April Fools!

Khaat had been planning this mother daughter trip with Abbey for a long time. The other kids were in school, and Brian was on some sort of mission in Bangkok, of all places. The house was being looked after, so Khaat had secured a leave for Abbey from school, and they had packed their things in Khaat's oversized tan leather messenger bag. The trip was destined to start Tuesday morning, April 1st. It was 2036.

They were going to an apothecary in a village in some small village in the upper reaches of Scotland for Khaat's father, amongst just spending some time alone, just the two of them. They left the estate before sunrise, the sky was clear and full of stars. The night air was just a wee bit chilly, and Khaat had chosen a light jacket over her trim black slacks and a pink v neck cashmere sweater, and her usual tan boots, her wand in her boots. She could hardly believe that her 45th birthday was about to come up. She was enjoying some of her father's anti-aging potions, and she was giving them to Brian and Angus, unbeknownst to them. Time for them had seemed to just stop--at least on the outside.

Brian had given her, last year, a new Lamborghini. This one in a really impressive shiny black. It looked intimidating. Abbey loved riding in it. She loved the feel of the wind in her hair when they rode in it. Brian had been uneasy about Khaat's intention to take that car and had urged her to take the black SUV instead. She and Abbey had held firm. They wanted the sleek, zippy sportscar.

Khaat turned on Abbey's favorite rock band in the car and had decided to let it blast just slightly below the threshold of pain, and they had been off. Khaat loved the fact that the car had a standard transmission. She loved the feel of shifting the gears as they sped around the turns up the back country roads into the hinterlands of Scotland. Towards midmorning, the sun seemed to fade behind dark thick heavy clouds. The wind was getting colder. They had noticed, but they were busy singing with the music and laughing and having a good time.

Abbey had been getting cold, so Khaat had flicked her wand at Abbey and transfigured her daughter's lightweight spring jacket into a faux fur winter weight one to keep her warm. And then Khaat noticed it. The ground was getting white. The visibility driving was decreasing swiftly. Snow? The wind began to become not just a pleasantry, but rather a liability. IT was turning quickly into a fierce snowstorm. Khaat was soon not able to see the road as clearly as she had before.

"Abbey, turn that off, please," she said about the music. Abbey turned the music off, and Khaat saw no small amount of fear in her daughter's eyes. "Don't worry," Khaat smiled confidently. "its just a skiff of snow, Baby." She had just grossly underestimated their problem to her daughter.

And then it happened. A second cruel practical April Fool's joke. The speed began to drop in the car. She hadn't purposely slowed down, but the car was losing speed, and the engine was developing a discomforting noise. She tried to force it to continue. They were out in the middle of nowhere. She didn't see a village or a house or any sign of life for miles. Finally the car sputtered to a stop as she nursed it over off the birm into a shallow ditch. She sighed heavily, unhappy. She took the keys and put them in her messenger bag.

"Mom, what do we do?" Abbey looked at her with wide eyes. All they could see was forest on either side of the road. Nothing but woods. And snow that seemed deeper by the second.

"Well, we can't stay here," Khaat said, getting out. She tried to look around. She didn't see anything promising or smell anything. And she was getting hungry. It was getting towards lunch time. And she was cold Really cold. She heard Abbey get out of her side of the car. Then she heard a bark. Abbey's bark. Abbey had shifted to her labrador animagus. Khaat looked and saw Abbey's nose to the ground, sniffing. She seemed to be tracking something. She sighed heavily. The last time Khaat had followed Abbey on some tracking adventure, she wound up chasing a rabbit. She hoped Abbey wasn't just chasing another rabbit. She shouldered her bag and trudged down the ditch, into the snow, and followed the light colored young lab into the woods.

It was a military operation of the highest order. Elijah was counting heads as one by one the children filed through the French doors that lead out to the gardens. The snow had fallen thick and fast and Elijah had decided to bring them all back inside for fear of losing them all for good. Harry was manning the coats, his arms quickly becoming laden with the brightly coloured overalls. The twins had coats and hats and everyone else had the marathon task of drying and dressing the children in pyjamas. Such tasks usually needed a lot of planning but Elijah’s paranoia regarding snow made everyone jump up that little bit quicker.

When everyone was inside, Elijah made sure he found his three before doing anything else. He wrapped Alice up tightly in his arms and rubbed her back, taking the cold out of her little body. She giggled in his ear and he pulled back. Elijah pressed a kiss on her nose and moved over to Cepheus who was shivering, the towel around his shoulders slipping off every so often. Elijah took the towel away and lifted the hem of Cepheus’ shirt. He pulled it over his son’s head, not caring much for modesty, and picked up the towel again. He rubbed the fluffy material across the boy’s back and chest before rubbing both arms individually. Elijah then made a barrier of sorts with the towl and motioned for him to take his trousers off. Alice helpfully found a pair of pyjamas and Eli thanked her with a kiss before nudging them to Cepheus with his knee.

Elijah cast a look over at Caelum who seemed to be enjoying the attention he was getting from Lorelei. Although the grimaces on his face as she raked a comb through his dark head of hair betrayed his discomfort. It made Elijah smile. Finally, Cepheus was sorted and Elijah tossed the towel away. Alice had gotten herself into her pyjamas with help from Stelladora and she immediately returned to her father. Elijah wrapped his arms around her and dropped a kiss to her head before accepting a still-shivering Cepheus into his embrace. He was a lot warmer now than he was when he’d first come in. They’d need tucking up in bed tonight with at least two water bottles. Elijah wasn’t about to let them get ill.

