Ch 111: Christmas Traditions New and Old

On Christmas Eve afternoon Hermione was wrapping her last minute gifts upstairs while Rose and her mum were baking in the kitchen. Ron was due to be home soon from the shop, and she had laughed heartily at her dad's insistence that it was high time he and Hugo introduce the twins to the great holiday tradition of watching football on the tele. When she brought down the gifts from wrapping them up in her room, she was thoroughly entertained to see that the babies seemed to be enjoying it. Michael had Hazel propped up in his lap while Hugo did the same with Ryan. She couldn't help but dash for the camera to capture such a sweet moment. Just after she had snapped the photo, the hearth flared and an exhausted, confetti-covered-yet-happy Ron came through the floo. She couldn't help but snap a shot of that too.

"Welcome to the other side of Christmas Shopping Mayhem," she said as she kissed him.

"Thanks. Let me pop upstairs and wash the last of that mayhem out of my hair, and I will be ready to celebrate."

"No rush. Dad and Hugo are educating the babies on the intricacies of football. Rose and Mum are baking."

"Wow," he laughed. "It's like they don't even need us!"

"I need you!" Hugo protested. "Can you fetch two bottles for us?"

"Nice," Hermione laughed. "Ron, you go ahead and get cleaned up. I'll make sure the littlest ones get some sustenance so the rest of us are freed up to enjoy the yummy stuff in a bit."

Within an hour, all of them were happily munching on their favorite appetizers and desserts and taking turns holding the snuggly little ones. Ron joined Michael and Hugo in front of the tele for a while. He was earnestly trying to better understand and follow football with his son and father in law but still had quite a ways to go to get there. So after a while Ron passed off Ryan to Hugo and headed into the kitchen and found his wife making tea.

"Hey, did you give up on football?"

"Well, I wouldn't say give up. Maybe just taking a break."

"Tea break?"

"Definitely," he grinned.

"Any idea what Hugo and Mum have in store for tonight?"

"No," he admitted. "But Hugo made it quite clear that he and Jean consider the memorial part of the night 'their thing' and to not even think about changing it."

She laughed, nodding, "Sounds about right. And, frankly, they can keep it!"

"Exactly. Not only do they do an amazing job, and not only would I have exactly zero idea of what to do, but I really just enjoy showing up and participating. Guess that's part of my own tradition now."

"Yeah," she smiled softly. "Mine too."

By around six that evening Hugo and Jean shuttled everyone into the kitchen so they could put the final touches on their project. Finally, they went to fetch the family and bring them back into the living room.

"OK everyone," Jean said. "We need everyone in the living room. Babies too. Though, bring some bottles, yeah?"

"Definitely," agreed Ron as he grabbed two pre-made bottles in one hand while holding Ryan to his chest in the other. Rose held Hazel, who was positively captivated by her older sister's long black hair and kept trying and failing to grab it. They all made their way into the living room which was now softly lit in the glow of muggle Christmas lights on the tree, a roaring fire in the hearth and some pretty candles scattered throughout the room. Jean gestured for them all to take a seat, so they all settled in to see what Jean and Hugo had in store. On the coffee table in the center of the room, and on it they had something covered in a red and green plaid sheet, a stack of blank white paper and buckets of crayons, colored pencils, markers and other art supplies. Somehow even the babies sensed the special atmosphere, and all six of them were quiet and expectantly awaiting instruction or explanation from Jean and Hugo.

"It seemed to us," Hugo started as he gestured to his grandmother. "That as our family grew that the many people we need to remember and honor and love grew as well. And let's face it," he laughed, "at the pace we are adding people we'd start a house fire with all of the candle ceremonies."

"Whoa there, little man," laughed Ron with wide eyes. "We are definitely a family of six. But none of us see this become anything like my house growing up. Four kids is plenty. There is no more room in this inn so to speak!"

"Right," Hermione was quick to agree.

Rose laughed. "Well, yeah, but this time last year you didn't foresee having twins with us tonight did you?"

"No," they both admitted sheepishly.

"Last year?" laughed Michael. "Try October!"

Everyone laughed, but then Jean brought them all back together.

"OK, OK. No one is suggesting we really think you will be opening a day care center any time soon. But what Hugo and I are trying to suggest is that our family is a living thing. And, with anything that is alive and changing, we all must come to expect the unexpected. But we also, and even more importantly, must care for it. Nurture it. Feed it. Ensure the roots are strong and the branches are healthy. And we have to appreciate it."

