A/N: As the Death Eater Gibbon has no canon first name, I've given him the first name Dmitri. The Death Eater Rowle's first name is given in canon as Thorfinn.

…

"And when I'm done, you'll have the prettiest pigtails ever!" the four-year old girl exclaimed.

"I'm not sure I want pigtails, Flora," Dmitri Gibbon slowly replied, but it was too late. Flora had begun excitedly twisting his shoulder-length hair into two crude braids, cheerfully intertwining it with several glittery pink ribbons. "Maybe, uh, maybe we can do something else while we're waiting for your Mummy to prepare Christmas dinner. Why don't we play a game?"

"You don't want me to braid your hair? You don't like my braiding?"

The girl's face was screwed up on the verge of tears and Dmitri hastily added, "No, no! I like it fine! You can keep doing that, as long as you promise to not cry!" Flora's face immediately brightened and Dmitri released a sigh of defeat, wondering just how glittery his hair would be by the time she was finished. "Your daughter has impeccable fashion taste," he dryly announced as Thorfinn entered the room and stifled a very obvious laugh at the sight.

"Flora, why don't you go see if Mummy needs any help in the kitchen," Thorfinn gently stated and, pigtails forgotten, she eagerly scampered off. "Really, I was only gone for a few minutes," Thorfinn gave Dmitri an amused smile. "If you can't babysit a four-year old for that long without getting sparkly pink ribbons and rainbow butterfly clips in your hair, that's not my problem."

Rainbow butterfly clips? Dmitri frowned. Flora hadn't warned him about those.

"I suppose I'll take this as a mental note to visit a hair cutter before I come over next," he gave a slight smile. A distant roaring sound, like a floo in use, caught both of their attentions and they looked at each other with a surprised frown. "Did you invite other family over for dinner?"

"No, we saw them for Christmas Eve instead. It's probably nothing," Thorfinn said uneasily, "But let's go check anyway."

The floo foyer was a plain, rectangular room with polished wood floors. There was a plain-looking door that led to a small closet and two landscape paintings, one of a forest, the other of a farmland. The mantle of the room's fireplace was ornately carved with decorative engravings of woodland scenes and a bottle of floo powder rested on top of the mantle.

There was also Lucius Malfoy standing in the middle of the room.

"The bloody hell are you doing in my house, Malfoy?" Thorfinn bellowed.

"Macnair was right; you don't have any security on your floo," Lucius offered as he nonchalantly continued brushing soot off of his robes. "I'm surprised; I didn't believe him, but here I am."

"What are you doing in my house?" Thorfinn repeated his alarmed exclamation.

"I'm looking for-" Lucius finally looked up and abruptly cut himself off as he saw Dmitri. Realizing it was rude to stare without explanation, he casually stated, "Interesting hairstyle, Gibbon. I didn't realize pink ribbons and butterflies were in style."

"Dammit, Thorfinn," Dmitri muttered under his breath.

"Yes, well, you two can have your lover's quarrel later. For now I want to know if either of you know where Nott is."

"No, I d—what's that sou—Merlin's beard!" Within the span of a second, Thorfinn had opened the door to the room's closet and shoved Lucius inside, before slamming the door shut. "Hello, Persephone," Thorfinn turned towards his wife as she entered the room, Flora resting on her hip.

"Do you think you could look after Flora for a bit? She's being a bit too helpful in the kitchen," she gave a polite but stressed smile.

"Too helpful! I didn't know that was possible," he directed his comment towards Flora with a bright smile.

"Trust me. It's possible." She sweetly gave her daughter a peck on the cheek and was holding her out to Thorfinn before she added, "What are you two doing in the floo foyer?"

"Oh, y'know," Thorfinn trailed off as he took Flora in his arms.

"I was just telling Thorfinn 'thank you' for having me over for Christmas," Dmitri hastily interrupted with a concocted explanation. "And 'thank you' to you too, Persephone. Very nice of you. Very hospitable."

"You're Thorfinn's best friend, Dmitri; I'm always happy to have you over," Persephone cheerily replied. "Well, have fun chatting."

Persephone had barely left the room when Flora pointed over Thorfinn's shoulder and exclaimed, "I want to do his hair next!"

"Malfoy! What are you doing coming out of the closet?" Thorfinn exclaimed again.

"What are you doing shoving me into the closet?" Malfoy angrily retorted, before adding, "And she is not touching my hair."

"Because—" Thorfinn clamped his hands over his daughter's ears and whispered, "Because my wife doesn't know I'm a Death Eater, alright? So I can't exactly let her see me with an escaped Death Eater from Azkaban."

"Your wife doesn't know you're a Death Eater?" Lucius incredulously repeated. "But you have to disappear for hours in the evenings for Death Eater attacks. What, does she just think that you're having an affair instead?"

"Given the number of bruises and cuts we get from attacks, that would be a pretty horrible affair if you returned home looking like that," Dmitri interjected, before thoughtfully adding. "Or a really good affair, I suppose." Lucius and Thorfinn simultaneously gave him surprised, mildly disgusted looks. "I just mean—" he awkwardly fumbled to defend himself before throwing his hands up and saying, "Okay just because you two are both married blokes with nice vanilla relationships—"

"Anyway," Lucius hastily cut off the other man. "Do either of you know where I could find Nott?"

Dmitri looked mildly offended at being interrupted, but he politely replied, "I don't know, but why don't you ask one of the Death Eaters who actually helped to liberate the cell block Nott was in, unlike us? Someone like Yaxley?"

"Hm. Yes, I suppose I'll try that next. Alright, well, have a nice Christmas," Lucius awkwardly finished in a polite tone.

"You too, I suppose," Thorfinn replied in a similarly polite tone. "And next time you come out of the closet have better timing."

Dmitri stifled a laugh and earned a confused glance from both of the other men. "What, am I the only one that knows that Muggle saying-oh, never mind," he trailed off at the confused looks of the other two purebloods. "Merry Christmas to you too, Lucius."

Thorfinn and Dmitri returned to the dining room with Flora, where Persephone was laying out the final dishes of the Christmas dinner. "Mummy, there was a man hiding in the closet!" Flora cheerfully exclaimed.

"There was what?" Persephone replied, mildly alarmed. "What is she talking about, Thorfinn?"

"We were, uh, playing make believe," Dmitri hurriedly offered as an explanation, and Persephone gave an understanding expression.

"So was the man in the closet nice, Flora?" Persephone distractedly asked as she continued setting out the meal.

"Yeah. But he wouldn't let me play with his hair. And it was such pretty hair, too! It was long and blond and I could've braided it real good."

"Uh huh. I'm sure, sweetie."

…

A/N: The OC of Persephone is borrowed from the story "One Day at a Time" on another account of mine.