Disclaimer: I don´t own anything all rights go to J.K Rowling.
Chapter 11: Christmas
AN: Hey I´m back. I´m sorry I haven´t posted in so long but I have started University and with everything going on in the world it has just been so stressful, and I haven´t had time to write.
I don´t know when I will post the next chapter but until then I hope you will enjoy this.
Stay healthy and six feet apart
The next morning when Jen woke and went down to breakfast, she saw both her parents sit there with a cup of coffee each. Jen took a plate and filled it with bacon and eggs before sitting down in front of her parents.
The heavy silence stretched out as all three avoided looking at each other. The silence didn´t end until Olivia´s excited voice could be heard from above them as she woke Peter up.
The three inhabitants of the kitchen looked at each other and nodded in a silent agreement that they would forget their differences over the holiday and don´t ruin the Christmas for Olivia.
A few minutes later Olivia came bounding down in the kitchen animatedly chatting with a newly awoken Peter.
((&))
Even though the beginning of the holiday hadn´t started off that well Jen found that she was actually enjoying herself together with her family. Jen, Olivia and Mrs MacAvity had baked gingerbread and other cookies while Peter and Mr MacAvity had gone out and bought a Christmas tree.
When Peter and Mr MacAvity came back, they put the tree in the living room and together they dressed the Christmas tree and put their presents under it.
As they put the last present under the tree Jen wished her grandparents, which had passed away a couple of years before, were there to celebrate Christmas with them. She missed them fiercely, but she knew that she would spend the holiday only with her family as her only other living relative was her great aunt Clarisse who were on a cruise. Jen felt a bit guilty that she was happy that she wouldn´t have to see her great aunt this year but she was also relieved that she didn´t have to hear her great aunt complain through another Christmas.
Jen laughed as Olivia started to sing a Christmas carol and soon all three siblings was singing while Mr and Mrs MacAvity sat in two armchairs in front of the roaring fire in the living room.
A couple of hours later when they had gone to bed Jen lay in her bed waiting for everyone to fall asleep. After a while she slipped out from under her covers and slipped her feet into a pair of slippers before she sneaked out of her room with Silver just behind her.
She sneaked through the corridor on the third floor which led to her and her siblings' rooms while trying to make as little noise as possible. As she sneaked down the stairs to the second floor, where her parent's room were, she had become even quieter. She tipped on her toes past her parent´s room and silently opened the door to her parent's study and slipped through the door with Silver just behind her and closed the door as fast as Silvers tail had slipped through it.
As long as Jen could remember she and her siblings had been forbidden to enter her parent´s study. Jen knew that if her parents found her in the study they wouldn´t allow her to return to Hogwarts as a punishment, but she also knew that if there were any chance that Nicolas Flamel existed in the muggle world there was a large chance she would find his name in one of the books in the study.
She carefully put the Hogwarts lantern she had with her on one of her parent's neat desks and turned to the wall on the right, which were covered by a bookshelf that reached from floor to ceiling. Most of the books were about different laws and political works, Jen had already decided that she wouldn´t look in them as it was unlikely that Flamel would be in any of them.
Jen picked out one of the other books and started to look through it but didn´t find anything about Flamel in it so she put the book back on the shelf. She continued to look through the books while Silver lay in front of the door to the study as if she was guarding the door and Jen was sure that if either of her parents woke Silver would warn her.
When Jen nearly had looked through about half of the books, she had decided she would look through she heard a noise from her parent´s room and she froze with fear. After a couple of minutes of hearing nothing more Jen moved her head and looked to Silver who lay calmly in front of the door.
Jen relaxed and closed the book she was holding before she put it back on the shelf, deciding that it was probably best if she went back to her room to get some sleep before she was discovered. She took the lantern from the table and carefully slipped out of the study with Silver close behind her. She tipped on her toes past her parent's room and up the stairs, past her sibling's rooms and into her own.
"We will continue the search tomorrow," she whispered to Silver who had jumped up on the bed and made herself comfortable on one of Jen´s pillows.
Jen slipped in between the covers and were soon asleep.
((&))
"Jen, Jen!" Olivia shrieked as she jumped up and down on Jen´s bed to wake her up. "We´ve gotten presents!"
