I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.
The Family that Heals
Chapter 12 – Holiday Recovery
Harry came through the Floo and was neatly tackled from the side, sending him over. He laid there in a slight daze, head spinning from exiting the Floo and the subsequent attack. The ringing in his ears faded and he smiled as he heard spirited arguing.
"Mistress Artemis! You know better!" Kreacher scolded, his voice creaking but strong.
"But it's Uncle Harry!" the Artemis Sagitta Black-Bones said, still hugging Harry and glaring back at the venerable House Elf.
"Kreacher is aware but Master Harry must be treated with respect and care!"
"I am treating him with respect!" the small girl said.
"Assaulting is not respect!"
"I don't know, I think all the children would disagree with you on that," Harry said, sitting up and hugging Artemis back.
Kreacher huffed and crossed his arms. "The children act so because Master Harry is not stern with them."
"That's true," Harry smiled. "Arty, are you being a good girl to Kreacher?"
"Maybe," Artemis replied, snuggling closer to Harry.
Harry's smile grew at Kreacher's snort. "Well you need to be nicer to Kreacher. He's a good House Elf and cares about you very much." He winked at Kreacher who waggled a hand and looked sourly at Artemis.
"Master Jupiter is much more well behaved," Kreacher sniffed.
"Master Jupiter is a baby," Winky sniffed. The other house elf had walked into the sitting room, carrying a babbling baby boy. "Of course he is more placid than a rambunctious girl."
Remembering how Winky joined the household still made Harry smile. When Amelia had gotten pregnant with Artemis, she and Sirius thought Kreacher might need more help around Grimmauld and they thought someone 'nicer' would be more beneficial. After looking around, they found Winky who had used to belong to the Crouch family and after Crouch Sr and Jr got taken care of after the attack in Harry's fourth year, she had gone to a branch family of the Crouches. They had recently passed without anyone for Winky to go to and she was looking for a household to belong to.
It was difficult at first. Winky had heard a lot about the Blacks, most of it negative while still somewhat accurate, but had respect for the Bones, if some other rather dim views of them due to her being around Bartemius Crouch Sr for so long. In time, she had mellowed out her views and changed them. The funny part was she had slowly become as short as Kreacher when addressing Sirius and some others and Kreacher, who was already slowly becoming kinder due to Harry and his family, was even more caring and pleasant in action if not word.
"If he's Sirius' son though, better watch out as he grows up," Harry grinned, climbing to his feet and holding onto Artemis.
"Kreacher is all too aware and has contemplated much before the eventuality," Kreacher sighed deeply. "Mistress Katie, hello! Star Flower, Miss Rainbow, Little Moon, hello hello!" Kreacher hid his enthusiasm poorly when he hugged the Potter children back, trying to remain gruff and cranky.
"Oh look at the baby," Katie cooed and took Jupiter Aries Black-Bones from Winky, bouncing him in her arms. He gurgled happily at her, waving his arms. "Hi baby!"
With the meeting of intense awkwardness done with, the family could properly enjoy the holiday season. Hogwarts did not have any students staying over the holiday this time, so Harry was able to do all his work at home. Portree finished their last game before the new year already and would not start until after the new year. Given the stress they had gone through recently, Harry and Katie were eager to really enjoy themselves with friends and family.
The usual grand family Christmas party had changed a little. Now they preferred to come out to the Village for the Christmas Day party. Smaller gatherings were scheduled to meet at homes before that day. The Potters would be spending the day before Christmas Eve with the Woods and Weasleys, and save Christmas Eve festivities for their family. Today they came to Grimmauld to enjoy some time with the Tonkses and the Black-Bones.
"Did you tackle your uncle again?" Amelia asked, walking in and smiling.
"What was your first clue?" Harry laughed.
"She's still stuck to you like a limpet," Amelia laughed as she hugged the Potters. "She was waiting here an hour early."
