Oomph!

I still had a thing or two to learn about floo landings.

"There's my ickle girl," Grandma Weasley exclaimed, enveloping me in a bone-crushing hug. I loved when she hugged me. She smelled like, well, I can't really describe it, sort of sweet and fresh. I loved the smell when she wrapped me in her arms. "How have you been?" She let go of me to take a good look.

"Fine," I said a bit agitated. I wanted to see who was in the next room.

"Not picking fights with your sister and brother, are you?"

"No." I looked towards the door.

"All right, I'll let you be. I think someone's waiting for you in the sitting room anyway."

Before exiting, I swiped a gingerbread cookie off the counter and watched my sister, Dominique, exit the floo with much more grace than I did. She was two years younger, but had managed the floo faster than me.

The second thing I noticed upon entering the sitting room after spotting the Christmas tree in the corner was all the chairs. My family is rather large and we usually crowd any room we gather in. Munching on the delicious cookie, I looked around at my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Grandpa Weasley sat in an armchair talking with Uncle Percy in another armchair. I assumed Uncle George conjured up the mismatching armchair he sat in himself. His wife, Aunt Angelina, sat on the floor playing with their young daughter, Roxanne. Next to her on the floor was Percy's wife, Aunt Audrey, with her two young girls, Molly and Lucy. Aunt Hermione sat opposite them with her young son, Hugo. I didn't know where his older sister Rose or Roxanne's older brother, Fred, were, perhaps running around with my other cousins, James and Albus. Her dad, Uncle Ron, sat on the couch talking to James and Albus's, Uncle Harry with his daughter, Lily in his lap. Sitting in a wooden chair was Uncle Charlie, whom I rarely saw due to him living in Romania. Next to them was,

"Teddy!"

I ran to him nearly falling down. He looked at me with a bright smile on his face. I smiled back. He sported his usual turquoise hair. You see, Teddy is a Metamorphmagus and that means he can change his appearance, like hair and eye color.

"How's Hogwarts?" I was about to ask when he interrupted me.

"Victoire, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine." He gestured to the chair next to him in which a pretty girl with short blonde hair sat. "This is Dana."

Dana? Who's Dana and what is she doing here? Friends? With Teddy? What?

"Hi," I said shyly, which was very unlike me.

"Dana is a friend of mine from Hogwarts," he explained. "Her parents went to Malta to visit her sister for the holidays so I invited her to spend Christmas with me."

Why? He's got me. Am I not good enough?

I slumped into the chair next to the lovely Dana and pretended I was all right with it.

The rest of the evening was eventful, shall we say? Wherever Teddy went Dana went with him. It had been a long agonizing 4 months waiting for Teddy to come home from Hogwarts and when he does he brings a friend, a girl friend. He's got me! He doesn't need another girl friend.

"Victoire," Aunt Ginny stopped me in the hall, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I lied. At the age of nine and being the oldest of three, I thought myself a pretty good liar.

"I remember when my brother Bill, your dad, went to Hogwarts. Well, okay, I was just a baby, so I don't really remember it, but I do remember the feeling when he came home that he wasn't the same. He was my favorite brother and would spend loads of time with me, but then he started bringing friends home and little Ginny wasn't seen as much fun."

"Is that what Teddy thinks?"

"The difference between you and me are that you are friends with Teddy and I was just Bill's baby sister. The other difference is before we came over today Teddy couldn't stop talking about how much he wanted to see you."

"Really?" My face brightened.

"Really."

I took Aunt Ginny's words to heart and went to find Teddy. Hearing voices in a nearby room, I peeked in.

I was sorry I did.

Teddy and Dana sat on a bed and he handed her his plush wolf. That's his sacred Wolfie, the one he's had since birth, his security wolf, if you will.

I ran from the room crying. I didn't want to see Teddy or stupid Dana ever again. This was the worst Christmas of my life!

"Victoire!"

I didn't turn around. I didn't want to acknowledge the person calling my name.

"Victoire!"

Go away!

"Victa!" He used his pet name for me.

I turned around.

"I've a present for you. Ginny and I went to Diagon Alley the other day. She helped me pick these out." He pulled a box out of his robes.

Slowly, I tore off the pretty red wrapping paper and opened the box. Inside the box lay a set of turquoise combs. I fingered them gently.

"Y'know, you always say you like when I wear my hair turquoise. Now, you can have a bit of it in your hair." He rubbed the top of my head.

"Hey, don't mess up my hair." I patted down my hair with my left hand. "Thank you. These are beautiful."

"Aw, shucks." His cheeks turned pink. "I missed ya, Victa. This is the longest we've been apart, but don't be upset. You know I was bound to make friends at school. You'll do it, too, when you go in two years. Dana's just a friend. She's sad, 'cause she misses her parents. This is her first Christmas apart from them."

"Oh," I replied feeling small inside.

Carefully, I put the two combs in my hair.

"How do I look?"

"Like a girl."

I stuck my tongue out and then wrapped him in a tight hug. This was the best Christmas of my life!