Chapter 65
Christmas Morning

Cassie awoke that morning to an annoying banging on the bedroom door. Hermione and Ginny had heard the noise, too, and all three girls were sitting up, looking at each other in vague confusion. "Come on, girls! It's Christmas morning! We've got presents!"

"Oh, honestly, Ron," Hermione muttered to herself and she stumbled over to the door and flung it open, pulling her bathrobe tight around her as she did so. Louder then, she spoke to the redhead who was about to pound on the now-open door again. "Ron, it's early."

"It's not that early - the sun's up and it's about 7. I've been up for two hours. Harry made me wait."

"Yes, I did," said Harry from behind Ron. "He's always like this on Christmas morning. I had to threaten him with a full-body bind if he tried to get up."

"Good thinking, Harry!" Ginny called, sitting up in bed and pulling the covers up to her chin. Harry poked his head around the now snogging couple in the doorway and smiled in at her. "Happy Christmas, Ginny."

"Happy Christmas, Harry." Cassie watched the two of them as they looked across the room at each other. She felt a momentary twinge of envy at their unsullied joy in each other. But that was quickly set aside when she heard two other voices in the hall.

"I should have known we couldn't beat Ron down here. How old are you now, Ron? Four?" She flushed slightly as George stuck his head through the door. "Good morning, Cassie."

"Happy Christmas, George." She felt suddenly shy, remembering how hungrily he had looked at her in his shirt two nights ago and undecided whether she wanted to see that look on his face again or not. It had scared her, almost.

"Happy Christmas."

"Come on, girls. Get up!" Ron had stopped snogging Hermione long enough to look at Ginny and Cassie with a bit of frustration. "Mum won't let us start until we're all down there."

"I can't get up."

"Neither can I."

"Why not?"four boys asked, Fred having pushed his way into the room past the crowd in the doorway.

"We're not decent. Now get out and let us get dressed." Ginny kept the covers tight around her neck and Cassie realized rather belatedly that George was staring at her with undisguised interest at the way she looked in his shirt. She was still trying to decide whether it would be more obvious to draw the covers up to her neck now or just to sit there turning bright red like a tomato for everyone to see. Fortunately, she didn't have to decide, because Hermione shooed all the boys out and shut the door before she did either.

"We'll be waiting out here in the hall for you. Make it quick."

The three girls looked at each other with barely veiled amusement. "Is he like this every year?"

"Yes. I don't think he sleeps at all Christmas Eve. Silly prat." But Hermione's tone had a note of tenderness in it that told Cassie she didn't really mean the insult. The three of them hurriedly threw on their clothes. Cassie looked at the new clothes her parents had brought her the night before. One of the boxes had a semi-dressy outfit in it, black slacks and a bright red blouse, shot through with gold. Cassie thought it looked Christmasy. She imagined that the Weasleys took some sort of pictures of everyone opening presents and she thought that she wanted to look nice for them. Both Hermione and Ginny were slipping on jeans and T-shirts and Cassie looked worriedly at the two of them.

"Am I too dressed up?"

"No. You look really nice. It's just . . . well, um . . ."

"What Ginny's trying to say diplomatically is that we will both undoubtedly get a Weasley jumper and Molly will want us to put it on right away. So there's no use putting on anything else fancy."

"Oh." Cassie forced a grin. "Well, that makes sense. No problem, then." There was renewed pounding on the door.

"Are you about done? It's going to be lunchtime before we get downstairs."

"Oh, get a grip, Ron!" said Ginny but she threw the door open to his pounding. "Are Mum and Dad even up yet?" Ron flushed and George laughed heartily.

"They are now! But they're not happy about it." The three girls laughed and hurried to the bathroom, where they each took a short turn brushing their teeth and otherwise getting ready for the day.

Ron and Hermione headed downstairs first, Hermione shooting the other two an amused glance before she disappeared. Ginny and Harry settled against a wall, talking softly, their hands intertwined and their eyes sparkling. George, Fred, and Cassie looked at each other with raised eyebrows. George looked at Fred and then rather meaningfully at the stairs. "I get the hint. I'm going, I'm going. I can't wait till I get to snog my girlfriend. I'm tired of being the odd man out around here." But his voice was light and his smile was mischievous as he headed downstairs after his younger brother.

"Cassie." There was a world of meaning in that word and Cassie allowed herself to be pulled into a warm embrace, her arms sneaking around his neck. "I . . . hope you have a nice Christmas." She smiled and kissed him gently.

"I will."

"But you've got to miss your family."

