Closed Unexpected News

[Claudia Holland]

It always did Claudia good to see such a full table, people chatting and laughing together as they ate. She reached over and squeezed her husband's hand, glad they were all together. The whole family was here, along with the family of Phoebe's significant other Charlie. Claudia had been a bit surprised by Phoebe's request to host them all for a big dinner, but she was happy to do so. And just a small part of her was hopeful, maybe this was Phoebe's way of announcing they were getting engaged? She tried hard not to push her children, but she really did want them to be happy. Claudia looked over at Maria and smiled. "It's so nice you could all make it." She said, adding some salad to her plate. "I hope you're all doing well?"

 

[Maria Madison]

Although Claudia's term had ended, it still felt a little surreal to Maria to be friends with someone who had once run an entire country. It was easy to forget though, when the woman was so kind and down to earth. And the basis of their friendship made conversation easy - Maria had been surprised that of all her children Charlie had been the one to find a stable relationship young and stay the course. In the difficult years after Hogwarts when they had been figuring things out, Maria had been relieved to see Phoebe alongside them every step of the way. So intimidation aside, seeing the Hollands was always a good thing, a sign of how happy Charlie had become after all of their struggles. Plus, the food was always delicious. Maria smiled at Claudia as she spoke, nodding in agreement. "We've all been good - Finn has just finished at Hogwarts and I'm trying not to think about my nest emptying." She chuckled lightly. "I may have to take a leaf out of your book and have another."

 

[Claudia Holland]

Claudia smiled slightly at Maria´s words, nodding in agreement. "It's so strange when the youngest graduates," she said, glancing at Alice. "Granted, Alice wasn't the youngest anymore at that time, but with Lucy still a baby it seemed surreal to even consider she would go to Hogwarts too one day." She said, smiling fondly and reaching over to Lucy to fix the collar of her shirt. "Now, that's a lot less difficult to imagine." She said with a soft sigh. It was strange that her youngest daughter was already eight years old, almost as strange as having four full-grown adult daughters alongside her. She smiled at Maria. "It definitely put off the empty nest syndrome a bit longer." She conceded.

 

[James Holland]

It hadn't occurred to James until Claudia was no longer Minister just how long it had been since his life was anything approaching normal. Between Claudia's increased schedule and responsibilities, and his own stepping back from work to focus on raising Lucy, it felt like forever since family dinners with everyone had been a norm. They were still a rarity now, with all but one of their daughters grown up and out living their own lives, but it was at least far easier to organise. To his surprise, Phoebe of all people had put today together, a fact he was still pondering the meaning of. He knew his second daughter loved her family, but organising family gatherings wasn't exactly something she did often. This fact coupled with the fact that Phoebe had invited her partner's entire family had him a little hopeful - as much as his daughters growing up made his heart ache, the thought that Phoebe and Charlie may finally be getting married was an exciting one, and he was trying his best not to already write a father of the bride speech in his head. Pushing those thoughts aside, James instead tried to make light conversation with one of the Madisons, waiting for Phoebe to be ready to say whatever she had to say. "I caught your match against the Ballycastle Bats recently." He said instead to Odette, having gotten quite familiar with her career as Lucy was developing an interest in watching Quidditch. "The hit you made on their keeper was perfectly timed."

 

[Finn Madison]

Life outside Hogwarts was going to be a lot for Finn to get used to. He was grateful that Mum had been so pleased to have him staying at hime with her a while longer, as he was getting a portfolio together and applying to art schools. He hadn't heard back from any of them yet, but it was at least some kind of direction. After that, Finn wasn't sure what to expect. But then, he hadn't been sure what would come after Hogwarts until he was actually out the gates for good. Still, he didn't feel like a Real Adult yet, and dinner with the Hollands hardly helped. They were a lovely family of course, and he always enjoyed spending time with them, but it was really sinking in that he was one of the adults now. Though there was no literal kids table, he had often felt as though he lived there with Lucy, but now he was well and truly one of the adults. It was an intimidating thought, and Finn was trying to ignore it by instead wasting his time keeping Lucy entertained. Today's game of choice was sneaking his green beans onto her plate whenever she wasn't looking, and pretending not to look as she slipped them back, purposefully ignoring her loud giggles.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

It was always nice and a little strange to see both her own and Charlie's families together. They were so different but pretty similar too. Phoebe knew her parents were curious about this dinner and if it had any special purpose. She wasn't sure how they would react to the news they had for everyone. She glanced at Charlie, asking silently with a slight raise of her eyebrows if she should announce what they had come here to announce.

