Our Little One

.~*~.Our Little One. ~*~.

Chapter Five

Christmas

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This chapter is not from any particular first-person POV.

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"Oh, what a pity!" Remus exclaimed as he opened a letter he had just got. "Sirius and Severus won't be back until the middle of January!"

"So they can't be here for Christmas?" Lucius asked, seemingly disappointed.

"No," the werewolf said, shaking his head in disappointment. "Sirius says they just can't come yet. Seemingly something is holding them back. But they will come as soon as they can."

(_.-:¤*¨*¤:-._)

"Honestly!" Severus exclaimed with a desperate tone. "I've never been this ashamed in my whole life!"

"Not even when we were snogging on our sixth year and Goyle walked in on us and we had to Obliviate him?" Sirius asked with a small grin.

Severus shot him a glare and then continued with his complaint. "I thought we could have a little bit of fun in the middle of all this work, and what do you do? Get us kicked out of a Muggle children's amusement park!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Sirius said. "We were kicked out because you scared the children. Besides, it wasn't a usual amusement park. It was the Santapark."

He received yet another glare for that. Then Severus turned his back at Sirius, refusing to even look at him.

For a moment they sat in silence. Then Sirius said testingly, "Severus? Are you still mad at me?"

"I should be," the other man replied bitterly. "We went there to meet Santa Claus, after all - and, thanks to you, we had to go away before we caught a glimpse of the man himself!"

"How was I supposed to know that customers weren't allowed to touch the reindeer?" Sirius scowled.

"Actually, we were," Severus disagreed. "But there's a little bit difference between petting or scratching them and that what you did."

"What did I do, then?" Sirius asked innocently.

"You know damn well what you did! You mounted one of the reindeers and shouted out every name of Santa's reindeer you remembered, trying to make it fly!"

"What's so bad about that? They're supposed to fly, after all, aren't they?"

"You behaved like a four-year-old, that's what's so bad! You're a grown man, Sirius, over forty! Even in our society, you're supposed to behave like an adult at this age!"

"What fun would that be?" Sirius replied - pretty childishly, he had to admit.

He got no reply.

A few moments went past in an uncomfortable silence.

At last Sirius reached out a hand to touch his husband's shoulder. "Severus," he said, "I don't think -"

"That's just the point," the Slytherin said bitterly. "You never think. Nothing else matters to you but your own pleasure and amusement. You never think about how it could affect the others, or what the others would think about it, or anything else."

"I can't believe you just said that," Sirius said, raising an eyebrow. Severus? Talking about paying regard to other people and their feelings? Even after Sirius had returned, Severus was still nasty to people he didn't like, and could sometimes say something pretty painful even to those he cared about. He loved Severus with all his heart, but he knew what his husband was like, and this was completely unlike Severus.

"Well, I did," Severus said, still sounding bitter. "You never care. Did you care at Santapark about how I would feel? Did you even think about how embarrassed I'd possibly be? No. You wanted to have fun, so you had fun, consequences be damned!"

'Spoilsport,' word came to Sirius's lips, but he bit his teeth together to stop the word from falling out. He knew that Severus was really angry now, and would probably kill him if he dared to say anything stupid anymore.

"Mister Black is so great that he doesn't have to follow rules! He can behave like a little child if he happens to feel like it! Let the others be adults, Mister Black can be a teenager forever! He can say anything he wants - who cares about his poor husband and his feelings!"

Sirius blinked. This obviously wasn't just about some unfortunate trip to an amusement park. He had said something that had upset Severus - and now he was seemingly going to pay for it.

"You never think before you act! You say just what comes to your mind, you don't have to care about how it affects me, you can insult me whenever you like -"

"Severus," he interrupted, "could you say just what is disturbing you right now?"

"He doesn't even know!" Severus continued his complaint. "Great Mister Black doesn't care about his husband enough to even know what is wrong! He doesn't have to remember his words for a time longer than he needs to open his mouth again!"