"Not yet, but I probably will during the day. And that's okay, I'll survive. It was good to see them last night." Cassie glanced up at George as he rested his chin on the top of her head.

"Your parents are very nice. Your brothers are fun. They remind me of Fred and myself somehow. Even though they're different ages rather than twins."

"Maybe that's why I like you. You're like a substitute brother." George laughed and the rumble of it through his chest made Cassie grin into his shirt.

"That must be it. You haven't asked me what your parents and I talked about last night."

"I'm too nervous."

"You're nervous! Think about me!"

"It's all over for you, why should you be nervous?"

"Well, your dad asked me what my plans were. I told him about the shop and everything. Your mum asked me if I had dated a lot before I met you. I told her the truth and said I had dated a few girls, but none of them seriously. Then your dad asked if I could support myself and I said that we were making enough to support ourselves, invest in the shop, and pay for Ginny's and Ron's school, their supplies, and help Mum and Dad out. He was impressed with that, but I don't think your mum was. She asked why we still lived at home, then." Cassie laughed. "I told her it had to do with the war more than wanting our mum to still take care of us, but then she got this really worried look on her face so I changed the subject. Finally, your dad asked what my intentions were with you."

"He did?"

"Of course. I knew that was coming. That's what he really wanted to talk about, you know. Everything else was just leading up to it."

"What did you say?"

George smiled and bent down, kissing her gently. "I said that despite all of the logical arguments against it, I am quite in love with you, and that as long as you don't object, I would like to keep seeing you."

"I don't object."

"Come on! Everyone's waiting!" Ron's voice was aggravated from the stairs.

"Your mum had some rather choice words to say concerning my behavior. Apparently, she thinks I'm a bit forward with you."

"Come on! Talk later!" George scowled at Ron and then took Cassie's hand.

"I'll talk to you more later. What I really wanted to say was that I know today' going to be hard for you, but I'm glad you're here."

"Me, too." They followed a very impatient Ron down the stairs, through the kitchen door, and into the living room, already full of people.

"Finally!" said Mr. Weasley and his eyes twinkled as he saw them. Ginny and Harry had obviously not talked as long as the two of them had because they were already sitting relaxed on the couch. Remus and Tonks were in the room, although they were selecting some toast and coffee off two trays in one corner of the room. George picked up a piece of toast and offered one to Cassie.

"Eat a bit of toast. That way, you can have more chocolate without getting ill."

"Great. Good to know." She took the piece of toast from him and grabbed another off the tray, considering having some coffee, but deciding against it. There was cocoa available as well, but considering what George had just said, she decided to avoid any more chocolate. George sat down at the other end of the couch and Cassie snuggled right up against him, partly because there was no room to do otherwise, and partly because she wanted to. Remus and Tonks moved away from the tray, situating themselves on chairs one opposite ends of the room and Cassie watched Remus look covertly through half-staff lids at Tonks as she munched happily on her toast completely oblivious to the longing in his eyes. Cassie sighed, but turned her attention to the tree. It was beautiful: the candles lit, the ornaments twinkling, the icicles twisting and catching the candlelight. There were presents piled beneath it and Cassie's eyes automatically sought out the ones she had placed under there. She hoped that everyone liked what she had got them. She had to admit that she was quite nervous.

"Well, another year has come around," Arthur started, standing and looking around at the assembled group. "I'm glad to have all of our guests here. Harry, Hermione, Cassie, Remus, and Tonks, welcome! And, Happy Christmas!"

"Here! Here!" everyone said and there was smattered applause.

"Can we start? Please!" Molly nodded and Cassie started in total shock. The five Weasley children descended on the tree like locusts, pulling out presents, tossing them to each other, and ripping into the wrapping like they were possessed. Cassie could tell immediately that the usual organized, slow way her own family opened their presents was not used here. This was insanity. She saw her own small pile of presents as the grasping hands approached it.

"Stop!" Everyone froze. "I want to see you people open the presents from me! Hand me that pile, George." He did so. "When you're done with ripping open everything else, you can have them." The chaos was so intense that she really couldn't tell what everyone was getting, but she wound up with a pile in her own lap of gifts from everyone else in the room. She started opening carefully, choosing Hermione's present first. It was a book, which did not surprise her, and the weight and size of it made her fairly certain what it actually was. As she peeled off the wrapping, she smiled because she was right. A new copy of Hogwarts: A History was revealed under her hand. "Thanks, Hermione. This is nice."

"Oh, for hell's sake, Hermione. What is it with you?" Ron had taken a short break from ripping open his own presents in order to pull his maroon jumper over his head.

