Chapter Text
Christmas with the Weasley family was always something that Harry looked forward to.
But since the end of the war, since he'd saved Tom Riddle from his fate as Voldemort, he wasn't sure how to approach the tradition.
Hermione was continuously reassuring him it would be fine.
But he wasn't sure. He couldn't be sure.
"You're worrying again,"
Tom's soft voice came from behind him.
Harry glanced behind himself, letting his hands fall away from where he'd been straightening bookshelves to give himself a focus other than his thoughts. "Sorry,"
Tom frowned from where he was leaning against the doorway. "If you're so worried about Christmas dinner with the Weasleys, I can stay home," he pointed out.
"No," Harry said immediately, giving Tom a frown of his own. "I want you to be there,"
Quiet settled over the two for a moment before Tom spoke. "We're meant to leave within the hour," he pointed out before disappearing to leave Harry to his thoughts.
Harry gave a wry smile after the older male before he disappeared to get changed, grabbing the bag that Tom and him had put what they needed with them in.
"Oh Harry, it's so good to see you!" Hermione said as she wrapped her friend in a hug the second he was steady again from the Floo trip over.
Harry grinned, hugging back without a word, glad to see Hermione again.
While he was greeting the others, Tom came through, much more graceful than Harry had been.
Hermione gave him a surprised look before she smiled, slightly uncertain but unwilling to be rude. "Hello, Tom," she greeted.
"Hello," Tom offered, looking uncertainly around the room full of people who were either ignoring him or glaring at him.
Harry returned glares to those who were doing so before he looked to Mrs. Weasley, who had just entered the room and was looking rather surprised by the additional guest. "I hope it's okay that I extended the invitation to Tom?" he asked, giving a small smile.
"Of course it is, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, giving a smile to Tom as well before telling everyone that dinner was ready.
Tom caught Harry's hand as they all went to the kitchen/dining area.
Harry gave him a surprised grin, but said nothing, knowing Tom was probably just as anxious as Harry was himself, if not more so.
"Dinner was fantastic, Mrs. Weasley," Tom said with an easy half smile, ignoring the looks he got from the younger two Weasleys.
Harry said nothing about the fact that Tom had reclaimed his hand immediately after they had all finished eating and everything had been cleared out.
"I'm glad you liked it," Mrs. Weasley told him.
The two stayed overnight, and the following morning found them being pulled down to the lounge for gifts.
Tom smiled good naturedly when he saw Harry's excitement as they headed down the stairs.
They wound up sitting cross-legged on the ground near the fire at Harry's insistence that it was the best way to spend Christmas morning, and Tom merely took Harry's hand in his own.
It remained that way unless one of the two had a gift to open - Tom had gotten small gifts for everyone present with Harry's help, and was quite surprised when Mrs. Weasley handed him a wrapped present when she handed one to Harry.
"I was going to send it to you, but since you're here," She said at seeing the well concealed surprise.
Harry opened his present after prompting Tom into opening his own.
Tom looked at the jumper in surprise before looking up to Mrs. Weasley with a kind smile. "Thank you," he said quietly before pulling the grey material over his head. He glanced over to see Harry already wearing a dark green jumper of his own and smiled faintly as Harry retook his hand, twinging fingers together.
The two didn't share their own gifts to the other until they returned home the following morning.
Harry said nothing when Tom wore his gifted jumper from Mrs. Weasley for the remainder of the week, just hid a smile as he watched the affection-starved boy enjoy what had to be the first true hearted gift he'd received from an adult, remembering the Christmas his first year when he'd woke to find his first ever Weasley sweater and some home-made fudge.