Mrs. Weasley had finally let Harry leave his bed, though it took a lot of convincing from the rest of the family. Ron kept hinting that they might go back to play Quidditch. Harry thought that this was most likely is way of asking whether Harry was up to it.
“I’m looking forward to it.” he to try and stop him from talking. Ron grinned and went to talk to Ginny. Hermione didn’t seem too keen to the idea.
“Harry are you sure you should go back? I mean even with Mr. Weasley, it’s still really dangerous,” she asked.
Harry shook his head. He was determined not to ruin the fun for everyone else. He had this odd feeling that he had dragged the Weasley’s down from their normal life. Ever since their first year together, Harry had always gotten into trouble, and Ron was always there by his side. He couldn’t help but have a strong respect for all the Weasley’s loyalty (with the exception of Percy). Also he could not help but feel responsible for their misfortune. If it wasn’t for Harry, Ron wouldn’t have injured himself playing chess, the Chamber of Secrets wouldn’t have been opened, and Ginny wouldn’t have been taking into it by Voldemort, Ron wouldn’t have nearly had his leg bitten off, and he wouldn’t have been attacked by the brain in the Department of Mysterious.
Many of the other Weasleys had been hurt by Harry too. Percy turned away from Dumbledore because Harry had told his story of how Voldemort came back. Mr. Weasley would have had better luck with his job last year if he hadn’t been so close to Harry and Dumbledore. Fred and George wouldn’t have left their seventh year of Hogwarts to open a joke shop. Mr. Weasley wouldn’t have been bitten by Voldemort’s snake if it hadn’t been looking for the prophecy about Harry.
Mrs. Weasley was going to take them to Diagon Alley that day to buy Christmas presents for each other. Harry was determined to get the best presents he could find. He took a handful of floo powder and said, “Diagon Alley!”
Floo powder seemed so nice without just placing your head in. He found himself in the Honey duke’s cellar. The rest of the Weasley family and Hermione followed in suit.
“Now I want all of you back by noon.” Mrs. Weasley lectured. Everyone nodded and went in different directions. Harry searched for Ron’s present first. He went by Gringotts bank and got the largest amount of gold he had ever taken out. He asked the goblin for a bag to carry it in. He walked down the busy streets peering into every shop. He found Bill and Charlie looking through a store that sold muggle goods. Harry wanted all his presents to be surprising, and tried to sneak around the store in secrecy. Bill and Charlie left with a handful of batteries. Harry found a small, battery powered TV, which he found perfect.
All Harry knew about Bill was that he worked at Gringotts. For him Harry found a dragon hide jacket. By accident, Harry found a dragon leash meant to calm even the wildest dragons without hurting them.
For Mrs. Weasley, he found a superb cookbook. If one had all the ingredients, all that person would have to do to make the dish is tap the page with their wand and the food would prepare it’s self. It had several hundred dishes one could make.
Harry didn’t feel really compelled to get Percy an extravagant nice present. He did, however, get him a nice quill that wrote down what ever the owner said aloud.
For Fred and George, Harry found a first edition book full of business ideas plus a book of old prank items. Harry figured they could build off them.
Harry had the most trouble finding something for Ginny. Harry wandered into a store called Eyelopes Owl Emporium, and found an owl that looked like Hedwig with a reddish-brown feathers.
Hermione was most likely the easiest person to shop for. He entered Flourish and Blott’s and purchased 3 first edition books; One for Arithmancy, one for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and another N.E.W.T. prep. test book.
Harry knew what he was going to get Ron the moment he saw it through a shop window, the newest broomstick brand: a Firebolt 1,000. It was extraordinarily expensive, but after thinking of all the times he had gotten Ron into trouble, it was worth it. He went to the cashier, who seemed as happy as Harry. Harry somehow convinced him to wrap his other presents along with the Firebolt 1,000.
Everyone marched out to the marsh on Christmas Eve. Hermione had agreed to be the referee. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley watched from the ground as they split up into teams. Harry and Charlie were team captains. Harry had chosen Ginny as chaser, George as beater, and Ron as keeper. Charlie had Percy in front of the hoops, Fred as beater, and Bill as chaser. Harry had let Ron borrow the glove that allowed him to do all the extra tricks on his broom. Hermione released the bludger, then the snitch, and threw the Quaffle into the air.
