Chapter 13: Christmas Dinner

A/N: Hello helloooooo :) Concussion = completely gone, thank the good Lord. Also, hockey season is in full gear, so I'm getting a ton of exposure in that respect (not that anyone cares but hey that's what's going on with me). Anyways, please favorite/comment/fan or all of the above, that'd be nice :)

~J

Brielle yawned and looked out the window of her bedroom. The sun hadn't come completely up yet; it was just starting to peek over the horizon. She sat up, as sleep probably wasn't going to return to her at this point, and pushed her window open to let some fresh hair in. The crisp December morning was chilly, but it was nice since the Madrack household was typically something of a sweatlodge. Brielle smiled to herself and turned to her door to go brush her teeth, but before she opened the door, she heard a cooing from the window. She faced the window again to see a sleek black owl with brown hints in its feathers. It looked very rare and very expensive, and she automatically knew who it was from.

Brielle strolled over and pet the bird with the back of her finger, and the owl - Ibis was his name, she recalled - cooed at her. She smiled and took the package from his beak. She opened the envelope and saw Jesse's handwriting sprawled messily across a plain piece of parchment in dark ink.

Hey kid,

Is that pen you were writing in? Wow, converting back to your old ways quickly, huh? But I'll let it slide since you're confused and don't know what exactly you are.

Jesse was really arrogant about this whole pure-blooded thing; he never did anything like a Muggle, always like a wizard. Brielle rolled her eyes and kept reading.

Anyways, my mum and dad want to know if you're coming over for dinner tonight. You never got back to us on that. I really hope you can, everyone misses you. Well, everyone except Cameron, that is.

Then, the handwriting changed to small, orderly letters - Cameron's handwriting.

You idiot, she's not going to believe that!

They must've been using some sort of quill that wrote based on the voices it heard, because the next part of the letter was an argument going from Jesse's handwriting to Cameron's, then back again, and occasionally both handwritings were slurred overtop of each other.

The writing switched again to tiny capital letters that were relatively messy, but readable.

Do you two ever stop bickering! Geez…

The mess of Cameron and Jesse ended at that point, probably because the parchment and quill were taken to a different room. The new handwriting clearly belonged to TJ, who seemed to be the voice of reason here.

They're always arguing over everything. It's gotten worse this year, I'm sure because of the whole housing situation. So, are you coming to dinner? I think that's where Jess left off… Mrs. Ramos wants to know how big of a ham to prepare...she's got about five different ones in the icebox right now. I was like 'what why?' Haha, anyways…

Can't wait to see you soon, Ells. Even if it's not for dinner, you have to come here soon. I'd say we'd come to you but for one, it would be impossible to get Jesse and Cameron to get in the same enclosed vehicle for that long…yeah, that's really the only reason we can't go there.

~TJ, Jesse, and Cameron

Brielle smiled and put the letter in the drawer of her desk, pulling a piece of new parchment and her quill from her other drawer. She set up some ink and began to respond.

Happy Christmas, everyone!

Unfortunately, Larissa's mum is coming over tonight to meet me for the first time, so I won't be able to come to your house. She seems like a person who… well… let's just say she seems very, very rude. I'll definitely let you know how that goes… I have to wear a dress, Cameron. I didn't even think I owned a dress until I dug through my closet. Larissa must've bought me one while I was at school. It's not ugly, I just hate dresses.

Anyway, I'm sorry I can't come, but I'll definitely take you up on that offer to just come hang out. I miss you all so much, it's weird not riding on the back of TJ's wheelchair to Spellwork, or getting in trouble with Professor Howe-Does-He-Stay-Employed every day (even though that isn't our fault). And I miss playing Quidditch more than you can imagine; ever since I told Joseph and Larissa about making the team, they haven't asked me about it, haven't discussed it. Even though I convinced Joe to come to our Drakonas vs. Voras game, he put a lock on the broom cabinet so I can't get into it. I have to wait until Joe and Larissa go to work and Evan can open it, and even then, he's often too busy with grading term papers to open it.

With Péleda, I'm sending you all your Christmas presents. I hope you like them, they're not much but they're just something I thought you'd enjoy.

I'll have to write you later since I'm running out of parchment here… I'll see you soon, hopefully.

Happy Christmas!

Brielle

Brielle waited until the ink dried to fold the parchment, and during those short five minutes, she rounded up the presents she'd bought for each of her friends. She even got something to Jesse: she'd bought him this magnetic, shape-shifting putty that he could use for pranks. Even though he wasn't in Raposo, she knew he'd have fun with it. Brielle bought Cameron a journal that never ran out of pages. She'd traded an old broach Larissa had given her for the book, and she knew that Cameron would love it; besides, without Brielle in the same house as her, she needed someone - or something - to vent to.

