Ye Merrye Hippogriffs

"FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY! GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW!"

"Oh, the sweet sounds of Christmas," Ron muttered to Harry, Hermione, and Ginny. It was Christmas Eve, and they were seated in front of the fire in the Burrow's living room, stringing popcorn onto threads.

"TELL ME WHAT THIS IS IN MY SOUP!" Mrs. Weasley's voice continued to ring through the house.

"Oh, Mum, it's nothing, really--"

"--we were just testing our Extendable Eyes--"

"--we didn't mean for them to land in the soup."

"Extendable Eyes? Extendable Eyes? What have I told you about doing experiments in my house? You have your own shop, but this is not it!" Mrs. Weasley said fiercely. "And besides that, what are you doing with Extendable Eyes?"

"Well, Mum, Charlie's up to something...he's been hiding something since he arrived this morning, and--"

"And you thought you'd spy on him? I'll have you know that Charlie actually acts like an adult wizard! He never went around dropping eyeballs in my soup! Now, out!"

Fred and George hurried out of the kitchen, both grinning, each clutching long strings with big, round eyes attached to the ends. "Imagine Mum's surprise when she finds that we lost one of the eyeballs in the soup," George chuckled to the group in front of the fire, holding up an eye-less string.

Hermione rolled her eyes and jabbed her needle through a piece of popcorn. With another grin, Fred and George disappeared up the stairs.

Ginny popped one of the kernels into her mouth. Swallowing, she murmured, "Three...two...one..."

A scream of mingled surprise and fury sounded from the kitchen. "FRED! GEORGE!"

Ginny sighed contentedly, Ron and Harry doubled over in laughter, and Hermione frowned. "They can't--"

But what they couldn't do was never known, for at that moment, Charlie Weasley came in, rubbing his hands to warm them. "A bit cold out there," he said, moving over to the fire. "Mm, popcorn." He grabbed a handful from Ginny's bowl and shoved it into his mouth.

"Watch out for the eyeballs, Charlie," Ginny told him. "Fred and George reckon you're up to something, so if you see a disembodied eye, it's theirs."

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Oh, they do, do they?" he sounded amused.

"Harry, dear!" Mrs. Weasley called from the kitchen. "Would you come here a moment?"

Puzzled, Harry stood to his feet and made his way into the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was sitting at the table, and a wooden spoon was stirring itself in a huge pot of soup. "Here. I thought I would give this to you tonight, before the excitement tomorrow. I thought you might want to open it away from everyone else."

It was then that he noticed a small, wrapped parcel on the table. He slid into the seat next to Mrs. Weasley and picked it up. "Go ahead, dear. Open it," Mrs. Weasley urged.

Harry pulled the paper off of the package and found himself holding a small box. He opened it and looked in. "What is it?" All he saw was a small glass ball. It looked similar to a Remembrall.

Mrs. Weasley took it from his hands and set it on the table. She pointed her wand at it and said, "Revelo." The glass ball lit up, shining with a blue light. Voices suddenly began to come from the ball on the table. His breath caught in his throat. Was it...?

"No, no, no," a woman's voice laughed. "You're singing it all wrong!"

"Aww, come on, Lil! Our version has pizzaz!" a voice that Harry recognized as Sirius's spoke.

"We're recording now," this amused voice belonged to Lupin.

"Remus! You were supposed to wait until you're ready!" the woman--who Harry knew had to be his mother--said.

"We were ready, Lily--we can't help it that you interrupted," this voice Harry didn't recognize, but he thought it must be--

"James, you're supposed to back me up!" Lily said with exasperation.

"Sorry, Lil, he lived with us for longer than he's lived with you!" Sirius laughed. "Now, shall we start again? Too bad Peter's not here, he does a great impression of a drunk Dumbledore, that would go great in this song--"

"A drunk Dumbledore?" Lily interrupted in disbelief. "You've never seen Dumbledore drunk, and I don't think he would ever get drunk!"

"Maybe not, but it's fun to imagine," Sirius replied.

Lily harrumphed.

"All right, James, Remus...let's begin again."

And three voices chorused, "Jingle bells, old Filch smells, Hagrid's hiding an egg! Don't know what's inside but we should probably hide, and live to see another day! Hey! Jingle bells--"

"Oh, you three!"

"Aw, Lil, there you go interrupting us again!" Sirius sighed.

