Here's a holiday present for I guess whoever enjoyed the story enough to want a present. This is really the last chapter, I'm not writing anymore. But I thank the people who took the time to review, it was really appreciated. Enjoy and thanks for reading. :)

Epilogue-19 Days Later

He had to be discreet. Secretive. He had to use the skills he'd learned in three years of being an Auror that allowed him to blend in when he didn't want to be seen.

He had to be not at all like his usual self.

Leopold always enjoyed Christmas. It was an incredibly happy time for him in his childhood, and that tradition continued throughout his life. Good friends, good food, time off; it was all a recipe for Leo to smile from ear to ear for two weeks straight. And of course, the multitude of presents was an added bonus. He liked getting presents, like every other human being, but this year he decided he was going to do something for himself.

He'd come up with the idea at the Leaky one night after work. He sat at the bar, vaguely depressed and well on his way to being too drunk for a Wednesday night. He was watching the young, pretty women—they were always pretty after his third or fourth firewhiskey—twirl and sparkle around him as they grinned and flirted with the young pretty men who wanted them. Leopold tried not to think about the time when he used to be one of those men, always with a girl on his arm and a drink in his hand, but the more he drank and the more he watched, the more melancholy he became. And that of course, led to more drinks. It was a vicious and delicious cycle.

Leo slumped a little in his barstool, toeing the line between going home and getting another drink, when a beautiful yet terribly inebriated woman saddled up next to him and placed her hand startlingly close to his wand. Not the one that was tucked in his cloak pocket, that is.

"You don't look gay to me," she slurred, flipping her long black hair over her shoulder. She fixed her blue eyes on his and had the air of someone who was more than willing to tackle Leo if such a need arose. Leo carefully moved her hand, smiling charmingly at her so as to not set off an alarm. He didn't mind forward women, but this was a bit more than he was used to.

"Oh. Well, all right."

"Witch Weekly and the Prophet have said you are, but I just don't see it," she continued. She slid her stool closer to him, close enough to slip into his lap, which he was fairly positive she was about to do anyway.

"I—um…" For the first time since he'd learned to speak, Leopold Ackerley was at a loss for words. He wasn't sure how to reply to someone stating he wasn't what half the wizarding world said he was. But he supposed she was right. He had never been attracted to another man before Harry Potter. Whenever he was feeling lonely, it was women he sought out, not men. Why was that? Had Harry Potter truly been the only man Leopold would go gay for? Was that even possible?

She batted her long lashes at him and somehow managed to get her hand out of Leopold's grasp and back onto his leg. She smiled up at him, a slow seductive smile, and Leo knew he wouldn't be able to resist her for much longer.

"Can you prove it to me?"

"Prove that I'm gay? I don't think I can," he said, both amused and a bit frightened. "I'm actually pretty sure I can't."

"Then prove to me you're straight." The music seemed to surge and the din of the crowd grew to a head throbbing pitch. Or perhaps that was just the mixture of the alcohol and this witch who didn't seem like she was willing to walk out of the Leaky without Leo. The witch leaned forward, pressing her lips to Leo's ear to make sure she was heard. "I know you can do that." Leo chuckled softly just as something gold caught his eye. He looked down and realized, not for the first time, that he was still wearing the wedding ring. He wouldn't have been able to tell anyone why, if asked, but he also couldn't bring himself to take it off either. It didn't help that he was fairly positive that Harry Potter had probably taken his off long ago. Quite possibly the moment Ginevra Weasley agreed to take him back.

"Just out of curiosity, why don't you think I'm gay?"

"I always see you here talking to women. The only men I've seen you with are the ones in your rather large group of friends." Leo smiled, thinking about what Roger would say were he there now. Probably something along the lines of Leo being too broken hearted to look at another guy.

"I suppose those are the only men I hang around."

"And there are plenty of gay men around here for you. So you must not be gay. Which is lucky for me because you are way too attractive for that." She leaned forward again, this time aiming for a kiss. Leo was about to oblige her when it occurred to him that she was right, even in her advanced drunken state. He hadn't looked at a man since the end of his Harry Potter era, he hadn't even thought of it. He guessed it was true what Roger said about him going both ways, but it had to be more complicated than that. It had to be deeper, maybe something with Harry himself. Something unresolved—

"My God. I'm still in love with him!" Leo blurted out, denying the witch of her much-earned kiss.

