Christmas seemed to arrive much earlier than it had in the years previous. To Molly Weasley, it seemed like only a few weeks ago that the rooms of her house were filled with laughing grandchildren enjoying their summer break. Within what seemed like a matter of minutes the cold had descended on the Burrow, bringing with it an influx of relations. She'd invited them all round as a bit of a throwaway thought, not truly believing they'd all make it. But with the exception of Percy, they'd all managed it, and now she had a real challenge on her hands.
It was Christmas Eve that they all arrived, the children bringing their stockings ready to hang on the fireplace, which had to be magically enlarged for the occasion, and the adults having hidden at least one bottle of Firewhiskey in their bag, knowing what these family gatherings were usually like. Trust them all to arrive at exactly the same time.
Molly took a deep breath and opened the door wide, almost flattened by the sheer mass of bodies that forced its way through seconds later.
"Hi Grandma!"
"Mum made cookies, I'll put them in the kitchen!"
"Blimey, it's cold outside."
"Do you think it'll snow?"
"Should we put our coats in the living room?"
"Is there any food?"
"Fred! Put that firecracker away!"
"Come in, come in!" Molly ushered them all into the hall. "How tall you've all grown!"
"Thanks Mum, I knew I'd grown a few more inches." George chuckled, smiling affectionately at his elderly mother.
"I knew wearing platform shoes would help me some day," Harry said, nudging George jokingly.
"The sad thing is they're not even my shoes." Ginny sighed sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"It's a good thing being the Chosen One wasn't based on fashion choices, Harry," George commented.
"Are we planning on standing in the hall all day? Because if I have to listen to another one of your glory days stories, I'd rather do it comfortably." Teddy chuckled, running a hand through his bright blue hair.
"I swear this family grows every time I see it," Arthur mumbled, wandering into the hall.
"Except Percy isn't here," Molly said, frowning slightly. "Apparently they're visiting his wife's family."
"Grandpa!" Lily exclaimed happily, throwing her arms around the elderly man.
"Hello there Lucy." He grinned back and Lily sighed, rolling her eyes.
"It's Lily, Grandpa."
"Of course it is! I was just testing you. And this over here must be… Dumbledore!"
"Close enough," Albus replied, chuckling good naturedly. "Now Dad, can you show everyone the game you brought?"
Harry fumbled around in his bag and pulled out a Monopoly box, conjuring exclamations of awe, frustration and sheer shock all at once.
"You cannot be serious," James said, shooting his dad a death glare.
"Oh, we used to play Monopoly all the time when I was a little girl! I haven't played in years!" Hermione exclaimed, looking at the box with excitement.
"I say, is this another Muggle contraption? How wonderful!" Arthur shouted, nearly knocking a couple of the children over in his haste to get to the box.
"What do you say, kids?" Bill asked, looking at the array of his children, nieces and nephews.
"Ugh Dad, do we have to?" Dominique asked, looking at the box with a look of disgust.
"Yeah, there's a reason the internet was invented." Roxanne commented.
"Now now, children, I'm sure this will be great fun! And no cookies for anyone who doesn't play," Molly said. With that, Albus grabbed the box from his dad and all the kids ran into the living room to start setting up. No one wanted to miss Molly Weasley's famous cookies.
"You know this is bribery, right?" Victoire asked, raising an eyebrow as she reluctantly followed her cousins into the living room.
"Bribery is rule number one of parenting, darling." Bill chuckled and pushed her into the room.
The other adults slowly followed, all catching up about different endeavours their children had had over the last few weeks.
"There's definitely not enough counters here." Louis commented as he tipped out the bag containing 8 counters.
Molly started to count everyone. "Albus, Lily, will you please stand still!"
"Mum, there's way more than eight of us." Ron mumbled through a mouthful of something.
"What are you eating?" Hermione asked, looking at her husband inquisitively.
"What? No one said the cookies weren't already up for grabs." He shrugged his shoulders and she rolled her eyes.
"Dad! That's not fair!" Hugo moaned, stamping his foot.
"Relax, it's just something I had in my pocket from earlier," Ron assured his son. "No idea what, mind you."
