Chapter 18
"White Christmas"
_THE FUCKING TRUTH_
HAPPY CHRISTMAS! It's 10am on Christmas morning, and I can't wait to open my presents… kind of a bummer though that it hasn't snowed. Oh well, anyway there was a delay with the Hogwarts Express coming into Kings Cross Station last night when a student whose name hasn't been released decided to set a snitch loose on the train! After cracking a few windows, knocking out a couple of students, the old lady who pushes the snack trolley, and everyone was revived the culprit was sentenced to a month of detention. When the train was up and running again it pulled into Kings Cross at 11pm. This is very upsetting as I always liked the women who pushed the trolley she supplied me with many of treats in my Hogwarts days!
Now for the most exciting news of the day this has to be the greatest gift I could get, "The Weird Sisters" are going on tour and "My Hairy Feet Don't Smell" are their opening act! They will be here in London on New Year's Eve! Now here's "The Bent Broomstick" with, "Overrated Xmas" on the Fucking Truth!
"Oh, Sorry," apologized Neville, as he rammed into someone as he was rushing out of his room at the Leaky Cauldron. He had just gotten back from Tibet early that morning and over slept, his Grandmother had already sent him a howler for missing their annual Christmas Breakfast.
"It's okay Neville."
Neville turned around to see who it was, "Hannah, what are you doing here?"
"I moved in a couple of weeks ago," she said smiling.
"I hadn't noticed, I've been away," he told her as if he felt like he was a bad neighbor.
"Yes I know I saw you in the Quibbler, congratulations on the find. I'd love to interview you for the Prophet sometime," she said her cheeks turning a bit red.
"Sure, I should be around for a while, but now I have to go before I piss my Gran off even more," he said zipping up his coat.
Hannah laughed, "Completely understandable, I'm heading to my parents house right now."
_THE BURROW_
"Hurry up!" Mrs. Weasley shouted up the stairs.
They were preparing to go to Percy's house where they would have the annual Christmas dinner because Ron still wouldn't come to the Burrow and Molly wanted to be there early so she could set up. Harry and Ginny had been lolly gagging and making googlie eyes at each other all morning and it was driving Molly crazy…
"Coming," Ginny yelled down the stairs, "Harry stop!" Harry hadn't stopped kissing her since she got off the train and Ginny was trying to finish wrapping the rest of the gifts.
"I've missed you and I don't plan on letting you go," he said nibbling on her ear.
Ginny smiled, "well you have to because we're leaving and my mother's on the verge of killing us," she wiggled out of Harry's arms, she stacked the boxes she finished wrapping and put them in Harry's arms, "take those down stairs please."
Harry groaned and left the room with the boxes. Ginny tucked her necklace with her engagement ring on it into her sweater, grabbed her coat, turned off the lights, and left the room.
"It's about time!" said Mrs. Weasley stacking more things in Harry's arms.
The fireplace lit up, and Percy stepped out, "what did you need help with?"
Mrs. Weasley began handing Percy bags that had the food she was going to prepare for Christmas Dinner in it. She then waved him and Harry off to the fireplace so they could go back to Percy's.
"Molly, are we ready to go?" Asked Mr. Weasley coming into the room smiling brightly
"As soon as you take these things," she pointed to a basket and box on the table. Mr. Weasley picked up the items and went to the fireplace.
"GINNY!"
"Stop shouting I'm right here," she came into the room and walked straight into the fireplace and flooed to Percy.
Mrs. Weasley shook her head and as soon as Ginny was gone went into the fireplace herself.
_RON AND DRACO'S FLAT_
Ron was walking out into the living room with the Christmas gifts he had gotten for his family. He was wearing the classic Weasley Christmas uniform, a sweater handmade by his mother.
"Don't you look adorable," smirked Draco when he saw Ron.
"Shut up Malfoy," said Ron turning red, "don't you have any Christmas plans?"
"Yes, to make fun of you," he said sitting down on the couch.
"Seriously, my mother told me to invite you to dinner if you had nothing else to do," said Ron, "But I would prefer it if you didn't come."
Draco thought about it, "Well my mother did leave for French Rivera this morning with Andromeda for the Holiday's," He smirked, "You don't seem to like the idea… so I guess I'll come."
Ron rolled his eyes. He and Draco went over to the fireplace and flooed to Percy's.
