Author's Note: This story is an itty bitty AU where it concerns things-that-did-not-happen-thanks-very-much in Deathly Hollows. So ye be warned!

Days Left

Thump thump.

The sound echoed through the entire house. Ginny – who was in the middle of a shower – turned the tap off and strained her ears.

Thump thump.

'Damn,' she muttered under her breath, hopping out of shower and throwing on the nearest dressing gown she could find. She haphazardly tied the knot around her waist and made her way down the stairs, her hair dripping wet.

'Coming!' she shouted. Her parents' bathroom was on the third floor of the Burrow, so that meant going down three flights of stairs. She was breathless and dripping all over the wooden steps by the time she arrived in the main hall.

The carpet showed her footprints as she opened the door –

– and came face to face with Harry.

'Er, your bathrobe,' Harry gestured. Glancing down, she noticed part of her chest was on display.

'Charming, that,' she quipped dryly, modelling her hair to cover it. She was shivering. December was bloody cold, and with Harry standing on the doorstep making no move to come in, letting in the early-winter air, it felt even colder.

Harry was looking at her, she could feel it. She gave him a fleeting smile, running a hand through her red hair. The strands were watery, steadily soaking through her bathrobe. Harry's gaze was stuck to a drop that slid down her pale neck.

'Come in,' she said eventually. It cut through the silence. Merlin, she hadn't seen Harry since the Battle of Hogwarts. He looked far better now. His jaw had slight stubble, but the circles beneath his eyes were gone entirely and there was a certain lightness to the way he carried himself.

He was here for Christmas.

Even if he hadn't been carrying fifty or so presents all by himself, it would've been obvious. His jacket was red with yellow and he had a green tie on. The colours were so uncoordinated they were Harry, only expressed in fabric. He gave her a lopsided grin and dropped the presents in the living room, under the tree. Christmas was still a day away.

'How're you? How's the family?'

'Away,' Ginny said. 'Which is why I'm wet.'

'You tend to get wet when your family's away?' Harry asked, and Ginny raised both her eyebrows at him, although she couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips.

He plonked down on the living room sofa with a movement that said he was familiar with his surroundings and afraid of the familiarity of them at the same time. He took a book out of the bag Ginny hadn't noticed up until now. It was called Praeter Opinionem: A History of Auror Tactics, and Harry had his nose buried in it within seconds.

Ginny smiled, backed out of the room, and got back to her shower.

When she returned downstairs half an hour later, Harry's eyes were closed, his head resting back against the sofa. He was reciting the set of Standard Spells he needed to master as a Junior Auror.

'Pulso, Quietus –'

'– Sano, Transmeo,' Ginny interrupted and Harry's eyes flew open, regarding her upside down.

'Know-it-all,' he teased good-naturedly, standing up when she gestured for him to follow her into the kitchen.

'Tea?' she inquired. Harry took a seat at the round table without taking his eyes off his book. Ginny decided to take that as a yes and charmed the kettle to a boil.

'A bit of milk –' Harry reminded her absently, while turning a page.

'– and two sugars,' Ginny finished dryly, putting the cup of steaming, hot tea in front of him.

'Stop that,' Harry said, taking the cup and sipping from it.

Aside from Harry's eyes, nothing was moving in the kitchen. Ginny heard her own breathing fill the room. She waited patiently for Harry to finish reading, but whenever he finished a page, he simply turned to the next or moved his gaze to flit over what was written on the left. She tolerated it for about fifteen minutes, which she thought was very patient and understanding of herself.

'Well, this is great. I'm having such a good time. It's been lovely catching up, Harry.' She stood up, patted his hair rather absently, and left the kitchen.

Harry didn't respond.

'It's really that I don't know what to get him,' she confided in Hermione after lunch. Hermione was looking at the table. Ginny decided to give her five minutes to think it over.

When they were over, the only thing Hermione had done was sigh dreamily at the spotty table top.

So Ginny threw her napkin at Hermione's hair.

Of course, it being a napkin, it came to a halt far from its target and fluttered down, as if it was in no real hurry.

'I hate you,' Ginny told it.

'You could maybe get him a pair of trousers,' Hermione suggested.

Ginny looked up and said, very calmly, 'That goes for you and your insufferable hair, too.'

'Maybe you can get him a Hygrito,' Luna suggested serenely, while she rubbed over her belly. Ginny eyed it warily.

'Is it meant to be that ... big?' She hesitated on the last word, but Luna didn't appear to notice.

'It's normal, when you're having twins.'

Ginny's eyes widened. 'Twins?'

'I wish it would've been three,' Luna replied. 'It's been a while since we've had triplets in the family. The last ones were born in 1867.'

'Does Rolf know?' Ginny asked.

Luna took a bite of her sandwich and didn't respond for such a long time, Ginny was nearly sure she'd forgotten the question.

'No,' Luna finally answered. 'Rolf prefers to inhabit a world that has pet-Kneazles and garden gnomes.'

Ginny resisted the urge to point out she happily lived in that world, as well.

