Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

"Jamie, it's Christmas Eve!"

Harry was half-asleep when he heard Ginny's happy voice resonating in their house. James was laughing, and the Auror couldn't help but smile. Hearing his son's laugh always cheered him up, even when things were difficult.

He took some time to get off his bed that morning, knowing that he should go to the Weasleys in a few hours. Hermione had made it perfectly clear: he had to do it for James.

"Harry?"

Ginny knocked at the bedroom's door but didn't wait an answer to come in.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were awake," she said with a smile, James in her arms.

She was wearing a long blue dress, and Harry realized that he was the one who bought it for her two years ago.

"Do you like it?" Ginny asked with a smile, noticing that he was looking at her dress.

"Yes, it suits you well," Harry nodded before heading to the bathroom. "When should we leave for the Burrow?"

"As soon as you are ready, so hurry up!"

She left with James and Harry sighed; the last thing that he wanted was to hurry up. Faking it during two days at the Weasleys wasn't something that he was looking for.

What would he say to Molly when she would ask if everything was fine between her daughter and him? Of course, he couldn't lie, but he couldn't say the truth either, even if someone offered to pay him.

"Do it for James", he thought, and he tried to hang to this idea while getting ready.

He will do it for his son's sake.

"Do you need help with something, Molly?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Oh, Harry dear, it's so nice of you! Well, maybe that you can help me with the chicken, I know that you are a good cooker."

Ginny was looking at these two from afar. It was almost like everything was normal. Harry seemed to be happy, and her mother was over the moon: she had almost all her family reunited under her roof, something that she was hoping for since a long time.

And to be honest, Ginny liked it too. Being able to see everyone during holidays was something that she had always loved, and it was even more true now that she was spending most of the year far from home. That was her vision of happiness to be honest: being able to play Quidditch most of the time, and spending quality time with her family during holidays.

Unfortunately, her husband Harry didn't seem to share her point of view.

Ginny couldn't help but smile when she saw James heading toward the kitchen, his blanket into his tiny right hand. Harry smiled at him too while preparing the marinade for the chicken.

"What are you doing here, little boy?" Harry asked when James hugged his left leg.

"Daddy hug hug hug."

"Wait a minute sweetheart, daddy's busy right now."

Molly went to give James a kiss and suddenly, she frowned.

"Ginny?" she asked, looking at her daughter at the other side of the room. "You didn't tell me about Hermione."

Harry froze when he heard Hermione's name, but quickly resumed what he was doing.

"What about her, mum?"

"Wasn't she supposed to come today? You told me that you invited her."

"Yes," Ginny answered. "Well I don't know, she didn't give me an answer so… Maybe that she will come, I'm not sure."

"Alright, it's not a problem if she comes over, we have plenty of food and it will be good thanks to your perfect husband!" Molly said while smiling at Harry who smiled back. "It's great to have you here, Harry, you don't know how happy I am to see you three together, just like the good old times."

"Well, it's not my fault if we stopped being a real family in the first place," Harry couldn't help but say.

"Please, Harry", Ginny warned him. "I don't think that it's the right place to have this conversation."

"Sure," he tempered, knowing that he shouldn't have say that in front of Molly. "The marinade for the chicken is ready, Molly, now if you would excuse me."

Harry washed his hands before taking James into his arms.

"Do you want to build a snowman, little boy?"

Without a glance at Ginny, he went to the living room with his son, looking for their coats and scarfs.

"We'll be back for lunch," Harry said, closing the door behind him. There was a moment of silence in the kitchen between Ginny and her mother for a minute or two and Molly broke it eventually.

"I'm sorry Ginny, I didn't know that he would react this way…"

"Never mind, mom," Ginny sighed. "I didn't know either, he's quite unpredictable these days. You know, he complimented me about my dress this morning."

"Really?" Molly asked with a smile. "It's an improvement, don't you think?"

"I don't know to be honest. Maybe he was just polite. I just want him to see that I'm not a bad person, that I deserve to have a place in his life, despite…"

"Despite?"

"Despite what I've done, because I know that he hates me for that. I need to make him change his mind about me."

"You want to save your marriage, and it's a good thing, Ginny. I'm sure that Harry will see that you are the woman that he loved and still loves."

"I hope so."

"So, did you have the opportunity to speak to Hermione?"

"Yes… She seemed to be happy for me when I told her that things were better between Harry and I."

"Genuinely happy?" Molly insisted.

"Yes. She's my friend, mom, and I'm sure that you are overthinking. Harry and her, seriously? She's a bookworm, not a man eater."

"I hope so, Ginny …"

"And what if she was, after all? I'm here right now, and she's not stupid enough to believe that Harry will choose her. Harry will always choose his family over everything. That's the reason why he's mad at me, because I didn't choose my family over my carrier. And believe me, he will not do the same to me. He's not that kind of person."

"You may be right. Do you plan to stay here from now on? I guess that it will change everything if you stay."

"I don't know", Ginny admitted. They still need me in the team, we are on the rise to win a lot of competition next year."

"But…"

"Please mom, not now," Ginny muttered, noticing that Harry was next to the window outside, playing with James. She waved at her son, a smile over her face.

Everything was under control for now.

Christmas Eve was coming to an end when Arthur, Molly, Ron, George and Angelina went upstairs, around 1 a.m.

James was already asleep, and Ginny looked at Harry who was reading a book.

"How was today?", she asked in a soft voice.

Her husband looked up at her, surprised to hear her voice.

"Good I guess? Your family is still really friendly, and it was good to spend some time with Ron."

"Yeah, it's been a long time. I'm sure that you miss Hogwarts sometime," Ginny said with a little smile.

"Without the part when I almost died every two months, yes," Harry said ironically.

"Sure… But it was full of adventure, and the Golden Trio was quite something."

"Ron, Hermione and I got along well, yes."

"I'm quite sad that she didn't spend Christmas Eve to be honest," Ginny said. "She's part of the family."

"I guess that she was busy somewhere else," Harry retorted, looking back at his book.

Ginny frowned; usually, when Harry was doing that, it meant that he didn't want to talk any longer about a subject in particular.

"Do you still have the opportunity to see her? It seems to me that she's got a lot on her plate at work. And she has this project with a friend of hers, right?"

"She has a lot of things to do, yes, we don't see each other often. I'm tired, Ginny, I'm going to bed."

Without a look, Harry got up and went to the stairs.

"I'm coming with you. I hope that it's not weird to sleep together in my teenager's bed," Ginny laughed, but Harry didn't answer back.

That night, Ginny thought a lot about this discussion she had with her husband. His reaction when she talked about Hermione wasn't the one that she expected, and for a moment, she began to believe her mother.

What if something happened between Harry and Hermione? What if her best friend took advantage of her husband and seduced him?

At this thought, she was first angry, but then, she realized: it was something that she could use against Harry if he decided that he still wanted to divorce from her. The judge would be particularly mad to learn that Harry Potter had cheated on his wife and wanted to divorce from her.

That would mean two things: a lot of money for her or Harry would just drop the idea of a divorce to not lose too much money in the process. Moreover, his reputation would be over if this was on the Daily Prophet.

And that was good news for Ginevra Molly Weasley. Really good news.

Two years later... I'm really really sorry, it's been such a long time. Now I have a great job, but the problem is that I work a lot. We can't have everything, right? But be sure that I didn't forget my fanfics: there are always somewhere in my head and I really want to give you the end of this story in particular.

I hope that you will like it. I have another chapter to post soon, maybe tomorrow if I have to time to do so. Thank you for your patience, you're the best!