Christmas of 1993 was perfect. Ginger's presence made everything more joyous and with Ron and Ophelia, quite literally, making up just in time; everybody was allowed to fully enjoy themselves without any tension, or worry despite the gloom outside the castle, or previous arguments. It was all forgotten after their midnight adventure, and when they woke up to piles of beautifully wrapped parcels under the common room tree with the twins singing carols, and Hermione making hot cocoa. Even though they were tired from their outing, in their pyjamas, and rubbing their eyes like small, sleep deprived children - they were all grateful to be friends again, and everybody around them was equally grateful.
They exchanged parcels and cards; going around in a circle while sitting cross-legged in pyjamas. She got homemade fudge and a new Weasley jumper, as per usual, from all nine Weasley's combined; a gift certificate to the book store in Hogsmeade from Hermione, and a giant box filled with sweets upon sweets upon sweets from Harry. They unwrapped the piles and stacks of parcels and cards until only one remained; a slender, long neatly wrapped package with no tag, just Harry's name scrawled on the top.
It was revealed to be a Firebolt, the most prestigious broomstick in circulation at the moment. It cost hundreds of galleons, and as the twins and Ron were fawning over it in jealously, the other three were trying to figure out just who sent it. Ophelia didn't think much of it, a mystery admirer? A gift from Dumbledore? Everybody loved Harry, with the exception of Draco Malfoy, so it wasn't all that surprising to her. Hermione on the other hand found it suspicious, as always being the most cautious out of the four. But it was temporarily forgotten, as they finalized their unwrappings and made their way to breakfast.
With so little students staying for the holidays, the Great Hall was reconfigured to have just one long table opposed to the usual four. It was decorated with fine china, and a red and gold table banner and the most delicious breakfast foods you could ever imagine that were only prepared for special occasions. Dumbledore gave festive remarks, Minnie passed around little chocolates wrapped in gold foil for everybody (which Remus drooled over) and Ginger sang carols with Hagrid, slightly off tune but the thought was there nevertheless. And instead of the usual raspberry toast, she had fluffy pancakes with whipped cream - occasionally leaning over to steal a strawberry from Remus' plate, which he happily pushed over for her to steal more from.
At lunch, they had roasted ham and vegetables. Hagrid spoke of Christmases he remembered from when he was a young boy, and they all listened intently as they took bites of the delicious food and sips of warm butterbeer. Ginger went on to sing more carols (with a remix edition of Jingle Bells), Dumbledore spoke of how delighted he was to have been gifted socks from Minnie and Professor Flitwick charmed the suits of armour to sing Let It Snow.
And later in the evening, as the joint festivities died down and they were all left to do what they pleased for the remainder of the day; Remus invited Ginger and Ophelia to have snacks and butterbeer in his quarters as they exchanged their gifts, which they had not yet done. But being kind and thoughtful as always, he invited along Harry, Hermione and Ron - not wanting to separate the four friends who had just rekindled their beautiful friendship.
Upon entering his quarters, her eyes widened as she realized the lengths him and Ginger had gone to in effort to decorate for their small party. A table with warm butterbeer and various desserts and snacks was set up nicely in one corner. The fire was crackling, his sparkly Christmas tree was lit and decorated with the traditional popcorn garlands Ginger and her used to make and mugs of hot cocoa with whipped cream were pre-prepared on the coffee table in front of the crimson sofa and comfy armchairs. And their record player was set up in the corner, softly playing Wonderful Christmastime in the background, and under the tree were a few, but still beautifully wrapped, parcels with fancy ribbons.
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.
'It's silly.'
'It's not.' Ginger retorted, and Ophelia sighed in defeat,
'I don't know. You'll be going home soon. School will start again. I'll be back to being invisible, being escorted everywhere.' Ophelia said in a quiet tone, knowing very well all her friends knew what she was referring to but also knowing that Ginger and Remus weren't aware they knew. Luckily, her three friends seemed to have been too caught up in their own festivities to hear their conversation.
'It won't be like this forever.' Ginger told her reassuringly, as she scooted closer to her and leaned into her side.
Ophelia melted into her touch, leaning back into the small elf and relishing in the feeling of being with her best friend again.
'Yeah, hope so.'
'Know so.' Ginger corrected.
'Hm.' Was all Ophelia replied with lightly, as she watched Hermione sing loudly and in the corner, and out of earshot, Remus was still making the mugs of hot cocoa for everybody.
