Chapter Six– Christmas
Toby came home for two weeks over Christmas; I could see that he'd grown visibly. He spent most of his time back at home in the library with Vlad. Vlad was very frail and although Toby didn't say it, I knew he was scared that the old man would die while he was at school. It put a vague lid on my ecstatic happiness that plagued everyone, for the brief period that Toby was home. Christmas day was a bright, colourful experience as always though. Mel decorated the whole interior of the manor with the aid of the house elves Stimpy and Kotten.
Christmas presents adorned the living room which Toby and I ran to after breakfast, my first present was a small note book full to the brim with hand-drawn cartoons that Toby had drawn, most were badly charmed so that they moved and the occasional figure's head fell off if the book was shaken too violently, my next present was an intricate silver bracelet given to me by Boris. When you looked closely at the pattern you could see that it was made of three ivy vines plaited together, with small leaves adorning the edges. Mel and Vlad Gave me a small leather backpack that Melania had embroidered all different coloured flowers onto.
In return, Boris and I gave Toby an enchanted sketch book that guarded his work from moderate jinxes and curses, fire, water and nosey people, it never ran out of paper and it promised to stay 'good as new' for at least 40 years guaranteed! I gave Boris a packet of seeds of his favorite plant, Alihotsy, a rare flower from south east Asia. The packet had a large warning on the front 'CAUTION: if consumed the leaves of this plant will make one hysterical for a number of hours, the only cure is sedation.' Boris hastily snuck the packet into his pocket, away from Melania's begrudging eyes and winked at me. My present to Vlad was a walking stick that I'd spent hours decorating with carvings of plants and animals, my present to Melania was a fruit bowl of the same design.
The present which got the most attention was the present given to Toby by Vlad and Melania, a Nimbus 1998, the newest model of broomstick, along with Boris's present of flying lessons. Without the hindrance of a cautious school-teacher Toby took to the skies like a fish to water, Boris barely had to help, Toby was graceful and fast, whereas I could hardly leave the ground, flying didn't work for me like it worked for Toby, but I wasn't jealous, Toby and I were never like that.
Before the Christmas holidays ended, Melania called a family meeting, "Great news everyone!" she announced standing confidently at the end of the dining room table, "Alexander and his wife, Maria are out of hiding, now that the Dark Lord has fallen-"
"Melania," Boris interrupted, "You-Know-Who fell two years ago! Why only now?"
"I know, I know Boris! I thought you'd ask, you see, after Alexander and Anthony were part of the 1980 resistance, Voldemort and his death eaters followed Anthony and the other resisters home..."
Boris nodded, "Anthony, your other son?"
"Yes, yes," my grandmother sighed, "Isla and Tobias's father. Luck would have it, that Alexander, his wife Maria and another resister, Eli Jones, were together when the death eaters attacked, Eli got killed fighting, took afew of the Death Eater's with him mind you, poor soul, but Alexander and Maria got away and isolated themselves in Russia. They didn't hear that he had fallen until last year and they thought they should wait until all his followers were caught."
"Have they been, Melly?" I asked.
"Oh gosh no!" she exclaimed, "Plenty are still out there hiding; waiting, pretending, but none would dare attack now, not with the ministry back on its feet."
"But their house, it got completely destroyed! Where are they gonna live?" asked a thoughtful Tobias. Melania smiled, "Well, I was hoping, if you guys would mind them staying here?" She laughed as Vlad's expression turned sour, "I'm sorry Vlad, I'm sure she's nicer, or at least humbler now she's spent nine years in Russia!" Vlad frowned, "When do they arrive?"
Mel smiled sheepishly, "Tomorrow..."
Welcoming Alexander and Maria turned into an emotional wreckage, rather than a cheerful reunion. After afew moments of awkward silence once we'd been introduced, I found myself buried in Toby's sweater bawling my eyes out. From what I'd seen in photos, Alexander could have been my fathers' identical twin, the trade-mark shoulder-length brown hair, bushy mustache, dopey expression and olive skin. "Well that makes me feel welcome!" Squawked a tall, slight, skinny woman with a long, thin nose, grey eyes and a bob of short, straight black hair, "Can't you keep her under control?" She swept past us and into the house. It didn't take Boris and me long to realize that we didn't like Maria very much.
"Isla Peverell! Put that damned flower down!"
"Why?" I frowned up at her.
"Because, flowers don't belong at the dinner table, you silly girl!"
"Fine!" I shrugged and the flower shriveled and died in my hand, it turned into ash and I poured it onto the table and started pushing it around, making patterns on the table.
"STOP IT!" she stood up and shrieked at me, "I've had enough of you, you arrogant prat! You're just like your mother! Self-obbsessed and stuck-up! You're not that special, you know!!"
"She was only -"Tobias stood up.
"AND YOU!" She turned on Toby, "JUST SHUT UP!" and she stormed out of the dining room, leaving the rest of us staring at the place where she'd just been standing. A week later, after many more arguments and attacks from Maria, Alexander revealed that Maria was almost five months pregnant and she would be very unstable and her stress levels would be very high. Melania said she'd guessed as much, Vlad rolled his eyes, muttered something about how it 'couldn't get worse' and kept to his library even more often than usual.
"If she wasn't pregnant, would she still hate me?" I asked Boris and Tobias, one cold evening when we were sitting on the massive red leather couch in front of the fire in Boris' den.
"People think what they think, Isla." Replied an always mellow Boris as he gently stroked the fur on Ferra's back.
"But she –", I attempted to argue.
"Let her have her opinion Issy, she's just stressed, that's all…" sighed Tobias as he got up, yawned and stretched out his arms far above his head, "Well I'm going to go and find Vlad. See you later." He stuck his hands deep into his pockets and trudged off towards the hallway. I moved myself closer to Boris and he put his arm around me. "It's alright little one," he whispered, "don't you let her worry you…"
"I'm glad you're here, Bo." I murmured.
"I'm glad I'm here too, Issy." he replied.
Tobias left the next day to go back to Hogwarts, he had the most trouble saying goodbye to Vlad. I knew he was wondering whether he'd ever see the old man again.
A/N: I hope you like!! Just to make clear; you do get to know Maria and Alexander and the blank space better. Thanks for reading, please review!
