The Dark Lord's Daughter [FW - Book One]

Christmas

"Vanessa!"

I groan and pull my pillow over my head.

"Vanessa May Redwood get up this instant!"

"What? What is so important that you feel the need to interrupt my sleep?" I ask, sitting up, surprised to see that it's not McKenna, but Lani leaning over me.

"It's Christmas!" Lani exclaims.

"Christmas?" McKenna asks sleepily, sitting bolt upright in bed.

"Yes, now get up!" Lani says excitedly, returning to her bed and sifting through the presents on the end of it.

I shrug and pick up a neatly wrapped box sitting on the end of my bed and open it, finding a journal wrapped in leather that has my initials engraved in gold on the cover. I smile and open it to find a note written in large swooping letters on the first page that reads 'Merry Christmas! Love mom and dad'. I start to tear up at the fact that my parents have no idea that I'm not actually their daughter, and decide to move onto the next gift, which is from Sylvia. Inside a small pouch, I find a handmade green and white bracelet that spells out 'I love you' on it. I smile and slip it onto my wrist. When I open my gift from Mrs. Weasley, I find a hand-knitted emerald green scarf, which I promptly wrap around my neck, ignoring the fact that it clashes horribly with my pajamas.

When Lani, McKenna, and I have unwrapped all of our family gifts, we head downstairs to exchange gifts with the boys, still wearing our pajamas. My heart races at the thought of just being around Fred again, but I ignore the butterflies in my stomach, and walk down the stairs.

When we reach the bottom of the staircase, I jump the last step, making my bracelet fall off of my wrist. I tell Lani and McKenna to go ahead, and bend down to pick up my bracelet. When I stand back up, I find George standing in front of me.

"Morning, Nessa." George smiles before suddenly picking me up and slinging me over his shoulder.

"Hey, put me down!" I exclaim, taken by surprise. George just laughs and carries me over to the red velvet couch where Fred is seated.

"Hey Freddie, look what I got you!" George exclaims before promptly dropping me in Fred's lap.

"Oh, Nessa! Just what I was hoping for! You shouldn't have, Georgie." Fred exclaims, hugging me like an oversized teddy bear, making my cheeks burn. I try to get up, or even move to the seat next to him, but Fred's arms are wrapped too tightly around my waist. Eventually, I give up, and let Fred pull me closer to him, resting my head on his shoulder. I'm glad that the tension between us is gone, but this is a little embarrassing, especially as Lani and McKenna keep winking at me from across the room.

"Okay, who's going to go first?" I ask.

"I think you should." Fred says. And even though I can't see him, I get the feeling that he's smirking.

"So do I." McKenna and George say at the same time from across the room.

"Alright then." I say, looking at George suspiciously while unwrapping a present from Lani that turns out to be a notebook.

"That's not just any notebook, you know." Lani says, seeing the confusion written into my expression. "It's a messenger pad."

"And that means?" I ask, still confused.

"It means that it's connected to a notebook I have that is identical to yours, so that we can write messages to each other wherever we are." Lani says.

"Oh, that's awesome, Lani. Thank you." I say, smiling at the gift. I open the enchanted notebook and find a couple of moving photographs of Fred and I kissing and dancing at the Yule Ball last night.