Before, Jamie had felt as if everything was sped up as she and Severus trekked to Dumbledore's office. Moving through the floo into her parent's home, it was as if she were back beneath the waters of the Black Lake.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion, noises muted, as Sirius and Guinevere gathered the kids coming through the floo into their arms. The Weasley children were frightened and worried about their father and their aunt did her best to assure them everything was okay, while trying to assure a shaken Harry he had saved Arthur's life.
Jamie was pressed against Harry's side, feeling him shake with emotion as he sipped hot chocolate and tried to settle his nerves.
"We can stay here tonight," Guin was sitting back from the floo. "Kings just called in, said they won't be sending Arthur home until late tomorrow morning. We'll meet back up at HQ then."
Jamie was numb as she helped Guin gather blankets and set up sheets. Hermione and Ginny would stay in her room, Sirius would take the guest room, and the boys would crash in the living room like old times.
"Mum," Jamie asked as she pulled down fresh linens from the closet. It was the middle of the night, closer to morning than anything, and both Shacklebolt women were red eyed and exhausted.
"Yeah, Sweets?"
"Can I sleep with you tonight?"
Guin's lip wobbled as she nodded, a watery smile on her face. "Yeah honey, I think that would be good."
"Mum?"
"Jamie?"
"What happened exactly to Uncle Arthur? What's the truth?"
Guin sighed, shifting the pile of hand crocheted throw blankets and quilts in her arms. Her eyes trailed across the walls of their second-floor hallway, sweeping across family pictures.
Photos of Jamie's first holidays with Guin and Kingsley; early photos playing outside with the Weasley cousins and at family Christmases gathered at The Burrow. There were new photos of Jamie and Harry from her seventeenth birthday; tossled and sweaty with twin grins after a Quidditch match; Kings and Harry smiling, holding up their ice cream cones after their trip with Guin and Jamie into Diagon Alley for school shopping in August. Right beside the photo Jamie had snapped, turning the camera to capture her smile, Guin, Kings, and Harry waving from the background.
Jamie realized she was blinking back tears, watching her mum take in the photos she treasured, the photos that were her proof she and Kings had managed to build their ultimate dream: a family.
"The Order has been taking turns guarding the Department of Mysteries at The Ministry," Guin said quietly. "This evening…it was Arthur's turn."
"Why the Department of Mysteries?"
"Every recorded prophecy is inside that department," Guin gave a sigh. "The prophecy regarding Harry is inside…as is yours. Dumbledore said…the two go together, two parts to the same message."
"So, He wants inside to hear them, then?" Jamie asked, the hairs on the back of her neck rising. Guin gave a little choking gasp, fluttering her hand as she reached up to rub at her face in frustration, nodding.
"Okay, then that makes sense," Jamie said quietly. "Who attacked him?"
"Not who…a what," Guin wiped her eyes. "The snake He keeps with him. It mauled Arthur…it would have went bad if Harry hadn't alerted Professor Dumbledore. He was able to get a message to your father and Mad Eye, they got to him just in time."
"I'll kill that snake one day," Jamie said hollowly, her face flushing with anger.
"Jamie-!" Her mother shook her head, horrified.
"I will, mum," Jamie said, jutting out her hip and shifting her weight. "I might just even kill You-Know-Who if I can manage it."
"I don't…I just…I never wanted this life for you or Harry," Guin was crying quietly. "I just…we wanted to keep you safe and now…now I'm starting to realize—I'm starting to realize we can't do anything to protect either of you."
"No, you can't mum," Jamie gently took the linens out of her mother's arms and set it down on the closet shelf. She pulled her mother into a tight hug, realizing she was taller than her now. Guin clung to her, crying quietly so as not to alarm the other kids downstairs, and Jamie realized just how worried her parents were for her. "There's only one person we can hope to protect, and it's Harry. Everything I do, it's to make sure he has a chance."
