"Wakey, wakey."

"I will if you continue," Harry murmured, reaching out for the pink head making her way down his stomach.

Tonks giggled as he grasped a loose handful of locks, her breath warming his thigh. "Good morning."

"Mmm ... yes ... it is," Harry gasped as she began to wake him up in earnest. For a few minutes the bedroom was bereft of any noise beyond soft moans and inarticulate words. A quiet that was unfortunately interrupted by a well-meaning house-elf.

"Good morning, Master Harry!"

"Dobby!" Harry burst out, yanking up a sheet to cover himself as Tonks dove under the duvet with a squeak.

"And good morning to Master Harry's Dorie!" the house-elf continued, clearly unaware he had interrupted anything. What Harry vaguely thought to be one of Hermione's early woolen hats was perched on his head, and covering his legs were mismatched socks, one plaid, the other a garish orange.

"Dor-a, Dobby, Dor-a," Tonks intoned in a muffled voice. "Or just go with Tonks."

"Dobby, I told you that you don't have to wake me up, remember?"

"Dobby remembers, sir, but Dobby does not want sir's breakfast to be cold!" The house-elf beamed, and Harry didn't have the heart to scold him. "Will Master Harry and his Dorie be down soon?"

A now-purple head popped into sight. "Breakfast?" Tonks chirped. "Yes, thank you!"

Harry watched Dobby leave the room before falling back onto his bed, pulling Tonks with him. "Do we have to go down? I was enjoying breakfast in bed."

Tonks giggled again, nibbling on his earlobe. "Hmm, I bet you were. But I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry."

"I'm a growing girl."

Harry laughed, tucking a stray curl behind her ear fondly, her hair slowly deepening to blue as she went through her morning routine of choosing a color. "Dora, I'm fairly certain you finished puberty about a decade ago."

"Yes, but I'm a Metamorphmagus. I can keep growing if I like." She stuck out her tongue, and he pushed it back in her mouth. "Besides, maybe I'll grow outward for a change."

"If you want." After one more languid kiss, Harry slowly stood up, stretching. "Have you seen my pants?"

"Not since I threw them across the room with such enthusiasm last night," she replied, hanging upside down off the bed as she searched for her own clothing. It provided a rather distracting view for Harry. "Since we're on the subject, did you really have to tear my dress?"

"You didn't complain at the time," he retorted, giving up on the search and pulling boxer shorts from a drawer.

"You had just given me my Christmas present. I wasn't going to complain about anything." Still half dressed, she sank back onto the duvet with a dreamy smile. "We tell everyone tonight, right?"

"Right," Harry agreed. "Think you can wait that long?"

"No," she freely admitted. "I want to take out a full-page ad in the Daily Prophet or shout it off the rooftops. I'm so happy, Harry."

"So am I." Harry pulled her into his arms for one last nuzzle before starting their day. "Now finish dressing. Dobby'll be heartbroken if we don't have a big family breakfast."

"That elf worships you," she replied. "It's quite adorable."

"I wish you had been there the day I hired him. He cried, positively howled. And now not only do I have clean clothes and warm meals, but I get to enjoy buying the most outlandish socks imaginable on a regular basis."

"I particularly like watching his rivalry with Kreacher. Remember the night they made at least a dozen batches of biscuits, each trying to outdo the other?"

Harry grinned. "Yeah. But Remus says we shouldn't encourage them."

"Remus says a lot. I only listen to half of it," she countered, tossing one shirt after another out of the wardrobe. "Remus told me he was too old for me for an entire year, when all he needed to say was that he was buggering my cousin."

"Dora!"

"What? It's been years. You sleep across the hall from them."

"I know, and I'm perfectly happy for them, but I don't need such a ... visual reminder," Harry protested, shuddering. "It would be just as awful if you talked about my parents' sex life."

"If they hadn't had one, I wouldn't have you. In fact, it was the 70's. They might have had one with both Sirius and Remus."

Harry clamped his hands over his head while Tonks dissolved in laughter. "La la la, I'm not hearing this."

"I'll stop, I'll stop," she called over his litany, tugging his hands away. "Back to the point, I made a right fool out of myself."

"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were still hung up on him."

"But you do know better," she replied, winding her arms around his neck.

"Yes, yes I do," Harry murmured against her lips, his own curving in a smile. Tonks made it abundantly clear just who she preferred to spend her nights with on a regular basis.

Pulling away, Tonks continued. "It's just they had a nice laugh at me, the prats."

"Well, it's all worked out now. I swear, Dora, if you don't hurry I'll go down without you."

She gave him a mock glare, tugging a jumper over her head. "Since when are you so eager to get me in my clothing?"

"I just want the day to get on. I'm as eager for tonight as you are."

Exchanging what must be called rather sappy smiles, the couple made their way downstairs hand in hand, convenient for when Tonks completely missed one step and would have tumbled to the bottom of the staircase. When they arrived in the kitchen, Sirius and Remus were already seated, both nursing steaming mugs of coffee.

"G'morning," Sirius said sleepily as they fell into chairs on the opposite side.

