Author's note:

It all belongs to JKR. I own nothing.

An Outtake from the Children of Fire Saga, Book III: Flame's Final Burning, opening Christmas presents on Boxing Day.

Children of Fire Saga

Book III: Flame's Final Burning

Outtake

Gifts

Fifteen minutes after getting ice water dumped on them by the twins, Ginny curled her legs under her on the couch and leaned on the arm. Harry sat on the floor in front of her and she played with the hairs on the back of his head as they sipped at tea and ate biscuits from one of the many trays her mum had set around the room. There were large piles of gifts around each of them and everyone's face was alight with happiness. Idiot brothers aside, it really was the best day of the year. Well, actually it was Boxing day this year, but what did it really matter? Even better, it was her first Christmas as Harry's wife. She could barely believe a year ago she was only a few days removed from deciding that maybe she didn't need to ask her parents if she could transfer to Beauxbatons. Now, she was Harry's wife. His wife! How the hell did that happen?

"So one at a time?" Bill asked.

"We'll be here till next Christmas if we do," Charlie said. "Plus we've got gifts with everyone else later as well."

"What if we each pick a gift, and open them together?" Ginny asked.

"I think that will be a good idea," Molly said. "Emma and I do have a brunch to prepare for eleven as well."

"Excellent!" Ron said. He grabbed a gift from his pile. "Come on then." Everyone eagerly followed suit and the destruction began. A bit more than an hour later, Harry and Ginny sported new Weasley jumpers. Though they may have been Potter jumpers. His was green with a silver P on it while Ginny's was the opposite, silver with a green P. Despite the ribbing they were getting about being Slytherin colors they both wore them proudly. They'd also received a set of mittens and matching scarves and a tin of fudge from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley had also passed down a set of pearl earrings to her daughter that she had received from her mother many years ago. From the twins had been tickets to a play in London. Ron and Hermione had added a gift certificate for dinner to complete the night out for the pair. Bill, Charlie and Fleur had gone in to get Ginny a complete set of top of the line Quidditch guards and gloves. For Harry, they'd given him a framed picture of Ginny chasing and catching the snitch against Hufflepuff plus a pair of tickets to a Harpies match that coming summer. Harry had pretended to ask Ron to go with him and earned having Ginny take the tickets from him. They were currently tucked safely in her pile.

Harry tugged a package from the pile and handed it to Ginny. "Open this one," he said. She leaned over to peck his lips and tore into it. Tossing the paper aside she pulled the lid from the box and set it aside. "Careful," Harry said as she finally got to the gift itself. She stared at it for a second before letting out a squeal of delight. "You like it?" Harry asked.

"Harry, this is beautiful," she gushed.

"Really?" He'd been unsure, but in the end had decided she needed a trophy case. It had taken him hours to fashion the triangular shadow box. The frame was cherry, the inside lined with black velvet. The front was held closed by a delicate clasp and inside were the two Snitches she had caught in matches for Gryffindor. Each golden winged ball sat placidly in place and had been engraved with the date of the match, the teams and the final score.

"I love it," Ginny whispered.

"There's room for five more," he said. "One for each match you have left."

Ginny looked at him, his eyes shining brilliantly. "Thank you," she said. She carefully set her gift aside. "Come here." Harry stretched up and she leaned down to softly kiss him. "Thank you," she said, trailing her hand on his cheek.

"May I?" Bill asked.

"Sure," Ginny said. Bill picked up the shadow box and Fleur and Charlie leaned in.

"You make this yourself, Potter?" Charlie asked.

Harry nodded. "Yeah."

Charlie ran his hand along the edge. "That's nice work."

Harry blushed. "Thanks." Ginny's gift made the rounds of the family, receiving praise all around from everyone before making its way back to her where she gave it pride of place on the end table beside her.

"You're turn," Ginny said. Harry pulled his last gift from the floor and quickly unwrapped it. Inside, he found a large, hand bound, leather book. Harry pulled the book out and set the box aside then started to flip through the book. He stared at the first page, a charcoal sketch of his parents together, for few seconds before looking at her sharply. "I drew it from one of the pictures in your photo album," she said. Harry blinked a number of times before quickly going back to the book. The next drawing was of him. Then there was one of Sirius. Remus followed. Tonks. Molly, Arthur and each of her brothers. Hermione and Saraphina. Then one of him with Ron and Hermione. Fleur. Neville and Luna. Then there was one of him and Ginny together. She must have used a picture taken of them at the Yule ball for it as it depicted them dancing together. "That one was really tough to get done in time," she offered. Harry traced his fingers over the drawing and could almost feel that night again. "There's one more," she whispered. Harry flipped the page and there she was; a self-portrait staring back at him.

