Home, Sweet Home

She was all jittery and excited as she stepped off the train and onto the platform where she searched the crowd of parents for her own, her thick suitcase in one hand and her owl's cage in the other. With a renewed energy she jumped and jumped to look over the heads of taller people, until she saw her father with the widest grin waving her over.

Nifry felt laughter bumbling out as she made quick work to get to them, to where her mother awaited with open arms. She jumped into them, and her mother grunted underneath her weight.

"My girl! Have. You. Gotten. Bigger?" Tina Scamander asked and cradled Nifry in her arms as she kissed the crown of her head over and over again in between her words. Nifry giggled and pretended to fight her mothers hold, but really she was soaking in her warmth and smell. She'd missed them both so much! The scent of her mother's perfume and unmistakable grip of her strong arms.

Newt pushed in. "Don't hog her, I've missed her more!"

"As if," Tina teased, and then the three of them were hugging each other and laughing at one another.

Nifry was giddy with joy, at finally being home.

It was later as they all sat down to enjoy some ice cream at Fortescue's and talk before they headed home that they gave her some rather surprising news.

"We've got a new place," Newt started as he licked at his chocolate mint cone. Nifry's eyes bulged in surprise. They hadn't mentioned that at all in their letters. "It's in Dorset."

She blinked. "A place to stay, stay?" The idea of her parents staying in one area for long was a mind boggling one for her. As a family they'd always traveled around, heeding the calls of others to take in magical creatures with rehabilitation and later release in mind. She couldn't count how many different countries she'd been to and they'd lived out of a suitcase between the three of them.

Newt took his free hand and placed it over his daughter's, a sincere smile on his face. "Your mother and I are retiring from the old work, you see."

"Eh?" She sat there open mouthed and shocked. "But why?"

He chuckled. "We're getting old, Niffler, we can't keep doing it."

Her brows scrunched and she nearly dropped her ice cream on the floor. Old? They weren't old. She looked them over and noticed for near the first time the wrinkles in their skin, and the white of their hair. Tina's was still a dark grey, but it was obvious how tired the two were.

She conceded that, but, "What about the animals? And the suitcase?"

"Arty will be taking care of it," Tina replied and eyed her daughters reaction.

Nifry lit up like a lomos. "ARTY?" She bounced in her chair and Newt had to steady her hand with her ice cream in it so it didn't fall. Her face was hurting with her grin, and she had to force herself to breath so she wouldn't just pass out right there. "He's back!?"

Newt hushed her a bit, mindful of the people around them and nodded empathetically.

"Your brother and his wife are done with their time in Romania, so yes, he's back." Her mother had a bit of moisture in her eyes, but dabbed it away. "They have a surprise for you when we get home."

"Wait they're already here?" Nifry asked and at her dad's nod, she laughed. "Then why aren't we on our way! Let's go! Let's go!"

Her parents chuckled, and at her behest they finished their ice cream, Nifry having to keep reminding them of home when they kept slowing down. After what felt lihavingrnity, they then asked Mr. Fortescue to borrow the shops fireplace to floo in. Nifry hated magical transportation if she were honest; she much preferred muggle trains and cars, mainly because she was prone to sickness when she ever apparrated with her parents, and portkeys just didn't agree with her in any way. Neither did flooing, but she would take soot in her mouth to intense vomiting any day.

Her mother went first, repeating their destination to Nifry over and over for her to memorize. She looked at Newt wondering if he was next or she was, and he handed the powder bag towards her.

"Go on, Niffler," her father told her as she eyed the fireplace uneasily. Ugh. She tossed her handful of powder into the flames and stepped in and carefully enunciated the address.

She was coughing as she came out from the other end and waving the smoke and grit away from her when she felt her body connect with something solid.

"Nifry!" She blinked at the voice, denying who it could be as her heart beat faster and the grin exploded onto her face.

"Aunt Queenie!?"

She couldn't feel any happier than in that moment as her vision cleared, the moisture in her eyes thickening with emotion. Nifry was wrapped into a tight hold as Queenie pulled her away from the fireplace and towards the rest of the family where she looked up from the crook of her aunts arm to see not only her brother, but practically everyone else.

"Is this a family reunion?" she coughed out.

"Of sorts," Newt said, coming up from behind her.

Nifry wasted no time spotting each one of her family members and taking note. Apparently they'd all been waiting for their arrival. She eyed Arty and Vanessa, his wife, and a few of her cousins who were loitering around talking to each other. In and around the house she could hear others, possibly even her second cousins, the ones closer to her in age playing around. When the sound of laughter from somewhere up above traveled through the walls she knew they were and she grinned. This Christmas was going the best one yet!

