Chapter 4: Oh, We're Happy Tonight

Molly reached Dumbledore's room, handing him something called a Whiteboard. It was a small one, and it came with these things called Expo Markers. Apparently, you could draw stuff with them on whiteboards and erase them. It was very interesting.

Molly had spent the last afternoon coloring on the board with purple Expo Markers, and then erasing it, only to be able to doodle again. It was fascinating. She could understand why this appealed to Arthur. New things that were interesting.

She knocked on the door, and Dumbledore opened it.

"Ah, hello, Molly! Welcome," he said.

Molly stepped inside. "So, Dumbledore, I-"

"It is Santadore now!" Santadore corrected, nodding and smiling.

She blinked, unsure if she'd heard that correctly. "Santadore?"

"Yes, yes."

"Erm, okay," Molly said, shaking her head. "Here you go." She handed him her present, which was wrapped in red and orange, some of Arthur's "hidden" favorite colors. He thought nobody knew he liked them, but… everyone knew. It was obvious.

"Ah, yes. Who's this for?"

"Remus. It's a whiteboard with Expo Markers."

"Brilliant." He took the present and put it in his closet, quickly closing the door. Molly looked at him curiously.

"I can't let you see the other gifts now, can I?"

"Oh. Right. Well… I'm off. I don't trust Fred and George and Ron to run a house on their own. Arthur is out, I think he wanted to visit a friend. I'm going to return to the Burrow in ruins."

Santadore chuckled.

George hit a snowball at Ginny, and it all began.

"Hey!" she shrieked, packing up a good snowball to throw back at her brother. "That's cold!"

The snowball hit George, dissipating into flakes, and George laughed. "Come on, Ginny, you can do better than that!"

"Oh, really?" she challenged.

"You're on, everyone!" George shouted.

Harry rushed towards the scene and started throwing snowballs at Fred, who started throwing snowballs at Hermione, who ducked for cover under a snow fort that she and Ginny had been making.

"What's all the commotion about?" Ron called, coming outside from the Burrow to see why everyone was shouting.

"Snowball fight!" yelled Harry. "Come on, mate, help me out here!"

"Okay!" said Ron, running up to Harry and throwing a snowball at him.

"Hey!"

Packed balls of snow started flying through the air, with everyone ducking and shrieking and laughing and trying to evade careening balls of snow that were coming towards them. Soon, people started building snow walls and snow forts to defend themselves from oncoming snowballs.

"What's going on over here?"

It was Bill, closely followed by Fleur, who seemed to be actually dressed for the weather today. A snowball hit him in the face.

"Oi!" he shouted. "Who was that?"

"Probably Fred or George," Ginny called back. It had been her who had thrown the snowball.

"I will get you for this!" Bill yelled, gathering some snow and aiming it at the twins. They dodged it, and it hit Harry instead.

"Ow," Harry whined.

"Sorry, Harry!" Bill called, bending down to pack up another snowball.

"I'm going to go in and get some gloves," Ron whispered to Hermione. "Want me to get some for you too?"

"Sure," she whispered. "Thanks, Ron."

Ron nodded and snuck into the house.

"May I ask what is going on here?" Molly asked in a deadly quiet voice, stepping out of the Burrow with her hands on her hips.

Everyone was silent. A snowball flew into Molly's face.

"HEY!" she screamed. "WHO DID THAT?"

Of course, nobody dared to respond.

"Molly, Molly, what's going on here?" Arthur asked, rushing out behind his wife. "Ah, a snowball fight! How fun!"

Molly glared at him.

"Oh. Oops. I mean, hehe, snowball fight! Why are you guys having a snowball fight? Bad children!"

"Dad, come and play!" Ginny shouted.

"Well… Ginny, it's…" He looked helplessly at Molly.

She rolled her eyes. "Go play," she grumbled.

Everyone cheered as Arthur joined the snowball fight.

"We're not going easy on you, Dad!" called Bill, as all of the Weasley children threw snow at their father.

Ron came back with two pairs of gloves. "What did I miss?" he asked Hermione.