'He doesn't want to know what gender they are, either,' Luna went on, cutting up another piece of her sandwich.

'Girls?' Ginny guessed.

'Boys,' Luna corrected. 'Two of them. I've already painted the nursery blue.'

'On your own?' Ginny asked, shocked.

Luna looked at her as if she'd gone mad.

'No, of course not. Rolf helped.'

'Get him a new wand,' Percy suggested immediately.

Ginny stared at him.

'All that business with the Elder wand wasn't pretty. Time to get him a new one.'

'Percy,' Ginny said calmly, 'Harry fixed his own wand with the Elder wand. I believe you were there.'

'Oh,' Percy replied, looking very put out, 'right.'

'I can't help,' Ron said, pushing himself up from the floor. He'd been doing something that didn't require a shirt. It did seem to require lots of grunting and a round sort of ball that magically floated in front of him, though.

'Why not?'

'I never ask Harry what he wants for Christmas.'

Ron went to sit down on the sofa. The ball he'd been training with disappeared with a pop and transformed back into what Ginny assumed it had been originally – an armchair.

'I get him sweets.'

'Well, could you ask him?'

Ron sighed and looked at her.

'It's our agreement. We don't much talk about it.'

'Unhelpful twat,' Ginny said.

'Miserable cow,' Ron replied.

'Can't talk right now, Gin,' Fred said, as he went whizzing past in a flurry of robes.

'We're busy,' George agreed, from what seemed like the opposite end of the shop.

'Top business this time of year!' Fred shouted, from the third shelf on the right.

'I just want to know what to get him for Christmas!' Ginny shouted back.

'Love Potion,' the twins said, appearing in front of her with identical grins.

Ginny grabbed both of their heads, knocked them together, and Disapparated on the spot.

'Rude,' Fred said, rubbing at his temple.

'Women,' George agreed, rubbing at his.

Bill and Charlie were out. Bill because he was off on his extended honeymoon with Fleur (they'd just had their first daughter and Fleur had apparently been too "eekzausted" from – well, things Fleur was exhausted from – to not go on holiday) and Charlie because he was in Norway.

Ginny suspected he fancied one of the girls on his team, because he'd been over there rather a lot, recently.

So she was running out of options, fast. Christmas was tomorrow.

'This is unbelievable.'

'Yes,' Ginny responded.

'You – I don't even want to get Potter anything for Christmas.'

'Oh, go on, you must've at least talked at some point or another –'

Malfoy looked at her in utter disbelief.

'You show up at my house, three days before my wedding, and you want me to tell you what Potter wants for Christmas?'

'Yes.'

'Weasley,' Malfoy said, squeezing the bridge of his nose. 'I know this might be hard for you to process, but Potter and I are not friends. We never were. We do not talk to each other. If we run into each other at the Ministry, we nod. I haven't spoken to him since –'

'– he saved your life,' Ginny finished, a tad smug.

Malfoy looked pained and muttered something under his breath that sounded like, I do not want to talk about this.

'Weasley, leave me alone.'

'Don't you at least have some idea?'

'Weasley,' Malfoy said, 'get out of here before I set the peacocks on you.'

'You have peacocks?' Ginny asked, curiously.

Malfoy slammed the door in her face.

It was Christmas morning. The weather outside was awful and Harry wanted to kill someone. Actually, no, he didn't. He wanted to sleep. But he couldn't, because someone was jumping on his bed. Which brought him back to the wanting to kill someone. He didn't want to kill just anyone, only the person who was jumping up and down on his stomach.

'Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!'

'Great,' Harry said, reaching out blindly. His arms came to rest around a little plump figure that giggled in delight.

'Molly,' he chastised, 'it's early. What did I tell you about early?'

Molly peered at him from under her fringe. Even now, she looked an awful a lot like Percy, which was just odd. Then she put a finger in her mouth and giggled.

'Christmas!' she said again.

'Molly!' came a shout from the door, and Audrey appeared. Audrey and Percy had only gotten married a few months ago. Molly was born the day after their wedding. Harry had always thought that little witches and wizards would be like Muggle children, but this wasn't true. Wizarding children were far quicker with things. Molly could already walk a decent amount, though the only words she knew were her own name, and apparently, Christmas.

'Where were you, young lady?' Audrey said, going over to the bed and plucking Molly out from Harry's grip. 'I'm sorry,' she said, to Harry now. 'She's just starting to show her first signs of magic and ...'

She trailed off as she noticed Harry wasn't wearing a shirt.

Then she promptly became very scarlet.

'I'll be going now,' she said, and quickly paced out of the room. Molly managed to get in another 'Christmas!' before the door closed.

Harry, now fully awake, decided getting up might be in order. He shaved, dressed, showered, brushed his teeth and did more morning-related activities. By the time he got downstairs, everyone had already started opening presents.

'Molly told them to stop,' Mr Weasley said to him, 'but it's Christmas. No one wanted to wait.'

'It's really all right,' Harry responded, with a grin. 'Merry Christmas, Mr Weasley.'