Then there was Uncle Jacob, Queenie's husband, sitting in the seat nearest the fireplace and Nifry nearly jumped his withering form right then and there the moment she laid eyes on him. She hadn't seen everyone in what felt like ages, but he especially was a sight for sore eyes.

Being so close, she could still smell the delectable baked goods scent he always carried around with him everywhere he went, even if he wasn't baking. With the nostalgia came old memories of her sitting in his lap as a little girl, listening to him prattle on about days gone by. Idle things like what his cousins used to tease him about when he was as small as her, about how his mother used to smack him in the back of his head when he was being an idiot. She could even recall the same smells and the feelings she'd had then. Recalled the scratchiness of the tailored vest he wore, and the warmth of his hands running up and down her back.

Merlin, she'd missed them.

And now she was about to cry.

"Oh, honey," Queenie murmured, and sat down on the couch besides Uncle Jacob, pulling her in with them. Nifry immediately pressed her face into her aunt's chest to hide her tears, but the harder she kept them at bay, the worse they became.

"I-I—," Nifry struggled to get out, "I've missed you!"

"Oh, sweet girl," Queenie murmured.

"Here, pass me my girl, Queenie," Jacob said, and Nifry went willingly into his arms, laying her legs across her aunts and the rest of her across Jacob's form. She looked up at him wondering if he was about to do something, and then he poked her in the nose with a short laugh. "It's so red, you could be a reindeer."

"No it ain't!" Nifry barked out, and then she started giggling too. Her tears dried quickly, and the bittersweet tears she'd just had were gone, replaced by the light fuzziness of love.

"Ain't ain't a word, Niffler," Newt shot at her coming over to shuffle the wood in the fireplace. It was all cozy and warm despite the chill of the outside. She cocked her head towards a window and could see the snow piling along the shelf of it.

Nifry was more of an autumn girl, but she did like winters as well. Not all of them featured most of her family in one building, but enough of them did that she could say winter was a close second. (She was born in autumn so it had to be her favorite.)

"You said it too," she told him, and kicked her leg out at his butt in retaliation. He caught her foot just as it would have connected. They shared identical cheeky grins before he then took to unlacing her boots and setting them in front of the fire to dry.

"Vanessa, Carrie, can you check on the other kids?" Tina called, "I don't want them breaking anything too soon."

"Of course, Mrs. Scamander," Nifry heard Vanessa say.

"Oh please, Vanessa, call me mom. Or mum, whichever suits you."

"Yeah, you've been in this family, what, a year?" Carrie, also known as Caroline, chided. "It's time to lighten up, sweetheart. We aren't about to eat you, although if we were I'm sure you'd be very tasty. Not enough for all of us, but tasty." Caroline was Nifry's cousin and had a weird sense of humor. She was her aunt's first born and she liked to remind everyone of this. She was in her early forties but didn't look a day over thirty. It was probably because she worked in skin care and other magical makeup appliances, always trying to look her best and be it, too.

Joseph was her younger brother, and was putting a few boxes underneath a Christmas tree. He worked in MACUSA as some sort of congressman, she wasn't sure what really. He took mostly after Queenie in appearance, blond and tall with a wiry body and a handsome face that he definitely used in his politics. Carrie was beautiful, too, and she was short the same way Uncle Jacob was, as well as slightly chubby in the face with ample curves men stared at when they were in public. Nifry didn't used to notice, but she started to last year while they were visiting New York.

"Mom!" Nifry heard from somewhere in the house. It was Julie, Joseph's daughter.

"She's in the kitchen!" Joseph called back at the same time a woman called, "In the kitchen!"

Julie came into the living room, where they all sat anyways with a harried look holding two pieces of inconspicuous wood in her hands. Juliette Kowalski was blonde haired and blue eyed, just like her mother and father, and was also very pretty, she was also very tall for her age. Willowy and thin. Almost like a model in some kind of muggle magazine.

Nifry had always thought of Julie as a very cool big sister. It had been the role she'd always taken when Nifry visited so it's how she always saw her as. It's probably what Julie always had to do when dealing with her younger cousins. She was the sort to take charge and she took no prisoners while she was at it.

She was the big sister Nifry had always wanted. Julie who knew loads and tons about everything and had boyfriends, and could do anything she put her mind to. That hadn't changed, and Nifry still looked at the girl with something akin to awe but not quiet.

