A/N: I'm back! Did you miss me? No, wait. Don't answer that. :P So thanks to all the people that DID review (ie. an extreme minority of you) I really appreciate it, guys. It's nice to get feedback on your story.

So this is the last chapter for December. Woot! That's three months down, another... however many to go. So, hope you guys like this chapter, and if not, tell me why/why not. Thanks!

December 31st/January 1st

"So, remind me why we had to rely on your brother getting us an illegal Portkey before we could come to the Weasley's?" Lee asks, as we regain our bearings after having taken an illicit Portkey to the wood on the edge of the Weasley property. It's pitch black, so I have to feel around in the dark before my hand touches Lee's and he pulls me up.

"I told you," I reply, sighing heavily. "Ulysses got stuck in the fireplace after eating Two Tonne Tessa's brownies, and so Mum had to owl the Floo and Transportation department and get it disconnected, in case anybody came through and decapitated him. Sorry if that's an inconvenience to you," I add sarcastically. We start walking towards the lights ahead, which presumably belong to the Weasley household.

"It's just," he puffs, stepping over a large bush about the same height as me and miraculously managing to not let go of my hand, "it's just this is unnecessary torture."

"You're such a wuss. Grow a backbone," I snap, stumbling over a small log and releasing a few choice obscenities. I'm tired and cold and hungry and I don't know why I even bothered to agree to go to the Weasley New Year's Eve party. I mean, who cares? It's just another year, after all.

"I'm sensitive," Lee whines, as there's a disturbing rumble in the sky above us. Lightning flashes somewhere to the left, and it lights up the wood to reveal scary eyes. I don't know. Maybe I'm paranoid.

"No kidding," I mutter, tugging on his hand. "Let's go faster. It's starting to rain." Just as I say it, huge droplets the size of my head start to rain down on us and within moments I'm soaked.

"Duh, Bell," Lee smirks at the sight of my trying to blow a wet strand of hair out of my face, to no avail, "you should have hugged the tree."

"Okay." I stopped in the middle of the wood, with the rain pouring down our faces and saturating us, and put my hands on my hips. "Will you please let that go? Do you see me normally going around at school and hugging trees or singing in the rain or smoking dope? Or even going around kissing everyone in sight, girl or guy?"

"There was that one time-"

"Shut up! Okay, stop bagging me about my family! I get that they're retarded and odd and crazy and strange, but I'm not like them so it's all okay! I'm monogamous! So are my parents! So are my brothers. I think. Anyway, that's not the point. Just because the rest of my family are drug-crazed psychotics doesn't mean I am. Alright?" I breathe heavily and wring out the sleeve of my jacket.

There's silence for a moment, apart from the thunder and rain, until Lee says something. "Yeah, well. Why do you think I've never invited you to meet my family?"

I take a wild stab at it. "Because we're locked away at Hogwarts, and why would your parents go all the way to Hogsmeade just to see you when they could see you in the holidays if they wanted to?" I mentally smack my brain at the 'if they wanted to' part. Way to be insensitive, Katie.

Lee winces. "Well, yeah," he agrees. "But instead of dressing up as men dressing up as women dressing up as men, do you know what we'd be doing, Katie? We'd be sitting around drinking tea. Most likely from a floral tea cup and talking about the economy. Is that what you want? To sit around and drink tea from a floral tea cup that would most likely be pink and talk about the economy?"

I try to restrain the shudder that threatens to convulse my body. You have to understand, that mental image? Yeah, that's like my idea of hell. Still, it's only fair. I dragged Lee to meet my parents (okay, so he wanted to and hid in my suitcase just so he could. Big deal), I guess it's only right that I offer to meet his. On the other hand, drinking tea and talking about the economy.

And imagine if they asked what my parents were like! Do you think they'd react normally if I told them they frequently smoked pot, and that's what helped them deal with three somewhat outgoing children? (Alex doesn't count. All he ever did during his childhood was read. And make stupid scientific experiments like discovering why grass is green. Who even wants to know that?)

I shrug nonchalantly. (Well, as nonchalant as I can appear at the moment, considering the hellish images that are racing through my mind.) "I'd like to meet your parents." We're still standing in the middle of a clearing, it's still pouring rain the size of large Quaffles and we've still got our hands on our hips, staring at each other.

Lee's jaw drops. "What?" He stares at me in amazement, as if he can't believe what he just heard.

I nod, and water droplets go flying everywhere. "I'd like to meet your parents." I wonder briefly if the twins and Alicia and Angelina are waiting for us. Maybe they're even using binoculars and spying on us. Gah.

