Chapter Two
Harry blinked at the sudden brightness. Badly tuned bagpipes blared what were meant to be Christmas carols from the large wooden wireless in the sitting room at the Burrow. George and Charlie were cracking jokes together as they levitated a few last bits of tinsel onto the tree. It was the sort of tree that Ginny said had “character”; tall and somewhat lopsided, its tip bent over against the ceiling, the star hanging upside-down, obviously secured by magic. It was decorated with the usual lights and baubles, but also with all sorts of ornaments the Weasleys had collected over the years. Wooden triangles hand-glued together by Percy and the twins as small boys, blinded the eye with bright color-changing paint; a small sheep with Bill's name sewn on had lost most of its wool; a beautiful glass angel, a christening gift for Ginny, sparkled and reflected the lights.
Percy appeared in the doorway, barely visible above the teetering stack of brightly wrapped packages he carried in his hand. “Andromeda's just arrived,” he explained as Charlie relieved him of the gifts and placed them among the rest overflowing beneath the tree. “Teddy gets bigger every day, I tell you.”
“Babies have a slight tendency to do that,” Bill commented, coming in behind Percy with a heaping platter of biscuits, levitating a tray with several mugs and a teapot in front of him. “Will one of you go get the rest of the mugs from the kitchen? Dad forgot to get any non-alcoholic eggnog, so I'm off to pick some up for Fleur.” He put the trays down on the sideboard, manoeuvring carefully to get past the several card tables that took up most of the floor space”there was no chance of squeezing everyone into the kitchen tonight, and as the back garden was buried under nearly half a metre of snow, eating outdoors would be rather inconvenient.
“I'll go,” said Percy, shoving his glasses up his nose now that his hands were free. Harry followed Percy down the hall toward the kitchen, but paused at the staircase when he heard Ginny's voice.
“Hermione?” Ginny was calling from upstairs. “Where did she disappear to?”
“I wouldn't look too hard if I were you,” said Andromeda from near the front door where she was taking Teddy out of his coat. “I saw her being pulled upstairs by Ronald as I walked in.” She hung her coat and Teddy's on the already-full coat rack by simply tossing them up on top of the other coats until they stayed.
“Oh, well in that case, I had better quit while I'm ahead,” Ginny said, laughing. “They'll turn up eventually.” She tripped lightly down the stairs, slipped on the wet wood on the last one, fell on her bum, and came to rest in front of Andromeda. Teddy laughed and reached for his favorite Weasley. Ginny stood up stiffly, took him from Andromeda's arms and nuzzled his nose with her own. “Hey there, Ted! Happy Christmas!”
Teddy squealed and gurgled, his hair flashing through several bright colours before settling temporarily on green. Ginny carried Teddy through the hall to the kitchen, walking right through a startled but unnoticed Harry, who was too busy watching her to move out of her way. He turned and followed her, watching her...erm, hair, sway as she walked, Teddy's small hand grabbing a hunk of it with chubby fingers.
In the kitchen, Molly and Fleur were hard at work”Fleur cooking, and Molly trying to get her to sit down and rest. “Nonsense, Molly,” Fleur was saying. “I 'ave still several months before zat. Let me 'elp you. Come, I am not yet showing.”
“Let her be, Mum,” Ginny said. “Look who's here!” Fleur returned to supervising the knife chopping the potatoes as Molly cooed over Teddy.
“Oh, I can see so much of your father in you, little Ted,” Molly said softly as Teddy held her hand in both of his, trying to pull off her wedding ring. “But that hair,” she continued with a laugh as the child's hair turned red in frustration. “That came straight from your mummy.” Molly sighed, and her eyes grew misty. She scooped Teddy into her arms and held him close.
“Harry?” Harry jumped as Arthur entered the kitchen, looking around eagerly, holding an old, rusty cigarette lighter in his snow-covered, gloved hand. “Harry, I found this Muggle contraption in the gutter outside, do you know what it is?”
