Christmas Eve. The 24th of December. Undoubtedly one of the most exciting days of the year. Harry's Christmas Eve starts off with a rather rude awakening by a small bundle of vivacious energy, otherwise known as Ginny Weasley. Around Christmastime, Ginny seems to always revert back to the mental age of six. She coats the flat in tinsel, tacky decorations and Christmas cards, has an unlimited supply of awful festive jumpers (all handmade by Molly) and generally is so in the Christmas spirit that it constantly gets on his nerves. But every Christmas Eve, when her excitement reaches its peak, the enthusiasm is usually so infectious that Harry becomes a ball of uncontained energy too.

Harry opens his eyes blearily to find out what the heavy weight on his stomach is. The room is still dark, the clock blinking 06:30. Long red hair tickles his throat and he irritatedly bats it away, groaning as he tries to turn over and go back to sleep. The person on his torso makes the procedure difficult, so he pushes the body off, grinning at the yelp of surprise and buries back down under the covers. He only gets a couple seconds of shut-eye before Ginny scrambles off the floor where he unceremoniously deposited her and wriggles under the duvet next to him.

'Harryyyyyy,'

'What, you hideous little witch? There is no way in hell that you're getting me up before 9 am on Christmas Eve for God's sake. Do you want to be spending Christmas in a full body cast?' Harry mumbles, voice thick with sleep.

'Harryyyyyyy, seriously. There's so much to do today. Getting up early will give us a headstart at the shops,' Ginny cajoles.

'Nope,' Harry says smugly, rolling away from her towards the wall.

'Would you get up if I said that Draco was here?' Ginny says sweetly.

'He is?' Harry sits bolt upright in bed, flicking on the bedside light and scrambling for his glasses. Once found, he places them haphazardly on his nose and starts frantically running his fingers through his serious bedhead.

'Course he's not here, idiot. It's six thirty in the morning!' Ginny giggles, slipping out of bed and standing opposite him with a determined expression, hands on her hips.

Harry groans, throwing a pillow at her grinning face before slumping back down and tugging the duvet over his head. 'That was mean, Ginny,'

'I know, sorry. But anyway, now you're awake, let's get moving! I made pancakes,' She sings before tugging the duvet off the bed entirely, leaving Harry shivering in the cold air. 'C'mon sleepyhead, I'm not giving up,' She waltzes away into the hallway, leaving Harry with only one choice, to follow her. It's not wise to disobey the monster.

Once sat at the table, a pile of freshly made pancakes in front of him, Harry picks up his phone and sends a quick text to Draco.

H : Happy Christmas Eve! The red-haired monster has dragged me out of bed ready for a day of retail torture x

He then turns back to the food in front of him, not expecting a reply as it's far too early for any sane human to be up. Ginny sings along softly to an Izzy Bizu song on the radio, twirling around the kitchen as the smell of frying batter fills the air. When his phone, lying face down on the table, buzzes a few moments later, Harry almost falls off his seat in surprise.

D : Happy Christmas Eve to you too. Tell Ginny that she is a brave woman. Have a good day! X

Harry smiles and turns to Ginny.

'He says that you're a brave woman to try to get me out of bed at this time,'

'I lived with 6 older brothers, didn't I? I had to learn some persuasion skills somewhere,' She turns round to grin at him. 'Tell Draco that I'm looking forward to seeing him tomorrow,'

H : Ginny says she's looking forward to seeing you tomorrow x

D : That's nice, I'm looking forward to seeing her too. You wanna know a secret though? x

H : What? x

D : I'm looking forward to seeing you more 3

H : Aw sweet, but I know what you really mean. You just want to get laid again, don't you? x

D : You caught me. Seriously, though, I miss you x

H : I was at your house yesterday x

D : Yeah, but you're not here now, are you? x

H : True… and I miss you too x

D : 3

H : What are you doing up at 6:45 anyway? x

D : Couldn't sleep. Anyway, Pansy's going to turn up soon to take me shopping x

H : I wish you luck x

D : You too x

Harry grins, turning off his phone and tucking into his food. Ginny jumps up onto the kitchen counter to smile at him smugly.

'Good conversation?' She asks. Harry raises his eyebrows at her barely contained excitement.

'Yes, and?' He replies.

'Oh, nothing,' She grins, sliding off her perch and slipping out of the door, calling over her shoulder. 'We're going to be out the house in half an hour so get your butt into the shower,'

Harry rolls his eyes, dropping his butter and sugar coated plate into the sink and wanders off towards the bathroom.

By exactly 7:30, Ginny's ushering him out the flat, down the stairs and along the dark street to the Underground Station. After a quick (very necessary) stop at Starbucks for some much-needed caffeine, they walk down the tunnels towards the waiting trains. Once the automatic doors creak open, they make their way to a couple of harshly patterned seats as the carriage jerks forward. The train's movement shakes Harry from side to side as it rattles at (what feels like) a million miles per hour round the sharp bends and steep rises and falls towards their destination. The fluorescent lights illuminate the carriage too brightly for Harry's tired eyes, making him wince as he takes another swig of warm over-sugared coffee.

As they head slowly up the escalators and out into the still-dark morning, a blast of freezing air hits them like a brick wall. Harry shivers and zips his jacket up higher, tugging his scarf closer. Looking over at Ginny, he gazes in confusion at her tiny denim jacket and beanie combo, over dungarees and converse. Her glove-free hands clutch her coffee cup and Harry feels his body temperature drop just looking at her.

