I'll be Home For Christmas

Chapter 9:I Can't Believe I'm Seeing You

Disclaimer: Do you need to ask?

A/N: I'm trying my hardest! Thanks again for all the reviews. This just has to be done by Wednesday… And thanks to GinnyPotter10 for the title to this chapter!!!!

            Ginny walked down the stairs, returning from putting James in his bed, and grinned at Harry, who was sitting in the living room. They were the only ones home for the day.

            "He's taking his nap," she told Harry.

            "He has to be tired. I am!" Harry exclaimed. Ginny smiled. Harry and James had spent the entire morning outside playing in the snow. Ginny could have asked for anything in the world that would have been better than watching James and Harry together, getting on as if Harry had been there all along.

            "Maybe I can perk you back up then," she grinned and leaning in to kiss him. She pulled back. "Did that help?"

            "A little… Maybe you should try again…"

            Ginny leaned in and kissed him again. He deepened the kiss and slid himself back on the couch, pulling Ginny on top of him. Ginny was trying to decide how far she wanted things to go, when they were interrupted.

            "Merry Christmas Weasleys!" a voice called. Ginny sat up, he legs straddling Harry, who was lying on his back on the sofa.

            It was Sirius and Remus. Ginny quickly forgot what she had been doing and grinned at the men.

            "Did you get my owl?"

            Instead of a reply however she simply got strange looks from both of the men standing before her. It was then that she took notice of her disheveled appearance. Her hair was tousled, and the top few buttons of her top were undone. 'Harry doesn't waste any time' she mused to herself.

            "So sorry to intrude Ginny," Remus said politely. Ginny could tell that he was slightly embarrassed. Sirius however was not as kind about the apparent situation.

            "Who are you with?" he looked a little angry. Ginny figured it was a combination of catching someone he thought of as a daughter in such a position, and his protectiveness of Harry.

            "Show yourself boy," Sirius called, trying to see who was under Ginny. Ginny looked down at Harry to find that he too was trying to suppress a laugh.

            "How're you so sure I'm a boy?" Harry said in a falsetto voice. At this Ginny punched him playfully and took the opportunity to grab Harry by the collar and pull him up, into everyone's view.

            Sirius's face froze and Remus jumped in surprise. Ginny moved so Harry could stand up. He approached Sirius, neither knowing what to say. Then suddenly Sirius roughly pulled Harry into a hug, and both men were in tears. Ginny felt herself welling up too, and she watched the two men who might as well be father and son reunite.             "Honestly Harry," Ginny said wiping the tears away. "I think you're going for the world record for making a girl cry."

            Harry broke apart from Sirius and laughed with Ginny.

            "How long have you been here?" Sirius asked.

            "I got here the night before last," Harry replied.

            "Why didn't anyone tell us?" Sirius exclaimed.

            "I owled!" Ginny responded. "Didn't you get it?"

            "No," Sirius answered. "We were traveling around a bit….But any decent owl should have been able to keep up."        

            Ginny bit her lip and shifted her eyes. No one had time to speak before a tiny owl came into the room and began zipping around Sirius' head.

            "You sent it with Pig?" he raised his voice but then began to laugh.

            "My owl was out delivering my Christmas cards!" Ginny defended.

            Remus smiled and pulled an opened envelope out of his pocket.

            "Ah!" he said holding it up. "That we did get."

            Everyone laughed a little.

            "So Harry…where were you?" Sirius asked frankly. Ginny knew they needed to talk. Both Sirius and Harry had lost the playful looks on their faces, each anticipating the conversation. Ginny knew she didn't want to be present for it, and apparently neither did Remus.

            "So Ginny, where's my godson?" he asked her. Ginny smiled. She couldn't have picked a better godfather for James.

            "He's upstairs napping. He was exhausted from sledding with Harry this morning," Ginny mentioned. She could tell by his face that Remus was as pleased as she was that James finally had Harry. "Buts lets go see if he's awake," she suggested. They walked upstairs, leaving Sirius and Harry to talk.

            That night Ginny was sitting with Harry, her mum, Sirius and Remus in the kitchen. Harry hadn't said much about his discussion with Sirius, but she did know that while there had been yelling, everything seemed fine in the end.

            "Are you going to be staying the night?" Molly Weasley asked Sirius and Remus.

