*READ MEMO!*
Our hands were lying intertwined on the dining table. Occasionally, Harry would run his thumb against the back of mine and I would blush, kissing his cheek gently. I knew that if anyone read our minds they would be sickened by how corny our conversation was, but it didn’t matter. It was sweet to me.

‘Your hand is so warm,’ I realized as Mr. Weasley, who had gotten back from the hospital after the snake attack, told a story.

‘And your skin is very soft. It’s incredible.’

I giggled, hoping no one would notice.

‘Hey, Lucy?’

‘Yes?’

‘Could you not read my mind once we start handing out gifts…I want yours to be special.’

‘Is it a surprise!?’ I thought excitedly. ‘You know how I love surprises!’

‘Ha-ha, yes it is a surprise.’

‘Will I like it?’

‘I hope so…Now stop thinking about it. You’ll make me give it away,’ he warned.

‘Alright…let’s just listen to the stories. I like Christmas stories.’

I felt my thoughts disconnect from his and turned my attention to Mr. Weasley who was almost done with his story, “So then I look up and there in the sky is an airplane!”

Everyone laughed. Apparently that was the butt of some joke I’d missed. I chuckled along anyway. Soon it was time for presents. Mrs. Weasley had, by some miracle, been able to sew me a scarf in one day. It had my name on it too.

“I could have put just an L like the others,” she gestured to my friends, “But that is also a rude gesture in America isn’t it?”

She placed her thumb and pointer on her forehead in the shape of an L and I laughed, “Yes, this is lovely, Mrs. Weasley. Thank you very much.”

“Anything for Sirius’ and Sophie’s daughter.” She beamed at my parents and me.

Dad got Mum a beautiful diamond bracelet, though I had no idea how he could have managed to buy that in a day’s time. I made a mental note to ask him later. Mum gave him a new fancy watch. My parents, together *does a happy dance*, gave me the new Weird Sisters and Hippogriff Heights albums. Hermione got me two books. One was a copy of Hogwarts, A History and the other was a book on magical creatures (Tempereses included). Ron gave me a box of sweets, Ginny gave me a new sweater, and the twins gave me cleaning supplies for my bike.

As for me, I gave my parents a new wizard’s radio (I’d originally bought it just for my mum…so it was purple, but Dad didn’t seem to mind). I gave made the Weasleys an enormous card (I didn’t have time to buy a gift). I gave Ron the same box of sweets he’d given me (we laughed over that coincidence). I gave Hermione a necklace with a star on it (she loved it). Ginny received an amazing spelling perfume from me (I also bought some for myself). I gave the twins a couple books on practical joking (they started reading them immediately and pulled a joke on Ron about ten minutes later). As for Harry, I got him a new watch (my mum and I laughed at that since we both got our loved ones a watch).

As everyone was admiring their gifts, I bit my lip, noticing that I hadn’t received anything from Harry yet. He apparently realized this because he squeezed my hand and stood up, pulling me to the other side of the room.

“Lucy,” he took both my hands, “I love you and I know we’re only fifteen, but I have something for you that…well, you’ll see.”

He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a tiny velvet box, handing it to me saying, “Open it.”

I did as told, gasping at its contents, “Oh, Harry…”

Inside was a beautiful silver ring with a blue stone in the middle and a diamond on either side. It was gorgeous.

http://www.divadiamonds.net/images/inventory/NCBL0320W.jpg

“It was my mothers,” he told me quietly. “Remus gave it to me. He said she would have wanted me to give it to someone I love.”

I felt tears forming in my eyes as I finally glanced up at his face. His eyes went wide with fright, “Oh, Lucy…I…don’t be sad! I didn’t mean to-”

“I’m not sad, Harry. I’m touched. This is-” but I couldn’t finish my sentence. There were no words to describe such a precious gift.

