Noon
Hunter Home

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The first round of presents had been unwrapped, and cleaned up, all the wrappings taken care of. Now, the Hunter home was in concentration mode. Guests would start arriving at anytime and there was still plenty to do! Cynthia stood in the kitchen, rushing around, trying to get things to cook. Jane was on the other side of the kitchen, cutting something up slowly. Cynthia frowned, as she took the knife, and waved it in her daughter's face.

"Jane, you're cutting carrots, not performing open-heart surgery. Speed it up." Cynthia then cut one carrot completely at a rapid speed. She put the knife down, so Jane could try it for herself. 

"Mum, what can I do," Mark said, coming down and looking dapper. Cynthia turned around and smiled.

"Go outside. Help your father finish grilling. I need those steaks ASAP." Cynthia replied, going back to stirring the pot.

Annette had worked all morning to get these cookies done for the Hunter's Christmas party. She would bring these now, and the rest would come later. Jim walked behind next to her. She didn't know why, but he had been much nicer to her since he'd arrived home, playing games with her and they had hung out a lot after the whole Windell incident.

Annette hopped up the steps to the Hunter's door. Jim hit the door bell, and as if he was walking into his own home, opened the door and walked into the hall. "We bring tidings of great cookies! He yelled into the busy house. He led Annette into the kitchen and greeted Mrs. Hunter and her daughters. "Happy Christmas Mrs. Hunter, Happy Christmas Jane, Alice, he hugged the three of them and placed a small kiss on each of their cheeks.

Annette held up her plate of cookies. "I made cookies for the party, I have more, but I'll bring those later during the actual party." She hugged Alice and Jim asked. "Where's Mark? Out on the deck with Mr. Hunter?" James just had a little radar for his friends, and if Franklin wasn't in the kitchen or sitting room, he was outside working his "magic" on the grill, and it was most likely Mark was out there too.

Alexandra suffered through her 'absolutely adorable makeover', or whatever little Miss Julie was calling this. She had her eyes shut tight as Jules finished curling her stubborn red hair into ringlets. "I didn't sign up for this."

"Nope," Julie replied, "But you started it when you put that dress on." She finished curling the last ringlet and set her curler down on the counter. It was faster to do it with magic, but she wanted to drag out the girl time with Lexi. She'd bonded easily with the young girl, mainly over the fact that their mothers were a bit stranger than most. One too intense, one not intense enough.

"Technically, the dress has nothing to do with the hair," Lexi replied, standing from where she had been sitting and admiring her curly hair in the mirror. "Alright, I have to hand it to you, it does look nice." And it was true, Annette had done a good job taking in the dress at the waist for Lexi. And Jules had done a good job making her hair look pretty.

"You'll have all of the guys chasing you," Julie joked, straightening out her own dress as they walked downstairs at the sound of Annette and James.

Lexi made a face, "That might sound like fun to you, but for me, it isn't happening." She saw Annette and wrapped her friend in a hug,  greeting her with a loud "Merry Christmas!"

Cynthia pulled James into another hug. "You've gotten too big, Jimmy. Go be ten again." She said, releasing the boy that was now taller than her. She had seen Mark and James grow up, and couldn't even handle that they were so old now. As James kissed Jane, she squealed a little, but tried to comprise herself, leaning on the counter, trying to play it cool as a blush crept across her face.

"Thank you," Cynthia said, accepting the cookies, and putting them on the kitchen table with the other baked goods. "They look great." She said, just then Lexi and Julie joined them. Cynthia started to smile. "Lexi, you look gorgeous. Every boy is going to be calling your name." She joked.

"Okay. Too many cooks in the kitchen. Jane, keep cutting. Now, I gotta finish preparing. Dinner will be served at three. Families can join us at anytime." She said, turning back to her pot.

Julie smirked, "Told you so Lexi." She said, "I'm going to find the boys then and see what they're up to," she stated, leaving the busy kitchen behind with a knowing smile directed towards Jane. She'd have to find her later and see what that blush was all about.

She grabbed her coat before stepping outside where the boys were grilling and seemingly having a good time. "How's it going out here, boys?" She asked, "Can I get anyone a drink?"

