The Sun, Moon & Stars

47. Christmas, 1993

She came close to tears seeing just how much effort he had put in to make her feel special today. The garlands, the music, the treats - it reminded her of what it used to be like at home before all that happened this year. Cozy and full of love, perfectly imperfect and so utterly festive you feared the room might burst at the seams with all the joy radiating from it.

'You like it?' Remus questioned, as he closed the door behind all of them, and slung an arm around her shoulder.

She looked up to meet his sparkling honey eyes,

'I love it.'

Remus smiled as he watched Ophelia skip off with Ginger to the hot cocoa. Harry went for a glass of butterbeer, Hermione inspected his bookshelf in delight and Ron danced around, though being forced by Ginger, to the songs that kept streaming from the record player.

As she watched her friends danced, she sat down with Remus and Ginger by the tree and they exchanged their small gifts for each other sometime later. Remus got chocolate from the both of them, and Ginger got a muggle cookbook and a pair of small elf gloves to keep her hands warm (again, the three of them not obliging to the usual rule of elf freedom). Ophelia on the other hand got a knitted hat and mittens set from Ginger, which she had made by herself in her spare time, and a parcel full of sweets from Remus.

'Money was kind of tight, and I wanted to get something better but I couldn't. It's not much I know...' He rambled, the words streaming out of his mouth as he watched her open the parcel and reveal the sweets.

'Dad.' She smiled, as she touched his arm to stop him from rambling on, looking up from the box full of sweets in her arms, 'I love it. Thank you.' She reached up and kissed him on the cheek, before closing the box once more.

Remus just smiled bashfully, grateful for the affection and the praise at his seemingly small gift. She loved it though - no amount of gifts or money could ever surpass the amount of love she held for her small, imperfectly perfect family and her irreplaceable friends.

When you're surrounded by the right people, materials don't matter. Your family matters. Your friends matter. You matter. And nothing else. No gifts or money, or lack thereof, could ever change that - and she felt for people who perhaps didn't have that luxury of having such amazing people in your life nothing else matters. Everything else is insignificant but you and them.

Remus got up from the sofa, after diving into a chocolate frog first, and went to make more hot cocoa as he tapped his feet and hummed along to the song currently playing. Hermione took turns twirling around Harry and Ron, laughing as they all stumbled into each other and wore paper crows they had gotten from Christmas crackers earlier. They sang horribly off-tune, but they were having such a good time nobody cared to notice.

Ophelia smiled as she watched her three friends dance, and laugh, and sing Christmas carols; trying to push away the sadness intruding into her brain that came with the harsh reality that everyday wouldn't, and couldn't, be like this one. Soon, Ginger would go back home, classes would resume and her problems couldn't be avoided simply because it was the holiday season. She would go back to staying inside all the time, being escorted everywhere and she really didn't want that to happen.

'Are you okay?'

Ginger's sweet voice cut her out of her trance, and she let out a small sigh when she realized her sadness must have, at some point, become visible.

'Yeah, I'm fine, Ging.' Ophelia brushed it off, shaking her head and avoiding eye contact with the small elf, knowing it was near to impossible to successfully lie to her.

'Don't lie to me.' She scolded, somewhat jokingly. 'What's wrong?' She went on to ask, in that caring voice she had missed a little too much in the last few months.