N I N E T Y

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Thoughts of her family and what Adeline had witnessed a few days before remained in her mind when Christmas finally rolled around. But, even if she had wanted to sit and mourn her family, there wasn't even a chance to do so. The early morning had been spent with George celebrating their two year anniversary, and the couple had made it to the Burrow in time for Mrs. Weasley to serve Christmas breakfast.

In the lull between brunch and Christmas dinner, Mrs. Weasley had gotten George, Fred, and Adeline on kitchen and cleaning duty. Nearby, Harry and Ron stood, peeling the potatoes that Mrs. Weasley would be using to cook with later that evening. Fred noticed how even though him and George were using their wands and magic, Adeline was still cleaning her dishes with her hands.

"Why do you always insist on cleaning without magic?" Fred questioned aloud. "You know it's faster if you're not doing it by hand."

Adeline shrugged. "Maybe because I like doing things the Muggle way sometimes. Not everything in life has to be done with magic."

"Yeah, but magic certainly makes life a little simpler."

"To be fair, I do break less dishes than you," Adeline pointed out, and Fred's jaw dropped in outrage. Next to her, George snorted with laughter.

"The fact that you three live together and the flat hasn't blown up yet is beyond me..." Ron muttered.

"Most of the time it's fun," Fred admitted with ease. "Well, when I'm not being traumatized by those two."

"When have you ever been 'traumatized' by us?" George questioned.

"Well, I have when you've forgotten to cast that silencing charm," Fred muttered under his breath. He then yelped when George elbowed him in the side.

"I'm pretending I didn't hear that," Adeline said quietly, ignoring the way she could see Fred roll his eyes out of the corner of her eye.

However, George decide to comment, "Just because you haven't shagged anyone in months doesn't mean that you can–"

"George," Adeline warned, and the mere tone of her voice was enough to silence anything else he was going to say. She then looked at Fred with a raised brow and joked, "You're not allowed to make fun of us anyways. Not on our anniversary."

"Merlin, at least it's always going to be memorable," Fred comment.

"I love it. Christmas has actually turned into my favorite holiday because of it" Adeline grinned as she looked up at her boyfriend. "Don't you love it too?"

Much to Adeline's surprise, George didn't respond as quickly as he usually did when it came to anything involving Adeline. He was still had the same delighted smile, but it wasn't as immediate as usual. "Yeah, I love our anniversary date."

Adeline was quick to notice George's hesitation. As she nudged him in the side, Adeline asked, "Hold on, what's so bad about our anniversary date?"

"Not bad," George answered quickly, not wanting to give Adeline any wrong ideas or make her think he didn't like anything about their relationship. "I love any and every anniversary with you. But, sometimes I wish I could spend our anniversary with only you. We can't exactly get out of family events on Christmas."

"Well you were the one who choose to admit your feelings to me on Christmas two years ago."

"It was the Yule Ball! You looked gorgeous, and I was feeling extra-romantic that night."

"That's a lie, you're always extremely romantic. You just expressed it more that night."

"And you love it. Almost as much as you love me."

Adeline hummed happily and kissed George's cheek. At the same time, Ron and Harry were pretending to throw up in the sink. "Why do you two always have to be like this?" Ron loudly complained.

"I love my girlfriend, that's why," George said with a glare as he gestured over to Adeline. "I don't know why you're acting like that. Don't you have a girlfriend, Ronniekins?" George pointed out.

"Pretty sure that's a lie," Fred muttered.

There was a noise from Harry that sounded like he was trying to suppress his laughter. Meanwhile, Ron's face was growing red as his hair as he protested, "I do have a girlfriend! Lavender Brown!"

Adeline knew all about Ron and Lavender. Not because Ron had said anything, but Hermione had. When the couple had first gotten together, Hermione had sent Adeline a letter. She had no one else at Hogwarts to talk about her crush on Ron and utter heartbreak over him dating another girl. For once she couldn't talk to her two best friends, and Hermione didn't exactly want to talk about all of this with Ginny.

"If you saw the gift she gave him for Christmas, you wouldn't think he was faking it," Harry said with a laugh as he remembered the gaudy pendant he had seen Ron unwrap that morning. "There's no way Ron would go so far as to gift himself something like that."

Ron groaned and hid his face in his hands. "Don't remind me. I don't know what to do about her."

Adeline set down the dish rag, pausing her dish cleaning momentarily so she could focus her full attention on Ron. "What's going on with you and Lavender?"

"It's nice having a girlfriend and all...but Lavender just gets so clingy. Like, all the time. I feel like I can't do anything without her forcing herself to be with me. And every time I try to even say anything, she freaks out and doesn't even let me finish my sentence."

"Can I give my honest opinion?"

Eyebrows furrowing together, Ron responded, "Uh...yes?"

