Christmas Eve 2010

The entire Potter household made its way from the cozy cottage nestled just outside of the village of Godric's Hollow to Ottery, St. Catchpole or the annual gathering of extended family at the residence known as The Burrow. This particular gathering was often quite large as, unlike the smaller scattered gatherings in the spring and summer, every member of the family showed up. The few children who were old enough to attend Hogwarts always came home for Christmas even if they liked to stay at school over Easter or visit various friends and other relatives over the summer. Christmas belonged to the Weasleys and in-laws were always invited.

So it was that the Potters' arrival went mostly unnoticed, except for the red-haired matriarch who made a point of cooing over each grandchild as if she had not just seen them a few days earlier. Mrs. Weasley also deplored how thin her god-grandson was and exclaimed at how tall he had gotten in the months since she had seen him. The teenager's hair rapidly changed color over all the attention before settling on a shade of green that usually indicated he was blushing. It did not matter how much time Teddy spent with the Potters and Weasleys (which was actually quite a lot), he never was very comfortable with attention. Some would call him shy, but his godfather insisted he was merely "self contained". There were very few that would argue with the famous Harry Potter, though they could nearly all be found at The Burrow on any given Sunday. After the three younger children had been thoroughly kissed and cuddled by their grandmother, they ran off to find their favorite cousins and cause as much trouble as possible before it came time to decorate the tree over cider, egg-nog, and badly sung carols. The adults took the disappearance of the children as an excuse to catch up on the family gossip.

They weren't overly worried, as the family gathering included fourteen adults as well as the very responsible Teddy who considered it his job as eldest to look after the multitude of Weasleys and Potters. Besides, Mr. Weasley had long since placed a number of child-proofing spells and safety enchantments over the house and grounds at the Burrow.

The Attic

Fred and Jacob Weasley were notorious trouble makers, the problem with twins they were told. At eight years old, they considered themselves too old to be lumped in with the children. Though they would never admit it, they were secretly pleased that their younger cousin James, another prankster in the making, idolized them and followed them nearly everywhere. On this day however, they were planning something spectacular and couldn't risk being caught because of the indiscretion of a six-year-old. To that end they had ensconced themselves in a hidden alcove of the attic with a veritable treasure trove of items they had pilfered from various adults at every opportunity and hoarded for many months. Not the least of which being powdered fairy wings, asphodel, three ounces of time sand, a pocket cauldron, two broken wrist watches, a jar of something unlabeled that looked like dust, and the unicorn hair from the core of their mother's broken wand which she had kept for sentimental reasons. Their collection was admittedly vast and they had no idea what they were going to do with this haul, only that it was going to be spectacular and they would use a little bit of everything, including tears if they could get one of the babies to cry. What they didn't know was the first thing about potion-making, which was unfortunate considering that was the only way they could think to combine the items. The two boys were understandably frustrated and upset as their first attempt bubbled sluggishly, resembling so much mud. That was how Little Lily Luna, as most of the adults still called her, came to find them very near tears themselves as she toddled through the attic looking for a good place to hide from her brothers who had been tormenting her that day. In her haste she tripped over a cousin and landed face first in the steaming, bubbling, sludge. Like any good three-year-old, she did the only thing she could think of and began to wail; more with fear and surprise than actual pain.

With her eyes clenched shut she didn't notice the fog surrounding her though she did begin to feel inexplicably cold which only caused her to cry harder. Fred and Jacob looked at each other then simultaneously ran down the stairs yelling for Teddy. Perhaps they should have called for their parents, but Teddy had yet to fail to get the out of any pickle or jam and the elder Weasleys would likely be too busy scolding them to rescue Lily who had disappeared in swirling fog and been nowhere to be found when the fog had finally dissipated.

"Teddy! Teddy!" The sound of some child or other screaming for Teddy to get them out of trouble or hide them from the wrath of another relative was so common that the adults in the living room did nothing more than roll their eyes at each other and continue with their conversation. It wasn't until nearly fifteen minutes later when Teddy burst into the room panicked and breathless that anyone began to worry. It had been a long time since Teddy had been unable to contain a situation on his own.

"Lily's gone." Teddy gasped without preamble.