First Year, The Christmas Holidays
Friday December 24th 1971
Lily was sitting on top of one of the kitchen counters, her feet dangling off the side as she licked a spoon of leftover batter. Her mom had her back turned to Lily as she was prepping their Christmas dinner, humming softly to herself. All afternoon, Lily had helped her cut up vegetables and skin potatoes. The kitchen smelled like cinnamon, orange, cloves and the heady scent of pine needles.
`It`s a shame you`re not allowed to do your magic thing outside of school.` her mother said, mashing up the potatoes. `We might be doing this a lot more efficiently. I`m getting a sore arm from all this mashing.` she laughed.
Lily grinned. `I`m not that skilled yet mommy.` Somehow her parent had the notion that now she was going to Hogwarts, she was suddenly able to do the most advanced magic imaginable. Lily had to keep reminding them she was only in first year yet.
However, she did like how proud her parents seemed to be at her being a witch. During the car ride back from King`s Cross, they had questioned her at great length about everything she had encountered and experienced in her months away at Hogwarts. Petunia hadn`t come along with their parents to pick her up. Not that Lily had expected her to, but still she had felt disappointed. She had scanned the platform to spot the blonde head of her older sister, but no such thing came into view as the train pulled up in the station. Luckily, that initial disappointed had been drowned by her joy the see her parents again.
The reunion with Petunia at home had been strange, to state it lightly. Lily had saved her sister a couple of chocolate frogs she had bought from the trolley on the Hogwarts Express, but Petunia had just scowled and turned her back on her younger sister before marching up the stairs. The rejection had brought Lily to tears.
Thoughtfully Lily licked the back of the spoon, the sweet batter melting on her tongue.
`Does Tunie ever talk about me?` she asked. As she posed the question, she could already feel her eyes fill up with tears again and her throat closing up up.
`Oh, love.` her mother said and wiped her hands on her apron before putting a comforting arm around Lily. `Of course she does.`
`Then why won`t she talk to me. Or even look at me?` Lily said softly. `It`s like I`m just this big freak in her eyes.`
`No, she doesn`t think that.` her mother answered, pulling Lily closer and petting her hair. `She missed you just as much as your father and I have. Petunia just- Well, she just has a weird way of showing it.`
`I just don`t understand it.` Lily sighed. `Does she think me being witch is that bad?`
`I think she is still hung up about the fact that that Dumbledore fellow turned her down.`
`What?` Lily looked up at her mom with teary eyes, frowning deeply, not understanding what she was saying.
`Didn`t she tell you?` her mom replied. `After you got your letter, your sister wrote to your school to beg them to take her as well. But they wrote back that they were unable to do so.`
`Oh.` Lily swallowed. `No, I didn`t know.` She had had no idea that part of her sister`s resentment towards her had actually been envy. Of course she had considered it being the case, seeing that Sev hadn`t been able to shut up about it. But, she had thought it too preposterous, since she had always had the notion that Petunia thought all magic was something bad or freakish.
`I`ll be right back.` Lily hopped off the counter and taking deep breaths she walked up the stairs, towards her sister`s room.
There was music coming from inside the room and Lily could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she knocked on the door. There didn`t come an answer, even after she had knocked a second time. Still, Lily pushed the door open and stepped inside.
`Oh,` Petunia said. `It`s you.`
`Yeah.` Lily said, looking down at her socks on the carpet.
They fell silent and Petunia stared at her younger sister as Lily was trying to summon up the courage to say something. She didn`t want to confront Petunia with her newfound knowledge, but she did want to extend a hand in her direction.
`Are you just going to keep standing there?` Petunia answered. `God, you`re like Ruth Gordon just standing there with the tannis root. Say something!`
Lily almost laughed at this, just like Petunia to hit her with a literary reference in the heat of the moment.
`No, I- erm,` she stammered. `I just wanted to ask if you wanted to help me and mom in the kitchen. We`re baking biscuits as well.` she said hurriedly, still staring at her feet.
`Oh,` Petunia said, sounding surprised. `I- Don`t you need to hang out with that Severus boy. You`re freak school mate?` Her voice hardened.