"No, no, no! You're not in love with anyone. Here, I'll show you—" But Leo wasn't listening. He needed to think and the raucous group of Wednesday night revelers was not making that easy.

"I'm sorry, my dear, but I must go. Someone has my heart and it seems that I won't be able to show anyone a good time until I get it back." And he hurried off into the cold night air, the beginnings of his creepy yet satisfying idea already forming in his rapidly sobering mind.

"Are you all right, mate? You seem awfully sneaky today," Roger said after Leo downed his third cup of coffee in an hour. Leo had been thinking about the possible ways in which is plan could go horribly wrong or horribly right. "Leo! I'm talking to you!"

"What? Oh, I'm fine. Just a little distracted, really. Our holiday starts in three hours, aren't you excited?"

"I'm more excited about the Christmas party, to tell you the truth. You remember last year's party? And this year promises to be more incredible. Did I tell you that Padma Patil is going to be there? Merlin, my heart goes all wonky when I think about it. Utter perfection, that girl is. I must remember to thank the generous person who invited her. This will be the best Christmas ever."

"I heard Padma was dating someone," Leo said absently, not really sure if he'd heard that or not.

"Why do you have to ruin it, Leo? You couldn't let me have that little bit of joy in my life?"

"Just trying to keep realism in your life along with the joy. I'm sure she'll let loose her morals for one night with the legendary Roger Davies, though." Roger smirked, throwing a Chocolate Frog at Leo's head. The frog bounced off Leo's nose and hopped across the desk before Leo stopped it with a well-placed stunning spell. This new revelation that the frogs were susceptible to stunners caused Leo and Roger to look at each other in surprise, then proceed to open every packet of Chocolate Frogs they had and take turns stunning the hell out of them. Soon there were little puddles of melted chocolate all over their desks. Christmas never failed to bring out the children in them.

"Are Harry and company coming to the party? Did you invite them?"

"I did not, but I'm sure Cho did."

"Hm. You all right with that?"

"I'm fine with it. I've seen Harry around since the annulment. He and his friends hang out with us on Fridays, remember?" They day he and Harry annulled their marriage was probably one of the weirdest days of his life. While he was eternally grateful to not have to participate in Shaklebolt's ridiculous experiment anymore, it also left Leopold without a reason to hang around Harry. Saying hello in the corridors just wasn't the same without the tension of an uncomfortable, forced gay marriage.

"Yeah, but you haven't seen him with Lady Weasley. And you know how much Cho likes mistletoe. She probably covered her whole house it in. He and Madam Weasley are going to be glued together the whole night." Leopold looked up from his torture of the last Chocolate Frog, startled. The image of Harry and Ginny snogging all over CHo's house was not something he needed at that moment, and he was rather surprised Roger was malicious enough not to care.

"Wow, Roger. I had been trying not to think about that, but thanks for making it unavoidable."

"Next time you'll keep your comments about Padma's potential boyfriends to yourself, won't you?"

"Or I'll just make sure they're more painful." Roger brandished his wand in a mock dueling stance and Leo, not one to ignore a challenge, did the same. Roger threw a Terentella curse at Leo, who blocked it and countered with a Jelly Legs Jinx. This went on for several minutes before a voice broke into the fun.

"Hey guys." Leo and Roger looked up at the door to find Susan Bones standing there, eyebrow raised quizzically. She looked at the chocolate puddles and their over exaggerated dueling stances and frowned. "Um, am I interrupting?"

"Of course you are. Ackerley and I were just reenacting an important case and we were just about to make a breakthrough." Roger dropped his wand arm to his side. Leo resisted the urge to hex him anyway.

"Really? Well, it looks like you've been playing with Chocolate Frogs and goofing off. But I've only been an Auror for a few months, so I can't really say," Susan replied with a sardonic smile.

"You'll learn that the two are one in the same sometimes. You just need more experience," Leopold said, hastily cleaning up the discarded Frog wrappers. Roger started casting cleaning spells on their desks.

"I have so much to learn. Anyway, Ernie blew up half of his desk trying to secretly brew his own batch of eggnog, so Shacklebolt's letting us leave early. Our office is so full of smoke we can hardly breathe, it'll take hours to clean the mess. And Ernie had to pop over to the hospital. I'll see you at the Christmas party, then."