"Right," nodded Hugo with great authority. "And as this is basically the only time of year we have a great big old tree in the middle of the living room, it is a perfect time of year for us to honor and remember all of the important parts of our, well, our extremely complex and unique family tree."

Ron bounced a now squirming Ryan gently against his chest impressed at the analogy Jean and Hugo were explaining, but unable to even begin to imagine how one could draw this particular family's tree. And, as all he could picture when he thought of any family tree was the Black Family Mural at Grimmauld Place he was hoping these two had been able to come up with something better.

"Yes, our family tree is quite complex. And none of the pre-printed templates online or the cute little project kits at the craft store could be remotely helpful," Jean added. "Because believe me. I tried. So, we decided to come up with a way to honor and reflect the more complicated reality today as well as hopefully honor it throughout the year."

"So," Hugo said as he took over. "We have a rosemary tree," he offered gesturing to Jean as she pulled a dark green sheet off of a small rosemary plant trimmed into a Christmas tree shape. "We thought rosemary was perfect since it's supposed to be for remembrance, and we used it in the adoption ceremony too."

"Now," interrupted Jean, "it wouldn't be us if this wasn't just a little bit fun, too. So – don't you worry. We do have those fun candles from last year lined up along the wall, so we can enjoy those too. But, the plan for tonight is that – huh, now that I'm saying this out loud I hope it doesn't come across offensive or anything. Oh well. Hope not. But if so – well – sorry. Anyway, we'll give it a shot. The plan tonight is to basically make fertilizer."

Michael and Hermione started laughing out loud as Ron raised an amused eyebrow at his son and mother in law.

"Ok, Ok," Jean scoffed. "Don't get carried away with the image. The idea is we are going to us this vast array of art supplies that Hugo pulled together with Melissa's assistance. We can each take as many pages as we need, but on each page the idea is to draw an image of or a symbol or write something about a POSITIVE memory of a particular person. Maybe it is some fun thing you did with that person. Maybe it is something that symbolizes that person or your relationship or even a funny story or joke that you shared together. Totally up to you. You can share them or keep it private. But, as with the candle memories last year, please keep it positive. The idea is we nurture things in a positive way, not with hurtful thoughts, angry memories or great angst. Not that we don't have those emotions, because let's face it – we all do. But, that is not what we are focusing on today."

"So good memories only for this," nodded Hugo. "And once we have all of the papers, and anyone who wants to share has shared. Well, then we are going to rip them up."

"Rip them up?" yelped a shocked Rose.

"Yes, Rose," Jean clarified. "Rip them up. And, well, mix them with the big load of genuine cow manure I had delivered from the old Creevey Dairy that is in a very stinky brand new compost bin out behind the garage. We are also going to add many of the food scraps from our dinners and other important times our family comes together. Then as it is turned and disintegrates, it will become a very rich fertilizer. And, we'll continue to feed it throughout the year- not just today."

"And then we can use the fertilizer from our memories and our celebrations and times as a family to nurture the rosemary that we'll plant out back!" declared Hugo triumphantly. "And we can cook with it, or use it for flower decorations or even owl it up to Rose and me at Hogwarts."

"Right," smiled Jean affectionately. "So, our memories that we already have and the memories and crumbs of our times together yet to come will be a part of nurturing and fertilizing our family tree. So, no matter how many people in our unexpected family there are, we will always have a way to remember and honor them."

"That is so brilliant!" declared Hermione.

Ron nodded earnestly as he whispered in Ryan's ear, "You have the most brilliant big brother and grandmum."

"Yeah you do," agreed Rose quietly as she leaned against Ron holding Hazel.

Soon they were all well into their art projects as Jean put on upbeat Christmas music and brought out more appetizers and biscuits. She'd even made some special rosemary lemon biscuits with rosemary from the tree, which they all hastily devoured as they worked on the projects. With many of the pictures, someone would share a fun story that would have everyone else laughing to the point of tears as they remembered the escapades of their lost loved ones. For some pictures there weren't as many actual memories, but somehow they came up with fun things to do none the less. Rose traced the babies' tiny feet onto some paper and made them into funny reindeer and Father Christmas faces that they wrote their birth parents' names onto. Hermione loved the idea and had soon fetched some longer paper and made everyone take their socks and shoes off and made a whole herd of reindeer by making all eight of them cover their feet in brown paint and make footprints onto the page. She went back later and named each one as well as drawing in antlers, noses and eyes. Ron laughed, but played along, and loved the final product. Though, he did bemoan the fact that he got stuck washing the babies' feet after they were painted up.