Lily shook her head. `No, I wanted to spent time with you actually.` she said. `I mean, well yeah, if you would like that too.`
Her sister sighed deeply. `Well, ok. Fine.` she replied and stood up petulantly, although, Lily could spot the faintest glimmer of a smile flutter across her face.
As the evening bore on, Petunia seemed to soften even more and when dinner rolled around, her sister was even laughing out loud at the story Lily told about her, Mary and Marlene levitating the pumpkin out of the window on Halloween.
More than ever Lily wished Petunia also went to Hogwarts, she knew for sure her sister would be able to conjure up the best pranks to pull. And she was sure she would find James and Sirius equally as annoying as she did.
Her parents looked happy, really happy. Their faces bore beaming smiles as they looked at the two sisters giggling together over pudding and Petunia telling Lily all about a new boy in her class who kept bugging her and Lily suggesting to turn him into a toad for her.
`So, you`re telling me their photographs move!` Petunia said full of amazement.
`Not only do they move. They talk as well!` Lily replied giggling.
`You`re kidding!` her sister replied, mouth hanging open. `It`s like a constant telly!`
`I`m telling you!` Lily replied insistently. `It`s bonkers.`
`Oh, that reminds me!` their father stood up. `I think it`s time for presents!`
The four of them huddled around the Christmas tree and started unpacking gifts. Lily had knitted a scarf for Petunia and brought her more sweets from the Hogwarts Express. From her parents she got a couple of new books and a polaroid camera. Petunia also got one as well as a new dress.
The two girls squealed as they tested the cameras, snapping pictures of eachother and laughing loudly at the silly faces the other pulled.
That night, Lily and Petunia clambered into the same bed, like they had done when they had been small. It was a small bed and they were growing girls, so it took them quite a bit of shuffling about for them both to lay down comfortably. Petunia`s hair tickled her chin and Lily giggled. In the dark of the room Lily told Petunia about Marlene and Mary and how much Petunia would like them once she got the meet them.
It was well past three in the morning when the two sisters finally fell asleep, a strip of moonlight beaming in through the curtains and shining down on the pillow, illuminating one red and one blonde head of hair.
***
Saturday December 25th 1971
With a beaming smile, Mary hung Lily`s Christmas card on her side of the wall. It had come by post yesterday. On the train back to London, the redheaded girl had noted down both Marlene`s and Mary`s address. She had been very secretive about it, but it had been pretty obvious she had wanted to send them Christmas cards.
Her younger sister, Abigay, was jumping up and down on her bed, she hadn`t been able to leave Mary alone ever since the lather had returned back home. In their little London flat Mary shared a room with both her sisters, the nine year old Abi and her three year older sister Gabrielle.
`Can you magic something.` the girl said excitedly, making the bedsprings creak.
`You know I can`t.` Mary replied. `I told you already. I`m not allowed to do magic out of school.`
`Do you think I am a witch as well?` Abi went on, jumping between the three beds.
`You`ll just have to find out.` Mary replied, grinning and tackling her sister across the bed.
Abi screeched as Mary tickled her side and she tried to throw Mary off the bed. `Get off me!` her younger sister heaved laughing.
`Oh, you love me really.` Mary giggled, continuing her tickling.
Her brother, Tarone, appeared in the doorway and looked with a curious look at the two struggling girls.
`Mummy is asking if you can come and help her before the rest of the family comes.` he asked.
`Can`t Gabrielle help?` Mary asked, letting go of Abi and smoothing down her dress.
Tarone shook his head. `No, she is watching Shamar.` Shamar was their youngers sibling and still in diapers. He had grown so much in the months Mary had been at Hogwarts, that she had barely recognised him.
`Ok, then were is Jayden? Can`t he help?` Mary sighed, she didn`t feel like entering the sweltering hot kitchen.
`He`s taking Ziggy to the ER.`
`What!?` Mary stood up and marched to her younger brother. `Why is he taking Ziggy to the ER?`
Her brother started snickering.
`Tarone you better tell me real quick why Jayden is at the hospital with Ziggy!`
`He`s got a nativity figurine stuck up his nose.` Tarone answered dryly, shoulders shrugging.