Lastly, she'd bought TJ a pair of leather wheel gloves. They were a lot of money for an eleven year old - Evan had needed to help her out with the purchase - but they were something that would be very useful for him. Brielle knew his hands always slipped and slided on the rubber of the wheels, and the gloves should give him more traction.

Once the ink dried, she gave the note and gifts to Péleda and sent her to the Ramos house. Checking her clock, she realized it was only 5:30 in the morning. Brielle sighed, unsure of what to do at this point, and plopped on her bed and pulled out her own journal and began writing a story she'd been working on for a while. It was about a girl who had mysterious powers, and she was learning how to use them.

Most kids would have been sleeping in, or - especially on Christmas - woken up the rest of their family and ran downstairs to see all the presents Santa Claus brought him or her. However, Brielle had never gotten that into Christmas. Growing up in Continental, the biggest Christmas present was a little bag of candy and quite possibly a letter from prospective families. That was really all they had to look forward to. She wasn't used to being spoiled like a lot of other children, and she'd learned to value her presents a lot more than most kids her age.

Once the Madracks officially adopted her, Brielle learned that even the smallest presents to other kids were large for her. For example, the bag Joseph and Larissa had given her went a long way; it was much more stunning and exciting than a bag of peppermint bark. She appreciated the thought and the physical gift itself, whereas the other kids would've been excited about that until they opened their next present, and so on.

There was a faint knock on Brielle's bedroom door, and she set the journal down as it opened and Evan's head popped in. He smiled at her, and she swallowed and motioned for him to come in. He closed the door behind him.

"Hey, Stretch," he said gently and patted her leg, "You're up early."

"It is Christmas," she said matter-of-factly, "and even though I'm not a normal, spoiled kid, I'm still excited." Evan smirked and rubbed his eye tiredly. "Why are you up?"

Evan shrugged and pulled out a small box from the inside pocket of his robe. It was wrapped in red paper with little green trees on it, and there was a big green bow on top. The tag read "Stretch". Brielle smiled as he forked over the present, and she looked at him with eyebrows raised, and he gave her the nod of approval to open it. She took the paper off happily - despite the fact that she wasn't the biggest fan of Christmas, she still liked receiving presents.

She peeled back the paper to reveal a small black box. It was about ten centimeters by five centimeters. It looked like a shorter version of the box Jedidiah gave her for her wand upon purchase. Brielle pulled the lid off carefully to find a pair of purple and black athletic goggles. She smiled and took them from the box, turning them over in her hands several times.

"I got them from the Main Strip," Evan explained, "They're fog proof so when you're playing, your goggles don't hinder you." Brielle tried them on - they were uber comfortable, and she knew they would look much better with the Drakonas uniform than the makeshift silver ones Marcos gave her.

"Thank you, Ev," Brielle smiled and hugged her foster brother, then took the goggles off and replaced her glasses. "I put your gift downstairs yesterday." She felt bad that he didn't have anything to give him now, and that sort of ruined the moment.

"Don't worry about it, Stretch," he chuckled, probably noticing that she became upset, and kissed the top of her head. "We'll be downstairs soon enough." He stood and ran a hand through his bedhead, messing it up even more, then walked to the door.

"Oh, and do come down soon. Ma and Dad have been waiting for you for about an hour now," he remarked before actually leaving the room. Brielle checked the clock and noticed that she completely let time slip away from her. It was 8:00! Wow, that time went by very fast.

Brielle tiredly made her way down the stairs and into the family room, where the tree was set up and the presents laid underneath. Brielle had never truly believed in Santa Claus. She did, however, believe in Christmas spirit, and this kept her from telling Larissa and Joseph she knew about Santa Claus. She felt like she owed it to them. They always got so excited when she opened something from Santa. To be honest? Though she found the whole concept of a fat, old man traveling to every single household in one night "improbable," as Gemma would put it.

"Sweet Pea," Larissa have Brielle a hug as she came into the room and plopped in her usual spot on the sofa once she was released. "Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas, Larissa. Joe," Brielle responded with a small smile. She peeked under the tree and saw a few familiar boxes that she'd wrapped for each person in her family, and she saw two that she didn't recognize.

