scars || sirius black

18 - #jilyshiphassailed

Between Christmas and New Year's Eve, the five friends saw each other every day, mostly at James' house but a couple of times at the Lupins' and, on the 31st of December, Emmy and Remus hosted Hogmanay.

Memories of shooting stars, eating macaroni cheese with their dad and setting off fireworks in the back garden were all Emmy could think about that day.

He'd died on last year in the early hours of New Year's Day. This would be their first year without him, at least for Emmy.

It was completely dark outside when their guests arrived around seven o'clock that evening but the house was warm and glowing from the fire in the hearth.

Euphemia took charge of the kitchen immediately, washing dishes and turning things in the oven, and sent her husband through to the sitting room with orders to befriend the 'nice muggles'. Emmy put the finishing touches on the dessert as the drinks were poured and they sat down to dinner soon after, tucking into the roast ham and potatoes Remus had made with great enthusiasm.

Sirius, James and Peter sat at the dining room table with drinks in their hands, laughing raucously their friend recounted the story of his five-mile trek through the snow to find fireworks for Emmy in a nearby village, to their great amusement.

After dinner they huddled outside and, wrapped in thick woolen blankets, sat around the bonfire holding tight to large mugs of mulled wine, faces bathed in moonlight and the flicker of the fire as they talked.

Emmy found herself sitting next to Sirius, watching as her little family laughed and chatted.

"Have you been playing your guitar?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, though I think a little too much. Remus was so mad at me last night, I sat on the roof playing for ages, it kept waking him up."

"Mm, I think hearing you sing would send me to sleep, Ems."

She laughed softly.

"And how's Regulus doing?"

He sighed and took a moment before saying, "You know, same as usual, quiet, moody, and bloody terrified of our parents. But I'm worried about him."

"How come?" she replied gently. She knew how much it tore at Sirius to let his brother stay at their parents' without him.

"Well I've been fighting with my mother more, she got pretty angry when I told her I was going to James' for Christmas, nothing I can't handle really but she's banned Regulus from sending me letters anyway."

"I can't believe her, she's got no right," Emmy said bitterly, "That woman doesn't-"

Sirius cut her off with a kiss.

And he couldn't help smiling, he loved that she cared so much. Her eyes blazed with fury in the candlelight.

"How was the full moon on Sunday?"

"I scraped my ribs, but Remus was fine thank god."

His eyebrows furrowed in concern, "Are you alright? How badly did you scrape them?"

She squeezed his hand and smiled, saying, "You don't need to worry about me, Sirius, it's just a graze, they're not broken."

"I hate this," he said angrily. "That this is normal for you, getting hurt. And there's nothing any of us can do about it."

She didn't know what to say, so she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him fiercely.

She started to speak but then James and Remus noticed the time and burst into a loud countdown of the seconds to the new year. They were both pulled up to stand next to everyone else as the seconds drew nearer to 1975.