The voices cut off, and Harry was left staring at the glass ball, a lump in his throat. Mrs. Weasley looked at him kindly. "There's more, and you can listen to it whenever you want."

"Where...where did you get this?" Harry whispered.

"Remus found it in Sirius's attic a couple of weeks ago, half-restored. He thinks Sirius must have been restoring it for you before he..."

"Died," Harry supplied, an ache in his chest. This was his first Christmas since his godfather's death, and he still missed him fiercely. He clutched the glass ball to his chest. "Thank you," he whispered.

"It's Remus you should thank. He'll be here shortly with Arthur. He's staying the night tonight," Mrs. Weasley said.

Harry tucked the ball back into the box and put it in his pocket. He half-smiled at Mrs. Weasley and headed back out into the living room. He found Ron and Hermione in the middle of a fight, which didn't surprise him in the least.

"--never made a Christmas cookie in your life," Hermione was saying.

"So? I can bake cookies, Hermione!" Ron snapped.

"Mmhmm..."

"I can!"

"If you say so."

"Fine! I'll prove it to you! Tomorrow morning after we open presents, I'll bake a whole batch of cookies!" Ron said angrily.

"I look forward to eating them," Hermione said calmly.

Ron glared at her, then stabbed his next piece of popcorn so hard that he stuck the needle into his own finger. He yelped and put his finger in his mouth.

Harry tucked himself back into place beside Ron and Ginny. "What did Mum want?" Ginny asked him.

"Oh...she just had something to give me," Harry said vaguely. For right now, he wanted to keep his new treasure to himself. It had brought back a lot of memories--even now, he could almost hear Sirius singing, "God rest ye, merrye hippogriffs!" at the top of his lungs.

~*~

Lupin arrived with Mr. Weasley and they all ate dinner together, and Mrs. Weasley chased them all off to bed before it got very late. Harry took time to stop and thank Lupin for his gift, and then headed off to Ron's room.

Mrs. Weasley stopped by each bedroom to make sure everyone was actually listening to her command to go to bed. When she entered Ron's room, she sighed. "Ron, you've been here for a week and your room is already a disaster."

"That only took half a day," Ron replied.

Mrs. Weasley sighed again, stepping over a pile of dirty laundry and kissed him on his forehead. "Good night, dear." She tried to pull his covers up around his shoulders, and Ron flushed red.

"Mum! I'm not six anymore! You don't have to tuck me in!"

Mrs. Weasley sighed and released the edges of the blanket. She settled with giving him a kiss on his forehead, and then, to Harry's surprise, also gave him a kiss on his forehead. Then she left, turning off the light and closing the door.

Ron and Harry talked for a long while, and even after Ron fell asleep, Harry lay awake, thinking about his parents' and Sirius, listening to Ron snoring loudly in the bed next to him. The ghoul in the attic was moaning and banging on something. He twisted in his bed, trying to block out the noises, with little success.

He heard the floorboards outside Ron's room creak, and he thought he heard someone padding softly down the stairs. It wasn't unusual to hear people tiptoeing around the Weasley house, so he ignored it.

He finally drifted off to sleep. It seemed he had just fallen asleep when he was rudely awakened.

Wham!

Harry sat bolt upright and tried to figure out what had just hit him. Was the Burrow under attack? Had Death Eaters broken in? He grabbed his glasses and shoved them on, and then he saw Hermione and Ginny standing in Ron's room. Ginny was holding a pillow, and he realized she had just hit him over the head with it.

Ron was sitting up in his own bed, looking disgruntled. "Thanks for the lovely morning greeting, Gin," he said sarcastically.

"Oh, cheer up!" Ginny grinned. "It's Christmas!"

That got Ron out of bed. "Presents! C'mon, Harry!"

Even Hermione seemed to be excited, and the four of them shoved their way down the stairs to the living room. Sure enough, many brightly wrapped packages sat under the Christmas tree. There had been some there the night before--the childrens' gifts to each other--but now there were more.

Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Lupin, and Charlie were already downstairs. Lupin was helping Mrs. Weasley make breakfast, and Mr. Weasley and Charlie were engaged in a conversation.

"Presents!" Ron exclaimed, throwing himself down beside the Christmas tree.

"Ronald Weasley! Hands off until after breakfast!"

Ron sighed and leaned back on his heels. He frowned, looking around. "Where're Fred and George?"