"Dad, you are beyond gross sometimes," Rose added, heaving a heavy sigh that was very similar to her mother's.
"Agreed," Hermione said. "You're a pig."
"But I'm your pig. Forever." He grinned at her and she rolled her eyes, unable to hide the smile that came across her face as he thrust his left hand in front of her eyes.
"Ugh gross. Mum and Dad are being all cute again." Hugo sighed, looking back towards his cousins.
"You think that's bad, try living with that 24/7." Dominique sighed and gestured over to where Fleur was combing her fingers through Bill's hair.
"Do not even get me started," James added. "I think Mum still has Dad's posters somewhere, which is wrong on so many levels."
"I think Mummy and Daddy are sweet." Lily grinned, looking up at where Ginny was slapping Harry over the head for some stupid comment or other.
"Yeah, but the posters," Albus continued, shaking as a shiver ran down his back. "I don't even want to think about what they're used for."
"Ugh Al, that's gross." Roxanne sighed, shaking her head as if she was trying to remove the image from her brain.
"What's gross?" Ginny asked as she walked over.
"Uncle Ron's eating habits."
"The current political situation."
"The hair in the drain of the shower."
"Louis' bedroom."
"The lack of food in front of me."
The kids all made vague excuses for what they'd been talking about before swiftly moving topic.
"Hey, who's ready to play?" Roxanne shouted, hoping to steer everyone away from posters of any sort.
"We still haven't sorted out the problem about the counters!" Ron said frustratedly.
"We'll just have to make some, it's no big deal," Hermione replied, pulling out her wand.
"Right, so first of all we should deal out the counters we've got," Charlie stated, trying to take control of the situation.
"Mum gets the thimble!" George yelled over the countless conversations in the room.
"Ron gets the car," Harry added, much to Ron's disgust.
"Why do I get the car? I wanted something cool."
"You were the reason we drove a flying car into a demonic tree. As the kids say, it's Throwback Thursday." Harry laughed at his best mate, who rolled his eyes but grabbed the piece anyway.
"I'll be the wheelbarrow." Fleur shrugged, not wanting to cause too much of a fuss.
"Mum should be the cat because of Crookshanks," Rose stated, handing her mother the counter.
"Where is the demon?" George asked, noticing the lack of the ginger cat that usually accompanied the small family on visits to the Burrow.
"At home. He didn't want to come." Hugo shrugged and the adults all chuckled.
"Who gets the dog?" James asked.
"Uh, duh. You." Teddy chuckled. "You're literally perfect for it. James Sirius Potter."
"I wanna be the dog!" James exclaimed and everyone laughed as he grasped for the counter.
"Dad has to be a rubber duck," George said.
"What exactly is the function of a rubber duck?" Harry quoted in an excellent impersonation of his father-in-law.
"You see, that is just what I want to find out!" Arthur replied. He looked down at his hand in confusion as a rubber duck counter appeared there. "This makes even less sense! It can't even float!"
"Who's next?" Ron asked.
Victoire turned to Ginny and whispered something in her ear. The older woman giggled and nodded at her niece. With a flick of Ginny's wand, a teddy bear counter was sat in front of Teddy.
"Oh you'll pay for this." He faked a glare at the blonde who giggled as his hair turned red. He pulled out his own wand and with a flick, a lock and key counter appeared in front of Victoire. She turned bright red but everyone else was slightly confused, not only by Victoire's embarrassment but by the smug look on Teddy's face.
"Anyway…" Victoire tried to steer the attention away from what had just happened, but only succeeded in making everyone else turn her way. "I think it's Uncle Harry's turn to get a counter."
"Oh no, I'd much rather know the reasoning behind what just happened," he replied, but Ginny took pity on Victoire and made her husband bite his lip.
"You can be a lightning bolt," she said, "because you're never getting away from that one."
"You'd think after 17 years..." He sighed and everyone chuckled as the counter landed in his hand.
"Can I be a lily?" Lily piped up, looking as if she'd given this decision a lot of thought.
"And I'll be a rose!" Rose added, smiling at Lily as if the two counters were part of some great plan.
