Chapter twenty-six: Christmas

"Take him away!" Umbridge slammed her hands down on the podium. The Dementors dragged a Muggle-Born man out of the Courtroom as he screamed and begged for mercy. When he was gone, Umbridge rubbed her forehead in a tired way. Adolf stared straight at the floor of the Courtroom.

"Why can't they just learn their place?" Umbridge asked in a weary voice. Adolf slowly looked up at her.

"…Maybe if the few we try to punish don't get away, they'll back off." He said in a much too calm tone. Umbridge looked at him with her small eyes.

"I'm sorry, Minister. I'm sorry Granger got away, but you have to believe me when I say that I did all I could to keep her in my possession." Umbridge said to him. Adolf was up out of his seat, towering over her in seconds. Umbridge peeked up at him with scared eyes as he glared at her. He looked like he was closed to punching her but he calmed down a little, knowing it wasn't all her fault.

"…Do you think she learned her lesson, Umbridge? Do you honestly think that she knows she's just a Muggle?" Adolf asked her. Umbridge looked up at him, trying to word it carefully.

"…I think she understands that she has no power in our world anymore." Umbridge told him. Adolf pondered that.

"Well, if she thinks she has no power then I don't see the point in trying to bring her back." Adolf said, sitting back down. Umbridge looked at him with curious eyes.

"Why not, sir?"

"It's all very simple. What threat to us is there if she doesn't do any more magic?"

"…None at all." Umbridge said quietly, realizing what he was saying.

"Exactly. Let her live her life. Let her get married and make babies with her ginger boyfriend. There's no harm in that. But if she ever tries magic again, we will know about it and we will stop it once again." Adolf said quietly. Umbridge nodded.

"Minister, should we tell her to never use magic again?"

"What for? Let her learn the hard way," Adolf told her simply. "Besides. She was a pain from the beginning. I don't want her in my sights any longer." Adolf said. Umbridge nodded quickly.

"Yes sir." She said curtly. The doors opened and Percy Weasley stepped into the Courtroom.

"The next person in question is ready, Minister." He announced with a bow of his red head. Adolf nodded at him.

"Send them in, Weasley." He told him. Percy strode out and went to fetch another person who's life was about to be condemned into Azkaban.

Harry and Ginny laid in their bed, fast asleep, their party cloths scattered on the floor of Ginny's room. Ginny's hand rested on Harry's bare chest, her engagement ring glittering in the sunlight that was pouring through their window.

Harry was the first to wake up. He opened his eyes and saw the vague outline of Ginny's face before it blurred out of sight again. Without waking her, Harry put on his glasses and his vision focused. He smiled and stroked her freckled cheek, feeling her slow breathing. He could hardly believe she was finally going to be his. It seemed so unreal to him. It seemed like yesterday he was saving her from the Basilisk in The Chamber of Secrets, or seeing how stunningly beautiful she looked at the Yule Ball. He felt the happiest he'd felt in quite a while, just contently lying with her like this. He could do this forever without stop.

Ginny stirred and her eyes flickered open. Harry saw her look around for a moment, obviously getting flashbacks from last night. A smile lit her face as she looked at Harry and sighed. She turned over a little, leaning her chin against her hands, which were on his chest.

"Good morning." She greeted him lovingly. Harry smiled and stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"Good morning." He said back. Ginny looked from his face to the ring on her finger. She and Harry examined it closely.

"…Where did you ever find such an amazing ring?" She asked him.

"In my Vault at the bank. It was my mother's engagement ring. Apparently Snape took it off her after she died and put it in the Vault." Harry told her. Ginny looked at the ring, a smile on her lips.

"It's beautiful. Snape really was trying to help you." Ginny said quietly. Harry nodded.

"He was a brave man. Much braver than I'll ever be." Harry said. Ginny looked at him and kissed his lips.

"I could counter that." She told him. Harry smiled and Ginny realized something. She heard bells ringing somewhere far off. She leapt up and grabbed a housecoat, throwing it on as she dashed to the window. She peered out of it and saw a thick layer of white snow on the once green grass with snowflakes falling gently. She turned and beamed at Harry.

"It's Christmas!" She said excitedly. Harry grinned and got up as well, pulling on his pajamas, staring out the window with her. Ginny smiled brightly and quickly got dressed before she took Harry's hand and ran downstairs.

Ron and Hermione were already downstairs, sitting on the couch, Hermione wrapped in Ron's arms. They were having a row, but it was a playful one.

"-just don't understand why you won't try cooking, Ronald. You'd do fine at it if you just tried!" Hermione said, flustered.