"Beautiful," Harry whispered.

"You like it?"

Harry focused on her. "How long have you been working on this?"

"Probably about as long as you worked on mine."

Harry carefully closed the book and stretched up to kiss her. "Thank you."

"It's kind of funny how hard it is to find the perfect gift when money is no object." she said.

"You're the only thing I want, Ginevra." Around them there was a bit of low level chaos as people began to pick up from the unwrapping.

"I can arrange that."

"I'll bet."

"Hey, there's one more here," Ron said. He pulled the small package from where it'd gotten shoved behind the tree and looked at the tag. "Yours Ginny," he said.

"Mine?" Ginny asked. Harry knowingly settled back down on the floor at her feet.

"Yep, catch." Ron tossed it to her.

Ginny snagged it. "Ron! What if it's breakable?"

He just grinned. "Hello, sis. Seeker. I knew you'd catch it."

Ginny stuck her tongue out at him and read the tag. Her brow furrowed before focusing on Harry. "You?"

He grinned and shrugged. "Thought you needed it."

"Well come on then," Charlie urged when she didn't move fast enough. "Food is waiting."

"You've eaten an entire plate of biscuits!" Ginny accused.

"Biscuits, is not food."

Ginny rolled her eyes and tore into her last present. She frowned slightly at the miniature case with precise, intricate lettering spelling out Quasar across the face. "May I?" Harry asked, holding his hand out. Ginny let him take it from her and he set it on the floor at her feet where he gave the case a tap with his finger. A second later the case was much larger. Harry flipped the latches and opened it, revealing the top of the line Quasar by the Comet Broom Company. Ginny's eyes widened to the size of a house elf's.

"No way!" Ron exclaimed.

"Did I tell you there was a scout at the Hufflepuff match?" Harry asked.

Ginny managed to focus on him. "N–no," she said cautiously.

Harry continued to hold her eyes with his. "He said the Quasar there was clearly in the hands of the wrong Seeker."

"He said that?" Ginny asked softly.

Harry nodded. "Said the only person he'd ever seen fly like you do at your age was Krum." Ginny just stared at him. "I swear you get better every time you fly, Gin," Harry said seriously.

Ginny stared at him for another second before turning her attention to the broom. Good brooms weren't anything new to her. She had her refurbished Nimbus. It had been top of the line only five years ago. Because she mostly used Harry's Firebolt, the broom was currently in a state of semi-retirement. But this, she didn't think she'd ever seen anything so exquisite in her life. The shaft was mahogany and polished such that it shone like a mirror. The twigs of the tail were the most precisely trimmed and aligned she had ever seen. It wasn't emblazoned with the name of the broom, or even her name. It was just the broom with nothing to distract from its perfection. Just sitting there in the case she could feel a soft thrum of life prickling the air around it. Reverently she ran her fingers along the handle; letting out a soft groan of longing as she did.

"Will you fly with me?" she whispered.

Harry grinned. "Always."

"Now?"

Harry glanced at Molly who gave a short nod. "Brunch won't be ready for a bit yet.

That was more than Harry needed. "Meet you there," he said. He transformed and Flamed away. Ginny bolted for the stairs.

"Can I come?" Ron shouted. But Ginny was already slamming the door to her room shut. Not two minutes later she was dressed in workout clothes and climbing out the window with her new broom. She mounted it, taking just a second to feel it under her before lifting into a hover. Another two seconds and she shot forward.

"You're mine, Potter!" she called. She kept low to the ground till she reached the paddock and then launched straight up. Harry swooped in at her side; racing her for everything he was worth, barely gaining ten feet on her by the time they'd climbed near a thousand straight up. "WHOOOO!" Ginny shrieked. She arced the broom over into a loop and accelerated for the ground.

Harry tagged her with the tip of his wing and dashed away. "Catch me if you can!"

Ginny wretched her broom after him. He was smaller, more maneuverable and could accelerate quicker than she could, but the differences were far less than when she was on the Firebolt. He banked left then hard right, trying to throw her off. She just kept going left, trying to come around inside of him. At the last possible instant he turned himself sideways so his wings were perpendicular to the earth. Her fingertips missed him by less than an inch as they flashed by each other. "HA!" Harry crowed. Ginny whipped her broom around, skidding backwards a good thirty feet as she reversed course after him. "Are you coming or not, Potter?" he taunted.

