The Hagrid's son

Barnaby slowly opened his eyes, the drowsiness still weighing them down, but he felt completely refreshed.

As he woke up, the memories returned little by little, ordering themselves and running through his mind like a movie.

The dinner, the dance among the stars, their escape to a certain room on the seventh floor, the return to his new home, and…

He turned his head to the left, where he could see Tonks' bare back peeking out from under the bedspread. The sound of her breathing was soft and steady.

"I think I might have gotten a little carried away," Barnaby reflected as he carefully got up, making sure not to wake the exhausted witch, and started to prepare to head down to the kitchen.

He hoped the soundproofing runes had worked well. Otherwise, it would be a very awkward morning facing Tonks' parents...

Upon entering the kitchen, the first thing that caught his attention was the clock on the wall—or rather, the time it showed.

"Is it almost two in the afternoon?" He hadn't expected them to sleep for so long.

Sanshi entered with a basket of clean clothes, the same clothes Tonks and Barnaby had worn for the Christmas ball.

"While I was waiting for you to wake up, I went ahead and did the laundry," she said as she placed the basket on the counter.

"Isn't it too cold for it to have dried so quickly?"

Even if they were far from the castle, it was still winter, and the snow was piled up outside the house, though in smaller amounts.

"Calcifer helped with that part," Sanshi revealed, mentioning the contribution of the fire demon. "Would you like me to make something to eat? I've been practicing a lot."

"Let's cook together. I'm starving," Barnaby helped put away the clothes carefully before he and his familiar began preparing the meal.

Several minutes passed with only the sound of chopping boards and pans filling the air.

"By the way, do you know where they are?" Barnaby asked, referring to the two missing people from the house.

"Ted and Andromeda went to visit the Scamanders after breakfast," Sanshi replied as she poured in some chopped carrots. "I think they knew you weren't going to be up early," she added.

The clean potato in Barnaby's hand almost flew out due to a sudden, involuntary squeeze, but instead, it turned into mashed potatoes.

"Please don't mention that last part in front of Tonks…" Barnaby pleaded as he rinsed his hands.

Sanshi just smiled with a maternal look of understanding, which only made Barnaby feel more embarrassed.

"Anyway, did anything else happen at the ball that I should know about?"

"Nothing really interesting, just gossip material," Sanshi resumed cooking as she calmly recalled. "Harry and Ron disappointed the Patil sisters; they didn't even give them the courtesy dance to thank them for going with them. Neville ended up pretty happy by the end of the ball, so I guess it'll be a fond memory for him. Then Hermione…"

"You can skip her part," Barnaby interrupted, uninterested in what happened to her.

He had stopped trying to get along with Hermione after seeing her attitude over the years, and unless it was something truly big, he simply didn't care.

"Of course," Sanshi shrugged without giving it much importance. "Cedric left with his date a bit happier than Neville, probably with a plan for later in mind. Fleur seemed dissatisfied with how the ball turned out, but toward the end, with encouragement from other Beauxbatons students, she returned to her usual self. Your father had a good time with Mrs. Dimitrescu, though he ended the night drinking with the professors, and Minerva had to ask the house-elves to take him to his cabin."

"Right, Dimitrescu…" Barnaby had almost forgotten about her; he was still a bit sleepy. "I guess I'll be taking her and her daughters to Knockturn Alley tonight."

"Taking who?"

Tonks entered the kitchen with a slight limp. She had thrown on a bathrobe and was yawning as she looked around. Although she didn't mind if Sanshi or her fiancé saw her, she had to be careful with her parents in the house.

"Just keeping my promise to my father's partner," Barnaby said as he approached her and kissed her on the cheek. "Are you hungry?"

"I could eat a whole roast mink," Tonks replied, her nose twitching in the direction of the stove. "Where are my parents?"

"Visiting the Scamanders," Sanshi said, pointing to the clock on the wall with a ladle.

"Wow, I can't remember the last time I woke up this late," Tonks raised an eyebrow at the time. "Perks of leaving the Ministry!" she celebrated, though she didn't stand up since her legs were still weak.

Barnaby's size and strength were no joke.

Fortunately, her talent as a Metamorphmagus came in really handy in situations like last night…

"The food's almost ready," Barnaby assured as he started setting the table for everyone, wanting to let Tonks recover. "And then we can open the presents."

"Presents?" Tonks' mind was still a bit foggy. "Oh! Right. Christmas presents. After the Christmas ball. Yes, that makes sense," she remembered, immediately perking up at the thought of the mystery inside this year's gifts.

Since they had started living together (and temporarily with Tonks' parents), everyone's Christmas presents had naturally been redirected to their new home.

Thankfully, when they set up the protections, Barnaby had considered these types of situations; otherwise, the poor owls would've been flying around confused in the area.

"Calcifer!" Barnaby called from the kitchen. "Is there any problem with the presents?"

The fire demon, comfortably settled in the fireplace, could easily sense if anything was off with the gifts.

"The Weasley twins' package has a small tickling curse on the snow gloves inside, but the rest is clean," Calcifer answered, raising his voice cheerfully.

Yesterday, between the couple's outing with Sanshi and the dinner Ted and Andromeda had organized for them at a restaurant, he and his flame atronach wife had the house to themselves for most of the day.

Eating coal truffles, warming the fireplace while they burned together…

It had been a wonderful day for their own romantic and fiery evening!