Unofficial Portkey Archive

Author's note:- Apologizing in advance for spelling and grammar mistakes.

Disclaimer:- I do not own Harry Potter and anyone or anything related.

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Christmas at the Burrow-1

Harry and Hermione arrived back in Headmaster's office. Prof. Dumbledore was sitting in his chair reading some book. As they both arrived he looked up at them through his half moon spectacles.

"A very Good Morning Mr. and Mrs. Potter." He said with amusement in his voice.

Both Harry and Hermione blushed. "Good Morning Professor," Both replied in unison.

"So did you enjoy your little trip?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes sir. It was a brilliant and beautiful place." Hermione replied with sincerity.

"But where was it? It was very warm there." Harry asked curiously.

"It is a magical island. It was owned by your parents, Harry, and now it's owned by both of you." Dumbledore said gesturing towards newly wed couple, "It is in the Caribbean. But since its magical it's invisible to the muggles and untraceable in the magical world." Dumbledore finished.

Harry looked surprise at this piece of information. "Wow! I never knew that. It's really an amazing place." He said.

"Now, I think both of you should make way towards Gryffindor common room. You both along with Ron and Ginny will be flooing to Burrow at 12 pm today. Rests of the students are already leaving by Hogwarts Express. And yes Ms. Weasely had already asked Prof. McGonagall where you both are." Dumbledore informed them.

Seeing both Harry and Hermione tense Dumbledore continued further, "Don't worry. She had already been answered about your whereabouts. Harry, you have been in my office for some important talk, and Hermione, you have been helping the teachers with students boarding the train for going home. So now, you both can leave." Headmaster finished.

Both Harry and Hermione felt relieved as they didn't have to answer Ginny. They both got up to leave when Harry remembered, "Sir, what about training? How will I be able to train at Burrow?" He asked.

"Ah yes, about training, well, you are not training during vacation. Just enjoy it with your newlywed wife." Dumbledore said with a playful wink "and yes, Merry Christmas to both of you."

"Merry Christmas to you as well professor." Harry and Hermione wished together. With that they both left the office and made their way towards the Gryffindor tower.

"I just don't believe it. I am married." Hermione said in a dazed voice while looking at her wedding ring, as they walked back to Gryffindor tower.

"I can't believe it either." Harry said, "I am luckiest bloke on the earth who's married to the most amazing girl in the whole world." He pulled Hermione in his arms and kissed her on the forehead.

Holding hands they both reached Gryffindor tower. As they reached there their hands separated.

"Password," Fat Lady asked.

"Poinsettia," Hermione said.

They entered the common room and found Ron and Ginny were waiting for them.

Ginny just threw herself at Harry. "Oh Harry, I have been so worried about you when you didn't come down to the common room with Ron. He said you weren't in the dormitory when he got up."

Harry looked at Ron while getting himself free from Ginny's death grip. Ron just shrugged and started grinning, pointing towards Harry and Hermione behind Ginny's back. Harry just glared at him.

"Umm… Yeah, Dumbledore wanted to talk with me about something important." Harry said sitting on the couch. Ron, Ginny and Hermione sat down as well.

"Yeah, Prof. McGonagall told me about it." Ginny said smiling shyly at him. She was constantly stealing glances at him.

Silence was becoming more and more awkward so Hermione decided to break it. "So Ron, Luna already left." Hermione said.

"Yeah. She will join us for the Christmas dinner at Burrow and then stay there for remaining holidays." Ron replied with a dreamy look just like Luna's.

Harry just laughed at his expression. "It seems like she is finally rubbing off on to you mate." He said giving a friendly pat on Ron's back. Everyone started laughing.

"Well I still have to pack some of my belongings before we leave. I haven't finished packing yet." Harry said getting up from his place, and avoiding Hermione's eyes. Though he wasn't seeing her directly in her eyes he knew she wasn't very happy with his lethargic attitude towards packing.

"Do you need any help? I can help you if you want." Ginny offered.

"No thanks. I'll just do it." Harry said with a smile and rushed off to his dormitory. When he reached dormitory he found Hedwig sitting on the window sill. "Right on time when I needed you girl." Harry said.

He took out a parchment, quill, and ink from his bag and quickly started scratching something on the parchment. Then he rolled the parchment and tied it to Hedwig's leg. Then she just flew out of the window to deliver the note.

After Hedwig left, Harry quickly levitated his things into his trunk and closed it. He levitated his trunk out of the dormitory and down to the common room. There he found that Ron and Ginny's trunk were already there that he had failed to notice earlier. He noticed Hermione's trunk was also there.