"Because I'd burn the house down, that's why." Ron said.

"Not if I taught you." Hermione countered. Harry and Ginny grinned at each other, walking forwards.

"I've tasted your cooking. I don't have a chance of learning how to make anything eatable." Ron said. Hermione lightly smacked his chest.

"Hey! I'm not bad at cooking! Besides, even if I was, I'd want someone else to cook for me anyways."

"Well, you have mum-,"

"Hey guys." Harry finally said. Hermione and Ron looked up sharply and saw them. They both grinned. Hermione untangled herself from his arms and went forward to hug them both.

"Happy Christmas!" Hermione said. Ron came to hug them as well.

"Happy Christmas." Ginny and Harry greeted them as they hugged one another. There were footsteps coming downstairs seconds later and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were standing there, beaming. Hermione went forward to hug them both too, smiling brightly at her soon-to-be mother and father-in-laws.

"Happy Christmas, Mrs. Weasley! Happy Christmas Mr. Weasley!" Hermione said as she hugged them both. They greeted her with open and welcome arms.

"Happy Christmas, Hermione dear. Happy Christmas to you all! I'll have breakfast on the table in a few minutes. Just relax and I'll bring it out to you." Mrs. Weasley said, pulling up her sleeves.

"Would you like some help, Mrs. Weasley?" Hermione asked her and gave Ron a forceful look, which he immediately responded to.

"Yeah mum, we can help." Ron told her as Harry got a painful nudge from Ginny and he nodded in agreement. Mrs. Weasley looked mildly surprised as she stared at her falsely eager son.

"Well, sure, that'd be great. Could you help the boys, Arthur? I still need to fetch a couple of presents from upstairs. Thank you dear." She kissed her husband on the cheek before he could object and Mrs. Weasley went upstairs. The girls giggled at the three boys as they frowned at one another.

"Get to work boys!" Ginny ordered, grinning. Hermione laughed quietly behind her hand as the boys groaned and made their way into the kitchen to try and prepare breakfast for them.

When Bill, Fleur and George came downstairs and saw the three girls sitting on the couches and realized the boys were in the kitchen Fleur started to laugh.

"You are making zem cook?" Fleur asked in between giggles. Hermione nodded while Ginny laughed.

"It's going to be an all-boys cook day." Hermione told her as she laughed.

"Well zen, you'd better get in zere, Bill." Fleur told him, shoving him towards the kitchen. Bill looked at the couch longingly. He looked tired but he decided not to argue with his wife. He walked to the kitchen.

"You too George." Mrs. Weasley added, taking a sip of her tea Harry had brought out for the girls. George looked at her with an incredulous expression.

"What? Why do I have to cook?"

"Because you're a boy and it's the boys turn to cook." Ginny told him.

"We're going to be evenly dividing the cooking load from now on. I can't cook for you forever. Your wife is going to want a husband that can cook." Mrs. Weasley told George as she smiled at him. George groaned loudly and trumped to the kitchen, muttering something about not wanting to get married and that it wasn't worth it.

As the time went on, the noise in the kitchen got louder and louder. Soon, the boys were getting angry at one another.

"Ron! Turn the stove off! This is ridiculous! You just burnt the pancakes!"

"Well, maybe I like them burnt!"

"Well, maybe we don't!"

"I don't care what you like or not!"

"Turn off the stove, you nutter!"

"Fine! Geez! Calm your boxer shorts!"

The girls sat on the couch, listening to them yell at one another. They giggled quietly, finding it absolutely hilarious.

"And you'd think they'd have figured out how to get along by now." Mrs. Weasley said to the girls.

"Maybe we should call it quits. It sounds like a war zone in there." Ginny said anxiously as she heard Harry curse loudly from the kitchen, followed by a loud clanging sound.

"Please! Bill 'ardly ever makes breakfast for me, let alone ze entire family. Let zem suffer." Fleur grinned. Hermione smiled at Fleur.

"He'd better get ready to make a lot of food, seeing as you're eating for two now." Ginny commented.

"Yes, how are you, by the way? How far along are you?" Hermione asked her. Fleur smiled brightly, seeming glad that she had someone to talk to about this type of thing.

"Two months. Zee doctor said I 'ave to wait one more month before we find out zee gender of zee baby." Fleur told everyone.

"Why is that?" Ginny asked curiously. Both Hermione and Mrs. Weasley were ready with an answer.

"Because the third month is when the baby's body matures fully." Mrs. Weasley told her.

"Yes, the third month is also the month where the baby gains his motor functions." Hermione added, smiling.

