Chapter VIII: Holiday Gifts and Cheer

The Cumano Manse was thirty acres of enchanted land, most of it grassy and hilled. Located in Wales, the two-story manse worked well for the three-member Cumano family. In the mornings, dew that was enchanted with magic would glistens the colors of the rainbow on a cloudless day.

The home was rather simple but held a posh elegance that invoked the family's roots in Italy. The two floors were well furnished and filled with magical artifacts – all carefully maintained and set to appropriate decorate the home. The entire first floor was designed to entertain and impress guest, but the second floor belonged completely to the Cumano family. The only ones allowed up there besides the family members were invited guests and their competent if somewhat wretched house-elf. As an act of charity, the Cumano had furnished their house-elf, Muddy, with a large extra closet space to call his room.

The home had all the necessary enchantments to insure Muggles never got close or walked onto the land, but those enchantments were never rarely necessary. The Welsh were by nature weary of foreigners and had no desire to get to know the family. This suited the Cumano family fine and they filled their land with magical artifacts, most which were vital to her parents' scholarly pursuits.

Giuliana wished she was back there, rather than with her large, boisterous, and just plain odd extended family in Italy.

Cumano Villa was an ancient abode located in Tuscany, but though magic and renovations through the century had been well maintained. The Villa had existed since the Third Century when it was gifted to the Cumano's by their patron, the Roman Emperor Elagabalus. Since then, it was enchanted to prevent Muggles from seeing it, and over the next eighteen hundred years, the Villa had been drastically expanded and now included buildings and room styles that had at one point or another dominated the Italian peninsula in centuries past.

Imposing black marbled Baroque structures contrasted next to the plain cobblestoned Crusade era ones, while High Renaissance buildings towered above them all. At the heart of it all was the remains of the original Villa. Giuliana had only visited that area once when she was younger, but could still vividly remember the magically preserved atrium well with the impluvium's water crystal clear and surrounded by marbled statutes of her ancestors. The structure was supported by Corinthian columns while frescos of mythological scenes decorated the walls around it.

Giuliana had her own room whenever she arrived, though it had been assigned to her when she was just five and would never be able to change it. The room was bearable, but nothing like her one back in Wales. Sure, Cumano Villa was a sight beyond wonder, but home was home. The Villa would never be that.

But right now, what she missed most of all was Muddy's cooking. While the house-elves at the Villa were excellent and cooked excellent meals every day, it never compared to a good home cooked meal. 'What I'd give for that house-elf's Beef Wellington.' Giuliana thought as she walked the halls of the Villa. 'Oh, and a nice Hot Pot.'

Her family wasn't all bad she supposed. Her cousins always had exciting stories. While most of them were homeschooled, a few attended the other Wizarding schools and it was always interesting to hear about their studies. Her cousin Nelo was attending Durmstrang and told plenty of fun stories about the Bulgarian icon Viktor Krum, who was apparently quite nice. Two cousins went to the American school, Ilvermorny, and talked for hours about fascinating nature spells known by the American Indian. Her least favorite of bunch, Paola, attended Beauxbatons and would often mid-conversation start speaking with an accent and then transition into French. When someone would comment on it, Paola would look embarrassed before always replying, with a cheeky smile, "Mi dispiace, I didn't even realize! French is just so natural to me, I suppose."

'Insufferable.' Giuliana thought.

With the end of the Holiday and family gathering nearing, the cousins had run out of things to discuss and most had split off to find their own amusements around the Villa. For Giuliana, that meant doing research in the massive twenty-seven floor Cumano family library. A collection of nearly two millennia of knowledge, it was the prized jewel of the family and was housed in a suitably imposing building, the Cumano family's attempt at their own Florence Cathedral.

One of her more eccentric ancestors, upon seeing the finished Cathedral in the 15th Century, had demanded his own version of it at the Villa. Out of pride or whatever feeling, the ancestor had purposely limited the use of magic in the construction of the building, in particular for the massive Dome. Without magic though, the family was unable to replicate the Dome. Unwilling to tear down the remainder of the ornate building – or concede they couldn't accomplish what Muggles could without magic – the ceiling had been redone and the library moved into the building.

