AN: Hello, my lovely readers, and welcome to the deleted scenes and outtakes from my multi-chapter Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter crossover, Reinforcements! You're welcome to read these without having read the big story first, but they'll probably make more sense if you take a gander at the original article first.

This is where I'll be posting the scenes that didn't fit into Reinforcements - outtakes, extra prompts, and other stuff that I really wanted to write but wouldn't work within the frame of the narrative. Please feel free to send me prompts!

This here's a little belated Christmas fic that I started last December and only just got around to finishing and couldn't wait until next Christmas to post.

I don't own Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. If I did, I could afford to spend a lot more money on cosplay than I can at the moment.

Without further ado, here's Christmas Sweaters. Enjoy!

On December twenty-fifth, the three-thousand and seventh year of the third age of middle earth, the Weasley siblings had a quiet pseudo-celebration in Fred and George's room. They snuck some pastries and cakes from Rivendell's kitchens, Ginny somehow managed to get a small coniferous tree in there without anyone noticing, and they exchanged small, simple gifts; things like new shirts, bowstrings, whetstones, and the like. Fred and George didn't know how she managed it, but somehow Ginny got her hands on some hearty dwarvish beer (they suspected Gandalf was in on it somehow) and they spent their evening drinking away their homesickness, grateful that they at least had each other to wish a Happy Christmas.

It was the first time for all of them that there were no sweaters waiting for them under the tree, but they stubbornly refused to acknowledge that fact. Maybe if they didn't talk about it, it wouldn't hurt so much.

As the years went by, the Weasley Christmas celebrations got more and more elaborate. It helped them get used to this new world, helped them make it more like home. No matter where their travels took them, they always made sure to make it back to Rivendell, or at least to be together, for the holiday.

Ginny was always responsible for the tree. Fred and George, for all their efforts, never caught her actually cutting the tree down or even moving it from one place to another. It would simply appear in their room one morning, usually on Christmas Eve (though one year, it showed up on the sixteenth when they didn't even think that Ginny was in Imladris). It became a nice tradition for them.

It was on December 23, the three-thousand and twelfth year of the third age, that the Weasley Christmas expanded beyond just Weasleys. Ginny had been halfway through cutting down this year's tree (actually, to be more precise, she was lopping off the top few feet of a rather large pine), when she heard a shout from beneath her.

"Ginny? is that you?" she heard Aragorn call from the ground below and said witch froze. No one had ever caught her in the act of getting the Christmas tree before, though she supposed she shouldn't have been surprised that it was Aragorn who did it first. That man could track a fruit fly in the dark if he set his mind to it.

"Yeah," she called back, "gimme a minute," she shouted down to him, making quick work of the rest of the tree trunk. Holding the top of the tree with one hand and tightly gripping the branch she sat on with her legs to keep herself from falling, she drew her wand with her free hand and with a swish and a flick, carefully levitated the tree down to the ground.

"What the-" Ginny caught from Aragorn on the ground even as she started her descent. "Did you just cut off the top of this tree?" Aragorn asked once she was closer to the ground.

"Yes," Ginny confirmed as she dropped the last five feet to the snow-covered ground, landing carefully with her knees bent and looking up at her friend with a grin once she had steadied herself.

"May I ask why?" Aragorn persisted, looking reasonably confused.

"If you tell me how you found me," Ginny agreed with a shrug as she went over to the bit of tree that she had dropped to the ground. Drawing her wand once more, she charmed the thing to float beside her and with another flick, cast a disillusionment charm on it. "Shall we?" she asked with a grin, nodding in the general direction of Imladris.

"We shall," Aragorn agreed, and they were off.

"It's for something called christmas," Ginny said after they'd been walking for awhile, answering her close friend's question at last. Said friend looked to her in question, nonverbally asking her to elaborate. "It's a holiday back home," she went on, "there's religious stuff behind it that I won't bore you with, but it's a kind of Yuletide sort of celebration.

"On December twenty-fifth, families will get together, exchange gifts, eat damn extravagant meals, and just spend time together," she continued. "And most people put up a tree in their home and then decorate it for the holiday," she said, gesturing back to the disillusioned tree that still floated beside her. "Fred and George and I, we've been doing this - having our own little Christmas - every year since we got here. This is my sixth time cutting down the tree and Fred and George still haven't caught me doing it, so how in the hell did you find me?"

"You are not so hard to track as you might think," Aragorn said simply. "Though I admit, I had not expected to find you in that part of the forest," he told her, looking over at her to see a proud smirk on her lips. As they walked back to an undisclosed location in Imladris where Ginny stashed the tree, she continued to explain the holiday to her good friend.

On Christmas morning, there was a newcomer sitting with the Weasleys around the tree. Aragorn joined them in the festivities and even opened a few half-assed last-minute presents from Ginny and the twins. The next year, he joined Ginny in going back to Rivendell for the twenty-fifth and there were gifts both for and from him under the tree. The next year, Arwen found out about the celebrations; Elladan and Elrohir the year after.

One year, there were a few sweaters under the tree - gifts for Ginny and Aragorn from Arwen - and the red-headed woman chose not to explain why she almost cried at the sight.

