Sorry it's been so long, everyone!

Anyway, here's a Christmas chapter for you all. In AUGUST. Prepare for a shitload of fluff.

"No, Wang, no, you can't play with that." Quirrell snatched the Christmas bauble from his eleven month old daughter's hands. "See this? It's glass. If you break this you could cut yourself and get hurt. And no one wants that at Christmas."

The two of them were sitting on the floor, surrounded by Christmas decorations to put up on the tree. Outside snow was falling and it was a perfectly Christmas cliché family moment, except Voldemort was out braving the weather and the muggles to go food shopping. Wang Mu made a whine of protest, reaching to snatch it back from Quirrell's hands. "Dada!"

"Nope. Sorry, sweetie. Stick to the tinsel. Hey, do you want a star or an angel on top of the tree? It's your first Christmas with us. You decide."

Wang Mu beamed up at him, the bauble forgotten as she shuffled over on her hands and knees to look at the silver angel figurine in Quirrell's hand, enraptured as she poked at it.

"Alright then, I take it you want the angel. Awesome, so do I." Quirrell smiled, just as the doorbell rang to signal Voldemort's return. He gently picked Wang Mu up and made his way to the front door, swiftly unlocking it and Voldemort practically burst in, brushing off the snow on his clothes.

"Hey, you," Quirrell said with an arched eyebrow as he looked at his partner's empty hands. "Um. Where's the food?"

"Right!" Voldemort gave him a quick kiss as he moved past him, affectionately smoothing down Wang Mu's hair as he did so. "Food. Right. Yeah, well, I got a little distracted, but I have been shopping."

"Uh." Quirrell frowned at him, following him into the kitchen. "So, what did you buy if not food?"

"Ah, I can't tell you that, Squirrel. You'll have to wait and see."

"I'm sure it'll be worth the overall suspense, but dude, we kind of needed to get the stuff to eat for Christmas, seeing as it's, you know…tomorrow…"

"Don't sweat it, I'll go in a bit. Hey, could you look a little happier to see me?" Voldemort grinned. "Wang Mu seems to be cheerful, anyway."

Their daughter wriggled in Quirrell's arms, reaching out with one of her tiny hands as she beamed. "Papa."

"There ya go!" Voldemort kissed her forehead and took her from Quirrell's arms, who still looked perplexed. "Besides, we already bought a turkey, right? What else do we need?"

"A lot." Quirrell pointed out. "Like all the stuff I wrote down on the list for you."

"Squirrel, I was joking." Voldemort rolled his eyes. "I swear by tomorrow you will be so grateful that I prevented the food shopping to buy this very important thing."

At that, Quirrell unfolded his arms, a smile beginning to form on his face. "Is it a present for me?"

Voldemort snorted. "I'm saying absolutely nothing."

"Aw, come on!"

"Nope."

"Hold on," Quirrell looked at him, his eyes now sparkling. "You offered to go food shopping as a ploy, didn't you? So you could get me a present?"

"Quirinus Quirrell," Voldemort tutted, "I'll have you know I offered to go to the crappy muggle supermarket –"

"Language. Our baby is here."

" – the stupid muggle supermarket out of the goodness of my heart, which as you know, has been cold and emotionless for years. I offered because I love you, and I could see you really wanted me to do it."

"Right. That's great, Voldy. Except you didn't even go food shopping." Quirrell pointed out, but he couldn't help but continue to smile. "So what did you buy me?"

Voldemort shook his head as he gave Wang Mu another kiss and passed her back over to Quirrell. "On the odd chance that it is a present for you, you'll just have to wait another day. I, apparently, need to go and buy food. Give me half an hour." He gave Quirrell a longer kiss, gently placing his hand against the small of his back to pull his boyfriend closer. "The tree looks great so far," He smirked once they'd parted, "Keep up the good work." And with that, Voldemort left the house once more leaving a very confused Quirrell staring after him.

XxX

A few hours later Voldemort and Quirrell were on the couch, Wang Mu on Voldemort's lap as Quirrell read to her Christmas stories from an old book which had belonged to his muggle father. Voldemort had returned with everything on the list Quirrell had written for him, but was still keeping quiet about the mysterious item he'd bought earlier on, much to Quirrell's annoyance.

The tree was all lit up and through the gap in the curtains, snow could be seen still swirling in the dark night. The overall atmosphere was making Quirrell suddenly very tired but he carried on reading softly as Wang Mu gazed at him.

"…But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight, 'Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.'" Quirrell finished a few minutes later, closing the book. "So there you have it. Hopefully St. Nicholas will visit you too."

"Shanta." Wang Mu murmured, her eyes drooping.

"Yeah, that's right. Santa." Quirrell said fondly. "I think it's time for bed. Sooner you go to sleep, the sooner it's Christmas."

