Winter Wonderland

24th of December, 1996.

It was early in the morning. Harry was already down in the kitchen. He couldn't help that he was used to waking early and had already been out on a run. He knew that snow wasn't common in this part of France but he might have convinced the Delacour's Wards that they would really like some snow and about zero degrees Celsius outside. Apolline had given him ward access to look into a thing that had been bothering her, and then she just hadn't removed him again. He wasn't sure if that was on purpose or if she had just forgotten, but he hadn't been able to resist snow on Christmas. The house was decorated to the teeth, but it showed that Apolline had a sense for colours because no matter how much stuff Gabrielle had wanted it still looked fantastic.

Harry looked up from the buns he was pulling out of the oven as he heard the pitter-patter of feet running down the hallway. He placed the backing sheet down and smiled at Gabrielle as she bounced into the kitchen. "Have you already woken everyone up?" he asked.

Gabrielle's eyes went wide. "Non," she said. She was about to turn back around and run down the hallway before Harry stopped her.

"How about you and I have some breakfast before going out and building some snow creatures in the garden?" Harry asked. He cut a newly baked bun open and placed it in a basket filled with buns. The basket and several jams and cheese made their way to the table in no time.

Gabrielle was almost bouncing in her seat with excitement. She was talking about anything and everything that came to mind. She barely had the patience to help Harry put everything away after the meal. Instead, she ran into the living room where the fire was burning merrily. In front of the fireplace stood six pairs of shoes none of which had ever been worn. The night before they had placed their most worn pairs of shoes by the fire only to have them replaced by brand new pairs and in each shoe lay a small gift.

Gabrielle pulled her gifts out and ripped them open while Harry watched her from the door. He was new to this tradition and it seemed like an odd but fun way of doing things.

"Come here Harry," Gabrielle said. "You have gifts too. I want you to open them." She patted the floor next to her determinedly.

Laughing, Harry entered the room and picked up his own pair of boots. He pulled two little parcels out and opened them. It was a set of matching statuettes. A doe and a stag with tinsel in the stag's antlers. Harry smiled softly. He watched as Gabrielle found a place for her little decorations to go. Two hummingbirds in flight. Harry knew that Gabrielle found little birds fascinating right now so that wasn't surprising.

"Winky," he said softly. He knew that she was up already. She didn't have as much to do as she would like, but she knew change was coming soon enough. At least she had a lot of things to keep her busy that weren't household chores and little Leoline was certainly a handful.

Winky popped into the room. "Would Master Harry wants something?" she asked.

"Could you find a place for these in the family living room, please," Harry said as he held out his deer.

Winky's eyes widened. "Oh, Winky will find the best of places where little Master Leo will not reach them," she said.

"Thank you," Harry said. He hugged her gently.

Winky's ears flapped happily as she popped away again. No one treated elves the way that Master Harry did, she was sure of that. She would never let something happen to her Master. He was too good for that.

Harry got up and grabbed Gabrielle; he tickled her mercilessly as he headed towards the front door. Before he stepped outside however he cast as many warming and waterproofing charms as he knew on both of them. Then he opened the door and threw her into a big pile of snow. He closed the door again and smiled as she made her way out of the heap. Like a small ball of fury, she attacked him and he toppled over and fell into the snow. She started tickling him aggressively until he was begging for mercy.

"My little star please show mercy and I shall build for you a snow palace guarded by snow heralds of your choice," Harry said.

Gabrielle stopped tickling him and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Alright but only if it has at least three floors," she said.

Harry sighed. This was going to take the better part of the day. He certainly hoped the rest of the sleepy warm people inside appreciated his noble sacrifice. He chuckled and they started building.

"It's snowing outside," Bill said softly as he moved the curtain aside to look out.

"Snow here?" Fleur said. "It doesn't snow here."

"It does now," Bill said. He smiled as he noticed Harry and Gabrielle out in the snow. It looked like they were building a house or something similar. He wrapped his arms around Fleur as she joined him by the window. "Well, I guess that explains both the snow and why Gabrielle hasn't come rushing in here and woken us up," she said.

"You think Harry did this?" Bill said.

Fleur nodded and stifled a yawn. "It would be like him to do something like this," she said. "Gabrielle has been talking about snow and building snowmen the last week or so. We usually manage when we go to grand-mère. She lives further north, but this is much better than that," Fleur said.

"We should go out and join them," Bill said.

