(A/N: Don't drink.)
Chapter 12
A Very Merry Christmas
Christmas morning came early. The twins were up as soon as the sky showed the slightest bit change in shade, and had the rest of the household out of bed before dawn had even really begun.
Mrs. Weasley insisted that they all eat before starting on the large pile of presents under the tree. Though all the Weasley children groaned, Harry was secretly glad because he didn't feel awake enough for the chaos he was sure this holiday was about to become.
He'd discovered that the best way to protect yourself form the mayhem was to opt to hold the baby. Lynn was happy to let him, as she wanted to participate but didn't want to neglect Mary on her first Christmas.
Harry curled up in Mr. Weasley's easy chair cross-legged with Mary on his lap. Mr. Weasley was sitting on the floor with the rest of the boys, and didn't mind the loss of his chair. Harry played patty-cake with Mary, only looking up when somebody shoved a gift into his hands.
A few hours later the noise and movement was beginning to wear off. Everybody had a cup of steaming coco and a happy smile on their face. This was what Harry loved most about a big family. He wasn't accustom enough to the crazy parts to really know how to deal with it. But he loved being around all the happy people, surrounded by everybody that loved each other so much. His stomach gave a slight lurch when it occurred to him that he would never be able to have a large family.
Hermione and Ron, this being their anniversary were being openly affectionate in front of his family for the first time every. Hermione was leaning against him and Ron had his arms wrapped around her, much to the amusement of the twins and Bill, who had dealt with a lot of shit from Ron when he had his first girlfriend and intended to dish it right back out.
Ginny was sitting in Charlie's lap, humming out of tune Christmas carols to Sandy's stomach, while randomly spurting a name that they could use for their child. Sally was on Charlie's neck, hissing nonsense into his apparently very sensitive ear to make him laugh, which would always be followed by, "What did she say?" Harry would glance up at them occasionally, but most of his attention was on his games with Mary. He was suddenly really looking forward to starting his parenting class after the Christmas break.
Early afternoon, the doorbell rang, echoing throughout the house by magic to make sure that it was heard. Mrs. Weasley, who was out in the kitchen baking cookies, was the one to answer it.
She opened the door to the sight of three large men in bright red and green robes, who appeared to be in their late twenties. One had red hair and was wearing an elf hat. One had blue hair and a pair of antlers sprouting out of his head. The other had green hair and a Santa Claus hat. "Hello!" they said, simultaneously with matching grins.
"We heard Harry was hear?" the blue haired one asked.
"Why, yes, he is."
"Could we see him a moment?" asked the red head.
"Of, course. Harry dear! There are three young men here to see you."
Harry, in the other room, looked up confused. He handed Mary to Lynn and made his way around the rest of the family to the kitchen doorway.
"Harry!"
Harry blinked to see Brad, Chad, and Lad standing in the doorway. "Guys, what are you doing here?"
"Please come in," Mrs. Weasley said, now assured that they did in fact know Harry.
"We went to the school but Dumbledore said you'd come here. That's why we're late."
"Late for what?"
Brad grinned. "Everybody's at our house. Abby, Liam, Sis, Tony, Tiffany, Tony's new chick, Chuck, his wife Anna, his two daughters . We wanted to know if you'd like to come party with us for a little while."
Harry's eyes widened, and he felt warm inside to know that they wanted to include him in their group. "Yeah I want to go." He looked at Mrs. Weasley. "Do you mind?"
She blinked. "Of course not."
Harry grinned at them. "What's up with your robes, guys?"
"Come on, Harry," Brad said, picking him up in the air like he usually did, making Mrs. Weasley gasp. "We get shit all year about our robes being Christmas colors. You think we're not going to wear them on Christmas?"
Harry laughed, playing with the bell on the top of Brad's hat. "I just happened to pack mine. Do you want me to change into them?"
"You'll feel out of place if you don't. Tony, Tiffany, and Chuck are in theirs."
"Is Hermione here too?" Lad asked suddenly. "I read something the other day I'd love to tell her about."
"She's in the other room."
