A/N: After this chapter, there won't be any of the other characters' (i.e. anyone not Katie or George) points of view through Christmas, maybe the New Year. As most of you have been hounding me for more of the George/Katie plotline, I'm sure that won't bother a lot of people but I thought I would let you know anyway. And for those of you who ARE anxious for more of said plotline…well, I promise you that you will enjoy the next few chapters. But that's all I'm saying! Okay, cheers everyone.

All that I've lost is fading from view

And all I know is

I want to be with you for Christmas—Hem

Sunday morning arrived faster than any of them were prepared for, and after a great deal of swearing and throwing things into suitcases, the three residents of the flat above Weasley's Wizard Wheezes had finally managed to pack Katie up and get ready to send her away. Charlie and Ginny were once again over in order to help George and Lee clean the shop—Ron had conveniently planned a day trip with Hermione—and the five of them sat in the flat now waiting for Michael Bell to arrive and help take his sister's inordinate amount of things home for the holiday.

"I don't understand what you're doing with so much stuff, Kates," Charlie said conversationally, looking over the small pile of suitcases and boxes. "You'll be gone, what…four days before coming back here?"

Katie frowned slightly before Lee butted in.

"We thought the same, Charlie old boy, but most of this stuff was dumped into the containers you see before you without anyone looking to see if it was needed or wanted." He spoke with a bit of a resentful tone.

"A lot of it is presents," Katie said defensively, and crossed her arms in front of her. She was dressed in classic Katie attire, George noticed, with rather worn and faded jeans and her bright green pea coat over a blue and brown striped jumper. An assembly of brightly-colored clothing without any thought to coordination, yet one that still seemed to work. On her head was a multi-colored knit hat he recognized from a dozen different Hogsmeade outings. And peeking out underneath was her ever-lengthening dark hair, now in its natural loose waves and half curls. For an instant, George recognized the first-year girl with the messy mane of long brown hair that she had been, its wavy tresses almost always tied back in a hasty ponytail. It was strange—she had only had her hair that length for one year before chopping it all off that summer—but it was how George always thought of her. Long hair, wide green eyes, the smallest amount of freckles scattered across her nose; never quite pretty, exactly, but almost coltish in her looks and movements sometimes in a way that you could almost see the lovely girl she would become.

Not that George had really noticed or taken account of her in that way back then. That had been Fred's thing. While all the other boys in their year were looking at Lisa Turpin, himself included, Fred had always been hankering after Katie. Katie, with her scabby knees and bruised elbows, who always seemed to be able to hide a slingshot in one of her knee socks before coming to class. George had liked Katie, sure—she was one of the good guys—but she may well have been a bloke for all he knew, and for many years, he didn't have the slightest comprehension as to why his twin looked at her in that odd way. And then, as they'd gotten older, she had gotten cuter…but so had Alicia Spinnet, and just about all of the other girls they knew. If you were looking at their close friends, Angelina was the one who had always been most likely to turn heads. She was tall and classically beautiful, and George still didn't understand Fred's hang up on Katie, except that it had been there so long it would have been difficult to get rid of now that she was actually starting to look pretty.

And then, of course, there had been the summer before their sixth year when, quite suddenly and with no warning of any kind, George had understood completely. And looking at her now, in that hat he'd assumed was five years gone at least, with her hair growing that way, he felt a sense of homesickness he couldn't explain. That old-fashioned feeling of falling away, knowing he couldn't call any of it back.

Ginny's voice brought an end to his daydreaming, however. "Is my present in there?" she asked devilishly.

"Nope," Katie replied shortly. "Because you didn't hold up your end of the bargain."

Ginny made a noise of frustration and then slumped against the wall, looking extremely put out. Charlie laughed loudly at her, and put an arm around his little sister.

"I still got you a little something, though—a very little something, mind," Katie added, grinning now. Ginny recovered her smile. She fits into my family like a glove, George thought idly.

"You awake over there, Georgie?" Charlie called, a smirk pulling at his lips.