`Oh my God!` Mary groaned.
`He!` Abi cried, slapping Mary across her forearm. `Mummy says you`re not allowed to use the Lord`s name in vain!`
`Oh, come on Abi. I`m a literal witch.` Mary groaned and stood up to go and help her mother.
Mary made her way across their flat, in the living room stood a plastic Christmas tree. Her parents thought it too dangerous for them to have a real one with so much kids around, she didn`t really blame them for that.
Their Christmases as a family were always the same. In the week leading up to Christmas, they would go around the neighbourhood carolling with some of the other members from their church, mostly the children and the elderly. On Christmas Eve, they would all get dressed up and attend the Midnight Mass, walking along the street as a family, clutching at their coats as the cold December wind roared. Almost immediately upon returning from Mass, her mother would start prepping Christmas dinner, sometimes not even taking to bed to rest.
They always held Christmas dinner at their house. Mary couldn`t figure out for the life of her why they held it at their flat, since it was small and it was always way too crammed with everybody stuffed into their living room, the coatrack overflowing in the hallway.
Mary sauntered into the kitchen, upon entering she was immediately met with a gush of heat. The hazy room smelled of rosemary and roasting chicken. Shortly she closed her eyes and inhaled the scent. God, she had missed her mother`s cooking. The food at Hogwarts had been good, but nothing compared to her mummy`s array of spices and above all the love and care that went into it.
`Mary! Gud.` her mother said, seeing her enter. `Get your bum over here. I need you to make the sorrel.`
`Yes mummy.` Mary answered and gave her mother a kiss on her sweaty cheek, prior to grabbing the ingredients from the cupboards.
Sorrel was the drink they made every Christmas. It was made by steeping the sorrel leaves, along with ginger and cloves, like a tea. Next, she was supposed to add sugar to taste, Mary liked to add a lot of sugar and make it extra sweet. There was always a batch of sorrel without alcohol and one to which her mother added rum. One year, they had accidently mixed up the pitchers and all the children had gotten tipsy, much to the displeasure of the adults and great hilarity of her older siblings.
There was a ringing of the doorbell, followed by footsteps and the loud chatter of voices. It was hard to decipher the individual people, but she thought she could recognise the voices of one of her aunts and uncles. It struck her that the last time she had heard that doorbell ring was the time Professor Dumbledore had appeared on her doorstep with her acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Strange how much could change in only a couple of months. Now, she could no longer imagine a life without magic, or Lily and Marlene for that matter. Mary wondered how they were spending their holidays.
`Can I stay here for a while?` Mary asked, sitting down on a chair at their kitchen table.
Her mother turned to face her, a smile on her face underneath the scarf that sat wrapped around her hair. `Yea, of course lamb.` She rubbed Mary`s head.
Mary grinned, her mother used to call her lamb when she was little. Every evening before bed she would sing her the nursery rhyme of Mary had a little lamb. Her mother using her old nickname made evident how happy she was to have Mary back home for the holidays.
Hearing the chatter from the living room, she felt relieved not to have to mingle yet. Due to the statute of secrecy she wasn`t allowed to tell her extended family about her attending Hogwarts and she wasn`t really looking forward to having to fib for the entirety of the evening when someone asked her about school. Last night, in bed, she had tried to come up with all sorts of excuses, none of them had seemed plausible enough.
`Taste.` her mother approached her with a spoonful of mannish water. `Open your mouth, tayse.`
Obediently Mary opened her mouth, she knew not to argue with her mother and tasted the soup. It was scalding hot and almost burned to roof of her mouth.
`Lekka?` her mom asked, scanning Mary`s face for a sign of approval. `Too little salt?`
`Hmm.` Mary nodded, licking her lips. `Yea, really good. Not too little salt at all.` It was hearty and salty and it made her mind flow over with happy celebratory memories.
Mary rested her head on her hands as she gazed at her mother, busy pottering around, her soft figure moulding itself to her environment. Sitting here in her kitchen, she realised how much she had missed being around her family. The every day hustle and bustle, the noise, the smells, the way the light came into their kitchen, her sisters snoring in the bed next to hers.
