Part Two:

Harry sighed and put down the paper he'd been staring blankly at for nearly five minutes. He was too distracted to do any of this now...

A knock on the door was the perfect distraction. "Come in," he called blankly. Remus Lupin entered the office, and Harry stood up. "Remus, what can I do for you?" It still felt weird to call him by his first name. Well, we are colleagues now, he thought.

"Just wanted to get a word in with you," Remus said, sitting down at the chair opposite Harry. "I know that you'll be leaving to go on holiday tomorrow."

The term had just ended, and many of the students would be leaving the next day. Harry, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, would be leaving, too. To the Weasleys.

Which was what he was so distracted about. He'd never felt so akward about going to the Burrow before. But something had happened that past summer...he had gone on holiday to Egypt with the Weasleys. After a night of talking, laughing, and drinking, he'd woken up in someone eles bed the next morning.

Ginny's.

He'd been so embarressed, he'd made an excuse and left the next day. He hadn't seen Ginny since, but he knew she'd be at the Burrow for Christmas, too. He didn't think she'd said anything to her family about what had happened between them, but Harry was still nervous about seeing her again...

"Harry?"

"What? Oh, sorry," Harry said apologenicly. "What do you need?"

Harry had been working with Lupin for the past two years (a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that lasted longer then a year? A miracle). Lupin had replaced McGonagall as the Transfiguration teacher, when she'd taken over as Headmistress: Dumbledore had died of old age. Harry was closest to Lupin out of anyone eles on the staff. And, of course, he was NOT close to Snape.

"I just wanted to ask...what's up?"

"Huh?" Does he suspect something?

"I mean, with Thomas Weasley."

"Oooh," Harry said, relieved. He was referring to Charlie Weasley's thirteen-year-old adopted son. When he'd married an older widow five year before, he'd adopted her two kids from her previous marriage. His adopted daughter, Renee, was a first year.

"He's been acting out a lot in class lately," Lupin explained. "I've been talking to some of the other teachers, and he's had about seven detentions this term. You're close to the Weasleys, Harry, and I wanted to know if you know what's going on with him."

"I don't," Harry said truthfully. "In fact, he acts perfectly fine in my classes."

"Yes," Lupin said with a small smile. "You're his favorite teacher, and head of his house. So, you don't know what's wrong with him? No family problems?"

Harry shrugged. "Don't know what to tell you, Remus. But I'm taking him and his sister to the Burrow with me tomorrow. Maybe I'll find out while I'm there."

"Well, we all just wanted to, you know, intervene." Lupin stood up. "Oh, I'm glad it's the holidays."

"Any plans, Remus?"

"Oh, not really," Lupin said, blushing slightly. "Just thought I'd get together with Nymphadora-"

"Ah," Harry said with a grin. "I see." He was referring to Tonks: Lupin was the only one allowed to call her by her first name. "Well, have fun."

"See you next year, Harry." Harry stood up, and they shook hands. When Lupin was gone, Harry sat back down.

Well, at least he had a mission to distract him over the holiday. Instead of obsessing about Ginny, he would worry about Tom's problems...

The next day, instead of going down to meet the Hogwarts Express at the platform, Tom and Renee Weasley met their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and family friend, Professor Potter. They walked down to the gates of the school, and Harry stuck out his wand. BANG! The purple, triple-decker Knight Bus appeared.

"Thirty-three sickles," said the conductor (it was a different pimply-faced kid then it had been years before). Harry paid, and he and the kids took their seats in the back. Despite the constant bangs and the horrible driving (Ernie was still driver), Renee soon feel asleep. Harry stared out the window; out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Tom was pretending to read a school book.

"Homework?" he finally asked. Tom looked at him.

"Yeah, it's some reading for Potions." He said the final word with such disgust that Harry had to smile. "Hey," Tom said suddenly, "Thanks for not giving us any homework over the holidays."

"Well, what are holidays for, anyway? Not homework."

Tom smiled again. "Yeah."

"Hey, Tom, I was talking to Professor Lupin last night..." Tom's face suddenly turned white. "Relax, man. It's just...you've been getting into trouble lately."

"Yeah? So?" Tom was suddenly defensive.

