Two things, one happy and one sad.
Firstly, I'd like to give a shout-out to Eggshellwhite who sent me a lovely review which totally made my day when I read it. Because you did this anonymously I couldn't reply to thank you, so this is my thanks.
Secondly, I've had a really, really tough start to the year. Two people close to me, and another close to my boyfriend, have lost their lives. It's really shaken me up, and I don't know how it'll affect my writing. So, if I take a while to update, don't be angry. I have a few chapters ready, but they'll be used in a couple of weeks. The next month or so will be really hard.
May they rest in peace
"Thanks for your help, Ginny." Charlie smiled in her general direction, not lifting his eyes or his wand from the piping bag which was currently icing a very small Christmas cake for Luna to share with her father, as he knew she loved the festive cake but had no idea how to make it herself, no matter how competent she was in other areas of cooking. It was ironic that she was able to cook anything apart from the sweet treats she loved so much.
"I didn't really do much, just pointed you to the recipes. Just figured I should show you those before you burnt down the kitchen and I would have to face Mum's wrath, once she'd finished with you, as to why I hadn't stopped you. You know what she's like." Charlie laughed softly and looked away from the cake as the piping bag finished its job.
"I do know, so thanks for saving us both from the wrath. Oh, Merry Christmas by the way, thought I should probably say something about that." Ginny hopped down from her place on the counter and came over to inspect the cake which was extremely beautiful, despite its small size and lack of area for decorating.
"Merry Christmas to you too," Ginny murmured absently as she examined the strawberry tart, a mouth-watering confection of berries and pastry, the berries glowing brightly under a golden lattice. "You're a dab hand at baking, Charlie," she said with surprise.
"Who knew? Guess I do take after Mum in some aspect other than hair colour." Charlie was like Ginny in that his hair was a slightly darker shade of red but he had inherited his father's blue eye colour, like all the other Weasley children apart from Ginny and Bill with their chocolate brown eyes. However, Charlie's eyes were unique in the family as they had a faint brown circle surrounding the pupil, something women found particularly entrancing.
"I guess so, have you opened your presents yet? You know Mum will be upset if she comes down and you aren't wearing your jumper." Ginny was playing with the hem of her own pale blue jumper, her name stitched onto the chest in a darker shade of blue.
"Why is it you have your full name on yours?" Charlie hadn't really noticed this before.
"One year George thought it'd be funny to steal the pink one she made for me. Mum didn't find it particularly amusing and has ever since put my entire name on it, just in case he 'forgets'. I'm glad she's changed the colour now though, pink really did not go with my hair," Ginny muttered as Charlie floated the two desserts into a large tin and sealed the lid with a charm only Luna would be able to remove. He laughed once he'd finished.
"I can imagine, and in answer to your earlier question, I haven't opened mine yet. Guess I'll go and do so now, thanks again for your help." Charlie picked up the tin and turned to make his way up the stairs to Bill's old room, where he was staying with his brother because his room was full of Fred and George's products.
"You're welcome, thank you for my flying gloves. I've been wanting some for ages, my hands always get in such bad condition by the end of the flying year. How did you know I wanted some?"
"I heard you complaining about your hands the other day and decided you might appreciate some good quality gloves. Got to keep those hands nice and soft for Harry don't you?" Charlie winked cheekily and disappeared up the stairs.
"It's Dean! Not Harry!" Ginny yelled up after him and then blushed and shut up, remembering most people could hear her when she yelled like that.
"What's not Harry?" Molly Weasley asked absently as she bustled into the kitchen, covered in snow and smiling happily, levitating a basket full of frozen carrots in front of her.
"Oh, hey Mum. Charlie and I were just wondering who had made all this mess with flour. I said it couldn't be Harry because I know for a fact that he and Ron are still oblivious to the world." Ginny smiled innocently while surreptitiously attempting to get the flour off her hand. She and Charlie had had a small food fight while the cake was baking.
"Oh, well it wasn't me. How odd. Anyway, could you help me thaw these dear? It's taken me nearly three hours to dig them out, and that's with the help of magic! I do wonder how muggles cope, sometimes. It's a simple spell really, you don't need any words. Just point at the carrot you need to thaw and focus on heat pouring out of the end of your wand, then flick it like this." Molly demonstrated then watched with satisfaction as the carrot thawed and flew into the sink. "Unfortunately it only works on one carrot at a time so I'd really appreciate your help, dear."
