The Forgotten Potter

Sorcerers Stone- 07

I stood in front of an old wooden door to a small burrow. It didn't take long before the familiar ginger threw it open pulling all three of us into a bone-crushing hug simultaneously, which should not have been possible given how short her arms were. 

"Merry Christmas!" A tall ginger man greeted behind her. 

"Merry Christmas," we said in unison gasping for breath. We were finally released and pulled into the warm. 

"Dinner will be just a few more moments, please make yourself comfortable, you two know your way around" Mrs. Weasley laughed at the two men with me. I was once again amazed by the magic in the home, there was a clock with each of the children's faces on a spoon telling us where they were. Cheerful music was playing throughout and the house just smelled amazing. After Hogwarts, I have to admit this is the most comforting and loving place I have ever been, not that that's saying much. 

"Harry, Daria!" Ron jumped up greeting us. Everyone else burst into a frenzy of greeting us, there were two old boys I had never seen before. It was quickly becoming overwhelming, when the girl, Ginny I believe, pulled me away from the craziness. 

"This place gets loud and overwhelming, I'm sure it's a lot to take in at first". 

"Yeah, until Hogwarts I've never been around this many people".

"Really? You didn't have large family Christmases?" She asked in disbelief. The memory of last Christmas came rushing to the front of my mind. 

I was passing out drinks to the adults as they all fawned over Dudley and his new toys. Oh Dudley this, oh Dudley that, I had received exactly two presents. One was an itchy jumper that Dudley grew out of, that I am currently wearing, the other were socks that I was expected not to outgrow or lose until next Christmas or I would have none. I of course was very grateful, they didn't have to get me anything, I just wished for something that would be personal and chosen specifically for me like all the toys and books that were specially picked for Dudley. I would never dare speak that out loud, I liked eating. 

"Girl, Whatever your name is bring me more wine" Uncle Vernon's sister Marge snapped her fingers at me. 

"Yes Ma'am" I gently took her glass from her and was walking to the kitchen when I mistakenly tripped over her dog falling on my face and shattering the glass in my hand. The party went silent as everyone turned to look at me on the floor with shards of glass in my palm. 

"My baby" Marge squealed jumping up to check on her precious pup who was perfectly fine. I didn't say anything, I simply started cleaning the glass up knowing no matter what I said it would only get me punished more. I was holding the shards of glass in my hand about to stand and dispose of them when my hair was being roughly pulled like they were hoping to rip it all out in one go. I immediately let go of the glass as a reaction and reached to pull the hand away from my now throbbing head. "Since you can't watch where you are going, you don't deserve to celebrate with us. Clean up the glass and go to your room NOW" Marge's disgusting voice screamed in my ear and she threw me down onto the glass yet again. I could hear all the adults behind her commending her for giving me a stern discipline and Vernon told her that he was being nicer than he would have been to me. I was once again picking up the glass only this time I was moving slowly because of the now several open cuts on either hand and my throbbing head. The tears were starting to flow, and I couldn't possibly hold them in any longer, unfortunately, Marge noticed and I felt her pointy shoe meet my ribcage" If you don't hurry up I'll really give you something to cry about"  by the time I was back in my closet I was sure I had multiple broken ribs and my hands were steadily bleeding. I stayed in that room for the rest of break and was only let out to cook the meals and clean, I was not allowed to eat or bathe until the day before school. 

I snapped out of the memory giving my attention back to Ginny. "No, I've never had anything like this". Ginny offered me a tour of the burrow which I gratefully accepted, we laughed and joked as we made our way through until we ended up back in the dining area just in time for Mrs. Weasley to yell that dinner was ready. Ginny took a seat and I sat next to her as Mrs. Weasley brought all the food out to the table. Everyone filed into the room taking seats and I watched as Mr. Weasley sat at the head of the table, Mrs. Weasley next to him and Remus on the other side. 

"Who are those other two?" I asked pointing at the the two older boys sitting next to Remus and Molly. 

"Oh the one next to Mum is my oldest brother Bill, and next to Remus is Charlie". 

"How many of you are there?" I laughed slightly.

"You're looking at it". She also giggled. I noticed she was the only girl in a house full of brothers and wondered what that was like.  

"Alright everyone dig in" Mr. Weasley called out and everyone immediately started grabbing for food. 

"What's the rush?" I asked Ginny as I took some potatoes and roast onto my plate. 

"Once we are done with dinner we get to exchange presents", I forgot about the presents. I had already received so much from Harry and Remus. Remus had gifted me a quidditch broom and got Harry a matching one, while Harry had gotten me a magical camera which meant so much to me. We talked about how I loved photography and capturing memories for people. Harry said he adored the picture I gave him of us and that he would cherish it forever. 

It wasn't long before most of the table was bare and everyone complained about how stuffed they were. I had barely been able to finish my small portion of roast and potatoes let alone the massive amounts of other sides Mrs. Weasley piled onto my plate claiming "Don't be shy there's plenty to go around!" Luckily everyone was too excited to open gifts to notice the amount of food on my plate still. 

We all sat around the tree as Mrs. Weasley passed around the tree. We waited until everyone has a present in their hand before we were aloud to open, then everyone opened at once. I opened to find a green hand knitted sweater with a Silver D on it.

"I have made one for everyone in our family, this one is yours" Mrs. Weasley smiled. I could see the disgust on Remus's face from the colors she chose but no one else had the same expression. At least not that I could tell based on their reactions.