The Backdoor

They walked through the backdoor and were greeted with Molly's shouts, children's squeals, and Ron's shouts of "Oi!" Everyone stopped when they saw the Granger family and rushed to greet them, multiple cries of Happy Christmas passing around the room.

Arthur immediately captured John and dragged him to another room, pestering him about what a printer was and what it did. Anne offered her help to Molly, who leeched onto her companionship and help. Hermione stood in the kitchen watching her family bustle around each other, and she smiled. It didn't get much better than this. Victoire came running up to her. The little girl reached up and tugged on Hermione's jumper. She picked up the squirming child and held her in her arms, at perfect eye level.

"And what are you doing?"

"Hiding from Teddy," she said as she placed her thumb in her mouth.

"And why are you hiding from Teddy?"

"He pulled my pigtails. It hurt." She pouted, pulling one of her curly blonde braids in front of her and holding it against her, protecting it from Teddy's grasping and tugging hands.

"Well, now, that wasn't very nice of him, was it?" Her only answer was a shake of the head resting on her shoulder and the sound of a slurping thumb. "Why don't we go find him and make him apologize?" She carried the child out into the living room where Teddy was playing with his new magical train on the floor. Harry was sitting on the couch watching his godchild; his face spoke of his happiness and content feeling with life. She walked toward the little boy, placing Victoire down next to him.

"Teddy, do you have something to say to Victoire?" Hermione asked gently but firmly.

"Sorry," he mumbled as he played with his train and making his hair change from blue to red.

"Is okay," Victoire said back. "That's a cool twain."

"Thanks." Hermione smiled as she stood up and moved over towards Harry, sitting down next to him on the couch.

"Hey, Harry. How you doing?"

"Pretty good. Happy Christmas, Mione. How are you doing?"

"Good. Happy Christmas to you too. How's the Ministry? You miss me being there?"

"Everyday," he said with a grin.

"Oh, yeah, I'm believing you." She grinned back.

"Any news on the secret admirer?"

"Well, actually yes. It's..." Her statement was interrupted by a knock at the door. Ginny went flying through the living room, running towards the door screaming, "I'll get it."

"What was that about?" Harry asked.

"I have no idea. But I have a hunch." They could hear voices in the hall, and then Ginny came back into the living room on the arm of Draco Malfoy. "And my hunch is proved correct," Hermione murmured.

"Malfoy," Hermione said with a courteous nod of acknowledgement. "Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas, Granger."

"Malfoy, what are you doing here?" Harry asked.

"If you must know Potter, Ginny invited me," he said as he took her hand in his and gave it a gentle kiss.

"Ginny?" Harry looked at her with that unspoken question in his eyes.

"Yes, Harry, I invited him. We are seeing each other," she admitted hesitantly. "And I want everyone to be nice to him," she said with a raised voice. "That includes you lot hiding behind the kitchen door." At her statement, Molly, Bill, Charlie, George, Fleur, and Anne came piling through the doorway.

"Well, dear. This is certainly unexpected," Molly said as she walked toward her only daughter. She made a step toward Draco and stood face to face with him. Her eyes stared into his, searching for something that would soothe her. She nodded her head and patted him on the shoulder.

"I can tell you regret most of your life. It shows in your eyes. You are welcome to join us for dinner; we would love to have you," she said with a kind smile.

'Thank you, Mrs. Weasley."

"You are welcome." The couple walked further into the room and sat down on the couch next to Hermione.

"There now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Hermione whispered.

"No, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Ginny whispered back.

"What in the bloody hell is he doing here?" Ron shouted as he came down the stairs. "Malfoy, get the hell out of my house."

Hermione watched Ginny's face cringe in anger. This was not going to be good.

Before Ginny could stand up and yell at her red-faced brother, Draco had moved like lightning.

"I am here because your sister invited me because we are dating. She is fine with it. Hermione is fine with it. Your mom is fine with it. The rest of your family is relatively fine with it. And while Potter may not be happy about it, you do not see him acting like a five year old who didn't get his ice cream. So why don't you shut up and sit down. Oh and one more thing. This is not your house. This is your parents' house. Act accordingly."

Ron glared at him. His mouth opened, ready to spew a rude comment.

"Malfoy's right, Ron. Your sister is happy. The war is over. He has paid for what he did, and he has apologized. He never did anything bad, other than be a jerk to us. He didn't kill Dumbledore. He couldn't do it. He went through things just as bad if not worse than us by having Voldemort in his home. The war has been over for years. Can we just forget it and get over it? By lingering on it, we are destroying our lives just like Voldemort would have wanted. Please, can we just move on and be happy?" Hermione said.

Ron crossed his arms and stared around the room. His family stared back, waiting for him to make a move. He heaved a sigh and moved into the room, sitting down in the chair next to the tree.

