Chilverton Elms was bustling with holiday excitement as the extended family from my mother's side, the Fassbinders and the Brownes, appeared in the parlour with beer, wine, and wrapped presents.

My mother embraced her sisters, Aunts Ema and Edeline before pressing kisses to the cheeks of Uncles Charles and Sebastian, respectively. My father did the same in reverse order. Then they turned their attentions to Klaus, Anna and I. After some sloppy kisses and bone-crushing hugs, the three of us moved towards the dining table.

"Where are Mina and Clovis?" Mum asked of her sisters as she surveyed our cousins.

"Mina's at her friend's Christmas party," Aunt Ema said. "The boy she fancies is supposed to be there, and you know how teenage girls are," she added, her eyes flicking towards me.

Aunt Edeline smiled, "Clovis chose to spend the holidays at Hogwarts."

"No matter," my mum said cheerily.

Klaus was the first to crack open a bottle of beer, followed by Maximillian and Uncle Friedrich as they swarmed around the box of bottles on the table. I gladly accepted the glass Uncle Charles shoved into my hands, insisting that drinking wasn't just a men's sport. I rolled my eyes and knocked back a few glasses in the span of two hours.

Mattias, the oldest of Aunt Edeline and Uncle Sebastian, kept eyeing my near empty glass that sat on the coffee table next to me as we played a game of Exploding Snap.

I glanced towards the adults of the room. They were gathered around the piano and laughing about some joke Uncle Friedrich had just shared. He was fifteen, and for Merlin's sake was part of a German family. I saw no harm in it.

"You want some then?"

Matthias' eyes widened, "Er-"

I offered him the glass, "Finish it off and I'll go get more."

He snatched it and gave a triumphant smirk towards his two younger siblings, Adelaide and Sterling, before knocking back the last gulp.

"Whoa, easy there," I said laughing as he pushed the now empty glass into my lap.

He gave me a thumbs up.

I rolled my eyes, throwing down my cards as I stood to go refill my glass.

As I was about to open another bottle, Klaus tapped his own with his wand. "Can I have everyone's attention please?" he bellowed dramatically.

The room quieted down.

"Anna and I have an announcement to make," he said, warmly smiling at his wife as he wrapped an arm around Anna's waist and pulled her to him.

My brows furrowed, turning my gaze to my parents briefly who looked just as confused as I felt.

"Klaus and I are pregnant," Anna said softly, lovingly looking up at my brother.

Such a sweet moment. I had to fight back my gag reflex.

After a shocked silence, the room exploded with congratulatory sentiments and applause. I smiled weakly as Klaus looked in my direction, something within me dropping to the floor and my mood immediately changing. "Congrats," I mouthed as I half-heartedly raised the beer bottle towards the happy couple.

I sighed, pressing my forehead against the cool windowpane and watching the flurries fall from the sky. I could see the reflection of my family behind me as they loudly sang "Stille Nacht" out of tune.

I wasn't in a celebratory mood, despite the warm atmosphere of Chilverton Elms. With all that had happened in the past month, it didn't feel like Christmas at all. From the return to England, the Quidditch fiasco, Oliver's proposal...

Honestly, what had he been thinking?

Probably something along the lines of, "Oh, Rue would be accepting and still loves me, so I should probably just propose to her."

No, absolutely not, Mr Wood.

Uncle Friedrich clapped me on the back, bringing me quite suddenly back to reality.

"Rüdiger!" he boomed.

"Yes, Uncle?" I asked, not turning away from the window.

"Join the festivities! Christmas 1999- there's plenty to be happy about!"

I huffed. Why was everyone in my family so damn happy when they were drunk?

"Look, I'm sorry but I'm just not in the mood," I said, turning to look up at him.

He sat on the bench beside me, as if my depressed state sobered him up. I chalked it up to Uncle-y Concern.

"Rue, what's got you all bothered?"

"Nothing," I hummed, turning away again.

He raised an eyebrow. "Ach du lieber, it's that Oliver fellow, isn't it? Do I need to go after him, alte Socke?"

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. "No, you really don't. It's just-"

"Klaus, the good man, told me what happened."

"Wha-"

"The... proposal," he said in a low voice.

Klaus... I slid my eyes over to my brother who was talking animatedly with Maximillian and Molly. I'm certain one eye twitched out of irritation.

