Hi again, this is the Christmas at the Weasley's Chapter. Hope you enjoy. It's a lot longer than the last one. Promise! - Tria x
When I woke the next day I saw my room had been decorated in a Christmas theme. There was moving tinsel hanging from the roof and a small Christmas tree in the corner. It was adorable and a little unnerving that the house elves had managed to be in my room and not wake me up.
I had woken earlier than I wanted to so I could pack. The Hogwarts Express would be taking us back to King's Cross where I would accompany Fred, George, Ron, Ginny and Percy back to their home for Christmas. I never really took a shining to Percy like I did the other Weasley's; he was a bit snooty and always looked down his nose at me. Though, George had assured me that Percy did that to everyone who was friends with the twins, so it wasn't to be taken personally.
I heard a light knocking at my door and I called to whomever had knocked to enter. It was Oliver.
"Morning," he crooned in his adorable Scottish accent, "Thought I'd come help you pack. I did mine last night after you went to bed."
"It's ok," I said, kissing him lightly on the cheek, "Just sit on the bed and look useful. I'm almost done anyway."
Oliver sat and watched me pack, admiring the Christmas decorations that were hung over night. Soon, I was finished and we joined Fred and George in the Great Hall for Breakfast. After my coffee, Oliver had finally let me have a morning coffee after a few hours of arguing a few weeks before, I was picking at a fruit bagel.
"You alright love?" Oliver asked, seeing my lack of appetite.
"Yeah, just not very hungry." I lied. If I were being honest, I would have told him I was nervous to meet Fred and George's family.
Ginny had told me of their mother; a very loving but strict woman who knew how to keep the twins in line. She seemed slightly intimidating. Then there was Mr Weasley. I'd spoken to Harry, who often hung around with the Weasleys and he said that Mr Weasley was the easiest of the clan to get along with.
"She's nervous." Fred said as he grabbed my bagel and took a large bite.
"Shut it Fred," I said, grabbing my breakfast back, "I am not."
Oliver cocked his head to the side, "Oh Merlin, you are." He laughed.
The two of them started laughing at me and soon George had joined in. I was red in the face when they stopped, not wanting to talk to any of them. Oliver saw my face and his softened.
"So what if I am?" I asked hotly, "I was nervous when I came here. Why can't I be nervous about this?"
George and Fred laughed, "You're nervous about meeting our family –"
"and Katie's and Oliver's." I interrupted.
"Oh yeah," Fred said, sounding frightened, "Oliver's mother is the scariest person I've ever met."
I rolled my eyes, "Bite me."
The boys continued to joke all the way to the Hogsmede train station and until we found a compartment to sit in.
"I'm sorry," Oliver said softly, leaning his head on my shoulder, "You know we're kidding, right? Their mum is the nicest lady around. Only rivalled with my mum, who's the second nicest lady around."
I chuckled, "Right." I was still not convinced. Meeting new people was scary for me. Meeting new people's parents? It's downright petrifying. Meeting my new boyfriend's parents? I'll have a heart attack.
The trip back to King's Cross was mostly uneventful; playing exploding snap, Wizard's Chess, eating chocolate frogs, jelly jinxing first years as they passed our compartment and I taught the boys to play Muggle poker, wagering Berty Bott's as currency.
When we arrived at King's Cross, I was scared to leave. I shouldn't have eaten all those lollies and chocolates; my stomach was doing flips – not the way Oliver made it flip, vomit flip. I ran to the bathroom next to our compartment and emptied the contents of my stomach. The boys were waiting outside the bathroom when I exited; all looking concerned.
"I'm fine," I said, wiping my mouth on my jumper's sleeve, "Let's go."
George clapped me on the back before he exited the train, Fred squeezed my shoulder and Oliver took my hand in his. We all walked towards the front of the train to retrieve our trunks and then Oliver said he had to leave. His mother expected him to Floo home by midday; it was ten to 12, so I bid him farewell. Oliver kissed me on the forehead, bringing his hand to brush my cheek and smiled.
"I'll see you in a few days. Wait for my owl on Christmas morning." He said and I watched him whiz away in one of the many chimneys.
Sighing, I turned back to the twins, "Young love," George said, wiping a fake tear from his eye.
I whacked him in the arm and walked alongside as he and Fred headed towards a sea of red-haired people. No doubt this was their family. As soon as Percy and Ron had moved out of the arms of a shorter woman who was hugging them, I saw her.
