Sol opened Faye’s door and stepped inside. He knew knocking wouldn’t wake her up, so, he didn’t even try. Faye slept soundly on her bed, wearing yellow pajamas with cartoon sheep on them.

“Faye~” he called out to her. Curled up in her blanket, she didn’t even flinch. He tried again but shook her gently as well, “Faye~, wake up.”

This time, her brows furrowed and she groaned. He began to shake her a bit more fiercely, “Faye, wake up! It’s Christmas!”

“…Christmas?” after more shaking, she looked at him with half-open eyes.

“Christmas!” Sol nodded. “Don’t you want your presents?”

“I want them,” she slowly got up and raised her arms at him. Smiling resignedly, he picked her up and left the room. Sol took her to the nearby washroom and made her stand on her little plastic stares. Wetting his hands, he washed her face and tied her hair in twin tails with some hairbands. After he was done, he lead her by the hand downstairs.

Sat on the sofas, their parents looked at them with smiles. The Noble Fir used as the Christmas tree stood proudly in the middle of the living room, adorned with sparkly and colorful ornaments. A shining star rested on its crown. And at its feet laid a bunch of boxes wrapped in seasonal wrapping papers.

Faye’s eyes shot open and with an unknown burst of energy, she rushed towards the boxes, “Presents~!”

Sol joined his parents and sat beside them watching Faye open her presents. Problem is- his parents were looking at him weirdly.

Sol exhaled, “Why are you guys looking at me like that?”

“Why are you here?” his mother asked.

“‘Where’ as in?”

“Here and not with Faye. Father Christmas got you a present too. Go over-” she pushed him off the sofa, “-there!”

“Glad to know he actually exists,” Sol grumbled to himself and picked up a small box with his name. He stared at his parents and shook his gift. His mother shifted her gaze away while his father looked at him expectantly.

“Now, I’m not so sure.” He ripped the wrapping paper off and opened the box. In it was a pocket watch. The metal body was metallic grey and its Fleur De Lys-styled hands skipped to the seconds. He looked at his father with a puzzled look and asked, “Is this an heirloom?”

Tom nodded and spoke to him in sign language, “My grandfather’s father passed it to him, he then passed it to my father, he then passed it to me and now, I’m passing it to you. Keep it safe!”

“I see,” Sol smiled warmly and clenched the pocket watch. It wasn’t broken and had probably gone through tons of repair to not be, so, he’ll use it. “Thank you.”

Tom’s shoulders relaxed as though a huge worry had lifted off his shoulder. Selene laughed and said, “Your father was losing sleep last night, thinking you won’t like it.”

Tom’s face warped in shock as his wife betrayed him. But Selene laughed harder. Sol looked outside the window. Compared to the warm atmosphere inside the house, a heavy blanket of snow covered the ground outside. The falling snow, the dead trees, and the lack of human presence simply enhanced the dreariness of winter.

Amidst this gloominess, Sol spotted something flying in the snow. An owl. It perched itself on the windowsill and pecked on the window to get his attention and then jumped off.

“Oi, what?” Sol opened the door and rushed out. “What the fuck is this dumbass bird thinking jumping into the snow?” He went to the owl and saw it standing on the blanket of snow. He slapped his forehead, “Right, it’s a bird. It’s light enough to stand on the snow.”

He picked it up and took the letter off its legs. Before entering the house, he ran his eyes over the entire thing and burned it to ashes. Walking inside, his mother immediately scolded him, “What in the bloody hell were you thinking walking in that cold with nothing but your pajamas on?”

“I mean, I have a sweater, and don’t worry, mum; I’m a wizard. I can just use magic to warm up.”

“Shut it,” his mother took the owl off him. “I’ll warm him by the fire while you warm yourself up by taking a hot bath.”

“Fine,” his pants were a little soaked from the snow but otherwise, he was fine. But he still did as he was told to. He left his family downstairs and went to the washroom to draw a bath.

