Chapter One: Christmas

I can't believe it's Christmas and my mum didn't owl me. I understand completely that it's been six years since she left my dad, but usually, even for Christmas, she sends a letter to my little brother and I.

"Maybe she's late and she'll call on us tomorrow." Freddie said hopefully right before Gran Molly put all of us "children," into bed. I didn't have the heart to tell him that she's not going to send us anything, probably ever again.

I can't say that I don't care, because, really, I do, but how can someone just up and leave such a fantastic man like my father with two children and a joke shop to take care of? Freddie was only seven when she left, I was ten, but I think he has more understanding of it than I do. He understands that she's gone, but as long as she keeps in contact (which has been sparse) he's alright. I think today crushed him.

My mum's name is Angelina Johnson, everyone knows who she is: the "Unbeatable Chaser," for the Chudley Cannons. According to Teen Witch Weekly she's been seeing the Seeker for the Moorehead Warriors named Steevie McKrude. The way I see it, she left my father for Quidditch and fame.

I didn't let my mum's failure as a human being ruin my Christmas, though. I love holidays at the Burrow. When all of the cousins and friends gather to celebrate and have a good time. I was woken up this morning by my best friend and fellow Weasley cousin, Rose yelling at me.

"Roxie, wake up! It's Christmas!" her morning bed-head looked exactly like her mother's did all the time and she was shaking me with so much force, I thought there was an earthquake before I woke fully.

"Rose! What is the matter?" I mumbled, trying to free myself of her grip.

"It's Christmas, we've got presents!" she said excitedly, crawling to the foot of my bed and tossing packages at me. Some of which, were heavy and pointed. I know I'm going to have bruises tomorrow. "These are yours." she said.

I took the lightest package I could find and opened it. I knew what it was as soon as I picked it up. Gran Weasley's traditional Christmas sweater. Mine is usually red with a gold lettering that says "Roxanne" on it. I loved getting these sweaters from Gran, even though all of us kids say how itchy and ugly they are, they're rather comfy for those cold nights in Hogwarts when my homesick-ness kicks in.

I pulled my sweater over my head, to see if it fit, when I looked over and saw that Rose was wearing her pink with green lettered "Rose" sweater. We giggled at each other, we knew we both secretly loved them.

I had opened about twenty boxes before breakfast was called. I had gotten a box of sweets from Freddie, a "Weird Sister's," t-shirt from James and Al, a book called Felix Felicis Potion for the Teen Witch's Soul, from Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, Sleek-No Shriek-Hair Serum from Rose. Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry gave James and I tickets to go see a Wizarding Band called "Occlumency," I recieved money from Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur and Lily, my favorite little cousin drew me a beautiful picture of a Hippogriff which I hanged on the wall above my bed.

"What did your dad get you?" Rose asked, diving into a box of sweets.

"I'm not sure yet." I told her. "He's probably going to give Freddie and I something together, like he did last year."

"Yeah, but last Christmas, he took you guys on vacation to Paris." Rose reminded, the look on her face doubtful that it was another vacation.

"True."

"Did my mum give you that dastardly book?" Rose crawled over to my bed and picked up the book in her hand. "It's just awful. It tells you all about sex and how it's not morally right to do it before your married. Really, there are about four chapters dedicated to just that." she tossed the book to the floor.

"We should get ready and go downstairs to thank everyone." I suggested, knowing that our Grandma Molly hates it when us kids sleep in on Holidays.

I kept my Weasley sweater on, knowing it would please gran, and threw on my favorite pair of skinny jeans. I used the "Sleek-No Shriek-Hair Serum" to make my hair pin straight just like I liked it. I put on my eyeliner, doing the "smokey eye," look that I was so accustomed to and sat on the bed, waiting for Rose, who took forever to get ready.

"Rose! Hurry up! We're going to miss breakfast!" I shouted across the room.

"Roxanne, you know it takes me forever to get ready." she too, was donning her Weasley sweater and skinny jeans. "I've inherited my mum's hair!" she held her wand over her head and was shouting spells that I know she got out of Witch Weekly. The spells did work, making her hair curl perfectly and non frizzy but it took her close to twenty minutes to get it exactly the way she wanted. "Alright, let's go." she told me, finally walking away from the mirror in the far left corner of our room.

"No makeup?" I asked.

"You know I never wear makeup! My mum would kill me!" she replied as we left our room together.

Downstairs, the entire Weasley family was already waiting for us at the breakfast table wearing their own Weasley Sweaters. I thought Rose and I were about to get yelled at for being sluggish, but just to make good with Grandma and Grandad, I kissed them each on the cheek and bode them "Happy Christmas!" before I took my place at the table next to Rose and Freddie.

"Did you get our tickets?" Uncle Harry asked James and I as he dug into the plum pudding Gran put out for breakfast.

"Yes, we did." I replied, taking my own helping of eggs. "Thank you so much."

"Dad, to be honest, I've never heard of them." James said with his mouth full of pudding.

"Well, check them out, see if you like them." Uncle Harry replied.

"Thank you for the gorgeous drawing, Lily." I smiled at her across the table and she beamed.

"I'd hoped you liked it!" she exclaimed. "I drew one for everybody!" she giggled.

"Yes, Lily was extremely busy for the past week and a half," Aunt Ginny smiled.

"Roxie, did you get anything from mum?" my little brother asked me. I shook my head no and continued on as if he didn't ask me anything. I was trying to make him realize that it wasn't a big deal. If she didn't want to be here with this loving, crazy family, then that was her choice.

