Draco picked up a small package wrapped in silver paper with an envelope stuck to the front of it. Curious, he ripped off the envelope and pulled out the small card inside. His breath caught and there was a sudden gurgling of warmth in his chest. He didn't need to read the card to know who it was from, he'd recognize the messy hand writing anywhere. Draco carefully returned the card to its envelope and put it aside. Then he picked up the silver package, ran his fingers over it softly and hugged it to himself a little.

"Well, Harry, dear. And how is school?"

Harry smiled at the innocuous question. Mrs. Weasley conveyed her care and worry the way she did most things. Through care-worn enquiry. Most of the time, it wasn't even necessary to give her a proper answer, just as long as you acknowledged the question. Some internal meter then let her know that she had inquired, and of course if there had been something horribly the matter then she would have found out. Harry supposed this might be a trait of parents with a lot of children. Every small thing was not a cause for alarm; it couldn't be if they wanted to keep their sanity. And given the madness that was the Weasley brood, Harry supposed that was doubly true for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"Just fine, Mrs. Weasley. Good."

"That's nice, dear. Now you make sure and eat well. Be sure to take the potatoes there. We need to get more meat on those bones."

Ginny snorted, sporting a wicked grin, "Not according to his fan club. They think the meat on his bones is just fine."

Harry blushed as Charlie guffawed and George snickered.

"Well now. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with you dear. I just know how much boys like to eat." She beamed proudly around at her brood and bravely blinked at the seat set out for Fred.

Charlie hastily cleared his throat. "Bill will be here soon with Fleur, mum," he said.

"Yeah. He said after dinner, mum." Ginny chimed in.

Charlie gave her a smile. "They just had to go pay their respects to Fleur's family so they could have Christmas day here."

Mrs. Weasley's smile became steadier. "Well, it's good you've reminded me, Charlie. I'll be sure to keep a portion for Bill & Fleur then. I'm sure they'll be hungry after travelling."

Everyone forbore to remind Mrs. Weasley that they were in fact coming directly after eating dinner with the Delacours.

Draco fiddled with the silver wrapped package as he pretended to read a book. He'd taken to carrying it around in his pocket. That little conniving thing had slipped it into his robe pocket on the Hogwarts Express while distracting him quite effectively.

He smiled a little, his blood stirring, as he remembered why he had been distracted. Quite honestly, Potter should have been a snake, as sneaky as he could get.

Draco hid behind his book and fingered the present again. It was just a small box really. And the wrapping was getting a little ragged with the constant handling. But he was quite determined that he would wait until Christmas to actually open the present.

Malfoy, I saw this and thought of you. Happy Christmas! Harry.

Even if it sometimes felt like he would die of the curiosity.

Harry knew his smile was a little fixed as he looked at the celebrations happening around him, so he tried to hide himself and his expression as best he could in a roomful of people.

Mrs. Weasley had been completely diverted and transported with Fleur's happy news. He listened to the exclamations that didn't appear to need a response, or even an audience, as she hovered. "I can't believe you're already showing, dear." "What a wonderful present this is, dear." "We must make sure you eat all the right things, my dear."

Charlie and George and Ron were busy thumping Bill even as they gave Fleur a quick congratulations and then a wide berth, their eyes darting back to her frequently.

Ginny was hanging off Bill's arm, grinning madly, and had valiantly refrained from referring to Fleur as Phlegm so far.

Mr. Weasley, who had been more quiet than usual since Harry, Hermione and his children had arrived, was just as quiet now, but sitting next to Fleur with one of her hands in his, he seemed suffused with an internal kind of happiness that had him smiling and blinking wetly.

Even Hermione's eyes were wet as she hovered at Ron's shoulder, but Harry assumed that had more to do with the fact that her own parents were lost somewhere in Australia rather than any impending Weasley pregnancies.

Fleur of course was glowing, and Harry suspected most of that had nothing to do with her Veela heritage. She was positively radiating pleased benevolence and Harry thought that air of self-satisfied contentment was the only reason she had allowed Mr. Weasley the liberty of holding her hand for so long – something he himself didn't appear to be aware that he was doing any more.

