Chapter 28: The burrow 

Lucy walked over to the front door of the burrow (or what she thought was the front door the house looked so confusing) and knocked on it gently. She waited patiently, she heard the sound of Fred's voice and Mrs Weasley shrieking at him, then their footsteps heading to the door, Mrs Weasley opened the door and smiled. 

"Hello Lucy dear, we've been expecting you" she smiled as she gave her a hug which Lucy wasn't expecting, Lucy was taller than Mrs Weasley and she wondered how she inherrited her height because her biological father Brain wasn't overly tall neither was her mother Janet. Behind her Fred was waiting, he had a big grin on his face, Lucy smiled at him as she was released from Mrs Weasley's grip 

"Hi" Lucy waved nervously at Fred

"Lucy!" He grinned he walked over to her and gave her a hug, she smiled 

"Everyone else is upstairs including Harry and Hermione" Mrs Weasley said interrupting Lucy and Fred

"Alright mum , we'll go upstairs now..." Fred said gloomily grabbing Lucy's hand and walked upstairs with her

They headed straight into a room covered with orange and the quidditch team 'chudley cannons' Lucy guessed this was Ron's room because he always went on about the chudley cannons...

"Hey look Lucy's here!" Ron said pointing at Lucy who blushed slightly despite the cold air on Christmas eve.

"Didn't mum ever tell you it was rude to point Ronald?" Fred asked

"Be quiet Fred!" Ron snarled 

"Hey Lucky! What brings you to the burrow?" George asked

"Well when you see with your dad with Jessica Stone all day everyday you have to resist the urge not to barf" Lucy sneered 

A few faces were pulled amongst the children before they all settled down again. Lucy and Fred sat down next to each other and Hermione struck up a conversation breaking the silence

"So your Christmas hasen't been the best of Christmas's?" She asked

"Well i've had worse, on my third Christmas I was beaton by my father or should I say my biological father and got no presents" Lucy said gloomily and shuddering at the memory

"I'm sorry..." Fred whispered

"S'Ok i'm just damn lucky that Professor Snape came and found me, I know you guys hate him but he has given me a home and love. He was like the first person who actually cared for me"

Nobody said anything about Lucy's last comment, but Lucy could see sympathy in their eyes, and Lucy knew that Fred was just itching to give her a hug. Lucy pulled the scarf around her neck tighter and hugged her knees and started to think about those times she had been beaten and the amount of scars she had from it. She had never told Snape about them or any of her friends, it just hurt to think that her parents didn't love her, god knows what they were doing now. A single tear fell from Lucy's eye, she let it run down her face and hit her knee and soak into her skirt. Fred put an arm around her and she leant into his neck. 

"So er should we head downstairs for dinner?" George asked breaking the arkward silence 

Everyone nodded and departed downstairs to the kitchen where Mrs Weasley was adding the finishing touches to her food. She put everything down on the table (with a little help from the kids) just as Arthur Weasley opened the front door after a long hard day of work at the ministry of magic.

"Hello Molly! Hello kids! Hello Harry, Hermione and...Lucy?" Mr Weasley guessed Lucy's name 

"Yes sir" Lucy replied trying not to stumble on her words

"It's good to see you!" He held out a hand for Lucy to shake and she did so

"Good to see you too" she smiled 

"How's your father?" 

"Alright..." Lucy felt the urge to say 'he's the reason i'm here' but held her breath. 

After that all the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione and Lucy sat down to eat Mrs Weasleys wonderful Christmas eve feast. Everyone had to agree it was delicious, Ron of course was stuffing his face as usual, after that everyone said goodnight to each other and headed up to bed. Lucy was sharing a room with Hermione and Ginny, she was the last person to get into bed. She grabbed Angus from his cage and gave him a quick hug before she drifted off to sleep, but little did she know Lucy was going to have a terrible dream tonight...