"Wow, you guys are soooo inventive." Roxanne said sarcastically, a slight smirk on her face.
"Pack it in, Roxanne." Angelina fixed her with a stern look as she conjured up the two flower counters for the girls.
"What about Al?" James asked, looking at his brother.
"Well, his nose is always stuck in a book." Ginny smiled affectionately at her youngest son and waved her wand, a book counter appearing in front of him.
"I reckon Angelina should have an angel counter," George said.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Roxanne said, gaining another glare from her mother. "What? I can't cope with that kind of mushy romance from all these old people."
"Who are you calling old?" Ginny laughed, glaring at her niece.
"Besides, there's definitely a younger couple here too." Dominique smirked, winking at Teddy and Victoire.
"Dom! You promised!" Victoire hissed at her little sister, trying desperately to not gain anyone's attention.
"Don't worry, no one heard me," she assured Victoire.
"Heard what?" Fleur asked, looking at her two daughters.
"Nothing Maman, it's really nothing." The older sister smiled sweetly at their mother, letting out a deep breath when she turned away. "You should know that I literally hate you sometimes, Dom," she said, but Dominique had already turned her attention to getting her own Monopoly counter.
"Okay, lipstick for Dominique!" Teddy called out, creating a little metal lipstick that fell into the girl's outstretched palms.
"Can I have a quaffle?" Quidditch-obsessed Roxanne asked, looking at her father pleadingly. The counter fell into her palms and a similar snitch counter was assigned to Louis, who shared his cousin's love for the game.
"In that case, Ginny definitely needs a broom," Charlie commented and waved his wand so that the counter dropped in front of his only sister.
"I'm hungry, Mum," Hugo whined. "Have you got any more of those biscuits, Dad?"
"You are not eating those. You don't know how long your father has had those for!" Hermione sighed, looking at her husband with a look of disgust.
"They don't taste bad," Ron protested.
"You need a chocolate frog, that definitely fits." Molly chuckled and handed her youngest grandchild the counter she had created, along with a real version of the chocolate treat.
"Thanks, Grandma! You're the best!" Hugo threw his arms around his grandmother.
"Here you go Charlie, I made yours!" Teddy grinned and handed the man a dragon counter which actually spat small and safe flames.
"Oh that's awesome." The dragon tamer grinned as he took the counter.
"I think Uncle George's is pretty easy." Louis grinned and whispered his idea to his father, who produced a counter in the shape of the WWW logo.
"In that case, here you are Fred." Angelina smirked and waved her wand. A small firecracker counter appeared in front of her son.
"That just leaves Bill," Arthur commented, looking at his eldest son.
"Mum, don't get all upset," George stressed, looking at his mother before he conjured up a small wolf counter for his brother.
"And that's everyone!" Harry cheered. "Considering how long that took, the game is going to take us an awfully long time…"
Once everyone got the hang of it, the game got underway rather quickly.
"I have to be banker!" George stated, slamming his hand down on the board. Various shouts went up as the pieces went flying.
"Well, that's certainly fine with me," Arthur replied. "I don't get the point of this - fake money which is different to normal Muggle money which is different again compared to ours? What is the world coming to?"
George took the box of money and dealt out the correct amount of notes to everybody. This in itself took what felt like hours. Meanwhile, Molly went to fetch a plate of cookies from the kitchen - this game was going to last all night, she knew it, and they would need edible sustenance if they were to finish it.
"Hang on! Why is George's pile bigger than everyone else's?" Charlie asked, looking at the notes.
"This is why he shouldn't be banker." Angelina chuckled, shrugging her shoulders.
"Where are the bloody dice?" Ron exclaimed as George finished giving out the money. "We can't play without the dice!"
"Calm down," Hermione said, ruffling his hair. "Accio dice!"
Almost predictably, the two dice hit Ron's forehead as they flew over.
"You did that on purpose," Ron said, sulking.
"I would never do such a thing!" Hermione tried her hardest to look genuinely upset by this accusation, but fell into giggles at Ron's annoyed face. "You shouldn't look so adorable when you're angry."
"Oh gag!" Rose exclaimed, turning bright red. "You two are disgusting!"
