Post by Alesia on Dec 16, 2005 17:17:30 GMT -5
Here is a bit of Christmas fluff that hopped on me in the form of a plot bunny that would just not go away no matter how much I tried.
As always I would like and do appreciate constructive feedback. I am not sure it came out as good as it sounded in my head. I will probably go back and clean it up at least once or twice more if there is something that really bugs you let me know.
Oh and it needs a title if you have any ideas.
(And yes, I am still working on the next piece of 'How Will He Know' but I am fighting with the angst monster so we will see who wins. ;D)
Title: The Christmas Gift
Summary: Albus and Minerva get a few days away during the Christmas Holiday.
Rating: 13+ for small bits to tang
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Snowflakes stuck to the windows panes of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The early morning sun found the castle and most of its few Christmas inhabitants still wrapped warmly in their beds. The paltry number of students in the castle still abed dreaming of a few more days off from classes and the presents they’d received the day before. The scant number of staff members who choose to remain at Hogwarts over the holiday, were sleeping off their forthcoming hangovers. The annual Staff Christmas party held the night before saw a record amount of alcohol consumed thanks to the arrival of a new batch of Madame Rosmerta’s oak aged mead curtsey of Professor Kettleburn. However, two among the adult population of the school were up to greet the early morning sun.
“You are ready to go, love?” The last of her muggle clothing floated easily into her tartan carpetbag.
“Humm? Oh, yes. I am ready whenever you are, my dear.” He caught the arch of her eyebrow, signaling her unspoken question at his distraction. He spoke the answer aloud. “I enjoy our time away from school during the holidays so much. I fear with the growing number of deaths and disappearances this will be the last opportunity for us to get away to our Christmas retreat for a while.”
Her small hand cupped his face. She smiled devotedly before placing a tender kiss on his lips and ran her hand lightly over his silver beard. The auburn had slowly disappeared during her twenty years of teaching. Minerva once wondered whether the color change was his age catching up with him or the idea of having his wife in the castle with him everyday. “We will stand and face the threats to our world together, as we agreed to do long ago.” After another kiss and a pat on his chest, she pulled away from him. “Now, come, I long to feel the sand under my feet and walk with you hand in hand down our beach.”
Chuckling, he took her hand, laying it in its customary place in the crook of his elbow. “Would my lovely and wise wife allow me to buy her breakfast in muggle London after I pick up the portkey from the Ministry?”
With a wink and a nod from her, they were off.
The laughter mixed with the sound of the surf meeting the sand. Five young girls occupied a swing set in front of a small seaside cottage nestled on a secluded beach. One, the youngest of the five, sat a top a slide. Hands crossed over her chest, legs folded Indian style, and her sandy brown hair whipped in the wind, she could not have been more then five years old but her face held a look of consternation normally only seen on those much older then her tender years.
Two others, the older, a curly haired brunette about seven or eight, and her partner in crime, a slightly younger raven-haired girl with brilliant brown eyes and an infectious smile, sat in the only two swings. They were each twisting the chains of their swings as much as they could. When they let go, the chains would untwist and the two girls would spin wildly, giggling the entire time.
The tweeter totter held the oldest two of the five. A tall, slim, tanned skinned girl with dark hair about ten or eleven sat watching her two younger sibling’s antics. She laughed uproariously as the legs of the two spinning girls caught and the curly headed brunette landed in the sand with a thud.
“Serves you right!” shouted the nine year old with porcelain white skin and straight black hair. She stood with her arms folded and shot a disapproving glare at her rambunctious sisters. Though not the oldest, clearly, she deemed herself in charge. The young girl in the sand stared up at her older sibling and fell into a fit of giggles. Her spinning partner was attacked with a similar giggling affliction and fell off the swing into the lap of her laughing sister. “What’s so funny, anyway?”
“Oh come on, Nicole,” said the giggling brunette. “You are just…mad because Meredith and I…got to the swings before you.” She was gulping for air in between fits of snickering. “What’s so funny is that you look exactly like Gran. You have the same look on your face as Gran did when…she caught Faith and Cosette in the kitchen nicking the Christmas cookies.” With this, she gave into the snickers and fell backwards into the sand.
