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The table was quieter than it usually was. It hadn’t been the first thing everyone had noticed that day, but it was the most obvious.
Ginny had noticed Molly crying for a full fifteen minutes when setting the table as she tried to figure out if it would be better to not set a place for him or if that would draw more attention to him missing. It had been hard enough on her when Percy had been gone for those few years, but this was agonizingly tougher.
Percy had found Arthur at his tinkering desk. Not working, simply staring at the broken Muggle train he had charmed for the twins years ago, but never managed to get around to fixing after they broke it the Christmas before they left for Hogwarts.
Harry, Ron, and Charlie had spent over an hour trying to convince George to come out of his room to ride brooms with them. No one had seen or heard a word out of him since he arrived the previous evening, but when he finally unlocked his door for them to come in, they found him gazing aimlessly at a mirror, absentmindedly fiddling with something in his hands. It didn’t look like he had left that chair at all since he came home.
Fleur and Hermione had attempted to take over some of the kitchen duties from Molly before Bill pulled them back - he had noticed that it was the only thing keeping her from breaking down.
No one had spoken or moved since they had sat down for dinner. George had been the last to finally come to the table, but it was still a long while after that before Arthur stood up and cleared his throat.
“Ahem. Right then. Dinner. I suppose we should get started then. But first, a toast. To all of those not here this year that would be if they could – especially F-F-Fr-”
His voice cracked, unable to continue.
“Fred.”
George had barely whispered his twin’s name, but everyone could hear it clearly from wherever they were in the room. Glasses were raised and drunk before more somber silence reigned over the meal as plates of food were passed around and served. No one seemed even remotely interested in eating even once they did have food in front of them, mostly nudging things from one side of the plate to the other.
Ginny wasn’t paying attention as George passed her a bowl of mashed potatoes and accidentally knocked her elbow right into the middle of it. She pulled her arm out slowly – the sleeve completely covered with white blobs, much to George’s clear dismay.
To the surprise of everyone at the table, she started laughing – a bright, cheerful laugh that caused everyone to look at her with a puzzled look. She set the bowl aside and turned to George with a grin.
“Remember the year that you and Fred snuck a couple of filibusters into Mum’s potatoes and we all got covered.”
“Yeah!” interjected Ron, himself also breaking out in laughs. “Perce’s glasses were completely covered.”
“Not as funny as the time they snuck spiders into the Christmas Crackers,” added Charlie, “Ron couldn’t sleep for a week.”
“In their defense,” Arthur pointed out, leaning towards Harry, Hermione, and Fleur to explain as they were looking somewhat mortified amongst the light chuckling between the Weasleys, “they were expertly charmed spiders, not real ones. Had they put actual spiders in there they would have been seriously punished. These burst into fantastic red and gold sparks after a few seconds.”
George was faintly smiling at this point, as was Molly.
Bill watched how she was reacting to everything before smirking and piping up.
“What about the year they wrapped all of Mum’s ingredients in Edvard’s No-Rip wrapping paper? Took her a whole hour to magic it off, and it was cute watching Gin copy all the new swear words she was learning.”
It was at this point the mood in the room steadily shifted towards a much warmer feeling. People were actually starting to eat like they had an appetite again.
“And then there was the year we had come downstairs on Christmas morning to find someone had put some kind of anti-gravity spell on the Christmas tree and put it upside down with everyone’s presents stuck to ceiling beside it,” added Percy, acting giddier than most people could remember him being in a long time. “I’ll never forget when Dad poked one of the lowest boxes and the whole thing came crashing down.”
“Yeah, that was pretty fun.” George mumbled with the faintest grin on his face.
“I know it’s not the same as Christmas here in the Burrow,” piped up Harry, “but I will never forget my first Christmas with the twins – joking about their names, forcing Percy into his sweater and frog marching him to the Great Hall, pulling my first wizarding cracker with Fred, and Percy chase them around the dorm trying to get his prefect badge back.”
Percy turned a bright shade of red but didn’t say anything. George, however, was beginning to tear up despite having a smile on his lips.
“And I’ll never forget my Christmas with the boys,” exclaimed Molly through a few sniffles, looking directly at George. “You two were almost ten months old by then, and walking – walking for Merlin’s sake! None of your older brothers at that age…I just wasn’t ready for it. Between being able to toddle insanely quick around the house…I’m still not entirely convinced you couldn’t Apparate back then…and then Fabian deciding to give you each a toy broom – despite my insistence against it! – you both somehow managed to use them to get up onto the counter and devoured all of our pies in the time it took for me to go get your uncles and father back inside from playing on their broomsticks with your older brothers.”
