Forever Family

Chapter 27

Publish Date: 12/23/18

Christmas time at Grimmauld Place was always long awaited. After all, they did have Teddy in the house. Teddy was currently rushing to help Harry and Ginny get ready to go to the Burrow so they could open presents.

"Almost ready, Ted," Ginny assured him. She finished off the last of her coffee as Harry emerged from upstairs. "Just a few more minutes."

"C'mon!" Teddy exclaimed, a smile on his face. He ran over to the coat rack and tried to reach Harry's coat for him.

"You're to little, Teddy," Ginny said jokingly.

Teddy huffed. "I'm five now. I'm not little, I'm medium!" At this, Ginny burst out laughing. She picked Teddy up and helped him reach Harry's coat. Harry joined them a moment later.

"Here!" Teddy thrust Harry's coat into his hands. "I got it down all by myself!" Harry grinned, catching a glimpse of Ginny behind Teddy, shaking her head and mouthing 'I helped'.

"Well, I'm proud of you, Teddy. Are you ready to go to the Burrow?" Teddy nodded enthusiastically and ran out the door. Harry and Ginny followed.

It seemed that Mrs. Weasley got more extravagant with the Christmas decorations every year. The outside of the Burrow was decorated with beautiful Christmas lights, strung up on the roof. Garland was wrapped around the porch railings, and with the snow falling lightly, the house looked like something out of a film.

"Let's go!" Teddy sprinted toward the house, and opened the door. Inside, the Weasleys were sipping coffee (or hot chocolate, in Victoire's case) and chatting while they waited for people to arrive.

"Hello, dears, come on in!" Mrs. Weasley smiled warmly and ushered the family into the house.

"Hey, Mum." Ginny hugged Mrs. Weasley. "Teddy's been excited to open presents all morning."

"Well, that's just perfect! Harry, Ginny, you can put your gifts under the tree for now. We won't start until everyone gets here, of course."

A few minutes later, Ron and Hermione arrived. They held a few gifts of their own, along with a fresh plate of Christmas cookies.

Once everyone was settled in the living room, the big family began to open presents. Teddy, to his delight, was allowed to go first.

"Here, open this one, Teddy. It's from Ron and I," Hermione said, handing Teddy a rectangle box with gold wrapping. Teddy smiled and opened the box. He opened a set of Quidditch balls, made specifically for 'Quidditch players in the making', as the box said.

"Thank you!" Teddy beamed. Next, Harry opened an emerald green Weasley sweater that matched his eyes, and a tin of fudge. After Harry had said thank you, they continued to open gifts.

Opening the plethora of gifts under the tree took hours. By the time they were done, everyone was wearing their Weasley sweater and eating cookies. Some of the more memorable gifts included Fleur knitting Mrs. Weasley her own Weasley sweater, and George and Angelina getting a lot of stuff for their baby.

Teddy and Victoire were playing with their gifts in the living room while Harry and Ginny watched them

"So, Teddy and Vic, what do you guys think of your gifts?" Harry asked.

"They're awesome!" Teddy laughed as he and Vic played with the stuffed Quaffle. "Look, Vic, I'm gonna be on the Quidditch team when I'm older!"

"Me, too," Victoire decided. She passed the ball back to Teddy, and the two continued to play. Ron and Hermione joined them all in the living room.

"Hey," Ron grinned. "Cookies?"

"No, thanks," Ginny smirked. "We've had enough cookies already." Ron shrugged and popped another one into his mouth.

"Looks like the kids are happy," Hermione remarked. Ginny nodded.

"They are. I'm so glad we got to give them a good Christmas." She smiled fondly at Vic and Teddy. A comfortable silence hung in the air for a while, before Mrs. Weasley called them all into the kitchen for lunch.

"All that present opening is making me hungry," Ron said, already digging into his food.

"You're always hungry, Ron," Hermione laughed before scolding her fiance to chew with his mouth closed.

"Well, the food's good," Ron defended himself. Hermione shook her head, still smiling.

Apparently, everyone else was just as hungry as Ron, because the conversation at the table was almost nonexistent.

"Well," Mrs. Weasley began, trying to start a conversation, "What was everyone's favorite present?"

"I really liked my snow globe," Audrey said. The snow globe she got was a beautiful glass snow globe, with silver and gold glitter in it.

"Yeah, it's pretty," Ginny smiled. "I liked my photo album." She smiled at Ron and Hermione, who had given her a photo album full of pictures of them.

Harry spoke up next. "My favorite present was the Christmas tree from Teddy." Teddy had made a model of a Christmas tree (with the help of Mrs. Weasley) to give to Harry.

They went on like this for a while, talking about their favorite presents, what other people got that they liked, and even what they wanted for next year. Mrs. Weasley even started writing things down.

The Weasleys and Potters enjoyed lunch together, talking and laughing. However, it was soon time to go home. Everyone needed time to put their presents away in their houses.

"C'mon, Ted, we're going to start packing things up to take them home," Ginny said, once lunch was over. Teddy paused playing with Victoire and helped Harry and Ginny pack up the presents.

"Thanks for helping, Teddy," Harry smiled and ruffled Teddy's hair. "Want to go say goodbye to Grandma Molly before we leave?" Teddy nodded.

A moment later, he arrived with Mrs. Weasley. She gave them all a big hug.

"Thanks for coming, dears! Merry Christmas!"

"Bye, Mum!" Ginny waved as she headed out the door, holding hands with Teddy.

"Merry Christmas, Mrs. Weasley," Harry smiled before following his wife and godson out the door, closing it behind them.

The first thing the Potters did when they got back to Grimmauld Place was unpack the presents. After that, they all sat on the couch and relaxed with some hot chocolate. Opening presents was a lot of work. Of course, Teddy was already excited for next year.

A/N: Happy Holidays! I hope you all enjoyed this holiday chapter. I've been super productive today, so that's good. Also, credit goes to CuteK1tty18 for the "I'm medium!" line. I'll be travelling in a few days, so I wanted to get a chapter out before then. I also had a list of things I wanted to say in this author's note but I forgot all of them. Oh, well. Thanks for reading, and happy holidays! 💛
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