Harry found himself smiling warmly as he woke up on Christmas morning, despite being alone in his bed unlike every night of the first term. Penny had gone home for the holidays - as had Hermione and Neville - but before she'd gone she'd given Harry her Christmas present to him. She hadn't bothered wrapping it, so he'd seen as soon as she handed it over that it was a squirrel plushy, the exact shade of her fur when she was a squirrel. She'd told him that she'd stuffed it full of hugs so that he could get the hugs he needed even if she wasn't actually there with him, such as during the holiday breaks. He had jokingly suggested that she'd need to refill it sometimes, and she'd happily promised to...though with how warm - physically and emotionally - he felt sleeping holding the plushy close, he couldn't help but find himself wondering if with magic it being 'stuffed with hugs' was literal, rather than a metaphor.

As he awoke and pulled his glasses on, he blinked in surprise as he saw a large pile of presents at the foot of his bed. Despite how things had been going - and what he'd done as far as getting gifts for his friends once discussion of that had begun - he genuinely hadn't expected to receive any gifts other than the plushy...and would have been perfectly content with that. Seeing all the other gifts, however, put a warm smile on his face as he gently set the plushy on his pillow before moving to the pile...drawing the attention of the only other person sleeping in the dorm.

"Merry Christmas," Ron muttered sleepily as he sat up and stretched before grabbing his bathrobe. "Sleep well?"

Harry couldn't stop himself from chuckling. For reasons he pretended not to guess, Ron had asked how he'd slept each night since the break had started. "Just fine," Harry confirmed happily. "Merry Christmas to you too." He then turned to look over his presents, hesitantly reaching for them as - at some level - he didn't genuinely believe he had so many.

Ron looked at Harry for a time, then turned to his own presents without saying anything. After the way some of the talks with Harry and Penny had gone, Ron had begun to get an idea of what Harry's life had been like - not just intellectually, but emotionally - before Hogwarts, and he really didn't want to think about why the sight of his presents was such a shock for him. Putting it completely from his mind, he grabbed the gift he knew had come from his Mom. Opening the pink wrapped gift, then sighed. "Maroon again," he groaned, though he couldn't quite find the usual moroseness he had over always getting this color. After seeing Harry's hesitation, somehow just the fact that his Mother always went to such effort on his behalf each year was enough to make him feel warmer inside than normal...even if he did hate the color.

"I've got a gift like that too!" Harry said in surprise, pulling out one in identical wrapping before starting to unwrap it. It soon revealed a sweater in emerald green, and otherwise a match to Ron's, wrapped around a box of fudge.

"Mum made you a Weasley sweater," Ron offered with a warm smile. "I wrote her about all the things we've been up to. Guess she's taken a shine to you keeping me out of trouble or something."

Harry chuckled softly at that as he happily pulled the sweater on over his pajamas. As Ron turned back to his own gifts, Harry went through the rest of the presents. He was unsurprised that the one from Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia was only a 50p coin...and found himself oddly saddened by it. Setting it aside, he focused on the next gift, a hand carved flute from Hagrid, which put a smile back on his face. The box of chocolate frogs from Hermione was welcome, and the bag of mixed nuts from Neville - with a note to share them with Penny - made him chuckle. As he reached for the last parcel, however, he was distracted by a startled noise from Ron.

"Harry!" Ron demanded in confusion. "What's all this?" He held out a bag that had been in his gifts, one that had Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Penny's names on a tag attached...and Ron had just discovered was full of money, including eight Galleons.

"Oh, that's from all of us for your wand," Harry explained as he set the parcel aside, deciding to open it later as he couldn't think who else might have given him a gift. "It was Penny's idea...and kind of Hermione and Neville's as well."

"How's that?" Ron asked suspiciously, his tone sounding like he was trying not to be offended...or perhaps debating if he should be.

"Well, Hermione had noticed how much trouble you were having with the practical side of our lessons," Harry explained quickly, "and she figured it was because you were using your brother's old wand rather than a matched one. I suggested getting you a new wand for Christmas, but Neville said that you wouldn't be able to accept me spending that much on you." Harry shrugged his shoulders in confusion. "Something about 'not accepting charity' and 'family pride'...I'm afraid I didn't really understand it, but he seemed to know what he was talking about."

"Uh, yeah..." Ron agreed, feeling somewhat sheepish. Harry was right...but at the same time, it being put that way felt...unpleasant somehow. He wasn't sure what to say.

"Then Penny pointed out that among non-Magicals, a group might pitch in together to buy a friend a gift they really needed or wanted but would be outside any one of their budgets," Harry continued. "She asked if that would work. Neville wasn't certain, since a student wand can go as high as ten Galleons, but with the four of us that worked out to two and a half Galleons each, which Neville said should be okay. So that meant Hermione, Neville, and Penny each contributed two Galleons, eight Sickles, and nine Knuts." He shrugged his shoulders. "I did the same, along with the extra two Knuts for the rounding."

"Oh...wow..." Ron allowed, staring into the bag in wonder. "I...I guess that works, but...what if the wand isn't the full ten Galleons? I wouldn't just want to...keep the money when the gift was the wand..."