“Elijah do you think we should put them all to bed?” Elijah looked over at Lorelei who was lifting her five-year-old into her arms. He smiled gently and nodded before standing up. It would be another military operation to get them all into bed but Merlin knew there were enough rooms to put them all up for the night. There would be no leaving in this snow. Elijah rather liked the idea of company, actually. The only one that seemed hesitant to do anything about the children was Harry who was having a hard job of placating his youngest, Tristan.

Elijah let Stelladora take his three and he rose to his feet to give his cousin a hand. He could see the fatigue in Harry’s eyes but he daren’t show it. Elijah lifted the child into his arms and pressed a kiss to the fluffy head of hair atop his godson’s crown. Harry looked visibly relieved to see the child settle and he sighed, all but collapsing into an armchair by the fire that had been lit. Elijah chuckled and sat down on the arm of the chair, continuing to lull the child to sleep. He would probably be better off sleeping with someone through the night. It had been a long time since Elijah had a cot in the house and the travel cot looked less than comfortable. He knew roughly where Alice’s was but that had ever really had much use because she’d spent most of her time asleep on his chest during her early days and months. When Elijah had been left with her, he never wanted to let her go again.

“You need to get some rest, Harry.” Elijah murmured gently. Harry shrugged, running a hand through his hair. He had aged over the last few years, to the point of nearly becoming unrecognisable. “I miss you,” Elijah admitted suddenly. The only person in the world he loved as much as he had Mira, bar his children, had always been Harry. Even after the less than platonic feelings abandoned him, Elijah still loved Harry. He’d do anything for him and as they had both become family men, they’d seen less and less of each other. This was one of the rare times where they were able to be together, just them.

“I miss you too,” Harry replied quietly, meeting his cousin’s gaze. “I’m sorry I haven’t visited more often.”

“I don’t expect you too, H. You have a family now. You have had one for a long time. I know you can’t always be here. I’m just saying it would be nice to have you around a bit-”

“Daddy look!” Six year old Vesper, Harry’s third child, exclaimed from by one of the tall windows facing out to the gardens. “A dog!” Her eleven-year-old brother peered over the top of her head and nodded before turning to face his father. “I’m right!” Vesper exclaimed.

“I’ve always wanted a Labrador,” Mikhail added mischievously.

Abbey had led them to a huge house. Khaat was anxious about knocking on the door. And at this point, there was no way of knowing if it was a wizarding house or a muggle one. She saw Abbey move to try to transfigure back, and Khaat hissed "No!" through her teeth. "Not yet!"

She took a breath and stepped through the trees and walked up to the door with the dog at her side. She stopped at the front door as Abbey shook the snow off herself onto her mother. Khaat scowled at her daughter. "Stop that!" Then she looked down at the dog who merely looked up at her with doe eyes as if to say to Khaat that shaking off the snow was a polite thing to do before one entered bringing the snow inside with them. "I hate it when you look at me like that," Khaat sighed. The dog seemed to be amused at being able to find one of her mother's key vulnerabilities. "Behave yourself, will you? And don't go trying to scare the crap out of them if they are muggles."

The dog pawed at the door, tired of maternal lecturing. "Alright, alright, I'll do it. Don't scratch the door."

Khaat took one more deep breath, not knowing what they were getting into, and knocked. The dog now sat politely beside her trying to look irresistible.

Elijah gave the sleeping child back to his cousin and dropped a kiss to the babe’s head before walking out from behind the settee and moving to the windows. He watched as the dog and a figure moved around to the main doors of the house and Elijah looked down at Vesper to see her dart around him. The children all seemed equally excited and Elijah saw Alice’s head disappear among the crowd as they all raced into the foyer. Elijah broke into a jog in an attempt to keep up with the hoard but it took him a while to get to the foyer. He was really beginning to feel his age – all twenty-nine years.

He swept Alice up into his arms when he entered the foyer and she screamed, batting him with her pale pink blanket. Elijah chuckled and kissed her nose before resting her on his hip. He walked through the sea of children and glanced over at Harry and his cousins that were crowding in the hallway doorway. Then, Elijah opened the door. What he found hadn’t been at all what he’d expected.

“Khaat? What are you doing here?” He looked down at the dog and smirked a little. “Let me guess...little miss Abbey, right?”

"Eli?" Khaat frowned. She was completely taken aback to see, of all faces, Eli on the other side of the door. "Uh..yeah. This is Abbey." She looked at the door. "Its alright. Stand up," she told the dog. The figure transfigured into a beautiful blond 13 year old who had her parents' hazel eyes, their striking good looks, and her mother's small build.

"Abbey," Khaat said, "This is Eli. Elijah Krum. He's family." Abbey looked at Eli, feeling curious. She didn't remember her mother talking about anyone named Eli.

"Hi," she said, feeling awkward. "Our car...broke down--out on the road."

"Well, yes," Khaat admitted. "Abbey's right. We were taking a trip for a few days to the north coast of Scotland, and since we had reservations at a muggle hotel, we decided to take the car. It clearly wasn't built for snow."

"It might be if it had had a roof," Abbey muttered. Khaat ignored Abbey's sarcasm.

"I sincerely doubt you have an auto mechanic staying with you. Or perhaps a cell phone for that matter," Khaat said to Eli, "but might you have a bit of heat? The weather forecast I read in this mornings paper was obviously entirely wrong."