"Yeah, yeah. See you later," Leo and Roger responded.

"Try not to work too hard." She turned and headed off, brown plait swinging against her back.

"Why don't you blow something up so we can go home early, too?" Roger pouted.

"Because if I step a toe out of line Shacklebolt will not hesitate to sack me. You saw how reluctant he was to take me back." Leo stretched out, yawning hugely. It was immensely boring right before the holidays. No one wanted to commit crimes during such a joyous season.

"He was just joking. He didn't want to seem needy."

"Either way, I'd rather not take my chances. I'll fully support you if you decide to blow something up, however." Leo refrained from pointing out that a crucial part of his plan required him to stay until it was really time to leave. Roger actually didn't know about the plan and Leo felt like a creep gossiping about it, so he kept it to himself, doing the secretive stealthy thing that was all too foreign to him.

"I'm pretty sure Shacklebolt's good faith in begging me to come back does not extend to rendering half our office unusable."

"Hm. Looks like we're in for the duration, mate."

"This is going to be the longest three hours of our lives."

"Shall I get us coffee to quell the pain?"

"As long as by coffee you mean firewhiskey."

"No, but you can pretend that I do." Roger sighed most tragically as Leo headed to the break room. On the way he passed the office Harry shared with Dean Thomas. They both appeared to be working diligently, which made Leo smile as he thought of all the time wasting he and Roger were doing. Leo pulled out his wand and silently cast the Reductor spell on both of their inkbottles. They exploded, Potter and Thomas shouting with surprise.

"What the hell was that?" Thomas asked. Leopold quickly ducked into the break room and busied himself with the coffee.

As he passed by again, he saw them with their wands out, trying to clean up the ink splotches that now decorated their space.

"What happened here?" Leo asked in heavily exaggerated curiosity. "Ink is for quills, gents, not for aesthetics."

"Shut up, Leo. Someone made our ink explode," Harry growled.

"Ah. Well, go get some new bottles and get back to work," Leo advised. Harry glared at Leo bitterly.

"Thanks for that moment of brilliance, Leo. What would I do without you?" Harry said sarcastically.

"I expect you'd be dead, but I could just be exaggerating." Harry rolled his eyes and Leo grinned in triumph, hurrying off to deposit the coffee.

"What took you so long—where are you going now?" Roger demanded. Leo placed both cups on his desk and turned to leave again.

"Be right back, I forgot something."

Leo sauntered over to the supply closet and peeked inside. Harry was rummaging around, muttering angrily to himself. Quietly, Leo slipped inside, shutting the door behind him. Harry whirled around, startled, then relaxed when he saw who it was.

"What are you doing in here?" He asked, turning back to the shelves to find his ink. Leo was pretty sure Harry wasn't going to find any if he didn't look harder than he was. A wizarding supply closet was a good place to hide things.

"Is it a crime to go in the supply closet now?"

"Why did you shut the door?"

"Reflex." Leo began playing with a quill, using it to brush the dust that had accumulated everywhere. "I actually wanted to…talk with you, Potter."

"Oh yeah," Harry grumbled, head buried in a box of parchment. "About what?"

"About our previous engagement, so to speak." Harry started, quickly standing up straight and looking at Leo.

"What? Why would you want to talk about that?" He went back to his search. "How is there no ink in here?"

"You're just not looking hard enough." Harry froze, dropped the bundle of quills he was holding, and slowly turned around. Leo could see comprehension in his eyes and he tried not to laugh.

"Have you hidden the inkbottles?"

"I may have moved them while hunting for other things."

"And you made my and Dean's ink explode, didn't you?"

"My wand might have slipped as I passed by your office."

"You are an absolute nutter, Leo. You owe us some ink." Harry moved forward to exit the closet, but Leopold blocked his way. "Come on, you're in the way. I have work to do."

Leopold raised an eyebrow. "Thomas can survive without you."

"You're crazy, mate. Let me out." Harry reached out and grabbed Leo to push him away. Instead he pulled Leo closer and enveloped him in a kiss. Leo was shocked at first, yet he found himself tangling his fingers within Harry's messy black hair.

