((I apologize (once again!) for the ultra-long gap between chapters...my school is legitimately crazy, and I've had a lot on my plate. Enjoyable, but frantic. Anyway, now that my big end-of-the-year paper is done, things should calm down a little bit and there will be more where this came from. Thanks for sticking with this! It means so much to me. I hope you're all having a wonderful spring, and I will try my best to get more of this to you as soon as I possibly can.))

"Don't open these until Christmas," Molly Weasley had said with a wink, sliding a pile of brightly-wrapped presents into Shay's arms as she and Charlie left The Burrow - they'd stayed for as long as they could, but with Order demands and the regular business of the Reserve, had needed to go back to Romania without celebrating Christmas with the Weasleys. Swallowing their disappointment, Shay and Charlie had bid everyone goodbye, sure, now, that Mr. Weasley would make a full recovery. Now, they were both laden with gifts and packages of food to take back with them.

"Mum," Charlie said, peering at his mother over the tower of boxes in his arms, "How are we ever going to Disapparate with all of this?"

"Oh...I'm sure you'll manage," Mrs. Weasley said, not quite reassuring. Behind her own stack of gifts (which was nearly as tall as she was), Shay grinned at Charlie, who rolled his eyes in return. Finally, they had managed to spin...if rather precariously...just outside of the garden gate. They reappeared with everything, even the ribbons on the gifts, completely intact.
"Your mother," Shay said, "is the nicest person I think I've ever met."
Charlie grinned and ducked his head.
"She's the best mum I could've asked for," Charlie said. "She's a saint, really. I don't know how she put up with all of us for all of these years."
They made their way up a wooded incline, each balancing their precarious stack of gifts until they could slide them on to Charlie's cluttered kitchen table - mail had accumulated while they were gone. No sooner had they closed the door behind them than Shay was whirling around to leave again.
"Whoah, now, where are you going?"
"To get the dragon!" Shay said happily. "Don't tell me you've forgotten him!"

Charlie shook his head as she disappeared, humming "God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs" as she went.

Everything was good again, Shay thought happily as she collected the baby dragon. He'd immediately nuzzled into her, resting his small head just beneath her chin, his breath warm on her collarbone.
Well. Almost everything. Her mood sobered instantly at the thought of Voldemort's rise, the attack on Mr. Weasley, the danger that she and her friends were in, every day...she shuddered and ducked her head as Cad lifted his, pressing his nose gently against her forehead. He chirped and rustled his wings, trying to comfort her.
"Thanks, love," Shay said. "I'm so glad to have you back."
She thought that this might be a taste of what it would feel like, to return home to a baby who would nestle against you and smile. The force of her desire for that, for that life...more specifically, for that life with Charlie...hit her so violently that it nearly knocked the breath from her lungs. But there was a war. And she...well. She wasn't sure of anything, when it came to her future. Not anymore.
When Shay returned to Charlie's cabin, it was to find that he'd somehow procured a fully-decorated Christmas tree, resplendent with lit candles and glimmering ornaments, and had stacked the gifts beneath it.
"Your mum and dad sent some, as well," he said, grinning up at her when she walked in. He got to his feet and held Shay's chilled face in his hands, kissed her lightly on the nose, and greeted Cad with a scratch beneath the chin. The dragon chirruped, happy, and leaned into the friendly touch.
"Come on," Charlie said, tugging on Shay's hand as eagerly as a child. "What do you say we open these?"
"Now?"
"Yes, now. Come on. We need a little joy, don't you think?"
Beneath the excuse, Shay could see that Charlie was as eager to open the presents as any child would be...and, to tell the truth, she was eager as well. She hadn't expected the wealth of gifts that had been bestowed on her by Mrs. Weasley, and she could hardly wait to find out what they were.
"Alright," she said, and allowed him to lead her into the sitting room. She sat cross-legged on the floor, her back against the couch, with Cad sitting on the triangle of floor created by her criss-crossed legs. Charlie passed her a box she recognized as a Mrs. Weasley gift, wrapped in blue and tied with bronze ribbon. Shay smiled and took it, watching the candles shine in the wrapping as Charlie picked up a box of his own. He tore into it, unveiling a package of sweets Shay recognized as his favorites - Ice MIce and Sugar Quills, along with the standard Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's.
Carefully, she began to unwrap her own gift. And nearly cried when she had it in her hands.

A Weasley sweater. Deep, sapphire blue, several shades darker than Shay's eyes, with a curling cursive "S" embroidered in silvery thread. It was impossibly soft to the touch and smelt of Christmas the way that The Burrow had - a mix of allspice and anise, pine and candles.
"Shay?" Charlie sounded so concerned that, for a moment, she thought something might truly be wrong. Then, he leaned forward and erased a stray tear from her cheek with the pad of his thumb. "What's wrong?" He asked gently, "Don't you like it?"
Shay blinked and swiped at her eyes, laughing.
"No," she said. "No, it's not that, it's...I love it."
She traced the letter on the front with her fingers, as carefully as if she thought a simple touch would dissolve the embroidery. She knew how much these sweaters meant, what Mrs. Weasley meant in giving it to her. It was an official welcome to the family, and Shay could not have asked for a better Christmas gift.

- - - - - - - - - -

The rest of the winter passed with so very little fanfare that it almost seemed to have not happened at all. The cold passed away and was replaced by warmer air, until it seemed that summer was going to come crashing through the room. Everyone at the reserve was in high spirits, glad to have passed through another cold season with little difficulty.
Charlie was understandably perplexed to find Shay curled up with her arms around Cad, staring bleakly through the sitting room window.
"Shay?" He asked cautiously - he hadn't seen her like this since the letter from Dumbledore - "Shay, what is it?"

She looked up at him, and though there were no tears in her eyes, she looked, somehow, very sad.
"Order news," she said. "It just came today."
She held out an envelope. It was charred around the edges, and she laughed, the sound dull, when Charlie glanced at it.
"Cad knew it upset me," she explained, "so he attacked it. Or tried to, anyway."
"Remind me not to get on his bad side," Charlie said. Before he read the letter he joined Shay on the window seat, sitting just behind her so that she could rest against him while he read.
The news was grave, indeed, and hit Charlie harder than he thought it would.
"Sirius Black is dead?" he murmured. Shay nodded, but Charlie knew this could not possibly the reason for her sadness - she'd hardly known Sirius. The only other information contained in the letter had to do with some kind of prophecy. "What's wrong, love?"

Shay shook her head.
"It's...it's nothing, Charlie."
"Shay. It's not nothing."
"No, Charlie, really, it's just...it's just that I'm...I'm scared."
"Of what?"
"I told you," she said with a shrug that he could feel, "It's nothing. I'm sorry, Charlie...I didn't mean to worry you."
"You didn't worry me," he said. "I just wanted to be sure you're alright."
"I'm fine."
There was something there, something she was hiding, but Charlie could not seem to put his finger on it. And she, very obviously, was not going to divulge any details.
"Alright," he said, settling for being able to hold her just a little bit tighter. "It's going to be alright, Shay."
"I know," she said. But her voice was darker than Charlie had ever heard it. And, suddenly, he too was scared.