gloom [fred weasley]

chapter 3: christmas tree farm

In my heart is a Christmas tree farm
Where the people would come
To dance under sparkling lights

December 1993

A few weeks later the Christmas Holidays rolled around. I returned home to my mom for the holidays, as I did most years.

It was a few days before Christmas, when my mom sent me to bring a gift to the Burrow for Mrs. Weasley. The Weasley's Burrow was around an hour walk away. It was a beautiful walk through some fields that grew mostly wildflowers. Even in December, when nothing was growing there, the walk was rather enjoyable. Cold air around my nose, my body wrapped into a big coat, the ground frozen beneath my feet.

I carefully knocked on the big wooden door of the burrow, which immediately swung open. I think Mr. Weasley had once explained to me that it immediately opened for people that could be trusted, but I still thought this was a little unsafe.

"Mrs. Weasley? This is Dorothea", I called waiting for someone to come downstairs. The air in the burrow smelled like warm apples and cinnamon.

"Dorothea, what a nice surprise", I heard Mrs. Weasley call as she came down the stairs into the kitchen.

"I just came to give you this christmas gift from my mom. She said to make sure that you wouldn't open it until Christmas"

"Oh that's just lovely. Thank you so much. Tell your mom I said thank you! Wait, you are not gonna leave already. I made apple pie, don't you wanna stay. We were just gonna have some"

I knew there was no point trying to say no to Mrs. Weasley, especially since the table had already started setting itself. Out of curiosity I counted the cups. 7 cups, so that meant at least one Weasley must have stayed at Hogwarts over the holidays. I caught myself hoping it wasn't the twins, but the thought was quickly shaken when I heard their voices coming from upstairs, followed by loud footsteps rumbling down the stairs.

"Murray, don't tell me we have to share mom's apple pie with you?", Fred stopped at the bottom of the stairs, George giggling behind him. I had learned to tell them apart in the past month, it worked most times.

As the whole family slowly came downstairs, it turned out to be Ron who stayed behind at Hogwarts this year, probably to not leave Harry alone.

After we were all full of pie, Mrs. Weasley proposed to play some games.

"Oh no. I think I should leave now. I wanna be home before it's dark.."

"I hate to break it to you but it is already dark out", George interrupted pointing at the window behind me. I turned around to see he was right.

"You'll just stay here tonight. You can sleep in Ron's room, don't worry the sheets are fresh.", Mrs Weasley proposed.

"Actually I would love to! Thank you so much"

It seemed like a much better idea than walking home alone in the dark.

Later that night, Mrs Weasley had made an incredible dinner and we were all about to go to bed after playing board games for hours. Ginny lent me one of her pajamas. I was almost asleep when I heard a quiet knock on the door, followed by the door opening. I sat up in my bed and saw Ginny peek through the door.

"Are you asleep?", she whispered.

"No. Why?"

She waved her hand, signalling me to follow her. "Also take your coat!"

I did as she told me and followed her, sneaking out of the burrow.

"Every year before christmas there's a firework in the town nearby. We watch it every year.", Ginny explained still quietly, while we walked around the burrow. I had to focus on not tripping as I could barely see anything because of how dark it was, but my eyes were starting to adjust. I thought I could make out two other people in the direction Ginny was walking, probably Fred and George.

"There you are", Fred said as he saw us approach. Or at least I assumed it was Fred. The dark surrounding us made it harder to tell them apart.

"We thought you were gonna miss it", George turned around to add.

They had spread what looked like an old blanket on the ground, that they were already sitting on. Ginny walked over and sat down between them.

"Are you gonna sit down or just stand there, Dorothea?", Fred asked, patting the space left next to him on the blanket and so I did, staring at the dark night sky with nothing to see but the stars. It felt like ages had passed before the first colourful fireworks shot up into the sky illuminating the landscape, first only in bright blue but soon in all colours of the rainbow. But as the spectacle went on I was starting to lose focus. I saw Ginny had already fallen asleep curled up between her brothers.

"So do you like it?", Fred asked, looking at me from the side.

"Yeah, it's pretty", I replied without looking away from the fireworks but I thought I saw him smile in the corner of my eye. When I could be sure he was looking away I glanced at him again. With his face lit by the fireworks, he looked especially handsome. The light seemed to dance perfectly on his features, even as there were fewer and fewer and it slowly got dark again. Eventually even the last few sparks had disappeared.

"Should we leave now?", George asked quietly not to wake Ginny after a few moments of sitting in silence staring at the dark night sky.

"Yeah, should we wake her?", Fred asked, nodding his head at Ginny, but George shook his head. He carefully lifted his sister up and carried her back to the burrow. Fred grabbed the blanket and we followed George.

Back at the burrow we entered the kitchen and only then I realized how cold it had actually been outside. I didn't seem to be the only one noticing it.

"How about a tea after I brought Ginny upstairs?", George asked and Fred had already turned the kettle on and was getting three cups out of the cupboard.

"Green Tea's fine?"

"Sure", George, who was walking up the stairs and I said at the same time. I took a seat at the kitchen table watching Fred prepare the tea. I hadn't realized outside that he was also just in pajamas, wearing one of those sweaters Mrs. Weasley knitted them every year, over it. It looked so cozy I wasn't even questioning whether he had been cold outside. How could he be?

"Honey?", he asked and my head shot up. I was thrown off a little until he cleared up what he meant.

"In your tea? I mean we have sugar but honey tastes better, unless you like your tea unsweetened."

"Uhm no sure. Honey sounds fine"

"Honey? Are you two talking about me again?", George asked laughingly as he came back downstairs.

"Yeah, get in the hot water now, honey", Fred replied, as he grabbed the boiling kettle to pour the water into the three cups, then added honey into two of the cups. Meanwhile George sat down next to me. Fred carried over the three cups and set them down on the table, before sitting down on my other side. We sat in silence, drinking tea and warming up. As I had finished my tea first I sat in front of my empty cup for a moment, before quietly getting up.

"I think I'll head to bed", I said and looked at the twins.

"Sleep well", they replied in unison and I snuck upstairs back into Ron's room. I fell into bed falling asleep quickly.