Chapter Seventeen: Christmas

It was almost like old times when Dad popped into the bar the next day, back from Hogwarts. Although I had seen him just the day before, I acted as excited as I would be even if I hadn't. After a strident but entertaining dinner together in the bar with our customers, my family and I retired to our beds, eager for Christmas Eve the following day.

This was our first family-oriented Christmas since before moving to London. The pub was closed for the week and we spent the holiday in our flat, rather than on a regular day when we'd be walking back and forth between the first floor and our private quarters. Mum had enchanted the Christmas tree that was set up by the bar to levitate on its own up to our living room. Eleanor, in particular, took much glee in the tree, having no strong memory of our artificial but elaborate Christmas tree back in Godric's Hollow.

December 24th consisted of sleeping in late – a privilege I had not experienced in quite some time – and eating Mum's banana pancakes for breakfast. In the early evening, all five of us spilled out into Diagon Alley to join in on the Christmas caroling and joy-filled entertainment. I carried my camera with me as we explored the festivities, snapping pictures of my family and the singing throngs of decorative goblins. Dad bought a miniature bucket of roasted chestnuts for Frankie, Eleanor, and I to share as we walked. As my siblings and I eagerly strolled ahead of Mum and Dad, pointing out lit up shop windows and yet another ornamentally-dressed goblin, our parents lingered behind, holding hands and simply enjoying the other's company.

The employees at Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions had assembled a projector in the store and playing on it was a Muggle Christmas movie. "It's a Wonderful Life," one of the workers, dressed in red and green robes, announced as we came inside. "It's a classic American film – my dad's a Muggle and loves it."

I was captivated by the moving picture, immediately reminded of the animated figures in the photographs that developed from my camera. Only the film was just like the Fat Lady's portrait back at school; sound came from the grainy-looking people's mouths. They told a story with both surrounding scenery and the other figures. It was like nothing I had ever seen before.

When noticing my immersion in the film, Mum smiled and let Dad and the others leave for home – it was getting late, and Eleanor was already falling asleep in Dad's arms. Together, my mother and I joined several others on the cushioned rug of the shop, watching the rest of It's a Wonderful Life. The movie would be one of the few I'd ever see, but to this day is still my favorite. It's a love story, a drama, a tale that tells about time, family, and how everyone makes a difference. Of course, I was too young at the time to know this, but after more viewings in the following years, the message caught on.

It was past midnight when the film finally ended. I turned away from the screen to find Mum stretched out on the floor in a light sleep. My cheeks slightly flushing, I shook her awake as the other viewers began to stand up to stretch and leave.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Allie…" Mum scrambled to her feet after feeling my touch. "I've just been so busy lately and didn't get much sleep last night…" Dark circles were evident underneath her eyes and she was blinking rapidly to stay awake. "Well, then, shall we head on home?"

Glancing away from her face, I nodded, her wan image quickly fading in my mind.


Christmas Day that year was just what Christmases should always be. We were woken up at half past seven by an impatient Eleanor and fell victims to her pleas that we begin opening presents right then. After converging by the tree and doing just so, Mum disappeared into the kitchen and emerged with a tray filled with mugs of hot chocolate. After drinking merrily and wearing the new life out of our presents, Frankie, Eleanor, and I set forth to help our parents cook breakfast, as a thank you for the gifts.

The following hours after breakfast were wonderfully lazy; we explored our other gifts and simply spent time with each other, which during that year was a rarity. Around noon, Dad and Frankie went into Diagon Alley together to purchase a ham for our dinner. Eleanor and I then helped Mum prepare the dessert, a glorious bread pudding. We finally tucked into a late supper around eight o'clock, eating the pudding right after we finished.

The following day brought forth the arrival of Liana, Luna, and her twins – Mr. Lovegood, Rolf, and Michael had all gone away on an expedition together. Lorcan and Lysander were now nearly nine months old and had mastered the art of crawling since I last saw them. I couldn't help but smile when Luna proudly watched her boys creep along the floor and announced whimsically, "They began crawling at the same time, you know. I never thought they would."

Liana appeared somewhat differently than when I said good-bye to her in September. Her hair was more polished than its usual flyaway state, and there was a certain shimmer to her cheekbones. She wore ordinary jeans and a sweater, but along with her luggage she had brought along a silk cloak that was part of the Beauxbatons uniform.

"It's real silk, Alice." She held out the cape for me to touch and I doubtfully brushed my fingers against it.

"Um…it's nice."

"You ought to see my roommate Jillian in hers," Liana stated tersely. "She looks like a real supermodel."

Wickedly, I wonder if this Jillian had replaced me as Liana's best friend. All I had heard about since her arrival were Beauxbatons and her new, sophisticated French friends.

But I soon found her spirit and personality to be unchanged. When we went into my bedroom to talk some more, she eagerly went into a conversation about Arthur and Molly Weasley's teeming gnome garden and how Rolf was set on finding Nargles on the expedition he was on. Immediately, my shoulders relaxed and I began smiling more naturally. The same old Liana was still here.

I spent the following several days reconnecting with her, and together we played with the twins and entertained them. Lorcan, of course, didn't recognize me from his earlier months of life, while his brother Lysander still seemed to tense up around me. Ultimately, Lorcan became accustomed to my presence and I found myself loving him as much as I had before.

