Chapter 9
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas…
“Dad, just use your wand already!” James complained, breathing warm air onto his hands. “It’s freezing out here!”
“Keep your cloak on, James,” his dad lectured as he fumbled with the house key. “I’ve almost got it.”
Albus was using one hand to hold his cloak more tightly around him and the other to pull his knit hat further down over his ears. Behind him, his mother jittered and tapped her foot impatiently, while Lily whined and attempted to use her mittens to cover the bare skin of her face. Albus soon found himself jumping from foot to foot in a ridiculous attempt to circulate his blood. While he waited for his dad to finally figure out the lock, he stared up at the intimidating building: Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.
The house was incredibly large with more rooms than Albus believed he could ever remember. Those were about the only redeeming qualities of the place. It was cold, dusty, and every little noise echoed through the halls like it was a mausoleum. In short, it was everything their family home in Godric’s Hollow wasn’t. If Albus didn’t know that his dad had inherited it, he would have had no idea how his family had come to own such a gloomy and depressing looking house.
Albus’ family owned the house, but they really only used it once a year at the Weasley family Christmas gathering. When Albus was younger, he used to feel sorry for Kreacher, the house-elf who also called Number Twelve Grimmauld Place his home. He spent so much of his time alone, and Albus couldn’t imagine how lonely he must have been all through the year.
The Christmas routine was always the same. Albus and Rose’s families would always be the first to arrive at Grimmauld Place a few days before Christmas, and spend all that time getting the house up to Weasley family standards (not an easy task). Then, starting Christmas Eve morning, one by one, the various other members of the Weasley clan would so up in droves.
“There we are!” With a shove of his shoulder, their father was finally able to force the door open.
And standing right in the center of the entryway was Kreacher, the aging house-elf who had been a resident of Grimmauld Place before Albus, or even his dad, was born. Kreacher’s legs shook as though simply supporting his own weight was a tremendous task.
“Greetings, Master Potter,” Kreacher greeted in that formal way of his. “Is there anything Kreacher can do for you?”
It wasn’t until Albus had seen the younger, more energetic elves working at Hogwarts that he had a true understanding of how old and homely-looking Kreacher really was. His coloring was fading like an old bolt of fabric and his ears were drooped and torn in ragged pieces. His arms sagged, his knees creaked as he walked, and left Albus wondering if house-elves were capable of getting arthritis the way older humans did.
“No, that’s alright, Kreacher,” Albus heard his dad tell the house-elf. Albus was fairly certain that his father held just as much pity and sympathy for the old elf as he did.
“But do let us know when Ron and Hermione get here, will you?” his mother was able to call out before he could turn away.
“Of course, Mistress,” the elf answered, bowing once again before hobbling off. “Kreacher lives to serve the Potter family.”
Once Kreacher was out of earshot, James leaned over and whispered in Albus’ ear, “I think this might be the year that Kreacher finally drops dead.”
“James!”
Albus’ older brother flinched as he awaited that force of impending wrath known as Mum. Soon enough, James was led away by the hook of his arm to be the first to start at the merciless task ahead: cleaning the entire house. And not just simply cleaning it, but cleaning it to the standards Grandmum Weasley. Albus, Lily, and their father all remained in the entryway, waiting until they could be certain that Ginny Potter’s temper was spent and couldn’t be lashed out on any innocent bystanders.
The job of cleaning up Number Twelve Grimmauld Place mostly fell on Kreacher, who lived in the house all year round, even when there was no one there. Other than sweeping out the dust and clearing out the high corner cobwebs, all there really was to do was decorate the home with enough holly and tinsel that even the gloomy house could be considered ‘festive’.
“Uncle Charlie’s coming this year, isn’t he?” Albus asked his mum as he took a box of tree trimmings from her.
Uncle Charlie was the type of man who ‘lived for his work’, as all the adults said. But it was an amazing type of work ” Uncle Charlie worked in Romania, on a dragon reserve. It was an exciting job to talk about whenever he did visit, but the distance and the demand made those visits a rare occasion. Albus could only really remember Uncle Charlie attending half of the family Christmases in his life. However, the rarity of his visits were also part of what made them so special.
