This story takes place well after the Harry Potter and his generation of students have left Hogwarts. ElfFlame and I had created several sets of children from the various stories we've written, and since they were all around the same age, decided to throw them into school together. So this is a story, hopefully soon to be a series of stories based on several others. To help make more sense of these stories, it may help to read my story, De Die In Diem: From Day to Day, and ElfFlame's stories, Dragon's Tears, and Lost Love. Most of the kids come from those. We've also created many original kids not from our stories to help fill the ranks. Many of their last names may sound familiar to you. ElfFlame has files of the names and basic family trees of some of the children for all who are interested in finding out more background on these kids. Email her at ElfFlame@hotmail.com if you want them. We hope you enjoy these, we've been having lots of fun thinking about them!
Disclaimer: You know the usual, all of this world is JK's, and we thank her for letting us borrow it. Only the original characters are ours!
Wicked Lee: Isn't Lucius fun now that he's nicer? I love how protective he is of his girls. Here's the other half of Christmas, I hope you enjoy!
Arsinoe3: Having them fall asleep in the Great Hall is one of my most favorite parts of the whole story, I'm glad you liked it too! Here's the rest of Christmas, enjoy!
Christmas Eve At Hogwarts
Sunday was a mostly pleasant day, with only a few unpleasant incidents. Adriana and Reni had a yelling match. Adriana was upset that Reni had stayed in her dormitory all day the day before, and Reni was upset over having to leave her room to spend time with her parents. Teecie hated hearing her parents and sisters yelling at one another. Since everybody else was spending time with their families, Teecie retreated to the kitchens.
Nili was kind and glad to see Teecie. Together, they cut out Christmas biscuits, and placed them on baking sheets. They chatted happily, and sang songs. It would be hard to say which one had the worse singing voice, for Teecie didn't have as much talent in that department as Reni did.
After a couple hours, Teecie left, and went back upstairs. Things had quieted down, so Teecie joined James, Peter, and her nieces and nephew in the Great Hall for afternoon tea. James wasn't very talkative that afternoon. He'd had a somewhat traumatic morning. He'd been sitting in the Great Hall, eating his breakfast, when he'd been subjected to listening to Adriana, Tanith, and his mum talking about child birth stories as they ate at the professor's table. His mum told the other women he'd been a breach birth, and had taken 17 hours of labour to deliver. Adriana told them about Teecie taking 16 hours of labour, and how the baby had screamed for an hour straight, until falling asleep after being born. James thought it was embarrassing to listen to that sort of talk as though he hadn't even been in the room. And, as if imagining his mother and the other women in labour wasn't bad enough, James was still eating when the subject turned to marrying their kids off to each other's children. He was pleased, however, when he was matched up with Teecie. Now every time he looked at Teecie, he heard their mother's talking about their births and eventual marriage.
There had been a humiliating experience for Teecie that evening. During dinner, Lucius told her he'd talked to Professor Flitwick that day, and he'd told him how talented Teecie was with the Floating charm. When Adriana heard this, she was very excited about that. She made Teecie go up to her dorm, get her wand, and bring it back to show them her talent. Teecie was still very nervous about this charm, and hated being put on the spot, but wanted to please her mother. As Teecie sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, she felt every eye in the room upon her, waiting to see what she would do. Teecie put a fork in the middle of the table, said, "Wingardium Leviosa," while swishing and flicking her wand, but nothing happened.
Teecie felt her cheeks burning over her failure. Closing her eyes, she tried it once again, but nothing happened. Hearing somebody laughing, Teecie opened her eyes and saw Sirius looking at her and chuckling. Teecie's eyes filled with tears as she quickly stood up from the table and ran from the room. She didn't stop until she'd reached her dormitory.
James had been sitting across from Sirius when this occurred, and when he'd seen how upset Teecie was, had reached across the table and punched Sirius in the jaw. It didn't do much damage, but Sirius put a hand to his chin and looked at his brother in bewilderment. James stood up from the bench and began yelling at Sirius for making Teecie cry. As he lunged at Sirius again, Remus caught him from behind and pulled him out of the room. Sirius, Tonks, Lucius, and Adriana were left open-mouthed with wonder over this.
Remus had talked sternly to James about controlling his temper, and sent him up to his common room to calm down for a while. James paced the floor of the common room, kicking the chair legs angrily as he passed them. He knew Teecie was in her room, probably crying her eyes out, but he couldn't go to her. Boys weren't allowed in the girl's dormitories. He wanted more than anything, to comfort her, to tell her not to be sad that his stupid brother had laughed at her. Sirius was an idiot, and not worth getting upset over.
After a while, Teecie emerged from her dormitory. James could see her face was all red from crying. Teecie glared at James as he stood up and walked over to her. "What do you want?" She asked shrilly.
"I wanted to see if you were all right," James replied in a whisper.
"Why? So you could go tell Sirius that I was crying and have a good laugh over it?" Teecie folded her arms.
"No, I wanted to make sure you weren't crying," James said patiently. He walked over to Teecie and put his arm around her shoulders.
Teecie was fuming by now, and pushed James away from her so hard he fell to the floor. "Don't touch me James Lupin! I hate you and your brother! Every time I turn around, you're there. In my face, in my way, and I'm sick of it!"
James looked up at Teecie from where he'd pushed himself up to a sitting position. He was heartbroken, and could feel tears springing to his eyes. He blinked hard to keep his tears from falling. Slowly standing up, James looked down at his feet before speaking quietly. "Don't worry, you don't want me around, I won't be. I'll never speak to you or bother you again," James turned around and left the common room without a backward glance.
Teecie watched as James left the room, and burst into tears. She was so confused and upset over everything in her life, and all Teecie wanted was to go back home with her parents. She was safe there and life wasn't confusing at home.
As Teecie tried to compose herself, she left the common room to find her mother. She was surprised to see her mother standing in the hallway, waiting for Teecie. Adriana held her arms out for her daughter and Teecie began to cry again as her mother held her safely in her arms.
