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Dear Rena and Moony,
Thank you so so much for Harry's birthday present. He loves the stuffed wolf so much, it's now beside the stag and the dog guess we just need a rat to finish his collection!
James says he'll be a marauder yet. I wish you could come around and see Harry on his new toy broom (I've enclosed a photo) Sirius bought him it and James is so so excited because of how much he already loves flying even if it's only a few feet off the floor.
Only one year old and already zooming along, he looked so pleased with himself. He nearly killed the cat the other day flying on it, James was in hysterics but I don't think the poor thing took it very well. Did we tell you about the cat? Found it wandering around outside out house and don't worry we checked it for magic (it's clear). Anyway it's a big ginger thing and I love it! James claims he's more of a dog person but he loves it really.
Harry also smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for Christmas (no complaints there). Of course James thought that was so funny and he's saying he's going to be the best quidditch player that Hogwarts has ever seen (after himself of course) but we've had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure we don't take our eyes off him when he gets going.
We had a very quiet birthday tea, just us and old Bathilda (you know the woman who lives next door) she's always been so kind to us and the enchantments allow her to visit since her house is slightly under them too. Before you start (Rena I'm looking at you) Dumbledore says it's completely fine for her to visit and Harry loves her.
We are so sorry that none of you could have come. We're missing you so so much and I can't wait for this all to be over, it feels like a lifetime now but we're doing ok! Anyway the order has to come first and Harry isn't old enough to know that it's his birthday anyway! James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell.
Also Dumbledore's still got his invisibility cloak (did I mention he took it, I can never remember what I've already told you). Anyway he took it last week, said he was interested by it, not sure why but so there's no chance of James sneaking off anywhere without me noticing. I hope you can visit soon, Dumbledore says that we can't leave but people can start coming to us! As long as he clears it first of course then everything should be ok.
James is very happy about this and I hope to see you both see on as well! Wormy was here last weekend, I thought he seemed down, but that was probably just because of Marlene. I know it's been months now but it's not as though any of us are going to get over it. I still cry myself to sleep most nights thinking of her.
Bathilda drops in most days now, she's a fascinating old thing with the most amazing stories about Dumbledore. Did you see that article about him being friends with Grindlewald! I don't think I believe it, Bathilda says it's true but I think her minds going personally.
Lots of love, (make sure you ask Dumbledore if you can visit soon!)
Lily
Athena reached into the envelope to find a picture of Harry zooming around on his toy bike. James was laughing, taking the photo of himself with the camera turned to face them. Lily was sitting next to Harry also laughing with a large ginger cat in her arms. Athena smiled before she put a small sticking charm on it and added it to the fridge alongside the other photos that she had of Harry and Neville.
"They ok?" Remus asked,
"Yeah... they're allowed visitors now, I suppose Dumbledore is realising this is going on too long to keep them isolated... Peter's been"
The idea of Peter being there made her skin grow cold. She knew exactly what Dumbledore was planning. Remus took the letter off her as his eyes began skimming it for himself.
"Of course Sirius got some kind of show off present" Remus scoffed, "always loves outdoing everyone else"
"As long as Harry loves it" Athena smiled lightly as she looked to the picture on the fridge.
"Why does Dumbledore have James' invisibility cloak?" Remus asked.
"I don't know" Athena shrugged. Truthfully she knew exactly why, or at least she thought she did. He was subtly removing any protection that they had. James' invisibility cloak was a rare make, one of the best Athena had ever seen. Maybe it wouldn't protect them indefinitely but it might slow things down. This was exactly what Dumbledore was trying to prevent.
"I hope Peter's ok" Remus added with a frown, "I haven't seen him in a while, didn't know he was still down about Marlene"
"Isn't everyone?" Athena asked, more cold than she had intended considering that Remus didn't know how Athena felt about Peter.
"We should visit soon, I can't believe it's August... it's been about three months since we saw them"
Athena and Remus had seen the couple back in May. It had been nice but very short lived. Visits hadn't really been cleared then, Lily simply needed a break from Harry crying and James couldn't calm him down. They'd used floo powder to get there (which wasn't allowed but they were very careful about closing off the grates afterwards).
Athena had been able to clam Harry down which Lily had been extremely grateful for. She desperately wanted to see Lily and James again before it was too late. She was feeding off these visits as though it was her own life source.
"Yeah how bout next week?" Athena asked,
"Sounds good to me" Remus smiled, "you've got more letters"
Athena turned back to her small pile of envelopes and nodded. It seemed letters were the best way to keep in touch at the moment. Patronus' we're used for emergencies but weren't necessary for delivering news.
