Hermione sighed as she heard a knock at the door to her and Ron’s house. Here we go she thought. This was going to be a hard Christmas for all of them. She opened the door to find Ginny standing there looking very pale and thin.
‘Are you okay?’ Hermione asked her friend as they hugged.
‘I’ve been better,’ she said. At least she’s being honest Hermione thought to herself. They went through to the living room where Ron was sitting by the fire. Ron and Ginny just looked at each other. The brother and sister had perhaps been through more than anyone Hermione knew in the last couple of years. They had lost not only both their parents, but also three of their older brothers. Lucius Malfoy had killed Bill and Charlie, the eldest two, in the Final Battle. Percy, on the other hand, had abandoned his family and had taken the Dark Mark. He was also killed during the final battle by one of the Ministry of Magic Aurors. Mrs Weasley died when their house, The Burrow, was attacked during the night and Mr Weasley had suffered a heart attack shortly after.
Hermione could see that Ron and Ginny were suffering greatly as a result of this. At least Ron has me, she thought. Poor Ginny is left with no one. Ron and Hermione had married just after they left school. They decided that, if anything happened to either during the final battle, then they at least wanted to have been married. It had taken them both a long tine to admit their feelings for one another but when they did, things moved quite quickly. They got together at the start of their seventh year at Hogwarts and by Christmas they were engaged. They were married within a week of leaving school but unfortunately they didn’t have time for a honeymoon. The fighting had become intense in the War, so they were needed. A year after they left school, the Battle had come to an end but Ron and Hermione still hadn’t gone away together.
There was another knock at the door, announcing the arrival of Fred and George Weasley. The twins looked much more sombre than usual, they were usually the life and soul of the party with their pranks and jokes. Hermione sighed again. Voldemort had spoiled every ounce of happiness left in the world and she was unsure if they could ever get any happiness back again.
Fred and George hugged their brother and sister and they all sat down together in the living room. Hermione looked at the four of them. They all looked so similar with their flaming red hair but yet they seemed so different at the same time. Hermione got them all some wine as they waited for everyone else to arrive. She went to check on the turkey, which was cooking nicely in the oven along with all the traditional trimmings. Hermione had finally gotten the hang of cooking after much practice. She had a great reputation to live up to after Mrs Weasley’s legendary cooking.
Her and Ron had gone to great lengths to decorate their new home to try and take everyone’s minds off the terrible events of last summer. For six months they had all been living in total denial. It should have been a happy time after the War but they couldn’t bring themselves to celebrate with the rest of the Wizarding world. Ron and Hermione decided to move far away so they could try and escape their memories so they moved to one of the remote islands in the far north west of Scotland. They lived near the sea in an entirely Muggle village.
The first thing Ron said was that his father would have loved to live there among all the Muggles. Ron was adapting surprisingly well to living among Muggles, he was even getting used to Muggle money and Muggle transport. Because they were in such a remote little village, they had to travel into the town to go to work by bus. Hermione had taken a job in the local secondary school teaching Maths and she was very well liked. Ron didn’t fancy leaving the Wizarding World of work behind so he Apparated to work from Hermione’s classroom early each day to the Ministry of Magic. He now worked as the head of the Department for Magical Games and Sports. He loved getting to meet all sorts of Quidditch Players and the highlight had been playing as keeper for his favourite team, the Chudley Cannons, once. It had even taken his mind away from everything for a while.
There was another knock at the door, shaking Hermione from her thoughts. She answered, allowing Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Remus Lupin and Professor McGonagall to enter their house. She got them all some wine and they too sat down in the living room. They all had haunted looks in their eyes as they had all been closely affected by the events of the war. Moments later, another knock came, bringing their final guest. Albus Dumbledore entered the house, looking older than anyone had ever seen him. He had retired as headmaster of Hogwarts just after the end of the War and Professor McGonagall had taken the post. Neville now worked as Herbology teacher, following Professor Sprout’s death in the War.
Luna was now the Transfiguration teacher and Lupin was the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher as well as being head of Gryffindor house. Neville and Luna had recently married and she was expecting their first child. Lupin was still single although Hermione had a feeling he was rather taken with Nymphadora Tonks, one of the Ministry Aurors.
