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littlerose13writes · 6 years

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Glitter and Snowmen by LittleRose13

Day 7, The 12 Days of Shipmas - Snowman☃️

In which some families are a little too competitive.

Words: 1,933 Pairings: Harry/Ginny

23rd December, 2015

“It snowed! Everyone wake up right now, it snowed last night and there’s snow everywhere!”

Lily Potter’s dulcet tones woke everyone in the house up within minutes through her sheer excitement. The seven-year-old swung open both her brothers’ doors and she ran into Albus’ room first, jumping on top of him where he lay under his duvet.

“Is it really snowing?” he said excitedly, pushing her off him and jumping out of bed. He ran to the window and pressed his hands and face against it. “We have to tell James, come on!”

Albus grabbed Lily’s hand and pulled her from the room. They hurtled into James’ room and Lily repeated her technique of jumping directly on top of her sleeping brother. James was less impressed than Albus had been.

“Geroff me Lily,” he complained, pushing his face deeper into his pillow.

“But James, you have to wake up! It’s snowed!”

“It’ll still have snowed in two hours, goodnight.” He sandwiched his head between two pillows and turned away from them. Lily shared a disappointed look with Albus.

“Fine, I’m gonna wake up Tebby!” She rushed from the room and directly into Harry, who was waiting on the landing.

“Don’t wake Teddy up, Lil,” he said kindly.

“Daddy! Did you know there’s snow?”

“I might have heard you mention it once, yes,” Harry replied, picking his daughter up.

“James won’t wake up and play with us,” she said glumly, resting her head on Harry’s shoulder. From the ground, Albus could see the sly grin she was showing over Harry’s shoulder and he rolled his eyes at his little sister.

“It is a bit early for your brothers.”

“Albus is awake,” Lily said confusedly. “He’s a brother.”

“Well, as we’re the only three up, we get to make the first footprints.”

“Yes!” Lily cried, heading straight for the stairs.

“Stop. Not in pyjamas, your mother will have my head.”

It didn’t take long for Lily, Albus and Harry to be bundled up in coats, boots, hats, scarves and gloves. Lily was wearing James’ Gryffindor hat, which was sure to cause problems when he woke up, but Harry decided to let it slide for now.

“You can go first, Lily. You’re the littlest.”

Her brother was trying to be kind, but Lily resented being referred to as little. Harry could clearly see the internal battle she was undergoing, torn between not wanting to admit she was the littlest but also wanting to be the first out in the snow.

“Same time!” she cried eventually, grabbing Albus’ hand and jumping from the doorstep into the blanket of snow covering the garden. Her blue wellies sank into the surface with a satisfying crunch right beside Albus’ orange pair. He grinned down at his sister and they both sprinted off as fast as they could in the thick snow.

By the time everyone else was up and dressed for the snow, Harry had cast several warming charms over his youngest two children, who refused to come inside and warm up properly. Harry didn’t blame them; this was the first time it had snowed properly where they lived since Lily was a baby.

Snow always reminded him of Hogwarts and fond memories of snowball fights with the Weasleys; building snowmen with only a little magic help; sending Trevor the toad skidding across the frozen lake surface. Now stood here watching his children experience the wonder snow provided was just as delightful.

Despite now being a first year at Hogwarts and often too grown up to play with his little brother and sister like he used to, James emerged with a pure and childlike joy on his face. He came running out into the garden, immediately gathering a handful of snow and firing it at Harry, who dutifully allowed it to hit him full in the face. James cheered and went to scoop up more.

Teddy was a seventh year and Ginny a fully grown adult and yet they too were laughing hysterically, snow flying everywhere. There was something about snow that turned anyone into a child again.

“I want to build a snowman!” Lily exclaimed after a while.

“Me too!” Albus agreed, immediately scrabbling at the ground to make a start.

“Everyone should build one! A best snowman competition!” Lily cried in excitement.

“Wait, that’s not fair because the grown-ups can use magic!” Albus protested.

Lily considered this for a second. “Okay, put your hand up if you can use magic.”

Harry, Ginny and Teddy exchanged amused looks and obediently put their hands up. James’ hand shot up too.