"Of course, Mum. Thanks for the presents by the way. The toffee smells delicious."
"You're welcome, and that colour suits you," Molly said approvingly as the two women set to work. Bill joined them after a while and Molly stood up to cook some breakfast, drawing all the other occupants of the house into the kitchen to work out the source of the delicious smell and see if they could have any of it. Charlie, who had already eaten, didn't make an appearance. Fleur had sat down beside Bill and was talking loudly about the number of house elves she had in her French home which meant she would never have to even think about a carrot, let alone prepare one. Ginny smirked as her mother started talking to Bill as if Fleur wasn't even there. Bill had only arrived yesterday, his arms overflowing with presents and Fleur happily gliding in without a thing to carry.
"Bill, do you think Charlie's alright? Obviously you've not seen much of him, given that you only arrived yesterday and you've both been in and out of the house as if staying in it for more than six hours would give you a disease or something. It was just a surprise to see him turning up here so suddenly and without any warning, I just wondered if something had happened at work?"
"I honestly can't say, Mum. He came in before me yesterday night and was asleep when I went in so I couldn't ask him anything. Then when I woke up this morning he wasn't there, and I only saw him when I came out of the shower and went into my room to get changed before I came down here. That doesn't leave me much room for interrogating him about his private life." Bill munched happily on a piece of toast, his arm resting around Fleur's shoulders.
"Right, of course dear." Molly was interrupted by a knock at the door and everyone looked up in surprise, trying to decide who the cloaked figure was, something hard as whoever it was, was distorted by the snow which had settled on the windows. Molly stood and made her way to the door as Harry rose and disappeared up the stairs, closely followed by Ron who seemed concerned. Molly shared a bewildered glance with her husband before she pulled the door open to reveal Luna standing there shivering, her thick cloak covered by snow and her cheeks rosy pink.
"Oh my goodness! Luna come in, you're absolutely freezing!" Molly's maternal instincts immediately kicked into gear at the sight of the small girl, her eyelashes weighed down by small flakes of snow, what could be seen of her hair was completely soaked and her furry boots were turned white by snow, an impressive feat given that they were black.
While Luna was being settled in front of the roaring fire, Ginny glanced around at the inhabitants of the kitchen. Bill and Fleur were in their own little world, gazing into each other's eyes with loving expressions that made Ginny feel sick. Her father was torn between his breakfast and helping Luna. Her mother was flapping around Luna like a mother hen; warming up her fingers, helping her take off her boots in an attempt to thaw her toes, spreading out her hair and casting a hot air charm to dry it. Fred and George were looking at Luna with identical evil smirks.
Ginny stared at them, frowning hard, until they both realised they were being watched and turned to look at her. When they had, she lifted her wand and drew it through her fingers threateningly, warning them without words that if they did anything to Luna, they would be subjected to some of her fiercest jinxes. The two gulped in understanding and scurried out of the kitchen but not before Ginny saw the identical grins slide back into place as they whispered to each other.
Rolling her eyes, Ginny made her way to the fireplace and crouched down beside her friend.
"Luna, what on earth made you walk all the way here? In this weather? Did you not think of using the Floo Network?" Molly was asking in concern, still attempting to warm the girl up. Luna coughed once then swallowed, her tongue flicking over her pale lips.
"I forgot to send Ginny's present over with the rest of the package and Skitchel hasn't returned yet as he's delivering presents to my grandmother. And I didn't want to come by the fireplace because I was afraid of dropping her present and of just turning up in the kitchen without invitation. It seemed as rude as breaking the door down, but with less hassle," Luna explained, moving her cloak aside and lifting a simply wrapped gift. It was fairly large and Ginny had to move away to put down her mug of hot chocolate as Luna offered it to her.
"Oh Luna, you didn't have to..." Ginny said as she carefully unwrapped the gift and lifted out a beautiful set of dress robes in a shimmering purple. "This is too much, I can't accept these." Ginny was marvelling at the stunning colour and the flattering fit of the robes as she held them up in front of her, eyes wide.
