Authors note: I do not own any characters created by J.K. Rowling. Full credit goes to her for all situations and information mentioned in any of the 7 books or interviews, etc. as well. However, the storyline of this fanfic is all me and the little voice in my head – and thus, of course, not to be copied by anybody else – that would be stealing my creativity, my ideas – and not very nice

"A Christmas Wish"
Or: How Christmas Movies Saved the Weasley's

Ron

It was Hermione's idea at first, of course - who else would've thought of something like this? But she had a point: we really did need something to make Christmas feel like Christmas.

The past six and a half months had just been so mixed up - what with the end of the war, the beginning of rebuilding our country, Hogwarts, the Ministry, the Government... With everybody just attempting to get over Fred's death, over the loss of Lupin and Tonks. With the joy of finally knowing that we now actually had a chance at a future without all the discrimination and violence that had shaped our years at Hogwarts, and even before.

It was weird, you know, the way everything was supposed to be okay now, and yet we still had to force ourselves to believe that this was really it, that all that was really over, when we still woke up screaming after nightmares, when we'd see George turn around to tell something to Fred and to see that look of realization, and then, heartbreak on his face. To notice the way mum had lost about half her weight and seemed unable to gain it back. The way Percy wanted so desperately to belong back in our family, and the way everybody wanted him to, but seemed unable to forgive him - we didn't want to lose another brother, but we didn't even know if he really was our brother anymore.

And at the same time, the world, and even our family, was so obviously moving on.

As it turned out, Percy had started seeing a girl, Audrey, about halfway through that final year of the war - he already knew he was in the wrong, but she was the one who had given him the much-needed-kick-in-the-ass that gave him the strength to actually do something about it.

Charlie had decided to work less hours, meaning he was usually home in the weekends, but still got to work with his beloved dragons. Not only that, he was actually trying to see if he could transfer some of his hours to the dragon reserve in Ireland, so he would be even closer to home. Apparently, he's been trying to convince his superiors that everybody would greatly benefit from working together more closely with other reserves, as they would be able to exchange a lot of information on both the dragons and the ways to handle them.

Angelina regularly came over to see George - obviously, Fred and George had realised shortly after the Yule Ball in our fourth year that they had both gone with the wrong girl, and George and Angelina had started dating. She was good for him - they fought a lot, about what to do with the shop, about how they reacted to Fred's death, about anything really. But she was also the one who first got that spark to return to his eye. It was only occasionally, and it wasn't as present as it had been before - But at least it was there again, every once in a while.

Bill and Fleur were... Still very much Bill and Fleur - at times so in love that just being in their presence could make you nauseous, at other times the coolest older brother (and sister in law) anyone could ever wish to have. Mum and dad didn't know it yet, but they actually had an announcement to make - somehow, during my stay there last year, Bill and I had really started to get along again, and he had told me first. He even asked me if, perhaps, I might want to be the godfather - I said I would have to think about it, because the responsibility was so big, but I was pretty sure I was going to accept.

Ginny, no matter how much I hated to admit this, had really grown up during the war. She had gone back to school, determined to get as many NEWTs as possible, and then get a kick ass Quiditch career (her words, not mine). And as it so happened, I knew that she'd already gotten 3 offers to join a team as soon as she graduated, one of them her all time favourite team: the Harpies.

She and Harry had decided to take things slow for a while, to wait until all the madness had cooled down a bit, before they would really get back to getter. I have to admit though, considering the way they look at each other, I'd say they're going to decide that 'the madness has cooled down enough' pretty soon. In the mean time, Harry had gotten an offer to join the Auror training programme without taking the admittance tests - that way, he didn't have to lose a year while studying for and taking his NEWTs, and he would still get to prove to the other trainees that he was really good enough - although, with him beating Voldemort and all, that wasn't really as much of an issue as it might have been... He'd also decided to try and get Sirius' name cleaned, so that he could officially be reinstated as the Head of the House of Black, and just, so that the slander would stop. At the same time, he'd claimed his title as Head of the House of Potter, at the same time discovering that he had two houses in the country, and one appartement in the centre of London. He'd immediately decided to go live there, and he'd somehow convinced me to be his roommate - it took some arguing, but he'd agreed to let me pay rent - even after growing out of my jealousy, I was still determined not to live off of someone, especially him.

