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"Come on!" Lorel whined jumping up and down nervously. Harry smiled.

"Ron's not going anywhere, Lorel," he said. She shot him a look and Harry held up his hands, leaning down and helping Timothy with his coat. She's starting to act like Hermione more and more, he thought. Ginny just smiled and after she finished putting on her coat, she turned to Harry.

"You ready?" she asked. Rolling his eyes, he nodded and the family left.

"DAD!" Lorel yelled when she spotted him in the kitchen. She ran over to him and grabbed him into a hug. Ron smiled and held on to her. Taking a step back he looked her over.

"Wow! You've grown up since I last saw you," he commented. Lorel grinned.

"Dad, you always say that!" she responded. Ron couldn't help but smile at her. Taking her hand, he led her outside where it was snowing and quiet. The snow was glistening as the morning sun cast gentle rays upon it. The two headed over to the swing set and sat down, enjoying the calm. Ron looked over at her.

"You pack clothes for the two weeks?" he asked. She nodded. There was a brief silence in which Lorel worked up the courage to ask the question she asked every year. She looked up at Ron. His eyes were dark and haunted. He looked older than she remembered.

"Did you-"

"No," came his sharp reply, his eyes trained on the frozen lake ahead. Lorel bit her lip and looked down at her lap.

"I'm sorry dad," she said.

"For what?"

"For not being able to find mum," she replied softly. Ron shook his head.

"It's not your fault..." A silence overcame them once, as that night exploded into Ron's memory. The nightmare he'd been having ever since he'd left her that night was still as much a horrifying reality now as it had been the night it happened. Finally, Ron decided to speak.

"How was it at Harry's?" he asked. Thankful for the shift in gears, Lorel started to speak again, telling her father about all her memories of that year.

Harry pulled away from the back window and looked over at Mrs. Weasley.

"When did he get here?" he asked. Molly looked up and smiled

"Quite early actually. Four o'clock."

"Did he say anything about finding something?" Ginny asked, setting down her tea. Molly's smile faded and she turned back to her cooking.

"No... just like every time. He doesn't say a thing about his trip," she answered. Harry shrugged.

"Well, you know what they say. No news is good news."

"Yeah, and we've been getting seven years of 'no news'," retorted Fred as he entered the kitchen with Nicole, his six year old, by the hand. She spotted Ginny, squealed and ran over to her aunt. Ginny looked up at Fred.

"You aren't being fair, Fred. Ron's been through-"

"A lot I know! That doesn't mean he has to spend the rest of his life and Lorel's life searching for her! You heard the Healers and the Aurors. They both said there was a slight chance she might actually be alive! A slight chance? Is Ron going to waste away like that just because of a slight chance? Dammit, he hasn't even left Europe yet. What happens when he gets some bright idea that she might be in some other continent? What then? He'll spend the rest of his life out there, looking for her!" There was a silence in which everyone just stared at Fred. He had never actually voiced his opinion on Ron's searching for Hermione. He, like George and Charlie, had just kept quiet about the whole thing. Of course, he was right in a way. Would Ron actually spend the rest of his life looking for her? Would he leave Lorel behind to fulfil a promise made seven years ago?

"Here we are!" came the flowing voice of Fleur as she flounced in, carrying some bags. Five children came running in after her and begged their grandmother if they could go play out in the front yard. After shooing them off, Molly turned to Fleur and took the bags, placing them on the counter before turning to her eldest son.

"How are you?" she asked. Bill shrugged.

"Tired. Just got back from Egypt yesterday. Is Ron back?" he asked. Molly sighed and pointed out the back door.

"But don't bother him right now. He's with Lorel," she told them. Bill nodded and took a seat at the table beside Ginny, accepting the tea she offered. Fleur walked over to the back door and peeked out the window, smiling.

"They look adorable," she gushed in her French accent. Harry glanced over at Fred, who had reverted back to his quiet state, swishing around the contents of his butterbeer bottle before drinking. Harry sighed. It was going to be a very interesting Christmas.

Not that other one's hadn't been interesting. Two Christmas' back, Ron hadn't been in the happiest of moods. This incident started out with the words, 'he was drinking to much anyway' and ended with the words, 'needless to say, he had to pay for half of the damage to the vending machine'. Don't ask. Though everyone was always happy to see Ron, especially Lorel, he never really got into the whole thing. The only reason he was there was not because of Lorel, but because Harry had threatened him into coming back at least one time a year. Lorel just reminded Ron so much of Hermione that he tried to stay away as much as possible. Drinking was his only escape from the happy memories that flooded into his mind and caused him grief.

A/N: This is it!