Jim smiled at Mrs. Hunter. He followed the red skirt out the door. "I don't get a hello Miss LaFevre?" He said, striding past her to stand next to Mark. "'Ello Mate!" He laid a hard thump on Mark's back. "Hello Mr. Hunter." James said to the man at the grill. "Also, I'd like a glass of water please." He smirked, raising an eyebrow.

Annette let Mrs. Hunter take the cookies and hugged her Lex. "Your hair looks amazing, and so does your dress! Is it still comfortable?" Anni said, looking at the stitching she had done on the dress' waist the other day. "Stitching is still good. This is going to awesome!" She laughed as Jane blushed at her brother and covered her mouth. "Is Jack upstairs?" Nette asked, wanting the boy to join them.

Mark had been staying close to his father, but his father was grilling, He was never a good griller. James pat him on the back and he rustled the back of his hair. "Dad doesn't let me grill. Supposedly, it's to much of responsibility for a man like me." Mark said with a smile, as Julie stood there.

Mark then walked up to her, putting an arm around her, as Franklin spoke to James. "James! Long time no see! How's the job going? Are all the financials in check?" He asked. Being an accountant meant that Franklin always liked to check how others financials were. He just loved numbers

Jack woke up with a horrified look on his face. He began to remember the dream he had the previous night, last Christmas. His father telling him that they were getting him his first wand, and how excited they all were. His dream then turned sour. His father growing fangs and biting into his mother, green light leaving her and evaporating into thin air.

Jack woke up and realized that today was Christmas. It's a day of giving, good cheer, and fun. Finally smiling since the night of the murder. He has a family, no matter how new they are, and can wake up to life with a smile. No matter how many times he flashes back to that night with a different view on it, he'll tough it out. He looked up to the sky,"Merry Christmas Dad."

Finally hearing commotion downstairs Jack decided to finally show that he was still alive. The first thing he saw was Cynthia cooking away. She took him in and treated him like family, Jack was very grateful for that. Jack just sat down on the lowest step, absorbing everyone's jolly moods and cheerful expression. Today was going to be tough.

Lexi broke off from the group when she noticed Jack, this was going to be an awful day for him, she could already tell. This morning she had been upset that she was wearing a dress, but Jack's troubles made her feel insignificant. He lost his Mom, every kid needed a Mom. Just to see, to have; to know that they were there. Even if they refused to talk to you.

Even thought they were in completely different situations, Lexi knew what Jack was feeling. Rejection. Fear. Hopelessness. Rejected that his father had turned on his family. Fear that he was never going to have a stable family again. Hopelessness that nothing would ever be the same again. These assumptions Lexi made probably weren't right, or even close to being true, but it didn't stop her from walking over and sitting next to him.

"Merry Christmas," she said softly, looking down at the floor. "I know you probably don't want to hear someone say this again, but if you need someone to talk to, I'm here. I can't say I know exactly what you're going through, but I have a pretty good idea." Lexi bit her lip, not sure if she should just leave it at that or say something else. It seemed stupid to try and soothe his pain, God knows nobody could ever soothe Lexi's; it was probably the same for everyone else.

Jack wastired of being the center of attention. It felt good and helped him at first but now it's just plain annoying. However it was Christmas, so he could at least suck it up and try to not look so sad and unhappy.

"I know you probably don't want to hear someone say this again, but if you need someone to talk to, I'm here. I can't say I know exactly what you're going through, but I have a pretty good idea."

Jack began to flash back to that night. He refused to let it ruin his Chrismas. Before he started to loose it he lunged at Lexi, hugging her with a look of terror on his face. He knew it was awkward but it helped him to not relive the horrific situation.

After a few seconds the vision faded and he finally broke the silence,"Merry Christmas" He tried to say it in a soothing, calm voice but there was a hint of fear behind hit.
 

Alexandra began to feel awkward, and she felt like she just shouldn't have said anything. Right as she was about to stand up, Jack lunged at her. She almost screamed, but she just closed her golden eyes instead and let him hug her. She wasn't expecting a hug, she thought he was going to hit her. The last time something lunged at Lexi, she got her shoulder ripped out. Internally, she thought she was going to get hurt when Jack did the same.

