Diane was baking cookies while Sebastian sat on the couch with Ominis, snow falling gently outside the house on Christmas Day. It was such a calm peaceful day, she was enjoying just bustling around the kitchen making sweets and having fun.
She looked up at a knock at the door, and Sebastian all but jumped up off the couch to answer it, Ominis letting out a sound of surprise as he suddenly didn't have him to lean on and fell over.
She chuckled softly, but knew Sebastian was still jumpy after everything that had happened.
Sebastian opened the door and found a familiar face looking back at him, as expressionless as always.
"Good afternoon, Sebastian." William said softly, Connor waving happily behind him from over his shoulder.
"What are you guys doing here?" Sebastian said in surprise, but moved aside to allow them in from the snow.
William looked around the small house curiously, giving a little wince when he saw the window he'd thrown the smoke bomb into. He did feel bad about that.
"Connor said it is customary to visit family on Christmas." He said, glancing back to the blond behind him.
"You know he's totally clueless with the stuff? It's amazing! The guy has never had a real Christmas before, it's just sad." Connor shook his head with a dramatic sigh.
"Our family wasn't the most festive." Diane said, coming out from the kitchen in her apron that was covered in flour from making cookies. "You're in luck, the cookies will be done in about 10 minutes.
"Fresh cookies? Hell yeah!" Connor said excitedly.
"I also came with this." William said, holding a small box to Diane with a gruff tone.
Diane looked down at the small red box with wide eyes, looking back up to William who was pointedly not making eye contact with her. "What is it?"
"A gift. It's Christmas." He said simply.
Diane looked down at the small box and took it, glancing from it back up to William. The fact that he'd traveled all the way here to give her this... what could it be?
"Sorry I didn't get anything for either of you. This is... a bit different." William said, looking to Sebastian and Ominis.
"Don't worry about it." Sebastian shook his head. William had saved his life in that fight with his father, that was plenty gift enough.
"You helped us bring back Diane." Ominis smiled as he walked over as well.
"Should I open it now?" Diane asked, looking up to him.
William looked a bit uneasy at the question, shifting on his feet as if he didn't know what to do. "If you want."
Connor chuckled beside him at how anxious he was, but knew why.
Diane was curious by his reaction but opened the small box and gasped loudly, her hand going up to her mouth. "It's..." she started to say the words but choked softly, her eyes tearing up at the familiar necklace in the box. "Mom's necklace."
William shifted again, not comfortable with emotional moments. "She would want you to have it. Dad hid it away after she died but I found it after you were gone." He was looking away uneasily when he let out a grunt when she suddenly hugged him, looking down with alarmed eyes at the embrace.
"Thank you, Will." She said softly against him through happy tears.
He relaxed a bit, his arms off to the sides anxiously as if he didn't know what to do with them before he lowered them, and used one to pat her head gently. "Merry Christmas, Diane."
Diane sniffed and backed up, wiping her tears as she laughed weakly. "Now I wish I'd gotten you something!"
"You did." William gave a little smile toward her that made her laugh weakly, more tears coming.
"Damnit, you made me cry." She sniffed again, but smiled when Ominis came over to rub her back reassuringly.
"Here, let me put it on." He said, offering his hand out to her.
She took the small silvery chain of green stones out and handed it to him gently, blushing when he moved her curls aside to clasp it at the back of her neck.
"There we are." He smiled, letting her curls fall back, but unable to resist sinking his fingers into them to feel their silky texture. God, he loved her curls.
"It looks good." William said softly.
"Thanks." Diane said, trying not to blubber again. This was so significant, because their mother had been so gentle and kind until she'd passed. She'd always wondered how such a kind woman had been married to such a terrible husband like her father.
"I thought it would also be a good idea if the siblings had a little chat." Connor added, reminding William of the other reason he was here.
William made an uneasy expression before it disappeared once more into nothing. "I was hoping you'd forgotten about that." He murmured.
"Not a chance." Connor chuckled.
"Sure, we can go take a walk, if you want. It's nice outside." Diane offered softly.
William glanced over at Sebastian and Ominis, "you two alright with that?" He asked. He had been one of the people who had initially taken her, after all.
"After that fight, I know you can be trusted. Keep her safe." Sebastian nodded. Ominis smiled beside Diane, nodding as well.
William looked down thoughtfully as he realized they trusted him with her now, before lowering his head slightly in a polite acknowledgement of what they had done. "I'll keep her safe." He gave Diane a soft smile and held out his hand. "Come on, sister, we have a lot of catching up to do."
Diane smiled, taking her apron off. "When the cookies come out just set them on the counter to cool. Don't eat them all before I'm back." She said with a wag of a finger in warning before she bundled up for outside. She took William's hand as they headed out, admittedly nervous about the conversation ahead.
Connor let out a small sigh as the door closed. "I hope he doesn't mess this up." He said in worry.
"He means well. Diane is very forgiving, so even if he does say something uncouth he should still be fine if he explains himself." Ominis said softly.
"Good thing. About all that man says is uncouth." Connor rolled his eyes.
"You two... seem close." Sebastian ventured with a raised brow.
"So do you." Connor quipped back, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked between the two.