"Good choice, Ronald," Hermione said, a hint of chastisement in her voice. She turned and looked at Ginny who smiled at her and mouthed, "Thank you."

"Is it pwesent time?" Teddy asked. Everyone laughed at the little boy who stood with his train in his hands.

"You already opened your presents, little man," Harry said as he scooped the little boy up and placed him in his lap.

"But nobody else did."

"That is very true, Teddy. Why don't we do that right now," Molly said. "And you know what, Teddy? You can give the presents to people!"

"Really? Really? Really?" Teddy questioned with all the excitement in his little morphing body.

"Yes, really, really, really! Now, why don't you go fetch a present?" She pointed to the Christmas tree. Harry let him down, and he ran to the tree as fast as he could.

"This one's cool!" he shouted.

"Whose is it?" Harry asked.

"It says H-A-R-R-Y. That spells... Harry!" Teddy lifted the box and carried it over to Harry, dropping the heavy box into the savior of the wizarding world's lap. Harry released a loud groan and a silent tear fell down his cheek as he removed the heavy box from his body carefully.

'Thank you, Teddy." Harry unwrapped the gift, removing a thick, leather-bound album. He opened the cover and it read:

"To Harry: May you always know how much you were, are, and will be loved. Hermione."

He looked at her and she smiled. His hands traced over the beautifully written message and then flipped the page. The book was filled with pictures of him, Ron, and Hermione throughout the years, from when they had first met to a couple of months ago. He kept turning and came across pictures of him with the Weasleys, his teachers, and his friends from work. He flipped the next page and there was a blank page. He looked up quizzically at her and she motioned for him to flip the page again. He did and he was met with a picture he had never seen before. It was his mother staring out of the window of the Hogwarts train. Her face was one of peace and happiness. Then she turned and laughed at something. He kept looking, and there were more and more pictures of his mom, pictures of her time at Hogwarts.

"Where did you get these?" he questioned her. Her eyes moved about the room, and her concentration was interrupted by the loud sound of the Floo activating. A tall figure stepped out and dusted the Floo powder and ashes off of his cloak. When he lowered his hood, the room was met with the sight of Severus Snape.

"Oh, come on! This is ridiculous!" Ron shouted as he threw up his hands into the air. Hermione sent a sharp and terrifying glare his way, and he quickly closed his mouth, terrified by the prospect of ending up at the end of her wand.

"No, Mr. Weasley, what is ridiculous is your childish and bigoted behaviour."

Ron shrunk into his chair, those years of being out of school completely gone with a simple sentence. It was like he was back in Potions class.

Severus removed his cloak and moved toward Hermione, standing behind her position on the couch.

"Welcome, Severus! We are so glad you were able to join us. Here, I'll grab you a chair," Molly said as she Accio'd a chair from the other room. She brought it over and placed it next to Hermione's spot on the couch. He looked at Hermione and gave her a shy smile.

"Hermione, you were going to tell me where you got the pictures from," Harry reminded her.

"Oh, yes. Well, actually I got the pictures of your mother from..." she trailed off, clearly nervous about telling her mystery source.

"I gave them to her, Potter. I had a feeling that they would be of better use to you than they would be to me," Severus said, picking up where Hermione left off. "I have been cleaning out my stores of memories, and I found them. I knew she was putting together a memory book for you, so I figured they would be a nice addition to the book. I apologize if they are not."

"No, thank you, Sna... I mean Severus. It means a lot to me. Thank you very much," Harry said sincerely. Everyone around the room let out a breath of relief. The presents were flowing, Teddy was running back and forth, carrying presents to person after person.

The laughter was shared. Everyone was getting shockingly along. It might have had to do with Ron sitting terrified in the corner, scared of the diabolic duo, Severus and Hermione. She could kill with a stare, he could kill with a sentence, together they were unstoppable.

There were still cracks in the happy façade. Every once in a while Molly would get a far away look on her face when she looked at all the stockings hanging on the wall and noticed Fred's hanging limply, empty of presents. Draco would recall the Christmas from so long ago when his house and family were surrounded by madness and death. Harry would remember all the Christmases at the Dursleys, hiding in the closet with his single sock that was his only present. George missed his twin and all the pranks they could pull on Christmas, pranks that he didn't pull anymore.

Despite the sad lulls in the conversation, they remained upbeat. They celebrated the holiday with cheer and love. There was no way that the day could have been more perfect. They were still healing, still surviving, but no matter what, they were still a family. All of them, even with the two new additions. Times were hard, times were easy, and they got along fine, with love and kindness and support. That's what it was all about. Being happy and being there for each other. Friends and family, cheesily enough, really did make everything better.