"What are those?" Ginny asked Hermione. She had no clue about anything pregnancy-related.

"It's where the baby gains the ability to move around and kick and such. Apparently it's quite an amazing feeling." Hermione said, sort of longingly. She's always wondered what that might feel like.

Fleur beamed. "I can't wait. I'm sure eet's going to be as amazing as everyone says eet ees going to be."

"How did you find out?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Well, I started noticing how big I was getting! I mean, I'd never gotten to this size ever in my life! And I noticed how much more I was eating and I finally figured it out!" Fleur said, smiling. Hermione arched an eyebrow subtly, looking at Fleur's torso. Hermione didn't understand how she noticed a change in weight, since she was still the stick-thin Fleur that everyone normally knew. As much as Hermione loved Fleur, it was going to be interesting seeing how she reacts to her size in just a couple of months.

Bill finally stumbled out of the kitchen, his hair singed and pancake mix all over his face. "Breakfast is ready." He said, kind of breathlessly. The boys started to each file out of the kitchen, one by one, holding different plates of food. George was holding a huge pile of half burnt pancakes, Harry came out holding a tray of freshly cut fruit and a pitcher of Pumpkin juice that the Weasleys had made themselves, Mr. Weasley came out with some Maple Syrup and a the utensils while Bill grabbed the plates and cups. Ron came out last, holding two plates: one piled with sausages, the other with bacon. He looked at the plates as though he'd snap in two seconds and gobble every last piece of meat down. Hermione giggled at him as the boys set the food on the table and they all dug in, eating as much as they dared, laughing at how frustrated the boys seemed to be in that moment.

After breakfast was finished, they turned to presents. Harry gave each person the presents he'd gotten for them. They tore the package open. Mr. Weasley got a Muggle Compass set that also had a telescope in the kit. He got Mrs. Weasley a book on Muggle baking, since she'd talked about trying to see how difficult it would be to bake something that Muggles ate. He got Bill and Fleur a baby book that had cute moving pictures of babies from all over the world. George got a magic box full of Muggle magic tricks, just for laughs. He got Ginny a gorgeous silver locket that had a picture of the two of them in it, he gave Ron a pair of amazing Quidditch robes. Harry gave Hermione a vile of potion. It was a tiny vile. Hermione recognized it right away: Liquid Luck. Hermione didn't know how he'd managed to find another vile or make one, but she was thrilled.

Bill and Fleur gave out presents next. The entire family got tickets to go see the Quidditch World cup in the spring. Everyone was so excited. Even Hermione was excited to go.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave something a tad different this year. When everyone opened the packages, they pulled out hooded traveling cloaks, each of their favorite color. Each individual cloak had the person's first letter of their name sewn onto the breast of the cloak. They were so warm.

Ginny gave her parents a rule book of how to be good In-Laws, which everyone found very funny. She gave George a Chudly Cannon's poster with a little figurine that flew around on a broomstick around everyone's heads. She gave Bill and Fleur a hand-knitted baby blanket and she gave Harry an adorable promise bracelet with a Snitch on it. She gave Hermione a very expensive-looking Falcon quill.

George gave each member of the family their favorite best-selling item from Weasley's Wizard Weezes and, just to set her off, George gave Hermione the telescope that looked uncannily like the one that punched her all those years ago. She gave him a dry look but thanked him anyway, knowing she could probably use it if a certain girl ever came back to see a certain ginger boy.

Ron was next. He gave Harry a vile of brownish gold liquid. He explained that it was a type of varnish that never came off. It was for Harry's broomstick. He was thrilled. Ron then handed Ginny a pair of Quidditch boots with her name embroidered on them. He gave George a book called '1001 Jokes no one has ever told before!' He looked extremely happy with that book. He gave his parents a home-made plaque that said "If Dementors steal souls, Gingers must be their distant cousins." The whole family loved that so much. They decided to put it on their front door. Ron gave Bill and Fleur a cute cradle that he made himself from the wood outback. And then he gave Hermione a CD of their favorite songs that was held inside a gorgeous brightly colored case and had their name's on the front.

Then, at last, Hermione gave hers out. She cleared her throat to explain to them what these were for. "Each of you holds a separate photo album. The photos were from memories I've gathered over the past couple years. There's a new type of technology that allows you to put a memory into the Pensive and then a certain machine develops that memory and plays it back in a photo." She handed the albums out and they all looked through them. "These albums are of our times together over the time I've known you all and you'll notice that they're only a quarter the way full. That's because I hope to make many more memories with all of you." Nobody truthfully knew what to say so they simply hugged her.

