After the Marauders ended up exchanging gifts a day later, Christmas had passed and it was now December 31, meaning all of Elsie's friends would be coming over to her house for a New Year's Eve celebration. The Marauders, her 3 girl friends, and Frank Longbottom would be arriving around 5 to ring in the new year of 1978. Elsie didn't exactly know what the new year would hold, but she did know that she wanted to be surrounded by the people she loved when it starts. After all, with a war about to rage on none of them knew how much time they had left to enjoy life as teenagers and be with their loved ones...
Elsie was in the shower thinking deeply about the next year to come as the warm water fell onto her back. A part of her was happy to be leaving this year behind, but another part of her was behind scared to move forward in time. She was never one to run from her future, yet right now all she wanted to do was freeze time where it is. A lot was bound to happen, and she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.
She turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, realizing she forgot a towel. So, she grabbed her wand and quickly cast the drying charm over herself. Elsie only slipped on a pair of black, lacy knickers because she never liked wearing her bra after she showered. She cracked open the door of the bathroom and peeked her head through to check if the coast was clear. After she realized that her parents were nowhere in sight, she sprinted down the hallway bare chested with her wand until she ended up in her room. She shut the door and glanced over to the window to make sure it was closed, letting out a sigh of relief.
But, when she turned around she saw two boys lounging on her bed with their jaws dropped open at the partially naked girl.
"Merlin, those are some nice puppies," Sirius let out as a smirk formed on his face while staring directly at her exposed chest.
Elsie quickly crossed her arms over her breasts, as a stunned James slammed his hand over Sirius' eyes.
"What do you prats think you're doing?!" Elsie yelled at the boys sitting on her bed in awe.
James was completely out of breath at the sight before him, even if he's already seen it before. He couldn't stop his eyes from working their way up and down her body, from her arms that were failing to cover the entirety of her breasts to her curves that were defined by her lacy panties. His mouth was completely dropped open at mostly naked girl in front of him and his face was flushed pink. The things I want to do to that body...
"Hey, why does he get to see and I don't?!" Sirius exclaimed as he crossed his arms over his chest and pointed to the boy next to him.
Elsie's cheeks were bright red as she said, "None of you get to see...turn around so I can get dressed!"
Sirius knocked James' hand from off of his eyes while taking one last glance at the girl. She glared at him as he raised his hands in the air defensively and winked at her, turning around to give her the privacy she needed. Meanwhile, James had yet to move or say anything. He was in complete and utter awe of Elsie's body.
"James?" Elsie stared at him.
James was snapped out of his trance and cleared his throat awkwardly, "I...erm...I-you, y-you're...I'll-,"
His stammering was cut off when Sirius slapped the back of James' head and pulled his body to face the opposite way of the girl, grumbling, "Bloody idiot."
Elsie quickly got dressed, slipping on a simple dress before calling out to her friends. She told the boys they could turn back around while crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her eyes at them.
"Now, would someone like to explain why you two were standing in my room while I was naked?!" She exclaimed while walking towards them threateningly.
"Nothing I haven't seen before," James, who had regained his confidence, chuckled at the girl who was trying to be scary and winked at her, "We just got bored and decided to come over early."
Sirius laughed at what James had said as Elsie playfully slapped him arm, holding back a blush from rising on her cheeks. She led them down to her living room and hung out with two of her closest friends before everyone else came over. Elsie was cuddled up under James' arm as someone had flashed into her fireplace.
"Remmy!" Elsie screamed out while running over to her werewolf friend and hugging him tightly.
"You saw me like three days ago, Tibbles," Remus chuckled while hugging the small girl back. She rolled her eyes playfully at him while leading him over to the couch. Elsie laid her head down on James' lap and let her feet rest carefully on Remus', making sure not to flash anyone with her dress by accident. Peter showed up next, followed by Alice and Frank.
"It's official!" Alice exclaimed excitedly as she held up her hand that was holding Frank's, "He asked me to be his girlfriend on Christmas!"
Elsie immediately jumped off of the couch and pulled her friend into a hug, "That's amazing Alice, I'm so happy for you two!"
She then walked over to Frank smirking and nudged him with her elbow, "It's about time, Longbottom."
Elsie laid back down in her position as the rest of the boys called out to the new couple...
"Atta boy, Frankie."
"Congratulations you two."
"Little Frankie finally has a girlfriend."
"Nice."