After all of the memory projects were done, they had great fun ripping them to shreds and creating spontaneous confetti, which the babies thoroughly enjoyed. Ryan and Hazel would squeal, kick and shriek with joy as Hugo slowly shook the confetti over them like snow. Eventually, the babies and the rest of the family tired out and swept up the remnants of the memories. They all trekked outside to add them into the new compost bin as Hugo and Rose dramatically held their noses and pretended to gag. Jean showed Ron what he'd need to do to keep up the compost, and promised to help feed the fertilizer with cuttings and scraps from their house too. It was too late in the year to plant the rosemary outside, but she promised to remind them in the spring or help them do it.

Later they enjoyed putting the ornaments on their Christmas tree, including a number of new ones from throughout the year. There were New York yellow taxis and a Statue of Liberty accompanied by a wooden black bear from the Smokey Mountains. There was a beach umbrella from France and a brightly painted wooden watermelon slice from Haiti. Ron had bought a Gryffindor Lion with Rose's name on it and a Ravenclaw Raven with Hugo's name on it as well as two small silver baby rattles engraved with Ryan and Hazel's names and birthdate. Hermione added the wooden angel Ron had given her the year before as well as an ornament she'd made out of shells from a visit to Shell Cottage.

By the time Jean and Michael left that evening, the whole family was smiling and reminiscing happily about their absent loved ones. And the only tears that had been shed were from stories so funny that it had them laughing so hard they started crying. In addition to the memory pieces that had been shredded up, Rose and Hugo had made some other pictures as well and were quietly drawing by the fire when Ron came in to send them all to bed.

"But we're all sleeping together, right?" Rose said. "I mean we always do on Christmas Eve!"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Ron stammered. "I hadn't really had a chance to clarify that with your mum. Obviously the babies aren't going to be in our bed, but I guess all in the same room is ok."

"Your room or the babies' room?" Hugo asked as he started to clean up the art supplies.

"Why don't you check with the boss on that one?" Ron laughed as he took a fussy Hazel from Rose.

"Here," Rose said, "can you take Ryan too? I'll help Hugo figure out the bed situation."

"Right," said Ron as he balanced both babies. Hmm, he laughed to himself. So much for the original plan. Can't really clean up in here with these two in my arms.

Before long, Ron was upstairs in his room expanding the bed so they could add in Rose and Hugo. Then he moved in a small portable crib for the babies to share. He was rather leery of how much sleep any of them would actually get. But, it really had become their tradition. After leaving the kids to sort things out, he headed back downstairs to see what else Hermione needed him to do. As he came into the living room, he found her simply sitting on the sofa and staring at the tree.

"You ok?" he asked quietly as he sat next to her.

"Oh yeah," she said in a sigh. "I know we had all that fun memory time earlier. But, I just couldn't escape the sense that there are six souls out there who don't get to have this type of special family time with the kids. I'm not sure which one is harder – knowing Dennis and Fiona as we do, simply having names and what we've gleaned from the apartment for Nima and Alfred, or knowing nothing at all like we do with Rose. It is rather a lot to get your head around, don't you think?"

"Yeah," he admitted with a sigh. "It's like it's always there but I only tune into every so often. Like turning on the wireless or something."

"Exactly."

"But, well, I know Dennis and Fi would be thrilled with tonight. And while we can't really know about the other four, I really can't imagine a parent who wouldn't be happy that their child was happy, healthy, loved and remembering them in some way."

"Even if we raise them differently than they may have wanted?"

"Yeah. They are adored by a large family – each of them. Everything else whether it's schooling or magic or religion or discipline or culture or traditions - it just fades to the background. At least it would for me if it was reversed. And that's all we can really do. The shitty thing is that the six of them never got to really know who their children were. So, we can't ever know how they would handle a situation or what they what think of something. So, as we react to who the kids are and what they do, we impact who the kids are becoming and vice versa. In the end, they are our kids now. The kids deserve that. We deserve that. And their late parents deserve that too."

