February of 1996

48

The next morning it was Christmas Fred, Irena, and Alek made their way downstairs.

Almost everyone was already up. Everybody was wearing new sweaters when they all sat down to eat everyone except Fleur and Irena.

Even Alek had a small sweater with an A in the center that was just a bit big on him.

Fred saw that Irena didnt have a sweater, so he quickly went upstairs to his old room. He looked around, he went and looked in his closet. Maybe he had an extra one that he had left. He went downstairs holding a green sweater. He handed it to Irena. She looked at the sweater, and back at Fred, she smiled brightly. She put it on, and it was big on her, mostly from her arms. "Thank you," she whispered to him. He kissed her on her forehead.

She took a bite of the turkey. Alek was next to her in his crib with his bottle. "Arthur!" said Mrs. Weasley suddenly. She had risen from her chair; her hand was pressed over her heart and she was staring out of the kitchen window. "Arthur — its Percy!" "What?" Mr. Weasley looked around.

Everybody looked quickly at the window; Ginny stood up for a better look. There, sure enough, was Percy Weasley, walking across the snowy yard. Percy made his way inside.  He said rather stiffly, "Merry Christmas, Mother." "Oh, Percy!" said Mrs. Weasley, and she threw herself into his arms.

She didnt know if she should introduce Alek to him. Does he even know about her? Percy showed no sign of wanting to greet any of the rest of the family. He stood, poker straight and awkward-looking, and looked over everybody else heads. He looked at the crib that was by the kitchen weirdly. He then saw a young witch holding a baby. He looked at her and at Fred that was making his way to her. His facial expression didnt change, and he looked away.

Mr. Weasley, Fred, and George were all observing him, stony-faced.  Not too long after, Percy stormed off. Irena just watched as Percy left. Irena looks at Fred, who has his arms crossed, looking at Percy as he leaves. "What a prat," said Fred, shaking his head.

They later opened the present Alek was the one that got the most presents. But the atmosphere wasn't happy. Molly would go to the kitchen and cry. She was sad that Percy had stormed off on Christmas day. Her other children would try to cheer her up, but it only made her cry more.

Irena gave Fred a present. "This is for you," she said, giving the present to him; he looked at it. "Rena, you didn't have to," he said, looking at her with a smile. "This is for you," Fred said, looking through the pile of Christmas wrapping paper for the present. "Here," he said excitedly after he found it. Irena saw the gift, it was badly wrapped, and she chuckled.  "Open yours first," said Irena looking at Fred. He opened his present.

It was a book he looked at it weirdly, it had blank pages, but on the first page, it said property of Fred G. Weasley.

Noticing Fred's clueless expression, Irena explained.

"This is for your new inventions. I notice that you have parchment paper with new product ideas all around the flat. This way, it can all be in one place. Also, it works with this quill," she continued getting the quill Fred had dropped when he opened the present. "It will ask you for a password, you will write it down, and all your notes will appear. That way, if someone else tries to read it, they won't be able to. Well, that's the idea," Irena said, not too sure if it was actually going to work as she had been working on it for the past couple of days.

Fred looked at it, examining it. Irena started to get worried that maybe he didn't like the present she made for him. "I love it, Rena, thank you." "Really," she said with relief. He nodded "now open yours."

She unwrapped the present; it was a small black box. She opened it and inside the small box was a necklace shaped like a heart. She got the necklace and set the box aside. "Its beautiful," said Irena, speechless.

Fred looked nervous.

"Its shaped like a heart because, well, you know what happened on Valentines Day," he said with a playful smile. "Look closely to the heart this side," he pointed to the left side of the heart. Looking at it closely, she saw that Aleks name was written on it. "Frederick, I love it, thank you." She truly did love it. It was really thoughtful of him. "Ill put it on if you like," said Fred. Irena nodded.

Fred got the necklace from her hand, and she moved her hair to the side. Once she had it on, she smiled, looking at it holding it with her hand.

"Thank you," she said again.

Not only was she thanking him for the present but also for everything else.

Fred got closer to her, his hand on the side of her cheek, and he kissed her on the lips. She kissed him back, not realizing a few pairs of eyes were watching.

They broke apart, and she saw that George was giving her thumb up, smiling from ear to ear.

Molly looked away.

Bill and Fleur were also happy.

She was embarrassed they were in the moment she forgot she was in Fred's childhood home with his whole family.

Fred gave her another quick kiss on the lips before he cleaned the wrapping paper that was on the floor.

She looked down, smiling embarrassedly.