A/N – This is my multi-chapter Xmas story, and it's a reunion style story. It has 8 chapters and updates will be Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I hope you all enjoy this story.
In the swish offices of Witch Weekly, Lavender Brown-Weasley was just putting the finishing touches to her latest article on the best late summer getaways when her editor called her into her office. Lavender had worked for the glossy magazine since leaving school and she'd worked her way up from a lowly assistant to one of their star reporters. Over her years in the company she had worked for several departments, but she'd made a name for herself in the gossip section and even though now she worked in the lifestyle section, she still added titbits of gossip into her article which made them unique and very popular with the Witch Weekly readers.
Witch Weekly was edited by a formidable witch in her late fifties, named Edna Lawson. Edna herself had worked her way up to the top from an assistant like Lavender, and she was the younger witch's role model. In an ideal world, Lavender wanted to be just like Edna and running the entire magazine one day. And best of all, Edna had told Lavender she had serious potential and if she worked hard, she could one day become editor just like her.
"I've got a new assignment for you, Lavender," Edna said. "I'm sure you've heard of this new luxury hotel that's opening up in the Cotswolds."
"Yes," Lavender replied with a nod. "It's called Park Grange hotel, isn't it? I've heard it's going to be really high end."
"You can see for yourself at Christmas," Edna said. "The hotel is officially opening in the New Year, but they're having a launch event over Christmas. They're hosting a Christmas party on Christmas Eve, and we've managed to secure two tickets. I thought you could go along with Ron, and write an article about your experience."
"That sounds like fun," Lavender said with a grin. Given it was still over four months away, she and her husband, Ron Weasley, hadn't made any plans for Christmas, so attending a fancy party on Christmas Eve should be easily doable.
"They're also hosting Christmas lunch on Christmas Day," Edna continued. "And you can book in for an overnight stay on Christmas Eve. They're releasing packages of the events, but they will likely sell out fast. I've been speaking with our financial team and the magazine can part fund the overnight stay and Christmas lunch package, if you can afford the rest. That way you could write about the entire launch. You could maybe even extend it into a two or three part article."
"How much would it be?" Lavender asked. She loved the idea of spending the entire holidays in a fancy hotel, but she had to be realistic and while she and Ron didn't struggle for money as they both had good jobs, they were hardly made of gold.
Reaching for a deep red leaflet, Edna passed it over to Lavender. The leaflet was headed with a picture of what she was assuming was Park Grange Hotel, and underneath was the list of various packages they were offering for their Christmas launch. The large package contained all three events, but they also had packages combining two events and finally you could just do one event. The package with the overnight stay and lunch wasn't exactly cheap and even with the cost Witch Weekly were willing to pay, which Edna had jotted on the bottom of the leaflet, it would still mean Lavender and Ron would have to pay a few hundred galleons.
"We would understand if you felt you couldn't do it, Lavender," Edna said with a smile. "Either way, the party tickets are yours." Reaching into her desk, she passed over two ivory tickets, with details of the Christmas Eve party on, edged in the same deep red as the leaflet Lavender was holding. "But take the leaflet, talk it over with Ron and let us know as soon as possible. As I said, I predict these packages will sell fast."
Lavender nodded, sure that her editor was right. Despite the high prices, she was positive the packages would be sold within weeks. Luxury hotels were not common in Wizarding Britian, and no doubt anyone who was anyone important or high profile in their world would want to be there when the new hotel launched. Lavender certainly wanted to be there for the whole thing, but she just wasn't sure if she and Ron could afford it.
Lavender mulled on the offer all afternoon as she worked, and leaving early she called at Gringotts to check on the status of the savings account she and Ron had. With the full details of their savings, Lavender headed home and spent an hour looking at their finances to see if it was possible for them to spend Christmas at the Park Grange Hotel. By the time Ron was due home from his job of manager at the quidditch shop in Diagon Alley, Lavender was fairly sure that they would be able to afford the package if they played their cards right.
Lavender had never quite mastered her culinary skills, but luckily Ron's mother, Molly, loved nothing more than cooking for her family and she often dropped meals off that Lavender just froze and then cooked when they were needed. Finding one of Molly's delicious lasagne's, which was one of Ron's favourite meals, Lavender put it in the oven while she whipped up a salad. She then set the table, complete with flowers, candles and a decent bottle of wine.
"What is this in aid of?" Ron asked when he returned home and saw the effort his wife had put into dinner. He knew it wasn't either of their birthdays, or their wedding anniversary, but for all he knew Lavender was wanting to celebrate some other sort of anniversary as she had to tendency to remember all the little details like when they'd had their first kiss and when they'd first slept together.
