"What do you mean the Shelby's are related to the Black's?"

Phineas pulled out a thick black book that had the text Black written in gold script. He flipped it open and showed me a page that contained his family tree, his current line.

"Look, follow my father's line," he said, and the pages of the book flipped to the page he was talking about him. "His father was Cygnus Black and his grandfather was Nigellus Black." The book flipped over again coming to a halt on the page of his great-grandfather Nigellus Black. "Nigellus had three sisters, and his youngest sister, Anastasia ran off with a muggleborn called James Boswell." The pages flipped again until they settled on a page where the two names, Anatasia and James Boswell rested on the top of the page. "They had a son, Jimmy, who then went on to have a son, Carrick, who also had a son, Davy."

"Where are you getting at, Phineas," I snapped, getting bored of his long-winded explanation.

"Well Davy had a daughter," he said as if it was the most amazing thing ever. I stared at him as if he'd gone crazy. "His daughter, Birdie, married a man that went by the name Shelby."

"As in my Shelby's?"

"She had two children Arthur and Elizabeth. See here," he said, pointed at the page where their names were written in golden script. Underneath Arthur's name was his five children delicately written in the same script.

"Does this book update with every generation?" I asked, running my fingers over the names of John's children.

"It's supposed to, but you've messed the book up," he said, flipping the book to the middle of the page, it was at this point I realised there was some magic entwined in the book. "Look, just your's and Thomas-J's names in the middle of the page."

"Huh, that's strange," I muttered, running my fingers over our names. "Look, what am I supposed to do with this information? None of the Shelby's have shown signs of magic."

"Polly has, with her connection to ghosts, I wouldn't be surprised if she has a seer connection from the dead but it's been watered down by the dilation of Muggles in the family."

"So you're saying the Shelby's do have magic in them?"

"Finn excels with Newt's magical creatures. He's not eleven yet, he might have shown magic as a child and we wouldn't have known. It's something to look out for." Phineas saw the frown on my face arrested his hand lightly on my shoulder. "It's not a bad thing, Romy. It could be a good thing."

"I know," I muttered just worried about what this would mean for Tommy, John and Arthur.

November the eleventh.

Why did it seem so haunting as I wrote down the date in Newt's diary?

I knew that this time next year the war would be over and hopefully, I'd have the full collection of Shelby's home.

Was it haunting because I knew Tommy would be home and I was scared he wouldn't want me?

"What are you thinking about love?" Polly asked, setting a letter down on the table in front of me.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing," I said, taking up the letter and opening it. My heart dropped as I read over the words and thought that perhaps this was what was haunting me.

Perhaps I wouldn't even make it till the end of the war.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Polly said, stirring her tea and giving me a teasing smile. If only she knew. I slid the letter to her, my hand shaking as I let the paper slip from my fingers. "What it is, love? Is it Tommy?"

I hope she didn't expect me to answer because there were no words for what I was feeling.

Why was this happening to me?

"No. You are not going!" Polly snapped, slamming the letter down and reaching out to grab my hand. "I will not allow it."

"I don't have a choice, Polly. If I refuse, I'll be arrested."

"It's absurd! You're a single mother for crying out loud, they can't expect you to run off and ... and go out there!"

"It's my job, Polly. It was to be expected," I told her, turning my hand around and capturing hers. "It's only if the war continues, Polly, and it's not until March. If we're lucky, it will all be over after Christmas." I, of course, knew it wasn't going to be that way, but I didn't need her to worry.

"You won't tell anyone about this," Polly said, giving me a stern look. I knew she was talking about Tommy. He'd be too worried about me and he'd become reckless and end up doing something stupid.

"Okay," I said, giving her a nod and folding up the letter before setting it on fire. If we were the only two that knew about it, then no one else would be able to tell Tommy.

The weeks flew by from the eleventh of November and before I could get my bearings it was already Christmas Eve.

I could already feel a shift in the air.

It was as if Polly knew I was going to be leaving them in the new year as she was doing everything humanly possible to give me good memories to take with me. Spending five minutes longer in bed while I spoke and cuddled with Thomas-J. Letting the children eat the chocolate cake we made with their hands and laughing at the mess they made. Allowing Phineas to create a pub in the pantry so Ada and I could be young girls and have a little fun. I wasn't surprised when she ordered me to get rid of the extended pub pantry the next morning.

To everyone's surprise, she'd even gone down into Newt's trunk and ended up spending over three hours down there talking and feeding the creatures. Finn was over the moon because Polly knew who he was talking about and which creatures he was mentioning.

It didn't even surprise me how calm and understanding Polly had been when I showed her the Black book that was proof that they were related to magic. She said she had always known there was something different about the Shelby's.

