Author's Note: The idea occurred to me and it was too fabulously elaborate a plan NOT to follow through with: Love, Actually (BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIE EVER MADE), but Harry Potter style! Now things aren't exactly the same, but the main idea is a bunch of interrelated love stories (different kinds of love, from true to marital to broken to paternal to friendship) all coming meeting together at Christmas.
Bear with me here guys, this is certainly AU based loosely on the Order of the Phoenix with a few key differences: Obviously none of the snake-bite-Christmas on the Closed Ward stuff happened; Tonks doesn't know Remus is a werewolf (although we don't know she knew in the 5th book!); Dean and Ginny have already been together a while; and various other things that will be made apparent later. BUT it's still a true HP story and I hope you enjoy!
Sorry if this first chapter is kind of slow, but it's late and I just wanted to get it started tonight!
Chapter 1: In Which Arthur Breaks the Terrible News and Molly is None Too Happy
December 22
Molly heard the sound of the front door close with a quiet click, heard her husband sneak past the portrait of Mrs. Black before entering the warm kitchen in which she was finishing up dinner. It was evening, and he had returned late from work. She looked up at him curiously, taking off her oven mitts and putting her hands on her hips in a only somewhat accusatory stance.
He looked a little guilty.
"Evening, Molly," he said with a timid and forced smile, kissing her on the cheek as he moved towards the kitchen table.
"Evening indeed," Molly said a little huffily. "You're nearly an hour late, no owl saying why…" Her expression went from stern to upset. "I was worried, Arthur."
Molly was worried almost constantly these days, what with Death Eaters on the rise again and nearly her whole family involved in the effort to stop them. She had been watching her very special clock all evening, staring at the tiny hand that read "Arthur" as it stayed stubbornly at "work".
Arthur removed his hat and scarf, placing them on the table, before giving his wife a big, mollifying hug.
"I'm sorry dear," he said as he squeezed her close. "It's just…well the Minister stopped by my office just as I was about to leave…"
Molly drew back instantly, her hands still wrapped around Arthur's shoulders, looking up at him cautiously. "The Minister? Of Magic?" Arthur nodded. "What on earth did he want?"
"Well…" Arthur took a breath. "Actually, Molly, he er…he invited us to his annual Christmas Party, at the Ministry."
Molly let out a sigh of relief. These days the Minister was hardly on friendly terms with Dumbledore's supporters, and Arthur was unabashedly a Dumbledore supporter. She had been terrified he would be fired, or worse, arrested. As odd as the Minister's invitation was, it was worlds better than any other possibility for his visit.
"Well that's very nice of him!" She said brightly, finally letting go of her husband to check on the turkey roasting in the oven. "When is the party?"
"Well, actually," Arthur rubbed his hand on the back of his head. "It's Christmas Eve. Eight till one AM."
Molly slammed the oven door shut.
"Well obviously we aren't going then," she said matter-of-factly.
"Molly…" Arthur began, but his wife cut him off rather fiercely.
"No, Arthur. I don't care if the Minister himself invited you, you are not going to miss the Christmas Eve tradition! Arthur the children would be devastated!"
Her husband seemed to shrink before her strong conviction. "But Molly, dearest, it's common knowledge that Fudge gives out…gives out rather generous bonuses at this party, even promotions I hear!" Molly was shaking her head, back to her hands-on-hips stance. "Molly, it would just be until midnight-"
"Midnight is when the Weasley Christmas Eve tradition HAPPENS, Arthur, in case you've forgotten,"
Arthur hadn't forgotten. Every year since Bill was three years old and Charlie newly born, they had had this tradition. They whole family would stay up till midnight, often Arthur would read a classic Christmas story while the kids sat around him, or they would play a board game by the fire. Then, when the clock struck 12, each child would pick out one present and open it then. Then they would take a photo of the whole family, everyone holding up their newly unwrapped present, and go off to bed to wait for the morning when the rest of the gifts would be torn apart. It was lovely, and Arthur really enjoyed it, but…
"Midnight is also when Fudge gives out all the bonuses, Molly! Think of it, we could finally buy that new cauldron you've been wanting, and-"
"Fine, Arthur, if it means that much to you, go. I'm staying here with your family, I'll be sure to tell them why you couldn't be here." She turned back to her cooking in a huff.
"Molly…"
"Why don't you go check up on Ginny, she's been upstairs with that Dean boy far too long," Molly said shortly.
Arthur sighed, giving one last hopeless glance at his angry wife.
"Mollywobbles…"
"Don't call me that – when I'm mad at you," she said without looking at him. He sighed and dragged himself upstairs to check on Ginny, which was really the very last thing he wanted to do.
Dean sat on Ginny's bed, staring at the back of her beautiful red-haired head, completely and totally in love. Everything about Ginny Weasley was magical. The way she talked, the way she flew, the way she tucked her wand into her knee-high socks sometimes even though that was clearly not a safe place to put it. She was a dangerous woman, he thought dreamily; she lived on the edge.
Right now she was feeding her goldfish.
"Are you looking forward to Christmas Even?" He asked, puncturing the silence that had gone on for several minutes while he daydreamed about her.
"Yeah, I guess so," she said, finishing with her fish and turning around to face her boyfriend. "We always have to do this silly ritual, like a family tradition thing. It's kind of annoying but it makes mom and dad happy so…" she shrugged. He nodded eagerly, as if what she was saying was the most interesting thing in the world. She knew it wasn't.
In fact she knew a lot of what she did wasn't that interesting, or particularly cool or beautiful like Dean seemed to think it was, and while at first it had been sweet how much he liked about her, now it was getting…off-putting.
"Er, how about you?" She asked, trying to push the uneasy thoughts out of her head.
"My mum usually shunts me off to bed at like 9 so she can finish wrapping," he said, rolling his eyes and standing up from her bed. How he wanted to kiss her, right then and there. He prayed for mistletoe, making his way towards her while his palms sweated and his heart threatened to explode.
Ginny didn't move. He was walking towards her and she knew why but for some reason she didn't do anything, didn't even break eye contact, although that was all she wanted to do. You like Dean, she told herself firmly. He's nice and cute and he likes you, so kiss him and LIKE IT. He was very close now, and she felt his hands slide around her shoulders gently, a fairly innocent gesture, but still much more forward than he had ever been before.
Dean licked his lips nervously, now so close to the girl of his dreams that he could hear her breathing, could count every adorable freckle on her face. He was going to do it, he was going to do it!
The door opened at that moment and Mr. Weasley stood in the archway, looking thoroughly disquieted. A huge blush appeared on his face almost as instantaneously as it did on his daughter's, and for one infinite moment no one moved or said anything.
Say something! Mr. Weasley thought desperately, staring at his baby girl in the arms of a boy he had met once and whose name (he thought) was something like Don or Dave. Be a dad! Say something! He gave a loud, forced cough, raised his hand slightly, tried to speak but let out a squeak as his voice cracked, then cleared his throat again and turned around as quickly as he could, nearly running down the stairs.
His daughter, kissing boys already? Since when did 14 year old girls have boyfriends? Why couldn't he have said something? Who knew what they were up to now! He sunk down onto the sofa and buried his head in his hands. Molly would be furious.
Upstairs, Dean had forced his heart back down into his chest where it belonged, as it had decided to jump up into his throat at the appearance of Mr. Weasley. Still holding her delicate shoulders, he turned back to Ginny and began the approach again.
"Stop, Dean, no," she said blankly, pushing him away with one arm and rolling her eyes just slightly. "You ever hear of a thing called a 'moment'?"
Dean stared blankly.
"Just as well, it's gone anyway."