The rest of November passed, and they were coming upon Thanksgiving. Horned Serpent had beat Wampus at Quadpot the weekend after Pukwudgie had won their Quidditch game. Lily and Julia both were invited to Franklin ranch, and James was invited to Jasmine's home. That kind of surprised Lily, but whatever.

Lily and her friends were still maintaining the top spots in the school for their year. Timothy and Anthony were becoming close as good male friends. Lily was glad that Anthony had a male friend to confide in amongst their group.

The Tuesday that they were to leave on Thanksgiving break, Lily and Timothy were sitting by the lake, chatting. The train was to leave in an hour, and they were already packed.

Timothy said, "I do not want to go home. I hate the chaos that is Thanksgiving that happens at my house."

Lily said, "It can't be that bad."

Timothy laughed. He said, "It is. My mother's family does not like my father and vice versa. Despite the hatred between the two families, my parents insist every year that they get together at the same place and have dinner together. I think they hope that one day they will get along."

Lily said, "I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe they will."

Timothy replied, "I'm honestly not holding my breath."

Lily laughed. Timothy was a fun friend. Eventually they stood up and walked back to their respective dorms to pick up their luggage and head the main building for the carts. At the main building, the 7 of them split into two carts and they rode the short distance to the train station. Once on the train, they rode in the same compartment.

They all talked about their plans for the holiday. Julia was quiet. It was to be her first holiday without her family. She hoped that Wanda and Irene were okay. Their parents had become vicious towards any accidental magic that they had shown and had not wanted Julia to return home for the holidays, hence why she was coming with Lily to Franklin ranch.

Lily watched her friend stare out the window. Julia had been doing so well over the year, getting over her homesickness. Now, this year she had to deal with her parents not wanting her.

Renee said, "It'll be so good to be home. Julia, we have horses and some spectacular views."

Julia nodded. She had seen Lily's pictures that she had taken the previous summer. The ranch was beautiful according to the pictures, which she was sure didn't do it justice.

A little while later, they arrived in Boston. Lily, Julia, and Renee met up with her mother, Victoria and Emily who got to her before them. Henry soon showed up. Victoria took out the portkey, and they were soon at Franklin ranch. Renee led Lily and Julia to their rooms.

Lily said, "Did your parents add more rooms?"

Renee said, "Yeppers. We figured that between Emily and me, we would have plenty of guests, so instead of having people bunk together. So, they had some magical builders come and build another wing to the house for guests."

Lily smiled. Her room was done in Horned Serpent colors: Turquoise with the trim in gold. Lily turned to Renee. Renee said, "This will be your room anytime you want to stay here. The other rooms are in neutral colors, but your family, so you get your room painted. If you don't like the colors, we can have mom change it."

Lily said, "Maybe a little lighter in the blue?"

Renee nodded. They had just finished unpacking when a shout came from downstairs.

"Julia, Renee, and Lily! Get down here!"
Renee looked at Lily and Julia. She didn't like that tone. Something was wrong. They quickly went downstairs and saw an official man standing there in front of Victoria.

Renee said, "Mom? What is going on?"

Victoria turned to her daughter and she had tears in her eyes. The man looked at the three children. He said, "Which of you are Julia Donaldson?"

Julia stepped forward. The man said, "I'm sorry, Ms. Donaldson, but I'm going to have to take you into children services."

Lily said, "What on earth for? She's here under the protection of the Murphy family."

Victoria said, "I don't see why she can't remain here until the situation is resolved. She is familiar with us."

The man said, "I can allow that."

The man soon left. Julia turned to Victoria.

Victoria said, "Let's go into the living room. Trinity!"
"Yes, mistress?"
"Some drinks and snacks in the living room please."

Trinity popped away. In the living room, they all sat down. Lily, Renee, and Julia sat down on the sofa. Victoria sat down opposite them. Trinity popped in with a tray and then left again.

Victoria took a deep breath. She said, "There is no easy way to put this, Julia. Your parents told MACUSA that they wanted nothing more to do with magic. Your sisters' magic will be bound, but they can't do that to you, because you have already started your schooling. At the moment your sisters are in the custody of children services at MACUSA in Atlanta. However, they did sign over all rights to you to the government."

Julia broke down.

Victoria said, "I'll talk to Allen and Victor over this. We could take custody of you until you finish your schooling and pay for it."

Julia nodded. She soon went to her room. Lily sighed.

The next day, Lily and Renee got Julia up onto one of the horses. They knew that being on a horse would help her out. Victoria stayed at the ranch to do baking and Emily helped her. They took a leisurely ride around the ranch.

Julia said, "I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm sure your parents will be more than willing to take custody of me, but its just so frustrating. I won't ever be able to see Wanda or Irene again, or even Jonas."

Renee said, "We'll get it straightened out, Julia."

That evening, Victor, Catherine, Allen, Victoria, Renee, Lily, Emily, Henry, and Julia were sitting at the dinner table. Victor said, "Julia, I'm really sorry about what your parents have done to you. Its never easy to have something like this happen. I've checked with my friends in the MACUSA and the only option is for us to either take custody of you until you come of age or adopt you into our family. Either way, you are more than welcome here."

