Chapter 9: A Very Weasley Christmas
Mr. and Mrs.Weasley ensured that Harry felt like one of the family so the next few weeks at the Burrow were some of the happiest times Harry had ever known. There was always something going on at the Burrow. Order members kept stopping by to wish Harry and the Weasleys "Happy Holidays". Fred and George stopped by daily, though they were still busy running Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes in Diagon Alley with Lee Jordan who was now a full partner. Charlie was still working with dragons in Romania but he was still able to come home for Christmas dinner. Bill also stopped by but he missed Mrs.Weasley's excellent Christmas dinner as he and Fleur were spending Christmas in France with her family.
Even with all the holiday bustle, Harry still occasionally caught himself beginning to withdraw from the festivities as he thought about Sirius. For some reason the holidays seemed to emphasize how much Harry missed his Godfather. Harry tried to shake these feelings off himself and when he realized what he was doing he would make a point of finding Ron and distracting himself in whatever it was Ron was up to at the moment. Harry was just happy that he was not spending Christmas at Grimmauld Place. He knew that it would have been impossible to not dwell upon the fact that his Godfather died to save him if he were stuck in Sirius' old house. Besides, Harry was not sure of what happened to Kreature but he knew that he would not have been able to tolerate the presence of the house elf.
The holidays passed swiftly. On Christmas morning, Harry was delighted to find that Dobby had come to the Burrow to exchange gifts with him. Unsurprisingly, they had each given the other mismatching socks. Ron had gotten Harry a new pair of Seeker gloves that were enchanted to be weatherproof, and Harry had gotten Ron high performance twigs and a re-varnishing kit for Ron's broom to improve its performance. They were both delighted and spent most of Christmas day adding the improvements to Ron's broom. The twins had given Ron and Harry samples of all their Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes products and Mrs.Weasley had made Harry a green Weasley jumper, Ron's was maroon again, and had also given them both an assortment of mince pies to bring back to school. Hermione had sent Harry a book on winning Wizards Chess strategies and a Quick-Flick wrist wand sheath for Ron.
After several weeks of fattening up, Harry was beginning to look forward to getting back to Hogwarts. Harry was afraid that if he were to stay with the Weasleys any longer he would no longer fit into his Quidditch robes and would have to resign as Seeker. But when it finally came time to pack up his trunk and get ready for the ride back to King's Cross, Harry found himself reluctant to leave the Burrow. Mr.Weasley had borrowed a Ministry car and Harry was escorted to the Hogwarts Express by his usual entourage.
Harry had just received a final hug from Mrs.Weasley and had just turned to climb onto the train when Hermione rushed over to meet him. "Hermione! Did you have a …"
"Harry," she interrupted with a severe expression on her face, "you have got some explaining to do. After you find a compartment, be prepared to tell me exactly what you were thinking with your choice of Christmas presents. I'll see you as soon as the Prefect meeting is over." She turned briskly on her heel and walked towards the front of the train.
Harry felt a pat on his shoulder, "There's still time to catch Mum and go back to the Burrow," Ron teased.
"Nah, I was expecting this. Go on to the meeting. I'll save you both a seat."
For the first time ever, Harry found a completely empty compartment near the middle of the train. He quickly stowed his and Ron's trunks and sat down and made himself comfortable while he waited for his friends to join him. When the tea cart came by Harry made sure to purchase extra cauldron cakes for Ron, as well as a large supply of chocolate frogs. Harry was leaned against the window and watched the passing countryside and listened to the rhythm of the train. He was just on the verge of falling asleep when Ginny, Ron and an agitated Hermione noisily entered the compartment.
Ron attacked the cauldron cakes with a groan of gratitude. Ginny busied herself with settling down all their animals and Hermione sat stiffly opposite Harry. She looked at Harry expectantly and said finally, "Well?"
"I know. You're mad because I bought you an expensive gift. Just hear me out, OK?" Harry took a deep breath, looked Hermione in the eyes and continued. "I bought you a broom for Christmas because I get a special feeling when I'm flying. I feel an exhilaration and freedom that I've never experienced before. It's like I've left all my worries behind me on the ground. On top of that, flying is just fun. I don't really know how to describe it. It's kind of like being a kid again and running around just for the pleasure of running. That's how I feel about flying. I just want to share that experience with you. I've only seen you fly in class and that wasn't much fun. Just Madame Hooch going over the basics. Now that you have your own broom, maybe you'll begin to see why Ron and I love Quidditch so much. Even if you still can't appreciate Quidditch as much as much as us, I still wanted to share this special feeling with you. Besides," Harry grinned as he continued, "you can't be a proper witch without a broomstick. All the muggle pictures of witches show them on broomsticks, so I was just making sure you fit the stereotype. You should be happy I was able to talk Ron out of getting you a huge, wide brimmed, pointed black hat instead of the broomstick maintenance kit. He had one all picked out for you, you know." Harry paused. He could tell by her softening expression that she wasn't really mad at him anymore. "Just let me take you flying. If after that you still don't think I should have gotten you a broomstick I swear I'll return it and let you pick out something you feel is more appropriate. OK?"
Hermione sat for a moment thinking, then she smiled and Harry's heart pounded. "All right, you're on. As soon as it's warm enough we'll go flying."
"Excellent."
"Now, I want to hear all about what you did for Christmas. Did you see any of the Order members? Was there any news about you know who?" Hermione leaned forward in excitement.
Harry smiled at her for a moment listening to her string of questions. When she finally paused, Harry began a long description, with many interruptions from Ron and Ginny to add details, of everything that had happened over the winter break. When he had finished, Hermione told them all about her muggle Christmas with her family. And so the train ride to Hogwarts passed rather quickly and soon they were clambering through the portrait hole to the Gryffindor common room and going up the steps to their dormitories to finish their unpacking.