"Good morning, Giuliana." A harsh but weathered voice called out.

"Good morning, bisnonno." She replied politely, making brief eye contact with her wizened and brightly dressed family member before quickly moving past him. Giuliana was not in the mood to get bogged down in another conversation with her ancient family member.

Ignazio Cumano, the family member in question, was a cantankerous old warlock who served as the Chief Librarian for the Cumano family library. It wasn't an official designated position in the Villa, but more one he had assigned himself and the collective family had gone along with. Ignazio spent all of his time in the library, walking with an equally ancient looking heavy beech wood staff, reading through books in the library and insuring nothing was disturbed. He never left, not even to eat, so the house-elves would leave meals outside for him along with any other items he requested. The elves knew better to go into the library, where if a house-elf touched or attempted to clean anything they'd receive a heavy hit with Ignazio's staff to the head.

He was an utterly unpleasant warlock but everyone called him bisnonno out of respect for their elders. Whose great-grandfather he was, or how old he was, was a bit more unclear.

Instead of walking everywhere, a monumental task, the library had been stocked with broomsticks to make getting around easy. Ignazio had, of course, been infuriated by this and refused to use them. He had at times even threatened to hex anyone using one. Avoiding his eye, Giuliana grabbed one of the brooms and flew off to her destination.

The Potions section of the library took up three full floors along with scattered sections throughout. It was befitting as knowledge in potions was one of the Cumano's claims to fame. The Cumano family's earliest ancestors had immigrated to Italy from Syria, latching onto the new Emperor and his ambitious family. They assisted Elagabalus – as he'd later be known – with shoring up his power base and safety. But Elagabalus's true desire went beyond imperial power.

He wanted to be a woman.

At first, her family's ancestors had used early versions of the Polyjuice potion to achieve the effect, but Elagabalus had wanted it to be permanent. So, her ancestors had supposedly spent years on the potion, but by the time they succeeded, Elagabalus had been assassinated. The potion was lost to time, but supposedly the knowledge of how to make it still existed in the Cumano library.

And if a potion as amazing and no doubt complex as that existed in the library, Giuliana had figured that the instructions for a simple calming could no doubt could be found in the library.

After a week and a half of searching, Giuliana's efforts had been successful. She had managed to find several potions related to Calming Draughts. It was in no way thanks to Ignazio though. His help was sporadic, as Giuliana had discovered when asking him a rather banal question about where the potions section of the library was. He responded instead in a language she didn't understand.

"I'm sorry, bisnonno, I don't understand what you've said."

Ignazio huffed and slammed his staff down, causing his body to shake and thick rimmed glasses to almost fall from his aquiline nose. "That state of children today! Running off to your castle and to learn magic, but not learning Akkadian! Do you know how deep the magic of Mesopotamia goes and what you will not know without Akkadian! This is why magic has become so plebeian in quality!"

Giuliana wasn't aware of anyone who spoke Akkadian – or how Ignazio could have learned to speak the language – but learned her lesson about involving her ancient relative.

It wasn't all about potions research though. Giuliana found an immense section on Divination that went beyond anything she had encountered in the British Wizarding World. There were probably things in those books that only the Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries studied and knew. Unable to take the Divination or Potions books from the library, Giuliana had attempted to use an enchanted quill to copy pages from the books only to be angrily rebuked by Ignazio who disintegrated the copied pages and quill before stalking off, muttering again about children trying to steal knowledge.

Which was why she spent every day in the library now, memorizing the words from divination and potion books. It was more work than she had expected for her Holiday Break, but Giuliana found it enjoyable. Far more so than work from school. It was fun pouring over the old books, finding the works of ancient Witches and Wizards from around the world, offering answers and questions for eager readers.

It was during this time that while standing near the balcony, Giuliana noticed a glow appear a couple stories up. That wasn't necessarily unusual; the library was filled with plenty of artifacts with weird qualities or questionable origins. From the magical, such as a staff belonging to a priestess of Isis or a skull of druid, to the mundane, like a sword supposedly belonging to General Belisarius. But for some reason, this light seemed different, as if when it shown there was a heartbeat to it.