On December 29th, with Lorcan and Lysander dozing off on the blanket next to us, Liana and I were sprawled out on the floor. I was to tell her all that had happened so far at Hogwarts. When I told her about seeing Michael in his first Quidditch game, she made a great show of rolling her eyes.

"Oh, that." She seemed bored with the topic of her brother, yet continued on. "You should have heard him on Christmas, Alice – all he could talk about was that stupid match. Why, I bet he didn't even do much in it, right?"

She was actually correct, but inside, I didn't feel like granting her the glee of being right. I only shrugged artlessly. "Honestly, I don't remember."

Liana smirked, rolling onto her stomach. "I bet all he did was fly around the pitch, thinking that he was so cool…"

This dry, sardonic humor of Liana's was new to me. However, I unexpectedly found her even more congenial this way. We all had to leave behind our naiveté of childhood behind one day, and for Liana, that time arrived for her before it did for me.

James and his family came over on January 1st, 2017. Liana and I had been permitted to stay up till midnight the evening before, and we spent the entire day blinking back winks of sleep. By the time my parents and James's went down to the bar for lunch, with our younger siblings playing together throughout the building, Liana had returned to my bedroom for a nap. Luna sat in the living room entertaining her babies. Having nothing better to do, I joined Luna on the sofa, Lorcan and Lysander resting nearby in their travel cots.

"They're so big, Luna," I stated to her with the manner of an affectionate big sister. "They're almost a year old already."

Luna nodded with a proud mother's glow. "Babies do grow quickly, Alice. I remember when you were born. You were nearly a young lady by the time you were five months old!"

Eventually, Luna asked me to look over the boys when she went downstairs for a bite to eat. She palpably was intending to only be away for a short time, because no babies at any age should be left alone with an eleven-year-old girl. But I relished in this time with Lorcan and Lysander, squeezing their delicate fingers tenderly as they drifted in and out of slumber.

James then appeared from behind me. Upon hearing his footsteps, I jumped, not knowing that he had been in the apartment at all. "Oh, hi. I didn't know anyone else besides Liana was up here."

"I was just getting the broomstick Dad gave me for Christmas." He held up the long item that was clutched in his hands. "Frankie wanted to see it."

I observed the broom, which shone with the glow of new, incandescent cherry wood. The bristles were impeccably even and a light, attractive yellow color. "It's beautiful!"

"I know." James almost seemed smug when looking down at his new plaything. "It's a Nimbus 3000, actually. It's only been for sale for three months."

"Cool." I turned my attention back to the twins. "Can you believe how old these two are already? I still remember when they were born."

James wrinkled his nose at me. "Alice, you're the one who sounds old now. You're acting like they're your own kids."

"I think it'd be lovely to have kids, James Potter," I shot back at him humorously. "You don't think so?"

He seemed to be mulling over his answer, then finally replied, "Yeah, I guess so. Maybe it's nice…but do you really want to know what it's like now?"

"No!" I tossed a sofa cushion at him. "Of course not!"

James only laughed, dodging the pillow as it soared through the air. Twirling his broom in his hand, he headed out the door, and I was left with the Scamander twins once again.


Luna and the Scamanders left for home on January 3rd, and Dad Apparated back to Hogwarts the subsequent day. I would return to school on the sixth of January, but had repacked my trunk by the second. I was truly impatient and keyed up to go back to Hogwarts, knowing that I'd see Matt again, and would have another chance to try and resolve conflicts with Laura. On the Hogwarts Express ride back to school, James and I sat with Fred Weasley and Arria Jordan, sharing with each other our Christmas experiences.

James and Fred had spent December 25th with their grandparents and extended family at the Burrow, as usual. Upon hearing their evocative tales of the day, I was almost covetous, comparing my unpretentious holiday to theirs. But Arria then shared her story of a simple Christmas spent only with her parents and little sister – I immediately felt more comfortable with my occurrence, but was still a tad green-eyed.

We all quickly got back into the swing of things when term started up again. Matt spoke nothing of his holidays taking place at school, although I stayed intent on the reason of him staying at school, while Laura continued to avoid us, seeming perfectly satisfied with her new solitude.

January passed by swiftly with no plight. I became a regular in the overstuffed armchair by the fireplace in the common room – anywhere else in the castle was promised to be drafty and cold. That chair was a major condolence on chilly winter nights when I was in no mood to do homework or socialize.

The weather was so dreadfully frigid towards the end of the month that Herbology classes had to be administered in an unused classroom on the first floor. Every day, Dad had to lug the plants he'd need for a class through the snowy outdoors and into the castle – many times, he would have to take second trips back to the greenhouses. James, Matt, and I happened to be walking to breakfast together one morning when he came out of his provisional classroom and asked us if we would help him bring some plants from the greenhouse over to the school. With him being my father, we couldn't decline. Instead of warming ourselves with hot pumpkin juice and delectable pancakes in the Great Hall, we were traipsing through the snow that morning, dragging along with us pots of puffapods and dragon dung compost.

The cold became tenuous at the start of February; it was without a doubt not as bad as the weather of the previous month. Along with the warmer weather, the teachers seemed to become more lenient, assigning less work and granting us more free time in class to complete any other obligations. For a diminutive period, it seemed that things were becoming better than ever. But out of the blue, the worst happening possible occurred…


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