Hermione pointed to Arthur, who was attempting some sort of pirouette in an effort to dodge all of the snowballs headed his way.

Ron stared on and got hit with a snowball.

"Remus, they're having a snowball fight out there!" squealed Tonks. "Let's join!"

"Are you sure?" he asked, voice laced with uncertainty. "Isn't it going to be cold?"

"No, I'll be fine if I wear a jacket," she dismissed. "Come on! Don't you want to join?"

"Of course I do, but I don't want you to get frostbite, or hypothermia, or…"

"Remus," she said coaxingly.

He sighed. "Get on a jacket. There's no way I'm letting you go out there in just a jumper."

"Yay!" She threw her arms around him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Then she ran to find her jacket, scrambling to put it on. "Okay. Good?"

He sighed and buttoned up all of the buttons on the front of her jacket. She really was going to freeze. "Better."

"Okay, okay. You're coming too, right?"

"Yeah, of course. I am a Marauder. But you need to be careful. I don't want you to be hit by too many snowballs. Because if you get too cold then…"

"Remus, you're so protective," she laughed. "I'll be fine. Everyone else is having fun. And the whole point of a snowball fight is to be hit by snowballs. Don't worry. Come on, let's go!"

He sighed. "Okay, but are you sure you don't want a scarf?"

"Are you my mum?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "I'm okay."

"Gloves, at least?"

"Fine, fine. Go grab some for yourself too. Then let's go!"

He grabbed some gloves from Molly's big GLOVE BOX, pulling on the larger pair for himself and slipping the two smaller gloves onto his girlfriend's hands daintily. "Okay. Ready now?"

"Yes!" She practically dragged him out of the Burrow, and into the snow where they were met with a horde of snowballs. Tonks pressed a kiss to his cheek and then ran off to where Ginny and Hermione were attacking Fred and George. Remus went to go check on Arthur, but soon enough found himself swept into the fight.

"Sirius?!" yelped Harry.

Everyone went still, as Harry revealed Sirius, asleep, under a pile of snow.

"We built a snow fort on top of him," Hermione realized, her eyes widening.

"And he slept through the entire thing!" Ginny squealed, as the entire crowd started laughing.

Typical Sirius.

"Take that!" yelled James, throwing a snowball at Bill.

They'd been playing for around an hour now, and Bill had destroyed James's fort and showered him in snow, which was all in his jacket now.

"Serves him right," muttered James.

Lily laughed. She was wearing a thick light pink jacket and jeans. A purple beanie was tossed on top of her head. She scooped up snow and aimed it at Remus, but he just managed to smack it back to where it hit her in the face.

"Curse it," she mumbled. "Why are you so good?"

"Seven years of training," he answered nonchalantly, wiping the snow off his hands.

"Aka, being a Marauder," she grumbled.

Remus shrugged. "If you want to put it that way…"

Lily groaned. Remus was nice, gentlemanly, and kind, but when he got in the whole "Marauder Remus" side of him, there was no end to it. He was wicked.

Just then, Remus got hit in the back by a clump of snow. They turned around and saw Tonks standing there, her arms crossed over chest, and a triumphant smirk on her face.

"Gotcha!"

"Oh, come on…"

Tonks waggled her eyebrows. "I'm good at snowball fights too, Remus. My friends and I were notorious for that at school. We organized the Annual Snowball Competitions."

"You did?" James asked.

"Yep. We were great."

"Well, the Marauders were more known for like… trouble-making," Remus said. "Not snowball fights."

"YAARGH!" screamed Bill, diving forward and smacking James onto the ground.

"What the-" James cursed and started showering Bill in snowballs. "Help me out here, Moony!"

Remus sighed. "Always to the rescue," he murmured, before charging forward and helping James take down Bill.

"OHHHH!" yelled Bill. "FRED! GEORGE! HELP ME OUT HERE!"

Fred and George came to his side and started attacking Remus with snow clumps. They were actually pretty good. Almost like mini-Marauders.