Riding the broom up to the upper floor, Giuliana located the object in question. It was a silver handheld mirror with amethyst stones imbedded into the edges. The mirror was facing downwards, and as she grabbed it, Giuliana took note of three silver figures etched into the back of it. One was the goddess Hecate, the other Apollo, and in the middle was amethyst eyed woman.

'An oracle perhaps?' Giuliana thought. She flipped the mirror over and saw her reflection looking back at her, a few cracks in it. It was a pretty mirror and did not look aged, but otherwise nothing remarkable about it. She was about to put it back down and until vibrated in her hand and began to change.

The mirror began to fix itself.

The cracks vanished, the amethyst ignited again, and the mirror surface began to ripple, as if a pebble had just been dropped into the center of it. The mirror went still and Giuliana was briefly looking at her face again, until the ripples appeared once more. When the effect ended, the ripples and her face were replaced with the number "9." Before Giuliana could question it, the mirror's image shifted again and she was looking at a location she couldn't place.

"What the…" Giuliana asked out loud.

She was looking down a path with towering shelves on both sides. Each level of shelf was filled with crystal orbs, some covered in cobwebs and weathered with age while others looked newly placed. The corridor of shelves was illuminated only by blue flamed candles, providing the area with an otherworldly feel to it.

...Your Future...

A voice called out, it's origin apparently the mirror. It did not sound human and was genderless in tone. In shock, Giuliana dropped the mirror, but it didn't shatter or dent. The image vanished and the mirror reflected Giuliana looking up at herself.

"Pick it up."

Ignazio stood at the end of the book row, staff in hand. He did not appear cross though.

"Pick it up."

"I didn't mean to harm it!"

"Pick it up!" Ignazio commanded again, this time slamming his staff down. A burst of magic blasted through the air and caused the floor and shelves to shake. Giuliana complied, standing there nervously as Ignazio walked closer.

"It sings to you." Ignazio continued.

"What? The mirror?!" Giuliana asked.

"It has found its new Domina, for the first time in ages." Ignazio continued. "I will not ask what you saw. Not my concern nor am I worthy. But this scrying mirror has deemed you so. Embrace it! Claim it and the power of Divination that comes with it!"

"W-we should tell someone then!"

"No. What will they do, hmm? They will talk in circles and then hide it from the world. No, let it be with you. Let it guide you to what you want."

Giuliana considered that, looking back down at the mirror in her hand. It still only reflected her image and now seemed quite ordinary. "When was the last time it had a master?" she asked.

"Always a Domina. And not terribly long ago. The last was in the mid-17th Century."

Giuliana sighed in exasperation. "So what do I do?"

"Scrying mirrors are fickle. You may study them for years and receive nothing for it. But in time, you will learn how to command it."

"I thought I was its master? Shouldn't it just do what I say?"

Ignazio slammed his staff against the marbled floor once more, letting out a huff of anger. "This mirror is not some house-elf that lives to be servile and submissive! This mirror is sentient! It allows one to break the laws of time and space to see things unseen! It demands respect and patience!"

"Well I'm sorry, bisnonno. But I'm in school now and already have plenty on my plate." Giuliana replied. She made a move to put the mirror back where she found it but found herself unable to relinquish her grip on it.

"At Beauxbatons?!" Ignazio cried. "You'd rather learn petty magics and how to act like a Veela than study real magic?!"

Giuliana sighed. "I don't attend Beauxbatons, bisnonno. That's Paola."

"Which one are you?"

"Giuliana. I attend to Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts! Well… that's better. But only slightly!"

And with that, Ignazio walked away, staff clinking against the marbled floors, muttering about Dumbledore. Giuliana shook her head as he left and then looked back down at the mirror. Trying something Professor Trelawny taught them, Giuliana attempted to will the mirror to reveal the room again but received no response.

"Breaking the laws of time and space to see things unseen." Giuliana thought, her bisnonno's words echoing in her head. It was like a promise out of Beedle the Bard. A promise too good to give up.

