Disclaimer: I own no part of this story except for the plot and spell work. J. K. Rowling owns everything else, including dozens of hours of my life that I am dedicating to this story.

Chapter 21: Christmas Morning and Unforeseen Tests

"Good morning handsome!"

Harry squinted as his eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light shining in the room. Harry was slightly disoriented, not sure where he was or who had woken him up.

"Come on Harry, it's time to get up! I'm going to be late!"

Harry smiled as he suddenly remembered where he was. Someone slid his glasses onto his face and the red-haired beauty in front of him slowly slid into focus. Ginny leaned down and planted a loving kiss on his mouth. Harry returned the kiss with a little more passion than he meant to and Ginny fell back onto the bed, wrapping her arms around him.

A few minutes later, the two reluctantly removed themselves from one another and Harry sat up in bed.

"It's about bloody time, if I don't get going soon Mum's going to have my hide," Ginny said while magically pulling her hair back.

"You mean you don't think she would appreciate you staying over at my house?" Harry said in a mock hurt voice.

"Well, she'd be fine with it after a day or two. It's Bill and Charlie I would be worried about if I were you."

"Point taken. So what are you waiting for? The Weasleys are waiting!"

Ginny smiled knowing that Harry would willingly take on Voldemort any day over her two oldest brothers. Bill and Charlie hadn't been very vague or diplomatic in letting Harry know what would happen if Harry hurt Ginny in any way. The Weasleys treated Harry like family, but Bill and Charlie were more than a little possessive when it came to who their little sister dated. Even Ron had been less possessive of Ginny, something that Harry had never expected.

Harry winced as his thoughts returned to Ron once again. This would be his first Christmas without Ron around and Harry was sure that it was going to be a difficult one. As Harry fought back the tears that threatened to overcome him, an arm drew him close. Harry held tightly to Ginny, allowing her love for him to fill him up. Slowly the tide of pain abated and Harry's bright green eyes locked with Ginny's hazel orbs filled only with compassion and love. The two shared a silent moment and Harry was truly thankful to have Ginny as a part of his life.

"Last night was great," Harry thought as he remembered the details of his very special Christmas Eve.

Ginny had apparated over after everyone had gotten settled in for the night at the Burrow, and Harry and Ginny had spent a blissful night together, holding one another while exchanging gentle, loving kisses. Harry had marveled at how well her body fit against his and at how comfortable the two had been in such an intimate position. They hadn't "done anything" of course as Bill and Charlie would certainly expect if they knew that Ginny had left. Though the urge to do so was there, they both knew that it wasn't the right time. Ginny had fallen asleep after an hour or so and Harry was not long in following her. Though the two had gotten to sleep at a decent hour, they wanted to wake up early to go see Hermione. Besides the fact that Hermione was likely having just as hard a time as Harry was, Harry and Ginny also needed an alibi for Ginny being out of the house so early.

Instead, Harry woke up feeling rejuvenated and realized that last night had been the first night he had gotten a decent night's sleep since Ron had died. Usually Harry was woken up at odd hours of the night by a nightmare or by Voldemort's probing presence. Though Harry had mastered Occlumency, every now and then Voldemort would be able to invade Harry's mind. Those nights were the hardest. Voldemort always forced Harry to relive his worst memories while hearing Voldemort's cruel and taunting laugh in the background.

Harry woke from his reverie to see the look of concern that was on Ginny's beautiful face.

"I couldn't have made it this far without her. I can't finish this without her."

"Thanks, I'm fine now."

Ginny gave him a comforting smile and Harry gave her a quick kiss on the forehead as the two turned away to get ready.

Harry was about to get a quick shower when Ginny suddenly burst into the bathroom. Harry looked at her in alarm, wondering what could have happened, and realized that he had left his wand in the bedroom. Ginny, however, just gave him a smile.

"Happy Christmas Harry!"

"Happy Christmas Ginny," Harry said in a slightly exasperated tone.

"What's the matter Harry?" Ginny asked as she feigned ignorance while taking a step closer.

"You know what the bloody matter is Gin; you scared the bloody hell out of me."

"Oh well, sorry about that. I was just excited about the next part."

Harry raised an inquisitive eyebrow before replying, "And that is?"

"I finally get to give you part of my Christmas present."

