I was in a very Christmas-y mood this week and decided to spread a bit of festive cheer through the antics of The Weasley/Potters :) If you too are feeling particularly Christmas-y then please read and enjoy and if you smile, giggle, laugh (or maybe even shed a small tear) then review and continue to spread that all too important festive spirit! Christmas is only four days away after all... :D

A Very Weasley Christmas
Part One

Traditions. Defined as long established customs or beliefs that have been passed on from one generation to the next. That's what the word "Traditions" meant to everyone. Except of course, to the twenty seven current residents of The Burrow. To them, it meant bedlam, chaos, pandemonium, shouting, crying, yelling, fighting, bangs, screams, tantrums, cooking, cleaning and the odd bit of Quidditch. It was tradition that all The Weasleys gathered in The Burrow to celebrate the festive season together. And so all of the above applied.

The small house was packed to bursting point. Each of the Weasley children had taken to their old bedrooms, bringing spouses and children with them. Andromeda was sleeping on the sofa and Teddy was with Harry and Ginny. Molly and Arthur had their bedroom to themselves.

Christmas Eve had been spent preparing the meal they would eat the following day, hanging the last of the decorations, wrapping the last of the presents (when the children weren't looking), drinking eggnog and, of course, listening to Celestina Warbeck on the wireless. The thirteen children were put to bed at nine o'clock (Teddy and Victoire protesting greatly) and the adults sat up, laughing into the early hours of the morning, enjoying the calm before the storm. It was now almost four in the morning and a small four year old girl was waking up.

Lily Potter sat up from her small camp bed and rubbed her eyes, trying desperately to see through the darkness. Her long red hair fell in curls around her faces and her brown eyes remained groggy. Three more camp beds stood close to hers, each carrying one of her three older brothers. The double bed against the wall was where her parents slept soundly in each other's arms. The wind outside Ginny's old bedroom window howled and the lights and bells hanging outside lashed the side of the house. The jingling sound made Lily perk up as the thought of Father Christmas and his flying reindeer crossed her four year old mind.

Lily reached over and prodded the nearest person to her. A sleepy moan told her it was Teddy, her oldest brother. Lily always considered Teddy her brother, just as much as James or Albus. But the truth was Teddy's parents had been killed when he was just a baby and Lily's dad, Harry, who was his godfather, had welcomed him into the Potter family fold. He lived with his grandmother, but Lily still counted him as a brother. And secretly, he was her favourite too.

'Teddy' the little girl whispered to the sleepy teenager beside her.

'What Lily?' Teddy moaned, pulling his bed covers over his head.

'Has Father Christmas come yet?' Lily asked, poking Teddy again.

'No, not yet Lils, go back to sleep' Teddy told her.

Lily's bottom lip pouted out. Then what had that jingling been, outside the window?

'Okay' she said finally and lay back down in her bed again.

On the other side of the room, Harry and Ginny smiling at each other, glad Teddy had been quick with his answer and that the little girl had believed him.

A little over an hour later, another little figure sat up in his bed. His black hair was even more messed than usual and he squinted into the darkness, for without his glasses he couldn't see a thing. The six year old rubbed his green eyes sleepily and looked over the little mounds on the camp beds that held his two brothers and his little sister. He quietly got up from his bed, picked up his glasses and placed them on his face and stumbled over to the window. It was still completely dark outside but in the distance, almost too far away to see, little Christmas lights shone. Albus Potter smiled. Trust the Lovegoods to have the wackiest Christmas lights in the country. He gigged to himself but tried to muffle the sounds, so as to not wake his parents or siblings. He was on his way back to his bed when someone sat up quickly in his bed, as if he had got a fright.

'Albus, what are you doing out of bed?' Teddy whispered to his little brother.

Albus froze guiltily. 'I just woke up, Teddy. Has Father Christmas come yet?' he asked, then quickly stumbled back into his bed.