"Oh really? Are we embarrassing you Rosie?" Ron asked, chuckling.
"Yes!" the nine year old exclaimed.
"Well, we could stop but that would be boring." Ron shrugged and pulled Hermione closer into his side.
"Or we could do this..." She chuckled and leant up to kiss him quickly. It only took a quick peck for Rose to huff and storm over to the other side of the room as the couple dissolved into giggles.
"Why do you get £200 every time you pass go? Why is that such an achievement?" Roxanne asked after they'd been playing for a while.
"Why are you complaining? By the looks of things, you need the £200." Fred chuckled, looking at his sister's measly pile of fake cash.
"How is Dad winning? He's landed on pretty much everyone's property!" She sighed as she watched her father quite happily hand over £50 to Arthur for landing on one of his properties.
"He's totally cheating. Watch the next time he passes go. He picks up £400 instead of £200." James commented from her other side and the trio watched as he did exactly that.
"He's my inspiration in life." Fred grinned as he watched his father.
"I'll be right back," Teddy stated after one of his turns, knowing that it would take an awfully long time for it to get back around to his go again. He headed for the bathroom but not before throwing a meaningful look at Victoire over his shoulder.
"Oh look at that, I've gone bankrupt," the blonde exclaimed a few moments later.
"Vic, you still have £500 and all your property which you could mortgage. You're actually winning right now." Dominique chuckled, looking at her sister incredulously.
"Nope, I'm definitely bankrupt. Does anyone want anything from the kitchen? I think I'll go for a walk now that I'm out." Victoire sighed, stretching as she stood up.
"Nice try young lady, sit down." Bill glared and she sighed, plopping back down on the cushion she'd been on.
"It's cold over here with Teddy gone. I think I'll go find my jacket," she said, standing once more.
"No way, sweetheart. If you're so cold, why don't you come and sit over here by the heater?" Bill smiled sweetly at his daughter who sighed heavily but did as she was told. When Teddy re-entered the room, she desperately tried to ignore the hurt look on his face when he saw that she'd moved.
Victoire tried to mouth 'sorry' to Teddy from across the room, but her father kept a watchful eye on them both which prevented her from saying much else.
"I'm starving," Victoire complained. "Can I go get the other food we brought?"
Without waiting for an answer from anybody, she made her way to the kitchen and hoped that Teddy would manage to get out of the room more successfully than she had previously.
She poured herself a drink while she waited, and soon enough Teddy turned into the room. He closed the door behind him and Victoire erupted in apologies.
"I know, I know, you're a terrible liar," Teddy commented, smirking. Victoire nudged him playfully in the arm but she was smiling too.
"Ugh, I miss Hogwarts. It's far easier to sneak around there. For one, my dad isn't breathing down my neck and watching my every move." She sighed happily as he wrapped his arms around her.
"I know, and it's way easier to see each other. We don't need an excuse every time we want to spend time together."
"That being said, I was genuinely pretty hungry, so if you don't mind I'll just get some food and head off back to the game," Victoire said playfully.
"Will you ever," Teddy replied, pulling her closer. "You can eat when you're around the others, but you can't kiss me."
Victoire didn't even have time to think this over before Teddy's lips were on hers.
A gasp from the doorway pulled the couple apart and they turned to see little Lily stood there with her mouth hanging open.
"Hey Lilybug." Victoire smiled, trying to sound normal.
"Were you and Teddy... kissing?" the seven year old asked, a look of bewilderment on her face.
"Kissing? No, definitely not. I was just… Well you see, we were…" Teddy stumbled over his words, trying to think of an explanation. Victoire couldn't help but laugh; there weren't many times when you saw Teddy lost for words.
"Yes Lily, we were kissing but you can't tell anyone, alright?" Victoire sighed, looking at the little girl.
"How are you going to make sure I won't tell anyone?" Lily responded. She knew how this game worked, and she knew she was going to benefit from it.
"Oh that's how we're playing is it? Go on then, state your price." Teddy chuckled, scooping up his godsister so she was sat on his hip.
