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Molly brushes a loose strand of hair out of her face as she finishes the last bits of the Christmas dinner for tonight. The last pie is in the oven, ready for dessert tonight. She puts the pudding in the fridge before turning around to the mess that the kitchen is. Her daughter is sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter, decorating the last of the Christmas cookies. Icing in her hair and smearing across her face.
‘Are you almost done, Ginny honey?’ she asks as she goes to stand next to her little girl.
Ginny looks up, some icing in the corner of her mouth and Molly can’t help but chuckle as she shakes her head. Planting a kiss on her forehead.
‘I love them,’ she says as she takes the plate of cookies, putting them away in the cupboard.
‘Can I go ask Bill to go outside with me now?’ Ginny asks.
Molly nods, smiling at her when she storms out of the kitchen to go see where her big brother is. Filling her heart with warmth to know her children get along so well. She looks outside, watching all of her children playing in the snow. Fred and George were chasing Ronald with a ball of snow in every one of their hands, their faces full of glee. Bill was carrying around Ginny on his back as they ran through the snow, eventually both of them falling down and making snow angels. Comparing them to each other. Percy was sitting to the side, watching his siblings play with the hint of a smile on his face. The only one missing was Charlie.
Molly walks up the stairs, taking in the warmth of the house and the Christmas decorations her family had put up when Bill, Charlie and Percy had come back for their Holiday off Hogwarts. Christmas is one of her favourite times of the year. Her entire family is back home again. She enjoys baking them baked goods for breakfast, sitting them down for hot chocolate during the afternoon and spoiling them with the biggest dinner that they can ever imagine. Though some of them are already used to the Hogwarts banquet, Bill, Charlie and Percy’s eyes still fill with wonder when they look at their mother’s food - telling her that Hogwarts’ food is nothing compared to her cooking.
She walks up the last stairs before stopping in front of her oldest kids’ room. On the wooden door Charlie and Bill have made their own name plates. Charlie’s nameplate is carved from wood in the shape of a dragon, their name written on there in Arthur’s handwriting - because they didn’t trust themselves to write it neatly enough. Bill’s is simple but colourful, as if he had dropped it in a huge bucket of different colours of paint. She can hear shuffling behind the door, a soft voice talking and paper rustling.
She knocks on the wood. ‘Charlie, dear? Are you there?’
A crash sounds before she hears quick footsteps rushing up to the door. Charlie’s face appears through the smallest of spaces in between the door and the doorframe. Their cheeks are red and their eyes wide as they look at their mother.
‘Mom!’ they say. ‘You can not come in right now!’
Molly raises an eyebrow. ‘Why’s that?’
‘Because-’
She can see Charlie look back into the room and she tries not to think of the possible mess that’s in theirs and Bill’s room at the moment. One that she will probably have to clean up when her kids go back to Hogwarts, “forgetting” to clean their room. She thought her howlers would make them clean up their rooms before departure but still they never learned.
‘Because it’s a surprise,’ Charlie says eventually, their eyes looking back at their mother again. ‘I want it to stay a surprise.’
Molly smiles at them. ‘Very well, just make sure that whatever you’re doing, you clean up after yourselves, okay?’
Charlie nods and closes the door again, their footsteps shuffling back to the spot they were in before the interruption. Molly smiles to herself as she conjures a washing bin, collecting clothes throughout the house. The smell of her last pie in the oven spreading itself through the Burrow and Christmas music softly playing in the background. A smile spread across her face as she heard her family’s laughter and screams from the garden. She really did love Christmas, but most of all her family.
Right before dinner Charlie walks into the kitchen, their hands behind their back as they approach their mom. They are wearing their Christmas sweater already as Molly always gave them to her children and husband on the night before Christmas. There was a blush on their cheeks and a nervous smile on their face when Molly turned around, surprised to see them in the kitchen.
‘Hey dear,’ she greets them, pressing a kiss to their cheek before waving her wand to get the dishes to clean themselves. ‘Did you manage to finish what you were working on earlier?’
Charlie nods, their feet shuffling on the floor as they look up at their mother.
‘What’s wrong, sweetheart?’ Molly asks, her hand against their cheek. ‘You look a bit pale. Are you feeling well?’
‘Yes mom,’ Charlie says. ‘This is for you.’
A package appears from behind their back, laying in their hands as they nervously look at the wrapping paper. Molly can see they tried their best to wrap it, it reminds her a lot of when Arthur tries to wrap the children’s Christmas presents. Too much wrapping paper, too much tape - but they tried.
Charlie hands her the package and she holds it in her hand, feeling her heart warm up at the sweet gesture of her child. She can already feel tears welling up in her eyes and she has no idea what’s in it yet.
‘Would you like me to open it now?’ Molly asks and Charlie nods, a little hesitant.
Molly carefully removes the wrapping paper, placing it on the kitchen counter next to her. Soft brown-orange fabric touches her fingers and when she unfolds it, it takes the shape of a sweater. The letter M is stitched on it in a brighter orange fabric. Her very own Weasley Christmas Sweater. Made by her very own child. She can see the little mistakes in the knitting of the sweater but it only makes it even more special than it already was.
‘It’s the M from Mom,’ Charlie says, there’s a spark in their eyes when they smile up at her. ‘I really wanted you to have your own Weasley sweater for this Christmas so I asked Professor McGonagall if she could help me, teach me how to knit without using magic. It took me a while before I could convince her but she eventually gave in and we spent a few Sundays knitting up in her office. Do you like it?’
Molly swallows the lump that had formed in her throat. She wipes her eyes on the back of her hand as she takes in a shaky breath.
‘I don’t just like it, my sweet Charlie,’ she looks at them, hugging the sweater to her chest. ‘I love it. I love it so much, sweetheart.’
She pulls the sweater over her head and it fits her perfectly. She smiles down at it before looking back up at her sweet child. She extends her arms to them and they run into them - pulling them as close as possible as she gives them a kiss on the head.
‘Thank you so much, sweetheart,’ she whispers as she plants another kiss on the crown of their head as she hears a little sniff coming from Charlie. Probably the nerves of giving the sweater to their mom washing off their shoulders. ‘You made this Christmas even much more special than it already was.’