Ginny quickly closed the remaining distance between them and pulled Harry close. After a very long and passionate kiss, Ginny turned around and walked calmly out of the bathroom, leaving a very stunned Harry behind her.

"On second thought, I might want to make that a cold shower."

"Just a moment."

Hermione's cheerful voice echoed from behind the front door. Harry and Ginny stood outside, waiting to be let in to see how Hermione was coping.

"She sounds happy enough," Ginny said, hoping for the best.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Harry responded plainly.

Ginny arched a questioning eyebrow at him but the sound of the door opening drew her attention.

"Hermione," Ginny squealed as she threw her arms around the girl standing in front of her. "It's so good to see you!"

"You too Gin. Keeping up your grades?"

Harry bit back a chuckle as he heard Hermione's response. Most people would comment on someone's looks or a change in their height or weight, but not Hermione. Hermione was more interested in how you were doing academically than anything else.

Hermione seemed to notice the expression on Harry's face and promptly started to pout.

"Is there something wrong with me wanting to know how Ginny's grades are Harry?"

"Of course not Hermione! After all, you only asked Ginny about her grades last time you saw her. And the time before that…and the time before..."

Harry let out a slight groan as Ginny hit him in the stomach with her elbow.

"Don't mind him Hermione. It's amazing he was able to get Head Boy at all with his academic studies."

Harry let out an indignant cry of protest as Ginny and Hermione burst into laughter.

Harry let them finish, knowing that the laughter was good for Hermione, before dragging them inside, away from the cold.

"Get in here before you two lunatics catch a cold."

Hermione led the way to the living room where she and Ginny started to catch up on the latest gossip floating around Hogwarts. Harry just let out a loud groan and an almost indistinguishable cry of "women," before leaving the room.

"Good, now that he's gone; how are you doing Hermione?"

"Just fine…why do you ask?" Hermione said in a slightly nervous voice.

"Because I know you and that damn nobility streak you have Hermione." Harry's voice carried from the kitchen and he soon returned to the girls with steaming mugs of hot chocolate.

Ginny gave Harry a small kiss on the cheek as he handed her a mug.

"Mmm…Thanks Harry," Hermione said with a smile as she took a sip.

"You're welcome Hermione…and no changing the conversation."

Hermione let her defenses slip just slightly and, for an instant, Ginny saw how Hermione really felt. Hermione looked like she'd been run over by the Knight Bus. There was a hollow look in her eyes and, for the first time, Ginny noticed the slightly streaked mascara underneath her eyes. After noticing this, Ginny also noticed how blotchy Hermione's makeup was and realized that she must not have been paying much attention to what she was doing this morning.

"Oh Hermione," Ginny cried as she ran over to her. Ginny started hugging Hermione, and soon both girls were in tears.

"How is it that they both end up crying?" Harry wondered. Harry knew that now wasn't the time to be joking, but was also certain that Ginny knew what was best to do to calm Hermione down. Feelings had never been an easy issue to address with Harry. Harry had a hard enough time wrestling with his own, much less anyone else's.

The two girls held on to one another for a quite a long time. Ginny kept whispering something to Hermione. Hermione started to calm down and Harry knew that whatever Ginny was saying was working. Ginny was just good when it came to what to do in that kind of situation.

"She'd make a good mediwitch," Harry thought with a smile. Though it was unlikely that Ginny would want to choose a career path requiring such a long education, Harry humored himself with the idea of seeing Ginny in school seven years from now. "Not much chance of that happening."

Nonetheless, Ginny would be a valuable asset to the Order if the war was still going when she graduated from Hogwarts. Harry didn't want to place Ginny in such a dangerous position, but knew that she would insist on doing it of course.

Harry turned his attention back to Hermione and realized that she had been talking to him.

"Sorry about that Hermione, off in my own world. What did you say?"

Hermione gave him a sad smile that broke Harry's heart. Harry hated to see her in such pain and be unable to do anything about it. Fighting Voldemort was easy; Harry knew who his enemy was there. Helping Hermione with battle her emotions was much harder and Harry wasn't sure what he could do to help her.

"I asked you how you knew something was wrong."

Hermione's voice was hard and Harry knew that she was berating herself for letting something slip.