With that Olivia ran out of Jen´s room and down the corridor and into Peter´s. Jen sat up and threw off her covers and followed Olivia into Peter´s room.
"Peter wake up!" Jen cried. "It´s Christmas and we´ve got presents!"
It took a while to get Peter out of bed but when he was the two sisters dragged him down into the living room on the first floor where their parents sat in the armchairs in front of the fireplace.
"We are ready to open the presents now Father," Olivia said happily as all three children sat down on the carpet in front of the Christmas tree.
"Well then," Mr MacAvity chuckled before picking up a present and reading the tag. "This present is for Jenny."
He handed the present to Jen before grabbing the next one and handing it to Peter.
Jen looked down at her present and started to wonder if her friends from Hogwarts would like the presents she had gotten them. Jen had gotten Hermione a couple of her favourite fiction books; Harry had gotten his own copy of Quidditch Through the Ages, Ron had gotten an assortment of different muggle sweets Jen liked, Fred and George had each gotten a pair of red Quidditch gloves in leather and Dean, Seamus and Neville had gotten different muggle and wizards sweets.
"Well, that was the last one," Mr MacAvity said and broke Jen out of her thoughts. "Time to open them!"
Jen laughed and immediately started to rip open the wrapping on her first present which was from her great aunt. Jen always opened her great aunts presents first because they were always awful, and this year was no exception. The present contained a frilly old-fashioned pink dress. Jen wasn´t particularly fond of dresses and hated pink so as she held it up, she grimaced and wished that she would never have to wear it, though she expected that she would have to the next time she met her great aunt. Jen´s great aunt always thought that Jen didn´t dress enough like a girl and every time she came and visited, she liked to comment on that and give Jen presents that contained fancy dresses and jewellry.
"Oh, what a beautiful dress," Mrs MacAvity said. "You will have to write aunt Clarisse and thank her."
"Yes, Mother, I will," Jen said and hoped that the smile she aimed at her mother didn´t look to much like a grimace.
Jen looked away from her mother and put the dress to the side before she started to open the rest of her presents. She started with her parents presents first.
From her mother, who thought that Jen should wear more jewellery, Jen had gotten an expensive necklace. From her father Jen had gotten a much more welcome gift, a couple of new books.
"Thank you, mother and father," Jen said and hugged her parents before opening the next present.
It was from Olivia and contained a crudely made skirt and an equally crudely made shirt.
"Do you like them?" Olivia asked. "I´ve made them myself!"
"I love them!" Jen said and hugged her sister with a genuine smile on her lips.
The next present was from her brother and contained four books. Jen stared in amazement at the books as the moving pictures on the covers indicated that the books were magical.
"How did you get these?" Jen asked her brother as she looked up from the books, ignoring her mother's scowling face.
"I bought them in Hogsmeade," Peter said. "You know the village that lies just outside Hogwarts, the older students are allowed to visit."
Jen nodded and read the titles of the books. Break with a Banshee, Gadding with Ghouls, Holidays with Hags and Travels with Trolls all written by Gilderoy Lockhart.
"Who´s Gilderoy Lockhart?" Jen asked. "I´ve never heard of him."
"I don´t really know," Peter said. "But I heard some of the girls in my house talk about him and he´s apparently some kind of adventurer. He has written a couple of more books and I heard that he would publish a new one soon."
"Thanks Peter," Jen said and hugged him.
Jen put the books aside and opened the rest of the presents which all were from her friends. Hermione had given her a book called A Guide to Potent Potions which had tips on how to make the best potions. Ron had given Jen a new quill and some parchment and Harry had given her a lot of different wizard sweets.
Fred and George had given her different prank products, which Jen hastily hid from her brother and parents, and a note which read:
Jen,
We hope you like us trying to corrupt you,
Gred and Forge
Jen laughed before putting away the note.
Seamus and Neville had given her wizard sweets while Dean had given her muggle sweets.
Jen put the sweets she had gotten from Neville, Seamus and Dean beside the others and turned to the last package. Jen looked at the package a little bit confused as she had already opened all the presents she was expecting to get and she didn´t know who could have sent the last one. She picked it up and saw a letter addressed to her fastened to the present.