The next one was from Alice, she'd memorised the girls handwriting by now and noticed that she always looped the bottom of her y's. Her handwriting was fun and curly, matching her perfectly. Athena took out the letter and started to read it.
Rena and Remus
Thank you both for coming to Neville's birthday the other day. Frank says it's silly to throw a party for him when he's so young but I want to do everything right and he'll have the photos to look back on!
Hope August is treating you well so far, can you believe it's summer again already? I certainly can't. Frank says I need to get a calendar because I'm sure the other day it was may. Anyway, all is well here. I know I only saw you last week but I wanted to get in touch anyway.
Please come back around soon! Neville loves seeing you and me and Frank do too. I'm thinking of getting a cat. Lily sent me a letter the other day and she has one! I've always wanted a cat but Frank isn't too sure. Maybe if I just happen to find one under mysterious circumstances he'll let me keep it.
Anyway not much is actually happening here, which is as much as you can expect but
I'll see you soon!
Love Alice and Frank (and Neville)
Athena smiled as she placed the open letter down beside Lily's. She always kept letters, she had a box of them under her bed. She wasn't entirely sure why but thought in years to come she might enjoy looking back on them. For now they would just sit there waiting.
Her next letter was from Dorcas. Dorcas was doing better, that's for sure. With each month Athena saw definite improvements and she was glad to know she wasn't in a dark place anymore. Of course everyone was still mourning, grief never went away which was hard to come to terms with but once you accepted that, the grief would shrink.
Rena.
I did it. I cleared out some of her things. I'm not trying to get rid of her, you know that and this was incredibly hard but I sent some clothes to a charity shop anyway. Of course I kept her favourites and she still has an entire half of the wardrobe to herself but I need to start slowly moving on. It's good for me.
I met one of her aunts the other day for a coffee. It was really weird because she looked so much like her. She told me she was sorry that her sister never accepted Marlene. She told me that she had a girlfriend too and I couldn't believe it. I don't think Marlene ever knew which is crazy because she would have loved her!
Anyway we're meeting again soon, she has memories of when Marlene was young when I didn't know her and I have memories of when Marlene was older when she didn't know her so we get along well.
Other than that I haven't been doing much. I presume you've heard that Lily's allowed visitors. I was so excited when I heard so I'll be going over as soon as possible. I can't wait to see Harry, I got a photo of him on his toy broomstick and he's just the miniature version of James isn't he?
Also did you hear that Molly is due next month? I can't believe that she's having another child! Of course I'm happy for her that she's having a girl this time. I'm not sure I'd be able to cope with six boys never mind seven. She must have a lot of patience.
I also finally got that order photo printed. I've been putting it off because... well you know it was the day before. But I've sent one to everyone in it I'm pretty sure. It's nice to see us smiling, I miss that and I hope we can get back to it after the war even if it takes a while. You were right Rena, it does get better and I couldn't have done anything without you.
Endless love,
Dorcas
Athena reached into the envelope and saw the photo straight away. Her eyes landed on Marlene who was smiling as she always did. That smile that Athena missed so much, her blonde hair cascading over her shoulders. She was holding onto Dorcas and Athena was proud of Dorcas for being strong enough for printing this out.
Her eyes moved to Lily and James standing near the centre beside Sirius. Sirius and Kennedy were smiling too and Athena felt her heart ache. She hadn't realised how much she really missed her friends, missed seeing them, missed hearing their voices. It was painful beyond what she imagined and Athena yet again made a mental note that she had to visit Lily and James soon.
Athena noticed the picture version of herself standing beside Remus. Somehow they looked the least happy though Athena supposed that was mostly accurate. They were both smiling but not in the same careless way that everyone else was.
Beside Athena and Remus stood Peter and Athena wanted to rip up the photo when she saw him however instead she looked to Aurora and Dominique who both looked incredibly happy. Athena had seen her sister a lot in these last months, visiting her at Hogwarts whenever she could. However it had been a while since Athena had seen Dominique.
She passed the photo to Remus who had been leaning over her shoulder to try and look at it. He picked it up and cast his eyes over everyone in it.
"It's sweet right?" Athena asked lightly.
"Yeah" Remus grinned, "yeah it is"
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A/n
Words - 2006
Published - 7th April 2021
Ok that's the last time
jump I'm pretty sure
Anyway little chapter here :)
just a filler