The drive back from London was uneventful. Harry had drawn the short straw and had to sit in the back of the car, squashed between Ginny and Ron, who continued to spar over who would be taking the Rolls Royce out for a spin when they got home. Hermione, enjoying the legroom in the front passenger seat, chatted to Mr Weasley as the little Lada zoomed through the English countryside. It was a picturesque view of rolling hills blanketed in white snow under a cerulean blue sky. It reminded Harry of the old-fashioned Christmas cards that the Dursleys used to sit on their mantelpiece. Mr Weasley spent most of the journey telling his passengers about all of the modifications he had planned for his new automotive project.
"The invisibility and flying system were a little temperamental in the Ford Anglia," he conceded. "But I think I've ironed out the kinks this time. I'm also working on making it aquatic! No more taking the ferry over the Channel to France, we'll be driving over there for our holidays in future!"
When they finally pulled up to The Burrow, Harry couldn't help but grin at the sight of it. Aside from Hogwarts, it was the only place that had ever truly felt like home, and he was glad to be back, even if it was only for a few days. Smoke drifted lazily out of the Weasley home's many chimneys, and a humongous Christmas tree, almost half as tall as the house, sat pride of place in the centre of the garden. It was covered in a mish-mash of decorations, shiny baubles and strings of flickering lights differing in colour and size. The tree sagged to the left under its own weight and perched perilously at the very top was a large, golden star. As they exited the car and waded through the ankle-deep snow towards the kitchen door, he noticed that Asha and Crookshanks were running circles around the tree, chasing an angry-looking gnome as they did so. Well, no need to ask whether his furry companion had missed him—she seemed to have settled in at The Burrow just fine without him.
Before they reached the back door, Harry spotted several familiar redheads through the casement window, sitting around the kitchen table. As Mr Weasley pushed the door open, the sound of several people talking and laughing over one another poured out into the garden.
"Morning, Weasleys!" he cried over the noise. "I come bearing gifts!"
"Harry, dear!" Mrs Weasley tossed her dishcloth onto the countertop and hurried over to Harry, pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. "It's so good to see you!"
"Oh yes, never mind me," said Ron sarcastically, ambling into the kitchen with Ginny and Hermione. "I'm only your youngest son who you haven't seen for three months."
Mrs Weasley released Harry and grabbed Ron. "Oh, behave yourself! You saw me a couple of days ago! How are you, love?"
"I'm great, thanks," Ron returned his mother's embrace and kissed her on the cheek. "Can I smell roast chicken?"
"Always thinking of your stomach," Mrs Weasley chastised fondly. "Come on, you lot. Grab a seat and I'll get you all fed."
The next few minutes were a wonderful manic blur as Bill and Fleur, Charlie and his boyfriend, Gheorghe, Percy and George greeted the group with hugs and kisses. Harry found himself ushered into a chair at the kitchen table with a warm mug of mulled wine thrust into his hand and a plate of Mrs Weasley's delicious home cooking slid under his nose. He couldn't catch what anyone was saying, but he was content to sit back and bask in the warmth of the cramped little kitchen and love from his adopted family. He glanced up at the Weasley clock and felt contentment wash over him as he saw the hand with his face on it pointing towards 'Home'.
Once Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had their fill of food and drink, Mrs Weasley set everyone tasks in order to ready the house for Christmas. Ginny and Ron protested that they wanted to take a look at the new car first, but she informed them that they could only do so after they had de-gnomed the garden. While Bill and Fleur started hanging Christmas decorations in the living room, Gheorghe and Charlie were sent out to the shed to chop and gather firewood. Percy was instructed to carry his siblings' trunks to their respective bedrooms, while Hermione and Mr Weasley started peeling the potatoes for dinner. Harry volunteered to wash the dishes and watched from the kitchen window as Ginny and Ron bickered with each other as they hurled the garden gnomes over the hedge and out of sight. He hoped that they wouldn't be like this for the entirety of the Christmas break, but they were both as stubborn as the gnomes they were currently evicting that would definitely be back in a few days, so he didn't hold out much hope of that happening.
Once the dishes were done, he grabbed the nearby tea towel to dry his hands and wondered what to do next. He found Mrs Weasley in the scullery folding a pile of washing as tall as she was and asked if she needed a hand.
"If you wouldn't mind," she said, plonking an armful of clothes on top of the counter in front of him. They worked in amiable silence for a few moments when Mrs Weasley asked conversationally, "So, how are you enjoying Hogwarts this year?"
"Better than most others, to be honest," he admitted. "It's been the least eventful one yet. Quite boring, actually."
"Really? Well, doesn't that make a nice change?"
