Chapter Nineteen

Christmas at Number Twelve

Matt happily chopped vegetables for his grandmother. He would have just as happily peeled the potatoes, scooped up turkey guts, or sifted through rubbish, if she'd asked him to. He was just happy that they were both here, at his house, for Christmas. Once they got word that the Simpsons were still going to come, crazed Dark wizards be hanged, Dad had worked it all out so that the whole family would have a shift off at the same time. It had been difficult, though Dad had managed it by virtue of pretty much leading the investigation all this time. Consequently, Christmas dinner was going to be at eleven o'clock in the morning, because Dad and Grandpa both had to go to work at four, but Uncle Remus and Aunt Tonks were going to visit for a few hours when they went off-duty this evening.

Uncle Charlie was the one scooping turkey guts, and making loud jokes. The kitchen was bustling with activity and there was plenty of sunlight coming in through the windows that were shut against the cold weather. Matt hadn't felt this light-hearted in a long time.

"Matt's getting to be so big, isn't he?" Grandma said with pride, squeezing him to her side. Indeed, his head came all the way to her shoulder now. His real father had been quite tall, and he would catch up Dad within a year, as Dad predicted. "Look at you," she beamed, putting a hand under his chin and tilting his face up. Matt was bemused. Apparently he was being inspected. Then her eyes suddenly went soft and sad, and her face was stroking under his jaw. Tracing his scar.

Matt pulled himself away with a scowl. They never brought attention to that, because it made Uncle Charlie feel bad. He looked over at Uncle Charlie to see that he'd gone back to hollowing out the gigantic turkey with a dark look, his shoulders hunched. He glared at his grandmother. It wasn't Uncle Charlie's fault that the potion he'd brought the night Matt had gotten the burns hadn't worked, but he always felt guilty that Matt had been left with the splash of discoloured, wrinkled skin along his jaw and neck. And now Grandma had spoiled Uncle Charlie's good mood and he wouldn't be as much fun for hours. Plus thinking about the scar on his neck always gave Matt a tight feeling in his stomach, and he wasn't looking forward to dinner so much now.

Grandma looked like she felt bad, and she turned back to the stuffing she was mixing up for the turkey. Matt left the knife on the cutting board of vegetables and stepped over to the broad-chested red head he loved so dearly.

"Uncle Charlie?"

His uncle gave him a pained smile. "Yeah, Squirt?"

Matt hadn't really thought of anything to say, he just hated seeing him like that. "Can we go flying after dinner?"

"Sure," he answered, his smile a little more genuine.

Then Aunt Hermione entered the kitchen, her head tilted up to speak to Hagrid, who was lumbering in behind her. He ducked to come in, and they both faced Molly.

"Anything we can do to help in here?" Aunt Hermione asked.

Molly shook her head with a warm smile on her face. "No, no, you must be exhausted from travelling. You go on and rest and visit with the family. You, too, Hagrid. I think me and the boys can handle things in here."

Crash came dashing into the kitchen making high-pitched squealing noises of mock fright, laughing in childish delight, a scrap of something frilly and pink fanning out behind his tightly clenched fist. He smacked into the doorframe and careened off it without a care in the world. Mum came running in after him, her face harassed.

"Sirius James Potter!" she bellowed. "Give me your sister's dress this instant!"

Knowing he was caught, Sirius turned and handed it over, his eyes—now covered by a pair of sturdily-framed spectacles—still dancing with laughter. Matt tried not to laugh and attract his mother's ire. He didn't want to get yelled at. But Mum simply snatched up the dress and stalked off, no doubt to get the dress onto Charlotte before Crash could think of anything else to distract her.

Crash looked around the kitchen for more mayhem to cause. His eyes lit on the bright green plastic cutting board Matt had been using to chop the vegetables, the end floating just off the counter over his head.

"What's that?" he asked, and reached up to grasp the end of it. The vegetables tumbled off his head and onto the floor, and Matt felt his heart leap into his throat as he saw the knife start sliding toward his little brother's face. Sirius shrieked, and Grandma reached out with a yelp, but Matt was quicker. He had his wand in his hand, shouting out a spell before he even realized what he was doing. The knife bounced off a bubble of air and clattered to the floor.

They all turned to stare at him, and Mum came running back in with wild eyes, the dress still in her hand. "What happened?"

Hagrid was beaming at him. "Good one, Matt," he congratulated him. "Better than you managed las' week."

Everyone relaxed a bit, remembering that Hagrid had been teaching him a few things he wasn't learning in class. Hagrid had been smart enough to mention the idea to Harry and Ginny before starting. They were keeping it quiet because Zacharias Smith would hassle them to death, but it was by parental consent, anyway. Of course, Matt hadn't yet mentioned that Professor Stevens was going to be taking over the lessons. He'd been waiting for the right moment.

Of course, Hagrid didn't really know that. "'Course, you'll learn a lot more from Stevens," he said gregariously. "He knows more than I do, tha's for certain."

"What?"

Matt turned to see who'd spoken. It was Dad, who was carrying Charlotte, clad only in her diaper and with one of Dad's shirt wrapped around her.