"You didn't do anything wrong Hermione. I just know you. I knew that, on a day like Christmas where everyone is supposed to be happy, you would just hide your emotions to make sure that you didn't take away from anyone else's happiness. I did the same thing our seventh year…well your seventh year, and you were there for me, remember?"

Hermione gave Harry the best smile she could manage and responded lightly. "Yeah, but you always were a terrible liar."

Ginny snorted and even Harry had to bite back a laugh. Harry tried to look hurt, failed miserably, and continued on, "Yeah, for some odd reason, all of the teachers liked you, aside from Snape and Umbridge of course. You could tell a straight up lie to McGonagall and she'd still believe it. Ron and I didn't have to be good at lying, we were the destructive ones. We did our work and left you to clean up our messes."

"And what messes they were…"

Hermione's voice left off and Harry knew that she was reminiscing about the adventures they used to have back at school. Harry turned to Ginny and gave her hand a quick squeeze. They had done what they had set out to do. Hermione was no longer thinking about Ron's loss, but rather the great times that they had together when Ron was around.

Twenty minutes later, and after many promises from Hermione that she would be right behind them, Harry and Ginny arrived at the Burrow.

Hermione had said that she wanted to "freshen up" a bit to make sure the Weasleys didn't see what state she had been in before Harry and Ginny had showed up. Harry had wanted Hermione to come with them and had offered to wait for her, but Ginny had told him they needed to get back.

"She needs a little time to herself," Ginny had whispered to him.

Harry had seen Hermione give Ginny a silent thank you when she thought he wasn't looking and had known that, as usual, Ginny was right again.

"Harry dear, it's so nice to see you!"

Harry gave a genuine smile as Mrs. Weasley wrapped him in a hug. Mrs. Weasley had taken Harry in without knowing anything about him and now, seven years later, it almost felt like he had always been a part of the family. Ron and Harry had been like brothers, and it had only been fitting for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to treat him like a son.

Mrs. Weasley finally released him and Harry found himself standing in front of Mr. Weasley. There was a slightly suspicious look in Mr. Weasley's eye and Harry found it difficult not to squirm under Mr. Weasley's gaze. Harry's thoughts drifted back to last night and Harry wondered how much Mr. Weasley actually knew. But, as soon as the look appeared, it was gone and Mr. Weasley was now smiling at Harry.

"Good to see you Harry," Mr. Weasley said while shaking Harry's hand.

"It's good to see you too Mr. Weasley. Work going well?"

"Good enough. Muggle attacks are on the upbeat now that Voldemort is back and I find myself working late into the night more often than I would like. I guess that's how war is though."

Mr. Weasley shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, trying to act as if nothing was wrong, but Harry could see how much his work was affecting him. There were large rings under Mr. Weasley's eyes, and Harry knew that Mr. Weasley hadn't had that many grey hairs last time he had seen him. But, like Mr. Weasley said, that was what happened during war. We all have to make sacrifices for the greater good and sleep was usually one of them.

Bill, Charlie, and Percy came over to say hello to Harry and Harry spent a few moments talking about the war with them. However, right when the conversation was getting interesting, Fred and George walked up with identical smirks on their faces.

"Morning Harry," Fred said.

"Have a nice night last night?" George asked innocently.

Harry froze as he realized the hidden implications behind the question. Ginny shot the twins a dirty look from across the room and the twins grinned evilly at Harry. After quick, sidelong glances at one another, Bill and Charlie were now looking at Harry with distinct distrust.

Harry tried to cover up his telltale actions by answering easily, "Yeah, it was a quiet night. I slept quite well actually." Harry made sure to put emphasis on the word quiet.

Fred nodded and George silently mouthed, "Touché." Bill and Charlie, however, weren't ready to let the issue go that easily.

"So Ginny, I didn't see you around this morning. Where did you get off to so early in the morning?" Bill asked.

"Harry and I went to go see how Hermione was doing this morning." Ginny had answered lightly but was glaring daggers at Bill, as if daring him to push the issue further.

Bill was spared from answering when Mrs. Weasley cried out loud. "Oh goodness, I hadn't thought about how Hermione was handling this. Bless her heart; she must be having an awfully hard time. How was she?"

"She was doing pretty well actually," Harry said plainly, happy that the conversation was headed in a new direction.

Mrs. Weasley looked at him incredulously, "Surely she misses Ron…I mean, she loved him didn't she?"