As if on cue, the twins burst in the back door. "Oy! Everyone! C'mere, we've got something to show you!" Fred called.

Exchanging curious glances, everyone slowly trickled out the back door, including Mrs. Weasley, who already wore a disapproving look on her face. As soon as they stepped outside, she gasped. "Fred! George! What on--"

"Shh! Listen!" Fred waved his hand. He and George stood before several dozen potato-like gnomes. "We've been teaching them ever since we got back to the Burrow--had to dig 'em out of the ground, of course, they were hibernating...not too happy about being dragged out; they put up quite a fight. But they learned."

"Ready!" George told the gnomes. "One, two, three!"

In very high-pitched voices, the gnomes began to sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

Mrs. Weasley threw up her hands and stalked back into the kitchen, muttering as she went. "Singing gnomes! Of all the things they could be putting their minds to doing, they have to teach gnomes to sing!"

As Harry turned to go back inside, he caught sight of Lupin's feet, and his eyebrows went up. "Um...interesting slippers."

Lupin looked down at the bright pink fluffy bunny slippers he had on his feet. "Oh, yes," he said dryly. "It seems someone snuck into my bedroom last night and Transfigured my ordinary gray footwear into these." He cast an amused look in Fred and George's direction.

George, who had overheard, snickered, "Pink is definitely your color, Lupin."

~*~

The unwrapping of gifts followed breakfast, in which there was much laughter and paper throwing. After that, everyone began to disperse around the house. Ginny offered to play a game of Exploding Snap with Harry, who readily agreed. Ron had retreated to the kitchen so he could prove to Hermione that he could make cookies, and Hermione had settled into a corner with a new book. Charlie had disappeared outside, as had the twins. Lupin and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat at the dining room table and talked in low voices.

Things weren't quiet for long--they never were in the Weasley household. Very shortly, Fred and George came into the Burrow and hurried up the stairs, muttering between themselves. "--wouldn't really show anyone, would he?" Fred asked.

"I dunno, this is Charlie we're talking about," George said before they were out of earshot.

Just after they had disappeared upstairs, a yelp came from the kitchen. "Ron, dear? Are you all right?" Mrs. Weasley called. "Do you need help?"

"I'm fine, Mum, and I don't need help," Ron replied grumpily. "You promised you would stay out of the kitchen." His words were followed by a loud crash.

Hermione wore the tiniest smile, but didn't look up from her book.

"What do you bet that he breaks at least three dishes before he's finished?" Ginny whispered to Harry.

Harry considered, and Ron let out an "OW!" "At this rate, it might be four," he murmured back.

It took all of Mrs. Weasley's restraint to keep her word and stay out of the kitchen. After a short while, she stood up from the dining room table and went upstairs, leaving Mr. Weasley and Lupin to continue talking.

There was another crash from the kitchen, and Ron could be heard muttering to himself. Shortly thereafter, Harry sniffed. "Do you smell smoke?" he asked Ginny. They both whirled and looked at the open kitchen door. Sure enough, gray wisps were coming through it.

Hermione glanced up from her book and shook her head, then stretched and settled back in her chair.

Finally, Ron himself came storming out of the kitchen, a plate in one hand. He thrust it under Hermione's nose. "There. Cookies," he stormed.

Hermione looked down her nose at the plate. "Ron, those aren't cookies."

"Yes, they are."

Ginny stood to her feet and walked over, peering at the plate. "Ron, I think you must have left something out of these." She poked at the pile of misshapen cookies on the plate. "I don't think they're supposed to look like that." She carefully pulled off a piece of a cookie and stuck it in her mouth. She chewed for a moment, and then choked and ran for the kitchen. Moments later, gasping, she called, "Ron! What did you put in those?"

Ron looked extremely disgruntled. "Exactly what the recipe called for! Eggs, flour, sugar, vanilla..."

Ginny reemerged from the kitchen, holding a small brown bottle in one hand. "Did you put this in?"

"Yes, that was the vanilla!"

Ginny sighed. "Oh, Ron," she said. "This isn't vanilla. It's Sir Scap's Super Spicy Sauce."

~*~

As dinner approached, Mrs. Weasley put everyone to work. Harry and Hermione were setting the table, which had been spelled to be so long that it filled up the entire dining room, leaving just enough room to cram chairs around it. Mr. Weasley, who had gone outside to fetch wood, came in, a strange man behind him. "Molly!" he called. "We're going to have one more guest for dinner!"