"Let's see… I want Victoire to do my hair at least three times in the next week and I want immunity from all future tickle fights as well as your Merlin chocolate frog card,." the little red head stated, counting the things off on her fingers.
"How about two hair styles and the next five tickle fights?" Teddy asked, looking at the little girl.
"No can do. Two hair styles, the next ten tickle fights and you buy me five chocolate frogs. That's my final offer." Lily stated, jumping down.
"I don't know…"
"Fine then, have it your way. Oh Uncle Bill..."
"Three chocolate frogs and it's a deal!" Teddy said desperately.
"Pleasure doing business with you." Lily grinned and grabbed a cookie off the table before skipping out of the room.
"In retrospect, maybe the kitchen of my grandparents' house isn't the best place for a secret rendezvous." Victoire chuckled as she watched her cousin flounce out of the room.
"And now I owe her three chocolate frogs!"
"You're forgetting that I need to do her hair twice! Do you know how hard it is to get her to sit still for even a minute?"
"VICTOIRE! IT'S YOUR GO!" James' voice carried through from the living room.
"Coming!" she shouted back, picking up another plate of cookies, but not before Teddy had managed to bag another kiss.
"We're gonna get caught again, and it's going to be all your fault, you know that?" Victoire said, laughing.
"As long as it's not your dad, I think I'm good." Teddy laughed and winked at her, leading her back into the living room where George's cheating had finally been unveiled.
"Dad! That's not fair!" Roxanne whined.
"What?" George feigned innocence. "I just took the money that the board tells me to take!"
"He did, I saw him," Harry agreed.
"But then he took the property money from Teddy and put it into his own stash instead of the bank!" Roxanne continued. "He shouldn't be allowed to play if he's cheating!"
"That's nothing compared to what Teddy will want to take from Victoire tonight," James said, winking. Dominique pulled a face but smirked, much to the irritation of her sister.
"James, shut up!" Victoire shouted. "Just… no."
"It's totally true though, right?" James carried on, nudging Dominique. They both laughed.
"Anyway…" Ginny steered the conversation to a new topic, trying to decrease some of Victoire's embarrassment. Teddy seemed not to have noticed the conversation, and Ginny wanted it to stay that way for now, for Victoire's sake. They didn't need the rest of the family involved in those kinds of matters quite yet.
"Oh Merlin, what time is it?" Arthur groaned, looking at his watch.
"You alright there, Grandpa?" Fred asked, looking amused as the elderly man yawned.
"That's right, laugh at the old man." He groaned and settled back against the chair he was sat in.
"Nah, it's alright Grandpa, I do that with Dad, not you." Louis chuckled, gesturing to Bill who was also trying not to fall asleep.
"Huh?" Bill said, almost on cue. "I swear this game has been going on for hours."
"Only an hour and a half, actually," Ginny pointed out, frowning at her lack of properties. She glanced over at her husband and grinned. "Hey honey?"
"Yes?" Harry answered, smirking.
"Wanna tag team?"
"Obviously," Harry said, moving his money and properties over to where Ginny was sitting.
"That's not fair!" Lily shouted, pouting.
"Only because you're scared we're going to dominate this game," Harry said, laughing.
"Which, for the record, we most definitely are." Ginny grinned and held her hand up for a high five which Harry happily reciprocated.
"We are the Superteam!" he exclaimed, bouncing in his seat like an excited toddler.
"You are such a dork," Ginny replied.
"Now I'm gonna lose," Lily cried out.
"You can take my things, Lily," Arthur said drowsily. "I'm out, take what you like."
Lily's face lit up as her grandad was talking - he currently had the best chance of winning.
"Wait, if Grandpa's out, can I be too?" Victoire perked up, looking around the room and everyone chuckled under their breath.
"Definitely not. It's a life lesson, continue what you start." Bill glowered at her and she sighed, returning her eyes to the game.
"In that case, Grandpa's setting an excellent example." Albus chuckled and Arthur rolled his eyes, quite happy to sit back in his chair.
"YES! £500 please Dom!" Ginny exclaimed and the blonde groaned, reluctantly handing over what she could.
"I'm £125 short." She sighed.
