AN: I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas/holiday. Here's a themed chapter to leave me the gift of a review ;)
Usually Christmases started with him waking up before his Nan, for the only time every year, and he made them breakfast in bed, which he took up to her and ate on top of the covers while she sat under them. He always tried to scoff down his food as fast as possible, whereas she teased him with slow eating and a lot of thank you's for what a sweet boy he was! Then they would Floo to the Potters, where he'd find his stocking hanging with the others on their fireplace and a pile of presents with his name on them flowing from underneath the tree. When they were done, they'd join everyone else at the Burrow headquarters for a delicious dinner, and all of that was preserved as close to possible for Teddy, except, of course, for the first step. The problem was, that was what laid the groundwork for the whole day. Instead, he woke up even earlier than normal for this day when he heard the baby crying. He was in his own bedroom, but it was the one at the Potters that he stayed in for sleepovers, rather than his real room. His door was ajar and he could see Harry walking up and down the hallway singing a muggle carol to Lily to try to convince her to preserve the 'Silent Night'. Wide awake, Teddy crawled out of bed, his godfather turning to him and freezing. "Ted? Go back to-" they both glanced across the corridor as a door creaked open, revealing 2 toddlers peering through the gap. The Boy Who Lived's mouth quirked up into a smile, and he sighed with mock reluctance. "Fine! Go wake up Mummy!" The two boys grinned, running into their parents' bedroom, while Teddy wandered over and tickled Lily's foot, making her giggle. "Merry Christmas Lily-loo," he whispered just to her, not noticing Harry's smile.
Teddy enjoyed opening his presents, although he looked over for the reaction his Nan couldn't give a couple of times. It was strange to have breakfast after rather than before that though, and Teddy's food loving stomach rumbled a few times before the runny eggs with soldiers- not toast and spreads- were put in front of him. He asked to help several times, but his godparents reassured him that they had everything in hand and asked him to go keep Lily occupied if he really wanted something to help with. It was quite a difficult task, with the two toddlers terrifying her with exploding snap. He produced one of his stocking fillers- a magical yo-yo that wound around the room- though, and she was engrossed following its path.
After breakfast they Floo'd to Headquarters- the Burrow. Molly greeted him with the first hug of course, accidentally splattering him with the homemade cranberry sauce on her apron! Arthur was dressed up as Father Christmas, playing some sort of game with the younger children- George, Angelina, Ron and Hermione were all dressed up as elves as well, umpiring as the kids dispersed, but he wasn't feeling quite in the mood for that. The only other child not playing was the ever sophisticated Victoire Weasley, who stood with a glass of non-alcoholic eggnog with the adults, looking perfectly like a mini version of her mother. He wasn't quite feeling that either. Instead, Teddy snuck away upstairs, hoping for a moment alone where he wouldn't have to feel the weight of all their pity for him. Unfortunately the room he chose turned out to be integral to the game. One child desperately begging him to tell them where the 'goblet' was was an inconvenience, two was a coincidence, three, time to move. It seemed that the whole house was the battleground, so he snuck past the others outside, slipping on his coat, scarf and gloves. Nevertheless, he was still freezing, until he passed a certain threshold. Taking a curious step back and then another forwards again into the warmth, he realised there was a heating charm around the table set up in the garden for Christmas dinner. He took a seat on the bench and stared. Not at anything in particular. The type of stare where you had no idea how long had passed until you were shocked awake by a hand on your shoulder. Teddy's head snapped around to see a half French half Weasley girl, who settled elegantly into the seat next to him.
He expected her to say something about his Nan, like everyone else was, but Victoire Weasley was not normal. Instead, she said out of the blue "my grand-mere owled us that it is snowing in France." She rolled her eyes, actually looking like an eight year old for a moment. "Mama says that she is probably lying because we wanted to come here rather than there!"
He glanced over at her with a smirk. "There's nothing quite like a Weasley Christmas."
She shook her head in agreement. "What would you do if it were snowing right now?"
He put a hand under his chin to ponder it, which seemed to amuse her to no end, making him shove her gently. "I'd make Snow Dementors- Harry and Hermione are still always so confused when we call them that- it's hilarious! What about you?" He asked.
Despite mocking him, she now made her own face, which he naturally had to mock! "I would get Papa to magic us a sledge from the wood around the house and then we could race down the hill- I would have to drive of course!"
He chuckled. "Sounds good to me. Harry got me a training broom when I was three and I totally toppled off of it and then I was far too embarrassed to try again!"
"You haven't?" She grabbed his hand, shocking him. "You can't embarrass yourself in flying lessons when you go to Hogwarts. Let me teach you."
"You're going to have to delay the lesson until after dinner. It's ready," announced Ginny as she came out in a procession of people with trays of food. "Go on you two! Go grab a tray!"
Teddy had a great time pulling crackers with Victoire so a crowd of magical butterflies flew out and swooped around them in an incredible spiral. She looked straight into his eyes with unadulterated delight, and curtsied back to him when he presented her the little dung bomb for winning. After they'd eaten, she did take him for a flying lesson, despite the fact they were both feeling very bloated. She slipped on behind him and rested her hands softly on his waist to calm him down so that he didn't even notice they were hovering off the floor for a moment! As they came back to land he dropped the broom and turned around to pull her into a grateful hug- he'd never thought he'd enjoy being off the ground but he'd felt safe with her, like he hadn't fully for a long time.