George looked up uninterestedly. "What can I do for you, Charlie?"

His brother, perhaps taken off guard by the lack of a joke in his reply, regarded him curiously. Katie turned to him and raised an eyebrow to which George shrugged. Charlie looked from him to Katie in a way that made George uncomfortable, as though his mind was suddenly open to public view and his brother could see all the half-formed thoughts he had been entertaining since the day Magda told him Katie had turned her away from the Halloween party. George immediately backpedaled.

"What?" he asked accusatorily. "I'm tired and I've been alternately cleaning and packing since six thirty this morning. I'm not going to be your performing monkey all the time."

"No one asked you to be, so calm down," Ginny snapped, which caused everyone to laugh.

"No need to be so uptight, little brother," Charlie echoed. "Just merely asking a question. You looked either philosophical, or brain dead—couldn't tell which."

George rolled his eyes, but was saved a reply by a loud crack and Michael's appearance on the counter.

"Oh, well placed," Michael grinned upon seeing where he was standing. Charlie reached over to give his friend a hand down, and soon the elder Bell was surveying the five of them.

"Good Lord, little sister, are you moving out?" was the first thing he said on seeing Katie's pile of luggage. His sister groaned and the rest of them laughed again as she slammed one of the larger suitcases into his arms.

"Just shut up and help me out, will you?" she snapped. Michael laughed goodnaturedly and hoisted up the bag along with another he'd grabbed from the floor.

"Alright, alright," he said. "But all this is going to get Mum's hopes up—she's still persuaded you'll decide to move back in, you know."

He disappeared again, and with a few trips, he and Katie managed to disapparate with all of her luggage. They appeared one last time in order to say their goodbyes.

George watched her casually from where he stood leaning next to the Christmas tree. She moved from Charlie to Ginny, his brother's arms falling from her waist lightly as she crunched Ginny into a tight hug. Then Michael began chatting with Charlie, and Katie moved to Lee who gave her a bear hug and then took both of her hands in his, pressing his forehead against her own. He whispered something to her with a mischievous smirk and she laughed, throwing her head back as she did so. Lee pulled her in close again and the pair of them turned to gaze in his direction, identical looks of amusement on their faces.

Raising his eyebrows, George straightened up from his slump.

"What?" he asked.

Katie laughed again. Her face reminded George of sunlight.

"Well aren't you going to say goodbye to me?" she asked playfully. "I am going to be gone for three whole days."

"I could," he replied, straightening all the way up now and taking a couple of steps toward the rest of the group. He stuck his hands into his trouser pockets casually.

She released Lee and smiled back at him now. After a few moments, the chatter in the room reached a lull in which the rest of those present turned to look curiously at the uncommon lack of noise from their corner of the room.

"Well, Kates?" Michael asked impatiently. "Are you going to say goodbye, or just stand there? We've got a lot of wrapping left to do, among the other traditional rubbish Mum always plans."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she responded dismissively, but still didn't move forward. George just regarded her simply from where she stood.

Michael and Ginny appeared confused, but Lee simply smirked and Charlie looked knowingly between the pair of them.

"Alright," he said to break up the silence. "Let's give these two a moment. Gin, what do you say we show Michael the improvements we've managed to make to this fine establishment over the last few days?"

"What?" Ginny asked abruptly. "Why? Honestly, I don't get it."

"Just come on," Charlie replied, putting an arm around his sister and guiding her out the door after Michael and Lee. "I don't think you properly cleaned your section, anyway."

The sound of Ginny's returning argument was lost, however, as the four others disappeared down the stairs leaving the door to close behind them. George and Katie remained where they had previously been standing, and Katie laughed a little and then smiled.

"Well?" she said. George noted the way she fidgeted on the balls of her feet and thought idly of how she hadn't been able to stand still the first night of that ridiculous dueling club Gilderoy Lockhart had set up in their fourth year.

"Well, here we go," he answered, grinning back at her.

"Christmas," Katie said apprehensively.

"Christmas," he agreed.

