A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your patience, the holiday season was crazy for me but I'm so glad to be able to continue working on this story. I would really appreciate any review or feedback you have. Enjoy!
The morning of Christmas Eve brought with it a sense of nervous excitement and secrecy throughout the Burrow. The number of people staying there made it nearly impossible to keep anything to oneself, so the act of getting presents to the large tree in the living room without the receiver seeing or hearing about their gift was a feat in itself. The smell of the tree filled mixed with the scent of the cookies that Mrs. Weasley had begun baking made the house smell like quintessential Christmas time.
Harry had risen early to place his gifts under the tree; he only placed two there, one for Hermione and one for Mrs. Weasley. He Ron had stopped giving each other formal presents during their time at Hogwarts, and Harry found himself still at a loss for what he should give Ginny, or if he should give her anything at all.
The winter storm that had been imposing itself upon the greater London area has reintroduced itself while the members of the Burrow had been asleep. The drifts outside were new and deep, glittering white piles of snow that would swallow a man up to his knees without a second thought. The trees swayed in the bitter wind outside, and the bright grey sky was the last detail needed to conclude that this was a day meant to be spent indoors. The Burrow was cozily warm due to the crackling fire next to the tree and the heat from the oven in which Mrs. Weasley was creating their Christmas treats. Hermione and Harry had changed the radio to a station which played muggle Christmas songs, ones which he and Hermione had grown up with, but were new and spectacularly charming to the pure bloods in the house.
The Burrow was slow to wake, the dark and cold weather an invitation to stay in bed as long as possible. Slowly, some guests of the Burrow had come to spend the day in the living room, occupying all the couches, chairs, and floor space there was to offer. Hermione was curled in the love seat closest to the fire reading a book while Harry sat next to her, observing a game of wizard's chess being played by Ginny and Ron. The familiar signs of Mrs. Weasley's cooking could be heard and smelled throughout the house. It seemed as though almost all her time was spent in the small kitchen recently, however she never complained or seemed burdened. She emerged from the kitchen after a while, wiping her hands on the apron around her waist, and leaned against the wall to observe the scene in the living room. Harry's attention was briefly taken from the game of chess as he focused on Mrs. Weasley. She looked tired, and for what seemed like the first time in the entire holiday, her face was void of a smile. Harry could not help but think about his encounter with her the night before, but before he would consider it all too deeply, her face seemed to turn back on as Teddy toddled across the floor in front of her. She scooped him up just as the timer of the oven began to ring, and she was back in the kitchen as soon as it seemed she had left it.
After some time every resident in the Burrow was finally awake. The day passed in a blur of cooking, home readying, and yard quidditch, and it seemed as though activity could be found in every inch of the Burrow's acres. Holidays seemed to set Mrs. Weasley on edge only as her home being on display for her entire family could. However, the expression on her face Harry had seen earlier was cleared from his mind as the rest of the day she could be found with a smile on her face, whirring in circles from the kitchen and the living room, and every so often disappearing upstairs to return back with a handful of presents to place under the huge evergreen in the largest room of the house.
As dusk neared and the members of the house began to gather once again in the coziness of the Burrow's living room, the front door swung open, allowing the entrance of several inches of snow which were then followed by Percy. Mrs. Weasley shouted a greeting from the kitchen, where dinner was almost finished being prepared. After removing his scarf and hat, Percy called out for Harry and Ron. After sharing a glance, they both abandoned their seats on the couches of the living room to find Percy in the foyer.
They gathered together in the small hallway, easily out of hearing reach for the rest of the family in the sitting room. Even still, Percy leaned forward and spoke in a hushed tone.
"Things have finally stabilized enough down at the Ministry, and I was able to get you boys that list you wanted. Early Christmas gift, if you will."
Percy reached down into his inner coat pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He handed it over to Ron while his eyes glanced around the room. If Harry were a stranger observing the scene, he would have assumed Percy was doing something much more sinister than giving a list of government-known names to two aurors.