After the congratulations died down, the fireplace flashed again. But this time, the person who came through made James jump up from his seat, letting Elsie's head drop flat onto the couch. Remus pulled her up and shot her an apologetic look while wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
"Lily," James breathed out while locking eyes with the red head, forgetting about his best friend and the feelings he had said he had for her. It was as if his emotions were a switch, and as soon as he laid his eyes on Lily his feelings for Elsie were muted.
"Hello, James. Alright?" Lily answered with a smile on her face.
"Alright," he concluded while his eyes remained on her, a smile coming to his face.
Elsie's face faltered for a second in disappointment. She knew as soon as Lily came around that James would be all over her again. Because like she always said, it's supposed to be James and Lily. So, a second later she ignored the panting feeling in her chest and put a smile on her face. Remus squeezed her hand with a sad smile on his face as he watched Elsie get up and greet Lily with a hug. He was never one to get mad all that easily, but his blood began boiling as he watched James switch off his emotions like that. It wasn't fair to Elsie, he can't just play with her feelings like that.
When Elsie sat back down, he wrapped a protective arm around her and began softly talking to her and trying to cheer her up, until another flash rang out in the fireplace.
"Guess who's here, you bloody wankers," Marlene excitedly shouted at her arrival into the house.
"Hey Marls," Elsie warmly smiled up at her, but held onto Remus even tighter than before. They shared a look, one of accepted hopelessness and stayed wrapped in each other's arms.
Remus intertwined his fingers with Elsie's, and subconsciously tightened his grip as Sirius smirked at the girl and commented, "Always one to make a dramatic entrance, McKinnon."
"Like you can talk, Mr. Drama Queen," Marlene jokingly rolled her eyes and walked over to the black-haired boy, immediately sitting down next to him.
"So, Els. Did you invite that hunky man of yours?" Marlene giggled while wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
"Who?" Elsie questioned with a confused look on her face.
"Well, Rory McLaggen, of course," the blonde responded with a sly smile tugging at her lips.
Elsie, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all snickered as Elsie simply shook her head no. Hearing the boys name, James snapped his head over from his conversation with Lily.
"Why are we talking about that git?"James asked while taking a seat in between Elsie and Sirius. A frown grew on his face as he realized Remus' arm was wrapped around her, leaving no space to return back to the position they were previously in.
"I asked Elsie if she invited that dream boat," Marlene dreamily sighed while answering James' question. His hands curled into fists at thinking about McLaggen. He didn't want him anywhere near Elsie, not anymore.
"You didn't, right?" James questioned again looking over at Elsie with pleading eyes. When Elsie shook her head no, James let out a sigh of relief knowing that he won't be all over his brunette best friend.
"Wouldn't matter anyways," Marlene shrugged while winning at Elsie, "She'll be kissing me at midnight."
"Not if I beat her to it," Sirius seductively whispered in the blonde's ear.
"Oi, get a room," James wolf-whistled, the room oblivious to the far off stare of Remus.
Sirius rolled his eyes and pointed at Elsie, "You're one to talk? Bloody hell you shagged two-,"
His sentence was cut off by Elsie jumping over James and placing a hand over Sirius' mouth while grumbling, "Git."
Elsie had gotten up and started talking with Lily for a little bit, before blaring the music in her house. Her parents were spending New Year's Eve with the Potter parents, so they wouldn't yell at her for the loud music.
"Here," Lily walked up to Elsie and handed her a radio, "This is my muggle radio, why don't we use it so we can listen to the announcers count down until the New Year?"
"You're absolutely brill, Lils," Elsie shouted over the music, while stopping the record player and replacing it with the radio's music.
The rest of the night James mostly danced with Lily, while frequently staring over at Elsie. He desperately found himself wanting to go over to his friend, so he excused himself from Lily, and walked over to Elsie, who was twirling around a laughing Peter. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and tucked her in close to his body.
He covered her eyes with his hands and chuckled, "Guess who?"
Her hands felt their way up his arms, behind his neck, and into his messy hair before teasing him, "Strong arms, messy hair, must be Rory."
James gasped in shock while playfully placing a hand over his heart dramatically, "How dare you?!"
Her, James, and Peter doubled over in laughter before Peter decided to excuse himself to the bathroom. James pulled Elsie closer to him and brought his lips slowly to her ear.
