Windows of the Soul

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Notes: This story ignores HBP and DH; it starts the beginning of the summer before Harry’s seventh year. Thank you to my beta Sometimeselkie for all her hard work.

Chapter 19 – More Christmas Surprises


Harry sat leaning against Draco as he watched his sister hold her present whilst running her fingers reverently across the three pictures. Draco nudged him to open his presents. Harry smiled and picked up the top one. It was from Hermione and it was a book about becoming an Animagus. The next one was from the twins and had a box of the latest gags from the twins’ shop. Ron’s present was a year’s subscription to Quidditch Weekly magazine. Neville’s present was a jar of Gillyweed, and Seamus’s was a bottle of fire-whisky which was confiscated quickly by Severus (and put in his pocket). Luna’s present was special magic art paper, that made the pictures move in anyway the artist wants and some more pencils.

Albus and Minerva gave him a photo frame the same as Elli, but in his was a picture of his parents on their wedding day. His dad looked very uncomfortable in his formal robes, but his mum looked radiant in her wedding dress. The second was of Remus and Severus at the lake, and the third was Remus, Severus, Elli, Draco and Harry at Hogwarts.

Harry opened the gift from Remus and Severus. It was a ring the same as Elli’s, combining all their families’ houses into one. He placed it on his right hand, with tears in his eyes.

That left two gifts, one from Elli and one from Draco.

Harry decided to open Elli’s next.

It was a small box and inside it there was a thin gold chain with a delicate charm hanging off it. As he took a closer look he saw that it was a snake with silver eyes wrapped around a mongoose. Harry smiled and gave his sister a kiss on the cheek, as he recognised his and Draco’s Animagus forms (or, more accurately, the ones that they should be able to obtain, as they hadn’t quite got there yet.)

The gift from Draco was very small and as Harry opened it Draco moved in front of him and knelt down.

Harry gasped as he opened the small box and saw a ring; he looked up at Draco with so many questions in his eyes.

Draco picked up the ring and held Harry’s left hand.

“Harry. We have been together for a while now and I can’t see my future without you in it. I know that we are young, but I know my feelings for you. I have loved you, even when I didn’t recognise it. I want you to be the last thing I see at night and the first thing I see in the morning. I want to be the father of your children, be your friend, lover and husband. So with that, I ask... Will you marry me?”

Draco stopped breathing as he waited for Harry’s response; the entire room stopped everything. Harry himself felt as if he couldn’t breathe. He saw Draco’s face filled with nervousness and fear. Harry looked closer at the ring. He saw that it was silver and had runes along it.

He asked in a whisper, “What do the runes mean?”

Draco had trouble replying as he was now trying to breathe. “They mean forever, together, never apart, two souls made one.”

Harry felt his love for Draco swell in his chest, and he looked at his father, who smiled and nodded at Harry. He took the ring from Draco’s shaking fingers and placed it on his left ring finger. Taking Draco’s hands in his, he kissed the palms.

Looking into Draco’s eyes, he quietly said, “Yes.”

Harry suddenly had his lap and arms full of a sobbing Draco; he just held him and whispered little nothings in his ear, rubbing his back until he calmed down.

When Draco calmed enough, he sat next to Harry and they were both congratulated on their engagement, with all the ladies inspecting the ring.

Draco was reminded that he still had presents to open; he received hair care stuff from Pansy, a Herbology book from Neville, an Animagus book from Hermione, a box of Honeydukes chocolates from Ron, and a bottle of fire-whisky from Seamus, which was again confiscated by Severus who, in turn, had it taken from him by Remus.

From Remus and Severus, a ring the same as they had given Elli and Harry. Looking at it, he saw that the inside of the band was inscribed. He looked closer and read, “Family is who you choose it to be.” He put it on his right hand, thanking them with tears running down his face.

His gift from Elli was a gold necklace with a mongoose with green eyes holding a snake.

He opened his gift from Harry with trepidation. He gasped with surprise as he opened a small ring box, and inside it was a silver ring nearly identical to the one he had given Harry.