When Giuliana left the library that day, she did not leave alone. The scrying mirror was tucked into her robes, safe from notice.

Beeston was a quiet snowy town just south-west of Nottingham. News Years was upon it, but most of the Christmas lights and decorations were still up and would remain so until after the Holidays. The buildings of Beeston could be called "historic," with Victorian Villas lining many the streets and weathered stone Churches dotting the town. The River Trent ran next to the town, flowing along quickly that night and taking with it small patches of ice and boats that ferried tourists and residents alike up and down it.

In one of Beeston's suburbs, inside a red bricked four-bedroom corner plot house, Teddy Young was finishing up his evening chores of helping his father clean up from dinner. He scraped off the remains of their Christmas dinner, leftovers of crispy Brussel Sprouts and Christmas Pudding from a few days ago, into the sink and flushed them down the drain. He felt immense satisfaction as he turned on the garbage disposal and the Brussel Sprouts were shredded.

"I think they're dead now, Teddy." His father commented. As was his ritual, Mr. Young hand washed every dish and dried them himself. The family had a perfectly good dishwasher in the home, but Mr. Young never used it.

"Just want to be certain." Teddy joked, turning off the disposal and faucet. "Anything else?"

Mr. Young shook his head. "Nothing. Go have some fun."

Teddy cleaned up the last bits of leftovers in the sink and then headed off upstairs. Before he could head up, he was stopped by his mother. "Teddy, that owl is in the backyard again." She said, not looking up from the book she was reading.

"That was quick." Teddy said, a smile coming to his face. 'He wrote back fast.'

"Is this Megan writing you?" Mrs. Young asked, eyes peering above her book. She was relaxed on their couch, surrounded by all the trappings of a comfortable middle-class house. Cantonese opera played softly in the background and the fireplace was lit and inviting, beckoning one to grab a book and relax by it as Mrs. Young was. Such a carefree evening was beyond Teddy's grandparent's wildest expectation, the kind of living second-generation immigrants like Teddy's parents had acquired through hard work and good ethics as they liked to say.

"No, this will be Vaughn. Remember I told you all about him?"

"Of course I do." Mrs. Young replied, "The rich family?"

"Very rich apparently."

"Is he a good boy though?"

"Good, yeah. A little blind about some stuff, but good."

"Money will do that."

"Mum, I promise he's good. Maybe you'll get to meet him next time we go to Diagon Alley."

"Hmm, it'd be good to judge him for myself."

"Mum!"

After, Teddy went to the backyard, excited to see the large Black owl resting on top of his parent's garden shed. High fire brick colored walls covered the backyard with carefully maintained vines crawling up them; it provided good cover for the comings and goings of the black owl from the Rzhevsky dacha.

"Hey Zorya, got something good for me?" Teddy asked the owl, who hooted back at him and extended his leg. A letter in a black envelope with golden ink was attached. Teddy grabbed it and as he moved the envelope underneath the moonlight, the letters sparkled softly. "Can you wait around till I write back? An hour or so? I promise I'll bring you a treat."

Another hoot that Teddy took to mean an affirmative response. Teddy already knew Zorya wouldn't leave without a letter. This had become a regular routine for them as Vaughn and him were writing often. Besides Megan, Vaughn was the only one that Teddy was in regular contact with from Hogwarts. Megan was easier to speak with as her wizard father and non-magical mother owned a beautiful flat in an expensive part of London so they could talk over the phone anytime. Teddy hadn't communicated with Giuliana at all over the break but he that was what had expected.

'Hopefully we'll get on better this term. It'll mean a lot to Vaughn.' Teddy thought as he took the letter back into the house.

"Oi, magic boy!"

Before stepping back inside, Teddy stopped and looked up to see his seventeen year old sister, Sarah, leaning out of her bedroom window.

"You know, magic boy wasn't good when you came up with it three years ago, and it isn't any better now." Teddy replied.

"I'm not clever enough to think of a better one." Sarah smiled, "And I'm not calling you Wizard! You're a wizard in training. Oh! I can call you Wiz!"