Sirius crawled nearer and wrapped his arms around Severus's shoulders. The other man stiffened, but he didn't care. "The only Mister Black who's great at the moment could be quiet for a while and listen," he murmured into his ear. "The poor Mister Black would want to apologize. We both know that I say things I don't really mean, and that I can be very unthoughtful sometimes. Whatever I've now said to make you upset, I apologize for that. I also apologize for my childish behaviour. You're right, I was stupid. But all I can do is to beg your forgiveness."

Severus didn't reply.

"Sev?" he asked, leaning forward to peck his husband on the cheek. "I'm really sorry, I honestly am. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course," Severus sighed. "I'm sorry also, Sirius. I overreacted, and badly. But you know how I am - pile things inside me until I'm too angry to think."

"At least you just whine," Sirius said with a little smile, pulling Severus in his lap. "Remus holds it inside just the same way, but when he breaks up, the explosion scares dragons away. Shit, he scared even Lucius last time I witnessed their row, and that's a lot!"

"So true," the Slytherin replied. Then he glared at Sirius. "Except that I don't whine."

"Oh, you do," Sirius chuckled, kissing his husband's hair. "But that's okay, Sev. You're cute when you whine."

"Immature brat," the other man murmured and poked his side.

"Prissy girl."

"Lousy Gryffindor."

"Slutty Slytherin."

"And that you like, don't you?"

Sirius smiled and kissed Severus right on the mouth. "Can't complain," he admitted.

_~.~*~.~_

There were a few little parcels on the table. Remus sat in a nearby chair, not making any attempt to even look at them, never mind touching them.

"Why don't you take those?" Lucius asked, looking surprised.

"I'd rather not," Remus said with an embarrassed grin. "Every part of the wolf in me screams 'Don't touch!' every time I put my hand near the pile, and I don't think I'd like burned hands for Christmas."

"Oh," Lucius said, understanding his mate's worries. "Silver. Somewhat expected of Severus, wouldn't you say?" He smiled. His former brother-in-law was really fond on silver, and he tried to make everyone around him as surrounded by silver as he himself was - excluding Remus, of course. He knew better than to give silver stuff to a werewolf.

Olivia came to the room. She stopped as she saw the presents on the table, obviously curious to know what they were for.

"These are for you," Lucius said, giving her two parcels. "You may open them now. We'll save the other presents for tomorrow, but Sirius said in his letter that the presents are opened at Christmas Eve in Finland, where they currently are, so I'd guess it's okay to open their presents now."

"For me?" the girl asked, looking surprised. She took the presents, however.

"That one is from Sirius, I believe," Remus said, pointing at the one with blue wrappers. "And the other one is from Severus."

She opened carefully the blue one. There was a letter and an odd-looking quill inside. The quill had one tip, but two feathers - like wings. She stared at it, astonished. "I've never seen anything like this," she said.

"I know what that is," Lucius said, and smiled a bit. "Read the letter."

"Okay," she replied, and looked at the parchment. "'Merry Christmas, Olivia,'" she read aloud. "'Since we can't be there for Christmas, Severus and I decided to send you presents by owl. This is a Voice-Quill. When activated, it'll write down anything you say. Lucius and Severus both have one, they say it's useful when they're brewing potions and want to write down something, so I thought you'd like to have one, too. You just have to write something on a sheet of parchment before using it for the first time so it'll learn your handwriting. Waiting to meet you, Sirius Black.'"

"Those are really useful, you know," Lucius said. "Most of the potions have to be watched very carefully, so when I have to take notes, it'd be impossible if I didn't have one of those." He gestured towards the green parcel, which was slightly larger than the blue one. "Go ahead, open the next one."

She did so. From inside, she found some object wrapped inside another letter. She opened the letter, revealing a snake-shaped test-tube holder. "Oh, this is beautiful!" she exclaimed.

Remus laughed when he saw the present Severus had sent. "Just like him," he laughed. "Snakes. Sirius says Severus's lab is full of snake-shaped stuff. According to him, even the mixing spoons have snake-shaped handles."

"Why don't you know for sure?" Olivia asked, astonished. "Haven't you ever been there?"

