Tee sat in front of the fire, watching the dancing flames reflected in the gold baubles of the baby tree on the mantelpiece. She wished that their fire was connected to the Floo Network. Surely it couldn't be long now. Rose had said two o'clock, hadn't she?
She guessed that she just had to be grateful that Rose came from a full wizarding family. There'd be absolutely no problems getting the twins to her house. And with Rose not wanting to spend Christmas afternoon with her grouchy extended family, it presented the perfect opportunity for her to come along to Tee's house too.
As Tee was thinking about the day ahead for the millionth time, the doorbell rang. She scrambled excitedly to her feet and bounded to the front door, beaten only by the two dogs that had eagerly pushed in front of her. She managed to persuade them out of the way so that she could open the door.
"Merry Christmas, Rose!" she exclaimed, flinging herself onto her best friend.
"Merry Christmas, Tee!" Rose laughed. They'd only seen each other yesterday.
Tee peeked over Rose's shoulder. "So where's..."
"Admiring your dad's handiwork," Rose finished for her. "The lights really are beautiful this year."
"They are, aren't they?" Tee agreed vaguely, more interested in looking down towards the garage. She'd just realised that there was only one red head of hair looking up at the blue and white Christmas lights when the elf hat she'd been wearing was suddenly pulled off her head. "Oi!"
She turned and found herself looking into the chocolate brown eyes of her boyfriend. As always, he had a wide grin stretching across his face. "God, aren't you even gonna bother getting dressed for us?"
"Hey, these are my new Christmas Eve pyjamas. I'm just wearing them in," Tee insisted, swiping her hat back from him.
"As long as you're not wearing them out," Fred laughed. He then smiled at her. "Come here, Kittykat." He pulled her into a firm hug, which she happily accepted. "So how come Rose got tackle hugged and I didn't? You only saw her yesterday - you haven't seen me in two weeks!"
"That's because Rose is nice. Whereas the first thing you did was steal my hat and moan about my PJs," Tee pointed out.
"Touché," Fred agreed, still grinning. "Does it help if I say that the pyjamas are still very, very cute?"
"Now you're just kissing up," Tee laughed, though she did hug him a little bit tighter.
"If I say your pyjamas are very, very cute, will you let us in out the cold?" George chimed in jokingly, as he came to stand beside Rose and snaked his arm around her waist.
"Okay, okay," said Tee. "Geez, you're all very rude to your host."
"Well, it would help if you acted like a better..."
Tee kicked Fred lightly in the shin before he could finish. "Carry on and I'll set Sunny and Doodle on you."
Rose laughed at that. She knew first-hand that Tee's dogs were both as soft as pudding. "Like that'd work. Neither of them would even hurt a fly."
"Sshhh, don't tell him that..."
Tee helped them battle in past the excited dogs. Her parents shouted a chorus of hellos from the kitchen, where they were still busy with the washing up from the extravagant Christmas dinner they'd had not long before. Tee grabbed a plastic bag from behind a two-foot snowman in the corner and started rummaging through it.
"Rose, I have your hat somewhere... Oh, here it is!" She pulled out a soft blue hat decorated with white spirals, giving it a snowy looking effect.
"Thanks, Tee," Rose beamed, pulling the hat on.
"You have your own hat here?" George asked, amused.
"Duh, it's blue!"
"And before you boys start commenting, you're getting headwear too," Tee added, grinning. She pulled out the remaining contents of the bag. "So... take your pick."
The twins couldn't help but laugh. One of the items was a traditional red Santa hat, only with two white, plaited pigtails attached on either side. The other was a pair of spangled reindeer antlers, complete with flashing red and green lights.
"Since we all know George is a big girl, I'll be the reindeer," Fred decided, swiftly claiming the antlers and jamming them into place. He then had to fix them a second time as George cuffed him playfully around the back of the head.
"Sorry, George," Tee laughed, handing him the last hat.
"That's okay. I'm perfectly confident with my sexuality," George declared, putting the hat on and swinging the braids around ridiculously.
"I'm glad to hear," Rose giggled.
"So why exactly do we have to wear these?" asked Fred, flicking one of the antlers on his head.
"Because it's tradition!" said Tee like it was obvious.
Fred shook his head. "You and your bloody traditions..." He'd heard enough from both Rose and Kelsey - not to mention what he'd already seen himself - how much Tee loved every single tradition behind Christmas. "Rose already said how crazy you get over it."
"I said cute; not crazy!" Rose protested.
"Don't worry, Rose; he always likes to adlib what he hears," Tee assured her.
"Aww, you always take Rose's side." Fred pretended to pout.
"That's because Rose doesn't pick on me, for a start," Tee pointed out.
"Too right," Rose agreed proudly. She slid out from underneath George's arm. "Tee, I'm just gonna go through and thank your parents for the card they sent me."
"Okay. Just make sure they don't try flicking water at you - they've been in one of their funny moods again today," Tee warned her.
Rose laughed. "I'll be prepared to duck and cover."
George tore his gaze away from the photos on the wall that he'd been looking at, an amused expression on his face. "Water flicking?" he enquired, as Rose disappeared on into the kitchen.
"Yup. If you've ever wondered where I get my childish side from, there you have it," Tee grinned.
"Yeah, you're in for a real treat today," Fred chortled. He'd met Tee's parents a few times now, as well as most of her extended family, and knew that they really were a whole family of 'nutters', as Tee always so fondly put it herself.
"Then colour me intrigued," George laughed. His eyes settled back on one of the photo collages. "So what's with all the weird photos?"