"Matt broke my wand," she gritted out, working her jaw furiously. "Can I kill him?"

"After dinner, say hello to your cousin first," Joseph said, patting down his pants and fishing out a cigarette from his pockets. Carrie threw up her hands, and Tina rolled her eyes as Carrie and Vanessa rushed out to find Matthew and James, Carrie's twin boys. They were older than Nifry by two years but they still acted like eight year olds.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Queenie chided, pointing her fingers at her son. "No smoking, Joseph, or I'll have you by your ears. If you must, do it outside."

"Hello, Nifry," Julie said at the same time her father gave his mother the stink eye and slid his cigarettes back into his pockets. "What time is dinner?"

"Six thirty," Newt answered, taking a seat in one of the recliners. "And I can take you to get a new wand later this week if you wish. Mr. Ollivander's opens on wednesday."

"Hello, Julie," Nifry greeted.

"Thank you Uncle Newt!" Julie chimed, and then proceeded to glare daggers at her father.

"What do you expect from me, Jules?"

It was Julie's turn to throw her hands up in exasperation before she headed out of the room.

"Is Uncle Theseus here, too?" Nifry asked.

"No, he and Aunt Leta couldn't make it." Newt said gently and Nifry shrugged, turning her body into Jacob's chest. It wasn't like she expected it, Uncle Theseus was always busy training future Auror's, and Nifry had no clue what Leta did.

"Nifry you need to eat more, you're skin and bones," Queenie told her, poking at her legs.

"I eat all kinds!" Nifry challenged, facing her family and wondering when was it that Arty had slipped out. "Leslie says I have a high metab-metabolim?"

"Metabolism. And who is this Leslie, hmm?" Tina asked.

"She's my roommate, and she's my best friend," Nifry said, and her cheeks heated up with warmth. She'd never had a friend to talk about with her family before.

"Sounds like a real charmer," Newt replied with a twinkle in his eye. "Maybe you could invite her over some time."

Nifry slipped off her Aunt and Uncle in her excited as she jumped up, "I can!?"

"Of course, when you see her next you can talk about it with her. Gives us dates, don't just surprise us. "

"Ok!" She was all jittery again, which reminded her. "Where's the suitcase? I want to visit everyone and I want to meet the Honey Oats." The Honey Oats were a group of bowtruckles they'd rescued from trees being demolished by muggles. They'd been deemed Honey Oats because their trees had sported a bunch of bee hives that had terrorized the muggles before they were removed.

If Nifry hadn't been so sad about the trees being cut down, she would have had laughed at the retelling of it when she'd first read it in the letter, but she couldn't. It was no laughing matter.

"Arty has it—oh, where has that boy went," Tina grumbled.

"I'll look for him," Nifry said. "I can look around the house while I'm at it."

"Good idea," Tina told her and as Nifry crossed her side, she kissed the crown of her head as she passed.

The house was two stories and wide. It was a bit old fashioned looking, something from her parents golden age. It was lit by candles rather than light bulbs like most modern homes but most things in her life were like that. From what she could see of the house it wasn't entirely finished being decorated, but it still felt like home, mainly because she could smell her parents and her family members everywhere, and the candles being burned where the scented ones her mother liked.

Nifry adored the amount of windows there were around the house. It was getting darker even though it was around four or five if she had to guess, it being winter. The dipping sunset awashed the candlelit rooms with purples and blues. It made everything look beautiful. Like something out of a winter wonderland.

Outside she could see a vast amount of snow being hit by the light of the sun in just a way that it looked like sparkling crystals were lining the landscape. For a moment, Nifry stood there and watched it, unsure if she even wanted to look away.

It was magic.

"It's uh, it's quite beautiful, huh?" she heard from behind her and she screeched in surprise and nearly fell over.

"Arty! You scared me!"

Her brother didn't look at all sorry, rather he had on a small grin that reminded her of their father. Nifry took after their father the most in appearance, although her facial structure was a bit rounder than his sharp ones. They shared the same reddish brown hair that her mother liked to call copper, and their green blue eyes. Arty on the other hand took the most after Tina. His hair was neigh black, and his eyes were a nice brown that shown gold when the light hit it. Despite taking after their mother, he could definitely pull off their dad's facial expressions.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking like he was trying not to laugh.

Nifry wanted to hug him, but the thing about their relationship was that their skinship was rather rare. It wasn't on Nifry's part. She used to beg him to play with her all the time when she was little, but their ages were just too far apart. He'd been fifteen when she was born, and was busy finding his place in the world while she had been struggling with hers.

