Chapter 8:
A few days passed and there was still no sign of Christine's father. As usual, the family got ready to leave to find a Christmas tree two days before Christmas Eve, when the front door opened on its own. Instinctively, Harry, Christine, Careen and Rhett all drew their wands and pointed towards the door.
"Meg! Cade! Christine! I'm home!" rang the loud voice of a man whose figure emerged from behind the door. His form became visible as he walked into the house; a tall man with ocean blue eyes underneath dark brown eyebrows. His hair was neatly buzzed, but it was easy to see that it was just as dark as his youngest son's. He walked with a light, graceful step and smiled brightly when he saw his children standing before him. "Well, it's nice to see you. Now, I know I've been gone for a while, but honestly, is it necessary to hex your dear old dad?" The kids laughed at their father's usual corny jokes before rushing forward to welcome him home.
"I didn't know you two were going to be home this Christmas," Mr. Davet mentioned to Rhett and Careen as he hugged Christine and looked over her shoulder. But before either one of them could answer, Christine's mother came running down the stairs.
"Jack!" Mrs. Davet squealed with delight as she ran down the stairs and threw herself at her husband. "Why didn't you call from the station?"
"That would've ruined the surprise. Besides, I didn't get in until about 4:30 this morning," he smiled. "So what are we doing this morning? If memory serves me right, we should be looking for a tree today."
"Don't you want to rest Dad?" Rhett asked with a small grin on his face.
"Why would I do that when I could be out getting a tree with my family?" Mr. Davet said and shooed everyone out the door. As everyone filed past him, Mr. Davet counted them like little soldiers.
"Wait a minute. Who are you?" he asked Harry bluntly when he noticed him for the first time. Harry looked back at Christine –who was quickly positioning herself between Harry and her father– for any help that he could get.
"Um, Daddy," Christine started in the sweetest voice she could muster. "This is Harry Potter. You remember me talking about him don't you? He's the boy that plays on the Gryffindor team and "
"Oh yeah. So you go to school with Christine?"
"Yes sir," Harry replied in a small voice.
"Daddy," Christine interrupted again as she sensed that overbearing side of her father, "Um, we are, uh, that is to say–" Christine paused again before taking a deep breath and calming herself down. "Daddy, we have been dating for a while now." Christine smiled nervously and watched as her father's face changed from her happy father to that of the strictest drill sergeant. She took a few steps back and bumped into Harry who was as rigid as a board. Mr. Davet seemed to be sizing Harry up and an awkward pause followed.
"Well I guess it's all right," Mr. Davet stated reluctantly. Christine and Harry let out a sigh of relief, only audible to the two of them.
"So, um let's go get a tree then," Christine smiled meekly and she walked out to the car.
Mr. Davet gave Harry a piercing look that made the Gryffindor shiver.
The family and Harry drove out to a forest in the middle of nowhere and began looking for trees. After a couple of hours of searching, they still hadn't found a tree.
"What about this one?" Rhett suggested in a bored drawl.
"No, it has a bald spot near the bottom," Mrs. Davet criticized coldly after examining the tree for a whole five seconds.
"Well, all of the trees have a bald spot somewhere," Mr. Davet whined. "There's going to be decorations on it too, so that'll cover up the spot. I mean we could get a tree with three branches and nobody would notice with all the decorations we have." Mrs. Davet spun around and looked at her husband as if he were the most despicable thing on the planet.
"I will not be forced to settle for a–," she stammered as she thought of a word to describe what she wouldn't settle for, "–a substandard Christmas tree Jack!" Mr. Davet scowled for a minute and walked off in the other direction.
"Are we having fun yet?" he yelled back at his wife while continuing to storm off in the other direction.
"Fa La La La La, La La La La!" Mrs. Davet screamed back at him with the sharpness of a knife. This little tiff sent the kids into a silent fit of giggles as they wandered through the trees.
"It's so cold. I don't remember it ever being this cold," Christine stated as she continued to shiver. She conjured up a small fire in a jar and held onto it as if it were a priceless heirloom. Harry crossed over to her, wrapped his arms around her and placed his hands on the jar.
"That feels good," Harry sighed as he moved to get closer to the fire.
"Don't move, your warm," Christine protested. Harry smiled, stayed where he was, and the couple searched for more trees.
"Harry, what do you think of this one?" Christine asked while gazing up at a tree that was about eight feet tall and full of branches with nobald spots.
"It's great. You should go get your mum," Harry answered. Christine hurried off to get her mother and returned with her shortly.
"What a great tree. Jack! Jack, over here! We found it!" Mrs. Davet shouted straight up into the sky.
"Finally," Mr. Davet muttered under his breath. A few minutes later, the tree was cut down and magically altered to fit in the trunk.
The day before Christmas Eve was busier than ever. A tradition in Mrs. Davet's family, the Pre Christmas Eve Party, was not the kind of party that any Hogwarts student thought of, unlessthey were very rich. Mrs. Davet was the daughter of an English lord and with that title came heavy responsibility. She was always held to a very high standard in her parents home and was always expected to marry someone with the same social ranking. Needless to say, her parents were not especially happy about her marriage to an American soldier, but as they got to know him, they liked him and soon he was seen as a son, not some stranger.
This year the party was being held at Netherfield Hall, one of the family's estates, and Mrs. Davet was able to get Harry invited . The Davet party arrived at the house that afternoon and spent the time leading to the party enjoying the relaxing atmosphere the house possessed. But Harry, who was grateful for the invitation, wasn't sure if this was going to be such a great idea.
"Christine, I've never been to a nice party let alone a formal party full of dukes and duchesses. What if I make a fool of myself?" Harry breathed heavily and sat down on the couch in one of the parlors.
