1/30/21

Author's Note: This story is inspired by the Netflix movie Holidate. Some of the plot points will be similar to things that happen in the movie, but some will be different.

I'm dedicating this story to EvShadow/TinyYellowDragon because this was all her idea. I had no intention of writing this when she asked me if a story like it existed. But the plot bunny refused to hop away, so I succumbed to its infernal influence. Thanks for everything.

Except for the first three chapters, my plan is to update approximately once a month, each update coinciding with a different holiday or event that month. Which means - fingers crossed, knock on wood - this story will be complete before January 1, 2022. I will do my best to stick to that schedule.

Holidating

by idreamofdraco

Christmas Eve 2005

Ginny plastered a smile to her face as her ex-boyfriend circulated around the room giving hugs and handshakes and pats on the back to her entire family.

"What is he doing here?" Ginny muttered out of the side of her mouth toward her sister-in-law.

"He was invited," Hermione replied, the laughter in her voice clearly due to her amusement at Ginny's discomfort.

"But I thought he had to work! Mum said he wasn't going to make it."

Harry was now on the opposite side of the room, kissing Fleur's cheek while four-year-old Victoire clung to his leg. He was making quick progress through her family and Ginny dreaded the moment they were face-to-face for the first time in two months. She turned her back to him, pretending to be deeper in conversation with Hermione than she really was.

The new view of Hermione's face meant that the pity that crossed it was on full display. Ginny's stomach plummeted, knowing what Hermione was going to say before she said it.

"Your mum just said that so you would still come. She misses you, you know."

Ginny's smile slipped and her gaze swung to the entrance of the kitchen where Molly was finishing dinner, conspicuously and suspiciously missing out on the reunion between her daughter and her favorite almost-son-in-law.

Today was the first time in months that Ginny had graced the occupants of the Burrow with her presence. Ever since Harry had broken up with her, she had avoided visiting when she knew Harry would be there, and unfortunately, Harry visited often.

Ginny shouldn't blame him for not being able to let go of the Weasleys. They were the only family Harry had besides the new family he'd made after the war with his godson, Teddy Lupin, and Teddy's grandmother, Andromeda Tonks. Still, Ginny couldn't help but feel some resentment that in the breakup, Ginny had lost custody of her own family to avoid Harry while he felt no need to sacrifice his time with them for Ginny's sake.

"No," Ginny said, frustration making her voice crack. "This wasn't about seeing me. This was about trying to get Harry and me back together."

One of Hermione's eyebrows lifted. Before she could voice her skepticism, two things happened. First, Molly came into the room and looked right at Ginny with a bright smile. Second, Harry reached her and Hermione, Victoire still holding tightly to his leg and giggling up at her aunts.

Harry and Hermione hugged briefly and exchanged pleasantries that Ginny couldn't hear due to the pounding of her blood in her ears. And then he turned to Ginny, the corners of his lips twitching downward, his smile falling.

"It's good to see you," he said as he leaned forward for a hug.

Ginny held her hands up, blocking him. "I wish I could say the same."

Hermione sighed loudly.

"Are we—"

Ginny interrupted him. "I think Mum needs help with the food."

She sidestepped him and triumph filled her when he couldn't follow with Victoire attached to him like moss on a rock. Molly glared disapprovingly as Ginny passed her to go into the kitchen. Unfortunately, no small child prevented her from trailing after her daughter.

Ginny knew better than to touch any of the food—when had Molly ever asked for help preparing a meal?—which meant there was no avoiding Molly's disapproval. Maybe a preemptive strike would catch Molly off guard.

She turned. "You told me Harry wasn't coming."

"This is silly, Ginny. He's like family. You can't avoid him forever."

Ginny crossed her arms. "But he's not family. That was his choice not to become our family. Or did you forget that Harry broke up with me?"

Molly's brow knit with uncertainty. Either she'd forgotten or she'd convinced herself that Ginny had ruined the relationship somehow. The idea that her mother could think that of her, that anyone could, stung.

Ginny had loved Harry since she was ten. She'd loved him before he saved her life. She'd loved him while he fancied Cho. She'd loved him after he'd broken up with her at Dumbledore's funeral. She'd even loved his ridiculous, noble reason for doing so. Ginny thought the worst life could throw at them had been put behind them and that everything they'd gone through together at Hogwarts had forged an unbreakable bond that could never be severed. The next steps after cementing their careers included marriage. Children. They were supposed to have the whole package.

But Harry was the one who had broken up with her, seemingly out of nowhere. He hadn't even had a noble reason for tearing their lives apart. He hadn't given her any reason that made sense to Ginny.

"You were so happy together. I just don't understand."

Her and Ginny both. And both of them just needed to get over the fact that Ginny was single now.

Thankfully, Charlie entered the kitchen just then with Victoire sitting on his shoe, latched to his leg, still giggling despite the tension that followed her..

"Charlie," Ginny whinged. "You'll back me up, right? Tell Mum there's nothing wrong with being single. You've been single your whole life and that's okay!" She grabbed his arm and pouted at him, and Victoire mimicked her aunt's expression but couldn't maintain it between her giggles.

Charlie let out a surprised laugh. "Is that what you think? I hate to disappoint you, Gin, but I've got a boyfriend in Romania. It's okay for you to be single though."

Ginny gaped as she dropped his arm. "Since when have you had a boyfriend?" She whirled on Molly, who either took this news in stride or had already been privy to the information. "And why didn't I know about him?"

Charlie ruffled her hair as he walked past her, dragging Victoire to the stove so he could lean down and inspect various steaming pots. "Maybe you should write to me more and then you'd know things."

