A/N: This prompt was kind of a personal challenge but once I found the characters it seemed perfect and I love how it's turned out! Please tell me of you agree or if not!


Title: A Very Muggle Christmas

Summary: Molly has always done Yule. But when Arthur discovers Christmas she's willing to give it a go, no matter how much she feels this is a bad idea.

Word Count: 1,818

Warnings/triggers: NA

Genres: Family, Romance

Characters: Molly W., Arthur W.


FOR HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

for august auction:

Day 16/ Auction 1: The Nightmare before Christmas


Molly Weasley dearly loves her husband. They've been married for slightly less than a year, and they've bought a house together. A lovely little thing near Ottery St Catchpole with a ground floor (in which she has a kitchen, Molly loves cooking) and a first floor with two bedrooms. If they're probably going to have to add a couple of floors sooner or later, as Molly is pregnant with their first child, but she knows she wants a big family. Two boys for him and two girls for her, and then however many more come next. A big happy family. It's just that Arthur is so distracted, she doesn't really know if he pays all that much attention to her.

It's the first of December and Yule is coming up. Molly knows how to do Yule. She was raised the Pureblood way, and even if she doesn't like the term, and is considered a blood-traitor, Yule remains an important part of her upbringing. Besides, it's such a wonderful holiday, one to spend with family and friends. There's so much love and Molly can cook to her heart's delight. She loves Yule.

She's already put up the Fir tree. The candles are somewhere up in the attic, she'll have to go up there later, or ask Arthur to do it. Climbing up the stairs at seven months pregnant isn't the easiest thing to do at the moment. Meanwhile, she's turning the walls red and green, the traditional colours and humming some carol tunes to herself. It's awfully quiet in the house when Arthur's not here. There's only the crackle of the fire in the chimney hearth. Molly longs for the shouts of children to fill the house.

When the sky had been dark for quite some time, the door finally opens and Arthur steps in. Molly smiles brightly at him. He's covered in snow and grinning all over. He gives her a quick kiss and she yelps form the cold of his hands.

"Hello, darling! How was your day?" she asks him, like every other day of the week.

"Oh, I learnt the most fascinating thing at the Ministry today." Oh, here we go again. Arthur has recently been promoted from simple secretary to Research in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. It was completely out of the blue, for Arthur had never shown any interest whatsoever in joining the office. Molly rather suspects he was redundant and appointing him to that particular office allowed the Ministry to keep both him and the Office open. Either way, it pays slightly better and they desperately need the money.

But ever since Arthur has begun his new job, he had become obsessed with all things Muggle, and every night he tells her of his new discoveries. He always wants to imitate them, do whatever they do. But Molly doesn't quite understand it: isn't he happy with all the things wizarding kind bring? But it seems to make him so happy, she lets him talk on and on.

"See, Muggles have their own version of Yule, they call it Christmas!" he exclaims.

"Christmas?" Molly echoes.

"Yes, isn't it funny! It's when they celebrate the birth of one of their deities."

"Oh."

"Yes, and they have this man, like a sort of big red lobster who goes across the sky in a sled and gives out presents to children."

"Really?" Molly serves him a plate of stew.

"They call him Father Christmas, or sometimes Sandy Claws. Though I couldn't possibly find out why. The Muggle children worship him."

She doesn't add anything before sitting down herself at the table. This Sandy Claws figure is rather strange. She doesn't understand why anyone would have to make up a fat red lobster to give out presents when you can simply give them yourself.

"And they have all these wonderful things they do at Christmas!"

"That's nice."

"That's great! Because I was thinking we could do Christmas this year!" Arthur exclaims excitedly, a radiant smile in his face.

Molly pauses, the spoon of stew still in her hand. What? What is he saying? "You want to do Christmas instead of Yule?"

"Exactly! Won't it be fun?"

"But I've already started to prepare Yule! I've always done Yule!" She feels like crying and already tears are pooling around her eyes. She's not usually this emotional, it's the pregnancy hormones, surely.

"Oh, darling! Don't cry!" He leans over to reach for her hand. "The Muggles do so many things like us, it's just adding a couple of extra special things!"

With her other hand she wipes away her tears. "Really?"

"Of course! Please say yes, Molly-wobbles." Oh and there he's done it. Molly can never say no to him when he calls her Molly-wobbles. The nickname is as embarrassing as it is endearing. She's told him many times he will regret it dearly if he ever calls her that in public.

"Okay, then, I guess."

Arthur looks so excited. It's almost like a child being told he can play as much as he likes. He's just so adorable but Molly hopes this won't end in disaster.