"Of course not," Remus chuckled. "Everything is not only snake-shaped, but also made of silver. That holder you got it pure silver - I'd burn my whole arm if I ever tried to touch it. That's why I didn't touch those parcels. I sensed I'd hurt myself even through the parchment and the wrappings."

"Pure silver?" she whispered, looking at the holder. Her eyes were very wide. "Why'd he ever give me something so expensive? I've never even met him!"

Lucius snorted. "Talk about expensive," he laughed. "Olivia, dear, they have more money than they can ever count. They both go to work in order to not get bored, but they really have no need for that. Honestly, if a man can get a lab full of silver only because he happens to like the looks of it, why couldn't he send you a single test-tube holder? Especially as the said laboratory is the largest private one in existence!"

"Talk about spending for the lab," Remus said, imitating Lucius's tones just right. Then he rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Lucius keeps all silver stuff in another lab to keep me safe, so what does he buy the larger laboratory full of? Platinum!"

"Pure metals are best for potions equipment," Lucius said innocently. "And I've never liked gold or copper or anything like that."

Olivia was shocked. "Platinum?" she echoed. "You can't be serious! There are hundreds of tube holders and cauldrons and all there!"

"So?" Lucius shrugged. "What's the point of having money, if you don't use it?" Then he laughed. "Try to get used to it, Olivia. We all have more money than you can probably imagine. You can get practically anything you happen think of."

Olivia merely shook her head, still a bit shocked. Then she smiled slightly. "I'd better take these to my table in the large lab, wouldn't you say?" she said.

"In fact, I have a better idea." Lucius smirked, looking suddenly very cunning. "Follow me, little one. I'll show you something."

Olivia looked a bit surprised, but then she shrugged and followed the blond man.

"We'll be back after a while," Lucius said over his shoulder to his husband before leaving with the girl.

Remus shook his head in amusement. If he guessed right what Lucius was up to, Olivia would soon get the greatest surprise in her life - and very probably the most pleasant one as well.

.-*-.:´¨':.-*-.

It was an almost empty room. There were several tables scattered around ther room, all of them having only magic keeping them up, no legs at all. A reading table and some empty bookshelves stood in one corner of the room, and there were also long tables along the two longer walls, purple magic fires burning in little holes on regular distances. There was a heavy oak door in the other end of the room.

"I've never seen this before," Olivia said, looking around her. "This looks like a laboratory, but where's all the equipment? Cauldrons and the like? And what's this for?"

"This is your lab from now on," Lucius explained and smiled. "An early Christmas present. You can get here any equipment you want, of any metal you want. And behind that door... Well, maybe you'd like to go and see yourself."

She obeyed, her eyes wide of surprise. When she opened the door and saw a tidy closet full of ingredients, she gasped in surprise. "There's - there's everything here!" she exclaimed. "Lizard ears and healing herbs and - oh my, is that dragon blood over there? There's every legal potion ingredient in stock!"

"Right, and not a few illegal ones," Lucius said, and smirked. "I got you anything I have in my own stock. You can do anything you only please with these."

"Really?" she asked, her face beaming in delight. "Oh, thank you so much!"

"You're welcome," he said, grinning. "We can go shopping for the equipment right next week if you want. I've also owled Severus, and he's promised to bring some stuff that can't be found in Britain - it's faster that way than ordering them from abroad."

"Why do you all help me so much?" she asked warily. "I haven't even met him once, and he still promises to help me!"

"You're the youngest in the family now, dear," Remus said from the doorway. "We all want to spoil you as much as we can."

"Remus!" Lucius said happily. "Take a careful look around now. If Olivia wants so, this room will be so full of silver that you'll burn your hand if you touch the door!"

Remus laughed. "I've got not intentions to come here later." He grinned. "You know very well that I've been in the large lab only three times this year. I hated Potions back at school, and I still have a strong dislike towards any lab or alike." Then he smiled, and continued, "I only came down here to remind you that Harry and Draco will be here in an hour."

"Really? We shouldn't linger here for too long, then," Lucius replied. "Olivia? Go and get yourself ready. I'll send a house-elf to fetch you when my son and Harry arrive."