Hermione had gotten the same option, but she had instead elected to go back to school. She and Ginny shared dorms now, and apparently study schedules as well - if I were to believe Ginny, Hermione had them get up at 5 a.m. every morning, just to revise in case something came up in class... Nobody doubted, however, that Hermione would get - yet again - excellent grades, and go on to become someone big. She admitted once that she would really like to continue S.P.E.W. (yes, she finally got me to say it right, as well) but then on a larger scale - equality for all magical sentient beings, or at least start out by giving them the same basic 'human' rights.

And then there was me. I'd gotten the same offer as Harry and Hermione, but I'd declined. Well, that's to say - I'd gotten permission to join anytime within the next year. Directly after the war, George just hadn't been in any state to run his store, so I'd started to help him out - just until he felt better of course. As it turned out, you couldn't spend your childhood avoiding pranks without picking up something or another. In other words: I was actually quite good at managing a store - and somehow I even managed to get something out of some of Fred's notes on pranks he was yet to finish. It was weird though, to realise (and that realisation always dawned upon me at the weirdest moments) that I was continuing his legacy - that the word legacy could be applied here.

So really, we seemed to be moving on. We seemed to be living again, instead of just surviving.

But we weren't there yet.

There were still too many moments when we'd just be looking for Fred, be mad at Fred, be mad at each other because of Fred, ...

There were too many moments when we were still fighting for our own lives, for our own moving-on, too little moments when we fought for each other.

We'd gotten stuck in a sort of limbo, somewhere between war and peace, somewhere between fighters and family. We'd gotten stuck there, and none of us knew how to get moving again - how to become us again.

And that's what Hermione's idea was going to do.

Hermione

When I was just a little girl, every year on Christmas Eve, mum, dad and I would rent some old-school Christmas movies, the more cliché, the better, and just spend the night watching those and eating home-made sweets and snacks. Even when I was going to Hogwarts, I would always try to be home on Christmas Eve - even with so many traditions disappearing, I always just felt like this one was really worth keeping. Towards the end of the war, though, even that had to go - I was so busy trying to fight, trying to get others to fight, that I just didn't think it was all that important anymore.

After the war had ended, after I had returned my parents memories, after so many conversations, trying to explain myself, trying to make everything alright again, I honestly didn't think that there was any chance of going back to those Christmas Eve's, back when everything was so much more simple - and to try and force it, well, I just couldn't bear the tought.

But we needed something, something to help us come together again. The Weasley's had always been one of the closest groups of people I'd ever known, but somehow, they all seemed to be miles away from each other - sure, they helped one another when it was necessary, but they were all very much alone - lonely, even.

Somewhere along the way, somewhere along those years of fighting, and sleeping at each others houses, and just being part of their family, in so many ways - it hurt to feel as if I was losing that family, as if that family was losing each other.

So I did what I always did - and no, that wasn't going to the library, which was always only a stand-in - I went to my mum. For the larger part of primary school, I didn't really have anyone else to go and talk to - I hardly had any friends to begin with, and those which I might've happened to have, were hardly interested in talking about something that included books, or personal problems. So I learned to go to my mum - at first because she was my mum, you know, she knew everything... Then, later, because she could offer an objective perspective on the situation, and because she knew how to really listen - and not listen, but really hear you as well. And then, even later, because it was one of the few things we really could do together anymore - I was too old to be taken somewhere by her, but too young to take her somewhere. So we talked, and somehow - even if it didn't solve anything - it always made things seem just that little bit easier, more fixable.

So I went to my mum, and I talked to her, and I told her about how the Weasley's had practically adopted Harry and I as their own, about how much I loved the feeling of knowing that I had such a large family - them included - about how much it hurt to see that family floating further and further away from each other.

And she listened.

And then she was silent, and she was thinking, and eventually, she offered me a solution that I'd never even have considered.

Traditions.

Harry

It was Hermione's idea, of course. Who else would've thought of something like this?

It was genius though, and so - when she came to me for help, as I was about the only other person who actually knew anything about the muggle world - I agreed to help her.

Of course I did - I could see just as well as any other person that, even though they (we) seemed to be moving forward, we weren't, we'd just stopped going backwards.

We needed something to actually get us moving again, to actually make sure that the war would've been worth it.

And really, what better occasion to start going forward again, than Christmas? After all, it was a time of sharing, of giving, of spending time with those you loved - of helping people.

And Hermione's plan would work, I was sure of it - because of the war, because of everybody we'd lost, it would've felt wrong - it was feeling wrong - to just go on as always, to not commemorate those that had gone. To act like their sacrifice had never happened.