Julia looked down at her plate.

Catherine said, "Julia, here's what I think we should do. We take guardianship of you, and then later, if you wish to be adopted by us, we can do that."

Julia nodded. She couldn't risk speaking.

After supper, Julia, Lily, and Renee retired to Julia's room. Julia said looking at her clothes, "I need so much."

Renee said, "Mom will take you shopping this weekend to get you what you need. And welcome to the family."

Julia smiled.

The next day, they had Thanksgiving dinner with the local family. The rest of the family had other things to do. They had decided to forego the shopping on Friday as they knew the mall would be packed.

When Lily woke up on Friday, she mirrors called her father.

Harry said, "Lily! How is it going?"

Lily said, "Its going good. Dinner last night was fantastic, but Victoria's cooking always is."

Harry chuckled. He said, "So, other than wanting to see my handsome face, what going on?"

Lily sighed and told her what happened on Wednesday with Julia.

Harry said, "You said her grandmother was related to someone over here?"

Lily said, "I think she said the Abbotts, but I'm not sure."

Harry said, "I understand. That was last year. Just be a good friend. I'm glad Allen and Victoria are taking over guardianship of her. I would hate to see her in the system."

Lily said, "I understand father. If they hadn't, I was going to call you and see if you would honestly."

Harry smiled. He said, "I probably would have. So, what's on your agenda today?"
Lily said, "I'm just going to be doing my homework. Tomorrow we're all going shopping. Julia needs a whole new wardrobe for when she is in Texas. All she has is what's in her wardrobe at school and her suitcase here."

Harry said, "Her parents didn't even send her clothes to her? That is a low blow."

Lily nodded and continued, "They are even having their other two daughters' magic bound. I didn't even think that was possible."

Harry said, "If a non-magical parent refuses to let their child study magic, it is."

Lily replied, "Some people are just…."

Harry said, "I know, Lily. Aunt Petunia was the same way, but she's coming around. Especially since Iris, Jasmine, and Ivy are magical."

Lily soon got off with her father. She opened her homework planner to her assignments for the week and decided to work on her French translation. Lily got about halfway through when another house-elf popped in and told her lunch was ready. Lily thanked the elf and marked her translation page before heading to the dining room.

Renee and Julia were talking about stuff they had done that morning in the barns. Lily was a little put out.

Renee said, "Hey book lover, finally decided to come and join the rest of us?"

Lily slid into her chair and grabbed a couple of sandwiches. Not once did her friends ask her to join them in doing anything today. That was why she spent the morning in her room, working on her homework. She stayed quiet as she ate, and after eating went out onto the porch.

Renee looked at Julia with a raised eyebrow. Julia shrugged her shoulders. They had thought that since Lily had said that she wanted to work on her homework today, she wouldn't be interested in joining them.

Out on the porch, Lily sat in the hammock. It was a cool day which was alright with her. She had hated it here in the summer when it was so hot. Lily had wanted to learn how to work on the ranch, but everyone seemed rebuffed at the idea. She didn't understand it. Lily knew it wasn't because she was a girl, Renee and Emily did their fair share. Was it because she didn't grow up on a ranch?

Lily went to the barn and found a horse. She smiled. The horse came up to her. Lily rubbed the nose. She said, "Hey there feller. I just don't know what to do. There are times I love it here, but I can only do so much without being taught, but they won't teach me the harder things."

The horse snorted as if he understood her. Lily smiled.

Victoria had come in after going for a ride around the ranch and checking in with the hands. She stopped when she heard Lily talking to one of the horses. She grew concerned. Allen and she had agreed that they wouldn't let Lily learn the harder aspects of ranch life. They had thought that maybe teaching to at least clean out the stalls, water and feed the horses, but that would come in the summer when she would come visit before school started.

Lily finished petting the horse and turned. She jumped when she saw Victoria standing there. Lily blushed.

Victoria said, "I'll talk to you, but first I need to get Holy unsaddled and in a stall. I'll come to your room."

Lily nodded. She ran out of the barn. Half hour later, a knock came at Lily's door. Lily wiped her eyes, and opened the door. There stood Victoria.

Victoria stepped in and shut the door. She then put up a silencing charm. She took the chair at the desk as Lily sat down on the edge of the bed.

Lily said, "How much did you hear?"

Victoria said, "Almost all of it. I understand your frustration, Lily. I do. We were going to teach you the basic stuff, but didn't want to do it with such a short span of time. Allen and I were going to talk to your parents about having you learn in the summer when you come over at the beginning of August for the two weeks before school started."

Lily said, "I understand. Its just I spent time in my room this morning doing my homework because I thought Julia and Renee was doing the same. Then, when lunch came, I find out they spent the morning working in the barn. It hurt."

Victoria said, "I can understand that. Had you known that, you could've at least kept them company."

Lily replied nodding, "That's what I thought once I heard it."

At that there came another knock at the door. Victoria stood up and removed the silencing charm, and opened the door. There stood Renee and Julia. Victoria said, "I'll leave you three girls to talk while I go and find what Emily has been up to."

Victoria left closing the door behind her.