All characters are property of JK Rowling and I do not make a profit from this story.

Beta: Roman's Sundial

Chapter Seventeen: Christmas

Ron Weasley – Present Day

December 25, 1999

Ron awoke in his bed at Grimmauld Place on Christmas morning to a pile of presents at the foot of his bed. Many of the Order members spent Christmas Eve at the house with George, then apparated home to their loved ones. The Weasleys all went back to the Burrow to be with Ginny, but Ron had been one of the few to stay behind. It was past midnight when Ron heard Harry approach their shared room, but Ron had locked it with a charm that could not be open, and after a few attempts, Harry had left. Ron did not care that this was now Harry's house; he was not going to share a room with him. He started to open the presents in front of him. He had his usual pullover from his mum, along with a bunch of his favorite sweets, a broom servicing kit from Hermione (she remembered how much he had borrowed Harry's), and two wrapped parcels that he did not recognize. He opened the first small package and found a black leather watch strap. Enclosed was a short note:

I bought this before things ended, when I noticed that your watch strap was tearing. Happy Christmas – Essa

Ron did not know what to make of her gift; evidently, he did not get her anything. Frowning, he moved on to the second, slightly bigger, package. A thick, gold chain had fallen into his lap, along with a piece of parchment that read:

This is from my parent's vault, and since I see you as my brother, I thought you should wear it. – Harry

Ron looked at the chain; it had to be real gold. He had never owned anything worth nearly as much as this must have been worth. He picked up the piece of parchment again and re-read it. Harry saw him as a brother… What a fool he had been! He searched his room frantically, looking for something that he could gift to Harry. He grabbed a bunch of the sweets he had received from his mum, wrapped them in one of the wrinkly wrappings on his bed, and headed downstairs to find him. "Happy Christmas, Harry!" he said, handing his best friend the package.

"Happy Christmas, Ron!" Harry accepted the package and opened up the sweets. He grabbed a box of Bertie Bott's every flavored beans that was in the shape of an "R" and held it up to Ron. "Last minute gift?" he said, chuckling.

Ron smiled, "I'm sorry, Harry, I was being a prat."

"All is forgiven, mate, it's just good to have you back."

"That chain from your parents' vault, I can't accept it."

"Of course you can, you're my brother!" Harry said, clapping him on the back.

Lost for words, Ron sat at the table and joined Harry for breakfast.

After the two men ate, Ron got up and headed to the door. "Sorry, Harry, but I need to go to St. Mungo's. It's Christmas, I need to see her whether she wants me to or not."

"I'm off to see Ginny, too," Harry responded. "I'll see you tonight?"

"See you," Ron nodded. It didn't take Ron long to apparate to St. Mungo's and reach Amelia's room. He saw Jessica sitting outside of the room, her head in a book. "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore?" Ron said outloud, reading the title of the book. "You do realize that anything Rita Skeeter writes is a load of rubbish, right?"

"So I've heard, Ginny thought I would enjoy a good laugh, though. She just left, actually, she only stopped by to give me this."

Ron stood in front of her nervously. "Is it okay that I came?" he asked hesitantly. Jessica nodded and moved over, making space for him beside her. He sat next to her happily, and asked, "how is she doing?"

Jessica sighed before responding. "Well, there's been progress. She's producing more sparks which they say is good, and she almost woke up once."

"Almost?"

"Her eyelids fluttered, but they remained closed," she answered sadly.

Ron nervously reached over and grabbed her hand. "I'm sorry, Jessica."

"Ginny told me about your brother," she said, not acknowledging his apology. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I, uh, wasn't supposed to tell anyone, not even Ginny! She shouldn't have told you."

"Yeah, well, Ginny is the only one who doesn't keep secrets from me," Jessica said, pulling her hand away.

Ron picked up on her mood, and decided to ease it. "Well, in case you get tired of that rubbish," he said, indicating Skeeter's book, "I brought you another one."

Jessica accepted the book being handed to her. "Hogwarts: A History," she read aloud.