"This making a fool of yourself seems to be an obsession of yours, Harry," Christine smiled as she crossed over to the couch and sat next to Harry. "If you're that worried about it, I'm sure Rhett and Daddy would help you out. Go talk to them," she reassured him, as she slipped her arm through his and laid her head on his shoulder.
"Do you think they'll be able to?"
"Of course. If Daddy could learn how to act like an aristocrat, I'm sure he would have no problem teaching you. Maybe you could even use it to connect with him," Christine added with a cheeky smile. "Go talk to Rhett at least."
"All right," Harry sighed shaking his head and he set off to find her older brother. Christine smiled to herself and hurried up the stairs to visit with her sister and cousins. She had barely reached the top of the stairs when a she heard a squeal from up ahead.
"Christine!" called the voice.
"Lizzie! When did you get here?" Christine asked as she realized who the voice belonged to and hurried forward to hug her favorite cousin.
"A couple of minutes ago. Mum and Dad are talking to one of Grandpa's friends downstairs."
"Did your brothers come with you?" Christine continued.
"No, they were going to Derbyshire for a long weekend before they have to go back to work. They start again on the twenty-seventh," Lizzie finished.
"Oh that's too bad. Well, I'm glad you're here. Anything new?" Christine questioned.
"Not really. Jeremy and I broke up, but that's about it. What about you? Any new love interests?" Lizzie asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"He's talking with Rhett," Christine answered with a shy smile.
"Oh! Really? Who is he?" Lizzie suddenly became more interested in the conversation.
"His name is Harry, I go to school with him and he plays onmy Quidditch team." Even though Lizzie was a muggle, she knew what Quidditch was. She was the second person Christine told about Hogwarts outside of her parents and siblings. The girls walked into one of the parlors and continued their conversation where they were joined by Careen and some of their other relatives. The time seemed to fly past and one by one, the relatives dwindled away and up the stairs to get ready for the ball.
"Christine, I'm going to go get dressed. I can't wait to see your dress, or Harry for that matter. That must have been some talk they had, he hasn't been inhere all afternoon. He sounds charming ignoring his girlfriend like this," Lizzie said with a wink and a roll of her eyes. Christine laughed at her cousin before following her out of the parlor and down the hallway into a separate room.
At about 5:30, there came a knock on Christine's door.
"Come in," she answered automatically.
"Hey, are you ready yet?" Careen asked from the doorway.
"Almost. Could you help me put this on?" Christine questioned as she showed her sister the necklace. Careen walked behind her younger sister and began to clasp the necklace at the back of her neck.
"You look very nice," Christine stated as she saw her sister's reflection in the mirror.
"Thanks, so do you." Careen paused for a second before speaking again. "Have you seen Eric or Rhett since this afternoon?"
"No, I sent Harry to find Rhett earlier this afternoon and I haven't seenhim since. Why?" "Because I haven't seen any of them since about the time Lizzie got here."
"Hmm, same with me now that I think of it. I'm sure they're fine," Christine said with a slight twinkle in her eye at the thought of Harry with her father for longer than five minutes. It was evil, she admitted, but it still was funny. Another few moments of silence passed as finally Careen clasped the necklace together.
"You know, I could get used to this," Careen said more to herself than her sister.
"Get used to what?" Christine asked as she pulled on her gloves.
"Oh you know, the gloves, the beautiful dresses, the expensive food. I could definitely get used to the life of a queen," Careen answered with a dreamy look in her eyes.
"Then you better leave Eric," Christine scoffed as they walked out the door of her room.
"What do you mean?" Careen asked with a hesitant glance to her sister.
"Well, if you want all of this all the time, you're going to need a richer fiancé." Careen laughed out loud as they turned the corner to the stairs' landing and met the boys, Rhett and Lizzie. Everyone looked so elegant in their formal attire and Harry looked so handsome in his clothes. Christine entered the ball on Harry's arm, and they followed Rhett, who was escorting Lizzie, and Careen, who was escorted by Eric.
The ballroom was decorated beautifully and there were people everywhere.
"Who are all these people?" Harry whispered to Christine as he led through the crowds to the dance floor.
"I don't know really. You know Lizzie," Christine pointed out as her cousin danced past them in the arms of a young man who was chatting away to an uninterested audience. Christine wasn't surprised to see Lizzie with another guy, the only reason Rhett had escorted her was because they were the only two singles on the landing. "Most of these people are friends of the family and as my grandfather is the oldest of six children and my mother the middle of five, we have a lot of friends of the family." Harry chuckled to himself, as he imagined all those people. He took Christine's hand and began to dance with her across the floor. Christine had always been interested to know how Harry had learned to dance. She remembered the Yule Ball, but she couldn't remember if someone taught him or if he already knew. She snapped out of her thoughts as she saw her brother dance by.
"Harry, did you and Rhett talk all afternoon?" Christine asked as she realized there had been a calm air about him ever since she met him on the landing.
"Yeah, he calmed me down and your dad gave me some advice that helped a lot."
"What did he say?" Christine asked; she hated it when Harry tempted her with a little bit of a secret, then stopped talking altogether.
"Just that if I wanted to make a good impression on everyone, I shouldstay with you all nightand wait for others to start conversations. I figured staying with you would be easy."
"Oh Harry. See? Dad's not as mean as he wants you to think. It's all that military training."
Christine and Harry floated lightly across the dance floor, immersed in their own pleasant conversation. But an unnoticed guest watched them like a lion stalking its prey, and sat waiting for the right moment to pounce.
"Keep an eye on her at all times Harry. You never know when the thing that first brought you together will come back and tear you apart," the mysterious man muttered to himself before he left to meet his companions on the dark, freezing grounds of the estate.