"Yeah. You're right. And I know that. And I agree. It just hit me tonight as I went to hang up Ryan and Hazel's stockings. It's their first Christmas, you know?"

"It is. And while I am sure Nima and Alfred would love to have been here. What they would want most is for Ryan and Hazel to be loved and have a great life. That is what we can give all of them."

"Can't unbake the cake, right? That's what Rose always says."

"Well, yes. She's said that to me before as well. And, she is as brilliant as her mum, so I think we should listen to her."

"Oh, Ron. Flattery will get you everywhere," she said, her tone shifting away from sadness.

"OK. Well, as much as I would like to get you– and well, kiss you– everywhere," Ron said with his eyebrows wagging. "I do believe we have some Christmas magic to conjure up."

"Right," she laughed, swatting his arm playfully. "That other little activity will have to wait until we are most assuredly NOT sharing the room with our four children."

"Bloody kids," he muttered laughing in a false protest.

"Yeah. So. Christmas magic. I was able to get everything yesterday. But, I need you to start off by hanging the two new stockings up. And then we need to assemble this terribly loud plastic noise making toddler toy thingy that we will hate very soon, but the babies will absolutely adore."

"Yeah, we need to work on your selling skills, love."

"Maybe. You get on that, I'll work on Rose and Hugo's stuff."

They split the work up and were able to get upstairs to find sleeping babies and wide awake school aged kids in their room.

"Please don't wake them," Hermione whispered.

"Promise," said Hugo a little too loudly.

Ron shook his head. "Just remember this in two years when they are waking you up at the crack of dawn wanting to see what Father Christmas brought."

"I can't imagine ever sleeping in on Christmas," said Hugo.

"I'm gonna remind you of that," laughed Ron.

"Ok. Everyone snuggle down. We're going to read and then get some sleep before the two adorable terrors are up again."

Per usual, Christmas morning arrived earlier than Ron or Hermione had hoped when Hazel and Ryan demanded morning bottles a little earlier than usual. But, as they were all up, they headed downstairs to enjoy breakfast before Jean and Michael arrived.

The gift-giving was fun, and watching the babies' reactions to the ribbons and wrappings entertained everyone. There were matching plastic baby toys that would make noises and light up when you hit them in a certain way, pulled a lever or hit a button. Ron quickly realized he would need to either "accidentally" lose the batteries or charm it to be quieter to not lose his mind.

Despite the presence of Hazel and Ryan and their new loud toys, it was the quietest Christmas morning they'd had as a family so far. Ron was sitting on one of the arm chairs in the living room with Hazel tucked in his arm as Rose snuggled Ryan on the sofa while Hermione and Hugo were distributing packages to people in the room. Jean and Michael were blessedly passing around tea and warm pastries of some kind. He had started to try and set low expectations for what everyone should expect as far as presents this Christmas as their lives had been so scattered recently. So, he was quite surprised at the number of packages under the tree Christmas morning.

"Here's one for Mum and Dad," Hugo said passing over a small box to Hermione.

"Who's it from?" asked Ron.

"No name," shrugged Hermione as she slipped her finger under the wrapping paper to open it. She pulled off the paper to find a small box, and in that was a little notecard. Ron could see her read it and suddenly soften and smile.

"Well, what's it say?" he asked.

She read aloud, "Dear Mummy and Daddy, We are still too little to get you anything or make you anything. But, we know how hard you have both worked these past few weeks since bringing us home and thought you needed a little something. So, we asked Grandma Jean and Grandpa Michael to let us come for a sleepover on New Year's Eve. Well, and any other time you need it. Or really, anytime we want extra biscuits as soon as we have teeth. Have fun on your night off. Love, Hazel and Ryan."

"That's fantastic!" Ron grinned. Then kissing Hazel's nose he said in that high baby-talk voice, "Thank you, Hazel. You have the most amazing grandparents, you know?" She gurgled and smiled as his nose tickled her, which made them all laugh.

"Thanks, Mum and Dad," Hermione said. "That is a really brilliant idea. We really appreciate it."

The gift giving went on, and each person oohed and awed over their gifts. Rose and Hugo had conspired on the day they were home with the twins and their grandmother to make adorable little footprint ornaments for each of the babies with "Hazel's 1st Christmas" and "Ryan's First Christmas," written under their tiny toes.