"I want you to have a chance, too," Guin croaked. "You both don't need to go through this…it's just not—"
"No, it's not fair," Jamie agreed. "It's not fair, but it's how it is. I'm going to do what I can to keep as many people safe as possible, but the priority has to be Harry. It just has to be."
Sleep was evading her. She could see the silvery light filtering in through the curtains as dawn approached. Beside her, her mother was restless. A creak sounded in the hallway outside and Jamie sat up slowly, the worn hardwood floors groaning as she got up, padding to the door. At the end of the hall, Harry was standing in his pajamas, jumping as she appeared.
"Harry," she said softly. Her brother had grown in the past year, looking more and more like a young man. She could see he was struggling, see he was upset and disturbed by the strange dream connection he shared with Voldemort.
"I just…"
"It's okay," she held the bedroom door open for him. "Come on."
Guin was silent as she moved over in the large bed, letting Jamie climb in, Harry following after. They left a lamp on, Jamie holding Harry's hand, as Guin picked up a book from the shelf beside the bed. It was a book of poems she used to read to Jamie when she was younger, when Jamie was afraid to sleep in her room by herself.
They lay back against the pillows like that, covered in the quilt Kings and Guin had been gifted by Molly on their wedding day. Soft light creating a safe bubble as Guin read aloud quietly, drowning out the darkness from outside and the fears pricking at their hearts.
It was nearly nine in the morning when Kingsley flooed home. The house was quiet. Molly and Arthur would be discharging from the hospital soon. His nephews were fast asleep on the couches of the sitting room. Bill and Charlie were on their way to HQ from their careers abroad at that very moment.
He bent to pull a blanket up over Ron, took Fred's wand from his hand and set it down beside him. He could hear the snores of Sirius in the guest room as he passed through upstairs, ducked his head in to see Hermione and Ginny sleeping soundly.
In his own room, he stilled in the doorway, sighing as he took in the scene before him. Guin had fallen asleep sitting up, the old book of poems Jamie had loved as child propped open at her chest. Beside her, Jamie was nestled, head tucked against her mother's side, her hand tightly holding Harry's hand, who lay fast asleep beside her.
Kings was exhausted, he moved to the armchair tucked in the corner, pulling off his shoes, extinguishing the lamp light with a flick of his wand. He would let his family sleep just like that. Let them enjoy a few more hours of peaceful rest.
He sat back in the armchair, wand in hand, tilting his head back, and let his eyes close. He would just rest for a few minutes, is what he told himself as his breathing evened out and he fell asleep.
Christmas at HQ was different than how they had normally celebrated.
Arthur was bandaged and a little sore, but magic and healing potions were working wonders. He was in good spirits, sitting back in the big overstuffed chair in the sitting room of Grimmauld Place, watching his family gathered around him.
All of the kids were decked out in Weasley sweaters, sitting on the floor popping Christmas crackers and trying out the gag gifts Sirius and Remus had given them.
Sirius was smooshed on the loveseat with Xolia, who was practically in his lap, her hands running through his hair affectionately. Every so often, he raise their clasped hands to kiss her knuckles tenderly.
Sirius had revealed to Harry and Jamie that he and Xolia had fallen for each other. A huge step, since his last girlfriend had been from his youth at Hogwarts. Marlene McKinnon, who's entire family had been murdered as she watched before she too was wiped out. She had only been eighteen years old.
But Xolia was good for Sirius. She could see around his bravado and his angst, the darkness that pervaded him as he fought to introduce the man he could now be, the young man he had been, and the prisoner in the cell for all of those years.
Sirius missed James. He missed Lily. He had deep rooted guilt and regrets and he often spoke of his wish he would have been around while Jamie and Harry were growing up. But Xolia helped, she was gentle and she thought he was funny and she was a burst of sunshine for a man who had lived in the dark for such a long time. The way Sirius looked at Xolia, it were as if he were basking in the sun. Sirius had Xolia and Remus, and he finally had Jamie and Harry once again.
His relationship with Harry had grown tenfold, the bond even more solid. His friendship with Jamie had also developed. She didn't need him as a parental figure, as he and Remus had learned, what she really wanted to be was their friend.
