Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing you recognize.
"I've got some news for you, Xeno," Pandora said one afternoon in late April.
"What is it, dear?" Xenophilius asked, unsure whether to be excited or afraid to find out what it was.
"Amos and Ophelia have decided to go on a second honeymoon this weekend, and they asked us to watch Cedric. Is that okay with you?"
Xeno nodded. "Yes. I'm sure Luna will be excited to have him here."
"Luna!" Pandora called. "Could you come downstairs for a minute, please?" Within minutes the four-year-old girl slid down the railing until she reached the sitting room; then she jumped off, landing on her hands and knees.
"What is it, Mummy?" she asked.
"Good news, sweetie - Cedric's going to stay with us this weekend." At this, Luna began to shriek at the top of her voice and jump up and down until she fell backward, flailing her arms and legs. Pandora smiled at this; she knew her daughter would be excited.
On Friday afternoon, Xenophilius and Pandora were looking over the latest issue of The Quibbler together and Luna was playing with her hippogriff, Crup, and unicorn figurines on the floor of the sitting room when Cedric came through the fireplace with his mother. "Hello!" the little girl said, waving.
"Hi, Luna," Cedric replied, sitting on the floor with her; Ophelia gave Pandora and Xeno some quick instructions on taking care of Cedric before walking over to him and kissing him lightly on the forehead.
"Goodbye, Cedric," she said. "You behave yourself, all right?"
""Kay, Mum," her son replied as she left. The little boy then turned to Luna. "Hey, Luna, let's have these animals race each other and see who wins."
"Okay!" said Luna enthusiastically. She lined up the three figurines next to the sofa and said, "First one to Daddy's printing press wins. Ready, steady, go!" Immediately the toy animals took off; the hippogriff flew off course and knocked over a stack of Quibblers on a nearby table. A few of the magazines came close to the fireplace and some others slid all the way down the stairs into the kitchen.
"CHILDREN!" roared Xenophilius. He rushed to pick up the fallen magazines and stack them back on the table, then marched over to Luna and Cedric, a stern look on his face. "Luna, if you're going to race your toy animals then you should do it in your room."
"Okay, Daddy. Sorry, Daddy." The two children gathered up the toy animals and headed up to Luna's room to restart their racing game.
That night as Luna and Cedric were lying in their beds, Pandora came in and asked, "How are you two doing?"
"Very well, Mrs. Lovegood," answered Cedric. "This guest bed's nice and cozy."
"And what about you, sweetheart?" Pandora asked Luna.
"I'm fine, Mummy. Will you read us a bedtime story, please?"
"Of course, but tonight I'm going to read something a bit different. Cedric, have you heard of any Muggle fairy tales?"
"No."
Pandora picked up a book of Muggle stories and flipped it open. "Here's one you might like. It's called Hansel and Gretel."
"Goody!" Luna cheered, clapping her hands.
"Once there was a family of four who lived in a cottage in the woods," Pandora read. "The father was a woodcutter and his wife was a wicked stepmother. The boy's name was Hansel and the girl's name was Gretel. They were a very poor family.
"One night, when times were particularly bad for the woodcutter, the stepmother said, 'Here's what we're going to do. Tomorrow we'll take the children deep into the woods and leave them there.'"
"That lady's a meanie!" Luna cried.
"Indeed she is. Anyway, the woodcutter replied, 'Oh no! I cannot leave my children in the forest.' 'You must, or we will all die of hunger,' the stepmother said."
"How would leaving the kids in the forest help them get more food?" asked Cedric.
"Likely because if they had fewer mouths to feed it would mean more food for her and her husband," answered Pandora. "Now back to the story: Hansel and Gretel were listening to their parents talking, and when they heard the part about being left alone in the forest, Gretel began to cry. 'Please don't cry, little sister,' Hansel told her. 'I'll think of something.'
"A little later, Hansel slipped out of the front door of the house and spotted many white pebbles shining under the light of the moon. He picked up as many as he could hold in his pockets and went back to bed."
"What were the pebbles for, Mummy?" asked Luna.
"You'll find out soon. The next morning as the family got ready to go into the woods, the stepmother gave each child a small piece of bread. 'This is all you will get, so don't lose it,' she told them. As they left the house, Hansel would stop and look around every so often. 'Why are you stopping and looking around?' his father asked. 'I'm looking at my little white cat,' Hansel answered. 'He's sitting on the roof and wants to say goodbye to me.' 'You fool!' the stepmother said. 'That is not your cat; it's the sun shining on the chimney.' What they did not know was that Hansel was actually dropping pebbles on the ground."
"Ooooh, I know!" Luna exclaimed. "He's leaving a trail so they can find their way back!"
"Hey! Don't ruin the story!" Cedric said indignantly.
"All right, children, let's see if Luna's right," Pandora said. "Once the family was deep in the woods, the stepmother said, 'You stay here while your father and I go and chop some wood. When we are finished, we will come back and take you home.' The children waited for a long time, and when they got hungry they ate their bread. Soon they fell asleep, and when they woke up it was dark. Gretel began to cry when she realized their parents still weren't back, but Hansel pointed out the pebbles he had left as they shined under the moonlight and said, 'Look, little sister! We can follow this trail of pebbles back home!' Which is just what they did."
"Told you!" Luna said triumphantly in a singsong voice.
"The stepmother was furious; she said, "Where have you children been?!" The woodcutter was happy that they'd made it back safe and sound. The family was happy for a time, but before long times got tough again. One night the stepmother said, 'Tomorrow we'll take the children deep into the woods and leave them there. This time I shall see to it that they never get home.' "Oh no!' the woodcutter replied. 'I cannot leave my children in the forest!' 'You must, lest we all die of hunger,' the stepmother said.
"Again, the children overheard their parents talking, and Gretel began to cry. 'Don't cry, little sister,' Hansel told her. 'I'll think of something.' When he tried to get outside, however, he discovered the door was locked. The next morning - "
"Mrs. Lovegood?" said Cedric. "I think Luna's asleep."
"Ah. Well, I'll finish the story tomorrow night, shall I?" Pandora said, gently stroking the four-year-old's blonde hair as she slept with her thumb in her mouth. "Goodnight, children."
"Goodnight, Mrs. Lovegood," said Cedric, and within minutes he too was asleep.
TO BE CONTINUED