"How about we have breakfast first," Fleur said. "And get changed. I see that Gabrielle is out there in her nightgown, but that doesn't mean I want to be."

Bill laughed and followed her over to the bathroom. He wasn't going to say no to a shower.

Outside Gabrielle and Harry had started on the second floor. They were making windows and inside there were a few pieces of furniture. Gabrielle couldn't wait to show her cousins.

When Apolline entered the kitchen Bill and Fleur were just finishing breakfast.

"Where is Gabrielle?" she asked. She was surprised they had gotten to sleep for as long as they had. Gabrielle usually dragged her sister out of bed and then they would team up to attack her and their father.

"Outside with Harry," Fleur said. "I think he probably managed to get some breakfast into her and then dragged her outside." She stood up and kissed her father as he entered the room.

Apolline walked over to the kitchen window and looked outside. "Snow," she stated. "How is it snowing here?"

Marceau wrapped his arms around her as he looked out. "Well, after you asked Harry to help with the wards, did you remove his ward access, dear?" he asked.

Apolline blinked a few times in surprise. She wasn't sure what to answer. Had she not removed him? She was usually so careful with that. Then again this was Harry and she trusted him like her own family. "I must have forgotten," she said.

"At least that explains how he has created a winter wonderland outside," Bill said. "With ward access, all he would need to do is be persuasive and know the right runes and spells."

"Gabrielle would hate it if we took this away from here and it isn't like it's doing any damage," Fleur said.

"Well," Apolline thought of her poor flowers.

"How about we ask Harry what precautions he took before we jump to any conclusions," Marceau said. "He might have taken care of everything."

Bill hadn't stayed in the kitchen to worry about whether Harry had or hadn't made sure Apolline's flowers would survive the snow. Instead, he had pulled his boots on and headed outside. "I think whatever warming charm you are using is better than mine," he said as he reached the castle.

"I think you need to learn more than one warming charm, Mr Weasely," Harry said but he did take his wand out and cast several warming charms at Bill.

"If I ever work in let's say Antarctica or Greenland or something I'll take that into consideration. Now if you want a cooling charm I know about fourteen of those," Bill responded.

"I don't think this is the time or place for cooling charms," Harry said. He stood up and peered out at Bill. "Do you want to help us or are you just going to stand there?" he asked. Then he dodged as several snowballs came flying straight at him.

"You better remember who Fred and George's big brother is," Bill said as he had the snowballs change direction and bombard the castle from above.

Harry's eyes narrowed mischievously. "But I am the son of one of their greatest heroes and their silent backer," he said. "So maybe, just maybe I trump your big brother card," he said as a giant snow lion attacked Bill from behind and felled him to the ground. Bill wrestled the lion until Fleur came outside and looked at her boyfriend on the ground. "Please Harry," she said.

Harry laughed and the lion walked away from Bill and sat down by the gates to the castle. It split and became two lions half the size of the original one so there was a matching pair. Bill pulled himself up and shook snow out of his hair. He hugged Fleur. "My saviour!" he exclaimed.

Fleur just gave him a frosty look. Somehow she knew that Harry hadn't been the one who started that fight. "How much longer are you going to do this?" she asked.

"Until lunch probably," Harry said. "If Bill will actually help we should be done by then."

"Even if he will not help I will," Fleur said. "What can I do?" she asked.

"Well, Gabrielle has decided she wants a moat so if both of you are going to help I suggest that Bill handles that and Fleur we could use your help polishing the outside. Gabrielle and I will get the rest of the walls up."

"Are we allowed to use magic?" Bill asked. He wasn't looking forward to grabbing a shovel. He honestly couldn't tell quite how deep the snow was. He knew that this part of the lawn was inclined, but it was all flat now.

"Well," Harry said. "I think that is a matter best decided by her Highness." He looked down at Gabrielle who gave him a thoughtful look. Then she looked out the window at Bill. "No magic," she said.

Harry shrugged. Then he mouthed, 'When she can see you,' to Bill and continued working on the walls.

Bill snickered. He went to find a shovel and then he got working on that moat. Strangely enough, his shovel seemed capable of getting rid of quite a lot of snow with each scoop. He could see Fleur using her wand too, and he knew why. It would take forever to do what Gabrielle wanted if they didn't use any magic. They could probably make it happen, but lunch seemed a perfectly reasonable time to be done.

