A/N soooooo, let me know how you feel about the newest couple on the block ;)
"Stranger! Oh how I've missed you!"
Sirius was the first to walk up to Xanthie, enveloping her in his arms instantly and squeezing tight. She grinned and breathed in his scent, nuzzling her face closer to him and ignoring the dull ache that ran through her as he squeezed her.
"I've missed you too, Padfoot." She said and looked up at him, he pressed a kiss to her forehead and pushed her hair back from her face, haphazardly. He pulled her back at arms length and his eyes examined her, settling for a few seconds on each bruise that was still prominent around her body.
"Where did this come from?" He asked, holding her face in his palm as he looked closer at the small split in her bottom lip that hadn't quite healed up yet. Xanthies eyes dropped away from Sirius' just as Remus walked into the room.
"Hello, my love!" He smiled, wrapping one arm around her and pressing her into his side gently. Sirius gave him a look and Remus' smile dropped.
"What? What's wrong?" He asked, his gaze flickering between Sirius and Xanthie.
"Look at her, Moony. Her lip, her hands, her legs-"
"You should see her scars!" Ron piped in, earning a smack on the back of the head from El. Ron sighed and rubbed the back of his head, looking down at his lap.
"Scars?" Remus asked softly, laying a hand on Xanthies shoulder. Sirius took a seat at the back of the table, just as Fred appeared in the room. All heads turned to face him and he smiled awkwardly and stood next to Molly and Arthur.
"What'd I miss?" He whispered down to El who only glared at him and looked back at Xanthie who had now sat on one of the chairs at the table and Remus was knelt in front of her.
"I wasn't gonna mention it since I know how much you worry when I'm gone, but I'm fine. I promise." Xan said and showed Remus the scars on her thigh. She felt slightly uncomfortable with her dress pulled up so high in this room full of people, even if she knew them all quite well.
Remus looked at the word 'deatheater' carved into her skin along with a small 'Z ' , his eyes narrowed slightly and he then looked back up at Xanthie, then across to Sirius. Sirius stood and made his way around the table to also bend down in front of Xanthie, he himself gasping at the markings.
"Who did this?" He asked, Remus still not able to take his eyes away from the word. Xanthie shuffled uncomfortably and pulled her dress back down to just above her knees. She searched the room, making eye contact with El then George. George stepped forward and looked between Sirius and Remus with a gulp.
"I ummm- we-" George gestured between himself and Fred, "Found her in one of the shops in Diagon Alley. Didn't we Freddie?" He said, Fred (seemingly not wanting to be involved) only nodded. Remus nodded and looked at them as if urging them to continue.
"She was tied up and a guy we know, Zach, decided he was gonna umm-" Fred started, seemingly finding it difficult to word the situation.
"Have his way with her?" George finished, sounding unsure but crossed his arms over his chest and holding his lips together now, deciding he was finished trying to explain. Sirius' face screwed up as he stood up and looked up at the twins, Xanthie knew where this was going.
"You know the bastard that did this?" He asked, his tone dangerously low. They looked anywhere but Sirius' face.
"You know him and you let him get away? Did you hex him? Turn him into the Ministry? Anything at all?" Sirius continued, prodding Georges chest. George looked down at his hand and then at Xanthie with a 'help me' look on his face.
"Padfoot, there was nothing they could've done. They hexed him and left him, they were too busy helping me." Xan piped up. It felt weird defending the Weasley twins. Xanthie looked over at Molly who was watching Sirius intently, ready to step in if he got too rough with her boys.
Sirius scoffed and stepped away from them and George visibly let out a breath of relief, Fred patting his shoulder. Remus was still standing behind Xanthie, looking down at her.
"Silly question, I know my love. But how are you feeling?" He asked softly, holding out his signature square of chocolate and Xanthie nodded and wordlessly took the chocolate, not wanting to let her emotions get the best of her in front of all of these people. Her gaze fell onto Ron who gave her a small smile, which relaxed her.
"I'm okay but please, now that you know what's happened can we please leave it? Where's Severus?" Xanthie asked as she popped the chocolate into her mouth, trying to change the subject as she looked around the room and didn't see Severus anywhere. Remus sighed and moved to sit next to Sirius at the back of the table, Xan moving her seat to be next to El.