"Stevens agreed to take over for me," Hagrid explained. "Blimey, Matt, didn't you tell them yet?"

Matt shook his head. Hagrid might trust Professor Smith, as Matt did, but he didn't think Mum and Dad did. Why should they, when they hadn't even met him?

"He said he didn't agree with not teaching the younger kids," Matt said weakly, all eyes on him. "He thinks we ought to be better prepared, even though Professor Smith doesn't think anyone would be interested in us. He said he'll only teach us defensive spells, though. He doesn't think we're experienced enough for anything more than that."

Surprisingly, Dad was nodding. "All right," he said soberly. "That's fine, Matt. If Stevens wants to do it, I don't mind."

Mum spun around to Dad with glare and proceeded to have a cow. "I don't think so, Harry. I don't trust Stevens at all. Do you remember how little Tonks turned up on him? We still don't know anything about him. I don't like this, and I don't want Matt spending time alone with him. Don't start making decisions like this without me, you agreed we would work together and discuss things." At this point, everyone starting turning away with embarrassed looks. Uncle Charlie was focused very hard on scooping out the last of the turkey's insides. But Hagrid rose up in Matt and Professor Stevens' defense.

"He wouldn't really be alone with him, would he? There's four other kids besides Matt. And it's not fair to Stevens, Ginny, he's a decent enough bloke. Good teacher, too. I wouldn't let Matt into danger, you know that."

Then Aunt Hermione entered the conversation, and Matt started to feel his heart sinking. This was supposed to be a good Christmas, with the whole family getting along. Why did Hagrid have to just blurt it out like that?

"Hagrid, I hate to say this, but you've got a rather different idea of danger than most of us do," she said, sounding apologetic. "And Ginny's right, I helped Tonks look into Stevens' background and it just doesn't feel right."

Mum nodded at Aunt Hermione, like she was thanking her. Matt could see this getting rapidly out of control. He grabbed Crash's shoulder and pulled him over to hold onto him, seeing his brother getting upset. He didn't like it when anyone was angry or sad. Matt squeezed his shoulder and gave him a little smile.

"Hold it, everybody," Dad said in a voice of firm authority. "Remus and Tonks said they trust Stevens. Remus doesn't particularly like him, because of the killings he was involved in, but they both agree that he has the students' best interests at heart. He's a good wizard, from what I hear, and he's very dedicated to his job. Whatever his past might be, he's obviously left it behind and I think we ought to let him. I can certainly trust him as far as teaching Matt and his friends how to defend themselves." He looked down at Matt with apology in his eyes. "I would be doing it myself if I wasn't so busy trying to track down the bastard who's creating the danger."

Matt smiled sadly at Dad. He understood it just fine, Dad didn't need to apologize for it. After all, learning was something you were supposed to do at school. It was up to Matt's teachers, anyway.

That seemed to be the final word on the matter, and the kitchen slowly rebuilt its happy momentum. But Mum walked out with such a sour expression that Matt never did get around to feeling hungry for Christmas dinner.

---Break---

Uncle Charlie left with Grandpa and Grandma to go to the Burrow after they'd spent a few hours chatting with Uncle Remy and Aunt Tonks. Matt played with his cousins Maggie and Jean-Luc, but his heart wasn't in it. After the Weasleys were all gone and the Lupins had gone back to Hogwarts for the night, the house felt too oppressive. Mum was really upset, and it made Sirius crabby and weepy, which made Charlotte irritable. Aunt Hermione and Jonah rounded up their kids and went to bed early. Matt tried not to think of his Christmas as totally ruined.

The next few days were a bit dreary. When Dad was home, he made an effort to spend time with them, but he was always so tired, and the times he was home were few and far between anyway. Matt suspected that Dad was just sleeping with his head on his arms at his desk sometimes, trying to avoid Mum. Mum was very grouchy. She wasn't home altogether too often, either. She was detailed to guard the Riddle house and graveyard with Colin Creevey. Matt knew that Dean Thomas and Lee Jordan were patrolling the underground ruins of the old Ministry building, and that Ernie MacMillan and Luna Lovegood were watching some old cave by the sea. There were several other locations with teams tasked to watch them. Matt had met some of them, others he'd only heard about. He rather wished he was out there with them. He'd rather be uselessly patrolling a deserted old building than stuck at home with a bunch of morose adults and quibbling kids. He missed his friends.

So when Basil sent a note asking him to spend New Year's Eve over with his family, Matt jumped at the chance. He had to talk Mum into it, but he brought her around by pointing out that the Townsends were a wizarding family and he'd be perfectly safe there. The Simpsons had decided to leave early, anyway, so his own family wasn't going to be celebrating New Year's. Mum had been very nearly convinced, then Dad came home and said Matt could go. Mum looked like she was ready to argue the whole thing over again, but instead she took Crash off to explain to him why he wasn't invited, acting snappish and making Dad chase after her to try to comfort Crash.

Matt wished he could go to Basil's right then. His stomach was in knots. He was starting to be pretty sure that his parents hated each other.