A/N
Thank you so much to all my kind reviewers! The last chapter – Bonds to Last a Lifetime – was the most difficult I've had yet to write, and I wasn't sure if I'd done it justice. Going by your comments, you think I did – so thank you! I needed a break afterwards though (boy, was I pooped) so my apologies for making you wait for this chapter. Enjoy!

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DISCLAIMER: I own nothing – it all belongs to JK Rowling.

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Harry found himself feeling guiltily relieved when Madam Pomfrey came bustling in and chased everyone out of the hospital wing. Once all the excitement had died down, he had started feeling more and more tired, and he slid further down the bed until his head was drooping back onto his pillow.

"Out, everyone!" ordered Madam Pomfrey. "This boy's absolutely exhausted – he needs some rest. It's well after three in the morning – shoo!"

Even Dumbledore looked intimidated, and they all shuffled away. "See you tomorrow, mate," whispered Ron. "Er … I mean, later today."

Once they were all gone, Madam Pomfrey fussed around Harry, straightening his covers and filling the water pitcher on his bedside table. She was about to press a draught of Dreamless Sleep potion on him, when he protested that he needed to go to the bathroom first. Sighing irritably, she put it on his table and left the room.

When he got back from the bathroom, Harry was surprised to find Ginny sitting on his bed waiting for him.

"Hey," he whispered. "What are you doing here? If Madam Pomfrey catches you…"

She smiled hesitantly in his direction. "I wanted to tell you something," she whispered, not quite meeting his eye. "I couldn't say it in front of everyone else, so I had to wait until they'd all gone. I thought Madam Pomfrey would never leave!"

"Me either," said Harry, sitting on the edge of the bed next to her. He rubbed his forehead – his head was aching dully and he'd never wanted to sleep so much in his life.

Ginny looked up at him shyly. "I just wanted to say …" she mumbled. "That … I'm really sorry, Harry. I should have trusted you – Hermione told me what happened with Cho. I just … well, Cho's so beautiful and you liked her for so long… I sometimes can't believe that you chose me instead."

Harry shook his head at her, smiling, and pulled her into a hug. "Ginny, as far as I'm concerned, she can't hold a candle to you," he said into her hair. "I promise, there's absolutely nothing between Cho and me any more, and there never will be again. I told her that I'm really happy with you, and I meant it. You're the only girl for me."

Odd, Harry thought ten minutes later, after Ginny had left and he was taking his Dreamless Sleep potion. You tell a girl how much you like her, and she cries all over you. Maybe Ron had a point – it didn't matter how hard he tried, he'd never understand women.

***

Before Harry knew it, Christmas was upon them. The last few weeks had sped past, a blurred round of Quidditch, DA meetings, classes, Prefect duties, and of course, masses and masses of homework.

They'd played two more Quidditch matches, against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Once again, the Gryffindor Braid had proved unstoppable, and although their opposing teams had also tried the maneuver, they didn't have the flair of the Gryffindor Chasers and couldn't pull it off properly. They'd hammered Hufflepuff 310-40, and then put the nail in Ravenclaw's coffin with a 210-50 win. The Ravenclaw match had been very awkward. Cho wouldn't look at Harry and burst into tears, yet again, when he got the Snitch out from under her nose fifteen minutes into the game.

A week before Christmas, Ron dragged Harry off to have tea with Hagrid. Hermione was, as usual, in the library, and Ginny was up in the Owlery sending letters off to Bill, Charlie and her parents.

Hagrid was thrilled to see them, and bustled about making tea and setting peculiar-looking cupcakes out on a plate.

"Got some news for yer," he said, grinning widely. "Grawpy came back two days ago."

Harry looked up from patting Fang. "And?" he said eagerly. "What's happening with the giants?"

"Well," said Hagrid, "looks like not all of 'em have gone over to You-Know-Who. Seems that they remember what happened after he disappeared the last time and they don't trust him. They've decided not to take sides, but Grawpy says 'e thinks they'll help us if it comes to the crunch."

"That's good to hear," said Ron, who was not as taken with the thought of the giants helping them as Hagrid was. "Just as long as they're not coming back here … are they?"