After breakfast, us kids decided to play a game of Quidditch, which was sort of a Weasley tradition at Christmas. We all trampled through the snow dressed in our warmest clothing to the clearing in the Orchard which was the perfect size for Quidditch regulations, or so Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron had told us. To be honest, I hadn't by any means inherited my mum's Quidditch skills. It seemed I had no hand-eye coordination and I wasn't as fast as everyone else. This was the reason picking teams became so difficult.

"I don't want Roxie on our team!" Albus yelled at his brother when James, who had made himself captain had placed me with Albus, Teddy, Rose and Dominique.

"Shut your gob, you're going to upset her." James hissed at his little brother.

"Why don't I just go on your team?" I asked.

He looked at his own team, which consisted of Victoire, Louis, Hugo and Freddie.

"Because then it would be an uneven game." he explained.

"Well, why don't we wait until Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey get here? Then we can have Molly and Lucy to even everything out."

"You'd still be the odd one out, Rox." he told me.

"Umm, I can be scorekeeper?"

"No, come on, I want you to play." James smiled. "You're hilarious when you mess up."

"Gee, thanks." I mumbled sarcastically. James was my best guy friend, despite being my cousin and I knew he was joking, but I couldn't help but feel just a little crestfallen. Am I really that terrible at Quidditch? I mean, no, this isn't the first time my family has fought about me being on their stupid teams, and before, I didn't feel as bad. Today, I felt... bad about it, like they weren't joking somehow.

"Whatever, Rox. If you want to be scorekeeper, I guess you can, but please pay attention?" James asked in a way that made me feel worse. When have I ever been a bad scorekeeper? Okay, so I didn't pay attention once or twice and ruled in favor or either Rose or James, but that was only twice at the most... and they couldn't even count that because they weren't sure if the point counted or not either.

I nodded and went to the sidelines, plopping myself down in the snow. I pulled the wand out of the inside of my jacket and muttered "Accio Novel!" My dad wasn't too keen on letting us do magic outside of school, especially to make up for laziness, but I personally think that if you're a Witch or Wizard, then it's not particularly laziness as much as it is harnessing one's magical skills. Practice makes perfect, right?

My novel got to me just as James whistled the start of the game. I watched Hugo, Freddie and Rose shoot off into the air, their wild red hair flying behind them. I guessed that Louis must have been a Seeker because of the way he was perched above everyone, just watching. I saw him glance at me and wave. I waved back just as something wet and cold hit the side of my face.

"You better watch it, Roxie!" my dad yelled, hundreds of snowballs were forming at his feet, while three more were flying at me. I jumped up, knocking over my book in the process. I started making as many hand made snowballs as I possibly could and chucking them back at my dad.

I ducked about thirty more snowballs before I actually got him with one. Dad and I were running up and down the sidelines chucking snowballs at each other, trying not to disturb the Quidditch players. I saw dad pick up his wand and chuck about six or so more snowballs at me, I was laughing and running while trying to ignore the stitches in my side. I looked back and noticed that my dad wasn't looking at me anymore, he was looking up at Hugo. He popped a white truce flag out of his wand and walked towards me.

"I say, we team together and get them." my dad whispered, pointing up at the ten Quidditch players.

"Do it." I giggled, already reaching for more snow.

I hit James first, and that's when the war began. It was my dad and I against ten kids on brooms. Hugo and Freddie chased after me as I continuously hit them with snowballs. Rose was not at all pleased, as my dad hit her in the face a few times on accident. Lily kept trying to keep up with us all, running as fast as her tiny legs would let her.

I ran just past the treeline to try and rid myself of Hugo and Freddie when BAM! I ran into something hard. When I finally came to my senses, Uncle Harry was standing before me, holding out a hand.

"Alright, Kiddo?" he asked, helping me to my feet.

"Yes, I'm fine." I gasped. "So sorry."

"Don't worry about it." I liked that about Uncle Harry. He's so forgiving. Well, I only ran into him by accident but once I broke one of his prized Broomsticks that he'd been collecting since he was twenty. James and I got too rowdy and I knocked into it, but even then, he didn't yell or anything. He just asked James and I if we were alright and went on his way.

Needless to say, Uncle Harry joined in on our snowball fight. Turns out, he was supposed to come and find where we were and when he didn't come back, Aunt Ginny and Aunt Hermione had to come collect us.

The snowball fight was honestly the best part of the day. After that, we just lazed around, hanging out with the family and friends. Luna and Rolf came over, along with Lorcan and Lysander.

Lysander is the same age and James, Rose and I, and I can't help but fawn over him whenever I see him. He's so gorgeous! He's got dirty blonde hair with the most amazing blue eyes. He's tall, broad shouldered and muscular from playing beater on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. He's so smart, too. We once had a discussion about where things go when you make them disappear with magic. I had no idea, nor really ever cared, but he went on and on about it, like it was mystery that he wanted solved.

And it's so embarrassing because everyone knows I have a crush on him. My dad can't be in the same room as the two of us without mentioning it once, and of course, being a Weasley definitely gives it away due to the deep red blush I get. I can manage to "keep my cool," when he's around. I don't act like a fool or anything, but I just wish my dad would drop it. He's been telling Lysander that I have a crush on him since we were five. Really, that's how long I have had this crush, but it's getting old.

I quite like the nights at the Burrow. For instance, right now I'm still cuddled up in my Gran's Christmas sweater, sitting on my bed writing, as I prefer to do every night. I can hear Rose snoring in the bed next to mine and the occasional footsteps in the hallway.
I better be off to sleep as well, it's already one a.m.