James Sirius Potter ran down the stairs yelling, "SNOW!" There had been a light dusting of snow all of December, but this morning, London was covered in eighteen inches of heavy white powder. James jumped down the last few stairs and almost knocked over his sister, Lily Luna Potter, who was making her way to the family room where the Christmas tree was. She shoved James out of her way and continued on.
"You know what snow means, Lily?" James asked, following her. Lily ignored him. "It means snowballs! I'd watch your back when we get to Grandma and Grandpa's, because Teddy, Fred, Louis, and I will pelt you!"
"Oh, shove off," Lily muttered.
"James," Ginny warned, entering the room with Albus Severus, "leave your sister alone." James, not wanting to get on his mother's nerves on Christmas morning, gave up on teasing Lily for the time being and directed his attention at the pile of presents under the evergreen tree. Albus, Lily, and James rushed to the tree but Harry stopped them before they could begin opening any gifts.
"We're going to take them to your grandma and grandpa's house and open them there," Harry said. The three children sighed but helped load the presents into some baskets for easy transport. Ginny then sent them upstairs to get dressed and once everyone was ready, they stepped into the fireplace one-by-one and used Floo powder to get to the Burrow.
As soon as Lily stepped out of the fireplace at Grandma Molly and Grandpa Arthur's house, she was showered with hugs, kisses, and shouts of "Happy Christmas!". She spotted Hugo Weasley and rushed over.
"Happy Christmas, Hugo," she greeted him.
"Happy Christmas, Lily," Hugo said. "What's in the basket?"
"Presents!" Lily responded cheerily. "Want to help me put them under the tree?"
Hugo did. Ginny and Harry brought over two more baskets and Lily and Hugo set to placing them in an organized fashion underneath the great tree. They made piles for everyone: James, Albus, Lily, Rose, Hugo, Fred, Roxanne, Victoire, Louis, Dominique, and Teddy, and even the adults. There was a stack for Percy's family, but knowing how often he worked, no one knew if he would come. There were also some gifts for a family under the name "Scamander" but neither Lily nor Hugo knew who that was.
Soon all of the children had gone outside to play a chilly game of Quidditch and some of the adults were inside chatting. Ginny, Fleur, and Angelina, George Weasley's wife, were in the kitchen with Molly, and Bill, George, and Arthur were outside chaperoning. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the living room discussing something.
"Have you heard from her?" Hermione asked the boys.
Harry chuckled. "Two years ago," he said. "She was going to come to our summer picnic- remember that?- but she never showed. I don't even know where she lives anymore."
"Didn't she move to Finland?" Ron queried.
"I think…" Hermione mused. "But does she have children? I don't know where they're being schooled; Hogwarts is a little far from Finland, wouldn't you say?"
"Last I heard she had twins, right?" Harry said. "I don't remember their names…"
"Lorcan and Lysander," a dreamy voice said. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were surprised to see the object of their conversation standing in the room.
"Luna!" Hermione chimed, standing up. "Oh, it's wonderful to see you!"
Luna Scamander beamed and removed her Spectrespecs. "Hermione, Ron, Harry," she said, acknowledging all of them. "Lovely home."
"Oh, it's not ours," Hermione said. "It's Molly and Arthur Weasleys."
"We didn't know if you were going to come," Harry said.
"Well, London's much colder than Greece," Luna admitted. "But I wanted by boys to meet new people." Luna tousled the hair of two identical boys standing on either side of her.
"Where's, erm, Rolf?" Ron asked. Rolf Scamander was Luna's husband.
"Outside," Luna responded. "Lorcan, Lysander, you two might as well join everyone as well. I noticed the children were playing Quidditch. Perhaps they can teach you?" The blond-haired boys obeyed and scampered outside.
Everyone returned indoors, partly because they were "freezing to their brooms," as James said, but also because Molly had declared that lunch was ready. It was really just a snack- sandwiches with pumpkin juice for the children and firewhiskey for the adults- for they wanted to save their appetites for Christmas dinner. After everyone had been fed, Rose and Albus passed out gifts and everyone opened them.
"Ooh, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans!" Rose exclaimed as she opened her first present, from Bill and Fleur. Rose also received a fruitcake and a sweater with an R on the front in Ravenclaw colors- her house- from Molly and Arthur Weasley. Her parents gave her her own copy of Hogwarts, A History- finally!- and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny gave her a copy of Quidditch Through the Ages in yet another attempt to persuade her to try out for her House team. Luna had brought the most recent edition of The Quibbler for everyone.
Hugo received three chocolate frogs from Bill and Fleur and immediately opened them to see who was on them. "Look!" he exclaimed. "It's Mom, Dad, and Uncle Harry!" He grinned as Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked sheepishly around the room. Hugo also received a sweater from Grandma Molly with an H on it in Gryffindor colors and a pie. Harry and Ginny gave him a Chudley Cannons Quidditch poster.
Around the room, everyone was opening gifts. George Weasley was almost in tears as his son, Fred, opened a sweater with an F on it that had been George's twin's. Teddy and Victoire exchanged gifts. It was a fine Christmas.
Present opening didn't take long but everyone was so caught up in eating, playing with, or reading their gifts that soon it was time for Christmas dinner.
Everyone noticed as they sat down at their nameplates at the long table that there were ten extra plates set, one for Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Sirius, Mad-Eye, Dumbledore, Snape, Dobby, James, and Lily. Molly had also found room for Luna's family.
The family ate until they could eat no more and the women set to clearing away the table and the men sent their children to bed. As each child fell asleep a single thought ran through their sleepy minds:
All was well.