“Legally, James. You’re a first year.”

James scowled at Ginny’s comment.

“Mum, you can build a snowman with James, Al can build one with Daddy and I’m going to build one with Tebby,” Lily announced.

“Come on Lily-Lu, it’s on!” Teddy grabbed her hand and ran with her to the other side of the garden where an untouched pile of snow sat. “I have the best idea, listen to this.” He whispered into her ear and she looked gleeful.

“I want to go with Teddy,” Albus sulked and Harry folded his arms.

“You mean, you don’t want to hear about my competition-winning snowman design idea, Al?”

Albus brightened up and turned to his dad. “What design idea?”

Harry cast Ginny and James a furtive look. “I can’t tell you here, come and see.” He took Albus’ hand and lead him to the corner opposite Teddy and Lily, who made a big show of turning their backs secretly.

“We’re not letting anyone else win are we, Mum.” James stated defiantly.

“Not if I have anything to do with it.”

An hour later, three snowmen stood in the Potters’ garden and everybody was freezing, despite the warming charms Harry had cast on his children’s coats.

Teddy and Lily’s was the most decorated out of the three, wearing not only a conjured hat and scarf but also a waistcoat and bow tie, which Lily had decorated liberally with glitter Teddy summoned for her. Its smile was made out of frosty snail shells Lily had found under a watering can.

Ginny and James’ snowman was the biggest, and probably would have survived a snowstorm it was so sturdy. James had insisted on using his wand (to remind his siblings that he had a wand and they didn’t) as the nose and it stuck out comically, too long for the snowman’s face.

Harry and Al’s snowman was the tallest but it also looked in danger of falling over at any point, and was held up entirely by magic which Harry kept topping up worriedly. It was wearing a conjured top hat, had a traditional carrot nose and looked a bit like a muggle magician.

“How do we decide who won?” James asked, his teeth chattering.

“Let’s discuss that inside where it’s warm,” Ginny said with concern.

Once the children were all bundled up in front of the fire with hot chocolates, the question of picking the winning snowman came up again.

“I think me and Tebby should win ‘cause ours had the most glitter,” Lily explained very seriously.

James and Albus protested instantly.

“It’s not about who has the most glitter!”

“Glitter looks rubbish on a snowman!”

“Glitter does not look rubbish,” Teddy pretended to be cross with James for Lily’s benefit and she nodded fiercely beside him.

“Well me and Dad’s was the tallest, so we should win,” Albus replied, ignoring Teddy’s response about the glitter.

“No! Ours was nearly as tall anyway!” James complained.

Harry, Ginny and Teddy exchanged glances, all silently regretting turning this into a competition.

“Can’t we all be winners? I had so much fun, I feel like a winner,” Harry said in a jaunty tone.

All three of his children looked at him like he’d just announced he wanted to become a professional opera singer.

“Didn’t think that would work…” Harry tailed off.

“We need someone who didn’t take part to choose a winner,” Ginny said, causing Albus to look around the room as if there might be someone else there he hadn’t known about.

As he looked at the fireplace, the flames turned green and Ron’s head appeared in the flames.

“Uncle Ron!” Lily exclaimed.

“Oh, hello all of the Potters,” Ron was taken aback by the reception. “Harry, do you have a minute?”

“Absolutely, come through.”

As soon as Ron’s head disappeared again while he prepared to Floo in, Harry turned to his family. “We’ll ask Ron to pick a winner. Don’t worry Albus, he’ll definitely pick his best friend.”

Albus beamed at this news and James opened his mouth to protest again but she was drowned out by Lily, who scoffed loudly. “Please. Everyone knows I’m Uncle Ron’s favourite Potter! He’ll definitely pick me.”

“Maybe, to make things fairer, we shouldn’t tell him who built each snowman?” Ginny reasoned, sensing another argument.

Lily went to speak but stopped herself. James and Albus were silent too. “That seems fair,” she said, after a pause.

Ron spun into the room and dusted himself off, accepting Lily’s rather violent hug and picking her up into the air. “How’s my favourite Potter girl?”

“Feeling like I really like glit-”

“That’s cheating, Lily!” Albus interrupted her.

