…Christmas with the Zabini's…

I was woken by my alarm at 4 in the morning. I put my robe over my Christmas pajamas and slide my feet into my fluffiest slippers I could find. I descend the stairs. I make my way into the kitchen to find my parents and grandparents already there. I say good morning and moved further into the kitchen to check that I had all the ingredients I needed.

At 5 Blaise and his mum arrive. I'd change into a skirt, sweater, and boots. I open the door and beckon them in quickly. Dad put their winter coats away. I led them into the kitchen. I handed Mrs. Zabini a warm cup of tea as she sat down to chat with the adults at the table.

Blaise was very nervous. Thankfully, Izzy came in and greeted everyone. She took a seat at the kitchen island. "I can't wait to watch the potions prodigy try and cook." she smiles slyly. I give her a look. She very rarely showed the side of her that was like dad. It was probably planned, but I knew once Ava came in and then the rest of the family it'd get worse. This was a warm-up.

Mum said something in Italian as I put my apron on that made Mrs. Zabini and the grandparents laugh. Blaise smiles slightly. I begin taking out the ingredients for breakfast. I had Blaise work on the dough while I prepared the fillings. Izzy gladly accepted the role of taste tester.

Ava and Lucas came in still yawning and rubbing the sleep from their eyes. As predicted Ava sat by Izzy and began questioning Blaise. Lucas stopped her every now and then when her queries got too wild.

I pulled the pastries from the oven and placed them on the cooling racks just as the first wave of cousins arrived. I began handing out warm drinks for the new arrivals. Blaise was getting fidgety, so I went back to the kitchen. All the aunts and uncles from London came into the kitchen to greet everyone as the kids scattered to play games. Auntie Amber watched me and Blaise with a smile. She whispered something to my other aunts.

I started on the main meal as Blaise was pulled into conversation. I had him help me with the side dishes so my aunts couldn't bother him to much. We were taking a small break and drinking some cocoa when the second wave of guests arrived, the foreign cousins. Aunt Adalene squealed and ran to hug the aunts that were gossiping away. Blaise watches in fascination at the speed at which they hopped from language to language. I took him over to the cousins for a quick introduction before returning to the kitchen.

"Fascinating and scary!" he whispers to me. "You know it!" dad agrees from the other side of the room. Mum threw a bit of pastry at him "You and your hound hearing!" "Dad's an Animagus. He can turn into a dog." I explain to a confused Blaise as I pass Izzy and Ava a platter of pastries to take to the other cousins.

Mrs. Zabini had brought some lovely gifts for my family. They insisted she didn't have to, but she said "You invited me and my son into your home with open arms, and that is gift enough."

Izzy temporarily disappeared upstairs, and Ava winked at me and I nod. "Where's your gift for Blaise, Char?" Ava asked as Aderyn and Aithley joined her. "I'm teaching him how to cook. Not only is it a gift for him, but a gift for everyone." I explain. Blaise scoffs "She just came up with that. Her multi-purpose gift to the world." I pout "I did not."

"Where's your gift for Charlotte?" Izzy asked reappearing. Blaise snapped his fingers and disappeared from the kitchen retuning moments alter with a parcel. He places it in front of me. I open it quite aware of the stares of everyone in the room and the silence that accompanies it.

I'd just opened the parcel enough to see what was inside when I turned to Blaise and hugged him catching him off guard. "What is it?" Aithley asked growing curious. I took out the books inside. There were books on famous muggle artists and Edgar Allan Poe books. I squeal in delight. He motions to the bottom of the parcel and I peer inside. I pull out a cookbook that included recipes from world famous Michelin star chefs worldwide. I rush over and showed mum.

"What a lovely sight!" grandma Black gasps. Blaise jumped. At some point she'd sidled into a portrait and was watching everyone. "Well hello grandma!" Ava called. I shook my head laughing as I went back to my spot already reading the cookbook.

Before grandma Black could begin, uncle Remus and auntie Tonks arrived. Blaise became fidgety again. I snicker. "Charlotte do you mind terribly if we borrow Blaise for a bit?" uncle Liam asks. "Oh no, of course not. He has loads of questions for you guys. Especially after seeing those motorcycles yesterday." I push Blaise towards the men. Uncle Liam and uncle Fuji lead a slightly confused Blaise away and the other men follow.

"He looks like he might pass out." Aderyn states as she eats another pastry. "He'll be fine." his mum insists. I took the desserts out of the oven as the women gossiped. The boys had followed their dads and the girls came in the kitchen.