Harry started to turn red and Ginny quickly replied to keep Mrs. Weasley from hearing what Harry might have to say about that. The last thing they needed was a fight on Christmas day.

"Mum, you know that Hermione loved Ron. To tell you the truth, she was in a right state. When we got there, she pretended like she was just fine. She had me pretty much fooled, and it was Harry that finally got her to admit something was wrong. After a while though, I got her calmed down and we started to talk about all of the good things that had happened while they were still at school. She feels loads better now and doesn't really want to make anyone else sad so please don't bring it up. By the way, did you know that Harry and Ron were the ones that…"

"Ginny Weasley, don't you dare finish that sentence," Harry said while brandishing his wand threateningly.

"I'll take that," George said as he took Harry's wand away from him. "So tell us Gin. What did those two delinquents get up to after we graduated? Did they live up to our expectations?"

"Well, they were the one's that put Snape's…"

Ginny suddenly seemed to stop speaking. Her mouth kept moving, but no sounds were coming out. Fred and George groaned while Molly looked worried.

"Aw…" George said.

"Just at the good part…" Fred cried.

"Arthur, what's wrong? Do you think that we should take her to St. Mungo's?"

Ginny was suddenly jumping up and down as she unsuccessfully tried to hex Harry over and over again. Harry was far from worried and was instead bent over double, shaking with silent laughter.

"Harry…What did you do to her?" Charlie asked darkly.

"Oh—the look—the look on her face—priceless—" was all that Harry was able to get out.

"Listen Harry. Whatever you did to our little sister, fix it now."

There was no mistaking the seriousness in Bill's voice and Harry suddenly sat up in alarm.

"Relax Bill, it's nothing big. Only a silencing charm," Harry replied.

"Harry, in case you haven't noticed mate, you don't have a wand. It can't be a silencing charm."

"Sure it can," Harry said happily. Harry raised his arm and pointed it at Ginny while saying, "Finite Incantantem."

Ginny didn't waste time with words and, before any of the Weasley's realized what was happening, Ginny had raised her wand and threw a Full Body Bind at Harry.

Harry willed himself to relax as he saw the spell quickly fly towards him. Harry felt a part of his consciousness slide away as it focused on manipulating time, and Harry was left with the remaining portion of his mind to focus on the task at hand. Harry watched as the blue spell began to slow down and used the extra time to build up his magical center. Once he had stored enough magic in his core, Harry shouted the incantation in his mind.

"Speculo Incantantem!"

Suddenly, everything flew back into focus, and Harry saw a very angry, but visibly stunned, Ginny lying helpless on the floor. Harry looked around at the rest of the Weasleys, expecting angry outbursts to erupt soon, but was surprised to see them looking at him in complete shock.

"Harry—" Mrs. Weasley began, at a rare loss for words.

"Wow—" Fred and George said simultaneously.

"Was that—" Bill sputtered.

"Harry that was amazing—" Charlie replied.

"MMMPPPHHH!"

Harry looked down and gave Ginny a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that, Finite Incantantem."

Ginny, far from looking mad, instead jumped up and wrapped her arms tightly around Harry.

"Harry you did it! I'm so proud of you—I can't believe it—you were so fast, it was unbelievable—and without a wand too!"

"Harry," Hermione said from across the room. "I think you have some explaining to do."

SPOILER WARNING: Don't read below if you haven't finished HBP yet!

Author's Note: Well, with HBP finished twice over now it's time to start back on the story. I was particularly happy to have picked the relationship shippings right as well as the fact that Harry isolated himself from Ginny at the end. Though it happened at a different time in my story, it's pretty neat to see at least a few occurrences between the two stories. And now for the hard part…I believe that I have found a way to link the major occurrences in HBP into my story without having to rewrite most of my fic; the most prominent of which is the death of…well, you know who died if you are reading this already and if you haven't finished reading HBP and wanted to read this anyway, I'm not going to spoil it for you. However, now I need your help to find these occurrences and letting me know what I need to fix. I know that I put in some stuff that happened Harry's sixth year that didn't actually occur as well as a few other minor details that have been proven wrong post-HBP. If you find any of this or remember where it was in the story, please let me know at With your help I may be able to adopt this story to post-HBP with relative ease. Thanks again and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter.