Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
Summary: During the height of the Dark War, Marcus Flint and Katie Bell briefly pause to enjoy the holiday season.
Time: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Genre: Drama and Romance
Rating: PG-13
Date Finished: October 3, 2022
Katie Flint lowered herself down onto the snowy ground. In her right hand, she gripped her wand tightly. The war was going badly. Harry Potter had not been seen or heard from in months. The Order of the Phoenix was in ruins. People were dying and disappearing daily. She was lucky though. Her father was Muggleborn and he had managed to get out of the country. She had no idea where he was, but he was safe and that was all that mattered.
She fingered her new wedding ring. While it hadn't been the wedding of her dreams, it had been the pick-me-up that they all had needed.
She darted up, wand raised as the familiar pop of Apparition filled her ears. Her eyes darted around. The wards were supposed to hold. However, she couldn't put her complete faith in them. Like so many other things, wards could be broken.
A dark shadow stepped out of the tree line, dark robes flapped behind them. Katie took a small step back but didn't run. She couldn't run. If this was a Death Eater, the last thing she wanted to do was turn her back on him.
"It's just me." Marcus lowered his hood and brushed some snow off his shoulders.
Katie slowly lowered her wand, still frowning. While it did look and move like him, there was no guarantee that it was him. "Prove it."
He sighed.
"Marcus, come on, you know we have to do this." She paused. "You should have your wand out too."
He reached into his robes and pulled out his wand. He didn't point it at her though. "Where did we used to sneak off to at Hogwarts?"
"The South Tower in the classroom behind the turn of the steps."
He nodded and started to step forward.
"That's not how it works. I have to ask you a question."
"That is all a bit much."
She rolled her eyes. "Kingsley would have our hides if he knew we weren't doing this. Mad-Eye will come back to hunt us and think neither one of us want that."
He considered it for a moment. "You're right."
She nodded. "Then, ask me the question."
"Fine. What was the first Christmas I ever got you?"
"My first edition of Anne of Green Gables, which you never did tell me how you got your hands on that, and a doll that looked like Anne."
"There you go." He shoved his wand back into his robes. "Can I come closer?"
Katie lowered her wand. "Yes."
Marcus came over to her. Her eyes scanned him. He had been infiltrating the Death Eaters and passing information back to the Order of the Phoenix. So far everything was going according to plan. However, one little slip would cost him his life.
Snow started falling again. Katie looked upwards. It was Christmas Eve, the most wonderful night of the year, but it didn't feel like it. People weren't coming together for the holiday. So many people had no idea if their loved ones were even still alive. The war was also going to bsoly that any large grouping was bound to draw unwanted attention.
Marcus wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned into him, breathing in his wonderful smell. He ran his fingers through her long, blond hair. The idea of having him this close, but not yet able to enjoy him was more than maddening.
They broke apart and looked up at the starlight night. The snow had stopped and the stars had chased away the clouds. Everything was calm and still. It was the kind of night that Katie wished could last forever. However, the war would not let them.
"We should go in," Marcus said, his baritone warm.
Katie nodded. "We should."
The snow crunched beneath their feet as they made their warm up the small hill and toward their darkened home. Neither one of them spoke as they listened through the silence. It would be on a night like that that the Death Eaters would strike. Even though Marcus was among their ranks, they weren't safe. He didn't have the Mark-something that she wasn't sure how he had avoided. The only that greeted them was the low rumble of the wards. At first, it had been rather annoying, but now they meant that they were safe. As long as there was the um, everything was going to be okay.
Katie lit her wand and opened the door. Much like the outside, silence filled the inside. She couldn't even hear the house elves, which wasn't odd. Whenever Marcus and Katie weren't home, the elves had taken to hiding deep within the house.
Marcus stepped in his wand lit. They shone their wands through the main part of the house, which thankfully was empty.
Katie signalled for the lighting system to come out and soon they were bathed in its warm light. They had attempted to decorate for Christmas, but it all seemed for nought. It had made them happy at the time, but now everything just looked so sad.
Marcus moved over to the fireplace and threw some chunks of wood on it. Within a few minutes, he had a roaring fire going. Katie turned and flipped on the Christmas tree. The warm lights glittered on her skin. A few presents sat under it.
Marcus came up behind her and brushed a few melting snowflakes off her shoulders. "I don't know about you, but I want to get out of these wet things."
Katie leaned into him. "Yes."
"Do you want to join me?" he asked.
She faced him. "I don't know I was invited."
He nodded upstairs. "Shall we?"
She smiled and followed him up the stairs.
!