"Good morning," Harry replied, helping himself to a stack of toast. "Ron and Hermione not down yet?"

"Hermione already left," Remus said. "She had some shopping to do."

"Hermione? Leaving shopping until Christmas Eve?" Harry frowned. "That's not like her."

"Ten Galleons says she's trying to find the right outfit for tonight," Tonks claimed. "Charlie arrives today."

Harry laughed. "You are such a matchmaker. There's nothing between them."

"Yet," Tonks qualified. "They simply haven't admitted it, but I know they want each other." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Well, she didn't say what she was going for," said Remus, offering a plate of sausage to Sirius. "And to answer the other half of your question, Ron hasn't come down yet. I suspect his nose will bring him."

"Luna stayed over last night," Tonks said with an impish grin. "I reckon they'll be sleeping in."

Sirius smirked. "You're one to be talking, here nine mornings out of ten. Why don't you just move in already?"

Tonks shared a secretive grin with Harry before answering. "That's because I can only stand you ninety percent of the time. I need a break. And it's already practically a brothel in here as it is."

Remus choked on his coffee. "Excuse me? A brothel?"

"Well, sure. Hermione's practically a saint lately, but the last man she dated, that Dan bloke, he used to stay over occasionally. I know Neville has brought home girls from time to time. Draco practically had a revolving door when he lived here. You've got you two doing Merlin knows what –" Here Harry dropped his fork and dove under the table to get it, taking his time in the process. "And then you have Ron and Luna. And do you know, she's kind of barmy. I reckon she's into some kinky shit."

Harry yelped under the table as he banged his head. "Dora, what is wrong with you?"

"What?" Tonks protested innocently, for both older men were gaping at her as well. "She's very open-minded. All I'm saying is, good for Ron."

"She was my student," Remus said faintly. "It's bad enough to see any of you emerge in the mornings, tousle-headed and in each other's clothing."

"I've never worn her clothes!" Harry exclaimed. "She steals my shirt, I go get another one of my own shirts."

"I still maintain you'd look fabulous in one of my skirts. You have very nice legs." Tonks winked at Harry before turning to Sirius. "Sirius, mate, do we have enough mead for the party tonight? Harry invited half the wizarding population of Britain."

"I promise you, Tonks, we have enough to get even Hagrid roaring drunk."

"Which no one will be doing this year, right, Sirius? Tonks?" Remus said sternly. "Let's not have a repeat of last Christmas Eve."

"Do you remember how red Molly turned when you started singing 'God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs'?" Harry asked reminiscently. "Even Buckbeak would have been scandalized by the lyrics you two and Charlie came up with."

"Ah, it was a good Christmas Eve." Tonks grinned. "At least what I can remember of it."

"This one will be better," Harry said quietly, squeezing her hand under the table.

Sirius eyed them sharply. "What's going on? What do you know?"

"There's something to know? What do you know?" Tonks demanded, brandishing a piece of crispy bacon like a wand. "Tell me."

"Oh no, don't turn this around." Sirius pointed at the both of them while Remus watched over the rim of his mug in amusement. "The two of you are up to something, and I'll have it from one of you."

"You'll 'have it' from one of us?" Tonks repeated, arching her eyebrows. "That's a bit wonky, mate, seeing as I'm your cousin and Harry's your godson, but it's Christmas so if that's what you want ..." She ducked from a flying piece of toast that may or may not have been thrown by her cousin.

"Aren't you supposed to be an adult, Nymphadora?" Sirius chided her, ignoring her withering glare. "An Auror, a mature member of society?"

"No one ever told me that," she replied cheekily, returning to her eggs.

Remus and Harry laughed. Holiday or not, it was a normal mealtime scene at 12 Grimmauld Place: the two Blacks needling each other while their partners watched, sometimes egging them on, usually accompanied by another member of the household. No matter how exasperated Harry got at the pair, he loved it. They, along with his other roommates, were his family.

"I rue the day I let you corrupt my godson," Sirius complained, doing his best to send her dark looks.

"Sirius, it's time I let you in on a secret: he's the one who did the corrupting. I'm all talk. Harry's crazy in –"

"And that's my exit cue," Harry interjected, walking away hurriedly while Sirius began to interrogate Tonks on why she thought anyone needed that information. He bumped into Ron on the kitchen stairs. "Finally. You've never missed a meal."

"Just tired, I reckon. Hey, um, everyone's coming tonight, right? No one canceled?"

"Yeah, as far as I know."

"And you invited Luna's dad, right?"

"Yes." Harry stared at his friend in confusion. "Ron, what's going on?"

"I just want to make sure it goes well," Ron said seriously. "Luna loves Christmas."

"And where is Luna?" Tonks appeared behind Harry, sliding her arms around his waist.

"She'll be down soon," Ron said, avoiding their eyes. "I'm going to eat, see you later."

"So did Sirius kick you out?" Harry asked Tonks, throwing an arm over her shoulders as they trudged upstairs.

"No, he's pouting because I won't tell him our secret." Tonks sighed longingly. "Harry, I can't wait for the party."

He kissed her head. "Soon enough. Tonight, love?"

"Tonight."