|AN|: Thanks for comments and MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I hope you'll like it!

|AN2|: Very special Christmas wishes for my Marta. I love you, honey and you know why exactly I want to dedicate this to you! :*

Chapter Two:

Will you be my reindeer?

A very pleasant and familiar scent filled Ginny Weasley's nostrils as she breathed in deeply. She stirred a little in her sleep before the scent reached her brain and her eyes snapped open. She smiled sleepily and rubbed her eyes with her right hand.

"What are you staring at, you strange man?" She asked the black haired young guy who was lying beside her peacefully with head propped up on his left elbow and a little smile on his lips.

"Oh, hello to you too." He replied, his grin wider. "I like watching you sleep." He added and she laughed loudly, covering her head with a pillow.

"You sound like some creepy, obsessive-minded psycho-fan." She commented hitting him playfully with the pillow. He grabbed it in his hands and attacked her with his mouth.

"Maybe I am your creepy, obsessive-minded psycho-fan." She squealed loudly when he started to tickle her. He stopped suddenly and kissed her passionately and she grabbed his head to make sure he wouldn't end it too early. He chuckled when she refused to let him go. "Or you're mine." He added and she swatted his arm.

"What are you doing here, by the way?" She asked, still crushed underneath him. "Mum won't be very happy to find you in my bed. She'll go spare, actually," she added and he chuckled slightly.

"No, she will not." He said stealing one more kiss. "I've run into her on the landing and she only smiled at me wickedly. Wickedly! Your mum, of all people!" He exclaimed with amazement and she laughed, playing with his messy hair.

"I still hope she'll never find out how you proposed to me, Harry." She said with a chuckle and he wiggled his eyebrows and smiled devilishly at her.

"Do you think she would mind if we lived together?" He asked and she raised her eyebrows.

"Are you asking me to move-in with you?" She asked, surprised.

"That is exactly what I'm asking you," he replied and she grabbed his head, pulling it towards hers. "I would be able to stare at you every morning then." He added nuzzling her cheek. She chuckled.

"Why are you always asking important questions when you have me pinned to the bed underneath you?" She whispered to his ear. He laughed softly and kissed her neck.

"Because in this position I can easily make you say 'yes'," he replied.

"Try me, Potter." She challenged and he immediately sneaked his hands under her sweatshirt and started to tickle her. In about thirty seconds he had her begging for mercy and shrieking 'yes' repeatedly.

"So… I presume it's a 'yes'?" He asked and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes, Harry. I would be very happy to move-in with you." She replied and he kissed her lovingly, breathing in her flowery scent.

"So now, we only have to convince your mum." He said after that blissful moment and they laughed together. He wrapped his arms around her and touched her nose with his own. "Merry Christmas, little flame," he said with fire in his eyes.

"Merry Christmas, snuggles." She replied before she captured his lips with her own.

"Hey Hermione!" Exclaimed Ginny an hour later when she entered the living room and found her friend sitting on the sofa. The door to the dining room was closed as always on Christmas morning. Molly was going to open them when she was ready and the whole family would be up and waiting outside.

"Oh, Hi Ginny!" replied Hermione, looking at her over the book she was reading. "You look beautiful in that dress." She added referring to Ginny's new bottle-green cocktail dress. Ginny laughed softly.

"You look quite stunning yourself." She replied. Hermione was wearing a simple white dress with violet sash matching her headband and earrings in the same color. Hermione smiled brightly and put her book on the coffee table in front of her, then patted the space beside her on the couch. Ginny smiled and sank onto the vacant seat, resting her head against Hermione's shoulder.

"I need a hug from you." She said and Hermione laughed loudly but wrapped her arms around her.

"Is something wrong?" Hermione asked rising her brows at Ginny.

"Quite the opposite, I would say," replied Ginny looking at her friend with sparkles in her eyes "I'm the happiest person alive, Hermione, and I just wanted to share it with you." She added and Hermione tightened her embrace around her.

"Then, I'm happy as well." She replied. "If there is someone in this world who truly deserves to be extremely happy it's you and Harry. You've been through so much, both of you," she added, stroking Ginny's back fondly. Ginny laughed loudly, breaking the embrace to look at the older girl properly.

"And it comes from the girl who was stuck with my fiancé since she was eleven." She said with a chuckle. "But I guess you're happy as well?" She asked and Hermione's eyes lit up.

"Of course!" She exclaimed with happiness. "That's the only reason why I'm not terribly jealous about you two." She added and they laughed together. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes.

"Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"I know it's quite early and all but I know I won't change my decision in that matter, so…" began Ginny and Hermione looked at her questioningly, "will you be my Maid of Honour?" She asked and Hermione's mouth snapped open.

