Christmas Collection Challenge. Prompt: (plot theme/action) Decorating the Christmas Tree
Decorating The Tree
Remus moved the armchair from the corner of the room, placing it on the other side, and pushed the sofa up, clearing the corner.
He unpacked the tree and made quick work of setting it up.
Satisfied that the branches were filled out properly, and after a few charms to keep the tree fresh, to keep the branches from bowing under the weight of any decorations, and to clear the tree of any bugs that it may contain, Remus headed to the kitchen to make dinner.
...oOo...
Hermione and Harry were relaxing on the sofa, with Hermione's legs across Harry's lap and her head on a pillow on the other side of the sofa, when they were alerted of a fire-call.
"Aunty Hermione!" Teddy shouted excitedly. "Aunty Hermione? Where are you?!"
Hermione smiled, quickly getting up from the sofa and heading towards the fireplace where Teddy was looking around.
He spotted her and giggled. "I'm in the fire," he said.
"Does your daddy know?" Hermione asked.
Teddy nodded. "I asked Daddy if you can help with the Christmas tree, and he said we would ask you after dinner and dinner is finished now, so you have to come over and help us with the tree!"
...oOo...
Hermione laughed at the room as she got out of the fireplace. The decorations were sorted by colour and by type. "Very organised," she commented. "Are you sure you need my help?"
Remus grinned at her. "Well, you did take your time coming over," he replied. "Me and Teddy decided to sort through the decorations as we waited."
"Take my time?" Hermione replied. "I was only ten minutes!"
Remus laughed at the expression on her face. "Well, now that you're here, we could use a hand. Sirius usually takes over tree-duty with Teddy, but he's away..."
"Remus Lupin, are you that bad at decorating a tree?" she teased, heading towards the boxes of lights. "Electric lights? You might as well return these to the shops. I know spells that'll have the same effect and save on your electric bills."
Remus nodded, taking the boxes and setting them on a counter at the side. "That's great. I couldn't believe how expensive lights are. It's ridiculous."
"It is," Hermione agreed, heading to the tree and casting a Lumos. With a flick of her wand, the light flew towards the tree, separating into hundreds of little lights and falling amongst the branches.
Hermione cast the spell a second time, before drawing the curtains and turning off the light in the room.
"Once more, or is that enough?" she asked.
Remus tilted his head, observing the tree. "I think that's perfect," he said, after a long moment. "You'll have to show me that spell."
She nodded. "I know spells that'll put all these decorations on in seconds, but where is the fun in that? Where do you want to start?"
Remus shrugged. "We have beads and we have tinsel."
"Tinsel takes up the most space, so we should get that on first, then the beads and leave the baubles until last."
"Wonderful plan," Remus said. "Teddy, what colour tinsel this year?"
Teddy looked over the stack of silver tinsel and the stack of gold for a moment, before looking around further. "Red," he decided.
Hermione grinned, reaching for the large pile of tinsel and bringing it over to the tree. "Remus, if you start at the top, me and Teddy will cover the bottom."
She knelt down with Teddy at her side and they slowly began to place the first piece together, as Remus reached up to the top with his own.
...oOo...
"You know that the bottom looks better," Hermione grinned. "Me and Teddy could be professional tree decorators."
"You could, but you'd then only have about a month of work, if that," Remus pointed out, already reaching for the baubles.
"Do you want certain colours, or just..." Hermione trailed off as Teddy began to haphazardly place various coloured baubles onto the tree. "I guess that answers my question."
Remus smiled at her again. "When it comes to baubles, anything goes."
Hermione turned around, looking until she found some large silver and gold baubles. She quickly hung them all onto her fingers, and headed over to the tree to begin decorating.
...oOo...
They stepped back and looked over their handiwork, all very satisfied with the results.
"Thank you for the help," Remus said, turning to Hermione. "Now, you must let me make you a hot-chocolate."
"I should tidy -"
Remus shook his head, grabbing the tinsel that had been tied around her waist. "Trust me, I'm good with cleaning spells," he stated, gently tugging her towards the Kitchen. "Plus, Teddy will enjoy playing with the left-over decorations until I pack them away later."
"Can I have hot-chocolate too?" Teddy asked, before yawning loudly.
Remus looked at the clock, his eyes widening in surprise. "Time really flew," he commented. "Teddy, you should have been in bed half an hour ago!" He hesitated. "Just a quick hot-chocolate before bed."
Teddy grinned, settling on the chair next to Hermione and awaited the hot drink.
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