_PERCY'S FLAT_
The Weasley family had a very Merry Christmas, every red head was accounted for including Aunt Muriel in her red suit she only wore at Christmas with too many brooches pinned to the left side. Bill and Fleur had brought Teddy to Harry at the request of Andromeda so she could go on holiday in peace. The feeling was a happy one yet it was a little calmer than usual with the absence of Fred but they were very thankful none the less. After dinner they all sat around the fire and were talking about their best Christmas memory.
"Best Christmas ever had to be when Fred and George wrapped the cat in Christmas lights and used him as a tree topper," Laughed Bill.
"No, it wasn't," objected Charlie, "It was the time when they wrapped Ron in lights, hung ornaments from his hair, and used him as the tree!" Everyone started laughing and Ron turned red.
"My best Christmas had to be the first Christmas I spent with all of you," everyone stopped laughing and smiled at Harry. He was holding Teddy who was asleep in his arms.
"Leave it you to make the moment so serious," commented George
Harry smiled, "it really was, at the Dursley's I spent Christmas hiding in my room while Dudley was being showered in gifts… When I'm at the burrow I'm treated like family and I love it, because of all of you I know what family is."
"Harry you are family, all we need to do now is turn your hair red and change your name to Weasley," laughed George.
"My best Christmas memory had to be right before I had Percy…" George interrupted his mother.
"What! So the rest of us ruined Christmas for you!"
"Of course not, you actually made it better, after having all of you Christmas was never quiet. There is always so much fun and life during the holidays I wouldn't trade it for the world," she smiled softly, "Now back to my memory… Arthur had stayed up late playing with Bill and Charlie," Mr. Weasley was nodding off in his chair, "He said it was Christmas so he couldn't tell them to go to bed and he would play with them until they fell asleep. It was extremely late and I noticed that he hadn't come to bed so I went see if he was still up. The boys were in their beds sound asleep and I found Arthur on the couch sleeping clinging to Bill's old teddy bear." She smiled at the thought of that, "I covered him up and I sat in the chair and watched him sleep… I sat there until the sun came up and just watched him… you know you truly love someone when you can just watch them sleep…" She looked over at Mr. Weasley his head was tilted back, mouth open, and he was snoring, she smiled.
"It's just like a moving photo except with sound and it's longer," said Ron as he opened the door to his flat.
Hermione had taken him and Draco to the cinema
"You have to admit its brilliant," Hermione said while taking a seat on the couch.
"What was really fantastic was how that girl was trying to save the world in heels, a short skirt, and I low cut top," Draco smirked, "completely unnecessary for the plot, but a nice touch."
Ron nodded in agreement.
"Boys," Hermione rolled her eyes.
"The car chases and exploding buildings where incredible," yarned Ron.
"Well I'm glad you guys enjoyed it, but we should have gone to see something with more substance and beauty," she protested.
"Umm hmm," Ron grunted and then started snoring.
Hermione looked over at him and yarned, "I think what Ron is trying to say is that no one wants to watch anything stale and boring," Draco commented as Hermione placed her head down on the arm of the couch.
"Just because something makes you think doesn't mean it's boring," stated Hermione as her eyes fluttered close
"Whatever you say Granger," Draco titled his head to the side and looked at her, she wasn't listening anymore, she had fallen asleep.
Draco just stared at her, he couldn't look away. He watched her intently as her chest slowly moved up and down from her breathing. She looked so peaceful. He looked away when he felt warmth on the side of his face he blinked a couple times and was blinded by light, he turned his head to see where the light was coming from… it was coming from the window, the sun was coming up, he had stayed awake all night watching her sleep…
Draco's eyes widen as he thought back to that night…
"Draco, Draco, OI MALFOY!" Draco shook himself back to reality and looked up to see everyone in the room staring at him.
"Your favorite Christmas memory," asked Percy
"Oh…um…," Draco thought for a moment, what did he like about Christmas, "I would have to say… when I noticed my father actually loved my mother."
Everything in the room was quiet, all eyes were on Draco. Aunt Muriel even scooted to the edge of her seat a bit.
He looked at his hands in contemplation, "I was 13… it was Christmas morning. I woke up to the sound of laughter, coming from outside my window. It had snowed all night long and my father and mother were actually outside playing in the snow," he chuckled, "I don't think they know I was watching them but they were smiling, laughing, being all lovey dovey, and throwing snow balls at each other… I have never seen my father's eyes light up like that, as if he was truly happy. I'm quite sure that he would deny it if I ever mentioned it…. I never looked at him with her the same way again and I felt foolish for not seeing how much he cared sooner… but then again… I suppose I should have been watching my mother… because she's the one who asked him to leave…"
_NEW YEAR'S EVE_
"Harry! Slow down!" Ginny demanded
Harry was running through the streets of London pulling Ginny behind him. They were out on their first official date, (it was about time considering they were engaged) they just had a candle lit dinner for two…
"Where are we going? I thought you said we were going to see The Weird Sisters?" Huffed Ginny still jogging behind him
"And we will. But first I have a surprise," he stopped running suddenly and Ginny ran into him.
