Boxing Day was bright but cold. The temperature did not get above freezing point, and there was a frost in the garden where the sun hadn't reached. There was no snow down here, but the bright blue sky was empty above the house in Sandy.

Inside, the fire was crackling and the kitchen table was full to bursting with leftovers from the mishmash of family groups in attendance. Monty and Catherine had hosted Christmas dinner with Eta and Zeta who were both home for Christmas from Hogwarts, and Theta and Chris had joined them to make six. They were away to visit other family that day though. Monty had to remember his eldest daughter was all grown up and an independent lady with her own career - at Christmas he could still remember her dearly when she was knee high and Eta was only crawling.

"No, I'm not letting you read my fortune again!" Not-so-young Ambrose Pepper declared at his younger cousin who had settled herself at the coffee table amongst al the adults with a set of tarot cards, determined to read everyone's fortune. "You keep telling me I'm going to die before I do my exams!" The Gryffindor put his hands on his hips.

"Here, have a mince pie," His uncle offered him from a warm plate to interrupt the disagreement, "Mind you don't choke on it now." The pie was halfway between the plate and his nephew's mouth when he started laughing and the animosity dispersed.

"Why don't you as Moira and Alvis, love?" He suggested to his youngest daughter. Zeta was busy drawing the pair in caricature form from a vantage point at the dining room table.

"Never a dull moment," Monty chuckled to himself as he glanced at the pair of teenagers and wandered past with the mince pies in hand to offer them round to the rest of the family, leaving the hormones to it.

A long week had past but not an unpleasant one. At least, it definitely hadn't been boring. Learning how another family lived and spent their days, especially in a more muggle home, had been an experience for sure. The lack of sleep notwithstanding it had been a fun holiday so far.

Moira, Ambrose and the rest of the household had arrived early. When the Norlings arrived later a relief had washed over her seeing Alvis healthy and not suffering from the poisoning at all. At that moment a tension she had not known about had left and somehow she felt more tired than before.

The two of them were able to steal a few minutes alone at the start, mostly to confirm how each other was doing and to discuss their situation. Within those few minutes they came to a mutual agreement.

Now she was watching everything going on, watched as she and Alvis were offered as test subjects to the girl with the tarot cards. Moira had to hand it to Eta, at least she wasn't giving up on her practicing. Glancing sideways to Alvis - sitting beside her on a couch - she shrugged. Maybe it was best to just get it over with.

The sole representative of the Murray (soon to be Pepper) clan was munching away on a few final bites of Christmas candies and her pumpkin gingerbread loaf, snuggling close to her fiancee. Full of aforementioned dinner and now those bites of sweets, Gabrielle gazed at Francis, grinning, beaming happily away as she interlinked the ring clad hands together, staring at the precious stone that had been waiting for her for some time.

Hm.

Noting Ambrose's shout out, Gabrielle grinned. "No dying before exams, you. I'd prefer to have you alive and in one piece, Ambrose," came her response before munching on the piece of divinity. Sugary delights were a bane of existance, considering she had never quite left them as a child.

Looking once again to Francis, she pulled the knitted hands, kissing them before a squeeze. "This is nice, isn't it? No worries, no stress of anything inside a building. Just family, friends, hm??" the witch responded on the matter. "I love you."

"No dying full stop." Francis corrected with a glance to his fiancee for specifying before exams. It was rather worrying when his niece pushed her divination readings on her cousins with such dire outcomes. He would feel much the same in Ambrose's position. Perhaps it was his eldest son's hope that he might have some reason not to sit his OWL exams in the summer. He was not looking forward to it. The hours that Francis had been home, he'd spent often at the kitchen table with Ambrose pouring over Christmas homework with him, trying to revise topics and strengthen his understanding. The Hogwarts professors did marvellously, and as a new school governor he was all the more aware, but unfortunately Ambrose wasn't the academic sort.

"Love you too." Francis assured Gabrielle and left a kiss on her forehead, waving away the offer of a mince pie. "I've no more room, honestly brother. Feed them to those growing teenagers. I don't know where they pack it away." He gestured at Alvis and Moira.

"Do you remember when we could do that? All that food at Hogwarts, you could never go hungry." He asked to the room in general, drawing in conversation from the wider family.

Audrey, despite being absolutely livid with Francis and Gabrielle, still wanted to visit with the rest of the Peppers as well as the Hughes. Linus had assured her that he would be on his best behavior, though she suspected that there were some sort of live creatures in his pockets. She had a little late to, as she had spent a bit too much time venting to Shona about how egregious Gabrielle and Francis' behavior had been, and how dare Francis continue a relationship with someone else so soon after Claire's death? What about his children? How dare he replace their mother?