Katie slid into bed next to Marcus. Outside, the night was still and thankfully quiet. So far it seemed like the Death Eaters were going to take the night off or their attention was focused elsewhere. Not knowing was the worse thing about this whole war.
Marcus rolled over onto his side so that he was facing her. He reached out and ran a hand along her face. "What?"
"Nothing." She moved closer to him. She took his hand from her cheek and placed it between her own. Warmth rushed through her, embracing her like a warm blanket or a long-lost friend. "We didn't make any biscuits."
"We could go make some if you want," Marcus answered.
Katie eyed him. "It's late and we don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. We should get some sleep."
Marcus took his hand back and sat up. The blankets gathered at his waist. His bare chest was muscular from years of playing Quidditch. "That's the point. We don't know what tomorrow is going to bring" He swung himself over the side of the bed.
Katie gave him a long look. "It's midnight."
He looked at her as he started pulling on his clothes. "So? What else do we have to do?"
She did have to admit that he did have a point. Besides, they could be dead tomorrow, so why shouldn't they enjoy this Christmas night together? If they were going to die tonight, she would be much happier with an oven-fresh biscuit in her hand than go out with nothing.
They got dressed in silence. Katie didn't even know what they had in the kitchen. This could all be for nought.
They crept through the house. While they could very well summon the house elves to help them or even do it for them, neither one of them brought that up. This was going to be their Christmas. Besides, the house elves did deserve to have a peaceful slumber and not be interrupted by their masters' impulsive actions.
The Christmas tree shone proudly in the main room with the fireplace crackling. Outside, in the faint light, snow was falling, sprinkling everything in a fresh layer of powder. Katie paused, allowing herself to take it in. The only thing that was missing was the fresh smell of Christmas baking. Soon, they would have that and the picture would be complete. Maybe this was what they were supposed to be doing.
She followed Marcus into the large kitchen and flipped on the lights. They had spent so little time here since the war had taken so much from them. This was their chance to take back some of their power.
Katie opened the pantry, peering in with a frown. They did not have much in terms of baking ingredients. They did have chocolate chips though. In her mind, you couldn't go wrong with that.
Behind her, she could hear Marcus rummaging through the cabinets and drawers. The house elves were going to murder him at this rate. She pulled out the chocolate chips and some basic baking supplies.
Marcus had pulled out a mixture of pots and pans. He stood in front of them looking at them with a frown. She sat her things down next to his. She didn't know what they were going to make, but they were making progress. It looked like they were going to do something.
She rested her hands on the edge of the counter. "We probably should get a recipe."
"That could be a good starting point." He reached above her and pulled out a couple of cookbooks. "There should be something in here." He flipped open the first one, looking at it with a frown.
Katie took another one off the stack and starting flipped through it. While there wasn't much, there was some and they did seem to be pretty basic. Most of them called for everyday kitchen items, which she was assuming that they had.
"What about this one?" Marcus asked, pushing his book toward her.
Her eyes scanned over the page. It was a basic recipe for chocolate chips with a little bit of peanut butter thrown into the mix. She tried not to smile. Of course, Marcus would pick something that involved peanut butter. It was one of his weaknesses.
"I think we have everything," Katie admitted. She looked closer at it. Her eyes raced around the kitchen.
"Do we?" Marcus asked.
She nodded. "Yes." She started gathering the ingredients. "Let's set started."
Together they made their way around the kitchen, banging and looking for everything. Katie could not help but feel at ease. A feeling of warmth and joy rushed through her body. Things were going to be okay for now. The outside world could not harm them now. She placed her things on the counter and preheated the oven.
Marcus brushed his hands off. "I think that takes care of that."
"I think so too." Katie looked back over the recipe. They did seem to have everything and enough to maybe try another one. She looked at the clock. It was pushing one o'clock in the morning. It was now officially Christmas Day and all was still.
Marcus moved closer to the large windows and looked out them. With the recipe book still in hand, Katie crept up behind him. "What is it?" She peered into the darkness.
"It's snowing again."
"How can you tell?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. It just feels like it is."
"What does snow feel like?"
"Wet and damp." He paused. "Something feels different about this one though. It almost feels like it's telling us that everything is going to be okay."
"Maybe it is."
He turned away from the window. "Maybe it is."
They moved back into the centre of the kitchen and both started mixing things up. Katie kept waiting for one of the house elves to appear and give them a good scolding for disturbing their kitchen.
Marcus started mixing the bowl. His muscles straining. "I don't know if this is right."
Katie went over to him. "What do you mean?"
"I don't think it is supposed to be like this."
Katie frowned. The dough looked wrong. She looked at the picture in the recipe book. Something was for sure wrong. She added more water.