Fortunately, she still had a week left in London before she had to get back to Hogwarts. They had been given rather a lot of homework for over the break and Mary hadn`t yet had a moment to get herself to do it. She resolved she would do it on the train ride back, now she just wanted to soak up every minute she had with her family.
`Hold on. I`ve got something for you.` her mom suddenly spoke and wiped her hands on her apron before heading out the kitchen.
Mary sat up straighter, it wasn`t really customary for them to be getting too many Christmas presents, since it were so many of them.
Less than a minute went by until her mother entered the kitchen again and handed her a shoebox. Mary looked at it confused.
`Open it.` her mother just said, leaning against the kitchen counter with her hip.
The inside of the box was filled to the brim with pictures. Mary took one out and looked at a photograph of herself standing next to two of her cousins. The whole box was filled up with family memorabilia.
`What is this?` Mary asked confused.
`For you.` her mother replied. `To take with you to that fancy school. So you won`t forget us.`
`Thank you mummy.` Mary replied, tears brimming in her eyes.
Her mother hugged her tightly, before swatting at her with her dishtowel. `Ah, come on. You need to go and say hail to your family. Poun a fret cyah buy ounce a debt.`
Mary laughed and clutched the shoebox to her chest before heading out of the kitchen to greet her family.
***
Friday December 31st 1971
`So I says, me says, I tell the fella, didnea tell ye no guid would come from it! Ha! That was a Barry laugh I tell ye.`
Marlene was cornered by an elderly gentleman next to the table with drinks. He was standing in front of her, his voluminous robes making it impossible for her to get away. While the man kept talking, she feverishly scanned the room, hoping someone would see her distress and rescue her out of the claws of the man. However, it was no good, seeing as everybody else seemed to be having a swell time rekindling with family members or old friends.
Every year, her mom and her stepdad hosted a Hogmanay shindig, inviting almost everyone they knew. Marlene very much liked seeing her cousins and some of her more immediate relatives. Yet, every year again, she seemed to forget how incredibly extensive her family was. The man who was now talking to her could be a distant relative from her mother`s side. She knew he came from Glasgow by his accent and her mother grew up in that area. However, she wasn`t sure and he could be anybody for that matter.
`Did ye hear about the wee fella from the Black family?` the man now asked her. He had been talking to her for almost half an hour and she still didn`t know his name.
`Hm?` Marlene asked confused, now actually looking at him, intrigued by his mention of a familiar name.
`Un of the weans o` the Black family legged it, I tell ye. All the way back to Hogwarts from their manor, says I.` he repeated.
`Sirius?` Marlene responded, she had in fact not heard about this.
`Aye, that`s the one. The wee feller.`
`Oh.` Marlene said, scratching her eyebrow. `No, I didn`t know.`
While the man kept talking to her, Marlene drifted off into thought. She had known that Sirius wasn`t on good terms with his family. There had been all sorts of rumours floating around the school about the Black family, she had mostly tried to keep her nose out of it, since she sort of felt sorry for the boy. It couldn`t be easy having been placed in a different house than your whole family had been in. To defy tradition in that manner. And she was sure the people he was hanging around with weren`t the preferred company that the Black family had in mind for their son as well.
Marlene was rudely interrupted in her ponderings when the man nudged her.
`So tell me. Have ye got yerself a wee fella at Hogwarts already?` he asked, his eyes twinkling.
`I`m sorry?` Marlene asked, almost chocking on her own spit. She was twelve and this man was talking to her about boyfriends, gross.
`Ah, a bonnie lass like ye should always have a fella to fancy, aye?` the man continued and Marlene could feel her cheeks burning up.
Luckily, at that moment, there was a swishing of robes and her brother swooped in, just in time to rescue her from the conversation that was starting to take new levels of discomfort.
`I owe you.` Marlene whispered to Danny as he grabbed her by her arm and pulled her along behind him, trough the mass of partygoers.
`You looked like you were about to pass out.` Danny snickered over his shoulder. `I`ve been cornered by him on multiple occasions. He is, well let`s say, a real treat to talk to.`
`Do you know who he is?` she asked as they exited the kitchen doors and stepped onto the patio into the dark of the evening.
