Mr. Chudley and Ginny’s Magical Christmas

 

Molly Weasley surveyed the scene under the family Christmas tree with motherly pride. Her two youngest were playing with gifts they had received that Christmas morning. Three year old Ron was cuddling his new teddy bear which he had already christened Mr. Chudley. Her two year old, Ginny, was holding a tea party with her new china set. The chubby toddler’s lips were pursed with concentration as she pointed her new toy wand at one of her tea cups. Little Ginny’s red pigtails bounced as she ran to offer Ron an imaginary cup of tea. Molly smiled as Ron solemnly accepted the cup and pretended to put it Mr. Chudley’s mouth. Ginny clapped her little hands with excitement, giggling with joy.

Molly was so grateful her two youngest go along so well. It was certainly peaceful with just her two little ones. Arthur had taken Bill, Charlie and Percy to Diagon Alley to watch the Christmas parade. The five-year-old twins, Fred and George, were out in the garden playing with their new toy broomsticks. Molly was confident that they couldn’t get into too much trouble as the brooms only hovered a few feet off the ground. She could hear their happy shouts and whoops from outside. All in all, Molly felt truly content.

However, even as she watched the sweet interplay between Ron and Ginny, a dark thought tugged at the back of her mind. Ginny was twenty-six months old and she had not shown any signs of magic. All of her boys had shown magic before their second birthday. When Fred and George were infants, she had had to give up on trying to put them to bed in their own cradle. In the morning she would invariably find them squashed into the same cradle, even though they weren’t even able to walk yet! Percy had somehow charmed his favorite book, Hogwarts, a History, to record his father’s voice so that he could listen to it even when Arthur was too tired to read. Charlie had once accidentally set the cat’s tail on fire after it scratched him one day. When Bill was taking his first toddling steps he had stumbled down the stairs only to land safely at the bottom without so much as a scratch. The magic had been forced out of Ron early by the twins. They had tried to stuff the newborn down a gnome hole but he bounced every time they tried to shove him in. Molly had nearly fainted when she looked out of the window and saw her baby flying through the air!

Ginny, however, had not shown a single magical manifestation. Molly had made sure that all of the toys the children got for Christmas were educational, geared to improve their M.Q., (Magical Quotient). The toy wand Ginny was currently holding was designed to light up when a magical child touched it, but so far Ginny had not produced so much as a spark. Molly had hoped that the wand was defective, but no, whenever one of the other children grabbed it, it lit up just fine. Arthur had assured her before he left, that Ginny was probably just a late bloomer. Molly wasn’t so sure. After all, hadn’t everyone thought that her cousin Leonard was just a late bloomer as well? She remembered the last time she had seen her poor cousin. He was wearing one of those constrictive Muggle suits with a torturous looking tie. Molly shuddered.

A loud wailing dragged her away from her tumultuous thoughts. Ron and Ginny’s tranquil make-believe had been shattered by the sudden and noise appearance of Fred and George barreling through the living room on their little brooms. George had stomped through Ginny’s tea party, scattering the little teacups and saucers. Of course, none of them broke as they were enchanted, but Ginny cried out in dismay at the ruins of her little party.

Meanwhile, Fred had swooped on Ron, pulling his little brown teddy bear out of his arms. “Oy George! Heads up! Here comes a Bludger!” Fred pitched the bear at his twin, over Ron’s head.

George punched the stuffed animal in mid-air and sent it sailing back towards Fred. Just as Fred reach out to catch the bear, Ron barreled into him, slamming both of them to the floor in a tangle of limbs. They rolled precariously close to the Christmas tree.

“Boys! You stop that this instant!” shouted Molly over the fray. Ginny was struggling against George who was holding her arms behind her back to prevent her from running to Ron’s aid.

Before Molly could reach the boys to pull them off of each other, a loud crack rent the air silencing the various grunts, wails and groans. Ron crawled away from Fred, cradling Mr. Chudley victoriously, a broad grin on his flushed, little face. Fred, however, sat dumbstruck in horror, holding the pieces of his broken toy broomstick in his hands. His eyes glittered with tears and his bottom lip trembled furiously. Suddenly, he stood up, wiping his shirt sleeve across his eyes and glaring at Ron. Molly gasped as the little brown bear Ron was holding against his cheek suddenly sprouted several large, black tentacles and writhed in his grasp. Ron screamed hysterically and released the bear which had turned into a large, furry, black spider. The spider scuttled around Ron’s ankles, clicking its pincers menacingly. Molly raised her want to transfigure the spider back into Mr. Chudley just as George released Ginny and ran at the spider, stomping it with his feet.

“George stop!” cried Molly, pulling him off of the toy by the scruff of the neck. She stooped to pick up a very battered bear. One of its eyes had popped out and was hanging by a thread from its squashed, furry face.

Ron snatched the bear out of Molly’s hands with an anguished sob. He fell to his knees crying, “Mr. Chudley! Mr. Chudley!”

Molly’s temper flared as the twins chortled maliciously at Ron’s despair, but before she could say anything, Ginny had snatched her toy wand off the ground, pointing it at the twins. “Fred and George! You are bad!” she cried, stamping her little foot in fury. Molly watched in amazement as George’s toy broomstick rose from the floor behind the twins, hovered in the air and swung back. Before Molly could so much as raise her wand, the broom swung forward and swatted both twins on the behind before falling to the ground in two pieces. Fred and George howled, clutching their bottoms before running from the room in terror.

Molly staggered to the sofa and sank down in shock.

Ginny, competely oblivious to her mother’s astonishment, leaned down and put her head on Ron’s heaving shoulder. She patted him comfortingly before gently pulling the ruined bear from Ron’s hands. “Mummy make Mr. Chudley all better,” she said. Ginny took the bear and her brightly glowing toy wand, and crawled into Molly’s lap. “Mr. Chudley needs Pepper Up,” she declared.

Molly laid the toys aside and crushed Ginny to her in a warm embrace. The little girl pulled back, peered into her face and said, “Fred and George are bad. Very bad.”

“Yes they are,” Molly agreed, pulling Ginny close again. Thank goodness!

Merry Christmas!