Time had passed and soon enough, a month and a half had flown by. Azalea had begun lessons in pureblood mannerisms and was learning her first new language, Latin. It was the end of December, and Cassiopeia and Arcturus were planning how to celebrate their first Yuletide with Azalea. She was bouncing in her seat at the table.
"Azalea, sit still. Remember your manners." Arcturus gently chided the excited girl.
"But Grandpa Ari, I can't sit still. I'm too excited!" she giggled out.
"Do you remember what I told you is going to start tomorrow?"
"Of course! It's the beginning of Yule! My very first one, too!"
"And what is Yule?"
"It's the winter solstice festival. We thank the Gods and Goddesses for everything given to us, and we get to celebrate nature and it's changes and-"
"Very good, Azalea, I see you did read the book after all." He interrupted the rambling child before she could say anymore.
"We get to decorate too! I want to help put up the Yule tree tonight!" She began bouncing in her seat once more.
"We will, but we have much to do today before we can get to that. Remember where we're going today?"
"Diagon Alley! You're still taking me present shopping, aren't you? I want to get you and Auntie Sia presents too!"
"We will, little one."
After breakfast was over, they all got their outer robes on and made their way to the grand parlor and flooed to The Leaky Cauldron, making their way to Diagon Alley.
"Okay, Azalea, do you want to go with me first or Cassiopeia first?" Arcturus asked the girl.
"Um… Um… I want to go with... you, Grandpa." He chuckled at that. He would never get tired of hearing her say that.
They went to almost every shop in the alley way before they ended up at a small hole in the wall jewelry store, The Little Jewel. It was in that store that Arcturus found the perfect gift for his sister. It was a dainty but thick silver charm bracelet, with magical charms that held different properties.
He got one for Azalea too. In total, he picked out five charms each. For both of them there was a dagger, that when their magic was channeled into, it grew in size to be a functional weapon. Azalea got a book charm that let her read and speak in other languages easier, a little potion vial that would glow if the food was poisoned or going to harm her, the Black Family Crest, the Potter Family Crest, and finally the Rosier Family Crest. Each crest would portkey her back to the respective family manor.
For Cassiopeia, he got her a silver colored satchel that expanded to hold poisons, a cauldron that enlarged into a full sized vessel, the same Black Family Crest he got Azalea, as well as a book charm that grew into a full sized that she could keep on her constantly to use and write in as she saw fit.
The next shop they went to was the Apothecary, to pick up some rare ingredients for Cassiopeia, when time as they knew it changed. Azalea was in the back of the shop, near the creatures in the tanks, when she heard a voice in the very back.
"Speaker! I sense a speaker! Please help!"
Azalea looked around in confusion, but followed the sound of the voice. Arcturus noticed and followed her, as she looked like she was being led somewhere.
The two of them stopped in front of a too small tank. Inside was the most beautiful black horned serpent with heart-stopping cerulean blue eyes.
"Calm down, little one, what do you need? Are you okay?" Azalea said hissed to the snake, not knowing she was speaking the serpent's language.
Arcturus gasped in shock. He didn't think a Potter would have the parselmouth and neither did the Black family.
"Please! Take me with you! It's too tight and cramped in here, and they don't feed me."
"I will see what I can do." she hissed back to the small snake.
She turned to Arcturus.
"Grandpa, can I get this snake? Please?" she begged while pouting. He couldn't resist the combination. Shaking himself out of his befuddlement, he looked upon her face and almost immediately gave into her begging. He couldn't say no to that adorable face. No one could.
"Fine, but you will learn to take care of them."
He went to the front of the store to inquire about purchasing the serpent, and Azalea squealed in delight.
"What's your name, little one?"
"I don't have an English name; would you name me? Please?"
"I will name you Arawn!" she replied happily.
She waited for Arcturus and the shopkeeper to come to the back of the store, where he pointed out what kind of tank and magical heat lamps they would need, as well as the snake's food.
