For The Houses Competition

House: Slytherin

Class: Charms

Prompt: [object] plates

Drabble/Standard: Standard

Word count: 1486

*.*.*

SOMETHING BIG

*.*.*

The sky was only half awake when five-year-old Willow's eyes cracked open. She took one look at the snow falling outside her window and sat up in her bed, all sleepiness gone in a second. After all, she had been waiting for this very day for a year now, and according to that dream she'd had last Christmas, something big was going to happen. Or so Father Christmas had said to her in that dream.

She tossed the blanket to one side and scrambled out of bed. Then, as fast as her little legs could take her, she hurried across the room, out of the door, and down the hallway to her parents' room.

"Mummy! Daddy!" she squealed as she jumped onto their large and fluffy bed, the mattress dipping with her weight.

Ron pretended to remain asleep, but little Willow was all too familiar with those mock snores of her father's. She giggled quietly, and threw herself on to his side.

"Daddy," she whispered in a sing-song voice. "It's Christmas morning, wake up!"

"Hmm," mumbled Ron, "is it, though? Are you sure, Little Lowie?"

Willow giggled again at her father's use of his favourite nickname for her. "Yes it is, Daddy. I checked on the calendar. And Uncle Harry and Auntie Hermione and Lily and Rosie came over for dinner last night, you remember, don't you? Don't you, Daddy?" she whispered, poking Ron in the belly lightly.

Ron decided it would best to surrender to his daughter because it did not look like she would leave anytime soon without waking her parents up. He turned around suddenly, taking Willow by surprise. The little girl let out a shriek of delight, making her mother stir in her sleep. Ron wrapped his arms around his daughter and kept her in place upon his stomach.

"Good morning, Chocolate Frog," he grinned, kissing Willow on the tip of her nose.

Luna mumbled something incoherent, then her eyes fluttered open. She turned and blinked at her husband and daughter, before her face split into a bright smile.

"Good morning, Mummy!" Willow cried, putting out her arms. Ron understood the gesture and let her go so she could slide into Luna's arms instead.

"Why, hello, little Willow," Luna said, her voice a little raspy. "Good morning yourself!"

"Wake up, Mummy, it's Christmas!" Willow said excitedly.

"It is, darling," Luna smiled, tucking a stray tendril of strawberry blonde hair behind Willow's ear. "Are you excited for the presents?"

"Yes! Yes! I am," Willow cried, rolling off her mother's body in her eagerness and landing in between Ron and Luna.

"Come on, come on!" she shouted, standing up on the bed and tugging on her father's hand. Ron gave in, sitting up straight. Willow left his hand to jump off the bed and toddled towards the door. Ron shook his head, amused, and looked at Luna.

"I'll be along," his wife said, laughing some. Ron leaned towards her to give her a quick kiss, before following his daughter out of the door.

He pretended to have quite a hard time catching up with Willow, mock-panting by the time he joined her near the large green Christmas tree in the drawing room. The tree twinkled with bright lights that Luna had charmed to change colour, and like back at Hogwarts, tiny live fairies flitted in and out of the branches, creating little spots of golden light.

Willow bounced on the balls of her feet, pointing excitedly at the heap of brightly wrapped gifts around the foot of the Christmas tree.

"Let's get your teeth cleaned, shall we, Chocolate Frog?" Ron asked, picking Willow up in his arms and tickling her belly lightly. Willow laughed, burying her face in her father's chest. When her giggles had stopped, Ron flicked his wand and uttered a teeth cleaning charm on his daughter and on himself.

"Well, we're squeaky clean now, daddy!" Willow said, grinning and flashing her dazzling white teeth.

"We are, aren't we?" Ron kissed Willow on the forehead, before setting her down on her feet and kneeling down to be at eye level with her.

"Which one do you want to open first, Little Lowie?" Ron asked.

Willow shook her head, straggly blonde locks dancing around her temples. "We wait for Mummy," she said. Ron smiled.