Best Christmas present ever—

"Leo! Hello! Mr. Ackerley. Shacklebolt won't like you sleeping on the job." Leopold's eyes flew open and an intense feeling of disappointment overwhelmed him. It was just a dream. A disturbingly amazing dream, but a dream nonetheless. He glanced up and found Harry Potter looking down at him, a smile on his face. He was propped up on Leo's desk. "What were you dreaming about? You were grinning like a madman."

"The best Christmas present ever, apparently."

"Hm. Well, I'm sorry to bring you back to reality, but I figured you'd want to get ready to go." Leo sat up and instantly regretted it. He now had pain in places he didn't even know could feel pain. Harry snorted. "You, ah, have a little ink on your face. And by a little, I mean a whole lot." There was a wide ink stain on Leopold's desk and he groaned. He had fallen asleep on his quill. Leo scrubbed blindly at his face as Harry laughed at his awkwardness.

"Come on, tell me where it is so I can get it off," Leo whined. He was never cheerful when he was unceremoniously woken up from especially satisfying naps.

"It's all over. Here, let me get it." Harry pulled out his wand and gently touched Leo's cheek with it. The place where the wand touched grew warm until he pulled the wand away. "All right."

"Should I even trust you to not have turned it into something far worse?"

"If you can't trust your former husband, who can you trust?" Potter laughed at his own joke and Leo shook his head, trying not to laugh with him.

"Where's Roger?"

"Upstairs. He said something about bothering Unspeakables. He'll probably be back soon. We can leave in a half hour." Leo glanced around, wondering how much of that dream was an actual dream. He spotted a half finished report on Roger's desk and the bowl of Chocolate Frogs was still overflowing. He sighed. It was all a dream. Right back to the creepy stalker-like plan he had to corner Harry Potter and snog him senseless. Leo wasn't sure if he was relieved to have not been so sinister in real life or despondent that he didn't think of a plan to get rid of this undying love for Potter. "So what was your best Christmas present, then?" Leo brought his gaze back to the bespectacled man who was now looking at him quizzically. Harry had a slight smirk on his face and seemed oddly playful.

"You're in a good mood. Who are you and what have you done to the surly Mr. Potter?"

"Ugh, shut up, Leo. I'm not always serious. I'm going to see my godson this evening, so I have to get into two year old mode. Besides, who can be serious at this time of year?" Harry plucked a Chocolate Frog out of the bowl. He unwrapped it and made to eat it until he saw how intently Leo was looking at him. "Oh, sorry. Did you want this?"

"What? No. Take it. Consider it your Christmas gift." Harry shoved the Frog into his mouth, smiling.

"You will go down as the most generous man in history. Father Christmas has nothing on you."

"Generosity is an Ackerley family trait. I'm sure many men would agree with me after meeting Cousin Helena." Harry laughed again, this time Leo didn't stop himself from joining in. When their laughter subsided, Leo was suddenly aware of how close Harry was to him. He felt like he could see every minute detail of the man, right down to the flecks of chocolate on his lips.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"I don't know anymore."

"I will take that as a compliment although I'm not sure if I should."

"Probably not." As hard as Leopold tried, he could not stop focusing on the chocolate on Harry's lips. How was he supposed to stop loving someone so damn loveable? Potter made untidiness sexy. He wondered vaguely if Harry still felt the same about him, or if that feeling had faded the moment Ginny decided she wanted him back. "You, um, you have chocolate on you. On your lips. You slovenly cur." Harry raised an eyebrow, leaning forward slightly, a motion that did not go unnoticed by Leo.

"Now, that, I'm positive, wasn't a compliment."

"No, that one was." And before Leo could say anything else, they were kissing, all thoughts flying from his mind. Leo tasted the pieces of chocolate Harry's lips had confiscated. That was one way of cleaning them off. Perhaps the best way, in Leo's opinion.

He liked how, whenever he kissed Harry, it just sort of happened. They both let themselves get lost in the event, neither one able to stop it. Leo grabbed Harry's arm almost desperately, pulling the other man closer. Harry was clutching the folds of Leo's shirt, closing the gap between them. Leo was fairly sure he'd never feel this way about anyone else, man or woman. That thought may depress him later on, over a pint of firewhiskey and Roger's sympathetic ear, but at that moment, he didn't care. Stolen kisses were better than nothing.

"You never told me what the best Christmas present ever was."

"It really doesn't matter."

Leopold loved Christmas.