Voldemort carefully held her close as she sleepily relaxed against his chest and he glanced up to smile at Quirrell, who smiled back. "Well, let's hope she doesn't wake up in the night and this St. Nicholas is standing over here. Seriously dude, what the hell is with that?"

"What? It's a classic muggle tradition." Quirrell huffed good-naturedly. "I'd always get so excited every Christmas Eve after my Dad read me those stories, looking out for reindeer and sleigh bells –"

"It's creepy!" Voldemort insisted. "Why would children like the idea of an old guy breaking into your house just to give you presents? Honestly, the stuff muggles come up with."

"Well, when you put it like that..." Quirrell admitted grudgingly, then quickly added, "But it's been keeping kids happy for decades, so don't you put a downer on it and for the love of Wizard God, don't tell Wang Mu he isn't real until she's around eleven. I was crushed when I overheard my parents."

"Aw," Voldemort grinned at Quirrell's pouty expression. "I hope you confronted them about it."

"Nah. I didn't want to spoil Christmas." He chuckled, leaning his head against Voldemort's shoulder as the two of them watched the lights on the tree, Wang Mu now fast asleep in Voldemort's arms. "It's my favourite time of the year, after all."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I mean, the happy feelings, the snow, hot chocolate, decorations, having someone to warm you up…" He snuggled against Voldemort's shoulder with a satisfied smile. "Not to mention now we have a kid, so it's double the fun."

"You are adorable." Voldemort replied. "If I wasn't holding our baby I'd hold you and kiss you until the early hours of the morning."

Quirrell lifted his head and raised an eyebrow, smiling smugly. "We'd better put her to bed, then." He stood up and Voldemort did the same, carefully not to wake Wang Mu as they both made their way upstairs. "Just so you know," he added as they reached her bedroom, "I'm still thoroughly convinced you bought me a present today, so if it turns out it's for Wang Mu I'll be a little disappointed to say the least."

"You're so impatient." Voldemort shook his head fondly as he placed Wang Mu in her cot, making sure she was comfy. "You really are like a kid when it comes to Christmas. Besides, it's not as if you're only getting one gift – if the thing I bought is even for you…"

"Come on," Quirrell practically whined, wrapping his arms around Voldemort's waist. "Just – oomph!" He was cut off as Voldemort pressed his lips with soft determination against his own, making him melt into him and pull him closer.

"Ssh." Voldemort murmured, placing a finger against Quirrell's lips, his eyes warm. "I promise, it'll be worth the wait. Cross my heart." He moved his finger down from Quirrell's lips so he could tap his boyfriend's chest. "And seeing as a piece of my soul's in there, I'll cross your heart too. Now you know I'm serious."

Quirrell's breathing was growing heavier as Voldemort leaned in to kiss him again and gripped Quirrell's soft dark hair with one hand while the other held him around the waist.

"Shouldn't we be doing this under mistletoe?" Quirrell managed to gasp out once they'd parted, his cheeks fairly pink.

"That's for tomorrow." Voldemort practically purred. "This here is just a warm up. Now come on, we're going to bed. As you said; sooner we go to sleep, the sooner it's Christmas."

Needing no more persuasion, Quirrell allowed Voldemort to take his hand and tug him to bed, switching Wang Mu's bedroom light of and gently shutting the door on the way.

XxX

Quirrell blearily woke up around half six the next morning to find that Voldemort wasn't in bed – presumably organising presents for Wang Mu downstairs – and sank back into his pillows a little gloomily, craving his partner's warmth. He rolled over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling as he realised with a sudden jolt that it was Christmas.

He wondered what his parents were doing. It had been too risky to let them know of his whereabouts, especially since he was now living and in a relationship with a guy who used to be the Dark Lord. He'd written them both letters now and then, just to let them know he was alive and doing well since coming out of Azkaban, just in case they still wanted anything to do with him. The security spells around his house prevented any owls from delivering letters to him, but it probably didn't matter; he doubted his parents would even write back.

The bedroom door opened and Voldemort entered quietly, before he realised he was awake. "Oh, hey. Sorry, did I –"

"No, it's alright. I just woke up."

Voldemort slid back in beside him, affectionately nuzzling against his cheek. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Quirrell murmured back, smiling softly.

"What're you thinking about?"

"Oh. Y'know. Stuff." Quirrell dismissed, rolling back over onto his side so he could face Voldemort. "Nothing, really."

Voldemort looked at him with a small frown. "Family stuff?"

Quirrell didn't meet his gaze as he shrugged. "It's nothing."

"Hey. Man. Talk to me." Voldemort stroked his thumb across Quirrell's cheekbone. "It's alright to be thinking about your parents. I mean, we were talking about them last night, so why wouldn't you be?"