Ominis blushed at the subject, feeling flustered as their relationship was suddenly in the open in front of someone else. "Uh-" he tried to say something, but it seemed to get caught in his throat.
Connor gave a soft chuckle and shook his head. "Still in the awkward stage."
Ominis turned bright red at that, even Sebastian blushing a little.
"It's new." Sebastian muttered.
"Yeah... I get it. I really do." Connor sighed. He remembered when the realization was new. The confusion, wondering if he was strange or not, hiding it, then when he finally accepted it he still had to hide it from others. He got it. "It gets better."
Ominis seemed to calm at that, giving a soft sigh. He was glad to hear that.
"So are you..." Ominis asked gently.
"I wish." Connor scoffed. "Maybe someday... but Will... isn't the best with emotions."
"I kind of got that." Sebastian said flatly.
"He's lucky that swagger he has is so amazing." Connor sighed wistfully.
Sebastian rose a brow in confusion. Swagger? Like the way he walked? He didn't think William walked any more strangely than anyone else. Sure he had a rather dramatic confident walk, but it wasn't anything odd.
"Well, maybe in time. I think William has to do some healing of his own, first. This talk is a good start." Ominis said with a smile.
"I hope so." Connor glanced toward the window where he watched the two walking along the hill toward the forest in the distance.
———————
"I'm glad you're doing better." William said as they started walking, hating how awkward he felt talking to her. When they were kids they had been so close.
"Thanks, and... thank you for helping Sebastian and Ominis." She smiled softly up to him. "It means a lot. I've... missed you. It's been a long time."
"Too long." William nodded. "I'm sorry I couldn't prevent father from kicking you out like that." He said softly, the guilt still hanging over him.
"Will, you couldn't help that, you were at Durmstrang at the time."
"I know, but..."
"William." Diane said in a more serious tone, giving him a side eye. "You're being too hard on yourself. You weren't even in the country."
He gave her a helpless look and gave a soft laugh at her expression. "You got mom's glare."
Diane blushed and looked down thoughtfully at that, but smiled a bit. She didn't remember their mother well, she had died when she was fairly young.
"I just feel like I could have helped somehow. I could have at least found you." William said in a strained tone.
"And risk dad beating you half to death?" Diane shook her head. "I wouldn't have wanted that. I know you always wanted to protect me, but I wouldn't want that at the expense of yourself."
William looked down to her and gave a soft helpless chuckle. "You're still just as forgiving as you were back then."
"Everyone deserves a second chance." She said softly. "The world is too cruel to be so judgemental."
He reached over and rubbed her back softly, wondering what she'd seen while she was gone from home. "I do have to ask though... what's with the weird magic?" He looked down to her curiously. "I've never seen anything like it."
"Ah... it's a long story." She laughed softly.
"We have all afternoon." He urged.
Diane smiled with a chuckle and nodded. He had seen her magic, and she knew how tenacious he was. He wasn't going to let up. "Well, it started when I got a letter to Hogwarts two years ago..."
By the time she was finished telling him what had happened with her magic he was staring ahead in shock as they walked. "So... your magic can do all that?" He said in awe. "I'm pretty sure dad just thought it did that lightning thing." Thank Merlin he hadn't known the rest...
"It's a big responsibility... and it's why I have to stay here in Feldcroft." She said softly.
"Well... about that... Connor was saying that I should think of moving." Will sighed.
Diane chuckled softly. "You really listen to him a lot, don't you?" She smiled up to him.
"He's better with... that stuff." Will waved a hand to indicate toward something.
"What stuff?" She laughed at the movement.
"Planning and emotion... stuff." William wrinkled his nose.
"Oh? You seem to trust him a lot." Diane said curiously.
"I do." William nodded. "He's important to me."
"Important to you?" She asked, tilting her head.
"He's a good friend, we've been close for years." He said, looking down to her in confusion when she continued to question him.
She chuckled softly and nodded. She'd heard that before... but she wouldn't ask any further. "So are you thinking of moving? The house is half burned down, it makes sense you would need to move."
"Well, we've been apart for so long, I'd like to be closer to you. You're the only family I have left." William looked down to her anxiously. "But I don't want to interrupt your..." he blinked a few times, trying to think of the right term. "Relationships." He said finally.
"You won't interrupt anything, Will." She chuckled. "Sebastian's sister lives in town. If she can live here then I don't see why you can't."
"Connor will likely insist on coming too." Will sighed. "He thinks I can't handle things on my own. He called me clueless." He frowned.
"Well, I wouldn't go so far to say clueless, but you do need to work on that. I have a friend named Poppy who helps me a lot to work through things. You have Connor. Neither of us had much... experience... with emotion growing up. It's worth taking the time to get better at it, trust me." She smiled. "I'm still not the best, but I've gotten better in the last two years."
He looked over to her and smiled, reaching up to ruffle her curls playfully. "You've grown so much, Diane. I'm glad we can get to know each other again. I missed you."
Diane was trying to fix her hair as she smiled back to him. "Missed you too, bro. And hey, if you do stick around, maybe we can have more family holidays and stuff. Be an actual normal family." She giggled.
"I'd like that." William smiled warmly. "Come on, let's head back before Connor eats all your cookies. He's got a serious sweet tooth."