She sighed and sat down on her bed, which was for once made up and neat. She rested her chin against her palm.

"Oh, George do you think we'll be able to do it?"

He sat on the bed across from her. "We have to," he said simply. He wasn't really thinking of that, though. He hadn't planned to until it was absolutely unavoidable. Instead, he was noticing that it was finally properly snowing through the window behind them and how the flakes shaped her troubled face.

"Well," she said, evidently rallying her spirits. "Alright then."

She stood up to give him a hug, and he joined her. As he held her close, arms wrapped tightly around her waist, a thought suddenly entered his mind that worried him and that hadn't given him cause to be anxious before.

"Katie?" he questioned gently.

She pulled back slightly and looked up at him. He still had his hands on her waist. "Hmm?" she hummed in response.

He spoke in a voice that a few days ago would have been traitorous to his cause that he was not sensitive. "Do you—do you even want to spend Christmas with my family?"

George had literally not spent a moment considering she might feel otherwise until that moment. It just hadn't entered his head. He couldn't remember the last time his family had spent Christmas together without some odd member of the extended family or friend group present. Harry alone had been with them most of the last seven years. Before that, there was Muriel or Bilius or the Prewetts…And this year his mother had gone out of her way to issue a Christmas invitation to literally anyone she felt might need a place to go during the holidays. Why the Bells had been included on the list, he suddenly couldn't understand—their family was whole again, and there was Elizabeth and the new boyfriend besides. Molly Weasley must have done it in the natural course of inviting anyone who used to attend their dessert nights and he had accepted it like she did, without thinking.

The reason, of course, for the invitations must be that his mother thought that filling the house to the brim would somehow make it easier not to think of Fred. It was rubbish, of course; everyone invited must know that Molly Weasley would spend most of the holiday in tears, Arthur would be sullen, the rest of the family strained, and no one would be able to predict what psychotic episode George Weasley was most likely to fall into. None of this was conducive to guests—especially one who had her own reasons for wanting to forget the past. Katie could not want to be a part of that.

Still, she studied his eyes now with doubt. "What?" she asked in surprise. "George, of course I do."

There was a pause before she added with staged, quiet cynicism, "I was going to, anyway, wasn't I? Only difference would be that I'd have a ring on my finger and a husband next to me."

George felt an immediate downward pull at his gut and he unconsciously released her waist, letting his eyes fall.

"Hey," she said just as quickly, moving back toward him. She slid her hands over his chest until they rested at his shoulders.

"I want to be with you for Christmas," she whispered. He shifted his eyes toward hers cautiously, and was surprised to find the look there matched her tone.

"Me too."

Katie smiled at him softly, and he returned the gaze. The incline of her lips slowly faded, however, as the space between them suddenly began to feel heavy. George's mouth fell open just slightly and he heard the sound of a sharp intake of breath.

"KATIE!" Michael's voice shocked the pair of them and Katie instantly stepped backward. "Will you wrap it up in there? I wanted to be gone by now!"

They looked at each other, still slightly dazed, until Katie broke the atmosphere by replacing the blank look with a friendly—though somewhat guarded—grin. She hugged George again and then placed a quick kiss on his cheek.

"I'll see you on Christmas Eve," she smiled, squeezing his hand.

George let a half smile tug on his face, and pushed her toward the door. "See you around, Bell," he replied.

She gave him one last grin upon reaching the door, opened it, and then she was gone. George suddenly felt as though all the light in the room had gone out. Trembling slightly, he turned to gaze out the window. The snow had never seemed so cold.

XxX

Alicia was tired and sore from her fourth consecutive day of skiing. She loved the invigorating sweep of her skiis across the fresh powder, and the feel of the icy wind against her face, but now that night had descended and her small family was once again alone in the isolated mountain cabin, she was beginning to feel loneliness steal over her once more.

"Lissy?" her mother asked in her tired voice from where she stood leaning against the doorframe to her parent's bedroom. "Are you going to go to bed soon?"

Alicia turned from where she was curled up on the windowsill. "Yes, Mum," she promised.

