Rose Weasley, perhaps she should pick her friends more carefully, or perhaps she is exactly where she needs to be, though she can't see why. Only a first year, she becomes all too closely involved with the unfortunate son of a lunatic. A boy whose...
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Rose had gotten three hours of sleep in all and was woken Christmas morning by Victoire and Dominique jumping in circles around her sleeping bag singing, "It's Christmas, It's Christmas, Get up! Get up! Get up!"
"Aren't you guys a little old for that?" she asked rubbing her eyes.
"Nope!" said Victoire. "We may be old in stature, but we're young at heart," she said standing tall.
"And we didn't want to poke you," Dominique added.
"Why?"
"We were afraid you would overreact and try to shrink us," she tried not to laugh.
"Did Al tell you about that!"
"Max," she laughed. "just been to visit the boys. We have about ten minutes to get ready to go downstairs."
"You look pretty ready," said Rose looking at their nightdresses and beautifully curled hair.
"Not us, you!" said Victoire lifting Rose by the arms.
"Ha," she fake laughed. "No thanks."
"That wasn't a question, now sit," said Dominique forcing her onto Lily's be. Lily was sitting up excitedly with crazy bed-head.
They spent the next fifteen minutes trying to do Rose up. Victoire used magic on her frizzy hair to bring it into soft ringlets while Dominique was putting some kind of powder on her face.
"I've waited forever to do this," said the girls excitedly.
They forced her from the room, apparently forgetting to let her see her reflection. The boys were all waiting by the stairs looking irritable and tired. Half of the girls were waiting with them.
"Is that what was taking so long?" asked James in disbelief. "You girls were getting fancied up?"
"Rose was!" said Dominique. Rose was trying to indicate, silently, that she didn't have any say.
"Doesn't she look lovely?" said Victoire fondly, fussing with Rose's hair. Rose covered her reddening face.
"Yeah, she looks great," said Al hurriedly. "Now can we go downstairs?"
"Not before your picture," said Hermione from the bottom of the stairs. "Oh, Rose, you look lovely."
Victoire and Dominique high-fived, smiling. It took nearly five minutes to get everyone seated on the steps for their annual photo. Harry talked Max into joining, and Hermione had to argue with Louis on letting her take the picture so that he could be a part of it.
After that, everyone was allowed to make their way into the living room where they found Teddy sitting upright on the couch looking very pleased with himself.
"I win," he grinned.
"I wasn't competing this year," said James.
"You say that now because you lost."
"Alright boys," said Harry. "take a seat."
Everyone sat around in a circle on the floor. Ron was doing a magic trick for Lucy which involved pulling a bird from her hair, while Lily and Hugo passed out the presents. Everyone ate from their stockings while they waited. It was a mess of levitating, animal noises, fire breathing, smoke shooting, bubble blowing, hair-raising fun while everyone traded sweets back and forth.
Hugo shouted and backed away as two owls flew from a pile of gifts. Teddy opened a window, and the birds flew out.
"...Anyway..."
After all the presents had been passed out, Rose had a vast pile before her and was a little uncomfortable to see a tiny pile in front of Max. She recognized her gift in front of him, one from Al, a Weasley's Wizard Wheezes package that she assumed George had scrounged up, and a small lumpy parcel. Max didn't look displeased; he actually seemed very cheerful and surprised by the number of gifts he was given.
They had at one time, taken turns opening presents in a circle from youngest to oldest, but the family had gotten so large that this was impossible to do and be done before dinner. They now opened the gifts from family all at the same time and were allowed to open friends' gifts wherever or whenever they wanted. Max, having so few, opened them all very slowly.
"Max," she whispered. "You're supposed to rip the paper."
"I've just never been able to unwrap a gift before," Max smiled, Rose didn't. He unwrapped her gift and was stunned to find new telescope lenses.
"Rosie," he said. "These are really expensive."
"Actually it wasn't, I use coupons."
"This is brilliant, thank you!"
She unwrapped hers from him to find her favorite caramel truffles, the book Hogwarts, a History, and a book of spells. She flipped through the spell book and stopped where she had caught a glimpse of yellow which ended up being the shrinking spell that Max had highlighted. Rose hit him in the arm and grabbed Hogwarts, a History.
"You know I could have ordered this in the library?" she smiled.