Mrs Weasley was a plump woman with a loving face; much like the face of Ginny when I had first met her. She was wearing a multi-coloured knee length sweater and a long flowing skirt. Her hair was frizzy and sticking out at some points; she looked a lot like the description I'd gotten from Harry.
She looked at me, "Oh, come here dear." She stepped forward and drew me into a large hug; she smelt a mother, like home cooked meals, knitting wool and dish washing soap.
"It's nice to meet you Mrs Weasley," I said, slightly strangled as she hugged me.
"Call me Molly dear," she said in my ear, hugging me tighter, "Fred and George have told me so much about you."
"Mum," Fred said, "I think it's time to let Jem go… she needs to breathe or we'll have to have a funeral before we open our Christmas presents."
Mrs Weasley let me go and I took an exaggerated breath in. She then pulled in Fred and George together for a hug. When she had finished greeting them, she turned back to me.
"You're so pretty dear," she said, smiling warmly, "it's nice to know Fred can attract someone like you… even if it were only for a few months."
"Mum!" Fred cried, frustrated, "Let's just go home."
I winked at Fred as Molly led the seven of us [her five children, Harry and I] over to the Floo chimneys. She allowed Percy, Ron, Ginny and Harry go first then she went and Fred, George and I followed. I'd never been to the Burrow before, so Fred volunteered to Floo after me, just to make sure I was ok when I left.
Arriving at the Burrow, I was astounded. Their house was magnificently organised chaos; my favourite kind of chaos. The clutter was neatly piled against the walls and every looked second or third hand. The entire bottom floor; the lounge room that I'd arrived in and the kitchen I could see a few meters away were very reminiscent of Fred and George's personalities. It was not a shock at all that they'd grown up here.
Mrs Weasley quickly ushered us into the kitchen where she made several piles of sandwiches, filled with all different meats, cheeses and spreads.
"I made this one particularly for you Jemima," Mrs Weasley said. Pointing to one closest to where I had sat with Fred and George at the table.
"Oh, Mrs Weasley, please call me Jem," I said, taking the sandwich, "and you really shouldn't have. I don't need anything special."
"I'll call you Jem if you call me Molly," Mrs Weasley said smiling warmly.
"Deal," I agreed, taking a bite into the sandwich I smiled. She had filled mine with vegemite. The tangy sweet and bitter brown paste was one of my favourites as a kid. My dad didn't like it, so I hadn't had it since I was a kid, "You're the best Mrs W – Molly." I corrected myself.
Molly had made several vegemite sandwiches, so I made everyone try it. Fred liked it, George was indifferent and Harry and Ron almost spat it across the room. Vegemite is an acquired taste.
A few days after our arrival at the Burrow, it was Christmas. I was staying in Ginny's room and she and I were woken by Fred and George diving on to our beds. Fred had tackled mine and George had Ginny's. Ginny and I were not in the best moods when this happened but soon we were laughing and joking along with them as we headed down stairs to see the Christmas tree filled with presents. Mr Weasley was playing the Santa of the family, handing out presents here and there. I had a small pile next to me when he was finished and we all started to unwrap. I started with my family.
My mother and father had given me a faux dragonhide bound photo album with a shiny purple insignia of the Hogwarts Crest. When I opened it, there was a message from them 'Jemima, please fill this with memories of your time in England and at Hogwarts. If you open the other present from us, you will see how this is possible.' The second present from them was a Muggle style polaroid camera. I took a photo of Fred and George unwrapping their presents and a minute later a square photo of them popped out the bottom. Mr Weasley even said he could teach me the potion to coat the photos in so that they moved. It was so exciting.
My next present was a combined one from Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Percy. They have pooled their money and bought me a Wizard Chess set. It was a beautifully ornate sterling silver and purple jewelled set. The best part about it was that the faces of the different pieces had all of their faces on them. Professor Dumbledore was the King, McGonagall was the Queen, Fred the left knight, George the right, Oliver was the left bishop, Harry the right, Ron was the left castle and Hermione was the right. The pawns were different friends I had made; Katie, Alicia, Ginny, Molly, Arthur, Lee, Neville and Luna. It was amazing.
