This time, there was no arguing about whether or not Harry would sleep on the floor. Instead, he slipped under the covers and snuggled up to Ginny, burying his face in her neck.
“Harry, stop it!” she squealed, squirming away from him. “Your nose is freezing!”
“Well, so are your feet,” he retorted cheerfully, rubbing his nose against her skin and tightening his arms around her so that she couldn’t get away. “They’re like ruddy blocks of ice! I’ve got to get back at you somehow, don’t I? Besides, you smell absolutely delicious. Have I ever told you that?”
He couldn’t see her blush in the dark, but from the way her skin heated, he figured she must be.
“Thanks,” Ginny murmured, and he smiled.
“I’m sorry my nose was cold. Is this better?” Harry asked, brushing the back of her neck with his lips this time.
“Much,” she sighed. “You can do that as much as you like.”
He smiled again as he trailed his lips down to the curve of her shoulder and then along her jaw line, moving as slowly as possible. Goosebumps skittered across her skin as he grazed it, keeping his touch light.
“Cold?” he whispered, and she turned her head in the dark.
“Not anymore,” she whispered back, and gave him a long, languid kiss that seemed to go on for hours and hours. Finally, he pulled away, taking a deep breath to try and clear the fog that had suddenly clouded his mind.
“We should probably try to sleep,” he said hoarsely, and Ginny nodded.
“Probably. Big day tomorrow,” she agreed, pressing her lips to the hollow of his throat and trailing her fingers across his chest.
“Mmhmm. You’re being very distracting,” Harry murmured, and felt her smile.
“That was kind of the idea,” she breathed, and he chuckled.
“We’ll never get to sleep if you keep doing that,” he said as her fingers traced lazy patterns across his skin.
“Sleep is over-rated,” she replied, and proceeded to distract him for a little while longer before they finally drifted into sleep.
Or rather, Ginny drifted into sleep.
In a few moments, Ginny’s breathing had become deep and even, and Harry slipped quietly out of bed. He groped around in the bedside table drawer until he found the hairs he’d cut from her head the night before, grabbed the gift-wrapped Snitch hidden under the bed, and snuck downstairs to the kitchen.
Once there, he plucked out a few of his own hairs and elongated them with a spell, then twisted them with Ginny’s and tied them in a knot. He smiled to himself as he placed the hairs in the Snitch. It was much harder than it seemed, since he was wearing gloves to prevent his skin from touching it.
Soon, he was finished, and the Snitch was closed and secure in its box. He placed it carefully under the tree, standing back to admire his handiwork, and smiled. He closed his eyes and imagined Ginny’s reaction the next morning, how happy she’d be, and her face when she told him it was perfect, and she loved it, and him.
Just then, he heard a loud creak and whirled, reaching for his wand. Before he got it out of his pocket, however, he recognized his father’s feet on the stairs, and relaxed.
“Dad,” he called softly, and James jumped.
“Blimey, Harry! Don’t do that!” James squeaked, and Harry coughed to hide the laugh that tried to escape.
“Sorry, Dad. Didn’t mean to scare you,” he replied, grinning, as James came into the kitchen, clearing his throat.
“Scare me? Who said anything about me being scared? I was just a little…erm, surprised, that’s all. I didn’t expect anyone else to be down here,” James said, and Harry raised an eyebrow.
“Right, Dad. So, why are you down here?” Harry asked as James pulled a tiny box out of his pocket and set it on the kitchen table.
“I’m putting your mother’s present under the tree. Have to be sneaky, you know. She still doesn’t know I bought it the other day.” James grinned, obviously pleased with himself, as he warmed some milk. “And I wanted hot chocolate. Nothing like hot chocolate on Christmas Eve, especially after midnight. Want some?”
Harry nodded as his father took out two mugs and the chocolate syrup.
“So, Harry, why are you awake at this hour?” James asked as he stirred the chocolate into the hot milk, turning it a rich, creamy brown. He finished it off with a dollop of whipped cream, and set the mug in front of Harry, who took a small sip before answering.
“This is good!” he said, a little surprised.
“Of course it’s good! I made it, didn’t I?” James replied in a hurt tone, though he winked at Harry to show he didn’t mean it. “I make a damn good hot chocolate, if I do say so myself. Now, answer the question!”
Harry smiled. “I was putting Ginny’s present under the tree,” he admitted. “I wanted to surprise her tomorrow; I don’t think she knows I got her anything. I hope she likes it.”
