DISCLAIMER: JK Rowling owns most materials, the characters and places. Any character and place that's not familiar to you is mine.
Chapter 6: Christmas Dinner
After conjuring much of the food atop her kitchen counter, Hermione went over to the fireplace and threw some powder. "We're ready, Ron!" She shouted.
Almost instantly, Ron apparated behind her and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Merry Christmas, beautiful." And gave her a single red rose.
She smiled. Rarely does Ron act this romantic. Sometimes he's much of a pain in the neck but most of the times he's almost unbearable. "This is a surprise." She said.
He kissed her softly on the lips just as they heard a soft "Ahem" behind Hermione.
It was Ginny. "Do you want me to go ahead?" She asked.
Color started to creep in Ron's face and Hermione avoided eye contact with her. "No, let's go together."
Conjuring a huge basket to put all the food Hermione made, Ron started putting it in as Ginny and Hermione made last minute re-touches.
"Ginny, Harry invited Angela to the dinner." She informed her. "Thought you ought to know."
Ginny looked at her nervously. "Do you think I should go?"
"Why shouldn't you?" Hermione hissed unbelievingly. "Harry has known you for like eight years. How would her three months compare to that?"
"That's it." Ginny said helplessly. "We've known each other for a long time but he hasn't loved me more than a younger sister."
She sighed. "Things will change soon. I promise you." Hermione wrapped her arms around Ginny. She smiled back.
"Ready, girls?" Ron held the huge basket and headed for the door. "My favorite girls first."
Fred and George are already in the living room when the three arrived. The twins and Harry are seated around the fireplace for warmth.
"Hey guys!" Hermione greeted them and gave each a peck on the check. "Happy Christmas."
Ginny hugged the twins. "Happy Christmas, you two!" She said. When she turned to Harry, she wasn't sure as to hug him or follow Hermione's suit. But Harry went ahead and kissed her on the cheek. "H-happy Christmas." She stuttered. Still quite shocked with Harry's actions.
Hermione and Ginny left the boys in the living area to talk and headed to the kitchen to prepare the table. Moments later, they heard a soft knock on the door. "I'll get it." Hermione said.
"Hi Angela! Happy Christmas!" She greeted as Angela came into view. "Everybody's here."
Hermione lead Angela to the living area. "Ron's older twin brothers are here. I believe you haven't met them." She turned to the guys. "Hey you, Angela's here."
"Hi. Happy Christmas." She greeted.
Harry went over and gave her a hug. Ron followed.
"Happy Christmas, too." Harry greeted back.
Ron motioned to the twins. "Angela, these are my twin brothers George and Fred." He introduced. "This is Angela. She works in the Ministry. Representing Southeast Asia."
"Hello." Fred greeted.
"Nice to meet you." George followed.
"You should go visit our joke shop in Diagon." Said Fred.
"You own the joke shop? I've been there once. I sent some of your products to my younger brothers back home. They loved it!" She said.
Hermione walked back into the kitchen to help Ginny with Angela behind her.
"Oh, Hermione, here's a dish a brought." She handed her a pot, which seem to just appear from thin air. "We always have that during Christmas way back home."
"Oh my gosh there's so much food they'll need a crane to take me to Hogwarts." Ginny chuckled as Hermione put Angela's dish in a serving plate.
With one wave of her wand, Hermione lit up all the candles on the table and motion Ginny to call the men in the living room.
The four stomped in the kitchen, admiring Hermione's table setting and quite curious of the dish Angela brought.
All of them took their seats. Harry and Ron on either end of the table. The twins are beside each other on one side and Angela sat between Ginny and Hermione on the other side.
"What do you call this dish?" Fred asked.
"I don't know, really. It's been in our family for generations." She answered. "It changed slightly through time."
"Are you from a wizarding family, too?" George asked.
"You can't say that all of us are wizards. Some of us marry Muggles, and my sister hasn't showed any sign of magic yet." She took a slice of chicken roll.
"She will have eventually." Hermione assured her.
"I hope so." Angela shrugged.
Ginny waited until Harry took some of Angela's dish before she helped herself of a serving then turned to Angela. "Harry told me you attended a Muggle university."
Angela was about to put a spoonful of vegetables in her mouth but stopped midway when she heard Ginny's question. The twinkle in her eyes suddenly left and she just nodded. Hermione noticed she suddenly stiffened in her seat.
"Yes. I have a bachelor's degree in biology." She answered.
"But you're still young…" Ginny was curious. "Even Muggles here don't get to universities till they've left secondary school."
"I'm not that young. I'm nineteen years old. I got my degree when I was eighteen. Just last year." She smiled sadly. "This chicken roll really taste good."
Hermione, sensing that the topic made Angela quite uncomfortable shifted it to the Ministry. "We raided the Malfoy manor last week."
