A/N: Let us transition with an uneventful, yet heartwarming and information-revealing chapter. I've been lacking in motivation in finishing this fan fiction. This story takes priority over my other fan fictions, of course. I intend to finish this before Deathly Hallows comes out, and even if that means posting the last chapter the day of the release, I'll do it. I'm not sure anyone will read it, but...that's how it'll go down.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Christmas at the Burrow
"Oh, you made it! You made it!" Mrs. Weasley enveloped Harry in her affectionate embrace.
"Of course we made it," Ron mumbled into his mother's other shoulder, nearly losing hold of the fruitcake Hermione had cooked for the festivities. "Now, can you let go? I'm suffering from lack of oxygen."
Mrs. Weasley released her youngest son, and Hermione rushed forward to take a turn.
"We wouldn't miss it for the world," she said. "And, thank you for inviting my parents today, Mrs. Weasley."
"Nonsense, dear; they're part of the family. It's our pleasure," Mrs. Weasley reassured her. "And," she added, "I think you and Harry ought to start calling me by my first name. Merlin knows you're adults, now."
Harry smiled, and then someone suddenly reached from behind and covered his eyes.
"Let me guess…" he said. "Ah, I'd know those hands anywhere, George."
Ginny turned his shoulders around. "Very funny," she pouted.
"I thought so," Harry laughed. "It's good to see you."
"And I'm glad you're here." Her emphasis implied that she wanted him to stay there for a very, very long time.
A blonde girl stepped up from in back of Ginny. "Hello, Harry! Ronald, Hermione." Luna smiled pleasantly.
"I invited Luna over for the holiday," Ginny offered in explanation when Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared in bewilderment.
"Daddy's gone to Ireland to investigate the Kelpies," Luna said. "They're acting up again…oh, Ronald, did you by chance take a look at that Albania article I owled to you?"
"Er, yeah." Ron looked embarrassed. "But I'm not done. There's been a lot going on, and stuff."
"'He who excuses himself,'" Luna quoted, "'accuses himself'."
Ron stared at her curiously. "That's…interesting…"
"H-happy Christmas!" a timid voice exclaimed as it entered the room.
Percy shut the cold winter air out the house and began to remove his scarf from around his neck. Mrs. Weasley looked about to burst with happiness at the sight of him.
"Oh, Percy! You made it!" She gave him one of her bone-crushing hugs, too.
"I'm beginning to think she says that to everyone who walks in the door," Ron side-noted to Harry and Hermione.
"You should have seen her when Bill and Fleur got here," Ginny chimed in. "She's been a wreck all day. Emotional, and all that."
"I can't believe you could get away from work!" Mrs. Weasley was saying to Percy.
"Well, Mum, it is Christmas," Percy explained.
"That doesn't always mean something to the Ministry. I remember, years ago, when they kept him to the very last hour of Christmas Eve… That had to have been during the first war craze—"
She cut herself off, not wanting to recall—Harry figured—the bad memories. "Oh, forget all that. Nearly everyone's here now, except for the Grangers, and Remus and Tonks. Fred, do get those mugs out the cupboard—yes, just there—and Arthur, take that kettle off the stove. We'll have some hot cocoa while we wait."
News of Remus and Tonks' elopement had reached Harry's ears two weeks prior to the festive Christmas gathering. While a bit shocked at the sudden marriage, he was happy for them, knowing solidarity between the two would strengthen the Order of the Phoenix.
The Grangers arrived shortly after the Lupins, and at sundown the Christmas feast began. Everyone was eating pudding when the next bit of news revealed itself.
Bill stood up and tapped his glass with his dessert spoon. Everyone curiously directed their attention to him. "I have an announcement—"
Fleur, who was sitting to his right, tugged on the sleeve of his sweater and gave him a pointed look.
"That is to say, Fleur and I have a very important announcement to make," he amended.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley both visibly paled, and Fleur shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
Bill noticed, throwing an anxious glance toward his parents. "…Well, there's no easier"—he gulped—"way to, er, say it…"
"We're 'aving a baby!" Fleur suddenly exclaimed, jumping up.
The table erupted in cheers of delight, from Percy's nearly inaudible gasp, to the twins' whoops of excitement.
"We knew it wouldn't take that long," Fred said over the loud din of commentary.
"Yeah," George agreed, "and that reminds me, Fred; you owe me twenty Galleons, because you'd wagered Fleur would come back from the honeymoon pregnant—"
"Boys!" their father cried, standing in for Mrs. Weasley's usual reprimands, as she was entirely too busy interrogating the happy couple on Fleur's health. But soon the twins' conversation was drowned out, and Mr. Weasley didn't bother.
The light-hearted evening carried on, with much talk of basinets and whose mother would sew the embroidered blankets. Later, when the group had left the dining area to share some coffee and companionship, Lupin inquired after Percy's business at the Ministry.