Over the couple of weeks that follow, Arthur is constantly bringing in new things for his Christmas. First, there are the candy canes, weird sticks of sugar which make her want to be sick (though maybe that's pregnancy again), a set of multi-coloured Christmas lights, a chain of coloured balls of light Arthur just can't seem to be able to make glow, small porcelain dolls of characters she's never heard of, Sandy Claws, Rude-elf the red-noses reindeer, and Ferocious the Snowman. Their names are bizarre and slightly terrifying but all of them have such friendly smiley faces. But they don't move, they don't twirl, they don't say anything. It's so sad and plain compared to the little creatures that usually fill her home at Yule.

Molly smiles and grins, but truly she's feeling terribly lost. Her favourite holiday is turning into a real Muggle celebration. It's not so much the Muggle part of it she minds, quite on the contrary, she loves Muggles, but rather, the fact that she isn't feeling that wonderful Yule-tidey mood and that her husband isn't quite paying as much attention to her as he used to.

"Molly!" Arthur declares one evening, holding a bunch of weird looking pieces of string. "I've found the answer to our problems with the Christmas lights."

Molly peers at the things in his hands cautiously.

"Eckletricity! That's what we're missing!"

"What's that?" She doesn't trust this eckletricity thing.

"It's some sort of power, a pale equivalent to magic, the Muggles have. It runs through these prices of string. And if we attach it to the Christmas lights they should glow!"

"Do you know how to make it work?"

"Leave it all to me, Molly-wobbles."

Arthur tinkers all night with the funny pieces of string and by some sort of miracle, the lights are glowing the next morning. Molly stared in amazement and slight doubt. The lights flicker and seem untrustworthy, like they could explode at any moment. The candles would've been a much safer choice, but Arthur looks so proud and tired she doesn't say anything.

"Well done, darling!"

Some time later, just a day or two before Yule, Arthur is still not content.

"Were missing something," he mumbles, "something to make it really Christmas."

Molly is cleaning around the house, humming Yule tunes to herself.

"Yes! That's it! That's exactly it, Molly!" Arthur suddenly exclaims making her jump in surprise. "We need Christmas carols!"

Neither of them know any Christmas Carols, and she seriously doubts how he's going to be able to find someone to sing them. How he is going to make Muggle music enter the house is a mystery to her.

Yet, the next day is Yule (or Christmas Eve as Arthur calls it) and he brings home a very peculiar looking object.

"It's called a radio!" Arthur declares proudly. He explains to her how a colleague lent it to him, a Muggle-born. "It sings if I turn the button correctly! We'll be able to listen to Muggle songs like 'Let it Snow' and 'White Christmas'!"

"How wonderful!" Molly replies unenthusiastically. Isn't there already enough snow around?

"And it works on eckletricity too, these Muggles are simply fabulous."

Molly has the worst feeling when Arthur goes to try and connect the radio to the eckletricity. The life's are already flickering dangerously and she fears the worst. Oh why did Arthur have this silly idea? Why couldn't he just have wanted a simple, lovely Yule?

Arthur is still playing with the weird strings when suddenly BANG! The radio goes off with a pop! The lights on the tree all explode and the tree tips over, knocking over all the porcelain dolls on the mantelpiece, which come crashing down to the floor. The tree throws the candy canes into the fire and finally falls into the table laden with food which tumbles to the floor. The scene before their eyes is one of utter destruction.

Molly stared at it in utter shock and horror, eyes and mouth wide open.

"Molly!" cries Arthur, "Are you all right?" He takes her in his arms.

"Oh my god, what a mess," she whispers.

"Oh Molly, I'm so sorry." He rushes around trying to set the tree back into place, picking up the food from the floor, waving his wand around frantically. "I've ruined Christmas, no, I've ruined Yule. I should never have done any of this."

Suddenly, Molly bursts out laughing. "Oh Arthur, darling. As long as I have you it doesn't matter!"

"Really? I mean, I know how much you love Yule and-"

"Really." She smiles. "It was fun seeing how Muggles do it. Except maybe, let's not do it like this next year."

He smiles too and laughs. "Of course. Guess we'll never here the Muggles sing."

But just as he says that, the doorbell rings. Molly goes to open. To her great surprise, there are a bunch of people in front of her door, singing! And with those hats like Sandy Claws! Arthur comes and stared in amazement and the singers continue with their song of "Let it Snow!"

"Arthur! Did you plan this?"

"No I didn't!"

"Well, I guess it's still a very Muggle Christmas then!" She hugged him.

"Happy Christmas!" calls one of the singers as they leave with a slice of home baked Christmas Pudding that was still safely tucked in the oven when the accident happened.

"Happy Yule!"

Her house may be in a ruin, her food all over the floor, and the Yule tree burning in the fireplace, but Molly's never been happier at that moment than with her husband's arms around her, holding her lovingly. And next Yule, there will be one more addition to the family. Maybe she should knit the baby a sweater?