Luna appeared in no time, tying her hair into a ponytail. She kissed both her husband and her daughter on their cheeks.

"So," Ron said, "which one first, Willow?"

"This one. This silver one," the girl said, getting her hands on a rather solid rectangular package wrapped in shiny silver foil and tied with a red ribbon. With a laugh, she tore open the package quite viciously, and Ron grinned - it reminded him of his own childhood self.

"Oh - " Willow uttered, when the torn foil revealed a wooden box. Engraved on it were the symbol of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and the following words:

To dear Willow. Merry Christmas! - Cousin Roxanne, Uncle Georgie, Auntie Lina.

"Wow!" whispered the little girl, turning the box over in her hands and examining it from various directions. She had always wanted a Wizard Wheezes set ever since she'd visited the shop for the first time with her father and her eyes had fallen upon the rows and rows of fun tricks. But her daddy, who also helped run the shop with Uncle George, had said that nobody younger than five years could use those wonderful tricks, and she would get her first set the Christmas after her fifth birthday.

So that was what Father Christmas had meant when he'd appeared in her dream last year and told her with a twinkle of his eye and a smile lifting his long snowy beard that something big was going to happen.

Little Willow hugged the box to her chest tightly. Her mum had opened one of the other presents, a set of shiny new ceramic plates for tea time.

"Open the box, Lowie," Ron said. "Go on."

Willow flipped the lid of the box open and gasped. It looked like there was going to be no end to her surprises!

Luna kneeled before her daughter. "What's inside, love?"

"A wand," Willow whispered, lifting the slender stick of sycamore wood which lay among other things inside the box. One end of the wand was tapered and the other was intricately designed. Of course, no one in their right minds would ever give a wand to a five-year-old, but this was but a plain toy wand - a modification of the Wheezes' infamous trick wands - but developed by George especially for children. These wands could only change colours of various objects, produce bright lights of confetti and bubbles, and nothing else. Not even levitate things because children could break them. Willow didn't need to know that, of course. At least, Ron wouldn't dream of crushing his little daughter's happiness, not when she'd been craving a wand of her own for so long.

The other tricks forgotten, Willow jumped to her feet, wand in hand.

"I want to try it out!" she cried, bouncing excitedly.

"Of course, love," Luna laughed. "Why don't you try to change the colour of these new plates?"

Willow pointed her wand at the plates proudly.

One.

Two.

Three.

The plates trembled, and slowly, one by one, they lifted themselves into the air, rising straight up.

Willow's eyes widened as she watched what she had just done. Ron's did too. The wands were not supposed to levitate, especially fragile things like ceramic crockery. And the wands had gone through several tests to make sure they were working just right.

"Oh, look, Daddy, Mummy!" Willow squealed, twirling around in delight. She threw herself at Luna, who had quickly gotten over her surprise and picked her daughter up in her arms.

"You did it, Lowie. You just did magic, and you did wonderful!" Luna kissed Willow's nose. "Good thing you were a good girl all year, or the Nargles would've interfered with your magic."

Willow grinned brightly, tucking her head under Luna's chin. Ron, although still quite taken aback, could not help but smile at the scene, and kissed his wife on the forehead.

"Merry Christmas!"

*.*.*

It was late. The little family had returned from Molly's fantastic Christmas dinner. Willow was tucked in bed, and was sleeping quite peacefully underneath her warm blankets. Ron and Luna sat on the couch, drinking tea spiked with Firewhisky.

"You do realise what happened this morning, don't you?" Luna asked, taking a sip. Ron stared at her. "What?"

Luna rolled her eyes. "You didn't?"

"You mean Willow making those plates levitate? There was probably just something wrong with the wand."

"There wasn't. I tried to levitate the plates again, but I just couldn't."

Ron's eyes widened. "You mean - it was Willow who did it?"

Ron inhaled sharply. "Our Lowie did magic?" he asked.

Luna only gave him a small, knowing smile.