Ron was also surprised to see presents for Hugo and Rose from their school chums. He mentally kicked himself being unable to really remember when his friends had started exchanging gifts. He had always just brought Harry along like a lost puppy, so he wasn't really sure what 'normal' was at that age. But, when he realized the immaculately wrapped green package with a gorgeous silver bow on it was from Scorpius Malfoy, he temporarily forgot to breathe. Hermione caught his eye with a questioning look just after that, and he nodded he was ok. The look she gave back he decided to interpret as "thank you for not spoiling her moment and I'll reward you later," which he appreciated. His temporary heart attack also calmed down when he realized Scorp had given her a set of beautiful quills. Definitely a safe "friend zone" gift he thought. It's not like it was perfume or anything. But the idea that Rose would soon be old enough to be thinking of such things made him slightly queasy.

Hazel managed to choose precisely that moment to start squirming in his arms demanding attention, which made him chuckle. He held her upright against his chest like she usually preferred, though turned her slightly so she could see everything going on. Whispering in her ear he said, "Maybe your friends could all be girls and spare me this stuff in the future, huh?" And then he planted a raspberry kiss on her tummy making her laugh and squeal more.

Before long they had managed to open all of the presents under the tree. Hugo loved his art books Hermione had gotten in New York, and he got a gift certificate to take some art classes over the summer. Rose got a new broom and a promise from Ron to help her train for tryouts that fall. Rose had gotten her parents two blank baby books so they could keep track of things for Ryan and Hazel. Ron was pleasantly stunned when Rose also gave him a small ornament of a carousel horse. And they were all delighted with the ornaments Hugo had made for them. But, Hermione was mortified when Ron later gave her an ornament of a martini glass that said "Monaco" on it, but Ron was too busy laughing to care. She tried to sweep it up in the wrappings, but he rescued it and hung it on the tree with a snicker.

Once breakfast was eaten, Rose and Hugo wanted to play a new board game they'd received from Michael and Jean. Hermione took one look at Ron's eyes and new he was dying to play with them. Laughing she kissed his cheek. "Well, go on then. Who am I to keep an excited boy away from his new games on Christmas morning. I've got the twins."

He gave her a lopsided grin. "Thank you, Love. Just holler if you need us," he said as he sprinted form the kitchen.

"I swear sometimes I think your daddy is a nine year old boy in a middle aged body," she said to the babies with a laugh. "Which means you two are just about the luckiest kiddos in the world, I guess."

Ron had let his parents know they wouldn't be able to be at The Burrow until after the twins woke up from their afternoon nap. But, when Rose and Hugo heard that, they begged to go early so they could see their cousins. So, at half past three when Hermione went to put the twins down for their nap Ron took Rose and Hugo over to The Burrow. When he stepped back through the floo into his own living room, he saw Hermione coming back down the stairs.

"Who would have thought?" he laughed smugly. "Did you ever expect we could have quiet and privacy on Christmas Day and still manage to please all four of our children and all four of our parents on the same day?"

"It's a regular Christmas miracle," she said with a smirk. "The little ones were quite tuckered out after so much fun this morning, so I would expect them to sleep for two hours at least."

"Then, my love, the real question is what do you want for Christmas?" he said with his lopsided grin as he waged his eyebrows at her. "A shag or a kip?"

"Wasn't I good enough for both this year?" she said sticking her bottom lip out in a fake pout.

Her comment caught him off guard and he laughed out loud at her cheek. "Oh no," he laughed. "You, my witchy wife, have been quiet naughty. And I have loved every second of it and think we should make sure you do that some more right now."

"Hmm. Catch me first," she laughed. "Because it would be just our luck Hugo will forget something and come busting back through the floo and end up getting more than he bargained for." With that she took off up the stairs with a wink and a finger to her lips to remind her husband not to wake the babies.

"Oh I'll catch you," he whispered deeply as he stood up and took two large steps to overtake her. Surrounding them quickly in a silencing charm, he hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack of flour and carried her up the stairs as she laughed and he kept pinching her bum.

He shut the door carefully and silenced the room before ungracefully plopping her on the bed. She was quickly kicking off her trainers and working on her buttons as he pulled his jumper over his head.