Harry and Charlie rose high above everyone else in search of the snitch. Mr. Weasley placed a charm around the marsh so that the balls would not go into the woods. Down below Harry saw Ron block the Quaffle with the tricks they had practiced three days ago. The Quidditch uniform Lupin had given him was keeping nice and warm. Fred and George were having a hard time playing against each other. They both knew exactly what the other person was going to do.
Harry took a fake dive to see if Charlie would follow. He merely looked over to where Harry was diving and went back to his search. Harry brought his broom up and flew pass the quaffle, which Ginny had passed by Percy.
Charlie dove quickly towards the ground. Harry wouldn’t be fooled. He looked at the ground where he was going. A rush of anger came across him as he realized that the snitch was there. He accelerated as fast as his broom would go. The rest of the Weasleys had stopped playing to cheer their seeker. Harry was now at the same place as Charlie with the snitch ten feet away. Both extended the arms and tried to catch it. Harry felt the frozen ball close in his fist. Charlie’s hand was around Harry’s balled hand. Both flew back into the air. The rest of the Weasley’s couldn’t tell who had won. Charlie looked over at his hand and groaned. Harry now held the snitch in his hand, and Charlie merely had Harry’s hand.
Everyone burst out into laughter at Charlie’s face. He thought that he had caught it. Hermione blew a muffled whistle. She too had been laughing. Bill came over and buried his face in Charlie’s shoulder.
“That was priceless,” he laughed. Charlie laughed too. Mr. Weasley called them over. It was getting dark and they need to get back to the Burrow.
Harry slept on the floor next to Ron Christmas Eve, who was eyeing his presents carefully. “Which one’s yours?” he asked without hesitation. Harry shook his head.
“It might help to read the cards,” he said. Ron stared for a moment and started searching through all the cards. Harry shook his head and fell back to the pile of blankets he was sleeping on and fell asleep.
Ron was already opening presents when he woke up. Harry rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but decided to open some of his presents. He had just barely opened a defense book from Hermione when Ron shouted.
“Bloody Hell, Harry! Is… is this real?” he asked while prodding the Firebolt 1,000.
“No,” Harry said sarcastically, “I bought you a fake broom Ron.” He gapped at it for a while.
“Harry… this is too much. I mean… look at it!” he said in a pained voice. Harry shook his head.
“Come on Ron… I owe you a lot to begin with. Every since I found out I was a wizard you were there. Even when we did some of the most dangerous things, you stayed by me.” Ron stared for a moment. He wanted to argue, but seemed to think he couldn’t win.
Bill and Charlie Apparated into the room. “Harry is this real dragon hide?” Bill asked. Harry nodded. Charlie looked at it for a moment with a small hint of disgust. Harry thought this was fairly reasonable since he worked with dragons.
Charlie was holding the leash Harry had gotten him. He looked really concerned. “Harry… These are really expensive,” he said as he examined it.
“Happy Christmas then,” Harry said popping an every flavored bean into his mouth. Ginny came running up stairs.
“Harry, she’s beautiful!” said holing up the reddish-brown owl perched on her arm. Harry opened Ron’s present, who looked somewhat embarrassed. It was a small object that looked a lot like a Sneak-o-scope but in a darker colour. Ron shuffled over.
“It’s a Dark Arts detector. It vibrates when ever someone around is doing Dark Arts,” he said softly. He had a look on his face that showed that he thought nothing could compare with the Firebolt 1,000. Harry however found it to be quite useful.
“This is brilliant,” he said softly. Ron’s ears went pink. Fred and George Apparated into the room.
“Hey erm… Harry? Why don’t you try this?” Fred asked holding out a piece of candy, “It’s a charm we found in that old book.” Harry looked at it.
“Maybe later…” he said slowly. Ginny gave a muffled laugh. “Let’s go get something to eat.” Harry said for a change of subject. Fred, George, Bill, and Charlie all Apparated out of the room, while Harry, Ginny, and Ron all walked down to the kitchen.
Mr. Weasley and Hermione were talking about something. Harry saw them flipping threw channels on the battery powered TV Harry had gotten Mr. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley was looking throw the cookbook Harry had given her. Everyone was thanking each other and random shouts of “Happy Christmas!” filled the air.
Hermione was looking through all the books Harry gave her, and a few extras other people had given her. It was by far the best Christmas he had ever had. He felt as though he was a normal person celebrating Christmas with his family.