She was sure he hadn't liked her in the least when she was little. She used to throw fits like no other when he ignored her, so she could see why, but she'd always idolized him anyways.

"Dad told me you wanted in the suitcase?" he asked and she nodded vigorously.

He waved her to follow him down the stairs and to what she suspected was his and Vanessa's bedroom. It was mostly bare, a bed, a dresser, and a vanity with a few portraits on the walls and that was it.

"Tell me about Romania," she asked when he sat the suitcase down on the floor.

"Well it's beautiful, especially around this time of year. Some of the dragons get a bit testy, but we deal," he paused, then winced. "Dealt."

"You're not going back?" She asked just as she stepped off the ladder.

"I'm sure mom and dad filled you in on everything," he said eying her as he flipped a few hanging sheets away from them and waited for her to pass. She jumped in joy when she spotted the hippogriffs.

And then she stopped dead when she spotted the thestrals. "Since when did we get those?"

"Get what?" he asked sharply.

"T-those," she pointed to the winged beasts, and one took notice of them, turning its head and meeting Nifry's stare. Her breathing shuddered. Why could she see them? It wasn't like she'd seen real death. She'd seen vision de—.

"Nifry," Arty grabbed at her shoulder and pulled back. She hadn't even realized she'd been walking towards them. "Why can you see them?"

"Why can you?" she shot back, uncomfortable with explaining. "And why didn't mom and dad tell me you guys had thestrals?"

"A friend of mine died of cancer," Arty explained, his jaws clenched looking down at the ground. "And they aren't ours to keep, after the holidays Nessa and I are taking them to Hogwarts."

She would have said something cheerful about him coming to Hogwarts, but she was still thinking about his friend. Nifry pressed her hand to her heart, and she felt sadness for her brother, but she had to ask, "What's cancer?" Her voice was quiet in respect for the dead.

"It's a muggle sickness," his voice was quieter, and he was looking straight at her, making her a bit uncomfortable.

"Oh."

They stood there silently for a moment, and she looked back at the thestrals. For all the creatures they'd handled throughout her lifetime, those winged horses weren't one of them. Maybe when she was a baby, but you acquired thestrals mainly for the purpose of breeding or using for transportation, which they hadn't needed. They were also elusive and rarely needed rescuing. Really people were usually too afraid to go near them, taking them as bad signs. Like crows and muggles.

"I didn't think it would count for me," she whispered. Arty cocked his brow at her, and she found herself describing just a few of her dreams for her brother. He'd shared with her something, so she could only do the same.

"Oneiromancy?" Arty asked, after he listened and he started to rub at his chin in consideration.

"What's that?" she asked for the second time.

"It's divination through dreams, and I'm not one bit surprised to hear it."

It was her turn to be particularly surprised. "You aren't?" Her voice squeaked at the end of it.

"No, not at all. You were . . . you were four when you told me to look after him. Said his days were numbered. I suppose you don't remember, but I do. After he died . . . well at the time it scared me so badly I couldn't look at you for weeks." He wasn't looking at her now, but she was certainly looking at him.

Her eyes were wide, surprise didn't even begin to cover what she felt.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, and reached to take her brothers hand.

"It's alright."

After the two came up from the suitcase it was already dinner time by the look of Vanessa coming into the room just as they stepped out.

"Dinner?" Arty asked, his face softening like butter when she smiled up at him and nodded. He leaned down to give her a not so chaste kiss to which Nifry feigned sickness all over the floor. Vanessa laughed and pulled away with a wave towards her.

"Enough, Art. Your sister is watching."

"Later then," he conceded sending her some type of look to which her skin colored a lovely rose color.

"You guys are making me lose my appetite," Nifry grumbled, trying to look at the floor. She was used to her parents show of affections towards one another. Seeing her brother and his wife was an entirely different story.

"I'm sorry, Little Niffler," Arty said, and smothered her hair in her face, mussing it up with his hand. She retaliated by kicking her foot into his shin, to which he didn't even grunt. "Now you can't see it."

"Arty!" His chuckle and Vanessa's laughter filled the hallway as they left as a group to head into the dining room. She was busy fixing her hair when she spotted the cousins she hadn't seen yet.

"Hey Nifry, is Harry around?" Matt asked and Nifry looked at her feet, hoping he'd let it go.

"Who's Harry?" Vanessa asked unbeknownst to Nifry's wanting to be swallowed up by a hole.

"He's her friend, the only friend she has." James put in.

