A girl who is dangerously lionhearted knows there's something twisted about the boy everyone else loves
A boy who can't help but make all the wrong choices finds there's many unordinary things to the girl no one thinks of as anything unordinary
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The Princes had sent dazzling lights to sparkle near the ceiling. It looked like there was a little galaxy suspended far above their heads. The barn was warm, though Saffron assumed that was also an enchantment, as there was no fire. The smell of freshly made holiday food and dried plants mixed in the air. It was a strange smell, but sort of pleasant in an even stranger way.
The Prince family, the Macmillans, and the DuMonts were already in the barn. Arthur's wife, Sarah, had brought over their holiday upright piano to the barn and had enchanted it to play some traditional Christmas music on its own. It was an old Cable Company upright that was beat-up enough Arthur didn't mind having it outside in the cold.
Eileen was helping her parents with the banquet table of food and the Macmillans were talking to Arthur. When Arthur spotted Saffron, he beckoned her over, pointing briefly at Tom and Soren as well. After dropping their food off on the banquet table, they went to see him.
"My star musician has arrived!" Arthur said, joyously. He glanced at Winston Macmillan, a broad-shouldered boy with dark hair, heavy eyebrows, and a face that looked a few years older than his true seventeen. "No offense,"
Winston forced a smile. "None taken,"
Winston had also taken music lessons from Arthur. He'd chosen to play the trumpet. There was a brief couple of weeks when everyone thought he was a prodigy because, in the span of a month, he'd gone from sounding like a tortured elephant to Louis Armstrong. They eventually discovered Winston's father had gotten so fed up with his son's terribleness that he'd enchanted the trumpet to smooth out the squeaks and mistakes on its own.
This was news to Winston who was so dejected that he quit the instrument altogether. Arthur had forced Mr. Macmillan to reverse the spell. For months after it happened, Saffron had to suffer through long rants bookending her lessons about how disrespectful the wizarding community was to music. Still, from then on, Winston could only be occasionally coerced to play for the holidays once he'd had enough firewhiskey in his system.
"I'm still expecting you to perform that Liszt piece after we've all had enough to eat," Arthur said, leaning in and grinning conspiratorially.
"It's not really a holiday piece," Saffron said, anxiously.
Arthur waved her off. "Nonsense." His grin widened. "Tell you what. If you play, then I'll play something as well,"
This was all Saffron needed to hear. "Yes, okay, we have a deal,"
Once the O'Dwyer family arrived, Victoria called everyone's attention, using her wand to amplify her voice, though it wasn't really necessary. She warned everyone to be respectful and not take too much of one dish. She then counted people off into a line.
Saffron was eighth in line, Tom was ninth. To her credit, Victoria put herself, Aled, and Owen last in line. It also gave Saffron the chance to impersonate her to the amusement of Soren in front of her and Collin standing behind Tom.