"This is for you," Joseph said and pulled one of the unfamiliar boxes, handing it to the girl. She smiled and set it down, going to her knees and crawling under the tree. Brielle found the gold and red wrapped boxes and read each tag, handing them to the appropriate person. She grabbed the teaming green gift which was from "Santa Claus". When she looked to Evan, he pointed to himself silently, signaling that it was his gift that was truly from him. She smiled as her family opened their gifts.

Brielle and Evan had tag teamed the gifts, as always - they both picked out what to get, and Evan paid for the gifts while Brielle wrapped them. It was a good deal, as Brielle didn't have any money, but Evan couldn't wrap a present for the life of him, no matter how perfectly square it was. They'd gotten Larissa oven mitts that were completely flameproof, which was a joke because last Christmas she'd set her oven mitts on fire. Joseph received a new backscratcher that extended and scratched his back without him having to reach his arm behind his head or asking others to scratch his back. It was really best for the whole family.

And, every year, Joseph takes Brielle to a shop and gives her money for Evan's gift. This year, she got him a new tea kettle for his office. His was getting old and didn't whistle the right way anymore.

"Gee," Evan examined the kettle with a humble smile on his face. "Thanks, Stretch. Go ahead, open yours." Brielle smiled and took the first of two gifts into her lap. This one was a box that was a little more square-shaped than that of the goggles he'd given her earlier. She peeled back the red wrapping paper with little green trees on it and pulled out a box that was marked with the same logo as the earlier box. Brielle smiled up questioningly at Evan, then removed the lid to find a pair of leather gloves. She pulled them out and examined them; the fingers did not have tips, and they were very light. The gloves had little cutouts where her knuckles would be, and when she tried them on, they fit perfectly.

"They're Beater gloves," Evan explained as she examined them more closely. "So that your bat doesn't slip away from you." Brielle smiled and put them back in the box, leaning over to Evan - who was residing in the next chair over - and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you, Ev," she said with a smile and carefully placed the box next to her, "Er, Santa. Thank you, Santa."

Larissa and Joseph didn't seem to notice her blunder; they were too focused on the box Brielle hadn't opened yet. She grabbed the second box, cladden in light blue paper with little snowflakes. It was larger than the other one, and when she carefully pulled the paper off she noticed it was from a different place than the goggles and gloves. Brielle lifted the lid of the box and peeked inside. Within the box - which contained a whole lot of tissue paper - Brielle pulled out a small, leather bag. It looked like a larger version of a bag which you would fill with little rocks at a museum.

Brielle examined the intricate embroidery of the designs on the exterior of the bag as Joseph spoke. "It's a Mokeskin Pouch," he told her, "Mokeskin is tougher than iron, it'll keep just about everything safe. If you have things that you want to keep with you at school that would typically have the potential to be stolen or lost, keep it in there. You can fill it to the brim, and the good news is that even if you lose the pouch, Mokeskin is charmed to return to you no matter what." Brielle looked up from the bag with wonder; so she could keep anything in here, and it wouldn't get lost? Astonishing.

"Thank you, Larissa, Joe," Brielle replied gratefully and gave each one of them a hug, "Not just for the pouch, but for everything. You treat me like your daughter, you truly are the best family I could've dreamt of. Thank you for giving me a superb life outside of Continental."

"Sweet Pea," Larissa said and kissed her forehead, "We love you. You're not just like a daughter to us, you are our daughter. We love you immensely, it doesn't matter that it isn't biological."

"At all," Joseph said, "We want to give you the best. Both you and Evan."

"Despite the fact that I'm twenty some years old," Evan mumbled in the background, and all of them chuckled.

"Despite that you're twenty some years old," Joseph agreed. Brielle smiled and stood up. Now that gifts were over, she had to prepare herself for her grandmother coming over to meet her.

Oh, boy.

Brielle was very nervous for dinner. Not just because it was with someone she didn't know, but this was a family member. Larissa always said how much family meant to her and spoke very highly of her mother, so if she didn't like Brielle…

Well…

She threw on a very nice blouse that, for some reason, was in her closet, and a pair of tan slacks that went nicely with it. Brielle hoped it was good enough, because it was the nicest thing she owned aside from a dress, which she hoped to avoid wearing. But when Larissa told Brielle how beautiful she looked, she decided the dress could wait.

Brielle was a little upset that she wasn't able to bring her wand to the table. Larissa's mother was a muggle, so she couldn't see any magic. That meant that the inside of the house shrunk immensely to avoid any suspicion, and it felt a bit uncomfortable to have her house look so different. There weren't any quills on the desk in the family room. The broom case with the Glover 200 in it was replaced by a piano. The dining room did not have the floating candles in it anymore; they were replaced by a small chandelier.