"Wow… I mean… Ginny… wow…" stuttered Hermione, "I will be very happy, really, really happy… " She added and Ginny smiled brightly. "But why me?" asked Hermione.

"What do you mean, why you?" asked Ginny, confused.

"I mean… I thought, that you'd ask Luna, you two are so close…" started Hermione, but Ginny cut her off grabbing her hands.

"Hermione, I love Luna, I really do. And she is my best friend." She started calmly. "I seriously don't know what I would do without her that year when the three of you were away. She means so much to me," she explained, "but with you, Hermione, it's something immensely different. She is my best friend, and I can't imagine my wedding without her, but as far as I'm concerned you are my sister, 'Mione." Hermione's eyes shone with tears and Ginny squeezed her hands gently. "You are the reason Harry noticed me at all, you are the reason I started to act like myself in front of him and I couldn't think of a better person to be my Maid of Honour when it comes to my wedding with him," finished Ginny. Tears were streaming down Hermione's cheeks when she wrapped her arms around Ginny. "And I can talk to you about everything, knowing that you'll always listen to me and have some inappropriately wise advice." She added and a watery laugh escaped Hermione's lips.

"That is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard Ginny," she said wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "But now, you have to save my make-up." She added and they both laughed.

"Will you be my reindeer?" Asked Ginny lying on top of Harry on the cold ground, wiping the melted snow from his face. They ended like that when during the family snow fight she jumped at him, pushed him into a snowdrift and smeared a handful of snow across his face. He looked at her strangely.

"Yeah! Let's do the reindeer's race!" commented George and the rest of Weasley brothers groaned loudly. "Oh come on! We haven't done it for ages!" He added.

"W'at eez ze reindeers race?" Asked Fleur as confused as the rest of the non-Weasleys.

"One person is a reindeer and takes the other on a piggyback ride and they compete with other couples." Explained Bill quickly. Hermione frowned slightly with an expression of a person who was looking for a deeper meaning of something.

"I want to know what the reward is!" Demanded Angie and George mumbled something what sound like "that's my girl!" but they couldn't be sure about that.

"Mum's treat basket!" Exclaimed Ginny in a five-year-old girl's fashion. Charlie started to explain what "Mum's treat basket" is before somebody managed to ask.

"Mum is always making a basket with extra treats for us but we were always arguing about it, so one year Fred and George come up with an idea that we'll compete for it. They were always winning!"

"So, what is in the basket?" Asked Harry, now standing with his arms wrapped around Ginny.

"Chocolate from Honeyduke's, muffins, chocolate frogs, treacle tart…"

"Okay I'm in!" Yelled Harry before Charlie got the chance to finish. Ginny squealed loudly wrapping her arms around him. "I'll be your reindeer, babe!" He said placing a big wet kiss at Ginny's lips.

"He's so whipped." Groaned Charlie shaking his head at Harry.

"I'll do everything when it comes to you and treacle tart." Commented Harry towards Ginny, tightening his chest proudly.

"My hero!" quipped Ginny, smoothing his hair. George rolled his eyes at them.

"So, are we doing coupl-y couples?" He asked and everyone nodded.

"Perfect, then I'm the judge," said Charlie. "I will still have an extra treat basket from mum to take with me to Romania." He said proudly sticking his tongue at the rest of them.

"You can still have something from ours when we win," said George, pointing at himself and Angie.

"Hey! That's cheating you bloody prat!" Yelled Ron, plunking Hermione onto his back.

"I promise I will be independent!" retorted Charlie. "One more comment like that, Georgie, and you are out of the game." He added towards his younger brother.

"Come on, snowflake, let's kick some butts!" Exclaimed Harry, patting Ginny's knee when she was comfortable on his back.

"Plane!" Demanded Teddy, reaching his little hands towards his godfather. Harry smiled to himself and lifted the toddler off the floor faking a loud groan during the process.

"Again?" He asked when Teddy was sitting safely in his arms. "You're getting heavy!" He exclaimed but lifted the little boy above his head and made his way towards the closest person which appeared to be George. Teddy laughed happily when George caught him and landed at the sofa beside him.

"Gin more heavy!" Commented Ted and everybody laughed when a loud "Hey!" escaped Ginny's lips.

"Yeah, she is," admitted Harry and Teddy giggled loudly. "Don't tell her though." He added and George grinned as well.

"I heard that, Potter!" yelled Ginny and placed a big plate with cupcakes on the coffee table as everybody laughed again.