"Love you too," Harry said, kissing her cheek and laughing when the girl kissed him back. The families made their way to the kitchens and soon Harry had things cooking.
"Winky still does not think Master Harry should be cooking," Winky frowned.
"Nothing will stop Master Harry from cooking, save for very special occasions," Kreacher sighed. "It is better to accept it."
Sirius returned, greeting them all warmly and picking up his son. Ted, Andromeda, and Tonks arrived right after and after Ted and Andromeda were lovingly assaulted by the Potter children, they joined the others.
"Where's Susan?" Katie asked.
"Spending time with her boyfriend's family," Amelia said with a soft smile. "She'll come to the big family party on Christmas Day."
"Aw that's sweet, is she bringing him?" Katie asked.
"Not yet. Even though they've been dating for a few months, he nor she feel confident with him coming to something so big," Amelia said, rolling her eyes.
"Coward," Andromeda, Tonks, and Sirius muttered and Amelia nodded while Ted, Katie, and Harry laughed.
"To be fair, Dahlia is very intimidating," Harry chuckled.
"Rawr!" Dahlia growled, making a face and clawing at the air.
"Ah! The Gee Elle Bee!" Tonks gasped.
Dinner meandered as they ate and chatted and laughed together. They eventually went back to the sitting room and Artemis got into a game of cards with Dahlia and Iris while Lucas watched and read a book and gently rocked Jupiter's cradle and Jupiter slept peacefully.
"So, how'd things go?" Ted asked quietly, sipping his cup of coffee.
"Well enough," Harry said. "Well, better than well to be fair. Way better. Dudley apologized for what he did." He smiled a little at the others. "It was…nice."
"Still can't believe you did it," Sirius said. "You're a better man than me."
"Not exactly a hard thing to do," Tonks said, scowling at Sirius when he threw a biscuit at her.
Andromeda snorted. "I still think it is delicious that they have magicals in the family. They cannot avoid it forever. There is justice in that."
"Luckily they weren't there," Harry said. "I don't think I would've gone. I'm not sure I'm ready to confront them yet."
"Figures the most pleasant of them married into them," Katie snorted.
"I still can't believe they sprung her on you on the day of Sorting," Tonks said sourly.
"Pomona couldn't have known," Harry shrugged. "Them asking to go under a different name didn't even register for her. She told them the school might change things, but otherwise they could try. Apparently there's precedent."
"It has happened in the past," Andromeda nodded. "Especially with families that are related to other more prominent ones."
"I'd hide my name if I was related to the Flints or something," Katie said with a big smile, making them laugh.
"I heard he was a little nicer after I made him headbutt the snake," Harry said, smiling at the memory.
"You did what?!" Tonks asked, looking delighted.
"He fouled Katie and I flew him into one of the ornamental snakes on one of the stand walls at the school Quidditch pitch," Harry grinned.
"We call it Brake Snake now," Katie smiled, hugging Harry.
"Brilliant," Tonks laughed.
"Well, at least it's done with," Ted smiled. "And you can enjoy the rest of the holidays."
"Definitely plan on doing that," Harry said with a smile.
-0-
"We might need to find a bigger place soon," Samantha said with a big smile.
"Well you and Daddy are moving to the Village eventually," Katie laughed. "You'll be able to make a bigger place there."
"That's true," Samantha smiled.
The Bell family was at Samantha and Thomas' home for their little holiday get-together. Thomas' brother and their whole family was there as well as Harry and Katie and the kids. The modest home was full of people but it did not feel overly crowded.
Suddenly the door opened and a well-wrapped Lyla appeared. "Hi everybody!" she shouted. She was mobbed by everyone, hugging her through her wraps.
"I didn't think you'd be back today!" Thomas said, hugging his daughter happily.
"I managed to finish everything and get a last-minute portkey back," Lyla smiled. "Didn't want to wait until tomorrow."
"Here you go," Harry said, handing her a very full plate of food.
