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What Matters Most | ||||
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Category: Post-HBP Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley Genres: Comedy, Fluff, Humor Warnings: None Story is Complete Rating: G Reviews: 16 Summary: A bit of holiday fluff occurs when Harry, Ron, and Hermione take a break from the search for the Horcruxes to stop at the Burrow for Christmas. Hitcount: Story Total: 5338 |
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Disclaimer: I solemnly swear this isn't mine. Thanks to: Lanni Weasley for the bunny, but as she'll see, I only took it's "tail" ;) Hello everyone! As I stated in the summary, this is just a bit of fluff for the holiday season. Enjoy! (And just in case anyone was wondering, this story has absolutely nothing to do with my current story, What's Left to Give) Their boots crunched over the freshly fallen snow as Harry led the way up to the Burrow. Hermione and Ron sulked behind him, and he turned back to cast them an impatient look. “Can you at least be civil while we’re here?” he muttered, and Ron’s face shadowed with a look of indignance. “We haven’t said a thing to each other during the entire trip,” he whined, and Harry rolled his eyes. “Exactly. The two of you have been fighting in one way or another all day. Not talking to each other is just as bad as arguing,” he pointed out. Hermione scowled, but didn’t bother objecting; Harry was right to be annoyed by their behavior. It was the first Christmas since they had gone off in search of the Horcruxes, and they were finally able to take a break and visit at the Burrow. They hadn’t seen any of the family since Bill and Fleur’s wedding, and they were all looking forward to the visit. But Ron and Hermione had gotten into a heated argument earlier that day when Ron suggested they stop by the Burrow first before visiting the Granger’s house for Christmas. “I love your family just as much as mine,” Hermione had stated. “But I’d like to see my family first. I only saw them at the beginning of the summer, and it isn’t really fair that we go to your house first.” Ron had gotten angry, and pulled Harry into the argument. Harry didn’t really want to be in the middle of their spat, but when Hermione asked his opinion, he realized he had no choice. Hermione hadn’t seen her family in a long time, and they had just stayed at the Burrow for the wedding, but Harry admitted with a blush that he really wanted to see Ginny, and Hermione was left pouting in the corner of the cave that they were living in. The row went on all day long; as they packed up their possessions in the cave, trudged outside and now as they Apparated to the Burrow. Harry’s head was spinning, and he wanted nothing more to be inside in front of a warm fire, with Ginny by his side. He looked at Hermione with a stern expression. “I know you’re angry, but can you at least put that aside for the evening? It’s not like we get to see anyone as often as we’d like; can you two just put your differences aside for a few hours and try to enjoy the time we have here at the Burrow?” Hermione ducked her head and let out a small sigh. “Sorry, Harry- you’re right. Let’s try and be civil- at least for the evening.” She looked at Ron and he let out a complacent sigh. “Fine. I’ll be on my best behaviour,” he vowed, giving Harry a wry smile. As he got closer to him he added under his breath, “Hermione’s been the one starting the arguments all day.” Harry shook his head slowly and rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Let’s go inside.” They reached the front door, and Ron knocked loudly. The family hadn’t been expecting their arrival- they had thought it would be a nice surprise to just show up. He frowned before knocking again, and pressed his ear against the door in attempt to hear if anyone was inside. Hermione descended the porch and moved to the side of the house, where a gate led to the back yard. “I think they’re out here,” she said, motioning for them to join her by the gate. Ron and Harry joined Hermione, and she pushed the gate open and walked out into the backyard. They smiled as they were greeted by the sight of six red heads and a blonde having what seemed to be a joyful time in the backyard. Charlie, Bill and Fleur were in one corner, building a lopsided snowman and laughing loudly. Fred and George were soaring above everyone on broomsticks, pelting fat snowballs from up above. Percy, who