This story is for BAGGE and Deb-lil. This is Winter re-edited because I had forgotten D'Artagnan.
This story takes place before Revenge. It contains many of the characters from that story but I don't think it's necessary for you to read that one first. I think you'll understand it.
Disclaimer: Charlie belongs to Rowling and the song to Tori Amos. The rest it's mine and all mine.
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Last Christmas
Two loud knocks could be heard and a big bang as the door opened letting in an angry looking seventeen year old girl. Her long dark hair was caught into a pony tail. A sun ray shined in her rectangular glasses and gave the impression that she was sending lightings.
"Charlie Weasley get up right now!" bellowed the girl making Charlie jump up with his wand in the hand.
"Put that down before you hurt yourself." Continued the girl with a furious tone.
"Why the hell did you did this?" asked the man sleepily putting his head down.
"Because it's ten o' clock, that's why." Snapped the girl and with a quick move of her wand the pushed away the curtains letting in the light. This made Charlie hiss and cover his eyes with the covers.
"Oh, stop being so melodramatic and move your ass."
"It's only ten o'clock!" answered Charlie outraged.
"It's Christmas Eve for crying out loud and we don't have presents! We were supposed to be at my home since yesterday. I had to lie to my parents and say that we had an urgent Order meting and had to spend the night here. Radu is furious at me. If we don't get home by noon we'll be dead meat." Answered the girl hysterically.
"Calm down Monica, there's enough time for that." Said Charlie turning his back at the girl and trying to fall asleep.
"Oh no you don't!" said Monica menacingly and before Charlie could say anything, he was on the floor.
"Ouch! Hey this was uncalled for! Why do you always have to do this?" asked Charlie standing up and rubbing his ribs.
"Because this is the only way you wake up." Said the girl. She couldn't help herself not to giggle at Charlie's puppy like face. "Come on, go and wash yourself. Don't stay long." Said the girl smiling.
Charlie went reluctantly to the bathroom mumbling. "Are you sure we're not relatives. You resemble mum a lot."
At this the girl smiled and asked: "Well, it there anyone in your family with dark hair?"
"No."
"That settles it." Said the girl smiling.
"But you could have the dark hair from one of your parents." Said Charlie thoughtfully.
"And break the red hair tradition?"
"You're right. To far fetched."
"Go already!" said the girl with an exasperate voice.
"Alright, alright." Said the man disappearing into the bathroom.
Monica sat down on the bed and looked around the messy room. To her horror she discovered that something was missing.
"CHARLIE!" she shouted from the top of her lungs.
"What!" said the man getting out from the bathroom with the toothbrush in his hand.
"Tell me you packed your things." She said with an exasperated voice. Charlie blushed a violent red.
"Actually you see I was going to do that last night but yes well…" he trailed off when seeing the girl's angry face.
"Get back in the bath!" she shouted throwing the pillow at him. Charlie didn't need to be told twice. Monica took a deep breath and stood up. She took one of the suitcases from the wardrobe and started packing clean clothes.
Five minutes later Charlie got out of the bathroom and was shocked when he saw Monica holding a pair of underwear.
"Hey put that down!" He yelled storming next to her and taking the underwear from her hand. "These are intimate things." He said outraged. The girl rolled her eyes and said sarcastically.
"Charlie, this is not the first time I put my hands on men's underwear!"
"But these are mine! I don't put my hands on yours." Monica raised her eyebrows and looked pointedly at her friend. "That was and accident!" said Charlie to his defense.
"Sure it was." Said Monica sarcastically.
"It's not my fault you leave your underwear everywhere."
"It was in my opened suitcase."
"They looked strange."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's go." Said the girl.
"What about breakfast?" asked Charlie.
"You'll have to wait until we get home. Leave the suitcase here. We'll come back later for them."
"But…" Charlie stopped as he saw Monica's look which clearly said One more" but" and you're dead. He took his jacket and scarf following the girl to her room. The room was a lot cleaner than Charlie's room. It had two beds because she shared it with Madalina, her best friend. She took her jacket and scarf and together went out of the almost empty school.
"Where's D"Artagnan?" asked Charlie.
"I sent him home with a message."
"Aha."
It had snowed all night and they found it quite difficult to get to the apparition point. With two loud pops they disapparated and appatrated on a hill. Much to their disappointment there was no snow.
"I just wish it would snow at least this year. It's been years since it snowed here on Christmas day." Said the girl sadly.
"I know what you mean." Came Charlie's equally sad answer. They both started to climb down the hill. They past next to a high school.
"God, this place really needs some repair. I really can't understand why Radu wanted to come here. He could have gone to Lahovari." Said Monica looking at the old building.
"Maybe because he likes this place just like you like Lahovari." Came Charlie's sarcastic answer. He was sleepy, cold and hungry and just wanted to finish everything.
