Oh Hex No

“You weren’t kidding when you said your mom likes to rescue birds.”

Serena laughed lightly as she led Erik inside the expansive aviary. It extended out from the back of the house and had its own assortment of trees and mini ecosystems inside for the different kinds of birds.

“Her familiar at school was a raven,” Serena said. “She and birds have just always had a weird connection. It drives Montague crazy, since he’s not allowed to eat any of them.”

They stood in the aviary for a few moments, taking in all the greenery and the chatter of about fifteen different birds.

“Just watch out for Thaddeus,” Serena said finally, leading him out for the rest of the tour. “He’s a large parrot and has an even bigger mouth.”

Erik laughed, but he straightened up suddenly when Philippe appeared from the doorway that led to his lab.

“Relax, he’s not going to murder you,” Serena whispered.

“So this must be Serena’s school friend,” Philippe said cheerfully, giving Erik a firm handshake.

“Um. Yes. Sir. Erik.”

“Oh, you don’t need to be calling me sir,” Philippe chuckled. “Philippe will do fine. Where did your mother get off to, Serena?”

“She’s helping Erik’s mother fix her hair. The parrot messed it up.”

“Of course he did. That bird is a menace. Well come on then, we’ll have some cocoa in the parlor while we wait for them. Hopefully Antoinette doesn’t frighten the poor woman.”

There was a nice assortment of snacks now laid out on the coffee table, a silver pot full of hot chocolate. Serena filled two cups and handed one to Erik. Antoinette and Erik’s mom came back into the room.

“Daddy, this is Ginny Marvell. She brought us a homemade pie.”

“Oh, well splendid. You can never have too much dessert. It’s very nice to meet you, Mrs. Marvell.”

“Please, call me Ginny,” she said, seeming a little nervous.

“As long as you promise to call me Philippe.”

“You’ll have won my father over already, bringing a pie,” Antoinette laughed. “The man has an insatiable sweet tooth. I do apologize again about Thaddeus messing up your hair.”

“Oh, that’s all right. You didn’t have to let me borrow these pins though.”

Ginny gestured to the little pearl clips and Antoinette snorted delicately.

“Nonsense, they look better in your hair anyway. I don’t know what I was thinking, buying them in the first place, but they are very pretty.”

The five of them sat down by the coffee table, sipping cocoa and snacking on cheese and crackers while Philippe and Antoinette peppered Erik and Ginny with questions and compliments. Serena hid a smile behind her cocoa mug, sensing that Erik and his mother weren’t totally sure what to make of her family. They seemed to relax a bit after a while though. Philippe and Antoinette were big personalities but they were so openly friendly that it was hard not to like them.

They also asked Serena about school, looking proud about how well she was doing. But they were less enthused about the attack on one of the professors.

“Have they figured out yet what attacked her?” Philippe asked.

“No. Or if they have, they haven’t told us.”

Philippe shook his head, looking annoyed. “The people running things over there may be educated, but they’re not particularly smart,” he grumbled. “You know, your grandmother; rest her soul; wanted to become Headmistress once she retired. It’s truly a shame that she never got the chance.”

“Really? Grandma wanted to be Headmistress at Mondhaven?” Serena asked. “She would've been perfect for it.”

“Better than that hag Yvonne Norris,” Antoinette muttered. “I never liked her.”

“Dimwitted ass for brains,” Thaddeus squawked from where he was perched by the mantle.

“Thaddeus, I’ve told you to stop using that kind of language. Though in this case it’s well chosen.”

Erik choked slightly on his hot chocolate trying to cover a laugh.

“My mother doesn’t tend to mince her words,” Serena said. Antoinette shrugged innocently and handed a small piece of smoked sausage to Montague, who was making his rounds bumming treats off of everyone.

“Dinner is ready.” The cook’s assistant, Mary, poked her head into the parlor. “Louis has seriously outdone himself this year. I think I saw him crying when he brought the roast out.”

“That sounds like Louis,” Philippe said. “Well we shouldn’t keep him waiting.”

They rose and went into the dining room, with its magical snowflakes and little twinkling orbs floating around the room, giving off soft light like candles.

“This is beautiful,” Ginny said, looking delighted by the snowflakes.

“They tend to overdo it a little for the holidays,” Serena explained. “Winter Solstice was always my father’s and my favorite holiday.”

“Yes, my Christopher loved decorating,” Antoinette said, laughing lightly. “And we love having Serena home to visit so I suppose we do go a bit wild. But it’s tradition now.”

“Everything looks amazing,” Ginny said. Louis had prepared a feast; the table was covered in plates and dishes and Serena remarked that he must have thought he was feeding an army instead of just five people.

“Well you know your grandfather can eat plenty,” Antoinette said. “And I’m sure Erik has a healthy appetite too, being a strapping young man.”

Erik’s face turned red and Serena wanted to disappear into the gravy boat she was holding. Antoinette’s eyes twinkled as she took a delicate sip of cider.

“Oh. Um. Thanks,” Erik stammered. Serena shot her mother a warning look but she ignored it.