"You need to break up with her."

Ron's eyes went wide as Fred let out a loud laugh. "Huh?"

"I don't want this to sound mean, but it sounds like you don't really like Lavender, you just like having a girlfriend. If you don't like Lavender, then break up with her," Adeline said softly, trying not to have her tone be as harsh as her words sounded. "I know you feel like it's going to suck or you don't want to deal with her reaction or whatever your reason is, but you need to it. The heartbreak of being broken up with is going to be significantly less than being led on and then broken up with. Don't put her through that. No one should experience something like that."

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While everyone had insisted on trying to help Mrs. Weasley with the cooking, she had locked them out of the kitchen and refused anyone's help. Everyone had been banished to the living room, where they were eating the small treats Fred and George managed to sneak out of the kitchen and alcohol Fleur and Sirius had brought.

In a quiet corner of the room, Harry and Ginny were tucked onto a small weathered sofa and were eating mince pies. They were laughing at something no one else in the room could hear, and their knees were touching. As they spoke, neither Harry or Ginny noticed Adeline silently observing the pair, taking in the interactions and how fondly Harry was staring at Ginny.

Adeline waited until Ginny was across the room and in a conversation with Fred and George before she sat down in the now-empty chair next to Harry and quietly asked, "How long have you liked Ginny?"

Harry choked on his minced pie. "What?"

"How long have you liked Ginny?" Adeline repeated as she raised an eyebrow while staring down Harry, whose cheeks were becoming redder by the second.

Harry looked over his shoulder, ensuring that there was no members of the Weasley family standing nearby before answering Adeline. "I think since the summer. But the more I saw her with Dean this term, the more I realize I actually do like her. But, like I said, she's in a relationship with Dean, and Ron will hex me if I even go as far as put my arm over her shoulder. I don't know what to do."

"Well don't interfere with her relationship, that'll ruin any chance you have with her," Adeline responded. "Plus, it could really mess up your relationship with Ron if you mess with Ginny in any sort of way. Just keep being a good friend to her and be yourself around her. If it happens to work out, it'll work out."

Harry almost looked as if he was in a daze as he muttered an excuse and stepped away from the couch. Only a few seconds later, Fleur sat down on the couch cushion that was once occupied by Harry. Two filled wine glasses were in her hands, and Fleur held her hand out to offer one to Adeline. As Adeline gladly accepted the glass, Fleur commented, "We usually try to toast to something with this wine."

Adeline held up her glass. "Then it's to your very first Weasley Christmas."

Fleur and Adeline clinked their glasses together and took a sip. "This mulled wine you and Bill made is incredible," Adeline complimented. "But I'm probably going to have to cut myself off after this glass because it is strong."

"I'll teach you how to make it for next Christmas," Fleur beamed. "Or, 'ze next time we're both stressed."

"I think that might be a little sooner than we want. We do have a whole war going on around us, and you decided to plan a wedding in the midst of it all," She joked. "How's that all going, by the way? Has it been better between you and Mrs. Weasley?"

"Well, she doesn't seem to be as...disappointed and angry towards me as she did back when Bill proposed," Fleur sighed. "I think she likes me better now. But you're her favorite daughter-in-law by a longshot."

"First of all, I am absolutely not her favorite. Once you two get to know each other more, you two are going to get along incredibly. Secondly, George and I aren't even engaged like you are, so I can't even be considered a daughter-in-law."

Fleur waved her off. "You and George are practically married at 'zis point."

Adeline felt her cheeks began to heat up at Fleur's comment. "It's not even Mrs. Weasley I have to worry about. Ginny seems to hate me more than her," Fleur continued, and she made sure to keep her voice low so the teenager couldn't overhear her. "I have no idea what I've done. How does she get along with you so well?"

Unfortunately, Adeline did. She knew that Ginny was inherently distrustful of Fleur because of her Veela heritage, and she was fearful that her brother was being controlled in some sort of way. Even though Adeline had tried to talk to her countless times about how Fleur wouldn't do that, those feelings were still present in Ginny and came out every time she interacted

Instead of bringing that up and making Fleur feel terrible about something she couldn't change, Adeline responded, "Maybe it's because we've known each other for a while longer, even before I started dating George. Ginny's very protective of her brothers, especially Bill."

"You think it'd be the other way around," Fleur joked. Bill then arrived to whisk her away to talk about an idea he had come up with for the wedding, and Adeline was left alone once again.

Sirius was sitting in the corner on a small patchwork armchair, quietly taking in the party as he sipped from a glass filled with Firewhiskey. Adeline sat down on the chair next to him and asked, "How's freedom been treating you?"