"You think we should take a taxi?"
"Yeah!" came the man's answer.
They continued their walk until they finally found a taxi. About five minutes later they were in the center of the small town. They got off the taxi entered in what they called mall, although it was quite a small building.
"You've got to be kidding!" said Charlie loud. The place was packed with people doing last minute shopping. Monica looked at her watch.
"We're so dead! Radu is going to have my head for this."
"And mine." Added Charlie. "Oh well we better get going."
"You're right."
"But what are going to buy?" asked Charlie confused.
"I have no idea." Answered Monica.
"What!" Asked Charlie loud making some people turn their heads.
"Keep it down. People know me around here." Said Monica in a hushed voice. "If I knew what to buy I wouldn't have waited for you. I took you with me so you'd give an idea."
"We're dead." Concluded Charlie. With this they started waking around the numerous shops.
"I think Radu would like this one." Said Monica looking at sweater. Her enthusiasm soon died as she saw the price. They kept looking around until Monica saw others sweaters that she could afford buying. She took about five of them and put them in Charlie's arms.
"Why are giving them to me?" he asked Charlie confused.
"Because I want you to try them. How am I supposed to know if they fit him?" Said Monica pushing him towards one of the changing cabins. Much to their horror there was a long queue.
"Oh well, you'll just have to buy one and pray that it fits him." Said Charlie cheerfully. Monica was upset about the thing but suddenly she had an idea.
"Do you have T-shirt under your sweater?"
"Eh…yes." Said Charlie unsure.
"Take your sweater off and try this one." She said giving him a black sweater.
"What! No way! I'm not going to change in public." Said Charlie outraged taking some steps behind.
"Oh come on. It's not like you'll be naked." Said Monica.
"No."
"Oh well, I might let it slip to Andrea that you're crazy after her." Said Monica as-a-matter-of-factly.
"Oh, give it here." Said Charlie taking the sweater from the girl's hand.
Ten minutes later they left the shop with Radu's present. Monica was giggling violently while Charlie was positively fuming. He had changed under the cheers and applauses of about twenty women. A really old and ugly lady even put her hand on his ass and gave him a piece of paper with her address on it and left. Charlie looked disgusted at her.
"You know, I just realized how you could earn more money. You should become a gigolo or a striper." Said Monica between giggles.
"Ha, ha, really funny." Said Charlie sarcastically. "Mum would have my head for that."
"Too bad that I didn't have the photo camera with me. I could have shown this pictures to my future children and tell them how their uncle got undressed in a shop."
"Tell anyone about this and I'll tell your parents that you danced on the table at John's birthday." Said Charlie menacingly.
"They already know." Said the girl.
"You're kidding. You didn't tell them. They'd have your head for that."
"If you don't believe me, you can tell them but then I'm going to tell them about your show." Answered Monica while she stopped in front of a stand that had miniature boats.
"Do you think your father would like one?" asked Charlie.
"Of course he would."
"Let's buy him one." They spend other ten minutes trying to decide which one to buy. Finally they made up their mind and bought one.
"What now?" asked Charlie.
"Let's go to the bookstand. There's a book about Egypt that I know Gaby would love to have." Once again the place was packed with people and after fifteen minutes they finally managed to get the book they wanted.
"Ok, so we still have mum, Andrea and Madalina." Concluded Monica.
"What are we going to buy them?" asked Charlie.
"I think that some soft toys would do great for Madalina and Andrea. I think we should buy mum a hand cream. I know she finished her last one." They both went to the ground floor and bought a hand cream for Monica's mother. After this they got out of the so called mall.
"God, it's freezing out here." Said Charlie with a trembling voice. He had to repeat what he had just said because there was a lot of noise. A group of about twenty people were passing by playing some old drums. One of them was disguised into a goat and was dancing on the rhythm.
"You can say that again. Let's hurry and go to Veve. Hopefully we'll find there what we need for the girls. "Said the girl loud while she took some money from her pocket and gave them to one of the members of the group. They quickened their paces and finally entered the warm toy shop.
"Not again!" mumbled Charlie miserably. The place was filled with people who were trying to buy toys.
"We'll gonna have to use our elbows if we want to buy something this century." Added Monica equally miserably.
"Can't we use some magic?" asked Charlie hopefully.
"Don't tempt me. We'll get into a lot of troubles if we do that."
"Oh well, it was just an idea." And with this they started to push people left and right until finally they managed to get to the toys. After much debating they bought two Teddy bears.
They got out of the shop into the freezing cold and took a taxi to the hill. Once they got to the apparition point, they disappeared back to school to take their things. They crossed the school's yard with a lot of troubles because of the high snow and of the large presents. When they finally entered the warm and friendly building, Mr. Romedancil, the school's headmaster, welcomed them.