And, to be honest, it didn't even take all that much work - Hermione's mother had already told us that, should it be necessary, we could use their house - or at least: their living room. We'd decided to keep it a surprise for the Weasley's, so it took some planning, but in the end, we managed to come up with a way to get everybody there.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had already decided that they wouldn't do anything big for Christmas Eve this year, instead chosing to have a bigger celebration the next day, with all their friends and family. Ginny had decided to stay home as well, claiming that she could really use some peace and quiet. Luckily, she'd quickly agreed when Ron told her that we were planning a surprise, and if she would please floo to the address he would give her that day around 6?

Bill and Fleur had originally planned to celebrate Christmas Eve with just the two of them (well, actually three, but I wasn't supposed to know that yet), but we'd figured we could just let Fleur in on the secret, and she'd help us convince Bill to come over as well. And boy, did she help - not only had she managed to convince Bill, she'd somehow managed to get Charlie, Percy and George to come over as well - just for a bite of course. And what was more: they'd all agreed - and all said that they'd bring a surplus! Of course, we knew about Percy and George - but Charlie? Apparently, we were in for quite a lot of surprises that night!

Anyway, the night before Christmas Eve, the three of us had gotten together to decide on the final details and, with some help from Mrs. Granger, figured everything out - from the time schedule, to the food, everything was ready to go.

Really, all we could do now was wait.

Bill

I really should've known that something was going on.

After all, there was a reason that Fleur got along so well with the twins. Though she'd never been as good as they were at hiding something from me, I had to admit - this time, she'd really outdone herself.

About a week before Christmas Eve, Fleur had asked me if it would be okay if she invited my brothers over - mum and dad were planning on doing something simple, just the two of them and Ginny, and Ron, Harry and Hermione had apparently agreed to meet up with some of their friends. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed - it was already going to be our last Christmas Eve with just the two of us, and I'd really been looking forward to it. But, you know, I agreed. Of course I agreed, how could I not?

She was willing to put up with my brothers for the night, she was willing to spend the day cooking and cleaning (sure, I'd be helping, but she tended to feel like I didn't quite knew how to do anything, and usually ended up shoo-ing me away), who was I to veto that? And anyway, it would be kind of nice to get together again, do some sort of Christmasy stuff, maybe get a drink afterwards...

What was I even thinking?

Percy had arrived first, of course he had, he always did like to be (almost a bit too) punctual. Audrey was with him, though, and she was - there was just no other word for it - an absolute darling. Sometimes I wondered how she put up with Percy, but they genuinely seemed to love each other, so obviously she did that just fine.

George arrived second, together with Angelina of course, who was - apparently - not talking to him for another 20 minutes, because he'd somehow managed to make her brush change the colour and texture of her hair. I inwardly winced when I heard that - regardless of her Veela-genes, Fleur always took great care to look at her best, and I didn't even want to imagine how she would react to a prank like that.

By the time Charlie arrived, Fleur had started to get impatient (really, how did that not clue me in?) about how her schedule would get messed up, but seeing who he brought with him, she was too astonished to actually tell him off about it. To be honest, if I hadn't known already, I probably would've been quite surprised myself as well - Katie Bell was quite a bit younger than he was, but apparently they'd met right after the fight, and bonded over their shock that nobody had thought to have some of the (ex-)Quidditch-players join the fight from the air. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Either way, she suddenly told me to go put on my jacket, because she had a surprise for me - for all of us really.

The next thing we knew, we were told to floo to "Otter's House", which turned out to be the house of Hermione's parents, where she and Harry were already waiting for us. WIthout even telling us what was going on, we were told to sit down, and were still sitting there when mum, dad and Ginny flooed in, accompanied by Ron.

As soon as they sat down as well, the 3 in front of us began to explain their plan - at the same time, Mr. and Mrs. Granger ("Oh please, call us Dan and Emma - Mr. and Mrs. Granger makes us sound so old") had come in with bowls filled with all sort of snacks that I didn't really know, but that looked absolutely delicious. Just as Harry was about to get to the actual point (that boy could talk, when he needed to!) Hermione interrupted him, asking her mother to explain the rest, which she did: "As you may or may not know, Hermione is in love with Christmas" "Mu-um!" Hermione cried out. "Don't worry honey, I won't embarrass you any more than that" said Emma, before continuing: "Anyway, when she was about 6 or 7, she would use all of her pocket money to buy either books, or video's with Christmas movies on them. And every year, on Christmas Eve, the three of us would sit together, just like you are sitting here now, with a whole bunch of sweets and snacks, and watch as many of those movies as we could before someone... " Here, she glanced at her husband, "would fall asleep. It really was a great tradition..." "Anyway" interrupted Hermione, "when I was trying to figure out what we could do for Christmas Eve, with all of us, mum reminded me that sometimes you may need to start a new tradition, but sometimes, you just need to adapt an old one..." "And" continued Ron, "That's how she came up with this brilliant plan!"

