Christmas Eve day started with all of us running outside after breakfast for a huge snowball fight. Not to anyone's surprise, the twins immediately teamed up against the rest of us. I quickly grabbed up as many snowballs as I could and tossed the snowballs at the twins, ducking and diving as they threw theirs at me. After a half hour of that, I shrunk down until I was the cutest six year old I could think of, and ran toward the twins, looking up at them with big eyes.
"Don't hit me with snow," I whimpered, reaching a hand up toward them.
"To bad," they said together before they pummeled me with snow, making me sheik as I went back to my normal form and ran behind a tree.
Suddenly snow flew down my shirt, making me squeal and force my had down the front of my shirt to get it out. I heard a familiar laugh and looked up to find Harry laughing his butt off.
"Oh you asked for it, boy wonder," I growled before taking off after him, bending down to scoop up a big snowball as he ran into the trees. We chased after each other, ducking behind trees and running at each other at full speed, throwing snow balls a each other like some sort of muggle spy movie. We were acting like we were nine years old.
Suddenly, it became Harry who kept chasing me around the field of trees chucking as many snowballs at me as possible while I was running backwards to be able to dodge them, also throwing the occasional one at him. Harry may be good at avoiding Bludgers but throw a snowball at him, it'll hit him every time. We were outside for so long that snow was starting to fall around us until Harry caught me round the waist and we fell to the ground. He ended our own little snowball fight the game by pressing a snowball right on my head and rubbing it into my hair.
"Harry!" I shrieked. "Stop! It's cold! Please! Stop! Harry!"
I was getting wet and very cold now that Harry was pressing down and into the snow. I was done playing. I wanted to be warm again!
"Say I win," Harry laughed.
"I win!" I shouted happily. Well, he did tell me to say 'I win'.
Harry pressed another piled of snow into my hair, making me squeal and squirm beneath him. I tried to push him off but he was too heavy and I was laughing to much.
"OK! You win! You win! I surrender! Stop!"
"That's better," Harry chuckled before he stood, reaching a hand down to help me to my feet.
I brushed myself off quickly, getting the chunks off snow out of places cold things shouldn't be before I looked up at Harry, who was smiling brightly at me. I started chuckling and moved toward him to fix his crooked glasses, hair a mess and full of snow.
"You've got snow in your hair," I told him as I reached up and let my fingers trail over his hair, brushing off the snow. It was so softer than I remembered from the last time I had touched it.
As I pulled back my hand I felt it get taken but my eyes were still gazing into his. Though my heart felt like it was pounding in my chest I could barely feel myself breathe. He was so close to me. He was looking down at me, his face so near to mine that I could feel his breath on my face.
I smiled, turning away from him and moving toward the Burrow. "Come on, boy wonder," I called back to him.
Harry caught up to me easily, nudging me with his shoulder as he drew up beside me, nearly knocking me over. I rolled my eyes at him and nudged him back before the Burrow came into sight, Fred and George standing in the doorway.
"Come on, you two," "If you do that out there-" "-Harry could loose something important-" "-We have enough rooms inside for you to use," the twins yelled to us.
My hair turned a bright red, partially because of the anger that flared up in me because of what the twins had said, and partially because of the embracement that flashed through me. Not to mention that fluttering feeling I felt in my stomach at the thought of anything like that.
Harry and I entered the house in silence, not looking at each other as the twins told us that lunch would be ready any minute and to go clean up. I rushed upstairs to Ginny's room before stealing to bathroom for quick shower before changing.
When I came down after changing, the whole house was filled with the most wonderful smells that made my mouth water. The lunch ended up being amazing. There was not an inch of the table in view as the food piled up. Ginny and I were in charge of helping Mrs. Weasley cook it seeing as she didn't want to put up with Fleur in the kitchen by herself. Mrs. Weasley really didn't like her future daughter-in-law and to be honest, when she told me I needed a haircut, I wasn't too fond of her either. Ginny was still calling her Phlegm behind her back. Good way to deal with her frustration I guess. At just after twelve, the rest of those gathered there came into the dining room and we sat down to Christmas lunch. It was a relaxed meal although it did have it's high points, like when Ron nearly spilled gravy all over Fleur.
