On Christmas Eve, Matthew camped out in Harry's quarters. The band, Matthew, Ginny, and Dean were seated on orange couches around the hearth, roasting chestnuts and enjoying mugs of hot cocoa.
"No eggnog for me," Ginny laughed. Her stomach was now much larger than it had been at the end of July, when it had barely been noticeable.
"So how do you all know each other?" Matthew asked.
Hermione explained enthusiastically. "We were all in Gryffindor—"
"Except me," Luna sighed, as though not having a care in the world. "I was in Ravenclaw."
"—when we were in school. Harry and Ron were best friends—"
"Still are," Ron said, slurping his cocoa loudly.
"—and their dorm mates were Neville, Dean here, and Seamus Finnegan, all—"
"Me n' Seamus were best mates too," Dean said. "Dunno how many times we snuck Firewhisky or Muggle beer into our dorm . . ."
"—five of which I spent our entire Sixth and Seventh Years confiscating alcohol from," Hermione gave them a stern look, and they had the decency to look at least slightly ashamed. "Luna and Ginny were in the same year, right below us. Ginny—" (Ginny waved) "—is Ron's younger sister, but they had five older brothers, all Gryffindor too. The only ones we ever went to school with were Fred and George, twins—"
"Own Weasley Wizard Wheezes, they do," Ron said. He was fiddling with something in his right pocket.
"—and Percy, but he didn't talk to us much, he was Head Boy when we were in Third Year. Dean married Ginny right after she graduated, and now they're expecting," she finished with a smile.
"So just a month or so more now, right?" Luna asked from her seat, snuggled up in Neville's lap.
Ginny nodded, beaming. "We're still going to wait to see the gender though."
"I can't believe I'm going to be an uncle," Ron said excitedly, though there was a hint of nervousness in his voice. "Hermione?" he asked, turning to her on his right, who he had his arm around.
"Mm?" she prompted.
Ron removed his arm, and stood up. Then he dropped to one knee on the carpeted floor, facing her where she was seated on the couch and grasping one of her hands in his. He pulled something out of his pocket, and Harry knew what Ron had been fiddling with.
It was a small box, which Ron opened to reveal a ring. It was gold and did not have a typical diamond, but instead a round polished garnet, which in Harry's opinion made the ring more beautiful than any diamond could have. Hermione's mouth was hanging slightly open and her eyes had gone wide.
"Will you be an Aunt?" Ron asked.
There were a few gasps from the surrounding six. Hermione continued to stare at Ron for almost ten seconds before an immeasurable smile grew on her face and she stood up, dragging Ron up with her into a tight embrace.
"Yes!" She said. "Yes, yes, yes!"
There was clapping and loud whoops from their audience, all of which were grinning nearly as much as the two. Ron continued hugging her, wearing a huge smile and dumb with shock, almost as if he could never have even dreamed of her saying yes.
After they'd let go of each other, Ron held up Hermione's left hand and slipped the ring onto her ring finger. Harry could see happy tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.
They sat back down eventually, and Christmas Eve continued. When the clock on the mantle read ten o' clock, people started clearing out. Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Luna went to their respective quarters, and Dean and Ginny went to the temporary rooms they would be staying in for the next week.
Matthew got ready for bed and laid down on a sofa, covered by more than one blanket. "See you in the morning, Harry!" he called as Harry disappeared into his bedroom.
"See you in the morning," Harry responded, smiling. He hoped Snape would like his gift.
x
Harry woke up to Matthew shaking him.
"Happy Christmas, Harry! Come on, there's presents!" Matthew said gleefully, putting Harry's glasses on his face for him. Harry grumbled incoherently.
"Come on, I'm waiting to open mine until you're up!"
"Alright, alright," Harry said, crawling out from under the sheets.
In the main room, Harry couldn't help but notice that it seemed much brighter than usual. He quickly realised why when he stepped over to one of the giant windows.
"Snow!"
It looked like someone had thrown a thick white blanket over everything in sight; the Hogwarts grounds were completely covered, as were the mountains beyond and the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest. Harry turned back around and saw the two stacks of presents by the fireplace.
Matthew was staring wide-eyed at the gift Harry had given him, then he started laughing so much that he fell over onto the nearest sofa.
Harry grinned. "Thought you'd like it."
Matthew sighed and held the thin metal sign up again to examine. It was the size of a license plate, had thick rainbow stripes on it, and bore only two words: GAY PRIDE.
He raised an amused eyebrow at Harry. "My dorm mates will be horrified when I stick this on the wall above my nightstand."
"Precisely what it's for," Harry said, walking over to the piles to start unwrapping his own presents.
