Onto Christmas!
The first of many, we have some very meaningful moments, classic stories, and some regularly reused Christmas plots.
Let's go.
—0—
Winter had come swiftly over the weeks at the preserve. Snow had begun to fall and was piling up nicely upon the ground. Everything was pointing towards a white christmas.
Scortwit slowly pulled a small sled filled with firewood from the edge of the forest, stopping only once to heat up his hands and look out over the snow covered field. While it was only mid December, the man's mind was already plotting out which sections of the field would be used for what.
Scortwit mainly grew herbs and spring greens. The fields had been all grass by the time Merlot moved in. While he was tempted to plant some different plants, corn or maybe even squash, he knew that the girl would only see it flower before going to Hogwarts.
His fall crop had always been grapes.
Not that he needed the plants, he made enough off of the dragon preserve to live happily. He just wished he had a bit more fresh produce to feed his adopted daughter.
Scortwit rubbed his hands together swiftly and grabbed the rope of the sled, pulling it toward the dragon lodge once more.
Inside the abode, Charlie scrubbed soot from the inside of their brick oven. Merlot had fallen ill two nights prior, and he wasn't about to let some clogged up brickwork make her condition worse.
Merlot herself was currently bundled up in a warm blanket, sitting in front of the small fire. Her cheeks were a bright red as she sniffled her nose, looking at the cheery flames.
Charlie would rather have no holiday than see her be miserable. He had seen the look in her eyes from when she first met them slowly return as the sickness made her mind turn.
"I want to go outside…"
Charlie gave a sad smile as he wiped soot from his nose. "You can't. You're much too sick."
"But-"
"I know… we'll go outside when you're feeling better, okay?"
Merlot nodded, her eyes dull. Charlie hated seeing her eyes like that.
"Hey. I got something for you."
Merlot blinked as Charlie walked over and sat down next to her. The young man handed her a wooden soldier, with a red uniform painted on. The toy was a bit scratched, worn down from use over the years.
"A nutcracker…"
"You know the story, don't you?" Charlie smiled.
Merlot nodded her head. "I remember Petunia reading it one night. I wished that I was real, and that the nutcracker would come and save me from the cupboard under the stairs… Although, I was still a boy then."
Charlie ruffled the girl's hair. "Everyone needs some help sometimes. You want some soup?"
Merlot nodded and Charlie stood up. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Do you want crackers, or bread?"
"Bread please…"
Charlie nodded and stepped back into the kitchen, rolling up his sleeves as he got to work. He prepared the soup broth and chopped up carrots, adding noodles to the mix just as Scortwit got back to the dragon lodge.
"Charlie. Making soup?"
The redhead nodded. "For Merlot."
"Is she feeling any better?" Scortwit asked.
"It's hard to tell. She keeps asking to go outside."
Scortwit sighed. "Of course, the one thing that would be detrimental to her health. Where is she now?"
"Still on the couch." Charlie nodded. "I gave her the nutcracker already."
"That old thing? Been around for forever…" The man chuckled as he walked into the lounge. "Aw… she's asleep."
"Really?" Charlie blinked. "Darn… well, i made enough to go around, so we'll set a bowl aside for her."
"Good idea. Pass me a bowl, will you Charlie-boy?"
The redhead nodded and passed a bowl of steaming soup to Scortwit, who began eating it happily. As Charlie served himself a bowl, Scortwit tossed a log onto the fire. The two ate their soup and chatted about the holiday. Charlie talked about his family, and how he had sent them some gifts this year. Scortwit talked about how he had plans for the following day, he had promised a friend a drink and was keen on making sure he kept his word.
Neither of them noticed the slight glimmer in the air, nor did they realize their eyes were beginning to close after they finished their dinner. The fire burned down to coals as they both fell asleep.
—0—
Moments ticked by, hours passed. Merlot began to toss and turn upon the couch, before her eyes shot open at exactly midnight.