Teddy sighed. 'Not yet. I tell you what, I'll wake you up when he comes okay?' he suggested. The six year old nodded excitedly and yanked his covers back up to his chin.

'I'll go back asleep right now, Teddy' the little boy promised and immediately shut his eyes. Teddy shook his head at the child's innocence and he too went back to sleep. Again, Harry and Ginny grinned at the whispered conversation they had just heard.

Not a half hour later, the door of bedroom creaked open and a small redheaded boy crept in. His blue eyes glinted with mischief as he tiptoed over to the camp bed near the wall and poked it's occupant, who gave a sleepy grunt in reply.

'James...wake up' Freddie Weasley whispered to his cousin, poking him again. The boy in the bed sat up. His black hair was as messy as ever, his brown eyes bleary.

'Freddie?' the seven year old asked, pushing his hair back from his face.

'Yeah, come on! Let's go see what Santa brought' Freddie said, smiling.

James had just swung his legs over the edge of his camp bed, when someone sat up and a wand tip ignited and shone right at the two boys.

'Freddie! Go back to bed or I'm telling Angelina' Teddy threatened.

Freddie's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets at the threat but he was left with no doubt that Teddy would tell if he didn't scarper quickly. So he did so without looking back.

'Spoil sport!' James whispered furiously at his brother.

Teddy just shrugged, whispered 'Nox', his wand tip went out and he lay back down.

This time Ginny couldn't help but let out a little giggle and immediately, the two eldest boys were sitting up again. She sat up and looked at the clock on the bedside table. It read 5:45. Just then, they heard someone stumbling around on one of the floors below them.

'Just a few more minutes, James. I think that's Santa Claus now so we'll just wait a little longer, until he's gone' Ginny told her son.

'But I wanna see him!' the seven year old insisted.

'But then, he'll take your presents away' Ginny warned. James immediately lay back down in his bed.

Within the next ten minutes, the rest of the children scattered around the house started to wake. Ginny could hear Fleur's accented voice admonishing her son for pulling his sister's hair. Next door, excitedly giggling told her Roxanne was now awake and annoying Freddie. A thump from above told her Hugo had fallen from his bed in his haste to get up. Harry sighed beside her.

'And so it begins' he whispered. Ginny smiled and slipped out of the bed. She went over to her daughter who was still sound asleep and gently shook her.

'Lily' she said quietly in a sing song voice. 'Flower, do you want to see what Father Christmas brought?' Lily's eyes fluttered open.

Harry had gone to wake a snoring Albus. He sat down on the bed and poked the little boy's nose. 'Al...time to see what Santa brought' he whispered to his son. Albus' eyes flew open.

Next to them, Teddy sat up again. 'Why do we have to get up so early during the holidays? It's worse than being in school' he moaned.

'Now Teddy, don't you remember when you were a child?' Ginny asked while picking Lily up into her arms.

'Yeah, but I wasn't as bad as these three! They've been waking me up all night' the teenager complained.

Harry snorted. 'Teddy, you were far worse than this lot. When you were younger, we used to find you asleep on the stairs because you'd snuck downstairs to see Santa. I would have to carry you back to bed and not an hour later, you'd be down there again' he said smiling.

Teddy blushed. 'I don't remember that' he said.

'Well we sure do' Ginny told him, smiling.

'Come on, let's go downstairs, already!' James complained.

Albus climbed out of the bed, put his glasses back on and then held his arms up to his father who quickly scooped him up.

'I think you're getting too big for lifts, mate' Harry told him.

Albus shook his head furiously. 'Nope, I'm not!'

James was already at the door, almost pulling it off it's hinges in his haste to get downstairs. But as he darted through the door onto the landing, there was a squeal, a bang and two thumps. Teddy rushed after him to see what had happened. James and Louis were both sprawled across the carpet, evidently having just bashed into each other. They both burst out laughing and then helped each other up. Just then Ron and Hermione descended the stairs from the attic room, Hermione holding Hugo and Ron carrying Rose, who was still dozing on his shoulder.