“Bonnie.” Faith, with a fluid grace that matched her flawless tan skin, stepped off the tweeter totter and came to stand over the two girls in the sand. “You know the only reason Gran even caught us was because you knocked over the soap dish as you climbed out the kitchen window!” Bonnie, whose curls now fell in her eyes, smiled and raised her shoulders up in a shrug but offering no response or excuse for her clumsiness. “Mere,” Faith leveled her best ‘I am the oldest and you will listen to me stare’ at the brown eyes of her younger sister. “You shouldn’t be laughing either. It was your and Cole’s job to keep Gran occupied while we got the cookies.”
Meredith extracted herself from her sister and stood. The seven year old was nowhere near the height of her oldest sister, Faith, but she was not much shorter then the nine year old, Nicole. Pointing her finger at Nicole, Meredith accused Nicole of not helping with the assignment to distract their guardian. Meredith’s accusation quickly brought retribution in the form of a four-way argument of who was to blame for the failed cookie mission.
The argument ended abruptly as the voice of five-year old, Cosette, permeated the shouts of the other four girls.
“They’re here! They are here! I told you they would come.” Four sets of eyes turned up to Cosette, who was now ending on top of the slide pointing in the direction of the nearest cottage some 10 yards away. Cosette lithely slid down the slide and ran to the white picket fence, which surrounded the home of the five girls. Her four sisters scampered to her side. Bonnie and Meredith plopped down on each side of Cosette while Faith and Nicole flanked the three on opposite sides and sat in the sand. Five sets of eyes bore through the slats of the fence hoping for a glimpse of the newly arrived neighbors.
“Oh, Albus, I do so love this cottage! I am so glad we are able to rent it every year.” Minerva spun around absorbing the ease and tranquility surrounding their ready-made hideaway.
“Well, love; I can assure you the muggle owner is very happy to be able to rent a summer cottage in the middle of the winter. I am sure he does not quite understand why an old man like me would want to spend the week after Christmas by the beach. However, I am equally sure he likes the extra income. Now, enough about the cottage, I want to concentrate on something much more stimulating.” She laughed as he pulled her into his arms and placed a passionate kiss on her lips.
As his mouth left hers, moving down her neck, she sighed. The relaxation of being away from the school overtook her and she turned her head toward the window. Her vision was better then most would think and through the dining room window, she could see the five figures hidden behind the fence watching them intently. Minerva’s eyes narrowed and she stilled Albus’ hands.
“Love, it seems we have an audience.” She head tilted to the window. Albus looked over his half moon spectacles and peered toward the neighboring cottage.
He chuckled and shook his head. “It does indeed seem so.” He left her warm embrace and closed the blinds on the window. “Now, where were we?” Attacking her luscious neck with vigor, left Albus’ breath increasingly short but a sideways glance at Minerva’s face told him she was distracted. Stilling his movements, he questioned her. “Love, where are you? What are you thinking about? Certainly not my kisses.”
She startled at the sound of his voice and blushed at having been caught with her mind elsewhere. “I am sorry, Albus. My mind drifted to our five young onlookers. I never could get any of them to speak to me last year.” A look of hurt and guilt flashed on her face. “They seem almost afraid of me. I am not that scary, am I?”
Albus took her hand and guided her to the couch in the living room. Settling in the corner of the settee, he guided her to his lap and placed a kiss on her forehead. “No, Minerva, you are not. I had the same problem with them as well.” He traced the outlines of her face while she fiddled with his beard, a sure sign to him she was distressed. “Initially, I thought it might have been because we would be seeing them at Hogwarts and they could sense our magic. When we returned after our stay here last year, I peeked at the book. Unfortunately, it would seem I am mistaken.”
“Then why Albus? Why would they be too in awe to speak to us?”
His hands had started to roam again, one up and down her back and the other intertwining his fingers with hers. “I do not know. The grocer in the village did tell me an elderly woman adopted all five of them when the youngest was just under a year old.” Albus brought a hand to her lips at the saddened expression in her eyes. “He did say the woman dotes on them but the girls are well mannered and behave when they visit the village.”
The fingers, that had been rubbing her back, where now traveling through her hair after having removed the pins of her bun. His breath caressed her neck as he spoke. “Maybe we should go over and introduce ourselves to their guardian in the hopes of meeting her young ladies.” Albus could feel Minerva relax against him as she gave into the feelings his touch was invoking in her. He kissed the spot on her neck just behind her earlobe. “But later, my sweet, later. We will go over later.”