“If it’s from you, she’ll like it, trust me,” James reassured him. “The girl’s mad about you, obviously.
“Yeah,” Harry sighed, “I’m mad about her, too.” He grinned hugely at his father. “She told me she loved me, last night. Loved me!”
James grinned back and clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s fantastic, Harry! I told you she wouldn’t let a little thing like a war keep the two of you apart! She’s a keeper, that one.”
Suddenly his smile turned to a worried frown. “Erm…Harry, you’re seventeen now, right?”
Harry nodded, mystified at his father’s sudden change in manner.
“Erm…so, you know about…well, the birds and the bees and… stuff, right? I don’t have to explain anything to you, do I? Like, to be…careful and…whatnot?”
Harry’s forehead wrinkled in puzzlement as he tried to figure out what his father was trying to say. It was obviously a talk that James felt obligated to have, and just as obviously one that he was hoping Harry had already heard.
“The birds and the bees? What do you mean, Dad?” he asked, wracking his brain to think of anything he’d heard of magical birds and bees. Maybe his father was about to tell him something about the Golden Snidget, which was a bird, but also sort of like a bee…
James was looking more and more uncomfortable by the minute, avoiding Harry’s eyes and stumbling over his words. “Erm…you know…erm…what happens when “ when two people love each other very much…and…and how babies are made and…stuff,” he finished lamely as Harry’s eyes widened in comprehension.
“Oh!” Harry choked, speechless for a moment, and suddenly just as uncomfortable as his father. “Erm…I think I know everything I need to, Dad, thanks. There was a class in second year that explained…well, everything. So, you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be careful.” His face grew warm as he thought about how hard it had been to stop before things got too far earlier…
“Oh, good!” James exclaimed, relief written all over his features. “Of course, you know, if you ever have any questions, or anything you want to talk about, I want you to feel free to come to me, all right?”
“Yeah, all right,” Harry told him. “Not that anything like that’s really happened between us. Not that I don’t want it to,” he continued, “but I just think we need to wait, especially with the war. I’d like to be able to be with Ginny without worrying that I might be dead the next day. I just…I couldn’t live with myself if something like that happened. Or worse, if I, you know, did something and “ and got her pregnant and then got myself killed.”
James nodded thoughtfully. “I understand where you’re coming from. It’s a risk, certainly, and it’s good you’re thinking about it - most blokes in your position wouldn’t worry about it at all. But remember what I told you before, and don’t let this war keep you from living. Not that you should run upstairs and go at it like rabbits,” he added hurriedly. “I think you’re doing things right. Just…don’t keep planning your life around the war. I mean, look at your mother and me; we didn’t let the war stop us from being together, or from having you. That’s what I meant, anyway.”
Harry smiled. “I think I get what you mean, Dad. Don’t do anything rash, but don’t stop living either.”
James smiled back at him. “That’s right. That’s exactly what I mean.” He took one last swig of his chocolate and put his mug in the sink. “And I do believe it’s my bedtime. Hot chocolate always makes me warm and happy, which makes me sleepy.” He yawned hugely to prove his point, and walked around the table towards the stairs, pausing beside Harry.
“Good night, son,” he said quietly, giving Harry’s shoulder a squeeze. Harry reached up and clasped his father’s hand in return.
“Sleep well, Dad,” Harry replied.
* * *
A few hours later, Harry jerked suddenly and completely awake. Something was wrong. He wasn’t sure what had awakened him, but he lay there quietly, listening to the house breathe as his eyes roamed around the room. Nothing seemed to be different. His coat and shoes were still dropped carelessly in the corner of the room, while Ginny’s coat was hung neatly on a chair beside the dresser.
Ginny…Ginny wasn’t beside him. He bolted upright, looking swiftly around to see if she was somewhere else in the room, and he’d simply overlooked her. But she wasn’t there.
He slipped out of bed and padded quietly to the bathroom door, which was slightly ajar, and knocked on it.
“Ginny? You in there?” he whispered, but there was no answer. He knocked again. “Ginny!” But he still didn’t get a response.
“Ginny, I’m opening the door,” he said, and pushed the door open slowly, just in case she was in there, and simply hadn’t heard him knock. But as the door swung open, he could see the bathroom was empty. He stood in the doorway for a moment, fingers white-knuckled on the doorknob.