had recently reconciled with the family, was looking on with a laugh as Ginny retaliated against the twins by throwing snow balls back at them. Charlie was the first to notice the visitors and waved at them with a grin. “Ron, Hermione, Harry!” he cried happily, and everyone turned to look at them. “Welcome home!” Ron grinned, suddenly forgetting the fight with Hermione, and went jogging towards his family. Harry and Hermione exchanged smiles and followed behind Ron; all three of them were immediately wrapped in hugs and smothered with kisses from the female members of the family. “’Ow are you ‘Arry?” Fleur asked, kissing both of his cheeks and subsequently causing him to blush. Ginny moved away from her embrace with Hermione and moved over to Fleur, giving her a playful push away from Harry. “Hands off,” she jokingly growled, and Fleur laughed. “I should get the first kisses of the holiday.” Harry’s cheeks burned more as Ginny moved closer, and he wrapped her in a tight hug. They had decided during the wedding that summer that they wanted to be a couple, despite the breakup at Hogwarts, and it seemed so long since the last time they were together. “Yeah. Besides, you’re under mistletoe,” Fred teased, holding up a bundle of mistletoe. “Well, we’ll have to make good on that, now won’t we?” Ginny asked, winking at Harry before standing up on her tiptoes and planting a sweet kiss on his lips. “Oi, watch out for the nargles,” George snickered from behind, but before Harry could laugh at the memory of Luna’s words, he felt something falling on his head. Ginny suddenly let out a loud squeal and backed away. Harry looked up to see that tiny bugs were falling from the mistletoe that Fred was still holding over their heads. “Fred!” he cried, ignoring the laughter from the others and trying to help Ginny pull the bugs out of her hair. “Sorry mate,” Fred apologized with a sneaky grin. “George and I needed to try out our newest product. Infested Mistletoe- buy it now at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!” Ron shook his head with a laugh. “That’s bloody brilliant.” The kitchen door opened and Mrs. Weasley came outside. “I thought I heard someone screaming-“ She stopped short when she caught a glimpse of Hermione and Ron standing in the midst of the rest of the family, and her eyes finally rested on Harry who was pulling the last of the bugs out of his own hair. “My goodness!” she cried as she ran over to pull them into a tight hug. Harry smiled as she finally released him from the firm embrace. “Mrs. Weasley, how are you?” “I’m wonderful Harry! I had no idea you three would be showing up,” she beamed. “We thought we’d surprise everyone, Mum,” Ron said, resting his head on her shoulder. “Well, this is a wonderful surprise! We just finished opening up the presents, and dinner’s almost ready.” Hermione blushed. “Sorry, we weren’t able to buy anyone anything. It’s kind of hard to go out nowadays...” Percy waved away the apology. “It doesn’t matter! We’re just happy to have you here!” Mrs. Weasley smiled and ruffled Ron’s hair lightly before letting him go. “Well, dinner’s on and I’m sure you’re all hungry. Dad should be home soon-“ The door slammed open again, and Mr. Weasley appeared in the back yard. “Here you all are!” he cried merrily. “Happy Christmas, Weasleys!” Everyone cried out similar greetings to him, and he joined them quickly, casting huge smiles among Ron, Hermione and Harry. “Welcome home, you lot. You staying long?” Ron cast Hermione an annoyed look and turned back to his father. “No- we’ve got to leave soon so we can visit Hermione’s family.” Hermione’s face colored and she turned on Ron. “Well, sorry for wanting to see my family too! I just thought it’d be nice to at least share dinner with them.” “Well, if you had’ve agreed to us leaving yesterday, then we could’ve spent a day here and a day with your family. But you wanted to spend an extra day researching- like we haven’t done enough of that already!” The rest of the family looked on with interest, but Harry let out an impatient sigh. “It’s moments like these when I’m almost glad I don’t have a family,” he whispered to Ginny, who held her hand up to hide a giggle. Mrs. Weasley suddenly jolted, and turned to Mr. Weasley with an apprehensive expression. “Arthur, please tell me that you didn’t close the kitchen door behind you?” Mr. Weasley shrugged his shoulders. “I did. Didn’t think you’d want any cold air getting in the house...” “We