"One quickie and a kip coming right up," he laughed as he tugged on her trousers.

Three hours later they were all at The Burrow enjoying the madness that was a Weasley Christmas. Hermione was sure there wasn't a surface in the entire place that wasn't covered by either a person, a drink, a plate or a present. Hermione had fretted a little that the noise would upset the babies, but they seemed thoroughly entranced by it and loved the attention from everyone who more or less fought over a chance to hold them. By the time Hermione and Ron had arrived with the babies, the gift exchange was well underway, and the cookbooks had been a tremendous hit with everyone. Once the packages were all unwrapped, Molly announced it would be 30 – 45 minutes before supper. So, Ron took the opportunity to grab a firewhisky and join Harry and his brothers on the back porch. Not wanting to talk about the bug any more, Ron thought he'd get some insight from the more experienced dads on other topics.

"So, do you remember when you were kids – or if you can't remember that far back now how about for your kids then, how old were you when you started exchanging gifts with your mates from school?"

Harry just looked at him with an arched eyebrow not seeing what Ron was trying to get at.

"Well," George said as he took a swig of his drink, "I don't know that I can help you there, Ronnie. Can't think of anyone Freddie has exchanged presents with. And back when we were in school, well, Fred and I didn't so much as exchange presents with our friends as, well..."

"...use them to unknowingly test out your newest product ideas?" Ron offered.

"Yeah. That," nodded George. "But, I do think I have a vague memory of Angie getting right pissed off about it one year when she got us both something and I do believe all we gave her was some puking pastilles."

"And yet she still agreed to marry you. Right miracle, that was," Bill laughed.

"Amen to that," agreed George.

"What about you then?" Charlie asked Harry.

"Well don't look at me. I'd never had a Christmas present 'til your mum sent me a Weasley jumper my first year. Ron always just brought me along, but I would hardly use that as an example of what normal behavior is."

"Yeah, nothing with you two ever is," laughed Charlie.

"What's all this about, anyway?" asked Bill.

"Well, I dunno," shrugged Ron. "I guess Rose and her mates seem to be exchanging presents now. Just had me curious I s'pose."

Harry's eyebrow went back up and he bit back the smirk that was dying to come out. "Um, last I checked Al and Scorp were Rose's mates, right?"

"So?"

"I just, well, let's just say I don't think all three of them exchanged gifts with each other."

"Whadya mean?" Ron asked.

"Oh shite!" laughed George. "Your daughter and Malfoy's son!? Oh just when you thought it couldn't get any better. Oh, Happy Christmas, Gred! Thank you for this one!"

"Piss off, George. They're not dating. They're friends."

"You sure about that Ron?" asked Bill.

"She's only 13," Ron said. "They don't start dating for a while yet, right?"

"Maybe you didn't," Charlie said with a smirk. "But I do recall more than a few birds being quite attentive back in second and third year."

"No way," said George defensively. "That young? Honestly?"

"Well, yeah," Harry chimed in. "Third year was when the Yule Ball was, remember? I never found the bollocks to ask Cho in time and we ended up with the Patil twins."

"Thanks, mate. I have a clear yet painful memory of that ruddy ball. Not only did I have to waltz with McGonagall I had to wear those hideous robes from hell."

George was laughing so hard at this point he was crying, so Percy stepped in. "Pay them no mind, Ronald. George and Harry will get their due soon enough when their daughters are at Hogwarts. And, sorry to inform you, but third year was certainly when Audrey and I noticed our girls suddenly getting owls and packages from boys."

"But she and Al and Scorp are just best mates, right?" he said almost pleadingly to Harry.

"Well, yeah, I had thought so," Harry said. "But there definitely weren't any packages under our tree from Scorp this morning. You never know, Ron. Don't get too worked up about it. It could be she had done something nice for him and he, being who he is, felt it was appropriate to send a gift. What was it, anyway?"

"Just some quills," he said defensively. "Nice quills, mind you. But quills. Nothing inappropriate."

"Yeah – when Malfoy sends gifts of Slytherin-green knickers, now that is when you've got to keep your guard up," deadpanned George before Ron promptly smacked him roughly in the back of the head.

"I think I've had just about enough of this brotherly love for tonight," Ron announced as he stood. "I'm going to see if Mum needs help." As he stepped back into the house and closed the door behind him he could hear all five of the others burst into peels of laughter, which simply made him close his eyes and cringe. First Skeeter. Now Scorp. It had been a hell of a week.