"Right through here," Mrs. Weasley said. The triplets and Harry on Brad's shoulder followed Mrs. Weasley into the family room. Everybody looked up to see what the commotion was. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George all sat up and grinned upon seeing the triplets.
"Everybody this is Brad, Chad, and Lad," Harry said, pointing to each of them in turn. "They're on the Catapults. I'm gonna go with them for a little while, so I'll see you all later, alright?"
Lad kneeled down beside Ron and Hermione and immediately started telling her something that made his eyes light up in a way that they usually only did when he and his brothers were causing trouble.
Chad sat down on the edge of the couch with Charlie, Sandy, and Ginny, immediately introducing himself to Charlie and shaking his hand.
"Alright Harry, so where is all of your stuff."
"Ron's room."
"Is that upstairs?"
"Very top. Right below the attic."
"Alright, here we go," Brad said, heading to the stairs.
"Brad!" Harry exclaimed. "You can not carry me all the way up seven flights of stairs."
"You wanna bet?"
"I always lose when you and I bet."
"Then that ought to teach you something," Brad said, starting up the stairs.
"You're going to seriously injure yourself."
"You're too light to hurt me."
"If you drop me I will maim you."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Harry laughed up the first two flights of stairs. Then, when he was sure they were out of hearing range, he bent down to get closer to Brad's ear. "I have some really great news to tell you guys."
"Really?" Brad asked. "Does it have something to do with a young red head?"
Harry grinned. "Maybe. But I'm gonna wait until you're all there to tell you about it."
"Want us to bring her with us?" Brad asked, turning his head to raise an eyebrow at Harry.
Harry blushed but declined with a shake of head. "No, that's okay."
When they finally reached Ron's room Brad deposited Harry on the floor and rolled his arm in circles. "I'm gonna have to carry you back down on the other one and even this out."
Harry laughed as he dug his robes out of his trunk. "Oh, Harry, we apparated here. I know apparating with somebody else can be dangerous if your not good at it, but I can do it. But if you're not comfortable I wouldn't. Do you trust me enough to apparate you there?"
"Of course I do," Harry answered, his voice muffled as he pulled his robes over his head to change into his team robes. "We're on a Quidditch team together. Trust doesn't get any deeper then that. I trust all of you with my life. But if you splinch me I'll maim you."
His team robes donned, Harry rolled his eyes when he was grabbed from behind yet again and placed on Brad's other arm. He took the stairs at a trot and despite trusting Brad with his life Harry held on tight.
"You're such a show off," Harry said as they reached the bottom of the last flight.
"Alright guys, our boy is here, let's get out of here before we break something."
Harry thought that Brad had a point. Despite that Weasley family was huge and had a tendency to be crazy, none of them were very large. If they were tall they were thin, if they were wide they were short. The triplets were very wide and very tall, and it made them stick out like a sore thumb in the room.
Chad said goodbye to Charlie, Sandy and Ginny, shaking Charlie's hand, kissing Sandy's, and giving Ginny a one armed hug. Lad tried to shove everything else he had to say in the next three seconds, Hermione nodding at him, Ron starring, confused, at both of them.
They went out into the kitchen, Harry having to duck to miss the doorway. Brad finally sat him back down. "You've worn yourself out," Chad said to Brad. "I'll take him."
Unwilling to do anything that would risk their seeker's safety, Brad nodded. "We'll meet you there." With that Brad disappeared, followed a moment later by Lad.
"I've never done this before," Harry said, as Chad held his hands out for Harry to take.
"You won't even feel it. It's usually parents who do it when they need to get their children somewhere fast. It just uses an inconvenient amount of power and can be dangerous if you don't know the person you're trying to transport."
"I'd say that in some ways you guys know me better then anybody else."
Chad smiled. "In some ways." He closed his hands around Harry's. "Watch my eyes Harry, don't look away."
Harry stared at Chad's hazel eyes but was aware as the world around him melted away and a new environment appeared. He blinked. That had been so different then what he did when he tried to waste his power. When he did that it was like blinking and being somewhere else. There was never any, melting sensation. He realized with a start that they were outside, it was snowing, and the December cold bit right through his team robes
He was caught from behind almost immediately by Tiffany. "Merry Christmas Harry!"