Several floors below, James sat on the steps forlornly. He couldn't go downstairs and face his family after this. He couldn't go back to his house and face Teecie. He was stuck where he was. Suddenly, terror overtook James as he heard the familiar tapping of Lucius' walking stick. It was growing louder as he walked up the stairs to James. Lucius made eye contact with James, and he knew it was too late to run somewhere and hide.
Lucius stood at the bottom of the stairs, leaning against the wall, not looking at James. Taking a deep breath, Lucius folded his arms, looked into the air, and spoke. "You'll want to tread carefully with the Orendes women. Every one of them has a bad temper. If you say one wrong word, they'll hand you your ass on a platter, but for some reason, you keep coming back for more. Trust me, I know," Lucius paused before going on again, "But she's worth it, so don't give up." With that, Lucius turned around, and walked back down the stairs. James listened as the tapping of the walking stick grew fainter.
James was shocked by this blessing of Lucius. He was still sitting on the stairs, reliving the scene, when Adriana came down the staircase and sat beside him. "You know, girls your age can be sort of funny. Sometimes it's best to give them space. Let them come to you when they want to. You might have better luck trying that," Adriana smiled, stood up, and continued to walk down the stairs.
Teecie had left her mother's comforting arms, and returned to her dormitory. She spent some quality time with Snowball, read some of her Amaris book, and fell asleep early, with her clothes still on.
The next morning, Teecie woke up early, and realized with horror, that she hadn't gotten her family anything for Christmas! It was Christmas Eve, what would she do? Maybe somebody was going to Hogsmeade today, and she could go with them. Or maybe she could go by herself, it's not as though she'd never been there before.
During breakfast, Teecie discreetly asked around and found out nobody was planning on a trip to Hogsmeade that day. There was nothing else to do, but walk there by herself. After eating, Teecie ran to her dorm, packed her purse, wrote a quick note for her parents, and left for Hogsmeade.
It was cold, so Teecie walked as fast as she could, and reached the town in record time, only 25 minutes! Luckily many of the stores were open on Christmas Eve Day, so Teecie walked into the first one she saw.
She found the perfect gift for her father. Bath salts for him to put in his foot bath. Each night at home, Lucius soaked his bad foot in a foot bath. It helped stop some of the pain. These bath salts were said to have healing abilities, and hopefully, would make his foot better.
It took a little more time to find a good gift for her mother. Finally, she found a beautiful necklace. It was a petite gold chain with a single peach-coloured pearl. She also found a small matching ring to give to Kali. For Reni she bought a book about snakes, her favourite animal.
As she was leaving the store, Teecie saw something that caught her eye. A small lion figurine, in Gryffindor colours, sat on a shelf, waiting to be given to somebody. Teecie didn't understand, but followed the impulse to buy it for James.
Back at the school, Lucius had found Teecie's note explaining that she had gone to Hogsmeade. He was pretty upset. James had been passing by in the hallway, having just come from Professor Black's office, when he heard Lucius shouting at the headmaster, that there needed to be better detection charms set up for kids who ran away. Lucius hadn't seen him, so James ran outside to wait for Teecie. He had to help get her out of trouble.
Teecie had stopped at the Three Broomsticks for a nice warm butterbeer before heading back to the school. She was almost back at the school when she saw James running up to her. "Your dad's awfully angry that you went to Hogsmeade. He's been yelling at Professor Snape about it," James said in a rush.
"But I had to go get Christmas presents," Teecie explained.
"Well, your dad's still upset. I came to make it look like we went together. Hopefully you'll get into less trouble if he thinks we went together," James said, taking a few of the packages out of Teecie's arms, and leading her back to the school.
As they entered the school, Lucius was sitting in a chair facing the door, in the middle of the Entrance Hall, waiting for Teecie's return. He was tapping his walking stick on the floor, and pursing his lips, which were white with anger. As Lucius saw them come inside, he stood up, walked over to them, and placed his hands on his hips. "So, Ticia, remind me again how old you are? Because I was under the impression that you were 11, which is two years too young to be going into Hogsmeade on your own. Did I miscalculate somewhere?" Lucius frowned at his daughter. This was the calm fury that many people feared from Lucius. He always spoke calmly when he was extremely angry.
Teecie handed James the rest of her packages, and walked up to her father. Putting her arms around his waist and looking up at him, Teecie put on her best sad face and said, "I'm sorry I made you upset daddy. I just had to go get you and mummy Christmas presents and nobody else was going to town. I didn't know I shouldn't go alone. I won't do it again," Furrowing her brow, whipping up some tears, and pouting her lips, Teecie continued, "You'll forgive me, won't you daddy?"
Lucius hugged his daughter tightly. "Oh, baby, don't cry. I didn't mean to make you cry. But you just can't run off to town like that. Something could happen, you could be lying in a ditch somewhere and I'd not know where you were," Lucius wiped his daughter's tears up, "But I suppose if James was with you, you probably weren't in much danger of being hurt."
Lucius turned to James, "Thank you for taking care of my daughter, James. She really does need looking after sometimes. Well, you two run along now." Lucius kissed the top of Teecie's head and ruffled James' hair before walking away from them.
As Lucius walked towards the Great Hall, he passed by Draco, who'd walked up from his office in time to witness the entire scene. Draco couldn't believe how soft his father had grown over the years. It was truly pathetic. Lucius would never have let him get away with anything like that. It was times like those, that the little amount of respect Draco had left for his father, threatened to dissipate completely.
As Teecie and James were coming to their tower, James smiled and said, "Well, I guess it's a good thing I heard your dad yelling, eh?"
"I could have gotten out of that without your help. Don't start thinking we're friends now because of that!" Teecie said, ripping the packages out of James' arms, speaking the password, and walking into the tower. James sighed, rolled his eyes, and walked in after her.
Teecie took her packages to her room and set them out on her table. Looking at the small box that contained the lion figurine, Teecie turned towards her dorm door and debated over whether to give it to James or not. He had been kind to her, to help her like that. She would have gotten into a lot more trouble if James hadn't been there. Sighing and clutching the package to her chest, Teecie walked out the door, and into the common room.