The only people Polly and I had told about me being sent out to France was Phineas and Newt - both who were already coming up with a way that either one or both of them would be joining me.

I knew Polly had done that on purpose.

She wanted to ensure my safety by having more magic users out there with me.

To be fair, I'd rather Newt stay at the house to protect the Shelby's in case something happens. Not that anything was going to happen.

"You alright, love?"

"I'm just hoping that our next Christmas is spent with Tommy, John and Arthur," I said to Polly, tapping my pen on the table as I started my letter for tomorrow. I was getting ready to tell Tommy about our Christmas and hopefully be able to send him photographs.

"Me too, love," she said, cupping my face and pressing a kiss to my forehead. "Go, on to bed, you'll be woken up early."

True to her word, as the sun was barely making its way through my curtains, Edward found his way into my room and Thomas-J was standing at his crib talking to the three-year-old.

I smiled at the two of them wondering if they could understand each other and what it was they were talking about. Edwards it seemed was passing toys through the bars to Thomas-J, who was making a collection at the top of his cot.

Finn and Matthew came running in next, a pile of small gifts in their hands, no doubt their stocking presents I magically sent to the end of their beds. They were giggling as they climbed their way onto the bed, ripping through the paper and opening their new toys and clothes.

Mary and Katie joined us when Polly ushered them into my room where Edward was sitting next to me and Thomas-J was resting in my lap, shoving the ear of his new Hungarian Horntail teddy in his mouth. Nova was hidden somewhere under all the wrapping paper, rolling around as Finn and Matthew threw paper balls at her.

Ada strolled in twenty minutes after everyone had opened their presents, showing off the new dress I had gotten her.

"Come on, breakfast's calling," Polly said, lifting Edward and carrying him out of the room.

"Pancake time!" I gushed, tickling Thomas-J as I lifted him up as I rose from the bed and went to the dresser, picking out a new dress in a light green. We would be wearing our Weasley jumpers for the photograph but I didn't want any food being spilt on them and ruin them. Let's forget that I could clean it with magic, it wasn't the point. I wanted it to be perfect when I sent it to Tommy.

We were surprised when we went into the kitchen as a bashful Newt had already made the pancakes and had somehow shaped them into dragons, to the amusement of the children.

I could tell that Polly and Newt were making an effort as neither of them was sure if this would be my last Christmas here. While the thought was nice, I wish they'd stop being so bloody morbid and just celebrate the day because we were with family.

After breakfast and a brewing argument about the best dragon, I ushered them all into the living room and in front of the Christmas tree where we all pulled on our jumpers. I'd even gotten Newt a jumper. I wanted him in the family photo seeing as he was family to us.

"Everyone say cheese," I said as the camera floated in front of us and took a couple of snaps. It was lucky I managed to capture a few because Katie stepped on Voodoo's tail who ended up jumping on Nova, who then rushed around and crashed into the tree causing it to fall down.

We all rushed away but it seemed Ada wasn't so lucky and ended up somewhere under the tree.

"This is the worst Christmas ever!" she shouted from somewhere under the tree while I shared a look with Polly and laughed. I could just make out her feet sticking out from under the tree and couldn't resist taking a photo. I'd definitely be sending that to Tommy.

Three hours later and Phineas had found himself on Polly's bad side again.

He'd turned up with stacks upon stacks of presents, ranging from toys - both Muggle and Wizard - clothes, sweets, and of all things, two snowy owls.

He'd said they were for communication purposes, but Newt had mentioned an owl breeder they were looking into for mistreating and over breeding owls and selling them through the black market - who knew that owls would be sold on the black market?

"We don't need any more pets," Polly has said upon seeing their amber eyes and frowned. She wasn't really one for pets, but she'd been so angry when we got Rudy and Havok and then they were her favourite things in the house. I sometimes thought she preferred them to us.

What really annoyed her was the massive roast dinner he'd brought with him. A large turkey almost the same size as Edward and all the trimmings. Roast potatoes, carrots, honey glazed parsnips, mashed swede, cheesy cauliflower, broccoli, sprouts, and stuffing - I wasn't sure where he got it all from but I wasn't complaining.

I knew it annoyed Polly through because she'd been preparing for Christmas dinner since last week. She'd even gotten up early to put the chicken in the oven.

To be fair, Phineas did look apologetic when he realised what he'd done but he'd also wanted to do something big this year because he was also unsure if I'd be here for another Christmas.

I think Polly understood that too as she forgave him quite quickly. Or it might have been the pearl necklace he'd gifted her.

"To family!" Phineas toasted, tapping his glass against Ellanora's as he smiled at everyone around the room. It was nice. Having this time to celebrate and enjoy our time with.

We'd gained new family members this year and hopefully next Christmas we'll have gained another three members around the table.