Forever Yours

Chapter 23: A Family Christmas Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the people or places that belong to the wonderful world of Harry Potter, as they belong to J.K. Rowling. The OCs (Katherine, Septimus, Serenity, Helena, Christoph, Elisa, Henry, Nick and any name you don't recognize, and isn't from the HP universe) are entirely my own.

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The large green steam engine rolled into Union Station at five o'clock in the evening, bringing with it hundreds of students that were coming home for the holidays. Parents rushed forward to claim their children and luggage, before whisking them off to the Apparation point that was located a block down from the station.

Severus and Christoph collected the four children by themselves that Sunday afternoon, since Serenity was still too young to travel by Apparation and Elisa was called away on an emergency delivery. Luckily it didn't take long for the wizards to find the kids amongst the crowd.

"Good Lord," Christoph muttered. "I think that boy's grown five inches since we saw him last."

It was true. Seeing Septimus getting off the train, the sixteen year old towered above the rest of the students. Clinging to the boy's arm was none other than Helena, who was beaming and waving happily to her other friends as they headed towards their fathers. Nick and Henry bounded merrily behind the couple, chatting away a mile a minute; that was until they was their dad.

"DAD!" they shouted in unison, and bolted past Helena and Septimus. The boys broke into a full run and launched themselves towards Christoph; attaching themselves one on each side, which nearly knocked the poor wizard over.

"Dad!" Nick shouted as he clung to Christoph's left side. "We got to sit up front with the older kids!"

"And we talked about Quidditch and brooms and..." Henry babbled, clinging to his father's right.

"And I think that two boys used up their entire allowance on the train's snack cart," Christoph said, as he looked pointedly up at his daughter, while the boys continued to ramble on. "Helena, I asked you to please watch your brothers while on the train, so that they didn't get into trouble."

"Sorry," Helena muttered, suddenly turning sheepish. "At least they were in the same compartment as us."

"Dad! Dad? Are you even listening to us anymore?" Nick asked hastily.

"Urghh...your mother's going to be furious," Chirstoph groaned, as he attempted to pry the boys off of him.

"Hey dad," Septimus said, as he chuckled lightly at the two younger boys. "Where's mom?"

"At home with you sister," Severus said, as he collected Septimus' trunk and shrunk it to a smaller size. "Since Serenity is two weeks premature, Apparating is a greater risk."

"Elisa was going to watch her, so that your mother could come with, but," Christoph paused, as he shrunk his own children's trunks. "She was called out on an emergency delivery."

"Who dad?" Helena asked as she picked up her pint sized trunk and put it in her pocket.

"Mrs. Jonson," Christoph said, as he pocketed the boys' trunks.

"But I thought she wasn't due till the middle of February?"

"She wasn't."

"Oh no," Helena gasped. "What happened?"

"Don't know," Christoph sighed, as the group began making their way to the exit. "All I know is that the Floo flared up minutes before we were ready to leave, and your mother hustled out with her things quickly after that."