Chapter Nineteen: Christmas Dinner

"Dudley, do you know why I put you here?" Petunia questioned her son a couple of minutes later as she squatted down in front of him, but he just simply looked up at her with confusion. "It's because you pushed your cousin and then after you were warned to stop talking back to me and to stop your naughty behavior you don't listen to me. So you need to tell me that you're sorry and you need to tell Harry that you're sorry." She instructed him.

"Sowee Mumma." He told her before she threw her arms tightly around him and embraced him and then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I love you Dudders, now go say you're sorry to Harry." She told him.

"No!" Dudley cried while narrowing his eyebrows and glaring over at his cousin.

"Alright, then you're going to stay here until you can apologize to him." Petunia told him and as soon as she got up and left him be Dudley started crying again and started throwing things around the room. One of them was his coloring book that he threw at Harry and made him start to cry as well.

"Dudley Vernon Dursley, if you do not stop this behavior right now then you're going to start getting your toys taken away." Petunia threatened while Lily ran towards her son and scooped him up and hugged him tightly as he continued to cry.

"Shh,.. shh,.." she whispered while she gently rocked him in her arms and then bounced him up and down before examining the bump on his head. "Severus, can you make another healing potion for Harry? He's got a rather large bump." She told him.

"Sure, let me take him." He replied and walked over to them before Lily handed Harry off who was continuing to hysterically sob. "There, there,.. it's alright." He reassured him while he rocked him inside his arms before he started carrying him downstairs.

By the time the Weasleys showed up Dudley still didn't apologize to Harry. So since it was time to eat supper Petunia relented and allowed him out of timeout, but he wouldn't be getting any dessert and he would be going straight to bed afterwards. Meanwhile, as Stevie went outside to go bring Nugget his bottle, a tiny little tawny owl swooped down out of the sky with an envelope clamped underneath its beak.

Stevie quickly caught the letter in her other hand and saw that it was from her mother. She suddenly started growing very anxious. She was very embarrassed to admit to anybody that for awhile she forgot that this wasn't her real home. As she tore open the letter and unfolded it inside her hands she suddenly breathed a sigh of relief while reading it silently to herself.

Dear Stevie,

I just thought you should know that your father is locked up now and you should be able to come home for Easter break since I'm assuming that you want to spend the rest of Christmas vacation with your uncle. I miss you and love you very much and I'm only sorry that I wasn't able to stand up for you like your uncle Severus was able to do. I only hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

Love, Mum

Stevie just simply heaved a sigh to herself. As much as she missed her mother and own house and bedroom, she couldn't help but remember that her mother had disappointed her and failed to protect her. Unlike Nugget's mother. For if he and his siblings weren't very well protected and taken care of then there probably wouldn't be any cause for them to still be alive.

With another sigh Stevie folded the letter back up and stuffed it inside her pocket before going out into the shed where Nugget was to give him his milk. "Hey boy, are you hungry?" Stevie questioned him as the little colt whinnied excitedly as soon as he saw her and then snorted and shook his head and mane making her giggle. "I'll take that as a yes." She said and then she sat down and held the baby unicorn on her lap.

Nugget tried to give her fingers an affectionate nip, but Stevie quickly pulled her hand away from him. "No biting. You're not going to get anything if you bite me." She warned him and this time he let out an annoyed snort while he shook his head and mane, but he eventually gave in and allowed her to give him his bottle without losing any of her fingers.

Stevie smiled down at him while he ate. She thought that he was so adorable and beautiful, and she really wished that she could keep him forever. She pictured herself riding like the wind on his back through the woods and flying through the air.

As soon as she finished giving Nugget his dinner, she went back inside the house and showed her letter to her uncle who simply just nodded before she joined everybody else at the table. "So, Stevie, what do you want to do once you leave Hogwarts?" Mrs. Weasley asked her which was a question that Stevie never really thought about before. What did she want to do with her life?

"Well,.. I like playing Qudditch, singing, and taking care of animals." She replied.

"So then either be a healer, a professional Qudditch player, or a professional singer." Bill told her.

"Or do all three." Charlie said.

"I don't think that Stevie would have time to do all three." His mother told him with a shake of her head.

"Yeah and I don't want to either. Since I still want to get married and have kids someday. I really like children as well." Stevie replied before taking a drink of pumpkin juice.

"Well you could either take over as flying instructor slash coach or become the future Care of Magical Creatures professor at Hogwarts. That way you would be doing a combination of things that you enjoy." Lily suggested.

"Yeah,.. I guess I never thought of that before." Stevie said when suddenly Severus wrinkled his nose and sniffed the air.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be in such a hurry to have children of your own. I swear that everything we feed this boy goes straight through him." Severus said before unstrapping Harry from his booster chair and scooping him up inside his arms. "Come on, let's go get you changed." He told him before he started carrying him down the hallway and back into his bedroom to change his diaper.