December 24, 1981
Chateau Black
Rita Skeeter felt the same way about muggle holidays that most witches felt about garden gnomes: they were an inconvenient interruption to normal life that only a true eccentric could appreciate.
It was fair to say that no one alive would describe her as jolly or merry during the month of December- but she was certainly bright. Bright enough to realize that despite her life long disgust for all things tinsel and garland, holiday pieces sold papers like crazy. Especially heart warming ones.
(It was enough to make her physically sick- literally, when she heard carolers. Couldn't people just go to work and do their jobs and stick to sacrificing goats for fun?)
Burdened by this knowledge- ignorance truly is bliss when you are too ambitious to turn down any hint of opportunity- Rita had begrudgingly answered Cassiopeia Black's summons to a Christmas Eve tea.
"The reporter will be following Pip to the winter conservatory now," squeaked the house elf who had greeted her in front of the fireplace, turning at once and heading down the long carpeted hall.
Rita swallowed a grimace, brushing soot off the skirts of her formal robes as she followed. Winter conservatory, really? The Blacks were going to make her quite a lot of money- already had, based on the Daily Prophet's sales of issues that spoke of them- but it was incredibly hard for Rita to actually like them. They were entirely too-
The house elf swung open a set of wooden double doors carved with snowflakes and hunting qiqirn, and Rita's thoughts crashed to a halt. Whatever outdated snowscape she had been expecting, it certainly wasn't this!
The room itself was circular, with tapered walls leading up to a pointed ceiling. Unlike a normal conservatory (with its clear glass and opening window panes), the ceiling appeared to be made completely of some thick, bluish green ice that radiated an unnaturally eerie light. Thousands of blue bell flames lined the walls, contained in iridescent icy votives. Massive evergreens grew throughout the room in three lapping circles (Rita, who had once loved Ancient Runes classes, was fairly certain there was an important pattern in their placement). Each tree had been decorated with bright lights, shining baubles, long flowing ribbons, and bells.
In the center of it all, a fairly small gilded rococo-esque table had been set up with tea for not two, but five.
Another surprise, then. At least this time Rita easily recognized all the players in the game.
Cassiopeia Black dipped her head graciously. "Miss Skeeter, ever so glad you could join us for such a last minute occasion."
"The pleasure is all mine, I assure you. I was quite surprised to hear that the Black family celebrated any muggle holidays." A sickly sweet smile plastered on her face, Rita allowed the house elf to help her scoot in her chair and crossed one ankle gracefully behind the other.
"Oh, we don't- not traditionally." Narcissa Malfoy said with a laugh like tinkling bells. "However, times change and families grow. Miss Skeeter, have you met my sister?"
Rita, who considered Narcissa a very powerful occasional ally, was not quite sure how to answer that. Up until two months ago, it would have been easy enough to assume that the correct response was a disdainful sniff and possibly a few veiled muggleborn insults. Now, however….
Rumor had it the pair had been taking tea.
"I'm not sure that we've been formally introduced," the reporter settled on.
"Wonderful, I'll do a round of introductions then- Andromeda, this is Miss Rita Skeeter. She's a wonderfully ambitious reporter from the Daily Prophet and was a member of our house at Hogwarts. Miss Skeeter, this is my elder sister Madam Andromeda Tonks nee Black. She's an acclaimed memory magic specialist, and her husband is one of the reasons my dear Aunty has decided to celebrate Christmas this year.
"Pleasure," Rita murmured.
"Certainly."
"Will you take tea before you begin taking notes, Miss Skeeter?" Isla Calderon wandlessly levitated the teapot towards the reporter, leaving it hovering over her empty cup.
"Please- no milk or sugar, just the tea."
Isla raised a single brow. "Strong tastes."
Rita's responding smile was challenging. "You've no idea."
"I'm sure you already remember my rule about quills due to the possibility of stains, Miss Skeeter?" Cassiopeia asked innocently from behind a biscuit.
Irritated as she realized that her Quick Notes Quill would once again collect dust through a meeting, Rita nodded sharply. "I'll be borrowing one again then, begging your pardon."
"No worries- Pip!"
A sharp snap! and the house elf reappeared, a ridiculously large quill in one hand and an extra tray of biscuits in the other. "Missy Cassiopeia is ready for her special quill?"
"Quite- right in front of Miss Skeeter, that will do. Are those more of the same or a new kind of biscuit?" Cassiopeia leaned eagerly towards the platter as if trying to sniff the biscuits from afar.
"They is being a new biscuit- Pip was trying out fruitcake biscuits. They is having fruit, so maybe they is not being as bad for Pip's mistress." The house elf looked as if she wasn't quite certain of her own logic on this one, but determinedly held out the platter nonetheless. "Missy will be liking them."
Snatching one off the plate in a motion that seemed almost dangerously fast for a woman of her age, Cassiopeia sunk her teeth into the biscuit. After a long moment, she swallowed and grinned. "Delightful, Pip- keep it up. I'll be taking the rest of these."
"Is Missy Cassiopeia wanting these cookies included in the packages for all of the children?"
"Oh, certainly yes. Actually no. Actually, only if you're making them a batch of their own," Cassiopeia finally decided, and then waved one hand. "If that's all, Pip..."
Bowing, the elf snapped and disappeared with a sharp crack!
"Now, where were we? Ah yes, Miss Skeeter. Would you like to begin by asking questions?"
"Certainly- my first, if you'll excuse my ongoing curiosity, is what children you're sending packages to?"
Unseen by Rita, Isla and Narcissa smiled broadly into their teacups as the bait was taken.
