(Luna's POV)
It doesn't take me too long to run there, even in the snow. As daddy told Harry at the wedding, we live just over the hill from the Weasleys. As I keep in contact with Ginny very often, I have a feeling Mrs. Weasley will help me and, if not, Ginny could always convince her.
Finally I spy the tip of the Burrow. It looks well-built, considering what happened at the wedding. I dash down to the front door and knock frantically, frequently looking behind me to make sure daddy hasn't caught up to me yet.
"Mrs. Weasley, it's Luna Lovegood! Please open up! I'm in serious trouble."
In a moment, Mrs. Weasley, a red-headed beauty, especially for her age, appears at the doorway and opens it.
"Why Luna," she beams.
"How lovely to see you."
"Mrs. Weasley, I'm so sorry to interrupt your Christmas, but I'm in serious peril and I need a place to stay until this blows over."
"Oh no, you weren't interrupting anything. Everyone's just getting up. Please come in. You look like you're going to faint."
I rush inside, thankful for her kindness and slump down on a chair in fatigue. Feeling my fear, she locks the door.
"How about I make you a cup of tea, dear?" she suggests.
"Mint chamomile? And then you can tell me all about what's going on."
"Yes please, thank you," I say kindly.
"Though I'm not sure if it's believable. Even I'm still unsure if it actually happened."
"Well, sometimes," Mrs. Weasley says as she prepares the kettle.
"The events that seem least believable to us turn out to be the most believable to others."
I find this comforting and I manage to relax.
"The chamber of what?" she asks incredulously when I tell her about what my father is up to.
"Innocence," I shiver at the mere mention.
"He said it would take away the pain and bad events I'd experienced."
I take another sip of tea.
"But don't those help shape you?"
"That was my thought too!" I exclaim.
"I was scared I wouldn't be myself if I'd stayed inside of the chamber. That doesn't sound insane, does it?"
Mrs. Weasley shakes her head.
"That is completely valid, Luna," she replies with a smile.
"I don't know how your father even managed to build such a device."
"Neither do I, but I'm not sure I want to find out."
I take another sip.
"The only troubles now," I say as I set my cup down.
"Are where do I go and how do I avoid daddy until he's calmed down?"
"Mum," Ginny's voice calls slightly softly from upstairs.
"Have you seen my Christmas jumper? The one dad set out on the bannister last night?"
"You mean the red one with the tiny lions and the letter G in gold?" Mrs. Weasley calls back.
"No, the purple one with the red and green snitches and the letter G in blue."
"I think I'm washing that one. Just put on the red one. It should be on the bannister. Oh, and Ginny. Be sure to set an extra place for Christmas dinner tonight. We have someone who will be staying here for a while."
She turns back to me and smiles.
"You really mean it, Mrs. Weasley?" I ask in shock.
"I can stay here?"
"Of course you can, dear," she replies.
"If what you say is true, I'd be just as bad to turn you out. And no one should be scared on Christmas."
I smile at her and tears of relief form in my eyes.
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
Ginny's the first one to come downstairs. She's a bit surprised when she sees me, but I ask to talk to her alone and I tell her about my predicament.
"A chamber of innocence?" she asks in disbelief.
"That's insane!"
"Exactly!"
"Did he say why?"
I try to reflect back on the brief conversation, but nothing comes to mind.
"No," I say finally.
"Just that I'd be innocent forever."
"Wouldn't that kind of take away who you are?" Ginny asks.
"I think so," I reply in certainty.
"I don't think I'd be a full person if I was completely innocent."
"And that's why mum's having you stay here."
"Exactly."
"Morning," another voice says smoothly.
We turn to find George with a steaming cup of tea. Ginny sighs and shakes her head.
"You've tried that already with me and Harry. I don't think Luna and I would kiss, would we?"
I shrug. I've always found Ginny slightly attractive and I don't think I'd mind getting married to her.
"It could happen," I say.
"Fair enough," Ginny replies.
I swear I can see her cheeks slightly blushing.
Fred comes galloping down the stairs.
"What's Luna doing here?" he asks.
"Her father built a chamber of innocence and now she's scared to go back there."
"Chamber of what?" they ask at the same time.
"Innocence," I reply.
"Dad said it would make me pure and innocent forever."
"You know, you could use that, Gin," George says.
"Yeah, you've got quite a dirty mouth," Fred agrees.
"Maybe that machine would stop it."
"Says the one teaching swear words to the garden gnomes," she retorts.
"How are the garden gnomes, by the way?" I ask, suddenly remembering the wedding.
"Fine," Ginny says shrugging.
"Fred and George brought in a small family of them. They were gonna give them to you as a joke present."
"Well, jokes on them," I say putting my hands on my hips and nodding my head towards the twins.
"If you get bitten by gernumbli gardensi, it's extraordinarily beneficial."
"If by beneficial, you mean strange," Ginny replies.
"We've each been bitten since they started living here and strange things have happened after we got bitten. Some good and some bad."
"One time ol' Freddy here got bit," George adds.
"And later he had a storm of new joke shop product ideas that were coming at lightning speed."
"And one time you got bit and recreated a Van Gogh painting to near 100% accuracy," Ginny reminds him.
"Yeah, yeah, we're all gonna make fun of the guy who's missing an ear," he says sarcastically waving his hands.
"Ha ha. Look at me. I'm a garden gnome. I'll bite this guy and turn him into the second coming of Van Gogh."
"I….don't think that's how the second coming would….never mind," Ginny says shaking her head.
"Anyway I got bit once and then I started singing opera shortly after."
"She's not too bad, if she were a cat," Fred jokes.