"She said she liked the book!" Hermione protested.

"I do. It's really interesting. You should read it." Ron just scowled but then he grinned as Harry tossed him another package. Cassie picked up the next package in her own pile and it was from Ron, so she opened it and was pleased to see that he had given her a new pack of exploding Snap cards. "Thanks, Ron. I'll definitely use these. I think I'm getting pretty good at it." Ron grunted in response, his mouth full of chocolate at the moment. In quick succession, she opened some chocolates from Remus, a package of assorted jokes from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes from Fred, a rather odd-looking gadget from Tonks, which George identified as a sneakoscope and told her he would tell her about what it did later, and a container of lotion from Charlie, which he said was really good for smoothing out dry skin. He had gotten one for all the girls and given all the boys dragon claw charms they could keep in their pocket or wear as a necklace. There was also rather bulky-looking present from Molly and Arthur and Cassie was very surprised when she opened it to find a pale blue Weasley jumper.

"Molly? When did you have time to make this?"

"I've been working on it at nights, dear. I think it should fit. I made it the same size as Ginny's." Cassie swallowed hard past the lump in her throat which suddenly threatened to embarrass her. She got up and walked over to Molly and hugged her, and she couldn't have said, if anyone had asked, which of the two of them was more surprised. She pulled the jumper over her head and grinned as George helped pull her hair from the neck of the jumper and arrange it. She smiled up at him and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm saving yours for last." Everyone else seemed to have run out of presents by now and Cassie laughed at the expression of longing on both Ron and Harry's face as they looked at the small pile of presents she still needed to hand out. She gave them to George. "Pass these around. But I want to watch you open them." As George passed out the presents, saving the two large ones for himself, she opened the present from Harry and her eyes met his quickly. "Thank you, Harry. These are beautiful." It was a very interesting set, three statues of unicorns on a pedestal, delicately carved to resemble grass. They were enchanting. Cassie could not tell what the statues were carved from. It looked like marble, but when she touched them, they were warm and she could have sworn she felt them breathing under her hand. When one moved, pawing the carved grass with one dainty golden paw, she squeaked in surprise. "They aren't really alive . . ., are they?"

Harry shook his head, smiling shyly. "Wizard statues move, too. Just like paintings and pictures."
Ginny joined in. "They don't move much, just a little. So you won't forget them." She leaned against Harry and grinned at him. "Those are lovely, Harry. Very nice." He had given his girlfriend what looked to Cassie like a gold bracelet and Ginny was touching the gold as it curled lovingly around the skin of her wrist, apparently pleased with his gift.

Ron opened his present first from Cassie and stared in amazement at the gift certificate as the broom flew around the numbers, the message flashed different colors, and the voice announced its value. "What is this thing?" he asked. Hermione explained to him quickly, while Harry opened his identical gift. "That's really not going to work, is it? I'm sure it's Fred and George's idea of a joke."

"It'll work! We sold a lot of them this year. If it doesn't work, we'd be put out of business rather quickly," George assured him. Harry was more accepting and was very pleased with his gift. Hermione opened her present right after Harry, laughing as Ron grumbled about yet another book, but when Hermione saw it she read the title and looked up at Cassie with bright eyes.

"This is marvelous. Thank you." Cassie smiled shyly. It was a book called, "The Welcome Strangers: Muggle-born Witches' and Wizards' Contributions to Wizarding Society." Cassie had read part of it before she had wrapped it up. It seemed like a decent treatment of a rather touchy subject.

"I hope you enjoy it."

"I'm sure I will. How could I not."

Charlie blinked in vague surprise when he opened his empty cage that Cassie had given him. "Uh, my. This is nice."

"I understand your owl cage got destroyed last month. Your mum said you needed a new cage."

"It did get squished. But so did my owl. But I appreciate your thoughtfulness. I'm sure eventually I'll get another one."

"How about today?" Arthur asked, grinning widely, and he whistled. A large brown owl flew into the room and landed on Arthur's outstretched arm. Charlie's jaw dropped.

"I . . Mum, Dad . . . I . . . don't know what to say." He whistled softly and the owl flew to him and happily went into his cage, once Charlie bribed him with an owl treat. After everyone had offered their congratulations at the new owl, Ginny turned to Cassie.

"Mine next, please. I hope you like it." Cassie picked up her gift from Ginny and opened the wrapping.

"Oh! It's lovely!" It was a necklace and there was a porcelain rose suspended from it.

"I hope you like it. It's charmed."

"To do what?"

"It's just a mild beauty charm. Not that you need it, or anything." Cassie shrugged.

