Harry squirrelled himself away whilst the rest of us got to decorating. Mrs Weasley tried to situate herself in the kitchen but I chased her out, grinning as I said that she was not to lift a single finger and that this year, everything was on myself and dad. My Christmas present to her. She laughed and swatted at me lightly, telling me that she had to do some baking otherwise traditions would be ignored, so I allowed her to bake cookies, fudge and mince pies to her heart's content. We made a massive gingerbread castle styled after Hogwarts together with Ginny, which we decorated with the multitude of sweets and icing that I'd bought.
Our tree was now positioned in the dining room near to the kitchen where I'd worked tirelessly to make it useable for Christmas dinner. It was disinfected, all critters removed, the wallpapers taken down as they were so old and musty they were practically breathing spores, and replaced them with a fresh coat of mould killer which nicely returned the walls to the way they used to be, then filled any gaps or corrosion with magic wall-filler which instantly smoothed itself out to match the wall, before I then hung a great pair of curtains of deep, velvety red to hide the wall either side of the fireplace for the time being.
Every room now had a fire which constantly crackled, the smell of ginger and chestnuts roasting filling the house as decorations continued to be put up. Mistletoe hung from almost every door, snow continuing to fall in the hallway and I'd done away with the uglier of the ornaments and objects around the house so that there was much more room to move and things looked a great deal prettier. At least Tonks couldn't trip over that troll-foot umbrella stand anymore, though she found plenty of other things to trip over. Dad sang carols wherever he went, putting Santa hats on all of the elf heads which were mounted on the wall, which Hermione took in very poor taste when she arrived.
I was so busy with the house that I hadn't had too seconds strung together to worry about Harry, but when I mentioned my concern to Hermione she assured me she'd handle it with Ron and Ginny also heading up to wait for her to drag Harry out of hiding. Good, now that he was out of the upstairs room, I can sort out Buckbeak's room. It was the biggest other than my room, at the very top of the house and I spelled it so that it looked like a forest, with real trees and dirt underfoot which immediately put him into a much better mood. I'm glad, he was starting to malt from stress and being cooped up inside. After the spells for the scenery, I then placed an extendable charm on the room so that he could run and fly freely, the bright sky rising upwards to give him plenty of space to exercise which further improved his condition. I even charmed a breeze to blow every now and then, causing the snow to rise as he ruffled his feathers and played in it rather happily.
Mundugus later showed up with another Christmas tree with real fairies in it, so I directed it into the front room to cover up the Black family tree and hung plenty of gold and silver decorations on it, including strings of bubbles, chiming bells and a golden star on top which shone brightly. When Harry finally came down, his eyes were wide and alight with wonder, looking around him in disbelief as I tackled him. "Harry! Merry Christmas! Come on, there's still so much to do. I need you to take these and hang them all the way up the banisters, then once you're done with that the chandeliers need polishing. Don't worry, if they break I'll fix them, Fred and George were supposed to be doing them but I think they got distracted…"
Giving him a list of things to do seemed to be the right thing, since he was soon too busy to think or worry about anything, much less being possessed by Voldemort. The twins had told me what they'd overheard at the hospital from Moody and the others, to which I'd snorted and proclaimed it to be utter nonsense. Harry wasn't possessed, he was just…well, I don't really know the term for it, but he's not possessed. Anyway, I made sure that Harry was always paired with at least two people so that he felt included, with strict instructions to the twins to not ask him anything more about his visions or Voldemort, or I'd turn them into stockings and hang them over a fire.
I even managed to organise a trip for everyone to get any last minute Christmas shopping done. Moody had been heavily against it, saying that it was much too dangerous to be out and about, so I reasoned with him that we could stagnate the days and allow only a few of us to go at a time, and if I went with Harry as well as one or two more aurors, then nothing would happen to him with so much protection. "We can even change his appearance, I'm good at that. Give me ten minutes and you won't even recognise him." Eventually Moody agreed as, surprisingly, Molly and dad banded together in the spirit of Christmas.
It was possible that Molly wanted everyone to take their minds off Arthur in the hospital, and Christmas shopping always made people feel better so after a little more debating, Moody was overruled. He set out strict rules for Harry, though. He wasn't to stray more than three feet away from any of us at any given time, he wasn't permitted to enter a shop on his own, wasn't allowed to talk to strangers, wasn't allowed to make eye contact with strangers…it was a pretty long list. Still, everyone was eager to go, so I gathered Ron, Harry and Hermione together on the first day to escort them into London. Moody was constantly surveying our surroundings, whilst Tonks and Shacklebolt – who had happened to drop by and volunteered to come too – seemed to be enjoying the pleasant stroll.
When we got to Diagon Alley, it was rather crowded which made Moody grumble, but I cheerfully kept us all together and we all got the last bits of our Christmas shopping. Harry seemed to be glad to be out and about, his previous foul mood now completely gone as the infectious atmosphere of the season cheered him up brilliantly, he and Ron laughing over something together. The next day was Fred, George and Ginny's turn, and when we returned I was greeted with a wonderful surprise. "Uncle Rem! You're back!" Running to him I tackled him with a hug as he laughed, squeezing me tightly. "You're just in time too! How have you been? I would have written more but I thought it wouldn't do well for you to be receiving so many letters whilst you're so busy…"
"I'm perfectly well Mia, thank you. Your potions have been doing wonders." He said to me so I flushed happily, pleased that they were working for him. He certainly looked better. His robes didn't hang off him and they looked neat and whole, no longer shabby and ruined. There was colour in his cheeks and his eyes were bright, so I smiled and kissed his face before taking his hand and marching him into the kitchen to help me unpack the final supplies I'd gathered for Christmas. I'd really splurged on it, completely throwing myself into the role of hostess as dad did the same, the two of us singing together merrily until Uncle Remus would laugh at us. "You two, honestly you're such a pair." We'd then flash him the same grin and usually, dad would chuck something at him.
By Christmas Eve I was exhausted but glowing, sitting by the fire in the kitchen and falling asleep, head lolling dreamily, listening to the adults talking quietly around the table. They were planning the visit to St Mungo's tomorrow to visit Arthur, who unfortunately was not yet well enough to come home for Christmas, so Christmas would be brought to him. Eventually I heard dad and Uncle Remus suggesting that I go up to bed so I gave a sleepy yawn and stretched, uncurling my toes from within my fluffy slipper boots before getting up. I went through my usual routine of kissing people on the cheek goodnight, though I was so tired I didn't even realise that I also kissed Tonks, Moody and Shacklebolt too until I heard his deep, good natured laugh.
"Tired are you Mia?" Dad teased me but I just hummed in agreement, giving them a smile as I kissed Molly, Uncle Remus and then finally, dad.
"G'night. Merry Christmas everyone." They all chorused back to me as I began to trudge upstairs, yawning as I went but feeling exceedingly peaceful and content. By the time I reached my room, Ginny and Hermione were fast asleep, my starry ceiling twinkling over us as silvery lights drifted around my room, changing from stars to snowflakes and back again. I climbed into bed and quickly found sleep, still thinking in my head all the things I would need to do tomorrow so that everyone had the most perfect Christmas.