December 23rd, 2022

Lily woke up first at the crack of dawn, which was hardly that early in the dead of winter. She threw her Beauty and the Beast comforter off herself and tossed her Humpty Dumpty plush, Omelet, across the room to Lyra's bed. Her sister grumbled under the covers.

"Lyra! Wake up!"

"No."

Lily cursed under her breath and grabbed her wand from where she had left it on her nightstand. She pointed it at her sister's blanket, "Accio."

Lyra gasped in surprise as the blanket flew off her body and onto her sister's bed. Lily laughed as the comforter smacked her in the face before shoving it aside. Lyra sat bolt upright, her hair an absolute nightmare, her eyes frantic and wild, "Lily what the hell! You're gonna get expelled for stupid shit like that!"

"Not anymore I'm not. Lyra, we're seventeen! The trace is officially gone!" Lily explained as her sister continued to seem utterly perplexed.

Lyra's expression of shock slowly shifted into a beaming grin. She scrambled out of bed and grabbed her wand. "Wingardium leviosa!" Lyra shot the spell directly at her sister who laughed hysterically as she started to float up above her bed. She slowly tipped upside down, staring at her topsy turvy sister, "I'll get you for that, aguamenti!" She doused her twin in a mild stream of cool water. Lyra screamed in surprise and without thinking, she flicked her wand and set Lily's bedside lamp on fire.

"That's not funny!" Lily screamed, quickly dousing out the fire the same spell.

"I wasn't trying to be funny, you startled me!" Lyra spat back as the levitation charm faded and Lily floated back down onto her bed.

"It was just a bit of water. I feel like setting a lamp on fire in response to getting a sprinkle over your head is a bit of an overreaction."

"Mimblewimble," Lyra twitched her wand again. She laughed as Lily attempted to lecture her more, but was unable to make any coherent sense around her literally twisted tongue. "What's that, sis? Can't hear ya."

Lily pointed her wand directly at her sister and attempted to speak, but it came out sounding like, "Ifsh oor ut airful, I ul ink oo"

Lyra, realizing how dangerous it was for her ticked off sister to be pointing a wand at her when she couldn't properly speak, quickly undid the charm. Lily's jaw relaxed as her tongue returned to normal in her mouth. She smiled, "Thank you. I was just about to see what would happen if I tried to cast a bat bogey hex without proper annunciation."

"Of course you were. Hey, can you dry me off?" Lyra asked as she got out of bed.

Lily grinned. She knew the spell for a quick dry, but she figured her sister deserved better than that, "Sure. Arms out, facing me." Foolishly, Lyra did as she was asked. "Ventus."

Lyra was immediately pushed back two feet across the room by an extreme wind. She barely stopped herself from being knocked over. She tried to fight against the powerful wind, yelling at her sister all the while as Lily laughed at her sister's well deserved consequence.

Their bedroom door banged open loudly. Both girls screamed in surprise. Lily jerked her wand and the spell vanished, causing Lyra to collapse on the floor. Draco stood in their doorway, staring at them passively. The lamp was singed, there was a puddle on the floor, the beds were in disarray, and both girls looked like an absolute mess.

"Five minutes," Draco started plainly, "You've been without the trace and already you two are causing total chaos."

The sisters exchanged a look. Lily shrugged. Lyra turned to their dad and said frankly, "What'd you expect?"

"Honestly," He sighed, "I expected one minute. I owe Harry some galleons. Anyway, come down to breakfast. Or did you want to skip on the nice birthday meal I made for you?"

"That depends," Lyra said as she got to her feet, "Are we having cake for breakfast?"

Draco smiled, "Obviously. I'm not a monster."

"Then yes, we'll be right down," Lyra said with unnecessary dignity. The girls made their beds with their magic as soon as their dad was out the door. Naturally, they couldn't even make their way down into the kitchen without using magic at every possible turn. Lily turned the stairs into a slide, Lyra transfigured a stray book on the couch in the living room into a thumbtack, and Lily blasted confetti in the air as they entered the room. Their family sat at the dining table, impatiently waiting to eat. James and Caelum both looked incredibly frustrated. James wanted to do magic in the house as well, and Caelum just wanted his own damn wand. Harry, however, was perfectly entertained by his incredulous daughters. He was glad that they could enjoy their seventeenth birthday to the fullest, unlike he had when he came of age.

