Lyanna was very happy. Finally, after a year of waiting, another Christmas with its gifts will take place. The Snow Stark, Targaryen, Martell, Lannister, Tully, Arryn, Frey and Khal families will meet, like every single year, in Castle of Snow to celebrate this day. This is a very interesting thing, really. So many Galleons spend that even the goblins have problems with counting them, for nothing only because people wanted to celebrate a day which was at first known as the day for old pagan gods and then to this 'God'? Most of the wizarding families did not even believe in any gods with exception of Muggle-born ones because that was something that they grew up as an important part of their lives. The nine families of the Alliance celebrated this day because of another occasion – on roughly 25th of December, almost 2 thousand years ago, each of the castles in the Dragon Valley (where all castles of Alliance were located) was started to be built on this day. Don't ask any member of these families why it happened on that day because even they do not know why it happened.
Now, each of the families had their own castle that was different and showed their own personalities that were carried on in the families. They were all located in the Dragon Valley and all stood in the circle with a river flowing between them and passing through two of the castles. The Castle of Snow stood at the most northern point of the valley. It had 6, black towers that had their names that meant nothing to a stranger – Nymeria, Greywind, Ghost, Lady, Shaggy and Summer. Lone Wolf, belonging to Stark family, was located (if you would stand in the middle of the valley and take that Castle of Snow is at 12 o'clock) at 2 o'clock. It was made of grey stones but not even a single joint could be seen. It was similar to any medieval castles made by Muggles. Next one, at 3 o'clock, was the Imp. Which was not so small. Walls, made of what seemed like gold, reached even 100 meters at it's highest point. Then, at 4 o'clock stood one of these two castles with a river passing beneath them – Orphan which was a seat of House Frey. Green walls and the huge gate which was one of three entrances to the valley were it's the best know features. At 5 o'clock, The Last Stallion could be seen with the walls of earthy-brown colour and a single horse above its gate – and that's the reason for its name. At 6 o'clock, the second entrance to the valley – the road that connected all 9 castles to the outside world. At 7 o'clock, the seat of Tully's stood tall. The walls of purple could be seen around the Blackfish that was not so black. Through its courtyard flew a river – Dragon Breath. At 8 o'clock, Robin of Arryn's was located with walls of blue stones. At 9 o'clock a Sand Snake with its orange walls stood proudly showing that the Martell family lived there. At 10 o'clock, the last of the castles were located. The Three Heads. Red Walls with three towers and each of them had a dragon statue at the top of it.
At exactly 10 o'clock, the whole Snow family stood in the entrance hall waiting for their extended families main lines. Jaeherys and his wife Bethany Snow née Black. Aerys and Rhaella Snow née Targaryen. Rhaegar and Daria Snow née Stark. Viserys and Ellia Snow née Martell. And then the children – Lyanna with her silver hair and purple eyes along with Aegon and Rhaenys with their dark skin and black hair. The siblings were only 4 and 3 years old but they looked as best as a child their age could. At first came green-eyed and golden-haired Lannisters. Then, brown-haired (mostly) and grey-eyed (now almost everyone) Starks. Martells – dark skin, black hair and brown eyes. Arryns – blond hair and sky-blue eyes. Targaryens – black hair and purple eyes. Freys – silver hair and earthy-brown eyes. Tullys – gingers (or in their mind auburn but this smart author leaves no comment for this statement) and their river-blue eyes. And at last, Khals with black hair, dark skin and almost black eyes. However, there was one person in this group that Lyanna was delighted to see - her godmother Daenerys, her aunt.
"Aunt Dany!" Shouted Lyanna as soon as she saw her favourite aunt. The older woman smiled and hugged her little niece. Both resembled each other a lot. Some of the older members of Alliance used to tell that they would be twins if born in the same period of time.
"How is my favourite niece? Is Hogwarts still as good as it used to be?" Asked Daenerys in her gentle voice.
"I am very good, Aunty. And School is also as good. I made quite a few new friends - Su Li, Anthony Goldstein, Padma Patil, Theodore Nott and Hermione Granger. The first four are purebloods and 'Mione is Muggleborn." Replied Lyanna with a small smile on her face.
Her aunt looked a little surprised if you could say that.
"Your friend is m-m-muggleborn?! How did you manage to do it? I don't think that there were any of them as friends with anyone in our family except for Lily Potter but that was only because she was very good at magic and friends with your mother. Are you sure that she is good enough for you?" Asked Lya's concerned Aunt.
The girl sighed slowly and looked into her godmother's eyes with a fire that could burn anything on its way if it was released.
"I KNOW that she is good for me, dear AUNT. Only because her parents are Muggles does not mean that she is not a good friend. Being honest, I think that right now, she is my BEST friend. If you do not like that, please tell me but I warn you now that as long as I will trust her, she shall be my friend. I already did terrible things that made her cry and I do not want to them again. Not because they are not funny or I do not want to be put in detention but I want to change. Father told me about Uncle 'serys few days ago and you know what? I know that if I will not start to work now, I will end up just like him - a person that is a danger to even their closest family." Said Lyanna in the coldest voice that she could do and it was very cold. "Well, do you want to go to the Great Hall?"
Daenerys just nodded. She had never seen Lya like that before and she was way scarier than Uncle Tywin whose sense of humour disappeared after the death of his wife but he still loved his three children – Cersei, Jaime and Tyrion. His little Lions as he used to say.
Both members of house Snow entered as the last ones to the biggest room in the castle that was now decorated in white, grey and silver everywhere where you looked. The house elves were preparing it for last three days and it looked magnificent.
Everyone sat on the already reserved places next to the table, Lyanna between Dominik and her mother, Daria, and they started to eat their food. The elves made 77 different courses for people to choose from because the old tradition of these nine families said to it. Everyone had a great time and after 4 hours, they finally reached desserts and the opening of the presents (the only thing that children were excited about). All of the elves (they were 152 in Castle of Snow) bring the presents next to the longest wall in the hall. The pile was huge - its peak reached about 3 or 4 meters.
Lyanna received many gifts from family and friends. Most of them were sweets, lots of jewellery and dresses. However, there were a few that were very special. From Hermione a book called "The Most Amazing Animals of Our World". It had a picture of a wolf at the front and Lya smiled at how her friend knew that she liked animals, big and small, and how she wanted to know about them as much as she could. From Dominik, broom servicing kit not that she needed that. From her Mother and Father, a book about magical inheritances and how to claim them. And the last one, from her Great-Grandparents.
As one of the house elves bring her the last gift, she noticed that it was something very long and when she took it into her hands, it was so heavy that she almost dropped it at her feet but they were saved by quick action of Uncle Stevon, Dominik's father, who sat two seats away from her. As she unpacked the gift, she found a piece of metal in front of her and all eyes in the room were on her. SHe looked questioningly and grandfather Jaeherys and saw him smiling.
"I think that it is your time to become an heir of your father, the heir of my heir. This metal will be used for you to make you a sword but you will not learn how to use it until you will be 16 years old because I do not see a point of learning it right now. We just need to pick a date when you and Rhaegar will go to the smith to get it done."
"Thank you, grandfather but I do not understand what I have done that I am allowed to have it?" Asked surprised Lyanna. The sword was given to a member of the family only when they did something important.
"You were sorted into Ravenclaw and you befriended a Muggleborn. This is the biggest achievement that we got in ages and do not think that it is not. You are bringing a new image into our family and this will help us all together." Said Lord Snow and everyone applauded and congratulated Lyanna. However, it was not really everyone.