"Mum," Larissa's voice echoed down the corridor, and Brielle began to clam up. She froze at the bottom of the stairs, unable to bring herself to move to the foyer to greet her grandmother.

"Elle," Evan said as he straightened out his tie. She looked to her foster brother, and he smiled and held out a hand. When she didn't take it, he got to one knee. "It's only one night, she'll love you, I promise." Brielle nodded and took Evan's hand, and he led Brielle to the foyer.

Larissa's mother did not resemble Larissa at all. She was a plump lady who wore a dress that was much too small for her body, and she had on black high heels that looked like they were going to burst. Her cheeks were doused in makeup, along with her eyelids and her lips, which were too bright for the dress she was wearing. She was about Larissa's height, though the beehive of clearly dyed hair atop her head made her a bit taller.

"How are you, Mrs. Groves?" Joseph asked as he gave her a kiss on the cheek, and she started talking in a scratchy voice with a British accent similar to Larissa's.

"Well I would have been much better if the M7 wasn't backed up and your home wasn't in the middle of nowhere," she complained, "Could you have picked a more secluded home, Joseph?"

"Mum," Larissa said in a warning tone, but she ignored her daughter and turned to Evan.

"Evan, my Love," she said happily and waddled over to give him a hug. She completely ignored Brielle and gave Evan a kiss on the cheek, which left a lipstick mark. Brielle laughed as Evan made a face over their grandmother's shoulder, and when they broke the hug, Evan grabbed Brielle by the shoulders and set her in front of him.

"Grandmum," Evan said and looked down at his foster-sister, "This is Brielle. Brielle, this is Grandmum."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Brielle said quietly but kindly, and Grandmum made a face.

"She's Irish," she pointed out and turned to Larissa and Joe. "Did you adopt an Irish girl?"

"Mum," Larissa said again, "We do live in Ireland, you know."

"Hmmph," Grandmum sounded and examined Brielle closely. She let out a deep, snorting breath, then turned back to Larissa. "I would've thought she'd dress up for the occasion." Grandmum turned on her heel and strode through the house with short, clanky steps until she reached the kitchen. Larissa grabbed Brielle's arm before they followed and pulled her by the stairs gently.

"Sweet Pea, why don't you go up and change into that dress I left for you, hmm?" she told Brielle, and - while she hated dresses - she wanted to make Larissa happy. So, she nodded without protest, and Larissa kissed her forehead and thanked her. Brielle scampered up the stairs and to her room, pushing open her window.

Brielle found the dress and changed quickly, throwing on the sweater and combat boots that Larissa had left, as well. She was about to leave when there was a squawk at her window, and Brielle turned around to see Péleda sitting there with a small envelope hanging from her beak. Brielle walked over briskly and grabbed it, deciding to open it before she went back downstairs. It was from Jesse.

Brielle,

First of all, Happy Christmas! I hope you received what you wanted, I'm sure we did, too. We haven't opened our gifts yet.

Jesse must have written this letter earlier today, because Brielle figured that they would have opened their gifts right when they went downstairs.

Anyways, everyone here is intact. TJ's rolling around pretty well nowadays, and he's not stumbling on stairs and things anymore, which is good. Cameron and I are good, too, nothing really new on our end.

I'm sorry you can't come to dinner tonight, but maybe you can come some other time. Sometime soon, perhaps, I know TJ and Cameron are going crazy that you're not here. Especially TJ. They can't wait until we go back to school, because rumor has it that we're not going back anytime soon. They still haven't found Oralie, or whoever they want us to think paralyzed TJ (It was most definitely Oralie).

We sent Ibis with your gifts, there's one from TJ and Cameron and one from me in there. They're all in one box. I hope you like everything, and good luck with your grandmother tonight.

Take care, and Happy Christmas.

Jesse.

As if on cue, Brielle put down the letter and Ibis flew into the window shakily, circling around her room and dropping one, small box on Brielle's bed.

"Brielle?" Evan called from downstairs, "Is everything alright up there?"

"Just a second," Brielle responded and made her way to the bed. She didn't bother being careful with the wrapping paper for the sake of time, and she opened the box quickly. Inside, there seemed to be a limitless expansion charm. She reached her hand in and noticed that she was right, then felt around for anything in the box. She pulled out a bracelet first, with a tag on it that read From Cameron and TJ. They had crossed out the words and Jesse. On the bracelet - which she slipped onto her wrist - were two charms. One was a beater's bat, the other a broom. The bracelet fit perfectly.

