Day 12- So Here it is, Merry Christmas:
AN: The final one shot skips forward a few years to Scorpius's final year at home before Hogwarts. It's been really interesting to write stories in this world, and I really hope you enjoy the last one. Leave my a review as my present? Haha :) Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays everyone!
On their third morning in Iceland Hermione felt great familiarity despite the fact that they were in an igloo looking up at the sky. It was Christmas morning and her kids were jostling them awake. It was even more special because this was the year before Scorpius would be going off to Hogwarts. Last night after the children had all been sent to bed and she, Draco, Kelly and Claire had sat chatting and drinking mulled wine, she'd noticed an anxious face peering at her from the corner of her eye. She'd excused herself for a few minutes and taken her son into her bedroom for some privacy, where he'd had a tearful moment over how this was his last Christmas with them and they weren't even at home! She'd given him a big hug and told him that, although she was sure he might want to stay one year to experience the now annual Yule Ball she and Draco had implemented, no-one would stop him spending the holidays at home, in fact she wanted him to come back. "You mean it Mummy?" He asked, and her heart had melted a little. He'd switched from Mummy to Mum a couple of years ago and hadn't gone back. This just showed her how off kilter he felt. At the same time, she couldn't help but be pleased- sometimes she missed the little boy he once was, as proud as she may be of who he was growing up to become. "Good. I want to see Phoebe at Christmas too."
She tipped her head a little. Phoebe's birthday was that day- the reason Lyra loved her so much as well because they nearly shared the day. It was part of the reason they'd decided to go on this birthday-festive-extravaganza trip, but with so much going on, it had slipped both her and Draco's mind that their friends' daughter should have received her letter at some point today. There must be some explanation. "Maybe her letter's back home Scorp," she'd told him. "Honestly honey, don't worry about it. I don't know exactly how these things work when you're travelling."
Seeming unconvinced, he nonetheless nodded and trotted off to bed, seeming rejuvenated by the excitement of Christmas Day. His sister was already digging into her stocking, but Draco put a steadying hand on her. "Hold up cowgirl, we agreed to do this all together!"
"Leo's the one who woke us up!" Lyra told them. "He sent us to come get you!"
"Then let's go!" Draco chuckled, their daughter jumping onto his back and he raced off with her.
"Phoebs still didn't get her letter," Scorpius told his mother as they followed.
"Like I said honey," she rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. "It's probably back home, and even if it's not, you two have way too strong a friendship to not maintain it just because you're at other ends of the country!" She knew that wasn't the whole situation. Scorpius wanted to share what would be the best years of his life with his favourite friend, and she didn't blame him for that in the slightest, knowing from experience that even if the Wizarding World was objectively wonderful, it was ten times as good when you could share it with someone.
When they arrived, the other three children were vibrating with excitement! Kelly, Claire and Draco were sat cross legged in the pyjamed circle, so they joined them on the floor as well, allowing each child to dive in for their first present.
After a while the stockings were nearly empty, and Hermione and Draco were too busy watching their own children's reactions, but their attention was captured when the other two mums tapped them on the shoulders in confusion, jerking their heads at the envelope their elder child was currently opening. "Did you put that in there?" Asked Kelly. Hermione took a closer look, and her heart drummed with relieved anticipation as she relived the moment she opened that same letter.
"Dear Phoebe DeMartino-Adams," the now eleven year old read the letter, and Scorpius leapt across the circle to hug his best friend tightly, exclaiming that they were going to be together now, but Kelly seemed more confused.
"What the-?" She put a hand to her head in confusion and reached for the letter herself.
Looking across at Claire, Hermione noticed the differing reaction, the colour draining from her face. "You have an idea what this is about, don't you?" Trying to make her tone as gentle and friendly as possible, she told her "it's okay- we do too," and called out "accio tissues!" Just in case things got emotional. This time both women seemed shocked, although Claire's expression was over more quickly to fade into realisation. Leo shouted out "cool!", whilst Phoebe pulled away from Scorpius to glance down at her hands curiously.
"You're both...?" Claire trailed off, not needing to say the word.
Draco nodded and pulled Lyra up onto his lap. "All four of us are. Next September, Scorpius will also be going to Hogwarts, where Hermione and I met and developed our crafts. Lyra will do the same when she's eleven."
"Show me! Show me!" Leo clamoured, so the two younger ones jumped up and Lyra began to make some flicky motions in thin air for her friend to copy, despite the fact she'd never learnt a spell in her life!
Kelly was clenching pieces of her red hair in her fists. She turned to her wife to ask, "you're not one too?"
Claire shook her head, sniffed and wiped her eyes with a reluctant smile. "No matter how much my parents wished it. That's why we don't speak to them. I'm sorry I never told you the full story Kel," her voice cracked, and her wife leant in to squeeze her hand comfortingly to tell her that it was fine.
"You're a squib," Hermione realised slowly.
This time Claire nodded, accepting the tissue the witch offered her with a thankful smile. "My parents had less savoury names for it. I was their only child, the end of their line, no matter how hard they tried. I think it's-" she glanced at the children, clearly not wanting them to hear, and the elder ones had the tact to quickly start a conversation, whilst the younger ones were still genuinely distracted. "They would have gotten rid of me if they had anyone else, but they always maintained the useless hope that one day I would display what they wanted me too."