Alas, she had promised Linus that she, too, would be on her best behavior.

Francis and Gabrielle were flaunting their romance like a couple of lovesick teenagers, and all she could do was smile politely-- though her eyes were full of hostility.

Linus sauntered up to Francis and whispered in a sings-song way,  "My mum's gonna kill youuuu." Before he happily skipped to Moira and Ambrose. He looked between the two and promptly tackled Ambrose's guest without any sort of warning. "I'm so fuuulllll." He whimpered, "I need more candy."

"No. No more candy!" Audrey replied across the room, with the sharp ears of a strict mother.

"Sneak me candy." Linus whispered, "Or else."

Audrey turned to Shona and quirked her eyebrows before leading her to a seating position. Before today, she had not told her extended family about her relationship with the Care of Magical Creatures professor, though she suspected most of them knew. Her parents had been too thrilled at the prospect of her not spending the rest of her life bitter and alone. Instead, she could be bitter with someone else.

At each display of their public affection, Audrey suppressed a nasty comment and kept that polite smile plastered on her face.

"Do you remember when we could do that? All that food at Hogwarts, you could never go hungry."

"Yes." Audrey replied, "Linus eats so much-- he's growing so fast. He's not as tiny as he used to be, but now he's all arms and legs." She wans't sure whose side of the family he got that from-- Audrey had been a plump child and teenager-- it wasn't until after she had Linus that she kept herself trim. Flynn had been skinny and lanky at Linus' age. He still was.. She supposed that he used up plenty of energy being as ridiculous as he was.

Juni had been spending her holiday anywhere but home. Christmas Day, she arrived at Dietirch and Bai's home unnaounced and showered gifts upon them and Magdalena. Christmas eve, her dad had left for work and later sent a letter saying that he would be gone for a couple days. On the holiday. As revenge, Juni was determined to spend as much time away from home as possible. The mansion in St. Albans was far too large for two people and a house elf, let alone one.

So, she was arriving at friends' homes with gifts in tow. Tomorrow, she was planning on paying a visit to Esther and Connor. Juni wondered how long she could keep this up. Apparently, some idiot had been smuggling baby chimeaeras, and they got loose all over Birmingham. Muggles were coming home to hungry chimaeras eating their pets. It was a disaster, and many obliviator had been called to work on it and deal with the muggles who had been exposed to or injured by the chimaeras.

She was pleased that the Peppers were holding some sort of event. She heard that Alvis was coming, so she prepared some gifts for Ambrose, Moira, and Alvis. For Ambrose's dad, she brought a tie with pictures of time turners on it. Juni startled when Linus Hughes tackled Moira and demanded that she give him candy. Juni tried to ignore it.

"Open your presents!" She encouraged them, waving a silver package in Ambrose's face. "I've been waiting since before dinner for you guys to open them!"

Boxing Day at the Pepper's brought back memories, though Alvis was fairly certain that the event had been less chaotic back when he was seven. Or heck, even when he'd been twelve.

His family (here meaning Mum, Da, himself, and his Great-Aunt Niamh) didn't come by the Pepper's every year for the hols and had done so less often since he'd started Hogwarts and it finally sank in that a lifelong Alvis-Ambrose friendship was simply Not Going to Happen. But with everything that had gone on the last few weeks, they'd desperately needed some social interaction. Sent home from school early to recover from his poisoning, Alvis had missed all his midterms and spent the better part of a week in bed with his eyes bandaged. They were still ever-so-slightly sensitive and whenever his mother spotted even a hint of pink puffiness at the lids she suffered a flash of fear and desperation that left him feeling guiltier every time.

Here, at least, they both had distractions -- his parents with the other adults (his dad reminiscing contentedly about Hogwarts while his mother held his hand and smiled politely), and him with Moira.

Well. Moira and Juni and Ambrose and the other "kids." But mostly Moira.

Not that they'd been talking much. In truth, they rarely did. Still, he would've been fine letting Eta read their fortune, but before she had the chance they (and Ambrose) had been caught by Juni bearing gifts, and then Moira had gotten tackled by an odd large-eared second-year that Alvis didn't quite know. Said twelve-year-old now hung onto her waist and demanded sweets.

Moira didn't have any sweets, but Alvis did: a small bag of Pepper-Up Peppermint Humbugs, the holiday special from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. He'd bought them mail-order only to study how they'd hidden the potion in the sweet, but if Junior really wanted one...