"Oh blimey, please don't."

"Sure thing, Wiz!"

"Sarah!"

They both laughed into the suburban night. "Want to come play some video games?" Sarah offered.

"You're just going to beat me." Teddy replied.

"Nah, you're getting better, I swear it." Sarah lied. Rolling his eyes first, Teddy nodded his head and went back into the house, tucking Vaughn's letter into his pocket. He headed up the stairs and into his sister's room next to them. She was setting up the NES set on the tv in her room. Their parents weren't interested in overhearing the noises of the gaming system and had permitted Sarah to have a small tv in her room to play on.

"You were up late last night." Sarah said. "Saw your light on under the door. What were you doing?"

"Reading for my class. Muggle Studies. Professor Burbage assigned some Holiday reading on non-magical people's practices during Christmas."

Sarah sneered and then scoffed at the class name. "Muggle."

Teddy nodded in agreement. It really was a rather nasty term and brought back a host of other insulting terms his family had been called by other non-magical people. "Been keeping our NES in good shape?" Teddy asked, wanting to change the subject.

"My NES." Sarah jokingly chided as she grabbed a pair of controllers. "You have your magic and I have my NES and Gameboy. Frankly, I think I'm the real winner here."

"You know I can apparate right? Just vanish and then reappear anywhere that I want?"

Sarah raised her eyebrows. "That right?"

"Theoretically. Yes. Yes, I can."

They both laughed. "When do you learn how to do that?" Sarah asked, handing over the Player 2 controller.

"Not till Sixth year."

"So you're stuck riding a broom? Like a witch?" Sarah asked, imitating their parents in a low voice so they wouldn't hear downstairs. They both laughed again, remembering the memory during their first trip to Diagon Alley. Their Witch guide had explained to the ignorant Young family about broomstick flight and Mr. and Mrs. Young, ignorant of wizard ways, were quite scandalized at the notion that their son would flying around on a broom.

'Only Witches fly on brooms, right? Teddy is a Wizard!' Mr. Young had insisted to a befuddled Witch who didn't understand broomsticks were always attributed to Witches in the non-magical world.

"Yes, just like a Witch."

They played the NES for a while, Sarah beating him at everything before they switched games and she had to carry him through Contra. Sarah teased gently about it and Teddy gave as good as he got. It was nice being able to just relax with Sarah. They had been close when he was younger but the knowledge of his magical potential had briefly spoiled their relationship. Sarah had been jealous for the first year of it, but she had come to accept it over time. Sarah herself had a promising future ahead of her without magic and never said anything negative about magic anymore.

His parents for that matter had been mixed on their feelings about the whole thing. Teddy had been an odd child and once it was explained that magic was a reason it quickly answered a lot of unanswered questions about mysterious events in his past. His parents were all for him succeeding and receiving an education in magic but were quite upset he had to attend a boarding school and wouldn't be able to be with them. Teddy wrote every week without fail, but he knew seeing him off at Platform 9 3/4 was always a challenge for them. They had also been furious at the education he was receiving, or lack of one as they perceived it.

"I don't understand. How can they not teach you math?" Mr. Young had asked when he returned from his first term at Hogwats two years ago.

"And why is your History teacher a ghost?" Mrs. Young had continued.

"They have a forest of terrifying creatures next to the school?"

"That spell sounds too dangerous. No, I don't care what safety precautions they have."

"Why don't they offer a language course? Shouldn't you learn another language?"

"They have what in this Great Lake?! And they let students walk around it and swim in it?!"

To his mortification, Teddy's parents had actually written to Headmaster Dumbledore about their many, many concerns after that first term. Dumbledore had sent back a very long and very nice letter that managed to sooth their nerves. Teddy hadn't read it, but it had done enough to calm them down and allowed him to return for a second term. After that, Teddy became a lot more careful about how he phrased things that were happening at Hogwarts.

"Any New Year plans?" Teddy asked her.

"Madge, Patty, and I are heading into Beeston for the parade. Might go a little wild. Only turns 1994 once you know." Sarah said, taking out a whole squad of enemies in Contra while Teddy attempted a third time to jump up a platform. "How about you?"