"Oh you must! You've been such a good friend to me and I knew you wanted some new ones as you were growing out of your previous set. And plus, the colour is just so pretty against your skin," Luna complimented as Molly left her hair and went to Ginny's side to examine the robes.
"Luna's right, Ginny. Just accept it gracefully." Molly ran her fingers critically over the material and smiled down at Luna. "You have excellent taste in dress robes, I just hope these weren't too expensive."
"Oh no, Daddy's got plenty of money thanks to the magazine, especially after Harry's interview last year. It was no trouble." Luna smiled absently and Ginny hugged her tightly then ran upstairs to put the dress robes away carefully. She reappeared seconds later to thank Luna and then bounced into the garden with her wand and the intention of decorating it lavishly.
"That was ever so kind of you, Luna," Bill commented from his place at the table and Luna smiled at him sweetly, her eyes slightly glazed over.
"Indeed, it was," Arthur agreed, examining Luna with concern over his cup of tea. "Is everything alright Luna?"
"Yes, of course. Why wouldn't it be?" Luna asked, her eyes snapping into focus and becoming edgy and defensive as she eyed Mr Weasley.
"It's just you seem quite edgy and it's an awfully long way to walk, especially in this weather, just for the trouble of delivering a present." He finished his drink in one large gulp and the empty mug floated over the sink and began washing itself. Luna found herself watching it with more attention that she would usually give to such a simple act of magic.
"Yes, well I was hoping I could talk to Charlie. I heard he was here and it has just been so long since I last saw him. You know we were quite close in our childhood, when he was home from Hogwarts that is." Luna blurted suddenly, wringing her hands in agitation. Molly glanced up from the pile of carrots she had just set slicing and smiled softly.
"Of course dear. Bill would you run up and get him?" Bill nodded and kissed Fleur's cheek before he disappeared up the stairs as Luna spread her fingers out in front of the fire again. A flustered Arthur levitated Ginny's wrapping paper into the bin and vanished into the garden, giving the excuse that he was going to make sure Ginny hadn't turned the garden into a beacon of light.
Bill made his way up the stairs, careful not to fall over any Fred and George products which they frequently left lying around in an attempt to prank the unwary. He knocked softly on his own bedroom door, a weird thing to do but he didn't want to burst in on Charlie if he didn't want to be interrupted. On receiving no answer, he turned the handle and pushed the door open and smiled at the sight before him.
Charlie was lying, fully clothed, on the mattress beside Bill's bed. A blanket of wrapping paper covered him and there were various gifts lying around on the floor, books, jumpers, some new dragon hide gloves, a few of Fred and George's products and a mirror, of all things. Charlie himself was flat on his back, one arm over his face but not covering his hair which was twisting in every angle. He was snoring softly.
"Charlie." Bill knelt down and shook his brother's shoulder. Charlie sat up, looking around with a perplexed expression.
"Mmph?" He mumbled, blinking several times. "Wazzgoinon?" Bill laughed at his general appearance.
"You've a visitor," he said in explanation and helped his brother up then followed him downstairs to the kitchen where Luna, Fleur and Mrs Weasley still sat. Luna was currently describing Nargles to Fleur in great detail, suggesting she might have them. Charlie bit his tongue to stop himself laughing from the look of outrage on Fleur's face as he wandered over to Luna's side.
"Hey Luna, long time no see," he said jokily. As Bill sat back down beside Fleur, distracting her from the younger girl, and Molly turned back to the carrots, Charlie frowned at Luna. "I thought you weren't coming for dinner?"
"I could say the same for you, Charlie. I didn't even know you were here until Ginny owled me this morning. Gosh, it's been so long. We should go for a walk, have a little chat to catch up!" Luna was already on her feet, pulling her cloak on and smiling at Charlie who was so confused.
"Luna, are you sure you're alright to go outside?" Molly was concerned, turning away from the carrots for a second and regarding Luna with concern.
"I'll be fine, thank you Mrs Weasley. I'm sure Charlie will be a gentleman and offer me his cloak if I get cold." With that, Luna stepped outside and Charlie followed her like a puppy.