She awkwardly wrapped her arms around him the best she could, trying not to freak out. Her heart was pounding from the momentary scare and she could only wonder what could possess Jack to act on such an impulse. "You too," she responded, pulling away from the hug as she heard the tiniest bit of fear behind his words. In the recent months, she'd gotten better at detecting it.

"It's alright to be weak sometimes," she said, lowering her voice to no more than a mere whisper. "I know that sounds stupid, coming from a Gryffindor of all people. But you have friends here who love you and will take care of you, you aren't alone in this and I want you to know that." She said, her yellow eyes searching his face for any sign of recognition, or for a glimpse of if he might lunge at someone again.

"Try to enjoy yourself," she said with a jagged smile, "And mingle. Most of us don't bite," she said, trying to make a joke, but it seemed to fail terribly. "Just forget I said that."

"Hello James!" She quipped, throwing him a big smile. Jules was seriously in a wonderful mood, she couldn't understand why; but she'd never felt more at home than with Mark's big family. Her childhood Christmases had involved tight, pinching corsets, perfect manners, and an endless fake smile. It was so much easier here where she could just be herself; happy and free-spirited as she was.

Julie smiled, she wondered if Mark even knew how to operate a grill.  Of course though, if he was too much of a man, she'd never find out because he would never grill. She leaned against him as he wrapped his arm around her, finding more and more that they gravitated towards each other easily and fit together like puzzle pieces. She placed a chaste kiss on his cheek, "Merry Christmas, sweetheart." She said, "And by the way, I may or may not have upset the pint-sized werewolf in your house by curling her hair."

She grinned, laughing silently at herself; she was in such a good mood today. Sure it was cold outside and her bare legs were chilly, but it wasn't too awful. She couldn't go back inside; Jane was learning how to cook, and doing quite poorly at that, and besides, Cynthia had the kids under control.

"Alright folks, but I am sad to say I must depart, I will be arriving back soon in something less than comfortable with my less than comfortable Dad, I'm giving warnings here. Julie, I don't want you and Nette to get embarrassed, so I'll try to keep him away from talking about proper etiquette and shit like that, also, it might be a good idea to keep him away Lexi, I feel bad saying it, but really don't want him to ruin this for her. The rest of you have met my tight-ass father, so you know the plan." James concluded his little speech, and hopped back into the kitchen.

He came up besides Mrs. Hunter and grabbed a knife and started cutting potatoes next to her, he said in a hushed tone, not to call attention to the little were in the other room. "I have to go and when I come back, my dad is gonna be with me, and I don't know what he'll say about Lexi, but I'm assuming it's not gonna be good, so if any of that happens, I don't want her embarrassed by any means, he's yelled at Annette and made her feel like crap for playing with her, so I don't want to see that happen to Lex, I think it's a good idea if we keep them as far apart as possible, can we work on that together?"

Jim chopped another potato, and turned around, "Squirt! We have to head back home and get ready for the party with Mum and Dad, say good-bye for now, we'll be back soon." James washed his hands and dried them on his pants, held his sister's hand and they departed to prepare for WWIII, Octavain's war on Oulton Broad, Suffolk.

"I have to go and when I come back, my dad is gonna be with me, and I don't know what he'll say about Lexi, but I'm assuming it's not gonna be good, so if any of that happens, I don't want her embarrassed by any means, he's yelled at Annette and made her feel like crap for playing with her, so I don't want to see that happen to Lex, I think it's a good idea if we keep them as far apart as possible, can we work on that together?"

Cynthia scoffed as James told her his plan. "James, you have my word that if he puts one toe out of line, I will personally make him leave." She smiled. "You're a good kid, Jimmy. But no one messes with my family in my house." She continued. "You go on, and I'll see you soon, okay? Everything's going to be just dandy." She finished, turning back to her cooking.

Jane waved as he walked by, and Cynthia just shook her head at her daughter with a smile on her face. A boy crazy girl. So very boy crazy.