“The last owl he sent to your Grandma Weasley said he was,” she replied as she took a few of Albus’ decorations to hang on some of the higher reaching branches. “So unless a dragon escaped the reservation and burned down half of Romania, you can expect to see him.”
“Wicked!”
James walked into the room, arms loaded with still more decorations, just in time to hear his mother’s confirmation. Soon enough, their dad followed, dragging an enormous tower of boxes on a toboggan, and then came Lily with a wreath on each arm.
“What about Loony?” Lily quipped.
Their father laughed at the nickname that the Potter children had come to use over the years. Lily was talking about Luna Scamander, her godmother and longtime friend of the family.
“Not this year,” their dad confessed. “She and Rolf are knee-deep in research for their new book. And with a new baby on the way, not to mention the twins, they can’t be that anxious to travel, I imagine.”
Upon hearing the news, Lily gave a genuine pout. Luna Scamander was something of a personal hero to Lily ” so much so that to Lily had even grown her hair in a long, scraggly style just like Luna had worn in her school days.
Albus could easily see how his little sister saw her godmother as someone to emulate. Like Uncle Charlie, Luna’s work as a naturalist took her and her husband all over the world, studying the most amazing creatures. She had even been credited with the discovery of several new species since her career begun. Luna had generated a lot of excitement two summers ago when she brought one of these new discoveries, the Eriecuff, one for each of the Weasley grandchildren. She and Rolf had discovered them on their last journey to the Amazon and were hoping they would be able to become a hit as pets in the wizarding world.
The Eriecuffs were cute enough: small, furry, with large, bat-like ears and buggy eyes that would have been big on a unicorn. The girls all fell in love with them, and, although the boys wouldn’t admit it, adored them too. No one saw a problem with them until the Eriecuffs discovered Grandmum Weasley’s cooking, rampaged though the kitchen, and then ran off into the wildness, leaving the family bewildered and the Burrow in near ruins. They also took several of Grandmum Weasley’s half-finished knitting projects with them.
As much as Albus’ parents seemed to care for Luna and enjoyed her company, he had a feeling all the other members of the Weasley family didn’t do their best to encourage Luna and her family to attend any more family gatherings.
“Mr. and Mrs. Ron Weasley are here,” Kreacher suddenly announced, distracting Albus from serving his purpose as his mother’s decoration caddy.
It wasn’t more than a few seconds later that Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione appeared behind him, each with their arms loaded down with wrapped presents, extra winter clothing, and, most notably, still-warm boxes of food. If Aunt Hermione had one weakness as far as Christmas preparations went, it was that she could not cook. At least not to the standards of Grandmum Weasley. So, for as many days as they could get away with, Aunt Hermione would go into London shops that would make dinners for them, and the two families would live off the food until Albus’ grandmother would finally arrive. Because once the children’s grandmother finally did arrive, Aunt Hermione would be banished from the kitchen for the rest of the holiday.
Bursting out from either side of Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione were their two children. Hugo rushed to Lily and then the two of them ran off to who knows where in the house. Rose looked all aglow. She was smiling, laughing, and appeared as though a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders, now that she knew for certain that she was still going to have a family to spend Christmas with.
“Albus!” Rose rushed to her cousin the moment their eyes met. She hugged him tightly around the neck, but miraculously, Albus was still able to hang on to his box of decorations.
Albus half-expected that his cousin was using the hug so she could use whisper something in his ear about the Arcane ScoRA or some new ‘mission’ she had come up with in her days off of school. But no words ever did come from Rose in the exchange. She gave him one last quick squeeze, and then, more reluctantly, moved on to James. It was a completely pure gesture on her part.
But then what did that thinking say about Albus?
“C’mon, all,” Uncle Ron called after embracing Albus’ dad and giving his mum a teasing ruffle of her hair. “Let’s eat this wonderful food before all the flavor seeps into the cardboard.”