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette always felt slightly awkward at gatherings with the Holland family, like any moment Rose Holland might jump up and yell at her to leave because they hadn't liked each other back at Hogwarts. She knew by now Rose would never ever do that, but it still felt... strange to just sit here. She looked up as James Holland spoke to her, giving him a slight smile. It was nice that he was interested. "Thank you." She said politely as she speared a potato on her fork. "It was a lucky shot, honestly."

 

[Lucy Holland]

Lucy absolutely loved it when her whole family was home for dinner, and she loved it even more when they had guests. Things had been different at home ever since Mum had stopped being Minister, and she was enjoying having more people around than ever before. The Madisons were always fun guests, and as always Lucy had managed to scam a few lollies out of Charlie when they arrived. She had settled in to dinner now, enjoying the family chit chatting as she dug into her dinner.

 

[Emily Madison]

Leaving home had been strange for Emily. She couldn't think of a time in her life when she hadn't had plenty of people all around her. Sure, home had been getting quieter and quieter with Odette and Charlie moving out, but now that she was living alone it was really hitting her how alone being alone really was. It was hard not to think about. So she lived for days like today, with her whole family and chosen family around her. Though it was hard to spend as much time together outside of school, Emily was pretty confident that Alice would always be her best friend. She had made sure to grab a seat next to the former Hufflepuff, giggling and whispering as they caught up on all the gossip from their busy lives.

 

[Charlie Madison]

In all their life, Charlie didn't think they had ever felt the kind of nervous excitement they felt today. They had been nervous plenty of times - being adopted, sitting their NEWTs, applying to be an Auror. But none of those had held the kind of excitement today did. There was something so exciting about telling people about something you knew was already a sure thing. It was hard to keep a grin off their face, but Charlie knew that would be an easy giveaway that something had happened. Still, the grin started to slip out at the look from Phoebe, and Charlie nodded eagerly, finally allowing themself to smile in anticipation for the announcement.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe grinned at Charlie as they gave permission. She cleared her throat. "Sorry to interrupt your conversations," she started loudly, pausing until everyone was looking her way. She took Charlie’s hand. “But we have an announcement.” She paused again, letting the tension build. “Charlie and I got married last weekend.” She said, flashing a proud grin. “We eloped. Surprise!”

 

[Claudia Holland]

Claudia sat up straight as she heard Phoebe’s voice. She could see the pride and excitement on her face and knew something was coming, something good. She started smiling as Phoebe told them she had an announcement, but as she finally dropped the bomb, Claudia’s smile slipped again. She had thought they were announcing an engagement, an upcoming wedding Claudia could be excited about. This? This hadn’t been what she had expected. She stared at her second daughter, blinking a few times. “What?” She finally managed to croak out.

 

[Maria Madison]

Maria was distracted from her conversation with Claudia by Phoebe, and she did her best to fight down the thrill of excitement that ran through her, quickly meeting Claudia's eye knowingly before looking to see what their kids had to say. She had thought so many times about helping her kids plan their weddings, and with Charlie and Phoebe's relationship so steady it only felt right that now was the time. She had all kinds of ideas for -
Eloped.
All the gears in Maria's head stopped turning at once, the information slowly filtering through her system. Charlie was married. Not engaged, married, no wedding. "Oh..." She croaked, fighting down the immense disappointment at not even being there when the first of her children got married. "Oh!" She added quickly, flicking off her own feelings quickly. "Oh, that's wonderful darling, congratulations! We had wondered if you were going to tell us- something like that! That's fantastic news!"

 

[Charlie Madison]

Real, big grins were a rarity for Charlie - even before going into law enforcement they had always been naturally guarded, keeping their real emotions concealed from all but a few. Now, though, there was no holding back the smile that near-split their face. After keeping the entire plan secret the whole time, all of the most important people in their life knew - they were married. Phoebe was their wife. Charlie knew their siblings would be happy for them, but the first person their eyes flicked to were their mum's. Charlie wasn't entirely ignorant - they knew she had daydreams of her childrens' weddings, but Charlie had never in their life wanted a big wedding. It was a shame that they were the first Madison to get married - Odette or Emily would likely want the exact kind of wedding their mum wanted to plan. A pang of guilt struck Charlie as they saw their mum quickly suppressing something, but they beamed at her congratulations, not wanting to dig into any kind of emotional conversation with her. "Thanks." They said brightly, accepting the out.

