"How can I tell that the past isn't a fiction designed to account for the discrepancy between my immediate physical sensations and my state of mind?"
From The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Warning- Flashback Chapters
"My eyes are dimmed with sorrow, worn out because of all my foes."
Psalm 23:4
Chapter 7: May I Help You?
There was a loud crack and suddenly a lone figure wrapped in a dark cloak appeared under the cold moonlit night. The figure trudged slowly through the snow toward the house. It paused at the end of the walkway to consider, then preceded up to the front door, but hesitated before knocking with firm resolve.
It was Christmas Eve 1974 and inside The Burrow it was warm and cheerful and smelled of cinnamon and apple cider. A little fir tree strung with popcorn and tiny handmade ornaments stood in the corner. The couple sat by the cozy fire with their boys, Bill and Charlie (four and two respectively). Molly was knitting a maroon sweater and Arthur was playfully telling the boys about Father Christmas. The eldest son was peppering his father with questions. Molly, amused, looked up from her knitting and smiled at the exchange. Bill was obviously quite intelligent and somewhat skeptical.
Then there was a sudden loud knock at the front door. Perplexed, the couple looked at each other. Arthur got up to answer it. After he opened the door, Molly saw a figure in a long brown travel cloak and large black boots. She stood up to get a better look. Both Arthur and Molly were dumbstruck. There on their doorstep with one small black eye, and a great blue magical one was Alastor (Mad-Eye) Moody, the renowned auror. Arthur wondered what this could mean. Problem at the ministry? Bad news about his brothers-in-law who were in The Order?
Arthur composed himself and managed to say politely, "Good evening Alastor. May I help you?"
It was hard to read the auror's face. Arthur didn't know him well, and his scars gave him a perpetually angry look, but Arthur detected worry, or was it sadness?
"Evenin' Arthur, Molly," he nodded in her direction. She was holding Charlie on her hip, her brow furrowed with concern.
"May I come in?" He asked in a gravely voice.
"Of Course." Arthur stepped aside to let him in and shut the door with a wave of his wand. Charlie clung to his mother and Bill stared curiously at the stranger.
Alastor unexpectedly knelt down causing Arthur to step back in bewilderment. "I didn't know what to do, Arthur." He looked up pleadingly, then back down, sighed, and opened his cloak to reveal a tiny black-haired girl in a dingy gray dress. "This is my sister." Both Molly and Arthur's jaws dropped.
Author's Notes: Ok, I get the irony of having a Douglas Adams quote on the same page as a Bible quote. Also, I don't know if Father Christmas comes to wizarding families, but he goes to Narnia, so maybe. ;-)