“I am going over now; I don’t care what you say!” Cosette stamped her foot in the sand. She glared a challenge at her sisters. Receiving no further resistance, Cosette stomped through the gate and toward the nearby cottage.
“Bonnie, come on! Let’s go with her. I want to know too.” Meredith scrambled out of the sand and ran after Cosette.
Bonnie turned toward Faith and Nicole who remained in the sand. “Come on, you two, you want to know as badly as they do. Besides if anything happens to them, Gran will have our heads!” She grinded as she grabbed both her older sisters up by the forearms and the three of them darted after Cosette and Meredith.
The sated couple laid still, lovingly entwined in each other’s arms and bodies. Minerva ran her fingers over the tight curls of hair on Albus’ chest. Her movements paused and she raised her head up at the sound of what she thought was a soft knocking at the door of their cottage. Squinting her eyes and pushing her lips together in a vain attempt to divine whether there really had been a knock at the door, Minerva managed to resist Albus’ bid to distract her from the outside world by tracing the outline of her breasts with his fingers. Another knock, louder this time, drove Minerva off Albus and out of the bed. Wrapping her green tartan dressing gown around her, Minerva answered the door.
Her own eyes met five sets of wide eyes, three brown, one green and one blue belonging to the girls she and Albus had been discussing not just an hour ago. Curious as to what could have prompted a visit such as this, Minerva welcomed them inside.
Bonnie put a hand on the shoulders of Meredith and Cosette, both of whom had taken a step forward. “No, madam, we wouldn’t want to disturb the two of you today, since you both must be very tired after such a busy day yesterday. But well, these are my sisters, Cosette, Meredith, Nicole and Faith. I am Bonnie. And we…well…um…Cosette had.”
Bonnie moved her head to indicate her youngest sister who stood in front of her staring at Minerva. Cosette’s eyes were as wide with wonder as any first year’s. “Cosette wanted to prove to the rest of us she was right and she wouldn’t wait until later. Faith and Nicole,” Bonnie again moved her head to indicate which of her sisters she spoke of. “They don’t believe her and well, the only way to prove it was to come ask.”
Minerva, still confused by what the middle child had said bent down to look eye to eye with the two youngest. “What did you want to prove, petal?” Out of instinct, Minerva called the girl by the pet name her father used for her and her sisters.
Just as Cosette was about to speak a movement behind Minerva caught the youngest girl’s eye, she and Meredith both quickly hid behind Faith and Nicole. Minerva stood and turned to see what would have frightened the girls so easily. Minerva giggled as she saw what had frightened the young girls. Albus was coming towards the door in his fur trimmed burgundy dressing gown.
“I see we have guests, my love. Let’s invite them in.”
While Albus had spoken, Bonnie turned around and in a child’s whisper spoke at her older sisters. “See, Cosette’s right. It is them! Now is our chance to say thank you.”
Bonnie’s whisper caught both Albus and Minerva’s attention. What did these young girls know? Had they somehow found out about the wizarding world? And how did they know about Albus and Minerva? Albus was the first to react.
“Excuse me, my child, but who do you think we are?”
“And why would we be so tired after yesterday?” Minerva had not been able to resist her need to understand what Bonnie had referred to when she first answered the door. Bonnie paled a bit at the questions of both adults; she looked to Faith for help.
Faith straightened before she spoke. “My sisters and I want to say thank you. Thank you for keeping us together and bringing Gran to us.” Albus and Minerva were now both confused thoroughly. Her hand in Albus’, Minerva bent down level with the children.
“I am sorry, little one but my husband and I don’t understand what we did to help you.”
This time Nicole spoke. “We were adopted at Christmas time four years ago. If you hadn’t brought Gran to the orphanage that day we would have been separated. So we kind of think of Gran as the best Christmas present we have ever gotten.” Minerva could only nod as she felt the tears form. Albus bent down and wrapped an arm around his wife.
“I understand your gratefulness for your ‘Gran’ but how did we help bring her to you?”
At Albus’ words, Cosette and Meredith started to laugh. Meredith poked her head around from behind Faith. The look Meredith gave Albus and Minerva was one of a child with a secret to tell.
