Chapter 43

A Weasley Christmas came and went in what felt like one singular glorious moment. Molly Weasley gifted Anastasia a hunter green knitted scarf, exclaiming how excited she was to finally be able to use her green wool. Anastasia was incredibly touched by this notion, knowing that she had chosen this colour as a symbol of acceptance that she had a Slytherin guest. The group readied the house for the annual Weasley new year party, and as Anastasia helping hang up the bunting she thought about how she would be able to get Harry alone for a moment. After she had discovered Harry had opened the Chamber of Secrets she was filled with more questions than ever, and he had never finished explaining what happened when Voldemort opened it. She wondered if Voldemort was a relation of Tom's, as he must have been an heir of Slytherin to open it. The idea that Voldemort was Tom's son filled her stomach with a strange sense of jealousy that someone else had carried his child, but that feeling was overridden by the new idea that Harry was related to Tom, as he too had opened the chamber. She told herself it couldn't be, Harry was too kind and too good to be related to Tom. However, she knew she needed answers.

"Well done dear! That looks wonderful!" Anastasia's thoughts were interrupted by Molly's cheery voice. "Now, hurry on up stairs and get changed! I'll finish the drinks!" Anastasia smiled, lowering herself off the chair she was standing on. As she walked up the stairs she heard the twins shouting at each other, arguing over something when suddenly one said her name. She pushed the bathroom door open to find them both fighting over a small brown paper bag, both of their cheeks flushing pink as they looked at her. Fred threw the bag behind his back and the pair stood smiling mischievously.

"If you're going to prank anyone I recommend it be either Ron or Harry. If you mess with any of the girls you'll have a rather pissed off Slytherin to deal with." She shot a quick wink before shutting the door and heading to Ginny's room, feeling a delightful sense of playfulness. As the girls got changed Ginny offered to do Anastasia's hair, but she kindly refused. Anastasia had always had people dress her, and she had enjoyed being Mrs. Avery's doll for a month, but she felt different now. She had always feared to be herself, but in this time and this place she had realised she could be. She threw on a pair of black jeans and a silky green top with straps and looked in the mirror. Her long blonde hair fell untamed around her shoulders and her green eyes shone without the cover of mascara. She was comfortable.

Downstairs she was immediately handed a drink by Sirius as he promptly introduced her to a woman called Tonks who stood beside Remus. Anastasia was taken aback by the woman's hair and dress sense and couldn't help but smile once again at the time she was living in. She told herself how fortunate she was to be experiencing all of this.

"You seem to have really intrigued everyone." Tonks whispered with a cheeky smile as Remus and Sirius went off into their own world of conversation.

"Really? I would say I'm rather intrigued about everyone here." Anastasia sipped her wine.

"Why?" The woman laughed, looking around.

"I've never met anyone like the Weasley's. Or Sirius, or Remus, or you for that matter." Anastasia stated quite plaining, making Tonks roar with laughter.

"Then you've clearly been hanging out with the wrong people!" She chuckled.

"Absolutely." Anastasia smiled. She looked across the room and caught eyes with Harry, and the two began walking towards each other without much thought of anything else. It looked as if a magnet had been placed in the centre of the room, and both were powerful against the pull. Tonks nudged Remus and the pair of them watched the two students.

"The bunting looks great." Harry exclaimed, making Anastasia giggle.

"Ah so Mrs. Weasley told you about my artistic abilities. I was supposed to be helping in the kitchen, but she rather quickly realised I was a safety hazard." The pair laughed, both completely engulfed by the others' presence. Soon they were joined by Ron and Hermione, and then the rest of the guests joined in for an evening of laughter and alcohol. After some time Anastasia grabbed Harry's hand and took him to the corner of the room.

"Is everything ok?" Harry asked.

"I just have to ask Harry, because we never finished that conversation about the chamber of secrets, you said Voldemort lured you there. You said that he created something with a diary. What happened?" Harry inhaled deeply, looking around for a moment before leaning in closer to Anastasia.

"I don't know how he did it." Harry muttered.

"Did what?" Anastasia's pushed.

"Well, somehow his teenage self was still... inside the diary. I don't know how, but when I went down there I could see him, clear as day. He used to it manipulate Ginny!" Anastasia's boozey stare widened, her eyes only able to see diary Tom always wrote in. She wasn't aware of him creating a horcrux out of the diary, but the fact that this story included both a diary and the chamber of secrets scared her to her core. She was about to ask Harry what he knew about horcruxes when he grabbed both of her hands.

"If its ok with you, I'd rather not think about him tonight. We can talk about this back at school. Right now I just want to enjoy being here with everyone, with you." Anastasia's vision snapped back to the boy in front of her. His gleaming blue eyes looking down at her, his thumbs slowly rubbing the tops of her hands.

"I'd like that too." She whispered, now desperate to ignore the thoughts exploding in her brain. As the pair looked at each other they heard everyone counting down from ten. They laughed as they looked at everyone jumping up and down, readying for the new year. Anastasia watched Harry smiling, and told herself that this year would be the year that she starts her new life. The life that she had never through she wanted, filled with muggle-borns and quidditch and knitted scarves. She wasn't going to go back, only forward.

"five, four, three..." Harry turned back to Anastasia, his heart begging his courage not fail him.

"Happy New Year!" Everyone screamed.

"Happy New Year, Harry." Anastasia whispered.

"Happy New Year, Anastasia." 

With those words their faces met and Harry placed a gentle, prolonged kiss on her lips. Both of their stomach fluttered, ignoring a few stares from others. As Harry pulled away Anastasia flung her arms around him, not wanting to be parted from him just yet. Sirius watched proudly, raising his glass to the fact that Harry genuinely seemed happy. Suddenly minuscule fireworks began going off just above their heads, the swirling noise almost making Anastasia fall over in shock. They looked up in confusion only to hear the booming laughter of the twins.