The kitchen began to fill with the chatter of more hungry souls searching for food, the sounds of plates being heaped with meat and vegetables and desserts, chairs scraping against the floor, and silverware clanking against plates.

The entire family squeezed around the table which was extended on one end with an additional card table that sat a little bit lower than everyone else. Extra chairs had been pulled from other rooms to accommodate everyone, but even with the expanded table, there was little space. For the first time in their entire lives, the Weasley boys showed good manners and ate without elbows on the table, but only because there was no room for them anyway.

Ginny found herself at the end of the lower card table next to George's girlfriend Verity and across from Fleur and Bill. Victoire reigned queen with the most elbow room at the foot of the table, opposite Arthur at the head. Ginny was treated to a front row view of familial bliss as Bill made a Quidditch match of feeding Victoire and Fleur leaned close to whisper things to him that made him laugh before turning to continue a conversation with George and Hermione about the newest Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes release. When Ginny looked down the table, she saw all the couples nearly on top of each other because of the lack of elbow room. Percy draped his arm over Penelope's chair because he had nowhere else to put it. Ron and Hermione ate off the same mile-high plate. The multiple conversations created a tumultuous roar, and from her place at the end of the table, she only heard a word or two before someone else's voice rose above the others.

Harry and Charlie were without dates like Ginny, but they sat in the middle of the table and joked and laughed with everyone around them. Verity kept her head turned toward George and the rest of the family, so if Ginny wanted to make conversation, her only option for a partner was Victoire, but only when Bill wasn't flying spoonfuls of Quaffle peas into her mouth.

Somehow, Ginny had become sidelined in her own family. Resentment and jealousy filled her gut. For years, Ginny had sat right next to Harry during every family meal and holiday at the Burrow. He'd included her when he, Hermione, and Ron got carried away reminiscing about their Hogwarts days, and he'd explained every inside joke she didn't understand. It might have been Harry's fault that she was dateless, but he wasn't the one who had seated her at the end of the table.

Ginny had never noticed how her family partnered up with their significant others until she had no significant other of her own anymore. She hadn't felt so alone with her family since her childhood, when none of her brothers had wanted anything to do with their baby sister. After the age of thirteen, she'd learned to speak up and make a place for herself among the rowdy Weasley bunch.

So why was it so hard to make herself heard now?

Ron tapped his fork against his plate to catch everyone's attention and the chatter died down. He and Hermione shared a look that made Hermione giggle.

Clearing his throat, Ron said, "While everyone is here, Hermione and I wanted to make an announcement."

Molly gasped. "Are you pregnant?"

Hermione's smile widened and she nodded emphatically. "Yes! Baby Weasley will be arriving in August!"

More gasps and congratulations and questions echoed around the small kitchen. Ginny's stomach flipped in excitement before sinking.

George raised his voice over the din. "Ron isn't the only one with an announcement!"

Verity raised her left hand, the one closest to Ginny that had been hidden in her lap up until this moment, and a diamond glinted on her ring finger. George hugged her from the side and she laughed and more shouting and questions drowned out their replies.

Disappointment and guilt sat heavy as a boulder in Ginny's stomach. She was the worst sister not to be excited to see their large family grow even larger. Of course she was excited to have a new nibling, and Verity had practically been family since Fred and George hired her as their first WWW employee nearly a decade ago. But Ginny understood her reaction now, though understanding it didn't make it less hateful to feel it.

Ginny had been so close to being in Hermione and Verity's shoes. If Harry hadn't turned his back on the years they'd shared together, maybe she would have had an announcement to share, too. Or maybe she wouldn't have because she and Harry would have already been married and started their family. It wasn't difficult to look at Hermione and Verity's beaming faces, to hear everyone's excitement, and imagine Ginny in their place. It hurt how badly she wanted to be in their place.

After Ron and Hermione's news, a crying Molly had jumped out of her chair to hug the happy parents-to-be and now she raced around the table to shower kisses on George and Verity.

Ginny was only twenty-four but she was already falling behind in life. Catching up with Bill and Ron and Percy and George seemed impossible. She'd spent her entire life in love with Harry. She thought they'd be together for the rest of their lives. She hadn't even had enough time to mourn the loss of the life she'd envisioned for herself and now here her brothers were reminding Ginny of what she had lost. Even worse—reminding their mum of what Ginny had lost. If Molly had been persistent about trying to get Harry and Ginny back together before, there was no limit to what she might do now that she was motivated by her other children's happiness.

Ginny needed some time to get used to the idea that she and Harry were never going to have the life that Bill and Fleur or Ron and Hermione or Percy and Penelope had. She needed to get used to how her role in her family had changed thanks to Harry's abandonment, how family dinners and holidays would always be different.

During the celebration, Ginny made the mistake of meeting Harry's gaze. His happiness for his adopted family dimmed as he saw the bleak expression on Ginny's face, but it brought her no pleasure to see his sorrow and pity. The same pity Hermione had worn when revealing Molly's earlier subterfuge.

How dare he pity her when the life she wanted was suspended because of him? She refused to be an object of pity to Harry or anyone else in her family. No. She had not asked to be broken up with, but this was the shitty hand she'd been dealt. All she could do now was play the game.

And Ginny was great at bluffing.

Starting today, she would not let anyone know how much Harry had bruised her heart or crushed her dreams. In fact, she would do everything in her power not to let it show that her life had slipped beyond her control. If she was single for the first time in her life, then she would not let anyone know that she wasn't happy about it.

Eventually she'd believe it herself, right?

Author's Note: The humor will pick up immediately in chapter 2, which will be posted in the next few days. If you've seen Holidate, which scenes/events would you like to see in this story? :D