While Ron had asked Harry to be sure that talk of Rita Skeeter didn't dominate the night and bring everyone down, he knew very well his best mate had no more control of Ginny's mouth than he did. So when he came back into the living room having fetched bottles for his sisters in law to feed the babies and didn't see Hermione or Ginny, he was nervous. Appropriately so, as it turned out. Ginny had, in fact, grabbed two firewhiskies and maneuvered her newest sister in law up to her old bedroom to chat.

"I am guessing you haven't had any of this stuff since the twins showed up, but I am also guessing that after the welcome home surprise that bitch gave you that you could really use it."

"Well, Gin, accurate on all accounts as usual. But – one glass only. I do have to take those twins home tonight."

"Yeah, yeah. One is fine. But, I have a toast," Ginny said as she raised her glass in front of her dubious sister in law and friend. "I have been trying to handle Skeeter since - well - for as long as I can remember. But you, my dearest Hermione, set out to destroy her last year, and damn if you aren't about to do it. I know Ron doesn't know how badly you hated her. Or how hard you've worked since then. Or everything you have up your sleeve. But, I did and I do. And, while I am horrified at what she did last week, I am beyond thrilled that she finally crossed the line in such a manner she won't be able to bother us again. So, to the best Christmas present ever!"

Hermione shook her head as she toasted Ginny and took a small sip of the amber drink. "Oy. Not sure I'll ever get used to that burn. Sorry," she said coughing and hitting her chest with her fist. "What I was going to say was to please do not jinx us yet. She's only been arrested at this point. I don't think they've even charged her yet. But, you better believe I will be there when they do. And while I know I am not a credentialed solicitor in the magical world, I intend to pull every string I've got to help with the prosecution. That nasty bug has messed with the wrong witch!"

"Here, Here!" Ginny called. "Three cheers for my kick ass sister in law!"

"Hmm. Thanks. But I say we hold off on the party until she is convicted and sentenced. First I need to find out what she is being charged with."

"Right. All of that time you spent on secretly reading up on magical law is finally paying off, huh?"

"It wasn't that secret," Hermione protested.

"Uh huh. So, Ron knows about the restraining order you filed?"

"Well, no. Not exactly. I didn't want him to get upset by how much she was getting under my skin."

"Yeah. So, not a secret you were saying?"

"Oh shut up. But I do need to help Ron understand exactly how – uh – hands on I intend to be in this process."

"Like he would have a problem with that?!"

"Well, as much as he wants to see her get what she deserves, he is still pretty freaked out by what happened no matter what he says. He is really beating himself up that she was able to threaten his family like that right under his nose. So, it wouldn't surprise me if he wants me to stay as far away from her as possible. Not logical, mind you. But, he has this crazy protective streak that definitely manages to short circuit his logical brain sometimes."

"Hmm," said Ginny as she knocked back the rest of her drink. "We shall see. You seem to have tapped into some part of Ron that none of the rest of us know about. But, I do know he is fiercely protective. But, I would have thought he would use every possible resource to help bring justice raining down on her."

"I hope so," mused Hermione. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm totally doing it with or without his blessing. It will just be ever so much easier if he's ok with it."

Later that evening Hermione wandered out from her in-laws' kitchen, leaned against the doorframe and smiled at the sight. The Weasley sitting room was chock full of family, all enjoying each other's company. Fleur had Hazel asleep against her chest while Victoire and Dom were fussing over Ryan. Hugo was playing Exploding Snap with his dad, Louis and Rox, and Rose visiting with a group of cousins in the corner. Hermione was enjoying the warmth of the scene when Arthur came up quietly behind her.

"Enough to make your heart overflow, isn't?"

"That it is," she nodded.

"Thank you for bringing so many more grandchildren into our lives. I know that sounds silly to say it that way. But I just wanted to be sure to say how much I appreciate it."

"Oh Arthur," she said as she turned to hug him. "You are a sweet, sweet man. I can see where Ron gets it from."

Across the room Rose saw Charlie get up from the couch where he had been talking to Bill. Seeing her chance, she headed over to talk to him.

"Uncle Bill?" Rose asked hesitantly.