He was about to ask where she was when Hermione came through the portrait hole with a small pouch in her hand. At their questioning glances, she answered, "Its floo powder. Prof. McGonagall gave it to me. It's enough for four of us."

"So are you guys ready to leave?" She asked, "We still have 10 minutes before we leave." Harry, Ron, and Ginny nodded and brought their trunks near the fireplace.

"Well floo network from this fireplace will be opened for 20 minutes in which we have to make to Burrow. We can send our trunks first then we can leave." Hermione explained to three of them.

When it was 12, "Ok let's do it" Hermione said. She threw some floo powder in the fireplace and levitated four trunks in fireplace and shouted, "The Burrow" and the trunks disappeared in a flash of fire.

"Ok Ginny, now it's your turn." Hermione said to Ginny as she was standing nearest to the fireplace. After both Ron and Ginny left, it was just Harry and Hermione left in the common room. They still had 15 minutes before the floo network closed itself.

"Ok Harry, now you go," Hermione said, holding out the pouch towards Harry. But Harry took the pouch from her hand and pulled her in the corner near the window where no one could see them from the fireplace if anyone tried to check on them. He just pinned her against the wall and crushed his lips with hers, kissing her passionately. Hermione was surprised at first, but then she returned the favor with equal passion. After kissing and snogging each other senselessly for near to 10 minutes, they pulled away from each other, breathing hard.

"Wh…What was that for?" Hermione stammered, breathless from all kissing.

Harry just grinned at her expression and kissed her lightly, "I don't think I would be getting many opportunities to do this at Burrow. Who knows when will I get the chance to even spend some time alone with you." Harry whispered in her ear which sent chills down her whole body.

"I think we should leave now. They would be wondering where we are." Hermione said. Harry nodded reluctantly and then they both left the common room.

Harry was last to come out of the fireplace. He fell out of the fireplace ungracefully, landing on his back in the kitchen at Burrow.

"Ouch!" He yelped.

Harry looked at others in the kitchen. Ron and Hermione were laughing and Ginny was glaring at them.

Harry got up from the ground and was immediately hugged by Mrs. Weasely who had just came into the kitchen.

"Harry dear, how you are? It's so nice to have you hear for Christmas." She said in motherly voice.

"I am fine Mrs. Weasely and I am really happy to spend my Christmas here." Harry replied politely and gave a wide smile to the elder woman.

"What took you both so long?" Ginny asked with a suspicious look. Harry and Hermione shared a glance with each other, before Harry answered in an amused voice, "Hermione forgot something in her quarter and went back to retrieve it. So I waited for her."

Hermione just glared at him although she agreed with his story.

"So finally Ms. Perfect did forget something. What the world is coming to?" Ron said in a dramatic fashion, clutching his chest for effect, which earned him a slap on the arm by Hermione.

"Hermione, you would be staying with Ginny in her room and Harry, you and Ron would share the room as usual." Mrs. Weasley interrupted.

They all made their way to their respective rooms with their respective trunks.

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Days at Burrow were going fairly well for everyone. They enjoyed playing Quididtch (except Hermione of course), doing their homework on Hermione's insistence, talking about life, future etc... And in Ron's case, he was trying to make Harry reveal the details about his time at beach, which Harry clearly refused, saying that Hermione would not be happy with this.

It was just four of them with Mr. and Mrs. Weasely at Burrow. Fred and George were staying at Diagon Alley in the small apartment above their shop. They kept showing at Burrow from time to time. Also some of the Order members had shown up once or twice. Harry knew Burrow was under heavy protection because he was staying there.

Only problem was that Harry and Hermione were hardly getting any time alone to be with each other. Whenever they would try to be alone without raising any kind of suspicions with the excuse of studying together in the room, Ginny or Mrs. Weasely would always come in the room for some or the other thing. Sometimes Harry suspected that they were doing that on purpose so that he and Hermione would not be alone together.

On other side Ginny was throwing him signals that she would like to be more than just a friend to him. Harry was still surprised that why had he felt attracted to Ginny when they were in school. He clearly remembered that one night while sleeping on his bed, he was thinking about Hermione, and next day he started to feel more than friendly feelings towards Ginny. But now he had no doubt about his feelings, his heart belonged to Hermione and he was innately in love with her. He still found it difficult to believe that a girl as amazing as Hermione loved him so much.

