Chapter 6: Christmas

Time had gone on, with Kit, Kyla, Daphne, and Sally creating chaos wherever they went. And soon, it was time for Christmas. Kit and Kyla were both going home for the Christmas Holidays, as were Daphne and Sally.

The twins were thrilled. Their dad was coming home. He had been in Iraq for a long time, and he was home for the Christmas holiday.

As they got on the train, they noticed that Hermione was sitting with Ron, Harry, and Neville and Kit tried to remember how that had happened.

All she really knew was that they had been caught coming inside after hours on Halloween, and that Ron was crying. Hermione never spoke of what happened, but they overheard Ron complaining about the giant spiders that were in the woods and about how they were insane to allow them to live in the woods, but whatever.

After the very long train ride, the twins practically bounced off of the train and through the barrier into Muggle London. They looked around, Kyla calmer than Kit, and their gaze landed on a tall man with dark brown hair and hazel eyes.

He was wearing a Military Uniform.

Kit and Kyla grinned and ran to the man, "DADDY!" They both shouted as they tackled him.

Peter Mathers laughed and scooped the eleven year old twins up into his arms and spun them around.

After they calmed down a small bit, he set them back onto the ground and smiled over them. "Have you been behaving?"

"Of course," Kit said indignantly, "We have been perfect little angels."

"Really?" Peter said stunned, "Then you must not be my girls. Maybe I should go back and find them."

"Daddy," Kyla laughed as she hugged him tighter. Peter smiled and began to usher them to the car.

He drove for about thirty minutes, to a small town called King's Walden, and he let the girls get out. Kit and Kyla ran into the house, and over to their mother, who looked slightly dismayed at how hyper the two girls seemed to be.

"…Did you stop and get them coffee or something?" Lyre asked her husband as she slammed her hands on her hips.

"An espresso," Peter said cheerfully, "And a cappuccino," his smile broadened as watched his children run around the house after the dog.

"What?" Lyre asked aghast. "Why would you do that? What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I haven't seen my daughters in months, and they deserved a gift." Peter said brightly.

"It is almost Christmas," Lyre ground out, "There is no reason for them to be wired all night."

"Lighten up mum," Kit said as she darted into the kitchen, "One would think that you didn't love us or something."

"Kit…"

"Or that you wish we were never born,"

"Kyla…"

"Maybe she does wish that she never had us."

"That would make life much simpler for her."

"It would." Kit was silent, "Mind you, we already knew that she favored Lucia."

"Hey," Lyre interrupted as they began to banter back and forth. "Tell me about your friends."

"There is Sally-Anne Perks," Kyla said with a light grin, "She's muggleborn and a Hufflepuff. She's nice, I like her."

"And there's Daphne Greengrass," Kit continued, "She's a Slytherin, but she's cool. I like her."

"They get on really well," Kyla said, "Like sisters born to separate mothers."

"You and Sally get on really well," Kit argued. "That's not really fair."

"Hey, hey," Peter said as he walked over to the girls, "Get ready for bed. We're visiting Grandma Phyllis tomorrow."

Kit and Kyla both paled, they disliked spending time with their old fashioned grandmother, and their grandmother loathed spending time with the hot tempered and wild acting twins.

Kyla was the one who dragged her even more displeased twin out of the room and up the stairs to the room that they shared.

Their room was the second largest in the house. The walls were light green, and the floor was covered by a thick white carpet. There were two beds, twin beds, one was covered in a dark red bed spread and the other was covered by a dark blue bed spread. The red one was Kit's, and the blue one was Kyla's.

"I can't believe this," Kit muttered as she pulled on her pajamas, "How are we supposed to spend an entire day with that woman without losing our minds?"

Kyla shook her head, "Get some sleep; tomorrow is going to be a long, painful, day." Kit nodded and flopped into her bed and quickly fell asleep. Kyla was asleep soon after.

The next day, Lyre went and woke up her children and told them to get dressed in their nicest clothes. Grandma Phyllis hated it when they wore torn and worn clothes. And then she told them that she had bought them some dresses and it would behoove them to wear the dresses.

The twins sighed in unison but pulled on the dresses that their mother bought. They were identical in every way. They were black velvet dresses that reached their knees. They were both wearing white tights and patent leather shoes.

