Percy had never liked Christmas very much. It seemed to him, like a lot of fanfair over a single day. His family, of course, thought otherwise. His siblings, encouraged in no small part by his mother, made a very huge deal of the festival. Or rather, they used to. By the time Ron started Hogwarts, there was hardly enough money left in the household for presents, let alone decorations, and his observant eyes caught this fact, though his parents tried very hard to hide it from the children.
However, even he had to agree that a very festive Christmas was in order this year, celebrating their victory over the Dark Lord. For once, though, none of his family seemed very keen on doing so. They were all mourning their losses from the war. Ron and Ginny both had returned from Hogwarts, and Charlie had come back from Romania. Bill had brought his family along too. But despite the number of people in the Burrow, the house was oddly quiet. George barely even spoke anymore. It all felt very strange to Percy. He was sad too, but he wanted to take this one reason to celebrate something new, and make the most of it. He hadn't realised that his family needed to be reminded that they had lost a lot, but now they had a lot of things to look forward to as well. It had always been the other way round, with him being the one needing reminding, but he supposed it was his turn now.
On the night of the twenty third of December, he decided to stay up at night fix the morose atmosphere. So he did what he did best, he wrote. He addressed eight cards, one each for Bill, Charlie, George, Ron and Ginny, two for his parents, and lastly, one for Fred. Each of them had a special message, written especially for the giftee. He carefully slipped them under their pillows, hoping he wouldn't wake them. He didn't. Next, he went to the living room and took out all the boxes of decorations that they used. A few hours and quite a few spells later, the room was positively sparkling with tinsel, lights, and paper snowflakes. He had never taken an active part in decorating, before, but he could see why everyone seemed to enjoy it so much. Lastly, he had just to buy them presents. He would do that the next day, he thought.
He was woken by a squeal, somewhat late in the morning. It had come from his excitable younger sister. When he went downstairs for breakfast, he could already see his plan succeeding. While no one questioned him about the decorations or cards, he had a feeling they probably already knew, from the way they beamed at him when he came downstairs. He was glad. He had plans to secure presents, which he had already decided on, for them to put under the tree that day, and he planned to drop by Fred's headstone too. He couldn't wait to see their faces when they opened their gifts.
Notes: For TGS' 12 days of Christmas Challenge.