Joyeux Noël
"It's Christmas!" Screamed Harry as he jumped into Ron's bed, squeezing him in the process.
"Christmas is tomorrow Harry! Go back to bed."Mumbled the boy, just wanting to sleep longer.
"Not in this house. So get ready, we have so many things to prepare for tonight!" Explained Harry before running across the hall.
Harry rushed to his sister's room, hoping to wake her up but she was nowhere to be found. So he went downstairs where his mother and father were starting to cook their share of the Christmas dinner. He could smell the buttercream for the log, the fresh oysters and the platter of cheese they had bought for the occasion.
"Bonjour maman. Est-ce que je pourrais lécher la cuillère de crème au beurre ?" Asked the boy, sparkles in his eyes.
*Morning mom. Can I lick the batter on the spoon?*
"Bonjour lapin. Oui tu pourras mais pas pour le petit déjeuner. Tu peux te faire des tartines beurre et carré de chocolat si tu veux. Tout est déjà sur la table." Answered his mom while continuing to cook the dessert.
*Morning love. Yes you can but not for breakfast. You can have toast with butter and chocolate. Everything is already on the table.*
"Merci man'. Papa besoin d'aide?" He asked the boy to his father as he exited the kitchen.
*Thanks mom. Dad, need help?*
"Tout va bien ici pour l'instant ici. Vas manger." Ordered the father.
Everything is good for now. Have breakfast.
Harry listened to his father and arrived in the dining room where his sister was eating her toasts half asleep.
"Morning." Said Lorelei with a tired voice.
"Morning."he answered quickly. His twin was never a morning person, unlike him so he knew better than bombarding her with questions in the morning.
"Ron's still sleeping." Wondered Lorelei, after for the last few days she hadn't seen much apart. Even if she didn't like that
"Yep. Tried to wake him up." He admitted while eating his first bite of breakfast.
"I think he's up." Explained Rory, pointing at the corridor. " I hear stomping on the stairs and Venus is a very quiet cat."
She was right a few minutes later Ronald Weasley was sitting next to Rhys, wolfing down his cereal bowl.
"So what's the program today, since it's Christmas." Asked the boy, his mouth still full and still confused about his friend celebrating on the 24.
"Help my parents with the cooking, eating a light lunch…" started Harry
"And being mentally prepared to spend three hours at the table eating." Finished Lorelei.
"You sound like Fred and George when you do that." Happily said Ron with a smile.
"Well you haven't screamed at me since you arrived here so I feel less inclined to storm out or to not talk to Rhys." Explained the girl.
"Lorelei Cornelia Juniper La Guivre! Be nice!" Shouted her father.
"Promis papa!" Said the girl apologetically.
"One of your middle names is Juniper." Notes Ron.
"Yours is Billius it's no better." Harry defended his sister with a big grin. At those words everyone started laughing. It was the first time those three had a real happy conversation during the holidays or the school year.
The La Guivre plus Ron just parked at the other side of the village, the boot filled with goodies for the party.
"We're the last one to arrive." Realized Harry, spotting their uncle's old orange beetle and a brand new black BMW Z1.
"The main character is always late, dear brother." Answered Lorelei confident.
"Well main character or not, you will all help me with transporting the food." Reminded them Margot with a stern look.
The children listened to her and took the dishes out of the boot with precautions, not wanting to have them fall. As they approached the porch of the old house Tyran opened the door for them.
"Joyeux Noël! Merry Christmas Ron!" Said the boy with a merry expression.
"Good evening Ty!" Answered Harry and Lorelei at the same time. Which made Ty giggle.
"You finally stopped your little quarrel?" Guessed the Gryffindor correctly.
"Hello Tyran. Is everyone in already?" Wondered Mr. La Guivre, as he entered the house.
"Yep." He confirmed. "Do come on in!" He encouraged the little group. "Mom won't heat the whole neighborhood." He giggled while they executed the 'order'.
As soon as Harry had set foot inside a little boy with glasses ran towards him and hugged him.