Once they had tucked away and eaten the enormous amount of food Draco had prepared, Draco brought out the girls' two individual cakes he had spent all night making and concealing from sight. Lily's was a small layered cake adorned with both real and fake lily flowers, a touch of glitter brushed across the petals. Lyra's, as expected, was quite the opposite. Hers resembled a cauldron with a Slytherin snake adorning it. Both girls were utterly delighted and insisted they weren't going to share the cake with anyone else. After the boys groaned and complained the dads clarified that, in fact, the girls had to share. With the sweets evenly distributed and the bickering subdued, it was Harry's turn to dote upon his daughters.

He disappeared briefly to the other room to retrieve their small gifts. He sat back down and offered a single small box to each girl.

"Now, before you open it," He clarified, "Your father and I just want to let you know how proud we are of both of you. You've come a long way and it's been an honor to watch you both grow into fine witches. We love you and we can't wait to see how much more you'll grow in the years to come." Despite his calm tone, Harry meant every word. He could have sworn he had just held his baby girls, had just panicked over whether or not they would survive their first week of life. Hadn't he just made the unbreakable vow to care for and love them?

Lily was misty eyed and jumped up to hug her dads individually. Lyra, however, did not leap up or say any kind words to her loving fathers. She simply exchanged quiet smiles with each of them in turn. She was not one for obvious gratitude.

When Lily wrapped her arms around Draco he could have cried. It was unbelievable to him how fast time had gone by them. He didn't want to let her go. He had always been right by her side her entire life, always anxious to catch her fall. But he knew it was time to let her go and take care of herself. She pulled away and he let her go, surreptitiously wiping a tear off his cheek. Only Harry seemed to notice.

"Alright," Draco chimed once Lily had settled down, "Go ahead and open them."

The girls tore apart the wrappings quickly and simultaneously. Underneath lay two identical square boxes. They slowly pried the lids open to reveal delicate watches inside. Lily gasped in astonishment as she picked up the silver watch with small emerald dotted hands ticking by with the time. Lyra's was of a more simple design with a rose gold band.

"It's traditional for witches and wizards to receive a watch for their seventeenth birthdays. Those are our old watches. We thought they might serve you well. Lyra, yours is a bit modified. I figured solid gold would look gaudy for you, so I tinted the color a bit. I hope you don't mind." Harry explained gently. He had replaced Fabian Prewett's watch many years ago when he had gifted it to George, who he felt was the rightful owner of it and who he had already passed it down to Freddie. The watch Lyra now put on her wrist was one that Harry had been wearing since before the girls were born. He was remiss to be parting with it, but he knew she would treat it well.

"I changed yours a bit too," Draco mentioned to Lily, "Used to have a big black 'M' on the face was for Malfoy. Suited me, but you're not just a Malfoy so it didn't seem quite right. I know the colors aren't of your house, but I doubt if anyone will notice." He had worn that watch since he had turned seventeen. It had been such a somber birthday prior to the war starting, he had hardly appreciated the gift. But he had grown to love it over the years and he found that it looked absolutely at home on his daughter's wrist. Her whole head had barely been bigger than that watch when she was born, and yet now she was wearing it. He could hardly believe his little girl had grown so much so fast.

The girls thanked their fathers profusely as they admired the beautiful watches. The boys pouted aimlessly in the background.

"Don't worry," Draco assured them, "You'll get fine watches someday soon."

"Daaad," James whined, "It's gonna be like a jillion years before I'm seventeen."

"Try five," Draco corrected.

"Whatever. I just want to do magic now."

"You barely know any magic," Caelum quipped.

"I know more than you do," James pointed out.

"Oh god," Harry groaned, "Just because they're of age now doesn't mean you two have to take up the mantle of bickering siblings."

The whole table burst with laughter.