Three days before the Christmas four teenagers at Burrow decided to visit Diagon Alley for some Christmas shopping. They reached to the Leaky Cauldron through floo network and from there they made their way towards the Diagon Alley. Mrs. Weasely was not in favor of four of them going alone, but agreed when it was decided that Tonks and Kingsley Shackelbolt would accompany them.

Six of them reached to the Diagon Alley. They moved to different shops to buy their different requirements.

Hermione wanted to go to Flourish & Blotts while Harry, Ron and Ginny wanted to go to Quality Quidditch Supplies. According to Hermione, Ginny only wanted to go because Harry was going. But she didn't say anything. So it was decided that Hermione and Tonks would go to book shop and Kingsley would go with other three to the Quidditch shop. They decided to finish their Christmas shopping and then meet outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.

After looking through the Quididtch shop and other shops buying whatever they needed, Kingsley, Harry, Ron, and Ginny made their way towards ice cream shop. Hermione and Tonks weren't there yet. So four of them decided to sit in the shop and ordered their ice-creams.

"Sometimes I don't understand how you can stand Hermione for the whole day." Ginny started.

At Ron and Harry's questioning glance she continued, "I mean she always talk about books and books and only books. She's no fun. You guys have nothing in common. She doesn't even like Quidditch." She finished.

Harry got angry at her statement. He was about to reply, but Ron beat him to it.

"Well you see Ginny, that's what makes her unique. She keeps us in line and has saved us from troubles many times than we can remember. And she has never missed any of our matches. That speaks a lot about her. " Ron said a bit loudly.

Kingsley just gave him a stern look. "Sorry," Ron mumbled.

"That's rich coming from you, Ron." Ginny said, "If I remember correctly, it's you who always criticize her and fights with her about homework and studies and other things where she doesn't agree with your opinion."

Before Ron could reply, Harry interrupted, "Well, that's how Hermione and Ron's friendship is. They fight but still care about each other, though Ron can be a git sometimes." Harry said remembering their third year. Ron glared at him, but refrained from saying anything.

Ginny looked a bit shocked. It looked like she wasn't expecting Harry to say that at all.

"Yeah, of course, you are right." She said with a bit uncertainty, thinking about something.

They were quietly eating their ice-cream when Hermione and Tonks arrived. Hermione was carrying few heavy looking books. She looked a bit flushed while Tonks was looking at Hermione with pride.

"What happened, Hermione? Are you alright?" Harry asked as Kingsley produced two chairs for Tonks and Hermione with a wave of his wand.

"You won't believe who we came across while we were shopping for books." Hermione started telling.

Hermione and Tonks were in the book shop. She was looking for some books she needed. She was searching through racks and Tonks was standing outside waiting for her. Hermione managed to find out the books she needed. She paid for the books and made her way outside.

Tonks and Hermione were leaving when she heard a drawling voice calling behind her.

"Mudblood! So you can finally pay for your books without Potty to pay for it. Huh!"

There was no need to guess who it was.

"Malfoy. Seems like you don't have anything new to say to insult me." Hermione retorted with a smirk, gesturing with one hand, stopping Tonks from interrupting in between.

"Talking too much can be dangerous for you mudblood Granger. Your knights in shining armor are not here to protect you. Now, are they?" He said, looking around, " And she doesn't look like, would do much." He said, eying Tonks who had a bubbling appearance with bubble gum pink hair and flashy robes, which also made her look a bit clumsy.

Hermione just laughed inwardly. 'Git doesn't know what would hit him if Tonks came to her real charm.'

"I don't need her help ferret. I can take on you any day on my own. Sure, you wouldn't have forgotten our third year yet." Hermione replied in a calm voice.

Draco looked a bit agitated at the mention of the third year. So he threw another insult at Hermione.

"But it looks like your ex- boyfriend has finally come to his senses to know what a filthy ugly mudblood you are and has ditched you. At least, the Weasel girl who's already after him would be a better option." Draco said in a smug voice.

This time his words hit home for Hermione. But she wasn't going to give ferret a satisfaction of finally managing to hurt her. After al,l things were so different now and it would do no good to dwell in the past. She composed herself before giving any reply.

"Don't talk about the things you don't know and understand about, Malfoy. And as far as about me and Harry, we are still best friends, a relation break isn't going to affect it. And Harry, he is still a brave man and you are still a ferret." Hermione replied in a strong voice.

With that, Hermione and Tonks turned to leave when Hermione felt a curse flying from behind her back, just inches away from her left ear. She quickly turned around and cast a silent 'Expelliarmus' to disarm Malfoy. His wand flew in Hermione's arms that she caught gracefully.

