It's time you pick your battle and I promise you this is mine

Winter Holidays

Soon, it was time for the Winter holidays. Harry was looking forward to spending a calm Christmas with the people that had become a family to him, including dropping in at Andromeda's to see how much Teddy had grown in the last 4 months.

And he was not disappointed. Christmas was the calmest it had been in years. At least that was what Harry felt like. Considering the number of people sleeping and eating at the burrow, calm was not the word that anybody that could listen to the noise would use. But maybe, when describing Christmas as calm, Harry had not meant the volume level in the house or the agitation that these kinds of holidays excites especially in children (and, let's be honest, as long as your parents live, you don't cease to be a child during the holidays), but his state of mind. And in that case, it would be very fitting.

Hermione's parents fit in way better than anyone expected, although their uneasiness regarding the Wizarding War and the time they spent in Australia could match the sadness Molly felt, spending the first Christmas without Fred. Those who were there at the time, remembered Molly's crying the first Christmas that Percy had not come home but it seemed like everyone had made a silent pact to not mention it and Percy had made own of his own of making himself as agreeable as possible.

George told them, he had found Percy studying household spells weeks before Christmas in an attempt to perfect them in time and all of the Weasley's were stunned when Molly let him indeed help her.

Hermione's parents wanted to make themselves useful too but Molly insisted that they were their guests and she would under no pretence let them help when she could do in quicker with magic. There was no use to making them exert themselves. Which meant the two of them spent the holidays observing and marvelling at all of the wizards in the house using spells and charms. They also observed the relationship between their daughter and Ron but found themselves quite satisfied and promptly accepted both of the boys into their family. Nothing could wipe out the stupid grin Ron was wearing for at least an hour or two.

Fleur had kissed Harry on the cheek again when they arrived at the burrow, and continued to do so every morning but had included the rest of the people present in the mornings. At the confused faces of their guests, Molly had exclaimed: "It's a French custom to do so and I find it very charming. They seem to be more tactile, the French" which prompted Arthur to ask if it was a wizard custom or if muggles tended to do it too and led to a discussion of differences between French wizard and muggle customs that nobody but Arthur and Fleur were interested in (Percy chimed in from time to time when something caught his attention, though).

George was much more talkative than he had been in the summer. In fact, he was nearly as communicative as before Fred's death which Harry understood was due to Percy helping him recover. "I was surprised when Perce asked me for a job at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes", George told him, "I think his mixture was a bit of a mixture of his need of a new job and his guilt of abandoning the family before. I think, he feared I would give the shop up and would throw our legacy away. I think Fred would like this new Percy helping me in the shop. I think we would have given him the job anyway. He lets me try out my new products at him. Fred would have loved that. And he's a fast learner. I mean, he will never replace Fred, and I know that's not what he's trying to do, but he's good at what he's doing. Although... don't tell him that I said that. I would never tell him that. It stays our little secret." He concluded with a smile. Harry couldn't help returning the smile at the sight of seeing his friend a little happier again.

Their party was even more enlarged at the Christmas dinner, as Harry had invited Kreacher to eat with them. It was good. They ate, they talked, they amused themselves, they talked about the ones that should be there (Fred, Dobby, maybe even Remus and Tonks) and to the ones that are there.