[HP] Born to be a pair

Chapter 56

Christmas at the Longbottoms is never one of lavish ornate decorations and ostentatious Christmas trees.

The star of this amiably spacious house is the great black stove, which is always burning with wood.

Next to the fire stands a round table full of afternoon tea bits and pieces—freshly baked scones, small pieces of cheese sticks and countless chocolate frogs.

Maybe that's why he couldn't lose weight since he was a child.Neville thought, grabbing a handful of chocolate balls in a bittersweet way, and slumped down hard on one of the rocking chairs set up in front of the fire.

The rocking chair let out a long, loud moan to vent its displeasure, but Neville didn't care about it, he just ate the chocolate ball bitterly.

Creaking, creaking, the sound disturbed Augusta Longbottom, who was concentrating on making marmalade pudding.

She dropped the wooden spoon and turned to Neville. "Why don't you meet Algie and Annie on the porch? They must be here too."

Neville responded sullenly, but he didn't let go of the overflowing sweet candies in his bosom.

He walked all the way from the kitchen into the hallway, and stuffed his mouth full of fudge again, so that the upper and lower teeth could not be separated, but he held back his strength, his face was flushed, and he moved his cheeks vigorously, so that his tongue could see the light again .

Neville didn't have to wait long when there was a heavy knock on the door - it was Uncle Algie.He waited a few more seconds, and then there was a knock on the door so soft it was inaudible—this time it was Aunt Ani.

He opened the door slowly, and the moment he opened the door, the impatient Uncle Algee had already squeezed in through the crack of the door.

"Augusta! Dear sister!" he cried, looking very comical with his red rosacea nose, "Merry Christmas—oh, Neville, good boy, you're the one to open the door! No wonder it's so slow. "

"Algie!" Aunt Enni patted him on the back with reproach, and walked in, "Don't talk to Neville like that...you know he hasn't been very happy recently..."

Neville closed the door in time due to the snowstorm, but the short-lived joy brought by the candy quickly faded away. He forced a smile because he didn't want to make things difficult for his family during this festival.

"I'm wonderful, Aunt Ernie," said Neville. "Merry Christmas, I've missed you all."

"Don't worry, we have a great gift for you,"

Aunt Ernie took off her wide-brimmed hat, decorated with faded wild roses.She casually hung the hat on the coat rack, and stuffed the prepared Christmas present into Neville's arms.

"Go ahead and put the presents under the Christmas tree... Ouch, look at me, I'll pick it up, I'll do it."

The candies fell to the ground with a clatter, and Aunt Aini exclaimed, and hugged a lot of them in her arms at a speed that did not meet her age, and then used her dark green and scarlet Christmas dress to return them to the candies. Neville.

"It's okay, you go in first." Neville said quickly, he piled all the candy on the gift box, and walked into the living room unsteadily.

The living room is a hexagonal shape with soft corners, and two circular sofas surround a beautiful Christmas tree in the middle.There are not many decorations on the crown of the tree, only a few ribbons and shiny little snowmen, but the tree is full of gifts.

——One of the most hidden gifts wrapped in gold and green made Neville sigh deeply.

It was the Christmas present he gave Renee this year. When the soldier went to give the gift with confidence, neither he nor Neville thought that the gift would not be delivered.

Neville didn't know why, but he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the soldier rushing into his bedroom angrily and throwing the present on the writing table intact.

"She—she wouldn't even accept a gift?!"

This was like a bolt from the blue to Neville, and the luck he held in his heart was completely shattered.

When the soldier heard this, he seemed to be even angrier, and even started to chase Neville, pecking his head with his sharp beak.

That day, his hair was pulled down by the soldiers in a big tuft, and it was barely enough to calm the angry owl.

And that gift, no matter how much Neville begged, the soldier refused to give it again.

Logically speaking, I should be the one who is angry.

Neville was angry and flustered, he felt a cloud of cloudy air in his chest.

Since waking up in the school hospital on the first day of Christmas vacation, he had never seen Renee again, that cruel, selfish, emotionless, indifferent girlfriend who left without nostalgia-ex-girlfriend.