might not be able to get in the house!” Mrs. Weasley cried, and Ron and Hermione suddenly stopped arguing to turn and look as she went running off towards the Burrow. She tugged hard on the kitchen door, only to lose her grip and go flying backwards into a mound of snow. The twins rushed to her side, and the rest of the group moved over to the kitchen door. “Oh, bugger and blast!” she cursed as Fred and George helped her to her feet. “What’s wrong, Mollywob-...dear?” Mr. Weasley corrected himself, and Harry blushed, suddenly remembering the night in the kitchen when he had accidentally overheard the nickname that Mr. Weasley had for his wife. “That door has been sticking for the past few days,” she scowled, moving over to it and giving it another tug in vain. “I’ve been meaning to look up the spell that’ll fix it, but I haven’t found the time.” Hermione moved forward with a thoughtful expression. “You’ve tried everything? Alohomora, un-sticking spells...” “Yes, but there’s one particular one that I know will work. It’s just in one of my spell books...and I don’t know which one,” she frowned again, turning to everyone with an apologetic smile. “What about opening the windows?” Harry suggested, but Mr. Weasley shook his head. “We have very strong locking spells on them- you know, in case of any Death Eater attacks,” he frowned. “It looks like we’re stuck out here until we remember which book the spell is in.” “Stuck out ‘ere?” Fleur repeated, putting her hand up to her chest in horror. “But iz freezing outzide! We’ll zurely freeze to death!” “Sorry dears,” Mrs. Weasley sighed. “I know it’s in one of my spell books- and I’m sure I’ll think of which one soon. Until we can summon it outside, we’re stuck.” A collective sigh passed around them, but Charlie looked optimistic. “Hey now, it’s Christmas! What happened to that wonderful holiday spirit?” “It got stuck inside the house,” George muttered, causing everyone to laugh. “That’s better!” Mr. Weasley beamed, taking in their smiles. “We’ll just make the best out of this. Molly will remember the spell in no time- and until then...” “SNOWBALL FIGHT!” Ron cried, grabbing a ball of snow and packing it firmly in his hands. Everyone stood still, as if they were deciding whether he was joking or not, but soon Ginny was pelted with a thick snowball, and the rest of them scattered, picking up their own handfuls of snow. Harry ran towards the broom shed, laughing as Charlie followed behind him, threatening to cover him with the wet snow. They ran around for awhile, as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked on from the chairs on the back porch. Harry found himself running from Ginny, but he caught her by her arms and gently pinned her down at the edge of the yard. “Harry!” she laughed. “Please, let me up!” Harry shook his head with a grin. “Not until you promise you won’t throw a snowball at me.” “I promise!” she cried, and he let her up, only to be hit by a snowball anyway. “You promised!” he laughed, taking off his glasses to wipe the snow off of them. “I lied,” she grinned, and took off just as Harry started chasing her around the yard again. Hermione watched as Ron talked with Charlie, and a small smile played on her lips. She carefully sneaked up behind him; putting her finger to her lips as Charlie caught her slowly walking through the snow. She finally reached Ron and put both hands on his back; forcefully pushing him into the snowman that Bill, Fleur and Charlie had been working on earlier. He pulled himself out of the fallen snowman, and looked up at Hermione with a scowl. She giggled and gave him an innocent smile, but he was already grabbing her ankle and pulling her into the snow beside him. “You deserved it,” he said quickly, heading off the complaint that he knew was on the tip of her tongue. Hermione just laughed and dumped a handful of snow in his hair. There had been so much tension between them lately, which Harry had suspected was actually sexuall tension, seeing as how they still hadn’t admitted their feelings for one another. But as they played in the snow together, the fight from earlier seemed to melt away. Everyone was in their own wintry paradises, when Percy indicated towards the kitchen window, which was cracked slightly. “Oh no,” he moaned, as smoke billowed from inside. Mrs. Weasley let out a yelp, and ran to the window. “Oh my! The food’s burning! I have to remember that spell!” They all gathered around the window again, and