'Jesus, Ginny. Can you not feel cold or something?'

'Oh, I'm actually freezing. Like, I think my fingers may actually fall off,' She grins, teeth chattering.

'Why didn't you dress properly? It's about minus 10 out here today,' Harry replies in disbelief, suddenly feeling very grateful for his heavy wool jacket.

'I look cute! You never know who you'll meet shopping. A jacket would've ruined the ensemble,' She says, gesturing to her clothes while a gust of icy wind makes her hair swirl around her face like a nest of snakes. Harry just rolls his eyes and grabs her frozen hand, pulling her along faster towards the shopping centre doors.

It's several hours before they are back on the Tube, rattling along the tunnels under London's streets. Ginny has loaded Harry down with bags, all precariously balanced on the shaking train floor. Harry can feel every bone in his body aching after a day of being pulled all over the place by an excited Ginny. He's pretty sure that (as usual) there's something for absolutely everyone, twice over. Well, best not to complain. Without Ginny, he would probably have done every bit of shopping on the internet, and most of it probably wouldn't have arrived in time. At least he got something for Draco, though. It took them a while, but with Ginny's guidance, he finally found something that was just perfect. Thank God. Now all Harry wants to do is go home and sit in front of the TV until Ginny's festiveness becomes too much to bear.

The hallway is dead silent as they trudge upstairs, arms laden with bags. Ginny yawns, the noise echoing and bouncing off the walls as she fumbles for her keys. Once the door is open and the bags have been unceremoniously been dumped in the middle of the hallway, Harry stumbles into the kitchen, shrugging off his jacket and flipping the switch on the kettle. He watches as Ginny wanders around the flat, one of his wool jumpers pulled over her head and creating a halo of red static hair, turning on every set of fairy lights she has draped the rooms in. Once the tree lights are on, she slumps on the sofa, feet on the coffee table and waves a hand in Harry's direction.

'Tea,' she demands. Harry rolls his eyes, handing her a steaming mug over the back of the sofa. Ginny picks up the remote, flicking through the channels at a lightning-fast pace before she sighs contentedly and gestures for Harry to come and join her.

'Love Actually! Come and watch it with me,' she calls, waving at him until he joins her on the couch.

'Can we just watch something, like, not Christmassy?' Harry mumbles. Ginny sits bolt upright, digging a bony elbow into the centre of his stomach and looking at him with mock horror.

'Harry James Potter! How dare you suggest that! It's Christmas Eve for Christ's sake. We're watching this. Don't complain,' She flops back down onto the cushions, attention focused again on the flickering screen. Harry sighs and leans back, lifting an arm around Ginny's shoulders as she curls against him.

'Oh my God, Harry. You're freezing,' she complains, poking his shoulder as Harry continues to tighten his arms round her, smiling at her squeals.

'Well, why's that then? Somebody around here keeps stealing all my jumpers,' he replies, tugging at the blue cable-knit that Ginny is wearing, grinning at her guilty expression.

'It's cold!' she protests, but Harry just kisses the top of her head as they both focus on the movie again.

By 11 o'clock, Harry just wants to go to bed. Obviously getting up at 6 has completely zapped his energy for the day. They've been wrapping presents for the past 3 hours and all he really wants to do is escape to the quiet sanctuary of his room, away from all the old Christmas carols warbling out of the speakers. Unfortunately, it's out of the question as there's still an enormous pile of unwrapped gifts on the living room carpet and Ginny probably won't let him go for at least another hour. Harry gazes at Ginny's tiny form flat out on the carpet, a half-full glass of wine beside her as she concentrates on securing the edges of a parcel with Christmas-themed tape. Oh well, it's making her happy, at least.

Exactly an hour later, Harry's flat on his back on the floor, staring up at the darkened ceiling and the shadows projected by the Christmas tree lights. He gave up wrapping presents about twenty minutes ago but Ginny hasn't minded, especially as he keeps refilling her wine glass every time it gets emptied. They've both definitely stepped over the line into really tipsy, but at midnight on Christmas Eve, everyone's mood is pretty hyper. Probably. Well, not that it matters much anyway. Harry's already preparing himself for the alcohol consumption tomorrow, it being a Weasley Christmas and all. Enough firewhisky to go round, that's for sure. Harry picks up his phone and dials Draco's number.

'Merryyy Christmasss!' Harry yells when he hears a quiet 'hello' down the phone.

'Harry?' Draco's voice sounds sleep filled and slightly confused.

'Did I w-wake you? Just wanted to tell you that it's Christmasss now and so I'll see you soon,' Harry says, stumbling over his words.

'Yeah, not long now,' Draco laughs softly.

'Good. That's good. Yeah. Good,' Harry mumbles, watching as car headlights streak across the room.

'Erm, have you been drinking?' Draco's voice sounds oh-so-very far away.

'Lil bit,' Harry can feel his eyelids growing heavy, soothed by the sound of Draco's voice.

'Well, you should probably get some sleep. I seem to remember that Hermione wanted you over rather early,' Draco says faintly.

'Ughhhh, she's a tyrant. But yeah, bed sounds good. I have been up foreverrr,' Harry murmurs.

'Good to know your shopping trip went well,'

'Gonna go to sleep now, I think,' Harry says as he wanders into his room and flops back onto the bed.

'Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodnight Harry,' Draco says gently.

'G'night,'