"No." Lee laughs, not a 'ha-ha-what-a-funny-joke' type laugh, more of a disbelieving 'you-do-not-want-to-do-this-I-am-warning-you-now' type laugh. "No, you do not."

"Yeah." I haven't really thought about it until now. I mean, before we started going out, we'd all just hang out at the Weasley's, or everyone would come to my house (which was good, because usually the 'rents are working during the summer holidays so nobody has to see what they're really like). Sometimes we even went to Alicia or Angelina's house, but never Lee's. So in a way, I'm curious to find out what sort of people brought up Lee Jordan.

"Well too bad," Lee shakes his head, which is rather unfortunate, as he has so many dreadlocks and they all spurt water at me. "Nope. Nuh uh. Not going to happen."

I shrug my shoulders sadly. "Well, gee," I say, looking downcast. "That's too bad, because here I was thinking that I actually mattered. But no, I guess I've been fooling myself. Evidently you don't even consider me your friend, like I have all these years. Do I just mean that little to you? I can't-" I don't have to rant on for too long, because Lee interrupts me sooner than I would have hoped.

"Okay!" He yells, lifting up his arms in an 'I surrender' motion. "Alright. Next Hogsmeade weekend," he promises. "I'll ask them to come down, if that's what you want."

I grin happily and leap forward to give him a hug. "But we're not going to Madame Puffifeet's," I warn him. "You'll have to get your mother to go to a normal place, where normal people go."

"That's the thing," Lee mutters. "She's not normal."

So we stand there, snogging for a while until suddenly I realise that not only is it still raining, but that the rain has turned into snow. Again. And I also come to realise that I am, in fact, cold. "Lee."

We break apart to get some air into our lungs. "Yeah?"

"Are you, by any chance, cold?"

Lee considers the question, cocking his head to the side. "Yeah," he said after a moment. "I am. I think we should probably get to thew party now."

"After all," I say, as we start slogging through the snow, "I am the life of the party."

"And so modest," Lee mutters, but I pretend I don't hear him.

"Well, well, well," Fred says when he opens the door, a satisfied smirk on his face, "look what the owl dragged in."

"You haven't seen the kind of shit Errol drags in," George tells us helpfully. Leaning forward surreptitiously, he adds, "it isn't very pretty."

Lee and I follow the twins through the door into the Weasley home, which Mrs Weasley always keeps immaculate. It'd put our house to shame, if it were clean. They lead us into the lounge room, where that cool clock that has a different Weasley on each hand is.

Chris bought one for Mum, once, from Diagon Alley. The down side was that in constantly pointed to 'in labour' for me and 'at brothel' for Michael, so he had to take it back. It was kind of amusing, really, especially when Mum's fancy friends came over and fainted at the sight of it.

"And where have you two been?" Alicia demands, hands on hips as we enter.

"Or," Angelina smirks, "more to the point, what have you been doing?" She moves over to allow me to sit down, although there is no way I can fit into that teensy little space. It's like twenty centimetres, for God's sake! The ancient people who used to wear carved up whale bones to crush their vital organs might have been able to, but I sure as hell can't, and I tell her so.

"A lady never kisses and tells," I reply haughtily to Alicia, taking the opportunity to sit on Ange's lap in a purely platonic sisterly way. George hands me a cup of some suspicious looking alcoholic liquid, but who cares? Everyone else will have hangovers in the morning. I might as well, too.

"Careful," Alicia warns, nodding in the general direction of the corner of the room. "There are children within hearing distance."

"Hey!" Ginny Weasley stands up and protests, fists out. "Want to say that again?"

Alicia looks stunned. The girl is practically half her size (okay, the height of me) and she's a second year. She doesn't know whether to quite believe that her boyfriend's baby sister just challenged her to a physical fight, no less. Of course knowing 'Lic, Ginny'd probably win.

Everyone reckons Fred and George's sister is a little on the short-tempered side. I mean, seriously. No one cares if she jumps into fights or whatever! So do half the people in our school! But now I just think she's crazy. I say as much to Lee by making a crazy motion, and he nods vehemently. It's agreed- Ginny Weasley is the most deranged second year on the planet. But of course, living with Fred and George would have to addle your brains a bit, I suppose.

"There are children within hearing distance," Alicia repeats calmly.

Okay, so I could have been wrong. Maybe the shock on her face was just because she wondered if Ginny was deaf from the constant explosions, or something. Maybe she wondered that if George and Fred are so smart (I hate to admit it, it's actually kind of true) then how did they land such a half-witted moron such as Ginny for a sister?