"Just hanging out with mum and dad."

"Seeing any friends?"

"I think that's too complicated now." Teddy replied. He didn't talk much with his non-magical friends from his old school. None had understood how he got into an exclusive boarding school and going back to them after a term at Hogwarts had been too weird.

Sarah paused the game and gave Teddy a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, Teddy. Magic seems to come with a cost."

"It does." Teddy confessed. "Don't tell mum and dad I said that though, please."

"Of course. When do I ever tell them anything?" Sarah joked, before turning serious. "But do you like it? Learning magic?"

Teddy nodded his head. "I do. I feel normal at Hogwarts, more than I ever did here."

"Then that's for the best. You do the best you can and live the best life you can." Sarah comforted.

"Are you coming with us to Kings Cross?" Teddy asked.

"Is that even a question? Of course! How often do you get to run through a magical column? Oh, and I suppose see your little brother off to magic school. I suppose that's important too."

Teddy laughed. "Thanks, Big Sis."

They played for a little longer before Teddy couldn't take losing anymore and headed back to his room. Turning on the lights, Teddy looked around it not for the first time and found comfort in how normal it was. Things were easy in the non-magical world, like just being able to turn a switch and have light and not have to worry about a ghost screaming through the building or some enchantment messing with things. Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, and Hogsmeade were all magical and amazing to all senses, but there was something equally magical about the stability of the non-magical suburb. Settling in at his desk, Teddy pulled out the letter from Vaughn and opened it.

Vaughn's handwriting was superb as always. He detailed everything that was happening at his home in perhaps more detail than his family members would care to have people know. It sounded like a lovely home, and Vaughn's parents' good people, but there was a certain coldness that Vaughn attributed to his extended family. Whether he did this intentionally or just thought it normal, Teddy couldn't tell. From what he heard, a lot of the "Pure Blood" families had this dynamic where things seemed quite tense on the home front but they all acted like it was normal. That being said, the Weasley didn't seem to have that dynamic.

But Vaughn, while somewhat blind by his magical upbringing and riches that came with it, was a good guy. There was a guarded kindness to him and though he opened up slowly, Vaughn had shown himself to be quite caring about people and things. He definitely had that ambitious that Slytherin was known for, the Club was evidence enough of that, but he also seemed a bit listless. What did he want from life? Teddy couldn't tell, not that he was in a position to judge. Teddy still wasn't sure what all this magical education was leading himself to. What did he want to do with life post-Hogwarts?

Pushing those doubts aside, he instead focused on something he knew for certain, like how he felt about Vaughn. He wasn't ready to classify it or anything. But in the world of magic, with its potions that could change people's appearances and ability to fly, those feelings didn't feel as unnatural as the non-magical world made them out to be. He didn't know how Vaughn felt, but his gut was usually right about things. And his gut told him two things. The first was that Vaughn felt a similar way about Teddy as he felt for him. The second, that Vaughn was a good guy.

Well, in spite of the drug dealing, which Teddy was guilty of as well. While he didn't fully understand Vaughn and Giuliana's desire to illegally sell the potions – other than rich children being bored – Teddy himself needed the money. He hated having to ask his parents to spend money on magical things they would never see or fully understand. They did enough for him and had been fully accepting when his magical ability became apparent. He wouldn't ask them to support him constantly.

'Not the best way to start your financial independence.' Teddy thought. 'But Witches and Wizards are so blind to so much it's not like anyone will find out.'

He hoped.

Shaking off the thought, Vaughn finished reading the letter and began to compose his response, excitement burrowing up inside of him as he realized he'd be back at Hogwarts in a few days and soon be able to see Vaughn again.

Hogwarts can't put in like... one math class? I hated math too but being able to multiple and divide seem like useful skills. And the way it appears in the books (or doesn't) I don't imagine many students were rushing off to take Arithmancy.

Next up: Return to Hogwarts.

As a general note in case people are wondering, we will not be going month by month for the Third Year. There will be some time skips coming up. I plan to be at Fourth Year by chapter 12 or 13.