James signalled for Lily to help him out. Lily sighed and started hitting Bill and Fred and George from the back, sneaking up on them and hurling snow at them. Soon enough, Tonks came to their aid. After around fifteen minutes, Bill was knocked flat against the ground, Fred and George had fled, and Ron was cackling like a maniac, watching the entire fight.

James wiped his face with his jacket and slipped over to Lily.

"Good work, partner," he murmured, giving her a fist bump.

She grinned at him. "We took down Bill, Fred, and George. Who's next?"

"Er… Sirius?"

"He's already asleep," Lily told him.

"What?!"

"He fell asleep and they accidentally built a snow fort on top of him."

James burst out in laughter. "Who could sleep through that?"

"Sirius," answered Lily. "Who else?"

"Yeah, he has that talent," James replied.

"Quite an unusual talent," Lily observed, and they both laughed.

Santadore laid out all of the gifts and packages, trying to remember what was what.

Arthur was getting a blue scarf for Lily.

Mundungus was getting a… oh wait, no! Arthur was getting a red scarf for Lily!

Santadore shook his head and continued. Mundungus was getting Molly a… dunce cap. Oh, yes. The pointy cone-shaped cap lay right there. Santadore bit back a laugh. Even he was smarter than that.

Molly was getting Remus a whiteboard and Expo markers. The package was extremely big. Santadore knew what she was doing; Remus would easily think this was a Muggle gift from Arthur.

Next, Fleur was getting James a cookie tin. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just any normal holiday gift.

Tonks was getting Bill Quidditch tickets for some Quidditch match. Well, this might be an easy guess, but he would have to wait and see.

Lily was getting cologne for Sirius. Sirius would definitely appreciate that.

Emmeline was getting Arthur a Muggle thing called a toaster. This would be hard to guess, since everyone already knew that Arthur liked Muggle stuff.

Remus had gotten a necklace for Fleur. It was an ordinary necklace; not too expensive, but not too cheap either. Interesting.

Sirius was getting Mundungus… dog food. Santadore laughed out loud. Dog food. How funny!

James was getting Tonks a candy jar with gummy bears, marshmallows, and Dare Squares, which were some assorted candies. This was an easier guess too. Only someone like James would get her Dare Squares.

And finally, Bill was getting Emmeline apple juice. Apparently she liked it.

Santadore burst out in cackles.

Sirius was scowling, his arms crossed over his chest.

How dare they build a snow fort on top of him!

Well, he wasn't mad about that. He was mad that nobody had bothered to wake him up. He'd woken up and found himself under a pile of snow. Once he'd shaken it all away, he realized that he'd been asleep for like, two hours. The snowball fight was long finished when he'd woken up, and everyone had left him under there.

How dare they!

"Hey, Padfoot," came Remus's voice, as he slipped into the room. "What's up?"

"Why didn't you wake me up?" he asked immediately.

"Huh?"

"You left me under the snow fort… to die," he whispered dramatically, his eyes widening. "Some friend you are."

"Oh come on…"

"If it was Tonks under there, you would've woken her up!" accused Sirius.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Not if it was a prank."

"YOU PRANKED ME?" he thundered. "WE PRANK OTHERS! NOT EACH OTHER!"

"What the heck-"

"I got us all hot chocolate!" came a grand voice.

They turned around. It was James, holding three mugs of hot chocolate. "They all have lots of mini marshmallows. Only, don't tell Lily. I stole them from the kitchen."

"Are you not allowed to take marshmallows from your own house?" Remus asked incredulously.

"I am, but she was saving this for some dessert she wanted to make," James explained. "I just stole the bag. She can always ask for it from Molly, anyway."

"She's going to kill you," offered Sirius helpfully.

"Oh, so you're not mad at him?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What? No! Of course I am!" Sirius cried. "James, how dare you!"

James and Remus exchanged looks.

"How dare I what?" James asked.

"Leave me asleep!"

"What?" James scrunched up his face. "When?"

"At the snowball fight!"