"Thanks!" She joined in on the festivities, laughing and chatting with the others as she started eating hungrily.
"Let her eat," Katie smiled, chiding her children gently.
"Nah they're fine," Lyla said, balancing her plate on a giggling Iris' back as the little girl had lain across her aunt's lap. "Sorry if I spill food on you though."
"Bailey will get it," Samantha smiled as their golden labrador rested her head on Iris' head, making the girl giggle.
"Mum!" Lyla squawked when Samantha reached down to her plate and took a bit of her chicken and ham pie.
"It's tradition," Samantha laughed.
"Harry probably has a whole pie for you that's just yours," Lyla said, glaring at her.
"He does, and he's the best son," Samantha said, hugging him.
"I have an extra one for you two," Harry assured Lyla.
"You are the best," she smiled.
-0-
The only warning he received was giggling and snickering and it barely registered as a warning in his sleep-addled state. He essentially went from sleeping peacefully to being woken by other forms wriggling under the covers and crawling on top of him.
"Huhn?" Harry woke and yawned, slowly realizing that he was being invaded by his children. "What's this?" he asked with a sleepy smile.
"A new tradition," Dahlia said proudly, lying on top of him. "A Potter family one!"
"Crushing Daddy?" Katie asked, also waking up and smiling.
"Yup!" Iris said loudly, squishing into Harry.
"I can get used to it," Harry smiled as he moved a little, giving Lucas some space to wriggle between him and Katie. The Potter family stayed in bed for a little longer before they got out, getting ready for the day. The day of traditions continued from there. After a big breakfast, the whole family decorated the home together along with Hedwig and Helena. The little Hogwarts Express was brought out and enchanted with the tracks laid for it to go around the entire home and visit all the rooms. A small cauldron burbled and bubbled over a small flame, filling the whole house with scents of citrus, cinnamon, and pine. Magical snow fell in the living room and Harry had learned a tricky charm that made the magical snow go about the house, mimicking a weather pattern that ebbed and flowed.
After lunch, they put up the tree and decorated that too with ornaments and tinsel. Harry and Katie filled the air and tree with dancing lights that gleamed and glimmered as they brightened and faded on their own. Silver bells danced and jingled, filling the air with sweet tinkly music.
After an early supper, Harry filled containers with fresh snow and brought them indoors while Katie and Dahlia prepared the boiling syrup. The containers were put in the middle of the sitting room and the family clustered around them, pouring the syrup onto the snow and making shapes of them, forming chewy maple syrup candy.
Harry smiled as he felt Katie wrap her arms around his middle from behind and he leaned back against her. "I love our family," he said as he watched his children and Hedwig and Helena make candy together and eat them enthusiastically, laughing together.
"Me too," Katie sighed, resting her chin on his shoulder and pressing her cheek against his.
Harry laughed as Hedwig and Helena waddle-ran from the children and were subjected to sticky kissing resulting in sticky feathers. The owls retaliated by chasing the children around, running with their wings out and nipping playfully at them as they barked happily. "And the sticky feather tradition," he smiled, full of warmth.
"Looks like Helena loves/hates it as much as her mother," Katie laughed.
-0-
"You sure you don't want one of us to host this?" Oliver asked. "We do live within walking distance of each other after all."
"Doesn't bother us any," Harry smiled, moving to the side to let Iris and Melanie dash past.
"Besides, we all clean up together right after so it's just fine," Katie smiled. "And everyone else does the same on Christmas Day so it's not a big deal at all."
"Okay, just wanted to make sure," Oliver grinned.
"I love that we do this," Angelina said, pulling Harry to her to hug and lean on. "I mean, we do it once a week normally as it is but it feels more special on the holidays."
The three families were together in the Potter home, joined by Fred and Lydia Jordan. As per usual, the home was full of happy laughter from all the children and warm from the crackling fire and the feelings of goodwill and cheer. As the families grew in size, they gave up on regular sit-down dinner. Instead, they made lots of finger foods or things eaten by hand and people could sit wherever they liked.