All eyes were on Molly – it was rare that she would talk about Fred anymore, but it was rarer still that she willingly brought up her brothers. They were smiling from her story, but like Bill had earlier, they all looked a bit concerned at how she was handling everything. A moment later Molly excused herself and headed off towards the bathroom.
Slowly, George stood up and walked over towards the den. No one at the table could see what he was doing, but everyone knew to give him some space.
The rest of the meal was spent reminiscing about Fred, as well as others close to them they had lost. Eventually George wandering back in, a bit happier than he had been earlier, and joined in on the discussion. Molly, however, didn’t come back down until everyone was almost finished eating.
Since Bill and Fleur had spent Christmas Eve in France with her family and only just made it to the Burrow when Molly had started cooking, presents had not been opened yet. Arthur ushered everyone into the den for presents before taking Molly aside for a moment and, after making sure she was doing alright, insisted she grabbed some food from the table to try and nibble on while presents were being handed out.
“Alright now, let’s see what we’ve got here,” Arthur began after taking his spot beside the tree. “Here’s on for you Ron, careful there – you got it? Ah, this one is for you Perce, and I think this other one over here is Bill’s. Hermione, Fleur, and Gin? I think these three are for you and – hang on, I don’t remember wrapping this one. The label on it says it’s for you, Molly dear.”
Puzzled, Molly set down her plate and reached for the gift. It was indeed different much different from the other packages, and all eyes eagerly watched in anticipation as she held it.
“Go on, Mum. Open it,” encouraged Ron as the rest of the family chimed in in agreement despite having no clue as to what it was.
Her first clue that this wasn’t like the other gifts was when it was particularly difficult to open. Once she finally managed to lift the lid a bit, it exploded open, releasing a rainbow of glitter that, thankfully, disappeared before they touched her carpet.
At this point she looked emphatically at George who seemed to have become quite interested in staring at a knot on the bottom of the wooden staircase near his head. Cautiously, Molly placed her hand into the small box before grabbing something that felt like a chain. Lifting it out, she found a beautifully crafted golden locket. She stared at it a minute, as did everyone else in the room, before carefully opening it up.
Inside she found many more pictures than she ever thought could possibly fit into a locket. There was one of Arthur, one with Fabian and Gideon waving back at her, Bill alongside Fleur rubbing her slight baby bump, Charlie with a baby dragon in his arms, Percy with Hermes perched on his shoulder, Ron with an arm around Hermione, Ginny and Harry holding hands, and in the last slot a picture of both the twins, Fred waving exuberantly at her. It was the final straw, causing her burst into tears.
George stood up and slowly moved over to take an empty seat beside her. “Fred and I had commissioned it shortly after last Christmas. Its goblin made – we had to swear Bill to secrecy once he hooked us up with one that could do this – and the pictures are set to update as the family grows. Bill and Fleur’s originally had their wedding photo in there, and now it has the one they took last night in France. Losing Fred made me consider giving it to you as soon as it was finished, but we had always planned on giving it to you today.”
He paused, obviously struggling to find the rest of his words.
“We – we didn’t know if anything might happen to us with the war still going on, so we wanted something you could keep with you always.”
Molly leaned over and hugged her son tightly. “It’s perfect, George, down to every last detail.”
He waited until she pulled away a little before slowly reaching over to close the locket. He took a steadying breath before carefully grabbing the chain and clasping it around her neck. As they had intended, it hung perfectly over her heart. She ran a finger over the metal and closed her eyes.
No one else in the room made a sound, as they were feeling a bit awkward at being present for such a tender moment. Once George noticed, he smiled a bit more like he did before the war before calling out with a laugh.
“Don’t hold up presents on account of us! I know I personally can’t wait to see if I get a sweater this year!”
He grinned impishly at his mother who swatted him gently with the box her locket had come in.
After that, Christmas continued on a happier note. Fred’s absence was still felt, but everyone knew that the pain they felt now was be better than the cold numbness they had felt earlier when he hadn’t been a part of their celebration. Eventually it began to get easier to talk about their favorite Christmases with him, and soon his nieces and nephews begged to hear stories of their Uncle Fred’s Christmas pranks each year more than any other. And in that way, there never was a year without Fred, his memory lived on and became the most special part of the Weasley Christmases thereafter.