"Thank you. You'll have to tell me more specifically what it does later." The two girls smiled at each other and then Ginny lifted Cassie's present.

"I can't wait to see what you got me." When the paper was off, she was practically beaming and she showed it excitedly to Hermione. "It's makeup. A lot of makeup."

"Good quality stuff, too. That was really nice, Cassie."

"I knew she needed some. I hope you get a lot of use out of it." Cassie had picked carefully from the catalogs and had been sure to get a good color selection for the various eye shadows and lipsticks. The foundation was trickier, but she had managed to get one that matched Ginny's fair skin tone. Arthur went next and practically crowed in delight at the set of electric torches and batteries that Cassie had gotten him. Cassie herself thought they were rather silly and she had picked them up almost as a joke in the village that one day, but she was glad she had. She had gotten a handbag for Molly, a magical one that expanded to the size you needed and then could shrink away (with the right spell) until it could easily be kept in a very small pocket. Molly had complained several times where Cassie had overheard her that her handbags were getting very ratty looking and that she should probably get a new one. Molly was delighted with the gift and

"We want to see what George got you, dear. Your presents to us have been so lovely."

Cassie looked at George, who grinned rather shyly. "I hope you like them. I'm really nervous about them." He handed her the first box and Cassie immediately recognized the big box he had been planning on showing her in his room that night Molly had interrupted them. Cassie smiled back and took the package.

"You have to understand, this isn't really so much to you as it is for you."

"What does that mean?" But then she'd opened the lid and looked down with frank surprise on her face.

"It's a new Wheeze. We're going to call it Cassie's Surprise, if that's all right." The box contained a large glass and several beakers of different colored liquids. "I'll put it together for you right now." George quickly assembled the concoction and held it out to her. "Here."

"What is it? Is it more bubble bath?" It had the same sort of bubbling consistency that the bubble bath had although it was a different color. George laughed.

"It's a drink - remember when you asked if the Terrible Twins' Tonic would blow up in your stomach? Well, that's what this does. It doesn't hurt." Cassie took a swallow and smiled. It tasted really good. But once she had swallowed it, she could feel the pops. It was a pleasant sensation, rather like a feeling you had just drunk champagne.

"I like this."

"You'll be immortal, now. I'm sure it will be popular." George passed around the goblet to everyone that wanted to try it and all were pleased with both the initial taste and the after effects of drinking it. "Here's my next present to you."

"You got me more than one?"

Of course, there are two more packages sitting on your lap, aren't there?"

"Let Remus and Tonks open their presents from me first." She had gotten them both some sort of invisibility crystal and they were both pleased with it. "Neither of you have one, do you?"

"No. And I'm sure I'll put mine to use." Remus smiled broadly and Tonks nodded to second his statement.

"Okay, come on. This one, now." George handed her the smaller of the two boxes. She opened it and caught her breath.

"Oh, George. You shouldn't have." It was the constellation necklace Harry had pointed out to both she and George when they were in Hogsmeade. "It cost much too much money." He just smiled and indicated that she should turn around and he helped to put it around her neck. Then everyone wanted to see it and he took it off her again to hand it around.

"I don't get it," said Tonks. "What is this?"

"It's a constellation. Cassiopeia, to be specific," Cassie said. "That's actually my name, you see."

"Well, that explains the whole Pia thing, then. What is it with mothers? Do they have to get the strangest name they can think of for their children? I mean, your name is Cassiopeia and mine is Nymphadora."

"And don't forget Ginevra." Ginny laughed. Molly flushed.

"There's nothing wrong with that name. I like it."

"Fine. Except that I'm not Italian!"

"Your real name is Ginevra?" Cassie tried not to giggle. It was so totally unexpected that she was amused.

"Yeah. It's the Italian version of Guinevere. Which makes me wonder what my parents were trying to tell me." Ginny admired the necklace and handed it back to Cassie. "That's beautiful. You have nice taste, George." Cassie looked at it again before she handed it to George again. She couldn't believe this beautiful thing was actually hers.

"Thanks, Ginevra!" George drew out her name on purpose and everyone but Ginny and Molly laughed. "Open the next one, Cassie, please."

"Maybe you and Fred should open mine to you first. I'm so nervous about whether you'll like it."
"Are you sure?" Cassie nodded and indicated the big flat box.

"That one first. I'm sure you'll like it." George opened the wrapping carefully.