He glanced towards the adults just once to make sure they were distracted, finagling the candy from his pocket and quietly shucking the wrapper. Then, the next time the second-year opened his mouth, Alvis popped the humbug straight onto his tongue. Then he returned Moira's shrug and accepted the present  that Juni thrust upon him with a smile. "Thank you. You shouldn't have though. I didn't have a chance to get anything for anyone else..."

Sneaking the gingerbread caramel as best she could, Gabie grinned at Linus, giving a wink, uncaring really about how angry, irate Audrey would end up with her. It was the holidays, she was most disapproving of anything to do with her and frankly, Gabrielle didn’t give a damn about it. Well, somewhat. True, Gabrielle Murray would likely always be perceived as the woman who swooped in and took over a wife’s place, but Gabrielle saw it likewise that it was Francis who had taken her back in, recapturing her own heart that had always seemed to have waited patiently through time.

That said, Gabrielle squeezed her fiancé’s hand once again, a pang of nervousness and excitement flittering through her veins – however, Juni’s sudden gifting gave a moment for all to gander at the exchanges. Gabrielle grinned at each pair of socks, chuckling at the sight of Ambrose’s shirt and Moira’s socks. If only she could have pulled off such attire as a young witch – even as there was the briefest, faintest recollection of wearing Muggle rock band tees of the time when with Gwydion and perhaps once with Francis. Not that she would EVER begin to confess such memories with the youth encamped within the kitchen – they would likely never believe her to begin with on the matter.

The fluttering again kicked in and well, it couldn’t be avoided any longer. Looking to Francis, Gabrielle licked her lips and cleared her throat.

“I. . . Ahem. Francis and I have—” Eyes seemed to gravitate, her nerves rising for a moment until she shunned them away, a faint blush there on the tops of her cheeks, a grin forming shortly enough. “Francis and I have something to announce . . . aside the proposal.” Looking to the curly haired husband to be, Gabrielle sighed, knowing he was in her corner as were the boys more or less. “We. We’re expecting.” Gabrielle felt slightly relieved. “Admittedly, I know it seems sudden and for that, I apologise if this alarms, upsets you all, but. It’s only right that we should let you all know as you are family and family should be informed first and foremost.” The smile was still there vaguely enough, but Gabrielle wasn’t too certain if this would bring nine levels of hell, however. . .  they knew now.

The witch’s eyes resumed to look at Francis, then to the rest of the family, anticipating the reaction at any moment.

Ambrose shoved the mince pie in his mouth despite his uncle's joke.
"No dying before exams, you. I'd prefer to have you alive an in one piece, Ambrose." Gabrielle called across the room.
"Dying after's alrigh' then?"
"No dying full stop." His father clarified and Ambrose snickered.

"Why don't you ask Moira and Alvis, love?" his uncle asked Eta. Good thought Ambrose to himself, perhaps he could predict Alvis' early death instead. He caught sight of Moira's face. Actually on second thoughts… he grumbled internally, shoving the other half of pie in his mouth, dusting himself off, pastry crumbs scattering the floor as he leaned over Zeta's shoulder to see her caricature.

"Hey Linus."
"I need more sweets." Audrey protested from behind Ambrose's younger cousin. "Sneak me or else."
"Your mum brought Professor Donovan?" Ambrose asked, leaning against the end of the table, keeping his voice low, but didn't get much time to hear an answer as Juni was waving a silver parcel in his face. "Merlin, Juni, you shouldn't have. I'll have to get you something I've -."

"I… Ahem. Francis and I have-."
"Oh crap." Ambrose whirled round to make eye contact with his younger brother, Tim, who was sat having his fortune told by Eta, and pushed his glasses up his nose.

They'd heard the news yesterday, him, Tim, Moira, at home in Biggleswde. Ambrose knew Gabrielle and his Dad were going to tell the other family members today at Uncle Monty's, but it didn't make it easier to swallow. Both boys averted their faces from their father and future step-mother should they be interpreted incorrectly as teenage boys still incapable of normal emotional responses.

He busied himself with unpicking the spellotape on Juni's parcel and unfolding the t-shirt as if he wasn't listening.
"… It's only right that we should let you all know as you are family and family should be informed first and foremost."

"Oh wicked t-shirt, thanks Juni!" Ambrose exclaimed, holding it up against himself for size, a massive grin on his face. It was only then he realised the whole room wasn't talking, and Uncle Monty had dropped the plate of mince pies.

Linus was getting all the candy he desired—first, Gabie had provided Linus with one of his favorite sweets—a gingerbread caramel. He had to be sneaky about it though, so he couldn’t thank her just yet. That was okay, he would give her a hug later. He rather liked Ambrose’s kinda-step-mon. Gabrielle had always been sweet to him, and provided him with many a sugar coma, much to his mother’s irritation.

