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Up to the age of eleven, Leta Lestrange had never known what Christmas was. Her father didn’t celebrate it, and had never even told her about any kind of holiday. She didn’t leave the house much either, only to go out into the garden. Her nanny had told her a couple of things about Christmas but never the whole story. She would have faced some repercussions from Corvus if he had said too much to Leta.
When Leta turned eleven and she was at Hogwarts, she was a little bewildered by all of the decorations and lights. She didn’t even have anyone to ask to find out what the Christmas holidays meant, nobody to ask what Christmas meant. She spent her first and second Christmas alone though. Nobody at Hogwarts had really spoken to her. There was a Hufflepuff boy that sat next to her in potions but he kept to himself just as much as she did. He was the only person that she had noticed who didn’t join in with making fun of her, and he didn’t laugh at the comments people made like some others did.
In her third year, the Hufflepuff boy who was called Newt had stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays for the first time. It was then that Leta had befriended him and that they spent that Christmas holiday together. They had spent some time in Newt’s creature cupboard, and snuck into the kitchens so that they could indulge on the Christmas food that the elves were cooking up for everyone.
Leta’s next few Christmases had been at the Scamander household. Newt had invited her to stay for the holidays, and she had met his family and the hippogriffs that his mother had bred. It was one of the first times that Leta actually felt like she had a proper family Christmas. Newt’s mother had even got her a couple of gifts which she hadn’t been expecting at all. It was when Newt had been expelled that she hadn’t expected to be invited back, she was the reason that he had been expelled after all. Newt had sent her a Christmas card and a gift, with her sending one back to him as well.
She had met back up with Newt again in person when she was eighteen. He had invited her to come and spend Christmas day with him, since they would both likely be alone. Leta was quite happy to have someone to spend Christmas with though. That was until Newt had gone travelling. They still wrote to each other but the letters were becoming less and less frequent. She still sent a Christmas card though, every year until they could spend Christmas together again.
The next time that Leta got to spend Christmas with Newt, she had been married to Theseus and with a baby on the way. Newt had come over to Theseus and Leta’s place, bringing Tina along with him too.
“I for one am just happy that we have another girl here to spend Christmas with,” Leta grinned and pulled Tina into a hug. She already had a tie made out of tinsel around her neck and was more than eager to start on the Christmas dinner and Christmas crackers.
“How you have so much energy while being pregnant I will never understand,” Theseus chuckled and smiled at the other couple in greeting.
“Is the Christmas dinner almost ready yet?” Newt asked with a slightly raised eyebrow as he looked towards his brother. He knew that it would be Theseus cooking rather than Leta. Leta’s cooking was somewhat questionable at best.
“In about ten minutes so go and sit down. We’ll do the presents after we’re finished with dinner,” Theseus waved his brother off and watched Leta, Tina and Newt all head into the dining room to take their seats.
They spent that Christmas all together, eating food and playing some games. They had all exchanged presents and were just happy to be able to spend time together as a family.
Leta had loved Christmas even more when she had children with Theseus. A son and two daughters, Tobias or Toby for short who was the eldest child and loved to wreak havoc and play with his sisters which mostly included teasing them and jumping out of cupboards to scare them. Artemis was the middle child who was very interested in seeing all sorts of creatures and finding out everything that she could about them which was handy with Newt as her Uncle. Then little Laurena who was the youngest and pouted when she would want something, and was very close to her mother. The three of them loved Christmas and they all snuck out of their bedrooms at night to sleep underneath the Christmas tree.
When it came around to Christmas day, Theseus and Leta had come downstairs to find their children all asleep under the tree. Theseus had his sack full of presents that he was going to put under the tree but given that it had been invaded by their children that was an option that they couldn’t have.
“Is Newt bringing the special present?” Leta whispered to Theseus.
“Yeah. He’ll be bringing it after dinner,” Theseus spoke and kissed Leta’s cheek gently. “They’re gonna love it.”
“I know. Now let’s wake them up and get some breakfast.” Leta grinned. She got all the kids up, with mixed reactions. There was excitement, grumpiness and a little bit of tiredness as well.
“Come on lazy baggages, it’s Christmas!” Theseus grinned at them all and it was Toby that was first to jump up onto his feet.
“Do we get presents?” Toby grinned and looked up towards his parents hopefully.
“Yes. After dinner. You know the routine by now Tobe,” Leta laughed and ruffled his hair. “Now come on, let’s have some breakfast and then we can go out in the snow until dinner time.”
When dinner time had rolled around and they were all full up, there had been a knock at the door and Theseus was greeted by Newt, Tina and their own three children. Nion, Joyce and Mary Beth. Two girls and a boy as well. Newt was carrying a box in his arms, one with a few holes on the top. Theseus just grinned, knowing exactly what his brother was carrying.
“Come on in you lot,” Theseus gestured them all in.
Newt and his family walked in and were greeted by Leta and the children, all with grins on their faces.
“Alright you three, Uncle Newt has a very special present for you. And it can be opened now before any of the others,” Theseus explained and grinned as his three children ran over, eager to get into the box.
Before they could open it though, the box moved a little when it had been placed onto the floor. Toby frowned slightly, not knowing what on earth could be in there. Artemis however, took charge and opened up the box to a Boxer puppy.
“A puppy!” Laurena grinned when she saw the little dog and looked up towards her Uncle. “Is he for us?”
“He’s all yours, you three are gonna share him. We know how much you’ve wanted a dog and we talked to your mum and dad, and they agreed to let you guys have one,” Tina answered as she leaned against Newt slightly.
“Does he have a name?” Toby asked and tilted his head to the side.
“That’s for you to choose,” Newt answered. “All three of you can decide on a name together.”
All six kids spent the rest of the day playing with the new puppy who had been named Rocks, since nobody could agree and the name had to be pulled out of a hat so that he could get his name.
Leta just smiled as she watched the kids outside in the garden, a mug of hot chocolate between her hands. Theseus came to join her, putting an arm around her waist.
“We made some cute kids. And I love that they love Christmas like you do,” Theseus kissed her head.
“Well, it’s all thanks to Newt that I started to love Christmas,” Leta told him.
“He made me love it too,” Tina spoke from behind them before she came to stand at Leta’s other side. “I never celebrated it before, but now we mix holiday traditions with bits of Hanukkah and Christmas together. It’s nice to be able to still have my holiday and then also have Christmas as well.”
“We all have Newt to thank for a lot of things,” Theseus smiled and looked over his shoulder at his brother who had just emerged from his battered suitcase.
When bedtime came around for the kids, they had all but passed out on the sofa anyway, exhausted from playing outside in the snow and eating as much chocolate as they could. Newt and his family had long gone by then and Theseus and Leta carried the kids up to bed between them with Rocks the puppy following them up.
The little dog had settled at the foot of Theseus and Leta’s bed in the end as they also retired to bed and soon fell asleep in each other’s arms.