Casually, Cassiopeia reached for another biscuit and smiled broadly. "As Narcissa mentioned briefly, the Black's do not traditionally celebrate any of the muggle holidays. Instead, we stick with the wizarding Wheel of the Year. However, times are changing, and we must change with them in order to embrace the newest members of our family such as Ted Tonks- Andromeda's husband- or even Lily Potter, had she lived. I decided to send Christmas packages to all of the children under 18 in the family as a way to bring us all together."
Rita's eyes gleamed- Lily Potter? Oh, papers were going to sell alright. "So you've a way to get packages to all of them, then?"
Cassiopeia and Isla traded a brief glance, and then Cassiopeia smiled broadly. "That's quite right. Every single child that I have any claim to as Materfamilias will receive a Christmas present from me this year."
December 25, 1981
Daily Prophet Special Edition
Yule AND Christmas? Black Materfamilias Seeks To Embrace New And Old Traditions
Article by Rita Skeeter
Everyone knows the Black family motto: Toujours Pur. Translated directly from Latin to mean "always pure", most of the wizarding world has assumed for decades that it refers to the Black family's dedication to being- and staying- traditional blood purists.
But dear readers, what I have learned may change your mind.
When I sat down for a Christmas Eve tea with new Materfamilias Madam Cassiopeia Black, she explained that per the family's original teachings "always pure" has nothing to do with blood at all. Instead, it has everything to do with magic.
I was, of course, quite skeptical of this. After all, disregarding the Black family's movements in recent months, they were notorious followers of You-Know-Who in the Blood War and were known for pushing traditionalist policies in the Wizengamot in the preceding years. Besides, how does one equate 'pure' and 'magic'?
Madam Black's response was clear proof of both her eccentricity and her expansive education garnered over years as one of the world's most renowned researchers: "Magic is a gift that only a very small percentage of our population has been blessed with. How that gift can be used, where that gift comes from- this research is vital for our magical civilization. The Black family has been at the forefront of magical research since our establishment in wizarding Britain several hundred years ago, and that is why our motto is 'always pure'- we always focus on magic in its purest form, where it has the largest number of capabilities and is most malleable."
Dear readers, for your sake I have spent many hours investigating to determine if this claim is true or not- and to my surprise, history does seem to back Madam Black's statements up. Indeed, the Black family's magical research has been recorded throughout our history books as instrumental to many of the theories still taught at Hogwarts today- and as recently as 1847, successful research papers proofread and peer reviewed by Black family members were signed off with, 'The magic here is pure'.
However, even if the Black family is not as dedicated to blood purity as many of us have believed, why on earth are they celebrating a so clearly muggle holiday as Christmas this year? They remain dedicated traditionalists- Madam Black herself even acknowledged celebrating the Wheel of the Year. This, dear readers, weighed heavily on my mind as I began asking questions of not only Madam Black, but several other notable family members as well: namely, Narcissa Malfoy nee Black and Andromeda Tonks nee Black (see page 13 for details of Madam Tonks' reinstatement on the family tree).
"Frankly, this is not the first time my family has celebrated Christmas- in fact, I have every year since I was married, " Madam Tonks confided. "I cannot tell you how pleased I am to be sharing combining new and old traditions this year- with my husband as well as Cassiopeia's twin brother Marius in the fold, it is sure to be quite joyous."
My dear readers, you will be understandably shocked by this next quote from Madam Malfoy herself: "We are looking forward to ensuring this new generation understands the importance of appreciating cultures different from their own. As we raise our children together, we seek to set a positive example for the rest of wizarding kind." Yes, my dears, you read correctly- the woman famous for a pure blood only guest list for her Yule parties has indeed opened her heart (and supposedly home!) to people who she once looked down on. "I believe education is incredibly important to lowering barriers- we can hardly be surprised that muggles and muggleborns are not embracing our traditions when they aren't taught them at school. I do hope an initiative will be taken in the coming years that helps bring us all together for occasions just like this one."
So what celebrations are happening exactly?
Just a few short days ago, a limited group of the Blacks gathered at Chateau Black and celebrated Yule. The group included not only Madam Black, but her young heir and, more surprisingly, Madam Black's squib brother and his family. Madam Tonks and her muggleborn husband were also in attendance with their young daughter. My research suggests that these are the first ever Yule celebrations to intentionally include muggles or squibs. Certainly, this was the first Black family celebration to include a muggleborn.
"Times are changing, and we must change with them in order to embrace the newest members of our family such as Andromeda's husband Ted Tonks, or my twin brother's lovely wife, or even Lily Potter, had she lived. These people may not be Black's by blood, but we claim them and their offspring as ours." Madam Black explained. "And after they celebrated Yule with us, we could hardly miss the opportunity to celebrate one of their traditions with them- namely, Christmas."
Madam Black had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner planned for the entire family after our tea, which rumor has it was highly attended and included a wizard dressed as the muggle character 'Santa Claus'. She additionally sent out Christmas care packages to all of the family members under the age of 18 containing small gifts, traditional biscuits, and toys.
Dear readers, you may be wondering who this list includes- after all, there are very few young Blacks around anymore. This reporter has done her due diligence to ensure you are in the list includes: Nymphadora Vulpecula Tonks, Hermione Black (Black family heir), Draco Black Malfoy, and Harry James Potter.
I did, of course, ask repeatedly if Madam Black was quite sure that all packages would be delivered (the public still remains unaware of the Chosen One's location). Madam Black had this to say, "Every single one of our family's children will be opening a package on Christmas morning- I've used quite a bit of magic to make sure of it."
And readers, I would be willing to bet (based on what we have seen so far) that "the magic here is pure."