"Yeah, I know they don't move. I'm muggle-born, remember," said Tee.
"No, I mean what is this guy doing here?" George pointed to one of a man wearing a red and blue costume emblazoned with a large yellow 'S'. He was posing dramatically and looked in danger of falling into the Christmas tree behind him.
Tee started laughing. "That's my dad! It was New Year's Eve one year - he was supposed to be Superman."
"Err, who?"
Tee just shook her head at that. "Wizards..." she muttered.
"Have you seen baldy baby Tee?" Fred pointed out with a grin, indicating a top corner of the mash-up of photos.
Tee elbowed him in the ribs. "It's not my fault I didn't have hair right away."
"Yeah, what did your mom say it was? A year?"
"...Two," Tee grumbled quietly.
"Are you bullying my Tee again?" Rose asked reproachfully. She'd stuck her head back round the kitchen door. "George, you should come and introduce yourself to Annie and Colin."
"Yes, ma'am," said George, smiling at the obvious familiarity that Rose had with Tee's family.
"Pretend you're me and confuse them," Fred called after him.
"They'd believe it too," Tee giggled. "Just don't do that to Nan later. She already has to go through all the grandkids' and the dogs' names just to get the right person's attention."
Fred laughed. "Even I'm not that mean." He twisted both his hands through hers and pulled her in close towards him. "So what's this oh-so-exciting, very traditional day we have planned then?"
Tee pointedly ignored the teasing in his tone and looked thoughtful. "Well, we'll chill here for a while, maybe eat some chocolates and play with our new presents..."
Fred snorted. "Child."
"Play with our new presents," Tee repeated loudly, ignoring him again. "Then we'll go to Nan's and meet everyone else there. Eat more chocolates, drink some cider, swap presents... Then we'll come back here, watch some Christmas telly - we've definitely gotta watch the Snowman - have turkey sandwiches and Bucks Fizz... Maybe more chocolates..."
Fred grinned. "Does everything just come down to food and alcohol?"
Tee couldn't help but laugh. "You have met me, right? My family just happen to have the same interests... It's all part of our traditions."
Fred chuckled. "Well, if it's any consolation, I agree with Rose. It's cute that you like being so traditional."
Tee pulled back slightly so that she could grin up at him. "Thanks. I think so too."
"I have a question though... If all of these Christmas traditions are so important to you, then how come you spent last Christmas at school instead?"
Tee looked a little embarrassed. "Well, y'know, it was my first Christmas with you guys... And I thought maybe it would be nice to spend it at Hogwarts."
Fred looked surprised. "You actually threw your whole traditional Christmas aside just to spend it with us?"
"And with Rose too," Tee added hastily. "And of course Kayley was staying as well..."
Fred just smiled. He knew that Tee sometimes had a hard time admitting the mushy stuff. "Hey, are you actually blushing?" he teased.
"I am not," Tee protested.
Fred laughed and crushed her closer to him. "Blush all you want. It's fine."
"It's your fault," Tee grumbled against his chest. "You still have that annoying ability to make me go all stupid."
That made Fred laugh even more. Though honestly, he was quite flattered that even after almost a year of being together, she still got embarrassed around him on occasion. "Well, I may kind of do it on purpose," he said light-heartedly. "But only because I find it so cute."
"Oh, because that makes it all okay," said Tee, rolling her eyes, though she had to fight to hide a silly little smile.
"Well, it was a good thing you did stay at Hogwarts last year. Because if I remember correctly, we had a very enjoyable pool party," Fred pointed out roguishly.
"Hmm, I suppose that's true." This time, Tee definitely couldn't stop herself from grinning.
"Which also brings me to my next thought..." Fred continued smoothly. "How do you feel about adding another Christmas tradition to that endless list of yours?"
"Like what?" asked Tee curiously, wondering what Christmas tradition had never made it into her routine before.
Fred slid one hand into his pocket and produced a piece of white mistletoe. "What do you think?"
Tee raised her eyebrows, amused. "I think that mistletoe is way cheesy."
Fred suddenly laughed. "Cheesy? You do realise that everything you love about Christmas is cheesy, don't you?"
"Good point." Tee had to concede on that one. "So... what? You've just been carrying mistletoe around in your pocket all day?"
"Well, I figured I'd keep in with your whole cheesy, traditional Christmas idea," said Fred innocently.
"That or you thought it'd be an extra opportunity for a cheeky kiss," Tee added.
"That too," Fred grinned. He held the mistletoe up over their heads, his other hand still resting against the small of Tee's back. "So... did it work?"
In response, Tee reached up and placed a light kiss on his lips. "It worked," she smiled.
"Good." Fred tossed the mistletoe aside and kissed her again, pulling her up onto her tiptoes.
"You dropped the mistletoe. Now it's not even Christmassy anymore," Tee managed to say reproachfully when they stopped for breath.
"You're really not gonna make me pick it back up and hold it the whole time, are you?" Fred grinned.
"Hmm..." Tee pretended to think about it. "I guess I can put Christmas tradition aside for now. Just for you."
"That's my girl."
XXX
Author's Note!
So writing festive one-shots has actually become one of MY traditions the last two years! Since I've been struggling with an awkward bout of writer's block lately, it's been a nice excuse to branch away from my main storylines for a bit!
This isn't really meant to be anything. Just something silly and cute and pointless. Sometimes it feels nice to write just for the hell of it!
This one's set in the quartet's sixth year. Obviously none of them stayed at Hogwarts for this Christmas. And I thought it'd be a nice excuse to kinda hint a little more at Tee's mad family ;D