“Harry's not here, dear,” Molly told him, setting Teddy on a chair and returning to stir a pot on the stove, which was beginning to bubble alarmingly. “He felt a bit ill, went to Grimmauld Place to take a nap away from the noise.”
“Did he?” said Arthur in concern. “He'll be back in time for supper, I hope. Speaking of which, how soon until it's ready?”
“Ze sooner you get out of our 'air, ze sooner eet will be ready,” Fleur answered teasingly.
“Why don't you go ask Percy about that contraption, dear?” Molly suggested. “I understand he's been doing a bit of research on Muggle technology lately.”
“Wonderful!” Arthur exclaimed, turning around again.
“Take Teddy with you!” Molly called after him, as she turned from the stove just in time to keep the child from toppling off of his chair onto the floor. “I don't know where Ginny's disappeared to; she was supposed to be watching him.”
Harry looked around in suprise; he had not noticed Ginny leave. Snape was nowhere in sight, so Harry wandered out into the hall and up the staircase. He found Ginny at the top, near the doorway to her bedroom. She was standing on tip-toe, reaching out across the banister to hang a sprig of mistletoe from the ceiling of the front hall. Her hair fell in a long curtain behind her outstretched arm. Harry smiled as she stuck out her tongue in concentration, reaching with both hands to tie the sprig around the ceiling lamp.
Suddenly the rug beneath Ginny's feet slipped. She screamed and lost her balance, nearly toppling over the banister to the floor below. She clung to the outside of the railing for dear life, her feet in the air on upstairs side, her hands and head out over the hall. Harry rushed forward to try to pull her back, but his ghostly hands could not grab hold of her. Luckily, her cry had attracted the attention of the household. Percy was nearest; he dashed up the stairs and pulled her back to the floor while George, Bill and Andromeda gathered below.
Harry backed away so that he was no longer standing inside of Percy, which was somewhat unnerving. Ginny took several deep breaths and let Percy hug her. “All right there, Gin?” he asked, letting her go. “That was a close call.”
“Yeah, I'm okay,” Ginny replied breathlessly.
Ron bolted down the stairs from the floors above, closely followed by Hermione. “Is everything all right? I heard Ginny scream.”
“Everything's fine, I'm fine, go back to what you were doing,” Ginny assured him. “If I haven't quite wrecked the mood, that is.”
Ron glanced at Hermione and reddened; she smiled secretively, as if she guessed his thoughts. “Nah, there'll be time for that later. It's almost supper, isn't it?”
“Oh! I should go and see if they need any help in there,” Hermione exclaimed, sliding past Ron to make her way down the stairs.
“Bit out of proportion, risking your neck for a strategically placed sprig of mistletoe, eh, Ginny?” George called mischievously from the hall below. “Wouldn't have any particular target in mind for that mistletoe, would you?” It was Harry's turn to redden, though no one saw it.
“You mean the mistletoe you're all standing under?” Ginny inquired innocently, grinning down at them.
Bill and George looked around, noticed Andromeda and quickly leapt out of the way. Andromeda lifted her eyebrows and laughed gently. “All right, point taken,” she said. “Now, who had Teddy last? He'll be wanting his supper, and I don't think he'll be content to wait till Molly's finished with her masterpiece.”
“Here he is,” said Charlie, coming into the hall with Teddy tucked under his arm like a Quaffle. Hermione looked appalled and seemed about to rebuke Charlie for his negligence, before she realised that the child was squealing with delight rather than terror. She settled for placing her hands on her hips and pursing her lips in a disapproving manner.
“Are you quite finished here, Potter?” Snape said as Harry sniggered at the scene before him. Harry yelped and whirled around.
“Where did you come from?” he demanded, standing up straight in a failed attempt to cover his discomposure.
“I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about,” said the apparition flatly. “I've been at your side this entire time.”
“If you say so,” Harry sighed. “Where to next?”
“Patience, Potter. You shall see.” Snape extended his hand. Harry took it reluctantly, twisting around for one last look at the general merriment before the room blurred and blackened around him once more.