours for me so you don't cry later. I know your head is unusually large, but your mum had a weird head too so I can't do anything about that," he said as he adjusted his daughter. And then, this happened.

"WHAT? This thing leans back! Why did no one tell me! You can lie down and sleep in here and I don't have to worry about you slumping over! This is the best thing I've discovered since I found out that if I put Flipsy in your crib with you not only are you entertained for like an hour, but you'll fall asleep right after!" Draco cheered.

I cleared my throat and he looked up at me.

He got to his feet and took hold of Mira's stroller.

"Right then," he said, clearly hiding his embarrassment. "Shall we go, then?"

It wasn't too long before we got to Tonks and Lupin's house. Fleur knocked on the door and proceeded to try to identify us as people who weren't undercover death eaters.

"Oh! I almost forgot. There's someone here you'll be excited to see," Bill said.

"Your mom?" I asked.

"You're so funny," he said. "You'll see. Maybe you can get him to talk."

Draco lifted Mira from her stroller.

"Why are you carrying her? You know how she gets when you do that," I said.

"No one is going to punch a guy with a baby," Draco said.

"Your logic is infallible," Kaitlin said rolling her eyes.

"Don't doubt me," Draco said.

The door opened and there stood Tonks.

"Hey Large and In Charge," Bill said.

"Call me that again and you will never have children," Tonks said. She was looking exceptionally more pregnant than I expected. She looked over to Draco and stared a moment.

"Hello, Draco," she said.

"Hi, Tonks," he said awkwardly.

"Come inside. I think we've got a lot discuss, haven't we?"

HANNAH POV

"But why do we need to go there?" Hermione asked.

"Because, it was significant to Voldykins," I said.

We'd been meandering aimlessly throughout the forest for a while now and we were dead tired of being at a dead end. That being the case, Harry and I decided to try to talk Hermione into letting us go to Godric's Hollow.

"In what way?" Hermione asked.

"Because that's where he got his butt kicked, where it all began for us. Maybe we'll find a horcrux there," Harry said.

"AND because what better place to find a sword that belonged to Godric Gryffindor than where he was born," I said. "Not to mention Dumbledore lived there and we might find some clues as to what he wanted us to do."

Hermione groaned. "But You-Know-Who probably expects you to go there. It could be dangerous."

"Have you not been paying attention? Everything we do could be dangerous," I said.

She looked from me to Harry and then sighed. "Fortunately for the two of you I've been thinking we'll actually have to go there. It's not as if we have any more leads. What could it hurt?"

"Our thoughts exactly," Harry said.

"In other news," Hermione began, "Harry, you've looked at the Marauder's Map recently haven't you?"

"Indeed I have," he said.

"So how is everyone, I mean, is everyone still there. No one's been like in the hospital have they?" Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head. "As far as I know everyone is fine. A lot of them cut classes from what I can tell—never have I seen anyone spend so much time in the dormitories, but no one has been put into a coma and all of our friends are still there."

"And nothing's been odd?" I asked.

"Sort of. For instance, I haven't seen Ron on here at all since he's left so I'm going to assume he's hiding out somewhere because he's not at Hogwarts," Harry said.

"Maybe he's looking for us," I suggested.

Hermione scoffed. "Even if he is looking for us he'll never find us. My enchantments are too good. He could be standing outside and wouldn't know we were here."

"Unless the magical power of love pulls the two of you together," Harry teased.

"The magical power of love is going to have my foot up your ass in a moment," Hermione remarked.

"Anyway, there's something else weird that I've noticed, Hannah," Harry said.

"What?" I asked, curious to know why he was directing that particular statement at me.

"Well. . . Draco's been hanging out with a really. . . Well, not someone you'd expect him to be hanging out with," Harry said.

"Who? Marius?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Ginny."

"What? Draco and Ginny hanging out?" I asked.

Harry nodded. "All of the time. Sometimes they disappear off the map by Dumbledore's office to what can only be assumed is your room, but a lot of the time I look at the map and they're together."

"Well, maybe they're friends. Maybe Ginny is helping him with Mira. It could mean a lot of things," I said.

Hermione shook her head. "I dunno. It does seem weird. I mean, if Draco is still putting up his front as a death eater, which can assume he is because he hasn't been murdered, it would be pretty ridiculous to hang out with Ginny because death eaters are not big fans of the Weasleys."

"So why would they be hanging out if everyone thinks it would be bad?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Maybe they're, like, dating or something."

"Bitch, please," I scoffed. "Draco and Ginny wouldn't date anyone else, especially not each other."

"Well, you're broken up aren't you? What's to stop them?" she asked.

"I dunno—common fucking sense," Harry said.

"We would kill them. Murder them, well, at least Draco. I'd probably just shun Ginny," I said.

"But if they like each other-."