James was sitting on the sofa by the fire, reading a book, when Teecie approached him. Teecie tossed the package onto James' lap, and said, "Happy Christmas," before folding her arms and looking away from him.
James unwrapped the package, and held up the lion figurine. "Hey, thanks!" He exclaimed. Standing up, James looked at Teecie carefully. "I have something for you too...I could go get it, if you want..." He said quietly.
Teecie turned around and looked at James. "All right," She said slowly. James smiled, then ran out of the room to his dorm. He returned a few minutes later with the box in his hands.
James handed the box to Teecie, and watched as she carefully removed the pink bow and silver wrapping. Taking the snow globe out of the box, Teecie shook it and watched as the ballerina began to dance to the Sugar Plum Dance. Snow fell all around the small dancer as she pirouetted across the stage. Teecie squealed with delight over the beautiful gift. "Oh James, it's so beautiful! I love it, thank you!" With that, Teecie forgot herself and put her arms around James' shoulders and hugged him. James put his hands on Teecie's waist and hugged her back. After a few seconds, Teecie began to pull away, and the two made eye contact briefly. He had the most amazing hazel eyes. Teecie felt the blood rushing in her ears and began to feel lightheaded. She felt his hands on her waist and every part of her that was in his hold, tingled and felt alive with electricity. Taking a step back from James, Teecie took a deep breath and spoke. "Yes, well, thank you very much, James," Teecie tried be become as business-like as possible. "I'll just go put this in my room," She said as she walked towards the door to her dorm.
Teecie retreated to her dormitory and threw herself down on her bed when she got there. What was going on? What was wrong with her? James was just a stupid boy, and she was not in love with him. Teecie thought about talking to her mother, who seemed to know an awful lot about love, but didn't know where she was at the moment. Instead, Teecie read the rest of her Amaris book and played with Snowball until she felt better.
Soon, it was time to get ready for dinner. Teecie put on her dress. It was a lovely rose colour, that complimented her red hair. Ending at her knees, the dress hugged Teecie's body, and was tied in the back. Turning sideways, Teecie admired herself in the mirror. Bending backwards slightly, Teecie realized, for the first time, that she didn't have much to show off in that dress. Frowning, Teecie hoped she'd start growing soon.
Next Teecie put on a pair of sea foam green stockings and rose shoes, with just the hint of a heel. Teecie was thrilled to finally be wearing high heels! Her father was so old-fashioned that he hadn't allowed her to wear any until this year. Teecie had cried to her mother for years to wear high heels, but for some reason, her mother had agreed with her father.
Next, Teecie went to work on her hair. She pulled it all back into a pony tail, high up at the back of her head, so that the curls cascaded down to her shoulders. The last step was adorning herself in jewelry. Little gold hoop earrings, a gold ring, a matching bracelet, and necklace.
Teecie looked in the mirror, and decided she looked very beautiful. As she once again felt dismayed at the lack of goods to show off, the mirror spoke comforting words to her. "Don't worry dear. You'll grow up soon enough. Girls always do, you know," the feminine voice of the mirror said.
Leaving the room and walking into the common room, Teecie was relieved to see that James was no longer there. Leaving the tower, Teecie walked down to the Great Hall, where the Christmas Eve festivities were to take place. Lucius smiled from one of the chairs set up at the large table in the room. The normal tables had been replaced with one smaller table for the holiday. Teecie sat down next to him, and they waited for the rest of their family to show up.
After several minutes, Adriana and Kali arrived. It was the first time in over a month that Teecie had seen Kali. Kali wore a blue version of Teecie's dress, but it was smaller than hers. Adriana kept her arm around Kali's elbow for support. Kali looked very frail and thin still, and it filled Teecie's heart with sorrow to see her like that.
Reni came into the room by herself a few minutes later. She and Adriana had yelled at each other for the past two days about attending this family event. Reni was not wearing the lovely green dress her mother had bought for her, but instead wore black jeans, a black halter top, and black lipstick. She had a belly button ring and as she turned to sit down, Teecie could see a green snake tattoo on the small of her back.
Teecie looked on as Reni watched for her father's reaction. Lucius' eyes smoldered and his lips were drawn tight. Standing up slowly, leaning heavily on his walking stick, he spoke, "What kind of an outfit is that? Can't you ever dress normally? It's Christmas Eve! Can't you stop being selfish for one night? Go back to your room and change into the dress your mother bought for you. Now! And you'd better look like a normal human being when you return!"
"I like this outfit. I think it's fitting. If I leave, I'm not coming back," Reni shouted. As Lucius took a step closer to Reni, Draco, who'd been sitting a few seats away, stood up and advanced towards his father to hold him back if he went after Reni. Draco had seen what Lucius was capable of doing in anger and was going to make sure his sister wasn't touched.
Remus and Tonks sat with looks of shock on their faces over this exchange. Remus grabbed a goblet of eggnog and took a large mouthful. He seemed fascinated with the design of the goblet and kept looking at it to stay as far from the fight as possible. James looked at the floor. He looked concerned for the situation, yet he was really thinking about how tight and itchy his tie was and wondering when he could take it off. Uncle Sev looked on with sadness on his face. He liked to think he would have allowed Reni to wear whatever she wanted. He knew he'd never have any fights with his goddaughter if he was the one in charge.
Adriana stood up at this point in time, walked over to Reni, grabbed her arm and pulled Reni out of the room. Teecie could hear her mother screaming at Reni as she dragged her daughter down to the dungeons. Teecie sighed and looked at her father. Lucius had sat back down again, and looked pale and crestfallen. Ten minutes later, Reni and Adriana reappeared. Reni wore the green dress Adriana had bought her, and Adriana maintained her vice-like grip on her daughter's arm.
As Reni sat down, Sirius leaned over to call out to her, "Hey, I love your piercing! Where'd you have it done? Hogsmeade?" Tonks looked at her eldest son, with a look of disbelief, leaned over across from him and proceeded to slap him upside the head. Sirius clapped a hand to his head, and said, "Ow, mum! What did you do that for?" Next to Tonks, Remus shook his head and folded his arms, sighing.
The meal proceeded smoothly after that. The adults talked calmly to each other, while the children talked to one another. Teecie watched as Kali ate a bowl of chicken broth with vegetables in it. Kali was sitting between both parents, who were watching her carefully to make sure she actually ate it. Kali looked as though she might throw up with every bite she took.
Reni sat by Uncle Sev, and they chatted quietly together. Teecie sat in between Peter and Lisandra. James sat on the other side of Peter. Every once in a while, Teecie or James would lean forward and catch a look at the other before going back to their meal.
Non family members dotted the table as well. Zacharias Engelmann, sat next to Draco and the two talked about potions. Amina Engelmann, sat on the other side of Adriana, and ate the same broth Kali did. Adriana made sure to keep an eye on her as well. Jordan Engelmann sat on the other side of Amina and stayed quiet through the entire meal, as he was obviously quite worried about his sister. A few other students Teecie didn't know sat and talked to the people around them.
After dinner, the men sat in chairs sipping brandy, the women sat by the fire talking, and the children ran around, excitedly. After several minutes, Sirius was shooed away from the men and came to sit with Reni. It seemed this was not his year for his first brandy. Teecie watched as Reni pulled a small green flask out of the pocket of her dress, take a sip, and hand it to Sirius, who proceeded to take a few gulps. She wondered what was inside of the flask.
Teecie wandered around and listened to the conversations. Lucius and Remus were having a lively debate about their houses. Slytherin versus Gryffindor, the age old rivalry. Lucius thought he made a good point about how Gryffindor had so few points this year, until Remus topped him by saying the majority of the points lost had been due to Teecie. Teecie quickly moved on after that.
Over by the fire, Tonks and Adriana were planning on getting together in London to go shopping some time in January. It seemed as though Tonks and Adriana had become fast friends in the few days that they'd gotten to know each other.
The younger children were chasing one another around the many Christmas trees set up around the Great Hall. Peter, having inherited his mother's lack of coordination, ran too close to one of the trees, and sent it crashing down to the floor. The room became silent as everybody looked over at Peter. Peter's face burned red, his eyes wide with shock, and he turned and fled from the room. Tonks stood up and rushed after her son. As she left the room, her shoe fell off her foot, flew through the air, and hit James in the head.
Teecie looked over at the chair James was sitting in, and laughed. James rolled his eyes, and said, "I'm used to it!" as he rubbed his head. Teecie looked at James. He was handsome in a midnight blue shirt and black slacks. He wore a matching blue tie around his neck that he'd pulled loose and was slightly askew. Sitting down in the chair next to James, the two sat silently for several minutes, each stealing looks at the other once in a while. At one point in time, they made eye contact. Both blushed and looked at the floor. Taking a deep breath, Teecie asked James what he wanted for Christmas this year. They got to talking about presents, and soon the two talked happily about nothing in particular.
In the middle of a lively conversation about their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, James and Teecie were interrupted by the screams of the little children and the laughter of the men in their corner. Father Christmas had come into the Great Hall to pay a visit. Teecie watched as her mother set a chair by the fire and called the children to her. One by one, Teecie's nieces and nephew took turns on Father Christmas' lap. They were very excited to see him, except for Rouvin, who began to cry and reached out for his mother to take him in her arms for comfort.
Teecie and James whispered to each other that Father Christmas looked suspiciously like their headmaster. Teecie grinned at James before standing up and running over to the fireplace. After the children were done, Teecie jumped on Father Christmas' lap. "And what's your name, little girl?" He asked Teecie. Teecie began to laugh so hard she couldn't answer. "Have you been a good girl this year?" He asked. Teecie continued to laugh. "Well let me leave you with one thought, little girl, if you tell anybody at school about this, you will not last to see your second year here. Understand?" Father Christmas spoke in velvet tones. He tried to be stern, but found it difficult through Teecie's laughter.
After Father Christmas stood Teecie back on her feet and sent her back to her chair with a pat on her backside, Teecie walked over to James. She and James laughed so hard they had tears in their eyes. She finally calmed down in time to see Kali take a turn on Father Christmas' lap. Kali looked like one of the smaller children, for on top of being so thin, she was also very short. Teecie was actually taller than her.
Sirius was a good sport and took a turn after Kali. He spent a lot of time telling Father Christmas all the things he wanted for Christmas. Father Christmas began to slump down under Sirius' weight, for he was a rather tall and muscular boy.
Adriana dragged Reni over next. Reni protested over the injustice of having to do something this immature. Adriana pushed Reni onto Father Christmas' lap, and he gave her a hug. They spent a few minutes talking to one another quietly, before he sent her off back to the sofa again.
Then Adriana took a turn on Father Christmas' lap. She quietly assured him she'd been a very bad girl all year long. It was Father Christmas' turn to start laughing uncontrollably. Sev still couldn't get over how much power she still had in his life. Only Adriana would have been able to get him to do this. Kissing him on the cheek, Adriana stood up, and walked over to Lucius and put her arms around him. Lucius looked about ready to kill Father Christmas, but became distracted when Adriana kissed him.
Before leaving the room, Father Christmas announced to the children that he wouldn't be leaving any presents until the children were asleep. All the children began to get ready for bed. James, Teecie, and Sirius ran up to their common room, joined by Peter, to go to their dorms. Sirius had a brilliant idea that sounded like a lot of fun. He told everybody to get all the pillows and blankets they could find in their rooms, and bring them back down to the common room. Several minutes later, all the children returned, heavily laden with blankets and pillows, and wearing their nightclothes.
Sirius built a huge nest for them to sleep in by the fireplace. As Peter and James were settling in, he pulled Teecie aside to speak with her privately. "Hey Teecie, look, I'm really sorry I laughed at you yesterday. I didn't realize it would hurt your feelings. Will you be friends with me again?"