Ron unfolded the paper and his eyes scanned the list. Harry glanced over and could see the names filled the entire page in two columns. He felt slightly sick imagining every one of those people being affected by the curse, and having to live through the aftermath of it. Harry looked away from the list and shook these thoughts from his mind.
"Thanks, Percy."
"Now could I ask why exactly..."
"I think dinner's almost ready."
Before Percy could finish his question, Harry and Ron turned around and began to head back towards the group beginning to form in the dining room. Dinner was served and Harry felt, as he had every night of holiday, an immense feeling of thankfulness to be around everyone in the Burrow. He and Ginny's eyes met across the table, and she gave him a small smile. Harry's feeling of content quickly turned to one of guilt at the fact he had not gotten her a present.
After dinner was over and the table cleared, the Weasley's and their guests began to head off to bed. Although Teddy was the only real child in the house, there was still a certain amount of Christmas anticipation in the air, and the early turning in of everyone in the house was an indicator that even as adults, they could not wait to wake up on Christmas morning.
Harry was already in his cot when Ron came into the room, changed into his pajamas, and got in bed. After he was settled in, a few moments of silence passed before he spoke to Harry.
"Harry...Harry are you awake."
"Yeah."
"Y'know, I've been thinking...could I ask your advice on something? Something important?"
"Yeah, of course."
"Well..Hermione and I've been together for a while and...well I like her a lot. Do you think...what if I wanted to propose to her. Would that be mad of me?"
"Well...do you want to marry her?"
"Well, of course I want to bloody marry her, but do you think she wants to marry me?"
"Well..er...I would guess so. I really don't know, Ron."
A long stretch of silence followed Harry's reply. He felt as though he should have said something more assuring, but he didn't feel as though he could tell Ron what to do for his relationship when he didn't even know how to navigate his own. Finally, Ron broke the silence.
"How're things with Ginny?
"I honestly have no clue."
After all their time as friends, Harry still felt uncomfortable discussing this subject with Ron. However, Harry's unending thoughts about her proved that he would be lying in telling Ron that they were just friends.
"Well...I'm sure you'll figure it out, mate. We both will. We have to, right?"
At this, they both said goodnight and fell asleep as the snow continued to fall.
Christmas at the Burrow never left much to be desired. Any flat surface found itself holding a plate of baked sweets, any potentially quiet area was alive with the sound of Christmas music; the purebloods of the house had at this point learned the charm of muggle music, and sometimes the Weasley boys could even be heard singing along to some of the more frequently played tunes.
The blizzard outside had done anything but lessen overnight. The entire world from the Burrow's windows looked as though it had been covered in a white blanket.
As the rest of the house began to awaken, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all gathered in the kitchen with their coffee. Ron placed a messy, yet lovingly, wrapped gift of the table, and looked at Hermione.
"You're gonna need to wait until later to open this one."
Ron winked at her and she giggled and blushed as she reached across the table to pull the present towards herself. Harry looked away and groaned. He knew exactly what the misshapenly-wrapped gift was.
Many months ago Ron has enlisted Harry's help in finding Hermione a present for their anniversary. He had already gone through all the cliché gifts, and was desperate to find her something to show that he was capable of buying her something she would love. He and Harry had stumbled upon a bookstore in London which carried books they had never even imagined existed. Lovemaking: A History, Advanced Passion Making, and many other titles of the sort, all parodies of Hogwarts textbooks. Ron thought these the perfect present for Hermione, and she loved them, or so Ron told Harry. Ever since, he had bought her a different volume for every special occasion.
A few moments later, they heard the sound of footsteps on the staircase, meaning the rest of the Burrow had finally found the courage to leave their warm beds, presumably once they remembered it was Christmas. Mrs. Weasley had been in the living room, adding final touches to the Christmas scene. Harry, Ron, and Hermione left the kitchen in order to secure themselves seats on the couch for the opening of presents. As they entered the living room, Mrs. Weasley hurried out, into the kitchen, and back out with a plate of breakfast treats for everyone, and made final adjustments and additions to the presents under the tree. It wasn't long before everyone was seated in the living room and gifts were passed out.