Ron looked between them bewildered, then over to Ginny.

“Ronald, dearest brother of mine, we were wondering if you would do us a quick favour while you’re here and judge our impromptu snowman competition.”

Ron blinked round at the six expectant faces. “I have to judge who’s built the best snowman out of you lot?”

“We were in teams,” James explained. “Me and Mum, Albus and Dad, Lily and Teddy.”

“Three snowmen, but we aren’t going to say who made which one.” Ginny added.

“Okay, I can do that.” Ron shrugged and allowed the children to lead him away into the garden where the three odd snowmen stood proudly. Harry quickly shot another strengthening charm at their snowman and Teddy definitely enlarged the bow tie on theirs.

“These are mad, you know that right?” Ron grinned at the Potters who shared proud looks. “But if I had to pick the maddest out of the lot, then it has to be this glittery one. That’s yours I’m guessing James?”

James missed the joke, scowled heavily and grumbled “no, I hate glitter,” stamping his foot into the snow.

“Then again, if we’re talking about the best building of a snowman, then this one has a clear height advantage. A lot of effort has gone into the height of that.” He surveyed Harry and Albus’ snowman.

“But I also have a bit of a soft spot for snowmen with wands for noses.” He poked at James’ wand where it was firmly stuck into the compacted snow.

“So who’s the winner?” Lily said impatiently. “You sort of said all three.”

“All three are the winners,” Ron beamed and Harry groaned as the children started to complain.

“Lily, consider this a lesson in never relying on a brother too much.”

Lily saluted her mother, laughing, which was a relief as she was easily the most competitive out of the three Potter children.

They trudged back inside, leaving the three winning snowmen stood proudly in the garden.

Harry spoke when they were back by the fireplace. “Now that’s sorted, what did you need, Ron?”

Ron grinned. “I feel a bit silly asking now, but you couldn’t come and be an impartial judge for the First Annual Granger-Weasley Gingerbread House competition could you?”

#12 days of shipmas #HolidayHG #Harry Potter fanfiction #Harry Potter #Ginny Weasley #hinny #James Sirius Potter #Albus Severus Potter #lily Luna Potter #teddy lupin #Ron Weasley #12daysofshipmas #glitterandsnowmen

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littlerose13writes · 6 years

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Muggle Observations by LittleRose13

Day 11, The 12 Days of Shipmas - Christmas play/nativity 🎤

In which Albus knows everybody’s lines and Lily gets far too excited.

Words: 2,000

Pairing: Harry/Ginny

14th December, 2014

The school hall of Ridge Oak Primary was darker than usual, and packed with people sat on rows of chairs. Children’s artwork decorated every wall leading up to a stage set up at the front of the hall. Music played somewhere beneath the loud chatter and Arthur Weasley was bouncing up and down in his seat with excitement.

“Amazing, fascinating, ingenious these muggles.”

“Dad, shh,” Ginny reminded him. “You can’t keep saying that in here.”

“But look! That thing,” he pointed to the projector on the ceiling, “is shining light so brightly, it’s making a picture on that wall!”

He was speaking in the tone of voice one would expect from a three-year-old explaining what they could see around them. A man in the row in front turned around and gave Arthur a strange look. Ginny smiled and patted her father’s shoulder.

“Dad, write it down instead.”

Arthur nodded and withdrew a small notebook and muggle pen from his pocket. It was his Muggle Observations book which Ginny had bought for him for moments just like this. He used it to write down everything he noticed which interested him so that he could discuss it at length with whoever would listen.

Molly tutted and shook her head at her husband, but Ginny saw her looking at the projector in interested disbelief.

Ginny always brought her parents to anything the kids did at school, not only because Arthur was ecstatic to be in the muggle primary school, but because Molly also took great delight in watching her grandchildren grow up. The Christmas nativity was a particular highlight for her, although Ginny and Harry were apprehensive about it this year.

If they could just get through the whole thing without Lily doing accidental magic (which happened when she was excited), they could breathe easily.

“Look, Gin.” Harry tapped her on the shoulder and pointed down at a page in the programme they’d been given on the way in. It read Ridge Oak Primary School Nativity 2014 on the front and contained several photographs inside.