"They can't like each other. They might like the idea of each other but they cannot like each other. They cannot," I said. "That's like if you and Harry started going out. It'd only happen because you miss Ron and he misses Ginny and the whole reason you're not together is because of this stupid war and the only other people who get that are the two of you. And since you've got no one else on the whole of the planet who gets it you'd fall to each other."

"But what if that's what happened?" Harry asked. "What if the reason they're together so often is because they are together?"

"Again I say, bitch please," I said.

"But you said so yourself that they've got no one else but each other who gets what they both must be feeling right now," Hermione said.

"All the same, they have more sense than that. And not only that but they care about us," I said. "I mean, as sad and lonely as you feel right now Hermione could you ever even think of hurting Ron that way?"

Hermione shook her head with a sigh.

"So why would Draco and Ginny do something like that?" I asked.

". . . Because we might not make it back," Harry said quietly. "Why would they wait for us if we just end up dead? I wouldn't blame them for being together."

I sigh. "So you think that they think 'well, the twins are going to be dead so anyway, we might as well hook up'? It doesn't work like that."

"No?" Harry asked.

"If Ginny came and said to you that she was probably going to die within the year would you just give up on her?" I asked. He shook his head. "What would you do?"

". . . I'd fight to save her," Harry said.

"If she's running around Hogwarts stealing The Sword of Gryffindor it's definitely because she believes you're coming to her," I said. "Now, when we're dead and buried there's no one I trust more than Ginny Weasley to step in and take over for me where Mira and Draco are concerned, but I'm telling you there's no possibility of it."

Harry nodded. "Guess we are just being silly."

"Indeed you are," I said. "Now, let's pack up and get to Godric's Hollow, shall we."

888

The thing that I liked about snow was how quiet it made everything. It fell on the ground and absorbed all the sound. So when we walked into Godric's Hollw with its deserted streets that evening, it was practically silent.

There were lights on most of the houses and all of the shops were closed. As we neared a church we could hear music coming from inside.

"Guys. . . I think it might be Christmas Eve," Hermione said.

"Fantastic," I said. "I couldn't think of a better day to be here."

Harry nodded in agreement as we came upon the church's cemetery.

"Hannah. . ." he said stopping me.

I knew what he was thinking. Our parents were probably buried in there.

Without a word the three of us walked inside and began searching around for my parents' grave.

It wasn't long before we happened upon one that didn't belong to them but still was interesting.

"Ariana Dumbledore?" Hermione asked.

"Who's that?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore's little sister," I said. "She died a bit after he finished up schooling at Hogwarts."

"What happened to her?" Hermione asked.

"All Dumbledore told me was that it was an accident," I said.

"How sad," she replied.

We moved on from the grave when Hermione directed our attention to yet another one.

"This one here—Ignotus Peverell," she said.

"What about it?" I asked.

"This symbol, here on his grave, I've seen it before," she said.

Above his name was triangle with a circle in its center and a line running from top to bottom of it.

"It was drawn in the book that Dumbledore gave me," she said.

"And Mister Lovegood has a necklace like that. He wore it at Bill and Fleur's wedding," Harry said.

". . . I feel like this is somehow relevant," I said. "But why?"

"Dunno. We'll have to keep looking and see if it pops up again," Harry said.

Again, we moved on, coming to the back of the cemetery where I found a little gate. I pushed through it and walked inside. And there it was.

I frozen for a moment before I called the others over and showed them.

Harry took hold of my hand and I squeezed it tightly as I read the headstone over again.

James Potter 27 March

Lily Potter 30 January

"The last enemy to be destroyed is death."

"I think it means that you go on living after you die—like life after death," Hermione said quietly.

A tear streaked my face. I wiped it away quickly as more started coming.

"But they're dead," Harry said. "They're rotting in the ground beneath us as we stand here. How can they go on living?"

I dissolved into sobs and so did Harry. This was the closest we were ever going to be to our parents—six feet of dirt and a coffin beneath our feet for all of eternity. They'd never get to hug me again or love me again.

As I stood above my parents, crying, my thoughts turned to my own daughter. She'd be three months old by now and probably only vaguely recognizable to me. She probably wasn't tiny and small like the last time I held her. The last time I saw her, lying asleep in a basket on Lucius Malfoy's desk, was that the last time I would see her? Would Mira's only contact with me be just like this?

I wondered where she was tonight. With Draco, obviously, spending her first Christmas without me. It didn't matter where she was right now, because I wasn't with her.

When Harry and I finally regained our composure we left the cemetery and tried to get back to the task at hand—find the Sword of Gryffindor and/or a Horcrux. But our search only led us further into depression because the only place we knew to look was in the ruins of dilapidated childhood home.

[Chapter title credit to Bing Crosby for the song "I'll Be Home For Christmas"]