Ouch. Ooooh. Ginny's currently savaging Alicia. And another one! That was a punch in the nose by Ginny, in case you were wondering. I wonder how long it will take for Alicia to snap. Contrary to popular opinion, Alicia does have a temper in there somewhere. I think. It's just got to be antagonised enough, and then it will suddenly erupt after being dormant for... well, ever.

Needless to say, Fred and George are not doing anything in particular about it. Apart from half-hearted attempts going, "Ginny! No. Bad girl. You know Mum told you that the next time you're caught fighting she'll stop knitting tacky maroon jumpers for you. And you wouldn't want to miss out on next year's edition, which will consist of a teddy bear and a large 'G', would you?"

See? They're encouraging her. My best friend is getting beaten up by a twelve-year-old! I will not stand it any longer! I slowly rise off Angelina, and I can almost see her eyes bulge out in relief. I mean, come on. It's not my fault my mother's home made Christmas dinner, combined with Two Tonne Tessa's brownies were slightly fattening!

"Ginny," I say in a placating tone, "wouldn't you rather go to sleep, so that in the morning you can wake up and suddenly be in a New Year? Or why don't you try to go ride the fireworks, you'll be able to see all over town-"

"Are you trying to blow my sister up?" Fred asks, incredulously. Both his and George's jaws have dropped, dumbfounded.

I shrug. "Well, in not quite as many words, yes."

"Brilliant!" Says George, leaping up and putting an arm around me. "Amazing. Great idea. Full brownie points-"

I notice Lee starts to look a little green at the mention of the word 'brownie'. I can't help it if I only told him my suspicions about the cat after he ate a dozen! Jeez. I had to eat them too, you know. And did I complain? Nooo. I mean, sure, I forgot about the whole cat thing until I plucked a white hair from the icing, but who cares? They tasted fine.

"- And," George continues, "she'll get to have a bit of fun. What do you say, Ginny?"

Ginny looks up at her brother with loving brown eyes. She's the picture of innocence, and then I look over at Alicia who is practically dripping blood. But she manages to use her wand to make herself better, so no dramas. It was all her own fault in the first place, really. Ginny was just the innocent one, the victim...

"Sure!" She beams.

"Good." Fred tells her, "wait here. I think we have a spare one in our bedroom..." He thunders up the stairs at twenty miles an hour. It's a tad odd that they have a ready made firecracker in their bedroom, especially one that's large enough for a person to sit on. But eh. George and Fred have never exactly been known for following nation-wide-laws.

Angelina comes up next to me. No one's really paying attention to Ginny. "Is it just me," she asks, "or are they actually planning to blow their sister up?"

I sigh and look at Ange pitifully. "It's just you," I tell her sympathetically. "Those drugs are not helping you to rationalise things, sweetie."

Ange stares at me in horror. "I do not take drugs to rationalise my thinking!" She protests so loudly that Fred calls down from his room, "sure you don't."

"And," she adds acrimoniously, "I sure as hell don't want to be called sweetie!" She bellows to the ceiling, so that I think I see thin wisps of plaster fall down. This girl sure has a set of lungs on her- which means Oliver will find her the ideal replacement for Captain next year. After all, he likes a girl that can bellow her head off and still hear complaints.

"Jeez," Fred complains, rubbing his ear with one hand whilst dragging a huge red rocket behind him with the other, "you can make a freaking banshee sound like Alicia!" With a final bump, the rocket comes off the stairs and Fred drags it outside, where I am somewhat upset at the fact that it's not raining any more. If I had known all we had to look forward to was Ginny getting sent to the moon then I would have waited for the rain to stop back in the wood. That was far more interesting.

"It's not even cold out here," Lee says in amazement, looking up at the sky and scowling.

"There, there," I comfort, patting him on the arm, "all is not lost. It's only eleven-thirty at night."

George scoffs. "It's unnatural forces, I'm telling you!" He waves his arms eerily, and the faint light from the moon makes him look like a vampire, or something. I mean, not that George is vampire. He has red hair! Vampires never have red hair; they're always Gothic. I mean, does that mean as soon as someone turns into a vampire they go, "hey! I've developed a sudden love for wearing leather and chains!"?

"George. You look like a vampire." Alicia tells him sombrely. Hmmm. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so. Not to self: Make sure neck is hidden away from blood-sucking vampires with red hair, who live under the pretence of being your friend.

"I have a better idea," Fred says suddenly, turning back to us. "Let's set it off at midnight."