Albus was certain Aunt Hermione would have given her husband a good smack in the head, had her arms not been filled with the very food he was ‘praising’. Uncle Ron must have sensed this, for he chose that exact moment to make a mad dash for the kitchen. It seemed in vain, though, because Aunt Hermione chased after him, passing the packages off to Albus’ dad, and everyone in the house heard Uncle Ron yelp like a whipped puppy almost the exact moment Aunt Hermione disappeared into the kitchen.
Christmas Eve morning arrived before Albus could even feel ready for it. The days leading up to it were so lazy in comparison: it was always such a shock. The loud chaotic mess could almost be pinned down right to the exact second it began.
“Honestly, Arthur!” came a rather loud voice as the front door of house slammed shut. “You are foolish enough to eat food from street cart, don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for you!”
There it was. The two families were quite relaxed at the time. James and Albus were enjoying a rare moment with no teasing while Hugo and Lily thumbed their ways through a large stack of Christmas picture books. Rose and Uncle Ron were lying sprawled across the floor, her begging him for one more game of chess and him cursing the fact that he had ever taught her the game.
“Grandmum and Granddad Weasley!” Lily and Hugo shouted in shrill unison.
The two cousins sprung to their feet the very moment their grandparents appeared in the entryway. Hugo and Lily raced forwards and greeted their grandparents with a tackling hug.
“Hi, Granddad,” Lily said as her grandfather swept her in his arms. “I missed you!”
Granddad Weasley raised a suspicious, graying eyebrow at the little girl’s sweet attitude. “Are you just saying that so I’ll give you a Galleon?”
“Yes,” Lily answered bluntly.
“Well, it’s working,” he surrendered, reaching into his coat pocket and retrieving one of the shiny Galleons Albus knew had been there all along.
Out of the corner of his eye, Albus could see his mum and Uncle Ron shifting nervously as Lily’s greedy little hand snatched at the coin. It wasn’t very hard to understand. His mother and all his uncles always had stories about how poor they had been as children: how they had all lived on hand-me-downs and second-hand school supplies, how they had been teased about their family’s lack of money. They and the rest of the uncles always did seem to get nervous whenever the grandchildren were given money without a second thought. Yet Granddad Weasley always insisted that now that the Burrow was empty of hungry, growing children, there was more than enough money to spoil the young grandchildren every now and again.
Lily gleamed and gloated at Hugo from her perch, inciting a jealous response, “Hey, I want money too!”
“Hugo!” Aunt Hermione chastised him.
“Yeah,” Rose agreed. “It’s ‘I want money, please’.”
“Rose!”
“’allo!” a thick, yet familiar French accent saved Rose from needing to apologize. “Where iz everyone?”
Grandmum and Granddad Weasley were soon abandoned as the youngest of their grandchildren rushed to greet the newest arrivals. “Auntie Fleur!”
Even if their Aunt Fleur had not announced their arrival, the others still would have known from the very loud French complaints about the cold, and Uncle Bill hushing her at what must have been the really bad curses. Finally, the two of them made their way into the parlor, with Lily and Hugo clinging to their sides.
Dominique and Louis were trailing close behind, outfitted in a strange combination of Grandma Weasley’s thick yarn creations and the sophisticated French fashions sent from their Grandmere Delacour. There was also one very distinct persona missing from the group.
“Happy Christmas, Fleur.” Albus’ mother hugged Aunt Fleur around her shoulder, while Aunt Fleur offered her a peck on the cheek. “But I believe you’re missing a child.”
“Oh, poor Victoire,” Aunt Fleur explained as she began to peel off her numerous layers of winter clothing. “She came down weet zome kind of stomach bug just last night.”
Albus watched Dominique and Louis shift to give one another a knowing look, and Albus was able to put the pieces of what was going on together, noting to himself that a certain turquoise-haired godson was missing was well. Teddy Lupin, who was usually just as much a part of the Weasley family gatherings as anyone, was not there either. No longer a Hogwarts student himself, any spare time Teddy had, he seemed to devote to his career: finding a career.