Lydia watched fondly as the children sat with each other and ate together, chatting and laughing while feeding Hedwig, Helena, and Raijin who soaked up the food and attention without shame. "It always surprises me how well they get along," she said with a smile. "Growing up, Lee and I fought like hell with our cousins and family friends."
"Same," Angelina smiled. "We still fight, me and my brothers."
"And our children scrap with theirs," George laughed. "Some families communicate through fighting."
"Count mine as the same," Oliver snorted.
"We fought with each other, but not as bad as we did with our cousins," Fred mused. "We banded together for that."
"I do not need to contribute my past," Alicia sniffed.
"I feel bad because we usually got along with ours," Katie said with a sheepish shrug.
"Nah, it just means you were less belligerent and slightly more emotionally healthy than us," George sniffed.
"Yeah, nothing to be proud about," Fred sniffed and they laughed at that.
"So who wins in your family scraps?" Harry asked with a knowing smile.
"Among the sprogs? Do you even need to ask?" Angelina laughed. "Ours by a very big margin."
"It's one of the few times Hailey, Alex, and Abby don't fight each other at all and band together," George smiled. "It's them against the world and if they don't win the fight, neither did the other side."
"Like I said, my brothers' kids don't mess with Hadley or Melanie," Oliver said proudly. "Also I might have gotten Dora a really nice gift this year after realizing she's been the one teaching Hadley how to fight."
"It's very good of her," Alicia nodded.
"I'm glad Hailey shows more sense at her age than we ever did," George groaned. "She doesn't hold back when she scraps with Abby and Alex but doesn't push it too far."
"Which we absolutely would have if we had someone teaching us like Percy does for her," Fred groaned.
"I still can't believe Percy fights as hard as you say he does," Lydia said.
"I believe it, I've seen it," Harry said.
"Really? When?!" the twins gasped.
"One night we were at the Cauldron," Harry said. "Big fight breaks out, some arsehole potshotted Ron from behind and Percy took offense to it." He shook his head admiringly. "Percy wiped the floor with him. Literally! He beat the bloke down and dragged him all over the ground."
"Damn, sad I missed it," George sighed gustily. "It's so satisfying to see him kick someone's arse when you're not that someone."
"Eh, it happens enough for us to watch," Fred grins. "Every now and again Charlie gets high on his dragon and thinks he can take him and Perce slaps him back down to remind him of his place."
"Doesn't Charlie work with dragons?" Lydia laughed.
"Sure does, and it doesn't help him," the twins laughed together.
"Oh I remember now, Mum told me about that night," Katie laughed. "She was asked to help do emergency healing when they got an influx of injuries. She said the biggest group of them had remarkably similar injuries."
"Percy is big on quality, no matter what he does," Harry laughed. "And like I said, he was really not happy about the whole thing. Not that I blame him of course. I went in to help Ron recover and by the time I turned, the fight was half over."
"It's always the quiet ones," Alicia said.
"Which is why we don't have to worry about you," Fred grinned.
"And count your lucky stars for that," she smiled cheerily. She sighed and shook her head. "Speaking of family, Christina reached out again."
"Still hasn't caught a hint?" Katie asked sympathetically.
"No," Alicia said shortly. "I want nothing to do with any of them. Besides, I am fairly certain this is a ploy from my father. He won't reach out; mother wouldn't let him. Tyler knows I'll ignore anything he says. She is the only one who might get something out of me."
Alicia shook her head again. "Well, Mimsy would but she refuses to help my parents in this matter. She still serves the Spinnets but she disapproves of how they treated me."
"A stubborn house elf is an immovable object," Harry said.
"Indeed," Alicia sighed. "She knows she can move here with me if she wants and she has been thinking about it." She cleared her throat and her eyes twinkled. "Let's change the subject to something cheerier. You." She poked Fred. "When are you going to become an honest man?"