"Anything you confiscated?" George and Fred, just like their father, are fascinated with everything Muggle.
"Nothing concrete, only suspicious looking figurines. Old Lucius Malfoy was so angry he tried to hex Dean." She shook her head. "Thank goodness. Seamus was with us he was able to block it."
Ron shifted quite uncomfortably in his seat when he heard the two names. He knew both guys had something for Hermione way back at Hogwarts. He and Seamus even got into fight during their seventh year. But although they left that childish rubbish in Hogwarts, Ron is still quite uncomfortable with the mention of their names.
"Any word about their precious son, Draco?" Harry asked.
"Draco Malfoy?" Angela asked.
"You know Draco?" Hermione was shocked. "How?"
"Just before I started my last year in the University, I visited a witch friend from my wizarding school here in London. Like me, she pursued a Muggle lifestyle here in London, with her Muggle mother." She explained. "But Myra, my friend, and I was so fascinated about the wizarding community here that we explored Diagon Alley. She knew how to get there through the Leaky Cauldron. Though she led a Muggle lifestyle, she never really turned her back to wizardry. Still uses it sometimes. That's where we met Draco."
"We were eating sundaes at Florean's. Draco asked if he could sit with us because there wasn't any table unoccupied. I remember he was even wearing his Hogwarts cloak with that Slytherin logo." Angela's face creased as she spoke.
"And?" Hermione pushed. "That's all?"
Angela's eyes turned misty and she blinked for a few times and smiled hesitantly. "Y-yeah."
Hermione's eyes narrowed. As if reading Angela's mind. "Are you sure?"
Angela smiled widely now. "Yeah."
"So where's Myra now?" Ginny asked as she helped herself with some more of Angela's dish.
Angela gulped. "Myra?" She put her fork down and clutched her napkin hard. "She's uhmm… she's well… dead."
"What?" Harry's forehead creased. "How? Is she just as young as you?"
"Well… yeah. We're in the same year in Salamanca." That was the first time she mentioned the name of her school. "She died before I went home for the semester."
"Was she sick?" Ron asked.
Angela shook her head and turned back to her plate, clearly hoping that the group would stop asking her about Myra. Hermione gave her another one of her scrutinizing stares and turned to Ginny.
"Hey Ginny, when will the next term start?"
Ginny put her water goblet down and answered. "Monday after the New Year. I'm boarding Hogwarts Express Sunday."
"Oh no, I won't be able to take you to King's Cross. I have work." Ron said.
"I'll take her." Harry offered. "I won't be needed in the Ministry till Wednesday. Right, Angela?"
She nodded. "Most of the other ambassadors went home for the holidays. They won't be back till Tuesday."
"Why didn't you go home?" Fred was curious.
"It's a little bit of a hassle." She answered simply but Hermione sensed that there was something else that's keeping her from going home but dared not to ask.
"Okay, so Harry will take Ginny to King's Cross. That's arranged already." George finished his meat roll and asked Hermione if he could have some of that pudding on top of the kitchen counter.
Hermione took and wand out and waved it so that all the dishes on the dinner table stacked up and glided slowly to the kitchen. When they heard it settled itselves on the sink, she waved her wand again and the pudding flew towards the middle of the table. Little saucers followed it, each placing itself before each of them. "You help yourselves now, George, Fred." She smiled.
Angela smiled when Ginny asked if she wanted a piece but declined. "I don't think I have any more room for that."
The lot talked about the Ministry and how much things have changed since their last encounter with Voldemort and if he can still return.
"I heard a lot about Voldemort even at home." Angela said.
"The news about Voldemort and the terrible things he did here reached Asia?" Fred couldn't believe it.
"Yes. Of course. Well," she shrugged "at least in our family, they do. My grandfather was the former Minister of Magic. Though not all the family are witches and wizards, we are still pretty much active in the wizarding world there."
"Are people like us accepted in your country?" Hermione wanted to know.
"Oh no." Angela's eyes widened. "People like us are still persecuted and feared there. Our family has kept it a secret that most of us are like us. That is why I had to study in a Muggle university after wizarding school. The people might ask where I am."
"And now, where are you now, I mean as far as the people there knows." Ginny was curious.
"Let's just say that our family is blessed both in the Muggle and wizarding worlds. They think that I'm here in London, pursuing my Masters." Angela explained. "But I'm actually here for the Ministry of International Wizardry."
The six nodded after she finished explaining. Then Ginny asked if anyone wanted coffee or tea. All agreed. The men walked back into the living room while the Hermione and Angela fixed the table and Ginny made some tea.
They started giving each other gifts when the girls went into the living room with the tea.