Teecie smiled, and nodded her head. Sirius grinned at Teecie and led her back to the nest. Teecie lay in between Peter and Sirius, while James lay on the other side of Sirius. All four snuggled up closely together to stay warm. Peter had his arm around Teecie's waist, and Teecie had hers around Sirius'. She felt a hand lying over hers and assumed it was Sirius', but it was James'. They fell asleep, hand in hand, and slept peacefully through the entire night, while snow fell silently around the castle.
Disclaimer: You know the usual, all of this world is JK's, and we thank her for letting us borrow it. Only the original characters are ours!
Wicked Lee: Isn't Lucius fun now that he's nicer? I love how protective he is of his girls. Here's the other half of Christmas, I hope you enjoy!
Arsinoe3: Having them fall asleep in the Great Hall is one of my most favorite parts of the whole story, I'm glad you liked it too! Here's the rest of Christmas, enjoy!
Christmas Eve At Hogwarts
Sunday was a mostly pleasant day, with only a few unpleasant incidents. Adriana and Reni had a yelling match. Adriana was upset that Reni had stayed in her dormitory all day the day before, and Reni was upset over having to leave her room to spend time with her parents. Teecie hated hearing her parents and sisters yelling at one another. Since everybody else was spending time with their families, Teecie retreated to the kitchens.
Nili was kind and glad to see Teecie. Together, they cut out Christmas biscuits, and placed them on baking sheets. They chatted happily, and sang songs. It would be hard to say which one had the worse singing voice, for Teecie didn't have as much talent in that department as Reni did.
After a couple hours, Teecie left, and went back upstairs. Things had quieted down, so Teecie joined James, Peter, and her nieces and nephew in the Great Hall for afternoon tea. James wasn't very talkative that afternoon. He'd had a somewhat traumatic morning. He'd been sitting in the Great Hall, eating his breakfast, when he'd been subjected to listening to Adriana, Tanith, and his mum talking about child birth stories as they ate at the professor's table. His mum told the other women he'd been a breach birth, and had taken 17 hours of labour to deliver. Adriana told them about Teecie taking 16 hours of labour, and how the baby had screamed for an hour straight, until falling asleep after being born. James thought it was embarrassing to listen to that sort of talk as though he hadn't even been in the room. And, as if imagining his mother and the other women in labour wasn't bad enough, James was still eating when the subject turned to marrying their kids off to each other's children. He was pleased, however, when he was matched up with Teecie. Now every time he looked at Teecie, he heard their mother's talking about their births and eventual marriage.
There had been a humiliating experience for Teecie that evening. During dinner, Lucius told her he'd talked to Professor Flitwick that day, and he'd told him how talented Teecie was with the Floating charm. When Adriana heard this, she was very excited about that. She made Teecie go up to her dorm, get her wand, and bring it back to show them her talent. Teecie was still very nervous about this charm, and hated being put on the spot, but wanted to please her mother. As Teecie sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, she felt every eye in the room upon her, waiting to see what she would do. Teecie put a fork in the middle of the table, said, "Wingardium Leviosa," while swishing and flicking her wand, but nothing happened.
Teecie felt her cheeks burning over her failure. Closing her eyes, she tried it once again, but nothing happened. Hearing somebody laughing, Teecie opened her eyes and saw Sirius looking at her and chuckling. Teecie's eyes filled with tears as she quickly stood up from the table and ran from the room. She didn't stop until she'd reached her dormitory.
James had been sitting across from Sirius when this occurred, and when he'd seen how upset Teecie was, had reached across the table and punched Sirius in the jaw. It didn't do much damage, but Sirius put a hand to his chin and looked at his brother in bewilderment. James stood up from the bench and began yelling at Sirius for making Teecie cry. As he lunged at Sirius again, Remus caught him from behind and pulled him out of the room. Sirius, Tonks, Lucius, and Adriana were left open-mouthed with wonder over this.
Remus had talked sternly to James about controlling his temper, and sent him up to his common room to calm down for a while. James paced the floor of the common room, kicking the chair legs angrily as he passed them. He knew Teecie was in her room, probably crying her eyes out, but he couldn't go to her. Boys weren't allowed in the girl's dormitories. He wanted more than anything, to comfort her, to tell her not to be sad that his stupid brother had laughed at her. Sirius was an idiot, and not worth getting upset over.
After a while, Teecie emerged from her dormitory. James could see her face was all red from crying. Teecie glared at James as he stood up and walked over to her. "What do you want?" She asked shrilly.
"I wanted to see if you were all right," James replied in a whisper.
"Why? So you could go tell Sirius that I was crying and have a good laugh over it?" Teecie folded her arms.
"No, I wanted to make sure you weren't crying," James said patiently. He walked over to Teecie and put his arm around her shoulders.
Teecie was fuming by now, and pushed James away from her so hard he fell to the floor. "Don't touch me James Lupin! I hate you and your brother! Every time I turn around, you're there. In my face, in my way, and I'm sick of it!"
James looked up at Teecie from where he'd pushed himself up to a sitting position. He was heartbroken, and could feel tears springing to his eyes. He blinked hard to keep his tears from falling. Slowly standing up, James looked down at his feet before speaking quietly. "Don't worry, you don't want me around, I won't be. I'll never speak to you or bother you again," James turned around and left the common room without a backward glance.
Teecie watched as James left the room, and burst into tears. She was so confused and upset over everything in her life, and all Teecie wanted was to go back home with her parents. She was safe there and life wasn't confusing at home.
As Teecie tried to compose herself, she left the common room to find her mother. She was surprised to see her mother standing in the hallway, waiting for Teecie. Adriana held her arms out for her daughter and Teecie began to cry again as her mother held her safely in her arms.
Several floors below, James sat on the steps forlornly. He couldn't go downstairs and face his family after this. He couldn't go back to his house and face Teecie. He was stuck where he was. Suddenly, terror overtook James as he heard the familiar tapping of Lucius' walking stick. It was growing louder as he walked up the stairs to James. Lucius made eye contact with James, and he knew it was too late to run somewhere and hide.