"I can't believe it. I've seen these, but never - Fred, look!" Everyone admired the chocolate Quidditch set as it got passed around the room. George removed the lid and took out one of the small players, a broom for him, and one of the miniature balls. He cast the spell as detailed on the back of the box and a mere moment later a small red Quidditch player was zooming in and around people's heads as they watched laughing. He avoided the black bludger without much effort and George whistled in appreciation at t his skill. "Wonderful! It's too nice to eat." He summoned the player back to him and nestled him back into his box. "Thank you, Cassie."

"Fred, you next, okay?" Fred opened his package with a rather bemused expression.

"I can't believe you got me a book - after giving him that."

"Well, she loves me, you big prat. You, she just had to get something to be polite."

"Cassie loves me, too, don't you?" Cassie flushed.

"Well, I do, but . . . that book will help your business, I hope." Fred read the title with a furrowed brow. Cassie swallowed with nerves.
"What is this?"

"Remember . . . I mentioned that if you ever wanted to sell some items to Muggles, you would want to use the internet?"

"What's the intermet?"

"Inter-net. Well, that's what that book will tell you. It's all written for wizards. It explains everything about computers and stuff." Cassie looked down at her hands. He hadn't liked it. The book, "An Internet Primer for Wizards: How to use Muggle Technology with Ease and Skill," had caught her eye when she had seen it, and when it arrived, she had read parts of it and was very pleased with its basic approach but good solid advice.

"Thanks, Cassie. I'm sure that's something to consider." Hermione spoke up, then, and Cassie was grateful for her bossiness at that moment.

"Cassie's right. If you want to ever expand your business to Muggles, that's definitely the way to go." Fred nodded and then opened the front cover of the book, read the introduction, and smiled up at Cassie.

"I'll definitely read it. Thank you."

George opened her last present to him with a smile. "It's not a book." Cassie's stomach was doing back flips. She was so nervous about what she had got him that she could hardly control herself. "It's . . . What is it?"

"It's called a Day Planner."

"A Day Planner?"

"Yeah. Businessmen use them, you see. They help you get organized, set goals for your business, keep track of ideas, contact information. There's a calendar, and you can personalize it the way you want." Cassie tried to see if George was disappointed in any way.

"Oh. Okay."

"I know it's not the most exciting present, but . . . I think it will help you." Ron started laughing and Cassie felt even worse.

"That reminds me of that homework planner Hermione got us a couple of Christmases ago, remember Harry?" Hermione slugged him on the arm.

"I think it's a lovely gift." Cassie wasn't sure this time that she really wanted Hermione's opinion. But she smiled graciously. George thumbed through the notebook and a smile broke over his face.

"This is brilliant, really brilliant. I'll definitely use it. Maybe you can help me get it organized. It's just sort of ironic, when you see what I got you." Cassie's hand was shaking, must to her embarrassment, as she opened the wrapping on the last package. She stared at the present for a long time before she dared to reach out and touch it. When she did, she bit her lip.

"They're beautiful." Everyone was craning to see what was in the box, but George wouldn't say and Cassie felt incapable of saying anything. Finally, she pulled the robes out.

"Oooh," everyone said. They were formal dress robes, the material soft under her fingertips.

"Before you say anything about how you'll never use them, I just . . I want you to know that I plan on your being with me at all sorts of functions and I just wanted you to feel that you fit in. Just like every other witch. You'll look beautiful in them."

She felt tears rise behind her eyes and tried to blink them back. "Oh, George." He opened his arms and she fell into them sniffling.

"I hope this means you like them."

"They're the most beautiful things I've ever seen." She pulled away from him again to look at the robes spread in her lap. The material was something she had never seen before, smooth and soft, but not silk. She couldn't even think what the material could be, her head was spinning so fast. The details were rich, the color a purple so deep that it almost looked black, the weight of the robes telling her that these were very expensive. There was embroidery on the cuffs and collar of the robes and she smiled at the tiny unicorns as they pranced across the material. Ginny and Hermione came over to her and exclaimed with wonder at the beauty of the robes.

George looked up at her and in his eyes, she saw the fear he was trying to conceal. "Thank you, George. I'm just completely overwhelmed."

"Well!" Molly stood up, beaming at everyone in the room. "I think every thing has been opened, right? Then I'm ready to put brunch on the table. Just give me a few minutes."

Cassie and George settled back on the couch and watched as everyone looked at their gifts again. Cassie ate a chocolate from a box George had gotten from a business acquaintance and then Molly told them it was time to eat. They walked together into the kitchen, holding hands, and Cassie thought that so far, she had been right. This was one of the best Christmases she'd ever spent. And it was only 10. She could hardly wait to see what happened the rest of the day.