He looked up at Harry, who smiled at him. “Great minds think alike.”

Harry took the ring from Draco and slid it on Draco’s ring finger. “The runes say, ‘One mind, one soul, one heart’.”

Draco took Harry’s face in his hands and gently kissed him, with the twins and the other Gryffindors clapping and whistling at them.

All the presents were opened; drinks and mince pies were passed around.

Christmas dinner was to be served later that evening as they were expecting some more guests to arrive later, including Neville’s grandmother.

Ron looked at his pile of open presents and then to the tree in the corner. When he noticed three presents wrapped in green shiny paper that weren’t there earlier, he got up and went over to the tree. He picked one up and read the label. It was for Elli. So was the next one, but the third one was for Draco. Strangely, none of them identified the giver.

“Elli, Draco, these were missed and they are for you.” Ron dropped Draco’s on his lap and placed Elli’s in her hands.

Elli looked nervously at the two parcels. Neville, sensing her discomfort, came and knelt at her side with a whispered, “I’m here.” She smiled at her friend, her rock.

Draco ripped the paper off and carefully opened the box inside. Harry could feel the shock course through his fiancé’s body as he peered into the box.

“What is it, love?” Harry asked quietly.

Draco put his hand in the box and pulled out a statue. It wasn’t very big - about ten inches high and made out of marble. Draco turned it and Harry had a good look at it. The statue was of a black dragon with its wings curled round a small white dragon. Draco sat looking at the two dragons with tears rolling down his face; Harry started to get worried when he felt Draco’s body shaking with his sobs.

Harry went to take the statue from Draco, but Draco pulled the statue towards his body. “My father used to have this on his desk and when I was little I used to sit at his desk with him and he would tell me stories about them just before bed. He always said that I would receive it when I got married and had a child of my own to tell stories to.” Draco sobbed harder, holding it tighter. “I don’t know how it got here. I can only hope my father sent it, but I know better than to hope.” Harry just held his crying fiancé, rubbing his back in soothing circles.

Severus knew how much the dragon statue meant to his god-son, and he had no idea how on earth it had found its way here, but he would find out.

Remus tried to get the attention away from Harry and Draco and saw that Elli still had her gifts to open. “Elli, why don’t you open your gift?”

Elli looked a bit unsettled to be the centre of attention, but with a reassuring squeeze of her hand from Neville, she tore open her first parcel. She clicked her gift back on as she looked down at the small box in her hands. Inside the box, on a bed of green silk, was a pair of silver earrings shaped like snakes. Elli picked one up and showed it to Neville, who recognised the snakes as being identical to her bracelet that Zaytche had given her. He helped put them in her ears and she smiled as she felt them slither and settle down. She also felt her bracelet mirror their actions. Everyone commented on her gift, with Severus giving a scowl which would have turned milk sour, as he had figured out who had given her the gifts. Neville held the second gift, ran his fingers over the tag and leant over to whisper in Elli’s ear.

“I think you should open this one in private.”

Elli shook her head. “Why?”

Neville smiled. “Because it says so, on the label.”

Elli clicked her gift off and ran her fingers over the label. It read: “Elli, please open this in private, as it is only for you and me. Love, Zaytche.”

Neville helped Elli stand up and with an apologetic look at her fathers, she said, “I am going to open this one later. Now I am going to my room for a rest as I find I have a headache.”

Remus stood and hugged his daughter whilst Severus and Neville collected all her gifts. Elli opened her connection to Canth, who was sprawled over Charlie Weasley on one of the beanbags getting his ears scratched.

“Are you coming or staying?”

Canth stretched and turned his head towards her. “I think I will stay, Charlie Dragon is looking after me.”

“Attention whore,” Elli replied with a grin on her face. Taking Neville’s hand, they walked out of the room and towards her room.

When they got to her room, Neville placed all her gifts on her dressing table and turned to go.

“Nev, please stay.”