Lucius stood at the bottom of the stairs, leaning against the wall, not looking at James. Taking a deep breath, Lucius folded his arms, looked into the air, and spoke. "You'll want to tread carefully with the Orendes women. Every one of them has a bad temper. If you say one wrong word, they'll hand you your ass on a platter, but for some reason, you keep coming back for more. Trust me, I know," Lucius paused before going on again, "But she's worth it, so don't give up." With that, Lucius turned around, and walked back down the stairs. James listened as the tapping of the walking stick grew fainter.
James was shocked by this blessing of Lucius. He was still sitting on the stairs, reliving the scene, when Adriana came down the staircase and sat beside him. "You know, girls your age can be sort of funny. Sometimes it's best to give them space. Let them come to you when they want to. You might have better luck trying that," Adriana smiled, stood up, and continued to walk down the stairs.
Teecie had left her mother's comforting arms, and returned to her dormitory. She spent some quality time with Snowball, read some of her Amaris book, and fell asleep early, with her clothes still on.
The next morning, Teecie woke up early, and realized with horror, that she hadn't gotten her family anything for Christmas! It was Christmas Eve, what would she do? Maybe somebody was going to Hogsmeade today, and she could go with them. Or maybe she could go by herself, it's not as though she'd never been there before.
During breakfast, Teecie discreetly asked around and found out nobody was planning on a trip to Hogsmeade that day. There was nothing else to do, but walk there by herself. After eating, Teecie ran to her dorm, packed her purse, wrote a quick note for her parents, and left for Hogsmeade.
It was cold, so Teecie walked as fast as she could, and reached the town in record time, only 25 minutes! Luckily many of the stores were open on Christmas Eve Day, so Teecie walked into the first one she saw.
She found the perfect gift for her father. Bath salts for him to put in his foot bath. Each night at home, Lucius soaked his bad foot in a foot bath. It helped stop some of the pain. These bath salts were said to have healing abilities, and hopefully, would make his foot better.
It took a little more time to find a good gift for her mother. Finally, she found a beautiful necklace. It was a petite gold chain with a single peach-coloured pearl. She also found a small matching ring to give to Kali. For Reni she bought a book about snakes, her favourite animal.
As she was leaving the store, Teecie saw something that caught her eye. A small lion figurine, in Gryffindor colours, sat on a shelf, waiting to be given to somebody. Teecie didn't understand, but followed the impulse to buy it for James.
Back at the school, Lucius had found Teecie's note explaining that she had gone to Hogsmeade. He was pretty upset. James had been passing by in the hallway, having just come from Professor Black's office, when he heard Lucius shouting at the headmaster, that there needed to be better detection charms set up for kids who ran away. Lucius hadn't seen him, so James ran outside to wait for Teecie. He had to help get her out of trouble.
Teecie had stopped at the Three Broomsticks for a nice warm butterbeer before heading back to the school. She was almost back at the school when she saw James running up to her. "Your dad's awfully angry that you went to Hogsmeade. He's been yelling at Professor Snape about it," James said in a rush.
"But I had to go get Christmas presents," Teecie explained.
"Well, your dad's still upset. I came to make it look like we went together. Hopefully you'll get into less trouble if he thinks we went together," James said, taking a few of the packages out of Teecie's arms, and leading her back to the school.
As they entered the school, Lucius was sitting in a chair facing the door, in the middle of the Entrance Hall, waiting for Teecie's return. He was tapping his walking stick on the floor, and pursing his lips, which were white with anger. As Lucius saw them come inside, he stood up, walked over to them, and placed his hands on his hips. "So, Ticia, remind me again how old you are? Because I was under the impression that you were 11, which is two years too young to be going into Hogsmeade on your own. Did I miscalculate somewhere?" Lucius frowned at his daughter. This was the calm fury that many people feared from Lucius. He always spoke calmly when he was extremely angry.
Teecie handed James the rest of her packages, and walked up to her father. Putting her arms around his waist and looking up at him, Teecie put on her best sad face and said, "I'm sorry I made you upset daddy. I just had to go get you and mummy Christmas presents and nobody else was going to town. I didn't know I shouldn't go alone. I won't do it again," Furrowing her brow, whipping up some tears, and pouting her lips, Teecie continued, "You'll forgive me, won't you daddy?"
Lucius hugged his daughter tightly. "Oh, baby, don't cry. I didn't mean to make you cry. But you just can't run off to town like that. Something could happen, you could be lying in a ditch somewhere and I'd not know where you were," Lucius wiped his daughter's tears up, "But I suppose if James was with you, you probably weren't in much danger of being hurt."
Lucius turned to James, "Thank you for taking care of my daughter, James. She really does need looking after sometimes. Well, you two run along now." Lucius kissed the top of Teecie's head and ruffled James' hair before walking away from them.
As Lucius walked towards the Great Hall, he passed by Draco, who'd walked up from his office in time to witness the entire scene. Draco couldn't believe how soft his father had grown over the years. It was truly pathetic. Lucius would never have let him get away with anything like that. It was times like those, that the little amount of respect Draco had left for his father, threatened to dissipate completely.
As Teecie and James were coming to their tower, James smiled and said, "Well, I guess it's a good thing I heard your dad yelling, eh?"
"I could have gotten out of that without your help. Don't start thinking we're friends now because of that!" Teecie said, ripping the packages out of James' arms, speaking the password, and walking into the tower. James sighed, rolled his eyes, and walked in after her.
Teecie took her packages to her room and set them out on her table. Looking at the small box that contained the lion figurine, Teecie turned towards her dorm door and debated over whether to give it to James or not. He had been kind to her, to help her like that. She would have gotten into a lot more trouble if James hadn't been there. Sighing and clutching the package to her chest, Teecie walked out the door, and into the common room.
James was sitting on the sofa by the fire, reading a book, when Teecie approached him. Teecie tossed the package onto James' lap, and said, "Happy Christmas," before folding her arms and looking away from him.
James unwrapped the package, and held up the lion figurine. "Hey, thanks!" He exclaimed. Standing up, James looked at Teecie carefully. "I have something for you too...I could go get it, if you want..." He said quietly.
