Friday December 18th

Platform 9 and three quarters

2: 25 am

- - -

Louis Weasley liked being the only kid at home. He liked sleeping in late and not having to worry about being woken up by teenage girls running up and down the staircase worrying about what outfit they were going to wear that day. He liked being able to use the bathroom without being afraid that one of his sister's many hair products was going to rise off the sink and eat him alive. He liked the fact that his mother cooked him his favourite dishes and his Dad spent his weekends playing Quidditch with him in the backyard. But most of all he liked the fact that the house was quiet and calm.

Unfortunately, in about five minutes, that was all going to change.

"Oh Beel!" Louis looked up to see his mother clutch his father's arm in excitement. "It will be so good to have ze girls 'ome for Chreestmas!"

Bill Weasley smiled as his patted his wife's arm in amusement. "It will be good," he agreed.

Louis simply rolled his eyes and looked up at the massive clock hanging by the wall. Four minutes to go until freedom was officially over. Drat.

"Bill. Fleur. Louis."

Andromeda Tonks walked across the platform towards them, a smile on her elegantly lined face. "How are you all?" she asked as she came near.

"Good," replied his father, "and you?"

"Fine. Just waiting for Teddy."

"You must miss 'em so," remarked Louis' mother as she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Andromeda's wrinkled check. "I know our 'ouse is just not the same without ze girls 'ome."

Louis groaned and shifted his feet in annoyance. Now they were going to spend another five minutes talking about how much they missed their kids. Sometimes adults were just so predictable. He glanced another look at the clock and saw that two minutes had already passed. Bugger. Didn't they know he wanted time to move slowly not fast? It was days like today that Louis was sure the all elements of the world were against him.

"Louis!"

Yep, he was right. Everything was against him

A small force knocked into his legs and looked up at him, beaming widely as she grabbed his hand in excitement. "Molly's coming home today. She's coming home today and we're going to play and read books and bake biscuits. I have a new doll I want to show her that she's never seen before. Uncle Charlie got it for me from Romania and it has black hair and black eyes and it comes with lots of dresses. And I know that Molly got me a huge present for Christmas but no one will tell me what it is and I want to know because I don't think I can wait until Christmas but Mum says I hafta and-"

"Whoah there. Slow down Lucy-girl," said Louis' Aunt Audrey as her and Uncle Percy walked up to their small group. "You're scaring Louis."

Lucy looked up her cousin. "Am I scaring you?" she asked softly, her small eyes growing huge at the possibility.

Louis scoffed. "No," he replied, annoyed at the fact that his aunt thought he could be scared by a mere four year old. He was ten years old for Merlin sake! "You could never scare me," he added strongly.

"Good," replied Lucy as she continued to swing his hand, chatting loudly the whole time and making Louis feel glad that his cousins James and Fred weren't here today. They would have never let him live this moment down.

Louis snuck another glance at the clock. It read two thirty so that meant……

Yep, right on time the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station. Lucy pulled his hand so hard that Louis thought for a moment that his arm was about to come loose out of his socket. "Wait a sec," he whispered to Lucy as people started to surge forward, eager to greet the returning students. "They'll come to us."

Lucy pouted prettily but listened to him and didn't move. Louis could still hear his parents talking with Andromeda and his aunt and uncle about how much they missed their girls. The thought briefly crossed Louis mind how in a year they were going to say that about him. How in a year he'll be one of the students on the train. Louis could hardly wait.

The first of the students started to exit and Louis recognized a familiar red head stepping out of the train, an armful of books in her hands. "Molly!!!!" shouted Lucy as she dropped Louis hand –finally!- and ran into the crowd, causing both her parents to scurry after her in parental alarm. Louis watched as his cousin looked up at the familiar yell and, seeing her little sister running towards her, dropped her books and immediately opened her arms to embrace the small runaway, seemingly not to care that all her classmates were watching her.

"Look. Look!" Louis attention was diverted by his mother. "There's Victoire and Teddy."

Louis followed his mother's gaze and saw Victoire and Teddy stepping off the train with their things, chattering loudly. Dominique followed behind them in a deep conversation with a tall, lanky brown haired boy that looked to be around the same age as her.

"Who's the boy Dom's talking to?" demanded his father in a loud voice. No one answered him for in that moment Victoire and Teddy saw them and rushed over in a flurry of hugs –well Victoire rushed. Teddy strolled over nonchalantly but even Louis saw him pick up his pace as he drew closer to his grandmother.

"Maman!" exclaimed Victoire as she greeted her mother with a kis. She turned towards her father and gave him a huge hug before bending down to ruffle Louis hair, "Hi squirt. You miss me?"

"No," replied Louis honestly as his sister laughed and drew him in a big hug anyways. Louis squirmed and broke free, blushing furiously at his sister's attention. He looked around Victoire to see Dominique saying goodbye to the boy, her face turning red as he hugged her briefly. As he walked off she turned towards her family, a love struck expression on her face. Walking over towards them she gave her mother a huge hug and kiss as her father demanded to know "Who that boy was."

Oh yeah, thought Louis to himself as he stood there in the midst of all the talking and carrying on, for Dominique was deliberately ignoring her father's question as she greeted him with a hug, everyone's definitely home for the holidays. Gre-at.

Author's Notes: I must admit, I've never written Fleur before. I hope I got her accent right. And I'm assuming Maman is french for mother, but having taking only Spanish for four years I could be totally wrong. Seven more chapters to go until the end. Hope you are still enjoying this!