Before being involved in the Time Converter, she was still trying to save herself, but why...why is her attitude so decisive now?

Whether it was letters or gifts, she would not accept or reply, as if determined to disappear into Neville's world.

Great, great, that's what he wanted.Neville stuffed a handful of Honey Fizz into his mouth, thinking viciously.

Maybe she thought love was just a fun game, taking pride in collecting boys' hearts and then dumping them when she had a chance, laughing behind her back with her best friend at how stupid and naive these people were.

The smell of onions seemed to come from the kitchen, causing Neville's eyes to sting a little. He put down the snack box and rubbed his eyes vigorously.

As a result, a few tears were rubbed out by him.

"Grandma—" he yelled, "could you stop chopping onions now?"

Ignoring grandma's doubtful "what", Neville sniffed, and continued to stuff Bibi's multi-flavored beans into his bulging mouth. Candies of various flavors mixed and crossed on the tip of his tongue, revealing his sweet instinct.

She also bears a curse... a terrible curse that will kill her.And all the futures that Renee has lived through, the horrible possibility of a future where the Death Eaters are infested...

Ah, this one is a sweet and sour orange flavor, which is Renee's favorite flavor.Every time she opened a packet of Bibi's multi-flavored beans, she would ask Neville to find the orange flavor first for her to eat.

Neville himself liked the taste very much, but he could only obediently serve up all the orange multi-flavored beans—now he could enjoy the orange flavor all by himself, but why did the orange flavor become more unpalatable the more he chewed it?

"Neville - dinner -"

"...Okay, here we come!"

Everyone at the table tacitly ignored his red, swollen eyes and sullen appearance, and toasted and talked on their own.

The twilight turned the window glass into a mirror, and the shadows of several people blended with the rising moon. The white snow piled up on the window sill, reflecting the raging flames in the stove near the dining table.

"You're going to visit Frank and Alice tomorrow, aren't you?" Aunt Ernie asked.

Grandma nodded, and the meticulously tied bun seemed unaffected at all: "Yeah, it's just that we may have to go somewhere other than St. Mungo's."

"Oh? Where are you going?" Uncle Algie asked excitedly after taking a sip of whiskey, already excited.

"Oh, it's not a scenic spot or a park," Granny glanced nonchalantly at Neville, who was trying to bury his face in the butter peas, "it's just a forest with a small lake in it."

Neville's hand waving the silver spoon paused, but Uncle Algie asked suspiciously, "The forest? What are you going to do?"

"Cheer up this young man who's grown up and is still amazingly naive," said Granny grimly. "This is the worst Christmas I've ever had!"

Neville quietly revealed his face, his head tilted to one ear to listen to other movements at the table, but neither of them continued the conversation.

"This blackberry jam is really good," Grandma praised. "Neville and I both love it, and we're running out of stock at home."

"I'm so glad you like it," said Aunt Ernie. "They're all blackberries that Algie grew himself, and he picked them in the rain, and I made them all into jam."

"I'll send you another batch when spring comes." Uncle Algie said with a smile.

His heart was breaking, but they were still talking about blackberry jam.Neville angrily dug up a spoonful of buttered peas.

——Oh, no, this is Renee's favorite food. She doesn't usually eat much, but this dish can be served twice more.

"Ha - chirp!"

"What? You don't like this dish?" asked Aunt Abigail.

Anna also looked nervously at Renee, who was wiping her nose and mouth with a napkin, and looked at her with pitiful big brown eyes.

"Oh... what? Of course I do," Renee said quickly. "Buttered peas are my favorite food. I'm just a little cold."

"Then, let Anna bring you a bottle of medicine after dinner," Aunt Abigail put down her knife and fork, and picked up her slender pipe from the small cart next to her.

Before lighting it, she suddenly thought of something, immediately put down the pipe and asked, "Can I smoke here?"

"I don't mind," Renee said, sprinkling black pepper on the lamb on the plate, "I just didn't know you smoked."

"I'm used to it—it was recommended to me by a business partner at first, and it can make me relax when I'm stressed." She loaded the pipe with cigarettes, fiddled with a brand-name lighter under Renee's strange eyes, and the flame was lit After smoking a cigarette, she exhaled another mouthful of snow-white fog.

