Chapter Twenty

Migration Day

Over the next few days, Mia enjoyed an array of different activities. One of these was a boys versus girls day, in which Teddy wand Vic had devised a series of competitions, but magical and non-magical, where the girls came out on top. They were put firmly in their places the following day when the boys soundly defeated them at the annual Weasley snowball fight, of which Mia had been an honorary participant last year. In between times, Mia found time to start wrapping her Christmas presents, write to Reuben, and even do some homework.

On Friday, the 23rd, Mia was woken up early by a flurry of activity. All over the tent, the girls were getting up and dressed, fighting over the bathroom.

"What's going on?" Mia yawned, sitting up in her bunk and looking around.

"Migration Day," Lily said, barely opening her eyes. She appeared to be one of the only ones still in bed. "Everyone goes and visits their other side of the family – you know, the non-Weasleys."

"So why aren't you up?" Mia asked.

"Because we normally visit you, so I figure we're not going anywhere," Lily shrugged.

Even so, Mia was awake now, so she got up and joined the queue for the bathroom.

After breakfast, the house started to empty out, with Bill, Percy, George and Ron all going to visit their in-laws. Molly and Arthur, Lily's grandparents, left soon after, telling the others they were going to visit Fred's grave. Mia was confused, however, when Charlie, the only unmarried Weasley brother, also left.

"Where's he going?" Mia asked.

"Hagrid's," everyone chorused.

"He always visits Hagrid on Migration Day," Al explained. "They've always been close."

"It's really quiet with everyone gone," Lily said, looking around at the six other people scattered around the long table. "So, what are we going to do today?"

"Well," Harry said. "Mia, we were wondering if you wanted to visit your aunt and uncle and cousins today, because we could arrange it if you wanted."

Mia shook her head. She wasn't exactly close to her cousins, twelve-year-old Jack and nine-year-old Amelia. She barely saw them now she was at Hogwarts, and was sure a visit without her parents would end up being awkward, with difficult questions from her aunt and uncle, who didn't know she was a witch. "No thanks," she said. "I'm sure we'll see them when my parents get back."

"Okay," Harry nodded. "And Cassie-"

Cassie shook her head violently. "No. I don't want to see her. And I'm sure she doesn't want to see me either."

Harry looked as if he was about to say something, but a look from Albus stopped him. "Okay," he said eventually.

"In that case," James said brightly, slamming his hands down on the table and getting to his feet, "who wants to help me at the shop? I told Uncle George I'd open up today if I could get some help."

Al and Cassie declined, but Lily and Mia decided to go and help. They took floo powder directly into Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes' back room and James spent the hour before opening getting Lily and Mia aprons and staff badges which showed their names with a wave of his wand, and showing them all the important things.

The shop was busy from the moment it opened, with people doing some last minute Christmas shopping. Mia spent her day rushing around helping customers, pointing people in the right direction or directing them to James when she wasn't sure what they were looking for. The customers, especially older people buying presents for their grandchildren, were happy to have the recommendations of a current Hogwarts student. Lily, meanwhile, spent most of the day behind the till – she already knew what to do as she'd helped out in the shop in the holidays before – with either James or Mia jumping on the other till to help her out when it got particularly busy.

At around half-past one the shop was empty for the first time in hours. James quickly locked the door with a flick of his wand to prevent new customers from coming in.

"C'mon you two, I think we've earned some lunch," he said.

When they got outside, James locked the door again and put up a 'closed for lunch' sign. He waved his wand so the numbers on the bottom of the sign spun round to read: 'back at 2:30'.

"Where are we going for lunch?" Lily asked.

"Leaky Cauldron," James said.

"And who's paying?"

"Me, obviously," James said. "Consider it a thanks for all your help."

"You mean you're not paying us?" Lily asked in mock outrage.

"And you can each pick out a couple Galleons worth of free stock after we close," James shrugged.

Lily hugged her brother. "You're the best!"

In the Leaky Cauldron, Lily and Mia found their classmates Alice and Frankie Longbottom helping their mum out waiting tables. Even their father, Lily and Mia's Herbology professor, was overseeing a stack of pots and pans washing themselves.

"Hi, Professor!" Lily said brightly.

Professor Longbottom recoiled in mock horror at the sight of them. "Can't I get some peace from my students over the holidays?"

His wife, the landlady, laughed. "Take a seat, guys, and someone will be with you in a minute."

Frankie ended up being their waitress, and when the lunch rush and died down and she and Alice were allowed to have a lunch break, they ended up coming and joining Lily, Mia and James. The five of them enjoyed their lunch, although James kept protesting he felt left out of the conversation whenever talk turned to current happenings at Hogwarts. Eventually, James declared it was time they went back to work, and got up to pay the bill.

After a busy afternoon in the shop, the three of them headed back to Grimmauld Place to find Molly, Arthur and Charlie had arrived home.

"The others will probably stay where they are overnight," Lily explained, over a dinner of homemade soup. "They should be back for dinner tomorrow night, except Percy and Audrey and Molly and Lucy, because they have a traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner with Audrey's family, so they won't be back until late."

Halfway through dinner, Fred and Roxanne came back with their mother, Angelina, but without George. Angelina went straight upstairs but Fred and Roxanne came and joined the others.

"Don't ask," Fred scowled, in response to James' silent question.

Later, when the four girls had gone to bed, Roxanne explained that her parents had had a fight whilst at their grandparents'.

"Dad always finds Christmas hard," she said. "It's supposed to be such a family time – it must be hard for him without Uncle Fred. And it's hard for Mum too because she and Uncle Fred were friends, and because she knows Dad's hurting."

"D'you think Uncle George has gone to visit Uncle Fred's grave?" Lily asked.

"I expect so," Roxanne said. "It's where he usually goes, after they fight."

"Do they fight a lot?" Mia asked.

"Yeah," Roxanne said. "Less than they did when I was younger, but... the War broke them, and they're still putting themselves back together, even after twenty-five years."

No one knew what to say to that, and after a short uncomfortable silence, Roxanne yawned,

"Well, night, everyone."

"Goodnight," everyone chorused, and then quiet fell in the tent as everyone settled down to sleep.

Christmas Eve passed in a flurry of activity. Molly had already started preparations for Christmas dinner, and the grandchildren were soon roped into peeling vegetables, alongside Angelina, who had appeared puffy-eyed at breakfast without her husband. In the afternoon, Lily and Mia finished wrapping their Christmas presents together in a deserted bedroom which Lily didn't know who was using. People started arriving home during the afternoon and Lily and Mia had to fend them off with shouts of, "We're wrapping presents!" until it was Vic and Teddy, who the room actually belonged to, and they had to leave.

At dinner, which was rather charred hot dogs James, Fred and Dom had cooked on a barbeque in the small courtyard garden, the only people missing were Percy and his family, and Ron, Hermione, Rose and Hugo; Ron had floo-called earlier that afternoon to say his Muggle in-laws were taking them out to a pantomime matinee, and they wouldn't be back until around seven.

Fleur was just serving the blancmange she'd made for pudding when the door was flung open.

"Look who we found wandering around outside looking lost!" Ron said, bursting into the room, followed by... Mia's parents.

"Mum! Dad!" Mia yelled, running the length of the room and flinging herself on them. An amazing Christmas had just become perfect.