"I see you went for some last minute shopping." He said smiling.
"Yeah. I never thought that so many people would leave their shopping for the last minute. I thought that we would never finish." Said Charlie smiling.
"I know what you mean." Said the old man smiling. "Would you like some tea?"
"Sorry but we can't stay. We're already late." Said Monica apologetically.
"Oh well, see you then at the New Year eve's party." Said the old man smiling.
"I don't think I'll come." Said the girl sheepishly.
"You can bring Radu if you want. Only the Order members will know about this and besides, to me he's a member too even though he's a muggle. After all, he did help you a lot with your spying gadgets."
"I can!" Asked the girl enthusiast.
"Of course you can." The girl started jumping around. She was more than happy.
"Now off you go before Mrs. Popescu has your heads.
"Good bye." Said the two friends and went to collect their luggage. Monica knew that the old man's smiles were not real. He must be feeling very lonely. She would have gladly invited her grandfather at her house but, because no one knew that they were relatives, she couldn't. They had to keep this a secret. Their way back to the appariton point was even more difficult because now they had their luggage. With two loud pops they disapparated.
"ARGH!" shouted a woman's voice. "Get of me!"
"I'm so sorry!" came Charlie's panicked voice. He managed to roll of Monica's twenty-eight years old sister. She was tall with long jet black hair. She was really pretty although in the last years she had gain to much weight. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah." By now Monica was laughing like crazy.
"Oh, shut up!" came Gaby's reply.
"Sorry, but you should have seen yourselves." The girl put down her luggage and when she wanted to climb of the bed to help them, a big black owl hit her scaring her and making her lose her balance and fall over Charlie.
"ARGH!" shouted both friends.
"D'Artagnan, I'll kill you!" shouted Monica at her owl. Just then Radu entered the room. The boy was about nineteen years old and had long dark brown hair. His eyes were also dark brown and he was tall and a bit skinny. Although he was angry, he couldn't stop himself from laughing when seeing them. Gaby was lying on her back next to the bed and next to her was Charlie also on his back and on top of him was Monica.
"Don't just stand there, help us." Said Monica.
"Why don't you disapparate" said Radu.
"I would do that but if I try to move, I'll smash Charlie's privates" Came Monica's sarcastic answer.
First of all, he had to find a way to get the mangle bags of them. He finally managed to do that and they were all on their feet and went into the living room. The apartment was a small one with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room and kitchen.
They found the girls' parents looking impatient.
"Sorry for being late."
"What was the meting about?" asked the girl's mother. She was a plump lady with short hair and a round face. The girl resembled her a lot.
"Nothing important really. Organization things." Lied the girl. "Something smells delicious."
"Oh, the cookies!" said loud the girl's father as he ran into the kitchen. He was a tall man with short grey hair. "Just in time. I don't know why but I always forget about the last ones." Came he's voice from the kitchen. "What happened in your room?"
"The usual, Charlie apparated on Gaby and when I tried to help them D'Artagnan scared me and I fell over them."
"Hey, I don't usually apparate over your sister." Said Charlie outraged.
"I'm sorry. What I wanted to say is that in 99.99 of cases you apparate over somebody." At this, Charlie gave her a dirty look.
"Oh, I was just kidding." Added Monica kissing him on the cheek.
"Hey, what about me?" asked Radu. Monica hugged him and gave him a long kiss.
"Happy now?" asked the girl.
"Acceptable, but you could do a lot better." Answered Radu. At this the girl tried to French kiss him but he jumped like burned. This made Monica's parents and Gaby laugh.
"They won't have your head for this." Said the girl amused.
"I don't like to French kiss in front of the family." Whispered the boy red in the face.
"Let's lay the table." Said Mrs. Popescu saving Radu from more embarrassment. They all arranged the table and ate cheerfully. After they finished it was time to clean a bit the house. Monica and Charlie offered to do that by magic. When they finished it was time to bring in the Christmas tree and put it in the support. Luckily enough this year it fitted perfectly.
Monica's father took out the box with Christmas decoration and everyone started to arrange the tree although Mr. Popescu decided to tie the strings to the candies for the rest to put it the tree. Getting to the top branches proved to be a real challenge because none of them was tall enough to get there. After they finished arranging everything they still had to put the Star o the top.
"Who's putting it this year?" asked Monica.
"We think that you two should do that." Said her father pointing towards her and her boyfriend.
"Oh no. Maybe you should do it." Said Radu sheepishly to the girl's parents.
"He's right. We put it last year." Added the girl.
"So? You're the kids around here." Said Mrs. Popescu hugging lovingly both her daughter and Radu.
"Gaby, don't you want to put it? " asked Monica her sister.
"Nah."
"What about you Charlie. You're one of the family."
Instead of answering her question, Charlie started saying in a sing-song voice.