'Merry Christmas, mate' Ron said and clapped Harry on the shoulder. Albus reached out and slapped Ron back.

'Oi, watch it midget or I've give all your presents to Rosie' Ron teased.

'No! No give to Rosie!' Albus screamed. Harry and Ron laughed.

'Albus, stop talking like a baby' Ginny warned as she came out of her bedroom, still holding Lily. Lately, Albus had begun to talk like he had when he was two or three and although Harry did nothing to discourage him, Ginny corrected him whenever she heard it.

'Are we going to open presents or what, or else I'm going back to bed' Victoire said, joining them on the landing, Fleur, Bill and Dominique behind her. The twelve year old hadn't been as excited with Christmas this year as she had with the last, after Teddy had told her the truth about Father Christmas on Boxing Day. The little girl had been crushed but Teddy insisted that he was doing what was best for if everyone in Hogwarts knew she still believed, she would be teased. Andromeda had grounded him on the spot and Harry backed her up when Teddy had looked to his godfather for support.

'We're going, come on' Ginny told her, putting her arm around the girl's shoulders and leading the way downstairs to the kitchen.

Molly and Andromeda were already busy, cooking their tradition full fry Christmas breakfast. George and Angelina were trying to hold Freddie and Roxanne away from the living room door. Arthur and Charlie were sitting at the table, both cradling cups of coffee and looking tired. Since they were the ones with no kids, the delivering of hidden presents had fallen on them. They usually spent the night assembling different toys for the children and as a reward got the privilege of being first to open a present.

'Let's go!' Louis said loudly, running for the living room door.

'Louis, you know the rules. Not until everyone is here!' Bill warned his eight year old son.

Louis's eyes quickly scanned the room to see who was missing and when he figured out who it was he dashed half way back up the stairs and screamed, 'UNCLE PERCY! AUNT AUDREY! MOLLY! LUCY! COME THE HELL ON!'.

'Louis! Language!' Fleur scolded him.

'Pardon, Maman' Louis said as he rushed back over to stand next to the door.

Upon hearing Louis shouting, it took no more than thirty seconds for eight year old Molly and four year old Lucy to arrive in the kitchen, their parents coming more slowly.

'We have the best two sleepers in the country, yet we still get woken at dawn every single year' Percy said, taking a cup of coffee from his mother and rubbing a hand over his face sleepily. He was about to sit down at the table when Louis, Freddie and James shouted, 'COME ON!'

Percy straightened up immediately and smiled at his nephews in a way that said I'd so love to kill you right now.

So the twenty seven people slowly made their way into the small living room. Teddy, Victoire and Dominique helped to distribute the presents under the tree.

'Granddad and Uncle Charlie first' Ginny said loudly as James started to tear open a present.

But once Arthur and Charlie had opened their first presents, the thirteen gathered children took that as an unsaid go ahead to open their own and suddenly their annual race had begun.

The adults watched on in amusement as Albus rushed through opening his presents, not bothering to stop and admire any of them, so he could beat James for once. Lily, Lucy and Roxanne got distracted, showing their presents to each other. Teddy and Victoire, considering themselves too old to partake in such childish games, were opening their presents slowly.

'Me finished! I win!' Albus shouted, not two minutes later.

'No! I win! I was done first!' Rose argued.

'No, you weren't! I was! Liar liar pants on fire!' Freddie shouted.

Angry at her cousin's taunting, Rose picked up one of her new toys and flung it at him, catching him right in the face. Freddie howled in pain and jumped at Rose. George and Ron quickly stepped in and pulled the fighting children apart.

'Okay, breakfast time' Molly called. Andromeda, Fleur, Audrey, Angelina, Hermione and Ginny followed her into the kitchen to help dish up while the men remained with the kids to clear away wrapping paper and help take some presents from their boxes.