Teecie turned around and looked at James. "All right," She said slowly. James smiled, then ran out of the room to his dorm. He returned a few minutes later with the box in his hands.
James handed the box to Teecie, and watched as she carefully removed the pink bow and silver wrapping. Taking the snow globe out of the box, Teecie shook it and watched as the ballerina began to dance to the Sugar Plum Dance. Snow fell all around the small dancer as she pirouetted across the stage. Teecie squealed with delight over the beautiful gift. "Oh James, it's so beautiful! I love it, thank you!" With that, Teecie forgot herself and put her arms around James' shoulders and hugged him. James put his hands on Teecie's waist and hugged her back. After a few seconds, Teecie began to pull away, and the two made eye contact briefly. He had the most amazing hazel eyes. Teecie felt the blood rushing in her ears and began to feel lightheaded. She felt his hands on her waist and every part of her that was in his hold, tingled and felt alive with electricity. Taking a step back from James, Teecie took a deep breath and spoke. "Yes, well, thank you very much, James," Teecie tried be become as business-like as possible. "I'll just go put this in my room," She said as she walked towards the door to her dorm.
Teecie retreated to her dormitory and threw herself down on her bed when she got there. What was going on? What was wrong with her? James was just a stupid boy, and she was not in love with him. Teecie thought about talking to her mother, who seemed to know an awful lot about love, but didn't know where she was at the moment. Instead, Teecie read the rest of her Amaris book and played with Snowball until she felt better.
Soon, it was time to get ready for dinner. Teecie put on her dress. It was a lovely rose colour, that complimented her red hair. Ending at her knees, the dress hugged Teecie's body, and was tied in the back. Turning sideways, Teecie admired herself in the mirror. Bending backwards slightly, Teecie realized, for the first time, that she didn't have much to show off in that dress. Frowning, Teecie hoped she'd start growing soon.
Next Teecie put on a pair of sea foam green stockings and rose shoes, with just the hint of a heel. Teecie was thrilled to finally be wearing high heels! Her father was so old-fashioned that he hadn't allowed her to wear any until this year. Teecie had cried to her mother for years to wear high heels, but for some reason, her mother had agreed with her father.
Next, Teecie went to work on her hair. She pulled it all back into a pony tail, high up at the back of her head, so that the curls cascaded down to her shoulders. The last step was adorning herself in jewelry. Little gold hoop earrings, a gold ring, a matching bracelet, and necklace.
Teecie looked in the mirror, and decided she looked very beautiful. As she once again felt dismayed at the lack of goods to show off, the mirror spoke comforting words to her. "Don't worry dear. You'll grow up soon enough. Girls always do, you know," the feminine voice of the mirror said.
Leaving the room and walking into the common room, Teecie was relieved to see that James was no longer there. Leaving the tower, Teecie walked down to the Great Hall, where the Christmas Eve festivities were to take place. Lucius smiled from one of the chairs set up at the large table in the room. The normal tables had been replaced with one smaller table for the holiday. Teecie sat down next to him, and they waited for the rest of their family to show up.
After several minutes, Adriana and Kali arrived. It was the first time in over a month that Teecie had seen Kali. Kali wore a blue version of Teecie's dress, but it was smaller than hers. Adriana kept her arm around Kali's elbow for support. Kali looked very frail and thin still, and it filled Teecie's heart with sorrow to see her like that.
Reni came into the room by herself a few minutes later. She and Adriana had yelled at each other for the past two days about attending this family event. Reni was not wearing the lovely green dress her mother had bought for her, but instead wore black jeans, a black halter top, and black lipstick. She had a belly button ring and as she turned to sit down, Teecie could see a green snake tattoo on the small of her back.
Teecie looked on as Reni watched for her father's reaction. Lucius' eyes smoldered and his lips were drawn tight. Standing up slowly, leaning heavily on his walking stick, he spoke, "What kind of an outfit is that? Can't you ever dress normally? It's Christmas Eve! Can't you stop being selfish for one night? Go back to your room and change into the dress your mother bought for you. Now! And you'd better look like a normal human being when you return!"
"I like this outfit. I think it's fitting. If I leave, I'm not coming back," Reni shouted. As Lucius took a step closer to Reni, Draco, who'd been sitting a few seats away, stood up and advanced towards his father to hold him back if he went after Reni. Draco had seen what Lucius was capable of doing in anger and was going to make sure his sister wasn't touched.
Remus and Tonks sat with looks of shock on their faces over this exchange. Remus grabbed a goblet of eggnog and took a large mouthful. He seemed fascinated with the design of the goblet and kept looking at it to stay as far from the fight as possible. James looked at the floor. He looked concerned for the situation, yet he was really thinking about how tight and itchy his tie was and wondering when he could take it off. Uncle Sev looked on with sadness on his face. He liked to think he would have allowed Reni to wear whatever she wanted. He knew he'd never have any fights with his goddaughter if he was the one in charge.
Adriana stood up at this point in time, walked over to Reni, grabbed her arm and pulled Reni out of the room. Teecie could hear her mother screaming at Reni as she dragged her daughter down to the dungeons. Teecie sighed and looked at her father. Lucius had sat back down again, and looked pale and crestfallen. Ten minutes later, Reni and Adriana reappeared. Reni wore the green dress Adriana had bought her, and Adriana maintained her vice-like grip on her daughter's arm.
As Reni sat down, Sirius leaned over to call out to her, "Hey, I love your piercing! Where'd you have it done? Hogsmeade?" Tonks looked at her eldest son, with a look of disbelief, leaned over across from him and proceeded to slap him upside the head. Sirius clapped a hand to his head, and said, "Ow, mum! What did you do that for?" Next to Tonks, Remus shook his head and folded his arms, sighing.
The meal proceeded smoothly after that. The adults talked calmly to each other, while the children talked to one another. Teecie watched as Kali ate a bowl of chicken broth with vegetables in it. Kali was sitting between both parents, who were watching her carefully to make sure she actually ate it. Kali looked as though she might throw up with every bite she took.