Many members of the family, including Teddy’s grandmother, had tried to convince him to join the Auror’s Office. He certainly had the grades; he was one of the top students in his class. He had connections, with a godfather as the head of the Auror’s Office. He even had it in his blood; Teddy’s mother had been an Auror, a great one, according to Albus’ father. However, also according to Albus’ father, Teddy had also inherited his mother’s independent mind. While he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life, he certainly knew what he didn’t want to do, and he did not want the type of job where he would have to go in everyday and expect the exact same thing.
Teddy had some kind of research work he wanted to get done before Christmas and Victoire had the stomach flu. It seemed like tonight those two would be giving each other their Christmas presents early.
“How’s Gabrielle?” Albus dad asked about Aunt Fleur’s younger sister. Gabrielle still lived in the south of France and spoke very poor English. Albus and the rest of his siblings had never met her, but they had heard all they ever needed to know about her through the family gossip.
“Oh, wonderful! Just wonderful!” Aunt Fleur exclaimed as she rummaged through her purse. “She and Henri just ‘ad zheir baby!”
“Another one?” Uncle Ron muttered under his breath before Aunt Hermione elbowed him in the ribs. “I mean, how wonderful!”
This story had been one that Albus and the rest of his cousins had all heard many times before. Gabrielle had met a wealthy man named Henri Octave, and married him almost the instant she graduated from Beauxbatons.
Henri’s chief obsession was to have a son, someone to carry on their family name and become an heir to his business. It was an obsession that could probably be considered legendary, for Albus had never heard words on the couple and had them not been accompanied by the talk of pregnancy or babies. However, all those years of trying had only led to Aunt Fleur’s nieces: Yvette, Sabine, Claire, Felice, and Jacqueline; all just as much Veelas as their mother.
“You’re one to talk,” Aunt Hermione hissed, “Mr. Sixth-out-of-seven-children.” This time, it was Uncle Ron’s turn to shush the words against the younger Delacour girl.
“Dad says if they have one more, they will be able to have their own Quidditch team!” Hugo piped up before anyone could cover his mouth. Even if Aunt Fleur hadn’t heard anything said about her sister up until that point, she had most certainly heard that.
“What’s this I’m hearing about Quidditch teams?” another voice came from the entryway, offering a most welcome distraction. “Has another member of the Weasley family been drafted to the professional league?”
Aunt Angelina emerged into the entryway, large flakes from the outside snow flurry contrasting deeply against her dark hair. She had achieved the impossible by managing to slip into Number Twelve Grimmauld Place completely unnoticed, even by Kreacher. It wasn’t very long before Uncle George and their children rushed out from behind her.
“Oh, let me see!” Roxanne ran over to the women gathered around the photograph. “I want to see the new baby!”
Even with his mother, Lily, three aunts, and three pushy female cousins that included Rose, Albus was still able to catch his own glimpse of the photograph ” Gabrielle holding a little baby that had the tiniest bit of silvery blond fuzz on her head. Standing beside her was a dark-haired man, Henri, and all around were their five other daughters, all with their mother’s Veela beauty.
“Yes, leetle Eponine Bernadette Octave.” Fleur beamed.
“Oh, another girl?” observed Albus’ mother. “I thought for sure they were having a boy this time.”
“Well, remember, Ginny,” Aunt Fleur reminded her, “leetle Claire was suppozed to be a boy too.”
“So no heir for the Octave family name,” Aunt Angelina said bluntly with an indifferent shrug of her shoulder.
“I’m certain they are happy to have another healthy baby, aren’t they?” Aunt Hermione argued for the defense of this new little niece.
“Yes, they all are,” Aunt Fleur answered. “But I zuppose now zhey will try again for a boy.”
“So they will have a Quidditch team!” Hugo exclaimed, almost as excited as a child would be over Christmas presents. “Have they picked out a team name yet?”
Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron groaned and Aunt Fleur pursed her lips together, but the French swear words were clearly playing out in her mind.
“C’mon, Lily!” Hugo pulled on his cousin’s hand. “Let’s go think of a name!”
This time, it was Albus’ parents’ turn to groan and take their share of Aunt Fleur’s silent wrath. But in time, the families settled in together and took joy in the Christmas spirit, not even remembering the so-called insults against Gabrielle Octave.
Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey did not arrive until much later, after the sun had gone down and the family was nearly done cleaning up after supper; most likely because of Uncle Percy’s own design. By the time the couple, along with Molly and Lucy, came through the door, most of the family members were too exhausted to engage in the same previously exuberant greetings. Even Kreacher didn’t bother to announce the family’s arrival.
Uncle Percy always seemed to have a strained relationship with the rest of the Weasley clan, Albus had noticed. He often chose to sit on the outskirts of family gatherings, even when his own wife and daughters were more than willing to take part. The adults always insisted it was all in Albus’ head, but none of them ever seemed to try very hard to discourage that thinking, and Uncle Percy never tried that hard to blend in from the outskirts either.
Then again, because Uncle Percy was so impossible to get close to, Albus couldn’t really bring himself to care that deeply.
“Lily, it’s time for bed.” Albus heard as his dad finally put his foot down as he lifted his daughter up off the sofa, where she lay sprawled out, barely conscious.
“You too, Hugo,” Aunt Hermione ordered, pulling her son to his feet.
“Nooooo,” Lily complained into her father’s shoulder. “We have to stay up and wait for Uncle Charlie!”
It was after midnight and, as always, Uncle Charlie was the only member of the family who had yet to arrive. In all honesty, Albus was so exhausted that he would have welcomed the chance to go to sleep, and his own desire to go to bed would probably help his dad reason Lily into joining him. But he wanted to stay up and see Uncle Charlie too.
“You’ll see him in the morning,” Aunt Hermione tried to reason with them.
“But I want to see him tonight!” Lily whined, even though it didn’t seem like Aunt Hermione was addressing her specifically.
“Yeah,” came a teasing fake whine from the entryway. “They want to see him tonight!”
“Uncle Charlie!”
Hugo yanked himself away from his mother’s hand and Lily kicked and struggled to be let down. All of the other previously exhausted cousins raced to push themselves to their feet and head for the door. Sure enough, fresh from the outside cold, was the famed Uncle Charlie.
Strewn across the entryway floor was enough winter clothing to keep an entire family warm. It wasn’t exactly shocking, though, having to come all the way from Romania; and knowing Uncle Charlie, he was not one to elect taking the quick or traditional way of getting to London. Albus wouldn’t have been shocked to learn Uncle Charlie had made the entire trip on a broomstick.
“Hey, all!” he greeted the family, frost still clinging to his beard. “What does a man have to do to get a hug from the children I don’t have to feed?”
As usual, Lily and Hugo were the first to rush forwards and grant Uncle Charlie’s request. This time, however, they were not the only ones to do so. Everyone, all the way up to Dominique, took their turn to hug Uncle Charlie. So rare were the chances to actually see him, that they all wanted to take full advantage.
“So…Charlie?” Fred began.
“What did you bring with you?” James finished.
At first, Uncle Charlie pretended to have no idea what his nephews were talking about, but the cousins all new better than that. Uncle Charlie missed all the children just as much as they missed him, and he always made sure to surprise them all with some elaborate gift or souvenir from his travels. It was simply a part of his nature.
“As a matter of fact,” he finally let on, “I have a surprise for all of you.”
All the young eyes gathered went aglow. Even Uncle Charlie seemed excited about the surprise this time, so it had to be good.
“Everyone wait here.” Uncle Charlie held his hands up, holding the members of the family where they stood. “You’re all going to be so shocked!”
Soon enough, Uncle Charlie was out the door, back out into the cold, where the ‘surprise’ was waiting.
“Are you all ready?” he asked through the closed door. “Alright!” Uncle Charlie threw the front door open and unveiled what he had brought back from Romania this time.
It was a woman, dark-eyed with stands of coffee-colored hair falling out from under the scarf wrapped around her head. Anxiously, she glanced up at the crowd of people and gave a shy smile as she clutched her coat tightly around her.
“This is Sorina, my wife.”
The entire Weasley clan stood shocked completely stiff. Wow! Albus thought silently to himself. As far as Uncle Charlie’s surprises went, this most certainly had to be one of the big ones.