The girl felt something odd in the air, a hint of foreign magic that made her body tingle. It was as if tiny flakes of snow were falling upon her skin, but they were warm instead of cold, delivering hundreds of thousands of tiny kisses to every part of her body.
Merlot was snapped from her reverie as she heard tiny squeaks, accompanied by the scrabble of claws. The girl's head snapped upward and looked around in the dark, searching for whatever made the noise.
The clink of silverware dropping caused her to look towards the kitchen, where she could see the tip of something pink wiggling in the doorway. Merlot quietly slipped out from under her blankets and crept to the doorway, holding back a gasp at what she saw.
It was a horrible creature. It was as big as a man, but had a rats tail, legs, head, and fur. A crooked gold crown with bits and pieces of food sat loosely on its head, rocking about as they rummaged through the silverware drawer, throwing some of Scortwits more dull kitchenware to its feet, which had seven toes each.
"Shinies… mes wants my shinies…"
Merlot's nose turned at the nasally voice and she reached for her wand, only to find that it wasn't there. That was right… Scortwit and Charlie had said no magic while she was sick, so she had left it in her room that day.
Merlot looked behind her and saw both Scortwit and Charlie asleep on the couch. Her attention was drawn back to the rat thing as it giggled with glee, clutching the contents of the silverware drawer in one hand.
'Oh no you don't you little-'
Merlot let out a hiss as she went to use some simple parselflames on the rat creature, but that hiss turned into a quiet grunt of pain. Unfortunately for Merlot, the rat thing heard her.
"I has been founds! Girly sees me taking shinies! Must keep quiet!"
Merlot opened her mouth to scream, but her voice was gone from her sickness. The rat thing hopped forward and put a hand over her mouth, grabbing her by the waist and dragging her towards the door.
"Must takes you back… back with the shinies, yes yes."
Merlot thrashed against the things grip, but it was no use. She was much too weak. Her strikes became weaker and her movements slower as she was dragged outside, into the cold. The girl focused her mind on staying warm, and while the creature was disgusting, it still gave off warmth.
The girl curled up as the rat thing adjusted its grip, carrying her close as it stalked away from the dragon lodge.
She woke up in a cave filled with spoons. The sight was honestly quite maddening, seeing the hundreds upon hundreds of dining implements piled high upon the stony floor of a cave. Yet, the cave itself was warm, warm enough that several plants grew upon the walls, despite the cold snow that blew around outside.
The rat creature sat by a makeshift fire, nibbling on a stolen end of bread.
'I need to escape…'
Merlot weakly tried to stand, which caught the rat things attention.
"No, no get up. You stay here, with my shinies, with my treasures!"
Merlot shook her head and coughed, before collapsing back upon the floor of the cave.
"Sick too. No go. Rat king heal sick."
"Rat king?"
"Yes! Rat king." The creature smiled. "I rat king, I heal your sick. You stay with my shinies, you be mouse queen."
Merlot shook her head and tried to stand once more, only to fall again. The rat king hopped over to her and put a hand to her forehead.
"Burning head… need Rosemary, Ginger root."
Merlot watched as the rat king hopped around the cave, picking things off of the cavern walls. It lodged the leaves between two stones and ground them back and forth before scooping the green paste it made from the surfaces of each stone.
"Peppermint and thyme, good for cough. Chew."
Merlot gagged as the bitter mixture was forced into her mouth. Her throat burned as she slowly chewed the herbal paste. "Urg… that was horrid…"
The rat man hopped back to the fire and picked up a bowl of water that had begun to steam. "Made when wes returned to home. Ginger tea, honey. Helps with burning head."
Merlot looked at the bowl of tea. It smelled nice enough. She took it with a nod and took a sip as the rat thing watched expectantly.
"Good?"
Merlot blinked, before nodding. "Yes… good. Thank you."
The rat thing smiled and hopped back to his fire cheerily. Merlot observed him as he took a chestnut and placed it on a spoon. The rat thing held the spoon out over the fire, allowing the flames to lick the sides of the chestnut.