"It's fine. Besides, you're my family now, you and Wang Mu. I'm just…just wondering how they're doing."

"And that's ok." Voldemort murmured. "You don't need to hide stuff like that from me, ever. Listen, you do know you can always visit them, right? I'm sure they'd be pleased to see you."

Quirrell snorted. "Pleased? They'd slam the door in my face. Why would they want to see their son who worked for Lord Voldemort, killed a kid under his command, and then got sent to Azkaban?" Quirrell faltered at Voldemort's guilty expression and hastily backtracked. "Oh, dude, no. I'm sorry. I wouldn't change anything, you know that. I'm just being stupid because it's Christmas."

"Mm. Well, you make some valid points." Voldemort stroked Quirrell's hair, still looking a little ashamed. "But personally, I think they'd forget about all that once they saw you. I bet they've been worried."

"Can we change the subject?" Quirrell muttered, nuzzling against his partner's chest. "I'm starting to feel a bit down."

"Well, we can't have that on Christmas Day. Come on, get up!" Voldemort playfully shoved Quirrell and got out of bed, grabbing him by the hands to tug him out from under the sheets. "Go get dressed, because I think Wang Mu's awake. Who knows, there might even be gifts for you. C'mon."

Quirrell smiled after him fondly as he left the room, before getting out of bed and stumbling around to get changed, doing his best to push pessimistic thoughts from his mind as he focused on making this day good for the new arrival to their family and Voldemort. Once he'd dressed, brushed his teeth and combed his hair he opened up his nightstand drawer and found where he'd hidden his presents for Voldemort and then finally made his way downstairs.

XxX

The day went pretty much perfect, it had to be said. Wang Mu was as adorable as ever when she realised what 'Shanta' had got for her and spent most of the morning hugging all of her new toys to her chest and beaming, while Quirrell and Voldemort watched her from their curled up positions on the couch as they read the new books they had bought each other. Voldemort was wearing the sweater Quirrell had got him and he looked really damn nice in it, and Quirrell was so busy admiring him for a moment that he didn't even realise his aforementioned boyfriend had moved from the couch.

He was about to ask him what he was doing, because for some reason Voldemort was on one knee and for a bewildered second Quirrell wondered if he'd fallen over or something. And then he began to talk.

"I hope the suspense was worth it, because this has quite literally been killing me for quite some time." Voldemort grinned up at him. "And I've been debating when exactly to do this, until I figured why not at Christmas, with our daughter here, at the most cliché family time of the year? Granted, I probably should've decided when to do this a little earlier, rather than last night, but hey. "

Quirrell blinked back at him, his heart beginning to thump. "Voldy? What're you doing?"

Voldemort soundlessly reached into his back pocket and produced a small, black ring box. Quirrell had a feeling he'd soon pass out. Was he….Was he seriously…

"Quirinus Quirrell. Words cannot explain just how lucky I was to have met you. Ever since that night when you came across me in the Forbidden Forest, everything's been completely crazy. I know we've had our ups and downs, and there were some seriously hard times, but I love you. I love you so much and I'm going to prove it to you – because I want to make you mine forever. I know it was always kind of a given that we'd stay together, but in any case…Will you marry me?"

Holy mother of Wizard God, he was proposing. Voldemort was proposing to him, and holding out a ring, and Wang Mu was by his side and everything was so intensely amazing. Before he knew what he was doing, Quirrell was crying, though he hastily attempted to wipe his tears away.

"Well," Voldemort admitted, "this wasn't exactly the reaction I was expecting…"

"Sorry!" Quirrell gasped out as the tears just kept on coming, "Oh – oh my God – yes! Yes, of course! I'm sorry, I c-can't – I'm so h-h-happy!"

"Oh, good." Voldemort smiled in relief, sliding the ring on his finger. "At least they're not tears of despair. I spent loads on that ring."

"T-trust you to r-ruin such a romantic m-moment." Quirrell wiped away the rest of his tears as he stared down at his hand in admiration, then grabbed Voldemort's head roughly and kissed him with as much passion as was physically possible, pouring all his emotions into it. "I love you. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Squirrel. Hey, shouldn't there be mistletoe?" Voldemort grinned, quoting their conversation from the previous night.

Quirrell took out his wand and muttered something under his breath, and before they knew it, mistletoe had appeared above their heads. "Now you have no excuse but to kiss me until that fades away. So get started."

Voldemort obliged, snaking his arms around Quirrell's waist, kissing him deeply. Every so often, Quirrell's ring would catch his eye and he'd well up again with tears. He couldn't remember ever being so happy.

Engaged.

Please review! Sorry if the ending seemed a little rushed, I literally spent so long on this and I'm still not quite happy with it, so there's a good chance it'll be edited at some point :') If there's any typos, please point them out and I'll fix them!