"What?" she smiled still huffing and looking around, "wait, this looks like…"
Harry opened the gate that led into the square of Grimmauld place. He took Ginny's hand as they ascended the stairs to number 12. A huge grin spread across her face, there was a huge red bow on the door…
"Happy Christmas, this is the present that was too big to wrap," he opened the door.
They went inside the house was sparkling, it was clean, there was absolutely no dust anywhere and it was freshly painted. All the furniture had been restored and what couldn't be saved was replaced to give the house a nice Victorian feel. Ginny ran her hand along the French rococo revival table that was against the wall in the entry way with a large floral arrangement.
"Either you have really good taste or you have another woman in your life," she said looking into the drawing room
"I have another woman," he smiled, "Sonia Duccet."
Ginny turned around, "the interior designer," she said surprised
"Yes, is she someone important," he asked he really had no idea, he ran into her at the hardware store where he was going to buy paint and a hammer and attempt to fix up the house himself but she insisted. He went along with it since he was usually drained after Auror training and had no idea what he was doing. Harry was just happy she wanted to keep a lot of the old pieces of furniture that were already in the house, she said they were priceless antiques that had character and you can't find furniture of their quality anymore. All he really wanted was to keep the cost down, he may have funds in the bank to keep him living comfortably for quite awhile but he preferred not to be broke while he was only being paid minimum wage.
"Yes!" she said excitedly, "she decorates the homes of lots of important people. Cornelius Fudge, Barry Ryan, Myron Wagtail, and she also decorated Bewitched!" She said matter-of-factly.
"I wonder how Myron Wagtail would have his house decorated," he mused aloud
"Probably a large picture of himself in the entry and all the Weird Sister's albums on the wall," Ginny said still looking around in amazement.
"Your names on the deed now and everything," Harry explained, "so when we go through our tragic divorce you can legally fight me for it," he chuckled.
"That won't happen," she smiled, "It's kind of quiet," she turned to look at the portrait of Walburga Black, she was still there with her eyes flamed with angered as she tried to pull the threads out of her newly painted sewn shut mouth. Ginny couldn't help but laugh.
"I was going to paint over her but she is Sirius's mother and I couldn't bring myself to do it," said Harry.
"This is absolutely amazing. You really didn't have to do this," she kissed him.
"Yes I did, we'll need a place to live after were married," he kissed her again. She rested her forehead on his, "You ready to go see The Weird Sisters" he asked.
She looked up at him, she smiled mischievously, "nope," she took his hand, and began walking backwards down the hall towards the staircase, "let's christen the house."
Harry's mouth dropped open as he raised an eyebrow. Is she saying what I think she's saying? Ginny continued to pull him up the stairs. She couldn't possibly… Harry heard a door creak open and next thing he knew he was falling, Ginny had pushed him down onto a bed, they were in the room he and Ron had shared two summers ago. That's exactly what she's saying…
She smiled at him devilishly as she crawled on top of him. Harry weaved his fingers through her long flaming red hair. She leaned down close to his face and gently brushed her lips against his, he titled his head up and tried to kiss her back but she pulled away. She shook her head no and had mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"Tonight I'm in charge," she smirked, "Think of it as… the gift I couldn't wrap."
Harry raised an eyebrow and had a stupid looking grin on his face, she kissed him on the lips and began to trail kisses down his neck. She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into a seated position so that she was straddling him. She gently kissed him on the lips and pulled away every time she felt him try to kiss her back harder. Harry wanted to kiss her back but at the same time didn't mind because there was something hot about not being able to get too close to her.
She unzipped his coat and pushed it down his shoulders. She pulled his shirt over his head. She stared into his emerald eyes as she trailed a finger along the inside of the band of his jeans. She pushed him back down and once again began to trail kisses down his neck, she continued them down his chest, and smiled when she heard him moan softly. Around his belly button she began to unfasten his belt buckle, she slipped the top button out of its hole with ease, and pulled down the zipper. Harry had a pretty good idea where this was going and he was more than happy to let Ginny take charge.
"White Christmas" Bing Crosby