The picture Harry was pointing at was of Lily’s year two class sat in rows and singing. Every child was sat with their legs crossed, singing sweetly, until the very end of the row where Lily was. She too sat with her legs crossed neatly, but wasn’t looking at the camera and had instead thrown her head back with the exuberance of her singing.

“Thank Merlin they didn’t give her a solo singing part,” Ginny grinned at her husband.

“I thought they did? She told me she was Angel Gabriel?” Harry looked confused and flicked to the cast list at the front of the programme. Next to the part of Angel Gabriel was the name of a girl in James’ class; definitely not Lily Potter.

“And you believed our six-year-old daughter?”

“How can you tell when she’s making things up?” Harry looked crestfallen.

“How can you not?” Ginny was laughing at her husband, who their daughter had firmly wrapped around her little finger.

“I think it’s starting,” Molly said, shushing them and settling to face the stage.

The lights in the school hall had dimmed and a spotlight shone down on a microphone to the side of the stage. A child stepped up to it and started to speak. Molly looked around agitatedly.

“Where’s James?” she hissed. “I thought he was the narrator.”

“There are a few narrators, Mum,” Ginny gently leant over her father to address her mother. Molly pursed her lips as if it wasn’t at all acceptable for anybody other than her grandchildren to be on the stage.

The narrator who wasn’t James finished speaking and the show started. To the side of the stage, Lily’s whole class could be seen sitting ready to sing.

While the children were all singing and Mary and Joseph wandered around the school hall on a hobby horse designed to look like a donkey, Lily spotted her parents in the audience. She didn’t stop singing but she waved enthusiastically, nearly poking the little boy next to her in the eye.

“Ironic that Lily was cast as an angel,” Ginny whispered into Harry’s ear as he watched her singing in her little angel costume. (A generic angel, not the lead role of Angel Gabriel she’d told Harry was hers.)

As they both watched their daughter sing, there was a moment when they both froze. Lily’s tinsel halo had started to levitate above her head, slowly rising up and away from her red hair. Their biggest worry was happening right in front of them.

“Is she… doing magic?” Harry hissed in horror as the halo rose higher. A child sat behind Lily had their eyes locked on in wonder.

“She’s excited about singing, oh Merlin make it stop!” Ginny kept her voice at a whisper but was internally panicking. The song went on and Lily’s halo was still hovering, completely disconnected from her head.

A few seats down from Lily was her teacher, Miss Emerson, who through a surprising turn of events, was well aware that the Potters were magical. She too had spotted Lily’s levitating halo and reached out to quickly grab it and lower it back down to Lily’s head. With the halo firmly held in place by her hand, Miss Emerson scanned the crowd for Harry and Ginny, shooting them a grin.

Ginny gave her a grateful look and Harry mouthed thank you across the hall.

“That was a close one,” Ginny muttered, keeping her eyes firmly locked on Lily.

The song finished and everybody clapped. James stepped up to the microphone and sought his parents out in the audience. He caught Harry’s eye and grinned widely, pressing his lips just a bit too close to the microphone and creating a muffled sound.

“Mary and Joseph travelled many miles to Bethlehem on a donkey,” he spoke confidently, as if he were announcing the lineup of a show.

“Look at Albus,” Ginny whispered and pointed out their second son to the side of the stage, dressed as a shepherd and holding a toy sheep. He was sat with the other shepherds in what was supposed to be a freeze frame, except Albus’ lips were moving as he mouthed all of James’ words along with him. Harry grinned at her and shook his head fondly.

“They needed to find somewhere to stay, so they asked some innkeepers if there was room.”

“What is he doing with his hands?” Arthur asked from Ginny’s other side.

“Signing. There are two hard of hearing children in this school.” Arthur nodded and looked back at James, who was continuing to tell the story of Mary and Joseph being turned away by the innkeepers.

“A kind innkeeper let them stay in his stable, because he had no room.” James smiled around and stepped down from the microphone and back into his space next to the other narrators.

“Look, an angel!” Albus delivered his line perfectly, which was no surprise considering he’d practised it every night at the dinner table between mouthfuls. The child who had actually been cast as the Angel Gabriel started to walk onto the stage.