“Because you are Santa and she is Mrs. Claus. That’s why, silly.”
The End
As always I would like and do appreciate constructive feedback. I am not sure it came out as good as it sounded in my head. I will probably go back and clean it up at least once or twice more if there is something that really bugs you let me know.
Oh and it needs a title if you have any ideas.
(And yes, I am still working on the next piece of 'How Will He Know' but I am fighting with the angst monster so we will see who wins. ;D)
Title: The Christmas Gift
Summary: Albus and Minerva get a few days away during the Christmas Holiday.
Rating: 13+ for small bits to tang
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Snowflakes stuck to the windows panes of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The early morning sun found the castle and most of its few Christmas inhabitants still wrapped warmly in their beds. The paltry number of students in the castle still abed dreaming of a few more days off from classes and the presents they’d received the day before. The scant number of staff members who choose to remain at Hogwarts over the holiday, were sleeping off their forthcoming hangovers. The annual Staff Christmas party held the night before saw a record amount of alcohol consumed thanks to the arrival of a new batch of Madame Rosmerta’s oak aged mead curtsey of Professor Kettleburn. However, two among the adult population of the school were up to greet the early morning sun.
“You are ready to go, love?” The last of her muggle clothing floated easily into her tartan carpetbag.
“Humm? Oh, yes. I am ready whenever you are, my dear.” He caught the arch of her eyebrow, signaling her unspoken question at his distraction. He spoke the answer aloud. “I enjoy our time away from school during the holidays so much. I fear with the growing number of deaths and disappearances this will be the last opportunity for us to get away to our Christmas retreat for a while.”
Her small hand cupped his face. She smiled devotedly before placing a tender kiss on his lips and ran her hand lightly over his silver beard. The auburn had slowly disappeared during her twenty years of teaching. Minerva once wondered whether the color change was his age catching up with him or the idea of having his wife in the castle with him everyday. “We will stand and face the threats to our world together, as we agreed to do long ago.” After another kiss and a pat on his chest, she pulled away from him. “Now, come, I long to feel the sand under my feet and walk with you hand in hand down our beach.”
Chuckling, he took her hand, laying it in its customary place in the crook of his elbow. “Would my lovely and wise wife allow me to buy her breakfast in muggle London after I pick up the portkey from the Ministry?”
With a wink and a nod from her, they were off.
The laughter mixed with the sound of the surf meeting the sand. Five young girls occupied a swing set in front of a small seaside cottage nestled on a secluded beach. One, the youngest of the five, sat a top a slide. Hands crossed over her chest, legs folded Indian style, and her sandy brown hair whipped in the wind, she could not have been more then five years old but her face held a look of consternation normally only seen on those much older then her tender years.
Two others, the older, a curly haired brunette about seven or eight, and her partner in crime, a slightly younger raven-haired girl with brilliant brown eyes and an infectious smile, sat in the only two swings. They were each twisting the chains of their swings as much as they could. When they let go, the chains would untwist and the two girls would spin wildly, giggling the entire time.
The tweeter totter held the oldest two of the five. A tall, slim, tanned skinned girl with dark hair about ten or eleven sat watching her two younger sibling’s antics. She laughed uproariously as the legs of the two spinning girls caught and the curly headed brunette landed in the sand with a thud.
“Serves you right!” shouted the nine year old with porcelain white skin and straight black hair. She stood with her arms folded and shot a disapproving glare at her rambunctious sisters. Though not the oldest, clearly, she deemed herself in charge. The young girl in the sand stared up at her older sibling and fell into a fit of giggles. Her spinning partner was attacked with a similar giggling affliction and fell off the swing into the lap of her laughing sister. “What’s so funny, anyway?”
“Oh come on, Nicole,” said the giggling brunette. “You are just…mad because Meredith and I…got to the swings before you.” She was gulping for air in between fits of snickering. “What’s so funny is that you look exactly like Gran. You have the same look on your face as Gran did when…she caught Faith and Cosette in the kitchen nicking the Christmas cookies.” With this, she gave into the snickers and fell backwards into the sand.