"So... When you say traditions... You mean...?" "Yes" Harry replied "we're going to be watching some Christmas movies!"

Molly

I could hear my boys moaning, but I couldn't help but notice how Arthur was smiling - actually, really, truly smiling.

And at that moment, I knew that no matter if Bill moped, or Charlie laughed, or Percy asked for the purpose, or George pranked - we would be watching these video's.

Even if for no other reason than that the idea - the mere idea of it - made Arthur smile like that.

Charlie

Well, that was one way to introduce my family to my new girlfriend ("Hey mum, hey dad, this is Katie, she's... Well, we're..." *enter bone-crushing hug by my mother and clap on the back by my dad*).

Muggle movies, though? Really?

Well, it might be fun...

And dad seemed really happy about the idea, so...

Percy

Actually, I'd been fearing something much worse ever since I was told to floo here - I could live with this...

Harry

This was going to work.

This was actually going to work.

In 8 years time, you can get pretty good at reading the people you spend that time with. So I knew Mr. Weasley was thrilled, Mrs. Weasley was just happy to see him smile like that, Bill would bear with it, Charlie was willing to bear with us, Percy looked relieved and George looked like he just didn't know what to make of it.

This was going to work.

Hermione

The first movie was going to be a hit - we'd decided to start the evening with a funny film, to get some of the tension out of them. After all, even with all of them being sort of new to the concept of Christmas movies, surely they wouldn't be able to not laugh at the antics of Kevin McCallister in Home Alone?

And indeed - laugh they did...

Soon enough, they were only partially paying attention, having started to talk to each other, catching up on what was going on with each other's lives...

After what seemed to have been only half an hour, but turned out to be three quarters of the film, all of the food was already gone. As I was coming back from the kitchen with refills of just about everything, I couldn't help but smile at the picture that was in front of me - even my parents had found their place, it seemed, seeing the way they were in conversation with Bill and Fleur.

Only a little while later, we decided to pop in the second video, Borrowed Hearts, which even I hadn't seen yet - mum told me that, while they were in Australia, there was this one movie on the television which made her feel as if she'd forgotten something - me. She promised me that I would, no doubt, love it, and I'd figured I might as well try it - cute though the previous movie might have been, I knew that some people (especially Molly, Fleur and Audrey) really liked romantic stories, and I figured this might fill that slot.

It was funny how, as soon as they noticed what the theme of the movie was, the couples seemed to split, sitting closer to each other, drawing comfort from each other. It was even more funny how, about halfway through the movie, I heard Bill tell Fleur "I really think you're going to be at least as good a mother as she is - I just know you will..."

And Mrs. Weasley's shriek (there really was no other word for it) when she realised what she'd just heard... That was quite funny as well.

Soon enough, everybody was going around, hugging, them, squealing (I never thought I'd hear Angelina make such a sound, honestly) and then -

Then Percy spoke up, saying he actually had an announcement to make as well: "Well, euhm, you, see... Really, what I mean, is..." Eventually, Audrey decided to take him out of his misery: "He asked me to mary him - and I said yes!"

More hugs and kisses followed, until Harry coughed: "Well, seeing how as we're making all these announcements, well, euhm... Ginny and I have decided to start dating again." Before anyone could say anything, he rushed to add "And I asked your dad's permission and he's fine with it!"

At that, I couldn't help but laugh - it was adorable the way he got along with all of Ron's brothers so well, but was terrified of them the moment it came to something like this - he'd practically crawled behind Ginny, trying to hide away from the anger he was expecting to be unleashed on him.

Luckily for him, though, George decided to jump in at that moment, saying he had something to tell us as well: "Angelina and I, we've decided to move in together." Although the last bit was mumbled, it was clear enough to make Mrs. Weasley, who was crying by now, rush over to hug them.

Charlie, expecting nothing less, took that moment to add: "Yes, well, as you know Katie and I are dating, and, euhm, well... She's decided to take a job as a healer at my reserve."

Somehow, everybody turned to look expectantly at Ron and I, both of us still in the back of the room. And as I searched for words, for anything to say...

Ron

I rushed in to say: "We've decided to buy a christmas tree together!"

As laughter filled my ears, I knew - I just knew:

It's going to work.

A/N: Yes, I am still alive - barely, due to finals, but alive none the less. Either way: good luck to all of you who still have some tests to go, and for everybody else: a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!