"You can mortgage your properties!" Lily grinned, looking at her cousin helpfully.
"I already did that Lils." She sighed again and shrugged. "I guess I'm out."
"How am I so good at this goddamn game?" Victoire cursed under her breath.
"I don't know, it's bloody annoying." Teddy chuckled - he'd been out for the last fifteen minutes due to the amount of hotels Ginny and Harry had placed on their properties.
All the adults except George and the Superteam had stopped playing by now, instead opting to 'rest their eyes' for a few minutes whilst the others carried on. Even Lily knew that was just code for having a nap.
"Oh Merlin, I feel sorry for Aunt Fleur," James commented, pointing out Bill's deep snoring.
"And Aunt Hermione," Fred added, looking at Ron.
"Major ew," Lily concluded. The seven year old looked at her pile of money. "Daddy?"
"What's wrong sweetie?" Harry softened, looking at his youngest daughter.
"Can I join your team?" She pouted, her eyes growing wide. "Pretty please?"
"Lily, you can take my stuff instead. I insist," Victoire cut in, looking desperately for a way out of this game.
"No way. I want to join Daddy's team." Lily was not letting up. She glared knowingly at Victoire, threatening to reveal all if her wishes weren't fulfilled, and then turned back to her father. "Please Daddy?"
"You know, she learnt that face from you." Harry chuckled at his eldest niece who was frowning. "Sure sweetie, Mummy and I would love you to join us."
With the combined force of three Potters, the Superteam continued to pick off their victims. Roxanne was next to fall, having lost all two of her properties and then all her money. Fred followed, in a teary eyed exit which was consoled only by two of Grandma Molly's world famous cookies. Finally, Rose went bankrupt and she left slightly more gracefully, happily wandering over to where Albus was reading a book.
"How in Merlin's name am I still in!?" Victoire hissed, much to the amusement of her father, who woke up from his snooze upon hearing her annoyed voice.
"Now, now, there's no need for that kind of language. You don't have anywhere, or more specifically anyone to get to, do you darling?" Bill replied, smirking. "I'm sure you can manage a few more turns."
"Welcome back to the land of the living, old man," she replied sarcastically before blanking him in order to concentrate on the game.
Teddy muffled his laughter with his hands from across the room.
"It's all or nothing for the Superteam," Fred shouted in his best commentator voice. "Can they beat the supreme force that is Victoire?"
"I bloody well hope not. I've come this far," Victoire mumbled. "I might as well win."
"Oh sounds like someone's enjoying themselves." Dominique laughed.
"Enjoyment is not what I'd call this." Her sister replied, sighing heavily.
"She'd be enjoying herself a lot more if she were back in the kitchen," Lily commented idly, barely noticing what she was saying. Victoire glared.
"Oh, you are so not getting those chocolate frogs." Teddy glared, hoping that no one had heard her. Luckily, most of the adults were still asleep but Bill was still wide awake and very interested in his youngest niece's comment.
"Why would that be, Lily? I'm sure we'd all like to know. It seems to involve two of us, after all," Bill said loudly, looking at both Victoire and Teddy in turn.
"N-nothing." Victoire answered, glaring at Lily.
"I'm sorry, but you're a little tall to be Lily," Bill responded.
"Not to mention blonde," James added, a smirk on his face.
"Not helping, you idiot," Teddy said, whacking him on the head.
"What's happening?" Ron stirred from his slumber. Lily frowned as she realised what she had just started.
"Can we just get back to the game?" Victoire asked, her face giving away her nervousness.
"I think that's an excellent idea." Ginny grinned and rolled the dice.
Everyone was tense as they watched Lily move the counter around the board. A collective gasp was heard as it landed on one of Victoire's most expensive properties, which she had placed a hotel on.
"I think that makes your rent…" Victoire paused for effect. "£2000. Please."
Harry frowned. "That can't be right! You must be reading the card wrong!" He grabbed the card from the other side of the board, and his face fell as he realised what was happening.
"We only have £1700," Ginny groaned, checking the pile of money in her hand.
"That means she wins!" Lily grinned, not really understanding the concept.
"She must be cheating!" Harry called out in disbelief.