Ginny stood nervously beside the Christmas tree as Harry started to give out his gifts. She bowed down beside him and started sorting out her gifts to everybody. After much laughter and some tinsel flying here and there, the group settled down before the fire to open their gifts.
Harry gave her a small box, just a little bit bigger than a matchbox. She saved it for later. Hermione gave her a beautiful new red cloak with a butterfly on the upper right. Ron gave her a beautiful red bonnet to go with the cloak. Fred and George gave her huge hat with a vulture on top and Angela gave her a nice pink and blue synthetic quill. She set all presents in a neat pile beside her and looked at Harry's gift. She played with the ribbon, having second thoughts on opening it there.
"Why haven't you opened my gift?" Harry asked, crawling beside her in front of the fire, giving him a rich yellow glow.
"I was saving it for last." She said and tugged the yellow ribbon. She opened the box and a silver heart locket with a lion engrave on it appeared. "Wow, Harry. This is too much…"
"You don't like it?" Harry asked, turning to her from the fireplace.
"No…no…" She picked the pendant, letting the red box fall on the carpet. "I just think that this is too much…"
Harry smiled. "Can I put it on you?" He asked.
She gave him the necklace and turned slightly to let him put the necklace on her. Once she felt the clasp of the necklace, she quickly turned back to Harry, lightly touching the pendant. "Thank you."
Harry just nodded and they both watched the wood in the fireplace slowly turn into ashes.
Ginny and Hermione went home at around two a.m. the next day. They said hushed good nights and crawled into their beds. Ginny woke up with a start when she heard banging from the kitchen.
"Hermione?" She quickly grabbed her robe and dashed to the kitchen when she saw Hermione slumped on the kitchen table. "Hermione, are you alright?"
Hermione lifted her face up and looked at Ginny. "It's the day after Christmas. The Ministry called me and they said they need me there."
"But… but I thought we were going to Hogsmeade today." Ginny dropped on the seat beside her.
"Yeah. Ron's pissed off, too." Hermione fixed her bushy brown hair. "We were supposed to be going out tonight."
Ginny sighed. Looks like she'll have to spend the day walking around Diagon Alley again. Which she's starting to resent now. If not only for the wonderful night she had the night before, she would have wished she just spent her Christmas at Hogwarts.
Hermione stood up slowly and headed for the fireplace. "Ginny, I have to go or Dean won't forgive me. Even he's pissed off with the sudden change of schedule."
She just nodded and Hermione stepped into the crate with some Floo powder and with a sudden gush of green flame, she disappeared.
Ginny didn't move for a whole five minutes as she stared outside the window, thinking about what she could do to spend the day. She sighed and touched the locket Harry gave her. She thought of what happened last night. When Harry put the necklace around her neck. When they watched as the fire slowly ate the wood in the fireplace…
Her daydreaming was disrupted by soft knocks on the door. "Who is it?"
"It's Harry."
She quickly walked to the door and opened it slightly. "Hi, Harry."
"Aren't you going to invite me in?" He asked. He looked so irresistingly handsome in his emerald green cloak that made his eyes look greener than ever.
"I'm not dressed for this…" She said. "But what the heck, you've seen me like this tons of times in the common room. So just come in." She opened the door wide enough for Harry to enter.
"I was wondering if you would like to come out and take a walk with me in Diagon Alley." Harry said as he sat down.
"Okay…" She said. "But I promised Percy and Penny that I'll drop by their house today. But Hermione was called at the Ministry. Urgent."
"We can go to Hogsmeade." He offered.
"Don't you have anything else to do?" She asked. In as much as she wanted to be with Harry, she also didn't want to get in his way.
But before Harry could answer, a large gray owl tapped on the window. Ginny hurriedly went to open the door and get the package it was carrying. It flew away as soon as she started opening the package.
"What's that?" Harry asked.
Ginny looked at him first before continuing on opening the parcel. "It's from Colin. Maybe a late Christmas present." She smiled.
Harry just watched as she produced a blue box. Her eyes lit up as she opened it. "Oh my gosh!" She exclaimed.
Harry peeked at the gift Colin sent her. It was a blue teddy bear, a little bigger than her palm but small enough to put in her robe's pocket. It has a bracelet wrapped around its neck. A silver charm bracelet with four-leafed clovers alternating with ballet shoes and teddy bears.
She took the bracelet off the teddy bear and put it on. "It's beautiful."
They stood there for a few moments. Harry eyeing the bracelet distastefully while Ginny looking at it admiringly.
"So… are we still on for Hogsmeade?" Harry asked.
Ginny smiled. "Sure. I'll just change. Be back in a sec."
Wearing the cloak and bonnet Hermione and Ron gave her, she came went out of her room in less than ten minutes. Harry noticed the silver necklace he gave her twinkling around her neck. "So how are we to get to Percy's?"
