"Mummy! Daddy!" came the excited thrills and shouts of four little children, each of them charging into their parents' bedroom and jumping on the bed at the crack of mid-morning. "It's Christmas! Wake up, wake up! Father Christmas came!"
"Happy Christmas, my babies," yawned Hermione, smiling, as she sat up against her headboard to embrace her children endearingly. Then, as the bedsprings creaked once more, she turned her attention to her second eldest child, whispering, "Be careful, Ellie! If you keep jumping, you'll wake your father —"
"Bit late for that," groaned Charlie, burying his face back into his pillow and stretching slightly, as his wife giggled at him and placed a gentle kiss on his head.
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"Daddy!" came the excited voice of six-year-old Scarlett Julianne Granger, her knees digging into her father's back as she jumped on top of him. "Daddy, wake up! We've got to open our presents!"
"Presents! Presents!" cheered the youngest and newest additions to the Granger-Hawthorne family; Hermione gave birth to twin boys three years ago, and Arden and Tobias were the spitting image of their father. "Santa left presents, Mummy! We saw them!"
Hermione shook her head with a laugh, her gaze shifting between her four children. "Come on, you know the rules. Breakfast first, then we open presents."
"But breakfast takes too long!" whined Eleanor, her arms crossed over her chest in similar fashion to that of Hermione during her first year at Hogwarts.
"Don't worry, Ellie," Scarlett told her younger sister, grinning mischievously. "We just have to eat faster so we can open our presents sooner."
"No, you will not," scolded Hermione in a warning tone, shaking her head to hide her amusement. "Your father and I will not have you choking just because you want to open presents."
"But the twins always eat so slow," Eleanor rolled her eyes. "It'll be ages before they're finished!"
"They're only three, El," laughed Charlie, making his presence in the conversation known, as he rolled over and rubbed his eyes. "And just because you can eat like your Uncle Ron doesn't mean we all can."
"That's not fair! I want to open presents now!" Eleanor whined. "Why do I have to wait to open presents just because the twins can't eat faster?"
"Because we're a family, and we'll open our presents together or not at all," Hermione pointed her finger sternly. "If you don't quit complaining, we won't open presents until after lunch."