“Bonnie.” Faith, with a fluid grace that matched her flawless tan skin, stepped off the tweeter totter and came to stand over the two girls in the sand. “You know the only reason Gran even caught us was because you knocked over the soap dish as you climbed out the kitchen window!” Bonnie, whose curls now fell in her eyes, smiled and raised her shoulders up in a shrug but offering no response or excuse for her clumsiness. “Mere,” Faith leveled her best ‘I am the oldest and you will listen to me stare’ at the brown eyes of her younger sister. “You shouldn’t be laughing either. It was your and Cole’s job to keep Gran occupied while we got the cookies.”
Meredith extracted herself from her sister and stood. The seven year old was nowhere near the height of her oldest sister, Faith, but she was not much shorter then the nine year old, Nicole. Pointing her finger at Nicole, Meredith accused Nicole of not helping with the assignment to distract their guardian. Meredith’s accusation quickly brought retribution in the form of a four-way argument of who was to blame for the failed cookie mission.
The argument ended abruptly as the voice of five-year old, Cosette, permeated the shouts of the other four girls.
“They’re here! They are here! I told you they would come.” Four sets of eyes turned up to Cosette, who was now ending on top of the slide pointing in the direction of the nearest cottage some 10 yards away. Cosette lithely slid down the slide and ran to the white picket fence, which surrounded the home of the five girls. Her four sisters scampered to her side. Bonnie and Meredith plopped down on each side of Cosette while Faith and Nicole flanked the three on opposite sides and sat in the sand. Five sets of eyes bore through the slats of the fence hoping for a glimpse of the newly arrived neighbors.
“Oh, Albus, I do so love this cottage! I am so glad we are able to rent it every year.” Minerva spun around absorbing the ease and tranquility surrounding their ready-made hideaway.
“Well, love; I can assure you the muggle owner is very happy to be able to rent a summer cottage in the middle of the winter. I am sure he does not quite understand why an old man like me would want to spend the week after Christmas by the beach. However, I am equally sure he likes the extra income. Now, enough about the cottage, I want to concentrate on something much more stimulating.” She laughed as he pulled her into his arms and placed a passionate kiss on her lips.
As his mouth left hers, moving down her neck, she sighed. The relaxation of being away from the school overtook her and she turned her head toward the window. Her vision was better then most would think and through the dining room window, she could see the five figures hidden behind the fence watching them intently. Minerva’s eyes narrowed and she stilled Albus’ hands.
“Love, it seems we have an audience.” She head tilted to the window. Albus looked over his half moon spectacles and peered toward the neighboring cottage.
He chuckled and shook his head. “It does indeed seem so.” He left her warm embrace and closed the blinds on the window. “Now, where were we?” Attacking her luscious neck with vigor, left Albus’ breath increasingly short but a sideways glance at Minerva’s face told him she was distracted. Stilling his movements, he questioned her. “Love, where are you? What are you thinking about? Certainly not my kisses.”
She startled at the sound of his voice and blushed at having been caught with her mind elsewhere. “I am sorry, Albus. My mind drifted to our five young onlookers. I never could get any of them to speak to me last year.” A look of hurt and guilt flashed on her face. “They seem almost afraid of me. I am not that scary, am I?”
Albus took her hand and guided her to the couch in the living room. Settling in the corner of the settee, he guided her to his lap and placed a kiss on her forehead. “No, Minerva, you are not. I had the same problem with them as well.” He traced the outlines of her face while she fiddled with his beard, a sure sign to him she was distressed. “Initially, I thought it might have been because we would be seeing them at Hogwarts and they could sense our magic. When we returned after our stay here last year, I peeked at the book. Unfortunately, it would seem I am mistaken.”
“Then why Albus? Why would they be too in awe to speak to us?”
His hands had started to roam again, one up and down her back and the other intertwining his fingers with hers. “I do not know. The grocer in the village did tell me an elderly woman adopted all five of them when the youngest was just under a year old.” Albus brought a hand to her lips at the saddened expression in her eyes. “He did say the woman dotes on them but the girls are well mannered and behave when they visit the village.”
The fingers, that had been rubbing her back, where now traveling through her hair after having removed the pins of her bun. His breath caressed her neck as he spoke. “Maybe we should go over and introduce ourselves to their guardian in the hopes of meeting her young ladies.” Albus could feel Minerva relax against him as she gave into the feelings his touch was invoking in her. He kissed the spot on her neck just behind her earlobe. “But later, my sweet, later. We will go over later.”