"Wouldn't be able to hide 'em all in the Forest," said Hagrid, shaking his head sadly. "They're going to stay where they are for the time being."

Sipping at their tea ten minutes later, Ron startled Harry and Hagrid by clearing his throat awkwardly.

"Um … got something to tell you two," he said, stirring his tea for the sixth time. He wouldn't look at either of them.

"Well, spit it out, then," Harry said irritably a minute later, when Ron still hadn't said anything.

Ron looked acutely embarrassed. "Hermione wants me to … well, she's asked me to spend Christmas at her house with her family this year," he said in a rush.

"That's great!" said Harry, happy for him. Then, when he noticed Ron's downcast expression, he added uncertainly: "Isn't it?"

"I would have thought yer'd want to spend more time with her, Ron," said Hagrid, raising his beetling black eyebrows at Harry in surprise.

"It's not that …" mumbled Ron, clutching his teaspoon so hard Harry thought he was going to bend it in half.

Harry and Hagrid waited in suspense for a few minutes, and then when an answer wasn't forthcoming, glanced at each other in frustration.

"OY!" said Harry, smacking a preoccupied Ron on the back of the head. "You were saying?"

Ron jumped, and then glared at Harry as he rubbed his head. "Well, it's going to be a bit weird, isn't it?" he snapped. "She's my first girlfriend and I'm going home to meet the parents – best behaviour, and all that… I'm not good at that sort of stuff. I'm also a bit worried that … well, I'm worried that the Grangers will think I'm not good enough for Hermione."

"Bloody hell, Ron, what's made you think that?" said Harry, startled. This was the last thing he'd expected to hear.

"Well, you know, we're quite poor and I've never amounted to much…" started Ron, whose ears had gone their usual pink.

Hagrid sighed. "Yer know, Ron, I think that if the Grangers are anything like their daughter, they'll think yer amount to plenty, and they won't care at all how much yer dad earns," he said heavily. "Yer stood by Hermione through thick and thin, and that's the most important thing."

He stood up and gave Ron a resounding clap on the shoulder, almost sending him head first into the floorboards. "Don't worry yer head about it – I'm sure they'll love yer as much as their daughter does."

At this, Ron went so red Harry thought his head was going to pop off, like a whistling kettle coming to the boil. The only thing was, Harry thought sadly, it was going to be a bit lonely without Ron around at Christmas – this was the first Christmas in six years that they wouldn't be spending together.

However, the prospect of a quiet, boring Christmas disappeared the next morning. Taking a letter from an increasingly moth-eaten Errol, Ginny slapped the table in delight when she read the contents.

"Harry, Mum says you're to come and spend Christmas with us this year," she said. "Looks like it'll be a full house – even Charlie's coming from Romania."

Harry spent the rest of the day grinning like an idiot. The only Christmas he'd spent with the Weasley clan had been the year before, and that was at Grimmauld Place and it had been a bit depressing. Christmas at The Burrow was bound to be a lot more fun.

However, this posed a bit of a problem. He hadn't enough Christmas presents to go around. He took Ron aside that evening.

"Feel like breaking a few school rules?" he whispered to his friend, as they stood warming their hands at the common-room fire. Ron's eyes lit up.

"Thought you'd never ask," he muttered back, casting his eyes warily in Hermione's direction. She was taking a break from studying that evening, and was busily knitting more elvish hats in an effort to continue her work with S.P.E.W. "What did you have in mind?"

"I need to get into Hogsmeade tomorrow, to buy a few more Christmas presents," said Harry quietly, watching Ginny out of the corner of her eye. She was engrossed in a Transfiguration essay, having left it to the last minute. "I thought we could take the Invisibility Cloak and sneak out tomorrow afternoon, after Charms."

"Excellent," said Ron with enthusiasm. "Now that I'm going to Hermione's place, I also need to get a few more gifts."

"OK, then," said Harry through his teeth while smiling and waving at Hermione, who was watching them with narrowed eyes. "We'll go tomorrow afternoon at three."

And so the plan was set. Harry had packed his Cloak into the bottom of his bag before heading to class after lunch, so he wouldn't have to go back to the common-room and waste any precious time. He and Ron sauntered casually out of Charms, and headed for the third floor.