I consider the idea without much interest. Personally, putting Ginny on it seems like a much better use of time rather than just randomly blowing it up to see what the neighbours say. Anyway, the Weasley's don't have neighbours, so that's another down side. "Why?"

"Because," Fred answers, shrugging. "Mum'd get all pissed at us if we experimented with putting people on it. Maybe next year," he adds, when he sees the crestfallen expression on my face.

"Fair enough," I reply. Just as we're all standing around uncomfortably, wanting but not telling Fred his idea is crap and we really can't be bothered hanging around outside for twenty minutes just to explode a firecracker, a loud explosion that sounds not unlike a oil truck on fire erupts, causing everyone except Alicia to leap to the ground and cower in fear.

"What the fuck was that?" I yell, opening one eye as a large red and blue light explodes above my head. Oh. It's only a freaking firecracker. It sounded scary, okay? Like Michael on baked beans, that's how bad it was.

Alicia's still standing, laughing hysterically at us. "You guys-"another burst of fervent laughter- "are the biggest losers I've ever seen!" She laughs so hard that she falls down onto the cold, hard ground, but still doesn't pause her mockery of us to even say 'ouch'.

"Your girlfriend," I tell George, who's still recovering, sprawled out on the ground, "is unbalanced."

George nods mutely.

"No, really," I persist, as everyone else except Alicia stands up. "That girl is neurotic. Disturbed. Deranged. Loon-"

"I get it!" Alicia shouts, putting out her hands. "God, Katie. You're being such a bi-"

"Big lovable bear?" I suggest helpfully, as yet another large firecracker, this time gold, is set off and we all wince at the noise again.

Lee snorts. "Yeah, Katie, that'd be it."

I glare at him. "Was that a hint of sarcasm I detected, Mr Jordan?"

Lee grins at puts an arm around me. "Of course not, Ms Bell. In fact," he adds, grinning mischievously, "I may have to show you just how much-"

"God," Ange groans, putting her head in her hands. "Get a room, love birds."

Well. She's one to talk. Jeez, her and Fred constantly going at it twenty-four seven. They're like surgically attached at the lips, for God's sake! "Look who's talking!" I defend. "With you and Fred going at it like rab-"

"Shut up!" Angelina screeches, jumping forward and attempting to throttle me. "I hate you!"

"I hate you too!"

"I hate you!"

"Oh my God," Lee groans, slamming his palm against his forehead, "you guys are so juvenile. Especially you, Bell. In fact, sometimes I think you're a five year old."

"Oh yeah?" I ask, once again placing my hands on my hips. "Well if you think I'm five years old, do you know what that makes you? A cradle snatcher! There's a law against that, right, Leesh?"

Alicia looks between the two of us meekly. Sometimes she's not sure if we're pretending or being serious- and neither am I, to be honest. She and George don't fight anywhere near as much as Lee and I. "Um, I don't know. Maybe."

"See!" I yell at Lee. "I can't believe you think I'm five years old! You can go to he-" It's been a long night of interruptions, and Lee adds another one to the list.

He steps forward, in the middle of my somewhat irate sentence, and kisses me. Somewhere in the house, the cool clock with the personalised hands chimes twelve, and a whole rainbow of sparkles erupt and fizz over our heads. There's even one where a gigantic red/pink heart forms in the sky, and Alicia sighs with pleasure.

"It's so romantic!" She exclaims, totally captivated by the sight of it in the sky.

I break off the kiss with Lee temporarily to examine it, too. "Personally? It's sickening," I comment. "But hey, if you like corny, I guess that's fine, too-" I let out a sudden scream as Alicia throws her entire cup of alcoholic red wine at me, especially considering the fact that I am wearing a white jumper which will now permanently be stuck with the measles.

(You have no idea how hard Wizard wine injected with extra alcohol to make you to odd things can be to get out of clothes. Believe me. One time I tipped it all over this dress my Mum made me wear when I was five, and she made me clean it with a metal scrubbing brush and bleach. Never again.)

"Happy New Year," Alicia shrugs sheepishly, to reveal her shoe stuck in the mud. "Sorry. It slipped."

"Happy New Year," I agree, before stealing George's cup of blackberry Firewhisky and throwing it over her. "Oops. It slipped," I tell her apologetically, before making a break for it. After all, Alicia's temper does come out sometimes- I guess there's a limit to how long it can stay dormant, hey?

A/N: Yeah, it is a fair bit shorter than normal, so sorry about that. Anyways, it'd be nice to hear your thoughts on it, and to get to 200 reviews, seeing as how I couldn't even get the seven I needed to reach the milestone for the last chapter. I'll try and update again soon:D