Ambrose seemed confused that Professor Donovan was at the party. Linus just grinned. “She and my mum are together.” He explained proudly, “If all goes well.. I will have two!” He declared, snatching the peppermint humbug from Alvis and thanking him.

Then Gabie said something, but Linus wasn’t listening. The room was quiet, and he looked around. Monty dropped some food. Linus resisted the urge to eat it anyway.

Juni absolutely beamed when she saw that Alvis and Ambrose approved of their gifts. “No, no! You don’t need to get me anything!” She insisted, “Gifts are gifts. I’m not owed a single thing!” She gave Ambrose a sly look, “But if you want, I won’t say no to a good kiss.” The witch teased, though there was just the tiniest bit of hope hiding under her joke.

Then Ambroses’ dad’s girlfriend (or whatever she was) announced some big, exciting news. Juni’s dark eyes widened and she grabbed Ambrose by the shoulders, shaking him. As everybody went quiet, she exclaimed, “FOR FOX SAKE! YOU’RE GOING TO BE A BROTHER AGAIN!” She let out an excited whooping noise and clapped when she tired of jostling the Gryffindor around. She didn’t give a flying hippogriff if nobody else was clapping.

Flynn had been enjoying the boxing day festivities with his family, chatting with the different relatives, teasing his younger cousins, and eating well in excess. Most of the Hughes had come around to Francis and Gabie, though Flynn had never had a problem with their relationship. It was only natural, and he had seen it happen many times with families who had significant others in the Janus Thickley Ward. The ones who moved on were happier, and that is what he wanted for Francis. It’s what Francis deserved.

So, when Gabie announced the news, Flynn beamed. One of Ambrose’s friends actually cussed in excitement while everybody went silent.

Then, he remembered something. Audrey.

His sister had never been a fan of Francis and Gabie. He knew very well that Audrey actually liked Gabrielle well enough, but it was Francis who she was livid at. His eyes searched the room for her, and he saw all the telltale signs of a complete meltdown. Her hands were smoking, and everything about her looked off in a way, though she didn’t go all skeletal-bird-woman like their mother did on occasion.

Flynn threw the cake he was eating in Monty’s general direction and leapt towards Audrey as she threw a fireball at the draperies. 

“FRANCIS! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” Her voice taking on a shrill tone, “You couldn’t BOTHER to wrap up?! You couldn’t bother to be SAFE? And you’re replacing Claire by creating a new family? CLARE DESERVES BETTER THAN THAT!” Audrey launched another fireball at the already-flaming curtains. “GABRIELLE deserves better than to be a replace-“

His shoulder collided with Audrey’s torso and they tumbled to the ground, Audrey screeching and flailing.

“BE—“ Flynn grunted, “CALM.” He shoved her head into the ground and maneuvered so that he was sitting on her shoulders. “DEAR SISTER.” He tried to cover her mouth, but her teeth sunk into his hand. He let out a startled yelp, but she didn’t draw blood. He gave Francis an apologetic look. “Congratulations?” He tried to act as if he wasn’t pinning down a half-veela who was in the middle of a giant temper tantrum.


"FIIIIIRE!!! Linus screamed, picking up one of the fallen cakes before proceeding to throw it at the flames.

Silence hit like the moment a fuse ran out on a bomb. It was broken up only by Ambrose's voice and Juni's cheering. Then the explosion came -- metaphoric and very nearly literal.

"Woah boy." Alvis sank into the couch with Juni's gift still in hand, instinctively making himself as small as possible while one of the grown-up cousins went nuclear. Leave it to Pepper family drama to go from 0 to 100 faster than a Firebolt 7.

Over with the adults, Orville (Alvis's father) scrambled to his feet to help douse the flaming curtains, fumbling his wand from an inside coat pocket. His wife sat stock-still in her chair with her back ramrod straight and her left-hand fingers clasped over the other fist. Her arms were tense and her knuckles white as though it took all her focus to bottle up her shared volatile opinions. Claire Pepper and Ariadne Norling had been friends before Claire's accident, as the wives of friendly men often were. Though she kept quiet, the daggers Ariadne now glared at Francis made her feelings clear enough.

Meanwhile, Aunt Niamh was cackling behind her hand. It made her look more than a little like a storybook witch.

Alvis eyed the other teens, wondering if they should perhaps grab the little Hughes and flee. He finally settled on tossing Ambrose a crooked, awkwardly forced smile in an attempt to steer the mood in the direction of Juni's much more positive exuberance. "Congratulations...?"