The woman with the careworn face took a second look at her daughter. "Are you sure you're alright, dear?"

"Perfectly, thank you," Alicia said, managing a small smile. "Good night."

"Good night," her mother replied after gazing at her for a few more moments. "Get some sleep."

"I will."

As soon as the bedroom door was shut, Alicia turned once more to gaze out at the dark and frozen landscape beyond the window. The fire in the small cabin was burning low, but gave out just enough heat to keep her comfortable. Burying herself further in the soft white sweater she was wearing, Alicia breathed out slowly and allowed herself to be distracted by the number of stars in the sky above.

The area really was quite amazing, and Alicia was beginning to see why her father preferred to stay up in this lonely area rather than in the bustling Swiss village below. It was beautiful here. Still, her thoughts managed to drift away from the snowshoes on the cabin walls, the small television and DVD player, and the fake Christmas tree that they had set up in the corner. They left the Muggle world and kept Alicia wondering just what her friends were doing at the moment, and how they were managing to get along.

She worried about Angelina and Lee, who didn't seem to have parted under good terms. And she worried about Katie, of course, whom she just knew wasn't quite as brave as she was acting. But most of all, Alicia worried about George and what would happen to the remaining half of the legendary Weasley duo once he got back home. He hadn't seemed to fully internalize the season quite yet, and while she was glad it had been so long since George had had a setback, she was afraid that this sudden realization of a holiday without his twin brother might hit him rather hard and unexpectedly. His situation literally broke her heart, and yet all she could do was hope he could be stronger than she was.

And she missed Fred. She obviously hadn't been his girlfriend or his best friend or his brother, but she had loved him anyway with that deep kind of real love she set aside for anyone who was her true friend. He had rescued her from obscurity, introduced her to Katie and Angelina, and forced her to try out for the Quidditch team when she was too afraid. The blackness of reality without Fred was beginning to circle around her once more, threatening consumption. She was suffocating, asphyxiated, and the only thing that was saving her now was knowing she could wake up every morning, strap on her skis, and race down the slopes to beat the devils that were right at her heels.

Alicia shifted her position slightly, and wondered what Fred would tell her now if he could walk in, join her for a cup of cocoa, and discuss the current death trap that was her love life. Of course, if she was honest with herself and honest with what she knew about Fred, he would tell her that she needed to relax and allow herself to be happy with Michael Bell.

And he would be right, of course. The sensible thing to do in this situation—and Alicia was always sensible—would be to stay with her boyfriend through the New Year, and then reevaluate if her current mood swings and doubts were the result of real problems or holiday-inflicted melancholia. She rather suspected it was the latter.

But yet how annoyed Michael had made her their last night together! She had been annoyed anyway, to be perfectly honest. His purchase of that expensive broom had irritated her for some reason she couldn't explain, and his general cavalier attitude toward what the holidays might mean for her and everyone else involved made her angry. Even now, as she gazed at the prettily wrapped package from Michael sitting under the tree, it made her frown—as if material possessions could make up for the lack of real feeling he was displaying.

The night at the pub when they had met up with Ben and some of the other employees at St. Mungo's had been further tedium. Michael was in good spirits and really quite funny, but he had not managed to connect with her friends. The girls looked at him with mild interest in his comparative good looks and all the lads had been polite, but it was obvious that his attractions held no more sway than that. He was loud, joking, and—if Alicia really allowed herself to admit it—strikingly immature next to Ben, who smiled at her calmly and made occasional witty remarks to her under his breath.

When they spoke about the complications of infusing Transfiguration with surgery, Michael had had nothing to offer. When they discussed plant-related infections, he hadn't even tried. And by the time Alicia and Ben had been in a deep conversation about different potions options for the common cold, she suspected he wasn't listening at all. Instead, he looked for openings in order to tell jokes that made everyone laugh but no one think. She hadn't even invited him in when he dropped her off at her flat, despite the fact that Angelina was gone and he was looking rather attractive in that slim black jumper. In the whole course of their relationship, Alicia couldn't remember another time he had made her more embarrassed than happy.