She stared down at the recipe with a frown, while the Christmas lights flashed behind her. She glared back at them, which didn't do any good. She mentally cursed herself for getting herself into this mess. Why had she volunteered to make biscuits for this dinner? She couldn't even make toast without setting off the smoke alarms.
She stared down at the gooey mess, while Marcus, her live-in boyfriend stood in the doorway laughing. She flung a bit of batter at him, which hit him right into the middle of his forehead.
"I don't get why it has to be this hard to make biscuits," Katie muttered as she stared down at the brown mess in her mixing bowl. "I'm pretty sure that it's not supposed to be brown."
Marcus sat his briefcase down on the sticky, messy table as he peered down into the bowl. "I know that's not how biscuits are supposed to be made."
Katie elbowed him. "Ha, ha, very funny." She frowned as she looked back at the recipe. What was she doing wrong? It just didn't make any sense. She had followed the recipe right now to the smallest cup of sugar. It just didn't make sense as to why it wasn't working.
Marcus looked down at the bowl. "Maybe we need to try another way."
Katie groaned. "It's too late for that."
"Can't you just buy them?" He lowered himself down onto a chair, wincing as a bit of batter stuck to his trousers.
"That's cheating," Katie muttered as she bumped the foul-smelling batter into the rubbish bin. "It's Christmas. We need to have them."
"Not really."
She gave him a dark look. "You know that we do not take shortcuts in this house."
"We live in a manor, not a house," Marcus pointed out. "I would just buy some sugar biscuits instead of going to all of this work."
"On Christmas?"
"Well…."
She shrugged. "We will make it work."
"Then, how are you going to fix it?"
She started throwing in the ingredients again. "I don't know." She sighed. "My mother and grandmother always make this look so easy."
Marcus reached for the recipe, reading over it with a frown. "This doesn't seem like it should be hard."
Katie raised an eyebrow. "Then, why don't you try it?"
"I don't know. You know that I'm a worse cook than you are."
She rolled her eyes. "It's a wonder that we don't starve."
"No, that's one of the perks of living in the suburbs."
"I guess." She sighed as she looked back down at the mixing bowl. "It's just annoying. I don't get why I can do my job so well, but, yet, whenever it comes to this, I can't do right."
Marcus grabbed the butter off the counter and added it to the mixture. "Well, they say that you can either cook or your can't and we must be in those who can't. My mother never let me touch the stove."
"Well, you did almost burn down your house the one time you tried to make hotdogs."
"It's not my fault that I didn't realize it that flames could come out of the stove."
"It's a flame." She frowned down at the recipe. "What kind of a mixer are we supposed to be using?"
"Does it matter?" Marcus asked with a raised eyebrow. "The hand mixer would be a lot more convenient. The big one is too much work to get out."
Katie sighed. "I know." She grabbed the small mixer off the counter.
Marcus threw in a couple of handfuls of flour. "Okay, it's not brown anymore, so that must mean we are on the right track."
"I guess." She turned on the mixer and put into right into the batter. A few bits of batter kicked up, hitting the sides of the bowl. Well, it didn't smell nearly as bad as it had been.
Marcus peered down into the bowl. "This is going to take forever doing it this way. Can't you turn this thing up a little bit?"
Katie shook her head. "I don't think you want to do that!"
It was too late though, Marcus had already hit the button speeding up the mixer to the point that she could hardly keep it in the bowl. The batter swung out of the bowl, hitting the counter and covering everything around them in a fine layer of gooey batter. Katie reached up and wiped a bit of batter away from her face. She glared at Marcus, who was laughing as he brushed some off his dress shirt.
"So, I'm guessing that wasn't the greatest idea I've ever had," he said as he removed the mixer from the batter.
"You think," Katie muttered as she peered into the nearly empty bowl. "I do think that something out there is trying to prevent us from making biscuits."
Marcus dipped his finger into the remaining batter, scooped a little bit up, and stuck it into his mouth. "Huh, it's not that bad." He dipped his finger back into it, offering some to Katie. "Try it."
Katie shook her head as she looked around at the wrecked kitchen. There was no way that she was going to be able to pull this off. Not only had she failed at making biscuits, but now the entire room was covered in batter and the party was tomorrow. She was going to ruin everyone's Christmas party. Once one thing went wrong, after all, everything was bound to go wrong. It was just the way of the world.
Marcus moved over closer to her, staring at her with his big blue eyes. "What's wrong?"
She blinked as she tried to gather herself. "Nothing." Even as she spoke, she could hear her voice shaking. Her eyes burned. Why did she have to be like this? Why did she put this much pressure on herself?
Marcus wrapped his arms around me. "This is what you did whenever I lost my job last year."