"I can see why," Matt muttered, looking from her mussed hair down to her feet. If he kept staring and talking she was gonna shove it between his legs. She'd been told by Leslie that it was a soft spot for lads.

"Let it go," she forced out. "That's old news, I haven't even mentioned him in forever."

"She's just embarrassed she has a muggle ailment called an imaginary friend. My mom said kids with no friends make them up so they aren't all alone," Matt told Vanessa who looked concerned.

"It's not a muggle ailment, Matt," Vanessa replied gently, and applied her hand to Nifry's shoulder. "I had one too when I was real little."

Nifry looked up in surprise. "You did?" Matt and James echoed her and they were all looking at the older girl with rapt attention.

"Well, most children aren't raised with dragons, and I wasn't really around children my age until I went to school so I had a friend named Silvia who I used to play with."

"Was she real? Could you see her?" James asked.

"In my heart she was real, let's leave it at that," Vanessa replied. She then shared a secret grin with Nifry who sent back a tentative one herself.

Nifry felt a little less weird as they headed into the dining room where the "old" folk and Julie were. She'd never heard of another person that wasn't magical having the same issues as she did when she was little. Matt and James hadn't ever understood when she'd talked about Harry, and about two years ago she'd simply stopped uttering the name aloud. She didn't remember much about her "imaginary friend", just that he hadn't ever been someone she saw while she was awake.

He'd been her dream friend. Someone she followed around and watched while he was with his own friends; she'd seen his beginning, and she'd seen his end. Really, when she'd internalized it and had realized that he might not have been as real as she liked to believe, he became something much like an old story character you knew so well you could flip to the next page and know what exactly would be said. As a child, she certainly had felt a little less lonely with him in it, and of course she'd told her family all about him.

Again, she'd learned not to.

It was fuzzy, but she could recall how worried her family had been that she was talking to a strange boy, and that that strange boy "told" her all sorts of things. Not that she could remember most of it. She wished she could. She'd simply been too young to understand a whole lot of it. She knew she had a journal she'd kept of the events, but it was probably written in chicken scratch and hidden somewhere.

For dinner, Nifry was sat beside Aunt Queenie and Julie who apparently had gotten over her anger with her father and was now staring daggers at her plate.

"Now don't mope, Jules. It doesn't become you," Mary chided her daughter.

Mary was Joseph's wife and as beautiful as any classic woman could be. She was the sort you saw on the hand of powerful men, her neck adorned with the prettiest gems and her body tucked into beautiful dresses. Nifry supposed her cousin Joseph was a powerful man, again he was a politician for MACUSA, but she didn't have a clue how powerful.

He was always such a bum when around family it was hard to imagine, but she had seen photos of the three of them in newspaper articles that were sent to her parents as a sort of brag from Queenie. Things like Congressman Kowalski and his two favorite girls, and whatnot. As if he was a celebrity. Maybe he was. She didn't know.

"Why is she upset?" Arty asked once everyone was seated.

"Oh, because she was caught trying to use magic. She knows it's not allowed, but she tried anyways. It's why Matt was trying to get her wand from her and broke it," Mary answered. It caused Julie to glare harder at her plate. Nifry wanted to console Julie but she was afraid the girl wouldn't go with it.

"That's not at all true," Julie ground out. "The little shit wanted to see if he could use it since Aunt Carrie had their wands confiscated."

"Language!" Mary gasped, and Julie rolled her eyes.

"What? It's what he is and he knows it." Nifry found herself nodding and caught herself.

"Then explain the way a lady would," Mary scolded. "Don't talk like a sailor, only those cut from bad breeding speak that way and I've raised you better."

"Matt did you lie to your Aunt Mary?" Carrie was whispering to her son who had been grinning until his mother confronted him.

"If you want I can throw a hex at him," Nifry whispered to Julie, "I still have Frankie."

"Who's Frankie?"

"My wand."

"Of course it is," she muttered.

Nifry cocked her head at her and gestured to her side where her holster was kept. Julie shook her head, but spared her a smile nonetheless.

"Jules, lift your head, and don't slouch," Mary continued. "This is Christmas Eve dinner and you don't want to make this family feel uncomfortable, do you?"

Julie looked like she wanted to do anything but that, but grumbled and released a hefty breath. "I'm seventeen in two weeks, mom, you can't keep treating me like this."

"I can keep treating you like this, because you're turning seventeen. How would you live without me? You don't even know how to open up a bank account on your own."

"Speak for yourself, you're the one who should teach me these things!"