The creature yelped as the nut popped, falling off of the spoon as he scrambled away. It gave a huff and tossed the now partially melted spoon onto his pile of 'shinies'.
"You'd be better off using a pan, you know."
The creature blinked at Merlot. "Pan?"
"Erm… big shiny, sometimes not shiny though. Made of metal."
"No. Must use shiny, make nuts taste better."
Merlot nodded as the creature held up another spoon and attempted to roast another chestnut, only for the same thing to happen again.
Merlot giggled at the rat king's reaction and shook her head. "You could also crack them open before you roast them. They wouldn't pop like that."
The rat king looked at a chestnut and tried pinching it between his fingers. With no luck cracking the nut open, he tried smacking it on the cave floor. "No… too hard."
Merlot blinked. This was too much to be true. The girl looked to see that the nutcracker that Charlie had given her was tucked into the waist of her pajamas.
"You could try this." The girl said, holding up the wooden soldier.
The rat kings eyes bugged out and he scrabbled back against the cave wall. "No. Bad jacket man. Bad man hurt!"
A king rat that was afraid of an old nutcracker? This was actually gold.
"It's okay." Merlot smiled. "Watch."
The girl picked up a chestnut that was next to her and placed it in the nutcracker's mouth, before punching down the sword arm of the toy, causing the nut's hard exterior to crack open.
"Here." Merlot smiled. The rat king blinked and slowly crept up to the girl. He took the chestnut before scrambling back, keeping his eyes on the nutcracker the whole time.
"Good… man crack open nut?"
Merlot nodded and held the nutcracker up to the rat king. "Here. Do you want to give it a try?"
The rat king slowly crept up to the nutcracker and placed the chestnut he had into its mouth. Merlot pushed down the sword arm of the toy, cracking the nut open, much to the awe of the rat king.
"Man crack open nut! Man not bad, man nice!"
Merlot giggled as the creature took the toy and began wiggling the sword arm. After a few minutes of his playing, he began cracking open the chestnuts with the toy, before putting them next to the fire to be heated up.
"Mouse queen nice. Mouse queen make man and rat king friends." The creature said. "Mouse queen be good queen and nice friend, stay with rat king forever!"
Merlot smiled sadly. "But mr rat king, I have family, and they will miss me if I am gone. And I will miss them, it will make me very sad."
"Sad? Oh…" The creature looked down. It was silent as he turned the chestnuts over so they could cook evenly at the fireside. Merlot watched him sadly, he did seem like a nice fellow, despite his appearance and strange obsession with shiny spoons. And the tea he had given her was already starting to alleviate her headache.
The rat king scampered over to her with a handful of chestnuts, his nose twitching as he held them out to her. "I want mouse queen to stay, but… mouse queen be sad without friends." The creature blinked. "Eat nuts with rat king, then rat king take you home."
Merlot blinked, before taking the chestnuts and nibbling on one. Although they were just cooked by the fireside, they were still quite well done. The nutty flavor warmed her body as the rat king nibbled on his own winter treat.
"You know, you need a name." Merlot smiled.
"Name? But I is rat king, rat king is king."
"Yes, you are the rat king. But what about the last rat king? And the one before him? They all had names, didn't they?"
The creature shrugged. "Heard of king named Reepicheep. Was very skilled with a needle."
"Reepicheep? Hm…" Merlot nodded. "How about Despereaux?"
"Des-pir-oo?"
"Almost." Merlot giggled. "Despereaux. It's the name of a brave mouse from one of my favorite stories."
"But… that mouse name. I am rat."
"And I am the mouse queen. I give you mouse name."
"Oh." The rat king nodded. "Okay. Is nice name."
Merlot smiled. "Good. Rat king Despereaux. The bravest and most gentle mouse, who made friends with the man and the mouse queen."
"Yes!" The rat king puffed up his chest. "I am brave rat king! Des-pir-oo!"