Harry laughed once he realized who it was, and allowed Tiffany to lead him and Chad in to where the others were waiting. The Bowl kitchen was stuffed with people, and food covered the table.
Tiffany made a noise of disgust when she saw Tony and his new girlfriend in the corner snogging like there was no tomorrow. Harry thought that this girl was much prettier then Tony's last girlfriend. Brad was holding mistletoe above Abby's head, but she was ignoring him in favor of waving at Harry. She had changed the purple and pink in her hair to red and green, and was wearing a red vinyl dress with white fur around the edge, complete with a vinyl Santa hat. Lad was trying to get a piece of mistletoe overtop of Liam and Chad, but both were ducking away from him. Chuck was seated at the head of the table, with one of his daughters on each knee, telling them a story that had them hanging in his every word. Anna sat beside him, writing something on a roll of parchment with glittering ink and chuckling occasionally at her husband's tale.
Natalie was by Harry's side immediately, brushing off the snow he had managed to collect in the few feet it took for him to walk inside. It was snowing rather hard here, whereas it had been clear at the Weasley's. She handed him a plate and told him to help himself and have fun. Brad, after giving up on Abby, poured a cup of eggnog and handed it to Harry.
"You'd best be careful with that," Natalie warned as she went back to the counter where she was still preparing something. "It's their secret recipe and it's probably a bit harder then what you're used to."
Harry looked into the glass, rolling the contents around. It certainly looked soft enough. After making sure nobody was watching, he stuck his finger in. It felt fine to him.
Liam, behind him, started to laugh, and Harry suddenly felt like he was missing something. The blonde bent down to whisper in Harry's ear. "She means there's alcohol in it, Harry."
"Oh," Harry said, feeling very stupid, and glad only Liam had seen. "What kind?" Liam probably thought he was some kind of moron. Harry always seemed to make an idiot of himself in front of him.
Liam shrugged. "I don't know, exactly, they won't even tell Natalie how they make it, and she's the chief chef of the house. I'm pretty sure I could get it out of Chad if you'd like."
"No, that's okay," Harry said, taking a tentative sip. Something in it burned the back of his throat, but it wasn't exactly an unpleasant sensation.
Tony eventually tore himself away from his girl long enough to come wish Harry a merry Christmas. Harry found it amusing how Tony couldn't seem to walk in a straight line. Natalie flat out refused the beater any more eggnog.
After being introduced to Chuck's family, Harry eventually ended up in a chair beside Lad, who refilled his glass for him. Abby and Brad sat down beside them. "Hey Harry, didn't you have something to tell us?"
"Oh yeah," Harry said, sitting up straighter. "Where's Chad?"
"I'll go find him and Liam," Brad said, jumping out of his seat and walking out of the room.
"They have triplet sonar," Abby explained. "They always seem to be able to figure out where the others are."
"Made hide and seek a drag," Lad said miserably.
Brad, Chad, and Liam returned a moment later, pulling up chairs to sit in a circle. Brad called Tiffany over, sure that she would want to hear what Harry had to say.
Harry felt a little on the spot, but thinking about what had happened that night made him warm inside. He told them what had happened after the dance. Tiffany was thrilled. Chad gave Harry a knowing smile that made Harry blush. To think he'd been here just over a week ago crying about the whole thing.
"So, what happened?" Tiffany asked.
"I just told you."
"No, Harry, after you both found out. Then what happened? Did you kiss?"
Harry blushed again. "No, we didn't. Nothing happened. We went to bed because we had to be up early to leave."
"What did you do the next morning?" Brad asked.
"Everything's been kinda awkward. We really haven't talked since."
"So what are you going to do now?"
"I don't know," Harry answered. "I was kinda hoping you guys would have some ideas.
As the group around Harry started to brainstorm, Chuck and Anna, each with a half asleep girl in hand decided it was time to head home. They said their goodbyes and left the crowded kitchen in two small pops. There was shouting in the family room, which resulted in a slammed door and a sulking Tony joining their group. Natalie refilled everybody's glass before finally giving up her cooking. She put some music on, the first music Harry had heard for days that was not Christmas carols. Their group broke up as everybody started to dance and Harry's advice was mostly forgotten.