Jen took the letter and read:
Dear Jennifer,
I´m Ron, Fred and George's mother. I´ve heard a lot about you from my sons and have decided to give you this. I really hope you like it.
Molly Weasley
Jen smiled and hurried to tear up the present, inside was a fluffy homemade purple jumper. Jen held it up as she smiled brightly at the well-made jumper. It looked warm and cosy which were perfect for the cold corridors in Hogwarts.
"Who´s that from?" Olivia asked curiously.
"A friend," Jen said.
As everyone had opened their presents, they each gathered their presents and took them up to their rooms before going down to the kitchen and eating breakfast.
After the breakfast the family watched TV or read different books. Jen had begun to read one of the Lockhart books and instantly became so fascinated that she forgot the time until her father called that it was time to eat.
When Jen went to bed that night, she felt content and happy that she had had such a wonderful Christmas and she hoped that the holiday would continue that way.
((&))
The holiday had turned out fantastic as Jen, Peter and their parents hadn´t fought even once and had actually spent a great deal of time together. But soon the holiday was over and the day before the term started it was time for Jen and Peter to go back to Hogwarts and for Mr and Mrs MacAvity to go back to work.
The Hogwarts Express would leave at eleven and Jen´s parents had reluctantly agreed to drive Jen and Peter to King´s Cross Station.
The whole family woke up at eight and ate a quick breakfast before Jen and Peter went up to their rooms to pack the last things and check so they had everything. Then they dragged their trunks down the stairs and out of the house and dumped them into the car before putting Silver´s basket and Popcorns cage in the backseat.
When they had packet everything in the car, they went back into the house to say goodbye to Olivia who wasn´t allowed to go with them to King´s Cross.
"Goodbye Olivia," Jen said and hugged her sister tightly. "I´ll miss you."
"I´ll miss you too," Olivia said and hugged Jen back before turning and saying goodbye to Peter too.
"We promise to write," Peter said as he and Olivia broke apart.
"Good," Olivia said. "And when you come home you´ll have to tell me everything you haven´t told me in the letters."
"We will," Jen said before she hugged her sister one last time and walked out to the car where their parents waited.
As they drove away from the house, they could see Olivia in front of the house waving after them and Jen waved back as long as she could see her sister.
It took a little while to reach the station but when they did, they hurried to put the trunks on trolleys and Silver's basket and Popcorn's cage on top of the trunks.
When Jen had put Silver's basket on top of her trunk she turned to her parents and hugged and said goodbye to them before she followed her brother into the bustling station.
They hastily made their way to the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, so they would be able to get to Platform 9 ¾, and then ran through the portal.
It was half an hour left before the train would leave so it was easy for Jen and Peter to find an empty compartment where they could put their trunks.
"I´m going to sit with a couple of my friends on the way there," Peter said as he had helped Jen get her trunk into the compartment. "Is that okay?"
"Yeah," Jen said. "I´m going to share compartment with Hermione anyway."
Peter left and Jen took one of her Lockhart books out of her trunk. The books were very interesting, and Jen had barely been able to put them down since she had gotten them.
She was so distracted by the book that she didn´t notice that Hermione had come into the compartment before she sat down in front of her.
"Hermione!" Jen said and hugged her friend.
Hermione laughed and hugged Jen back before they both sat down again.
"Have you found anything about Nicolas Flamel?" Hermione said. "I asked my parents, but they had never heard of him, but they said that they would write to me if they heard anything about him."
"I haven´t found anything about him either," Jen said. "I looked through my parent's library but couldn´t find anything about him there."
"Let us hope Harry and Ron has found anything," Hermione said but didn´t sound hopeful. "Who´s Gilderoy Lockhart? I´ve never heard of him before."
"He´s an adventurer," Jen said, glad for the change of subject. "Peter gave me some of his books for Christmas and I´ve barely been able to put them down. I´ve already finished one of them."
"That sounds interesting," Hermione said. "Do you think I can borrow the one you´ve finished?"
"Of course," Jen said before going over to her trunk and pulling out the book. "Here."
The rest of the way to Hogwarts both girls sat in silence completely immersed in their books.
AN: Hope you enjoyed the chapter