"All right." She smiled before slipping out of the room.

"How did she like it?" Remus asked as he and Lucius started to make their way towards their own rooms.

"She was delighted," Lucius replied. "Just like we thought she would be."

"Good," his werewolf husband said, smiled. "She's a wonderful girl, she deserves to be happy."

"And she will be," Lucius said with a determined voice. "She will be, if I have a say in it."

Remus merely nodded in prefect agreement.

§-)-}*{-(-§

Christmas Day.

The whole Malfoy family - all four members of it - and one of the half-members were gathered in the large sitting room of the Malfoy Manor after the dinner. Remus and Lucius were sitting on one couch, Harry and Draco on another, and Olivia had cuddled up comfortably in a large armchair.

Draco glanced at them. Remus was wearing his usual, simply cut robes, today in a nice, deep blue colour. He had seemingly talked Lucius into wearing green robes instead of his usual black, and Draco had to admit that the dark green dress robe - with the Malfoy snake across the chest, of course - made his father pretty good-looking.

Draco smiled as Harry slipped his arm over his shoulders. They were both currently wearing a sweater and trousers - Harry had a green sweater and golden brown trousers, while Draco himself had a red sweater and silver grey trousers. The Christmas colours, indeed - or Gryffindor and Slytherin, although mixed up.

At last, he fixed his eyes on Olivia. The girl was wearing one of the Malfoy dresses - pale green silk with silver lining - and had one equally Malfoy-ish shawl over her shoulders, the silvery crest in the green cloth placed exactly in the middle of her back. A thin, silver necklace with an emerald pendant was her only jewellery. She looked rather pretty - and a living exemplar of the perfect Mistress of the Malfoy Manor. Her outfit was exactly like those Draco's grandmother had used to wear, and if he hadn't known better, he would have sworn that she had been born to be a Malfoy. His mother, for example, had only worn Malfoy clothes and jewellery in official occasions, where it had been expected. Olivia obviously liked the idea of belonging into a family.

Well, he certainly couldn't blame her.

They were following the usual Christmas tradition of their family: Everyone got most of their presents in the morning without the names of the givers, and after the dinner everyone gave one personal present to everybody else - a tradition created by a whole lot of money, an eagerness to spoil their loved ones rotten, and not enough time or patience to thank everyone specifically for every present. All the adults had already opened their presents and their eyes were now fixed on Olivia, who was yet to receive her own.

"My present," Draco said and grinned, handing out a parcel with silver wrappings, "is here." He looked attentively at the girl, who started to open it carefully. Before long she revealed the present, looking confused. She read the little note Draco had attached and, much to Draco's great delight, laughed happily.

"Thank you," Olivia said, giving him a wide, bemused smile. "This is just what I need!"

"What is it, then?" asked Harry curiously. Harry knew almost every present he had bought to the girl, or to anyone excluding Harry himself - mostly clothes - but Draco had wanted at least the most personal presents to be surprises to his boyfriend. Besides, he had highly doubted if Harry would think it was appropriate, so he hadn't even asked him.

Olivia lifted the strange-looking object up for the others to see. It was a silver snake pendant - Draco was a Malfoy himself, after all - and there were three jewels, a ruby, a sapphire and an emerald magically attached to it.

"I still don't know what it is," Harry complained.

Olivia grinned and took the piece of parchment Draco had put in the parcel again in her hand. "'Snog-O-Meter,'" she read aloud. "'The higher the jewels are on the snake's neck, the greater is the sexual tension between the couples they're presenting. If the jewel is near the snake's head, keep away in order to prevent shocks. The ruby is for Harry and Draco, the sapphire for the Blacks, and the emerald for Malfoys. More jewels can be attached later to present other couples.'"

"Somehow expected of you, Draco," Lucius snorted. "Honestly, is there anything other in your head but clothes and sex?" He was smiling, however, so Draco supposed he was just as amused as Olivia herself.

"What are the jewels currently showing?" Remus asked curiously, with a little smile on his lips.

"Well, you four are all somewhere along the middle of the snake," Olivia smiled. "But the sapphire is - uh-oh."