Harry wasn't bothered by it though. He was enjoying watching everybody dance. Tony remained seated by Harry. He wasn't sure if the beater was too depressed to dance or too drunk. Harry learned that Liam traveled a lot because he was a professional dancer, and he came alive under the music.
Tony began to sneak more eggnog behind Natalie's back, filling Harry's glass too. Natalie was aware he was doing it, Harry was sure, but was letting him get away with it because his girlfriend had dumped him on Christmas day.
All three of the triplets were beginning to trip over themselves, having consumed too much of their own eggnog. Abby and Liam, both of whom refused to drink any, moved back to sit with Harry and Tony rather then get stepped on by the large, tipsy triplets.
"It's getting late. Shouldn't you be getting home, Harry?"
Harry glanced at out the window to see it was dark. "Yeah," he said, his voice breaking as he hadn't spoken for several hours, content to just observe. He stood up. His feet somehow didn't seem to work right, and the quick rise made his head swim. He tripped and fell back down into his chair, and nearly out of it.
Liam steadied him, concerned. "Harry, how much eggnog did you have?"
Harry tried to think, but when he did it made everything spin around. "I dunno," he answered, his words slurring.
"We shouldn't have let him have any alcohol," Abby said regretfully. Beside her, Tony fell off the chair and hit the floor with a large thump, but was ignored.
"Chad," Liam called, pulling the blue haired man over. "We've got to take Harry home. He's drunk."
Chad blinked several times. "Oops?"
Liam rolled his eyes. "How drunk are you?"
Chad shrugged. "Not that drunk. Just, kinda dizzy."
"There is no way I'm letting any of you three to try to take him. Think you're sober enough to get yourself there and think about me?"
Chad nodded. "Sorry, Liam, I didn't think about it."
"What's Liam doin'?" Harry asked, confused and having a hard time following the conversation.
"Liam's going to take you home Harry," Abby explained. "But he doesn't know where he's going so Chad is going to go first and then Liam is going to follow him."
"How?"
"It's a special type of apparation. Chad has to know that Liam is trying to do it and Chad has to think really hard about Liam. Liam has to think really hard about Chad and follow him within a few seconds or it won't work."
Harry didn't understand a word she said. "Oh," he answered.
Liam walked over and grabbed Harry's shoulders to help him stand. "Look at me Harry, okay?" Harry stared at Liam. His eyes were really dark green. All four of them.
"Go Chad." Chad disappeared with a pop and Liam followed with Harry right behind him.
Ron and Ginny sat at the table playing chess, Hermione watching. Mrs. Weasley was washing dishes. But in reality they were all waiting for Harry.
Two pops, in quick succession, announced his return. Liam, his hands on Harry's shoulders, gave Ron a meaningful glance before sitting Harry down in the closest chair.
"Oh, hello!" Mrs. Weasley said. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Mrs. Weasley, Ginny and Ron's mom."
Liam glanced at the three people at the table, pegging the two red heads as Ginny and Ron, and figuring the third had to be Hermione. "Hello, I'm Liam."
Chad, at this point, managed to trip over something invisible on the floor. Liam caught him, though he wasn't nearly as large as Chad and it wasn't exactly easy to hold him up. Once Chad was steady again, he threw a smile at Mrs. Weasley. "Sorry I can't stay and chat, but he's not feeling very well, and I best get him home."
Liam pulled Chad against him and closed his eyes. With a single pop they were both gone. "That's not very safe," Mrs. Weasley said with a frown. "Apparating somebody else without eye contact is very dangerous unless you really know the person."
Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, however, were not listening. They were staring at Harry, who was sitting behind Mrs. Weasley, and glowing.
Thinking fast, Ginny looked back at her mother. "Why's that?"
As Mrs. Weasley started to explain, the three watched in horror as Harry glowed particularly bright, then turned into a lion.
Ginny desperately tried to keep her mother's attention, and after a moment Harry turned back to himself. Except not in the chair. He was now over in the door way.
