Chapter Sixteen: Deck The Halls
As soon as Harry woke up from his nap, Severus put a fresh diaper on him and then bundled him up and took him outside to play in the snow. Meanwhile Stevie watched some television as it was Sarah's turn to get ready for her nap. Harry loved rolling in the snow and making snow angels and then he and Severus made a snowman together.
Once Harry decided that he was cold enough Severus decided to take him inside to warm him up with some hot chocolate. The next day Severus went out to go get a Christmas tree while Harry and Sarah stayed home with Lily and Stevie.
Later on, that afternoon Stevie decided to venture off a crossed the street to finally meet the new neighbors. After she had knocked on the door a stout witch with red hair came to answer it while a couple of boys ran around in the background.
She quickly turned her head to look over her shoulder. "Fredrick and George Weasley! Stop putting fake spiders into your brother's bed or you can be sure that there will be lumps of coal in both of your stockings this Christmas!" She threatened before turning back to look at Stevie and smiled brightly. "Ello there dearie what can I do for you?" She questioned her.
"Umm hullo,.. my name's Stephanie Wilde although I prefer to be called Stevie and I'm staying a crossed the street with my uncle." She explained while gesturing over at the house with a wave.
"Well nice to meet you Stevie I'm Molly Weasley. Why don't you come inside and meet the rest of the family? Fred and George are a bit of a handful but I'm sure that you'll like the rest of the family. Bill's my oldest and he's closer to your age so you both might have a bit in common. In fact, do you attend Hogwarts?" She wondered.
"Yes I do, I'm in my fifth year." She replied.
"Well Bill's only in his second but at least you'll have some things to talk about then. What house are you?" She questioned her and Stevie suddenly went silent and sucked in her cheeks. "Is something the matter?" She wondered.
"Oh it's nothing it's just that, I'm not sure what you think about Slytherins." She told her.
"Ah I see,.. well I think that it's the witch or wizard that makes the house and not the other way around and so far you seem like a rather nice young lady so go ahead and come right on in. Ginny's taking a nap right now but knowing how her brother's are she'll probably be awake really soon." She said.
"How old is Ginny?" Stevie wondered while she stepped inside.
"She just turned a year old in August." Molly replied.
"Really? She's really close to Harry and Sarah's age then." Stevie said before quickly covering her mouth with her hand as she remembered that she wasn't supposed to mention Harry's name but it was already too late.
"Harry? Do you mean Harry Potter?" She inquired and suddenly the whole entire house (burrow) grew silent and Fred and George looked up at their mother with interest.
"What about Harry Potter?" He wondered.
"I met him." Ron said as he walked into the living room and then sat down and started playing with his toys. "He's nice." He informed them and before Molly could say anything else baby Ginny started to cry from her nursery upstairs.
"Oh bother." Molly began with a slight shake of her head. "I'm sorry Stevie I'll be back down as soon as I possibly can." She told her before running up the stairs two at a time to tend to her daughter.
Meanwhile back at home Sarah was just starting to wake up from her nap as Severus came back with their new Christmas tree. "I'm back!" He shouted back down to the nursery.
"Alright sweetheart I'll be there as soon as I can!" Lily exclaimed before she went back to changing her daughter's diaper.
"Careful Harry, you need to get out of the way so you don't get hurt. Then you can help me and your mother decorate it afterwards." Severus told him and Harry quickly grabbed his stuffed dragon and leapt up onto the couch while Severus withdrew his wand. "Wingardium Leviosa." He said with a quick swish and flick of his wand and levitated the pine tree off the ground and started pushing back towards the wall at the end of the room and then finally dropped the spell.
Harry just simply watched with amazement. He had been fascinated with wands ever since he was old enough to know what they were, and he couldn't wait until he was old enough to do magic himself. After Lily finished changing Sarah and nursing her, she took her out in the living room to play with her baby toys while Harry and Severus decorated the tree.
"Where's Stevie? I would have thought that she would have wanted to help us as well.
"I'm not sure. She went out for a walk a little bit ago, but she never came back." Lily told him.
"Well she better get here soon it's almost time for supper." He began. "Oh and I'm doing Sarah's bath and bedtime routine tonight and you're doing Harry's right?" He questioned her with uncertainty as Lily nodded.
"Yep, that is correct." She told him. "Oh and Harry I was wondering if you wanted to help me bake Christmas cookies tomorrow." She said as Harry just simply grinned and Severus chuckled.
"Well I'm sure that Harry would love to but you just better make sure that he doesn't eat more than he makes." He told her while he and Harry finished decorating their new Christmas tree together. Severus held Harry high up on top of his shoulders so he could put the star on top.
"Do you remember what the star is for Harry?" Lily asked him.
"Baby Jesus." He replied with a grin.
"Close, it's what the wise men followed to get to baby Jesus to give Him the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh." She told him.
"I bet He also wanted a puppy." Harry said.
"Harry, don't start." Lily warned while pointing a finger at him. "If I hear another word out of you about a puppy then there will be no dessert tonight." She told him as Severus put him down and he folded his arms and glared at her. "Do you want to go into timeout?" She questioned him.
"No!" He cried.
"Then you need to drop the attitude right now mister." She told him before the door suddenly opened and Stevie came inside.
"Where have you been?" Severus questioned her while looking up at her.
"Oh, I was just a crossed the street meeting the new neighbors is all." She replied.
"So how did it go then?" Lily wondered as she started nodding her head at them.
"It went really well,.." she began. "and they want to meet Harry." She finished and that's when Lily and Severus just simply looked at each other and then back at her. The house grew so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