There was a silent pause.

The girl beside Albus was staring at him with wide eyes. Albus looked at her pointedly. Nothing happened.

Over to the side of the stage, Miss Emerson was holding a script and watching the girl on the stage, looking like she was ready to jump in with the line any second.

Albus whispered something to the girl and her expression cleared. “Something terrible must have happened!” the girl exclaimed, spoiling the sentiment slightly by smiling at Albus.

The children all started to sing While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night and thankfully, Lily didn’t seem to be as excited by this song and kept the accidental magic under control from what Harry and Ginny could see.

“Look, its James again!” Molly whispered unnecessarily loudly. “Arthur, get the camera out again.”

Ginny pointedly avoided the confused stares of the people further down the row who had been taking photos of their children on a mobile phone, and were eyeing the large and old-fashioned looking (secretly magic) camera with fascination.

James confidently approached the microphone and told the audience how three wise men from the east followed a star to find the baby Jesus. There was more singing as children dressed as wise men walked through the middle of the audience, following another child holding up a big, silver star. The star was handed to James, who held it up proudly to say his next line.

“Jesus was born, and angels sent from heaven surrounded the stable.”

Lily’s class filed neatly onto the stage and Harry waved at their daughter, who gave him a big smile but also an expression that made it clear she was far too professional to wave back now she was on stage. There was another song, which Lily sang enthusiastically and Harry and Ginny crossed their fingers tightly throughout.

The song came to an end, and James went to speak again, but as he did, the star he was holding began to sparkle and glow as if it were alive with fairy dust. James stared at it in surprise, indicating he wasn’t aware this was going to happen. Similarly, a teacher behind him was rubbing the lenses of his glasses and staring in disbelief at the ethereal star.

“What amazing special effects!” somebody in the row behind commented.

Ginny took one look at Lily’s beam and shining eyes and she slid as far down in her seat as was socially acceptable. Harry had his head in one hand, an anguished look on his face.

James, while still blown away by the object in his hand, continued to say his lines, sounding only a little bit uncertain. Albus was looking between the star and his little sister, having worked out what was going on. He nudged Lily lightly and she turned around to smile at him too. He mouthed stop at her but she didn’t seem to understand him.

Albus’ intervention seemed to have distracted Lily enough that the star’s glow slowly diminished. Ginny was more than relieved, as she’d been having visions of the star beginning to levitate away from James.

The nativity came to an end and everyone clapped until the hall became a bustle of chatting parents and teachers. Nearly everyone was commenting on the ‘impressive finale’, and even Molly and Arthur hadn’t instantly recognised it had been their granddaughter’s accidental magic. When they did, they were smiling proudly.

“Well done my babies,” Ginny stood up to receive James and Albus, who had reached them first. They allowed her to hug them both, even though James groaned at being called a baby.

“Did you see what Lil did?” Albus asked breathlessly. “Will she be in trouble? I don’t think she did it on purpose.”

“Oh! That was Lily!” A look of understanding passed over James’ face and he shrugged. “It was cool.”

“She’s not in trouble, it was an accident. Just unfortunate timing,” Ginny muttered to reassure Albus as Lily came running over to them, throwing herself into Harry’s arms.

“I did it, Daddy! I was an angel.” Harry picked her up.

“Was that very exciting, being on stage?” he asked his daughter.

“Oh yes!” Lily’s eyes were shining.

“We all noticed how excited Lily was,” Ginny said fondly, looking around at her family who were gazing at Lily in amusement.

“You dropped your halo, Lily.” Miss Emerson appeared at Harry’s shoulder to reunite Lily with her halo. She smiled round at the family. “That certainly livened things up. I’ll put Lily on props next year.” She winked and left them to greet some other parents.

“Did you see the star, Daddy?” Lily whispered into Harry’s ear. “Don’t tell anyone, but I think it might have been magic.”

#12 days of shipmas #Harry Potter fanfiction #hinny #HolidayHG #Harry x Ginny #Ginny Weasley #James Sirius potter #Albus potter #lily Luna Potter #Arthur Weasley #Molly Weasley #miss Emerson #12daysofshipmas #muggleobservations

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