“I’m married,” Uncle Charlie clarified, as though the family had misunderstood him. “To Sorina.”
“Hei-llo,” Sorina greeted them all in her thick Romanian accent.
Albus glanced around to get a look at how the rest of the family was taking the news. Grandmum Weasley’s face contorted into a sort of odd expression and she went pale while Albus’ grandfather kept pulling his glasses across the bridge of his nose, as though he wasn’t sure they were working correctly. James and Fred stood with their mouths wide open as though they were catching flies, while the older girls all took their turns gossiping amongst one another. The adults seemed to alternate between expressions of shock, excitement, and appearing as though their brains were beginning to melt.
“Is something wrong?” Uncle Charlie asked, looking worried in a strange contrast to how ecstatic he had appeared before. “Mum, are you feeling alright?”
Grandmum Weasley’s left eye had begun to twitch, worrying Albus a little bit as well.
“Charlie,” Uncle Bill was the first to speak, “this is just…all…a really big shock.”
“They mean we never would have thought you’d get married,” Uncle George clarified.
This time, Ginny was the one to chastise the words of the Weasley men through a smack on the head. But Uncle George was never one to be a quick learner.
“To something that wasn’t a Romanian Longhorn,” he was able to finish, earning him another smack, this time from his wife.
The woman, Sorina, whispered to Uncle Charlie in Romanian, sounding slightly worried, but Charlie answered back in a more confident tone, something that caused Sorina to laugh. Eventually, he joined her and the two of them giggled together in a manner that seemed for fitting on a pair of lovesick teenagers.
Suddenly, a whining voice complained from out in the street in a foreign language that Albus could only assume was Romanian as well. The woman, Sorina, hissed out into the darkness in the same language, but it accomplished nothing. Two smaller bodies stepped out of the street and onto the steps, bundled in heavy coats, scarves, hats, and gloves, but still slivering from the cold. Upon closer examination, Albus could see that both children had the same eyes as the Sorina woman, with dark hair of their own peeking through their winter wrappings.
“Something else you would like to share weeth us, Charlie?” Aunt Fleur asked.
Charlie abandoned laughing with his wife (That certainly felt strange to think, Albus thought to himself) to look behind him, suddenly remembering who else he had left waiting outside to meet the family.
“Did I mention I am now a father as well?”
The two teenagers pulled their scarves from their faces and inhaled deeply, as though the wool had kept them from breathing. But they soon remembered the cold and the reason for them in the first place and held them back up against their skin.
“Froh-m my first marriage,” Sorina explained, as though she wasn’t sure her husband’s family would understand that themselves.
“This is Hendric, he’s fourteen,” Charlie introduced the older boy, before moving onto the smaller girl. “And here is Stela, twelve. They’re Sorina’s children. And I guess they’re mine now too.”
The boy pulled his scarf away once again. “I ahm very excited to-oo be meeting family of Charlie,” the boy, Hendric, addressed the family in a thick accent that matched his mother’s. “He is goo-d man to my mah-zer.”
He draped his scarf over his arm and then pulled off his hat too, revealing a messy mop of dark hair and a very handsome face. Albus felt it odd to think that this strange new boy was now a member of his family, especially since Hendric seemed as far from being a Weasley physically as could possibly be. Albus also couldn’t help but notice the faint blush creeping into Dominique’s cheeks.
“Well, it’s wonderful to meet you, Hendric.” Grandpa Weasley was the first to speak, extending a firm handshake to the young boy. “And it’s very nice to meet you too, Stela.”
Stela offered a kind, yet confused smile, much like her mother’s, but still remained silent.
“Um,” Charlie explained, taking a hold of Stela’s shoulders, “Stela doesn’t know a lot of English yet.”
“She struggle wis it,” Hendric explained further. “Nah-t me.”
Sorina scolded her son in Romanian, and Stela laughed. Uncle Charlie chuckled as well before finally saying, “Well, Mum, are you going to let your newest grandchildren stand out in the cold to freeze to death?”
