Chapter Twelve

Christmas

1

Snowflakes drifted lazily downward to merge with the thickening sheet of white that covered the graveyard. It was the day of Christmas Eve and the gated yard was quiet, with a sole visitor. A young man with dark hair and a crooked nose stood before one of the newer headstones, peering at it with sober mismatched (on blue and the other blue-green) eyes. His hands were buried deep inside the pockets of his long tan trench coat that looked liked it belonged more on a cowboy than some funny looking British kid with a slight pot-belly. The jacket was open a little over his chest, revealing the tiffany blue t-shirt beneath that read: PRINCESS. The shirt was obviously meant for a girl, but this particular character wore it because of the scandalized reactions he got from people – especially in the magical world.

His strange joke had certainly gotten a few good reactions out of a gaggle of old ladies he'd passed on the way to the graveyard. They harrumphed and muttered amongst themselves before scurrying away from him. 'Hey, at least they'll have something to talk about over Christmas dinner that didn't involve prunes or indigestion,' he figured with a goofy grin.

However, at the moment, Remy's thoughts had turned to more subdued things. The smooth headstone gleamed under the rays of the afternoon sun behind him. He read the legend it bore for possibly the twentieth time since her death – or was it the thirtieth.

Julissa R. Culver

6 January, 1998 – 28 July, 2016

Our darling can finally rest at last

His friend, Jules lay six feet below him. When he thought about that for a moment, he took a step to the right instead of standing directly in front of the grave marker.

"Sorry," Remy muttered to the stone as if it were really her lifting one of her warning eyebrows at him. "To think, I've been stepping on you all of this time," he joked, grinning shortly.

Pausing for a moment, he cleared his throat.

"I, uh… I know you said flowers were for pansies – and I spent my last paycheck on the bill from two months ago anyway – so I picked you some nice, free, abrasive holly. You know, for Christmas and all." He stooped and deposited the little cluster of holly branches tied together by a rubber band. The tiny red berries against the sharp green leaves gave off a distinctly Christmas feel lying in the snow.

"Holly, suits you," he continued. "It's pretty, but tough. Holly hasn't made me bleed as many times, though."

He remembered something and his silly, crooked grin was back. "Oh, yeah," he said, "I've decided to purpose to Antonia! She'll probably just laugh her head off at me when I ask, but maybe she'll say yes. Can't you just see our poor kids? They're all gonna have funky teeth and curly red froes!" He laughed out loud at the mental image. "I'm going to wait until she graduates, though. Her Mum would tear into me if I distracted her before her N.E.W.T.s are done."

There was another pause, this one longer; as if he wasn't sure he should say what he was thinking.

Finally, he said, "Y-you won't believe who came into the shop a week before last: Lenore's dad and Harry Potter. They were looking for this hot woman that works for Potter. She's okay now," he added, as if the tombstone had frowned in concern, "they found her not too long after. But Potter acted like a real git while he was there. He said he saw you at some murder scene. I kicked the tosser out, just so you know. I told him not to talk about you like that and sent him on his way… then I crapped myself and hid in the back for the rest of the day. Mr. Hawkins wasn't happy, but at least he didn't fire me. Antonia didn't believe me when I told her I stood up to Potter." He ended with a nervous little laugh.

"Well, I should go back – Mum'll be mad if I'm not back in time with the cranberry sauce. I just wanted to talk to you and say Happy Christmas. I'll visit again soon…"

He trailed off and turned around, heading for the cemetery gate. He left and started walking down the hill path in the direction he had come from. Glancing back from about halfway down the slope, he stopped dead. His eyes widened and his jaw fell open.

Standing among the headstones, right were Julissa's grave would be, was a slender woman wearing pure white robes. Remy sucked in a breath and watched as the very familiar looking woman stooped to pick up the holly. Her head bent over it and pale, curly locks fell around her face.

It was Jules. She wasn't wearing the dark gothic attire he always remembered her in, nor her old dredlocks. She was a purer, rawer Jules that wasn't hidden beneath layers of teenage symbology, but it was her.

"Merlin's Beard," Remy whispered, a little frightened.

There was no way she could have heard him from such a distance, but she suddenly looked up, looked at him. He felt the blood drain from his face when the familiar eyes locked on him. He took a step toward the cemetery and hesitated.

Remy only blinked once, but when he opened his eyes, she had gone. Breathing heavily, he searched the area with his eyes, but she wasn't there.

Refusing to believe he'd imagined her, he ran back to the gate and flung it open, dodging headstones until he reached Julissa's space. He froze before it, the frigid air burning his lungs as he sucked in great gasps of it. The holly was still on the ground, where he'd left it. Had it moved at all? It didn't matter because there was no denying the disturbance in the snow. Even if his shirt did say PRINCESS, his shoes certainly hadn't made those high heel prints in the snow. The tracks had come from the forest behind the graveyard, and had stopped just were he'd seen her standing.