Kit's hair was tied back in a white headband, as was Kyla's. Both slightly pissed off at the idea of having to be dressed like they were all day. Lucia was wearing a white velvet dress with black leather shoes and a black headband. She looked less than pleased with her outfit.

But then, Grandmother Phyllis was worse with Lucia then even the twins, because Lucia was a Squib, and Granny Phyllis was the kind of woman who though that the magic just needed to be scared out of her. Actually, if it wasn't for Kit, Lucia would probably be dead with all of the stuff that their grandmother did to her.

"Oh…You all look so lovely," Lyre said brightly as she took in her children's outfits.

"Mum, how long are we going to be at Granny's house?" Kit asked.

"A couple of hours," Lyre said, "We'll be having Christmas Dinner tonight and then presents tomorrow." She then nodded and hurried out to the car. They never flooed to Grandmother Phyllis' house, it was rude.

As soon as they arrived at the house, they knew that the day was going to be a whole lot worse than originally thought. Their grandmother was standing outside of the house, wearing a stately red robe, giving all of the people who stepped out of the car a disdainful look.

"Is that the best that you could do, Lyre?" The woman asked as she sniffed at the outfits that the girls were wearing. "They look like ragamuffins."

"Gee, thanks Gran, really." Kit muttered as she glowered through dark brown eyes at the older woman.

Kyla stomped on her foot and jerked her head slightly, the meaning was clear. Essentially she was telling her twin to shut the hell up before she got everyone in trouble. Kit rolled her eyes but fell silent.

And the unhappy group trudged into the manor and took their seats in the uncomfortable living area, where they were expected to have small talk for the next four hours.

Four Hours later

"Oh thank Merlin," Kit said as she kicked her shiny shoes off into the corner of the room. She shed her dress and pulled on a loose tee shirt and a pair of jeans and pulled her hair into a ponytail.

"I thought that she would never let us go," Kyla agreed, "And poor Lucia."

"I know," Kit agreed, "I never thought that Gran would actually poison her right in front of mum. Though I think it's safe to say that we won't be going back to her house anytime soon."

Kyla nodded and they both bounced down the stairs into the living room. Lucia was lying on the couch, asleep, and their mother was hovering over her.

The twins knew better than to be loud and obnoxious while their sister was still so sick, so they crept into the kitchen where their father was making their dinner.

"Hey girls," Peter said as they walked into the room, "I'm making dinner, you want to help?"

"What do you need us to do?" Kyla asked; she had always loved cooking, whereas Kit could burn water.

"Kyla get over here and help make the stuffing," Peter ordered, "Kit, would you go and get a book and read it to us?"

Kit nodded and walked out of the room and to the bookshelf that was in the den. She scanned the shelf and found her favorite book, she pulled it down and walked back into the kitchen and took a seat in one of the chairs and began to read.

"Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy…" Kit started to read. It was only one hour later, when dinner had been finished, did Kit place the book back into the bookshelf and sat down, with the rest of her family to eat dinner.

The next day, Kit and Kyla were wide awake as soon as the sun had risen. They woke Lucia and their parents and dragged them into the Living room where they would open their presents.

Kit, Kyla, and Lucia tore into their gifts with an enthusiasm of children half of their ages.

Kit got a pendant from her parents. It was gold, in the shape of a teardrop, and had a garnet set in the middle of the pendant. From her twin she got a tee shirt that had a lion on the front, and a stuffed crow. Lucia gave her a book on color changing spells. From her cousins and aunts and uncles she got money and books. Her favorite came from Uncle Christopher; it was a white kitten that was named Trouble.

Kyla got a matching pendent from her parents. It was white gold, in the shape of a teardrop with a sapphire in the center. She got a notebook from Kit, that never ran out of pages, and a stuffed Hawk. Lucia gave her a book on advanced potions. And she got money from all of her aunts and uncles. Uncle Chris gave her a black kitten that was named Dilemma.

All in all, they had a rather good Christmas, and they spent the rest of the day playing with their new pets and reading their books.

It wasn't any surprise when Lucia woke up the next morning with hot pink hair and green spots.

Or the morning after, when they realized that Trouble and Dilemma were not white and black like they were before, but rather indigo and teal.

On the third day, Lyre woke to find out that the living room had been turned neon yellow over night. She was so glad that they were returning the school the next day.

The morning before they returned to school, Kit turned Lucia lavender. Her mother screamed herself hoarse when she found out.