son amour - j. potter

forty six

After opening all of our presents, the eight of us sat down for breakfast, cooked to perfection by Alma.

I had received packages from Lily and Marlene, and Alice and Frank. Jolie had gotten me a silver locket, with a rose etched beautifully onto the front of it. Sirius got me a cool, color block, corduroy jacket, that was absolutely amazing. Remus got me a stack of first edition books, and addressed them to Mrs. Prongs. Regulus got me an assortment of coffee, each from a different country, and a new mug.

My mother and father in law gave me a hand-knitted sweater, in royal blue with a golden D letter, and had given James and me some money.

Molly Weasley had gotten Euphemia hooked on knitting.

Lastly, James got me a sterling silver bracelet with a ruby pendant, and a star map from the date of our wedding.

We all sat happily around the table, chatting away about tonight's party. Some of our friends were coming, which was exciting since James and I hadn't seen any of them since our wedding.

The table contained a spread of food, with everything from bacon and eggs to crepes and pancakes. My plate was piled high with crepes, fruit, and bacon.

It was a good Christmas, even if I hadn't heard anything from my family.

The morning went off smoothly, and most of us spent the better part of the day lounging around, looking for things to busy ourselves with.

James and Sirius went outside to fly on their brooms, despite the cold temperature and the snow.

Jolie went upstairs to write to her family, and to thank them for the gifts, and Regulus tagged along, presumably because he didn't want to get roped into cleaning.

Remus and I were tidying up the living room for the party, talking away. We were laughing at my cat, Romeo, as he pawed at the wrapping paper, throwing it up in the air and rolling on it.

There was a sharp rap on the window, scaring Romeo, and sending him flying up the stairs, probably to hide under someone's bed.

I quickly looked over at the window and saw an owl flying just outside the window, tapping its beak on the window pane. There was parchment attached to its leg.

Realizing whose owl it was, I ran over to the window and opened it.

My family's owl, Khione, flew in the window and perched herself on the windowsill. She ruffled her feathers and stuck her leg out for me to untie the parchment.

Not waiting for me to read it, or to write back, Khione gave a hoot and flew back into the sky, quickly disappearing out of my sight just as quickly as she had appeared.

Remus was standing behind me anxiously, "Is that from your parents?"

I looked down at the handwriting on the envelope, "No, it's Bea's."

"So they didn't forget about you?"

I shrugged, "I guess not."

I pealed off the wax seal of the envelope carefully and pulled out the letter inside.

Daphne,

Our father was working late last night and never came home. We had someone from the Ministry come by this morning to tell us that on his way home from work last night, dad was attacked and killed on the spot.

His body was found late last night, and identified this morning.

I'm so sorry to have to say this in a letter, especially on Christmas, but dad is dead and you need to come home. Mum is losing it, and Henry won't get up from where he was sitting when we were informed.