"Uh . . ." Uncle Jacob started, but the two went on after each other despite the awkward and intense feeling in the room. It was obvious Mary couldn't read it, and obvious Julie could but didn't care.

"Ladies!" Joseph rang out, and the two paused to look at him. "Mary stop badgering her, it's Christmas. We're only here for a few weeks and then we leave. Let's make the most of it, please? And Julie, your Uncle Newt already told you we were getting you a new wand, so chin up, buckoo. Also, Carrie if you don't do something about your son's behaviour, I'll do something about it myself."

Carrie sat back appalled at that statement, followed by Mary deflating under her husband's hard stare, and Julie pausing to consider him.

"Alright," Julie said, and then crossed stares with Matt who looked a tad bit frightened. Her stare promised him many things, and from the look of it, mainly future pain. James gulped, looking at his brother with worry.

"Is Christmas with your family always like this?" Vanessa whispered to Arty.

"No, sometimes there's fire."

"Then it's a lot like mine," she said, and her face lit up in the way it usually didn't as they stared at one another.

"And with that note," Tina stood up and waved at the dishes lining the table. They had yet to dig in. "As I'm aware, Arty, Vanessa, you have something to tell us?"

The couple stood up, and Nifry noted how shaken they both looked.

"Well, mom is right. Nessa and I have something to share with you all," Arty started, staring down at his wife in a way that made Nifry's chest hurt for all kinds of reasons.

Vanessa cleared her throat delicately. "We're pregnant."

And on that note the room's tense atmosphere was replaced quickly with the joy and applause of the whole family.

"Atta boy!" Uncle Jacob hollered, and Newt had this pleased as punch expression on his face, much like his son's. Even Julie's frown had turned upside down. Nifry herself was shaking in her chair with excitement.

"When is it due? Do we know the gender? Ah, we have to think about names!" Came the rush of questions from everyone else. Arty's expression went from pleased to harried, and Vanessa had to sit down from the whiplash, Arty following suit. Vanessa's entire face was red from the attention.

For a while the whole family was abuzz with the news, and it made sense. Their family felt like a large one when they were all together, but when they were all apart in their respective countries it felt small. It had also been eleven years since Nifry's birth, and she'd been the coddled baby of the lot because of that.

She was excited because she'd never had the pleasure of being around human babies before, only ever magical creatures and she was very curious. Plus she could play games and run around with her niece or nephew, and she could teach them their letters and tell them stories just the way her family had.

Conversation became easier after that as Tina started to serve the meal on the table and everyone dug in.

Nifry felt a tug at her socks though and had to look down in curiosity to see what it was. She blinked in surprise and her smile broadened. Leaning down she reached for his scaly palms and he reached for hers in return. They shook hands and Barry, her little brother niffler, used their linked hands to climb up onto her chair and sit beside her. It was a bit of struggle for him. He was fatter than other nifflers they'd kept, and they'd tried slimming him down with exercise but he was such a lazy bum it was a bit hard to get him to do it in the first place.

The chair was big and easily seated the two of them, and the family was none the wiser. Nifry took to picking her chicken apart and sneaking him bites when he'd waved his hands and licked at his lips. At first she'd hesitated, but she was full and she didn't want the food to go to waste.

It was as she was feeding him though that Queenie looked down and spotted the act.

"Ah, ah, ah. That's why he's so fat and you're so skinny," Queenie chastised.

"Nifry eat your food and stop giving it to Barry," Tina scolded and Nifry tipped her head down with only a small amount of shame.

"But he's hungry, and I'm not," Nifry whined. "And it's Christmas Eve."

"He's down five pounds since you've left and I'm beginning to understand why." Newt was chuckling into his dinner roll, and his eyes twinkled as he looked over at her.

"Exactly, so eat your food and send that rascal away." That was Mary chiming in with the scolding, looking rather repulsed at the sight of the creature.

"But look at his face!"

"Set him down, you'll break your skinny arms and whose fault do you think that will be?" Nifry was struggling to keep Barry up in the air as she showcased him in all his glory and had to admit, that yes, breaking her arms was a possibility. Blowing out a heavy breath she set him down mournfully.

When she did she noticed the glint of something in his pouch and reached despite his flapping hands and pulled it out. It was Mary's necklace she'd been wearing.

"Mary, this yours?" she asked sheepishly. Mary squawked and Joseph started chuckling, but not before Nifry pulled out his MACUSA badge with the shiny plating. His laughter whooped out of him and soon the whole family was laughing over the niffler's antics.

