You leaned against the doorframe to your bedroom as watched your husband sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. You and your family had just finished up with quite the long day. First, you and George had to get all the kids' presents from "Santa" wrapped and under the tree before Christmas morning, you had to make breakfast in morning, have the kids open their gifts, and then after that you all had to travel to the Burrow for Christmas day. It had been so lovely to see everyone together! Harry and Ginny were there, Ron and Hermione, you and George. Even Bill and Fleur had come! But there was one who was missing.
All in all, the day was a very love and fun filled day with lots of laughter, food, and drink. You could tell everyone was having a wonderful time, especially the children. Even George was enjoying himself. The holidays were always hard for him, harder than most days. He hated spending the holidays without his brother, Fred. Absolutely despised it. They had always pulled such great holiday themed pranks during Christmas, and now they couldn't. It broke your heart every time you saw a great idea light up in his eyes and watched the light die as quickly as it had come because he remembered that his brother wasn't there to pull it off with him.
You walked into the room and reached your hand out to George when you reached him. He raised his head to look at you when he noticed you standing before him. "What?" He asked you quietly.
You jerked your head in the direction of the doorway. "C'mon, love," You said. "Come downstairs with me."
"Okay," George said and sighed. He had acted carefree and happy all day long and his facade was wearing thin. In all honesty, he was exhausted. Everyone knew how dearly he missed his brother, they all missed him too, but no one commented on it and just went along with him. If he wanted to act as though he wasn't as upset as he really was, then they all would too.
"Did you put the kids to bed?" He asked you as you led him down the stairs.
"Mhm," You said. You finally got him into the living room and you looked at him hopefully, gnawing on your bottom lip as you gauged his reaction.
After you had tucked in Fred and Roxanne for bed, you had made it your mission to end your husband's night in one of the best ways possible. You had set a fire in the large fireplace, decorated the room with a multitude of floating candles, had all of your holiday decorations lit up, and had one of you and George's favorite records playing softly. You knew this day was hard for him, and you wanted to comfort him as much as possible.
"So," You said giddily, "what do you think?"
"What do I think?" George asked you incredulously. "I love it, darling!" He scooped you up into his arms in a tight embrace. "It's brilliant, love, really. But what brought all this on?"
"I just wanted to give you the best Christmas I possibly could," You told him as he pulled you to him, his hand in yours and his arm around your waist. You started to dance slowly to the soft music playing in the background.
"The best Christmas ever?" He asked you. "I have you, the kids, and the family. The shop is doing better than it ever has. What more could I want?"
"I can think of one thing…" You said gently and rested your head on George's chest.
"Hey," George said and placed a chaste kiss on the top of your head. "Let's not do this now. We've had a wonderful day. Let's keep it that way."
"But I miss him."
"I know, love, I know you do. I miss him too." His voice wavered slightly and he cleared his throat. "My days are never the same without him." One of his fingers found its way under your chin and made it so that you were looking up at him. "But I've got you. And we've got the kids. And I'm so incredibly happy with you. This is what he would have wanted."
He wiped off a tear that was making its way down your cheek. "Okay?" You nodded in response and wrapped your arms around him tightly, swaying to the music once more.
The next song on the spinning record was more of a swing song and George dipped you suddenly, making you yelp and slap a hand over your mouth so as not to wake the children. George laughed and moved your hand away. He smiled at you and leaned down to kiss you gently and you rested your hand on the back of his head running your fingers through his red hair.
"I love you," He said. "And any holiday spent with you is a holiday well spent."
You sighed contentedly. "I love you too."
He kissed you once again and pulled you back upright so the two of you could continue dancing. What had started as solemn swaying had turned into dramatic sweeps and dips around the living room. The two of you were laughing and singing along to the music, completely absorbed in the good time you were having. It felt like you back at Hogwarts. Back when the two of you were sixteen and would dance around the Gryffindor common room after everyone had gone to bed, and sneaking around the castle after hours.
You hadn't even realized how loud you were being until little Fred showed up at the top of the stairs, clutching his teddy bear in his arm, his other hand rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Neither you nor George had noticed even noticed him because you were so caught up with the music. "Mummy? Dad? What're you guys doing?" He mumbled sleepily.
You and George then came to a screeching halt. You immediately fell out of your romantic atmosphere and into your parental roles, your full attention focused on your son to make sure that nothing was wrong.
"What are you doing out of bed, sweetie?" You asked him.
Fred shuffled his way over to you and George, dragging his bear with him. "I heard noises downstairs and you and Dad weren't in bed and I got scared and I came downstairs to see if you were here and you are here so I feel better now and-"
You and George looked at each other fondly as your son continued to ramble on and on. The boy really had a knack for run-on sentences. "Mummy and I were just dancing," George said.
Fred raised his arms up to you and you scooped him up into your arms, resting him on your hip. "Why were you dancing?" He asked and laid his head on your shoulders.
"Because Daddy and Mummy love to dance, don't we, darling?" You asked George. He nodded. "I'd love to ask you to join us, sweetie, but you should be sleeping right now," You chided Fred playfully.
"Yeah," George agreed and slung his long arm over your shoulder. "So how about we go get you back in bed so Mummy and Daddy can get back to their alone time." George pressed a kiss to your cheek with a large smack.
"Yuck!" Fred yelled in disgust and wriggled out of your arms, running to scramble back up the stairs to his room. "Night Mummy! Night Dad!" He shouted as he ran up the stairs.
You chuckled and put your hand over your heart as you watched your son go. You were so happy with how your life turned out, it almost felt like a dream. "I hope we didn't wake up Roxanne," You said. "Do you think I should go check?" Before you even finished your sentence you started to walk away from George to go check on your daughter.
"No," George said and caught your wrist. "Love, Roxanne is fine. Stay." He pulled you back into his chest and leaned down to whisper in your ear, "Mummy and Daddy have to finish their alone time."
You smiled and laughed at your husband, but let him sweep you back into dancing around the living room. You waved your hand and mistletoe magically materialized and floated your heads. "You're brilliant," George murmured and pressed his lips against yours, and you both smiled into the kiss. This really was the best Christmas thus far. Although, with your family, the holidays got better and better each year.