Merlot giggled and looked out into the snow. "Still… I don't want to leave you too. You're very nice."
"But, you said you be sad without friends." The rat king blinked.
"I will… and they will miss me too. But you'll be lonely here, with nobody." Merlot frowned.
The rat king nodded. "Maybe… but no! I have man friend." He held up the nutcracker. "He be with me."
Merlot blinked. "Are you sure?"
Despereaux gave what Merlot thought was a smile, showing off his front rodent teeth. "Yes. Man be friend now, i not lonely."
"Okay." Merlot nodded. "It was really nice meeting you Despereaux."
"Nice meeting mouse queen too. You visit in the cold days?"
"I can try." Merlot smiled. "Can you help me back home?"
The rat king nodded and helped Merlot to her feet, wrapping her in a blanket made of woven grass that was quite soft.
They walked out into the snow, across a small plain of white and into a thicket of pine trees. The rat king led them left, then right, and then left again.
As the trees began thinning out, a roar sounded from overhead. Despereaux stiffened. "Night flyer."
Merlot blinked. "No, it's okay Despereaux. They not hurt you."
The roar sounded again, closer this time. The rat king began shaking. "No. Am afraid."
"You're okay Despereaux. You're okay."
A blast of fire lit up the trees in front of them, causing the rat king to squeak in fear, before scampering off into the night.
"DESPEREAUX!" Merlot yelled, chasing after him. The wind blew strongly, kicking up the snow that was all over the ground. "DESEREAUX! WHERE ARE YOU?"
She couldn't remember the way back to the rat kings cave. The wind blew stronger and took the grass blanket from Merlot's shoulders.
"NO!"
Something bumped into Merlot's back, knocking her to the ground. As the cold enveloped her, Merlot felt her eyes closing, but not before she caught a glimpse of a tattered red coat.
—0—
"Merlot…"
"Wake up Merlot."
The girls eyes fluttered open to see Charlie, sitting beside her on the couch. "Charlie?"
"Hey there, did you have a good sleep?" The young man asked.
"I feel… better…" Merlot blinked.
"Hm…" Charlie hummed, putting his hand to her forehead. "Your fever's gone."
Merlot blinked as the young man stood up and walked into the kitchen, before coming back with a cup of tea.
"Still, we can't take chances. You should rest for today, It's Christmas anyway."
"DID SOMEBODY SAY CHRISTMAS?"
Merlot jumped as Scortwit bounded into the room, carrying a pile of wrapped parcels in his arms. "Merry Christmas Merlot! You've got some presents to open!"
"Presents?" Merlot blinked.
"Of course! You didn't think it would be like when you lived in that cupboard, did you? Come on, even good ol' Coppy sent you a gift."
Merlot blinked, taking a present that Scortwit handed to her. Inside was a silver hairpin, which was crafted to look like a small sword.
Merry Christmas Scortling. Make sure your caretaker doesn't get into too much trouble.
"Aw, he does have a heart." Scortwit chuckled as Merlot handed him the note.
"I got something for you Merlot, wanna open it?"
"But you already gave me-"
"The nutcracker? It's a tradition." Scortwit smiled. "Always passed down to the youngest on their first Christmas here. I gave it to Charlie last year."
Merlot nodded and took the package that Charlie handed her. Inside was a scarf made of beautiful black cloth.
"I thought it would match your broom well. You'll need one for flying in the winter." Charlie nodded. "There's a pair of goggles as well."
Scortwit nodded at the goggles. "That's a nice pair. Amber lenses?"
"Emerald. Had a friend put in a request at Gringotts."
"And by a friend, you mean your brother." Scortwit smiled. "That means your mother knows we're one extra, doesn't it."
The redhead chuckled. "Well she did send an extra sweater this year. I'm not sure how she figured out the perfect color for Merlot. Emerald green?"
"It suits her." Scortwit nodded, as Charlie handed the girl a sweater.
"It's from my mom. Means you're part of the family." The young man explained.