Barry reached for the shiny things in her hands while she dangled it above him, but too bad for him Mary pulled out her wand to levitate the pieces towards her. The put upon sigh he let out even caused Nifry to burst into laughter herself.

Nifry then took the chance of everyone's distraction to slip him a bit more chicken, feeling pity for his sad expression.

When dinner was over they all settled into groups across the house and started catching up further with one another while they all took to cleaning up.

Dessert was a tray set up by Uncle Jacob on the dining table after the dishes were cleared away. Everyone picked at it while the family bustled around the house doing other activities. It was full of assorted treats usually featured in his bakery in New York. Uncle Jacob was retired now, but he always took to cooking for each other the muggle way anyways, and in Nifry's opinion, somehow it tasted more magical made by his loving hands than the easy and quick way of the wizards.

The bakery in New York was still open, apparently there were several open locations around the United States but Nifry had only ever been to the one her family personally ran. Carrie was the one who had taken over the bakery, but she didn't run it in the same way Uncle Jacob and Aunt Queenie had run it. She used magic to do a lot of the work, just so it was a bit quicker and they could meet demands.

Vanessa and Arty had went somewhere with Julie and were hanging out. Joseph, Newt, and Jacob were in the living room chattering away about something or other. Aunt Carrie and her husband Paul were set on distracting the children although Nifry wasn't included in that group. She was helping her mom and Queenie with the dishes and they were teaching her cleaning spells that could be put to good use.

"You're getting taller," Queenie noted while the big pot where the mashed potatoes had been was being scrubbed.

Nifry frowned at that and looked at her aunt hopefully, "Really?"

"Yes, but if you keep forgetting to eat you'll only get shorter," Tina replied in her sisters stead, taking to rubbing at Nifry's crown of hair.

"I don't forget to eat," Nifry grouched, secretly enjoying her mom's hand on her head. "I eat a lot." She picked at her donut shaped into an occamy egg and raised her brow pointedly.

"Right," Tina said suspiciously. She mussed Nifry's hair up and smiled when the dishes were at last done. "Now go meet with your cousins, they've missed you."

Nifry didn't want to though. "They didn't miss me at all, the twins were being mean earlier." She got enough of that at Hogwarts no way was she going to teased when she was home.

"You're being teased at school?" Queenie asked and Nifry blanked her mind while she tried to form a barrier between them in her head. Queenie frowned at this and grabbed Nifry's hand to pull her into one of the side rooms beside the kitchen. They sat down on a couch there, and Nifry noted the darkness of the room beside the few candles burning on the walls.

Nifry refused to look at her Aunt and didn't check to see if her mother followed. Something about it just had her clamming up.

"Honey, you're blocking me," Queenie murmured, brushing her fingers against Nifry's jaw and cupping her cheek. "Let me in, sweetheart, please?"

If Queenie wanted to, she could easily get through her walls. Her aunt was a master at legilimency in a way that it was as natural to her as breathing. Nifry had only the basics of training in occlumency, and she certainly couldn't be considered an Occlumens with any real talent. Still, Queenie was mindful sometimes when people didn't want their heads examined.

Nifry contemplated it for the moment, wondered at all of the innards Queenie would be able to see and wanted to reinforce her barriers, but something about the compassion behind her aunts stare caught her. She found herself slipping her hold and opening like a book.

There was a light breeze there in her head, Queenie allowing her to feel it. Her aunt stroked her hand while the two sat there. She wasn't actively thinking about school, but each time she kept telling herself not to think of it, she found it kept surfacing and surfacing.

It was moments later her aunt gasped and her eyes went wide as her hands went to her mouth. "Oh honey!"

"What, what is it?" Tina asked coming from up behind them.

Queenie pulled Nifry pulled her into a tight embrace and she was awashed with fierce protection and love of the woman holding her.

"We have to have a talk," Queenie murmured, looking up at her sister. "You, me, and Newt."

"A-alright?" It was clear her mother had no idea what Queenie was talking about but was backing out of the room to get her father anyways. Nifry wasn't sure if that conversation would include her, but Newt was already walking through with a confused look on his face with Tina followed closely behind.

"What is it?" he asked, and Queenie waved for them to take a seat.

She pulled Nifry away from her and gave her a considering look. "Do you want me to tell them, or should I?"

"Uhm," Nifry wasn't sure what Queenie had even seen. What she was supposed to tell. So she laid it out in a quick breath, "The fact the Slytherins are bullying me and the rest of Hufflepuff? The fact I'm called Elfella 'cause I'm so short and that there's actually a house elf named Bimbly that's taller than me? That those nightmares I've had since I was really little are actually prophetic and that even the Sorting Hat thinks I'm a Seer? That there's a werewolf in school and I slipped into his head in a vision!? Wai—Oops! I shouldn't have said that! It was a secret! Agh!"