"It's all about our school," Ron explained. "I thought you would want to know about it, as that's where Amelia will be when she turns eleven."

"You honestly think I will let her go there?" Jessica said, her face burning red.

"You have to, all wizards and witches go to-"

"She is not a witch!" Jessica yelled. "Get out!"

"No, I'm not leaving! You're in denial, that's why you sit out here and not in there with her! Face it, Jessica, she's a witch whether you like it or not!"

"Ron, if you don't leave right now-" Jessica was cut off when a loud noise was heard from Amelia's room. Both Jessica and Ron ran into the room to find a very tiny Amelia sitting up in bed, and medical equipment laying on the ground.

"Oopsie, Mummy!" came Amelia's small little voice.

Bursting with tears, Jessica ran and embraced her daughter in her arms. "Amelia!" she cried, tears of joy rolling down her face. "Oh, my Amelia!"

Ron stood by the door, beaming from ear to ear. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted off of him; Amelia was awake and was going to be okay. He stepped out of the room to inform a nearby Healer, then galleoned Harry, asking him to tell Molly the good news. A few moments later, Jessica was coming out of Amelia's room, rosy-cheeked and puffy-eyed.

"She was feeling dizzy, so they gave her some medication to put her to sleep. They promised she would wake up though, they just needed her body to do it slowly."

"Medication?"

Jessica gritted her teeth. "Potion," she mumbled.

Ron could see that she was struggling with the fact that her daughter was a part of the wizarding world. "I informed Mum," he told her.

She nodded her thanks. "She's been very kind. Could you please let Ginny know, as well?"

Ron pulled out his galleon and sent his sister a message. "Done," he said, pocketing the galleon again. "Jessica, listen, about the book…"

But Jessica shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it. I appreciate the sentiment behind it, but I'm not sure if I'm going to let her enter this world."

"But, she has to!" Ron had never heard of any magical child not attend Hogwarts, or any of the other schools. What would happen if Jessica held Amelia back? Was that even possible?

"Ron, she's not even two yet, and she still has a long road of recovery. I'm not dealing with this now!"

"Okay," he said. "I better get going, I have Christmas dinner at my mum's." He hesitated before adding, "can I come back?"

Jessica nodded. "As long as you don't talk about that school."

"Fine," he said, going up to her and giving her a hug. "Happy Christmas, to both of you."

Jessica hugged him back, tightly. "It's a Christmas miracle, that's for sure."

Harry Potter – Present Day

December 25, 1999

"Happy Christmas, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry, as he walked into the Burrow and removed his traveling cloak.

"Happy Christmas, Harry, Dear!" she replied, embracing him in a tight motherly hug. "Hermione is in the living room, if you wish to see her."

"Thanks, is Ginny there, too?"

"No, I don't think she's even up yet, Dear, I've been up since the crack of dawn getting everything ready and I have yet to see her."

Harry nodded his thanks, and headed to the living room. "Happy Christmas, Hermione," he said.

"Happy Christmas, Harry!" she said, looking up from her book.

"I see you've received my gift?" he said, indicating to the book she was reading.

"Yes, thank you very much!"

He sat next to her on the couch and pulled out his galleon.

I'm downstairs with Hermione.

He sent the message to Ginny, hoping that she would come down. "Where's Viktor, today?"

"Can you believe that he has Quidditch?"

"On Christmas?"

Hermione nodded. "You should be happy that you never went on to play professionally, Harry!"

Harry laughed. "What about Draco?"

"I'm taking him later to see his mum," she grumbled.

"That's really nice of you, Hermione."

"That's me, nice Hermione," she said sarcastically.

Trying to avoid having to deal with bad mood Hermione, Harry changed the subject. "Want to see what I got Ginny?" he asked her.

"I would love to!"

Harry pulled out a black velvet box and handed it to her. Inside was a unique necklace; the straps were made of a delicate yet strong black ribbon, and at the centre was a golden pendant with a distinguished letter 'P'. "I think it's the Potter crest, it was in my parent's vault."

"Oh, Harry, it's beautiful! She will love it!"