“You heard him, Molly,” Granddad Weasley said. “Your grandchildren are going to catch their deaths if they are left out in the streets for much longer. And Charlie has probably spent the entire trek from Romania telling them about your famous hot chocolate.”
Stela’s ears perked, indicating that if she knew any words in English, ‘hot chocolate’ were two of them.
“Yes, Grandmah-zer Veasley,” she exclaimed, words broken, but intent perfectly clear. “Yes, haat-choco-lot, pleeese, yes, Grandmah-zer.”
Grandmum Weasley, at Stela’s excited, but broken English, finally seemed to take on a more normal, welcoming expression. “Well, come on in out of the cold, every last one of you!”
Charlie ushered his ‘children’ in from the street and they both threw their winter clothing on top of Charlie’s, their mother rolling her eyes at the mess they made. Now the cousins could see Stela’s face as well. She was quite pretty, even if she did seem to have a little trouble looking people in the eye. Dominique was still blushing; her face starting to look even redder than it had been before as she continued to look at Hendric.
“I personally think it’s great.” Albus’ dad was the first to comment on Charlie and Sorina. “Marriage will be good for you, Charlie.”
“Yes,” Albus’ mum agreed. “Come in, Sorina. You all must be starving, and we can warm you up some food.”
“Grandmah-zer Veasley hat-choco-lot?” Stela asked, appearing quite insistent.
“Sure, why not?” Albus’ father said. “But first things first…” He lifted Lily up off the floor. “Alright then, lovely. You’ve seen Uncle Charlie, and now it is time for bed.”
“You’re not making Albus and James go to bed!” Lily complained.
Hugo tried arguing the same complaint using Rose, and then began listing off the rest of the cousins until his own fatigue made him lose track by the time he got to Lucy.
“They will be following you up soon enough, along with the rest of the brood,” her father assured her. “Unfortunately, one of the downsides of being the youngest in any family means you are the first off to bed.”
Lily and Hugo groaned, but eventually made their way up the staircase, grumbling to themselves and one another the whole way.
“The rest of you better be off soon,” their dad told the rest of the children. “Lily is going to hold me to my word.”
Albus looked around the room. He knew that the rest of his cousins would definitely not pass up the opportunity to get to know their new relatives. But tonight, Albus was simply too tired to take part in any of the family drama. He didn’t wait more than a minute or so to follow the two younger children up to bed.
The Potter children so rarely stayed at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, that none of them had their own rooms within the house. Instead, all the children would crowd into the largest bedroom; which felt as though it must have been a nursery at some point. Pillows and blankets were spread across the floor, nearly to the point of carpeting, and the cousins would attempt to sleep; feet in one another’s faces, Louis’ legendary snoring, and between a dozen different sleep schedules, no one getting a decent nights rest.
Albus wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Besides, it had become something of a Christmas tradition to watch the sunrise on Christmas morning and the holiday begin, even if he was the only one who observed it every year.
“Mmmm,” Rose hummed as she turned her head to him. “That was a good Christmas, wasn’t it, Albus?”
The Weasley family Christmas this year was every bit as loud and chaotic as it was every other year. Lily and Hugo tore at their presents like a pair of piranhas and for all the threats in hopes of instilling good behavior, and James actually had gotten get a new broom for Christmas: a Nimbus 6LK ” a swift model that had just come out last year.
“Bad idea, Harry,” Uncle Ron had said. “Those Nimbus models are cursed. Don’t you remember how your old Nimbus met its end courtesy of the Whomping Willow?”
“It was given a proper Viking end to its Quidditch days,” Albus’ mother had joked.
Rose was given book after book after book, which Aunt Hermione scolded the family for, assuming just because her daughter wasn’t a Gryffindor, that she would be one to lock herself in a tower with a stack of books and never have any fun. Uncle Ron then reminded her that it wasn’t because Rose was a Ravenclaw, but because she was Aunt Hermione’s daughter. Rose laughed and Albus found himself chuckling as well. Oh, if only the family knew what their Ravenclaw Rose did do in her spare time!
