We woke up on Christmas Eve to a blanket of snow about 4 inches deep on the grounds of my home. It was beautiful. The garden was pure white and it looked magical. This was my first Christmas in my little home. My first Christmas without my mum and first I would be spending without my family. Well, the Diggory's anyway. These past few days I had come to realise that my friends are my family.
They are all I need.
I turned to tell Draco about the snow. Only he wasn't there.
I quickly showered and dried, using my wand to dress and dry my hair. I wore a black pair of jeans and a dark green oversized wooly jumper which hung off one shoulder, which I paired which I paired with black boots.
I sprinted downstairs and into the living room. Theo and Azaleah were keeling on the couch looking out the window.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Shush!" Theo scolded but pulled my down beside him. "A few paparazzi showed up this morning. I think word got out that Azaleah was here. Mrs Hobkirk is out giving them an earful."
Sure enough the little old lady was standing at the bottom of the garden wagging her finger as 3 men and 1 woman stood in front of her looking at the floor. It was priceless. She was half the height of them but they looked to be deathly afraid of her.
One of the men looked up and the three of us ducked down to avoid being seen.
Theo flicked his wand and closed the blind.
"Hey have any of you seen Draco?" I asked.
"Oh yeah, he said he would be back later. He left a note for you in your office, I think," Theo nodded to the room at the opposite side of the hall.
Sure enough in my office, on the desk was a note from Draco:
My love,
You looked too peaceful to wake.
I am heading home for a few hours this morning. My mother sent word that she wants to speak with me and asked me to come for breakfast.
Apologies it's very last minute.
But I should be home before you have a chance to miss me.
I love you.
Your Draco xxx
He was wrong of course. I missed him already. I decided to send a patronus to tell him such.
"Hey love, you're wrong. I already miss you. But I will be here waiting for you to get back. I love you too. Tell your mother I say hello and Merry Christmas. We should have organised it so that your mother was guarding Azaleah tonight and she could spend Christmas with us. Andromeda and Teddy too. I will see you later love."
I watched at the patronus flew off before joining Azalaeah and Theo who were now in the kitchen eating breakfast with Mrs Hobkirk.
"Those nosey so and so's from the Daily Prophet. As if they don't have anything better to do. It's Christmas Eve for crying out loud!" She sulked. "But don't you worry. I gave them a piece of my mind."
"What did you say?" Theo asked.
"I told them that if they set foot on the property, that I would turn them into chickens and cook'em for dinner."
"Thank you Mrs Hobkirk."
"It's no problem, Raelyn. They can't set foot on your property anyway. But still. No manners. Flashing their cameras. They are lucky I don't flash them a glance at my undergarments."
Theo spat into his orange juice.
"So," the elderly lady smiled at Azaleah. "Did you sleep well? I thought the sleeping draught would help you. You looked exhausted last night."
"It did help thank you. I had no dreams and slept right through to this morning."
She actually did look more refreshed this morning than she did yesterday morning. Her hair was in a braid down her back. In town yesterday I bought her makeup and some more clothes as everything Mrs Nott ordered was quite...formal. Beautiful but there were no jeans or even trousers for that matter.
"I am glad. You look much brighter my dear. It's lovely to see colour back in those cheeks again."
"Thank you ma'am."
"You kids have such nice manners. I hope my granbaby's grows up to have manners like you lot."
"What are they like?" I asked.
"Aw little trouble makers the pair of them. They love to make people laugh and sometimes can get into mischief when doing so. But they are affectionate and loving. Little Arian is so like her father. She has his eyes and his personality. My grandson is just like his momma."
"I am sorry about your son and husband." I smiled.
"Both were heroes. Both fought for their family and for what is right. I couldn't be more proud. I wish my husband could have met his grandkids but I know he is watching over us. And now he has my son to keep him company."
"Yes he does," Azaleah assured her.
"So kids, tell me. What do you want to do when you graduate?"
Theo cleared his throat. "I will be taking over the family business. Not that I ever remember my father actually working. He spent his time, chasing women and drinking."
"And will you do doing the same?" Azaleah asked.
"No ma'am. I will be a loving and loyal husband who dotes on his wife."
Mrs Hobkirk laughed. "And you dear?" She asked Azaleah.
"I have to get my names cleared first. Then who knows."
"And you Raelyn?"
I thought about it. I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do in all honesty. "Actually I always wnted to open a school for kids for before they go to Hogwarts. Like a primary school. Teach them to read and write and everything a private tutor does but in a school."
"That would be ideal," Mrs Hobkirk smiled. "I was a tutor myself. I think a school is a fabulous idea."
"What about potion making?" Azaleah asked. "You are fab at making remedies. You could own an apothecary. "
"Also a good choice. Home remedies are always a popular choice amoung wizards. I for one am on the lookout for a remedy for the cold. The one I have tastes like feet."