He sighed, brushing my cheek with his fingers, “I care about you, Lucy Black…more than you know. This…well, I suppose this is a promise ring.” He shrugged, “I just thought that…if you wore it then…”

My mouth broke into an enormous smile as I slipped the ring on my finger and threw my arms around his neck. He laughed and put his hands on my waist, spinning me around in the air. I giggled and took his face in my hands, kissing him. We finally parted to find everyone staring at us. I blushed, taking Harry’s hand and going back to our seats calmly.

But the moment I sat down, I was bombarded. Ginny, Hermione and my mum rushed over to examine my gift.

“Oh that’s so pretty, Lucy!” Ginny gasped.

“Goodness, that must have been expensive,” Hermione pointed out.

“It was free.” Of course Mum knew. “It was Lily’s. She wore it almost as much as her wedding ring.”

I placed my hand on her shoulder, “You miss her…don’t you?”

“She was my best friend,” was her only response.

“Could you tell me about her?” Harry asked quietly. “If it’s not too much.”

“Oh, no, not at all, Harry. See, she was similar to you: very loyal, brave, caring. She was smart too, the brightest in our class. She actually hated your father at first, but I don’t know. She grew to love him. I think it was partly because I was dating his best friend,” she smiled at Sirius. “In any event, they were engaged shortly after our wedding. Your mother and I both worked at a local hospital as healers. She was wonderful at her job. She was always taking care of people even when she wasn’t at work. She loved to babysit Lucy while she was pregnant with you. I think it was because she wanted to prepare…in any case, she was a brilliant mother.”

A slight smile came to Harry’s lips as she continued, “Lily loved you so much…both of you, really. I know she’d be proud of how you’re becoming Harry.”

He tensed up, glancing away, “I doubt that…”

“What?” I asked in surprise.

“Lucy, come on,” he said as though it were obvious, “I’m turning into…”

He paused, though I knew what he was going to say next. He thought he was turning bad, that he was like Voldemort. He’d told me about the dreams he’d had and the feelings…He told me of the pain in his scar and how he would sometimes get a surge of unexplainable anger rush through him. It frightened me, but not as much as it frightened him.

“Harry,” it was my father who finally spoke, “I’d like to so you something.”

They both stood up and walked out of the room. I bit my lip, watching them leave nervously.

“Give them time to talk,” my mother said, turning back to Mrs. Wealsey in some former conversation they’d been having.

After about two minutes, I became curious and impatient, so I snuck into Harry’s thoughts. I saw a wall with a family tree painted onto it. My father’s space was burned and forgotten. I felt Harry sigh as he turned to Sirius.

“I just feel angry all the time,” he explained, “what if…what if after all this time I’m turning bad? What if-”

“No, Harry. You’re a good person…who…bad things have happened to,” my dad reassured him, “Besides, none of us are just heroes or death eaters…we all have a bit of light and dark in us.”

They embraced and my father sighed, “When this is all over, we’ll be a family again. I promise.”

That is when I left his mind. I decided it was best to leave that moment private.

“Lucy, are you alright?” Hermione asked.

“Oh, yes of course,” I smiled, “so do you like the book Harry got you?”

“Yes, its sounds wonderful!” she exclaimed. “I’m just so interested in ancient ruins at the moment. This is going to be extremely fascinating I can tell.”

“Well, I’m glad. I helped him pick it out.”

She nodded in understanding, “And you?”

“They sound lovely. I can wait to start reading.” I responding, referring to the books she’d gotten for me.

She beamed with delight, “Oh, did you see what Ron gave me?”

“No.”

She held out her arm to reveal a delicate silver bracelet.

“Wow, Hermione, it’s beautiful! And you were ranting about how my gift was expensive.”

“Oh, I’m sure he didn’t pay much for it, but still. I love it.”

“When are you going to tell him you like him, anyway?”

“What? I don’t like Ron,” she giggled nervously.

I rolled my eyes, “Whatever you say, ‘Mione, whatever you say.”
Hermione's bracelet: http://www.corrinesmith.co.uk/tn_joy_bracelet.jpg