Chapter 9

Christmas morning was a wonderful one. Everyone was gathered in the family room to open their gifts together. Mrs. Weasley had placed some pumpkin juice and biscuits on the table for everyone to enjoy. Everyone was having a wonderful time. Harry, who was sitting by the Christmas tree was smiling to himself. 'This is great. It feels good to see everyone so relaxed and cheerful. I guess I missed this more than I thought.' Harry looked up to see that Hermione was passing him a present.

"It's from Ron and me." Hermione said taking a seat next to him.

Harry opened the flat box and took out a book. When he opened to the first page, he gasped. There was a picture of him, Ron and Hermione standing together outside of Hogwarts during their first year. When Harry flipped through the pages he saw that it was a sort of scrapbook with pictures and mementos from his first year at Hogwarts up until he had left England. There were also newspaper clippings from when he was away. Harry closed the album and looked up at his two best friends. "This is the best gift I ever got. I don't know what to say."

"Thank you is usually the one you use." George said matter of factly. Mrs. Weasley smacked him.

"Thank you very much." He looked down at his book again and then remembered that he hadn't given Hermione or Ron their gifts yet. He put his present down and handed them each a wrapped box.

"Harry this is heavy." Hermione said taking the box from him. "What is it?"

"Just open it. It's something I got on my travels." Harry watched as Hermione undid the bow and ripped open the box. Her face lit up.

"Harry they're wonderful, and there's so many. Thank you Harry, but you know you didn't have to go to so much trouble." She held up a pile of about six or seven books.

"Yes I did. You love to read about other country's histories. There's another surprise, if you look inside the book about France. Yeah that one." Hermione flipped through the pages till she found what Harry was referring to. She opened the envelope that was between the pages, then all of a sudden her hands started to shake and her eyes started to water. She looked at Harry, trying to speak but no sound came out.

"What is it Hermione?" Ron asked, concern and curiosity in his voice.

Hermione passed him the envelope and Ron's eyes widened as he saw what had made Hermione so speechless. "Harry are you serious?"

"Oh for heaven's sake. What is it?" Ginny asked. Fred, George, Percy and Penelope all looking just as anxious to see this mystery gift.

Ron held up the envelope. "Harry bought us tickets to France and has paid for a two week stay at the Hotel du Chevalier all expensed included." Ron said to the crowd, still bewildered. "The Hotel du Chevalier! That's the most luxurious and expensive hotel in wizarding France." Ginny exclaimed.

"Wow Harry, that's awesome." Fred said.

"But Harry, how did you know we wanted to go to France for our honeymoon?" Hermione asked after finally regaining her voice.

"Well Mrs. Weasley mentioned it in a letter and said you couldn't afford it right away so I thought it would be a great wedding gift to you." He said as if it wasn't a huge deal.

"Oh Harry thank you so much. I don't know how we'll ever repay you." Hermione wrapped Harry into a big hug. "It's a great gift."

Ron stepped over and reached his hand out to Harry. Harry took it and smiled. I hope it's ok with you. I know how much you hate accepting expensive things from me, but I wanted you to have the honeymoon you've always wanted."

In response, Ron hugged Harry, which caught him off guard. "This is one time where I'll accept it without feeling bad. Thank you Harry. It means so much to Hermione."

The two friends let go of eachother. "Well I don't know about you Fred but I still have presents to open." Said George.

"Yeah and we haven't opened our gift from Harry yet. Maybe he bought us that Yacht we've been eyeing." Fred said as they both took up their small sized packages from Harry.

"Girls hurry up! We're going to be late!" Mrs. Weasley yelled up the stairs. "Honestly, they've been getting ready for hours. You'd think they were done by now."

"Oh I think I remember a certain young lady who used to take about the same amount of time to get ready for a special outing with a certain young man." Mr. Weasley teased his wife. Mrs. Weasley just smiled.

"Well we're still going to be late. Ron dear will you please go tell them to come down now or we're leaving without them?" Mrs. Weasley said a little gentler.

When Ron was out of the room Mr. and Mrs. Weasley turned to Harry. "Harry dear. We just wanted to thank you for what you did for Ron and Hermione. It means so much to us for them to have that honeymoon. I also want to apologize to you if it seemed that I wanted you to pay for their trip. It never even crossed my mind. I just like to vent." Mr. Weasley placed his hand on his wife to reasure her.

"There's nothing to apologize for. The thought only came to me a few weeks after I received your letter." Harry said reassuringly. "I wanted to help them. They're the most important people in my life. They deserve all the best and if I can help I will."

"Ron's lucky to have you as a friend." Mr. Weasley said cupping Harry's hand in both of his.

"Did someone say my name?" Ron descended the stairs, the three girls following behind.

Harry turned around and watched Ron walk arm in arm with Hermione who was wearing a sparkling blue dress and had her hair tied up in a sophisticated style that suited her well. Then he watched as Julia made her way down the stairs. She looked beautiful with her hair done in waves and her red three quarter length dress. There was no doubt that there was something unique about her and that she would make heads turn. But as Harry's eyes moved from Julia to Ginny he froze.

Standing there was not the little Ginny from their school days but a beautiful young woman. She had her hair done up in a fancy knot and she was wearing an emerald green full-length dress that showed off her curves perfectly. She looked stunning.

Harry finally took his eyes off her when he felt a hand on his arm. He turned to see that the hand belonged to Julia. "Are you alright? We're leaving now." She said.

Harry gave a final look at Ginny before leaving arm in arm with Julia.