"Oh that's an easy potion. And if you add pear oil it makes it taste sweet so you can easily drink it. Works in about 5 minutes."
Mrs Hobkirk beamed at me. "It's like you were meant for the job," she winked.
I hadn't given much thought to what I would do after school. To be honest before the battle I never imagined I would survive the war never mind have a future. But I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to start thinking ahead. Not that I would have a clue where to start.
"First thing you would need is premises. If the healers shop and Slug & Jiggers are closed then you could buy both and convert them into one large store." Theo thought out loud.
"Theo where would I find the money to do that? Get real. If I was doing this I would need to start off small and build the business up first."
"I bet there are lots of people who would invest in that sort of business." Azaleah chimed in.
"No if I was doing it, I would want it to be mine. Something I did on my own without needing investors. But a shop or a school does sound ideal so I will look into it but not on Christmas Eve. Come on! We need to be getting into the festive spirit."
"Oh we should decorate some gingerbread houses!" Azaleah squeaked.
"Decorate what?" Theo asked sounding completely lost.
"You don't know what a gingerbread house is?" I gasped and Theo shook his head. "I have failed you as a friend."
Mrs Hobkirk sat at the table with her paperwork. "Azaleah?" she called waving her quill. "Can we do this now? It's just I want to get home to spend the day with the family."
"Of course," Azaleah smiled as she sat next to her.
"Ok Theo. We are going to get everything we need for baking. Azaleah, we are heading to the shops. We will be back in 15 minutes."
I took Theo's hand and marched him to the front door. We both slipped out coats, hats and scarves on and stepped outside. The paps didn't get the message from Mrs Hobkirk as they were still there but we apparated before they could even snap a picture and arrived in an alleyway beside the Leaky Cauldron.
Theo went to open the door but I pulled him away. "What the-" he began but I laughed.
"We are going to a muggle shop Theo."
"What? We are? I've never been to a muggle shop before."
"I have a few times with Teeny but more over the summer when I was on my own. I have muggle money with me. This way." I directed him out of the alleyway and down the street to the large shop on the corner.
"Em..ir..mans?" Theo read.
"It's called a Supermarket. Come on." I pushed him on. When the doors opened by themselves he jumped and looked at me but I just smiled and grabbed a trolley and followed him.
"What is this?" he asked taking the handle.
"A trolley. Like the luggage trolley at the station only this one is for food."
"Hmm," he said as he wheeled it backwards and forwards. "I like it!"
"I'm glad," I laughed as I added sugar, flour, milk, eggs and cinnamon to the trolley.
"All this food looks strange," he whispered as he lifted a can of tinned peaches.
"That is because you have a servant who makes your meals for you and you wouldn't see them like this."
The woman who stood next to us, clearly heard us as she turned to look at Theo to see if he was a celebrity of some sort.
I added some more food to the trolley as Theo began to throw in items he liked the look of. Crisps, fizzy juice, apples, bananas, grapes, strawberries, a packet of tuna, bread and vegetable oil.
I rolled my eyes but kept shopping. When the trolley was full and we had everything we would need (as well as many, many things we didn't) we made our way to the till. The girl behind the till was petite with dark blonde hair and big, piercing green eyes. She smiled seductively at Theo as she began to ring the items through the till.
Theo was watching in fascination as she did which she mistook for him staring at her flirting and she kept flipping her hair back and giggling at him.
For all she knew I could have been his girlfriend so she was being quite disrespectful. I mean obviously I'm not but she didn't know that.
He was now handing her items which she rang through. He beamed everytime the scanner beeped. She leaned forward to show off her cleavage. And that's when I had to step in.
I moved my wand down enough just so it peaked through the cuff of my sleeve and cast a non verbal spell. The result was a huge gust of wind blowing over the till. Strong enough a force to blow her hair all over her face and to cause her extensions to come flying out and hit an elderly man up the face. Then the wind stopped.
"What is happening?" She whined. "Like oh my god!" Trying desperately to fix her hair. The little man handed her back her extensions which she snapped off him. I couldn't help but laugh. She shot me an evil look, before smiling seductively at Theo again.
Maybe one more to teach her some manners.
As she sat back on her chair, I made it vibrate. Her whole body bounced with such force I was afraid she was going to be sent flying. Well something was but they weren't quite as large as her whole body would have been.
The fillets she was using popped out of her bra and flew in opposite directions. One landed in Theo's arms and the other landed right on the forehead of a man who did not look amused. On closer inspection the man had a badge pinned to his chest that read 'Store Manager.'
"What the fuck!" Theo shrieked tossing the fillet onto the counter.
The cashier shrieked again as she lifted it off the counter and turned to her manager who shook his head and pointed to the staff room.