QLFC Round 11 – I Open At The Close
Cannons, Beater One;
Fic must start and end with the same word.
(setting) Greengrass Estate.
Optional Prompts;
8. (word) bounce
10. (quote) 'Green is not a creative colour' – DHMIS
AN: Before y'all start reading, in my headcanon Draco and Astoria have a daughter as well who I've included in this fic. Just thought I'd mention it so you don't get to the bit where she gets mentioned and be like "who the flip is that?"
Thanks so much to Tiggs for betaing for me. You deserve an endless supply of chocolate.
Anyway, enjoy some Christmassy goodness in September.
A Very Greengrass Christmas
"Wake up! Wake up! Santa's been!"
Daphne groggily opened her eyes to her children climbing onto the bed and starting to bounce up and down, large socks full of presents in their hands. When she found an old Muggle book in her library and read about Santa, Daphne had decided it would be a nice Christmas tradition to bring her children up with. Little had she known the terror of having her children wake her up at 5:30 in the morning to open the presents.
"Elias, Evelyn, calm down. It's half past five in the morning," Daphne said, her head still clouded with sleep.
She felt a kiss on her forehead and looked up to see Theo standing over her, a mug of coffee in his hand.
"I thought you might need this," he said with a laugh, putting the coffee down on her nightstand.
"You didn't have to do that," she told him, dragging herself into a sitting position.
"I know, but I wanted to. You're my wife."
When Elias and Evelyn noticed that Daphne was sitting up, they stopped bouncing and made themselves comfortable at the end of the bed. Theo handed them both cups of orange juice from a tray floating by the side of the bed that Daphne hadn't previously noticed.
She leant over the side of the bed and pulled up her own stocking that Theo had filled with presents and watched as he climbed back into bed and pulled his own stocking up. They had decided to do stockings for each other every year after the first year of doing them for the children, figuring that they should be able to join in on the fun as well.
"Okay, shall we all open our presents together?" Daphne asked. The children nodded. "On my count: one, two, three!"
All four of them pulled a present out of their stockings and began tearing the paper off, followed quickly by the next present. Soon, the bed was covered in scrunched up wrapping paper and everyone had smiles on their faces as they admired their new things. The children had mostly received small toys and sweets while Theo and Daphne had gotten each other smaller, everyday presents that they didn't think special enough to be a Christmas present.
"Shall we go and have breakfast then?" Daphne asked as she waved her wand over the discarded wrapping paper, making it disappear. "Elias," Daphne added as her children started gathering up their presents, "no stealing your sister's toys."
Elias dug through his pile of toys and handed a model broomstick to Evelyn who took it with a satisfied smile on her face.
"Saffy," Daphne called.
Seconds later the room was filled with a loud crack and a house elf appeared at the end of the bed.
"Yes, Mistress?"
"Saffy, could you prepare some breakfast for the four of us? We'll be eating in the lounge today."
"Of course, Mistress," Saffy said, bowing low before Disapparating with another loud crack.
Daphne pulled her dressing gown tighter as she entered the lounge, closely followed by Theo. Elias and Evelyn, who had run ahead, were already being served breakfast by Saffy.
It was a Greengrass tradition that breakfast on Christmas morning consisted of smoked salmon and a glass or two of champagne. Since Daphne had inherited and moved into the Greengrass Estate when she and Theo got married, she felt it was only right to carry the tradition on herself. Over the years it had grown considerably and breakfast now consisted of a spread of various breads, meats and cheeses, but there at the centre was a bottle of champagne and a tray of smoked salmon.
She walked over to the table and picked up the bottle of champagne, popped the cork (something she had always enjoyed doing herself, even if it was easier to use magic), and started pouring it into four glasses—two full ones for her and Theo, two mixed with orange juice for Elias and Evelyn.
Once the drinks were poured and breakfast was served, Daphne lifted her glass in a toast and, after prompting the children, everyone followed suit.
"This is the first year we'll be celebrating Christmas without my mother and I want it to be a happy one in her memory. Astoria and Draco are coming over later with Ara, and Scorpius might be joining them. I know you don't get on with Ara much." Daphne looked over at Evelyn as she spoke. "But please try to play nicely with her this year."
"Yes, Mum," Evelyn replied, but the look on her face told everyone in the room that she wouldn't be trying too hard.
"Thank you. Anyway, Merry Christmas!"
Daphne clinked her glass against the others' before taking a drink. Elias took a large gulp of his, trying to show off, but ended up coughing it back up again.
"That's disgusting!" he shouted.
"I like it," Evelyn said, sticking her tongue out at Elias before taking another sip.
"Evelyn, be nice to your brother. He's allowed to not like it—you're only seven and it is a drink for adults," Theo said, moving over to where Elias was kneeling on the floor and clearing up the spilt liquid.
"Can we open our presents yet?" Elias asked once he was dry.
"Not yet. We need to wait for Auntie Astoria and Uncle Draco to get here. We're all having Christmas together this year, remember?" Daphne looked at the clock. "They should be here soon. Come on, let's go and get you two dressed."
"Astoria, you look beautiful!" Daphne exclaimed, greeting Astoria as she stepped out from the fireplace.
Astoria was wearing a floor-length, figure-hugging, red dress that showed a little more cleavage than Daphne thought needed for a family Christmas, but she decided that wasn't any of her business so kept her mouth shut on the subject.
"Thank you. Draco gave me the dress last night as an early Christmas present and I just had to wear it today."
That explains it, Daphne thought. She was very glad she'd chosen not to mention anything about the dress before.