Reni sat by Uncle Sev, and they chatted quietly together. Teecie sat in between Peter and Lisandra. James sat on the other side of Peter. Every once in a while, Teecie or James would lean forward and catch a look at the other before going back to their meal.
Non family members dotted the table as well. Zacharias Engelmann, sat next to Draco and the two talked about potions. Amina Engelmann, sat on the other side of Adriana, and ate the same broth Kali did. Adriana made sure to keep an eye on her as well. Jordan Engelmann sat on the other side of Amina and stayed quiet through the entire meal, as he was obviously quite worried about his sister. A few other students Teecie didn't know sat and talked to the people around them.
After dinner, the men sat in chairs sipping brandy, the women sat by the fire talking, and the children ran around, excitedly. After several minutes, Sirius was shooed away from the men and came to sit with Reni. It seemed this was not his year for his first brandy. Teecie watched as Reni pulled a small green flask out of the pocket of her dress, take a sip, and hand it to Sirius, who proceeded to take a few gulps. She wondered what was inside of the flask.
Teecie wandered around and listened to the conversations. Lucius and Remus were having a lively debate about their houses. Slytherin versus Gryffindor, the age old rivalry. Lucius thought he made a good point about how Gryffindor had so few points this year, until Remus topped him by saying the majority of the points lost had been due to Teecie. Teecie quickly moved on after that.
Over by the fire, Tonks and Adriana were planning on getting together in London to go shopping some time in January. It seemed as though Tonks and Adriana had become fast friends in the few days that they'd gotten to know each other.
The younger children were chasing one another around the many Christmas trees set up around the Great Hall. Peter, having inherited his mother's lack of coordination, ran too close to one of the trees, and sent it crashing down to the floor. The room became silent as everybody looked over at Peter. Peter's face burned red, his eyes wide with shock, and he turned and fled from the room. Tonks stood up and rushed after her son. As she left the room, her shoe fell off her foot, flew through the air, and hit James in the head.
Teecie looked over at the chair James was sitting in, and laughed. James rolled his eyes, and said, "I'm used to it!" as he rubbed his head. Teecie looked at James. He was handsome in a midnight blue shirt and black slacks. He wore a matching blue tie around his neck that he'd pulled loose and was slightly askew. Sitting down in the chair next to James, the two sat silently for several minutes, each stealing looks at the other once in a while. At one point in time, they made eye contact. Both blushed and looked at the floor. Taking a deep breath, Teecie asked James what he wanted for Christmas this year. They got to talking about presents, and soon the two talked happily about nothing in particular.
In the middle of a lively conversation about their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, James and Teecie were interrupted by the screams of the little children and the laughter of the men in their corner. Father Christmas had come into the Great Hall to pay a visit. Teecie watched as her mother set a chair by the fire and called the children to her. One by one, Teecie's nieces and nephew took turns on Father Christmas' lap. They were very excited to see him, except for Rouvin, who began to cry and reached out for his mother to take him in her arms for comfort.
Teecie and James whispered to each other that Father Christmas looked suspiciously like their headmaster. Teecie grinned at James before standing up and running over to the fireplace. After the children were done, Teecie jumped on Father Christmas' lap. "And what's your name, little girl?" He asked Teecie. Teecie began to laugh so hard she couldn't answer. "Have you been a good girl this year?" He asked. Teecie continued to laugh. "Well let me leave you with one thought, little girl, if you tell anybody at school about this, you will not last to see your second year here. Understand?" Father Christmas spoke in velvet tones. He tried to be stern, but found it difficult through Teecie's laughter.
After Father Christmas stood Teecie back on her feet and sent her back to her chair with a pat on her backside, Teecie walked over to James. She and James laughed so hard they had tears in their eyes. She finally calmed down in time to see Kali take a turn on Father Christmas' lap. Kali looked like one of the smaller children, for on top of being so thin, she was also very short. Teecie was actually taller than her.
Sirius was a good sport and took a turn after Kali. He spent a lot of time telling Father Christmas all the things he wanted for Christmas. Father Christmas began to slump down under Sirius' weight, for he was a rather tall and muscular boy.
Adriana dragged Reni over next. Reni protested over the injustice of having to do something this immature. Adriana pushed Reni onto Father Christmas' lap, and he gave her a hug. They spent a few minutes talking to one another quietly, before he sent her off back to the sofa again.
Then Adriana took a turn on Father Christmas' lap. She quietly assured him she'd been a very bad girl all year long. It was Father Christmas' turn to start laughing uncontrollably. Sev still couldn't get over how much power she still had in his life. Only Adriana would have been able to get him to do this. Kissing him on the cheek, Adriana stood up, and walked over to Lucius and put her arms around him. Lucius looked about ready to kill Father Christmas, but became distracted when Adriana kissed him.
Before leaving the room, Father Christmas announced to the children that he wouldn't be leaving any presents until the children were asleep. All the children began to get ready for bed. James, Teecie, and Sirius ran up to their common room, joined by Peter, to go to their dorms. Sirius had a brilliant idea that sounded like a lot of fun. He told everybody to get all the pillows and blankets they could find in their rooms, and bring them back down to the common room. Several minutes later, all the children returned, heavily laden with blankets and pillows, and wearing their nightclothes.
Sirius built a huge nest for them to sleep in by the fireplace. As Peter and James were settling in, he pulled Teecie aside to speak with her privately. "Hey Teecie, look, I'm really sorry I laughed at you yesterday. I didn't realize it would hurt your feelings. Will you be friends with me again?"
Teecie smiled, and nodded her head. Sirius grinned at Teecie and led her back to the nest. Teecie lay in between Peter and Sirius, while James lay on the other side of Sirius. All four snuggled up closely together to stay warm. Peter had his arm around Teecie's waist, and Teecie had hers around Sirius'. She felt a hand lying over hers and assumed it was Sirius', but it was James'. They fell asleep, hand in hand, and slept peacefully through the entire night, while snow fell silently around the castle.