"This isn't nearly that bad," Katie admitted.
"I know, but you also told me that these things happen for a reason."
Kaise just rolled her eyes as she started cleaning up the mess again. This was just getting downright ridiculous. It was so hard to fix out for sure what was going wrong. She started back down at the recipe, trying to figure out what she had changed before Marcus had messed it up.
Surely, there had to be a way to figure out just what had changed without having to put too much thought into it. It had to be something so small that it was just slipping right by her.
Marcus came over and stood behind her. "What's going on?"
She held up a finger. "Just a minute."
"What?"
She glanced down at the recipe. "It just has to be something so small that I'm missing."
He wrapped his arms around her. "Are you it's just not the fact that you can't cook?"
She elbowed him. "Very funny." She leaned back against him, enjoying the way they moulded together. "No, there is something wrong here."
"We know that." He slowly reached for the recipe. "It's probably something that you're just overlooking. I find it best to sometimes put things to the side and allow your mind to clear."
Katie raised an eyebrow. "You just want to go to bed."
He laughed. "Maybe, but I do think you could use some time to allow your head to clear."
She looked at the clock. They were running out of time. It was now Christmas morning. Well, it wasn't, but it was still close enough. It would not be the same if they weren't done in time. She had no idea what had gone wrong.
She looked back at the recipe, tapping her chin with a frown.
Marcus appeared out of the corner of her eye. "You aren't going to let this go, are you?"
Katie shook her head. "No." She eyed him. "Isn't your house supposed to be the one that is determined? Don't you see things through the end?"
He slowly took the book from her. "That is a low blow." His eyes slowly scanned the page. He went back over to the dough and peered into the gooey mess. "I still think that walking away from the situation for a little bit would be best."
She was starting to think that he was right. Sometimes it did pay to walk away from something for a little bit and let it work itself out. She didn't want to admit that he was right though.
His eyes darted back and forth between the book and bowl. While he wasn't much of a baker, he was very good at setting the cracks in things. It was what made him successful on the Quidditch pitch.
Outside the wind started to pick up. While it wasn't howling, it was there to remind you that everything was not as safe as what it appeared. The darkness was still out there, just waiting for the right moment to strike.
Marcus took out his wand and pointed it at the bowl.
"What are you doing?" Katie asked.
"I'm going to remove the ingredients up until the point that things went wrong."
"Is that going to hurt everything else?"
He shrugged. "I guess we will find out."
Katie didn't know why she was so nervous. Marcus was pretty good at things like this, but he could, at times, get a bit reckless with his magic. She took out her wand, waiting for something to happen.
Ingredients started to come out of the bowl. Most of them were covered in so much of the sticky glo that she didn't know what to make of them. She watched as they became less and less gooey and more like the things they had put in.
"I don't think we put in enough of the wet things," Katie said.
Marcus nodded and laid his wand back on the counter. "It would appear so."
Katie looked back down into the bowl. Everything that had gone wrong had been fixed. If they picked up from where they left off, everything would be okay and they would have fresh biscuits for when they opened their gifts. It was going to be a normal Christmas-even if they weren't with their families.
She started putting things back into the bowl, checking and rechecking the recipe each time. She believed that things were going to work out and it was all going to be oaky. She could not allow herself to dwell on everything that could go wrong. It wasn't right. Even though the world was such a dark place, there was always something wrong with celebrating.
Marcus dropped the dough that was ready as she kept mixing. When this was all over, they were going to have to get a bigger mixing bowl. What they had was fine for a normal day, when it came to cases such as this, something bigger what needed.
Katie watched as he pushed the final tray into the oven. Two trays were already on the stove, cooling. Their wonderful smells filled her sense. She didn't know if she would be able to wait until they were cooled. Judging by the way Marcus was eyeing the tray, she knew that she wasn't the only one struggling.
In the glimmer of the kitchen lights, Katie could see the snow falling. It was falling harder than it had all day. No one would be on the move today. Unless they would use this weather as a way to hide. She shook her head. She could not allow herself to think such a negative thing.
Marcus came up behind her, eating a biscuit with another one in his hand. He held it out to her. She took it and bit into it. The chewy goodness raced through her body. She closed her eyes, enjoying the delight.
"So, was it worth it?" Marcus asked as the sky grew lighter.
Another day was coming and they had made it. It was Christmas and they were together. While they did have fresh baked biscuits and gifts under the tree, those things didn't make it Christmas. What made it Christmas was the fact that they were together and safe. That was all they needed.
Katie kissed him. "Yes, it was."
Marcus wrapped his arms around her. "Happy Christmas, Katie."
"Happy Christmas, Marcus."