She was ashamed to say that she never wore it. It just wasn't the same. It wasn't a Christmas sweater without a massive letter "G" knitted into the front of it; without matching ones for her brothers; without Fred wearing the other "G" sweater and George wearing the "F" one. It wasn't the same.

It would never be the same.

Christmas 3018 was spent traveling. They had made it out of Moria just two days previously and lost Gandalf too. That morning, the Weasleys exchanged soft, half-hearted Happy Christmases and hauled their asses out of their bedrolls to finish the trek to Caras Galadhon. There was no tree that year, no cheerful exchange of gifts, though there was some good drinking to be had that night, even if it was just some of the home-brewed firewhiskey Fred carried in his pack. It was a melancholy sort of Christmas.

The next year was just as difficult as the last; it being their first year without Fred.

When Ginny was planning out her gifts, writing out her list, she accidentally added his name (she scratched it out and definitely didn't cry about it. Definitely not.)

In spite of that, their Christmas had grown again; including not just Ginny, George, and Aragorn, but Éowyn, Legolas, and Gimli as well. The gifts were kept simple and Aragorn had discreetly explained to the Christmas Newcomers (without Ginny or George's knowledge) why there was a blanket ban on giving sweaters as gifts.

When Aragorn and Ginny's first child, little Gilraen Hermione, came along, their little family absolutely spoiled the girl her first Christmas. She got new toys, new slippers, an absolutely precious hat that was a bit too big for her and almost covered up her blue-grey eyes, and a sweater. George had broken the unspoken rule, but he didn't care. Gilraen was a Weasley, and even if it wasn't a real Weasley Sweater, it was better than nothing.

George did the same for Ginny and Aragorn's son when he came along; little Frederick Boromir got a sweater his first Christmas.

Ginny returned the favor for George and Éowyn's son on his first Christmas. Théodred Lee was a Weasley and Ginny would be damned if she let her nephew go without a sweater on his first Christmas.

The day that Ginny was reunited with her parents was easily one of the happiest days of her life. To find her way back to them, to find them still alive and well, it was more than she had ever dared to hope for. They listened intently to what happened to them while they were gone, they were eager to meet Ginny and George's spouses and children, and Molly left no room for argument when she said something along the lines of "and you'll be coming 'round for Christmas dinner, of course."

Not that they were going to argue.

By the time Christmas came around that year, there were two new members of the royal family: Arwen Cedrella and Éowyn Molly, twin baby princesses that were only two months old when they took their first trip through the floo for what was their first Christmas.

The baby girls slept through most of dinner, but they were awake and alert in time for presents. Gilraen, being the youngest one there who could read, was asked if she would like to help her cousins Hugo and Lucy (the next oldest after Gilraen) pass out the presents and she eagerly agreed. When Hugo handed his Aunt Ginny a soft, somewhat squishy package from Grandma Weasley, he didn't notice the tears that began to well up in her eyes or the way that Uncle Aragorn gave her hand a comforting squeeze. Once everything was sorted, the family turned to Ginny and Aragorn expectantly.

"Go on, open the girls' presents!" Charlie said impatiently, and Ginny obliged with a grin, carrying out the Weasley tradition of the youngest opening their presents first. There were baby clothes, small toys (notably, a set of blocks that changed color when you dropped them), but most importantly, two sweaters: one with an A and one with an E.

Théodred went next and amidst the mess of toys he unwrapped, he also received a deep blue sweater with a massive letter T on the front. Ginny cried tears of joy when she watched her own children open their own sweaters, Gilraen pulling hers on right over her dress. The dark purple sweater with a lavender G in the center was an absolute hit with the five-year-old girl. Ginny watched as the rest of her nieces and nephews opened their gifts; everything from broomstick polishing kits to new dress robes, and every single one of them got a new sweater from Grandma Weasley.

After the kids, Éowyn was the youngest adult, and she followed her niece's lead, pulling her own emerald green sweater on right then and there. Once the blonde woman was finished, the family turned to Ginny, and she took her turn, opening the gifts from her brothers and thanking them as she went. She saved the soft, squishy package from her mother for last. Carefully tearing back the paper and biting back tears, she opened up a rich, navy blue sweater with a truly hideously large letter G knitted into the front of it. Ginny couldn't help it, the tears were breaking free and she was openly crying.

"Hey, hey Gin, what's wrong?" Bill asked from his seat beside her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Nothing," Ginny assured him, shaking her head and wiping away her tears. "I've just," she began, though she cut herself off to try to find the right words. "It has been a very long time since I've gotten one of these for Christmas," she said, a smile on her lips as she looked up at her mother. Molly smiled back at her daughter with love in the lines of her face. The rest of the present opening was a bit of a blur; though everyone did get a kick out of the fact that Ginny's husband was in fact the oldest one there.

While Percy roped his nieces and nephews into assisting with the cleanup, Ginny made her way over to her mother. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but there weren't words for how thankful she was. Instead of saying anything then, Ginny settled on a hug.

"Thank you," the younger witch said into her mother's shoulder as the woman hugged her back.

"Happy Christmas, sweetheart," Molly said, pressing a soft kiss into her daughter's hair.

"Happy Christmas, mum."

Thanks for reading! If you liked it or if you have any requests or prompts, please feel free to let me know in a review or a PM!

Natalie out.