“So how exactly did you two meet?” Antoinette asked. “Do you share a class?”

“Actually…” Serena grimaced. “I sort of got him in trouble the first time we met. I was practicing after hours and I made a bit of a mess. I tracked him down to apologize, and we just sort of became study partners.”

“Partners is kind of a strong word,” Erik said. “She’s really more of a tutor.”

“Study partner,” Serena repeated firmly. “Erik is very good. He’ll probably graduate in the top five of the class.”

Erik turned red again, almost dropping the salt shaker he was holding. Ginny flashed him a proud smile. They managed to make it through the massive dinner without Antoinette embarrassing her too much, and then Mary brought out the cherry pie Ginny had baked along with the impressive chocolate hazelnut cake that they had every year because it was Serena’s favorite.

Philippe entertained everyone with stories about getting Madelyn to go on a date with him. It had been love at first sight for him but she took convincing, and finally agreed to give him a chance after he’d repeatedly made a fool of himself.

“But in the end it worked,” Philippe grinned, tapping his fork emphatically against his pie plate. “We eloped a year later, and embarrassing myself was worth it.”

“That’s sweet,” Ginny laughed. Serena and Antoinette were leaning back in their seats with amused exasperation, since they’d heard this story about a thousand times. When even Philippe couldn’t eat another bite, they went into the more casual family room, which was also bedecked in holiday decorations. Since winter solstice was the longest night of the year, the festivities always started once it got dark and went on late into the night. Serena had tried so hard as a little kid to stay up all night but had always nodded off on her dad’s lap around ten.

The family room had a pile of gifts Serena’s family had gotten for each other. They all tended to go a little overboard, she supposed. Antoinette lit the fireplace with a flourish of her mahogany and quartz wand, and then she and Serena pulled the pile of pillows off the couch and tossed them on the floor for everyone to sit on.

They always did the regular Solstice traditions; mainly the one where you wrote down a secret wish and then burned the paper it was written on. You were never supposed to tell anyone the wish unless it came true. Serena tossed her piece of enchanted stationary paper into the fireplace when it was her turn, where it temporarily turned the flames hot pink.

In their own family tradition, Antoinette went to the library and returned with one of Christopher’s poetry books. She handed it to Serena.

“It’s your turn this year to pick which ones we read,” she said, settling back onto her pillows. They always read some of Serena’s father’s poems before playing games and opening some of the gifts. Serena had pretty much memorized all of her father’s poetry by now and she flipped directly to the pages she wanted to read. She opted for the one that he had first written specifically for her mother, which was one of her favorites. Antoinette’s eyes were damp but she dabbed them daintily with the silk of her dress.

“Okay, enough with the sentimentality or I’ll cry all night. I want to give our guests their gifts first, it’s only polite.”

“Oh!” Ginny looked flustered. “You didn’t have to-“

“Of course we did.” Antoinette was already rummaging in the gift pile. She handed her gifts to Ginny and Erik.

“I hope you like them,” she said. Erik looked amused by his, though Serena still shot her mother another annoyed look. Ginny handled the delicate glass bottle gently, admiring the faint crystalline shimmer. Antoinette launched into an explanation of Adelia’s magic perfumes and Serena nudged Erik’s arm.

“Do you mind if we talk in private for a minute?” she asked quietly. “I don’t really want to give you your gift in front of everyone.”

“Oh.” Erik looked surprised. “Yeah, of course.”

Philippe and their mothers were chatting and sipping wine and no one paid them much attention as the two of them moved out of the living room and went up to Serena’s room. Erik seemed a little nervous about following her inside but she rolled her eyes and yanked on his arm. He looked around the frilly room while she went to her nightstand and picked up the small box with the currently mini size cauldron.

She handed it to him a little shyly, blushing a little when he opened it and smiled.

“I thought you might like some proper magic equipment,” she said. “And you deserve it.”

“Thanks. I, uh, got you something too,” he said, and Serena blinked in surprise.

“You got a gift? For me?” she asked, trying not to start tugging anxiously on her sleeve.

“I mean, it’s nothing fancy,” Erik said quickly, pulling a tiny box out of his pocket. “But I saw it and I thought of you, so I got it.”

He handed her the box and Serena felt her face turn pink and her stomach fluttered. She opened the box to find a pair of pretty color-shifting pearl earrings and the fluttery feeling intensified.

“Oh,” she said softly. “You didn’t get these for your mom and then give them to me because you thought I expected a gift, did you?”

“No,” he said, chuckling slightly. “I got them for you.”

“They’re beautiful.”

She leaned up and kissed his cheek, which made them both turn red. They stood there looking at each other a little awkwardly while Serena clutched the earring box. She started to edge a little closer but then she squeaked and stumbled back when Thaddeus came flying through her open door, squawking indignantly as Montague chased him and tried to bat him out of the air. Serena glared at the animals as Montague sprang onto the bed and Thaddeus flew in wild circles.

“Have you two ever heard of knocking?” Serena grumbled.