Family
Seven year old Ron Weasley sat in front of the fireplace on his family's sitting room. The flames flickered bright yellow and orange as he held a hand-written letter up to the fire. "Come on Ginny!" he cried as the paper caught fire. "Put your letter in the fire too if you want Father Christmas to read it!" He let go of the paper and watched as the ashes floated up into the chimney.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Ginny cried, entering the room and waving a piece of paper in her hand. She passed it over to her older brother, who then added it to the fire. "Do you think he'll get it in time?" she asked nervously, pacing the floor behind Ron.
"I think so," Ron said reassuringly. He and his sister sat in front of the fireplace in silence for a few minutes, both lost in thought. Both were thinking about the wonderful presents Father Christmas was going to bring them. They were still sitting cross-legged on the floor, their chins in their hands, when something startled them. The flames in the fireplace suddenly turned green and roared loudly.
"Ho ho ho…Happy Christmas!" a booming voice called out as a man emerged from the green flames of the fireplace. The man had a long white beard, and wore a red velvet suit. He carried a large white sack on his back. "Are there any good children in this house?"
The man set the bag on the floor and waited with a smile on his face as he looked up to see the two youngsters standing in front of him, their eyes as big as saucers. "Father Christmas! It's Father Christmas!" Ron whispered as he backed away from the fireplace.
"Father Christmas is here! He's here!" Ginny cried, jumping up and down excitedly. She ran out of the room shouting as loudly as she could to her brothers to come into the sitting room.
"And what is your name, little boy?" Father Christmas asked as he sat down on a chair at the dining room table.
The little boy crawled up onto his lap and grinned. "Ron," he said.
"And how old are you, Ron?"
"Seven," he replied with a smile.
"Seven years old, that's quite grown up! What would you like for Christmas this year, Ron?" Father Christmas asked as Ginny returned to the room, along with her brothers and mother.
"I want a chess set! And a box of chocoballs!" Ron cried excitedly.
"Well, I'll see what I can do about that," Father Christmas replied before petting Ron on the head and setting him on the floor.
Each child took a turn sitting on Father Christmas's lap and telling him what they wanted for Christmas. All except the three eldest boys. They were apparently too grown up to sit on Father Christmas's lap, though not too grown to tell him what they wanted for Christmas.
When everybody had finished telling Father Christmas what they wished for, Molly whisked them upstairs to bed. Once all the children had been tucked into their beds, Molly returned and helped Father Christmas put presents in the stockings hanging from the fireplace mantle.
"And what about you, young lady?" Father Christmas asked as he put presents under the tree. "Were you good or bad this year?"
"Oh, I was a very good girl this year," Molly replied with a laugh.
"And what would you like for Christmas this year?" Father Christmas asked. He reached into his bag and took out one final item: a small sprig of mistletoe. He walked over to Molly and held the mistletoe over her head. He grinned before leaning down and kissing her.
"Oh…I've already gotten what I want for Christmas," she said with a smile before wrapping her arms around Father Christmas's shoulders and kissing him in return.
Ron and Ginny watched this from the doorway, their mouths opened in shock. Their mum was kissing Father Christmas! Ginny started to giggle, and Ron clapped his hand over her mouth before dragging her away from the door and back up the stairs to their bedrooms. They had snuck back downstairs to try and watch Father Christmas fly back up the chimney, only to find their mother kissing him!
That night, Ron had trouble falling asleep, and the next morning, he moped around as his brothers and sister excitedly opened their presents. "Ron, son, what's the matter?" his father Arthur asked him, a frown of concern on his face. "It's Christmas day, you should be opening your presents."
Ron bit his lip and kicked the foot of a chair next to him. "Last night…Father Christmas came to the house…and mum was kissing him…" he mumbled.
Arthur tried not to smile at his son's obvious upset. "Well, I'm sure it was just a simple kiss, nothing more. But, I'll have a talk with her about it later, all right? Don't worry, son," he said before patting Ron on the shoulder reassuringly. "Why don't you go open your gifts now?"
Ron stalked off and grabbed his stocking from the mantel. As he slowly opened his presents, he looked up to see his parents whispering to one another. Molly laughed lightly and then quickly bit her lip to stop when she saw her youngest son glancing surreptitiously at her.
"Well, Molly, it appears as though we were spotted last night..." Arthur whispered to his wife, "and I'm afraid your youngest son seems to think you're rather a bit of a slapper."
Molly's eyebrows rose and she laughed before stifling herself and looking over at Ron. "Is that so?" she replied, covering her mouth and blushing.
"That's so," Arthur said, kissing her cheek. "But don't worry, dear, I still love you."
Molly kissed her husband in return. "Thank you dear."
Ron sighed, feeling satisfied that everything was all right between his parents, and turned his attention to the new miniature chess set he'd just received from Father Christmas.