 

[Emily Madison]

As much as she liked her sibling's girlfriend, Emily felt a small spike of frustration as Phoebe interrupted the dinner - there was plenty of gossip she wanted to catch up on with Alice, and she had been in the middle of something particularly juicy. Charlie and Phoebe were the ones who had planned this get-together though, and if they had some kind of plan... whatever Emily might have thought was coming was washed away in one go as Phoebe spoke. "WHAT?!" She shrieked, jumping to her feet instinctively. "You GOT MARRIED? And DIDN'T INVITE ME?" As excited as she was for her sibling, there was a small pang of truth to Emily's complaint. Charlie was still the person she was closest to in the world, and not even knowing that something so big had happened in their life stung, there was no other way to put it. Still, she wasn't going to put that on Charlie, not in front of so many people. So she bounced out of her seat instead, hurrying over to Charlie's side of the table to hug them tightly. "CHARLIEEEEEEEEEE you're MARRIED!"

 

[James Holland]

James had never followed Quidditch all that closely, but Lucy had him learning more than he had ever expected to know, and he had to admit it was a bit exciting to actually get to talk to one of the players about what it was like. He was formulating questions about strategy when Phoebe called for their attention, turning his focus to his second oldest as she spoke. The words that came out of her mouth drove all other thoughts from his head at once. Married. James was grateful for the ruckus Emily made, giving him a moment to process. He had thought he was adjusting to his daughters growing up in the blink of an eye, but one of them being married added a whole new layer to things. Phoebe wasn't just an adult anymore - she was an adult grown up enough to be married. He swallowed back tears he couldn't even place the source of - pride? joy? sorrow at having been excluded from the event? - and clapped politely, giving his second daughter a warm smile. "Congratulations, darling."

 

[Finn Madison]

Finn took advantage of the moment Phoebe called for attention to sneak a few more vegetables onto Lucy's plate before giving her his full attention, though the vegetable war was quickly the furthest thing from his mind. Finn took a moment to process as the table erupted into chaos, eyes flicking back and forth as he took in the unspoken tension between his mum and older sibling. It was a relief that neither of them turned this into a fight, though Finn could tell there would be a tense conversation in the future. He supposed he understood Mum and Emily's upset, but mostly he was just happy that Charlie was happy. They had never been a very traditional person, and that was something he could definitely relate to. "Congratulations!" He called out amid all the hubbub, willing to give Charlie some space and talk to them personally later.

 

[Lucy Holland]

Finn was always fun to hang out with when Charlie's family came over, but Lucy was starting to get a bit sick of him slipping vegetables onto her plate. She was trying to cook up a revenge - something to do with "accidental" tomato sauce on his shirt - when Phoebe called for attention. She hadn't really thought about why they were having a big family party, but Phoebe always had fun things to say. Maybe some experiment she wanted the whole family to help with? Experiments were always Lucy's favourite part of hanging out with Phoebe. When she spoke though, Lucy was shocked. Lucy knew grownups got married, and she knew her big sisters were all grownups, but the thought of any of them getting married was a very weird one. Another thought came to Lucy a moment later... "Why didn't you invite us to the wedding?" She called out, trying to be heard over all the ruckus. If they were married there must have been a wedding, and Lucy definitely hadn't been there. Maybe it had been a grownups only wedding.

 

[Diana Hollis]

Diana could feel the wedding announcement coming just like everyone else, as much as she dreaded it. So when Phoebe finally started speaking loudly, she rolled her eyes and took a sip of her wine, ready to get this over with. At least she could try to outshine her sister at her own wedding. Or… not. In true Phoebe fashion, she dropped an entirely unexpected bomb, reminding Diana strangely of the time she had let a dung bomb go off on a family picnic. The reaction was pretty much the same. Diana felt a spike of irritation. Not only had Phoebe been horribly rude in not involving any of her family in her wedding, she had also just drawn all the attention in the family for the foreseeable future. How dare she? Diana glared, pointedly not giving them her congratulations. If they had wanted that, they should have invited her and let her wear a pretty dress.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe had expected the news to hit like a bomb, and it did. She smiled at the erupting chaos, though she felt a little bad as she took in her mother’s expression. Charlie’s mother was also clearly a bit hurt, but Phoebe reminded herself that it had been their choice. The thought of a huge family wedding hadn’t appealed to either of them, so Phoebe had suggested they simply didn’t do that. Lucy called out something a lot of them were probably thinking, and Phoebe turned to her regretfully. “No one was, Lucy. It was just me and Charlie.” She explained to her sister, trying not to look at her mother as she said it. “We wanted it that way.”