Growing up Pureblooded

Christmas Morning

     Aries woke up Christmas morning to the unpleasant experience of Draco dumping a goblet of cold water on his head. He sat straight up in his bed a sputtered. Draco was laughing uproariously. "What was that for?" Aries demanded. "It's Christmas Day!" Draco replied eagerly, all but jumping up and down in place. "The presents are downstairs, and Grandfather says we can't start opening them until you come down." Aries blinked, "Everyone else is up?" He looked at the clock over his mantel. "It's five in the morning." Draco smirked, "I have my ways." "I hope you didn't go pouring water on my great-grandfathers' heads, "Aries muttered, crawling out of bed. "Don't be stupid," Draco retorted. "I just ordered the house elf to make loud noises outside all their bedrooms." Aries frowned at his cousin, "That's not very fair, You'll only get the elf in trouble." Draco shrugged, "It's just an elf. Anyway, Grandfather won't get anyone in trouble on Christmas Day. Father says he ...incidental that way." Aries chuckled, "I think you mean sentimental." HE was very proud of himself, having just learned that word a week before. Aries liked learning new words. "that's what I said," Draco said, and tugged Aries arm impatiently. "Come on!!"

     Aries yanked his arm back. "Not until I dry my face, I am not going downstairs dripping like a wet dog." "DOBBY!!" Draco yelled. The house elf appeared and bowed low. "Bring master Aries a towel," he commanded. The elf vanished and returned a moment later wit ha freshly ironed hand towel. Aries took it. "Thank you," he said. the elf's eyes went wife, but he said nothing and bowed. Aries dried his face thoroughly and handed the towel back to the elf. "Happy Christmas, Dobby." Dobby looked as though he were about to be hit by a train. "Happy Christmas, Master Aries," he stammered. "Dobby is delighted to serve such a noble and gracious young wizard." He disappeared with a pop.

     Now that Aries was dried, he had no more reason to hold Draco back, and he allowed his cousin to lead him by the arm through the winding corridors of the massive old house. Aries couldn't help but be amused at Draco's excitement. Christmas was fun and all, but Aries had never got much, just a few broken toys of Dudley's. He anticipated getting better presents this year of course, but didn't quite see the point of dragging everyone out of bet before the sun was up. Then he walked into the parlor. He gaped in awe at the sight that awaited him. An enormous tree reached from floor to ceiling, adorned with real faeries and dozens of magical decorations, all moving and chirping and emitting multi-colored lights. The adults sat in a semi-circle around the room, each with a pile of presents resting beside them. Aries though the piles were quite generous, but they paled in comparison with the two mountains of presents waiting in front of the tree for him and Draco. Abraxas chuckled, "Happy Christmas, boys." "happy Christmas, Grandfather." Aries and Draco said in unison, and then grinned at each other before diving in.

     All the presents were very expensive, and there were loads of them. Arcturus and Melania had given Aries an antique wizarding chess set- "It belonged to my grandfather, Phineas Nigellus Black," Arcturus said- a set of new dress robes and a box of Melania's homemade fudge, which was easily the most delicious thing Aries had ever tasted. Pollux and Irma had given him a number of antique magical toys of a sort that were no longer produced. There was a set of toy armor that made one mostly invisible, along with a toy sword that could inflict no injuries, bu created true-to-life illusions for up to an hour, and a teddy bear that sang lullabies, played games, and bandaged scrapped knees, alongside many other toys. Cassiopeia gave Aries a collection of children's books with moving pictures and realistic sound effects. Uncle Marius and Aunt Clytemnestra gave Aries a train set that moved on its own and emitted puffs of colored smoke. Druella, Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco gave Aries a hamper of sweets of every sort imaginable. The presents brought tears to Aries' eyes. He stood up and went to each relative, thank them profusely for their gifts. Pollux ruffled his hair affectionately. Arcturus patted his shoulder roughly. Irma and Melania each gave him a kiss.

     It was only when he stopped in front of Abraxas that Aries realized that he had not received a gift from his grandfather. He didn't miss a beat. "Than you sir, for inviting me to spend Christmas in your house." He said sincerely. Abraxas roared with laughter. "You're welcome, my boy, but I haven't given you and Draco my presents yet." When Draco hear that, he jumped up and stood next to Aries. Abraxas raised his wand and summoned two long boxes, which flew through the open doors of the parlor into the boys hands. Aries and Draco ripped the paper off the boxes eagerly and gasped in unison. "Broomsticks!" the boys exclaimed. "Comet Two Sixties," Abraxas said with a smug grin. "They have training charmed on them to keep you from falling off or loosing control, but you'll have good speed and a full range of motion." He paused. "After breakfast, we can go out into the garden and I'll show you how to fly them. Then perhaps Lucius and I can get our brooms and we'll have a game of two-on-two Quidditch.

     Lucius grumbled a bit in protest, but shut up when his father gave him a withering glare. Aries and Draco, however, could hardly wait. They practically inhaled their bacon and eggs, and then ran back to their rooms to put on their heavy winter cloaks. They came back down and waited by the door as Abraxas and Lucius fetched their brooms. Aries had enjoyed flying on his toy broomstick before now, but the real thing was incomparable, and Aries took to it like a fish to water. Within minutes of first straddling his new broomstick Aries was swooping though the air, all worries forgotten as he whooped in delight. Draco had a bit of difficulty at first, but Abraxas was a surprisingly patient instructor, and after half-an-hour he thought they were ready for a simple game of Quidditch. Abraxas and Harry teamed up against Lucius and Draco and played with only the Quaffle, all player doubling as Chaser and Keeper, with the first team to reach a hundred points winning.

     Abraxas was a stunning player, and Aries, as it turned out, was not so bad himself. They devastated Lucius and Draco in the first game before switching sides. The second game was adults versus children, and the adults won, though Aries and Draco held their own. Aries himself wouldn't have minded a third game, but Draco was sore from having lost twice, Lucius hadn't wanted to play in the first place, and Abraxas was starting to feel his age. They headed back inside in good spirits. Lucius even tousled Aries's and Draco's hair as he wen't upstairs to dress for dinner. "Grandfather was Slytherin Quidditch Captain at Hogwarts for five years," Draco explained as the two boys went to their rooms. "He could have played for England if he wanted, but that was beneath him, of course." Aries went to his room and changed into the brand-new dress robes he had received from Arcturus and Melania that morning. They were a light-blue color that matched his new eyes. Aries still couldn't get used to looking in the mirror and seeing someone else's eyes staring back, though he enjoyed not having to mess around with glasses. ' 

     There was a knock on his door. "Come in," Aries said. It was Uncle Marius. "How are you holding up Aries?" he asked. "Alright," Aries said. "Yesterday was a bit mad, but today's been fun." He grinned. "The broomstick is brilliant." Uncle Marius smiled. "James will be excited to see it, you'll have to tell him how well you flew, he'll be quite proud." Aries's expression turned serious. "Will I be able to go home?" His Uncle hesitated. "I think we have a good chance of working it out," he said. "Abraxas may have won a battle this morning with his Christmas gift to you, but he's managed to bring Pollux and Arcturus together, which, to my knowledge, no one else has ever done before.I think they've agreed to do whatever is necessary to make sure you grow up in a Black home. Abraxas won't see what hit him." "We have a Black home," Aries pointed out. "Exactly." Uncle Marius chuckled. "That's why I said we have a good change of succeeding. You're doing a fine job, Aries. Keep it up, and we can go home tomorrow."