We ended the show on the sixteenth. My friend Hannah and I were crying at the end. Before the show, they had all the kids who were aging out and stood them in the middle while we cried over them. I hugged a lot of the younger kids to help them stop crying. A few were full on sobbing. This is always the worst part of shows. The goodbyes. You make bonds, you make friends, you make inside jokes and quirk grins during the showings, you improvise and try not to laugh when others improvise, you help each other when you can, and then you all have to leave, and some of them never come back. And doing this…this show, none of the others have created an impact as "big" as this one has. I came in knowing literally no one, and came out having so many friends and loving so many people. I can't wait until next year to see them again!

When Ginny had said the Burrow would be crowded, the Marauders had no idea what 'crowded' really meant. There were redheads in every available space, a blonde here or a brunette there, everyone being an aunt or an uncle or a cousin to someone. Except the Marauders, Luna, and Harry, that is. Hermione was, unfortunately, nowhere to be found, and it was debatable if they would even find her if she did show up. Thankfully, half of the population at the Burrow would leave as soon as dinner was over. Unfortunately, since there were so many people, they ate outside. However, since they had magic, it wasn't as cold as they thought, although the younger ones (and Sirius) did scramble out to have a few snowball fights.

"Where is Hermione?" Mrs. Weasley asked worriedly, looking down the table to Harry and the other boys.

"She said she was coming," Harry noted.

"Maybe something came up," Ginny grimaced, biting the side of her thumb, "It is getting awfully late."

"Perhaps she's getting presents," Luna said airily as James watched her curiously, as he was sitting across the table from her.

"Luna," he said slowly, making her pause for a moment and look up from her plate to blink owlishly at him, "Is that what she's doing?"

Luna was quiet and stared back at him before nearly squeaking, "Could someone pass the peas, please?"

"Luna Lovegood," Ginny began sternly.

She gave a small pout and a sigh, slumping in her seat as a few Weasley relatives thanked Molly for the meal and took off. "She made me swear I wouldn't tell. But there is a gift she's planning to give that she's afraid will upset someone. Or, rather, a whole lot of someones. Peas?"

Ron sighed and handed her the bowl, shaking his head at the blonde as Harry thought with the back of his fork pressed to his mouth.

"Well, what could she possibly give that would upset anyone?" Harry asked after a moment.

Luna bit the inside of her cheek and shifted around her peas.

"C'mon, Luna, you must know something else," James offered, giving her a charming grin and watching as her cheeks puffed out and grew a little bit pink, eyebrows furrowing as she concentrated her attention on her peas.

"I know nothing," she declared before shoveling a rather large portion of peas into her mouth, grimacing as Ginny chuckled.

"Just remembered you hate peas?" she asked as the blonde girl nodded slowly.

"Sorry I'm late!" Hermione called, stepping outside from the house, grinning apologetically to everyone before kissing Molly's cheek and giving Arthur a side hug. Luna quickly spat out the peas and wiped her tongue off with her napkin, James watching in amusement as her distaste was evident. "Crookshanks decided to hide a few bows and ribbons."

"What the hell is a Crookshanks?" Sirius asked as a few others laughed.

"Hermione's cat," Harry explained.

"Ugly ginger thing with a squashed in face," George supplied before blinking, "No, sorry, that's Ron." He laughed as his brother whirled around to glare at him, threateningly pointing his spoon at him as Hermione took an empty seat and ate off of Luna's plate, who allowed her to do so after a warning of not eating the peas.

The Weasley clan joked and laughed easily, now that outsiders weren't witnesses. Nearly everyone helped Molly clean, aside from the ones who couldn't fit into the kitchen. Once all of that was done, Teddy toddled over to the tree and plopped down as Victoire – who was younger than him – watched him with interest from her mother's lap.

"Presents?" he questioned.

"Sure, Teddy, we can open presents," George grinned, picking him up and settling him on his hip before leaning down and handing him the one he got him. This caused everyone to gather around and exchange a few gifts early, only the younger ones and people who couldn't wait for their gifts to be opened. Once it was moderately quiet, Luna walked over to the tree, pulled one out from behind it, and offered it to Hermione, who bit her lip and took a deep breath before taking it and walking over to the sofa, where George, Molly and Arthur were talking about his shop.

"Uhm," Hermione began, gathering nearly everyone's attention, "I just…I know how hard this year has been, for all of us, but especially your family, and I don't know whether this will be received well or…not so well. But Luna, she did most of it, and so this is from both of us to the Weasley family and…I should stop babbling and get on with it." She offered the rather large present to George, who was in the middle, and he blinked at her before taking it and ripping it, blinking blankly at the painted backdrop that looked rather like his apartment.

"Uhm…thanks," he said uncertainly.

She took another deep breath and took her wand, pointing it down at the canvas before whispering, "Ennervate."

There was a very loud yawn coming from the painting, and George immediately went very pale and Molly immediately had tears in her eyes as Arthur gaped down at it.

"Err…hey Georgie, long time, no hear," Fred said sheepishly grinning up at his twin before he gave a very watery scoff.