Every member of the household received a sweater from Mrs. Weasley, as usual, but the most special of all was the tiny sweater embroidered with a V for Bill and Fleur's coming baby. Other gifts were exchanged, and the pile underneath the huge evergreen began to dwindle. Hermione always gifted both Harry and Ron with someone practical and loving; this year, monogrammed stationery. After some time, a gift was handed to George that looked oddly familiar to Harry. Mrs. Weasley announced that it was from Ron, and before Harry could consider his thought too deeply, George had already torn off the paper, and was reading out the title of the book to the room.
"Fantastic Orgasms and Where to Find Them... oh Ron, you shouldn't have."
Harry was unable to stop himself from bursting into laughter. Ron's eyes grew comically large and round as he looked at George, at Harry, at George, at his mother, and finally at Hermione, whose face was redder than Harry had ever seen.
"You know how much I love books and sex! Oh wait, that's not me...that'd be Hermione, wouldn't it?"
At this point, the entire room was in hysterics. Hermione had turned three shades deeper red than she had been when George made this final comment, and Harry was sure she was about to explode with embarrassment. Ginny doubled over in laughter, falling off the couch and unable to recover.
It was a good thing that there were few presents left to go through, as the room was unable to keep itself under control after the book incident. After the gifts were finished, everyone in the house dispersed once again, taking what they had received to their rooms as Ron was being lectured by his mother about the importance of safe sex.
Hours passed, and with encouragement from Ginny, Hermione was finally able to emerge from her room with a somewhat normal complexion color. They made their way into the living room and sat down next to Harry and Ron.
"Hermione I am so sorry..."
Her face began to redden again as there was a knock on the door. Before anyone could get up to answer it, the door was opened and Luna entered.
"Hello, everyone. Happy Christmas."
She unwrapped her huge scarf and her platinum hair was let down completely. She walked over to them on the couch, still carrying her oversized patchworked purse. She sat down on the loveseat next to them and smiled. Harry still felt himself caught off guard by her at times, but Hermione never faltered.
"Hello, Luna, how was your Christmas?"
"Oh it was fine. I had breakfast with dad and then I stopped by Neville's to give him his gift. He told me to give you all his love."
"Well that sounds nice, Luna. Tell them both we say hello."
She gave another small smile to Hermione.
"Well, I wanted to come by to give you all your gift."
Harry, Ron, and Ginny shared a look, and he assumed they were all feeling the same sinking feeling of guilt for having nothing to give her.
Luna reached into her large bag and pulled out what looked like a handmade book. The questioning look on Ron and Ginny's faces were soon answered by Hermione's naming of the object.
"Oh, it's a scrapbook."
Luna smiled as she turned the book towards all of them in her lap.
"Well, after the battle at school, where Colin died, I found the reels from his camera. In a pile of unclaimed items."
Luna spoke this entire sentence with a dreamy look on her face. Harry was unsure as to how she was able to talk about things so blatantly, but he had learned to move on from it quickly.
It was then that Luna opened the front page of the book and Harry heard Hermione give a small gasp. On the front page of the book was a picture of Hermione, Harry, and Ron from their second year at Hogwarts. It was taken from an angle that showed that they didn't know they picture was being taken, and Harry immediately felt the memories of himself telling Colin to quit taking pictures of him. Luna handed the book to Hermione, and she began to slowly flip through the pages.
Every page featured several pictures of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and the other wizards they had known at Hogwarts. About halfway through the book the photos of their group began to include Luna, one of the photos containing her included the caption "Friends" with a small heart drawn next to it. There were photos from the stands of the Triwizard Tournament, photos of the group of them dancing at the Yule Ball, photos from the gathering of Dumbledore's Army. Harry could see the tears welling in Hermione's eyes.