Having abandoned the pretence, Phoebe gripped her mother in a tight hug. "I won't go if you don't want me to Mum."
Scorpius opened his mouth to protest, but realised he couldn't stop this and closed it again. He truly was growing up- and that wasn't a bad thing. Hermione had never been so proud of him. "Of course not baby," Claire said genuinely, glancing at her friends. "I'd never want to restrict you from that. I'm sure it's amazing."
"Incomparable," said Draco with a comforting smile. He looked across at Leo and whispered something to Claire.
The dark haired woman shook her head no, and Kelly looked over as well, of course not knowing the rules of magical inheritance. "But it's alright. I have had the most incredible, full life without it. He can as well, especially because we'd never make him feel bad for not being like his sister."
After the action packed stocking opening and a breakfast full of questioning from both Phoebe and her parents, the adults spent the morning cooking lunch whilst the kids played with their new toys.
"...Diagon Alley!" Scorpius exclaimed as Hermione came to call them, hiding for a moment to spy. "That's where we can get all our supplies together! There's a bookstore with magical textbooks, a store for creatures, a bank run by goblins! You get your school robes charmed after you're sorted though. There's 4 houses: Gryffindor; Slytherin; Ravenclaw; Hufflepuff. I'll probably be in one of the first two 'cause my mum was in Gryffindor and my dad was in Slytherin."
"How do they decide who's in what team?" Asked Phoebe, who was a Purple in primary school.
Scorpius leant forward conspiratorially. "I don't know exactly. It's the best kept secret, not in any book, and we can't tell Lyra or Leo when we know either!"
His sister threw down the toy she was playing with and ran over to shake him. "I wanna know how to be in Hufflepuff! It's next to the kitchen!" Leo followed her over, and the young girl declared "you'd be Hufflepuff! You worked so hard on that Lego set last week."
Phoebe giggled and ruffled the younger girl's hair lovingly. "So it's based on traits? What are the ones for the other houses?"
She let Scorpius explain, and then interrupted to let them know the food was ready, certain more talk about Hogwarts was to dominate the meal.
After they'd eaten, opened a few more presents and established through thorough debate that, had Claire and Kelly gone to Hogwarts, they would actually both have been near the kitchens, the families bundled up and were picked up by their guide, who drove them to a stable. Draco was exceedingly excited as he had owned several horses as a child, but riding through the snow proved a little less his forte and his dramatic falls that came from a little hubris caused all four children to explode with laughter, and the three women to snigger in a most un-Hufflepuff way behind their hands! It seemed that it was a natural talent for Scorpius, who quickly worked out how to get the horse to do what he wanted- she was leaning towards Slytherin for him.
After their session everyone was energised but a little chilly. When Kelly asked them to magic up some hot chocolate the couple were both about to explain the mechanics when Claire surprisingly beat them to it. It was crazy to think that she could grow up surrounded by the same magic as they had but unable to create it herself. Hermione realised for the first time that perhaps that was why Filch worked at Hogwarts, despite seeming to despise the children. If you wanted to experience how majestic magic could be, the British school of Witchcraft and Wizardry was the best place in the world for it.
They did get some hot chocolate eventually. Their guide took them to an ice skating rink with stalls surrounding it. Draco redeemed his honour in his children's eyes as he and Claire taught the younger ones to skate whilst the older kids stood in line with her and Kelly to get some drinks. Scorpius was still buzzing with excitement, and it had transferred to Phoebe as well now. They were having an in depth conversation about the order in which she should try every magical sweet. "So what was it like going from a uh, human life to your new one?" Asked Kelly, once they'd ordered. She and Draco had filled their friends in on their different upbringings now that they could, and she understood that their daughter's experience would be closer to hers so they would be interested in how she was treated.
"I was so excited," she said, seeing the awe-inspiring ceiling of the Great Hall behind her eyelids. "The summer before I left I read up all about it to prepare myself. I knew I would be going in blinder than others like Draco, but I worked hard and I was so proud that I managed to best all of them and be top of my class."
"Sounds like you," Kelly chuckled. "So did you and Draco have a- pardon my pun- magical romance?"
Hermione glanced over at her husband. "Well- not quite. It's a very, very long story, but he behaved a similar way to me as it sounds Claire's parents did to her. It took a war to bring us together."
"Draco?" Kelly joined her in looking over. Lyra threw out her arms proudly in a star shape in that moment to show off to her audience- and Draco quickly dove to catch her as she stumbled.
"Christmas was a pretty big day for us the year after that war," she said. "It's when we got together." She reassured Kelly, "My love, my best friends, the most action-packed, tragic, wonderful, formative years of my life. Phoebe will never regret it- even if her time there is somehow as unexpectedly crazy as mine was."
The Icelandic stall tender handed them their set of hot chocolates with a beam, and two free candy canes for the kids. Kelly gave her a silent thankful smile, and they headed off to drink them underneath the Northern lights from a hot spring pool.