"I knew you wouldn't," he said. "Open it. I've made it a bit more interesting." He had colored every black and white drawing in the book with color pencils it seemed.
"You're right," she said, knowing by know, his habit of drawing in books. "It is more interesting."
She got a wide variety of sweets from the others, joke gifts, Percy's book, 'How to Earn Respect in a Work Environment.' And as always, a Weasley jumper that all the family opened at the same time. Every year, the whole family got a jumper with their initials knitted into them. It had been Grandma Weasley who had knitted them for almost all the years, but because of the family's size, Hermione, Ginny, and Andromeda Tonks had taken up the tradition to help. This year, Rose had gotten a green one with an orange 'R' on the front.
She smiled and looked at Max who was now slowly opening the lumpy package. What came out of it, made both Rose and especially Max, freeze. He was holding something Indigo and soft and when unfolded was revealed to have a large, yellow, letter 'M' on the front. All the rest of the family had stopped to watch too, all looking rather pleased. Rose was slightly apprehensive knowing that he wasn't really a jumper guy, but had more of a thing for jackets. Max looked around.
"I know it's rather sloppy, dear," said Grandma Weasley. "but I thought I'd whip it up anyway. Is the 'M' alright? I know Max isn't your real name, but Al told me not to knit a 'V.'"
Rose looked at Al who was beaming. Maddox stood up without a word and walked toward her, gripping the sweater in his fist.
"What's his name then?" Roxy whispered.
Max hugged Grandma Weasley and said something muffled that sounded like, "I have never been so honored before, thank you." Grandma Weasley smiled, then patted him affectionately on the cheek before he sat back down.
"Try it on!" said Al from beside him.
Maddox pulled it over James nightshirt and grinned. Everyone else put theirs on too and started back at their gifts. Fred crawled over toward them and sat directly in between Al and Max.
"Look," he whispered with a glance at Grandma Weasley who was opening a gift from her husband. "here, Happy Christmas."
He handed Max a small sack that contained a variety of small sweets. "I have to give you this in secret because Grandma Weasley doesn't approve," Fred whispered. "Those little green ones." He pointed into the sack. "those there are singimigigs, the little yellow ones are the antidote, but they haven't been tested. We reckon we've finally got them right, but just, do us a favor and try them out on someone you don't like, yeah?"
Rose brought her gifts from the girls in her dormitory to her room and had to, quickly, change into something thick and warm. Ginny had made muffins for them all which they ate quickly before hurrying outside into the snow; Max had to use James other coat.
It took almost all afternoon to build their annual snow magus.
The rest of the family was slightly confused with Rose calling their snow magus a snowman. They had called it magus since its invention. But Rose remembered that 'magus' was an offensive term to metamorphmagus'. Max didn't say anything, but it was obviously that he felt uncomfortable.
They were encouraged to play outside with Ron, Harry, and Bill, to give the others room to prepare Christmas dinner. So, they had fun with the dad's playing war. Harry, Ron, and Bill all selected teammates and built snow fortresses with a lot of help from magic, to protect them from their opponents oncoming ammo. For the first time, Rose and Max were playing against each other. Maddox had been selected by Harry, and Rose, by Bill. This new team choice made the game a lot more exciting not to mention challenging. But when the cold became too much, people started abandoning their team to seek out warmth and maybe some hot chocolate. Leaving only Rose and Max who would both refuse to lose against each other, James who wouldn't lose to a first year, and Albus who lasted two minutes longer before running inside yelling about his toes falling off. A couple of fairies began to twinkle in the trees when James finally left, saying that the game had become boring, but Rose and Max knew that he could no longer take the cold, much like how they were feeling.
To their disappointment, the game became a tie owing to Hermione insisting that they come inside and get dressed before setting the table. Max had picked Rose up and dropped her inside the house as they came to the door, then did a victory dance as Rose argued that the game had already ended and that it didn't count.
"The game ends when one last player remains outside, and if I'm not mistaken, that player is me!"
"That's rubbish! We didn't even set rules for the game!"
They had two minutes to get dressed for dinner, Rose jumped into her emerald green dress and tied her hair into a bun and hurried downstairs. Christmas was always a formal event meaning that James had to lone Max some of his dress clothes and Molly insisted that he comb his wavy hair which he was displeased about; Rose knew that he liked it hanging in his face. To her amusement, Max had insisted on wearing his Weasley jumper over his dinner vest.