Outside the window the snow was falling thickly and there was no place at the front yard that wasn't covered with it. The sun was setting lazily, making the fresh white snow sparkle in its light and Ginny was in complete awe of the sight in front of her. She turned around and looked at her family gathered in the living room. Everybody was smiling. Literally. Molly and Arthur were standing near the entrance talking animatedly with Andromeda, who was watching with a smile as George and Angie were playing with Teddy on the sofa. Fleur was sitting in the armchair in the corner of the room, feeding baby Tory in her arms, when Bill seated himself on the arm of the chair plying with her hair and laughing softly about something. Harry and Hermione were talking, while Ron and Charlie were playing wizard's chess, from time to time adding something to their conversation. Ginny searched the room for Audrey and Percy and grinned with mischief when she noticed them snogging against the counter in the kitchen. To her great surprise, presents were still under the Christmas tree. It was about dinner time and nobody even asked to unwrap them yet. She started to wonder which one of her brothers would lose it first.

"What are you smiling at?" asked Harry, suddenly appearing behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. "Still our awesome win of reindeer's race?" he asked, kissing her neck. She laughed loudly.

"It was so nice to feel that carefree again," she said, caressing his hands intertwined at her abdomen. "It was even better than when I was little," she added, turning around in his embrace. Suddenly her face fell and he saw the sparkle in her eyes start to fade as he grabbed her face to prevent it from dimming.

"Hey, look at me honey." He said trying to lock his gaze with hers. She looked into his eyes and he was relieved when he saw the sparkle somewhere behind the wetness of her pupils.

"I wish they were here." She said silently and burrowed her face in his chest. He stroked her hair gently.

"They are, cupcake, they are," he mumbled into her hair. He missed them too. How could he not? He wanted to tell his parents that he's the happiest bloke in the world, he wanted to tell his father that he never thought that it would be possible to love somebody as much as he loves Ginny. He wanted his mum to squeal or break into tears at the sight of Ginny's engagement ring, like Molly did yesterday. He wanted Fred to make some saucy comment, Sirius to give him inappropriate sex life advice and Remus to tell him to learn from his mistakes. He wanted Dora to be there for Ginny, probably talking about some marriage stuff with her while playing with Teddy, and Mad Eye to make a sarcastic remark. He wanted them all there and somehow he knew they really were here. He just wished he could see their faces and talk to them one more time.

"Okay, are we going to unwrap those bloody presents or not?" Exclaimed Ron out of nowhere and everybody laughed loudly at his antics.

"YOU WANT TO DO WHAT!?" Yelled Molly and Harry was sure that she woke up Ginny, who was asleep snuggled against his shoulder. It was already really late and Harry, Ginny and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were the only ones left in the living room when he decided to tell Ginny's parents about their plans of living together… before marriage. It was strange for Harry. Normally he would be terrified by now, but in this matter he was quite sure he'd be able to convince Molly.

"It's not like we are some horny teenagers who just want to be alone." He started to explain calmly. "You should know that about us by now," he added and Molly was about to say something but Arthur placed his hand at her knee. "We need each other." He stated simply and then looked in Molly's eyes. "We need to see each other every day and you know how extremely difficult it is with our jobs and everything," he added and ran his hand through his hair. "We've already lost so much time being away from each other; I don't want that anymore." He wanted to say something else but Ginny stirred and tightened her grip on his arm.

"Stay, Harry," she mumbled without opening her eyes and snuggled closer to him. She apparently thought that she was in her bed already and he was there only to hold her before sleep, as they were always doing when they were staying together at the Burrow. As soon as she fell asleep he would leave for Ron's room.

"I'm here, honey. Sleep," he said kissing her temple. It didn't matter that her parents were watching them. What she wanted and needed was always more important to him than anything else in the world. Even if it was one little gesture or simple word. Molly sighed loudly. Harry was still looking at Ginny when he began to talk again.

"I've never told you this before, because she didn't want you to know and to worry, but… the first few months after the war she had nightmares, loads of them and every night. I've never seen her cry so much as she did then, at nights. I would sometimes stay up longer at the kitchen table because I knew she would wake up and come downstairs. And she was doing it every time with tears streaming down her cheeks and this horrific, frightened look in her eyes. She would collapse in my arms and cry for hours and we would stay sometimes on this couch 'til morning." He said and finally looked at Mrs. and Mr. Weasley. She had tears in her eyes. "It stopped after a time, but she still has them sometimes. I want to be there when it happens every time for the rest of my life," he said and looked at Ginny once more.

"Okay." Said Mrs. Weasley quietly. "Okay."

To Be Continued

|AN3|: Review, please :D it'll really mean a lot to me if you do!