Three days after Christmas and Hogsmeade was still too busy for Jacob's tastes.  He guessed he'd changed his point of view now that he had a set of twins at home that constantly demanded attention.  He didn't really like crowds anymore, even small ones.  But he kept that dislike at bay as he stepped into the cobblestone-lined street early that morning with nothing on his mind other than a quiet stroll through the small village.  Well, quieter since the babies were at home with his wife at the moment.

He was thinking about something that had bothered him since he married his beautiful wife Abigail.  The feud between his wife and her younger sister was always troublesome to him because he was close to most of his family, even the ones he didn't particularly get along with.  He wasn't even sure why Abigail was dead set against their children meeting their aunt.  Every time Jacob brought the subject up, it was met with a death glare and either a swift departure from whatever room they were in or a firm change in subject.

Jacob was not used to ignoring family members.  In his family it just wasn't done, mostly because if you tried to ignore them, they would show up and bug you until you told them to get lost or gave up and welcomed them back with open arms.  So as he slowly strolled through the village, stopping every so often to glance at something that caught his eye, he tried to find a solution that both his wife and her younger sister could handle without either one getting their feelings hurt. 

As he passed by the owl post office[1] an idea popped into his head.  Maybe, he could let his wife's sister meet the twins, and him, in Hogsmeade.  It was Christmas break for the students, surely she could get permission to come and visit for a while.  It would be the perfect Christmas present for his sister-in-law that he'd yet to meet. He stepped into the office, scribbled a quick note on some parchment and paid the fee to have it delivered right away.  Then, taking a deep breath, he continued on his way down the street, looking in shop windows as he did.

Suddenly he saw it, there in a shop window was the perfect present for someone like his sister-in-law.  He hadn't met her, but he'd heard enough about her from her parents that she reminded him of someone he'd lost back when he had just graduated school.  His family never mentioned it and he wasn't permitted to tell anyone, but Jacob knew that this was the time to do just that.  He walked into the store and promptly bought the piece of jewelry he'd seen in the window without a second glance at the price.  And with a smile on his face, he continued his leisurely stroll, dragging out his free time until he had to go home and relieve his wife from baby duty.

Sooner than he thought possible, Jacob ducked as a brown owl swooped down and dropped a piece of parchment at his feet.  He mumbled about the ignorance of some owls as he bent down to pick it up.  He scanned it quickly and realized that his sister-in-law was telling him she would be in Hogsmeade tomorrow if she had to sneak out of school.  He reread it and realized she had just mentioned it, not that she would actually do it.  'She's bringing someone with her.' he thought to himself as he stuffed the note in his pocket, he wondered if she thought he was going to be crazy.  'Oh well,' he thought as he continued his walk.

1.	I assume there is one in Hogsmeade, if not... oh well