"So did you have fun, Harry?" Mrs. Weasley said, turning around, and jumping to see Harry had moved. "Oh, my. I could have sworn you were right behind me. I must have had a touch too much wine."
"Harry's really tired I think," Hermione said loudly.
"We're all gonna head up mom, see you in the morning." Ron added. He and Hermione rushed toward Harry and, each grabbing an arm, pulled him out of the room, Ginny following hurriedly.
They pushed Harry against the stair banister, where he promptly fell.
"Harry what the hell is wrong with you?" Ron asked in a harsh whisper.
"He's drunk," Hermione said, finally starting to put two and two together.
"My room's closest," Ginny said. Hermione and Ron each grabbed one of his arms, Ginny grabbed both his feet, and they began to drag him up the three flights of stairs to Ginny's room, praying they didn't meet anybody on the way.
They made it into Ginny's room but couldn't carry him any further. They dropped him on the floor, where he turned into a snake.
"Oh and he couldn't have done that while we were hauling his ass up the stairs?" Ron said bitingly.
"What'ss going on?" Sally said, coming out from under Ginny's bed.
"We're not really sure yet, Sal."
"He's drunk," Hermione repeated. "He's lost all control of his magical power. It's just wasting itself. This is bad. This can be really dangerous."
"Harry how smashed are you?"
Harry turned back into himself and giggled. "Tony was wearing vinyl and Abby got dumped!"
"Really smashed."
"So what do we do?"
"Well, we try to get as much of the alcohol out of him as we can."
"So we make him, what, puke?"
"Exactly," Hermione answered, opening Ginny's bathroom door.
"Oh, hell, no, I'm not going in there," Ron said, staring warily at the open door as if something might rush out at him.
"Oh, I am so fed up with men!" Hermione said, as she gave Harry a nice kick for good measure.
"Sal," Ginny said. "Do you think you could, well, do something that would make him throw up?"
"The most I can do is make him feel disgusted, but, he's so messed up it might not do anything."
"It's worth a try," Ginny said, grabbing Harry's leg and dragging him toward the bathroom.
"Woo hoo!" the mirror said as they entered. "An unconscious male on a bathroom floor is always a good start to an evening!"
"Not now, Jack," Ginny said as she and Hermione propped Harry up in front of the toilet. "You're on Sally," Ginny said, but before she could finish the sentence Harry retched and began to spew into the toilet.
"I didn't do a thing," Sally said, amused.
"I suppose you find this very amusing?"
Sally grinned. "Not now, but it will be in the morning."
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"Wake up, Harry."
He could here Sally's voice, but it hurt to actually listen to it, so he ignored it. A sharp pain shot across his forehead, like a whip. Harry jerked into a sitting position, his heart racing as memories of being in the clearing invaded his mind.
"It'ss jusst me, Harry. Oh, Harry, I'm ssorry, I didn't mean to make you think about that."
Harry stared at her, his fear forgotten. "Where am I?"
"With me, sexy!" came a male voice from the wall that Harry was pretty sure he recognized from somewhere.
"Ginny'ss bathroom."
His head hurt, and he felt sick. Nothing was making any sense. "What?"
"You're in Ginny'ss bathroom. You got drunk at the party lasst night and wouldn't sstop puking sso we decided to leave you in here."
The door opened, Hermione and Ginny walking in. "You're awake."
Harry groaned, pressing his hand against his forehead. "I think I'm going to be sick."
"Oh, please don't," came Jack's voice again.
Hermione put her hands on her hips. "I highly doubt that. There's nothing left on your stomach for you to be sick on."
Her voice made Harry's head pound. He turned, and pressed it against the cool metal of the toilet. "What happened?"
"After you finished being sick you passed out," Ginny answered him, pressing a cold cloth against his forehead.
Harry groaned. He'd never felt this sick in his entire life. "I think I need to lay down."
Ginny nodded, and helped him to stand and walk into her bedroom. She helped him sit on her bed, but he didn't lay back. "Tell me again what happened?"
"You went to the party last night, remember?"
Harry blinked, then most of last night came rushing back. "Oh, right. Eggnog." He closed his eyes and tried to orient himself, and fill in the missing pieces. "I remember right up until Liam told me it was time to go home and I tried to get up. How did I get home?"