'You're not acting like yourself.' Ginger noted knowingly.
'Of course I am. I told you I'm fine.' Ophelia reassured her.
'Yeah, yeah but that's not all that convincing Missy.' Ginger retorted back, waving her tiny index finger around accusingly.
'Well, what do you think it is then if you know?' Ophelia questioned, challenging jokingly, not actually expecting an answer.
'You sound an awful lot like you've given up.'
Ophelia didn't answer, because a part of her questioned if this was true. She wanted to say it wasn't - that it was ridiculous, that she hadn't given up, she was still very much invested and hopeful. But another part of her challenged that - maybe it was true. When had her happy, light expressions and hopeful phrases morphed into hopeless sentiments and underlying sadness? When had she switched from light to dark, from happiness to gloominess? When did she stop believing the statement 'It'll be okay' and instead, disagreed with it whole heartedly?
She had given up. She had given up the idea of getting a normal year a long time ago, of getting her normal life back even. And she had given up the idea of Sirius Black being captured long ago, because if he was going to be found it wouldn't have taken four months for it to happen.
Clearly she had been thinking about this for a little too long, because Ginger continued talking instead of letting her talk,
'And it's not like you. You don't give up. You never give up.' Ginger urged on, sounding not only sympathetic for her but also disappointed in her, which was somehow so much worse despite her hating any form of pity or sympathy with her entire soul.
'I mean, what's gotten into you?' Ginger continued. 'Listen, I know this is hard but you've got to keep fighting. You can't give up.' Her tone was firm, something usually foreign to Ginger. She wasn't mean, or cold, or anything besides utterly sweet and joyous most of the time. She only got this way when it really mattered, when it was really important - clearly this was one of those times.
But what had gotten into her? When did she become uncommunicative, and hopeless and sad? When did that happen?
'I...I don't know.' She admitted quietly.
Before Ginger could reply, Remus strolled back to the sofa with a bright smile and the mugs of hot cocoa levitating behind him.
'Everything alright, ladies?' He questioned, jokingly, as he sat back down in an armchair across from them; as the other three continued to dance behind them.
'Everything's great.' Ginger replied, smiling sweetly as usual, and Ophelia shot her a grateful glance as she plastered on a smile and did her best to work up to a festive energy again like before.
After a couple more hours of eating, and drinking and dancing; Remus and Ginger escorted the four friends back to the Fat Lady to go to bed. Her friends thanked the three of them profusely for inviting them before they piled into the common room with light laughs and off-tune hums of carols.
'Happy Christmas.' Ophelia smiled, as she gave Remus a quick hug once her friends had entered the portrait hole.
Remus squeezed her, kissed the top of her head and murmured 'Happy Christmas!' into her curly black hair before pulling away.
Ophelia then knelt down and gave Ginger a hug, enveloping the small elf in her body. Though she would see them both tomorrow, it didn't feel right to not hug them goodbye on Christmas.
'Are we okay? I didn't mean to-' Ginger whispered to her during their embrace, so quiet it would be impossible for Remus to hear it.
'Of course we're okay.' Ophelia assured her, as she kissed Ginger's cheek. 'Always are.'
Ginger smiled gratefully as the two pulled apart, and they waved as Ophelia climbed in the portrait hole. She smirked slightly when she found Ron already passed out on the burnt orange sofa, and Harry looking just about to fall asleep on the opposite crimson one. Hermione on the other hand wasn't here, and when Ophelia went up to the dormitory it was to find she was fast asleep; the only one out of the three of them to make it to their dormitory before passing out into a deep sleep.
Ophelia whispered goodnight, though she truly doubted Hermione heard it, as she snuggled up under her duvet and pile of blankets and tried to fall asleep.
She smiled to herself thinking of the days festive events, but as she drifted asleep her mind wandered elsewhere - Ginger was right. She had given up, and that was unlike her. Ginger knew her better than anyone else, even Remus. For Ginger was the one who distracted her and hung out with her when Remus was transformed. She stayed up with her when she couldn't sleep, or when she was ill, or when she was so scared about Remus she was physically shaking with worry. Ginger had seen her grow up, she saw her at her lows and at her highs - and she knew if there was one person, or elf more like, that would know her the most; it was Ginger. And the sheer disappointment in Ginger's tone earlier alone was enough for her to want to try and fight again, to try and regain some hope.
Ginger had done everything for her up until now. She could do this for her in return.