`I have no clue.` her brother said, shrugging his shoulders and laughing.
Some of her cousins were already lighting fireworks on the lawn and Marlene looked at the fiery colours bursting against the night sky. They were hooting loudly as the explosions reverberated against the side of the house.
A long limbed brunette girl came their way and wrapped her arms around Danny`s neck, snogging him on his cheek. She was her brother`s newest girlfriend and he had brought her down for the entirety of the holidays. Marlene couldn`t figure out why, since his girlfriend turnover was faster than the seasons. The girl was named Andrea and her brother had picked her up in Italy when he had been there with his quidditch team.
Andrea kept herself wrapped around her brother as if she was scared he might just fly away. Seeing her brother being so affectionate with his conquests made her feel sick and ever so slightly curious.
As Danny had been spending most of his time with this girl, he had been kind of neglecting Marlene since she had been home and she resented deeply him for it. She was his sister, he needed to spent time with her. And this evening, with all these people around, she whished she could have invited Mary and Lily, then she could have had a good laugh at least.
All bad things aside, she had been elated to be back home. To have her own room, her own magazines, her own broom and back yard. Christmas had been lovely, it had snowed all day and afterwards she had been allowed to fly over the snowy hills on her broom, looking at the utterly gorgeous scenery and soaring over the frozen loch.
The McKinnon family lived in a little village just south of Loch Lomond in Scotland. Their house was nestled in the hills, which made it a perfect spot for them to go unnoticed by muggles. Most of the village was made up by magical families, so they were able to be more lenient with containing their magic. Since they were so close to the Loch, in the summer Marlene was able to head down towards the bay and take a little rowboat out on the water.
`So, Marlene,` Andrea rolled the r as she pronounced her name. `Are you having fun?`
Marlene had a hard time not rolling her eyes, Andrea kept treating her like she was a little kid and talking down on her like one. It annoyed her greatly. If the doe eyed girl hadn`t intimidated her so much, she might have had a better comeback, now she just shrugged and mumbled, `Aye, it`s alright.`
Leaving her brother and his companion she stomped away and sat herself down on a bench on the side of the lawn, staring at her cousins tinkering with the rather dangerous fireworks. Sulkily she buried her chin in her jumper and gnawed on the neck.
`Oi, make room.`
Marlene looked up surprised to see her brother and she scooted to the side.
`He,` Danny nudged her with his elbow. `I`m sorry all right? I know I haven`t been paying too much attention to you the last few days.`
`No, you haven`t.` Marlene bit back. She felt angry, but she already could feel her resentment towards her brother soften. Marlene wasn`t one to hold grudges.
`How about I make it up to you?`
At this Marlene`s eyes lit up and she turned sideways to face her brother on the damp bench, the air from her mouth making clouds in the freezing cold.
`We`ll take the brooms and look at the fireworks from above when the clock strikes twelve, alright?` Danny said.
`Don`t you need to snog your girlfriend entering when the bells ring?` Marlene replied scorning and huffing air out of her nose.
`Eh, she`ll live.` Danny shrugged and Marlene snickered.
The two siblings snuck back inside the house and got their brooms out of the cupboard under the stairs. As they headed out the door, Marlene saw their mother coming their way and the both of them quickly threw their brooms out of sight. She felt rather certain her mother wouldn`t like her flying between the fireworks.
`Are you two joining us in the living room?` her mother asked. `It`s almost midnight. We`ve started singing already.`
`Aye.` Danny said.
`Yes, mammy.` Marlene murmured, trying hard to stifle her laughter in her throat.
Through the doors, out of the living room, the singing of Auld Lang Syne was audible. It was only a matter of minutes before the bells would ring, Marlene and Danny would need to make haste. It was a minor salute to traditional Celtic magic, but important none the less.
As soon as their mother was out of sight, they sprinted out the backdoor, brooms underneath their arms. They mounted them and pushed off on the ground, up into the air. They were just in time to hear the celebratory cheers from down on the lawn. Soon, the fireworks really erupted and the air was filled with noise and colour.
Danny grinned at her widely as they flew loops, higher and higher above the sparkling commotion.
///