"And where do you two think you're going?" said Hermione sharply. They both jumped guiltily.

"Um … got some Quidditch planning to do," said Harry quickly. Ron was incapable of saying anything. He'd gone an interesting shade of puce and was staring fixedly at the floor. "Don't forget – our next game is against Slytherin and we want to be prepared."

"Hmm," said Hermione suspiciously, still watching Ron, who was now tugging awkwardly at the neck of his robes. "Don't you two have that essay on Banshees to finish for Tonks?"

"We'll do it later," said Harry impatiently, and he took Ron's arm and dragged him away. "See you, Hermione."

He glared at Ron as they entered the third floor corridor. "You're a fat lot of help, aren't you?" he said, annoyed.

Ron looked abashed. "Sorry, mate," he said awkwardly. "It's like she can see right through me – I just can't lie to her any more."

Harry supposed he had a point – he would have had trouble lying to Ginny too. Good thing he hadn't seen her today, so he didn't have to.

Suddenly, they spotted someone standing in front of the statue of the hump-backed witch that concealed the entrance to the Hogsmeade secret passageway. Instantly recognizing the shock of white-blond hair, Harry pulled Ron into a nearby doorway.

"Malfoy!" he whispered. "What's he doing here?"

Cautiously, they peered around the doorway. Malfoy glanced quickly around, then tapped the witch's hump and whispered: "Dissendium!"

The hump opened and Malfoy quickly disappeared into the entrance.

Harry and Ron stared at each other, open-mouthed. "How did he know about the passageway?" Ron hissed.

"Dunno," said Harry. "But I'll bet a Galleon he's up to no good. C'mon – let's follow him."

Moving fast, they ran down the corridor and slipped through the entrance to the passageway. There was no sign of Malfoy. Harry quickly shook out the Invisibility Cloak and spread it out to cover both himself and Ron.

The journey into Hogsmeade seemed to go on forever, along and up the sloping earthen floor that ended under the trapdoor in Honeydukes' storage cellar. Suddenly, they heard footsteps up ahead and realized they had caught up with Malfoy. They drew back a little and waited.

A faint gleam of light showed when Malfoy opened the trapdoor, then disappeared once he climbed through it. Harry and Ron followed, hot on his heels, and soon found themselves standing in the goody-packed cellar in Honeydukes. Ron let out a small moan of longing at the sight of the endless supply of sweets around him, but checked himself when Harry elbowed him in the ribs.

"Come on!" whispered Harry frantically. "We don't want to lose him!"

Still swathed in the Invisibility Cloak, they crept up the stairs and out into Honeydukes. At the door of the store, they looked quickly left and right, and saw Malfoy disappearing down the street. As it was nearly Christmas, the village was swarming with people and it would be easy to lose track of him.

Careful not to bump into anyone, Harry and Ron shot off after Malfoy. After a few minutes walk, Harry thought he knew where Malfoy was going: the Hog's Head. A dodgy pub on the edge of town, it was usually frequented by dubious characters. Having met there before to form the DA, Harry and Ron knew it well.

He was right. Malfoy opened the filthy door to the pub and went inside. Fortunately, he left it open so they were able to slip in, unnoticed.

The pub had changed very little. The barman (who Harry still thought looked vaguely familiar) was making a lackluster attempt at wiping the counter with a disgusting, grayish-brown cloth. Malfoy had seated himself at a table in the far corner, where he could see the doorway easily. The only other occupant of the pub was a hook-nosed man in a tatty purple cloak, morosely drinking FireWhiskey at the counter.

"Let's go and stand near Malfoy, so we can see what's going on," Harry whispered to Ron. They sidled over to Malfoy's table and stood up against the wall, waiting.

Less than five minutes later, the door opened again, and three men wearing black robes and cloaks with hoods that covered their heads entered. Looking around, they moved straight towards Malfoy and sat down at his table.

"So, Draco," drawled the unmistakable voice of Lucius Malfoy from under one of the cloaks. "Today is the day. We are coming to get him from the school, and you had better have everything ready for us. You know the Dark Lord doesn't tolerate … mistakes."

Harry felt as though someone had just driven an ice pick into his heart. The Death Eaters were coming to Hogwarts, and it sounded as though they were after him.