"Honey, she's probably the only one who didn't," Ginny replied, trying to dispel her husband's building anger.
"I win." Two simple words escaped Victoire's lips. She drew them out just to annoy the other players even more. "Some Superteam, huh?"
"I don't believe it!" Harry shouted, jumping up in a fit of board game-fuelled rage. Monopoly never ended well. "This shouldn't have been able to happen. We were the Superteam!"
His shouting had slowly but surely woken the rest of the room up, and they all rubbed their eyes to watch the scene unfolding in front of them. In a fit of anger he cried out and flipped the board, sending pieces and cards flying everywhere, before storming out the room.
"Saviour of the Wizarding World, everyone!" George called out with a chuckle and everyone let out the laughter they'd been holding in.
"I don't know why you're so annoyed," Victoire said, calling out into the corridor. "At least you wanted to play the damn thing. All I wanted to do was spend some time with my family and my boyfriend and you roped us all into playing this stupid game which is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen!" She gasped and her eyes went wide as she realised what she'd just admitted to her entire family. Teddy let his head fall into his hands and Dominique started giggling. Bill raised his eyebrows at her.
"Victoire?" Molly asked her eldest granddaughter, stepping up to place a comforting hand on her arm.
"I can't believe I just said that. I'm just going to go and curl up in a deep dark hole for the rest of my life," she replied, her cheeks flushing with red.
"I'll join you," Teddy groaned, refusing to look around the room.
"Oh no you won't," Bill yelled, glaring at the teenage boy.
"Ugh, I didn't mean that." The blue haired boy groaned again, wanting to sink into the floor.
"I just can't believe you've managed to hide this for over a year and it came out over a game of Monopoly." Dominique added, not being able to stop her laughter from spilling out. Once she started, most of the other kids joined in.
"Dominique!" Fleur reprimanded, feeling bad for her eldest daughter.
"Dom, can you just stop for once? Please?" Victoire turned towards her younger sister and glared.
"I - I - I really would Vic, if I could," she replied, managing to get words out between the laughter.
"Why is it so funny to all of you?" Victoire hissed as she caught everyone in the room smirking at her.
"It's just - a whole year? And then you blurt it out now." Fred chuckled.
"Oh shut up, you're like 12."
"That's not why we're all smiling though," Ginny added. "Although that part is pretty funny."
"We're laughing because you couldn't have made it more obvious," Hermione said. "I mean, seriously? Sneaking off 'to the kitchen'? Get some better excuses, Vic."
"Even I managed better excuses than that when I was your age, darling," Bill said, a smirk appearing on his face.
"Ugh Dad, too much information." Louis groaned.
"Your father was very romantic," Fleur commented, grinning at her husband.
"Does that mean you're not mad?" Victoire said hopefully.
"Oh no, not at all. I'm still fuming inside that you thought you could keep a secret from me for that long."
"I mean, she did more than just think that," Dominique pointed out. "She was pretty successful, if you ask me."
"But we've all known for a very long time that you two would make a lovely couple." Molly smiled at the two of them.
"Oh yeah, do you remember that summer when they didn't come down from the treehouse for ages and you guys were all really worried?" Charlie grinned, looking at his siblings.
"Of course! And then Victoire suddenly appeared screaming that Teddy had tried to kiss her and he had boy germs." Ginny chuckled, remembering.
"I thought that was a pretty good cover up." Teddy shrugged.
"You were seven, mate." Harry laughed and the blue haired boy shrugged again, a smirk on his face.
Lily suddenly gasped and turned to look at the clock. "Hey guys, it's Christmas!"
"How long were we playing that damn game?" Victoire sighed, looking at the clock too. This was an easy way to move people's minds off her relationship.
"Come on guys, let's go get some food," Harry suggested and they all jumped up, rushing into the kitchen as they knew it was grab or starve with this family.
"We're never playing Monopoly again!" Teddy shouted and everyone grinned.
Victoire smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Now that's something to toast."
"We'll play it again when we have a suspicion that someone's hiding something." Bill smirked, looking at his daughter.
"Are you ever getting over that?" She chuckled.
"Never."