The family was ecstatic. They stood, with their presents in hand and gave hugs of thanks to everyone before bringing the presents upstairs. Hermione followed Ron upstairs, holding her presents in her arms. They went to his room and Hermione began sorting the presents as Ron sat down on their bed and started flipping through the album. The first page was of the two of them with their arms around each other. They turned and smiled at the camera, then Ron kissed Hermione's cheek, then she giggled silently and looked back at each other again. The picture continued to move like this. He flipped through the album, looking at all the pictures of them at Hogwarts. Ron smiled when he saw a picture of Ron in Divination class, looking bored. There were little captions under the photos and the caption under this one was "I see you're focusing hard on your schoolwork again, Ronald." Under that caption, there was a small picture of Hermione rolling her brown eyes and smirking.

Ron kept flipping as Hermione came to lay beside him. He stopped at a picture of the two of them at the Yule Ball. Hermione wore her dress and Ron wore that revolting pair of dress robes. Hermione showed only the part of the Yule Ball where they talked briefly before they had the argument about Victor Krum.

"You looked amazing that night." Ron told her. Hermione smiled at him but didn't say anything as he flipped the page again. He was getting to the days where they were rebelling against Umbridge and he kept seeing pictures of himself that he'd never seen before and he soon realized that the reason he'd never seen them before was because they were Hermione's memories. He kept seeing little glances Hermione would give Ron and then how he'd look at her for a second before turning away as well. Under that photo, the caption said "We never knew then how much these moments would mean to us."

Ron flipped forward again. He saw how all of their 6th year was basically not there, due to the fact that most of it was full of Lavender and Ron. The one photo that came out of that year, however, was of Ron in the hospital ward. He muttered something he couldn't hear because the photos were silent (only you could tell he was muttering 'Her…mi...one.." and then Lavender rushing off and Hermione taking his hand, looking rather flabbergasted. Something clicked in Ron's brain.

"…So that's what happened!" Ron said. Hermione blushed as he turned the page again. As they went on, the pictures became those of the Burrow. Hogwarts was no longer in the album so far. It was a snapshot of Bill and Fleur's wedding and a couple memories of Ron and herself dancing. Then, they were in Number 12 Grimmould Place. Ron saw that day they woke up with their hands almost touching. The caption under that photo read "'Hand-Holding: A gesture to express inner feelings for another person without telling them verbally.' And a gesture I only want to do with you."

After Ron finished admiring that picture and caption, he moved on. The next few pages of the album were of their days in the tent, searching for Horcruxes. There were a couple pictures of him looking deathly sick with the arm sling on that she'd made him. There was one picture of him when he was leaving. "I felt like I couldn't breathe. I thought that was the end." Read the caption. Ron continued on to see a picture of the day he came back and of him talking about his encounter with the Deluminator Dumbledore had given him and how it lead him back to her. "And then I was whole again and all was well." The caption said.

The next photos were of them escaping Malfoy Manor, and then they were back at Hogwarts. Ron saw pictures of them fighting and of them dodging spells. When he flipped to the next page again, he saw an explosive amount of color. He saw the picture in the middle of what looked like moving fireworks on the album page. It was of their first kiss. Ron felt another smile creep up his face as he watched Hermione cascade the Basilisk fangs from her arms and run at him, then kiss him hard on the lips. Ron saw himself throw away the fangs and broomsticks he was holding and lifted Hermione off her feet, kissing her back passionately. The caption under that photo only said "FINALLY!" in large uppercase letters. Ron chuckled and kissed Hermione's cheek. The album continued and the photos got more recent. There were pictures of Hermione before she was captured, sitting with Ron, just talking and cuddling. It showed the day that Hermione and Ron first made love, as well, but it wasn't graphic. It was just the kissing and there was a memory of them dancing to the song on the radio. "Perfection" was all the caption said.

The imprisonment didn't show at all in this album. It just skipped to the day she woke up at the Burrow, confessing her love again for Ron and then when she went downstairs and was welcomed home.

On the very last page of the album that was filled with pictures, there was one last memory. It was the one of last night at the engagement party. It showed the entire engagement and the caption under the last picture of Hermione kissing Ron and then trying on her ring said "I can't wait to start my life with you."

Ron didn't really know what to say. He turned to look at Hermione, shutting the album. He took her face in his hands and kissed her passionately, portraying his love through his actions. Hermione went warm inside as she kissed back, rolling over so she was on top of him, finally ready to share herself with Ron again. And, a couple minutes later, that's exactly what she did.