Sitting on the edge of the tub, he ran a hand across his face in frustration. He recalled the contents of the letter he just burned.

“R is on the move. I suggest you move quickly. They might not have much information now but prolonging this is detrimental. For you and me.”

“Ah, do they somehow keep track of their people inside Hogwarts? How? What the fuck is the Headmaster doing?” As the water filled the tub, he went back to his room and came out with a new set of clothes.

“If these bunch of bastards are really the same type of lunatics as Voldemort’s lackeys, then it’s safer to assume that once they know who keeps fucking with them, they’ll go after their families. Good grief, this is nothing but problems.” Steam arose from the tub and Sol quickly shut the tap off after the tub was filled.

He undressed and sat down in the tub, soaking in the pleasant and relaxing warm water. Leaning his head back on the edge of the tub, his thoughts churned. His only problem now was R. He wasn’t too concerned with Voldemort despite throwing a wrench in his plans multiple times. The Law of the World can’t handle the consequences of pitting the main antagonist against anyone other than the protagonist. In a simplified way, it would be going against the world itself. The Laws might drive the world but they can’t go against the reason for the world’s existence. And to that, this world’s mere existence is to be a stage for Harry and Voldemort’s battles.

“Then that begs the question, where the fuck are these Cursed Vaults and ‘R’ coming from? It can’t be one of the main plotlines. The Law doesn’t have the power to move them. Then is it pulling settings from related canons?”

The idea seemed increasingly more plausible to Sol. If it really did that, it could take whatever setting it could from other related worlds, as long as it was made canon by the author, even if it was added later.

“Problem is- I don’t know if R is the only thing they’ve made canon. I won’t be able to survive if the Law finds a canon eldritch horror.”

After that not-so-relaxing bath, Sol left the washroom as he dried his hair with a towel.

Coming downstairs, he saw his parents sitting at the dining table eating breakfast. Sol quickly went back to his room, threw the towel on his bed, and came down. He sat at the table and looked at the dishes- muffins, gingerbread, cookies, eggs benedict, and some smoked salmon.

“Ooh~ looks fancy!” Sol remarked as he took an eggs benedict.

“Eat now, compliments later,” his mother poured herself some eggnog and topped it with whipped cream.

“Yep,” Sol nodded and stuffed his face. His father let go of his fork and gestured to Sol, “When are you going to leave for school?”

Sol was still chewing so he held up three fingers.

“Three days?” Tom pondered, “We’re already going out tonight and having dinner with the Weasleys. How about we go out the day after tomorrow as well?”

Sol swallowed his food and replied, “I have no problems with it. You got to ask Mom though.”

She smiled, “So, where are we going?”

“Let’s go out for a drive, why don’t we?”

“Where to?”

“Nowhere, just roaming around. Seeing all the Christmas lights should be a treat on its own!”

“Then just walking around would suffice, no?” Sol asked. “I’d much prefer that than going around in the car.”

“In the snow?” his mother raised an eyebrow, “We have Faye with us too. She won’t be able to walk for long.”

“Then car it is,” Sol relented.

Tom clapped his hands and resumed his gestures, “Then that settles it! But first, we got to get ready for the Weasleys’ Christmas dinner tonight.”

“They invited the Grangers too,” Sol frowned when he heard his mother’s words. He pinched the bridge of his nose. Hermione and her friends weren’t posing that much of a problem but he’d still like his thoughts to be reserved for more important things.

“Harry will be there too,” he remembered Ron inviting the former to stay over for the Christmas break. “Hope they don’t cause problems though. I should greet Hermione’s parents too. Do they even know who I am in the first place?”

“Sol-” Selene called him, “-you better be on your best behavior there. Don’t tease Hermione or Ginny too much.”

“Wha-? When have I ever- yeah, you’re right.”

“We’ll be leaving at 6 in the evening. Got it?”

The men in the room looked at each other and nodded. But with how long Selene takes to get ready, it’ll probably take more than that.