It was well past noon when the three of them met up with Cassiopeia at a café, where they stopped for a quick lunch. By then, the empty alleyway was bustling with people, scrambling to get their last minute gifts for Yuletide. Azalea had never seen so many people before. It was a little scary, so she held onto Arcturus's hand very tightly when she walked through the crowd.
"Did you have fun with Arcturus, little one?"
"Mhm! I know what grandpa got you, but it's a secret!" She sang out, with a big smile.
"Oh oh oh! Guess what, Grandpa Arcturus got me!" She let out a huge giggle, that showed her tender age.
"What did he get you, little one, another dolly?"
"No! A snake!" and she revealed an exceptionally small very thin black snake that clung to her like a second skin. If it were not for the color difference, you would not be able to see where one met and the other ended.
"Oh? What's their name?" She stilled for a moment, before slowly turning to Arcturus, raising an eyebrow.
"Their name is Arawn. Say hello Arawn!" She finished the second part in parselmouth without knowing it.
Cassiopeia outright froze at this, turning to Arcturus again, this time both eyebrows raised in shock.
Azalea could speak parselmouth? As far as she knew, only Slytherin blood descendants could speak, and she was not one of them.
She continued on like nothing happened while she pondered this internally.
"Well then, are you ready to go with me? That way, he can continue shopping for a certain someone?"
"Sure!"
After lunch was over, they made their way to Flourish and Blotts, a store filled to the brim with all the books you could ever dream of and more. Azalea was amazed.
"Cassiopeia, can we stay here forever?"
"No child, unfortunately we can not. Would you like to come back here soon?"
"Yes please!" she all but practically squealed in excitement.
Azalea had spent many hours of the past month squared away reading in the Black Family Library. She read any book that Cassiopeia would let her get her hands onto. There were not many, admittedly. At least not in that library, not yet.
At the bookstore, Cassiopeia grabbed a few more books on wizarding culture for muggle borns, as well as work books about basic arithmetic and muggle and wizarding history, all things Azalea would need when she began her tutoring, plus a journal and book on pureblood mannerisms and etiquette.
While Azalea was in the children's section looking at the new books that had come out recently, Cassiopeia went off and grabbed Arcturus' present, at least one of them anyway. She got him a specially ordered obscure book on different dark curses that he didn't already have, which by itself was a feat and a half.
After about an hour of meandering through the store, Cassiopeia found Azalea right where she left her. She hadn't wandered much from where she had last seen her. She was right there, reading from a book she vaguely remembered from her own childhood. It was a magical storybook, the kind that read the story out loud to you. This one was about a princess in a far away castle. She purchased their new books, and they both made their way out of the store to where Arcturus was waiting.
He smiled at the sight of the two ladies in front of him.
"Are you two ladies ready to go?"
"Yes, Grandpa, we are."
They made their way to the aperation point and headed home.
Meanwhile, as they were gone, all of the house elves had decorated the manor throughout with different types of holly and mistletoe, with evergreen wreaths and pine cones on every window. Inside of the grand ballroom, was a decorated oval table with room for eight chairs. In the center of the chandelier lit room was a massive evergreen tree, charmed to stay alive the entire time so as to not lose its needles, that was ready and waiting to be decorated with wish ornaments, which they would do at a later time. Everything was coming together nicely.
The next day was the first day of Yuletide. For dinner, they had some of Dorea and Lily's favorite foods, like french onion soup, roast lamb chops, grilled veggies and Lily's recipe for her famous lemon bars. They set up an altar in what Azalea was calling the Yule room of photos for all of their past female ancestors, and put a little offering of each of the different foods there to honor the Gods and Goddesses.
After the feast was over, it was time to play the twelve Maidens game.
"Okay, Azalea, this is how you play the game. I'm going to write out the names of the twelve maidens on different pieces of paper, and we each pick one. I'll go first, as I'm the oldest."
He wrote the different names on colorful slips of paper, before dropping them into a muggle's version of a witch's hat.
