The House of Rambolt

"Ms. Fiorelli?" Professor King enquired of Cecily, ensuring he knew exactly who they were discussing before he took a bite of his ham and another sip of wine.
 
"Yes," she nodded, taking a drink of wine. "Mum's been helpful, giving advice on how to help Miss Fiorelli gain control of her life again."
 
"Ah." Nicolas began, having not been aware that Cecily's parents had been in Hogwarts at all. "Well then I thank you for all your assistance as her Head of House." Nicolas continued, raising his glass for her before taking another sip of the wine.
 
Marilyn smiled, nodding her head. "Cecily and I have been corresponding through her owl since it happened. I wish I could meet her. I feel awful that her young life has been so turned upside down."
 
"That it has." Nicolas confirmed, "I'm not sure I've told Cecily this, but Ms. Fiorelli approached me in my office one day to tell me about her incident. She was in tears; afraid I would refuse to have her in Gryffindor or try to get her expelled. That I certainly hadn't expected. She's so torn between who she is, and was and if she can still be that."
 
"It takes a long time to recover fully from something so traumatic. When I was diagnosed with cancer a year ago, I thought my life was over. All the things I'd planned, I thought I wouldn't be able to do them. Even now, with the cancer in remission, I still have doubts. To know that something inside you could possibly kill you or harm the ones you love. It's like a ticking time bomb, waiting to go off at any moment," Marilyn said, comparing her cancer to lycanthropy. "But for Miss Fiorelli, she too has to refind herself. She's lucky to have wonderful people, such as you both, to look up to and guide her through this trying time."
 
Cecily nodded while he mum spoke, her throat tightening for a moment as she thought of how close she'd come to losing her. "She's a brave girl," she got out, sipping her wine.
 
"That she is." Nicolas confirmed, turning now to focus his meal. By this time most of the ham was gone and the yams had been partially devoured. He took a few fork fulls of potatoes in silence. Swallowing them he looked back up, wondering how much about the story of the evening Andromeda was bit Cecily's parents knew. Had they been told about Bearse's death? What about the memories Cecily was regained? Until he knew he wouldn't mention anything.
 
Cecily was happy when the subject was apparently dropped, not wanting her parents to bring up the other events of that fateful night. They'd already spoken of it once, she didn't want to do so again.
Once dinner was over she got up to help her mother clear the table. Cecily would let her mum carry in something and then as soon as she turned her back, Cecily had the whole table cleared and spotless. The dishes were done and put away in the cupboard, leftovers in their containers in the fridge and the kitchen was once again pristine.
She winked at Nicolas as her parents went to the living room. "We have dessert in the living room and then open presents. How are you liking things so far?" she asked him.
 
Nicolas stood up from the table and chuckled as Cecily waiting until her mother's back was turned to use magic. "Just fine." he replied to Cecily's enquiry, not too sure about how her parents viewed the evening as going but knowing that they could be going a lot worse.
 
"Good," she said. "They're taking a liking to you," she offered, slipping her hand in his and walking beside him to the living room. Their dessert was on a large silvery tray on the coffee table, with a couch on one side and a loveseat on the other. The tray carried on it many different options of sweet potato pie, chocolate cake, spiced rum balls and festive iced sugar cookies. There was also the choice of more wine, milk or cocoa.
 
Nicolas let Cecily lead him into the living room and decided to simply keep the wine he already had. He took a small slice of chocolate cake of the tray and sat down beside Cecily, waiting for the rest of the evening to commence.
 
(Mind if I speed things along? :p )

They ate dessert and talked about the school year and things in general. When the coffee table was clear, it was present time.
 
"I think it's that time," Marilyn said, smiling. James had already gotten up and gathered the bundles, placing gifts in front of each person on the table until they all had a small pile each with their names on them.
 
"Mum, why don't you go first this year?" Cecily asked, a gentle smile on her face.
 
Marilyn nodded, smiling, and went through opening a lovely set of her favorite author's new books from Cecily and when she came to James' gift, she unwrapped the flat envelope and gave a scream of joy. She dive bombed him and hugged him around his neck, crying and laughing.
"Paris! Oh James!" She held the plane tickets in her hands and stared down at them after she sat back.
 
Nicolas smiled as Cecily's mother opened her gifts. She seemed so pleased with them all. He took a bite of his cake as he observed the family's gift exchange continue.
 
"Oh mum, how brilliant!" Cecily exclaimed, happy for them. Her father went next, with gifts he exclaimed over from Cecily and Marilyn. Then they turned to their guest. "Your turn, Nicolas," Cecily grinned, hoping he'd like the book her mother and father had gotten him and the Gemini Dragon set she'd gotten him.
 
Nicolas nodded and approached the try, grabbing two gifts which seemed to be for him. He opened the first which was from Cecily and saw two Gemini Dragons, though he did not know what they were called. He smiled his thanks to her, then opened the second which was from Cecily's parents. In a moment he felt poorly for not having purchased a gift for them each, he had a surprise for them surely, but it wouldn't be as much as a gift he was sure. He opened the wrappings and saw a book which much to his surprise he did not believe he yet had. "Thank you." he said aloud to Cecily's parents before taking his seat again, planning on asking Cecily precisely what her gift was at a later time.
 
"Dad," Cecily laughed, rolling her eyes. He just smiled back unrepentant. She unwrapped the first gift from her parents, a cashmere sweater in a lovely shade of green. She got up and hugged them, giving them a kiss on each cheek.
 
Nicolas smiled as Cecily opened the gift from her parents, he was glad she liked her first gift and hoped she would enjoy the ones from him.
 
Cecily took her seat next to Nicolas again and picked up the large box first. Unwrapping it, she took off the box lid and pushed aside the tissue paper. She gasped. No, it couldn't be. She stood up and picked up the dress from the box, holding it in front of her. It was a dress made for a princess. She felt tears prick her eyes and batted them several times, sniffling. She put it carefully back in the box and put the lid on before she sat back down and opened the second smaller package. She turned right there and kissed him, uncaring of her parents who looked on in awe at the way he treated their daughter. "Thank you, Nicolas," she said, a few tears escaping and tracking down her cheeks.
 
Nicolas smiled lightly as Cecily opened her gifts, glad she liked them. He kissed Cecily back when she kissed him however he remained mindful of her parents' presence. Then he smiled, "It was no problem." he assured her.

He then withdrew a small vile of liquid from his pocket and approached Cecily's mother and father. "I brewed this myself and figured wrapping it would be foolish." He handed the vile of liquid that looked like molten gold to Cecily's father, "This is called Felix Felicis and it's a controlled substance in the Wizarding World. It's very difficult to brew but I decided to try my hand for you both. The tiniest drink of it gives you luck in whatever you try. There are no risks with only that much there." he explained, hoping they'd understand.
 
Cecily laughed softly, wiping away her tears with her fingers, her smile bright. She watched Nicolas as he got up and gifted her parents with the potion. "Oh," she breathed, waiting to see their reaction.
 
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