"I'm honest a lot!" Fred protested. "People just don't believe it for some reason."
"'Some reason'," Angelina repeated, making air quotes.
"Don't get me confused with your husband," Fred sniffed.
"I don't," Angelina snorted.
Lydia laughed brightly. "I'm not in a real rush, I mean, neither of us are. We're committed to each other, just not formally yet."
"Awww, you're in lovvvve," Harry crooned, grinning when Fred pushed his face away.
"Don't go telling everyone," Fred hissed, cheeks pink.
"Everyone already knows," Harry grinned. "Right babies?"
"About what?" Dahlia asked, looking over.
"Oh about Uncle Fred loving Aunt Lydia?" Hailey asked.
"We knew that already," Hadley said dismissively.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?!" Fred gasped as the children and adults laughed.
"Mummy said you had to figure it out," Melanie said. "But it would take a long time because you're thick."
"Figures your children are the cruelest," Fred muttered, wincing when Alicia punched him in the side.
"Like KatiMum was thick!" Alex and Abby said together loudly.
"I hate you two," Katie growled as Angelina and Alicia cackled.
"I love our families," Harry smiled.
-0-
"You look like you could use a coffee and a tea," Harry said.
"Thank you dear," McGonagall said gratefully, accepting both cups from him. It was Christmas day and the Potter home was full once more with the Black-Bones, the Bells, the Tonkses, the Grangers, the Delacours, Luna, and McGonagall. It was an all-day affair full of festive cheer. It was into the afternoon and McGonagall had just sat down and Harry had appeared with the drinks. "I am feeling my age," she said ruefully.
"You say that, but I don't believe it," Harry said, sitting beside her. "You're as busy as ever and still very energetic."
"I honestly do not know if I will survive the school year," McGonagall said, sipping her tea.
"Again, not believing it," Harry chuckled. "You're well used to the bunnies by now, and even with the twins coming with Iris and Heather and Melanie soon, you know you'll handle them just fine. Especially with the bunnies keeping the youngers in line."
"You know, sometimes a body wishes to complain and be sympathized with and not have the reasoning be dissected," she scolded, hiding a smile with her cup at Harry's laugh.
"You love it," he smiled.
"I do," she admitted. "Besides, how else am I to embarrass you lot?"
"Also true," Harry nodded.
"I heard about your meeting," McGonagall said softly. "How are you feeling?"
"Better, now," Harry replied just as softly. "It's still tough, remembering and trying to work my way past it. But it's getting a little easier."
"That's my boy," she said proudly, hugging him. "I am so proud of you. For how you treat her, and comport yourself accordingly."
"Thanks," he said gratefully. "It's hard. I'm glad I stuck with being her teacher though. Hopefully more good will come from it."
"I am sure it will," she said confidently. She smiled as Lucas walked up to her. "Yes my darling grandson?"
"Just wanted a hug," Lucas said, smiling shyly at her.
"Oh come here," she said enthusiastically, pulling him beside her and hugging him warmly. "I am excited for you to come to Hogwarts too! You'll be one of my best students. I just know it."
Harry smiled at the two of them interacting before leaning back in his chair. In a short time, Hedwig, Helena, Hadrian, and Marguerite joined him, settling on his lap and chest and shoulder and head, making themselves comfortable. Despite the storm outside, he was perfectly warm and happy, surrounded by the ones he loved.
A nice holiday indeed.
-0-0-0-
poka - I think things will continue to show some surprising change and at the risk of spoiling, no change either. But you're right, it's hard to admit fault and to try and grow from it. But it is laudable when it happens.
DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - I'm trying to not just, literally, wave a wand and have things be fixed. I'm trying to show a little nuance and growth here in some ways that hopefully make sense.
odonnellzoo99 - Harry being buried with love and affection is always the best.
alix33 - Marguerite acting like her mother made me very happy too.
TheSphynx - As long as the mending is sincere.
HoneyBear84 - Thank you.