Dinner was fantastic even without the delicious pudding and pies that were brought out to an already stuffed family who ate them anyway. Everyone worked together to clean up afterward making the work pass quicker and making it more enjoyable.
They played the game that the Longbottom's had sent them again before all gathering around the piano to listen to Roxanne tap what she knew. After a quick chorus of Crup for Christmas, Roxy was flipping through the book to find an easier one.
"Does anyone else know how to play the piano? Or can at least sing well?" said Fred who had been giving Roxanne a hard time.
"Max does," said Albus, hitting him on the back. "He sings too."
"Really?" said Roxy excitedly.
"I don't think I sing well!" said Max going slightly red. Roxanne and Fred forced him onto the bench and waited anticipant.
"Guys, he doesn't enjoy playing," said Rose.
"That's alright," Max smiled, flipping through the music book. "I'll do it. What do you guys want to sing to?"
"Whatever you can play," said Aunt Flur.
"Well, I can follow sheet music so how about, My Fwooper's Song?"
"Dear, that's a tough one," Ginny reasoned.
"Awe, let him give it a shot," smile Grandad Weasley shaking Max playfully by the shoulders.
"Alright, I'll start," he said running his fingers down the keys.
"Oooooo, From the trees to the fire, To the snow and the choir, Christmases are grand, Though rarely go as planned. Though poor in cooking, My caroling keeps them looking, For in singing I am super, But cannot compare, To the song of my Fwooper."
Rose was blown away by Max's strong vocals; he usually only hummed or muttered. Because only a few people in the audience knew the words to the song, it was mainly just Max singing. It was the longest piano session of any Christmas. Apparently, they were all really enjoying having someone who could play, finally. After a while, the kids had started a game of exploding snap jr. – the type that didn't require wands – while the adults continued singing with Max. Louis hung by the music to take photos.
Hermione finally remembered their last Christmas tradition and had to rush everyone outside to the gazebo with blankets and tea. Everyone had to trudge through the deep snow, trying their best not to trip like Percy had, and all trying to hide their laughter. They were wrapped tightly and warming their hands by the fire that Harry had lit for them, all watching the fairies in the trees twinkle and sparkle. They were stunning from a distance, but the things were crazy ugly up close.
Max had watched for a little while but couldn't bare not taking advantage of the clear sky. He had borrowed Harry's old telescope and used it to try out his new lenses.
"Rosie! Rosie come look!" he kept beckoning excitedly.
For the third time, she escaped her cocoon of comfort, the blanket, and stepped out into the freezing air to peer at nothing through the telescope.
"So?" he said excitedly, bouncing up and down to warm himself.
"It's a rock..." she would say again, looking through the lenses.
"It's Amalthia!"
"Oh that's, uh," she tried to remember. "one of Jupiter's moons, right?"
"Yes!" he said with glee. "Hold on, let me find Callisto!" he bent back down to peer through the lenses. Rose found his enthusiasm to be adorable at times, exhausting at others; tonight, it was exhausting.
"I wish Scor were here," said Al as he, Max, and Rose made their way back to the house. "He would have really enjoyed all this, especially to food."
"You did give him this address?" Rose asked.
"Of course I did."
"Al, do you think that the Parkinsons visited the Malfoys for Christmas?" a horrible thought struck her.
"Eesh, I hope not."
"Cause her parents have no problem with them, just Poppy."
"I really hope that Scor didn't have to see her. What a jolly gift that would be. And it's not the Parkinsons, just Poppy Parkinson, her mom is now Pansy Welp."
"So her mom got remarried?"
"She was never married in the first place."
"Oh, then who was Poppy's dad?"
Al shrugged.
Rose had tried to stay awake as long as she possibly could. She didn't want this Christmas to end. It had been one of the most enjoyable in memory. She hoped that Max enjoyed his time here too and with a look at his indigo hair, Weasley jumper, and a wide grin as he played on the piano, she reckoned he did. The family thinned as they slowly went off to bed. Al, Max, and herself took to reading on the sofa in front of the Christmas tree, knowing that it was all going to be taken down in the morning.
"You awake?" she opened her eyes to see Max staring down at her, amused.
"Yeah I'm good," she lied.
"You sure? Because that was the fourth time I asked."
The book bore only a picture of an ancient pincushion.
