Johanna Potter and the Whole of the Moon In Which Christmas Is Enough, a harry potter fanfic

Chapter Eleven: In Which Christmas Is Enough

RandomFandom: Sorry for not getting to update in time for Christmas. I had stuff that I was doing. Now that it's winter break, I have entirely too much time on my hands for updating/writing.

Johanna: *singing* Sleigh bells ring, are ya listenin'? In the lane, snow is glistenin'...

RandomFandom: I'm glad to see you and Charli have stopped crying. Disclaimer, please.

Johanna: Oh, right, right. RaFa doesn't own Harry Potter or Christmas. As if she could ever own stuff that awesome.

RandomFandom: Normally I would be offended, but you're right.

Johanna: *continues singing* A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walkin' in a winter wonderland.

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Dear Mum,

It's us. We're doing as well as anyone could, under the circumstances. We're sure you've heard about the student coming down with a mystery virus. That student is our friend Charli's—you remember we told you about her?—best friend, so that's really been getting her down.

Speaking of that, we're writing to see if she could come and stay with us over break? We think it would help her cheer up a bit. We can pump her full of your cooking and make her help decorate the Burrow and let her tell Ron and Ginny that Slytherins eat people and have snowball fights with her and everything. Well, maybe not the telling-Ron-and-Ginny-that-Slytherins-eat-people thing. Only Ron would believe her anyway.

So, can she come? She'd love it, we'd love it, everyone would be happy for a while.

Love,

Fred, George, and Johanna

P.S. Don't try to fatten her up too much. She's not underfed, she's just built like a twig naturally.

P.P.S. Actually, she is a bit underfed lately, because she's been skipping meals too stay with Amanda (that's the sick girl's name) in the hospital wing. You can fatten her up, just don't be obvious about it. She's sensitive about her size.

This was the letter that we sent Mrs. Weasley before Christmas break. We pretty much already knew what her answer would be. I mean, why wouldn't she want someone else she could fawn over and tell how tall they were (even though with Charli, it would be a complete lie)?

We got the answer we expected: of course Charli could come spend the holidays with us.

We failed to consult Charli herself about coming to the Burrow, so when we told her, she screamed at us for about half an hour before finally agreeing that she would come with us. This agreement was greeted with a chorus of loud yays and administration of bone-crushing hugs. I even planted a kiss on her cheek. At this, she blushed furiously and hit me.

The day arrived when we could get on the train home for the holidays. Before we left, Charli told us that she had to go and do something. We followed her and saw her with two people in the entrance hall. We immediately knew who the hysterical platinum-blonde woman and the stony-faced, auburn-haired man were, and not just because of their hair colours, mind you. It felt awkward to watch Charli with Amanda's parents, so we left and went back to where she had left us.

When we found a compartment, the first thing Charli did was claim the seat closest to the window and curl up into a tight ball. We think she fell asleep around an hour into the train ride and slept until we only had two hours left until Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. How she managed to sleep through our Exploding Snap game is beyond me.

We finally got to the station. I think Mrs. Weasley was surprised at Charli. From our description of her, I think she may not have gotten "shy, sickly-looking hobbit who seems like she's going to cry at any second." That was due to the fact that only the hobbit part was normally true.

Charli, however, wasn't at all surprised at the Burrow. It was exactly how we described it: not exactly conventional, but still the definition of home. The first thing she did when we got there was scoop up one of the chickens and hold it in her scrawny arms for a minute. We grinned at each other. She had already done a lot of cheering up.

We introduced her to the other Weasleys at dinner. She got along extremely well with them. She even tried with Percy, which was more than we could say. "Maybe it's because Percy's the most Slytherin-ish of the lot," suggested George.

She slept on a cot in our room that night. It's funny—as I was falling asleep, I thought I saw her smile.

The days flew by, and soon enough, we woke up in the time that can barely be called morning and starting screaming like little kids. "IT'S CHRISTMAS!" we howled, jumping on Charli's cot to wake her up. One of the best things about sharing a room with her is that we get to see her in the morning. Seeing her with her hair out of its normal neat ponytail is odd enough, but her having bedhead is hilarious.

"Christmas?" she asked in her I-just-woke-up-voice. She sat bolt upright. "CHRISTMAS!" she wailed, souding exactly like us.

Of course, the People In Charge Of Everything knew Charli was at the Burrow, so the owls came with her presents. We still insisted that it was Father Christmas.

From Mrs. Wealsey, I, of course, got a sweater. From the twins, I got a lunar calendar with a note that said, "We circled Those Days for you." They each got a smack upside the head for that. From Charli, I got some face paint, which also came with a note. It read, "You'll need it for the play." I didn't smack her upside the head for that. From Angelina and Lee, I got very large boxes of candy.

I got the twins a list of potions that made disgusting things happen (we high-fived). For Charli, the twins and I pooled our money and got a thick book of cures for diseases with a note that said, "Maybe you'll find something." I got Percy a notebook with a note (what is with all the notes?) saying, "It's a Scribble Notebook. You scribble in it when you just feel like scribbling." The look in his eyes told us, "I'm throwing this out as soon as Mum looks away." I got Angelina a Holyhead Harpies t-shirt and Lee a dictionary and a box of breath mints (what? His breath is the stuff of nightmares).

The last thing Charli opened was what looked like a card. It turned out to be a letter, the parchment curling out onto the floor. Charli's huge eyes darted back and forth across the parchment, growing wider as she read.

She dropped the letter and put her hands over her mouth. To our horror, her eyes were unusually bright.

"What's wrong?" we demanded.

Charli turned to us. To our amazement, a huge, shining grin erupted over her face. Her words came out as barely more than a whisper.

"Amanda woke up."

We anxiously awaited the day we were due back at Hogwarts. Once it came, we rushed like we never had before. Charli was bouncing up and down in her seat, fidgeting and glancing out the window. She squirmed her way through dinner, and when we were dismissed she zoomed off in the direction of the hospital wing.

We heard the soft cry of "Charli!" before we entered the room. The aroma of sickness was still there, but it was less overpowering.

"AMANDA!" shrieked Charli. She ran over to the bed and hugged Amanda tighter than anyone had ever hugged anyone ever before. "I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! NEVER GET SICK EVER AGAIN!" she bawled. We privately agreed, seeing as Charli would probably freak out if Amanda ever so much as sneezed again.

"Charli..." said Amanda. "Charli, I'm still really sick. It's just that I can talk now. Could you go easy on the hugs?"

"Oh yeah...okay."

I think, even though she agreed to her best friend's words, she didn't really obey them. Either that, or Amanda's digestive system was affected by this mystery virus, for we all got ordered out by Mme. Pomfrey when Charli got vomited upon.

In the Christmas chapter last book, I said that, though it had its ups and downs, that Christmas really was the perfect Christmas. Well, the Christmas described in this chapter was far from the perfect Christmas. I think you would be able to tell that by now.

But at least there was Christmas. At least there was one day out of the year when we could forget our angsty lives and open presents and give hugs and drink hot cocoa until our eyes went blurry.

Even if it wasn't perfect, it was still Christmas.

Johanna: *singing again* Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let your heart be light...

RandomFandom: *opens her mouth to tell Johanna to ask for reviews, then changes her mind* What can I say? Christmas never dies! *sings* From now on, our troubles will be out of sight...

Charli: Review, please! *sings* Have yourself a merry little Christmas, make the Yuletide gay...