"Monica and Radu! Monica and Radu!" he was soon followed by the others who started saying the same thing. Even D'Artagnan started to hoo. ( A.N. I don't think this is actually an English word but I don't know how else to say it.)
"Oh right, oh right. We'll do it." Said the girl. "First of all we need two chairs because we can't possibly reach the top of the tree." Mr. Popescu and Charlie went and fetched two wood chairs from the kitchen. The young couple climbed up the chairs and just when they were supposed to put the star Monica's father yelled.
"Wait! This calls for o a photo."
"Really dad there's no need to make any…" Too late. Monica was blinded by a bright flash and lost her balance. She gripped Radu's arm and managed to stay on the chair although they were really close from falling off them.
"Smile!" said her father making more pictures. When she finally got of the chair she started seeing green spots because of the flashes. They all sat on the couch and armchairs and turned on the TV. The girl's father changed channel after channel.
"Typically, nothing good to see." Said Mr. Popescu disappointed.
"Let's bring the computer here and put some music."
"Alright." The young couple went into the girl's room to take the computer.
"God, how do they get so tangled I'll never understand." Said the girl after five minutes of trying to untangle the cables. She levitated the computer into the living room were she putted on her father's desk. Five minutes later the computer was working. They all gathered around it trying to decide what songs to play. They chose a well known Romanian carol which all three men plus Monica came to regret as Gaby and her mother started to sing horribly. Once again D'Aratgnan started to hoo. Next they chose Brotherhood of man and their song "Save your kisses for me." The parents started humming the song because they didn't know the words while the youngsters sang it from the top of their lungs.
"Ah this one." Said Radu pointing at Tori Amos "Winter"
"And Monica's going to sing it." Said Charlie mischievously.
"No way. I'm not singing." Said Monica.
"Oh, yes you are or else…" said Radu menacingly.
"Or what?" asked Monica.
"We'll tickle you." Continued Charlie.
"You don't dare." She said warningly.
"Oh, yes we do." And before the girl could do anything, both the young men were tickling her. With tears in her eyes and between laughs she managed to yell a help. At this Gaby started tickling Charlie and when she tried to get away from him she tripped over the table and felt on her bottom.
"Ok. That's enough." said Mr. Popescu. "Radu let her breathe."
"Not until she sings."
"Ok ha ha I'll sing ha ha it." At this Radu let go of her. She took some deep breath trying to calm down.
Charlie put the song and Monica was forced to sing.
"Snow can wait
I
forgot my mittens
Wipe my nose
Get my new boots on
I get a
little warm in my heart
When I think of winter
I put my hand in
my father's glove
I run off
Where the drifts get
deeper
Sleeping beauty trips me with a frown
I hear a
voice
"Your must learn to stand up for yourself
Cause I
can't always be around"
He says
When you gonna make up
your mind
When you gonna love you as much as I do
When you
gonna make up your mind
Cause things are gonna change so fast
All
the white horses are still in bed
I tell you that I'll always want
you near
You say that things change my dear
Boys get discovered
as winter melts
Flowers competing for the sun
Years go by and
I'm here still waiting
Withering where some
snowman was
Mirror, mirror where's the crystal palace
But I
only can see the myself
Skating around the truth who I am
But I
know dad the ice is getting thin
When you gonna make
up your mind
When you gonna love you as much as I do
When you
gonna make up your mind
Cause things are gonna change so fast
All
the white horses are still in bed
I tell you that I'll always want
you near
You say that things change my dear
Hair is grey
And
the fires are burning
So many dreams
On the shelf
You say I
wanted you to be proud of me
I always wanted that myself
He says
When you
gonna make up your mind
When you gonna love you as much as I
do
When you gonna make up your mind
Cause things are gonna
change so fast
All the white horses have gone ahead
I tell you
that I'll always want you near
You say that things change
My
dear"
When she finished everyone applauded. This made the girl blush violently. Her mother went into the kitchen and brought some cookies and cakes together with hot chocolate and tea.
"Can we have the presents?" asked Monica.
"Of course." Said her father. Everyone brought the presents that they had and put them under the Christmas tree. After half an hour of unpacking and admiring presents Radu stood up and said.
"I've got to go. I promised grandma that I'll be home earlier."
"All right." said Monica reluctantly as she stood up.
"Send your grandma our wishes." Said Mrs. Popescu.
"I will. Thanks for the presents."
"You're welcomed."
With this the boy went in the hallway and took his jacket kissing Monica and leaving. For the rest of the evening the others continued talking and when their eyes stated to close, they all went to bed.
Little did they know that this was their last Christmas together. Their lives were to change forever in the summer.
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Hope you liked my story and that I made you curious about reading the other one too. Anyway, please review even if you don't like it. Merry Christmas to everyone!