"Look who's talking! I hear you singing The Beatles and The Weird Sisters in the shower almost every night."
"There's nothing wrong with a bit of Hey Jude and Do the Hippogriff every now and then!"
"Yeah, but not every evening."
"I didn't know bugs could sing," I remark.
The three look at me funny.
"Actually The Beatles is a muggle band from the 60s," Ginny explains.
"Dad found out about it when he was working on a project about muggle music," George adds.
"Once he brought it into the house, ol' Freddie here was in love."
"Shut up," Fred scoffs jokingly.
I smile as Arthur comes downstairs. Then all of them and Mrs. Weasley go into the dining room. I follow to find that Mrs. Weasley has baked a lovely coffeecake with vanilla glaze to pour on along with some fruit. All of our names are on place cards, including one for me. I smile as I sit down next to Ginny. When the coffee cake comes round to me, I take small bites before taking a few bigger bites.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Mrs. Weasley says.
"Look under your chairs."
We all do and I find nothing under mine. Is it some sort of Christmas prank? Nope. Ginny finds a cylindrical parcel under hers.
"Don't worry, dearie," Mrs. Weasley consoles me.
"I haven't quite finished yours yet. I'll give it to you when we open our gifts tonight."
Thank goodness I remembered to drop my gifts off at the Weasley's early, otherwise I'd have to go back home to get them.
Ginny finds a scarlet jumper with brown, barn owls and the letter G in maroon and gold. Fred and George both get alternating red and green jumpers with the letter in the other color and both are covered in patterns of court jesters.
I suddenly hear a hooting sound and turn to Ginny to find that the owls on her jumper are moving and hooting. Fred and George look on in awe when suddenly they start hearing laughter coming from both of their jumpers. The court jesters begin to hop between their jumpers.
"Wicked," they say in unison as the jesters begin to juggle red and green balls to one another.
Ginny's barn owl jumps off of the sweater and flies around the table. I watch on, entranced.
"Wow," I gasp.
"Yeah," George replies.
"Mum's jumper game keeps going up every year."
Arthur looks under his chair and finds a blue jumper with a small boat in water and a rubber duck with the letter A in bright red. I hear the duck quack and then it begins to swim around, hopping between the jumper and the table.
I start flapping my hands in excitement, as does Mr. Weasley. Surprisingly, Mrs. Weasley doesn't seem to mind. In fact, she's smiling at her husband. Not a fake, polite smile, but a smile encouraging him.
"You're autistic too?" I ask him in awe.
He nods.
"Mum doesn't mind when he happy-stims," Ginny says.
"It's actually really sweet when he flaps his hands when he's happy," Mrs. Weasley exclaims.
"Wait," Fred says.
"Dad's autistic and you never told us?"
"She did! You two weren't listening, but I can't blame you," Ginny tells them.
Then she turns to me; by this time, I'm slightly confused.
"Fred and George have ADHD, so it's hard for them to pay attention sometimes. That's why mum didn't completely go against the idea of them having a joke shop. They can jump between ideas really quickly."
"Is that why dad doesn't talk for long periods of time?" George asks.
"Probably," I reply.
"Autistic people can be non-verbal for extended periods of time. It's not that we're being rude. We just use up a lot of energy by talking when we need to use it to process things in our head. Or perhaps we've had a really bad case of sensory overload."
"Wait," Ginny pipes up.
"I think….dad, is the holiday season this year at the ministry as bad as it normally is?"
"Worse," he says with a nod.
"Much worse."
"That may explain it."
I nod and continue eating, staring at the animated jumpers as they interact with us.
All throughout the day, I find excitement at every turn. I'd never spent the holidays with the Weasleys, so this was quite interesting to experience. There are animated decorations at every turn and, around every corner, is a new Weasley twins' prank.
Ginny shows me the gnomes and I get bitten yet again. We wait to see what would happen and soon I find an urge to speak Mermish. Unfortunately, there are no mermaids around, so Ginny sits and listens to me passionately rant about the history of mermaids in their native language, which I promptly translate for her afterwards.
Christmas dinner happens at around dark; roast with mashed potatoes and gravy and some mixed veggies. Then come presents. For Ginny, I got her some muggle sweets as well as a book on the history of Quidditch. For Fred and George, a package of muggle magic tricks which I hope will inspire some new ideas for pranks. For Mrs. Weasley and Arthur each. a warm cardigan and an animated mug.
I too get some gifts in return. Ginny gives me several books on magical creatures and their care, including a signed copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by none other than Newt Scamander. Fred and George give me some homemade nasty sweets to give to people.
"Because, pardon me for the timing, but you do look super innocent," Fred reasons.
"Yeah, you don't really look like you'd play a trick on anyone," George agrees.
"So we think you might be able to get our Umbridge candies out there."
"Umbridge candies?" I giggle.
"You two! You two! You two! You two!"
They also give me one of the gnome families and a guide on the eggs of magical reptiles and birds. Arthur gives me a new set of paints. And Mrs. Weasley?
"Luna," she tells me.
"Look under your dinner chair."
I go over to the dining room table to find a cylindrical parcel under my seat. I unwrap it to find a beautiful, dark purple jumper with an L in blue and bronze stripes. On the sweater are hares, my patronus. One of the hares hops off of the jumper and runs around me before nuzzling up against my leg. Though it looks like a patronus hare, it feels very much like a real hare.
"How do you like it?" Mrs. Weasley asks.
I smile, and with tears of joy in my eyes, I run over and hug her.
"I love it," I tell her.
"It's beautiful."
I pull back and she smiles at me.
"Merry Christmas, Luna."