Apolline and Marceau watched their children play in the snow. Most of them were maybe far too old to play, but then again what they were doing now could only be called art so who was to say anything about it? Never in her life would Apolline have expected that Fleur's participation in the Triwizard Tournament would land them with a bonus son and a soon-to-be son-in-law. When Fleur had first told her that she had signed up to go to Britain she had been a little worried considering her daughter's heritage. She hadn't been sure that Hogwarts could handle it. Now she was ever grateful that Fleur had not listened to her.

Slowly, the caste outside developed towers and spires. There was a battlement that Gabrielle could walk out on. Everything seemed to be sized so that she could walk through the rooms without having to bend over. The others were not so lucky.

When Apolline finally did call them inside for lunch the castle looked magnificent with sparkling details and snow-white walls and the moat was now filled with some kind of blue bubbling liquid that Apolline didn't quite know what it was. Despite the warming charms all of them had red fingers and noses so after lunch they cuddled up together on the same couch in the living room surrounded by fluffy blankets. Those who hadn't been impatient and opened their gifts by the fireplace now got their chance. New decorations were hung up around the room one by one.

Gabrielle dozed off slowly with her head on Harry's chest. Fleur smiled at him softly. She hoped that Harry could find someone to share his life with. She knew he wasn't in a hurry and that he was still in school, but he deserved someone.

Apolline was reading from an old book filled with stories passed down through the generations.

Later they would open presents and have dinner, but this was some of the best time spent together.

25th of December, 1996.

"Mom, can I wear the dress that Harry gave me?" Gabrielle called from her room the following morning. Everyone was up early to get ready for the trip to Apolline's parents. It was tradition to celebrate the second day of Noël over at the Family estate.

"Of course, you can, dear," Apolline called back. She gave her husband a look and he just laughed. "She still wants your approval. Don't worry it will change," he said.

Harry came out of his room dressed in dark blue robes with silver hems that would have been all the rage in the College of Winterhold. He wasn't too fond of wizarding formal wear since it tended to restrict his movements so he had opted to not care what anyone would think and had dressed in something that suited him.

Not to say that Bill didn't look stylish in his formal robes and Fleur's ice-blue dress matched perfectly.

Harry took Gabrielle's hand. "Are you ready?" he asked Bill.

Bill nodded. "I should be," he said. He had never been surrounded by part and full Veelas before so he didn't really know how he would react. "You'll make sure I don't do anything stupid?" he said.

Harry nodded. "I promise," he said.

Then it was time to leave and Apolline and Marceau took the lead. They went through the fireplace and out on the other side. The Estate where Apolline had grown up was large. It had to be considered a mansion at the very least. Just the first room they entered had tall windows and chandeliers.

"Mother and Father don't live in all of it," Apolline said. "They have a cosy corner where they live. This is just used for big gatherings. They have them a lot though so it does see a decent amount of use from them alone. The rest of our family also tend to gather her for larger, more formal get-togethers."

"It's beautiful," Harry said.

"It was built while rococo was still the rage," Fleur said. "It would look gaudy if they hadn't toned it down somewhat."

Harry nodded. He guessed she had a point. He grabbed Bill's shoulder and squeezed as they walked into the next room. Almost twenty heads of silver-blonde hair turned in their direction. Thankfully, quite a few of Fleur's relatives had significant others so at least it wasn't a sea of blonde.

Harry could feel that most of the girls had their allure going. "How are you holding up?" he asked Bill.

"I don't really feel anything," Bill said.

"Good then you are most likely immune to Veela allure altogether," Harry said. "That's a relief. Means I don't have to babysit you. Now get to know the cousins. I have a feeling Gabrielle wants me to come with her." He smiled down at the girl next to him and she took that as her cue to drag him off.

Soon enough Harry was sitting surrounded by the younger cousins. It seemed like Veela tended to have girls. Apolline had no brothers and most of the cousins were girls. It seemed to break off after that though because their children were a rounded mix so Fleur and Bill could look forward to both little boys and girls.

"Will you tell us a story?"

Harry smiled. He could certainly tell them a story. He got comfortable and then he started.

Fleur looked over at Harry and Gabrielle. She could barely see him past the girls. It looked quite comical. A picture certainly wouldn't hurt. She wished she had brought a camera.

Lunch was a rowdy affair and then they moved to the ballroom. Music started playing. Those who wanted to moved out on the dance floor.

Harry walked around the room until he reached Fleur's grandmother. "May I have this dance ma'am?"