"That's the boy that Ava and Lucas saw you in the corridor with isn't it?" Kacela questions as she grabbed a pastry. Ava winked at her. "That's the boy that because of their interactions our friend Luna named Charlotte, Mrs. Wrackspurts.", Izzy told the girls in a whisper so the adult women wouldn't hear. I shake my head placing the bowl of fruit punch on the counter.

Dinner was done around 4 in the afternoon. The boys and the adult men had a snowball fight outside that left them covered in so much snow they looked like human versions of snowmen.

I made sure Blaise sat between me and Izzy so that way none of the gossiping family members could scare him again. It was a lovely meal with a wide variety of dishes. Everyone had run out of questions for Blaise by the end of the meal.

The women went to mum's studio for drinks of the alcohol variety while the men went to dad's man cave to watch sports. The rest of us kids separated into different rooms to play games. Izzy, Blaise, and I went up to my room.

Blaise breathed a sigh of relief as he collapsed onto my bed. Izzy rolled her eyes playfully as she sat on my desk. "That wasn't that bad." I tell Blaise as I put my gift from him on my newest bookshelf. Izzy gave me a look. "If that wasn't bad, I'd love to see what happens when they find out about Isabella's 'relationship'." he sits up. Izzy blushed.

"What'd dad and the others ask you earlier?" Izzy asks trying to divert the attention. "Oh, just the usual stuff. Don't break her heart. Don't ever hurt her.", he explained, "Then we took the motorcycles out." My jaw dropped and Izzy sat there mouth agape.

We played a few games and ate some snacks. When it got dark out, we put on our winter jackets and went out to the bonfire. Everyone sat around it and the women started telling stories of their youth. They were joking about Christmas gifts passed when auntie Amber brought up a memory from their seventh year.

"Oh, how I wished you could've been there!" she told the other women. "I came down the stairs into Gryffindor common room and saw Fae and Sirius lying on the couch together. Then Fae gets up and starts waving her hand with the engagement ring Sirius bought her. Just as nonchalantly as when she told the boys about our backpacking trip to all those countries."

Dad had a slight blush on his face. Ava giggled "Nice one Dad!" Auntie Madalyn laughed. "That definitely topped the list. I honestly thought that maybe it would be the pajama incident, the shirt incident, or the southern belle incident." she wiped tears of laughter from her eyes.

Dad and uncle Remus went red at the mention of the southern belle incident. Auntie Tonks was confused so the others filled her in on all 3 incidents. "And then yesterday I find out that Charlotte has been helping Mrs. Zabini prank Blaise." mum told her. Dad looks at me at this bit of news.

Everyone's heads turned to me. "The Scotch Bonnet, Serrano pepper, Lime and hot sauce icing. A small form of gratitude for Blaise's running commentary as he watched us cook and bake." I smile. Blaise gave an involuntary shudder. I watche as dad mouthed the words: I'M SO SORRY!

The conversation continued well into the night. Around 5 in the morning our guests started leaving. I watched as my family packed their tired kids into vehicles. I gave Mrs. Zabini a hug good-bye. She went outside to join the others.

I turn to Blaise. I open my arms for a hug. He hugs me. "You survived." I tell him and laugh. "We'll have to how you react to meeting my family and see if you find that as funny." he whispers in my ear. I kiss him gently.

"Isn't this a lovely sight!" grandma Black sighs in content. We break apart. "Oh, don't mind me. Continue what you were doing." she urged. I tsk at her. Blaise kisses my forehead and went to get his mum.

I watched for a bit then turned to grandma Black. I put my hands on my hips. "That boy is finer than wine!" she shrieks. I told her to shush and went upstairs to my room. I flipped through the books Blaise had gotten me. I heard the soft tinkling as something fell to the floor. I bent down and found a pair of earrings that was made in the same style as my necklace and bracelet. The note that accompanied it fluttered to the ground.

I read it: A small gift to match your other accessories. It won't weigh you down though. I hold the earring up to my ears and looked at them in the mirror. I place the set in my jewelry box and get ready for bed.

A week later, I got dressed earlier than I normally would have and made my way down to breakfast. I cut my hair the previous day because both grandmas were complaining that it was nearly to the floor. It was back to waist length. I write a quick note to my family and I ate my breakfast and hurried out the front door.

Blaise was waiting in front of the car. "Good morning!" he says opening the passenger side door for me. "Good morning to you too!" I slide onto the seat and he closes the door. He got into the driver side. We drove to his house.