Daphne felt a tug on her own dress—a silver piece adorned with glitter and an asymmetric hem she'd bought specifically for Christmas Day—and looked down to see Evelyn, hands clutched tightly onto the striped scarf wrapped around her neck that she'd received in her stocking.
"Can we open our presents now Auntie Stori's here?"
"Go and pick a present out from under the tree for each of us and we'll come through to open them by the time you're done, okay?"
Evelyn nodded and scurried out of the room.
"I miss them being that age," Astoria said wistfully. "It hasn't been the same since Scorpius and Ara started Hogwarts."
"I'll bet. Where are the two of them?"
"Ara forgot to wrap her Christmas presents so she'll be over when she's done. Scorpius is spending Christmas with the Potters."
"Of course, he is. He and Albus have been inseparable since they started school. How's Draco taking it?"
"Draco is taking it just fine," Draco said from behind Daphne, making her jump. She hadn't noticed him come through the fireplace. "I don't have to see Potter himself, so it doesn't bother me."
Daphne laughed. "Of course. Shall we?" She nodded towards the lounge and the three of them made their way to where Evelyn, Elias and Theo were waiting.
"Drinks?" Theo asked as they entered the room.
"White wine for me," Astoria answered.
"Whisky," Draco said.
As Theo set about fetching the drinks, Astoria added the presents she'd brought with her to the collection at the base of the Christmas Tree, and Evelyn handed out presents to everyone from the pile she'd gathered beside her.
Once everyone had taken their seats, Astoria held her glass of wine up in the air.
"A toast," she started. "To a wonderful family Christmas."
Draco raised his whisky glass. "To Christmas."
Everyone chorused "Merry Christmas" and before they could start talking again, Elias and Evelyn both shouted, "Presents!"
"Okay, okay," Daphne laughed. "On my count. One, two… three!"
They all ripped into their presents. Daphne's jaw dropped as she opened the box hers was in. Lying on a soft velvet pillow was the most magnificent gold necklace she had ever seen.
"Oh, Theo," she said, her voice catching and a tear in her eye. "It's beautiful."
Theo planted a kiss on her cheek. "I saw you looking at the one we walked past in London a couple of months ago. I was planning on getting that one but when I went back it had been sold. I hoped this one would be just as good."
"It's better," she said, a smile plastered across her face.
Daphne was shocked out of her almost trance as a flash went off. Draco was holding his brand new camera, a sheepish grin on his face as he waited for the picture to print.
She was just about to scold him for taking a picture of her when she was on the verge of tears when she heard a loud thud from across the room. Evelyn was in a sulk with her newly opened Christmas-themed crafts book on the floor in front of her.
"What's wrong, honey?" she asked, instantly going into protective mother mode.
"My present's lame!" Evelyn cried, kicking it across the floor.
Daphne sighed and shook her head a little. "What's wrong with it?"
"It's meant to be creative, but all the glitter is green. What am I meant to do with green glitter? Green is not a creative colour. It's a boring colour, just like blue. Why couldn't it be a fun colour like purple? Or red, like Auntie Stori's dress!"
Daphne choked back a laugh, desperately trying not to hurt her daughter's feelings.
"Green is definitely a creative colour. You're just not thinking hard enough." Daphne walked over and sat down next to Evelyn. "You're a very creative person, aren't you?"
Evelyn nodded. "Yes."
"Exactly, so green has to be a creative colour because you're part green."
"I'm what?" Evelyn asked. She held her hands out in front of her to inspect them.
"Not on the outside, but inside. My last name used to be Greengrass before I married your dad. It's the colour of the house I was in at school, and we got to do all sorts of creative things there. It may not seem like it at first, but there's lots you can do with the colour green."
Daphne smiled at Evelyn, but it was clear she'd stopped listening a long time ago. She was sat with three tubes of green glitter in her hands trying to wrestle the lids of all of them at once.
"Evelyn, stop! It's going to go everywhere. Open them one at a time," Daphne told her daughter, but she was still paying no attention and seconds later the room was covered in a cloud of green glitter.
"That's why I told you to stop," Daphne muttered, but nobody was paying attention.
"You're right!" Evelyn said a moment later, inspecting her arms once again. "Green is a good colour. Look at how pretty it made me."
"Very pretty, but you can't open presents covered in glitter. You need to change."
Evelyn let out a dramatic sigh making the adults laugh.
"Fine," she said before standing and marching out of the room, leaving a trail of bright green glitter in her wake.
Word Count: 1,914 (gdocs)
AN: As you might be able to tell, I'm getting into the Christmas spirit a little bit early this year. I was tempted to put my Christmas playlist on while I wrote, but even I think it's a little too early for Christmas music and I flipping love Christmas.
This is actually based on my own Christmas as I (still, even at 21) get a stocking each year and go into my mum's room to open it with her and my step-dad when I get up in the morning and we have champagne and smoked salmon sandwiches for breakfast before opening any of our presents.
This is for:
September Back to School Event;
(word) breakfast
(object) striped scarf
Greek Mythology Category Competition;
Leto – Write about a mother
Pokemon Trading Card – Elgyem;
(creature) House Elf
Social Media Competition;
Snap Story – Write a scene that is based on something that happened to you in real life.
Gringotts Prompt Bank;
Various Prompts: How I Met Your Mother – (object) a bottle of champagne, (object) a glass of white wine, (object) a glass of whisky, (action) giving a toast, (object) a red dress, (expression) satisfied smile
Various Prompts: Myths and Legends – (colour) red
Various Prompts: CSI: New York – (jewellery) gold necklace, (object) camera, (colour) red, (colour) green.
Various Prompts: Free! – (word) lame, (dialogue) "That's why I told you to stop."