Disclaimer: I wish I owned Harry Potter...But I don't. I own Tracey's personality and history but I didn't come up with her. That was JK Rowling. I own the plot as well and any OCs but that's it.

Chapter 4

I Won't Be Home For Christmas

The next Hogsmeade visit took place about 2 weeks before the end of fall term. Tracey met Ron in the entrance hall after breakfast that day. As they walked out into the cold, snow covered grounds Ron put his arm around Tracey's shoulder to warm her.

"Are you going home for Christmas?" Ron asked her as they walked.

Tracey's face, which had been happy up until that moment, fell.

"No," she frowned. "Mummy and Daddy have decided that they'd like to go on a muggle cruise to the Caribbean. They told my brother and me that we would either have to stay at Hogwarts or with friends. I've already signed up to stay here, though. I'm sure I'll have fun. I mean, the castle will practically be deserted. We can do whatever we want, really."

Ron contemplated something for a few seconds before saying, "Why don't you stay with my family? I'm sure my mum would be glad to have you. Harry's staying with us and everything. It'll be fun. Plus I don't want you to have to stay here alone."

Tracey smiled at Ron's suggestion. She'd love to stay with him but there was one problem.

"Ron, I'd love that but I doubt Professor McGonagall would let me stay," she explained.

"Just talk to her. When we get back from The Three Broomsticks this afternoon I'll owl my mum using Pig and you can talk to McGonagall. Maybe if you just tell her you've changed your mind-"

"Okay, I'll try," she interrupted him, sensing that he wasn't going to stop until she said agreed to talk to Professor McGonagall. "But what am I supposed to tell her, exactly?"

"Tell her you're going to be staying at The Burrow with my family. She knows all of us. I want you to meet the rest of my family. So far the only one you've met is Ginny."

It was true. In the month that Ron and Tracey had been dating the only one of Ron's relatives that Tracey had met was his younger sister. This wasn't surprising though, seeing as none of the other Weasleys attended Hogwarts anymore. The closest Tracey had come to meeting any of the other Weasley children had been on the Hogwarts Express the summer before the previous school year when Fred and George had looked in to see if her compartment on the train was empty. Truth be told Tracey was extremely nervous about the prospect of meeting Ron's parents and siblings. She hadn't ever done the "meet the parents" thing.

More snow started to fall as Ron and Tracey reached The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. Ron shivered slightly as he held the door open for Tracey to enter. Madam Rosmerta greeted them as they walked to the counter and ordered two butterbeers. Tracey spotted a table for two in the very back of the bar and pointed it out to Ron. When they had received their drinks they moved towards the table to sit down and talk.

"Aurora thinks that we should go on a double date," said Tracey, just to see the reaction that it got from Ron.

Almost immediately Ron looked like he was going to throw up.

"A double date? With Malfoy? There is no way. No bloody fucking way," Ron protested. "You aren't seriously thinking about it, are you? I refuse to go on a double date with Draco Malfoy, the Amazing Bouncing Ferret."

Tracey started laughing hysterically. It took her about 5 minutes before she could stop and when she did she was out of breathe and her cheeks hurt.

"You…you called Draco the Amazing Bouncing Ferret…" Tracey started laughing again.

"Well he is," grinned Ron. "Remember when Moody turned him into a ferret and bounced him around the entrance hall?"

"How could I forget? Professor McGonagall got much angrier than I've ever seen her before. And I've seen her pretty mad."

Ron and Tracey continued to joke around and talk until they had finished their butterbeers. Then they braved the snow to go to Honeydukes for some chocolate. Tracey decided that she had better buy her Christmas gifts now, while she had the chance. While they were in Honeydukes she got Ron a huge box of Chocolate Frogs. Hopefully she could help him get closer to finishing his collection of Chocolate Frog cards. Aurora was getting a new set of eagle feather quills. Tracey then got Draco a new compass for his broomstick.

The walk back to the castle was nearly unbearable. During the 4 hours that they had been in Hogsmeade the snow had picked up considerably. Wind beat across the students faces as they trudged through what appeared to be about 8 inches of snow. A large, furry orange cat with a bottle brush tail crossed in front of Tracey and Ron as they got to the grounds. It stopped and started mewing at them before flicking its tail and scurrying away, back through the gate.

From the bottom of the large stone staircase leading into the castle Filch could be heard screaming about the desecration of his clean entrance hall.

"HOODLUMS! Students dripping and squishing all over my floors. Water everywhere. A mess. And who has to clean it up, my poppet? Me!"

Mrs. Norris was very clearly with him. Filch's cat followed him everywhere and alerted him to any wrongdoing going on in the castle. No doubt she had been the one to tell him that there were students bringing melting snow inside. To avoid Mr. Filch's wrath Tracey and Ron cleared as much of the snow off of their robes and cloaks as they could before entering the castle's large entrance hall.