We made our way up to his room. We read some books together until it was lunch time. We ate some Japanese cuisine while we watched a movie. I curled up on his chest as we started another movie.

The movie ended. I look up at Blaise. He was knocked out asleep. I watched as he slept. I fell asleep on his shoulder counting his eyelashes. I felt him stir. I open my eyes. "You let me fall asleep." he mumbles his voice gruff with sleep. I giggle and sit up. He turns me to him "Why did you let me fall asleep love?" "I didn't let you fall asleep. I realized after the movie went off that you were asleep." I mumble. He grins. I smack his shoulder. "Why are you messing with me?" I whine.

"I'm sorry love." he whispers. I crawl into his lap and hug him. "I forgive you." I kiss his neck. He groans and lifts my face to his so he could kiss me. I let my hands travel across his shoulders. He places a hand on the small of my back. I place my hands behind his neck. He rests his hands on my hips. "What a lovely way to accept an apology." he murmurs against my lips. I tilt my head and kiss him again.

He shifts so I was lying beneath him. "Don't start something you can't finish." he warns. I bite my bottom lip as I look into his eyes. My hands were playing with the hem of his shirt. "Whatever do you mean?" I ask. "Oh, that's dangerous. Do you want me to explain or do you want to stop the innocent façade?" he whispers in between kisses he places on my neck.

My mind went blank. I felt his lips form a smirk against my neck. He brought his eyes up to mine. I freeze. I brought his face back up to mine. "I love you!" I whispered. His face broke into a wide smile. "You're so adorable." he mutters. I smile at him. He play with my hair for a bit.

I was still playing with the hem of his shirt. "Love don't." he whispers. I looked into his eyes. "I'm just playing with it. I promise I won't take it off like last time." I put my hands up. "That's not the problem missy and you know that." he states. I mumble under my breath. "Oh, you're trying to get me into trouble.", he shakes his head, "Last time I let you take my shirt off, but now that I didn't give in you're trying to provoke me." I look away. He laughs.

"Come on. Let's find you something else to do." he sighs picking me up. I went rather reluctantly at first. He brought out a chess set. He taught me how to play. He beat me the first 6 times. I glare at the board trying to decide. He starts humming the Jeopardy theme song.

I move a piece on the board and his face fell. I had finally beat him. I skip around the room. I twirled around him. "Why don't we play another game?" he offers. "I know poker!" I clap excitedly. He looks at me and laughs. "What about monopoly?" I offer. He brought out the game.

I beat him in 12 minutes. I sat back and looked at him with a smile. He got up and walked out the room. When he came back, he was accompanied by his mum. I played against them and beat them both in 10 minutes. "Oh no, no, no. This won't do. She'll have to play against your cousins." Mrs. Zabini smiles.

I turn to Blaise. "Did you get your mum so she could beat me?" I question. He looks off in the opposite direction. His mum stood up from the table. "Keep trying you'll beat her eventually." she pats his back with a smirk. She closes the door behind her.

"Blaise answer me." I order. He mumbles something. I put my hand up to my ear. "Yes, I did.", he said, "It took you 6 tries to beat me at chess, but now we go to monopoly and you beat me in less time than it takes to finish a chess game."

I place my hands over his "If it was wizard's chess, I would've beat you sooner. Take your mum's advice." I give him a sly smile. He closes his eyes and took a deep breath. I gave him a kiss on his forehead.

Blaise parked the car in front of my house. "Go on inside now." he smiles. I unbuckle the seatbelt. Before I open the door, I lean over and kiss Blaise good-bye. I head up the steps and open the door. I see a flash of clothing whisk upstairs and heard grandma Rowell, Izzy, and Ava giggling.

I wave at Blaise one last time before closing the door. I grab some water from the kitchen and head up to my room. "What'd you two do today?" grandma Rowell asks as she, Ava, and Izzy walked in my room.

I sit on my desk giving them a quick once over while I thought. "Movies, books, games. Just hanging out really." I answer. Grandma went pale. "You beat him at a game, didn't you?" she gasps. I shrug. "He beat me at chess a lot and then we played monopoly and I beat him in no time at all.", I scoffed, "Then he went to get his mum so she could beat me. I beat the both of them and his mum said that maybe Blaise should have me play against his cousins instead."