He looked around wildly, as if she might still be close by. Nobody came into view. She had gone. Poor Remy was shaken to the core, and he could do nothing but gape at the forest in trembling disbelief.

2

"SYD! ALTON! TREVOR! Mel says dinner is almost ready! Come help!" Celeste Haywood shouted up the staircase of the Snook residence.

When she turned back down the hall, Alton Drake was coming out of the nearest doorway.

"You know, Celeste," Alton said, wrapping an arm around the plump Muggle woman's shoulders, "I love that dulcet voice of yours, but do you have to be so loud?"

"Of course," she replied with a sly grin. "How else would I complete my image of an incurable lunatic? Covering myself in flower just isn't a good enough sign these days." She gestured to her face and Rudolph sweater which were indeed coated with a substantial layer of white powder.

"All you need is a big red mouth and squeaky ball on your nose," Alton suggested. "Then scream your head off at us. It would be the stuff horror movies are made of."

"You have to get me a clown outfit first," she retorted.

"I think I can arrange that."

They entered the kitchen where Melencolia Snook and a woman with very short black hair wearing a man's sweater were finishing up dinner. Alton swooped over to the dark haired woman and kissed her sweetly.

"Happy Christmas, Payton," he said. There was barely an inch between their faces.

Payton smiled and used her hands to reply to him in sign language.

He laughed, saying, "I know we're not under mistletoe. Would that stop you?"

She grinned mischievously and kissed him back.

Sydney and Trevor arrived and were immediately put to work setting the large dining table. Melencolia levitated several platters of food into the dining room after them.

"Celeste, dear," said the old woman, "could you tell Kermit to get in here, please. If he starts walking now maybe he'll make it to the table before we start."

Celeste giggled and stepped out into the hall again. "MR. SNOOK! DINNER!"

Old man Snook shouted something back, but she didn't listen. The front door had just opened and Roman came in – the attractive Italian thoroughly distracted her.

Sydney darted over to him from the dinning room before he could even close the door behind him. "Happy Christmas, Roman!" she cried, jumping into his arms.

"Buon Natale!" he replied, laughing at the girl's enthusiasm.

In the blink of an eye, Yvette was there as well with her flirtatious, "Joyeux Noël, Roman."

"Joyeux Noël, Yvette," Roman replied. They kissed each other's cheeks over the top of Sydney's head.

Celeste rolled her eyes at the fact that French and Italian sounded that much sexier just because it had come out of his mouth. He came toward the kitchen and greeted her in turn.

"Happy Christmas, Celeste," he said. She couldn't hold back her faint blush when he kissed her as well.

However when he came toward Payton, Alton spoke up. "Oy! You keep those foreign lips off of my bird!" he jokingly warned his friend. "Who knows how many people you kissed before you got here. You were probably grabbing women off the street for a casual Holiday snog."

Payton just grinned and rolled her eyes as Roman laughed and the two men shook hands.

"Roman, I should have known you'd distract all the women in my kitchen," Mrs. Snook said dryly when she noticed the large crowd of females around him. "Be useful or find a seat at the table."

He smirked at her and used his wand to levitate the last of the food into the dining room. "Don't you have a house elf to help you with all of this," he asked.

"I gave her two weeks off for Christmas," Mrs. Snook replied matter-of-factly.

"I told her it was a great idea," Celeste chimed in. "Now I can help make two home-cooked meals with my two families."

The sound of an old man's voice could be heard from the dining room, barking at someone for nothing in particular.

"Sounds like Kermit made it in time," Mrs. Snook commented with a hint of a smile on her normally straight face.

"Well, I'm not getting anywhere near him," Alton commented. "He's hit me with that bloody cane four times today! I just got rid of my bruises, and I can't brag about an old man giving me more."

"Ferris and Jules are here," Trevor called from the dining room.

"Hey! That was almost using your outside voice, Trev," Syndey teased the soft-spoken boy. "Good job!"

Everyone was just starting to sit down at the table when Imogene entered with Gus and Logan on her heals. "I finally managed to find our good Ministry worker and gentle werewolf," she said. "Can you imagine their bosses making them work late on Christmas Eve?"

So, with the last three arrived, they all settled around the table. They passed the wine to those of age and toasted to their fourteen member family, and to the families some of them would not be able to see that Christmas.

3

At the Potter residence, another group had gathered. Friends and family were conversing and eating nonstop inside the house, greeting each other, catching up, joking, asking Harry and Ginny about their jobs, and giving Kyla more attention than she could ever want. Ginny had stopped the poor girl from sneaking off to her room several times.

If Harry had been the one to noticed her creeping up the stairs, she would have had sanctuary an hour ago. Currently Hermione and Neville were on the couch with her talking about Hogwarts. Ginny and Ron were listening to Tonks tell an animated story about a cheeky medi-wizard at St. Mungo's. Over near the big Christmas tree, Remus's wife, Tundra, was smiling wryly at something George Weasley had said – at least Harry was pretty sure it was George, as Fred was supposed to be on a vacation with his wife. Three of the Hollyhead Harpies were reliving their last game via swoops of their hands and batting gestures. Several people were still getting food from the plates in the kitchen, but everyone was gathered in these little groupings. There were no strangers here.

