Harry and Dudley Start Hogwarts

Christmas at home

If Ron had any doubts, they were extinguished when Lily wrapped him in a tight hug. Lily gathered all of the children close and portkeyed off the platform, which was the easiest way with so many kids to look out for.

When they arrived back at the manor, Lily gave all of them dinner, but given the vast amount of sweets eaten on the way home, nobody wanted to eat too much. Harry and Ron were sharing a room, Lily had transfigured an extra bed: a high sleeper with a cupboard underneath. The cupboard had an extendable charm, so all of Ron's possessions fitted easily. The twins shared a room next door, and Dudley stayed by himself (but more often slept in with Harry and Ron!) Percy had his own room and spent most of his time reading in there.

A few days after their arrival home, it was Christmas. 

At four in the morning, a collection of excitable children came rushing down the stairs to greet eachother in the living room. Sirius, Remus and Lily soon followed the sound. Presents were exchanged, and squeals of dlight made the house elves appear to check that everybody was still alive!

Harry and Dudley made sure that Ron never once felt left out, and both bombarded him with enough chocolae frogs to keep him nusy eating until next Christmas.

Molly Weasley had made everybody jumpers, Harry's was Red with a golden snitch and Dudleys was blue with a gold 'D' in the middle, which he was thrilled with. Lily made a set of  house hat, scarve and gloves for each child, so Ron happily showed off his yellow acessories, pleased to have something different from his brothers for a change.

After all presents had been opened, Sirius suggested a quiddich game in the garden, which was greeted with a rousing, "Yes!!!". As the children got outside, they saw a line of expensive, American brooms, which were even faster than the nimbus 2000, specially tailord to have each childs name on it, with one for Ginny- despite the fact that she wasn't there- for when they went home. Harry, naturally, played seeker, Dudley, Fred and George wanted to be beaters, and convinced Lily to help, Sirius decided to play seeker to annoy Harry, they decided that chasers would double as keepers, Ron Percey and Lupin wanted to be the chasers,

"But we need a fourth." Ron moaned. "It isn't fair if one team has less than the others."

If you listened hard, you would hear footsteps approaching, but nobody was listening that hard until...

"Did I hear you say you need another chaser?"

"BILL!" Ron shouted, running into his arms, blushing, then pulling away.

So the Weasleys formed a team (with Harry playing Seeker) and the others formed a second team.

Around mid day (five matches later) snow began to fall thick and fast, so everyone trooped inside to get lunch. Christmas dinner has been cooked the day before and had been placed under a statis spell, so it retained both its heat and its freshness, so once a fiite incantatum had been cast, it could be eaten straight away. Bill stayed for dinner and amused everyone with tales from his work in egypt, which included an argument with a sphinx and a race to the centre of a pyramid (which his boss didn't know about!). Lily offered to have him overnight, but he delined, he had to return to Romania to see Charlie before returning to Egypt.

At half ten, the kids got shoed towards bed  by all adults (bar Siuius!) and soon they were in a deep slumber.