Albus was a difficult person to buy presents for, or so everyone said, so he received his usual eclectic mix of gifts: Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, a copy of An Illustrated Guide to Dragons of the World, a Muggle toy called ‘walkie-talkies’ that Granddad Weasley had seen in London and couldn’t resist, and a half dozen other odd bobbles. Strangely enough, his favorite gift was his yearly Weasley jumper, which this year was made from red and gold yarn. Rose’s jumper had a change in color too ” blue and bronze. Albus couldn’t help but give his brother a smirk, his own jumper was the same usual brown.
Hendric and Stela didn’t take any time at all to fit in with the rest of the Weasley grandchildren, even if Stela’s own limited English kept her at a bit of an arm’s length. And as shocked as Grandmum Weasley had been when she had first met her newest grandchildren, she now doted on them almost more than Albus thought was possible. Eventually, she even fretted that she didn’t have any jumpers to give to the newcomers.
Dominique, who was normally never one to try and use her Veela heritage on the male of the species, was suddenly giving it all she had in an attempt to get Hendric to pay attention to her. But fifteen years of disuse only made her appear ridiculous to the rest of the cousins. Uncle Bill was constantly reminding people that his girls were only one-eighth Veela, and therefore did not have the same power to turn men into drooling idiots, although that never seemed to stop Victoire.
It most certainly didn’t stop Dominique from trying her best to tap into that part of her psyche.
“Yeah,” Albus agreed, “it’s hard to believe it’s already over, and everyone’s going home tomorrow.”
“So, don’t forget,” Rose reminded him, propping herself up. “Your job over the holidays is to find the Marauders’ Map and the Invisibility Cloak.”
Then came the proverbial pin drop. Rose had yet to mention the Arcane ScoRA, or plans, or Scorpius Malfoy, or anything relating to any of them for the whole holiday. She had waited until Christmas day was nearly over, taking a break from all they had been doing all these past months, before getting back to business. If Albus had known from the beginning that was her plan, he would have done a lot more to enjoy the time that he didn’t know was on a ticking clock.
“And your job is to search your mother’s books and find out what is being used to provoke these attacks,” Albus reminded her, maybe in some attempt to make it feel like he wasn’t going to be going into the lion’s den alone.
Rose nodded in agreement. “And Scorpius is listening on his father’s conversation to find out what the professors aren’t telling us.”
Yikes! Albus thought to himself. Having to spend Christmas spying on Lucius and Draco Malfoy, as well as however many former Death Eaters they would invite over for the holidays? Albus was beginning to believe he had gotten off easy. This was not going to be a very relaxing vacation for any of them.
The Marauder’s Map and his dad’s Invisibility Cloak. Rose had mentioned this before, but he hadn’t been quite sure she was serious. James currently had the Map in his possession, hidden somewhere in a location that even the threat of his mother’s wrath couldn’t pry it out of him. He certainly wasn’t going to easily tell Albus. And the Invisibility Cloak? After James had gotten a hold of the Map, their dad had realized that the Cloak would not be safe from his firstborn son either. His dad hadn’t even told their mum where the Cloak was kept now.
“How about relax?” Albus suggested. “It’s still technically Christmas for another two hours.” And Albus wanted to enjoy it!
“Good idea,” Rose agreed.
Finally, Rose reclined back against her pillows and let Albus have some peace,but it was only once everything was completely quiet that Albus suddenly remembered something else that was extremely important.
“Happy early twelfth birthday, Rose.”
Rose smiled. Her birthday was December twenty-sixth, the day right after Christmas. Often times, everyone, including Rose, was too tired from the Christmas celebrations to do much to commemorate her growing another year older. She may have her favorite foods at dinner, and not have to do her chores, but Albus could never recall her having a large party or anything else many children simply assumed came along with having their birthday.
“Thanks, Albus.”
The Arcane ScoRA and the Wand of MacArt by OliveOil_Med
Chapter Notes: Albus and Rose come back to London for their Christmas holiday. But the chaos of the Weasley family Christmas is enough to make all that has been happening at Hogwarts seem relaxing.
Thank you to Caitlin and Azure, and eponine for helping me.