Near the end of the book, there was a page containing photos of Ginny and Harry, and they both looked at each other. Harry could remember the instances that many of these pictures must have been taken by Colin, but he could not remember a time in which he had been around him and Ginny. Once arriving at this page, Luna looked at the two of them.
"Oh, how are you two? I've been meaning to ask."
Ginny and Harry shared another look, both seeming to not know how to answer. Harry began to try and answer before the silence became awkward.
"Er..."
"Well we're..."
Luna began to speak again.
"Well, you still love each other, don't you?"
Harry made his eyes look anywhere but at Ginny. Luna continued to look at them with her dreamy-eyed stare. She then moved her attention back to the scrapbook. For once, Harry was thankful for Luna's inability to gauge uncomfortability.
"They're lovely, aren't they? I figured he would want you all to have them."
The rest of the holiday had passed without incident. Before long, the days of relaxing in the Burrow with Mrs. Weasley's cooking and the comfortable chaos of too many visitors was over. Harry and Ron had volunteered to take Hermione back to Hogwarts, as they always did after she visited home, however this time Ginny asked if she could come with them.
The four apparated into Hogsmeade with no trouble and made the walk to Hogwarts through the now manageable levels of snow. Arriving back on school grounds always gave Harry conflicting feelings; a sensation of coming home juxtaposed with a feeling of deep loss and darkness.
Upon entering the main entrance hall of the castle, Ginny was swept off by former classmates, asking how she was doing, where she's been, what life in the "real world" is like. With Ginny preoccupied, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way to McGonagall's office. After the Battle she had been named Headmistress, and ever since had been leading the school in learning and recovery. Whenever Harry and Ron brought Hermione back, they would all take time to visit her. Harry always pictured telling his 13-year-old self that one day he would consider himself friends with Professor McGonagall. The thought of his reaction always made him laugh.
The trio took the hidden stairs up and knocked on her office door, and was promptly let into the headmaster's office. Harry could not help but be thankful that the gargoyle had been removed, and that the process of entering was easier than it had been in Dumbledore's days.
"Well, hello to you all."
They all greeted the Headmistress separately; Ron still had to correct himself from saying Professor whenever they went to see her.
"You know, you all got into so much trouble when you were here, and I was always on you for it, yet I feel as though I was never as diligent in thanking you for the good you did."
"Ah Profe-Headmistress, don't worry about it. We were a bunch of gits back then."
"I've had quite some time to think about everything, since the school reopened. Everyone remembers what happened between Voldemort and Harry at the Battle but...many students don't realize what you all went through with the horcruxes."
They were all quiet for a moment. Harry also wondered how much the students of Hogwarts truly knew about what it took to kill Voldemort. What he, Hermione, Ron, and Dumbledore all went through to make it so Voldemort was even able to be killed by Harry that day at the Battle. McGonagall cleared her throat.
"Well, nevertheless. I wanted to say thank you, as I'm not sure if I ever have before. This whole school thanks you three."
Hermione hugged the Headmistress while Harry and Ron shook her hand.
"Now, you two get Miss Granger to her sleeping quarters. I have no doubt you remember the way."
With that, the three left McGonagall's office and began to head to the Gryffindor dorms to put Hermione's things away. However, Harry could not get what McGonagall said to them out of his mind.
"You two go ahead, I'm gonna go talk to Slughorn."
"Are you sure, Harry? We can come if you like."
"No no, it's alright Hermione. Just go get settled in, I'll come and say bye after."
Hermione smiled at him as she and Ron continued walking towards to the dorms. Harry began to walk the other direction, taking different stairs and corridors until he found himself at the office of the potions master. He knocked on the door and entered when he heard the familiar sound of the professor's voice calling for Harry to come in.
"Er...hello, Professor."
Slughorn looked over as Harry entered the room, and immediately stood up with a smile on his face.
"Well! Mr. Potter, it has been some time."