"Missed you Rhys," said the boy, his head under Harry's stomach.
"Missed you too Vince." Admitted the blonde. "Ron this is my cousin Vincent Prince. Vince, would you like to meet my friend?" He offered to the younger boy who nodded under Harry's skin. He then looked up and observed the ginger.
"Hi I'm Ron, nice to meet you." Said the boy softly.
"Nicetomeetyou." Mumbled Vincent as he stopped hugging Harry. "Wanna play NES with Apollo and I before dinner?" Offered the boy.
"What about me!" Complained Lorelei who felt out by her cousin.
"You're too bad at video games." Explained Vincent, sticking his tongue out at the girl.
"You can still hug me, you know!" She offered.
"Ok, I missed you," said the boy with a half convinced tone hugging Lorelei.
"Now, come on children, put the food in the kitchen before dinner starts." Explained Mrs. La Guivre.
After putting everything wherever they could in the kitchen the twins and Ron ran towards the living room where Hemera, Tyran, Marcus and Moreen were sitting observing two ten year old boys playing Super Mario Bros 3.
"Hi Emma!" Squeezed Lorelei, hugging her cousin. "Ron, you know my cousin. Here are her cousins: Marcus, that you know from Hogwarts, his younger sister Moreen and his baby brother you met Vincent." Explained the blonde politely.
"I'm not a baby. I'll enter Hogwarts next year, you know." Said Vincent outraged.
"I didn't know you were related to a Slytherin house Marcus." Though Ron. "Not that it's bad, just, I didn't know you were related to the Black." He had promised to not get into an argument tonight, and he wanted to keep his promise.
"My dad's Emma's dad's brother. " explained Marcus calmly, also not wanting to start an argument either.
"Okay." Answered Ron, trying to integrate the information.
"So who's that boy?"wondered Lorelei, pointing at the other ten year old playing NES with Vincent.
"Pollo, can you come here for a second?" Asked Hemera. The boy nodded and came to the group.
With a closer look at the boy, Lorelei realized that he was almost a tiny version of their uncle Sirius. He was tall but muscular. Same fluffy jet black hair, same gray eyes, same dimples. He just had tanned skin instead of the sickly pale one of Sirius and freckles. And that when it hit her.
"You are so handsome, little munchkin!" Said the girl almost crying as she started squeezing the young boy.
Calling the child munchkin made Harry click as well. It was the nickname reserved for only one person.
"You're just like your dad." Said Harry so emotional. Finally, he was happy in his body.
"The handsomest of the Black clan. Sorry for you bro." Joked Moreen, sticking her tongue out to Marcus, who just shrugged at the remark.
"Let's hope he doesn't end up in Gryffindor or the Weasley will have some competition." Added Marcus.
"What do you mean by that?" Wondered Ron, completely lost in the middle of this scene.
"All the Weasley are usually followed by an army of groupies." Explained Moreen, winking at Marcus and Hemera. Marcus blushed at the remark while Hemera rolled her eyes.
"Even Percy?" Asked Ron in disbelief, how could his annoying bookworm of a brother have some admirers.
"Even Percy, even if it's smaller." Answered Hemera with a smirk, before being interrupted by Regulus Black, who was pressed against the door frame, his right arm supporting his walking cane.
"Come on children. It's time to eat." He explained before limping back to the sitting room. They all listened and walked to the long dining table where most of the adults were already seated. There were also two children at the table: Ruby and to Lorelei's surprise Theodore Nott.
The girl quickly took a seat next to her friend. But didn't have much time to focus on why he was here. She had to wake her uncle Remus who was half asleep. Still tired from the full moon two days ago. He looked like a mess, she thought.
Meanwhile, Ron said hi to the young Lupin.
"Hi… Ruby." Said Ron, not very confident. He was ashamed of their first interaction and the fact he ignored her afterwards, made it even worse.