Remus and Agape stood on either side of Harry in front of the lit fireplace.

"You really think you'd like to be and Auror, Agape," Remus asked Harry's assistant. "Not that you wouldn't be phenomenal, I only mean it's a big decision."

Agape smiled and brushed a bit of her long hair out of her face. "There's no way I'm going to let Harry do all of the fighting after everything that happened."

Harry had still not gotten used to the change in her eyes recently. The medi-wizards and a few specialists from the Department of Experimental Magic had been able to reverse some of the effects of Dante's injection on her sight. The whites of her eyes were back to normal, and she could tolerate most lights other than direct sunlight, but her pupils were perpetually larger than normal. The color of her irises had changed to an irreversible black brown color as well. She hadn't taken it too badly, except when she had to remember to bring sunglasses everywhere. She had also complained of headaches for a while, but those too seemed to have subsided.

"I think you'll do very well as an Auror," Remus told her. "And now you have some practice under your belt."

"I'll say," Harry agreed. "Aren't you glad you worked for the most hazardous Auror in the department?" he asked Agape.

"So all of that paper work was just part of taking me under your wing, right?" she teased.

Harry chuckled. "All the writing was to strengthen your wand hand."

"But, you're right, Remus," Agape said. "Because I did so much with Harry, Kingsley said I could skip the first few classes once I start."

"Then you'll be in the same class as my son, Quinlan" said Remus, his voice plainly full of pride.

Agape asked Remus about his daughter, Quinlan's twin Lenore. While they continued to talk, Harry noticed Kyla had slipped away from Hermione and Neville as the two friends reminisced. He excused himself and walked into the kitchen where he'd seen his daughter disappear.

Kya was standing next to the counter, reaching up to get to the sugar cookies on the second shelf. Several large platters stacked with food on the edge of the counter were keeping her from getting close enough.

"Feeling antisocial?" he asked.

Startled to find him there, she jumped. "Oh. Kind of, yeah," she answered then turned back to the shelf.

"Here," said Harry, getting a cookie for her, "you little runt."

"Who's fault is that?" she countered with a grin, plucking the cookie from his fingers.

"Are you alright tonight?" he inquired, more serious now.

Kyla took a bite of her cookie and sighed as she looked at the people on the other side of the doorway. "I'm fine," she said after swallowing. "It's just that after everything that happened recently, I guess I kind of wanted you and Mum to myself this Christmas."

Harry gave her half a smile. "I know what you mean. But your Mum had been planning for so long, and she didn't want to cancel it." He threw his arm around her small shoulders and pulled her to his side. "Besides, they'll all leave tonight and we'll have Christmas morning together."

"Yeah," Kyla replied, trailing off. She seemed to remind herself of something then: "It was interesting talking to Aunt Hermione for a while, but then she and Professor Longbottom started talking about how the school governors need to pay more attention to some class I can't remember."

Harry uttered a short laugh. "Please don't tell me it's Defense Against the Dark Arts. That class was always a problem when I was at Hogwarts. Neville is the first person in a long time to hold the Defense position for more than a year."

"I don't know what class they were talking about," she admitted. "I drifted off pretty quickly." She looked at him sideways then. "Would you tell Mum if I went to my room?"

He stooped and kissed her on the forehead before answering: "No. Go ahead."

She gratefully kissed him back and left the kitchen. The last he saw of her that night she was slinking up the stairs while Ginny's back was turned.

Later, once all of the guests and family had left, Ginny stood in front of their bathroom mirror taking off her jewelry and letting down her glossy red hair. Harry had already collapsed on the bed, face first, and was listening while his wife told him about Ron trying to convince her to manage the Chudley Cannons instead of the Harpies. She was quiet for a few minutes and he could hear her changing into her night gown. Then she called his attention.

"Harry, are you awake?" she said in an amused but slightly annoyed tone.

His answer was muffled by the pillow, but clearly a "yes."

"Good. Then, sit up for a second."

She crossed from the bathroom to the bed and sat down as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I want to give you something," she said, moving closer to kiss him.

When their lips parted, he said with a grin, "You have my full attention."

She beamed and turned her torso to reach for the nightstand drawer. He laid his head against her shoulder while she pulled something out of the drawer and held it between them so he could see. It was some sort of file.

"What's this?" he said, taking the unexpected item while he put his glasses back on so he could see it.

"I went to St. Mungo's yesterday while you were at work," Ginny told him. "These are my blood tests."

He opened the file and peered at the single page inside. When he saw the results he quickly looked up at his wife.

"I'm pregnant!" she affirmed.

His look of shock melted away to joy and he grabbed his wife in a passionate kiss. Nothing else needed to be said.

(The End! Thanks for reading! I'll probably make a sequal!)