The rest of the morning went on like that, opening presents and chatting about the people who sent them. Merlot told Charlie to look up in her room for their gifts, which were an earring shaped like a broomstick for Charlie, and a hand made pipe for Scortwit.
"I heard you talking about your earrings all being the same Charlie, and I saw that Scortwits pipe was getting low."
It was true. The man enjoyed puffing on the pipe when he read mail, and since it was used regularly, he had to snap down the stem of the pipe every so often because of resin buildup.
"It's perfect. Thank you Merlot."
"I'm definitely wearing this all the time!" Charlie exclaimed.
The gift opening eventually reached its end, and both Scortwit and Charlie went to the kitchen to prepare the holiday dinner.
"If you're feeling better Merlot, try to get up and move around." Charlie suggested.
"I will. Even if I can't go out and play in the snow, can I at least go look? I want to see how pretty it looks."
"As long as you bundle up nice, you can go look outside."
Merlot grinned and hopped up from the couch. The girl quickly pulled on a heavy cloak and walked out the front door.
It was a beautiful day out, not a cloud in the sky. Merlots breath hung on the air as she looked over the snow covered trees at the edge of the forest. A few footprints and sled tracks were present on the ground, going to and from the lodge.
As the girl turned to walk back into the house, a bit of red caught her eye.
At the side of the door sat a bundled up red coat, with a note on top.
I found this funny little one on your property, he was not the one i wanted, and since he kept on talking about 'The black haired mouse queen' I figured I would return him to you. Happy Yuletide.
R.
Merlot blinked and looked down at the coat. The fabric wriggled a little bit, and a small head popped out of the coatsleeve.
"Despereaux?"
The rat looked up at Merlot and blinked. With a smile, she stooped down and picked the creature up. Sure enough, it had seven toes on its back feet.
"Interesting. So I take it this R.J. Lupin found a way for us to be together."
The rat wiggled its head in a nod, before climbing up Merlots arm and settling on her shoulder.
"Queen! Queen!"
Merlot giggled. "Let's get you inside. You must be freezing! Oh my, did he put the nutcracker with you?"
The rat gave an excited squeak as Merlot picked up the toy from the folds of the bundled coat. A few chestnuts sat beside it, waiting to be cracked open.
"Well isn't this a funny little bit of magic." Merlot smiled. "Come on Despereaux, how about we crack open these nuts inside?"
The girl walked back into the lodge and closed the door behind her. The red coat on the ground floated up and fanned itself out, before disappearing floating over to the edge of the woods, where a disheveled man caught it and put it back on.
"What an interesting girl. I'm glad I didn't have to kill her friend." The man smiled, drawing his wand. With a crack, he disappeared from the dragon preserve.
Back in the lodge, Merlot giggled as she fed Despereaux chestnuts.
"Where did that thing come from?"
"Despereaux? I met him yesterday. He's very nice." Merlot smiled.
Scortwit sighed. "Well, I figured it would be time to get you a familiar. We'll take him to get checked out by Gringotts, make sure he's healthy."
"Scortwit!" Charlie called from the kitchen. "Where are all of our spoons?"
Merlot giggled as the man went back into the kitchen. "You really took all of them?"
Despereaux didn't say anything. He just sat on Merlot's lap, eating the chestnuts happily. The girl smiled and pet the rats head gently with one finger.
"Happy yuletide Despereaux."
"Queen… Queen!"
"Did it just call you a queen?" Charlie blinked, walking open with another cup of tea.
"Maybe, what if he did?"
"Nothing. Just think it's funny that a little girl, a rat that calls you queen, and a nutcracker are all in the same place."
Merlot smiled. "Really? I don't think it's that funny at all."
—0—
And there's christmas! I really wanted this to be about Merlot's first familiar.
I know, I know. "WHAT ABOUT HEDWIG?"
Relax. Hedwig will be here soon enough.
I hope you enjoyed. As always, leave a review. And until next time,
Adios