God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
He couldn't blame the little girl for running - Christmas Eve was fun stuff when you were five years old, even if it wasn't your birthday. Gideon could vaguely remember taking that kind of joy in the holidays, when the bells and lights in Diagon Alley had a magic all their own. He hadn't needed a cane then, and thirty had seemed so distant as to be nearly impossible to reach. The little girl barreling toward him on her way to the candy shop was thinking nothing of that distant future; she wasn't even thinking of the immediate future, which was why she ran smack into him and knocked herself down.
"WENDY!"
Her mother was calling, lost somewhere back in the crowd as Gideon was toppled over as well, wincing with pain that rippled through a wound near the same age as the child. It was just a flash, though, over quickly enough that he could offer Wendy a smile and a look of concern. "All right there?" he asked.
"I'm sorry!" she said politely, brushing herself off as she scrambled up to her feet.
"Wendy!" Her mother had arrived, looking horrified at her daughter knocking down a man with a cane for Merlin's sake. "I am so sorry," she said, reaching down to offer him a hand up. "Are you all right? I--"
He heard her voice, and he looked up.
She saw his face, and her eyes went wide.
"I'm fine," he said, though he hadn't really been fine for years.
"I'm sorry," she replied, and she felt as if she were apologizing for much more.
"It's all right," he said, because physically he was fine.
Gideon pushed himself up on his cane, and he looked down to smile at the little girl. She looked like her mother. "Happy Christmas," he said, because what else could he say?
Miriam took her daughter's hand and smiled faintly, the trouble all staying locked behind her eyes. "Happy Christmas," she echoed softly. "And happy birthday."
She walked away, and just like before, he watched her go.
"Who was that, Mummy?" Wendy asked.
"Just someone I used to know," her mother replied, her voice fading from his ears with growing distance.
"Gideon?"
He turned around, startled despite knowing that his sister would be coming out of the shop any minute. He smiled, but Molly knew him too well to believe it.
"Are you all right? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Gideon shook his head, the smile holding. "Guess I did."
Molly hated when he had these moments, tossed back into a past that he never quite seemed to let go of. "Come on," she said, her voice quiet as she patted his shoulder. "Let's get our peppermint ice cream and go home. The boys'll be ready for the Great Nargle Hunt to start."
Peppermint ice cream would help. Nargle Hunting with his nephews would help. Gideon started walking, slower than he used to, and got a slightly better smile together.
When Miriam glanced back over her shoulder at him, he never saw.