"Can't I simply spoil you because I love you?" Lavender asked, giving Ron a kiss and handing him a glass of wine.
"Yes, but I know you too well, Lav," Ron chuckled, deciding that his wife wasn't celebrating some random milestone in their relationship, she was trying to butter him up for something. "You want something."
"Maybe," Lavender demurred as she removed the steaming lasagne from the oven. "We can talk after dinner."
Despite Ron's suspicions about what his wife was after, he was easily distracted by the wonderful food. However, he didn't forget about Lavender wanting something and once they had eaten and moved to the living room, he once again asked what his wife wanted.
"I've been given two tickets to a party on Christmas Eve," Lavender began.
"Christmas Eve?" Ron snorted, almost spitting out his wine in shock. "It's still summer. Who in their right mind is already organising Christmas parties?"
"That fancy new hotel that's opening next year," Lavender answered. "They're hosting a special launch over Christmas. A party on Christmas Eve, overnight stays and Christmas lunch. The magazine were given two tickets to the party, but my boss is hoping we might be interested in adding to our experience and staying the night and having the lunch the next day."
"Why do I get the feeling this is going to cost me money?" Ron muttered. He knew how Lavender's job worked and she often got free perks, but this didn't sound like a free perk to him.
"It is," Lavender admitted. "The magazine is willing to pay for a portion of the costs, but we would have to find the rest."
"How much?" Ron asked.
"It's not cheap," Lavender confessed. "We would have to use pretty much all of our savings, which would mean we wouldn't be able to have that break we've been talking about."
For the last few months, Ron and Lavender had been talking about having a break in the Autumn to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Aside from a weekend at the seaside they hadn't had a summer holiday as they'd both been busy with work, but they'd decided a week away once the hustle of summer had died down would be perfect.
"I was really looking forward to getting away," Ron groaned.
"I know, but this way we would be getting away at Christmas," Lavender argued. "Just think about it, we get to go to a glitzy party, then spend a night in what is surely going to be a top notch hotel, and to top it all off we get a Christmas lunch we don't have to cook ourselves."
"It does sound like a good idea," Ron conceded. "But what about Mum? She might be upset if we tell her we're not going to be there at Christmas."
"Not if she and your father go with Bill and his family to Romania to visit Charlie," Lavender countered with a bright smile, having already thought about how to get around things with Ron's family. "Bill and Fleur have already said that's where they're spending Christmas this year, and I know they've both tied to persuade Molly and Arthur to join them. If we're doing this, it might push them to go and then there will be no hard feelings from anyone."
"What about everyone else?" Ron asked. "They're not going to want to go and leave everyone without plans."
"Last year Percy was talking about spending the next festive period with Audrey's family," Lavender pointed out. "I'm sure we can convince him to do just that. As for the twins, they always have each other, not to mention Alicia and Angelina."
"And Ginny?"
"Why doesn't she come with us?" Lavender suggested brightly. Of all of Ron's siblings, Ginny was her favourite and they got along just great and were almost like real sisters. "She can certainly afford the full package, and you know how she loves her luxury."
Ron nodded, knowing that his wife was right. As a professional quidditch player, Ginny was rather loaded and spending a few hundred on a Christmas break would be a drop in the ocean for her. As for liking her luxury, that was also true as Ginny loved to pamper herself and often took herself off to hotels for the odd weekend. Ron was in no doubt that his little sister would jump at the chance to spend Christmas in a swanky hotel.
"Okay, we'll do it," Ron decided. "We'll ask Ginny to come with us, and make sure Mum and Dad are off to Romania with Bill."
"I can't wait," Lavender cooed, snuggling up to her husband. "It'll be so romantic."
"It will be nice to get away from it all and to relax over Christmas," Ron admitted, wrapping his arms around Lavender. "And it will also be nice to be first in line for such a fancy hotel. Do you know anything about it, and who owns it? I've read about it in the papers, but I can't say I've read anything about who runs the place."
"Like you, I've read about it, but know no details," Lavender said. "Chances are it's some big corporation that owns it and they'll just hire staff to run the place. But as long as it lives up to expectations, I don't suppose it matters who owns it."
"Of course it doesn't," Ron agreed, deciding it was time to move on from discussing their plans for Christmas since it was so far away. What he really wanted to focus on was how his wife was going to thank him for agreeing to her request that they spend their savings on a Christmas break rather than their planned holiday.
"I'm sure I can think of something," Lavender purred when Ron asked her just that. Getting to her feet, she took Ron by the hand and led him upstairs, where she spent the rest of the evening showing her husband just how very grateful she was for him agreeing to them spending Christmas at Park Grange Hotel.