sapphire || fred weasley

sixty-six

December, 2003

Even if she didn't remember her first Christmas well enough, Juliet was in love with the holiday season.

She loved the bright colors and the Christmas lights hanging all around Grimmauld Place. She loved the big bright and green tree that her dad and uncles had set up for her to decorate in Shell Cottage.

She loved sitting on Fred's shoulders to put up the gold star on top of the tree. She loved making a mess while baking Christmas cookies with him before decorating them and devouring more than she should have when he wasn't looking.

She loved watching the animated Christmas movies on the telly. She loved to sit on her dad's lap or cuddle by Hermione's side when they read Christmas tales. She absolutely adored passing the pages of the bright and colorful pictures of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. That one was her utmost favorite.

But watching all those movies and reading all those books, there was one thing Juliet noticed in them that she didn't have.

She had a family. Yes. And a really big one for that matter.

She loved all of her aunts and uncles.

But she wanted one thing, and she wanted it desperately.

Juliet wanted a friend.

She didn't know any other children. And truly, she didn't understand why.

She would look outside the window, and point to her dad all of the children playing in the street. Even if she was still little, she would beg Fred to take her outside to play.

But he always said no.

That it was too dangerous. That it wasn't safe.

That the only safe places were Grimmauld Place, Shell Cottage and Andromeda's house. End of the story.

Fred was right though, but Juliet's innocent mind of course wasn't able to understand why only three places were safe.

She was still too little to grasp onto the concept of war. And the idea that she was a child of war.

She often wondered if she was the only witch of her age.

So after much thinking and watching more movies, her mind came to the conclusion that if the only safe places were the only three places she knew, then they would also be for a baby sister, who she could potentially play and be friends with.

And for a month straight, that was all she talked about and it broke Fred's heart.

It shattered it to a million pieces.

Because he could see that she was lonely.

Because he could see that she wanted to be around someone else who wasn't an adult.

Because that is all she had ever known. Adults.

The inside of a grim old house, Bill's cottage and Andromeda's.

Because her childhood was being unfairly taken away from her, even if it had just started.

And it really wasn't fair.

Because if he could, he would give her a brother and sister to play with.

And that had eventually been the plan he and Beatrice talked about.

"Three is maximum Weasley so after that you'll keep it in your trousers," Beatrice's voice always played in his head like a broken record, every time Juliet asked for a baby sister.