"Now, why would a strapping young lad such as you wish to dance with an old lady like me," she asked.

"Ah, but with age comes wisdom," Harry said. "All these lovely ladies wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you and your husband."

She laughed and took his hand. "I see we have a charmer on our hands," she said. "Very well, young man. I certainly hope you can keep up."

Harry smiled as he led her out on the dancefloor. Turned out that grandma knew how to dance. Not that Harry had expected anything else.

Apolline chuckled as she moved off the floor with Marceau. "Looks like Harry has taken on the challenge of dancing with mother," she said.

"Do you think he'll regret it?" Marceau asked.

"I think Harry will be fine," Apolline said. She hummed as she picked up a glass of champagne. She watched her children enjoy themselves. It was always fun to meet up with everyone, but it could be rather draining too. She was glad they were spending the following day in their own house even if it would be full of people.

26th of December, 1996.

Early in the morning the following day Harry was outside. He was playing with the snow and building a slide from the roof down the yard. He was also making sure there was an easy way back up for everyone.

He was hoping to keep all children entertained for as long as possible. He knew that Apolline was feeling a little tired so he would do his best to help out. This time he was using magic as much as he could. He split the slide up in three wild directions then he went wild decorating.

"Harry dear," Apolline said as she came walking outside. "Did you protect my flowers before doing all this?"

Harry's eyes widened as he gave her a sheepish look. "I did not," he admitted. "I'm sorry Apolline. I'll compensate you and Winky would love to help. She gets bored while I'm in school. I would help you myself, but I have to go back to Hogwarts."

Apolline sighed. "It is fine Harry dear," she said. She hugged him. "You have made Gabrielle very happy. Don't worry about the damage," she said.

"Could Winky still come over? She would really like to learn about compositions and so on for our gardens at Ennerdale," Harry said.

Apolline smiled. "I would love to have her if that is what she wants," she said.

"I'll talk to her," Harry said. He looked around at the snowy landscape he had created.

"Even Beauxbaton pales in comparison," Apolline said. "They will love it. Now please come in and grab something to eat. The others will arrive in about an hour. You are going to need your strength." She placed a warm hand on his shoulder and they walked into the house.

"Why can't I see outside?" Gabrielle asked.

"Because I have a surprise set up, and you can't see it until your cousins arrive," Harry said. He sat down by the table and pulled his plate closer to him.

"Oh, what have you done out there?" Bill asked and headed for the front door. He grabbed the handle and pushed down. Or he would have pushed it down if he could. All the windows were frosted so you couldn't see out and no doors worked.

"Seems Gabrielle isn't the only one who is just going to have to wait," Harry said calmly as Bill returned.

"You locked us in?" Bill asked.

Harry placed a hand on his chest and looked abashed. "Me? I have done no such thing," he said. "I just prevented Gabrielle from seeing what I was up to because I knew she would be curious." He looked over at Apolline. He had a feeling he knew who might have evened the odds, but why should he tell them? By the looks of it, Fleur was well aware of her mother's clever use of magic as well. She was trying her best to hide her smile. They shared a knowing look before Fleur pulled Bill off so they could make sure everything was set up.

Harry disappeared back outside just before everyone started arriving. Apolline was going to funnel the children outside as soon as she could. He was sure Gabrielle was already dressed and waiting on the rest. He closed his eyes and built a glamour for himself. His hair flowed out white as the snow around him. His eyes turned icy blue and he floated up in the air. Large wings broke out behind him like the tips of a great snowflake.

The back door opened and Gabrielle led her cousins outside. They looked around, their eyes wide in wonder.

"Welcome children to my domain," Harry said as they floated towards the new arrivals. "Please play and be merry." They floated along and showed the children how to get up to the top of the slide. The ice animals jumped around and the children laughed. Even the older ones who didn't care much for the animals enjoyed themselves by the snow forts and an endless supply of snowballs. They played for a while and laughter could be heard both from children and parents.

Suddenly the sky darkened and from beyond the house came a fiery glow.

"You dare to infringe upon my domain. You dare take my dear children from me?" A great beautiful lady of brilliant sunlight and beautiful flowers landed on the roof of the house. "You frosty fiend. How dare you steal these children away?" Apolline asked.

Harry looked up at Apolline. "I do not steal, sister dear. Look upon their faces. They are happy here with me," they said calmly.