George had given me a basket filled with Zonko gifts and Molly had knitted me a sweater. Looking up, I saw that Molly knitted everyone a sweater. They were all a different colour; mine was purple with a large gold 'J' in the centre. I immediately shed my old sweater in favour for this one.
I had Fred's present left. I was a little disappointed that Oliver hadn't had anything put under the tree for me, as I had done for him at his house. I opened the present from Fred and smiled. It was a beautiful ring with a beater's bat and a bludger set on the top.
"So you don't forget your favourite beater." He said, giving me a light kiss on the forehead.
"You mean beaters." George said pointedly, doing the same. I kissed them on the cheeks and hugged them each tightly.
"These are the best present ever."
I quickly ran up to my room and retrieved the presents from that I had bought everyone. When I had won the exchange trip at the start of the school year, I was awarded a substantial bank account at Gringotts to keep me going. I could spend it on whatever I wanted. I had chosen to use a fairly large amount of Christmas presents on my friends and new family, having done most of the shopping via Owl mail to the shops in Hogsmede.
I had given Molly a set of magical tea cups, ones that once they were empty, you said 'More please' and they filled themselves; complete with sugar and milk, depending on how you liked your tea or coffee. I had bought Arthur a Muggle tool set, so he could tinker on Muggle items with Muggle tools. Ron, Harry, Ginny and Percy all received a gift box of lollies, chocolates and Zonko's toys [I neglected to give Percy any Zonko's, opting for a new quill instead.]
I'd purchased new beater's bats for Fred and George, complete with 'FW' and 'GW' carved into the wood. They were enchanted so that if either of them dropped the bat, it would fly back into their hands. George's wouldn't fly to Fred and Fred's wouldn't fly to George; only their owner could lay claim to them.
"Jem," Fred said, "These are amazing."
"Thank you so much," George said. They both ran over to me, enveloping me in another bone crushing hug [which I'm guessing they'd learnt from their mother].
"There's another surprise for the two of you," I said after the hug was finished, "but you can't have it until it's time for me to leave Hogwarts and go back home."
"This is all too much Jemima." Mrs Weasley said, looking down at her tea set, "Really. This is too much."
"Mrs Weasley," I said, moving to sit next to her. "You've adopted me as your own child this holiday and your sons and Ginny have been family to me at Hogwarts. This is just a small gesture to measure up against what your family have done for me."
We sat around for a bit longer until an hooting and pecking sound came from outside. There was a black owl pecking at the window closest to Ron. He stood up and opened the window for it to enter. Once allowed inside, it flew straight over to me and plopped a large package at my feet. I petted it on the head and bent down to see the package. Oliver's handwriting was recognisable instantly; a large, messy scrawl on the front saying 'Jemima Gorman'.
I smiled and opened the package. There was a large box and a tiny box. I opened the large one first. Inside was a miniature Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch, complete with spectators and four teams; green and silver Slytherin, yellow and black Hufflepuff, blue and silver Ravenclaw and red and gold Gryffindor. I opened the tiny door to the Hufflepuff changing rooms and watched seven players fly onto the pitch and then I opened the Ravenclaw team's changing room door and watched them move about the pitch as well. A member from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teams shook hands and tiny Madam Hooch released the balls. It was a tiny, fully functioning Quidditch pitch. There was no sound, even though I could see the thousands of spectators yelling and jumping up and down.
"That's incredible!" Ron said, sitting down to watch the game that was happening.
I moved to the next gift, it was smaller and had a note attached to it.
'LJ, A firebolt? You bought me a firebolt? That's insane. I know you've told me about the lovely Gringotts account of yours, but a FIREBOLT? REALLY? That's possibly the most amazing present I've ever received. Now my present looks tiny. I hope you like the Quidditch Pitch; it took me an age to figure out how to make it move properly… ok, I had help from Professor McGonagall. The smaller one is something that's to go with the gift Fred bought. I hope you like it. I'll see you in a few days. Love, Obi.'
I opened the smaller box. It was a silver necklace that reached the middle of my chest; it's pendant was a tiny Quaffle and Keeper's hoop. On the quaffle I could make out some sort of insignia. 'OW+JG' was carved into the Quaffle pendant.
"It's cool, huh?" Fred asked, seeing my smile. I nodded, "It was actually Oliver's idea. I had no idea what to get you and then Oliver say these and we got them. Perfect, huh?"
"Perfect." I laughed, placing the necklace on my neck.