"Oh. That." James stifled a laugh. "Yeah, well… you see…"

"See what?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Mate, it was just a prank," James said, holding up his hands. "No need to get so angry…"

Sirius kept his fierce expression on his face for a moment, and then he burst out in laughter. "I'm just joking. Duh, I wouldn't be angry at you… ha!" Sirius snorted.

Remus and James exchanged another look.

"Everyone's all grown up already," sighed Arthur.

Molly sighed as well, thinking back. "I know, Arthur. Ginny's already fourteen, and Ron and Harry… They're in fifth year! It's crazy! It feels like only yesterday that Ginny was in nappies!"

"They grow up so fast," Arthur said. "Bill's already hanging out with girls and everything. So is Charlie."

Molly's lips pursed. "Yes. Have you seemed to notice Bill hanging out with that French girl often? Fleur?"

"Yes, they work together, it seems, and Fleur doesn't really know anyone else," Arthur answered. "Why?"

"Well, Arthur, I don't know if you've noticed, but…" She broke off, frustrated.

"Yes, Molly? Go on."

"I think they fancy each other!" she said, irritated. "Have you seen her? She's always there around him, literally hanging off his arm all the time, drooling all over him in that ridiculously thick accent of hers!"

"Molly, I don't think…"

"And she was waiting around in the snow the other day, for no reason, and then I saw Bill go out and talk to her! They're having secret meetings where they think we won't find them! It's not okay, Arthur! We can't let them do this!"

"Molly." Arthur caught her wrists gently. "Calm down. I know. I know how you feel. For us, Bill is still our little child, and we can't bear the prospect of him getting together with anyone, forget Fleur. We're not ready for him to be courting and marrying already, but he's of age, Molly. He's well above age, and this is healthy for him. This is right for him. He's at the right age for all this, Molly."

"I know," she said miserably. "But why couldn't he find a better girl? Why couldn't he find someone else? Like Tonks?"

"Molly, you know that Tonks already fancies Remus."

"I know, but if Bill had been a little earlier…"

"But Remus and Tonks are already happy together. Did you see them playing in the snow? I wouldn't want Bill getting tangled in the middle of that."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for them too," Molly said quickly. "That's not what I'm trying to say. Well, it's just that, why Fleur? Why couldn't he have found someone like Tonks?"

"Maybe Fleur isn't all that bad," Arthur reasoned. "We just need to get to know her. It's just hard for us because Bill is our first-born son and we're not used to the fact that he's ready to get married."

"I don't trust her, though," Molly said. "She's flaky."

"Well, we'll just have to see." He reached for her hand across the table and squeezed it. "Do you want some Butterbeer?"

"Yes, that'll be lovely," she sighed. "I'll go get it."

"No, you won't," Arthur said firmly. "You're always getting everything for everyone. Take a break." He stood up, went to the kitchen, and fetched a bottle of the Butterbeer that Sirius had brought over that morning. Sirius had snuck over in dog form, much to Molly's disapproval.

"Thanks," Molly said, as he poured the Butterbeer into two mugs and held one out to her. She accepted hers and took a long sip. He followed suit, allowing the warm drink to caress his throat.

"Thank you, Arthur," Molly spoke after a while. "I… It's just that Bill's our eldest son, and he's close to us, for now at least. Charlie's in Romania, and… and Percy…"

"Don't worry about all of that, Molly," Arthur said comfortingly. "We still have Fred and George, and Ron, and Ginny. And Bill. And Charlie. And Percy too. He's there, Molly, he's just stubborn and has a different viewpoint than the rest of us. That doesn't mean he doesn't love us anymore."

"I know," she said sadly. "But it still hurts."

"Unfortunately, that's just the way it is." He raised their intertwined hands and kissed the back of her hand. "But Percy leaving doesn't make us love each other less. We all have each other."

Molly nodded and smiled, and drank the last of her Butterbeer.

Maybe it would all be okay.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed that! The next chapter is the last, and it will be the final gift exchange. Let's see who can guess their Secret Santa, and who emerges victorious! Stay tuned! :D