Brielle searched for whatever it was Jesse had sent her and soon pulled out a long chain with a disc-shaped, white stone on it. The stone had a black engraving of three lines making a teepee shape that had three dots over the top. She put it on her neck - as it matched the dress she was wearing nicely - and closed the box as Evan yelled up to her again.

"Elle?"

"Coming!" she responded and darted downstairs. She slowed her pace as she entered the kitchen, and Grandmum seemed to approve of the outfit change. Brielle assumed this by the fact that there wasn't a grunt or a snide comment made as she sat down at the table.

"Brielle, that's a lovely pendant," Joe said as Larissa brought over a ham from the kitchen, and Brielle took her seat next to Evan. "Where'd you get it?"

Evan took one look at the pendant, and his eyes widened. He looked very anxious as Brielle responded. "It was a gift from Jesse Ramos, Joe."

"Joe?" Grandmum repeated, "You allow this girl to call you by your first names?"

"Well, of course," Brielle responded for Joseph, and Evan grabbed Brielle's arm.

"Can...Can I see that necklace, Elle?" he asked hastily, and Brielle furrowed her eyebrows, taking it with the hand with the bracelet around the wrist. She held the pendant out for Evan to see, and he tried to remove it from Brielle's neck. She recoiled a little bit, and he gave her a look as if to warn her, which she returned, and Evan gave up on trying to get the necklace. She didn't understand why he wanted it.

As Brielle reached for her fork, Grandmum caught her wrist from the head of the table. Brielle smiled and watched as the old woman examined the bracelet, and she asked, "What is this? What do these charms mean?"

"Those?" Brielle said and looked at the charms as well. Evan was whispering something to Joe, whose eyes were wide. "These are a Beater's bat and a broomstick, of course." Grandmum looked at her like she had five heads.

"Beater?" she questioned, "Is that some Irish poppycock?"

"Not at all," Brielle said, and Evan tried to unlatch the pendant from behind her, but Brielle swatted his hand away.

"Brielle," Joe warned, but she ignored him.

"A Beater is a Quidditch position," she explained to her grandmother, "Of course, you wouldn't know anything about Quidditch, but perhaps you can go with Joe to the Drakonas versus Voras game at Aboriginal."

"Aboriginal?" her grandmother repeated with outrage. "What is Aboriginal?"

"School," Brielle said simply.

"Brielle," Evan growled and grabbed her arm under the table, "That's enough."

"Yes, Sweet Pea," Larissa continued, clearly trying not to get too angry, "Why don't we start dinner before the ham gets cold, right, Mum?"

But her grandmother was already off track. "School? You told me she was at Pennington."

"That preppy old Muggle school?" Brielle spat and made what Evan called her yucky face, "Oh heavens no."

"That's it," Grandmum interjected and stood abruptly from the table, "All this poppycock is too much for me. An Irish daughter who isn't even yours, going to some school I've never even heard of, doing made up things."

Brielle's grandmother started to waddle towards the exit of the kitchen, and Larissa shot out of her seat. "Mum, please," she practically begged, "Stay for dinner, it's Christmas."

"You should be ashamed," Grandmum continued with a snarl. "A girl like that calling herself a member of this family." She glared at Brielle, who was now very aware of the effect her words were having on her grandmother, but her emotions were bubbling up inside of her and, for some reason, she couldn't keep her opinions to herself tonight. "She's a disgrace."

"At least I'm not a bitter old British lady," Brielle mumbled, and Joseph lashed out as the 'bitter old British lady' stormed (waddled) down the hallway and to the front door.

"That is it," he snapped as Larissa chased her mother down the hallway, trying to keep her from leaving. "What the hell is the matter with you?" Brielle sat there, frozen. "Well? Never did I expect you to be so rude to anyone, especially your grandmother. What happened to you being a sweet, shy kid, huh?"

Brielle didn't know how to respond to this, and instead sat there as Joe looked furious. Even Evan looked angry beyond belief, though he didn't say anything. Joseph sighed in frustration and put a hand over his face. He used his other one to point towards the staircase.

"Go," he told her, "Go to your room."

Brielle took a breath to say something, but she didn't have words for the first time all night. She slowly stood up from her chair, and Evan didn't even look at her as she passed by to go to the stairs. Before she left the room, though, she turned to Evan and Joe's backs and meekly said, "I...I'm sorry."

Then she ran to the stairs and stormed up them, running to her room and burying herself in her bedsheets and her face in a pillow.

What just happened? She didn't know; it wasn't like her to say much of anything to people, especially to strangers. She didn't know what overcame her tonight, but whatever it was, her grandmother was right.

Brielle was a disgrace.