Harry Potter and the Winters After the War

Chapter 53 - Boxing Day and the Start of a New Year

It snowed on Christmas Day that year in a bit of magic performed entirely by the weather.  Harry took it as a very good sign. It meant that by Boxing Day their house on Grimmauld Place would be decked in icicles and trimmed with snow of the very real kind, dressing up the outside of the sometimes dismal looking Number 12 in a very festive way. Inside, though the renovations that first summer after the war had equipped the house with electricity which worked perfectly well with only he and Ginny there, Harry knew it wouldn’t in the presence of witches and wizards who would be coming for the party. Partly because of that and partly because of the ambience they would add to the occasion, candle flames danced merrily in their holders on the walls all over the house, fires roared cheerily on every hearth, and even the drawing room looked festive and bright with an enormous Christmas tree standing in front of the window, decked out in magical decorations and baubles of all types. For Harry it set the tone for the entire day, and helped to make this years Boxing Day the most memorable part of the holiday he’d had yet.

The young wizard arose early on the day of their planned gathering for family and friends. Even though the party wasn’t until late in the day, for some reason he couldn’t quite fathom, Harry was excited…too excited to sleep. So he arose before the dawn, eager to tend to last minute preparations in the effort to make sure everything was ready. One last time he reviewed the decorations throughout the house, checked with the house-elves on the food, checked the guest list for who could come, making sure to reset the wards to admit them.

Ginny didn’t rise quite as early as Harry did, but she too seemed anxious for everything to be just right. While Harry tended to things about the house, Ginny turned her attention to other aspects of the party preparations. She talked to Kreacher to make sure he knew which people were on the guest list and should be admitted to the house, including the several muggles Harry had invited. They reviewed when each item on the menu should be served, making sure that they had enough of each foodstuff or beverage on hand. She conjured an extra cot in Teddy’s room for Victoire to sleep in, for her late afternoon nap. She set out guest towels in the bath and roamed endlessly through the kitchen and the house tweaking decorations here and there, even coaxing all four of their doves down from the attic to adorn the Christmas tree; throughout it all Harry noticed that Ginny continually watched the skies.  He knew she was anxious about the party too, but Harry suspected there was also another reason she seemed so nervous.

As it turned out Harry was right. About an hour before the guests were to arrive, a tawny owl came pecking at the drawing room window. Ginny opened it, eagerly taking the message from the owl, dismissing the bird out the window again before reading the letter. Harry watched her face as she read. Her anxiety faded some, replaced by nervous anticipation.

“What is it Gin?” he asked.

“Never you mind Harry,” she told him, and she rushed past him up the stairs.

Harry watched curiously as she disappeared into the room on the second floor, which when they had remodeled the house Harry had intended to use as a study, and locked the door. He supposed someday it might actually serve that purpose, but these days it served mainly as a library, housing books, parchment files and other things they hadn’t quite found a place for anywhere else. Harry couldn’t imagine why she would be going in there as apart from bookshelves and filing cabinets, there was hardly any furniture. There was however a single large rather dusty desk.

Harry’s curiosity about Ginny’s behavior grew when she emerged, sweeping past him going directly to the Christmas tree. She called Rudy down for just a moment then sent him back up into the tree with a tiny parchment tied to his leg.

“What’s going on Gin?” he asked. “What was all that about?”

“Never you mind,” Ginny repeated. “You’ll find out at the party Harry, along with everyone else.”