Christmas was a little more emotional this year. Molly was weepy and thankful, just as Guin was. The Shacklebolt's included Harry in their tradition of making a new family ornament bulb to mark another year. They pressed their thumbs into paint, leaving behind a colored print beside the year etched in the glass. Beneath their prints, in tiny precise writing, Guin etched their names.
"This was a good one this year," Kings said late Christmas night. They were up late, gazing at the tree twinkling in the corner, full to bursting of the combined decorations from Jamie and her parents, the Weasleys, and a few new ornaments Xolia and Sirius had acquired for the start of their little collection together.
"It was," she agreed quietly.
He and Jamie were sat on the worn sofa, sipping spiked hot cider, staring at the tree. The radio warbled quietly from the corner. Sirius was sitting across from them, Xolia fast asleep, her head on his lap. Arthur was dozing off and on, still propped up in his armchair.
The twins were still awake, silently going through the motions of a chess game, subtly checking on their father periodically.
There was a sense of wanting to preserve this last little bubble of Christmas before reality returned. They knew their families had gotten lucky this time, but next time…
They knew luck wouldn't always be on their side. Tomorrow, Severus was stopping in to spend the morning with her, and Andre and her aunt and uncle were coming for lunch.
"I think I'll go to bed," Jamie said as two in the morning hit on the clock. Her father pressed a kiss to her forehead, mumbling about sticking around to get Arthur up to Molly.
"Love you, dad," she told him.
"Love you most, rascal," he smiled at her.
Jamie trailed upstairs to the tiny bedroom she had taken. Perched on the window sill was Cinnabar, dozing, a letter tucked in his talons. She roused him, taking the letter and moving her owl to perch on the footboard of her bed.
She recognized the handwriting, curling up in bed as she unfolded the parchment.
Jamie,
Hi. Happy Christmas.
Thank you for letting me know you are okay, I was glad to hear your uncle will make a full recovery. I've gone home for the holiday. My mum is pleased, but unfortunately, too much has changed here for Christmas in this house to ever be what it once was.
I've found myself comparing this Christmas to an imaginary Christmas in my head. Where I spend it with you, maybe even Severus, back together at the house on the lake. I imagine Christmas by the lake would be incredible.
More than anything, I'm counting down the days until I can see you again. There is so much we have to talk about, so much I want to say to you.
Last Christmas, you accosted me at the Yule Ball and forced me to dance with you. I never told you how beautiful you looked. How much I enjoyed that dance.
I never would have believed it if someone had told me then, that in a year's time I would have fallen in love with you.
You asked me how I knew how you felt?
I knew you loved me when you found me on the Hogwarts Express, even when I was being a dramatic prat and insisting you would drop me as a friend as soon as we returned to school. You've proven your love many times over, even when you were insisting you couldn't possibly be good for me.
You've always been the best for me. The best of me.
I fell in love with you in the moment you pulled me in for that dance. I've been unconsciously chasing you ever since.
Happy Christmas.
I love you.
Draco.
Jamie laid the letter down almost reverently, eyes sparkling, as his words echoed in her mind. Had she been chasing Draco all of this time, just as he had been her? It was possible. After all, time and time again, fate had brought them back to each other, even while kicking and screaming.
Their love was dangerous. Their love was powerful. It was one of the only things anchoring her down to the world they were living in. She had been making several vows to herself lately: she would see to the death of Voldemort and ensure Harry could live out a happy, healthy, normal life. She would protect her family and friends, even if it meant the shedding of her own blood.
Lastly, she would make sure Draco did not have to suffer the same fate Cedric had. She understood there was a cost and a danger to loving her, but instead of simmering in it as she once had, she would make sure precautions were in place.
Weapons could be vulnerable and still be the greatest strength, just as long as she also acknowledged and understood the weakness in it.
AN: I struggled writing this one. The next few chapters are building to something very big. Many answers revealed. Many new things put into play.
Be safe out there in this big, chaotic world.