Getting tackled by a younger student wasn't exactly what she had in mind and it was only because of Alvis sitting beside her that she didn't fall more from the suddenness of it. He also supplied the candy the Hughes boy seemed to want which meant she didn't have to break his heart, or risk a tantrum, by telling him she didn't have any.

Moira slightly tensed up after she had opened her gift from Juni once she saw the mug though it cleared away quickly. Knowing Juni she meant it as a general Scottish joke. After all, very few people actually knew about THAT particular evening and she'd rather prefer it stay that way. She had to give Juni a look at her oh so obvious attempt at flirting. Not that Ambrose would notice most likely but it was almost disgusting. And cute.

The big announcement came next, Moira not commenting as she knew the boys had mixed feelings over the whole thing though they'd likely come around and welcome it into the family well before it was born. They were good people. Almost immediately after that Juni cheered and one of the visiting relatives screamed and set the drapes on fire. Moira decided the best thing to do in this situation was to simply stay put.

Gathering trash from the presents she shoved it all in one of the empty boxes and sat back, glancing at Ambrose.

Gabrielle had taken the bold decision to make the announcement, and did so with his support and a hand squeezed tight.

“… Francis and I have something to announce ...aside the proposal. We. We’re expecting.” Francis was watching his fiancee's face up until she spoke that and then glanced about a little self-consciously at the surprised faces.

“Admittedly, I know it seems sudden and for that, I apologise if this alarms, upsets you all, but. It’s only right that we should let you all know as you are family and family should be informed first and foremost.” The room had gone quite quiet and his brother had dropped the mince pies, now fumbling for his wand to retrieve them from the carpet. Both his sons had turned away and were resolutely not looking and nobody appeared to be particularly happy at first glance.

"Oh wicked t-shirt, thanks Juni!"
“FOR FOX SAKE! YOU’RE GOING TO BE A BROTHER AGAIN!” His eldest and Juni were two voices that cut through with immediacy. Mihai Zamperia's daughter was a bold outgoing sort who had been kind enough to help her friend with charms the past term according to Ambrose. He also suspected he was rather fond of her given the increasing references of her in conversation over Cyhirae.

The distracted teenagers were nothing in comparison to Audrey who exploded - literally - with a fireball in Monty and Catherine's living room. His muggle sister in law shot out of the room to the kitchen at the first sign. Whereas she did well to manage a magical family as an accountant, volatile magic was something she tried to stay out of the way of simply for the danger.

“FRANCIS! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! You couldn’t BOTHER to wrap up?! You couldn’t bother to be SAFE? And you’re replacing Claire by creating a new family? CLAIRE DESERVES BETTER THAN THAT! GABRIELLE deserves better than to be a replace-"

"Audrey!" Francis exclaimed, hands outstretched, palms flat towards his relative in an attempt to appease her, "Audrey!"

"FIIIIIRE!!!" Linus screeched.

Flynn intervened, the two of them hit the living room carpet while Audrey screeched and flailed. Francis was up on his feet, hastily trying to explain. Orville and Monty both went to put out the fire, but Ariadne Norling stayed put, and although Francis was not paying her the majority of his attention, her expression did not get missed.

Brother and sister grappled on the floor.
"Audrey, please. It's not like that at all. We-." Flynn let out a startled yelp as Audrey bit his hand. Francis was surprised and withdrew a step. He had not anticipated the announcement would result in Audrey losing control like this.

“Congratulations?”
"Er… thanks…" Francis replied, confused and dismayed at the scene and nodded to Flynn. "Merlin." He glanced all around at the others and back to Gabrielle for a moment to check she was alright before he addressed his family.

"No it wasn't to replace Claire - grief." He explained in a louder voice. "For all who saw her, and for all who visited her the past couple of years would have seen that the Claire we all knew and the Claire I married died the moment of her accident." Francis wouldn't ordinarily be one to speak out and dampen the tone at a family gathering but Audrey's violent reaction stirred him to defend himself. His hands were balled into fists.

"The past few years the three of us have been grieving, and I am sorry if you feel that my love for Gabrielle is an insult to her memory. Claire gave me some of the happiest years of my life and I thank her every day when I look at Ambrose and Timothy." His voice wavered, "This isn't going to change that. I won't beg for your support if you can't understand that." He glanced to Ambrose and to Tim before he sank down into the sofa and reached out to hold Gabrielle. Grief. All the happiness of proposing and the news about expecting and it seemed like they'd told everyone they were criminals.