a blanket of snow covered the ground that early december morning, just falling the night before. kids were rushing outside to their front yards, already preparing to make a snowman from the first heavy snowfall of the season.

most families stayed inside, cuddled around the fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate while watching abc family's twenty five day countdown of christmas movie marathons. this was the styles' household, gemma and harry curled up on the couch in their favorite onesies while discussing their christmas wish-list and watching the santa clause movie starring tim allen. it was a yearly tradition for the siblings, and they loved the holidays.

"a new beanie." harry read off one of the items on his wish-list he created in his head. "one of them knit ones. they're so comfortable and soft."

"i want the new hunger games movie." gemma laid back on the couch, the hood of her onesie covering her unkempt hair that she didn't bother with that morning.

harry smiled and made sure to make a mental note of that, looking over at the television screen to see the movie at the part where scott and charlie are out in the front yard and seeing santa up on the roof.

it was that next day when only a bit of the snow cleared out, enough for harry to take a walk downtown to do some christmas shopping for his family and few friends he'd see the day after christmas. harry and the lads always hung out the twenty-sixth, and treated it as if it was still christmas day, exchanging gifts to one another and eating a satisfying meal that everyone chipped in for.

with a scarf wrapped securely around his neck and an old beanie containing his curls, harry walked down the street doing some window shopping. the salt used to melt the snow crunched under his feet on the pavement, his hands shoved deep into his jacket pockets for warmth.

a film store caught his eye, strands of crystal blue lights decorating the building. he remembered what gemma said she wanted, pushing open the store door and stepping inside as a bell rang above the door.

not many people were in the store except a few workers and customers shopping for gifts. harry made his way over to the action/adventure section of movies, his fingertips grazing over the cases as he scanned each one. when successfully making it to the hunger games trilogy, he picked out the newest one; mockingjay. even in the past he heard gemma obsessing about the new movie, and she had read all of the books.

after paying for the film, harry wished the cashier an early merry christmas and was on his way with a plastic bag now in his hand. harry always loved watching the different christmas light displays set up around town on houses and stores.

it was something other than the christmas lights that caught his eye as he was walking down the sidewalk, moving to the side for others to pass him.

from a distance, he saw a boy.

he looked around harry's age, maybe even a little older, and he was strumming a guitar with an open guitar case sitting next beside him while he sat crosslegged on the sidewalk. a dark red beanie covered his hair, some strands of his fringe poking out and sweeping across his forehead.

his tongue was poking out to the side when strumming each chord, all the notes coming together to form a song that harry knew all too well. it wasn't exactly a christmas tune, but he remembered hearing on the radio the other day.

"be my baby, and i'll look after you," the stranger sang, and harry could tell he was definitely shy about his voice. though harry found it beautiful.

he stayed back a distance, so he wouldn't freak the obviously shorter boy out and make him stop singing the lyrics to the fray. harry glanced down at his guitar case, seeing only a few dollar bills and coins scattered throughout the worn out case.

pulling out his wallet, he retrieved a five dollar bill, before finally making his way up to the stranger who harry surely found captivating.

the smaller was concentrated, not noticing harry walking up to him. but when harry leaned down and placed the bill into the case to join the few other bills and coins, louis looked up.

he glanced down at the bill, reading the amount off of the worthy green slip, causing a smile to form on his lips. he knew it'd help; for every penny and dollar helped him and his family.

harry gave louis a smile, speaking, "you have a lovely voice."

louis, with blushing cheeks, nodded as a form of thanking the curly lad, looking back down at the neck of his guitar. though he couldn't stop glancing at the newly added bill in his case, secretly jumping for joy even though it wouldn't be enough to cover the full expenses.

like he reminded himself everyday; every bit counts.

-

first chapter is insanely short, but i'll more than likely make them longer in the near future. this was more or less just an intro of it all. i'm gonna try to have this finished by new years, since it's a seasonal short story.
-a