This story is dedicated to my best friend Daysi. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to her and to everyone who reads this.
To clear things up Teddy is fifteen, James is nine, Albus is seven and Lily is five.
Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling which sadly means I do not own Harry Potter nor do I own To Kill A Mockingbird. That belongs to the amazing Harper Lee.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
A chilly breeze blew down a twisting country lane causing loose snow to fill the air and block the stars for a few moments before settling down.
At the end of lane a cottage stood a by itself, away from its neighbours. The garden that was wrapped around the house was covered in a thick blanket of snow.
Just visible through the front window was a large Christmas tree decorated with tinsel and live fairies. Garlands of holly and silver and gold streamers hung from the doorways with magical snow scattered across the carpet while tinsel had been wrapped around the banister.
At that moment the occupants of the house were all sitting in the lounge room by the roaring fire.
'Can't we just open one?' asked a boy with extremely untidy reddish-black hair and chocolate brown eyes.
'No,' answered a red-haired woman with chocolate brown eyes. She was sitting on a couch with a man who had the same messy hair as the boy but he had astonishing green, almond shaped eyes that sparkled behind round glasses. He also had, just visible though his fringe, a thin scar shaped like a bolt of lightning.
'Please mum,' pleaded a boy who looked like a younger version of the man minus the glasses and scar.
'No,' the woman replied without even looking up from the piece of parchment that she was reading.
An older boy with bright electric blue hair and goldy-gray eyes snickered at the annoyed looks on the two younger boys faces.
'Tough luck guys,' he said and the boy with hazel eyes stuck his tongue out.
'Shut it Teddy,' he said.
'None of that,' the mother said and the hazel-eyed boy glared at Teddy Lupin who grinned.
Ginny Potter rolled her eyes and finally understood what her mother had gone through.
Ginny's husband, Harry Potter, quickly hid his own grin.
'Why don't you two play a game of chess?' he suggested and Albus Potter nodded.
'Why not,' he said and James Potter went and got the board while Albus grabbed the pieces.
Two large dogs were lying in front of the fire; one light brown and the other black. But when James came back the black dog leapt up and bounded over to James who he knocked over.
'Padfoot,' the nine-year-old yelled before he started laughing as Padfoot begun to lick his face.
Teddy snickered and the young red-haired girl who was sitting in Harry's lap laughed, her hazel eyes sparkling.
'Good Pads,' she giggled causing Teddy, Albus and harry to laugh and Ginny to roll her eyes though her lips twitched.
'Not nice, Lily,' James glared but when she grinned at him he huffed and sat up, annoyed that he couldn't remain angry with her.
James and Albus began their game with Teddy and Lily watching. Lily had descended from her father's lap and was leaning against the brown dog, Moony.
Half an hour later, as the clock on the mantelpiece chimed ten o'clock, Albus leapt up, his emerald green eyes glittering.
'I win,' he yelled.
'No fair,' James said before pouting as Albus' knight ran down his king.
'Bed,' said Ginny, which instantly caused an uproar.
'It's too early.'
'I don't want to go.'
'C'mon Gin.'
'Please mummy.'
'No,' Ginny said firmly, causing the four kids to fall silent.
'The sooner you go to sleep the sooner you get your presents,' Harry said and they all nodded.
They all went upstairs and hurried into their bedrooms. Teddy followed James into his and he lay down on the mattress that had been set up for him as he was spending the holidays with the Potters, his god-family, because his grandmother, Andromeda, was away visiting friends.
James clambered into bed and they both lay there in silence.
Teddy heard Harry and Ginny go to bed an hour later. He sighed knowing he wasn't going to sleep anytime soon.
He slipped out of from under the covers and crept over to where his bag was and pulled out a book and the torch he read by.
He snuck back to his mattress quietly and switched on the torch, careful to not disturb James. He flipped open his book and began to read.
A light knock on the door caused him to look up. The door opened to reveal Albus and Lily standing there.
'What are two doing up?' he asked.
'We could ask you the same thing,' Albus replied.
'We can't sleep,' Lily said. 'Can we stay here?'
Teddy glanced at James who appeared to be sleeping.
'Alright,' he whispered. 'Just be quiet.'
Lily scampered over to the mattress and Albus shut the door before following her.
Teddy held his arm out and Lily climbed onto his lap and Albus sat down next to Teddy who put his arm around him.
'Can you read to us?' asked Lily before she put her thumb in her mouth.
'Sure,' Teddy said. 'Al, can you hold the torch?'
'Uh-huh,' Albus nodded before taking the torch and aiming it at the book.
'Now that's mean. Are you not even going to invite me to read with you?' a voice to their left asked.
'Shh James,' Teddy warned the brown-eyed boy as he climbed out of his bed and sat across from Teddy.
'Alright, alright,' James muttered.
'Can we read now?' asked Albus, clearly annoyed.
'Okay,' Teddy said and reopened the book.
'Whas the name of the book?' asked Lily.
'To Kill A Mockingbird,' Teddy answered.
'What's it about?' asked Albus.
'We'll find out later Al,' James answered.
'Alright,' Teddy interrupted before they started an argument. 'Let's start.'
Teddy flipped back to chapter one.
'When he was nearly thirteen my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem's fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury …'
Ginny brushed her red hair out of her eyes as she entered the house. It was barely six am so no one else was up. She'd been out on a run and only just returned.
She headed upstairs to take a shower when she paused and glanced into her daughter's bedroom. And found it empty.
An old fear she hadn't felt since the Final Battle took over and she rushed to if her three sons were alright.
She opened the door that led to Albus bedroom to find him missing as well.
Ginny was starting to find it difficult to breathe and her heart was racing as old memories forced themselves to the surface. Before she knew what she was doing, the instincts that had formed during the war came into action and she drew her wand.
When Fred had died she'd always thought that was the worse pain, losing a brother. But now as she approached her other sons bedroom, with two kids missing, she knew her mother's pain had been far worse and she didn't think she'd ever be able to handle it.
She opened the door to her eldest son's bedroom and breathed a sigh in relief.
Her sons and daughter were lying down asleep on the mattress.
James and Albus were lying down the bottom while Teddy and Lily were asleep at the top. She smiled as she watched all four of her kids, because Teddy was family.
She suddenly felt someone move behind her but she relaxed when Harry wrapped his arms around her waist.
'Merry Christmas,' he whispered as the kids began to stir. Ginny smiled.
'Merry Christmas.'
Hope you liked it. I had a heap of fun writing this. Daysi, I hope you liked your Christmas present and I hope everyone has a brilliant Christmas. Please review because it really does make my day.
Merry Christmas everyone and a happy New Year, love MPPL live on.