He pulled out Lofn, the fifth maiden. She represented practicing tolerance and compassion, aiding misunderstood groups or people, and experiencing love in unconventional ways. Next up was Cassiopeia, who drew Hlín. She represented refuge, standing up for others, being a safe shoulder to lean on, and knowing when to ask for help. Both were fitting for their respective parties. Azalea drew Sága which was for history, storytelling, writing, study, studying one's ancestry and work with the ancestors.
After everything was said and done, they lit the candle on the yule log, decorated the day before in boughs of holly and mistletoe with wooden stars, and let the candles burn overnight, as the first day of yule passed by.
The next day was the twenty-first of December, or, the longest day of the year and the return of the sun to come. Arcturus and Cassiopeia quietly snuck into Azalea's room to observe the sleeping child. She was dwarfed on her bed by many plush pillows and a thick down comforter. On the foot of her bed was the new snake she had adopted, hissing quietly as it slept.
"Azalea… Azalea, sweetheart, it's time to wake up." Arcturus gently shook the girl awake.
She rubbed sleepily at her eyes. "Hmm? What time is it?"
"It's just before dawn, little one. Now, it's time to get up. We have many things to do today." Cassiopeia said soothingly.
She went to Azalea's wardrobe and pulled out her warmest jumper, and trousers, along with her thickest robe. They would be going outside into the cold after all.
They went outside to the back gardens, and lit a fire in the fire pit, to make an offering to the god Sunna, greeting her in the sun as she rose. All three of them made their offering. Cassiopeia offered flowers, Arcturus offered a nice mead, and Azalea offered up sweet oranges.
On the twenty-second, they celebrated Yuletide by making an altar for all of their male ancestors, especially James, as it was Azalea's first yule celebration. For dinner, they had roasted wild boar, but Azalea didn't like that very much. She wasn't used to such rich foods yet and preferred bland foods to anything else. Most importantly, they remembered to offer the foods of their feast and cold beer to Freyr and Alfar.
It was the day of the twenty-third, the day to celebrate Loki and Sigyn, and Azalea was excited. She got to do an arts and crafts project! She really liked to draw and color and make things. The three of them were making masks, and she got to make a seal mask! She put lots of glitter, and she colored it in just right. Arcturus made a boar and Cassiopeia made a wolf one, and they looked so cool!
And the best part was, there would be a party, even if it was just the three of them. There was music and finger foods and juice and tea and even hot chocolate! And so many kinds of sweets too. They got to be silly and have fun, and she was learning to enjoy that more than ever. They ate many foods and had drinks, and they had a merry old time.
And then it was time to exchange gifts. Azalea was very nervous to find out if Arcturus and Cassiopeia would like the gifts she got them, but they were giving her gifts too! She had never opened a gift before. She had wrapped them very carefully to the very best of her ability. She made sure to use lots of spell-o-tape. She was six, after all.
She had gotten gifts for both of her new family members, Great Grandpa Arcturus and Great Auntie Cassiopeia. For grandpa, Cassiopeia helped her pick out silver cuff links that the kind man said were able to negate small hexes and curses, and a pretty emerald green tie to match his suits he wore. She got her Auntie an enchanted protection bracelet made of silver and white gold, and a pretty hair clasp that held a special compartment for hiding poisons. They both had helped her pick out the other's gifts, as she wasn't quite sure what to get them yet.
After opening her presents to them, they smiled down at her and handed to her, her presents. She squealed in absolute delight. She had never gotten anything new before, let alone a present. She tore into the shiny red and golden wrapping paper that held her first gift from Cassiopeia, it was a photo album with pictures in it, of a woman with fiery red hair and a man with messy black hair, hugging and kissing.
"Those are your parents, I thought you might like a photo album of them since you don't have any photos of them."
