Today a bit earlier since I'm going to a Christmas market and I don't know how late it'll be when I come home.

Door 3

The next morning when Angelina woke up she heard the annoying sound of something knocking at her window. She lifted her head from the pillow and tried to see through the curtain of her black hair that hung over her face but all she could see was white. Her window was covered in snow and ice flowers.

With a groan she arose from her bed and walked towards the window. She opened it and a snow white owl flew into her room, landing on the backrest of a chair. It hooted at Angelina and held his leg out at her, showing her a letter that was attached to it. Just when Angelina took the letter away from the owl's leg and gave the animal some crumbs of a biscuit another owl, this time a dark brown one flew through her window, almost knocking into her head had Angelina not ducked away.

"Hey." She said to the owl that sat proudly on top of her wardrobe and looked down at her. The white one hooted once more at her and almost seemed to nod at her before he flew away again. Now, the dark one came down from the wardrobe and sat where the white one had been only moments before. As soon as Angelina took the letter from its leg it left again through the window.

"That one is really well mannered." Angelina murmured to herself ironically and closed the window again. She sat down in the chair and put a blanket over her legs before she opened the first letter.

Dear Angelina,

Enclosed you will find the address of the orphanage where you and Ciaran will meet Samuel and Emily today at 10 a.m. Now the two of you just have to agree on where you will stay until Christmas.

Yours sincerely

Father Christmas

P. S. Please, try not to fight so often. Especially not in front of the children.

"Why do I have a very bad feeling about you?" Angelina said and looked at the second letter, which the dark owl had brought.

"Of course, why am I not surprised…" She wondered as she read the short message.

Johnson,

There's no way I'm going to stay at your home for the next weeks. At least in my house there are enough rooms for me to find one where I can be alone when I want to.

So get your belongings packed – this can't take long – and meet me in the Leaky Cauldron at 9.45 a.m.

A. T. Montague

"Well, that explains why the owl is so well-mannered."

About thirty minutes later Angelina walked into the Leaky Cauldron and looked around in search of Montague. She found him sitting at a table, a glass of fire whiskey in front of him. He hadn't looked up when she had entered nor did he look at her now that she was walking towards him.

"Don't you think it's a bit early to drink alcohol?" Angelina asked him as soon as she stood in front of his table. Montague still didn't look up at her; instead he emptied the glass with one final sip and arose from the table.

"I have to spend weeks with you and two children. I need all the alcohol I can get." He finally replied and looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Can we finally go now?" He asked her and didn't even wait for an answer before he left some coins on the table and left the Leaky Cauldron.

"I must admit, I was highly surprised when I received your boss' owl yesterday. I had not imagined that someone would specifically ask for those two." The cold grey eyes of Eugenie Robert looked at the couple in front of her.

They didn't look like the usual people who were doing some charity work around this time of the year for the huge wizarding companies in the United Kingdom. Well, the woman might pass as one of those but certainly not the man. The look on his face showed visibly how much he wanted to get away – and Eugenie Robert could understand him very well.

"I have to warn you about them." She continued as she led them through the old building.

"The boy has a wandering mind. You have to call him back to reality again and again and his little sister… well, it seems the dead of her parents have left some damage in her mind. She never really learned to speak and she is already four years old." Eugenie Robert sighed and opened a door.

"Samuel, Emily, come here, Mr. Montague and Ms. Johnson are here."

The two children arose from their chairs at a table and walked towards the three adults. Samuel was holding Emily's hand in his; the girl's brown eyes kept looking at the floor as she was being lead.

"Hello." Samuel said and tried not to sound as shy as he felt while he held his hand out to Angelina.

"My name is Samuel Adams."

Angelina smiled at the boy and kneed down to be at eye level with him and his sister.

"I'm Angelina." She said and took his hand.

"And what's your name?" she asked Emily who slowly lifted her gaze from the floor and bit her lip.

"Her name's Emily." Samuel answered for his sister.

"You will behave while you stay with Ms. Johnson and Mr. Montague, do you understand me?"

"Yes Miss Robert." Samuel answered her.

"And you will do as you're told."

"Yes Miss Robert."

Miss Robert nodded and turned back to talk to Angelina and Montague.

"You will bring the children back at the morning of the 24th, right? Well, we will see each other in some weeks then." She shook hands with both adults and said her goodbyes as she lead them back outside with the siblings and their luggage.