"Er, well, I…" Percy seemed to be looking for the right words and appeared every bit as flustered as he had the day of Scrimgeour's disappearance. "I've been, as you know, taking care of business at the Ministry since Minister Scrimgeour's awful abduction, and…well, the Wizengamot has ruled that I should take his place. Permanently."
"Oh, my darling!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, hugging Percy for the umpteenth time. "I know you'll do right. I always knew you had it in you to be a great leader!"
"Well…" Percy paused again. "It's great, and what I've always wanted…and don't get me wrong, it's just…whenever I fantasized becoming Minister of Magic, it was to the desire of everyone. I would rather have been voted on for the job, instead of pushed toward it by my co-workers. They just needed somebody, and they chose me."
"But they did choose you, son," Mr. Weasley said, smiling fondly. "They chose you over everyone else."
"I suppose you're right," Percy agreed reluctantly. "But whenever Scrimgeour turns up, I'll be out of the picture once again."
"Oh, but didn't you hear?" Tonks asked from the couch opposite him.
"Hear what?" Percy's brow furrowed in curiosity.
"I hate to be the one to tell you this... A group of Aurors, Kingsley included, found his body in some cavern on the coast of Wales. I'm guessing the Ministry's keeping it quiet." Lupin gave Tonks a look.
"What?" she asked. "It's not like that information should be kept from anyone present. I'm sick of those Head Auror gits keeping this type of thing from people in Percy's position. That's corruption in the government, that is."
"You work for the government!" Fred and George exclaimed simultaneously.
"Even so, I call them as I see them."
Percy let out a shaky breath. "I suppose it's not a surprise, what with Dolores Umbridge's death a few weeks ago…"
"Umbridge? Dead?" Harry said in surprise.
"You didn't hear?" Tonks looked perplexed as to how he missed that bit of news. "She was murdered, by a group of wild centaurs in a forest, in Ireland, while she was on business, recruiting the Irish's help for the war effort."
Harry stifled the laughter erupting in his throat. Though they all hated the woman, Hermione would kill him for finding someone's death hysterically funny. It was rather inappropriate, he knew. Yet he couldn't get over it. Umbridge, killed by centaurs? It made sense, and he also wondered if the centaurs in question were relations of the ones in the Forbidden Forest.
Oh, it wouldn't do to get worked up over such news. Pushing these thoughts aside, Harry sat back, Ginny next to him, to enjoy the holiday. Everyone drank a cup of eggnog, presents were exchanged, and the ever-popular Celestina Warbeck album spun on the phonograph.
Mr. and Mrs. Granger were ready to depart later in the course of the evening, and Hermione hung by them closely. It was obvious to Harry that she'd missed them, and desperately so. She made her way over to him and Ron near the Christmas tree.
She sighed before speaking. "My parents want me to spend some time with them. It's only for a few days…"
"You should go; we know you've missed them these past few months," Ron said supportively. "Honestly, we all spend so much time together; I'm starting to get sick of you two." He laughed.
"Oh, very funny," Hermione said playfully. "And what a nice thing to say to your girlfriend."
"The truth hurts." She punched his arm for that one.
Harry took this moment to chime in. "Hermione, you might as well go. We're not sure of where to start looking for the Hufflepuff Cup, and there's still the brooch to destroy."
Hermione frowned. "I know, Harry. I just don't feel right leaving you boys with all the work."
"If it makes you feel any better," Ron began, "we could just goof off until you come back home, and not get a thing done. We'll save all the work for you!"
"I'm glad I can tell when you're kidding," she said. "Otherwise, you probably wouldn't be conscious right now."
Ron visibly paled and cleared his throat. "Er, right."
Hermione wrapped him in a hug. "I'll see you soon." She then hugged Harry. "Both of you," she added.
"We'll stick around here for awhile," Ron told her. "Mum will go ballistic without help to clean up, and she misses us too much, I think, for us to leave."
"I'll know where to find you," said Hermione. Fred and George brought her trunk down from Ginny's room, where she had been prepared to spend the night, and she left with a seeming reluctance in her wave.
Ron grumbled when Mrs. Weasley made him supervise the self-washing dishes. She insisted that Harry should get upstairs and try to sleep, although he protested.
He ascended to Ron's old room slowly. Harry opened the door and found it not quite the same. A light layer of dust covered the windowsills and dressers—more than usual—but that wasn't all. The overall atmosphere of the room had changed, and he knew this was due to the fact Ron hadn't been living in it for months.
The Burrow wasn't truly Ron's home anymore, or Harry's. Harry's only real home, before Godric's Hollow, had been Hogwarts. That chapter of his life had ended, and it frightened him a little to know that this new chapter was much, much more unpredictable than anything he'd dueled with before.