Mrs. Weasley came out of the kitchen. "Who--Arthur? Who is this?"

Mr. Weasley wore an excited expression on his face, one that Harry had come to associate with his love of all things Muggle. "Molly, I would like you to meet Jack O'Turner. He got lost leaving a house in Ottery St. Catchpole. I invited him to dinner. And Molly," here Mr. Weasley lowered his voice, "he's an eckeltrician," he informed her.

Harry held back a laugh and exchanged glances with Hermione.

Mrs. Weasley's eyebrows snapped together. "A Muggle? Oh, Arthur--"

"He doesn't have any family, Molly. It won't hurt to have him, just this once," Mr. Weasley said in a pleading tone.

The electrician was gazing around the house in wonder. Through the door leading to the kitchen, dishes could be seen washing themselves, spoons stirring dishes on their own accord. "Magic," he murmured in an awed voice. "'Oo would 'ave thought?"

"He seems like a sensible Muggle, anyway," Hermione spoke up. "And my parents will be here for dinner, and they're Muggles."

Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Yes, dear, but they already know about the magical world."

"Looks like he does too, now," Harry pointed out, nodding at the electrician. "And as Hermione said, he's handling it quite well. Not much sense in obliviating his memory, is there?"

Mrs. Weasley pinned the poor Muggle with a piercing glance. "If you ever tell anyone what you've--"

The electrician looked alarmed. "Oh, no, ma'am," he said, clutching his hat tightly in his hands. "I don't 'ave any family t' tell, an' not many a friend, whilst I'm at it. Besides, 'oo would believe me anyway?"

Mrs. Weasley relaxed a bit. "All right, then. Harry, be a dear and take the man's coat."

Harry obediently set his armload of silverware on the table and took Jack O'Turner's coat and hat, carrying them to the coat closet. As Mr. Weasley led Jack to the living room, he heard him asking, "So tell me, Mr. O'Turner--"

"--Jack, please."

"--Jack, then--what, precisely, do you do as an eckeltrician? Does it have to do with plugs? I have a whole collection of them...batteries, too."

~*~

Slowly, the dinner guests began to arrive. Bill Weasley showed up with Fleur Delacour, and Percy Weasley also came. His relationship with his family--more particularly, his siblings--was still a bit strained, due to everything that had happened the previous year, but they were on speaking terms. Then came Mad-Eye Moody and Nymphadora Tonks, closely followed by Hermione's parents. Old Mrs. Figg came in with Kingsley Shacklebolt.

By seven o'clock, all nineteen people were crammed around the table. It was a jolly affair, and so many conversations were going on, with so much laughter, that Harry was content to simply sit back and listen.

"Molly, I believe there's an eyeball in this gravy," Tonks said calmly, plucking it out.

Fred and George snorted, and Mrs. Weasley glared at them. "Fred and George Weasley, if I see one more of those Extendable Eyes I swear you will regret every moment you are here."

"Yes, yes, that'd be right," Jack O'Turner was saying to Mr. Weasley. "Now, tell me, Arthur, 'ow do these 'ere wand-thingamabobs actually work? They jus' look like plain ol' wood to me."

"--still couldn't get it from him. He's hidden it," Fred was saying to George.

"--and I got this wonderful book for Christmas," Hermione told her parents enthusiastically. "I'll show it to you, I think you'd like it, too. It's called Practical Magic for Everyday Use, and there's a chapter on dentistry."

Dinner was followed by dessert, and then the guests slowly began to filter out of the Burrow. It was well close to eleven o'clock before the last one left. Lupin was again staying the night. Mr. Weasley had jumped on the chance to take a ride in Jack the electrician's car, "to see that he doesn't stay lost, and he gets home safe and sound."

Fred and George, still whispering between themselves, snuck out the back door when Mrs. Weasley wasn't looking. Charlie chuckled as they went out. "They think they're going to find it. They'll have fun trying to get into the shed," he told Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny. The latter three were lounging around the living room, watching Ron and Charlie play chess.

"Find what?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Oh, they think I've been sneaking around hiding something, and they've been after it since I arrived yesterday. So I decided to play their little game and help them along in their belief." Charlie's eyes twinkled. "I found one of those pictures of Fred--you know the ones that Mum took when we were little, having baths and stuff?"

