She opened the door almost as soon as the bell rang, obviously having been standing close and waiting. She smiled down in greeting at the young boy, exchanging pleasantries with his grandmother, and laughed as his hair changed to a bright orange that rivalled her own.
"Teddy!" Her youngest child comes charging into the hallway, practically throwing herself at the older boy. "I missed you!"
"I missed you, too," he grins, changing his hair to a bright blue and eliciting a laugh from the little girl.
She ushers everyone into the living room, closing the front door behind their two guests. She can hear her sons playing loudly in the living room, and can tell the exact moment when they notice the new arrivals.
"Teddy!" The both shout simultaneously, quickly abandoning their game.
"What's Hogwarts like?" James asks, before Teddy has even managed to fully enter the room.
"It's... different. Big. You'll love it."
"Did you make lots of new friends?" his brother continued with the stream of rapid-fire questions.
"Yeah, I..."
"Have you seen any Centaurs?" James interrupted; his excitement clearly evident in the way he was bouncing around the older boy.
"No, but I..."
"Did you..."
"James. Albus. That's enough." Ginny put an end to the questions for the time being, but she was sure that her sons would carry on with them as soon as they got the opportunity.
Teddy made his way into the living room, seemingly unperturbed by the enthusiasm of the two younger boys. He sets Lily down on the floor and practically falls onto the sofa, purposefully making it so that the other two boys have to sit on the floor.
"What did you get us?"
"James!" She shouts from the kitchen, barely containing an eye-roll at her son's behaviour.
"But muuu-uuum..." he whines.
"Behave."
There is blessed silence for a few delightful minutes, before a loud crash and a scream from her youngest child completely shatter the illusion of calm.
"Boys, what are you..." she breaks off with a sigh, seeing her husband holding Lily above his head and the three boys laughing at her misfortune. They all look up as she enters, guilty expressions adorning each of their features, and she manages to put up a good enough show of being irritated that they keep the volume down somewhat.
She leans against the kitchen counter with another sigh; mug of tea gripped firmly between her hands and held up just below her face, letting the warmth of it envelop her senses.
"It's like I have four young children," she complained – only partially joking – to the woman standing across from her, only receiving a quiet laugh and vague smile in response.
She watched for a while through the open doorway as they continued to mess around, before giving a silent gesture and both women wordlessly exited the kitchen and seated themselves on the recently vacated sofa.
Five pairs of eyes immediately look up at them from various positions sprawled across the floor.
"Don't you want to open any presents?" Ginny innocently asked the room as a whole, smiling to herself at the enthusiastic responses.
James was the first to stand up, walking over to the tree and pulling out a large present from underneath its branches. He handed the badly wrapped package to Teddy with a mischievous smirk.
"I got you this," he smiled as Teddy gingerly took hold of the box, eyeing the garish wrapping paper with no small amount of suspicion.
"Teddy?" his grandmother prompted from behind him.
"Err... Thanks, James..." he mumbled, beginning to tear at a corner of the festive paper but stopping abruptly at the positively devious expression on the younger boys face.
"Go on, Teddy. Unwrap your Christmas present. I dare you."