Ginny flattened down on the broom. Maybe because she was so small, she'd always been able to squeeze just a bit more out of a broom than it was supposed to have. The Quasar was no exception. The wind howled in her ears as she pushed the broom beyond its stated top end of one-hundred-eighty-seven knots. Just out of reach, Harry raced away before her. For just a moment she gained on him but then the broom shuddered and slowed fractionally. Ginny let out a frustrated growl and pressed lower to the handle; trying to regain what she'd lost. Her speed crept up again but once more it shuddered and slowed. With the broom threatening to throw her at any moment she pulled hard, trying to turn inside of Harry. She was so close, but he was just that little tick better and she knew she wouldn't catch him unless he let her.

"Alright," she said, breaking off her pursuit, "see if you can catch me."

Harry flashed after her. Nice view back here," he teased. Ginny wiggled her bum sending her skewing back and forth as she avoided him. She went left and Harry turned inside her, forcing her to dive under him. She flashed into the forest, weaving in and out of the trees with him gaining at every turn. Harry didn't see it coming and they'd flown right through the two windows of her tree house before he knew it. "ARE YOU INSANE?" She flashed passed the tire swing, giving it a kick so that it swung back into Harry's path. He was forced to break off and she was long gone by the time he'd righted himself.

"Problems, Potter?" she teased.

"Back to hide and seek again, are we?" He'd lost her by the time he'd recovered from avoiding the tire swing.

"Perhaps another time," Ginny said. Harry turned around and she reached out to tap his chest. "Tag," she said.

"Doesn't count," Harry said.

Ginny smirked. "When are you going to learn, you don't get to make the rules?"

"When I stop getting in trouble for trying," Harry countered.

She turned away and leisurely led him back to the paddock. "You do realize they'll eventually make a broom that's faster than you?"

Harry Flamed from her side to the ground and the group that had gathered to watch them. "Hey, Ron," he said. "Are you sure about that, Ginevra?"

Ginny settled next to him. "Cheater."

"Am I in trouble?"

"Deep."

"Brilliant."

"You two are seriously mental," Ron said.

"Requisite for the job, Ron," Harry answered.

"I don't know," Charlie teased. "There's mental, and then there's just plain cracked."

Ginny latched onto Charlie's arm. "From the bloke who plays with ten ton, hundred foot long, fire breathing lizards for a living," she countered.

Charlie chuckled. "Hey, we're all our own breed of crazy."

"Seek with me later?" she asked.

"Sprite, you'll destroy me."

"I'll fly Harry's Firebolt."

"How about you fly your Nimbus and I'll consider it?"

"You're on," Ginny agreed.

"Any chance I can get in on this?" Harry asked.

"How you gonna manage that without you two passing out?" Charlie asked.

"If it goes longer than twenty minutes I'll drop out," Harry said.

Charlie exchanged a look with Ginny. "I suppose you're going to be on a Firebolt too?" she asked.

"Well I'm sure as hell not gonna try keeping up with you two on Ron's Cleansweep."

Ginny crossed her arms as she eyed the two of them. "Scared?" they taunted together.

"Oh-ho," the twins teased. She quirked a brow at them.

"Kick their arses, Ginevra," Fleur urged.

"Come on, Ginny," the rest of the group encouraged her.

Ginny grinned. "You two are going down."

"Brilliant!" Fred exclaimed. "Even odds on the raven haired Potter."

"One gets you two on his wife," George said.

"Two pays three on Weasley."

"Two to one on Ginny?" Hermione demanded. "She's on the slower broom against the two Seekers widely regarded as the best Hogwarts has seen in a Hundred years. You've have give better odds than that!"

"The broom's slower, but it's only the top end where it matters, Hermione," Fred countered.

"Accelerating, she's so much smaller than those two it's dead even."

"And, she's very quickly making everyone forget these two louts cause she's the best school age Seeker since Krum."

"One pays four," Hermione countered.

"You're barmy," Fred said.

"Cracked," George added.

"One pays three," Fleur said.

"Two pays five," George countered.

"But that's it," Fred said.

Hermione and Fleur exchanged looks. "Deal," they agreed. With odds agreed on, bets quickly began rolling in.

HPHPHP

Author's note:

Charlie did end up winning. But he was flying on Ginny's new Quasar while Harry flew his Firebolt and Ginny was on her old Nimbus 2001. It made for a dead even match that Charlie won because he was able to out muscle his opponents. Sorry, but despite the praise Iv'e received for my Quidditch writing I'm so over actually writing Quidditch. It gets seriously old.

As always, thank you to all my readers. And a special thank you to those who have reviewed. I do appreciate hearing from you.

Sorcerer's Muse