Neville turned back and sat opposite Elli on her bed. She clicked her gift on again and ripped the paper off and opened the box inside. Neville watched as Elli’s face went from being white to bright red in less than thirty seconds as she pulled item after item out of the box. Neville went a lovely shade of pink when he realised that each item was a piece of lacy underwear: bras, knickers, lacy teddies. No wonder Zaytche wanted her to open them in private.

Elli quickly put them back in the box and put it under her bed. “I’ll have a better look at them later.”

For the next couple of hours Elli and Neville lay on her bed relaxing and talking, about anything and nothing, just chilling together. They both found it hard to be with a lot of people and found it nice to be just them for a little while. But all too soon it was time to go back down, as Harry and Draco knocked on her door.

“Elli, Neville. It’s time to come down. Neville, your grandmother is here and has brought the last two guests,” Harry shouted through the door.

“You can come in. We’ll be down in a moment,” Elli replied.

Draco opened the door and Harry followed him into the room. Neville was just brushing Elli’s hair and placing it into a plait; they could see her new earrings slithering on her ears, her necklace shining around her neck, and she had her new ring on too.

Neville watched as the two boys entered the room. He could see how much they loved each other with all the little looks they gave each other and the small touches. Both boys were wearing their family rings on their right hands and their engagement rings on their left.

Draco took Elli’s hand and helped her up. “Well, when’s the wedding?” Elli questioned Draco.

Harry took Draco’s unoccupied hand. “We were thinking after graduation. Hopefully then Voldemort might be finished and we won’t have anything to worry about.”

Elli and Neville smiled at that.

All four walked down the stairs back towards the family-tree room. They could hear a booming female voice coming from the room. Neville cringed when he heard it.

“My Grandmother is here.”

They entered the room to find it nearly like they left it except sitting next to Minerva and Albus was an older lady wearing a green dress and jacket, with a red handbag. This must be Augusta Longbottom. They all looked up as they heard the children return. Neville went over to his grandmother and kissed her cheek. She looked him over and he could tell by the look on her face that he would be getting a talking to later.

Harry heard a noise behind him and turned just in time to catch...”Tonks!”

Nymphadora Tonks tripped over the doorway and landed in Harry’s arms. She looked up at him and grinned. “Wotcher, Harry. Thanks for the save.”

Draco helped Harry stand her up; they both saw a woman standing behind her. Draco looked at her. She looked like his mother except she had dark hair, but she looked a bit like Aunt Bellatrix too. He had a puzzled expression on his face.

The woman walked up to him and placed her hand on his cheek. “You look so much like your father. I am glad.” Seeing that Draco was still confused, she elaborated. “I am your Aunt Andromeda, your mother’s sister and Nymphadora’s mother.” With that, she lightly hugged him. Draco was overwhelmed. Just this morning he thought he had no family except Harry. Now he had Harry, two fathers, a sister, an aunt and a cousin. Harry took his bewildered fiancé’s hand and led him to a seat.

Andromeda Tonks looked around and saw the person she wanted to talk to. She walked over to where Neville and Elli had sat down.

“Well, don’t I get a hug, a kiss or anything? It’s been months since we have seen you and now nothing!” She placed her hands on her hips and stared at the two children.

“I’m sorry, Aunt Drome.” Elli stood up and threw herself at Andromeda, who caught her as if she had been doing it all her life. There was a squeal and both women turned just in time to catch Tonks as she decided not to be left out. All three women ended up on the floor in a heap laughing and hugging each other, not caring about the scene they were causing.

When they had all calmed down, Remus, Severus and Neville helped them all stand up. Andromeda could see the questions in Remus’s eyes. She had hoped they would be able to speak later, but it seemed that was not to be. She guided them to the empty sofa and sat next to Remus with Severus behind him. Elli sat on a bean bag with Tonks by Andromeda’s feet and Harry and Draco sitting by Remus’s feet. Draco looked around and found that everyone had left the room, leaving the family on their own.

Andromeda took a deep breath, and looked Remus in the eye, “Before I start, know that everything that was done, was done out of love.”