"How can I help you, Rose?" he asked as he patted the seat next to him on the sofa, encouraging Rose to join him.

"Well, I was wondering if I could get your opinion – or, maybe it's actually advice – on something."

"Of course, Rose. Anything. Though I am struggling to imagine what I can help you with that your parents can't. You aren't needing to break any curses are you?"

"No, no," she laughed. "Nothing that drastic. But, yeah – this is something where I am confident neither Mum nor Dad have any personal insight to offer."

"Now I'm intrigued. Do go on."

"It's just – well, you are the oldest child. And Dad and Ginny came along once you were already at Hogwarts, right?"

"Ahhh, now I get why Ron is useless here."

"Hey now, I didn't say useless. Merlin, Uncle Bill, that's how rumors start!"

"Yeah, yeah. Ok. Ron has no experience to offer on how to be a good older sibling to someone you don't get to spend much time with. Is that it?"

"Yeah," she admitted with a grimace. "Obviously Hazel and Ryan were a surprise for all of us. And before Christmas I had only gotten to even meet them one time. But, now I'm getting to spend two whole weeks with those two love bugs, and I really cannot imagine not seeing them again until Easter! They'll be almost crawling then. I'm going to miss so much. They probably won't even recognize me by then!"

"Stinks, doesn't it?"

"Yes!"

"I know. I really do. Now, babies weren't quite as, well, unusual around my house growing up. So, getting to snuggle with a baby had certainly lost some of its novelty by the time Ron and Gin were born. But I can remember a time I was home and Ron was just taking his first wobbly steps and Ginny was so young we still measured her age in weeks. But by Christmas he was running around like a holy terror and Ginny was already rolling over and trying desperately to catch up."

"Did they recognize you when you came home?"

"Um," he said, scrunching his forehead as if it would help him remember the details. "I don't know that people that young remember anything specific. But, I was definitely still familiar to them. I don't know if it was the hair or a smell or if it was just that Mum and Dad treated me as family so they did too, but they certainly always seemed to accept me back right away."

"Well, that's good at least."

"You know, Rose, I didn't get to be the big brother who taught him to fly a broom or who tormented him like the twins did. And we don't have shared memories of growing up together like he and Ginny have. But, I always felt like I had a good relationship with him, and I would hope he would say the same. By the time he was maybe three or four he was seeing me as the cool guy to look up to. He would color me pictures and send them by owl. And as soon as he learned to write we were sending letters back and forth. And all of that was fun. But when I was home from school, he would seek me out and we would have some special times together. I would try to take him on hikes or a fly just the two of us. Or I would, well honestly, lose to him in chess. And so I would be the one he would come find if there was a spider in his room or if the twins were being too rough on him. And as he got older I could talk to him about things he would never have felt comfortable talking to our parents about. And then, in the war, well, I don't know how much of the detailed story you know, but I'll just say he knew he could count on me. For anything. And when he needed it, he trusted in that, which I was so honored by. All that said, as he grew up I was sort of a role model. But after the war when he was starting as an auror, well, that was when we finally got to really get to know each other as equals. I was still his big brother, but he was the auror and war hero. We both had to help our parents and George recover from losing Fred. And, we became friends. While it was hard to picture when I was 20, at this point in my life he is one of my closest friends."

"Really?"

"Really," he assured her.

"So, any advice on how to be a good big sister?"

"Enjoy them. At this point just enjoy them. But as they get older, take the time to send them individual notes. Make a point to spend time with them together and individually when you are home. Just let the relationships develop naturally. It is way too early to know what their personalities are..."

"Really? Because it seems to me that we can already tell Ryan is Mr. Chill while Hazel is a high maintenance Daddy's Girl."

Bill burst out laughing at her assessment. "Well, maybe it isn't too early then," he chuckled. "I guess what I meant was you can't decide now what the relationship will be because it has to evolve on its own. And your relationship with Hazel will be different from your relationship from Ryan, which will be different from your relationship with Hugo. You can't force your way into the role of confidant or mentor. And you certainly can't force your way into friend. But, you can love them, get to know them, enjoy them, and be a key person in their lives who holds a spot somewhere between kid and grown up, which is a really cool thing to have."

"Wish I'd had someone like that," Rose muttered.

"Yeah, me too," Bill said. "But, I'd rather be one."

"Yeah, me too," she grinned.