"What now?" Draco asked, equally curious.

"It just moved on top of the snake's head," she said, and giggled.

"Well, at least we know they are enjoying themselves," Draco laughed.

Lucius leaned a bit forward, with a cunning grin on his face. "So you said our jewels are somewhere around the middle?" he asked, bemused.

Olivia nodded. As she did that, Lucius grinned even more broadly. Then he suddenly pulled Remus into his lap and, much to the werewolf's surprise and the others' amusement, pulled him into a passionate kiss.

"Uh-oh," Olivia said as they stopped. "The emerald just jumped almost an inch upwards - which is a lot, considering that the whole metre is about five inches of length."

Lucius chuckled and Remus shot his husband a mock-glare, but he was smiling, like everybody else. Draco was delighted to see them happy - he highly doubted their mood would be that high for the whole night.

But, Olivia was yet to get the rest of her presents. So on with it.

"This is for you," Harry said and gave her a polished oak box. She looked confused at first, but when she opened it, she squealed in delight.

"Oh, thank you!" she said, lifting a necklace and two large earrings from the box. There was a magpie with a broomstick in the necklace and a little broomstick on each earring. "These are very nice. Very Quidditch-y," she added with a grin.

"They should be," Harry laughed. "Those are the official Montrose Magpies jewellery. Only the players and their families are allowed to buy and wear them."

"Really?" she asked, looking surprised. "Then I'll wear them to every one of your matches I watch!"

"That's what I thought." Harry grinned.

"This is from me," Remus said and gave her a parcel with warm golden wrappers. "I hope you like it."

"That we don't know before I've opened it, right?" The girl smiled. Olivia seemed to have relaxed at last. She ripped of the papers and saw what was inside. "How cute!" she exclaimed. "Totally huggable! Oh, thank you, Remus!" She hugged the large, golden-furred wolf plushie she had found in the parcel and grinned. "I just hope he'll get along with my other plushies," she joked.

"What are you going to call him?" Draco asked, grinning.

"Moony, of course," she smiled, placing the wolf into her lap. "Remus has also bought me a black dog plushie named Padfoot, two black panthers called Lucius and Severus, a small cat-devil I've named Draco, and a husky named Harry. I used to have a Wormtail as well, but I'm afraid Lucius and Severus ate him."

"You can't be serious!" Harry exclaimed.

"I'm grave serious," she replied. "I left them alone one morning, and when I got back, I couldn't find Wormtail anywhere, and both panthers had rather satisfied looks on their faces."

"Plushies don't eat each other," Remus pointed out. "Not even in he Wizarding World."

"If one of them is Wormtail, then they do," Harry said, stepping on Olivia's side. Then he looked very interested. "Did you say that your Draco is a cat-devil?"

"Pretty much so," she replied, smiling. "At least it looks like a cute, black cat, but it has a nasty grin and orange horns on its forehead, so it obviously is a devil."

"Sounds just like my son," Lucius laughed. "He is a little devil, indeed - during my and Remus's honeymoon he called us every five minutes and wouldn't leave us in peace before I had promised to hex him to the moon if he didn't stop bothering us."

"I just wanted to get you out of your hotel room," Draco said, smiling a bit sheepishly. "Knowing you, you wouldn't have left it for a single moment if I hadn't forced you outside!"

Remus blushed a bit, but Lucius was just as calm as usually. "In fact, it wasn't even my promises to hex him," he told Olivia. "He wouldn't stop until I had told him I'd visit him personally three times a day on his honeymoon, should Harry ever be stupid enough to marry him."

Olivia giggled. "You shouldn't have said that," she said, and smiled sweetly. "Now Harry'll never dare to propose to Draco!"

"Well..." Lucius smiled when he saw the slight flush on both of the younger men's faces. "Maybe we could still discuss that bit," he said, a small twinkle in his eyes. "He left us in peace at last, after all."

"And demanded to get wizarding photos of all the famous sights in Paris," Remus reminded dryly. "In the morning, two different times during the day and in the evening, not to forget at night. He wanted to make sure we really were outside, too."