“Don’t panic, don’t panic, she probably just went downstairs for a hot chocolate or something,” he told himself as he grabbed his wand and moved towards the door to their room. He tried to convince himself that his worry was stupid, pointless, even, but a part of him, the part that warned him when Voldemort was near, the part that told him when his friends were in danger, was screaming at him.
He raised his hand to his forehead as he slipped through the door, but felt no pain. Voldemort wasn’t nearby, then. Or was he? He hadn’t been attacked yet, in this time, so perhaps the warning his scar usually gave him wouldn’t come. But he, himself, had been attacked in the future, so perhaps it would. Or maybe it wouldn’t. Or…
He gave up thinking about it when his head started throbbing with the effort, and concentrated on getting downstairs as quickly and quietly as possible.
He moved without a lighted wand, so the dim figures downstairs didn’t turn when he entered the sitting room. He saw Ginny’s form hovering near one of the windows, tension evident in every line of her body. His mother stood next to her, clutching a shapeless bundle so fiercely that he was sure it was his younger self.
“What’s going on? Can you see anything?” he heard Lily whisper to Ginny, who shook her head.
“I can’t see much “ just a bunch of moving lights,” Ginny whispered back. “It’s like they’re trying to find the house by searching where it’s not. But even then, they shouldn’t be able to find it anyway, right? I mean, don’t they need the Secret Keeper for that?”
“As far as I know. We should be safe.” responded Lily. “But it still means that someone’s betrayed us, or was made to betray us, otherwise the Death Eaters wouldn’t even know our general location. I think Dumbledore’s spreading a rumor that we’re in Wales somewhere.”
“Maybe they’re just checking every Wizarding village in Britain, just to be sure. We don’t know that you’ve been betrayed,” Ginny said, though her voice didn’t sound as convincing as her words.
Harry chose that moment to reveal himself. “Mum? Ginny? What’s going on?” he whispered, and both women jumped and whirled.
“Harry!” Ginny breathed, though she didn’t relax much when she realized it was him. “There’s someone out there!”
“Death Eaters?” he asked, moving to her side.
“We’re not sure, but I think so,” she said, looking over his shoulder. “All we can really see are lights, but they’re moving as if they’re searching for something, and every now and again, the lights flash, as if they’re casting spells.”
“How did you find out what was happening?” he asked.
“Harry woke up and wanted his bottle, so I brought him downstairs,” his mother answered. “I didn’t turn on a light because the moon was coming in through the window, and I didn’t want Harry to fuss any more than he already was. Then, I saw the lights flashing outside.”
“I woke up to go to the bathroom, and saw the lights, too,” said Ginny. “So I grabbed my wand and came downstairs. Your mother was already here.”
“Someone should wake Dad,” Harry said.
“No need,” whispered James’ voice from the stairs. “I’m here. What’s happening? You never came back, Lily.”
They quickly told him what was going on, and he joined them briefly at the window before going to check all the others.
“They’re all around the house,” he said grimly, “But they’re not acting like they know it’s here. It’s like they’re just searching blindly, but I don’t think they’ll find us. They can’t, not without a Secret Keeper, and even if they knew a house was here, they’d just keep going around it in circles without ever realizing where it was.”
“Right, but the fact that they’re searching here probably means that someone betrayed you,” Harry said quietly.
“I know,” James growled. “I just wish I knew who.”
He moved to Lily’s side and wrapped his arms around her and the baby protectively. “I just feel so bloody helpless,” he spat, and Harry felt an answering swell of anger at Voldemort and his followers for intruding in his life yet again. “I mean, even if they can’t find us, we’re still not really safe. Or it doesn’t feel like we are, anyway,” James continued. “We’ll have to increase the security charms on the house tomorrow, especially since Sirius and Remus are supposed to come for Christmas dinner. And your friends too, Harry. And we’ll all have to be especially careful.”
“You’d think even the Death Eaters’d take a break for Christmas,” Harry said bitterly.
“Evil never sleeps,” Lily replied softly, looking out the window at the flashing lights. They looked so innocent, like fireflies, or the fairy lights used to decorate the Christmas trees in the Great Hall at Hogwarts. But beneath their softly glowing facades lurked a menace that was all the more deadly for its appearance of innocence.
Of Christmas Past by Chaser921
Chapter Notes: I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I know it's been forever and ever, and I do apologize. I just keep getting writer's block for months and months. Next time I work on a chaptered fic, I promise I'll write the whole thing first, and that way I'll get it up that much faster. Anyway, enjoy!