Harry laughed and nodded. "Yeah, it does."
Mrs Weasley hummed to herself for a few moments before asking as casually as possible, "Well, from what I hear it's not been an entirely uneventful year, has it?"
Harry frowned. "How do you mean?"
"Well," she said carefully. "Ginny got a new boyfriend, for starters."
"Oh. Yeah, I suppose so."
"I was quite surprised by who it was, of course," she admitted. "But after meeting him briefly a couple of nights ago and from what she's said in her letters, Theo seems like a lovely boy."
"Yeah, I guess so," said Harry slowly, unsure of where this conversation was going.
"I was wondering," said Mrs Weasley lightly. "If you had met anyone yourself."
Harry froze. Surely Ginny hadn't said anything to her mum about him and Draco? "Why would you think that?"
"Oh, no reason," a knowing smile spread across her face. "But the family clock—I like to keep an eye on it while you're all away, it puts my mind at ease knowing that you're safe—well, a few times, your face has pointed towards being in love."
Harry tightly clenched the towel he was in the process of folding, his heart beating painfully hard in his chest now. "It did?"
Mrs Weasley nodded. "At first I thought that you and Ginny...but after she told me about Theo, I realised that wasn't the case. You don't have to tell me who it is, Harry. I know that privacy is a luxury that you're seldom afforded. All I want to know is that whoever it is, that they make you happy."
Harry hesitated before nodding. "Yeah, they do."
Mrs Weasley beamed and pulled him into a tight hug. "That's all that I wanted to hear, dear." She released him from her grip and brushed his messy hair out of his face, her eyes twinkling. "I'm just so glad that you've found someone. You more than anyone else in this world deserve a bit of happiness. Here, I have something for you…"
She balanced on her tiptoes and pulled a red woollen jumper from the shelf above her head and showed it to Harry. "Your jumper is wrapped under the tree and you'll get it on Christmas morning, as is tradition. But I took the liberty of knitting one for this special person of yours."
Harry's face turned as beetroot as the jumper. "You didn't have to do that."
"I wanted to," she assured him. "Is the colour alright?"
"Um…" Harry looked sheepishly at Mrs Weasley. "Actually, could you make it...green?"
Surprise momentarily flickered across Mrs Weasley's face but she quickly smiled again and drew her wand from the front of her floral apron. "Of course!" She tapped the jumper once and the red pigment dissolved into emerald green. Pocketing her wand again, she held the jumper out to Harry. "Here you are. Now, go put this in your trunk for safekeeping. You can give it to them when you get back to Hogwarts—unless they'll be visiting us over the holidays? They're more than welcome to, you know."
"I don't know if they can," he said quietly, taking the proffered gift. "But I'll ask them, anyway."
"Please do. Oh! Before you go, could you take this basket of washing up to Ron's room? I'll see to the rest."
Harry looked from the jumper to Mrs Weasley and pulled her into a quick hug. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, dear," she chuckled, wiping a tear from her eye as she turned back to folding more clothes. "Off you go, now. Before I find another job for you to do."
Harry hurried up the several flights of stairs to the attic where he and Ron were staying for the holidays. He peeked into the room before entering to make sure that the coast was clear—he had the feeling that Ron wouldn't be too happy about Draco being bestowed the gift of a Weasley jumper, so he decided to hide it at the bottom of his trunk safely out of sight. After placing the basket onto Ron's bed, he threw open the lid of his trunk and paused, holding the jumper out to take a proper look at it before putting it away. Harry noticed that it was quite large—bigger than Ginny's normally was, and big enough to fit Draco, funnily enough. He figured that was purely coincidental, though.
Harry carefully folded the jumper and covered it with his own clothes, feeling more downcast than he ought to considering Mrs Weasley had officially given her blessing to Harry's significant other. He wondered if she would just as readily gift the jumper if she knew who it was going to. Not that hers or any of the Weasleys' opinions would change Harry's mind, of course. But he wasn't sure whether or not Draco would even accept the gift, and that bothered him. Yes, he valued his privacy, but the secrecy and constant white lies around their relationship were wearing on him now. He had always felt more guilty about the deception than he ever did about the relationship. He just wanted to be able to tell his family about Draco instead of hiding him away like a dirty little secret, to be able to hold his boyfriend's hand whenever he felt like it instead of having to check that nobody could see them first.
But he knew that there was more to consider than his feelings on the matter. Draco's parents...well, Harry didn't want to think about what their reaction would be when they found out. Harry sighed and closed the lid of his trunk. As frustrating as the secrecy of their relationship was, he was willing to put up with it rather than risk losing Draco entirely.
