Disclaimer: The only thing that's mine is the plot. And if you really, really, really want it you can have it…if you want to beg and plead and say pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top. Even then I make no promises.
A/N: Ducks from pens and cans and televisions and anything else being thrown at me I know I haven't updated in forever, I'm sorry it's taking soooo long! Just a little warning though, with my classes being what they are, I probably won't be updating again for a while…just too much real stuff to take care of. I apologize in advance, but want to let you know that I'm trying to type up the rest of the story when I have the time.
Another note, in response to some reviews that I've been left. Firstly I know I haven't exactly made everyone's ages very clear in this, so I'll do it now…Harry and friends are 16, almost 17 and Ginny is 15, so it's not following the ages in the books. Because yes, if they were 11 and 12 that would be wrong and gross and that's not what I'm going for. Also I know some of the things in this seem very 'American' that's mostly because I've never been anywhere else and don't wanna offend anyone by screwing with their culture, (The only things I know about England are from watching Month Python). But if anyone who does have experience with England or whatever, and you have any ideas of how I could make it not so American…please e-mail me and let me know! I would love to improve on this story any way I can! Exhales Okay now that I'm done with all that, on with the story.
T'was the Morning of the Night before Christmas
"Harry…are you still up? Harrryyyy, Har…ommpff" Ginny tripped over a pile of dirty clothes and landed besides Harry's bed with a loud thump.
Way to go Gin, graceful as a baby hippo…oh god, please tell me that's Harry's leg my hand landed on!
In the process of helping herself off the floor Ginny had grabbed a hold to the bed, but luckily, once she was on her feet again, she had grabbed onto Harry's arm and not...
That would have been disastrous. First the bathroom, now this. How much longer is this break supposed to be? At least he's still asleep.
Ginny took a few seconds to compose herself before gently rousing Harry from his sleep.
"Hey Gin. Damn, is it morning already?" He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and sat up groggily, reaching out for his glasses. His hair was sticking up in all directions, and there was a bright red imprint on his cheek where he had fallen asleep on his hand. He shifted his body so that there was enough room and motioned for Ginny to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Um, well it is morning, two o'clock in the morning to be exact. Now before you throw me out for waking you at this ungodly hour, I have something for you…"
flashback
Knowing it was better to give than receive Ginny left the robe shop in search for Harry's gift. She had half hour left before she was supposed to meet Colin to head back up to school.
This is what I get for putting off my Christmas shopping till the last minute. If I get back to school and Hermione finds out I still haven't finished my buying I'll have to listen to another one of her lectures…sweet Merlin…I don't think I can handle that.
As she was trying to think of valid excuses as to why she hadn't gotten Harry's gift yet she caught a glimpse of Lavender and Pavarati walking towards her. As nice as they were, Ginny could hardly stand to spend more than five minutes with them. She knew that if they spotted her they would want to walk back to school together, blabbing about their latest crushes the whole way. Quickly she ducked into the nearest store.
"Hello dear. May I help you with something today?" A small, frail looking witch hobbled out from behind the counter, "Perhaps you are still needing to do some holiday shopping? Perhaps for a certain close friend? A boy maybe?" Quite frankly the woman was creeping Ginny out, but as she did still need a gift and could still see Lavender and Pavarati lurking around outside, she decided to poke around the shop.
"Um…I actually am looking for a gift for someone. My friend Harry. I'm afraid I'm going to get him a totally crap present. I looked through all the other shops but I just can't seem to find anything right." The old woman gently took hold of Ginny's arm and guided her down one of the isles.
"This friend of yours, this Harry, what is he like? Maybe he likes Quiddich? But no, he'll probably be getting enough Quiddich-related gifts this year. Probably many books as well, perhaps from another close friend," she reached up to replace a book on the shelf, then proceeded to the back of the store, "This Harry, what would be the one thing he truly desires? Ah, here…perhaps this could be the gift." She crouched down to the lowest shelf and pulled out a dusty looking box.
"How did you know that about him? About the Quiddich and the books?" Ginny looked at the box suspiciously.
"I know many things my child. And I have a feeling that this is the right gift for your friend." She blew the dust off the top of the box and lifted the lid. As soon as she peered inside she knew that it was the perfect gift, and she had just enough time to get it ready.
end flashback
"So, I hope you like it. Um…I don't know why I just didn't wait and give this to you tomorrow, but I don't know, I guess I didn't really want to give it to you in front of everyone. Here you go." Ginny stopped babbling and handed over the box that she had wrapped with a shiny green aluminum paper.
"Thanks Gin. Hmm, wonder what it is? Too small to be a book, thank Merlin. I'm sure I'll get enough of those tomorrow from Hermione. Kinda heavy too," he pulled on the red satin ribbon and lifted the lid off the box, "Gin? Is this…is this what I think it is? I mean, how did you even get one? This must have cost you a fortune." Inside the box sat a pensieve, just like the one he had seen in Dumbledore's office a few years before. The basin was lined with small green gems that perfectly matched the color of his eyes. He lifted it out of the box and sat it on the bed between Ginny and himself.
"I don't know what to say Ginny. Wow…I mean how could you afford something like this? I know they can be useful, but I thought they were mostly for men like Dumbledore, you know, with a lot of important things on their minds." Harry was obviously still in shock.
"Well I know they can be good for dreams and the like. I thought maybe if you had anymore of your nightmares you could store them in here, maybe you'd finally get a decent night's sleep." Ginny blushed lightly, remembering that night fondly.