Draco grinned. "And you were, weren't you?" he asked. "That's the point of being on a honeymoon - spending time together in beautiful places! You can shag each other senseless whenever you want, but you only have one honeymoon!"

"Drop it, Draco," Harry said, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling. "Enough already."

"And he counted all the best stores in to the sights," Lucius said, seemingly not ready to drop the topic just yet. "It took forever to get Remus out of them. Maybe that was why he picked them also," he added dryly.

"No," Draco said, smiling mischievously. "It was because Harry had promised to take me to every place you took pictures of."

They all laughed. Or, rather, Remus and Draco laughed, Olivia giggled, and Harry and Lucius exchanged desperate glances before rolling their eyes towards the ceiling.

After they had all settled down a bit, Lucius took something from his pocket and presented it to Olivia. "My other present for you," Lucius said, and smiled. "You won't become a real Mistress before you're sixteen, but at least I can give you this." The blonde man handed her a seal ring, very old-looking, with the Malfoy crest in it.

"Thank you," Olivia said, slipping it in her finger. "This is similar to yours, isn't it?" She glanced at the seal ring in her blonde father's hand.

"Yes, it is," Lucius admitted, grinning a bit. "But it's not just a seal ring. Instead, it has some power, Olivia, like all the other rings of ours. Look." He walked to the nearest mirror, touching it with his own seal ring. A weird, silvery mist immediately spread onto the surface of the mirror, hiding his reflection from sight. "Who are in this room right now?" he asked with a commanding voice.

"Master, Second Master, Young Master, and Young Mistress of Malfoy Manor, and Master of Potter Place," the mirror replied with a cool female voice.

"See?" Lucius smirked, turning back towards Olivia. "The Manor is one big creature, no matter how inanimate it maybe looks like, and the mirrors are the way to access its power. With these rings, it's under our command."

Remus smiled slightly and lifted his own ring in the air. "Mine is made of platinum," he told. "All the originals are of course made of silver, but since I obviously can't have a silver ring in my hand, well..." He shrugged and smiled. "It's good we have money. It was rather expensive to create a magically similar ring of different metal."

"I'm surprised Dad didn't get it made of diamonds," Draco said dryly. "Considering his usual taste of materials, that is."

"Well, he tried," Remus chuckled. "But it turned out that the magic that activates the mirrors can only be placed on metal rings, so he picked platinum instead."

The rest of the night went rather comfortably, talking and - at least on Remus and Olivia's part - eating chocolate.

At some point Remus suddenly got onto his feet, pulling Lucius up with him. "We have something to do," he said, smiling at the others. "We'll be back in a minute."

Draco and Harry replied the older pair's smiles with carefree grins, which were just as faked as theirs were. Olivia, however, was seemingly too concentrated on trying to catch a Chocolate Frog to notice the sudden change in the atmosphere, although she usually seemed to see through every facade or faked emotion.

The three youngest people were left alone. Olivia didn't say anything, and the men didn't have anything to discuss, either. Draco just snuggled up to his lover, staring at the magical fire in the fireplace, and let his thoughts wander around.

"May I go and fetch my book from my room?" Olivia asked suddenly.

"Of course, go ahead," Draco replied, smiling at her. "And Olivia, stop asking permission for every tiny thing. You're the Mistress of Manor, or at least you will be on your sixteenth birthday. Do as you please, we're the guests here."

She gave them a nervous smile, then got onto her feet and walked out of the room. Draco gave Harry a careful glance. His boyfriend smiled sadly at him, then glanced at the now empty doorway.

For a long moment, neither of them said anything.

<<<|>>>

Olivia didn't know what to do.

She had somehow turned at the wrong corner during the way to her room. Now she was completely lost, all these stairways and corridors around her, leading Merlin knew where. Of course she could turn around and try to return the same way she had come, but she was afraid she'd only get even more lost. If she continued walking, she'd eventually end up in some familiar place.

Or so she hoped with all her heart.