Harry smiled, and put the velvet box back into his pocket. "If she would hurry up and wake, I would love to give it to her."

"What do you mean? She's not in her room, I looked for her when I got here."

"Mrs. Weasley said that she hasn't seen her all day," said Harry, getting up and checking Ginny's room himself. After searching the remainder of the house, he went back into the kitchen. "Mrs. Weasley, Ginny isn't in her room or the rest of the house."

"That's impossible, Dear, she hasn't left, I would have seen if she had. Ginny!" she called out, walking towards the stairs. "Ginny, Dear, get down here, please!" Mrs. Weasley returned a few moments later, with a look of concern on her face. "Harry, could you please use your galleon to contact her?"

"I did, but she never replied."

"Errol! Where is that bloody owl? Errol!" said Mrs. Weasley, clearly looking to prepare a letter to her daughter, or worse, a Howler.

"Mrs. Weasley, she just sent me a message!" said Hermione, running into the kitchen, holding her galleon.

"What does it say?" the sweetness in her voice gone.

Hermione hesitated, but read the message aloud:

I won't be coming to the Burrow today, things to do.

"Not coming? Things to do? Things to do?" The look on Molly's face was frightening.

"I'm sure she's got a good reason, perhaps she is visiting Jessica and Amelia at the hospital?"

"Who's visiting Jessica and Amelia?" asked Ron, walking into the Burrow and removing his travelling cloak.

"Ginny," answered Hermione.

"Ginny was there this morning, Jess said, there won't be anymore visitors today."

Harry bit his bottom lip. Was this his doing? He was pushing Ginny away from the Order for her safety, but was he pushing so far that she was deserting them all? "I'll take care of it, Mrs. Weasley, don't worry." Harry left the Burrow before any one of them could follow him. He had no idea where Ginny was, but seeing as though she still had his invisibility cloak, he knew she was up to something. She knew about George, although how, he had no idea. He clearly wasn't giving her the credit she deserved; she was smart, and she was finding out whatever it was that she needed to. Essa had said that she felt someone grab her arm when she was apparating to the bakery in France, could that have been Ginny? Had she somehow found out about the Order's plan to track Pius? With Ginny having the invisibility cloak, it made so much sense… Harry prepared to apparate there himself, but then stopped. If Pius saw him there, it would give up their plan. He battled internally with his decision; Did he risk giving up the Order's position on a whim, or did he wait and see if Ginny would return on her own? It was his job, as everyone else in the Order, to protect what they were doing. But it was also his job, as Ginny's boyfriend, to protect her. Hesitantly, he grabbed his galleon and prepared a risky message to Ginny:

Just tell me if you're at the hill.

After waiting several minutes, he concluded that she was not going to respond. Swearing under his breath, he prepared to apparate to Hogwarts, hoping to find Professor McGonagall. He needed to confide in someone, and he felt that she would be the most unbiased. Just as he was about to apparate, something grew hot in his pocket. Anxiously, Harry grabbed the galleon out of his pocket, and read the message that came from Ginny's serial number:

DO NOT FOLLOW.

Draco Malfoy – The Present

December 25, 1999

Draco straightened the bow on his mother's gift that he had just wrapped. Since he had spent plenty of time in his common room now, he had perfected the art of many things, one of them being (oddly enough) gift wrapping. He had ordered his mother a tea set through the Daily Prophet's Owl Ordering Service, and it had arrived just a few days ago. Narcissa Malfoy was an avid tea drinker, and this particular set was black and silver, like the rest of Malfoy Manor's décor, and Draco knew once he had spotted it, that it would be the perfect gift for her. He then reached for the other package that he had recently wrapped. This one was long and slender, and it was the only other Christmas gift that Draco had purchased. He would have loved to give Hermione priceless jewelry instead, but knowing that she would not accept them, he hoped that she would at least accept this subtle gift. He heard shuffling outside of his dormitory, and so he hastily put the gifts inside of his trunk and headed for the common room. Since every Slytherin had gone home for the holidays, he knew that it was the Hogwart's house elf bringing him a meal. He walked over to a table in the centre of the room, next a lavish leather couch, and made himself comfortable. Sure enough, it was the usual house elf that was making his way over to Draco, and finally laying his lunch in front of him and bowing.