I don't need this to get rid of my nightmares Ginny, all I need is you…Harry thought to himself before Ginny began to speak again.
"But that's not all. I mean that's one thing you can use it for. Actually I thought of that later…there's actually more to it. I mean when I walked in the store I had no idea and then this old lady came up to me and she must have been a seer or something and she showed me this and I got this idea and I know it's probably stupid but when I just got this idea and I'm not quite sure if it worked right but…" Harry brought his hand up and cupped her cheek.
"Gin, you're babbling again. And it's not stupid. I love it. Now what where you trying to say?"
Ginny took a deep breath and tried to ignore the feeling of Harry's warm hand on her cheek, "Well it's kind of hard to explain. You know how to see the images right?" Harry nodded, "Then go ahead, look into the pensieve."
Ginny held her breath as Harry looked at her confused. She urged him on and leaned forward, feeling himself falling into the silvery pool. When he opened his eyes he was on the Hogwarts Express. He saw bunches of kids milling around but didn't recognize any of them. Suddenly he spotted a tall redheaded girl boarding the train. Then he saw four young boys run past her with some Filibuster Fireworks that were spraying glitter everywhere. One of the boys, the one with unruly black hair stopped in front of the girl and brushed some of the glitter off her face. The picture switched again and now Harry was in the crowded stands at the Quiddich pitch full of students cheering as the same dark haired boy caught the snitch while a boy who was the spitting image of Draco Malfoy chased after him. The image changed once more and when he opened his eyes what he saw almost made his heart stop.
He was at his parents wedding. He could see his father standing near a younger Professor Dumbledore, Sirius on his left, watching his mother walk down the aisle. He turned around and looked at the faces of the small group of people standing in front of him. He spotted Hagrid first, then some members he recognized from the Order of the Phoenix. He also saw Neville Longbottom's parents; they were standing next to Professor Lupin. Before he had a chance to pick out anyone else the picture changed one last time. He was standing in the doorway of what appeared to be a nursery. In the corner his mother stood in front of a rocking chair facing the window. His father walked up behind her and placed his arms around her waist. Walking closer Harry was able to look around his father to see what his mother carried in her arms. It was him, not more than a few days old.
Suddenly Harry felt himself being pulled back to reality. When he opened his eyes again they were wet with tears and he was sitting on his bed beside Ginny, a worried expression on her face.
"Oh gods, it didn't work did it. I knew I should have gotten some more help with it. I'm so sorry Harry. I promise I'll…" He cut her off by wrapping his hand behind her neck and pulling her into a searing kiss. A moment later he stopped the full force assault on her lips and just pulled her against his chest.
"I just have one question, how did you manage to do that? Did Hermione help you out? Did your Mum?"
"No I managed to find a spell that could duplicate memories. Then I visited Professor Lupin and had him help me out. That's his memory of the wedding. The train is from Dumbledore and then Bill's from the Quiddich game. The one with you is from Hagrid. Some other members of the Order helped me out. Tonks nearly broke down in hysterics when I told her what I was doing. Lupin spent a good hour trying to calm her down. I didn't even know if it would work right. I didn't try it out myself first, I didn't want to intrude or anything and I know you weren't in there long but I think there's a lot more in there, I was just worried, so I brought you out."
"This means more to me than anything I've ever received Gin. And you wouldn't have been intruding. After all, I wouldn't even have this if it wasn't for you. Maybe, if you want, you could come with me sometime. I'd really like for you to meet my parents…well not really meet, but you know what I mean.
"I'd really like that too Harry," Ginny smiled at the sight of a beaming Harry, "You know, I should probably get back to my room. I just wanted to give this to you now. It's kinda personal and I didn't know if you'd want to open something like that in front of my whole family. So when you open your other gift tomorrow morning…just act surprised. Okay?"
"Two gifts? Gin you didn't have to do that." Harry gave her a look, after all, he knew she had a lot of people to get gifts for and he felt bad that maybe someone else had gotten the shaft on their gift. Ginny, on the other hand, just laughed.
"Don't worry, it's nothing. I just needed to find something so Mum would leave me alone. I didn't tell her about the pensieve so I had to find something that I could give you in front of the family. Although I don't think she'll be very pleased when she sees the other gift I came up with."
Harry laughed, "Would this happen to be the same sort of inappropriate gift someone gave Hermione for her birthday last year?" Ginny nodded with a wicked grin on her face. The 'gift' Hermione had received had been passed around Gryffindor tower as a gag gift after she said she wanted no part of it. The last recipient had been a young girl in Ginny's year named Anastasia and Harry had no doubt that Ginny had bargained with the girl for this particular item…after all Harry had been the one who originally gave it to Hermione to begin with. "Just don't ever let Ron know I was the one who started that whole thing, okay? If he ever found out I gave that gift to his girlfriend he would kick my arse nine ways to Sunday."
"You're right. Although I'm sure he could find a couple of uses for it now. Eww…bad mental image. Anyway, I should probably get back downstairs before Hermione wakes up. I'm glad you liked your gift Harry." They both rose off the bed and walked to the door. Ginny wrapped her arms around Harry in a hug and kissed him softly on the lips. "Good night Harry."
Ginny shut the door quietly behind her and she tiptoed back downstairs, hoping the door wouldn't squeak when she opened it and wake Hermione. It didn't and as she curled underneath her covers she silently thanked the old woman from the store for the best Christmas gift ever – allowing her to bring a little of Harry's parents back to him.