"I thought... you didn't like Muggles."

"What? Oh—that's my old thought," Aunt Abigail smiled faintly. The red lipstick was still full, and there was no stain on the silver fork or the pipe filter.

"What's the point of doing business with this group of closed-minded wizards? It's boring, their ideas are too conservative..."

She dusted off the cigarette, and continued: "In the Muggle world, I can expand my business unscrupulously. You don't know, I met a lot of interesting people-people who can compete with each other, and people who can talk to each other at cocktail parties. "

"Are you still doing business in the Muggle world?"

"Of course, dear. In fact, I'm surprised no one has thought of this before! What seems mundane to wizards...is like 'magic' to Muggles,"

Aunt Abigail giggled, "Foundation that sticks close to the skin, lipstick that never smudges, glitter and sequins that are as strong as glue - Renee, baby, tell me if you weren't a witch , wouldn't you be tempted by these cosmetics?"

Renee couldn't help laughing, she understood what Aunt Abigail meant: "This is the benefit of information asymmetry, but this is not an easy choice."

"I know, but I'm willing to go down this road - money makes me happy, and making more money is what keeps me happy."

"But why did the mysterious man follow you?"

Anna, who was carrying a bucket of ice cubes, gasped, and Snef, who was wearing the same uniform as her, also clenched the poker tightly in horror.

But Aunt Abigail did not answer her question immediately, but put down her slender pipe, picked up her wine glass and shook it gently, watching the dark red liquid swirling at the bottom of the glass, she took a sip, and finally Go on.

"Before—before the mysterious man fell, I went to Shafiq's house," she sighed. "At that time, my father was already very tempted. If it wasn't because grandma was still there...she persuaded my father, maybe he was Those who go to Azkaban will have us too."

Tears welled up in Sneeff's eyes, and she was also involved in that turbulent period.

And Renee thought of the old Shafik's body that had been buried in the backyard, and took the opportunity of drinking eggnog to cover up the sneer at the corner of her mouth.

"Anyway, we didn't turn to You-Know-Who at the time, and we weren't charged with any charges for his downfall. But... now that he's back, and after losing many Death Eaters who were loyal to him, he's set his sights on those of us who remained A neutral pure-blood family..."

"But Shafiq's family, aren't you the only one?"

"Of course not, I'm just one of the more famous ones, because I'm rich... damn old bastard - I mean my aunt, your grand-aunt, who's been coveting my property since I was rich old man,"

She sneered coldly, and the topic got further and further away, as if alcohol had paralyzed her brain.

"...When my father just died, I was arrested and interrogated by the Ministry of Magic... I also used the last Galleons in my family to redeem myself... How did she treat me at that time? She thought I was trash on the street, and even Meals have never been given to me..."

Sneeff's eyes widened. For the first time, he knew that his Miss Abby was living in such a poor situation, which made her almost cry.

And Anna stood aside respectfully, filling Renee's empty glass with champagne.

Aunt Abigail muttered for a while before continuing in a trance: "I don't want... my hard-earned Galleons, Sickles, Nat... to be wasted on that ugly, stupid On You-Know-Who... like the Malfoys, ha... I guess their house has become a Death Eater stronghold by now..."

"They're going to pay the price sooner or later," Renee said calmly. "You-Know-Who will never succeed."

"Oh . . . you're a smart one," Aunt Abigail laughed again, "like me—thankfully not your mother, or your father."

"What does this mean?"

"Your mother... Leah, she was locked in a room since she was a child, and she has too little contact with the world, I can understand." She suddenly sobbed loudly,

"But... but your dad... Hawke is a normal person. Leah just escaped from home and has no common sense at all. How dare he deceive her feelings?"

Renee felt a little uncomfortable. She wasn't sure if it was because Aunt Abigail described her parents' feelings that way, or because she, too, was a cheater of other people's feelings.

"It can't be said to be deceiving feelings..." She said reluctantly, "As long as they fall in love in the end, isn't it enough?"

The author has something to say:

Renee was so envious of the happy days of the self-made rich woman.