Once everyone had arrived, Hermione called them all to the table. She had set eleven places at the table, even though there were only ten of them there. The one person missing was the person who saved them all from certain death. He had disappeared during the Final Battle to fight, and kill, Voldemort. It had been prophesised that he would be the one to end it all and he did just that.
No one had seen the Final showdown between him and Voldemort but they all knew that it was over when the Death Eaters stopped fighting. They had all collapsed in the pain of their Dark Marks disappearing so the Aurors were able to round them all up. The Order of the Phoenix, led by Dumbledore was able to get rid of the Dementors, who started to attack.
Dumbledore told the Order to search the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts for any sign of Boy-Who-Lived or Voldemort. They found Voldemort’s lifeless body right at the centre of the forest but there was no sign of their saviour. All over the world, people were celebrating the demise of the most evil wizard to have lived on the earth but his close friends were mourning. He had been the love of Ginny’s life and she his and his disappearance hit her harder than anyone else.
He had proposed to her on the day of the battle, promising to come back to her and never leave her and she accepted immediately. She hadn’t taken the gorgeous diamond ring off yet and Hermione didn’t think she ever would.
As she looked round her kitchen, she sensed that everyone else was thinking about him when they saw the empty place setting.
‘Ron, will you carve please?’ Hermione asked her husband. He was shaken from his thoughts about his lost best friend and picked up the carving knife. They all enjoyed their first dinner together since the Final Battle. Even Ginny perked up a bit. They went back through to the living room to eat their dessert, discussing their plans for the next year. They had mutually agreed not to give any presents this year as it just didn’t seem quite right without so many of the people loved there. Yes, they could celebrate Christmas but they were all still mourning for the people they had so tragically lost.
Just as Ron and Hermione were telling of their plans to finally spend some time away together, there was another knock at the door. Thinking it would be one of their neighbours coming to wish them a Merry Christmas, Hermione went to answer it, picking up one of the small gifts she had bought for anyone who came round. She warned everyone to put their wands away in case it was a Muggle.
She opened the door slowly, shivering at the cold wind that came through the door. That was the one bad thing about living there, the freezing cold even during the summer. She fixed a smile on her face, preparing to make small talk with whoever was there. Most of the locals were older and generally lived on their own so she had to be pleasant towards them.
She looked up and there was the tall, thin, black-haired, green-eyes, bespectacled form of the one person they had all wanted to see alive this Christmas standing on their doorstep. Harry Potter looked much the same as he always did, except that he looked as if he hadn’t slept in the six-or-so months he had been away and he didn’t look as if he had eaten much in that time either.
‘Oh my God, Harry!’ she screamed as she flung her arms around his neck. ‘How did you find us?’
‘I think I just followed my heart. It’s quite nice here, though I can’t imagine there would be many of our sort here!’ he said. He still sounded much the same although Hermione could tell there was something different about him.
‘Oh, come in out of the cold. Everyone is going to be so happy to see you. This is exactly what we all needed today,’ said Hermione excitedly. Harry smiled at her, there was only one person in the world he truly wanted to see and he only hoped that she would still want to see him too. They walked along the hall and went into the living room. Hermione went in first, dragging Harry by the hand behind her.
Ginny fainted when she saw him and Ron looked close as well. Dumbledore’s eyes lit up to their original glory, taking about thirty years off him. Lupin just sat there with his mouth hanging open, as did Neville and Luna. McGonagall began to cry and Fred and George started jumping around the living room with glee.
Harry ran to where Ginny was lying and tried to bring her round. She almost passed out when she came round again but Harry picked her up in his now strong arms and laid her on the couch. ‘Is it really you?’ she asked when she was finally able to talk.
‘Yes it is me,’ he said. ‘I’m so sorry I left you for so long but I want to keep my promise to you now.’ She smiled weakly and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him deeply. He blushed when they broke apart to find everyone looking at them. Ron, Fred and George were looking at them with mock disgust, causing everyone to laugh.
Fred and George made a toast of ‘to our hero!’ causing Harry to go deep red in colour. Dumbledore then waved his wand, refilling everyone’s glasses with wine and made a toast, ‘to new beginnings,’ which everyone repeated.
‘This was the best Christmas present ever,’ said Harry quietly so only Ginny could hear, ‘knowing you will still have me.’