'Thank you, Harry,' Mr Weasley responded, shaking Harry's proffered hand joyfully. 'You too, you too.'

'Oh, for heaven's sake,' Mrs Weasley's voice echoed over all of the surprised exclamations, 'won't you at least all have breakfast first?'

Harry went to sit down on the sofa he'd used for studying just yesterday and found that Mrs Weasley had already made him breakfast. The plate bumped rather rudely against his leg until he took it and started on the scrambled eggs.

'Ace, Harry! Thanks for the gloves!' Ron called.

After he'd just finished, a very nice, homely and warm scent filled the air and after a moment, a piece of Christmas Stollen appeared on Harry's plate instead of the eggs.

'Thanks, Harry!' The twins chorused, looking mighty chuffed as they sent identical grins at him. One of them hastily pocketed their collective present before anyone else could see.

Harry took a bite. It tasted of almonds, raisins, vanilla, but also, quite sugary. Harry thought the whole point of Christmas Stollen was not to be sugary, but he wasn't sure.

'Oh, Harry, they're perfect, thank you so much!' Hermione stood up and gave him a hug, holding the earrings up to her ears, checking her reflection in the mirror behind Harry's head.

After he'd finished, his plate disappeared and Mrs Weasley hurried to shove a mug into his hand that was filled with coffee. It steamed and felt absurdly hot to his fingers.

'Harry, thank you,' Mr Weasley called, apparently having caught on to the enthusiasm of unpacking gifts before breakfast. 'I've always wondered what these things were for.'

Harry sipped at his coffee and winced when he burned his tongue. He stood up to get a glass of water but was stopped by little Molly, who tugged at his trousers.

'Christmas?' she asked, holding up the colouring book he'd gotten for her. Harry smiled and nodded. 'Christmas!' she then said, gurgling happily and waddling off in the direction of her parents.

'Harry, you shouldn't have,' Mrs Weasley said, suddenly appearing next to him, looking torn between being amused and feeling ashamed. 'You didn't have to get me anything for Christmas!'

'I wanted to,' Harry replied simply. She smiled, squeezed his hand and went about collecting everyone's empty cups.

Harry made his way over to the floor and went to sit in between Ron and Hermione. Their combined body warmth calmed him and he leaned his head briefly against Ron's shoulder. Ron grinned at him and then grabbed one of the presents that had been zooming around out of the air.

'This one's for you,' he said, and shoved it into his hands.

Hermione offered to hold his cup as he unwrapped the present. It appeared to be another package, and a letter.

Harry,

It would probably be best to tell you right off the bat that I'm really bad at thinking of Christmas presents. You've probably gone all out and got everyone exactly what they wanted, but I'm not that thoughtful. I have put a great deal of effort in finding you a good present, though.

And you are really the most horrible, horrible, horrible person to find a Christmas present for, you do realise? And everyone else is too far up their own ars – right. This was going to be a pleasant letter. Christmas cheer and all that. Hurrah.

So, I got you this. I'm not expecting you to get me anything back, because you did sort of break up with me (twice, I might mention), but it's Christmas and I've always rather thought that was a time for being honest and Christmas-sy. Which is a word, yes.

Love,

Ginny

Harry peered curiously at the package. It seemed rather large and he wondered what it was. The wrapping was done very neatly, the decorative bow flashing in different colours. He folded up the letter and went about unwrapping it.

It was a book. Or, it looked like one. Harry opened the cover and found that Hogwarts materialised in front of him, like a hologram, like a pop-up book, complete with turrets and towers and corridors. The next page presented him with the Ministry of Magic; the next with The Burrow, the next with Godric's Hollow.

This was a book full of the places he loved most in the world, splayed out before him. He touched the small house his parents had lived in. It looked different from when he'd gone to visit it with Hermione; this one was fully constructed, filled with pieces of furniture. Harry realised with a jolt that this was how it must've looked like before Voldemort ever killed his parents.

With the help of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, it said at the bottom, in handwriting Harry didn't recognise. So you'll know where you came from.

He turned back and realised that each of the pages in the book bore such a description. With the help of Molly and Arthur Weasley. So you'll always remember you have a home. With the help of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. So you'll realise you'll always have friends. With the help of George and Fred Weasley. So you'll remember to laugh.

Harry looked up and found everyone was still very much occupied with their own presents. He excused himself, stood up and all but dashed into the garden. It had started snowing. He saw a bright spot of red some miles up in front of him.

'Ginny!' he shouted, as he ran towards the copse of trees she was stood by.

The red spot turned and waited patiently for him to arrive.

'Gin,' he said finally, when he did. Ginny's cheeks were bright red from the cold, but she was smiling rather shyly.

'Hi Harry,' she responded.

Harry didn't say anything in return. Instead, he took her face in his hands and kissed her until he couldn't see straight.

'That's probably the best present I've ever gotten,' he admitted, and Ginny's smile was beautiful on the early Christmas morning, pure white snow stuck in her hair.

With the help of Ginny Weasley. So you'll realise that there are people in this world who love you more than life itself.