Gabrielle looked between her mother and Harry. She smiled. This was just amazing. She didn't want the snow to go away though. "The Sun Fairy will make all the snow go away," she said. "I don't want that."

"Me neither."

"Yeah, we're having fun."

"Go away mean lady and leave the snow queen alone."

The children picked up snowballs and started throwing them at Apolline. She threw up a shield. She couldn't help but smile. It was cute how everyone was protecting Harry. There was more to this though. She raised her hand and golden light gathered within her palm. "I will smite thee harbinger of cold and death. You shall not dig your claws any deeper into these poor souls," she said as she cast the light as a gooden spear straight at Harry. The spear hit and Harry was cast back. Their wings shattered.

"Nooooo," Gabrielle screamed. She ran over to Harry and knelt beside them. "Harry! Harry, are you okay?"

"Gabrielle, my darling child. I'm dying. Please you must gather the tears of frozen joy. Only through the happiness of you and your family may I be saved," Harry said but he was smiling so she would know that he was alright.

Gabrielle nodded. "Everyone, we need to gather the frozen tears," she called out.

"Like this one?"

Gabrielle turned around and nodded. "We need to find them and bring them back to the snow queen or all the snow will go away," she said.

Apolline walked back into the house and sat down next to her husband.

"You made a wonderful fairy my darling," Marceau said as he wrapped an arm around her.

"I just hope the children enjoy it," Apolline said. She looked outside.

"You certainly know how to make things entertaining, Apolline. Where did you find your snow queen?" Marceau's youngest sister asked.

"Harry is a friend of Fleur," Apolline said. "She got to know him during the tournament. His cousin Kato was working over the Holidays. We offered to have him so he could get away from school for a bit."

"Poor thing doesn't have any parents?"

"Unfortunately no," Apolline said.

"Well, it is a good thing that he can stay with a proper family then. He is a good actor. I couldn't even tell he was a boy."

'That was sort of the point,' Apolline thought but she didn't say anything. She liked Marceau's sisters a lot but sometimes they came across as very plump. She knew they meant well though and that's what mattered.

Outside the children were gathering tears in baskets. They rode the slide to collect the joy and they knocked tears out of the air with snowballs. Slowly water pooled at the end of the slide so everyone got wet as they reached the end, but the children kept going. The climate was warming.

"We won't be able to save winter," one of the children said sadly.

"Maybe not but you can still save the snow queen so there will be winter again next year," Bill said. He smiled as the little girl's face lit up and she kept running around and gathering tears.

Fleur had sat down next to the snow queen and helped them up so they were sitting. "Come here, everyone. Let's hope that your efforts have not been in vain!" she called.

The snow queen didn't look good, their once white hair was now matted and grey. Their blue eyes were cloudy. Still, they smiled as the children gathered around them. Slowly they raised their frail hands. "Thank you young ones," Harry said. They raised their arms and the tears rose up in the air. They glowed and shattered into even tinier tears. The Snow Queen started glowing and as the glow faded they hung in the air. Their wings now glowed with golden tinsel and their hair was alight with little golden stars.

"Thank you young ones. You have restored me to health," Harry said. "I am sorry to say I cannot restore my wintery domain however I can grant you all a wish."

"Sparkly, sparkle."

"I see," Harry said and they could see the horror in the older children's eyes. "Then sparkles you shall have a little one." Harry and Fleur disappeared in a rain of glitter and it didn't take the children long to realise that among the glitter there was candy wrapped in colourful paper.

"Thank you for getting me out of there too," Fleur said. She looked over at Harry who had returned to looking as he should with his messy black hair and green eyes. "I think they will remember this one," she said.

"As long as I don't have to do it again," Harry said.

"If you ever help us host again we should do something different," Fleur said. "Though it would be interesting to commemorate this one somehow."

"Snow globes," Harry said. "It shouldn't be that hard to do. I can have them done for New Year's so each of the children gets one."

"If you are going to do that, make one per family instead," Fleur said. "I don't want you to exhaust yourself."

Harry chuckled and they headed back to the rest of the Delacours.

31st of December, 1996.

Just before the bells struck midnight there appeared a glowing ball in several households across France. Once the children noticed the glow dissipated and the balls held a miniature landscape with a castle and a big slide and little animals running all around. If you looked for long enough you could every once in a while see the Sun Fairy and the Snow Queen having a snowball fight while laughing and messing around.

Another year came to an end with the sound of fireworks and cheers. Promises that would not hold were made, but that was alright.