"Well, I'm assuming the triplets were too drunk to take you safely. So Chad came alone, and then that other man followed him with you. I think he said his name was Liam. He had blonde hair."
Harry groaned. "Figures. I always seem to make an idiot of myself in front of him."
"Who is he, exactly?"
"Chad's fiancé," Harry said, pressing the cold cloth against his temple. "Then what?"
"Well, I suppose that's how Liam knew Chad well enough to apparate him out of there without eye contact. Chad was too drunk to take himself home, so Liam took him back. And you, well, we're not exactly sure what you did. You just sat there and glowed, and then you turned into a lion, and then you started popping around the room."
Harry's eyes widened. "Oh no, did anybody see?"
"No," Hermione answered, "thanks to Ginny's quick thinking she kept her mother distracted. We rushed you out of the room."
"What happened? Why'd I do that?"
"Because you were drunk, Harry," Hermione said impatiently. "Which means you lost all control of you magic. Do you realize how dangerous that is? You're lucky all you did was glow. You could have seriously injured yourself or somebody else. You have too much power to be that careless."
"Hermione," Harry groaned, holding his head.
"Let him go, Hermione. I don't think he meant to get drunk."
"What happened after that?" he asked.
"We carried you up here, you said a bunch of gibberish, and then Rose held you for hours while you puked yourself sober. Then you passed out."
Harry fell backwards into the comfort of the bed. His body was stiff from sleeping on the floor. "I'm never drinking eggnog again. I've never felt this sick before."
"You have a hangover, Harry," Ginny said sympathetically.
"What did I say?" he asked suddenly. "The gibberish, what was it, I didn't say anything," he looked at Hermione, his eyes panicky.
She realized with a start he was afraid he had said something inappropriate to Ginny. "All you said was that Tony was in vinyl and Abby got dumped."
Harry blinked, then grinned. "I meant it the other way. Tony got dumped. Abby was in this vinyl Santa dress."
"Who's Abby?" Ginny asked, suddenly jealous that some girl had paraded around Harry in vinyl.
"She's Brad's fiancé," he explained.
"So did you have fun before you go drunk?"
Harry tried to nod, then stopped as it shot a bullet of pain from his left temple to the back of his neck. "Yeah, I had a blast. Everybody but Liam and Abby was drunk. I didn't know I was. I felt fine all night, until the very end."
Hermione shook her head. "You have no alcohol tolerance Harry. What were you drinking?"
"Dunno," he answered, closing his eyes against the harsh light of the room. "It's the triplets secret eggnog recipe. They won't tell anybody what's in it."
Ron entered the room, and laughed when he saw Harry spread out on the bed with a cloth and his head and his eyes screwed shut. "The boy who lived is officially defeated by a hangover."
Harry tried to throw his cloth at Ron, but missed horribly, then regretted letting go of it.
"Hey Dean and Seamus wrote us. Neville passed all those tests. He actually has the gift." Harry was sure that at some point this information would be very exciting, but at the present time he could not have cared a bit less.
"We'll tell mom that something you ate there made you sick. You can camp out in here."
"Thanks," Harry said gratefully. It occurred to him that this was the most he and Ginny had talked since the night on the roof.
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After recovering, Harry spent the remainder of his vacation studying for his two N.E.W.T.s which he had to go back to school a day early to take. Though he had been studying all year, it suddenly didn't feel like enough.
Hermione eventually forgave him for getting drunk, after Harry swore that he knew what it meant now and would never make the same mistake again. Then she helped him to study.
Harry saw very little of Ginny for the rest of the vacation, and was glad because he wasn't sure what to do now. It was rather embarrassing, to throw up all night in front of them right after you've confessed your feelings to each other.
Ron had agreed to bring Harry's stuff with him on the train the next day, as Harry was flying back to school when it got dark, a day before everybody else was due to return. Harry decided it would be a great opportunity for him to make use of the chamber as nobody would miss him in the dorm that night.
With lots of hugs and good luck wishes, Harry said his goodbyes when the sun went down, and set out for a cold fly to Hogwarts.