Harry has offered his own not-as-exuberant congratulations, and now wasn't sure what his place was in all this celebratory mayhem.

"I'm going to be a grandfather."

Everyone turned to look at Mr. Weasley, who looked quite stunned, but in a pleased sort of way. Then Mrs. Weasley burst into tears as she swooped down and kissed him.

"Oh, Arthur!"

Potter,

I hope this letter finds you in good health

x

Harry

x

Dear Harry

x

Dear Potter

I got your Christmas present and

Draco snarled, threw another crumpled piece of parchment at the wall and stormed out of his room.

Harry shifted in his seat again and frowned impatiently at the way his gut was writhing. He'd met Andi before, as she had asked to be called when they had first met to talk about Teddy's custody; she liked him even. She'd been almost overwhelmed with gratitude when he'd agreed that she was the right person to raise Teddy.

He wasn't sure what to expect. They had parted on well enough terms, Andromeda satisfied that she would get to raise her grandson herself. But Harry's own guilt at essentially doing to Teddy what had been done to him when he was younger wouldn't stop eating at him. Although, that comparison was hardly fair to Andi herself.

He turned as he heard footsteps over the noise in the living room. His heart almost stopped as the shadows coalesced into Bellatrix just as Andi was stepping forward into the light. Then the baby boy on her hip bounced and gurgled, and his brain caught up with his eyes. His guts squirmed again.

Logically Harry knew there was no reason for the unaccountable nervousness eating away at his insides – especially given the fact that Teddy was still too young to be able to judge him on his absence from the boy's life. Not to mention, the situation couldn't be more different from the Dursleys. Andromeda loved and adored her grandson, and she didn't care who knew it. It was evident in her every gesture and the way she held Teddy close to her, protectively, in still moments. This was the only reason Harry had agreed to let her care for him until he graduated and could get a job and be independent enough to think about having dependants.

Draco and his mother shared Christmas breakfast in a cozy breakfast nook flooded with weak December sunlight, sitting at a small comfortable table for four. It couldn't be more different from previous Christmases, and Draco couldn't be more grateful. He would have hated to have shared the long formal dining table with the ghosts of everything that had happened there.

Harry carefully spooned another mouthful into Teddy's mouth. He was quietly thrilled by that Teddy kept refusing to swallow unless it was Andi or Harry feeding him mouthfuls. Mrs. Weasley had tried so as to give Andi a chance to eat her own Christmas meal in peace, but Teddy kept spitting out everything that was given to him. Mr. Weasley had tried; so had Ginny, Hermione, Bill and Charlie. George had sat and watched, laughing hysterically at the chaos one baby could create. He'd also been the instigator of much teasing regarding impending fatherhood and Bill's inability to feed even one little tot.

Harry hadn't been thinking about volunteering; he didn't think he could succeed where Mrs. Weasley had failed. But he'd found himself in possession of the spoon and with a lapful of baby when Bill had made a run at George and Charlie had wanted his hands free so he could get his own in while the getting was good. Everyone had been so glad to finally see a real smile on George's face, not even Mrs. Weasley had complained about the rough-housing.

In the mayhem, Andi had been the only one to notice that Teddy voluntarily opened his mouth and consented to eat when Harry offered him a spoonful of mush. She had smiled softly at Harry as the noise level in the dining room rose. "He likes you."

Harry'd blinked damp eyes as he swallowed past a lump in his throat and fed Teddy some more of his mashed carrots and peas.

He opened the silver package last, in the privacy of his room, sitting cross-legged in the middle of his bed.

As quickly as he had ripped off the wrapping on everything else he had found under the tree, he disrobed this present just as slowly.

First, there was the slightly frayed ribbon. Then, a careful finger under the corner of the paper and it was teased loose. Slowly he pulled apart the edges until the small box remained sitting on the paper.

Draco hesitated, then carefully removed the lid from the box.

Peering inside, he abruptly smiled.