'Dad, when can I try my new broom?' James asked, holding up his new toy broom that he had received from Arthur and Molly.

'Maybe after dinner, James' Harry told him, ruffling his son's hair.

'We can race' Freddie suggested, holding up his own new broom.

'And I'm going to win!' Rose added, tightening her grip on her new broom.

Freddie glared at her but didn't attempt to get back at her while their fathers were still present.

'Teddy, will you come with us? We can help you practice for when you play at Hogwarts' James asked of his brother.

'Maybe' Teddy replied, not committing himself.

'Breakfasts ready!' Ginny called through the open door. Toys were dropped as the children all scrambled up to get to the table.

'I wanna sit beside Teddy!' James shouted as Dominique tried to sit down beside him.

'Oh James it doesn't matter' ten year old Dominique told him and sat down. Of course this started the first of James' tantrums and Ginny had to threaten him with taking away his broom before he would quieten. Victoire moved up and allowed James to sit between her and Teddy so as to avoid any further tantrums he was thinking of throwing. Then the women levitated the plates of food to the table and everyone dug in hungrily.

'Ew! Mum, Hugo threw his eggs at me!' Rose whined ten minutes into the meal.

'Hugo, stop throwing food at your sister' Hermione cautioned the four year old.

'Okay' he said simply, then picked up another handful of scrambled egg and through it straight across the table at Victoire. It landed in her hair and she squealed loudly. Louis and James giggled and pointed at her which made Victoire go red in the face as she screamed at her younger cousins. Hermione, Fleur and Ginny stepped in before things got really out of hand, and Hermione picked Hugo up and made him sit on the famous Naughty Step for four minutes.

Once breakfast was done with, each little family retreated to their respective rooms to wash and dress. Once Teddy had dressed himself in his new jeans and blue shirt, he rushed out of the room without a word to anyone. James insisted on dressing himself so Harry helped Albus and Ginny dressed Lily. When both Potter boys were dress in their matching blue jeans, burgundy shirts and beige sweater vests, they too rush away to find some cousins to play with.

'Mummy, will you do my hair?' Lily asked, holding up a hairbrush.

'Of course I will, Flower. What do you want? Pigtails or braids?' Ginny asked.

Lily consider her options carefully and then settled on braids. Ginny parted the little girl's hair in two and plaited each section and then tied little blue ribbons in the end to match the royal blue dress her daughter now wore. Lily thanked her mother before rushing off to find Lucy and Roxanne.

Once all four kids had left the room, Harry quickly snapped the door shut and approached his wife. Ginny smiled and Harry wrapped his arms around her and kissed her lovingly.

'Merry Christmas' he whispered in her ear. Ginny sighed. She couldn't wait for tonight when they returned to their own house, when the kids would be fast asleep after a full day, so Harry and Ginny could enjoy some alone time.

Ginny leaned in and touched her lips to Harry's again but before either of them could start to enjoy it, the bedroom door banged open and Harry and Ginny looked around.

'Grandma Molly says to hurry up. We're going to visit my parents and Uncle Fred's graves' Teddy said quickly before disappearing again.

Harry looked back to his wife to see an expression of grief work its way into her features. No matter how special Christmas was, it would be forever marred by the deaths of their loved ones. As would Victoire's birthday and their own birthdays. For the last fourteen years, The Weasley, The Potters, Teddy and Andromeda made a tradition of visiting the graves of Fred, Remus and Tonks. Today would be no different.

***Important***

This was supposed to be a one-shot, but it got far too long so I decided to break it up into two (maybe three) parts. Don't fret, it will be finished in time for Christmas, even if that means abandoning my other stories until then :) Part Two could even be up later tonight! ;)

So remember my message at the beginning...Even just a small smile and you are bound to review! And if you are reading this now with no intention of reviewing then I urge you to reconsider...Christmas is a time for giving! Anyone who reviews will get a review in return, I promise!

Merry Christmas!
Lots of Love,
Gabrielle :) x