"Floo powder?" He asked.
Ginny grimaced. She's not really fond of traveling by Floo powder.
"Or would you like to try my new broomstick?" Harry suggested.
Her face broke into a smile but quickly tried hold it so that Harry won't notice it that much. "A-are you sure?"
"Sure I'm sure." She and Harry walked across the street towards Harry's apartment. She waited in the foyer while Harry got his new Lightning from his room. "It's not as fast as the Firebolt but its more comfortable and can hold more than one person."
Ginny followed him as he walked out of the apartment and climbed up the stairs to the rooftop where most of the residents of the building use to take off.
Harry mounted the broom and motion Ginny to sidesaddle in front of him. Ginny blushed furiously but did as she was told. A few moments later, they were flying through the clouds towards Hogsmeade.
After an hour of flying, they slowed down as they caught sight of the roofs with chimneys. Hogsmeade looks like a Christmas village from their bird's eye view. Harry slowly directed the broom downwards when they saw Percy's burgundy roof. A few moments later they landed exactly on his front door.
Ginny climbed up the porch and knocked on the door. Harry followed close behind, placing the broomstick against the front columns of the house.
Penelope Clearwater-Weasley opened the door. "Hello, Ginny! We've been waiting for you. And Harry! So good you could drop by!" She said.
Penny had been Percy's girlfriend since his sixth year in Hogwarts.
"Where's Percy?" Ginny asked as she headed sat down on the couch near the fire to warm up. Harry sat down beside her.
"In the backyard. Fixing something. Wait here I'll get him and little Amy." She disappeared through the living room door. Ginny took her gloves off and Colin's bracelet dangled from her wrist oblivious of the lethal look Harry threw at it.
Percy walked in the living room carrying the bundle of joy Penny delivered last September. "Ginny, Harry, I would like you to meet the latest addition to the Weasley clan, Amy."
Amy is a cute baby girl, wrapped in pink baby's robes with a very thin layer of red hair peeping out of her pink bonnet.
"Another red head." Harry laughed. "Unmistakably a Weasley."
Percy gave her Amy to carry while Harry looked on.
"What a beautiful baby… Percy. Penny's eyes and lips. Dad's nose and of course, that Weasley hair." Ginny said softly. "Hello Amy. Are you a beautiful girl? Yes you are?" She cooed.
Penny conjured pudding for them to share while the two played with little Amy. After eating, Penny went upstairs to put Amy to sleep while Percy and Harry went at the backyard to discuss some things in the Ministry. Ginny was left alone inside the house so she decided to go outside and take a quick walk around the village.
She passed by Three Broomsticks and saw Madam Rosmerta talking to her clients inside. Then she stopped at the front of the Shrieking Shack, believed to be the most haunted house in all of Britain until Harry's third year in Hogwarts when the truth about it was revealed. But still, nobody dared to explore or even come near it.
She didn't know how much time has past when she saw Harry walking towards her as she passed by the post office.
"It's getting dark, are you ready to go?" He asked.
"Sure, let's go and say goodbye to Percy." She said.
They went up again in Percy's house bid the couple goodbye. They took off in Harry's Lightning and in an hour, landed on Harry and Ron's apartment rooftop.
They celebrated New Year's Eve in Hermione's apartment where Fred and George set off sparkles that bounced around the living room for more than an hour. Angela passed on the New Year's dinner saying she had an invitation from George Peterson to spend the New Year with some of his friends and officemates in the Ministry who didn't go home for the Christmas holidays.
They all fell asleep in front of the fireplace. They woke up one by one and Ginny made them a huge mug of hot chocolate each to shake off last night's hangovers.
The twins, Ron and Harry left quarter past ten in the morning. Ginny went into her room to start packing her things. She's boarding Hogwarts Express tomorrow.
She and Harry arrived at King's Cross station at ten thirty the next morning. He let Ginny get into the platform first with him following closely.
The red steam engine is already waiting for the students. Ginny pushed her cart towards the train when Harry pushed beside her and said, "Let me, Ginny."
When he was finished putting her things in the compartment, he faced Ginny and said, "You take care of yourself. Send us an owl once you get to Hogwarts."
"Harry, why are you doing this?" She asked.
Harry looked at her. Not knowing what to say, he thought of his ultimate scapegoat. "You're Ron's baby sister. And Ron's my best bud."
Ginny nodded sadly and hugged him before boarding the train. He turned his back even before the train started moving. Before stepping back into the barrier he looked back at the speeding train. "And I'll kill myself if I let somebody try and hurt you again." And he stepped into the barrier to the Muggle world.
*** my latest installment to my fanfic. My creative juices are running low this week. Anywayzzzz please r/r thank you*****