            "Oh no," Remus declined. "We wouldn't want to intrude. Lord knows you have a full house as it is"

            "Nonsense! There's always room for family love," Molly replied.

            "Thank you Molly. But I think Remus and I will just apparate to the Shack for the night."

            "No you can't do that!" Harry exclaimed, earning him strange looks from everyone at the table. "It's too far. You'll probably be too tired to apparate so far."

            "It's not that far Harry," Sirius gave Harry a look that questioned his sanity.

            "Yes it is. I really don't think you want to go to the Shack tonight…" Harry argued. Ginny tried to figure out why Harry was so adamant about Sirius and Remus staying at the Burrow for the night but only found herself confused. She became more confused at Sirius response.

            "Oh…" he said no longer looking at Harry like he was crazy. "I think he's right Remus we probably wouldn't want to go to the Shack tonight."

            "Perhaps not," Remus agreed. "Are you sure it wouldn't be any trouble Molly?"

            "None at all!" Ginny noticed her mother didn't seem to find anything strange about the conversation that had just occurred between Harry and his godfather. Ginny shook her head. She didn't want to know.

            "Harry?" Ginny called, headed for her bedroom. She hadn't seen him in hours. She had thought he was with Sirius somewhere, but had then found Sirius in dog form asleep next to the fireplace.

            She opened the door to her room but found that all the lights were off. She was about to turn back around when she notice a small tea candle sitting in her windowsill. She approached it and found a small box next to it. She smiled. On top was a note that said:

            Ginny-

                        I was supposed to give this to you three years ago. I hope you still like it.

                                    Love,

                                                Harry.

            Ginny put down the note and delicately tore away the wrapping paper. She opened the box to reveal a silver locket. She picked the necklace out of the box and opened it up. Inside was a picture of her and Harry together on Christmas morning her sixth year at Hogwarts. She was about to close the locket and go search for Harry again when she felt the room move around her. Or was she moving? She closed her eyes and when she opened them again she wasn't in her bedroom anymore. She was in the Shrieking Shack. Harry was there, waiting for her with a smile on his face.

            "So this is why Sirius and Remus couldn't stay here tonight…" she grinned.

            He grinned back. "I thought privacy would be a good thing for tonight…"

            "And just what were planning on doing tonight that calls for such privacy?" she teased. She knew exactly what he was planning on.

            "Well I did have a few things in mind, but if you don't want to then we certainly don't have to," he teased back slyly.

            "Alright so I think we've done enough talking for tonight? You?" Ginny asked placing her hands behind Harry neck, looking up at him.

            "Yeah," he nodded his head before drawing her even closer and kissing her.

            Late that night Ginny lay still awake, watching Harry breathe in his sleep. Once again she couldn't believe he was there and what was happening. She noticed him stir before his eyes fluttered open.

            "You're still awake?" he asked groggily.

            "I couldn't sleep," she whispered.

            "Something on your mind?" he asked, absently stroking her hair.

            "I keep waiting for you to disappear, for this to not be real. Trust me I've had one to many dream where everything is perfect, just like this and then you disappear, and I wake up and it's all a dream."

            "But it's real this time Gin," he said quietly. "And I promise you I am not going anywhere. Not ever again. I swear."

            "I wish I could believe you, but past experience has proven you to not be so good at keeping promises."

            Harry's face remained the same not knowing how to respond. Ginny smiled to let him know she hadn't meant it is a spiteful way she was only teasing. He smiled back.

            "Ginny? I love you."

            "I love you too," she said and the fell asleep in his arms.

A/N: Okay whew! Chapter 9! I know I at LEAST need two to three more chapters before the story can be finished. So wish me luck. I hope I can do it! Umm lemme see, thanks to my reviewers again. I don't know if you believe me when I say you truly are what keeps me going, but you are. Do you think I would be working my ass off to finish despite pushbacks I had like my compute totally dying, and a crap load of work, just for me? NO! I swear to you I am the laziest person you will ever meet. And in case you couldn't tell, I'm a huge procrastinator. So really you all are my inspiration. I think I've decided to do one long review page at the end cuz I have like over 100 to do now and doing 10 can even take me like an hour… So thanks to all of you and keep up the great response I love you all.

            Love and kisses,

                        Bella