Harry shrugged. "Well, we're meeting everyone today at Diagon Alley to get your new wand - Professor McGonagall will be escorting us through the...Floo, I think she said? - in time to meet with everyone, and we'll all be stopping for lunch after. Any extra left over you can put towards treating us, how's that sound?"

Ron nodded with a wide smile. "That sounds good!" Ron agreed happily. "Cor, my own wand..."

"Professor McGonagall did say we needed to be in our robes for the trip, to show she's officially escorting Hogwarts students," Harry pointed out as he dug his out. "Neville, Hermione, and Penny will be in robes too when we meet them."

"Can hardly wait!" Ron exclaimed as he grabbed for his own robes.

It wasn't long before Harry and Ron were exiting the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron with Professor McGonagall. Harry's first trip through the Floo had been enlightening, but without incident. He wasn't sure he'd ever get used to crazily spinning around in the green fire before being - in essence - spat out at his destination, but it was certainly faster than taking the tube.

As McGonagall opened the portal, Harry quickly checked his pocket for his gift for Penny. He'd wanted to send it to her by owl so she could open it, but he'd only ordered it after she'd given him the plushy and he'd realized he should get her a present, and then it had required rather finicky Charms work he'd had to ask Professor Flitwick to help with. Since Penny had admitted to having difficulty with compass directions, he'd gotten her a special magical compass with two needles. The first needle had two settings, where it would either point north like a normal Muggle compass or - if you could work the Charm properly - to your specific current destination. The other needle, however, was now properly Charmed to always point to him, so that she could always find him to give him the hugs he needed, something she'd worried over while giving him the plushy in regards to the summer hols.

...he wasn't entirely sure why Professor Flitwick found his choice of that gift so amusing, or why it was called the Couple's Compass. Then again, wizards seemed to have a 'thing' about alliteration in magic...

As they entered the Alley proper, Harry quickly spotted Hermione and Neville, along with several adults he didn't recognize. The man and woman standing behind Hermione dressed in what Harry thought of as 'Muggle Professional casual' was probably her parents, while the much older woman behind Neville who was looking at them all with a rather severe expression was most likely Neville's Grandmother, who he'd mentioned frequently. Another older woman in robes with the same red hair as Ron was obviously Mrs. Weasley. By process of elimination, he assumed the remaining two were Penny's parents, though he didn't see Penny with them.

The woman looked almost exactly like Penny save older, and she was showing her squirrel ears and tail as she smiled at them all...though she looked oddly strained for some reason. The man standing beside her had dark hair and eyes, and was dressed in a leather jacket, pith helmet, and khakis. Harry assumed this was Penny's archaeologist father.

"A pleasure to meet you all," the woman greeted warmly, though her nose twitched visibly for some reason. "I'm Hazel Wyrm, Penny's mother. And this is my husband, Henry."

Henry rolled his eyes with a chuckle. "I miss going by Mutt..." he muttered under his breath.

"Now dear, you know that calling yourself a dog wouldn't fly in the archaeological community," Hazel chided playfully.

"Worked for my father."

"If you wanted to follow his footsteps, why'd you take my name when we married?"

"Because I didn't want to be known as 'the Third' for the rest of my life."

Harry couldn't help but glance back and forth between them as they playfully goaded each other, plainly having an 'argument' they'd had many times before, and enjoyed having. As they both laughed, Harry glanced around in confusion. "Umm...where's Penny?" he asked curiously.

Immediately, both Hazel and Henry got more serious. "About that..." Henry began, reaching into a bag he was holding.

"WHEEEEEE!"

Jerking towards that sound, Harry saw Penny - mostly a squirrel, but apparently human enough to talk - racing towards them along the side of the alley, bouncing from awning to sign to hat as she tumbled without seeming to watch where she was going, acting somewhat loopy. She then gasped before diving down the neck of Neville's robes before instantly becoming full human and hugging him from behind. "Plant boy! Yummy nummy planty-wanty you smell nice..." She then began nuzzling the back of Neville's head. Neville held completely still, his eyes wide and his cheeks bright red. Ron, Hermione, and most of the adults present looked between shocked and scandalized. Penny then suddenly let out a gasp. "Harry!" Instantly going full squirrel, she leapt from Neville's shoulder before diving down the neck of Harry's robes, racing around inside before popping out the neck to nuzzle his cheeks and neck with her nose before turning back in his robes, hugging tightly from behind. Harry was somewhat confused...but it was nice...

"Penny/Miss Wyrm!" Hazel and Professor McGonagall snapped out simultaneously.

"What?" Penny demanded in a lazy drawl, her eyes somewhat loopy. "I got in robes before changing back!"

Groaning, Henry pulled out a small potted plant, one that somewhat resembled a cattail but having a curved and much fluffier top. "...who thought it was a good idea to give Penny brushtail?" he asked, being careful to hold it away from Hazel, who was holding her nose and careful not to breathe too closely to the plant...though she did give it a speculative look briefly as she glanced from it to her husband.

A/N: In case it's not obvious, "brushtail" is a plant I made up, a magical variant of the cattail but with no useful magical properties...save that squirrels seem to be unusually fond of it. What Neville didn't realize before gifting it to Penny was that it was because it was basically squirrel catnip.