She hugged her tightly at that. It was so very thoughtful of her. Her second present from her was wrapped in red and green shiny thick paper, like the ones Dudley had gotten the Christmas before. She had always wanted to open presents like this. Inside of the present was a thick paper box with a doll in it, that looked exactly like a miniature version of herself. The doll was wearing a pretty ornate blue and silver satin dress with white stockings and black Mary Jane shoes. Her curled black hair was up in a braided princess bun, held in place with a small silver clasp. It was charmed to move about as if it was sort of alive. It couldn't walk, but it would blink, turn it's head, and lift its arms up. Not only that, but it even knew some simple words like "Mama!" and "I love you!". She lifted the enchanted doll up to her chest and hugged it tightly. She had never had a gift like this before, it was truly magical.
She set the doll gently aside and opened her final gift from Cassiopeia, and looked up in awe. It was a necklace with a spellbound set of stone tile runes, in a sequence she was beginning to recognize as for protection.
"Thank you auntie Cassiopeia, I love them so much!"
"You are welcome, little one. Now it's time to open Arcturus's gifts."
Her first gift from him was a book wrapped in shiny blue paper. It was a book titled Runes: A Beginner's Guide to Sequences, which she absolutely adored. She was really starting to like playing with her toy rune tiles that he had bought her. The second gift he had given her was a practice sword.
"That's a cutlass. It's enchanted to have an edge, but will never harm you while practicing. As heiress to the Most Ancient and Noble house of Black, it's a tradition for the females to know some kind of weaponry, and I had thought that this would be an easy place to begin…" He explained.
Finally, she opened her third and final gift from him. It was a silver wrapped flat box, which contained royal purple silken pajamas, softer than she had ever seen before, with black buttons.
She crushed both of them in a hug. That night, she wore them to bed, and snuggled up tight with her new dolly.
And the next day was even more fun than the day before, if that was even possible. They made ornaments for the tree called wish ornaments. They each got three wishes. Hers were very special to her; she wished she could stay here forever. This was the happiest she had ever been, and the safest. They didn't starve her or hurt her. She wished she would grow stronger; she wanted to be able to defend herself and never let someone hurt her like that again. And her final wish was to never feel alone again. She wanted to have a big family and feel protected and surrounded by love for the rest of her life if she could help it. They each made three and hung them with pride on the tree, in hopes that they came true within the next year.
The twenty-fifth of Yuletide marked the time to light candles for Balder and Nanna for the sake of light and hope. They blessed mistletoe sprigs with prayers of happiness and protection and hung the mistletoe throughout the manor.
The twenty-sixth of December came, and in Yule traditions, they ate lamb stew and leaf bread. An offering of the stew and leaf bread, and chilled vodka was left outside for Kári and his kin.
The next day, the twenty-seventh day of December, was spent making many garland of dried fruits and popcorn, to be strung from the trees outside the manor for the magical animals to feast upon, to honor the nature spirits and wild animals.
It was the fifth to last day of Yule and time was flying by so fast. Today they made plum pudding, and everyone took turns stirring the batter. They stirred it many times, each one supposedly bringing more luck to them for the next coming year, before hiding a blessed silver coin into the mixture. Whoever found it would have extra good luck the next year. Of course, she had found it.
The twenty-ninth came and went, and with it was Bleigessen, where they called upon Freyja to aid in divination for a good new year. They did a lead pouring ceremony, only they used wax because it was much safer. Azalea's shape looked like flowers, which apparently meant that new friendships would develop in the next year. Cassiopeia got a dagger, of course, and Arcturus got a set of scales.
The thirtieth passed quietly, with sipping on Wassail to be drunk throughout the night, where they circled the largest tree in the orchard that blossomed apples, and sang songs and put pieces of soaked toast on the trees for animals to eat.
On the final night of yule, December thirty-first, or New Year's Eve, they blessed the house for protection, to drive out the last spirits of Yule. They burnt the herbs of juniper and mugwort and banged pots and pans though the manor to chase out any evil spirits. Finally, the last of Yule was complete, and the new year rang in.