"The whole wide world of ear related humor before you, and you go with 'long time, no hear'?" he questioned as Molly began to sniffle.

"What can I say? I've gotten rusty," he shrugged with a grin before he turned to Molly, "Hey, Mum, Dad."

"Oh, Freddie," she sobbed, pulling George into her and kissing the top of his head as a few tears slipped out as well. Ginny was curled up in the floor, Harry sitting above her in the chair, running his hands through her hair as she cried. Bill had tears rolling down his face and Charlie was using Teddy to shield the others from seeing his own. Percy's lower lip wobbled and his big eyes got shiny, and Ron immediately resembled the eleven year old he had once been.

Hermione fidgeted, taking a step back right as George handed the portrait off to his mother, squared his shoulders and looked at Hermione before launching himself at her and hugging her tightly. She froze for a moment before realizing this was not an attack and hugged him just as tightly.

"Thank you," he murmured.

"There's another in there. One for the Burrow and one for the shop."

He hugged her tighter, "Thank you so much, Hermione."

"I didn't do all the work, George."

"All I did was paint," Luna reminded him as she stood with the Marauders, "She did all of the complex spell work. Thank her again."

"You have no idea how much this means to us, Hermione," he said.

She gave a watery laugh, "You're welcome, George."

Sirius gave a big sniff, making his friends turn over to him and blink curiously at him before Peter cautiously asked, "Sirius, are you…crying?"

His lower lip wobbled and he opened his mouth before shutting it and giving a low pitched whine before blubbering out, "She gave them another Christmas with him!" He then turned and sobbed onto James's shoulder, making James sigh and pat him on the head while Remus and Peter chuckled at their friend.

Hermione valued sleep. It was a time period that she got to relax, calm down, and earn some rest. That was why she had been so miffed when the ghostly Marauders had intruded upon it – she wasn't a morning person or an early bird like anyone would suspect. In fact, she could quite happily sleep in until noon if there wasn't work to be done. This is what she wanted to do Christmas morning, but her mother wasn't having it.

"Mum," she groaned as her mother gently slid her index finger down her daughter's nose, "Why?"

"Christmas!" she explained happily, grinning at her as she weakly opened her eyes and gave a smile small, "And you have presents!"

"Huh?" Hermione asked, sitting up as her mother climbed into bed with her, Crookshanks immediately climbing into her lap as Hermione waved her wand and the presents from the foot of her bed floated up onto the mattress. She blinked at the amount before smiling as her mother practically beamed. She'd always been worried when Hermione had trouble making friends when she was younger. Seeing her happy, safe, and cared about made her ecstatic.

"I'll help you open them," she offered, making her laugh and nod, her father walking in after a few moments and sitting in the rocking chair by the window, watching in amusement as his wife and daughter opened presents, both still in their pajamas.

"This one is from Harry," her mother stated, holding out what appeared to be a journal, although when Hermione opened it up she blinked when she saw no lines on the pages. She flipped back to the cover and grinned when she saw her friend's messy handwriting.

For the secret artist I know you are. Happy Christmas! – Harry

Harry and Luna were practically the only people who knew she could draw. It was just a hobby, something she liked to do when she had a moment. Harry thought she was very good at it, but then again the boy only drew stick figures.

George had given her several new products from his store and the half of the money she'd hidden in his coat pocket with a note that said 'nice try, Granger.' Ginny, Bill and Charlie had gotten her a wizard camera, and Luna had gotten her some type of paint that was more like a cream and could be spread on with the fingers. Ron had gotten her a Chudley Cannons poster that looked suspiciously like the one in his bedroom. Percy had gotten her a book about teaching imbeciles, and she thought it was quite funny when he had drawn a quick picture of Ron and wrote "example A" on the cover. Fleur had gotten her things to go in her hair, and she idly wondered if she knew of a way for them to be seen in her hair before she saw a jar of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion with a smiley-faced sticker on it.

She hadn't been expecting anything from the Marauders, but she had gotten them something anyway, just to be nice and let them know that she cared. But she was surprised when she got a bag of candy from Peter (she was incredibly thankful that her parents were distracted at that point), a book on mythology, superstitions and the like from James, a small pendant of a dog from Sirius (she almost laughed), and a new set of neat looking quills from Remus. There was a small card and she blinked when she found it was blank before she sighed, rolled her eyes, smiled and whispered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Ink flooded the card almost at once and she grinned as the different scripts filled the space.

Happy Christmas, Kitten! We love you lots! Love, Padfoot

Have fun, cause mischief, and stay safe! Love, Prongs

Harry told me after I bought you the candy that your parents are dentists. Tell them it came from Sirius. Love, Wormtail.

Thanks for everything, Hermione. Happy Christmas! Love, Moony

"Hermione, darling, you have an absolutely silly smile on your face," her mother pointed out.

"I know," she grinned back, "I don't care."

She got more stuff from Dean and Seamus and Neville and even Draco and Blaise but I'm too lazy to figure out what they could've gotten her so yeah.