Ron walked with Tracey as far as Professor McGonagall's office. He left her there so that she could ask about being taken off the list of students staying at Hogwarts during semester break. From there he proceeded to the owlery to send a note home. Seeing how much snow was swirling outside of the glassless windows of the tower made Ron wonder if Pig could make it home in this weather.

Pig fluttered down from a perch near the far end of the room and landed on Ron's shoulder. The little bird hooted incessantly until Ron finally yelled at him to shut up so that he could write his letter.

When he finished writing to Molly, explaining that he would like Tracey to stay for the holidays, he tied the note to the hyperactive owl's leg. Pig flew out the window, dropped a few feet and was buffeted back up by the wind. Shaking his head, Ron watched the owl fly out of sight and then went back to the Gryffindor common room to warm himself before the fire.

Professor Minerva McGonagall thought she heard a light knock on her office door. Looking up from the grading she was doing she called for whoever it was to come in. She was surprised when Tracey Davis opened the door looking slightly frightened and more than a little embarrassed.

"Ah, Ms. Davis, come in. What is it that I can do for you? I trust that you aren't having difficulty with the homework I assigned you this week."

"No, Professor, not at all. I actually came to ask you about something else."

A look of confusion spread across Professor McGonagall's face.

"Alright, what would you like to ask me about?"

"I know I signed up to stay here during Christmas holidays but I was wondering if I could be taken off that list."

"Your mother sent me a letter, you know, saying that she was going on vacation with your father and that you'd have to stay at the castle over break if you didn't find somewhere to stay. Have you found someone with whom you can stay?"

"Ron offered to let me stay with his family. He owling his mother right now to see if it's alright with her."

"Well, until Mrs. Weasley sends a letter back to Ron I'm afraid I can't take you off the list."

The bottom of Tracey's stomach dropped out.

"However," stated Professor McGonagall, seeing the look on Tracey's face, "I will take you off the list once Ron's mother has written back to him saying that it is all right for you to stay."

A smile flooded Tracey's face.

"Thank you, Professor McGonagall. I'll let you know what Mrs. Weasley says."

Tracey walked out of McGonagall's office with a slight skip in her step. She returned to the dungeons feeling much better than she had since she found out her parents were going away by themselves.

"Tracey!"

Ron rushed over to her after breakfast a few days later holding a piece of parchment in his hands. The sound of Ron's voice made her turn abruptly, almost knocking over a first year Hufflepuff who was leaving the Great Hall at the same time.

"Sorry," she called after him, as the small boy tottered under the weight of his books. "What's wrong, Ron?"

"Nothing, Mum just owled me back. She said she'd be thrilled if stayed with us for Christmas. Listen to this:

'Dear Ron, Your father and I would be delighted if Tracey stayed with us for the holidays. She can sleep in Ginny's room. Fred and George will meet you at King's Cross next Friday. Lots of love, Mum'

'P.S. Say hello to Harry and Hermione, and Ginny from us.' You can stay with us. Are you going to go talk to McGonagall again?"

"Ron, that's amazing. Of course I'm going to go tell her. I have Transfiguration right now. Do you mind if I borrow that to show her? I don't want her to think that I'm lying or something just to get out of the castle," Tracey said grinning widely.

Tracey, after thinking about it for a few days, decided that she was excited to have the chance to meet Ron's family.

"Sure, I'll see you later. I have to get going to Defense Against the Dark Arts," stated Ron as he handed her the letter, kissed her softly, and walked away up the marble staircase, waving.

Two seconds later Aurora emerged from the Great Hall with Draco. They had seen Ron jumping up from the Gryffindor table to call out to Tracey as she left. Both were surprised to find her still standing at the foot of the stairs.

"We thought you'd be at class by now," said Aurora. "What did Ron have to tell you? He looked excited."

"He looked as though he'd found a galleon lying on the ground…" muttered Draco.

Draco shut up as Tracey and Aurora simultaneously shot him icy stares as they walked up the stairs. He hung his head but then rolled his eyes as they turned back to face each other.

"We saw that!" they said in unison.

"So what did Ron have to tell you?" Aurora looked again.

"I'm going to be staying with his family during vacation," explained Tracey simply.

"Do tell me exactly what his house looks like, will you? I'm sure it's nothing you're used to. By the way, I don't understand why you couldn't just stay with me or Rora in the first place."

"Hush, Draco. Leave her alone. If she doesn't want to stay with one of us that's fine. I'm sure she'll have a great time, won't you, Trace?"

"Yeah," she nodded, still not quite sure exactly what she was getting herself into. All she knew was that, from what she had heard about Ron's siblings, this was going to be a rather interesting Christmas.