Bill moved towards the door. “It’s the only way,” he muttered, and pulled out his wand before crying out, “Bombarda!” The door blasted apart and cement and plaster landed on the kitchen floor. “My kitchen!” Mrs. Weasley cried, as she took in the destruction. “Our dinner!” Ron moaned, stepping inside the smoke filled room. His stomach growled loudly, and he looked back at the rest of the family with a hopeless expression. Charlie frowned. “Christmas is ruined,” he mumbled. Ginny nudged him gently. “Hey- what happened to all that jazz about ‘Christmas spirit’?” “It burned up with the dinner,” he replied with a wry smile. Mrs. Weasley was near tears as she looked from the ruined dinner and the blasted door. Bill and Mr. Weasley were promising to help her fix everything, and the twins were turning off the burners and throwing the burnt food into the waste bins. Ron looked around the kitchen and turned back to Hermione with a frown. “I guess you were right. Let’s just go to your family’s house then,” he said, looking down at his feet. Harry sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Ginny gave his arm a reassuring squeeze, but Hermione shook her head firmly. “No. We came to have Christmas morning with your family and that’s what we’re going to do,” she vowed. She raised her voice so the others could hear. “Come on, everyone- it’s not that bad. Mrs. Weasley, the men will fix your door- all it takes is a simple replacement charm. And Fleur Ginny, Harry and I will work on a new dinner, won’t we?” Harry was about to object, but Ginny nudged him sharply with a laugh. “Of course we will. Come on, Mum take a seat, and we’ll fix everything.” Everyone quickly went into motion- the twins finished getting rid of the burnt food, while Ginny, Hermione, Fleur and Harry went to work setting out new dishes and putting on a new cauldron of stew. Bill, Charlie, Ron and Mr. Weasley picked up the broken pieces from the other door, while Percy got out his wand and replaced the whole in the wall with a brand new kitchen door- “One that won’t stick,” he added with a smile. They all helped finish dinner; everyone singing Christmas carols to pass the time, and soon settled down at the table for the meal. Mrs. Weasley sniffled and looked up as Harry approached the table with a basket of fresh bread. “I’m sorry everything got ruined,” she apologized. “If I had’ve fixed that door to begin with-” “Now, now, Molly,” Mr. Weasley interrupted. “It’s not your fault- and everything worked out great anyway.” Ron smiled at Hermione as she handed him a plate. “Thanks for being so great about everything,” he frowned. “I guess we’ll be late to your parent’s house.” She smiled. “I’m not worried. They don’t know we’re coming anyway- and they’ll be happy to see us whenever we get there.” Harry watched their exchange from the kitchen counter and pulled Ginny into a warm hug before they settled down at the table together. “I won’t be seeing you for a while,” he whispered before giving her a kiss. “At least you’re here now,” she smiled after returning the kiss. They joined everyone at the table, and soon they were all passing around dishes and eating happily. They finished the meal, and Ron started the round of farewells, saying that he wanted to make it to the Granger’s house for dessert. “This was the best holiday ever, Mrs. Weasley,” Harry complimented, taking note that she was still flustered from all the earlier events. “But Ron and Hermione were fighting all morning, I got us locked out of the house, dinner burned, and we had to wait an extra hour to eat,” she pointed out, looking as though she was again on the verge of tears. “I honestly can’t see how this has been a joyful holiday for you?” Harry squeezed Ginny’s hand and looked around the family once more before heading towards the door with Hermione and Ron. “Sure, things weren’t perfect, but I was with all the people I love,” he smiled. “And that’s what matters most, isn’t it?” Everyone smiled, and Mr. Weasley pulled Mrs. Weasley into a firm hug. “Of course, Harry. Merry Christmas, you lot,” he grinned, and Ron pulled open the door. “Merry Christmas,” he smiled. “We’ll see you soon.” The three of them slipped out of the door and headed to the Granger’s house, where they would share another meal with the people that they loved. A/N: Thanks for reading! Please leave comments and reviews. Have a WONDERFUL holiday season! God bless :) |
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