"You have always been a sneaky bastard Malfoy, always attacking from behind. Don't have guts enough to face without your father being here to save your arse." Hermione yelled angrily.

Then she looked around, "This would serve you right." She whispered taking one step closer to Malfoy. She performed a babbling charm on Malfoy which would cause him to babble and make nonsense noises whenever he would try to speak. And it was made clear when Draco tried to make a retort to Hermione. Instead of words they just heard gurgling noise coming out of his mouth. He clamped his mouth shut with his hands. Both, Tonks and Hermione laughed until they were breathless.

Tonks took Malfoy's wand from Hermione and put that in her pocket. "About your wand, Mr. Malfoy" Tonks said, "Being a Ministry Auror, I confiscate your wand from you for attacking a witch due to her blood status. You have to be present at Ministry tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM for your actions. Did I make myself clear?" Tonks said in a professional manner. Malfoy just nodded as he couldn't say anything.

Though Hermione didn't tell them anything about the comment Malfoy made about her relationship with Harry, Harry knew she was hiding something. He made a mental note to ask her later about this.

"That was bloody brilliant Hermione!" Ron exclaimed praise evident in his voice.

"Thank you." Hermione replied her cheeks turning red. She looked at Harry to find his reaction. He had a thoughtful expression at his face, but then he grinned from ear to ear and she relaxed.

"You should have seen him making that gurgling noise. It was a brilliant spell work, Hermione." Tonks said in amazed voice looking at the young brunette. She was very impressed by Hermione's performance with charms.

"So will it be permanent on Malfoy?" Harry asked in a hopeful voice.

"No. It will work for only next few months, though he can remove it if he tried the right charm. But I doubt he would. So it would be a nice change to not hear him insult me or other muggleborns for some months." Hermione replied with a chuckle.

"Though you should be careful Hermione when you are around Malfoy. Due to his father's status he will get off easily, so he will surely attend the school." Tonks said.

"Yeah, I'll be careful. Thank you for your concern." Hermione replied sincerely.

After sometime all of them made their way to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Fred and George showed them around. They also showed them some of their new inventions. When they were satisfied with their purchases for school and Christmas they made their way to the Burrow.

It was already twilight by the time they arrived back at Burrow. After keeping their purchases in their rooms, they joined Mr. and Mrs. Weasley for dinner. After they finished dinner, Harry, Hermione and Ginny were sitting in the living room, except Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and Ron.

Mr. Weasly had left the house to go in the shed where he worked on various muggle objects. Mrs. Weasley was in the kitchen and Ron had gone back to his room saying that he had some work to do, which Harry was sure, was to write a letter to Luna. Ron had been frequently writing to Luna this winter.

Harry was thinking of some idea to get some alone time with Hermione when Mrs. Weasley called Hermione.

"Hermione dear, can you help me a bit? I wanted to ask you about a muggle recipe I found in a muggle book?" She asked coming out of the kitchen.

"Um...Sure Mrs. Weasley." Hermione replied. With that Hermione and Mrs. Weasley went back to the kitchen, which left Harry alone with Ginny. They were sitting on the couch. Harry was feeling a bit uncomfortable in being alone with her.

"So Harry, are you enjoying vacations here or missing Hogwarts?" Ginny asked, breaking the silence.

"It's really nice to spend Christmas here. You all are almost like my family." Harry replied genuinely.

"So umm..." Ginny hesitated a bit before continuing, "Why you and Hermione did broke up? Do you like someone else? I asked Hermione, but she didn't tell me anything." Ginny said looking expectantly at Harry, as though if expecting him to give some particular answer.

Harry was surprised at her question. 'Does she know why we broke up?' He thought before answering.

"It was mutual. We both have decided we are better off as friends." Harry said. "And no I don't like anyone in particular." He added carefully checking for her reaction.

She frowned a bit, but then composed herself quickly. "Would you like to go for a walk? I am not feeling like sleeping right now." She asked.

Harry didn't want to go, but before he could say no, Ginny just took his hand and dragged him outside. It was very cold outside. While Harry was wearing his jacket, Ginny wasn't wearing cloths thick enough to completely avoid the cold. "You will be cold. We should go back inside." Harry said as he made to turn back towards the house.

However, Ginny pulled him back. "Come on Harry, that's not what a gentleman do." She said playfully.

Harry looked confused. "What you mean by that?" He asked.

(A/N: - Harry can be so clueless sometimes.)

"Nothing," Ginny said dismissively. She took out a sweet from her pocket and offered it to Harry, "I got it from Fred and George's joke shop. It will keep you warm."

