An Unexpected Guest PV

Edward returned the smile softly. It was his first time visiting his grandmother's extended family. She had always been proud of her nephew, "the professor" she called him, always telling Edward stories about his studies and adventures that he had written to her in his letters. Yet lately, those stories had stopped, and whenever Edward had inquired, her response had only been a sad sigh and forlorn look. Edward sensed something had changed but he wasn't sure what or why. Edward knew better than to press her on it, if it was something she didn't want to talk about or was making her sad, he didn't want to dwell on it. His grandmother had mentioned to him that the letters dropped off by her family's owls were now coming from the professor's wife instead. One such letter contained an invitation to a small family gathering for Christmas. His grandmother had said she wanted to bring him along as well, if he wanted to come; that she had already gotten permission from his parents to bring him along with her. He smiled and said he did. He thought it would be nice getting to know his extended family on her side better as well - he had learned that they were mostly Hufflepuff graduates like she was - and as she was his favorite person, he thought that he surely would get along with his family on that side well as well.

And so it was that he found himself on their doorstep, now being greeted by a girl his own age. He had a vague memory of having seen her once before when they were both younger, was it at his grandfather's funeral? He seemed to recall that they were placed together amongst the other children who were too young to be required to sit through the funeral proper itself. Of course, at the time, his sadness at the loss of his grandfather made the whole thing a blur. He recalled that she seemed quiet too, and he hadn't spoken to her either. But it was still nice to know that there was family around at a time like that.

Now, however, it was supposed to be a happy, festive occasion rather than a sad one, so he was determined to make the most of his visit. She had a small smile herself, he tried to give her one a bit brighter of his own - since it was Christmas and all - as she led him to the dining room.

The dowager Cornelia Bishop, known to her friends and family as Nelly, had a genuine warmth about her, with wrinkles which exposed a lifetime of bright smiles and easy laughter, a Hogwarts graduate of Hufflepuff extraction, she too like the rest of her family of birth was an enthusiastic herbologist, albeit in her case mostly amateur, her dower house in the Kentish countryside had massive gardens where she grew all manner of plants, both magical and mundane, with fruits and vegetables for eating and herbs for both cookery and potion-making, she was a healer by nature of both body and soul. She always made sure to make those around her feel loved. Here, surrounded by family sharing a hearty meal, she was in her element. She shared stories to update the extended family on her own immediate family's lives - she admitted that it had been hard sometimes living alone after her late husband died, but maintained that he would have wanted her to go on to be happy and live life to the fullest as a widow and so that's what she was intending to do, nothing was more important to her than family.

Meanwhile, Edward sat quietly as well, he smiled softly but felt awkward whenever he became the center of attention, squirming a bit uncomfortably at the scrutiny, but having been taught well by his parents and grandparents he answered their queries with not just politeness but a certain amount of warmth of his own - any family of his grandmother's was his family too, after all.

When he was finally asked directly about whether he was expecting any presents, he blushed,
"Oh, well, you needn't go out of your way on my account, but if I were to receive a gift, I would be most grateful no matter what it was. If it were a plant, I'm sure Granny (as he alone called her, being her only grandchild) would teach me how to tend to it whenever we got back home, and I'd do my very best to make sure it thrived" he says, with a genuine tone, glancing now over at his cousin Skylar, wondering what's on her mind, given he found it hard to read the look on her face.