Ron and Ginny blanched. "Oh, Charlie, you didn't!" Ginny laughed. To Harry and Hermione, she explained, "We always tried to find ways to destroy them, but Mum thought they were 'so cute' and put Indestructible Charms on them. She said we'd like them one day." She rolled her eyes, and Ron snorted disbelievingly.

"Anyway, I told Fred if he and George didn't stop snooping around, I'd send the picture to his girlfriend," Charlie grinned. "It's so hard to get leverage on Fred and George--how could I pass the opportunity up?"

Ginny returned the grin. "Bet Angelina would think it's 'so cute.'"

"So what is it you're doing that Fred and George are so interested in?" Ron asked. He prodded his knight forward to take Charlie's bishop.

"I have a baby dragon in my care," Charlie said.

"What?" Hermione gasped.

"Well, you see, when I left Romania to come home, I had been taking care of a newborn dragon whose mother was killed. It can't do any harm, Hermione, don't worry. It doesn't know how to breathe fire or anything yet. It needs quiet, though, and so I've been caring for it in the shed. Fred and George saw me bringing food in for it, and I told them they couldn't go in the shed--last thing that poor dragon needs is Fred and George bothering it. So, instead of asking me what was in there, they decided to snoop," Charlie said.

The chess game continued, and ended when Ron put Charlie in check-mate with his rooks.

"Time for bed!" Mrs. Weasley called. "It's already past midnight!" She looked exhausted, and headed up the stairs for bed herself.

"I'm going to go check on the babe," Charlie winked, standing to his feet. "I'll see you four in the morning. I'm heading back to Romania tomorrow afternoon."

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny stood up and headed up the stairs. Harry sat where he was for a moment. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the box holding the round glass ball that had recorded his parents', Remus, and Sirius. He took the glass ball out and pointed his wand at it. "Revelo," he whispered.

Blue light filled the ball, and immediately, the voices filtered out into the empty living room. "All right, trying again," Lily Potter sounded exasperated. "This time--"

Before she could get any further, three voices chorused, "Joy to the world, the teacher's dead--"

"JAMES! Sirius! Remus!" Lily sounded appalled. "You are not schoolboys anymore!"

"Aw, Lil!" Sirius groaned. "You're spoiling our fun--and our recording!"

"Hey, be nice to my wife!" James said in a teasing voice. "We don't need her going into labor seven months early."

Harry was jolted by this. This had been the Christmas before he was born?

Sirius and Lupin seemed to have been jolted by it, as well. "What?" Sirius gasped.

"You're having a baby?" Sirius sounded dumbfounded.

"We wanted to wait until Christmas to tell you," Lily explained. "We've known for about a month, and James has had the hardest time keeping his mouth shut."

Sirius let out a shout. "James! Nice going! Lily! Congratulations!"

Lily let out an 'oomph!' and Harry thought Sirius must have grabbed her in a hug. "We're still recording! Shut it off, Remus--"

The voices abruptly stopped again, and the blue light faded from the ball. Harry sighed and looked down at it.

"That was one of the happiest days we had had in a long time."

Startled, Harry turned to see Lupin leaning against the wall at the bottom of the stairs. "I-I didn't see you come down."

"I didn't want to disturb you," Lupin said. He pushed away from the wall and moved to sit on a chair across from Harry. "That time was similar to now, you know. Voldemort was on a rampage--but we still had Christmas. We could still celebrate, and for one day, pretend all was well with the world." He smiled. "And it was made even more special, because that was the day that Sirius and I found out you were on the way."

Harry looked down and passed the glass ball from one hand to the other. "I'm glad I can hear them," he said quietly. "Even if it's just a recording."

"Me, too, Harry," Lupin said. "Me, too." He stood to his feet and touched Harry on the shoulder. "You made their year bright, Harry." He crossed the living room and padded up the stairs.

Harry stared at the ball for a long moment more, then put it back in its box. Standing to his feet, he looked at the mantel, on which portraits of the Weasley family sat, grinning and waving and shoving for a place in the pictures. A small smile crossed his face. Remus was right--Voldemort might be a looming darkness, but they could still celebrate. He had gotten to spend this day with the Weasleys and other friends--the only family that he had.

I have the Weasleys, and Hermione, and Lupin...and I have a remnant of my parents' love for me, Harry thought, staring at the photographs. And that's definitely worth celebrating.

~FIN~

MERRY CHRISTMAS!