Christmas Morning
Christmas morning dawned with fewer squeals in the Weasley household than in the past. For the first time Molly was out of bed before any children, and downstairs cooking a hearty breakfast. The smell of pancakes drifted lazily up the stairs, calling the boys first, their thundering footsteps sounding like a herd of hippograffs as they came down to the table.
"Morning, Mum," said Ron, kissing her on the cheek.
"Happy Christmas, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry, kissing her other cheek before sitting down next to Ron at the kitchen table.
"Happy Christmas, boys," she smiled as she floated the first plate of pancakes to the table. "Where are the girls?"
"Right here, Mum," came a sleepy Ginny, "Happy Christmas, morning guys." She sat down next to Harry, kissing his forehead before reaching over him to grab the platter of sausage and bacon.
"Happy Christmas, everyone," said Hermione, sitting down next to Ron.
"Happy Christmas, Hermione," replied Ron, barely glancing up from his breakfast. (Actually, it was more "Arpf Kstmargh, Minee" because of all the food, but that's splitting hairs.)
Just as Arthur entered the small kitchen, the living room sounded with four pops in a row.
"Gracious! The boys are all here, sit down and eat, Arthur!" Molly said, wiping her hands on her apron and heading to the other room to shoo her brood towards the table.
Soon, everyone was arranged around the table, Fleur and Bill had apparated together from her parents home in France where they had spent Christmas Eve. Fred sat down next to Hermione, with George beside him, party crackers spilling out of their arms and then rolling to sit in front of each person. Charlie was the last to be seated, squeezing himself in between Ginny and Fleur, giving his baby sister a pat on the head (and earning a dirty look) before filling his plate.
Pleasant thoughts and words swirled around the table, even Ginny and Ron managed to speak civilly to Fred and George, so when the loud sobbing started the conversation ground to a halt. Turning their heads in unison, nine faces (plus Arthur from the other end of the table) stared at the bawling Molly.
"Mum?"
"Babies…grown…empty…alone…my BABIES…"
"MUM!"
"Mollywobbles dear, do calm yourself, see the children are here," Arthur tried to comfort her from across the kitchen. Everyone began speaking at once, giving reassurances of always coming back to see her, except for Fleur and Bill who had their heads down, whispering.
"Mum, Dad, we would like to say something," Bill interrupted.
"'Ve vere going to vait une'til ze gifts," said Fleur, smiling at her husband.
Molly dabbed her eyes with her napkin. "Yes?"
"Fleur and I are going to have a baby Weasley. Sometime in June."
The screech of joy that was emitted from Mrs. Weasley was almost as painful as the sobbing. Shouts of congratulations from the rest of the family surrounded the couple as they all made their way into the living room to unwrap presents.
"Here, Ginny, this is from your mother and I," said Arthur, as he presented his only daughter with a small green velvet box, the final gift of the morning. Hand-knit jumpers had been given all around, along with candy, and Ron had received a new set of dress robes for graduation. Hermione had gone out of her way to choose books for Ron, Harry, and Ginny – each receiving a Special Edition copy of Quidditch Through the Ages. It took Ron about two minutes to realize that his copy had been signed by the entire Chudley Cannons team. (Ginny and Harry's had been also, but they also wanted to see how long it would take Ron to notice.)
Ginny carefully removed the bow from the box and opened it to reveal a beautiful princess cut diamond solitaire set in platinum and on a platinum chain.
"Mum? Dad?"
"It was your Grandmother Prewett's," answered Molly.
"It's beautiful," she said in awe, "Harry, help me put it on."
Dutifully, he placed it around her neck, clasping the catch as she held her hair up.
"Gins? There's a small platinum tag on the clasp. It's got a symbol on it."
Turning the chain around, Ginny studied the small scratching closely, before glaring at her parents.
"That's just downright sneaky," the tips of her ears growing red.
"Now, Ginny, don't get upset," her father replied, trying to defuse the situation.
"DOWN! RIGHT! SNEAKY!"
"It's for your own good," Molly answered, expression unchanging.
"This is TOTALLY not FAIR!" yelled Ginny, as she attempted to remove the necklace.
"You can't take it off, it's stuck there." said her mother, as calmly as if she were speaking to an infant.
Hermione lifted up Ginny's hair and looked at the tag, gasping in shock. The baby of the family jumped to her feet and ran upstairs.
"I'll go up," Harry said, rising to his feet.
"Um, no, Harry, you stay here, let me try," said Hermione, running up following her best friend. "This is a girl thing," she called back over her shoulder to Fleur, who nodded and followed the brown-haired form up to her sister-in-law's room.
"Mum? What did you do to Ginny?"
"Just a simply Virgo Charm on her necklace."
"A what?" questioned Harry.
"Oh, bloody hell, mother…." Bill put his head in his hands, the twins were for once shocked into silence. Charlie and Ron sat sputtering.
"A what?" questioned Harry again.
"Our mother – " said Bill, "placed a virginity charm on the necklace she gave Ginny. Until mother removes the charm, or Ginny can remove the necklace…"
"Oh," Harry's ears began to turn red to match the blush creeping up his neck.
"It's not that I don't trust you, Harry dear," said Molly.
"OH!" Harry began to feel his collar was getting a little tight.
"She's just a baby, though."
"Molly, perhaps we best let the children relax, lets go start lunch," said Arthur, helping his wife up and gently guiding her to the kitchen.
"She's just so young, Arthur."
"She's only two years younger than you were when I was born, Mum!" cried Bill at his mother's retreating form.
"Shall we go upstairs and help?" asked Ron.
"Help?" replied Harry, "I don't think anyone can HELP this situation."
"Well, Mate, you weren't planning on sleeping with our sister anyway, were you? So this doesn't really change anything," said Ron, in a dangerously low tone.
At that point, Harry seemed to grasp that while he was in the presences of his best friend, and his surrogate family, he was probably the only one who actually might desire for that necklace to come off of Ginny (besides Ginny, of course). He glanced around at the five flame haired men surrounding him and realized that when he DID ask Ginny to marry him, SHE was going to tell her family.
"Of course, blimey, guys, what do you take me for?" strangled out Harry, his eyes rapidly shifting from one brother to the next.
"Okay then, lets go up and talk to Ginny," smiled Ron, the moment passing.
The train ride back wasn't as great as the one away, but then it's always harder to go back to school then to escape school.
"Now what, Fred?"
"Ah, this works out perfectly, George!"
"And so our plot thickens and the plan grows sweeter!"
"What do you think of a January promotion on Extendable Ears?"