"Oh, hi Ronald." Said the third year, focusing her red iris on the ginger. She didn't have much animosity towards the boy. She was used to people assuming she couldn't be a good witch with a disability such as blindness. She was tired of it of course, but she thought it was better than people pitying her and treating her like a glass statue.
"I'm sorry for well you know…" apologized Ron while looking at his boots.
"You're not the first one or the last one to say those kinds of words." She said with a voice that was too soft for the situation. Luckily for them Lorelei happy screams were a very good distraction. After taking a good minute to wake her uncle she could finally focus on the most important, why her best friend was doing in Wales.
"THEO! What are you doing here!" Asked the girl while hugging her best friend.
"I invited him and his aunt for Christmas." Explained her aunt Cornelia, as she entered the room, a smile on her face.
"What?" Questioned Lorelei, still hugging Theodore who wasn't complaining.
"Nelly and I go way back." Explained Mrs. Shafiq at the other side of the table, smiled at Cornelia with an understanding grin.
"Yay. It was you, Violet, twins and I. To hell and back." Added Cornelia, reentering the room with the wine decanter.
"To hell and back." Confirmed Marselina with a complex emotion. Lorelei didn't really understand why such a sentence could make her aunt so nostalgic and sad, but she didn't really want to think about it.
"Now dig in !" Declared Sirius Black as he made the food appear on the table.
"Hey, don't start without me!" Almost screamed Tyran as he entered the room, most likely late because he was flooring the twin to wish them a merry Christmas. That was their tradition ever since they entered Hogwarts.
The meal even if long was lot of fun for everyone, even Ron. He was chatting with Marcus about the British quidditch cup.
"Have you seen the canon's season? They almost won a game!" Explained Ron excited. He was the best, if not only, Chudley Cannons fan in England.
"Yep." Said the older Gryffindor, half-convinced. "But have you seen the Caerphilly Catapults!" He added exited.
"Or the…" tried to add Lorelei before feeling like she was interrupted Harry.
"I support the Holyhead Harpies personally." Said the boy with excitement. As a child, their uncle Sirius would accompany the twins to their training and Harry never forgot how majestuous the players were.
"No the Catapults were way better, especially against them!" Countered Marcus, before eating a slice of camembert.
"Well I…" started the French girl before being cut by Ron. She just quietly sighed and let him be.
"The Cannons can still win!" He hoped, his mouth full of brie cheese. They had to at some point, according to him.
"No, the Winton Wanderers will win!" Interjected Tyran, his mouth full of salad.
"You know, I think the Ballycastle Bat will win." Was finally able to say Lorelei.
"Yes. I'm sure they will." Encouraged Theodore. He was also a Bat fan, and as he explained to his friends, he had a big banner of the team in his bedroom.
"We shall see." Concluded Sirius, a bit dramatically, as the Christmas log was set on the table.
Everyone was eyeing the cake, even if they had stuffed themselves with the rest of the meal, but the tinkling of a knife on a champagne flute made the assembly look at the person responsible for this: Regulus Black.
"Do you take yourself for Dumbledore?" Said Sirius with a wink, which made the rest of the table laugh.
"Of course. Tomorrow I'm gonna put on some big robes and will favor Gryffindor." Said the man, his grayish blueish eyes full of glee.
"I hope not. Or dad might divorce you." Giggled Moreen, almost falling down her chair, imagining her papa as a mock Dumbledore in their bedroom, her dad looking at the other one with disgust.
"Let's go back to the subject. I would like to toast: To family, old friends and new friends. Let's hope next year will be happier than this one."
"Can I toast as well?" Asked Apollo half hidden behind his father's back.
"Of course mini me. The stage is yours." Offered Sirius with a reassuring smile.
The young Black lifted his head, trying to give himself confidence, took a deep breath and started.
"I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for always understanding me. For never judging me, even when I wanted to become me." Said the boy, his voice cracking and turning higher.
"We will always love you, Apollo." Said his mother before kissing him on the forehead.
"Yep, you're stuck with me lil bro." Continued Tyran hugging his brother.