Teddy and the Marauders

fifty-four

Chapter 54

When Arthur came home Christmas day, while the mood was strained, it was also happy. Arthur seemed the happiest. He had light in his eyes and just seemed over all happy to be alive and with his family. His happiness rubbed off on everyone else.

"To the man of the hour!" Arthur shakily raised his glass "Without whom, many of our family wouldn't be here. Thank you Harry."

"To Harry!" the others around the table chorused.

"Presents!" Molly announced enthusiastically. She held a box in each hand. "Now, this one's for Victoire, and this one's for Ron." she read off the name tags and handed them out.

Victorie took the neatly wrapped thing. With shaky hands, she ripped the paper and looked into the box underneath. Inside was a mound of wool yarn wrapped around itself and folded into the thing affectionally known as a Weasley Sweater. White with a pale blue V on it. Victoria felt like she was going to cry. Even with years of sweaters that her grandmother had made her, somehow this felt the most special.

"Molly, I..." she didn't know what to say. The tears pricked behind her eyes as all she could do was stare at the garment. "Thank you." she finally managed the words. "Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you."

"Calm down Victorie." Ron rolled his eyes "It's just a jumper. It's not like you just got a diamond necklace or anything." Vic knew her uncle was like this but the thing she wanted most was to lash out at Ron for demeaning something that meant more than he could possibly know. Luckily for him, though, Teddy spoke up before Vic was able to go all France on his arse.

"Something as small as a smile can feel like the world when you've felt alone for as long as we have, Ron." he said wisely, holding up his own jumper. "You shouldn't take things for granted so close to a war." Ron flushed and offered no return comment.

Molly looked as if she was about to cry as well. She felt so touched by the time travellers' love for their simple gifts as well as hearing about the heart breaking feeling of the poor kids feeling alone for who knows how long. That's why, when Victoria got up to hug the aging woman, she held her future granddaughter very tight.

"I'm so sorry, Molly." she said "I don't have anything to give you."

"Nonsense." Molly waved it off "You've given me something that is greater than anything you could buy." she leaned in slightly and spoke softer. "Hope. And there is no way I can ever hope to repay you for that." Victorie felt like she was going to cry again. she gave Molly another hug and whispered in her ear.

"I have to say, you're a better Grandma than Granmére Appoline. She is stricter than your sons like quidditch." Molly laughed.

For dinner, Molly had cooked a simple feast of turkey and potatoes, yet everyone unanimously and unspokenly agreed that it was way better than any grand feast offered at any high end restaurant.

And for a moment they were able to forget. Forget about the war, about all the threats, about whatever Harry had seen about Arthur. They were happy. Wasn't that what they deserved?

Obviously fate didn't agree. They were all bound for more hardship and heartbreak. Anyone who knew a good story could recognize that. Fate was one thing they couldn't fight. Harry was fated to fight Voldemort, Ron was fated to abandon yet return with more loyalty, Hermione was fated to try and help only to feel helpless in the end, Fred was fated to die and George fated to live alone after that. Victorie and Teddy weren't sure of their fate, but they knew they had jumped down the rabbit hole long ago and it would be a long climb out of wonderland.

The only question: would they come home to better people? Or to more death...

(A/N: Sorry for not uploading in a while... With the return of school I have been busy... (Binge watching Netflix.) also with classes. I've had some drama with the courses I wanted to take and even though I'm trying to take 11 classes when we only need 8, they managed to mess it up and not give me a science class! Anyways... to make a very long story short, to fix the school's mistake I have to push myself and take 12 courses. Safe to say I have been a little stressed. I'm going to try and update as many stories I can tonight and tomorrow. See you as soon as possible! -Jul)