"Relax, I was just wondering what was up." Harry said it as casually as he could.

"Nothing. All my teachers are lame." Tom crossed his arms. "Um, except for you, of course," he added hastily.

"Of course," Harry said with a smile. But he knew that he would get nothing out of Tom, not now, at least...

The Knight Bus arrived at the Burrow. Harry nudged Renee awake, and they grabbed their luggage and exited the bus. The grounds around the large house (held up by just magic) were covered in snow. As the bus let out a BANG and disapeared, the front door to the Burrow flew open, and the plump form of Molly Weasley appeared.

"Harry and the kids are here!" she called inside before hurrying out. Renee rushed to her grandmother and hugged her tight. Then, Mrs. Weasley managed to hug the reluctant Tom. Finally, she reached Harry. "Oh, you look wonderful," she gushed.

"So do you, Mrs. Weasley," he said, kissing her cheek. He was past the embarressment stage, but he'd never be able to call this woman, the closest he'd ever had to a mother, by her first name.

Out of the house came Charlie and his wife Ella. Ella was carrying her two-year-old twin daughters, Vanessa and Victoria. Unlike her two older children (who had blond hair and darker skin), these two had the Weasley red hair and freckles. Charlie hugged Renee and Tom (who squirmed), and Ella put down the girls and hugged them, too.

And from there, the whole family piled out. "We can't all hug here, get inside!" Mrs. Weasley commanded, and they all went into the nice, warm Burrow.

Inside, the greetings continued. It seemed to Harry that everyone had already showed up before them. There was Ron and Hermione, Fred and Angelina (with her three-month pregnaut belly), George, Percy and his daughters Cassie and Polly (he'd divorsed from Penelope when she came out of the closet a year before), Bill (who had come out of the closet himself two years before), Mr. Weasley...

And Ginny.

She's the only one that didn't rush forward to greet Harry. She stood by the tree, pretending to be fixing some of the tinsil. As soon as Harry could break away from the crowd, he went over to her. After all, he had to be polite. She pretended not to see him as he approached, until he said, "Hello, Ginny."

She turned around. "Oh. Hello, Harry." She smiled, but immediatly turned back around to "fix" something on the tree.

"Um...have you had a good season?"

"Oh, yes. And you?" She didn't even turn to look at him.

"Yeah." Harry wasn't sure what to say now, and Ginny wasn't exactly helping him out. Luckily, Mrs. Weasley announced lunch.

All nineteen of them sat, comfortably, around the magically-expanded table. Mrs. Weasley had pulled out all stops for the "Welcome Feast": two large turkies, multiple bowls of side dishes, pitchers of butterbeer. Everyone dug in.

It wasn't until dessert, a humongous trifle, that Ron stood up. He nervously tapped his glass of butterbeer, and everyone turned to him. "Um...I have an announcement to make."

"Oh, dear God!" Mrs. Weasley blurted. "Please don't be gay!" Everyone turned to stare at her. She blushed and looked at her eldest son. "Oh, Bill, dear, I didn't mean it like that..."

"It's alright, Mum," Bill said, cracking a smile. His coming out of the closet had made his mother paranoid. "Go ahead, Ron."

"Well, um..." Ron cleared his throat. "As you all know, Hermione and I have been together for a long time. Well...we've decided that we want to get married."

There was a silence around the whole table. Then Mrs. Weasley let out a happy yell and wrapped her youngest son in a hug. "Oh, Ronnie!"

"Congratulations, you two."

"When's the wedding?"

"We were thinking about spring, perhaps," Hermione said, not being able to surpress a grin. "Just a little thing...friends and family..."

"Well, it's better then nothing," Mrs. Weasley said, giving Fred a quick glance. He and Angelina had alloped without telling anyone the year before. "Well, I'll be happy to help anyway I can."

Harry went over to his best friend and gave him a quick hug. Then he wrapped Hermione in a hug and kissed her cheek. "Congratulations," he said.

"Harry, we want you to be our best man," Hermione gushed.

"Thanks."

Harry was happy. After all, his two best friends were getting married! But he felt a little...what? Jealous? Left out? Where does this leave me? he wondered.

Then he glanced over at Ginny...