The candles flickered idly, casting a warm glow across the Burrow while the wind howled and rattled the windows, rain lashing against them.
"Thanks Molly," said Harry, resting a hand on his distended stomach. The Sunday dinner had surpassed even the Weasley matriarch's usual standards. "That was delicious."
Molly beamed. "You are sweet Harry."
"Yeah, thanks Mum." said Ginny. "You'll have to give us the recipe for your dumplings."
There was a crack of lightning. Molly jabbed her wand at the iPod which had been humming the greatest hits of Celestina Warbeck and the volume raised to a deafening level.
"Honestly Harry," Molly chastised softly, lowering the volume manually and shaking her shock of white hair. "I don't see what was wrong with my little old radio."
"I, for one, am very grateful for my Eye Pod." said Arthur, nestled firmly in his favourite chair as the open fire cast shadows across his wrinkled face. "A fine Christmas present."
Harry smiled wryly.
"I'm so full of food," James had staggered into the living room, eyes half-closed as he swayed. "That I think I'm going to explode."
"Weren't you supposed to be washing the dishes with your brother?" Ginny asked, eyebrow cocked.
"I've got it covered." James replied brashly. "They taught us the Scouring Charm at school." His sentence was punctuated with the crash of china and Albus's yelp.
Shaking her head, Ginny made her way to the kitchen. James sank into her seat beside his father.
"When are we heading home Dad? I'm expecting an owl from Morgana."
"This one's called Morgana, eh?" Harry shot his son a look.
James blushed. "She's just a friend."
"Who, Morgana?" Albus had entered the room, his jumper soaked through. "I heard from Victoire that she saw you two kissing outside Professor Longbottom's class."
James raised his wand, a spell on his lips when his mother returned. Looking haughty, he lowered his wand and mumbled about getting Albus later.
"This storm is something, isn't it?" noted Hermione as Ginny performed the Hot-Air Charm on Albus.
"Brings back memories of the Dementors." said Ron, glancing furtively outside though they all knew the Dementor population was now under strict regulations sanctioned by Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"Dementors?" Lily piped up, halting her game of Wizard Chess with Rose on the threadbare rug.
"Big scary soul-sucking things," explained Ron. "Don't they teach you about these things in Care of Magical Creatures anymore?"
"Ronald!" Hermione scowled. "She only just started her first year. Don't pretend you knew much after your first term."
"I knew what Dementors were." Ron mumbled.
"Only because I used them to make you do chores." Molly reminded him. "I used to say, 'Ronald, if you don't make your bed, you'll get a Dementor's Kiss.' That lit a fire under his cauldron."
"And look how well I turned out." grumbled Ron.
"Why don't you stay until it stops?" proposed Molly. "I can make fudge – or anything else you'd like for dessert."
"We couldn't possibly impose." said Hermione politely.
"Or eat anymore." added Harry.
"Yet." corrected Ron.
"The rain doesn't look like its letting up anytime soon." said Arthur, adjusting his horn-rimmed glasses. "And it's not often we have a full house."
"You had everyone round for Christmas last week." Ron pointed out.
"It's not the same." Molly insisted. "You'll understand when they're older." she beamed at her grandchildren.
The windows shook again.
"How about a story?" Albus suggested. "To pass the time."
"Have I told you the one about how I defeated the greatest dark wizard of all time?" asked Ron, striking a heroic pose.
Hermione and Harry turned on him.
"You did that, did you?" queried Hermione. Ron blushed.
"We're heard that one about a bajillion times Uncle Ron." said James, rolling his eyes.
"What about Babbitty Rabbitty?" suggested Harry.
James mock-yawned. "That's for kids."
"The Tale of the Three Brothers?" offered Ginny.
"That one's just silly Mum." Albus said, making himself comfortable on his grandfather's footstool. "Invisibility cloaks aren't real."
"You lot are hard to please." Ron grumbled. "I remember when Rose and Hugo were little, all I had to do was read something from Beedle the Bard."
"You always got the words wrong Dad." said Rose, absent-mindedly taking one of Lily's pawns.
"But I did voices and everything!" protested Ron.
"How about the Battle of Hogwarts?" suggested Hermione.
"Uncle Ron already mentioned that one, Aunt Hermione." said Lily as her knight stomped on Rose's bishop.
"Not the Battle of Hogwarts that we were part of," corrected Hermione. "The first battle of Hogwarts."
"There was one before?" asked Ron and Harry in unison.
"Are you both that narcissistic?" Hermione chastised. "It's all in Hogwarts: A History."
"Well that explains why no one's ever heard of it then," said Ron bluntly. "Since you're the only person who's ever read it."
"Tell us more Aunt Hermione." Albus leaned forward.
"It was long time ago," began Hermione, running a hand through her bushy hair. "Before the Ministry of Magic was set up, when Diagon Alley was a few rickety stalls in a back alley. Decades had passed since Salazar Slytherin left Hogwarts forever and there was a great fear of witchcraft by Muggles up and down the country."
Children and adults alike stared at her in total silence, engrossed in a tale none of them had heard.
"The three remaining Founders – Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw – had all but moved past the unpleasantness with Salazar Slytherin and witches and wizards across the globe were beginning to pay attention to their school of magic which was, at the time, the finest institute of magical learning in the world."
"And still is." added Ron bluntly.
"Of course," continued Hermione as if she had not heard her husband. "Not all the interest in Hogwarts was good. Some people fervently agreed with Slytherin's view that only purebloods should be educated how to use their magic – and that Hogwarts' open policy to muggleborn and purebloods alike was the beginning of the end for the wizarding community. And this led to the very first Battle for Hogwarts."