"Could be better, could be worse. At least I'm free to message and visit Harry without having to go through all these secret methods," Sirius said, letting out a sigh. "Sometimes, I'll get stared at, and people start acting odd when I walk into the room. But, I'll take people staring than being arrested and accused of a crime I was framed for."

Sirius had known it would be difficult for him to find work after being released from Azkaban. Despite being proven innocent, Sirius's reputation had been dragged through the mud, and there weren't many places willing to hire him. Additionally, with the war going on around him, Sirius had decided to focus almost all of his attention on the Order of the Phoenix and fighting the war against Voldemort.

Besides, he didn't need to figure it out at that moment in time. He had his family's massive fortune to fall back onto, which gave him privileges not afforded to many people. But, Sirius didn't want to live the rest of his life with no sort of purpose. He had been given the gift of freedom, something he never thought he would have again. Sirius didn't want to waste that privilege.

"Well, you'll figure it out," Adeline attempted to reassure. "Hopefully, once this war is over, you'll have time to sit back and figure out what you want to do with your freedom."

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Christmas dinner had been near perfection. Everyone was crowded around the table that was packed with traditional Christmas dishes like Yorkshire Pudding and a Christmas ham that was bigger than George and Adeline's heads combined. Ginny and Adeline had just pulled apart a cracker when there was a knock at the front door. Mr. Weasley opened the door, and his mouth dropped when Rufus Scrimgeour stepped into the Burrow.

"Bloody hell," Adeline heard Ron not-so-quietly whisper from across the table. "What's the Minister of Magic doing here?"

The group was so focused on the arrival of the Minister that they almost didn't notice another member of the Weasley family walking in close behind. It was a few seconds before Mrs. Weasley realized and exclaimed, "Percy!"

Immediately, Adeline turned to look at George next to her, who had immediately gotten stony-faced as he sat up straighter. In an attempt to comfort him, she placed a hand on his knee and make eye contact. George didn't look back at her because his eyes didn't leave Percy for a second. However, she did feel him place his hand on top of hers.

"So sorry to interrupt your Christmas celebrations," Rufus began. "Might I speak with Harry outside for a moment?"

Harry looked like he wanted to do anything but move from his chair. Mrs. Weasley, however, quietly insisted that Harry should follow the Minister outside. So, Harry grabbed his jumper off the hook and stepped outside the door with Rufus.

As Harry left, Mrs. Weasley ran over to pull her son into a tight embrace. Percy stood stiffly and didn't hug his mother back. Although Mrs. Weasley's smile faded for a moment, she was undeterred as she said, "We have plenty of food, and I knitted you a Christmas sweater that is somewhere around here if you'd like to put one of those on–"

"I'm not staying," Percy interjected. "Once the Minister leaves, I leave."

"Git," Fred coughed, and Ginny snorted with laughter.

Percy's head snapped around to glare at his siblings. "You can laugh and make fun of me all you want, but I don't need to any of you in my life anymore. I managed to build something for myself, even with my name and this family's reputation holding me back."

"How dare you?"

Almost all of the Weasley siblings had been ready to throttle their brother. No one had expected Adeline to say anything. So, when they heard her shout from the other end of the table was a shock to everyone there. "How dare I?" Percy practically shouted. "How dare you talk to me like this!"

"Your family was right this whole time! You-Know-Who has been back since the Triwizard Tournament, Fudge was using you and your ambition to try and get to the Order of the Phoenix, and your family was right! This whole time, your family has been trying to care for you and look out for you. But you don't even care! You've basically spat on your dad by saying he has no ambition and your mum when she kept trying to reach out to you, you told Fred and George that they would never amount to anything with their 'silly pranks', and you completely ignore all your other siblings who still care about you. What did the Weasleys do to deserve you treating them so terribly?"

Percy's face turned a dark shade of red as he shot back, "Just because your family was murdered by Death Eaters two days ago, and you're still grieving doesn't give you the right to dictate my relationship with mine!"

Adeline didn't notice her mug slipping from her hands and smashing on the wooden floor below or the way Mrs. Weasley gasped. Her ears began to ring and her head spun, and Adeline could barely process Mr. Weasley demanding that Percy leave the room. She couldn't even look at George, terrified to see the expression on his face. Tonks' face was in her hands, and Adeline could hear her whisper, "Shit".

She had to get out of there.

Adeline could hear George calling out her name, but everything sounded so jumbled, and it was hard for her to focus as she fought back tears. She ignored the stares and people calling out her name as she stuffed her feet into a pair of random boots by the front door and bolted out into the freezing winter snow.

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a/n:

hi guys !!

i'm not dead !! pinky promise !! the combination of a lot of stuff going on in my personal life and nasty writers block has not been good to me.

i hope you all enjoyed the chapter and have a lovely day !! leave a vote and a comment with what you think !! i'll see you at the next update !!

- g ♡