"You are as bad as zat Tonks," she said indignantly which made me glare at her. There was nothing wrong with Tonks, she was just clumsy.
"I invited dear Tonks to come along today," Mrs. Weasley said, adding emphasis as she placed down a dish of carrots. "But she wouldn't come. Have you spoken to her lately, Remus?"
I looked at Lupin as he replied, "No, I haven't been in contact with anybody very much. But Tonks has got her own family to go to, hasn't she?"
It was strange. As he'd answered, Lupin had looked almost uncomfortable to talk about it. I mean, while the two of them had been staying at Grimmauld Place with me over the summer, I had gotten the impression that the two of them were together. Were they fighting or something?
The night of Christmas day, the night before we were to return to Hogwarts, I was heading to bed after saying goodbye to Lupin when I spotted Harry sitting on the stairs looking out the window. He stood when I came closer, making me feel sort of awkward as I stood there in front of him.
"You heading to bed?" I asked, not sure what else to say, or else run past him rudely and up to bed.
"Not yet," Harry shrugged.
"Planning on catching Santa in the act?" I asked with a grin.
"There isn't a Santa," Harry said, looking confused.
I stuck my lower lip out and crossed my arms over my chest, trying to act like a five year old. "Yes there is! There is a Santa!"
Harry chuckled and shook his head. "Alright, alright,"
I smiled at my victory before giving him a quick hug, pulling away before that fluttery awkward feeling could set into my stomach. "Merry Christmas,"
"Merry Christmas," he smiled back.
Just then, a fire erupted outside the window.. Harry and I looked out to see that a ring of fire had appeared around the house. A plume of black smoke touched down to reveal a grinning Bellatrix Lestrange, my murderous cousin who had killed both my parents within a year of each other.
Within a second of her appearing, I was racing down the stairs, my wand drawn as I reached the door, Harry yelling after me. "Is my half-breed morphing cousin here, dog?" I could hear Bellatrix yell to Lupin before I came into view, running past both he and the Weasleys. "Never mind, I found the next best thing. A blood traitor!"
"Rebecca!" I could hear them yelling to me as I raced after Bellatrix, running past the ring of fire and following her into the tall weeds.
"I killed Sirius Black! I killed Sirius Black!" she sang as she ran away from me, taunting me. "You coming to get me? Rebecca, can you get me? You coming to get me because I killed your mother?"
"Shut up! Come out and face me!" I screamed, still running on lengthened legs, lengthened so much that the were beginning to hurt. "You don't fight fair ever do you? You killed my mother while she was down! You killed my father while his back was turned! Why don't you face me?" I yelled.
Silence followed. I kept running though, until I came to a cleared area where everything was completely silent… until I heard a growl. I turned slowly until I came face to face with Fenrir Greyback, the same werewolf who had bit Lupin when he was young.
"Hello, Ugly," I smiled.
He growled again and charged at me, forgetting his wand.
"Stupefy!" Two Stunners hit the werewolf, and sent him flying backwards and into the weeds. I spun to see Harry running toward me, grabbing my arm and pulling me with him. Spells started flashing out at us, and we stood back to back in the center of the clearing, our wands up to block the spells.
"Harry!" I heard Mr. Weasley yell. Before long Remus and Mr. Weasley both appeared and stood beside us ready for the oncoming spells… but none came.
"They're going for the house," I whispered to them. All three of them looked down at me in surprise before I could hear Bellatrix and Greyback wisp away. "Go! Apparate! Now!" I yelled at them.
The world suddenly spun, rolled over, flopped and was twisted as my body was forced into a small tube before it was forced out again. I felt my stomach heave and I only bent over in time before the contents of my stomach were emptied on the ground in front of me. I could hear a fight near me and whooshing but I wasn't bothered by it, since people were surrounding me.
Finally, once the need to vomit left me, I looked up to find the top two floors of the Burrow on fire, which Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were tending to while Lupin was eyeing the sky carefully. Apparently it was over, and we were all safe for now.
Author's Note: We all know you'd be puking in the middle of all the action too. : )