"Mr. Malfoy's lunch today is split pea soup with biscuits, and a glass of orange juice."

"Thank you, Kreacher."

"Kreacher will not bring Mr. Malfoy's dinner today, Kreacher's co-worker Wooly will bring it."

"Oh," said Draco, sipping his hot soup. "It's always been you who has brought my meals, why the change?" It was not as if Draco had cared; he simply grew accustomed to seeing the ugly house elf with the grey hair protruding out of his big ears.

"Kreacher will return tomorrow and serve Mr. Malfoy his meals," said Kreacher, "but Kreacher must return to his Master today, as his Master ordered Kreacher to be home for Christmas dinner."

"You have a master?" Draco asked, confused. "Isn't that McGonagall, since she's the Headmistress?"

Kreacher shook his head. "Kreacher is not a Hogwarts house elf, Kreacher only works here because Kreacher's Master has ordered him to, but Kreacher goes back home whenever Master calls."

"Oh," Draco said, not knowing what else to say.

"Kreacher must leave now, but Mr. Malfoy will inform Ms. Granger that Kreacher made sure that Wooly will bring Mr. Malfoy's meals, and that Kreacher will return tomorrow."

"I don't think Hermione will care about who feeds me, Kreacher," said Draco, chuckling.

"Ms. Granger does care! Ms. Granger found Kreacher and told Kreacher specifically that he is to feed Mr. Malfoy when Mr. Malfoy takes meal time in his common room."

Draco frowned. "Does Hermione know you? I mean, personally?"

"Kreacher is ordered by his Master to listen to Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley, so Kreacher must obey what Ms. Granger asks. Kreacher must go to his Master now." The old house elf bowed his way out of the Slytherin common room.

So, Kreacher was ordered to obey Hermione and Weasley. Well, it was obvious to Draco who owned the house elf. He continued to sip his soup all the while wondering why Potter had sent his house elf to work at Hogwarts.

Sirius Black – The Past

March 6, 1996

Padfoot wadded his way through the muddy cemetery and sat in front of his friends' graves. He wished that he could have transformed into his true form, but fearing recapture, he stayed in his animagus form. Even as the big shaggy dog, he was risking being noticed by a Death Eater; he was almost certain that the Potters' graves were being watched. He whimpered as he read their names on their headstones. It had been his fault that they had died; he never should have convinced them to use Wormtail instead. He heard footsteps approaching, but laid his head back down when he realized it was only Remus. Remus conjured up a chair and sat next to Sirius. For anyone looking, it would simply appear as a man visiting a grave with his dog. The pair sat silently for awhile (well, Sirius laid, rather) and remembered the good times with their fallen friends. After quite some time, Remus spoke.

"It's a shame that it only has James and Lily's name on it, but I suppose they wouldn't know which other name to put." Sirius, of course, could not reply as he was in his animagus form, but he silently agreed with Remus.

"You need to tell Harry, Sirius, when he comes to visit his Parents' graves for the first time. He should know who is buried with them." Sirius whimpered; he knew what he had to do, but for now, all he wanted to do was mourn his friends. No, not friends, he thought, family. These three were his family, family that was no longer here.

Author's Notes: First, it seems as though I may have confused a few about when Harry will redeem himself, so let me explain. Chapter 19 will be the start of the redemption, but it is going to take him awhile. Chapter 21 is where Ginny gets annoyed and "pushes him" so to speak. That's all I am going to say on the matter; Looks like you'll need to read to find out the rest!

So, I think I have shown where the Grindelwald story is going. Yes, Ginny is on her way there, and yes, prepare for some Grindelwald interaction. (I won't say with who, however!)

The next chapter was written with a little tribute to Emma Watson's new role as Belle - I couldn't help myself!

Enjoy! And as always, thank you for reading and commenting!