She clamped her hand down on her face and tried to blend in with her surroundings, but her parents were staring at her with flat expressions and it was in that moment she wanted to disappear.

If she was really a house elf she could do that. She wasn't.

"Niffler," Newt said after a brief moment, and he moved to sit with Queenie and her on the couch. "Are you sure?"

And she wanted to sink in further.

"She's sure, and I'm sure. The girl is a Seer," Queenie said, her voice was hard in the way she spoke. "I've been telling you this for years, Newton. They aren't night terrors, or imaginary friends, or random things she's come up for attention. These are things your daughter is seeing because she can't help it in the same way I at one point couldn't help being in other's heads."

Newt and Tina were both speechless, staring at her with these odd expressions on their faces. It worried Nifry who didn't have the talent to read minds the way her aunt did.

Queenie huffed in annoyance and turned to her to cup her cheek as she told her, "They only don't believe it because it's a frightening thing, you know? Accepting that they can't control the things you see, or shelter you from the world in the way they want to. You're their precious baby, they don't anything bad to happen to you. And the thing is, they do believe. They believe even though it's hard to admit. Just like you struggled admitting it to yourself."

Tina's eyes were sparkling with moisture, and if Nifry wasn't mistaken so were her fathers.

"I'm so sorry," Tina whispered.

"It's alright, Mom," Nifry croaked, and wiped at the tears that had welled in her own eyes.

It was that night they told her the words she'd been longing to hear, "I believe you." It was all she'd needed.

Regulus was busy pretending that his parents and Sirius weren't fighting or that Kreacher wasn't going on and on about how spoiled Master Sirius was if he felt he had the right to go against Master and Mistress Black because he certainly wasn't acting what was right of a Black was meant to be. It was all under his breath of course, and Regulus really hadn't felt the need to call him out on it. He rather enjoyed it, actually.

His extended family were piled in the house but he didn't want to talk to anyone, and that's why he sat with their house elf wishing for the life of him to be at Hogwarts where he could at least be doing something.

"Sirius, don't you dare walk away from me!" Walburga intoned and it was deadly in the way she looked at Sirius.

"No thank you, Mum, I can tell where I'm unwanted. I'll just see if the Potter's will have me!" Sirius's shout drew Regulus's gaze and several others his way and he was storming just past him as their stares caught.

The look that passed between them was an odd one.

Regulus couldn't identify whether it was contempt he saw there or just anger, or whatever the hell it was. It was morphing somewhat though as if he was trying to keep it in place, this weird concoction of emotions pinned at his sleeve. It was the most open he'd seen him when it dropped and his older brother just looked sad, as if he was about to cry. Regulus had never seen that on Sirius's face before. It was bizarre, the two conflicting pictures in Regulus's head fighting what he knew of his brother and what he was learning of him now.

For a moment he wondered what was on his own face.

And then he was storming his way to the fireplace to floo where presumably the Potter's lived.

"I don't know what went wrong with that boy," Orion muttered to his wife and Walburga was busy fuming.

Regulus released a pent in sigh. It hadn't even been a day at home.

Home, sweet home.

A/N: Here's the longest chapter yet, there was a lot to be written and I wanted to get it in one go. Hope you enjoyed!

Also I have no clue, obviously, when Queenie and Jacob would have initially started having kids, neither do I know about Tina's and Newt's plan of action either. I know the movies are taking over a 19 year period and all that shizz, and it ends in 1945, but they're in their forties by that point and I'm not sure if the movies will show their kids, or what their plans for Queenie and Jacob are anyways (meaning if they're a couple or what (they better be, they are perfect for one another (I mean there's gotta be a story behind Jacob and Queenie in that last scene of the movie, did he remember . . .or?))).

No matter what I do, none of what I write is gonna be cannon, so I thought I might as well play with it. If you're from the future and know whats up, take this as an AU. (I'm sure it already qualifies as one.)

That's why Arty, full name Newton Artemis Fido Scamander the Second (I'm unoriginal as all get out, but what can ya do.) was also a late child like Nifry and was conceived in 1946. (I just feel like Tina and Newt are the type to wait to have kids anyways, especially with wars going on.) On the other hand, Queenie and Jacob got started a lot earlier (in my head cannon), and that's why they have grandchildren near Nifry's age.