"It's not," said Max, not looking up. "This is the second time I've read it; it's really quite sad. I found it on Mrs. Potter's bookstand."
"Just read it. Wherever you're at..."
Max sighed. "-For what is it to have no purpose in life, to be trapped within one's own subconscious for thirty-six years? To watch the beloved parents, search for me, to cry for me, to beg, to plead, to grow mad about my absence when I am but two feet from them, what can one do? To watch your beloved sister, grow up without your influence, without a sister. To forget the color of your eyes, of your hair, to forget your voice and to forget you? I have cried out without sound escape, I have forgotten the sound of my own voice. I have watched Darla grow into a beautiful young woman, to be hurt by dirty Wizards, to cry about her longing. I will one day hold you again, Darla, not as a baby, but as a woman. I will find a way out of this helplessness, I will walk again, I will talk again, I will be by your side once more, and you shall remember me, and I shall never abandon you, belittle you, for I have watched you do this to yourself for far too long. I will be free, and I will once again be with you, this is my promise. I sat there again having long lost the count of days, of years even. Before my shelf stood... someone... who... blah, blah... blah...... blah-"
That's all she could remember before falling asleep.
She woke the next morning to Hugo prodding her. She was asleep on Maddox's shoulder, and Albus who was sitting on Max's other side had somehow stretched himself all the way across to lay on Rose's lap.
"We're leaving soon," said Hugo. "You need to get your stuff."
She looked up to see Max reading 'Help! I'm a Pincushion! An autobiography by Miranda Pearl.' Again.
"What's everyone else doing?" she asked seeing most of the adults in the kitchen talking.
"They're trying to figure out what to do with me," Max replied
"What?" she said. "Aren't you staying with me?"
"That's what they're trying to figure out." He replied not looking up. "Whether I should stay with you guys, stay here, or go back to my dad's."
"What!" she exclaimed standing up, knocking Albus off the couch. "Oh-hu... No." and she stormed into the kitchen soon to be joined by Max and Al.
After much discussion, and the arrival of a reply letter from his dad that they had sent the night before, they decided not to send him back to Clent's, and not to let him see the letter. With much argument between Al and Rose, they agreed that Max could stay with Ron and Hermione, and finally with a little more persuasion, to Al's delight, he would be staying with them until New Year's Eve.
It didn't take long now for everything to be packed back up, she hadn't brought much anyway. After saying goodbye to the members of the family who weren't going to show for New Year's, they took a handful of floo powder and Ron, Hermione, Al, and Max all were swept away through a burst of green flame.
"Louis!" she called. "Have you developed the pictures from yesterday?"
"Some, why?"
"Can I have the one with all of us around the piano?"
"I don't know..." said Louis thinking. "I only have one of those, and it's my favorite. See?" he took a small stack of thin photographs from the mantelpiece and flipped through the moving people in them to find the one he was looking for. Louis showed her the photo of Max playing the piano and the whole family was singing joyfully around him, all laughing and smiling.
"What do you want with this one? Why can't I have it?" she asked.
"Well we're all here, happy and together, and look," he pointed at Uncle Bill beside the piano. "Dad's fly is unzipped." He laughed. "and he has no idea."
"Well then, can I just have another copy? You took so many pictures," she pleaded.
"This is all I've got," Louis shrugged. "The sisters got to it, scratched up all the film, by accident I think."
"I'll buy it from you! Come on!"
A spark glinted in Louis' eye suddenly, and she wished she hadn't sounded so desperate. "You'll buy it huh? Well, starting price is one Galleon."
"It's what?" she exclaimed. "That's ridiculous! I'll give you two sickles."
"I did say starting price," said Louis becoming distracted by his nails with a haughty look on his face.
"What do you know about persuasion? You're only ten!"
"You try to act so much older than me," he said. "You're only a year."
"You're so stubborn!"
"I call it ambition. And I'd hurry, the others probably think you've come out of the wrong grate."
"Augh, Slytherin," she hissed, dropping one Galleon into his outstretched palm and jerking the photo away.
Louis flicked the coin into the air with a smile on his face as she scooted back into the fireplace. "Home!" she yelled throwing the floo powder at her feet. Green flame circled Rose as she saw Louis pull a roll of perfectly good film from his pocket. "You little-!" she yelled before she was sucked out of sight.