They shook their heads. "He started it. I was prepared to just let him keep beating me at games, but he goaded me too much. I had to." I defend myself. Deep inside I knew I was partially wrong. In the past I had a habit of beating the men in my family at games and they were less than happy. I heave a great sigh. Ava pats my shoulder in mock sadness and sighs as she leaves the room. Izzy and grandma left the room with sad faces. I change and climb into bed completely tired from my day. I took me a while to fall asleep but fall asleep I did.

The next day I read at my desk for most of the day. There was a knock on my door. Blaise enters. I jump up and went over to him. "Mum and your grandma are gossiping downstairs with some of your aunts." he says looking tired.

I pull him further into my room and away from the door. He looks at my new shelf that housed Blaise's gifts and some new photos. "When did you take these?" he asks pointing at the new photos. I smile at the pictures. "Christmas, aren't they just lovely.", I respond, "I especially like this one." I motion at a photo of the boys and men in the middle of the snowball fight.

I sit on my bed watching him look at the photos. Lucas came in the room. "Blaise can you please explain to your mum that I'm not Ava's lapdog?" he asks Blaise completely ignoring me. Blaise lets out a laugh at Lucas' pained expression but waves him out of the room and down the stairs. Blaise nods at me to follow. I leap up and follow.

The women were in the kitchen. "Ah the follower is back with reinforcements!" Mrs. Zabini cheers. I snicker and went to grab a slice of cake. Ava and Izzy came in and watched Blaise and Lucas try to convince her. I pass the others slices of cake and tea.

"Fine, you may not be her follower, but you are still like her second self. A bit more mature though I might add." she sighs in defeat. Lucas smiles broadly and leaves the room. "He'd be very popular in Italy!" she nudges grandma who smirks and wriggles her eyebrows suggestively.

Blaise shakes his head and says something in Italian to his mum. She looks flustered and looks out the window. "Blaise! Would like to join us for a game?" Ava asks slyly. Mrs. Zabini snickers. "Don't do it. I couldn't beat her either." she tells Blaise. Blaise glances from Ava to me and shakes his head.

"I think we have a cousin or two who could beat them." he observes. Ava scoffs and clutches her chest like someone had stabbed her heart "Help Char! He's attacking my pride." I look back and forth at Blaise and his mum. "Just one game. Then you'll stop messing with him. Should you win I'll unlock your trunk of pranks. The loser will have to complete the punishment I'll be making." I decide.

"What type of punishment?" auntie Zahara asks in curiosity. I grin mischievously. "Something like the prank icing should do." I respond scanning the pantry for ingredients. Ava ran from the room and came back with monopoly in her hands and Lucas following her with keen interest.

Blaise follows her to the kitchen island. "Lucas if you'd please team up with Blaise and Izzy join Ava." I wave them to the sides. I see Mrs. Zabini's confused face. "Ava is just like me. Inherited a bit more of dad's mischief than anyone in the family cares to deal with. So, Lucas can advise Blaise on how to avoid her and Izzy can keep Ava in check." I explain quickly.

The game began and I sliced some okra. I put the okra in a pot with some water and boiled it until all the slime came out. I mixed the okra slime with a bit of Ghost Pepper. I looked over at the game and saw that Ava was going for a take no prisoners tactic. I chopped some anchovies, squid, octopus, and peanut butter.

Auntie Xyla came over to see what I was doing and gagged. The others looked over and the kitchen was filled with horrified gasps. "I am my parents' child after all.", I wink at auntie Xyla. The game continued with earnest neither wanting to have to do the punishment. I mixed everything together in a bowl with vegemite and squid ink. Mum and dad walked in. "What's going on?" mum asks in shock. Grandma filled her in and dad high fives me.

"Would you like to try some?" I hold the bowl out to the adults. It made a weird and disgusting squishy noise as I showed them the masterpiece I'd created. An involuntary shudder passed over them.

I get another slice of cake and sat down to watch the final bit of the game. We had to use a couple of other monopoly sets when the money ran out in the first one. Dad and I shook in anticipation as we watched. Blaise won. Ava sunk into her seat and her face paled.

I hum happily as I placed the bowl in front of her with a small spoon. She gapes at me. "I can't get a bigger spoon." she whines. I shake my head. The mixture was warm from being out so long and since the seafood was live it was still moving around. Shivers ran through my body as she took a bite. She paled and froze. I hand a spoon to Izzy. "You're on her team. Please enjoy." I smirk. Everyone watched as they quickly downed the contents then rushed from the room. "Scary!" Blaise, dad, and Lucas whisper simultaneously.