What Voldemort Left Behind

Chapter 12: Easter

It was the middle of April and Harry and Ginny had arrived at the Burrow, Ron and Hermione would be picking up all the children off the Hogwarts Express. Molly stood outside as the couple arrived and rushed to hug her two youngest children.
"Oh Harry dear, how are you? We haven't seen you since we visited you at Hogwarts, are you feeling any better? Still quite skinny by the look of you but that's never changed."
Harry and Ginny stood awkwardly as Molly fussed over Harry, clearly very concerned.
"Thank you, but I'm honestly much better." He said, embarrassed.
Molly led them inside and Kreacher was already there starting to cook excitedly, he loved his job.
"I don't know how you two survive on his days off, your cooking is actually atrocious! Now, remember, while you're here I need you both to promise that you will not try and help with the cooking, leave everything to Kreacher and me, we would all like to be able to eat the food and I would prefer if you did not burn the house down either. I'm already questioning inviting all of you... For some reason inviting the five Potters is much more stressful than everyone else combined!!!! Anyway, that reminds me..." Molly flicked her wand and elaborately decorated chocolate eggs of all different shapes and sizes flew outside and began hiding themselves in the huge fields surrounding the house. She waved her wand again and about 5 large real rabbits hopped outside.
"Don't worry," seeing Ginny and Harry's look of horror, "I borrowed the rabbits, they can feed and look after them for the holidays but as soon as they go back to Hogwarts, the bunnies will disapparate back to the Magical Menangerie. Of course they will still have lots of Easter presents to keep, George has sent a few goodies from the shop and Arthur never misses an opportunity to go into the Muggle world so there's a few little things from there. Plus lots of sweets to get though, so I expect they'll have a lot to do over the break."
Harry and Ginny smiled, they were also surprising their children, along with their niece and nephew, with Nimbus 3000 Minis, a new and expensive broom designed for (rich) school students specifically made for the Hogwarts pitch and Harry and Ginny couldn't resist buying five of them last Friday as they were first released. The brooms would also surprise the rest of the family, but Harry and Ginny already knew how they would react. Ron would agree it was wicked cool, he had no problem spending money on his kids after his own childhood was spent in poverty. Although never as rich as Harry, Ron was well off and no longer struggled with money based jealousy. Hermione would be slightly angry, she often tried to teach her children the value of money and let them understand what it's like to not be rich.
Ginny and Harry's parenting style was often more lenient, they enjoyed spoiling the teenagers when they could, as all three had grown up caring for their parents, Harry and Ginny had struggled mentally dealing with the war for as long as their kids had lived.
Harry heard a car land loudly on the hill, Ron may have passed a Muggle test but flying the vehicle was much more fun. The couple went outside to meet their children.

"DAD! MUM! GRANNY! GRANDAD!"

Soon the house was bursting with excited young teenagers, even with the extensions added in the last few years. It took a long time to calm them down all just back from Hogwarts, even Albus was hyper and that was saying a lot, he was usually the calm one, unlike the rest of the family.
James's trunk burst open, a Hogwarts bludger shot across the room breaking a window, everyone ducked as it raced back like a boomerang. It disintegrated into sawdust as Ron, Harry and Ginny simultaneously hit it with a freezing charm. Harry felt slightly sorry for James and Lily as their Grandmother and Aunt shouted. Harry and Ginny probably should have said something themselves, but they were struggling to stifle their laughter. Eventually Ginny sent them upstairs to unpack quietly, and the adults easily repaired the kitchen with a few flicks of a wand.
Molly finished her Easter Egg Hunt by leaving a trail of tiny brightly coloured eggs which would explode into a rainbow when touched. This led outside to the trail of magical rabbits and chocolate treats. Soon the children were downstairs and Lily and Hugo screamed when they saw the bunnies. "They're yours dears, until you go back to school," Molly smiled.
Each egg had a beautifully intricate design for each person, James and Lily's were Quidditch related, Albus and Rose both had book designs, and Hugo's was patterned with dragons and hippogriffs. The adults also got eggs, no surprise there Harry, Ron and Ginny also got Quidditch but Hermione's was unique, it had a solid gold casing that would only open if she solved the problems which was supposed to take hours. Arthur's egg was patterned with a collection of Muggle farm animals, mainly ducks, and these swam around a sparkling iced lake. Hermione had made Molly an egg as well, with a picture of a Weasley sweater iced for every member of their rather large family.
Molly cried as she lifted it off the table, she spent an hour reading every name, pausing for ten minutes when she got to Fred's. The kids opened their presents, each received a collection of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes supplies, including a potion that could turn any teacher into an Easter egg for half an hour. James and Lily engaged in a long debate on whether Binns would count,(Ron decided to not say anything until they were about to leave for Hogwarts at the end of two weeks, the answer was yes, any teacher means any). They also each received a rubber duck dressed in a tuxedo from Arthur, who was fascinated when he found there was a hotel chain that gave out rubber ducks in costume with every stay and booked 10 rooms. He had learned more and more about Muggles after he retired, but many things in their world still excited him enormously. Harry loved buying Arthur presents, he always looked for the most obscure and ridiculous Muggle products such as an Inflatable Foot Bath and a Shower Radio. The old man was always delighted and Ginny and Harry would often compete against each-other of who could find him the most inventive Muggle present. Later that night it was time to surprise the children with their new broomsticks. Harry left five minutes early from dinner although their plans were nearly thwarted because Molly was worried about him and her mind immediately jumped to bad conclusions. Luckily Ginny hissed that it was a surprise and his mother in law went red with embarrassment worried that she'd spoiled their plan with her overprotective nature regarding Harry. He set the broomsticks up in the living room setting a old snitch loose that was enchanted to lead them to the right place. Everyone, even Ron, jumped with excitement when it darted across the kitchen table and Lily, the fastest even on foot, sprinted after it. Eventually the rest caught up with her and Harry had to stop them from trying the brooms out indoors. He promised that they could have their annual family game the next morning and sent them to polish the brooms after they had finished hugging him and Ginny.
"Are you mad?" He asked Hermione quietly later when everyone had dispersed to do their own things. "No, not today... I usually would be when you buy them gifts this big... But I understand because I'm worried about the amount of time you might have left with them, you should appreciate it because it is precious. I know not being there for everyone is your biggest worry and if surprising them with presents every now and then puts your mind at ease then it's the best thing you can do."
Harry was surprised, he hadn't expected her response. He didn't think about it like that and her words made him feel a growing desperation to fight something, for his children, he knew what losing a parent could do.