"He was asked to go back to Hogwarts by McGonagall. There wasn't enough staff and prefects to look after all the students." Sirius said, moving an arm to rest on the back of Remus' chair. Xanthie raised her eyebrow at the gesture then looked at El who seemed to also notice.
As the evening went on, Remus was in and out of the kitchen and Molly being Molly had to help him out somehow. She had followed him into the kitchen and helped him add finishing touches to all the food, since she was used to the large number of mouths. Harry, Hermione and Ron had all began telling Sirius about their latest year at Hogwarts, Sirius casting an annoyed look at the twins every once in a while. Ginny, George and Fred had began discussing the joke shop the twins intended to open and Bill, Charlie, El and Arthur had struck up a conversation about Bills job at Gringotts.
Xan sat back in her chair, looking around at everyone. They were smiling and talking and getting along. She could hear Molly and Remus in the kitchen laughing and joking as well and her heart felt full but one thing was missing. Her parents.
She looked around the room and remembered parts of her childhood, littered around. She stood from the table and wandered to one of the back rooms, dragging her fingertips over the tapestry of the Black family. Her fingers lingered on Bellatrix. Her eyes watered slightly as she looked at the small portrait of her mother.
"I miss you mum, I miss you so so much... And dad... I hope you're happy wherever you are... But you promised me you'd be here, always." Xanthie whispered, pressing a kiss to her fingertips and then holding it over her mothers portrait. She wiped the tear running down her cheek with the back of her hand and sighed softly. She felt a familiar embrace behind her and turned around to bury her face into Rons chest.
"Knew you'd be here... Are you okay?" He whispered into her hair. Xanthie nodded slowly, bringing her hands up to her face as she pulled herself impossibly closer to Ron. Another pair of arms wrapped around her from behind.
"We're here for you, Xanthie. Don't forget it." Ginny mumbled, resting her head against Xans shoulder. Suddenly Hermione and Harry had appeared too and wrapped their arms around the small group.
"Room for another small one?" El asked from the doorway, wrapping her arms around the group too and squeezing. Xanthie giggled softly and sniffled in Rons chest.
"I love you guys, don't tell anyone I said that though." Xan said softly and the group hug dispersed with a chorus of laughter. As Xanthie looked around her group of friends, a smile spread across her features and although the ache of losing her parents was something that would never go away or fade completely, the people around her made life way easier.
"C'mon, dinner's ready." El said and Rons face lit up with excitement as he threw Hermione over his shoulder and ran back through to the dining room. Hermiones squeal was mixed with laughter as she thrashed around in his hold, Ginny and Harry following behind hand in hand.
"So, you finally admitted it then Ginevra?" Xan taunted, pointing to her hand intertwined with Harrys. Ginny rolled her eyes as she looked back at Xanthie and El but her face softened when she noticed Harry blush a little bit.
"Someone had to, and it sure as hell wasn't gonna be Potter." She laughed causing El and Xan burst out laughing, both agreeing. Harry turned scarlet and looked down at his feet but Xanthie could see a small smile on his face as Ginny knocked into his shoulder with her own just before they entered the dining room.
Sirius and Remus had just finished laying down the food and Molly sat with a proud smile, surveying the reactions from her children.
"Finally, a meal I didn't have to cook!" She cheered, resting a hand on Arthurs who chuckled at her. Remus smiled at her and waited for everyone to be seated before holding up a small glass of red wine, everyones eyes resting on him as he stood. He looked down at Sirius who was sitting next to him, nursing his own glass of whiskey, his metal rings clinking against the glass.
"I'd like to make an announcement... Sirius and I have spent many years together now. From our years at Hogwarts with James and Lily-" He looked at Harry who nodded and smiled a soft smile, "-to moving into Grimmauld together, raising our beautiful girl, Xanthie. We've been through it all and recently, I decided to make a decision. An important decision. Last weekend I umm..." Remus paused, and Sirius' face broke into a small smirk.
"Get on with it!" Bill laughed, looking between the two and making El chuckle behind her own glass. Remus laughed a little and held his hand out which Sirius took.
"We're engaged." He said, his eyes immediately looking at Xanthie, as if expecting some kind of riposte from her but visibly relaxed when she burst into a huge grin and leaped around the table to pull them into a hug.
"I knew it! We knew it didn't we El!" Xan cheered and El nodded, and laughed.