"I would've done the same thing," Uncle Friedrich said firmly.

"Yeah?"

"Ja," he said with a wink.

"And what would you be doing right now, then?"

"Probably moping," he shrugged. "Can't be sure, though. I'd make a terrible woman. I have the emotional capacity of a rock!"

Uncle Friedrich paused thoughtfully, taking a sip from his boot-shaped glass, "Zwar weiß ich viel, doch möchte ich mehr wissen..."

"Mmm," I hummed, "knew more about what, though?"

"Love," Uncle Friedrich said softly.

I turned to look at him, "Really? You wish you knew more about love?"

He shrugged.

"Mister Happy Bachelor himself? Love?" I snorted. "I find that very hard to believe."

"I'm not saying I want to get married to the first thing with tits," he said bluntly, laughing. "I just think it might be nice to know."

"What do you mean?" I asked softly, turning to face him again.

"Well, seems to me he still loves you, yeah? He told you so, didn't he?"

"Yes," I said slowly.

"And," he held up a finger, "don't take offense, but I would be willing to wager that you still care for him too. You wouldn't have gone out of your way to make him jealous otherwise, knowing you. And that didn't really turn out as you were expecting, either."

"What I'm saying is, if I've learned anything over the years, it's that things happen when they happen for a reason. Now wasn't the time to accept a proposal. It's too soon; the wounds still hurt, no?"

I nodded, soaking in my uncle's infinite wisdom, even in his drunken state.

"Now, I don't know anything about love personally, but I do know that he loves you. And you, whether you admit it or not, do or will feel the same. I would think you should give yourself time to collect your thoughts and what have you. But when you've got yourself all sorted out, you go back to him. He isn't going to wait forever, but he hasn't shut you out just yet."

"Right," I said softly, staring into my lap.

"Alright," he stood. "I will leave you to wallow in your self-pity. Cheer up," he said, gently nudging my shoulder.

I sighed, turning to stare out the window again.

The reasonable voice in my head said that he was right, maybe I did still love him. But the embittered part of me shot back that Uncle Friedrich even admitted he knew nothing of love, so there was no reason to listen to him and his completely barmy theories.

I wasn't ready to love anyone just yet, and that was that.

I was such a cynic.

"Rue-Rue," Klaus sang, "it's time for presents! C'mon, join us!"

I dragged myself from the window seat to join our cousins in the present exchange.

The wee small hours of the morning saw the extended family's departure. Not long after that, Uncle Friedrich returned to The Moorings, and Klaus and Anna returned to their home in Temple Ewell. My parents retired for the evening, bidding me good night as I sat quietly on the sofa. Silence had settled over Chilverton Elms as I quietly snuck into my father's study and rummaged through the drawers to pull out the heavy, old key to the archives.

It had been weighing on my mind all evening, since Klaus and Anna had announced their happy news, and I wondered if the future, my future, had at all changed. Perhaps the old book had been wrong. Yes, Oliver had proposed, but I certainly had not said yes.

The heavy door gave way as I pushed my body against it. "Lumos maxima," I whispered, the light at the tip of my wand flooding the room. The book, unsurprisingly, remained exactly where I had left it on the table. Untouched, undisturbed. I hesitated a moment before shutting the wooden door behind me and slowly moving towards the chair.

I placed my wand and the key on top of the table as I settled, taking a deep breath before opening the thick and ancient tome.

The binding cracked.

The family motto glared up at me as I looked down at the first page, and my uncle's voice floating into my mind. Love.

I slowly leafed through the pages until I came to the last page of the family tree. My eyes immediately went to my name at the bottom of the page.

Sure enough, the blue line remained, delicately connecting Rüdiger Von Straussburg to Oliver Wood.

I stared at it for a long time, turning the silver ring between my fingers.

Finally, I shook my head and closed the book, grabbing my wand and the key before retreating upstairs to my bedroom and collapsing on my bed. I was exhausted.

I am so sorry for the wait. I hope to have another chapter up today or tomorrow. School has been just a little bit overwhelming- I'll try not to suck as an author from now on. Some of you may recognize a bit of this chapter, and I'm sorry I made you reread it. Hoped it was still to your liking! If you would, scoot on over to Blackened Silver's Black Frost for some SiriusOC goodness. As always, Jo Rowling owns the HP Universe and I would be extremely honored/motivated if you left a review! Yours.