He leaned over his desk, reaching out to shake Harry's hand. He gestured for him to sit down, and Harry took a seat in the wooden chair across from the potions teacher.
"Now, what brings you down to this part of the castle. Not coming back to Hogwarts, I imagine?"
"Not quite, sir. I was just speaking to the Headmistress and, well, we were speaking about the horcruxes from the war, and it had me thinking."
Harry paused for a moment.
"I don't know if I ever truly thanked you for what you did that night, with the memory you gave me. It changed everything, sir, and it's the only reason we were able to defeat him. So, well, thanks."
Slughorn had leaned back in his chair while Harry was talking, and his joyous smile had slipped from his face. He looked at Harry seriously, and something that Harry could only name as sadness seemed to be present in his eyes. He cleared his throat before speaking again to Harry.
"Well, it was the least I could have done. I'm sorry I didn't do more before then. But I must say I'm glad it's over, and it's not something I care to think about very much."
Harry felt a slight pang of guilt. He had only meant to thank Slughorn, his intention was far from making him remember things he had preferred to push away.
"Of course, sir. I'll be going, then. Good luck with everything."
Slughorn smiled at Harry once more, but this one tinged with sadness and regret. Harry smiled back before leaving the dark office.
Harry found his way back into the main halls of Hogwarts once leaving the potions area. His plan was to make way to the Gryffindor dorms to say goodbye to Hermione, grab Ron, find Ginny, and go back to the Burrow. However, before he could accomplish any of this, he felt his arm being grabbed from next to him.
"Harry!"
Harry whipped his head around to see Ginny standing next to him, looking somewhat flustered.
"Could we go outside? I can't stand to tell one more story about not going to school."
They found one of the exits to the grounds outside and made their way into the cold. It was dark now, The moon shining large and bright above them, stars twinkling with no threat of being hidden by the light of a city. They walked through the snow, the ground crunching beneath them and the wind just strong enough to make Ginny's flowery scent unignorable by Harry. They walked close to one another, and Harry was unable to tell whether it was intentional or an instinctual way to combat the cold.
As they walked further from the castle, Harry wondered whether she was waiting for him to say something. He tried to go through every possible thing he could and should say to her, and as he filed the list in his head he felt something grab his hand. He looked downwards to see that Ginny had released her left hand from her coat pocket in order to hold his right. Her hand was small and freezing, and Harry was caught off guard by the gesture. He laced his fingers through hers, and after a few more feet of walking, she stopped in place, pulling him to a stop as well.
"I never got to give you your Christmas gift, you know."
Harry felt himself sinking into a guilt unlike any other he had felt recently. He had gotten her nothing. After Christmas had ended and she had not presented him with anything either, he figured he was safe, that he had made the right, smart decision of not getting her anything, not making anything between them more than it was. And now he was a fool. She had probably been waiting for him to give her his gift, and now it was a week later and he still hadn't so she figured she would make him feel like a complete git. And she had succeeded.
"Er, a gift? Ginny I..."
She had a twinkle in her eyes that Harry was unable to resist. Her confidence had always been unnerving to him, and now, in the snow, her bright red hair clashing against the grayscale world around them, her cheeks flushed from the wind and her lips curving slightly into a smile, his nervousness was no different.
She moved closer to him, the corner of her mouth turning upwards with every inch closed between them. The line between Ginny's flirtation and rage was small in body language. The twinkle in her brown eyes could be that of adoration or of anger. She's going to hit me, he thought. She's going to hex me and turn me into water so I freeze and she can smash me into a million pieces.
"It's quite a bit like what I got you for your birthday last year."
The grounds were quiet and dark. The lake was motionless and glassy. Snow coated everything for miles in every direction. The occasional owl flew overhead anxious to deliver a letter. The stone that made up the castle remained icy and cold. And in the middle of the courtyard stood Harry and Ginny, sharing their first kiss in ages, and forgetting all about the dreary world that surrounded them.