“I am going over now; I don’t care what you say!” Cosette stamped her foot in the sand. She glared a challenge at her sisters. Receiving no further resistance, Cosette stomped through the gate and toward the nearby cottage.
“Bonnie, come on! Let’s go with her. I want to know too.” Meredith scrambled out of the sand and ran after Cosette.
Bonnie turned toward Faith and Nicole who remained in the sand. “Come on, you two, you want to know as badly as they do. Besides if anything happens to them, Gran will have our heads!” She grinded as she grabbed both her older sisters up by the forearms and the three of them darted after Cosette and Meredith.
The sated couple laid still, lovingly entwined in each other’s arms and bodies. Minerva ran her fingers over the tight curls of hair on Albus’ chest. Her movements paused and she raised her head up at the sound of what she thought was a soft knocking at the door of their cottage. Squinting her eyes and pushing her lips together in a vain attempt to divine whether there really had been a knock at the door, Minerva managed to resist Albus’ bid to distract her from the outside world by tracing the outline of her breasts with his fingers. Another knock, louder this time, drove Minerva off Albus and out of the bed. Wrapping her green tartan dressing gown around her, Minerva answered the door.
Her own eyes met five sets of wide eyes, three brown, one green and one blue belonging to the girls she and Albus had been discussing not just an hour ago. Curious as to what could have prompted a visit such as this, Minerva welcomed them inside.
Bonnie put a hand on the shoulders of Meredith and Cosette, both of whom had taken a step forward. “No, madam, we wouldn’t want to disturb the two of you today, since you both must be very tired after such a busy day yesterday. But well, these are my sisters, Cosette, Meredith, Nicole and Faith. I am Bonnie. And we…well…um…Cosette had.”
Bonnie moved her head to indicate her youngest sister who stood in front of her staring at Minerva. Cosette’s eyes were as wide with wonder as any first year’s. “Cosette wanted to prove to the rest of us she was right and she wouldn’t wait until later. Faith and Nicole,” Bonnie again moved her head to indicate which of her sisters she spoke of. “They don’t believe her and well, the only way to prove it was to come ask.”
Minerva, still confused by what the middle child had said bent down to look eye to eye with the two youngest. “What did you want to prove, petal?” Out of instinct, Minerva called the girl by the pet name her father used for her and her sisters.
Just as Cosette was about to speak a movement behind Minerva caught the youngest girl’s eye, she and Meredith both quickly hid behind Faith and Nicole. Minerva stood and turned to see what would have frightened the girls so easily. Minerva giggled as she saw what had frightened the young girls. Albus was coming towards the door in his fur trimmed burgundy dressing gown.
“I see we have guests, my love. Let’s invite them in.”
While Albus had spoken, Bonnie turned around and in a child’s whisper spoke at her older sisters. “See, Cosette’s right. It is them! Now is our chance to say thank you.”
Bonnie’s whisper caught both Albus and Minerva’s attention. What did these young girls know? Had they somehow found out about the wizarding world? And how did they know about Albus and Minerva? Albus was the first to react.
“Excuse me, my child, but who do you think we are?”
“And why would we be so tired after yesterday?” Minerva had not been able to resist her need to understand what Bonnie had referred to when she first answered the door. Bonnie paled a bit at the questions of both adults; she looked to Faith for help.
Faith straightened before she spoke. “My sisters and I want to say thank you. Thank you for keeping us together and bringing Gran to us.” Albus and Minerva were now both confused thoroughly. Her hand in Albus’, Minerva bent down level with the children.
“I am sorry, little one but my husband and I don’t understand what we did to help you.”
This time Nicole spoke. “We were adopted at Christmas time four years ago. If you hadn’t brought Gran to the orphanage that day we would have been separated. So we kind of think of Gran as the best Christmas present we have ever gotten.” Minerva could only nod as she felt the tears form. Albus bent down and wrapped an arm around his wife.
“I understand your gratefulness for your ‘Gran’ but how did we help bring her to you?”
At Albus’ words, Cosette and Meredith started to laugh. Meredith poked her head around from behind Faith. The look Meredith gave Albus and Minerva was one of a child with a secret to tell.
“Because you are Santa and she is Mrs. Claus. That’s why, silly.”
The End
Minerva would make a stunning Mrs. C!