It wasn't that she didn't like Michael, because she did. And it wasn't that she wanted to date Ben, either. He was attractive, surely, and thinking that he had wanted to go out with her still made her blush, but it wasn't something she was intending to act on. It was more that Alicia was feeling more and more alone as winter wore on—she was adrift at sea and hardly knew what to turn to in order to anchor herself. It seemed no one could reach her anymore. Not even her parents. Suffocating. Asphyxiated.

A very low knock on the door suddenly caused her to jump. Old habits made her reach immediately for her wand, and she gripped its end firmly as she listened for another sound. It came; the knock was coming from the front door.

Irrationally, perhaps, Alicia was frightened. She knew very well that she and her parents were in a cabin isolated from every other person for miles, and that they were surrounded by a 12-foot wall of snow. Someone had obviously come with intentions of finding them, and there was no exit strategy available if that someone's intentions were bad. Cautiously, the blonde girls crept toward the door with her wand out, trying to peer out of the windows to see who the visitor might be. The night was too dark, however, and she was left with her own mind's conjectures, currently blasting off at a rate faster than any she had known for months. The knock came again.

Alicia took in a deep breath, raised her wand, and threw open the front door.

It was Ben Hammond.

A gust of icy wind and snow rushed in, and Alicia gasped from a combination of cold and surprise.

"Hey there," Ben said calmly, holding up his hands. "It's just me…you can put your wand down."

But already, she was lowering her weapon, too aghast for words.

"Can I come in?" he asked politely. Alicia recollected herself enough to nod and stand aside to let him in.

Ben was dressed in a heavy jumper and coat, his dark hair slightly disheveled from the wind and snow. He stomped his boots on the front porch of the cabin and then entered into the small living room.

"My parents are asleep," she whispered, closing the door and following after him. "What are you doing here? How did you know where I was?"

Ben looked at her as though unsure for the first time that his coming might not have been a brilliant idea.

"You did tell me what village you were staying near," he explained. "And I asked around until I found out where you were. The manager gave me a map, and I found you."

Alicia stared at him. "That doesn't tell me why you're here, though," she said. "Why on earth aren't you with your sister?"

She knew that Ben had lost both of his parents and another sibling during the war, and that he and his older sister were all that was left of the Hammond family. She could not fathom why he had abandoned her to follow Alicia to the middle of nowhere in the Swiss Alps.

Ben opened his mouth and then closed it again, apparently weighing his words.

"If you want me to leave…" he began.

"Of course not," she said quickly. "Don't be silly. It's about one in the morning and it's freezing outside."

"Your parents…"

"I'll just tell them in the morning that you showed up. Now what are you doing here?"

He sighed and looked at her briefly with his dark brown eyes.

"Ainsley's decided to bring her boyfriend to spend the holidays with our aunt in America," he explained. "And I was going to go with them, but…"

"But?"

He shrugged uncertainly. "I thought you might want someone to spend Christmas with," he said finally.

Alicia looked at him seriously, and after several moments said, "You know that I'm seeing someone, right?"

"Oh, I know that," Ben rushed on quickly. "That's not why I'm here, I just—I'm not asking anything. I just care about you, Alicia. And you've seemed a little…lost lately."

She saw the sincerity in his eyes and felt herself begin to weaken. All she wanted to do in that moment was curl into him and let him hold her, maybe fall asleep in front of the fire that was now turning to ashes. But she didn't. Instead she took his hand, pressed it into her own, and led him into her bedroom. She was too tired, too weary to think of the consequences of letting him stay.

"Here," she said, switching on the light. "It's a good thing this room has got bunk beds. You can take the bottom—blankets are in the cupboard, and I think I can sneak you a pair of my dad's jim jams…"

"Alicia," he said, stopping her as she moved to make her way out again. She looked up. "Thank you."

She nodded, smiling a little for the first time that evening.

"I'm glad you came," she said softly.