Suddenly, she heard something. She couldn't quite tell what it was, but it was definitely a sound. And there were no sounds in Malfoy Manor for no reason. It was either Remus and Lucius, or some house-elf or ghost. Anyway, they could show her the right way.

She quickly went around the corner to see the source of the sound. When she saw it, she froze.

Olivia stared down the corridor. In the end of it she saw a little room, its door wide open. In the room she saw her both adopted fathers, kneeling in front of something she couldn't see properly. Lucius had his hand on Remus's shoulder, and the werewolf was seemingly crying, considering his trembling shoulders and the little sobbing sound that had caught her ear in the first place.

Olivia suddenly got an uncomfortable feeling, like she was spying on something very intimate and secret. She backed away and felt her back colliding with a cold, smooth surface of a mirror. Fortunately she didn't make any sound, but she got frightened and turned around in an instant.

She soon came back to her senses and pressed her ring against the mirror, making the silvery mist appear onto its surface. "What's the fastest way to my room?" she whispered, hoping that the mirror would reply quietly. She didn't want to alarm the two men.

"Just step inside, Young Mistress," replied the same cool voice that had spoken to Lucius, but now with the hushed tone Olivia herself had used.

Olivia was surprised, but obeyed immediately, stepping inside the large mirror. To her great surprise she didn't meet the glass of the mirror. Instead of that, she stepped out of the large mirror in her own room.

She glanced around to make sure she was indeed in the right room. This was just too bizarre to believe. But yes, she was in her own room. The mirror had brought her right where she had wanted to go.

She saw her book and grasped on it, clutching it like it was an anchor keeping her in the world of sanity. She had experienced far too many surprises for one day. All she wanted to do was to curl up in a comfortable armchair and concentrate on her book. Potions were something she could understand, and control as she pleased. Not mirrors that worked like doors, not her new guardians crying for no seeming reason. Only potions. Normal, understandable potions with no surprises, if you made them carefully.

She walked to the door and hurried away towards the master sitting room.

\,//'\,//'\,//

Everything was comfortable and nice and quiet. Draco and Harry were talking quietly together. Olivia had wrapped a blanket around herself and snuggled up in an armchair, her large recipe book open in her lap. Every now and then she took a new piece of chocolate, tugged it into her mouth and turned the page.

Suddenly the door was opened. They all raised their eyes, waiting to see the two Masters of the Manor. To their surprise they only saw Lucius, walking inside with his always-present cane.

"Where's Remus?" Olivia asked curiously. She tried to ignore the disturbing thought in the back of her mind, nagging at her, 'I shouldn't have been there, I shouldn't have seen them, they'd go mad at me if they knew...'

"He was a bit tired," Lucius said with a smile. "He went resting for a while." Olivia immediately saw that his smile wasn't genuine, though. She had become very good at reading people's feelings - more like a protective reflex than a real talent, but still useful - and she knew that Lucius was just as 'tired' as Remus. Most probably he had cried, too.

What was it that was distracting them? What could make them so upset at Christmas? Olivia wanted to know. She couldn't ask them, as she didn't want them to get mad at her, but she needed to know. If she knew what was upsetting them, she could avoid the topic and thus stop them from becoming angry at her.

Yes. She had to know what was going on.

And she saw only one way to get to know.

_-=-_-=-_

Olivia stared in front of herself in frustration. This was the right corridor, she was sure about that. She recognized the pictures on the walls, the carpet on the floor, everything. She had even asked the mirror in the end of the corridor, no matter how nervous it made her to trust a seemingly inanimate object. This was indeed the right corridor.

But there was no door. No door, no entrance, not even a little hole in the solid stone wall. There were no other doors in the corridor, only this wall in the end of it. A dead end. The whole corridor seemed to be built in order to fill some waste space.

But she had seen them, hadn't she? The open door, and the room, and the two crying men inside. She hadn't dreamed.

But now they weren't there. Only a thick, hard wall, preventing her finding any of those.

'Maybe I could crash it with a spell,' she thought. Oh, yes. Very funny, indeed.

She kicked the wall in frustration and marched away. Seemingly the secret of her guardians was to stay unrevealed for still some time to come.