"Well?" Chelsea was still waiting for an answer.
"Well what?" Ayla shifted her feet nervously, she knew what her sister in law was asking. The only question for Ayla however was: to lie or not to lie?
"You know what. I can read you like a book, we all can. Who's the note from?" Slowly Ayla met Chelsea's eyes. She was right, she couldn't lie: she was lousy at it.
"Uh, a friend." stalling for time was always an option though.
"Strange time for a 'friend' to be sending notes, wouldn't you say?" Chelsea arched her eyebrow, it was something she always did when she was being annoyingly perceptive. Ayla hated the eyebrow, she always felt like it was judging her. She kept silent.
"Unless of course this is a special 'friend' of yours." Chelsea pressed. "A special friend who took you home from the Weasley's Christmas party perhaps?"
Ayla's head snapped up fast, so fast it caused he neck to crick. She ducked her head again under the pretence of trying to un-crick it, really she was just trying to avoid eye contact with Chelsea. Never let your enemy see the whites of your eyes she thought. Of all the people her brother could have married, why did he have to pick someone with possible Seer's blood? True Chelsea didn't fully possess the gift, but she wasn't a person to play wizard's chess with either.
"How long have you known?" Ayla mumbled, still keeping her head down.
"Only since this morning. I got a funny sort of half vision thingy when we hugged. So do you like him?"
"Have you told anyone?" Ayla blurted out. She had intended to sound nonchalant, as if she didn't really care what people thought.
"No." Chelsea chuckled at the young girl in front of her. Sometimes Ayla was too shy for her own good, always worried what other people might say. "So do you like him?"
Ayla grinned and nodded, she could trust Chelsea to keep quiet, for the time being anyway.
"Yeah, he's really sweet." she paused as a thought suddenly struck her. "You didn't see anything else did you? Anything that could have been the future?"
"Nope, sorry hunny, you know I'm not all that good at that sort of thing. I wish I was but.." Chelsea tailed off.
Ayla nodded again. Well it had been worth a try at least.
"That's ok. Just try to keep this to yourself? I'm not ashamed. It's just well I want to see how things work out, before I tell the parents. You know how they get." Ayla blushed. She felt like a school girl: swearing her sister in law to secrecy.
"Sure hun, don't worry about it. Your parents can be a bit intimidating, I should know."
Ayla was all too aware herself of how her parents could be. The last wizard she had dared to bring home had been scared away by her mother's constant talk of marriage and babies. Her heart was in the right place, but her mother was ever so slightly obsessed. Still Oliver didn't seem to scare so easily, if the fact that he was happy to have large objects thrown at his head was anything to go by.
"Well sweetie, I'm off to bed, seen as my two little darlings seem to be out for the count." Chelsea kissed Ayla goodnight and left.
Ayla looked over at her two nieces, Bryony and Jasmine. With their golden hair and innocent faces, they looked just like angels. She knew however that when awake they were far from angelic.
"Sweet dreams Ayla."
Ayla was too distracted to answer, thinking about her own child. Would it look as alike to her as Chelsea's girls did? The only way she could tell they were her brother's daughters was by their wicked sense of humour and inexplicable love of frogs. She briefly wondered what Oliver's children would look like, before she realised how ahead of herself she was getting. She shook her head, clearing those dangerous thoughts away. She crept silently from the kid's room and across the hall into her own. She rummaged through the desk draws, trying to find a spare bit of parchment. Once she found some she was at a loss as to what she should reply with. Repeating what he had written seemed pointless. But then what else could she say? After several soul searching moments she scribbled her reply:
"And a Happy New Year to you. Ayla xx."
And whistled for the family owl. She tied the note to the bird's leg and sent it off before she could have any second thoughts. That done she climbed into bed, exhausted from what had been an incredibly long day.
It was around six the next morning that Ayla felt three small something's jump on top of her. For a moment she had forgotten where she was, until three small voices shouted that is.
"Wake up Aunty A, it's Christmas!"
The something's, her two nieces and one nephew, got up and started bouncing on her bed. She groaned and turned over.
"Too early." she mumbled.
The children flopped down on top of her again. One on her head, another on her stomach, and the last on her knees.
"Get up!"
She groaned again, wanting to point out that because of their current positions, there was no way she could get up.
"Urgh. Ok I'll get up. I promise."
Amid several cheers the three got up, releasing her. They dropped off the bed and thundered, not unlike a herd of stampeding elephants, down the stairs, screaming and shrieking all the way.
Within ten minutes, Ayla too was downstairs, sitting surrounded by wrapping paper as the kids tore open every present they could find that was addressed to them. Now this was what Christmas was all about. Carnage, destruction and piles and piles of wrapping paper.
The rest of the day passed in a blur of red, green and gold. Ayla really did love spending time with her family. They were loud, rude, amazingly annoying at times, and almost completely crazy. Something she wouldn't change for all the world. Life without You know who was perfect.
But all too soon Ayla was happy to be leaving. Her family was great and she adored every one of them. But a little went a long way. She floo'd home late one night a few days after Christmas, weighed down with presents and numerous food parcels from her mother, who was still determined to 'put a bit of meat' on Ayla's bones. She fell out of the fire place, tripping over one of the many packages. As she landed she smacked her head on the floor, causing stars to appear in front of her eyes. She groaned, "Ah home, sweet home."