"You know McLaggen doesn't even compare to me," he whispered sultrily into her ear, causing Elsie to bite down on her lip in anxiousness. His warm breath on her neck sent her mind into a frenzy as she stared up at him, oblivious to the scar-faced boy watching the two.
James tucked his thumb on top of her bottom lip and pulled it out from under her teeth. With his thumb still on her lip, James found himself losing control again. He moved his mouth to her ear once again, and whispered, "You know that drives me fucking mental when you do that."
Elsie looked up at him with wide eyes and was about to respond when she heard Alice call out, "Listen, guys! Theres only a minute left until the new year...come gather around!"
"Grab your loved ones and hold them right, 1978 is right around the corner" The radio cut through the room.
James grabbed Elsie's hand and pulled her over to the group of friends that were huddling around a muggle radio, breaking out of the trance he was in. Now, he was only feeling anxiety and nervousness course through his body. They were seconds away from midnight and he had no clue what was going to happen, who he was going to kiss. He had two perfect girls standing within a foot away from him. How was he supposed to choose which one he wanted to be with when the new year rang in?
Lily was everything he's ever wanted in a girl, but Elsie was everything he didn't know he ever wanted in a girl. Lily was the girl he's been wanting to be with, but Elsie made him feel things he never had before. Lily made James want her love, but Elsie made James need her love. Lily was a healthy addiction like Remus was with reading his books, but Elsie was an unhealthy addiction like drug addicts are with pills; both were consuming.
The radio host started counting down the last 10 second of 1977 as James' brain went into overdrive...
"10"
Elsie or Lily?
"9"
Fuck, what should I do?
"8"
Should I even kiss either of them?
"7"
What if they don't like me?
"6"
No, it's tradition...I should make a move, right?
"5"
But, on who?
"4"
It should be Lily...
"3"
It should be Lily because I love her...
"2"
It should be Lily because I love her, but-
James' thought would go unfinished because it was cut off by a red-haired girl crashing her lips into his. After the initial shock, James grabbed her face and pulled her closer to him, deepening the kiss. It should be Lily.
"1"
Elsie watched every single fear she had about love play out before her eyes. She saw Lily smash her lips into James', and noticed how he pulled her in closer. It made sense...it was always supposed to be Lily and James, but that didn't stop her heart from shattering into a million pieces. She tried with all her might to hold back the tears that were rimming her eyes, but she couldn't fight anymore. A tear just escaped her eye as she felt a warm thumb quickly wipe it away, and a pair of lips pressing softly against hers.
He mumbled into her lips only for her to hear, before plunging his lips into hers once again, "I'm right here. Let it out, I won't let them see. You're worth the world, don't let them get to you."
In a moment of weakness, Elsie kissed the tall boy back strongly. Letting her tears he hidden by their faces diving into each other's. The boy had his hands placed on either side of her face as she pulled herself closer into him, hiding her sobs in the kiss.
"I love you, Elsie. I promise it'll be okay," the boy mumbled quietly in the midst of their deepening kiss.
She weakly wrapped her arms around his bent down neck while mumbling back, "I love you, Remus. Thank you for this."
Remus stood there kissing her lips softly for at least another minute, letting her cry into him without the rest of the group knowing. He was fed up with watching James play with Elsie's emotions and then crawl back to Lily, even if it was done unknowingly. He couldn't sit there and let Elsie's world crumble into pieces in front of all of her friends. So, he kept kissing her. He kept the world from falling down onto her.
After James had pulled out of his kiss with Lily, he smiled like a madman and pulled her in for a hug. But, as soon as he placed his head on her shoulder, his happy spirits were destroyed completely. Remus was making out with Elsie. He felt his heart sunk into his stomach and a pain fill his chest. He wasn't angry this time, he was disappointed. He was disappointed in himself because as soon as he saw that sight in front of him, he knew he had made the wrong choice. He wanted to kiss Elsie.
"Happy New Year everyone," the radio filled in the silence of the room, "May 1978 be filled with love, peace, and good times."
Happy New Year, Elsie. I will never deserve you, I'm sorry.
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AUTHORS NOTE:
What. The. Fuck.
Not me being mad at myself and crying over what I just wrote...
I PROMISE IT'LL GET HAPPIER...after it gets more depressing;) Stick around to see what I'm talking about!!!
This chapter is too juicy to wait until tomorrow to post, so here's a nice little 2 am post for y'all. Thank you everyone for the support. You guys are my inspiration<3