Originally Posted by Tegz

Fox was distracted thinking about how discreetly he could bite Lex's ear without a gaggle of children noticing. His wife's rep as head official buttkicker of all the official buttkickers probably could stand up to the sort of tarnishing he generally had in mind, but he still reined it in. No complaints about dropping Emmerson off after either. Also no complaints at her demands. Equably he let go of Alexa and scooped Em up.

"Mercy, Mercy Me." He sang dramatically, using his nickname for his stepdaughter. And then without giving her any particular warning, chucked her in the snow.

And what was this about getting adult ice cream? He overheard the question and the answer. He looked at the host dude. "Do we get face paint too?" His face was a perfect canvas, wasn't it? Besides he was pretty sure Emmerson would enjoy picking out something for him and being bossy about it, as well as one for herself.

Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy

As soon as Gaston saw the ad in the Daily Prophet, he knew this party was just the thing to get the kids out of the house… and maybe give him an opportunity for some last minute shopping. The holidays were around the corner, and Desiree’s birthday was just over a week away. Merlin’s beard, he couldn’t believe she was going to be six already! It seemed like just yesterday that he held her for the first time…

He shook his head as a dark thought occurred to him. He only had five more years with her until she started Hogwarts and left him behind. Just the idea filled him with dread. What if that school broke her like it did him… and he couldn’t be there to protect her from it? But he couldn't allow himself to think like that, not now. Today was a happy occasion! He beamed at the little dark-haired girl skipping along at his side, quickening his pace as yanked on his arm. He stood off to the side, his hands resting atop his cane, and a slight chuckle escaped him as he watched her say hello to everyone in the room. Classic Desiree… everyone was a potential friend to her!

While his daughter was distracted by the winter wonderland, Gaston looked to his other side to find his son all but hiding behind him. Poor kid looked so scared… was he wrong to bring him here? He noticed Adam eyeing the ice cream and smiled encouragingly. “Why don’t you ask the nice shopkeeper if you can have some?” he whispered, giving him a gentle nudge forward.

Yay, ice cream! Desiree skipped into the party room, tugging at her father’s hand. Come oooon, Dad! Couldn’t he go any faster? The soon to be six-year-old was dressed for winter fun in her blue sparkly Elsa dress, with her dark hair in a braid. Her bright blue eyes lit up as she saw several people already here. “Hiiiiiii, everybody!” she said with a big smile, waving at all the other people in the room.

Now what did she want to do first? Her eyes darted around the room, taking in the snow, slides, and ice cream station. It was almost the perfect winter wonderland; it just needed an ice castle. Ooh, maybe the nice shopkeeper could make an ice castle out of all this snow! Or if he couldn’t, she was sure her dad could. He was good with magic stuff like that.

The little snow queen was about to make a beeline for the ice cream when - ooh, face paint! That was for her; she knew exactly what design she wanted! She looked at the shopkeeper with big puppy dog eyes and said sweetly, “Can you paint Olaf the snowman?”


Adam wasn’t sure what to make of this. He didn’t like crowds, and he was getting too old for little kids’ parties anyway. But his dad wanted him to come - he said he needed to get out and be around people - and he didn’t want to let his father down. In a stark contrast to his younger sister, he stuck close to his dad, watching the scene unfold from afar. What if the other kids didn’t like him? What if something bad happened?

His eyes landed on the ice cream station. He had to admit, that looked pretty yummy! So was he supposed to just help himself? That seemed awfully impolite! Before he knew what was happening, he was being nudged toward the shopkeeper. “Er… can I have some ice cream, please?” he asked.