"Since I first met you guys, it was so obvious!" She said with raised eyebrows and Sirius scoffed but bit back a smile. He held his left hand out to Xanthie so she could examine the ring, El standing behind Xanthie now peeking at it too. It was a steel, dark gray band with a small green crystal pressed into it, Xans eyes lifted to look at Remus as he spoke.
"Jade. For good luck, especially in love." He said and put a loving hand on Sirius' shoulder, Xan and El shared a look both with pouts on their face at the sentiment. Xan then looked at Remus' right hand, he had a matching golden band around his ring finger, a small Tigers Eye crystal in his.
"It's beautiful, Moony. You did so good. I could only dream of a love as pure as the love you two have." Xan smiled, kissing both of their cheeks as she took her seat once again, between El and Charlie.
"To the new happy couple!" Arthur cheered, raising his glass and clinking it with Molly. The rest of the table all joined in, knocking glasses and whooping. Xan looked up, meeting eyes with Fred who was holding his glass up still, she knocked her glass to his gently and smiled awkwardly before turning to Charlie and striking up a conversation with him as the table began eating and chatting.
Throughout dinner, Xanthie was sucked into multiple conversations but she kept thinking back to before they'd arrived. How feverish Fred had been kissing her, his hands roving her body like they'd always belonged there, his tongue against hers. He tasted so sweet and something about it made Xanthie question, even just for a moment, why she hated him so much.
"Right, Xan?" El said, turning to face her and dragging her from her thoughts.
"Oh umm, yeah yeah..." She said, agreeing to something, although she wasn't sure what. El smiled and got up from her seat, running into another room and returning with a guitar, handing it to Xan with an expectant look on her face.
"Oh right... Yeah okay, requests anyone?" Xanthie asked, getting everyones attention as she moved her seat back, resting the guitar on her knee. Bill leaned in and whispered in her ear and Xan laughed and nodded.
"You got it, Wolverine 2.0. The eldest and clearly most romantic Weasley boy has requested this for the new couple!" She said, gesturing her head towards Sirius and Remus as Bill rolled his eyes at the nickname. Xanthie began strumming the chords to 'Take A Chance On Me' by ABBA and sung the words, Sirius and Remus watching her as they swung their intertwined hands to the beat.
"If you change your mind, I'm the first in line..."
El stood up and began dancing almost instantly, pulling George up with her and spinning him around, the height difference between them making it all the more entertaining. Molly and Arthur swayed at the end of the table, shoulder to shoulder as Hermione moved into Rons lap to watch the chaos unfold.
"C'mon Gin, dance with me!" Harry said, holding a hand out to Ginny who looked at him with a surprised look on her face.
"You? Making a move on me? Merlin!" She laughed and took his hand, jumping into him and spinning them around, excitedly. Bill watched as George swayed around with El, Bill twirling the rings on his fingers awkwardly and Charlie noticed, nudging his shoulder. Charlie stood and pulled George away to dance with him, leaving El alone and looking for her next dance partner. Xan looked between her and Bill as Bill rose from his seat and offered her a hand, a small but very charming smile on his face. El blushed heavily and put her hand in his. He put his arms around her waist and twirled her around the room, dancing (very badly) with her, both of them throwing their heads back with laughter.
"Afraid of a love affair, but I think you know..." Xan sung, looking at Charlie and George who were now cornering Fred trying to get him to dance. He was shaking his head profusely, laughing as George tried to pull him to his feet. Xanthie couldn't help but giggle into the words she was singing as she watched, Charlies head lifting to look at her as she laughed.
"You think you can get away with not dancing just because you're singing? Nice try!" He winked and pulled her to her feet, standing behind her with his hands on her hips as he swayed them back and forth whilst Xanthie struggled to keep playing through her laughter. She looked back at him and he had a huge, cheeky grin on his face as he watched her hands strum the strings.
Xan lifted her gaze once again to look at Fred, he was dancing around with George and he was practically glowing as he swayed around with his twin. He had a childlike grin on his face, his eyes sparkling with joy as he poked and prodded George, mocking his terrible dance moves.
Xan stopped playing as the song ended, her eyes still glued on Fred when he looked at her, slightly breathless from dancing and the remains of his laughter still on his face. Xanthie blinked rapidly and looked away, back down to her guitar as she started playing another song, sinking back into Charlies embrace.