Harry took it from her. "Won't you take one as well, you are not wearing cloths thick enough to prevent cold." Harry asked.

"Uhh...No, I already took this while we were inside so I am feeling quite warm." She said.

Harry just shrugged and put the sweet into his mouth. He put the wrapper in his pocket to throw away later. He felt heat starting to spread throughout his body. Along with the heat he started to feel some strange sensations in his body, as though if some kind of battle was going on in his body.

"So feeling warm." Ginny asked stepping closer to him.

"Yeah, thanks." Harry replied.

"Harry," Ginny said softly.

"Yeah," Harry asked looking at her.

"There was something...you know," She tried to say, but before she could continue Hermione came out of the house.

"What you guys are doing out here in so cold weather?" She asked rubbing her hands together to keep herself warm.

"We were just taking a peaceful walk before you came." Ginny said bluntly, looking irritated with Hermione for disturbing her and Harry.

Harry and Hermione both looked bewildered at her tone. Ginny quickly recovered and continued what sounded like a calm tone, "I mean we were just taking a walk and were talking when you came out all of a sudden. You just caught us unaware."

"Well I think we should go inside now. I am feeling very sleepy." Harry said faking a yawn. He wanted to spend some time alone with Hermione. Ginny nodded reluctantly and three of them walked back towards the house. Ginny was walking ahead of Harry and Hermione.

As they reached near to their rooms Harry quickly whispered to Hermione "Meet me at midnight in the kitchen,"

Hermione gave a quick nod in return and followed Ginny into her room. Harry too made his way to Ron's room where he found Ron fast asleep, snoring loudly. He hoped down on his bed.

Harry checked his watch, he still had half an hour before midnight.

When Hermione arrived in kitchen at about 15 minutes after midnight, Harry was already there.

"What took you so long?" Harry asked although it had been only 15 minutes.

Hermione just rolled her eyes. "Harry its been just 15 minutes past midnight and besides that I had to make sure Ginny was in deep sleep and wouldn't come here to search for me."

At this Harry raised his eyebrows " I just performed a little charm on my bed, which will make her think I am still in bed." Hermione said trying to hide a grin.

"Very clever of you, you naughty witch." Harry said while putting his arms around her waist. Pulling her in his embrace, he kissed her softly. After they pulled apart, Hermione rested her head on his shoulder.

"So what was it that you wanted to talk about?" Hermione asked looking up at him.

Harry just chuckled "I can't hide anything from you. You always know when something is bothering me."

"I am glad you think that of me, because others say it's difficult to read your mood and that you can be quite mysterious when you want to be. You don't open up easily." Hermione replied.

Harry shrugged his shoulders "I don't like sharing some things about my life with everyone except you and Ron. Well, now I think we should move out." He said.

With that they both made their way outside in the backyard. They both set under the tree and Hermione performed a charm around them to keep them warm in the cold night of December. She also performed a silencing charm so nobody would hear them talking.

Hermione was looking at Harry expectantly, waiting for him to start.

"You didn't tell us everything about what happened with Malfoy." Harry said looking at Hermione with a knowing look in his eyes.

Hermione just looked at her hands in her lap. "Malfoy commented about our relationship. He said that you ditched me because I am an ugly filthy mudblood and that Ginny would be a better option for you."

Hurt she had managed to hide after breakup came back full force on her, as tears flowed down her cheek.

Harry gathered Hermione in her arms as she cried. After sometime when her crying subsided he spoke, " Hermione I am really sorry for hurting you" He said hugging her tightly to himself, "I will do anything to take your pain away." Harry paused for a second.

However, before he continue further, Hermione stopped him with a tender kiss. "I know Harry you love me and that's all that matters. Whatever Malfoy say will never affect what I feel for you. After all that we have been through, we are still together, and actually better than before." She said with a huge grin on her face.

"And for crying, well I am feeling a lot better, now that it's all out." She said.

"Hey what do you think would happen if Malfoy showed up at Hogwarts? Just think what will happen if he forgets about the charm and speaks in front of everyone." Hermione said trying to change the course of conversation.

Harry understood it and decided to go with it.

"I think it would be good for Crabbe and Goyle as they would finally be able to understand what Malfoy would be saying." He said in a mock serious tone.

They both burst out laughing. They spent rest of the time talking and kissing, and when time was close to 5 in the morning, they made to their respective rooms.

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Author's note:- Thanks to all those who are reading this fic, and have reviewed it. I just hope you would keep reading and reviewing to tell me about what you think of the story.

So what do you think of this chapter. Tell me through your reviews.

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